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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2015.0903.TCREM.Minutesz:\council packets\2015\r150917\150903m.docx Page 1 of 18 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS MINUTES OF THE EXECUTIVE AND REGULAR SESSIONS OF THE FOUNTAIN HILLS TOWN COUNCIL SEPTEMBER 3, 2015 EXECUTIVE SESSION * CALL TO ORDER AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Mayor Kavanagh called the Executive Session to order at 5:05 P.M. in the Fountain Conference Room - 2nd Floor. AGENDA ITEM #1 - ROLL CALL AND VOTE TO GO INTO EXECUTIVE SESSION: PURSUANT TO (i) A.R.S. §38-431.03(A)(4), DISCUSSION OR CONSULTATION WITH THE ATTORNEYS OF THE PUBLIC BODY IN ORDER TO CONSIDER ITS POSITION AND INSTRUCT ITS ATTORNEYS REGARDING THE PUBLIC BODY'S POSITION REGARDING CONTRACTS THAT ARE THE SUBJECT OF NEGOTIATIONS, IN PENDING OR CONTEMPLATED OR PENDING LITIGATION OR IN SETTLEMENT DISCUSSIONS CONDUCTED IN ORDER TO AVOID OR RESOLVE LITIGATION (SPECIFICALLY, THE CHAPARRAL CITY WATER CORPORATION COMPLAINT AND THE THEATER LEASE), AND (ii) 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, AN OFFICER, APPOINTEE OR EMPLOYEE MAY DEMAND THAT THE DISCUSSION OR CONSIDERATION OCCUR AT A PUBLIC MEETING (SPECIFICALLY, THE TOWN PROSECUTOR CONTRACT). 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 Alan Magazine and Councilmember Henry Leger. Town Manager Grady Miller, Town Attorney Andrew McGuire, and Town Clerk Bevelyn Bender were also present. Councilmember Hansen was not present at the meeting. Councilmember Yates MOVED to go into Executive Session at 5:05 P.M. and Councilmember DePorter SECONDED the motion, which CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY by those present (6-0). AGENDA ITEM #2 - ADJOURNMENT. The Executive Session adjourned without objection at 6:16 P.M. REGULAR SESSION * CALL TO ORDER AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Mayor Kavanagh called the meeting to order at 6:31 P.M. * INVOCATION - Pastor Forrest, Fountain Hills Christian Center * 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 Alan Magazine and Councilmember Henry Leger. Town Manager Grady Miller, Town Attorney Andrew McGuire and Town Clerk Bevelyn Bender were also present. Councilmember Hansen was not present at the meeting. * MAYOR'S REPORT z:\council packets\2015\r150917\150903m.docx Page 2 of 18 i) The Mayor will read a Proclamation recognizing the 41st Anniversary of the Polish American Congress of Arizona and declaring the month of October 2015 as Polish Heritage Month in the Town of Fountain Hills. Mayor Kavanagh noted that the citizens of Zamość, Poland, and the Town of Fountain Hills, Arizona, USA, formed a Sister City relationship in June of 2014 and are committed to a partnership that promotes peace and prosperity through people-to-people exchanges and citizen diplomacy. She said that a delegation from the Town traveled to Zamość, Poland to officially establish the Sister City relationship and witnessed firsthand the beauty, culture, architecture and hospitality of Poland. She added that the Town of Fountain Hills recognizes the valuable contributions made by its distinguished citizens and Town employees who are of Polish heritage and pointed out that Polish Americans throughout the State of Arizona and throughout the United States of America have a deeply rooted commitment to the values of family, faith, democracy, hard work a nd fulfillment of the American dream. The Mayor proclaimed the Town's recognition of the 41st Anniversary of the Polish American Congress of Arizona and the Town's further recognition of the month of October 2015 as Polish Heritage Month. * SCHEDULED PUBLIC APPEARANCES/PRESENTATIONS i) The Mayor may review recent events attended relating to Economic Development. The Mayor stated that due to the extensive number of agenda items this evening, she will delay providing her review at this time and present an update at the next Council meeting. Mayor Kavanagh commented that she was honored that her peers, the other Mayors who sit on the Maricopa Association of Governments (MAG) Regional Committee, re-elected her to serve a two-year term representing the East Valley. ii) Recognition of the Mayor's Youth Council who recently attended the Arizona Cities and Towns Annual Conference in Tucson, Arizona. Mayor Kavanagh referred to photos displayed in the Council Chambers of three members of the Mayor's Youth Council in attendance at the Annual Cities and Towns Conference in Tucson, Arizona (two of the youths are sons of a Town Hall employee). She explained that they attended the youth portion of the conference and carried the Town flag to open the conference and said they did it very proudly (the whole Town would be proud of these three young men). Councilmember DePorter stated that he had the opportunity to sit down and have lunch with the youths and commented that they far surpassed some of the 15 and 16-year olds that he has ever met as far as maturity goes. He said that they enjoy the activities that they are involved in in Fountain Hills and are fantastic individuals. He added that Arizona State University hopefully will host the Mayor's Youth Council this fall and will provide a nice tour of their campus to encourage students to come this way for school. The Mayor referred to a photo of she and Senator John Kavanagh, the youths and Heather Ware who coordinates the Mayor's Youth Council and does a fantastic job in attendance at the Conference. iii) Presentation of the 2015 My Republic Awards Community Grant Award by Republic Services Division Manager Robert Bennett. Town Manager Grady Miller advised that just a few years ago the Town started contracting with Republic Services for sanitation services in Town and went from multi haulers to one. He explained that as part of the program they have with this hauler, there is a recycling program wherein the recycling that is collected generates some revenue and the company actually gives that money back to the community. He noted that one of the ways they do that is through the My Republic Awards Community Grant Award program and called upon Republic Services Division Manager Robert Bennett to come up and highlight a brief PowerPoint presentation and present the award. Mr. Bennett addressed the Council and the audience and highlighted a brief PowerPoint presentation that covered the following topics: * The Partnership z:\council packets\2015\r150917\150903m.docx Page 3 of 18 * Donations & Support * Landfill Diversion (Increase to 35.58%) * Received 1,294,788 total votes * Increased Registration & Engagement * Five Projects that Participated in the Program for the Award: River of Time Museum Experience Fountain Hills Fearless Kitty Rescue Fountain Hills Botanical Garden Kiwanis Club of Fountain Hills Mr. Bennett announced that the winner of this year's award in the amount of $10,000 is the Fearless Kitty Rescue project. He reported that they doubled the amount of votes this year and 524,000 of the 600,000 votes were cast for this project. He stressed the fact that the group worked hard and earned this award (over the 2.5 years since its establishment, they have worked with over 475 cats and kitties, many of which have been adopted by Town residents ). He expressed his appreciation to the Fearless Kitty organization and requested that they come forward for pictures and to receive their award. (Copy of the presentation available online and in the office of the Town Clerk.) Mayor Kavanagh and the Council thanked the group for their hard, worthwhile work and advised the audience that there are a lot of cats and kittens up for adoption and encouraged them to become involved and to contact the group. She added that they are starting a "Cat Café” on Sundays where people can go in, have a cup of coffee and pet the cats (information is available on their website). Councilmember Magazine thanked and congratulated Kitty Rescue for what they do for the community and stated that the first slide displayed said that the program is a Public/Private Partnership and stated that it really is a partnership. He advised that he couldn't be more impressed and the work that they do and their involvement in the community should serve as a model for lots of other businesses. He added that he is sure that the company doesn't receive much deserved praise and probably an abundance of complaint calls when trash is not picked up right on time so he wanted to express his appreciation to them and Republic Services' entire operation. Mayor Kavanagh thanked Mr. Bennett and the company for the recycling cans and noted that since the company didn't have any cans, they actually went out and purchased them for the Town and did not charge them. iv) Presentation of the Tourism Program with a forecast of FY 16 projects and priority items by Recreation Supervisor Rachael Goodwin and Tourism Coordinator Grace Rodman-Guetter. Town Manager Grady Miller advised