Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout12/02/1997 Regular Council Meeting Minutes DECEMBER 2, 1997 PLAE AND E Marana Town Hall, December 2, 1997 CALL T_O__ORDER By Mayor Ora Harn at 7:'10 P.M. II. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Led by Mayor Ora Harn INVOCATION Led by Mayor Ora Harn IV. ROLL CALL COUNCIL Ora Harn Bobby Sutton, Jr. Ed Honea Herb Kal Sherry Millner Michael Reuwsaat Roxanne Ziegler Mayor Vice Mayor Council Member Council Member Council Member Council Member, excused Council Member STAFF Michael Hein Jocelyn Entz Roy Cuaron Dan Hochuli Sandy Groseclose Jane Johnson Dave After Dave Smith Floyd Foster Assistant Town Manager Exec.Asst. to Town Manager Finance Director Town Attorney Town Clerk Human Resoumes Director Public Works Director Chief of Police Water Operations Manager V. APPROVAL OFAGENDA A motion was made by Roxanne Ziegler, seconded by Bobby Sutton, to move item G and item I to follow item A. The motion carried 6/0. VIi. ACCEPTANCE OF MINUTES Minutes of Regular Council Meeting - November 18, 1997 Minutes of Special Council Meeting - November 19, 1997 A motion was made by Roxanne Ziegler, seconded by Bobby Sutton, to accept the minutes of Regular Council Meeting, November 18, and Special Council Meeting, November 19. The motion carried 6/0. VH. CALl, TO THE PUBLIC/ANNOUNCEMENTS Dave Atler: For those of you who have not heard about it, the Town of Marana's first annual Tree Lighting Festival is going to be held this Saturday from 2:30 - 5:30, next to Town Hall. We are going to have musical entertainment, tree ornament making, hay rides, sing-alongs, face painting, and more. Marana PD and Northwest Fire Department are going to have safety displays. We hope everyone comes out and joins us for the fun. Jane Johnson: Mr. Davis and I attended a Ceremony, by the City of Tucson's Supervisor's Academy, on November 20th to congratulate John Thomas, of the Building Department. I would like to go on record thanking the City of Tucson, who graciously made room for John, because we do not have the ability to do that type of extensive supervisory training, at this time. He attended a 14 day series with the City's lead trainer. I hope this will become a pilot program that we build on and we will be able to use their expertise to further train our particular people. We want to congratulate John in his successful completion of this comprehensive program. VIII. STAFF REPORTS No action taken. IX. GENERAL ORDER OF BUSINESS A. Consent 1. Resolution No. 97-118 - Request for Liquor License Transfer by ABCO Foods Store #688 2. Resolution No. 97-119 - Request for Extension of Premises/Patio Permit by Circle K, 4900 W. Ina Road, Marana 3. Resolution No. 97-121 - Approving Off Track Betting at Screwy Louies's, a Sports Entertainment Establishment Located Within the Limits of the Town of Marana A motion was made by Vice Mayor Sutton, seconded by Roxanne Ziegler, to approve the Consent Agenda, as written. Motion carried 6/0. Resolution No. 97-117: ReQuest for a Number 7 Liouor License Transfer - Pacific Golf Management, Inc. (The Links Golf Course) 8480 W. Continental Links Drive, Marana, Request for Transfer of a Liquor License for Beer and Wine Mike Hein: Resolution 97-117 is a request for liquor license transfer by Pacific Golf Management. Again, this is a transfer and staff is recommending approval at this time. A motion was made by Ed Honea, seconded by Vice Mayor Sutton, to approve Resolution No. 97-117 for the issuance of the Number 7 liquor license for Pacific Golf Management, Inc. Motion carried 6/0. 2 I~esolution No. 97-122 - Request for Special Events Liquor License by United Way of Tucson for the Grand Opening of the Links on December 15 and 16, 1997 Mike Hein: This, again, is another resolution for a liquor license. This time, a special event liquor license for December 15th and 16th, which is the Grand Opening for the Links at Continental Ranch. Mr. Simm is the applicant, on behalf of the United Way Greater Tucson, they are representatives of the event. I think Mr. Simm is in the audience. Staff is recommending approval on this. A motion was made by Roxanne Ziegler, seconded by Vice Mayor Sutton, to approve Resolution 97-122 for the issuance of a special event liquor license for the Links at Continental Ranch. Motion carried 6/0. B. Family Fun Day and Fireworks Show at Sportspark - Discussion/Action Mike Hein: The Mayor and staff have been meeting with representatives of the Sportspark, Mr. Munson and Mr. McCoy, who are in the audience. They previously attended a meeting in October and came before you to get input from the Council and some direction as to the future of the Fourth of July event in conjunction with Sportspark. You have the proposal that they have submitted in writing to you. It is there for your consideration and the representatives are available in the audience, should you have any questions. Ed Honea: Looking at your proposed budget, it states that there were some losses in the previous years, but, it doesn't show any income from concessions. I know there is tremendous concessions