Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout01/09/2007 Special Council Meeting Minutes MINUTES OF SPECIAL SESSION MEETING MARANA MUNICIPAL COMPLEX DATE: January 9, 2007 PLACE AND DATE Marana Municipal Complex A. CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL By Mayor Honea at 7:00 p.m. COUNCIL Ed Honea Herb Kai Bob Allen Jim Blake Patti Comerford Tim Escobedo Carol McGorray Mayor Vice Mayor Council Member Council Member Council Member Council Member Council Member Present Present Present Present Present Excused Present STAFF Mike Reuwsaat Gilbert Davidson Jim DeGrood Frank Cassidy Jocelyn Bronson Town Manager Deputy Town Manager Assistant Town Manager Town Attorney Town Clerk Present Present Present Present Present B. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE AND INVOCATION/MOMENT OF SILENCE Led by Mayor Honea. C. CALL TO THE PUBLIC Ora Mae Ham addressed Council and stated she wished to thank everyone for their prayers and support during her time of illness. Tim Riordan addressed Council and introduced the new Executive Director for the Marana Arts Council, Carmen Feriend. Ms. Feriend stated she was formerly the Executive Director of the greater Oro Valley Arts Council for eight years. A member's potluck will be held Sunday, January 21 sl at La Tumbleweed. Tim Blowers addressed Council and wanted to request resolution for a conflict of interest involving Mr. Michael Racy. He referred to the Northwest Explorer article and how much Mr. Racy has been paid. Mr. Blowers stated that extra weight was being given to this lobbyist's argument that had been paid a large amount of money. Mr. Davidson addressed Council and introduced the new Director of Public Works, Barbara Johnson. Ms. Johnson joins us from the City of Nogales where she served as the Director of Public Works. Ms. Johnson's background is as an Electrical Engineer. Mr. Reuwsaat introduced Rodney Campbell, PIO, who comes to us from University of Arizona Foundation where he was Communications Director for six and a half years. He also worked at the Arizona Daily Star. 1 MINUTES OF SPECIAL SESSION MEETING MARANA MUNICIPAL COMPLEX DATE: January 9, 2007 GENERAL ORDER OF BUSINESS D. ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION/POSSIBLE ACTION 1. Presentation of potential 2008 Bond Projects (Jim DeGrood) Mr. Reuwsaat stated the total bond package and requests are over $3 billion. Mr. Reuwsaat stated that by the time the process is over there would be no more than a billion dollars worth of projects recommended to go on the ballot. The first projects have to do with affordable housing. T. Van Hook addressed Council and stated there are two affordable housing initiatives on the list of potential projects. The first is affordable housing land acquisition. She stated that the Town cannot, through bond issues, acquire land that houses are actually built on. It doesn't fall within the parameters of allowable expenses. This money is to purchase the right-of-ways, infrastructure, space to build roads, sewers, sidewalks and other public amenities for a neighborhood to do an affordable housing project. The second initiative is for affordable housing neighborhood retention. These have to be all offsite improvements or projects for the public good. At the end of the project the funding can only have been to subsidize the public infrastructure. Mr. Ellis addressed Council and stated that the BOR site is the 500 acre park site of which the Town is working in cooperation with the Bureau of Rec1amation. The Town is asking for funds to begin that development. Mr. Reuwsaat stated the total proposal on the park is $35 million. The Town is requesting half ofthat or $17.5. Since it is Federal property, the Town will be able to pursue a federal authorization appropriation for the other $17.5. The plan we discussed with the County is for 18 soccer fields, 12 youth fields, another six baseballs fields, a possible equestrian site, a trailhead and possibly a larger skate park. This is a regional park site. The south Marana Multigenerational Center total cost is $7.4 million and the Town has requested funding of $5.4 million. That is for a community center in the new park site near Continental Ranch. The last item is the Marana Cultural and Heritage Park. The total project for the Barnett Linear Park and flood control channel is $17 million. We think with assistance from the private sector we will need about $6 million. This is very significant to flood control as it relates to everything west ofI-IO from Tangerine Road to Grier Road. We have put $8 million in for drainage improvements on Twin Peaks Road. Staff is working with the developers of Saguaro Springs to provide CFD financing for that road. We have put $14 million in for the extension of the Santa Cruz River bank protection from Sanders Road to the Marana Bridge; we are asking for $7 million. We are working with the developers and the property owners along the Santa Cruz River to see if they can come up with the other $7 million through a benefit district. We are asking for $1 million to help with drainage improvements along