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HomeMy WebLinkAboutminutes.council.20140922Regular Meeting Aspen City Council September 22, 2014 1 SCHEDULED PUBLIC APPEARANCES .................................................................................................. 2 CITIZEN COMMENTS AND PETITION ................................................................................................... 3 COUNCILMEMBER COMMENTS ............................................................................................................ 4 Board Reports ............................................................................................................................................... 4 CONSENT CALENDAR ............................................................................................................................. 4 Resolution #111 and 112, Series of 2014 – Police Vehicles Purchase and Equipping ..................... 6 Resolution #115, Series of 2014 – Aspen Ice Garden Foundation Waterproffing & Drainage Repair ................................................................................................................................................ 6 Resolution #113, Series of 2014 – Urban Runoff Management Plan Update – Changes to Hydrology and Detention .................................................................................................................. 6 Resolution #108, Series of 2014 – Ice Management System for Water Plant Roof ......................... 6 Resolution #121, Series of 2014 – Burlingame Phase II Construction Contract Change Order ....... 6 Resolution #122, Series of 2014 – Police Vehicle Technology ........................................................ 6 Resolution #118, Series of 2014 – Parking Pay Station Lease/Purchase Contract ........................... 6 Resolution #119, Series of 2014 – contract to Purchase Bobcat Skid Steer Loader and Tool Cat ... 6 Resolution #117, Series of 2014 – Contract for Backwash Pond Sediment Removal ...................... 6 Resolution #120, Series of 2014 – Neale Avenue Improvements Project: Phase I Concrete – Construction Contract Approval ....................................................................................................... 6 Minutes – September 8, 2014 ........................................................................................................... 6 Ordinance #30, Series of 2014 – Red Butte Cemetery PD Amendment....................................................... 6 Ordinance #27, Series of 2014 - 417/421 W Hallam – Landmark Designation Amendment ...................... 7 Ordinance #29, Series of 2014 – 518 W Main St – Subdivision Amendment .............................................. 7 Regular Meeting Aspen City Council September 22, 2014 2 Mayor Skadron called the meeting to order at 5:00 p.m. with Councilmembers Frisch, Mullins, Daily and Romero present. SCHEDULED PUBLIC APPEARANCES Mayor Skadron said there are no scheduled public appearances but he wanted to address the parking meter issue. He said there is a contract up for discussion on the consent calendar but asked Staff to comment on some of the larger issues regarding timing and management. Steve Barwick, city manager, said the fraud begun in mid to late 2012. There were four causes, misunderstanding by staff of credit and debit card blacklisting. We do batch processing and this is the only batch processing system in the City. All transactions are stored until the end of the day then processed as a batch. If one day a card was used that had a zero balance if you were able to blacklist the card it would not be able to use again. The bottom line is the city thought blacklisting was allowed and the vendor said it was allowed, but it is not. Tim Ware, parking, said they were assured it was allowed then told it was not. Mr. Barwick said the second cause was a change of personnel at the same time the fraud started. There was not adequate training or enough analysis. The third problem was there were changes in the credit and debit card process reporting from the vendor. The original type of information the City used to get was not readily available. Once that went away we started missing the analysis we were getting. The fourth problem that would have been a red flag was there was no drop in revenue during this time. Normally if there was a significant amount of fraud going on it would have been noticed because of a change from the historic pattern. During this time the gross parking meter receipts were up by 7.6 percent. This is consistent with other increases in economic activity. The action the City took included immediately blocking a number of card types. We could not black list individual cards but could black list type of cards by certain banks. The City is in the process of changing all the parking meters. This was scheduled to happen in 2016. Police will investigate criminal prosecution. The total amount of fraud is a top end of $600,000 over the last two years. There is no way to know how much was a real revenue loss. There was some amount of additional parking. The impact to the town was not in lost