MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING OF THE TOWN COUNCIL

                MINUTES OF MEETING AND PUBLIC HEARING OF THE

                                     THATCHER TOWN COUNCIL

                                                              October 23, 2007                                     

 

 

MEMBERS PRESENT:                                          Mayor, Bob Rivera

  Vice Mayor, Bill Mulleneaux

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

 

MEMBERS ABSENT:                                             Doug Hoopes

 

ALSO PRESENT:                                                     Heath Brown, Town Engineer         

                                                                                    Mark A Stevens, Chief of Police

                                                                                    Dudley Welker, Town Attorney

                                                                                    Lona Duncan, Town Clerk

                                                                                   

VISTORS:                                                                  Adam Bingham, Jo, Carl Watson, Jon Johnson

 

                                                                      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 Merriman

 

ROLL CALL.

 

PUBLIC HEARING

 

A.        Final Plat on Who’s On First Subdivision - 1st Avenue

 

Adam Bingham stood and said he was for the project he will get the first house built in lot #2 and looking forward to it.

 

 

B.                 Preliminary Plat for the Armel Cotton Blossom Estates.

 

                        None

 

OPEN CALL TO THE PUBLIC:

 

Mr. Carl Watson stood and introduced Jo the owner of Ginger Bread House. He said the reason they were here was to make a formal invitation to the Council to the Merry Main Street event and tree lighting that takes place on Main Street in Safford on November 23rd at 5:30 that is when we will introduce the dignitaries. We would also like to invite you to be in the Light Parade on Dec 1st at 7:00pm.

 

PUBLIC APPEARANCES:

            None

 

CONSENT AGENDA:

 

A.        Approve minutes September 11, 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 approve the minutes and reports. Councilman Merriman seconded the motion. The vote was unanimous. Motion passed.

 

 

OLD BUSINESS:

 

            A.        Bid award for Daley Estates overlay.

 

Councilman Innes ask why the difference in the bids. Heath said he thought some of the reason was because the other companies have to buy there asphalt from CKC who is the local batch plant also maybe because they have worked with the Town before and they know what the risks.

 

Vice Mayor Mulleneaux made motion to award the bid to CKC who is the lowest bidder. Councilman Morris seconded the motion. The vote was unanimous. Motion passed.

 

 

NEW BUSINESS:

 

A.        Decision on Final Plat for Who’s On First Subdivision .

 

            Councilman Larson ask if this was being done according to our standards for the street and gutters. Heath said the subdivision has two lots that face out to 1st Ave and one lot that will face out to 1st Street the intent is to build homes on those three lots first with no street improvements. There is already curb gutter and sidewalk on 1st Street and 1st Ave is just asphalt. The last two lots will need a cul-de-sac and that will be done if and when the homes are built.

 

            Councilman Innes made motion to approve the Final Plat for Who’s On First Subdivision. Councilman Larson seconded the motion. The vote was unanimous. Motion passed

 

B.        Decision on Preliminary Plat for the Armel Cotton Blossom Estates.

 

            Councilman Morris said that on the minutes of P&Z they requested a sidewalk and I don’t believe they need it it really goes to no where except down to the river. If he is going to pave the road I think that is plenty.   Councilman Morris said the fact that there is no sidewalk starting from 2nd Street going to the north makes no sense to have him put in a sidewalk. Heath told Council that he has dedicated 30 ft of right a way on his side of the section line for future streets. Heath said Mr. Palmer is proposing to have 28 ft of asphalt which is the width of the existing pavement and if you want him to have sidewalks and curbing you need to stipulate that it be changed.

 

            Councilman Morris made the motion to approve the Preliminary Plat with 28 ft of asphalt and no sidewalks or curbing. Vice Mayor Mulleneaux seconded the motion. The vote was unanimous. Motion passed

 

C.                Mayor appointment for Library District Committee - Cel Flake & Council Member

 

Mayor Rivera ask Councilman Larson to help with the committee and Councilman Morris said he had been ask a long time ago and they never contacted him. Mayor Rivera explained that they are just getting started and he could be contacted soon. Councilman Morris accepted the position.

 

INFORMATIONAL ITEMS:

 

A.        Town Manager’s Report:     

 

            Heath reported to Council

                        1) The traffic signal on 3rd Ave was up and running on Oct 5th and ADOT has programmed it so that all the school buses can get through before the light changes.

