Some bits of business…
Future Agendas
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.
More Free Steering Wheel Locks!
The City has a free steering wheel lock program. df you’ve been told your car is not eligible Chief Boe says they have expanded to other makes of automobiles! Hurrah!
Head over to the Police Station 21900 11th Ave S, Des Moines, WA 98198 and pick one up before they run out!
City Manager Stuff
City Manager’s Report September 13, 2024
Always good stuff. One thing: Tim George mentioned the monthly Harbormaster’s Reports – Des Moines Marina, which often has Marina Redevelopment and Redondo construction info–very useful even if ya don’t have a boat! Frankly, I mention this page less than I could because the banner is of the old fishing pier, ie. pre-update. 😀 On the other hand, I appreciate a bit o’ nostalgia from time to time. 🙂
SR-509 Stage 2
The virtual open house for SR-509 Stage 2 is now open. Check it out. If yer short on time, here is a direct link to the info most Des Moines residents will want to see: SR 509/24th Avenue South to South 188th Street – I live in, work in, or travel through Des Moines, SeaTac, and southern Burien
If you have questions or concerns about construction at any time, you can contact their 24-hour hotline, 206-225-0674, or SR509Construction@wsdot.wa.gov.
This Week
Wednesday 2:30pm Highline College Ribbon Cutting. This to celebrate the opening of the new entrance off of Pacific Highway–in 2026 this will connect the Kent/Des Moines Light Rail Station.
I’m sure there’s other stuff, but I’m hoping to get in a day of fishing somewhere. Frankly, between all the ‘City Manager’ and ‘airport’ stuff, I’ve been out of the game too long. The freezer needs a reload. 🙂
Last Week
Tuesday: Port of Seattle Commission Meeting (Agenda). No video to report because their entire web site has been down since August 26th–three weeks now! Apparently, it’s ransomware, similar to what happened to Seattle Public Library.
Wednesday September 11 7:00pm: Key To Change Studios (Des Moines) Open House! Go there to get your kids into violin and viola! Studio Director Dr. Quentin Morris invited the whole Council for a recital! 🙂
Thursday September 12 4:00pm Transportation Committee
- The Committee was informed that the Redondo Fishing Pier will be delayed until at least Spring of 2026. Ouch.
- They also voted to move forward a 50% discount on traffic impact fees for developers of Early Learning Centers. This is one of those things that sound great, but is not because the discount is given to the developer, not the parents. In all likelihood this is just an $85k developer discount. I look forward to voting ‘No’ if such a discount comes to the dais. Our dev rates are already at the low/mid-market. This should have already been withdrawn given our current budget.
Thursday September 12 5:00pm Environment Committee We got an update on the Poverty Bay Shellfish District. If you look at the maps, there is a lot of red. In this case, that simply means the Geoduck beds are being given a rest so they can regenerate. All the numbers on various pollutants are actually good. It’s complicated because although we have a long shoreline, pollution from e-coli can be very localised. Eg. water quality at McSorley Creek can be problematic while being fine a few thousand yards south near Redondo.
We also got an update on the SWM 6-year capital budget. A nice touch is the addition of a summary page which shows just how much moolah it takes to keep all these drains flowing.
Thursday 6:00pm City Council 12 Sep 2024 – Agenda – Updated Recap follows.
September 12, 2024 City Council Meeting Recap
Regular Meeting – 12 Sep 2024 – Agenda – Updated
Public Comment
Several comments on the Masonic Home. People want it. Ferry. People don’t. 😀 One person raised an ongoing issue re. cars flying onto his property along MVD. I mention this not only because it’s incredibly scary, but also to note how few people actually show up to Council meetings with these sorts of, what I call, ‘day to day’ issues. That’s not to minimise anything.
I encourage more people to show up at City Council meetings because the Council is not informed of day to day issues like this unless you tell us! We often have no idea what’s going on unless/until a member of the public shows up at the podium. And by then, you’re often deeply frustrated. That’s why I’m constantly banging on about writing citycouncil@desmoineswa.gov. See below. 🙂
City Manager’s Report
Recology
Speaking of which, we had a presentation from Recology reviewing the first year of our new contract. It sounds like things go well, but I was pleased to hear Councilmember Mahoney raise some of the many concerns the public has also raised over the years. This is a far cry from past years when the Council was told that there were literally no complaints. Look, customer service issues are inevitable with any operation like this. It’s nothing to get defensive about. In fact, having everyone acknowledge this sort of thing increases my confidence. I can’t take all the credit for the new take on customer service. But I’ll take some, because I took all the flak. 😀
To the residents of Des Moines: Great job ratting on the City! Here’s to everyone who squealed on Recology in 2024! Keep up the great work! citycouncil@desmoineswa.gov
I kill me.
Also: do check out the Recology Store on 1st Ave and 160th in Burien. My goto for styrofoam recycling. 🙂
ARPA Re-allocation
We voted on an item we postponed from last week; namely to approve allocating the last bit of ARPA money. This $614,000 was part of a $9,000,000 Federal grant we received in 2021 during COVID. The message from the Federal govt. at the time was a 600 page document with all kinds of very specific rules and a message encouraging us to ‘build back better’. Over time, all those ‘limits’ kinda melted away. As Mayor Buxton noted, it was labeled the ‘American Rescue Plan Act’. And we definitely used it to rescue ourselves–by funding several staff positions with one-time money–which is something we’ve been trying to get away from since forever.
