HomeMy WebLinkAbout04/28/1998 Study Session MinutesPLACE AND DATE
Marana Police Department, April 28, 1998
CALL TO ORDER
By Mayor Ora Harn at 6:06 P.M.
II.
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
Led by Mayor Ora Harn
IlL ROLL CALL
COUNCIL
Ora Ham
Bobby Sutton, Jr.
Ed Honea
Herb Kal
Sherry Millner
Michael Reuwsaat
Roxanne Ziegler
Mayor
Vice Mayor
Council Member
Council Member
Council Member
Council Member
Council Member, excused late
STAFF
Hurvie Davis
Michael Hein
Jocelyn Entz
Sandy Groseclose
Roy Cuamn
Brad DeSpain
Joel Svoboda
Jerry Flannery
Joel Shapiro
Russ Dillow
Ann Meadem
Lisa Segars
Town Manager
Assistant Town Manager
Asst. to Town Manager
Town Clerk
Finance Director
Utilities Director
Chief Building Official
Planning Director/Annexing
Principal Planner/Annexing
Magistrate
Water Administrative Manager
Administrative Secretary
IV.
APPROVAL OF AGENDA
A motion was made by Vice Mayor Sutton seconded by Ed Honea, to approve
the agenda, as written. The motion carried 6/0.
GENERAL ORDER OF BUSINESS
A. Review and Discussion - FY 1998-99 Departmental Budget Requests
Hurvie Davis: We are at the next step in the budget process. This evening
we would like to give you a budget overview and then allow ten to twenty
minutes for each department. Thero was a little uneasiness on the part of
the departments when we started this, but lately everything I hear is that the
departments have settled down in this somewhat new process. I know Mike
and Roy have been working with the departments rather extensively and I
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think they are putting together a good program for you. With that, I will turn
it over to Mike and he and Roy will do most of the stuff tonight. Some of the
department heads are here and some will be coming later to go through
each department's budget. Staff will be happy to respond to any questions
you might have.
Mike Hein: We started off the process identifying revenues and resources
and we revised those. Then we came back to you and identified the fixed
costs. After taking the fixed costs out, we were left with a discretionary
amount. We looked at that discretionary amount, verses historical trends,
and allocated a number to each department. The departments had a couple
of weeks to formulate their budget based on that number. I have been quite
pleased, the departments came back with very good budgets which required
very little time from Roy and I, relatively speaking as far as having to go
back to them and ask questions and refine things. So tonight it is really
Roy's show, he put in all of the hours. He will give you a bdef overview and
talk to you about some of the changes we have made since the last time we
met. Then he will go over each department's budget line item by line item.
Then we will answer any questions you might have. Each department has
been invited for their scheduled time so they will be coming in and out. I did
not feel it added a lot of value to have all of the department heads sit
through this whole process. Most of the departments are covered tonight,
but in the interest of conserving time and not making you sit through long
budgets, we split it into two evenings. So, in two weeks from today we will
finish up with the Police and Public Works, they represent a more entailed
budget. Then we will end that session talking about programmable money
and prioritizing some of those things. Next Tuesday is the Council meeting
and instead of having the budget meeting before the Council meeting, we
figured we would have the final budget meeting on the twelfth. I hope we
are able to answer any questions you may have tonight. We haven't met
with every department head because, for example Human Resources, there
weren't really any issues. But then, we spent considerable time with other
departments. This represents, basically, what the department head, Roy
and I agreed on. I will let Roy give you an overview and then we will start
off.
Roy Cuaron: First of all, my apologies for the late distribution of the March
budget report. That is the most recent financial report and has year-to-date
expenditures. Let me go over some of the changes we have made since the
last time we met. In your packet you have revised revenue estimates and
revised fixed expenses. I want to touch on what caused some of those
changes. First of all, our total revenues and resources went down by
$167,000 due to a miscalculation of available bond postings. That number
may change again as projects are completed and we use bond money. It
won't affect the departments' operating budgets because these are
restricted funds and will be spent on capital improvement projects. Fixed
expenses are up by $8,800 because, when we originally estimated these,
we forgot to include the APCO loan. It is $88,000 at zero interest over ten
years so we had to increase our fixed expenses by that amount.
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Mike Hein: That is for the Water Department for an inter-connect. You
approved it a couple of months ago.
Roy Cuaron: We approved it back in December, I think. Also included in
fixed expenses, which was previously not in there, is membership fees.
That number is $46,000, which includes $30,000 for GTEC. GTEC is up
$10,000 over what the Council previously agreed upon several months ago.
It also includes the League of Cities and Towns and PAG. We were able to
compensate for that $46,000 by reducing our salary plan adjustment
number. Originally we had in there a maximum of a 3% increase. We
dropped that down to 2% or 25¢ an hour, which ever is greater. That is
competitive with what surrounding jurisdictions are proposing. Under this
plan, approximately 63%-67% would receive a 2% increase and the others
would receive a 25¢ an hour increase. That reduction of about forty some
thousand dollars allows us to not dramatically change our fixed expenses
and it allows us to fund the memberships. The other point within the fixed
expenses is we have $50,000 for employee benefits. That is to pick up % of
the dependent care coverage that Council directed staff to do.
Mike Hein: We heard, very clearly, the Council's direction to look at
increasing the dependent coverage for employees. We also heard that we
needed to explain to employees that it was an increase and maybe not go
as high as we had talked about across the board. I recommended, initially, 1
%%. The reason it went up to 2% is because when we evaluated the 1%%,
or 25¢ per hour, 2/3 of our employees got 25¢ per hour, meaning the 1%%
did not really give them an increase, per say. I thought it would look rather
phony if we offered a 1%% increase when only 1/3 of the employees would
get a 1%% increase and the rest get 25¢ per hour. The difference between
1%% and 2% equated to $40,000 per year so I recommended 2% across
the board because then a majority of the employees would receive the full
2% increase.
Roy Cuaron: The other significant change from eadier meetings we have
had is that when we originally provided the department with their allocation, we
did not include new staff additions. So, we increased their allocation by
$49,000 which is the cost of two positions for a full year. In doing so, we had to
reduce our programmable reserve from $955,000 to $906,000. That is the
amount that the Council will then have an opportunity to prioritize at the May 12th
meeting. Those are some of the changes from earlier meetings that we have
had with respect revenue estimates and fixed expenses. Any questions at this
point.
Mike Reuwsaat: I like the process, I think it is going very well and
appreciate the staff's work on it. In aggregate, are you still anticipating that the
percentage that you gave to each department head will come in within the non-
fixed expense funds that are left?
Mike Hein: I think just about every department came in at the number or we
worked with them until they came to that number. There are certain items that
you will hear about on the twelfth, for example police cars and other capital
things that couldn't be put into that number, that we are going to recommend
under the programmable. Every department that you will go threugh tonight,
except the Town Clerk because she has three elections this year, is at that
number.
Mike Reuwsaat: I will have a whole lot less questions because you guys
have run through the detail and the department heads have provided within the
parameters of the budget that you requested. My big kick is, let's not spend our
reserves for operational expenses. I don't have a lot of questions and I am
excited about the precess.
Roy Cuaron: When we gave the departments their allocation, we also gave
them their current personnel costs, to include any unfilled positions that have
been authorized by Council. As we go through the salaries and wages, the only
thing they had to come in with was the overtime and any merit increases. With
that, my budget includes three staffing, there is currently one unfilled position
which is a senior accountant. I will touch on the big dollar items and then
answer any questions the Council has. Audit is the cost of our external audit to
do confidence and annual financial report, which is required, and that number
hasn't changed in the last couple of years. Computer support is $1,000 they will
still offer any special pregramming that you may want to do with our receipting
pregram or other programs.
Mike Hein: I want to point out what contract labor is because you will see it
in a lot of departments. For example, if Frank is sick, in Finance, and you have
to hire a temp it is basically for temps and you will see that in other departments.
Roy Cuaron: Equipment rental allows for us to share storage with the
courts for records and such. Under office supplies, about half of that, $2,000, is
for software upgrades which we get every year. $1,500 of office supplies is
toner for the color printer. The toner and cartridges for the color printer are
expensive and don't last long. General office equipment covers calculators for
additional staff and whatever miscellaneous equipment we may need for
additional staff.