that the Town took over doing Economic Development in January of 2014 (approximately) and since that time things have been going very well and they have an excellent team who are able to do a lot with the limited resources that the Town has. He said that Ms. Goodwin and Miss Rodman-Guetter are present and Ms. Goodwin will provide an overview of their accomplishments and forecasted FY 16 projects and priority items. Recreation Supervisor Rachael Goodwin addressed the Council and stated that she and Ms. Rodman-Guetter are here to present their semi-annual update on tourism efforts. She requested that Ms. Rodman-Guetter highlight the following topics for the Council and audience: * Attendance at the Governor's Conference on Tourism (hosted by the Arizona Office of Tourism) * An Industry Snapshot of industry in the State * Town's Tourism Division has been awarded a grant from the Arizona Office of Tourism Proposition 201 Grant Program in the amount of $26,658.55 * What the grant funding will be used for * Industry Awards received - Winner of Best Photography for Parks & Recreation Facilities by the Arizona Parks & Recreation Association (First & Second Place) * Recognized as 2015 Playful USA Community * Tourism as a Brand * Advertising & Partnerships * An 18 month assessment & goals z:\council packets\2015\r150917\150903m.docx Page 4 of 18 * Publications * How the Tourism staff works to make stuff happen * Analytics * Who they are able to reach on line * Tourism Impact Studies (Slide the City and Fourth at the Fountain) * Where the Tourism staff will go from here Ms. Rodman-Guetter and Ms. Goodwin announced that they just found out today that the Salt River-Pima Indian Nation has awarded them another $25,000 grant. Mayor Kavanagh advised that the Tourism staff is doing an outstanding job and reported that she had lunch with Nation President Ray and advised him that they would use that money wisely. She added that they didn't mention the new Art Walk brochure, which the art community is very excited about. Ms. Rodman -Guetter stated that the brochure will be coming out soon, it is still in the infancy draft stages. She reported that their new ba nners went up yesterday along the Avenue. (Copy of the presentation available on line and in the office of the Town Clerk.) Councilmember Yates commended both Ms. Goodwin and Ms. Rodman-Guetter on their efforts and successes to date and said that the analytics are tremendous because he knows that less than two years ago the Council was asking questions like "How do you know how many people?" and no one had the answers (before they both started with the Town). He agreed that the "Slide the City" event was a huge success and Ms. Goodwin reported that there was a maximum of 4,000 tickets and their goal was probably 2,500 to 3,000 tickets sold and they met 4,000 with no problem. He stated that they did a great job on getting the word out on that particular event. Councilmember Leger commented that the two of them are an awesome team and what they have done with the Tourism Program in the relatively short time they have been with the Town has been tremendous. He further stated that he enjoys the way they interact within and outside the community and added that their professionalism is outstanding. v) Presentation of the Quarterly Budget Report by Finance Director Craig Rudolphy for the Town's Fiscal Quarter ending June 30, 2015. Finance Director Craig Rudolphy addressed the Council and highlighted a brief PowerPoint presentation on the following items: * Operating Fund * All Fund Revenues * Operating Fund Revenues by Source through June 30th * Operating Fund Revenue * State Shared Revenues * Local Sales Tax - All Funds * Local Sales Tax - Retail * Local Sales Tax - Restaurant * Local Sales Tax - Telecom * Local Sales Tax - Construction * Operating Fund Expenditures by Department * Other Funds: * Highway User Revenue Fund (HURF) * HURF Expenditures * Restricted Funds * Fund Balance Mr. Rudolphy provided the following summary: * Operating Fund Revenues and Expenditures are trending favorably in the current year * Reserve Fund Balances remain acceptable for all funds * Operating Fund Revenues are 3.0% ($417,411) over budget and 6.6% ($888,445) higher than last Fiscal Year * Operating Fund Expenditures are 1.8% ($251,701) under budget but also 1.9% ($254,132) higher than last Fiscal Year z:\council packets\2015\r150917\150903m.docx Page 5 of 18 * Pavement Management remains a priority and is funded through HURF and Vehicle License Tax revenues * Local economic indicators remain strong Mr. Rudolphy indicated his willingness to respond to questions from the Council. (Copy of the presentation available on line and in the office of the Town Clerk.) Councilmember Yates complimented Mr. Rudolphy on his report and requested that he elaborate on the almost 2% increase in expenditures (is there any trending of additional expenditures and he understands that their Safety Fee was a big expense). Mr. Rudolphy explained that Administration went down by roughly $250,000 to $300,000 due to the retirement of some of the Town's bonds and not having to make up the contribution from the Town's General Fund and that is probably the most significant change. He noted that they had a 10% increase in Law Enforcement and Fire and Emergency also went up by about 3% and those two collectively account for over 50% of the Town's Operating Expenditures. Councilmember Leger also thanked Mr. Rudolphy on his excellent presentation and congratulated him and his entire staff for managing their budget and expenses so very well and coming in under budget. He said that it appears they had a surplus and asked how much that was. Mr. Rudolphy responded that the surplus was approximately $650,000. Councilmember Magazine asked Mr. Rudolphy to look forward for a minute and stated that they all know what the budget is and what they are anticipating with revenues and so on and as he looks ahead, what are the unknowns? What are the things that concern him? Mr. Rudolphy replied Public Safety costs and noted that they are faced with increases from the MCSO (Maricopa County Sheriff's Office) contract that they are not able to quantify at the current time. He added that they have aging infrastructure that they really need to address (their buildings are undergoing deferred maintenance that needs to be addressed and they really don't have a ready funding source for major maintenance and repairs). Councilmember Magazine asked whether some of the cities and towns in the Valley are still pursuing surveys related to State Shared Revenues (population surveys) and Mr. Rudolphy advised yes, there are some that are definitely moving forward with a new mid-decade census that in all probability will decrease the Town's share of State Shared Revenue. Councilmember Magazine stated that they definitely have a road problem and are delaying Zone 1 work by a full year because it would cost approximately half a million dollars more than they had anticipated and asked if that was correct. Mr. Rudolphy advised that he would defer that question to the Development Services Director. Councilmember Magazine said that at the last meeting they were informed that there were about 50 jobs that ne eded to be done and that would drain the HURF funds down to zero. Mr. Rudolphy confirmed that they planned to spend the majority of the HURF funds this year. Mayor Kavanagh thanked Mr. Rudolphy for his informative presentation. CALL TO THE PUBLIC None. CONSENT AGENDA AGENDA ITEM #1 - CONSIDERATION OF APPROVING THE TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES FROM AUGUST 6, 2015. AGENDA ITEM #2 - CONSIDERATION OF APPROVING A LIQUOR LICENSE APPLICATION SUBMITTED BY HEIDI SUE HAKE, OWNER/AGENT OF DEJA VU, LLC, DBA VU TERRACE CAFE, LOCATED AT 14815 E. SHEA BOULEVARD, #100, AND #101, FOUNTAIN HILLS, AZ. THIS IS FOR A SERIES 7 LICENSE (BEER & WINE BAR). z:\council packets\2015\r150917\150903m.docx Page 6 of 18 AGENDA ITEM #3 - CONSIDERATION OF APPROVING A SPECIAL EVENT LIQUOR LICENSE APPLICATION FOR THE SONS OF AMVETS #7 (SANUEL COFEE) IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE 2015 OKTOBERFEST EVENT TO BE HELD AT FOUNTAIN PARK, LOCATED AT 12925 N. SAGUARO BOULEVARD, ON FRIDAY AND SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 25 - 26, 2015 FROM 5:00 PM TO 11:00 PM. AGENDA ITEM #4 - CONSIDERATION OF APPROVING A SPECIAL EVENT LIQUOR LICENSE APPLICATION FOR THE FOUNTAIN HILLS ELKS LODGE #2846 (WILLIAM PAGEAN) IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE FOUNTAIN HILLS BLOCK PARTY TO BE HELD ON THE AVENUE OF THE FOUNTAINS ON FRIDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2015 FROM 5:00 PM TO 10:00 PM. AGENDA ITEM #5 - CONSIDERATION OF APPROVING A SPECIAL EVENT LIQUOR LICENSE APPLICATION FOR THE AMERICAN LEGION POST #58 (ROBERT SCHMITZ) TO BE HELD IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE ANNUAL MOTORCYCLE SHOW AT 16837 PARKVIEW