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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2008.1014.TCWSM.Minutes TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS MINUTES OF THE WORK STUDY SESSION OF THE FOUNTAIN HILLS TOWN COUNCIL OCTOBER 14,2008 AGENDA ITEM#1 - CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL—Mayor Schlum Mayor Schlum called the meeting to order at 5:01 p.m. ROLL CALL—Present for roll call were the following members of the Fountain Hills Town Council: Mayor Jay Schlum, Councilmember Ginny Dickey, Councilmember Mike Archambault, Councilmember Keith McMahan, Vice Mayor Henry Leger, and Councilmember Dennis Contino. Town Manager Rick Davis, Town Attorney Andrew McGuire and Town Clerk Bev Bender were also present. Councilmember Cassie Hansen joined the meeting at 5:10 p.m. AGENDA ITEM#2—DISCUSSION OF THE TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS' ART GUIDELINES Parks and Recreation Director Mark Mayer reviewed the process, acceptance, and installation of public art by the Town as proposed in the draft public art manual. Mr. Mayer detailed the steps followed to date providing a recap of discussions held with the various stakeholders. He stated that the outcome of the discussions was a consensus of the group. Mr. Mayer reviewed the recommendations of the group as outlined in his staff report. He stated that after the Council's review and input this evening, the intent was to take the information and allow the Town Attorney to revise the public art guidelines. The document would be brought back to the Council for their review at the second meeting in November. Mr. Mayer introduced Mr. Jerry Miles who represented both groups that had worked on the recommendations, the Public Art Committee and the Fountain Hills Cultural and Civic Association, which is the umbrella over the Public Art Committee. Mr. Miles stated studies consistently showed a high correlation between income and the education level of a community and the emphasis that community placed on the arts. He further stated that there was a high correlation between the educational achievements of communities' young people and the degree of their exposure to the arts. He stated the opinion that a community's involvement in the arts contributed to tourism and visitor appeal. Mr. Miles reviewed the various Town art contributions to date, pointing out that Fountain Hills had more than 50 pieces of public art. He stated the opinion that, discounting the major museums in the area, UCLA may be the only one who had a better outdoor sculpture collection than Fountain Hills and noted that they had been working on their collection for over 50 years. Mr. Miles reviewed the process followed by the Public Art Committee and clarified the funding and installation of Town art. He stated that of all the art in Fountain Hills only three pieces had been purchased by the Town and that all others had been from private sources: donated gifts by individuals, groups, organizations, or MCO. He explained that to date every piece of public art installation, except one, had been paid for out of the public funds and, in most cases, installation was a very small expense or none at all. He addressed the fact the Council adopted a 1% art fund by ordinance. Developers of commercial and industrial buildings were now required to purchase approved art by the committee for their property or they may donate the money to the Town's Public Art fund. In November, the first piece will be revealed that was purchased from this art fund. He noted that with the tight budget in mind, the $25,000 might not be needed to install art this year as there were not many pieces that required much in the way of expensive installation. He reviewed the process the Art Committee followed and stated that they bought what donors were willing to fund. In response to Councilmember Dickey, Mr. Miles stated the reproduction of pieces were not original pieces of art; and that the bronze works were limited editions and the stone works were one of a kind. He explained that Z:\Council Packets\2008\R11-6-08\10-14-08 Work Study Minutes.doc Page 1 of 4 the committee looked for unique original art pieces and that maintaining high standards paid off. Councilmember Dickey commented that part of the criteria for the selection of art was that it was produced by a Liy professional artist (e.g. education, background). Mr. Miles stated that some of the art had been acquired from private art collections. Councilmember Dickey asked if the use of the public art fund (1%) was defined somewhere, what were the parameters of the fund, and how could it be used. Mr. Miles replied that was found in the ordinance. Finance Director Julie Ghetti further clarified that a separate fund had been created to stay true to the intent, which was included in the adopted budget called the public art fund. As a separate fund it could go to zero, the fund balance could be carried forward, and the fund could only be used for public art as according to these guidelines. Councilmember Hansen questioned if the Committee was considering a follow-up assessment of the art as was done in 1994. Mr. Miles stated not at this time but there might be an interest to do so at some point in the future. In response to Vice Mayor Leger, Mayor Schlum clarified that tonight would be used for comments and feedback. Mr. McGuire stated he would like the end result to be that all the documents be combined into one or two documents. Staff was looking for those areas with which the Council did not agree otherwise he would review the documentation for legal conflicts. Vice Mayor Leger thanked Mr. Mayer and all involved for creating this document. He commented on a Public Art Committee meeting that he had attended stating that it was impressive to see the members in action as they reviewed potential pieces. He noted that they were a very passionate group who took their job very seriously. Vice Mayor Leger reviewed his proposed changes to the Policies and Procedures Manual: Section 5, page 6 of 8, Paragraph#3, take out "could be useful" and replace with "on an ongoing basis the following will be the basis for allocating installation cost." Item #1, remove "should include the cost of installation" and replace with "will include the cost of installation." Item#2,remove"should also be the source" with "will also be the source." Item#3, add"unless otherwise donated." Section 6, page 7 of 8, Item# 6, add "with Town staff and appropriate Commissions as to the location of the work". Item#7,remove "for approval"and replace with"for consideration." Vice Mayor Leger