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HomeMy WebLinkAbout06/01/2004 Regular Council Meeting MinutesMINUTES OF REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MARANA TOWN HALL JUNE 1, 2004 PLACE AND DATE Marana Town Hall, June 1, 2004 I. CALL TO ORDER By Mayor Sutton at 7:00 p.m. II. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Led by Mayor Sutton III. INVOCATION/MOMENT OF SILENCE Mayor Sutton asked that Council Member Comerford be remembered in everyone's thoughts and prayers as she recovered from a recent surgery. The Mayor also asked that the men and women of the United States Armed Forces be remembered as well. IV. ROLL CALL COUNCIL Bobby Sutton, Jr Herb Kai Jim Blake Patti Comerford Tim Escobedo Ed Honea Carol McGorray STAFF Mike Reuwsaat Jaret Barr Frank Cassidy Jocelyn Bronson Jim DeGrood Jane Howell Charlie Mangum Roy Cuaron Mayor Present Vice Mayor Present Council Member Present Council Member Excused Council Member Present Council Member Present Council Member Present Town Manager Present Interim Development Services Admin. Present Town Attorney Present Town Clerk Present Executive Asst. to the Town Manager Present Human Resources Director Present Airport Manager Present Finance Director Present Attached is a list of public attendees. l.._.1 MINUTES OF REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MARANA TOWN HALL JUNE 1, 2004 L~ V. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Upon motion by Council Member Escobedo, seconded by Council Member McGorray, the agenda was unanimously approved. VI. ACCEPTANCE OF MINUTES Upon motion by Council Member McGorray, seconded by Council Member Honea, the May 18, 2004 Council meeting minutes were unanimously approved. VII. CALL TO THE PUBLIC/ANNOUNCEMENTS Council Member Escobedo recognized the first group of young people involved with the Marana Teen Advisory Council (MTAC) who were present in the audience. He said that plenty of hard work had gone into the formation of the MTAC group and he credited the Marana High School staff as well as the Town staff for their contributions. He asked that Mike Brummett, MTAC Advisor, introduce the youth to the Council and that the MTAC members be sworn in by the Town Clerk. Mr. Brummett introduced the MTAC members, Kate Conway, Jenny McDaneld, Corey Larriva, and Michael Marshall. Council Member Escobedo explained that this group was the initial MTAC group and that the committee's bylaws called for a minimum of 20 members, one Mayor, one Vice Mayor, 5 Council members, and 13 staff members. Mayor Sutton welcomed the young adults and commended them on their community interest. He said that he hoped the teens had fun as well as learned from the experience. He noted that their MTAC participation should not be taken lightly as their group's opinions and decisions would hold a great deal of authority with the Town. He encouraged the teens to contact any of the Council members or Town staff if they needed advice or had questions. Ms. Bronson administered the loyalty oath to the four MTAC members. Ms. Howell presented the Mayor and Council with a plaque recognizing the Town of Marana as one of the greater Tucson area's best workplaces for commuters. The acknowledgement and plaque were sent to the Town by the RideShare organization. 2 MINUTES OF REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MARANA TOWN HALL JUNE 1, 2004 • Ed Stolmaker, Executive Director of the Marana Chamber of Commerce, reported that, following nine months of negotiations with the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT), the Marana tourism signs had been replaced on both sides of Interstate 10 at the Towri s northern limits. He thanked the Town staff who assisted him in this long process. He stated his appreciation to other staff members who have been assisting him with the Government Affairs Economic Development Committee which meets monthly. Jay McCall, representing the Coalition on Transplantation and the Tucson chapter of Life Donor USA, challenged the Town Council and public on behalf of the City of Phoenix Mayor, Phil Gordon, to institute an educational program and campaign focusing on organ and tissue donation awareness. He reported that over 1,000 Arizonans were currently on a waiting list for life-saving organs. He commented that there were 85,000 on the national waiting list and that 17 died daily due to the lack of organ and tissue donations. He asked that Mayor Sutton accept Mayor Cordon's challenge and institute an educational program through the Town's Human Resources department. Mayor Sutton publicly accepted the challenge and went on the record stating that he would become a donor himself to kick off the Marana program. Mayor Sutton said that he was proud to announce that a local soccer and baseball organization, Sombrero Peak Youth Sports, was recently chosen to represent Arizona in the Youth AAA USA, age 8 & under, World Series to be held in California. He said that this was exciting for him as he had been coaching with this organization for years. He noted that this was a very prestigious award and that Sombrero Peak Youth Sports had been the