MINUTES OF MEETING OF THE

THATCHER TOWN COUNCIL

November 10, 2009

 

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

 

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

 

Visitors: Aimee Staten, Jerry Hoopes, Steve Allen, Mark Vinnings, Bill Griffin, Brady Bryce, Georgia Gutierrez, Kellie B Lancaster Jenica Lee

 

                                                                                                            AGENDA

 

Mayor Rivera welcomed everyone and called meeting to order stating there was a quorum at 7:00pm The Mayor ask that we take a moment of silent for the people that were killed at Ft Hood. Tomorrow is Veterans Day and we would like to honor all soldiers. Mayor said God Bless our Troops there families and America.

 

Pledge of Allegiance lead by Chief Payne

 

Roll Call.

 

OPEN CALL TO THE PUBLIC:

 

Georgia Gutierrez stood and asked if the pile of concrete and dirt could be picked up it is on the corner of Valley View and Hoopes next to my house which is south east of the concrete. The school bus stops there and I am concerned for the children. Also every morning there are coyotes’ so I wonder what is under that pile. Terry said I believe that is private land so the land owner would have to take care of that. Ms.Gutierrez said she asked Mr.Sollers and he said that is the 50 ft right of way that they gave to the Town. Mayor Rivera asked Terry to check into it and see what needs to be done.

 

PUBLIC APPEARANCES:

 

CONSENT AGENDA:                   

 

A.           Approve minutes of the October 13, 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 accept minutes and reports. Councilman Merriman seconded the motion. The vote was unanimous. Motion passed

 

OLD BUSINESS:    Discussion, consideration and possible action

 

A.        Phased Retirement - smartworksplus

 

Terry said we have talked about this before and included in your packet is a copy of the guide lines. The Schools and City of Safford are doing this it is a win win for both parties. Terry said there may be four employees in the next few years from here that will use it. The two that are the closes have said they just want to retire and not work. The City of Safford has six people on it and David Kincaid said it has saved them enough for two more positions. Mayor Rivera said if this is on a one year contact bases and we can make decisions as to who will go on I think it is a good thing. Terry did say that the Council makes their own rules and we get the same work done for 25 to 30 percent savings per employee.  Councilman Morris ask if the health insurance was paid by the Town and the answer was no.

 

Councilman Griffin made motion to accept the SmartWorksPlus as the provider of phased retirement. Councilman Innes seconded the motion. The vote was unanimous Motion passed

 

 

NEW BUSINESS:    Discussion, consideration and possible action

 

A.           20th Avenue Speed Limit

 

Terry said in your packet you will find a traffic study that we conducted on 20th Ave from Hwy 70 to the railroad track. Chief Steven, Heath and I talked about it and we feel 25mph is to slow when the average rate of speed is 36.8mph. Staff would recommend changing it to 35 mph. Chief Stevens said it is a 4 lane road I don’t see a problem.

 

Councilmen Morris Made motion to change the speed limit to 35mph and Councilman Larson seconded the motion. The vote was unanimous.

 

Councilman Innes asked about the sidewalks in that area. Terry said we are still working on the Enhancement Grant and Heath said it will be summer before we start. We have bid documents in ADOT hands for review.

 

B.        Four Day Work Week Proposal.

 

                       Terry said there is some information in your packet on the four day work week. I have talked to staff and everyone is pretty much on board the only problems may be with those having young children but I think we can work it out. They all like the idea of three days off. The survey you have from Avondale says that after 3 months they did a study that shows the citizens liked it because it gave them one hour earlier and hour later to take care of their business. Avondale is a lot larger than we are so there will be less savings for us. The savings for a four day way week would be on this building the court building and the shop due to less electricity used. It would also save the inmate labor we pay by one day. The Police Officers are already on a 10 hour work week. If it be the wishes of Council we will try on and interim bases and see if the citizens like it. Mayor Rivera asked about the impact for the Court. Terry said it would not affect the Judge at all his doesn’t work on Friday or Monday and it would be the same as utilities just gives them a longer day in order to make their payments. Mayor Rivera asked whose salary is exempt. Terry said himself, Chief Stevens and Heath I will probably work some on Friday but I am not sure Heath or the Chief would need to. Councilman Griffin asked about the Building Inspections?  Terry said right now it would not be a problem we are real slow with building and we may have to make other arrangement some times.  The only problem I can see is maybe sanitation he may have to stay on the five day work week. Councilman Merriman said so the clean up of the parks on Fridays might be a problem. Terry said there are still some questions to be worked out like if there is a Monday holiday that week we would work Tuesday through Friday so we could get our four days in. They would get holiday pay just like they are getting now. Councilman Morris said he sat in on the League meeting on this subject and the citizens did like it. Chief Steven said when he worked in Mesa they did it and it was a moral booster.

