HomeMy WebLinkAboutSPAC.2020.1118.Minutes TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING
OF THE FOUNTAIN HILLS STRATEGIC PLANNING ADVISORY COMMISSION
NOVEMBER 18, 2020
1. CALL TO ORDER— Chairman Craft
at 4:00 p.m.
2. ROLL CALL—Chairman Craft
Present: John W. Craft, Jr., Chairman; Cynthia Magazine, Commissioner; John
McHugh, Commissioner; Chad Bernick, Commissioner; Patrick Garman,
Commissioner; Gerard Bisceglia, Commissioner
Absent: Peter Bordow, Vice Chairman
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.
No one from the public spoke.
4. CONSIDERATION OF Approving the October 28, 2020, Meeting Minutes.
MOVED BY Commissioner Cynthia Magazine, SECONDED BY Commissioner John
McHugh To APPROVE the October 28, 2020, Meeting Minutes.
Vote: 6 - 0- Unanimously
5. CONSIDERATION OF Changing the Strategic Planning Advisory Commission January 27,
2021, Meeting Date to January 13, 2021.
MOVED BY Commissioner John McHugh, SECONDED BY Commissioner Cynthia
Magazine to APPROVE changing January 27, 2021, meeting date TO January 13,
2021.
Vote: 6 - 0 - Unanimously
6. DISCUSSION AND CONSIDERATION OF Key Term Definitions for the New Strategic Plan.
MOVED BY Commissioner John McHugh, SECONDED BY Commissioner Cynthia
Magazine To APPROVE the Key Term Definitions for the New Strategic Plan, along
with amending sequential step "Overarching Value"TO "Overarching Values".
Vote: 6 - 0- Unanimously
7. UPDATE FROM Workgroups on Areas of Focus for the Strategic Priorities.
Chair Craft requested an update from each workgroup on their strategic priorities.
Commissioner Bernick gave an update from the Infrastructure and Technical Workgroup
• Doing research on technological factors over cost— landline over broadband would
be more expensive due to maintenance cost
• Broadband is elevated due to complaints in the Town
•Explore wireless opportunities with Cox
• Future electrical needs and the ability to speak with SRP—Town Manager Miller
suggested inviting SRP Government Relations Representative to give an update on
current and future improvements
Commissioner Magazine commented that Fountain Hills has a lot of bedrock issues and is
costing Cox lots of money.
Commissioner McHugh reported that Commissioner Garman has joined the Health,
Well-being and Public Safety Workgroup.
The workgroup provided the commission with a summary of their strategic approach to
Health, Well-being, and Public Safety. (See attached)
A discussion ensued regarding the Initial recommendation on Strategy item 1 — Enhance
the natural and built environment of Fountain Hills to improve the overall health,
Well-being, and Public Safety of the community.
Town Manager Miller mentioned that he committed to Commissioner Magazine to provide
a listing of environmental plans or areas that fall under state law that have regulatory
controls.
The following are additional items that were mentioned:
• Dark Sky—eliminating visual pollution
• Environment and health is important
•Statement of a policy of goals about the town, community, environment, water,
animals, property, and safety
•Care and Maintenance of medians on the major arteries
• Biophilic— international movement to bring nature into urban areas.
Chair Craft and Commissioner Bisceglia gave an update from the Economic Development
Workgroup. (See attached)
• Maximize targeted and collaborative economic development
• Form an Economic Development Alliance to include: Town, Chamber of Commerce,
and Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation
• Establish a community advisory group to develop and maintain a business metrics
database, provide network connections ad monitor activities of the Alliance
•Action plans needed to target business sectors— Finance, Insurance, Technical,
Professional, Sciences, Health and Wellness Services
•Shea Corridor huge opportunity with the right development partners
•Are we underserved in the medical community?
8. UPDATE ON January 9, 2021, Vision Fountain Hills Community Workshop.
Chair Craft reported that at the last meeting we communicated a general plan that
included a face-to-face planning session for January 9, 2021, with Vision to serve as the
host. This year has been anything but normal. For now, we are not going to plan on
having that workshop on January 9th. We are looking at having a virtual Town Hall
sometime in the future and utilizing a lot of the technology that is here in the Town. There
is an advantage with utilizing the new technology with getting real-time immediate
feedback. Timeline wise, we are still fine.
