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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Minutes - City Council - Meeting Date: 3/6/2018 City of Glendale 5850 West Glendale Avenue Glendale, AZ 85301 pie& Meeting Minutes Tuesday, March 6, 2018 9:00 A.M. Budget Workshop Council Chambers City Council Mayor Jerry Weiers Vice Mayor Lauren Tolmachoff Councilmember Jamie Aldama Councilmember Joyce Clark Councilmember lan Hugh Councilmember Ray Malnar Councilmember Bart Turner CALL TO ORDER Mayor Weiers called the meeting to order at 9:03 a.m. ROLL CALL Present: Mayor Jerry Weiers ' Vice Mayor Lauren Tolmachoff Councilmember Jamie Aldama Councilmember Joyce Clark Councilmember Ian Hugh Councilmember Ray Malnar Councilmember Bart Turner Also Present: Kevin Phelps, City Manager Tom Duensing, Assistant City Manager Jack Friedline, Assistant City Manager Michael Bailey, City Attorney Julie K. Bower, City Clerk WORKSHOP SESSION 1. BUDGET WORKSHOP ON GENERAL OBLIGATION BOND FUNDED CAPITAL PROGRAM Presented by:Vicki Rios, Director, Budget and Finance Presented by: Tom Duensing, Assistant City Manager Presented by: Jack Friedline,Assistant City Manager Ms. Bower read the item by title. Mr. Duensing said staff was following up on issues and questions raised at the February 27th budget workshop regarding the General Obligation (G.O.) Bond Funded Capital Program. He said the following areas would be covered: •Overview •Follow-up items from February 27 workshop- including current bond authorization •Council discussion of prioritized project list and project funding priority within available $175 million G.O. bond capacity •Council direction on G.O. bond projects to fund Ms. Rios reviewed the calendar for the budget process. Because of the importance and magnitude of the G.O. bond projects, the process was split into three steps—operating budgets, regular capital budget and approved capital improvement program (CIP) and the capital budget for potential G.O. bond funding. Ms. Rios said the interactive worksheet had been updated to include: funding for park infrastructure in the amount of$42 million spread out over four years; park play structures spread out over a four-year period; multi-phase City Hall remodel moved forward; and $9 million for a multi-phase field operations campus smoothed out over a two-year period. The worksheet was updated to provide estimated funding by year. David Beard, City Engineer, presented the follow-up on the Bethany Home storm drain project. Past flooding had been noted at the 67th Avenue and Bethany Home Road intersection. There was an intergovernmental agreement(IGA) in place for shared costs with the Maricopa County Flood Control District(MCFCD)for Bethany Home Road, from 79th to 58th Avenue. He said the total estimated construction-only costs for 79th to 71st Avenues was$4.8 million and from 71st to City Council Meeting Minutes-March 6,2018 Page 2 of 12 59th Avenues, was$6.3 million, for a total of$11.1 million. Mr. Beard said the risks being mitigated were: access for emergency responders; interruption of traffic flows within the area; traffic flows during a 10-year rain event; and maintenance costs. Councilmember Clark said the project was listed in the current budget book as a project to occur after 2023. She asked why it had been moved up. Mr. Beard said it was a known project so was listed in the out years. The City submitted an application to the MCFCD for matching funds. The project made the MCFCD's capital improvement list and was eligible for a 50 percent match of funds. He said that was why it was moved up, to take advantage of the 50 percent funding by the MCFCD. Councilmember Turner asked if the$11.1 million was the total cost of the project or the City's portion of the costs. Mr. Beard said it was the City's share. It was a $22 million project. Councilmember Turner asked if the City would lose the funding if it chose to postpone the project for a year or two. Mr. Beard believed the MCFCD would allow it to be moved back a year or two. Vice Mayor Tolmachoff said it was a priority for the MCFCD right now but might not be if the City postponed it. Mr. Beard said the MCFCD had identified it as a risk and that was why it was ranked so high. Vice Mayor Tolmachoff asked if the City delayed the match for a couple of years, would the MCFCD have different priorities and not rank the project as high. Councilmember Aldama said Council should be looking at the fact that moving the project up would be mitigating the risk sooner rather than later. Mayor Weiers asked if the project was moved up, how soon would it be completed and would it be coordinated,with street repairs. Mr. Beard said Bethany Home Road was on the City's pavement management plan for reconstruction. If the storm drain project was moved up, the reconstruction would be coordinated with the project. If the project was postponed for