Prescott Valley approves Amazon distribution center rezoning 4-2 on 19.23-acre parcel

Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. call to order. Town Press Valley regular town council meeting May 22nd, 2025. Clerk, please call the role. Council member Keel, present. Council member FY. Council member Greer here. Council member Schumacher, present. Vice Mayor Zer, here. Mayor Paul Guda here. We have a quorum. Thank you, ma'am.

At this time, I'd like to welcome down Pastor David Knight with Bethl Baptist for our invocation and to lead us in the pledge. Please stand if you can. Shall we pray? Heavenly Father, your word says, "Oh Yahweh our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth, who displays your splendor above the heavens. From the mouth of infants and nursing babies, you have established strength because of your adversaries to make the enemy and the vengeful cease.

When I see your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have established, what is man that you remember him, and the son of man that you take care of of him. Yet you have made him a little lower than the angels, and you have crowned him with glory and majesty. You make him to rule over the works of your hands.

You put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxmen, and also the animals of the field, the birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea, whatever passes through the paths of the sea. Oh Yahweh, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. Heavenly Father, we recognize that ultimately this psalm is speaking of your son Jesus Christ. And on the other hand, it speaks of the responsibility that you've given us.

And we would ask right now that for this town council that you would bless them, strengthen them, give them wisdom in the responsibility that they have and that one day they would hear from you. Well done, good and faithful servants. Bless this meeting to that end. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Please join me in the pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you. Please be seated. Thank you, sir. At this time, can I get a motion to approve the agenda as provided? Mr. Mayor, I'd like to make a motion to approve the agenda. I'll second that. Please call vote. That passes unanimously. Mayor, thank you ma'am. Next up, call to the public. At this time, members of the public may comment on matters listed on the agenda or solely on matters within the jurisdiction of the town.

Any persons wishing to address the council must register their name with the town clerk prior to the commencement of the meeting. The council's response is limited to responding to crit criticism, asking staff to review a matter commented upon, or asking that a matter be put on a future agenda. Such remarks shall be limited to three minutes unless additional time is granted by the mayor. Clerk, the first four names, Patricia Betszel, Atalana Olivas, Bruce Tenki, and Sandy Cordova.

Welcome m Patricia Betszel um Chino Valley 391 Armmitage Way. So, um there still remains a concern regarding project links, a concern that the process followed um to change the resoning did not follow GPA steps and that a change from residential land use classification to non-residential land use on more acres except for open space and public space is in fact a major general plan amendment.

I do want to acknowledge again the development services efforts to mitigate the issues around the project by isolating the 19.3 acres where the warehouse will be located and requiring that the remainder of the 100 acres will avoid speculative reasoning and further ensures that each subsequent phase will receive necessary community input at a neighborhood meeting, a public hearing at PNZ, and a public hearing at the town council.

They're also recognizing there is going to be an impact to the local roads and state highways and in the process of working for the developer. However, um there still remains the issue that of property rights, the right to exclude, the right to use, the right of quiet enjoyment. There's all part of a bundle of property rights that are legally enforcable. Whereas it does vary state-to-state how those are enforced, it still puts um this town in a position of being sued in a civil court.

And um because it is common law and it is and those of you in real estate understand this for the surrounding communities, there still remains a lot of concerns. when we don't understand what kind of traffic is going to be rolling down the highways, what hours of operations, what types of trucks and vehicles and what disruption is going to happen, um somebody is at risk of being interfered with their quiet enjoyment because these are all nuisances.

If you purchase a property that is part of an area zone residential and if the town changes that zoning to industrial afterwards, there is a potential of property loss and again a civil suit. Physical intrusion which is what noise is is considered and constant noise is essentially violating the rights of others to quiet enjoyment. And our ordinance doesn't cover outdoor noise.

So for those large rural properties, it's like they get, you know, 1,800 square ft that they bought and the 10 acres outside are not usable. In this case, the expectation of reasonable hours and and levels of noise and traffic that would have come with the original land use is gone. The purpose of land use planning is to give property owners predictability before they purchase a property. The property owners in this area have been robbed of that right. Thank you. Thank you, ma'am.

I don't see Mr. Aliva's out there. I saw him earlier. Oh, he's over here. You stuck a bite on me, sir. Come on up. Welcome, sir. Yeah, I know you miss me. Uh, like to welcome all the city valley citizens to the meeting, city council. It's enjoyable. Late spring's here. Allergies up. Now, there's going to be a voting here next year, and I wish all the city people here in Bristol Valley will recognize and go out and vote and be wise in the voting, who you elect, and what we get stuck with.

We must elect officials that are qualified and have some kind of a history that fits the shoe that they're going to be wearing and kicking around. Last meeting there was rudess to a city council member, Mr. Kenneth by Mr. Cal. He presented his case on Amazon correctly, politely. You responded brutally and you have been told by other people here that you're a rude person and wish you to be more gentle in your presentation, your conversations with us.

Okay, Amazon, if it's a bad company, if you remember your history of political science, that's what started unions is people being treated wrong, losing their job, being forced to work in sweat shops. Amazon is not a good company. Their vehicles are breaking down. There's spilling coolant and nanopreeze. I witnessed that on my driveway. Please be careful what you do. Later on, we have to clean that mess up. Traffic on 89 and 89A on Roberts.

On the past history, I spoke about a bad accident there and a child was killed. I would like to get with the city town manager and see if we can't figure out another route. instead of building an overpass. Okay. Eye contact that will let stop the traffic accidents, the danger in that road. When they want to cross the 89 and get on Robertson, that's when the accidents happen. Most of there's a way.

