From: Leota Childress
Sent: Wed Aug 02 11:44:59 2017
To: Jimmy Thompson
Cc: Elizabeth Klein; Dan Huff; Gerald Fisher
Subject: Re: Transportation maintenance
Importance: Normal
This is bigger than some work around one woman's house. I think that should be taken out of the equation and our conversations unless that's what we want the community to hear. If we say it outside of the four of us on this email, it will get out.
I agree that we need the fee. We've been discussing it for over a year but maybe not so much with the current Council. If we are going to discuss a transportation maintenance fee and think we might need a parks fee in the future, let's make a full assessment and do it all at once. We already hear about how the City keeps asking for more money and I understand it. At the same time, I understand why we do it.
I don't believe we can do this immediately for several reasons.
1. It makes us look like we haven't planned well. This isn't an emergency. Egg on our face.
2. We must educate (or attempt to educate) the community. Will there be a Town Hall?
Does this require a Public Hearing?
3. If we are also going to raise sewer rates again, that comes into the equation.
Leota
----- Original essage -----
From: "Jimmy Thompson" <jthompson@cityofmolalla.com>
To: "Elizabeth Klein" <eklein@cityofmolalla.com>
Cc: "Leota Childress" <lchildress@cityofmolalla.com>, "Dan Huff" <dhuff@cityofmolalla.com>, "Gerald Fisher" <gfisher@cityofmolalla.com>
Sent: Wednesday, August 2, 2017 10:54:58 AM
Subject: Re: Transportation maintenance
This would essentially be the beginning of a transportation maintenance fee, which would be available for potentially all maintenance needs. I think somewhere between $5 and $7.
All, or almost all jurisdictions in the state charge a transportation maintenance fee(parks maintenance fee as well), typically on utility bills because the billing mechanism is already in place.
It would be similar to the park and rec fee that was on the bill previously forr the pool, the main difference being that voters have not told us no on transportation maintenance, whereas theyhad said no to the pool before a previous council approved the fee.
Silverton is at $9.07.
In my opinion, we do need the fee. Transportation funding is essentially limited to what we get from gas tax and some revenue sharing. Even with the increases in the transportation package passed by the state, it will not be enough.
There are two mechanisms available to a city directly. One is the fee, typically administered through utility billing. The other is a gas tax. There are benefits and drawbacks to both, but the easiest to get running immediately is the fee.
When the council originally created the transportation advisory committee my hope was that we would get from them a formal recommendation which we could then take to voters. That never happened and the committee has been dissolved. Ideally, I would like to see it go to the voters, but, I don't feel we have time to put together another committee and educate them while risking having similar circumstances produce no actionable recommendation some time in the future,particularly not when we have a promise that has been made and not delivered on.
The pavement index we got from Gerald shows our dilema. If we do nothing, we will begin seeing additional "catastophic" failures like what has happened on hart/shaver. When pavement ages without proper maintenance, it becomes even more expensive to replace.
I do think because we promised to do the work near the woman's home, we need to deliver, but after that it would be general maintenance for where it is needed most. I believe Gerald could provide us a plan for the funding.
Jimmy
----- Original Message -----
From: Elizabeth Klein <eklein@cityofmolalla.com>
To: Jimmy Thompson <jthompson@cityofmolalla.com>
Cc: Leota Childress <lchildress@cityofmolalla.com>, Dan Huff <dhuff@cityofmolalla.com>, Gerald Fisher <gfisher@cityofmolalla.com>
Sent: Wed, 02 Aug 2017 09:59:00 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Re: Transportation maintenance
Hi Jimmy,
Thank you for the note. I believe that trust can be diminished when monies are raised through "fees" rather than being voter approved. We see it happening regularly at the state level and seems like a convenient way to bypass citizen buy in.
What kind of fee increase are we talking about and why use utility billing as a method for collection? I'm not sure adding it to a utility bill makes sense unless the improvements impact sewer/water. However, if you can provide the scope of the project, it might help clarify the reasoning behind the structure of the proposal.
A few other questions...
Would there be enough revenue to do any other projects or just the one street promised to the one constituent?
Are other people impacted by the improvements or is it just the one resident?
How long would the fee be in place - is it into perpetuity?
Thanks for your patience as I wrap my brain around the proposal and potential impact.
Elizabeth Klein
City Council
City of Molalla
503-829-6855
eklein@cityofmolalla.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jimmy Thompson" <jthompson@cityofmolalla.com>
To: "Elizabeth Klein" <eklein@cityofmolalla.com>, "Leota Childress" <lchildress@cityofmolalla.com>
Cc: "Dan Huff" <dhuff@cityofmolalla.com>, "Gerald Fisher" <gfisher@cityofmolalla.com>
Sent: Wednesday, August 2, 2017 9:40:32 AM
Subject: Transportation maintenance
Liz and Leota,
Just a heads up, we will likely see a recommendation for a fee for transportation maintenance in the very near future, perhaps parks as well.
Generally speaking, I would be opposed to implementing a fee without the support of the voters. In my opinion, if voters dont want their roads maintained, we dont maintain them. I think government in general has done a good job of covering up the lack of transportation maintenance funding, and that has led to skepticism on the part of constituents as to the actual need for more money. I would much prefer educating the public on the need in most cases, and letting them decide.
However, in this case, we (the city) sent a letter to a constituent telling her that she would see improvements made to the area by her home. That letter has Dan's signature on it. Before departing, Jennifer Cline advised we could complete the project, which precipitated the letter. We have yet to do anything there, and do not have the money to do so.
I think restoring the trust citizens have in their government, even if it is just this one person, is extremely important. In this case, I will personally support a small fee for transportation maintenance to be added to utility bills. I believe we will have a recommendation coming soon.
Just wanted to give you a heads up.
Best Regards,
Jimmy
--
Leota Childress
Molalla City Councilor
503.829.6855
lchildress@cityofmolalla.com