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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10/21/1997 Regular Council Meeting MinutesPLACE AND DATE Marana Town Hall, October 21, 1997 By Vice Mayor Bobby Sutton at 7:01 P.M. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Led by Vice Mayor Bobby Sutton III. INVOCATION Led by Vice Mayor Bobby Sutton IV. ROLL CALL COUNCIL Ora Ham Bobby Sutton, Jr. Ed Honea Herb Kai Sherry Millner Michael Reuwsaat Roxaune Ziegler Mayor, excused, will be late Vice Mayor Council Member Council Member Council Member Council Member Council Member STAFF Michael Hein Dan Hochuli Sandy Groseclose Roy Cuaron Jocelyn Entz Dave Atler Jane Johnson Dave Smith Assistant Town Manager Town Attorney Town Clerk Finance Dh'ector Executive Asst. to Town Manager Public Works Director Haman Resources Director Chief o f Police V. APPROVAL OF AGENDA A motion was made by Ed Honea, seconded by Herb Kai, to move items A, B, and C after item G to allow the Mayor to return since she put these items on the agenda. The motion was earned 6/0. VI. ACCEPTANCE OF MINUTES Minutes of Regular Council Meeting for October 7, 1997 are not available. VII, CALL TO THE PUBLIC/ANNOUNCEMENTS Sandy Groseclose: I would like to take this opportunity to introduce our new clerk. Cheryl Cathey does the Council minutes for us. She started with the Town on September 10, 1997. She was active duty Air Force for 5 years and is now active reserves as a Med Lab Tech. Cheryl has two children, ages 5 years and 1 year. We are very happy to have her. Mike Hein: I have a new staff member I would like to take the opportunity to introduce. Dick Gear is the Town's new Annexation and Economic Development staff person. Dick has a very diverse and professional academic background. Hc spent seventeen years in the private sector as a Geologist. He has an undergraduate degree from San Jose State in Geology, where he also holds the NCAA championship as a pole vaulter. Dick also holds undergraduate de~'ees from the U of A in Business and Finance. He is formerly the Vice President of Pima Savings. He worked with me as Principal Management Analyst for the City of South Tucson. Dick decided to go back and get his masters degree in Public Administration. I am real pleased to have him on our staff. He is reporting to Jerry Flannery, who is at a conference right now. Vice Mayor Sutton: We have a prestigious award to give out. Mike Hein: Mr. Cuaron, please stand. On October 9, 1997, Mr. Davis received notification that our Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) received the Certificate for Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting. (Mr. Hein proceeded to read the press release that they sent with the award) I am real honored to be able to present this to Roy, it shows how far this town has come. It really is not an easy thing to do, especially for the initial years. Vice Mayor Sutton: The certificate reads: The Government Finance Officers' Association of the United States and Canada presents this award of Financial Reporting Achievement to Roy Cuaron, Finance Director, Town of Marana, Arizona. Congratulations. Vice Mayor Sutton: We would like to welcome the Boy Scout Troops of America, Troop #223 of Marana Later Day Saints' Church. They are here tonight to get their badges in communications. We would also like to recognize Oakley Lafferty and Randy Francis as the leaders. Spencer came forward and introduced each Boy Scout member present. No action taken. IX. GENERAL ORDER OF BUSINESS D. Ordinance No. 97.20 - Changes to Marana Park & Recreation Center Ordinance, User Rules, Applications and User Fees Mike Hein: I know this item has been discussed before, it basically pertains to changing the liquor that is allowed at the park, as well as establishing fees for rentals. The item has been sent to the Parks and Recreation Committee and no response has been received. We present this, tonight, with recommendation for approval. Roxanne Ziegler: Mr. Atler, what is the difference between the two different prices, one for electricity and one without? 2 Dave Atler: Some of the ramadas, like the large ramada and the pavilion, are lit. There are occasions where users want to rent it and hook a stereo up to it or use it in the evening with the lights. We tmn the power on, so, they have a higher rate if they want to use the electricity. Roxanne Ziegler: I don't think we should charge for that. I have rented a lot of ramadas and never seen a charge with electricity and one without. A motion was made by Mike Reuwsaat, seconded by Ed Honea, to accept staff's recommendation to accept Ordinance No. 97.20, amending chapter 13, sections 13- 1-2 and 13-1-3 of the Marana Town Code, appealing all resolutions, ordinances and roles of the Town of Marana in conflict there with. The motion carried 5/1. Roxanne Ziegler voted Nay. E. Family Special Event - Holiday Tree Lighting Festival Pauline Nunez, Recreation Supervisor: When staff and I were throwing around ideas on what type of special events we would like to bring to the Town of Marana, we thought ora tree lighting festival/event to be held here at Town Hall in the grassy areas. We would light up a couple of thc pine trees out there and put a banner from one tree to thc other saying, "Season's Greetings, from the Town of Marana." We would have an evening event with a hay ride taking people from Lon Adams down Barnett, down Old Vail Road, down Grief and back up Lon Adams. There would be a Santa Clause and face painting for the kids. We would invite the different choral groups from the schools in Marana to come out and sing holiday songs and we would have refreshments. It would be of no cost to the public, and is already in our budget. Mike Hein: Basically, we are looking for direction. I don't think, technically, we need your approval again since it was previously approved in your budget. It is just an item that staff wanted to make you aware of since staff is looking at initiating this for years to come. I think it is a great idea and I compliment Ms. Nunez and Dave for bringing it forward to get the community involved. Vice Mayor Sutton: If there isn't any additional direction or change of direction, we don't need a motion. r in n o. 1 ~ Second Reading Amendment to the Town Personnel Policy Deleting Appendix I, Sample Notice of Intent to Terminate (or Suspend or Demote)~Prior to Action; Appendix III, Sample Notice of Rejection of Probationary Appointment; Appendix VII, Town of Marana Travel Authorization; Appendix VIII, Town of Marana Travel Claim Form Mike Hein: Basically, what this does is omit or eliminate some of the forms in the personnel manual in the past. Ms. Johnson, the Human Resources Director, has done a tremendous job streamlining and mainstreaming the personnel manual to bring it up to date and make it a more user friendly document. Forms are typically not incorporated in the manuals because it limits the flexibility of the administration and it is really unnecessary. Employee manuals are made to explain the policies, not necessarily forms and things of that nature. This is the second reading and we are recommending approval. A motion was made by Roxanne Ziegler, seconded by Ed Honea, to adopt Ordinance No. 