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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10/19/2004 Study Session Minutes~1INUT OF STIIpY SESSION MARAN~ TOWN FALL flCTUSER ] 9, 24U4 PLACE AND DATE Marana Town Hall, October 19, 2004 I. CALL TO ORDER By Vice Mayor Kai at 6:00 p.m. A. COUNCIL ACTION 1. Presentation: Rental fees and agreement for public use of mobile stage (Ron Smith) Mr. Smith addressed the Council and related that the proposed agreement had been presented to the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board for consideration. He explained that numerous requests for use of the stage had been received and that it was feared the depreciation of the $85,000 mobile stage would occur faster than expected due to its constant use. He said that the proposed rental agreement was a way for the Town to recoup some of their operating costs and added that the stage was rented for future events by the Tucson Firefighters for their annual Chili Cook Off in downtown Tucson and by the Catholic Diocese for an event planned at Rillito Race Track. Vice Mayor Kai asked if everyone would be billed the same fees or if there were certain groups within the Town of Marana that would be exempt. Mr. Smith replied that there were certain entities that partnered with the Town such as the Marana Unified School District (MUSD) who would not be charged. He pointed out that the Town had incurred quite an expense last year loaning out the stage. Council Member Honea said that the stage was initially loaned out to various organizations in an effort to promote Marana and that the Town had always insisted on the display of the Marana Town Seal in full view as a form of advertisement. He commented that a variety of groups had borrowed the stage and that the Town might get itself into an uncomfortable legal situation if it denied rental of the stage to certain groups with affiliations not compatible with the Towri s views. 1NUTES OF STUDY SESSION MARANA' TOWN TiA.~~ 4CTflBER 19, 2fl04 Mr. Cassidy advised that it would best serve the Town to adopt a set of administrative rules for the stage usage. He cited an example where a political group might rent the stage and, with the Town Seal clearly visible, it might appear as if the Town endorsed that particular political group. He noted that if this was done on an ad hoc basis that it would appear as if the Town was deciding the appropriate subjects to be discussed in the public forum. He said that a set of objective standards for who could rent the stage would be presented to the Council soon. Council Member Honea responded by saying that he thought it could be limited to nonprofit groups only. Council Member Escobedo suggested that it was not necessary for the Town to rent the stage and that it might be a better idea to confine the use of the stage to within the Town boundaries itself. Mr. Reuwsaat asked for the Council's direction and said that the Town staff could bring the policy and application to the Council for approval as well as work with the comments made at this meeting in order to set the rental standards and rules. Vice Mayor Kai said that he agreed the stage could be sent to too many places but that he could personally attest to receiving plenty of positive comments from the public and various officials when the stage was seen in Pima County or in Tucson at a large event. He pointed out that the stage was a unique bridge-building tool. Council Member Honea countered by saying that the drawback was the reality that if the American Nazi Party wanted to rent the stage that the Town would have to rent it to them or come up with substantial reasons why not to rent to the organization. He said it would only take one or two bad publicity incidents to completely diminish the benefits. Mr. Reuwsaat suggested the scenario of allowing only nonprofits located within the Town boundaries to rent the stage and, possibly, allowing the exception of an outside nonprofit to rent the stage if the event was to be held within the Town limits. He added that a second layer of allowable renters could be directly-sponsored governmental entity such as the State of Arizona, Pima County, City of South Tucson, or one of the tribal nations. 2 g MINUTES OF STUDY SESSION k MA~2ANA TOWN FALL CC~(~T"O I ~, X004 ~~~ Council Members Comerford and Honea asked that all political events be barred from stage usage period. Mr. Cassidy remarked that it was safer to go with nonpolitical events but added that then the Town had the dilemma of explaining what was political and what was not. He gave another example by describing a scenario of Planned Parenthood claiming that their event was not political but was simply a folk festival benefiting the organization. Mr. Cassidy said that merely the association with the name of Planned Parenthood would cause ill will for the Town. He advised that the Town would need to define nonpolitical. Council Member Blake suggested that the stage had already been too many places. Council Member Comerford said that the advisory committee had recommended keeping the stage within the Town boundaries if only because of the wear and tear on the stage. Mr. Cassidy said that it would