Here is a synopsis of things I found interesting at Monday's meeting. There were other issues discussed, so please attend and hear all the details for yourself. ~ Karen
Mayor Transue was unable to attend the meeting tonight, so Council Member Stebner stepped in as mayor pro-tem.
Police Report: 1) The department has had 4 gang contacts in the last week and are monitoring closely. 2) Chief Reese is researching a Pierce County small city task force for major crimes. The task force members respond to major crimes in members jurisdictions so that these small cities won't have to contract out for services. After the $20,000 bill for the last SWAT team assistance from Tacoma, she felt the council should consider this no cost option. Ruston would have to provide some personnel support. 3) The department assisted in the capture of the artic fox from the zoo last month - quick work by one of our officers saved the day.
Fire Report: 1) The department responded to 4 medical aid calls last month. 2) The newest EMT class has finished. Ruston had 4 fire fighters take the test, plus 2 re-certifications. Results from the test are due soon.
Some neighbors of The Commencement were invited to the meeting by the council to complain about the work being done to underground the utilities to the building. The town's electrical oversight person is to be at the next council meeting to answer questions about what happened. No one else was allowed to comment.
The grant for updating the Master Plan (for the Point Ruston site) is on hold. The council had decided at a study session to proceed with a developers agreement rather than updating Town code. The grant may be allowed to fund public involvement after the agreement is complete. The agreement with Bob Burke will be put on hold as well. The discussion on the Huitt Zollars invoice was also tabled until the mayor could be present, although a representative from the firm was at the meeting.
Ordinance 1251 (budget ordinance for unanticipated expenses) included money to move the utility clerk to full time since the work load has increased significantly. Council Member Hunt wanted to hold her hours at 35 to 37 hours a week to avoid the potential of any overtime. The new town legal consultant on labor and payroll issues is to be at the next meeting to discuss overtime/comp time issues. The budget ordinance passed 5-0, as did Ordinance 1252 (amending the budget to reflect 2007 year end actual account balances).
The new council rules were finally adopted after amendment to move public comment before mayor and council time. The town attorney clarified that she does not have to attend every meeting as directed in the new rules.
The contract for the legal consultant to represent Ruston in the Point Ruston LID development was approved 5-0 after Council Member Albertson requested a change that allowed the council to direct the consultant to attend meetings.
The council approved a motion directing the police chief to take the necessary steps to prepare to purchase a new vehicle. The oldest car will be surplused and the income used to offset the cost of the new car. The department has 5 cars currently.
The proclamation supporting April as National Kite Month was passed.
The Request For Proposals for the Town attorney was passed after the percentages under Selection Criteria was removed (used to judge applicants) and a due date of May 12th for applications was inserted.
The council decided to proceed with hiring Sally Everding to codify the Town codes. (Sally is the administrator for the Ruston Connection web site and wife of former council member Bob Everding who resigned earlier this year). She will be paid $500, which will be donated to the Town pre-Easter event. The council seemed ready to give Ms. Everding authority to correct minor errors if needed. An ordinance will be on the agenda for the next meeting.
Council Member Huson provided something to the clerk to be included in the next newsletter encouraging the public to attend the study session on April 28th. The council is going to allow public comment on the issue of their proposal to change the form of government in Ruston.
Council Member Stebner wants to increase gambling taxes to 20% (currently about 4%). An ordinance will be prepared for the next meeting. He also got council approval to proceed with discussions with Tacoma to have them take over the sewer system.
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8 comments:
It seems to me that the Casino brings in about $60,000 to $70,000 in tax revenue per year to the Town.
What other source in Town pays more?
I'm not one for gambling.But I have yet to hear of any negitive issues
regarding this establishment.
Is it fair to raise taxes by 16%.
I'm not good at math-is that 200%
or 400% increase?
Looks to me like someone wants them out. We stand to lose yet another law suit.
When will we learn.
This targeted tax increase is designed and will put the Point Defiance Casino and it's 300 employees out of business.
The courts have been very harsh on taxing authorities using their POWER TO DESTROY a business.
But this is not surprising following Huson/Albertdon visit to the Casino threatening to shut it down if they did not remove there sign. And when the RC jumped all over it I guess this was a foregone conclusion.
BALLET lawsuit now GAMBOL lawsuit?
I was told to take a look at local web sites that are currently reporting on community events.
Infomaation on local blogs are very important to our decision to invest in a paticular area.
We found this area to be an up and growing community. My company inquired to the Liquor Board about licensing a business in the Town of Ruston. We have been solicited to work with the state (by the state) to have a gambling license in the Town of Ruston.
We have decided against a new business in Ruston because we have heard we would have to deal with a council that does not support new business. Maybe someday soon this attitude will change. We will kep am eye to the future.
I just hope someday soon this community will understand economics and the ability to enjoy the quality of life that a compact mixed use community can provide.
The hope here is to clearly become
a berg of Tacoma.We will be a residential neighborhood with limited business ventures.Unless of course you happen to own property on the water front.
Makes little or no sense,but this is what we have created.We are not just members of NIMBY,we have the President of the club on our Town
council.
Tax the rich,feed the poor,until there is no rich no more.
Alvin Lee
Boosting the Gambling tax from 4% to 20% is absurd. I dislike, gambling, but I dislike over-taxing government a lot more.
This business is bringing in a LOT of revenue for the town. We can't afford to lose them.
I'm getting sick and tired of politicians manipulating business climates based on whether or not they like a certain establishment or not.
If you look at any quality mixed use areas you will find they have a blending of retail, service, and residential. They all co-exist and profit from each others existence. I have yet to see a quality mixed use area that has a casino – can you name one?
Would you buy a condo above a casino? Not sure many people would want one in their backyard - just ask the voters in Tacoma. In fact - maybe we should ask the Ruston voters if they want casinos in their neighborhood. Tacoma set the precedent and Ruston could do a “me too”.
So, either make good money for the town, and $60-$70k isn't enough given what our police department has to deal with - like the shooting in the alley behind the casino? Oh, but our then chief of police was quick to dispel any connection to the casino. So if they weren't patrons then it’s safe to say we all have gun toting people in our alleys at all hours? Not so!
The late night establishments draw unsavory crowds and tax our services. Its time they pay their fair share and help us upgrade our police and fire departments.
Money has to come from somewhere – so you have to pay to play.
Anonymous #6 must have been written by investigator Bill Walker. Just cuz you want it to be because of the casino doesn't make it so.
I don't worry about the gun-toting criminals, it's the mean, crooked politicans and the minority of small-minded petty people in this town that scare me.
A couple of things to think about regarding the casino. Even if we as a community (that means all of us, not just a few in power) decide we don't want this type of business (emphasis on "type", not this one building) then we need to go through the correct process and write that into the zoning code. It is entirely unfair to try to drive this business out of town when they are operating legally.
Compared to the last couple of operations in that building, this is by far the cleanest business, much less of a drain on our public safety resources than the psychedelic rock and roll dive bar that was there before. With the current antagonism against our local businesses by Ruston’s leaders, I expect this building might sit vacant for years, just like Coles has been.
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