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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Minutes - City Council - Meeting Date: 12/3/2013 """11 0i GLENIV1 MINUTES OF THE GLENDALE CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP SESSION Council Chambers - Room B3 5850 West Glendale Avenue December 3, 2013 1:30 p.m. PRESENT: Mayor Jerry P. Weiers, Vice Mayor Yvonne J. Knaack and Councilmembers Norma S.Alvarez, Ian Hugh, Manuel D. Martinez, Gary D. Sherwood, and Samuel U. Chavira ALSO PRESENT: Brenda Fischer, City Manager; Julie Frisoni, Interim Assistant City Manager; Michael Bailey, City Attorney; and Pamela Hanna, City Clerk CALL TO ORDER WORKSHOP SESSION 1. COUNCIL ITEM OF SPECIAL INTEREST: DOWNTOWN PARKING PRESENTED BY: Jamsheed Mehta,AICP, Executive Director, Transportation Services This report is in response to a Council Item of Special Interest request from Mayor Weiers for staff to look into extending the time limits in two-hour parking zones in the downtown area. Downtown Glendale is located in the Ocotillo District. Mr. Mehta introduced Chris Lemka, Principal Traffic Engineer with the City of Glendale. Mr. Mehta said there have been restrictions to parking in the downtown area for the last couple of decades. He explained the downtown area is a four block square area in downtown. He provided a brief history of the on street parking restrictions and the available parking in the downtown parking garage. He said there have not been a significant number of complaints regarding downtown parking issues. Mr. Lemka provided several slides to explain where the existing two hour parking is located. He also explained the long term parking located in the downtown area. Mr. Mehta said it would be helpful to include the downtown merchants in any parking issue discussions. 1 Mayor Weiers said the merchants should have a say in the discussions. He said most visitors would expect the two hour parking to be enforced, but the reality is that it is not enforced. Councilmember Martinez said it does not appear that parking is a problem. He said there may have been a few merchants that have had a problem, but any issues have been amicably resolved. He said there is plenty of parking available in the parking garage and he said he didn't see a problem. He said the merchants should be included in any discussion. Vice Mayor Knaack said the survey of the merchants should have been done before the workshop. She said she is downtown all the time and the only complaint she has ever received was when employees were parking all day in the two hour parking spots. She said most people who visit downtown are in and out in a two hour period and the merchants prefer it that way. She said she would have no problem asking the merchants what they think about this issue. Mayor Weiers said he has had a couple of merchants who expressed concern about this issue. He said if visitors are unaware of the parking garage, they may feel they have to leave after two hours because of the parking restrictions. He would like to get input from the merchants. Councilmember Hugh said they want people to come to Glendale and walk around. He said he has heard citizen comments from people who are concerned about the two hour limits. He would agree with speaking with the merchants. He suggested a free parking sign. Councilmember Chavira said they need to talk with the merchants and visitors should not be rushed through their visit due to the two hour limit. Councilmember Sherwood said he was surprised to see this item and some of the merchants he spoke with had no idea this was an issue. He said if they are not enforcing the two hour parking, then why have the signs up, but the signs do give them enforceability if a merchant is having an issue. He said visitors who spend more time in the downtown area will park in the parking garage. He was in favor of surveying the merchants on this issue. He suggested a couple of questions that should be included in the survey. Vice Mayor Knaack suggested posting more free parking signage. She said Catlin Court does not have a problem with parking. Mayor Weiers said several members of the community had raised this issue,but he believes it could be solved by a survey of the merchants. He suggested several questions to be included in the survey. He also suggested directing visitors to the parking garage as an alternative. Councilmember Sherwood said there is an expense to do something with the signs if they have to be changed. He said if the signs are taken down, that will take away any 2 enforcement rights the city may have. He said he was not in favor of taking the signs down. He again suggested surveying the merchants. Mayor Weiers said there was City Council consensus to move forward with a survey of downtown merchants. Ms. Fischer said they would move forward and present the results at a future workshop. 