City Council

" • • Work Se s s ion of the City Council, City o f Fa rm in g t on, Ne w Me xi c o, he ld Tu e s d a y, November 1 9, 20 13 at 9:00 a.m. in th e Ex e c u t i v e Con fe re nce Room a t Ci ty Hall, 800 Mun ic i p a l Drive, Farmington, New Mexico , i n f ull co n fo rm i ty wi th t he r ules , r egulations and ordinan c e s of t he mun ic ip a l i ty . At s uc h mee t i ng t he following were present, con sti tutin g a quo rum : MAYOR Tommy Roberts CO UNC ILORS Dan Darnell Mary M. Fisc her Gay la McCulloc h Jason Sa nd e l Con s t itut ing a l l t he members of the Gove rn i ng Body . Also presen t were : ASS IS TANT CI TY MANAG ER Bob Campbe l l DEPUT Y CIT Y ATTORNEY Jenn i fer Breake l l CI TY CLERK Dianne Smyl ie DEPUTY CI TY CLERK Melody Coyner GOV ERNM EN T FI NANCE OFFICERS ASSOC I ATI ON CERTIFI CAT E OF ACHIEVEME NT FOR EXCELLENCE IN FINANCIAL REPORTI NG AWARD, DIS TIN GUI SHED BUDG ET PRESENTATI ON AWARD AND OUTSTAND ING ACHIEVEMENT IN POPULAR ANNUAL FI NANCIAL REPORTING AWARD Mayo r Rober ts proud ly anno un c e d that the Administrative Se rv ices Departmen t has r e c ei v e d t h e Gove r nme nt Finance Officers Asso ci a ti o n Cer t i f ica te o f Ac hi e v e me nt for Excellence in Financial Repor ti ng for nine teen consec u t ive years , th e Distinguished Budget Pres en t a t i o n Award f or s ix teen consecu t ive years a nd the Popular Annual Finan ci a l Reporting Awa r d for t hr e e consec u t ive years . He n o t e d t hat Farmington is one o f only eigh t mu ni ci p aliti e s i n t h e state to rece ive bo th the budget and the financia l repor t ing awards and one of two mun ic ipa l i t i e s i n t he s t a t e to receive t h e popu la r annua l f i n a n c i a l reporting awa rd . Administr a t i v e Services Direc tor Andy Mason proudly introduced Cont rolle r Eri c Schlotthauer , Budget Of f icer Teresa Emrich and Financ ial Analyst Apr i l Duncan and no ted t h a t Government Relations Director Elizabe th I s e n b er g designed the Citizen's Financial Report . Mr . Sch lo t tha ue r introd u c e d Staff Accountants Sa rah Ta lley and Earlene Roq uemore and Ut i l i ty Accountant Sheree Wi lson . Th e Mayor a nd Cou nc i l comme nded s ta f f f or their pro fessio na l ism a nd expertise a nd the presen ta t ion was conc l uded wi th a hear ty r ou nd o f app la use. FOUR CORNERS PADDLE TRAIL GROU P Az tec Mayo r Sa l ly Burbridge in t r odu c e d Rick Page of the River Reach Found a ti on who i s p resen t a t today 's meeting to respond to q u es tions from the Counc i l concerning t h e proposed Four Corners Paddle Trail p ro j ect ( "FCPT ") . Mayor Burb ridge reported that the project i s t he result of efforts by Aztec Trai ls and Open Space to bring attent ion to the trail assets in the area , inc luding the Anima s River corridor f rom north of Durango at Baker 's Br idge t o Li o n' s Park i n Kirtland an d the San Juan River corridor from be low Na v a j o Dam to Kirt la nd . Uti l i z i n g a PowerPoint presentation, she rev iewed FCPT's v is ion f or en jo yment of river recreation on 90 miles of t he Animas Ri v er and 45 mi les of the Sa n Juan River, noting that all types of r ive r recrea t ion a re p romoted (e.g. paddling adventures, p r imiti v e camping , o u ts ta nd ing scener y , e tc . ) and she explained the p o t en t i al economic bene f i t to the area . She noted t hat FCPT is consider ing app ly ing f or a "Nat i o n al Water Tr ails System" designati o n and sta ted t hat, even t h o u g h t h e designation i s through the Natio nal Park Service , th is is a l o c al, g rassroots movement and i f a nd when t he designat ion i s rece ived it wi ll be managed and ma inta ined by local g roups without fede ra l constrain ts . In addition , she reviewed t h e ex ist ing mapping o f the An i ma s and San Juan River paddle trai ls ; exp lained the benefits o f t he project inc luding quality of life , tour ism d raw , educational oppor tun ities , conservat ion awareness and economic 1  • • deve lopment ; and noted tha t t h e economic impac ts o f whit ew a t e r rec r eatio n in Durango in J u ne 2 0 06 were $19 milli on and that 5 3 6 part -time jobs are directly rel at ed t o such activities . In c lo s i ng , she revie wed the ac c omplishment s t o-date and the pr o j e ct work plan , stating that she i s anticipatin g that th e wate r trail pla n will be finalized and a do p t e d in Apr il or May 2 01 4 . She asked the Cou nc i l f or con