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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Minutes - City Council - Meeting Date: 10/10/2023City of Glendale 5850 West Glendale Avenue Glendale, AZ 85301 C&7 Glendale A R I Z O N A Meeting Minutes Tuesday, October 10, 2023 12:30 P.M. Workshop Meeting Civic Center City Council Mayor Jerry Weiers Vice Mayor Joyce Clark Councilmember Jamie Aidama Councilmember Ian Hugh Councilmember Ray Malnar Councilmember Lauren Tolmachoff Councilmember Bart Turner CALL TO ORDER Mayor Weiers called the meeting to order at 12:30 p.m. ROLL CALL Present: Mayor Jerry Weiers Vice Mayor Joyce Clark Councilmember Jamie Aldama Councilmember Ian Hugh Councilmember Ray Malnar Councilmember Lauren Tolmachoff Councilmember Bart Turner Also Present: Kevin Phelps, City Manager Michael Bailey, City Attorney Julie K. Bower, City Clerk WORKSHOP SESSION 1. CEMETERY RATE DISCUSSION Presented by: Michelle Woytenko, Director of Field Operations Charles Thomas, Deputy Director of Field Operations Ms. Bower read the item by title. Ms. Wyotenko presented the cemetery rates. The presentation included: . Historical cost . Rate adjustments . Rate comparison Councilmember Tolmachoff asked for information regarding the budget. Ms. Wyotenko said, during the previous discussion, there had been a question about finding additional funding sources for a columbarium. The cemetery did not fit in with the current voter -approved bond language and staff would continue to look for other funding sources. Councilmember Tolmachoff asked if with the proposed rates, the shortfall would be closed with a specific number of burials. Ms. Wyotenko said there was still niche space and cremation spots on the ground and the shortfall would be covered with the average number of burials per year. Mr. Thomas said it would take 35 transactions per year to close the gap. There were 13 spots available at the existing columbarium. Councilmember Tolmachoff asked if staff anticipated that demand would exceed availability and if there was a shift away from burials. Mr. Thomas said the trend was moving toward cremations and ground burial cremations. Staff did not want to rush construction on a new columbarium until the trend was a move toward City Council Meeting Minutes - October 10, 2023 Page 2 of 8 columbarium burials. It would be necessary to build a fence to secure the site from potential vandalism during construction. Councilmember Tolmachoff asked if there was a decrease in the number of regular burials. Mr. Thomas said it was currently an even split. Cremains burials were less labor intensive than a regular burial. Councilmember Aldama asked what caused the cost increases if the City owned the property. Mr. Thomas said costs included caring for the lot in perpetuity. Councilmember Aldama asked if maintenance in perpetuity could be on a separate line item. He asked if there was an increase in burials due to covid. Mr. Thomas said there was an increase during the pandemic. 2. COUNCIL ITEM OF SPECIAL INTEREST - REVIEW CURRENT NUMBER OF CERTIFIED PARAMEDICS Presented by: Ryan Freeburg, Fire Chief Ms. Bower read the item by title. Chief Freeburg said the request was to review the current number of certified paramedics working to determine if it was appropriate to meet staffing model demands. Councilmember Turner asked if there was a dollar amount associated with the 8-16 hours of staff time. He was glad to know that the review could be done in-house without having to hire a consultant. Chief Freeburg said the 8-16 hours would be assigned to different members of staff who were paid at different rates and he would rather not speculate on the cost. It would be assigned to his deputy chiefs and work would be done in house. Councilmember Tolmachoff said information that dealt with public safety should be shared with all members of Council. Mayor Weiers confirmed consensus to move forward with the scope of work and bring it back for discussion at a future workshop. 3. COUNCIL ITEM OF SPECIAL INTEREST - FIREFIGHTER CANCER LEGISLATION Presented by: Ryan Lee, Director, Intergovernmental Programs The item was pulled from the agenda. 