MINUTES OF MEETING OF TOWN COUNCIL

MINUTES OF MEETING AND PUBLIC HEARING OF THE

THATCHER TOWN COUNCIL

October 13, 2009

Present: Vice Mayor Mulleneaux, Councilman Eric Merriman. Don Innes, Wayne Griffin, Charles Morris, Ken Larson

Absent: Mayor Bob Rivera

Staff Present: Terry Hinton Manager, Health Brown Engineer, Chief Mike Payne Fire Department, Dudley Welker Attorney, Lona Duncan Town Clerk

Visitors: Michael Gabbert, Jeff Holt, Don Grady

AGENDA

Vice Mayor Mulleneaux Welcomed everyone and called the meeting to order at 7:00pm establishing there was a quorum. Vice Mayor excused Mayor Rivera stating he was out of the State and Country.

Pledge of Allegiance lead by Vice Mayor Mulleneaux

Roll Call.

PUBLIC HEARINGS:

A. General Plan Amendment for Mt. Graham Golf Course Resort – Daley Estates Area.

Jeffrey Holt introduced him self as representing Springbok Development. Mr. Holt gave some history stating part of the application is in currently in Graham County and Thatcher we are also working with City of Safford who is one of the property owners with us. We have been working on this for two and a half years it is not something that might happen it will happen we have already vested millions of dollars. The total construction will be $700 million dollars. Our plan is to take the existing Golf Course and re configure for additional play expansion and invite a larger golfing community to this region. What we are doing tonight is only the first step our goal is to work with the community and listen to your concerns. Starting in November we will have meetings once a month so that everyone having questions can come and get that information. This will be a slow growth process but faster than what you have seen in this area. We typically get 200 units or more a year through this program. We have a feasibility study so we know it will support what we are going to do in this community it should be very positive. The developer will come back to you with a more detailed plan on a phrase bases. On the site plan you will see the different villages and there will be open space we believe our densities will be no than 3000 units. We are going to work on bringing in a four or five star resort. The development will be for the age group of 55 years and older. These people will support schools and hospitals and retail marketing. We are very close to getting a development program there are 4 major companies besides ourselves that will be involved and we would like them to meet your Council. Councilman Innes asked about the recruiting process and the answer was it will be a national campaign. We have to spend more money to market this area because it is not know to the rest of the nation. Our plan is to have 250 to 300 reservations before we break ground. Councilman Innes asked what kind of impact will it have on the community Jeff said again I will have the feasibility information back in about 8 to 10 weeks but I can tell you that the disposable income is greater than the mining operations. Vice Mayor Mulleneaux said he recently had the opportunity to meet with ADOT about the transportation in this area and the Hospital Board and I have not heard them discuss this project. Have you talked with them I am not sure that our roads will take care of that number of people Jeff said we will work with the Hospital and School and the College I have already talked to Mark for more College courses at our facility. We hope to bring to the hospital some more services right now they have to travel out of town for some things. Councilman Griffin asked are they time shared occupied or owner occupied answer was owner occupied. Each village has it own community center, dinning, swimming pool and fitness center. Don Grady said there are a lot of rumors going around concerning the 14 homes that boarder number ten fairways and I own one of them. Terry said that is the first thing we did the green split you see on the map is staying as open area and it is about 300ft wide so there will be nothing in your back yard. Mr Grady said I have a view of golf course and the mountain I hate to see it gone. They have committed not to have three story apartments going into your back yard. Mr. Holt said we do not want to interrupt your living Mt Graham has great views and we do not want to take that away. The golf community is all single lot homes there are no two story products. We are not going to leave a development or make it look bad. The residential area will be single levels there may be possibly a three story away from the residents. Councilman Merriman asked if they had set aside a place for a fire station. Jeff said they will work with your Fire Chief to make sure what we design works for them. Councilman Larson asked if they have done a similar project like this anywhere else. Jeff said not in the rural area and this small. Councilman Larson said I am not sure I see the need for something this big we already have homes that are vacant. Jeff said again we will build nothing unless it is sold first this is a whole difference concept. People want to come here and not Phoenix or Tucson for the reason they want to live in a town that feels safe and a County that is not over grown. Chief Steven said he had seen areas in Mesa like this and when the parents pass away the kids get the home and then you have all ages again. Jeff said the home can belong to the kids but can not live in it until they are 55 years of age. They can lease it or sell it but again they have to be 55 years of age to live in it. Councilman Larson asked if he knew the cost of 18 holes of golf. Jeff said the cost of golf is controlled by the City of Safford. The City of Safford currently has an RFP for a management company. We are in the process of working out a long term agreement with the City of Safford we will advise you when that is completed. Councilman Innes said the concern is that it has been a public golf course for years and the price has been one that a wide range of people can afford to golf. Jeff said it will remain a public golf course and are far as the cost I am going to give you by best quess. The City of Safford is loosing money right now if it continues that way it will have to subsidized or shut it down. So I believe in order to get a happy medium there will be days during the week the local community can get a different price or buy an annual pass. We want to keep everyone happy or maybe the other communities can subsidized the cost and keep the rates lower. The rates will be more but I do not know at this point how much more.