2. COUNCIL ITEM OF SPECIAL INTEREST: CITY SUITE POLICY PRESENTED BY: Julie Frisoni, Interim Assistant City Manager, and Julie Watters, Interim Executive Director, Communications The purpose of this item is to provide information on the policy governing the use of the city suites located inside Jobing.com Arena and Camelback Ranch-Glendale. This item was requested by Vice Mayor Knaack at the October 15, 2013 Council workshop. Ms. Frisoni provided a history of the suite policy at Jobing.com Arena and Camelback Ranch. She said the administrative policy was implemented in 2003 based on best practices of other cities. She said the policy defines the only acceptable uses of the suite in three distinct areas, which includes staff conducting city business, City Council conducting city business and use by non-profit organizations. She next explained the reservation process and available tickets for the two locations. Ms. Watters discussed recordkeeping of suite usage and the policy and forms which are available on the city's website. She said the city allows non-profit groups to use the suites and they have the highest usage per year. She said non-profit organizations have used the suite approximately 55 times per year over the last six years and city staff have used the suites approximately 15 times a year. She said the non-profit groups are very appreciative of the city allowing their groups to use the suite. She said this policy has also received positive news coverage. Ms. Frisoni said there are no annual costs to the city to own the suites and the city's policy has been managed effectively since its inception. Vice Mayor Knaack said it has been wonderful to be able to provide this type of service to the non-profit groups. She is proud of the city for its ability to do this. She said she brought it up to provide the public with information on how the suite is actually used. She said there is a public perception that the suites are only used by the Council. She said the Councilmembers don't have personal use of the suite or tickets to it. When a councilmember is at the suite it is for business - economic development, chamber of commerce or attending as a group on something related to the city. Councilmember Martinez asked if a non-profit was unable to reserve a suite because it was already booked, if they would be put on a waiting list for the next event. Ms. Watters said yes, and that staff does its best to give them access to the suite. Councilmember Martinez asked if more than one non-profit was able to use the suite at a time. Ms. Frisoni said they have split the allotment of tickets many times. 3 Mayor Weiers asked how many tickets the suite had for each event. Ms. Frisoni said several tickets are held back for each event for a last minute request, but if they are not used, the tickets are released the day of the event to the group that has reserved the suite. Mayor Weiers said he has tried to go to every event and has seen a lot of empty seats. He suggested giving the seats to the volunteers that work in the city. Ms. Frisoni said this could probably be handled through the department and this process probably exists already. Mayor Weiers said he would like to see a drawing for the volunteers for each 8 hours they volunteer. He would love to thank the volunteers. Ms. Fischer said the hourly tracking of volunteers may present a problem but it could be researched. Councilmember Sherwood said this was a good idea and it will just take a little effort to recognize the availability. He said if they publicized the availability, they might get a little more use out of the empty seats. Councilmember Hugh agreed with all the comments and thought it was a great opportunity for the boards and commissions members as well as the volunteers. He asked the total number of tickets for Camelback Ranch. Ms. Frisoni said there were twelve tickets. Vice Mayor Knaack said the city does track volunteer hours and they couldn't run the city without the volunteers. Mayor Weiers said he would like to see the volunteers get a chance to be rewarded for their service to the city. 3. COUNCIL ITEM OF SPECIAL INTEREST: FROM THE HEART DONATION PROGRAM PRESENTED BY: Tom Duensing, Executive Director, Financial Services The purpose of this item is to provide Council with information related to the request to increase the voluntary donation amount on customer's water bills and to seek guidance from Council on whether to move forward with additional payment options which would require amending Glendale City Code, Section 33-84. This item was requested at the October 15, 2013 City Council Workshop. Mr. Duensing provided an overview of the current From the Heart Donation Program, the donation process, and options for changes to the program. He said citizens currently have the ability to provide $1 contributions through utility bill payments to the From the Heart Program. This program promotes the positive development of youth, strengthens families and assists in addressing Glendale residents' urgent needs. He said the existing billing program cannot interpret any payment over $1.00. He next discussed options for donations to this program and outlined four options. He said if a change to the