09/18/1995 City CouncilApproved 9126195
EDMONDS CITY COUNCIL APPROVED MINUTES
SEPTEMBER 18, 1995
Pursuant to notice the special Edmonds City Council meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m. by Mayor
Laura Hall in the Library Plaza Room, 650 Main Street, followed by the flag salute.
ELECTED OFFICIALS PRESENT
Laura Hall, Mayor
Tom Petruzzi, Council President
William J. Kasper, Councilmember
.Michael Hall, Councilmember
Dave.Earling, Councilmember
John Nordquist, Councilmember
Roger L. Myers, Councilmember
Barbara Fahey, Councilmember
1. APPROVAL OF AGENDA
STAFF PRESENT
Tom Miller, Police Chief
Michael Springer, Fire Chief
Paul Mar, Community Services Director
Charles Day, Accounting Manager
Stephen Koho, Wastewater Treatment Plant Manager
Arvilla Ohlde, Parks and Recreation Manager
James Walker, City Engineer
Jeff Wilson, Current Planning Supervisor
Kirk Vinish, Planner
Sandy Chase, City Clerk
Christine Laws, Recorder
Mayor Hall announced that the discussion on the 800 megahertz mobile data computer project listed as
Item 6 on the Agenda would not be held this evening. It will be rescheduled for another date. She
further announced a ten-minute Executive Session at the end of the meeting for legal and real estate
matters.
Councilmember Nordquist suggested omitting the Mayor and Council portions of tonight's meeting as
this has been done previously prior to an election day.
COUNCILMEMBER NORDQUIST MOVED, SECONDED BY COUNCILMEMBER PETRUZZI
TO REMOVE ITEMS 7 AND 8 FROM THE AGENDA (MAYOR AND COUNCIL REPORTS), AND
TO ADD THE EXECUTIVE SESSION ON LEGAL AND REAL ESTATE MATTERS AS THE
LAST ITEM ON THE AGENDA. MOTION CARRIED.
COUNCILMEMBER HALL MOVED, SECONDED BY COUNCILMEMBER MYERS TO
REMOVE ITEM 6 (800 MEGAHERTZ MOBILE DATA COMPUTER PROJECT) FROM THE.
AGENDA. MOTION CARRIED.
COUNCILMEMBER NORDQUIST MOVED, SECONDED BY COUNCIL PRESIDENT
PETRUZZI, TO APPROVE THE AGENDA AS AMENDED AND MODIFIED. MOTION
CARRIED.
2. CONSENT AGENDA ITEMS
Councilmember Nordquist pulled Item F; Councilmember Fahey pulled Items H, J and K;
Councilmember Kasper pulled Item I.
City Council Approved Minutes
September 18, 1995
Page 1
COUNCILMEMBER NORDQUIST MOVED, SECONDED BY COUNCILMEMBER HALL, TO APPROVE
THE BALANCE OF THE CONSENT AGENDA. MOTION CARRIED . The agenda items passed are as
follows:
(A) ROLL CALL
(B) APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF SEPTEMBER 5, 1995
(C) APPROVAL OF CLAIM WARRANTS #3212S THRU #3850F FOR THE WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 4,
h 1995 IN THE AMOUNT OF $120,711.62; APPROVAL OF CLAIM WARRANTS #38565 THRU
(. VIM S #4014F FOR THE WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 11, 1995 IN THE AMOUNT OF $889,638.98; AND
wARRAin APPROVAL OF PAYROLL WARRANTS #954811 THRU #955178 FOR THE PERIOD OF AUGUST
16 THRU AUGUST 31, 1995 IN THE AMOUNT OF $413,313.42
r' DA/baFoA (D) ACKNOWLEDGE
RECEIPT OF CLAIM FOR DAMAGES FROM DANIEL AND CARRIE
O
G&� D� (E) RE9 PORT ON GENERAL FUND FINANCIAL POSITION FOR THE PERIOD ENDED AUGUST 31,
SERE `AG& (G)
REPORT ON FINAL CONSTRUCTION COSTS FOR THE 1995 STREET SURFACE TREATMENT
COUNCIL
iiml for
PROGRAM AND ACCEPTANCE OF PROJECT
P 606' (L)
ORDINANCE NO. 3040 AMENDING CHAPTER 5.05 OF THE EDMONDS CITY CODE IN
A D,gl4 RPu'`
ORDER TO PROVIDE FOR AN APPEAL TO DETERMINATIONS BY THE EDMONDS ANIMAL
oc
CONTROL AUTHORITY THAT A DOG IS A DANGEROUS DOG
Councilmember Nordquist pulled Item F for clarification. There followed discussion concerning the
relationship between this request and the matter presently being litigated. Councilmember Fahey
indicated it was her understanding that what was being requested was a temporary fix to keep the plant
functioning properly until a permanent fix can occur. She did ask, however, whether the $19,150 should
be before the Council for re -budgeting. Steve Koho, Wastewater Treatment Plant Manager, stated it is
his itent to restore the entire $200,000 into the 1996 budget.