several years, the reconstruction would be done sooner. Jim Burke, Public Facilities, Recreation and Special Events Director, provided follow-up on park projects. He said 53% of the City's neighborhood parks were over 35 years old and some were older than 50 years. Park system infrastructure was not designed to last one hundred years. He said the response from the community to a survey question in 2011 was "take care of what we have." The survey found that 75% of citizens used neighborhood parks. Mr. Burke said the plan was to focus on the neighborhood parks with the oldest infrastructure, such as irrigation systems, turf and trees, curb appeal, amenities and upgraded attractions. Mr. Burke said an example of how the CIP would be approached for one park was the O'Neil Park project. The estimated project cost was $5.2 million. Detailed planning and cost estimating would take place in year one. Construction costs and actual building would take place in year two. The project would be wrapped up in year three and there could be some park opening costs. He said City Council Meeting Minutes-March 6,2018 Page 3 of 12 the ongoing operations and maintenance cost would be minimal. Mr. Burke said staff would like to kick off the updating of the park master plan next year. It would involve a lot of community input. Councilmember Clark asked for specifics on the O'Neil Park project. Mr. Burke said the preliminary cost estimate of$5.2 million covered taking down the pool house and pool and renovating the space. It also included infrastructure such as irrigation, lighting for the entire park, parking, curb and gutter and the children's play area. It did not cover rebuilding the pool. It didn't mean that pool replacement wasn't a good idea, but the master plan process would identify what were the best options for the park. Councilmember Aldama liked the plan and getting community input. He didn't want to remove the pool and then walk away. It had to be replaced with a similar amenity. The pool was in the inventory of assets. A policy needed to be created about how assets were removed from the inventory. Councilmember Turner asked if the $42 million for park infrastructure included anything for Glen Lakes Golf Course. Mr. Burke said the plan did not have specific funding for Glen Lakes. There was time to have dialogue with Council and the community and come up with a plan to determine if it was something that could be prioritized and put on the list. Councilmember Turner asked if the$42 million was allocated to specific parks. Mr. Burke said there were some projects listed in the CIP but the projects were not fixed in concrete and might change over time depending on input from Council and the community. Mr. Duensing said there would be robust discussions on allocation of the $42 million. There were no specific parks identified. It would be based on the master plan and Council's preference. Councilmember Clark asked how staff was going to balance rehabbing park infrastructure against the need to complete Heroes Park or other major projects that had fallen by the wayside. Mr. Burke said there was a placeholder for Heroes Park. The detail for the lake was not worked out and he wouldn't recommend just building a lake. It should be fully amenitized to tie in with the library and the rest of the park. Large district parks were typically phased because of the high cost of the project. Councilmember Clark agreed but was asking specifically how staff would balance rehabbing older parks against incomplete projects. Mr. Burke said staff was listening to the needs in all of the Council districts. Staff would come back with details for Council discussion. Councilmember Turner asked if the City would continue with flood irrigation. Mr. Burke said the conversion from flood irrigation to drip irrigation could have a major impact on mature trees. It had to be looked at on case-by-case basis. Councilmember Turner said flood irrigation was crucial for maintaining the City's trees. Councilmember Aldama asked if there were any plans for maintaining Murphy Park. City Council Meeting Minutes-March 6,2018 Page 4 of 12 Mr. Burke said the conversation had begun but there were no specific plans yet. Councilmember Clark said there was$2.8 million identified for the amphitheater renovations scheduled for 2022. She asked would it include a major portion of Murphy Park in the conversation. Mr. Burke said yes, in the conversation, but the$2.8 million was only for the amphitheater. Michelle Woytenko, Field Operations Director, was providing follow-up to the previous discussion regarding the Field Operations Campus. It was a 50-acre campus with 19 buildings, which included three trailers. Construction began in 1961 through 2006, with most of the construction taking place 1972 through 1976. Ms. Woytenko said the Field Operations Campus Masterplan was approved by Council in 1998 