revenue but an increase of parking and traffic. It is clear that people were fraudulently getting a bunch of tickets at one time and probably handing them out to friends and co-workers. It was happening almost every day. They Mayor received a comment saying he should have been notified immediately. Mr. Barwick said he was notified within an hour of himself knowing. This is the only batch processing system the City has and open to this type of fraud. We have a great track record of oversight of public funds. All four of the contributing causes needed to happen for this type of fraud to have gone on undetected. The bottom line is we had an ongoing opening in our system that allowed this fraud. We dealt with it as quickly as possible but ultimately we missed this for far too long. Mr. Barwick said he was told about this the Friday before Labor Day and it was in the paper Tuesday. Councilman Frisch said he stands by staff that this is not how things are run. It has been a multi-year problem and he is lost on how we cannot turn down a specific card. From a revenue standpoint he is not sure if we had a change in capacity of past summers. 600,000 dollars is a tremendous amount of money and he does not understand how a multi-year problem can come up and catch us. Mr. Barwick said that’s the question he tried to answer with the four causes. There are no holes in the system where this could go on for very long. Councilwoman Mullins stated she needs more detail. She asked how it went up the chain of command in the City and was there a dollar amount that triggered it going to the next level. Why when as soon as some lost was realized was it not brought to Council. Why was the loss not apparent. This is the first time Council has heard an explanation. She stated she is getting her info from the paper and that is a problem. She would like to know what procedure is in place or what is going to be put in place so this does not happen again. Staff are professionals and are in here for the long run but Council is here for a shorter time. She said she is taking her job very seriously and she wants to work with Staff but she has to ask the Regular Meeting Aspen City Council September 22, 2014 3 hard questions. This is a substantial loss in revenue that could be applied to something else. We need some more detail and more answers. Mr. Barwick stated he will get with her afterwards and show her everything we have. Councilman Romero asked what was the event or item that triggered Staff to dig in more deeply. Don Taylor, finance director, said they have a spreadsheet that shows the monthly transaction data for the parking meters for total transactions, total declined and net accepted including what the processing costs are. A review of the processing costs that were high compared to the amount of revenue triggered someone to look at it. They thought it was a billing issue but saw it was the declined transactions that had grown to a much higher percentage. From two percent in 2011 to 30 percent. Councilman Romero said Staff has seen evidence that would suggest a purposeful intent and asked if Staff has seen other evidence. Mr. Barwick said that is all he has seen but he has not seen all the reports. Mr. Taylor said most of the declined transactions were on pre-paid debit cards not associated with a bank account. Councilman Romero asked if there is other evidence that would suggest Staff had prior knowledge. Mr. Barwick said there was an internal report that a staff member knew about who believed that higher ups knew about it. That is part of the hand off that was handled incorrectly. If this had begun earlier or later someone would have seen a new trend. Councilman Romero asked if there is a department official who reviews cost and revenue on a monthly or quarterly basis with the finance department. Mr. Taylor said for the most part yes. Councilman Daily said there are more questions than answers. He said he appreciates Staffs frankness. He asked if it is an issue with charges made to cards that were not honored. Randy Ready said if it had been live transactions they would have been declined. Councilman Frisch said it did not stop same bad card from being used the next day. Mr. Ware said they do not get the entire card number. Mr. Barwick said the new system will be an immediate check system like at the grocery store. You swipe the card and wait for authorization. Councilman Daily said he understands there will be an ongoing police investigation. He asked if there is any indication if it is individuals or entities involved. Mr. Barwick said the police don’t want to comment on that yet. CITIZEN COMMENTS AND PETITION 1. Mike Maple said his concern is in part with the revenue that did not end up in the tax payers bank account. He said there may be some technical reasons why this happened but his concern is much bigger than that. If it can happen in parking what assurance does he have as a citizen that is isn’t happening in other departments. He said he expects integrity, honesty, accountability and efficiency from his government. Mayor Skadron said this was a unique situation with certain software and it is the only department