19730501 City Council Minutes450
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A motion was made by Councilman Nordquist, seconded by Councilman Tuson that
the low bid of Cascade Tractor Co. be accepted for the Flail Highway Mower
in the amount of $9,266.32. The motion carried.
FINANCIAL REPORT FOR FIRST QUARTER 1973
Finance Director Allen Tuttle gave a brief report on first quarter finances
for 1973. He noted that a summary of the financial operations of the city
had been distributed to each council member, including charts, and he then
asked if council had any questions to ask him in regard to the finances.
Councilman Tuson asked how much money there was in the general fund. Mr.
Tuttle answered that this fund was substantially in the red at the present
time. Councilwoman Shippen asked if this was a common situation, and it was
stated that this was common at this time of year due to receipt of tax
monies, etc. Councilman Nordquist inquired about the million dollars
that was not budgeted, according to the letter accompanying the charts
received. Mr. Tuttle answered that this was the refunding issue. There
were then questions from council on the Savings and Loan banks, after
Councilman Tuson noted that many of these listed were out of town. Mayor
Harrison remarked that he felt we should limit this use to local banks, and
Councilmen Tuson and Nordquist agreed that it would be better to keep the
city money invested in local banks as much as possible. Mr. Tuttle said
these perimeter banks do business with Edmonds citizens, but it was felt by
council that all things being equal, the.city should bank locally whenever
possible.
There were questions on miscellaneous revenue from Councilman Nelson, and
Mr. Tuttle said that this was basically revenue from one department paying
another department. Councilman Nordquist, answering;Mr. Tuttle's question •
as to what council wanted in the way of financial reports, stated that a
quarterly report was a good feed -back, and that council was interested in
the important item of how close we were remaining to the budget.
CAO Whaley remarked that three or four years ago the city had three people
on three sets of books, and the information was not available immediately.
Today, with the equipment that some people felt was extremely expensive,
there are 29 sets of books, all double entry, done by three bookeepers,
and the information is current. He therefore felt the equipment had been
an effective management tool and Allen Tuttle deserves credit for his work
in coordinating this.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF APRIL 17
Minutes of the council meeting of April 17 had been posted, mailed and
distributed. Councilman Nelson noted that on page 4, under the hearing on
the Planning Commission Resolution #404, the roll call vote had resulted
in a tie, but the names of council members voting for or against were not
listed. He stated that Nelson, Tuson and Winters had voted in favor of the
motion, and Gellert, Nordquist and Shippen against. There were no further
corrections, and the minutes were then approved -as corrected.
APPOINTMENT TO METRO TRANSIT BOARD
Mayor'Harrison made the appointment of Councilman John Nordquist to the
Metro Transit Board.
There was no further business to come before council and the meeting •
adjourned at 9:30 P.M.
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Irene Varney Mora , City Clerk Harve H. Harrison, Mayor
May 1, 1973
ROLL CALL
The regular meeting of the Edmonds City Council was called to order at 7:30 PM
by Mayor Harve Harrison, with all council members present except Anderson, who
has been excused until May 15, and Nelson, who arrived at 7:40 PM.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Minutes of the council miTeting of April 24, 1973 had been posted, mailed and
distributed, and with no corrections nor omissions, they were approved as ■
written.
COUNCIL PARTICIPATION
Councilwoman Shippen asked Mr. Whaley when we were going to have a work meeting
regarding water main financing. Mr. Whaley replied that this will be one week
from this Thursday evening, May 10th. Councilman Tuson stated that he would
be gone at that -tithe.
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Councilwoman Shippen said that some one had approached her with a request that
Council endorse an application for a Federal Grant, which would come from the
State Humanities Commission and would go to Edmonds Community College. She
asked if Council ever supported anything like this. She said this grant if for
the purpose of providing three seminars on the "Changing American Family". Mayor
Harrison replied that we have not done so in the past. Councilmen Gellert and
Tuson commented that we should concentrate on pleading our own case for grants
in which we are interested and not o become involved with grants for other
organizations. Councilman Nelson.indi.cated that he would like to see some data
on this, and Councilwoman Shippen said she could _get some details by next week.
