Regular Meeting - 12/17/2024 6:30:00 PM

e
[Music]
welcome to town hall and thank you for
attending a Gilbert public meeting here
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meeting and for your participation in
local
[Music]
government
e e
wake up very quiet so it must be time to
start um good evening and welcome to the
Gilbert Town council meeting for
December 17th 2024 I will go ahead and
call this meeting to order the first
thing on our agenda this evening is to
remind everyone to please turn off and
silence your cell phones and
devices council
members and I look left to right council
members and next we will have our
invocation by senior pastor Kristen
Hansen of First United Methodist Church
welcome this evening Pastor thank you
for being
here hello mayor uh and the members of
the council who are here from our
community and for all of those of you
who are attending today also uh this
week in Christian tradition we celebrate
a little during the seriousness of
Advent and we have some joy that comes
up as shepherds are in the field and the
angels come to them and so I thought I'd
begin our our prayer today was singing a
little bit of a way in the manger and if
you want to join with me you're welcome
to do that and so let us begin our
prayer Away Away in a Manger no crib for
a bed the little Lord Jesus laid down
his sweet head the stars in the sky
looked down where he lay
the little Lord
Jesus asleep on
the We Gather here together today as
representatives from our diverse
community seeking your guidance and
wisdom Creator May our discussions today
be filled with respect and understanding
recognizing the unique perspectives each
of us brings help us to work together in
harmony setting to get aside our
differences to serve the good for
Gilbert grant us the clarity to make
decisions that benefit all members of
our community and courage to act with
integrity and compassion May our efforts
reflect the values of justice peace and
unity we ask for your blessing God on
this meeting and on our community may we
always strive to create a better world
for everyone in Jesus Christ we pray
amen and I thank you from First United
Methodist Church of Gilbert I'm Reverend
Dr Kristen Hansen thank you so so much
Pastor Hansen we um appreciate
everything that First United Methodist
does in our community I can name members
of your congregation I appreciate that
fact next we will move to the Pledge of
Allegiance council member torguson will
be leading
US flag United States of
America
the stands
indivisible
andice now if I could please have our
town clerk Herrera conduct the roll call
Mayor Bridget Peterson present vice
mayor Scott Anderson here council member
Chuck bovani here council member young
cowsky here council member Kathy tilky
here and council member Jim toras here
AUM is present thank you so much chaveli
the first item on our agenda this
evening is to present present the vice
mayor with a little gift vice mayor if
you could join me down on the
floor each year the gilbertown council
chooses one member of the council to
serve as the vice mayor for from January
to the end of the year this year chosen
was Scott Anderson as mayor of the town
of Gilbert is my distinct pleasure to
express sincere appreciation of Scott
Anderson for serving as vice mayor for
the town of Gilbert in 2024 Scott
Anderson carried out the duties of the
office of vice mayor honoring the public
trust and representing the citizens of
Gilbert with integrity and Leadership
congratulations and I have a little
traditional gift that we've been giving
to all the vice mayors
sorry sorry I wasn't trying to walk away
toast congratulations thank
[Applause]
you next is present presenting council
member tilki tonight is council member
til's last evening as a Gilbert council
member and I would like to have her
joining me down here on the
floor thank you
we're just going to stay down here for a
couple of items council member
tilki resolution number 4521 a
resolution of the common Council of the
town of Gilbert Arizona honoring council
member Kathy tilki for her service to
the residents of Gilbert during her term
of office whereas while Cathy tilki was
duly elected as a council member in
Gilbert's 2020 primary election by
Gilbert's residents for a term to begin
in January 2021 due to a vacancy on the
Gil Town Council she was appointed to
begin serving her term in August of 2020
whereas Cathy tilki was nominated and
appointed by Council and served as vice
mayor in 2023 and whereas Cathy tilki
served as Council liaison to numerous
boards and commissions at the local
County and state level providing a
crucial link between citizen advisory
boards and the council and whereas Cathy
tilki advocated for consistent and fair
engagement with the community and
whereas she has exercised careful
consideration when evaluating policies
and budget items prior to council
reaching a decision and whereas she has
carried out the duties of public office
honoring the public trust and
representing the rep the residents of
Gilbert with integrity and courageous
leadership now therefore be it resolved
that the Town Council on behalf of the
citizens of the town of Gilbert hereby
Express sincere appreciation to Kathy
tilki for her service to the town as a
member of the Gilbert Town Council ped
and adopted by the common Council of the
town of Gilbert Arizona this 17th day of
December 2024
[Applause]
just like just like the student awards I
thought as you would want to come and
take a photo yeah but he'll get
thanks um I think they said I could say
a few words and um so it's really
emotional so I hope you don't mind I'm
going to read it so it won't be quite so
emotional for me to get through it
tonight um thank you for this nice
recognition mayor I really appreciate it
I've truly love my time on the council
as we have accomplished so many
wonderful things that will ensure our
community will maintain our quality of
lifelong into the future but you don't
accomplish these things alone I want to
thank the councils I've had the pleasure
to work with for their commitment to
this goal and for making hard decisions
when they need to be made I want to
acknowledge the 1600 plus Town employees
who dedicate their hearts and souls
every day to keep Gilbert Best in
Class sorry I thought I'd do it with no
emotion if I read it
um I've made so many lifelong friends
during my time at the chamber and on
Council who I will treasure forever but
mostly I want to thank my
family especially my husband Greg from
the bottom of my heart for their support
of me as I serve this community leaving
the council is so much harder than I
thought it would be but I'm not saying
goodbye by I'm just opening a new page
which I'll announce in January and I
hope that you all join me in this effort
so with that thank you very much and
we'll go to the next item mayor if
that's
[Applause]
okay than
you thank you come on up
mayor um this is Mayor Peterson's last
meeting as well um we both started our
term at well I came on just a little bit
before you because of being appointed
early but so we spent the last four and
a half years together um and Beyond and
Beyond a resolution of the common
Council of the town of Gilbert Arizona
honoring mayor Bridget Peterson for her
service for the residence of Gilbert
during her term of office whereas
Bridget Peterson was elected to the
position of Mayor of the town of Gilbert
in November 2020 and has served as since
January
2021 and whereas she has dedicated her
term to connecting with the community
and serving the needs of the
organization with dialogue discretion
and decision-making that acknowledges
the the cares and concerns of Gilbert
stakeholders and whereas Bridget
Peterson served as a liaison on numerous
boards and commissions at the local
County and state level to protect and
honor the link between our community the
region and the council whereas Bridget
Peterson consistently advocated for
Veterans Affairs Public Safety
thoughtful planning practices and sound
budgeting policies to ensure Gilbert
remains a community of Excellence now
therefore be it resolved that the town
of Gilbert on behalf of the residents of
the town of Gilbert hereby expresses
sincere appreciation to Bridget for her
service to the town of as mayor passed
and adopted by the common Council of the
town of Gilbert Arizona the 17th day
of December
2024 and before I give it to
you I
know everybody who knows me is not
surprised that I have it typed out a
little something that I wanted to say in
addition and so mayor I want to thank
you for all your years of community
service you have loved this community
and worked tirelessly through your
volunteer efforts as a planning
commissioner council member and mayor as
this chapter ends we wish you all the
best and hope that you'll always know
that you have made a significant
difference in our community and did you
want to say a few words I'm going to
save mine for up there written out like
you all righty then I'm going to get a
photo
[Applause]
take
e e
before I um just share a few thoughts as
serving as mayor and council member um
because these are resolutions we
actually need to take a formal vote so I
would like to um ask that someone make a
motion to accept both of these
resolutions so move I'll second I have a
motion by vice mayor Anderson seconded
by council member Bon Giovani please
vote motion passes 60 those resolutions
are now official um I asked council
member tilki to actually read my
resolution this evening because well a
couple reasons one she's leaving and I'm
leaving so I thought it would be more
fun if I read hers and she read mine and
Kathy tilki was actually one of the very
first people that I ever met in the town
of Gilbert back in
1997 so we've known each other for a
very long time and been through quite a
lot of stuff together over the years um
so I wrote a few a few words down and I
probably will get emotional like you too
Kathy um mine's a little bit
longer so when I moved to Gilbert in the
fall of 1995 my daughter was in half day
kindergarten for about 3 hours a day and
I started volunteering at her school in
the classroom and in the library and
that was Island Elementary School um the
next summer we moved into our home the
same home we live in today and I started
volunteering at her new school in the
classroom and Library
which really coincidentally was with the
same librarian that had been at Islands
Elementary School she moved over to Sona
Ranch Elementary School I continued to
volunteer at my daughter's school till
she graduated from J into junior high
school so through sixth grade and then I
was also at the same time volunteering
in my new neighborhood and attended the
first Congress of neighborhoods in the
spring of 1997 where I randomly sat at a
table with Cathy telkki um I then
started volunteering with the Congress
of neighborhoods attended the Southeast
Valley leadership classes Gilbert's
community with I was a member of
Gilbert's Community with character task
force and then participated in the
Gilbert Chamber of Commerce Gilbert
leadership program that Kathy tilky
started I was in class eight after
graduating from Gilbert leadership I
applied to be on the town of Gilbert
Planning
Commission where I served for 14 years
and two months during some of the most
active planning years in the town of
Gilbert the commission was scheduled to
meet once a month and most often from um
2001 to 20 5 met twice a month and I was
I asked about my attendance when I ran
for office in 2014 and it was somewhere
around 194 scheduled meetings in that 14
years and two months and I attended 186
of them so missing only about eight
meetings out of that whole entire time
for the Planning Commission I was
interviewed and appointed under three
different mayors served as chair for
three years and vice chair for two years
excuse me Vice chair for three years
years and chair for two years I also
served on the 2,000 Bond advisory
committee on three General plan
subcommittees as the zoning hearing
officer Le leaz on to the economic
development Advisory Board where I
served with Kathy tilky on that board
doesn't exist anymore and too many other
subcommittees to mention over the years
and um many election and re-election
campaigns throughout the years in
Gilbert um in 2012 on a whim I decided
to apply for the Gilbert leadership
board and um I ended up serving there
for seven years including a year as
board chair during that time I heard a
council member speak and he said he
would shut down Freestone recck Center
because it was only 80%
sustainable that was the moment that I
decided that I was going to run for Town
Council after having been asked for
years if I would run and having decided
that I would never run for office in
Gilbert um I finally jumped into that
race because I thought if I wasn't
willing to step up and make a difference
I couldn't expect someone else to do it
so I ran for Council in 2014 I was one
of seven running for four seats
including three incumbents and I was
elected and finished third behind two
incumbents in beating the person that
wanted to shut down freest Stone Rec
Center I did still serve with him for
four years though and we still get along
well today in 2018 I ran for reelection
to council I was one of seven running
again for the four seats and there were
three incumbents including myself that
time I was reelected finishing first and
I'm going to throw this out there for
the record I'm the only person to ever
beat Eddie cook on a ballot I came in
first and Eddie came in second in 2020
when the mayor decided not to run for
reelection I jumped into the race and
since I was off on the off cycle I had
to resign from Council on March 31st
2020 that was just about as the pandemic
was
hitting and everything and everyone
changed that's when the real fund
started I was called a racist and a cat
killer in 2020 just a couple things the
Republican Party made up and shared
about me a republican woman in the
community um but they had a republican
man running against me so I think most
of it was because I was a woman running
against their
person but I won that election on the
day that the Trump Biden election
happened the general election in
2020 by over 177,000 votes I had 70,000
votes and my opponent had 53,000 votes
as a council member over those years
over five years I participated in over
120 ribbon cuttings I traveled to China
and Northern Ireland for sister city
visits I traveled to the National League
of cities in DC in Nashville also
traveled to Washington DC on a special
trip representing a tribal entity and
had the honor of meeting with a member
of Congress in the United States capital
I clearly remember sitting in a waiting
room looking at pictures of past
presidents one of Abraham Lincoln 6 in
my mind and I thought how did this
little girl from malb Massachusetts get
here how am I sitting in the capital of
the United States during the trip I also
met with many members of Congress in
their offices I and since that after
that I served as liaison to the Planning
Commission Gilbert sister cities and
several other assignments as a council
member as mayor since April of 2021 to
today I have participated in 170 ribbon
cuttings including my most proud moment
at the Gilbert Public Safety Training
Facility one here at Gilbert Town Hall
following the remodel and last night
night at the Gilbert Water Tower
Plaza as mayor I've also traveled to
Northern Ireland and part of a greater
Phoenix Economic Council to Washington