only team from Arizona chosen to participate in the tournament. VIII. STAFF REPORTS There were no questions regarding the staff reports. IX. GENERAL ORDER OF BUSINESS A. CONSENT AGENDA 1. Resolution No. 2004-66: Relating to the Police Department; Approving and authorizing the execution of an Intergovernmental Agreement between Pima County and the Town of Marana Police Department, a member agency of the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area program Drug Grant Agreement (H.I.D.T.A. XIV) (Richard Vidaurri) 3 MINUTES OF REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MARANA TOWN HALL JUNE 1, 2004 2. Resolution No. 2004-69: Relating to the Police Department; Approving and authorizing the execution of an Intergovernmental Agreement between Pima County/Tucson Metropolitan Counter Narcotics Alliance (C.N.A.) and the Town of Marana Police Department, a member agency of the Counter Narcotics Alliance (C.N.A.) Program Drug Grant Agreement (Richard Vidaurri) 3. Resolution No. 2004-70: Relating to the Police Department; Approving the submission of projects for consideration in Arizona's 2004 Highway Safety Plan (Richard Vidaurri 4. Resolution No. 2004-67: Relating to Subdivisions; Approving a Final Plat for The Gallery Resort Parcel (Kevin Kish) 5. Resolution No. 2004-72: Relating to Development; Approving the Notice of Amendment to General Notes on Gladden Farms Final Block Plat (Frank Cassidy) 6. Resolution No. 2004-71: Relating Traffic; Approving and authorizing the Mayor to execute an Intergovernmental Agreement with Northwest Fire District for Reimbursement of Expenses relating to Opticom Traffic Signal Preempter Devices (Frank Cassidy) 7. Approval of the Marana Arts Council's Water Tank Enhancement Project (Mike Reuwsaat) Upon motion by Council Member Escobedo, seconded by Council Member McGorray, the consent agenda was unanimously approved. B. COUNCIL ACTION 1. Resolution No. 2004-73: Relating to Boards and Commissions; Approving the appointment of Jon Post to the Planning & Zoning Commission (Mike Reuwsaat) Mr. Reuwsaat spoke before the Council regarding this item. He said that the proposed appointment of Jon Post to the Planning and Zoning Commission would fill a vacancy left by the recent resignation of Commissioner Trish Berg, who moved away from the Marana area. r~ 4 MINUTES OF REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MARANA TOWN HALL JUNE 1, 2004 Upon motion by Vice Mayor Kai, seconded by Council Member Escobedo, the appointment of Jon Post to fill the vacancy on the Planning & Zoning Commission, with the term expiring on June 30, 2005, was unanimously approved. 2. PUBLIC HEARING: South Neighbors Annexation: Relating to Annexation; Consideration of the Town of Marana's desire to annex approximately 28 acres in the vicinity of the Saguaro Ranch project. This property lies within Section 29, Township 11 South, Range 13 East, Gila and Salt River Meridian (Dick Gear) Mayor Sutton opened and closed the public hearing. There were no public speakers to come forward regarding this item. Mr. Barr spoke before the Council and said that this item was the third in a series of four annexations associated with the Saguaro Ranch project. He explained that, pursuant to A.R.S. § 9-471, a blank petition was filed with the Pima County Recorder's office and that the public hearing was a mandatory part of the annexation process. There was no further discussion regarding this item. 3. Ordinance No. 2004.13: Relating to the Airport; Amending the official name to "Marana Regional Airport," and amending all references in Chapter 15 of the Marana Town Code accordingly (Charlie Mangum) Mr. Mangum addressed the Council and explained that this item would amend the official name of the Town's airport from Marana Northwest Regional Airport to Marana Regional Airport. He said that the new name would allow for a more accurate depiction of the airport's location and for a better marketing campaign to its target. He noted that all of the airport businesses and many of the tenants supported the proposed name change. Mayor Sutton asked if the call sign for the airport would change because of this name amendment. Mr. Mangum replied no and explained that the call sign remained "AVQ" which originated from prior Pima County ownership when it was called the Avra Valley Airport. He pointed out that the call sign would eventually • be changed to "MRA" which was currently available. 5 MINUTES OF REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MARANA TOWN HALL JUNE 1, 2004 v Upon motion by Council Member Honea, seconded by Council Member Blake, Ordinance No. 2004.13 was unanimously approved. 