City Council Meeting

Meeting location: City of Apache Junction, Arizona City Council Chambers at City Hall Meeting Minutes 300 E Superstition Blvd Apache Junction, AZ City Council Meeting 85119 www.ajcity.net Ph: (480) 982-8002 This document may not reflect the most current legislation adopted by the City of Apache Junction and is for convenience and informational use only. For further information on the official version of council meeting minutes please contact the Apache Junction City Clerk’s office at (480) 982-8002. Tuesday, November 19, 2013 7:00 PM City Council Chambers A. CALL TO ORDER Mayor Insalaco called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. B. INVOCATION AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Councilmember Wilson gave the Invocation. C. ROLL CALL Present: 6- Mayor Insalaco Vice Mayor Barker Councilmember Evans Councilmember Rizzi Councilmember Serdy Councilmember Wilson Absent: 1- Councilmember Waldron Staff Present: City Manager George Hoffman Assistant City Manager Bryant Powell City Clerk Kathleen Connelly City Attorney Joel Stern Public Safety Director Tom Kelly Public Works Director Giao Pham Finance Director Donna Meinerts City Engineer Emile Schmid Others Present: Public Works Manager Shane Kiesow Program Coordinator Heather Patel D. CONSENT AGENDA Yes: 6- Mayor Insalaco, Vice Mayor Barker, Councilmember Evans, Councilmember Rizzi, Councilmember Serdy and Councilmember Wilson No: 0 Vice Mayor Barker MOVED THAT THE CONSENT AGENDA BE ACCEPTED AS PRESENTED; AND City of Apache Junction, Arizona Page 1 City Council Meeting Meeting Minutes November 19, 2013 THAT APPROVAL BE GIVEN FOR RESOLUTION NO. 13-37, A RESOLUTION OF THE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF APACHE JUNCTION, ARIZONA, COMMITTING LOCAL FUNDS AS LEVERAGE FOR FY 2013 STATE SPECIAL PROJECTS {"SSP"} APPLICATIONS{S); AND THAT APPROVAL BE GIVEN FOR RESOLUTION NO. 13-35, A RESOLUTION OF THE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF APACHE JUNCTION, ARIZONA, REAFFIRMING RESOLUTION NO. 08-07 FOR THE CROSSROADS REDEVELOPMENT AREA AND CROSSROADS REDEVELOPMENT PLAN FOR THE SOLE PURPOSE OF QUALIFICATION OF FUNDING UNDER THE COMMUNITY BLOCK GRANT PROGRAM. Councilmember Wilson SECONDED THE MOTION. VOTE: Unanimous. The motion carried. 1. 13-349 Acceptance of agenda. Consideration and action. 2. 13-350 Approval of minutes of regular meeting of November 5, 2013. Consideration and action. 3. 13-353 Consideration of approval of Resolution No. 13-37, committing local funds as leverage for the city's fiscal year 2013 State Special Project application for improvements to the Pueblo del Sol neighborhood in the amount of $50,000.00. Consideration and action. 4. 13-354 Consideration of approval of Resolution No. 13-35, reaffirming Resolution No. 08-07 designating the Crossroads Redevelopment Area. Consideration and action. E. AWARDS, PRESENTATIONS AND PROCLAMATIONS 5. 13-346 Presentation of the Meritorious Citizenship Award to Daniel and Lisa Kelly by the City of Apache Junction Police Department. Presentation. Mayor Insalaco and Public Safety Director Torn Kelly presented the Meritorious Citizenship Award to Daniel and Lisa Kelly for their assistance in a homicide investigation. F. ANNOUNCEMENT OF CURRENT EVENTS Councilmember Wilson announced Saturday, November 23rd, at 9 a.m. Lisa Bennett has gotten several organizations together to perform another open space clean up at the north end of Prospector Park. Councilmember Wilson announced this past week Paws and Claws and Pinal County Animal Control had a shot clinic and licensing event at the greyhound park. Councilmember Wilson announced parks and recreation had a Turkey Trot Marathon last Saturday morning. Councilmember Wilson announced the parks and recreation department and Superstition Horsemen's Association held the Little Buckaroo Rodeo for kids. Councilmember Wilson announced Paws and Claws had their annual pets pictures with Santa Claus. He thanked all the volunteers and staff that assisted. City of Apache Junction, Arizona Page 2 City Council Meeting Meeting Minutes November 19, 2013 Councilmember Wilson read a letter from the mayor and city council to the Chamber of Commerce board thanking them for their hard work in making the Festival of the Superstitions a success. He presented the letter to Peter Heck l board chair. Vice Mayor Barker commented Arizona Winter Visitors Day was held on Monday at Barleen's Dinner Theater. It was standing room only even outside. Councilmember Evans announced Gustavo McGrew has been awarded the Wellness Professional of the