DC over the past four years since
January of 2021 I've served on the
Phoenix Mesa Gateway Airport Authority
board I served in as chair and I'm
currently the treasurer until today it
was my last meeting I've served League
of Arizona City's executive committee
nominating committee resolutions
committee Public Safety and Military
affairs and courts I've served Maricopa
Association of government executive
committee Regional Council
Transportation policy committee Valley
Metro Regional public transit authority
and the audit and finance subcommittee
for that group Canada Arizona Business
Council plus two to topic specific
subcommittees judicial selection
Advisory Board liaison Gilbert Chamber
of Commerce liaison veterans Advisory
Board liaison USS Arizona subcommittee
mayor advancing education in Gilbert for
our town Gilbert and Gilbert feeding
families liaison and mayor's youth
advisory committee chair I thought it
was important to share my history in
this community the historical
perspective I have and how I've served
this community for more than two decades
mostly unpaid as a
volunteer for the love of Gilbert and to
see consistency and good planning
continue as a planning commissioner
council member and mayor there were
votes I was on The Winning Side of and
there were votes I was on the losing
side of I always did what I was believed
was best for the residents of Gilbert I
never made campaign promises I have
always been straightforward with
everyone and I will leave office in
January knowing I worked very hard and
serve this community with honor I'd like
to thank first the council staff because
they work harder than anybody in this
community they have a lot to take care
of and a lot of in their plate most
especially my Aid Kristen Morgan Kristen
where your
hand and then I hate to point out any
specific ific departments but our
clerk's office there's so few of them
and they handle a load for this
community that really is they're really
the unsung heroes in this community they
they do so much that happens behind the
scenes I you hear and see about the
Departments that are big and more active
in the community all the time Gilbert
Public Safety Gilbert Police Gilbert
Fire our parks and recck departments but
there are departments that get a lot of
work done behind the scenes our
attorney's office led by Chris Payne
over there Our Town manager's office led
by Oral Redenbacher over there I
couldn't resist now you can't unsee it
right that's all you that's all you're
going able to see but um first and
foremost I want to thank every member of
Public Safety I have felt so much
love from police and fire over the years
and I appreciate that so much I have
felt like one of your team members
always for first and foremost so thank
you for that I appreciate it and I Know
Chief soberg isn't here but I'll talk to
him later
um for all of the other employees you do
so much for this community that we could
never give enough thanks for there's
just no way I appreciate you all and the
support that I've had but most
importantly before I even thank my
family the
residents I have had so many people
reach out for the past two months and
even just last night at the water tower
ribbon cutting I had residents coming up
just to shake my hand and thank me for
my service to this community and that
means more than anything that anybody
can do and I know we've had
our
handful I can say whatever I want
tonight crazies that have been attacking
me for the past four years but something
that you all need to know is that female
Mayors get attacked at a very high rate
all over this
country which is unacceptable in
2024 and as people and residents we all
need to do
better we have seen and heard from our
teens that they're having issues in this
community but they're learning from all
of you and if you don't step up to be
better
people they're never going to learn to
do
that so I send that out to you at say
please at 2025 let's turn a new leaf and
be better people in this community go
back to who you were pre
pandemic and show a better side of all
of yourselves to the children living in
this community because they're the most
important and then to my family who has
put up with a lot over the past four
years I couldn't do this without
them my husband's had his job threatened
by people
and that's just not
acceptable Gilbert you need to do better
so I'm asking you to do so tonight on my
last night here as
mayor thank you
[Applause]
okay now I have to go into my part of
the agenda who reorganized this public
hearing
items public hearing items are all heard
at one public hearing time anyone
wishing to comment May submit a slip
before the meeting starts and I have
several here in front of me yes I wish
to speak no I do not wish to
speak we have I will open the public
hearing we have five liquor licenses on
the the agenda would someone like I
would close the public hearing if
someone like to make an agenda um motion
to pass those
items
mayor I make a motion to pass items four
five six seven and eight as written I'll
second thank you we will um please vote
I almost said we had to do a Voice vote
but we don't
tonight motion passes 60 so moving on to
item number nine on our agenda
which is property acquisition number 10
property acquisition does anyone have
any um comments about those I'll open
the public
hearing would someone like to make a
motion for items nine and 10 I'll close
the public hearing no i' just like a a
quick explanation because I'd like
people to see where this is coming
that's what I was looking for opening
the public hearing could we have um a
comment on items nine nine and 10 from
someone on staff please
is anybody prepared oh
Jessica good evening mayor members of
council um item number nine is property
acquisition um for negotiated settlement
for the completion of what we like to
call Little Lindsay Road um the widening
of Lindsay the last little portion in
the town that's not widened to our U
minor arterial standards so this is just
a negotiation ated um price for the land
acquisition for this particular
parcel and then item number 10 property
acquisition is for the acquisition of a
site um for one of our wells as part of
our well resiliency program in Gabriella
Point um that was previously discussed
with Council and this is the the formal
purchase agreement now that we have
drilled the well and found a good
quantity of water uh that can be
produced from that site thanks Jessica
council member torguson did that answer
your questions yes I just wanted people
be able to see what their water is
buying for them in the future and that
is more Wells for the future so I will
close the public hearing bring it back
to the Das if someone would like to make
a motion on those two items I move to
accept items nine and 10 as written
second I have a motion by council member
torgus and seconded by council member
Capri please
vote motion passes
60 I will move moving to the next items
on our agenda open the public hearing um
Chris Payne could you just give a short
explanation to these codes that we're
going to be discussing next yes mayor
and Council these items starting
on 11
through 19 were all are all proposed
code amendments that were discussed with
council at a study session held I
believe it was February of 2023 at the
time there was a lot of discussion with
the council some Direction was given to
make some changes some modifications
those changes were made and this is
what's before council at this time thank
you and we have um assistant chief Mike
angstead here to talk about each one in
a little revised version correct
Chief hi mayor and Council yes that's
correct
um and if it's okay I'll I'll jump
around just a tiny bit uh I'll start
here with number 11 which talks to um
our
ordinance uh with regard to um sidewalk
streets and other public places this is
specifically speaking toward uh
obstruction of public property uh as it
as it relates to bus shelters and
transportation faciliity so it would uh
make it unlawful to remain at a bus stop
essentially for over an hour um the
thought being that we want the space to
be open to the public for other people
to use new we don't want anybody to um
set up camp at a uh a bus stop and it
provides u a mechanism for officers to
contact people if they are seen you know
they a bus stop all
day I'll keep going
um if if it's okay with Council I'll
jump to number
14 um item number 14 uh speaks to
unnecessary vehicle noise and we did
discuss this um ordinance back in 2023
this one's a little bit lengthy and if
you'll bear with me I'll kind of go over
the important parts of this one the
other ones are relatively quick this
one's lengthy uh currently if you are to
operate a vehicle at such a speed on a
curve or a turn so as to create a loud
and unnecessary noise through the
squealing of tires Upon A roadway or
accelerating or decelerating such
vehicle in such a manner as to create
loud or unne necessary noise through the
squealing of tires upon the roadway or
to cause damage to the roadway which is
a wordy a wordy way of saying you can't
squeal your tires on the road that's
currently our ordinance this amendment
seeks to expand that um to prohibiting
uh screening tires to also apply to
streets highways sidewalks parking
garages parking lots uh that we deal
with or any other asphalt concrete or
Pavement in addition to roadways or to
cause damage to said locations or
surfaces um as the council knows we
spend a lot of time in our parking
garages and our surface Lots um
currently if somebody is to you know lay
rubber on vau street for example it's a
violation of state law it's a violation
of our ordinance when they pull into the
parking garage and do the same thing
it's currently not and this is an
attempt to uh to include those spaces
this amendment also seeks to prohibit
using horn signals or noise devices on
specified vehicle types uh as except as
authorized by town code or ordinance so
using your horn if you were to lay on
your horn and for a half an hour it
would be unreasonable that's a violation
of state law on a roadway this expands
that to if you parked in our parking
garage and you just laid on your horn
for a half an hour that would also be
now an ordinance violation this
amendment also seeks to prohibit exhaust
systems that create disturbing or
unreasonably loud noise so if you are
are operating a vehicle that has a
muffler the way it was manufactured
you're never going to be in violation of
this ordinance what this is speaking to
is if you were to cut the muffler off
and try to run straight pipes if you've
ever uh been around a car a hot rod that
somebody does that it is unreasonably
loud it hurts your ears and you can't
help but cover them this amendment also
seeks to prohibit reving of engines
while such Vehicles not in motion except
when done in the course of repairing
adjusting or testing your vehicle so if
you're working on your car no problem
but again if you were to pull into the
parking garage and just rev your engine
for for an for a half an hour while
people are trying to dine uh right next
door that would be a violation of the
ordinance and then there's some
exemptions for uh government so if an
officer was chasing somebody who just
robbed a bank and they squealed their
tires while they're turning it would be
exempt from this
ordinance we have a question Chief
thanks Madame er um Chief so as far as
the exhaust goes it that it has to be
manipulated and modified IED by the
owner if I bought an exhaust system from
any store there would be no issue with
that correct correct and as long as you
didn't go out of your way to buy
something that's completely unreasonable
that I can't speak to every hypothetical
but if it's if it has a muffler and it's
designed to muffle noise you're probably
going to be fine I can say for context
that this is the same ordinance that the
Chandler the city of Chandler has it's
uh mirrored exactly I don't think
they've had an experience where somebody
has uh in good faith modified their car
and ever been cited okay this is really
that um the reason why we put the the
word unreasonable in there is it has to
be uh just so so far outside the norm
that we really have no other choice okay
I know like in um motorcycles
Harley-Davidson's are loud on purpose so
they can be heard and not hit so I want
to make sure that um if someone can buy
something in a store or high even high
performance store that's legal as long
as they're not making modifications to
it correct that's correct okay thank you
yes
sir did you have C Mar orus yeah I
mean my problem is is the term
reasonable it's subjective but I
remember I had a vehicle and I actually
put something in it that I thought was
too loud and this just goes back to like
1990 or something because it was loud
and it was allowed inside of the car but
it was legal it was boted it was bought
at whatever the the speed shot was that
I live near and I took it out because it
was hard for me but that's something
that's legal and so we're leaving a
subjective term to something that
somebody can just buy I bought it I mean
I just happen to be annoyed by it myself
let alone my neighbors but I don't see
in the half hour thing I I just let that
go that could be 30
seconds how are we defining reasonable
council member Tuson that's a great
question and it comes up a lot in court
we have other state statutes that also
use a reasonable standard disorderly
conduct being one of them and it really
becomes an issue for the courts to
decide our officers as they go through
the court process quite often uh they're
they're pretty good at being able to
Define what would what a judge would
find reasonable or what a reasonable
person would conclude um but it is a
typical legal standard and there's some
subjectivity to
it unfortunately there isn't always a
better
mechanism though to to bring it to the
Court's attention and have have the uh
argument heard but our regular noise
ordinance couldn't cover
that I'll defer to our attorney here oh
Zach Alman in a suit is here to present
to us this evening I'm so
surprised I have to give him a hard time
it's my last meeting thank you mayor
good evening mayor and Council the the
uh question about the noise ordinance um
my recollection is that it requires
decibel readings from two different time
periods I believe 15 minutes apart which
isn't really practical for vehicle
applications right that would mean that
we would have to basically detain the
person have them continue making the
noise for that time period bring in a
decel meter so on and so forth so that's
why it's written as assistant chief
indicated with a reasonableness standard
which meor state
statute all right I do know that we need
to go over our noise ordinance because
it's not right either
correct compared to other municipalities
and Arizona isn't ours rather unique I'm
not sure council member I haven't done
research I'm not sure if it's
appropriate or not yeah I'm I'm very
sure actually but all right thank you
thank you thank you Zach I'm going to
use an example so my husband has a
diesel truck and he was backed into our
RV gate one night and the neighbor came
out and said hey man something's wrong
with your truck you need a new muffler
and my husband said no dude it's a
diesel like it's supposed to It's
supposed to sound like that right you
used to Harley-Davidson in his example
it's it came off the lot like that and
it makes that noise because it's a
diesel truck so I think the point is
