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City Council Minutes - 12/17/2019 r City offigard Tigard City Council Meeting Minutes December 1752019 1. WORKSHOP MEETING A. At 6:32 p.m. Mayor Snider called the Tigard City Council to order. B. City Recorder Krager called the roll. Present Absent Councilor Lueb ✓ Councilor Anderson ✓ Mayor Snider ✓ Youth Councilor Turley ✓ Council President Goodhouse ✓ Councilor Newton ✓ C. Mayor Snider asked everyone to stand and join him in the Pledge of Allegiance. D. Mayor Snider asked staff and council for Non-Agenda Items. None. 2. JOINT MEETING WITH PARKS AND RECREATION ADVISORY BOARD PRAB Chair Gross led the PRAB discussion and mentioned that they feel the City's Parks staff are very good and do well with the challenges they've faced with getting the recreation program going and keeping up with park maintenance. He said they appreciated Steve Martin's leadership during his tenure as Parks Manager. Vice Chair Ciobanu gave an overview of the recreation program and said the PRAB is grateful for Council's support of the program. She said the money invested into the program was well spent and the faith Council had in their staff was well placed. In year 1 of the recreation program there were 36 events and 5,000 participants and year 2 had 86 events and 8,000 participants. This year there were 155 events and over 11,000 participants. She complimented Kimberly Cedarholm and Kaitlyn McKinney who lead the program. She said the program generates revenue and this year generated $75,000 which was above expectations. She reiterated that residents are coming and paying to participate in programs, showing what a great need this is in the community. She advised investing in the program to keep up with the demand. Councilor Newton asked if the City was having to turn people away from classes because they are too full.Parks Manager Martin said they have not had to turn too many away.The wreath making class filled up a few weeks ago so another class was opened in the afternoon. She noted that $100,000 doesn't cover cost of providing the program. Chair Gross said he understood the revenue stays in the Parks Fund so Council may see a request at budget time to spend some of that on part- time staff to increase programming. TIGARD CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES —December 17, 2019 City of Tigard 1 13125 SW Hall Blvd.,Tigard, OR 97223 www.tigard-or.gov I Page 1 of 12 Council President Goodhouse asked if fees are hindering some from participating because they cannot afford it. Parks Manager Martin said they have been offering scholarships and have not had to turn anyone away. Council President Goodhouse suggested making the scholarship opportunities more visible in the community. Councilor Anderson mentioned the challenging time when the previous Recreation Coordinator left and said they really haven't skipped a beat with the new staff. Mayor Snider asked staff to commend the Recreation and Public Works staff PRAB Member Holmes thanked Council for their support. He said as a landscape architect he notes that park maintenance is often overlooked. It is not factored in with the design and often not kept up by the end user. The City of Tigard currently has over 550 acres of wonderful, diverse parks, open spaces and natural areas. Our parks are well loved, and the Northwest four-season climate takes its toll on the parks which need constant upkeep, cleaning and development. There are four areas of the city earmarked for future development and two areas, totaling 40 acres that will be developed later.These parks need to be developed because the community needs more equity within its park system. We have amazing new parks going in the River Terrace neighborhoods, but older parks continue to decline and require increased maintenance and updating. The new parks have large,fancy play areas, a great number of ornamental plantings, and large expanses of lawn,requiring more water for irrigation,elevated maintenance and dedicated personnel to maintain them. The residents of River Terrace were sold on an open space system that has been designed to be operated at a high level. The developer built the new parks first,prior to a majority of the homes, to influence buyers, not taking into account the City's ability to continue that high level of maintenance. The River Terrace development will continue to expand and while it is no small endeavor to have flourishing parks and a recreation department,it can be done with the support of the City and Council. Councilor Newton said she looked at the Performance Audit and noted that Recommendation No. 63 was for staff to do asset management in 2021 to determine what staffing levels are needed. She asked if this is something that should be done sooner. City Manager Wine said the recommendation was for ensuring there is an effective system in place to track asset management and this system is in progress. She added that the Parks Master Plan will help determine what will be developed over time. Public Works Director Rager noted that in last year's budget they asked for personnel to bring them up to date with the current park inventory. The additional personnel were approved by the Budget Committee. He said part two will be for additional acreage coming from River Terrace and the upcoming Universal Plaza. Council will be hearing about the ongoing needs for park maintenance