City Council

Mayor Mark S. Nexsen Lake Havasu City Vice Mayor Don Callahan Lake Havasu City Police Facility Councilmember Crystal Alger 2360 McCulloch Blvd North Councilmember Dean Barlow Councilmember Donna Brister Work Session Minutes - Final Lake Havasu City, Arizona 86403 www.lhcaz.gov Councilmember Jeni Coke Councilmember David McAtlin City Council Tuesday, May 20, 2014 1:30 pm Budget Work Session 1. CALL TO ORDER Mayor Nexsen called the meeting to order at 1:30 p.m. 2. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE The mayor led in the Pledge of Allegiance. 3. ROLL CALL Present: 7- Mayor Mark S. Nexsen, Councilmember Dean Barlow, Councilmember Crystal Alger, Councilmember Donna Brister, Vice Mayor Don Callahan, Councilmember Jeni Coke and Councilmember David McAtlin 4. CALL TO THE PUBLIC Ms. Dianna Butler, Havasu for Youth, addressed the City Council and said she was asking for their consideration to continue funding Havasu for Youth for FY 2014/15. She added that they are continuing to find different ways to bring revenue into Fusion and into programs, but are still spending over their projected budget. Ms. Butler added that a group of college students will be doing an intern this summer to help them understand what this particular age group is interested in, which will help them become a stronger organization that is able to stand on their own two feet. She said the additional funding would go directly to programs. 5. CONTINUATION OF BUDGET DISCUSSIONS FISCAL YEAR 2014-15 City Manager Charlie Cassens advised that on May 27th staff hopes to bring to the City Council the proposed tentative budget that will include everything previously discussed and also what is included in the budget proposal today. He noted that staff has been able to accommodate all the discussions and proposals, and virtually everything referenced as wants and needs with a couple of Lake Havasu City Page 1 City Council Work Session Minutes - Final May 20, 2014 exceptions. He added that on June 10th staff will ask the City Council to adopt the CIP and the tentative budget, and further added that once the tentative budget has been adopted staff is able to reduce the budget but not add to it. Mr. Cassens noted that on June 24th the City Council will be asked to adopt the final budget. Administrative Services Director Valerie Fenske said staff has incorporated the changes that had been previously discussed regarding Wastewater and Transit. She added that the Highway User Revenue Fund (HURF) revenue has been increased and staff has also incorporated all carry-forwards and in general those related to large ticket items and CIP items. She advised that there is a total net change for all funds of $2,707,876. She explained that this relates to $1,626,826 in CIP carry-forward adjustments, $1,534,526 in operating carry-forward adjustments, a net reduction of $113,000 for the restructure of transit services, a reduction of $159,250 in election services, and other smaller items that are additional budget adjustments that accumulate to $180,000. Mayor Nexsen noted that a lot of the $1.1 million in General Fund is due to the restructure of transit, and added that because staff cannot allocate out to transit those expenditures would remain in the General Fund. Mayor Nexsen asked if those expenditures would be offset by a lower transfer, to which Ms. Fenske replied that it would be a subsidy reduction. She explained that Line 11 is an inter-cost allocation adjustment due to the restructure of transit services. Mayor Nexsen said transit was also included in Lines 12, 16, and 17, to which Ms. Fenske explained that those expenditure changes related to personnel or other charges that were directly charged to the Transit Fund that were coming from the General Fund, and added that now the General Fund needs to hold those expenditures in the General Fund. Mayor Nexsen asked if those would be offsetting adjustments, to which Senior Budget Analyst Stefanie Morris replied that those other funds which include Transit, HURF, Aquatic, Wastewater, and Water share in the cost of the General Fund support services that General Fund services provide. She said with bringing the mobility service into the General Fund, those services are going to be provided to those departments or divisions but would not be charging that division to reimburse the General Fund so it becomes a cost of the General Fund. Ms. Morris noted that the vehicle maintenance increase is strictly due to the fact that there was one full-time mechanic dedicated 100 percent to Transit so they now become a General Fund employee. Mayor Nexsen asked if the tentative budget of $42,585,224 was before interfund transfers, to which Ms. Morris replied yes, and added that it is strictly expenditures. Mayor Nexsen said the Transit Fund revenues are no longer going to be $817,950 and have to go somewhere because that amount came from the General Fund, to which Ms. Morris explained that $817,950 was actually transit revenues from grant funding and the reflection of reduction of revenues is strictly revenues and not transfers. She said what had been shown previously was the Lake Havasu