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HomeMy WebLinkAbout07/02/1996 Regular Council Meeting MinutesPLACE AND DATE MaranaTown HallJuly2,1996 I. CAlL TO ORDER By Mayor Honea at 7:03 p.m. II. PLEDGE OF AILEGIANCE Led by Mayor Honea III. INVOCATION Led by Mayor Honea IV. ROLL CAlL COUNCIL Ed Honea Sharon Price Tom Clark Ora Mae Harn Sherry Millner Herb Kai Bobby Sutton Jr. STAFF Hurvie Davis Dan Hochuli Sandra Groseclose Jerry Flannery Dave Atler 21 Members of the Public Mayor Vice-Mayor Council Member, excused Council Member, excused Council Member, excused Council Member Council Member Town Manager Town Attorney Town Clerk Planning Administrator Town Engineer V. APPROVAl OF AGENDA A motion was made by Bobby Sutton, Jr., seconded by Herb Kai and carff~ed unanimously to approve the Agenda with the change Item VI should read acceptance of Minutes of June 18, 1996. VI. ACCEPTANCE OF MINUTES Regular Council Meeting of June 18, 1996 - To be approved at next Council Meeting VII. CALL TO THE PUBLIC/ANNOUNCEMENTS Dave Atler: Mr. After had some Staff introductions that he wanted to make this evening. He introduced three new employees, Pablo Molina is a laborer for the streets, Mitch Beem is building maintenance and custodian and Marlene Jansen is the new Public Works clerk. Sandy Groseclose: The Town Motto contest closed as of July 1, 1996 and we are still counting the entries, we have over 400 so far. Mayor Honea: July 4, 1996 will be the Second Annual Town of Marana Fireworks Display. VIII. STAFF REPORTS IX. GENERAL ORDER OF BUSINESS A. Consent Agenda 1. Resolution No. 96-59 - The Town Council will consider and recommend approval or denial to the Arizona Department of Liquor License and Control of a liquor license application filed by Gail Kitterman on behalf of Tosco Marketing, Inc. to be used at the Exxon located at 4900 West Ina Road, in Marana, Arizona. 2. Ordinance No. 96.29: Uniform Building Code Amendment - The Town Council will consider and act on an amendment to Section 2406.4{9.2~ the Uniform Building Code changing the location point for glazing in pool activity areas to read from "deck area" to "water's edge" ~3. Rescheduling August Council Meeting - Reschedule the August 30, 1996 Council Meeting to August 27~ 1996. 4, Ordinance No. 96.30: Uniform Building Code Amendment - The Council will consider and act on an amendment to the Uniform Building Code adding a footnote to Table 16-0 allowing existing pool wall heights to be increased without modifying the horizontal factor. 5. Resolution No. 96-61: License agreement between Pima County and the Town of Marana for the Town to lease space at Sportspark on the 4th of July. Bobby Sutton~ Jr.: On Item one it says either approval of denial, can we do that with a Consent Agenda. Sharon Price: The implication was to accept that from the blue sheet. Bobby Sutton, Jr.: The Amendment to Item #1 would be to recommend the approval to the Arizona Department of Liquor License and Control and remove the word denial from that statement. A motion was made by Bobby Sutton, Jr., seconded by Sharon Price and carried unanimously to approve the Consent Agenda with the above mentioned Amendment to Item #1. B. Closing of Ina Road - Closing of Ina Road east of 1-10 at the Southern Pacific Railroad crosslnE for repair of crossing by Southern Pacific. Hurvie Davis: At the last Council meeting Mr..Davis informed the Council of the potential closing of Ina Road just east of 1-10 by the Southern Pacific Railroad due to the need to replace the crossing and thc track at that location. Mr. Atler has been working with Southern Pacific Railroad officials and other parties on this issue. Dave Atler: We were working with the ACC and Southern Pacific Railroad, they wished to close the crossing down. They were scheduled last Tuesday through Thursday to close the crossing, they're barricade had placed signs out stating the closure, they were asked promptly to remove the signs. They then approached Pima County to have a permit issued to them, it was placed on the Board of Supervisors Agenda to be heard today, Mr. Atler and Mr. Hochuli were in attendance. He was pleased with the outcome of the meeting. He does understand and does support the reasoning that Southern Pacific would like to do the modifications. Mr. Gary Houk with Southern Pacific Railroad is here tonight and would like to explain their side of the situation. They apparently want to upgrade the crossing so they can take trains through at fairly high speeds, right now the crossing is in poor condition so they have to keep the trains going slow. The results of the Board of Supervisors meeting this morning was that basically they want to join with Marana in requesting a hearing through the ACC to alter the work schedule. What we're asking is that they do the work in such a way as to minimize the impact of the businesses and the commuters in the area. We have suggested 10:00 p.m. until 6:00 am, another suggestion has been to go 24 hours straight, preferably on a weekend. Mr, Houk has some other input on this as to why they can't go about it in that direction. He understands that from one of their executives in California is that part of the reason is the union contract, they can't force the workers to work those hours. They were not issued their permit this morning by Pima County and P/ma County has placed themselves firmly behind Marana in this effort. Gary Houk~ Southern Pacific Railroad: The crossing is in very deteriorated condition, he had some