Weekly Update - City of Richland

Weekly Update is published each Monday to provide information about upcoming meetings, public involvement opportunities, current and upcoming municipal issues and projects, economic and workload indicators, special events and accomplishments.

To have Weekly Update e-mailed to you each week, please send a request with your name and email address to candrews@ci.richland.wa.us.

August 30, 2010

Holiday closures:

The City of Richland will close its offices and facilities on Monday, Sept 6. Labor Day closures will include city hall, library, community center, development services center and landfill. Monday garbage collections will occur on the regular schedule, and all emergency services will be available.

State award:

The Cities of Richland and Kennewick jointly received the 2010 award for Innovations in Local Government Management from the Washington City/County Management Association. WCMA presented plaques to City Managers Cindy Johnson and Bob Hammond at the mid August summer conference in Winthrop. WMCA says the award “recognizes a local government that has successfully applied the concepts of reinventing, reengineering, total quality management, customization or other cutting-edge organizational tool.” In their winning entry, Richland and Kennewick touted their collaborative efforts in areas as diverse as administrative services, community development, parks, public safety and public works.

Living costs:

For the second quarter of 2010, Council for Community and Economic Research’s ACCRA index reports that the Tri-Cities has the lowest cost of living in Washington State. The Tri-Cities scored 92.7 on the index, compared to 94.6 for Yakima, 93.3 for Spokane, 120.2 for Seattle and 113.0 for Vancouver-Portland.

Volunteer opportunities:

The Richland City Council is accepting applications from Richland residents interested in serving on the Housing & Community Development Advisory Committee. Council especially seeks applicants with interest or expertise in neighborhood revitalization, housing development, real estate, financing, construction or provision of housing services to low income, minority and special needs populations. The application deadline is Sept. 10. More information is available on this website by choosing City Government and Boards & Commissions.
City council is also looking for high school students who are interested in getting involved with their local government. Both the Arts Commission and the Parks & Recreation Commission have youth vacancies. Information about these positions is available by calling the City Clerk’s Office at 942-7388.

Community outreach:

Last week, Solid Waste mailed 5,000 postcards with a three-question survey about the green yard waste program to randomly selected Richland residences. Staff will compile results and present them to city council this fall as part of an update on the new solid waste programs.
The topic of this week’s “Richland’s Key Focus” on KONA radio will be the recent upgrade to communications equipment at Benton County Emergency Services. BCES Manager Jim Barber will talk with KONA News Director Dennis Shannon and Sports Director Michael McDonnal about the impacts of the changes. The program will air from 8:45 to 9 a.m. on Thursday, September 2.
Rachel Jasper, a participant in Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA), recently completed a year of service with Benton County Emergency Services. During her time with BCES, Jasper contributed more than 2,000 hours of service, recruited 150 volunteers and conducted dozens of volunteer training classes. VISTA is a 40-year-old national service program; its participants serve full-time for a year at a nonprofit organization or local government agency, working to fight poverty and illiteracy, improve health services and strengthen community groups. Jasper plans to use her VISTA education award to attend Columbia Basin College to study nuclear technologies. She also plans to take online courses to complete an emergency management degree and to work as a volunteer coordinator at BCES, in a volunteer capacity.

Strategic plan:

City council’s Strategic Plan includes replacement of city hall and further development of the Swift Boulevard corridor. As part of that component, Planning & Redevelopment staff is reviewing proposals from 13 consultants who responded to the city’s request for qualifications to conduct a feasibility analysis for a new city hall. Specifically, the consultant will analyze the possibility of using a portion of the parking lot at the southwest corner of Jadwin Avenue and Swift Boulevard, currently owned by the General Services Administration, a federal agency. Staff will arrange interviews with top candidates this fall. In addition, an architect is currently updating a 2003 city hall space-planning document.
Receipt of a $113,820 federal grant will help Fire & Emergency Services enhance operational effectiveness. With the funds, F&ES will place 14 mobile computers in its engines, medic units and command rigs. The money came through the Assistance to Firefighters grant program; the city’s share of the program costs is $11,382. The units will allow firefighters and medics to transmit information via touch screen. This will reduce radio airtime, provide more accurate time recording and reduce dispatcher workload. In addition, the mobile data terminal mapping will direct responders more quickly and accurately to an emergency scene. In the future, responders expect a built-in GPS module to dispatch the nearest unit to an incident. Other system capabilities include stored pre-incident plans, police-to-fire data messaging and field incident report writing.

