MINUTES OF MEETING AND PUBLIC HEARING OF THE

THATCHER TOWN COUNCIL

August 14, 2007

MEMBERS PRESENT: Mayor, Bob Rivera

Vice Mayor, Bill Mulleneaux

Councilmember’s: Doug Hoopes, Ken Larson, Eric Merriman, Donald Innes, Charles Morris

MEMBERS ABSENT: None

ALSO PRESENT: Terry Hinton, Town Manager

Mike McEuen, Chief of Police

Heath Brown, Town Engineer

Dudley Welker, Town Attorney

Lona Duncan, Town Clerk

VISTORS: Scott & Mindy Curtis, Josh Myers, Chris Rod, Ward Weaver, Jon Johnson, Cindy McEuen, Mark & Brenda Stephens, Jon Stephens, Ron & Alan Sparks

AGENDA

Mayor Rivera called the meeting to order at 7:00pm establishing that there was a Quorum. He also said God bless our Troops, Family and America.

Pledge of Allegiance was lead by Councilman Larson

Roll Call.

PUBLIC HEARING

A. Final Plat on Spring Canyon Estates - 1^st Avenue

Chris Rod stood and introduced himself as the Engineer of the project and was there to answer any questions. Mr. Rod also stated that they would be building affordable homes. Mayor Rivera ask if the item that was brought up in the P & Z meeting concerning the improvements of road work had been taken care of. Chris Rod said that it would be done.

B. Final Plat on The Village - 8^th Street

Scott Curtis stood and said he was here to answer any questions. There were no questions.

OPEN CALL TO THE PUBLIC:

PUBLIC APPEARANCES:

A. New Chief of Police Introduction.

Terry introduced Mark Stephens to be the new Chief of Police. Terry said it was a very competitive interview and two every fine candidates between Mark Stephens and Jeff McCormies but the men who helped interview were unanimous in the vote for Mark Stephens. Terry said he would let Mark introduce his wife. Mark stood and introduced his wife Brenda who he said was originally from Duncan. Mark said he had four children and three grandchildren. Mark said it was going to be good to be back where his roots are in the Gila Valley and he is looking forward to working with the police officers here in Thatcher and the Council. Mayor Rivera welcomed Mark and his wife.

Mayor Rivera also ask Chief Mike McEuen to come up that he would like to present him with a plaque which has his badge on it and congratulated him on his retirement. Mayor Rivera thanked Mike for his ten years of service on behalf of the Council and the community we appreciate your time and commitment. Council all stood and thanked Chief McEuen and wished him all the best. Chief McEuen thanked Council for the support that they had given the Police Department he enjoyed working for the Town of Thatcher and would still help if needed.

CONSENT AGENDA:

A. Approve minutes June 12, 2007 Council Meeting.

B. Planning and Zoning Monthly Report.

C. Police Monthly Report.

D. Approval of invoices.

E. Financial Reports.

Councilman Morris made motion to accept the records and minutes. Councilman Innes seconded the motion. The vote was unanimous. Motion passed

OLD BUSINESS:

A. Sales tax agreement with Pima.

Terry said that we had agreed some time ago that Safford and Thatcher would give Pima 2% of the amount of sales tax from the Super Wal-Mart store. That agreement was never signed by Safford. Safford has now begun to pay Pima their percent and so I need a vote from Council for the Town of Thatcher to go ahead and start paying Pima our percent. Vice Mayor Mulleneaux said that is what we wanted originally and I think it is still a good idea.

Councilman Morris made motion to approve the Mayor signing a sales tax agreement for Pima. Councilman Innes seconded the motion. The vote was unanimous. Motion passed

NEW BUSINESS:

A. Decision on Final Plat for Spring Canyon Estates.

Vice Mayor Mulleneaux ask Heath Brown if there was anything he would like to say concerning it? Heath said that what was written in the minutes of P &Z is about all except one thing some of the lots on the north end are a little shallow next to the canal easement we might need to give them a few extra feet on about three lots other than that it is exactly like the plat they have meet all the request I have made. Councilman Innes ask if they were going to meet the request made by P&Z and when will that be done? Heath said yes it will be met and they will do theirs when the construction starts and our part we have talked about starting in the next two to three months. Vice Mayor Mulleneaux ask if there was a target date for the beginning of the subdivision and the answer was no but probably within the next 90 days.