AVENUE ON OCTOBER 24, 2015 FROM 10:00 AM TO 10:00 PM. AGENDA ITEM #6 - CONSIDERATION OF APPROVING RESOLUTION 2015-44, REGARDING A MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING (MOU) WITH THE ARIZONA DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE (DOR) CONCERNING PERFORMANCE EXPECTATIONS. AGENDA ITEM #7 - CONSIDERATION OF APPROVING RESOLUTION 2015-40, REGARDING A COOPERATIVE PURCHASING AGREEMENT WITH THE COOPERATIVE PURCHASING NEWORK (TCN). AGENDA ITEM #8 - CONSIDERATION OF APPROVING RESOLUTION 2015-45, ABANDONING WHATEVER RIGHT, TITLE OR INTEREST THE TOWN HAS IN A CERTAINHILLSIDE PROTECTION EASEMENT ON PROPERTY LOCATED AT 9511 TECHNOLOGY DRIVE. (CASE #HPE2015-10). AGENDA ITEM #9 - CONSIDERATION OF APPROVING RESOLUTION 2015-42, ABANDONING WHATEVER RIGHT, TITLE OR INTEREST THE TOWN HAS IN A CERTAIN HILLSIDE PROTECTION EASEMENT ON PROPERTY LOCATED AT 16431 AND 16442 LOS SIETE COURT. (CASE #HPE2015-11), AGENDA ITEM #10 - CONSIDERATION OF APPROVING THE FINAL REPLAT AT 16207 AND 16149 E. SAGUARO BOULEVARD, AKA PLAT 415, LOTS 19 AND 20 (APN'S 176-09-380, 176-09-381). CASE #S2015-05. AGENDA ITEM #11 - CONSIDERATION OF APPROVING RESOLUTION 2015-46, ABANDONING WHATEVER RIGHT, TITLE OR INTEREST THE TOWN HAS IN THE CERTAIN DRAINAGE EASEMENT LOCATED WITHIN FIREROCK PARCEL D LOT 28 (9635 NORTH ROCK RIDGE TRAIL) AS RECORDED IN 2000-0537846 MCR, WITH STIPULATION. EA 2015-10 (MALEY). AGENDA ITEM #12 - CONSIDERATION OF APPROVING RESOLUTION 2015-43, TERMINATING AN INTERGOVERNMENTAL AGREEMENT WITH MARICOPA COUNTY FOR THE SHERIFF'S OFFICE SPACE. Councilmember Magazine MOVED to approve the Consent Agenda as listed and Councilmember Yates SECONDED the motion. Councilmember Brown recused himself from voting on Agenda Item #9 due to a conflict of interest. A roll call vote was taken with the following results: Mayor Kavanagh Aye Vice Mayor Brown Recused himself from Agenda Item #9 and voted Aye on the other 11 items Councilmember Nick DePorter Aye Councilmember Cecil Yates Aye Councilmember Cassie Hansen Absent Councilmember Alan Magazine Aye Councilmember Henry Leger Aye The motion CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY by those present (6-0) with the voting exception noted by Vice Mayor Brown. z:\council packets\2015\r150917\150903m.docx Page 7 of 18 REGULAR AGENDA Mayor Kavanagh advised that if there is no objection from the Council, they will move Agenda Item #18 up and discuss it first on the regular agenda. AGENDA ITEM #18 - CONSIDERATION OF A CONTRACT FOR LEGAL SERVICES BETWEEN THE TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS AND THE LAW OFFICE OF MARK IACOVINO FOR FY 2015-16 AND FY 2016-17. THIS ITEM WAS TABLED BY COUNCILMEMBER LEGER AT THE JUNE 18, 2015 COUNCIL MEETING. Town Manager Grady Miller addressed the Council and noted that this particular agenda item was before the Council on June 18th of this year and at that time the Council agreed to table this until this meeting. He said that there were some questions about workload and other questions that have since been answered and this item was also discussed in the Executive Session prior to this meeting. Town Clerk Bevelyn Bender advised that there were no speaker cards on this agenda item. Vice Mayor Brown MOVED to approve a contract for legal services between the Town of Fountain Hills and the Law office of Mark Iacovino to provide Prosecution services for the Town of Fountain Hills for the period July 1, 2015 through June 30, 2017 in the amount of $100,000 per year and Councilmember Yates SECONDED the motion, which CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY by those present (6-0). AGENDA ITEM #13 - CONSIDERATION OF A LIQUOR LICENSE APPLICATION SUBMITTED BY PENNY ZIMMERMAN, OWNER/AGENT OF NORMA JEANS LLC, DBA MONROES BAR AND GRILL, LOCATED AT 13014 NORTH SAGUARO BOULEVARD, #101, FOUNTAIN HILLS, AZ. THIS IS FOR A SERIES 12 LICENSE. Town Manager Grady Miller addressed the Council and stated that this is a request for a Liquor License Application before it is submitted to the State Liquor License Board. He explained that as part of every liquor license application, staff goes through a process of reviewing an extensive list of criteria to make sure that the facility is meeting the community's standards and State law. He noted that this evening Commander David Letourneau is present and will review the recommendations from the Sheriff's Department as they relate to this particular application. Commander Letourneau addressed the Council and stated that the Sheriff's Department reviews the liquor license applications as they are submitted to the Town. He said that after extensive investigations it is the Sheriff's Department's recommendation that the license not be issued in this particular case. He reported that there are too many circumstances that they discovered and looked into that in their opinion warrants their recommendation of Council denial on this application. He indicated his willingness to respond to any questions from the Council. There were no citizens wishing to speak on this agenda item. Councilmember Magazine commented for the citizens’ benefit that the Council gets reports on requested liquor license applications as well as every other item that comes before them and so they are privy to a lot of information. He added that he just wanted to make this point clear. Vice Mayor Brown MOVED to deny the liquor license application submitted by Penny Jean Zimmerman, owner/agent of Norma Jeans LLC, DBA Monroes Bar and Grill located at 13014 North Saguaro Boulevard, #101, Fountain Hills, AZ and Councilmember Magazine SECONDED the motion, which CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY by those present (6-0). AGENDA ITEM #14 - CONSIDERATION OF A SPECIAL EVENT APPLICATION FOR THE FOUNTAIN BIKE FEST EVENT, PRESENTED BY THE FOUNTAIN HILLS CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, TO BE HELD IN FOUNTAIN HILLS FROM FRIDAY, APRIL 8 THROUGH SUNDAY APRIL 10, 2016. THE EVENT WILL FEATURE MULTIPLE RIDES INCLUDING A CRITERION RACE, CIRCUIT AND LONG DISTANCE ENDURANCE OPTIONS THAT WILL REQUIRE VARIABLE ROAD CLOSURES z:\council packets\2015\r150917\150903m.docx Page 8 of 18 THROUGHOUT THE WEEKEND. THE EVENT WILL RUN FROM 12:00 PM TO 9:00 PM ON FRIDAY, 7:00 AM TO 8 PM ON SATURDAY AND 7:00 AM TO 5:00 PM ON SUNDAY. Town Manager Grady Miller advised that this proposed new event for the Town went through the Special Events Committee and they have forwarded a positive recommendation on to the Council. He said that the applicants are present this evening and the Chamber Director and staff will be happy to answer any questions following the presentation. Recreation Supervisor Rachael Goodwin addressed the Council and provided a brief overview of this event and said that the event is being spearheaded by the Fountain Hills Chamber of Commerce and has a Steering Committee comprised of local businesses and organizations, specifically McDowell Mountain Regional Park, McDowell Mountain Cycles and others in the community. She reported that the event titled "Mountain Bike Fest" is proposed to take place on April 8th through April 10th at Fountain Park. She said that there will be impacts on the roadways but the bulk of the event will take place at the Park. She described the event and noted that there will be vendors, food, entertainment, a beer garden, etc. She stated that the Special Events Committee voted un animously in favor of the event and explained that the applicant is requesting a waiver of Park fees, permit fees, and staff as well as volunteer support. She requested that Sharon Morgan, Chairman of the Committee, provide the Council with more details related to the event. Mayor Sharon Morgan addressed the Council and advised that it is the Committee's goal with this new event to present the beautiful Town of Fountain Hills to another venue, i.e. the cycling venue, which is becoming a very popular even t. She noted that this will bring to Town a whole new element of people and pointed out that Fountain Hills is part of other city/town races (both Scottsdale and Mesa come through Fountain Hills) and now Fountain Hills wants to have their own cycling event. She added that they have come before the Council to get their blessing and permission to proceed with the Bike Fest and said that it has something for everybody. She commented that they are trying to promote the Town as being a "family friendly community" and stated that this is the perfect event for doing just that. She informed the Council that they have eight months to prepare and there will be events that each and every one of the Councilmembers can participate in so she challenged them to get ready and stated that she will look forward to seeing them. Mayor Morgan advised that Brent Graham from McDowell Mountain Cycles is present this evening and he will highlight a brief presentation on this and outline the various routes and things they want to do. Mr. Graham addressed