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HomeMy WebLinkAbout03/30/2010 Special Council Meeting Minutes'~ ~~~ P~~~ ~AfAI~A ~1.~ T1f<`.t c+T X~AA~t SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES 11555 W. Civic Center Drive, Marana, Arizona 85653 Council Chambers, March 30, 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 6:00 p.m. Town Clerk Bronson called roll. All Council Members were present. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE/INVOCATION/MOMENT OF SILENCE Led by Mayor Honea. Council Member Comerford noted that the crossing guard at Coyote Trail Elementary, Mr. Colish, had passed and asked that he be remembered. Mayor Honea addressed the public, noting that Council was now conducting Council meetings with a paperless agenda and with computers at a cost savings to the town of nearly $1400 per year. He asked for the public patience as Council Members transitioned to this new format. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Motion to approve moved by Council Member Post, second by Council Member McGorray. Motion carried unanimously. CALL TO THE PUBLIC Joan Travis-Triumph from Avra Vista Estates spoke regarding the proposed landfill, noting her concerns regarding safety and health of her family by putting a landfill on top of an aquifer and asked Council stop the landfill and research it more thoroughly. Jens T. Hill from Silverbell West addressed Council and noted his concerns and those of his community, specifically regarding the aquifer, of the proposed landfill. Richard Swartz spoke on behalf of the Concerned Citizens of the Proposed Landfill, noting that his group had an entry in the Founders' Day parade. He believes that their statement was not completely read as it passed by the reviewing stands, which was to March 30, 2010 Council Meeting Minutes express concern over the future quality of the water as it relates to the proposal landfill. He further expressed the group's concern over the proposed landfill and asked Marana officials to remain committed to the future of the citizens and not contaminate the aquifer. Charles Goddard, Jr. addressed Council regarding his opposition to the regional landfill, noting location in the middle of an active floodplain -the Brawley Wash has no denoted floodway to accommodate development and/or rezoning. He raised several concerns, including overland transport and environmental consequences to people in the area. He feels there is much ambiguity in the special plan -according to professional analysis done by several people whom he noted. Steve Storzer spoke to Council regarding his concern over the landfill, including his personal experience with groundwater contamination. He noted that several of his family members had experienced death and severe health problems resulting from what he believes to be drinking contaminated groundwater in an area south of Tucson. He believes that a landfill in the proposed area is too great a risk, and that some day a liner will leak and toxins will contaminate the ground. Jimmy Hart spoke regarding the elimination of the Marana Parks After School Program. His expressed his concern that children will bear the brunt of the economic downturn, including his own children. Because of the cost of other programs, people will have to make a choice between paying higher costs for child care or spending money at local businesses. He suggested increasing the cost of the programs by 400-500% each semester. PROCLAMATIONS MAYOR AND COUNCIL REPORTS: SUMMARY OF CURRENT EVENTS Vice Mayor Kai reported that he had talked to Barbara Johnson and that she is very . optimistic about her recovery. Council Member Clanagan reported on his experience with the MPA Wild Ride to the UA technology center. He noted that this was the first time he had had an opportunity to tour the facility and he was very impressed -especially with the number of employees - over 3,000 -and the high wages -averaging in excess of $80K. He also noted that the Vail school district is building an academy near the center so that their students can partner with major employers located there. He will share some of the information at the next Council meeting. Council Member Ziegler thanked staff for going electronic with the Council agendas. She attended Russell Dove's memorial service last Saturday. Council Member McGorray attended Founders'Day and rode in the parade with three generations from her family. MANAGER'S REPORT: SUMMARY OF CURRENT EVENTS PRESENTATIONS P 1: Presentation: Relating to 33rd Annual Founders' Day event held March 20, 2010 in Ora Mae Harn Park 2 March 30, 2010 Council Meeting Minutes Presented by Tom Ellis, Parks & Recreation Director. Mr. Ellis showed slides from some of the exhibits and events, including the "Take Me Fishing" grant project that stocked about 700 catfish and blue gill in the swimming pool. Over 300 fish went home. Over 45 volunteers from area businesses worked all day at this event. He also reported that over 64 vendors participated this year -many sold out before the end of the event. He highlighted many of the events occurring in the park serving the estimated 3000 attendees. This year they