The URL can be used to link to this page

Home My WebLink About01/05/2010 Regular Council Meeting Minutes~,•~ .. °` ~*""~ ~~A ~~i {{F~'R Q~ 11#RAM# REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES 11555 W. Civic Center Drive, Marana, Arizona 85653 Council Chambers, January 5, 2010, at or after 7:00 PM Ed Honea, Mayor Herb Kai, Vice Mayor Russell Clanagan, Council Member Patti Comerford, Council Member Carol McGorray, Council Member Jon Post, Council Member Roxanne Ziegler, Council Member REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL Mayor Honea called the meeting to order at 7:04 p.m. All Council Members were present. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE/INVOCATION/MOMENT OF SILENCE Led by Mayor Honea. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Motion to approve moved by Council Member McGorray, second by Council Member Comerford Motion carried unanimously. CALL TO THE PUBLIC David Morales informed Council that he would be taking athree-month class at Pima Community College and would be unavailable to attend Council Meetings during that time. Steve Blomquist spoke regarding his concerns about previous council actions regarding a public easement in the Tortolita Mountain Park area. He expressed that he had no issues with the Marana Police Department. He asked to show a video clip that was placed on KGUN 9 beginning January 3, 2010. Council refused the request as inappropriate to Call to the Public. Mr. Blomquist indicated that he would be in the lobby after his comments and would be happy to show his video clip to anyone wishing to view it. PRESENTATIONS ANNOUNCEMENTS/UPDATES PROCLAMATIONS MAYOR AND COUNCIL REPORTS: SUMMARY OF CURRENT EVENTS Mayor Honea indicated that the Council met with four legislators prior to the Council Meeting regarding the condition of the state budget. He noted that the state was in serious trouble and believed that it would eventually affect all cities and towns, including Marana. MANAGER' S REPORT: SUMMARY OF CURRENT EVENTS. Gilbert Davidson wished everyone Happy New Year. STAFF REPORTS GENERAL ORDER OF BUSINESS CONSENT AGENDA Motion to approve moved by Council Member Comerford, second by Council Member McGorray. Motion carried unanimously by way of a roll call vote. C 1: Ordinance No. 2010.01: Relating to Code Compliance; amending Title 1 of the Marana Town Code to-define "code compliance officer"; establishing the authority of code compliance officers; adding Chapter 1-9 entitled "Code Compliance"; and providing an effective date C 2: Ordinance No. 2010.02: Relating to Municipal Court; amending Town Code Chapter 5-7 entitled "Civil Town Code Violations"; modifying procedures for commencement of action for civil violations of the Town Code; modifying procedures for service of civil code complaints; modifying provisions regarding civil sanctions for civil code violations; making certain other clarifications regarding judges who may hear appeals and order abatement in civil code violation cases; and providing an effective date Resolution No. 2010-01: Relating to Municipal Court; declaring the amendments to the Marana Town Code Chapter 5-7 entitled "Civil Town Code Violations", modifying procedures for commencement of action for civil violations of the town code, modifying procedures for service of civil code complaints, modifying provisions regarding civil sanctions for civil code violations, and making certain other clarifications regarding judges who may hear appeals and order abatement in civil code violation as a public record filed with the Town Clerk C 3: Resolution No. 2010-02: Relating to Personnel; approving and adopting amendments to the Town's Personnel Policies and Procedures; revising Chapter 4 -Employment Benefits; and declaring an emergency C 4: Resolution No. 2010-03: Relating to Parks and Recreation; naming the new district park located near Silverbell and Cortaro Roads C 5: Resolution No. 2010-04: Relating to Health and Sanitation; authorizing the Mayor to sign a Memorandum of Understanding concerning cooperation and coordination in Invasive Species Management in Southeast Arizona, with various agencies and entities C 6: Resolution No. 2010-05: Relating to Utilities; authorizing the Town Manager or the Town Manager's designee to take all actions on behalf of the Town that are necessary or prudent to facilitate the provision of public utilities to the airport sewer lift station and septic system and to buildings and sites located on the grounds of the Marana Regional Airport, including without limitation the execution of an electrical right-of--way easement across the Marana Regional Airport to provide electrical service to the airport sewer lift station C 7: Resolution No. 2010-06: Relating to Bingo Licenses; recommendation to the State Department of Revenue regarding a Class A bingo license application submitted by Aileen Fundingsland on behalf of Heritage Highlands, located at 4949 W. Heritage Club Boulevard C 8: Minutes of the December 15, 2009 regular council meeting COUNCIL ACTION A L• PUBLIC HEARING: Ordinance No. 2010.03: Relating to Utilities; amending the Town of Marana comprehensive fee schedule by adopting a groundwater resource/acquisition fee and revising the water base fees and consumption rates effective February 5, 2010, and by revising the groundwater resource/acquisition fee and further revising the water base fees and consumption rates effective February 5, 2011 Presented by Dorothy O'Brien and Dan Jackson from economists.com. Ms. O'Brien noted that tonight's presentation would be to review the rate study prepared by Mr. Jackson's firm. Mr. Jackson introduced the water rate study prepared for Council's approval to get the funds it needs to fund the water utility to get the revenues it need to fund all of its operations and meet all of its debt service requirement currently and in the future. Tonight's presentation is for 2010 and beyond, noting water and sewer rate increases that will be necessary. He explained some of the reasons water rates are going up, noting that water is run like a