Year. Mountain Health and Wellness was awarded Agency of the Year. Councilmember Serdy thanked Larry and the Chamber of Commerce. Mayor Insalaco announced he used to be a member of Central Arizona Governments but with the Airport Board he does not have the time. He has turned Central Arizona Governments over to Councilmember Waldron. The city also belongs to Maricopa County Association of Governments Vice Mayor Barker is the representative there. He presented a magazine called MAG AZ ine a publication that comes out quarterly. This edition has a regional piece on Apache Junction with the vice mayor. Vice Mayor Barker commented Maricopa County Association of Governments is becoming more important to us as we grow and as they grow. The partnerships they have developed via Maricopa County Association of Governments have been invaluable to the city helping us with roads and all kinds of things. G. CITY MANAGER'S REPORT 6. 13-214 City manager's report. Presentation and discussion. City Manager George Hoffman commented Shane Kiesow will have a presentation on roads later, but he wanted to show the council a video from Matt Busby on the road work. He added Emile Schmid has been promoted to City Engineer. H. PUBLIC HEARINGS 7. 13-355 Public hearing on and consideration of proposed Resolution No. 13-36, authorizing the submission of fiscal year 2014 Community Development Block Grant and fiscal year 2014 State Special Project grant applications. Public hearing and action. Yes: 6- Mayor Insalaco, Vice Mayor Barker, Councilmember Evans, Councilmember Rizzi, Councilmember Serdy and Councilmember Wilson No: 0 Program Coordinator Heather Patel briefed the council on the item. Mayor Insalaco opened the public hearing on the item. Ms. Elizabeth Detlivson Garman, 185 N. Apache Trail, Apache Junction, representing Community Alliance Against Family Abuse, addressed the council. They annually serve 96 participants in their shelter, half of which are children, and 38% are from Apache Junction. Once they are in the shelter, 100% of them become Apache Junction residents. All of their participants fall under the federal poverty level guidelines. It would fall under the limited clientele Heather spoke about. The City of Apache Junction, Arizona Page 3 City Council Meeting Meeting Minutes November 19, 2013 funding request is to repair a building on the property. They would remodel the building, improve site security, improve parking and improve the current shelter. They have two rooms in their original building they use for storage. They would like to convert those two rooms to offices. Staff does not have any meeting space to talk to clients about their experiences. Currently they use the dining room table which is not ideal. They cannot use the children's therapy playroom in the storage building as it is locked. They would like to give the children the opportunity to use it. There is an Arizona room they would like to tear down and make into an enclosed space. It would become a storage area and a bed bug decontamination area. It would allow them to address that costly problem, one of the less fun sides of residential services. They have to repair significant termite damage one of the storage rooms is missing a ceiling because it fell in. For the site security, their block wall is between 5' and 6' high in certain areas. They would like to raise it to eight feet. Someone jumped their block wall this summer, making it a safety concern although no one was hurt. They only have two paved parking spots but they can be seen from the road. Women and children fleeing domestic violence do not want to park in those spots. They park in a dirt lot behind the shelter. They have potholes back there and when it rains it washes out. They would like to tile the floor in the shelter building. It is currently linoleum and it is pulling up in some places. The cost is estimated and it would be a competitive bid process. A domestic violence shelter is a critical service for the people who stay with them and the public safety of the community. Mayor Insalaco closed the public hearing on the item with no one else wishing to speak. He reopened the item to council discussion. Vice Mayor Barker asked how the Community Alliance Against Family Abuse request would be received. They try to look at, when they put in for the Community Development Block Grant and State Special Project grants, what the state is looking at and what they are awarding money for. We try to slot ourselves into those categories so we have a better opportunity to receive grants. She asked what they are looking at in