in the City effected. Mr. Maple said he does not see it as a credit card problem. It gives him serious pause about the accountability of his city government dealing with tax payer funds. He said the other side of the parking issue is for a long time the parking meters also accept charges when paying is not necessary, Sundays and holidays and non- parking times. The City was stealing from the community by allowing meters to accept funds when not required. That should not have happened. The City has benefited from the incapability’s of these meters then they got stung. He is also disappointed in his fellow community members that took advantage of it. He said both sides of the equation are extremely troubling. He is not sure how financial control works but seeing bad debt go from two to 30 percent there should be bells and whistles going off. Mr. Barwick aid this department got missed and it is not happening in others. Mr. Maple said that in this process and over the years, the whole purpose of the parking management system has been lost. The reason for going to paid parking was for an auto disincentive and to make sure businesses could find a parking place. He wants the parking department to operate efficiently but it should not be about money. Mr. Maple Regular Meeting Aspen City Council September 22, 2014 4 said it is a sophisticated system and how is it possible we can’t fairly track people paying their bills and citizens and guests paying for parking when not required. Mr. Barwick said we have addressed a portion of that. Under the current technology we have to program individual meters and it is difficult and a lot of money. With the new system we will be able to change that from the parking department. Mr. Maple said the new system must do that. Staff must be charged with making sure parking is only charged when required. Councilman Romero said he appreciates the comments. One aspect is a flaw in the system and another with disappointment of fellow community members. If evidence is true and if this was repeated fraud it is much more malicious. All structural flaws will be perused with vigor. 2. Jimmy Dula told the Council about the heritage fruit tree project aimed to preserve and propagate trees in the valley. They want to catalog the trees and take grafts to Jerome at the central rocky mountain permaculture institute to grow out a nursery. They are underway with fundraising on kickstarter. The website is heritagefruitguild.com. He is also involved with the compost tea service at cozy point. They need $40,000 and have about 1,000. The goal is to plant 330 trees and buy the software program. COUNCILMEMBER COMMENTS 1. Councilman Frisch thanked the community for showing up to the picnic at the golf course and gave a hats off to Red Mountain Grill. 2. Mayor Skadron thanked the City for the good work on the picnic. 3. Mayor Skadron thanked Graham and the Wheeler team for the Anderson Ponte Band preview concert. 4. Mayor Skadron gave his condolences to the family and friends of Monroe Summers. Board Reports 1. Councilwoman Mullins attended the Red Brick board meeting and said they have a lot to offer. There is an auction of the thrift store art this Saturday at the Red Brick. 2. Councilwoman Mullins was out of town for the health and human services POD meeting. 3. Mayor Skadron attended the CAST meeting in Durango. 4. Mayor Skadron also attended a CML mayor’s summit where they discussed the mayor’s role in disaster response. 5. Mayor Skadron complimented RFTA for receiving the Administrators Award for Outstanding Public Service given by the Federal Transportation Administration. 6. Councilman Romero attended the RFTA board meeting where they discussed the BRT success and small improvements, 2015 budget and the draft five year strategic plan. 7. Councilman Frisch said CORE is celebrating their 20th anniversary on October 23 rd at the Limelight from 5-7 pm and to reach out to lucy@aspencore.org for more information. Mayor Skadron read a letter he received from Jan Slater from Australia stating Aspen is the most beautiful place and you can be very proud. CONSENT CALENDAR Resolution #113, Series of 2014 –Urban Runoff Management Plan Update – Change to Hydrology Detention. Councilwoman Mullins said it is great we are implementing this change. The calculations were based on reports through 1974. April Long, engineering, said the consultant tried to use data from the water department for the 2010 update. That data was not significantly different from the NOAA data. Councilwoman Mullins said there has been some un-necessary frustration and expense to citizens since 2000 by using that data. What is the ongoing procedure to make sure we have the latest data. Ms. Long Regular Meeting Aspen City Council September 22, 2014 5 said they have been receiving the most accurate data we had available to us. Mayor Skadron said the holdup was in Washington. Ms. Long said everyone in the western US just got it and it is important we stay on top of this data. Councilman Frisch said the update was out of our control and he appreciates Staff staying on top of it. Councilman Daily commended staff for this direction. It will