donation amount is made the utility software vendor would have to make any required modifications to the program and the City Code would have to be updated. Mr. Duensing discussed the four options being proposed in detail and the costs required to implement each option. He said option one would have no cost to the city. Option 2 would cost a one-time fee of approximately $35,000 to $45,000 and take 90-120 days to implement. Option 3 would 4 cost $30,000 in ongoing expenses and a one-time expense of $5,000 and will take 90-120 days to implement. Option 4 would have an ongoing cost of$6,000 and would take about 60 days to implement. Councilmember Sherwood said option 2 was his favorite option, but didn't know how the city could afford the cost. He said option 1 might be the best option at this point. He did not recommend options 3 and 4 at this time. He spoke about several organizations that matched the contributions. Vice Mayor Knaack asked what was the percentage of the water users who pay into this program. Mr. Duensing said it was a little more than ten percent of customers who participate in this program. Vice Mayor Knaack also thanked Ms. Paula Moloff, present in the audience, for her guidance in this issue. She also said changing the amount from $1 to $2 and public outreach is the best way to handle this issue. Councilmember Martinez said he liked option 2 and allowing several donation options. Mr. Duensing said the system would have to be modified and would require a manual process by the customer to check a box. Councilmember Martinez said once you put in a specific dollar amount, that amount would stay in place until it was changed. Mr. Duensing said that was actually option 4. Councilmember Martinez said he would like to see an option to donate any amount instead of just one specific amount. Councilmember Chavira asked for confirmation that option 1 would have no cost. Mr. Duensing confirmed there was no cost to option 1. He said if the city has the ability to double the amount they receive at no additional cost to the city, he would be in favor of option 1. Mayor Weiers asked what the expected life cycle was for the water billing software used now. Mr. Duensing said this is a utility billing program and not donation software. In his experience, there has not been much flexibility in the programs he has dealt with. He said the useful life of software is approximately 5 years. He said they can continually upgrade instead of spending the money on a completely new system. He said this system was implemented back in 2009. Mayor Weiers asked if there was consensus on option 1 at this time. Various Councilmembers expressed their agreement to consensus on option 1. Further discussion was held about option 4 and City Council didn't have consensus on option 4. 4. COUNCIL ITEM OF SPECIAL INTEREST: COUNCIL GUIDELINES - COUNCIL DISTRICT BUDGETS PRESENTED BY: Kristen Krey, Council Services Administrator This information is provided for Council review and discussion regarding Council Guidelines, Councilmember Budget/Expenses and Council District Improvement funds. 5 Ms. Krey first went over the history of Council district budgets. She said the current primary use of the $17,000 discretionary funds includes travel for professional development, miscellaneous expenditures, such as GAIN night, office supplies, cell phone expenses, and constituent expenses. The current primary use of the $15,000 Council district improvement funds includes projects for the city such as replacement of infrastructure in parks, right of way projects, street projects and funding to local non-profit organizations and schools. Council budgets are discussed each fiscal year and each Councilmember has determined whether or not they would take a reduction. To date, there has not been a consensus regarding an ongoing permanent reduction to either of the funds. Vice Mayor Knaack said she brought up this item to have an open discussion about this issue. She said every department in the city is making deep cuts to their budgets, so Councilmembers should also make cuts to their budgets. Her other concern was the purpose of the discretionary funds. She said taxpayer money should not be contributed to a non-profit. Councilmember Martinez agreed with Vice Mayor Knaack's comments. He said almost $200,000 is allotted to the Council office. With all the departments having to reduce their budgets, their budget has remained the same. He does not think this is fair. He said the Councilmembers don't need that much money. He suggested cutting the amount of money they get in half. He said when the budget was better, it was nice to have a little more money and be able to use it for different projects that benefitted the community. He said it is not fair with the city's budget issues to continue to receive the full amount. He said every little amount contributed back to the general fund helps overall, especially when it is not being utilized in the best interests of the community. He hoped the amount of the Council budgets could be reduced at