COUNCILMEMBER FAHEY MOVED, SECONDED BY COUNCILMEMBER KASPER, TO
APPROVE ITEM F. MOTION CARRIED. The item passed is as follows:
00YVA (F) REPORT ON BIDS OPENED SEPTEMBER 8, 1995 FOR THE REPAIR TO THE
1t, iR INCINERATOR AND RELATED EQUIPMENT AND AWARD OF CONTRACT TO C. H.
REoR MURPHY/CLARK ULLMAN
Councilmember Fahey pulled Item H for clarification that the pay -out on this was based on a grant and
does not include final resolution of equipment for the children's play field. City Engineer Jim Walker
advised that this project does not in any way involve the play equipment. Discussion followed as to how
this would effect the grant money.
Mayor Hall interjected the fact that numerous handicapped individuals are now able to attend the
concerts in the park due to this project, and further expressed her opinion that this was some of the best
money spent.
COUNCILMEMBER FAHEY MOVED, SECONDED BY COUNCILMEMBER NORDQUIST, TO
APPROVE ITEM H. MOTION CARRIED. The item passed is as follows:
fAA9 (H) REPORT ON FINAL CONSTRUCTION COSTS FOR THE CITY PARK DISABLED
ACCESSIBILITY IMPROVEMENT PROJECT (HUD) AND COUNCIL ACCEPTANCE OF
PROJECT
City Council Approved Minutes
September 18, 1995
Page 2
Councilmember Kasper pulled Item I for clarification. as to whether those involved had looked into
using carpet squares. Parks and Recreation Manager Arvilla Ohlde stated that the Library Board did take
into consideration the option of carpet squares, but discovered the cost was approximately double the
cost of rolls.
COUNCILMEMBER KASPER MOVED, SECONDED BY COUNCILMEMBER EARLING, TO
APPROVE ITEM 1. MOTION CARRIED. The item passed is as follows:
L WAY (I) AUTHOR S ATIOON TO CALL FOR BIDS TO REPLACE THE CARPETING AT THELIBRARY
G
Councilmember Fahey pulled Item J for clarification. She does not object but needed some additional
information such as what kind of cost savings are involved and whether they were significant. Mr. Mar
responded that the savings were quite significant. Prior to this year the State would add an additional
service charge to each item purchased; entering into this agreement the fee is collected one time up front.
He described it as shifting of cost accounting.
COUNCILMEMBER FAHEY MOVED, SECONDED BY COUNCILMEMBER MYERS, TO
feR dMr APPROVE ITEM J. MOTION CARRIED. The item passed is as follows:
(J) AUTHORIZATION FOR MAYOR TO SIGN A STATE OF WASHINGTON
A&R
gB INTERGOVERNMENTAL COOPERATIVE PURCHASING AGREEMENT
Councilmember Fahey pulled Item K for clarification with regard to the anticipated ramp to be installed
entering the log cabin to meet the ADA standards. She expressed concern that the door would not be
large enough to allow the passage of a wheelchair. She stated she would like to have this issue included
as part of this study.
COUNCILMEMBER FAHEY MOVED, SECONDED BY COUNCILMEMBER NORDQUIST, TO
APPROVE ITEM K. MOTION CARRIED. The item passed is as follows:
C40of 0 (K) AUTHORIZATION WITH WHITEY JAFOR MAYOR TO SIGN A PROFESSIONAL AGREEMENT COBSEN A DAS ASSOCIATES TO INSPECT THE CHAMBER
14 COMMERCE LOG CABIN BUILDING
3. AUDIENCE
There were no members of the audience who wished to speak.
