Council Regular/Special Meeting

MINUTES OF THE GILBERT TOWN COUNCIL, IN SPECIAL MEETING OF THURSDAY OCTOBER 24, 2019 AT 7:30 AM, SOUTHEAST REGIONAL LIBRARY, 775 NORTH GREENFIELD ROAD, GILBERT, ARIZONA COUNCIL PRESENT: Mayor Jenn Daniels, Vice Mayor Eddie Cook, Councilmembers Scott Anderson, Brigette Peterson, Jordan Ray and Jared Taylor COUNCIL ABSENT: Councilmember Aimee Yentes STAFF PRESENT: Town Manager Patrick Banger, Town Clerk Lisa Maxwell, Town Attorney Christopher Payne CALL TO ORDER Mayor Daniels called the meeting to order at 7:50 a.m. AGENDA ITEM There will be presentations, discussion and possible direction on the following topics 1. Environmental Services – Bulk Trash Options Paul Montes, Environmental Services Manager, reviewed the results for the National Community Survey. Gilbert was rated very highly. Environmental Services Manager Montes listed the challenges faced with picking up bulk trash. These include an increase in population and an increase in bulk materials and service calls. The department has received complaints about placement and size of bulk trash piles. There has been utility and property damage done by the trash truck drivers. The Town conducted a survey of residents with 5,160 people participating. Eighty-two percent of the respondents rated the service as fantastic or great. A majority uses the service between three and six times a year and most prefer current schedule and not an appointment-based schedule. The repair of trash cans and appliance collection is by appointment and there is no charge for these services. There is a charge when there is a call for extra bulk trash pick-up. Environmental Services Manager Montes reviewed statistics showing a decrease in complaints and the number of injuries. He also showed a comparison of bulk trash programs of other Valley municipalities. Staff ‘s recommendation is to keep program as it is now. Councilmember Ray joined the meeting for a portion of the meeting. 1 Council requested staff to explore the appointment system. Mayor Daniels felt that could solve some of the challenges they hear about such as items being put out too early or getting strewn in the street. Deputy Town Manager Leah Hubbard Rhineheimer said the department will gather input from residents on what they need. Public Works Director Jessica Marlow said staff can also explore green waste disposal. Mayor said she would like to hear back not next year, but the following year. 2. Environmental Services - Recycling Costs Environmental Services Manager Montes reviewed background information on the recycling program. A pilot program began in 1990 with Gilbert being the first municipality in the area to offer curbside pickup for single family homes. Recently China made implemented changes where they only accept recycled goods with a contamination rate of 16.83 percent. This is down from the previous rate of 50 percent. The Town was receiving $26 a ton for recyclables and they are now paying $43 a ton. It is cheaper to dispose of recyclables as trash than it is to recycle the material. Environmental Services Manager Montes went over a solutions grid. Charging a recycle fee for cost recovery would have no effect on resident habits but it would allow the Town to stay in compliance with the County mandated minimum pick-ups. Surprise, Casa Grande and Sierra Vista stopped recycling. If Gilbert did that they would have to start picking up trash two days a week to meet the number of County required pick-ups. Other municipalities have reduced pick-ups, or they have changed what items are acceptable to recycle. Tempe increased their rates for picking up recyclables. Councilmember Taylor asked what the department had done to lower costs as he does not want to increase fees. He said if an item is not being recycled today then the Town should not collect it. Environmental Services Manager Montes replied staff found efficiencies and they were looking for more ways to lower costs. Councilmember Anderson asked if there were markets other than China available. Environmental Services Manager Montes replied his department is working with Economic Development to attract companies that would use recyclable items. Mayor Daniels asked how many households have more than one recycle bins. Also, she suggested reduced pickups. She asked how does staff know the recyclables we are paying someone to take are not going to the landfill. She said she would like some guarantee. Public Works Director Marlow stated the Town does get paid for what the items sold, the problem is it is costing more to process the items then what the Town is being paid. Mayor Daniels said it is important to remember any changes made by the Town will affect schools and businesses. She suggested staff think about what items may be recyclable that is not currently being collected and whether they may be a market for those items. The sale of those items could be used to offset some of the costs. Public 2 Works Director Marlow said the change in the bulk trash pick-up schedule led to a reduction in overtime which is helping