Council Report June 16, 2021 via Zoom

Town Budget, Liquor License and Water were items among a packed

agenda at last night’s meeting. Mayor Joe Winfield, Councilmembers: Solomon, Jones-Ivey, Greene, Bohen and Nicolson were present. Vice Mayor Melanie Barrett was absent.

Regular Session

During the Call to Audience residents, once again, expressed their frustration of

the apparent slow progress of the effort to preserve the former Vistoso Golf

course.

In response to this, Council Member Solomon made the following motion,

seconded by Councilmember Greene, to place this item on the next Council

Meeting.

“Discussion of the current status and possible action regarding the efforts to

preserve the former Vistoso golf course. To facilitate this item the Town Attorneys

are to work with all involved parties to obtain any confidential releases necessary

to allow for an open public discussion.”

Special Session

The Town Council unanimously approved the Town budget, 10-year Capital

Improvement Program (CIP) and Salary Classification for FY 2021/2022. As always

by law, this Budget represents the Maximum amount the Town is allowed to

spend. The Town is not obligated to spend any of these amounts in FY 2021/2022.

Staff clarified that the $22,300,000 CIP amount in the Parks and Rec budget was

simply a “placeholder” to potentially allow the Town to Bond and/or spend CIP

funds on Parks and Rec. Any such expenditures would need to come to the Town

Council for its approval.

Regular Session

The Consent Agenda was unanimously approved by the Town Council.

Regular Agenda items 1&2 were unanimously approved by the Town Council:

“AN APPLICATION FOR A SERIES 12 (RESTAURANT) LIQUOR LICENSE FOR TUK TUK

THAI, LOCATED AT 12125 N. ORACLE ROAD, #169” and “AN APPLICATION FOR A

SERIES 12 (RESTAURANT) LIQUOR LICENSE FOR SEIS KITCHEN, LOCATED AT 9740 N.

ORACLE ROAD”

Regular Agenda Item 3. The purpose of this item was to consider a proposed code

amendment to revise the adoption process for the Planning Division Work Plan.

The proposed code amendment enables use of the same administrative work plan

development process of all other Town departments. By doing so, it removes

duplicative reviews of land use related items by the Commissions and Town

Council. This item unanimously approved by the Town Council.

There followed a Study Session regarding amending the Section of the Town code

regarding enforcement of Town actions when/if there is a need for increased

water conservation. Water Utility Director, Peter Abraham, made it clear that

there is not a water shortage in Oro Valley and we’ve never been above a Tier 1

status (Tier-1 simply acts to “educate residents about the fact that we live in a

desert climate and there are ways in which they can help conserve water, such as

tending to irrigation leaks in a timely manner”). He explained that there are 4

Tiers, each requiring additional directives to water users as to water conservation

and that OV has been at a level 1 tier for at least the last ten years that he has

been here and likely, long before that. The purpose for these new amendments

was to clearly define some terminology and also to allow for more effective

enforcement (if ever deemed absolutely necessary). A major reason to address

this issue was to make sure that OV’s code language is inline with the regional

code language. In summary, there is enough water for all current uses and those

within the Town limits and even any possible future annexations. Even if we were

ever in the situation where we were unable to utilize CAP water, we have more

than enough underground water to supply all of our current and future needs

here in Oro Valley.