sold a bracelet for $10 for amusements - 324 bracelets were sold. More than 500 bike helmets, booster seats and over 100 gun locks passed out to parents. Other partners did face painting, petting zoos and a car show, beauty exhibits and football and Little League competitions. He listed all of the sponsors, whom he thanked for their generous contributions. The budget was $7500, half of what is normally spent, and he expects to come in with the final tally at $7300. He further indicated that he wants to expand Founders' Day and plans to bring a proposal before Council for consideration to move Founders' Day to October for 2011 which would give staff approximately 18 months to prepare for. P 2: Presentation: Relating to Finance; discussion and direction regarding proposed adjustments to the Town of Marana's comprehensive fee schedule Presented by Erik Montague and Josh Wright. Mr. Montague noted that this is the first update in the annual process which began in December 2009. The focus is a cost of service approach which intends to see cost recovery. One important note is that there is no attempt to balance the town's budget with these charges for services. He noted that staff had worked with SAHBA and MPA. Council asked several questions and asked for clarifications regarding specific fees which Mr. Montague, Mr. Wright and Mr. Davidson responded to. Some fees needed to be eliminated and some needed to be increased. Motion to direct staff to prepare an ordinance for adoption of the proposed adjustments to the comprehensive fee schedule for consideration by the Mayor and Council at a future regular meeting moved by Council Member McGorray, second by Council Member Ziegler. Motion carried unanimously. P 3: Presentation: Relating to Budget: Final revenue projections for fiscal year 2010- 2011 Presented by Erik Montague general revenue projects, noting that he was before Council in early February: The purpose of tonight's meeting is to revisit those numbers. The focus is on the general fund although there are other revenue sources and important funds to the town. He discussed current year variances and then gave an overview of what he calls the "big three" revenues -transaction privilege taxes (TPT), state shared revenues, and licenses, fees & permits. He then presented a 2010-11 revenue summary showing about a three percent decrease in projected revenues of -10.4% versus 2009-10 of -7.2%. He also noted that projected revenue is subject to change as a result of changes to fee structures and service levels during the 2011 process. He noted that possible impacts on projections could come from fee changes, service level changes and state shared revenues. CONSENT AGENDA 3 March 30, 2010 Council Meeting Minutes Motion to approve moved by Council Member Comerford, second by Council Member McGorray to approve the ConsentAgenda. Item C3 requires a roll call vote due to the emergency clause. Town Clerk Bronson called rolb All Council Members voted in favor of passing the Consent Agenda. C 1: Resolution No. 2010-31: Relating to Utilities; approving and authorizing the Mayor to execute cone-year extension of the intergovernmental agreement between the Town of Marana and Pima County for provision of water consumption data and sewer user account billing services C 2: Resolution No. 2010-32: Relating to Technology Services; approving and authorizing the Finance Director to execute a Professional and Technical Services Agreement with TransWorld Network, Corp. for the purpose of providing WAN/Networking services to the Town; and declaring an emergency LIQUOR LICENSES BOARDS, COMMISSIONS AND COMMITTEES B 1: Presentation: Relating to Boards, Commissions and Committees; discussion and direction regarding proposed ordinances regulating 1) pawn shops, secondhand dealers and scrap metal dealers and 2) massage establishments Presented by Mike Lektorich, chairman of the Police Citizen Advisory Commission. Mr. Lektorich also introduced the members of the commission present including Gary Nicholl, Jim Shaw, and Stephanie Ashcraft. Mr. Lektorich asked Council to consider directing staff to prepare two ordinances -one relating to pawn shops, secondhand dealers and scrap metal dealers. Although at the present time there are no pawn shops or scrap metal dealers, Mr. Lektorich stated that his commission believes it is in the best interests of the town to put something in place now before there is a problem if that activity is anticipated. He also asked Council to consider a per transaction fee on the pawnshop dealers to alleviate some of the costs to the police department costs. Many other cities do have a fee and a requirement by law to report to the police. Phoenix charges a $3 fee; Flagstaff $2 and Peoria charges $3. He further noted that although these are legitimate businesses, the police department has solved several burglaries recently by checking through the pawn shops. It's not the businesses that are doing it, it's that the criminals are using the business as a conduit. Currently, there are two secondhand shops in Marana -Game Stop and Bookmans. For those establishments, Council is-being asked to require age limits and identification