Regular Meeting - 4/8/2025 6:30:00 PM

public meetings. In an effort to
preserve order and decorum, here are a
few rules and guidelines we ask everyone
to follow during the meeting. You may
bring signs and similar items into the
council chambers, but these items may
not be held above shoulder height or
otherwise obstruct the view or block the
path of members of the audience.
Disruptions impact the flow of
discussion, potentially intimidate
others, and detract from the purposes of
the meeting. Therefore, disruptive
behavior, including but not limited to
cheering, shouting, booing, or the use
of profanity, is prohibited. Applause is
only permissible during the
presentations and proclamations portion
of the agenda. Threats directed toward
any individual or group are prohibited.
Speakers may not campaign or advocate
for or against candidates for office, or
ballot issues, or otherwise attempt to
influence the outcomes of elections. A
full list of meeting rules is displayed
at the entrance of the council chambers.
During the public hearing portion of the
agenda and during communications from
citizens, when your name is called,
please come forward to the podium. Then
state your name, your town of residence,
and begin speaking. Remarks shall be
limited to 3 minutes. Citizens who are
at the meeting and wish to donate their
time to a single speaker must fill out
an individual card and then combine
their speaker cards. In such an event,
one person from the group shall be
designated to present their remarks,
which shall be limited to six minutes.
If one speaker is speaking on behalf of
others who are present, the mayor or
vice mayor shall read into the record
the names of those whose time is
combined. No person other than the
individual speaking shall enter into the
discussion. Officials on the dis may not
respond to any questions or comments
during communications from citizens.
However, the council may ask questions
during public hearing items. All
comments and questions shall be directed
through the mayor or presiding officer.
Thank you again for attending a Gilbert
town meeting and for your participation
in local government.
[Music]
You like that, Bobby? I like that. Yeah,
she like that. Thank you everyone for
being here. I'll call to order the
regular meeting of the Gilbert Town
Council, April 8th,
2025. Our invocation this evening will
be given by Rachel Jorgensson with the
women's ministry director of the Grove
Church. Thank you, Rachel.
Let us
pray. Heavenly Father, we come before
you this evening with full hearts of
gratitude. Thank you for the gift of
this community, for the beauty of
Gilbert, for the people that call it
home, for the opportunities to live and
flourish together here.
Someone who's lived here for over 16
years, raised my family here, and now
serves a ministry. I've seen firsthand
the heart of this
town. A place where people show up for
each other, where the spirit of service
runs
deep. We thank you, our mayor, our
council members, our town staff, and all
who lead with purpose and care. We
recognize the weight of
responsibility. And Lord, we ask you
that you give them wisdom. Wisdom rooted
in truth, humility, discernment, and
compassion. Your word reminds us in
James 15, if anyone lacks wisdom, let
him ask God who gives
graciously. So we ask you, please pour
out your wisdom
tonight. As decisions are made, may
their actions be guided with a desire to
serve a greater good. May they be
sensitive to the needs of our neighbors,
attentive to the voices of the people,
and thoughtful in the direction of the
town. So that will come to bless
generations. Bless every person in this
room, our town, our families, and our
local
businesses. Inspire us to work together
with respect and understanding.
Help us to be people who listen well,
speak kindly, and care
deeply. May this meeting tonight just be
guided by you and reflect strong
leadership in a deep love for this
community. It's in your holy name we
pray. Amen.
Thank you for that powerful prayer.
Council member Toruson will be uh
directing the pledge of allegiance
tonight.
We've got some Girl Scouts that are
going to help
us. Please rise.
Rather than take much time with myself,
I'd like this young lady to introduce
these women so we can hear their names
before we start this. Hello, I am Katie
and I am the leader of troop
3986. We are a second grade brownie
troop and they are each going to tell
you their names.
Hello, my name is Quinn and I'm seven
years old. Hi, my name is Mia Valera and
I'm 8 years old and I'm a Girl Scout
brownie.
Hi, my name is Charlie and I'm 8 years
old.
My name is Lizzy and I'm 8 years old.
My name is Riley and I'm 8 years old.
My name is Claire and I'm 8 years old.
My name's Jim and I'm 60 years old.
Ladies, would you please lead
us? Legs up there.
I aliance to the flag of the United
States of America and to the republic
for it stands. One nation under God,
indivisible, with liberty and justice
for all.
Thank you. It's always a pleasure to
have our Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts come
and lead us in the
pledge. Our next uh item is the roll
call. Mayor Scott Anderson here. Vice
Mayor Bobby Buckley here. Council member
Chuck Bonjiovani here. Council member
Kenny Buckland here. Council member
Young Kapowski here. Council member
Monty Lions here. And council member Jim
Toruson here. A quorum is present. Thank
you. We'll move on to presentations and
proclamations. We have several tonight.
Our first one will be de a proclamation
declaring April 2025 as fair housing
month. Council member Lions will be
reading that proclamation. Thank you,
mayor. This is fair housing month. And
whereas the Civil Rights Act of 1968,
the Fair Housing Act, and the Fair
Housing Amendments Act of 1988 ensure
full and fair access to housing
opportunities. And whereas shelter is a
basic human need. And when shelter is
denied, the quality of human life is
greatly
diminished. And whereas people must not
be denied equal access to and enjoyment
of housing because of race, color,
national origin, religion, sex,
disability, or familiar status. And
whereas the town of Gilbert recognizes
and values the efforts of those who seek
to reduce barriers to full and fair
housing opportunity. And whereas April
is designated as fair housing month, now
therefore,
uh, Mayor Scott Anderson of the town of
Gilbert and the Gilbert Town Council
hereby proclaim the month of April the
Fair Housing
Month. Thank you. Our next proclamation
will be declaring the week of April 20
through 26, 2025 as National Infertility
Awareness Week. Vice Mayor Buckley will
be presenting it to Elizabeth
Lee. Thank you.
Hello everybody. Would you like to
introduce yourself? That would be great.
So, my name is Elizabeth Lee. I'm an
infertility professional from the
Gilbert area and I have with me several
former patients um of mine. Do you guys
want to say your names? Are you okay
with that or
Hi, I'm Jennifer Dunn thanks to
Elizabeth. I have two beautiful little
boys.
My name is Robin and I have one
beautiful daughter
because of Elizabeth.
Uh my name is Cole Phillips and I have
Kensington Phillips, one beautiful
daughter.
Thank you and a welcome to all of you.
I have two hands on my stupid long one,
too. I apologize. That's a very long
proation. Oh, well that's quite all
right. Um, so this is National
Infertility Awareness Week in Gilbert.
Whereas according to the CDC, one in
seven couples have trouble getting
pregnant or sustaining a pregnancy. And
whereas the World Health Organization
and American Medical Association define
infertility as a disease. And whereas
infertility affects women and men
equally and does not discriminate based
on race, religion, sexual orientation,
marital status or
socioeconomic level. And whereas all
people challenged in the their family
building journey should have access to
all family building options such as in
in vitro fertilization and third-party
reproduction. And whereas the cost and
the lack of insurance coverage are
significant barriers for many in our
state to access family building options
they need. And whereas raising awareness
of infertility and the barriers faced by
the family building community is the
first step to removing these barriers.
And now therefore, I, Scott Anderson,
Bobby Buckley, on behalf of Scott
Anderson, mayor of the town of Gilbert,
Arizona, do hereby proclaim April the
20th to the 26, 2025 as National
Fertility Awareness Week.
Thank you all. Can I say something super
quickly? Oh, sure. No, you're you can.
