Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout11/19/1997 Special Joint Meeting Minutes MINUTES OF SPECIAL JOINT MEETING MARANA TOWN COUNCIL & WATER UTILITY ADVISORY COMMITTEE NOVEMBER 19, 1997 PLACE AND DATE Marana Junior High Auditorium, November 19, 1997 CALL TO ORDER By Mayor Ora Harn at 7:05 P.M. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Led by Mayor Ora Harn III. ROLL CALL TOWN COUNCIL Ora Ham Bobby Sutton, Jr. Ed Honea Herb Kai Sherry Millner Michael Reuwsaat Roxanne Ziegler Mayor Vice Mayor, excused Council Member, excused Council Member Council Member, excused Council Member Council Member WATER UTILITY ADVISORY COMMITTEE Betty Horrigan Jean Lynch Clay Parsons Robert Condit Robert Millner Chairman, excused Vice Chairman Secretary, excused Representative Representative, excused IV. APPROVAL OF AGENDA A motion was made by Roxanne Ziegler, seconded by Herb Kai, to add call to the Pledge of Allegiance to the agenda. The motion was carried 6/0. A motion was made by Mike Reuwsaat, seconded by Roxanne Ziegler, to approve the amended agenda. The motion carried 6/0. V. GENERAL ORDER OF BUSINESS PUBLIC HEARING - The Marana Town Council and the Marana Water Advisory Committee are Holding a Public Hearing Where Citizens can Receive Information and communication on Standardizing the Water Rates for the Marana Municipal Water System Brad DeSpain: I would like to take a moment to introduce some members of the Water Department: Mrs. Ann Meaders, Water Administrative Manager; Linda McDonald, a temp employee; Mr. Floyd Foster, Water Operations Manager; Ms. Lily Grijalva, support staff; Mr. Joe Miller, Water Operator. We are very proud of the team we have at the Water Department. I am not a staff person with the Town of Marana, I serve as a consultant to the Water Department. We also have a Water Utility Advisory Committee and they are very important to our cause. They are the people who live in your areas and you can call upon them if you have items you would like to have discussed in their MINUTES OF SPECIAL JOINT MEETING MARANA TOWN COUNCIL & WATER UTILITY ADVISORY COMMITTEE NOVEMBER 19, 1997 meetings, or even problems you may have that have not been handled to your satisfaction by the staff. They voluntcer a lot of their time. Robert Condit, who is on the Water Utility Advisory Committee, also serves on an operation committee, formed by the Town of Marana and the Cortaro Marana Irrigation District. This is a Trust which wilt provide the wholesale water for the Town of Marana and Cortaro Marana, where Mr. Condit is the General Manager. I think it is a very good combination. As you live in Marana you can probably see that we can become a miniature Salt River project. I have some overhead projections I would like to present to the group and then questions and comments can come in from the group. This Public Hearing is a courtesy by the Town Council. The Water Advisory Committee talked about it and chose to have a Public Hearing so your comments and desires about the water system and the stabilization of those water rates can be presented. They can, by Code, be increased administratively but the Council chose to not let us do that. After this hearing tonight we will get direction from Council. Even though you may not live within the town boundaries of Marana, this Council is very concerned about you and wants to hear your opinions. (SUMMARIZATION) Marana started out with a small existing water company, the Honea Water Company. In the past two years, Marana has gained some other systems. Some of those are outside of the Marana Town boundaries, those are very key to some of the things that are supposed to happen. Some of the areas outside the Town boundaries will be interconnected as development occurs. These are some justifications that staff has put together for standardization of water rates within the Marana Municipal Water System: 1) It will be equitable to all users of the system. 2) It is not fair that the people within the Town of Marana subsidize those water customers outside the boundaries. It is, also, not fair that the customers outside the Town boundaries subsidize those customers within the boundaries. The Town of Marana has an assured water supply for a hundred years, designated to the year 2096. The Cortaro Marana has an assured water supply but not a designation of assured water supply. 3) The interconnections mentioned previously are going to occur. This gives you considerable backup, looping systems and storage. Airline/Lambert interconnection with Sahuaro Springs, La Puerta and Picture Rocks will be interconnected with Continental Ranch, Oshrin will be interconnected with Cortaro Ranch and Marana will be interconnected with the Honea system. 4) It increases reliability and creates the ability to stay on ground water as a source of supply longer. The goal of the Council is to provide ground water until we have no other choice. 5) Eventually, this will also allow for the upgrade of systems for fire protection standards and adequate storage facilities for fire protection. This will bring about a reduction in fire insurance policies rates. 6) Three State Certified Water Operators will be available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, to provide trained, qualified, certified staff with years of experience. 7) It allows us to centralize operations to provide better service in response to water outages and other emergencies. We have a contract being developed with Metro Water Company that has team and equipment for major repair service. 