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HomeMy WebLinkAbout01/16/1996 Regular Council Meeting MinutesMINUTES OF REGULAR COUNCIL MEF;FING MARANA TOWN COUNCIL JANUARY 16, 1996 PLACE AND DATE Marana Town Hall January 16, 1996 I. CALL TO ORDER By Mayor Honea at 7:07 p.m. II. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Led by Mayor Honea III. INVOCATION Led by Mayor Honea IV. ROLL CALI~ COUNCIL Ed Honea Sharon Price Tom Clark Ora Mae Harn Sherry Millner Herb Kal Bobby Sutton Jr. Mayor Vice-Mayor, excused Council Member Council Member Council Member Council Member Council Member STAFF Hurvie Davis Dan Hochuli Sandra Groseclose Jerry Flannery Roy Cuaron Dave Atler Brad DeSpain Town Manager Town Attorney Town Clerk Planning Administrator Finance Director Town Engineer Utilities Advisor 12 Members of the Public V. APPROVAL OF AGENDA A motion was made by Ora Ham, seconded by Bobby Sutton, Jr. and carried unanimously to approve the Agenda as written. VI. ACCEPTANCE OF MINUTES A motion was made by Bobby Sutton, Jr., seconded by Herb Kai and carried with Ora Ham abstaining to approve the minutes of the Regular Council Meeting of January 2, 1996 with the one change on Page 5 of the word land to lane on Item SE. VII. CALL TO THE PUBLIC/ANNOUNCEMENTS VIII. STAFF REPORTS A motion was made by Ora Ham, seconded by Bobby Sutton Jr., and carried unanimously to accept the Staff Reports as presented. Reports are on file at Marana Town HaH. M1NrUTES OF REGULAR COUNCIl, MEETING MARANA TOWN COUNCIL JANUARY 16, 1996 IX. GENERAL ORDER OF BUSINESS A. Select priorities for 1996 Community Development Block Grant Funding - The Marana Town Council will select among the CDBG request the priority order. Hurvie Davis: It is the time of year to select the priorities for the upcoming CDBG funding cycle. We have submitted to Council in the packet this evening a list of projects totaling $1.7 million. We historically receive about $225,000.00 to $250,000.00 from Pima County, he does not anticipate receiving much more this year. If you have any questions pertaining to one of the programs we have some specific information that we can discuss with Council. We would like to get the Council's rankings and then Dan Groseclose would compile those and bring them back before Council later in the evening for approval. Ora Ham: She wanted to discuss a conflict of interest question with the Town Attorney. Mayor Honea: He noticed there are three or four items that several Council Members had talked about financing through the General Fund. One of the items in particular is chip sealing Silverbell Road which has already been approved from the General Fund. Bobby Sutton, Jr.: Being a new Council Member he doesn't know which ones can be appropriated under the General Fund and which are more likely to get CDBG funding. Ora Ham: She has a possible conflict of interest on item 12 and 21 on the list. If either of those items are to be discussed she will leave the dais. Dan Groseclose: We have funds for two programs, the After School Program and the Summer Youth Program in the last two years through CDBG funding. Mayor Honea: Mr. Davis and the Mayor had discussed the After School Program and the Summer Youth Program. Mr. Davis concurred that it's time to make a position available for a Park Supervisor. That individual would run the Summer Programs, the pool, Little League, Senior Citizen Programs and everything. This person would work for Mr. Atler in the Public Works Department. If we concur and think these are two programs that should be funded through the General Fund we could go ahead and leave them in so as to not complicate things. We could puli those items and just ear mark them for General Fund. Dan Groseclose: The pool improvements are badly needed amounting to $40,000.00, is there sufficient moneys in the budget to accomplish that. This issue needs to be addressed one way or the other. Mayor Honea: Some of the items are so large they would take all of the CDBG funding we would receive. He was looking at item 5, possibly that could also be a General Fund item. If we rate this item highly in the rankings you can actually knock several other lower dollar items out. If you do the After School Program and the Youth Program out of CDBG funds there are strict guidelines that the government has. Dan Groseclose: We do have a couple very large programs. If you look at them compared to a bunch of the smaller programs these are the decisions Council is going to have to make on what's a viable situation. These figures are not set in stone, Council can change these figures. Mayor Honea: We could itemize each item on there and then if we decide there are a couple of items we would like to do through the General Fund we can pull them. Dan Groseclose: Each Council Member needs to vote on each item on the list. Joe Reilly, Marana/Avra Valley Chamber of Commerce: Mr. Reilly talked in support of the Marana Chamber of Commerce building which is on the list for possible funding from CDBG moneys. Bobby Sutton, Jr.: His concern with the Marana Chamber building