HomeMy WebLinkAbout1990.1030.TCSM.MinutesTOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
MINUTES OF SPECIAL SESSION OF THE FOUNTAIN HILLS TOWN COUNCIL
OCTOBER 30, 1990
A special session of the Fountain Hills Town Council, open to the public, was
convened and called to order by Mayor John Cutillo at approximately 6:30 p.m.,
Tuesday, October 30, 1990 in the Fountain Hills Town Offices located at 16836 E.
Palisades Blvd., Bldg. C, Fountain Hills, Arizona.
ROLL CALL - Before taking roll call, the flag was pledged and an invocation was
offered by Councilman Fox. Present for roll call were the following members of
the Fountain Hills Town Council: Mayor John Cutillo, Vice Mayor Wally Hudson and
Councilmembers Frank Clark, Charlie Fox, Peg Tibbetts, Mike Minarsich and Bill
O'Brien. Also present were Town Manager Paul Nordin, Director of Community
Development Gary Jeppson, Town Attorney Bill Farrell, Town Clerk Cassie Hansen,
Grumpy and Dopey.
AGENDA ITEM #2 - PRESENTATION BY DOREEN BAILEY AND JOE PROPATI FROM THE COUNTY
ASSESSOR'S OFFICE ON PROCEDURES USED WITHIN THE COUNTY IN THE SETTING OF
ASSESSMENTS ON DEVELOPED AND VACANT PROPERTY
Ms. Bailey told the Council that Fountain Hills was basically in the assessors
book 176 and that book has not had a complete appraisal since 1988, at which time
everything underwent a complete appraisal. Values had been held quite low prior
to that. Since then they have had to come up to 821 of market per the direction
of the Department of Revenue. She said that a premium is charged on lots with
exceptional views and locations because that can't be built into the mass
appraisal system. Ms. Bailey said there were 123 map books that cover the whole
county and explained that for our area, they take the zoning map and apply the
zoning to each parcel. That way, they have the size of the parcel, the parcel
number for the assessor and the zoning. They also apply any market sales they
might have had and that, too, appears on the map. She said that resales help
them to recognize market value and shows them what is actually happening in an
area. On vacant land they have had approximately 30 appeals with only 8
adjustments and she commented that that was very low. She added that Fountain
Hills was not on the revalue list for this year but that she doubted there would
be many tremendous changes in the market because there are not alot of sales
although she did say that Fountain Hills was much more stable than some of the
other areas.
Ms. Bailey went over the limited property value which is called the primary and
said that it is calculated per legislative requirements as well as the'full cash
value which is synonymous with the market value. She said the limited value can
change by either 10Z over the previous year's limited value or 251 of the
difference between the current year full cash and the previous year's limited,
whichever is greater. That, she said, is stated in statute. Ms. Bailey told the
Council how premium lots would be determined and stated that they haven't hit
Fountain Hills very hard in this area because it would be a matter of going out
onto every lot and checking the views.
Mr. Propati, Manager of the Residential Division, then told the Council that they
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had extracts by city and that he would check on the evaluation for Fountain
Hills. He explained that there are 600,000 parcels in Maricopa County that their
department deals with and that the 1990 evaluation for just the class 5, owner
occupied residences, was about forty three and a half billion dollars worth of
real estate. He explained that due to the sheer numbers they're dealing with,
they use the mass appraisal basis. They group areas, group similar properties
together, analyze the sales data in that area and then calculate values
accordingly. They compare similar classed homes in similar areas, the typical
home being a class R3 type which is a typical tract home. He explained that
figuring limited value is statutorially designed and gave an example of how the
figuring is done. He further pointed out that schools, cities, the county, state
and community colleges get their cut from the limited value side. On the other
hand, he said that full cash value flucuates with the market up and down. He
said the secondary rate is based on the full cash value and items that depend on
this rate include bonds, over rides and special districts. He also said that at
no time can the limited value exceed the full cash value.
Mr. Propati said the protest period is in the month of January. Mr. Farrell said
there is also another route of appeal and that is to the superior court but that
appeals must be_made prior to November first of each year. Mr. Propati told the
Council that in the residential department, they use sales data over the last
three years to set residential values. He said that in the past, notices of
evaluation generally went out around the first of the year but that in the last
legislative session, it was decided that the 1991 evaluations should go out on
or about December 15th. The next year that date will be December 1st, and the
year after that will be November 15th. People will still have until January 31st
to file an administrative appeal with the assessor's office. He pointed out that
there were three levels of appeals: the first level is going before the
assessor's office, the second level is the board of equalization, the third level
is the state board of tax appeals. To go beyond those levels, a person must file
suit.
