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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Minutes - City Council - Meeting Date: 5/16/2017City of Glendale 5850 West Glendale Avenue Glendale, AZ 85301 Meeting Minutes - Final Tuesday, May 16, 2017 1:30 PM Workshop Council Chambers City Council Workshop Mayor Jerry Weiers Vice Mayor Ian Hugh Councilmember Jamie Aldama Councilmember Joyce Clark Councilmember Ray Ma/nar Councilmember Lauren Tolmachoff Councilmember Bart Turner City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes - Final May 16, 2017 CALL TO ORDER ROLL CALL Present 6 - Vice Mayor Ian Hugh, Councilmember Jamie Aldama, Councilmember Joyce Clark, Councilmember Ray Malnar, Councilmember Lauren Tolmachoff, and Councilmember Bart Turner Absent 1 - Mayor Jerry Weiers Also present were Kevin Phelps, City Manager; Michael Bailey, City Attorney; and Julie K. Bower, City Clerk. WORKSHOP SESSION 1. 17-191 PROPOSED ORDINANCE TO AMEND CHAPTER 6 OF THE GLENDALE CITY CODE, CREATING ARTICLE III, SECTION 6-26 - ANIMAL CRUELTY AND NEGLECT Staff Contact and Presenter: Rick St. John, Police Chief Chief St. John said the item concerned the laws regarding animal seizures in relation to animal cruelty cases and how the animals were dispositioned at the end of the case. He wanted to discuss the civil process. The City paid fifty dollars per animal, per day to care for the animal during the legal proceedings, which could be very lengthy. Chief St. John said staff was proposing an ordinance which would refine the civil process for pet owners to determine disposition of the animal. A pet owner currently paid a $25 bond. The proposed ordinance would require a $500 bond per animal. The $500 bond would allow the City to provide care for the animals during the initial hearing process with no direct cost to the City and the City would begin paying for animal care for any appeals after that initial hearing. Chief St. John said many other valley cities charged a bond per animal, although the amounts varied. An appeal filed after the initial hearing was called a special action appeal, which allowed the court to shorten the response time for appeal paperwork and responses to be filed. Officers had recently seized 50 dogs that were kept for 7 months and the fees were extensive. It was best to remove the animals from care as soon as possible so they didn't get used to the conditions. Chief St. John explained the ordinance had been adopted by several other jurisdictions in the valley and he would like to bring it back to a voting meeting for approval. Councilmember Aldama said it would not pertain to an owner if that owner no longer wanted the animal. Chief St. John said that was correct and said the department had about 40 seizures last year for animal abuse and neglect but only 2 of the requests had moved into the longer appeal process. It was not common to have a lengthy hearing process because the owner no longer wanted the pet. In those instances, no bond amount was paid by the pet owner. Councilmember Aldama asked if the bond amount increased if someone who was cited City of Glendale Page 1 Printed on 6119/2017 City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes - Final May 16, 2017 for animal cruelty or neglect was running a pet business. Chief St. John said there was a $500 bond regardless of the reason for the seizure. Councilmember Tolmachoff asked what happened if the owner was unwilling or unable to post the bond. Chief St. John said if the owner did not pay the bond, the owner forfeited ownership rights. Councilmember Clark asked if the City paid about $105,000 for the case with 50 dogs. Chief St. John said the bill was much more than $105,000. Councilmember Clark said taxpayers should not pay for people who were charged with animal neglect and she was in support of the ordinance. Councilmember Malnar favored moving forward with the ordinance and asked if a fee was paid on a citation or if the owner was given an order to appear in court. Chief St. John said issuing a citation was the criminal side of the process and any punishment would be typical of a Class 1 misdemeanor, which might be a fine or jail time. The proposed ordinance was the civil process. Currently, the owner paid a $ 25 bond to enter into the civil process. The proposal was to increase that bond to $ 500 to cover the care of the animal during the initial hearing process. Councilmember Malnar said there would be no change on the criminal side and asked which court that criminal process went through. Chief St. John said the criminal cases were processed through the City Court. Councilmember Turner asked if the owner would have to post the $500 bond immediately if his animals were seized. Chief St. John said typically the bond would be posted within days. The animals were cared for by the Humane Society from the day they were seized. It could take a couple of days before they were notified that an appeal action had been filed, at which time the bond amount was paid. Councilmember Turner asked if the hearing occurred within 10 days through the expedited process. Chief St. John said that was correct. Councilmember Turner said if an owner paid the bond at that time, they would use up the bond amount if the hearing occurred on the 10th day. He asked if there was anything in the ordinance that would help if the owner plead not guilty and the animals had to be kept for a long time. Chief St. John said it was a special action appeal, where the judge determined how many days each party had to respond in the process. He said in the 50 dog case, the judge finally awarded the disposition of the animals to the City. However, the owner was still moving through the appeal process with the Supreme Court, so the City could have been paying much more in costs to care for the animals. He said the process they were proposing in the ordinance greatly reduced the length of time the owners had to move City of Glendale • Page 2 Printed on 611912017 City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes - Final May 16, 2017 through the appeal process. Councilmember Turner said they would be significantly reducing the taxpayers' exposure to maintain animals for a long period of time. Chief St. John said that was correct. Vice Mayor Hugh said Council looked forward to the ordinance moving forward. 