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City Council Minutes - 05/17/2011 a City of Tigard Tigard Workshop Meeting - Minutes TIGARD CITY COUNCIL MEETING DATE/TIME: May 17,2011 —6:30 p.m. -Workshop Meeting MEETING LOCATION: City of Tigard—Town Hall, 13125 SW Hall Blvd.,Tigard,OR 97223 IR 1. WORKSHOP MEETING 1.1 At 6:34 p.m.Mayor Dirksen called the meeting to order. 1.2 Deputy City Recorder Krager called the roll: Present Absent Councilor Henderson x Councilor Woodard x Councilor Wilson x Council President Buehner x Mayor Dirksen x 1.3 Pledge of Allegiance 1.4 Council Communications&Liaison Reports-none 1.5 Call to Council and Staff for Non-Agenda Items-none 2. ANNUAL MEETING WITH THE NEIGHBORHOOD INVOLVEMENT COMMITTEE (NIC) Neighborhood Network Program Coordinator/Neighborhood Involvement Committee (NIC) Staff Liaison Bengtson and NIC Member Christopher were present to update Council and exchange ideas on the program. HNIC Member Christopher asked Council if they had any questions or comments regarding the transition from the Committee for Citizen Involvement to the Neighborhood Involvement Committee. Council President Buehner said she attended a festival at St. Anthony's Church and the Hispanic pastor expressed an interest for more contact with the city. She asked if this kind of outreach is something the Neighborhood Involvement Committee could take on. TIGARD CITY COUNCIL MINUTES-MAY 179 2011 City of Tigard 1 13125 SW Hall Blvd.,Tigard,OR 97223 1 www.tigud-or.gov Page 1 of10 Councilor Wilson suggested outreach not only to Hispanic citizens,but to the entire Spanish-speaking community. He asked about the feasibility of translating Cityscape into Spanish. Neighborhood Network Program Coordinator Bengtson responded that there is a widget on the web that enables translation of the online version of the Cityscape newsletter or other publications on the web into different languages. She said the neighborhood network blogs also have this translation feature. NIC Member Christopher said he would bring these ideas to the Neighborhood Involvement Committee. He said he would also like the NIC to encourage the new neighborhood websites to keep current with information and photos. He commented that if the same information is seen from one website visit to the next,people may lose interest and stop checking. He commented that the city's website could also be more user-friendly. Councilor Henderson said not maintaining up-to-date information on the Neighborhood websites is a problem. He said he lives in Neighborhood 11 and his Webmaster keeps postings current. Councilor Henderson recommended that all websites have some particular information the same. NIC Member Christopher said some of that is done already with events and new city information. City Manager Prosser asked Neighborhood Network Program Coordinator Bengtson to describe how the neighborhood websites work. She replied that the administrators are volunteers from each neighborhood. City staff gives training and resources, and provides annual web-design symposiums. She said the city supplies them with information but they are not limited to using it and they have freedom to post other items. She noted that the way a blog works is that the most recent entries are on top. Councilor Henderson asked how out-of-date information is removed from the websites. Neighborhood Network Program Coordinator Bengtson said information remains on the site until the neighborhood webmasters remove it from view. The information is not deleted;it is just hidden from view, so the city can keep a record of what appeared on the sites. Neighborhood Involvement Committee Member Christopher said,"We plan to meet with the neighborhoods and removing old or stale information will be a topic of discussion." In response to a question about whether the Neighborhood Network Open House was an effective recruitment tool,Neighborhood Network Program Coordinator Bengtson replied that three applications for the Neighborhood Involvement Committee were received. Councilor Woodard asked if all neighborhood blogs are up and running. Neighborhood Network Program Coordinator Bengtson said all have an administrator except Neighborhood 13.Three blogs have co-webmasters. She said that the number of users fluctuates,but when Area 6 sent out a postcard,they experienced 1,000 hits in one weekend. Membership in the NIC calls for a member of each neighborhood to have a representative on the steering committee. She said the goal is to have someone on the steering committee from each Tigard neighborhood. An active steering committee is required to take advantage of the program benefits,and this is met by having four people from within the boundaries of a neighborhood organize(with the city's help) an annual TIGARD CITY COUNCIL MINUTES -MAY 17, 2011 City of Tigard 1 13125 SW Hall Blvd.,Tigard,OR 97223 1 www.tigard-or.gov I Page 2 of 10 meeting where residents can express concerns or offer suggestions. She used the example of Area 3, which is actively pursuing installation of sidewalks on Commercial Street. 