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HomeMy WebLinkAbout05/02/2017 Regular Council Meeting Minutes MARANA AZ ESTABLISHED 1977 MAIC NA TOWN COUNCIL REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING 11555 W. Civic Center Drive, Marana, Arizona 85653 Council Chambers, May 2, 2017, at or after 7:00 PM Ed Honea, Mayor Jon Post,, Vice Mayor David Bowen, Council Member Patti Comerford,, Council Member Herb Kai, Council Member Carol McGorray, Council Member Roxanne Ziegler, Council Member REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL. Mayor Honea called the meeting to order at 7:02 p.m. Town Clerk Bronson called roll. Council Members McGorray and Ziegler were excused; there was a quorum present. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE/INVOCATION/MOMENT OF SILENCE, Led by Mayor Ilonea. APPROVAL OF AGENDA. Motion to approve by Council Member Bowen, second by Vice Mayor Post. Passed unanimously 5-0. CALL TO T11E PUBLIC. No speaker cards were presented. PROCLAMATIONS P 1. Proclaiming May 4, 2017 as National Day of Prayer (Jocelyn C. Bronson). Ms. Bronson. read the proclamation into the record and presented the proclamation to Mr. Paul on behalf of the Pima County National Day of Prayer. MAYOR AND COUNCIL REPORTS: SUMMARY OF CURRENT EVENTS. Council Member Comerford spoke on behalf of a homeless veterans group she is supporting. She invited those who were able to help to contact her. Mayor Honea reported on Career Day at Quail Run Elementary School. He also reported on a conference he and Council Member May 2,2017 Regular Council Meeting Minutes 1 Comerford attended at Lake Havasu City -- Arizona Association of Economic Development (AAED). It was an outstanding conference, and Marana's Economic Development Director, Curt Woody, was elected president of the association. He also noted Heath Vescovi-Chiordi's involvement and work with this association. MANAGER'S REPORT: SUMMARY OF CURRENT EVENTS. Mr. Davidson noted that the Council Executive Report would be completed and distributed and, posted on the town's website by the end of the week. PRESENTATIONS CONSENT AGENDA.. Motion to approve by Council Member Bowen, second by Vice Mayor Post. Passel unanimously 5-0. C:I Resolution No. 2017-035: Relating to Parks & Recreation; approving and authorizing the Mayor to execute an Intergovernmental Agreement between the Town of Marana and Pima County to facilitate the planning, design and development of the Central Arizona Project trallhead and trail within the Town of Marana (Cynthia Nemeth-Briehn) C2 Resolution No. 2017036: Relating to Public Works; authorizing the acquisition of lands and property rights needed for the Marana Road Realignment, Town of Marana Pro)ect No. ST044 (Frank Cassidy) C3 Resolution No. 2017-037: Relating to Public Works; approving and authorizing the Mayor to sign Amendment No. 1 to an Intergovernmental Agreement and Agreement among the State of Arizona.., the Town of Marana, and the Pima Association of Governments relating to Ina Road Traffic Interchange and Ina Road Improvements, Silverbell Road to Camino de la Cruz 0 (.Keith B rann) C4 Approval of April 18, 2017 Regular Council Meeting Minutes (Jocelyn C. Bronson) LIQUOR LICENSES BOARDS, COMMISSIONS AND COMMITTEES COUNCIL ACTION Al Resolution No, 2017-038-. Relating to Public Safety; approving and authorizing the Mayor to execute an intergovernmental agreement between the Town of Marana, Pima County, and other public safety agencies to secure access from the Pima County wireless Integrated Network (PCWIN) for interoperability for I I radios for the Marana Police Department (Carl Drescher). Presented by Carl Drescher, Information Technology Director, who gave a brief overview of the agreement. Motion to approve by Council Member Isar, second by Vice .Mayor Post. Passed a unanimously 5-0. May 2,2017 Regular Council Meeting Minutes 2 ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION/POSSIBLE ACTION DI Ordinance No. 2017.011: Relating to Animal Control; amending Title 6 (Animal Control) of the Marana Town Code by replacing existing Title 6 with a comprehensive rewrite of Title 6; and designating an effective date (Jane Fairall) Resolution No. 2017-039: Relating to Animal Control; declaring as a public record filed with the ""own Clerk the comprehensive rewrite of Marana Town Code Title 6 (Animal Control) adopted by Ordinance No. 2017.011 (Jane Pairall) Ms. Pairall noted that at the March 14"' study session, Council voted to bring animal enforcement inhouse and to contract with outside sources for other necessary services. As a result of that action, staff noted that there would need to be some changes to the town code related to the changes. She then discussed the substantive changes to Title G of the Town Code, which included Enforcement, Tie outs, Hoarding, the Community Cat Program, vicious, Destructive and Dangerous .Animals and the classification of some offenses such as dogs at large, dogs on school