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HomeMy WebLinkAbout01/12/2010 Speial Council Meeting Minutes,. ~~~1-A~A SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES 11555 W. Civic Center Drive, Marana, Arizona 85653 Council Chambers, January 12, 2010, at or after 6:00 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 SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL Mayor Honea called the meeting to order at 6:01 p.m. The Town Clerk called roll and confirmed that a quorum was present. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE/INVOCATION/MOMENT OF SILENCE Led by Mayor Honea. Before a moment of silence was observed, Mayor Honea noted that a stalwart of the community, Wheeler Abbett, had passed on Monday. 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 spoke regarding the state of the economy, and stated he hoped the Council would do what it takes to keep the town running. PRESENTATIONS P 1: Presentation: Relating to Public Safety; overview of the Pima County Wireless Integrated Network (PCW1N) system and direction to staff regarding the Town of Marana's participation in the project Introduced by Chief Tometich. The purpose of the presentation is to give Council an update on what is happening with the project and ask questions. He then turned over the presentation to the PCWIN project administrator Captain Paul Wilson, Pima County Sheriff's Office; Project Manager Tony Casella; and the Strategic Technology Planning Director John Moffitt. Captain Wilson began by noting that PCWIN is a 2004 Pima County Bond project intended to benefit all jurisdictions of Pima County. He discussed some of the key benefits and impacts for the town of Marana and why interoperability is difficult in coordinating emergency response efforts on demand and in real time unless there is a regional effort. The project is now in the implementation stage. He is here seeking support from the town for the project. The project is proposed by a coalition of 32 public safety agencies, including the Marana Police Department. He then discussed some of the highlights of the plan, including a business planning process. The project is governed by three committees: an executive management committee is appointed by the Board of Supervisors and supported by two advisory committees. The executive committee sets policy, makes decisions about project scope and technology selection and is responsible for overseeing business process development. The executive committee is comprised of nine chief executive public safety officials including Chief Tometich. A user committee is comprised of one representative from each agency. The committee advises on the technical, operational and functional communications needs of individual agencies and of the region. Captain Wilson discussed the challenges of completing the O & M cost analysis which include technical and administrative support FTE, personnel, operating, contractual, leases and utilities and emergency services. The analysis shows a monthly use per unit of $42.46. The Marana police department will receive replacement subscriber equipment at about the time their current equipment will be due for lifecycle replacement. The value of the replacement equipment is approximately $750K. The radio system design incorporates shared use of two Marana radio sites and components of the Marana Motorola radio system that are compatible with the new radio system technology. Additional microwave links will be added to the municipal complex to support the new dispatch consoles. Captain Wilson noted that they have the plan and the resources to construct the regional system and to equip the end users. Marana's support is desired and needed to permit the continued participation of Marana Police Department and the use of the town's assets. As part of the Council's discussion this evening, he noted that the county asks three things: (1) A decision about Marana's continued participation in the project is integral to completion of the detailed design of the radio system and microwave network. If Marana chooses not to participate, alternative sites must be selected and acquired to meet the coverage needs of the remaining participants. This decision is now on the project's critical path. (2) The County has requested approval for right of entry to complete any necessary cultural, environmental and structural studies necessary to finish the evaluation of antenna site readiness for the project. Marana is one of the few jurisdictions that have not approved the county's request. (3) Negotiations for intergovernmental agreements to provide access to Marana sites and reuse of Marana assets must commence in the near future to enable future construction and integration of system components. Deb Thalasitis presented the staff analysis and stated that she had been working with the police department and management staff to look at the policy implications of the presentation just given. This has been an ongoing project for many years. She stated that the things that have changed since 2004 when the project was conceived. In that regard staff made a comparison based on information received last week. She highlighted the variations as being governance and ownership of the radio system; cost; and interoperability. With regard to