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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2015.0402.TCREM.Minutesz:\council packets\2015\r150416\150402m.docx Page 1 of 6 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS MINUTES OF THE EXECUTIVE AND REGULAR SESSIONS OF THE FOUNTAIN HILLS TOWN COUNCIL APRIL 2, 2015 EXECUTIVE SESSION * CALL TO ORDER AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Mayor Kavanagh called the Executive Session to order at 5:30 p.m. in the Fountain Conference Room - 2nd Floor. AGENDA ITEM #1 - ROLL CALL AND VOTE TO GO INTO EXECUTIVE SESSION: PURSUANT TO A.R.S. §38-431.03(A)(1), DISCUSSION OR CONSIDERATION OF EMPLOYMENT, ASSIGNMENT, APPOINTMENT, PROMOTION, DEMOTION, DISMISSAL, SALARIES, DISCIPLINING OR RESIGNATION OF A PUBLIC OFFICER, APPOINTEE OR EMPLOYEE OF ANY PUBLIC BODY (SPECIFICALLY, FOR THE PURPOSE OF DISCUSSING THE TOWN MANAGER RECRUITMENT PROCESS). Present for roll call were the following members of the Town Council: Mayor Linda Kavanagh, Vice Mayor Dennis Brown, Councilmember Nick DePorter, Councilmember Cecil Yates, Councilmember Cassie Hansen, Councilmember Alan Magazine and Councilmember Henry Leger. Town Attorney Andrew McGuire and Town Clerk Bevelyn Bender were also present. Vice Mayor Brown MOVED to go into Executive Session at 5:30 p.m. and Councilmember Yates SECONDED the motion, which CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY (7-0). AGENDA ITEM #2 - ADJOURNMENT. The Executive Session adjourned without objection at 6:15 p.m. REGULAR SESSION * CALL TO ORDER AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Mayor Kavanagh called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. * INVOCATION - Pastor Steve Bergeson, Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church * ROLL CALL - Present for roll call were the following members of the Town Council: Mayor Linda Kavanagh, Vice Mayor Dennis Brown, Councilmember Nick DePorter, Councilmember Cecil Yates, Councilmember Cassie Hansen, Councilmember Alan Magazine and Councilmember Henry Leger. Town Manager Ken Buchanan, Town Attorney Andrew McGuire and Town Clerk Bevelyn Bender were also present. * MAYOR'S REPORT i) None. * SCHEDULED PUBLIC APPEARANCES/PRESENTATIONS i) The Mayor may review recent events attended relating to Economic Development. z:\council packets\2015\r150416\150402m.docx Page 2 of 6 Mayor Kavanagh advised that at the Greater Phoenix Economic Council's Board of Director's meeting they received an update on the organization's budget and reported that so far it looks good and the revenue is holding at greater than what was projected. She advised that it was reported that Arizona is experiencing an uptick in IT companies choosing this region in comparison to previous years. She provided a brief update on the on the Super Bowl effort and stated that they are seeing some prospects coming out of the visits by corporate heads to the week-long event. She said that the Maricopa County Regional meeting provided an update on some new alignments for the light rail and continuing work on the Liberty Utilities Palm Valley and Sarival Water Reclamation Facilities' expansion. She pointed out that this is an important project for several west Valley cities. The Mayor announced that the League of Arizona Cities & Towns held an Executive Meeting to plan the upcoming conference in August. She stated t hat since being elected to the Executive Committee, this was her first time being a part of the conference planning. She advised that Economic Development seminars are always being requested by municipalities and it is a great way to gain knowledge to bri ng back to their communities. ii) Presentation by Michael Stull, Government Relations Manager for Cox Communications, highlighting new technology and Cox's commitment to the community. Cox Communication's Government Relations Manager Michael Stull addressed the Council and advised that Cox likes to come out every three or four years and provide an update on what is going on with the company. He highlighted a brief PowerPoint presentation (Copy available on line and in the office of the Town Clerk) which included the following: * Cox Communication's Commitment to Customers * Cox Solution Stores * Cox Business * Cox Media * Commitment to Technology Contour - Personal TV experience Speed Increases One GIG Internet from Cox is Coming Metro WIFI * Commitment to Community Cox contributed nearly $17 million in cash and in-kind support to partners in the cities and towns they serve during 2014 * Connect 2 Compete Mr. Stull indicated his willingness to respond to questions from the Council. In