Study Session - 2/11/2025 6:00:00 PM

Summary

Key Points

Amendment Proposal: Mayor Scott Anderson presented a proposed amendment to the Community Preservation Ordinance (Chapter 42, Article 8) that would add first‑class mail as an additional option for serving notices (currently only “personally or by certified mail”).
Discussion of Costs & Policies: Council members expressed concerns about the $9 per certified mailing (≈$3,000 spent in six months) and the lack of a clear policy guiding when to use certified mail versus first‑class mail.
No Formal Vote Taken: The amendment was introduced for discussion; the council did not vote on it during this meeting. The mayor stated it will be brought forward to the council in the next month.
Motion to Adjourn: A motion to adjourn was moved and carried, ending the meeting.
No Other Agenda Items: The only item on the agenda was the amendment presentation.

Meeting Overview

The council convened to review a proposed tweak to the Community Preservation Ordinance, specifically expanding the notification methods to include first‑class mail. The mayor highlighted cost savings and delivery reliability, while council members discussed the need for a formal policy to govern choice of method. The amendment was slated for submission to the council at the next meeting, and the session concluded with a motion and vote to adjourn.

Follow‑up Actions & Deadlines

Action	Responsible	Deadline
Submit the ordinance amendment (including first‑class mail option) to the council	Mayor & Town staff	Within the next month
Draft a staff policy outlining when to use certified mail, first‑class mail, or personal service	Town staff	Prior to next council meeting
Continue weekly review of the ordinance for additional tweaks	Town staff	Ongoing
Vote on the amendment in the next council meeting	Council	At the subsequent meeting

No other specific deadlines were noted.

Transcript

View transcript

e
e
e
e e
are you guys
ready but she's not
there I don't
know well the stay on time I'll call to
order this study
session and ask first of all for a roll
call Mayor Scott Anderson here vice
mayor Bobby Buckley here council member
Chuck Bon Giovani here council member
Kenny buckin here council member young
Kowski council member Monty
Lions here and council member Jim
torison here theum is present thank you
we have one agenda item presentation and
discussion of text Amendment related to
the community preservation code chapter
42 article 8 of the Gilbert Municipal
Code
Kyle where's it
at oh it's up there um good evening
mayor and Council thank you um as you
remember uh we adopted a community
preservation ordinance last June uh it
was effective then in July of 2024 and
the council at that time had uh
requested a six-month update so Town
staff went back and we've done some
training on the community preservation
ordinance in order to utilize it uh
effectively and then we came back to
Council in November uh of 2024 um to
provide that update as we continue to
use this ordinance and and refine it um
we still are finding little um tweaks
that need to be made to the ordinance so
that's what we're here before you
tonight is to to show you one tweak that
we need to make to the ordinance when we
were talking about notifications um the
way the ordinance was first written it
said that the notice shall be served
personally or by certified mail um first
class mail was omitted for some reason
so for the last six months we've been
sending uh notifications to people via
first class mail I'm sorry via certified
mail uh in order to correct this um you
can see the the the text on the screen
um we plan on bringing this back to you
in the next month or so to make this
change um at this point in time that's
the only change we're making um the team
is still reviewing the ordinance as we
continue to do every every week almost
uh and we will continue to bring um any
kind of changes back to make sure that
this ordinance runs effectively but um
mayor counsil tonight that is the only
ask we really have of you is to just to
introduce this to you and and let you
know that we'll be bringing this change
forward in the next month or
so thank you Kyle questions Council
although I'm not supportive of the the
uh the code I'm curious as to why not
staying with certified because I
absolutely know personally I've sent two
first class mailings to Canon USA and
neither one arrived right um the
certified mail um is quite expensive
it's about $9 a uh mailing um to this
point we've spent almost $3,000 on
certified mail so we would like to
change it back to First class mail and
visiting with legal staff um the rule of
law allows for uh first class mail to be
used for notifications as well so we
would be going we would be very
consistent with what court documents
allow so this isn't an either or
situation it's going to be first class
only it will be certified or first class
it'll be served personally or by
certified or first class mail so it
gives us three different options um to
notify people of of any type of
violations why would we ever choose the
expensive option in case there's a a
reason to do it in case we need the card
back or we need proof of notification we
would want to have that that
okay council member Lions thank you
mayor uh do you have a a policy or
procedure in place that dictates which
method to be used so that staff would be
guided on how to uh U Maxim
the impact of this from a fiscal
perspective
um we because we've been doing
everything with certified mail we've we
understand the difficulties of that the
staff time it takes and the cost
involved with it so we will shift to um
uh first class mail yeah but what I'm
asking is would there is there any type
of um the default to me would seem like
we'd just always go to First Class what
do we have in place something that would
dictate when certified would be used or
when we should use use a person to go
there correctly not at this time no
there's no there's no real policy in
place we're just following following the
ordinance and notice that the the
certified portion of it right thank
you counc member bonani thank you mayor
um do you think it'd be prudent to send
the first notice first class second
notice
certified you know what I mean that's
easily say I didn't get anything in the
mail because I didn't get it in the mail
I didn't look didn't get the mail yeah
and I think that's I'm sorry mayor
council I think that's why we want the
option as well so we can send one first
class if we don't have any followup then
we can send certified and then we've got
proof of delivery should we have that in
policy though we can we can do it as
just a staff level policy as we continue
to to look through the ordinance cool
thanks other
questions comments
seeing none thank you Kyle thank you
this only item on the agenda tonight
I'll for a study session I'll take a
motion to
adjourn so moved we are
adjourned e