And I'll see if your little one might
Well, I don't I don't know. I think
she's being very shy. So, um, I did just
want to say thank you, Mr. Mayor, Madame
Vice Mayor, members of this committee.
This is the second year in a row that
you have recognized the value and
importance of declaring National
Infertility Awareness Week in our city.
Um, and it's my profound honor to accept
this proclamation on behalf of the many
individuals and families, not just here
in our community, but all across our
country who are walking a path of
infertility and one that's often a
really invisible and deeply personal
journey um, and overwhelmingly complex.
And sadly, the diagnosis is just the
beginning. There's the treatment phases
that might not work. There's the
finances of the entire situation. And
there are no guarantees. There are
people who
unfortunately do not walk away with a
family from IVF. And so, um, tonight I'm
just so humbled to be surrounded by
these patients, um, both here in person,
ones that are watching, uh, virtually.
They represent courage and perseverance
and an extraordinary capacity to hope.
And I can think of each of these three
patients in their cases and the uphill
climb that they had and the unbelievable
courage and resilience that they showed.
Um, this proclamation is for them. It's
for every person who sat in silence
while grieving a loss the world may
never even see. It's very scary for
people who fought with infertility. Um,
and because no one should have to face
this journey alone. Um, I would just
love if um, with your permission, Mr.
mayor to ask you all to rise and clap
your hands for these infertility
warriors who have have really fought the
good fight to to build their families.
So, thank you very much. I appreciate
that.
Do you want do you want to
Thank you. Next is uh proclamation
declaring April 2025 as water wise
month. And I believe I'm meeting
Jeremiah down there for this.
Yeah, we have a
proclamation. Is this on?
Thank
you. Water wise Gilbert 2025. Whereas
water is our most precious natural
resource on earth and especially within
the desert. And whereas the stewardship
of Gilbert's water resources and its
balanced and responsible use lies within
the with the town council, town staff,
residents, businesses, stakeholders.
Whereas Gilbert's Office of Water
Resources and Conservation implemented
many water efficiency programs that aid
Gilbert's residents, businesses, and
other organization within the
conservation of water. Now, therefore,
I, Scott Anderson, mayor of the town of
Gilbert, Arizona, honor the following
130 businesses, organizations, and
facilities that have attained the Water
Wise Gilbert status for 2024. And I
welcome each of you to join with me in
not only expressing our gratitude for
their contribution to
sustainability, but also in doing all
you can to preserve our water resources,
which is in your homes, at your work,
and in the community.
Let me just express how important that
statement is as we get further into the
uh I'm sure you're all aware of the
coming crisis that uh on the Colorado
River and the shortage of water and and
it that means every much more that we
can conserve helps to uh address that
situation. So I'll let Jeremiah present
these these winners. I guess I'll just
Yes. And I'll just take a second. If
you've never heard of Waterwise Gilbert
or may have seen a sign in your HOA or
community, Water Wise Gilbert is a
landscape water budget program. So, what
we do is map out a facility, what's high
water use, what's low water use, and we
create a landscape water budget. These
130 um members were within their
landscape water budget and are being
recognized today for watering their
landscape efficiently. So, we'll just
take a a minute here and look through
these and afterwards if there's any of
those organization members, please come
up after for a group photo.
10 years and nine
years. Eight and
seven. Six years in a
row. Five
years. Four years.
our three-year
members, our two
years, and new members this year. So, if
there's anyone from those organizations,
we'd love for you to come up and take a
group photo right now,
please. Awesome.
There we go. We got a good
Thank you all for coming. This was
awesome. Really appreciate that.
Thank you all for your work. We
appreciate
Yes. Thank you all. We appreciate Thank
you. Thank you,
Mayor. See you later. Thank you for
coming. It means a lot to us.
Staying on topic with water, we also
want to recognize uh during the week
of I forgot what the week
is. April 14th through the 18th is water
professionals week appreciation week.
Whereas Gilbert benefits from a rich
diversity of water supplies from
groundwater stored in vast aquifers,
local mountain runoff and snow melt
feeding the salt and verie rivers,
Colorado River water delivered through
an extensive canal system in the
sustainable use of recycled waste water.
And whereas Gilbert invests annually in
programs and projects that deliver
drinking water, ensure sanitary
services, protect public health and the
environment, enhance water reliability,
and restore groundwater quality. Whereas
Gilbert is proud to be a 100% water
reuse community, which is no small
matter. Whereas the dedication of
thousands of water, wastewater, and
recycled water professionals ensures
safe, reliable, and responsibly managed
water resources for Arizona's current
and future generations. Now, therefore,
I, Scott Anderson, mayor of the town of
Gilbert, Arizona, do hereby proclaim
April 14th to the 18th is Gilbert Water
Professionals Appreciation Week. I'd
like to invite Jessica Marlo up, I
think, to give
these recognitions out.
Yes, absolutely. I think we might have a
few other water professionals in the
audience tonight, but I just want to
express such gratitude for the dedicated
staff that we have that work 247, 365
days a year, ensuring that we have safe,
reliable drinking water supplies for our
community. So, I'm very proud to be a
part of the water team in Gilbert.
Yeah. Do we have anybody else out there?
Rebecca, Anthony, Ken, I see you. Come
on down. I'll take a picture.
We're I'm still
Good evening everyone. I'm council
member Yan Kapowski and I'd like to
invite um Stephanie to come up here with
me and any other individuals from the
town of Gilbert for the presentation of
the proclamation
for Gilbert Bike
Month. Thank you.
Whereas the bicycle is a viable, lowcost
and fun form of transportation. And
whereas Gilbert's multi-use path system
that connects to other Phoenix
metropolitan regional pathways
captivates bicyclists from all over the
nation annually. And whereas creating
bicycle friendly communities have been
shown to improve citizens health,
well-being, quality of life, and boost
community spirit while improving traffic
safety and reducing pollution and
congestion. Gilbert's multi-use trail
system attracts bicyclists each year
from all over the nation and provides
connectivity to trail systems throughout
the Phoenix metropolitan region. And
whereas bicycling activities and
amenities positively impact Gilbert's
economy and tourism industry and
stimulate economic development by
attracting new businesses and residents
who enjoy outdoor recreation and healthy
lifestyles. And whereas the League of
American Bicyclists proclaims May as
National Bike Month and Valley Metro
proclaims April as Valley Bike Month.
And whereas during the month of April,
the joys of bicycling will be
experienced by many through community
events, helmet and bike safety
promotions or by simply going for a
ride. And whereas the Gilbert Town
Council urges all who support bicycling
to participate in the events around the
valley and urges all road users to share
the road safely. And now therefore, I
Yanka on behalf of Scott Anderson, mayor
of the town of Gilbert, do hereby
proclaim the month of April 2025 as Bike
Gilbert
month. And I'm presenting this to our
senior transportation planner, Stephanie
Bubenheim. And if you could all
introduce yourselves.
Thank you. I'm Stephanie and I'll
introduce these two that bike to work.
This is Derek in Parks and Wreck and
Jeanie in Parks and Recre. And I wanted
you guys to give your input of what you
value most about biking to work if
there's any certain
[Music]
areas. Well, I'm very thankful for the
canals. We were talking earlier. Um, we
feel so much safer on the canals and we
really appreciate how much Gilbert is
putting effort into making the canals
safer for everybody.
Uh, I'm just grateful as a town employee
for the incentives that the town offers
us as employees for biking to work. Um,
it's a really great program. The trip
reduction program that the town has is
pretty awesome.
That's great to hear. Thank you.
[Applause]
Yes. Our last item is recognition of
Gilbert's MVP volunteer recipients. This
is a great thing for us to to honor
these volunteers. I think Don will be
presenting and I'll be down for photo
ops. I think
yes coming up too.
