Tacoma City Business Preview - Week of October 16, 2012

Last week’s City Council meeting was a bit on the long side thanks to an appeal of the Pacific Avenue Streetscape bid award. This week’s is looking a little shorter, but still with plenty going on, including a big pile of grants from the State for water quality projects. And at study session Council and staff will continue to plow through the work of addressing Tacoma’s budget issues.

Budget
The main item for this week’s City Council study session is a “budget work session.” This week’s work session, one of many planned over the coming weeks, will focus on the topics of General Fund revenues and cost drivers, and take a look at salary, benefits, healthcare, and retirement. This Study Session will be held in the Council Chambers so it can be televised live on TV Tacoma.

Community Budget Input meetings are also now scheduled for all districts around Tacoma:

 
• October 22, 6:00 p.m., Gray Middle School (Deputy Mayor Lonergan)

 
• October 24, 6:00 p.m., Wheelock Library (Council Member Ibsen)

 
• October 29, 6:00 p.m., Main Library (Council Member Walker)

 
• November 1, 6:00 p.m., Lincoln High School (Council Member Campbell)

 
• November 5, 6:00 p.m., Center at Norpoint (Council Member Fey)

Department of Ecology Grants
Four separate resolutions on this week’s City Council meeting consent agenda would accept $3.71 million in grants from the Washington State Department of Ecology. These grants, along with about $2.63 million in matching funds from the City Surface Water Fund, would go to replace failed roads and sidewalks in the Wapato Lake tributary area, to retrofit two acres of parking lot at Cheney Stadium, to fund a regional stormwater treatment facility to be included in the redevelopment of a portion of Point Defiance Park, and to fund retrofit improvements related to the A Street stormwater line, including construction of a regional stormwater treatment facility and replacement of decaying infrastructure.

The Wapato Lake, Cheney Stadium, and Point Defiance grants would fund Low Impact Development to improve water quality in the state, using pervious pavement to reduce runoff and reducing the contaminant levels. These three projects would be scheduled for completion by December 2014. The A Street project would also address water quality, replacing aging and decaying infrastructure and constructing a stormwater treatment facility to deal with contaminated runoff in that area of downtown. That project would be scheduled to begin next summer for completion by May 2015.

The Cheney Stadium area has been selected by the City as a demonstration site for stormwater management and sustainable design. The City will be working in partnership with Cheney Stadium on this project, which complements an earlier phase of improvements to the roads and parking lots around Cheney, including Clay Huntington Way, which was awarded the Greenroads Silver Certification for its stormwater management project earlier this year.

The Point Defiance project is a part of a partnership between the City and Metro Parks to redevelop the southeast corner of the park. The project will include an educational demonstration component, and will improve water quality for over 700 acres of north Tacoma affected by the Tacoma Smelter Plume.

Purchase Resolution
One item on this week’s purchase resolution: $47,440, plus sales tax, budgeted from the Solid Waste Fund, for equipment sandblasting and painting services for fork boxes, drop-off boxes, and other equipment for an initial one-year term with the option to renew for four additional one-year terms, for a projected contract total of $237,200. Solid Waste Management is requesting the funds for reconditioning of containers that are in need of lids to be in compliance with stormwater runoff regulations, and paint to extend their life and maintain their appearance due to fading, repairs, and graffiti, but are otherwise structurally sound.

South Sound 911
Two resolutions on the City Council agenda this week refine and clarify the City’s interlocal agreement with South Sound 911. The 2011 agreement that created SS911 contains broad language in areas relating to covered costs, asset ownership, and funding. Included in that agreement was a plan to upgrade public safety equipment. Tacoma and SS911 will cosign a communication systems agreement identifying the primary SS911 role as financial and the primary City role as project management.

The first resolution authorizes the Memorandum of Agreement clarifying the respective roles and responsibilities for the City and SS911. The second authorizes the Communication System Agreement for public safety communications equipment and services.

Departmental Changes
Back for a final reading this week is the ordinance making changes to certain City departments, as recommended by the City Manager in his proposals for resolving the 2013-2014 budget. The ordinance would establish three new departments (Planning and Development Services, Neighborhood and Community Services, and Environmental Services). It would rename the Legal Department to the “City Attorney’s Office.” And it would amend various sections of the Municipal Code to align with the newly established Environmental Services Department.

So that’s the week. If you’ve got a couple hours free in the middle of the day tomorrow, grab a bowl of popcorn, turn on TV Tacoma, and tell us what you think about the budget workshop. You could even let the City know too (follow the link for “budget input box).