OPEN CALL TO THE PUBLIC:

Mercedes Tinney stood and said she moved here because she likes the small family community. I am not in favor of the large retirement communities. I am concerned with the density of the homes are there going to be four to an acre or seven to an acre. I feel we need the golf course but who is going to own it and how much are the fee’s. How will this effect schools, fire, roads, police, doctors, waters and hospitals are there going to be develops fees. Terry said this is just the first thing they have not decided about what you are asking. Ms. Tinney ask at what point will they know about the density of the homes how many will be in each villages are they going to pay for the development fee or is the local land owner. Terry said no they will pay there own way. Ms Tinney asked is the annexation for Safford as well as Thatcher answer was just Thatcher. Ms Tinney asked if there would be a HOA Terry said probably and we don’t know the fees that is not a part of anything the Town will be involved in that is the developer call. Ms Tinney said I hope you have more meetings and more of a plan. Terry said absolutely there will be a lot more meeting this is not a short time frame. Council will approve a final plat in the end. Mr. Holt said this will be built in phrases and will take from seven to ten years starting in 2010. Ms Tinney asked are you using local people to work on the project or are you bringing in people. Mr. Holt said we will use local people first. Ms Tinney asked is Reay Lane the only road that will go to Hwy 70 the answer was there would be multiple entrance and exist. Vice Mayor Mulleneaux said he meet with the chairman of the State Hwy Commission and there is a plan to bring Hwy 191 in behind Daley Estates and connecting back into Hwy 70 some where by the Pima area. That will eliminate the traffic problems.

PUBLIC APPEARANCES:

A. Helping Hands for Graham County – Barbara Haralson

Barbara said she spoke with our Mayor and other City and Town Councils a couple of weeks ago. My purpose tonight is to inform you of a service that we have for the community. It is volunteer service there is little or no cost to the recipient our purpose is to provide owner home repair resources to people through out Graham County. We work with local agencies like Seacus , Seacap, Adult Protective Service as well as the Housing Authorities in Bylas. We wanted to believe there was not a need for home repair services in Graham County but we found out every soon that we have a very aging as well as declined economy in the area. We put a call out in June and at our first meeting we had 30 people wanted to work in program. We don’t have any particular religious or nationality our bounties are Graham County. We have set up criteria one is we are not working with renters we believe they have the land lords to take care of that. We are mainly working with people that own their own home and are at poverty level but that doesn’t determine all of it but those are some of the guide lines. Alot of people are retired and they thought they had enough money put away and then they have a medical problem which takes it all and then their roof blows off what do they do. We had one lady whose husband was deceased she had cancer and no children in the area her poverty level may not have been there but the need was we hear this to often. We have a group of volunteers some of which are unemployed right now. What do we want from you we are just asking for support to help us find recruits as volunteers and for people that need the assistance. We might want to call on you for trenching or something that you might have the equipment for and the people to do it. We received a small grant from Senator McClain and some private financial sources. We don’t want to reinvent the wheel we what to work with agencies, like we worked with Seacus where they had funds but no volunteers. We have a committee that review all the applications and a team that does an assessment. We have come across homes that we can not put money into it is just unsafe. We do not remodel home we do not install carpet we are there for basic needs.