on those days, I know because you have to stand in line to get there. Where is that money going? Jim Munson: The budget presented to you is based on the event itself. It has not taken into consideration the concession sales for the particular day. Yes, there are a good deal of concession sales, but, not as well as one might think. For instance, we track all of our visitors on a per cap basis, and while we were projecting somewhere in the neighborhood of $4.00 per person per cap basis, it was only in the neighborhood of $2.60 per person. There are a number of reasons for that. In answer to your question, the concession operation of our business is what we call our profit center. Our basic business plan dictates that the fees for the activities, the event, leagues and teams that play out there are to cover our costs. For our investors, the profit center becomes the concession area. Typically, we do not involve any concession income in our proposals or activities that we do inside or outside ourselves. It is considered separate on anything we propose to do within our company or outside activities. Ed Honea: Is it fair to say, your company has never lost money on a Fourth of July event if you take concession into account? You have not had a red line at the bottom of the event. MINUTES OF REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING Jim Munson: Doug McCoy does all of these figures for me, but, as I understand it, the first year was the only year we took a loss on this particular event. Mike Hein: I thought maybe, for the benefit of the public, we could give a brief overview of the proposal. We have had continuous discussions regarding the quantity and quality of the fireworks display and the lay out of the grounds. While general recognition was made that some of the aspects of the event, such as parking and circulation in and out of the event, were improved, there were still some concerns. To develop a long term relationship with Sportspark, they were asked to submit something in writing. Sportspark is asserting that they experienced a loss of about $7,500.00. Doug McCoy: Without concessions on this particular case, as you look at the estimated income and expense over the year, the first year was a negative $11,120.00. Our total concession income that year was $13,000.00. That is total income, which does not include any direct costs of sales, labor, tents, etc. With concessions out,, in terms of just taking the event, we are about $18,000.00 negative for those three years. During that time, estimated concession sales were about $50,000.00. If you take out the direct cost of sales, labor, and servicing the public in those areas, our profit has been about $25,000.00 over those three years. On the average, about $2,500.00 in concession profit is what we have made over those three years. As Jim said, we do separate out our concessions because that is our profit. We discipline ourselves very strictly to do that and we have to evaluate what we do on that basis. Jim Munson: Anytime we suggest that the total overall day was a loss for us, we are suggesting that the total overall day was not up to the standards that we would like to see it, considering the amount of time vested in the event. Also, that same type of logic has deterred us from putting on the kind of event that we think is desired, based on meetings with staff and general public. For example, the fireworks show was said to be "...not up to snuff." We know the City of Tucson increased the quantity of their fireworks show by exactly the amount that is spent on the Town of Marana's total fireworks show. Based on meetings with staff and some Council members, it was indicated that there was a desire to have the fireworks show stepped up a little bit. That is basically what this proposal says. We are saying that if that is the desire, we would like the Town of Marana to control the quantity, quality, level, or whatever you want to refer to it as, of the fireworks show. The Town of Marana should dictate that by the amount of subsidy they want to put toward that event. That is basically what this proposal is asking. If the Town of Marana says the fireworks show is fine the way it is, so be it. If the Town of Marana says they want to see it increased in quality, so be it. tt the Town of Marana says they want to back off a little bit, that is fine too. However, there is a level that you can't go below. I don't think that is the idea of the Council, though. Mayor Harn: Mr. Davis, Jocelyn and I went down to Sportspark to talk to Mr. Munson and his crew. We walked around and talked about some 4 suggestions and changes on where the Council would be. We talked about putting together something so when the visiting dignitaries get there, people would know where to go. We would have a certain time that people would know when we were going to do something public, like some announcements or something. We have worked out some things that we think can improve the overall way the program is put on. Mr. Munson promised he would work with us and our staff if we want to do something different