governance and ownership, the original concept voted on by voters in 2004 envisioned that Pima County would own the entire radio system, making use of existing assets. These assets include Marana's current Motorola system. Marana is the only jurisdiction in the region with the system that is the system envisioned by the project to be available for other jurisdictions. One of the criteria of the project in sharing resources is that Marana would give up its 800MHz frequency to Pima County. One of the challenges of giving up this signal is there are no more signals to be had. There are other signals available at different MHz rating, but there's debate as to whether those would be as viable. As an individual jurisdiction, Marana would retain ownership, operations and maintenance of its tower site, although she believes there are three potential sites being considered for this project in Marana. There is still some discussion about what portion of the maintenance of certain equipment on that site would be Marana's responsibility. Marana would also retain ownership of the radios, so the $750K that PCWIN would provide toward both mobile radios (cars), portable radios (lapel radios), and the dispatch consoles would go toward those. Ms. Thalasitis noted the organization chart, and stated that in researching the bond ordinance, the final governance authority for the region-wide system resides with the Pima County Board of Supervisors, and the day to day governance of the program management is governed by the executive management group, currently made up of jurisdiction police chiefs. They ultimately report to the Pima County Board of Supervisors through the Pima County Administrator. The other thing staff looked at was cost. In 2004, the Council approved $2.1M in bond funds, and the additional money was expended from the General Fund to purchase the Motorola radio system. That system was upgraded by Motorola for no charge in 2008. It has the same expected life as the PCWIN system would have -about another 20 years. Staff also looked at the operating costs over the life of the project, running a model, being conservative with growth figures as well as with estimating cost increases. She then explained the methodology used to get to the lifecycle costs on the operating side. At this point, the delta between what the town would pay if it maintained the equipment and what the town would pay in addition with PCWIN is about $2.1M. Ms. Thalasitis went on to say that staff understands the need for interoperability and they believe there are other ways to achieve interoperability with other agencies because technology has changed dramatically since the project was first envisioned. Following 9/11 Motorola invested a significant amount of money and research into gateways, thus allowing different public safety systems to talk to each other. There are other technological solutions staff would like to explore that may actually save the town money and could eventually save PCWIN in the long run. One of the key pieces for Council consideration is that as PCWIN is currently designed, the town would lose the ownership of the radio system which will be paid for by FY 2011 and the town loses control over the 800MHz frequencies. If at any point the town disengaged from PCWIN, it would have an aging radio system that would have to be replaced. With respect to transparency, the governance structure and system ownership should allow Marana taxpayers direct accountability to Marana elected officials. The current project does not do that. Much of the system would be managed and owned by Pima County and responsibility would rest with the Board of Supervisors. With respect to return on investment, Marana taxpayers should be compensated for their investment in the existing radio system. With respect to financial sustainability, operating costs over the 20-year life cycle are at or near breaking point. Council Member Comerford recapped that the Marana system would be turned over the Pima County and would also pay them a monthly per unit cost to operate it, no longer have control over our system and lose our MHz channel and there's no opportunity to go back. Yet the town still has the technology and ability to connect with them without necessarily going along with the PCWIN program. Ms. Thalasitis responded that staff believes technology is there to allow the town to connect. Staff believes there is some validity in working together especially with the tower sites provided the town's capacity is not eliminated, but at the end of the day, the town becomes part of the network, there would be a subscriber fee and there would be some ongoing maintenance costs that would not go away for our tower sites. The town would be responsible for the cost of any growth. As staff understands the business plan today, it does not give the town the ability to go into Pinal County. Captain Wilson attempted to clarify some of the points raised by Ms. Thalasitis. Any assets that a jurisdiction contributes to the project remains under the ownership of that jurisdiction. One of the goals of the project was to try and include assets and antenna sites where those made sense of the project to minimize the cost overall. There are primarily four entities that have assets that have been incorporated