97.31, deleting Appendices I, II, III, VII, and VIII from the Personnel Policies Manual. Motion carried 6/0. G. Avra Valley Reverse Curve Speed Study - Discussion/Action Mike l~lein: This item was placed on the agenda from a previous meeting's future agenda items. Staff was directed to conduct a study and look into that area because of safety concerns. The staffreport and the study are in your packet. Basically, staff has taken the initiative (and I compliment Mr. Atler) to place the advisory signs where they believe it is suited and working with the County on that issue. Mr. Atler is available to answer any questions. Ed Itonea: I asked to have this item placed on the agenda. I thought there were two very dangerous situations on Avra Valley Road, directly adjacent to the airport. One is the reverse curve, where I know two Marana residents have died in the last 20 years. We have had deaths on that curve because individuals come down that road at far too high a speed and don't realize they have an S curve there. What I felt was the worst of the two situations was traffic trying to get off of Sandario Road and on to Avra Valley Road. In the mornings, between 7:00 and 9:00, and in the evenings, between 4:00 and 6:00, because of the 15,000 people that now live out here in the Avra Valley, people use Awa Valley Road as their freeway. You have some serious problems with individuals trying to come up Sandario Road and either make a left or fight onto Avra Valley Road. The problem is the traffic on Avra Valley Road is traveling at such a high rate of speed. A car could be a quarter of a mile from the intersection and if you pull out in front of them, they are on your bumper very fast. I have seen several near misses there over in the last couple of years. I felt we needed to do something. Most of the roadway is in the County, so we are hampered a little. Maybe we can put a flashing yellow light at Sandafio Road and Avra Valley Road so people will at least slow down. It is a single lane so you can't pass someone pulling out in front of you. Vice Mayor Sutton: Dave, you have some different ways to go about this on the blue sheet. We are also dealing with the County, so what is the red tape involved and what is something we can do in an interim period? As I understand it, if you reduce the speed limit for a short stretch of road it is not effective. What are ot~r options here before we can get together with the County and have something permanent. Dave Atler: The approach we have taken thus far, is we have added some chevrons on the reverse curve to delineate the curvature. We think that is helping. Adding the advisory sign for the lower speed limit should help on the reverse curve as well. The intersection at Sandario Road and Awa Valley Road is in the County. I have had discussions with the County and they are doing their own analysis on this. Typically, the way the County approaches this is they do a technical analysis and make their determinations based on the technical merits alone. If they don't come during the time period Councilman Honea is talking about or after high school 4 events, they are not going to identify this as a problem and they will not participate on this. However, I think that it is certainly legitimate to do something to identify the intersection a little bit better. I would then proceed with the County to initiate an IGA, or whatever other agreement they would need, for us to put up some safety lighting. Mike Reuwsaat: I wunld just like to reiterate what Ed said. Whether it is flashing yellow lights or time restricted zones, which I don't think will work because of the special events. At a minimum, could we send a letter on behalf of the Council supporting appropriate action? Particularly, identifying them as not 9:00-5:00 situations, with traffic going to work and back and special events. Would they consider looking at a mm lane? Dave Atler: We did a traffic analysis earlier this year to determine if there were sufficient warrants for mm lanes and we did not find it. The geometries there don't promote that. That does not mean we can't do something in conjunction with the safety lighting. We will certainly look at it closer, just because it doesn't warrant it doesn't mean we can't do it. The County won't want to do it if it is not warranted. I would like everyone to be aware that if the County doesn't like our recommendations, we don't have any jurisdiction. Mike Hein: If it is the Council's desire, staff would recommend that a motion be made to the effect of instructing staff to draft a letter to the County, asking for their assistance to remedy that situation. A motion was made by Mike Reuwsaat, seconded by Herb Kal, to instruct staff to draft a letter to the County asking for their assistance with the intersection geometries and safety lighting. Motion carded 6/0. A. Family Fun Day and Fireworks Show at Sportspark - Discussion/Action Mike Hein: I apologize. I don't have a lot of background in this area. Mr, Davis and Mayor Ham have met with the representatives from Sportspark. I believe they were asked to develop a proposal by the end of this month or early next month and I am not sure i£they have that prepared at this time. I believe Mayor Ham placed this on the agenda to get some direction from the Council. Mr. Munson and Mr. McCoy are in the audience and available to answer any questions you may have. Staff stands ready to assist. Doug McCoy: Ora and Hurvie came out earlier in the month and wanted to talk about the Family Fun Day and Fireworks Show at Sportspark. The conversation referred to some things we need to do to improve the show. We are in our 3rd year and there seems to be a consensus on the part of the Town and on the part of the Sportspark that we want this thing to move forward, to continue and to grow. Some specific recommendations made by Ora and staff were: providing recognition for certain people during the show (i.e. this year Congressman Kolbe got lost) and better recognition of sponsors. Something that keeps coming up from the general public is parking ingress and egress and we talked about the changes we made this year through the able assistance of the Marana Police Department, particularly Dale Bradshaw. We think we handled that, after we talked to people at the show, as well 5 as it has ever been handled and as well as could be handled within the confines of the property. Another thing we talked about is the quality of the fireworks show. We have explained, and shown documentation, of the budgets and the amount spent on the fireworks show and everything else during the show. It was stated that the show was not up to the level of what the residents of Marana wanted to see. The people we have hired the last three years have been very good and done what they said they were going to in a timely manner. We felt the show was worth what we paid for it. It was stated that the City of Tucson fireworks show was "far superior" to our show. We didn't have an opportunity to compare. I think the difference was, the City of Tucson show ran a little longer than ours. We suggested to Mayor Ham that we are willing, and able, to increase the amount and length of fireworks but the cost will go up. It was decided that these issues