least by half. Councilmember Alvarez agreed they needed to give back. She said the Council chose to do things other than assist the city's children and families. She said the city has no recreation and only one pool and a non-profit runs the community center. She said the money is better used to serve the kids, families and seniors. She said the city has a responsibility to provide recreation and libraries. She said she does not like giving the money to sports when they don't have it. She said instead of spending money on visual improvements, they should spend it on the citizens. She said it's suggested putting the money into the general fund, but that money has been misspent in the past. She said she is willing to take a cut in her salary, but not in the money that goes to the community. Councilmember Sherwood said money should not be spent on non-profit organizations. He said it should be up to the Councilmember whether they give the money back to the general fund or not. Councilmember Hugh would like to leave the decision up to each Councilmember. He spoke about how helping non-profits might have a better benefit to the community. He 6 said the city doesn't have the money to help these organizations and if the Councilmembers spend their money on a non-profit, they get a bigger bang for their buck. Councilmember Chavira said he would like to see Councilmembers use their own discretion on how they spend their funds. Mayor Weiers said he does not get these funds and cautioned the Council that they are facing very serious financial issues. He said there doesn't seem to be a consensus on this issue. Councilmember Martinez said he will be bringing this issue up again during the budget session, and the Council office can be run with much less money. He said they are not giving money away; any money that has been spent has been spent for a service. He said a Council decision was made and any bad decisions made in the past are done. He said the city has budget problems and they need to make the best use of the money they have right now. Councilmember Martinez questioned Councilmember Alvarez's statement that the city has no recreation. He asked Mr. Strunk if they don't have recreation for the youth in the city. Mr. Strunk said they do have recreation in the city, and they are using the resources they have to be as equitable as possible. Councilmember Martinez asked what sort of recreational programs the city has. Mr. Strunk said there are 55 neighborhood parks, many with several amenities. They also offer fee-based special interest classes and aquatics programs and have four recreation centers. He also said they offer library programming at the three city libraries. Councilmember Martinez asked if the city had sports leagues. Mr. Strunk responded several years ago, they eliminated some of the youth leagues and rely on some private providers. Councilmember Alvarez asked about daily services at the recreation centers for children. Mr. Strunk said some of the services have been cut. Further discussion was held about specific services at O'Neil and Rose Lane recreation centers. Mr. Bailey interrupted the discussion noting the provision of parks and recreation services in the city was not on the agenda. Councilmember Alvarez said she was trying to provide reasons why Councilmembers would want to give money to the non-profits. She commented that some people have received money from the city.Vice Mayor Knaack asked to address this comment but delayed responding until Council Comments. Councilmember Hugh said they do have recreation programs and they are doing the best they can with the budget they have. Vice Mayor Knaack said she supports Councilmember Hugh's support of the community. She said the Council budget is still supporting the programs that have been cut due to budget issues. She is not against supporting the non-profits, but she does not like using city money to do so. 7 Mayor Weiers said there is no consensus on this issue. 5. COUNCIL ITEM OF SPECIAL INTEREST: COUNCIL GUIDELINES - ITEMS OF SPECIAL INTEREST PRESENTED BY: Kristen Krey, Council Services Administrator This information is provided for Council discussion and guidance on the Council Guidelines relating to Items of Special Interest. Ms. Krey discussed the history of this item. She said staff assistance to Council on any item that would require more than 8 hours of staff work, involve more than one department or expenditures of unbudgeted city funds are considered special interest items. She said the current practice for items of special interest is they are brought forward during a workshop and items are then sent to staff for research. This proposal is to change the process so when an item is brought forward as an item of special interest, Council will determine at that time if there is a consensus to move that item forward for staff research. Ms. Krey discussed the history of the process of bringing items forward as items of special interest. Councilmember Sherwood said the city is currently addressing many issues with