Vice Mayor Mulleneaux made motion to approve the final plat for Spring Canyon Estates. Councilman Morris seconded the motion. The vote was unanimous. Motion passed

B. Decision on Final Plat for The Village.

Heath said the final plat is the same as the prelimary plat they look good they are meeting our street standards they have made the minor changes I ask for. Councilman Innes ask about the drainage issue? Heath said I believe you are referring to the existing ditch along 8^th Street that goes across the front of the property and I ask that they put that ditch into a pipe and cover for maintence and safety reasons and I have talked with Mr. Curtis and he is going to talk to the user of the ditch to see about getting it abandoned so then wouldn’t have to be covered.

Councilman Morris made motion to approve the final plat for The Village. Councilman Innes seconded the motion. The vote was unanimous. Motion passed.

C. SEAGO Basic Service Agreement.

Terry explained that this is approved every year the cost is the only change and the change in cost is very little.

Councilman Innes made motion to approve Seago Basic Service Agreement for $2004.01. Councilman Larson seconded the motion. The vote was unanimous. Motion passed

D. 12^th Street Improvement District.

Terry said that Council had the letter that he sent to Mr. McEuen and the other land owners involved. We have talked about some road improvement which will intel some of the land owners giving up some of there land to give us a 50ft right a way. We have given them two options but we have pretty much decided on a double chip seal road for at least 12^th Street and what we are calling Hooper Lane and also Brooke Lane. They have given them the option of two streets or three streets to make it go Heath and I feel like it needs to have at lease 12^th Street and Hooper Lane. The cost I figured is more than adequate the cost is on the high side so when the actual figures come in it should be lower than is shown. Mike has talked to most of the land owners and they pretty much agree. If the Council approves of this then we will get some type of document with at least 50% or more signatures from land owners. The costs are based on a 20 year pay back at 5% interest. We believe it will be in the best interest of everyone to assess there fee based on the number of lots they own. That is how we did Spencer Lane. Chief Payne ask about the fire hydrants. Terry said they had to put them in when the water line was installed some of them may have to be moved back but they are there.

Vice Mayor Mulleneaux made motion to approve the 12^th Street Improvement District. Councilman Merriman seconded the motion. The vote was unanimous. Motion passed

E. Val=s Building purchase.

Terry told Ron and Alan Sparks that a general discussion with Council took place after looking at your letter of suggestions. Just for information to you there is no way I can get financing in a timely manner for you but there is a way we could do a reimbursement of funds that way we should be able to have funds when needed. Within 30 days we can have something signed and in escrow of course that would be based on working out the agreement that is good for both parties. One of the things we would like to see on the agreement would be to have a lease purchase agreement signed by you and the owners of the old Wal-Mart building. Ron Sparks ask the question if the time frame would be finished by next Council meeting. Terry said yes but if the owners of old Wal-Mart building need something from you before that time we could call a special meeting to have the agreement signed. Councilman Morris said what we would like to do tonight is approve the procedure of purchasing the building with the contingency of the agreement making both parties happy and then it can be signed before the next council meeting if needed.

Councilman Innes made motion to purchase the building at the appraised price of $1,650,000.00 contingent upon the agreement between the owners of the building and the Town Council being finalized. Council Morris seconded the motion. The vote was unanimous. Motion passed

INFORMATIONAL ITEMS:

A. Town Manager’s Report:

1) Terry said everything is busy we just had two final plats finished and we don’t have anything pending right now. Next week Mr. Cota will start dirt work on the Town Houses he has sold some of the land below for Town Houses and they brought us plans wanting approval so they can get building permits. There are 195 condominium planned for just off the hill and we are told another 100 apartments are going in on the other side of that.

2) We had applied for an annexation on the south and west of Daley Estates which included State land and with what the State required us to do we have decided to redraw the boundaries of the annexation so that no State land is in it and start the process again. At the same time we are preparing annexation maps for the area between 1^st and Reay Lane at Robinson Ranch Road and for the Central area. We will prepare information for them and see what kind of interest there is. If they are interested we will go forward and if not then we won’t. Some of the pro’s is the property tax if less our trash collections is much cheaper and all the areas we are looking at annexing the sewer would be available through an improvement district or however they choose to do it. The disadvantage is if you have a larger parcel of land in the county you can split five times and in the town you can only split three times. In the passed we had more strict building regulations but now the County has adopted the same building codes and the same fee schedule.

3) In next weeks paper we will be posting for the position of Maintence I Worker who will be our back up garbage driver and also we have a lot of work going on and the weeds in town are hard to keep up with so they will be used in a number of areas for a while.

4) We are in negotiations and right now it appears we will be putting in the water line up to Reay Lane and connect the main line that feeds Daley Estates with the line we already put in on 8^th Street that feed 12^th Street. We are working with Safford and the developer that needs the water who will buy the materials and the Town of Thatcher will install the line.