Councilman Gellert mentioned that he had seen an article in the Western Sun
regarding ambulance drivers, and that it bothered him that perhaps Edmonds
had lesser standards than surrounding communities with respect -to licensing
ambulance drivers. He asked Police Chief Marlo Foster to comment. Chief
Foster stated that we changed our ordinance last year, and required companies
to police themselves i.e., we don't screen each individual. He said they felt
this was the responsibility of the franchise owner. Along this line, Councilman
Nelson informed the Council that this is out of the city and county's hands
now with the passage of SN 2365. This bill".states that all ordinances are
overruled and the State has taken over the standards with respect to the -
licensing of ambulances and aid cars. This was thought to be a good idea,
since it would provide for uniform rules throughout the State.
Councilman Nordquist stated that several weeks ago the Council had taken action
with regard to an industrial park inside Mountlake Terrace as far as a defini-
tion of secondary treatment. He -has received information that these same people
are considering forming an LID and going out to 220th and hooking on. Council-
man Nordquist asked if this is our line that runs into 220th near Flukes.
Engineer Larson said that the Mountlake Terrace sewers run into our Treatment
Plant Facility. Councilman Nordquist then asked if we can take this type of
load at this time with the expansion of Aurora Village starting? Mr. Larson
said he would say yes, as it was designed for this. In answer to the question
from Councilman Tuson, the City Engineer explained that Mountlake Terrace
would pay their proportionate share of any cost involved in providing secondary
treatment. Following some discussion, Mr. Larson stated that there is a
requirement by law that we should be planning for secondary treatment by
July, 1977, and apparently the EPA is using this particular park as a lever
to make everyone commit themselves and plan for it. There was some more
discussion, during which Councilman Nordquist stated that this industrial park
was an area that was annexed in since the original sewer agreement. He asked
if the original agreement took in a specified geographic area. Mr. Larson
answered that this was an "island" inside the service area.
AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION
Mr. Lee Carpenter, residing at 7615 - 239th Pl. S. W., said that he wished to
speak about 76th Avenue West in the Lake Ballinger Area. He mentioned that
he, and other residents of that area attended the Council Meeting on November
149 1972. At that time, he said, they were told that they would have speed
control signs while the children were present; have control to get the traffic
to two lanes rather than four and parking strips painted in. Subsequently,
they were told that the painting couldn't be done because of inclement weather
and then later, because the paint machine Was broken. He said he.learned the
latter part of last week that buttons would be used instead of paint. He
wondered at the delay and also how the decision had been made to use the
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buttons rather than paint.
Mayor Harrison said that he participated in a discussion on the paint, and
that there is a question in the minds of the staff as to how much paint would
be'needed, how to design the parking markers, whether or not we should take
on this large a maintenance load, etc. He said they were still in a quandary
and would like to open this back up to the Council for reconsideration to
determine just what kind of design might be appropriate for the street markers.
The Mayor then inquired if people do park in the parking -strips. Mr. Carpenter
said that once in a while they park in the parking strip, but most persons
are too nervous to do so since there are many cars passing on the righthand
side; there is a large amount of traffic and the speed used on the street.
The Mayor said he thought it would be a good idea to put a white line nine
feet out from the curb, this line to start 20 feet from the start of a street
and ending 20 feet from the beginning of the next cross -street. He asked for
Mr. Carpenter's opinion, and'he indicated that he would be interested in any-
thing that would keep the traffic from using that as a driving lane. Council-
man Gellert asked if there were more accidents on that stretch*of 76th per
yard of highway than there is on any other four -lane highway in Edmonds? Also
are the traffic violations greater on that particular street than they are
on any other four -lane highway in the City of Edmonds? Chief Foster said
they have "worked" this street consistently since it was widened. At the
beginning they were averaging 20 violators an hour and have now gotten it
down to one violator an hour. As far as accidents are concerned, 76th West
in that area is almost accident free. There has been one accident at 76th
and 244th since the first of the year. He said they are continuing to enforce
the speed limits there and they are working on the truck problem. Chief
Foster advised that the Washington State Truckers Association today put out
a bulletin advising truckers that there will be some enforcement on that street
and that the State Patrol will be out there with us. He also mentioned that
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the law says it is illegal to pass on the right except when the car in front
of you is making a lefthand turn, or when not obstructed by parked cars. He
indicated that these are problems you face whenever you have a nice wide street.