0 Councilor Henderson said he participated in a neighborhood area emergency drill and learned about the Code Red alert(system to notify citizens of emergencies). He asked how to get this information to all of the neighborhood websites. Neighborhood Network Program Coordinator Bengtson replied that several already have a gadget on their website to help citizens sign up for the service. Councilor Henderson noted that people can register their cell phone numbers. Mayor Dirksen asked how closely connected the schools are to their neighborhood groups and if they supply information regularly. He asked if the neighborhood can also dialog to the schools through the neighborhood web link. Neighborhood Network Program Coordinator Bengtson said Area 7 has a good relationship with Durham Elementary and the Durham Center. She said the High School Boosters have also discovered the website. She has connected the Balloon Festival organizers with the Area 9 (Cook Park) website. She said some areas have stronger relationships with their local schools than others and a lot of this depends on the web administrators and whether they have school-aged children. Mayor Dirksen said the goal in creating the Neighborhood Network was not only to improve communication from the city to citizens,but also to make it easier to get information back from the citizens.He said he hopes people will use this tool for that and for communication within their neighborhood. He said the program is new and it may take awhile for citizens to become aware of it. He suggested using the Cityscape to regularly promote the Neighborhood Network program. 3. ANNUAL JOINT MEETING WITH THE TIGARD PLANNING COMMISSION Planning Commission Chair Walsh and Commissioners Schmidt,Doherty,Shavey,and Muldoon were present. ® Planning Commission Chair Walsh offered the Planning Commission's congratulations to City Manager Prosser on his upcoming retirement. He acknowledged Assistant Community Development Director Hartnett and Confidential Executive Assistant Laughlin for their support and assistance. He said Assistant Community Development Director Hartnett put together an enjoyable function for the Commission last year to familiarize the Commission members with city planning staff Planning Commission Chair Walsh said he wanted to discuss the Planning Commission 2011 Goals (included in the packet for this meeting) and seek direction from Council. He said the Planning Commission has been busy with administrative work but are eager for development work. TIGARD CITY COUNCIL MINUTES - MAY 17, 2011 City of Tigard 1 13125 SW Hall Blvd.,Tigard,OR 97223 1 www.tigard-or.gov Page 3 of 10 Planning Commission Chair Walsh said that working on the Economic Opportunities Analysis brought out a lot of passion on the Commission for economic development in Tigard. He said the Commission feels strongly that there needs to be an economic development function at the city that expands beyond downtown to the Tigard Triangle and along Pacific Highway. He said he sees an opportunity for the Planning Commission to expand its role. Planning Commissioner Shavey said they recognize all the responsibilities that council has and that no one on staff can do this all. He said there is a strategy for the Planning Commission to meet with neighboring cities to discuss similarities. He said Tigard could gain a lot with teamwork. Commissioner Muldoon commended staff for bringing in outside expertise and said there needs to be a gap analysis. Commissioner Doherty said economic redevelopment is important. She said Tigard was landlocked and is not going to get the really big warehouses which need larger land areas. Mayor Dirksen said ideally there would be an office of economic development at the city and said the only thing that keeps the city from having this office is budget restraints. He said there is also another issue and that is how much involvement a city should have and the citizens'perception of that,which is something Wilsonville is currently involved in. He said in smaller cities, such as Wilsonville and Tigard, the idea of the city incentivizing developing is new and citizens may not understand what that means. He stressed that there cannot be a misconception about the city's involvement in economic development and it is vital to educate the public about our commitment. Planning Commission Chair Walsh asked Council,"Does anyone know how the businesses we have are doing? We need to assist current businesses in being successful here." He said this approach of assisting current owners stay in business is important. This may include being flexible with city codes and requirements. Planning Commissioner Shavey concurred with Mayor Dirksen's point to offer economic development education to the public to gain their support. Councilor Wilson remarked that the Planning Commission's enthusiasm was apparent when he read the EOA. He expressed ambivalence because while being business-friendly is important for government,it must be kept in mind that residents may oppose some things. He said,"I think that our idea about what