Council Meeting: April 20, 2009

It's taken me awhile to get the tape reviewed from the last council meeting. The background information given at the meeting is available on Ruston Reports. Here is what I found interesting. Please attend the next meeting for yourself on Monday night at 7 pm.
Karen
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Things began on time with all elected officials present.

Staff Reports
Fire: Chief Torbet thought it might be time to ban fireworks in Ruston because non-residents come into town and shoot them from the street. Any change has to be done a year in advance, so nothing will happen this year. This 4th of July, Ruston residents can get fireworks permits. The permit must be obtained at town hall 30 days in advance to shoot Safe and Sane fireworks from your private property.

Police: Chief Kunkel thanked everyone for a successful Easter Egg Hunt. On Sunday, May 3rd the Tacoma City Marathon will make its way through Ruston. The tunnel will be closed and runners will come up 51st to Shirley, then down to 54th to the park. He reported that LESA will cut $1400 from our 2009 costs. Oral boards were held this month for reserve officers. One applicant passed and is undergoing a background check.

Business
Ordinance 1280 – Designating permitted off leash areas: The council had received a letter from the town maintenance department. Council Member Albertson wanted to hold off on a decision until they could talk in person to the maintenance guys. Council Member Stebner was surprised they are not at meeting tonight to talk to the council. Albertson reported that Steve Taylor (maintenance supervisor) has concerns with current plans. Council Member Hedrick was concerned that the town has a known liability with the current situation. Albertson thought that charging a fee for access to the park may remove a statutory immunity granted by the state for recreational use. The town town attorney thought charging for dog area only removed immunity in that area. Albertson wanted to ask the town’s insurance company what they think. Stebner now wanted to require that dogs use two gates that automatically open to get to the off leash area.

Hedrick wanted the policy posted at the park. The town attorney said he has come to these meetings thinking this ordinance will be passed each time. If the council wants to continue to deliberate the issue, they should remove the allowance for off-leash dogs while they sort this out. After 40 minutes of discussion, the council decided to have everyone working on the issue do their research and get their findings to the rest of council by next Tuesday. If any council member has concerns or other issues they are to notify everyone immediately so it can be researched and a final decision made at the next council meeting. Hunt made a motion to require leashes for dogs at the park immediately, which passed 3-2. (Hedrick, Huson voted no).

Ordinance 1283 - setting new sewer rates: passed 5-0

Resolution 442 - Recycling contract: for one year with Tacoma Recycle passed 5-0

Annexation discussion: Albertson wanted to know the timeline on discussions with Tacoma for annexation. Mayor Hopkins said Tacoma wanted to hear what Ruston citizens wanted before moving forward. Hedrick recalled Tacoma was willing to look at providing services. He thought Tacoma Mayor Baarsma said Ruston did not need to negotiate for annexation with Tacoma first, but could move forward via state law if we wanted. Albertson wants Baarsma and the Tacoma City Manager to come to a meeting in Ruston to answer people’s questions. Albertson said Stebner had an idea to rent tent for a meeting at the dog park. The Chinese Christian Church also might be available if someone makes a donation to the church.

Mayor Hopkins noted this is a difficult situation, knowing who drives this issue. Hedrick said that Baarsama made it clear that Tacoma was not going to drive it. If someone wants to pursue annexation, they have to get it on the ballot to vote to disincorporate. Albertson did not think Ruston would have to disincorporate. The town attorney reminded the council that he has sent out a memorandum on the methods to annex. He would advise not taking this route since it would leave residents as a island of unincorporated county. He found 3 different methods to annex in state statute. 2 required a popular vote in area being annexed, the other involves a right to object which would then place the issue on the ballot. There are lots of hoops to jump through on all 3. He pointed out the town is discussing contracting options also.

Albertson said his research found that annexation could be done with an affirmative vote of both councils. But all the officials claim to want to hear from the people first. He still wants to set up time for Tacoma to come explain to Ruston what the benefits are to Ruston and to Tacoma for becoming part of the city, maybe even talk about the negatives. Stebner wanted to see if the church would host and contact Tacoma to set up the meeting right away. The attorney wanted to wait until Tacoma had responded to next round of questions Ruston is drafting right now. Hopkins will get a list of questions and services for Tacoma to consider out for council review by next week.