There's another street there that's already two-lane can be built and expanded easily and it has an overpass on it. We need to see if we can detour some of the traffic to there and stop the accident and the killing and the injuries. Okay, with that I'll leave all you guys. Thank you for listening to me and the time we spent together. Thank you, sir. Welcome, ma'am. Thank you. I'm Sandy Cordova.

Um, we're wondering how many of your decisions are made before residents really get to express their opinions, their feelings, and thoughts. Do you really care about others about what they our residents feel and would like from our community? You know, power without conscience can be a savage weapon. Welding power without a sense of morality or ethic or empathy can be destructive and harmful.

It suggests that using power for personal gain or without considerations for others well-being is disingenuous. Ethical leadership can have a positive influence. It can create a balance which includes economic development with the well-being of residents and our natural resources. Many of us are asking you, our local officials, to consider the effect of pollution from warehouse related traffic.

work without a livable wage and an area's existing environmental hazards before allowing an Amazon warehouse and all businesses open up here. People have suggested a neutral party conduct a face-to-face survey of the multi-generational local population as to how they would like our town to develop before decisions are made. We would like to believe your economic decisions are in alignment with the health and safety of our community. Show us you care. Thank you. Thank you, ma'am. Bruce Tanky.

Do we have anyone after? Yes, there are additional names. Ellen Hyus, Walt Kosar, and Deborah Laura. Thank you. Welcome, sir. Uh, Bruce Tenkey, uh, Prescott East Highway, uh, mayor and council. Uh, I came here to discuss my Sir, hang on a second. I think you might want to be better with the other mic on your left. This one's working. Let's try and get that one turned on. Okay, there you go. So, I'm here to uh, No, you're going to have to get down a little low. Well, or take the mic.

There you go. I'd like to share my 43 years in distribution with uh the council as as far as noise and backup. You got backup beepers, you got smog from diesel, uh engines running, uh loading docks up, and you know, it's it's continuous noise factor. Um uh you got common carriers. Pretty often Amazon doesn't have a driver for their trailer, so they'll use common carriers. If they don't make their appointments, they sit outside running their diesels to keep warm or cold depending on the season.

So that's, you know, what I'd like to um plus I've witnessed in other regions Amazon trucks leaving the yard four to six at a time and they kind of like, you know, young kids jockeying, you know, see who get to their first delivery first, you know, it's the pressure I got. So that's then if refrigeration is required, uh that's another noise level. And then um let's see here. It was my first attempt at public speaking.

So, and the fact that uh this project, what 20 acres, then 100 acres, it's going to chase the Ponghorn away, which is, you know, a disaster in itself. Um, uh, first it's going to be 20 acres, then 100 acres, then what's next? 1,000 acres. So, uh, my point is you can't close the door with a foot in it. So, thank you very much. Thank you, sir. Ellen Hyus, welcome. Thank you. Good evening. I just want to thank the mayor for providing the chairs for the back of the room there.

I've had two knee replacements in less than a year and I really appreciate being able to sit on a straight back chair. And that's all I wanted to say. Thank you again. And I'm going to pause on that one. The thanks needs to go over to Ryan Judy right there in the Oh, front row is who I believe has for that. So, thank you very much. I'll gladly take the credit, but the credit didn't come my way. Walt Kosar, welcome, sir. Mayor, town council. Thank you.

Uh my question relates to one of the uh new business items 9D the capital 5-year capital improvement plan and specifically how it relates to some of the objectives in the 2035 general plan for Prescuit Valley. Uh specifically in chapter 7 of the 2035 plan environmental planning and water management section 7.9 policy EWPA A1.3 part B expand wastewater collection system to include neighborhoods currently served by septic systems.

Um I was reviewing the capital improvement plan and there are a lot of um projects for water and wastewater um included and I was curious if there was um this issue of converting people on septic to sewer system was being addressed because there is a fair amount of water that is supplied to these homes but they're on septic it's not being collected for the wastewater recycle. Thank you sir. Deborah. Deborah. Laura.

Before Deborah gets up here, sir, did sir, did you leave your information, your contact information with the clerk? Perfect. Welcome. Either side. My comments pertain to the Amazon center distribution center being created over by um by the new by the where the racetrack is. Um my concerns were a couple of things that we had. I I thought I thought we already had industrial areas are set apart. So, I looked those up on the map and yes, there's one where Amazon is currently.

Um and then there's also the one off of um Bane Road where the disposal areas are right off the thing before you get to right between 69 and 89 or 69 and Fain um which is also another area. So, I don't know if those areas just weren't big enough or they just want to just disregard those areas and started another brand new industrial area. Um, a few comments on I didn't make it to the board meeting or the they had a town council meeting and nobody in our neighborhood knew about it.

A couple of comments that nobody lives out there. It doesn't matter anyway. Actually, there's a lot of communities out there. There's Legend Hills, there's Saddle View, there's uh Prescott Ridge, um, Coyote Crest. There's a whole bunch of people that live out there. It's a beautiful area. We're used to driving out there every day. So, we see the pong horn crossing the road right there. Somebody made a comment they didn't care about the ponghorns or they'll find another way. Sure.

But we're talking about our community, what our community looks like. We can never change that. So, we decided to make that all industrial going up to 89A up 89A up to Jerome. All recreational. People go up there, go up to Sedona. It's just a nice recreational area. I love the fact that they moved it back. That's awesome. Could move it off of 89A further back. That's just my concerns. I don't know why. Um I guess I guess it was thought of years ago to make that industrial. I'm not sure.

Um, but our residents do have want to have a say in that. Is there any way to keep it where it is on Bane by 69 and just developing that area? That area needs so much work. They need roads. Those businesses all there have horrible roads. Um, I don't know if the funds could be spent in upgrading that area. And then the other thing, um, just once we do this, we can't take it back.

