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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2004.0506.TCREM.Minutes TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS MINUTES OF THE REGULAR AND EXECUTIVE SESSION OF THE FOUNTAIN HILLS TOWN COUNCIL MAY 6,2004 Mayor Nichols called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m. AGENDA ITEM #1 — VOTE TO GO INTO EXECUTIVE SESSION: PURSUANT TO A.R.S. 38- 431.03.A.4 FOR DISCUSSION OR CONSIDERATION 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 LITIGATION OR IN SETTLEMENT DISCUSSIONS CONDUCTED IN ORDER TO AVOID OR RESOLVE LITIGATION (SPECIFICALLY, THE TOWN HALL LEASE). Councilwoman Stevens MOVED to convene the Executive Session at 5:30 p.m. and Councilwoman Ralphe SECONDED the motion, which CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. Mayor Nichols recessed the Executive Session at 6:25 p.m. AGENDA ITEM#2 RETURN TO REGULAR SESSION Mayor Nichols reconvened the Regular Session at 6:30 p.m. Following the invocation by Cantor Howard Tabaknek,Beth Hagivot—Fountain Hills,roll call was taken. ROLL CALL — Present for roll call were the following members of the Fountain Hills Town Council: Councilman Archambault, Mayor Nichols, Councilwoman Stevens, Councilman Kavanagh, Vice Mayor Melendez, Councilwoman Nicola, Councilwoman Ralphe. Town Attorney Andrew McGuire, Town Manager Tim Pickering, Town Clerk Bev Bender, Fire Chief Mark Zimmerman, Accounting Supervisor Julie Ghetti, MCSO Sergeant Chuck Siemens, and Senior Planner Dana Burkhardt were also present. Mayor Nichols stated that two meetings ago an item appeared on the Consent Agenda authorizing the Mayor to enter into negotiations with Ms. Hansen regarding her lawsuit. At that time, the public was informed that when the negotiations were completed and the arrangements were finalized, that information would be made public. He said he wanted to make sure that the public was fully aware of those arrangements and the fact that nothing was being done to hide any information from the public. He advised that a press release had been issued and requested that City Clerk Bev Bender attach a copy of the press release to the official minutes of this meeting so that anyone who wished to obtain a copy could do so through the normal request for information process. The Mayor reported that Ms. Hansen would receive $112,500. The Town would pay $5,000 of that, with the insurance company paying the remaining amount. He added that both parties admitted that there was no liability or wrongdoing. CALL TO THE PUBLIC Ms. Bender advised that Bob Tripp, speaking on behalf of the Citizens to Save Our Community (CSOC), requested five minutes in which to present his remarks. Bob Tripp Mr. Tripp, Tombstone, said he would like to present a brief overview of the status of the group's activities. He stated the opinion that the residents had spoken and the fire district petition drive was nearing completion and in Illy reach of the goal set by Maricopa County, i.e. 50% of the registered voters, 50% of the total property value and 50% of the total property owners. He reported that as of this Monday, 5,581 had signed the petition and noted that this showed significant support for moving forward with the district. He pointed out that home and E:\BBender\Documents\Current Minutes 2004\Regular and Executive 05-06-04.doc Page 1 of 20 condominium owners were solidly behind the proposal, both full time and seasonal residents, and added that they realized a secondary property tax might cost them slightly more than a 1% sales tax, particularly for the ,tii) seasonal residents, but believed that the stability provided by the fire district was worth it. Mr. Tripp added that commercial business owners were somewhat divided on the matter and named a number of the larger businesses that had signed, including MCO Properties and Fry's. He expressed the opinion that some business owners wanted a "free ride" and said that two areas that extensively utilize fire services had not yet signed the petition. He commented on the fact that lot owners were not participating and explained that they felt they were already paying more than their share since they were assessed at 16% instead of the 10% that homeowners pay and had limited need for fire and/or emergency services. He reported that 87% of the total dollar goal had been collected and as far as signatures, they were at 84% of the goal. If errors contained in the County's list were corrected, this would put them at 90%. He emphasized that there were 12 days left for the petition drive, discussed plans to achieve their goal, and urged everyone who had not already signed the petition to do so at the CSOC office or call them if they needed someone to bring the petition to them. Mayor Nichols thanked Mr. Tripp for the update. Marshall Friedman, 15245 Carmelita Court Mr. Friedman stated that he planned to speak at the last meeting regarding Resolution 2004-11, which was removed from the agenda and indicated his intention to address it at this time. He said he had been collecting signatures for the fire district and had noticed that they are an increasing number of multi-family residential units located throughout the Town. He stated the opinion that the number of multi-family to single-family units were excessive in terms of what would normally be considered reasonable for a Town that had the character of Fountain Hills and because of the existing population mix. He said he researched the Town's General Plan and said it identified nearly one-third of then existing residential property development as being multi-family. He said if they followed that plan, when the Town was fully developed, there would be in excess of 45% multi vii) - family residential dwelling units. He explained that this meant nearly half the Town would consist of apartments and condominium units. Mr. Friedman requested that Staff be directed to develop and present a compilation of the proportion of multiple-family housing units current existing as well as what was in process versus single-family units. He added that this information needed to be presented in both raw numbers and percentages. In conjunction with this task, he also wanted to know what proportion of multi-family units existed in other towns or cities and any limitations that might have been adopted or imposed. He requested information relative to the negative impacts of multi-family housing versus single-family housing and stressed the importance of identifying and documenting them. The results of the research should be presented to Planning and Zoning Commission, the Town Council, and the citizens. He stated the opinion that the General Plan needed to be updated to accurately address this issue and establish a reasonable ratio to be applied toward future development. He requested that the Town Council place a moratorium on requests for multi-family units until the study was completed and the findings had been reviewed. Sam Coffee, 16837 East Parkview Mr. Coffee, representing the American Legion, stated that on behalf of the American Legion and the VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars), they would like to thank the Council for their recent decision to include funding for the Veteran's Memorial in the proposed budget. He noted that a couple of years ago the organization requested funding during a very tight budget time and they were allotted $15,000 out of an original proposal of$40,000. In response to that, the organization pledged to hold up their end of the bargain and helped bring the project to fruition. He commented on the extensive volunteer hours that had gone into this project and a significant amount of money was raised, almost $74,000 in cash, not counting the funds that were received from the Town. In addition, they coordinated the project and had acquired the howitzer, which was in place in the park. He stated that their goal was to develop a first-class facility and commented on the custom plaques that were being designed and said they were hoping to be done by Veteran's Day. E:\BBender\Documents\Current Minutes 2004\Regular and Executive 05-06-04.doc Page 2 of 20 Mr. Coffee noted that material contributions were also received from the Yavapai Indian Community and Ace Hardware and local contractors had committed a great deal of labor. He reported that they currently had approximately $56,400 on hand and they were forecasting that between now and project completion about $77,000 of income, which would total approximately $133,000, would be received. In order to complete the memorial, including labor and materials, it was estimated at approximately $133,000. He assured the Council that once the memorial was in place, monies would be used to ensure that the site was well maintained. Doug Katonak, 140844 Golden Eagle Mr. Katonak, a 30-year resident of Fountain Hills, agreed with the comments of the previous speaker relative to the work and planning that had gone into the development of the memorial. He expressed his appreciation to everyone who contributed money, time, and labor to this worthy cause. He added that yesterday he heard about a proposal to reduce the westbound lane on the Avenue of the Fountains to one lane in order to widen the sidewalk in front of the real estate office owned by Phyllis Kern. He said he very strongly opposed this proposal and added that it did not make any sense to widen a sidewalk and narrow a street when it has worked very well for many years. Mayor Nichols thanked all of the speakers for their comments. CONSENT AGENDA Mayor Nichols noted that Items 5 and 6 have been removed from the Consent Agenda in response to a citizen request. AGENDA ITEM#1 —CONSIDERATION OF APPROVING THE COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES OF 4/13/04 AND 4/15/04. AGENDA ITEM #2 — CONSIDERATION OF RESOLUTION 2004-19 ABANDONING WHATEVER RIGHT,TITLE OR INTEREST THE TOWN HAS IN CERTAIN PUBLIC UTILITY AND DRAINAGE EASEMENTS LOCATED AT THE NORTHERLY PROPERTY LINES OF LOT 24, BLOCK 2, PLAT 602A (15812 E.EL LAGO BLVD.) AS RECORDED IN BOOK 161 OF MAPS,PAGE 42,RECORDS OF MARICOPA COUNTY,ARIZONA EA04-04(MOLLINS/BRYAN). AGENDA ITEM #3 — CONSIDERATION OF RESOLUTION 2004-22 ABANDONING WHATEVER RIGHT,TITLE OR INTEREST THE TOWN HAS IN CERTAIN PUBLIC UTILITY AND DRAINAGE