photographs of the crossing taken this morning. The train speed there is 79 mph and 70 mph, it has been for years, at this time we have it slowed down to 60 mph and 40 mph. As time goes on it will do nothing but deteriorate and we will have to lower it even more so, the next step would be 25 to 30 mph. Dave Atler: Something that was pointed out to him this morning at the Board meeting was there is an agreement that the trains are not allowed to go faster than 40 mph south of Ruthrauff Road. Council might want to look at restricting the speeds through there. Gary Houk: As far as he knows the train speeds have not been that speed for at least 12 to 15 years. Mayor Honea: Is the track and ties going to be replaced or just the robber piece in the middle. Gary Honk: It will all be ripped out, we are going to start at the subgrade, it will be replaced and protected. There is a lot of problems with this crossing, the work that needs to be done is pretty involved and is going to take a lot of time. Mayor Honea: Is train traffic going to be shut down for the three days that this is going to be worked on. Gary Honk: The initial shut down is going to be 8 to 9 hours. After that we will run a few trains and then work in between them. Mayor Honea: Are there ways to route traffic around this crossing on a temporary basis. Gary Honk: From a logical standpoint that would be to use Cortaro, Massingale and Orange Grove Roads as alternates. Mayor Honea: The traffic on Cortaro Road is exceeding capacity now. If we close Ina road and expect that traffic to use Cortaro we are going to have traffic backed up on the freeway for miles. We also have a responsibility to the businesses in that area. when you shut that crossing down for three days it would cost them a lot of money is business. There isn't anything temporary that could be set up over the tracks while the repairs are being done to route traffic through or something of that nature. Gary Honk: No, by the time you made your grade at that location it would be a very expensive operation. It's possibly a doable thing, it's just that at the rate of a minimum of $100,000 it would be very expensive. Herb Kai: What's the possibility of closing just one side of Ina Road down and routing traffic on the other side two ways, then go to the other side and do the repairs. Gary Honk: We've done it before and each and every time we have wound up with a poor quality of the product. You end up with a rough spot right where the transitions are from old to new and new to new and new to old. You have four transitions points there and each one you are setting up for a rough spot. Sharon Price: Would the crossing be opened in the evening. Gary Honk: It would be full closure all the way through the completion of the repairs. Mayor Honea: Is there some reason that it is scheduled during three work days instead of maybe a weekend or why can't it be done over 24 hours. Gary Houk: The costs are ultimately coming out of Southern Pacific's pocket. To do it on weekends and at night under dark conditions there would be a safety concern. Our maintenance forces are normally scheduled to work 40 hour work weeks during day light hours. Mayor Honea: Would it be possible to have it down over a Saturday and Sunday if you worked 12 hours shifts. With high power light and things of that nature he doesn't understand why a 24 hour shift, with possibly two crews couldn't be worked. Southern Pacific wants to do it this way because it's very expensive to work overtime and on weekends, but the businesses in the area will also be losing money. Gary Houk: We could go in there and rip and tear and throw it in there real quick and get out of there in 12 hours, but it would just be a matter of months and it will be needing to be repaired. We need that compaction over a three day period. Herb Kal: It seems like we're getting into a stand off position here where Marana and Pima County is not willing to work with Southern Pacific. If the Town of Marana works with Southern Pacific and bites the bullet on a three day closure, can the trains be scheduled to accommodate our busiest traffic times. Gary Houk: It is possible, but it would take more effort then this meeting tonight to get that done. Herb Kal: We want to see that crossing fixed, it's a safety hazard. Mayor Honea: If Ina Road is closed for three days and the trains are still running that will also cause more congestion on Cortaro Road. Could this project be done over a weekend, the traffic is not near the problem that it is on the week days. Gary Houk: That is doable, but it would cost the railroad additional moneys for overtime. Mayor Honea: It might be a little easier to bring this to the business community, it may not affect them as much on the weekend as it would on week days. Gary Houk: We need three days no matter how you look at to produce a quality product. Hurvie Davis: We have requested a hearing before the Arizona Corporation Commission, he assumes that hearing will take place at which time the Town as well as Pima County will be represented. Mayor Honea: He was hoping that it could be resolved tonight. He would like to see it closed on a Saturday and Sunday for two twelve hour shifts. Gary Houk: One train that we have to keep on schedule is the Amtrak, they run on Saturday morning so that could be a problem, the earliest we could start on a Saturday would be 8:00 am or 8:30 am. Mayor Honea: He would like to find a happy medium to this situation. It may cost Southern Pacific more money to work