minimal staff. He was concerned about taking up staff time to research these issues if they don't have Council consensus to move forward. He also said there should be some limitation on how many times an item is brought forward for consensus as well. Mayor Weiers said he did not know what the legal issue would be if Council had a quorum after discussing an issue prior to it being on a workshop agenda. He also said an issue that a Councilmember brings up may be a concern from a citizen. If staff can research the issue, then Councilmembers can agree to move forward more quickly. Ms. Krey clarified that when the item is brought forward at the workshop, the consensus is obtained then for the item to move forward. Mayor Weiers asked how Councilmembers make an informed decision without all the information and that it was staff's job to bring that information to the Council so they can make an informed decision. Councilmember Sherwood said Councilmembers can bring any issue forward, including an issue raised by a citizen; he just wanted to be able to get a consensus to have staff bring the information to Council. He said if an issue would take more than just a few hours of research by staff, he would like to see consensus of the Council to agree to this use of staff time. Councilmember Hugh asked when the reference to open meeting law came into being. Mr. Bailey said there have been so many amendments, he couldn't say when it was established, but it has been around in some form for a significant amount of time. Councilmember Hugh referenced an item where one citizen had an issue with trash can placement and the Council ended up changing the way trash is picked up. He understood Councilmember Sherwood's point about the amount of time research might take on various items, but said he liked the way items of special interest are handled now. 8 Councilmember Martinez asked Ms. Krey if the amount of staff time spent on an item is limited if it is going to take more than eight hours. Ms. Fischer said this is a judgment call. If research will only take a short time, staff will try and get back with an answer right away. If it will take an extensive amount of time, they might do a two-step process to do a small amount of research before the item goes back to a workshop. After the workshop discussion, then an item can be researched more in depth. Councilmember Martinez said with that information, they should keep the process as it is, but put in a limitation that the same subject can't be brought back in 3 or 6 months, so the same item doesn't keep coming back. Ms. Fischer said if an item is repetitive, she will make the judgment call whether to bring that item back. She said an item might be answered in a memo form, and if it is, that memo would be posted on the website. She said these items are brought forward in a public forum and the public might want to hear the response to the item. Vice Mayor Knaack said she did not recall Mayor Weiers' item regarding a roadway from the ballpark connecting near the airport as an item of special interest. She asked if that had ever happened before. Ms. Fischer said some things had been in the queue before her start date with the city. She has instructed staff in the future to encourage Councilmembers to bring up an item in a workshop as an item of special interest. She said they are trying to funnel these items to workshops for transparency and accountability of staff. Mayor Weiers addressed the issue of the reliever road for the ballpark. He said he instructed staff to give him a rough idea of what it would cost so he would know ahead of time. He was looking for a way to make that road idea cheaper. Mayor Weiers said there was no consensus on this issue at this time. 6. PROPOSED FINANCIAL POLICY- TRANSFERS PRESENTED BY: Tom Duensing, Executive Director, Financial Services Budget appropriation transfers are necessary to properly manage expenditures during a fiscal year. Past practice required Council ratification of budget transfer posted throughout the fiscal year. This was due to the need to record financial transactions in a timely manner while budget appropriation transfers were limited to the last quarter of the fiscal year. Additionally, financial policies for restricted fund, contingency, and grant appropriation transfers were unclear. Staff is proposing a comprehensive financial policy for transfers to ensure timely Council notification, transparency, proper public notification, efficient operations, and accountability. Based on Council feedback, staff is proposing a Council Resolution be adopted on December 10, 2013,which supports the proposed policy. Mr. Duensing said he is looking at the policies and procedures and thought this policy needed to be addressed and it will help the city operate more efficiently. Mr. Duensing provided a quick background history of the city's financial policy for transfers. He said in the past, transfers have been ratified in order to post expenditures and a policy for contingency and grants and restricted fund transfers did