EASEMENTS LOCATED AT THE NORTHERLY PROPERTY LINES OF LOT 29, BLOCK 2, PLAT 603C (15916 E. CHOLLA DR.) AS RECORDED IN BOOK 161 OF MAPS, PAGE 43, RECORDS OF MARICOPA COUNTY,ARIZONA EA04-05 (DECICCO). AGENDA ITEM #4 — CONSIDERATION OF RESOLUTION 2004-24 ABANDONING WHATEVER RIGHT,TITLE OR INTEREST THE TOWN HAS IN CERTAIN PUBLIC UTILITY AND DRAINAGE EASEMENTS LOCATED AT THE NORTHERLY PROPERTY LINES OF LOT 2, BLOCK 3, PLAT 604A (15213 E. PALOMINO BLVD.) AS RECORDED IN BOOK 161 OF MAPS, PAGE 16, RECORDS OF MARICOPA COUNTY,ARIZONA EA04-06(DEEREFIELD HOMES LTD.). AGENDA ITEM#5—MOVED TO THE ACTION AGENDA. AGENDA ITEM#6—MOVED TO THE ACTION AGENDA. Councilwoman Ralphe MOVED to approve the Consent Agenda as read (with Agenda Items 5 and 6 moved to the Action Agenda) and Councilwoman Nicola SECONDED the motion. A roll call vote was taken with the following results: Councilwoman Stevens Aye E:\BBender\Documents\Current Minutes 2004\Regular and Executive 05-06-04.doc Page 3 of 20 Vice Mayor Melendez Aye Councilman Kavanagh Aye Councilwoman Nicola Aye Mayor Nichols Aye Councilwoman Ralphe Aye Councilman Archambault Aye The motion CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY (7 to 0). ACTION AGENDA AGENDA ITEM #5 — CONSIDERATION OF AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO EXECUTE A DEED REVERTING FORMER FIRE DISTRICT REAL PROPERTY BACK TO MCO. Town Attorney Andrew McGuire explained that In February 1998, MCO Properties granted a piece of property to the former fire district (along Fountain Hills Boulevard, near Shea). The property was granted for the expressed purpose of constructing a fire station on that site and the agreement contained an "automatic reverter" after five years if the fire district did not use the property for that purpose within that timeframe (both planning and constructing the building). He noted that on October 31, 2001, the Town took over all of the assets and liabilities of the fire district and therefore the property went to the Town at that time. He added that five years had more than passed and said that the deed was recorded in March of 1998. MCO requested that in addition to the "automatic reverter"that happened by operation of the deed that Council authorized, with the Mayor signing the deed back to MCO, quick-claiming it to them, take place. Councilwoman Nicola stated that she requested that this item be removed from the consent agenda for a number of reasons. The first being that all of the information that the Council received last Friday consisted of what was just outlined by the Town Attorney. She expressed disappointment regarding this issue and said they had always anticipated that the fire station would be developed. She questioned whether a back-up plan was in place. Town Manager Tim Pickering noted that the site under discussion was never proposed to house Fire Station#3 and explained that if anything was going to be done, Fire Station #2's location would have been changed from its current site to the parcel granted by MCO to achieve better coverage. He added that at this time they did not plan to build that fire station and stated that in the past the Town did not have the funds to do so. He said it was unfortunate that the"automatic reverter" was included in the agreement. In response to a question from Councilman Archambault, Mr. McGuire stated that he did not know why MCO Properties waited until now to make the request, since the five year period was up in 2003, and added that it probably came about as some form of organizational "clean up." Vice Mayor Melendez asked what the zoning was on the property and Mr. McGuire that he would have to defer to Planning and Zoning Administrator Molly Bosley. Councilwoman Nicola asked staff to identify the location of the parcel and Mr. Pickering responded that the property was on Fountain Hills Boulevard where the water tank was located on Kingstree. Councilwoman Nicola questioned whether the Town had attempted to retain the parcel and Mr. Pickering said that they only way they could retain it was if they built a fire station on it. Councilwoman Nicola stated that perhaps Staff could have asked for an extension on the deed. Mr. McGuire commented on the fact that the negotiation was very short and Staff asked if MCO would be willing to leave the property on the table to allow the Town to have another deed executed so it could take title for a period of time but said there MCO was not interested in doing so. He said that Mr. Bielli indicated that if the Town wanted to talk about a different site that currently existed in Eagle's Nest, they might have a discussion about this property. E:\BBender\Documents\Current Minutes 2004\Regular and Executive 05-06-04.doc Page 4 of 20 Ms. Bender advised that there were no citizens wishing to speak on this agenda item. Councilwoman Stevens MOVED to authorize the Mayor to execute a deed reverting former fire district real property back to MCO and Vice Mayor Archambault SECONDED the motion, which CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY (7-0). AGENDA ITEM #6 — CONSIDERATION OF ORDINANCE 04-08, AMENDING THE TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS TAX CODE TO CLARIFY THE ADOPTION OF MODEL OPTION 5B (APPLYING THE TAX TO PERSONS WITH ONE UNIT) AS DIRECTED BY THE TOWN COUNCIL; PROVIDING PENALTIES FOR THE VIOLATION THEREOF; PROVIDING FOR SEVERABILITY; AND DESIGNATING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. Mr. Pickering addressed the Council relative to this agenda item and explained that the ordinance that was originally drafted by Staff did not contain the change that the Council requested. He said that following previous discussion on this issue, the number of units was reduced from 3 to 1, which was different from the Uniform Building Code. He added that the purpose of this item was to"clean up"the ordinance. Councilwoman Nicola stated that she pulled this off of the Consent Agenda so that the public would have the opportunity to become aware of the final decision. There were no citizens wishing to speak on this item. Councilman Archambault MOVED to approve Ordinance 04-08 and Councilwoman Nicola SECONDED the motion, which CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY(7-0). AGENDA ITEM #7 — CONSIDERATION OF APPROVING A CONTRACT WITH MAXIMUS, INC. FOR STRATEGIC PLANNING SERVICES IN THE AMOUNT OF$104,678. Mr. Pickering reported that in January of this year, seven goals were set for the upcoming years, one of which was to develop a Community Strategic Plan, wherein the citizens of the Town would be given an opportunity to voice their opinions as to what they believed to be the major issues and capital items that the Town should consider over the next five years. He said that Town Staff issued Requests for Proposals (RFP's) and received three responses from the first round. He noted that Staff did not feel that any of the three were suitable and reissued another RFP. He reported that Maximus, Inc., which was one of the companies that submitted a proposal the first time around, also submitted one for round two at a lower price. In addition, one other submittal was received from the Institute for Cultural Affairs. He said that Staff reviewed both proposals and provided the Council with an overview of their comparison at the last meeting. One of the questions from the Council was to review the last proposal that had since been provided to them and the additional time allowed Staff to perform further background checks on both firms. They felt confident in recommending Maximus, Inc. as the firm that should be hired to move forward with the Strategic Plan. Mr. Pickering noted that Maximus, Inc. was very clear in defining the manner in which they intended to gather the information and the number of focus groups they intended to have; the type of telephone survey they wanted to conduct. He stated the opinion that the other proposal was not as clear as listed in the report. He added that they also had a chance to contact references for Maximus both in Kansas and Texas and both references were very glowing. He discussed his intention to introduce Mr. David Eisenlohr, Senior Vice President and Project Director for Maximus, and said that he would highlight a 5 to 10-minute power point presentation on strategic planning and Maximus. Mr. Eisenlohr commended Staff for making it perfectly clear that the Town was looking for a strategy that really got at what it needs to be focused on, what did the citizens want and expect out of it, and what were they willing to actually support. He stressed the importance of over the next year or more of performing extensive research, including the community, and developing a plan that reflected what was important for the community. He added that then the elected officials would be able to pursue and fund the identified items. E:\BBender\Documents\Current Minutes 2004\Regular and Executive 05-06-04.doc Page 5 of 20 He noted that he had included two separate firms on the team and said that Maximus, Inc. was the country's largest state and local government management consulting firm (MMS symbol on the NYSE) and provided a very wide range of services from strategy all the way through operations and financial consulting, technology 4.10 systems, etc. He emphasized that he would be an active "hands on" Project Director. He informed the Council that Vice President Joel Nolan would serve in a quality assurance role and added that Joel was from Phoenix and possessed a vast knowledge of the workings and financing of local governments. He stated that if at some point in the project he were not immediately available,Mr. Nolan would step forward. Mr. Eisenlohr advised that the other firm that would be involved iwass the ETC Institute and said that he had asked Ron Vine, Vice President, to have his firm join with Maximus in conducting the market research portion of the project. He commented on their long and close working relationship on similar projects and noted that the ETC Institute was located in the Kansas City area and specialized in conducting market research and statistically valid surveys primarily for state and local governments and agencies. Mr. Eisenlohr stated that he would classify this as a "design build" planning concept and noted that much of it would occur as they moved