Weekly Info Bulletins

City Manager's Weekly Info Bulletin 2/24/2012

Details: Category: Weekly Info Bulletins; Published on Friday, 24 February 2012 12:00

February 24, 2012
WEEKLY INFO BULLETIN
To: Mayor and Members of the City Council
From: Andrew Neiditz, City Manager

Year End Report available on City’s website: The 2011 Year End Report (as an edition of “Connections”) was mailed to citizens this week and is arriving in mailboxes now. The report is also available on the City’s website.
• City celebrates 16th Birthday: The City of Lakewood celebrates its 16th birthday on February 28th. Please review the 2011 Year End Report to see how far the City has come in its short but productive history.
Lakewood Police serve search warrant at recycling center: On February 13th, LPD served a search warrant at a local scrap metal business. The team serving the warrant included representatives from CSRT, Washington State Department of Ecology, City of Lakewood Building Enforcement and Public Works, Puget Sound Energy, Tacoma Public Utilities, Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department, and West Pierce Fire and Rescue. Several months ago, officers began to note that there was a large amount of business being conducted at WOTC with subjects known to be involved in metal thefts and drug trafficking. The service of the search warrant resulted in the recovery of items that had been stolen from two different businesses. Police are continuing the investigation and will forward to prosecutors for potential criminal charges.
Worms and Fishing and Healthy Start After School Programs: The PRCS Department is collaborating with Tyee Park Elementary School on two projects that will start in February. The first is a recycling/composting project utilizing worm bins to educate students about the benefits of worms (how they produce castings to enhance soils at the same time reducing the amount of non-meat food waste). The healthy worms will be ready to be used as bait for the PRCS Kids Fish-In event in May. The second project is the Healthy Start program that promotes kids having a nutritious diet and to be physically active to combat the growing trend of childhood obesity. The program is funded by the City of Lakewood, Lakewood’s Promise, Communities in Schools, St. Clare Hospital and the Clover Park School District. Students play a wide variety of games and activities and receive fresh fruits and vegetables provided by local businesses. The program will extend hours on regularly scheduled school half-days to provide consistency and reduce childcare needs for parents. All Healthy Start participants will be invited to participate again this year in the Tacoma Kids Marathon.
Bridgeport Way – South of Flanegan Road: Tree removal and wall construction on the west side of Bridgeport Way south of Flanegan Road will start next week. The work is in preparation for the Bridgeport Way/North City Limits Roadway improvement project that will add bicycle lanes and sidewalks this summer. The construction will require temporary lane closures (during working hours only) and will last for six to eight weeks.
Refuse rate increase: The City refuse service rates will increase staring March 1st. The rate increases are associated with the annual automatic cost adjustment provisions contained within the City's contract with our refuse service provider. The automatic adjustment factors relate to the yearly change in our area Consumer Price Index and the change in the land fill “tipping fee.”. The CPI increase was 1.742%; while the tipping fee increased by $7.06/ton (or 5.827%). Because the tipping fee is only a component of the residential customer service charge, the net combined increase to our residential customer is 3.863%. This equates to a $1.14 per month increase to a residential customer with weekly pick up service of a 65 gallon bin with recycling.
CSRT provides personal safety training for Lakewood Area Shelter Association: CSO Mike Miller conducted two personal safety presentations this week for the Lakewood Area Shelter Association “Life Skills” classes held at Trinity Baptist Church. Approximately 30 people attended the classes, which included question and answer sessions.
CSRT conducts sign code presentation: Code Enforcement Officer Doug Price presented at this month’s LOCAL (Lakewood Organization of Community Active Landlords) meeting. CEO Price presented an overview of the recent sign code changes. 11 rental-housing owners and managers were in attendance, so the presentation was tailored to issues that impacted their sign usage.
CSRT assists Pierce College with Operation Child ID event: CSO Gail Conelly assisted the Pierce College Criminal Justice Program with their 7th Annual Operation Child ID event on February 15th. CSO Conelly operated a fingerprint station and fingerprinted 72 children at the event. Other services included DNA swabs, dental impressions, and video of the children, showing their personality and speech patterns.
CSRT provides safety tips to Lakewood fast food restaurants to thwart burglaries: Due to a recent spate of burglaries at local fast food restaurants, CSRT and LPD Neighborhood Patrol Officers are contacting Lakewood fast food restaurants with safety tips designed to help them prevent burglaries. CSOs and NPOs are also getting contact information to have on file to be able to quickly disseminate additional information to the businesses as it becomes available.