resources. Chair Gross said the PRAB had questions about the Transient Lodging Tax (TLT) money. He asked PRAB Member Winkels to talk about the TLT and how the funding could be used. He said Council tasked the PRAB with coming up with ideas on how to use those funds to create tourism. Mr. Winkels said the statute creates certain challenges. Not a lot of things were apparent that would create tourism but a turf field at Cook Park would be an attraction for Little League tournaments from all over the state.There is also the opportunity to host the Softball World Series. TIGARD CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES—December 17, 2019 City of Tigard 1 13125 SW Hall Blvd.,Tigard, OR 97223 www.tigard-or.gov I Page 2 of 12 He said PRAB believes these would meet the goal of increasing tourism. Mayor Snider noted that Council took formal action at their last meeting to support the Softball World Series coming to Tigard.PRAB Member Winkels said they have heard from other sporting entities that there is a field shortage. The lacrosse community attended their PRAB meeting. Additional fields to meet this need would be a good use of TLT funding and would drive up tourism.He said that as they progress with the Parks Master Plan,he expects the PRAB will hear from other additional sports interests. Mayor Snider asked if staff concludes that this use meets statutory standards for the TLT. Parks Manager Martin said fields were a perfect example of how the TLT could be used. Councilor Anderson noted that grants were also being sought for the turf fields so it would not be entirely TLT money for that purpose. He suggested as PRAB comes up with other ideas they consider applying for grants. Mayor Snider thanked the PRAB for their creativity. He said sometimes the Council will give a Board or Committee a challenge that is not easy, and sometimes there is not a great answer,but the PRAB did the hard work and figured out a creative option for funding it. He asked if staff was moving forward with this.Parks Manager Martin said the infield is in the proposed Capital Improvement Plan that will come to Council as part of the budget process. Chair Gross returned to a previous comment made by PRAB Member Holmes. The development of River Terrace has been done through their SDCs and we are seeing a lot of progress there. But at the same time there are four park sites in the rest of Tigard that have remained undeveloped for years partly because of lack of funds to build them out but also concern about putting more strain on existing staff which we feel is already behind. We need to be mindful of the dichotomy between the two areas. He noted that there will be a request for more park maintenance in the budget. Mayor Snider asked for the staff perspective. City Manager Wine said the Parks Master Plan is an inventory and plan for all of Tigard's parks. She acknowledged that as parks are added through development of new areas it creates a system-wide inequity. Mayor Snider asked if the level of service has eroded in the River Terrace parks. Mr. Martin said the developer is still taking care of them but will be turning them over to the City before the end of the fiscal year. Council President Goodhouse asked if the City is going to keep all the parks up to standard and Parks Manager Martin said that was a tough question.They are maintained to the level that the ball fields at Cook Park are maintained,which is the most intensive in the City's parks system. He estimated it would drop slightly. PRAB Chair Gross spoke to the future of parks and recreation services and noted that there are now 16 employees and with River Terrace expansion,Universal Plaza and other upcoming park development,the system and programs will continue to grow. He suggested it was time to consider a different operating model where parks and recreation can flourish as an independent department. He said parks and recreation has a lot of direct communication with the public and the PRAB felt that having someone at the table when decisions are being made is critical. Mayor Snider asked if this was a unanimous PRAB decision. PRAB Member Winkels said it was unanimous to explore options and do some analysis. Mayor Snider asked if staff had done this analysis. Public Works Director Rager said he talked with the PRAB when they were discussing this and his opinion is that it is not yet the time. He noted that the recreation program started on a 5- year plan,based on the MIG recreation study. They surveyed the community and asked whether the city should have a full-fledged recreation and community center. The answer from the public was TIGARD CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES —December 17, 2019 City of Tigard 1 13125 SW Hall Blvd.,Tigard, OR 97223 www.tiga.d-or.gov I Page 3 of 12 that the city should do something but not at that level yet. Another question was whether parks and recreation should be a full-fledged department and he remembered that the answer was not yet. Public Works Director Rager said he was not opposed to studying it and he recommends checking on this at year 5 of the 5-year plan. Mayor Snider asked where we are in the 5-year plan and Parks Manager Martin confirmed it was year 3. He added that the growth in recreation will make a huge difference in the next year or two and if things continue to grow at this level it will be time to examine this. Mayor