So, I understand they want to widen 89A and make it big for trucks to come in and out and they can run to the 40 and they can go to uh Cortis Lakes and they can go over the hill to Jerome and it might be convenient and I love what truckers do for us too, but we can never take that back. So, once that view is gone or once we take that recreational area out and that's kind of def defines Prescott Valley. Um I think that's kind of defines it our natural beauty and things that we have.

So we just really need to think what is the best option or do we have another option or is there another road to go in? You talked about somebody talked about there being a easement or another road. So maybe there's another option we can make so that people don't go 898. Thanks. Thank you ma'am. There's one additional additional Gulver Harris Gondola. Welcome, sir. Hello. Where do I stand here? Perfect. Hi, guys. Uh, my name is Guliver Paris Scandalo.

Um uh but I'm actually here to introduce something that uh I think the Prescuit Valley community uh will actually uh appreciate. Uh first of all, we've appreciated all the efforts you guys have done to grow this community and we uh have endeavored to add to that.

Um I am one of the co-founders of the uh Prescott youth film program and uh for the last five months uh a group of 24 students have produced a series of films that we are going to be showing in the very first youth film festival which is going to be premiering this Tuesday. And I wanted to uh personally come and invite every one of the council members, the mayor, and everyone in attendance here today to um attend this incredible festival.

This is uh uh a project that we started, my wife and I, um along with a partnership with the movement studio, which is a performing arts school here in Prescuit Valley, uh to provide a professional uh avenue for film production, you know, experience, knowledge to a group of students 9 to 17 years old. And what they've done is used our the same professional equipment that we use on national commercials and uh you know television documentaries to produce their films.

And I must say they are incredible and appropriate for all ages and born uh right from the stories and featuring the locations that we all know and love right here in Prescuit. So uh I definitely want to uh make that known. You've probably seen us on social media a little bit in the last few weeks and you'll see us a little more in the last few days. Uh but I definitely wanted to offer you know these uh to anyone who might be interested and of course anyone in the audience.

Um we can pass these around and share these as well. But uh just as as terms of what this could mean for the future of Prescuit Valley is you know we hope to continue this for years to come and create an avenue not only for the uh education leading into the college uh arena but also you know hoping that you know these students will become media entrepreneurs. So you're all invited. Thank you so much. Thank you sir. This gentleman didn't mention it, but the movies were written by the kids.

They they acted in the movie and then they also filmed it and edited themselves. So, it's all strictly kids and they I I I toured their their studio and they did just an amazing job on what they were doing. The kids were there working hard filming all throughout Pres and Prescuit Valley. So, looking forward to it. Clerk, no one else. Mayor, thank you. Moving on. Item five, council communications. Councilman Fryin sir. Thank you, Mayor.

Um, first of all, I want to just congratulate all those um who are graduates of uh the class of 2025. Uh we um have a lot of uh students here in Prescuit Valley who um are either in high school or continuing on from you know 8th grade into high school and also elementary school into middle school. So, I just want to congratulate all of them. Um, I also, um, want to announce that we are inviting everyone to the 14th annual Wolfstock in Adoptathon, Saturday, May 31st from 9 to 2:00 p.m.

held here at our Presca Valley Civic Center. It's a dog adoption event in a celebration of all things dog. It's hosted by Prescuit Dog Magazine. The N is the event is free and fun for the whole family, including your furry best friends. and yours truly will be the MC. Thank you. I also heard there's a yappy hour before it starts. Is that correct? Come on. That was a good one, guys. Moving on. Item six, manager report. Mr. Davidson, uh, Mr.

Mayor, members of the council, um, we the, um, I wanted to recognize some of our departments and first start off with the council. So, at our retreat that we had in January, um we had talked about really trying to do some recognition and honor of veterans in our community. And so, I hopefully if people saw when they were coming in today, uh there's the hometown hero banners that have been hung on all of the different light poles here at the Civic Center.

They're also going to be going up at Bob Edwards Park and Mountain Valley Park. And we have um this first year over 80 uh individuals are being recognized. Uh we had a number of participants that have donated money to help support this program. But it's a great tribute to those in active duty service as well as those that have uh served in and have passed at this point. And so we uh just very excited to to feature that.

These banners will be up through from starting Memorial Day all the way through August. and we wanted to have kind of the campus here as part of the fourth fourth of July celebration. So, very excited about that. I do want to recognize our communications team who really led on this this uh initiative and then our public works and parks department are both partnering to try to get all of the banners installed and uh and in place. So, want to thank them for that.

Uh the council met earlier today to review uh applications for the council vacancy. We had 17 individuals that submitted uh their application for the position. Uh the council reviewed all of those applications and has identified four that will be going on uh for an interview uh public interview next week and uh so I'll announce the names. Uh we have Jennifer Gray, Bruce Evans, Kimberly Lopez, and Gary Kyle.

Uh those interviews will be here in the council chambers next Thursday, May 29th at 5:30 p.m. and then the council will convene and identify who the final the finalists will be. And then the final thing is uh this is Memorial Day weekend and town offices will be closed on Monday and we wish everyone a happy Memorial Day weekend. Thank you, sir. Moving on, item seven, consent agenda.

All matters listed under consent agenda are considered routine by the town council and will be enacted by one motion. There will be no separate discussion of these items. If discussion is desired, that item will be removed from the consent agenda and will be considered separately. Council, can I have a motion? Mr. Mayor, I'll make a motion to approve all items listed under consent agenda by electronic vote. I second cl. Council member FY that passes unanimously. Thank you, ma'am.