should be brought to Council to get your feelings on continuing the show as an armual event and to address the parking and quality of the show. Roxanne Ziegler: I am surprised. I did not know there was a problem. I have gone every year and every year the parking situation has been improved. I know the Explorer group helps and the Marana police help. As for the quality of the fireworks, I went to the show at the Toros the night before and noticed the quality had gone down. Again, I am surprised that there is any displeasure in our show. Dong McCoy: I don't know that it is displeasure, I think these were recun-ing comments that Mayor Ham wanted to discuss to see if they were valid. The parking problem has improved with the assistance of the Explorers and Dale Bradshaw and the Marana Police Department. We also did some things inside the park to hold the people in longer, this year was the first year we gave away watermelons. This helped keep the number of people trying to leave at the same time down. We think that problem is being handled as well as it can be, short of shuttling people back and forth. Then you have to look at the growth issue. Attendance is going up every year. About 1400 more people attended this year than last year. Roxanne Ziegler: I know the Town of Marana contributes to the budget for the show. I know nothing about fireworks, but maybe you could try another company. Doug McCoy: We know how many shells are fired in our show, we just don't know how many shells are fired in the Tucson show. Jim Mnnson: I would like to mention that the City of Tucson added about 600 shells, which is the size of our show. So, Tucson had a $40,000 or $50,000 show compared to our $18,000 show. I think they started adding to their show do to the growth of our show. Roxanne Ziegler: I will leave it to my cohorts. I really have no complaints. I would like to say in reference to Congressman Kolbe that I, as a council member, did not know that he would be there. That can be fixed with more coordination. Vice Mayor Sutton: I agree, you have done tremendous with the parking. I haven't heard anything about the parking, the watermelon was a great idea. I think you have that covered. I have heard the same things you have heard, it is one of our key point 6 events of the year for the Town of Mamna. With us in an image-building part of our community right now, it is a good project for family building. We want it to improve each year and this year wasn't as good as last year. We were a little involved because when we did the Founders' Day show, we knew what the costs were for some of the different things. Some people were assuming that instead of spending $10,000 on fireworks, we went down to the $7,500 package. However, people seeing the Tucson show starting ten minutes earlier and lasting twenty minutes longer than ours, they are going to think "...ours is really skimpy this year" not knowing. One point of fact, percentage of budget wise, we probably do a bigger show. They have a lot more money than we do. Jim Munson: We are dealing, obviously, with some inflation. But, from our understanding of the market, it is also a volatile market. It is almost like a commodities type market. A lot of it is import. A couple of years ago, they had a large plant in, I think, Michigan that burned down or blew up with all of the fireworks. It is really a supply and demand type of market. Putting a price tag to that and trying to go dollar for dollar/pound for pound is not going to work, even two 10" shells are going to be different. We have had people approach us trying to put a bid in and the one that we seriously thought about wanted to have a three year contract. With that type of market, we weren't comfortable with a three year contract. We have had a pretty good working relationship with the fireworks company we have been using. They have been pretty consistent with us and the quality is good. Of course, three years ago he was probably buying more for the same price. Vice Mayor Sutton: As long as I have been on Council, the Town has always been a very willing and a proud partner of that event. In terms of business (in running that event, watching you guys run around), drawing more people should bring you more sponsors or bigger tickets for sponsors. If the thing needs to grow we need more outside input. I think we have been a good partner. But, expecting that as it gets bigger, we write a bigger check, that gets tougher for us to do. Jim Muuson: I think it has been a good relationship. It is an event that has some staying power and has developed an excellent reputation in the community over the last three years. The only limitation to growth for the event is parking, and we are being creative in that area. We will have a proposal for you at your request, probably within the next thirty days would be appropriate timing. Vice Mayor Sutton: I know Mayor Ham, Hurvie and Jocelyn are working on this. I think tonight was intended for any further direction from anyone not meeting with them directly. Is there anything else? Doug McCoy: I don't know if this is appropriate, but I would like to ask if there is a consensus, or feeling, on the part of the Council, that this is something they would want to support in the future years and continue on as a premier event in the Town of Marana. Vice Mayor Sutton: I don't want to use the word consensus, but I think everyone has a good feeling. Thc proper channel would be to go through a proposal. Further information needs to be given and the Mayor isn't even here. 7 B. Proposal by Explorer Newspaper - Discussion/Action Melanie Larson, Publisher, Explorer Newspaper: I have met with Ora, Hurvie and Ed Honea a couple of times to come up with a more effective tool to get information out to the public. Right now, you arc doing a quarterly newsletter. What we arc proposing is a City Page. It would consist of two pages within the newspaper on a once a month basis. It would provide information written by the Town. For example, a schedule of meetings, schedule for Parks and Recreation, possibly an editorial from the Town Manager or the Mayor, staff introductions, award announcements, crc. These arc things your residents wouldn't know about nnless they all attended these Council meetings every month. One of the things we are proposing is to help you with the editing process on this information and create this on a once a month basis. To add to that, you could hook up to a phone system that is similar to the 9-line. This is a software package that would enable anyone who has a push button phone to access it 24 hours per day. With this package, we would suggest updating the questions weekly and letting people know what is happening in the community and then ask for their opinion (up to ten yes or no questions per week). At the end of that, you can have them do a verbal response. We would also run the weekly questions and the answers from the week before in the paper. This would keep you updated on what the public is looking at and interested irdconcemed about and it would keep the readers updated. Of course, we would make sure that every resident in Marana gets the newspaper. The rural areas were the original concern because currently in your real concantrated