2. 17-192 COUNCIL ITEM OF SPECIAL INTEREST: OVERVIEW OF 2016-2017 SIGNATURE EVENT SEASON Staff Contact and Presenter: Erik Strunk, Director, Public Facilities, Recreation and Special Events Staff Presenter: Heidi Barriga, Acting -Administrator, Special Events Division Staff Presenter: Stephanie Miller, Program Manager Mr. Strunk said there was a special event permitting process for vendors who participated in special events. Special Events was award-winning and worked in partnership with Public Safety, Public Works, Tax & License and other City departments. Ms. Barriga said the mission of this season's signature events was to promote and brand downtown Glendale as a destination and attract new visitors and potential shoppers to the area, while fostering community pride among residents. She explained the signature events typically ran from the day after Thanksgiving through the Chocolate Affaire in February. Ms. Barriga provided a history of the signature events, which began with Glendale Glitters in 1993. The signature event season was a 40 -night season with 6 free public events and weekend festivals and 1.5 million lights. These events included fundraising opportunities and a celebration of Glendale, with estimated attendance at the events of 350,000. Mr. Strunk said $97,473 was spent for media and advertising for the 2016-2017 event season. He said the return on investment included over $591,000 in exposure from radio, television and newspaper. Radio and television viewership was almost 5 million people and there were over 150,000 social media posts about the events. He said T -Mobile added a temporary major event cell tower due to the volume of service and there was about $3.2 million in retail activity with over $400,000 direct revenue to the City. Mr. Strunk explained the season included several event enhancements, such as new lighting displays, WIFI for events, Civic Center involvement, interactive art displays, additional enforcement in Murphy Park for unauthorized vendors and additional events at the Chocolate Affaire. Ms. Miller said staff provided an online survey for Glendale residents, visitors, businesses and vendors, and 101 responses were collected. She said most responses from residents were favorable about the signature events. Comments received included the events were great for families and the events lacked a hometown feel. Some of the comments said vendors liked the events, but visitors wanted more events and different types of programming. She said staff would be addressing some of the concerns during the 2017-2018 festivals. Mr. Strunk said 2017-2018 enhancements would include more mobility in Murphy Park, uniform lights and vendor tent appearance, as well as thinning out the vendors so patrons could enjoy the experience a little more. The area of 58th Drive would be opened up to City of Glendale Page 3 Printed on 611912017 City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes - Final May 16, 2017 allow merchants to participate more in the events and the beverage tent would be moved to Glenn Drive for easier access to nearby businesses. He said staff would also work on signage and layout to reduce the carnival -like atmosphere and were in the process of developing a signature event app to assist visitors. There would be community-based programming in the amphitheater on non-event days. Mr. Strunk said staff would conduct surreys during the events to strive for continuous improvement. The new downtown manager would work and communicate with downtown merchants on a regular basis and opportunities would be provided for merchants to occupy two tents in Murphy Park to sell merchandise on non-event nights. Mr. Strunk said staff would like to prioritize vendors from Glendale, west valley, county and Arizona businesses first, as well as waive the $25 application fee for Glendale -based businesses for special events. The vendor selection committee would be expanded by including an outside member, a Parks and Recreation Commission member, as well as staff from the Office of Economic Development and the Chamber of Commerce. The website and printed material would enhance education and outreach about the events and provide more Sunday through Wednesday vendor opportunities. Mr. Strunk said a better job would be done of incorporating the high traffic intersection of 57th Drive and Grand Avenue into the event footprint by putting up some type of a welcome sign or improved lighting in that area that would lead to enhanced connectivity from Grand Avenue to Catlin Court. The number of vendors would be reduced in Murphy Park, capitalizing on the Civic Center. Mr. Strunk said existing buildings and new standalone features would be used as a canvass for enhanced lighting. Vice Mayor Hugh said everything included in the presentation would enhance the experience for the public. Councilmember Tolmachoff asked if the sponsorships helped offset the cost of the signature events. Mr. Strunk said the total amount of sponsorships received this year was $86,200. There was a need for more corporate sponsors and staff would like to become more proactive about the sponsorships. Councilmember Tolmachoff asked about the criteria for Glendale vendor selection. Mr. Strunk said the Tax & License model was used to determine the Glendale -based businesses. Councilmember Tolmachoff agreed with limiting vendors in Murphy Park during the events and asked how it was determined which vendors were located in the park. Mr. Strunk said the Sunday through Wednesday vendors would