Camino Martin. Vice Mayor Kai asked if the lower Santa Cruz River levy extension could be extended so that passing through Berry Acres, to get to the sewer treatment plant, would not be 2 MINUTES OF SPECIAL SESSION MEETING MARANA MUNICIPAL COMPLEX DATE: January 9,2007 affected by flood waters. Mr. Reuwsaat replied that has been considered already. The County's position is that it is far cheaper to elevate the pad for the sewer plant than it is to take bank protection down there. Staff will be meeting on the 17th at the Marana Library and Community Center. We currently have it budgeted for $19.2 million. We're asking for $16.7 million. The partners we have identified include Pima County, Pima Community College, the University of Arizona, and the private sector through Gladden Farms, YMCA, and the Marana School District. What we are looking at is the site where the new high school is projected to go. This is the site where the bus barn is now located. In regards to the site east of that, we would work jointly with the school district to build the new high school regional community facilities complex. This could and might include the new library, meeting space for 800 people, a YMCA community center with an indoor/outdoor pool and classroom space for PCC/U of A as interim space. There would also be space for Pima County for the Health Department. Weare trying to maximize the benefit regionally and the opportunities for people to use one facility and one location and maximize operational efficiencies and expenditures. The second facility is at the CAP canal by Tangerine working with Metro, Oro Valley, the Town and Flowing Wells in providing the CAP reliability reservoir at the end ofthe CAP where it goes underground. The next phase would be a water treatment facility to treat that CAP water. The project is budgeted at $257 million. We are asking for $20 million initially. The $257 million includes the water treatment facility, as well as the reservoir. There is currently $90 million authorized federally for this project including one in Tucson. Finally, the Marana Health Center is proposing $22 million for expansion. We have submitted a proposal of$4 million of funding because of the regional benefit it provides. Vice Mayor Kai stated that our water supply is very important for the Town's future growth and asked about the rankings and how they are assigned. Mr. Reuwsaat stated the rankings are preliminary right now. He suggested that on all the other public facilities that all three of them be rated as "A" because all three projects provide significant regional context. Mr. Reuwsaat asked ifit was Council's recommendation to move all three ofthose to "A". Upon motion by Council Member McGorray, seconded by Vice Mayor Kai that the other public facilities be moved to "A" category. This was approved 4-2 with Council Member Comerford and Mayor Honea opposing. Mr. Clarence Vatne, Marana Health Center, addressed the Council and stated they are looking forward to celebrating their 50th anniversary this September. During the last five years the Marana Health Center has grown at an unprecedented rate. This past year they served over 35,000 individual patients and completed 93,000 individual patient visits. Because of this growth the present facilities are inadequate at this time. The Marana Health Center's participation in the bond issue will enable them to reduce the amount of money that they would have to borrow and also to supplement the funds they are currently raising through the community. The current schedule calls for the health center to be constructed in 2008. Mr. Vatne expressed his appreciation for the support of the Marana Health Center. Mayor Honea expressed concern over the significant amount of funding for these projects. The Town is only going to get a certain amount of money and we have two of 3 MINUTES OF SPECIAL SESSION MEETING MARANA MUNICIPAL COMPLEX DATE: January 9,2007 the three most expensive projects in the public facilities project. He stated the need to prioritize what we are doing and look at things that will most benefit the entire community. Mr. Reuwsaat addressed Council and asked if they wanted to address the rating on the Santa Cruz levy. Mayor Honea stated the levy is going to benefit Marana far more than some ofthe other projects because it is a life, health, and welfare issue for the community. Vice Mayor Kai asked Mr. Reuwsaat ifhe could answer the question on the northwest area water treatment and storage, whether the $257 million was matched with federal funds and not just funds from Marana. Mr. DeSpain addressed Council and stated the $273 million is the total cost of the project. The feds through the CAP bill and appropriation will build the reservoir. That is their responsibility through the CAP law that was passed. The infrastructure for delivery and treatment will have to be handled by the northwest entities. Council Member Blake stated he did not think he had enough information to make a decision on which items should come first or which items should be ranked higher. Mr. Reuwsaat stated that there was not a sense