that the police officers in most cases
know what is supposed to be there and
what isn't supposed to be there they
know what's modified and what isn't
modified because they do it all the time
I
think helpful and because they deal with
the judges so they know what the J
judges will look at yes but keep notes
if there's something that you want to
vote differently on just where I'm 14 on
that one just keep in
track mayor are you okay if I move on to
item
number
15 yep okay got to keep track of what
you're doing though Chief I'm so we did
11 and now we're doing 14 we do 14 11 14
and then I'll be doing 14 through 19 so
sorry about that um item number 15
speaks to some no parking areas um this
particular uh
section uh seeks to add a requirement
that drivers not park over on or
covering any markings of any parking
spaces stalls or parking areas unless
the vehicle size prohibits it from
parking within a single space stall or
parking area so basically what we're
saying is is as you drive around town
I'll use our parking garage as an
example again there's nothing that says
you actually have to park in a parking
space currently you can actually Park
wherever you want uh from time to time
we'll encounter people who instead of
parking in a space will take up a bunch
of spaces for whatever reason most of
the time they're hanging out up on up up
on the upper deck but you will see as
you drive around town there are people
that are inconsiderate um it also
becomes an issue uh downtown when we
have angled parking in front of some of
the businesses and we'll have somebody
just decide I don't want to park at an
angle I'm just going to park straight or
I'm going to park across a bunch of
parking spaces we don't currently have a
mechanism to engage them other than to
just be polite and hey you know can you
look out for other people we want
everybody to have access to places like
Joe's Barbecue um but this particular uh
no parking uh area Amendment speaks to
that
issue and moving on
to number 16 unless there's any
questions on that
one uh number 16 speaks to uh a related
issue currently angle parking is allowed
uh per our ordinance or we're allowed to
establish areas of angled parking and we
have some downtown um our current
ordinance requires that we post a sign
to Mark the area where there's angled
parking and this is asking to remove
that requirement for the sign and that
the the markings on the pavement
themselves
um serve as the indicator for people to
understand that they have to angled park
I think most people get it without a
sign you can clearly see the the spots
are
angle having no questions on
that I'm moving to item
17 so this amendment seeks to apply the
same or similar lighting requirements
required by state law for bicycles to
all bicycles electric bicycles motorized
bicycles and mopeds operated with within
the town regardless of whether or not
they're ridden on or across roadways so
specifically if you're riding a bicycle
that's uh say you're riding down
Baseline Road at night and it's dark
you're required to have a light on the
front of your bike and a reflector on
the back most people have little red
lights on the back so that Vehicles can
see them um because it's super dangerous
it's dark in certain areas especially
along you know between recer and
Baseline for
example um and and we want people to be
able to see pedal cyclists
the problem is when they ride into the
Target parking lot or another dark
parking lot especially around the
holidays right now uh we don't have any
requirement that you have any Lighting
on a bicycle and the concern is that
you're going to get hit in the dark and
so this amendment is asking uh for the
ordinance to reflect the same
requirements that state law requires on
a roadway we would require uh anytime
you're on a bicycle at
night any questions on
that bani thank you Madame mayor
um say we we pass these ordinances
tonight what's the plan to alert and let
the uh residents know of them so it's
our plan to to educate the public via
our website similar to what we do with
regard to um motorized scooters and and
uh other devices that people use in
neighborhoods we try to do an education
campaign before we do any enforcement
and then we'll go to making stops but
having conversations before we issue
citations
thanks Chief any other comments thanks
Chief mayor sorry council member
Kowski for the when you engage um and
educate on these bike lights does the
police department have kits to be able
to provide the lights to individuals
that don't have them I don't believe we
do currently I know we hand out helmets
and and other uh items but I I'm not
aware of us ever issuing lights any kind
of lighting is that something we can
look into and um begin with this
ordinance yes council member yes
absolutely thanks Chief you can move on
all right moving on to number
18 this particular uh code seeks to
exempt from false alarm assessments
those alarm systems operated operated by
the town of Gilbert the county the state
or the federal government and installed
on premises such entity occupies or uses
for for governmental purposes so uh
currently as an example um we have an
alarm on our property and evidence
building and it'll go off from time to
time because rabbits will get out into
the uh the open part of the facility uh
where we can't have people running
around in because there's evidence
outside uh it'll set off the alarm and
we'll dispatch an officer to go
investigate the alarm and see if
somebody broke into our property
building we'll look on the camera and
sure enough it's Wildlife that set it
off but if we have more than three of
those per our town code um we actually
have to uh find ourselves we have to uh
uh send an assessment to somebody within
the town sends something to the police
department they generate a payment and
pay a fine back to the town um and this
ask is it's kind of just a check with
the council whether or not we've been
doing this since I started in 1998 and
the question is should we continue to do
this um up to the council so
C member
tilki thank you mayor I I did give Mike
a heads up so he's not surprised but uh
we had a long conversation during our
study session on this and again this is
one of those times that I still put my
chamber hat back on and um so
um let me just give you my philosophy
and my reasoning for this um so I always
believe that if we pass a law to
regulate and find businesses we should
hold ourselves
accountable to the same standard while I
understand it seems redundant to process
fines within in internal departments I
understand that but the bigger issue is
why do we have this law in place to
begin with why do we penalize those who
have more than three false alarms within
one year is it because we're taking
Patrol away from their routes to address
these issues and so we need to change
behavior of of those that have alarms I
know that the police department is not
the only one that has rabbits running
around and setting off alarms so I want
to be clear about that but so to me I if
we're continually having false alarm
calls within the town of Gilbert we need
to take the same corrective action that
we're expecting in requiring our
businesses to do each internal false
alarm is taking those same Patrols off
their routes and by eliminating this fee
we're not fixing the problem so I guess
I would like to the council to consider
fixing the problem as we expect our
businesses to and hold ourselves
accountable um maybe there's a different
way to hold ourselves accountable I
don't know what it is but I I just don't
think it's right
that I had a town building you know 25
years that I was there as CEO
1937 building that got Critters that set
off alarms and I was the closest one to
the office so guess who got every call
from our our department I mean from our
security team and I had to go down there
or I had to call the police and so I
understand that this happens no matter
how much you're trying but I just feel
we have to be accountable if we're
expecting our businesses too so um if
we're going to vote on these all at once
I'd like to pull that one off cuz
because unfortunately I will be opposing
this
one thank you like I said to council
member tus and just keep track I know
you're keeping track of the one that you
have an issue with so we can always vote
for a bunch together and some separately
if we need to thanks oh council member
bani thank you madam mayor um I agree
with u council member um tilke it's good
for the goose it's good for the rabbits
and you know if we expect residents and
businesses to do this then we should we
should act the same
thanks Chief if you want to move on yes
ma'am moving on to item number 19 uh
special noise sources this amendment
seeks to expand the Restriction to also
the current restriction to also apply to
Mechanical or electrical music
instruments or music producing devices
equipped with an electrical amplifier or
loudspeaker or or any instrument of any
kind or character that emits
unreasonable noises that originate from
public areas Within Gilbert all that to
say uh we do deal with issues uh
downtown area um where currently if if
you have a vehicle and it has giant
speakers and it's making some
unreasonable noise we have a mechanism
to deal with that in this ordinance we
don't have a mechanism to deal with
somebody who's holding an amplifier
which we deal with sometimes and a
microphone and they're yelling uh
projecting their voice into a business
um and Andor setting up a u makeshift
concept conc right out on a sidewalk in
front of a business uh this helps us
come up and engage them and say explain
you know the this restaurants trying to
to run their business and you can't just
set up uh like an Aussie Osborne concert
here on the sidewalk it's just you know
it's too loud and you can't do
that crazy train I love that you went
for Aussie Chief I was just like crazy
train it was appropriate I've seen
people in downtown Gilbert especially
with a speaker and a microphone standing
right in front of let's use Whiskey Row
because they have a wide open wall there
right and it has to be annoying to the
people inside if this person is
outside talking singing spouting yes any
other questions on that
one great next chief believe that's it I
think that was item 14 through 19 plus
number 11 did you are you doing 12 and
13 I'm not oh you're not doing 12 and 13
mayor if I can clarify looking back yes
so the ordinances that were discussed in
2023 at the study session were 14
to9
um number 11 and
13 were discussed at the no November
19th study session just last month so
those are the two items that Melanie I
think it was Melanie that presented on
so those were very recent discussions
and then 12's mag updates um doesn't
really have anything to do with these
ordinance changes thank you I was just
looking at code of Gilbert sitting here
at my agenda not looking at the content
of they are separate they're all SE
they're separate thank you Chief any
other comments questions for chief
before he sits down thanks Chief thank
you may does anyone need any um
discussion on 12 or
13 okay then I will go ahead and close
the public hearing and bring it back to
the dis if again if there's a group that
you would like to put together it would
be easier if there are separate ones
that you'd like to pull off and discuss
we can we sure can do that
too council member tilki I just would
like to pull number 18 please was comy
council member Kowski um I'll make a
motion to approve
item I want hold on because council
member Tuson I think wants to pull one I
want to remove 14 and 18 14 and 18 and
council member tilki HS at 18 and 19
sorry okay
I'll make a motion to approve items 11
12
13 15 16 and 17 I'll second that I have
a motion by council member Kowski
seconded by council member Bon Giovani
please
vote motion passes 60 bring it back to
the Das will go to 14 since we'll stay
in order um item number 14 council
member torguson
I just I I can't support something that
leaves enough in there of reasonable and
knowledge of what's appropriate on a
vehicle I hate it I hate the fact that
in my home at night I can hear it but I
feel there's at some point a better way
to do it than this and I don't want to
leave that much up the
subjectivity counc bani yeah um counc
tus are you okay with a a squealing of
the tires B the
horn um and revving of the engines and
just not the exhaust right
now I'm the whole thing
okay council mosy do you have a comment
on this one no I was going to make a
motion oh and mayor if I may just to
remind Council you have the ability to
modify you could remove a section modify
the languages in here at your discretion
thank you Chris and I think um council
member Bon javani was just suggesting
that but I think it's all or nothing on
this one at this point yeah um Council M
Koski is going to make a motion I'll
move to approve item
14 second I have a motion by council
member Kowski seconded by vice mayor
Anderson please
vote motion passes 51 with council
member tus and
descenting um number
18 council member tilki
I think I had my say and I won't be
making a motion okay I just wanted to
make sure if there was anything else you
wanted to discuss anyone else have any
comments or um any discussion on item
number 18 or would someone like to make
a
motion so okay from the discussion that
I just heard and the questions that I
would just heard I would say that
um this council is not in favor of past
number 18 the way that it was presented
in stands this evening is that
correct with that said do we have to do
anything or do we have to
deny number 18 make a motion to deny
number
18 no action is a denial um okay I would
like to add though that that the
language says alarm systems operated by
the town the county the state and the
federal government so if the concern is
Town facilities and but still allowing
the exemption for County state and
federal facilities um I I don't know if
we currently site County Properties
State Properties or federal properties
but I would question jurisdiction to do
so um that's something that could you
could remove the town if you wanted to
go forward with the exemption for the
other governmental facilities or just
take no action and it dies here it dies
here council member tilki
I'm prepared to let this die right here
thank you okay and no action means that
18 doesn't move forward at all in any
way and then we move on to item 19
council member
torguson I've just I'm no to anything
that interferes with the first amendment
in that way so I'm just a
no any other comments on item 19 or
would someone like to make a
motion I'll move to approve item
19 I'll second I have a motion by
council member Kowski seconded by
council member tilky please
vote motion passes 4 two with council
members torguson and Bon Giovani
dissenting that's a difficult one I
understand both sides of that I think
that there's a point where we need to
try and protect our businesses and some
of it is just um we have the obnoxious
use of the parking garage with the cars
you have obnoxious use of speakers out
in front of
businesses um moving on to item number
20 21 and
22 I'll open the public hearing does
anyone want presentations on 20 21 and
22 I'm seeing shaking
heads other than
20 20 you would like something on 20
okay
um staff do we have somebody to present
on item 20 Z2
24-5 I can't even see who that
is oh it's
AA good evening mayor and Council Ava
cutro planning
manager I have a power point it's the
same one I gave at the work session