2 MINUTES OF SPECIAL JOINT MEETING MARANA TOWN COUNCIL & WATER UTILITY ADVISORY COMMITTEE NOVEMBER 19~ ! 997 8) Future rate increases are governed by the Town Code and revised statutes of the State of Arizona as directed by the Town Council, and that procedure includes a Public Hearing. Having a Town Council govern water rates is better for the water customers than if the ACC governs them. 9) The Town of Marana has a Citizen Water Utility Advisory Committee which serves as an overview body for rate payers. They are involved in the discussions of purchasing additional water companies, upgrades, extensions and interconnectinns, etc. It creates an opportunity for grants, low interest loans, bonding and water system improvements. 10) As the system grows, it creates opportunity for holding or decreasing water rates, and a larger scale operation creates efficiencies in operation and cost saving opportunities. Town Code requires uniform rates throughout and the Town Water Department needs to be an enterprise system. Benefits to the Town of Marana: I) Improved operating/administrative efficiencies. 2) Improved water system supply and service reliability. 3) Improved fire flows resulting from the additional water storage and boost capacity. The total average monthly bill at the current rate is $37.68 and the total average monthly bill at the Honea system rate is $45.09. The average monthly increase in dollars is $7.42. A breakdown of the improvements mentioned is as follows: 1) Marana Park well interconnection with Marana Municipal System to add 10,000 gallons of storage with pressure pumps and manifolds. 2) Interconnect the Mamna Municipal Water System Honea with the Farmers' CMID System at Grier Road, South of Sanders to Swanson with an eight inch line. There will be fire hydrants installed and valves, as that progresses. 3) Interconnection of Barnett at Sandario, to Moore, to Whitney Lane to the east well storage tank, with an eight inch line. 4) There will be the capability of pressurized water from the systems, back and forth. 5) There will be the ability to fill the storage tanks at Honea with the wells from Cortaro Marana and fill the tanks at CMID as work is completed. 6) Move the 15,000 gallon storage tank from Picture Rocks to the Palo Verde System. Pressure pumps with manifolds will be added to the Palo Verde System and the discharge at the pump of the storage tank will be changed. 7) Negotiations are in progress with Metro for a 50,000 gallon water tank. If that is accomplished it will be moved to the Lambert well site. 8) The interconnect between Airline Lambert and Sahuaro Springs will have a storage tank added to the well site. You are welcome to give input to the Water Utility Advisory Committee on the many long range plans being discussed. Changing the meter, as mention earlier, from a 1" meter to a 5/8" meter will cost $115.00, parts and labor. This will reduce your bill from a minimum of $34.00 to $14.00 per month. MINUTES OF SPECIAL JOINT MEETING MARANA TOWN COUNCIL & WATER UTILITY ADVISORY COMMITTEE NOVEMBER 19, 1997 Mayor Harm Mr. DcSpain said that he and his staff would be glad to stay after this meeting and discuss rate changes and help you to understand them. Roxanne Ziegler: What is the time frame when the rates will change. Brad DeSpain: We recommend to Council that the rate change be effective January 1, 1998. Pat O'Brien, 7101 West Picture Rocks Road: I am the Director of Picture Rocks Retreat. I thank Mr. DeSpain for the very clear explanation he gave. I would like to address the Council to make you aware of the impact this will have on two customers. In 1964, when Picture Rocks Retreat was built we purchased a piece of property on Silverbell Road to provide a water system for us for the future. We dug a well and laid pipe all the way up to Picture Rocks Retreat. To help pay for that very expensive procedure, we sold some of that water to a few people along that route. Subsequently, that area developed quite a bit and, suddenly, we were running Picture Rocks Water Company. About twelve years ago we sold that water company to Marana Water Service. My concern right now is the substantial rate increase this would mean for us. I am very much aware of the need for rate increases. I have no difficulty in the idea of standardization of rates. When that is joined together with the meter rate, we will have a rate increase for the meter of 573% every month. That is a lot. Overall, our rate increase would be from 26%-30% every month. The increase from $2.25 to $2.55 per thousand gallons is very reasonable, but attached to the 573% increase in the meter rental, it becomes very onerous for us. I just want you to be aware of this and to see if there isn't some way that it can be taken care of. I am not sure what the cost of the meter is, but we will be paying over $500.00 per year. I think we could buy a meter every couple of years for that and we have had the same meter for 34 years, they don't wear out that quickly. I hope you will give this consideration because it does have some serious consequences. Brad DeSpain: They have a 2" meter size instead of a standard size meter, so their monthly minimum is going to be greater. That is why they would encounter such an increase. Herb Kal: Would it be possible for the Retreat to size down their meter or do they need this particular amount of flow to service their needs. Brad DeSpain: We have not surveyed or discussed their needs