The Joint City Council/Board of Supervisors Work Session of January 26, 2015, was called to order by Chairman Metzger at 4:03 p.m.

The audience, City Council and Board of Supervisors recited the Pledge of Allegiance.

None

Paul Summerfelt with the Flagstaff Fire Department began a PowerPoint presentation which reviewed:
            
FWPP
ACCOMPLISHMENTS ON CITY & STATE LAND
 Implementations
            Equestrian Project – 400 acres
            Observatory Mesa – 80 acres
            Brookbank Meadow – 30 acres (Navajo Nation)
            Completion and Adoption of GFFP Monitoring Framework  (Greater Flagstaff Forest
                    Partnership)
            Cost Avoidance Study
            Newman Canyon gauge
            MSO habitat    (Mexican Spotted Owl)
 
EQUESTRIAN PROJECT SURVEY
            4.8 out of 5 – overall – good comments  very positive
 
FWPP Accomplishments on City & State Land
            Outreach: open houses, presentations, field trips, special events, kiosks, publications,
                     website
            Website – Google Earth map – treatments – trail closures, etc.
 
FWPP  Upcoming in 2015
            500 acres of treatment (City/state)
            Complete Observatory Mesa Stewardship Plan
            Continuing Outreach: open houses, field trips, events, kiosk, publications, videos

Mike Elson, Flagstaff District Ranger with the US Forest Service, then continued the PowerPoint presentation.

USFS – FWPP
 
ACCOMPLISHMENTS ON THE COCONINO NATIONAL FOREST
            Release of DEIS in July 2014
            235 acres of hand-thinning
            200 acres of prescribed burning
            125 acres of noxious/invasive weed treatments
            5,172 acres of wildlife surveys
            3,265 acres of arch surveys
            8 miles of landline survey
            Resurfacing of Schultz pass road
            Contract awarded for resurfacing of Elden Lookout Road (planned for spring 2015)
            $1.5 million invested to date
 
2015 CALENDAR

JAN-MAY        Complete formal consultation with SUFWS
                        Continue hand-thinning and Rx burning
                        Road maintenance coordination meeting with Coconino County
 
JUNE-AUG    Publish FEIS & ROD (Record of Decision), 45 day objection period/45-day objection resolution period
                        Begin implementation of orion task order
 
SEPTEMBER Issue final ROD, initiate contracting for harvesting operations
 
Annette Fredette, Team Leader with Four Forest Restoration Initiative (4FRI), then continued the PowerPoint presentation:

FOUR FOREST RESTORATION INITIATIVE
 
CURRENT FEIS AND ROD TIMELINE
            FEIS and Draft ROD released December 4
            Objection filing period ended January 20
            Objection review period January 21 to March 6/April 6 
            Currently there are 9 objections under review by the regional team

FINAL ROAD
            Expected March or April 2015   (depending on whether they extend period)
 
4FRI IMPLEMENTATION
            Restoration treatments not only mechanical treatment and Rx burning, but also:
            Road and trail decommissioning
            Wildlife habitat improvement
            Noxious weed eradication
            Stream channel stabilization
            Treatments prioritized based on:
                 Priority watersheds
                 Urban interface*
                 Watershed condition framework (6 watersheds at risk)*
 
4FRI IMPLEMENTATION
            4FRI phase 1 contract – 3,300 acres harvested, 29K acres in task orders
            21K other acres of outside phase 1 contract
            AZGEP leased 37 acres in Williams for new mill – grading beginning on-site
            New manufacturing facility in Coconino County  (Newpac Fibre)
            20K acres of prescribed burning since 10/1
            Development of 2 new manufacturing facilities on the west side
            NewPac Fibre and new Williiams mill site – Good Earth Power (soils & rough cut)
 
DRAFT FOUR FOREST 10 YEAR RESTORATION HARVEST PLAN
            Second map – what is being considered for mechanical treatment across the county
 
Mayor Nabours asked if when they referred to the Environmental Impact Statement for 4FRI if it was for the entire northern Arizona area, or just a portion around Flagstaff. Ms. Fredette replied that the first EIS covers portions of Coconino and the Kaibab National Forests; it does not cover all four forest areas and does cover the entire 4FRI project area.

Councilmember Brewster asked Mr. Williams if he knew what they were making with the wood at the new 37-acre mill in Williams. Mr. Williams said that Good Earth Power is proposing to start with a soil amendment processing--composting and eventually processing that material to be shipped all over the southwest. He said that there are plans in the future for a small-diameter sawmill, but they have not shared their future plans much at this point in time.

