2013-03-12 Public Safety and Personnel CommitteeMINUTES
PUBLIC SAFETY AND PERSONNEL COMMITTEE MEETING
MARCH 12, 2013
Elected Officials Present: Councilmember Bloom (Committee Chair)
Councilmember Peterson (Committee Member)
City Staff Present: Chief of Police Al Compaan
Assistant Chief of Police Jim Lawless
Senior Animal Control Officer Debbie Dawson
Edmonds Court Administrator Joan Ferebee
City Clerk Sandy Chase
The meeting was called to order at 6.35 p.m.
A. Amendment to Domestic Violence Coordinator ILA with the City of Mill
Creek.
The meeting began with ACOP Lawless providing background on the current interlocal
agreement between the City and the Mill Creek Police Department, which had been
approved by Council on 8/14/12. He advised that the agreement needed to be amended
as a result of a request by the incumbent Domestic Violence Coordinator requesting a
reduction in hours, as she has returned to school. Councilmembers Bloom and
Peterson recommended forwarding to full Council for approval via consent agenda.
Action: Forward to City Council Consent Agenda with a recommendation to approve.
B. Animal Licensing
The discussion then turned to the issue of pet licensing and the associated fees. Officer
Dawson provided the committee with a matrix of fees currently charged by the City as
well as a comparison with surrounding jurisdictions. There was some discussion about
the process for addressing the fees moving forward and Councilmember Bloom
requested that Officer Dawson send her copies of licensing ordinances from surrounding
jurisdictions.
There was then some brief discussion about the possibility of the City utilizing an outside
vendor for the licensing and fee collection process. ACOP Lawless advised that this is
something that he is exploring, but he is waiting for the selection of a permanent Finance
Director, as the process will impact finance and IT as well as police.
It was agreed that Officer Dawson will draft bullet points and possible ordinance
language and forward to the committee, at which time they will take the item to full
Council for further discussion.
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Action: Take item to full Council for further discussion after draft discussion points and
possible ordinance language received from Officer Dawson.
C. Discussion and potential action regarding possible amendment of City
Code 8.48, Parking, Paragraph 8.48.215 B.2.
Joan Ferebee, Court Administrator, explained she attended a Parking Committee
Meeting to bring to their attention the difficulty the Municipal Court is experiencing with
the section of the City Code that allows citizens who receive a parking ticket to pay a
reduced fine if the individual pays the fine by the end of the next business day after the
issuance of the parking ticket. Generally, the Court does not have the tickets in their
system that quickly. Therefore, the individuals can become very angry and upset when
they come to the Municipal Court and are not able to pay. Ms. Ferebee stated that the
Parking Committee recommended removing the section of the Code that allows for a
reduced fine if it is paid by the end of the next business day.
Councilmember Peterson stated that he was in agreement with eliminating the reduced
fine. He stated that he would work with the City Attorney to create an ordinance to place
on the consent agenda. Councilmember Bloom was in agreement.
Action: Councilmember Peterson will work with the City Attorney to create an ordinance
eliminating the reduced fine. The Ordinance is to be placed on a future Consent Agenda
for approval.
D. Student and Senior Volunteers
Councilmember Bloom stated she would like to support the Boards and Commissions in
obtaining student volunteers. She suggested that a senior volunteer could assist Jana
Spellman, Senior Executive Council Assistant, in getting the word out to the various
schools.
Councilmember Peterson suggested Ms. Spellman could email the school board or a
volunteer coordinator in the school system to determine if there are students interested
in volunteering. Councilmember Bloom suggested a senior volunteer could work with
Jana to develop a framework for contacting all of the schools with the appropriate person
to contact and to advertise.
Councilmember Peterson cautioned that managing a volunteer can take more time. He
suggested talking with the Council President as she is in charge of Ms. Spellman's
schedule.
Councilmember Bloom also recalled that at the Council Retreat, Councilmember
Johnson suggested an event be held to recognize city volunteers. Councilmember
Bloom stated she will discuss with the Mayor the idea of scheduling a yearly event.
E. Ethics Board and Code of Ethics
Councilmember Bloom suggested narrowing down the list of sample policies from other
cities for the City Attorney to work with in developing the policy for Edmonds. She
suggested using the policies from the cities of Bainbridge Island, Lynnwood and Monroe.
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Councilmember Bloom stated that she would like the policy to include appointed officials
(directors) in addition to elected officials and members of boards and commissions.
Councilmember Peterson stated that he did not think the policy needed to address
appointed officials (directors) as they answer to the Mayor.
The Committee concluded that a further discussion on a Code of Ethics policy would be
scheduled for the April Committee Meeting to determine which policy will be sent to the
City Attorney.
F. Discussion regarding taking minutes during Council Committee Meetings.
Councilmember Peterson stated that if detailed/complete minutes are desired it would be
necessary to pay someone to attend the meetings for this purpose. If action minutes are
prepared (which is the way it has generally always been done), then he did not think
councilmembers should take the minutes as it is difficult to participate in the discussion
and take minutes.
Councilmember Bloom agreed that councilmembers should not take minutes.
After discussion, Councilmembers Bloom and Peterson agreed on the following
recommendation:
• Action minutes for committee meetings, prepared by staff members in
attendance.
• If a controversial item is scheduled, arrangements for more detailed minutes will
be made.
• Summary comments made by citizens should be included. Committee members
will summarize citizen comments if no staff is available.
• Work with Council President related to agenda items to make sure a staff
member is available for each item discussed at the committee meeting.
• Committee minutes are to be forwarded to committee chairs for review (as time
allows).
G. Public Comments
There were no public comments.
The committee meeting adjourned at 8:17 p.m.
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