with them. We would be willing to do that. Father O'Brien may know if they require that size meter. They serve several cottages, a kitchen and a recreation center. We will be glad to look at it with them a see if something can be done to reduce the size of the meter and still have adequate water and pressure. Mayor Harm I would like to see you work with Picture Rocks Retreat and see if we can help them in some way. Sharon Woolridge, 9771 North Clayton Place: I live in the Palo Verde District and one of my concerns is that I do not live in Marana. We won't have any vote or say-so about what happens to our water. I can't say that we really want to be in Marana, unless you have something to offer us that the County doesn't. Several people in the 4 MINUTES OF SPECIAL JOINT MEETING MARANA TOWN COUNCIL & WATER UTILITY ADVISORY COMMITTEE NOVEMBER 19, 1997 neighbOrhood have talked about that. I would like to know what is going to happen if we don't have a vote. I don't understand why it has to be raised to be standardized. Why can't it be taken down to the lower levels? We have heard that with the number of people increasing in the area, the cost should go down. It seems to me you are increasing a lot of people of your water company. Mr. DeSpain was talking about interconnects, I did not hear anything about interconnecting with the Palo Verde site. Is that because we are not in the Town of Marana? There was also mention of Metro Water doing repairs. Will they be coming out to the Palo Verde area to repair mains? Or are they going to be contained within their water service area? I know a lot of areas have automatic chlorinates to protect against bacteria and every time you fix or add a line it adds bacteria back into the tine system. What is being done on that to protect our safety? On the schedule, where it talks about the gallons used for the average household, one area was 21,000. Was it taken into consideration how many of those areas have a lot of children? If you look at the different school areas, that might have something to do with it. Mayor Harn: One of the things that needs to be understood, as Mr. DeSpain mentioned, is the Town is concerned about the Water Company being an enterprise system so it can support itself. At this point, it is a long way from doing that and the rate increases we are putting into effect will not cover the cost of the water. The Town of Marana will still be subsidizing the Water Company. Brad DeSpain: That is correct. We have 1,020 customers. We need 2,048 in order to break even. We are only half way there. That is our concern, we want to get out of that red. It could happen fairly rapidly, especially if we take over Continental Ranch. We do chlorinate in your area, Mr. Foster will have to speak on that, however. Metro will come out, on an emergency basis, for a large main repair (not to your house, strictly the large main that runs down the street). We sympathize with you. We can't interconnect anybody with you because there isn't anyone close to you. Glover Water Company is close to you but their water company is strictly for themselves and I doubt they will sell to us. At some point in time, we would like to put an additional well and storage tank in your area so you have back up, as well. I don't feel the companies we bought were profitable, which is why they considered selling to us. The performance statement sent to the Arizona Cooperation Commission show that Marana Water Service, Inc. was making a profit. But, by the time you take the depreciation, management salaries, etc. out of it, it was break even, at best. The complete water facilities were not upgraded and consequently, those risks are still prevalent to us, and you. We are going to improve that with a storage tank at your site so if the well quits, we can haul water to the storage tank to keep you in water until the pump is repaired. The only reason the Town wants to be in the water business is to be able to determine its destination. (Discussion between a citizen in the audience and Mr. DeSpain regarding zoning and variance laws. The citizen's voice can not be heard on the tape) Floyd Foster: In response to Sharon Woolridge's question about chlorinating, we have one system that is continuously chlorinated. That is the Honea System. The rest of the systems that have storage tanks are chlorinated once per month with 1 pint of 5.5% chlorine. The largest storage tank we have is a 50,000 gallon tank (except for the 100,000 gallon tank at Picture Rock) and the smallest we have is 15,000 gallons. We do bacteria tests once per month, as regulated by the State of Arizona. 5 MINUTES OF SPECIAL JOINT MEETING MARANA TOWN COUNCIL & WATER UTILITY ADVISORY COMMITTEE NOVEMBER 19, 1997 Brad DeSpain: We test for Coliform bacteria, Ecoli, and Fecalcoliform bacteria. Fecalcoliform is only tested for if you have a positive BacT test. I don't remember nitrates being a problem in your area, I don't remember the percentage. The only system we have a problem with nitrates on is the Honea System, at this time. Lohise Toal, 13600 North Reyher: My daughter and I live in separate houses and our water bills were both the same. My daughter does not use much water at her house. I can not understand why the bills were the same amount. They were both $22.50 plus tax, which we have never paid before, as far as I know. She comes down to my house at 4:00 in the morning and drops off her son. She works all day, while I am at home alt day. I do their wash and mine. I don't