4. GLENDALE CITY CODE REVISIONS Presented by: Rick St. John, Deputy City Manager Tim Boling, Code Compliance Official City Council Meeting Minutes - October 10, 2023 Page 3 of 8 Ms. Bower read the item by title. Mr. Boling presented the revisions and requested consensus on the following items: . Restricted parking on vacant lots . Deletion of redundant code . Clean and Lien Program change . Responsibility for alley maintenance . Interior codes from International Property Maintenance Codes — improved language Councilmember Tolmachoff asked the definition of limousine. Mr. Boling said limousine was added to address a specific problem approximately 8 years ago. Limousine was not defined but staff would develop a definition and bring it back to council. Mayor Weiers confirmed consensus to change the wording of section 24-65(b) of the Glendale City Code. Councilmember Malnar asked if it was a problem if a resident had a dirt backyard and created dust when driving in and out and a dust complaint was received. Mr. Boling said the complaint would be referred to Maricopa County Dust Control. Mayor Weiers asked if it would require language to make it clear that it needed to be visible through a 6-foot fence. Mr. St. John said it would not be necessary because the current code did address it. Mayor Weiers confirmed consensus on the parking revision and on removing redundant language. Councilmember Aldama asked what steps were taken to ensure no state or federal laws were violated during the removal of homeless encampments from a public area. Mr. St. John said a court ruling required that the property be posted for 48 hours with a notice of intent to clear the encampment. The notice had to indicate where any stored items of value would be located for a minimum of 30 days. Councilmember Malnar asked if the state required a minimum of 30 days or less, and the current City code stated a maximum of 30 days. He proposed that the language reflect a maximum of 30 days. Mr. St. John said that the "or less" was there if there was a public safety hazard that necessitated a faster clean up. The Prosecutor's Office preferred that the City code mirrored state law exactly. Councilmember Malnar wanted to keep it at a maximum of 30 days and did not want the language to allow the nuisance to go over 30 days. Vice Mayor Clark agreed with Councilmember Malnar that it not exceed 30 days. She asked if it applied to the City when cleaning up an encampment on City property. Mr. St. John said that immediate action was taken on City property. The City did follow the 48-hour process if there was property belonging to someone. City Council Meeting Minutes - October 10, 2023 Page 4 of 8 Councilmember Tolmachoff asked how much time transpired before the City got to the clean and lien timeframe. Mr. Boling said when a complaint was received, a code enforcement officer was there within 48 hours on 92% of cases. It did take research as state statute required the City to notify the property owner and the last person that paid taxes on the property. Once the notice was mailed, the party had 30 days. If after 30 days, the property was not cleaned up, the City would bid it out to contractors which could take 4-5 days. The total time was approximately 45-50 days. Councilmember Tolmachoff asked Mr. Bailey if it benefited the City to mirror the language in state statute to avoid legal problems down the road. Mr. Bailey said mirroring the statute was the best practice. As long as the code met the threshold, it would make sense. Councilmember Tolmachoff asked if there was a policy for a non -responsive owner. Mr. Boling said for nonresponsive owners, it went straight to clean and lien after the 30-day notice. Councilmember Malnar wanted to remove the word "minimum." Mayor Weiers confirmed consensus to remove the word `minimum' and leave it as 30 days. Council Tolmachoff asked how it prevented someone from asking for more time. Councilmember Malnar said a hearing officer or judge would look at what the law said. Mr. Boling said that clean and lien situations did not have an appeal process. It was up to Code Enforcement to allow more time. Councilmember Aldama said, with regard to alley maintenance, it was unfair for a homeowner to be responsible for things that happened at night and beyond the homeowner's control. He asked what other cities were doing. Mr. Boling said the proposed ordinance was modeled from other cities. Councilmember Aldama asked if there was a plan to increase enforcement in communities that had alleys. Mr. Boling said staff would only respond if a complaint was received. Councilmember Tolmachoff asked if the alley was part of the City's right-of-way. Mr. Boling said the alley was part of the easement that included the front part of the alley. The proposed ordinance would include the back of the property. Councilmember Tolmachoff asked if the City had the legal authority to force anyone to clean up in an easement. Mr. Boling said there were easements where the adjacent property owner was responsible. Most of the dumping was occurring in alleys that were gated. City Council Meeting Minutes - October 10, 2023 Page 5 of 8 Councilmember Tolmachoff said that it could be a safety hazard for residents to remove the debris. Mr. Boling said the budget for cleaning alleys would be exhausted