terms of the type of request Community Alliance Against Family Abuse is making. Program Coordinator Heather Patel stated the Community Development Block Grant program is different from the State Special Projects program. The Central Arizona Governments region is allotted a specific amount of money from the Community Development Block Grant program. As long as we submit an application that is an eligible activity, then it will be funded. For the State Special Projects program, where it is competitive, they look at many different factors. This type of activity is recommended for the Community Development Block Grant program. Vice Mayor Barker commented the staff recommendation on the emergency repair program offers $15,000 per residential structure. Program Coordinator Heather Patel stated it is a maximum of $15,000. Vice Mayor Barker commented there are eight potential residences they could offer emergency repairs for. Program Coordinator Heather Patel stated that is correct. Vice Mayor Barker commented the Community Alliance Against Family Abuse people are looking at 30 to 90 people that would be served. She would like to see the Community Development Block Grant funding go to Community Alliance Against Family Abuse. Councilmember Serdy asked how many they can apply for. Program Coordinator Heather Patel stated they can do one application under each program. The one that showed the most benefit to the most residents was the commercial rehabilitation. City of Apache Junction, Arizona Page 4 City Council Meeting Meeting Minutes November 19, 2013 Vice Mayor Barker stated we already have that. Councilmember Serdy stated we do. Vice Mayor Barker commented they did that in 2013. So that is done. They have just not started the program yet. Councilmember Serdy commented he likes the ones that serve the most people. He thinks Community Alliance Against Family Abuse helps more than just, you know, it would be nice to be able to help everyone. In a moment's notice someone needs that. Councilmember Wilson commented they are asking for $109,000. He asked if they would apply just for the $109,000. Program Coordinator Heather Patel stated they would take the maximum amount, if it is $120,000 or $104,000. Whatever it is, they would have to see if Community Alliance Against Family Abuse could put some in, too, in order to cover it all or they could remove something from their list. Mayor Insalaco closed the discussion with no further comments and called for a motion. Vice Mayor Barker MOVED THAT RESOLUTION NO. 13-36, A RESOLUTION OF THE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF APACHE JUNCTION, ARIZONA, AUTHORIZING THE SUBMISSION OF APPLICATION(S) FOR FY 2014 STATE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT REGIONAL ACCOUNT ("CDBG") FOR THE COMMUNITY ALLIANCE AGAINST FAMILY ABUSE REQUEST, AND FY 2014 STATE SPECIAL PROJECT ("SSP") FUNDS AND CERTIFYING FOR THE PUEBLO DEL SOL PHASE 2, AN ALTERNATIVE OF GRAND, OCOTILLO, MAIN, PENDING THE FY SSP 2013 GRANT APPLICATION OUTCOME; CERTIFYING THAT THE APPLICATION(S}; (1) MEETS THE IDENTIFIED HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT NEEDS; AND (2) IS NECESSARY FOR IMPLEMENTATION AND COMPLETION OF THE ACTIVITIES OUTLINED IN THE CDBG AND SSP APPLICATION(S), BE APPROVED. Councilmember Evans SECONDED THE MOTION. VOTE: Unanimous. The motion carried. 8. 13-357 Public hearing on and consideration of proposed Ordinance No. 1395, amending the City of Apache Junction City Code, Chapter 4, Fees, by adding Article 4-2, Returned Payment Fees with the emergency clause. Public hearing and action. Yes: 6- Mayor Insalaco, Vice Mayor Barker, Councilmember Evans, Councilmember Rizzi, Councilmember Serdy and Councilmember Wilson No: 0 City Clerk Kathleen Connelly briefed the council on the item. Finance Director Donna Meinerts gave an additional briefing on the item. Vice Mayor Barker commented it was excellent. Councilmember Rizzi commented it was reasonable. Mayor Insalaco opened the public hearing on the item. There being no one wishing to speak, he City of Apache Junction, Arizona Page 5 City Council Meeting Meeting Minutes November 19, 2013 closed the public hearing and reopened the item to council discussion. There being no further discussion, he called for a motion. Councilmember Wilson MOVED THAT ORDINANCE NO. 1395 BE READ BY TITLE ONLY WITH THE EMERGENCY CLAUSE AND THE READING OF THE ENTIRE ORDINANCE BE WAIVED. Vice Mayor Barker SECONDED THE MOTION. VOTE: Unanimous. The motion carried. City Clerk Kathleen Connelly read the ordinance by title only with the emergency clause. Councilmember