Next up, item 8, ZMC 25-004 project links. Mr. Ruby, welcome, sir. Thank you, mayor, vice mayor, councel. Uh, as this is the second reading of this ordinance, staff has nothing further to add, but as always, we're here to answer any questions if you may have them. Thank you, sir. Council, do we have any questions for Mr. Ruby? I believe the applicant is here also. Does he have anything to add? I I have nothing to add tonight, Mayor.

I'm here for questions if anybody has any, but um if not, I'm um just here. Thank you, sir. Any questions for the applicant? Councilwoman, I have a question. Um, currently you guys are, you know, washing your vehicles over there and, um, you know, doing mechanical work. Is that going to happen at the new location? Um, you know, is there is the storm water going to be set up to catch that and make sure that contaminants aren't going into the ground?

Um, mayor, vice mayor, council member, appreciate the question. And just for the record, Shane Ross, Tiffany and Bosco, 2525 East Camelback Road in Phoenix. Um, I I think you're referring to the potential user that was referred to earlier as Amazon. Um, again, Amazon is just a prospective user of the site. I I can't comment to how they're using adjacent sites as far as how wastewater is going to be treated.

uh we Amazon and my my client specifically is submitting engineering plans um to the town engineers approval for final development plan approval assuming this moves forward um so that's that's how I can answer that question councilman anything else seeing none clerk ordinance number 2025-954 an ordinance of the mayor and common council of the town of Presca Valley a municipal corporation of Arizona amending the town zoning map CMC25-004 by changing the zoning classification of the property approximately 1 1600 ft south of state route 89A and county fair Trail 19.23 23 acres from RU-70 residential single family rule zoning to IG industrial general limited zoning for the purposes of a warehouse distribution center shown in a preliminary development plan PDP and providing that this ordinance shall be effective 30 days after its passage and approval according to law.

Shall this ordinance pass? Mayor, that passes 4 to two. Thank you, ma'am. Moving on. Item 9A, series 6 liquor license, Jackass Bar and Gil Bar and Grill. Miss Greenwood, are you taking this? Yes. Our office received an owner transfer application for a series 6 liquor license for an establishment located at 8156 East Valley Road. In accordance with Arizona law, a notice of the application was displayed on the front of the premise for a period of 20 days.

During this time, no public comments were received. Based on this, it is recommended that the town council board a recommendation of approval for this application to the Arizona Department of Liquor License and Control. Thank you. And this is a public hearing, so it will be open up at this time. Is there anyone out in the audience that wishes to speak about this item? Seeing none, close the public hearing. Council, we have any questions for Miss Greenwood? Seeing none, can I entertain a motion?

Mr. Mr. Mayor May mayor, I'll make a motion to recommend approval of the owner transfer application for the series 6 liquor license on behalf of Jackass Bar and Grill located at 8156 East Valley Road to the Arizona Department of Liquor License and Control. We have a second. Second. Clerk, please call the vote. Mayor, that passes unanimously. Thank you, ma'am. Next up, item 9B, purchase parcel 103-02-9448,3.86 acres, Yavai County, Mr. Judy.

Uh, mayor, council members, Yavapai County owns an approximately 4 acre parcel just north of the civic center here. We have made inquiries with the county over the years about potentially acquiring this parcel. uh here at Toro, they had been resistant to give that up, but they just completed a space need study and that study indicated they did not need that in the near future and they're willing to sell that to the town. Uh we split the cost of an appraisal and that came in at 1.175 million.

So just under 1.2 million for that 4acre parcel. Uh just as a bit of a little history, when I started my career early here, I was told that this campus was actually intended for four buildings and the fourth building would be on the upper green lawn between the civic center and the police station. That's a very popular spot for our public events as well as private events. It's a popular spot for picnics, people walking their dogs, and we would hate to lose that space.

So, we are envisioning using this parcel as a potential future future public use or municipal facility. Nothing has been identified yet, but we want to make sure that it retains the ability for us to use it in the future. And the county has been very generous in allowing us to use it for overflow parking for our special events. We don't have anything identified in our current 5-year CIP for the site, but again, it could be used for any municipal or public purpose.

It could be a municipal court building. It could be a pool. It could be a public works building. Really anything that we need to program in the future as we build our ultimate workforce for for the town. Yesterday, Yavapai County voted 5 to zero in favor of selling this parcel to the town and we are bringing this action before you tonight for consideration. Any questions? Council, as you recall, we discussed this in executive session, pretty lengthy.

Uh do we have any additional questions for Mr. Judy? Seeing none, I'll entertain a motion. Mr. Mayor, I'd like to make a motion to authorize the mayor to sign an agreement with Yavapai County for acquisition of approximately 3.86 acres of vacant land at the northwest corner of Skook Boulevard and Civic Drive known as parcel number 103-02-944A by electronic vote. I'll second. Clerk, please call the vote. Mayor, that passes unanimously. Thank you, ma'am. Moving on.

Purchase parcel 103-09-22Y, 5950 Copper Hill Drive. Sir, welcome. Thank you, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Council. Um, this is a project to get it on here. This is a project to acquire a parcel on the northwest corner of Copper Hill and Jasper Parkway. As you know, Jasper Parkway recently opened to traffic between State Route 69 and up to Santa Fe Loop. Um right at the right at the Jasper development.

Um the the alignment of Jasper Parkway is a four-lane arterial um except that the alignment that's on the south end as it approaches Copper Hill was built as a two-lane as an interim condition with the intent to widen to a four-lane arterial in the future. The current alignment has a few challenges to it in the sense that the way the alignment was set up during the design and this this goes back 8 n 10 years almost.