and was updated in 2002. The Lazy J trailer park was purchased in 2005 for the specific purpose of expanding the campus. The masterplan was currently being updated. Ms. Woytenko said approximately 33% of campus activities were attributable to the General Fund within the Field Operations' budget. She said just about every General Fund department had a footprint or utilized the campus. Other funds included Water, Solid Waste and Transportation. Ms. Woytenko said the project was to update or replace the oldest buildings at a cost of$9 million. Phase one would add a larger, multi-functional or multi-departmental building. Vice Mayor Tolmachoff thought Council had given direction to take the project off the interactive worksheet but it was still on the worksheet as a priority. She asked for clarification. Ms. Rios recalled moving it to reflect the General Fund funding of$9 million. If that was not correct, the worksheet could be updated. Councilmember Clark had the same recollection as Vice Mayor Tolmachoff. She asked what was the cost for the enterprise funds. Ms. Woytenko said the enterprise funds would cover$18 million. Ms. Woytenko provided follow-up on the Multi-Phase City Hall Remodel/Customer Service Center Project. City Hall contained 90,000 square feet and was built in 1984. The remodel was timed to follow Phase 1 of the Field Operations Campus project. The plan was to renew each floor, both infrastructure and function. She said programming and design was included in the first year of funding. Construction work would begin in the second year. Ms. Woytenko said how the floors would function and how the public would be served from the building would be part of the discussion at the special workshop regarding building asset philosophy. Vice Mayor Tolmachoff asked if the project included a customer service center. Ms. Woytenko said that was what staff wanted to discuss with Council. Vice Mayor Tolmachoff would only support a huge investment in City Hall if it included a customer service center. She said with regard to the Field Operations campus, it seemed 50 acres should accommodate operations and asked if a space needs study would be part of phase one. She also wanted clarification about the conference room space. City Council Meeting Minutes-March 6,2018 Page 5 of 12 Ms.Woytenko said a needs assessment was being done and would be aligned with the study being completed on City Hall. A report would be presented to Council at its April 24th workshop. She said phase one included creating a multi-disciplinary building that housed Solid Waste and Water that had meeting spaces both departments could use. Councilmember Turner said the needs assessment was crucial because it seemed like there was a surplus of land without enlarging it. It was not easy for Council because the projects did not have specificity but there was no use including specificity when it was not known when funding would be available. Councilmember Malnar recalled at the last meeting, Council decided to cut the amount for the campus from $27 million to$9 million from the General Fund and leave it on the worksheet. Councilmember Malnar wanted a broader picture of what was trying to be accomplished and what the plans were in order to be able to make decisions. Mr. Duensing reiterated that it was only a plan and no commitment was made until Council appropriated the projects. The plan let the public know the priorities of Council. Staff provided the best information possible about what the needs were for Police, Fire, Parks, etc. Once the project was closer, more details would be available. Councilmember Malnar said based on that, he could support moving forward. He was relying on staffs input regarding the need for the projects. More detail would be helpful. Councilmember Clark asked that the possibility of satellite customer service centers or kiosks be considered in the plan. Vice Mayor Tolmachoff said it was frustrating because she did not know how big of a need there was for each project and it was difficult to make decisions. Ms. Rios said the specific projects being followed up on were the projects Council had questions about at the previous workshop. If there were questions about other projects, staff was available to provide answers. Stephanie Small, Community Services Director, provided follow-up regarding the creation of a community resource center. The center was a best practice because it provided colocation of human services to aid in integrated service delivery. It was a holistic approach to serving the community. Ms. Small said to be successful in serving the community, government needed assistance from non-profit organizations such as veterans' organizations, faith-based organizations, human service providers and schools. The advantages of colocation were that it addressed transportation needs, provided resources lacking in the West Valley such as