AGENDA ITEM #3 - TOWN MANAGER'S REPORT
A. a. The Clerk introduced Dave Montgomery who had prepared the specs for the
roof repair RFP and Roger Thyfault from Western Maintenance. She further said
that the Council was in possession of the proposal from Western Maintenance and
that it was the only proposal that was submitted. Mr. Montgomery explained that
he had gone with a 15 year manufacturer's warranty because he thought it was the
industry standard and Mr. Thyfault said there was an increase in the price
because when he had bid the job before, there was no requirement for a 100%
performance bond. Councilwoman Tibbetts expressed concern about the single ply
membranes because it had proved to be unsatisfactory at the water company a
couple of years ago. Mr. Montgomery explained that the single ply was the best
roof out there at this time if properly installed. Councilwoman Tibbetts
requested a customer list. Mr. Thyfault explained the installation process of
the two alternatives.
B.d. The Council jumped to this agenda item since there were members of the
Chamber and Kiwanis present. Mayor Cutillo asked why this had to be brought up
after 5 or 6 years of successful art fairs without selling alcohol. Linda Fry
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from the Chamber said this was the 16th annual festival and that prior to the
last 5 years there was wine, beer and cheese at the festivals until the Chamber
imposed moratorium of 1984. She said there had been a number of spectators
requesting that they go back to selling the wine and beer. She further stated
that the decision came out of a committee who approached the Kiwanis because they
had the manpower and the contacts for the beer and the wine. She added that she
had the application for the liquor insurance with her and that it was a one
million dollar liability per occurrence policy. Mayor Cutillo expressed concern
for starting a precedent of selling liquor on Town property. Vice Mayor Hudson
said that if an accident was liquor related, the Town had no coverage at all.
Mr. Farrell said the final decision on these event requests really rested with
the State Liquor Board and that they could issue the permits even if the Council
voted to deny. Councilman Minarsich asked if this would mean that in future
events, other booths could apply for a special event liquor permit and Mr.
Farrell replied they could only if they fit the criteria such as service clubs,
religious organizations, charitable or civic groups or political groups - food
booths would not fit the criteria unless they fit into one of these groups. Mr.
Farrell also said that while the Chamber could control where booths set up at the
actual event site, that they had no control if someone got permission from a
nearby property owner to set up a booth separate from the event and then
proceeded to apply for a special event liquor license.
A.b. Mr. Nordin made reference to the revised organizational charts, saying that
it would require no Council action.
A.c. Mr. Nordin reported that the street crew had been doing some road patching,
street sweeping, brush control, dust control, and adding additional signs under
the no truck signs. Mayor Cutillo said there were a number of illegal signs in
Town because the legal requirement for stop and caution signs dictates that the
bottom of the sign needs to be 6'8" above the grade level of the road and that
we have some that are about 4' . After stating that he would check into the
signs, Mr. Nordin reported that the new street sweeper was due in about 2 weeks
from Thursday. He told the Council that he had been spending a great deal of
time on his street report and had enclosed a copy of his outline in their
packets. He also told them that he had authorized the Town Engineer, Bill
O'Dell, to work with Pat Harvey whatever hours were necessary for he and Pat to
compile the information necessary in the area of cost considerations. He said
they would also be preparing some maintenance cost estimates. Councilman
Minarsich stated that he believed there were some state or county funds available
for the maintenance/rebuilding of Fountain Hills Blvd. since it was the
connecting road between Shea, Rio Verde and the McDowell Mt. Park. Councilman
Clark said he thought it was Saguaro to Fountain Hills Blvd. and Councilman
Minarsich replied that he had heard a rumor that some were pushing to make
Palisades the connecting road in order to help get Palisades paved. It was
decided to look into the matter.
Mr. Nordin said he was presently looking at a 2 to 3 year paving plan and
Councilwoman Tibbetts suggested drawing upon MCO's recent paving projects to
assist in cost estimating.
A.d. Mr. Nordin told the Council that all the necessary paperwork had been
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submitted that needed to be done for the road signage grant and that they were
proposing to go with the 8" signs instead of the 6" signs since we have no street
lights in town. Councilman Fox said that at this point, the $25,000 that had
been cut in half now looked like it was going back to the full amount.
B.a. Regarding the terms for the Planning and Zoning Commissioners, Mr. Jeppson
reported that the group discussed who would take what terms and that three had
come forward and offered to take the one year terms. He supplied the Council
with a list of which Commissioners had what terms.
B.b/c The Clerk said the only addition to the memo was the letter of permission
she had received granting Big Daddy's to use the property in front of their
restaurant for their extension of premise. She further pointed out that the Town
Marshal had signed off on both of the requests except for the stipulation on Big
Daddy's to obtain the letter of permission.
