City Government

By Shakira Ericksen

With an air of finality the 2013 Des Moines City budget was passed unanimously by the City Council at their Dec. 6 meeting.

The general fund, including street and police funds, is $33.9 million. Total funds are $55.7 million.

“It is what it is,” said Councilmember Melissa Musser. “It’s been very eye-opening this fiscal season.”

“I think this is the best we’re going to get,” said Mayor Pro Tem Matt Pina. “It’s no fun cutting your own organization.”

“We’re missing a lot of things in the budget,” said Councilmember Jeanette Burrage.

A considerable amount of money intending for replacement of equipment and computers has been deferred, she said

Mayor Dave Kaplan voiced concerns over how much of the city budget was funded by one-time money.

One-time money comes from reserves and other sources not expected to be available year after year.

“I was leaning in favor of going against the budget, but I’ll support it,” Mayor Kaplan said. “At some point in time we’re going to have to make some tough decisions. We’ve managed to muddle through; you can only do that for so long.”

Burien Public Works director Maiya Andrews briefed lawmakers Dec. 3 on steps the city is taking to prevent cost overruns that have plagued projects along First Avenue South and Ambaum Boulevard Southwest.

“I’ve had big concerns about several recent projects but my biggest concern is that we not keep making the same mistakes,” Councilmember Jack Block Jr. declared. “

Andrews said the city seeks to keep costs in line by project estimating, monitoring change orders and managing risk along with other cost controls.

City Manager Mike Martin emphasized Andrews has 20 years of experience managing projects.

He said previous public works managers did not have Andrews’ project management experience.

“We are head and shoulders above where we were in project management,” Martin noted.

Martin added the first phase of the First Avenue project that involved undergrounding wires was “extremely complicated.”

He said the various utility agencies did not coordinate very well on the project.

“We’ve evolved,” Martin added.

Andrews noted, “It is important to have the utilities in the game with us.”

So, Burien loses the White Center annexation vote, and is now retaliating by trying to steal our new White Center library.

After our 2 to 1 vote to reject Burien annexation, Rose Clark and Jerry Robison (not the Highline Times publisher), two of the most vocal pro-Burien annexation voices on the Burien City Council, testified at a recent King County Library System (KCLS) hearing that our new White Center library should be moved away from White Center, further south into Burien.

They then suggested that if that was not possible, an alternative is to keep the library at the same location, but close it for a year during construction. Their testimony emphasized that in no case should our new White Center library be located in unincorporated White Center, which is closer to our elementary schools. Their actions are vindictive and appear to be retribution for our strong rejection of Burien annexation.

At the same hearing, Barbara Dobkin, the president of the UAC, another pro-Burien annexation group, also testified that the White Center library should be moved further away from White Center, south into Burien.

Twice a year the potters at the Moshier Art Center sell their handmade wares.

Luckily for discriminating holiday shoppers, one of those times is this Saturday, Dec. 1. The potters will be selling their wares at the art center, located at 430 S. 156th St., from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Hundreds of items such as mugs, bowls, serving dishes, casseroles, garden art, jewelry and planters will be for sale.

For more information, visit MoshierArtCenter.org or call 206-988-3700.

(Editor’s Note: The following letter was sent to Burien City Attorney Craig Knutson with a copy to the Highline Times.)

Dear Mr. Knutson,

Despite a 2-1 rejection by the citizens of North Highline, I am concerned that the issue of annexation is not settled. The voters spoke loud and clear. After the overwhelming results of the vote, I am surprised that anyone is opposed to Burien's immediate withdrawal from annexation. This is unfortunate because as long as this issue remains on the table, our community will remain divided.

The following questions will help clarify my concerns.
1. As I understand, a city can pursue annexation of an unincorporated area several ways:
a. A vote by the residents of the proposed annexed area;
b. A petition by either a super majority of the residents, or property owners of a proposed annexation area and approval by the annexing city's Council;
c. Or an Interlocal agreement between the annexing city and either the unincorporated area's county, or the local fire district serving the area.