into the design -Pima County through their antenna sites, maintenance shop and microwave and fiber network; the City of Tucson's microwave network and five antenna site facilities. In the case of Marana -and there are several agencies in the Pima County areas that have 800MHz frequencies -the idea being to make reuse of existing facilities - it makes the licensing issue easier. We may able to license new 700MHZ frequencies. With regard to Pinal County, the project is not intending to intentionally design radio service outside of Pima County largely because Pima County taxpayers are paying for the project. We believe there will be resulting coverage but have not made any effort to guarantee that because of the funding source. Ms. Thalasitis emphasized that one of the challenges has been getting a handle on the numbers. The business plan Marana staff had seen in December had a subscriber rate in the $40 range. Tucson Airport pulled out of the project and the subscriber rate went up to the $42.46 rate. The subscriber costs continue to move around. So changes are likely to occur again before the project is complete. Staff started meeting about six weeks ago and raised a number of their concerns with the Pima County staff here this evening. Their response in general is that they are pretty well tied to what was proposed in the 2004 bond issue. So it is not the three individuals here tonight -they are tied to what was proposed in 2004. A lot has changed and that is the essence of our concern. Council Member Clanagan asked what information was received by town staff that led her to believe that there are other ways of bridging this gap through this gateway system that hasn't been introduced and that perhaps Pima County might not even be aware of? Ms. Thalasitis asked Gary Hudman, the Marana Technology Service Director, to address this question. Gary Hudman responded that earlier in the year there was a pilot study project connecting to public agencies -Yuma with the DPS area; in Phoenix there was a Motorola pilot study using a product called Gateway I.1 -anew product. It's always been envisioned that P-25 digital trunk radio would have interoperability gateways. This wasn't available in 2004. It's a recent product of Motorola. It's been proven with some success in this test study, and it maybe worth exploring as an alternative approach. Captain Wilson confirmed Mr. Hudman's information, and stated that the gateway system solution is designed under the P-25 standards to interconnect multiple P-25 systems. However, he said it was important to understand that when you interconnect two radio systems, the limitations of each of those systems still exists. Council Member Clanagan asked Captain Wilson to explain Tucson Airport Authority pulling out of the project. Captain Wilson noted that the Tucson Airport Authority was kind of a last minute add-on to the bond project. When the proposal was made to the citizen's bond advisory committee, it was done without the Airport Authority and without the University police department. They were added in later. Tucson Airport Authority recently asked to withdraw and from some informal conversations with them, that their issues largely had to do with control and the possibility of job losses for the technical staff at the Airport Authority. The executive committee accepted their withdrawal but gave them notice that if they decide at a future date to join, the cost to join will be on the Airport Authority. Council Member Ziegler thanked Captain Wilson for his time and explanations. She asked for clarification on who the executive committee is. Captain Wilson replied that the executive committee is comprised on nine public safety chief executives appointed by the Board of Supervisors, and they've been given the responsibility for planning and implementing the project. The Board has final authority due to the expenditure of Pima County bond dollars. The Board has not been involved in this except to approve the recommendations the executive committee has brought to them, but they have been very supportive of the project. Council Member Ziegler expressed her concerns over control noting that the town has not been successful in entering IGAs with the county. The Board of Supervisors have not kept their promises and have broken IGAs that the town has currently, so she has difficulty entering into another IGA with the county when anyone on the Board or the Administrator can say "I don't want to do this anymore." She implied she could give many examples. She noted that this project was not financially appealing to her right now and to the town of Marana, and she would need a more compelling reason to go forward. She would like more proof that an IGA with the county wouldn't be broken. Captain Wilson agreed that trust and cooperation amongst the partners will be critical to the success of the project. Council Member Ziegler noted that Captain Wilson had said the town of Marana was a critical path for the project and Marana was needed for the project -this concerns and surprises her. Captain Wilson addressed that critical path is the decision as to whether Marana is going to participate further. If not, they've already asked Motorola to explore alternative sites. The issue with Marana's towers is that the towers are