Council Member Hunt noted two things are going on – Albertson and Stebner want annexation (no protests or correction from either to that statement). At the same time there are people in the community who don’t want to annex, but some of those are willing to look at contracting with Tacoma for services. Hopkins did not think it was good to mix the two issues. He felt the town should get answers on contracting issues before annexation discussions. Albertson and Stebner wanted all options explored now.

Abandoning consolidation of the Town Clerk and Treasurer: Albertson wanted to discuss separating the functions of the town Clerk-Treasurer into two positions. He stressed the idea was based on the preliminary audit that showed concerns about Ruston current structure, not on any particular person. The audit findings are not public yet. The new treasurer would be an elected and essentially unpaid position like current council members. The town attorney stated the council could change the structure by a majority vote, but that would create problems since the town is in collective bargaining negotiations with its employees. Albertson wants to talk to the town’s labor attorney to find a solution. Discussions were curtailed since the audit findings are not released yet.

Resolution 443 - Authorizing payment of private lawsuit: This settlement would give $3,500 to Jim Wingard for his lawsuit about public disclosure violations. Albertson was absolutely appalled at the settlement. He did not like that Mr. Wingard had protested having the council’s actions lead to so many lawsuits, yet one of the suits were from him. He was also concerned that same attorney that represents Wingard had represent others who sued the town, which raised ethical questions for him. Albertson would be voting against the settlement. Hedrick agreed with Albertson on this issue. The public records requests were not clear and he felt they were an abuse of the system. He thought the settlement was nominal, but town has a case on this one. He would support the settlement because kept the issue out of court. The settlement passed 3-2 (Albertson and Stebner voting no).

Claims and payroll: passed 3-1-1 (Albertson no, Stebner abstained)

Public Comment
Jim Wingard: He has watched the dogs in park and had some close calls with aggressive dogs. He wanted the council to be cautious if they allow dogs off leash. He felt annexation would only mean be one big LID for Ruston residents. He wish hadn’t filed the lawsuit, but he had withdrawn all but one of his information requests.

Sherri Forch: She was not happy with Mr. Wingard. She found it frustrating that the public could not comment on issues as council discussed them. She is on record as somewhat opposed to annexation, but did not think the town had ever faced this situation before. She wanted to know if the utility clerk was getting paid $60,000 per year. She lived in town after the smelter closed down. Ruston survived then by tightening the belt; no architects, attorneys or consultants. Paying these kinds of wages, the town can’t survive. The mayor pointed out that the utility clerk's salary (including all benefits) is only $48,000 per year.

Beth Torbet: She thought the council is spending too much time and cost on a dog park. She was not interested in a sales pitch from Tacoma on annexation. She could research the issue on her own. Using the council’s words, she was “absolutely appalled” at the council’s incessant push for annexation under the guise of education. She wanted to know where the efforts were for other options; the council is only talking about Tacoma. Ruston’s services are who we are. We expect our services to be for us, not sold out to Tacoma.

Mayor’s time
He and his wife dined at one of their favorite restaurants recently and found out they will be opening a new restaurant at Point Ruston. He also ran into some former neighbors who used to live in Ruston. They mentioned how they missed Ruston, even though they now only live 2 blocks outside town. Those two exchanges had really sent the message home for him that you can have a Proctor District, a North End District, but it was not the same. This town binds its people together. Those observations had him evaluating what our strengths are, why Ruston should be Ruston.

The court clerk has given her notice. He is working with the town clerk to fill out the application for the new sewer loan. Everyone is optimistic about securing the $1.25 million loan. Ruston is responsible for $250,000 of that, which is $50,000 below what the town budgeted for the year.

Council Time
Stebner wanted to know when the auditors report would be finalized. He will want a study session with them. He had some questions on the sewer design. He did not like that council member names were still being put on the agenda with any items they put on for discussion. He wanted all agenda items to list someone’s name, even if it was the mayor for the administrative issues. The rest of the council did not agree.

Huson thanked everyone for their help with the Easter event. He also thanked the mayor for all he was doing behind the scenes to make Ruston a place we want to live.

Hedrick also thanked everyone for the Easter Egg Hunt. He wanted to know if the auditor did an exit interview. The clerk confirmed they did. She had sent out an email to the council but no one responded. He felt there was a problem with the school lease and that the town was collecting leasehold tax.

Albertson did not have anything.

Hunt confirmed that the alarm permits were not proposed as a way to make money, but to organize the way the town handled the issue.

The meeting adjourned about 8:45 pm.