sensus t o continue t o a llow City st a f f t o be involved in the project . In resp o nse t o inquiry fr om Mayor Roberts , Mayor Burbridge reported that there c u r re n t l y is no c ost estimat e f or development , impl ementati on and ope rati on o f the plan and explained that it will b e up t o the gover nmen ta l e n t i t i e s t o make th e budg et dec is ion s n e c ess a r y t o p r o c e e d wit h the i mp r o v emen ts (e. g . boa t l a u nc h e s , ta ke- out facilit i e s , e t c .) Brie f d isc uss io n fo l lowed r e g a r din g the r ol e o f Fou r Corners Ec on omi c De vel o pment in the proj e ct . Co u nc il or Sandel s u g ges t e d that GreenP lay , th e Ci ty 's c o ns u l ta n t f o r t he d e v e l op me nt o f a Pa rks , Recreatio n a nd Cu l tural Affairs Master Plan , conta ct Mayor Burb ridge r e g a r d i ng the projec t . Assistant Ci ty Manager Bob Ca mpb e l l agreed t o fa cilit at e the contact . Notin g that s he owns property ad jacent to the river , Cou nc i l o r Fi scher cont ended that one key t o th e su c cess of the projec t i s t o get l a nd o wners t o " b u y- i n " on t h e proj e ct and s ug ge sted that FCPT provide color -coded s ig na g e to landowners indi cating the type of a c cess that wi ll be allowed o n t he i r property . She e x p r e s s e d her support f or the project . Council or Darnell c ommended Mayor Burbridge and FCPT f or their e fforts i n dev eloping t he p roje ct. Follo wi ng brief d i scu ss ion , it was th e con sensus of t he Cou nc i l t o a l low s taff t o continue to p a r t i c i p a te in the p rojec t . COUNCIL BU S I NESS Brookhav en Park West Councilor Fi sc he r s t a t ed that she has r e cei v e d complaints a bo u t suspec ted drug dea l ing a nd drun ks b eing passed-out at Bro okhaven Park Wes t . In r esponse , Poli c e Ch ief Kyl e Westa l l st a t e d that a l l shift s have b ee n asked t o i ncrease p atrol s arou nd the pa r k , noting that they ha ve to b e ca re f u l a nd d i f fe re n t ia te b et we en dru n ke n nes s and s l e epi ng b e c a us e it i s l e g al to sl e ep in a City park . Counc i lo r Fi sc he r s tat ed tha t th ere was a s imilar problem at Brookside Park severa l years ag o but was "cleaned up " in about two weeks du e t o heavy poli ce pres en c e a nd su ggested th e same type of a cti on b e taken at Broo kha v en Pa rk West . Budget ed Expenditures /Reques t f or Detailed Report Stati n g t h a t a recent rep ort indi c a t e s that expen d itures are $ 0 .86 3 mi l l io n under budget , Coun cil or Sande l a s ke d for a det ail e d r eport on th e differences b etween budgeted and act ua l e xpenditur es by d e p artment and l i n e item . Footh ills Dr ive Wide ni ng Project Sta t i ng tha t he ha s hea rd t hat 3 0 - p e r c e nt d e si gn drawi ngs o n t h e Fo ot hi ll s Driv e wi de n i ng proj e ct ar e d ue t his wee k, Cou nc i lor Sa nde l que st io ned why the pr o j e ct i s proceeding without pu bli c in pu t. In re spo n s e , Public Wor ks Di rec to r Jeff Smaka exp l ained that the co ns u l t a n t is dra f t i ng a concep tua l pl an of the types o f a men ities that ca n f i t within t he exist ing ri g ht- o f- wa y and stated t h at s u c h plan wil l be c omplet e by th e end o f the month . Coun c i l o r Sa ndel reit er a t ed his concern th at staff i s " p u t t i n g th e ca r t bef or e the hor s e " by n ot allowing the p u b l ic a chance to provide in pu t b e f o r e proceeding wi t h t h e project . In response , Mr . Smaka re ported th a t a public me e t i ng i s scheduled f o r January 9 , 2014 at wh i c h time the co nc e p t u a l p lan will be presented f o r discussion th at wi l l inc lude a rur al s ection ; sidewalk similar to wh a t exists on th e s outhern part of Fo oth ills Drive ; and a s ep a r at e biking and walking trail from Holmes Dr ive t o Lake wood Street . 2  • Ha nd i c a p Chair at the Aquat ic Ce n te r • Sta t i ng t h at he is of te n at the Aq ua tic Ce n ter a ttendi ng h is c h i ldren ' s s wi m meet s, Co u nc i lo r Sa ndel not ed t hat a ha ndi c ap ch air desig ned f or t h e purpo s e of lif ti ng p e opl e int o t he poo l has been broken f o r a b o u t two o r three week s a nd a sked that sta ff a r r ang e t o ha ve i t re pai red . Th ere bei ng n o furt her b usi ness t o come be fore the Council , the meeting was adj ourned a t 9: 55 a . m. APPROVED thi s 10t h d ay of Dec embe r, 20 13 . SEAL ATTEST : 3