City Page 2 City Council Work Session Minutes - Final May 20, 2014 General Fund transferring $350,000 a year to the Transit Fund and what is proposed now is a revised operating transfer sheet. She said the new tentative budget shows no transfer to Transit. Mayor Nexsen then asked why 100 percent of the grant funding disappeared under the new system, to which Ms. Morris explained that under the miscellaneous grant fund section there was a change for the Rural Transportation Assistance Program (RTAP) funding so there is a small component for meetings, training and travel in the amount of $1,200 that will be moved into the line item for miscellaneous grants. She said since Transit no longer fits the definition of a special revenue fund it was moved into the General Fund and funded by General Fund money and that is why there is no longer a transfer to Transit. Mayor Nexsen said he thought under the new transit options the City would still retain some federal monies, to which Mr. Cassens said staff is going to take the new transit program and consider it an expansion of the current 5307 Program which funds the Seniors-on-the-Move Program. He said the City would receive some 5307 Program funding but did not have the figures to compare at this time. Ms. Morris clarified there was an estimated $16,000 in revenues on that same line that was provided by Mr. Parsons for possible program revenues. There was further discussion regarding Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requirements for public transit service. Councilmember Callahan asked about the $2 million in the Irrigation & Drainage District Fund, to which Ms. Fenske explained that the additional $2.1 million in revenue relates to a carry-forward in Water Infrastructure Finance Authority (WIFA) funding for two capital projects. She added that it is revenue reimbursement that staff anticipates receiving, and explained that even though it is borrowing, the City is required to show it as revenue. She said there is an equivalent amount as an increase in the expenditure column as well. Councilmember Callahan asked about Lines 49 and 50 under Miscellaneous Grant Funds, to which Ms. Morris explained that Line 49 is grant revenue from the RTAP Program and has offsetting revenue. She said Line 50 is the carry-forward for the Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP) project for street signs and other street related projects. Ms. Morris noted that staff does not anticipate this happening by June 30th; therefore, it is being carried forward into the next year. She added that there is also 100 percent off-setting revenue for these items. Councilmember Callahan wondered why the expenditures under the Debt Service Fund exceed the revenues, to which Ms. Fenske replied that there were no revenues coming in for this debt, as this relates to the borrowing that took place for the second bridge to the Island. 6. CONTINUATION OF COMMUNITY INVESTMENT PROGRAM (CIP) DISCUSSION Ms. Fenske advised that this was a continuation of the discussion held at the last meeting regarding Lake Havasu City Page 3 City Council Work Session Minutes - Final May 20, 2014 funding CIP projects in the amount of $2 million. She added that $1.6 million would be from the Employee Benefit Trust (EBT) Fund and $400,000 from the existing fund balance in the CIP Fund. She noted that these were the same projects and basically the same amounts as far as estimated project costs, with the exception of the Wayfinding program. She said since the last meeting, staff was informed of a $100,000 to $120,000 reduction in the Wayfinding program; therefore, staff moved $100,000 from Wayfinding to the Site Six Redevelopment Program to assess that site. She said if there are any changes to the CIP, staff would reflect those changes and bring those changes forward for the tentative budget that will be brought before the City Council on June 10th. Councilmember Alger said there seems to be some confusion with the PARA Study and implementation on McCulloch Boulevard as some people think the City is going to do a study; however, a study has already been done. Councilmember Alger suggested renaming the project to eliminate some confusion. Mr. Cassens said the project could be renamed PARA Study Implementation or Swanson Improvements. Councilmember Callahan asked if the City was going to implement some working documents of the PARA Study, to which Mr. Cassens said the PARA Study that was done concentrated on traffic circulation and not design; therefore, this project would be an overview of the design and moving traffic through Swanson Avenue and Mesquite Avenue. Maintenance Service Division Manager Mark Clark added that the PARA Study talked about narrowing lanes on Swanson Avenue and added that it really depends on what the City Council wants to see happen. He said the PARA Study discussions determined that something has to be done with the intersections on Mesquite and Swanson Avenue to allow free flow of traffic. He said any actual implementation or construction would be a year down the road; therefore, funding would be next year. Mr. Clark added that there needs to be public