not exist. He also said department 9 flexibility did not exist. Transfer policies are governed by City Charter and by financial policies. He said today they are asking for changes in the financial policies and are not requesting any changes in the City Charter. He went on to explain that the City Charter allows transfers within departments and those are approved by the City Manager throughout the year. Transfers between departments and funds are approved by Council and approved in the last quarter only. He said the policy restricts transfers of salary savings, and Council can approve these in the last six months of the year. Mr. Duensing said they proposed more flexibility for transfers within funds. He said transfers within departments require Council approval and can occur anytime during the year and transfers for emergency situations require Council ratification. He outlined proposed policy changes which include notifying Council throughout the year, transparency with public notification and ensures efficient operations and accountability. He again emphasized they are proposing changes to the financial policy and not the charter. Some highlights of these changes include defining transfer types and approval level, detailing transfers between funds and departments, detailing transfers within departments, adding details on restricted funds, contingency and grant transfers and adding expenditures in excess of budget appropriation. Mr. Duensing provided more detail on restricted funds, contingency and grants. He said restricted fund transfers require Council approval, written justification and city attorney approval. Additionally, he said they are treating contingency and grant appropriation transfers as not specific to a department. He said these can be brought to Council for approval anytime during the fiscal year. He provided further information on the proposed expenditures in excess of budget appropriation. He said the charter states that transfers between funds and between departments can only be approved the last quarter of the fiscal year. He said if there is a need to do a transfer prior to the fourth quarter of the fiscal year, they would bring it to Council and say they have a need to exceed the appropriation and have an identified a funding source that Council can ratify in the fourth quarter. Councilmember Martinez referenced the example Mr. Duensing provided and said they have that policy now and it was done in the last quarter. Mr. Duensing said that is correct and past practice was to proceed with spending and let Council ratify. He said they want to let Council know immediately up front what is being spent. Mayor Weiers said in the past they just transferred the money and didn't even take it from one department to another. Mr. Duensing said that was correct. Mayor Weiers said this is a better practice as everyone is aware of what is going on a lot sooner, rather than being surprised at the end of the fiscal year. Ms. Fischer said they do not want to ever put Council in a position of having to rubber stamp what has already been done. She said this is the ask permission instead of the ask forgiveness model. She said they are trying to go beyond the standard with transparency and accountability in bringing things this forward, so Council will just be ratifying their own decision at the end of the fiscal year. 10 Councilmember Chavira said staff is making an effort to show transparency and he thanked them for that. Mr. Duensing said this is a city manager directive to be as transparent as possible in everything they do. Councilmember Sherwood said this procedure will work better as they are making decisions on the spot instead of waiting until the end to discuss things that have already happened. Mayor Weiers said there is Council consensus to move forward on this. CITY MANAGER'S REPORT Ms. Fischer said she attended the kickoff of Glendale Glitters for the first time and it was a fabulous event. She thanked the volunteers, city staff and performers for a wonderful event. COUNCIL ITEMS OF SPECIAL INTEREST Vice Mayor Knaack said earlier Councilmember Alvarez referenced someone getting $180,000 from the visual improvement program. Vice Mayor Knaack said that someone was her and it was almost a decade ago. She said it had nothing to do with the Council or the city. She said it was economic development. She said others in the Ocotillo District have also benefitted greatly from the visual improvement program from small business owners like David Chang, to Cerreta's, a much larger business. Vice Mayor Knaack said she put $1 million dollars into that property. She said she pays property taxes, she brings people downtown and she has employees. She said that is what the visual improvement program is all about. There is nothing illegal about it or wrong and she said it was time the innuendos stopped. Mayor Weiers said Glendale Glitters was an incredible event. He also invited everyone to the Christmas Parade on Saturday. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 3:40 p.m. 11