Minutes of the Work
Session held February 20, 2007 at 6:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers.
MEMBERS
PRESENT
Mayor
Lopez-Rogers and Council Members Chuck Wolf, Vice Mayor
Jim
Buster
Frank
Scott
Ken
Weise
Betty
Lynch
EXCUSED
Jason Earp
ALSO PRESENT
Charlie McClendon, City Manager
Andrew McGuire, City Attorney
Gina Montes,
Neighborhood and Family Services Director
Shirley
Gunther, Government Affairs Manager
Linda Farris, City Clerk
2) ARIZONA CALL-A-TEEN YOUTH PROGRAM
Gina Montes,
Neighborhood and Family Services Director, reviewed the Call-A-Teen mission
and core values and commented that it fits very well with the department’s
philosophy. She stated the program would provide staff support to provide job
readiness skills training, career advisement, case management, and support
services to youth and young adults, and provide ongoing reports to the City Council
on results. The work readiness program will provide paid work experience,
occupational skills training, mentoring, tuition assistance, and support
services to include transportation and school/work tools and supplies. In support
of this partnership, it is requested that the City of Avondale provide classroom/meeting
space, participant referrals and marketing. She stated Julian Moore, Program
Manager of Arizona Call-A-Teen, was also present to take questions.
Council Member
Lynch stated this was a great program. She inquired if the City of Avondale was going to offer partnerships in this program to other cities.
Gina Montes
responded it would not be exclusive to Avondale residents, but it would be more
convenient to the Avondale residents.
Council Member
Lynch stated the West Valley Human Services Alliance Education Committee was
working on a project that parallels this program and that Ms. Montes should
feel free to contact them about this program.
Gina Montes
stated she would be sure to have someone in attendance.
Mayor
Lopez-Rogers stated the Arizona Call-A-Teen Youth Program was a great program
and she was glad it was now in the west valley.
3) 2007
STATE LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
Shirley
Gunther, Government Affairs Manager, stated regarding the transportation
proposals, no bills have come before the Governor. She gave an update on bill
HB 2562 which authorizes the State Transportation Board to use monies from the
STAN account to reimburse cities or counties for interest costs associated with
loans or bonds to accelerate transportation projects. The bill is scheduled
for a hearing on February 14, 2007 in the House Appropriations Committee. The
bill does have an amendment citing a January 1, 2008 start date instead of a January 1, 2007 start date, and the City would have to wait until January 2008
to apply to be eligible. Ms. Gunther stated she has communicated with
Representative Nelson and is working to get that amendment stripped from the
bill.
Regarding
State Shared Revenues, Ms. Gunther stated SB 1246, which proposes a tax credit
for county residents that comes out of the Urban Revenue Sharing Fund, is scheduled
for a hearing February 13, 2007.
Ms. Gunther
stated the Blue Stake bill would mandate public subdivisions to locate and mark
privately owned sewer laterals in the public right-of-way. Ms. Gunther stated
the concerns of the City were the liability, and that Southwest Gas Corporation
did not want the liability associated with locating sewer laterals.
Ms. Gunther
stated a bill should come forward this year with regard to county islands. Ms.
Gunther stated Andrew McGuire, City Attorney, had done a great job working on
Senate Bill 1423 regarding Impact Fees, which states whatever fees the City
assesses, the City uses the fees for those purposes, which creates
transparency. Ms. Gunther stated the Payday Loan bills have died.
Ms. Gunther
stated the Major Event Reimbursement Fund, Bill 1604, would establish a fund
for a city to recoup funds spent on safety issues and is moving through the
legislation.
Council Member
Lynch asked Charlie McClendon if he had an estimated cost of what Blue Staking bill
would cost the City.
Charlie
McClendon, City Manager, stated he had asked the Water Resources Department to
provide some research, and they had responded the individual cost of going out
and marking the property was 100-500 dollars. He stated the real cost was in
the event the property was miss-marked and there was subsequent damage.
Council Member
Lynch inquired what the $500.00 covered. Charlie McClendon responded it covered
the cost of identifying the line and doing the marking. Council Member Lynch
inquired did that cover the entire city. Charlie McClendon responded that
amount was for each property. Council Member Lynch inquired what was the estimate
for the total cost. Charlie McClendon responded no total estimate had been
given. Council Member Lynch responded the other problem with Blue Staking was
a lot of the markings were supposed to be gone in three months, but they never
washed away, as hers were still visible from a year ago.
