The Mountlake Terrace City Council at its Feb. 22 business meeting reviewed the Mountlake Terrace Recreation and Parks Advisory Commission’s (RPAC) annual report. It also authorized an agreement to receive $87,000 in grant funding for various youth-focused recreation programs.

Accomplishments from 2021 that were highlighted by RPAC included assisting with developing the city’s Recreation, Parks, and Open Space (RPOS) master plan — that was then approved by the city council in January of this year – and its work on the Veterans Memorial Park Plan that helped identify various improvement priorities and projects throughout the park.

Commissioners said that the completion and unveiling of the Jerry Smith Town Center Plaza was particularly notable, along with RPAC’s support for four grant applications that were ultimately approved. They also mentioned improvement projects that were finished at Evergreen Playfield #1 and the Lake Ballinger waterfront. The City of Mountlake Terrace’s implementation of an adopt-a-park policy, being honored as a “Tree City USA” and establishing a tree board were also highlighted.

Many of the special events and annual activities where RPAC traditionally volunteers were once again canceled last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Een so, the 1,051 volunteer hours logged were nearly double the total accounted for in 2020. The commission said that was due in large part to community turnout at the annual Earth Day clean-up event and the ongoing efforts of adopt-a-park program volunteers.

Items in RPAC’s work plan for 2022 include continuing to address recommendations identified in the Recreation Parks and Open Space master plan, crafting a recommendation for the recreation and park fee schedule, reviewing and recommending in-kind service agreements and field rental policies with sports organizations, and participating in various community events – provided they aren’t cancelled again. The commission hopes to expand its community outreach efforts this year along with supporting more volunteer activities and partnering with communty organizations on opportunities to improve the city’s parks and recreation spaces.

Additional priorities this year include completion of the Veteran’s Park Master Plan, continuing improvement projects planned for Ballinger Park and Matt Hirvela/Bicentennial Park, reviewing park and facility Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) standards, and conducting a review of the advisory commission’s vision and mission statements. RPAC will also continue to support the ongoing Hall Creek Restoration Project and various grant applications identified for city projects.

The city council thanked RPAC for all of its efforts and said the commissioners’ hard work has helped improve parks and made a real difference in the community.

During public comments, residents from several households located near the scene of a shooting on Feb. 13 told the council that the house where it occurred has for many years been linked to various ongoing criminal activities. They advocated for the residence, which is located in the 4500 block of 214th Place Southwest, to be declared a chronic nuisance property under the City of Mountlake Terrace’s recently adopted chronic nuisance chapter ordinance in the municipal code.

The nuisance chapter ordinance was approved by the city council at its last regular business meeting to help the city address properties that have repeated patterns of onsite criminal activity along with reported nuisance violations. It is intended to remedy nuisance activities that reoccur or exist on properties within Mountlake Terrace by providing the city with a process for enforcement and abatement.

All of the speakers noted the activities of that residence’s occupants and guests have created myriad safety concerns in the neighborhood. Many longtime residents said they felt the situation has worsened over time and there has been an increase in violent incidents and property crimes associated with the household. Several speakers added that as a result, they no longer feel secure leaving their homes — particularly after dark.

Councilmembers aren’t allowed to directly respond to public comments, but during the new business portion of Tuesday night’s meeting, they said the residents’ complaints had been heard and they looked forward to receiving regular updates from staff and law enforcement about the property possibly being designated as a chronic nuisance.

When the chronic nuisance chapter of municipal code was approved, City Attorney Hillary Evans said that several properties in Mountlake Terrace could possibly qualify as nuisances under the ordinance, but any problems documented in the past would not be held against those locations moving forward.

In other business, City Manager Scott Hugill told the council that the City of Mountlake Terrace had again received the WellCity Award from the Association of Washington Cities (AWC) for its efforts promoting employee health. The award allows the city to earn a 2% discount on its medical premiums. The city has now received the award each of the past four years.

In other business, the council approved adopting an amendment to the city salary schedule ordinance that will allow for the recently authorized parks project manager position to be paid a monthly salary between $7,127-$8,910.

In December, the council approved for staff to move forward with hiring the Mountlake Terrace Recreation and Parks position this year to assist with a spate of upcoming park projects.

Staff then researched other cities that have a similar position to help identify a salary range recommendation prior to undertaking recruiting efforts for a parks project manager.

The position will have a variety of responsibilities including the planning, design and construction of recreation and parks capital projects; long-range planning and assisting with municipal code updates. Therefore, it requires a high degree of knowledge and expertise in project/construction management, park design and planning, and landscape architecture along with a working knowledge of urban planning and grant writing. The position’s highest salary is nearly $156,000 in wages and benefits, which Hugill assured the council the City of Mountlake Terrace has the money to pay for in its general fund.

The council also unanimously approved for the city manager to sign an agreement with the AWC and Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) for a SEEK Grant award of $87,000.

Recreation and Parks Director Jeff Betz said the grant funds will be used for a new summer teen camp that will take participants to outdoor locations around the region, and also the reimbursement of existing summer programs. It will also help fund programming for preschool and school-aged children that offers a variety of daily, age-appropriate curriculum and activities. In addition, the program includes field trips and bringing in guest speakers across a range of educational and physical subjects.

Betz noted that a large portion of the recreation grant award will be used to cover $20,000 in scholarships for those programs, and city staff have been working with family advisors from the Edmonds School District to help identify students eligible for the scholarships.

The Washington Recreation and Park Association, together with the AWC and the OSPI, have partnered to offer the SEEK Grant to local parks and recreation agencies for youth-focused summer programming. The grant program, which began last year and then expanded for 2022, is funded by federal COVID-19 relief funds conveyed through the OSPI.

Items approved on the consent calendar Tuesday nights included:

-A contract with Osborn Consulting Inc. for engineering and design work to replace a stormwater line at the intersection of 52nd Avenue West and 212th Street Southwest. Two parallel stormwater pipes in the area are severely cracked and offset, which has resulted in tree roots penetrating the stormwater pipes thereby causing partial blockages and requiring that maintenance crews regularly cut the roots to prevent the pipes from becoming completely blocked. Frequent repairs are also required due to stormwater leaking from the cracked pipes that have caused the road surface and sidewalk to sink along the east side of 52nd Avenue West.

In addition, a gas main is located directly above one of the stormwater pipes, thereby complicating any repair or replacement work. City staff are not able to perform the full range of work needed for the project and the engineering division is not able to finish the tasks that it could do in such a timeframe as to mitigate further damage to the road and sidewalk. The work order’s costs are covered under an existing agreement with Osborn Consulting Inc. for on-call stormwater engineering services that the council had previously approved.

City staff had recommended approval of the work order, noting that fixing the two cracked pipes will improve the location’s safety for drivers, pedestrians and bicyclists. They added it would also reduce long-term stormwater maintenance costs for ratepayers. The engineering and design work is anticipated to be completed by January 2023 and the not-to-exceed cost is nearly $133,000. In order to defray costs, city crews will complete the necessary potholing work and traffic control required to verify pipe locations and depths.

-An interlocal agreement with the Washington School Information Processing Cooperative. The cooperative connects public agencies and schools to a network of technology partners, thereby leveraging its collective power to provide competitively-bid pricing on goods and services. The program is used for purchasing computer hardware and software. City staff is interested in contracting with FreeDoc, which is a provider of digital recordkeeping and electronic content management, and the interlocal agreement will allow the city to take advantage of the cooperative’s existing contract with the company.

— By Nathan Blackwell