would you like me to go through it or
just summarize the
bill um House Bill
2720 sets standards and regulations for
accessory dwelling units in town
currently the town of Gilbert allows
both guest homes and secondary dwellings
on single family properties 6,000 square
foot or greater under the new house bill
they'd be allowed on all properties even
single family properties that are less
than 6,000 square ft in height we
currently require an additional on-site
parking space per unit we require that
the architecture matches that of the
main home we require the setbacks to be
the same as that of the main
home and we require a use permit so that
neighbors are notified and aware that an
additional dwelling will be constructed
on a lot under the new house bill we
will be restricted we cannot do any of
that on Accessory dwelling units that
are 1,000 square fet or 75% of the
square footage of the main home
whichever is less we will still allow
accessory dwelling units over a th000
square feet those we
can require a use permit on and we can
require the setbacks the same as the
main home but for all other accessory
dwelling units the setbacks can uh be
five foot from the rear and side
property lines but must meet the front
setbacks I'm sorry it gets more bizarre
every time we hear her make this
presentation I'm sorry I'm not laughing
at you AA just because I like to have
fun with this can you tell me who the
Geniuses that came up with this are I
will I will I'll I'll I'll take that off
Ava's shoulder that would be our state
legislators that would be our state
legislators that are trying to increase
housing options and opportunities within
the State of
Arizona that's probably the nicest way I
could say it that's far
too thank you Ava appreciate it bring it
back here to the Das for discussion um
the reason that an item like this is
being pulled to be discussed and having
staff do a short presentation not
speaking for council member torus but I
know where his mindset is on this is to
make sure the public hears that these
are not requirements that the town of
Gilbert can do anything about these are
laws that our state legislators along
with our governor put in place this past
year and um they're putting requirements
on the town that we have to lessen our
requirements when it comes to allowing
accessory dwelling units within people's
yards so you could have a 5,000 s ft
lot with a house that covers quite a bit
of it and still be able to build an
accessory dwelling unit the town of
Gilbert wouldn't be able to say anything
about it it can be 5et from your
neighbor's fence so that means it could
be 5et from your fence in your backyard
but a chicken cpop has to be 25 ft away
from a Back Fence I'm just making a
point here that the legislature has
passed this year so just so the public
knows when you get mad when your
neighbors are building accessory
dwelling units and you don't like the
way they look the town of Gilbert can't
do anything about it CU your state
legislators passed
it can't everything's my fault until
January 7th and it's his
fault um I will close the public hearing
bring it back to the
dis um number
20 the motion to approve item
20 I'll second the motion to approve
this genius piece of code thank you
I'm just going to add a caveat that we
can't do anything about this we have to
have our regulations in place to meet
the state law that's been put in place
so we have a motion by council member
Bon Giovani seconded by council member
Tuson please
vote motion passes 60 now we're on items
21 and
22 open public hearing would anyone like
a presentations on items 21 and 22
just real quick so people can see what's
What's Happening Here 60 seconds would
be awesome 60 seconds on 21 and 22 Yeah
okay can I have someone come up oh I see
Kelly thank you mayor and Council 21 is
a minor amendment to our system
development fee infrastructure
Improvement plan we had two Wells that
were planned at sites um they need to be
modified to different sites that might
be a viable well um one of the sites we
looked at turns out it won't be two
traffic signals that we anticipated
that's where growth would go that's not
where growth went so we needed at two
different locations no change in fees
just change in location for those two
infrastructure pieces 22 is a state
required audit every two years uh it
audits uh reviews the progress of our
infrastructure Improvement plan
including the collection and expenditure
of system development fees it is a clean
audit that we got back and so it's just
there for your review and acceptance
no I just thank you that was like the
most concise 60 seconds of my existence
today the U but I wanted people to be
able to see that the the wells that are
being planned there is a cost to it it's
moving there but this is where water is
going and the fact that the system
development fees which some people were
adamant we don't do are being spent for
exactly the impacts that that have been
created so that as people come in and
build whether it's a business a home or
apartments the money is being spent
where it's supposed to be spent it costs
a lot to tap into the stuff that you
guys have created out here and to make
sure that in the future it's going to be
able to handle everybody so I just I
appreciate it thank you Kelly vice mayor
basically what you're saying is growth
pays for growth
exactly or I I can't help it or if
somebody wants to add an accessory
dwelling unit to their property
I'm sorry I I couldn't an Adu to their
property great um items 21 and 22 I'll
go ahead and close the public hearing
bring it back to the dis would someone
like to make a motion on both of those
items I'll make a motion to approve
thank
you second I have a motion by council
member tilki seconded by council member
Kowski please
vote motion passes 60 moving to item
22A CC Administration item presentation
and discussion and possible Direction
related to trees in the right of way of
College Park Country Estates I will open
the public hearing and bring up Jessica
Marlo good evening mayor members of
council good
evening waiting for my
presentation again the clerk's office
does a great job yes and I did get this
to a little late so thank you for the
switch
out okay thank you um yes I'm here today
to talk about College Park Country
Estates Landscape Maintenance and
specifically the trees in the the town
rights of
way so just to orient you College Park
Country Estates is located on the
northwest corner of Lindsay and
Guadalupe uh here is a diagram of
approximately 40 trees that the town of
Gilbert has been maintaining in this
subdivision um the little green dots on
the map indicate where all of the trees
in the subdivision are and then the
eucalyptus trees which are um kind of
specific to the topic of conversation
this evening are identified as well you
can see most of them are along um Riata
um with a couple on the the outer outer
roadways so per our Land Development
code the maintenance responsibility for
landscaping in the rights of way is the
responsibility of adjacent Property
Owners whether it's an individual a
corporation a property owners ass
Association or a homeowners association
and this is the only subdivision in the
entire town of Gilbert where the town is
still maintaining the Trees and
Landscaping within the interior streets
of the subdivision all of the others
either have an HOA Property Management a
pkid that has been formed and paid for
by those residents or um the individual
Property Owners taking that maintenance
responsibility oh
yeah this one didn't get switched out um
apologies so um a little bit of a
history of the timeline um this
subdivision was ploted in 1972 and then
the homes were built subsequent to that
um in the late 1970s in 1982 is when
that um property the landscape
maintenance code was adopted um and
dating back to
1990s staff had recognized a concern
with these eucalyp trees in the
subdivision and began removing the trees
um and then stopped at the request of
the neighbors because there was a
significant amount of um input that the
council was receiving as as it related
to those activities um so in February of
28 um the Town Council um took some
action related to this particular
subdivision so it recognized that this
subdivision did not have an HOA or a a
pkid Parkway maintenance improvement
district to maintain the rideway in
common areas but we had received
multiple claims for reimbursement for
damage to fences Automobiles and
personal property within the subdivision
as a result of limb drop from these
trees so at the time Town staff had
recommended to remove the trees and
replace them with some less maintenance
intensive and and unsafe trees um and so
as I mentioned the removal of those
trees began in November but was halted
due to neighbor objections and then
Council action took place in February of
1998 8 um to approve landscape
maintenance services for this
subdivision there was obviously a lot of
discussion with the residents about who
was going to maintain the trees the town
entered into an agreement with a
contractor to maintain the trees and
while an agreement was referenced we
have not been able to find any actual
agreement between the town or the
neighborhood there's no entity to enter
into an agreement to other than
individual Property Owners so it was
also noted in that meeting though that
there was a concern that there are other
neighborhoods within the community who
might view this type of increased level
of care of the trees as unequal
treatment and request the council to
also maintain the trees in their
neighborhood so there was like a notice
that this was not something that the
town normally did but it moved forward
anyways um and so I do actually want to
um just have Chris speak a little bit
more to the agreement itself and the
ordinance that was passed and kind of
the applicability to the the subdivision
yeah so if you're looking at at the
Timeline here uh mayor and Council um
actually could you go back to the prior
slide there we go we'll start here so
when the plats were approved in the 70s
or the plat was approved in
1972 um there's no language on the plat
that obligates the town to maintain the
rights of way right the dedications are
made the rights of way their Town owned
rights of way and then when in 1982 when
the then now Council the Town Council at
the time adopted the RightWay Landscape
Maintenance requirements it did so under
the power and authority that the town
has to adopt such types of ordinances
which is generally called the police
power of of the council
and any plat adopted prior to that 1982
Council action they're not grandfathered
and they're not exempt they're subject
to that Council ordinance like every
other plat that came in after that and
then on the other slide
Jessica um with that 1998 Council action
as Jessica referenced it talks about an
agreement but there was no agreement
that we could find there wasn't an
agreement in the minutes or we couldn't
find an actual written agreement as we
know an agreement is a contract between
two parties or multiple parties that's
enforceable we could not find an
agreement even though the council
communication talked about an agreement
so we think it's more like the Town
Council at the time
their decision to say hey we're going to
go ahead and we're going to maintain
these trees we'll replace some of those
that we removed but we're not aware of
any actual written agreement or
enforcement agreement likely because as
Jessica said this
neighborhood it's not an HOA so there's
no entity that you could even contract
with absent individual written
agreements between the town and
individual property owners
thank you Chris um so moving forward um
starting then again back up in 2018 um
we received additional claim um for
property damage related to a eucalyptus
tree dropping its limb um and over
between then and 2023 there have been
several more so our team again went out
and started looking at the trees and
saying uh we we really need to do
something about this and again received
feedback from the residents which um
prompted us to um to come to council um
with a discussion in executive session
last year um and then as a result of
that we held public meeting and came up
with some options for the residents for
the maintenance of the trees um going
forward so this is a picture of a few of
the trees um we're talking about these
very large um red gum eucalyptus trees
um are the main tree of concern when it
comes to risk and
liability um just since fall of 23 we've
had three claims submitted to the town
in excess of $155,000 which have been
settled for around
$10,000 um those are relatively small
dollar amounts the bigger concern that
the town has is regarding the risk of
injury to people or to pets to horses to
living beings that could be injured by
these limbs dropping not just the
property damage and because we know that
they are risk and they are a liability
our sort of responsibility legally um is
considerably greater because we know
there there is a risk and we are have
not done anything about it
yet so we did have um an assessment done
by an arborist that um went out and
raided all of the different trees in
terms of their likelihood of impact to
surrounding structures and people
likelihood of failure consequence of
failure and overall risk and while most
of the trees were rated at an overall
risk of low we just in the last few
months one of those low rated risks had
had a limb drop that crushed a shed um
so without any warning and without any
it wasn't a storm event or anything you
know that would have instigated it other
than the fact that it just these trees
and this is what the arborist said are
susceptible to an industry recognized
syndrome called sudden summer Branch
drop that often occurs in warm
temperatures which obviously we have a
lot of here um and then once it loses a
branch it's more likely to lose more
branches and have future failures
because of the the imbalance that it
creates when a limb when a limb
drops so um we have F3 is identified
here that's the one that just recently
had a had a limb drop F1 was actually
recently already removed um because of
line of sight issues and damage that was
occurring to the driveway um that was
adjacent to it so we were originally
talking about nine eucalyptus trees and
now we're talking about eight eucalyptus
trees because one of them has already
been
removed so on February 7th we held a
public meeting um in the uh for the
Neighbors I sent notices to 58 different
addresses um there aren't 58 homes in
the neighborhood but we sent them to
both occupants and Property Owners if
it's not owner occupied and we had 23
residents in attendance at that
meeting what was shared at the meeting
was that Gilbert would be removing all
the eucalyptus trees that have been
identified as a hazard which is all of
them um which is a total of it was nine
now eight but that Gilbert will continue
to maintain the remaining
non- eucalyptus trees until June 30th
2027 um unless a pkid is formed and I'll
get to that in a minute but then as of
June 30th 2027 the remaining trees would
be subject to the town code in terms of
the maintenance would then become the
property owners adjon Property Owners
responsibility so we're only talking
about removing the eucalyptus trees due
to the risk and liability and then
turning the maintenance of the remaining
trees over to the property owners or a
pki if the property owners were
supportive of that option