Council Member
Lynch stated she was tired of people who wanted to live in un-incorporated
areas and have all the services free. She stated she also has a problem with
Senate Bill 1576. Council Member Lynch stated she comes from a state heavy
with toll roads that is famous for incredible death tolls on the toll roads and
she feels toll roads will just be one hazard after another. Council Member
Lynch thinks the Legislature at this point has more important things to do. She
reiterated she is very concerned with Senate Bill 1604. Council Member Lynch also
stated she had made a business call and received a returned call regarding the
Major Event bill, and the Avondale City Council was being accused by the caller
of something the City Council did not know about, and it came down to the fact
that the City Manager and the Major had made a decision without the City
Council's knowledge.
City Manager,
Charlie McClendon, inquired if that was a decision regarding PIR, and Council
Member Lynch responded yes. City Manager McClendon clarified PIR had called
and asked the City to oppose the Bill 1604, the Major Event bill, and the City
Manager and Mayor had took the position that until they had had a chance to
talk to the Council this evening, that they were not going to take a position
one way or the other because they did not feel they could oppose the bill
without direction of Council.
Council Member
Lynch stated the word she had received was they were asked to support the bill
with PIR and other private entities, and for this purpose she believes there is
some income benefit coming into the City to help pay for the public safety
costs.
City Manager
McClendon recommends to Council that they support Bill 1604 if those entities were
in the bill. He stated the bill as it stands right now does not include those entities,
so they had been asked to oppose it for that reason.
Council Member
Lynch stated she had understood that the bill was being held pending trying to
get those entities back in.
City Manager
McClendon stated if that were going to happen, that would have happened today.
Shirley
Gunther, Government Affairs Manager, responded Bill 1604 was supposed to be
heard in the Senate Appropriations Committee and she understands PIR was able
to get the bill held, and they would like at this point for Avondale to take
action in opposing the bill as it currently stands because the way it is
written, it would only apply to Glendale and perhaps Tempe and Phoenix. Ms.
Gunther stated when the Council is considering whether to oppose another city's
legislation, to please think very carefully and consider does the current legislation
hurt the City, and as the bill currently stands it does not adversely affect Avondale
in any way. She stated if Council still feels they need to oppose the bill,
they would. She stated her offer to Glendale was can Avondale facilitate a
meeting with PIR and Glendale after today's hearing and see if perhaps an
amendment can be added that would include PIR, and Glendale had agreed.
Council Member
Lynch stated that is what she would like to see and that the City needs to
continue to build these partnerships.
Shirley
Gunther responded, as she told the PIR lobbyist, that Avondale and PIR have the
same goals; they just have a different approach.
Council Member
Lynch inquired are we headed toward sitting down with PIR and Glendale.
Ms. Gunther responded
Glendale had agreed to that, but whether PIR would come to the table, she did
not know.
Council Member
Lynch stated there was discussion about moving people to the HOV lane and that
getting the trucks into some lanes and cars into other lanes as other states
have done, that was the best way to move people in her estimation. She stated
the legislation was very much in favor of that in the past and just because it
got vetoed by a former governor, she saw no reason it could not come forward
again, and now it was too late to submit any bills.
Ms. Gunther responded
it was interesting that very much of what Council Member Lynch was saying now was
said by other members of the committee.
Council Member
Lynch stated she agrees with the liquor bill, and she knows that the League is behind
the bill as well.
Ms. Gunther
stated the liquor bill was being held until some amendments were being worked
out, as there was still no provision for the additional enforcement officers
and they are trying to get that included because it was not included in the
budget either.
Vice Mayor
Wolf stated the STAN legislation modifications were exceptional and he thought
Council should continue to watch very closely that the date for application did
not continue to slip out until January 1, 2013, for example. He stated having something
to allow for the interest provisions gives the State an opportunity to leverage
the investment in the STAN account. Vice Mayor Wolf stated he was perplexed in
how to create a toll lane that does not isolate the lane entirely, which would
reduce the capacity of the freeway as opposed to increasing it, and the lane is
pretty full already. Vice Mayor Wolf stated if it is just a revenue generation
scheme, he would be interested to see how they plan to make it work because he
has only seen anything like it in Texas in their entirely dedicated lanes.
Council Member
Buster stated he does not mind toll lanes if they create an additional lane,
but in this case they are taking away a lane to create a toll lane and he does
not know if that is legal, as an HOV lane is part of the State implementation
plan for air quality and those lanes were funded with federal funds and he does
not believe the State can do with them what it wants at will. Council Member
Buster inquired if that issue had come up at all in the hearing.