                       

Councilman Morris made motion to approve four day work week with a quarterly review. Councilman Innes seconded the motion. The vote was unanimous. Motion passed

 

C.           Council Meeting Schedule.

 

Terry asked if Council meetings could be change for the months of Dec, Jan and Feb. Mayor agreed on all dates but Jan 13th and Councilman Innes could not make the Feb 17th. That dates decided on were Dec 22nd, Jan 20th , Feb 10th.

 

D.        RESOLUTION NO. 558-2009:      A RESOLUTION OF THE MAYOR AND COUNCIL OF THE TOWN OF THATCHER, GRAHAM COUNTY, ARIZONA, APPROVING THE EQUIPMENT LEASE AGREEMENT WITH ZIONS FIRST NATIONAL BANK , SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH.  FINDING THAT IT IS IN THE BEST INTERESTS OF THE TOWN OF THATCHER, ARIZONA TO ENTER INTO SAID AGREEMENT, AND AUTHORIZING THE EXECUTION AND DELIVERY THEREOF.

                       

Terry said this is for the purchase of the ladder truck. We have already paid for it this to reimburse to us. In order to complete the transaction a Resolution is needed by the Bank for the lease agreement. Dudley Welker said the bank will own the truck until the lease is paid off. Terry said the rate is 4.380%. Chief Payne said the completion date for the truck is this spring March or April.

 

Councilman Innes made motion to accept Resolution No 558-2009. Councilman Morris seconded the motion. The vote was unanimous. Motion passed

 

EXECUTIVE SESSION: Pursuant to A.R.S. Section 38-431.03 (A)(7) the Council may go into Executive Session to consult with the Town Attorney for legal advice.

                       

Terry said we need to go into executive session for about one hour and would ask that myself, Dudley Welker, Tom Stack, Rudy Parga, Heath Brown and Lona Duncan stay for that. Councilman made motion to go into executive session with a second from Councilman Morris. Vote was unanimous time 8:00pm

 

                       

            A.        Decision on Executive Session.

 

It was decided that the letter drafted on the water issues should be mailed to City of Safford

 

INFORMATIONAL ITEMS:

 

A.        Town Manager’s Report:               

 

Terry said the project on the tariff signal on Reay Lane and Hwy 70 has changed from State funds to Federal funds which adds 18 months to the project. We are how looking at 2012 before completion and the length of time will also increase the cost.

The sidewalks in Daley Estates are getting good comments. We are helping relocate utilities for Qwest, Co Op and Cable One which should be relocated by the end of this week. The last thing we are moving are the street light.

We receive 95% plans for Reay Lane overlay which will put us at the first of years before it goes to bid.

We received a little feed back from Mr. Holt on his project. He wants us to continue on with the development agreement they submitted to us for review. Their goal is to have that done by  the first of the year. That is probably a reasonable time frame.

Councilman Innes asked about the two Cota buildings. Terry said we are meeting Friday with the Lexon Insurance attorneys and our attorney’s we retained to get the bond money back. It is so clear cut they are just wasting time. Councilman Innes asked about the one off Stadium. Terry said they are getting cloose to opening for rent. Mike Payne said they still have work to do on top floor but the pool is finished and full of water. Mike said the bottom floor has the people that work for them living there. It is getting close to being finished. Councilman Griffin said the construction deed of trust is the one that was foreclosed the plat of those Condo’s was recorded afterwards so my understanding is the plat would be eliminated so wouldn’t there have to be ratification by new owner for that plat to be valid. Terry said we have told the new owner that nothing is going to get built unless it is on that plat. I don’t believe that will be a problem to get that redone.