Project update:

Public Works staff expects construction to begin in mid September on the Keene Road project. The yearlong project will widen the existing two-lane roadway between Queensgate Drive and Tomich Avenue to five lanes, two in each direction with a two-way, left-turn lane. The project will also provide on street bicycle lanes, a south side sidewalk, a north side separated multi-use pathway, a new signal at Kennedy Road, roadside landscaping, equipment upgrades at the Queensgate Drive traffic signal, street lighting and overlay of Queensgate between Interstate-182 and Keene. Benton County provided some funding for the Queensgate overlay through an interlocal agreement. The project also will include water main replacement from Country Ridge to Tomich, installation of a sewer main from Lethbridge Avenue to Tomich and retrofits to the existing vehicle bridge. Apollo, Inc. is the contractor. Based on available funds, the project does not currently include widening the road and installing a pathway over I-182. Staff will pursue funding this fall for the bridge widening and hopes to incorporate that component into the project.

Staff kudos:

Richland resident Jerry White expressed his thanks via email for Parks & Recreation’s recent Geocoin Challenge. He wrote, “As a lifelong citizen of Richland, I enjoyed learning some history, and my son enjoyed hearing my stories of fishing at Wellsian Pond and going to the Riverview Drive-In. It was nice that the event was not too difficult, which makes it easy for families to participate and enjoy. The quality of the Geocoins was exceptional and made my son’s eyes light up with pride and accomplishment (me, too).” He added, “…you should have heard my son and all the kids in your lobby asking me why I was all excited and taking pictures of the Elephant Slide. I told them they were just too young to understand. We are looking forward to the celebration in September.”

Outdoor events:

The Richland Farmers’ Market continues in The Parkway this Friday. Vendors will offer fresh produce, ready-to-eat foods, arts and crafts, and more. Market hours are 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Smoovies and Parks & Recreation will present two more weekends of outdoor movies in John Dam Plaza this season. On Friday, Sept 3, Smoovies in the Park will show Disney’s Alice in Wonderland and on Saturday, Sept. 4 Furry Vengeance. The events begin at 7 pm, with the movie at sundown.
The 14th annual Tumbleweed Music Festival, hosted by the Three Rivers Folklife Society, will take place Sept. 4-5 in Howard Amon Park and the Richland Community Center. The event will include more than 100 acts of various music genres, arts, crafts and food vendors, and old-time music and dance. Performers will be on five stages located throughout the park. Saturday’s events will include a songwriting contest. Daytime performances, clinics and presentations are free of charge for the public. Performances begin both Saturday and Sunday at 11 am.
The ninth annual Adult Slo-pitch Softball State Tournament will take place at Horn Rapids Athletic Complex and throughout the Tri-Cities Sept. 4-5. This is the Tri-Cities first year to host the tournament. Organizers expect 44 teams from across the state to compete in the four championship divisions. The event also includes a Home Run Derby for tournament participants on Saturday night.

August 23, 2010

Workload indicators:

Energy Services staff handled 28 requests for new residential electric service during July, bringing the 2010 year-to-date total to 270. In comparison, staff received 168 similar requests through the first eight months of 2009. Last month, the city also received requests for 23 temporary electrical installations for new home construction, compared to 28 in July 2009.

Community outreach:

Benton County Emergency Management will offer two Benton-Franklin CERT (Community Emergency Response Team/Training) courses in September and October. The free training covers disaster preparedness, light search and rescue, medical operations, damage assessment, disaster simulation and fire extinguisher use. Participants must complete three classes and a hands-on training day to become certified. More information is available from Rachel Jasper at r.jasper@bces.wa.gov.

Project update:

Solid Waste staff is preparing a postcard survey about Richland’s new yard waste collection program. Residents who have the green cans will receive the brief survey later this summer. Staff will compile the results and will present them to city council, with recommendations on possible modifications to the program.

August 16, 2010

Community outreach:

Energy Services is working with installers in the city’s three largest mobile home areas to conduct energy audits and to install efficient light bulbs and showerheads. The program is in the Richland Mobile Home Park, Allyson Manor and the Hills. Energy Services aims to learn what kind of conservation potential exists for mobile homes. ES is financing the program with settlement funds from Enron.
Richland’s inaugural Geocoin Challenge on August 7 attracted more than 80 people from throughout the Northwest and as far away as Florida. After the morning kickoff in John Dam Plaza, participants used GPS receivers and navigational techniques to locate nine caches that correlated with Richland’s 100-year-old history. Those who found at least eight of the caches received a commemorative coin. Richland’s Tourism Committee helped finance 250 geocoins. The challenge will continue until all coins are claimed. Entry forms are available on this website and at the community center.