the Council and highlighted route slides for this event from the internet that were contained as pictures in the PowerPoint, which covered the following: * Big Fountain Criterion Course * Road Challenge - 10 Mile Option * Proposed 35-Mile Course Overview * Proposed 50-Mile Course Overview Mr. Graham explained that it is not necessarily a race unless someone is trying to beat their personal best and participants can travel the routes as many times as they wish. Mayor Morgan advised that the Committee would like to have bands playing in the Park, children and family activities, concessions, sponsors' booth, etc. She requested the Council's approval so that the Committee and everyone involved can proceed and get into the meat of this event in earnest. She thanked the Council for their time. Vice Mayor Brown noted that he was privileged to live in Boulder, Colorado when their biking event began and reported that the very first year it was highly publicized and all the bicyclists were talking about it and every year after the streets were completely packed four to five deep and on the circuit races people lined up on all the roads to see it -- it was a big deal. He asked who has been contacted regarding this and whether any of t he cycling magazines have been contacted to tell them about this race -- have they contacted NBC because they are a big supporter of bicycle races -- have they started really getting the word out on the streets? z:\council packets\2015\r150917\150903m.docx Page 9 of 18 Mayor Morgan responded that with the Council's approval this evening they will be starting to do all of that and explained that the Committee did not want to get too far into it prior to receiving the Council's approval. She noted that they already have some ideas along the lines that the Vice Mayor mentioned and they already know they have a lot of work to do -- website, sponsorships, etc. She said that she has been told that they should expect a minimum of about 200 to 250 riders and probably closer to 500 to 600 riders and those are numbers for the first year -- they want this to be an annual event. She added that she would like to discuss another thing that she would like to work on -- two of the Town's Sister Cities are big riders in the world and those are Belgium and Germany. She stated that if they get this off the ground this year, they will throw out the challenge to those Sister Cities to get some international riders. She pointed out that this would get the Town on bigger maps than the Arizona Republic. Councilmember DePorter said that he thinks this idea is fantastic and could become a wonderful event for the Town including people of all ages and skill levels in it. He stated the opinion that what has been described is really all encompassing and exactly the type of event that the Council talks about wanting to see more and more of. He thanked Mayor Morgan and everyone involved for their efforts. Councilmember Magazine advised that there is a gentleman sitting in the back of the room who wrote an outstanding editorial this week about Mayor Morgan and he just wanted to say that the accolades are well deserved for her work with Sister Cities, the Chamber and all of the other areas she has been and is involved in. He agreed with Councilmember DePorter that these kinds of events are invaluable for the Town. He congratulated her, Scott (the new head of the Chamber) and everyone else who has had a hand in putting this together. Mayor Kavanagh commented that she is very excited about this and said that she and Mr. Graham talked about t his a long time ago. She stated that she won't be racing but she will be there watching the whole thing take place. She advised that at the League Conference which was talked about earlier, they had an opportunity to present a brief couple of statements on the Town and read what was said -- "Set your cycling goals high and don't stop till you get there. The best bike routes are the ones you haven't ridden. Discover biking in Fountain Hills." She agreed that they want to put Fountain Hills on the map for biking and thanked Mr. Graham, Mayor Morgan and Scott from the Chamber for their hard work to make this dream become a reality. Councilmember Yates MOVED to approve the event and co-sponsorship as presented 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 #15 - UPDATE REGARDING THE TECHNOLOGY LEARNING CENTER'S FUTURE USE OF SPACE IN THE COMMUNITY CENTER. Mayor Kavanagh noted that this item has been placed on the agenda for discussion purposes only. Town Manager Grady Miller advised that back in May, Community Services Director Mark Mayer provided the Council with a report on the Technology Learning Center (TLC), which has been a community partner with the Town for many years and has utilized space on a long-term basis over at the Community Center. He noted that there were some issues over time because there is a finite amount of space at the Center and th ere were many other needs for space. He explained that staff and the Community Services Advisory Commission Work Group got together to review this matter and back in May the Council extended the lease through the end of September. Community Services Director Mark Mayer addressed the Council and stated that in May, when the Council extended the lease, staff and the Community Services Advisory Commission Work Group felt that they were close to reaching an agreeable and acceptable arrangement between the Town and the TLC. He announced that it is his pleasure to report this evening that they have reached that goal and it has proven to be successful. He reported that the main goal was to better utilize that space over at the Community Center and he believes they have been able to do that. He informed the Council that the TLC is pleased with the arrangement and briefly highlighted the new use proposal (Copy available on line and in the office of the Town Clerk). z:\council packets\2015\r150917\150903m.docx Page 10 of 18 Mr. Mayer informed the Council that there is a copy of the agreement they reached in their packets and said that he wanted to emphasize what he thought were three very important points: (1) That the TLC would enter into a contract for space at the prevailing not-for-profit rate, they would only pay for the time that they use the room and the rest of the time the room would be available for either Activity Center programs or the general public; (2) The TLC would have up to seven days before they start the class to cancel and there would not be any cost associated with that cancellation and (3) They would be billed at a monthly rate on a quarterly basis for any long-term use. He stated that those items will be added to the existing documents that they use for every single rental of the Community Cen ter and closely follows what they have done with other groups. He stated that Mr. Sherman Abrahamson who Chaired the Work Group is present this evening and has a few comments he would like to make. He added that he has also asked Mr. Cramer to present some remarks. Sherm Abrahamson addressed the Council and said he had the distinction of running the Work Study Group as Vice Chair of the Commission. He stated that Mr. Mayer laid out the details very well so he didn't see any need to reiterate his remarks. He advised that when they started out with this program many months ago, they weren't sure where they were going to end up and they were hoping to accomplish the goal that they have now reached. He added that he is happy that they have been able to do that without too much angst and requested that the Council approve the proposal before them this evening. Mayor Kavanagh thanked Mr. Abrahamson for all of the work that he has done on this to bring all of the parties together. Ralph Cramer addressed the Council and commented that the TLC is very happy that they have finally reached an agreement. He stated that they actually found three people who knew what the Town needed and what the Activity Center needed and he had a volunteer who knew what the TLC needed so between the three of them they hammered out a real agreement that they are happy with and will benefit all concerned. Mayor Kavanagh also expressed appreciation to Mr. Cramer for all of the work that he did on this. Mr. Mayer informed the Council that the existing lease will expire on September 28th or at the time that they exit the space and it most likely will be before that date and that will allow staff to go in and do some work in order to utilize the space more fully. He added that at this point it does not require any further action from the Council. Councilmember Yates commended Mr. Mayer and everyone involved and asked why the Council does not have to sign off on this. Mr. Miller explained that essentially they have booking agreements that they do that are administrative at the Community Center but what is a little bit unique about this is that it is a long-term, long-range type of