mental health services and provided private/public funding opportunities Ms. Small said staff was seeking Council direction regarding the establishment of a resource center. Councilmember Clark asked how many Valley cities had resource centers. Ms. Small said there were several that had some type of resource or community center. Avondale was in the process of building a center. Tempe and Phoenix also had centers. Councilmember Clark said the request was basically for the City to build a building for the nonprofit agencies. She asked who provided funding for the Avondale center. City Council Meeting Minutes-March 6,2018 Page 6 of 12 Ms. Small said the center had been located in an unused library. Avondale received $150,000 from Care First Arizona and a grant of$170,000 per year from First Things First. Recently, Avondale had put$9 million in its CIP to fund the center and was looking at renting out space to the nonprofits. Councilmember Clark asked who paid for the renovation of the library. Ms. Small said the cost was shared between the three entities. Councilmember Clark asked what the ongoing costs were for operations and maintenance (O&M). Ms. Small said some of the employees were grant-funded and some were from the General Fund and were already funded. The nonprofits funded positions also. There were no additional costs to the city. Councilmember Clark asked if the $9 million was for next fiscal year or the out years. Ms. Small did not have that information. A needs assessment was being conducted. The$9 million was a placeholder. Councilmember Clark asked if there were other nonprofits in Avondale's center. Ms. Small said there were approximately twenty other nonprofits located in the center. The nonprofits did not currently pay rent. Councilmember Clark asked if the grants Avondale received were used for rent or O&M. Ms. Small said the Care First funding was an ongoing commitment and the amount was reviewed annually. The First Things First funding was through an IGA that provided programming assistance and staff. It was ongoing and was renewable for up to four years. Councilmember Clark asked if the grants covered the total O&M costs for the facility and specifically, costs such as electricity, water, etc. Ms. Small said the majority of the O&M costs were covered except for the city employees. The utilities costs were paid for out of the grant funds. Councilmember Clark said the grant funding could go away and someone else would have to be responsible for the costs. Ms. Small said that was correct. Avondale had handled it through contracts. She said there were numerous opportunities to forge partnerships with human services organizations. Mayor Weiers said First Things First was a voter initiative that would not go away in the near future. Ms. Small said that was correct. Mayor Weiers said a community resource center was critical for veterans and others in need of services. He liked the idea of a single location for accessing services. Councilmember Clark supported the concept but thought the nonprofits should form a consortium and find a building to colocate. She was not sure it was a City function. City Council Meeting Minutes-March 6,2018 Page 7 of 12 Vice Mayor Tolmachoff asked how the amount of$16.9 million was arrived at and what it included. Mr. Duensing said the project was not being recommended as part of the capital program. Ms. Small was looking for direction about seeking partnerships to fund a portion of the costs. Vice Mayor Tolmachoff asked if staff was looking for a commitment to build something or provide existing space. Mr. Duensing said if Council wanted staff to continue to look at it, he recommended putting the project in the CIP in the out years without a designated funding source. Staff could then come back with options for the center. Mayor Weiers supported moving forward. Councilmember Aldama asked if the Community Action Program (CAP) office would be located in the resource center. Ms. Small said that was correct. CAP would relocate as well as Community Revitalization and Housing so that customers could access all of the services in one place. Ms. Woytenko said the cost estimate included construction of a 30,000 square foot building. Councilmember Aldama supported moving forward. Councilmember Clark was not sure it was the City's function to build a building to colocate nonprofits. She could support it if the nonprofits would commit to funding. Ms. Small said that was what staff intended to do. She said there were nonprofits who had expressed an interest in providing funding. Council consensus was to proceed. Mr. Duensing said the City's current G.O. bond authorized capacity was $24 million for governmental facilities. If the City wanted to proceed with the four identified projects, it would need additional authorization. Vice Mayor Tolmachoff asked if the amphitheater would be a governmental