Shirley
Gunther responded the issue had come up, and for whatever reason they had met
the federal obligations and the State could convert those lanes and the State
could, in any acceleration project, be eligible for the fast lanes.
Council Member
Buster stated you may very well be able to legally, but you would have to go
through the EPA and get them to buy off on that and then find another measure
to replace that in order to make sure that there was an offsetting measure in
place. Council Member Buster stated you could not unilaterally do it.
Vice Mayor
Wolf stated he was in agreement with Council Member Buster's assessment of the situation.
He stated as far as the Blue Staking and county fire districts are concerned,
these are the two 800 pound gorillas that seem to come back every single year.
Vice Mayor Wolf stated his opinion was if there was legislation put in place
that creates a condition where cities can be reimbursed if cities respond to
that area, then that is somewhat acceptable. He believes what the Legislature
is trying to do is put the City in a position where they will need to annex all
these areas, because there is still a risk if the City is responding to a
county island whether it is a response where they are called in on a joint assistance
agreement or something along those lines, or there is a problem in Avondale and
it is not something that Goodyear can get to or Buckeye or Phoenix can get to, Avondale
runs a lot of risk in that respect. Vice Mayor Wolf stated he believes any of
this legislation that does not provide some protection in that respect is dangerous
for the City. As far as Blue Stakes are concerned, he met with Representative
Nelson last year and they do not agree. Vice Mayor Wolf does not know how you
take something that is essentially a private situation and throw it back on the
doorstep of the public sector and expect anybody to buy into that, and that current
and future residents would be the ones to pay that price when there is an EPA
violation, a sanitary sewer overflow violation, or worse yet, someone gets ill
because there is a rupture of a sewer line, etc., so he is not a big fan. Vice
Mayor Wolf stated as far as the Major Event Reimbursement Fund is concerned, he
certainly would not oppose it, as any legislation that sets the stage for something
like this is legislation the City can build on next year. He does not think
the Council should oppose it. He does not think Council should be ranting and
raving for it if it has nothing to do with Avondale either, but he realizes
they joke that PIR has a tendency to shoot first and aim second, and while he
appreciates their vigor and how much they like to defend their territory and
the fact that their territory is in Avondale, he does not know if this is a good
battle for Council to get in the middle of, other than to try and find a resolution
that works for everybody. Vice Mayor Wolf stated his personal opinion was the
expenses that occur at PIR pale in comparison to the expenses that occur around
PIR to support it, and Avondale carries the bulk of those expenses in both
cases. Therefore, whether Avondale gets some reimbursement from PIR for
expenses or not is irrelevant. A lot of money is invested and will continue to
be invested to support those two major races and the bill is a good start in
finding a way to get reimbursed for those expenses. Vice Mayor Wolf stated if
we can work a deal to get venues located and it is not applicable to the actual
manager of the venue, but it is just an event at PIR, an event at Scottsdale
TPC or the Glendale facilities, then the cities can be reimbursed and he thinks
we might be at the start and we will see where it goes.
Mayor
Lopez-Rogers stated regarding the toll roads or HOV lanes, the rapid bus stops
on those lanes would not help with a toll lane. Mayor Lopez-Rogers stated she wanted
to reassure the Council they would not take any stand on any legislation without
input from the Council. In regard to PIR and the bill they are looking at, she
stated they definitely are sitting back and taking a look at it and continuing conversations
until they can make some headway and move forward.
Ms. Shirley
Gunther stated she would be remiss if she gave Representative Biggs kudos for supporting
their legislation, but she would be remiss if she did not include Representative
Jerry Wires, as he also is on the committee and he advocated strongly for the City
of Avondale, Goodyear, and Litchfield Park, as did Representative Pete Rios.
4)
ADJOURNMENT
There being no
further business to come before the Council, Vice Mayor Wolf moved to adjourn.
Council Member Weise seconded the motion. The motion carried unanimously.
Meeting adjourned
at 6:40 p.m.
_____________________________
Mayor
Lopez-Rogers
_________________________________
Linda M.
Farris, CMC
City Clerk
CERTIFICATION
I hereby
certify that the foregoing minutes are a true and correct copy of the minutes
of the Work Session of the Council of the City of Avondale held on the 20th
day of February, 2007. I further certify that the meeting was duly called and
held and that the quorum was present.
__________________________________
City Clerk