Some bits of business…
Future Agendas is the closest thing the City currently has to a calendar of upcoming City Council topics. It’s not dynamic, ie. you have to click it every time you want to see a new version. And it’s not always accurate. But until we develop a genuine calendar, this can be very useful if there is a particular issue you don’t want to miss.
We’re doing a six month trial without standing committees, instead doing a monthly committee of the whole. Unfortunately, as the year goes on, items for consideration are veering away from each committee’s planning calendar. But for what it’s worth, each committee’s planning calendar here. 🙂
UW AAA study for kids with asthma – free indoor air filters!
The University of Washington is conducting an Asthma, air quality & airports fon children living near Sea-Tac Airport. This is a great opportunity to help improve the air quality for your child and help with important research! Learn more and sign up here.
Me…
I used to be out in public a lot more. That has scaled back a bit – partly because honestly, we don’t need seven people at every event. There’s simply too much ‘stuff’ going on. But, every once in a while, I want to mention two things:
- I’m not a big ‘selfie’ kinda guy. But I walk the City almost every day – sort of this rotation where I try to hit everywhere once every 3-4 months. I can’t say it’s made me an more ‘fit’ but if you ask me about something in your neighbourhood, you can expect me to be vaguely aware of it.
- I serve on these three County advisory committees: emergency management, regional transit, and flood control.
City Manager Stuff
City Manager’s Report May 23, 2025 No recipe! However, perhaps something better. Late Breaking News! 😀 According to the report, the last permit needed to move forward with Redondo Fishing Pier has been approved. This means we can start getting bids – which improves the chances of getting things moving this year!
Restaurants!
There have been more restaurant changes in town. So this is a good time to remind you of the local restaurant guide TakeOutDM.Com or TakeOutDesMoines.Com. There is a sign-up form which emails signees when various establishments are offering specials! If you are a new restaurant owner, you should also let them know when you are having said specials so they can spread the woid.
News Flash! After five years of being only ‘98198’, TakeOutDM is expanding its list to include establishments people think are in Des Moines, but (due to the insane border) are actually in Kent, WA! 🙂
This Week
Monday
Members of the American Legion, Des Moines Memorial Drive Preservation Association, and City of Des Moines Director of Public Works Michael Slevin (Retired, US Army) raise the flag for the first time on the new pole at the Memorial Flag Triangle Ribbon Cutting.And I hope you note, in particular the Des Moines Memorial Drive Perservation Association‘s plaque – with brick work from the original road.
Here is a gallery of piccies I took at the event.
Tuesday
Port Commission Meeting (Agenda) The Commissioners heard all about StART. What should matter to you is the chronic information desert. The Commissioners are usually in the dark about basically everything to do with the airport community issues. But one could say the same about the Burien Airport Committee (see below). What they finally seem to have keyed in on is the fact that StART was never a ‘community’ round table. It was organised by the former airport director in concert with City Administrators. Good, bad, or indifferent, that policy has led to much of the frustration concerning what StART is and what it can do. The fact is, former airport director Lyttle sold the idea in 2018, it sounded great, and the Commission let him run with it. If it takes the Commission seven years to respond to even this basic community concern, that does not bode well for the entire model.
Wednesday
2:30PM Highline Forum (Agenda) Burien City Hall. Surprisingly, there will be another annual report on StART. 😀
Last Week
Tuesday
I attended the Burien Airport Committee meeting – which is kinda/sorta to be the model for our upcoming airport committee. It is hard to say this, but frankly, this was slightly painful to watch because there are simply too many errors of fact. There is such a massive gap in even the most basic public information, it’s only natural that the Port always gets their way. I know I’m being vague but this is a topic for another day.
Wednesday
Regional Transit Committee (Agenda) It seems like 300 years ago now, but Metro is still restoring routes from COVID. The south recovery plan is scheduled for implementation in Fall 2026 – unfortunately, after FIFA. There was also a presentation on the free transit program available to everyone under eighteen. What I keep nagging about is getting cards in people’s hands. As I said at the dais, Metro does its best, but it has very limited funding for outreach. We are absolutely blessed to have two libraries, right next to two excellent bus stops. This is a prime opportunity to connect our residents with the City and the library.
Thursday
City Council Meeting Regular Meeting – 22 May 2025 – Agenda – Updated If you have a sense of deja vu all over again, you’re not wrong. 🙂 We re-visited the Citizens Advisory Committee discussed at the May 8, 2022 meeting.
City Council Meeting Recap
Public Comments
There were several comments – all on the Marina Steps with a wide-range of points of view. All known voices. I’m not sure if all, or any, stuck around for the actual discussion – I wish they had. That was a subset of the conversation the community should have had years ago. This is complicated. See below.
City Manager’s Reports
There were two significant City Manager Presentationsdard should be: “Unless it’s a real emergency, all presentations will be in the agenda packet.”