response to a question from Councilmember Magazine, Mr. Stull briefly discussed the Connect 2 Compete and explained that the only qualifier for the program is that the students have to qualify for school lunches. Councilmember DePorter asked whether any of the WIFI hotspots will be coming to Fountain Hills and Mr. Stull advised that Cox is picking places where it makes the most sense from a network standpoint to deploy them and in Fountain Hills they don't have any aerial plant, which is the most optimal situation for deployment but they are starting to deploy the WIFI hotspots in pedestals -- so pedestals in the Downtown area will be looked at and if it hasn't happened already he is sure that that will be occurring over the next year. Mayor Kavanagh asked whether Cox has considered any cloud storage for the future so that when something happens to someone's box they don't lose all their programs, they can just download them back from the cloud and Mr. Stull responded that he will have to check on the answer to that question. He added that he knows at one point they talked about that and they have two large corporate center data centers that store information for their company and one of the topics talked about was storing all of the On Demand programs in those particular centers. He said that he doesn't know whether any plans were made as far as storage for particular personal boxes but that is a good question and he will look into it and get back to the Mayor with an answer. Mayor Kavanagh thanked Mr. Stull for his update CALL TO THE PUBLIC z:\council packets\2015\r150416\150402m.docx Page 3 of 6 Town Clerk Bevelyn Bender advised that there were no citizens wishing to speak at this time. CONSENT AGENDA AGENDA ITEM #1 - CONSIDERATION OF APPROVING THE TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES FROM MARCH 10 AND 19, 2015. AGENDA ITEM #2 - CONSIDERATION OF APPROVING A LIQUOR LICENSE APPLICATION SUBMITTED BY LAURICE JEWEL SABORI, OWNER/AGENT OF CHATEAU VINO, LLC, LOCATED AT 14235 N. YERBA BUENA WAY, FOUNTAIN HILLS, AZ. THIS IS FOR A SERIES 4 , IN-STATE WHOLESALER. AGENDA ITEM #3 - CONSIDERATION OF APPROVING A LIQUOR LICENSE APPLICATION SUBMITTED BY ANDREA DAHLMAN LEWKOWITZ, OWNER/AGENT OF PALISADES BEVERAGE, LLC DBA THE CLUB, AT COPPERWYND, LOCATED AT 13225 N. EAGLE RIDGE DRIVE, FOUNTAIN HILLS, AZ. THIS IS FOR A SERIES 11, HOTEL/MOTEL. AGENDA ITEM #4 - CONSIDERATION OF APPROVING THE REQUEST BY THE PUBLIC ART COMMITTEE THAT THE $2,000 COST FOR THE BRONZE SCULPTURE TITLED, "SECOND MESA MAIDEN"AND THE $200 DELIVERY FEE BE PAID FROM THE PUBLIC ART 1% FUND. THE SCULPTURE'S PLACEMENT AT FOUNTAIN PARK WAS APPROVED AT THE MARCH 5TH COUNCIL MEETING." AGENDA ITEM #5 - CONSIDERATION OF APPROVING THE REQUEST BY THE PUBLIC ART COMMITTEE THAT THE $800 COST OF THE DONOR PLAQUES FOR "SECOND MESA MAIDEN," "RED ROCK CROSSING," AND "VIGILANCE" BE PAID FROM THE PUBLIC ART 1% FUND. AGENDA ITEM #6 - CONSIDERATION OF APPROVING RESOLUTION 2015-09, ABANDONING WHATEVER RIGHT, TITLE OR INTEREST THE TOWN HAS IN THE CERTAIN PUBLIC UTILITY AND DRAINAGE EASEMENTS LOCATED AT THE SOUTHWESTERLY PROPERTY LINE OF PLAT 505C, BLOCK 3, LOT 6 (15837 E. CENTIPEDE DRIVE) AS RECORDED IN BOOK 158 OF MAPS, PAGE 42, RECORDS OF MARICOPA COUNTY, ARIZONA. EA2015-02 (EASTMAN) AGENDA ITEM #7 - CONSIDERATION OF APPROVING AMENDMENT NO. 1 TO CONTRACT NO. C2015-104 WITH NESBITT CONTRACTING CO., INC., IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $298,271.88, FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE SHEA BOULEVARD WIDENING PROJECT. Councilmember Yates MOVED to approve the Consent Agenda as listed and Councilmember Magazine SECONDED the motion. A roll call vote was taken with the following results: Mayor Linda Kavanagh Aye Vice Mayor Dennis Brown Aye Councilmember Nick DePorter Aye Councilmember Cecil Yates Aye Councilmember Cassie Hansen Aye Councilmember Alan Magazine Aye Councilmember Henry Leger Aye The motion CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY (7-0). z:\council packets\2015\r150416\150402m.docx Page 4 of 6 REGULAR AGENDA AGENDA ITEM #8 - CONSIDERATION OF ACCEPTING THE USA TODAY COMMUNITY GRANT AWARD, IN THE AMOUNT OF $10,000, FOR THE TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS "MAKE A DIFFERENCE DAY" ENTRY AND THE TOWN'S MAKE A DIFFERENCE DAY PLANNING COMMITTEE'S RECOMMENDATION THAT THE GRANT FUNDS BE GIVEN TO THE FOUNTAIN HILLS NOON KIWANIS ORGANIZATION TOWARDS THEIR CENTENNIAL PROJECT (REPLACEMENT OF THE TOWN'S GOLDEN EAGLE TOT LOT PLAYGROUND EQUIPMENT). Town Manager Ken Buchanan addressed the Council relative to this agenda item and advised that this