be selected through an application or lottery process. Ms. Barriga said selection of vendors and where they were located depended on what they sold, the look of their product and how much product they could potentially sell. Councilmember Tolmachoff asked if there were going to be vendors in the park on the weekend during the opening weekend of the festival season and if there was going to be a lottery for those spots. City of Glendale Page 4 Printed on 6/19/2017 City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes - Final May 16, 2017 Ms. Barriga said there would only be a minimal number of vendors in the park during the downtown festivals. Councilmember Tolmachoff said that limited the number of vendors and asked about the process to decide which vendors would be allowed. Mr. Strunk said there was a location premium as part of the vendor process and vendors paid that premium for a spot in Murphy Park. The number of vendors in the park would be reduced by 35-40% for the first year. The other vendors would be placed in other locations on the event footprint and prime locations would require a premium site fee. Councilmember Tolmachoff said every vendor wanted to be in the park on the signature weekends and there might be more vendors applying than there were spots available. Mr. Strunk said the expanded vendor selection committee would assist with making the vendor placement decisions. Councilmember Tolmachoff was glad to hear they were moving toward more uniformity with the vendors and said they also needed to make sure they were fair with the signage with everyone who participated in the events. Councilmember Aldama asked if the St. Vincent de Paul and the Bead Museum locations could be utilized as art galleries during the events. He thanked the City Manager for the additional cell tower last year and for the new improvements to the signature events. He asked how parking would be enforced as the events became larger and closer to residential neighborhoods. Mr. Strunk said it was not something that had been an issue and said parking had been on a first-come, first-served basis for the events. He said if there was a concern about parking, he wanted to involve the neighbors in the conversation. Councilmember Aldama asked staff to review the parking issue and said his office had received some complaints about it. Councilmember Aldama asked if the selection process was the same for Glendale businesses and out-of-state businesses. Mr. Strunk said the process was the same. Councilmember Aldama said that the event set-up on 58th Drive, between Glendale and Glenn, was done too early and was impeding businesses. Councilmember Aldama asked how many nonprofits provided services or fundraising for the events. Mr. Strunk would have to do some research to answer the question but said the Season of Giving event allowed booths for charitable giving. Councilmember Aldama would like to see a process developed that would allow nonprofits to participate during the mega events. It was a great opportunity for the nonprofits. Councilmember Aldama thanked everyone involved in the presentation and said there had been many improvements, which would make the events better for residents and visitors. City of Glendale Page 5 Printed on 819/2017 City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes - Final May 16, 2017 Councilmember Clark said many years ago she asked for 50,000 lights and felt like she was the grandmother of Glendale Glitters. She said intercept surveys were great, but asked about a drop box for comment cards. She also suggested putting up more temporary directional and information signage up as the event grew larger, as well as updating the event maps. Councilmember Clark asked for consideration of temporary, portable parking signs to keep visitors from parking on residential streets. She said the criteria for selection of vendors should be communicated very clearly and objectively. Councilmember Clark asked if there was a limit to the number of vendors they would accept for an event. Ms. Barriga said there was a limit depending on the amount of space. Councilmember Clark said they were expanding the space and asked about the typical number of vendors allowed. Ms. Barriga said the Chocolate Affaire had 90 to 100 vendors total, Glendale Glitters was about 60 to 65 vendors. Councilmember Clark said they were expanding the footprint, pushing some of the vendors further out and asked if the number would remain the same. Ms. Barriga said the number might be a little lower, because the vendors would be taken out of Murphy Park due to congestion and there were not many locations available for those vendors due to existing businesses. Councilmember Clark suggested providing vendors written notification with the reasons for rejection and suggested remedies with an opportunity to reapply the following year. She said the non-food vendors were awful and suggested looking into opportunities to solicit talented valley craftsmen to participate in the events. Councilmember Clark asked how much of the $1.2 million budget was strictly for salaries for the department. Mr. Strunk said about $470,785 was for salaries. Councilmember Clark said 40% of the budget was for salaries. Mr. Strunk said that was correct. Councilmember Clark said 2014 had many sponsors, increased attendance with many of the vendors paying fees and she asked what staff could do to replicate those figures for the upcoming year. Mr. Strunk said they had the Pro Bowl and the Super Bowl in 2014, which would account for a little bit of the increase. Councilmember Clark agreed with Mr. Strunk's comment. Mr. Strunk said there was a dip in sponsorship in the following years and he would like to be more proactive in raising sponsorships, but hosting mega events did help with those numbers. City of Glendale Page 6 Printed on 6/19/2017 City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes - Final May 16, 