commented that he had wanted a way to allow for public input and to enhance the public art program while not turning donors off. Councilmember Archambault agreed with Vice Mayor Leger regarding the recommendations and that this took the political end out of the process. He stated that the fund needed to be used wisely for public art. He commended staff and the Art Council for a great job and he thanked Mr. Miles for his concise presentation. Councilmember McMahan also thanked Mr. Miles for the presentation and stated it was very comprehensive and informative. In response to a question by Council member McMahan, Ms Ghetti stated that the Public Art Fund balance currently was about$30,000. Mr. Mayer clarified for Councilmember Archambault that the fund came from commercial or multi-family La, developers and included new, re-development, or expansion projects of 5 or more units. They may purchase and place art on their property or contribute 1% to the public art fund. Z:\Council Packets\2008\R11-6-08\10-14-08 Work Study Minutes.doc Page 2 of 4 In response to questions from Councilmember Archambault, Mr. McGuire stated there would be a contribution from the Ellman project's commercial development and resort property portion although it would be a small amount. The re-development of the Bashas' Center would also contribute to this fund. Councilmember Archambault stated there was limited commercial development in Town; however, the Town's commercial areas would always be generating funds due to redevelopment. He commented that the Town might want to contribute to the fund in the future and that the Council could revisit the ordinances if necessary. He reiterated that the funds needed to be used wisely and to get the biggest bang for the bucks. Councilmember Dickey commented on the idea of community and concurred with all the valuable things previously stated, while acknowledging the current economic climate. She referenced a discussion the Council held in 2006 relating to placing demands on businesses such as this and that it was something that some would see as frivolous; however she expressed that the Council and the Commission would need to continue to bring forward this kind of thing. She pointed out that these were the types of expenditures that people would challenge and that she did not think this was something that the Council could ever stop doing. In response to Councilmember McMahan as to what the status was of the Teddy Roosevelt statue, Mr. Mayer stated that SRP was celebrating the contributions of Teddy Roosevelt the entire month that was to end in early November. The intent was to move the piece to the approved location in Fountain Park with the dedication of the piece scheduled for November 22, 2008. Mr. Mayer confirmed for the Council that when the digging took place for this piece, it would be done very slowly and carefully keeping in mind that the Time Capsule of 1991 might be present. Mr. Miles confirmed for Councilmember Hansen that they receive input and feedback from the appropriate commission and organizations such as the library and/or museum when art pieces were placed in the courtyard area. Councilmember Contino thanked Mr. Miles and the Commissions for all the work they do and commented that lbw the art looked fine. Mayor Schlum thanked all those who spoke and presented information about the Town's public art. AGENDA ITEM #3 — REVIEW OF THE TOWN COUNCIL STRATEGIC PLANNING SESSION HELD ON OCTOBER 3,2008 Mr. Davis reviewed the rankings of the Council retreat, commenting that three themes had emerged from this exercise: relationships building, economic development and business vitality, and quality of life enhancement. He explained that the plan was to administer the same exercise to the department heads and key officials and compare results in preparation for the joint meeting between staff and the Council on January 9th. The exercise had been designed to start talking about what was important. Mr. Davis complimented the staff on playing good defense to keep the budget in good condition as Fountain Hills was not in the same situation in which other communities found themselves. Councilmember Archambault stated that it was mentioned in a newspaper article that Fountain Hills was not suffering from the downturn ramifications because we have such a good budget director. Ms. Ghetti was thanked. Mayor Schlum stated in light of the financial crisis in the country we are not only on the defense, we still know that the economic development and business vitality is on the front burner. This was needed to sustain the Town now and in the future. He stated that the Council retreat exercise was great and the entertainment by Aimee was appreciated. clov. Z:\Council Packets\2008\R11-6-08\10-14-08 Work Study Minutes.doc Page 3 of 4 In response to Vice Mayor Leger's question as to how Mr. Davis envisioned the Council's recent exercise would correlate with the Strategic Plan, Mr. Davis stated that he had recently met with the Strategic Planning Advisory Commission (SPAC) who were moving forward to identify some broad areas (through the citizen's survey) with plans for the suggested survey to take place after the first of the year. He reviewed that independently each SPAC commissioner would review the strategic plan and provide feedback to their chair as to what items could be modified, adjusted, or eliminated. The information would be presented to Council once compiled. Chairman Tyler had mentioned the strategic plan should be consolidated into broader areas with the Council's goals. Vice Mayor Leger stated that he was glad to hear the Council top 10 were to be included and that he felt that Mr. Davis' idea of SPAC integration was refreshing. Mayor Schlum commented that the Town Council was in alignment with SPAC's goals for years 5—7. AGENDA ITEM#4 -ADJOURNMENT Councilmember McMahan MOVED to adjourn the meeting and Councilmember Dickey SECONDED the motion, which CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY (7-0). The meeting adjourned at 6:10 p.m. TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS By T. Schlum,Mayor ATTEST AND PREPARED BY: Bevelyn J. en r, Town Clerk CERTIFICATION I hereby certify that the foregoing minutes are a true and correct copy of the minutes of the Work Study Session held by the Town Council of Fountain Hills in the Council Chambers on the 14th day of October 2008. I further certify that the meeting was duly called and that a quorum was present. DATED this 6th day of November 2008. Bevelyn J. Be er, own Clerk L Z:\Council Packets\2008\R11-6-08\10-14-08 Work Study Minutes.doc Page 4 of 4