AUDIO & AGENDA DOCUMENTS
CITY OF SULTAN SEPT. 13, 2007 COUNCIL MEETING

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Agenda Packets & Minutes for this, and previous meetings

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

AUDIO of previous meetings

 

 

AGENDA PACKET AS A SINGLE, COMPLETE 9.0 mb FILE (pdf)

6:30 HEARING - School Impact Fees, Ordinance 959-07 (1.5 mb pdf document): Presentation by Jerry Ellis, Sultan School District Facilities Director. AUDIO in two parts:

7:00 COUNCIL MEETING: Meeting open, pledge of Allegiance, roll call and changes to agenda (Audio 1:00 min., kb)

PRESENTATIONS:

  1. Oath of Office - Police Chief and Officer Recognition (PHOTO) (AUDIO, 1:25 min., kb)
  2. Sewer Rate and General Facility Charge Increase (2.5 mb pdf document) (AUDIO, 5:37 min., 1.0 mb)

PUBLIC COMMENTS:

  • Mike Ingalls (Re Sultan's Comp Plan, Transportation Plan, why FD#5 is at odds with the city.) (Audio 5:57 min.,1.0 mb)
  • Don Jones ("upset" -- doesn't begin to cover his anger at impacts from the High Street trail which borders his property (Audio 5:56 min., 1.0 mb)
  • Josie Fallgatter (re outsourcing for bldg. permits, cautioned that journeyman-licensed plumber needs to be used by city's contract inspector) (Audio 54 seconds, 162 kb)
  • Carolyn Eslick (Various, including her Heritage Bank "Breakfast for Business" workshops) (Audio 2:12 min., 390 kb)
  • Loretta Storm (City grants, consistency in applying employee performance demands/measures; Gregoire's 9/11/07 visit to Sultan/Monroe)) (Audio 2:56 min., 519 kb)
  • Dale Doornek (Re High Street Trail; it's a real problem, especially with current police levels) (Audio 1:15 min., 221 kb)

COUNCIL MEMBER COMMENTS:

STAFF REPORT (Clikc here for written report submitted by D. Knight, good info -- Gives good insight into goals & activities planned for Fourth Quarter 2007, and beyond.) There is no audio file, because it was not even mentioned in the council meeting.)

CLOSED RECORD HEARING: Sportsmen's Club Conditional Use Permit Application, 1.2 mb pdf document (Audio, 11:49 min., 2.1 mb)

CONSENT AGENDA (All documents are pdf files) AUDIO, 21 seconds, 65 kb

  1. Approval of the August 23, 2007 Council Meeting Minutes
  2. Approval of the August 23, 2007 Hearing Minutes on the George 6-Plex
  3. Approval of the August 23, 2007 Public Hearing Minutes on Non-Conforming Use revision to Sultan's code
  4. Approval of Vouchers
  5. Ordinance 963.07 - Lbrary Board Appointments
  6. GMA Grant Application
  7. Skateboard Park Architect
  8. Bureau Veritas - Plan/Building Inspection Contract
  9. Nelson Geotechnical Associates Contract Addendum

ACTION ITEMS:

  1. Resolution 07-22 George 6-Plex Townhouses Approval (pdf document) AUDIO 5:44 min., 1.0 mb
  2. Resolution 07-23 Sportsmen's Club Conditional Use Permit Application (1.2 mb pdf document) AUDIO 2:51 min., 505 kb
  3. Ordinance 955-07 Non-conforming Use Code Revisions - 1st reading (pdf document) AUDIO 1:48 min., 318 kb)
  4. Ordinance 956-07 Sewer Facility General Facilities Charge (GFC; new hook-ups) - 2nd reading (pdf document) AUDIO 2:11 min., 386 kb
  5. Ordinance 961-07 Sewer Monthly Rate Increases - 1st reading (pdf document) AUDIO 3:48 min., 170 kb
  6. Ordinance 962-07 Petty Cash and Cash Drawers - 1st reading (pdf document; also see TRANSCRIPTION of Koenig's comments) AUDIO 2:51 min., 505 kb
  7. Ordinance 959-07 School Impact Fees - 1st reading (pdf document; Click for deeper background re this subject) AUDIO 2:51 min., 503 kb
  8. Bid Award - 140th St. Culverts and Gohr Road Fire Hydrant replacement (pdf document) AUDIO 5:47 min., 1.0 mb
  9. Sultan Basin Road Sidewalk Bid (reject bids) (pdf document) AUDIO 2:21 min., 414 kb
  10. MBR Procurement - Environquip Contract (pdf document) AUDIO 5:37 min., 1.0 mb

DISCUSSION:

Police Chief Salary (pdf document) AUDIO 9:18 min., 1.6 mb

PUBLIC COMMENTS ON AGENDA ITEMS ONLY:

COUNCIL MEMBER COMMENTS/RESPONSE TO PUBLIC COMMENTS ON AGENDA ITEMS:

A single 3:57-min., 687 kb AUDIO FILE file includes all comments by Derek Boyd, Kristina Blair, Ron Wiediger and Steve Slawson.

(Meeting was adjourned for a 20-30 minute executive session 8:53 PM; action was slated for after the session, but we did not wait.)

"Deeper Background" regarding 50% discounts to developers for School impact fees: Little known to many, perhaps most, municipal public officials, but certainly to 99% of the populace, is the fact that the Snohomish County Council, bowing to pressure from the Master Builders Association and other Big Dog pro-development interests, gave a 50% "off the top" discount on the total calculated school impact fee cities can give to developers by which to attract more residential development. Sultan School District's Jerry Ellis mentions this in his presentation. Should the City disallow this 50% discount on school impact fees? It certainly makes developer interests happy, as they will normally pocket that "gift" rather than passing it along to the homeowner in the form of a less-expensive house. Revealing discussions on this subject (and others of interest) are contained within the pdf document linked below. It contains snippets of discussions with Barclays North's David Toyer (in 2003) and members of the City of Marysville city council. Despite Mr. Toyer's disingenuous comments suggesting his altruistic use if given a 50% fee would -- i.e., it would be passed along/"credited" to the new homeowner via a lower house price, this is not true. It doesn't take a genius to read between the lines of this dialogue in the Marysville's Feb. 10, 2003 Minutes (page 2, continuing through the middle of page 3; it was originally posted to our website in mid-2004). And conversations with new Sultan homeowners have revealed that ALL developer fees are passed onto the homeowner, either in the price of the house or as "special" fees, including hook-up fees for water and sewer, impact fees for transportation, park and schools. ALSO OF INTEREST: What are other cities charging? I read an article about 18-24 months ago that gave Issaquah's school impact fees of well over $8,000, along with a statement of that fee's inadequacy in covering the real financial impacts.)

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