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HomeMy WebLinkAboutSPAC.2020.1028.Minutes TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING OF THE FOUNTAIN HILLS STRATEGIC PLANNING ADVISORY COMMISSION OCTOBER 28, 2020 1. CALL TO ORDER— Chairman Craft at 4:03 p.m. 2. ROLL CALL—Chairman Craft Present: Peter Bordow, Vice Chairman; John W. Craft, Jr., Chairman; Cynthia Magazine, Commissioner; John McHugh, Commissioner; Chad Bernick, Commissioner; Patrick Garman, Commissioner; Gerard Bisceglia, Commissioner Staff Town Manager Grady Miller; Executive Assistant Angela Padgett-Espiritu Present: 3. CALL TO THE PUBLIC Pursuant to A.R.S. §38-431.01(H), public comment is permitted(not required)on matters NOT listed on the agenda. Any such comment(i)must be within the jurisdiction of the Commission, and(ii)is subject to reasonable time,place, and manner restrictions. The Commission will not discuss or take legal action on matters raised during Call to the Public unless the matters are properly noticed for discussion and legal action. At the conclusion of the Call to the Public, individual commissioners may(i)respond to criticism, (ii)ask staff to review a matter, or(iii) ask that the matter be placed on a future Commission agenda. 4. UPDATE ON Commission Applicants and Appointments. Chair Craft introduced newly appointed Commissioner Patrick Garman to the group. Commissioner Garman gave a brief overview of his qualifications, education and family to the Commissioners. Each Commissioner introduced themselves and gave a brief overview of their experience, education and family. Town Manager Miller commented that the Commission received many qualified applicants for the vacancy on the commission. 5. CONSIDERATION OF Approving the September 23, 2020, Meeting Minutes. MOVED BY Vice Chairman Peter Bordow, SECONDED BY Commissioner John McHugh to APPROVE the minutes of the September 23, 2020 meeting. Vote: 7 - 0 - Unanimously 6. CONSIDERATION OF Approving the 2021 Commission Meeting Dates. MOVED BY Commissioner Cynthia Magazine, SECONDED BY Commissioner John McHugh to APPROVE the 2021 Meeting Dates of Strategic Advisory Planning Commission. Vote: 7 - 0 - Unanimously 7. DISCUSSION OF Key Terms for use in the Strategic Plan. p Chair Craft reported that we are beginning to focus on specific strategies that will be relevant in supporting the four strategic priorities discussed in previous meetings. To make sure for future communications with this group and for the sake of future discussions, we thought that we should come to an agreement on specific terms. Commissioner John McHugh reported that it is important for the group to have a common understanding of each sequential step of the planning process and requested that the commission review the document "Definitions for Strategic Plan" (attached) that contains suggested definitions for the sequential steps in the strategic planning process, along with the Town's Mission Statement (attached). The Commission needs to have a clear understanding in each step of the process in a clear and simple language. A discussion ensued on the below suggested definitions for the sequential steps in our strategic planning process: Overarching Value What we aspire to become, and what all elements of the Strategic Plan support. Strategic Priority A critical area of focus and initiatives in support of the Overarching Value. Strategy A key method employed to achieve a Strategic Priority. Task A specific, measurable action undertaken to achieve a Strategy's desired result. 8. UPDATE ON Strategic Planning Advisory Commission Workgroups. Chair Craft requested that each Strategic Planning Advisory Commission workgroup give a brief progress update. Workgroup #3 Health, well-being, safety, environment: Commissioner Magazine commented that Commission McHugh provided a world of structure with the clear terms and definitions. •The word "preserve" was wordsmith to "safeguard" the health, well-being and safety of the community. •Collaboration, items that are actionable and measurable • Collaboration is vitally important and valuable within SPAC. • Community feedback from the Vision Fountain Hills •Town reaching out to work with other Strategic Partners. •Workgroup has reached out to members of the community in regards to education. •Struggle with the number and specificity of tasks that need to be actionable and measurable. Commissioner McHugh requested guidance from the commission on some strategies. Commissioner Magazine noted three strategies that the workgroup has identified and agreed on so far: 1. Create awareness of Fountain Hills as a community focused on health and wellness 2. Identify opportunities in increasing social interaction and well-being 3. Expand community awareness of tangible public safety efforts in Fountain Hills Workgroup #1 Infrastructure and digital capacity: (see attached document) Vice Chair Bordow reported that the workgroup looked at the challenges with these and the out-of-the box ideas. 