benefit homeowners and developers without impairing services. Mayor Skadron said property owners will see a significant decrease in design costs, review times and construction costs because staff is keeping us ahead of the game. Resolution # 118, Series of 2014 – Parking Pay Station Lease/Purchase Contract. Councilman Frisch asked for an update on what the consumer will see and what will happen in back of house. Mr. Ware said the consumer will not see much of a difference but it will be a different product. It will be a pay and display parking system. The whole process will take between 12 to 14 seconds to complete. There will be major changes in the back office. Bad debt will go down to zero. There will be excellent reporting procedures. If Staff wants to change the rates or shut down the machines they just make a phone call. The machines will be shut down for holidays and after hours. Councilman Frisch said the credit check happens like pumping gas. Mr. Ware said they can make changes on the computer but it is easier to make a phone call to the vendor. Councilman Frisch said he is glad the police is chasing down what happened and he looks forward to hearing an update. Mayor Skadron said we can lease and purchase or purchase. Mr. Ware said the vendor knew we were not scheduled to replace until 2016. Given we have a large cost with the Rio Grande plaza fix we may be able to pull off purchase but would be a big hit to the budget. The Lease was done to accommodate the City. 100 percent of the lease payments go towards the purchase. Councilman Frisch asked if we are paying something for the flexibility. Mr. Ware said there is no additional cost. Resolution # 119, Series of 2014 – Bobcat Skid Steer Loader and Tool Cat Contract. Councilwoman Mullins asked what it is. Jerry Nye, streets, said the skid steer is a small bucket machine like a front end loader. The tool cat is a small vehicle with attachments on the front and a bed in the back. The tool cat will for the housing department. Resolution # 120, Series of 2014 – Neale Avenue Improvements Project: Phase I Concrete – Construction Contract Approval. Councilwoman Mullins said the bid came back higher than expected so Staff parceled out project. She asked how was it parceled out to the City and other agencies and what is the City taking over. Tyler Christoff, engineering, said they looked at in-house resources. Parks has a construction crew that is capable of earthwork and basic utility work. Parks does not have the equipment or staff for the concrete work. Councilwoman Mullins asked how much money was saved. Mr. Christoff said a few elements are still being hashed out but in general it is a 30-40 percent cost savings. Councilman Frisch asked if they are looking at the budgets for next year and trying to manage the escalating construction costs. Mr. Christoff said they went back into the AMP and are using the most recent costing but they are not sure if it will be correct next spring. Councilman Daily asked if the first phase is just concrete. Garrett Sabourin said attachment B is all the work to the western side including asphalt and permeable pavers. Councilman Daily asked if this work includes any of the signal lighting for cross walks. Mr. Sabourin said the last request was to excluded that from this construction. Regular Meeting Aspen City Council September 22, 2014 6 Mayor Skadron asked about the status of bathrooms. Mr. Christoff said we will continue with the current portable unit and parks is looking at usage. Mayor Skadron said it is a heavily used park. He wants to make sure the recommended action does not result in something they don’t want. Mr. Christoff replied it will be humble and organic. • Resolution #111 and 112, Series of 2014 – Police Vehicles Purchase and Equipping • Resolution #115, Series of 2014 – Aspen Ice Garden Foundation Waterproffing & Drainage Repair • Resolution #113, Series of 2014 – Urban Runoff Management Plan Update – Changes to Hydrology and Detention • Resolution #108, Series of 2014 – Ice Management System for Water Plant Roof • Resolution #121, Series of 2014 – Burlingame Phase II Construction Contract Change Order • Resolution #122, Series of 2014 – Police Vehicle Technology • Resolution #118, Series of 2014 – Parking Pay Station Lease/Purchase Contract • Resolution #119, Series of 2014 – Contract to Purchase Bobcat Skid Steer Loader and Tool Cat • Resolution #117, Series of 2014 – Contract for Backwash Pond Sediment Removal • Resolution #120, Series of 2014 – Neale Avenue Improvements Project: Phase I Concrete – Construction Contract Approval • Minutes – September 8, 2014 Councilman Romero moved to adopt the consent calendar; seconded by Councilwoman Mullins. All in favor, motion carried. Ordinance #30, Series of 2014 – Red Butte Cemetery PD Amendment Councilwoman Mullins stated the last time Council saw this application she recused herself. It is a substantially different application and she will not recuse herself. Jim True, city attorney, had the opportunity to review some of the last application and he stands by his statement and she does not need to recuse herself. He is ok with her staying. Justin