City Manager's Weekly Info Bulletin 2/17/2012

Details: Category: Weekly Info Bulletins; Published on Friday, 17 February 2012 12:01

February 17, 2012
WEEKLY INFO BULLETIN
To: Mayor and Members of the City Council
From: Andrew Neiditz, City Manager

Police Sergeant saves life of little girl: Sergeant John Fraser, while eating dinner at Koto Teriyaki on 100^th Street on February 15^th, saw a young girl choking at a table while the female Korean owner was saying that she was choking. The young girl (around 10 years old) was not breathing and grabbing at her throat. She was standing up, but stiff and unable to breathe or speak. Fraser moved quickly and positioned himself behind her to perform a Heimlich maneuver. He tried several attempts to free the obstruction and finally…the food obstruction came out! The young girl started breathing again, due to the quick life saving efforts by Sgt. Fraser. No one else in the restaurant, including the mother, knew what to do in that situation.
SSM&CP Steering Committee: The South Sound Military & Communities Partnership steering committee met on February 17^th to review progress made on state funding for Interchange Justification Reports (IJR’s) along the Interstate 5/JBLM corridor. The IJR’s are a prerequisite to freeway improvements to deal with the traffic congestion. The agenda also included a JBLM presentation on transition services by the JBLM director of human resources and CEO of the Operation Military Family.
South Sound 911 transition: Planning efforts continued by the administrators from Pierce County, City of Tacoma, West Pierce Fire, and City of Lakewood on a transition plan to stand up the newly-authorized South Sound 911 communication agency. The transition plan will be presented to the Policy Board of elected officials for their review and approval at a meeting in March.
Emergency Response Planning Cell meeting: The ERPC meeting on February 16^th served as a refresher course on the Incident Command System model.

City Manager's Weekly Info Bulletin 1/27/2012

Details: Category: Weekly Info Bulletins; Published on Friday, 27 January 2012 11:53

January 27, 2012
WEEKLY INFO BULLETIN
To: Mayor and Members of the City Council
From: Andrew Neiditz, City Manager

Winter Storm recap: On the City’s roads, Lakewood Public Works expended approximately 950 labor hours in round-the-clock coverage from Saturday night January 14th until early January 21st, using about 360,000 pounds of salt, 20,000 pounds of salt/sand mix, and 2,500 gallons of salt brine solution. Over 1,000 lane miles or roadway were plowed, and crews responded to over 140 calls for downed trees, branches, and power lines. Assistance was received from Lakewood Parks staff, Clover Park School District, Police, and Community Development. Parks and Recreation staff also coordinated a warming shelter for three days at City Hall for those needing to escape the cold or charge up batteries during power outages.
Lakewood hosts Puget Sound Performance Consortium: Representatives from about 12 cities and counties in the area participated in an ICMA-sponsored consortium regarding the Center for Performance Measurement (CPM) program progress on January 27th in Lakewood City Hall. ICMA is the Int’l City/County Management Association, and Lakewood has joined a regional group of cities collecting data to track and compare performance indicators related to delivery of public services.
Gravelly Lake Drive / 112th – Safety Retrofit: Starting on January 30th, the large grassy area at the intersection of Gravelly Lake Drive and 112th Street will be retrofitted with a gravity rock wall to reduce the chance of errant southbound drivers going through the grassy area and into the private property beyond. The work will require temporary lane closures between 8 AM and 3:30 PM on northbound Gravelly Lake Drive, south of 112th Street. The project will take 4-5 business days to complete.
LASA Count of Homeless: City Human Services staff and CSRT (the Community Safety & Resource Team) participated with the Living Access Support Alliance (LASA) in the One Night Count of Homeless for Lakewood on January 26th. The information gathered from this count is used to determine levels of need for homeless families throughout Pierce County. This point-in-time count is conducted nationwide throughout the month of January.
AWC Cities Legislative Action Conference: Councilmember Mary Moss and communications director Mike Savage attended the annual AWC legislative conference in Olympia on January 25th, along with representatives from cities around the State. The Governor spoke to the conference, as did the leadership from both houses; the theme centered on the financial challenges facing all government entities in 2012.
State Auditor speaks at monthly city managers meeting: Auditor Brian Sonntag was the guest speaker at the monthly area city managers meeting on January 26th in Fife. The subject was the relationship between cities and the State Auditor’s Office, the status of new regulations, and performance auditing,
Lakewood’s 9th annual MLK Celebration at CPTC– Freedom: Yesterday & Today: This annual celebration of the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., featuring the Total Experience Gospel Choir, was attended by several hundred people on January 14th at the CPTC McGavick Center. Kevin Henry, the communications coordinator of cultural diversity for the City of Bellevue, served as keynote speaker. Local talent included the Lakes High School Studio choir. Riley Guerrero, an 8th-grader at Harrison Preparatory School, was named the winner of the Lakewood Arts Commission essay contest; she read her composition about the civil rights movement around the world. Her essay focused on the lack of civil rights for women in the Middle East.
Partners for Parks: Over 200 partners joined together at the CPTC McGavick Center on January 13th for the annual Partners for Parks “Black Tie & Blue Jeans Ball”. Partners for Parks is a collaboration of volunteers from throughout the area including service clubs, cities and towns, public entities, businesses and educational institutions who have worked together for the last ten years to raise funding for Lakewood area parks. Mayor Doug Richardson was the master of ceremonies and this year’s event focused on the needs of the Springbrook area and park expansion plans there.
Emergency relocation: City Human Services staff assisted a Woodbrook man with relocation after he was displaced through a total-loss fire on January 21st. The City’s Emergency Assistance for Displaced Residents (EADR) grant funds allowed him to be permanently relocated to an apartment complex in Lakewood.

