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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1990.0208.TCWSM.MinutesTOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS MINUTES OF THE WORK/STUDY SESSION OF THE FOUNTAIN HILLS TOWN COUNCIL FEBRUARY 8, 1990 A public work/study session of the Fountain Hills Town Council was convened and called to order by Mayor John Cutillo at 6:32 P.M., Thursday, February 8, 1990, in the Fountain Hills School District Administration Building located at 14605 N. Del Cambre Ave., Fountain Hills, Arizona. ROLL CALL.- Present for roll call were the following members of the Fountain Hills Town Council: Mayor John Cutillo, Vice Mayor Mike Minarsich and Councilmembers Harry Barber, Marti Lemieux, Joe Bill, Charlie Fox and Dick Haugen. Also present were: Town Manager Mike McNulty, Town Attorney Bill Farrell and Town Clerk Cassie Hansen. AGENDA ITEM #2 - DISCUSSION OF PROCEDURES AND FRAMEWORKS FOR SUBCOMMITTEES Mr. McNulty requested that various items be put on the agenda to formulate some guidelines for the subcommittees to operate by. He felt it necessary for the council to set policy as to how much, if any, subcommittees could spend. Councilman Haugen brought up the question of mileage as his Planning & Zoning Subcommittee will be traveling down to Phoenix in the weeks to come to meet with the county. Mayor Cutillo felt that any subcommittee wanting to expend funds should clear it first with the Town Manager and the Clerk for approval. Councilman Bill felt it should go through the Town Manager and the Mayor for approval. Mr. McNulty clarified that only the request would go through him, not the approval. Using the request by the Logo Subcommittee for funds to print flyers as an example, Mr. McNulty told the council if they wanted to put a limit of, say, $100 on the spending of each subcommittee, let him know and we'll keep track of the amounts spent and let each committee know when they've reached their limit. Councilman Bill expressed doubt that each member of the subcommittees as well as future boards and commissions would expect reimbursement for work that they were doing on a volunteer basis. Mr. McNulty said that was not the case and using the example of a planning and zoning commission, explained that these people are customarily covered in the community development budget. When asked by the mayor for a recommendation in this area, Mr. McNulty said he would recommend that the council put a limit on supplies. He said the council would have to decide if they were going to reimburse for personal expenses and that it would probably have to be done for employees when they go out. He further said that most communities reimburse councilmembers when they go out on town business. Councilman Barber felt a ceiling of $100.00 should be put on the subcommittees. Mayor Cutillo asked that this be put on next Thursday's agenda. Councilman Haugen suggested that it also be added to the agenda item to specify .23/mile for town business only. Councilman Bill suggested that the amount not be put in but to word it in accordance with the IRS rate. Wally Hudson said it just went up to .26/mile. Councilman Haugen brought up paying per deim. Mayor Cutillo asked Mr. McNulty to do some research on this and bring it back to the council. In discussing guidelines for posting subcommittee agendas and delivering subcommittee materials, it was decided that each chairman would be responsible for getting materials to their subcommittee. Once an office is established, councilmemebers will be responsible for picking up their meeting packets in Town Council Work/Study Minutes 2/8/90 Page 1 of 4 mail slots provided for them in the office. It was also decided that three days advance notice would be sufficient to get things posted on agendas for subcommittee meetings. If things need to be typed up there will have to be at least five days notice. Each subcommittee will decide if they want to take minutes of their meetings. If they want these minutes to go to the rest of the council at the next meeting, they will need to get the minutes to the clerk at least 5 days in advance. Vice Mayor Minarsich felt that each subcommittee should pick their own secretary and be responsible for their own minutes. The council agreed to follow these guidelines without formalizing them. Committee chairmen will be responsible for getting materials to and from their committee members and the clerk will be responsible for getting materials to the full council for full council meetings. Mr. Farrell told the council to contact himself or Mr. McNulte if any of the subcommittees wanted materials from other governmental bodies, municipalities, etc. Councilman Fox suggested that if a subcommittee wishes to make a motion or a recommendation to the council, the subcommittee chairman should write up the motion and submit it to the clerk to put on the agenda. Councilman Bill questioned the length and content of the minutes. The clerk explained that the Dept. of Library, Archives and Public Records sets the length of time to keep tapes is 6 months and that according to other town clerks, it's a good idea to keep detailed minutes of council meetings so that 10 years down the line there is an accurate record of what when on in council meetings. AGENDA ITEM #3 - DISCUSSION OF MAGISTRATE REQUIREMENTS Councilwoman Lemieux gave a brief synopsis of the Magistrate Subcommittee r. meeting held last Saturday. She said they figured it would take about 3 months to set up the magistrate and town court. They composed what they felt would be the requirements of a town magistrate and she reviewed these with the council. She recommended that the council start looking for a magistrate immediately. Mr. McNulty said the council will have the magistrate for 2 years no matter what and they'd better be very comfortable with their choice. Councilwoman Lemieux recommended that this start out as a part time position. Councilman Fox recommended that a job description be drawn up before the council starts looking. Mr. Farrell brought up the qualification of legal knowledge and the debate going on in city governments as to whether the magistrate should be a lawyer. There is also the option to contract with the local justice of the peace because of the complexities and costs which are involved in setting up a court system. AGENDA ITEM #4 - ELECTION STATUS PRESENTATION Eleanor Bentson gave a report on the election status. She said we are currently on schedule for the election but that we would have to pay for the elections ourselves. The printing of the ballots and the 12 precinct registers are estimated to cost $450.00. The polling places will cost $75.00 each, although the council will have to decide if they will pay for the community center. Each polling place will require 6 workers: 1 inspector, 2 judges and 