The resulting government structure limits the council's role to policy making and oversight, and reserves administrative power and responsibility for the mayor. The system requires constant consultation between the Mayor and the Council; sometimes cooperating, sometimes competing and conflicting; always acting as a check and balance on the other.

Roles and Responsibilities

Council Member Roles and Responsibilities

• Determine the general direction for the operations of the City of Sultan
• Enacting ordinances (laws)
• Establishing budgetary (taxing and spending) policies
• Adopting the Comprehensive Plan and other guiding documents
• Adopting the annual budget
• Awarding contracts
• Fiscal oversight of expenditures
• Appointing members to the Planning Board

The City Council derives its powers from the laws and Constitution of the State of Washington. All seven City Council positions are elected for terms of four years. All receive a monthly salary.

The City Council serves as the legislative and governing body of the City of Sultan. The City Council has the authority to adopt laws, ordinances, and resolutions as needed to conduct the business of the City, and by ordinance, may enter into contracts or intergovernmental agreements to furnish and receive services, or to provide for cooperative service delivery. Most City ordinances are codified into the Sultan Municipal Code. The SMC is available on-line.

The City Council appropriates from the city treasury the funds needed to conduct the business of the City. Annually, the Mayor submits a budget for Council review and approval. The budget establishes spending levels within the various City funds.

This department is the direct link between City Council, legal counsel, the public and other departments. The Executive Department has the responsibility to ensure that information is communicated to the public effectively through a variety of mediums. The Executive Department translates city-wide planning efforts into a cohesive strategy and promotes continuous improvement in service delivery:

The Executive Department is committed to providing results oriented, practical, and creative approaches when implementing Mayor and Council initiatives and vision for the City of Sultan.

Roles and Responsibilities

Identify strategic initiatives

Implement long range plans

Coordinate actions of city departments

Prepare Mayor’s recommended budget

Ensure public participation and input

Provide public outreach on city projects and programs

Negotiate bargaining agreements

Recruit and retain high quality employees

Develop and implement personnel policies

Establish compensation and benefit levels for council approval

The department provides services in six core business areas: Utility billing and collections, clerk services, financial management, risk management and public records. The nature of these and other initiatives assigned to the department entails supporting the Mayor, City Council, city departments and the citizens of Sultan.

Roles and Responsibilities

The services provided by the Finance and City Clerk’s Office include financial management, clerical assistance to the Council, records management, risk management and legal assistance. The following is an overview of those services:

• Financial Services:
• Budget Preparation/management
• Financial Reports
• Grants Management
• Accounts Payable/Receivable
• Payroll Services
• Utility Billing
• Debt Management
• Investment portfolio management

• Clerk/Legal/Records:
• Minutes for City Council
• Business Licenses
• Records Management
• Ordinances/Resolutions
• Notary Services
• Passport Acceptance Agency
• Easements and Right of Ways
• Investment portfolio management

• Risk Management:
• Process and review of claims
• Development of policies/procedures
• Monitoring of worker's comp claims

The mission of the Grants and Economic Development Department is to:

• Collaborate with all City departments in identifying opportunities for grant support that enhance effective, efficient, and accountable operations.
• Researching funding that is available to enhance services to residents and businesses Pursue economically feasible development projects to expand Sultan’s economic base.
• Encourage the location of job-generating businesses to the City
• Assist local businesses to help them succeed

Roles and Responsibilities

• Plan and Coordinate the annual grant/loan application process for all new grants and loans; organize and conduct interdepartmental and agency meetings to identify and prioritize project funding needs.
• Work with engineers and administrative staff to produce quality grant applications.
• Give presentations to government committees for grant projects.
• Monitor the progress of grant funded projects and quarterly/annual reporting.
• Orchestrate ground breakings, ribbon cuttings, and dedications of successful grant funded projects.
• Nominate and complete applications of successful grant funded projects for statewide achievement awards and recognition.
• Network with the business community for the purpose of Economic Development; assessing their needs and providing assistance through the City and Snohomish County resources.
• Develop marketing tools and make available to developers through a variety of media resources.
• Monitor present business activity, developing ways to retain current businesses and assist in their development and growth and attracting new businesses to the City.

Roles and responsibilities:

The basic role of the police is to endeavor to maintain 24/7 security, crime prevention assistance, conduct traffic enforcement and assistance, investigate crimes, and respond to emergencies for the citizens of Sultan.

Police officers are involved in many aspects of community policing ventures such as Block watch, sex offender registration and surveillance, pro-active investigation and community security programs, motorcycle and bicycle patrols, community cares (C.A.R.E.) and Giving Tree programs, and many other projects and programs to help improve the quality of life and well being of our citizens.

Police must enforce all laws including truck or commercial vehicle laws and to that end we are able to utilize the scale house in the city to accomplish this task. We are responsible to investigate and take enforcement action on all motor vehicle collisions that occur within the City of Sultan, including those that occur on U.S.2. Our traffic enforcement program is designed to act both as a visible deterrent to people coming into town to commit criminal acts and to reduce potential collision causing errant driving behavior. Additionally we respond to all types of 911 calls, take reports of crimes, investigate criminal acts, write reports, and submit cases to the county prosecutor for charging and court presentation.

The mission of the Department is to:

• Enhance the quality of life of Sultan’s residents and visitors by promoting and managing quality land use developments and construction projects;
• Actively seek out opportunities to assist existing businesses to grow, prosper, and provide ever better services and products to their customers;
• Actively promote Sultan as a location for quality new businesses to locate, become profitable, and provide services to the community.

Roles and Responsibilities

The Department is composed of two divisions, Planning and Building.