Roxanne Ziegler arrived at 6:25.
Mayor Harn: Why were they zere last year?.
Roy Cuaron: If you recall, under fixed expenses we took all of the monthly
maintenance costs on the phone lines so that each department only had to
budget for cellular and long distance calls.
Mike Hein: We prebably over budgeted on the fixed expense side but we
wanted to be safe the first year. Next year it will be more "apples and
apples." This represents only long distance and cellular so we can track
each department better.
Roy Cuaron: In my particular case, there isn't any cellular previsions
because I don't have any need for cellular phone services. Travel and
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training has details attached, as you will see from every department tonight.
Postage and printing is derived from a calculation of how many checks we
send out per month, to include business licenses, so that number is probably
a good number, maybe somewhat Iow. We send out about 400 check per
month and about 800 business licenses per year, which are about 55¢ per
license. Fiscal charges is for the rental of the credit card machine. The
credit card machine is used primarily by the court so I might talk to the Judge
and see if maybe he should budget for a portion of that. As we grow we will
probably need that at all of our locations. Also under fiscal charges is bank
charges for transfers and such. That is my total budget and I would be
happy to entertain any questions.
Mike Hein: Just so you know, Jane apologizes. She was scheduled for
vacation and can't be here. She was one of the few departments that Roy
and I didn't have any questions about. We are prepared to answer any
questions and Roy will go over it last.
Vice Mayor Sutton: Instead of hitting each one, I would open it up to just
asking questions on specific items. If we go through each line item, I think
we are going to be here for a very long time. The big ones, like you said, or
something that was zero last year and has changed. What I saw with Jane's
is that everything is either the same or slightly higher, and most of it is lower
than it was last year. That is commendable.
Mike Hein: Jane has given some good thought as far as re-prioritizing what
little she had in areas of fines, training and consultant services. Whatever
you direct us to is the format that we will carry, most of the information is
there for you.
Roy Cuaron: I want to add that under training on Jane's budget, she
emphasized promoting town wide training, therefore most of her dollars are
focused on training. She does specific programs that she wants to
implement.
Mike Hein: She also wanted us to make sure that you knew what United
Way was.
Roy Cuaron: If you recall, last year we budgeted an allotment for United
Way and the Council said they did not want that. Instead the Council
wanted that allocated to "local charity." The file that I was using had not
made that change so where you see United Way at $5,600 is actually local
charities. That is my mistake and I apologize.
Mike Hein: The other thing is, I think she is budgeting for an intern to work
in conjunction with the Clerk's Office. She came in at the number and she
was able to provide for that $5,000 in capital by cutting other line items. We
took $1,700 out of her budget from last year. There has been some, I would
not necessarily say "tightening the belt," but maintaining the same hole.
Jane was a good example of that.
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Roy Cuaron: I would like emphasize something Mike Reuwsaat said earlier
about all of the departments coming in within their budget allocations, which
represented their operating costs. Some of the departments were able to
come in within their budget allocations with capital costs as well. They
prioritized their programs and were able fit in some capital equipment. With
that we will go to the Courts. The Judge is here to talk to us, but basically
what you see there in salary, wages and benefits is staffing of 7:4 Clerk
Specialists, 1 Court Administrator, 1 Marshall and 1 Magistrate. The Court
budget includes about $34,000 in grant funded items and so, if those grants
come through the Court will spend them, otherwise it won't. In particular,
$29,000 of capital outlay is contingent on receiving a grant and the Victims
Right grant, under contracted services, is dependent on a grant.
Mike Hein: You can see he attached detail on the small tools and
equipment because that was one of the areas we thought there may be
some questions on.
Mayor Ham: Just for my information, Judge Dillow, what is the imaging
computer system?
Judge Dillow: That is a grant that Roy spoke of. We have applied for a
grant to facilitate a recording of all of our documents on a CD. We have
applied for this grant so we can eliminated storage and we can eliminate
having to send someone over to storage for a day or two to find a file. This
grant come through the Arizona Criminal Justice System and we have
applied for it. We haven't heard yet but we believe it will come around June
1st. Let me back up a little bit. We are required to keep every file for seven
years. We have 3,000 files a year and it is a mammoth task and we share
storage space with the Accounting Department. What we have decided to
do is try to get this computer, with a scanner, and send someone over to the
storage shed to put everything on the computer. Then we could eliminate
storage costs, boxes and time. When I say time, an example would be if
someone gets a DUI in Marana and then they get another DUI in Flagstaff or
Kingman then we get a request for a certified document. Then we have to
send someone to storage to go through boxes and boxes of files.
Sometimes it takes a half a day and sometimes two to five days. If we had it
on a CD we could pull it right up by name or case number. It would take
minutes, instead of days.
Mike Hein: If I could follow up on that, Mayor, I think at the time of the
request for you to apply for the grant, there was a concern about whether or
not you had enough current staff to implement the system. I believe Nancy
responded with a memo that you have some money in consultant services to
cover that.
Judge Dillow: Yes, we have some money in there. Plus, we have some
interns from Pima Community College who are taking Court courses and
they have volunteered to come over for six months or so just to learn the
court system. We are going to utilize these people to scan these documents
and put them on the computer. So, it shouldn't cost anything.
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Herb Kal: Workman's Compensation went down again, is that because
they are a loss ratio?
Roy Cuaron: Our rates have gone down across the board, but to be quite
honest with you the Courts did have a big drop and I am not sure I can
explain that right now. Perhaps 1997-98 was calculated incorrectly, which
would account for part of the drop but not the whole amount. The total
salaries have gone down because the current year budget had a position in
there which was inadvertently approved. There was a position in the Court's
budget that didn't exist. So, those salaries reduced the total personnel cost
and that goes with the Workman's Comp. But, I certainly can't explain that
significant drop.
Mike Hein: We will have to check the formula because if you look at
Building Services and the Clerk's budget it also drops pretty drastically.
Roy Cuaron: One of the things we did for this budget is we actually
budgeted by person, by department, what the actual rate was. I don't know
that we necessarily did that in previous years, I think we just said, "Here is
our current rate and we think it is going to increase by x and we used that
factor." I really hadn't noticed that to be quite honest with you. It is
reflective of what we can expect, given these salaries and our current rate.
Mike Reuwsaat: This budget also assumes, then, that we are not going to
have a successful annexation of the 1-10 Corridor?.
Roy Cuaron: I think what we will do is, when we come back to prioritize the
programmables on the 12th, we have a million dollars in fixed expenses that
the Council can prioritize in. I would imagine that at that point any
contingent events would probably be programmed within that million dollars.
Mike Hein: If you will recall, in the beginning we said we will have a million
dollars in contingent revenues and it is off-set by a million dollars in
contingent expenses. Those are the kinds of things we would suggest going
there.
Mike Reuwsaat: I was just looking at what the year-to-date is and what the
budget is. It is pretty significant, only 36% of the budget has been spent.
Some of that is annexation and contingency is a good part of that, but I
really would like to see you guys get that 1-10. Not because of the increased
Iow but because of the significant revenue potential to the Town. I don't
know if there is anything else that this Council can do, but without those
things Court costs escalate. I know you guys can't change a lot of these
funds so you all you can do is your job. If there was any way we could get
into some of this discretionary ways to off-set, it sure would be nice.
Mike Hein: Clearly, Court revenues do not off-set the expenses. It is not a
cash count for us. I did talk to the railroad again today and they are
interested in bring all of their plan into Marana. Not for railroad purposes but
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import purposes. We are still discussing that and it is an opportunity. I
actually think it will happen.
Ed Hones: If we pick up the 1-10 Corridor, it would partially be a cash cow
because there would be a lot more revenue than expenses, correct?
Judge Dillow: Yes, it would quadruple our tickets, which would be between
$500,000 and $1,000,000.
Ed Honea: So, we would be looking at a Court budget that actually
supports itself. That would be very unusual for a town our size.
Vice Mayor Sutton: That was the point we made during the initial process,
"Budget it or you can't spend it." I will help Judge Dillow because that would
be a nice source to get in for the revenue. That is what we talked about as
far as getting it into that million dollars but not putting it into the Court's
specific budget. I want to commend you on a great budget, these are real
easy to get through. If you don't get that grant, I would like to see you come
back before the Council and see about us funding that. I think that is
probably something we should be doing anyway.