            2)  The street crew has been working on the Daley Estates streets doing a lot of the work before the paving like replacing the broken curbs and new gutter and clean up preparation.  Another project we are getting ready to do is to relocate a power line that crosses the Cota Town Homes. Another project is the extending of the water line out to Daley Estates along Reay Lane to get the water pressure up for the Condo’s and Town Houses for EAC and Cota property. Mr. Cota is paying for the materials and the engineers fee we are doing the labor. Mayor Rivera ask what the cost to the Town would be. Heath said that is hard to say it will take about a month so the use of equipment and the labor would be our cost. Vice Mayor Mulleneaux ask if it was going to benefit anyone else. Heath’s answer was yes it will help with the pressure of those on 12th street and the whole area of Stadium Ave is very low which will help with the fire hydrants pressure and it will help future growth. Mayor Rivera ask if that would help with the fire assessment and Chief Payne said yes they will come and do a flow test that should help bring up our rating assessment.

            3)  In November we will have a prelimary plat from KBL Subdivision which is south of Daley Estates that includes 60 acres and will be about 180 lots. The forty acres is the area we are going to annex. Vice Mayor Mulleneaux ask if he had a plat to look at and the answer was yes.

            4)  We have had some personnel changes in the last month. Sheri Elmer’s last day is Friday and Mr. Payne has come on board full time as the Town’s Fire Chief and Building Inspector, we have a part time student from the college to help with drafting. We are also advertising for the job to replace Sheri and we have hired two new men for the street crew Richard Bigler and Austin Allred.

            5)  We have official taken over the power purchased we are now supplying power to that area. Mayor ask how many customers and the answer was about sixty to sixty five.

            6) Mayor Rivera ask when CKC would start their work and have the residents been informed. Heath said they would start in the morning and the milling will be first item completed and then paving will happen Tuesday and Wednesday and I did hand delivery a letter to the residents about the time frame and what would be happening.  Councilman Innes ask about the landscaping on the Highway it looks pretty bad. Heath said he was not real sure about that.

            7)  Mayor Rivera ask Heath about the status of the hotels. Heath said the SpringHill Hotel will be the first to start building they should be in within two weeks and pull a permit and will start building right after that. The other hotel which is Dean Craig’s has a little bid of an issue in that there is a bill board near the entrance of  where he wants to have his exist out to the highway. He is trying to do a land swap to get that bill board moved and it is not going real well but I do not know if that is what is holding him up or if it is something else. We do have his plans reviewed and I have told him we are ready to issue permits.

 

B.        Fire Department Report.

 

            Chief Payne said they just had there Steak Fry and it turned out really well. The only other thing I have to report is I am in the process of upgrading the air packets which will be around $36,000.00 this should bring us up to code. Chief Payne also said if anyone wants to ride on the Fire Truck on Dec 1st for the Light Parade you are welcome.

 

C.        Police Department Report.

 

1) Chief Stevens commented on the Fire Department and how well they did on the vehicle that caught on fire this last week.

2)  We had a case on Oct 13th where Officer McClain and Officer Carter were working a DUI Task Force when they pulled over a pick up truck and subsequently discovered a meth lab. The gentleman was working for a company here is town and had a warranty out from Mississippi for the same thing. He had his wife with him and they were staying at the Quality Inn we got a search warrant. We used the help of City of Safford, County and DPS because of the nature of the chemicals involved in these labs. They have been booked into jail.

3) Monday we finished our transition to our new guns Glock 22 pistols and everyone qualified the Range Master said everyone was 10 points higher. One of the reasons for the change is that everyone in the County and Safford using these guns so the mages are interchange able in case an officer runs out and needs the back up. EAC will buy four of our guns and the company will give us credit for the others guns.

           

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

 

A.        Safe House – Councilman Hoopes not in attendance

 

B.        Chamber of Commerce – Councilman Merriman said that Nov 9th there will be a breakfast meeting. The last Salsa Trail outing was a big success and has brought tourism to the valley. They are going to write a book about it. We had another drive to get new members to join the Chamber and that went pretty well and besides that it has been pretty quite.

 

C.        SEAGO – Mayor Rivera said there would be a meeting this Saturday at 9:00am till 12:00 at Discovery Park it will be a business meeting for anyone who would like to attend

 

D.        Arizona Foundation – Councilman Larson said they have plans to get out to some of the financial people in the community to give them a better understanding of what the program is all about. Amy Staten and I have plans on the 13th of November to go to the Chamber of Commerce meeting and do a presentation for them. We are going to have monthly meeting and Amy took over Jon Bonefas place.

 

ADJOURNMENT.

 

Vice Mayor Mulleneaux made motion to adjourn meeting and Councilman Morris seconded the motion. The vote was unanimous meeting adjourned at 7:46pm.

 

 

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 23rd day of October 2007.  I further certify that the meeting was duly called and held and that a quorum was present.

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            ___________________________

           Lona Duncan, Town Clerk