Agenda - Council - 06/26/2018 - Laserfiche WebLink

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City Administrator Ulrich confirmed that would be the other option and is what the City attempted about five years ago. He stated that WSB has a fair amount of expertise in this area and recognize the sensitivity of how a City works. Acting Mayor LeTourneau asked for input on whether or not to condense the timeframe from six to eight months to four months in order to time with the election. Councilmember Kuzma stated that if the City started now getting the communications out, four months should be sufficient time and would give residents the opportunity to vote yay or nay. He stated that would provide the Council with direction on how to proceed with assessments or the benefit or not having assessments. He stated that he would like to see the question on the ballot. Councilmember Johns asked if this would go towards the direction of the ballot. Acting Mayor LeTourneau stated that was not the direction until that comment was made. Councilmember Shryock stated that if the City continued and stayed on a heavy course, the City could be in the position to put this on the ballot. She noted that the information would need to remain heavy and consistent. She stated that is a big -ticket item but recognized that the cost is not large in comparison to the cost for the issuance of debt. She stated that it would have value to have the expertise for public meetings but perhaps the new communications staff member could complete the flyers and informational mailings, if time allowed. Councilmember Johns stated that currently the City does not have a communications member and is actually down multiple staff members and therefore would support having that expertise. She stated that whether or not the Council chooses to go to ballot, the communications piece is vital. City Administrator Ulrich stated that the communications staff member will be coming on board and does have expertise with writing newsletter articles. He explained that WSB has a really complete knowledge of the financing piece and has the experience in how to best communicate that information and engage the public. He stated that perhaps the cost could be negotiated a bit, using City staff for some portions. Councilmember Shryock agreed that perhaps it would be a good combination of the knowledge from WSB combined with some of the leg work that could be done by City staff, which could possibly lower the ultimate cost. Community Development Director Gladhill stated that in a four -month timeframe that would be difficult as there are three large vacancies in staff currently. He stated that in his experience, taking items out of a contract to be done in-house sometimes costs more in efficiency and time. Acting Mayor LeTourneau stated that the communications piece is important for this process and it will be important to provide the best opportunity for residents to learn about alternatives. He stated that whether the message could be communicated in four, six or eight months has not yet City Council Work Session / June 12, 2018 Page 2 of 8