Okay, perfect.
All right, are we ready? We're ready.
Okay. Hi everyone. My name is Don Prince
and I'm going to be presenting these
awards with the mayor tonight. Um, these
are the Gilbert Volunteer MVP
recognition awards. Um, Gilbert's
volunteers are the background backbone
of our community, serving across
departments, nonprofits, businesses,
faith organizations, schools, and more.
They work tirelessly every day to
support and uplift our community. These
remarkable individuals exemplify our
Gilbert values, which are driven, kind,
humble, and bold, and deserve
recognition for the incredible
contributions they make to our
town. Tonight, we will recognize the
finalists and announce the award winners
of our third annual Gilbert Community
Volunteer MVP program. Our first value
is bold with our nominees being
recognized for their innovation, big
ideas, and making a significant impact.
The finalists for the bold category are
Lorenzo Kagliaro III. If you're here,
come on up. Lorenzo has boldly
transformed the Gilbert youth football
by inspiring teams, players, and
coaches.
Um, the second finalist for this
category, Eric
Scheldall. Eric boldly came to Gilbert
to open a food bank in 2016 and now
serves over 280 plus nonprofits across
Arizona. And the winner
is Eric Sheldon.
Eric volunteers for Midwest Food
Bank. His fearless commitment to God's
people, even without formal experience
in running a food bank, has allowed many
in our community to not only survive,
but to thrive.
Okay, if you guys wanted to stand up
here to the side at the end we can do a
group. So if you want to step to the
side.
All right, the next value is driven.
These volunteers are recognized for
taking on new challenges and devoting
many hours of their time to service. And
the finalists are Lisa
Bailey. Lisa wants to come up now. That
would be great. Lisa's unwavering drive
as a volunteer board member of Winged
Hope Family Advocacy ensures the smooth
operation of its
mission. The second finalist is Rachel
Edelman. And unfortunately, Rachel could
not be with us today, so Ashley from
fire is going to be coming up on her
behalf. From supporting residents and
fire crews to training new volunteers
and leading community outreach outreach
efforts, Rachel's expertise and passion
make a meaningful
impact. And the winner in this category
is Rachel Edelman.
Rachel volunteers with the Gilbert Fire
Department as a community assistance
volunteer. Her 646 hours of service
highlight her unwavering drive to help
others and to be in service to the
residents of
Gilbert. The next value is kind. These
nominees exemplify serving the community
with respect, kindness, and always with
a smile on their
face. And the finalists are Claude
Haynes. Come on down.
Since 2016, Claude has kindly devoted
his evenings as observatory manager at
the Riparian Preserve, inspiring
families with celestial discoveries and
creating educational programs that
illuminate astronomy's wonders, leaving
a lasting impact on
Gilbert. Our second finalist is Deb
Tagert. You want to come on
down? After retiring from a 30-year
career at Intel, at Intel, Deb brought
unmatched kindness and inclusivity to
the food bank, leading volunteers,
planning events, and creating a
volunteer appreciation program that made
everyone feel valued and
appreciated. And our winner
is Deb Tagert.
[Applause]
Deb is a volunteer at the Midwest Food
Bank. Her infectious positivity and
inclusivity truly embody the heart of
the heart and kindness of our
community. The next value is humble.
These nominees have the heart of service
and make strong contributions to the
organizations they
serve. And the finalists for this
category
are Shambre May who if you want to come
on
down.
Perfect. Shambre brings a humble and I
apologize if I'm saying that wrong. Um
brings a humble spirit to her work.
always greeting everyone with a smile
and a positive attitude while serving as
a knowledgeable representative of the
Gilbert Police Department at community
events. Our next finalists, there are
two of them, Dan and Cecilia
Voron. Going to come on
down with quiet humility. Cecilia
supports women and children at Liberty
House while she and Dan provide
transportation and lead recovery
meetings for hope for
addiction. And our winner
is Dan and Cecilia.
[Applause]
This couple volunteers with hope for
addiction, walking alongside individuals
on their journey to freedom from
addiction and inspiring the community
with their humble
dedication.
Our next award is to recognize a group
that gives back through service,
contributions, and more as they make a
difference in the Gilbert community. And
the finalists are the Gilbert Lions
Club. Come on down.
[Applause]
The Lions Cub Club supports local
initiatives like diabetes awareness and
testing, free planting, flags for first
graders, food drive, books for K
through3 students, eyeglasses, and other
impactful projects. In 2021, they began
managing the snack shack at the Gilbert
Youth Soccer Complex, utilizing youth
from the area high schools to help serve
Our next finalists are Living Word
Church. Come on
down. The volunteers at Living Word
Gilbert demonstrate incredible
dedication to the community, creatively
and selflessly sharing their time and
talents. Whether serving food,
organizing events, or providing support
to families and individuals in need,
including those from sober living homes,
their kindness and generosity create a
welcoming atmosphere that brings hope
and transforms
lives. And our winner is the Gilbert
Lions Club.
The Lions Club has been serving the
Gilbert community since 1969 and led by
Robert Rimmer, the club's volunteers
embody the town's values making a
lasting impact in many areas of the
community.
Yes, you can stay. Yeah,
just one more. Just one more. Okay. Our
final category of the night is our youth
volunteer. These nominees nominees are
definitely definitely represent the
dedicated, positive, and hardworking
youth in Gilbert. And the finalists are
Kevin Chen. Come on
down. Kevin's
extraordinary. Go ahead. Pop that.
Kevin's extraordinary leadership and
compassion have transformed lives,
raising over $31,000 through product
drives for domestic violence awareness
while mobilizing volunteers and
fostering community involvement to
provide crucial resources for
survivors. And our next finalist is Emma
Mosley. Come on down.
Emma's 300 hours of service this year
reflect her remarkable dedication and
kindness from mentoring young students
and supporting special needs individuals
to organizing blood and food drives that
uplift our
community. And the winner
is Kevin
Chen. Kevin has been an active volunteer
with the Arizona Governor's Office of
Youth, Faith, and Family and the Mayor's
Youth Advisory Committee, contributing
to various special events and
initiatives from the MLK parade and the
Unity Walk to Gilbert days parade, Kitty
Corner, Riparian Preserve Days, Bloom
365, Peer Advocate Crew, and numerous
domestic violence awareness events. His
dedication has been remarkable and we
look forward to seeing his next
impactful contribution.
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
I don't know, but I got my squash.
Thank you everyone. We appreciate you
all being here. We appreciate those
award winners.
Oh,
something didn't
break. We'll move on to our public
hearing section of the agenda. I have no
request to speak. Are any council
members you
uh have any questions about any anything
on public
hearings? Not I'll open the public
hearing for items 7, 8, and nine and
close the public hearing and bring it
back to the council for discussion and
mo and or a
motion. Everybody speak up at once.
Okay. So, I I just had a question
regarding number nine and um the
reduction in the side landscape
setback. They want it from what it what
it looks like is it's required to have
20 feet and they want to put it down to
10 feet. And I I'm not really in favor
of that because it it just crams
everything in too tight. That's just my
opinion and that's where I kind of stand
on that.
Do we have a staff I was going to say
presentation on this item? Item nine.
Yes.
Go ahead. Good evening, Mayor Anderson,
members of the town council, Nicole
Russell, senior planner. The case before
the council this evening is Z2418 for
the Holiday in
Express.
Oh, sorry about that. The Here's the
subject parcel, which is currently zoned
GC. And to the northwest is the freeway.