the city might actually be engaged in needs some refinement. I'm all for redevelopment... but we need to be sensitive and target our efforts to activities that will be universally supported." He said there are groups in the city that want to see resources used in different ways—we have to balance the demands. Councilor Woodard brought up the idea of holding a forum for business owners to find out about economic development and figure out the common denominators. Planning Commissioner Doherty said high-capacity transit needs to be tied to redevelopment for an advantage. TIGARD CITY COUNCIL MINUTES - MAY 17, 2011 City of Tigard 1 13125 SW Hall Blvd.,Tigard,OR 97223 1 www.tigard-or.gov I Page 4 of 10 Regarding the Urban Forestry Code Revisions, Planning Commission Chair Walsh said he and Commissioner Schmidt are sitting on the task force. Mayor Dirksen noted that the Planning Commission wants to talk to other jurisdictions and recommended they talk to Portland about their Tree Code.Assistant Community Development Director Hartnett said staff is assembling a list of cities,including Portland,so they can plan outreach efforts. Planning Commission Chair Walsh said the Trails Master Plan is returning for a Commission public hearing soon and is looking great. 8 Mayor Dirksen said he and Councilors Henderson and Buehner attended a workshop on climate change, where the need to respond to the state's requirements to reduce greenhouse gases by creating Complete Communities was discussed. He said the example showing how a poor circulation plan can create these problems and a new circulation plan can reduce time wasted in traffic and the emissions released,was Tigard's downtown plan. He said,"So someone thinks we are on the right track." Council President Buehner said she was interested in what kinds of regulatory improvement were planned and wanted this discussed in an upcoming Council workshop. Assistant Community Development Director Hartnett said it is on the schedule. Council President Buehner suggested holding joint Council/Planning Commission workshops to save staff time and keep everyone on the same page. Planning Commissioner Walsh said there was frustration on the Planning Commission because,"the Tigard Triangle is not going anywhere." He said the Planning Commission envisions there would be a future high-capacity station there and hopefully this will break the ODOT Transportation Planning Rule deadlock. He suggested that the Planning Commission have a primer on the Triangle and how to develop it. He said the infrastructure needs to be in place first. He said,"This piecemeal,pay-as-you-go formula is not attractive to development. We need to have infrastructure as an attractant,with a developed funding mechanism in place." Mayor Dirksen countered that,"We also have citizens who say,Development should pay for itself. Citizens shouldn't have to pay for the infrastructure needs of developers because they are just making profit out of it.' This is a challenge that I have not seen any jurisdiction successfully deal with." Councilor Buehner said the poster child for this in the Triangle is the traffic signal at 72❑d and Dartmouth, which still hasn't been installed. Planning Commission Chair Walsh said they intend to provide input on funding mechanisms and search for options.He said the Planning Commission will be meeting on June 6,2011,to learn about high-capacity transit and station typologies. A visioning session is planned on high-capacity transit and the Triangle. Assistant Community Development Director Hartnett said staff is working with consultants to assist with the visioning sessions. She suggested that the"primer on everything Triangle"is homework the Planning Commission might want to do prior to the visioning sessions. She said staff is committed to working with the Planning Commission to create a work scope for a Tigard Triangle master plan so it can start to be budgeted. She noted the need to not get too far ahead or TIGARD CITY COUNCIL MINUTES - MAY 17, 2011 City of Tigard 1 13125 SW Hall Blvd.,Tigard,OR 97223 1 www.tigard-or.gov I Page 5 of 10 disconnected from the high-capacity land use plan as it is an integral part of Triangle development. Council President Buehner noted two issues that should be part of the plan. 1) Keep open spaces and pocket parks in mind; and 2) There will be pushback from existing Triangle residents who will be affected by development. Councilor Wilson commented that when Metro started the 2040 program, they were not going to designate Washington Square as a Regional Center and Tigard's planner had to advocate persistently for the designation. He said Metzger residents were contentious and wary of higher density and change. He said he sees more potential in the Triangle than Washington Square because of the market-force dynamics and the tremendous amount of public infrastructure present. Council President Buehner recommended involving southwest Portland neighborhoods, including Sweeney in outreach to other cities. She said there has been a disconnect between the City of Portland and