Wilson MOVED THAT ORDINANCE NO. 1395, AS READ BY THE CITY CLERK, BE APPROVED. Vice Mayor Barker SECONDED THE MOTION. VOTE: Unanimous. The motion carried. I. OLD BUSINESS None. J. NEW BUSINESS Public Works Manager Shane Kiesow briefed the council on the item. Mayor Insalaco commented what scares him is Apache Trail. If it goes down, look at the businesses. It is our main drag. If we do not protect that road, no one will go to those businesses downtown. He asked as it is right now, how much longer they could go with the road in that condition. Public Works Manager Shane Kiesow stated he would discuss that later and continued with his briefing. Vice Mayor Barker commented it is not that they do not have questions. They are trying to formulate anything that is a workable solution. Mayor Insalaco asked if he could say how long the Trail would last before it goes and has to be completely dug up and redone. Public Works Manager Shane Kiesow stated in the last two years the eastbound gutter lane from Meridian to Ironwood is showing some structural deficiency. He anticipates that area expanding within the next couple of years. They are talking about reconstruction versus overlay. Councilmember Rizzi asked if the speed limit has anything to do with how quickly a road deteriorates. Public Works Manager Shane Kiesow commented it is not so much the speed limit but it does have an impact at intersections. Sometimes there is major braking at intersections and shoving of the pavements. They may see some warping of the pavement at intersections. However, the City of Apache Junction, Arizona Page 6 City Council Meeting Meeting Minutes November 19, 2013 speed does affect ridability. When you slow down it is not so bad. Councilmember Rizzi commented if they had a speed limit of 25 to 30 miles per hour it wouldnot have any effect on the road deteriorating any quicker than what the speed limit is now. Public Works Manager Shane Kiesow stated it would not. Councilmember Wilson asked what would need to be done right now on the Trail for the condition it is in to bring it back up. Public Works Manager Shane Kiesow stated they have been doing a lot of problem-solving over the last few years for the treatments that are needed and still be fiscally responsible. Apache Trail has significant distresses from Meridian to Idaho and beyond up to Winchester. The majority of that could be addressed with an overlay which is $10 to $12 a square yard. However, they do have structural failure in the eastbound gutter lane between Meridian and Ironwood where they are looking at $50 a square yard. They would rather get that portion now before it expands. The total cost would be about $2 million which would be a spot reconstruction for the part that is in bad shape and an overlay on the rest of the Trail. Mayor Insalaco asked what it would cost to fix that street four years from now if they do not spend that $2 million now. Public Works Manager Shane Kiesow stated that size of reconstruction and need right now would probably double and they could probably add on at least a half million dollars. If they wait another three or four years they could double it again. Some of distresses, the transverse cracking, are very hard to determine because of the weather. They could have another really rainy season and it does a job on the streets. This past rainy season is really the normal rainy season. We just had a real, long dry spell. If we continue with the normal rainy season, Apache Trail will depreciate faster. Mayor Insalaco asked the city manager where we get the money. City Manager George Hoffman stated that is a great question. He thinks they have to have a dialogue with the community about this issue. He thinks it needs to start with where it is starting now, which is technical staff identifying a problem. In his observation, people typically do not buy into solutions if they do not perceive there is a problem. What some of them are doing with the neighborhood meetings is they are going out and beginning the conversation, beginning the dialogue, about roads. Staff is thinking there is a problem, and they will be trying to find out what they, the citizenry, feel. If they also perceive a problem, then they may be willing to engage in a discussion of solutions. There is a happy note tonight and that is the state legislature has built back up their rainy day fund. They have done it through, in part, your contributions of a declining road system. They have swept highway user revenue funds to fund state operations. Congratulations to the state legislature, they have the power to