along. He said that until they had had a chance to work with Staff and the community and obtained a clear idea of the direction in which the Town wanted to proceed, they would not have the answers. He said they had to first undergo a "discovery phase" and said the process was designed to be informed by the community and the organization as they proceeded. He clarified that he looked at strategic planning as a"discover, design, develop, and deploy"process but added that the actual execution of the program was actually out of the scope of this engagement and would fall upon the Council and Staff to carry out. He stated that they were being retained to manage the discovery process, which was most of the data gathering; the design piece, which was based on what they learned from market research and community outreach and determined what the plan needed to cover and then put it all together and develop a complete document. Mr. Eisenlohr noted that built into the discovery phase was heavy community involvement and added that they believed knowing what was in the hearts and minds of the citizens of Fountain Hills was essential in order to develop a strategy that was based on facts. He stressed the importance of identifying the various stakeholders/groups in the community and stated that a series of interviews and meetings would be scheduled to directly solicit input from the identifiable stakeholders. He also discussed community focus groups and explained that they would schedule a number of open public forums to provide the members of the public to provide input and participate in the process. He stated that from all of the input they solicited, a "wish list" would be developed that was comprised of items the community was saying they wanted and needed in the way of services, capital projects, etc. and build a customized, statistically balanced survey instrument to test the broad public support for those items. Mr. Eisenlohr stated that they intended to undertake this project as a partnership between the Town and Maximus and explained that since he had no idea at this time how many stakeholder groups, focus groups and community interests would need to be contacted, his firm, together with Town Staff, would conduct the first eight of those and they would then train and help Town Staff, through those first eight, learn how to conduct them and capture the type of data they needed in a consistent way. He added that there would be some others that would need to be done over a longer period and Town Staff would be in a position to conduct them and forward the data to them. He emphasized the importance of clearly establishing stakeholder roles and responsibilities and explained that one of the "pitfalls" to be avoided was creating the mistaken impression that they would receive everything they asked for and not all of the advice received would be followed. He also discussed the involvement of institutional stakeholders, such as the Chamber of Commerce, the School District, the County, etc., and emphasized the importance of remaining sensitive to community norms and cultural characteristics. Mr. Eisenlohr noted that Staff had made them aware of the Town's fluctuating seasonal population, which must be taken into account in terms of timing. He also commented on the positive effects of working in conjunction with the ETC Institute in order to obtain a high quality, customized, statistically valid survey with sample sizes large enough to ensure the competency of the results. He noted that the survey would be conducted over the telephone and would be designed to ensure that they received a valid number of completed responses per E:\BBender\Documents\Current Minutes 2004\Regular and Executive 05-06-04.doc Page 6 of 20 identified sub-group. He discussed a study ETC performed for the City of Fort Worth in terms of their strategic planning process and highlighted a Strategy Articulation Map, which attempted to show that when developing a strategy, they began with "mission, vision, and values," work down through differentiators, identify the specific objectives and then identify what they had to be good at in terms of processes in order to meet the goals. He stated that the company's second proposal contained a smaller scope and therefore a lesser price and explained that he was not aware when he put together the first proposal that, in January, the Council had already been through a fairly thorough mission, vision, values process and he initially planned to do that. He explained that by leveraging,they planned to provide a high quality product at a lower cost. Mr.Eisenlohr informed the Council that the goal was to develop a plan that moved the Town from what it said it wanted to be, to what the key goals were and provide a roadmap of how to get there. He provided a brief overview of his company's experience and ETC's experience in this particular area. He stated that he appreciated the opportunity to be there and appreciated the confidence that Staff had in his firm and their approach. He added that he looked forward to working with the Council, Staff, and the community on this exciting, important project and encouraged the Councilmembers to pose questions regarding the proposal. Mayor Nichols thanked Mr. Eisenlohr for his presentation. Vice Mayor Melendez commented on the fact that Mr. Eisenlohr was based in Dallas, Texas, and questioned whether the representative who would be servicing the contract from Phoenix was present. Mr. Eisenlohr responded that he was not. He had been present at a previous meeting but was traveling today and unable to attend. The Vice Mayor asked whether that person would be the full-time manager of the project and Mr. Eisenlohr stated that he would not and he himself would be the full-time manager for the project. The Phoenix representative would serve as his local contact. In response to a question from Vice Mayor Melendez, Mr. Eisenlohr stated that he had been working with the Town for approximately three months on this project. The Vice Mayor said he was disappointed that Mr. Nov Eisenlohr had not conducted research with local people to identify the stakeholders and added he would have liked to have been provided more "meat" than simply a slide presentation. He advised that the Council, for the most part, knew who the stakeholders were and stated the opinion that it would have been in the company's best interest to perform research on this important area. Councilwoman Nicola commented that although the Council had long been aware that a survey was going to play an important part in the process, tonight was the first time she heard that it would be a telephone survey. She expressed the opinion that this was problematic for a couple of reasons. In general people on the receiving end of a telephone survey do not always receive the calls at the most opportune time and therefore participation was a concern. She added that she was really looking for a little more of an "open ended"type of survey. Mr. Eisenlohr explained that the survey would be a blend of open ended, general types of questions that would be augmented by the specifics that were identified because of the community outreach efforts. He added that telephone surveys were a well-developed science and noted that his subcontractor would not attempt to obtain data but rather actual completed survey responses and numbers. He said that although many might refuse to participate, based on the design and knowing how they planned to cross-tab and analyze the information, calls would continue until the necessary number of responses had been received. He stated the opinion that it would be a mistake to believe that the survey would be the "be all and end all" in terms of community input into the process. He emphasized that the program would be designed to allow every single resident of the Town who elected to take advantage of the opportunity to participate to do so. He clarified that the new "do not call" list applied to telemarketing and not surveys. Councilman Kavanagh commented on the fact that the mission, vision, and values portion of the study had been eliminated based on the knowledge of the Council's Retreat and noted that the Council had not achieved total consensus on the issues. He added that there would be a 40% change in the Council in the near future, three new members, and questioned whether the information he planned to work with from the current Council would cause problems. Mr. Eisenlohr responded that it could pose a problem and said he was asked to make sure that E:\BBender\Documents\Current Minutes 2004\Regular and Executive 05-06-04.doc Page 7 of 20 the Council was given credit for that work. He said that if changes on the Council resulted in a philosophical shift of some kind, the result could be significant. He further stated that this was one of the difficulties associated with having a sustainable strategy in the public sector. He informed the Council that he would be working with the City of Arlington, Texas. He was going all the way back to the "mission, vision and values" phase this year because only one member of the Council who was serving seven years ago when the program was developed was still on the Council. Councilman Kavanagh said that it appeared there was somewhat of a "cloud" over the study that would remain based upon the preliminary steps being made by the Council rather than the firm and Mr. Eisenlohr responded that he could not provide a judgment on that matter. Councilman Kavanagh expressed concern that the results would not be valid since the preliminary steps might be "flawed" and Mr. Eisenlohr said he would not use the word "flawed"unless a very dramatic shift in philosophy occurred. Councilman Kavanagh asked whether Mr. Eisenlohr would consider a 40% change in the Council and the fact that the Council was not unanimous in their original findings to be significant. He responded that he did not know the individuals and it may or may not be the case. In response to a request from Councilman Archambault relative to the eight community focus groups and the importance of ensuring that the same people do not keep driving their particular projects, Mr. Eisenlohr stated that although the company was going to conduct eight sessions, that did not mean that eight were all that