agreement so the key was they needed to have an agreement in concept to what they were proposing on both sides for this long-term lease. He stated that to the best of his knowledge this can be done administratively with a booking agreement and they could also do a memo or an addendum that identifies their unique aspects of this versus typic al booking agreements that the Town does. AGENDA ITEM #16 - CONSIDERATION OF AUTHORIZING THE PURCHASE OF NEW PLAYGROUND EQUIPMENT FROM EXERPLAY IN THE AMOUNT OF $46,883.87. Town Manager Grady Miller said that this is a "feel good moment" -- when they can have a community partner, a civic organization that is very active in the community such as the Kiwanis Club actually help replace a Tot Lot at a park and come in and pledge 50% of the cost. He added that this is absolutely amazing and he is very proud o f this organization that is in their community and very active and noted that this is not the only good work that they have done. He further stated that there are a lot of other good organizations in Town that do these good kinds of projects and partner with the Town but he just wanted to highlight this. Community Services Director Mark Mayer addressed the Council and informed the m that this is the culmination of many years of effort. He advised that given the Town's financial situation, this particular piece of playground equipment has become very expensive. He noted that the playground set that is being replaced has been there for many years and really needs to be replaced because they can no longer buy replacement parts for it due to its age. He recognized Mike Scharnow who came to him back in 2014 and asked if they could work out some kind of a z:\council packets\2015\r150917\150903m.docx Page 11 of 18 partnership and ultimately they were able to put those funds in the budget, Council was supportive of that, and so it is pretty close to a 50/50 match. He noted that they are present this evening to present a ceremonial check to the Council as well as a real check that he will turn over to Finance. He referred to a picture of the particular playground piece and explained that a slight change in the color is the only difference (Copy available on line and in the office of the Town Clerk). He noted that the existing cover is still in good shape and will remain in place. Councilmember DePorter commented that this is fantastic and thanked Mr. Scharnow and the entire Kiwanis organization for their generosity. Mr. Mayer advised that joining them this evening is the current President of the Noon Kiwanis Club, Al Roselieb, and stated that he wants to come up after a decision is made and present a ceremonial check to the Mayor. In response to a question from Councilmember Magazine, Mr. Mayer provided a brief update on other playground equipment in the parks in Town and stated that the Town is in very good shape as far as the rest of the equipment. There were no citizens wishing to speak on this agenda item. Councilmember Leger MOVED to approve the purchase of new playground equipment from ExerPlay as outlined and Councilmember Magazine SECONDED the motion, which CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY by those present (6-0). Mr. Roselieb stated that a project of this significance would not have been possible without the enthusiastic support and encouragement of the following groups and people: The Town Council, Mark Mayer and his staff, Newman's Own and USA Today for their wonderful $10,000 grant, Heather Ware and her Make A Difference Day Committee for selecting the Noon Kiwanis Club to receive this grant, major gifts to the project including the Vern C. Johnson Family Foundation which donated $5,000, the Kiwanis International Foundation which donated $5,000 and other private contributors. He added that they are also very grateful to the people at ExerPlay and Landscape Structures for working with them on the design, signage and Kiwanis branding. He said that this donation is an honor and dedic ated to Kiwanis International's 100th Anniversary and to their Noon Club in Fountain Hills' 40th Anniversary. He personally thanked Mike Scharnow, the past President, who has been this project from the beginning and worked with Mark Mayer all the way to its full fruition. He added that they are very happy this evening to present a check in the amount of $23,000 to Mayor Kavanagh and the Town Council and advised that it perfectly exemplifies the Kiwanis Club International's motto of "Serving the Children of the World." Mr. Roselieb presented Mayor Kavanagh with the ceremonial check and photos were taken at this time. AGENDA ITEM #17 - PRESENTATION OF A PROPOSED CONTRACT WITH AMERICAN METERING SERVICES, INC., D/B/A AMS BILLING SERVICES TO IMPLEMENT THE ENVIRONMENTAL FEE, ADOPTED BY THE COUNCIL ON NOVEMBER 20, 2014. Town Manager Grady Miller advised that before them this evening is a request that came up at the last Council meeting regarding the Environmental Fee. He stated that in approximately November of last year, the Council approved a $3.00 a month Environmental Fee and the purpose of that fee is to help the Town recover the cost of a number of mandated environmental activities that the Town has to provide. He noted that the Town's Finance Director Craig Rudolphy is present this evening and will do a presentation. He explained that at the last meeting, the Council requested that staff come back and give a formal presentation, primarily for the benefit of the general public and Mr. Rudolphy will do that and also go through a lot of ideas that they have for public outreach and trying to get the word out and provide education about this particular new initiative. (Copy of the presentation available on line and in the office of the Town Clerk.) Finance Director Craig Rudolphy addressed the Council and highlighted a presentation , which included the following information: * Background on the Environmental Fee * Alternatives Considered * Request for Proposals Schedule * After Issuance z:\council packets\2015\r150917\150903m.docx Page 12 of 18 * Storm Water/Environmental Fee Program Items * Environmental Fund Revenue Summary * Proposed Community Outreach Efforts * Next Step - Contract with American Metering Services, Inc., will be brought back to the Council on the regular agenda of the September 17, 2015 Council meeting Mr. Rudolphy indicated his willingness to respond to any questions from the Council. Councilmember Yates asked whether the winner of the Request for Proposals provided Mr. Rudolphy with an example of what they are expecting as far as initial response. He stated that one thing that was brought up was since it had not been done this way before, how many people will actually look at it and think it is junk mail toss it into the trash, etc. Mr. Rudolphy responded that they do not know -- their suggestion that the Town send out the informational mailing will give staff some indication of how good their address data is going to be and what kind of returned mail they are going to get. He added that they will have some time to try and research that but since it is so new they have not done anything like this. He stated that they have asked what the Town would like to charge for a late fee and staff told them that the Council has not authorized any additional late fees for non-payment so they are in the dark and really don't know what to expect. Councilmember Magazine commented that they are transferring funds from HURF to cover the first six months of operations and said that he is not clear on whether or not staff intends to recover that money. Mr. Rudolphy replied that they do not expect to recover those funds. Councilmember Magazine advised that it was his understanding, and he was probably incorrect, that they were using the rest of the HURF funds for Zone 1 road maintenance. Mr. Rudolphy noted that Councilmember Magazine's earlier statement that they are transferring monies from the HURF fund was incorrect, they are transferring monies from the General Fund for that (Zone 1 Pavement Management is going to be done with HURF funds and all the environmental fee was done with transfers of monies from the General Fund). Councilmember Magazine pointed out that it says in the documentation he was provided "Transfers from the General and HURF Funds" to cover the first six months and Mr. Magazine said that there is a slight cost for employees that are assigned, $23,000, and that will be covered by HURF monies. Councilmember Magazine stressed the importance of conducting significant outreach to the public to try and explain this and make it exceedingly clear that this all originated with the Federal government, the EPA, and it was then handed down to the State and the State then handed it down to the local governments. He stated that he believes it is very important that the public understand how this came about. Mr. Rudolphy advised that they definitely intend to incorporate all of the mandatory