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City of Vancouver-Clark County
Cooperative Agreement for the Provision of Services in
theVancouver Urban Growth Area

WHEREAS, SSB 5038 requires that counties take the lead in developing interlocal service agreements that define service roles, responsibilities, transition plans and financial agreements and

WHEREAS,The Clark County Comprehensive Growth Management Plan defines boundaries for urban growth areas and encourages that cities expand to these boundaries through annexations, and states that cities shall be responsible for urban services while the county retains responsibilities for regional services and local services in rural, unincorporated Clark County, and

WHEREAS,The City of Vancouver may experience financial difficulties when moving into newly annexed areas and matching their current service levels immediately upon annexing, and Clark County is experiencing financial difficulties in funding regional services such as Juvenile Detention, and Jails while at the same time trying to fund local urban services. and

WHEREAS, The City and the County believe that transition must ensure continuous service delivery, while not diminishing service levels within the City, nor in the remaining unincorporated County, and

WHEREAS, The City and the County value the contribution our employees have made to the community and desire to protect our investment in human resources, and

WHEREAS, The City and the County value the involvement of the Community in decisions that will effect them.

NOW, THEREFORE, THE CITY OF VANCOUVER AND CLARK COUNTY AGREE AS FOLLOWS:

Extent of Annexation

I. The City of Vancouver should move their boundaries as fast as practicable to the full extent of the Vancouver Urban Growth Boundary, consistent with the City and County Comprehensive Plan, and specifically that:

A. The City Council should move forward to annex the areas of Mill Plain, Cascade Park and Evergreen by January 1, 1997

B. The City Council should accept 10% petitions for the remainder of the Vancouver Water and Sewer Service area.

C. The City of Vancouver should develop annexation information as an alternative to incorporation of the northwest urban growth area including, Hazel Dell, Salmon Creek, Felida areas.

Governance

II. The City of Vancouver and Clark County believe that it is in the best interest of the community to incorporate the urban growth areas under the City of Vancouver.

Short Term Service Agreements

III. The City of Vancouver and Clark County will work together to develop short term Service Agreements that ensure uninterrupted delivery of services in any annexed area within the urban growth area. Specifically;

A. The County agrees to provide resources including staff, equipment and facilities to the City upon the effective date of an annexation to ensure continuous delivery of services at the current county service level, or higher if agreed to within a specific Service Agreement.

B. The provision of County resources for initial service delivery in an annexed area shall be in effect through a contract for such services, or through a transfer of ownership and employment, or through a combination of both.

C. Said agreements shall specify current costs and service levels, a method for dealing with inflation, establishing performance standards, and resolving the sharing or transfer of assets during or at the end of the contract period, said agreements to be adopted by resolution of the Board of Commissioners and City Council no later than November 1, 1996.

D. Service Agreements shall ensure transfer of employees to the employment of either the City or County during or at the end of the term of the agreement. Conditions of employment will be guided by the Resolution for Transfer of Personnel included as attachment #A.

E. Service Agreements will be for an initial period January 1, 1997, or the effective date of annexation, whichever is later, and terminate on January 1, 2000, unless superseded by a new agreement.

Long Term Service Delivery

IV. During the annexation process, the County and the City of Vancouver will work together to seek opportunities for joint efforts, or the combining of operations, to achieve greater

effficiency and effectiveness in service provision, and towards that end agree:

A. To establish specific transition goals for local services in the urban growth area, by November 1, 1996.

B. The process for developing transition proposals and the final service plan will be directed by a temporary Policy Group consisting of the Mayor and City Manager, Chair of the Board of Commissioners and County Administrator, the Sheriff and Police Chief., and designated staff.

C. That the Final Long Term Transition Agreements for each service area covered by Short Term Service Agreements will be adopted by the City Council and the Board of Commissioners during the term of this agreement, but in no case later than January 1, 2000.

Financing Services

V. The City and County agree, that given current service standards and with current funding levels and taxing policies, that there is insuff~cient collective financial capacity to maintain services and meet capital needs in the urban growth area without implementing one or more of the following options:

A. Implement cost reductions to maintain services at their current levels, or

B. Restructure services so that cost-efficiencies are created in order to maintain current standards, or

C. Eliminate selected services in order to maintain others at current levels, or

D. Find and enact new or additional revenue sources not now exercised by the City or the County, or

E. Modify the standards and service levels of selected services, or

F. Some combination of all of the above.

VI. The City of Vancouver and Clark County agree that the service and financial analysis, planning and agreements shall be done collaboratively, before annexation ordinances are proposed to the Council and, that the result of the planning and analysis should be annexation proposals which are balanced (revenues and service costs), and financially viable for both jurisdictions. Annexations conducted consistent with this agreement should be financially viable because of the following:

A. The City will gain revenues at a higher level than the County due to taxing authority and structure, and

B. The initial cost to the City for "initial state" services is assumed to be lower than the cost of the higher current service levels in the City, and

C. The City may increase service levels and costs as revenues are available and as departments are able to "staff up" to deliver at the higher level, or as Long Term Service Plans are implemented, and

D. The County either reduces their budget for urban services in the area, or receives offsetting revenues from the City for those services, and therefore can concentrate budget resources on regional services.

VII. The City and the County agree to negotiate in good faith to develop a long term financial agreement that include the following elements:

A. The method for determining fair costs for contracting of services between either jurisdiction.

B. An agreement to a specific schedule of City and County capital projects and to seamless funding of those projects, (e.g. parks or transportation grants, as well as impact fees are transferred to the City as the annexations occur).

C. An agreement for transfer of specific assets to the City to support the annexation, e. g. equipment currently owned by the County in East Precinct, when those assets will no longer be required to service an area for the County.

D. A methodology for cost sharing of consolidated services, regardless of which jurisdiction manages the service.

E. An understanding of the City's mandated financial obligations for regional services such as jails and courts, and agreement on how such obligations will be fulfilled.

F. Addition of, or continuation of specific special revenues to the region for specific services, e.g. revenue sharing for Child Abuse Intervention Center,

G. Said financial agreement to be adopted by the City Council and Board of Commissioners no later than November 1, 1996.

Mutual Support

VIII. The County and the City will mutually support and encourage the fulfillment of this agreement by:

A. Establishing policy consistent with this service agreement.

B. Contributing staff and other resources for public presentations.

C. Releasing public statements consistent with this service agreement.

D. Supporting specific annexations in front of the Boundary Review Board.

E. Assigning lead staffto develop an internal and external communications strategy and oversee implementation of the communications program.

Resolution of Disputes

IX. The City and the County agree that all disputes or disagreements arising under this agreement which are not resolved at the staff level by the parties in conjunction with assistance from the

City Manager and County Administrator shall be formally filed with the City Council and County Commissioners who shall meet jointly to attempt to resolve such dispute. Should the City Council and County Commissioners be unable to resolve a dispute within thirty days each party shall appoint a representative who together shall within 15 days meet and agree to the appointment of an arbitrator who shall proceed to arbitrate the dispute. Such arbitrator's decision shall be binding and final.

Dated this 9th day of April, 1996.

CITY OF VANCOUVER, a municipal corporation

______________________
Royce Pollard, Mayor
City of Vancouver

________________________
H. Kent Shorthill, City Clerk
By: Judith Hoggart, Deputy

Approved as to form:
_______________________

Ted Gathe, City Attorney

Clark County

________________________
Dave Sturdevant, Chair
Board of County Commissioners

_______________________
Louise Richards
Clerk to the Board

Approved as to form:
_________________________
Curt Wyrick, Chief Deputy Prosecutor