HomeMy WebLinkAbout2015.0310.TCSM.Minutesz:\council packets\2015\r150402\150310m.docx Page 1 of 7
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
MINUTES OF THE SPECIAL SESSION OF THE
FOUNTAIN HILLS TOWN COUNCIL
MARCH 10, 2015
* CALL TO ORDER AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
Mayor Kavanagh called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m. in the Town Hall Council Chambers
* ROLL CALL
Present for roll call were the following members of the Town Council: Mayor Linda Kavanagh, Councilmember Cecil
Yates, Councilmember Nick DePorter, and Councilmember Henry Leger. Town Manager Ken Buchanan, Town
Attorney Andrew McGuire and Town Clerk Bevelyn Bender were also present.
Vice Mayor Brown was absent from the meeting. Councilmember Magazine arrived at the meeting at 5:31 p.m. and
Councilmember Hansen arrived at 5:33 p.m.
AGENDA ITEM #1 - DISCUSSION WITH DIRECTION TO STAFF REGARDING UPDATING AND
PRIORITIZING CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PROJECTS.
Town Manager Ken Buchanan addressed the Council relative to this agenda item and advised that back in 2008-09, the
Town started to do financial accounting of all the projects that had been on the books. He said that numerous requests
had been assigned Capital Improvement Project (CIP) numbers as placeholders for projects until funding and Council
approval could be obtained through the budget process. He stated that over the years the list of the CIP number s has
grown and certain projects have been completed, however, many remain on the list that at the time probably were
important but some are not as important today as they were back then. He advised that they are here this evening to
further discuss the CIP with the first item being the projects being shown as completed and staff's recommendations for
projects to be removed from the overall CIP list , as well as consideration for the 2015-16 proposed CIP projects to be
considered as well as projects for consideration, which are part of the Pavement Management Program that they are
trying to complete with the second phase, which is the Asphalt Replacement Program. He noted that they have a
Pavement Maintenance Program and are looking for an Asphalt Replacement Program. Mr. Buchanan indicated his
intention to briefly review the information contained in the PowerPoint presentation on this agenda item. He
encouraged the members of the Council to ask questions as they move forward and noted that staff is presen t in the
audience to provide additional information and/or respond to questions (Copy of the presentation available on line and
in the office of the Town Clerk).
Mr. Buchanan highlighted the presentation that consisted of the following:
* Completed CIP Projects
* Past Capital Improvement Planning
* Current Capital Improvement Plan Projects
* 2014-15 Major Capital Projects (Mr. Buchanan spoke briefly on each one and said that there is a total budget
obligation of $22,207,830 for all of those projects)
Mayor Kavanagh asked whether there was a possibility the Town could lose the grants associated with a number of the
listed projects if they didn't use them by a certain date. Mr. Buchanan responded yes, there are some timeframes on
them and there is going to have to be consideration on a couple of them as to whether they should do them because
they are not certain that they are going to have the matching funds.
Councilmember Magazine asked whether Mr. Buchanan could break down the $22 million and advise how much of
that is from grants.
Mr. Buchanan replied that he does not have that number for the Council at this time.
z:\council packets\2015\r150402\150310m.docx Page 2 of 7
Councilmember Leger stated that the Fountain Hills Shoulder Paving Project doesn't jump out as a priority and there is
a significant grant for that that the Town has received in addition to a $41,000 investment on the Town's side. He
commented that he frequently travels on Fountain Hills Boulevard and he has noticed that the shoulder seems to erode
most times during the monsoon season and then they have to go out there and do excavation work. He said he is
wondering if it is counterproductive and noted that it might not be a priority but they are spending money to constantly
maintain it after the rainy season and if they look at what it has cost to do that over the years, it probably comes close
to what they would be spending here. He added that he is not sure whether there is staff that can validate that -- are
they out there grading, are they getting erosion, are they spending money on it, and going through that cycle year after
year?
Development Services Director Paul Mood addressed the Council and advised that that is actually a CMAQ grant,
which is for air quality because people using it kick up dust. He stated that they are at 60% design on that project, but
it has been put on hold due to staff availability (they have been working on other larger developer projects that have
been coming in). He noted that he and the Town Engineer discussed just prior to this meeting hiring an outs ide
consultant to review those plans so they can get that going and push the project forward. He reported that when it rains
they do have to go out there with their tractor and re-grade it all the time. He said that the cost for an outside
consultant could range in the $10,000 to $20,000 range and added that they haven't given anyone the scope of work
which is needed in order to obtain a price proposal. He stated that if they don't move forward with that project shortly
they are going to be in danger of losing that grant. He stated this project is one that staff really wants to get moving
on.