permits that are now part of the cost of doing business. Mayor Kavanagh commented that it seems rather ambitious to think that 15,000 parcels are going to pay $36 a year and asked if this will be turned over to a collection agency if someone doesn't pay and questioned having such an agency go after a resident for $36. Mr. Rudolphy stated that that discussion has been mentioned and until they see what kind of collection rate they have he doesn't know whether they will have any kind of statistics to present to a collection agency for them to gau ge whether it would be worth their effort to try to collect that amount. Mayor Kavanagh pointed out that the collection agency would take a portion of the $36 so it would seem that they are not going to get all 15,000 and Mr. Rudolphy said he wouldn't expect that they would. The Mayor asked if it did go to a collection agency, what the agency could do to a person for $36 and Mr. Rudolphy responded that that is a question for legal. z:\council packets\2015\r150917\150903m.docx Page 13 of 18 Mayor Kavanagh said that everyone knows that she was against this because she doesn't think they should be charging people $36 even though she understands that they need the money. She added that she is looking at other ways to handle this like through economic development and that is the way she wants to go. She pointed out that construction is up and expressed the opinion that they are just nitpicking people to death charging them $36 and then sending it to collections if they don't pay. She asked what that says about the Town and stated that it would be better to ask peopl e to donate $36 out of their good will than to charge them. She noted that so many people didn't even notice their ballots in the mail -- they thought they were junk mail and tossed them aside -- and people don't do things with paper anymore, everything is on line. She advised that so many people are not going to pay this, not because they wouldn't just give the Town the $36 but because they won't even notice it in their mail. She announced that she is still against doing this and unfortunately she thinks that in the future this might be an avenue for future Councils to raise this and ask for more because once you get something like this started and open the door it is so easy to do that. She further stated that she knows this is information only but she believes they all discussed having Town Halls, not to educate people on why they should pay this but rather to ask people if they wanted this. She added that she wanted to go out to the Town Halls and say, "Do you want to pay this? Do you think this is necessary and would you be willing to pay this?" but it sounds like they are putting the cart before the horse and they've al ready got this set up with this company before they have even asked anybody so that is why she is opposed to it and she still is. Councilmember Magazine stated that with all due respect he could not disagree more. He noted that they struggled though the budget and have tremendous costs that are going to hit them this year that aren't even in the budget. He pointed out that they are talking about somehow raising this amount of money in lieu of any kind of a fee and it is easy to say economic development because they have increased construction, but that money is being eaten away in a number of ways and that will continue to happen. He said that he mentioned HURF funds earlier and the roads and they can't begin to pay for the pavement of their roads and they are already a year and half a million dollars behind in Zone 1. He stressed that he is not in favor of taxing people unless it becomes absolutely necessary in order to run this Town and that is where he thinks they are at -- it is absolutely necessary that they get more income to run the Town. He reported that they are experiencing cuts in services and have seen this happen for years and they have shortfalls every single year and the prediction is that they are going to have a shortfall between now a nd 2019-2020 of over $900,000 and that doesn't include a reduction in HURF funds, paying for the roads, infrastructure changes/improvements and a lot of unknowns. He further stated that none of this is easy but sometimes they just have to bite the bullet and do these kinds of things. Mayor Kavanagh indicated that she would like to clarify one of her remarks and said that she had wanted to ask the residents first because whenever there is a tax involved she wants to get the people to tell her whether they feel it is important and want to pay it. She added that she also thinks that it is unfair that Target pays $36 and someone who owns a small home also pays $36 and someone who owns a really big, expensive home pays $36 because this is by parcel and she thinks it is unfair. She pointed out that there are a number of residents in Town who live on fixed incomes and $36 a year does mean a lot to them (there are a lot of people who are not doing so well here and she believes they too will view this as being unfair). She commented that she would rather have seen a non-binding referendum on the ballot to ask people what they wanted. She reiterated that they should be going to the people and asking them and at the very least they should have Town Halls before they sign a contract because what they are doing is saying to the people that it is already a done deal so we really don't want your opinion on whether this is a good idea or not, we are just going to educate you on why you should pay this and she just doesn't like that way of doing things. Councilmember Yates addressed Town Attorney Andrew McGuire and said since this has already passed the Council 4-3, what are the "or/ ifs." He added that he knows that when Councilmember Hansen asked for this to be tabled she did put in that motion that they should hold a series of Town Halls and he knows it was for information, but to the Mayor's point if the feedback comes back and the Council wants to readdress this issue, what is the decision process moving forward? He noted that they didn't have a date to start or anything. Mr. McGuire advised that an action of the Council is subject to later action by the Council, there really is no end date, start date or being fixed in stone when they are talking about something like this. He further stated that the concept of going to the voters to ask for permission for something like this is just not something within the Council's authority, they don't have the ability to go and ask the voters to provide a referendum or an advi sory opinion, they can't do that. He added that transportation issues are the only thing that they can do that for. He said they cannot put a non-binding referendum out there because advisory elections are not allowed under Arizona law -- there is one statutory carve out and that is for transportation issues. He reiterated that Council's actions are subject to later Council's action. z:\council packets\2015\r150917\150903m.docx Page 14 of 18 Vice Mayor Brown commented how quickly they all forget what went on from 2009 to 2013 when there was nothing being constructed and this Town was sitting here wondering if they could even pay the light bill. He added that now construction is picking up again and they have a little money but how quickly they all forget that this could go away at the bat of an eye. He pointed out that the economy is fragile and stated that they should not get back on the shoulders of the developers and builders in this Town -- they need to start standing on their own, it is time for this Town to grow up. He advised that he doesn't like paying taxes either but he does like having the buildings that they paid for cared for as opposed to being shuttered, roof leaks fixed, windows cleaned, buildings maintained, washes cleaned -- wait until one of the little fires rolls down into one of their washes and burns down 25 or 30 houses because there is no way to stop it because the wash was dirty. He emphasized that there is another side to this coin and reiterated that it is time for the Town to grow up and start paying its own way and if they don't they will wind up being Scottsdale and will go to bed one night and wake up the next morning and have a primary tax and a secondary tax and there won't be anything they can do about it. He said that he thinks they need to be smarter and start educating the people about the fact that they aren't paying for their own property at all -- they don't pay to drive on their streets, they don't do anything and it is time that they all grow up. Mayor Kavanagh stated that she thinks that the residents are smart and the first time they were asked for a bond for Saguaro, before she became Mayor, it was a big one and they said no and then the second time they were presented with something that made sense, presented in the right way with Town Halls and lots of informatio n, they did the right thing and they said yes. She reiterated