would be done. He said he expected that quite a few more sessions would occur once Staff had been trained. He added that the meetings would be advertised and significant recruitment would occur. He agreed that they would only hear from the people who elected to participate. Councilwoman Stevens pointed out that the candidates who ran for election were in attendance at the Retreat and had the opportunity to provide input on the vision, mission, and goals. She said she did not hear anything from them that said the current Council was really on the wrong track. She believed one or more of them would have contacted the Council if they disagreed with the direction they were going. She added that hopefully they would provide input this evening as well. She advised that she was impressed with the second part of the proposal relative to the phasing and what the company was going to do for the Town but did not understand why in the first part of the proposal they seemed to be on a totally different track with terms such as "organizational improvement" (Page 6) and "significantly enhanced performance across the organization." Mr. Eisenlohr responded that they were being very cautious and deliberate because one of the elements of the Strategic Plan was based on what they heard. Based on that, they would have to determine whether there were things that needed to change as far as the way the Town operated. He added that it was an explicit part of the RFP and should be an explicit part of the process to say "given the understanding of what the community expected of them as a municipal organization, were they organized and operating in such a way as to maximize their ability to deliver that to the public?" In response to a question from Councilman Archambault, Mr. Pickering stated that Staff looked at the different focus groups that they thought should be asked to participate in the process. He said they came up with 13, from single parents to children to civic associations to homeowner associations. He said Staff tried to get a good, broad blend of the population. Councilwoman Ralphe asked whether focus groups and stakeholders were one in the same. Mr. Pickering stated that focus groups were one particular type of stakeholder. She added that in her opinion the biggest risk that they would undertake was not receiving enough citizen input. When she heard that Staff had identified "X" number of stakeholders or focus groups, she was sure that the members of the Council could come up with a list as well. She commented that perhaps they should ask the community who they believed the groups and individuals with a vision and a viewpoint should be, "grass roots" input. She questioned whether this would fit in and Mr. Eisenlohr responded that the company planned to conduct open community forums that would allow anyone affiliated or not affiliated with the stakeholder groups to participate and provide input. The Mayor requested a motion to approve the contract to allow discussion under the motion to occur. E:\BBender\Documents\Current Minutes 2004\Regular and Executive 05-06-04.doc Page 8 of 20 Councilwoman Stevens MOVED to approve the contract with Maximus, Inc. for strategic planning services in the amount of$104,678 and Councilman Archambault SECONDED the motion. Vice Mayor Melendez advised that he had some comments for Mr. Pickering and Staff. He stated that a half hour prior to today's Executive Session he made an appointment with the Mayor to discuss serious concerns he had about the proposal and, as a courtesy, to let him know that he would be speaking out against it this evening. He clarified that this did not mean that he was against having a Strategic Plan but since this issue was continued, he had the opportunity to review different information which had changed his mind on how he would vote this evening. He discussed his objections to the proposal and noted that one of the questions he had asked was "Who would be the key Staff person who would coordinate with the independent contactor?"The answer was a Staff person who recently moved here from Texas and who, in his opinion, was not familiar with the community. He expressed the opinion that this was wrong and requested that the Town Manager take the lead and be that key Staff person. He said he previously questioned why the Council had not received a copy of the ICA proposal and they were provided one. He added that he found out that the company had a good reputation and had written a book on how to do strategic planning. He questioned why a representative from ICA was not in attendance to make a presentation. The Vice Mayor discussed the previous night's budget session and said it appeared to him that a majority of the Council was ready to approve this contract as well as the budget. He stated that one of his issues was the costs associated with this particular Strategic Plan. He added that in his opinion the fourth phase, "deployment", was an unknown. He said in speaking with the Town Manager he believed that by the time the plan actually came about, $400,000 to $500,000 would be spent. He further stated that Staff support for the plan, namely an Assistant Town Manager to oversee the plan and then delegate it to the Community Development person, was inappropriate. He said they were also asking for a Public Information Officer (PIO) and although he spoke to that issue at last night's Work Study Session,the public had not had the opportunity to hear his comments. Vice Mayor Melendez stated that he still wanted a Strategic Plan but he wanted "inclusion". He said he asked that a slide be made which depicted his recommendation regarding this issue. He said they all talked about getting the public involved and asked what would be wrong with developing a steering committee,comprised of representatives from each one of the polling districts, to be part of this "inclusion;" to let whatever contractor was selected, if this was approved, to be a part of the process together with the Town Manager. He emphasized that the process had to begin with the citizens, not backwards, and added that two Council sessions ago a vote for the Strategic Plan was on an agenda without having a budget for it in place. He added that now they were being asked to approve the contract before they approved the tentative draft budget and stated the opinion that this was "backwards" and did not make any sense. He said he wanted to hear input on this from his constituents and possible future Councilmembers. Mr. Pickering clarified that the Planning and Zoning Administrator was not involved in the process but was involved in helping to select the consultant. She might serve in a minor role as a facilitator but her busy schedule would not allow her to become more involved than that. In response to a question from the Mayor, Mr. Pickering advised that he was the person accountable for the project and added that they had talked about additional Staff to help coordinate the process but stated that he could not delegate the accountability of this huge project. The Mayor asked whether he planned to utilize the volunteer services of citizens in the community with appropriate expertise. Mr. Pickering stated that Janice Abramson assisted Staff in selecting the consultant and was one of the individuals who went through the focus groups and helped determine how many there should be in order to ensure good participation from everyone. He added that other individuals had also lent their expertise and commented on the large depth of intelligence that existed in the community and the residents' willingness to participate. Mayor Nichols asked if there were any citizens who wished to speak and Town Clerk Bev Bender said she had an email from John McNeil who wanted the Council to know that he was opposed to hiring a consultant and wanted his opinion made part of the record. E:\BBender\Documents\Current Minutes 2004\Regular and Executive 05-06-04.doc Page 9 of 20 Councilman Kavanagh said that the focus group that meant the most to him regarding the Strategic Plan were the members of the taxpayers' focus group who had told him that they did not want to spend over $100,000 on the consultant to conduct the study. He added that he concurred and believed that the study was unnecessary, costs too much money and sent a terrible message to the taxpayers to spend too much too soon after a fiscal crisis. He said between this and the addition of Staff positions, a poor message was being sent and stated the opinion that there was not that much left to plan in the Town. He further stated that in terms of years, Fountain Hills was a "young" Town, 30 years old, but in terms of boundaries and growth, the Town was more like "middle aged"or"late middle aged". He noted that the Town's last major subdivisions had already been plotted and planned and said they were a Town with very limited responsibilities. He said that large projects that remained included Desert Vista Park and said they did not need a consultant to tell them when that should be done. Councilman Kavanagh added that some people wanted a performing arts center and others wanted community pools. He said that although he wanted to get input on those items, he did not believe they needed to hire a consultant for that type of work. He stated the opinion that they could conduct their own public meetings to identify issues. For a very small amount of money, if they identified the major items that they needed to plan for, they could hire Dr. Merrill at ASU who had done surveys and scientific studies. He commented on past studies that had been conducted and said that the proposed study appeared already "flawed" since the foundation, "vision, mission, and values", was removed from the study. He added that the Town could do it themselves and although it might not be as "fancy" or contain as many "catch phrases", the same product could be done locally and less expensively. He said he would not support approving the contract. Councilman Archambault stated that this was not just about reaching build out, but deciding and defining what the needs and wants of the population at build out were going to be. He added that it was no different than Del Webb when he defined Sun City. He knew what that particular community needed and what groups he had to