Mr. Buchanan referred to the Relocation of Fire Station #2 and said that that is the number that staff received from an
architect who builds fire stations ($3,650,000) and stated that this is an up to date number ($1 million more than what
was originally planned six years ago). He noted that staff still has to get the Council's seven questions answered and
get the land transferred from MCO on one of the two sites so that the Council can decide which site they prefer.
Mr. Buchanan moved on with the presentation, which included:
* CIP Funding Status as of 01/31/2015 - $14,285,475
* Funding From Other Sources Total - $5,135,642
* Less Projects Initiated But Not Yet Complete, Leaving an Available Balance of $1,163,503
In response to a request from Mr. Buchanan, Mr. Mood addressed the Council and discussed the Ashbrook Wash and
pointed out that there is a lot of erosion in that area and the project actually extends back to Bayfield -- there will be
new culverts in Bayfield (currently there are pipes under Saguaro and there will be large box culverts) and that will
help carry the 100-Year Flood, help get some people out of the Flood Zone and then they are going to do some cleanup
in the wash, including the removal of a field of palm trees down there. He repor ted that the Saguaro Boulevard project
is going to stop a couple of hundred feet short on either side of the Ashbrook Wash and when the Ashbrook Wash
project starts up then they will fix the pavement in that area as well. He added that the plans are at roughly 100%
design but there is an SRP line that needs to be relocated for a little over $200,000 and SRP is claiming they have prior
rights with the easement and the Town and Flood Control are not necessarily agreeing with that so attorneys are
talking now before Flood Control can bid that out.
Councilmember Magazine asked how many unpaved alleys exist in the Town and Mr. Mood responded three and
added that they are doing one of the three. Councilmember Magazine asked how they measure how much particula te
matter is being emitted and Mr. Mood explained that the County has monitoring stations around different areas.
Councilmember Magazine commented that having seen some of these alleys, he hates spending money on something
like that and added that other than keeping particulate matter down he is not sure what benefits are derived.
Mr. Mood pointed out that a lot of those businesses do use the alleys as their primary access in these areas.
Councilmember Hansen referred to the McDowell Mountain Road Repairs and asked where exactly that was and Mr.
Mood advised that as they are heading out of Town, just past the Middle School, they will come around a curve and
there are some signs that say "Bump" and it is a bump on the curve. He noted that when it was under the County's
jurisdiction before the annexation, he was told they went out there and fixed it once but the problem has returned so
they are going to have to have an engineer go out there and take some core samples and look at it. He said they really
z:\council packets\2015\r150402\150310m.docx Page 3 of 7
don't want to repave a curve with a bump -- they want to have an engineer look at it so that is the repair referred to in
the report.
Mr. Buchanan commented that they need to do some work on that because it is a safety issue.
Mr. Mood stated that the figure listed, $65,000, is just an estimate and once they get into it they will find out the actual
cost.
Mr. Buchanan continued with the presentation as follows:
* The Future Capital Improvement Program - Projects for Consideration
* Funding & Financing Future Capital Improvement Projects
50% Construction Sales Tax Annually
Special Revenue Funds
Intergovernmental Funds
Grants
Bonding
Councilmember Magazine asked how construction sales tax could be defined and Mr. Buchanan responded
Transaction Privilege Tax (TPT) -- 60% -- it basically is the materials for the project and that is how it is calculated.
Councilmember Leger stated that that is basically 60-65% on materials and asked what if those materials are purchased
outside of Town.
Mr. Buchanan replied that he brings up a very good point and that is one of today's issues noting that construction sales
tax is not reliable funding. He advised that the Mayor can help answer that because she was actively involved with
that in the last Legislative session and she and the Mayors of other cities and towns helped to reduce the impact of
what that legislation could have been. He noted that in the law that was passed, there are going to be winners and there
are going to be losers. The losers are basically the outlining communities (mostly rural Arizona) and cities/towns like
Fountain Hills because it is going to be the "point of service" and that means that a contractor can go and get his "point
of service" and buy his materials in Mesa and then Mesa would get the TPT and the Town woul d not, even though the
project is being built here, which was the Legislature’s ultimate goal and how they calculated this. He said that in this
year's budget that was just approved, they want $20 million from the cities, towns and counties to help fund the
program of collecting that money and that is the Department of Revenue (DOR).
