City Government

Press release:

In a dramatic departure from the traditional paper newsletter, the city of Des Moines is pleased to announce the introduction of its own glossy-format magazine “City Currents.” The four-color glossy format of the new magazine will allow the city to highlight its spectacular scenery, and feature editorial content and style to engage readership.

“This is a phenomenal opportunity to promote our community, capitalize on taxpayer assets, and reaffirm to all of us in Des Moines why we choose to live in one of the very most beautiful places in the world,” said Mayor Dave Kaplan.

Philips Publishing Group has been selected to produce the redesigned Des Moines City Currents Magazine and Rec’n Roll recreation brochure, the city’s front line source for communicating with Des Moines residents.

Philips Publishing will redesign the magazine, handle all distribution and administrative functions, and employ dedicated sales staff to generate advertising revenue sufficient to underwrite the costs of production. The city will retain ownership, and all editorial control.

The city of Des Moines will ask its residents to raise their utility tax by 2 percent for 20 years to pay for preserving and maintaining the pavement on city streets.

A proposition to increase the city’s utility tax from 6 percent to 8 percent will be on the Aug. 6 primary ballot. The extra 2 percent will be earmarked for the paving projects.

Interim Public Works director Dan Brewer proposed to lawmakers that the increase be for 10 years.

But Councilmember Jeanette Burrage said ten years is too short a time. Burrage added that the city could repeal the tax increase before the 20-year deadline if it was not needed. She noted the utility tax increase rejected by voters last year would have been permanent.

Burrage said she couldn’t see another source of funding available for maintaining the street pavement.

Brewer noted that preventative maintenance costs a lot less than replacement of roads.

“You get more bang for your buck,” he noted.

The goal would be to maintain 4 to 5 miles of pavement each year, he said. Brewer reported the city has 215 lane miles of city roadway.

Press release:

The Des Moines Legacy Foundation is pleased to announce the receipt of a generous $7,000 grant from the Puget Sound Energy Foundation.

The funds provide the seed money to help pay for a Civic Readerboard to be installed at the Des Moines Senior Activity Center located at 2045 S. 216th St.
The Puget Sound Energy Foundation is a nonprofit entity operating independently of Puget Energy and PSE. None of the foundation’s funds come from PSE’s utility customers.
The Puget Sound Energy Foundation began accepting grant requests in early 2007 and in its first year of operations focused on the Human Services, Education and Environmental sectors. Currently, the Puget Sound Energy Foundation's primary focus of support is Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness.

The intended use of the energy efficient LED Readerboard is to reach people of all incomes and abilities with civic messages to inform Des Moines citizens and visitors on important community events, services and meetings, emergency management and preparedness and safety topics.

Daytime, forced-entry house burglaries suddenly spiked in December around the region, SeaTac Police Chief James Graddon reported to City Council members on Jan. 22.

Graddon is King County Sheriff's Office commander for Precinct 4, which includes SeaTac, Burien and North Highline. SeaTac and Burien contract with the county for police services.

Burglary rates have come down a little bit in January, he noted.

Graddon said the burglars are using items found outside residences to smash windows or pry open doors to get inside.

Once inside, burglars snatch small items such as laptop computers or jewelry, according to Graddon. Since the stolen items are so portable, the thieves can get away on foot without needing a vehicle.

Graddon suspects many of the burglars are transients.

He advised victims to check places like Craig’s List to see if their stolen items turn up for sale.

Councilmember Pam Fernald said she had been told burglars often come back to a residence after the stolen items have been replaced. Graddon said that some times happens but is not a common occurrence.

Prior to the last City Council election, whatever the city manager proposed was accepted and approved by the City Council majority with few questions.

City business went forward like a “well oiled machine.” Even project over runs and lawsuits didn’t slow down the process.

Then some of the new council members began to ask the city manager for more detailed information concerning progress on city goals, objectives, and finances. Unfortunately the city manager hardly ever gets around to producing the information so council can make educated decisions concerning his proposals.

As an example, for the last six years Mr. Martin has not provided the council with the quarterly budget reports, (required by state law), even though some of the council have requested to see them.

There are four council members who are in lockstep with the city manager to provide a majority vote to approve his agenda.