He said painting the street will not make it illegal to drive on the righthand
side, but it might give some indication to the drivers that this is a two-lane
road. There was considerable discussion after which the Mayor said he would
like a motion from the Council for reduced speed limit to 20 miles per hour
during school hours and signed to that effect. Engineer Larson said this
has been done. He said he has already had an estimate for putting in a four-
way flasher•at 236th also. Mayor Harrison then said with respect to the
white lines, he would like to have a line 9 feet out from the curb, 4 inches
wide and have buttons on each end perpendicular to the curb. These lines
should start 20 feet from each curb line. It was pointed out that these would
be reflectorized buttons. Mayor Harrison stated that if there was no objection,
we will proceed with this. No one voiced an objection. One of the persons
in the audience asked when this work would be started and the Mayor said it
could be started within a week or so. At this point, someone mentioned that
the load limit signs are not visible and Engineer Larson said we are getting
additional signs.
RECONSIDERATION OF COUNCIL REQUEST FOR TRAFFIC SIGNAL CONTROL - 76th & 244th
City Engineer, Leif Larson, introduced, Mr. Hoffman, the Traffic Engineer
from District V, who was to discuss the signalization and the channelization
at this particular intersection. Mr. Hoffman reviewed the background leading
to the installation of the signalization at 76th Avenue West and 244th. He
said the Highway Department had done a traffic count recently and he had
been surprised at the amount of traffic using 76th. There is in, --excess of
11,000 cars a day going throught this street., Mr. Hoffman said it is a
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beautifully designed street, and he said this contributed significantly'to
the fact -that there is an almost negligible accident rate on the facility.
He stated that the Highway Department had done a manual count last September
and a quick count last week. This was done during the morning peak hour
between 7:15 and 8:15, which indicated 650 cars in September and 730 last
week. He said this could be indicative of two things: (1) The variance that
you get from day to day in traffic counting; and (2) Employment is on an upward
trend in this area. He said he would ask the City Council to weigh very
carefully any decision it makes -in requesting the Highway Department to revert
back to what originally existed, or elimination of the two -land left turn move-
ment for the southbound traffic. Mr. Hoffman commented further that it is
necessary to have an overall reasonably efficient operation of that intersection.
He said if they reverted back to one left turn signal, it would result in a
lot of those 650 cars stacking up in a single lane on 76th. In reply to a
question from Council, Mr. Hoffman illustrated on the blackboard what he meant
by "chicken tracks". These are buttons visually directing traffic into proper
lanes for turning or going strai# ahead. A great deal of discussion followed.
Mr. Hoffman made the remark that this road is presently carrying 11,000 cars
a day and this is along way from what a two-lane roadway is capable of carrying.
He said he questionsthat there will be any significant impact on volume of
traffic. Councilman Nordquist stated that he had gone out this morning and
counted 247 cars going through that intersection. Of these, 83 that went
through the lefthand lane, headed right for the curb, right across the other
lane which is where the other green arrow is located. Councilman Nordquist
read excerpts from an agreement entered into with the Highway Department in
December, 1968 for the contruction of 76th West along with 205th, and at that
time we obligated ourselves for the cost.of the improvement of that street.
In a supplement to that agreement dated September 1, 19697 it is indicated
that the City owns half of the traffic. signal at 76th and 244th. He asked how
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this light can be changed without entering into an agreement with the City?
Mr. Hoffman stated that the Traffic District is operationally responsible for
that signal and for this reason they do have the prerogative to make operational
changes. He said those agreements are for the financing and construction. He
stated that they do, however, cooperate with the City and council with them
when changes are made.
Roger Bergh, President=Elect of the Ballinger Elementary PTA, and the Leader
of Cub Scout Pack 458, spoke for the group. He•said he would like to take
this opportunity to publicly thank Police Chief, Marlo Foster for addressing
their boys last week.
He said the PTA is very much opposed to the second left turn arrow. Mr. Bergh
stated that it had been brought to their attention that the Highway Department
either has, or will this week, let a demolition contract to dismantle buildings
In the vicintiy of 205th and Aurora. The present schedule calls for starting
construction of a detour on Aurora in December or January. It is the opinion
of the Ballinger PTA members that 76th West would receive more traffic while
Aurora Avenue is being torn up. Councilman Gellert pointed out that the
improvement.on Aurora could ultimately relieve their traffic situation, and
he asked if they would be willing to aid this construction and minimize the
disruption since there will have to -be some detouring temporarily anyway.
Rather than hinder the construction, he thought it would be to their advantage
to let it proceed as quickly as possible. Mr. Bergh again stated that they
did not want two arrow's, and that they realized traffic would build up. It
is their thought that drivers will then start to find another route. Mr.
Carpenter commented that they were looking at about two years before there
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will be relief -from their traffic problems while the overpass is being built.