Snider asked if doing a more formal evaluation was an expensive or complicated task. Mr. Martin said it would be easy to compare Tigard to nearby agencies and it is unusual for a city the size of Tigard not to have a separate Parks and Recreation Department. Councilor Newton asked why a separate department made sense operationally at this time.Mayor Snider said what he is hearing from PRAB is that it would elevate the level of involvement at a director level and get more attention, clarity and focus. Mayor Snider asked if PRAB could help bring the Softball World Series to Tigard. Chair Gross said they could but there were a few issues such as Cook Park improvements and they were not sure of the costs. Councilor Newton thanked the PRAB members for their work. Mayor Snider added that he appreciated their creativity. 3. EXTERNAL FINANCIAL AUDIT AND CAFR PRESENTATION WITH MOSS ADAMS Assistant Finance Director Isaksen introduced this item. Two Audit Committee citizen members were present: Stephanie Veal and Larry Acheson. CPA Jim Lanzarotta from Moss Adams gave the presentation. Auditor Lanzarotta discussed the nature of the audit and shared high-level details of the process. He said Tigard is fortunate to have a very engaged Audit Committee. He noted that Councilor Lueb was absent tonight but added that she took a governmental finance class and commented,"What commitment! Hats off to her for her level of preparation." He said Tigard has a little over$1 million in federal grant expenditures. When that total reaches over$750,000 it brings in another audit element requiring testing the City's compliance with grant agreements. He said one EDA grant was about$900,000 so grant compliance was tested.Tigard is an Oregon municipal corporation so that required auditors to test for compliance with 6-7 state laws. The ones that take the most time on the auditors'part are budget administration,examining where the cash and investments are held,and procurement. Auditor Lanzarotta said Tigard is fortunate that Assistant Finance Director Isaksen and staff,under Finance Director LaFrance's leadership can put the CAFR document together.There are 1,500 cities in Oregon and Tigard is one of the few that can do this themselves. Auditor Lanzarotta said the financial statements are materially correct. No clarification was needed to address problems. The Government Audit Standard Report was clean,no non-compliance and the Single Audit Report had no findings. TIGARD CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES —December 17, 2019 City of Tigard 1 13125 SW Hall Blvd.,Tigard, OR 97223 www.tigard-or.gov I Page 4 of 12 He went over required communication. Audit adjustments inciuded reversing a duplicate posting of the Clean Water Services sewer and stormwater entry for February and an entry was corrected for errors in posting the State payroll tax withholding payment made in July 2019. There were no major problems with the City's internal controls. No non-compliance was found on the State law testing. There were no disagreements with management. City staff were cooperative and had a great attitude. Best Practice Observations: • Utility Billing-Review access periodically to ensure only authorized individuals can change rates in the billing system. • IT system users—Periodically review user access and ensure current listing of active users is updated and there is no unauthorized access. • Lake Oswego-Tigard Water Partnership—It is hoped that Tigard establishes a partnership governing agreement to clearly stipulate ownership of the assets,responsibilities for future maintenance and repair costs, etc. Council President Goodhouse commented that this discussion will help justify to Lake Oswego the need for a governing agreement. A slide was shown of new accounting standards. He commented that Finance and Information Services Director LaFrance and Assistant Finance Director Isaksen will be taking gaining on some of these new standards. Auditor Lanzarotta expressed appreciation to Finance and Information Services Director LaFrance, Assistant Finance Director Isaksen and Accounting Supervisor Lawson and their staff for their excellent facilitation of the audit process. He said it was also a pleasure to work with such an engaged Audit Committee. Council President Goodhouse asked about a street maintenance fee that was not billed properly years ago. Auditor Lanzarotta said if the City had the ability to charge but did not, that does not make the financial reports incorrect. They reflect transactions that have occurred. Audits are not judgements on how well you are meeting a need or being a good steward. Finance and Information Services Director LaFrance said auditors test City processes. but it is a sampling;not every process is tested every year. Since the street maintenance fee error was discovered this fiscal year Moss Adams will discuss it next year and determine whether it is material to the City's finances. Auditor Lanzarotta said for transactions selected to test they would look at rates approved in the minutes or a resolution to make sure they are being charged correctly. Mr. LaFrance replied that in this situation, if Moss Adams tested the rate, the rates were correct. The error was the cap on the number of units,which was not removed on 29 of 19,000 accounts. Councilor Anderson said, "Good job, staff. What is our grade?" Auditor Lanzarotta said it would be