First published September 27, 2009
When I heard that I was going to have to attend a City Council meeting for the political science class I was taking, I was apprehensive to say the least. I figured it would be a “snooze fest” where nothing was going to be accomplished. I also thought that I would be one of a few people under the age of 30 attending. I was wrong to say the least. There were quite a few other younger people at the meeting, albeit most of them were high school students needing to fulfill a class requirement. There were also a few interesting topics presented.
I attended the City Council meeting on September 24, 2009. After downloading and reviewing the agenda, the first issue that caught my eye was the George Sellar bridge project. Having been a driver for the past two years myself, I have experienced the congestion problems in that area. So this was one of the first things that piqued my interest, and I have to admit it was interesting listening to the engineer talk about the project, both current plans and even some of the previous ideas they had had.
All members of the Council were present, except for Gaby Fernandez. Their names are as listed: James Bailey, Karen Rutherford, Doug Miller, Mark Kulaas, Don Gurnard, and Carolyn Case. Also Mayor Dennis Johnson was there. (An interesting side note, Mayor Johnson’s wife was the librarian at the elementary school that I attended, and he even recognized me and said hi when I saw him. I was last in elementary school over 6 years ago.) Mayor Johnson presided over the meeting, and he did an excellent job keeping the meeting on track. Once or twice the orderliness of the meeting was threatened, and he was able to expertly keep the meeting on track.
I didn’t take note of any members of the local media there while the meeting was in session, but the newspaper came out this weekend talking about the George Sellar Bridge project. Christine Pratt is the one that wrote the article, and based on the article, I would assume she was there. Also, in the first three minutes, two girls from the La Beza Latina group presented flyers to an event they are holding. I couldn’t hear them very well, but Mayor Johnson commented on how nice of an example the girls represent the Hispanic community. I also took note that there was an EMT there for the first hour, as well as members from the Department of Transportation.
While there were no specific neighborhood associations there, the final topic on the agenda involved re-zoning an area of town that several members of that neighborhood were there. (More on that to come). They didn’t ask any questions, but there were five different residents of that area that spoke up regarding their personal feelings about the issue. Four of them were against the re-zoning, one I couldn’t really tell. From his comments he seemed to think it was necessary we look for ways to develop areas of town. Other than these five members of the community, there wasn’t anyone else that stepped forward to make comments or even ask questions.
The first issue presented was the George Sellar Bridge Improvement Design Alternative. Steven King presented the item along with another engineer (I wasn’t able to get his name). There was a previous idea proposed to the city, in which several people were unhappy with the design. For instance, I remember Councilwoman Rutherford remark “I don’t like the idea of having to take a right turn, another right turn, and another right turn to take a left turn.” The motion to endorse the alternative plan and authorize the Mayor to send a letter to the WSDOT was made by Councilman Kulaas, seconded by Councilman Bailey, and unanimously adopted.
Next on the agenda, Dan Frazier presented a design service to “dress up” the waste plant, as well as institute odor control procedures. Motion made and seconded, and then carried. For items C through F, there were very few questions asked and very few ideas tossed around other than listed on the agenda. (Most of the things said were just to clarify a few of ideas in the Staff Agenda report). After a brief recess in which Mayor Johnson stated it was “Mostly for the benefit of the High School students here,” we reconvened for the last half of the meeting.
Allison Williams had already presented three topics, and now was on Resolution No. 2009-60, which was to authorize the Mayor to execute a Contingent loan Agreement with the Public Facilities District. The Agenda presented this as a rather simple topic, one or two questions might be asked, but albeit the resolution would carry. Allison Williams wanted a loan instead of using the $1.1 million in reserves. There were quite a few questions asked as to how the money would be used and who the employees were going to be. The resolution was amended so as to read that the debt would be paid first, and the motion made, seconded and carried.
Motion H, I and J again were presented briefly and carried by the council. During the discussion for Motion K on the agenda, to award the Contract for the Community Sidewalk project to the lowest bidder, there were a few questions asked by the council regarding the amount of concrete needed, and how much it was going to cost, but otherwise motion made, seconded and carried.
Now while this was all going on, I realized that people leave when their topic they wanted to listen to or discuss was over with. However, there was still a sizable amount of people sitting there for Agenda Item L. No less than 20 as a matter of a fact. Resolution 2009-56 and 2009-58 were drawn out because Brian Frampton (presenting the Comprehensive Plan Amendments) went into heavy detail, but otherwise few questions were asked and then the Resolutions were carried. However, we get to Resolution 2009-59 and this is what we had been waiting for.
Councilman Kulaas had to step down because he is in close proximity to the issue being discussed, which was a nice reminder for the audience that the Council has to be impartial. The resolution was basically to re-zone an area of what is currently called “Single-Family Resident” so that they could build duplexes and such in that area. What the concern was here, is that an already dangerous road (part of Red Apple road off of Miller) would become even more dangerous. Kids, joggers, and bicyclers love to use that area for their commute. The road has several curves and blind spots, and an already high amount of accidents occur. Adding more traffic to this area would undoubtedly only make matters worse. As I mentioned five different people stepped forward, including a retired Police Chief and the council adopted the resolution.
After three hours, the other members of our class that attended the meeting and myself, were discussing the outcome and getting our notes together. I think it was interesting that even though there were three issues that there was one vote against, all of the Motions and Resolutions passed fairly easily. I must say that it was an interesting experience to say the least.
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