Roy Cuaron: Moving on the Building Services, one of the reasons you see
the big increase in salaries and wages is because Council approved
additional funding for two additional staff persons back in December. So,
this department has a total staffing of nine, which includes one building
official, one plans examiner, four inspectors, one code inspector and two
support staff. The budget also includes $26,392 for a plans examiner for
half the year in the event that building activities continue to increase. We
will be recommending to the Council that they fund that portion with
programmable reserves at the May 12th meeting. One other point regarding
all of the budgets is under disability insurance, that is a new benefit that the
Council approved during the current fiscal year. It was previously in HR's
budget and it is now allocated to the appropriate departments, based on
their staffing and what that cost is. So, in the 1997-98 budget you will see it
as $0 because it was in HR's budget. With that, Joel is here for any
questions and he has some detail to add.
Mayor Harn: In proposed additional staff, the number look very Iow. Is this
just for a partial year?.
Roy Cuaron: Yes, this represents the cost for half the year. In the event
that activity increases, which will be monitored, it is anticipated that
somewhere in the November, December, January time frame we may see
an increase in activity. This will require an additional plans examiner. What
we see here is a budget for a half a year for an additional plans examiner.
Mike Hein: Joel, as you will see from the line items, probably worked harder
at trimming than any other department, singularly. On the additional staff
proposed, he also asked for some other staff additions. He talked about the
need for extra inspectors and such. Based on our analysis of workload over
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time, which hasn't been dipped into because of good management, we are
not recommending that. Joel was gracious enough to work with us. Should
building boom and we analyze and if for example Mr. Cook, who now does
part-time inspections, has to go to full-time and they start accruing overtime,
we may revisit it in the middle of the year. I think the plans examiner, Joel,
did an exceptional job justifying, based on what other communities do for
ratio of plans coming through, in the spirit of trying to provide quality
customer service. I think we can improve on the turn-around time even a
little bit more. I would like Joel to talk a little bit more about why he thinks
that is justified.
Joel Svoboda: Certainly, right now we are trying to maintain service based
on what I see is the current need. Currently there is a high level of
permitting activity. For example, I asked the permits staff to give me a report
on the where we stand on the number houses because I anticipated in April
we would have a high number. Project over the last two or three years, Apdl
is always a plus birth month, a month of high activity. We have already
issued 81 houses this month and we have eight more to be issued over the
next two days which will bring us close to 90 house permits. The highest
number we have prior to that is 72. You can see the trend is continuing up.
Right now, what we are doing is I have the new system with a permit clerk to
be picked up in December and we have been training him to take up some
of the easier, less technical, permits and deal with those to alleviate the load
off of the plans examiner so the plans examiner can concentrate on the
more technically involved projects. He has also been working with the
outside consulting company and farming things out. Basically, he tells the
customer that when they are ready to submit their plans to let him know 48
hours in advance and he will tell them where we are with our plans review
time. If we don't feel we can give them good service in-house, he will
recommend three or four outside markets to go to. Once they are reviewed
by the outside market, they can bring them to us and we can get them
turned over in a quick time. So far that is working fairly well, but every time
we give that service away, they are collecting the money for the plan review
that we are not collecting in revenue. I have been tallying up those dollars
and those dollars are quickly approaching the dollars per month of a plans
examiner. If I hired a plans examiner instead of that revenue going away
then we are keeping it in-house and we are paying for that position.
Mike Hein: The other thing we have looked at is the Town has done an
excellent job in not over staffing in rush times. In other words, we don't want
to staff up and then have activity decrease and then we are stuck with
employees we don't need. I think that even if activity curtailed, which I don't
see happening, the plans examiner would be a useful position. Whereas,
with an inspector we could contract with another individual if we got into a
real pinch.
Hurvie Davis: This is one wherel have spent a lot of time in over the last
number of years. Our philosophy has been customer service. Once the
Council approves a project to be put on the ground in our community, we
feel it is our job to get that project on the ground quickly. We have the
reputation to have a quick turn-around. Occasionally, you have gotten a call
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or two but we have been noted for a quick turn-around. Time is money tO
everyone so I think it is very critical that we continue with that reputation. At
times I have added a staff member, with your approval, to a particular
department's budget but we put it on hold until such time as we saw the
actual need for it and we felt comfortable that that workload would continue
rather than just peaking and then not having anything after that. We have
been very cautious with that but if we get to a point where we are not able to
provide that service, then developers will be knocking on your door. Driver's
Mart wanted to get that project out very quickly and we bent over
backwards. Staff worked very hard to get that out. Home Depot is the same
way, they want to break ground the first of June and be open the first of
January. That is extremely quick turn-around time. Over the last couple of
weeks I have spent an hour or two per day going out with John Thomas, our
chief inspector, and I have been on the project. There is a tremendous
amount of inspection that goes into it. You will see some work that is not
proper and then they have had to come back in and try to correct it. It is not
done the way the code requires it, but it is an acceptable alternative to the
code to correct it. This is a real priority to us, for the safety of the public, to
ensure that people buying homes get safe and secure housing, as well as
industrial or commercial buildings. I have learned a lot the last couple of
weeks just going out with John Thomas and seeing some of the things.
Mike Reuwsaat: Mayor, I feel as strongly, if not more strongly, about that. I
do not want to be at six months when we are going to meet at twelve
months. When we get behind schedule with the builders, it starts
proliferating through the community and we don't want to do that, we have a
good reputation. I would support staff in that.
Ed Honea: It may be about as cheap as the cellular phones to put radios in
all of the trucks, maybe even cheaper in the long run.
Joel Svoboda: I have been looking into that, in terms of cost. Currently,
what we are running each month is between $75 and $100. My phone
typically runs less than $50 because I don't do much calling. Most of my
arein between meetings when I am driving. I try to take advantage of that
fifteen minutes of road time to make some calls and take care of business, it
makes my time a little more efficient.
Mike Hein: Just to clarify, most of your communication is not between your
staff.
Joel Svoboda: No, most of it comes from efficiency of contractors calling to
set up a date for inspection, if our guy is going out to that job and the
contractor calls and says I have to cancel because something that was
supposed to happen didn't, that just saved our guy about fifteen minutes of
going over there, stopping and finding out that he can't inspect today and
has to go back tomorrow.
Ed Honea: You can do that with a radio, as well, if they call the dispatcher.
I thought it might be more efficient as you get larger and larger.
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Joel Svoboda: Another thing I have been looking at is outside at different
phone systems. There are phone systems that have combination
radio/telephone, all in one service, and it splits the cost differently. It is
looking like per use per month would be quite a bit cheaper. However, there
is an up front cost of equipment but I think it will wash. In the long run it
could save as much as $1,800 of our budget for phone, if I leave this
budget at the number that you see there and choose to do that, analyze the
cost and come back and say, "1 think if we buy these phones, there is some
up front costs but per month I am going to save a bunch on my phone bill,"
the following year I will see the savings on the phones we paid for.
Hurvie Davis: We have run periodic checks, historically, on the phone bills
and phone calls on the cellular phones. We have sent out memos to the
employees to try and minimize those calls.
Joel Svoboda: We try to keep under $7,500 per year, but a lot of that is
generated by the contractor calling to set up or cancel inspections.
Ed Honea: It might make it more convenient to work if inspectors can talk to
each other or if someone is covering something for someone else with a
radio because then they can talk all they want.
Joel Svoboda: Yes, 89% of the calls are made by contractors or someone
outside who need to ask the builder if they can do something. Occasionally
the inspector will call John Thomas, the senior inspector, to forward to the
staff at the office that he needs something out of a file or something like that
and ask for staff to call him back. Most of it is contractors, though.
Vice Mayor Sutton: Do you shop with the new Competitive Environment of
the Cellular and PCS? The rates change almost monthly now.
