08/10/2010 Finance CommitteeFinance Committee Minutes
August 10, 2010
Attending: Council Members: Bernheim, Buckshnis and Plunkett, Staff members: Phil Williams, Rob English, and
Leonard Yarberry. Public: Roger Hertrich.
Meeting started 6:15 p.m. and ended at 7:00 p.m.
Item A — Hearing Examiners Contract.
Council President Bernheim did a presentation that the following cities utilize the same hearing examiner and pay an
hourly rate of $120 to $140 an hour: Maple Valley $120 since 8/06 and not to exceed $50K; Everett 2/09 $120 hr to
$10K max; Fife $120 hr since 2/07; Enumclaw $140 hr since 12/07 and Redmond $140 hr since 12/09. We pay retainer
of $3.5K a month and to date Edmonds has not had enough services to make the contract revenue neutral (i.e. $-35K).
Mr. Bernheim suggested we look at an hourly rate of $140/hr. Finance agreed to the change and advised to send this
item to council to discuss.
Item E — Alderwood Water SuDoly New 45 Year Contract.
Mr. Williams discussed the history of the water contracts Edmonds has had and the reason for the new 45 year contract
and that it was a joint contract with the Cities of Lynnwood, Edmonds and Mount Lake Terrace. The contract has an
inflationary adjustment in it and basically Edmonds will be paying $1.5 MM a year. Mr. Plunkett asked if we could get
water elsewhere if it became cheaper and Mr. Williams indicated yes. Finance Committee agreed yes and to put it on
Consent.
Item F — Mural Fees.
Mr. Yarberry presented the two types of fees that could be charged in relation to the current mural program. After
discussion and questions in which one fee could be charged for a series of murals being presented at one time, the
Finance committee supports the design fee process and recommends that for City Council consideration.
Items B and D were postponed since staff was not present to discuss the reason for the debt service being charged to
the property acquisition fund. The City's leakage policy had not changed and Ms. Buckshnis stated she had sent Mr.
Hines her recommendations in an email last week regarding rather than use a 30 day timeframe, to use a percentage
increase of the bill. She also indicated that she had requested that up front the policy state where the City is responsible
and when the citizen is responsible.
Item G and H were discussed and it was decided that both would be sent to City Council since Council Member Petso
could not attend the meeting to discuss removing the discretionary pay increase or the unexpended wages and benefits
proposals.
Item C was the June quarterly and was also recommended to be sent to City Council for full review. Ms. Buckshnis has
requested that Mr. Hines prepare the General Fund as stated in the dollar amount and follow that of the ordinance
which is stated as follows: "A monthly General Fund analysis of comparing revenue budget to actual and expenditure
budget to actual with the net balance is requested."
Public Comment
Mr. Hertrich stated that Finance Committee should request that staff change the debt service to be reflective from the
correct account for items that are not property acquisition.