its southwest neighborhoods and it is critical to include the sixteen neighborhood and four business associations. Planning Commission Doherty agreed with this recommendation. Planning Commission Chair Walsh said the Commission is interested in training for the following areas:legal issues, infill and redevelopment challenges,demographics, sustainability,urbanization issues,and LEED. Mayor Dirksen said this was a great idea and he hoped that these sessions would be open for Council to attend. Assistant Community Development Director Harnett clarified that Council will be invited. Mayor Dirksen said the Planning Commission's goals are very ambitious but all are important. Planning Commissioner Muldoon reiterated that they are looking for low-cost and high payoff. 4. DISCUSS AUDITING SERVICES CONTRACT ® Finance and Information Services Director LaFrance,Assistant Finance Director Smith-Wagar and Senior Management Analyst Barrett were present to discuss this item. Deputy Finance Director LaFrance noted the peculiarity of Oregon and 47 other states that allow a city to choose its own auditor. He said this can create a"fox guarding the henhouse,"perception. He said he would summarize the process used by the city to select an audit firm,and Assistant Finance Director Smith-Wagar would discuss some recommended best practices. Finance and Information Services Director LaFrance said the prior auditor had been in place for five years and city contracting policy requires seeking proposals after five years of ongoing contracting services. He said five proposals were received and were reviewed for work proposal,qualifications and price.Based upon this scoring,two firms were eliminated. TIGARD CITY COUNCIL MINUTES - MAY 17, 2011 City of Tigard 1 13125 SW Hall Blvd.,Tigard,OR 97223 1 www.tigard-or.gov I Page 6of10 The top three candidates were interviewed by a panel consisting of Finance Director LaFrance, Assistant Finance Director Smith-Wagar, Police Business Manager Imdieke, Assistant Community Development Manager Hartnett, Public Works Business Manager Wright and West Linn's Assistant Finance Director. Based on the interviews, the two top firms tied. Staff used the initial scoring to break the tie and will recommend to the LCRB the award of an auditing contract to TKW(Talbot Korvola&Warwick). He said timing is very sensitive on this contract due to the fiscal year closing in June. It is a five-year contract that is renewable each year. Council President Buehner said she is not comfortable with a one-year audit contract. She said, "It is critical to have the continuity over a few years, particularly in this time of economic difficulties. We need to make a decision and go with it unless there is an extraordinary reason not to." Finance Director LaFrance asked Council if there were additional process questions. Councilor Henderson said he was not impressed with what happened last year. Finance Director LaFrance noted that the auditors that presented to Council last year were not among the recommended firms this year. ® Assistant Finance Director Smith-Wagar said a number of cities form audit committees and this is recognized as a best practice. The committees typically consist of one or two city councilors,two or three citizen members,and an at-large member,who can help select an audit firm,but is not someone being audited;a member of the Finance Department staff for example,could not serve on the audit committee. Councilor Henderson noted that the firm awarded the contract was not the low bidder,and "To someone looking in from the outside,you could have saved us money." Senior Management Analyst Barrett said points available were 50 for firm qualifications;30 for work plan;and 20 for price. He said the city has expanded the use of the Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for this type of contract,so the city could get an auditor with the best combination of price,experience and qualifications. Councilor Henderson asked why he wasn't informed of the bid prices. Senior Management Analyst Barrett said he could provide the scoring breakout for him. He said staff reports typically include bid prices but he could expand the proposal information on future agenda item summaries. Councilor Wilson noted that service contracts are different than construction contracts and selecting the cheapest firm might get you less work and be less effective. Council President Council President Buehner said she was surprised that only a 50 percent rating was given to firm qualifications. She said in her past experience in the private sector, qualifications counted for up to 80 percent and price was a less significant component. TIGARD CITY COUNCIL MINUTES - MAY 17, 2011 City of Tigard 1 13125 SW Hall Blvd.,Tigard,OR 97223 1 www.fgard-or.gov I Page 7 of 10 Finance and Information Services Director LaFrance said, "We learned that with a firm in the top three that had the lowest bid,we would be one of 26 of their city clients and we are one of eight cities for the firm awarded the work. This was a factor in not choosing the lowest of the