New Business
- We voted to approve the contract for our new City Manager Katherine Caffrey. Her start date is November 1st–which is pretty fast for someone packing up her family and moving from Texas. 🙂 My ‘wit from the dais’ was to say that she kinda slapped us around a bit during the negotiation–which is absolutely true. She had been following along, knew we had a sort of desperation. 😀 But also, she was doing what any smart, experienced, mid-career professional would do. And I trust she’ll use those skills to further good policies on behalf of the City for a very long time. Because I do not want to do this again.
There was a presentation on a fairly straightforward item discussed in the Finance Committee to raise business license fees slightly, but by doing so raising an extra $113k or so. 🙂 Spoiler alert: our rates were lower than other cities. This just brings them more into line. My only contribution was to suggest that we revisit this at the Finance Committee. That brings up another little tidbit.
Every committee except ‘Finance’ has a general calendar of items it addresses in the same month every year. Being new, the Finance Committee has not established such a pattern. Periodic review of fees is one step in that direction. Hopefully there will be many more.
The Environment Committee has always been ‘the stormwater committee’. That’s basically been its entire purview over time. In January I obtained general agreement from my colleagues that we should expand the portfolio to be a for-realz environment committee, including the airport. It’s been slow going. I hate being ‘bossy’. But I now realise it’s kinda up to me to push that forward a bit–because the SAMP is already happening. My lame excuse is that between the City Manager jazz and working on ‘SAMP’ stuff behind the scenes I already have two jobs.
More broadly speaking, the Council itself does not have a predictable calendar. More than one applicant for the City Manager post noticed this.
I can usually guess what will be scheduled for the Port of Seattle and our peer cities in any given month of every year, not because I’m some brainiac, but because they have that sort of scheduling baked in. Many cities, like Burien and SeaTac, take a few minutes at the dais once a month to update their meeting calendar and agenda setting.
We on the other hand, have only that Future Agendas report and the Mayor alone sets the agenda. It’s a bad way to do things, but it’s hard to instill better values. not only because people get defensive, but also because it’s fun being Mayor and having all the uncontained power! Muwahahahahaha! 😀
Public Hearing Des Moines Creek West ‘Tract C’ LUA2013-0036
This item, which you can read about in detail at Sea-Tac Noise.Info I discussed in detail last week got held over until October 18. Interim City Manager George (subtlely) shook his head because this parcel is not the same thing that will be adjudicated at the October 18 hearing.
I mention this because at that hearing I will have my City Council hat on and legally the only thing I will be able to vote on is whether or not the developer complied with the checklist. Not whether or not the item is good or even ‘fair’.
I try to educate people, and I know a few of you are trying, but STNI is the place to get information and they do not hear from Des Moines on these issues. Historically, if you try to DIY anything to do with Port/airport things generally will not end well. Use their resources. I’ve said this so many times I’m blue in the face. Environmental law is not about ‘fair’. It’s about what is legal. You can win. But not if you walk into a SEPA hearing and talk about ‘fairness’. In the immortal words of Clint Eastwood, “When it comes to environmental law, deserve’s got nothin’ to do with it.”
New Items For Consideration
There were two.
- In a rare moment of consensus, the Council agreed to my motion that the City prepare a resolution encouraging people to vote No on State Ballot Initiative 2117. This joins similar resolutions by Burien and the Port of Seattle.
- There was also a less unanimous, but still approved, motion to have the City prepare a resolution to encourage voters to approve our second local ballot initiative for a Tax Levy Lid Lift in Des Moines. I opposed the Lid Lift in August. None of my colleagues put forward such a resolution then–perhaps because the Council split 4-3 to put the thing on the ballot in the first place. If this resolution comes to the full Council I will vote ‘no’. And I will continue to urge residents to vote ‘no’ on the November ballot initiative. Here’s Reason #109 why you should also vote ‘no’…
Consent Agenda
We voted 4-3 to approve renewing Peter Philips ferry consulting contract.
I moved this item to the bottom of this article because of it’s importance. And I would encourage everyone, regardless of their POV on the ferry, to watch this 20 minutes of the meeting. In fact, I think it’s the 20 most important minutes of the entire year.
One of the most common questions I get from residents is that they aren’t sure where my colleagues land on various issues. I think this 20 minutes represents the philosophy of each of us very clearly–at least when it comes to ‘economic development’. It’s the ‘debate’ a lot of people have told me they wish they could see before they voted.
It was so important, I wrote the following masterpiece, which I hope you’ll read because it explains why all the economic development stuff–including ‘the ferry’ is just so wrongheaded. And: spoiler alert, I think the numbers in my article are a lot more credible than the ones put forward by our ferry consultant. Let me know what you think:
Three Cents. (Or: What really annoys me about the ferry consultant)