business, subject to inflation, insurance cost increases, chemical cost increases and equipment replacement costs. Recovery of these costs is generally passed on to the rate payers. He then noted that in Marana there are a couple of very important factors that need to betaken into consideration such as a financial long-term plan. The two factors driving the cost changes in Marana over the last several years is that several water systems have been integrated into one unified system. There have been geographic challenges for doing this. These systems have been thrust together over a large area which requires a lot of costs. You have to integrate new accounts into your system and build infrastructure to service the new accounts; that runs into a significant amount of cost. Another important factor for Marana and the state of Arizona is the cost of acquiring water resources. In many areas of the country, water is abundant. In Arizona water is not as plentiful. Rate payers have to understand and appreciate that the challenge of acquiring new resources must be addressed in Arizona. It is going to make water more expensive in the next 10 to 15 years. It is the primary factor driving the need for water rate adjustments in 2010. He then presented the current rate structure, including a conservation rate for low usage payers. Commercial and multi-family rate payers pay more. The average user in Marana uses between 7500 and 10,000 gallons of water per month. Atypical family of four in a single family residence uses about 10,000 gallons. They pay $36.02 per month for that amount. It's a little higher than the municipal average, but comparing Marana to similar sized utilities with an average between $1M and $SM revenue per year which is where Marana is, Marana is lower. Marana is also lower than the state average. He used a comparison city with similar ~ - - characteristics to Marana -Oro Valley -Marana is $12 below what Oro Valley is charging. A long-term financial plan requires some crystal-ball gazing. Predictions based on the best information at the time need to be periodically reviewed. Mr. Jackson summarized his comments and recommendation through a PowerPoint presentation, and noted that his forecasts are very conservative. For the next year or two things are going to stay pretty low and a rate plan has to take that into consideration. Most expenses are going up three to five percent a year and this needs to be factored into a future rate plan. One of the key assumptions in this plan is that the Town issues about $4.SM in water-related debt to fund the CMID acquisition and the Twin Peaks/Camino de Marana. This is a very important factor to consider because the rate plan has to be able to fund the debt service that is issues to make the acquisitions. For the purposes of this analysis they are not assuming the acquisition of any Tucson Water accounts in the near future. If that does occur, then the rate plan should be revisited immediately. He showed a slide of where the town has been, where it is and where it is going, noting the new accounts that have been added, especially in 2005-06. In 2007-08 and 09 it was drastically reduced. This year there will be less than 200 new rooftops. This shows that what has happened in the past is not always a good indicator for the future. The total cost of service is expected to increase. It's about $3M this year. That will gradually increase over the next 10 years to about $S.SM. This is broken down between operating expenses and debt service. As the $4.SM in debt is issued the total cost of service jumps up, so designing a rate plan now will minimize the impact of the debt that will occur on your rate payers. Much of the debt for the rate plan presented .and much of the increase is due to the. acquisition of groundwater resources, so he is recommending that the town establish a separate groundwater resource acquisition and development fee - a separate line item on monthly bills, and it will enable the town to recover all of its water acquisition costs. There are a lot of benefits to a rate structure like this. It tells the rate payers on their bills how much is costs to acquire water. It's really nothing more than apass-through. Doing this will enable the town not to change its other water rates in 2010, but 2011 will require an increase. Finally, they (economists.com) are recommending not changing the minimum charge. They are recommending eliminating the 1,000 credit in 2010. The market is generally leaning toward the elimination of gallonage credits in minimum charges because it encourages conservation. He showed rate plans and the impact on the average rate payer. Effective February 2010, establish a groundwater acquisition resource and acquisition fee of $.30 per 1,000 gallons which will enable not changing the minimum charge of $12.15. The 1,000 credit would be eliminated. Effective February 2011, increase this groundwater resource fee to $.40 per 1,000 gallons and still not change the minimum charge, but a modest rate adjustment for volume charge across the board of about $.10-.15 in each rate tier. The multi-family and non-residential rate would go up by $.17 per 1,000 gallons. This impact means the monthly bill would increase by $4.58 per month. In 2011, the bill would go up about $1.79. He then showed other usage level average charges. The vast majority of rate payers would see their bill go up by $4-$5 per month in 2010. In 2011 - $1 to $2 per month under this rate plan. This is a good benchmark number when evaluating this rate plan. Commercial rates would go up a little bit more because they tend to use a little more water. Mr. Jackson then summarized the presentation. Mayor Honea called for comments from the dais and the public. Council Member Post asked what would be done with the money accumulated from the $.30 and $.40. Ms. O'Brien responded that this would be set aside specifically for the water resources purchased on an annual basis -the fees paid the Central Arizona Project, Ground Water Replenishment and the Department of Water Resources that we use now and annual