than we have done before. Vice Mayor Sutton: I was looking at the figures on sponsorship. With the event getting the notariety that it is getting, there is a drop off from 1996 to 1997. I am assuming the numbers were better in 1997 as far as the amount of people that came in. Was there a reason for that sponsorship tailing off? Doug McCoy: Our major sponsors were Pepsi, one of our marketing partners, Unique Cellular and the hospital. We did have some sponsorships from some of the developers in the area, but not to the level we had the previous two years. The first year we had two developers as major sponsors, the second year we only had one. This past year we did not have any developers as major sponsors. We did have U.S. Homes and a couple others as participating sponsors. Mayor Harn: How is a major sponsor different from a participating sponsor? How much would a major sponsor contribute? Doug McCoy: We are asking $3,500.00. Last year we got $7,000.00 and then this year we only received $2,500.00. Vice Mayor Sutton: That is probably not going to get better because the more they build out the less they need to promote their property. If we do this, is there a way to off set the amount the Town puts in by additional sponsorships that we could help line up. Doug McCoy: Sure, I think that would be a possibility we could look at. We have tried to get a zero balanced budget on the event itself, without concessions. I think our budget for next year calls for $15,000.00 in sponsorships. We hit that two years ago, but we did not hit that last year. The Town has always been really good about helping us obtain some of these sponsors. Herb Kai: It looks like you are asking the Town to increase the fireworks display. Would there be an opportunity for Sportspark to share in that increase? It is a good event, and it is in your best interest to have a good fireworks display, as well as the Town's. Your concessions will suffer without the event and everything seems to go down hill if we don't keep this going. Would Sportspark be willing to cover half of the increase? Jim Munson: I would not say that because the fireworks have remained consistant, or level, we have gone down hill. It is just the opposite. We had the same fireworks show, in dollars and cents, as we had last year and the 5 attendance has gone up. The bottom line is that we had a $15,000.00 fireworks show. That turns into an $18,000.00 fireworks show if you count our 20% commission, which we said we don't want. Put it towards the fireworks show, to increase it by $3,000.00. The Town of Marana has given a $10,000.00 sponsorship to the event, and it has been a $15,000.00 show. What we are saying is that we think you want the fireworks show to go up. To this point in time, the event itself has subsidized that by $5,000.00. We would not need to be here if we said lets increase the admission by so many dollars or raise the price of the kiddie rides. We have not done that because you said you did not want that. You said you wanted this event to be reachable and tangible to the average family. We used, as a guideline, that a family of four could come out and have a good time and participate in the activities with a $20 bill. In answer to your question, I am not sure we would be interested in subsidizing any increase, as Sportspark. However, if you wanted to talk about increasing the cost of something, that could be a possibility. I can't answer that question, per say, if the question is if Sportspark is willing to subsidize an increase. Herb Kal: I think it's rather simple. Either Sportspark can help the Town of Marana with half the cost increase or you can't, that is what I am asking you to do. Jim Munson: This proposal doesn't indicate that. Vice Mayor Sutton: Jim, you are right. The reason I supported this is to keep the cost down to get into the event. In my opinion, the reason the Town gets behind an event is so the residents and citizens of the Town will be able to enjoy something and mingle with their neighbors. I tend to agree with Councilman Kal, in that, you are asking us to double our contribution yet you are only going to increase the fireworks display by 25%. You have been subsidizing the $5,000.00. A better fireworks display is going to draw more people. That is the hope of a for-profit corporation, you want more people in there using your concessions, since that is your profit. If you still subsidize the $5,000.00 and we increase to $15,000.00, is that going to keep it the same or will we see some increase in the show? Doug McCoy: Let me answer that because I think we are dancing a little bit, frankly. We have made money on concessions, that is our upside. Our downside is that one of these Fourth of July's, it could be next year, the fifth year, sixth year, etc., we get rained out. Then we are going to wipe that concession profit completely out. We have taken measures to limit the Town's exposure in that particular situation to $2,500.00 with the fireworks supply. Unfortunately, we will have staff there and tents set up, etc. I calculated it out last year and if we were to