Council members disagree over project evaluation

Despite a short agenda, Maricopa City Council members found plenty to debate during their meeting Tuesday night.

The main point of contention revolved around a form proposed by City Manager Gregory Rose that would require items being proposed for the city council agenda to be evaluated internally beforehand to determine how much money and manpower the project would need. The form would be filled out by the city manager’s office, but council members would need to provide information for the form.

“I understand the problem you’re trying to solve, but the way I see it is a little different,” Maricopa Mayor Christian Price said. “We operate in two different realms. Staff operates in one fashion and council operates in another. Although we are trying to row the same direction, and staff does an excellent job carrying out that policy, I cannot shake the feeling that this is curtailing council’s ability to move and change with the needs that happen in a given moment.”

Rose tried to clarify the new form is not meant to be retroactive to current projects; it is meant to help evaluate future projects. The intention of the form is to help Maricopa move toward the 25-year vision established by the city.

Councilmember Nancy Smith agreed with the proposed evaluation stating staff hours can only exceed a certain number, and if every member of the council has projects demanding their time, they won’t be able to keep up.

“How much time is taken away from projects that are currently on this list [after adding the time from] the 10 or 20 that have already been accomplished?” Smith asked.

“If that’s the case, is that not a self-regulatory thing,” Price countered. “Can we not look at that and, based on a few questioned we already discussed with the city manager, say, ‘Oh yeah. That’s going to take a lot more time than I initially envisioned?’”

Councilmembers Vincent Manfredi and Bridger Kimball also agreed the form was unnecessary at this time. Kimball said the council already knows and takes into account what the cost and labor of each project will be, and if it goes over, asks for help. Along those same lines, Manfredi believes the form is just adding an unneeded level of bureaucracy to the process.