4. INTRODUCTION OF DELEGATION TRAVELING TO HEKINAN FOR WORLD
v PARK EVENT AND TRAVEL AUTHORIZATION FOR STAFF LIAISON
w�RK
6V6 Mayor Hall read the following information into the record:
SRPR
"Mayor Kobayshi has extended an invitation to me, the Edmonds Sister City Commission, and
city staff to visit Hekinan and participate in the World Park Festival. The World Park Festival
`95, October 1-15th, is hosted by the Aichi Prefectural Government (similar to the State of
Washington), and the cities of Nagoya, Toyohasi, Hekinan and others. It is an international
gathering of nations to host and provide a forum for thinking and exploring new concepts of
parks for the future and to allow a global perspective, international exchange and the opportunity
to explore the role of future parks as the center of communication and culture in urban life. The
World Park Festival consists of exhibitions, conferences, events, and ceremonies. The Sister
City Friendship Forum (10/2) will discuss "City and Exchange -- Today and Tomorrow of Our
City".
City Council Approved Minutes
September 18, 1995
Page 3
To date Mexico, China, Sweden, Australia, Canada, USA, New Zealand, Belgium, and Spain
have registered.
Mr. Don Carr, Chairman of Edmonds Sister City Commission, sent twenty pictures drawn by the
children of Edmonds who attend the Parks and Recreation summer programs. These pictures
will be on exhibit at the site of World Festival '95.
The Edmonds Sister City Commission voted to send the delegation of Commissioners Christian
Guitton and Stephen Waite. I am recommending that Arvilla Ohlde, Sister City Staff Liaison
and Manager of Parks and Recreation, attend in my stead.
Mr. Don Carr, Chairman of the Edmonds Sister City Commission, will be available to present to
the Council the Edmonds Delegation to the World Park Festival of 1995.
It is my recommendation that City Council approve Parks and Recreations Manager Arvilla
Ohlde to travel to Hekinan, Japan, to attend the 1995 World Park Festival."
Christian Guitton, Steve Waite and Arvilla Ohlde all expressed gratitude and excitement for the
upcoming trip. The delegation will be leaving on September 26 and returning on October 15. Mr. Waite
reiterated that they are going at their own expense.
COUNCILMEMBER EARLING MOVED, SECONDED BY COUNCILMEMBER FAHEY, TO
APPROVE THE RECOMMENDED ACTION WHICH IS FOR PARKS AND RECREATION
MANAGER ARVILLA OHLDE TO TRAVEL TO HEKINAN, JAPAN, TO ATTEND THE 1995
WORLD PARK FESTIVAL. MOTION CARRIED.
I�4 5. CELLULAR TOWER INFORMATIONAL WORKSHOP
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1-01064 Mayor Hall indicated she had attended the legislative meeting of the Association of Washington Cities
(AWC). The City of Edmonds was highlighted and comments were made about how this would be
carried forward to the legislature. She relayed thanks to the Staff for their job and their preparation of
the position paper. Mr. Vinish indicted AWC is looking to Edmonds for some guidance in producing a
state model ordinance. Hopefully, whatever comes out of our process will be something that will benefit
the entire state and not just Edmonds. He then thanked the Commission for all of their hard work.
Planner Kirk Vinish introduced the subject and reviewed for Council what had been done to date. At
the July 11, 1995 meeting numerous concerns were raised about the possible health effects from cellular
towers. He noted two hearings have been held on this issue. As a result of these hearings and the
previous workshop, direction was given to Staff to find an expert on electromagnetic radiation. They
had a difficult time finding an objective expert because a lot of experts had either testified on behalf of
the cellular industry or local neighborhood groups. Fortunately, Staff was referred to Dr. Michael Yost,
a professor at the University of Washington, in the School of Public Health and the Department of
Environmental Health, who comes with great recommendations from all quarters. He has worked for
several years on power lines which tend to get mixed up with cellular towers though they are two distinct
items with distinguishing features and standards.