excellent. Finance and Information Services Director LaFrance mentioned that the City received the GFOA award once again. He noted this year not only would there be a 260-page Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) but staff would also be producing a 20-page Popular Annual Financial TIGARD CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES —December 17, 2019 City of Tigard 1 13125 SW Hall Blvd.,Tigard, OR 97223 www.dgard-or.gov I Page 5 of 12 Report (PAFR)for the first time.The PAFR is intended for the general populace and provides a high-level summary and is meant to encourage interest in the City's finances and generate discussion. He gave credit to the Design and Communications Department for producing the CAFR and said there will also be a Spanish version. Mayor Snider thanked the auditors, the Audit Committee and staff for their work. 4. JOINT MEETING WITH THE BUDGET COMMITTEE Finance and Information Services Director LaFrance introduced this item. Citizen members present were: Clifford Rone,Leah Voit,Tim Cadman, Stephanie Veal and Siobhan Chandler. Elected members present were Council President Goodhouse,Mayor Snider,Councilor Anderson and Councilor Newton. Finance and Information Services Director LaFrance said the agenda is: • Review the budget direction from City Manager Wine • Receive a summary of instructions to departments • Review the budget calendar. The direction needed from the Budget Committee is endorsement of the budget direction, verification that the budget instructions meet the City Manager's and Budget Committee's needs, and review of the budget calendar. He discussed staff's approach to the 2021 budget which will keep service levels constant. Changes to the budget will be prioritized and preference will be given to expenditures that are limited duration. This will help extend the life of the City's reserves. He said at the same time,we are looking at a local option levy.Why not just use the reserves to address the needs of the police department? They are two different things. Using the service level reserves is not a responsible way to fund expanding a service.The local option levy would expand police services, so we are not talking about$500,000 a year;we are talking$2.8 million per year and with renewals it is an indefinite service level. Budget instructions are to hold the line within general fund areas. Utilities and various business-type activities are being constrained within their resources. The City's Leadership Team will discuss proposals that go beyond that status level and use part of the reserves. Mr. LaFrance listed key dates on the budget calendar and discussed notice requirements and council business meeting dates. Last year we tried the big one-day concentrated meeting to discuss issue papers. Question and answer sessions were set up both for Budget Committee and the community. New information,not provided in the past,was given to the Budget Committee in advance so that when they arrived at the Saturday meeting they were prepared to deliberate.We discussed issue papers and introduced presentations by the departments. Feedback favored keeping the one-day meeting on a Saturday,second priority was a one-day meeting on a weekday, and the third preference was to go back to a series of night meetings. The Budget Committee wanted to keep the Q &A sessions, although they were not well-attended. We hope to get more participants. The presentations irom staff were liked and getting the information in advance was helpful to Budget Committee members. He discussed the calendar TIGARD CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES —December 17, 2019 City of Tigard 1 13125 SW Hall Blvd., Tigard, OR 97223 www.tigard-or.gov I Page 6 of 12 dates. Questions from the Budget Committee will be shared will all members. These are due May 6 and May 16 is the date for the all-day meeting. Council has indicated they want to go for a local option levy in May. The election is May 19 and the Budget Committee needs to wait until after that vote to approve the budget. We will determine an approved budget on May 16,but there will likely be a brief meeting on May 21 to discuss changes if the levy passes.The levy is very specific;it is money set aside for a dedicated purpose. We can take that and essentially "bolt it on"if the local option levy passes. Council adoption of the budget is scheduled for June 9 but if the Budget Committee does not approve it on May 21,the Council adoption would need to occur at a later meeting in June due to public notice requirements. Budget Committee Member Cadman supports a one-day session. He said if they were making budget cuts it may not be adequate but a hold the line budget should fit. Councilor Anderson said he approved of the schedule. Councilor Newton noted that they want to make sure the budget is aligned with the Strategic Plan,Performance Measures and Council Goals. She said she also supports protecting the service level reserve. Budget Committee Member Rone asked how they can explain in a few seconds to citizens about reserves and excesses yet talk to them about doing a local option levy. If the levy does not pass, service levels will drop. Mayor Snider agreed that there is a serious information gap and a frank conversation is needed. It takes a 15-20-minute conversation to explain. He said in State of the City interviews he did recently he asked people how many