Weekly Updates from Mayor Pete Lewis

Update November 20, 2009
(An update to the people from Mayor Pete Lewis)

Listen to this week's update.

You have a wonderful city council working for you each and every day. I wanted to use today’s update to give you a glimpse into just one week of what your council has been doing for each one of us. I asked your council to send us a report of their recent activities, take a look:

Deputy Mayor Sue Singer:

The last week in the work life of the Deputy Mayor – about 18 hours of meetings, plus time for emails, reading materials to prepare for meetings – about 25 hours total:

On Thursday I attended the coffee hour with the seniors at the Auburn Senior Activity Center – an exchange of ideas and information; answered emails and returned phone calls; participated in a conference with councilmember Wagner, WSU Professors and Parametrix engineers on joint grant application with WSU for work in our Environmental Park District.

Friday I attended a meeting with collaborative clean tech incubator partners in Seattle to discuss joint efforts involving ASCENT (Auburn Scientific Center for Emergent New Technologies). Over the weekend, much of it was spent preparing for meetings by reading an 18 inch stack of materials for Public Works and City Council meetings.

Monday was busy as I attended a meeting in Seattle with interim-King County Executive Kurt Triplett and other regional leaders on economic recovery efforts in the event of a flood in the Green River Valley. I made it back from Seattle to attend the 3 ½ hour Public Works committee meeting, and then presided at Council meeting for Mayor Lewis who was out of town.

Tuesday started with a 7 a.m. meeting with public and private sector leaders of Federal Way and Auburn with Seattle Times editor. Left there to stop by City Hall to sign resolutions and ordinances from the Council meeting and caught up with emails.

Wednesday I attended my Soroptimist service club lunch meeting and then worked on graphic materials for ASCENT. That evening I attended the Suburban Cities Association networking dinner.

Councilmember Rich Wagner:

The Public Works Committee that I chair is reviewing comprehensive plans that cover the next 20 years of improvements, maintenance and operation of Auburn's water, storm drainage, sanitary sewer, and transportation systems. The City is working to acquire additional water resources and replace many pipes that are over 50 years old. Public Works is also finalizing Auburn's National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Manual that is mandated by the federal government. These documents are all extremely detailed, containing several thousand pages of technical and economic information. In today's economic climate, identifying available funding is a huge challenge.

As a member of the Planning & Community Development Committee I am reviewing the annual update to the City's Comprehensive Land Use Plan, another thousand page document.

The Puyallup River Watershed Council that I attend, which includes overseeing the White River that drains into the Puyallup, is reviewing salmon habitat and flooding issues in cooperation with the Puyallup and Muckleshoot Indian Tribes.

Pierce County's Regional Access Mobility Partnership, where I am a member, is developing its state legislative lobbying priorities which include support for widening SR167 and extending the toll lane to Puyallup.

The Community Center Committee that I chair is identifying funding sources that can only be used for constructing community buildings, not used for other City expenses.

The Committee on Committees that I chair is developing recommendations for which Councilmembers will serve on each of the six City Council Committees where the detailed work of the Council takes place in open public meetings every week in preparation for the full Council meetings.

Councilmember Gene Cerino:

This is the time of the year when we spend much of our time on the council reviewing all the plan updates and so we spend many hours reading Transportation Plan Improvements (TIP) as well as the sewer, storm water reports.

One of my responsibilities is representing our residents in the Pierce County section of Auburn and regularly attending the cities of Pierce County on the Puget Sound Regional Council (PSRC) Transportation Committee which meets monthly in Seattle. We have been working on reviewing the 2040 plan and that meeting was 3 1/2 hours. I then reported on this at the Pierce County Regional Council meeting last evening.

In addition to serving the city at Pierce County, I also serve as Chair of the Municipal Services Committee. Lately we have spend a lot of time in discussion on the regional jail alternative (SCORE), the current anti-graffiti program, the status of some technology upgrades for the police department, and the future of animal control in Auburn. I also serve as Vice Chair of Public Works Committee. Recently these meetings have lasted more than three hours giving us only an hour break before resuming into City Council meetings making a long day of six to seven hours of meetings.

Councilmember Lynn Norman:

Council committee assignments are decided by the committee on the committees, which is a committee consisting of the three senior council members. I have served on the Planning and Community Development Committee for 6 years, chairing it for the last 5 years.

Councilmember Backus co-chairs the committee and Councilmember Wagner is the third member. The committee meets twice a month and in addition to planning, the PCD committee also oversees Economic Development, Parks, Arts & Recreation, Human Services, Diversity, and Community Services.

Recently the committee has been working on code updates and amendments to the City’s comprehensive plan. The comprehensive plan is reviewed and updated every year either with staff and city recommended amendments or privately-initiated, citizen amendments. The committee is involved in flood preparation and receives regular updates from staff. The committee also meets regularly with the various citizen boards and commissions that work on PCD topics. The committee recently met with the Arts Commission to discuss the celebration of their 25th year and their goals for the future. We also had a report from the Tourism Board covering their effective marketing of all things Auburn, their “Heads in Beds” campaign to bring visitors to Auburn.