areas, like Continental Ranch, everyone gets a paper but in thc rural areas it was not guaranteed. We would mail those out to insure they would get them. That is basically our proposal. We want the Town to have a greater communication tool to use to converse with its constituents in an economical way. This should fit into your current budget. Ed Honea: On the mailing, are you talking about everyone with a Marana mailing address or actually targeting the Town of Marana? Melanie Larson: I was asked by my parmer, who takes care of all of the distribution, to find out if you are currently mailing a newsletter to your constituents. If you are, then I am asstuning you have a mailing list, already. We could take that information and down load it to figure out who we are already getting to and then go directly offthat list for the people we are not currently getting to. Or, we could go according to the Post Office route, which is approximately 3,300 people. Ed Honea: What I am talking about is the cost ratio. Basically, out of the seven routes the Marana office has, only two serve 99% of the people in the Town of Marana, on the north end. The other five would be Coanty residents. I was looking at the cost ratio of running partial, instead of all. Was the proposal you submitted doing the complete mailing of 3,3007 Melanie Larson: That was our initial thought process. We didn't realize that goes beyond your borders, but I have to believe those people are looking at the information from your community. We are doing it more as a customer service to 8 the people who are going to be greatly effected. If their quality of life is going to be effected by the decisions made by the Town of Marana, we want to get out to them. At the same time, it has to be cost effective. Ed Itonea: Is the Dove Mountain division included? Melanie Larson: Yes. Right now it is a closed in area so it would have to be mailed. If we can, we would prefer to do it in a direct distribution with our home to home delivery. Quite frankly, it can be more timely with direct distribution as opposed to the Post Office. Ed Honea: I am concerned about reaching all of our citizens, not just those on the north end. Melanie Larson: That is our goal because that is what keeps coming back to us. People keep asking, "How do I find out?" We can only give them so much information, as a private company. The City of Tucson does a City Page, which is what spurred the thought. Our original thought process was to create a Marana edition, but from a business stand point, we can not figure out how to make that work financially. We are doing something similar with the Village of Catalina. It has worked out very well for them, and it has been very well received. It goes to every person living in Catalina and we get 5-6 letters per week about how appreciated it is. Ed Honea: Would there be room to sell advertising and could we eventually look toward the advertising to pay for it? Melanie Larson: We had not considered that, however, we can certainly talk about it. What we proposed on yours is that you could advertise your events. Ed Honea: I am trying to not have people fall between the cracks on what we are trying to do here. Are you familiar with the Forte Del Norte neighborhood, the trailer park? That area is about 135 units. They are not a Marana delivery but they are incased in the Town of Marana. That is another neighborhood that is very important to us and will hopefully be part of our community some day. They are all fairly close together, and if you are going to do doorstep delivery in Continental Ranch, maybe you could hit that neighborhood. Melanie Larson: When we were asked to make the proposal, it was done in a general sense because all of those types of details can be worked out. We do want to make sure that every proposed resident that you are looking to get to, within the range of about 7,000 people, would be covered. That is our proposal. Roxanne Ziegler: Thank you for coming, but I think I am on the other end of this, I feel $1,600 per month for our Town to do this is a little bit too much right now. We have a lot of things out there right now that our people get. We have the little commtmity newsletters, the public relations firm that we have engaged with, the Community Update that goes out monthly and is done by Mr. Simpson, at no cost to us, we have press releases that go out, Ed Cook from the Star covers things for us, and The Northwest Explorer does things for us for free. What I am suggesting is 9 that we have a lot out there and our meetings are posted in three different places so I don't think we need this kind of advertising at this time, As for the budget, I don't remember this $1,600 being in our budget for this type of activity, bat 1 would have to let Roy speak to that. Melanie Larson: We have been covering Marana news to the best of our ability for the last 4 or 5 years. What we are proposing is not news coverage, it is a community update. Roxanne Ziegler: I understand that, but we have a community update and it is free. We used to have something in there all of the time, we just don't have anyone in our office doing it all of the time anymore. A lot of people get the Update. It goes to Picture Rocks, Oro Valley, Marana and Continental Ranch. Melanie Larson: In addition to those two pages, you w/Il, of course, still have the same type of coverage we have always had with Marana. It is not that you are buying news coverage. You are telling your story to the constituents to keep them up to date on what appointments, committees, commissions, etc. are available to join and just keeping people more informed. The other aspect is the telephone scenario. I think it is a good idea because then you have a way to actually speak to your constituents who can't, or don't feel comfortable, calling in or coming in to talk to you. As far as cost goes, we did develop it w/th the spot color and on a two page scenario. We can certainly look at it in a smaller format if you felt that was necessary, but, based on my conversation w/th them, that is what we felt was needed. Along with that, my understanding is that the situation with your PR agency has been changed and canceled to save money. We understand needing to watch your budget, which is why we brought it in at the realm of what you could afford. Herb Kal: You were talking about a one page/two page City page. If we don't have news that will fill up two pages, or even one page, is there a chart that will give rates for a quarter page or half page that we could look at? That might give us a better idea of what we are looking at budget wise. Melanie Larson: Sure, we can develop that flexibility. The one thing ! will tell you has been brought into this is a certain cost associated with making sure that all of your constituency do get the newspaper. The mailing cost is about four times more expensive than our home delivery cost. We were looking at coming up with a solution and we had looked at a few different ways to do this. This is your most cost effective way to get the most space. Herb Kai: So, it would be a pay as you go thing. If for two months we didn't have a lot of news it wouldn't cost us. Melanie Larson: Yes, we would bill you every month, as we