so a little bit about um pki IDs um that
they can be formed for the purpose of
operation maintenance repair and
improvements of these types of
facilities um and a pkid in this case if
it were formed would be would maintain
all of the remaining trees in the
subdivision minus the eucalyptus trees
um including the frontage of Lindsay and
Guadalupe which is kind of the the
arterial boundaries of the subdivision
so that we could include include those
in the pkid as
well um so we haven't formed pkid for a
very long time 1991 yes um there are 11
PK IDs currently in Gilbert that um have
just over 2,000 homes covered under them
um and the council or the neighborhood
can initiate that process historically
the council initiated the process and
then there's what's called a protest
period to where if there are neighbors
that protest and don't want the pkid
formed then they can stop the process
but in you know in this case we were
looking to the resident saying hey if
you want to do this there's a lot of
statutory requirements and a lot of
effort that goes into forming the pkid
so we wouldn't want to start that
process unless we had the majority of
the property owners interested in doing
so and really the main goal of the pkid
would be to ensure the proper
maintenance um of these trees and to
equitably distribute the cost for the
maintenance of the trees to all of the
property owners within the subdivision
not just the ones that have them
adjacent to their property um because as
many of the residents have said this is
something that makes their Community you
know has character and they enjoy the
trees even though they may not have
trees on their own property so they
wouldn't have um under the normal town
code any responsibility to maintain
them so then following the public
meeting um we we got some more feedback
regarding the eucalyptus trees because
we're saying we're going to remove the
Li eucalyptus trees they are a hazard
they are liability and we know this and
we need to take care of it um but wanted
to give the residents another option um
to to be able to keep the those
particular trees if they wanted to and
so we worked with our legal team to
develop an agreement that would give
them um the ability to accept the
maintenance and liability for the
eucalyptus trees adjacent to their
property um and then they could have
that going forward and we would not
remove the trees so that was the letter
that was referenced at the last council
meeting that letter was sent to the six
property owners that have eucalyptus
trees adjacent to their property um and
that was sent back in uh on November
7th um so to date we are awaiting
responses to those letters um for either
accepting or rejecting that
responsibility we actually have two
gotten two letters back saying we don't
want it take them out um and the date
the December 16th date which was
yesterday was what was referenced as
kind of the deadline for wanting to get
those responses back and that if we
hadn't then the trees would be removed
after that point um which I think there
was a little bit of confusion there so
um but then that going forward Gilbert
will continue to main maintain the non-
eucalyptus trees until June 30th 2027 um
or until a pkid is formed and then after
that um we did also offer a one-time
courtesy removal if anybody didn't want
to maintain even the other trees on the
property um we would we would remove
those as well um if they weren't wanting
to accept that maintenance
responsibility um otherwise that
maintenance responsibility would then
revert to the property
owners
and that's all I have questions and
discussion Jessica great job on the
presentation um you took the notes that
I can remember from our meeting with you
last night and really did a great job
outlining all of that I questions or
comments from Council at this
time okay let's save those till after we
hear from the public I have one ohani
thank you m'am um
so have you you received two letters
back do you have any indication that you
would be receiving the other letters
shortly has anyone communicated with
you no they have not thank
you thanks Jessica why don't you take a
seat and we'll start the public comment
appreciate appreciate you and the work
you're doing I got 10 slips but four
people said they did not wish to speak I
have a no from Carrie Welsh Seth
lindfors Steven Welsh and Joel Marsen I
think it says I apologize if I butcher
your
names so I have a few slips from people
that would like to speak I have one that
is sharing their time
so I will go ahead and start with that
person I have Allison who is sharing her
time with Brendan wood so if Brendan
would come to this podium in the middle
here you'll get six minutes to speak to
the council
hello mayor and council members you may
remember me I'm Brendan wood a resident
of College Park Country Estates I wanted
to start by thanking you for adding this
important issue so quickly to the
agenda um first I'd like to say that
there I have a original easement
agreement that was
um signed by the town which agrees to
uh the grante which is the town of
Gilbert agrees to pay all damages
injuries and losses to persons fences as
well as
improvements the town defines
improvements and it includes
Landscaping I have that document here
with me if you'd like to review
it also the streets department keeps
saying that we're the sole neighborhood
that they provide maintenance for that's
not true they also maintain all of the
neighborhoods surrounding the Heritage
District because they also um accepted
before
1982 um also the arborous report all the
trees except two of them were deemed low
risk um also the one that did lose the
limb it's suggested in that report that
if a if a limb is lost it needs to be
trimmed to maintain the balance of the
canopy the streets department did not
did not do that maintenance you know the
tree needed to be trim they didn't do
it
um also the denial of responsibility
does not mean the residents want the
trees taken away it means that they're
not voluntarily going to assume
maintenance responsibility because it's
the obligations of the town to maintain
them um I hope that you guys consider um
what this neighborhood means to all of
our residents here I I know a lot of
them um aren't wanting to speak tonight
but if you guys could raise your hands
of who's here in our neighborhood to
support to support the trees that would
be
amazing so that's all I have to say you
guys thank you very
much thank you Brendon next we'll
have Robert
Pharaoh oh it looks like Robert wanted
to donate his time but it says you also
wish to speak so you can't do both
yes Rose then you'll come on down and
Robert is donating your his time to
you is Robert here okay thank you
mayor mayor could the one document you
have be shared with Chris yes brandan
can you please share the document that
you have with our clerk's office right
here Judy will come over and get that
from you
thank you council
member Judy do you need to run and make
a copy of that or Brendan is that a copy
of that
document thank you
Judy we'll give Rose six minutes on the
timer thank you mayor and council
members I want to Echo Brendan in a
sincere gratitude for taking this issue
very seriously and getting it on the
agenda so quickly um I also want to
thank Jessica for providing the
presentation it would have been really
beneficial to have had that to be able
to put notes but I did take notes as she
was speaking based on the presentation
that was provided at the meeting where
she said that there was about 20 or 30
residents in attendance there was some
factual misrepresentation
that were listed on several slides and I
know for me in my business I'm
responsible for making billion dooll
decisions and I rely on a team actually
multiple teams to provide me critical
data and I try to make as factual based
decisions as possible and I think that
all of you are doing the same thing
right you need to be and rely on the
Departments to give you all of the right
information
and some of the the things that has been
represented just aren't true and so as
Brendan's already pointed out this is
not the only
neighborhood it may be the only
neighborhood with such large beautiful
trees but it's not the only neighborhood
the entire Heritage district is under
the same responsibility and I think all
of you know that now from the other
slides we put the readers on because I'm
old
the the fact
that the the fact that the there is
no um stated agreement or on the plat
seems to be in contradictory to what
Brendan is providing the plat definitely
indicates that there is an obligation
and it was approved by the city council
so now furthermore back in 98 when this
issue was brought up
there happened to be I believe the mayor
and a council member living in this
neighborhood and so it was well known
that these trees are very
beneficial so it's unfortunate that
wasn't documented well at 1998 but it
certainly doesn't relieve the city of
its
obligations right it's clear in the in
the minutes of that
meeting if the town is so concerned for
personal safety
I think that Patterson Elementary School
should become an immediate priority
because if any of you go to that area it
is completely surrounded with similar
eucalyptus trees and I know for the
welfare of those children that should be
a
priority now from the tree
removal the tree that was on F1 that was
removed due to Lin of sight there was no
l of sight Hazard ever identified we did
a public records request and it was
indicated that it wasn't
established the fact that she has
reiterated they have been identified as
a hazard is just simply not
substantiated matter of fact the
arborous report indicates that they're
low risk and we also have looked at the
maintenance records and it shows that if
they were properly maintained we
probably wouldn't have had a limb fall
so it's definitely it's definitely a
concern so when I think about the final
decision there are rarely times in my
business that I get to actually do
nothing and it's the right
decision and I'm asking you to consider
to maintain the original agreement the
original beauty of this neighborhood and
actually do some good for the
neighborhood right I've got a quote here
in front of me and oddly it's Mark Twain
which is not somebody I would typically
be quoting but it says it ain't what you
don't know that gets you in trouble it's
what you know for sure just ain't so and
what I know for sure is it is not right
everything that's happening these trees
are gorgeous last time I spoke I think
you'll recall I held up a page from the
um plan for shade and maintenance and
this very very town this very very road
with these trees are highlighted so for
the removal of that you would have to
you are a um Tree City of USA Gilbert
has named one of them you would have to
identify that you consciously made a
decision to remove the shade canopy that
you boasted about
and highlight it in your
plan and then lastly I'd like to
consider the budget I don't know what
it's going to cost to remove all these
trees but it can't be within your budget
and the maintenance costs have been
pretty minimal and I think Rayanne
Wood's going to talk about that thank
you for your
time thank you moving on to Rayanne wood
rayan will get three minutes to
speak thank you again as they have said
for allowing us to uh present here today
um I guess the first thing I would like
to talk about well Brendan already
provide the the provided the easan
agreement that talked about the town
does have the responsibility for the
maintenance of those another thing that
the presenter from you guys mentioned
was that there was no um minutes from
the agreement that we had um luckily
Brennan wood has done lots of research
and and ask for Town records but anyway
I have here the council
communication from the 1996 to the
1998 right away of maintenance issues
and I'm not going to read the whole
thing but on on the second page it talks
about what they agree to and there's six
items that they agree to um the town re
the town will replace the four removed
trees with 15 gr 15 gallon black
eucalyptus trees the town will remove
and replace four additional trees that
have been identified and unhealthy and
maintained the cost of
$4,800 proper pruning of the four
remaining trees estimated cost a
$6,300 by anual deep root feeding of all
the ride of-way trees including 17
eucalyptus eight cotton Woods five
bottle trees one pine tree an estimated
cost of
$1,100 reworking of existing irrigation
systems to make sure there's water is
$1,350 remove and replacement of six
dead or hazardous trees interior
subdivision again with 15 gallon box
eucalyptus trees there will be an
ongoing cost of $8,000 to provide
second-year pruning and deep water
feeding deep root feeding
so there was an agreement that they
would maintain our trees every two
years and that's from the the the
council
minutes next we did a a public search on
maintenance costs on our in our area
from 2023 to 2018 so um the last six
years so in 2023 there was a total cost
of
$838 um
but what I'd like to identify more is is
the group pruning group pruning in 2023
they did prune 25 trees at
$3,900 in 2022 they pruned zero trees in
2021 zero trees in 2022 again 26 trees
at
$2,500 in 2019 zero trees and in 2018 26
trees so basically three of the last six
years have been no there was no pruning
and two consecutive years there was no
pruning so you wonder why limbs are
falling well it's because the trees have
not been maintained according to the
minutes that they agreed that they would
do
that on average the six-year cost to
maintain these trees was
$3,650 and I guess lastly since I heard
a bell I'm out of time would be that I
would also um state that some of the the
facts in that first meeting were were
were untrue and I think there's some add
ones that weren't brought to your
attention
today thank you very much for your time
thank you ma'am still be could you share
those documents with cheli please
yes next up to the podium will be Lester
Pierce you'll have three minutes
Lester Madame mayor and members of the
council thank you for the time to be
here and discuss our
trees uh I moved to Gilbert about 7 and
A2 years ago because I liked what I saw
it was a non-homeowner Association it
was acre lots it had certain
benefits part of it was the beauty of
the
trees now I was a builder and developer
for a number of years along with a
number of other things if you wanted the
whole resume but one of the things I
found is Gilbert at that time was a good
community and I was moving into a
neighborhood that I thought was going to
be a beautiful community and then one
day I noticed are cutting down one of
the great big trees and I went over and
asked why says well it's
diseased I have that tree at my house
it's not
diseased there was no disease in that
tree it was just not
pruned now as I looked at coming to
Gilbert I looked at the requirements of
that Community I did did not want to
live in a homeowners association and now
we have a recommendation to make a uh P
kid which is basically Homeowner
Association uh the people in the
community are already basically
maintaining those trees because the town
of Gilbert does not as far as
watering mowing taking care of the
landscape but they don't climb up in the
top of those big trees and prune them
like they should
be so
I'm here to say that I'm happy with the
trees that are there they do need pruned
I could give you all the other
information that they just gave you but