Joel Svoboda: To tell you the truth, part of my concern is that I have a flip
phone and the new inspector has a flip phone but I have two phones that
are so old that I have a spare phone shoved in a drawer for spare parts
because they don't even make parts for that phone any more. That is one
of the reasons I have been looking at the new phone systems. Nextel is the
company I am going with right now. I have been asking for their brochure
and literature and I am waiting for the next phone bill so I can take it home
and analyze it minute by minute and compare it to their rates and see what
the savings would be over a particular month. I want to see if I can
determine that there will be a savings because if there is no savings then
there is no point.
Vice Mayor Sutton: Keep in mind that most of these companies have
government departments that handle strictly government and it is a pretty
good rate.
Joel Svoboda: I am going to analyze it, first, on the normal market. If I can
get a break on it then I get kudos for that.
11
:. :. ·::: ' MENU...,ES OF :COUNCIL :STUDY SESSION · · :' ."' '.' .' .'
i i:" . : i MARANATOWN.'COUNC[L '": ....
· ". '"-r:'~xi,.28~1998 :.:' ' '" " :' ":: ''" '
Mike Reuwsaat: Can you look at it on a town wide basis and see if you can
come up with some savings for everybody so each department is not doing it
separately?
Roy Cuaron: Currently, our phone service is with Cellular One and we do
have a government rate. If I am not mistaken, that rate is regardless of
whether we are with Cellular One or Air Touch. It is 15¢ per minute, 25¢ at
peak, and $8.95 for basic service per month.
Joel Svoboda: We have had those phones, they were part of the original
service, and they have served us well. I haven't actually asked if there is a
cost in changing those phones out when they actually die.
Herb Kal: They have a deal now where when you sign up for a new line
you get a free phone.
Vice Mayor Sutton: I don't want to beat this, but I think there could be
some savings and some negotiating with the phone. One issue is that the
rates that are out right now are better than the governmental rates you are
getting. Those used to be good rates but they aren't any more, especially
on unlimited plans or high minute usage plans. The other issue is that it is
tough out here because you have to find someone who covers the area well
enough that your phones stay on. I have Sprint and I have problems out
here. You need to find one of the carriers that covers this area. If you go in
there with the Town agreement, I would almost bet you could get every
phone for free.
Joel Svoboda: What I have been looking at is Nextel. Their billing is a little
bit different in that they don't charge by the minute, they charge down to the
second. If you spend one minute and one second on a phone call, you don't
get charged for two minutes, you get charged for one minute and one
second. Supposedly, their bills will be less because of that.
Mike Hein: Mayor if I could, I don't know if the Judge and Joel know this or
not but they are free to go. You are more than welcome to stay but you
don't have to. If I may suggest and the Council doesn't object, we could
take Water and let the Clerk and Mayor and Council slip, since we are
captive anyway. (O.K.)
Mayor Harn: We are on a five minute recess.
Hurvie Davis: This is just information, but going back a few years ago when
I was looking for someone to help me with water issues, I hooked up with
Mr. DeSpain. I tried to get Mr. DeSpain to come to work for the Town but he
had his fingers in so many ties and so forth that he did not want to do it. I
sent out a memo informing you that Mr. DeSpain has agreed to become a
part of the staff, effective July 1, 1998, in our Utilities Department, which is
going to include Water, we hope, and sewer and a very strong potential of
getting into electricity. A lot of that is attributed to Mr. Hein but I am going to
12
"'". M'ARANA TOWN CouNcIL' ' .'..'.'.'.'.'.'." ' ". '.'.'. '.'."'
"' .: .. April 28,'1998 ...
take credit for getting Mr. DeSpain on as a permanent member of Town
staff.
Mayor Ham: Let the record show that we are back in session and the time
is 7:11 P.M.
Roy Cuaron: It was brought to my attention that the budget reports that I
passed out to you this afternoon did not include the Administration budget. I
apologize for that. If you will return all of the budget reports after the
meeting, I will print out the Admin budget and redistribute those in the
packets tomorrow. You won't have much to compare to when we get to the
Clerk's budget, I just forgot to print it out, sorry. The salaries, wages and
benefits under the Water Department include Brad coming on board, so that
accounts for the difference between 1997-98 and 1998-99. The department
staffing level includes a total of five: Operations Manager, Water Operator,
Utilities Director and support staff. We will be proposing that we decrease
their allocation in bond moneys to fund certain other projects that I think are
of equal priority. When we get to the May 12th meeting you will see that.
Basically, what you have here is the Water Department budget, which is
very similar to last year's. It does include bond moneys to allow for the
purpose of water systems. They have been identified, although that could
change as well. It does allow for about $800,000+ in capital improvement
projects that were approved with bond moneys. Then there is a contingent
expense of $507,000, which is equivalent to contingent revenue, in the
event that we acquire additional water systems.
Mike Hein: That is basically Tucson Water. When we went over to
revenues, we had water system operation revenue and that was basically
the Continental Ranch area and Dove Mountain. Brad and Ann have done a
good job, we have gone over their detail almost as much as any other
department. There were other departments who received more scrutiny,
which I'm not sure Ann would believe, but there were others worse than
Water. They did a good job of explaining every line item, as far as well
maintenance. They have a line item for major well failure, just in case, and
they have done a good job in breaking down and analyzing their actual
expenses and what they forecast. When Roy was talking about the
decrease of $200,000, in the bottom program we had budgeted one project
for $600,000 and it came in at $120,000 so we had a $480,000 surplus, if
you will. That money was put back into the Water budget. To cover the
expenses of some of the things we are going to recommend on May 12th, we
are pulling $200,000 out of that. I will tell you right now, to kind of "kick the
hat," we are going to recommend funding the Senior Center in full this year,
which is a total cost of $467,000. We propose to fund $200,000 of that from
the bonds. The question is, then, is it an opportunity cost? Water certainly
had ideas about how they could spend it. I don't believe, no matter how
good they are, they could spend it all this fiscal year, but we can get the
Senior Center done this fiscal year. Should we need to fund projects and
water above and beyond what we have budgeted for this fiscal year, we can
find money in other sources. We have taken the $200,000 from Water, out
of the bond proceeds, and are recommending reallocation of that, which you
13
· ' M'ARANA Town COUNCIL." · . .'
will see May 12~h under Public Works, Parks and Rec., to fund nearly half of
the Recreation Center.
Brad DeSpain: I looked at the tentative schedule, everyone else has ten
minutes and we have thirty. That bothered me. I really wanted to comment
on the major well failure and the park well repair maintenance. We have
inherited the park well, whether we wanted it or not, and there has not been
anything budget to repair that pump or the electric motor or the pressure
tank or whatever else could happen over there. Dave mentioned that there
was some electrical that they were budgeting for, but a good part of that
$50,000 and $17,000 is for those kinds of things. To my knowledge, that
pump has not been worked on at all. Those turbans in the last 10-15 years
are probably to that point. We felt we better cover that in our budget, rather
than rely on contingency.
Mike Reuwsaat: Can we do that out of this year's budget?
Brad DeSpain: I don't think we want to rebuild it until we have to. It is not
ready yet and I don't know when it will be. I have not seen it out of the hole,
I don't think it has ever been out of the hole. I don't think we need to
encounter that expense to determine whether we need to do it or not. Let's
wait until it causes problems. We should get some vibrations and some
signs that will tell us that we are having failure. We may have to budget for
it every year for five years before we have any trouble, but we better have it
there if we need it.
Herb Kal: How did you come up with the number $17,0007
Brad DeSpain: That is for re-drilling, in case we have one of the trust wells
fails. The trust wells at Cortaro are our responsibility if we have a failure. I
don't see it but that is one of the things that we better continually budget for
so if and when it does occur we have it covered.
Roy Cuaron: I just want to clarify who the five people are because there
may be some confusion. Floyd Foster, Ann Meaders, Janet Carr, Brad
DeSpain, and Joe Miller.
Mike Hein: The reason there is this confusion is he mentioned that there
were two slots for Joe, basically, in his opening remarks. Part of that is if we
acquire the other water systems.
Brad DeSpain: The other reason we have budgeted another slot for Joe is
if development occurs and we have to have inspection, then we are going to
have to move somebody to do that on-site inspection of water systems and
sewer for the developers.
Mike Hein: For example, if Sahuaro Springs and a couple other take off
then we don't have anyone on staff to inspect the water systems to make
sure they are installed right.