To the south is PFNI. The PFNI. It is
the Mercy Medical Complex. To the east
is a general office. And that is an
assisted living facility. And to the
north on the other side of POS Road is
the Discovery
Park. Here is an aerial photo showing
the property.
The applicant is requesting a PA
amendment to reduce the landscape
setback on the southern side of the site
in order to accommodate the design of a
fivestory 98 room hotel on an
approximate 2.6 acre parcel in a general
commercial zoning district. The
applicant is proposing to amend the
existing development plan as shown on
the screen and add a new deviation for
the landscape setback adjacent to the
multi-use path easement on the southern
side of the site.
The site was reszoned in 2022 from PFNI,
the public facilities institutional to
general commercial with a planned area
development to allow for a fourstory 84
room hotel with deviations for building
height building setbacks and reduced
landscape setbacks. The current request,
as previously stated, is
to reduce the the southern setback from
20 feet to 10 ft.
The previous ordinance as stated be
before had a maximum height of 61 feet.
Building setback on the rear is 5 ft.
Perimeter landscaping along the freeway
is at 5t. And now they're requesting a
reduction from the 20 ft to 10 ft.
For the reasons set forth in the staff
report, staff asks the council to
approve
Z2418 as requested subject to the
conditions outlined in the staff report.
And I am available to answer any
questions as is the applicant who also
has a presentation.
Any questions for Nicole?
Councilman Torres. I just want to
confirm the southern part of that
property is against other BFNI zoning.
Mayor Anderson, Council Member Torson,
that is correct. Um, there is an
easement right here, a 30 foot wide
easement, and it it is PFNI. That is the
undeveloped portion of the Mercy uh
Gilbert Mercy Medical Complex, which I
believe the town still owns.
I'm not sure.
It's all right. Thank you.
Other questions?
Vice Mayor? Yeah, I I don't particularly
have a question, but I think I heard you
read that the setback that you want
smaller is a
nonresidential side and a non
um and a non street side. Is that
correct?
Mayor Anderson, Count Vice Mayor
Buckley. Yes, that's correct. It is
adjacent to the PF and I to the south.
Okay. So, really there's no nothing
that's really affected on that
side to to make that setback smaller or
is there vacant land that looks like the
freeway to
me? The side is is right
here. So this is where the Gilbert
Medical Campus is. So it's
non-residential. Can you show me where
you want to change that set back to 10
ft? What area is it? The southern side
right here on the property. This is
where they're requesting to go from to
10 ft from the 20 that is required.
Okay. Yeah. I I think based on what I
said prior, I'm okay with that. Thank
you.
Any other questions?
Thank you, Nicole.
Thank you.
Does the applicant want to add anything?
Mr. Mayor, members of the council, Reese
Anderson with Pew and Lake, 1744 South
Al Vista, number 217 is my address. It's
always a pleasure to be with you. I
don't have anything else to add unless
Vice Mayor Buckley, your questions
weren't answered by the staff.
Otherwise, I can give you a bit more
detail on it, but I I don't want to
belabor your council meeting this
evening with me giving a presentation if
it's not necessary, but I am prepared if
you'd like. Okay. No, they they answered
my question, so I appreciate that. Thank
you, Madam Vice Mayor. Any other
questions? Don't see any. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
Okay, we'll try this again. Items 7, 8,
and nine. I didn't get a motion on that.
Can I have a motion for those three
items? Make a motion except 789 as
written.
Second.
Been moved by council member Torus,
seconded by council member
Buckland. Please vote.
Motion passes
70. We're moving on to consent calendar.
Vice
Mayor, good evening everyone. To begin
the consent calendar portion of the
meeting, I'm going to pass this over to
our town manager, Patrick Banger, to
provide an overview on the items on the
consent calendar this evening. Patrick,
thank you. May vice mayor, members of
the council, mayor, I'm going to run
through the items on consent calendar
for you tonight from a high level, and
we're happy to answer any additional
questions you may have on any of those
items. We've got them categorized in our
three main areas of focus under strong
economy, prosperous community, and
exceptional built environment. Starting
in prosperous community, we've got some
parks and recreation purchase
agreements. Agenda items number 11 and
13. Number 11 is to provide for some ADA
compliant surfing materials for our
playgrounds. This would be poured in
place as well as engineered wood fiber
and just part of our regular maintenance
programs to make sure those playgrounds
are safe. Item number 13 is an updated
agreement with our software provider. We
have uh changed the way we procure this
service. It will uh result in a savings
of approximately
$135,000 to the town for the upcoming
fiscal
year. And agenda item number 12 again
under prosperous community is equipment
for our police officers. One would be
for the uh purchase of service and
purchase of handguns, weapon mounted uh
lights, and optical sights. This would
be a two-year agreement uh for our
police
department. Again, under prosperous
community agenda items 23 and 24, these
are related to our medical and dental
benefit plans for the town that we
recently covered at the spring financial
retreat. The recommended plan design
changes and premium rates reduce the
operating gap but do not address
projected deficit in the fund balance.
Staff will continue to work with Alliant
to explore options for bringing
additional plan design changes to the
council in the next year. Uh as in many
areas we are seeing increased cost in
our plans and the staff has done an
excellent job trying to mitigate those
impacts to our workforce as much as
possible and get the fund balance back
to where it needs to be at a sustainable
level. And then item number 24 is a new
benefit to the employees who have used a
minimum of 80 hours of vacation per
year. They will have the ability to have
50% of any amount that is over the uh
maximum acrual for the year um
contributed to a a health savings
account and that would be a new benefit
for our workforce. Agenda items number
17 and 18 having to do with the
potential for a parking garage. Number
three in the Heritage District. This is
the PMCM services from Bo Arch LLC as
well as Arrington Watkins Architect. And
again, we covered this last week at our
Heritage District project workshop. This
will include the pre-esign phase of
parking garage or master plan concept
that will entail site selection, master
planning, and programming of the
heritage district parking garage 3. It's
estimated to take about nine months in
total with two months for contingency.
This does not commit the town to
building a garage. This is the next
phase of exploratory options uh for a
third parking garage in our heritage
district. Agenda item number 16,
electric vehicle charging at the public
safety training facility. These are the
last of our old charging units that will
we be be changing out. Uh there's three
in total. These will be on our new
system where it'll be a feebased
service. This is for moving the units,
pads, running electrical, uh, and
removing the old units. The new units
will be behind the secured employee
gate. The old units, uh, were out in
front of that, and we will be removing
those units from that
location. Under exceptional built
environment, again, infrastructure
maintenance purchase agreements. Item
number 10 is for some trucks in our
fleet division um heavy duty cab and and
chassis utilizing a cooperative
purchasing purchasing agreement between
Rush Truck Centers uh in Phoenix and the
city of Phoenix. Number 14 uh
facilitates the Environmental Compliance
Division's use of storm water probes for
cleaning services of the town storm
water systems in emergency situations
when inhouse in-house equipment is out
of service. Standal contract limit is
60,000, but that will be on an asneeded
basis. And then item number 15 utilizes
a cooperative agreement between SPA
Spray Foam Southwest, Inc. doing
business as Global Roofing Group and the
city of Mesa for roofing maintenance and
repair services for amount not to exceed
1.5 million. And again, that will be on
an asneeded basis for any roofing
repairs we have at the town. Item number
20 under exceptional built environment.