represents a lot of good work on the part of the Town's Volunteer Coordinator, Heather Ware, as well as the Make a Difference Planning Committee . He reported that the Town of Fountain Hills is one of 14 winners nationwide and they have been awarded $10,000 to be given to a 501(3)(c) charity. He noted that the Town has been working with the Fountain Hills Noon Kiwanis organization in replacing the playground equipment at the Golden Eagle Tot Lot (Golden Eagle Park). He said they have budgeted for a 50% match with Kiwanis to replace that equipment and this will help boost their share if the Council agrees to give the organization this money as recommend ed by the Make a Difference Day Planning Committee and staff. Councilmember DePorter MOVED to approve the Committee and staff's recommendation and Vice Mayor Brown SECONDED the motion, which CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY (7-0). AGENDA ITEM #9 - DISCUSSION WITH POSSIBLE DIRECTION TO STAFF RELATING TO ANY ITEM INCLUDED IN THE LEAGUE OR ARIZONA CITIES AND TOWNS WEEKLY LEGISLATIVE BULLETIN OR RELATING TO ANY ACTION PROPOSED OR PENDING BEFORE THE STATE LEGISLATURE. Town Manager Ken Buchanan addressed the Council relative to this agenda item and said that Councilmember Magazine had asked about a couple pieces of legislation and he asked the Administrative Services Director to review those bills and provide a report regarding the two proposed pieces of legislation. Councilmember Magazine advised that he read in the press about the gun bill going down but he is not familiar with what happened to the Bed Tax Rental Tax legislation. Administrative Services Director Grady Miller addressed the Council and reported that HB 2320 had failed and then another bill, SB 1291came forward and they dug into it to see what that was about. He said that as of 6:15 p.m. tonight that bill was still on the floor. He said that that bill is a pre-emption bill -- it would pre-empt the cities and towns from passing any regulations/ordinances regulating firearms in local government and basically what it would mean is if the Town did anything that was in violation of the pre-emption of firearms law in Arizona, it would be ruled that the Town's ordinance is invalid and if the Town willingly and knowingly did that (despite the fact that the Town Attorney advised them against doing that) those individuals such as Councilmembers and the Town Manager who brought that forth would be subject to termination. He pointed out that this has never been tried before as far as how they remove a Mayor or Councilmembers (most cities and towns have their own procedures) so this is definitely new territory. He further stated that the person or organization that feels they were adversely affected could file a civil action/law suit and there would be damages that would go along with that. Mr. Miller said that Councilmember Magazine had asked about the Bed Tax and he thinks he might have been thinking about the Residential Rental Tax and Councilmember Magazine replied that Mr. Miller was correct, he meant the Residential Rental Tax. Mr. Miller commented that as the Mayor stated earlier that did go down (HB 2254). He pointed out that that would have had an impact of $83 million in lost revenue for all of the cities and towns. He further stated that two other bills got merged that have to do with the TPT (Transaction Privilege Tax) or Sales Tax, SB 1120, which dealt with fine art -- those who were purchasing fine art out of State or having it shipped out of State would not have to pay TPT. He reported that that got merged with another bill, SB 1133, which said that people who h ad out-of- State purchases or lived out of State, would go directly to the Department of Revenue (DOR) to get a TPT refund and the logistics of that just didn't make a lot of sense. He explained that these two bills got merged and the DOR provision has been struck out so that is kind of a compromise. He said that that passed today, late this afternoon (34 - 25). z:\council packets\2015\r150416\150402m.docx Page 5 of 6 Councilmember Magazine asked Mr. Miller whether he could recall what the definition of fine art is because it affects him personally and Mr. Miller responded that he does not recall specifically and it may not have actually been defined in the bill. He stated that the Session should be shutting down tonight, which is good for everyone and indicated his willingness to respond to any questions from the Council. AGENDA ITEM #10 - COUNCIL DISCUSSION/DIRECTION TO THE TOWN MANAGER KEN BUCHANAN. Items listed below are related only to the propriety of (i) placing such items on