City Council meets — carefully spaced — to consider coronavirus, agreement on kayak dock

With three council members calling in by speakerphone, chairs spaced six feet apart and the public listening on a call-in line, the Gig Harbor City Council persevered in meeting Monday night, in spite of the coronavirus threat.

The council declared an emergency, which will allow it to, among other things, waive fees and penalties for nonpayment of water and sewer bills.

And council members tied the final ribbons on an agreement with the Canoe and Kayak Racing Team to jointly fund a floating dock at Ancich Waterfront Park, but not without strong debate.

In the March 23 meeting, the council authorized an amendment to the team’s existing lease, and then approved what the city called an “Understanding of Funding Obligation” at Ancich Park.

The lease amendment formally establishes the fundraising obligations, that is no less $500,000 raised, for the canoe and kayak racing team. It also established mandatory milestones for such donations during the term of the team’s five-year, renewable lease.

The terms of the lease include:

$166,000 by 12 months or no option to extend lease.

$166,000 by 24 months or lease will be reduced by 12 months.

$166,000 by 36 months or lease is immediately terminated.

Council Members Bob Himes, Jeni Woock, and Jim Franich felt the decision to approve the understanding should have been postponed until a later date.

Of the $700,000 which the city will put toward the project, $390,000 will come from the city’s general fund. Woock said the money from the general fund would be better used to assist the city during the coronavirus crisis, not put toward the dock, which can be postponed.

“I’m not interested in having any of our staff get laid off for a project that can be done next year,” Woock said.

Council Members Spencer Albersold, Robyn Denson, Le Rodenburg, and Tracey Markley said moving the ball forward on this project is essential, and the wording of the obligation gives the city the opportunity to use the money toward the virus if necessary.

“I think [the understanding] gives us a lot of coverage, which is the basic, bottom line,” Albersold said. “I hate to say this, because it doesn’t make us seem like a good partner to the kayak club, but we could, in the future, determine things aren’t good for us right now and we need to take a pause on things. But we shouldn’t be making that decision today.”

Denson added that the racing team’s capital campaign will be able to give the assurance they need to their donors if council approved these decisions.

“It’s important we keep the forward progress so we are ready to build once the time is right,” Denson said.

Both decisions were passed with a 4-3 vote.

In other business, the city council:

▪ Declared an emergency proclamation for the City of Gig Harbor due to COVID-19, and adopted an ordinance which will waive the late fees and penalties for not paying water utility services and sewer utility services. This was allowed due to the declared emergency proclamation.

▪ Heard Mayor Kit Kuhn speak about tree violations that he has noticed in the city. The mayor said he noticed trees have been cut down on city right-of-ways, and said the city will begin to start fining $100 per tree until this issues is fixed. “I came back from vacation and drove around ten minutes and found five violations,” Kuhn said.

▪ Heard an update from Police Chief Kelly Busey about COVID-19 preparedness in the police department. Busey said no officers were ill, and the department was calling more often to ask 911 callers to come out of their homes and meet responding officers outside.

This story was originally published March 24, 2020 at 7:42 PM.