Again, more infrastructure maintenance
and purchase agreements. Number 20 is a
modification to the contract with DH
Pace, broadening the scope to include
all town facilities extending from the
north area service center for door
replacement and repair with an amount
not to exceed $90,000 again to maintain
our facilities. Item number two uh is a
modification and increase the OS
restoration contract by
$71,000 to address some street pole
painting needs we have in the Val Val
Vista Lakes
subdivision under exceptional build
environment and general products
projects. Agenda items 19 and 20. 19 is
a contract that provides project
management services for Consort
Engineering LLC for the Recorder and
Galveastston Signal Project in the
amount of 165 does have a request uh
requires a request of
39720 from contingency. And item number
21 is for it's to Sunland Asphalt and
that is for emergency asphalt repair
work they did near Perry High School for
a collapsed storm drain pipe that
happened. That work has been completed.
It was procured under our emergency
procurement
um procedures in our policies and this
is just the approval to pay them for
said work. And with that, mayor, vice
mayor, members of the council, we're
happy to answer any questions on any of
the items.
Can I grab a couple questions? Does
anyone have any questions? Jim, the uh
just and it's for funuary, but uh number
10, can you tell us a little bit about
the vehicles so the public knows what
we're acquiring for $13 million?
Yes. Thank you, Jessica.
Good evening, mayor, members of council.
that is a blanket contract with Rush
Trucks. Um that's the primary vendor we
use for purchasing our solid waste
vehicles. Um and so that's just based on
the expense is based on the anticipated
replacement of those vehicles over that
four year. It's a four-year contract. So
$13 million over four years. The trash
trucks. Trash trucks. Yes. Because
they've gotten really expensive. Yes.
They're just over half a million dollars
each right now. I just wanted to be
clear for people to understand where the
money was going on that on
um number 14 where the the funds for 14.
The money is coming from which fund?
Mayor, members of council, that's coming
from our environmental compliance fund
that manages our storm water
infrastructure, which is part of the the
bill that we receive every month.
Correct. Great. And then on number
21, that one is also um our
environmental compliance fund. The
repairs were the result of a storm pipe
failure and so that's part of the
environmental compliance replacement
fund that manages that infrastructure as
well on our utility bills. Correct. Got
it. Thank you. Thank you.
Does anyone else have any
questions? Okay. If there's no other
questions, then I will move to approve
the consent agenda items number 10 to
through
25. Uh, can I have a second? Second
that.
I believe I have a second by council
member
Toruson. And if everyone would please
vote. And we have a 70
vote. And at this point, I will turn
this over. That concludes the consent
agenda. And I will turn this over to
Mayor Anderson. Thank you, Vice Mayor.
Um, under administrative items, we have
none tonight. So, we'll move right to
the communications from citizens. Vice
Mayor,
are we back to me? We're back to you. We
are back to me. And okay, so we are now
going to start the citizen
comments and uh before we do that, I
will read the rules of
decorum. So we value the participation
of our community members and robust
exchange of ideas. However, it's
essential that this disc discourse
remains respectful and constructive,
reflecting the professionalism expected
in such forums. Misinformation and
personal attacks undermine our
collective efforts and do not contribute
to the productive dialogue necessary for
our town's progress. This is an
opportunity for the public to address
the town council
directly about the issues impacting the
town. Accordingly, the town council will
not allow for moments of silence or
playing of music or other recorded
materials which could distract from the
meeting decorum or violate copyrights.
While we understand and appreciate the
passion of our community members uh
bring to this session, we remind
everyone that clapping during the
meeting is not acceptable. This practice
can disrupt the flow of discussion,
potentially intimidate others, and
detract from the respectful atmosphere
we strive to maintain. Tonight, we will
invite you to come up to the podium.
When you come up to the podium, please
state your full name and the city of
residence. And you will have three
minutes to directly address the town
council unless otherwise
indicated. If the current speaker will
be using three minutes of another
person's time, that person should state
their name, the city they reside in, and
acknowledge that they are donating their
three minutes to the current speaker.
They must also be present to do that.
In a in accordance with state law, we
are unable to provide responses to
public comments during this meeting.
Please be assured that your concerns and
inputs are heard and
valued. Okay. Our first speaker will be
Scott Deweiler.
Uh, Mr. Mayor, member of council, uh, I
wish to raise a zoning concern with a
property in the Spring Oh, I'm sorry,
from the town of Gilbert. Uh, wish to
raise a zoning concern uh, in the, uh,
Spring Meadows neighborhood uh, on 601
South Winthorp. There is a a business
establishment there. auto
repair possibly. Um, and also it creates
a bit of a safety concern there. The the
owner of the property or the occupant of
the property has anywhere from six to
eight vehicles parked on their physical
property itself. Uh there may be more in
the backyard. I'm not certain. And then
also anywhere from four to seven
vehicles are typically parked along
Windorp or along Cat Club. Um that area
is a uh route for school buses to go
through. Um the number of vehicles along
that corner area uh sometimes makes
visibility up and down winter very
difficult. And again uh it is a
residential neighborhood and I just
question whether or not um the the
activities that are going on on the
property are acceptable in a residential
neighborhood. That's why I suggest a
review by the town zoning officer. So
thank you. Okay. Thank you, Scott.
Questions?
We're not allowed to. Okay. Sorry, my
first meeting. Sorry, that's that's
okay. Thank you so much.
Okay, our next speaker is
Phil S. and I'll let you pronounce your
name when you come up, your last name.
Thank you.
Jefferson Gilbert 601 South Windthorp.
They seem to have a question about how
come I have so many cars. How many boys
do I have? Stand
up. Everybody has a car. What are you
supposed to do? I do not have an
automotive business. I do not do
anything. All my stuff's registered and
insured. I don't know. None of these
men, none of these people have ever come
and knocked on my door and said, "Hello,
good to meet you." Four months ago, I
married my wife, collected my family,
moved to Gilbert with the intention of
having a beautiful life in a beautiful
place, and we've been nothing but
harassed. And uh I'm not going
to anything you want to know, need to
know, please come knock on my door, say,
"Hey, this is what I want." But I'm not
going to take abuse from neighbors
anymore.
I'm sorry.
All right. Thank you. Okay. Thank you.
Okay. Our next speaker is Lan Klopper.
Mayor and council members. Um, I have
the same concern over Can you can you
let us know your your full name and
city? Lynn Clapper Gilbert. Okay. And
maybe pull your mic down just a little
bit. There you go. Okay. First meeting
also. Sorry. Oh, that's okay. I have
concerns over the same area. Um, mainly
for safety reasons. Sometimes the
vehicles that are parked on the side of
the roads are tall um trucks and it's
hard to come around and turn around the
corner and see what's coming and what's
not. And so I have safety concerns for
that same same residence. So but I also
have not talked to him. So I guess I
should go do that. So that I thank you.
All right. Thank you very much.
Okay. Our next speaker is Men Mendy
Brocker.
Hi, thank you very much. Uh, my name is
Mindy Brocker. I'm a resident of Gilbert
for 10 plus years now and was born and
raised here in the valley. Like many a
busy mom, I'm more active on social
media and I learned much about what is
happening on the town and public forums.
After watching your public records study
session last week, I felt compelled to
address an issue at the heart of our
democracy, the right to access public
records. It's not just legal matter, but
one of transparency and trust in our
local government. I stand here today
against what seems to be an increasing
effort to bully and shame citizens,
especially with council members trying
to force people to reveal their identity
just to access public records. Why? To
intimidate or harass. I've personally
used both my name and an anonymous email
to obtain public records. And while I
have no issue standing here to tell you
that others, include my including my own
husband fear retaliation if I speak up.
My friends, my family, and I have
already been subjected to attacks
initiated by public officials in the
area. I've had public and private
conversations about public records.
