Colleen M. Wise, Edgewood, WA
News
Check web site for more information: www.cityofedgewood.org
I have added the June 7th meeting as well as the activities list that I currently aware of. Some of you have said you want to be involved here is your chance to get out and do that. Thursday, June 17 KC 31st District Mtg. is presenting Justice Sanders @ Auburn City Hall, 25 W Main Street at 7PM Dan Roach is running for Pierce County Council and will be holding a bbq fundraiser on Wednesday, June 23rd, from 6 – 8pm at the Lakeland Hills Community Center. Address: 5801 Lakeland Hills Way SE, Auburn, WA 98092. RSVP to Melanie at 253.826-6704. ($10.00 per plate). July 12, 2010 6:30 PM to 8:00 PM Puyallup Valley Republican Women, will host Open Mic Night at the Meeker Mansion. If you are a candidate hold the date and contact Ruth Anderson at 253-845-4502, e-mail ruthanderson@comcast.net. There will be time to ask questions and get handouts. Invite your friends to a great evening with candidates. Open to the public Tuesday, July 13th, Sponsored by Be Informed WA-WA, all 9th District Candidates Invited to speak. Registration starts at 6:30PM at Lakewood Library, 6300 Wildaire RD SW, Lakewood, WA 98499. Donation is $5.00, make payable to PCRC. Mail to Jane Milhans, PO Box 65383, University Place, WA 98464 RSVP to 253-468-0946 or piercecountyrepublicanclub@yahoo.com. Saturday, July 24th from 1 to 3 PM Picnic at Pam's Event: Country Fundraising Rally at Roach's Dress for country music and BBQDirections: Take Hwy 18 East. Exit at Auburn Black Diamond Rd. go 1/4 mile and turn right onto the Green Valley Rd. Go 8 miles east. The farm is 1/4 mile west of Flaming Geyser Pk. There will be a few farm auction items...We may auction a piglet! Certainly we will auction Jim's brown organic eggs! Confirmed Headliners are: Rob McKenna, Richard Sanders, Tim Eyman, Peter von Reichbauer, Reagan Dunn, Dino Rossi, and PAM ROACH August 14, 2010 9:00AM to 5:00PM All American Yard Sale at the Meeker Mansion. PVRWC will have a booth at the yard sale. We are asking if you have any stuff that would be good to sell at a yard sale bring it to a meeting or call Colleen Wise at 253-927-2950, e-mail wisecouncil5@msn.com. Please no furniture.
June 7th Council Meeting Recap
The meeting started out with an Executive Session as City Manager Mark Bauer did not want to give his report until this was done.
City Manager reported on a meeting with the Mt View Edgewood Water Co. The meeting was about how the extension of pipe is handled when new subdivisions are built. The City offered that they could do it like an LID with late comer’s agreements instead of the current method where the developer pays it all for all sites. The Water Company will take this under advisement. The Company was not at the meeting to make a comment.
In May he also reported on the consulting group working the energy strategy in general. There was more to this but I did not get it all written down. Some of it will work with small business to help save energy cost.
The transit issue came up again. In the budget process it was asked but not answered where the $247,000 Pierce Transit was getting from Edgewood Citizens to have bus service. The staff it still working out the tax issue and there are any to route back to our budget.
Pierce Transit is cutting the routes and on the 1st proposal Edgewood would have lost service. Now they are offering that route 502 will continue but instead of going north it will go south to the Puyallup transit center. That will connect peak hour rider to the transit center in Puyallup which also connects them to the Sounder. No northern route was offered. It was agreed by council to let PT know that the 502 south route was acceptable.
Three property owners have approached the city to have density numbers changed. The three are Bob Knutson, Bill O’Ravez, and Doug Hutchins from Plemmon’s LLC. The current code gives them 8 units per acre but with the road changes will take away property that changes the equation to about 5 units per acre. (At least this is what I got out of it). The size of the homes in the development’s have been downsized the condo’s changed to apartments and they are still proposing business facing Meridian. If I remember Knutson’s project, Dogwood Meadows is the only one that did not have any business in front. They are asking for possible zoning changes a zoning overlay or a language change on the current title.