Pet licensing program
We will be outsourcing animal licensing to a firm called. DocuPet – something Chief Boe talked about at the May 1, Committee of the Whole. I’ve been talking about the shortfall in animal control revenue since last April. The problem has always been that, frankly, we hadn’t been billing people. If you don’t bill them, if you don’t make them aware, they don’t pay. Duuuuuhhh. 😀
On the plus side, the DocuPet product seems pretty good. Here is an example in Whatcom, WA. On the down side – nothing is ever perfect – is that the way the thing links to city web sites is klunky.- On the other hand, it’s so much better than doing nothing, my guess is that it will bring in enough revenue to get us within striking distance of bringing back the Animal Control we had with Burien Cares.
- On the third hand, let’s remember that the previous Animal Control program we had with Burien Cares was no panacea. We had many service complaints about the facility – including a lawsuit over its governance.
What I don’t want to happen is to get back 80% of what we had in 2024, which was 80% of what we had in 2018 — and declare victory. But this is a good first step. 🙂
Capital projects update
We received an update from DPW Slevin on four Bond projects.
- Memorial Flag Triangle done.
- Redondo Fishing Pier. We have the funds. We’re just waiting on one last permit. The DPW seems confident.
- Docks L,M,N. Still on schedule. Nothing to report.
- Marina Steps. That is the (x) factor.
I call this ‘the plausible deniability’ trap. The packet we received explicitly mentioned ‘council direction’. But then it also said, we don’t need direction. So if I try to alert people to show up? My colleagues (and the city) can say (here’s my Ronald Reagan impression) “There you go again…” 😀
But the fact is, after hearing the oral description from DPW Slevin, there is simply not enough information to decide on anything. But I did have a tantrum! 🙂
Overview
The Marina Steps project we voted on last year came in way over budget and has been scaled back by a process called Value Engineering. To avoid confusion, from here on out, I’m calling the Marina Steps, ‘Project VE’. There are four options for Project VE – A, B, C, D. Option A is basically ‘Project VE’ so let’s just call that Project VE. Options B, C, D each cut something else out to save even more money.
Assuming all the funding sources come in, and neither Redondo or the Docks run into unexpected costs, the Council will likely choose Project VE. If those projects run into higher costs, we may be forced to select B, C, D.
Still with me? 😀
Funding
- One of the funding sources, besides our bonds, is a $1M King County parks grant we applied for, but we will not know if we’re getting it until mid-June.
- The other two funding sources are from our future budget:
- Sound Transit payment – originally set aside for roads
- REET – which is usually set aside for capital projects
Read again: we’re taking money from other potential uses in order to fund Project VE. We’re doing everything possible to ‘move money around’ from other needs in order to do the Steps now.
For example, let’s say we do get that King County Parks grant. $1,000,000 is enough to build a completely new park in a part of the City that has none. Same thing with the Sound Transit and REET money.
So, next time anyone from the City tells you how each fund is somehow sacred? Raising an eyebrow is perfectly appropriate.
That was my tantrum. What is the point of having a ‘two year budget’ when we move money around like this just to ‘make it happen’?
We truly cannot afford this. And what is so chronically frustrating is that the public assumes that because we are doing its we can afford it. In other words, as individuals, we all know that people send what they cannot afford all the time. And most of us are capable of saying ‘no’Â – even if it’s something we really want. But since it’s ‘the City’, people seem more than happy to go nuts.
The Enterprise Fund Tantrum
The Marina is an Enterprise Fund – that means a self-sustaining business. By ordinance it is supposed to cover all its own costs. It has not done that in many years. If it did, we would not have had to borrow $10,000,000 to replace the docks. At one time, the entire Marina floor was a part of that Enterprise Fund. In other words, the entire Marina Floor was expected to pay for itself. Over time, we’ve subdivided it into separate ‘zones’ – basically converted more and more of it into park space – so that it was not subject to that requirement; so that we could borrow more and more from the General Fund – so that we did not have to maintain the fiscal discipline of the Enterprise Fund.
We run another Enterprise Fund – the storm water utility. That does work like an Enterprise Fund. You pay storm water rates and in exchange the business covers all the costs, not only to run the thing today, but also to replace pipes and equipment off into the future. To set the proper rates and policies, we hire an expert every few years to do an analysis. We last did that in 2020 and by all reports it works well. We do not have to borrow money to cover costs or do other budget tricks to keep it running.
Twenty five years ago, the Council started hearing that the Marina was not paying for itself. The City needed to set aside reserves for dock replacement. At the time, they could have decided to install Dry Stack (on land boat storage) which was (and remains) the only way to expand Marina revenue. If done then, it would have provided the annual revenue necessary to fund the Marina’s replacement costs and much of the other Marina floor redevelopment without borrowing. In other words, that would have made the Marina actually work like an Enterprise Fund.
Instead, we kept kicking the can down the road.
When we build Project VE, the only other possible revenue source the Marina Floor will ever have (the center area known as Parcel A) goes away. That is the ‘switchbacks’.
But, just between you and me, I was never against a Marina Steps. I never cared if Parcel A was set aside for retail. I just didn’t want a less than spectacular Marina Steps. I felt then (and now) that if we were gonna do a ‘steps’, it should be amazing. I do not think Project VE will be amazing. By definition it is not the best we could do.
But aside from that, the reason I never cared about the financial loss of that area is because of three cents.