understand why our bills should be the same. Mine was 928 and hers was 443. Brad DeSpain: I will let Ann work on this for you and she can go over your bills with you. However, my first reaction would be that you are both being charged the minimum. Ann Meaders: You are in the Cortaro Marana System and it is $10.00 per month, which includes the first 1,000 gallons of water. Then it is $2.50 for each 1,000 gallons after that. Your bill is completely on consumption, it would have to do with the amount of water that goes through your meter. If your bills are the same, it would only indicate that you used the same amount of water. That does not mean that you had to physically use the same amount of water, you may have a leak between your meter and your house. The only way to answer that question would be for you to give us a call and let us come out and evaluate your particular situation. According to the bills, 6,000 gallons of water was used at both residences. If the water is not being used inside the home, the only other answer is that you have a leak. A leak could be a running toilet, a drippy faucet or a leak in the line from the meter to the home. Brad DeSpain: We would like the Toals to come to the Water Department office and so we can look at their bills and do whatever we need to do to justify why they are the way they are. The Water Department address is 12775 North Sanders Road, where the former Police Department was. Our phone number is 616-4908 and Ms. Meaders has some cards if you want to pick one of those up. Don Gibson, 5312 West Calle Maverick: I have made two observations during tonight's discussion. The Town of Marana annexed the businesses south of us, takes 2% of our income in revenue, puts that in their pocket, then comes back to buy our water department and then raise our rates. We don't even live in the city, it doesn't make any sense. We poor folk purposely moved outside of the City of Tucson, even though I work for the City of Tucson, to get away from the bureaucracy, the larger size of city governments. The bigger cities get, the more wasteful they become, I know, I've been involved with many. That is why we are here, and now we see this. You talk about coming out and fixing our water system, yet the examples don't talk about the Cortaro Water District being in peril or anything else that you insinuate about all of these others. I don't see where anybody was a savior to us. All I see is the Town of Marana trying to secure their water shed for their development and growth. That is a scary thought because we are the guinea pigs. I got a 43% increase on my base rate, that is absurd. Look at the bond issues that just passed. I just got socked with a total of about $400.00 in taxes this past year, increases to my property tax. Do you know what the City of 6 MINUTES OF SPECIAL JOINT MEETING MARANA TOWN COUNCIL & ~VATER UTILITY ADVISORY COMMITTEE NOVEMBER 19, 1997 Tucson paid mc in my pay raise? I am behind the 8 ball right now. I am not like my neighbor who is retired and lives on a fixed income. Somewhere, someone has to understand thc system just can't go like this. We get a little bit frustrated when we see bureaucracy steamrollering over communities and people on thc outside. I work for thc City of Tucsun as the Recycling Coordinator, I have been there for 5 years. Prior to that, I was in the City of Chandler for two years. Prior to that I was contracted to cities for seven years. One thing about the City of Tucson, that I would ask you to consider, is when they annex areas, they wheel and deal to get people to sign. Partly, what that includes is making deals on rates of services. Thc City of Tucson has many types of services and service levels, sometimes at no cost. Thc City of Tucson has free garbage service. I would like to ask the Town of Marana to phase it in over a two or three year period. To just sock it to us all at once is a lot, it is a 40% inercasc to mc. I would rather you increase me 15% per year for the next three years. I don't have a problem with the $.05 per gallon difference. I am spooked about what my rates are going to become over the next £cw years; especially after hearing that you arc real short, now. If something doesn't break, this advisory committee is going to bc back asking for more money. Then we arc stuck again. Please remember wc arc human beings out here just trying to pay our taxes. Try to phase it in. I am in CMID Oshrin Park. Brad DeSpain: Unless we did our math wrong, we show an 11.52% increase. It will go from $10.00 to $14.00. Robert Thielman, Jr.: I would like a clarification on the rezoning with the Palo Verde Systems. If we get zoning approved through the County, we still have to go through the Town of Marana to get a water hookup, correct? Also, you were talking about a bigger storage tank on that well. Is there some kind of time line on that, a year or two years, etc.? Brad DeSpain: Yes, you do have to go through the Town of Marana to get water hooked up. You have no storage there at all right now. The plans are already designed and we are going out for bid the first part of January to move the tank from Picture Rocks to your facility. I would think by the end of April we will have that storage tank in and the manifold in place. It will happen before the heat hits in 1998. Robert Thielman, Jr.: I am a new member of Palo Verde so I am not familiar with the boundary lines. Does it include Twin Peaks Road toward the pass, where the property was just rezoned for