Barker, community development, told the Council this application is to allow part of the maintenance facility to be used as a place for sleeping. The original ordinance was tabled July 14, 2014. The applicant has asked to come back. This ordinance includes a one year deed restriction and an automatic termination one year after approval. There are two additional conditions. The first is for quarterly open houses to allow for neighborhood input. The second is the association keep a log on the number of nights the facility is used for sleeping purposes. Staff is recommending approval and the public hearing is scheduled for November 10 th . Alan Richman, representing the applicant, said they are fine with the ordinance. He suggested modifying the termination clause in Section four to terminate one year after issuance of the CO instead of adoption of ordinance. Councilman Romero stated during the review of the previous application there was talk about alternative housing options. He has had a chance to circle around. The pattern that the service provider operates and requires residence, not full time lines up inconsistently with other seasonal housing options. It will be difficult to secure services on a long term basis for this public service. They need to think creatively Regular Meeting Aspen City Council September 22, 2014 7 about how to further the trial. The community open houses and reporting starts to resonate from the public feedback. Councilman Frisch said it is roughly the same plan. The other housing options have not come to anything. Legally it is an essential community asset but he is missing the essentiality of needing to access sleeping quarters there. He said he has the same concerns as last time. Councilwoman Mullins said the alternative housing is not economically viable and asked Staff to elaborate for second reading. She asked for specifics. Councilwoman Mullins moved to read Ordinance #30, Series of 2014; seconded by Councilman Frisch. All in favor, motion carried. ORDINANCE NO. 30 (SERIES OF 2014) AN ORDINANCE OF THE ASPEN CITY COUNCIL APPROVING A MINOR PLANNED DEVELOPMENT AMENDMENT AND GROWTH MANAGEMENT AMENDMENT FOR THE RED BUTTE CEMEMTERY PD, ON THE PROPERTY LOCATED AT 808 CEMETERY LANE, LEGALLY DESCRIBED AS: RED BUTTE CEMETERY, ACCORDING TO THE FINAL PUD PLAT THEREOF RECORDED JULY 11, 2012 IN PLAT BOOK 100 AT PAGE 38 Councilman Romero moved to adopt Ordinance #30, Series of 2014, on first reading; seconded by Councilman Daily. Roll call vote; Councilmembers Romero, yes; Mullins, yes; Frisch, yes; Daily, yes; Mayor Skadron, yes. Motion carried. Ordinance #27, Series of 2014 - 417/421 W Hallam – Landmark Designation Amendment Sara Adams, community development, told the Council this is a designated landmark and the request is to correct the boundaries of the designation. In 1992 the wrong half of the duplex was designated due to a clerical error. Staff is proposing to correct the error by designating the entire property. Councilwoman Mullins asked if HPC approved conceptual. Ms. Adams replied yes. Councilman Daily said HPC support is pretty important and he appreciates their support. Mayor Skadron opened the public comment. There was none. Mayor Skadron closed the public comment. Councilman Romero moved to adopt Ordinance #27, Series of 2014; seconded by Councilman Daily. Roll call vote; Councilmembers Daily, yes; Romero, yes; Mullins, yes; Frisch, yes; Mayor Skadron, yes. Motion carried. Ordinance #29, Series of 2014 – 518 W Main St – Subdivision Amendment Ms. Adams stated this is a request to amend the ordinance to allow owner selection of one of the affordable housing units. This is a 100 percent affordable housing project. Any additional purchasers after the initial purchaser would have to go through the lottery. Regular Meeting Aspen City Council September 22, 2014 8 Councilman Romero said he is comfortable with the amendment and it was put on the record at the original review and approval. Councilwoman Mullins said she will also support it. She said it should be considered to put this in a policy so Council does not need to consider each time. Councilman Frisch said he thought there was a 30 percent standard by APCHA. He said we should check in with APCHA. Ms. Adams said the housing guidelines do state that if a project is zoned affordable housing then there is an ability for the developer to select one third of the initial purchasers. She stated this property is zoned mixed use so it did not need rezoned to AH for this project. Mayor Skadron asked if it was zoned affordable housing would it allow for owner selection. Ms. Adams said for one third of the units. She said Staff would have agreed to the rezoning if the applicant had asked for it. Mayor Skadron opened the public comment. There was none. Mayor Skadron closed the public comment. Councilman Daily moved to adopt Ordinance #29, Series of 2014; Seconded by Councilman Romero. Roll call vote; Councilmembers Frisch, yes; Daily, yes; Romero, yes; Mullins, yes; Mayor Skadron, yes. Motion carried. Councilman Romero moved to adjourn at 6:25 pm; seconded by Councilman Daily. All in favor, motion carried. Linda Manning City Clerk