being funded is that everything else on the list does not have the same fund raising abilities. Is there a possibility that fund raising could help raise some of the money for the new building. MINUTES OF REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MARANA TOWN COUNCIL JANUARY 16, 1996 B. Public Hearing; TEP/I-10 Annexation - Public Hearing on the proposed annexation of an area approximately 70.01 acres in size, known as the TEP/I-10 Annexation located near the intersection of Camino De Oeste and Ina Road, including portions of Section 6 of Township 13 South~ Range 13 East, Section I in Township 13 South, Range 12 East and Section 36 in Township 12 South, Range 12 East. Hurvie Davis: There is a Public Hearing this evening in relation to annexing the TEP/I-10 property. When we annexed the Ina/Thornydale Road area we left out a large area where the TEP substation is because it had a high assessed evaluation. The Town had heard at that time that TEP did not normally sign annexation petitions. He has had some discussions with officials from TEP. Mayor Honea declared Council out of Public Hearing. C. Public Hearing; Resolution No. 96-10 - Auto Zone request for variance - (VAR 95-04) Review of a variance application for a proposed retail center to be located at the northeast corner of Meredith Boulevard and Ina Road. This request is to obtain a variance to allow for less than one (11 acre minimum lot size per free standing building 1Related case: PCZ 95-09J Hurvie Davis: At the January 2, 1996 meeting we had a rezoning on the Agenda which was rezoning this parcel from Commercial office to Neighborhood Commercial. In order for the development to proceed the property needs a variance to allow development due to the fact it is less than one acre lot size. Jerry Flannery: When the Town annexed the Ina/Thornydala area transition zoning was brought in about three months after. The zoning that was written in the Town back in July of 1993 had certain limits on the sizes of the parcels. In this case the minimum lot size is one acre. There were several properties that annexed into the Town under Neighborhood Commercial that were less than one acre. We would recommend that this variance be allowed. Mayor Hones declared Council out of Public Hearing. A motion was made by Bobby Sutton, Jr., seconded by Tom Clark and carried unanimously to approve Resolution No. 96-10 granting s variance to be reduced to less than one acre per freestanding building. D. Resolution No. 96-08; Heritage Highland Final Plat Review - IFPR 95-041 Consideration and approval of Final Plat Review for Heritage Highlands in the Tortolita Mouut~n Properties Specific Plan. Hurvie Davis: This is a Final Plat review and approval by the Council for Heritage Highlands in the Tortolita Mountains. Jerry Flannery: Staff has been working quite a long time with the developers on this project in trying to come up with a number of solutions and plans that fall under the Specific Plan. The Preliminary Plat came before the Planning Commission in September and before the Council in October. The project right now is in it's first phase, this phase covers approximately 122 acres and consists of 392 lots. The project is moving forward very well and representatives from U.S. Hones are here tonight to answer any questions. Staff is recommending approval. A motion was made by Ora Ham, seconded by Bobby Sutton, Jr. And carried unanimously to adopt Resolution No. 96-08, subdividing 122.87 acres of property located within the Tortolita Mountain Specific Plan, located in a portion of Section 25, Township 11 South, Range 12 East, into 392 lots. E. Purchase of Water Companies - Discussion and direction on the purchase of water companies that would benefit the Town of Marana. Hurvie Davis: We have been to Council several time to discuss the issue of purchasing various water companies. We have a committee established in the Town to negotiate with C.M.I.D. to take over the municipal and industrial portions of their operation. We have also had discussions with several private water companies. Brad DeSpain: There are several entities that have come forward and have asked the Town to consider purchasing them. The Town has been negotiating for years to purchase C.M.I.D. and 3 MINUTES OF REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MARANA TOWN COUNCIL JANUARY 16, 1996 we have been working with towards that. The Marana Water Service Inc. is willing to sell a portion of their service to the Town, the Picture Rocks portion which is located in the Continental Ranch area. Also included in the deal would be the Happy Acres area. Their preference is to sell the entire water service area. In the Council's packet tonight there was a summary of water company information, in that it is written down what they would want for the three areas just referred. If you break those numbers down per customer, somewhere in the area of $1,000.00 - $1,310.00 per customer is what they are talking about. This includes ali the wells, storage and infrastructure that they have in these areas. Ora