B.f. Mr. Nordin explained that he wanted to formalize the agendas by having
every item be sponsored by a Councilmember, the Mayor would sponsor any staff
items. It demonstrated that the Council is in charge of the agenda and allows
them to communicate amongst themselves if they want to discuss an item with it's
sponsor. Mr. Nordin did reiterate that just because a Councilmember sponsored
an item did not mean that he personally supported the item.
B.e. The Council discussed how to go about selecting the members for the Parks
and Recreation Commission. Mr. Jeppson's only suggestion was to designate length
of terms when the appointments were made. He did comment that the process used
in selecting the Planning and Zoning Commission had resulted in a very good
group. The concensus was to once again go through the short list procedure
followed by the interviewing process. Councilwoman Tibbetts requested a list of
areas of expertise that Mr. Jeppson felt were important for this group. Mayor
Cutillo suggested that Councilman Fox poll the members of the Mayor's Youth
Council to see if any of them were interested in serving on the Parks and Rec
Commission. Mr. Nordin suggested a deadline of Monday, November 5th, for the
Council to turn in their short lists and set Tuesday, November 27th, at 7:00 p.m.
as the date and time to interview.
B.g. Mr. Nordin, in reference to readdressing the selection of a permanent Board
of Adjustment, said that it was scheduled for work/study only unless the Council
wished to act on it at the regular session Thursday night and was brought up at
the Mayor's request. Mayor Cutillo explained his experience which had prompted
this topic to resurface at this time. He said there was an individual who was
going to come before the Board of Adjustment at some time in the future, that
this person was upset with the Town and wanted to complain to the Mayor about the
variance procedure that he has to go through. In addition, he brought up the
variance itself, telling the Mayor things that he should not be hearing about
until he is properly seated in his Board of Adjustment role. The Mayor felt this
was a very good example of why the Council should direct staff to begin the
selection process for the Board of Adjustment. After much discussion, the
Council came to a concensus that this item should be put on the agenda for
reconsideration. Councilman Minarsich suggested that some sample questions be
put on the application form so that the Council can get a better idea of the
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applicant's understanding of the job's qualifications and requirements. Mr.
Nordin suggested that staff could put together a more detailed description of the
traits, skills and abilities that Board of Adjustment members ought to have and
supply this to the Council to aid them in the selection process.
B.h. Regarding the hiring of additional clerical staff, Mr. Nordin told the
Council that part of his intent was to relieve the Clerk of some of her clerical
duties, freeing her time for other projects that he wanted her to do, helping him
in the process. He said it would also aid Gary in his operations. The Clerk
said the new secretary would also help the Town Marshal, the Street
Superintendant and the Administrative Assistant to the Building Safety
Department. The Council then discussed the other positions listed in Mr.
Nordin's memo. Mr. Nordin said the secretarial position had already been
approved in this year's budget but that he just wanted to get the Council's
blessing and make sure there were no objections. Future equipment needs were
also discussed and Councilman Fox strongly suggested getting the receptionist a
P.C. Councilman O'Brien said he had no problem with increasing staff but would
like to make sure that they had the equipment to ensure that they were able to
work the most efficiently.
AGENDA ITEM A — RESOLUTION 1990-31 AUTHORIZING THE INVESTMENT OF TOWN FUNDS
WITH THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT INVESTMENT POOL
Mr. Nordin said the Pool was authorized by state law and run by the state
treasurer. He said the treasurer invests not only state funds but, through the
Pool, funds from municipalities as well. Mr. Nordin said it was staff's
recommendation to join the Pool and give staff the ability to take part in the
investment pool. Councilman Minarsich asked if Fountain Bank had been consulted
on this or given the opportunity to compete and suggested that the other local
batiks be asked if they have any other flexible interest plans they could give us
that would compete with the Pool. Mr. Nordin made it clear that a withdrawal
could only be made from the Pool to one of our other accounts, which then require
two signatures for withdrawal. Vice Mayor Hudson suggested raising the amount
of the fidelity bond that the Town currently has.
AGENDA ITEM #5 — ORDINANCE 90-18, ADOPTING A NEW SECTION 11-1-6 OF THE TOWN CODES
OF FOUNTAIN HILLS CONCERNING THE CURFEW OF MINORS
Councilman Fox reported that he had discussed the curfew issue with the members
of the Mayor's Youth Council and told them it was a tool to use when problems
arose. He challenged them to write their own ordinance and they came up with the
idea that it should be broken up into 2 groups, when school was in session and
when school was out of session. Their age recommendation was 13 and under and
14 to 18, trying to keep it in the Jr. High/High School range, and was set up as
follows:
13 and under
14 to
18
School nights
8:00 p.m.