officers they thought we on duty on each shift. He got answers such as there are 100 police officers on duty at any given time which tells him that there is a dramatic information gap.Mayor Snider agreed it cannot be explained in a few seconds. Councilor Newton had a clarification about service levels. She said if the levy doesn't pass,we are not talking about cuts. Mayor Snider agreed and said Mr. Rone's question was how to explain a levy ask when there is a reserve, which sounds like a savings account to some people. Budget Committee Member Voit asked about the single-day set up allowing enough opportunity for community comments. She noted two years ago there were budget cuts and more on the agenda. There was also much more community involvement at those multi-night meetings than at last year's one-day meeting. Finance Director LaFrance said the years when the most commentary is received are those when cuts are being made. Ms. Voit asked if the community attendance for years without major cuts was comparable to last year's attendance. Mr. LaFrance said it was comparable. Multiple meetings usually brought in the same testimony multiple times. Council President Goodhouse said he liked having the second night available but agreed that there was repetitive discussion and that is why they determined it could be done in a one-day meeting. Budget Committee Member Rone reiterated a few comments.The process last year worked out better than expected and the same questions were not asked several times. Budget Committee Chair elections were held. Budget Committee Member Cadman nominated Clifford Rone. Council President Goodhouse seconded the motion. Mayor Snider conducted a vote and the motion passed unanimously. TIGARD CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES —December 17, 2019 City of Tigard 1 13125 SW Hall Blvd., Tigard, OR 97223 www.tigard-or.gov I Page 7 of 12 Budget Committee Secretary elections were held. Council President Goodhouse nominated Tim Cadman. Councilor Anderson seconded the motion. Mayor Snider conducted a vote and the motion passed unanimously. Mayor Snider invited the Budget Committee to stay for the local option levy discussion. 5. RECEIVE BRIEFING ON SAFE LOTS AND TRANSITIONAL CAMPGROUNDS Senior Planner Warren presented a briefing and slide show on safe lots programs which is part of a series covering a range of land uses not currently allowed in the code.They fall broadly under the umbrella of temporary residency uses and some address temporary accommodations to assist community members experiencing houselessness while the others address temporary lodging for visitors to Tigard.Future briefings will cover temporary campgrounds and short-term rentals. He said a question has been raised by participants in the city's Community Roundtable on how to host or allow safe lots within the City. Safe lots are parking lots where people can shelter overnight in their vehicles. They are typically patrolled for the safety of these community members. They offer an alternative to commercial parking lots and residential streets. People sheltering in their cars in Tigard are typically seniors or working people and are parking in commercial spaces or neighborhoods where they are subject to danger or harassment. They do not have access to sanitary or waste receptacles. Safe lots were authorized by state law passed in 1999 (SB479). Certain requirements must be met such as they must be on religious institution property,must provide sanitation,handwashing and trash facilities and no more than three vehicles are allowed per property.Jurisdictions can add their own requirements to address community impacts and neighborhood compatibility. Santa Barbara had the first official program and the idea quickly expanded to other west coast cities. Locally,Multnomah County, Eugene, Clackamas County and Beaverton have safe lots. Tigard's code is not clear on safe lots and would require some amendments. Senior Planner Warren described Beaverton's pilot Safe Lots Program which is open to more than religious institutions. Mayor Snider asked if that was within state law and Mr.Warren said he would leave that for the city attorney to respond. It is managed by Just Compassion and includes all elements required by state law plus a requirement for signed host agreements with guests,a 30-day probationary period for each guest and it was paired with a ban on overnight camping in the right of way. The Clackamas County Board of Commissioners traveled to Eugene to see how their Safe Lots Program worked. They chose not to change their code which really did not accommodate the use. They applied discretionary standards for temporary use which were difficult for planners to apply. Their first safe lot was in an industrial area but approval for a second safe lot in a residential neighborhood was appealed by neighbors. The hearings officer decision placed so many additional conditions on the proposal that it became financially unfeasible for religious institutions. Senior Planner Warren said the staff recommends further study of the Beaverton program to get more details and then bringing this to Council as part of a code mini-project to consider temporary housing for safe lots, temporary campgrounds and short-term rentals. TIGARD CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES —December 17, 2019 City of Tigard 1 13125 SW Hall Blvd.,Tigard, OR 97223 