Inside the City 2 September 2022 Edition

Inside the City of Tumwater Date:

September 2, 2022

To:

Mayor Debbie Sullivan City Councilmembers City Employees

From: John Doan, City Administrator

PEOPLE

How Green Are We?

Reducing the City’s impact on the planet will be a

Jeremiah Gooden Packing up to go East

bigger priority in the coming years and affecting

Tumwater and heading to the East Coast. He’s been

Help the Green Team and Sustainability Coordinator

instrumental in advancing our IT systems to where

understanding of sustainability by taking a quick

Network Administrator Jeremiah Gooden is leaving

every department.

with us since 2016, has really cool vehicles, and was

Alyssa Jones Wood get a snapshot of our

we are today. Best wishes, Jeremiah!

Engineer Christopher Ed Leaving

Recently hired engineer Christopher Ed, working in the Transportation Division of TED, is leaving to

return to the consulting firm we hired him from. It

was good to meet you, Chris—take good care of that painting! We will be revisiting how we can fill that position in the future.

Councilmember Swarthout Achieves AWC Advanced Certificate

Councilmember Eileen Swarthout has become the

second Councilmember to earn the Advanced

Certificate of Municipal Leadership from the

Association of Washington Cities. This Advanced Certificate requires a demonstrated commitment to

local community service and at least 60 hours of training in five core areas.

online survey.

This survey is a good step in understanding what we

know, and there’s no studying required. The survey closes on September 12.

EVENTS Autumn Programs Available

The Parks and Recreation fall brochure is available exclusively online. Hang out with Parks & Recreation!

Basketball leagues, LEGO/STEM classes, cookie decorating, cooking classes, community events, a twilight cemetery tour, and much more! Register today, as classes fill quickly.

Spirit Week starts September 12

Everyone is invited to celebrate Spirit Week.

Announce your favorite sports team with a shirt or jersey, snap a selfie or groupie with co-workers and

send your picture to the Wellness Team—you could

be a prize winner. Check the Human Resources email for more details, and “Go… Team!”

Mark Your Calendars

Fire Department Joins Facebook

the calendar:

are important functions of the Fire Department.

A few other things to put on

Community risk reduction and fire safety education

October 20

Facebook, as just one form of social media, has

Earthquake Drill is back. This

City Facebook pages have over 20,000 followers

at that moment—at home, at

Facebook page that will feature messages about

you should Drop, Cover, and Hold On as if there

emergency department activities.

The Great Shakeout

shown to be a good way to reach people. (The other

means that wherever you are

together.) The Fire Department is rolling out its first

safety along with post about emergency and non-

work, at school, anywhere— were a major earthquake.

Follow Tumwater Fire Department on Facebook

October 26 & 27

Central Safety Committee and the Fire Department will host First Aid Training during the Benefits, Safety, and Wellness Fair.

Illustrating our Mission, Vision, or Beliefs in Action.

PLACES DRC Looks at Project Proposals

Projects before the Development Review Committee include:

• Feasibility of 14 townhouses at 585 5th Avenue SW.

• Formal Review of the Mottman Village 200-unit multi-family project at 2900 RW Johnson.

• Feasibility

of

the

INSIDE THE CITY

addition

of

15

new

manufactured homes to the Velkommen Mobile Home community, including connecting new

and existing units to sewer and installing a water system for fire suppression.

• Feasibility of constructing two metal buildings for up to 12 tenants each at 8974 Select Ct. SE and 8966 Tradewind Dr. SE.

• Feasibility of converting a vacant warehouse at 2900 37th Ave. SW into a private baseball training

facility.

• Boundary Line Adjustment for property at 2209+ Trosper Road.

• Feasibility of the redesign of the Dutch Bros. coffee shop at 5210 Capitol Blvd.

On Friday, the Mayor’s Proposed budget for 202324 was released and will begin review by the City Council. I want to thank everyone who worked on making this possible. It is a huge task, and the Directors, Administrative Support staff, City Clerk, Communications, and others make it happen. Two shout-outs, however, are particularly warranted.

Bill Sampson has been a Senior Accountant since coming here from Olympia in 2019. Bill is the primary staff person assembling the budget and ensuring $300,000,000 lands in the correct places.

Bill’s tenure is the first time we have had a person dedicated to the budget and it has helped all us create a better product. Bill is retiring at the end of this year, and a huge thank you for his work with us over the years.

Second, a big thank you to everyone who submitted employee suggestions.

Examples included additional staff positions and classifications, additional training, and facility improvements.

A number of the suggestions have been included in the budget to be funded, but two I want to highlight are changes to the front Finance Counter at City Hall to accommodate better access and to reconfigure for shared workspaces. The other is a proposal to reconstruct the median on Capitol Blvd. to be more environmentally appropriate and increase safety for drivers and maintenance crews.

Both are proposed to be funded.

I’ve asked the Directors and all of us to think about the following as they consider this budget: • •

•

•

•

•

•

No Department received everything they asked for.

We operate in a constrained funding environment. Some expenses are about needs today, and others are investments for the future. We can’t have everything we want and must make choices based on what we can best afford, what best meets Council goals, and what is the best strategic investment.

In both upcoming years, we anticipate spending more than we receive in the General Fund. This isn’t sustainable in the long term!

As in the past, we have had considerable savings and one-time revenue that has helped us. But we have to take action to correct this in the coming biennium.

The RFA is an important step in reducing the overall cost increase for the City (and providing better fire service).

Inflation and the cost of employees is expected to increase by $2.5M in the next biennium across the City. In the General Fund, the increased revenue from property tax with the 1% cap is about $220,000 over that biennium, meaning a lot of that deficit is created by employee costs. It is important to pay our employees fair and competitive salaries so we can continue to attract the very best – but we have to be mindful of how we pay that bill. We also have to recognize that we can’t do much without them.

We are investing in additional resources to provide direct services (police officers, maintenance technicians) and those who support the direct services (supervisors, administration, and risk management).

We need to focus on two areas in particular in the coming two years to look at the services we provide and how we fund them if we want them to expand, particularly in police and streets.

I look forward to discussions with the City Council, who are obligated to adopt this budget before the year ends.

SPECIAL ERP UPDATE This is the first in periodic updates from ERP Project Manager Matt Ames: The City is working to replace Eden, which is the

primary IT system for the City with a new Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) IT system. Eden is being

replaced because it is outdated and will no longer be

supported by the vendor. The City has formed a team, the Enterprise Resource Planning or ERP team,

and this team has been working hard behind the

scenes to get everything ready for the new system’s

phase one debut in April of 2023. We look forward to staff training sessions beginning early next year.

The first phase has been all about financials, focusing

on the chart of accounts, budget, purchasing,

projects, and contracts. We are excited to bring the City a streamlined chart of accounts, a simplified

purchasing process, the ability to track and maintain contracts, and much more.

Currently we are transferring the updated chart of accounts and the City’s financial data into the new

system. Our next project is to create updated

business processes and transfer City data for payroll and human resources. The ERP system will be a

completely web-based solution offering staff more flexibility in how they work in the future and will

improve services for Tumwater residents. The project

is currently ahead of schedule and within expected budget parameters.