August 9, 2007 City of Sultan Council Meeting
AGENDA DOCUMENTS & AUDIO


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SULTAN CITY COUNCIL MEETING AGENDA
319 MAIN STREET
August 9th, 2007

6:00 PM Public Hearing - Storm Water Utility Formation (2.3 mb pdf document) [audio will follow 8/12)
6:00 PM Public Hearing - Sewer Rates/General Facility Charges Increases (1.2 mb pdf document) [audio will follow 8/12)

7:00 PM CALL TO ORDER - Pledge of Allegiance and Roll Call, changes to agenda. Derek Boyd was absent (again), as was Mayor Tolson (Audio File A, 1:00 min., 177 kb)

COMMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC:

  • Loretta Storm: Regarding: Council's review to increase salary range for the Sultan Police Chief (when only a couple of months ago the city's budget wouldn't allow more than a 10% increase for Walser; correction of Bart Dalmasso's statement in 7/16 council mtg. that citizens were responsible for the "Thank you, Walser!" signs blocking the Sultan Entrance sign near the Red Apple; came across an Aug., 2002 transcription re Rowe's suspension of Walser, without cause/explanation and without any civil service hearing and statement by Carolyn Case at that meeting re poor treatment of the SPD by the city...Request for Mayor Tolson's status, his whereabouts (John Seehuus has been serving as Mayor Pro-tem since mid-July -- there are lots of rumors flying about, one of which is that he's resigning as mayor -- an excellent idea, in our opinion -- and another that he's been asked to take a leave of absence from his church. [Later, during Mayor Pro-tem John Seehuus' comment period, Admin. D. Knight stated the following re Mayor Tolson's absence: "The mayor is on vacation and he will be back in Septem-August 17th. He is currently in Alaska. And prior to that he was visiting family in Spokane." Earlier that day I had been told by a city employee that he had been visiting city hall that same day.] (Audio File B-1, 2:50 min., 500 kb)
  • Josie Fallgatter: Re city's proposed action to approve the 6-year TIP when its transportation plan is currently non-compliant, as ruled by the Growth Mgt. Hearings Board....Re coordination with Snohomish County's transportation plan (city's plan shows new county roads not included in the county's road plan)....Re why developers' request to elminate key codes in Sultan's PUD subdivision will emasculate the purpose of the PUD -- llikened the offer by the Skyridge developers to pay for the Comprehensive Plan and code revision amendments to a study proving the link to smoking and health problems paid for by tobacco companies. (Audio File B-2, 6:56 min., 1.2 mb)

COUNCILMEMBER COMMENTS

  • Blair - Chgs. to TIP; corrdination between jurisdictions ideal but not always practical; feel some may never be satisfied with Sultan's Comp Plan. She believes it's time to do another "Vision" plan for Sultan, as Vision 2020 was done 10 years ago, demographics have changed. People should help with the process, not hinder it or complain later. (Audio File C-1, 2:36 min., 459 kb)
  • Jim Flower - Thanked folks for coming. Will hold comments until later. (Audio File C-2, 10 seconds, 32 kb)
  • Ron Wiediger - No comments (Audio File C-3, 5 seconds, 17 kb)
  • Steve Slawson - Frustrated with input he receives from others: "Tell me what you want me to do." (Audio File C-4, 53 seconds, 157 kb)
  • Bruce Champeaux - No comment (included in Seehuus comment below)
  • John Seehuus - Understood Mayor Tolson was on vacation. Aksed for clarification from Admin. D. Knight (refer to explanation in L. Storm's public cmt, above) (Audio File C-5, 37 seconds, 112 kb)

STAFF REPORTS- Written Reports Submitted [G.R.I.T. NOTE: Using this statement in the agenda packet is a recent practice. However, excluding the availability of these staff reports (as a separate attachment somewhere on the city's council agenda webpage for viewing) absolutely needs to be improved. The reference that these have been "submitted" without making the reports available to citizens online, is inadequate.]

CONSENT AGENDA: (Audio File D, 26 seconds, 78 kb)

1. Approval of the July 26th 2007 Council Meeting Minutes (pdf doc)
2. Approval of the July 26th 2007 Budget Public Hearing Minutes (pdf doc)
3. Approval of the July 26th 2007 Transportation Improvement Program Public Hearing Minutes (pdf doc)
4. Approval of Vouchers (pdf doc)
5. Special Event Permit (pdf doc)


ACTION ITEMS:

  1. Resolution 07-14 Transportation Improvement Program (769 kb pdf document) (Audio File E, 13:04 min.,2.3 mb)
    *Attachment 1 (545 kb pdf document)
  2. Chief of Police hiring process (577 kb pdf document) [G.R.I.T. Note: This action item was requested by Mayor Pro-tem Seehuus to be moved to the Discussion agenda as discussion item #3. See "Discussion" below, for audio file.]
  3. Ordinance 954-07 - 2007 Budget Amendment (817 kb pdf document) (Audio split into three files: File F-1, 20:17 min., 1.8 mb.... File F-2, 12:02 min., 2.1 mb....and File F-3, 3:41 min., 649 kb. (For a TRANSCRIPTION of audio File F-3, click here.)
  4. AJ's Place - Request for Extension (183 kb pdf document) (Audio File G, 3:15 min., 573 kb)
  5. Resolution 07-17 - Open Space Dedication (683 kb pdf document) (Audio File H, 6:53 min., 1.2 mb)
  6. Resolution 07-16 - Steen Park Final Plat Approval (295 kb pdf document) (Audio File I, 5:31 min., 1.0 mb)
  7. 2007 Watershed Thinning Contract (819 kb pdf document) (Audio File J, 5:27 min., 1.0 mb)

DISCUSSION:

  1. No Parking Zones (328 kb pdf document) (Audio File K, 4:35 min., 809 kb)
  2. Developer Agreements (682 kb pdf document) (Audio File L, 8:27 min., 1.5 mb)
  3. (Action Agenda Item #2 moved to discussion: Chief of Police Hiring/Salary Process (577 kb pdf document) (Audio in three files: File M-1, 8:54 min., 1.5 mb....File M-2, 9:38 min., 1.7 mb.....File M-3, 11:07 min., 2.0 mb)

PUBLIC COMMENT ON AGENDA ITEMS ONLY

  • Loretta Storm - Response to K. Blair's and Steve Slawson's opening C/M comments; and Blair's negative inferences to schedule kept by SPD Chief Walser. (Audio File N-1, 3:30 min., kb)
  • Josie Fallgatter - Re SPD management plan requested by Jim Flower; developer agreement issue; response to Slawson's comment re lack of support by some citizens for any initiative; response to Blair's comment re non-involvement (she has volunteered to help the city numerous times, i.e., help make the SMC consistent, and other items needed revision, and the city has rejected her expertise and offer). (Audio File N-2, 4:18 min., 757 kb)
  • Gerry Gibson - Many citizens have worked hard this year trying to keep the police local, yet somehow the city is down to only four officers. Re the developers offer to "donate" and contribute, if they really want to help, pay for a fully-staffed PD. (Audio File N-3, 2:07 min., 373 kb)
  • Garth York - Re developer agreements and response to previous comments. (Audio File N-4, 3:26 min., 607 kb)

COUNCILMEMBER RESPONSE TO PUBLIC COMMENT ON AGENDA ITEMS

All council member comments: Audio File O, 13:08 min., 2.3 mb

Public portion of the meeting adjourned at 9:46; then council went into executive session.

Transcription of Audio file F-3 re Ord. 954-07, 2007 Budget Amendment: Attempt by Sultan Police Dept. Cpl. Berg to speak was blocked by City Admin. Knight, but overruled by council:

City Admin Knight: "I haven't had an opportunity to speak with, um, Mr. Berg about his comments, um, this evening. So I would prefer if the council would allow me an opportunity to speak with Mr. Berg, and if he has additional comments, to come back and speak with you at second reading rather than having them aired at this meeting. That--that is the council decision."

C/M Steve Slawson Agrees: "Personally, I would like not to hear his comments until you have a moment to talk to him. I hate to, uh....have something come out to the public and then....[sounds like, "which cause the force to"] have more danger on their side."

Council's informal poll to let Berg speak(in order of vote): Slawson, nay; Flower, Seehuus, Champeaux and Wiediger, ayes (which, with Boyd's absence) constituted a majority vote; at that point Pro-tem Seehuus did not poll C/M Blair.

SPD Cpl. Berg's Statement: "The only thing that I'd like to….bring up here is caution, uh….cutting the police department and four people at this time. I think that with some of the unstable ground that's happening right now, I've got a sense that there's going to be some vacancies anyways. And to--to make a quick decision to remove people out of that position, is going to get us into some real hot water with less than four people, I think real quick, if some people decide to leave and take jobs elsewhere. It's the only thing I want to bring up is that, again, caution what decision you make at this time. We may have an opportunity where we don't have to get rid of somebody because that attrition will take over, we'd be [sounds like he says, "out"] of those four people by a certain time, maybe by the end of the year, and maybe a couple of months. But not to hastily make a decision to cut to four, and then have us down to two, if--if two people decide to leave, or down to three if one person decides to leave. It kind of puts us in a bind. And we're in a bind already. So, again, I just want to caution that -- that­that portion of that decision. And that's all I have to say."

 

 

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.
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