of urgency. He stated it would be very important to generate regional support on these projects because this is a county-wide bond issue and in the greater regional context we can provide, that more than likely, any of the projects will move through the process and receive the highest level of funding requested and make it to the ballot. Council Member Blake asked if delaying the decision for a week is going to make a significant difference. Mr. Reuwsaat stated he did not want to understate the need and that probably on the 16th some decisions can be made in order to continue to move forward in the county wide process and advocate for the projects that are important to the Council. Council Member Allen stated he agreed with Vice Mayor Kai in raising the rank of the northwest water storage and treatment and added he understands the mayor's position on the levy extension and protection of property and people. He stated that if we don't have water to provide to our citizens there won't be any citizens for the levy to protect. For us to have a water treatment facility for this community is of utmost importance. Council Member McGorray stated at this point in time we are not committing to a particular amount of money. She stated it was important to put an A ranking to these three to show the importance of how we feel about our community. 4 MINUTES OF SPECIAL SESSION MEETING MARANA MUNICIPAL COMPLEX DATE: January 9,2007 Mayor Honea stated the northwest water treatment facility is needed, but the facility is to treat CAP water and we don't have any CAP water so we would be spending money on a facility that we can't use yet. Mr. DeSpain stated regarding the facility, being designed, with our water master plan. Any water that Marana would have whether it is ground water, affluent, or waste water could be moved to that site. The plant will be in a modular type of structure so a participant could add any type of facility they wanted. This treatment facility as we have in our master plan will fit in where we could take water from anywhere within our Town jurisdiction and treat it at that facility. Upon motion by Council Member McGorray, seconded by Council Member Blake, a motion was made to continue the item until next Tuesday with the assignment being to Council to come back with a rating for each item. It was unanimously approved. 2. Request for letter of support by Management & Training Corporation to submit application to the Arizona Department of Corrections to convert the current Marana Community Correctional Treatment Facility into a 1,000 bed women's minimum security facility (Mike Reuwsaat) Mr. Reuwsaat addressed Council regarding converting the MTC Treatment Facility into a women's minimum security facility subject to MTC applying for and competing against anyone else in the state for the 1,000 bed facility that the state has authorized. The state will be competing against the private sector. Ms. Lori Lieder addressed Council and stated the deadline on the build is April, 2008. The deadline on the proposal to be submitted to ADOC is February 1 st. MTC will be looking at adding approximately 100 more jobs in the area. During the construction phase they will be adding more construction jobs to the area. The local vendors will be their preference for any supplies and materials. With the increase in inmate population it will increase the occupancy and census monies that the Town is able to take advantage of when available. Property taxes will increase with the increase in property values. They are looking at providing essential services. As part of the proposal they would be looking to change some ofthe use criteria for the special land use application. Part of the criteria they are looking to change would be no custody level higher than a minimum. If awarded it will be a minimum security facility for ten years. They are indicating the following concerns to the community and to Council: That no inmate with a history of a serious offense, as defined by ARS Title 13- 1604, with an assault history or one that would pose a threat to the public would not be housed at the facility. In addition, if they've used a weapon or threatened the use of a weapon, they would not be housed at the facility. No individual with any type of sex offense or history would be housed at the facility. This is covered under the same statute. They are not including in any portion of the proposal to house men. 5 MINUTES OF SPECIAL SESSION MEETING MARANA MUNICIPAL COMPLEX DATE: January 9,2007 Upon motion by Council Member McGorray, seconded by Council Member Allen, request for letter of support was approved 5-1 with Council Member Comerford opposmg. 