City Council Approves Budget Adjustment, Affordable Housing Tax-Exemption, and More
At the March 19, 2018, meeting of the Wilsonville City Council, the Council held a public hearing and authorized a supplemental budget adjustment for the current fiscal year to account for changes in project cost estimates and reclassify certain expenses.
Major adjustments that total $3.6 million include reimbursing the West Linn-Wilsonville School District $1.4 million for infrastructure work related to improvements of Advance Road for the new Meridian Creek Middle School; $1.18 million for road construction projects in the I-5/Wilsonville Road interchange area; $437,000 for improvements to Boeckman Road; and $385,000 for Library remodeling improvements.
The Council granted annual property-tax exemptions to five multi-family facilities—Autumn Park Apartments, Charleston Apartments, Creekside Woods LP, Rain Garden LP and Wiedemann Park—that provide 366 residential units of affordable housing. These exemptions allow the facilities to provide lower-cost rent to families, seniors and individuals meeting income qualifications.
The Council approved a professional services agreement in the amount of $200,000 with Vertigo Marketing to implement a two-year tourism marketing-promotion campaign designed to promote Wilsonville as a destination to out-of-area markets and ultimately increase overnight lodging tax revenue to the City. State law requires that a certain amount of local lodging-tax revenues are to be spent on various tourism-related programs, including tourism promotion.
Council renewed the City’s janitorial services contract for a one-year period in the amount of $186,000 with TVW, Inc., which is a state-certified ‘qualified rehabilitation facility’ employing individuals with disabilities that local governments must use.
The Council acted on a $125,000 contract with Alta Planning and Design to undertake a community-wide wayfinding/directional signage strategy and develop sign-design specifications. The project includes fabricating and installing a number of signs, including possibly the two existing monument signs at I-5/Wilsonville Road interchange.
During Mayor’s Business, Mayor Tim Knapp read a proclamation designating April as Parkinson’s Awareness Month and updated Council on progress toward an amendment of the Year 200 Urban Renewal District to increase the maximum indebtedness to fund the Boeckman Dip Bridge. The hearing is scheduled for May 7.
During the work session prior to City Council, City staff recommended an amendment to allow fishing at the Memorial Park dock; discussion centered around whether fishing would be allowed seasonally (Oct.-Apr.) or year-round.
Transit Director Dwight Brashear discussed amending the Transit Master Plan to accommodate House Bill 2017, which requires transit providers to include analytics, strategies, upcoming projects and other details to qualify for state funding. SMART staff also detailed a pilot program to offer shuttle service to and from Charbonneau and a one-year intergovernmental agreement with the City of Canby to extend service with four weekday mid-day round trips between the two cities.
The City Manager said he had directly addressed concerns brought by Wilsonville Meadows residents to the Feb. 22 meeting regarding visitors speeding through the residential development, and that staff will continue to be attentive to these concerns.
The City Attorney advised that the pump slot allocation issue with respect to the City’s water treatment plant had been resolved, allowing the City to move forward with an intergovernmental agreement that forms the Willamette Intake Facilities Commission for operation of a shared intake facility.
At the conclusion of the City Council meeting, a brief Urban Renewal Agency Meeting approved a proposed supplemental budget adjustment allowing $358,000 in additional funding for four projects.
Community members can watch a replay of all or a portion of the City Council meeting on Comcast/Xfinity Ch. 30, Frontier Ch. 32 or on the City’s video-on-demand service at www.ci.wilsonville.or.us/WilsonvilleTV.
