We've scanned in and posted a handout from the workshop that contains a good deal of information on this several-year-long project, grown in physical and fiscal size, increasing to two left-turn lanes (eastbound and westbound), and from a projected $515,000 to a current $1.1 million and growing. The recent $159,000 federal grant is a mixed blessing; while it gives money to Sultan with one hand, it triggers complicated federally-mandated compliance measures that takes it away with the other.

Per Jeff Kreschel from Berryman & Heniger: "At the workshop earlier we talked about all the details of the 5^th Street project and how we got to where we are now. And it boils down to a few facts. The city has received an offer for a federal grant to complete the design and then work towards securing funds for the completion of the construction. So you have two options to look at tonight. One requires action by the county and the other requires no action by the council. By taking action tonight, you could transfer lead agency to the Washington State Dept. of Transportation, and we'd notify the Puget Council of Governments on this Friday that that had happened, that the deadline by which we can notify them that that DOT is lead agency. The other option is to take no action tonight and you will retain lead agency status, but it would require entering into a contract with the DOT later for them to be the C.A. for the project, the Certified Agency. And we can deal with the fall-out of no action later. But if you want the state to become the lead agency, you have to make that decision tonight."

No motion or action was taken.

Berryman and Heniger requested the council authorize the mayor to approve the obligation of an additional $107,000 federal grant that's been offered for this project. The Certified Agency (CA) on this project will be the county. A previous $200,000 federal grant has already been obligated, a portion of which will be used to reimburse the county and their consultant, W. H. Pacific, on design work. A meeting was held about two months ago with all interested parties to discuss the best course of action in covering the project's initial costs and this $107,000 grant would also be used for design costs.

The study to determine design alternatives is $200,000. In response to a probe by Jim Porter, Kreschel said, "Well, engineering is involved in estimating costs before costs are actually spent, no matter what the project is. And there are representatives here from DOT that could emphasize that point, I think, better than I can as it involves the state highway. In today's climate you have more onerous environmental permitting, related documentation requirements that increase costs; there's, of course, right-of-way issues associated with this particular project, on and on and on. And then as Gary [Bourne] mentioned earlier, with the use of federal funds there are additional costs that are associated with using those federal grant dollars, just because of the color of the money, if you will. Beyond that, I guess I would look for further comment or input from either of the two DOT representatives who are here, or Gary [Bourne] to comment." Rowe asked Kreschel to estimate when they could bring the results of the study to the council and Kreschel's response was, "The project right now has been delayed somewhat with the issue of right of entry in order to allow… Again, without getting into all the details of the study scope, work scope, there is some environmental investigation that's being done. Again, to try as best as possible and most accurately estimate what those impacts have on the project, as well as right-of-way property acquisition. Because, of course, the ROW on the realignment alternative isn't currently available. The right of entry onto that property has delayed things somewhat, so the schedule that we had at the time the agreement was executed with the county…has been delayed…." Because of the numerous open-ended variables, Kreschel could not give an estimated date when he could report back to the council. [We spoke with Sam Richard of W & & Pacific, the County's consultant on this job, on the afternoon of March 20^th, and he said the right of entry problem was with Sam Wold of the Sultan Saw Shop. He said the problem "is all cleared up. I think Mr. Wold may have been confused about what we wanted." Mr. Richard also added: "We will have to buy some property from him [Wold] eventually, but that's not what the right of entry issue was about."

Planner Rick Cisar: "At your last meeting council did approve the code on first reading with a series of amendments Those were recommendations from WSDOT as well as a recommendation to eliminate the permitting process, the requirement for [unintelligible]. I have incorporated those changes into the ordinance that you have before you this evening. You did receive a separate memo from Thom Graafstra regarding that draft, and I think Thom indicated there seems to be possibly two issues that council might want to discuss this evening. The first is to add, it's a reference to the Scenic Highways [Act], in this case Highway 2. The old code had a reference that we would concur with the code, with the Scenic Vista Act in the event there was a conflict. In researching the Act, the Act does not apply to Highway 2 within corporate limits. It would be my recommendation that we take that reference out of the code you have before you. Thom also referenced political campaign signs. We did go back and modify that section. We increased the time period for 7 to 10 days when the signs have to be removed, and we allowed a maximum size of the [unintelligible], address that. Thom's third issue, again, was the role of the Design Review Board and we've taken that out. So we'd recommend adoption of the code this evening. Again, with condition for the change that we take out the reference to the Scenic Vista Act."