Ham: She was taken back by some of the differences in the rates, she was really surprised. Is there a reason for that. Brad DeSpain: The ones that are involved with Marana Water Service are governed and controlled by the Corporation Commission. The only way those individuals can get a rate increase is through a conformance statement where by they show that those costs are actual and they have to have it to continue to operate. Mayor Honea: Some of these companies are way out of Town, do we really want to deal with some of the problems that could arise at some time. Brad DeSpain: Mr. DeSpain would like some specific emphasis that Council would like to give him on what the priorities are. And also some guidelines on what should be pursued. Tom Clark: He had a question on what kind of water companies the Town is looking at. Brad DeSpain: They have not been pursued to that detail at this point in time. We have done some visual inspections and tour of the facilities. We have not progressed to the point of doing any kind of inventory or assessment. We would like some direction from Council as to what they are interested in pursuing. Hurvie Davis: He asked Mr. DeSpain to explain the fire flow standards to the Council. Brad DeSpain: His understanding is that most public occupied type buildings with so many square feet, you have to have 2,000 gallons per minute for two hours. Bobby Sutton, Jr.: He wanted to say that he relies heavily on Mr. DeSpain's opinion on water issues. Tom Clark: He thinks a lot of the surrounding water companies are definitely outside of the Town. We have to be very careful and not get loaded up with some of these problems that these companies have. What is the potential for this particular Picture Rocks we are talking about. Brad DeSpain: On the chart it wili show the number of customers and the potential customers. There are 104 customers to date and there is a potential for about 17 more. If you look at just Happy Acres, Picture Rocks and the Palo Verde systems, this is not going to put us at an economic base by numbers and customers. Hurvie Davis: The Town has taken a position and it is our policy to be the primary provider for water in our community. In doing so we have to look at the Town overall. Council Member Ham brought up the varying differences in the water rates and so forth. In particular when you look at the water systems in our Town, a smali water company finds it difficult to survive these days. This is not a money making business with small companies like this. That's why we are negotiating with CMID because that system is in close prox/mity to our system. We can interconnect with them. Tom Clark: His feels that Town staff should concentrate on the CMID system. Mayor Honea: If we're going to be the water provider, we need to move forward. He agrees that CMID should be the number one priority, but these three smalier companies should be MINUTES OF REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MARANA TOWN COUNCIL JANUARY lt~, 1996 A motion was made by Ora Harn, seconded by Tom Clark and carried unanimously to direct Staff to look into the purchase of CMID Water Company as a first priority and as the second priority we look into obtaining the three companies under Marana Water Service Inc. And that further information be brought back to the Council about these three companies. Mayor Honea: Mayor Honea called Dan Groseclose back to the podium with the results on Item A, CDSG Funding. Dan Groseclose: Mr. C-roseclose gave Council Members the ranking order they all selected for the items listed for CDBG funding. He assumes that the first eight projects would have a very good chance of being funded. Mayor Honea: Since Mr. Groseclose needs to submit this before we have another meeting. He would hope that Council would pull items 11 and 13, set those aside and give that information to Mr. Atler. That would give other programs a better chance of getting funded. Does Council want to pull these items and mark them for the General Fund. Bobby Sutton, Jr.: What about the parking lot additions at the Park, was that going to be earmarked for the General Fund. By doing this it would also move other projects up for CDBG funding. Mayor Honea: If we're going to pull some of these items, we need a motion to earmark them for the General Fund. A motion was made by Herb Kai, seconded by Ora Ham and carried unanimously to puli Item 8~ the Marana parking lot additions Item 11, the Summer Youth Program, Item 12 Basketball and Tennis Court lighting and Item 13, the After school Program from the CDBG ranking. And that those items be earmarked for the General Fund. A motion was made by Ora Ham, seconded by Tom Clark and carried unanimously to approve the ranking that appears on the Council's ranking list with the deletion of Items 8~ 11, 12 and 13. RECESS F. Resolution No. 96-09; Intergovernmental Agreement between the State of Arizona and Town of Marana - For bridge scour evaluation and analysis of Town owned bridges. Hurvie Davis: Staff recommends approval of Resolution 1~o. 96-09. A motion was