on an individual who is selling or trading any items there. The second ordinance would deal with massage parlors. There are several in town, and it's reasonable to assume that those businesses will grow as the town grows. The therapists are licensed by the state, and many are legitimate, but the police department has received reports that there maybe illegal activity going on there as well. The commission believes that a strong ordinance would provide procedures for the police department to properly enforce the requirements on those establishments. He then asked for questions. Council Member McGorray asked if the Cotton Blossom Thrift Store would fall under the category of a secondhand store. It was noted that it only applies to businesses that take in money or trade items. Mayor Honea asked the police commission members to stand and be recognized. He noted that many members of the community give of their time, and the Council appreciates what they do. 4 March 30, 2010 Council Meeting Minutes Motion to direct staff to draft an ordinance regulating pawn shops, secondhand dealers and scrap metal dealers and an ordinance regulating massage establishments and to bring those ordinances back to Council at a later date for possible Council action moved by Council. Member Clanagan to direct staff to draft an ordinance regulating pawn shops, secondhand dealers and scrap metal dealers and an ordinance regulating massage establishments and to bring those ordinances back to Council at a later date for possible Council action, second by Vice Mayor Kia. Motion carried unanimously. COUNCIL ACTION ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION/POSSIBLE ACTION D 1: Legislative/Intergovernmental Report: Discussion/Direction/Action regarding all pending state and federal legislation and report on recent meetings of other legislative bodies Presented by Steve Huffman. Cuts have been headed off in state shared revenues. One of the down sides of the budget that was passed was that the Legislature permanently eliminated the LTAP I and II programs, transit and transportation programs for local governments. While the Legislature may not reinstate the funding, they're talking about passing cleanup language during this session to at least reinstate the programs so that when revenues do start coming in again, the programs won't be completely wiped out. In regard to prime contracting and TPT collections, there was a bill introduced by Rep. Murphy, chair of the Ways and Means Committee, where he contemplated completely restructuring the prime contracting sales tax by turning it into a use tax which would wipe out that source of revenue for the state and cities and towns. Mr. Huffinan participated in a meeting with Chairman Murphy and several other cities and towns to go through the impacts of this. The bill is about 90% dead. Chairman Murphy did completely take cities and towns out of his legislation. It passed out of the House today without the provisions impacting cities and towns, although it's still calculated to be a half billion dollar impact on the state general fund, which actually creates problems for us down the road. We've already begun discussions with the Governor's office and with the Senate. He feels that this bill won't see the light of day. So far, there's been some success on eliminating bills that could have significant negative impacts on the town of Marana as well as other cities and towns in the state. There are still significant bills going through the Legislature that could have impacts on the town. First, there are two bills that are moving toward the Senate dealing with impact fees. One bill would propose creating a new proportional system for calculating maximum impact fees -hopefully we'll be able to kill that. The second would establish time limits under which once you start collecting impact fees, you have to spend them or return them to the folks that paid them. In a normal boom economy that might work, but in the current environment, it could be several years before a town could accumulate the funds necessary to build the infrastructure to move those projects forward. There are four bills that attempt to change different aspects of the use of eminent domain. One other issue that came up today is an illegal immigration bill that creates problems for law enforcement and creates a private right of action that any citizen could take against a municipality that could generate thousands of dollars in fines and penalties. This current session of the Legislature could be finished around the beginning of May, so there's quite a bit of work left to do to keep on top of these issues. 5 March 30, 2010 Council Meeting Minutes 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 Council Member Clanagan. Motion carried unanimously. The meeting was adjourned at 7:27 p.m. CERTIFICATION I hereby certify that the foregoing are the true and correct minutes of the Marana Town Council meeting held on March 30, 2010. I further certify that a uorum was present. ~~~`, O ~I,,'~~~I °S~ ~`"gunny ~i celyn .Bronson, Town Clerk ~ ~~}~°coRPOr~t,AF~i, o00 '°'"' SEAL `'' ~_ ~ s 6 March 30, 2010 Council Meeting Minutes