Um the way that alignment is set up there were some challenges because there were some rightway constraints through that area that um we had to kind of do a best fit scenario to get the alignment in there. Uh we recently noticed that this parcel was available so we decided to pursue acquiring it uh with the intent of planning for future widening of Jasper Parkway and realignment of the intersection of Copper Hill and Jasper Parkway.

The um the property right now it's currently zoned as CG which is commercial general sales. When we took a look at the property, we realized it would be very difficult to try to allow any kind of development to go into that space and accommodate the future alignment. So, we took a look at um trying to divide it, see what we could do to see if we could fit enough of the roadway alignment in. It became very difficult. So, we decided to pursue acquisition of a complete property.

Um so, I guess I'm going to do is move up to this item here. This exhibit here shows the parcel in detail and um it's right there on the northwest corner. So, I'll answer any questions if you have any. Any questions for Mr. Latir? Seeing none, sir. Thank you. Entertain a motion. Mr.

Mayor, I'd like to make a motion for the mayor to sign resolution number 2025-2420 approving the purchase of parcel 103- 09-22Y 5950 East Copper Hill Drive for the negotiated purchase price of $478,000 buzz broker costs by electronic vote. I'll second clerk. Please call a vote. That passes unanimously. Mayor, thank you, ma'am. Next up, item 90, 5-year capital improvement plan adoption. Miss Morris, ladies, welcome. Thank you, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and members of council.

Tonight, we are very pleased to be able to present to you the first standalone 5-year capital improvement plan. Um, this includes a a financial plan as well. And we, this is really the result of our ongoing commitment to um a formalized planning process. It's intended to make sure that we are transparent with our planning, that we take into account the community's needs and that we ensure that we have a financial stability plan in place for our strategic um projects.

So, as you recall, um, at the end of April, we went through, um, a number of budget briefings with you to kind of talk about the process of how we get here, how the departments identify a need in the community, how they turn that into a capital improvement project request, and then the the grueling, I'll call it grueling process that they have to go through to determine, are there any alternatives to their request? Do they um take into account risks and constraints?

Um, what are their proposed funding sources? And as we do that um we come through a point where we take the projects and we look at them in relation to what the community needs are. How do we do that? We look at these different inputs. So first of all we look at the council's uh vision 2024 strategic plan which also includes your four focus areas. And then we also look at the council um surveys, the community surveys as well as the budget surveys.

And we saw throughout all of that process um the same priorities, the open space, roads, water, parks, and general infrastructure. Um we also take into account our operational and maintenance needs. And then we prioritize the projects. Once we have a list of prioritized projects, we actually try to put a financial plan together to see which ones we could accommodate, which ones are the most important in the community, and what would what would we like to do with our limited resources.

And so there are two components again, the project piece as well as the financial plan. Um, this graphic graphically shows you what our five-year plan looks like. So, we met um on May 1st during the study session and we went through more of the detail of each of these CIP projects. And so, they they've been they they're updated a little bit, but pretty much they represent what we brought to the council on May 1st. So, the 5-year plan um totals about $265 million.

Uh the first year is about 62 million. You can see that the projects that are included in the first year follow those priorities of the community. We have streets and transportation and we have water. Those are really the theme through the first three years. And then in the fourth year 2029, you can see that we also have a consideration for a fac a governmental facility for public works and utilities, water, wastewater, and storm water. Um what we show here is also the improvement programs.

The first two years you can see that they are smaller in scope. So about $2 million in 26 and 27. And then in 28, you can see there's an increase on the wastewater and water side. And that was kind of the result of a planning process. So we have a number of pilot programs, things like that in place. And so this is the timing that we felt would appropriate for those programs. The maintenance programs, this one did change a little bit from the last time that we looked at this.

This is our pavement preservation program. At that time, we thought that we could fund $2.5 million in year one and then kind of increase that over time. What we've determined is based on the needs of the community and the feedback that we've received that we'd like to commit another million dollars to that from our streets capital fund. So in 26 27 and 28 we have an investment of about $3.5 million and then we move to 4 million and then 4.5 million in 2030.

Um as you know we've kind of used pay as you go funding over time. And so what does what does that mean? That's kind of like we use our savings account at home. So where we have more income than we have expense, we have that surplus and we put that away in savings. We use that for maybe a project. We maybe use it to um save for a rainy day. This is the same concept and that we use portion of that to pay for strategic projects over time.

So that's still available, but as you saw with the five-year plan, we have a lot of needs. And so when you see this the um financial plan, you'll kind of see where we've identified what projects we thought that we could fund and then which ones we would need to look for alternative funding. So this is kind of just that list that we reviewed earlier as well this month. So this is just a reminder that we have multiple buckets.

Um kind of depending on the project can dictate what eligible funds there can be. Um the general fund is the least restrictive. It can be used for any governmental purpose. And then you can see that we have um grants for example that's a very specific purpose. And then we have some that are dedicated to our enterprise funds. This is a new slide for you. Uh this is where we show the sourcing of our funding for our projects.

So where the other slide showed you the type of projects by year, this is showing you the funding. And so you can see in fiscal year 26, we have construction sales tax funding quite a few of our projects. And then we have the darker portion which is actually utilities future bonds and loans. Um if you recall the the council had approved pursuing some WIFFA applications, the water infrastructure financing authority and so that's included and contemplated here.

And then there there's a number of projects that are um funded out of the wastewater and water operations. But you can kind of see how the profile changes year-over-year. And so um you'll see in 2027 that orange piece is non-utility grants. Um there is also a piece for future bond and loans within the um utilities. And so that's where you start to see where we don't we're not recommending that we use pay as you go for those.