target. He commented that they had a diverse Town and needed to focus on that diversity and what it would be past build out. He said that he had done strategic planning for his business and looked at the long term. Vice Mayor Melendez clarified that he was not against the Strategic Plan but it was the method before them that he objected to, not the dollars. He noted that Mr. Eisenlohr had left the meeting and could not respond to any questions. He questioned Mr. Eisenlohr's interest level in the project. He expressed the opinion that the Strategic Plan process was premature and too expensive and added that he had spoken with four Mayors. All of them agreed that the Strategic Plan was a good thing to have but the dollar amounts invested were way overboard when compared to the other dollars that would be invested as far as Staff. They said, "hold back"and that was all he was trying to do. He reiterated that he agreed a Strategic Plan was important but he was not happy with the method with which it was being delivered or the answers he received to his questions. Councilwoman Ralphe indicated support for the contract and said she believed they needed to do some strategic planning. She stated that the whole goal was to solicit input from the citizens and making it easy for them to do so. She added that at some point in time the Strategic Plan would have to be amended but looking back over her last four years in office without a plan, the Council kept having to reinvent the wheel with every single issue and time was wasted. She expressed the opinion that this would benefit the Town and the citizens by streamlining the operation. Councilwoman Stevens stated that she had not yet decided how she would vote but said she did support having a Strategic Plan in place. She added that the plan would be the vision for the Town and serve as a roadmap. She said she believed there were a number of items the community would like to provide input on. She made a quick list of 15 critical items that she herself would like to give input on in the coming years. She stated that the Strategic Plan process was "doomed" without solid leadership behind it. She said although she did not see solid leadership behind it among the current Council, in one-month new people would serve and questioned whether the leadership would be behind the Strategic Plan after the election. She questioned whether the current Council should make the decision tonight since three members were not going to really be involved in it. E:\BBender\Documents\Current Minutes 2004\Regular and Executive 05-06-04.doc Page 10 of 20 Councilwoman Stevens also expressed concerns regarding the proposal and added that although she liked their phasing, it seemed that they were looking to redo the entire organization and that was not where she wanted this to go. She noted that there were specific issues that she wanted public input on and added that the proposal costs more money than she anticipated. She had hoped they would be in the $25,000 to $30,000 range. She commented that they were asking for a part time or full time person as well and questioned what the firm would actually be doing for over $100,000. She asked whether the project could be done in-house, using the survey company and going from there. She further stated that she would like to hear from the public on this matter. Mayor Nichols commented that he was a very strong supporter of strategic planning and said that two key words this evening were "inclusion" and "continuity". He pointed out that the Town had grown by 100% over the last ten years and there was a large turnover of the people in Town. He stressed the importance of determining their vision and what they were willing to pay for it. He added that producing a Strategic Plan required a certain set of skills not available on Staff and emphasized that the plan must be looked at as a capital investment. The Mayor spoke in support of investing the money, obtaining a good basic plan, and moving forward. He added that he envisioned setting up a Strategic Planning Advisory Committee, composed of seven residents, who would be charged with the responsibility of keeping the plan modified and alive. He noted that every two years the Town experienced a change in government and again emphasized the importance of continuity and spending the money to obtain a good, solid plan. He said the plan would give the Town a basis for going forward and could be modified for the sake of continuity in the future. The Mayor asked if there were any speakers wishing to comment on this agenda item. Janice Abramson, 15226 E. Verbena Drive Ms. Abramson stated that she had enjoyed a long career in marketing research and strategic planning and volunteered to assist in the review of proposals received by the Town. She said she firmly believed that Maximus possessed the credentials necessary to facilitate the Town's plan. She added that in terms of the cost, her concern was that the firm was not asking for enough money and said the price tag was not excessive for what they would provide. Ms. Abramson stated that her experience had shown that the most critical factor in the success of a Strategic Plan was senior management ownership on the part of the Mayor and Council. She added that this meant much more than simply writing a check. It meant involvement and support of the process from the beginning through implementation. She spoke in support of putting review procedures in place and periodically updating and expanding the residents' vision, needs, and desires for the Town. She expressed the opinion that the Strategic Planning process was a wise investment for the Town and requested that the Council approve the contract. Keith McMahan, 17124 E. Salida Drive Mr. McMahan indicated his opposition to entering into a strategic planning contract with Maximus at this time. He questioned the current need for a plan and said that planning had been a part of Fountain Hills since the beginning. He noted that they started out with a Master Plan comprised of mostly land use and development guidelines and stated that it had been revised several times over the years to meet changing conditions and served the Town well. He spoke in support of utilizing local talent and expertise and noted that Staff would be doing a significant amount of the work. He recommended that the Council table this issue until the first meeting in June when the new Council would have the opportunity to study and act on the proposal. Ed Kehe, 16620 N. Agate Knoll Mr. Kehe stated that he had long been an advocate for strategic planning. He added that over the last few weeks he had the opportunity to interact with citizens and certain recurring themes had come up all the time, one of which was fiscal restraint. He said that he had two areas of concern. First, he noted that the contract was open ended and contained a renewable clause, which suggested that it would go beyond the 14-month term; and second, an essential component of the program as presented was the hiring of an Assistant Town Manager at a cost of $79,000 to $112,000 annually. He expressed the opinion that a conflict existed between budgetary restraints and dealing with a strategic plan. He expressed the opinion that budget considerations, including the possible hiring of an Assistant Town Manager, should occur prior to awarding a contract for the Strategic Plan. E:\BBender\Documents\Current Minutes 2004\Regular and Executive 05-06-04.doc Page II of 20 He recommended that the concept not be "dropped" but that more time be allowed for public input and debate. He asked that this item be continued for an additional two weeks (May 20th)or to June 3rd Bob Deppe, 16247 N. Boulder Drive Mr. Deppe said that he had talked to many people over the last nine months and a high degree of apathy existed in the Town due to mistrust of the Council. He stated the opinion that if the Council was directly involved in conducting a survey, citizens would not participate because they felt it would be a waste of time. The perception was that the Town would do its own thing; that the Council was biased and would generate a questionnaire for sampling that was designed to solicit the answers they wanted from the citizens. He explained that was why he supported the hiring of a consultant to carry out this type of work. He agreed that the matter should probably be discussed in June and emphasized that a consultant rather than the Council should conduct the study. He commented on the fact that Mr. Pickering and Staff identified 13 focus groups and stated the opinion that the Fountain Hills Citizens for Preservation, a group he was a member of, was not targeted. He added that this significant group of people should be heard. Phil Gaziano Mr. Gaziano addressed the members of the Council and indicated that he was not in favor of awarding the contract to the consultant for the development of a Strategic Plan. He commented on the benefits of reaching out to over 1400 citizens over the past six weeks and reported that the consensus was that the Mayor was doing a fine job. He added that the five year Strategic Plan was not very well understood but citizens applauded his efforts. He noted that the citizens did not endorse the use of consultants but would rather than the Town enlist the internal resources the Mayor previously noted in his original campaign. He further stated that establishing a task force under the mantle of the Fountain Hills Civic Association, spearheaded by the Mayor, the Town Manager, Vice Mayor Melendez, the four former Mayors, Planning and Zoning and Parks and Recreation Commission, Frank Ferrera, Chamber Director, Roxanne Boryczki, Chamber President, Vladimir Hulpach, Tourism, Roy Kinsey, John Wyman, Frank Jakubs, Rich Schulz, Peg Tibbetts, and Fountain Hills Theater Director Val Stasik could give lessons in working together to achieve a common goal. He added that the Fountain Little League Chair as well as the Chairs of Pop Warner through soccer, HOA boards, the PTA, the School Board, the Superintendent of Schools plus any qualified citizen willing to participate should be asked to participate in the formation of a Strategic Plan. He said that Sheriff Arpaio should also be considered and internal Town resources should be used. He urged the Council