grounds and excessive animal noise. Each of these was enumerated on the handout presented to Council. Significant changes were made regarding enforcement, as the Pima Animal Care Center previously was the town's animal enforcement agent. Specifically, the amendments designate a code enforcement agent responsible for enforcement activities, describes the procedures of issuing citations or commencing actions for violations, and makes it a misdemeanor to interfere with any town enforcement agent performing official duties. Revisions also include removing reference to tie outs as adequate exercise space, but tie outs are not banned. However, a tie out causing distress to an animal could be a violation of cruelty or neglect provisions. Hoarding would be prohibited for 10 or more animals deemed to be kept in injurious circumstances and could result in a court order for a mental health evaluation and treatment, Currently, there is no provision for trap-neuter-release of feral cats. A community cat program is proposed with the caveat that healthy, free-roaming cats could be trapped or humanely captured, sterilized, vaccinated and returned to the wild prior to a standard 72-hour hold. This section of the code does not, however, obligate the town to establish such a program but does allow for the possibility under appropriate circumstances. A procedure is proposed to address the activities of vicious, destructive or dangerous animals. The burden of proof would be on the town to prove a dog is vicious. And lastly, the classification of offenses for dogs at large or on school grounds and excessive animal noise remain as civil infractions unless the animal's owner has previously been convicted of the same offense within the 12 previous months. Motion to approve Ordinance No. 2017.011 and Resolution .No. 2017-039 by Council Member Bowen, .second by Vice Maor.dost. Passed 4-1 with Council Member KIII eating nay. D2 Relating to Finance, presentation and discussion regarding the Tangerine Farms Road Improvement District (TFRID) special assessment improvement bonds and current market conditions which may allow for a refunding of outstanding bonds (Erik Montague). Mr. Montague noted that in December, 2006, the Tangerine Farms Load Improvement District issued about $25.8M in special assessment improvement bonds on approximately 15 acres for May 2,2017 Regular Council Meeting Minutes 3 the purpose of paying for significant portions of the Tangerine Farms Road from I-10 to Moore Road. Each property owner within the improvement district was assessed a proportionate share of the cost of that improvement, and once each the debt was issued, twice a year each property owner pays on the terms of the debt service. The bonds currently carry an average of 4.6%, and as of now, there is about $14.5M outstanding. In the previous legislative session, HB 2301 passed and provided some additional tools making it more feasible and palatable to refund certain types of debt. It provided the opportunity to refinance even special assessment district and improvement district bonds which was previously impossible or difficult to do. Even with that help, there are challenges. In a normal refunding transaction, the cost of issuance would be part of the normal bond deal even though we wouldn't increase the term or amount of obligation. That would have been incorporated into future debt. With the special assessment structure, we can't increase each individual property owner's share of the cost of that project. So what that requires is to identify a path forward using reasonable and normal costs of issuance of a refunding debt. Tonight's presentation is designed to give Council an overview of this history and look at some of the current market conditions that suggest a refunding may be favorable. He then introduced Mark Reader, with Stifel Nicholaus, as well as Michael Cafiso and Paul Gales with Greenberg Traurig. Mr, Deader proceeded by indicating on an aerial map the various property owners who have made their regular special district payments over the past 11 years. The infrastructure is now in place, and there is significant improvement in residential construction. One of the public policy requirements at the time of the initial issuance was that the town was clear that to the extent there would be residential development within the boundaries of the district, the town would require the developer to pay off the special assessment for all residential homes. The bond structure was set up with early prepayment without penalty, and that process has gone very well. Commercial is different; to the extent that there is commercial property, that assessment stays in place unless it's paid off as part of the transaction. He then proceeded with the refunding bond objectives, which are to (1) lower the current 4.6% interest rate to approximately 2.67% which will achieve a significant savings of approximately $900K and thus lower the special assessment payments allocated to