So there's even though we are financially stable and we have savings and in our in our savings account or our fund balance, we don't recommend that we use all of that for our projects. So these are the projects that you know maybe they're not a high priority based on safety, but we do want to pursue them. So we're looking for alternate funding. So what this says is over time it kind of tells us where those gaps are and where we need to produce a financial plan. Um this is our fund balance.

So this is similar to what you've seen in the past, but we've taken it from fiscal year 20. We have a couple of years of actuals and then we do a projection. This is important because as we put together the financial plan to match the capital improvement projects, we are always and constantly looking at our at our reserves and our fund balance. So as you know, the council has set a policy that says that we have a rainy day fund that equals 10% of our anticipated general fund revenues.

We have a piece where we set aside 25%. Those are untouchable. So we have that for financial stability to um mitigate against uncertainty and then the rest is available for strategic projects. But again our goal is to also fund projects but also maintain a healthy fund balance. One moment so if you looked at the presentation I don't want to scare you. There are 12 slides of this but I'm not going to go through each of them.

But what we wanted to do was give you an idea of how we put together that summary slide of the sourcing funds. So what we do is for example the general fund we anticipate what our activity is year-over-year. So this is a five-year look. We anticipate what are our ongoing revenues, what are our ongoing expenses. As you know we practice a very fiscally conservative budgeting process where we um are always structurally balanced not only in our budget but also in our spending.

And so this ensures that we can look at our ongoing revenues and our ongoing expenses and make sure that we have a surplus. If you look at that line that says ongoing surplus, you can see that it's always positive. And so that's the way that we ensure that we're always structurally balanced. And then we take a look at one-time expenses and you can see um there is a line that says onetime surplus deficit and that will show you that that that is a structurally um balanced budget.

It's a use of fund balance. So when we talk about how do we structurally use that fund balance the way that we do that is we show that deficit there and that's where we are using one time expet one time monies or fund balance and so the the piece underneath that where it says ending balance that's where you can see that we are always structurally balanced.

So that's a lot of times a mis mispronception or p perception that people have is when you see that that deficit that is the way per accounting um generally accepted accounting principles that you can access that savings account. So more to come on that because I know that's a that's a complex um topic and if you're not as geeky as me you might not you might not follow but um the highway user revenue fund I just wanted to kind of point this out um on this one as well.

So, you can see in fiscal year 26, we have an ongoing um surplus, but that's that's actually the HERF fund is actually subsidized by the general fund, but you can see there's a onetime revenue of $30 million. This is where we're modeling out a possible bond for transportation. Um, as you know, we have some debt that is um being paid in full and so we have some capacity. So, what we wanted to do is model what does that look like.

So the way that this is modeled in here, we anticipate if we do pursue a bond, it would be towards the end of the fiscal year. And then if you look in 27, 28, and 29, you see that over $10 million in the capital improvement project. So again, this is how we kind of model if we receive money, where does it go? What does it look like? How do we use it over time? And again, we're trying to see the the larger picture.

So I won't stop on all of these, but I just kind of wanted you to see all the different buckets that we look at. We do this with all of our funds. So these are the only funds that finance um capital projects. These are a little bit misleading and I just wanted to point out why is the impact fee funds for example those are restricted for one-time use or capital projects. And so when you see ongoing and one-time you you kind of start to wonder what does that mean?

Well this is where we set aside money. And so the money in here is set aside to be used in the future. So you'll see deficits on the line, but the fund balance will always be positive because we're using again, we're structurally balanced and we're strategically using that fund balance. And so it's that's just real important as you look through um these different charts and and tables.

But again, there's a number of these that I won't bore you with, but we just kind of wanted again for you to get an idea of how we compile this information to do the funding source chart that you saw earlier. Um we also do that with our enterprise funds. So we do that with water, waste water, um all the special revenue funds and things that aren't the operating funds. You'll see where we use that fund balance and where where it comes across as a deficit.

But again, that means that we are uh strategically using cash, strategically using funds, but the ending balance is positive. So it is not structurally um unbalanced and it is not deficit spending. And uh with that um I just wanted to remind you that we'll be looking at the tenative budget next. What's included from this plan is that first year into the the plan. The five-year plan is really just um a long-term plan so that we can see what are our needs.

Does it continue to match what the community wants? What are the different funding avenues or sources that we need to pursue? And so every year we'll bring this back to you. It's reviewed every year. It's scrutinized every year. And then it's just that first year that we're looking for appropriation, but we are looking for council's approval for the five-year plan as a whole as kind of that planning document like you would with any other master plan.

And with that, I'm happy to answer any questions. Council, we have additional questions. Go ahead. So, Selena, I know you have an entire team that works with you. I so appreciate everything that you have broken it down and the way that you apply it and the way that you explain it to us all because accounting principle is pretty crazy sometimes.

But just the thought that everybody's working so well together in your team, it shows and I just wanted to say thank you to you for being the leader of that as well. And for everybody that's on the team, please pass that forward that they're doing a great job. So thank you. Thank you ma'am. No other additional questions or comments. I'll entertain a motion. Mr.

Mayor, I'll make a motion to approve fiscal year 2026 through 2020, excuse me, 2030 capital improvement program and the associated capital improvement financial plan. I'll second. Please call the vote. Mayor, that passes unanimously. Thank you, ma'am. Next up, tenative but town budget fiscal year 202526. Have you had enough break? You okay? You got water? I think I'm good. Yeah, a little bit of water. Thank you. All right. Go ahead when you're ready.

All right, mayor, vice mayor, members of council, thank you. Um, tonight, management is pleased to present our tenative budget. Um, as you recall earlier, we did state that at the end of April, we did a lot of budget briefings with you to kind of more touch on the process. How did we get here today? And then on May 1st, we brought forward a preliminary budget for your review.

