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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2006.1116.TCREM.MinutesTOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS MINUTES OF THE EXECUTIVE AND REGULAR SESSION OF THE FOUNTAIN HILLS TOWN COUNCIL November 16, 2006 Mayor Nichols called the meeting to order at 5:31 p.m. AGENDA ITEM #1 — ROLL CALL AND VOTE TO GO INTO EXECUTIVE SESSION: (i) PURSUANT TO A.R.S. 38-431.03.A1, FOR DISCUSSION OR CONSIDERATION OF EMPLOYMENT, ASSIGNMENT APPOINTMENT PROMOTION DEMOTION DISMISSAL SALARIES DISCIPLINING OR RESIGNATION OF A PUBLIC OFFICER, APPOINTEE OR EMPLOYEE OF ANY BODY EXCEPT THAT WITH THE EXCEPTION OF SALARY DISCUSSIONS AN OFFICER APPOINTEE OR EMPLOYEE MAY DEMAND THAT THE DISCUSSION OR CONSIDERATION OCCUR AT A PUBLIC MEETING. THE PUBLIC BODY SHALL PROVIDE THE OFFICER APPOINTEE OR EMPLOYEE WITH WRITTEN NOTICE OF THE EXECUTIVE SESSION AS IS APPROPRIATE BUT NOT LESS THAN TWENTY-FOUR HOURS FOR THE OFFICER, APPOINTEE OR EMPLOYEE TO DETERMINE WHETHER THE DISCUSSION OR CONSIDERATION SHOULD OCCUR AT A PUBLIC MEETING. (SPECIFICALLY TO REVIEW APPLICATIONS SUBMITTED OF QUALIFIED CANDIDATES WHO APPLIED FOR VACANCIES ON THE BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT.), AND, (ii) PURSUANT TO A.R.S. 438-431-03(A)(4) — FOR DISCUSSION OR CONSULTATION WITH THE ATTORNEYS OF THE PUBLIC BODY IN ORDER TO CONSIDER ITS POSITIN AND INSTRUCT ITS ATTORNEYS REGARDING THE PUBLIC BODY'S POSITION REGARDING CONTRACTS THAT ARE THE SUBJECT OF NEGOTIATIONS, IN PENDING OR CONTEMPLATED LITIGATION OR IN SETTLEMENT DISCUSSIONS CONDUCTED IN ORDER TO AVOID OR RESOLVE LITIGATION. (SPECIFICALLY, LUKENDA HOLDINGS V. TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS.) Councilmember McMahan MOVED to convene the Executive Session at 5:31 p.m. and Councilmember Dickey SECONDED the motion, which CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. Councilmember Dickey MOVED to recess the Executive Session at 6:30 p.m. and Councilmember Archambault SECONDED the motion, which CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. AGENDA ITEM #2 — RETURN TO REGULAR SESSION * CALL TO ORDER AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Mayor Nichols reconvened the Regular Session at 6:30 p.m. INVOCATION — Father Robert Hart, Angelican Church of Atonement * ROLL CALL Present for roll call were the following members of the City Council: Mayor Nichols, Vice Mayor Kehe, Councilmember Leger, Councilmember McMahan, Councilmember Schlum, Councilmember Archambault and Councilmember Dickey. Town Attorney Andrew McGuire, Town Manager Tim Pickering and Town Clerk Bev Bender were also present. MAYOR'S REPORT The Mayor will read a proclamation declaring the week of November 12-18, 2006 Fountain Hills Community Foundation Awareness Week. ZACouncil Packets\2006\R12-7-06\11-16-06 minutes.doc Page I of 7 Mayor Nichols stated that local educational, cultural and humanitarian non-profit agencies were in need of financial assistance and children, adults, mothers, fathers and seniors depend upon the local area non-profit agencies. He added that the local non-profit agencies depend upon funding from the Town of Fountain Hills Community Foundation to grow and survive. Over the last ten years, the Foundation had raised and distributed over $1 million to local charities in need and the members were dedicated to supporting educational, cultural and humanitarian activities in the Town. He announced that the Foundation was kicking off its fundraising activities during the month of November with a goal of raising and distributing $125,000 to local area non-profit agencies in 2007. The Mayor said that he and the Council wish to recognize the efforts of the Fountain Hills Community Foundation in raising funds to champion their mission and said that it was his honor to proclaim November 12-18, 2006 Fountain Hills Community Foundation Awareness Week. Mayor Nichols presented a copy of the Proclamation to Bob Sternfels. Mr. Sternfels thanked the Foundation's donors, Board of Directors and everyone who had worked so hard to give $1 million to the Town over the last ten years and said they hope to do so in the next ten years. He announced that they were creating an endowment, which would permanently fund the charities of Fountain Hills. Mayor Nichols also presented Mr. Sternfels with an official pin of Fountain Hills. SCHEDULED PUBLIC APPEARANCES/PRESENTATIONS Maricopa County Air Quality Control will provide information on ozone levels in Fountain Hills. Maricopa County Community and Media Relations Manager Holly Ward highlighted a brief