on a weekend but the businesses in the area will also be losing a lot of money. Gary Houk: If we could come to an agreement tonight we could start on Friday we could finish by Sunday, start Friday morning and finish Sunday afternoon. Mayor Honea: If it was started on Friday could it be started after rush hour. Gary Houk: That is a possibility. Herb Kal: He still has concerns about traffic through the Town during rush hours in the mornings and evenings. Dave Atler: Chief Smith pointed out to Mr. Atler last week that people saw the signs that were up reference the pending closure. They took a detour onto Orange Grove Road and that road was virtually shut down with to much traffic. Mayor Honea: If we were to approve a Friday 8:00 am shut down until Sunday 4:00 p.m., Southern Pacific would do the signage, would that work. 4 Sharon Price: There's a stop sign located at the off ramp from 1-10 and Orange Grove. People have a difficult time getting through that stop sign. Mayor Honea: We might have to have a couple of officers at some of the key intersections on FtCiday evening. Hurvle Davis: Possibly it could be done over a holiday weekend when a lot of people leave Town. The 4th of July weekend is to close but what about Labor Day weekend. Gary Honk: Labor Day is quite a while off, we don't want to wait that long. Dan Hochuli: This morning Mr. After was in front of the Board of Supervisors asking their assistance on this. They have agreed to team up with the Town and go before the Arizona Corporation Commission. There is also some sort of permitting that is necessary through the County. Anything that the Council may do tonight we need to realize that we still have the County out there. Mayor Honea: It seems like the Council is in agreement with a late Friday morning until Sunday afternoon closure, Maybe we could contact the Board of Supervisors and see if they would agree to that. Herb Kal: Will there be a performance bond to finish this job on a deadline. Gary Houk: We don't foresee any problems at getting the job done. A motion was made by Bobby Sutton, Jr,, seconded by Sharon Price and carried unanimously to authorize a 3 day shut down of the interchange at Ina and I~i0 on the soonest possible FtCiday, Saturday and Sunday, with an 8:00 am start time with a finish time on Sunday of 4:00 p.m. pending approval or cooperation with Pima County and traffic control set up. C. Tucson Arts Council Project - Presentation of Design for Marana Entry Signs. Hurvie Davis: This item has been before Council previously and he would like to ask Jocelyn Entz to introduce the people involved and explain where the project stands. Jocelyn Entz: Ms. Entz introduced the Marana Design Team from Mountain View High School. They presented two designs to Council, they would fike to have one approved tonight so that the project can begin. Leah Schmidt: She is a student at Mountain View High School who is involved with the Arts Project. She presented Council with thc first of two designs. This design was a visual representation and description of the Town of Marana. She gave an explanation as to what the design would consist of. The patchwork represents the fields and growth. The lines at the bottom represent the water and irrigation system in Marana. The way it is all put together signifies the togetherness of the Community. Cotton is also highlighted because it is a very important agricultural feature of the Town. Sharicka Wisdom: Miss Wisdom also attends Mountain View High School presented Council with the second design option. The design is similar to the Town logo. The water represents the irrigation, the green represents the fields. The adobe houses represent the modern part of Marana and the togetherness as well as the growth. We used teal and copper in the mountains and the houses, these are the Town colors. Also one of the Council Members suggested that cotton be used since it is such a big part of the agriculture in Marana. Sharon Price: The group has done a very good job at putting these designs together. Bobby Sutton, Jr.: The outline of the actual sign on #2 it will be like that, the sign will stop, it will be that actual shape. Sharicka Wisdom: That will be the actual shape of the sign. 5 Mayor Honea: Both of the designs are very nice. Bobby Sutton, Jr.: Why not put on design at one end of the Town and the other at the other end of Town. Mayor Honea: Is there a problem with that. Susan Mitchell: Ms. Mitchell us an art teacher at Mountain View High School. What we have been working on is the two locations. We found out from the Department of Transportation that this kind of signage is not allowed on the area between the Interstate and fence. Now we found out that the sign needs to go onto private property, Mr. Flannery has been working with her on this issue. The property near Pinal Air Park Road is owned by Council Member Herb Kai so she has been told that it won't be a problem. The Orange Grove Road site Mr. Flannery believes will be much more complicated to get permission. We were thinking that this year we could use HURF funding to complete one sign and place it at the north limits of the Town. And when ISTEA funds come in that we would then place the other sign. Sharon Price: In order to do both signs we would also have to be on a very aggressive schedule. Susan Mitchell: Yes we have to have this completed in three weeks. We are planning on going out to order and purchase tile tomorrow. It would allow us to be less anxious and to give the Town one sign