Joe Seet, Public Works Director, commented on the current status of the Sewer project. All is on schedule and the concerns with the roads and getting good patches are being handled. They are working on the Meridian portion as the WSDOT bids will be going out soon and that work should start before fall.
There were two public hearing. The 1st one was on the surplus property (right of way for the WSDOT project) No one spoke on this issue. The 2nd hearing was on the proposed budget. I spoke in favor of the plan even though I did not want to lose the Police Officer. I noted that I could cost as much in Overtime to cover when needed. Rose spoke and wanted Steve Cope’s amendment to pass. His amendment was to use ½ of the money for the officer from our reserve funds and the other ½ from the sale of the R/W. This amendment failed. Terry Stewart commented on his concern for public safety with the lost of the officer.
Linda Howard got the nod for the vacant Park and Recreation Advisory Board. Linda is the best qualified and the only one that applied.
Steve did bring up the amendment again when the budget ordinance came up. It was not 2nd and failed. The comments noted that 72% of the people voted to not have the extra services. The money is not there and the city has been told over and over again to live within it means. This would have been a one- time shot at saving this position with no money for 2011. The budget amendment passed with no other changes.
If you have any questions let me know or call City Hall at 253-952-3299.
My personal plug, If you want or thought about getting involved in politics this is filing week and Percinct Committee Officers are needed. I have included the link in case any of you are interested. You can check the Auditors site to find out who has already applied or your precinct is covered. remember it is one D and one R for each precinct. . http://www.co.pierce.wa.us/pc/abtus/ourorg/aud/elections/main/cand.htm
4/15/2010 This is a myth buster letter from Lois Mohler. She and her husband Ray went to city hall to check the facts and called Bonney Lake to see what they had to say about the N.U.T.I. E. Flyer.
About the letter you received in the mail probably today (or tomorrow)
> > from the N.U.T.I.E group. Here are answers to some of the statements presented in
> > the letter. How you vote is up to you but you do have a right to know what is correct.
> > I helped with the green pamphlet you received in the mail and I know the
> > information is correct.
> >
> > WE checked on a few things today.
The city and the state have not settled on a price for the right-of-way in front of city hall and this is
> > a one time amount of money, which the city is factoring into this years budget.
> > About the $2 million: The city receives real estate tax money once a year
> > about mid year. The largest bills come at the first of the year and this
> > money is part of the yearly budget except for the Emergency Fund which is
> > around $800,000 The Emergency Fund is kept on hand
> > for wash outs and land slides and other emergencies.
> >
> > About Bonney Lake's City hall: That City Hall was built in 1972. It was
> > small and was added onto in the 1980s. They have just built a new
> > Justice Center that will be completed this year. They are now looking at
> > building a new City Hall.
> >
> > Route 161: The city will receive no benefit by supervising and managing
> > the widening of 161. The city does not do that. The state manages and
> > supervise their own project.
> >
> > You may know all of this. We checked it with the city manager and know
> > this is correct. We checked the information on Bonney Lake with their
> > city offices.
> >
> > Surface water tax increases: Though I was unhappy with that increase,
> > I checked with what the county charges for surface water tax. In the
> > county, friends with a lot smaller than ours and a smaller house are
> > paying $143, a year. The cost is about the same, however we have
> > not had an increase in this charge for about 13 years.
> > A functional city Hall: The City Hall is served by a heat pump system.
> > The "Green" rating should be given soon.
> >
> > Mr Docken did not mention that staff and police have been cut already.
> >
> >
> > How you vote is up to you, but I wanted you to know the facts.
> > I have nothing to gain but I do care about truth.
> >
> > > >
> > Sincerely,
> > Lois Mohler
> > Check web site www.sos-edgewood.org for more information.
4/13/2010 Edgewood City Council Meeting update
Mark Bauer, City Manager gave his report.
1. Issues with property owner and a problem with the Shell Station tanks have caused a delay in the start of the bidding for the Meridian project. The issue with the property owner is now resolved but the Shell Station may have to be either relocated or moved back as the determination of the location of the tanks may be too close to the Right of Way. The projected start is June this is a three month delay. Bidding was to start in April.
