Mayor Hawkins called the meeting to order with Councilmembers Minder, Price, Amenn, Hunt, and Turner present. City Clerk Gilleland and Public Works Director Light were also present.

Mayor Hawkins reminded Council that a workshop has been scheduled for tomorrow night, before the regular meeting, from 5 to 6:30 PM in case Council can’t get through the items on the workshop agenda tonight. Council has the option of not holding that workshop if they finish everything. She also announced that an Executive Session on litigation would be added to tomorrow night’s meeting agenda.

She announced the purpose of the workshop tonight is to finish reviewing the fee schedule, with the exception of the proposed Storm Drainage issue, and to discuss revisions to Council rules and procedures. She explained the storm water utility proposal needs further research and development by staff, the engineers, and the attorney. Council chose to finish the fee schedule before starting a new project.

Mayor Hawkins reported that water fees and copy charges are left to discuss. Discussion of the impact fees is postponed in order for the engineers to research them. She also reported that Councilmember Turner, based on his additional research, has informed her that the cat control/licensing issue is too costly and complicated for the City to pursue. He recommends dropping the issue. She suggested the discussion start with staff recommendations for fee changes.

Public Works Director Light suggested the fee for disconnect for non-payment of water bills, be combined (turn on/turn off), and be reduced from a total of $70 to a total of $50. After discussion, Council agreed. Staff has no other issues other than offering input on fees as Council discusses them. Mayor Hawkins then asked Councilmember Amenn to present his issues regarding the water fees.

Councilmember Amenn explained he has issues with multifamily rates and asked for an explanation from staff. He also has an issue that he believes the City doesn’t have enough funds to operate the water system and Council should consider raising the rates higher. His third issue is that various water revenue collections and accounting transfers are not being accomplished according to his expectations.

City Clerk Gilleland explained that transfers have been done in previous years on an as needed basis throughout the year, not on a monthly basis. The Water Fund did not have a sufficient balance carry forward this year to meet first of year expenses and transfers have not been accomplished on the same schedule as previous years. She explained how the $2 "component" came into effect last year, how the 10% calculation for transfer came about, and the budgeting process. She stated that part of her recommendations in the future would be to reduce the percentage transfer to 5% to allow additional operating revenue and to drop the "component" separation from the fee schedule. Much discussion followed.

Public Works Director Light explained that the difference between single family and multi-family is based on engineering structured models. All communities have a difference between various uses in their water system rates. Mayor Hawkins provided additional reasons for the difference, including household size, lot size, yards, water usage, etc.

More discussion followed, during which Councilmember Amenn suggested eliminating the recycle fee, increase water rate by $3, and create a utility tax on the PUD water service in Creekside. He was informed that the City couldn’t impose a utility tax on another municipal utility. It was the majority opinion of the Council that eliminating recycling service would not be done.

Mayor Hawkins asked for the discussion to move on to finish the fee schedule. The majority of the Council wished to address Councilmember Amenn’s issues during the future review of the Water Comp Plan and Budget workshops. Council moved on to Animal fees.

Councilmember Amenn requested an overview of the cat licensing and enforcement issue and Councilmember Turner provided information from his research. Discussion followed.

Mayor Hawkins asked Council if they wished to add a Special Events fee to cover events that would entail closing a street, such as parades, street dance, and things that wouldn’t fall under a right of way use permit, such as reservation of a city property or facility. Some discussion followed. Staff time would entail permit paperwork, review of the request, possible provision of barricades or staff assistance for cleanup after the event. After discussion, Council consensus established a fee of $25 plus a deposit of $100 to cover staff costs, if any. Private, non-profit or City sponsored events would be exempt. The Council could develop a more detailed policy at a later date.

Mayor Hawkins called a five-minute recess. The meeting reconvened after the break. Because it was getting late, it was decided to finish the fees and adjourn the meeting. Discussion on Council procedures would be scheduled later.

City Clerk Gilleland provided suggested fees for various copying requests based on cost of the material (tapes, CDs, etc.). Discussion followed. The majority of the Council agreed to set fees as follows: Faxes $1 per page; Audio Tapes $5 each; CDs $7 each; the first 10 pages of copying a document will be free, then $0.15 for each page thereafter, plus $5 for staff time.

After further discussion, Council determined that three packets would be made available for each Council meeting for citizens and if these three are picked up by the public, additional requests for a packet will be charged copying fees as set.

City Clerk Gilleland stated that the residential variance fee isn’t sufficient to cover the amount of work involved but staff hasn’t had time to research other cities’ charges for land use issues. She suggested deferring working on these fees until the AWC survey comes out. After discussion, Council consensus was to work on them when impact fees and others are discussed.

Councilmember Amenn asked Council to consider setting fees to allow fireworks and to sell fireworks in town. Discussion followed. The majority of the Council stated the City couldn’t set fees for something that is prohibited by City Code.

Council agreed to cancel the work session before tomorrow night’s meeting and to add the Council rules and procedures discussion to the regular meeting agenda.

There being no further business, the meeting adjourned by motion of Councilmember Hunt.

ATTEST: ________________________

Colleen Hawkins, Mayor

________________________________

Hester Gilleland, City Clerk-Treasurer