Councilmember Putzova asked what the substance of the objections was. Mr. Williams said that those are still under review. There are nine objections that are being reviewed this week and they are gleaning the issues, and he could not provide that information at this time.
 
Diane Vosick, Co-Chair of 4FRI and with the NAU Ecological Restoration Institute provided handouts that tell about 4FRI, noting that there are 30 different organizations that have come together for the last five years, working with the US Forest Service, to help design the first treatment scenario with geography and footprints. She said that they are excited to be at this point. While each of the organizations have diverse positions and work styles, they have had a collective group prepare a letter, and they have been complimentary of the work of the US Forest Service.

STAKEHOLDER GROUP
 
Ms. Vosick said that once the objection process is finished and the US Forest Service has a signed Record of Decision, the next process goes outside, and it could be in the courts. If that occurs, members of 4FRI are already talking about subsequent legal strategy. That may be a point where they come back to the City/County and consider whether to do a amicus brief, and they would be looking for others to join in that action.

Chairman Metzger said that the collaboration has excelled in the past 20 years to a degree where it does have some standing. They have withstood many challenges in the past and she thanked them for their hard work.
 
Mike Williams said that it has been a great privilege being a part of this project and it was of historic proportion. They are optimistic and excited about the prospect. He said that the DEIS is the beginning of a much larger project. Right now they are moving ahead; thinning is occurring. They are looking forward to once the objection process is done. He said that he was very proud of the stakeholder group that has supported them along the way; they have had a lot of dialog and controversy.

County Manager Cynthia Seelhammer introduced Toby Olvera who works in her office. She said that she and Toby attended the National Association of Counties conference and they are evaluating all of the best practices. 

Mr. Olvera said that the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council (CJCC) is a great example of a joint partnership. He then gave a PowerPoint presentation which addressed:
 
CJCC  - Overview – Major Projects
CJCC MISSION
           
He said that the Council exists to promote the safety of the citizens of Coconino County, the efficient and just treatment of offenders, the protection and healing of victims, and to work toward prevention of crime and the reduction of recidivism.
 
SUBCOMMITTEES
            Behavioral Health
            Systems Performance
            Juvenile Justice
            Victim Services

CJCC EXECUTIVE MEMBERSHIP
CJCC FULL MEMBERSHIP
 
CJCC Membership recognized that criminal justice systems need to be more data driven
            Can’t manage what is not measure 
            Criminal Justice is often driven by politics

TWO-PRONGED APPROACH
            Substantative  - can look on annual basis
            Creating operational functioning measurements (tool to look at flow of cases)
 RECIDIVISM STUDY -   
            After the commission of a criminal act and the application of some intervention, does
                    the subject engage in future criminal behavior
            Successfully obtained criminal history data for all arrestees going back 5 years
            Random sampling vs. big data approach significance
            Creates performance measurements for justice system programs
            May be able to determine impact of nonjustice programs on recidivism
 
Vice Mayor Barotz asked if this study was being done by an outside consultant. Mr. Olvera said that it was not a normal study and was not being done at this time. They have attempted to reach out to different groups around the country, trying to build a partnership to come into this county criminal justice system and give them their data. They are the in the process of getting that off the ground. He said that it is not easy and it will not be cheap, but they have high hopes.

Councilmember Putzova asked if they were looking at it being a one-time study or continuing it each year. Mr. Olvera said that they can do a one-time study, but they would like to do it annually so they can trend over time, seeing what effects different changes to services could have.

Mr. Olvera said that this was the first prong of the program; the second was the systems interrelations study and operational functioning which Don Jacobson would be addressing.

 SYSTEMS INTERRELATIONS STUDY
            Systems Performance Subcommittee created a dashboard-type tool to measure 
                       change in the local justice system
            Utilizes key measurements from various stakeholders including courts, law 
                       enforcement, probation, etc.
            Responsibility ofor data collection will reside in the CJCC
            Plan to utilize NAU criminology interns to do the data collection and computation on a
                       quarterly basis
 
Mr. Jacobson said that they have identified performance measurements, collected the data and put it in the dashboards. It is critical to look at this over time. This year they started the ongoing process. At this time it is not an automatic process or open to the public for viewing. Right now the criminal justice system has numerous automatic systems, and they hope that in the future they will be able to automatic this process as well. Once the system is up and running the information would be open to the public. He added that with all of the data and information provided, all of the personal identifiers have been removed. They are providing general numbers, not individual cases.

Chairman Metzger said that is was a very ambitious program that has the opportunity to serve great benefits to the citizens. It sounds complex, but they have made great headway.