2. The monthly City Managers meeting focused on Emergency Management between cities and the county.
3. Mark advised the council they are still working with Mr. Barrons on storm water issues.
4. Mark was interviewed by an 8th Grader about the Utility Tax; she lives in Edgewood but goes to a Private School in Tacoma. He is waiting to get a copy of that article.
5. The City got a call from Adam Smith’s office about a possible grant for the sewer project. They sent a representative from DC to hear and see what we are doing. I believe the amount was about $900,000. No comment on how it was to be used.
Joe Seet, Public Works Director gave an update on the sewer project. It is on schedule and mostly on budget. He had a legend of the project and it does show ($18,891). It is noted that this will change as the job goes forward. They found that when Williams Communication’s put in the fiber cable they did not go in a straight line or the same depth. They used a boring machine that when it hit an obstacle is would automatically go over or around it. The sewer project is finding it to have as much as a 14’ difference from location to location. Joe noted that they will be watching this to see if it is going to cause a bigger cost overage as they move down the Meridian corridor. Daryl asked about the pot holes and other street hazards and when they will be fixed. Joe will check with the contractor as due to the spring break at the school they went there to get as much work done as they could while the kids were out. He will see if they can get those issues checked and fixed.
Chief Knudson reported that 10 people are being watched for Drug and prescription med’s thief’s. Two have been arrested and they are working on getting the others. The Edgemont Park was vandalized. That caused about $3,000 in damage. The people that were stealing from a business on Jovita were caught. Chief Knudson announced that they found a sponsor for the shredding event. Albertson’s will be the sponsor and the date set is May 15th.
They will be working with the Mt. View Edgewood food bank for collection of food at the same event.
The 1st item of business AB 10-0338 is to change the code to allow personal wireless service facilities on public land. This means we could have cell antennas on top of city hall all parks and any open space could have a cell tower or some other type of structure that would support wireless service. This was the 1st reading and it was passed. There will be a public hearing and 2nd reading. This could happen on the same night. If you are interested please check the city web site (Full of information) and click on calendar of events and the council agenda should be noted.
The 2nd item of business was AB 10-025. This is to allow the Puyallup School District a franchise agreement to put in a secure fiber optic cable for the district. It will cover about 3 miles in Edgewood. All we are doing is voting to allow the franchise to work in Edgewood. The full program covers the 40+ miles for the District. This is where your tax dollars are going and you should be aware of this project.
The last item was to nominate/elect Councilmember Daryl Deidinger for the three year term on the Board of Commissioners for Pierce Transit.
The council adjourned to at executive session and would have no further business as a result of that session.
I have been made aware of the fact that there is a proposed zoning change in the valley. Part of Edgewood follows the Railroad tracks along the valley floor. The old Fetters property that is now owned by Base Capital wants to get this zone changed to build a large project. This will bring increased traffic to the area and some of the property owners believe this is the wrong use for this area. As John Powers noted in his comments that there is a lot of land in this development area that is sensitive. This may be buildable with exceptions to the code. If you think this is not big deal, remember this could be your neighborhood.
The Planning Commission is working on other changes to the current codes in Edgewood. Some just need updating but others maybe changes that need to be watched. I want the city to grow and be prosperous but not at the expense of the way our vision was set out to begin with. We do not have to make room for 10,000 more citizens. All we have to do is meet our goals per the Growth Management Plan. I believe it was about 13,500.00.
Let’s continue to be good citizens and stay involved as we can.
April 12, 2010
Friends,
I am voting yes for the Utility Tax. I believed in it the first time around and I still do. Losing any more police officers or any other services is not acceptable. I know that when our council decided on this tax it was not an easy decision. We could see based on the projections of a growing city that this was something that would keep us on track. We did not plan for a shortfall this deep in the economy as we should have or we would have tried harder to get the tax passed.
The current council and others campaigned against myself and others to get the “yes” councilmemebers off the council and campaigned against us in the election cycles. Then turned around and were voted in as the “no taxes group“ when they ran for office.
