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PSPP030822PUBLIC SAFETY, PERSONNEL & PLANNING COMMITTEE MEETING March 8, 2022 Elected Officials Participating Virtually Councilmember Laura Johnson (Chair) Councilmember Susan Paine Councilmembers Presenting Virtually Councilmember Will Chen Council President Vivian Olson CALL TO ORDER Staff Participating Virtually Jessica Neill Hoyson, HR Director Michelle Bennett, Police Chief Doug Merriman, Interim Comm. Serv. & Econ. Dev. Dir. Scott Passey, City Clerk Dave Rhode, GIS Analyst The Edmonds City Council virtual online PSPP Committee meeting was called to order at 5:00 p.m. by Councilmember L. Johnson. 2. COMMITTEE BUSINESS 1. City Recruitment Update Ms. Neill Hoyson advised although recruitment is underway for a multitude of positions, this will be an update on the Community Services & Economic Development Director (CSED) and the Public Works Director positions which remain open until filled with applications reviewed in batches. The CSED position was posted in mid -November, of the 30 applications reviewed mid -December, 16 were disqualified during review for minimum qualifications. The remaining 14 were sent a list of written questions to which 10 responded and 3 of those 10 candidates moved on in the process. After review of an additional 11 applicants, 6 were sent written questions to which 3 responded and will move on in the process. Former CSED Patrick Doherty is assisting with scoring the written responses; interviews will likely be held late March. Filling the position will depend on the timing of council interviews and confirmation as well as when the candidate is able to start. The Public Works Director position was posted mid -January and the first review of 12 applicants occurred early February; 2 were disqualified and the remaining 10 were sent written questions to which 8 responded. The written responses are currently being reviewed. A second group of 6 applicants were reviewed, 3 were disqualified and 3 were sent written question and have until March 131" to return responses. Interviews are anticipated to occur in early April and the timing to fill the position depends on the same steps as the CSED position. With regard to the WWTP, there have been difficulties staffing and there has been quite a bit of turnover. The City is currently in bargaining with the Teamsters union for their full contract which covers WWTP as well as the rest of Public Works and Parks. The union wanted to wait to implement the compensation study done for WWTP positions until the full contract was bargained; the City made the decision to reclassify the current WWTP staff based on their certification as operators which provides them additional compensation which will, a) hopefully reduce turnover, and b) allow posting the operator positions with a higher pay range based on certifications. She was hopefully contract negotiations would also address other issues. With regard to the Assistant Police Chief positions, it is a slightly different process as they are commissioned officers. Two candidates received conditional offers of employment; the City is legally required to provide conditional offers prior to their psychological evaluation and physical because an offer cannot be rescinded based on something learned from either of those protected under ADA. Both 03/08/22 PSPP Committee Minutes, Page 2 candidates have completed their psychological evaluations and offers are being finalized. Chief Bennett plans to come to council to request additional vacation leave for those positions. Action: Update only. 2. Conversation with Administration about Police Station and/or other City Building Relocation Councilmember Chen reviewed: • Background/History o For the 2022 budget amendment process Councilmember Chen suggested a budget amendment to study moving the police station to Highway 99 to improve efficiency and effectiveness of delivering public safety to this o It was remanded to committee to get more definition of what would be studied o Considering relocation of the Public Safety Facility to Highway 99 was encouraged by the EDC four years ago and again in the last two years (see attachments 2, 3 and 4) o This relocation also supports bigger picture recommendations the EDC made for the Highway 99 subarea in 2017 (attachment 5) • Recommendation o Discuss the request and parameters for the study and stakeholder input about the various options • Examples of where police services are in high demand 0 7-Eleven Store by Edmonds Safeway - clerk murdered February 24, 2020 and since then multiple break-ins. Store closed today due to many issues/violence o Plum Tree Plaza arson fire 9/11/21. Shutdown 14 businesses, many owned by minority and POC including artists that were displaced and not coming back • Resident feedback o Police need to be close to where the crimes are being committed. It's not rocket science and it's not downtown. It should be somewhere directly on Highway 99 like they've done in Shoreline o This idea came up when I was on city council, and I supported it but a majority on the council did not like it. I think it is time to spread the reach of our city beyond the bowl and this would be a good way to do it. I still support it and would also support putting the municipal court on Highway 99 as well. I would move city hall offices to the current police station and sell the current city hall building to pay for it all. o Would moving both city hall and the police station create greater or less accessibility to Edmonds' citizens? o Which demographic groups might benefit more, or less? o Would moving just the city hall or the police create more or less equity? o What would moving he police closer to our higher crime area on Highway 99 mean for response times across our city? o What would it mean for folks who live in the bowl or in other Edmonds districts? o The majority of the criminality happens in the greater Highway 99 corridor and some other commercial areas — not in the bowl. So just from a quicker -response perspective it might make sense to locate in one of other areas Options o Relocation of the entire public safety complex to Highway 99 o Maintaining the public safety complex in current location and adding a police station annex on Highway 99 o Relocation of city hall from current location to Highway 99 (and getting rid of the city hall annex there when it opens) o Maintaining the city hall in its current location with a city hall annex on Highway 99 as it is now. Court services stay as is (split between main court and the city hall annex on Highway 99) 03/08/22 PSPP Committee Minutes, Page 3 o Court moved to Hwy 99 Other potential questions for the study o What are the values of all above mentioned city properties if any sold to fund the new projects? o What are the estimated costs of properties that could accommodate the desired facilities in the desired location(s)? o If building something new, what is estimated construction cost? o If changing current use of building, what is best use of that building and/or site? Council President Olson was happy to be having this conversation; the City is fortunate to have many great minds and fresh new lenses with new directors and acting directors who have a lot of experience. She looked forward to involving the administration, boards/commissions, etc. to get everybody's input on the value and pros/cons to finetune the asks of a study that could be included in the 2023 budget. Questions and discussion followed regarding the impetus for moving public safety, concern the impetus was not public safety as evidenced by comments during the budget redo about the possibility of demolishing the public safety building for a parking lot and the EDC's previous discussion about this topic, the outreach process and research to date, recommendations in the police audit, estimated cost to move public safety, how this item fits into police department priorities, crime prevention though environmental design, and whether having more people on the street via increased density decreases crime. Questions and discussion continued regarding improvements on Highway 99 in Shoreline that resulted in crime -generating uses leaving, whether moving the police station to Highway 99 would improve response times, officers assigned to and patrolling in districts, other priorities the police department is working on, whether there is value in a heavier police presence on Highway 99, data analysis of crimes and call loads on Highway 99, signage at the Highway 99 community office, need for additional staff as density increases on Highway 99, impact fees for public safety, whether the City has the bandwidth to undertake a study, and a suggestion to have the EDC and Planning Board include this on their work program in next 3-4 months. Committee requests: ➢ Send committee members the PowerPoint ➢ Chief Bennett send committee members the police audit and recommendations Action: Come back to PSPP Committee with answers to whether staff have the bandwidth to undertake a study, a ballpark regarding the cost, and how it would impact other projects. 3. ADJOURN The meeting was adjourned at 6:00 p.m.