have that situation, we could be putting $20,000.00-$25,000.00 at risk. Some of it is just going to be spent. There will be carnival games there, staff, etc. We have an upside, but we also have a pretty good risk, or downside, as well. That is the reason, frankly, that we are coming to you saying that we need a little bit more of an upside to this. Somewhere down the line, we are going to take a hit. If we take a hit next year, we are going to be in the negative for the next four years. It is an outdoor facility, we run that risk and we understand that. We rained out the last two days. We have an exposure that the Town does not have and it is a pretty big hit if it happens. Vice Mayor Sutton: I understand that, and that makes it clear. I didn't know what the amount was, I knew you had a downside somewhere. We budget the amount every year, if we budgeted it rain or shine to help indemnify you for your possible loss, would that help at all? Doug McCoy: That may be a qiud pro quo on something like this, sure. Jim Munson: It seems like it would make sense. Doug McCoy: I don't know that I articulated the risk. You have to weigh the upside against the downside in this kind of business. Mayor Harn: My concern is that we put on two events per year that are for the public. We put on the Founder's Day program, on the north side, and we put on the fireworks display, on the south side. It seems to me that we budgeted $20,000.00 for the Founder's Day event. I would say that if the Town got some sponsors to help out, we wouldn't have to put up the whole $20,000.00. I feel that this is an event that is not going to break the Town and it is a decent event. I support it whole heartedly. Roxanne Ziegler: I feel the same way you do, since Marana has only these two events. I wouldn't want to do this every year. A motion was made by Roxanne Ziegler, seconded by Mayor Harn, for the Town of Marana to increase the monetary contribution for the 1998 fireworks display at Sportspark from $15,000.00 to $20,000.00. Such funds should be allocated from the Town's contingency fund. Additionally, in the event of inclimate weather, the Town shall be reimbursed the $20,000.00 minus the $2,500.00 for actual expenses incurred. Motion carried 4/2. Ed Honea and Herb Kal voted no. Vice Mayor Sutton: It was said in the discussion that if we help with some additional sponsorship then it would off set the amount that the Town would contribute. Could we amend the motion to add that? Roxanne Ziegler: Yes, that would be fine. Ed Honea: If we get major sponsors, dollar for dollar, ours will change. If we go from $10,000.00 to $20,000.00 and we get $7,000.00 worth of sponsorship, then ours will go down to $13,000.00. Is that basically what we are saying? Mike Hein: I think we need a point of clarification. Is the intent to get sponsors to support the Town's payments for the fireworks or to get sponsors for the whole event? I think they may have a concern if we are talking about allocation of sponsorships for the event. My understanding is that the motion is to increase the funding to $20,000.00 for 1998. Mayor Harn: The motion on the floor, right now, is that the Town might be able to solicit some people who would like to join the Town with our $20,000.00. We would try not to undercut what Sportspark is doing with sponsors. If we went out and brought in an additional $5,000.00 of sponsorship, to go with our money, then we would. Jim Munson: I would frame that a little differently because we work real closely with the Town in finding these sponsors. We bring some to the table and the Town brings some to the table, that has been the history of the event. I would say anything in excess of $15,000.00 would go back to Marana as a rebate on the show. Dan Hochuli: The motion was made by Councilwoman Ziegler. I understand that we don't need to do it by motion if the move is in the second and they both agree to amend their own motion. What I understand the motion to have been was that the Town would sponsor $20,000.00 for the fireworks show with the difference to be made up out of contingency funds and that the Town would be reimbursed all but $2,500.00 in the event of a rain. I believe, Councilwoman Ziegler has amended her original motion to also add that if the sponsorships exceed $15,000.00, those over and above $15,000.00 would be used to decrease the amount of participation by the Town. The second was made by the Mayor. (Roxanne Ziegler and Mayor Harn are both in agreement of the motion as just read). Then we don't have to vote on the amendment, we are voting on the motion as just stated. C. Municipal Facility Location - Consideration/Direction A motion was made by Ed Honea, seconded by Vice Mayor Sutton, that the three sites, originally chosen by the committee, and the Hum property be our focus. Further, we instruct staff to instruct the owners of these properties to make presentations and for the staff to go into more detail on the studies of these four properties. Motion carried 6/0. D. Santa Cruz River Flood Control Levee - Preliminary Approval of the Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) Between