somewhat space-limited -they may not be spacious enough to drive the project:. What's really critical is whether we can continue to plan using Marana assets. Chief Tometich responded to Council Member Ziegler's previous question, stating that speaking for himself, he's extremely happy with the current radio system. He commended everyone before he came to the town for purchasing and putting it into place. He believes it is .one of three state-of--the-art radio systems in Arizona. Mayor Honea noted that he, too, had problems with turning over Marana's assets to Pima County. Council Member Post asked if officers from different agencies would be talking to each other at the same time. Captain Wilson responded that that would be possible if they wanted to. Council Member Post directed comments to Ms. Thalasitis, noting that in the cost analysis, the town still maintains most of its old costs and we add a $42/month per unit cost. Ms. Thalasitis responded that the cost that would go away for the town is the $70K/annual maintenance fee paid directly to Motorola now. The town would then pay the subscriber fee of about $118K/annually and then there is still discussion on what other costs we would have - such as energy for the tower sites and maintenance for the tower sites. Council Member Post stated it sounds like there's more cost analysis to be done and it may be a little premature to toss this out tonight. There may be a little bit of benefit and we could explore it a little further. There are things we could discuss in the IGA if we decide to back out. Ms. Thalasitis responded that staff is not recommending that Council make a decision tonight or decide to leave to stay, noting only that tonight's staff presentation was to highlight the three issues that we need to resolve -one of them being governance, the other being some break even on operating costs, and. third - we need to look at the assets we'll be contributing and what kind of control we'll have over those assets. Mayor Honea asked if any other entities have signed on or off to the plan yet other than the Airport Authority? Captain Wilson said that in January 2008 they asked for jurisdictions to sign a memorandum of commitment -nothing binding - but an indication of whether they intended to continue their participation in the program. He believes 19 of those agencies responded, consisting mainly of the largest participants. Many of the smaller agencies didn't respond. The larger agencies did, including the Marana Police Department did respond. The only agency that passed legislation for an IGA with PCW1N supporting the project is the Tohono O'odham. Their paperwork has been submitted for the right of entry request to begin the work. Mayor Honea asked if anyone in the county had radio assets similar to Marana's that would work in the PCW1N system. Captain Wilson responded that Pima Community College has also deployed a P-25 system. Council Member Clanagan asked if Rick Brown from Marana's staff could present a brief history on where we are, and then he asked Tony Casella if he could come up and speak. Rick Brown noted that he had been on the evaluation committee for three or four years. He feels there is still a lot of negotiation still to be completed before we're ready to make a decision regardless of whether the town decides to participate or not. However, those items should be on the table to negotiate and then decide after we have enough information. He thinks the dispatch consoles are important. The radio system we have is state of the art, is stable, and was upgraded last year, and it is valuable to us and the community, so he would not recommend giving it away. There may be a happy medium provided there is enough information to make a decision. Mr. Casella expressed his concern with the numbers being presented. He agreed with Council Member Post that it would be good to have the opportunity to sit with town staff and evaluate them. He would like to take more of a team approach with this project and would like Marana to be part of the project, and there are a lot of assets in Marana. When we get to the true cost analysis, he believes there is a bigger benefit to Marana with PCW1N than if they operated alone. Council Member Comerford noted that it's not about him or her, or the people Tony brought with him. We can sit down and agree about everything and work out a wonderful program. It's about your boss that says -sorry, Marana. And that you have no control over. Mr. Casella responded said that if that's the driving factor, then is there really any point to continue any kind of negotiation if that's not going to be overcome? Because his process is that he needs to move the project forward -not from the county's perspective -but he has 31 other agencies relying on the system, and he needs to get it up and running, and he needs to get direction to move forward. Council Member Comerford said there are still a lot of questions to be answered and the Council has a responsibility to citizens to do the best for Marana first and then regionally. Mayor Honea called upon the Council to direct staff to meet with the representatives here and their financial people post haste -this week or early next week, so see if we can get some more clarification. Ms. Thalasitis asked for the points