acquisition purposes. Council Member Post asked is this about $150/foot. Ms. O'Brien responded that that was close and that 1550 acre feet were ordered this. year. In February/March we'll do our annual withdrawal report and pay the Department of Water Resources and CAGRD fees which comes out of what this fund would be established for. Council Member Post asked if this included possible withdrawal fees going up. Ms. O'Brien said it anticipated a very minor increase. It doesn't anticipate if the Department of Water Resources needs to do anything large. Mayor Honea noted that David Morales had requested to speak on this item. Mr. Morales addressed Council by asking for clarification that all users will be charged $.30 per 1,000 gallons pumped. This was acknowledged. His concern is about retired people not having a cost of living increase for the next two years. Investors in the stock market have huge losses. A barrel of oil is over $80. Gas keeps going up. Many people have lost their jobs or hours have been cut back. He asked Council that these factors be taken into consideration when any rates or fees are raised. Council Member Comerford responded that she appreciated Mr. Morales' comments and absolutely understood his concerns. She noted that the. cost of product needs to be paid from some source, and that drives increases to at least cover the cost for what it is -not to make money. The sources are limited. Mayor Honea noted that the Public Hearing has concluded. Council Member Ziegler echoed Council Member Comerford's comments and thanked Mr. Jackson and Barbara Johnson and Dorothy O'Brien for making this information so available to Council in the last couple of months. Motion to approve moved by Council Member Ziegler, second by Council Member ComerfordL Motion carried 6-0 with one abstention by Tice Mayor %ai.. A 2: Resolution No. 2010-07: Relating to Intergovernmental Relations; authorizing the Mayor to execute an intergovernmental agreement with Northwest Fire District and Marana Unified School District No. 6 for development review and inspection, facility use and general cooperation Presented by Josh Wright. This item ties up a lot of loose ends with Northwest Fire and Marana Unified School District on a number of major issues. It is intended to make the entire process clearer and define some of the relationships and help the town pass savings to the common constituents of all three agencies. A cooperative agreement such as this benefits the entire community by each agency not charging a separate set of fees. This clarifies the relationship of who is responsible for what, what has to be paid and to whom, and to make sure that all agencies are collaborative. Mayor Honea commented that this is something that separates Marana from a lot of regions in the area or the state. Very seldom do you see municipalities, school districts, fire districts, health centers and food banks working so closely together to try to eliminate redundancies in services, to save money, and to try to provide quality services to the same people. Council Member Post complimented Mr. Wright on this issue. Council Member. McGorray noted that this has been going on for a number of years, and it's all the same taxpayer's money. Motion to approve moved by Council Member McGorray, second by Council Member Clanagan. Motion carried unanimously: BOARDS, COMMISSIONS AND COMMITTEES ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION/POSSIBLE ACTION D 1: Legislative Issues: Discussion/Direction/Action regarding all pending bills before the Legislature No report. EXECUTIVE SESSIONS Motion to go into executive session on item E4 moved by Council Member Clanagan, second by Council Member Posz Motion carried unanimously. Council left the dais at 7:43 p.m. Council returned to the dais at 7:52 p.m. E 1: Executive Session pursuant to A.R.S. §38-431.03 (A)(3), Council may ask for discussion or consultation for legal advice with the Town Attorney concerning any matter listed on this agenda E 2: Executive Session pursuant to A.R.S. § 38-431.03(A)(3),(4) and (7), discussion or consultation for legal advice with the Town's attorneys and discussion and to consider its position and instruct the Town Manager and staff concerning possible acquisition of certain water infrastructure and accounts and water rights and/or resources E 3: Executive Session pursuant to A.R.S. § 38-431.03(A)(3),(4) and (7), discussion or consultation for legal advice with the Town's attorneys and discussion and to consider its position and instruct the Town Manager and staff concerning (1) the lawsuit entitled Town of Marana v. Pima County/Pima County v. Marana (consolidated), Maricopa County Superior Court No. CV2008-001131, (2) pending legal issues, settlement discussions and contract negotiations relating to the transition of Marana wastewater collection and treatment to the Town of Marana E 4: Executive Session pursuant to A.R.S. § 38-431.03 (A)(4) and (7) to consider the Town's position and instruct its representatives regarding negotiations for the purchase of property rights needed for the Twin Peaks interchange project, CIP number 2001-44, from the property generally identified as Pima County Assessor's parcel number 226-08-1030 and to instruct the Town's attorneys in settlement negotiations and condemnation proceedings relating to the same property rights Cedric Hay requested Council approval as discussed in executive session for acquisition for the Twin peaks interchange project of parcel number 226-08-1030 for the amount of $330,000. Motion to approve moved by Council Member Post, second by Council Member McGorray. Motion carried unanimously. FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS ADJOURNMENT Motion to adjourn moved by Council Member Post, second by Council Member McGorray. Motion carried unanimously. The meeting was adjourned at 7:53 p.m. CERTIFICATION I hereby certify that the foregoing are the true and correct minutes of the Marana Town Council meeting held on January~5, 2010. I further certify that a quc - ~`~ ~;:-' ~Tocelyn ronson, Town Clerk