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2023-12-27 Special MeetingEDMONDS CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL MEETING APPROVED MINUTES December 27, 2023 ELECTED OFFICIALS PRESENT Neil Tibbott, Mayor Pro Tern Vivian Olson, Council President Pro Tern Will Chen, Councilmember Diane Buckshnis, Councilmember Susan Paine, Councilmember Chris Eck, Councilmember Jenna Nand, Councilmember ELECTED OFFICIALS ABSENT Mike Nelson, Mayor 1. CALL TO ORDER STAFF PRESENT Dave Turley, Administrative Services Director Jeff Taraday, City Attorney Scott Passey, City Clerk The Edmonds Special City Council meeting was called to order at 6:05 p.m. by Mayor Pro Tern Tibbott virtually and in the City Council Conference Room, 121 — 5th Avenue North, Edmonds. 2. ROLL CALL City Clerk Scott Passey called the roll. All elected officials were present with the exception of Mayor Nelson. 3. APPROVAL OF AGENDA COUNCIL PRESIDENT PRO TEM OLSON MOVED, SECONDED BY COUNCILMEMBER PAINE, TO APPROVE THE AGENDA IN CONTENT AND ORDER. MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. 4. APPROVAL OF CONSENT AGENDA ITEMS A MOTION WAS MADE AND SECONDED TO APPROVE THE CONSENT AGENDA. MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. The agenda items approved are as follows: 1. APPROVAL OF CLAIM CHECKS AND WIRE PAYMENT 5. COUNCIL BUSINESS 1. 2024 BUDGET ORDINANCE Edmonds City Council Approved Minutes December 27, 2023 Page 1 Mayor Pro Tem Tibbott commented the council has done a great deal of work on the budget over the last ten weeks. Administrative Services Director Dave Turley advised this is the final budget ordinance for the 2024 City of Edmonds budget. The mayor's budget was submitted to council over 12 weeks ago. In the three months since the proposed budget was delivered, the normal process was followed to create the council's adopted budget. During this time four public hearings were held and there were several hours of council deliberations over several different council meetings. The ordinance is the final 2024 budget with all the required schedules. Bringing this ordinance to council after all budget deliberations have been concluded is in accordance with past practice and in accordance with the council's request. The RCW states the city council must adopt a 2024 budget before the end of the year and he looked forward to accomplishing that with council tonight. He thanked his staff and as well as staff in other departments for their hard work answering literally dozens if not hundreds of council questions. Staff s recommendation is to approve the 2024 budget as included in tonight's council packet. Mayor Pro Tem Tibbott commented the council has deliberated a great deal over the over past 10-12 weeks and the amendments and additions have been carefully recorded and have been included in previous council packets. Tonight's packet reflects the most up-to-date, carefully recorded representation of the budget numbers along with estimates for the end of the year. As usual, the council has been provided the budget ordinance and schedule for approval. COUNCILMEMBER PAINE MOVED, SECONDED BY COUNCILMEMBER NAND, TO APPROVE AN ORDINANCE ADOPTING THE BUDGET FOR THE CITY OF EDMONDS, WASHINGTON, FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING DECEMBER 31, 2024 AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY. Councilmember Paine echoed Mayor Pro Tem Tibbott's comments, the council has spent a lot of time reviewing the budget and time is of the essence to approve the 2024 budget. Councilmember Buckshnis said in good faith she cannot support the budget process. One only has to watch last week's budget amendment process to see that expenses far exceed the revenues. She does not have current financials but she provided information about the September run rate. She anticipated the City will tap into contingency reserves next year. She believed the City will be in bad shape once the ARPA money is depleted. She wished all the best of luck next year, and indicated she will vote no on the 2024 budget. Councilmember Chen expressed appreciation to Director Turley and the accounting team for putting in extra hours to get this product ready. To his knowledge, this was the fourth time a finished product had been prepared documenting fund balances in this format. As Councilmember Buckshnis mentioned, the City is still in a very difficult position in terms of meeting the reserve requirement and going into the new year, the council will have to identify revenue sources and opportunities to reduce expenditures. He was very happy with what has been presented under the current situation, so he will vote yes on the 2024 budget. MOTION CARRIED (6-1) COUNCILMEMBER BUCKSHNIS VOTING NO. 2. RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING USE OF GENERAL FUND OPERATING RESERVES FOR 2024 GENERAL FUND EXPENSES Mayor Pro Tem Tibbott recalled this resolution was discussed in some detail at a previous council meeting. He requested City Attorney Jeff Taraday provide a recap regarding the nature of the resolution. Edmonds City Council Approved Minutes December 27, 2023 Page 2 Mr. Taraday explained this resolution authorizes use of General Fund operating reserves to support 2024 General Fund expenses. Using numbers in the ordinance that the council just adopted, it appears $6,091,403 of General Fund operating reserve will be used to support General Fund expenses. Not all of that is for 2024 alone, but calculating the ending fund balance and comparing it to what the fund balance reserve policy would want it to be, the difference is $6,091,403. This resolution authorizes the use of those funds to support 2024 General Fund expenses. COUNCILMEMBER ECK MOVED, SECONDED BY COUNCILMEMBER PAINE, TO ADOPT A RESOLUTION BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF EDMONDS, WASHINGTON, AUTHORIZING THE USE OF GENERAL FUND OPERATING RESERVES FOR 2024 GENERAL FUND EXPENSES. MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. 6. ADJOURNMENT With no further business, the Council meeting was adjourned at 6:16 p.m. S^-:t - SCOTT PASSEY; CLERK Edmonds City Council Approved Minutes December 27, 2023 Page 3