facility. Mr. Duensing said the projects would be reviewed by the City's bond attorneys to make sure the projects qualified for authorization. Mr. Duensing said there was approximately$98 million in public safety bond capacity available. That amount would cover the prioritized projects. If Council wanted to prioritize additional projects, staff would have to watch the unused capacity and possibly go out to the voters for additional capacity. Mr. Duensing said there was$14.3 of authorization for park improvements. The City also had capacity for open space. Staff would evaluate if any of the current prioritized projects could use the open space capacity but he anticipated the City would need additional voter authorization to complete the park improvements. Mr. Duensing said there was $12.6 million in authority for street projects. He said there was$6.8 million in flood control authorization but to complete the prioritized projects, additional voter authorization would be necessary. City Council Meeting Minutes-March 6,2018 Page 8 of 12 Mr. Duensing said there was $17 million in library authorization which would cover the prioritized projects and no additional authorization would be required. Ms. Rios said the first opportunity to conduct a bond election would be in 2020. The City was required to give advance notice to the County and have specific ballot language submitted at least 105 days prior to the election. She said the process would need to begin in 2019. A citizen bond committee would need to be formed and a series of public participation meetings were also necessary. Councilmember Clark asked if there would be another workshop to provide information on the bond capacity proposal. Mr. Duensing said that was correct. There would be a lot of discussion regarding the authorization election. The citizen bond committee would bring back recommendations to Council. Councilmember Clark asked, because there were no open space projects identified, if the authorization amount could be reduced. Ms. Rios said the City's financial advisors and bond attorneys had indicated there was no mechanism for a Council to give up authority in one area and switch it out for authority in another area. Staff would look at the current parks projects and see if any could be moved to the open space authority. She said the City could pursue a legislative change. Councilmember Clark thought it was worthy of pursuit to see if there was support among other cities to pursue a legislative change. Mayor Weiers asked if the City's bond rating was affected by not using the authority. Mr. Duensing said any affect would be negligible. Rating agencies looked at other factors. Mr. Duensing referenced the interactive worksheet. There was$156.8 million of projects included on the worksheet. There was a $175 million limitation so that left approximately$18 million that could be used for additional projects or the expansion of existing projects. The timing of the projects was based on how many projects could be completed in one year. Councilmember Malnar needed time to absorb the information on the existing capacity for the projects and whether or not additional authorization was required. Mr. Duensing said staff had brought forward the priority projects and stepped away from the authorization. Councilmember Malnar said Council needed to know the bond capacity so it could decide whether it was going to pay for it with existing capacity or ask the taxpayers for additional authorization. Councilmember Clark liked the interactive worksheet because it indicated where additional capacity would be needed. It was appropriate to start thinking about a bond election. Mayor Weiers said the bond capacity would change every year. Mr. Duensing said there were a lot of moving parts. The City had a legal requirement to stay within its bonding authority. There was a Council policy to keep the levy flat. There was also a constitutional requirement to keep outstanding debt at a certain percentage of assessed value. Vice Mayor Tolmachoff asked about the timeline for the Field Operations campus. City Council Meeting Minutes-March 6,2018 Page 9 of 12 Ms. Rios said it was moved up so that it could be phased with the City Hall remodel. She said the enterprise funding would have to be timed to be used before the G.O. bond funds. Vice Mayor Tolmachoff asked if the enterprise funds would be funding a portion of the City Hall remodel. Ms. Rios said once the design was laid out, the enterprise funds would be responsible for the costs of the portions used by the funds. Police Chief Rick St. John said a comprehensive review had been completed on both the crime lab project and the property evidence storage project. Chief St. John said property evidence storage was currently located at the main police station. It provided under 5,000 square feet of usable space and it was packed from floor to ceiling