I also chair the Downtown Redevelopment Committee, serving with Deputy Mayor Singer and Councilmember Cerino. The committee meets twice a month or as needed and the DRC deals specifically with planning and projects in the Downtown core. A primary focus of the committee is codes and standards for downtown, working with developers, the Downtown Association and interested parties to develop standards and plans that promote and enhance downtown. Part of that process is to develop in a way that includes and enhances the historic center of town. The committee has been working on repairs and updates to City Hall Plaza, preparing for the Plaza’s eventual connection to the infrastructure and street improvements planned for Division Street. These improvements will be financed in part by federal grant money and money the project qualified from the state.

I served on the Finance Committee when first joining council, then moved to the Municipal Services Committee for two years, and I am now back on the Finance Committee. The committee meets twice a month and is chaired by Councilmember Backus and co-chaired by Councilmember Peloza. The committee reviews all invoices and financials of the city. Under the capable guidance of Councilmember Backus the committee works with the City’s Finance Department to oversee finance and budget issues.

The Law Enforcement Officers Fire Fighters, LEOFF, board consists of representatives from the Police and Fire Departments, council members and one at-large member. The committee meets once a month to review medical claims, determining qualification for reimbursement. I have served on the LEOFF Board for 3 years.

The Community Center Committee is chaired by Councilmember Wagner with Deputy Mayor Singer and me serving with him. The committee has worked on all aspects of the community center and the activity center from design to financing. For some time the community has expressed a desire for this addition to the Les Gove Campus and the committee has based its work on the outcomes of two citizen committees. The committee is now engaged in the most challenging part of the process, procuring a financial package that supports the project in these challenging times.

Also in the planning stage for Les Gove Park is the proposed Barrier Free Playground. I serve on the committee with staff and community members. This playground will provide an exciting and engaging play experience for children of all abilities. It will include a firm surface to accommodate wheel chairs and other devices, and special features such as a sound garden. This project is being funded primarily by grants and donations, including those from students throughout the Auburn School District. The playground will be next to the spray pool and attract children from throughout the area.

At the regional level I have served on the Growth Management Policy Board of the Puget Sound Regional Council for 4 years. This is a four-county, long-range planning board that works on grouping population growth to make best use of transportation and infrastructure. I represent Auburn through the Suburban Cities Association, and the board meets in Seattle once a month.

In my spare time J, I am in the first year of a two-year term as President of the GRCC foundation board and as part of that role serve on the foundation’s development, finance, and legislative committees, and the student housing LLC board. I am also serving on the college’s search committee, hiring a replacement for GRCC’s retiring President Richard Rutkowski. I am secretary of the Pediatric Interim Care Board, and serve on the Trillium Board and a proud member of Soroptimist International of Auburn.

Councilmember Nancy Backus:

I chair the Finance Committee and I am vice-chair on the Planning & Community Development Committee (PCDC). Finance continues to be busy with budget issues and ensuring that we are great stewards of the people's money. We review and approve each and every payment that the City makes. PCDC is reviewing all of the Comprehensive Plan amendments for approval prior to year-end, and we have been busy with code updates to make the building process in Auburn easier to understand and maneuver. Both committees are deeply involved in topics related to potential flooding in the Green River Valley. In addition, I also serve as a member of the National League of Cities Finance, Administration and Intergovernmental Relations (FAIR) committee, but had to forego the recent meeting in San Antonio due to scheduling conflicts. Other committees that I serve on for the community include the Reaching Out Fair and Cities & Schools forum as well as possible funding options for the Les Gove Campus Community Center.

Outside of "official" council work, I work full-time as the Financial Reporting Manager at The Boeing Company's Commercial Airplane Division. I’m very proud to serve as President of the Miss Auburn Scholarship Program and cheering for my daughter Lucky's soccer team Synergy. I am also chairing the dessert auction portion of the upcoming annual auction for the Auburn Youth Soccer Association.

Councilmember Bill Peloza:

I serve on two Council committees: Finance and Municipal Services. Municipal Services oversees Police, Airport, Golf Course, Cemetery, and Animal Control to name a few duties of this committee.

I also serve on Regional Committees, such as, Water Resource Inventory Area (WRIA 9) involving the Green River Watershed; King County Regional Water Quality for drinking and wastewater; King County Pollution Abatement dealing with Wastewater Treatment Plants; King County Solid Waste or garbage and recycling of materials; King County Flood Control District and the Council Representative on the Auburn Int’l Farmers Market Advisory Board.

In addition, the City of Auburn is a member of the National League of Cities with offices in Washington D.C. NLC was organized in 1924 and advocates city issues with Congress for more than 16,000 cities throughout the U.S. There are seven major Advocacy Committees within the NLC non-profit organization. Elected officials are appointed to these committees.

I represent the city as a member of the Energy, Environment & Natural Resources (EENR) Steering Committee on the NLC. This committee recently met and discussed a variety of U.S. city issues, such as, Water Infrastructure; Climate Change; Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program and Local Food Initiatives (using Municipal Cleveland, Ohio vacant land for citizens to grow agricultural crops, and provide first hand information on how to start-up a Farmers Market) to name a few topics.

So there you have it, a small idea of the amount of work your councilmembers are doing locally, regionally and nationally. I am so proud of them and their tireless efforts and look forward to continue working on making Auburn More Than You Imagined!

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