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HomeMy WebLinkAbout03/22/2011 Study Session Minutes AiA MARANA TOWN COUNCIL STUDY SESSION NOTICE AND AGENDA 11555 W. Civic Center Drive, Marana, Arizona 85653 Council Chambers, March 22, 2011, 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 ACTION MAY BE TAKEN BY THE COUNCIL ON ANY ITEM LISTED ON THIS AGENDA. Revisions to the agenda can occur up to 24 hours prior to the meeting. Revised agenda items appear in italics. The Council Chambers are wheelchair and handicapped accessible. Any person who, by reason of any disability, is in need of special services as a result of their disability, such as assistive listening devices, agenda materials printed in Braille or large print, a signer for the hearing impaired, etc., will be accommodated. Such special services are available upon prior request to the Town Clerk at least 10 working days prior to the Council meeting. CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL Mayor Honea called the meeting to order at 6:02 p.m. Town Clerk Bronson called roll. All Council was present except Council Member Clanagan, who was excused. There was a quorum 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. DISCUSSION /DIRECTION/POSSIBLE ACTION D 1: Presentation: Relating to Community Development; providing an overview of the planning process for the Central Arizona Association of Governments long -range multimodal transportation plan for Pinal County 1 March 22, 2011 Council Meeting Minutes T Van Hook introduced Jack Tomasik, Regional Planning Director for Central Arizona Association of Governments. He noted that this will be the first year for Pinal County's annual schedule of transportation projects. This will be done to stimulate growth which may not occur until 2014 -2015. There is more population growth than there is job growth. This will be funded by ADOT; no members will be asked to contribute, and they will try to complete the plan in three to four years. They are looking for a stakeholder based process, emphasizing participation at each community level and they are asking for Marana's input so that CAAG has transportation to support the town's goals as well as others. Although ADOT is in favor of the project, CAAG is in partnership with Pinal County, cities and towns, nonprofits, education and the public. They want stakeholder ownership. The plan will follow federal guidelines and all kinds of funding techniques because dollars will be an issue. There were no questions from Council. D 2: Presentation: Relating to the Environment; update on the Energy Grant Jennifer Christelman gave a brief presentation on the ARRA funded grant in the amount of $171,000. This grant also allowed for one staff position, currently held by Justin Currie. The deliverables that the town is responsible for under the grant include an energy audit of the municipal buildings, which is complete; a demonstration project on a facility retrofit, which is in progress; and an energy strategy for the town, which is being drafted. The audit was done for both the municipal complex and the operations center. The retrofit project includes installation of double pane windows and the replacement of three air conditioning units at the operations center. This project also has a community education component. Tentative completion is scheduled for May 7, 2011. The energy strategy being drafted will include transportation efficiencies, building, infrastructure and equipment, water conservation and management, the use of renewable resources, solid waste reduction and community outreach. Ms. Christelman presented examples for each component. Council Member Comerford commended Ms. Christelman for the effort she and her staff have put into this project. Vice Mayor Kai commented on a solar concept being used at the VA hospital and the possibility of generating power with natural gas as elements to possibly consider. Motion moved by Council Member McGorray, second by Council Member Comerford to bring back the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Strategy for adoption to complete the grant deliverables. Motion carried unanimously. D 3: Presentation: Relating to Utilities; information to be used during the March 30, 2011 public hearing for Town of Marana's Pima Association of Governments 208 plan Amendment Presented by Barbara Johnson on behalf of Ms. O'Brien. Ms. Johnson again emphasized that March 30, 2011 is the public hearing for the 208 plan amendment which will give the town the designated management agency for operating our wastewater within the town boundaries. She noted that Dan Jackson will be at the hearing to go through the rate study information. One of the areas not addressed with Council previously are the numbers and the assumptions under the rate plan; what the costs are and how the labor costs were estimated. Tonight is the preview of what will be presented on March 30. She then introduced Thom Martinez from Westland Resources who gave 2 March 22, 2011 Council Meeting Minutes an overview of the capital and operations and maintenance costs for the town's new wastewater facility. Tonight's presentation will focus on the assumptions and inputs from the town's technical team to project the proposed rates and fees to construct and maintain the facility. Mr. Martinez noted on a map the areas that will be served by the town's wastewater facility and the areas which will continue to be provided service by Pima County's wastewater system. He then presented the proposed areas with costs in 2011 dollars: South Marana conveyance data for an estimated cost of $1 OM; the Sandario WRF first phase estimated cost of $12M and second phase cost of $14M; the purchase of the North Marana WRF for an estimated cost of $8M and proposed upgrades for an estimated $1.5M. Contingencies are projected at $8M. The capital cost summary is shown for a total 10 -year estimated cost of $54.6M. Staffing for the wastewater utility will increase to a total of 15 full time employees including