take residents' money from this community and they did so. Perhaps one solution is for them to stop balancing their budgets on the backs of the state's road system. That will not fix the entirety of the problem. Even if they restored all the money they took he thinks the math would suggest there is a big problem. He does not think they will do that. Maybe they will stop taking additional monies. That is one thought. The second thought would be to look at their overall budget. Certainly there must be some money somewhere. They could look at the general fund budget. The challenge with the general fund budget is roughly half of it goes for public safety. He assumes they do not want to reduce public safety to fix the streets. It is an operating assumption he is making. They have lots of little departments. They have tiny departments: city manager's office, finance, and city clerk. They could cut them all by one-third and it does not get you anything. That leaves the parks and recreation department and the library. They have been cut dramatically over the years. When they City of Apache Junction, Arizona Page 7 City Council Meeting Meeting Minutes November 19, 2013 do economic development, they talk about quality of life. Councilmember Serdy, a strong advocate for business development, talked about the importance of that last night and how we need to do more to tell that story and make the world aware of those events. Those bring people into our community; they make it a good quality of life. If they say they are not going to get much if anything out of the existing budget, which has had severe cuts, not as much as public works, but severe cuts that have not been restored, if they cannot fix the problem with the state giving the money back, if they cannot get it out of the existing budget, it leads to the conclusion there would be a new revenue source. In his opinion it is probably premature to talk about the new revenue source in any degree of detail because the community has to talk about the issue and decide whether they really think it is a problem or not. If they think it is really a problem, then they may be inclined to work towards a solution. Right now he is reaching out to the business community and starting that dialogue. At Peter Heck's last board meeting he encouraged that when this presentation is done, he will send out the Granicus link and hope the Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors watches that segment of the video and they begin to grapple with the issue from a business perspective. Today he reached out to Mr. Mark LeResche who is associated with the Superstition Business Owners group. He asked him to talk to the board to see if that board wants to grapple as a business organization with roads as a topic for consideration. The first step is to begin the dialogue and they have that underway. He thinks that needs to happen. As the council talks to the community, get a real sense of whether or not they perceive it to be a problem. Staff will do some work to possibly engage a market research firm so they can reach out to a broader segment of the community and do some statistically reliable and valid sampling to see if we can get sense of where the community is at on the issue. He commented he did not give a silver bullet answer, he gave more of a process answer. He is not sure there are easy answers on this. That is why it has not been resolved before. He thinks reaching out to the legislature will help and they were in a tough spot. It is easy for him to be frustrated with them because he cares about this community and he saw what it did to the roads in this community. Hopefully they can reach out to them and say, okay, you did what you had to do but would you please stop. Councilmember Rizzi asked if there would be any cost savings, not knowing what it would cost to curb and what it would take, in reducing the number of lanes we have on Apache Trail that we have to do the upkeep with. One of the reasons she asked this question and the one with the speed limit is, being a business owner and talking to other business owners, she has heard a lot about why we do not have a main street more like Mesa where we have fewer lanes, the speed limit is slower and it gives people more opportunity to see the businesses. She does not know if they can even answer that right now. She is just wondering and curious to know if there would be any cost savings in reducing the lanes on Apache Trail. Public Works Manager Shane Kiesow stated that is a strategy some jurisdictions are doing I especially in the Midwest. They had