Mayor Nabours asked about the contract with Youth Hockey Association and if the proposed contract represented any change in the fees for ice time from the prior contract. Recreation Supervisor Mike Abeyta stated that there have been no fee changes from the past contract.

Mayor Nabours stated that the Regional Plan will be on the agenda next week and staff is hoping that the Council will be to a point of decision making.

The following individuals addressed Council regarding the Grand Canyon Back Country Management Plan:
 

• Jim McCarthy
• Joe Shannon
• Nick Bejarano
• Tom Martin
• Allison Gitlin
• Scott Cundy
• Ben Murphy

The following comments were received:

• A Resolution should and can be done on this subject.
• A revised Resolution could include the statement that the City of Flagstaff does hereby oppose any portion of the National Park Service’s proposed Backcountry Management Plan which would reduce the number of use authorizations available to local entities, or otherwise negatively impact the local tourism industry and local economy, unless it is required to protect park resources, or reduce non-commercial public access to Grand Canyon backcountry by establishing concessions with specific allocations or allowing the existing percentage of commercial trips to increase.
• The timing is wrong for the Council to submit a Resolution because the comment period is closed; submitting comments outside the typical process will place staff at the Park in a tough situation and set a poor precedent in the future.
• There are many problems with the Management Plan.
• The Council should reconsider the Resolution.
• The plan will shut down Flagstaff businesses.
• Commercial share is dictated by the public and the decision to hire a guide is up to the public. Commercialization already exists at the Park; the question is if that commercialization to be provided by local companies.
• Let the National Park Service manage the Grand Canyon as they see fit.
• The Sierra Club is in favor of the proposed amended resolution.
• The plan absolutely impacts Flagstaff.
• Backcountry use has increased and guide companies are an easy target for blame however, they are only 10% of the backcountry use.
• National Parks belong to the American people as a whole but not many of them have the equipment and experience necessary to conduct a backcountry trip; that is where the guides come in.
• The big concern is the trend of commercialization and privatization of national parks.

Public Works Director Andy Bertelsen introduced the Rethink Recycling Action Plan. Staff is working on items for the next fiscal year action plan. Acting Sustainability Manager McKenzie Jones then provided a PowerPoint presentation that covered the following:

RETHINK RECYCLING ACTION PLAN
OVERVIEW
CURRENT WASTE CONDITIONS (CY15)
RETHINKING WASTE
FY2017 ACTION PLAN
RECYCLING INFRASTRUCTURE
RECOLORING RECYCLING INFRASTRUCTURE
MULTIFAMILY RECYCLING PILOT
RECYCLING EDUCATION
MYWASTE
CITY-WIDE MARKETING
MASTER RECYCLER PROGRAM
FOOD WASTE PREVENTION
SPECIAL EVENTS
FY2017 BUDGET
FUTURE ACTION ITEMS

Councilmember Overton stated that the Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) is showing significant signs of wear and tear. The community is not producing the recyclables at the level it should and there is a financial penalty for that shortfall. He asked how much the City needs to get out of the waste stream to break even with Norton. Mr. Bertelsen stated that the contract with Norton Environmental is up for renewal in 2018 and there are some concerns about the terms of the contract and those will be addressed during the renewal process.

When the contract was put into place it outlined standards the City was to meet and at that time the recycling industry was on an incline and providing higher returns for materials that were collected. The contract indicates that by 2020 the City should be providing 20 tons of recycling to the MRF; the current tonnage is roughly 10 tons. Councilmember Overton expressed his concern that Norton is a for-profit business and there is a risk that they may say they do not want to do the recycling program anymore and that leaves the community in a bad spot. He feels that focusing on solutions that increase overall participation in the recycling program is the way to avoid this.

Vice Mayor Barotz offered that the drop off events that are done periodically in the community have very high satisfaction rate from the public. The investment into the outreach for these programs is good.

Mayor Nabours asked if there are issues with the recycling material coming into the facility being contaminated. Ms. Jones explained that there is currently a 17% contamination rate which is skewed a little high because it includes intake from Coconino County. One of the biggest challenges is that people do not recycle as much when it gets harder.

Mayor Nabours also shared concern about the low percentage rate of participation from the commercial customers. Ms. Jones agreed indicating that it is harder on the commercial side and the City does not mandate recycling. Staff in Solid Waste do great work with commercial customers to increase recycling and encourage others to participate.

Councilmember Oravits asked what the penalty is each year for not meeting the contract minimums. Solid Waste Collections Manager Jeremy Floyd offered that this year the City paid $274,000 on the tonnage it did not take and the profit share was about $120,000. As the tonnage goes up the penalty goes down and the profit share goes up.

Real Estate Manager Charity Lee provided a PowerPoint presentation that covered the following:

VETERANS’ HOME UPDATE
HISTORY
SITE LOCATION
EXHIBIT A-1
STATISTICS
BENEFITS OF THE VETERANS’ HOME
QUIT CLAIM DEED
REVERSIONARY CLAUSES IN THE DEED
LICENSE AGREEMENT

Vice Mayor Barotz asked the reason for a License Agreement. Ms. Lee explained that the Department of Veteran Services initially did not want to accept the property because there was City material and operations on it; the License Agreement allows the City materials and operations to remain until the time the Department of Veteran Services is ready to move forward with development.

Councilmember Putzova stated that since the Resolution was passed in 2015 the ambulance facility has been completed. She asked for information about the frequency of the emergency vehicles leaving the area with their lights and sirens going.

Vice Mayor Barotz stated that next week’s meeting has a very full agenda and asked if the discussion items can be moved since they are not time sensitive. Mr. Copley stated that the report on the Navajo Nation Human Rights Commission will be moved up in the agenda but to pull anything off at this point would be problematic. Mayor Nabours added that four items are related to Timber Sky and will be discussed together.