Tacoma City Council Meeting - July 7th, 2009

With all this Elks and Luzon news floating about, the weekly City Council notes hardly seem interesting. For those of you that are still with us, here are last night’s Tacoma City Council notes:

RESOLUTIONS

Resolution No. 37818 was moved to next week. It authorizes the execution of an amendment to the Interlocal Agreement with Pierce County for the creation and operation of the Law Enforcement Support Agency (LESA) related to its operating fund and provision of services, as recommended by the LESA Executive Board.

A question was raised during public comment about the effect of these changes on future health care benefits for certain employees and retirees. The challenge, according to the LESA Director, is that he can’t consider options or negotiate with labor unless he has the authority. This resolution would move it forward. However, Council wasn’t comfortable with it. So, Council moved it to next week’s agenda.

Purchase Resolution No. 37819 awards contracts to:

1. Bill’s Towing and Garage, Inc., in the amount of $180,000.00 for vehicle towing services for a three-year period.

   2. Insituform Technologies, Inc., on its bid of $352,271.05, plus a ten percent contingency, for a cumulative total of $387,500.00, for sanitary sewer rehabilitation at the Tacoma Landfill, located at 3510 South Mullen Street

   Resolution No. 37820 authorizes the execution of an agreement with AustinCina Architects, in the amount of $187,000, budgeted from the Capital Projects REET Fund, for architectural and engineering services for Americans with Disabilities Act compliance modifications in City-owned buildings, for the period of June 2009 through May 2010, with the option to renew for three consecutive one-year periods; and authorizing the administrative authority of the Director to amend the contract amount up to $200,000 and to approve term extensions and contract renewals for all items.

   Resolution No. 37821 authorizes the submittal of an application to the United States Department of Justice, for a $525,751 Edward Byrne Justice Assistance Grant, to support various crime reduction and prevention efforts; and authorizing the execution of a Memorandum of Understanding with Pierce County for the equal distribution of the funds between both jurisdictions. Half of Tacoma’s funds will be used by TPD for special emphasis teams focusing on gang related activities. The remaining funds will be used for human services responses to youth that have been contacted by the police department and domestic violence support services.

   Resolution No. 37822 authorizes the execution of amendments to the existing grant agreements with the Washington State Military Department to receive state public assistance funds of up to 12.5 percent of costs for repair projects resulting from the December 2008 and January 2009 severe storms.

   FINAL READING OF ORDINANCES

   Ordinance No. 27816 accepts and deposits $750,000 from the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, administered through the Washington State Recreation and Conservation Office, into the Foss Waterway Development Authority (FWDA) Fund; authorizing an interest-bearing interfund loan in the amount of $250,000 from the CSERV Fund to the FWDA Agency Fund; appropriating $1,000,000 from the Capital Projects Foss Waterway Fund to provide guest moorage and expand the capability for water-based events in the Thea Foss Waterway; and authorizing the execution of the Second Loan Agreement with the FWDA setting forth the terms and conditions for repayment of $250,000 plus interest.

   Any thoughts or concerns?