And so what we'll do here today is kind of recap the changes since we've spoke on May 1st and then um also kind of highlight some of some of the items that are included. Um one of the things that we want to do is just always reset our conversation on why we do the budgeting. It's really how we determine how we are able to meet our strategic goals. So what are we going to be doing? How are we going to be delivering services? How do we allocate those limited resources?

And so this is the way that we start internally, externally, all of our conversations to make sure that we are aligned with the council and the community. And this is the same slide that we showed you. So not only does it drive our capital improvement project investments, it also drives how we uh allocate our ongoing resources. So the key assumptions which you've I know you've seen this slide before, we have not had any major changes to the to these.

Um as you recall we entered the fiscal year 26 planning budget um planning cycle saying that we are going to maintain our 25 level um expenditure limit expenditure authority and so we and that was mostly driven because we were expecting um either flat or slightly decreased revenues. There had been no changes in our revenues at this point. Um we did receive the intergovernmental um estimates from the league but those not have not been adjusted. So we're still holding steady um at the same level.

And then we kind of went through um all of the personnel and benefit assumptions before. One of the reminders we have here is that we did tell everybody no new positions unless you had a dedicated funding source. Um we'll go through the personnel. We didn't really call that out during the preliminary budget during the budget workshop on May 1st. So in the effort to be fully transparent, we want to show you kind of what those look like.

Um a lot of those well all of them were either driven by a dedicated funding source or a re reallocation of operating expenses. And so we'll walk through that. So what was changed since our May 1st study session? And so at that time um we had about $198 million in our preliminary budget. Now we're at about 221.5 million. Um these are the changes.

So one of the things that we did is we added our potential use of again that WIFFA money that we the water infrastructure financing authority um application. So, we are estimating that at about $15.5 million. A portion of that could be forgivable. Some of that could be paid back. And so, we're still working through that process, but we add that into the budget authority. Um, we also modeled what the debt service would be if we did the street or transportation bond.

So, we're anticipating that if we did about $30 million based on about a 4 and a.5 mill 4 and a.5% interest rate at a 30-year term, that would be at about 1.7 1.8 million in debt service. And then we included about $600,000 for the water infrastructure um association uh debt service. Uh there's that $1 million that we talked about earlier that we could um fund the additional payment preservation. Um we had some in increase in some costs.

So when we go into the budget process, everybody does their best diligence to get costs, but sometimes the vendors don't come back till later. So we like to make sure that we include the most up-to-date pieces. So we had some differences in not only um purchases but also in some of the contracts and agreements which you see there. Um we have what we called CIP rollovers or capital improvement project rollovers. What does that mean?

That means that we started a project in the current year but due to whether it's delays or maybe it was just planned that way. There are some projects that we may not complete by the end of the year. So we anticipate rolling those over um by the end when we come back to you with the final budget. uh we anticipate that number to be um a lot lower.

Um the purchase order rollovers or the PO rollovers, those are the things that we've um put in a request to acquire, but we don't know if they will if goods will be delivered or services will be rendered by the end of the year. And so we put a provision in there for that as well. um personnel. This does show that there is an increase, but in the um preliminary budget that we brought to you, we had actually um froze and uh um uh froze and then I was going to say deleted, but it's not a computer.

So, we actually um took some positions that we felt weren't um bringing back the highest level of service to the community and we didn't we didn't approve those for once they were vacant for renewing. Um, and then some of the additions that we have, uh, the polling software, some design concept reports, we have that large investment that we're looking at making on the streets of $30 million. So, this is that piece to get ready for that.

Um, we had some repairs and maintenance, some additional grant match, and some safety equipment. We also made additional cuts and reductions of $140,000 since the study session. So again, um, we kind of talked about this a little bit earlier during the capital improvement project presentation, but we do practice a community-minded philosophy as well as fisc fiscally conservative.

So we really do want to make sure that we're always taking the input from the council and the community and we're always prioritizing what we put into our budget and our capital improvement plan. From a fiscally conservative standpoint, we're always ensure that we are structurally balanced, not only in the budget, but in our actual spending. This gives you a forecast of the general fund ongoing revenues and expenditures.

This includes transfers out which is where we we may provide a subsidy for example to the highway user revenue fund. And so you can see that revenues always exceed expenditures in our plan fund balance. So this is a similar slide but what we do is we go back to fiscal year 17 to show how we've grown that over time. Why is that important? A couple things. One, we want to be prepared for uncertainties in the economy. um we want to be or even natural disasters.

We want to make sure that we have something set aside for strategic investments. And then we also want to make sure that we can maintain a bond rating. I think a lot of people have heard that the US was downgraded recently. So that was partially because of what their financials look like as a whole. We don't want that to happen. So we always again measure what we are spending, what we are allocating with what we have in the fund balance reserve.

And so this is kind of just showing you that it's grown over time. it will eb and flow a little bit depending on how we decide to do strategic investments. So this is where we um get into the detail. The state requires us to submit our preliminary or tenative budget on what they call the official forms and so those are in the packet but what we did instead of um putting those up here we turned them into charts and graphs for you um just it's a little bit easier to understand.

So this first schedule A what we do is we um have to make an estimate of all of our resources available and resources are not just revenues. So what we do is we take our savings and then we add revenues to that. We add those things that we're looking at doing loans, grants, that type of thing and then you subtract what you think you're going to spend that year and then you look at your transfers from one fund to another and then that gives you total resources available.

So based on all of our funds, and this kind of shows you the different types, general funds, special revenue, debt service, capital, and enterprise, we anticipate that we have about $300 million in available resources. The budget is about $200 million. And so that just kind of shows you again the the health of the the town, our liquidity position, and again, it just gives you a good idea of of our financial stabil stability.