Dr. Yost began his presentation stating there are four basic things which must be kept in mind in order to
understand the root of the controversy and the standards on the health effects. The primary one is
frequency which is measured in cycles per second (hertz). He noted that the agenda originally contained
a discussion of an 800 megahertz system. Megahertz is millions of cycles per second, so that is 800
City Council Approved Minutes
September 18, 1995
Page 4
millions of cycles per second which corresponds to a frequency of electromagnetic radiation. Frequency
is one of the most important things to keep in mind when trying to get down to the root of health effects.
Frequency is one of the important things about how these things interact with tissue. The second item is
power which corresponds to the amount or rate of energy. That is measured in units called watts. When
talking about cellular towers or cellular phones, a different unit is used -- power density. It is the amount
of power divided by some surface area. The reason it must be divided by some amount of surface area is
because the power in this case is being propagated out into space and the rest of the world. As you get
farther away from the source, that same amount of power of the source has to get divided over larger and
larger amounts of area. Power density is the important thing in terms of how it interacts with tissue.
Dr. Yost next referenced the term SAR which is an acronym for specific absorption rate. That
corresponds to how much energy or power is absorbed by the body or by tissue. The principle is that
unless the energy is absorbed, then it can't do anything. SAR is actually what scientists will use when
they talk about some amount of energy transfer to an object or person.
For example, the frequency of electromagnetic radiation would correspond to the color of light; a
different frequency of light has different color. The actual wattage of some bulbs that you would use to
produce that electromagnetic energy will correspond to the power source. That is how much you are
putting in at the source of that light. The intensity that you see at a distance, however, is related to the
power density. An antennae can direct that energy in a particular direction. The power density is not
always divided by the surface of a sphere, but an engineer can calculate what the directivity of the
antennae is, or the equivalent gain of the antennae, if you pointed that energy in a particular direction.
That is taken into account when they do the calculations to give ground level power density numbers.
The principal controversy about heath effect deals with something called non -thermal effects. Non -
thermal effects are the difference between heating you up and seeing the colors green or purple. It takes
very little energy for a light to hit your eye to cause essentially a quantum change and for the photo
sensor of the eye to register reception of color. That is a non -thermal event because it doesn't heat up the
whole receptor, it just allows the electronic cause of some other. process to happen. The difference
between getting warmed up by that heating and actually seeing the color red would be the difference
between a thermal effect and a non -thermal effect. Therein lies the distinction. Are there substantial
non -thermal effects to non -ionizing radiation, particularly in this case in cellular towers and
microwaves? That is where all the controversy raises. A large majority of scientists who have done
research in this area tend to say that most of the effects cluster in thermal effects or things than can be
explained by some heating of a tissue, an organ, some specific area of the brain, or something that can be
boiled down to a thermal mechanism. When you start talking about non -thermal mechanisms, he thinks
it very difficult to reproduce an experiment that has very low power. Therefore, it gets more and more
difficult to try and demonstrate something if you have almost no energy to put into it. Non -thermal
effects by their nature are the most elusive and also the ones that are most subtle to try and study or
reproduce. There is not a lot of literature documenting non -thermal effects. Most of the literature
documents the thermal effects.
Two factors that are really the primary influence on bio-effects are the frequency of the interchange that
is being put in and the SAR or amount of energy that is absorbed. The SAR is a complicated thing
because it depends upon things like the body shape, what the power density is over the surface area of
the body or of the test area, the size of it, the orientation of it relative to the incident field, and a number
of factors.
Dr. Yost then referred to an overhead of the graph contained in Council packets entitled "Frequency in
Hertz". Electromagnetic energy spans an enormous range of frequencies. Actually, in this graph it only
City Council Approved Minutes
September 18, 1995
Page 5
describes what is called the non -ionized region of the spectrum. There is a whole other region of the
spectrum that exists even higher or farther out than this which describes things like gamma rays and high
energy physics. These things are primarily what we are concerned with and is called non -ionized
radiation. It means it doesn't have enough energy to do what an x-ray does to the body. Cellular phones
have a very narrow range in the frequency spectrum -- it's about 800-900 megahertz. That region of the
spectrum is where all of the cellular towers operate all the cellular phones because the FCC has given
those frequencies out to be publicly used for cellular frequencies. There are a number of other things
around there which people may mix up with them saying "it's just like this" or "it's just like that". Dr.