I dared not correct some elected
officials to tell them that any of those
requests came from me for fear that I
would face similar harassment that they
have already directed at other
residents. From my perspective as an
everyday Yahoo living her life in
Gilbert, nobody appears to be exempt
from these
attacks. Many elected officials in
Gilbert, including some council members
right here, have in the past relied
heavily on public record to understand
government actions and hold officials
accountable.
They understand the importance of
transparency. So why now should citizens
who seek the same transparency be
vilified? We cannot label residents as
stalkers, a nuisance, or harassers for
using their right to review public
records or to speak up at public
meetings. The right to access public
record, while I'm sure is annoying, is
essential to a healthy democracy.
It's deeply troubling to know of more
than one elected official threatening
retaliation with violence, social
destructions, lawfare, etc. when
somebody dares to question their
decisions, publicly challenge your
choices or ask for public record. Let me
be clear, these threats have no place in
government and public officials must act
with respect for citizens rights. The
right to view these records is
guaranteed by state law and ensures that
government actions are transparent and
subject to scrutiny. To deter the
citizens from exercising that right
sends the wrong message and undermines
our trust in our council. It's also very
concerning that the Gilbert Police
Department has been used to intimidate
or harass people who are simply engaging
in limit legitimate civic
activity. Disingenuous political actors
have been using the police force to
attempt to make the trivial legitimate.
Police are meant to serve and protect
the public and must immediately stop
allowing themselves to be weaponized for
political purposes. As for the claim
that Gilbert leads a nation in public
record requests, that is simply untrue.
It's refutable. A quick Google search
will show you that. Also, I hope you
apply more rigor when analyzing project
costs generally, but I saw nothing in
the presentation that broke down costs
with the exception of the cost of the
program itself. Lastly, I want to remind
the council of its history of making it
harder for the public to engage with
government. From eliminating the ethics
complaint process to pushing public
comment to the end of long meetings,
these actions do undermine trust between
the public and the council. The right to
access the public record is fundamental.
It belongs to every citizen, not just a
select few. So, I would urge this
council to take immediate action to make
public record more accessible. First, by
putting them online so everybody can
view them. And secondly, by committing
to a more timely and transparent
process, let us prioritize our public
record and make sure that all residents
have the tools they need to stay
informed. Thank you. Thank
you. Our next speaker is Pam
Cavilli. Hi. Yes. My name is Pam Cvil.
I'm a resident of Gilbert and a
homeowner in the Spring Meadows
neighborhood. So, I really appreciate
your time here. I feel that we have a
really serious problem with that
residential home and that especially
with their yard um their yard and the
street around it truly looks like a
junkyard. I think that they're abusing
the privilege of living here by turning
their corner lot and the adjacent street
into what really looks like a junkyard.
I'm glad I heard their claims. this
evening. But I will say I've never
harassed them and I based on what
they've said, I don't really see that
they would change anything if I said,
"Oh, you know, I don't not appreciating
all those cars." It would seem they say,
"Hey, we have 10 kids. Too bad." Um,
that that's kind of what it sounded
like. And one of the things that I have
noticed is most of those cars don't
move, especially the they usually have
seven things parked in their front yard,
including a camper trailer and just
things that are
not, let's say, we need a few cars for
our kids. I think they abuse the
reasonable choices of the ways that we
can use our yards and homes in a non um
HOA neighborhood. This is the first time
in the 30 years that I've been in a a
homeowner there that I've seen anything
to this extreme. And I know
that before this meeting, they neatened
it up a little bit. But based on, like
you said, the four months, I don't think
it's going to suddenly change. And in
particular, I'm here not because I don't
know what the process is. I have the
Gilbert 311 app on my phone and normally
I use it to report graffiti, something
little like that. and Gilbert is usually
on it almost instantly, which I
tremendously appreciate. There's a lot
of things that the town of Gilbert does
extremely well. But when it comes to
something like this, when a yard starts
to look like the bad part of South
Phoenix, when it looks like a junkyard,
when it looks worse than a commercial
car repair shop would be allowed to look
in the town of Gilbert, surely there's
something that can be done. I can't
solve their problem with so many kids,
but I like I say, a lot of those cars
I've never seen move. So, I don't think
that their claim syncs up with anyway
with what we're seeing. So, in the
meanwhile, we have been taking pictures.
As one of the neighbors said, it really
feels like a safety hazard partly
because that's a a busy neighborhood
intersection. school bus picks up, drops
off, people are turning and we have
opened the um code complaints. It's been
over four months since this started. Um
many of us have pictures because it's
kind of like you have to see it to
believe it.
Um, I say I would never expect to have
seen something like this and I I know
code compliance has contacted me and
said we're working on it, but if it's
like been this many months and it looks
this bad and it's not good for the town
of Gilbert as well as for our
neighborhood, it just seems as though
there must be something more that can be
done. So, I appreciate anything that you
can do to help with this. Thanks. Okay.
Thank you,
Pam.
Our next speaker is Alas
Brezmeck. Good
evening. My name is Les Presmick and
yes, I am a Gilbert resident. Um, Mayor
Anderson, Vice Mayor Buckley, town
council members. I'm here to give you a
little bit of information on a group
called America 250. It's a nationwide uh
endeavor to start celebrating the 250th
birthday of the United States of
America, which we all know will be July
4th, a year from now. But the
festivities and the events are starting
in a week and a half, April 18th, down
at the Capitol. That's the 250th
anniversary of Paul River's ride. And so
that let me read the short
uh press release from Secretary of State
Adrien Fontes. He's inviting the public
to this event which is called Two Lights
for Tomorrow in commemoration of the
250th anniversary of Paul River's ride
and the enduring spirit of American
democracy. This program launches
Arizona's observation of the AR America
250 initiative and right now there's
about 30 of the 50 states that are have
active committees including all seven
islands of the state of
Hawaii. So Arizona's story is America's
story says Secretary Fontes. Democracy
survives when people are willing to
carry its message forward, just as the
lantern lit the way in
1775. We must be the ones to shine that
light today. The evening will honor the
spirit of the American Revolution,
Native American heritage, our nation's
veterans, and military organizations.
Highlights will include a ceremonial
F-15 F-16 flyover, historical
reenactments, storytelling, and dancing
by Yellowbird Productions, live
performances by Sergeant Lisa Camino.
She's singing the st national
anthem. Um, and she serves in the 161st
Air National Guard, the 108th Army Band,
and the Phoenix Symphony. Food trucks
and interactive exhibitors will be on
site and the Arizona America 250
commission will offer giveaways to the
first 250
attendees. So we'll gather at Arizona's
Liberty Bell Monument to watch history
come alive. After sunset, two beacons
will illuminate the sky in tribute to
the lanterns that signaled the beginning
of America's fight for freedom 250 years
ago. The event again is April
18th from 5:30 to 9:00 on the east side
of the historic Capitol building and
Wesley Bowlan Plaza at 17 West
Washington
Street for additional information. Uh
people can go to a SOS which is short
for Secretary of State. So aoss.govaz250
GVaz250 or the America 250
aazs.gov and from 5:30 to 9:00. It's
going to be an action-packed agenda and
I would hope that
uh a lot of Gilbert can be there to to
see what's going on. It's going to be a
great event. Thank you. Thank you,
Les. Okay, our next speaker will be Dave
Rosenfeld. And uh Mr. Spence, are you
here? Okay, thank you. Uh so, Bill
Spence will be donating his three
minutes to Dave
Rosenfeld. And Dave, you will have six
minutes. Thank
you. I'm Dave Rosenfeld. I am a resident
of Gilbert. I am a 22-year Army veteran,
the vice president of the Veterans
Medical Leadership Council, a local
501c3, which supports veterans on the
verge of crisis. Additionally, I am one
of the original seven members of the
town's Veterans Advisory Board, having
served as its first vice chair and then
chair, having established a rule of
two-year limits, I am now a standard
board member.