Terry said the information in your packet is a copy of a resolution from Seago the Mayor will explain. There is a letter from the Department on Environmental Quality that says we are doing it right concerning the burn permit and a letter about the Street Crew on the sidewalk project and the great job they did.

 

B.        Fire Department Report.

 

Chief Payne said the Ariel truck is good news for us and we appreciate it. We have started working out how we are going to have personnel trained on it so by the time it gets here we will be ready. There are 32 students going through the Firefighter 1 & 2 classes and 5 of those are our firemen. When they complete the class we will have around 20 people that will have the certification. We have applied for a grant for radio’s we haven’t heard anything on those yet we expect to hear in about two week. Terry said that is the grant to help get our repeater to the repeater that is across the river which the County has in. Chief Payne said the grant is about 320 thousand dollars. We have obtained a house in Central and have received a lot of good training and the police have also used it. We appreciate Mr. Prina donating it to us. We have a new fireman and his name is Chris Stauffer he has been working with us for several months.

 

C.        Police Department Report.

 

Chief Steven said a10 year old boy was hit in the cross walk on 3rd and Hwy 70 fortunately he was not hurt he was riding a bike.  The lights only changes when you push the button to go across the cross walks and he thought when the light turned green he could go there was a car on the curb lane that just didn’t see him.  We asked Heath to check with ADOT to see about that procedure of the cross walk. Terry said just looking at the accident it may not have made any difference if the walk light had changed. The house Mike was referring to the FBI came here and used it to train on searching a house. Chief said we received several grants in this week from GOHS. One is for 4,000 PBT another for 10 thousand for over time for DUI Task Force and two others. We will be glad when deer season is over so we will be fully staffed again.

 

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

 

            A.        Safe House- Councilman Griffin said we meet again on Dec 15th for a quarterly meeting. I received an email from the Director a week ago said they were surprise when the San Carlos budget was cut when they just received it last year they are still trying to get that office to facilitate but they still have budget issues. They are trying to get more Board Members so if you know of anyone let me know and I will pass it on.

 

            B.        Chamber of Commerce- Councilman Merriman said they talked about hiring the new CEO Norman Hanna and they are calling him today and then doing a back ground check he will be coming from Phoenix. We have lost some of our members. We are trying to get the Salsa books out for Christmas time they will make good gifts.

 

            C.        SEAGO- Mayor Rivera said the meeting was in Nogales mostly on housekeeper since we have a new director making sure of our policies and updating them to meet standards. One of the things the Executive Committee decided to do was have Seago write a Resolution and that was because the Director for the Arizona Department of Housing wanted to change the method of distribution for the CDBG grants and the way we do the busy. We like the idea of taking turns with the Grants and feel it is the fairest way. A Resolution was drafted and sent to him on behalf of Seago. Next Tuesday the 17th Seago is going to present a Medicare presentation at Eastern Arizona College if anyone is interested.

 

D.           Arizona Foundation- Councilman Larson said we just completed the process of receiving grant applications. There are 20 different groups that have requested funds. We are now working on the process and looking at who will get the money. We only have 22 thousand to give out this year and we need to improve that some how.

 

E.           Library Committee - Councilman Morris said they are working on doing a presentation for the different entities, Graham County, Thatcher, Pima, and City of Safford. We would like to sometime in Dec or Jan meet with this Council which ever is the best.  They are trying to get an idea of whether people really want a Library District and what they want to see it do.  We will be meeting Thursday night and so I need to give them the date you would prefer. The date of December was given. Councilman Morris said we have some good people working on the committee with some good ideas.

 

Councilman Innes asked about the complex. Terry said Heath and I thought probably January would be a good month to have a public meeting.

 

ADJOURNMENT

 

Councilman Innes made motion to adjourn. Councilman Griffin seconded the motion. Vote was unanimous meeting Adjourn at 9:00pm

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 10th day of November 2009.  I further certify that the meeting was duly called and held and that a quorum was present.

 

___________________________

Lona Duncan, Town Clerk