Yost cautioned Council not to do that. Frequency is known to be one of the most important things that
effects or changes how these fields would interact with tissue. It is not fair to say that you are just this or
that because it is an electromagnetic field, and electromagnetic fields are tremendously different
depending upon frequency. Dr. Yost then discussed the lower part of the graph which shows what these
fields might be. It shows powerlines at the extremely low frequency region, and those are a very hot
topic of study because there are a number of studies out there that discuss health effects of powerlines.
Dr. Yost then asked Council to look at how far those were from cellular towers. There is a tremendous
difference with many, many orders of magnitude or factors of 10 different. Cellular towers are most like
things like active radios.
Councilmember Hall asked if Dr. Yost had an idea of why the FCC picked this band to allow cellular
towers. Dr. Yost could not answer the question definitively. Councilmember Hall noted it interesting
that these were at the high end of the spectrum and wondered if it had anything to do with the power
source needed to accomplish the feat. Dr. Yost answered that it was probably done that way because it
was available which is one of the most obvious criteria. A lot of the bands have already been designated
for other purposes. Basically, at low frequencies it takes a lot of range of frequencies to be able to
transmit information. As you go higher in frequency, you don't need as much room to transmit
information. Dr. Yost thinks the main reason is the amount of room up there in which to transmit
information. It is historical that lower frequencies have been traditionally the ones that were first
developed. Long ago radio waves transmitted in kilohertz regions, and now those are called short waves.
Then we get to ultra high waves. As technology has developed, we have become able to generate higher
and higher frequencies which has opened up more portions of the spectrum. He thinks the reason is
because there is a fair amount of room in that portion of the spectrum.
Councilmember Nordquist questioned the warming of the microwave band. Dr. Yost responded that the
warming would depend upon how much energy is available at the surface, that is how close you are to a
particular power source. How much heating you would actually experience would depend upon the
power of the source, how close you are to the source, and a lot of other complicated factors like the
orientation of you relative to waves and things like that. Basically, it would be characterized by the
source and how close you are to it. With a bigger source you would have correspondingly more heating.
Dr. Yost stated he was neither a defender nor participant in the ANSI standard. For better or worse, the
ANSI standard is probably the most thoroughly documented standard with regard to radio frequency.
There are three principal standards, the ANSI standard (American National Standard Institute), the
NCRP case standard (the National Council on Radiation Protection) which is a U. S. Government
chartered body, and there is the IRPO (the International Radiation Protection Organization). Those three
standards are very similar. They are all based upon the same literature, and each organization has taken
the same approach. They form a committee, the committee takes about 10 years to review all the
available science and literature they can obtain, and then come up with what they think are the health
effects at different frequencies and then draw guidelines based upon that information to say what they
believe is safe. The chart presented is an example of what they came up with.
City Council Approved Minutes
September 18, 1995
Page 6
The technical people will say that we have electrical fields, magnetic fields, and different standards, but
basically when you get down to the level of regulation or setting policy, you have to set policy based
upon the number called power density or something related to it. Dr. Yost referred to a chart indicating
the ANSI standard. At low frequencies they seem to allow higher levels of power density. It decreases
linearly, gets down to some low level and then goes back up. Most often Dr. Yost is asked why the
notch happens. That notch is a region called the body resonance region. Your body is roughly two
meters tali, and when the wave length of the radiation is about the same dimension of your body, you act
like an antennae. When the frequency of the radiation is such that its length is the same as your body
size, you get maximum coupling to the body, and that is the point at which the body resonates and you
get the most amount of energy transferred into you or the antennae. The reason the notch is so big is that
you can say most people are around five or six feet, and they allow for different conditions. For
example, a child, a very tall person or if the person is standing vertically or laying down or sitting in
different positions. There is a range of body postures that are built into this too. To allow for all
possible orientations and directions of coupling, we have this very wide region which is right around 300
MHz which is where you have the body acting like an antennae. Above that, coupling starts to get
worse, so that is why the standard climbs back up. In that region you have smaller pieces of your body
that can also act as an antennae, your arm, hands, leg, head. In those regions it can't be defined easily
what the orientations of those things are going to be, but an upper limit can be set for the maximum
coupling of the body.