has been done and I would suggest that
uh we maintain the beauty of the
community with the big
trees and if they're diseased yes they
need to come out they do need to be
pruned but Gilbert has agreed to certain
maintenance and requirements and I
believe that would be grandfathered in
because because it was set up and to
require us to develop a
pkid would be going against that and I
know you've done that a number of times
in our community people agreed to that
but I don't see our neighborhood wanting
to agree to that we have a beautiful
neighborhood we have great neighbors
close
friends and we take Gilbert as being a
wonderful place to live so any questions
I'd be happy to answer
any thank you l
I don't see any thank you thank you next
is Melanie
Rodriguez Melanie You love three minutes
also good evening mayor and Council I
appreciate your time and I appreciate
you bringing this to the council tonight
I know it wasn't part of the original um
two weeks ago when we came
before um and again of course I was busy
with work and busy with home and busy
with kids and I didn't prepare my words
uh so reflecting back on the
presentation we had a meeting in
February last year and then received a
letter November of this year in between
there was no other
communication no other reference no
other
conversation so what I would ask of you
tonight is to continue that conversation
make the direction and decision to be
that the town continues the
conversation it was also stated tonight
that only two people responded to the
letters I personally called the
attorney's office the manager's office
and the Street's
office only Mr Gordon returned my call
how is that a
communication I would like to have a
communication with what's going
on the trees are an integral part of the
neighborhood theyve been there since the
70s it has been ploted and some of my
neighbors have shown you those documents
tonight I'm looking at the time I'm
sorry
um so what I would like is that we
continue the conversation get something
going because well we have a number of
our uh residents here it does not
represent everyone and I know there is a
Continuum on what the decision could be
it could be remove all of the trees it
could be remove just the eucalyptus
it could be a pkid it could be a public
private
agreement um a memorandum of agreement
whatever one of those uh governmental
things that we can do I I know other
things are available and I'm sorry again
I'm not the speaker that Miss Connor
is the letter I received um
stated that the trees would begin to be
removed sometime after the 16th if you
do not resp accept the
responsibility so that was put on
individual members and only individual
residents and only allowed those
individuals to make the decision for the
entire
neighborhood additionally it says that
um all the remaining trees in the right
of way will um only be maintained until
June 20
2027 so it's not just the eucalyptus
it's all of the trees we need to make a
decision on where we're going to go
forward and it's not just for four years
years is for 40 years I've been a
resident for 20 and I intend to
stay we um we would like to look at the
economic impact statement on this if you
have a square mile of residential what
is the impact to the town for that
versus what do we cause we don't have
sewer I support your sewer
Replacements um I'm out of
time if you have any
questions thank you any questions thank
you ma'am those are all the speakers
that we have tonight um I'm going to ask
Jessica to come back up and maybe speak
to a couple of the things that we heard
and then if you have any questions for
her at that time Jessica
please were you taking notes
Jessica I know you mayor members of
council I was taking a
few
um were there specific questions you
wanted to share or well if you were
taking notes the things that I heard
for I read the easement because Judy
already sent it to us
um The Heritage District Maintenance
maybe we should talk to that because
that's a concern that's been brought up
yes so we do maintain the neighborhoods
adjacent to the Heritage District those
are RightWay improvements that the town
installed irrigation and grass and
things and the Heritage district is is
kind of a unique situation there are a
lot of services we provide in the
Heritage District that we don't provide
anywhere in town and that Landscape
Maintenance is part of it um the the
there is some of the landscape there
that we do not maintain um and that's
actually a topic of conversation that's
come up that we would actually like to
maintain that because some of the
businesses are just chopping trees back
and not um um maintain in a way that
makes them you know look aesthetically
pleasing in the in the district so so
that is also an ongoing topic
conversation but the the improvements
that we maintain in the Heritage
District are improvements that we
install
um as part of that sort of Redevelopment
beautification process and so that is
why we do maintain them and I'm assuming
that's because we have named that
Heritage District in the community and
it's area yes thank you um vice mayor
Jessica the the neighbers have mentioned
there have been some factual
inaccuracies in some of our
presentations are you aware of those
have they made you aware what
inaccuracies there are no mayor members
of council no I you know I am going off
of all the information that I I Know
Myself and I have gotten from our
streets team regarding you know the
public meeting that was held and all the
documents we could find we do have a
copy of those minutes from the 1998
meeting and that's where we're referring
to the fact that it does reference an
agreement the agreement that was
approved at that council meeting was
just the annual contract for that next
year for the maintenance and as well as
those um requirements that or the the
different tasks that were assigned to
the contractor for that year in terms of
replacing trees and doing some work on
the irrigation but that's just a one
once a year thing that then has to be
renewed every year and it it has been
renewed every year um West Coast arborus
who completed the assessment for us is
under contract to do all the maintenance
for all of the trees within the town
including this area so when they're
pruning or not pruning that's at their
discretion based on their inspection and
their their determination of the need
but they do have a contract and they do
um all of that work for
us any other questions for Jessica coun
m
t I realize it's at their discretion
from what you're saying but when we were
looking at these the other day some of
them are 65 feet
tall some of them are yes they are very
tall I don't know exactly how tall but
they are very tall would it be worth
asking maybe why they maybe not have
been serviced in several
years we could definitely ask them why
there was a gap um um in the in the two
years it it looked like it was generally
every other year but there was a
two-year Gap and then they were done in
2023 and I'm sure they probably weren't
done this year because of the all the
convers ongoing conversations we were
having um I did want to speak to the
kind of Gap in terms of the um public
meeting to the notice going out and and
the resident is correct there wasn't
communication um and that was definitely
something we could have done a better
job at we did provide um a website to
the resident that they could check in on
periodically that had some information
on it hasn't been updated a ton um but
we were working with the legal team to
try to come up with a way that the
residents could again accept maintenance
and liability for specifically the red
gum eucalyptus trees and I and I will
also clarify that there was never an
intent to remove all of the trees in the
neighborhood it was only the red gum
eucalyptus trees that are known for this
Branch drop and that we have identified
as a legal risk and liability to hum to
people like that's what our concern is
making sure that we don't that somebody
doesn't get injured in this and we saw
an article just yesterday of a of a
gentleman in California that had a a
eucalyptus tree limb fall on his truck
and he was in a vehicle and he couldn't
move his vehicle out of the way fast
enough and it crushed his truck and
fortunately he wasn't injured but you
know it doesn't take much and so that's
where our biggest concern is is
protecting the the public safety
component of it um and because it is a
spontaneous limb drop you can prune and
take good care of it but some of these
trees are 50 years old and they it could
just be they reaching the end of their
their natural life anyways and need to
be replaced with something else um so
that they don't uh cause more
damage council member van Giovani sorry
were you finished council member Tason
well I just and having seen some of
these come out of the ground in
Scottdale like when there was a few
storms I'm going to say two years ago I
can't really remember but I mean
watching it come down and didn't hit me
but it was a good 100 yards in front of
me uh it's pretty stout when they come
down but these trees in the right
climate last a thousand years I don't
literally they're 500 to a thousand year
old tree like if it's on I don't know
Australia um are they
really grow in Arizona is it something
that affects its its lifespan it's its
brittleness I I have no idea and I'm
just
asking mayor members of the council I'm
not an arborist either so I don't know I
will say that the you know the fact that
there is no established irrigation for
these trees probably contributes to they
get flood irrigated there but there's no
actual irrigation that can be properly
maintained and and managed that way um
I'm sure contributes to the health or
lack thereof of the trees um I will also
note that the eucalyptus trees are not
um a tree that's currently um allowed
going forward like new eucalyptus trees
are not getting put in in the town as
part of our Shaden streetcape master
plan that was referenced or any of our
street character areas so it's it's
known it's identifies as a hazard and
we're we um I don't know how long it's
been the case but they we don't put new
eucalyptus trees in the town
either and I remember people talking
about this it has to do with the the
root system because if they're not
irrigated they're going out rather than
deep that's correct most you know
irrigation you do deep deep watering
irrigation and this happens in all
neighborhoods in my own front yard like
my tree roots are very shallow you can
see them through the grass because
they're not deep watered and so this is
the case with the flood irrigation the
roots go where they want to go um but
they don't necessarily go down which is
why part of that um maintenance
agreement that was referenced earlier um
in terms of what the contractor does was
deep root watering to to try to help
sustain that but you we had a picture um
we didn't include it in this
presentation cuz it wasn't from this
neighborhood but in an adjacent
neighborhood where one of these trees
went over in a storm a couple years ago
and the root ball was was probably at
least 15 ft wide across U Robert was
standing in the hole and it was like
more than twice as tall as he is but it
was not very deep it's very wide but not
very
deep council member bonjon thank you
madam mayor Jessica I know you're not an
arborist and neither am I um but if
these trees
were maintained every year and maybe cut
some from the
top um and I don't know if you can
answer this but would chances be that
they would be a little bit more safe
than they are now mayor members of
council I really couldn't answer that
all I know is the arborists have told us
that they are known for spontaneous limb
drop um which means it doesn't have to
have a reason it just can spontaneously
fall so whether whether improved or more
frequent Runing or maintenance would
would reduce that likelihood I I don't
know did it mention any anywhere in
their report um spontaneous limb drop
having to do with any any uh height
issues I don't recall it was more
related to temperature and storm
Activity thank
you I couldn't find a database for
Arizona but there is a western tree
failure database for California
California tree failure report program
and the third top tree on the list is
the eucalyptus the first one is a quis
that we Patrick and I looked it up
earlier and I can't remember in the
second one's a type of pine tree but the
first type is500 trees this year have
fallen the second pine tree 1132 they've
had issue with and the eucalyptus was
838 trees that they've had issues with
and then the next closest the fourth in
line is only 348 trees so when you look
at a dat Bas in statistics like that and
it's the third popular tree to
unfortunately to fail it um creates
situation and I thought of it when you
were asking about that because it's a
database in the western part of er of I
don't like California type databases but
in this case it it's the closest thing I
could find um did anyone else have any
comments or questions I see you a not
council
member um you know as a council member
and and a resident I really value the
beauty and character that these trees
bring to our neighborhoods and so I
definitely understand the attachment um
that the neighborhood feels towards
these eucalyptus
trees um however you know the eight
trees identified for removals you know
appear to have some really significant
risks and liability to the town uh the
falling limbs are causing damage to
private property and creating other
hazards um if anything else was below
them so it's not a decision that's made
lightly but seems like it's out of
necessity to kind of protect the
well-being of the
community and for the remaining you know
trees I would support the forming of the
parkway improvement district um so that
the neighborhood can take ownership of
of the maintenance I I live in a in a
neighborhood that has a pkid my my
mother lives in a neighborhood that has
a pkid and it seems to be a really
Equitable and lowcost way to cover that
um and the
the company that the town hires seems to
do a pretty good job at that and we meet
with the parks direct coordinator for
that each year to talk about that and
it's not in any way similar to an HOA
and I've lived in an HOA as well and and
the costs are much much lower for that
um but I do think that the cost should
not be burden or should not burden all
of the other taxpayers but rather be
shared by those who benefit directly in
the neighborhood um I mean as a Council
I think that we are here to support the
process of that pkid formation if that
is um identified but appreciate you know
the understanding that we need to
prioritize um the fairness
of prioritize the safety of our
community but also the fairness um of
maintaining these
streets council member bonani thank you
mayor um are we okay with General
comments or we want Jessica
still anyone else have more questions
for Jessica or call her up as needed
okay thanks Jessica thanks great job
again um thank you mayor full disclosure
you know my business uses a home for
training um on Riata so I know the area
very very well um but you know there's a
couple questions who owns the trees you
know in that right away because when you
own something you can do with it what
you want to do but again who owns the
tree is it the town government you know
or is it the people who own the trees
and if the question is the people who
people Ben people own the trees and do
the people benefit in Gilbert from these