Councilman Nordquist then'made a motion seconded by Councilman Tuson to urge
the State Highway Department to remove the second left turn green arrow at,
244th and 76th Avenue West. Following a roll call vote, the motion passed,
with Councilmen Gellert and:Nelson voting against.
PROPOSED CHANGES IN ORDINANCE REGULATING DOG LICENSE FEES
Mayor Harrison stated..that-the intent of this proposal is to encourage spaying
and neutering.of dogs. Essentially it is to eliminate the cost of licenses
for spayed and neutered dogs, and to increase the license for unspayed females
to $15.00 and unneutered males to $10.00 and then to provide penalties. Chief
Foster stated that it appeared to him that we had been penalizing the -wrong
people. He said there are a lot of people in town who are very responsible
and this is designed to give them a break and make it a little tougher on
those that are irresponsible. Councilman Gellert remarked to the City Attorney
that he believed we had passed a Referendum that no laws shall be made on
the basis of sex. The.City Attorney, John Wallace, did concede that there is
a $5.00 discrimination in the proposal. Animal Control Office, Richard Waldrop,
stated that he thought this proposal was a very good idea. Since the first
of the year he has picked up 244 dogs, of which 148 were unlicensed: If they
had been licensed he could have returned to the owners more -quickly, and save
the owners the impound fee. Mrs Virginia Knouse-from PAWS, who was in the
audience, said she thought it was a good proposal, but that she would like
to see more uniform laws since animals know no boundaries. She stated that
perhaps it would be -a good idea to hold up on this until we can come up with
some uniform agreement. Councilwoman Shippen pointed out that there is no
one on the City Staff that specializes in this type of'thing and that PAWS
would have to "carry the ball" on coming up with a uniform agreement. Chief
Foster said our.licenses are coming up on July first and hie is going to have
to order licenses. He said'he is very definitely in favor of her idea, however.
Following some discussion, Mayor Harrison said that he would advocate that
the $15.00 fee for unspayed females be reduced to $10.00. A motion was then
made by Councilman Tuson and seconded by Councilwoman Shippen to instruct the
attorney to prepare an ordinance and change the fees to be the same for both
male and female dogs, $10.00 and $10.00. Motion carried.
PROPOSED ORDINANCE PROHIBITING PARKING ON BOTH SIDES OF PUGET DRIVE FROM
9th AVENUE TO 11th AVENUE.
City Engineer, Leif Larson stated that this is an area where the Police
Department has had considerable difficulty involving parking.especially during
activities at the Olympic Elementary School Playground. He said there is a
parking area at the school grounds that apparently the people are not using
and he would recommend that the parking be restricted on Puget Drive for
safety reasons. Councilman Nordquist mentioned that there are a couple of
parents that are handicapped and cannot get out of their cars in order to
watch their children. A motion was then made by Councilman Nordquist and
seconded by Councilman Gellert to pass Ordinance 41658 prohibiting parking
on both sides of Puget Drive from 9th Avenue to 11th Avenue. Motion carried.
-PROPOSED ORDINANCE TO AMEND 1973 BUDGET TO CREATE TRANSPORTATION FUND
This is an ordinance of the City of Edmonds amending Ordinance 41629 of said
city and the Final Budget for the City of Edmonds for the fiscal year commencing
January 1-, 1973, creating a "Public Transportation Fund" authorizing the
• transfer of funds from the contingency fund to the Public Transportation
Fund. A motion was made by Councilman Nelson and seconded by Councilman
Gellert to pass Ordinance 41659 to create said. Transportation Fund. Carried.
REPORT ON BIDS - LID #191 - SANITARY SEWERS - VICINITY MEADOWDALE JUIOR HIGH
The bids were opened at 2 PM on April 26th for LID 4191, Sanitary Sewers, with
the City Clerk, City Engineer and Wayne Jones of
Reid, Middleton and Assoc.
present, as well as several people representing
companies submitting bids
and other interested parties. City Engineer, Leif
Larson reported that there
were eleven bidders, and the low bid was submitted
by Wooleys Pipe and Sewer
in the amount of $46,820.00. Mr. Larson stated
that this is a small company
and that they have done one LID with the City of
Edmonds (LID #159). At the
final hearing there were no complaints, and the
final assessment was $1.00.
lower than the preliminary. He said that this particular
bid is about $13,000
below the engineer's estimate and he recommended
award to the low bidder.
The bids were as follows:
Wooleys Pipe & Sewer Instr., Inc.