her previous remarks relative to the fact that she just wants to give the residents an opportunity to express themselves and she doesn't see anything set up for Town Halls except when this has already been made a done deal. Councilmember Leger advised that he voted against this because he didn't think that it was equitable and the vote was 4-3 so out of respect for that vote, although he opposed it, he thinks they need to look forward and do th e best job they can to implement a decision that he disagreed with that was made by a majority. He noted that he has a tendency to follow and respect majority votes from the dais. He added that with that being said, when he looked at the contract there was something in there about Pre-Notification and it appeared to him that the vendor had already anticipated that people might overlook the bill. He requested that Mr. Rudolphy expand on that. Mr. Rudolphy stated that in the vendor's response, they indicated that since this is a new fee being implemented, they have found from their past experiences that notifying the potential recipients affected by it will increase the understanding of the residents and they will also outline for them the methods tha t they can utilize to make payments on the fee. He added that they asked staff to provide them with background information that they can include in that informational distribution initially. Councilmember Leger thanked Mr. Rudolphy for the clarification and said that as far as the education process, it was his understanding that there was never any intention to do a Town Hall, there was a public discussion on this when it was voted on and it is also his understanding that Councilmember Hansen wanted this tabled simply to provide an opportunity for Mr. Rudolphy to present to the Council the contract and respond to any questions that the Council had regarding it. He further stated that it was his understanding that the meetings that are being referred to as Town Halls by the Town were simply to educate the residents on the fact that this is a reality and how it is going to be received. He added that with respect to collecting the fee and working with the residents, as difficult as that is going to be and he doesn't have a great deal of confidence in that either, he believes the contract alluded to a dedicated Customer Service Representative and asked Mr. Rudolphy to provide some additional information on that and whether that will have a positive effect in terms of working with residents when they get these bills. Mr. Rudolphy responded that the vendor did offer to provide a dedicated staff of people who would be educated by the Town on what the fee is, why the fee is being implemented, and be in a position to answer questions should the residents call and inquire why they have received the bill and how they are supposed to pay it, etc. He confirmed that this would be staff who would be available to answer those questions. Mayor Kavanagh asked whether there was a cost to have a dedicated person answer the phone and Mr. Rudolphy replied that he is sure there was and it was lumped it with the other costs included in the total bill. Mayor Kavanagh stated that even though the Town won't be charging a late fee, if a person doesn't pay the fee the next step is a collection agency which then goes after the person and whatever they do is up to that agency. z:\council packets\2015\r150917\150903m.docx Page 15 of 18 Mr. Rudolphy advised that current thinking is that they are going to send out one Past Due Notice and at that point, depending on how many people have not paid, a determination will have to be ma de on whether turning those people over to a collection agency would be appropriate. The Mayor pointed out that collection agencies go after the person, they could put liens on their homes, they don't know what they would do but that is all up to the collection agencies and that is how they make money. Mayor Kavanagh announced that she would still like to see some Town Halls held before they sign an actual contract and she believes that the contract will be coming forward at the next Council meeting. She said that she would like to see that delayed so that they could at least have some Town Halls prior t o that to show the people that they wanted to present it to them first and get their opinions and input rather than sign a contract and then ask them because they will have already done it so she doesn't see any point at that time in educating people on the fact that they have to pay. In response to a request for a clarification from Councilmember Magazine, Mayor Kavanagh advised that she is asking that they be able to present this fee to the residents at a Town Hall or something where they could come and discuss it, not like here because a lot of people still don't even know that this is happening because they really don't listen to all of the Council meetings. Councilmember Magazine commented that if he is wrong, and he wants the Mayor to say so, but it seems to him that the implication sounds like if people come out against it then it wouldn't be so but there has already been a vote of the Council. He said upon reflection, that question has already been answered -- if they want to change it, there has to be an affirmative vote of the Council to do so. The Mayor noted that she would just like to hear what the people have to say about it -- she doesn't have any idea of what the people think except for those people who have stopped her and provided their input. She added that just like they were talking about having a Town Hall to educate people after the fact, she thinks they should do that before they sign a contract because it just sounds like the right thing to do. Councilmember Yates said just as a point of information, as Councilmember Leger said, they all voted on what Councilmember Hansen suggested -- a Study Session -- and they were all in favor of that so that hasn't happened either. He informed Mr. Rudolphy that he has not done anything wrong, he is doing his job and he is sorry that he is standing there taking the brunt end of this. He referred to the Mayor's point and said he does agree that maybe they should collect some more information because who knows, in that "think tank" they may come up with a better way of paying the fee. He said that he would rather do something other than signing a contract for $80,000 or $90,000 that will fail. He agreed that they did vote on Councilmember Hansen's motion and he thinks the vote was unanimous if he is not mistaken to at least have a Work Study Session but he agrees, why are they looking at a contract before they have done that? Mr. Miller concurred that that was what was stated but added that the reasoning behind why Councilmember Hansen wanted to do that was to allow for a full presentation to take place publicly. He advised that he and the staff discussed this and came to the conclusion that she wanted the public to know more about this and the problem with a Work Study Session is that they are not televised so they thought they would get more "bang for the buck" with a presentation at a Regular Council meeting so that was the purpose of doing that. He further stated that the other thing is the way the scheduling works for Work Study Sessions, they have an issue with this particular vendor whereby he has already extended the price once beyond what was originally contracted for (it was originally 60-days and he agreed to extend it to September 17th) so that is why they are proceeding down this path. He re-emphasized that staff went through this and did a solicitation, tried to find all different types of vendors who would have an interest in this type o f activity to support this and they only found one and so he is not confident that the vendor will hold the price. He added that if they went through a process to have the public go through and provide input and the Council makes another decision, they may not be able to do what the Council intended a year ago on this. He stated that the other issue is that they have budgeted the expenditures in this year's budget with the intent of funding those with this fee and if they don't do that, that is going to cause a budgetary issue this year because they don't have the revenues to undertake those activities. He pointed out that the expenditures are $639,000 and they realize that they are probably not going to collect the whole amount of the revenues which is at $762,000 but the point is that they have to do those activities because they are mandated and that is the quandary they are in right now. z:\council packets\2015\r150917\150903m.docx Page 16 of 18 Councilmember Magazine noted that they are talking about $3.00 per month and said that this strikes him as a classic example of "paralysis by analysis." Councilmember Magazine MOVED to approve the contract. Mayor Kavanagh and Councilmember Yates pointed out that this item is not on the agenda for a