SEQUIM — The city’s marketing brand, lowered financial expectations and upcoming transitions were among the topics City Council members discussed this week in their annual retreat.
The council gathered Wednesday at the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribal Center to brainstorm ideas and create a road map for the next year.
No action was taken.
“The purpose was to have time — in this case, a whole day — where the council can get together with no agenda for action and just think about the future and planning and to adjust their goals and priorities,” City Manager Steve Burkett said.
“We are reviewing our current list of goals and refining those . . . and then looking ahead to next year.”
Upcoming transitions
“There are going to be some transitions,” he added.
“I am going to be retiring in June, and there are a couple of other department heads that are going to be leaving.”
Additionally, “a couple of council members have announced they are not going to run for re-election again in November,” he noted.
The names of the two outgoing council members have not yet been released to the public.
During the retreat, council members explored several topics, including the “Sequim brand,” community alliances and partnerships, the quality of city services and facilities, public communication policies, strategic planning and economic and financial stability.
Sequim brand
The Sequim brand is what the city markets to the outside world in order to attract and retain businesses, tourists and new residents.
“It is pretty obvious from some of our other mission statements . . . that we are a small, friendly town — a town that is a great place for retirees,” Burkett said.
“And then, the other aspect of it is, of course, the sunshine, the mountains and the water.”
And it isn’t just retirees the city hopes to attract but young entrepreneurs as well, council members said.
The council also discussed the “new financial normal” the city is experiencing when it comes to annual revenue.
According to Burkett, in the boom times before the Great Recession, the city was experiencing growth of up to 15 percent annually.
Today, annual growth is expected to be between 2 percent and 3 percent — a number expected to remain steady for the next few years.
New revenue needed
“The reality is, if we are going to take on substantially new things, we need to have new revenue,” Burkett said.
Council members agreed to look at new opportunities for additional revenue streams, including attracting more people to live within city limits, which would expand the tax base.
Another idea was to increase the number of grant applications submitted by the city for various projects and programs.
The council also spoke at length about the Sequim Aquatic Recreation Center (SARC) — a junior taxing district formed in 1988 as Clallam County Parks and Recreation District 1 — and a petition drive by city residents to place a measure on the Aug. 4 ballot that would make the facility a metropolitan park district.
Such a district would have taxing authority without going to the voters, as opposed to junior taxing districts, which must ask for voter approval for property tax levies.
After operating for its first 13 years with public funds as a junior taxing district, SARC had relied on reserves, which will fall below $350,000 at the end of 2015.
SARC has a financial deadline of Dec. 31, 2016, the date when its reserves become fully depleted.
The petition proposes that the metropolitan park district impose a property tax levy of 12 cents or less per $1,000 assessed valuation — the same amount voters failed to approve by a 60 percent supermajority during a levy election in February.
March 23 meeting
The council will publicly discuss the issue further during a pending special meeting on a date to be determined during its regular meeting March 23.
Another issue facing the city is the quality of city surface streets, which Burkett said are currently in “good” condition.
However, the city needs to provide preventive maintenance to prevent future decay, he said.
“Overall, they are better than average, but that is a long-term issue,” he said.
“It is easy to ignore them and let them deteriorate, so you have to keep putting money into” keeping them in good repair.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Chris McDaniel can be reached at 360-681-2390, ext. 5052, or cmcdaniel@peninsuladailynews.com.
