Study Session: April 28, 2008

The meeting was called to order at about 7:05 pm by the town clerk. Council Members Albertson and Huson were a bit late from a meeting with Point Ruston. Council Member Stebner was at a Boy Scout meeting with his son and arrived about 8:15 pm. Council Member Hedrick was appointed mayor pro-tem (looking a bit surprised).

There was no presentation by City of Tacoma regarding the potential of Tacoma taking over Ruston’s planning and building services. The head of Tacoma's planning department had sent an email asking the Town to formally pass a resolution that authorizes the mayor and two council members to begin negotiations on the issue through the city manager’s office. The resolution will be drafted by Albertson or Huson and sent to the town attorney for review so it can be voted on at the meeting next week.

Council Member Hunt and Huson met with Tacoma Council Member Spiro Manthou (who represents this area of Tacoma). He expressed support of this concept. He will discuss an inter-local agreement with his council members.

Council Member Albertson commented that he thinks the current town planners (Huitt-Zollars) are the Freddy Kruger of Ruston, the council keeps trying to kill them and they won’t die. Someone keeps interfering with the council. He is more than frustrated.

Hunt asked Point Ruston how the plat is coming along. Mr. Cohen said they should be done with the on-site improvements in about 10 days. They will have a list of improvements for the council to bond ready soon. (not sure what this means)

Huson and Hunt went over their handout (below) that outlines the reasons they want to change to a council-manager form of government. Hunt’s research showed most city managers get paid $75,000 to $125,000 annually.

Albertson noted that the council feels they are not getting cooperation from the current mayor, and this change is a way to solve that problem. A hired manager would answer directly to the council, not an elected mayor.

The council noted that there would need to be an "education" of the voters on this issue. Council Member Hedrick cautioned the council that town funds or other support could not be given to a political campaign that is supports one side of an issue like this.

There were 8 residents in attendance with several questions and comments. I’ll let those who attended post their comments here. But an editorial note: during Beth Torbet’s comment time, Albertson was upset that she winked in the direction of the mayor’s table. It’s a friendly gesture that is instinctive to some of us, not a sign of conspiracy or need for public ridicule.

The Huitt-Zollars representative noted that the state is concerned about meeting the timelines for the grant they awarded to Ruston. The town administration feels that to make the Point Ruston developer's agreement work (which cannot be funded by the grant) there are some key updates necessary to Ruston’s codes. She passed out a schedule that correlated to the schedule proposed by Point Ruston to implement these changes:

• Update the Comprehensive Plan to accommodate the Point Ruston plan


• Pass development code that allows for binding site plans such as proposed with the developer’s agreement


• Repeal Ruston Ordinance 1002, which has different requirements for the development than are currently proposed

This work would proceed concurrently with the developer’s agreement and would be funded mostly by the grant. It would ensure that Ruston has laid the necessary foundation for the developer’s agreement and includes a great deal of public involvement.

The grant system provides that Ruston would spend $25,000 by June 30th (which has already been approved by the council and budgeted). Once that condition is met, the state would release another $50,000 in grant money to complete the work. The Town can choose to hire Huitt-Zollars or some other planner to do this work. This issue will be discussed at the next meeting.

There was some discussion about a Memorandum of Understanding that would allow Point Ruston to remove their land use application for the hotel development. Without a pending land use decision, council members would then be free to individually discuss the issue with Point Ruston. (Background: Council members cannot talk about issues privately where they may have to make a “quasi-judicial” ruling, such as land use decision on a specific property. They are supposed to base their decision on the same information provided to the public that would be presented in a public meeting.)

The meeting adorned about 8:30 pm.

Karen