to utilize public talent and enhance the public's perception of the Town Council. Jay Schlum, 17114 E. Fairway Circle Mr. Schlum commented that he empathized with Town staff, as they were asked to issue an RFP and present their recommendations to the Council. He stated the opinion that the Workshop that was held in Scottsdale did not effectively seek out community involvement to identify the mission, vision and values. He added that the RFP that was issued did not cover that very critical role and might not have asked for what they are really looking for in the end. He noted that much had changed over the last year, particularly the Town's financial picture, and the Council would soon change. He said he looked forward to a strategic planning process that would involve significant public input and added that the process itself was almost as important as the ultimate outcome. He emphasized the importance of significant involvement and achieving a common goal. He stated that he supported strategic planning but stressed community involvement. He also expressed concern regarding the cost of the current proposal. John Turner, 17135 Calaveras Mr. Turner informed the Council that he contacted Arlington, Texas, and confirmed that Maximus was an extremely qualified company. He added, however, that other issues should be looked at. He noted that Arlington has a population of 350,000 people and their strategic plan dealt mainly with aging infrastructure. They did not ask or want public input, they simply wanted to deal with the priorities of correcting the infrastructure. He said he also called Richmond Hill, Ontario, a city of 220,000 people, and they had a collective sense of what the Town was looking for—what do the people want. He reported that they too hired a consultant and said it cost them a significant amount of money. During the first five years, the cost was over E:\BBender\Documents\Current Minutes 2004\Regular and Executive 05-06-04.doc Page 12 of 20 $500,000 and, in Arlington, after the initial survey, a two-day seminar cost $25,000. He said he also contacted Winchester, Massachusetts, population 20,000. They did it themselves and got consultants for free. He added that they contacted colleges and got people to help them with the paperwork. They had the most specific strategic plan that he had seen and it dealt mainly with steering committees that looked over every single item on the plan. He recommended that the Town of Fountain Hills also do the project in-house. Bob Tripp, 16410 E. Tombstone Mr. Tripp stressed the importance of"straightening out" the basic fundamentals before proceeding, i.e. the fire district, the recent water problem, road repairs, law enforcement issues, etc. He said that after that, if the financial resources are available, they could pursue an extensive process through internal, local planning. He stated that what scared him about the presentation this evening was the fact that only cities were talked about, not small towns like Fountain Hills. The Mayor thanked all of the speakers for their comments. Councilman Kavanagh MOVED to table this item to the first business meeting in June (with the new Council) and Councilwoman Stevens SECONDED the motion. Councilman Kavanagh stated that it was obvious all of the people who may potentially be seated on the Council were either opposed to this issue or had serious concerns regarding it that they would like to have answered. He said that since they were the people who would be involved in the process, it was only right to delay consideration until after they were seated and could have a say in it. Vice Mayor Melendez said that Ms. Abramson commented that it was crucial if not vital that whenever the plan was put together that the Council be involved and supportive and agreed that the new members of the Council should participate in this issue. Loy The Mayor called the question. The motion CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY (7-0). Mayor Nichols declared a brief recess at 8:25 p.m. and the meeting reconvened at 8:35 p.m. AGENDA ITEM #8 — QUARTERLY REPORT FROM THE FIRE DEPARTMENT AND LAW ENFORCEMENT. (Copies of the PowerPoint Presentation are on file in the Clerk's office.) Fire Chief Mark Zimmerman and Maricopa County Sheriff's Office Captain John Kleinheinz addressed the Council relative to this agenda item. Chief Zimmerman highlighted a brief power point presentation and discussed the 3rd quarter of 2003-04. He reported that the total call volume had increased and noted that a number of winter visitors were still in Town. He added that snake calls were down (non-emergency calls) and referred to a call type comparison chart. The Chief also discussed average response times, which were slightly lower than the second quarter and advised that a significant amount of physical type training occurred during this period. He noted that the average monthly training hours per firefighter was 18, only two hours under the average, and added that fire prevention activity and said there was a huge increase in plan review for the quarter. Chief Zimmerman outlined activities for the quarter and stated that the new brush truck, acquired when the fire district was taken over, had been refurbished, and put into service. The Department participated as EMS standby at the Chamber's Great Fair. In addition, they completed the annual business inspections and began the annual fire hydrant inspections. He noted that all Fountain Hills crews attended a Mass Decontamination Drill for Mass Casualty Incident training. The semi-annual OSHA training was completed and the Chamber of 41160 Commerce recognized Rural/Metro for 30 years of membership. In response to a request from Councilwoman Nicola, Chief Zimmerman advised that the Department did not prepare flow charts for hydrant pressure and explained that that was not part of the hydrant inspection process. E:\BBender\Documents\Current Minutes 2004\Regular and Executive 05-06-04.doc Page 13 of 20 He added that he could provide the Council with information relative to which hydrants per district were found in any way to be in need of repair. He said every two weeks they sent a report to Chaparral City Water (CCW) listing the needed repairs and they go out and fix them. He said that if they find a hydrant that is completely out of service,they call CCW right on the spot and they send someone out to look at it. It is typically repaired within 24 hours. Councilwoman Nicola said she would be more comfortable receiving information on a regular basis relative to the hydrants that were in working order and the Chief indicated he would try to put such a report together for the next update. Chief Zimmerman stated that Staff keeps track of the hydrants that were out of order and checks on them to ensure they have been repaired. He said for the most part, their system was effective and the hydrants were repaired in a timely manner. He explained that out of order hydrants were supposed to be tagged. Without benefit of updated technology at this time it was difficult to advise the trucks of inoperable hydrants on the spot. Vice Mayor Melendez said that his most important concern was medical and fire response times and the Chief noted the number of fires that occurred in 2003. He said he would provide information on response times for those fires. Sergeant Chuck Siemens, representing the Maricopa County Sheriffs Office, which has a new district in Fountain Hills (District 7), addressed the Council and said that the Sheriffs Department as well had seen an increase in calls for service and reports taken, mainly due to the winter visitors. He explained that Uniform Crime Report (UCR) data was collected by the FBI from over 17,000 Law Enforcement Agencies across the country. It was broken down into two main categories: violent crimes (homicide, sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault) and property crimes (burglaries, stolen vehicles and thefts). He noted that the data was broken down and used to calculate crime rates nationally and in metro areas. Sergeant Siemens reported that a criminal homicide occurred in February, which increased the average. He discussed sex crimes (adult and minor), robberies (maintained zero against an average of 9.74), aggravated assaults, which dropped by one for the total average, burglaries, which experienced a slight increase of three for the quarter, stolen vehicles, which also slightly increased by three, thefts that also increased, traffic citations were considerably higher for this quarter than the last and traffic accidents increased as well. There were no questions from the Council and the Mayor thanked the speakers for their presentations. AGENDA ITEM #9 — PUBLIC HEARING TO RECEIVE COMMENT ON ORDINANCE 04-07, WHICH IS A ZONING ORDINANCE TEXT AMENDMENT THAT WOULD ALLOW ADMINISTRATIVE APPROVAL FOR CUTS GREATER THAN 10 FEET FOR BASEMENT/WALKOUT STRUCTURES; CASE ZTA2003-09. Mayor Nichols declared the public hearing open at 8:55 p.m. Senior Planner Dana Burkhardt provided a brief overview of this agenda item. He said that in November a joint Study Session between the Town Council and the Planning and Zoning Commission took place to discuss a possible amendment to the cut and fill regulations. Mr. Burkhardt stated that in 1995, the initial cut and fill waiver ordinance was adopted, primarily as a result of the fact that the Council wanted to restrict the amount of cuts and fills, particularly in the construction of roadways and larger improvement projects that had visual impacts as well as a few smaller residence. He reported that at the conclusion of the meeting, the Council directed Staff to prepare a text amendment to the existing cut and proposed ordinance. He said that the proposed Zoning Ordinance Text amendment would allow administrative approval for cuts greater than 10 feet for basement/walkout structures. The existing ordinance does not present substantial problems and is consistent with other progressive hillside communities. The Council's primary concerns had been the maximum depth tolerance for unexposed cuts (as discussed during E:\BBender\Documents\Current Minutes 2004\Regular and Executive 05-06-04.doc Page 14 of 20 recent basement cut waivers) and how unexposed basement cut waiver requests could be expedited. He