14
Sherry Millner: I have a question on dues and subscriptions. I am
assuming that the Water CASA wasn't in there last year. Could you explain
what that is? Is it a software system?
Mike Hein: It is an intergovernmental agreement.
Ann Meaders: It is a newly formed organization of several water utilities. It
is funded, primarily, by the Bureau of Reclamation and the Arizona Water
Resources and the UofA. It is for conservation, all different kinds of things
to help all of the utilities, as a unit, with conservation issues.
Brad DeSpain: It is an annual membership. They have hired a water
conservation expert, Val Little, and this is our contribution toward her salary
and she works out of Water Resources Research Center at the UofA on
Campbell. This is our proportional share, based on customers.
Mike HeM: We talked a great deal about that. They have a small amount in
my customer report conservation efforts. They have $4,000 budgeted for
conservation efforts. As we grow bigger and as we grow closer to our
gallons per capita per day, we will be required by the State to start
conservation efforts. The membership is the CASAS organization will assist
in providing us the information, materials and techniques to start water
conservation efforts. In Nogales we spent $60,000-$70,000 per year on
conservation efforts because we violated the GPCD.
Brad DeSpain: That will help keep us off the carpet in fines. There is one
problem we do have and I think we should surface it. The park has no water
rights so the water that is used on that park has to come out of the gallons
per capita per day of our customers. We need to purchase Type II non-
Irrigation rights for that park. Someone slipped up when they bought it from
the County, we should have gotten the water rights with it. That is going to
cause some problems and another reason we need to get in the groove.
We will know with purchasing Cortaro and purchasing Marana Water
Service, Inc. and so forth. They will develop our gallons per capita per day
in the next four months. We feel we are going to be O.K. but we won't know
until that time. If we are in violation, we will have to start immediately with a
plan to promote water conservation.
Herb Kal: In gallons per day of consumption, if we don't count the park, are
we within reason? What is the allowable and where would we be?
Brad DeSpain: We would be in good shape. I think 223 is the number we
will come out at. Without the park we are only allowed 127. I don't know
exactly where we will be because they have not put Lewis's stuff and
Cortaro's stuff together with the Hones System to determine where we are
at. The Arizona Department of Water Resoumes, David Johnson, will do
that and then they will blend those together and find out where we are at.
The Picture Rocks portion of our system is like 250. They have been over
and Bud Lewis had to but down $10,000 worth of penalties to get them
down to over 10%. The Town will be subject to that too. They will have to fit
15
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· . MARANA'TOWN COUNCIL. · '..'
into this plan. Hones Heights is usually considerably under. They will work
with us because they know where we are with this. We probably do need to
budget, in the future, to buy some Type II dghts and I think your friend
Wexler probably has the most and we ought to start working on him to work
out something with him. We may have to do some "horse trading" where we
could get 70-100 acre feet of Type II property.
Mike Reuwsaat: We are always looking at well sites at that alternative
purification plan just off of Tangerine. Are we going to pursue that any
further as using the CAP water as a conservation source?
Brad DeSpain: We have budgeted $5,000 for that slow sand filtration
continuation, There is a real political thing that is occurring. The City of
Tucson wants that information really, really bad. They have had three of
them contact me in the last week because it has been on their agenda and
they want to know if that information is going to be public and I told them I
would talk to the Council and management. I think we can do that, if we
have to present it to the Council to make it public, we may have to do that.
There are some politics occurring there, they just don't want to be involved
with Brent because they have had that kind of report over time and maybe
what he has said and been doing has been right and they don't want to
admit that at this point. They are bucking it, although with the new RFP they
are going after with the American Water Works, he would have an
opportunity to bid on that slow sand portion of that. They are going to do
both rapid sand and slow sand with the American Water Works. It is about
a $400,000-$500,000 research pilot project. He would have that
opportunity. Yes, we plan to pursue and we have budgeted $5,000. He
does not know we have budgeted for it and he won't know, but when he
gets his report to us in July or August we will see where we're at and what
more we need. It is working good and anytime anyone wants a tour we
would be glad to take you. Tucson Water was out, incidentally, so the lead
individual at the Hayden/Udall Water Treatment Facility has had contact. It
is working good and if you tasted the water I think you would be comfortable
with it. We plan to have some funds to continue that.
Ed Honea: We invested $10,000 in this last fiscal year and $5,000 this
fiscal year. What does that actually buy us? Does it buy us the right to use
the procedure? What are we investing in here? I just want to knew if we are
going to be able to use the treatment plant.
Brad DeSpain: In the contract we signed with Brent I believe in the fist
phase of so many gallons in a given period of time (5 or 10 years) we will
have the right. I will have to go back and review the contract for details.
Those royalties of the patent that would have to be paid would be waived for
the Town. There is a point in time when we will negotiate with him as to
what those royalties will be. I think where we are participants, we can drive
a very hard bargain because nobody else would even listen or talk to him or
give him the time of day on a street corner. We helped him elevate that
some, If you want a candid opinion, patents are only good for the exact
same type of operation or instrument/device that was patented. A change or
two on that thing and you probably wouldn't have to use his patent, you
]6
": ":' ' MINUTES'OF COUNCIL STUDY SESSION ".'..".".' · '.' :' :' '..' '.
· '" ' ' '."MARANA TOWN COUNCIL
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could develop your own system. Filtration would be the toughest part to
handle, I think, because the nano-filters are patented and they are with a
large company that manufactures them.
Mayor Ham: Are there any questions? Are there any questions on the
budget? Hearing none, we will move on to the Clerk's budget.
Roy Cuaron: The Clerk's budget, in terms of salaries and wages, is four full
time and one half time. This includes one clerk, one deputy clerk, two
support staff and one receptionist. The 1997-98 budget numbers under the
salades and wages portion of it include the manager's office, as well. In
prior years we did not have a separate manager's budget so those numbers
include expenses associated with the manager's office. When we get to the
Town Manager, you see there is no budget numbers as shown here
because it was very difficult to break out, for example office supplies, how
much was proportioned to the manager verses the clerk. As Mike
mentioned eadier, elections are up over the previous year due to three
pending elections. Equipment storage rental is related not only to storage
rental but also the postage machine, which is about $1000 per quarter. Are
there any questions?
Mayor Harn: Ms. Groseclose, I would assume that the high cost of office
supplies is due to the Town Council packets.
Sandy Groseclose: That is correct, Madame Mayor. A lot of it has to do
with that. Copy paper is a big cost also, about $3000. Then we have other
things such as binders, various colored copy paper, fax cartridges (which we
go through frequently because we receive faxes for all the departments) and
kitchen supplies (such as coffee, creamer, etc.). We go through quite a bit
of coffee, certainly not as much as Oro Valley, but we spend about $700.
Flags are about $800 per year for the Town Hall as well as the monument by
Circle K. Some computer software upgrades we may need were put into
this. Kitchen paper products are used quite a bit for meetings, such as this,
and other things that happen at Town Hall. Audio tapes are included in this,
as well. Then there is various office supplies for the filing system. The
copier toner and printer toner runs about $1,200 per year.
Vice Mayor Sutton: Sandy, with the money that we are giving to the
Chamber now to start taking over the Founders' Day thing, why are we still
going to do the breakfast.
Sandy Groseclose: In the Council's budget, that is the Mayor's breakfast
that has been put on over the years. It has always been totally separate.
Roy Cuaron: On the Mayor and Council budget there is one change from
an allocation that was originally distributed to the department heads. We
transferred $36,000 from the Town manager's budget over to the Mayor and
Council to utilize for public relations. Other than that, the budget is pretty
much identical to years passed.
17
Sandy Groseclose: There may be a little bit of confusion under public
relations for your support, that shows $14,780. Maybe that should have
been title community relations. That is where I have detailed information as
to the Festival booth, the Kolbe dinner, etc. This $36,000 has not been
allocated to anything specific, is that correct Roy?
Mike Hein: That was actually my fault. Sandy had the $14,000 under
public relations and then the Mayor and some of the Council and I had been
talking about getting in a firm to work on media relations and honing in on an
image for the community. Some of you had met Mr. Rick Kaneen and his
sister. They had given us some proposals this fiscal year, which were in my
estimation unreasonable from a cost standpoinL I segregated this portion
for public relations to confine them to a more realistic number to start with.