slide presentation on the air quality in Fountain Hills. (Copy of presentation is available in the office of the Town Clerk.) She thanked the Council for allowing her the opportunity to address them, as well as Tom Ward for his invitation to attend the meeting. She outlined the nine divisions that make up the Air Quality Department and highlighted their responsibilities. She discussed the various stakeholders and partners (ADEQ, MAG, Valley Metro/RPTA, cities, towns and the EPA) and noted the various County air monitoring sites (23 fixed sites). She explained that the data collected from the sites were used in a variety of ways and said that when one or more of the monitors notes that levels were high, they receive what was called "an exceedance." She advised that Maricopa County had received a deadline date from the EPA of December 31, 2006 to reach attainment of the Federal standards. She stated that the County was not going to make the deadline and reported that they experienced 19 exceedance days in 2005 and 19 exceedance days to date in 2006. The EPA will request that the County formulate a Rate of Progress Plan that would show a reduction in the amount of particulate emissions by 5% each year until attainment was reached. Ms. Ward outlined a number of dust prevention tips that should be followed and asked that citizens report offenders by either calling their office at 602-372-2763 or contacting them by e-mail at www.maricopa.gov/aq. She noted that on high pollution advisory days in the winter all residents were required by law to not burn wood in their fireplaces on "no burn days." Mayor Nichols thanked Ms. Ward for her presentation. He asked Mr. Pickering whether there was a way they could "blend" this presentation into the Town's Channel 11 information (public announcements). Mr. Pickering advised that the presentation would be aired on Channel 11 and, in response to a request from the Mayor, said that additional information, such as the County's contact information, could also be aired. Councilmember Dickey also expressed appreciation to Ms. Ward for her presentation and commended the Town's newspaper because air advisories and forecasts were being frequently advertised in order to increase awareness. In response to a request from Councilmember Dickey, Ms. Ward explained the responsibilities that were carved out by the various stakeholders and partners. ZACouncil Packets\2006\R12-7-06\11-16-06 minutes.doc Page 2 of 7 Councilmember Schlum asked how many other large municipalities would fail to meet the December 31" deadline and Ms. Ward said that County staff had researched this issue to determine what others were doing to come into compliance. Clark County, Nevada was in a similar situation and a diverse group went to Clark County to attend an all day conference. They learned about a huge public outreach campaign the County implemented to heighten awareness and the County would soon be following suit. She added that public awareness and enforcement were crucial elements to a successful program and achieving compliance. She said that as a result of research, the County had gone from a compliance staff (dust inspectors) of 10 up to 30 and although that was still not enough, it was a significant increase. They also went from one enforcement officer negotiating settlements with companies to a staff of 7 and expect to grow by three more. Ms. Ward, in response to a question from Councilmember Leger, stated that aside from health consequences, non-compliance would affect Federal transportation dollars, and emphasized that every effort would be expended to avoid that occurrence. Discussion ensued relative to the fact that MAG was performing emission inventory studies to determine where they were at as far as what was being emitted now and determine where to reduce by 5% along the line; the fact that there was no "one contributor" who had caused the problem, there were many sources; vehicles on the roads were surprisingly the biggest contributor; agriculture was a big point of interest in the 5% plan in looking at whether there were ways to regulate and enhance dust pollution prevention and mining operations were also being looked at closely. In response to a question from Vice Mayor Kehe, Ms. Ward advised that determining seasonal gas formula determinations fell primarily on the State. Additional discussion ensued relative to enforcement and compliance and the importance of working together to achieve the desired goal. CALL TO THE PUBLIC Town Clerk Bev Bender advised that two citizens wished to address the Council at this time. Camille