Yakima City Council Regular Meeting – December 3, 2024
Yakima City Council Regular Meeting – December 3, 2024
The Yakima City Council met in regular session on Tuesday, December 3, 2024, at 5:30 p.m. in Yakima City Hall Council Chambers, with in-person and virtual attendance. Mayor Patricia Byers presided; Assistant Mayor Matt Brown and Council Members Reedy Berg, Janice Deccio, Rick Glenn, Danny Herrera, and Leo Roy (via Zoom) were present. No public hearings were held. The council approved consent items, adopted utility fee resolutions, heard public comments, and set up a future discussion of Wiley City sewer needs. The meeting adjourned at 6:22 p.m.
Consent Calendar
- Approved minutes from the November 19, 2024 regular meeting and November 26, 2024 special meeting.
- Adopted Resolution R-2024-211 setting the 2025 City Council regular meeting schedule.
- Passed Ordinance 2024-038 creating Special Revenue Fund 155 for Opioid Settlement Revenue.
- Passed Ordinance 2024-039 establishing Pension Trust Fund 613 (Police Relief and Pension Fund) under YMC Chapter 1.49.
- Passed Ordinances 2024-040, 2024-041, and 2024-042 approving three Comprehensive Plan Amendments/Rezones: five parcels near the 2000 block of Viola Ave and Simpson Ln; 7500 W Nob Hill Blvd; and 8603/8604 Ahtanum Rd.
- All consent agenda items were approved in one motion by a 7-0 roll call vote.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Forbes Mercy, city resident, donated $50,000 to Parks and Recreation and $10,000 to the Yakima Fire Department for smoke detectors, urging support for park programs and citing smoke-related fatalities in Union Gap.
- Cynthia Hall, Chair of the Historic Preservation Commission, opposed the Sixth Avenue rebuilding/renovation option that would remove the trolley tracks, saying the tracks are an irreplaceable link to Yakima's unique interurban electric railroad history and that removing them would jeopardize a nearly complete National Historic Landmark application.
- Tony Courcy (transcribed as Corsi) made critical comments about council, referencing what he called years of neglect, a prior two percent vote, and dissatisfaction with council actions.
Discussion Items
- Proclamation: Council approved the Alan Sillence Day proclamation, requested by Parker U Sports, noting precedent for individual proclamations. Motion passed 7-0.
- Utility rate package: Public Works Director Scott Schafer summarized water, wastewater, stormwater, and solid waste rate proposals developed with consultants after presentations beginning in July, emphasizing gradual increases rather than immediate rate adjustments.
- Water: Water/Irrigation Manager Mike Shane answered questions on rates and water rights. The adopted resolution includes consultant-recommended increases of 6.5% for the first three years and 4.5% for the last two; some water service installation fees had not increased since 2007. Council adopted Resolution R-2024-212 by 7-0.
- Wastewater: Wastewater/Stormwater Manager Mike Price detailed a 3% increase for retail customers, a 5.3% pretreatment fee increase (later described as 5.4% for higher-impact users), business strong-waste surcharges, and a 9% increase in connection charges. Discussion covered septic-to-sewer policies and roughly 125 unserved parcels, with $4.9 million secured and a $5 million Bureau of Reclamation grant pending. Council adopted Resolution R-2024-213 by 7-0.
- Stormwater: Price presented a 7% annual rate increase through 2028, plus an additional 5% in 2025 to cover the utility tax increase, for a 12% first-year increase; the impact is about $10 in the first year and about $6.50 per year on average for typical single-family residences. Council adopted Resolution R-2024-214 by 5-2, with Berg and Brown dissenting.
- Solid waste: Solid Waste/Recycling Manager Trace Bradburn presented the ordinance moving refuse rates from YMC Chapter 4.16 to the Master Fee Schedule, adding a 3% annual rate increase, and establishing bulk refuse collection fees beginning in January. Council passed Ordinance 2024-043 by 7-0.
- 2024 budget amendment: Finance Director Viren Mayani presented a first-reading ordinance requesting budget authority for $8,000 in North Front Street parking/business improvement area banners and $500,000 for the MLK Aquatic Center from Parks Capital Fund 331. The council took no action at this reading.
- City Manager Update and Other Business: City Manager Vicki Baker reported fires on city property involving people experiencing homelessness; City Attorney Sara Watkins said an ordinance update would be brought to the next meeting to clarify that burning or stoking fires on city property is a misdemeanor. Council Member Matt Brown praised employee Mike Brown for promoting the YakBack notification system. Council Member Danny Herrera invited the community to a December 4 event celebrating the renovated Davis High School auditorium. Council Member Leo Roy requested future discussion of Wiley City sewer needs; a motion to place it on a future agenda passed unanimously.
Key Outcomes
- Approved Alan Sillence Day proclamation 7-0.
- Approved consent agenda 7-0.
- Adopted water rate resolution R-2024-212 7-0.
- Adopted wastewater resolution R-2024-213 7-0.
- Adopted stormwater resolution R-2024-214 5-2 (Berg and Brown no).
- Passed solid waste ordinance 2024-043 7-0.
- Held first reading of 2024 budget amendment ordinance; no vote.
- Approved future agenda discussion of Wiley City sewer service by unanimous vote.
- Adjourned to December 10, 2024, at 5:30 p.m.
Meeting Transcript
Good evening and welcome. I will call to order the Ackham City Council of Business Meeting of December 3rd, 2024. We'll start with roll call, please. Here. Brown. Here. Present. DCO. Here. Glenn. Here. Herrera. Here. Roy. Thank you. Please stand and join me for the Pledge of Allegiance. Again. I pledge allegiance to the play of the United States of America. Indivisible with liberty and unjustice. Now we'll have interpreter services. Thank you. Good evening. But necessitant the Lessensian Interpreter. Next on the agenda is public comment. There will be 35 minutes allowed for public comment tonight. If you wish to make a public comment, please fill out a slip in the lobby and bring it up to the city clerk. And if you're online, you need to approach it differently, I think. Each person will have two and a half minutes. And when you come to the microphone, please give us your name in the city in which you live. So the first person we have for public comment tonight is Forbes Mercy. Thank you. Greetings, Council. How are you? Today is friendsgiving, which means that we're supposed to find our favorite causes and make sure that we uh I'm sorry, City of Yacoma. The uh forgot to say that. It's our day to make sure that the people that we believe in are taken care of because budgets are thinner, um, and a lot of things are needed support that really the community has the ability to help in. And it's really time with priority budgeting to really help it push the things that we personally believe in, because the budget means we look at a lot of other things that are services, and Vicky was a great choice, by the way. And uh so we have to make sure we prioritize what's right. And I understand that sometimes kids can get lost to the shuffle. I've always been a big fan of the uh Summer Parks Department program. They take good care of kids, they let them have joy, they let them have fun, makes them independent, which also can lead to innovation. And it's very important to get them steered the right way. And so to that end, in case there is any need to uh make that a little bit uh easier for him to make the summer program. It's not a big check. Sorry, I didn't bring the big check. But here's a shaker tube for fifty thousand dollars. Whoa. Of course. You are if you give a parks guy a chance to speak and say thank you, he's gonna take that opportunity. But Forbes, thank you so much for supporting what we do in Parks and Rec and for this community.
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