Rob Criswell requested the code stipulate and differentiate calendar days versus week days, because "We've had problems with that in the past," and it was agreed the clarification should b added All ayes except a nay vote from Jeff Everett.

EVERETT WATERLINE CONTRACT: Approved, all ayes.

APPROVAL FOR A 4-WAY STOP SIGN AT GOHR RD-FIRST ST-TROUT FARM RD-WILLOW AVENUE: Approved, all ayes.

LAW ENFORCEMENT UNION CONTRACT: Approved, all ayes, except for Jim Porter, who objected to the salaries and said Police should be lucky they have a job. (By the way, the starting salary for a Sultan police officer is about $33,000. And, yes, they are lucky to have a job these days; anyone who has one is either lucky, smart or already rich. But after tax bites, that's just a nudge over $2,000 per month. How would YOU like to put your life on the line for that, Jimmy?)

DOMESTIC PARTNER INSURANCE COVERAGE: This will be reviewed by the Personnel Committee for recommendations to the council, and brought back for a decision.

CLIFF MORRIS PROPOSAL TO "GIVE" THE CITY AN EASEMENT FOR THE BACKWASH LINE: Stand-in City Attorney Keithley requested this item be removed for public discussion and debated in an executive session; the justification for which is that it involves a potential purchase of real estate. Mr. Morris, who was visibly red in the face and shaking, along with his supporters, were (rightfully) upset that the need for this discussion to be held in an executive session was not communicated two hours earlier at the beginning of the meeting. Then Morris asked (wrongfully) if he could be included in the council's deliberations. (By the way, we did a transcription of an excerpt of the April 4, 2001 council meeting at which this subject was discussed, right after the Tulalip Tribe's David Luzi "found" this ecological disaster for the city, that has suddenly become quite timely. We would urge folks read it, along with other documents associated with the subject of the Backwash line, found on our "Water alternatives" webpage.)

ELECTION DATE FOR CHANGE OF GOVERNMENT BALLOT VOTE: We will be transcribing this exchange in its entirety, along with both the opening and closing public comments on all issues. Bottom line: To us it seemed clear that The Sultan S.I.R.E.s (Self Interests Rule Everything) tried to pull yet another well-planned blindside maneuver, only this time it ended up hitting them smack between the eyes. The wording on city attorney Thom Graafstra's Stipulation and Agreed Order filed with the court on this issue contained "Catch-22" phrasing that, by design or luck, prevented any last-minute changes. Everyone seemed to genuinely be caught off-guard. The Order stipulated that any change to the date must be made 60 days before the agreed-upon May 20^th ballot date, and that is all Criswell and Dalmasso read, apparently. But it also, and somewhat contradictorily, stated that the council must have the school district's decision on whether or not they would use the same election to run their levy, before the date could be revised. And as of Wednesday night they had not yet made the decision. (A copy of the Stipulation and Agreed Order is on our website on the ProSultan page, and there's a main link near the top of the home page. I can't help but wonder where Bart Dalmasso, who was an initiator of this guerilla attack, got a copy of the Agreed Order? Could it be the ittakesgrit.org's website? Did someone from the city give it to him? Or did he have to make and pay for a formal public information request, as we always have to do?)

ED "CHEEKO"BOUCHER SCREAMS "FOUL!" ON THE CITY'S USE OF G.R.I.T. TRANSCRIPTIONS: Mr. Boucher, supported by his son, Councilman Dusty Boucher, made a strong stand against the city's occasional use of our transcriptions for clarification of councilmember comments. My own brief public comments in response to Cheeko Boucher's invective on this subject were shouted down by Mr. Boucher from his position in the back of the room. (Not surprisingly, we WILL be doing a transcription of this exchange.)