the Town of Marana and Pima County Flood Control District Relating to Development of the Lower Santa Cruz River Flood Control Levee Project Mike Hein: Item D is consideration of preliminary approval of an IGA between the Town of Marana and Pima County Flood Control District relating to the development of the Lower Santa Cruz River Flood Control Levee project. It is unfortunate that Mr. Davis is not here this evening, he is very ill. He has done a lot of work on this with Mr. Huckleberry from the County. This represents a lot of effort and time. We are asking that you give preliminary approval, we do not have ail of the exhibits done to the IGA, but believe it is substantially complete. In your packet, you will find a draft of the IGA. 8 Basically, it obligates the County to build the levee, and obligates the Town to provide an instrument for repayment of the levee for $500.00 per acre that is developed, upon the time of issuance of a building permit. One of the major concessions the County made was to exempt properties two acres and under in the benefitting area. What this means is that the $500.00 per acre, which will not cover the full cost but will be a contribution toward the cost, is for major developments and excludes small or individual property owners. These small or individual property owners have their "nest egg" and they intend to develop their home site as soon as the levee goes and the area is removed from the Santa Cruz Flood Plain. Mayor Harn: I can not see making a motion on this and preliminarily approving it if we are still going to hold it subject to final review and approval with exhibits. The other thing that concerns me is I would like to have Mr. Huckleberry and Mr. Davis here. I would just feel better about it if they were here. Would the Council be willing to continue this item for future agenda? Herb Kal: I don't have a problem with continuing this item, but, I think we are trying to keep this issue on a fast track, in a way. I think what staff is looking for is a preliminary approval. Roxanne Ziegler: I talked to Mr. Hein about this today, and I placed a call to Mr. Huckleberry. When I read this, I understood it. It was very well written and I congratulate whoever wrote this. I called out a few things I would like to have tightened up. But, it is well written, workable, usable, it is friendly and I was ready to make a motion on it. I appreciate how well this was put together. Vice Mayor Sutton: Will this come back before us with the exhibits, later? (yes) Then, lets make sure Mr. Huckleberry and Mr. Davis are here for that and lets give them the direction they need to get what they have done here. A motion was made by Vice Mayor Sutton, seconded by Ed Honea, to give preliminary approval for this item and to request Mr. Huckleberry and Mr. Davis be present for the final approval with exhibits. Motion carried 6/0. Mike Hein: The reason we are here for preliminary approval is to give Mr. Huckleberry and the County the assurance that the Town is in agreement, conceptually, with the agreement. As far as Mr. Davis' opinion on it, there is a letter attached to it, dated November 19th. The letter was drafted with our legal counsel and staff, and signed by Mr. Davis, which points out Mr. Davis' concerns. Also, you received a letter from Mr. Huckleberry, dated November 25th. stating that they approved all of the concerns that Mr. Davis raised in his letter. The reason we are looking for your preliminary approval is similar to your concerns about seeing Mr. Huckleberry eye-to-eye. He wants to make sure that he can trust Town staff's representation that the Council agrees to it in concept. I talked to Mr. Keenan, today, about some of the concerns in terms of the loose ends. Specifically, control over any activity within the flood plain, within in the Town. He reassured me that they would agree to any language that tightens it up. In other words, they don't want control over a carport that might be developed in the flood plain. They are concerned about any activity that could jeopardize the integrity and stability of the levee, and change the drainage. They are willing to tighten that up, as well. The preliminary approval is to reassure the County that there is general consensus with the Town that the agreement is in good faith. The exhibits are important to identify the final areas and to note on the exhibit the exclusion of the two acre parcels and under. When we formally move forward to assess those properties and develop an impact fee in development agreements with developers, we will identify those parcels for the retainment schedule. It has been a long dance and we are just trying to give them some reassurance. It will come back to Council and I will inform Mr. Huckleberry of the strong desire of this Mayor and Board to have him present for that day. Herb Kal: Mike, we talked about the $500.00 reimbursement to the County. I suggested that we try to ear mark the $500.00 for Phase II and Phase III. That was a pretty hard sell point to the County. Could you elaborate on that? Mike Hein: The point was made that the $500.00 per acre would not come close to repayment for the capital cost for the construction of the levee. The idea was to set aside that contribution for a Marana ear mark for future phases. Since this is Phase I, A and B, it still leaves Phase II and Phase III to do in the future and the idea was to set that aside. Their assertion is that the $500.00 per acre will go toward the retirement of some of the bonds that have been led in support of this project. Mr. Bronson and Mr. Huckleberry are going to develop a similar impact fee which they expect will be greater than $500.00 per acre in the unincorporated area. They are going to put that back in the Flood Control District toward the retirement of the debt. There is some general obligation, if you look in the recitals, that the sources of funding come from some State and Federal granting, some bonds and some general operating of the district. That is what the $500.00 per acre will go toward. Mayor Harn: They did agree that the people that participate in giving the easement, or right-of-way, will get a one-to-one? Mike Hein: That was one of the concessions, meaning that if Vice Mayor Sutton owned 10 acres and needed to dedicate 1 acre for the levee project, he would have 7 remaining acres and theoretically he would owe 7 times $500.00 but they have agreed to cut an additional acre off of that. That is in consideration of the dedication. Yes, they give a one for one credit. E. Resolution No. 97-120 and Ordinance 97.35 - Amending Chapter 11, Offenses, Article 11-3 of the Town Code to Reflect Changes in Federal Law Regarding Minors; Loitering and Curfew Ordinance. Discussion/Action Dan Hochuli: A ruling came down out of Federal District Court in San Diego, which held a San Diego Minor Curfew Ordinance unconstitutional. There are some provisions in that ordinance which were very similar to the provisions in our ordinance, as well as all of the other municipalities across 10 the Country. So, rather than attempt to enforce our ordinance and then find out later if it is constitutional or not, the Legal Department is recommending that we amend our cur-Jew ordinance to bring it more closely in compliance with that finding in San Diego. Essentially, what we have done is remove some vague language that the District Court in San Diego indicated as too vague. For example, loitering, wandering, idle stroll and playing were too vague. The law can not be so vague that it doesn't put the public on notice as to what they are not allowed to do. The concept of that Court was, by saying that juveniles can not loiter, wander, etc. after a certain hour was not concrete enough. The corrected language is not necessarily our language, a Jot of jurisdictions were making these changes at the same time. An additional change, made at this time, was to find the person in violation to not just be the minor but also the parent or guardian. So, if my 13 year old is in violation of the ordinance, so am I and so is the proprietor of the institution where he is. If he is hanging out at the Circle K at 2:00 AM then there can be three citations, one to Jeff, one to me and one to the proprietor of Circle K. Other than that, we just tried to bring it in to compliance with what we believe the current state of the law to be and make it more easily enforcable by the Town. The Department recommends the adoption of Resolution 97-120. A motion was made by Vice Mayor Sutton, seconded by Sherry Millner, to adopt Resolution No. 97-120 and Ordinance No. 97.35. Motion carried 6/0. F. Employee's Ability to Transfer Employer Portion of 401 Retirement Funds - Discussion/Direction Jane Johnson: The item before you is for informational purposes. The Town provided, in the past, a retirement for certified police officers. That has been since the incorporation of the community. On July 1, 1995, the Town opened a mandatory retirement plan for the rest of the Town employees. Recently, Roy and I reviewed the plan and we are here tonight to discuss what we found. I asked him to give you a review of the process that you used to pick retirement plans. Roy Cuaron: When the Council was exploring the retirement plans, there were basically two plans. One was the Arizona State Retirement Plan, known as the Defined Benefit Plan, and the other was the 401 Plan, known as the Defined Contribution Plan. For a lot of different reasons, the Council chose the 401 Plan. One of those reasons was it allowed the employees a greater flexibility in allocating their funds. That was important in the Council's eyes, but by the same token, the Council was concerned that the employees did not loose all of their moneys to bad investments. At the time Council adopted the plan, we were under the belief that the employer portion of the retirement plan would be invested in a safe, conservative fund so there would be very little risk. Unbeknownst to us was, the plan does not have any mechanism to guarantee that the employee can not touch the unvested portion of the funds. That is, currently under the plan, the employer portion may be reallocated by