made by Ora Ham, seconded by Bobby Sutton, Jr. and carried unanimously to adopt Resolution No. 96-09, authorizing the Town of Marana to enter into an IGA with ADOT for shared costs of the Bridge Scour Evaluation and Analysis. G. Marana Post Offices - Discussion and direction to Staff regarding the renaming of the Cortaro Post Off'ice, a Marana Post Office and actions necessary to designate ali present and future Post Offices within the Town of Marana as Marana Post Offices. Hurvie Davis: This issue has been around before. We have had a number of meetings with the Post Office officials in trying to get the Cortaro Post Office named as a Marana Post Office. We were unable to get that accomplished. We need to get everyone on the bandwagon to get this done. Ora Harn: She has spent a lot of time on this issue. The Marana Post Master told her that it would be very difficult to get some of these Post Offices designated as Marana Post Offices. She firmly believes that if the Town, businesses and private citizens wrote letters to all of the different legislators and asked that this be done. Bobby Sutton, Jr.: He agrees with Council Member Harn. If we have a shot at doing this we should possibly put a task force together. Mayor Honea: If we could mount a letter writing campaign to where these people have stacks of letters, then they listen. MINUTES OF REGULAR COUNCIl, MEETING MARANA TOWN COUNCIL JANUARY 16, 1996 Ora Ham: Council Member Harn would like to see something put in the newspapers in the area making people aware of this. A motion was made by Ora Harn, seconded by Sherry Millner and carried unanimously to progress on a campaign to try and have the Post Office that is being built in Continental Ranch named a Marana Post Office. And that we do that by writing letters to our legislators. Dan Hochull: A number of years ago Oro Valley had the same problem we have. They succeeded in in getting everybody who lives in Ora Valley an Oro Valley address. We may want to contact Chuck Sweet and find out what they did. Hurvie Davis: The existing Cortaro Post Office is not in the Town of Marana, but the new one will be. The property owners in the Continental Ranch Business Park contacted Mr. Davis and they are going to be purchasing the site and they would like to annex it into the Town. H. Annexations - Update and information on current and future annexations. Hurvie Davis: The Annexation Task Force has been meeting regarding various annexations that we have talked about. We thought it was time to bring the issue to the Council to give them an update. We have pretty well outlined everything in the communication this evening. We are proceeding with a number of these annexations. I. First Reading; Violence in the Workplace Police Statement - Amendment to the Mar~n~ Personnel PolicV adopting a "Violence in the Workplace Policy' that states that the Town of Marana is committed to providing all employees with a workplace that is safe, free from threats, intimidation and violence. Hurvie Davis: This comes about as a result of meetings and policies of Southwest Risk, which is the company that insures the Town. Violence in the workplace is becoming a more common problem these days. We are instituting a number of improvements. A motion was made by Ora Harn, seconded by Bobby Sutton, Jr. and carried unanimously to approve the first reading of the Violence in the Workplace Policy Statement and direct Staff to schedule the statement for subsequent approval action before the Town Council. J. Internet - Discussion of options, needs and costs for the Town of Marana to promote the Town on the Internet and other needs the Town may have in using the Internet. Hurvie Davis: This is an item that the Council asked Staff to look into and bring back, we have researched this issue. Roy Cuaron: There is a wide spectrum by which we could choose to participate on the Internet. There are no limits to what the Town could do on the Internet or how we might want to use it. One restraint is how much the Town would like to spend for a subscription service and monthly costs. Bobby Sutton, Jr.: Does the City of Tucson or any surrounding communities do any thing on the Internet. Roy Cuaron: He is not familiar with what the City of Tucson is doing. Ora Harn: Council Member Harn had some examples of what can be done on the Internet. Bobby Sutton, Jr.: His experience on the Internet has been limited, but it really is limitless. Roy Cuaron: We need to focus on what strengths the Town has to offer. Perhaps it might be advantageous to defer until the Town slogan has been decided, this could be worked in with that. Bobby Sutton, Jr.: Council Member Sutton feels that the Chamber should really be involved in this. The Chamber will be the one that will be responding to most of these people. Hurvie Davis: We will continue to pursue this issue and bring it back before Council. MINUTES OF REGULAR COUNCIl, MEETING MARANA TOWN COUNCIL JANUARY 16, 1996 Ora Ham: She would like Staff to see if there are professionals out there that could help the Town with this. K. Marana Town