This does not mean you, Mayor and Council, have to hire a specific firm or
use that money for that service, but it is clearly there for you to do so. We
thought that was the cleanest way to proceed with that kind of issue. The
scope of services provided to us includes media training for Mayor and
Council and key staff members. I think we have the ability to work on our
ability working with the press on camera, press releases, making the most of
opportunities like ground breakings, etc. They would not be special events
coordinators, per say. They are not going to order tents and food and such,
they are going to train individuals on how to deal with the media. They are
also going to work with the Mayor and Council on identifying visions of what
we want to communicate to not only our own residents but residents in
surrounding areas, and to repeat those things. For example, every time
Councilman Kal is on TV he says the same three things about Marana that
Councilman Reuwsaat says when he is on TV.
Mayor Harn: We met with the Kaneens and talked with them to get some
idea of what is out there and get some thoughts on what we need to kind of
present something to the Council because we think that with referendums
coming up and some of the other things coming before the Council at this
time there might be a need for us to work with some public relations people
at times to get some advice.
Ed Honea: I agree with that concept, Madame Mayor, but I disagree with
putting it in the Mayor and Council budget. These things are printed in the
papers and things of that nature, general budgets for the Town and things of
that nature. When you put the Mayor and Council budget in there and you
stick $85,000 on it, a lot of people are going to ask questions. They are
going to want to know what in the world we are doing with $85,000. I feel
like the appropriate place would be Administration, or something like that, for
both of those items. That would take $50,000 out of our budget and bring it
down to $35,000, which is a little more reasonable.
Mike Hein: Let me propose to put public relations under mine and
community relations under Sandy.
Ed Honea: Do you understand what I am saying? You put it in the paper
and they see $85,000, they are going to think that something is wrong.
18
"' ' : :: .:'MARANA TOWN.COUNCIL '
Perception is very important and people don't look at detail, they look at the
bottom line.
Mike Reuwsaat: The first thing they am going to think is, "What kind of
salaries are they getting?"
Ed Honea: If we take $50,000 off and leave it a $35,000, they might think it
is reasonable.
Vice Mayor Sutton: Also, the numbers for this fiscal year go down from last
fiscal year's budget.
Sherry Millner: We have $1,000 for seminars. Does that include if
someone on the Council wants to go to UofA leadership training? I don't
know if any other council members am interested in leadership training, but I
know there is one coming up in January for people who have taken it before
and graduated from it. I would like to go, but I don't know how much it will
be, they have not given a price yet. I will reiterate that everyone on this
Council needs training because we are leaders. I don't think $1,000 is
enough for seminars, unless we can pull it out of somewhere else. I look at
the National League of Cities and only one of us went last year. I don't think
them am going to be that many people going to that this year. Maybe we
can shift some of that money into the seminars.
Mike Hein: I propose that we take $1,000 off of National League of Cities
and put it toward seminars. (agreed)
Mayor Harn: I think the items put under travel and training are pretty
generous, I think it is probably not going to be that high,
Roy Cuaron: The Planning and Zoning budget staffing includes eight staff:
one planning director; three planners, one GIS person and three office
support staff. That is reflected in the current year's $307,000. Professional
services, I believe, includes continuation of the capital improvement
program. I think the additional items are in line with what has been spent in
the past. With that, are there any questions?
Mike Hein: Jerry also changed some of the training. He made a good effort
to try and include P&Z commissioners and he proposed sending one of
them to Seattle. If there is a culprit, it is Roy and I. We trimmed that back to
one person to Seattle this year. So if any P&Z commissioners say they am
not going to Seattle, that is my fault. I wasn't sure that $2,200 was justified
for that expense. Otherwise, Jerry has done a good job. Some of you may
have seen the detail he provided on professional services because I know
historically that has been a concern, as far as the allocation of priorities. I
think he did a good job justifying that this year. Most of this stuff is pretty flat
line.
]9
'" "" '" "' 'MINUTES.OF COUNCIL STUDY SESSION: .." .'..'. '."i .' '...""
:.; :..: .':;; '.:' = .:' :' . 'M:ARANA'TOWN'COUNCiL ' "' :' ' '""i ".i.''"''
April 28, !'998 ' ' ' · .' · '.'..
Roxanne Ziegler: Jerry, I have a question about contract labor. You talk
about Arizona Office Equipment and that it is a set amount and then it is per
copy. Can we negotiate that based on having more business there now.
Lisa: I talked to them and we don't get charged any more per copy when
we go over. if we increased it, it would be the same as what we are paying
now. They are charging us the same as they would if we increased our
service contract. Right now we are at 42,500 and if we went up and did not
meet that then we would be paying more. Whereas, dght now if we go over
the 42,500 then we are not being charged for that, we are just paying for the
extra copies.
Roxanne Ziegler: I also have a question on fuel and oil. The last sentence
says there has been discussion for the commission to be reimbursed for
their travel time for Planning and Zoning meetings. I know at one time, not
too long ago, this became a real issue. What is the criteria for those guys,
does anybody know?. Either they get reimbursed or they don't. When I was
on the Commission I just never asked so I don't know.
Jerry Flannery: They can, as far as I understand, as long as we budget for
it. The reimbursement is 32 % ¢ a mile. Some of the commissioners do
travel and some of them have requested to be reimbursed.
Roxanne Ziegler: They have expressed it but is it in our bylaws? (no) If it
is not, then why would we do it? If it is not in there now, then why do it?
Jerry Flannery: Mileage reimbursement, typically, wouldn't be covered
under the commission bylaws. Although, we can certainly look at amending
them to include them. This is more of a policy that any kind of volunteers
(interns, commissioners, council members, or anyone else who volunteers
their time to the Town) is eligible for reimbursement. I don't know if there is
an official administrative policy on it or not.
Mike Hein: This has been a topic of discussion over this past year. We
have denied retroactive requests for passed years. We have gotten
requests for two years of retroactive reimbursement. Roy sent a memo out
to the Planning Department saying, "Hera is the schedule and the sheets to
fill infor mileage reimbursement to any commission members. If you want
reimbursement, fill out the forms, submit them and you will get reimbursed."
Roxanne Ziegler: Was that forwarded on to the commissioners?
Jerry Flannery: Yes it was.
Mike Hein: One of the commissioners want to donate their mileage to a
non-profit organization. We said we did not want to write the check to the
non-profit, we write the check to them and they do what they want with it.
Roxanne Ziegler: As long as all of them know that it is there and if they
want to utilize it, fine.
20
'.. ". ". ' :..' :'.'." "..'. MINUTES OF COUNCIL SiUDY 'SESSION .'
'.': ' :..":::""i::::i':.'::'.M~i'RANA..ToWN'coiJNCiL"
· . ' : ":' "' '" ' ' '. "Apfii.28,1998 "' "
Ed Honea: have a question relating to all three of the planning
departments. If we can make a move sometime this fiscal year, there is
going to be considerable amounts of expenses over and above partitions
and hooking up computer and phone lines. Are these budgets going to be
sufficient if that happens?
Mike Hein: Yes, One of the criteria for the proposed moves are cost
effectiveness. We have proposed and had recent discussions on
accomplishing moving the whole Development Center to a lease space and
paying for the first year lease space and all of the tenant improvements
(cubicles, office space, furniture, moving company, rewiring, tenant
improvements in the vacated area) with the amount budgeted for the
modular this fiscal year ($290,000) Some of the departments have some
office furniture that is small because most of the stuff they can take with
them from the existing place.
Jerry Flannery: Most of the stuff I have in Planning is stuff that can come
with us. We are lucky that we have the conference room table and all of
that.
Mike Hein: I don't necessarily want to say this in front of Jerry because you
say one thing and it is all over town. You will recall, in our fixed expenses,
we have $100,000 for new lease space, as well. Should we not be able to
come in at the $290,000, we are confident that we have enough money for
furniture, miscellaneous, electrical and such between the current fiscal year
and the proposed budgets.
Mike Reuwsaat: Under professional services, is the GiS support for
continuing for additional overlays?