that would be very well crafted, Jerry Flannery: He pictured going down the road at a high rate of speed, which design would catch your attention. Sharon Price: She likes design iii more than #2. Susan Mitchell: The Committee was concerned with what is the readability factor, the letters would measure between 12 to 14 inches high. RECESS 8:05 PM BACK IN SESSION 8:20 PM Sharon Price: She would hke iil if it were made to be the same width as design #2, put Marana horizontal underneath it so it was as large as the lettering on ii2. Susan Mitchell: We could make the sign so it would be wider. Mayor Honea: If we take design iil we will scale it to 1.5, leave the window and go to a heavy font so the name can be read more easily. A motion was made by Bobby Sutton Jr., seconded by Herb Kai and carried unanimously to approve design #1 with the scale being changed to 1.5, leave in the window and to go to a heavy font on the lettering. Mayor Honea:: Mayor Honea thanked everybody for the hard work they contributed to these designs. Hurvie Davis: Are we going to do both signs this year or one sign or. C-erri Wharam: As we looked at the budget and got into additional costs as well as the problem with ADOT regulations, we felt that the team could do a much better job working on one sign. Because the ISTEA allocations are still there we will eventually be coming back to do another project using those funds. A motion was made by Sharon Price, seconded by Bobby Sutton, Jr. and carried unanimously to place the sign on the north end of the Town limits, using HURF funds. D. Executive Assistant to the Mayor and Council - Authority to hire a Council Executive Assistant. Hurvie Davis: This item was discussed during the budget process at which time this position was approved in the budget. There was some discussion as to the full activities that this position would be conducting and so forth. A job desctiption has been prepared by Jane Johnson and is attached for Council to review. As he indicated previously to the Mayor and Council he thinks the position is long overdue. Jane Johnson is here this evening to answer any questions that Council may have. Mayor Honea: He asked the Council to approve the funds for this after talking to Mr. Davis and Ms. Johnson a couple weeks ago, they both felt that the position was warranted. He has had a chance to talk to all the Council Members but Council Member Sutton and Council Member Kal on this issue. Council Member Clark told him that he would support this position. It really will improve the quality of service, it will give the Mayor someone who will be able to help coordinate his schedule as well as other duties. This position has been posted, however it was done in the exact same procedure as we did prior to the budget. If Council does not approve it, it will not be filled. He would ask Council to allow the Mayor to fill this position along with Mr. Davis and Ms. Johnson. Hurvie Davis: We have a number of cases that come up where a position like this would come into play. There is a lot of time spent running around keeping up with these duties when we should all be doing a number of other things. We need to have a central coordinator set up for the Council, it would relieve a lot of pressure from other employees. Herb Kai: He looks at this from a business point of view. He suggested this at the last council meeting, is there any possibility where we can specifically assign someone with our current staff to do this maybe for a trial basis to see what is needed. Hurvie Davis: We have tried to do that to some extent, but some of the duties that this position would handle doesn't seem to work in that regard. There is a possibility that if a current staff member were to do this there would be conflicts when two things needed to be completed at the same time. When you have that conflict something has to slip, which one is going to slip. Sharon Price: In the job description one of the things that they would be doing is answering questions from the Community, she's not sure if she is comfortable with that. Mayor Honea: This person would not go and make promises to the Community in regards to the Council. It would be that they would take possibly a prepared statement to meetings stating the Council's position, things of that sort. They would not be making statements that the Council will be doing something or their position on an issue unless they are told that is what the Council will do. Sharon Price: When people call they want to talk to a Council Member, if we're not going to return that call they might not respond come election time. Mayor Honea: He doesn't know what else to say, he feels it is a very needed position. Sharon Price: Why couldn't everything now still come from one person. Why are three different people handling schedules. Mayor Honea: With the elections coming up that also adds a lot of work to Staff at Town Hall. We really need to set up this position, he feels the job would pay for itself. Bobby Sutton, Jr.: If he could see by some type of study that the job would pay for itself it seem more sensible. He would like to see some type of audit done by the Staff to see how much work is being done by existing Staff for the Council. He thinks it is a great idea but he can't support it tight Mayor Honea: The three Council Members that are not here tonight have committed to supporting this as requested. He is at the Town Hall everyday working on Council issues. He needs someone to help him with some of the work.