the employee. That is not what the Council had thought to be the case when we adopted the plan. What we are doing today is informing you that what our understanding at that time is not what the 11 current situation is. We are not suggesting that it has been problematic up to this point, but, because the Council did have that concern when the plan was adopted we felt incumbent to bring it to your attention at this point. Mayor Ham: Have you and Jane put together any kind of recommendation of anything you think we should change it to? Roy Cuaron: The recommendation, I think, from Jane and my perspective is to not do anything with the plan, leave it as is. If we sense that it is becoming problematic, then we will bring it back to the Council and ask for further direction. We haven't seen any signs of any abuses. I think it is our recommendation to just leave the plan alone. We just wanted to make you aware that the provision we thought was in the plan is not there. Roxanne Ziegler: would like to take his recommendation. If it is not broken, lets not fix it. I do ask that you look at the quarterly reports from ICMA to insure that there is not any of that going on. H. Additional Stafffor Building Department Mike Hein: Item H is a request for additional staff. You have the staff report in your packet which explains and provides attachments which show the rapid increase of activity for permitting over the last year, which gives a need for additional staff. Specifically, we are asking for authorization for one additional building inspector and one clerical assistant to the permits department. Staff is recommending approval at this time. It is consistent with staffing levels and ratios and other jurisdictions. We are recommending allocation of the $42,000.00, which would be the full cost, including benefits, vehicles, etc., from the Town's contingency fund. I believe, to date, we have not used the contingency fund, with the exception of the discussions of fireworks earlier. This would be the first reallocation of the contingency fund this fiscal year. Roy Cuaron: I want to verify that we have taken $5,000.00 from the contingency for GTEC. Council approved an increase in GTEC's contributions several months ago. A motion was made by Ed Honea, seconded by Vice Mayor Sutton, to reallocate $42,000.00 from the Town contingency fund to the Building Services Department to fund two additional staff persons and related vehicle, equipment, supplies and expenses. Motion carried 6/0. Sherry Millner: If this $42,000.00 is for two people, they will only be making $21,000.00 per year? Roy Cuaron: The $42,000.00 represents two staff positions budgeted for the balance of the fiscal year, which is approximately 6 months. It will include a vehicle, fuel and oil, and other related supplies, and expenses associated with the personnel contract. The numbers were derived from our existing salary plan. It is an entry level salary for those positions. MINUTES OF ~GUL~ COUNCIL MEETING $22,000.00 is salary and wages, $4,400.00 is employee benefits and the remaining $15,600.00 is for the vehicle and additional miscellaneous. Sherry Millner: I am trying to look at this and see if we are paying these people enough to live on. Looking at the total cost, what they have to live on is not a lot. Herb Kal: We are growing and we need the employees, but if we have a slow down in economy and we have all of this staff, who makes the decision to terminate? It is easy to hire someone, but then, if something goes wrong you shuffle them around somewhere else. Mike, can you shed a little light on that? Mike Hein: I knew someone would ask that question, I should have asked Jane. We don't perceive a slow down in the building industry for some time; as far as the level of permits, at least two years. There are two options, which I am not familiar with, and I will defer to Jane on them, on the Town's lay out policy, if they have a lay out policy. Another way is staff attrition, or reassignment in the different areas. Jane Johnson: Yes, we do have some basics for a lay out policy. We do not have it flushed out very much because we haven't had to think about it. We will do everything we can to shuffle people around with transfers and that sort of thing. At the rate we are going and with the requests I get weekly for more staff, I don't think that is going to be a problem any time soon. Certainly, it is a concern and we do have a procedure. Herb Kal: I just want to make sure that if we do end up having to down size our staff, we don't have a whole bunch of law suits. Jane Johnson: That is a reasonable concern and it is very high on my list. I want to be sure not to over staff. On the other hand, if we can't get the job done, we need to think about that, too. We do have in place the basics for a lay-off contingency. Mike Hein: If I could add to that, in general, I think payroll has been in the discussions with Mr. Davis and Jane about levels of staff in the different areas. I know Council has addressed this concern in the engineering aspect. The Town has, instead of staffing an engineering