trees well Gilbert was ranked last in
sustainability the tree canopy enhances
the neighborhood in that area and the
neighborhood um the neighborhood in area
I'm sorry uh trees also reduce concrete
Islands however we also have have to
balance the benefits with liabilities
for our
taxpayers um we owe it to our taxpayers
to maintain the benefits of these
trees we also owed it to them to protect
them against liabilities and injury uh I
think we're extremely lucky right now
that these trees haven't hurt people or
animals but they have suffered some
property damage but to be very honest
personally I don't feel comfortable
moving forward with any anything until
we have a full document review um from
Chris with things that he received
today and this evening we're not going
to take a vote we're going to off a
direction to staff if need be um any
other comments questions vice mayor just
briefly I I'd like I agree that um the
documents need to be reviewed it gets to
the point that I was trying to make it
seems as though we're at an impass of
some kind on agreeing some facts because
we're hearing one side from our attorney
and we're hearing from the resident
something different and so we need to
get that all clarified and I like what
Miss Rodriguez presented is we're going
to get to a resolution of this somehow
and if we have to take a little more
time to do that I'm in favor of doing
that so we can get it done we can choose
one of those options that you uh you uh
talked about when you were speaking to
us because we've got to get to an option
on what's going to happen with the trees
what's going to happen with the future
of either maintaining them or taking
them out whatever it may be uh but we
need to get to that point and I don't
think we're quite yet there yet and I'm
in favor of continuing to talk about
it Council Tuson I I would like those
documents to be reviewed so we know
where we sit exactly to see if someone
had put us in a position of
well I mean for lack of better terms not
keeping our
word and uh but I am
concerned by
seeing what has happened with some of
these mature trees I grew up in
California and although maybe I'd like
to see the government failure chart
instead um the uh uh I I had seen a lot
of trees fall and we're much more severe
uh as far as our our climate goes and
what the impact on that tree would be is
it not just keeping our word but is it
actually are we actually putting
ourselves at risk identifying something
that's not appropriate to be there just
because we have an agreement do we keep
it there when it can cause harm CU what
happens if somebody is hurt we keep it
going we've tried our best but somebody
gets hurt and we are responsible we as
in
292,000 are responsible because we were
remiss and we agreed to do something
that wasn't safe so I'd like to I'd like
to I hate to say it Kick the Can down
the road a minute and have you look at
that and sit and discuss this maybe in
executive session
soon council member
Koski I do believe that the adjacent
property owners that just received the
letter in November I do believe that we
should give direction to staff to extend
the time that they have to respond um
and so if anyone could suggest a
timeline for that I think that'd be one
of the components we should do tonight
well considering um the fact was brought
up that they had the meeting in February
and out of that came this idea to then
send just those residents some sort of a
potential agreement that they could
enter into with the town and we all know
I'm going to say it right here
government doesn't move quickly any form
of government doesn't move quickly we
had to I'm sure our attorneys look at
what an option would be to write up such
agreement because we have to be careful
as to how we enter into an official
agreement with each individual homeowner
in that situation so that's what took
that time from February to November not
trying to excuse it trying to explain it
to the residents that are
here council member Kowski makes a great
point that um that deadline was
yesterday and to give give direction to
staff to extend that deadline so that
all of these other documents that have
been presented can be investigated and
that the council will be able to have an
executive session in the future to
discuss that but with that said my my
issues with this is one we have a
neighborhood that we're treating quite
differently than other neighborhoods and
I know that there's a claim of an
agreement from
1998 the former councils can't lock
future councils into
we can always change something as a
council a council can always update
things because things change because we
have issues that arise
because State Law changes because local
ordinances arise that we need to be able
to enforce things and when you have
something that could potentially be a
failure and a danger that we have seen
already with um liabilities then um that
has to be considered and I don't I've
never liked treating a neighborhood
different than any other neighborhood we
haven't entered in and I asked this
question in our exec session which was
how many when was last time we entered
into a pkid which Jessica answered this
evening because I could not remember one
and it hasn't been since 1991
um the
pki might solve the future of the
maintenance of the trees but it's not
going to solve the situation of the
liability for the eucalyptus trees if
you as residents that have those
eucalyptus trees next to your property
want want to take that on right now that
would solve this and that was the
agreement that was sent out to the six
residents that have the eight trees that
would solv
this simply with moving forward with
that and that's the issue that the
council had that we were presented with
that we had to find a resolution for the
staff came to us and said we found this
option based on discussions with these
residents that they may want to take on
this liability but now people don't want
to take on the Li liability and I can
understand that you're saying that it
belongs but when it's a liability on the
town we have
2927 people to be concerned with and the
cost of that and what could happen in
the future based on these treats my
thoughts I won't be handling this
because it'll be moving forward I think
we all agreed that we would like staff
to look at the documents re-evaluate
what you've seen tonight plan a future
study I mean executive session to
discuss this with the council once you
have maybe gone through those documents
and we would like to give a give a
direction to extend the deadline from
December 16th yesterday
till vice mayor I was just going to say
that executive session is good but we
need to continue our conversations with
the
neighborhood but right now we need to
work on what's current which is the
deadline from
yesterday and the documents that have
been presented March 31st is month the
new year we should have something before
March 31st at this point I'm hearing
anybody have
a another recommendation so we're asking
for a deadline extension for the letters
that were sent out to the six home
owners to homeowners to March 31st it
doesn't mean that you can't also send
those back and agree to them that's
always a possibility too I'm going to
throw it out there because it's a
possibility um and for legal staff to
and Public Works to work on the
documents that we've re received to take
a look at those bring it back to
council
good thank you all for coming out
tonight we knew that there wasn't going
to be any kind of a decision but at
least there's a conversation going on
and since February there's been a
conversation going on it's just that it
halted because of legal stuff that had
to happen in between that finally got
sent out to you no trees are going to be
removed at this point in time you'll
wait until March 31st at this point
before anything else will change
no clapping
please no clapping please um thank you
very much we're going to take a recess
and we'll come right
back
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I'll give a 30 second warning give tus
cons member tus enough time to get up
here you don't have to run you don't
have to
run okay we'll go ahead and reconvene
our me meeting moving on to the consent
calendar I will pass off to vice mayor
thank you mayor I think we're going to
do the same thing that we had done
previously we have a number of items
that there's interest and I think we're
getting a presentation from staff on
those items
okay we got that presentation ready
Patrick May vice mayor they're pulling
it up now okay
good evening mayor and Council can you
guys hear me okay the question is can
you see me okay I know I'm barely taller
than a Christmas self over here but I
just want to make sure you can hear me
and see me uh my name is Katie devano I
think I've met everybody on Council I'm
the business manager for Parks and
Recreation um and ironically enough I am
talking about PK IDs tonight uh I am
asking for uh your consideration and
approval um for the cost adjustment to
our Parkway improvement district
landscape maintenance contract with
sonria Landscape Management um they've
been our contractor uh for 5 years now
um and they are going into their final
year of this contract the cost
adjustment is simply a consumer price
index change only um at a rate of
5.81% for the increase there is no
change in level of service um and just
as a refresher for everyone um a Parkway
improvement district that's a special
taxing district here in the town um
those 11 neighborhoods were established
in the late 1980s and as we heard
earlier the last one was 1991 um and the
town is in charge of maintaining those
common areas in each of those
neighborhoods so that includes the
irrigation systems Landscaping um
improving the retention basins and even
the park areas for example um Circle G3
one of the neighborhoods that is a pkid
they're going through um the process of
getting a new play structure uh Vice Mar
Anderson we can show you pictures of it
later if you'd like um but that is in
progress uh so our team manages those um
but we do have this landscape
maintenance contract to assist with uh
all the acreage that comes along with
those neighborhoods um and again there
is no change in level of service it's
simply the Consumer Price Index change
in
cost can I answer any questions for
you Council M bonani thank you madam
mayor is this a new contract uh no sir
this is an existing contract that goes
through a renewal um every year at the
end of the year and it's last year will
be um this upcoming calendar year it
will end on December 31st 2025 so around
the summer time you can expect that
we'll be going through an RFP process
for a new contractor sorry if you said
that I missed it I'm sorry no no you're
fine you're good thank you high on sugar
cookies right share one and Mountain Dew
um con M
Kowski is this increase only for this
Fifth and final year of the contract or
is it for a different length of time uh
that's a great question that is just for
this Fifth and final year yes
ma'am that's dumb consumer in what did
you say consumer index it's getting
Consumer Price Index it's essentially an
adjustment for inflation we've had an
adjustment on this contract every year
since it's been established um some
years it's not as heavy of an increase
and some years it is I think in 2022
that increase went up 8% um whereas the
year before it was about 1% and so it
just follows that rate of
inflation
inflation um okay thank you any other
questions or comments thank you thank
you so
much is there more
items yes I think Jessica's coming up oh
Jessica's
back good evening actually I don't think
I'm next but I just wanted to click the
slide who's Heritage District South
anchor
good evening mayor and
Council um was there a question
regarding this particular item that
might be the easier way to do this Dan
any questions on this item uh just want
to see how this worked out as far as
being under the you know the Heritage
District guidelines for what we're
approving if there's any exceptions to
that and to discuss the public parking
absolutely mayor uh members of the
council so as um the general plan sets
forth um zoning and um use and land use
and all those other things we have a
another uh guiding document in the
Heritage District known as the
Redevelopment plan that was adopted by
Council in 20 18 which um certainly
envisions mixed use um so the property
that we're talking about uh this evening
is located on the northwest corner of
Gilbert and Elliott and um
the development and disposition
agreement um was was approved by Council
we've had uh a First Amendment and what
you have before you this evening and is
a second amendment um the um purchase
contract and all the other supporting
documents coincide with that and as as
the slide um shows we're essentially
extending the agreement um to December
25 and
um the parking specifically um that uh
that was ultimately agreed to brings 45
public parking stalls into the overall
inventory of the Heritage district and
so I don't know if there's any
additional questions about parking or
this amendment oh the the additional
question about that is is I just want to
verify this is something they are paying
for with their development this isn't
what they're bringing 45 more spots than
required and those are public parking
spots and there is no zoning chains
nothing strange and in fact I believe
they've cut down the number of
apartments that they were looking at in
the mixed use is that correct mayor
members of the council um we did
ultimately agree with this uh with this
agreement to lower the amount of of uh a
residential units coming into the
district um I can't recall what the
original agreement um stipulated but but
ultimately um we're below 300 units um
this is a mixed use development there is
a parking structure that the developer
is paying for completely um it will be
wrapped with residential units and they
will be contributing um at their own
cost 45 additional stalls to the
Heritage District adding to our overall
parking inventory thank you for the
clarity the importance of the public
parking stalls is because they are
providing um commercial uses um on the
first floor of that building so we need
public parking stalls not just for the
residential in that area mayor members
of council you're 100% correct because
of the mixed use element with ground
floor commercial um the ability to
access that commercial conveniently um
um somewhat quickly um is one of the
benefits of the mixed use development
that that comes into the Heritage
District um and certainly convenient
parking is is associated with um um with
the overall parking shared parking model
that we have in the district thank you
Dan you
bet Jessica are you clicking or is Dan
Dan are you're up next hi yes I am next
so um the the next item that was
requested presentations item number 27
related to The Ash Street realignment in
the Heritage District this particular
item is related to the approval of the
pmcm contract for the project um the
project is currently reaching 30% design
so this is the time where we would bring
a pmcm on board there is also an item on
the agenda I believe it's item number 29
that's related to preconstruction
services for the the contractor that was
selected for this project as well um
this project is funded by Transportation
bonds um and will connect Ash Street
from Gilbert Road um along paralleling
the um railroad tracks and then realign
it so that um the north south actually