Recently, I was informed of an email
conversation between former uh council
member Kathy Tilki and Council Member
Jim Toruson dated August
22nd. While I have not been a fan of
council member Toruson's tactics, I had
no reason to know about
this. But not long ago, I posted on my
personal Facebook page about my
opposition to council members voting
themselves a pay raise. As I'm sure you
all recall, I was not the only one
opposed to this.
The funny part is I'm not opposed to the
idea of the pay raise, just the way it
was carried out. I also posted about
signs which were in clear violation of
the town's sign ordinance which were
posted around Gilbert by council member
Bonjiovani and council member
Toruson. Council member Boniovani chose
to comment on my post. While my profile
is public and open, I am not friends
with either Council Member Boniovani or
Council Member Toruson. I did not tag
them in this post, so there was no
reason that they should have seen it.
However, it is evident that Council
Member Boniovani and Council Member
Toruson were upset enough about these
posts that I made on my personal
Facebook page that Council Member
Toruson wanted me fired off the Veterans
Advisory Board. Council member Toruson
approached the town attorney which
ultimately led to a meeting between
Mayor Peterson, Council Member Tilki,
and the town attorney, Chris Payne. The
email said in part, "After careful
consideration, I wanted to let you know
that we believe taking any action at
this time so close to the social media
post you mentioned would be seen as
retaliation for somebody's First
Amendment rights." Council member
Toruson responded, "Yes, I think he
needs to go
now." This is not the first negative
interaction I've had with these council
members. I was the sitting chairman of
the Veterans Advisory Board when there
was a concerted effort by these council
members to prevent me from being
considered for reappoint to a second
term after years of faithful service to
our our town's veterans.
Council member Toruson even approached
me and made inappropriate demands while
I was out to dinner with my wife and
clients. Made it uh it was truly
shocking. Made for a very uncomfortable
situation. Following my being informed
of the aforementioned email, I made a
very difficult decision to make a foyer
request. I needed a clear picture of
what was being said about me and if
there was in fact an effort to keep me
from serving the community in the
future.
As you know, Foye is a tool used by
local government, state, and federal to
learn what is being said in regard to
any situation where we may not be in
with
airshot. For the first time ever, I
submitted a request for information on 5
February. I use a nondescript email
address in hopes of avoiding retaliation
from certain council members.
Apparently, I was not successful. Both
council member Bon Giovani and council
member Toruson repeatedly asked during
the town's foyer study session how they
can in fact identify the requesters by
forcing them to pay a fee or forcing
them to come to town hall and pick up a
thumb drive in person. These tactics are
meant to be needlessly harassed and in
turn threaten the requesttor. Of course,
it's under the guise of reducing waste.
I'm curious how many for your requests
have been submitted by sitting council
members before they were
elected. I was shocked to see that
during the count's study session, one of
my requests for public records was used
as an example of abuse of the process.
Again, I've never filed a request for
records before now and I am being
threatened and harassed for submitting
that request at this point.
I believe I'm justified to believe that
there have in fact been other actions
taken against me by these council
members, including unethical
coordination with other council members
and violation of open meeting laws.
Council member Toruson could not have
known about my comments without uh
council member Bon Giovani having
brought it to Council Member Tilki and
Mayor Peterson as well as Mr. Payne.
That I believe is a clear violation of
open meeting laws in and of itself.
This attack was in fact retaliation for
me exercising my first amendment rights
and voicing my objections to a wildly
unpopular action taken by town council.
Use of my record request at the last
meeting was another deliberate action
taken to threaten and intimidate anyone
who dares to speak out as they are the
council members as they're the ones who
in fact called for this study session.
Recent changes in the town's code of
conduct does not allow me to voice my
grievances with counsel and seek
resolution. So, I am now forced to look
at other
alternatives. Since I was 17 years old,
I've dedicated my life to serving this
country and protecting our rights as
Americans. I have never, nor will I now,
back down to bullies. This council
wanted to know who submitted the foyer
request that was used in an example as
harassment and fraud. It was me, a
firsttime user of the Foye system. It's
a shame that we have council members
right here trying to strip these very
freedoms away from residents who each of
you have taken an oath and sworn to
serve. Since my Foy was used as an
example in the study session, I am
actually confused as to why this has not
been fulfilled and I have still not yet
received the information I requested. I
look forward to seeing those results
expeditiously. Thank you.
Thank you very
much. Um, okay. That concludes our
communications from citizens. So, I will
turn it back to you, Mayor Anderson.
Thank you.
Next on the uh agenda is future meetings
uh which you see there's one on
comparative traffic accident data study
session
requested communications report from the
town
manager. Okay. Thank you, mayor, members
of the council. I'll jump right in. As
you know, uh following a little bit of a
different format now going forward. So,
uh please do let me know any thoughts, u
things you like, things you'd like to
see more of, things you'd like us to
highlight or recognize. And with that,
I'll jump in starting with, as we are
aware, Arizona Water Awareness Month is
April of 2025. And so we're going to
highlight our water resources and
conservation division as well as our
water and wastewater division that we're
very proud of the work they do. Starting
with our water resources and
conservation
division. We'll jump into a quick look
at Gilbert's water supply, our portable
water supply, also known as drinking
water. That makeup makeup is 41%
Colorado River water commonly referred
to as cap water. Salt and Verdie Rivers
uh SRP which is about 40% reclaimed
recharge accounts for 15% and
groundwater 4%. As we're all aware of
the ongoing drought conditions in
Arizona and in the southwestern United
States, we are currently in a stage one
river shortage situation and we have uh
put our plans in place um and done a lot
to prepare this community should those
conditions continue. Our strategies for
water resiliency revolve around our
operational resilience efforts,
sustainable water portfolio and
conservation efforts in our
community. In looking at those efforts,
our resources and policy, we've got
conservation codes for new developments.
And I won't walk through all of this.
I'll just highlight a few uh aspects to
it. But at Limbert's water intensive
landscaping looks at the plumbing code,
uh reclaimed water requirements, smart
uh controller requirements, and a water
allocation policy. We've got a water
supply reduction management plan that
guides us as things if things should
continue to worsen on the Colorado
River. The group has also been very
successful in identifying dollars to
help with necessary investments and
upgrades in our town to prepare us for
the best condition uh for water
resiliency. Recently, they've secured
27.8 million from the state, 6.3 million
from WIFA grants, 5 million in federal
water smart funding, and 16.9 million in
lower Colorado River conservation and
efficiency funding. We've got a number
of conservation programs that you can
learn more about on our website. Uh
water checkup, school education, adult
work workshops, water conservation re
rebates we have available. And in fiscal
2024,
uh, we were involved in 130 183 grass
removal rebates, 297 smart irrigation
controller rebates, 646 water efficiency
checkups, and 52 million gallons of
water saved from continuous consumption
alerts. Moving into water and
wastewater, we'll start with the water
system. As we're all aware, at a high
level, it treats, tests, and distributes
water to our community. And I think
sometimes we've talked before we are the
town of Gilbert, but we are a very large
American uh city by any standard, almost
72 square miles in size, almost 300,000
people in population. So our operations
are large and they are complex to meet
those needs. They treat the potable
sources of water that come from cap SRP
and then are reclaimed uh recharge and
groundwater sources.
our water infrastructure itself. We have
two surface water treatment plants, as
we're aware, one that's under a
reconstruction process right now. We
have 20 existing wells. We have seven
more under construction to make sure we
can meet peak demand should the drought
can worsen and our access to Colorado
River water surface water be reduced. We
have 19 water storage reservoirs, almost
1,500 miles of pipe, almost 92,000 water
meters, just over 42,000 system valves,
and
14,500 fire hydrants in the town. That
future Northwater treatment plant will
serve 70% of Gilbert's water supply upon
completion.
uh 250,000 uh residents um as far as
capacity for the new plant that it can
handle. Should have a service life if we
maintain that properly of 50 plus years
and it's going to treat 60 million
gallons per day. This plant will also
employ the latest technology. You may
have heard about some of the PAS
chemicals showing up in municipal water
supplies. this plant will have the
technology to treat that water as well
as other uh contaminants that are
commonly found in Arizona's water
systems. Moving on to our wastewater uh
system, again, similar size and number
of of uh customers treated and the size
of this community. We collect that
water, we treat it, and then we reuse it
for common area maintenance, golf
courses, things of that nature, as well
as recharging that back into the ground.