top three firms." Councilor Henderson had additional questions on the spread of the contract cost over the five years.Assistant Finance Director Smith-Wagar said the first year is always higher because of all the documentation and learning required. Councilor Henderson said he will vote for this but felt he needed more information in order to make an evaluation. Finance and Information Services Director LaFrance said he would include additional information for this item, which is coming to Council for consideration on the May 24,2011,agenda. Councilor Wilson said he was favorable to the city having an audit committee, and Mayor Dirksen, Council President Buehner and Councilor Woodard agreed. He said the Budget Committee provides a natural overlap of duties and said the city should move in that direction. Finance and Information Services Director LaFrance received clarification from Councilor Wilson that he did not mean placing the entire Budget Committee on the audit committee. Staff research indicated that an audit committee is typically constituted of one or two elected officials and an equal number of citizen members. He said the Finance Department staff would be staff liaisons to an audit committee as they are now with the Budget Committee. City Manager Prosser said the Finance Department will do additional research and prepare a resolution and charge statement. He said this also needs to be discussed with the Budget Committee. He noted Council President Buehner's concern regarding the annual contract renewal and asked for input from the other councilors. Mayor Dirksen said the city needs the right of renewal or refusal each year. He said the city shouldn't be committed to a five- year contract with a firm that is not performing. Council President Buehner clarified that she is fine with the contract structure,she meant it wouldn't make sense to go out for proposals every year due to the time and cost required for a new audit firm to get up to speed. Councilor Henderson asked for examples of other oversight duties an audit committee might perform. Assistant Finance Director Smith-Wagar said they could examine internal controls and make recommendations.They are also the primary group to whom the external auditors report.In response to a question regarding meeting frequency,Assistant Finance Director Smith-Wagar said they would meet quarterly except in spring,when audit preparations are underway. Councilor Woodard asked if the audit firms are required by the city to track their hours and suggested that this annual comparison would be a good practice. Assistant Finance Director Smith-Wagar said the firms are not required to quote hours,but instead propose a fee in an annual contract and the city pays that amount no matter how many hours are actually used. TIGARD CITY COUNCIL MINUTES - MAY 17, 2011 City of Tigard 1 13125 SW Hall Blvd.,Tigard,OR 97223 1 www.tigard-or.gov I Page 8 of 10 Councilor Henderson asked if someone from the community with a question could go directly to the audit committee or would they route it through the city manager. Assistant Finance Director Smith-Wagar said if there is not a quorum of council on the audit committee then it does not have to be a public meeting, but usually their meetings are public. She said another practice in place at some counties and cities is a whistle blower hotline for people to call and report concerns. Council President Buehner asked if Council could talk to staff directly to get an answer about a consent agenda items. Mayor Dirksen said it is the policy to go through the city manager. City Manager Prosser said usually when one councilor has a question;all councilors get copied on the answer. Councilor Woodard said he found the operations budget summary memo with worksheets and the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) useful because they allowed Council to make comparisons. Finance and Information Services Director LaFrance acknowledged the work that Senior Management Analyst Collins did on preparing this. Council President Buehner said the Finance staff did a great job working through problems with the former financial software 5. COUNCIL LIAISON REPORTS—none 6. NON AGENDA ITEMS—none 7. EXECUTIVE SESSION—none held 8. ADJOURNMENT At 8:38 p.m. Councilor Woodard moved for adjournment of the Workshop Meeting. Councilor Wilson seconded and all voted in favor Yes No Councilor Henderson x Councilor Woodard x Councilor Wilson x Council President Buehner x Mayor Dirksen x TIGARD CITY COUNCIL MINUTES-MAY 17, 2411 City of Tigard 1 13125 SW Hall Blvd.,Tigard,OR 97223 1 www.tigard-or.gov I Page 9 of 10 9. ANNUAL POLICE DEPARTMENT TEMPORARY HOLDING FACILITY TOUR AND INSPECTION At 8:39 p.m. Council joined Police Chief Orr for their annual tour and inspection of the Police Department temporary holding facility. Carol A.Krager,Deputy City Reco er Attest: L?dc ayor,City of Tigard —Q i, A e If I:\ADM\CATHY\CCM\2011\110517Snal.doc TIGARD CITY COUNCIL MINUTES — MAY 17, 2011 City of Tigard 1 13125 SW Hall Blvd.,Tigard,OR 97223 1 www.tigard-or.gov I Page 10 of 10