Arredondo-Curiel, 14609 N. Calle Del Oro, was not present at the meeting. Bob Scarpetti, 14623 N. Glenpoint Drive, said that he would waive his time. CONSENT AGENDA AGENDA ITEM #1 — CONSIDERATION OF APPROVING THE TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES FROM NOVEMBER 1 AND NOVEMBER 2, 2006. AGENDA ITEM #2 — CONSIDERATION OF THE PRELIMINARY AND FINAL PLAT FOR A FIVE - UNIT CONDOMINIUM PLAT ENTITLED "FINAL PLAT, FOUNTAIN HILLS HAMILTON CONDOMINIUMS," LOCATED AT 13616 N. HAMILTON DRIVE, AKA PLAT 102, BLOCK 4, LOT 13. CASE #S2006-24. AGENDA ITEM #3 — CONSIDERATION OF THE PRELIMINARY AND FINAL PLAT FOR A TWO - UNIT CONDOMINIUM PROTECT ENTITLED "FINAL PLAT, DOUBLE TREE PHASE H CONDOMINIUMS," LOCATED AT 12211 N. LOST ARROW DRIVE, AKA PLAT 206, BLOCK 4, LOT 9. CASE #2006-25. ZACouncil Packets\2006\R12-7-06\11-16-06 minutes.doc Page 3 of 7 AGENDA ITEM #4 — CONSIDERATION OF APPROVING THE TEMPORARY EXTENSION OF PREMISE LIQUOR LICENSE APPLICATION FOR GRAPEABLES FINE WINES (.TAMES MYCZEK), LOCATED AT 12645 N. SAGUARO BOULEVARD, #9, FOUNTAIN HILLS, AZ, SCHEDULED FOR SATURDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2006, FROM 5:00 P.M. TO 9:00 P.M. AGENDA ITEM #5 — CONSIDERATION OF RESOLUTION 2006-56, AN EASEMENT FOR SALT RIVER PROJECT (SRP) FOR THE AVENUE OF THE FOUNTAINS ENHANCEMENT PROJECT. Councilmember Schlum MOVED to approve the Consent Agenda as listed and Councilmember Archambault SECONDED the motion. A roll call vote was taken with the following results: Councilmember Dickey Aye Mayor Nichols Aye Councilmember Leger Aye Councilmember Schlum Aye Vice Mayor Kehe Aye Councilmember McMahan Aye Councilmember Archambault Aye The motion CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY (7-0). ACTION AGENDA AGENDA ITEM #6 — CONSIDERATION OF RESOLUTION 2006-53, DECLARING AS A PUBLIC RECORD THAT CERTAIN DOCUMENT FILED WITH THE TOWN CLERK AND ENTITLED "THE 2007 AMENDMENTS TO THE TAX CODE OF THE TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS." Finance Director Julie Ghetti addressed the Council relative to this agenda item and stated that all cities and towns in Arizona that impose a local sales tax had adopted the Arizona model city tax code (MCTC) in order to provide uniformity for taxpayers, particularly those taxpayers that were multi jurisdictional (pay taxes in several different cities). Taxpayers know that cities and towns were going to treat the taxable activity the same and it lets cities and towns pick what rate and what exemptions they wanted to choose. Each year, the Municipal Tax Code Commission approved changes to the tax code that were proposed as a result of requests submitted to the Commission by both the business industry and municipalities. Such requests were presented generally after both parties had mutually agreed upon the proposals. Ms. Ghetti advised that State law required that each city and/or town adopt all of the approved changes and amendments so that a municipal tax code could be maintained. The Tax Code Commission approved the proposed changes referenced in Ordinance 06-32 on September 8, 2006. The exemption of development impact fees from privilege tax was in compliance with new State law mandated by Senate Bill 1068, signed into law on June 28, 2006. Because this was legislative action, cities and towns were required to amend their tax codes. The changes to the code regarding hotel income closely match the State's tax treatment of hotels based on a ruling recently issued by the Arizona Department of Revenue. The ruling clarifies tax treatment of all income and was the result of a long-term project involving representatives from the State, cities and towns and representatives from the hotel industry. Ordinance 06-32, if approved, would amend the Town's tax code to reflect the 2007 changes approved by the Commission with an effective date of September 1, 2006 for the development fees and January 1, 2007 for the hotel changes. ZACouncil Packets\2006\R 1 2-7-06\1 1- 16-06 minutes.doc Page 4 of 7 Councilmember Schlum MOVED to approve Resolution 2006-53 and Councilmember Dickey SECONDED the motion. Councilmember Schlum asked whether any of the changes would significantly affect the revenues in the community and Ms. Ghetti responded that the only change that would affect the community was the deduction from income of the development fees. She added that based on the amount of development fees the Town had received since the effective date of September 1, the impact to the Town of Fountain Hills was approximately $2,700 in local sales tax revenue. Ms. Ghetti explained that this particular