Mr. Buchanan stated that the biggest asset and the biggest responsibility that local government has is its local
transportation system and right now they have $50 million worth of assets out there in roads and the trick is
maintaining them in a safe manner.
Mr. Buchanan continued with his presentation and discussed the following:
* Historical Streets Revenue and Road Maintenance
HURF Revenue
Total Road Maintenance
GF/CIP Contribution
Mr. Buchanan reported that the Town has and is responsible for 390 miles of road and three and a half million square
yards of asphalt, 68 acres of medians, etc.
* Streets
Mr. Buchanan noted that a quarter of a billion dollars has been swept by the State Legislature in the last 15 years and
available HURF funding does not fund proper pavement management. He said that the HURF fund is still a viable
highway revenue user fund (gas tax money) that is given to the Town based on population c ounts. He discussed the
fact that Fountain Hills is not a high growth community anymore and so that funding allocation keeps getting smaller
z:\council packets\2015\r150402\150310m.docx Page 4 of 7
and that will continue unless something is done with the actual tax itself (perhaps increasing it -- that has not been
done in 24 years).
Discussion ensued relative to the Pavement Maintenance Schedule; the fact that Zone 1 is one of the Town's oldest and
largest zones; the condition of this zone is worse than any other area of the Town; staff has been letting the VLT and
HURF funds build up this year (a million a year) and normally they would try and do the projects at the end of the
fiscal year in the spring and summer, but in this case they will look at doing the projects after the fiscal year starts
instead of right at the end; proposed work in Zone 1 in years one, two and three; and the fact that Zone 2 in the
Downtown area also has roads in bad condition.
* Arterial Roadway Reconstruction
* Pavement Management Practices
* Pavement Management Plan Recommendations
Mr. Buchanan advised that all asphalt needs to be removed and replaced and the fact that in order to create a
Sustainable Asphalt Replacement Program, a minimum of $2 million will be required annually for operational capital
to begin replacement of asphalt with a combination of future Capital Improvement Project Annual Planning and future
Road Bond. He said that revenue options for future consideration for asphalt replacement are:
* Maintain the current $1 million annual asphalt maintenance plan from the Vehicle License Tax and a portion of
the HURF funds.
* Consider future Arterial/Major Collector Road Bonds for roads with asphalt 40 years old or older which has
reached its useful life and beyond useful maintenance efforts.
* Reprioritize a portion of annual Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) funds, where feasible, from the annual one-time
construction sales tax to assist a portion of the required annual funding of an Asphalt Replacement Program.
* .2% Sales Tax when feasible to become available in FY 2016-17 after paying for the McDowell Mountain
Preserve dedicated only to an annual Asphalt Replacement Plan in combination with additional reprioritized CIP
annual funding where feasible.
* Planned Street Revenue & Road Maintenance & Asphalt Replacement (Over a 20-year period, they could be
looking at a $19.5 million investment into their transportation system for maintenance and asphalt replacement --
existing monies plus a G.O. bond issue that will be required in the early 2020s for the arterials/as phalt/mill and
replacement).
Mr. Buchanan advised that the above are staff's recommendations and indicated his willingness to respond to any
questions. He stated that staff is requesting approval of the list of non -viable CIP projects as recommended by staff
and to have staff bring back recommendations for prioritizing the remaining CIP projects to a future Council meeting
for further discussion and possible action.
Mr. Buchanan further stated that staff is requesting that the Council approve the list of CIP projects for inclusion into
the 2015-16 budget.
Mr. Buchanan also said that staff is seeking Council approval of the amended Pavement Management Plan regarding
the Asphalt Replacement Plan as recommended by staff.
Mr. Buchanan again indicated his and staff's willingness to respond to questions from the Council.
Councilmember Magazine referred to the Planned Street Revenue & Road Maintenance & Asphalt Replacement chart
of costs and asked whether the numbers are adjusted for inflation.
Mr. Buchanan responded currently no; they will just go with what they will have for what the debt service is today and
those will be moved over.
