Trash pickup contract and park facilities lead city council agenda
YPD asks for approval of new Tasers, in-car cameras
The Yuma City Council will kick off Wednesday’s meeting with presentations on the status of the solid waste and recycling services contract and the future scheduling of Parks and Recreation facilities.
Councilman Mike Shelton has been asking for an update on the activities at the Pacific Avenue Athletic Complex, in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.
City parks are open and largely have been the whole time for socially distant recreation activities during the COVID-19 pandemic, city spokesman Dave Nash said. Playgrounds were closed but are currently open, though the city asks visitors to continue following safety guidelines.
The exception is the Stewart Vincent Wolfe Creative Playground at the West Wetlands, which has remained closed. “However, we are currently working on a maintenance schedule that would permit us to reopen that facility as well,” Nash said.
The council members will also consider several agenda items related to the Police Department, including an increase of $370,205 to the contract with Architekton Inc. for design services for a future police storage facility. The contract value is $440,170, which is 9.6% of the $4.6 million construction cost.
YPD is asking for approval of the purchase of 70 new Axon tasers devices to replace aging electronic control devices at a cost of $212,724 and the purchase of seven Axon in-car camera systems for $80,397. Of this amount, $31,000 was provided to the department from the Arizona Attorney General’s Office through a multistate settlement.
The Police Department also wants to enter into a three-year agreement with Yuma Elementary School District No.1 for the School Safety Program. The YPD would assign five full-time school resource officers to district schools, and the district would reimburse the city for 11 months of the assigned SROs’ full-time salaries. The district approved $539,687 per year in funding for this program.
YPD is also asking the council to accept grants totaling $80,000 from the Arizona Governor’s Office of Highway Safety that would cover overtime expenses associated with the DUI/ Impaired Driving Enforcement Program.
Another grant up for city acceptance is a U.S. Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration Public Works Construction Grant of $852,000 that will help the city construct about 4,600 lineal feet of 12-inch sewer line in the area of Yuma Commerce Center.
In other action, the council will consider awarding several contracts, including $1.015 million to CORE Construction of Phoenix for design-build services for the Hotel Del Sol Multi-Modal Transportation Center project; $893,552 for Catalina Drive and Palo Verde Street pavement replacement and $75,891 for the downtown raised crosswalk and spot drainage improvements, both to Gutierrez Canales Engineering of Yuma; and $220,000 for the purchase of janitorial and sanitation supplies from Waxie Sanitary Supply of San Diego, California.
Other consent agenda items include an agreement with CenturyLink for citywide telephone circuit services for $95,634 for a threeyear period and approval of the final plat of the Desert Sands Subdivision Unit 2 located at the southwest corner of East 44th Street and South Avenue 7½E.
In addition, the agenda includes four resolutions meant to correct unintended errors in the legal descriptions of previously approved municipal improvement districts for Driftwood Ranch Units 1 and 2, Park West Units 4 and 5, Desert Sky Unit 1, Saguaro Units 3 and 4.
The following resolutions are also on the agenda:
– The renewal of the slum and blight designations for properties located within the Central Business District of the city. By state law, designations that are renewed prior to Oct. 1 are valid for 10 years and will require subsequent reviews and renewals on a 10year cycle. The designation allows the use of certain development tools to encourage private investment and redevelopment of the designated properties.
– An amendment setting all wastewater capacity fee charges according to water meter size. Under the proposed amendment, all water meters of a particular size, other than water meters used solely for irrigation which do not pay a wastewater capacity charge, will pay the same wastewater capacity charge.
– A development agreement with LLT Development for 10 acres of property located at 4550 and 4560 E. 32nd St. Community Development has agreed to enter into a 5-year contract with the owner to allow for the temporary use of the property as a storage location for a utility company.
One ordinance is up for adoption: a request to rezone 18.3 acres from Agriculture to Medium Density Residential/Planned Unit Development for property located at the southwest corner of South Avenue 7½E and East 36th Street. The applicant wishes to develop the second phase of the Desert Sky townhome development.
One ordinance to be introduced establishes a Planned Area Development Overlay District, which is intended to “accommodate, encourage and promote developments with innovative design involving residential and nonresidential land uses, which together form an attractive, harmonious unit in the community.”
TO WATCH AND PARTICIPATE REMOTELY
The meeting, which starts at 5:30 p.m., will be open with limited public access in the City Hall Council Chambers, 1 City Plaza. To protect the public and reduce the chance of COVID-19 transmission, the meeting can also be viewed remotely with participation through Zoom.
Those wishing to speak at the public hearing or on any agenda item via Zoom must submit an email request to publiccomment@ yumaaz.gov an hour prior to the start of the meeting. To view the meeting through Zoom, residents will need to go to https:// cityofyuma.zoom.us/, click on “Calendar,” then select the meeting and click “Join.”
The meeting can also be viewed live through the Video and TV Stream quick link at www.yumaaz.gov by searching for Yuma Live Playlist 73 or on TV cable channel 73. A recording of the meeting will be available on the city’s website usually the following day.