www.dgard-or.gov I Page 8 of 12 He noted that yesterday the Supreme Court said if you do not have a place where your houseless community members can go you cannot remove them from public property. In response to a question irom Mayor Snider about whether Beaverton is following the state's limit of three vehicles, Senior Planner Warren said they are not. Mayor Snider said three vehicles seemed like a small number given the need and the cost of resources to serve then with trash and sanitary facilities. Councilor Anderson agreed that the code needs to be amended before starting on any of this. He asked if additional police presence would be necessary. Senior Planner Warren said that typically it does not take more police than regular residential properties would. Beaverton requires private security patrols and police respond to calls for service. People are being screened. They self-select to come into the program and want to be off the sheets and have a safe and stable place to live. Council President Goodhouse said that this is a great direction to go. He said, "We can take something that is going on anyway and make it more comfortable for everyone." Councilor Newton said the memo in the packet mentioned public property,but the law said religious institutions. Senior Planner Warren said the memo was also addressing temporary campgrounds,which are typically done on public property. Councilor Newton asked if this could be handled in a conditional use process. Senior Planner Warren said conditional use can be a heavy time and cost burden to some applicants and with a clear and objective Type II process staff can address small compatibility issues. Council President Goodhouse asked about looking to providing a safe spot for doing transactions or trading goods. City Manager Wine summarized that this discussion was to come to a common understanding about what safe lots are to help with questions that may arise from the community. Senior Planner Warren said safe lots and short-term rentals are lumped together because from a temporary tenant standpoint in the code they are similar. Schuyler said there will be a briefing on temporary campgrounds in January. There will need to be community engagement since a lot of these uses will occur in or near residential neighborhoods. Mayor Snider asked if the Police Department will have significant input. Senior Planner Warren said they will be asked about concerns they may have because public safety is a huge part of this effort. 6. RECEIVE LOCAL OPTION LEVY UPDATE AND REPORT ON COMMUNI'TY SURVEY RESULTS City Manager Wine and DHM Research Consultant John Horvick presented this item.A handout was available at the front of the room and there was a slide presentation.Mr. Horvick walked Council through the recent poll numbers measuring voter support for a five-year local option levy for police services. Support for different rates of 29 cents and 33 cents per$1,000 of assessed property valuation were tested. The impact of additional information was assessed. He discussed the methodology of the hybrid telephone and online survey of 301 Tigard voters, conducted during December 5-11, 2019. TIGARD CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES —December 17, 2019 City of Tigard 1 13125 SW Hall Blvd.,Tigard, OR 97223 www.tigard-or.gov I Page 9 of 12 Results showed a solid majority of voters (65 %) feel the city is headed in the right direction,which indicates no change since the October survey. The majority of voters who think Tigard is heading in the right direction pointed to a strong sense of community, appropriate growth and general satisfaction with city services. When asked for detail on why the small minority thought Tigard was off on the wrong track, overdevelopment, excessive city spending and light rail were mentioned, along with traffic and high taxes, to a lesser extent. Support for rates of 29 cents and 33 cents is similar to the 46-cent rate tested in October. Mr. Horvick said his feeling is that it is more about the ask than the amounts.When given details on what the levy would provide, 50 % said they would be more likely to vote for it. There was some evidence that people may be more favorable if they receive more information. Support for a 29-cent levy increased 47 percent with additional information. But this is still below the level needed for a measure to pass, this close to an election. Support for a 33-cent levy increased to 40 percent with additional information. It made no difference to people that other cities in Washington County support their police departments with voter-approved levies. Mayor Snider said we need to focus on solving the problem. When we adopted our goals,we said we want to pursue a local option levy, which is not a solution. We are elected to solve those types of problems.There is a significant information gap. He said during filming of the State of the City interviews he asked citizens how many police officers were on duty right then. Their answers ranged from a low of 20 to a high of 100. People have no idea. People become very concerned after a 15- minute conversation,but we can't explain this to every single voter. He said we still need to solve the problem and suggested a public safety utility fee as a solution that other communities have used. A fee could be flexible to allow adjustments as conditions change. It would need to be tracked in some manner to