operators, technicians, engineering, safety and administrative positions. Annual labor costs in year 4 are estimated at $1.1 M in 2011 dollars. Over the first four years of service the town will need to purchase equipment for an estimated cost of $1.1 M. Operating and maintaining the sewer collection system will require annual system costs in year 2014 of $1M. The town will either purchase the North Marana plan from Pima County or construct a new facility in that area. The new South Marana facility will have approximately the same capacity as the North Marana plant. To project WRF operations and maintenance costs, Pima County's 2009/10 budget was used. Costs were added in for solids processing facilities. Estimated costs for this in year 2014 is estimated at $700,000 and a total cost for operations is estimated $2.8M. These numbers have all been given to Dan Jackson at Economists.com to project a rate model. Mr. Martinez showed Council a slide comparing Marana fees to Pima County fees for 2014. The schedule assumes Pima County connection fees based on 26 fixture unit equivalents, and assuming 5,000 gallons per month average winter use. Marana's costs for a typical residential meter will remain the same as Pima County's rate of $36.18. The connection fees for a typical residential property will decrease by $1,803; the connection fees for businesses will decrease by $9,611; and user fees for typical commercial will remain the same ($36.18) except that Pima County's rate can increase up to $98.11 for select commercial accounts. There was general discussion on the presentation. D 4: Presentation: Relating to Infrastructure; presentation on impact fees in Marana Keith Brann presented on active impact fees, other than sewer. The impact fees are the way the state has granted municipalities the ability to pay for growth. These fees are allowable and are based on comprehensive technical studies and a public process to determine what infrastructure needs are required to sustain growth and what portion of the growth should be borne by builders. Part of that review is existing levels of service, full build -out that creates a differential and what it will take to keep the level of service the same. The costs are then apportioned to regional transportation needs, i.e. Tangerine Road, which is used by more than just Marana residents; existing homes and new homes 3 March 22, 2011 Council Meeting Minutes yet to be built and existing and new commercial building. At this point, although Pima County and City of Tucson have assessed an impact fee on commercial building, Marana has not. The town's position thus far has been that commercial entities generate sales taxes which are ongoing revenues sources, but the traffic generated by commercial development has been part of the equation. The other key thing to remember about impact fees that many developments require infrastructure just to serve their development. If that infrastructure coincides with the infrastructure that is part of the fee basis and the developer builds it, they get a credit against that fee. Mr. Brann then enumerated the various impact fees currently levied within the town. Included are the Lower Santa Cruz Levee fee implemented in 1999 and projected to collect $1.9M - received to date $240K; the South Transportation fee implemented in 2001 and projected to bring in $14M — collected to date $8.9M; Northwest Road Fee implemented in 2005 and projected revenue of $154.5M — collected $1.5M; Northeast Road fee implemented in 2007 and projected revenue of $79.2M — collected $0.9M; Park Development fee implemented in 2005 and projected at $89.1M revenue — collected $6M; Gravity Storage and Renewable Water Resource fee implemented in 2005 and projected revenue of $129.7M — collected $2.4M; and the Water System Infrastructure fee implemented in 2005 and projected to collect $76.3m — collected $1.4M. He then gave an overview of examples of impact fees and credits and how the impact fees make costs fair for all builders and developers. General discussion followed and how these fees tie into Community Facilities Districts. Council Member Ziegler asked Erik Montague, Finance Director, if the departments use impact fee revenue as part of their budget calculations. Mr. Montague clarified that there were two separate issues here. The actual costs attributable to community facilities districts are separate budgets that are brought before the boards for consideration which include outstanding debt service portion and operations and maintenance which is $30 per $100 of assessed valuation. The $30 is the maximum amount that can be levied. An amount less than that can be levied when it's appropriate for the true costs of infrastructure. As part of the budget development, staff is increasingly involving those impacted departments, i.e. Parks and Streets for related maintenance to provide the mechanisms to allow for the tracking and charging of those costs on a true cost basis to those districts. That process is continuing to evolve. With respect to the impact fees, each Source is discretely presented which means they are reported and recorded within their own funded and are not comingled. This means they are separately accounted for. So each of the fees discussed this evening are reported in a group or separate group of funds. Barbara Johnson pointed out that those fees are used for capital projects; they're used to build infrastructure only, not to support department general operations. 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. 4 March 22, 2011 Council Meeting Minutes ADJOURNMENT Motion to adjourn moved by Council Member McGorray, second by Council Member Comerford. Motion carried unanimously. The meeting was adjourned at 7:40 p.m. CERTIFICATION I hereby certify that the foregoing are the true and correct minutes of the Marana Town Council study session held on March 22, 2011. 1 further certify that a quorum was present. ?ceVlynyCronson, Town Clerk CARPO i sue, 5 March 22, 2011 Council Meeting Minutes