input and discussion regarding specific implementation suggestions at specific locations, and what he initially thought is that the City could form an ad-hoc committee to allow for public meetings about those specific locations that the PARA Study identified. Mr. Cassens further added that is why staff was comfortable with starting out with $50,000 because there is a long way to go between what we have now in the form of a study and an actual project. He said $50,000 will keep staff moving in that direction but added that there is still a lot of ground work, including working with the Main Street Association to make sure it blends into their plans for McCulloch Boulevard. Councilmember McAtlin said at the City Council Retreat there was discussion about going back and looking at those earlier design plans for McCulloch Boulevard to see if they are still relevant to the current thinking on Main Street. Mr. Cassens stated that Main Street, as an organization, is working on their district so they are kind of in a state of flux. He said this $50,000 investment is more appropriate at this time than setting aside $2.25 million that we know is not going to happen in this fiscal year. Lake Havasu City Page 4 City Council Work Session Minutes - Final May 20, 2014 Councilmember Callahan asked what $50,000 would be spent on, to which Mr. Cassens replied that there is a lot of ground work, committee work, and engineering work to be done. He said additionally there could be some contracts with respect to engineering and study work. Councilmember Alger questioned whether the $150,000 budgeted for the Community Athletic Field Needs Assessment was for a study that would tell staff what the property at SARA Park or throughout the community could be used for or if it would add actual fields, to which Mr. Cassens said $150,000 would not be for fields, however, it would be for a study by people who know this field of interest. He added that it would identify the City’s assets and where to possibly build fields or improve existing fields. Mr. Cassens said he spoke with the Lake Havasu Unified School District (LHUSD) officials, who eagerly agreed to participate in this study to determine if existing school fields could be enhanced or brought into the program. He added that there is a Master Plan for SARA Park; however, the actual buildable area there for a sports complex is fairly limited. Mr. Cassens explained that the Community Athletic Field Needs Assessment is intended to determine what can be built, whether there is a demand that the City can fulfill or satisfy internally, organically within the community, where are the scheduling issues, and where the City may have possible shortages in the future with respect to the former Daytona School, currently the ASU campus, that might potentially need some of that playing field property in the future. He said staff certainly does not want to build an eight complex baseball field and then half of the fields go unused in the future. Mr. Cassens said the $150,000 was an estimate for a consulting contract to have study done first. Mayor Nexsen agreed and said what he would first like this study to cover whether there is a need for more fields, because he did not want to see the City build more fields to find out later that there is not a demand to come to Lake Havasu City. He added that the study should not only assess the assets but also assess the outside demand. Mayor Nexsen said most tournaments are on a circuit and wondered how hard it would be to break into that circuit to add another weekend of play in Lake Havasu City. Councilmember Alger suggested that the assessment be broken down for each sport as she felt there is a need out there for fields but maybe not for an eight complex field. Mr. Cassens said fields for multi-uses would be wise because then they would not be focusing on just one specific user. Councilmember Barlow stated some years ago when the City took over SARA Park from the County there was quite an extensive study done where several areas were identified and the whole area was master planned. Councilmember Barlow asked if that study could be folded into the proposed study to avoid repetition, to which Mr. Cassens replied that what was done a few years ago was not a study but a comparison of different types of playing fields, soccer fields, little league fields, skate parks, and dog parks. He added that the study compared what most communities, based on population, would have in each of those categories. Lake Havasu City Page 5 City Council Work Session Minutes - Final May 20, 2014 Councilmember Callahan asked for an update regarding the meeting with State Parks on the Havasu 280 project as he wondered if it would have any bearing regarding funding for the project, to which Mr. Cassens said regarding the Havasu 280 infrastructure and the meeting with State Parks, staff was not proposing to put any money into the mainland launch facility primarily because State Parks has a lot of work to do with respect to federal processes, their 404 Permit, their environmental assessments, and all of the other things that need to be done prior to breaking