1. Broadband Service 2. Cellular Service 3. Wi-Fi Service 4. Electricity/ Power (Water) Success may depend on collaborative relationships to overcome challenges and to achieve results. Fountain Hills has interesting selling points in regard to our geography to be used as a testing site for some technologies. Commissioner Bernick reported that Cisco systems has a program that will work with local municipalities to help a town uplift their infrastructure. Starlink will be available sometime next year, which is a low earth orbit series of satellites that will provide broadband service. Workgroup#2 Economic Development: Chair Craft reported that he and Commissioner Bisceglia met and set some specific goals. We reached out, met privately with Betsy LaVoie, the CEO of the Fountain Hills Chamber of Commerce, and met privately with James Smith, Economic Development Director with the Town of Fountain Hills. Ms. LaVoie and Mr. Smith are still networking in the community and have similar concerns. Ms. LaVoie brought up that one of the biggest concerns for businesses is keeping employees. James Smith the Economic Development Director with the Town of Fountain Hills has three specific targeted industries that he will be focusing on: 1. Health and Wellness 2. Professional Services 3. Education and Sciences Tammy Bell with Vision Fountain Hills extracted from the recent Vision Fountain Hills Surveys comments that pertain to economic development. Some of the key obvious statements were: 1. Too many vacancies in buildings 2. Need for more vibrant downtown area 3. Build around the digital future 4. Fountain Hills has unique qualities and should look to brand those qualities: • Southwest Culture • Native American Relationships • Conservation • Dark Sky Community •Arts and Entertainment District concept There are conversations around the Shea Corridor and as a potential resource for development. One of thing that we noticed was that we have Fountain Hills focusing on economic development, Chamber of Commerce serving its business memberships and we have the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation that has their own economic development and fast growing areas. We thought about having these organizations form a mutual alliance in these areas and using their data to form a baseline. Commissioner Bisceglia commented that we need to provide the people that are giving suggestions some information beyond what they think we should do and face some of the hurdles. For example, we need to fill-up some of these buildings. We have about 200% above normal of empty commercial space. Possible rezoning of these areas for residential and mix-use. This would provide an opportunity to increase the population. Chair Craft requested that by the next meeting to refine each workgroup to emphasize on perspective collaboration and to send a one or two page summary to Angela by November 13, 2020. 9. DISCUSSION OF Community Workshop(s) Area of Focus, Needs and Format. Chair Craft gave an overview of the Vision Fountain Hills Community Workshop and the logistics. Date: January 2021 - Specific date will be confirmed and put on the commission's calendar. Time and Location: 8AM — 12 noon in the Ballroom of the Fountain Hills Community Center Workshop Purpose: Establish Vision Fountain Hills as a catalyst for community engagement by playing an active role in facilitating a community workshop and community needs assessment. Format: In person meeting with no more than 50 community volunteers recruited from the Vision Fountain Hills survey respondents (supplemented with selected individuals by invitation). Layout to include 8- 10 roundtables each with 5-6 people groupings. Social distancing and masks will be enforced. Attendees will be presented with key elements of the General Plan as well as a preliminary overview of the strategic priorities for the upcoming Strategic Plan. They will then be asked to consider prospective methods/processes supportive of both plans. The discussions will