5) We have finished our work on 3^rd Ave. and it will be another 30 days before that process is finished.

6) The Bridge is finished and working the way it should we have had some pretty good flows and the more flow we get the better it works.

7) Councilman Innes asked how many approved homes we have out there. Heath Brown said about 680 and that does not include the 174 Town Houses or 195 condominium or the 100 apartments.

8) Terry said that Heath is working on a round about at the end of stadium where the ball field and cemetery road cross. He is looking to see if it will work. Heath said a round about does require a large area but I think it will work.

B. Fire Department Report.

1) Chief Payne said they had several calls lately and they survived the Daley Estates Night Out. We did get a call in the middle of the National Night Out which was the apartments on the corner.

2) We had an Eagle Scout do a project last Saturday cleaning up hydrants.

3) We have fire school coming up in September and we have eleven that are planning on going we will work it out with Safford to cover for us while we are gone.

4) We are still working on getting together with Councilmember for the Risk Management meeting.

5) Mayor Rivera ask how many plan to attend the EAC classes. Chief Payne said that there are only two adults that have signed up and out of our firemen from Thatcher we have seven that could but at this point they have other commitments keeping them from signing up. It is a good class but it takes a lot of time. Mayor Rivera thanked the Fire Department for all the fun activities they provided at National Night Out.

C. Police Department Report.

1)Chief McEuen said that they applied for the permit to get the helicopter for the National Night Out. We also had the fire works this year which everyone seemed to like and it went well. We may need to move the fire works back because some of the debris got on some of the houses which I went and cleaned up the next day.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

A. Safe House – Councilman Hoopes said there would be a meeting in September.

B. Chamber of Commerce - Councilman Merriman they have had three meetings, The first meeting was with Mr. Prina on his development on the southside of Hwy 191 thy are about 6months out for there permits to be finished . They have worked out the water issue and the golf course so it should be a go. They are looking at 6000 homes over a period of years.

We had a special meeting with John Walton who came into town he is looking to build by the old Hatch Bros. building across from the Chamber building. He wants to build a big office complex two and three stories about 92millon dollars. They are looking at l having a round about in the highway right there. The complex will include a bank, restaurant, and office spaces. I believe Phelps Dodge has signed up to be in the complex. They are also looking at underground parking.

The Chamber Breakfast will be this Friday at 7:00am if you would like to go. The Salsa Trail has a lot of story writers coming in and interviewing the restaurant we also had the movie people here for awhile. Trophies & Tee’s will have a social August 23rd, Jerry Berg who does wood carvings will have his opening Sept 1^st his building is located in Pima he has some nice thing. They are still looking for members for the Leadership Class for this the third year. Phelps Dodge is ahead of there schedule as far as construction here in Safford. They still have jobs to fill that are on their web site. The Chamber bought a big screen TV to show people that are coming in the different video’s that can be seen to bring in tourist. There is a task force that is being formed which they would like Bill Konopnicki to be over to see if they can get EAC to be a four year college. This time they are going to try and get the nursing program and the mining engineering to be four years they think this might just help push it through.

C. Seago – Mayor Rivera said there was nothing to report

D. Arizona Foundation – Councilman Larson said their meeting had been cancelled so he had nothing to report.

EXECUTIVE SESSION: Pursuant to A.R.S. Section 38-431.03 (A)(7) the Council may go into Executive Session concerning negotiations for the purchase, sale, or lease of real property.

Terry stated he would like for Heath, Lona , Dudley and myself to stay for the meeting it will be from 7:50 to about 9:00.

Councilman Innes made motion to go into Executive Session. Vice Mayor Mulleneaux seconded the motion. The vote was unanimous. Time was 7:50pm

Councilman Innes made motion to reconvene into Regular Session. Councilman Morris seconded the motion. The vote was unanimous. Time was 8:40 pm

Discussion and Action on any item from the Executive Session

The item discussed in under new business letter New Business (E) - Purchase of Val’s Building.

Adjournment.

Councilman Morris made motion to adjourn meeting and Councilman Innes seconded the motion. The vote was unanimous meeting adjourned at 8:46pm.

ATTEST:

APPROVED:

___________________________ ___________________________

Lona Duncan, Town Clerk Robert Rivera, Mayor

CERTIFICATION

I hereby certify that the foregoing minutes are a true and correct copy of the minutes of the regular/special meeting of the Town Council of the Town of Thatcher held on the 14th day of August 2007. I further certify that the meeting was duly called and held and that a quorum was present.

___________________________

Lona Duncan, Town Clerk