Jerry Flannery: As you know, Helen Ireland is our GIS analyst and she is
very good at what she does. She has requested several software and
hardware upgrades. The goal in this case is to have the entire planning
staff with a certain degree of ability to access GIS information. She gets
inundated with a lot of small requests, for example the tax value on a
property, and a planner should be able to pull those things up and do a
three hundred foot radius around the property and get the notification out to
whoever needs to be notified. That would free Helen up to do a lot of
projects town wide. A lot of departments utilize her and we are very glad
she is in our department, it is a real plus for us. The GIS support is ongoing
and it covers potential hardware and software upgrades. It also takes
potential aerial photos in conjunction with the County into consideration.
The County is doing an aerial photo sweep of everything from the Tucson
region up to the Pinal County line. There are large portions of Marana that
are not covered by that and there is a lot of money involved in that. Helen is
really good at finding resources of information. A lot of that money is there
in hopes of her being able to obtain some of that aerial photo and some of
the software upgrades.
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Mike Reuwsaat: Have you got a schedule of a workload from her outside of
projects that come and go, in terms of where she is going with the GIS for
you guys. I don't have to have it here and it doesn't have to be a lengthy
memo. I would just like to have something that says this is what we have
done and this is where we are going.
Jerry Flannery: Certainly, I can provide you with some of the monthly
reports that I ask from her,
Mike Reuwsaat: I don't want a monthly report. What I want is an outline to
see where we are going with it, ultimately. I want to see where we are and
where we are going with the additional overlays. (O.K.) On your current
professional services who are you working with and what are you paying
for?.
Jerry Flannery: We are looking at CSC Counts on the area plans. CSC
Counts, as you know, did our general plan and they are very familiar with the
land uses and the potential development, as far as ultimate development of
the Town. So, Mr. Counts is very familiar with the Town. They put in for the
CIP but they did not get the CIP. We did not feel, as a group, that their
expertise was in that area but I think their expertise is in the area of these
types of area plans. I think they could do a very significant improvement of
the area.
Mike Reuwsaat: I agree with that and I understand where you are going
with that. Where are we in terms of the zoning and the City corridors?
What have you got going now and will all of that be done by the time this
fiscal year budget is over so there won't be expenditures next year? I'll take
this one step further. I know a few of us have been helping on the impact
fees and getting the methodology to look at what Marana has. Is that
something that is going to be an internal analysis?
Jerry Flannery: To answer the first part, what I would like to do in this
budget year is to start the program to get the Tangerine area plan going and
finishing it up in the next budget year. Then completing the north Marana
area plan in the next budget year. There maybe some surplus there,
hopefully, by the end of next budget year to begin the third area plan.
Ultimately, I would envision the Town having at least four area plans. There
are distinct geographical and demographical differences in parts of Town.
As far as the impact fees, as you and Councilman Honea may be aware, I
have been up in the Phoenix area gathering information on impact fees. It's
definitely a very complicated issue. Some of the feedback I got from the
City of Gilbert, the City of Chandler and the City of Phoenix (mostly the City
of Phoenix because they are way above everybody else) is that if we are
looking at doing something as far as administrating impact fees or anything
in that realm, we hire a specialist to specifically oversee that program. They
all go back to the capital improvement program where you have a capital
improvement program that looks at five years of expenditures and the types
of improvements that are going to occur in the five year time frame. Then
you come back and at that point you may have a cost estimate of what
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April 28, 1.998 : .
certain typos of infrastructures are going to incur and you can start
assessing the impact fees. The impact fees have to meet legal nexus, all of
these legal terms so whatever you charge has to have a tit-for-tat. You have
to have a direct correlation between what you are charging the amount of
improvement fees. Those are very complicated issues and, certainly, we are
taking some baby steps to that effect. I think that is something that, if the
Council as a whole would like to discuss that, I would like to bring to the
Council and get some clear direction on.
Roxanne Ziegler: That is exactly what I was going to say. I don't think
we've discussed impact fees and taxes, unless you can refresh my memory.
I know there are a lot of side meetings that go on and you guys talk to staff
and that is one thing, but I don't think as a Council we have been
approached about impact fees, "should we have them or should we not?" I
don't want to see Jerry's time resources being spent on something that, as a
Council, we haven't really talked about.
Ed Hones: We did have a Council meeting and we gave him direction to go
out and research this material. This was in the last three months.
Roxanne Ziegler: I keep hearing about impact fees, impact fees, but I don't
see anything, I just keep hearing about it. ~ have seen enough to know that,
as Jerry said, it could be very lengthy and it could be very expensive.
Mayor Ham: I have left a lot of latitude in these meetings but I think that we
are kind of getting into kind of a specific area where, if we would like to have
this put on the agenda, we could discuss it at the next Council meeting.
Mike Reuwsaat: Mayor, I would just like to make a comment. We haven't
discussed area plans and we haven't discussed the adequate public
facilities ordinance, yet they are budgeted. If you remember about two
months ago, because I was concerned about exactly what you are saying, I
asked that Public Works and Planning bring their projected projects to the
Council so we could review and prioritize those and then have them in the
budget. Then we would not get to this point where we are picking and
choosing and discussing it at this level.
Roxanne Ziegler: Give me packets to look at and I would be glad to look at
impact fees. Have we, as a Council, gotten packets or anything on impact
fees?
Mike Reuwsaat: We haven't gotten anything on any of these, that is my
point.
Mike Hein: I think you are both saying the same thing, and we have been
working with staff. I think what I have been hearing for the last few months
is before Jerry and another staff member of another department go out and
contract for a Tangerine area plan, they should come to Council and say, "1
am getting ready to do this. Is this the direction you want us to take, is this a
priority?" I think Jerry understands that and I have spoken to Dave After
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about it. The question is, "is $57,000 for professional services an
appropriate amount?" I would say probably, but we also hear, loud and
clear, that tomorrow Jerry is not going to run out and sign a contract for a
northern Marana area plan until he gets that direction from Council. The
thing we don't want to have happen is to finish a plan and come to you guys
and you say, "What the heck are you doing this for?"
Jerry Flannery: Just for my edification, we have a list of projects and I am
assuming these are the projects you are talking about.
Mike Reuwsaat: There are other projects. For instance, where are we with
hiring CSC Counts to take us in the direction of hard zoning and get us out
of the system that is explosively antiquated and probably won't hold up
under law? I am trying to put it in the court where it belongs, Council has
some responsibility in setting some corrections so that you are not coming to
us with a scenic corridor plan that was approved three years ago and we are
saying, "Gosh, we have a lot of other priorities." Some of that is just filtering
through because there are always conversations going on, and that is
normal. I am not saying that is a problem but I think it's important enough
for the direction of the Town to have you bring the full gamut of hard zoning
and impact fees and such and then let us make some decisions because it
comes down to spending dollars, too.
Mike Hein: Let me suggest this. I will get with Jerry and work on this item.
These number could very well change but after tonight we are going to give
you the tentative budget in two weeks, that will be your maximum amount.
Let me work with Jerry over the next couple of weeks and at your May 12th
meeting we will start with Jerry. Lets say we have about $57,000-$60,000, I
am going to ask Jerry to brainstorm with me for a list of projects. Then we
will have you guys prioritize them.
Jerry Flannery: Zoning update, the lion share of that has been completed.
We are in the staff review process at this point and time and we have not sat
down with Mr. Counts yet to meet on that feedback. We are in the eleventh
hour on that issue. As far as these others, the Tangerine area plan was
most definitely scheduled for May 17th to come before the Council so we
could award that. Not just on this amount, we want to get a hard number
and we got that number from Counts. That would be part of your packet
and you would know exactly what we are doing on that issue. These other
ones, as Mike said, we would certainly bring them before you before we
went out.
Mike Reuwsaat: Let me make one last comment. When I looked at the
demo plan and the work that this community and all of the objectives that
you have, the plate is more than full, when you look at design review
standards and stuff like that. So that we don't get into the situation we were
in before, I would like updates and if there are other things, bring them to us
and let us look at them. There may not be a change, Jerry, but I think that is
a responsibility of this Council.
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Mayor Ham: Any other questions or comments? Would you like to say
anything else, Jerry?
