AUDIO, DOCUMENTS & SUMMARY
Sultan Council Meeting June 11, 2007 ("Special" meeting)

NOTES on our recording and digital audio. .Click here if you would like to receive our periodic email updates.

 

 

G.R.I.T.
Home

Agenda Packets & Minutes for this, and previous meetings

For more info on meetings and hearings, visit our TRANSCRIPTION page

AUDIO of previous meetings

 

 

AGENDA
"SPECIAL" COUNCIL MEETING
Monday, June 11, 2007, 6:00 PM
(Special meeting of the Sultan City Council on June 11, 2007 at 6:00 PM in the Sultan Community Center at 319 Main Street, Sultan Washington; replaces regularly-scheduled June 14th meeting, because of AWC conference that day.)

COUNCIL PACKET AS A SINGLE FILE, 4.9 mb PDF (with all documents included)

 6:00 PM PUBLIC MEETING – George 6 Plex Appeal (270 kb pdf) of Galt Hearing Examiner Recommendation (MP3 Audio file of 17-min./2.3 mb hearing/"meeting")

7:00 PM COUNCIL MEETING OPENED (by Pro-Tem John Seehuus), Pledge of Allegiance, Changes to Agenda, etc. (Mayor Tolson and Councilman Derek Boyd were absent.) (Audio File A, 2:46 min., 489 kb)

PRESENTATIONS: Introduction of Angel Light, Animal Control (Due to a family emergency, Angel Light could not be present. This event was postponed.)

COMMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC:

COUNCILMEMBER COMMENTS:

Bruce Champeaux - Claimed Mr. Gibson has purposefully used erroneous number-crunching re Police v. County sheriff costs for service. Also "blamed" residents for the need to return the $20,000 grant for RR Xing: because they were responsible for the Ramirez plat not being approved. (Audio File C-1, 1:56 min., 341 kb) (Click here for more info on the subject of the RR Crossing Grant) Click here for transcription of Champeaux's comments re RR xing (MORE: Transcription of Mr. Champeaux's council statements in 3/22/07 and 5/24/07 council meetings re citizen input.)

Ron Wiediger & Steve Slawson comments:.(Audio File C-2, 1:07 min.,197 kb)
  • Weidiger: Responding to a statement made in "a website" [i.e., ours) re "a council member's" lack of meaningful representation of the citizens, comments he feels were directed at him.
  • Slawson: Referring to C/M Champeaux's statement (above), "He [Champeaux] beat me to it."

Kristina Blair - Re jurisdiction of Railroad crossing (BNSF, city, or -- ??); Asked for status of the sportsman's park gazebo. (Audio File C-3, 2:22 min., 654 kb)

Jim Flower - Thanked James Good for his comments; apologized for the caustic comment he [Flower] made during the last council meeting; comment re $20,000 grant; asked for, and received, a moment of silence for Krystinia McCarty. (Audio File C-3, 3:42 min., 419 kb)

Audio File C-5, 2:02 min., 127 kb:

  • Mayor Pro-tem John Seehuus (knows how tough it is to speak in public, commiserating with Mr. Good's nervousness).
  • Steve Slawson asks where the City stands with the promised monthly financial status reports, now that it has the Springbrook software working (D. Knight responds that they council has been receiving those).

K. Blair follow-up (re correct noticing for hearings v. meetings (Audio File C-6, 43 seconds; 359 kb)

Rick Cisar - Re problems with Railroad crossing, grant, etc. (Transcription of Cisar's comments) (Audio File C-7, 3:17 min., 581 kb) (For more info on this grant, click here)

CONSENT AGENDA (MP3 Audio file; 81 kb, 27 seconds):

1.       Minutes of the May 24, 2007 Council Meeting (361 kb pdf file) Audio - See above file.

2.       Approval of Vouchers (548 kb pdf file) - Audio - See above file.

3.       Resolution 07-12 Sultan Summer Shindig Event (67 kb pdf file) - Audio - See above file.

 

ACTION AGENDA ITEMS:

1.       Planning Board Appointments (Jeff Cofer, Charles Van Pelt) (138 kb pdf file) (Audio File F-1, 1:23 min., 246 kb)

2.       Jail Billing Agreement – Approval of Settlement (165 kb pdf file) (Audio File F-2, 3:49 min., 672 kb)

3.       Shockey Brent Contract Amendment (185 kb pdf file) (Audio File F-3, 7:37 min., 1.3 mb)

4.       Sultan Centennial Committee Donation (for Post Office Bldg. Mural) ( kb pdf file) - (Audio File F-4, 5:20 min., 939 kb) NOTE: We were unable to download this document; we have requested that the City send it to use via email. In the meantime, access it through the City's website: http://www.ci.sultan.wa.us )