3. Resolution No. 2007-01: Relating to Real Estate; approving and authorizing the execution of a lease agreement with Herbert Kai, John Kai, Jr. LLC, Kai Trust and the PGA TOUR, Inc., for PGA Event Parking (Frank Cassidy) Mr. Cassidy addressed the Council and stated this item related to the PGA tournament that will occur in February of 2007 and it also addresses the next three years. Essentially what this would do is create a lease for three months of each of those years, of the Kai property along Tangerine Road. It is between Trico and Dove Mountain Boulevard on the south side ofthe road. What it provides for is the Tour will pay to a charity of the property owner's choice, $1 per vehicle or $5,000 per year, whichever is greater, for the cost of parking at that time on the property. The Town is going to pay for rock products to be placed on the property. The Tour pays for all the signage. If the property owner decides during those four years not to allow it to be continued to be used for the PGA Tour parking, the property owner needs to pay back the Town a pro-rated share ofthe costs of improving the site for purposes of this temporary parking. 5,000 spaces are needed for the general public parking. The change that the Tour requested is at the end of paragraph five and they're requesting an additional provision that any use ofthe Accenture logo has to be approved by the Tour. Upon motion by Council Member Allen, seconded by Council Member Blake, Resolution No. 2007-01 was approved 5-0 with Vice Mayor Kai declaring a conflict of interest. 4. Heritage Park Update (Tom Ellis) Mr. Ellis addressed Council and stated staffhas construction documents for the shell of the producer's cotton oil office building ready to go and verbal agreements with some of the development community to help erect a building. Staff has the grading plan completed. They are looking into the prospect of working with the contractors building the Tangerine Farms Loop doing some change orders with their contract and allowing them to help get this project done. There is going to be a ground breaking celebration prior to Founder's Day. The key to the project is the partnerships. One ofthe partners is the Community Food Bank and they have committed to developing the learning farm. Their objective is to produce food for not only the Marana co-op, but also for the general public and for those less fortunate in the area to not only purchase fresh produce, but learn how to grow it in their own backyard. Donna Hefler is the coordinator from the Community Food Bank who has been working with staff. They have raised $23,000 to put toward the irrigation system for the farm. They have purchased materials and will start building the irrigation system the first of February with the intent of beginning gardening and farming operations in March and April. They will be growing primarily truck garden crops, fruits, and nuts on the property. 6 MINUTES OF SPECIAL SESSION MEETING MARANA MUNICIPAL COMPLEX DATE: January 9, 2007 Staff is proposing some shared use agreements. We have one with the Marana Arts Council. We are working with Gladden Farms. They need a temporary home for the HOA offices until their commercial properties are built. We are proposing that the Gladden Farms HOA move into the Heritage House and use it temporarily. They will keep the house open during regular business hours, Monday through Friday, and coordinate neighborhood and community activities along with Parks and Recreation staff. The agreement still allows Parks and Recreation and the Marana Arts Council to use the facility to display information and art. Darice Johnson, our recreation coordinator, has been setting up leisure and life skills classes all over town. She will be conducting programming classes in the community room ofthe Heritage House and they will begin in February. There is a 15 gauge train available for sale. It was running at the New Mexico State Farm Museum in Las Cruces. The train is a reconstructed 15 gauge model of a railroad trolley car that was designed and used as the Pacific Electric Railroad. The train package consists of an engine car powered by a 250 Ford motor, a passenger car that is able to carry 30 adults and 65 children, about a mile and a third oftrack and four storage containers that can serve as storage to park the train overnight for security. There would be space for all the equipment for track maintenance, equipment and generator, holiday lights and decorations. The operator has plans and drawings so that an ADA open car could be built and added to the train for $16,000. The train, rail, and accessories is $230,000. It will cost about $12,000 to bring it here. We need the ADA car. The track is in pieces so it could be brought to the site with a minimal amount of grading and be laid down at a cost of$15,000. We need to build some platforms and tunnels and run some utilities along the rail line. We priced out what it would cost to buy new equipment from Park Train Manufacturer, and to get started without construction would be about $700,000. Our intent is to use money from our impact fees to purchase the train. We've talked with Town staff, other operators, and other facilities and they are confident that the money can be made back through operation and volunteer efforts. Most of the park trains are not run by staff, but by volunteers. The capacity of the engine is enough that the locomotion portion of the train could haul five cars with people in them. Currently, we would have enough track that we could run a rail from