tax code amendment was the result of legislative action (House Bill 1068) that was approved back in June and noted that all of the cities and towns were required to adopt it in order to conform to State law. In response to a question from Vice Mayor Kehe, Ms. Ghetti stated that developers were allowed certain deductions from the contract price, which was how they pay their sales tax. With this law, they would now be able to deduct from their total income the amount of development fees paid to the cities and towns, County and State if there were such fees. They would take that amount from their income and not pay the 2.6% tax for the Town of Fountain Hills. She provided an example of such a situation by stating that if a contractor had a contract to build a condominium ($500,000), on their sales tax return the contract price was what they pay sales tax on, the $500,000 would be their gross income. They would be allowed to take a 35% labor deduction from that (standard in the State) and they would now be able to take a $5,000 deduction for the development fees that were paid to the Town of Fountain Hills. Ms. Ghetti confirmed that this would represent a deduction in revenue for the Town. Mayor Nichols stated that the Town would lose 2.6% on the $5,000 and all subsequent development fee deductions from September 1, 2006 forward. Vice Mayor Kehe commented that the problem was compounded by the fact that they were talking about a lot of houses in Town but added that they had no choice in this particular situation. In response to a question from Councilmember Schlum, Ms. Ghetti advised that if there was a development agreement that exempts developers from paying the development fee, it had the same effect; it was not part of their income. If they paid it, they get to deduct it and if they did not pay it they did not have it in their contract price. Town Attorney Andrew McGuire confirmed that the Town must conform to State law relative to the development fees. Mayor Nichols called for a vote on the motion. The motion CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY (7-0). AGENDA ITEM #7 — CONSIDERATION OF ORDINANCE 06-32, RELATING TO THE PRIVILEGE LICENSE TAX: ADOPTING "THE 2007 AMENDMENTS TO THE TAX CODE OF THE TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS BY REFERENCE." Councilmember Leger MOVED to adopt Ordinance 06-32 and Councilmember McMahan SECONDED the motion, which CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY (7-0) ZACouncil Packets\2006\R12-7-06\11-16-06 minutes.doc Page 5 of 7 Vice Mayor Kehe said that this was not the first time that the Legislature had done something that impacted local towns and cities and added that on those occasions when the Council went to Phoenix to meet with their legislators, that they should ask them to give consideration to the towns' and cities' needs as well. AGENDA ITEM #8 — DISCUSSION WITH POSSIBLE DIRECTION TO STAFF REGARDING THE LUKENDA HOLDINGS LITIGATION. Mayor Nichols MOVED to direct the Town Attorney and outside counsel to proceed as recommended by outside counsel in their Executive Session. Councilmember Archambault SECONDED the motion. There were no citizens wishing to speak on this item. The motion CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY (7-0). AGENDA ITEM #9 — COUNCIL DISCUSSION/DIRECTION TO THE TOWN MANAGER 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 #10 — SUMMARY OF COUNCIL REQUESTS BY TOWN MANAGER Town Manager Tim Pickering stated that staff would provide additional information related to air quality issues on Channel 11. Mayor Nichols emphasized the importance of publicizing the information, heightening public awareness and soliciting compliance. He added that this could have a dramatic impact on Federal funding (grants that were received for transportation purposes) should compliance not be achieved. AGENDA ITEM #11— ADJOURNMENT Councilmember Leger MOVED to adjourn the meeting and Councilmember McMahan SECONDED the motion. The meeting adjourned at 7:10 p.m. ZACouncil Packets\2006\R12-7-06\11-16-06 minutes.doc Page 6 of 7 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS ally F.1100MIIM1,1 161 FAr C • , own Clerk CERTIFICATION I hereby certify that the foregoing minutes are a true and correct copy of the minutes of the Executive and Regular Session held by the Town Council of Fountain Hills on the 16th day of November 2006. I further certify that the meeting was duly called and that a quorum was present. DATED this 7`h day of December 2006. WrendlTo!wr"nClerk ZACouncil Packets\2006\i212-7-06\11-16-06 minutes.doc Page 7 of 7