Project updates:

In the early hours of August 11, Benton County Emergency Services made a seamless switch from an analog 800MHz radio system to a P25 digital radio system. The digital system will improve communication coordination and clarity of signals. The project also included infrastructure upgrades with new towers at Sillusi Butte, Golgotha Butte and Rattlesnake Mountain. The three-year project also included an upgrade of console equipment at Southeast Communications Center. Agencies involved in the switchover include Richland, West Richland, Kennewick, Prosser and Pasco police and the Benton County Sheriff’s Office, as well as public utilities in Benton County, Benton County Public Works, Benton County Jail, Prosser’s ambulance and Areva.
Staff members from every city department are receiving training this week on “behind-the-scenes” components of the city’s new website. The city is working with CivicPlus on creation of the site and expects to launch the new site in September.
Richland will return the community’s beloved elephant slide to Howard Amon Park during a public celebration on Saturday, Sept. 18 at 10 a.m. The slide, which dates from the early 1960s, received a complete makeover and safety upgrade, thanks to Total Energy Management. Parks & Recreation and Public Information staffs are planning the community event.

National awards:

CityView TV will receive two awards and an honorable mention at the 25th annual Government Programming Awards banquet, on October 1 in Washington, DC. The National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors (NATOA) sponsors the competition. NATOA announces categories, but not placings, in advance. CityView will receive awards for its use of humor in three “Great Value PSAs" and for overall excellence in government programming for a channel with an operating budget under $400,000.

August 9, 2010

Community outreach:

The Planning & Redevelopment office recently closed out a $96,000 Affordable Housing Grant through the Federal Home Loan Bank of Seattle. The grant assisted 16 low and moderate income, first-time homebuyers with $6,000 each to help with the purchase of a home in Richland. Planning & Redevelopment staff teamed with Finance staff to facilitate the funding and use the grant funds by the December 2010 deadline.

Lightning damage:

Lightning strikes at the first of the month severely impacted the city’s water facilities. However, due to the response of the Water Treatment Plant shift operator and support from Energy Services, the city’s water service was uninterrupted. The strikes caused failure of the electrical transformer at the WTP, damaged three one-ton chlorine cylinder scale displays beyond repair, temporarily knocked out a 500-horsepower pump at the WTP, damaged the WTP’s 36-inch production meter electronics, caused a power failure at Wellsian Way #5 well and knocked out the 3000-UV facility as well as Columbia Point irrigation pumps. The strikes also caused failure of a telemetry system, which lost communication between the WTP and Badger Mountain pump station, 5 and 10-million gallon reservoirs, and Tapteal 1 reservoirs. Energy Services restored communications. Staff has made repairs and is working to replace damaged equipment. Water staff does not yet have a total cost on damages.

Process changes:

In the past, Public Works hired contractors to grind city streets for residential overlay projects. This year, Streets Maintenance Division took on this responsibility. Late last month, Streets rented a milling machine for a week and completed grinding the six streets scheduled for asphalt overlay in three days. Streets crews also ground and patched deteriorated areas on George Washington Way between Spengler Street and Hanford Street to preserve asphalt in that area, which has required many pothole repairs during past winter seasons. A pre-project cost analysis determined city staff could perform the work at a lower cost than a contractor. In the coming weeks, staff will complete a post-project analysis to validate the estimated savings. In addition to cost savings for the physical work, the new method reduces effort and costs spent writing and awarding contracts.

Project updates:

ConAgra Foods Lamb Weston, Inc. closed August 5 on its $1,408,854.05 purchase of land at Columbia Point for its new corporate headquarters. The land sale moves Lamb Weston one-step closer to developing an administrative office complex and ensuring that the Tri-Cities retains this corporate citizen.
Washington State auditors have arrived at the city to finalize their auditing process for the city’s 2009 budget. They expect to be on site until October.
Crews have begun moving earth for the new Information Technology facility at the city shops. The city will host a ribbon cutting celebration in December.

Manager’s medallion:

Parks & Recreation Assistant Carmen Walker recently received a City Manager’s Medallion. City Manager Cindy Johnson presented the honor to Walker for her suggestion to alleviate the ongoing problem of people swimming from the Lee Boulevard Dock. While observing the dock with Phil Pinard, Walker suggested that Parks & Recreation move the personal watercraft rental from its upriver location to the Lee Dock. This move increases watercraft activity near the dock, which will deter swimming, and it places Pacific Shorz Powersports business on the dock. To protect their business safety, the owners will “police” the swimming issue with Parks & Recreation support.