Councilmember Magazine commented that when they look at the $19 million, going out that many years they are
talking a lot more money and Mr. Buchanan replied possibly yes, depending on what inflation is. Councilmember
Magazine noted that there are just so many variables that the numbers are at best a "guesstimate" and Mr. Buchanan
said it is a scientific wild guess -- the best he can provide at this point.
z:\council packets\2015\r150402\150310m.docx Page 5 of 7
Councilmember Yates asked what amount of road bond money Mr. Buchanan is talking about and Mr. Buchanan
advised $10 million, right off the top of his head.
Councilmember Yates said, in the simplest terms, if they didn't do it this way what are they short annually based on
what Stantec is telling the Town.
Mr. Buchanan advised that they were looking at $3 million a year and said that they would need to do an upfront bond
in the amount of $8 to $10 million. He said that they are doing maintenance on the asphalt that can be maintained but
the problem is the asphalt that can no longer be maintained -- they have to go out and replace pieces of the asphalt.
Councilmember Hansen stated that part of the recommended motions refer to non-viable CIP projects and asked if that
is the same as the list of projects to be cancelled and Mr. Buchanan responded yes.
Councilmember Hansen referred to S6012 and others that have to do with the reconfiguration of intersections and
asked what that was referring to.
Mr. Buchanan responded that there are project on the list that staff doesn't even know about because the staff that put
that together based off the Development Impact Fee studies and the Strategic Plan and those staff members are no
longer here and no records can be found.
Councilmember Hansen commented that she knows they have a couple of places where sections of the median on
Saguaro have been removed in the past to make kind of a safe area for people pulling out onto Sagu aro (i.e. where the
frontage road ends by the Sanitary District's small building just past the theater). She noted that it provides a nice,
wide area and she wonders if that is what was in mind when they talked about refiguring some of the intersections
because the two that come to mind for her are the ones at Saguaro and Colony and Saguaro and Panorama -- especially
at Panorama where there are four different stop signs. She added that she didn't know if a reconfiguration that took out
some of the median could create some of those safe haven places for turning traffic.
Mr. Mood addressed the Council and pointed out that on Saguaro a lot of those areas that are gaps are actually for
drainage to get across from one side of Saguaro to another. He said that he doesn't know the history behind some of
these but they did originally plan on making some modifications to the medians on Saguaro but that would have driven
up the cost.
Councilmember Hansen advised that for the sake of this exercise, since it is not actually stated on there, she would like
to see something put on that long distance list to look at in the future -- maybe 20 years from now -- especially at
Panorama and Saguaro and if it could be called a reconfiguration by losing some of the median that's fine. She added
that she thinks they did something like this down by Monterrey a number of years ago because of some accidents.
Mr. Buchanan stated that he thinks what they are trying to do is clean the slate and start over because they have so
many placeholders in there they don't know what they are and what they were supposed to do in those projects. He
said he guesses they could go ahead and put it in there but it will not be funded (they have seen the numbers) and so
they could put it on a list for 20 years from now; however, he does not support looking at a 20-year plan for CIP
because reality is by year ten the crystal ball gets real fuzzy on what they are going to need. He added that there will
be opportunities in the future to talk about those things but they need to be in that reality discussion of whether they
have monies available to plan for that within a five-year period.
Councilmember Hansen noted that there are some individuals in the community who actually think that the frontage
road is going away as part of the Saguaro project so there is some confusion there and that is one that is on the
elimination list.
Mr. Buchanan pointed out that when they started talking about the first bond that failed and then went back and did a
post mortem, they went to all of the groups and organizations, did surveys, etc., and they said build the road as it is --
go replace it -- and staff heard that loud and clear and that is what they recommended to the Council at that time. He
stated that it would have been nice to solve some of the problems with the frontage road and do a few other things that
needed to be done to it as well, enhancements, and said that he still believes that there needs to be a sidewalk down
z:\council packets\2015\r150402\150310m.docx Page 6 of 7
there because they are not just talking car transportation. He added that in order to get that bond passed they said,
"okay we will replace what was there" -- that is what was recommended and that is what was approved.
Councilmember Magazine referred to Projects Cancelled and asked what criteria was used under the Stormwater
Management projects to cancel all of those.
Town Engineer Randy Harrel responded that he actually went through all of those projects as best as he could in an
effort to figure out what they were years and decades ago and put together a seven-page report for the Town Manager
outlining what staff believes those projects were, what they encompassed and what he felt their priority was. He
advised that the ones that they cancelled are the ones that he recommended be cancelled, either because the projects
have already been completed or because they are no longer needed or are low priorities compared to the other projects.