development, right behind Happy Acres? Brad DeSpain: No, Palo Verde is strictly that area. At the end of Twin Peaks and Clayton Road, that subdivision in there is Palo Verde. Robert Thielman, Jr.: You were talking about only having half the amount of water customers necessary to break even. When that even point is made, do our rates go down or do they stay the same and the profit goes into the Town of Marana? Brad DeSpain: When that point is reached, I am sure we won't reduce the rates immediately. We owe some funds to the Town, that will all be taken into consideration. As that grows, however, we are shooting for lowering rates again. We will be making that recommendation to the Council. MINUTES OF SPECIAL JOINT MEETING MARANA TOWN COUNCIL & WATER UTILITY ADVISORY COMMITTEE NOVEMBER 19, 1997 Mayor Harm I would like to suggest to the audience that at our discussions at the Town Council level, it has always been our opinion that everyone who gets Marana water should pay the same cost. That is why we feel we have to equalize the cost of water across the entire group, nobody is getting water any cheaper then anyone else. Robert Thielman, Jr.: I came to the meeting a little late and I did not catch if this is something that is already set. Brad DeSpain: The staff is just recommending to the Council that they standardize their rates. That is why they have the hearing tonight, so they can take it into consideration and then give staff direction. The rate was established about a year ago with the Honea System. I think it was in February, 1996. Now we are just asking the Council for rate standardization. Roxanne Ziegler: When do you anticipate, Mr. DeSpain, bringing the folks in Continental Ranch online? Will we go through the same type of Public Hearing with those people to bring their rates standard with the people in the northern area. Brad DeSpain: We are hopeful that we can get something accomplished by July, 1998, it may be December, 1998 or July,1999. We are pressing very vigorously. It looks good at this point in time, we have a lot of common agreement. I would think that the Council end Advisory Committee would advise us to look at the water rates of Continental Ranch. These people think they have rate shock, wait until your $9.50/month minimum for 100 cubic feet goes to $14.00/month for 1,000. I feel very strong about standardizing so everybody is paying their fair share for the service they receive. Mike Hein: I just have a few points of clarification. While Brad emphasized the fact that we only have 1,400 customers end, to break even, we need about 2,048 (whatever the numbers are), a lot of that would be accomplished if we received the Tucson Water Systems. However, future development may do that. We are not solely relying on Tucson Water to break even for us. Mr. DeSpain mention Sahuaro Springs Development is coming on line. That may add enough customers over the term of their build-out to assist with that. One thing we want to make clear to the residents and non-residents is that we are not only asking the developers to ennhence the water system by turning it over to us, we are not accepting the water system until it breaks even on its own. We don't want to keep acquiring companies that will further drain the resources of the community. As far as Councilwoman Ziegler's question about having the same process for Continental Ranch, it is really up to the Council, this hearing wasn't required. The Code requires us to standardize rates. I would like to commend the Water Department again, they were fearful that by raising bills overnight, we would get a lot of complaints, justifiably so. They put two mailers out in all of your bills advising you of this and encouraging you to attend these meetings so you can get that information. We are required to hold a hearing if we do a rate increase. Prior to the Town acquiring the water system, your only voice was through the Arizona Corporation Commission. You would have had to attend a hearing or protest to the Corporation Commission in Phoenix. According to State Statute, the Municipalities have to hold a notice of rate increases, which will be mailed to the customers, and then hold a Public Hearing and then a period of time has to lapse before the rates could be increased. You will have a more direct 8 XIo representation because you can attend the heatings and voice your concerns and ask questions on a more familiar level. Mayor ltarn: I want to tell the people who are here today to have compassion with the Council, we all drew in our breath when we saw some of the enormous rate increases that some of the areas were going to have to take. Part of that is because the rates had not been raised over an extremely long time and were not compatible with any other rates that we were aware of. We do understand your distress at this increase. Brad DeSpaim I have list of comparable rates and I will leave them posted up here for everyone to look at. Mike ltein: I just want to remind everyone that we will be more than happy to stay after the meeting to help estimate your bills for you. If you feel more comfortable bringing your bills into Ann at a later date, we will do it then as well. ADJOURNMENT A motion was made by Herb Kai, seconded by Roxanne Ziegler, to adjourn meeting. The motion carried 6/0. CERTIFICATION ! hereby certify that the foregoing minutes are the true and correct minutes of the Marana Town Council held on November 19, 1997. I further certify that a quorum was present. SE, TOWN CL~RK 9