always have. It was figured on the fact that you do have a regular display advertising contract so we just looked at the cost of the page. This was greatly reduced because it is a public service scenario. Sherry Millner: Is what you are proposing more like when we had our newsletter for the Town. When I was doing the newsletter, we sent it out to many different 10 communities and I have been approached by these communities and asked where the newsletter is, they really liked having it. Mayor Ham joined the Dies at 8:04. Melanie Larson: That is the communication we have gotten also. People are looking for that information. Vice Mayor Sutton: Sherry, when you were doing the newsletter, what were the costs associated with that. Jocelyn Entz: When I came with the Town and Council Member Millner was producing the newsletter, it was primarily staff that was doing the stories for publication. We were putting this newsletter out on a quarterly basis. One of the reasons we stopped doing that, was Jane Johnson and I had called around to some of the communities that were of a similar population and found out they were spending a great deal more money than we were putting out a publication on a monthly basis. At approximately the same time, the Northwest Section of the Star and the Citizen and Melanie's paper went to a weekly publication. We felt that, because we were getting news put out in a more timely manner, our newsletter wasn't as effective in the same timely way as the newspapers. So, we stopped the publication on the newsletter and Council Member Millner's comments have proved that we are missing a few things along the way and this needs to be addressed again. I believe the cost was around $300-$400 to mail the Town newsletter at that time, and that was beside the staff costs. Vice Mayor Sutton: I think it is a great idea, as far as the concept, the money part is another issue. A lot of us that deal with the press realize that some of the things we say don't end up the way they should. Controversy sells ads, bad news sell ads and good news is filler. I think something that would be positive associated with a Marana City Page would be a good idea. From looking at the Catalina page, I think the whole thing could be coop., but then you will have other pieces of advertising you need to sell. Complimenting you on that, I think you are one of the most advertised publications in Pima County. You do real well getting people to advertise in your book. Are we the advertiser here, or are we being charged for the extra distribution? Melanie Larson: There is a legal thing about the distribution that we have to deal with. My original thing was, if you went ahead and paid for the distribution, then we would go ahead and give you the pages. But, quite frankly, what you are paying for is the cost of the pages and the printing of those pages. We are absorbing about half the cost of the distribution. The cost for paper runs us about $1.10 per newspaper and on top of that is the mailing or distribution cost. Home to home is less costly than putting it in the mail boxes. We were looking at that as a separate item and it is not even included in that cost, we were absorbing that in the cost. But, to make that possible, we have to make sure, as a company, we can afford to do that. We looked at how much that costs, which is about $1,000 per page. With your discounts, and the fact that you are a City (non-profit), we take 10% off and that is where we came up with that cost. We were told the scenario to stay within. But, if you have less information to put out, then, obviously, it would take less space and cost less. On 11 MINUTES OF REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MARANA TOWN COUNCIL OCTOBER 21, 1997 the second portion of the presentation is where we have the little "speak out" area, that is being proposed on a weekly basis. I personally think that is an excellent way to get to the community. I do think that we have done a good job in representing the community in a very positive way, we are not the sensational paper and we are very proud of that. At the same time, people have things to say and they need to be given accurate information. If they can't come to these functions and actually hear your interaction, then there might be some other avenues to do that with. There is this telephone service that I did investigate and they can call the number and listen to the prompters. This is of no cost to the caller and it is programmed by the staff. Then the staff can get public input on what the public cares about. I think this is a very strong idea and it is something that would be beneficial to a growing Town. I understand the cost issue, though. Vice Mayor Sutton: That is a good idea, but, it is an add-on. Later, when we see a return on investment, meaning the citizens are being informed and liking it, then that is something we would do to further communication down the road. Initially, with the paper part, excluding the phone program, what about a cooperative effort where we could sell the two bottom quarters of the page for advertising. Melanie Larson: That is absolutely possible. If you don't want to be in the advertising business we can certainly handle that and try and off set it somehow. There are many ways to do this. We are here tonight to basically propose the idea of actually coming up with something so the voice of the Town can actually get something out to the public. I think it is very important, for instance, for the police department to let people know if there is a safety issue, like when you were having all of the smash and grabs. We can write a news story about it but it is a whole different thing than if the Chief comes out and talks about pinpointed things of how to be safer (those would be safety tips). Vice Mayor Sutton: Is your goal to get information tonight and come back with a proposal that would answer some of these concerns? What exactly are you asking for tonight? Melanie Larson: I was asked to come and make a proposal. I have made this proposal based on what I had presented to the Mayor and Town Manager. Basically, this is what I presented because I think it would stay cleaner if it doesn't have a lot of advertising attached to it, so it can really reflect that it is from the Town. I can come back with a proposal if you want, I would certainly need a little more direction as far as what areas you are looking to get to so I can come up with the exact dollars. Mike Reuwsaat: I think we need to find another way to express what is happening here at the Town Council. I am concerned about the cost and coop of it. We have others that have historically provided the service. We are sitting here and not really knowing what we are doing, whether it is a proposal or it is not a proposal. If we are going to receive a proposal, I would like to extend that out to others that do that. On a monthly basis, some of our special needs may not get coverage. I think we need to investigate piece basis, particularly as we are coming up on referendums. Maybe there are some special issues, particularly on the bond issue and so forth, that are maybe more important to some of the long term financial commitments that this community will face. Not being a part