make sure it is equitable.A fee would not require several votes.He said ensuring the safety of the community is the Council's most important responsibility and should not ride on the votes of people that don't have enough time to figure out the details of how their community is being kept safe. He asked Council to consider whether they are on the right track or should other options be considered. Councilor Newton said the levy is one tool. She recommended hitting the pause button and having a conversation on this issue and how we will solve it. Council President Goodhouse asked, "If not now,when?" He said the previous levy had several issues and did not pass. We have focused on public safety with this levy. He said there was time to get the message out. He suggested going on the ballot in May and if it fails, then looling at other options. Mayor Snider said another concept is keeping the levy on the ballot in May,but taking action before before to make it clear that the choice is that we will fund it one way or another. Council President Goodhouse said it was like a carrot or a stick. He said it would be disingenuous to take action before the levy. TIGARD CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES —December 17, 2019 City of Tigard 1 13125 SW Hall Blvd.,Tigard, OR 97223 www.tigard-or.gov I Page 10 of 12 Budget Committee Chair Rone asked to be recognized. He said he belongs to several non-profit organizations and is seeing some relevant trends. The first is that people have information fatigue. The second is that households are extremely busy and tapped out. The number of people living paycheck to paycheck has reached 43 percent. There is an inadequate sense of urgency because of the number of information sources,too many of which are not vetted, so people are suspicious. He recommended that the City look at what they will stop doing in order to fund the most important things. He referred to a comment made by City Manager Wine years ago, "Stop saying we will do more with less because it doesn't work,"He said if a levy fails but the cost appears on the utility bill you've just put another notch in the belt of losing public trust. Mayor Snider estimated that to fund what is needed to fand in the Police Department to keep people safe would mean operating the library one or two days a week. He said, "We cannot reduce our way out of this." Council President Goodhouse said the city can't keep saying we're going to do this levy and then just put the brakes on it after all this work. He noted that after educating the survey taker, the approval rate rose. Mayor Snider argued that Council also needs to pivot after hearing this new information. Fewer people support it now than supported the failed levy. Council Anderson said he supports going on the May ballot but there is a lot of education to do before. He said November might be better. He noted that King City just passed a public safety levy. Councilor Newton said it is important to have a strategy if it fails. The fees could be approved and if it passes,we will get rid of the fees. Ezra Hammer noted that there is a track record that challenges can be overcome. Clackamas County had to go out to the ballot four times before a vehicle registration fee passed. Council President Goodhouse said if this does not pass there is a good chance that property values will decline, and it will take four times as long to bring things back up. He suggested asking for at least 25-cents and putting it on the ballot. City Manager Wine asked Council to define the problem they wanted to solve. If there are mechanisms Council would like to discuss, time can be scheduled on the January 7 meeting. Councilor Lueb will be in attendance then and there is still time to make the choice. Mayor Snider said the problem is not passing a levy;it is adequately staffing the police department. We need to ask for any means of raising that funding (payroll tax,utility fee,sales tax. We need to make a deliberate effort to scope a budget if it fails. Finance Director LaFrance said we went to the Budget Committee to help solve an issue and that is how we came up with the park fee. He said staff could bring back that analysis and look at a value- added tax or another fee. TIGARD CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES —December 17, 2019 City of Tigard 1 13125 SW Hall Blvd.,Tigard, OR 97223 www.tigard-or.gov I Page 11 of 12 Council President Goodhouse said the levy is appealing because it is tied to what the Police Department needs. He said it can ebb or flow and outreach can be done like what Washington County does so the public knows where their money is going. City Manager Wine said staff will bring back a levy discussion on the January 7th Council meeting agenda in which Councilor Lueb will be in attendance. 7. NON-AGENDA ITEMS—None. 8. EXECUTIVE SESSION—None scheduled. 9. ADJOURNMENT At 9:35 p.m. Councilor Anderson moved for adjournment. Councilor Newton seconded the motion and Mayor Snider conducted a vote. The motion passed unanimously. Yes No Absent Councilor Lueb ✓ Councilor Anderson ✓ Mayor Snider ✓ Council President Goodhouse ✓ Councilor Newton ✓ Carol A. Kraget,City Recorcfer Attest: 1 Jason B. Snider,Mayor Date:-7naL. 3�' vqoa"0 TIGARD CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES —December 17, 2019 City of Tigard 1 13125 SW Hall Blvd.,Tigard, OR 97223 www.tigard-or.gov I Page 12 of 12