4. Presentation/Discussion: Relating to Finance; Adoption of the Fiscal 2005 Tentative Budget (Roy Cuaron) Mr. Cuaron presented this item before the Council. He gave a brief explanation of the tentative budget and noted that there was an approximate $200,000 increase to the figures previously presented before Council which primarily related to provisions increasing the entry level wages of police officers and the underestimation of a CIP project. He remarked that this agenda item was the first of two formal steps required by Council to approve the Fiscal 2005 Budget. He recommended approval of the $89, 573,243.00 tentative budget. Mr. Reuwsaat commented that, although this was a high figure, 72% of the requested monies were related to CIP projects or infrastructure improvements for the community. He pointed out that the proposed figure left only 28 % for ongoing operational costs. Mayor Sutton remarked that Marana had always prided itself in insuring that conservative estimates were made regarding the budgets and that these figures were never surpassed. He listed some of the projects that many people would not be aware of that were included in the budget projections. He mentioned such proposals as $13.3M for roadway capacity improvements, $8.6M for Cortaro Road improvements east of I-10, $6.6M for Silverbell Road improvements from Cortaro Road to Ina Road, $6M for the Tangerine Road connection from Adonis to Tangerine, $2.5M for the Twin Peaks Interchange, $4.2M for runway capacity improvements at the airport, $3.5M for new park design construction including the Santa Cruz River Trail system and the Continental Ranch District Park. He commended Mr. Cuaron and the other department heads for their diligence in adhering to all of the constraints imposed during the budget process. Council Member Honea commented that the $89M budget figure was merely a ceiling on the expenditures that the Town would be held to under the State law. He said that the Town had never spent its full budget capacity but that the proposed tentative budget gave the Town the ability to appropriate funding if new ventures arose during the fiscal year. • 6 MINUTES OF REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MARANA TOWN HALL JUNE 1, 2004 Upon motion by Council Member Honea, seconded by Mayor Sutton, the adoption of the Fiscal 2004-2005 Tentative Budget was unanimously approved. 5. State Legislative Issues - Discussion/Direction/Action regarding all pending bills before the Legislature (Mike Reuwsaat) Michael Racy addressed the Council regarding State legislative issues. He said that the recent Legislative session was unprecedented in that a group of moderate House representatives had banded together to endorse the moderate Senate budget proposal. He said that the coalition had managed to restore a great deal of funding to the Senate budget proposal. He said that, earlier in the year, the House leadership had threatened to pass a budget which was $100M lower than last year's budget, even with all of the mandated spending increases, growth and population, and other required services of the State. He pointed out that this would have been close to a half billion dollar reduction in overall State spending. He remarked that there were many critical programs supported by numerous Legislature members as well as business community representatives and the State citizens as important priorities and this feeling was communicated. He said that the group supported the Governor's proposal for all day kindergarten funding and, even more importantly for Marana, reinstated funding for a number of critically important programs in southern Arizona. He pointed out that the most important for this community was that funding was 100% restored to the Airport Improvement Program, thus eliminating the 50% diversion that had taken place since the late 1990s. He commented that many were skeptical that this feat could be accomplished because of the State's tight budget. He added that everyone was shocked when Governor Napolitano recommended reinstating the airport legislation and when the Senate held firm with the Joint Legislative Budget Committee by continuing to reinstate funding to the Airport Improvement Program. He said that the moderate House coalition insisted that this funding be part of the final budget resolution. He noted that this action had restored $7M per year to the Airport Improvement Program. He continued his report by mentioning other programs of interest to southern Arizona in general, including the fact that the University of Arizona had been singled out in the Senate budget for cuts but the funding was fully restored in the House of Representatives. He related that community colleges statewide were originally funded at 70% of their statutory funding formula but that the House amendments restored the monies to 100% which would have a profound impact on Pima Community College. 