department, been going to outside consultants because they realize that at sometime that demand is going to be on a down side and we didn't want to have the level of permanent staff required. In this case, we are fairly confident and hopeful that this level will maintain itself and possibly even increase if we start working with developments such as Sahuaro Springs, Twin Peaks, the Dorkin Property and the flood control levee project, once it gets underway. J. Mayor and Council's Reoort ]3 Sherry Millner: I was invited to represent the Town of Marana at the Change of Command Ceremony at the Base for Lieutenant General Campbell. He has been replaced by Lieutenant General Lansford E. Trapp, Jr., who was the Wing Commander here two years ago. I attended that ceremony with Congressman Kolbe and Sharon Collins and we had some time to talk, which was great. I also talked to the new General and he is interested in keeping up the relationship with Marana in the Military Community. Vice Mayor Sutton: I met with Bob Mitchell, in Casa Grande, and I will be coming back to you at a later time to tell you what they are doing up there. It is real innovative and could help us with some issues in Marana. Ed Honea: I would like to give a lengthy report on the slow sand process at the next Council meeting. Mayor Harn: Mr. Davis and I met with Steve Jewitt, who is the new representative for Governor Hall for the Southern area. Mr. Jewitt came out for a short discussion and when we got to talking, we talked right through the Agenda meeting. It was a very enlightening discussion and I am very impressed with Mr. Jewitt and how he represents the Governor. He informed us that he has been given an official position on the Governor's staff in Phoenix. This means that when things come to Tucson, from Phoenix, if Tucson needs to do anything, we will no longer have to go back and ask for permission. I was very pleased that he took the time to come out and meet with us. I found him to be very interesting. He is the kind of person who will admit to you that he doesn't know everything and that he has not been in government before, but he is learning. He said he came to listen, not to talk. I also want to report that I was out to Watts with a group of people from the Air National Guard and the Army National Guard. I was privledged to see their new promotional films for both the State of Arizona Guard and local Guard Units. In everyone of the films I saw, they identified themselves as being in Marana, Arizona. The State promotional film said they were stationed in Marana, Arizona, northwest of Tucson. I was delighted to hear that. In the discussion, both Adjutant General's Assistant and the Commander at Watts said they would like to come before the Council and give a presentation of what is happening in our area. These people are very supportive of our community. Just recently, the Army and Air National Guards from Watts brought 4,000 pounds of food to the Marana Community Food Bank. They want to be a part of Marana. At the 40th Anniversary of the Marana Health Center, they flew in an Apache helicopter and put it on the Marana Health Center property and left it there all day with two airmen to illustrate the helicopter. We brought it out for the children but we had to beat the men of the neighborhood away so the children could see. I think they are good neighbors and I hope that you all would permit them to make a presentation. I attended the Chamber of Commerce luncheon at TRICO Electric. I want to keep involved with the Chamber of Commerce and I am concerned that the participation there is not quite as good as I would like. I think that more council members and staff members need to promote it and ]4 support it. I also attended the Pow Wow at the Chamber of Commerce. It is an exciting event, and if we could develop it and get it going well, it could be a big drawing point to North Marana. I enjoyed it very much and the food was great. I would like to see it grow. Roxanne Ziegler: I would like to attend one of the lunches for the Chamber of Commerce, but I work on the south side of Tucson and to get up here for lunch and go back it is a 40 minute drive up. I know you have it once a month, but maybe one month you could have it in the evening. I would dearly love to attend but I just can't do it at lunch. K. Mana_oer's Reoort Mike Hein: I believe Mr. Davis signed a closing on one of the first homes in the building program. Thanks to the efforts of Mr. Groseclose and that program, it was just in time for the holidays. X. FUTURE AGENDAITEMS Vice Mayor Sutton: We had a letter in our boxes regarding the high speed on Silverbell, with the kids coming home from school and some other issues. I would like to bring that to Council to maybe go over some options. I. ADJOURNMENT A motion was made by Herb Kal, seconded by Vice Mayor Sutton, to adjourn. The motion passed 6/0. CERTIFICATION I hereby certify that the foregoing minutes are the true and correct minutes of the Marana Town Council held on December 2, 1997. I further certify that a quorum was present. ~,,~'~ ~ _ EC,OSE. Tow. C,ERK