of clarification: work jointly to look at costs and also the governance? Mayor Honea stated he would like to look at those things. Council Member McGorray stated that she, too, would like to see a precise list of the benefits to Marana in both case scenarios. She would also like a precise list of what PCWIN could produce versus what we have currently and asked if Pinal County doing anything in this same venue? Captain Wilson said that the last he heard Pinal County had been looking for funding to build their system, but they're not as far along as we are. They are looking to conduct studies. Council Member McGorray asked Captain Wilson if he saw a time in the future when Pinal County and Pima County would be on the same system. He responded that they didn't know if they would ever be on the same system. They really haven't had any dialog, but there maybe the potential for PCW1N to expand into Pinal County. They do foresee an opportunity with the ISSi technology that PCWIN could be connected with systems around the southern Arizona region. Vice Mayor Kai said that he would encourage staff to look at the 800MHz frequencies. They're not made anymore and five years ago they were worth $SOOK a channel. It's something to analyze if we decide to give them up. Mayor Honea called for an end to the discussion, stating that it comes down to what is best for the citizens, and there are a lot of unanswered questions. Mr. Casella stated that it would help him to get approval from the town for a right of entry agreement. He's gotten about 90% of the other agencies' approvals. Ms. Thalasitis noted that staff is agreeable is Council is interested in proceeding with the right of entry agreement. Motion by Council Member Clanagan, second by Council Member Post to proceed with a right of entry agreement to evaduation the system. Approved 6-1 with Council Member Comerford voting nay. Motion by Council Member Ziegler, second by Council Member Clanagan to move forward and work with the county for a costlbenefct analysis and governance review Motion carried unanimously. P 2: Presentation: Relating to Development; request for direction on a potential annexation of property known as the Kai-Aura Valley Road Annexation. Vice Mayor Kai asked to be excused from this item This was presented by Kevin Kish. He described the proposed the annexation of 1200 acres and 1 '/z miles of Avra Valley Road. The property is currently zoned at RH -rural homestead under Pima County's zoning. This would translate to Marana RD 180 -large lot residential zone. The applicant has expressed interest and an application for approximately 590 acres to the north of the annexation area for a land use facility on the site. He has been working with a private solid waste management person who's looking at doing the operations on it. He noted the various planning processes that would be required. This would add about 1 % square miles into the town limits. Staff is looking to Council to proceed with the blank petition. Council Member McGorray asked if the annexation for the sole purpose of a landfill. Would there be other uses outside of the 590 acres? Mr. Kish responded that the proposed landfill is on it; their goal right now is to do a landfill there after going through the local, state and federal processes. The balance of the site in the southern area - no immediate plans on development. That would remain in the agricultural use for the near future. Council Member Comerford commented that this is a win/win situation for Marana and the entire Pima County northwest area. With the County closing their landfill, this takes care of an issue we had. Michael Racy presented on behalf of the applicant. He clarified that the annexation request is for 1200 acres that includes the entire area. The Specific Plan is 590 acres, so less than half of the annexation area. The balance of the annexation area would be additionally agriculture - later commercial opportunities may exist. The actual fill area is 430 acres centered inside the 590 acres -very heavily buffered. Mr. Racy assured Council that the landfill meets every guideline and would be an improvement over the safety situation at the airport now. It will have no impact on future growth or expansion at the airport. David Morales spoke on the issue noting that this project would be an added benefit to the town. Albert Lannon from Picture Rocks spoke regarding his concerns and how the I-10 bypass would feed into this of the annexation as an inducement for the bypass to handle the trucks coming through a landfill operation. Picture Rocks opposes the I-10 bypass generally. He was curious about the majority of the land not being annexed for the landfill. Annie Shelberg spoke regarding her concerns regarding Marana's control over the New West Materials site which have not occurred, so she has some distrust issues with the town. She does not oppose the annexation of the Kai property. She asks that Council not act in haste. She referenced the traffic along Avra Valley Road near her residence and noted that the additional truck traffic traveling between 25 mph and 75 mph would add to the safety issues as well as the Saguaro Springs project when it begins again. Motion by Council Member Clanagan, second by Council Member Post to move forward with review