Three Cents
The City only retains three cents of every sales tax dollar. Which means: it would take over $8,000,000 in new retail every year to equal the same revenue as a dry stack. $8,000,000 is about half the entire retail sales of the entire City of Des Moines. Even if a ginormous electric ferry pulls up to our dock four times a day. Even if, someday, we build a hotel. We will never generate the kind of reliable revenue a dry stack will provide.
Dry Stack: $250,000 a year in revenue.
Project VE is a park. It has no more predictable economic value than any other park. And neither does the Redondo Fishing Pier. They’re parks. ; not Cancun.
What I found absolutely astonishing at this meeting – and over the past nine years of this debate has been the cognitive dissonance. Everyone is concerned about now. There is literally no one speaking for the future.
We’ve lived paycheck to paycheck for so long, we can’t imagine what it might be like to actually generate money. We honestly do not believe in the concept.
Proclamations
Although Mayor Buxton initially said she wanted to limit proclamations (which I heartily agree with), sooner or later, everyone caves. 😀 We could probably have very important proclamations at every meeting. That said, we had two worth ones
- Public Service Workers: accepted by DPW Michael Slevin. My comment was that the public does not get how much work they do which no one sees. If you looked at all the work we do, and not just us, our contractors as well, before anything looks like its happening, you’d be surprised.
- LGBTQIA Proclamation: presented by Councilmember Grace-Matsui. Not to toot my own horn, but I proposed that during my first term. 🙂 Actually, we’d had such a proclamation back in the day, but it had fallen by the wayside. Not to get all ‘history’ here, but since I’ve lived here there has always been a persistent, albeit quiet, LGBTQIA presence. It just hasn’t manifested itself with splashy events.
Consent Agenda
Lakehaven Water District Franchise Agreement. Passed (4-3) This was the second reading on an agreement to lock in a six percent franchise fee for rate payers until 2041. I voted ‘no’ because I have no idea whether or not any of these agreements make sense. The only thing I know is that they go on for ten years, so when you approve them, you’re basically locking in that system forever.
Councilmember Grace-Matsui spoke against because utility taxes are regressive.
Or rather, Councilmember Nutting called them taxes and she corrected him that they are franchise fees.
The  Waterland Blog incorrectly identified this as a utility tax. Everyone does that. It’s like the red light cams that are supposed to be about ‘safety’ but are actually about, well… you know… 😀
But franchise fees are quite different. For one thing, they are supposed to be about cost recovery. Utility taxes are more honest — we want the money. 🙂 Again, potayto, potahto. They’re sources of revenue we’ve become dependent upon.
Why do I care? Well for one thing, it may not be the right number. But for another, if you want to ‘move the city forward’ you’d want more flexibility. That might be flexibility in helping homeowners get off septic. Flexibility to negotiate for water quality mitigations with the airport.
At some point, it would be nice to have a discussion as to how these SPDs impact our future planning. I’ve been watching since 2008 and I’ve never seen that kind of discussion. It probably sounds like ‘Star Trek’ to people.
Mayor Buxton said that she trusts that our staff determined the best deal. That puts me in an awkward position. My job is to say: prove it.
Going back to Pet Licensing – until I started grousing, no one was talking about that lost revenue. There was no need for defensiveness. It’s just something we weren’t doing. I pointed it out. It’s getting addressed. That’s how all of this is supposed to work.
Unfinished Business
Citizens Advisory Committee Reorg
I abstained, for the simple reason I think the whole deal is weird. It consolidates the previous 18 person CAC and the three person Human Services Advisory Committee and the five person Arts Commission and the five person Senior Services Advisory Committee into a single 18 person CAC with three subcommittees, which are… Human Services, Arts, and Seniors. If this sounds like musical chairs, well… music is probably in there somewhere too. 🙂
What made me abstain is the fact that the Council voted to give every existing member of all those groups ‘pride of place’ — even for people whose terms had long since expired. So, the expectation is that there will be no openings for truly new members. That is completely contrary to the notion of expanding the group to encompass a broader range of residents.
Executive Session
POTENTIAL LITIGATION RCW 42.30.110 (1)(i) – 20 Minutes. I could tell ya what happened. But then I’d have to kill ya! Or I’d go to jail. I forget which. Nevertheless, aside from one snippy remark, it was good news. So good in fact, that we moved back to the dais early.
Said it before, say it again, you miss a lot when you aren’t in the room. And what kills me is that people always leave before the good parts. The video only resumes when the meeting officially reconvenes. So no one saw me perform tech support on Gene’s PC. Then the camera goes back on and everyone magically transforms back into Councilmember Achziger. Booooooring. 😀
More unfinished business…
Council Protocol Manual Update
Since we re-convened with seven minutes before our 9:00PM hard stop, once again this got put off — until the June 5 Study Session. So the meeting ended.
And yes, ending that hard stop – which no one else near by has – is on my list of proposed amendments. 🙂 Said it before, say it again: in a normal government, you don’t have a ‘play clock’ like in the old NCAA basketball. Maybe it’s better now, but when I first got to America, some teams would win the championship simply by learning how to run out the clock. Boooooooring. 😀