 

DISCUSSION ITEM:

1.       Shoreline Master Program (98 kb pdf file) (Audio as a single file file #G-1, 18:36 min., 3.3 mb)

2.       Capital Improvement Plan – 6 Year Financial Analysis (264 kb pdf file) (Audio as a single file, #G-2, 22:41 min., 4.0 mb)

3.       Comprehensive Plan Annual Docket (2.5 mb pdf file) (Audio as a single file, #G-3, 9:34 min., 1.7 mb)

 

PUBLIC COMMENT ON AGENDA ITEMS ONLY:

  • L. Storm - Re: (1) Pleased that Jeff Cofer and Charles Van Pelt decided to serve another term as Planning Board members; they're doing a good job, as are all members. (2) Quality of city's audio. (3) Champeaux's statements re RR Crossing and why the Ramirez Twin Rivers Estates plat was "unapprovable" (which had nothing to do with citizens' participation in the public process). (Audio File H-1, 3:08 min., 554 kb)
  • Kerry Orada: Response to Champeaux's comments (Audio File H-2, 2:02 min., 360 kb)
  • Gerry Gibson: Believes that someimprovements could/should have been made to the Foundry Road RR crossing with that $20,000 to help improve safety, rather than having to return it. (Audio File H-3, 48 seconds, 142 kb)

COUNCILMEMBERS RESPOND TO PUBLIC COMMENTS ON AGENDA ITEMS - SINGLE AUDIO FILE, 4:37 min., 813 kb): Champeaux - Justification as to why he may have seemed like he was "blaming" citizens for the city's return of the $20,000 grant. Slawson - stated he always turns his microphone on. Weidiger - thanked people for coming and sticking around; also stated he, too, always turns his mic on when he speaks. Flower - five more months till the election, hopings folks play nice; appreciates and thanks those who have put their hats in the ring. Kristina Blair - various (below is a transcription of most of her comments). Pro-tem Seehuus - Thanked everyone for coming.

Transcription of K. Blair's comments at the end of her closing statement: "And you know, there's one other thing I'd like to say, uh....regarding our current development dilemma, and, uh...our--our levels of service and the issues going on. And, uh, of course, Mr. [sounds sort of like "dro-gen"?? -- Gerry? Kerry? do you know who's she's talking about? the person was still there.], I can't speak with you regarding your development until the decision has been made. And--and I don't think [unintelliglble]. I'm not anti-development. I just would like to see things done right. I've been talking about this for a couple of years and trying to get these changes, and it's a long, slow, painful process and sometimes it's costly. But we need to go through these things so we don't run into these same issues. It's not just costly....to change...our code and our comprehensive plan, it's costly to go through all of the hearing examiner -- or, uh, the Growth Mgt. Hearing Board appeals. It's very costly for this city. And all of our citizens shoulder the costs for doing that, not--not just one developer or one individual. A--all of our citizens shoulder those costs. And we need to--to stop that as much as possible. We may never stop completely. Not everybody can, um, be happy with the outcome of something, and they have an objection; it's entirely possible. It's never probably going to be perfect. But certainly there's room for an improvement. And that is my only objection to development at all. It's not the develop itself, it's the structure by which our city has placed developers in the position of not being in compliance with our laws. And it's not the developer's fault at all. So I look forward to getting those things changed, and, uh, having good, compliant developments where developers also won't have to spend their attorney fees going to hearings and--and whatnot, and going through the process. Thank you."

Executive Session:  Collective Bargaining and Personnel (no action after session was taken)

NOTES ON OUR DIGITAL RECORDING AND FILES:

  • This audio is accurate and complete. However, we urge that people contact the City directly to obtain the final agenda, and certified minutes, ordinances, resolutions or other documents: City Clerk Laura Koenig 360-793-2231. If you receive the automated message, you can bypass it and go directly to her voicemail by pressing "2" and then the pound (#) sign.
  • As of the October 26, 2006 council meeting, the city began recording meetings using a Morantz MP3 digital recorder, which has records directly from the microphones to the recorder, thus, clearly than the audio we present here, with is captured from "room" sound from a microphone located near the podium. If you wish to secure a copy of the City's audio, contact Clerk Koenig.
  • All of our digital audio files are in MP3 format, playable on Windows Mediaplayer or other MP3-compatible digital device