the property owners. There have been some preliminary discussions with institutional investors, and there is significant interest in buying the bonds at the 2% money; (2) structure with the same par size and amortization as the current bonds and take the savings and give it back to the property owners on January 1, 2018; (3) debt service payments after receiving the benefit of the up-front savings will approximate the prior debt service obligation; and (4) submit an RFP soon to several financial institutions to create competition issuing the Private Placement Alternative in the hope of driving the rate down. Mr. Reader then summarized the historical aspects of the Improvement District and related credit factors. The collateral is a special assessment lien on the underlying property, subordinate only to general taxes. So if there is a problem, the general taxes get paid first, and special assessment lien bonds get paid second. One of the benefits of doing a project such as this, is that in the unlikely event there is a default on an assessment payment, and the property owner was unable to make their assessment payment each year, the town, under state statute would be required to dip into the general fund to make that temporary payment. The town has not had to do that in 11 years and has survived the great recession. The bonds at 4.6% are callable on July 1, 2017, May 2,2017 Regular Council Meeting Minutes 4 which is good. Then we replace that with the 2.57%. Interest rates are still good in the marketplace. Mr. Reader noted that the refunding will not be with a public market this time, but rather with private placement markets which are more favorable. They will be sending the RFP out to about 15 financial institutions and expect three to five bids returned. He then provided a short list of recent private placement bids with banks and financial institutions. Mr. Reader concluded with a possible savings summary and a preliminary financing calendar. He noted that he and Mr. Wingert have talked to all of the primary property owners who represent about 85 -- 90% of the total property owners, and they are very pleased with this level of savings. As this is an informational session for Council tonight, staff will bring this item back to Council on May 16"' to approve a resolution authorizing the private placement. The RFP will be submitted on May 17"'. Bids will be due May 30"', and the closing will be June 14"'. Mayor Honea asked for clarification regarding reimbursement for people who have already paid. Mr. Reader explained that the reimbursement will be for property owners, not the residents. It will not affect the payoff amount for the residential property owners. Council Member Bowen asked for clarification regarding the costs of refinancing which normally can be rolled into the new package but not this time. Mr. Reader responded that because the costs can't be paid out of the par amount of the bonds, to solve that issue, we will only sell some additional interest like a zero coupon bond for a very short period of time -- the total interest is about $3500. So we'll sell some bonds that mature over the next 18 months and take the present value proceeds of that and use that to pay the costs, but all of that is incorporated into the net numbers he presented earlier. Per Mr. Montague, staff will bring this item back to Council with the resolution on May 16. D3 Relating to Legislation and Government Actions; discussion and possible action regarding all pending state, federal, and local legislation/government actions and on recent and upcoming meetings of the other governmental bodies (Gilbert Davidson). Mr. Davidson noted that the legislature is finalizing budget negotiations and should be wrapping up the session within the next few days. Bills that have made it through both Houses will be sent to the governor for signature. Bills that didn't make it to the Governor's desk will likely resurface during the next session. EXECUTIVE SESSIONS Pursuant to A.R.S. § 38-431.03, the Town Council may vote to go into executive session, which will not be open to the public, to discuss certain matters. El 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 Notwithstanding the mayor's discretion regarding the items to be placed on the agenda, if three or more Council members request that an item be placed on the agenda, it must be placed on the May 2,2017 Regular Council Meeting Minutes 5 agenda for the second regular Town Council meeting after the date of the request, pursuant to Marana Town Code Section 2-4-2(B). ADJOURNMENT. The meetin41o- adjourned at 7:38 p.m. ulmn motion by CouncY Member Bowen, second by Vice Mayor Post. Passed unanimously 5-0. CERTIFICATION 1 hereby certify that the foregoing are the true and correct minutes ol. the Marana Town Council meeting held on May 2, 2017. 1 further certify that a quorum was present. ocelyn C. ronson, Town Clerk MARANA AZ FSTABLISHf'.1) 197�1 May 2,2017 Regular Council Meeting Minutes 6