Jerry Flannery: There is one upgrade in position that amounts to $5,900.
That position is a planning technician and it is currently budgeted as an
intern/secretary. Basically, it is my desire in working with Public Works to
have this technician oversee the development process and putting together
a professional committee, of sorts (a Development Review Committee).
This would be similar to what the County has, if anyone is familiar with that.
They would have meetings on a weekly basis to review projects and keep
them in a timely fashion. This position would be doing tracking of
development plans, rezones and subdivisions. Anything that is coming
through, that person would be the clearing house for it so there is one
contact and when they have their meetings they are calling the group
together and having organized meetings. That is my goal for this position
and I think it is something that we can attain fairly easily. It would make the
development process a little more efficient.
Mayor Harn: If there are no further questions, we will move on to the
Manager's. Let me say that Mr. Davis had to pick up his sister at the airport.
Mike Hein: I am pleased to announce that this whopping number of
$520,000 plus the $36,000, which brings me to $556,000, is still $55,900
less than last year. It seems like a big number, and I agree, so let me go
through it. First of all, the salaries and everything have changed
significantly. We are dropping the Assistant Manager position, but we are
adding in Dick Gear and Dan Groseclose. In the past those functions have
been under finance and now they will be under the Manager. The personnel
is myself, Jocelyn, Dick and Dan. The public relations has $25,000 in there
for some miscellaneous things, as well as the Marana page. In the past
Melanie Larson from the Explorer came to the Council in poor timing and
under poor circumstances pitching the idea of Marana acquiring the front
page of the paper once a month and it would be hand delivered to everyone
in the Town of Marana. Oro Valley has recently, in the last month, gone to
that. Melanie has agreed to drop our current ad contract because right now
we are sti(I under contract with her to continue the ad campaign with the
pictures of the wonderful family and the police officer on the bike. For that
same amount of money, we are going to do two trial issues of the Marana
page. The first issue will appear some time in May. We will basically have
the whole front page and what it will include is a top article, which may be in
the future Fourth of July, Referendum elections, direct election of the Mayor
and things like that. There will be a human interest story, next month's will
be the Mayor signing the closing documents on our home (Thursday
morning you'll be doing that). We will have a little feature on Hurvie, I
believe, in the first issue. We will also talk about Automated Plating. We
will have a Council's corner and we will start with the Mayor. You will rotate
so each of you will have an opportunity to write a little blurb. The side bar
will be what is coming up in the next month, it will look like it is written by the
newspaper and I have a script copy in my office for you to all look at. They
wil( do all of the edit, copy and artwork so it looks professionally done. I can
get it done and delivered to every resident in Marana for about $1,100 per
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month, which is a pretty good deal. Basically, it is an editorial opportunity for
us. We are not going to go crazy but we are not going to get that kind of
coverage when it comes to upcoming elections and other issues like that.
So for free for the opportunity of our ad, you will see it for the next two of
months. Hopefully we can do a good job on it. So, that is under public
relations and now we are going to add the $36,000. Computer support is
very little. Contract labor I assume is for Jocelyn, Dick or Dan being out.
Professional services, I'm sure you are all wondering about that. I will say
that in years passed, that number has been larger and it has been hidden in
the general Town budget. One of the dangers of splitting out Manager and
everybody's individual budget is that it succumbs to more scrutiny, but I think
it is appropriate and that is why I am doing it. $50,000 of that is basically
dedicated to the lobbyist next fiscal year. That will be under the Manager's
Department, so Council doesn't get blamed the manager does. The other
$100,000 is really undedicated, in the past we have had more than that.
For example, we are currently doing an engineering study to resolve the
Northpoint condemnation, that is where that stuff gets dumped. Byron
Howard would come out of there. Roy was actually concerned that I did not
have enough in there, but I think $100,000 will easily accomplish what I
envision could even spring up in the next year. I budgeted $5,000 for Town
Hall meetings and special events, like ground breakings. We've gotten
direction to get out in the community more so this is to provide appetizers,
cookies and food. I think that is a good amount. Office supplies were kind
of a guestimate. A lot of that is based on the community development
department, Dick and Dan. We don't have actual numbers to go off of
because it has been all lumped into the Town budget. I think there is
enough in there and I think next year you will see that number go down.
Between Sandy and I and everyone else we have more than enough money
in there. Fuel and oil is minimal. General office equipment is not much. I
did budget for an intern. One of the things I am a big believer in is hiring
interns from the graduate programs of public administration. It is a good
opportunity to get some high level talent. Dick Gear started with me as a
UofA intern, leva Bilsens, who is now the senior budget analyst for Tucson
Water, was hired under that program. I have been able to get some really
good recruits, ~ pay them about $8.00/hour and they work over the summer.
They get 9 credits toward their masters program for doing a 400 hour
program. They de high level stuff. Roy doubts me, but I know from
experience that we are going to get bombarded with questions about sales
tax impact on Ina/Thomydale and they can do some econometric modelings
and database analysis to track the sates tax because a guy is going to come
up to us and say business is down 20% and we can tell him it is actually
down 3% and the guy down the street is up. We won't say it that way, but
for peace of mind we will want to know exactly what is going on down there.
Telephone is between the cellulars and the long distance. Travel and
training is high compared to other departments but I think we provided fairly
good detail. Part of the problem is being in Phoenix. I estimate that I will
have sixteen meetings involved with GADA and bonds and twelve, at least,
on water next year alone in Phoenix. I know that is a minimum based on the
number of meetings. The conferences I have tentatively scheduled are rural
development, I get a lot out of rural development, usually. I budgeted the
League of Cities, although I rarely go. There are some things in there for
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Dick and Dan, as well as docelyn. So, that is travel and training. Dues and
subscriptions are outlined there. Capital outlays Js included in the budget
and it is for the new computer hardware and a fax machine pending the
move. The move that is contemplated would move the manager to where
courts are currently. I would bring Dick, Dan, Jocelyn and an intern over
there with me and there should be enough money in the budget to cover all
of that. I trimmed $100,000 and put it in contingency because we haven't
talked about a contingency for the Town should something come up. I put it
in the Manager's budget and I am going to jump ahead a little bit to give you
a glimpse of what we are going to recommend out of programmable. We
are going to recommend that $267,000 out of programmable be used to
fund the Senior Center and we are going to recommend $375,000 out of
programmable be reserved for the Police Department for the fifteen
vehicles. Then we are going to recommend $26,000 to fund the plans
examiner and then the balance of about $269,000 to be at the Council's
discretion.
Roxanne Ziegler: I thought the police cars were coming out of the Police
Department's budget.
Roy Cuaron: What we are saying is that we are going to recommend, at
the May 12th meeting, that $375,000 of that budget be funded with
programmable reserve.
Mike Hein: It has to. I'm sorry, we missed talking to you because you were
a little late. The Council had asked, "Where was everybody?" With the
exception of building, everyone came in under the budget amount so we
had to recommend that the extra building plans examiner go under
programmable. The Police came in under their amount and we went
through some lightening negotiations because they said, "We're going to
have drop there and we are going to have to do this and that." Well, Roy
and I, working with the Chief, found money to fund all of those things but
there was no money for capital, police cars. So, that would have had to
come out of the programmable. So, again there is about $220,000+ on the
table and that doesn't even mention the $1,000,000 in programmable and
we probably won't, we can maybe save that for a rainy day. Right now,
unless you come up with specific projects, we will recommend that as
additional funds. But, it is unreasonable to have no contingency and so I
stuck $100,000 in my budget as opposed to every single department's
budget because I think it makes it harder for them to request contingency
when it is out of the Manager's budget. Last year, I believe the extra
$100,000 was through professional services and annexations.
Mayor Harn: Are there any other questions? Hearing none, do I hear a
motion for adjournment?
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VI. ADJOURNMENT
A motion was made by Vice Mayor Sutton, seconded by Mike Reuwsaat.
to adjourn. The motion passed 7/0.
Roy Cuaron: Mayor, could ~ ask you to give me your budget reports from
March back so I can input the Admin budget,
CERTIFICATION
I hereby certify that the foregoing minutes are the true and correct minutes of
the Marana Town Council he(d on April 28, 1998. I further certify that a quorum
was present.
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