3 clerks. The road district pays a minimum of $40.00 per worker and the county pays a minimum of $60.00 per worker. The council will have to decide how much they are going to pay. There is an additional charge to bind the 12 registers (3 in each polling place) which comes to about $100.00. For doing the work for us, the daily clerical work, there would be no charge. But Town Council Work/Study Minutes 2/8/90 Page 2 of 4 they would have to charge for working overtime, after hours. Since then., the county has decided that the board of elections should be paid for their services, daytime and overtime. The final decision is still out as to what exactly we will be charged for as far as the election board services go. Mrs. Bentson estimated that the election will cost about $2,050.00. She reported that a mailing would not be necessary since we were using the same polling places. Mr. McNulty said a mailing would be required since there was a question on the ballot. Mr. Farrell said if we ruled that it was not an initiative we could do away with the sample ballot although being the first election, the public feeling would be one of having the extra communication. Mayor Cutillo felt an item should be put on the next agenda RE: amounts to be paid workers, community center, etc. AGENDA ITEM 15 - PRESENTATION ON CENSUS Dick Froncek gave a presentation on the census. He reiterated how important it is to make sure that all the census review maps of the area are up to date so no one will be missed in the count. He said that a census taker only comes to the door if people don't send back their forms and that we will have a short fall if people don't send back their forms. He stressed that the numbers derived from the census govern for 10 years and that where you spend most of your time governs where you are counted. He suggested that with some publicity, some people in Fountain Hills could be convinced to show Fountain Hills as their usual place of residence. He further stated that where you vote has nothing to do with where you are counted and that information is not used for taxes. Mr. Froncek said there are many errors in the census records for Fountain Hills and we will have a shortfall if something isn't done. He said we should be able to participate in the local review program and that he has a list of contacts he could use in establishing a rapport with the bureau. He is going to check to see if we can still participate in the local review process. Mr. Froncek offered to act as a liason for the community to POPTAC and MAO POPTAC, attend their meetings and keep the council advised as to Fountain Hills' status at this level. AGENDA ITEM #6 - SETTING EXECUTIVE SESSIONS After discussing the pros and cons of holding executive session before and after regular meetings, it was felt that an attempt should be made to set a time limit on the length of the executive sessions, especially if the public is waiting to hear a decision made following the session. Councilman Haugen felt changing the meeting time was not a good idea since the public had become accustomed to the 6:30 meeting time. Mr. McNulty felt that future executive sessions would not be as lengthy as in the past and the council would usually have a pretty good idea of how long they might take. Mayor Cutillo made the suggestion that he and the Town Manager would keep the scheduling in mind when making up the agendas and if they know an executive session will be relatively short, they will place it up in the agenda instead of at the end. They can then advise the public before going into executive session about how long the council will be out before reconvening and taking action on what was discussed. When an item may be lengthy or not followed by any action, executive session will still come at the end of the public meeting. AGENDA ITEM #7 - REVIEW TOWN MANAGER JOB DESCRIPTIONS Town Council Work/Study Minutes 2/8/90 Page 3 of 4 Mr. McNulty asked the council to review the materials they received from three other towns regarding town manager job descriptions. He said the council could adopt the job descriptions as an ordinance now and later fold into the town codes. Councilman asked if Mr. McNulty was looking to the council for guidance before proposing a job description for himself. Mr. McNulty said he was asking the council which descriptions or parts of the descriptions that they favored. Councilman Bill suggested that Mr. McNulty come up with a draft of what he and the Mayor felt is a workable description for the council's review. Mayor Cutillo felt that each councilmember should review the materials and decided what they liked and didn't like about each one. Mr. McNulty said he would put one together which would be a combination of all three and present it to the council for their perusal. Vice Mayor Minarsich suggested that each councilmember read the materials and be prepared to ask questions and make suggestions as to a job description they want. Mayor Cutillo requested that Mr. McNulty put together a tentative description for the council to discuss at the next work/study session. Councilman Bill requested to see copies of any more descriptions that Mr. McNulty received and that it might be helpful to receive some from larger, more established cities. AGENDA ITEM #8 - REPORT FROM OFFICE FACILITIES Vice Mayor Minarsich said they were still investigating office space. He reported on the three primary places being considered. The old Lighting Center and the offices next to Que Bueno have a minimum of a one years lease and this is a big drawback. The space in MCO property building which houses the new library is being offered on a month to month lease for the same rent the library is paying, $7.55/ sq'. Councilman Fox said that MCO offered to give the town the first two months for free, paying only our own utilities which would be shared with the library based on the percentage of space we take. Future use of the space available in this building was discussed such as magistrate court, council hall, etc. For the short term, Vice Mayor Minarsich recommended that the council accept MCO's offer to rent this space. The council decided to call a special meeting on Tuesday, February 13, 1990, so they could vote on accepting the MCO offer. The Mayor asked if the public had any comments - there were none. ADJOURNMENT - The council adjourned the work/study session at 8:50 p.m. TOWN OF UNTAIN S By; ATTEST: Joh M. Cu i lo, Mayor Cassie Hansen, Town Clerk CERTIFICATION I hereby certify that the foregoing minutes are a true and correct copy of the minutes of the work/study session of the Town Council of Fountain Hills held on the 8th day of February, 1990. I further certify that the meeting was duly called. DATED this ISM day of February, 1990. n f Cassie Hansen, Town Clerk Town Council Work/Study Minutes 2/8/90 Page 4 of 4