with evidence. There were refrigeration needs for certain types of evidence and that evidence was stored in a different area. A separate caged area contained evidence and a lot of evidence was also stored at Spring City. Chief St. John said compared with other Valley cities, the City's space allocation was grossly small and growth was necessary. He believed a 50,000 square foot facility would meet current and long term needs. Chief St. John said the City was largest agency that did not have its own crime lab. In some cases, it could take one year to get results from the Arizona Department of Public Safety (DPS). DPS based priority on the type of case. It could take three to six months to get ballistics information back from DPS which was tied to violent crime within the community. The department was including a request in next fiscal year's budget to hire a scientist and place them at the DPS crime lab to work on Glendale cases. It was a stopgap measure. He said long term, there was a need for a crime lab to service the West Valley which could be a revenue generator. Chief St. John said the greatest need was the evidence storage facility. Vice Mayor Tolmachoff asked if the costs had been broken out for each project. Chief St. John said a 50,000 square foot building was being requested and the preferred location was at the Field Operations campus. The building would provide 40,000 square feet for evidence storage and 10,000 square feet for a future crime lab. He said the total cost was$23 million but the crime lab accounted for a majority of the cost. Vice Mayor Tolmachoff asked what the construction costs were for the building. Chief St. John said the estimate was $9.6 million. Councilmember Clark said it would make sense to allocate$9.6 million of the $18 million of unallocated funding to the evidence storage facility. Councilmember Aldama asked if it could be a multi-jurisdictionally funded project instead of generating revenue. Chief St. John said there was a model in place for regional facilities so that was something that could be looked at. Mayor Weiers asked if the revenue would come from the crime lab. City Council Meeting Minutes-March 6,2018 Page 10 of 12 Chief St. John said that was correct. There was Council consensus to place the project on the interactive worksheet. Councilmember Turner asked about locating at the Glendale Regional Public Safety Training Center(GRPSTC). Chief St. John said it was important for the facility to be centrally located and close to the main police station. He believed the excess land at GRPSTC was earmarked for something else. Mr. Duensing said the interactive worksheet had been updated by moving the$9.6 million project into the yellow area, leaving approximately$8.6 million remaining. MOTION AND CALL TO ENTER INTO EXECUTIVE SESSION A motion was made by Councilmember Bart Turner, seconded by Vice Mayor Lauren Tolmachoff to hold an executive session. AYE: Mayor Jerry Weiers Vice Mayor Lauren Tolmachoff Councilmember Jamie Aldama Councilmember Joyce Clark Councilmember Ian Hugh Councilmember Ray Malnar Councilmember Bart Turner Passed EXECUTIVE SESSION Council entered into executive session at 11:13 a.m. to receive legal advice and for discussion and consultation regarding the City's position in pending or contemplated litigation, including settlement discussions conducted in order to avoid or resolve litigation. (A.R.S. § 38-431.03(A)(3)(4));for discussion/consultation with designated representatives of the City in order to consider its position and instruct its representatives regarding negotiations with employee organizations and to receive legal advice regarding the same (A.R.S. §38-431.03 (A)(3)(5)); and for discussion/consultation with the City Attorney and City Manager to receive an update, to consider its position, and to provide instruction/direction to the City Attorney and City Manager regarding Glendale's position in connection with a contract relating to City after school programs. (A.R.S. §§ 38-431.03 (A)(3)(4)(7)). A motion was made by Councilmember Ray Malnar, seconded by Vice Mayor Lauren Tolmachoff to adjourn the executive session. AYE: Mayor Jerry Weiers Vice Mayor Lauren Tolmachoff Councilmember Jamie Aldama Councilmember Joyce Clark Councilmember Ian Hugh Councilmember Ray Malnar Councilmember Bart Turner Passed City Council Meeting Minutes-March 6,2018 Page 11 of 12 The executive session adjourned at 2:57 p.m. ADJOURNMENT Mayor Weiers adjourned the meeting at 2:57 p.m. I hereby certify that the foregoing minutes are a true and correct copy of the minutes of the meeting of the Glendale City Council of Glendale, Arizona, held on the 6th day of March, 2018. I further certify that the meeting was duly called and held and that a quorum was present. Dated this 15th day of March, 2018. 1 J+ K. Bower, MMC, City Clerk City Council Meeting Minutes-March 6,2018 Page 12 of 12