generally be open-ended but with specific assumptions and guides around reasonableness, timelines, resources, and measurability. Vision Fountain Hills may select to conduct 1-2 virtual town halls shortly after the workshop to augment the results/findings and support ongoing interactions with the community. Presenters: Jerry Butler— Moderator Tammy Bell —Vision Fountain Hills John Craft— Strategic Planning Advisory Commission Meeting Facilitators: Peter Bordow- Srategic Planning Advisory Commission Jack Franz Tom Lindsey Strategic Planning Advisory Commissioner (TBA) Invited Observers/Resources: Grady Miller, Town Manager with the Town of Fountain Hills Betsy LaVoie, Fountain Hills Chamber of Commerce Ginny Dickey, Mayor of Town of Fountain Hills Fountain Hills Unified School District Superintendent and/or PTO President John Wesley, Development Services Director with the Town of Fountain Hills Dori Wittig Workshop Topics (General Plan and Strategic Plan objectives): Shared themes and priorities for both the General Plan and the Strategic Plan. Neighborhoods Environment Economy Infrastructure/Digital Capacity X X X FH Financial Sustainability X X X Health. Wellness. and Safety X X X Economic development/collaboration X X Chair Craft commented that there was a significant interest in having the workshop held virtually as an option for safety. 10. ADJOURNMENT MOVED BY Commissioner John McHugh, SECONDED BY Vice Chairman Peter Bordow APPROVED to adjourn at 5:18 p.m. Vote: 7 - 0 - Unanimously I I I I 11/17/2020 Minutes STRATEGIC PLANNING ADVISORY COMMISSION Jo W. Craft, Jr., air n ATTEST AND PREPAR BY: ngelaj spi it xec As ' t CERTIFICATION I hereby certify that the foregoing minutes are a true and correct copy of the minutes of the Regular Meeting held by the Fountain Hills Strategic Planning Advisory Commission in the Town Hall Council Chambers on the 28 day of October, 2020. I further certify that the meeting was duly called and that a quorum was present. DATED this 18 day of November, 2020. gels sp itu, ecutive sistant https://destinyhosted.com/frs/publish/print_minutes.cfm?seq=85&mode=print&reloaded=true 6/6 John Craft and John McHugh DEFINING OUR SPAC PROCESSS Suggested Definitions for the Sequential Steps in Our Strategic Planning Process Overarching Value What we aspire to become, and what all elements of the Strategic Plan support. Strategic Priority A critical area of focus and initiatives in support of the Overarching Value. Strategy A key method employed to achieve a Strategic Priority. Task A specific, measurable action undertaken to achieve a Strategy's desired result. Page 1 of 1 • 1 nC `, )W T E O > 4- >% >, O O >- Ca a) O • m > — N C CAA 0- •cn CO t/) = ▪C •cn C i 0 O ca aJ ++ 0- U a) a.2 a) o- z Cu CD O L a• p co CD O cn ' ad = • ▪ CO = " Ca coif O 0 aA _ G Ca0 = — 0 ate--+ •U a) c ca -0 C I— ate.., -0 •U •> a✓ CAA ca '_ O.)J N > Q, i . •E z+_ con Q. c o MO C •co 4J c E vi +J • U CA -0 QC C cn .E CD D cm October 2020 Fountain Hills Technical Infrastructure Architecture Workgroup October 2020 Following are descriptions, challenges,and some"out-of-the-box" ideas for implementation for each layer of the Technical Infrastructure Architecture model. Broadband Service Problem: Service levels and reliability offered by suppliers (Cox,CenturyLink) lag behind other markets.This translates to lower bandwidth speeds,less reliable service,and less extended service offerings (direct fiber, DS-3, OC-12). Challenges: Fountain Hills is a small market to these big providers. Monetary incentive (value proposition) needs to be identified and crafted to make an investment attractive to these suppliers. Out-of-the-box: Coordinate and co-design alternative (microwave, etc.)-based architecture with college campus. • Investigate feasibility of pooled satellite data communications architecture. • Create a co-branding and partnership opportunity with Google, Starlink, Cisco, Cox/CL to attract more residents (customers) to the Town. • Develop cost/return analysis on self-provided infrastructure such as fiber optics. Explore funding options such as co-op or bond issue. • Explore potential for microwave/WIFI /laser mesh fabrics, etc. • Additional resources -ASU (academia),broadband.gov, Microsoft rural broadband, satellite, etc. Cellular Service Problem: Service coverage varies greatly with provider. None provide end-to-end service throughout the Town boundaries. Enhanced (5G) service availability may lag significantly behind larger markets. Challenges: Like