of the potential annexation. Approved 6-0 with Dice Mayor Kai excusing himself from the vote. P 3: Presentation: Relating to Administration; presentation and discussion of framework for FY 2011 Budget development/process and discussion of budget strategies for remainder of FY 2010 Presented by Gilbert Davidson with a slide presentation. He noted that this coming fiscal year we are facing the biggest financial crisis in terms of revenue and demand on public services. A number of critical decisions at the federal, state and local levels over the next few months will be required. He recognized the leadership of the Council in the creation of the budget for FY 2010. He believes that because of that we are positioned relatively well as we face the toughest challenge. The severity of the town's issues are somewhat related to the state's decisions over the past few years. There are a number of things he hopes the town is able to achieve - (1) the budget framework for 20.11 and what he encourages as we face the challenges we have that we're able to frame them in the right context -key community values (2) some of the administrative efficiencies already begun, not only with this fiscal year but a number of items to carry forward in FY 2011 and (3) next steps and critical dates. There are two separate parallel tracks that are taking place, and our staff is working very hard at managing both of these. One is going to be directly involving each Council Member in the next several months -the public policy track. Tonight we are leading off with what to expect for this upcoming fiscal year and beginning to frame some of the critical decisions of where to allocate to limited resources. The second parallel track is the administrative track. 'Throughout this fiscal year we've been constantly monitoring expenditures to be in line with revenues. Some modifications will be made. We'll then take what you determine tonight as part of our community values and organize that as to what it means to the budget -service levels, and providing Council the data of how much we spend by functional area, and then coming back over time to make critical decisions and adopt what we had last year of the Levels 1, 2 and 3 - green, yellow, red. It has worked well with our staff in terms of understanding the budget. Ultimately we come up with a policy document to guide us for fiscal year 2011 Using values to help make critical budget choices starts with what's most important to each of us. He then opened the item up for discussion by asking what are the things that you look for as to why you chose any town or city. Three identified in staff discussions are (1) making sure you have a safe community -and not just with policing; (2) making sure you have a clean community, drivable roads, trash picked up and infrastructure maintained; and (3) making sure you have a healthy community by providing any number of recreational opportunities. Council Member Comerford noted that the core issue for the community is health and welfare. Council Member Post agreed and added that each category be looked at as of utmost importance. Mr. Davidson concurred and continued that by stating all elements in a core focus area would be touched upon. Council Member Ziegler noted that renegotiating sub-contractor or vendor or consultant contracts should be looked at as a way of reducing costs. She also noted that our attorney fees are getting very high -possibly due to wastewater and asked if other things can be looked at that we don't need to do right now with outside attorneys. Council Member Ziegler asked if during the budget process Council could see every line item. Mr. Davidson responded that typically line by line would bemicro-managing and has not been done. Many line items are reduced to the bone, and he recommended not going in that direction, but to frame the items you want to see as part of the budget package. Council Member Clanagan noted in regard to vendors and contracts in relation to Parks & Recreation for leases, etc. He wants to make sure that those costs are being paid for by the users. Mayor Honea expressed concerns about some of the social programs offered for seniors and after school programs. These are programs that might be adjusted in terms of fees or hours of operation to make sure these programs remain available. Mr. Davidson concluded and stated that the next direction will be to look at services and service options and another bucket concept. Another thing added this year will be the element of outreach to citizens and business so that Council can engage in dialog throughout the town in line with homeowner association meetings and other civic meetings. It will be especially important this year to get out and share and talk to citizens and business owners. Budget choices will be aligned with critical issues. Four staff committees have been working very hard to look at (1) vehicles and equipment, purchases, maintenance schedules and size of the fleet; (2) staff training and certifications and internal training; (3) mobile communication devices is an area for a new way of thinking not only for contracts and usage; and (4) salary management options which will require additional Council review and authorization. Anew idea of a sabbatical leave as well as programs that were