ground. He added that staff did get a commitment or a pledge from the Chairman of the State Parks Board as well as the Director of State Parks who showed an interest in committing to the launch facility. He said they received authorization to spend into their revenue fund for projects this year in the amount of $1.5 million and staff received a commitment that some of that $1.5 million would go into the Havasu 280 project. Mr. Cassens said he believed most of the funding would be for federal processing as well as some early engineering. Mr. Cassens further explained that the money set aside in the tentative budget would complete the engineering process and complete the final step with respect to the 404 Permit process. He said it may also include a dirt road and some buried utilities. Councilmember Alger asked where the mainland launch facility would be located, to which Mr. Cassens replied near Contact Point. He said staff contacted State Parks last December regarding the mainland launch facility and since State Parks did not have the resources to do this project, staff offered to do it for them with the guarantee that the City would be repaid through the proceeds from the launch facility so the taxpayers would get their money back from that project. He added that State Parks indicated an interest that they would like to construct is the launch facility. Mayor Nexsen said if State Parks is able to build the launch facility, $4.2 million would come off the schedule and the City would not have any responsibility. Councilmember Callahan asked if there was any indication that State Parks would participate in construction of the road or utilities, to which Mr. Cassens stated not at this time. He added that State Parks does have a Recreation & Public Purpose (R&PP) lease with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and there was some discussion as to whether or not that property was more appropriate for a marina or launch facility. Mayor Nexsen stated that he would like to look at each project with a critical eye and determine whether it is a good investment. Mayor Nexsen said there is no way to measure a return on investment with the London Bridge Beach Restrooms project; however, he has heard from the community that more restrooms are needed. Mayor Nexsen said the Wayfinding project is an interesting one because, while the City has seen a lot of materials and understands what the goal is, the community is not quite there yet. He said there was a poll in the newspaper and one in twenty people were interested in moving forward with Wayfinding. He said this is partially due to a misunderstanding of Wayfinding and also from Lake Havasu City Page 6 City Council Work Session Minutes - Final May 20, 2014 concern on what the benefits would be. He said he has received calls and e-mails with some reluctance of moving forward with the Wayfinding project. Mayor Nexsen said before putting Wayfinding in the budget, the City needs to educate the public so that they get behind this project. Mayor Nexsen added that he personally believes that while the Havasu 280 project is a lot of money, it will ultimately be a real benefit to the community. Councilmember McAtlin stated that the additional benefit with the Havasu 280 is the private land that it opens up for development. There was further discussion concerning the benefits the Havasu 280 project would bring to the City. Councilmember Barlow said he feels Wayfinding is something that has been needed for a long time and something that the City Council really needs to consider. Councilmember Callahan added that Wayfinding is a lot like the skate park where a lot of people did not want it to happen until it was finished and in place. Councilmember Callahan stated there was talk about putting excess funds into the CIP over the $2 million. Mr. Cassens said the chart that was brought before City Council at the last meeting showed the City Council the consequence to the five year projects if they chose to go above and beyond the $2 million in the CIP Fund. Councilmember Alger asked if the full $520,750 would be spent for Wayfinding in the FY 2014/15, to which Mayor Nexsen replied yes. Councilmember Alger wondered if there was any way the project could be done in phases to get buy-in from the public. Mayor Nexsen said starting small or in phases may be one way to educate the citizens. Mr. Cassens stated he believed the first priority or first phase would be the signage on the highway. Mr. Traub, President/CEO Convention & Visitors Bureau (CVB) reviewed the following presentation on Wayfinding: The Process • A coalition of five local economic development agencies met seven times over the past year • The goal was to identify public projects with the most potential to bolster the local economy • Four projects were recommended as priorities for the City’s Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) Top Priority – Wayfinding • Install City-wide Wayfinding sign system ASAP • Leverages what we already have in the City & easily accommodates new attractions • Generates revenue by advertising amenities & capturing travelers passing through who need reason