broadband service providers, Fountain Hills is a small market to big cellular providers. Repeater towers that are required to extend cellular service are often paid for and erected by 3rd party vendors. Demand for cellular bandwidth across the towers is then leased back to ATT/Verizon. Out-of-the-box: Create co-branded marketing campaign,leveraging market growth opportunities as financial incentive for investment. Create a competitive condition among cellular providers by including an endorsement (co-branding) opportunity in Town marketing literature. Technical Infrastructure Architecture Discussion Page 1 of 2 October 2020 W-Fi Service Problem: Wireless Internet service is an extensional protocol to existing Internet service (4G/5G,broadband, DSL, etc.). It's backend connection to the Internet must be in place before Wi-Fi can be installed and operational. Challenges: For this to be a Town-based service (i.e., available in public outdoor areas) the Town must leverage its own Internet connection or identify/provide some type of incentive for near-by private businesses to extend their Internet connections to be available via Wi-Fi. Out-of-the-box: Market analysis shows that businesses that provide W-Fi on their premises have measured increases in business foot traffic. Electricity/Power (Water) Problem: Occasional /unpredictable drops in power, outages resulting from storm or man-made damage, single source provider with little or no service-level agreement in place. Challenges: Salt River Project is not regulated by corporation commission and has unique ability to provide service without negotiable service-level contracts.As a small market segment, Fountain Hills has traditionally not been a high priority for SRP customer service. Out-of-the-box: Southwest gas has some measure of infrastructure delivery system into the Town. Is it possible to leverage natural gas generators to create electrical power. SRP is required to buy back at commercial rates any surplus electricity available on their grid. We could look into solar subsidies (Federal or state?) to supplement our power supply with a solar farm. Might the Fort McDowell tribe be interested in some type of partnership on this? Next Steps: 1. Hold additional brainstorming sessions to expand "out of the box" opportunities. Explore these opportunities to coordination with Town resources. 2. Create the scope and requirements for an assessment of the current state of the Town's technical infrastructure architecture.This is in anticipation of creating an RFP. 3. Create a technical vision plan with technical and functional requirements desired. 4. Create a gap analysis that quantifies the scope,timeline, milestones,success criteria,and cost of technical infrastructure options. Technical Infrastructure Architecture Discussion Page 2 of 2 I VisionFH Community Workshop Date: January 8, 2021 Time and Location: 8AM — 12 noon FH Community Center Ballroom Workshop Purpose: Establish VFH as a catalyst for community engagement by playing an active role in facilitating a community workshop and community needs assessment. Format: In person meeting with no more than 50 community volunteers recruited from the VFH survey respondents (supplemented with selected individuals by invitation). Layout to include 8- 10 roundtables each with 5-6 people groupings. Social distancing and masks will be enforced. Attendees will be presented with key elements of the GP as well as a preliminary overview of the strategic priorities for the upcoming SP. They will then be asked to consider prospective methods/processes supportive of both plans. The discussions will generally be open-ended but with specific assumptions and guides around reasonableness, timelines, resources, and measurability. VFH may select to conduct 1-2 virtual town halls shortly after the workshop to augment the results/findings and support ongoing interactions with the community. Presenters: Jerry Butler— Moderator Tammy Bell —VFH John Craft—SPAC Meeting Facilitators: Peter Bordow Jack Franz Tom Lindsey SPAC Commissioner (TBA) Invited Observers/Resources: Grady Miller Betsy LaVoie Ginny Dickey FHUSD Superintendent and/or PTO President John Wesley Dori Wittrig Workshop Topics (GP and SP objectives): Neighborhoods Environment Economy Infrastructure/Digital Capacity X X X FH Financial Sustainability X X X Health, Wellness, and Safety X X X Economic development/collaboration X X Note: As seen above there are shared themes and priorities for both the GP and SP.