HomeMy WebLinkAbout2008.0630.TCSM.Minutes TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
MINUTES OF THE SPECIAL SESSION OF THE
cor FOUNTAIN HILLS TOWN COUNCIL
June 30,2008
CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL
Mayor Schlum called the Special Council meeting to order at 6:00 p.m.
ROLL CALL - the following members of the Fountain Hills Town Council were present: Mayor Schlum,
Councilmember Contino, Councilmember Leger, Councilmember Hansen, and Vice Mayor Dickey. Interim
Town Manager Kate Zanon and Acting Town Clerk Janice Baxter were also present. Town Attorney Andrew
McGuire attended via conference call.
Councilmember Archambault and Councilmember McMahan were absent.
AGENDA ITEM #2 - CONSIDERATION OF CALLING A SPECIAL ELECTION ON NOVEMBER 4,
2008 FOR THE PURPOSE OF SUBMITTING TO THE QUALIFIED ELECTORS OF THE TOWN OF
FOUNTAIN REFERENDUMS 2008-RF001-01 AND 2008-RF002-02 AND DIRECTING THE TOWN
MANAGER, THE TOWN CLERK, AND TOWN ATTORNEY TO PREPARE ALL MATERIALS AND
TAKE ALL STEPS NECESSARY TO ENSURE COMPLIANCE WITH APPLICABLE LAW.
Interim Town Manager Zanon provided a brief overview stating that the petitions had been reviewed by the
Town Clerk and the Maricopa County Recorder as required by state law. The results being that there were
sufficient signatures for the referred items to be placed on the ballot. The Council had the option to call a
Special Election between 90 and 150 days from when the certification was presented and the November 4, 2008
Election date fell within that timeframe. She noted that notification to the county was required by July 7, 2008
with ballot language provided by July 22, 2008. The Town's next regular election would be held in March of
2010.
Ms. Baxter confirmed for Mayor Schlum that no one from the public wished to speak on this item.
Councilmember Dickey MOVED to call the Special Election for November 4, 2008, regarding Referendum
#2008-RF001-01 &Referendum#2008-RF002-02 and Vice Mayor Leger SECONDED the motion.
Councilmember Dickey asked for clarification on the terminology of initiative versus referendum regarding a
state vs. town matter since this was not referred by the governing body. Town Attorney McGuire responded the
state and local were not that different. The only true distinction was that it one was voter initiated either at the
state or local level and the one was initiated because or by an act of the governing body and that would be
referenda whether on the state or local level. It was a unique power of state government in post instances to
have referenda because they would involve questions that would be advisory and cities and towns do not have
the power to have advisory opinion given by referenda for that purpose. Cities and town citizens were granted
the right by State Constitution to refer or challenge a Council's decision.
Councilmember Dickey stated that while she appreciated the right of citizens to refer a Council's legislative
action she was sorry that that the lower density, park, additional cul-de-sac, realignment of Fountain Hills
Boulevard and traffic mitigation efforts were not acceptable to the petition gatherers and signers. She noted the
importance of moving quickly on this matter in order to contain taxpayers' election costs, to minimize the
Town's exposure to Prop 207 claims, noting that waiting would delay relief that the increased population would
bring to Town businesses, delay relief to the faltering budget by adding this tax base, and delay relief to state
shared revenues. She added that she regretted this sign of confidence, that is, that the Ellman Companies
purchased the property and their desire to develop it in Fountain Hills during these particularly bad economic
cie, times could be deflated and that the potential employment opportunities for engineers, architects, builders,
realtors and others would be jeopardized. She restated that since the 2003 battle had been lost to preserve the
state trust land there was now a need to provide value to the entire community since development was
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inevitable. She offered that this development to expand the community was perhaps the single most business
friendly action a Council could take, along with the zoning changes that were made in the downtown area that
(110 would secure the best outcome for our local economy. She expressed that there would be questions in the next
few months if all vote aye tonight. Councilmember Dickey stated that claims of fiscal responsibility, protection
of taxpayers' dollars and business friendliness should be examined in light of who was in support for this
referendum. In addition she asked that those with environmental preservation concerns review the records from
1998-2003 regarding those efforts for historical accuracy. Councilmember Dickey expressed her support for
this motion to call for the election.
The motion CARRIED by majority vote of those present(5-0).
AGENDA ITEM #3 - CONSIDERATION OF APPROVING THE AGREEMENT BETWEEN TYLER
TECHNOLOGIES, INC. AND THE TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS FOR THE INSTALLATION,
TRANSFER OF TOWN DATA AND TRAINING OF THE NEW ENTERPRISE WIDE SOFTWARE
SYSTEM IN THE AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $158,900 INCLUDING FINANCIAL RECORDS,
BUILDING PERMIT DATA, LICENSING DATABASE,AND CODE ENFORCEMENT.