City Manager's Weekly Info Bulletin 2/10/2012

Details: Category: Weekly Info Bulletins; Published on Friday, 10 February 2012 10:00

February 10, 2012
WEEKLY INFO BULLETIN
To: Mayor and Members of the City Council
From: Andrew Neiditz, City Manager

Suicide Prevention Public Service Campaign: Ass’t Chief Mike Zaro worked in conjunction with Greater Lakes Mental Health and Optum Health to produce a public service campaign aimed at suicide prevention. There are three billboards and multiple bus shelters in the region with the message. Police departments are increasing faced with the issue of “officer assisted suicide” or “suicide by cop”; this campaign is a small effort intended to prevent those situations.

Governor Glendening speaks to PCRC Annual General Assembly: Several councilmembers and key staff attended the annual Pierce County Regional Council/s general assembly on February 9th in Fife, with about 170 representatives from the local government entities throughout the County. Parris Glendening, former Governor of Maryland for two terms, and currently the President of Smart Growth America’s Leadership Institute, was the guest speaker His focus was on the changing demographics in communities throughout the nation, and the changing dynamics of community development.

Bridgeport Way/ Flanagan Rock Wall Construction: Beginning February 15th, the City will start construction of rock walls along Bridgeport Way in the southbound direction, between Flannegan Road and the north Wal-Mart entrance. This work will occur between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday; temporary lane closures may be in effect. This work is being done in preparation for future widening of Bridgeport Way to accommodate sidewalks and bike lanes.

Kendrick Street Watermain Replacement: The Lakewood Water District will begin water main replacement on Kendrick Street between the RR tracks and 111th Street on February 14th. Work should take 2-3 weeks and will require temporary lane closures during the day. This work is in preparation for the roadway improvements associated with the Lakewood Connection Project which will start construction in Spring/Summer 2012.

Oakbrook Golf & Country Club: Senior city staff met with the new owners of Oakbrook on February 8th to discuss their plans for operation and the upcoming grand opening of new restaurant services for the general public.

City Manager's Weekly Info Bulletin 1/13/2012

Details: Category: Weekly Info Bulletins; Published on Friday, 13 January 2012 16:00

January 3, 2012
WEEKLY INFO BULLETIN
To: Mayor and Members of the City Council
From: Andrew Neiditz, City Manager

Martin Luther King Celebration to be held January 14th: The Annual Martin Luther King Jr. celebration has been set for Saturday, January 14th, at the Sharon McGavick Center at Clover Park Technical College. It will feature a diverse range of performances highlighted by the Total Experience Gospel Choir led by Patrinell Wright and a brief keynote speech by Kevin Henry. Static displays will showcase some of the more trying times in our country’s development both locally and nationally and will provide a framework for our theme this year of: “Freedom – Yesterday & Today”.
Public Works receives DOE grant: Public Works received a grant offer from the State Department of Ecology (DOE) for $50,000. This is a continuation of a prior year DOE grant with the purpose and intent to help cities achieve compliance with the terms and conditions of the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit as granted by DOE and as mandated under the Federal Clean Water Act.
Gravelly Lake Drive / 112th – Safety Retrofit: Starting on Tuesday, January 17th, the large grassy area at the intersection of Gravelly Lake Drive and 112th Street will be retrofitted with a gravity rock wall to reduce the chance of errant southbound drivers going through the grassy area and into the private property beyond. The work will require temporary lane closures between 8 AM and 3:30 PM on northbound Gravelly Lake Drive, south of 112th Street. The project will take 4-5 business days to complete.
City staff responds to Oakbrook fire: The City’s human services coordinator responded on January 12th to a fire on Zircon Drive that resulted in six families being displaced. Human Services contacted the American Red Cross who deployed to the scene and, working together, all families were successfully relocated. The City applied for and received grant funds to ensure that families do not incur homelessness through no fault of their own during emergencies.