Council Schedule Highlights Week of April 8th, 2019
Monday, April 8th, 2019
12:00 pm Special Meeting of the Performance Audit Committee
Councilmember Jim McCune — Chair
Councilmember Dave Morell — Vice Chair
Councilmember Marty Campbell
Gary Robinson, Director of Budget and Finance
Andrew Tedesco — Citizen Member
Nick Bayard — Citizen Member
Regularly scheduled meetings are broadcast live and replayed on channel 22 (Comcast and Click! Network) and channel 20 (Rainier Connect). Access meeting materials at www.piercecountywa.org/councilcommittees.
Report Presentation: Pierce County Broadband Access and Speed
Presenter: Randy Trost, Magellan Advisors
At long last, the broadband study I sponsored is complete and ready for introduction to the Council and public. This is the first of two presentations this week. The Performance Audit committee will review the report and presumably, vote to accept it. Next, will be the committee of jurisdiction, Economic and Infrastructure Development.
I’ll have much more tomorrow on the report but as expected, it finds Pierce County is falling behind our peers which is an economic disadvantage. It advises the County to play a convening role across all jurisdictions, amend regulations and policies to incentivize broadband investment, and develop a countywide middle-mile fiber backbone.
1:30 pm Public Safety Committee
Jim McCune, Chair
Pam Roach, Vice Chair
Connie Ladenburg
Dave Morell
Derek Young
This meeting will be broadcast live and replayed on channel 22 (Comcast and Click! Network) and channel 20 (Rainier Connect). Access electronic meeting materials at http://www.piercecountywa.org/councilcommittees. Video archives are available at www.piercecountytv.org.
Felony Mental Health Court
Presenter: Judge Frank Cuthbertson, Superior Court
While District Court does a lot of our diversion services, Superior Court also operates a therapeutic court for people suffering from a mental disorder. Obviously, some offenses are too severe to qualify, but for those who agree to treatment and other conditions, they can avoid sentencing.
The program started in 2015 and was expanded in 2017. There have been 35 graduates and are currently 61 participants. While 85% of the participants also have a substance use disorder, it’s not the primary diagnosis for the population served by this court.
Tuesday, April 9th, 2019
9:30 am Economic and Infrastructure Development Committee
Douglas G. Richardson, Chair
Connie Ladenburg, Vice Chair
Marty Campbell
Dave Morell
Pam Roach
This meeting will be broadcast live and replayed on channel 22 (Comcast and Click! Network) and channel 20 (Rainier Connect). Access electronic meeting materials at http://www.piercecountywa.org/councilcommittees. Video archives are available at www.piercecountytv.org.
Broadband Study Overview
Presenter: Bill Vetter, Senior Legislative Analyst, Performance Audit
Same as above only this time more economic-y and infrastructure-y.
Puget Sound Taxpayer Accountability Account (PSTAA) Recommendation Review
Presenter: Jason Escareno, Senior Research Analyst
Don’t let the ridiculous name fool you; this is a Very. Big. Deal.
A few years ago the Legislature decided to redirect the construction sales tax from transportation projects from their general fund to the transportation fund. That made a lot of sense, but Puget Sound legislators didn’t want Sound Transit dollars going to the state since we raise those funds locally. The result is that those sales tax dollars are sent back to their respective counties and designed to improve educational outcomes for vulnerable youth. We’re anticipating $123 million over the next 16 years.
The funds are unusual because they’ll come as construction progresses, peak, and then go away. Since this is not a space we work often, I thought it was important to get some advice. That resulted in a bill I sponsored to convene a stakeholder group of experts in child development and education. We’ll hear their recommendations during this study session.
This meeting will be broadcast live and replayed on channel 22 (Comcast and Click! Network) and channel 20 (Rainier Connect). Access electronic meeting materials at http://www.piercecountywa.org/councilcommittees. Video archives are available at www.piercecountytv.org.
Proposal №2019–17, Conservation Futures and Open Space Citizens’ Advisory Board — Membership
Sponsored by: Councilmember Pam Roach
The CAB, as it is known, makes recommendations to the Council for appropriation of Pierce County’s Conservation Futures dollars. Its members are currently selected as follows:
- One person from each Council District;
- one person to represent the City of Tacoma;
- one person appointed by the legislative body of each city and town whose population base is larger than 15,000;
- two persons selected by the Pierce County Association of Small Cities and Towns to collectively represent the legislative bodies of the cities and towns whose population base is less than 15,000;
- and three persons are chosen at large from the unincorporated area.
This bill would replace those last three positions representing unincorporated areas with three people chosen to “represent agricultural interests whose primary family income is gained through farming at large from the unincorporated area.”
Though we recently recommended that the CAB emphasize agricultural land preservation projects to take advantage of a matching fund opportunity, that’s not the only point of conservation in unincorporated areas. We also have habitat and recreation needs to support. While the needs of the agricultural industry should be heard, we need people who will represent the many conservation interests of their community.
I will be introducing an amendment to reduce the number of agriculture seats from three to one.
My Weekly Calendar
A couple of years ago we got a request for my forward-looking calendar. Rather than have staff waste their time on public record requests, I decided to publish screenshots. Now I’m adding a link to the calendar as well. If you have questions, feel free to call. Keep in mind, my schedule isn’t static. Things will get added, deleted, changed, etc. There are conflicts that I have to pick between. But if people want to see where I’m at and who I meet with, that’s fine by me.