And the wastewater infrastructure,
78,000 residential services, 920 mi 12
miles of gravity sewer, 22,000 manholes,
30 mi of forest man, 16 lift stations,
two wastewater treatment plants, three
reclaimed booster stations, 78 mi of
reclaimed water lines, 651 reclaimed
water valves, and four recharge
facilities within the town of Gilbert.
And the clicker's not
working. Let me go
back. Well, it is going to act up. One
thing I wanted to note um we recently uh
were um covered in an article about a
very innovative pilot program that we
took on. We were the first to pilot this
in the United States for the Boobox
nitrate removal water treatment system.
The unit was successfully operated for
several months in 2024 at the town's
well 22 site. The pilot treatment plant
demonstrated consistent nitrate
reductions from 26 parts per million in
wellwater to approximately two parts per
million in the treated water. This was a
small-scale pilot program. However, the
results were very helpful in evaluating
how this technology could be implemented
at an 18,800 gall per minute full-scale
Gilbert well site. The BOF filter
converted the nitrates in the
groundwater into nitrogen that is
released into the air. And and for those
of us who remember fifth grade chemistry
class, there we breathe is made up of
about 70% nitrogen. Rebecca Hamill, our
water division manager, was the first to
know about this technology and supported
our in-house test program for gathering
data. The town only provided the site,
water, and periodic lab sampling. The
bio team paid all the expansion. So,
we're going to continue to evaluate this
system. It would require some
specialized permitting from Maricopa
County and the state for possibly larger
scale implementation at the town of
Gilbert, but very creative on the part
of our water team and we appreciate
their efforts in that space. I also
wanted move on to capital projects. I
want to recognize our wastewater
manager, Ken Snow, and members of his
team. I know you received the
notifications last week that we had a
main electrical breaker at the
Crossroads lift station that failed,
meaning we could not power the pumps and
sewage began accumulating in the lift
station wet well and our sewer system.
Crossroads is our largest lift station
and handles approximately 3 million
gallons of sewage flow per day. The W
wastewater team responded quickly
putting multiple contingency plans in
place to ensure continuous sewer sewers
service to residents and businesses. An
emergency electrical bypass was
installed to restore the site's power,
allowing time to facilitate the
permanent repairs. And thanks to the
foresight of the project management
team, this breaker was already scheduled
to be replaced. And the breaker was
scheduled to be delivered within days of
the failure occurring. And it further
highlights the critical importance of
our longrange infrastructure maintenance
and planning for proactive replacements.
But again, that was a very touchandgo
there for a while. That is a massive
lift station. and Ken and the entire
team and and Jessica, our public works
director as well uh deserve a huge round
of of gratitude and kudos for the work
they did to avert um what could have
been a a bad situation. Moving on to our
capital project status and milestone
updates, our quality of life initiative
update, those projects that we have
green lit to advance forward and the
investments in our community. We the
next step will be the recruitment. We're
in the process of hiring those key
positions to help support that effort.
And then we will be scheduling a
workshop which is in followup to the
workshop we had earlier this year around
branding of those uh projects and that
initiative for our
community retirements recognitions and
awards. I want to congratulate and I'm
just going to call her Judy Judy K and
not murder her last name. She's the 2024
United States Specialty Sports
Association Outstanding Service Award.
So congratulations to Julie. She does a
great job out at Cactus Yards and our
community benefits greatly from PE
people like her being on our team. Also
like to recognize Gilbert Fire and
Rescue Department. They just received
their reacreditation from the Commission
on Fire Accreditation International that
involves a self assessment, a community
risk assessment, and then a 5-year
strategic plan. So congrats to them on a
job well done. And the community should
know that they are well served by
Gilbert Fire and Rescue and all of their
efforts. and this accreditation is a
reflection of that. With that, that's
all my report for tonight. Thank you,
mayor. Thank you. Any reports from the
council?
Council member Bonivani. Yes, mayor.
Before I um give my report, I'd like to
point to privilege and uh address a
comment that was made um during
communication with
citizens. Okay. Does it follow within
the guidelines? Okay. Yep.
Um, just for the record, the signs that
were
made were made for the purpose of unity.
I'm a Democrat. Council member Toruson's
a
Republican. The signs were made to show
that if we can get along, then we all
can get along. It was during the very
contentious election time. there were
some very negative signs about uh a
certain person and council member
Toruson and I felt that we needed to
change the narrative a little bit
because it was getting pretty heated.
The signs were completed by our pack.
They were done during election time and
they were
legal. That's all I have to say about
that. Um let's talk
about the parks and wrecks. We're going
to talk about badges and bobbers. Love
that name. Join Gilbert's fire, police,
and park rangers for a free community
event on Sunday morning, April 12th at
the Gilbert Regional Park as we partner
with Arizona Game and Fish for a morning
of fishing fun. Learn proper casting and
reeling techniques from the pros in a
safe, friendly environment. Fishing
poles and tackle will be available to
check out for those not bringing their
own equipment. Bait and light snacks
will be provided for those registered.
Sign up online today. I think this event
is going to sounds pretty fishy to me,
but I think we're going to have a
fantastic time. Let's talk about Earth
and Arbor Day celebration. Join us on
Thursday, April 17th at 10 a.m. at the
McQueen Park Activity Center for our
annual Earth and Arbor Day celebration.
Learn valuable resources to create a
happier, healthier, and more sustainable
place to live. Activities will include
recycling inspired crafts and games. a
live animal display, a tree planting
ceremony, and prizes and giveaways.
Admission is free, and as always, all
ages are welcome. I think this event is
going to be
unbelievable. Um, come to this event and
leave your worries behind, and we're
going to have a tremendous time.
$3. $3. $3. Any other reports? Council
member Buckman. No, sir. Thank you,
Mayor. Just want to uh say on March 29th
uh I attended our safe public safety
days at the public safety training
facility. More than 500 uh people
registered. It was an awesome event u to
see all the kids out there seeing our
police and fire apparatus uh helicopters
and um just building relationships with
our public uh safety personnel.
Um uh beyond that uh a uh the American
Autism Association celebrates April um
for World Autism Month. So I hope we can
all join in celebrating continuing that
work towards helping those on the
spectrum and how we respond uh and
create safe space not fear.
Thank you. Any other reports?
I don't have anything in particular to
uh report on except encourage it is
springtime and there are a lot of things
happening in our parks, concerts and
things that are going on and other
activities in the town. I encourage the
uh our residents to get outdoors and
take advantage of it before it gets into
the triple digits too
quickly. Thank you. I'll entertain a
motion to adjurnn. I make a motion to
adjurnn. We are adjourned.