Councilmember Myers questioned H-Field and E-Field. Dr. Yost explained that the E-Field is the
electric field; H-Field is the magnetic field. Coupling to the body at lower frequencies is more effective
in the electric field than in the magnetic field, so less equivalent power density is allowed in an electric
field than in a magnetic field. Electromagnetic fields have to have both components in order to
propagate in space. You can't have one without the other. The amount of energy that is absorbed can be
dominated by one or the other. If you have a particularly strong electric field, that would contribute
most of the coupling to the body. That is why they have different curves for electrical and magnetic,
depending upon which is going to be the one which is most strongly coupling to the body. You may
want to worry about E-Field over H-Field depending upon which one is most pressed at that point. It is a
technicality, and when you start talking about power density, it is not easy to use those units of power
density at low frequency. Councilmember Myers then asked if Dr. Yost could show at where cellular
phone frequencies might be on the referenced chart. Dr. Yost responded that it would be right around
103 or about 1,000 MHz.. The number listed on the ANSI chart as 0.2 miliwatts per square centimeter is
the lowest level. That is where it gets down to the maximum coupling of the body.
Dr. Yost then went on to discuss the other chart contained in the packet which dealt with equivalent
power density exposures for various bio-effects. The ANSI standard previously shown is based upon a
particular SAR. Specific absorption rate of .4 watts per kilogram is the basis for the ANSI standard.
Presumably, below that level there are no substantial adverse health effects that can be documented.
That is where they draw the line. The ANSI standard is based upon a number of .4 watts per kilogram.
In terms of power density you can get back to what is approximate power density if you make some
assumptions about body size, frequency, etc. The maximum would turn out to be about 1 miliwatt per
centimeter for maximum coupling to the body. That occurs around 300 MHz. This is the region of
maximum coupling which gives you a power density of about 1 miliwatt per square centimeter at .4
watts per kilogram. The actual standard that is based upon this number (A watts per kilogram which is
not really based on frequency anymore). If you plot that data, you then ask where some of the studies
fall. The majority of the studies that go into making up the standard start showing up at the region above
1 miliwatt per square centimeter. That's the kind of power density numbers it takes for these studies to
start showing substantial effects in whatever is being studied. By and large, all the studies are animals
and not generally based upon exposing people.
City Council Approved Minutes
September 18, 1995
Pa,-e 7
Council President Petruzzi confirmed that the potential for harm is above 10 kilowatts per square
centimeter. Below that they say there is no potential adverse health effect; above that they say there is
some potential adverse effects. It is still a rather gray area. Then when you get up to 10, there is
definite potential for adverse health effects.
Dr. Yost next discussed various studies that have taken place. In particular he referenced Ross Adey of
Loma Linda and Paul Blackman at EPA, and Steven Cleary at State Catholic University. Those studies
are the two classes of non -thermal effects which ANSI considered in some of their documentation but in
which they could not find evidence that these were necessarily adverse effects. You can make something
change without necessarily making it change adversely. In the review, they could not find any evidence
that these represented any substantial adverse health effect or any adverse health effect that could be
related.
Dr. Yost has looked at a number of different cellular tower sites. It turns out that almost invariably
cellular towers all fall within the same general region of power density. It turns out that most cellular
antennas fall down in the range of about .001 to .01 watts per square centimeter at ground level. An easy
way to remember that is that they are around one microwave or one -millionth of a watt per square
centimeter at ground level. Because of the level at which you find most cellular towers, they are well
below the region where anybody has observed anything. Dr. Yost thinks probably the most cautious
scientist would have very great difficulty in saying they know or can document substantial health effect
below this .001 amount. The reason cellular towers are kind of controversial at all is that they are just on
the borderline where anybody is observing any changes.
Councilmember Hall asked if it was correct that cellular towers have not been around long enough to
determine long-term effects. Dr. Yost agreed from a population standpoint. The research he is involved
in is primarily in epidemiology which is a study of disease patterns of the population. The only way you
can do that is if you have some population that has been exposed for a while, long enough for a disease
to manifest itself. From a population standpoint there are no studies because there hasn't been enough
time and there hasn't been any interest. There have been a few studies that dealt with military personnel,
shipyard workers who are exposed to radio or radar transmissions. Those are different frequencies, but
the analogy is that maybe they relate to cellular towers which are on a substantially higher frequency. In
those cases the epidemiology does not show substantial adverse health effects and, to Dr. Yost's
knowledge, no long term chronic effects that people are talking about.