of this process and not knowing who was 12 contacted before, I would like to have those things investigated or what are the costs to do those types of pieces versus a monthly newsletter. I really want to see it extended beyond the Northwest Explorer. If we have some perameters, lets get those perameters and let's see what others have to offer. Ed Honea: If we took the proposal, even if the page only goes once per month, would the mailing only go once per month? Melanie Larson: In the five years, what we have done is create the marketplace. So, when you are looking at other avenues to get your message out, you have to be sure it is something that people read and is within your cost perameters. I do believe that after this period of time we do have a very good readership, certainly not to the areas we have never gotten to, though. The distribution to your constituents will continue to be weekly, but once per month you would have the major updates about what is happening with the Town. Ed Honea: Being a separate cost, we wouldn't have to do the telephone software part of the proposal, correct? Melanie Larson: Correct, that is a separate company. It is completely separate from the paper proposal. Roxanne Ziegler: Right now, I really don't think we need this service. The reason I say that is not that you guys don't do a good job, I just think there are so many other vehicles out there. I am well informed, because I read. You can put as many papers out as you want, but if people don't read they are not going to stay informed. Right here in our own town, we have a magazine that someone on our staff can utilize and put all of this together for publication free of charge. That is where I have a problem with this, and it is not your problem, I just want you to know where I am coming from. Sherry Millner: Our staff has decided not to do that any more so that will not happen. We have a Council hotline that people can call into now. I don't know how many people are using that, though. Melanie Larson: Probably not, because people don't know about it, if we know that then we can put it in the newspaper so people know it is available. I owned an ad agency for fifteen years, here in town, and I have owned this newspaper for five years. I have lived in Tucson my entire life and the one thing I have noticed is things always change and people are going to be affected in different ways and a lot of people don't read. You are not going to get to all of the people all of the time. What we are trying to do is offer you an example of what I do believe would work based on the readership quality and numbers that we have had, and the requests that were made. I was asked to make a proposal tonight and I did that. I can see you have a lot of questions and there needs to be more flexibility to it. If you want to put this out for a public bid, then you will have to list the criteria in a much more specific way. What I was given is a generalization and we came up with a solution based on what we felt would do that. Any questions I might answer on that is only based on the information I have. 13 .' .:' ." . .. ": "M]NUTE'S'.OF REGULAR councIL'MEETENG' . · "." :.:.' .'" "..".. MARANA: TOWN couNcIL'.'''' ' · 'i'. " ' .i ' '" ' ."'" ' '"" ' OCTOBER2i'~'I99?"" ' "' "' '.. very good at making sure we get things in the paper, but it does get overwhelming at Melanie Larson: One of the things I did put in the proposal, or at least in the original proposal when Mayor Honea was in office, is we understand that your staff is small and strapped as well as the coundfl members being volunteers, so one of our staff members would go ahead and have a point person in each main administrative office (police, council, etc.) and a tickle file to help streaml'me things. Mike Hein: After some deliberation and discussion, it is apparent that this item may not be right for a final decision. I think staffis real clear on all of the issues presented, as far as substance, staffing, math, etc. What I would suggest is you direct staff to get back with Melanie and develop some alternatives and further investigate it and then make a recommendation to Council as to which way to proceed. Whether it be a broad bid with detailed specs or to provide some options through the Explorer and look at different ways to cut the cost. Mike Reuwsaat and Roxanne Ziegler volunteered to help on that. C. Proposal for Marana Community Soccer Facility - Discussion Mike Hein: You have a staff report in your packet. I know many of you have met with the principals involved. I believe you have, as well, a draft or proposal from Kaissa Gui'me, who is in the audience this evening. It is not posted for action, just discussion. I believe it is available for them to give a presentation, if they want, and it is available for general discussion. Chris Connelly: I only have one copy because America West Airlines still has the rest of my package in Las Vegas so I would Ytke to pass this around for the people who were not here yesterday. Basically, the reason I am here is because I am looking to move a professional soccer franchise to this community. I have come to the Council because I want it to be a joint community effort, end'mg with the kids and young soccer players in the community benefiting from it. The soccer community is probably the largest single entity in this town, it normally is in the whole of America, and never has its own facihties to play at. They always have to borrow baseball fields, hockey fields and football fields. I think it is a shame that the largest single sport never has anywhere to play and the youngsters in town never have anytlfmg to aspire to. What I want to do is bring the concept I created in Pennsylvania to this area but I want the backing of the community so I don't have to bang my head against a brick wall. Mike Hein: What sort of support are you asking for from the community or the Council. Chris Conneily: The long term effort is to have a commuff~ty soccer complex here. I see you have a lot of baseball complexes and baseball stadiums. Even though the baseball stadiums are supposed to be multipurpose, if you try to get anything else on there, it is impossible. I tlfmk it is terrible that, in most cities this size in America, the soccer commtmity is bigger than the baseball, American football, hockey and basketball community put together and they never get anything from the local poYlticians to give them their own identity. What I am looking to do is bring the 14 Chris Connelly: The long term effort is to have a community soccer complex here. I see you have a lot of baseball complexes and baseball stadiums. Even though the baseball stadiums arc supposed to be multipurpose, if you try to get anything else on there, it is impossible. I think it is terrible that, in most cities this size in America, the soccer community is bigger than the baseball, American football, hockey and basketball community put together and they never get anytlYmg from thc local politicians to give them their own identity. What I am looking to do is bring thc professional soccer team here and have the community get behind it. It is going to be a not-for-profit orgaff~zation and all the money that is generated from thc professional soccer