Mr. Olvera said that everyone is wanting a coordinating council. He said that about ten years ago the Department of Justice started going around, and Flagstaff is one of twelve in the country. They are seeing these are starting to pop up all around the country.

Deputy City Manager Jerene Watson said that Joanne Keene would be reviewing County issues, she would cover City issues and Richard Travis would provide a statewide outlook.

STATE BUDGET OUTLOOK 
 
Mr. Travis said that the Executive budget proposal was to reduce shared revenue by $8.2 million, which meant about $700,000 to the City. To offset that they are investing $2 million in Department of Revenue agents and hope to collect $16 million in shared revenue to offset the proposed cut. He said that was the biggest single cut to cities and towns. There are several sweeps including Department of Tourism and the Aviation Fund, which are routinely used to match federal grants.
 
He also discussed the proposed $75 million cuts in the three universities, which included a $13.1 million cut to NAU. Community colleges were looking at an $8.8 million cut in the general fund, but those were only to the three largest--Pima, Pinal and Maricopa.

Joanne Keene then reviewed the impacts to the County.  She said that $558,000 included in the budget in lottery revenue was received by the County for many years. It went away and was reinstated one time last year and is included in the Governor's budget this year. This year it is recommended to reduce that more to cut out Pima, Maricopa, Pinal counties and now Navajo and Mojave will not be receiving that money. The intent is to use it for all of the state services provided through delegation of authority.

Also included is the proposed budget is a continued shift. The County is currently paying for 100% restoration for those housed at the state hospital. The County judges send these individuals down there so it is suggested that the County should be paying them. The County is seeing a big increase from $400,000 to $550,000, although these numbers are case dependent.

She said that one of the newest issues seen in the budget is the shift of Department of Juvenile Correction costs to the county. The Governor's budget is requiring 25% of the average cost of youth housed from the County. They are still trying to figure out the impact of this and the logic of why this would be shifted to the County. She said that they send juveniles down there, but it is the Department of Juvenile Corrections that determines how long they stay. She said they expect this cost to be $550,000; it could be less as it is also population dependent.

She said that the last issue is the payment that all will now be making to the Department of Revenue to process taxes. They expect that to be about $160,000. There is some confusion at the legislature about whether increasing the number of staff will help compensate for this cost. Also, counties used to have the authority to charge for a property tax collected for special districts. That was taken away, but they may be looking at that option to compensate.

Ms. Watson then reviewed the City of Flagstaff's legislative agenda.
 
GUIDING PRINCIPLES
            Local Control
            Council Goals
            Cultivating Partnerships
STATE SHARED REVENUES
HURF FUNDING LEVELS INCREASE:
PENSION REFORM
FOREST HEALTH
SUPPORT ED TOOLS
WATER
VETERANS AFFAIRS
FEDERALLY
            Forest Health
            Transportation

Mayor Nabours said that part of the Governor's budget was sweeping of $15 million from the aviation fund. They have heard about plans to greatly enhance the terminal and features at the Grand Canyon Airport. He asked if that fund of money being swept would put that project on hold. Mr. Travis said that he did not think so, but he would check and send out an e-mail. He said that the Arizona Department of Transportation operates the Grand Canyon Airport.
 
Mayor Nabours said that he attended a meeting in the morning at the League where they mentioned that when the State Department of Revenue takes over the collection of sales tax they will be charging the City a one-time fee for set up and then an annual percentage as well. Mr. Travis said that was correct. There will be an overall one-time charge of $2.9 million and then an ongoing charge of $14 million, split with $8 million for cities and $5.9 for counties.

Mayor Nabours said that they have seen that the State is wanting to get payments from cities and counties for the state services provided. He said that perhaps they should consider the expenses incurred for forest thinning on state land, for which they have only paid half. It also occurred to him that in the city and county courts they collect quite a bit of finds that are paid to the State, which they have to administer. He said that there are numerous other examples. Perhaps they should put those together and get them down to the legislature.
 
Mr. Travis said that they also swept $75 million from the Arizona Commerce Authority. Chairman Metzger said that this was a difficult time with a lot of moving targets.

She thanked everyone for their work on this and said it was appropriate for them to work together. 

Supervisor Babbott said that several of them went to the County Supervisors' Legislative Session. The whole notion of whether they get to fund the operational departments of the State was interesting discussion. It was such a disincentive and discourages innovation and creativity. Their money comes in regardless of what they do. 

Councilmembers and Supervisors agreed that it was good to meet together and they should follow up once they both have their legislative trips to Washington DC. 
 

The Joint Work Session of the Flagstaff City Council and Coconino County Board of Supervisors held January 26, 2015, adjourned at 5:55 p.m.