$469820.00
Aurora Engineering Inc.
507787.50
Roy L. Shong
559880.00
Universal Utility Contractors, Inc.
64;325.00
Shoreline Construction Company
667357.50
Tri State Construction, Inc.
679107.50
O'Leary Construction, Inc.
671147.50
Everett Backhoe Service; Inc.
68,856.00
Coulee Construction Co., Inc.
69,165.00
Taylor Utility Construction Co.
69-9192.50
Eerkes Contracting, Inc.
699485.00
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A motion was made by Councilman Nordquist and seconded by Councilman Tuson
to accept the low bid of-Wooleys Pipe & Sewer Instr., Inc. for the total
amount of the bid of $46,820.00. Motion carried.
There being no further business to come before Council, the meeting was
adjourned at 9:45 PM.
eanor Quealey, Depu City Clerk Harve H. Harrison, Mayor
May 8, 1973
ROLL -CALL
Regular -'-,meeting of the Edmonds City Council was called to order at 7:30 P.M.
by Mayor Harve Harrison with Council members Gellert, Nelson and Shippen
present. Councilman Tuson had given notice that he would be on vacation,
Nordquist notified the City Clerk that he was ill, and Anderson was excused
until May 15. The Mayor stated that [minters had said he would be absent,
Since there was not a quorum, Mayor Harrison declared there could be no
council meeting held for transaction of official business.
INFORMAL DISCUSSION •
Since there were several.people in the audience, Mayor Harrison invited
anyone to speak on an informal basis.
AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION
Mr. Hill Halbert, 13,.Sunset Avenue, complained to council members about
parking on Bell Street between Sunset and Second Avenues now that restric-
tions have been placed on Sunset. He said the ferry commuters now park on
Bell in front of his home, beginning at about 5:30 in the morning and leave
their cars until about 5:00 P.M. These people are noisey, and it is a dis-'
turbance in the neighborhood every day. There are about 8 to 14 cars parked
in one block and the residents there have difficulty parking in their own
driveways and in finding a space in front of their homes for guests. Mr.
Halbert stated that he had spoken to one of the councilmen about this prob-
lem, and he would appreciate it if something could be done about it. Mayor
Harrison asked Mr. Halbert if he could recommend a solution, and the answer
was that perhaps a 2 or 4 hour parking sign would restrict those parkers,
other than for residents' use on the street. City Engineer Leif Larson
reported that Councilman Tuson had contacted him about this problem, and he
had planned to prepare a proposed modification to the previous restriction
ordinance for parking on Sunset, and extend it to Bell. It was noted that
Mrs. Schultz had also talked with the City Engineer about this same subject,
and he had promised to study the situation and modify the ordinance, if
necessary. CAO Ron Whaley suggested that perhaps the city could issue a
courtesy sign to.be placed on the vehicles parked there, telling these
people.they .can use the Great Northern parking area free of charge, and it
would in fact be closer to the ferry. Councilman Gellert questioned if the
city can officially send cars to park in the Great Northern lot. Mayor
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Harrison said he had called the.ferry people and they had told him they were
not about,to go into the parking lot business and this is the city's problem.
City Engineer Larson said there was a possibility the city might have to
extend the "no parking" restriction quite a way from the dock. Councilman
Nelson stated that he favored the sticker-- idea, with the notices being placed
on the parked cars by the Police, to see how well it works. Mayor Harrison
told Engineer.Larson to go ahead with the restricting signs. Councilman
Nelson suggested the notices for the cars say something about -the residents
of the area being concerned about the noise generated by.Raerking here,
and invite them to park free of charge in a designated area elsewhere. The
discussion turned to the 30 foot strip located east of,'and parallel to the
railroad tracks between James and Main Streets, and Engineer Larson noted
that*we could make some diagonal parking there as a temporary_ measure.
Mrs. Ragna Dean, 128 Sunset Avenue, told council members she was speaking
for many people who have the same problem with no sidewalk on one side of
Sunset where there are also blackberry bushes growing out onto the walkway
area. She noted that she walks along this side when going to the Senior
Center, and she mentioned that there will be a problem with caterpillar
nests infesting these bushes. Mrs. Dean said she knew the city has a
nuisance ordinance which covers this. The Mayor then asked -her to please
give the name and address of the property owner where these bushes are to
CAO Whaley, and the city can -contact that person about the problem of the
bushes and caterpillars.
No one else in the audience wished to bring anything before the members
for comment.
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