• The Planning Division is responsible for current planning, site plan review, zoning, subdivision administration, shoreline management, environmental review, and concurrency management. It is also responsible for the annual updates to the City Comprehensive Plan under the Washington State Growth Management Act, as well as neighborhood and special area planning and code development.
• The Building Division ensures that all residential and commercial buildings constructed in Monroe meet national and state standards for safety and quality. This is accomplished through building code administration; that is, through plan review, building permits, and building inspections.

The Public Works Department serves the citizens of Sultan with a wide variety of services. The sub-divisions within Public Works operation and maintenance include:

• The Sultan Memorial Cemetery
• Garbage and Recycling Collection and Disposal
• Wastewater collection and treatment
• Water treatment and distribution
• Parks
• Streets
• Storm water collection and treatment
• Building Maintenance

Roles and Responsibilities

Cemetery:
Maintain and enhance Sultan’s cemetery located on Cascade View Drive. The addition of niche wall/columns provides burial alternatives for families. Cemetery services are funded by lot sales, burial and liner fees and investment interest from the endowment care fund.

Garbage and Recycling Collection and Treatment:
Sultan operates the garbage service truck three days per week picking an average of 68 pounds of garbage per month per capita equating to 1,800 tons per year. Recycling is provided through a contract with Allied Waste.

Wastewater Collection and Treatment:
The National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Permit Number WA-002330-2 requires continuous monitoring of the Wastewater Treatment Plant Effluent Outfall into the Skykomish River for metals, temperature, pH, turbidity, biological demand, suspended solids and fecal coli-form. The Wastewater Treatment Plant uses ultra-violet lights for disinfection, which minimizes pollutants being discharged in the receiving water.

Sultan’s existing plant capacity is operating between 194,000 gallons per day in the dry season and 678,000 gallons per day in the wet season. With continued work on the infill and infiltration (I & I), study the wet season operating capacity will decline allowing build out of infill and commercial properties within the City of Sultan. Rain induced flow into the sewer system exceeds desirable rates. This problem is believed to be concentrated in the older parts of the sewer system. The City budgets regular rehabilitation programs to minimize the introduction of I & I into the sewer system by recognizing that such wastewater volumes take capacity in the pipe system and treatment facilities.

The Sewer collection system has approximately 40,000 feet of collector sewers with one pump station at the intersection of First and Main Streets in Sultan River Park. Currently, the system has approximately 409 parcels with the existing city limits that are developed with on-site sewage systems. According to the Growth Management Act, no new on-site septic sewage systems should be allowed in the Urban Growth Area as new development is intended to be at urban densities, which require sewer collection systems.

Water Treatment and Distribution System:
The City of Sultan primary source of water is its owned watershed in Township 28, Section 16, Range 8 East. The impound is spring fed with a small concrete dam creating Lake 16. The intake at the dam is two miles north of the Water Treatment Plant that is on 124th Ave. SE. At the Water Treatment Plant site there are two treated water tanks used to supply water to the citizen’s of Sultan. Lake 16 will remain the primary water source of supply for the City.

The City executed a water supply contract with the City of Everett on June 30, 1999 for Pipeline 5 as a supplemental source of water supply for a Maximum Day Demand in 2025 of 2.91 Million Gallons of treated water.

The dedicated Water System staff continues to work on Cross Connection Control, Fire Hydrant Operations and Maintenance, Valve Management and Meter Replacement Programs as part of a well maintained Water System to serve the citizens’ of Sultan.

Storm Water Utility:
The existing stormwater facilities owned by the City are 82,000 feet of pipe and culverts, approximately 820 catch basins, 160 inlets and 13 drainage ponds, with several more (approximately 44) owned by the homeowners associations and businesses within the Sultan Urban Growth Area. Currently the City of Sultan has adopted the use of the most recent version of the Ecology Stormwater Management Manual. This is referred to as the “presumptive approach”, and it is based upon the performance data of exiting stormwater Best Management Practices (BMPs) that have been monitored at both the State and national levels.

Streets:
The City of Sultan maintains approximately 19 miles of City streets and roadways. Water distribution, sewer collection, and stormwater conveyance systems are located in street rights of way. Streets include travel, parking and bicycle lanes along with non-motorized, transit systems, and freight systems.

Street maintenance funding is primarily property taxes collected Bi-annually with major improvement in the Transportation System being from traffic mitigation, state and federal grants, and City Real Estate Excise Taxes (REET).

Sultan works with Snohomish County and Washington State Department of Transportation to complete an arterial road grid to serve the Sultan Urban Growth Area, establishing class and function, improving standards and resolve parking and access conflicts. By implementing effective right-of-ways, pavement widths, road shoulder requirements, curb, gutter sidewalk standards, crosswalks, crossing islands and other traffic-calming and pedestrian related devices for major arterial, collectors and residential streets.

Parks:
The City manages 142.02 acres of parkland, sharing the classifications of active, passive and open spaces.

The most successful park the City owns is Osprey Park in the 800 block of First Street. Amenities include baseball and soccer fields, basketball court, children’s play area, dirt bike track and 3.0 miles of trails with access to the Sultan River.

Sultan has volunteers that have spent many hours picking up litter in the City parks and streets to improve the appearance.

Building Maintenance
The Community Center, Library, Visitor Information Center, Police Station, Public Works Field Buildings, Wastewater Treatment Plant, Lift Station, Water Treatment Plant, Post Office Building exterior and the Park Facility Buildings are the responsibility of the City of Sultan to maintain. The City currently pays for the maintenance of these structures from General and Enterprise Funds.

Just as the land-use commitment creates a demand for facilities it also generates revenue and funding opportunities to finance those facilities to serve the needs of the City’s Public Facilities.