Council Spring Retreat - Discussion and selection of date, time, location and topics for the Agenda. Mayor Honea: We need to look into a date and also some topics for the Spring Retreat. It is nice to get out of Town for the Retreat, we have been to Phoenix several times. One of the things we need to do at this year is we need to get a presentation on sexual harassment. Ora Harn: Council Member Harn suggested possibly spending the night the day prior and having some time of social function. Mayor Honea: We could do that. That way we would have an early start and be more rested. He would like to look at a date in March. He would like to try and find a date where all Council Members could attend. We will tentatively plan on going up on a Friday afternoon, having dinner and then spend Saturday at the Retreat. He would like to try for the first weekend in March if possible. The Council Members should call Sandy Groseclose to confirm this date. In attendance will be all Council Members and three Senior Staff members, the Town Manager, Town Clerk and the Town Attorney. Hurvie Davis: We are still trying to establish a meeting with the Council and the School Board. We have been unable to get a meeting in January. We are looking into February or March at this time. L. Pima Associations of Governments Regional Council Meeting Agenda - Review for discussion and direction. Hurvie Davis: The major issue that is coming up is regional water issues. Mayor Honea: The Town of Oro Valley seems to want to jump on the city of Tucson and they want Marana to jump on the bandwagon with them. He does not feel that is in the Town's best interest. We're in the process of trying to sign an IGA with Tucson and maybe take over part of their water district. He certainly does not think that would help the Town if we jump on Tucson's back with Oro Valley. Brad DeSpain: The Northwest Water Alliance is working on a proposal at this point in time, some type of organization that would have the ability to bond. If you received no benefit from that type of program or whatever was being done project, you would not have to participate. M. MAYOR'S REPORT Mayor Honea: On January 5, 1996 Mayor Honea attended the State of the City address in Tucson. On Tuesday he went with Mr. Davis to Phoenix in support of the City of Tucson in their effort to try and get some t~x equity from Pima County. We are not getting near the money down here as they are in Maricopa County. On January 10, 1996 there was an Annexation Task Force meeting, most of that material is included in Council's packet. Vice Mayor Price, Mr. Davis and the Mayor met with Cortaro Water for preliminary discussions on purchasing the Cortaro system. As Mr. Davis eluded to early we are making some good progress. Mr. DeSpain is working on a proposal to buy wholesale water and they are working on it on the other end. On Friday he met with the Metropolitan Tucson Convention and Visitors Bureau. They were kind of interested in maybe our 1% bed tax to promote conventions and visitors. We only have two small motels at the time and he didn't think it would be appropriate to give them a 1% ta~ They stated that Oro Valley gave them 3/4 of their 1% t~x to them. I stated that Oro Valley has a 1,000 bed resort. N. TOWN MANAGER'S REPORT Hurvie Davis: This past Thursday Mr. Davis, Mr. Atlar and Mr. DeSpain met with Pima County Waste Water to discuss the continuing issue of sewers in the part of Town that is not currently provided with a sewer system. They were presented with the ten year bond program. In that proposed bond program they have a $2.0 million treatment facility planned at the Pinal County line. Mr. Davis and Mr. DeSpain met with Dan Felix from the Pima County Parks and Recreation regarding water rights at the Park and Continental Ranch, it was a very positive meeting. Staff continues to have meetings with Sunward Materials in reference to the trust property down on the Santa Cruz. He had a meeting with MTC and DOC officials regarding the MTC. In a report just completed by DOC, it rates all of the areas good to excellent. There ? M[NUTES OF REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MARANA TOWN COUNCIL JANUARY 16, 1996 were three areas that we have pr/mary concern in, one being security which was rated excellent Inmate management was also rated as excellent as well as business. It is a very positive rating in his opinion for the first year of operation for this facility. The Practice Tee which opened near Price Club is up and operating. Within a couple weeks of opening it was already exceeding the first year expectations. X. FUTURE AGENDAITEMS None XI. ADJOURNMENT A motion was made by Bobby Sutton Jr., seconded by Sharon Price and carried unanimously to adjourn. TIME: 10:11 p.m. AUDIO TAPES OF THE MEETING ARE AVAILABLE AT THE MARANA TOWN HALL CLERK'S OFFICE. CERTIFICATION I hereby certify that the foregoing minutes are the true and correct minutes of the Regular Council Meeting of the Marana Town Council held on January 16, 1996. I further certify that a quorum was present. ~~WN CLERK