a lot of rural paved roads and they decided to put them back to gravel again. It is a viable strategy and it is a strategy they have looked at for some of our rural roads to lower the maintenance. He will let Giao speak on Apache Trail. Councilmember Rizzi commented her thought is to widen the median. Public Works Director Giao Pham stated that is something they have talked to the downtown TAC about. The ramification is that short term it might be a good idea, but long term 30 years from now, light rail may come from Mesa. It comes down the median. If we make all these improvements on our right-of way and roadways, we will have to tear it up again. There are ramifications of short term fixes versus what do we as a community, want to have Apache Trail look like; want pedestrian friendly or a drive by for the strip malls. Those are things we need to talk about; what do they want for the look and feel of the Trail system. They have to get input from everybody. It is easy to restripe things. It is easy to tear up and say it is two lanes but then they will not have a winnable situation. They did that with North Apache Trail where they reduced the City of Apache Junction, Arizona Page 8 City Council Meeting Meeting Minutes November 19, 2013 speed limit to 15 miles per hour and there have been some complaints. The majority of people love it but some of them say it is too slow. They need to go a direct route. Those are things we need to wrestle with not only in the short term but also in the long term. Councilmember Rizzi commented it definitely adds to the pedestrian friendly. Mayor Insalaco commented they have work to do. City Manager George Hoffman agreed. Vice Mayor Barker commented she thinks it would be beneficial for her if she had some of the before and after pictures that he showed and a little bit of less technical verbiage to use when she is talking to people because seeing is believing. She thinks that would be very helpful to her and possibly the other council members if they could have that kind of material. Public Works Director Giao Pham stated they are in the process of compiling before and after pictures. They will print up 8/5 x llUs so they will have them when they go to the meetings. They are trying to take the same shot of before and after of a bunch of projects they have done in the last four or five years. They might also do DVD so they can give those if they want them. Mayor Insalaco commented get a few good shots of Apache Trail, getting down there to get those cracks. Councilmember Wilson commented they need to get the problem roads out there as well. They have not been done so they need to show what needs to be done. If they are looking at what has been completed, they are not looking at what still needs to be done. Public Works Director Giao Pham stated from a technical standpoint, he is an engineer; they have to tell a better story. Those are things pictures do with aerial photos. It will say to the community here is what you get for your money and what you will get afterwards. Councilmember Rizzi commented they understand it; they just have to help the community understand the situation. This was a discussion item only. Mayor Insalaco closed the discussion with no further comments and moved on to the next item. 9. 13-351 Presentation and discussion on the current status of the city's streets. Shane Kiesow, Public Works Manager, will provide Information as to the condition of the city’s streets and status with meeting service level objectives. Presentation and discussion. K. COUNCIL DIRECTION TO STAFF None. L. SELECTION OF MEETING DATES, TIMES, LOCATIONS, AND PURPOSES Vice Mayor Barker MOVED THAT AN EXECUTIVE SESSION AT 5:45 P.M. AND A WORK SESSION AT 7:00 P.M. BE HELD ON MONDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2013, IN THE CITY COUNCIL CONFERENCE ROOM AND CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS RESPECTIVELY; AND THAT AN EXECUTIVE SESSION AT 5:45 P.M. BE HELD ON TUESDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2013, IN THE CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS. City of Apache Junction, Arizona Page 9 City Council Meeting Meeting Minutes November 19, 2013 Councilmember Evans SECONDED THE MOTION. VOTE: Unanimous. The motion carried. 11. 13-227 Executive Session at 5:45 P.M. and Work Session at 7:00 P.M. for Monday, December 2, 2013. 10. 13-226 Executive Session at 5:45 P.M. for Tuesday, December 3, 2013. Other meetings if necessary. M. CALL TO PUBLIC N. ADJOURNMENT Mayor Insalaco adjourned the meeting at 8:30 p.m. City of Apache Junction, Arizona Page 10