noted that it was the consensus of the Council and the Commission that unexposed cuts had virtually no visual or Le aesthetic impact on the community. Mr. Burkhardt further stated that the Council and the Commission agreed that exposed cuts beyond ten feet should continue to be reviewed on a case-by-case basis through the current waiver process and should be discouraged. Similarly, fill waiver requests exposed more structure above grade in most instances, which contradicts most hillside communities' design guidelines and was strongly discouraged. Mr. Burkhardt reported that Staff had developed the proposed ordinance, which contains five criteria to be reviewed as part of the administrative review procedure to approve waivers or cuts beyond 10 feet. The criteria are: 1. Projects should not be developed with a visible flat pad site used by retaining walls; 2. All portions of the cut in excess of the 10 feet would need to be concealed by the building façade for the most part; 3. The natural grade should be re-established on the profile of the house; 4. The total depth of the cut would not exceed 24 feet at any point; 5. The overall building height, from the lower finished floor, would not exceed 40 feet directly above that point. Mr. Burkhardt stated that the Planning and Zoning Commission recommended approval of the ordinance with the exception of provision number five, which they felt was too restrictive, and asked that it be removed from the ordinance. He added that the Commission also requested that a graphic be included in the ordinance. Mr. Burkhardt referred to slides displayed in the Council Chambers and explained the various details. He noted that the Planning and Zoning Commission and Staff recommended approval. Mayor Nichols asked if there were any citizens wishing to speak on this item. Tony Woodrel, 16230 N. Edgewater Mr. Woodrel, President of the Fountain Hills Licensed Contractors Association, said that he believed the organization represented hundreds of property members. He stated that he appeared before them before on some of the cut and fill matters and spoke in support of the proposed ordinance. He added that the proposed ordinance makes it much more "homeowner friendly" for the customer to come to Staff and receive approval. He also commented on the time that would be saved as well as architectural fees they would not have to pay. He advised that he was building a $4 million home in Fire Rock and said it will need a cut because it wold have an indoor pool. He said that when the Council allowed the cut to happen, they would be increasing the Town's tax base. He strongly recommended that the Council approve the proposed text amendment. Ken Kreuter, 15729 E. Chipolata Street Mr. Kreuter stated that he was a Fountain Hills' licensed contractor and spoke on behalf of the licensed contractors in Town. He said that in many cases this would actually reduce the overall impact of homes by allowing homes to be set further into the ground. He added that it would also help with driveway slopes, which had a maximum of 18% in Town. He said that lowering the house would allow them to build flatter driveways, which was always a plus. He commented that the Town had an opportunity to be proactive and minimize the impact on new homes through the environment. He said that requiring each individual property owner to take an issue to the Council could result in a loss of buyers since oftentimes people became frustrated with the system and chose to build elsewhere. He spoke in support of more user-friendly laws and asked the Council to approve the proposal. E:\BBender\Documents\Current Minutes 2004\Regular and Executive 05-06-04.doc Page 15 of 20 Ed Kehe, 16626 N. Agate Knoll Mr. Kehe addressed the Council and said he appeared before the Planning and Zoning Commission approximately a month or so ago because he had concerns regarding this particular amendment and stated that he would like to pass that concern on to the Council. He stated the opinion that the aesthetics, the beauty and the appropriate use of the land in the Town was based on a strong set of codes and ordinances and upon quality builders like Mr. Kreuter and Tony Woodrel. He commented that when rules and regulations that had served the Town well were changed he became uneasy. He requested that Mr. Burkhardt display an elevation that he previously discussed and said there were two things he was concerned about. He stated the opinion that the amendment was very ambiguous as far as the definition of basement. It stated totally or partially underground. He emphasized the importance of the words "shall" and "should" and said they have totally different meanings and therefore when he sees the word "or" in the document, he wonders what type of situations were opened up by a definition that included the word "or." Mr. Kehe also expressed concerns regarding the potential height of buildings depending on how many "step downs" the builder put in. He said the possibility existed to see multitudes of homes that appeared to be on a level of 50 to 75 or 80 feet high and many with glass enclosures facing the eastern rising sun. He requested that the Council consider the general welfare beyond the individual lot owner and said that many people in the community would be impacted by their decision. The Mayor thanked everyone for his or her comments and declared the public hearing closed at 9:10 a.m. AGENDA ITEM #10 — CONSIDERATION OF ORDINANCE 04-07, WHICH IS A ZONING ORDINANCE TEXT AMENDMENT THAT WOULD ALLOW ADMINISTRATIVE APPROVAL FOR CUTS GREATER THAN 10 FEET FOR BASEMENT/WALKOUT STRUCTURES; CASE ZTA2003-09. Councilman Kavanagh MOVED to adopt Ordinance 04-07 as unanimously recommended by the Planning and Zoning Board and Councilwoman Nicola SECONDED the motion. Councilwoman Stevens said that she would not support the motion and commented that although she was interested in development and was in that business, she believed the proposal "pushed the envelope" way too far. She added that she was surprised to see 24 feet because that was not part of the Work Study Session. She was under the understanding it was going to be 16 or 18 feet, which seemed overly deep to her. She advised that part of her concern had to do with the finished product that they would be seeing but said her main concern was that something cut that deep would prolong the construction and disruption to the neighborhood. She stated that if they had areas that were all new with any neighbors around it would not be an obstacle, but that was not the case and there were many large vacant lots available. She commented that she might consider something a little less restrictive. She said that this was her last year on the Council and she always believed the Town needed sensitive and sensible development. She expressed the opinion that this type of waiver did not allow for sensitive development and went against everything she had advocated throughout her tenure on the Council. Councilwoman Ralph stated that she too would not support the waiver. She believed very firmly that it was not right in accordance with the General Plan, not right for the present, and definitely not right for the future. She read from the General Plan (the current version adopted by the Council and voters) and stated that there were six goals that they had written down as a Town to govern growth. One of them was "to encourage developments that preserve and protect natural resources." She pointed out that many of the homes that would be built in Town would be built on the mountain and said if the McDowell Mountains were not a natural resource, then she was not sure they had any or many. She emphasized that the mountains were a valuable natural resource. She also discussed the dimensions and how it would change things since it would allow a builder to dig 24 feet down into the mountain, for example, and also go 30 feet up. Councilwoman Ralphe said that Staff called this approximately four and a half stories high and said she heard the word "excessive" and that was not right for the Town. She added that as far as the future, there would be much building going on in the mountains and stated that in 50 or 60 years, the houses that were built there are E:\BBenderr\Documents\Current Minutes 2004\Regular and Executive 05-06-04.doc Page 16 of 20 going to crumble and fall or would be torn down by owners who wanted to build something new. She noted that what they would be left with if the ordinance was approved would be massive excavations, massive pits where kily the mountain had been dug out in some cases 24 feet deep. She stated that as a member of the Council she could not in good conscience condone moving forwarding in this manner and said she believed that if they did go forward, history would judge them very severely and negatively. Councilwoman Nicola said she was happy to see this being brought forward since she had asked Staff where the Town's basement ordinance was. She said that people in the Town live in a mountainous area and had the right to build within the current environmentally sensitive ordinances that were in place. She added that she had watched the ordinances over the last 14 years and everyone knew that at some point in time this issue was going to have to be addressed. She expressed the opinion that not everyone allowed to would dig 24 feet down into the mountain because it would be cost prohibitive. She said that she would support the proposal. She said that Staff had done a very good job and she trusted that the Zoning Administrator would look at each request on a case-by-case basis and continue to do what was right for the Town. Councilman Kavanagh spoke in support of the issue and said that the cuts would be totally hidden and under the house. He stated the opinion that if someone wanted to dig deep to have a basement, had the money to do it and no one could see it, then it was his or her business and would not impact anyone. He added that no building would occur if they were concerned about noise. He emphasized that government had no business telling people what to do in this area. He noted that the Town Attorney stated that it was unconstitutional to deny someone this right when it did not impact anyone. He added that it was long overdue and represented a refreshing