organization does not go back into itself, it goes back into thc community to develop the soccer programs, camps, seminars and to develop thc game amongst thc youth in thc area. Mayor Harm I am wondering if there is financial backing of any kind that you can bring to the Council? Mike Hein: I think the question is, are you asldng for a resolution of support of the concept, financial backing or what exactly are you looking for? Chris Connelly: Obviously, I am looking for financial backing from the community, not just this community, but a combination of the whole area. I have a soccer franchise, I have done this in Pennsylvania and the reason I left Pennsylvania is because I was banging my head against a brick wall. I could not make the local County ComrY~ssioners realize that the stadium they had was not being filled and the soccer was packing the stadium, every game. I wanted financial backing from the community. The community was going to make money from this and they just couldn't see it. They didn't give two hoots about the soccer community, they didn't give two hoots about the youngsters coming up. I am more interested in helping the youth, it is not just about bringing a professional soccer team here, that is the pinnacle. The object is to have a community entity. As you know, with most professional teams, such as your Toros, the players don't belong to the community, they belong to the major league factions. The professional players I would bring here are international soccer players that would belong to the community, not just on a playing aspect but on a coaching aspect. The overall goal is to brfild a soccer community with its own identity, create a blueprint that the rest of the Country can follow. Mayor Harn: What is the season for soccer? Chris Conneily: The High School and Collegiate season, in most places, is from August through December. The soccer season in these parts of the world runs all year round, which is why it needs its own complex. Mike Reuwsaat: I really have to be a wet blanket. Two of my three children play soccer and they play year round. They play in facilities all through the town, they play on the different leagues, they play with the club, they play at the schools. From a parent who has children in the sport, one who is in eighth grade and one who is a senior going to the state-play-offs, the picture that you are painting is worse than the situation really is. I have also worked with football and basketball groups from a professional/franchise standpoint and we are talking big bucks. I think you are 15 asking for a large financial commitment from this community to assist you in bringing a franchise from outside. You have to have the local commitment by all of the different organizations that are already out there, endorsements by AYSL, Club Soccer and all of those people. I don't know what their feelings are. I can tell you that I haven't heard anything as strong as what you are approaching this Council with, nor in the manner in which you are approaching the Council. You are placing it upon the politicians' backs to approve or disapprove. I know soccer people are very resourceful. Chris Connelly: Not everybody is resourceful. That is the point I am trying to make, not everybody is lucky enough to be in a financial situation that they can put their kids through an intramural travel system. There are over 20,000 people in this community that can't afford to do anything because they can't afford boots, camp, leagues, etc. That is what we want to do for the community. We are not about taking money from the community, we are about putting money back into the community. We want to create a league where everybody can participate, not just someone who is financially capable. There is a lot of Mexican faction that don't have the resources and we want to give back to the people. Everybody has a right to participate in sports and go to camps, but not everybody can afford them. We want to run free camps, clinics and seminars. Mike Reuwsaat: You are really talking about a regional deal, have you considered going to the Board of Supervisors and talking to them? This is really bigger than Marana. Chris Connelly: Of course this is bigger than Marana. But the children of Marana, along with the children of Tucson, South Tucson, and other towns in this area, are going to benefit from this. For it to be a sole large entity, I feel that every single entity that makes up this area should get involved in it. Mike Reuwsaat: My commitment is first and foremost to the children of Marana and if those groups have a need and need to talk to this Council, I would like to address that first before going beyond those boundaries. We have some major needs in this community, we are growing and I just don't see it. You were talking about brick walls, well, I think I am going to have to be that brick wall at this point. I think you are asking the wrong group for this type of support. Chris Connelly: I am not asking for the full support, only a minor role. I am not asking you to pay for the whole thing. Mike Reuwsaat: I would like more of a specific request in terms of what role you would like us to play and what you are expecting from this Council. Vice Mayor Sutton: I think it is a good concept. But, what you have to understand is that mutual benefit is a good word, however, Pima County won't pay for something in Marana and we can't afford it. You really are approaching the wrong board. Would we get involved if you get the County and Tucson to back you? We would back the children of Marana, if this benefits our children, but we can't initiate this for you. 16 Sherry Millner: Mr. Connelly, you need to present us a business plan. You gave me a whole bunch of papers to read through. I think you did have a lot in there for advertising, you have backing, you have experience as a professional soccer player and I think you really could make the draw. However, you can't come into a group like this and present yourself with out some kind of a business plan. You need someone to put all of your papers together and get them out. You need the backing of Wolfgang Weber, who is huge in this town on soccer, you need to get some of the Amigos involved. Chris Connelly: They are all involved. I was asked to come down here. It was extremely successful in Pennsylvania, we drew nearly 10,000 people a game and we had over $424,00 of coop sponsorship. The community thought well of us for giving back to them. The children came to us for free equipment. The point I am trying to make is that there was no political backing. Mayor Harm I think what the Council is saying, sir, is you need to come before us with how much this is going to cost, what kind of stadium you need, who you have as backers, etc. We need to have something we can look at and you need to tell us specifically what you want. Your interview is over until you can come back to us with some information. Thank you. H. Pima Association of Governments Regional Council Meeting Agenda - Review for Discussion and Direction Mayor Harm The PAG Regional Council has been postponed. It is a week from this Wednesday. It does not seem like there were any items outstanding. If you would like me to answer any questions or you would like to give me directions to undertake, I would be glad to do that. A motion was made by Mike Reuwsaat, seconded by Ed Honea, to go into Executive Session. Motion carried 7/0. EXECUTIVE SESSION - Pursuant to A.R.S. 38-431.01 (A) (4) for Discussion and Consultation with the Town Attorney to Consider the Town's Position and Instruct its Attorney Regarding Tucson vs. State of Arizona, Sunward Materials and Tortolita vs. Marana Executive Session began at 8:57. Returned at 10:05. J. Mayor and Council's Rep01~ Sherry Millner: I was our representative for the 50th Anniversary of the Air Force at the State Fair. We were the only town there from Southern Arizona, so we made a big impression. Also, I took a tour of the Capital Museum, in Phoenix, with a group of folks from DM Air Force Base and had lunch with a State representative, Marion Pickens. Also, the Christmas Party has been set for December 20, 1997. 