to stop • Provides unique, upbeat branded appearance unlike any other destination in Arizona Lake Havasu City Page 7 City Council Work Session Minutes - Final May 20, 2014 FY 2014-2015 Top Priority • Makes city more friendly and puts newcomers at ease • Superior to GPS systems – navigational gold standard (safety, universal access, always present) • Attractions & destinations such as Downtown have suffered over the years without significant, coordinated Wayfinding sign program Wayfinding Budget – Wayfinding Program Elements for Lake Havasu City • 1) SR-95 directional & support signs 53% $325,483 #1 Priority • 2) London Bridge directional signs 7% $ 45,317 #2 Priority • 3) Island sign upgrades & District ID sign 8% $ 49,000 #3 Priority • 4) Downtown parking & District ID signs 10% $ 51,900 #4 Priority • 5) Medical District ID signs 6% $ 45,800 #5 Priority • 6) City Gateway sign upgrades 10% $ 65,000 #6 Priority • 7) MERJE construction management 3% $ 18,000 #7 Priority 100% $600,500 TOTAL COST Wayfinding Funding Partners • Lake Havasu City $518,733 • Lake Havasu CVB $ 24,734 (in addition to $37,421 invested to development plans) • Arizona State University $ 23,933 • Chemehuevi Transit Authority $ 11,033 • Arizona State Parks $ 10,267 • Beachcomber RV Resort $ 5,900 • Islander Resort $ 5,900 $600,500 Priority #1 – SR-95 Directional & Support Signs • Top 25 visitor attractions promoted with readable signs & pictograms • More than half of attractions in the city are not signed • Economic benefit of approximately $4.5 million annually Destinations Without Directional Signs • Downtown Havasu District • Arizona State University • Bridgewater Channel • Performing Arts Center • Tinnell Sports Park • Aquatic Center • Chemehuevi Transit Authority • Medical District • Island District Lake Havasu City Page 8 City Council Work Session Minutes - Final May 20, 2014 • Library • Castle Rock Bay • Rotary Park • Havasu 95 Speedway • City Offices Priority #2 – London Bridge Directional Signs • One of most popular attractions in city, but we have never made it easy to find • People get lost every day looking for it • Economic benefit difficult to quantify, but at least $700,000 lost annually in sales activity Priority #3 - Island Sign Upgrades & District ID • Not everyone knows you must cross the London Bridge to get to the Island • Signs on the Island are an eyesore from the past • Economic benefit of approximately $2 million annually Priority #4 - Downtown Parking & District ID • New Wayfinding signs along SR-95 and interior city streets will immediately increase traffic • Growing influence of ASU requires city attention • People need to know where they can park when they get downtown if on-street parking is full • Sales begin to be lost when Downtown is only somewhat busy Priority #5 – Medical District ID Signs • Most financially successful special district in city • Growing opportunities to attract new practitioners and people to won for medical reasons • May assist newcomers and visitors to locate emergency care if it is required Priority #6 – City Gateway Sign Upgrades • Provides facelift to modest gateway signs at each end of the city along SR-95 • Provides secondary gateway sign to welcome visitors at the Ferry Terminal on the Channel • Helps to solidify the impression of being a fun, vibrant and modern city Wayfinding Summary • Wayfinding is integral component for a tourism destination – we are 40 years late to the task • The program has been vetted and slimmed down by $150,000 to make it the most effective & efficient • $119,000 (18%) raised in funding pledges, leaving only $519,000 to be funded by the City • Lake Havasu City can be the beta test site for ADOT to showcase itself with the first professional community Wayfinding program in Arizona off a state road • In total, the Wayfinding program has the potential to generate $7.5 million in annual sales and $150,000 in new sales tax leveraging assets we already have • Before we build anything new, it makes sense to maximize our investment on existing assets Lake Havasu City Page 9 City Council Work Session Minutes - Final May 20, 2014 • In a worst case scenario, consider trimming the proposal’s least important elements Councilmember Alger asked if City staff would be able to install the Wayfinding signs, to which Mr. Cassens replied yes. Councilmember Alger stated she would like to see priorities #5, #6, and #7 cut from the budget which would lower the cost to $389,933. She said that would educate the community as well as slowly walk into Wayfinding and allow the citizens to understand and notice the difference. She said if the public likes what they see, they could schedule the remaining priorities for next year. Councilmember Callahan asked Mr. Traub if the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) would be participating as well, to which Mr. Traub replied that they would not be putting anything financially into this project. He said what ADOT has assured them is a fast track to put this on course without delays. Mr. Cassens explained that ADOT had not adopted the federal standards that would allow Wayfinding projects like this to