There has been an all out effort to cut everything that could be cut. Renting the basement in City Hall will bring in a bit of help to the budget.
When they run out of money they realized that we were right after all and voted for the Utility Tax. They have chosen for a lesser amount and have also added a sunset clause. This in my opinion is a dodge. Unless the sewer is completed, the road done, new businesses with doors open, cash registers taking in money and housing units built in the next 3 years the tax will have to be continued. There is a provision for low income citizens to apply and receive if they qualify for a low rate. This provision was also in the 1st Utility Tax.
It will be interesting to see how the vote comes out. I am hoping you will see the advantage of having the tax. I refer to the Editorials Lois Mohler and Anne Percival wrote for the Newspapers. They both noted that your taxes will go up if we don’t pass this and choose not to remain as a city. The Cities and Pierce County have higher taxes than Edgewood. We have worked very hard on the vision of Edgewood over the last 13 years, let’s not lose it now. The web site www.sos-Edgewood has a lot of information be sure and look it up.
I have been busy with my 31st District duties and minding Grandkids and have found that weekly attendance of the council study sessions and meetings have been harder to get to.
I did find out that the Planning Commission is bringing a proposal to the council to change the zoning in the valley so they can help development in that area. The Citizens in the valley do want to lose their homes or the peace they have now. Most of us would feel the same. We need to make sure this is carefully considered and commented on. The information should be on the web site be sure and check it out. http://www.cityofedgewood.org/. If you can’t find the information you need please call City Hall and ask.
March 3, 2010
Special Council meeting of March 2, 2010 Council Retreat
This is an annual meeting held by council and staff to set goals for the city. The meeting started at 5:30PM I arrived at about 5:45PM and all Councilmembers were present by 6PM.
1st was the prioritization of the current projects.
1. Meridian widening, this should be going to bid very soon.
2. Sewer project is in process as we are seeing the construction being done.
3. Jovita Realignment project. The discussion on this was that they may consider terminating the project. The staff noted that the city had received grant money and it may have to be paid back. The problem seems to be that the road would be next to Shuck’s and wipe out their side parking. It was noted that the city does not have the funds to buy out the site. There is a possible alternative and more study is needed. Staff is working the project.
4. Interurban Trail project. There are some problems with the design and staff is working on this. This is a grant project and will need to verify that the work gets done in time to meet the grant requirements.
5. Communication with citizens is a problem that keeps cropping up. Newsletters are costly and we don’t have the RCC connection to have a TV feed. This was dropped that out of the budget to save money between the last two councils. . It was suggested that the city gather up e-mails from citizens on a volunteer basis and send out to the e-mail list. The Fiber Optic cable was brought back up. It was noted that other cities are using fiber. (I believe there is the capacity of 4 pair. I checked on this a long time ago and was told that it was not enough to run a system. The world of technology has changed and they may have new opportunities now). Mark noted that we have a franchise agreement with Comcast to have a channel that the city could scroll and post information. Equipment would have to be purchased to get this up and running. Staff with explore these options and report back.
6. As the city moves forward with the existing projects Mark wanted to have the council consider what the city would look like and where would the town center be located. This may change other codes as this idea is developed. Mark suggested a 2010 Community & Economic Development Work Plan.
This includes, planning and land use in the core area, cost of development and development fees, infrastructure and utility planning in the core area, development process and establishing an Economic Development Advisory Board/Task Force. The discussion included having about 15 to 25 residents on the team for form the development and report back to council.
Next goal is to establish connectivity to the schools with sidewalks and trails. The information back from the school district was that they did not want sidewalks or trails that went to Meridian. They want them to only go to the housing areas. Bonnie has been working this issue and was not able to be at the meeting and will report at another time.
Jeff brought up sign codes. There was quite a bit of discussion but more in line with what the code should or could be. It was decided that this would be a possible subject for the economic advisory board.
Parks and property was brought up. Should frontage be sold or work the park development in phases. This will be referred to the Parks Board for more work to be done.
I had to leave at this time they still had Impact fees, stormwater issues, the 2010 budget and the five year plan to discuss.
I will add more as I get the information.