10:00
P.M.
Weekends, vacations
9:00 P.M.
1:00
a.m.
Seven out of eight members supported a curfew. Councilman Fox said the teens
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Page 5 of 7
started understanding the scope of the recent vandalism problems when they
started talking in terms of property. How to present this item at Thursday -
night's meeting was discussed since the Youth Council's participation in this
ordinance had been publicized. Pros and cons on the different time frames were
discussed. Mr. Nordin suggested presenting the ordinance in it's original form
and then having Councilman Fox offer up the Youth Council's suggestions in the
form of an amendment. Councilwoman Tibbetts suggested picking out a part of the
Youth Council's suggestions that they could all support and limiting the
amendment to that particular suggestion. The Council felt they could live with
more restrictive times on twelve and under age groups.
AGENDA ITEM #5 — RESOLUTION 1990-32 ENDORSING THE FOUNTAIN HILLS CHAMBER OF
COMMERCE IN BECOMING PART OF THE GREATER PHOENIX ECONOMIC COUNCIL
Mr. Nordin said he had one question of the Council on this matter and that had
to do with participating in paying part of the fee for this year. He said he
recommended paying half of the fee because if the Town really wanted input, they
would have to pay their own way. If not this year, he recommended getting it in
the budget for next year. Councilman Clark expressed concern over the
terminology "official agency" in the resolution, that it sounded like the Council
was abdicating it's powers to act on its own in this area and that as a small
community, we would get lost in the shuffle. Mr. Farrell explained that this
group is a survivor of a war of economic development councils, agencies and
splinter groups that sprang up in the 80's and the universal criticism in the mid
80's was that there were too many people out running around promoting Arizona in
a specialty area with specialty interests. They want to be able to go forward
to prospective employers, developers and groups and say they are the officially
recognized agency. Mr. Nordin stated that he did not think the language was that
offensive, that he didn't think it would hurt us and that his recommendation was
to pass it because it would not preclude us from doing anything else we wanted.
Councilman O'Brien suggested that the Town pay for half of the fee because he
would rather support this than some of the other things the Council has been
asked to support. Further discussion ensued on the pros and cons of paying for
half of the fee. On the question of whether or not to delete the word "official"
in the resolution, Mr. Farrell said it was much like the clean air campaigns and
some of the other things, a process he calls political chips. He said this was
the standard form resolution that all of the participating agencies are willing
to adopt and he suggested that unless it was totally offensive to four of the
Councilmembers, that nothing would be accomplished by telling the rest of the
world how the Council wanted their resolution to read.
AGENDA ITEM #7 — ORDINANCE 90-19, PROVIDING FOR A NEW RABIES/ANIMAL CONTROL
ORDINANCE
Mr. Farrell said the new ordinance provided by the rabies control people was
substantially different from the one the Council had adopted and took alot of the
operating language out and he was going to check with the young lady who sent us
the new ordinance and see if this was what they really wanted us to adopt. The
Clerk said that the County was saying that what they sent us last spring, which
we currently have in our code books, was not enforceable, that it was only a
proposed ordinance. She said they wanted us to pass the one that was currently
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in effect, the one that had lost alot of the language. Mr. Farrell said he
wanted to check and see if replacing the existing ordinance was absolutely
necessary.
AGENDA ITEM #8 — CALL TO THE PUBLIC
No one came forward to address the Council
AGENDA ITEM #9 — VOTE TO GO INTO EXECUTIVE SESSION
Councilman Fox made a MOTION to go into executive session. SECONDED by
Councilman Clark and CARRIED unanimously. The Council went into executive
session at approximately 10:00 p.m., following a short break.
AGENDA ITEM #10 — RETURN TO SPECIAL SESSION
The Council returned to special session at approximately 10:45 p.m.
AGENDA ITEM #11 — ADJOURNMENT
Councilman Fox made a MOTION to adjourn. SECONDED by Vice Mayor Hudson and
CARRIED unanimously. The special session adjourned at approximately 10:46 p.m.
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS ��'1'1'
By:
John .`Cutillo, Mayor
ATTEST:
Cassie Hansen, Town Clerk
CERTIFICATION
I hereby certify that the foregoing minutes are a true and correct copy of the
minutes of the special meeting of the Town Council of Fountain Hills held on the
30th day of October, 1990. I further certify that the meeting was duly called
and held and that a quorum was present.
DATED this iS 4- day of November, 1990.
Cassie Hansen, Town Clerk
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