go forward in Arizona. He said technically a lot of the things the City was proposing were not allowed by the rules and regulations and standards that ADOT had in place and they had not adopted those federal standards that would allow for some of these things to take place. Mr. Cassens further explained that staff went to the ADOT Board and asked them to consider the City’s Wayfinding project because they had received a couple of letters of rejection when it was submitted to their engineering section to help approve this project. He said he received word through District Engineer Mike Kondelis, that within a couple of weeks after staff spoke to the Board, that they would be adopting the federal standards and would be working with Lake Havasu City. Mr. Cassens added that Lake Havasu City would be the first Wayfinding approved community, and if this project were to be trimmed, he would not recommend trimming into the State Route 95 piece because it is not only critical, but it would be in concert with what the City discussed with ADOT as far as what the City wanted to do and what they would support. Councilmember Alger said some of the examples are advertising for the Islander RV Resort, Beachcomber Resort, and Nautical Inn and wondered if there was any buy-in for them. Mr. Traub said they would not allow any commercial names on the signs at all; however, there are exceptions being made on the island because of the signs that are already there. He said in those cases the City would not be paying anything for those signs, the entity has to pay 100 percent of those costs. Councilmember McAtlin said he agreed to looking at it in phases and completing the first and second phases, but budget for all six priorities. Mayor Nexsen stated that Wayfinding is not a new concept and wondered whether staff had spoken with other cities regarding the impact to their community, to which Mr. Cassens replied that personally he had an opportunity to travel to the City of Coronado, which has gone through a Wayfinding project like this as well as branding. He said it is apparent when you drive into Coronado that they went through this process because the signage that they have is stylized, Lake Havasu City Page 10 City Council Work Session Minutes - Final May 20, 2014 consistent, low, and the signs are actually a stacked type of fashion and the colors are not something you would expect to see on signs. He that added it does have an impact and it does look good. Mr. Cassens said with regard to the commercial advertising, staff has made a couple of exceptions with respect to the island businesses that currently have signs and a decision was made that if they have a sign now, the City would allow them to pay in-kind for their business sign to be replaced. He added that this would not be the general rule for the rest of the community. Councilmember Brister said she completely agreed with the Wayfinding concept but believed it should be divided up into phases. She said she thought the signs for the districts were incredible and beautiful but wondered if they could hold off on those signs and save $78,000. Mr. Traub replied that the cost for the district signs are $18,000 each and could certainly be scaled but added that the idea is to try and create a sense of place when visitors come to Lake Havasu City. Councilmember Brister asked if the district signs needed to be monuments, to which Mr. Traub said the thought coming from the Island is that one is needed there. Discussion followed concerning the medical district signs. Councilmember Callahan stated that, with the effort that has gone into this whole project and the expertise that it has, he liked Councilmember McAtlin’s idea of budgeting for the entire project and doing it in phases. Councilmember Barlow stated he also thought it was a good idea and agreed with Councilmember McAtlin. Mr. Cassens clarified that what he was hearing from the City Council is to keep the same figures from the unfunded CIP list that was originally presented, and staff will go back and incorporate them into the CIP budget. Mayor Nexsen said it was his recollection that the City did not put anything in the budget for Havasu for Youth because the City Council was under the assumption that they were to budget it last year but not for FY 2014/15. Ms. Butler explained that was intentionally left out of the budget because the matching dollars for the number of members was the amount that was asked for the second year. She said it has taken longer for Fusion to take off than originally anticipated and they believed they were falling short of funds in the amount of $20,000. She further explained that they have held fundraisers, wrote grants, held events, and did everything that they could to raise that additional funding; however, the $20,000 is the amount she projects they will need for Fiscal Year 2014/15. Mayor Nexsen said there was an agreement where for every new member the City would match an amount, to which Ms. Butler explained that once Havasu for Youth hit 250 members up to 500 members, the City would match it at $100 per member. Mayor Nexsen said if they would have Lake Havasu City