Council Meeting: Mar. 3, 2008

• The discussion on the Eisenhower & Carlson contract was removed from the agenda prior to approval (because of the executive session that was held just before this meeting according to Council Member Huson).
• Jane Hunt was appointed to the council as expected. Council Member Hedrick noted that the public was not allowed to interview candidates, but asked if council members were also prohibited from asking questions. Huson told him he should have called the candidates on his own time to ask the candidates any questions. Hendrick noted his struggle with Ms. Hunt after hearing from three people about her false statements during the last campaign that there would not be a response if residents dialed 911 in Ruston. Council Member Albertson noted he saw 3 superb resumes (Hunt, Walker, Carpio), but no one knew more about land use law than Ms. Hunt and she wasn't even a lawyer. The motion passed 3 to 1 with Hedrick voting against. There was no comment on the fact that Ms. Hunt had applied for the wrong council seat.
• The motion and resolution to purchase the new fire engine was approved 5-0.
• Claims and Payroll was approved after the $20,281.72 bill from the City of Tacoma for SWAT services was removed. The mayor noted that a budget amendment would be needed to find money to pay that bill. He encouraged the council to consider renewing the contract Ruston once had with Pierce County Sheriffs office for extraordinary services such as this. The cost would likely have been lower. Council Member Stebner thought we should ask Tacoma if they would like to offer such a contract. The mayor will have the new chief look into what several jurisdictions might offer.
• The mayor wanted to know if Huson was still working on a job description and salary for an in-house attorney and planner. Time was important since we loose our attorney at mid-year. Huson said he was working on it.
• The mayor noted he is still willing to negotiate with the council on budget allocations that he felt were not adequate for town needs.
• The mayor is pursing the contract with Steve Winterbauer (personnel/labor attorney) at $250 per hour with a one year contract.
• The town has received a memo from Tacoma that the Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for Point Ruston is continuing.
• Town planner Carl Sticksrood in working on a white paper on affording housing rules that will apply to Ruston based on a conference he recently attended.
• The mayor will have the clerk check into Ruston seats on local boards that the council should consider filling such at the Growth Management Council.
• Council Member Stebner confirmed that the new police chief has the same salary as the last one.
• Stebner wants the next agenda to note a presentation, but he refused to say what the subject would be.
• Council Member Huson, after some procedural discussion, announced that there will be a study session next Monday, March 10th at 7 pm to discuss the town planner, town attorney, changing Ruston’s form of government and new council rules. After the meeting, he stated the new rules should be available by the end of the week for review prior to the meeting. Future study session agendas will be presented later. (Note: no public comment is allowed at any point during study sessions)
• Council Member Albertson was concerned that no one had been appointed to the civil service commission yet. He knew of two people that had been rejected and he did not like the way the rejection letter had been worded.
• Albertson still felt that the town planner’s bills were too high.
• Albertson had spoken to the assessor’s office and they told him they did not require full plans on building permits. The mayor noted the clerk had been told the opposite, so she will check further. The council requires that all building permits be submitted to the assessor within 24 hours so that new taxes could be assessed on the improvements as soon as possible.
• The mayor encouraged the full council to hold a study session with the current town planner before making a decision on hiring an in-house planner. Council Members Huson and Albertson had met with them in the past and that information should be made available to the full council.
• Several members of the public got their 2 minutes to comment on the votes that had already been taken and the meeting adjourned by about 8:15 pm.