CONSENT AGENDA: Action Item

A. Approve minutes of the September 8, 2009 Regular Council Meeting.

B. Planning and Zoning Monthly Report.

C. Police Monthly Report.

D. Approval of Invoices.

E. Financial Reports.

Councilman Morris made motion to approve Minutes and Report. Councilman Innes seconded the motion. The vote was unanimous. Motion passed

OLD BUSINESS: Discussion, consideration and possible action

NEW BUSINESS: Discussion, consideration and possible action

A. Decision on a Major General Plan Amendment in the Daley Estates Area.

Terry said we have all listened to the review and P&Z had the same information and they recommended the approval of the General Plan Amendment. This Plan Amendment can be done once a year and in the second half of year so staff recommends approval. Councilman Griffin asked so the General Plan states this is our intent but does it change the zoning. Terry said no because a good portion of it is not even zoned yet so when that is annexed along with this process the zoning will be taken care of then. Our zoning is supposed to match our General Plan. Heath said to change the zoning you have to first change the General Plan. Councilman Innes said so this is to help us as a Council to keep focused on long tern growth and the answer was yes.

Councilman Innes made motion to approve General Plan Amendment and Councilman Merriman seconded the motion. The vote was unanimous Motion Passed.

B. RESOLUTION NO. 556-2009: A RESOLUTION OF THE MAYOR AND COUNCIL OF THE TOWN OF THATCHER, GRAHAM COUNTY, ARIZONA, AUTHORIZING THE TOWN TO ENTER INTO AN INTERGOVENMENTAL AGREEMENT WITH GRAHAM COUNTY FOR THE DISTRIBUTION OF LTAF II FUNDS.

Terry said each year if there is enough money collected on the Lottery there is a portion of that set aside for transportation use. In the past we have pooled with the County and sometime Safford and Pima and are allocated to the non profit groups for transportation uses.

Councilman Morris made motion to approve Resolution No 556-2009. Councilman Larson seconded the motion. The vote was unanimous. Motion passed

C. RESOLUTION NO. 555-2009: RESOLUTION OF THE MAYOR AND COMMON COUNCIL OF THE TOWN OF THATCHER, ARIZONA, APPROVING AN INTERGOVERNMENTAL AGREEMENT WITH THE COUNTY OF GRAHAM RELATING TO ESTABLISHMENT OF AN ENTERPRISE ZONE AND AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO EXECUTE THE SAME.

Terry said every four years the County and local Municipality have to reestablish the Enterprise Zone. There are some development tools from the State Commerce available to business if they were to locate here. There are different grants and thing that are available if we are part of this Enterprise.

Councilman Innes made motion to approve Resolution No 555-2009 and Councilman Morris seconded the motion. The vote was unanimous. Motion passed

D. RESOLUTION NO. 557-2009: A RESOLUTION OF THE MAYOR AND COUNCIL OF THE TOWN OF THATCHER, GRAHAM COUNTY, ARIZONA, AUTHORIZING THE TOWN TO ENTER INTO AN AGREEMENT WITH DALE BLAN TO ALLOW THE RECOVERY OF COSTS ASSOCIATED WITH THE CONSTRUCTION OF A SANITARY SEWER.

Terry said again if you will remember back when Mr. Blan put in his apartments on 4^th Ave and 8^th Street at his only expense connected to our sewer. He designed and built the sewer and connected to ours on 1st Ave and 8th Street. This is to give him the right to re coop some of those cost I believe it is a 1000 dollars per connection on top of our fee for any one that will connect on to that. We have a couple more areas that are looking into doing the same thing. Councilman Griffin ask how may potential connection might there be. Terry said it depends a good portion of the people that lived along there are already connected so he could go across their land it could go up Robinson Ave, 4^thAve., the back side of Jackson Estates.