change. Councilman Archambault referred to the November 13th minutes of the joint meeting between the Council and the Planning and Zoning Commission (Page 3 of 6, fourth paragraph) and noted that Commissioner Brown stated that it was hard to work with a 10 foot cut and keep up and that a 12-foot cut would be easier. He added that on the following page they discussed invisible cuts and said what he remembered about that meeting was that they wanted to have approval for basements. He stated that he was trying to figure out how Staff came up with a 24-foot maximum cut since 24 feet were not needed for a basement. Mr. Burkhardt responded to Councilman Archambault's question and said that the definition of a basement was rather loose, people digging into the earth basically, even walkouts. He stated that the 24-foot maximum depth came about due to the fact that a majority of the hillside communities did not have a maximum tolerance. The City of Phoenix and the County had no maximum and Phoenix might be at 30 feet, and Paradise Valley and Tucson were at 30 feet. He said that most of them referred to the geotechnical reports and other mechanisms were in place to maintain the grades, sloping and excavation on properties. Many of the communities in California said as long as they had an engineering report that showed house walls that were holding it up would not fall, they were fine with it happening. He added that he did not see any other ordinance that said 24 feet and discussions occurred relative to a maximum tolerance and 24 feet was decided upon. He said it was to keep people from going more than two stories underground. Councilman Archambault expressed concerns regarding small building pads at Adero Canyon and Eagle's Nest but said he would put his trust in Staff and support the amendment. Mayor Nichols called the questions. Upon tabulation of votes it showed: The motion CARRIED by majority vote (5-2). Councilmembers Ralphe and Stevens cast the nay votes. AGENDA ITEM#11 —CONSIDERATION OF THE ADOPTION OF THE MAXIMUM AMOUNT FOR THE FISCAL YEAR 2004-05 TENTATIVE BUDGET WITH APPROPRIATE DIRECTION TO PUBLISH SAID DOCUMENT IN ACCORDANCE WITH STATE LAW. Mayor Nichols stated that this item was to approve a maximum amount for the fiscal year 2004-05 tentative budget and noted that at the May 20th public hearing, citizens would have another opportunity to discuss this E:\BBender\Documents\Current Minutes 2004\Regular and Executive 05-06-04.doc Page 17 of 20 item when the details were reviewed. He said that right now they were basically taking a look at a housekeeping item to establish the maximum amount in accordance with State law. Town Manager Tim Pickering provided a brief overview of this agenda item and thanked the Council for their hard work on the budget. He said that the Workshop would begin airing on Channel 11 on Monday. He said this was a step that marked the beginning of the budget process and allowed the Town to begin to publish the tentative budget in the newspaper and invite citizens to attend the public hearing. He noted that the proposed maximum total amount was a little over $29.2 million, which represented an increase but took into account phase two construction of the civic center. He added that next year there would be a big decrease. He said the thing to look at was the General Fund, which is approximately $14 million, about $1 million less than three years ago. He pointed out that the Town was operating with approximately one-third less employees than it did two years ago and general spending remained down and they were still holding the level of the Town's operating expenditures. Mr. Pickering added that ideas discussed last night would be incorporated into the document prior to the May 20th meeting and commented on the fact that there was approximately $1.5 million in grant funding which provided great flexibility. The Vice Mayor commended Mr. Pickering and Ms. Ghetti on their hard work. He said that this was the best budget he had seen although he did not agree with all of the numbers. Councilman Kavanagh agreed with the Vice Mayor and said they were basically performing an administrative function at this time. He said he did not support all of the items in the budget, including new positions, and he would address that at the public hearing. In response to a question from Councilman Kavanagh, Mr. Pickering clarified that the Council had the ability to adopt the budget on May 20th if they wished rather than on June 3rd. Discussion ensued relative to setting a time to adopt the budget. Mr. McGuire pointed out that agenda items were "set" by three members of the Council, including the Mayor,giving direction to Staff and said that they could discuss the matter on May 20`h. Councilman Kavanagh asked whether the Council could direct the Council at this time to schedule the final vote on the budget when the new Council was seated. Mr. McGuire responded that direction may be given at this time or they could wait until the public hearing. Councilman Kavanagh said he would like to direct staff to do so and the Mayor agreed that it was the consensus of the Council to proceed as recommended by Councilman Kavanagh. Councilwoman Nicola MOVED to accept the maximum amount for the fiscal year 2004-05 Tentative Budget in the amount of$29,242,636.00. Councilwoman Stevens SECONDED the motion. There were no citizens wishing to speak on this item. The motion CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY (7-0). The Mayor reiterated that the agenda item at the May 20th meeting would be for a public budget hearing and discussion but not approval. Mr. Pickering reminded the Council that items might be removed at that time but not added. AGENDA ITEM #12 - COUNCIL ASSESSMENT AND REVIEW OF THE MEETING TO IDENTIFY PROCEDURAL STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES AND DISCUSS POSSIBLE IMPROVEMENTS FOR FUTURE MEETINGS. There were no items to discuss at this time. E:\BBender\Documents\Current Minutes 2004\Regular and Executive 05-06-04.doc Page 18 of 20 AGENDA ITEM #13 — 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) OR DIRECTING STAFF TO CONDUCT FURTHER RESEARCH AND REPORT BACK TO THE COUNCIL: A. VICE MAYOR MELENDEZ: PLACING THE DISCUSSION OF ALTERNATIVE FIRE SERVICES FOR THE TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS ON A FUTURE AGENDA FOR ACTION. Vice Mayor Melendez said that this was his last month on the Council and he wanted to go back to the January Retreat when this issue was listed among the "magnificent seven." He stated that the new Council would be looking at this in the near future and he believed it important that this matter be considered urgent. He said he and Councilman Kavanagh were asked to work with the Scottsdale community and government and Councilman Archambault and Councilwoman Nicola worked with Cave Creek and some other cities but he had not seen any action on this and he was worried. He said that the Town recently received some adverse financial news with respect to the stock of Rural Metro and said he did not have "warm and fuzzy feelings" for Rural Metro. He saw problems down the road. The Vice Mayor said he wanted to make sure that he commented in public that one of the first items that the new Council should address was to look at an alternative plan for fire protection because the Town was at risk. Councilwoman Nicola said she attended the fire district meeting for Rio Verde and had talked with Cave Creek and Carefree, which were on subscription service and were not willing to enter into a contract. She added that mutual aid must be discussed and other cities and towns encouraged to join in. She said the Council had been talking about this for the last year and a half and she would support sitting down, working with Staff, and moving forward on some mutual aid plans with neighboring communities for fire service. Councilman Archambault pointed out that$56,000 was included in the current budget for a contingency plan for Lyfire service and Mr. Pickering explained that that was the cost of half of a Staff member to develop a plan and ensure that the Town was covered. Mr. Pickering stated that they had a year or so before Scottsdale had their plan and that would have an effect on the Town. He added that at the next meeting the Rural Metro contract would be considered. He said that he and the Chief had been looking into different options and said that although all of them will be pursued. The one that clearly stuck out was having our own fire department. He said he felt more comfortable with Rural Metro than others but that was because he had been negotiating with them and was familiar with the contract. He added that he believed one day they would have their own department because it would be difficult to partner for the needed services. Councilman Archambault suggested that the Council should have a Work Study Session on this. Councilman Kavanagh said as far as Scottsdale, he and the Vice Mayor had delayed contacting Scottsdale pending the results of their upcoming election. Councilwoman Nicola agreed that this important issue must be addressed and the Town would have to have mutual aid agreements in place to avoid future problems. The Mayor said it was the consensus of the Council that this item be placed on a future agenda pending the outcome of the upcoming Scottsdale election. AGENDA ITEM#14—SUMMARY OF COUNCIL REQUESTS BY TOWN MANAGER None requested. AGENDA ITEM#15—ADJOURNMENT Councilwoman Stevens MOVED that the Council adjourn and Councilwoman Ralphe SECONDED the motion, which CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. The meeting adjourned at 9:45 p.m. E:\BBender\Documents\Current Minutes 2004Utegular and Executive 05-06-04.doc Page 19 of 20 TOWN 0 OUNTAIN HILLS 7-7 By LA 4 i Wally Nichol) I'ayo' ATTEST AND PREPARED BY: Bevelyn J. Ben ler,Town Clerk CERTIFICATION I hereby certify that the foregoing minutes are a true and correct copy of the minutes of the Regular and Executive Session held by the Town Council of Fountain Hills on the 6th day of May 2004. I further certify that the meeting was duly called and that a quorum was present. DATED this 20th day of May 2004. ii Bevelyn J. Bide ; own Clerk .41 E:\BBender\Documents\Current Minutes 2004\Regular and Executive 05-06-04.doc Page 20 of 20