Gilbert Town Council Preview for Tonight: 12/15/2011

Among many agenda items, the Council will be considering the following:

• Reciprocal Borrowing Agreement with the Maricopa County Library District.
• Who’s Going to Market Gilbert?
• Meet and Confer Ordinance Modifications
• Non-Profits: Encouraging Self-Support
• Gilbert’s Garbage is Cleaner than our Neighbors (I’m not kidding)

• Reciprocal Borrowing Agreement with the Maricopa County Library District.
If the Council approves this agreement, which it probably will, it means that Gilbert will stand to make about $360,000 in revenue (from the Maricopa County Library District based on 28% non-Gilbert patrons utilizing the Southeast Regional Library) and an estimated one-time grant of $69,000 in library inventory for fiscal year 2011/2012.

The agreement may be termed with a 60-day notice.

• Advertise for an Organization to Market Gilbert!
If the Council approves this agreement, which is likely, it means that Staff will invite qualified firms to submit Statements of Qualifications for Destination Marketing Organization Services. (These responsibilities were previously handled by the Gilbert Chamber of Commerce.)

• Meet and Confer Ordinance Modifications

Three amendments are being considered by the Council:

1) The Town will no longer accommodate the Unions and their members by handling payroll deductions from employees paychecks on behalf of the three "employee organizations" (Unions). The current practice is that the Town performs the task of payroll deducting the dues and then sending the total to each of the 3 Unions (aka “employee organizations”). If this amendment passes, it means that the Unions will have to obtain dues from their members all by themselves;

2) To assure that employee organizations (Unions) are representing a majority of those employees who are eligible for membership, this amendment would increase the designation and recertification threshold from 50% +1 to at least two-thirds of all eligible employees;

3) To conform to Prop 113, approved by Arizona voters in November 2010, this amendment will require recertification of official and exclusive employee organizations through a secret ballot. During 2011, all official and exclusive employee organizations followed the petition process for recertification. This process will need to be repeated utilizing the secret ballot.

• Non-Profits: Encouraging Self-Support
This process of weaning these wonderful organizations away from taxpayer funding to different funding sources began in December 2009, when the Citizens Budget Committee recommended a 25% cut. The 25% reduction occurred and is still in place. Vice Mayor Daniels began studying ways to assist the non-profits toward self-support. This responsibility has shifted to Council Member Victor Petersen who chairs a committee that includes Mayor Lewis and Council Member Ray. Their recommendations will be considered. One organization stands out: For Our City, which brings people in need together with people and organizations who wish to assist.

• Gilbert’s Garbage is Cleaner than our Neighbors!
Laugh if you want to, but the fact is that for every 1 ton of “recyclable material” we put into our recycle bins, the Town is paid $42, and it saves $25 by not putting it into the ground at the land fill. Gilbert citizens get top dollar for our recycled materials, because it is so clean!!! Currently Gilbert “diverts” about 19% of its garbage into the recycling bins. Every 1% that is diverted equates to $73,700 annually. The Town’s goal is 30% diversion. Human Resources wants to hire a Recycling Administrator whose #1 Mission in Life is to achieve that 30% diversion. The salary would be between $48,503-$67,907. If the administrator’s goal is achieved (and it darned well better be), the position will more than pay for itself.

If you would like to view the meeting tonight, which starts at 6:30 pm, go here: http://gilbert.granicus.com/ViewPublisher.php?view_id=4