to offset some of the costs of the recycling program. Mayor Daniels made a point that the Town Council does not set the holiday schedule for trash pick-up. Environmental Services Manager Montes said workers voted to work holidays and have the weekends off instead. They vote on this schedule every year. 3. Capital Improvement Project (CIP) Program and Priorities Assistant Town Engineer Susanna Struble discussed the CIP program and the ranking of the projects. Each department ranks their projects and that value if shown in the CIP report. There are always more projects than there is funding so it is important to make sure the most critical projects are funded first. The CIP for FY2020-FY2029 lists 288 projects with a cost of $2,430,000,000. No trail improvements are included in FY2020. They are listed in the CIP, but the individual trails are not prioritized. Assistant Town Engineer Struble said staff has four requests: First to bring forward the Trail Crossing Safety Assessment from FY2022 to FY2020; second, to move the Trails Master Plan from FY2022 to FY2021 to help prioritize future trail projects and identify funding needs; third, to bring forward a portion of PR0620 from FY2021 to FY2020; and lastly, to include Trail Crossing Assessment recommendations in the potential 2020 Streets Bond Package. There was discussion about the Neely pedestrian bridge. Assistant Town Engineer Struble said currently the project is in the final design phase and staff is acquiring rights- of-way. Mayor Daniels said she felt $1,114,525 was too much for design and right-of-way acquisition for the Greenfield Road crossing. Public Works Director Marlow said right-of- way is $600,000 as it is for the entire stretch of the trail. Vice Mayor Cook asked if it was necessary to have the crossing without the property. Mayor Daniels asked if there maybe the possibility of residents donating the property or signing a long-term lease with the Town in exchange for maintaining the property. Assistant Town Engineer Struble said gathering that information will be the first step in the project. 4. Long Range Infrastructure Plan Public Works Director Marlow described the process of creating this plan. Town assets were identified, entered into the Lucity database and maintenance plans created. Parks and Recreation Director Robert Carmona said this project was a group effort and now there is one program shared by Public Works and Parks and Recreation. The Town’s GIS department also uses this data to map the underground utilities, streetlights, hydrants and the pavement assessment. 3 Water Manager Andrew Jackson, Wastewater Manager Mark Horn, Parks and Recreation Director Carmona, and Parks and Facilities Manager Marshall MacFarlane all gave examples of facilities, equipment or other assets they department has listed in the Lucity database. Mayor Daniels asked about power redundancy in lift stations. Wastewater Manager Horn replied the larger lift stations have on -site backup generators, some of the medium-sized lift stations have generators and there are three mobile generators for the smaller lift-stations. Sensors at the lift stations notify staff if there is a problem. Parks and Recreation Director Carmona said the next step is to work on asset modeling and a plan for investment to fund future needs. The fact that staff is looking at these issues now is helpful as they will have time to plan for future needs. Also, having a preventative maintenance plan will help. There will be more discussion on the long-term planning of financial needs at the spring retreat. 5. Gilbert Regional Park Parks and Recreation Director Carmona reported there were 15,000 people in attendance at the grand opening and there is an average of 20,000 visitors a week at the Park. The Falls has 200 plus people at time enjoying the splash pad. The laser light show may become an annual event at the Park. Construction of Phase 1B started the Monday after the grand opening. The amphitheater, lake, great lawn and various courts will open in the summer and fall of 2020. Parks and Recreation Director Carmona reviewed the timeline for the finalization of the design of Phases 2 and 3. Mayor Daniels said it is important to continue to reevaluate as the Park is developed to ensure what is being built is what is needed by the community. Vice Mayor Cook asked about developing Phase 3 before Phase 2 since fields are needed in the Town. Parks and Recreation Director Carmona said staff could look into that possibility. Parks and Recreation Director Carmona discussed progress at the Desert Sky Park. He noted there are 100 parking spots per field at Desert Sky Park. There was a discussion of funding options for the two parks. Mayor Daniels noted it would save money to build phases 2 and 3 at the same time. Councilmember Taylor noted the cost of the Park is higher than the initial projections. He said the Park could have been built with cash and he wants it done that way. The design would be determined by the funds on hand. There was some concern over where funding would come from for the remaining construction. Mayor Daniels said this is a long-term project that may take ten to fifteen years to complete. The Ocotillo Bridge needs to be completed first. Parks and Recreation Director Carmona said community outreach will begin in October 4 2020. After that a conceptual design will be completed in spring 2021. Town Manager Banger said one needs are addressed and the design is ready then funding sources can be determined. 