be easy to insert a clause restricting the use to governmental entities within the Town limits. A general consensus was reached that the stage rental be limited to nonpolitical entities holding events within the Marana boundaries. Additionally, fee waivers were to be brought before the Council for approval on a case-by-case basis. Mr. Cassidy remarked that under the Arizona Constitution, governments cannot gift or lend anything of value to a private entity. He said that under that ruling the Town would not be able to allow a fee waiver for churches. Council Member Honea reiterated his opinion of limiting the stage rental to only Town-sponsored and MUSD events. He said this policy would eliminate any future problem as well as preserve the stage for the long term use of the Town. The discussion continued and it was agreed that the stage rental be restricted to nonpolitical events held by entities within the Town limits unless by Council waiver and that no fees would be levied against MUSD. Mr. Smith said that the staff would make the necessary changes to the agreement and bring it back before Council for approval. ~- MINUTES QF STUDY SESSION MARANA 'T`O'WN HALL OCTOBER 19, 2f10 2. Presentation: Agreement between Town of Marana and Western Heritage Committee (Ron Smith) Mr. Smith addressed the Council and said that the Western Heritage Arena was used by the Western Heritage Committee and that the rental agreement had gone before the Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee several times. He remarked that the agreement was intended to formalize the relationship between the Western Heritage Committee and the Town of Marana Parks and Recreation department. He opened the topic up for discussion. Council Member Honea commented that the Town was trying to get the Western Heritage Committee to aself-sustaining point and able to pay for all costs associated with events. He said that he did not think the Town should take any of the profit away from this group because the Town wanted the group to become successful and to provide more amenities and public events in the future. He added that the arena was basically bought for this group's exclusive use. Mr. Reuwsaat suggested that the Council consider other basic differentiations. He said that the proposed agreement stated "all youth events" would not have any charges with no net back to the Town. He said that was on par with ball fields whether it was soccer or baseball. He explained that this agreement asked for 25% of adult events where money was involved as pleasure. Council Member Honea asked how the Town planned to keep track of these monies. He asked if it would be an honor system. Mr. DeSpain commented that after every event a summary was given to the Board of Directors of the Western Heritage Committee and that Jim Cosby presented this during the meetings. Council Member Comerford said that the arena was still Town property and that it still put the Town in a position of liability if someone was seriously injured. She said that she was aware that the group had insurance but that in her opinion it was not wise to completely turn the arena operation over to the WHC without retaining some sort of Town control. Council Member Honea said that the Town retained the final say on what was done at the facility. 4 MINUTES fl,F STU~X SESSION MARANA TOWN' HALL, (lC'l"b$ER ~~, 2U04 Mr. Reuwsaat commented that the Town would get $25 out of every $100 netted by the organization. He said that the WHC had wanted to show good faith by contributing back to the Town for the use of the facility for adult events only. Council Member Honea asked if the utilities and other expenses would be paid out of the 25 % collected by the Town. Mr. Smith replied that this was the current arrangement. Mr. Cuaron commented that $2,500 had been collected from the committee so far this year. He said that $2,000 was donated by a private party and $500 was from the Western Heritage Committee. Mr. Smith remarked that there was a rental fee section included in the agreement and the section applied to outside organizations not associated with the WHC. Vice Mayor Kai commented that some sort of fee needed to be charged so that any repairs or maintenance costs could be covered. Council Member Honea contended that the accounting costs were higher than the fees collected and that he did not think the Town should charge the WHC at all. Council Member Comerford said that this might cause an uncomfortable situation with other entities such as the baseball leagues. She said that these other organizations might question the reasoning for their costs upon learning of the fee waiver for the Western Heritage Committee. Council Member Honea replied that the situation was different with the ball leagues because Town staff maintained the playing fields by performing such services as cutting and watering the grass, cleaning the dugouts, and raking the fields. He said that the WHC paid the costs of any Town staff used for arena maintenance. Mr. Reuwsaat remarked that the Town did all of the prep work and was not reimbursed by the WHC. 5 MINUTES,OF STUDY SESSIQN MARANA TUWN NALL (ICTOSER 19, 2~~4 Council Member Comerford stated