implemented successfully last year, and finally through March and April, implementation of the selected service levels. No motion requirea~ ANNOUNCEMENTS/UPDATES PROCLAMATIONS MAYOR AND COUNCIL REPORTS: SUMMARY OF CURRENT EVENTS Council Member Post commented on an article in the Sunday paper on the City of Tucson on how difficult it is to open a business in the City, and he wants to make sure that especially as the town tries to revamp Marana's economic opportunities, that Marana never becomes the subject of an article like that. Council Member Comerford commented on the passing of Wheeler Abbett and his contributions to the community and to the town as the chair of the planning commission and the building of the library in the Continental Ranch area. Vice Mayor Kai echoed the sentiments of Council Member Comerford and noted that he had visited Mr. Abbett a few weeks before his passing. Council Member Clanagan also noted his gratitude to Wheeler Abbett who was responsible for getting him involved in the town. He noted that he had called Mr. Davidson in regard to the same article referred to by Council Member Post. Council Member Ziegler noted that Wheeler Abbett's family asked her to send their thanks and prayers. She also noted that she attended the State of the State address and was invited to the Manning House to talk to the Governor. She felt that the Governor had given a lot of thought to jobs in Arizona. Council Member McGorray wanted everyone to pay attention to the Governor's budget when it's released on Friday. She attended media day for the Accenture Match Play. Mayor Honea commented on Wheeler Abbett and his respect for the man personally and professionally. There was no report as to when the memorial service would be held, but it would most likely be at the library. He also attended his last function as the chair of the PAG at the San Xavier Mission. MANAGER' S REPORT: SUMMARY OF CURRENT EVENTS Mr. Davidson had no report but noted that any information on the Abbett memorial would be disseminated as soon as possible. STAFF REPORTS GENERAL ORDER OF BUSINESS CONSENT AGENDA No items COUNCIL ACTION No items. BOARDS, COMMISSIONS AND COMMITTEES ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION/POSSIBLE ACTION D 1: Relating to Transportation; providing an update on the Pima County Regional Transportation Authority's consideration of options for future operation of the Sun Tran bus system Presented by Mayor Honea and T. VanHook. The RTA board got together on Monday to talk about the regional transit -primarily Sun Tran. There was a lot of discussion about a regional transit system. Ms. VanHook reported that the management group and the board talked about having a single source provider throughout the region. That does not mean a single vendor but services would remain under a variety of contracts. The purpose of the meeting was to identify issues and address questions on how a regional plan would work and what it would look like; to define the costs short and long term; explore how other similar regions have done a transition from a multiple to a single source provider system; look at what proposed models would come out of that; legislative authority and what legislative empowerment would be required. At the end, Mayor Honea encouraged all professional staff from all jurisdictions be included in future negotiations. Mayor Honea concluded that four of the entities expressed concern about funding, which could run into millions of dollars. RTA staff has not established a funding source. Council Member Ziegler reiterated that if there's no funding source, it's anon-starter. When she thinks of the term a single source provider she thinks of no competition. And there are pros and cons on that. Ms. Van Hook clarified some of the points raised by Council Member Ziegler. No action necessary. D 2: Legislative Issues: Discussion/Direction/Action regarding all pending bills before the Legislature Presented by Steve Huffman, who reported briefly that the legislative session had started on Monday. There were references made that the Governor would release her plan with the current fiscal year and the 2011 budget. She stated that her plans would fall into three broad categories. First, fairly significant cuts that are not quantified yet; second, increase in revenues with the assumption that it would be similar to the sales tax increase she proposed last year; and the third would be structural reforms. It's very hit or miss how seriously the Legislature will take the Governor's proposals this year. The League is working to track bills. The Senate will actually be hearing bills, and staff will be tracking those as well. There will be significant layoffs and closure of state offices and consolidation of services in the Phoenix area. EXECUTIVE SESSIONS 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 FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS ADJOURNMENT Motion to adjourn moved by Council Member McGorray, second by ice Mayor Kai. Motion carried unanimously. The meeting was adjourned at 9:26 p.m. CERTIFICATION I hereby certify that the foregoing are the true and correct minutes of the Marana Town Council meeting held on January 2, 2010. I further certify that a quorum present. "7o elyn C ~ ronson, Town Clerk o ti~~cAa~~i~. . _