7 MINUTES OF REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MARANA TOWN HALL JUNE 1, 2004 Mr. Racy continued by saying that this had been the most amazing and unprecedented budget process for the State and one that was amazingly contentious on the House side. He said that the question of the day was what would happen with the House leadership next year. He reported that the Legislature would go back into special session the week of June 21St to deal with the State Trust Lands proposal. He said that he would meet with Town staff to discuss this issue before returning to Phoenix. He said that this proposal could also have profound impacts and benefits for what the Town of Marana was planning, particularly in view of the fact that the Town was surrounded on many sides with enormous amounts State Trust lands, including the entire Tortolita Fan area, the area around Dove Mountain, and the area surrounding the Marana Regional Airport. He said that this could all be dramatically influenced in a positive way if the proposal succeeded and was adopted by the State Legislature. He said that most of the legislative bills had worked substantially through the process although some had not completed the process before his last report. He offered to provide detailed information on any bill of particular interest to the Mayor and Council. He said that one disappointing bill, the Exempt Well bill, which had interested Brad DeSpain as well as the Southern Arizona Water Users Association, was ultimately held in committee and killed in the final minutes of the Session. He said that there were some very strong successes for the Town and that a bill which would have eliminated the Town's ability to enter into any incentive agreements was defeated in the Senate with all attempts to bring it back failing. He concluded his report by commenting on the budget front, stating that the House Majority leadership had attempted to reverse its position on the 2-year revenue sharing deal with cities and towns, which provided for sharing of sales taxes. He indicated that they tried to back away from the 14.8 % number but that it was held and maintained by the moderate House coalition. Mayor Sutton commended Mr. Racy and Representative Steve Huffman on the hard work that went into the passage of the Regional Transportation Authority bill recently signed by Governor Napolitano. He said that this legislation allowed the Pima Association of Governments (PAG) to be the regional transportation authority and to study the funding mechanisms for providing true regional transportation in this area. He said that this was a major accomplishment for Marana. • s MINUTES OF REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MARANA TOWN HALL JUNE 1, 2004 Mr. Racy remarked that the transportation bill was a significant bill that made it through but that now the real work began. He explained that the RTA legislation created an opportunity for this community to work together to establish a regional transportation solution. He said that he was hopeful this could be accomplished and he thanked the members of the delegation that assisted in getting the bill passed. Mr. Reuwsaat praised Mr. Racy on his work for the Town and, especially, on the Airport Improvement Program bill. He asked Mr. Mangum to elaborate on the impacts to the Town of this success. Mr. Mangum replied that if the Flight Property Tax had not been restored to its 100 % funding level then the Town would have ended up with approximately $300,000 in State grants over the next fiscal year. He said that because of the Airport Improvement Program's passage the Town would receive over $1.2M which was the highest amount of any Arizona airport. He said that Mr. Racy had been a key figure in helping to restore the flight property tax and, on behalf of the Arizona Airports Association, he thanked Mr. Racy for those efforts. C. MAYOR AND COUNCIL'S REPORT Vice Mayor Kai reported on his attendance at a meeting in Phoenix related to the Colorado River water shortages which impact the Town. He said that the experts had said that they did not expect any shortages in the Colorado River until 2011 and that they were investigating conservation measures to be implemented now. He said that Colorado had a record snowfall in January and February but that a record heat had been experienced in March and April which caused the snows to melt prematurely. Council Member Honea announced that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) map revisions associated with the Santa Cruz River Levee area were approved and that the 90-day waiting period ended on September 16, 2004. He said that this would be very beneficial to developers such as Gladden Forest (sic) and to the Marana residents along the Santa Cruz who would be eligible for flood insurance refunds. A copy of the map and accompanying correspondence have been made a permanent part of this record. • 9 MINUTES OF REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MARANA TOWN HALL JUNE 1, 2004 D. MANAGERS' REPORT There were no reports given at this time. X. FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS Mr. Reuwsaat said that staff would like to hold a Council workshop regarding roundabout traffic configurations. Astudy session was scheduled for 5:30 p.m. before the June 15, 2004 Council meeting. XI. ADJOURNMENT Upon motion by Council Member Escobedo, seconded by Council Member McGorray, approval to adjourn was unanimous. The time was 7:40 p.m. CERTIFICATION I hereby certify that the foregoing are the true and correct minutes of the Marana Town Council meeting held on June 1, 2004. I further certify that a quorum was present. ocelyn ronson, Town Clerk • to MARANA TO~WN COUNCIL MEETING Public Attendees Name ~ / Address "~ ~'"~'~'~ ff~,~, ,~?.r J) ,~ MAIL4NA TOWN COUNCIL MEETING Public Attendees Name Address