When one or two of these four are absent, he can’t be sure his agenda will be followed, so it appears the city manager has put on hold, a lot of work to which the council should be attending.

Having been on the Des Moines City Council in 1994-1995 and now again starting in January of 2012, I see big differences in the funding available to provide city services.

The city of Des Moines has cut back on parks and police a little, but has not been maintaining the roads for the last four years.

By maintaining, I mean doing pavement overlays, which not only make the roads easier to drive on, they extend the life of the road at a fraction of the cost of building a new one. (We have continued to fix potholes.) There has not been sufficient money in the budget to do any road overlays for four years.

The deteriorated roads are a pain for citizens and they also discourage development, which could bring in additional tax dollars to restore some city services.

Tax cutting initiatives, a bad economy, and state transfers of city money to the state have left some cities in a pickle to deliver basic services.

Dear SeaTac City Council,

In last night's Council comments at the end of the meeting un-elected Mayor Tony Anderson stated that just because a lawsuit is filed does not mean the city has done anything wrong.

Wrong in whose eyes? There is a difference between LAWFUL and ETHICAL. If your actions are ethical you are most likely 99.9 percent lawful, however if you are lawful you may not be necessarily ethical. I hope you get that and it has nothing to do with religion (if you're asking) though some may need those guidelines more than others.

Secondly, the summary judgment you spoke of has been appealed so "the slightly overweight lady" has not sung just yet.

Deputy Mayor Gregerson's comment that the council heard no negative comments about the Study Sessions/Council format is farcical.

First of all comments are not allowed in the Study Sessions where this issue was discussed. It is easy to say there were no negative comments when comments are not allowed altogether in those meetings, not to mention Ms Gregerson ignored the fact I have made negative comments, in writing, to the council and the press.

With the absence of council members Joan McGilton and Gerald Robison at the Jan. 7 Burien City Council meeting, Rose Clark was replaced by Lucy Krakowiak as deputy mayor.

Councilmember Jack Block Jr. nominated Krakowiak while Mayor Brian Bennett nominated Clark.
Block, Krakowiak and Councilmember Bob Edgar voted for Krakowiak. Bennett and Clark voted for Clark.

McGilton and Robison usually vote with Bennett and Clark to make up a council majority while Krakowiak, Block and Edgar often form a voting block.

City Manager Mike Martin suggested the deputy manager vote, normally scheduled for the first council meeting of the new year, be postponed until all members were present.

Block noted he was not present last year when the council voted for mayor and deputy mayor. Bennett is serving a two-year term as mayor.

Noting the absence of the two council members, Block said, “It is unfortunate but city business must gone on.”

Clark argued the council has a history of not voting on important issues when members are absent.

This is in rebuttal to the letter from Robert Price concerning annexation, which was short on facts and repeated the same old propaganda we heard from the pro-annexation side before the election.

I found the claims made in this letter consisted of a lot of false accusations and misinformation.

Annexation, in fact, was an attempt at a power/land grab by a group of Burien and King County politicians working in concert to further their own ambitions.

Their political agendas unfortunately did not coincide with the best interests of the residents of Area Y or the residents of Burien.

Annexation was wisely turned down by a large majority of Area Y residents who refused to have the wool pulled over their eyes.

The defeat of annexation was a victory for democracy and a victory for the residents of area Y who prevailed in spite of a large sum of money spent promoting it by the city of Burien and the strong support of King County politicians who were desperate to get the red ink of Area Y off their balance sheet.

SeaTac lawmakers gave approval Dec. 11 to going ahead with plans to consolidate the city’s fire department with the Kent Fire District Authority.

The consolidation would be similar to the city’s contracting with the King County Sheriff’s Office for police services, according to fire chief Jim Schneider.

Schneider said he could come back to the City Council with a consolidation plan in May. In September, council members could start reviewing the process for an Interlocal agreement between SeaTac and Kent.

In presenting a white paper on consolidation, Schneider cited the cost savings to SeaTac in contracting with a larger fire department.

SeaTac already shares a fire chief and a fire marshal with Kent. Schneider heads both departments.

The city also has been part of a larger training consortium with Kent and Kent provides public education programs.

Other possible advantages outlined by Schneider include lower insurance rates, lower supply costs and elimination of duplicate services.