quickly since it required the City to hire contractors to clean up the illegal dumping. Councilmember Turner was not in support of making a homeowner responsible for the cleanup. He wanted to see an increase in the budget and/or to make more of an effort to find the people doing the dumping. Mayor Weiers asked how often illegal dumping happened. Fred Sanchez, Right -of -Way Supervisor, said reoccurrence was what staff was really fighting. One alley had been cleaned three times since August. The Illegal Dumping Team had been established in July and had already handled 40 cases and anticipated 200 for the year. Mayor Weiers could not support fining residents because of illegal dumping. Councilmember Aldama asked what the fine was for illegal dumping. Ms. Woytenko said illegal dumping was enforced through the Field Operations Department. If staff could determine who it belonged to, the responsible party was charged back the cleanup fee at $100 per hour. Councilmember Tolmachoff wanted to punish the bad actors and not the general public. Mayor Weiers asked why contractors were paid $3,000 when the City only charged $100 an hour. Mr. Boling said the itemized invoice from one of the cleanups included 42 hours of labor, a dump fee $764, and tire disposal for 10 tires at $5 each, which added up to $3,052. Mayor Weiers said there was not a consensus for the alley cleanup language. Councilmember Malnar asked for clarification on what the problem was for enforcing the current language regarding the interior codes. Mr. Boling said the current code applied to "interior walls and ceiling surfaces." Staff wanted to expand that to "interior walls, cabinets, ceilings and floors." Code Enforcement was currently unable to address floors that created tripping hazards or cabinet doors that would not close properly. If a property manager did not respond to tenant complaints, the tenant then had the right to call Code Enforcement and request an inspection of the property. The findings were submitted to the owner. Mayor Weiers confirmed consensus on improving language on interior codes and the language for interior doors. CITY MANAGER'S REPORT Mr. Phelps congratulated Code Compliance Administrator Tasha Jefferson for receiving the Rising Star Award at the American Association of Code Enforcement National Conference. Mr. Phelps said the City was rolling out the Community Alert System. Anyone in the community could City Council Meeting Minutes - October 10, 2023 Page 6 of 8 download the Everbridge app and type in City of Glendale and sign up for emergency notifications. It was an important tool to get information out quickly to the public. Mr. Phelps said Chicken and Pickle in Westgate would be hosting the first National Pickel Ball League Championship from October 12th to the 14th. Over 108 teams would compete. The event included a community fundraiser for breast cancer. CITY ATTORNEY'S REPORT No report COUNCIL ITEMS OF SPECIAL INTEREST Councilmember Tolmachoff asked for detailed information regarding the Everbridge app so Council could share it with residents. MOTION AND CALL TO ENTER INTO EXECUTIVE SESSION A motion was made by Councilmember Bart Turner, seconded by Councilmember Ian Hugh to hold an executive session. AYE: Mayor Jerry Weiers Vice Mayor Joyce Clark Councilmember Jamie Aldama Councilmember Ian Hugh Councilmember Ray Malnar Councilmember Lauren Tolmachoff Councilmember Bart Turner Passed EXECUTIVE SESSION Council met in executive session at 1:58 p.m. 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 property located at 4701 W Glendale Avenue, Glendale, AZ 85301 pursuant to A.R.S. §§ 38-431.03 (A)(3)(4)(7) . 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 property located near 57th Avenue and Glenn Drive, Glendale, AZ 85301 pursuant to A.R.S. §§ 38-431.03 (A)(3)(4)(7) . 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 property located at 6832 N 58th Ave, Glendale, AZ 85301 pursuant to A.R.S. §§ 38-431.03 (A)(3)(4)(7) A motion was made by Councilmember Ian Hugh, seconded by Vice Mayor Joyce Clark to adjourn the executive session. City Council Meeting Minutes - October 10, 2023 Page 7 of 8 AYE: Mayor Jerry Weiers Vice Mayor Joyce Clark Councilmember Jamie Aldama Councilmember Ian Hugh Councilmember Ray Malnar Councilmember Lauren Tolmachoff Councilmember Bart Turner Passed Mayor Weiers adjourned the executive session at 3,08 p.m. ADJOURNMENT Mayor Weiers adjourned the meeting at 3:08 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 10th day of October, 2023. 1 further certify that the meeting was duly called and held and that a quorum was present. Dated this 23rd day of October, 2023. gJt-TC*ieK. ower, MMC, City Clerk City Council Meeting Minutes - October 10, 2023 Page 8 of 8