Finance Director Julie Ghetti provided a brief presentation. She noted that on June 19, 2008, the Council
approved the purchase of the software and this requested expenditure was for the installation, training, and data
conversion that were budgeted in FY 08-09.
Ms. Baxter confirmed for Mayor Schlum that no one from the public wished to speak on this item.
Vice Mayor Leger MOVED to approve the agreement with Tyler Technologies in the amount not to exceed
$158,900 for the installation, transfer of Town data and training of the new enterprise wide software system as
presented and Councilmember Dickey SECONDED the motion.
Councilmember Contino asked how many cities were currently using this software; were they larger or smaller
cities. Ms. Ghetti stated that this software was specifically developed for smaller cities and that six cities had
purchased it so far. She was aware that one additional city was looking at purchasing the software. It was
primarily targeted for cities and town that were the size of Fountain Hills. Councilmember Contino asked how
Fountain Hills integrate with the larger cities if we needed to share information. Ms. Ghetti responded that
Fountain Hills would not necessarily integrate with cities and town but would be able to provide the same type
of information and that most cities and town use something different. Councilmember Contino asked what the
annual maintenance fee would be. Ms. Ghetti responded that the annual maintenance would be about $50,000,
which included all updates to all of the various programs and service. The maintenance fee would cover
unlimited access to customer service in addition to any updates. Councilmember Contino questioned if the
$50,000 was ongoing and Ms. Ghetti pointed out that the Town would not pay the$50,000 for two years.
Mayor Schlum clarified that this had come back before the Council as a component of the motion had not been
covered at the previous council meeting.
Councilmember Contino asked when the previous software was purchased 15 years ago was that software tossed
out as it did not work. He asked if staff would have problems like that this time. Ms. Ghetti responded no that
the current software had been purchased 18 years ago for under $10,000, and was designed for small not-for
profit companies and still exists and would still go on. However, the target audience was for the small non-
profits, was not very flexible, and was not dedicated towards local government, whereas this new software dealt
with local governments. Councilmember Contino questioned if the existing software would be tossed out or
used. Ms. Ghetti stated that there would be no need to keep the other service
The motion CARRIED by majority vote of those present(5-0).
AGENDA ITEM #4 - DISCUSSION WITH POSSIBLE DIRECTION TO STAFF REGARDING THE
POSSIBLE CANCELLATION OR CHANGING THE DATE OF THE AUGUST 21, 2008, REGULAR
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MEETING OF THE TOWN COUNCIL, TO AN ALTERNATIVE DATE DUE TO THE ARIZONA
LEAGUE OF CITIES AND TOWNS CONFERENCE BEING HELD THE SAME WEEK.
Ms. Zanon gave a brief overview. The fact that the Annual League Conference was to be held during the week
of the Council's regularly scheduled council meeting was brought to the Council's attention at a prior meeting
by Councilmember Dickey. She noted that most of the Council attended those conference meetings so her
intent was to provide the Council with options so as to provide the public with advance notification if the regular
meeting day of August 21st was to be changed. She noted that an alternate meeting date was being proposed was
August 25th as this date was close to regular meeting date and town staff and the town attorney were available to
attend that meeting; however, it was the Council's option to propose another date or cancel the meeting.
Mayor Schlum asked that since staff also played a role in the Arizona League of Cities and Towns Conference
did that lend itself to providing adequate preparation time of the agenda for a meeting if held on August 21st.
Ms. Zanon acknowledged that the packet would still be processed under the normal schedule with all packet
items completed prior to the week of the conference.
Councilmember Contino MOVED to change the August 21, 2008 Council meeting date to August 25, 2008, and
Vice Mayor Leger SECONDED the motion.
Councilmember Dickey announced that she would not be present for the meeting of August 25th
The motion CARRIED by majority vote of those present(5-0).
AGENDA ITEM#5—ADJOURNMENT
Councilmember Contino MOVED to adjourn the meeting at 6:18 p.m. and Mayor Schlum SECONDED the
motion. The motion CARRIED by majority vote of those present(5-0).
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
By
. Schlum,Mayor
ATTEST AND
PREPARED BY:
66(11 IF 11P,,AdA,
Bevelyn J. B j'd-,(Town Clerk
CERTIFICATION
I hereby certify that the foregoing minutes are a true and correct copy of the minutes of the Special Session held
by the Town Council of Fountain Hills on the 30th day of June 2008. I further certify that the meeting was duly
called and that a quorum was present.
DATED this 7th day of July 2008.
Low Bevelyn J. en r,Town Clerk
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