Councilmember Magazine asked why they would be on a list to be cancelled if they had already been accomp lished
and Mr. Harrel replied that the project numbers are shown to be cancelled because the projects were completed as part
of other projects.
Councilmember Magazine asked whether Mr. Harrel or anyone else has actually looked at the list and said he finds
himself a little troubled because there had to be a reason why they were listed in the first place and some of them may
be a lower priority but he wonders whether they should all be cancelled.
Mr. Mood addressed the Council and advised that staff has a binder that is literally a foot thick and said that the Flood
Control did a study back in the mid 1990s regarding the drainage in Fountain Hills, which is different than a lot of
places in the Valley because they don't really have retention basins and they looked at a 100-Year Storm to keep water
off of the road. He said that some of those projects would be massive and expensive and staff knows from historical
experience that when they get a pretty decent rainstorm what parts of the road need to be shut down. He explained that
Mr. Harrell went through all of those projects and a lot of them didn't have a really good scope so they took into
consideration what Mr. Harrel thought and from a historical perspective where they have seen flooding and where they
haven't ever seen any flooding and he thinks the projects and project numbers were generated decades ago so they are
trying to figure out what the actual projects are. He added that even on the ones that are remaining, the scopes are
pretty fuzzy and staff knows there are issues as far as what the actual scope needs to be and cost. He noted that one of
the things they are talking about is hiring a drainage engineering consultant to come back in and look at those projects
and look at their scopes. He stated that to fix the problem at El Pueblo and Ashbrook they would have to build a
bridge and they are not going to do that, it would be cost prohibitive. He further stated that sometimes developers did
projects but the project numbers never got cancelled.
Councilmember Magazine commented that presumably they would know if any of the citizens in these areas had, in
the last year or two, complained about the problem and Mr. Mood responded yes.
Councilmember Yates noted that part of the purpose of this whole exercise is to clean the slate and get all of this out of
the way and Mr. Buchanan concurred with that statement.
Councilmember Leger said that he thinks that a 5-Year Plan makes sense and it really is not that complicated because
they only have so much money. He pointed out that the staff is prioritizing based on what the needs are and they have
to match the money to those needs. He added that he would imagine that in year three of this plan whoever is on
Council will start looking at the next 5-Year Plan and some of these projects may reappear. He stated that it is about
becoming realistic about what their revenues and potential revenues are and right now they have a pretty good 5 -year
horizon and that could change either up or down. He advised that he is really comfortable with the work that has been
done and thanked everyone who was involved in that.
Councilmember Leger MOVED to approve the list of the non-viable CIP projects as recommended by staff and
directed staff to bring back recommendations for prioritizing the remaining CIP projects to a future Council meeting
for further discussion and possible action and Councilmember Yates SECONDED the motion.
There were no citizens wishing to speak on this agenda item.
The motion CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY by those present (6-0).
z:\council packets\2015\r150402\150310m.docx Page 7 of 7
Councilmember Leger MOVED to approve the list of CIP projects' inclusion in the FY 2015-16 budget and
Councilmember Magazine SECONDED the motion.
There were no citizens wishing to speak on this agenda item.
The motion CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY by those present (6-0).
Councilmember Leger MOVED to approve the amendment to the Pavement Management Program regarding the
Asphalt Replacement Program, as recommended by staff and Councilmember DePorter SECONDED the motion.
There were no citizens wishing to speak on this agenda item.
The motion CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY by those present (6-0).
AGENDA ITEM #2 - ADJOURNMENT
Councilmember Leger MOVED to adjourn the meeting and Councilmember Yates SECONDED the motion, which
CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY by those present (6-0). The meeting adjourned at 6:36 p.m.
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
By _______________________________
Linda M. Kavanagh, Mayor
ATTEST AND
PREPARED BY:
_________________________
Bevelyn J. Bender, Town Clerk
CERTIFICATION
I hereby certify that the foregoing minutes are a true and correct copy of the minutes of the Special Session held by the
Town Council of Fountain Hills in the Town Hall Council Chambers on the 10th day of March, 2015. I further certify
that the meeting was duly called and that a quorum was present.
DATED this 2nd day of April, 2015.
_____________________________
Bevelyn J. Bender, Town Clerk