King County has made it clear over the last 10 years that they are not in a position to provide services to urban areas, and slowly but surely services have been cut to the North Highline community. Abandoned buildings sit derelict, covered in graffiti. Neighborhood parks get bare bones maintenance and playground equipment sits rusting.

Residential streets go unmaintained, and this winter we will see how well we fare with virtually no snow or storm response. Our fire department is facing critical financial challenges. There is a lack of business development and a cohesive plan for the overall growth of this community. We watch people struggling on our streets. We watch people openly drinking and dealing drugs. We have no ability to thwart the escalating crime and poverty. Policing levels are dictated by budgets, not the needs of the community. We lack influence in state and county government.

With the successful Normandy Park levy lid lift behind us, it is time to be thankful for the outcome. City Councils in the past have long avoided taking on this difficult task of passing a tax levy. As a member of the Pro Committee, it seemed ironic that I would be in support of higher property taxes. I first ran for office on a platform of stopping new fees and sales tax increases. I consider myself a financial conservative and am a pensioner who is thankful for social security.

Yet, having worked on the council now for the last nine years and having seen all the cuts, layoffs, and depleted reserves, I knew it had to be done to help save this gem of a city. More has to be done to bolster revenues as we continue looking at ideas to lower costs.

Firstly, I want to thank our police guild members who spent hours of their personal off time in building the signs, planting them out and keeping them up. Survey after survey has shown that the citizens put keeping our independent and pro-active police force as the foremost goal of the city. It takes the biggest part of our budget, but we are committed to them and their job of keeping our city a safe place for our families.

Former SeaTac Community and Economic Development director Cindy Baker has filed a Civil Rights lawsuit against the city.

She was let go by the city after an internal investigation concluded she was a poor manager and often berated employees.

The suit in Western Washington District Court names as defendants City Manager Todd Cutts and City Council members Barry Ladenburg, Rick Forschler, Terry Anderson, Tony Anderson, Dave Bush, Pam Fernald and Mia Gregerson.

Baker was hired to manage consolidated departments after the departure of community development director Steve Butler. Butler took a job as community development director in Mill Creek but has since left that position. He was criticized as anti-business.

Here is our coverage from January 2011 when Baker was first named to head the consolidated department:

The City of SeaTac has announced the selection of Cindy Baker to become the first director of the newly formed Department of Community and Economic Development.

Baker has been serving as the city’s interim planning director.

Garbage, recycling and compost collection customers served by CleanScapes in Des Moines may experience a change in collection day during the upcoming holiday season.

CleanScapes operates regularly on all holidays except for Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, and New Year’s Day.

If a CleanScapes customer’s regularly scheduled collection day falls on Thanksgiving Day, CleanScapes will collect the material on Friday, the day after Thanksgiving.

If the regularly scheduled collection day is Friday, the customer’s materials will be collected on Saturday.

Also, with Christmas and New Year’s Day falling on weekdays, all subsequent collections for the rest of the work week will be delayed one day and Friday’s material will be collected on Saturday.

Please visit www.cleanscapes.com for more information about our service schedule.

With one of the two majority council members back, a proposed April election to decide on changing Burien's form of government was shelved by the City Council on Nov. 26.

Councilmember Joan McGilton, along with Deputy Mayor Rose Clark and Councilmember Gerald Robison voted Nov. 26 against Councilmember Jack Block Jr.'s motion to set an April election. Burien residents would have voted on Block's proposal to change to an elected mayor system of government.

Council members Lucy Krakowiak and Bob Edgar along with Block voted for the motion. With a 3-3 tie, the motion failed.

Krakowiak's amendment to direct the city attorney to draw up the elected mayor resolution also failed on a 3-3 vote.

The rancor between council factions that surfaced at the previous week’s meeting continued. At the Nov. 19 meeting, Deputy Mayor Clark abruptly called a recess and walked out after three lawmakers usually in the minority began pushing through legislation.

Mayor Brian Bennett was again absent Nov. 26 but Councilmember Joan McGilton returned, assuring a 3-3-tie vote on any controversial proposal.