2017 Councilmember Clark would like to see staff encouraging sponsors to be a part of the community and suggested efforts to partner with companies such as Dignity Health and Westgate. Councilmember Turner was glad to see the Civic Center was incorporated and suggested working to create a Christmas gift bazaar inside the Civic Center. He would like to see the footprint expanded further south to Lamar Road to include local businesses in that area. He suggested updating event maps to include all amenities. The surveys should be anonymous for more candid responses. Councilmember Turner asked if the food court would still be in front of the Bank of America building and suggested moving the vendors to a different area or splitting the food court into two locations. He suggested using red lights in the light display, keeping the lights up all year long for special events and using the lights to promote awareness and create themes in the downtown area. He also asked if it was necessary to allow so many bounce houses and climbing walls at the events. Councilmember Turner wanted a review of the parking and trash issues. He asked if the Bank of America parking garage was full during the signature events. Mr. Strunk said the Bank of America garage did not always fill up during the events. Councilmember Turner wanted to maximize use of that garage with signage or a lower parking price and asked for more code enforcement in the surrounding neighborhoods before the events occurred. He asked if the vendors were paying the appropriate taxes. Mr. Strunk said the vendors had the proper licenses and the Tax and License Department followed up with them, as necessary. Councilmember Tolmachoff said the suggestion was made several years ago to use St. Vincent de Paul and the Civic Center as vendor or exhibit space. She asked if staff had thought about using a shuttle for the downtown events. Mr. Strunk said they partnered with GCC for years using their parking lots. They needed to do a better job of getting the word out about the shuttles. Councilmember Tolmachoff said if the parking was a little closer, visitors might be more willing to use the shuttle option to attend the events. Mr. Strunk said the parking issue tied in directly with the app they wanted to introduce. Councilmember Tolmachoff suggested also building the survey into the app and asked about the total salaries for the department. Mr. Strunk said the amount consisted of current staff and salary. The part-time contractual staff was paid out of different budgets for the individual events. Councilmember Tolmachoff asked what staff worked on after the end of the signature event season. Ms. Barriga said staff worked on additional events such as Touch -A -Truck, movie nights, surviving summer events, as well as preparation for the upcoming event season. Councilmember Tolmachoff suggested they clearly define who was responsible for getting City of Glendale Page 7 Printed on 611912017 City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes - Final May 16, 2017 the celebrity to flip the lights during the event and said a celebrity added so much to the event. Councilmember Malnar said it was important to turn the signature events into a cultural event. He suggested a world food court night. He supported using local and downtown vendors and using the GUS bus system for transportation in and around the events. He asked if staff anticipated reducing the number of vendors or just spreading them out and if it would impact revenues. Mr. Strunk said revenues would be impacted if they reduced vendors, but they would try and accommodate vendors in other parts of the footprint and any reduction would be done responsibly. Councilmember Clark suggested requiring vendors provide a copy of their sales tax license before notifying them they had been selected to participate in an event. Mr. Strunk said they did not want to put that responsibility on another department. Councilmember Clark said maybe the vendors should provide copies of the applicable license so the City had proof they were appropriately licensed. Councilmember Aldama asked about the operating hours for the events. Ms. Barriga said the hours were as follows: Glendale Glitters, 5-10 p.m., Friday and Saturday, December Weekends 6-10 p.m., Friday and Saturday; Glitter and Glow Block Party 4-10 p.m., Saturday; and Chocolate Affaire 5-10 p.m., Friday, 10 a.m.-10 p.m. on Saturday, and 12-5 p.m. on Sunday. Councilmember Aldama asked if there would be a benefit to starting these events earlier. Mr. Strunk said it would come down to budgeting the events and the cost for each additional hour. Councilmember Aldama was interested in the information if the revenue coming in would benefit the City. He was concerned about extra code enforcement in the signature event area and said residents who didn't live near the event would not be subject to the once -a -year code enforcement scrutiny. He asked if the amount of public parking for the events had been assessed. Mr. Strunk said an analysis might have been done since they did have offsite parking and shuttle buses, but he was not sure when that was last completed. Councilmember Aldama said they had to make sure there was enough parking for visitors. Vice Mayor Hugh said the events were going to be great CITY MANAGER'S REPORT Mr. Phelps had no items to report. CITY ATTORNEY'S REPORT Mr. Bailey had no items to report. City of Glendale Page 8 Printed on 611912017 City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes - Final May 16, 2017 COUNCIL ITEMS OF SPECIAL INTEREST ADJOURNMENT The Council had no items of special interest. The City Council adjourned at 3:22 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 16th day of May, 2017. 1 further certify that the meeting was duly called and held and that a quorum was present. Dated this`�orl¢ day of IV 2017.1 Ju a K. Bower, MMC, City Clerk City of Glendale Page 9 Printed on 611912017