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encouraged the City to find the number for franchise fees that would feel right,get some traction <br /> in the program, and then review to determine if the fee needs to be adjusted. He provided a <br /> suggested process for implementation of franchise fees, should the Council decide to go down <br /> that path. He stated that he cannot think of any reason that the City shouldn't chose franchise <br /> fees. He stated that there may be opposition in the beginning but once the program moves ahead <br /> it will help the City to get control of the roads and people will like the program and support it. <br /> Ms. Edison stated that homeowners are actually excited to see their road being repaired and <br /> therefore construction moves much more smoothly. <br /> Mr. Weiss stated that they provide flexibility to the contractor, stating that the project can be <br /> completed between May and October but only within a 60-day window once they begin. <br /> Mayor Strommen stated that the key argument she heard is the cost efficiency in the franchise <br /> fee method and perhaps WSB staff could provide assistance if this moves forward. <br /> Mr. Weiss noted that they have real world examples that they can provide for comparison. <br /> Councilmember Riley stated that now that the City is a few years into this program, it is easy to <br /> see what the debt is doing to the City's levy. He stated that it would be very powerful to show <br /> the correlation and that the City's levy could be reduced if you remove the road financing. <br /> Mayor Strommen agreed that perhaps the City did not make the financial argument very well in <br /> the last discussion of franchise fees. She stated that it may be good to continue this discussion <br /> with the budget in preparation for the 2019 budget discussions. <br /> Councilmember LeTourneau stated that he would want to see a few scenarios that would show <br /> the levy without road financing compared to the current levy that includes the road financing. <br /> Finance Director Lund agreed that she could provide that comparison of the current levy and <br /> what the levy would have been if the City would have gone with the franchise fee method. <br /> Mayor Strommen noted that it would also be interesting to see the funding that would be <br /> available if the City used a rate of$4 and $5 rather than simply using $8. She stated that perhaps <br /> $8 was too high as a starting place. <br /> Councilmember Riley stated that the decision would also need to be made to the people that have <br /> been assessed, as the method would need to be fair. He noted that the hit might not be too bad as <br /> many people chose to finance their assessment over a number of years. <br /> Councilmember LeTourneau stated that it will be interesting to see the reply of the residents on <br /> his topic through the resident survey, which may be an opportunity to open the discussion for <br /> road financing. <br /> City Council Work Session/March 27,2018 <br /> Page 4 of 7 <br />