17 Ed Honea: I met twice with representatives of La Mirage over the last couple of weeks and talked with Council Member Ziegler and Council Member Reuwsaat. I think this development has some real serious questions that need to be answered on water, fire, age restrictions, effluent usage, etc. I suggested to Mr. Hein that maybe it shouldn't even be on the agenda in two weeks. I would encourage all of the council members to meet with his engineer. Mr. Doerken even flew in from California and tried to meet with me and sell me a bill of goods. We really don't want to get beat up on this subdivision. I would ask each of you to try to get Mr. Atler or Mr. Hein to set you up to talk to their engineer, there are a lot of problems. Mayor Harm The staff was wonderful in working on the ADOT meeting. Jocelyn worked with me on this whole project, it was a couple of hard days for all of us, but Jocelyn put in a lot of time before hand. I would like to say that staffis getting very good at getting out thank you letters. That is absolutely the best PR this town can have, for someone to immediately get their thank you letter. I know Mike, Sandy and her staff and Jocelyn have a hand in that. The ADOT Board and staff were very impressed with Marana. We had our meeting at the Heritage Highlands' new clubhouse and they treated us royally up there and the room was great. Everybody kept saying, "Is this in Marana?" as if this was pretty high class for Marana. Really, they meant well and really enjoyed it. We had a good opportunity on Friday afternoon to sit down with the ADOT staff as a town and tell them where we were going and what we needed to do. They gave us 2 ½ hours of time to sit with their planning committee to talk about our town and what we need to do. When they left, I know they were really surprised that a small town like Marana could put on that kind of an affair. We got everybody involved. Pinal Air Park was really delighted, they had never had ADOT visit their facility. It was a very successful event and I appreciate it. Vice Mayor Sutton: I attended the ribbon cutting for the Cracker Barrel. That place is awesome. If you haven't seen the inside, yet, they are very receptive and warm people in there and I think you'll love it. Mayor Harn: I thank the Council for going on with business tonight while I went to the ribbon cutting at O'Rielly's Drivers' Mart. We did tell the people there why other members of the Town were not there, that it is the night of the Town CounciI meeting. Rich O'Rielly stood up and made some of the nicest comments on Marana. He said they were delighted to be in Marana and Marana has the greatest planning staff they had ever worked with (those very words). They gave me a wonderful introduction and were very hospitable. I told them I had seen a car in Tucson with a sticker that said it came from Auto Mart, and as I looked at it, I thought it was so delightful because I thought about all of the sales tax it was going to bring into Marana. 18 Mike Hein: I will be out of Town serving on a couple of state boards, the Water Resource Advisory Board and the Greater Arizona Development Authority Board, and I have mandatory board training so I am not breaking the law anymore. I will be leaving after the Sahuaro Springs Development Agreement meeting tomorrow morning. I will be out in the afternoon, I have lunch scheduled with Mr. Wink Pierson in Phoenix. I will be back Friday morning. Many of you have been contacted about a visit Mr. Dick Gear made to Glendale, California. We have been working closely with GTEC. GTEC flew Dick to California to meet with a firm who may be interested in moving to Marana and hopefully you will ail get a chance to meet with principals in that company. I believe the President is on the Council in Burbank City. You will have a chance to meet with him next Tuesday. I encourage you all to contact Dick before that meeting so you can get a background on the company, you will also be getting a memo. Some good news out of the County today. I talked to Mr. Huckleberry and Mr. Keenan a couple times. We got the benefit area analysis for the IGA for the flood control levy project from Mr. Keenan, today. Roughly under 4,000 acres (3,900+) are planned in the benefit area and the numbers are still at $500 per acre. This will bring the Town liability to a much lower level than what was envisioned. The County Attorney released the IGA back to Mr. Huckleberry's office. He was displeased because we were up to 12 pages. He gave it to Mr. Keenan and told him to reduce it a couple of pages. Mr. Keenan is working on it now and will get it to Mr. Huckleberry tomorrow morning and we should have it shortly after that. Progress is being made. Mayor Harm One of the benefits of our transportation meeting was that we were able to spend an aftemoon with Sharon Bronson. I think we are bringing her around to understand a lot more about Marana. She was very congenial, indicated friendship, said she would call me for lunch and I think we are winning her over. I think that was one of the most important things that happened at that ADOT meeting, we have to get her on our side. X. FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS Roxanne Ziegler: I thought maybe the Council would want to think about the Town Council sponsoring needy families for the holidays, Thanksgiving and Christmas. The gal that visited us before has a list of needy families in Marana. Mike Reuwsaat: Within a month, we will be bringing recommendations on the fire on the north side. A request will be coming from Dave for an adopt-a-road program for an official policy statement and support by the Council so we have groups to adopt and clean up our roadways. We already have some that are interested and want to do the work. Mike Hein: I think both of these items were placed tentatively for the 18t~. In regard to the fire recommendation, we are expecting to reconvene the committee the first week in November. That is why we couldn't make the meeting of the 4th. 19 I. ADJOURNMENT A motion was made by Mayor Ham, seconded by Ed Honea, to adjourn. Motion was camed 7/0. Meeting adjourned at 10:30 PM. CERTIFICATION I hereby certify that the foregoing minutes are the true and correct minutes of the Marana Town Council held on October 21, 1997. ! further certify that a quorum was present. 20