the office building, the cotton oil building site down to the reservoir. The next phase of development would be to loop around the basin and extend the line up to Sanders Road. The third phase would be to extend the line from the basin to the proposed Beard Environmental Center. Mr. Reuwsaat addressed Council and suggested a possible motion to support Mr. Ellis' recommendations to proceed with the acquisition ofthe train, to approve the use of the Heritage House with the Arts Council, the town classes, and the temporary occupancy by the HOA, to proceed with the community garden, and to begin construction of the cotton gin as the Marana Museum. Upon motion by Council Member Comerford, seconded by Council Member McGorray, the above stated was unanimously approved. 7 MINUTES OF SPECIAL SESSION MEETING MARANA MUNICIPAL COMPLEX DATE: January 9,2007 Mr. DeSpain addressed Council and stated they have proposed that an alternative storage basin be built for use as our non-potable system. The geology of the basin shows there are ample layers of clay and other material that are not conducive for the road construction which could be utilized for the pads and so forth that will be needed in the future. The concrete edging is very important for controlling erosion and acting as a buffer before you get into a basin and to some of the recreational areas. Along with the concrete edging treatment, a PVC liner beneath 12 inches of clay top soil would be in the bottom of the basin to prevent seepage. If a seepage occurred then we would have to classify it as a recharge basin and we would have to have a wet and dry cycle, so we would have to seal the structure in order for it to be an effective basin. The Town and CMID propose that CMID surface water from the Cortaro area CAP and reclaimed waste water or a blend of any of those be the water that would go into that basin which would then not affect our GPCD (gallons per capita per day) consumption that we have to meet as a water provider. The Town, with the assistance of Public Works and an engineering group, believe that we should utilize the storm drain system from Tangerine Farms Road to convey the water that will corne from CMID or CAP, or storm water, or any reclaimed water into that basin. It would also help us make up some water from storm flow that would be free water that could be used in the non-potable system. The Town proposes to place a non-potable pump station adjacent to the basin. The basin's depth at this point is being looked at about 24 feet or deeper so that we would have the ability to participate with the Parks and Recreation Department and with that we could also bring in Arizona Game and Fish and they could stock that lake. There is also a possibility of radio controlled boats that could be run from that area. The Town is working with an aquatic consultant who is running the Tempe Lake. If they have a function where they need that lake for bodily contact, they have developed a system where they can treat the water. It is important to us as we move forward with our basin that we have the ability to meet those standards so that bodily contact can be utilized. There would be no motorized boats for that facility. Mr. Cassidy addressed Council and stated that he did not want people to think we were actually buying the train equipment. Any agreement on that would be brought back to Council for formal approval and also the HOA usage ofthe Heritage House would be formally brought to Council as early as next week. Mr. Reuwsaat informed the public there is a ground breaking ceremony for the Tangerine Farms Loop Road, January 18th at 3:00 or 3:30. 5. Resolution No. 2007-02: Relating to Elections; approving and authorizing the execution of an intergovernmental agreement for election services between the Town and Pima County for the primary and general elections in 2007 (Jocelyn Bronson) Ms. Bronson addressed Council and stated this item would have normally been on the consent calendar. Pima County was a little late in getting their election contracts together 8 MINUTES OF SPECIAL SESSION MEETING MARANA MUNICIPAL COMPLEX DATE: January 9, 2007 and they need to have this passed by the 16th. This is the standard contract with Pima County to provide our election services for the primary and general election. Vice Mayor Kai asked if there was a dollar amount that it would cost the Town. Ms. Bronson stated it depends on the number of people who actually vote in the election. It depends on the number of people who request early ballots. An early ballot costs the Town approximately $5.75. The total cost is variable. In the past our election costs have been around $15,000 per election. Upon motion by Council Member Comerford, seconded by Council Member Blake, Resolution No. 2007-02 was unanimously approved. 6. ADJOURNMENT Upon motion by Council Member McGorray, seconded by Council Member Blake, Council voted unanimously to adjourn. CERTIFICATION I hereby certify that the foregoing are the true and correct minutes of the Marana Town Council meeting held on January 9, 2007. I further certify that a quorum was present. 9