Tacoma City Business Preview - Week of February 12, 2013

Now that we’ve resolved our little website snafu and gotten things back online, here’s what you’ve all been compulsively hitting “refresh” on the website for: our City Council preview for the week.

Link Expansion
One item on this week’s City Council study session agenda is a presentation on the Tacoma Link Light Rail Alternatives Analysis. The presentation, a follow-up to the January 22 presentation on the possible alternatives for the expansion, will include a preview of the information that will be shared at two open houses this week:

 
• February 12, 4:00-7:00 p.m., at the Tacoma Dome Station Plaza, at 424 East 25th Street; and,

 
• February 13, 4:00-7:00 p.m., at the University of Washington, Tacoma William Philip Hall Conference Center, at 1918 Pacific Avenue.

Economic Development Strategy
A discussion of the draft Economic Development Strategy Framework for Tacoma is also on this week’s study session agenda. The proposed framework will serve as a five-year guide for economic development activities to be considered by the City and its partners, including general direction in eight key focus areas.

Utility Rates
Two ordinances relating to utility rates are up for a final reading this week. At last week’s City Council meeting we heard the first reading of both resolutions. The first would adjust rates for wastewater and surface water services in Tacoma for the 2013-2014 biennium. The second would make adjustments to rates for solid waste services, as we move to every other week garbage pick-up in Tacoma.

Point Ruston LID Bond
This week the Council will hear the first reading of an amendment to the ordinance establishing a line of credit for costs of improvements relating to the Point Ruston local improvement districts. In 2011 the original ordinance established a $28.7 million LID Bond Anticipation Note for work by Point Ruston LLC, with a maturity date of February 28, 2013. Due to delays in confirmation of the final assessment rolls and issuance of long-term bonds required to retire the BAN, the maturity date must be extended to provide for a replacement immediately upon publication.

McMillan Reservoir Loan
A resolution on this week’s City Council meeting agenda would authorize an amendment to the City’s loan agreement with the Washington State Public Works Board for a loan for the replacement of the McMillan Reservoir. The low-interest loan, from the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, originally for $6,060,000, was increased to $6,578,885 in 2010 when additional funds became available. Tacoma Water is now requesting that it be raised to $7,341,758. According to the request, if the project loan was financed with regular revenue bonds, the cost would increase due to reduced interest payments.

Vacating Right-of-Ways Rights-of-Way
Two items on this week’s Consent Agenda deal with the vacation of City –right of ways- rights-of-way.

A resolution sets Thursday, April 4 as the date for a hearing by the Hearing Examiner to vacate the west 200 feet of the alley right-of-way lying south of Puyallup Avenue and east of East L Street for a commercial fueling facility. The proposed fuel facility is similar to other commercial and industrial businesses in the neighborhood. The project will allow an underutilized parcel of land and adjacent right-of-way to be used for a new commercial use, putting the property back on the tax rolls. The city will receive market value compensation for the vacated right-of-way.

The second item is an ordinance vacating a 4,700 square-foot portion of East Q Street, lying northwest of the Burlington Northern Rail right-of-way, to construct a section of the floodwall proposed under the Central Treatment Plant Flood Protection Project. The project involves constructing a flood control wall designed to protect the City’s treatment plant from being inundated by flood waters of the nearby Puyallup River, reducing the risk of a discharge of untreated waste into nearby aquatic habitat.

Purchase Resolution
The one item on this week’s purchase resolution would award a contract in the amount of $526,868 budgeted from the Wastewater Fund for consultant engineering services associated with the design and construction of flood protection improvements at the Central Treatment Plant.

Other Items
In addition at Tuesday’s Study Session, Government Relations Officer Randy Lewis will provide the Council with a Legislative update.

A pair of resolutions on this week’s agenda appoint and reappoint citizens to serve the Human Services Commission, Planning Commission, Tacoma Area Commission on Disabilities, and Tacoma Community Redevelopment Authority; and Council members to serve on various local, state, regional, and national committees, boards, and commissions.

A final resolution on this week’s agenda would approve revisions to the City’s Compensation Philosophy. In November 2008, the City adopted a compensation philosophy defining the values and goals for equitable and consistent implementation of the City’s compensation program. In a move to maintain fiscal responsibility and to reflect changing economic conditions and budget impacts, revisions to the competitiveness section are now being proposed. These revisions include positioning pay at the 60th percentile of the market, and recognizing the potential for a pay-for-performance program for non-represented classifications.

Citizens’ Forum
And last, but definitely not least, this is the week for February’s edition of Citizens’ Forum. Bring your comments, complaints, commendations, and recommendations on any issue over which the City Council has jurisdiction. It’s your three minutes; use it well.