PSPP070919PUBLIC SAFETY, PERSONNEL & PLANNING COMMITTEE MEETING
July 9, 2019
Elected Officials Present
Councilmember Mike Nelson (Chair)
Councilmember Neil Tibbott
Staff Present
Shane Hope, Development Services Director
Rob English, City Engineer
Linda Coburn, Municipal Court Judge
Uneek Maylor, Court Administrator
Jeanie McConnell, Engineering Program Mgr.
Jeff Taraday, City Attorney
The meeting was called to order at 7:05 p.m. in the Jury Meeting Room. Proposal for Personal
Services Contract for Program Administrator at the Wastewater Treatment Plant was added to the
agenda as Item 4.
1. Amend Edmonds Community Development Code Chapter 20.70 Street Vacations
Ms. McConnell highlighted amendments to ECDC 20.70 to address:
• Requirement for an appraisal to be completed by a City selected appraiser, at the expense of
the applicant, and only after staff determines easements, alternative right-of-way, etc. and a
resolution of intent to vacate has been approved by the Council.
• Allows the City to require an easement, compensation or both
• Allowance for the conditions placed on the street vacation to be met within a timeframe set by
resolution or within 90-days as stated in the code
Mr. Taraday explained deferring the appraisal until after those determinations are made allows the
appraisal to take into the account, for example, the reservation of an easement which will often lower
the property's value. The revised appraisal process will allow all applicants to be treated the same.
Currently, if the Council imposes reservation of an easement condition, it can be a windfall for the
applicant as they are not required to pay compensation.
Questions and discussion included the Council's role in street vacations, public hearing process,
timeframe for conditions to be met, and the intent of the amendments to clean up the process and
ensure the City receives fair value for street vacations.
Action: Refer to Planning Board for review and recommendation to Council
2. Probation Officer Court Position
Ms. Maylor explained the court currently has a vacant Court Clerk position. Based on caseloads and
the court's needs, she determined it would be better to hire an additional Probation Officer instead.
The Probation Officer's caseload for pretrial services and monitoring have nearly doubled in the last
couple years. Some of the court's clerical duties have been minimized due to the launch of Laserfiche.
Edmonds is the only court in the area that does pretrial services monitoring which has significantly
lowered the City's jail costs. The court has sufficient budget to cover the difference in the positions'
salaries..
Questions and discussion included the recidivism rate for individuals being monitored versus in
custody (under 20%), office space for the second officer, benefits of monitoring such as providing
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individuals accountability, ability of the Probation Officer to referral individuals to services during
check -ins, and cost savings to the City.
Action: Schedule for full Council
3. Update on Climate Goals Project
Ms. Hope explained this project is based on Resolution No. 1389, to achieve or exceed the goals
established in the Paris Climate Accord at the local level. The Climate Protection Committee (CPC)
has discussed a target for global temperature increase by 2050 of 1.5°C. The goal is to identify key
items that can be measured with existing resources or without much extra effort such as vehicle miles
traveled.
Ms. Hope distributed and reviewed Edmonds 2050 Forecasted Emissions, noting the largest emission
sources are passenger travel and residential electricity. She reviewed strategies to achieve the
following by 2035 and 2050 and input from CPC members:
• Reduce vehicle miles traveled (VMT) through more sustainable land use patterns (TOD, local
efficiency)
• Reduce VMT by improving transit systems
• Reduce VMT by promoting activity transportation
• Promote carpooling and vehicle sharing
• Promote electric vehicles and other low -carbon vehicles
• Reduce material consumption, waste generation and resource depletion
• Replace fossil fuels with renewable energy resources for energy that is supplied to the
community
• Improve the efficiency of existing buildings and infrastructure
• Improve efficiency of new buildings
• Increase carbon sequestration
Questions and discussion included 100% renewable energy for municipal facilities by 2019; reduction
in passenger travel in gas -powered versus electrical vehicles (EV); increased manufacture of EV; the
public's increased interest in EV; infrastructure for EV; incentives for installing charging stations;
rationale for the CPC's recommended target for global temperature increase of 1.5°C temperature by
2050; annual greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction that would be required to hold global temperature
increase to 1 °C, 1.5°C, and 20C by 2050; state legislation to reduce GHG), food waste; ways the City
could incentivize the goals; public outreach/education; and intent to measure improvement using
existing data.
Action: Presentation by Environmental Science Associates to full Council on August 6
4. Proposal for Personal Services Contract for Program Administrator at the Wastewater
Treatment Plant
No staff was present for this item.
The meeting was adjourned at 7:58 p.m.