that the Town was not in the business of making money but was in the business of protecting the standard of living, to keep the arena in well repair and to pay for the cost of running the equestrian events. She said that this situation was similar to the renting of the stage and that the costs had to be recouped somehow. Mr. Reuwsaat said that the Towri s intent was to be a contributor to the equestrian event effort and to support the Western Heritage Committee. Mr. Smith commented that the $500 from the WHC did not cover the Towri s costs but that it was meant as a goodwill gesture from the organization. He said that there were three scheduled events per month including a junior rodeo, a gymkhana, and an every-other-Friday rodeo event. He said that the arena was being used in the manner that the Council and staff had envisioned and that the outside organizations were the ones that would help in offsetting the arena costs. Vice Mayor Kai said that some of the jackpots for the team roping events ran as high as $10,000 to $15,000 and that he felt the Town should be compensated in those situations. Mr. DeSpain remarked that 115 teams generated an approximated $5,000 jackpot for the winners of a team roping event. Vice Mayor Kai asked for the Council's recommendation. It was decided that this item would be brought back before the Council for approval and that the agreement with the Western Heritage Committee would be as written with 25% of the WHC net profit resulting from events held at the Western Heritage Facility going to the Town. Mr. Reuwsaat commended the individuals involved with the Western Heritage Committee and said that their efforts had exceeded the Towri s expectations for the equestrian facility. MINUTES OF STUDY SESSION iYIAIZANA TO~'VN NAl',Z, CIC~'OIi~R l~ ZQ04': 3. Discussion: Municipal Complex Dedication (Mike Reuwsaat) Mr. Reuwsaat presented this item before the Council. He reminded everyone of the groundbreaking ceremonies for the new municipal complex and the fireworks display immediately following and ending the 2003 Founders' Day celebration. He said that a final dedication of the newly completed facility was planned for the 2004 Founders' Day. He asked if the Council wished to finalize the special day with another fireworks display. He noted that another option would be to handle the activities as normally held, i.e. the VIP functions, the Mayor's breakfast, and the parade. He said that usually the dignitaries were finished with the functions by 11:00 a.m. and then the fireworks would not necessarily be a VIP event but more of a community event celebrating the new municipal complex and its usage. He said that the question from staff was that they had two proposed scenarios for Founders' Day plans and needed the Council's direction. He said that there had been some discussion against a fireworks display this year and thought that if the intent was to celebrate publicly with the residents as was done in 2003 then a groundbreaking ceremony followed by a grand finale of fireworks was appropriate. He pointed out that the VIP event schedule would have to be reformatted closer to evening if the Council wanted the dignitaries and VIPs present at the fireworks display. He suggested a progression of events where the VIPs would still be present at the Town Hall site. He asked for the Council's direction. Council Member McGorray asked if there was an established date for the 2004 Founders' Day. Ms. Bronson replied that the festivities were scheduled for March 19~. Council Member Escobedo said that originally the public was given the fireworks two years ago to celebrate what the Towri s future was going to be and now we want to celebrate once again with the public. He said that there were quite a few events happening throughout the weekend including a WHC rodeo and a carnival. He said that he thought the Town owed the public a fifteen minute fireworks display of thanks for their support and vision. Council Member Comerford questioned why the festivities had to begin early in the morning and asked if the times could be changed to later in the day. R'[INUTES OF STUDY SESSION MARANA TOWN 1LALL O~'I'f)BER 19 20D~ Council Member Escobedo commented that the community expectation would not be that fireworks were included in the festivities every year. II. Council Member McGorray asked about the timeframe of the rodeo and carnival events and if there was a parade planned as well. Council Member Escobedo replied that those events would go on until midnight and that a parade was also planned. A general discussion of start times for the Founders' Day festivities followed. It was decided that noon would be the starting time for the Saturday celebrations. ADJOURNMENT Upon motion by Council Member Escobedo, seconded by Council Member Honea, the study session was adjourned. The time was 7:00 p.m. CERTIFICATION I hereby certify that the foregoing are the true and correct minutes of the Marana Town Council study session held on October 19, 2004. I further certify that a quorum was present. yn Bron n, Town Clerk 1~®~q~;aFI-~j'~~~~ 1-Q ~ ~OR~ lF~ s ~~r _ ~ s~ ~~~ ~! 11,E ~~`` s MARANA TOWN COUNCIL MEETING Public Attendees Address Name