9. ADJOURNMENT
MOVED BY Commissioner Gerard Bisceglia, SECONDED BY Commissioner John
McHugh APPROVED to adjourn at 5:10 p.m.
Vote: 6- 0- Unanimously
STRATEGIC PLANNING ADVISORY
COMMISSION
Id Ad -
Jo, n W. Cra , Jr., h an
ATTEST AND PREP ED BY:
Angel Espiritu xecutiv Assistant
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 18 day of November, 2020. I further certify that the meeting was duly called and that a
quorum was present.
DATED this 20 day of November, 2020.
Angela E iritu, xec e ant
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
John McHugh
SP#3 SUMMARY 18 NOV '20
A Strategic Approach to
HEALTH, WELL-BEING AND PUBLIC SAFETY
for Fountain Hills
The Foundation
Our work group is building on foundational work completed by others in years
past. The Town's Mission Statement highlights the need "to serve the best
interest of the community by: providing for its safety and well-being." In the
Values section of the current strategic plan the first item you see is, "Preserve
the health, well-being and safety of all residents and visitors."
SPAC has already agreed to make the Health, Well-being and Safety of our
community a strategic priority for the new plan. Those are all givens we readily
accept. Within that framework, we see our job as identifying Strategies and
related Tasks that are most likely to help Fountain Hills elected leaders realize the
strategic priority of improving Health, Well-being and Safety for our community.
Some Additional Outreach
Because our assignment is exceptionally broad in scope, we did feel the need to
gather more input in several areas. We have already received a batch of valuable
information on Quality-of-Life matters in Fountain Hills from FHCCA/VFH. And we
are currently working with other local contacts for more input on opportunities in
the areas of Education and the Environment.
Where Are We Now?
We are recommendingthe followingchanges to the wordingof our strategic
g g
priority:
"Improve the health, well-being and safety of our community."
Health, Well-being and Safety Page 1 of 2 18 Nov 2020
John McHugh
SP#3 SUMMARY 18 NOV '20
Next, we identified the strategies that we feel optimize the chances of making our
strategic priority a reality for Fountain Hills. Then we thought about Tasks needed
for implementation.
Our Initial Recommendations on Strategies
1 - Enhance the natural and built environment of Fountain Hills to improve overall
Health, Well-being and Public Safety of the community.
2 - Create awareness of Fountain Hills as a community focused on Health, Well-
being and Public Safety.
Examples of Tasks We Are Considering
1 - Enhance the natural and built environment of Fountain Hills to improve overall
Health, Well-being and Public Safety of the community.
A - Advance health, well-being and safety in all Fountain Hills
Governmental Policies.
2 - Create awareness of Fountain Hills as a community focused on Health, Well-
being and Public Safety.
A - Improve the health, well-being and public safety literacy within the
Fountain Hills community.
•
Health, Well-being and Safety Page 2 of 2 18 Nov 2020
FH ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Strategic Priority
Proactively seek to maximize targeted and collaborative economic development.
Guiding Assumptions
1. Proposed strategies and supporting tasks should be realistic considering the Town's
limited resources.
2. Strategies and tasks must ultimately be organized according to what can be initiated
with current available resources versus those that may require additional support. This
will help define clear ownership (self-administered or collaboration).
3. A set of business metrics need to be established and updated regularly to accurately
assess the near and intermediate effects of economic development strategies.
4. The current draft SWOT Analysis listing of the Town's strengths and opportunities
served as principle guides in establishing the proposed strategies.
Proposed Key Strategies
➢ Form an Economic Development Alliance comprised of the Town government, FH
Chamber of Commerce and Ft. McDowell Yavapai Nation. The Alliance would work
collaboratively to expand business/educational activities locally.
➢ Establish a community advisory group represented by VisionFH and 6-8 volunteer
members of the FH and FMYN. This group would develop and maintain a business
metrics database for utilization by the Alliance. The advisory group would also provide
networking connections to the broader community, monitor the Alliance's activities and
progress, and support special recruitment activities for prospective businesses.
➢ Formal action plans need to be developed for pursuing new opportunities in the
targeted business sectors, including:
Finance, insurance and business services
Professional, technical and sciences
Health and wellness services
➢ Shea Corridor business development plan is needed. This would certainly be an
appropriate collaboration project with outside prospects.
These strategies assume that all stakeholders mentioned acknowledge the wisdom of'strength-
in-numbers' when pursuing business opportunities as well as having community support.
11/13/20