Page 11 City Council Work Session Minutes - Final May 20, 2014 gotten all the way to 500 members it would have accounted for $25,000 and wondered if the shortfall was in that amount. Ms. Butler replied that their count for the current quarter is close to 450 members. Mayor Nexsen asked if she thought they would use most of what was budgeted, to which Ms. Butler replied yes. Ms. Fenske stated that staff estimated ending the year at $47,000 out of the $55,000 that was initially budgeted. Councilmember Alger asked if the funds would come out of the budget or would be a grant, to which Mayor Nexsen explained that the grant funding comes out of the General Fund; therefore $20,000 would have to be added to the General Fund schedule. Councilmember Barlow said when the agreement was made Havasu for Youth was very enthusiastic about reaching their goal and have spent their best efforts trying to do that and did not want to see the organization not continue. Councilmember Barlow recommended that the Havasu for Youth grant be increased to $20,000. Mayor Nexsen asked if the additional funding would be for programs only, to which Ms. Butler replied yes, and stated that it would be primarily for the after school clubs and the costs associated with running those school clubs. Councilmember Callahan asked if they were having trouble fundraising, to which Ms. Butler said fundraising has been effective for them; however, they have done a couple of recent fundraisers and once they were completed, they found out that the funds would not be going directly to them and that they would have to submit a proposal to receive those funds for specific projects. Councilmember Coke said Havasu for Youth has implemented a ton of new programs and classes and wondered if they were boosting the interest of the members. She added that sometimes organizations try to be everything to everyone and wondered if they were just trying to find a program that the members were interested in and stick with. Ms. Butler explained that some of the programs worked at a specific time, but added that sometimes the programs do not stick and they move on. She added that the programs are really driven by the kids. Councilmember Alger asked if the funding request of $20,000 was between now and July 1st, to which Mayor Nexsen said the grant would be increased from $121,000 to $141,000 for Fiscal Year 2014/15. Councilmember Alger asked for those members that the City did give $100 for each membership between 250 and 500, how many of those members did Ms. Butler plan on coming back and actually paying their membership fees, to which Ms. Butler stated that she believes they will have recurring members because they do have a good base of kids who will continue to come. She said she would anticipate a high number. Councilmember Alger asked if they have thought to increase the membership fee from $100 to $150 to generate another $22,000. Ms. Butler said it had been Lake Havasu City Page 12 City Council Work Session Minutes - Final May 20, 2014 discussed; however, there are a large number of parents who could not afford to pay the $100 and they did have to scholarship a few kids. She added they tend to get a lot of kids that do not necessarily have a place to belong and some of those are kids are there from after school until closing. Councilmember Alger said daycare is generally $75 to $100 per week and said $100 or $150 for an entire year does not seem a lot for the number of programs they are getting. She said parents are relying on our City taxpayers to pay for their kids and did not understand why the parents are not picking up some of the slack. Ms. Butler agreed but stated it is the low income, the disadvantaged kids, that they see more which generates additional work. She said at the same time she would much rather see them at Fusion than at their home. Mayor Nexsen said he thought it would be important for them to maintain a high level of membership focusing on the kids that are moving from Thunderbolt Middle School to the High School. He said what he has heard is that it is very popular for middle school kids but not so much for high school kids. Ms. Butler replied that Fusion was not around for the high school kids and they already had their places to go. She added that if they influence those eighth grade kids, it will be a neutral place for them to go. There was general consensus from the City Council to fund Havasu for Youth an additional $20,000 for Fiscal Year 2014/15 that would go towards programs and not for Fusion. Mr. Cassens stated staff would be bringing back the proposed tentative budget for adoption on June 10th. He wanted to thank the City Council for their perseverance and attention to these very important matters. 7. ADJOURN The meeting was adjourned at 3:24 p.m. CERTIFICATION I hereby certify that the foregoing is a full and true copy of the Budget Work Session meeting minutes of the Lake Havasu City Council held on the 20th day of May, 2014. I further certify that the meeting was duly called and posted, and that a quorum was present. ____________________________________ Kelly Williams, City Clerk Lake Havasu City Page 13