vote. Mayor Kavanagh asked Mr. Miller what he planned on doing after the fact as far as outreach to the people; Mr. Miller responded that it will not be afterwards and noted that it will be before the billing goes out so they know what the bill is for. The Mayor advised that if the contract comes up on the agenda of the next Council meeting and it gets approved, would he do outreach to the citizens and he replied absolutely. Mayor Kavanagh asked how he was going to do that. Mr. Miller informed the Council that they had a plan that was presented to the Council and staff will review the letters that are going to be sent out to make sure that they are accurately communicating what this program is all about and explaining why the Town is doing this. He further stated that they are going to try and h ave information that tells the residents that there will be some public outreach that they can attend and they can direct people to the Town's website. He added that they will also be working very closely with the local paper to try and promote both the p ublic outreach and help the Town explain to the community what is happening and why they are doing this. Mayor Kavanagh asked what kind of public outreach was he is referring to and Mr. Miller responded that public outreach is basically having these Work Shops here for people to attend and they haven't exactly settled on when but he knows they were talking about December. He stated that they can have it at the Community Center, they have to talked about having it in the Council chambers, they could go to the schools and send out information with the school menus that go out to kids who bring them home and he thinks there are a number of different opportunities that they could try to reach people with and communicate what they are trying to do. Mayor Kavanagh advised that she understands what Mr. Miller is saying but reiterated that she thinks they should be doing that before they sign the contract that is just how she feels. Mr. Miller commented that he understands and he respectfully hears what she is saying. The Mayor noted that no action is required on this and thanked Mr. Rudolphy for the presentation and his input. Councilmember Yates referred to the $650,000 of left over cash flow and asked whether that has been allocated or will be carried over into the next fiscal year and Mr. Rudolphy replied that staff has not done anything with it and it is still residing in the General Fund. AGENDA ITEM #18 - NOTE: THIS WAS THE FIRST ITEM DISCUSSED ON THE REGULAR AGENDA. AGENDA ITEM #19 - CONSIDERATION OF COOPERATIVE PURCHASE AGREEMENT C2016-145 BETWEEN M. R. TANNER DEVELOPMENT AND CONSTRUCTION, INC., AND THE TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS FOR ASPHALT REPLACEMENT AND MISCELLANEOUS WORK IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $1,471,597.22. Development Services Director Paul Mood addressed the Council relative to this agenda item and advised that back in 2013, the Council passed Resolution 2013-02 approving the Pavement Management Program which allocated $1 million to the Program. He stated that that was typically crack seal, some type of surface treatment and slurry seal. He explained that as they looked at Zone 1, their oldest and largest zone with over 700,00 square yards of asphalt, (slurry seal is about $2.50 a square yard so that really adds up) they found out that they couldn't do slurry seal there because the roads in Zone 1 are in such very bad shape. He informed the Council that he spoke to the Town's previous Street Superintendent and he estimated that the last time that pavement maintenance was done in this zone was approximately ten or more years ago so the normal $1 million a year was not going to be enough money. He referred to Councilmember Magazine's previous remark and noted that they are basically wiping out their HURF reserve -- they are taking the $1 million in Pavement Maintenance plus $500,000 of HURF Reserve in order to be able to do mill and overlay. He referred to PowerPoint slides depicted in the Council Chambers (Copy available on line and in the office z:\council packets\2015\r150917\150903m.docx Page 17 of 18 of the Town Clerk) and explained the work that is going to be accomplished. He reported that the roads they will be doing are as follows: * Glenbrook Boulevard from Fountain Hills Boulevard to Bainbridge Avenue * Fayette Drive from Fountain Hills Boulevard to Bainbridge Drive * El Pueblo Boulevard from Fountain Hills Boulevard to Grande Boulevard * Portions of Del Cambre Avenue * Portions of Pepperwood Circle Mr. Mood reported that if the contract is approved this evening the work is set to start in October (they are timing it with the fall break in school so that they can do by the elementary school on Fayette and the charter school on El Pueblo). He informed the Council that this is pretty much Year One and in Year Two they need to go back and hit Bainbridge Avenue, part of LaMontana Drive and numerous replacement areas and that will take up at least the million dollars for next year and then in FY 2017-18 they will slurry seal 50% of Zone 1 and then do the other 50% in FY 2018-19. He said that then they will move on to Zone 2, which is the Downtown Area , and since that is a big zone as well work will be going on for 2, 3 or 4 years too. He stated that to get ready for this project if it is approved by the Council, they did $150,000 worth of ADA (Americans With Disabilities) sidewalk ramp improvements. He added then they will probably not be back in this zone for another ten years. He indicated his willingness to respond to any questions. Councilmember Magazine expressed the opinion that they all understand the vagueness associated with financial forecasting -- they come up with a number, an estimate, and they are talking about delaying it by one year, which means they are talking about three more years of possible deterioration, and staff has come up with a number of smaller areas that need work. He asked how staff came up with the number -- how certain is staff and what is the plus or minus here as far as the total cost of Zone 1 over four years? Mr. Mood replied that fortunately with M. R. Tanner, they are actually piggybacking off of a $5 million City of Chandler mill and overlay project contract and so the Town is getting a good economy of scale. He added that the number is based on the square yards they need to do as far as mill and overlay and slurry seal. Councilmember Magazine asked whether inflation comes into play at all and Mr. Mood replied yes, as far as the price of oil, and reported that M. R. Tanner has a 3 or 5 year contract with Chandler and it does have escalation costs in it. Councilmember Magazine stated that the following comment is not aimed at Mr. Mood but every major project that he has ever seen always goes over and he would give odds that the figure is low and it is going to go up. He said that they will find things when they start doing the work and things will happen and then they will have to drain the HURF funds again and not have anything left over for anything else. He noted that he doesn't have any answers but he does find it very troubling. Mayor Kavanagh asked Mr. Mood if the proposed figure leaves him any leeway if he does find something and he stated that they have about $100,000 extra in there so they are hoping that there is not a big sub-grade issue. There were no citizens wishing to speak on this agenda item. Vice Mayor Brown MOVED to approve the Cooperative Purchase Agreement between M. R. Tanner Development and Construction, Inc., and the Town of Fountain Hills as outlined and Councilmember Yates SECONDED the motion, which CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY by those present (6-0). AGENDA ITEM #20 - 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. i) None. Mr. Miller stated that he is pleased to announced that the Town's new Administrative Services Director, David Trimble, started on Monday. He provided brief background information on Mr. Trimble and said that they are very z:\council packets\2015\r150917\150903m.docx Page 18 of 18 happy to have him on board. He agreed with the Mayor's request to have Mr. Trimble attend the next Council meeting and introduce himself. AGENDA ITEM #21 - SUMMARY OF COUNCIL REQUESTS AND REPORT ON RECENT ACTIVITIES BY THE MAYOR, INDIVIDUAL COUNCILMEMBERS AND THE TOWN MANAGER. None. AGENDA ITEM #22 - ADJOURNMENT Councilmember Yates MOVED to adjourn the meeting and Vice Mayor Brown SECONDED the motion, which CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY by those present (6-0). The meeting adjourned at 8:45 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 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 3rd day of September, 2015. I further certify that the meeting was duly called and that a quorum was present. DATED this 17th day of September, 2015. _____________________________ Bevelyn J. Bender, Town Clerk