Mayor Hall questioned whether when isolating the T-cells which, if in fact they are utilized to attract or
attack, and you have someone who has been living around the range of cell towers, are those T-cells still
pure? Dr. Yost said they would be as pure as they were before. He went on to say that they may change
what they recognize but to date it has not been determined that they can no longer do their job properly,
Dr. Yost does not believe there is any change in immune competence which is the issue at hand. Again,
ANSI in a standard setting tries to distinguish between a biological effect versus a change that would
effect health. The idea is to try to distinguish between those two things. It may be scientifically
interesting to see something happen, but it may not be relevant from the standpoint of representing a
health effect. The way standards are set in this country is based on the idea of no. adverse health effect
and not based on the idea of no change at all.
Council President Petruzzi commented on the fact that in the introductory statements, it had been said
that it had been difficult to find someone to come in and present a white paper on this subject. He
wondered what the median range is on the difference of opinion in Dr. Yost' s field as regards to the
possible health hazards from the use of cell towers. He stressed he was not asking for the maximum
City Council Approved Minutes
September 18, 1995
Page 8
range, but the median range of difference of opinion. Dr. Yost responded that his opinion is that the
median would be not much effect from the towers.
Councilmember Nordquist commented that a reading was given at ground level on a tower. However,
Council was presented with one instance where the tower was aimed into a hillside. He asked what the
range was as you go up a 50' tower. Dr. Yost indicated it depends upon the antennae, the directivity of it,
etc., but basically the highest you would see may getup to the range of 30-100 microwatts at the top. In
some particular cases you can get close to it, so it might get to the region of. I which is 100 microwatts.
That is probably toward the upper end. Usually the engineers don't go beyond that because the NCRP
and ANSI guidelines were both at the 200 level.
Councilmember Kasper cormented who is going to measure stress factors of living in real estate that
may be effected by this? He noted that back in the 60's it was determined that transmission towers had
no effect, and that has been completely reversed. Dr. Yost explained that based on the literature
available now, they have a very substantial case to say that these things are safe, at least based on what
we know now. In Dr. Yost's booklet he states that there is not enough evidence because there are holes
in the evidence presented, questions that haven't been asked or asked in a way that can be directly
relevant to human health, and that is why there are still these question marks out there. He said the best
available evidence they have now substantially says these things don't have adverse health effects that
they know of.
Mr. Vinish reminded Council that at the last meeting with Council they received feedback on what sort
of things Council would like to see in the cellular ordinance. After this discussion, the Commission
would like to come back and present to Council the latest draft and would like more feedback.
Councilmember Hall thinks Councilmember Nordquist's line of questioning regarding how close you are
to the actual height of the tower might be something to look at. Mr. Vinish indicated it was the
Commission's anticipation to take into account all materials furnished by the different sources and,
notwithstanding Dr. Yost's comments, even if there were no impact, the psychological impact is there
and they want to be respectful of that.
Councilmember Earling reminded Mr. Vinish that at the last meeting several weeks ago lie had asked if
they could come up with some numbers related to evolving technology, talked about smaller dishes and
cost impacts that would have. Mr. Vinish is having the industry generate some numbers on that. They
have provided some numbers, but the Commission wants to check some of those numbers against what
others are doing. One of the concerns is that a 50' cell tower costs $500,000 to build. The same tower
that PUD puts up which actually has to have a greater stress load costs $10,000, so they are questioning
the difference. Mr. Vinish would like to have some fairly objective numbers coming back to Council
that everyone can feel comfortable about going with. Councilmember Earling feels it would be a pivotal
point in trying to decide what to do with the ordinance. Mr. Vinish said it was their anticipation to
present those numbers on the next go -around..
VE 6. EXECUTIVE SESSION
E`U�
��,o10 It being announced there was no further business to come before Council, the meeting was recessed at
8:30 p.m. to a 10-minute Executive Session on a legal matter and real estate matter. The meeting will
ad'ourn from there.