a future agenda for action or (ii) directing staff to conduct further research and report back to the Council. A. None. AGENDA ITEM #11 - SUMMARY OF COUNCIL REQUESTS AND REPORT ON RECENT ACTIVITIES BY THE MAYOR, INDIVIDUAL COUNCILMEMBERS AND THE TOWN MANAGER. Councilmember Yates provided an update on the MAG (Maricopa Association of Governments) Domestic Violence Committee on which he serves and advised that they meet on a quarterly basis. He noted that they are in a transition stage and the Committee has been around since 2000 and they are now looking to restructure the organization with all the subcommittees and refocus on what their Mission Statement should be. He said even though it is about eradicating domestic violence, there are several things that have to be done to accomplish that. He added that they are updating their Regional Plan, their Annual Plan and are looking for some goals and activities that the folks would like to see done. He advised that in order to help them do that, they have just put out an RFQ (Request for Qualifications) for professional services to help them collect all of the domestic violence information in the County. He reported that the County is now expanding and even though it is still called the Maricopa Association of Governments, they are including Pinal County. He commented on the County Prosecutor's Office and stated that they are looking to deputize (for lack of a better word) all municipal prosecutors so that they can work with cases that cross boundaries to help prosecute cases. He said that additional information and/or updates can be found at www.azmag.gov. Mayor Kavanagh stated that the Eggstravaganza was a great event sponsored by the Town and the Goyena Realty Team. She noted that 15,000 eggs were scattered on the ball fields at Golden Eagle Park and the kids got free pictures with Hoppy Bunny. She announced that this happens to be her 16th year being Hoppy and extended her thanks to staff member Anjelica Giardino and her group of volunteers for making this event a great success. She said that she and Hoppy Bunny also made their appearance at Fountain View Village where the residents welcomed pre-school children from McDowell Mountain School. She stated that the children sang special songs for the residents who gave the children little gifts and the residents as well as the children got to have pictures taken with Hoppy. She advised that this is a special event for the residents in the Village and she is happy to be a part of it each year. The Mayor also congratulated all of the Police and Fire personnel who were honored at their annual Public Safety Recognition Day and noted that she was honored to attend that event with Town Manager Ken Buchanan representing the Town. She further stated that the Hall of Fame Annual Dinner and induction of members was an outstanding event and congratulated all of the inductees from Fountain Hills, Rio Verde and Fort McDowell. Mayor Kavanagh announced that if any of the residents have not seen the new Falcon's Spirit Bus they might catch a glimpse of it riding to and from the games and thanked the Verne C. Johnson Foundation for funding half of the cost of the bus and the many other contributors. She pointed out that their teams will now ride to games in air conditioned comfort, with lots of leg room for those basketball players and with the impressive Falcon logo emblazoned on the outside of the bus. She added that she also attended a great volunteer reception to honor the 800 plus volunteers who work each day to make their Town the best place to live. She congratulated all of the winners of the awards and sent a big thank you to Heather Ware and her staff of volunteers for making the Safari-themed event an awesome success. She noted that they have two holidays this weekend that many residents will be celebrating and on behalf of the Council wished everyone a Happy Passover and a Happy Easter. AGENDA ITEM #12 - ADJOURNMENT Vice Mayor Brown MOVED to adjourn the meeting and Councilmember Yates SECONDED the motion, which CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY (7-0). The meeting adjourned at 6:56 p.m. z:\council packets\2015\r150416\150402m.docx Page 6 of 6 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 Executive Session, held in the Fountain Conference Room - 2nd Floor and Regular Session held by the Town Council of Fountain Hills in the Town Hall Council Chambers on the 2nd day of April, 2015. I further certify that the meeting was duly called and that a quorum was present. DATED this 16th day of April, 2015. _____________________________ Bevelyn J. Bender, Town Clerk