The um chart on the bottom is actually what you would pass or um consider for um approval as far as the tenative budget. So the tenative budget that's presented before you is $221,5001,858 $855. And so this sets the upper limit for the fiscal year 26 budget. Um when we come back to you with the final, it would either equal this or be less than this. And then it kind of just shows you the comparison between 2025 and 2026.

Um that big difference is really driven by those um projects that we're looking at funding with grants and and loans and things like that. So schedule B we don't actually do because we don't have a a property tax currently. So this is schedule C and schedule E. And basically what those do is they tally up all of our revenues and all of our expenses. So, it's without regard to whether those are one-time or they're um ongoing. And so, it kind of just shows you where things come from.

The general fund provides um most of the revenues at 43.3% at about $61 million. And then the enterprise fund um makes up about 37 38 million or 26.7%. And then you can also look at the expenditure side. So, you can see the general fund accounts for um 30.5 or 62 million 63 million. Special revenues are 31.264 2 64.3 special revenues are usually less than the general fund, but this contemplates again that that um streets bond that we potentially could let this year.

And then the enterprise fund also does include um the provision for loans and grants and that type of thing. So schedule C, we wanted to break out those revenues just so that you had visibility into our our revenues. So the local taxes and intergovernmental revenues account for 90% of the general fund. And so what you can see here is we show f the fiscal year 25 budget where we think fiscal year 25 will end and then 20 the 26 budget.

One thing I wanted to point out is if you look at local taxes it looks like we have a a reduction from our budget to our actuals. And I wanted to explain that a little bit. So, as we um go through our financials, we're always looking for ways to be u more transparent and to make things more explainable.

So, what we've done in the past is when we receive construction sales tax, which is a one-time revenue, that's gone to the general fund and then we transfer it out and put it aside to the construction sales tax fund. And so, sometimes that can be misleading if you're looking for, you know, how much does the general re the general fund revenue have in just ongoing because we do that transfer.

So, we've changed the way that we're accounting for that so that you can see truly what are the ongoing revenues from the general fund. So, although it looks like a $5 million dip, it is not. That $5 million is now accounted for in in the construction sales tax fund. And then our intergovernmental revenues are pretty much on par. Um the only big other big variance is in other so in there we do contemplate contributions.

In fiscal year 25, we um contemplated a contribution for the YMCA for a project which did not come to fruition. And so that um is the the variance in the other um schedule um D really talks about those uh funding sources where we talked about grants and loans. So we didn't do a chart on that. And then schedule E is very similar to schedule F. And so what you have here is we wanted to show you um all expenditures by departments including all funds.

So um one thing I want to point out is the scale is very different from the largest departments to the smaller departments. So the largest departments are from 0 to 80 million and the smaller ones are 0 to 3 million. But this kind of just gives you an idea of where we are um allocating our budget. And so if you think about our strategic investment and our focus areas, public works again with streets, storm water, water um and sewer. So that's you know water and land use.

And then we have public safety as well. And so one of the things I also wanted to point out is if you are looking at the schedule in your packet, it will show fiscal year 25 versus f fiscal year 26. You'll see that these are very different. Part of that is driven by the reallocations that we talked about earlier. Um with our budget theme, we wanted to pe people to be innovative. We wanted people to be accountable for their dollars.

So for example, um things that were sitting in non-EP departmental, we move those to the departments who are managing that money. And then for example, if it made sense to move people, move resources between departments, we also did that. So we didn't necessarily have an increase because we held the budget steady. Um, but you can see that the departments look very different than they might have last year. Schedule D G, so we're almost there, is all about personnel costs.

And so what we have here are the personnel and benefits by dollars and then a picture of what our full-time equivalent looks like by count. Um, one of the things that again we just wanted in full transparency to point these out. Um, a lot of these were in process during the preliminary so we didn't call them out at that time. So for today's tenative budget, we want to make sure that that we point them out. We had a number of reclasses.

Um, this is partially driven by comp and class, but a lot of it is driven again by level of service we're pro providing to the community. So where is it that our people can best serve our community? That's what's driven a lot of the reclasses, new positions.

um deputy human resources director that's actually funded by a reduction in claims for example for employee relations um Narda sergeant that's actually a grant-f funded piece park maintenance specialist we had a reduction in our part-time pool as well as an operating cost cost to fund storm water um and the utilities those have a dedicated funding source and those are user fees and the contract coordinator was also funded by reallocation of exist existing dollars.

So over on the other position changes, we just kind of wanted to call out some of those changes that we've done. Again, every time we have a vacancy, it's an opportunity for us to look at our level of service and how we are delivering. And so sometimes when we have a position, we may keep it authorized, but we'll unfund it or we might freeze it. And so that's what you see on the right side as well. Um, next steps.

So today, um, staff or management is here requesting your consideration for the tenative budget. Again, this just sets the upper limit. When we come back for the final, it would be for a similar amount or something less. Um, we will also advertise for the public hearing. We'll publish notice on uh May 29th as well as June 5th and then come back to council on June 26 with a final request. And with that, I'm happy to answer any questions. Council, we have additional questions for Miss Morris.

Seeing none, I'll entertain a motion. Well done, ma'am. Thank you. Mr. Mayor, I'd like to make a motion to authorize the mayor or in his absence the vice mayor to sign resolution number 2025-2148 and giving notice of a public hearing June 26, 2025 by electronic vote. I'll second. Clerk, please call the vote. That passes unanimously. Thank you, ma'am. Seeing we're now on item 10. Is there anything for the good of the order from council? Seeing none, thanks for coming out everyone.

We will have a CFD meeting right after this. Super exciting. I encourage you all to stick around. like she just needed to Sorry. Sorry.