SANDRA S. CHASE, CITY CLERK
City Council Approved Minutes
September 18, 1995
Page 9
AGENDA
EDMONDS CITY COUNCIL
Plaza Meeting Room - Library Building
650 Main Street, Second Floor
7:00-10:00pm
SEPTEMBER 18, 1995
SPECIAL MEETING
CALL TO ORDER - 7:00 P.M.
FLAG SALUTE
1. APPROVAL OF AGENDA
2. CONSENT AGENDA ITEMS
(A) ROLL CALL
(B) APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF SEPTEMBER 5, 1995
(C) APPROVAL OF CLAIM WARRANTS #3212S THRU #3850F FOR THE WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 4, 1995 IN
THE AMOUNT OF $120,711.62; APPROVAL OF CLAIM WARRANTS #3856S THRU #4014F FOR THE
WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 11, 1995 IN THE AMOUNT OF $889,638.98; AND APPROVAL OF PAYROLL
WARRANTS #954811 THRU #955178 FOR THE PERIOD OF AUGUST 16 THRU AUGUST 31, 1995 IN THE
AMOUNT OF $413,313.42.
(D) ACKNOWLEDGE RECEIPT OF CLAIM FOR DAMAGES FROM DANIEL AND CARRIE CONNOLLY
($900.00)
(E) REPORT ON GENERAL FUND FINANCIAL POSITION FOR THE PERIOD ENDED AUGUST 31, 1995
(F) REPORT ON BIDS OPENED SEPTEMBER 8, 1995 FOR THE REPAIR TO THE INCINERATOR AND
RELATED EQUIPMENT AND AWARD OF CONTRACT TO C.H. MURPHYICLARK ULLMAN
(G) REPORT ON FINAL CONSTRUCTION COSTS FOR THE 1995 STREET SURFACE TREATMENT
PROGRAM AND COUNCIL ACCEPTANCE OF PROJECT
(H) REPORT ON FINAL CONSTRUCTION COSTS FOR THE CITY PARK DISABLED ACCESSIBILITY
IMPROVEMENT PROJECT (HUD) AND COUNCIL ACCEPTANCE OF PROJECT
(1) AUTHORIZATION TO CALL FOR BIDS TO REPLACE THE CARPETING AT THE EDMONDS LIBRARY
(J) AUTHORIZATION FOR MAYOR TO SIGN A STATE OF WASHINGTON INTERGOVERNMENTAL
COOPERATIVE PURCHASING AGREEMENT
(K) AUTHORIZATION FOR MAYOR TO SIGN A PROFESSIONAL SERVICES AGREEMENT WITH WHITELEY
JACOBSEN AND ASSOCIATES TO INSPECT THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE LOG CABIN BUILDING
(L) PROPOSED ORDINANCE AMENDING CHAPTER 5.05 OF THE EDMONDS CITY CODE IN ORDER TO
PROVIDE FOR AN APPEAL TO DETERMINATIONS BY THE EDMONDS ANIMAL CONTROL AUTHORITY
THAT A DOG IS A DANGEROUS DOG
3. AUDIENCE (3 Minute Limit Per Person)
4. (5 Min.) INTRODUCTION OF DELEGATION TRAVELING TO HEKINAN FOR WORLD PARK EVENT AND TRAVEL
AUTHORIZATION FOR STAFF LIAISON
-Continued- .
EDMONDS CITY COUNCIL MEETING AGENDA
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 1995
PAGE TWO
5. (60 Min.) CELLULAR TOWER INFORMATIONAL WORKSHOP
6. (30 Min.) DISCUSSION ON 800 MEGAHERTZ MOBILE DATA COMPUTER PROJECT
7. (5 Min.) MAYOR
8. (15 Min.) COUNCIL
Parking and meeting rooms are accessible for persons with disabilities.
Contact the City Clerk at 771-0245 with 24 hours advance notice for special accommodations.
The Council Agenda appears on Chambers Cable, Channel 32. Delayed telecast of this meeting appears the following
Wednesday evening at 7:00 p.m. on Channel 36, and the following Friday and Monday at noon on Channel 32.