6. Smart Cities Town Manager Patrick Banger said it is important for the Town to understand data and how it can be used to make decisions. Data must be available to the public, but it is also important to protect what is confidential. Vice Mayor Cook asked if the 311 app would be useful in sending surveys to the public. Chief Digital Officer Dana Berchman said Nextdoor and other social media tools are more effective for conducting surveys. The 311 app is not set up to pushing things out to public. Vice Mayor Cook asked for an update on the scooter pilot program. Development Services Director Kyle Mieras said it will be completed and staff will report back to staff in mid-2020. Town Manager Banger said the Town is responsible for protecting data that is confidential. Data is collected because it is needed for a service line delivery and it should be used to improve that service. The Town would never sell that data. Also, the Town should not ever collect data that is personally identifiable if it is not needed by the Town. Councilmember Taylor noted one slide said the Town will own raw data. He asked how that was reconciled with Personally Identifiable Information (PII). He suggested a Citizens’ Review Committee to review this. Town Manager Banger said the data open and there is an internal committee to review data before it is made available online. Chief Information Officer Sasan Poureetezadi said his goal is to make the Information Technology (IT) department into a strategic business partner. An IT roadmap and plan will help with this goal. Currently he is working to ensure there is a plan in place to address cybersecurity attacks. Chief Information Officer Poureetezadi reviewed the various cybersecurity solutions. Vice Mayor Cook said internal threats are the biggest problem in most companies. He asked how the Town is verifying whether staff is using data appropriately. Chief Information Officer Poureetezadi said IT can check if is data copied to thumb drive or Town staff needs to report if they see someone is doing something they should not be doing. Mayor Daniels noted the State Legislature is adding cybersecurity to the list of items that can be discussed in private in an Executive Session. The details of the plan will not be discussed in public. 5 Town Manager Banger said staff is looking to add a Smart traffic system to the street bond request in 2020. Small cell is in the Town now and there will be a need for a robust fiber network in the future. Councilmember Taylor compared this to the LRIP because it is all infrastructure. Deputy Town Manager Mary Goodman said there is currently a data management pilot program. 7. FY21 Proposed Wildly Important Goals (WIGs) Town Manager Banger said the WIGs were developed by the Executive Team at their fall retreat. The WIGs fall into the three strategic initiatives of City of the Future: Prosperous Community, Strong Economy, and Exceptional Built Environment Vice Mayor Cook asked about the events and whether there was an event staff was thinking of that the Town is not doing. Town Manager Banger said nothing had been finalized. One that was an having an event to attract visiting in Town for spring training. With the new amphitheater a concert series would provide residents an opportunity to get out to the Park. Mayor Daniels said she believes a signature event is too much for the Parks Department to work on right now. Staff needs to start out small and work out traffic patterns, parking and other issues at the Regional Park before planning an event there. Town Manager Banger said he will remove the events from the FY21 WIGs and staff will have further discussions. 8. Closing Remarks Mayor Daniels noted there will be a presentation and discussion at the November 7 Council meeting on leading/lagging left turns and a presentation and discussion at the December 9 Council meeting on a five-year tourism strategy. Mayor Daniels said she is grateful for time staff spends planning these events. She is proud of the work done for Town residents. ADJOURN Mayor Daniels adjourned the meeting at 3:46 p.m. ATTEST: ___________________________ ___________________________________ Jenn Daniels, Mayor Lisa Maxwell, MMC, Town Clerk 6 CERTIFICATION I hereby certify that the foregoing minutes are a true and correct copy of the minutes of the special meeting of the Town Council of the Town of Gilbert held on the 24th day of October 2019. I further certify that the meeting was duly called and held and that a quorum was present. Dated this ____ day of ____________________. ___________________________________ Lisa Maxwell, MMC, Town Clerk 7