Councilman Griffin made motion to approve Resolution 557-2009. Councilman Innes seconded the motion. The vote was unanimous Motion passed

E. ORDINANCE NO.157-2009: AN ORDINANCE OF THE TOWN OF THATCHER, ARIZONA, RELATING TO THE TOWN CODE; AMENDING CHAPTER 7 OF THE TOWN CODE TO UPDATE THE UNIFORM CODES BY ADOPTING MORE RECENT EDITIONS OF THE CODES; PROVIDING FOR SEVERABILITY AND PROVIDING PENALTIES FOR VIOLATION.

Terry explained that it is time to update ourselves to newer codes when we have training they use the newer codes. We are throwing out 2003, 2005. The County and the City of Safford will go to these we are just trying to keep up. Chief Payne said this is the 2009 code except for the electricity.

Councilman Morris made motion to approve Ordinance No. 157-2009. Councilman Larson seconded the motion. The vote was unanimous Motion passed

INFORMATIONAL ITEMS:

A. Town Manager’s Report.

Terry said that Thursday the 15^th at 6pm at Discovery Park a dinner is being given by ADOT Board they have invited all the Council. This will be the last opportunity that Delbert Householder will have for this meeting he is getting off the Board in a few months.

Terry said he and Heath went to a EEBG meeting (Energy Efficient Block Grant) all of the smaller Municipality under 40 thousand in population were given a grant and we were allotted just under 68 thousand dollars. The bad news is the application is long. We are looking at several projects we can do like trading meters to smart meters that does the on and off’s and has a pre paid option which I would like in all of our rental houses. Then second maybe retro fixing the Val’s building with new windows and insulations or third maybe solar panels on waster water treatment plant.

Terry said if you remember Heath wrote our last Enhancement Grant and we just received word that we have received it. This grant is for the walking path from Daley Stop to Reay Lane railroad tracks. The County did not get their so we will not beable to connect there yet. Terry said however we will connect to the College. Heath said the Grant was around 500 thousand and we have a match of 5.7% to pay. This will be about a 2 or 3 year project.

Terry said the update on the sidewalks in Daley Estates is we have about two weeks on Johnson and Bingham then we will move to other side.

B. Fire Department Report.

Chief Payne said he and Terry and Rue just got back from Columbus Ohio to look at the fire truck factory and it was very positive we thinks we are getting what we want. Terry said he was impressed with there operation they are building a lot of trucks. Chief Payne said this week-end is our Volunteer Firefighters Conference. We are going to get some good training on Friday and then on Saturday we are having the games. We would like to invite you and the kids and wives to come join us it should be a lot of fun. It starts at 9:00am at the Thatcher Park.

C. Police Department Report.

Chief Steven said we have all the cars stripped and we have a good fleet. We have received another grant of 60 thousand from Stone Garden and 7500 for equipment in 2010. We helped assist the Graham County Fair which they will reimburse us for our over time. Chief said that Officer West is going to hold a surprise mock shut down at the High School tomorrow.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

A. Safe House- Councilman Griffin said there is a meeting in another week.

B. Chamber of Commerce- Councilman Merriman said the Salsa Fest went over very well Rose West reported about 10 thousand people attended. They still have books for sell. The Chamber has three new members going on the board because Rose West, Terry Johnson and Kerry Lawson will be leaving. They are down to two people for the Executive position one in from the Phoenix and one in the Scottsdale area. Councilman Innes asked what kind of background do they have. Councilman Merriman said I believe the lady is working with Mexico and the bordering cities. The other person is retired and he wants to move into this area he has worked with the Chamber in other areas. Councilman Merriman said The Harvest Fest is coming up on October 24^thand the Hospital fund raiser is on the 31^st. We were told that Miami mine is opening up 220 jobs and that Morenci might start up the concentrator. The College football team and volley ball team are doing well.

C. SEAGO – No meeting

D. Arizona Foundation- Councilman Larson said they are receiving applications for funding. I will have more information next month.

E. Library Committee - Councilman Morris said he missed last weeks meeting but they worked on a vision statement and there is another one tomorrow and I will be there.

Terry said for Dec, Jan & Feb we may have to move the Council meeting to another day or another week. I will get suggested dates from you later.

ADJOURNMENT