aligns with with Ash Street on the north
side of vaugh and where it kind of runs
next to the parking garage um it will
also Connect into Von Avenue where the
vau ventilator is currently being
constructed in order to improve
circulation um into and out of the
Heritage District um for vehicles as
well as provide uh pedestrian and bike
friendly access into the district as
well questions on that I got a thumbs up
so thank you um next side and we're
going to skip around a little bit just
so I'm up here all at once um item
number 30 is related to our system our
Wastewater system wide Force main
retrofit project um and this is three
different asks one is for guaranteed
maximum price or gmp3 for replacing um
about a mile and a half of ductal Iron
Force main um that actually sends our
sludge from the Neely um Water
Reclamation facility to Mesa um there's
also a job order for replacing 400
linear feet of duct enforc me at
Greenfield and Fry
um and then um the the the pmcm contract
is for oversight of both of those
projects um these were the next highest
priority um Force main uh retrofit
projects in our Force main condition
assessment so that we can get ahead of
these um sewer Force main failures that
are occurring um which will obviously um
help us mitigate um potential um outages
and environmental damage and emergency
repairs that can cost 10 times more so
um these are actually can um going to be
um dug and replaced as opposed to slip
lined um we kind of evaluate those on a
case-by casee basis just determine to
determine the best method for rehab or
replacement
questions and this is unfortunately the
water uh Enterprise fund is funding this
correct Wastewater right Wastewater yes
sorry and that's so this is part of the
large Force main replacement program
that we have that is is a key driver in
the current um Wastewater rate
discussion we're having as well this is
already budgeted and part of our
existing plan but it's showing how
detrimental it is that we can't even fix
this it has to be replaced yes
absolutely and it's 20 years
old I would have to look I don't know
the exact age but most of the duct La
enforc Ms in the town are less than 20
years old yes and they were expected to
last 50 correct uh they didn't yeah the
Neely Force M may be a little bit older
than that but thank you thank you c m
Kowski has a
question Jessica you mentioned that
these are going to be dug and replaced
versus slip line Could you um talk a
little bit about the impacts that might
be from construction or like what goes
into that decision yeah basically what
goes into that decision is looking at um
when the condition of the existing pipe
and whether it can be slip lined um if
there is space to put a new pipe in
sometimes the bypass pumping that needs
to happen in order to allow the slip
lining cost more than the slip lining
itself versus digging and replacing um
I'd have to look at um we can definitely
update Council on the traffic impacts
because obviously the uh the ne Force
meain that's a pretty long stretch so
there will be um some impacts I'd have
to look at the design records to see
exactly where the new alignment's going
to go and what the traffic impacts will
be but we can definitely update Council
on that thank
you thanks Jessica on that one I have
one more okay sorry I wasn't trying to
get rid of you
uh the last one is item number 32 this
is for seal coat Services um this is a
task order under a blanket job order
contract with Sunland asphalt um it's an
annual contract um an annual um
preventive pavement maintenance that we
do on our streets um this particular
contract will allow for um we call pmms
treatment of approximately 15 miles of
our um local and collector streets in
Gilbert it's polymer modified Master
Seals just a type of of payment
maintenance um it's one of many
different types of pavement maintenance
surface treatments that we do on our
roads in order to extend their useful
life this is one of the ones that we do
contract out because it's more cost-
effective for somebody else to do it
then for us to have the equipment and
the staff to do it ourselves um and as I
mentioned it's an annual it's an annual
contract um that that gets renewed and
we have a list of all the locations that
will be completed this year based on
their life cycle and what treatment they
need any questions or comments C Tuson I
just want to say I appreciate you taking
the time because people need to see
where money is being spent so they
understand they're extending the life of
their street it didn't come at no cost
so thank you thank
you I see Kelly approaching Kelly's
next thank you mayor and Council uh I've
got item number 35 public safety
personnel retirement system contribution
this is one that we talked about at the
financial Retreat and then as part of
the budget process sending an additional
contribution into psprs for our police
and fire um liability that we have on
their pension
benefit this $10 million is comes from
the under over so revenues that came in
over what we expected and expenditures
that came in under what we expected from
last fiscal year um that we would send
half of that contribution over to psprs
to help with that uh funding status we
are currently at 88% funded according to
the uh report that just came out and
this I'm hoping will help us get up to
the 9 % for next year's report any
questions on
that I just wanted to say I thought it
was great even the Water Tower came in
under under budget which was amazing to
me and to see that we're getting this
this town might be the best funded town
as far as pensions because I see other
towns nowhere near it and just thank
you we set a very lofty goal as Council
to pay off that psprs as soon as we
could very lofty goal and I know it made
Kelly probably have heart palpitations
when we did it but you've done a great
job no what was worse is when we slipped
back under 90 I was like no we worked so
hard so we worked so hard hoping we were
like 91 on one and 90 on the other one
right and we slipped so that's that is a
lofty goal thank you
it good evening mayor and Council I am
going to speak on item number 25 and
item number 36 uh item number 25 is
mental health services for the gilberg
police department uh we have budgeted
money in our uh budget this year to
provide uh Professional Services uh
right now we have a very robust peer
support team and that peer support team
sees quite a few of our officers on a
daily and weekly basis this would just
add one more benefit of a uh actual
licensed clinician to be on site for a
certain number of hours at the police
department uh as you can see here 80% of
First Responders experience traumatic
events on the job um and 30% of First
Responders develop behavioral health
conditions including depression and PTSD
uh the ask is to contract with a company
called Blue P which is currently being
contracted by the fire department as
well are there any questions on item
25 oh just wanted to say thank you for
taking care of our people thank you
sir and I believe this is the last one
for the night item number 36 is uh to
accept an anti-human trafficking Grant
from the Arizona Department of Public
Safety for roughly
$434,000 uh as we are not immune to
crimes like many other municipalities we
have seen an increase in online sex
cases involving minors uh prostitution
cases um and a number of other internet
internet crimes against children uh
accepting this grant will allow us to
use these funds to recoup some of our uh
expenses uh specifically with a part
detective we have uh in a anti-human
trafficking task force along with quite
a few pieces of software and Hardware um
as the criminals get a little more uh
intelligent uh it's a little harder to
catch them and there's constantly new
companies and software coming out that
help us to combat some of those crimes
online and stay one step ahead of
everybody so uh the ask tonight would be
to accept the Grant and take these
funds and as my question was every Grant
are there any clawbacks on that that we
need to be aware of uh no sir there's
quarterly reporting mechanisms with the
Arizona Department of Public safties but
uh
no thank
you that's it so with that I'll make a
motion that we approve our consent
calendar which is items 23 through
38 I'll second that it's been moved and
seconded please vote
motion
passes that concludes the consent agenda
moving to administrative
items we have um two policy items on
administrative items policy number 20
2025
-01
and um boards and commissions consider
acceptance of the community engagement
task force final report
let's tackle item number 39 first policy
number 20
25-01
um does anyone need a presentation on
this item yeah I just wanted to hear how
it morphed into what I'm seeing today
okay who would like to tackle policy
number 2025 d01 mayor this is actually a
financial policy we are required by
Statute to approve year after year so it
it's on every December agenda
thank you
cheli does this have anything to do with
uh we had had a uh study session I'm
going to say about a year ago about
disclosing doing business with the town
if you were on Council or mayor is this
related to that because I I've seen
numbers in here that I had never heard
before that's a state law I think that
we are referring to yeah those were two
separate items okay all right thank
you would someone like to consider
making a motion to approve policy number
2025
t01 I'll make a motion to approve items
uh 39 and 40 is that correct do we want
to make an just 39 or do to do a
discussion on 409 I'll second it we have
a motion on item number 39 please vote
oh S I already have a sorry I have a
motion by council member bonani seconded
by council member tilki please vote
almost
forgot motion passes 60 now moving on to
item 40 boards and commissions consider
acceptance of the community engagement
task force final report council member
tilki do you want to say something thank
you um was Melanie here to do the
report yeah so um you may remember that
this is the original Community
engagement task force final report um I
don't know if you want an abbreviated
version since you received it in your
your packet but um I'd like just so that
the public has an opport Unity to hear
the fine work that was taking
place yes we had a study session earlier
and my brain was not functioning just
now we had a study session earlier on
the last five or six months of the
community engagement task force focused
on teen violence and this topic is the
original Community engagement task force
and their final report so everybody
knows what we're discussing thanks
Melanie uh mayor and council members
Melanie dyra volunteering Community
Resources manager one of the staff Le on
to the community engagement task force
course and as council member chilk your
referen this actually you received the
final report of the first five topics
that the group um took on and I'm just
going to go over just very high level
some of the information um for you um as
you may recall that council members did
weigh in on what areas of social
well-being that were having significant
impacts in Gilbert and from that
feedback five focused topics were
identified and those were mental health
and suici prevention human and sex
trafficking domestic violence
homelessness and low-income challenges
and a kind welcoming and inclusive
Gilbert and in order to tackle all of
these topics uh we did engage a lot of
our citizenry uh we actually opened
applications for the task force and
there were 87 applicants that came
forward interested in serving you
appointed nine members with two
alternates um at the January 25th 20
2022 meeting uh we kicked off that group
as a first meeting in March 7th of 2022
um as you can see here on the slide
those were our appointed members that
served as part of this group and as part
of that process we actually had 23
meetings we held these over the course
of about two plus years they did about
60 hours in meeting time they also
received 31 different presentations this
was ensure that they had all the
information that was relevant to each of
the topic areas uh we had some overviews
of some information allowed them to
create some priori PR ities as to where
how they would like to tackle the
subject areas and then then further
presentations were done at each of the
meetings in order to make sure they
could dive a little bit deeper into all
the subject areas we also asked them to
read and review over 15 books
assessments and reports on the topic
areas this again gave them a
comprehensive look at all of the subject
areas that they were doing and as you
heard in the study session uh we
actually use compression planning in
this first goor round as well that's why
we kind of utilize the same systems as
we did for uh the last group but that
again was an opportunity really during
those planning processes that the groups
got to have breakout discussions really
put forth the individual ideas dot
prioritize that we did um and again
putting on that impact um effort Matrix
so that they could all be identified and
defined as to what was really wanting to
move forward um and that's what became
those final recommendations and after
each of those subject areas we did come
and present to counsil at those study
sessions to make sure that you had an
awareness as we were moving along what
recommendations were moving forward
um and in the report that you did
receive you uh will see there are 111
identified recommendations over the five
topic areas but we wanted to create the
report in a manner that um showcased
each of the areas similarly so you'll
see the topic area but we also presented
what do we know and this was was based
on the information that we received
during our presentations and our
educational sessions what statistics
were out there um as Chief ble was just
talking about the human and sex
trafficking a lot of that data really
was informative to understand what those
systems were and what he was just
referencing in terms of support of a gr
really we heard about the peer-to-peer
investigation and that's one of those
systems that they were using to tackle
that issue so we wanted to make sure
that was in the report uh we also wanted
to highlight what's already being done
so we didn't wait till you know we're
not waiting till next year the year
after to kick some of those things off
when those ideas came to us and they
were great recommendations and they were
we're trying to move forward if we could
and so some of the things are already in
place we wanted to make sure that was
highlighted but overall then you will
see a table that highlights for every
single of these Focus areas that there's
an action item what that time frame
expected was is going is it something we
can tackle pretty quickly is it
something that's midterm or long-term
and then we also wanted to put in place
and we had lots of discussions with
group is who could really help us work
these um as you heard from our last task
force presentation these are not things
that we can do all alone and independent
of our community there's a lot of
Partners we'll have to work with whether
it's the nonprofits our faith-based
organizations our schools and just the
community as a whole and so we tried to
really look as to see who those Partners
could be um overall there were like I
said 111 total recommendations that came
forward um from this group for all five
topic areas is um mental health had
about 14 um human and sex trafficking
had 10 domestic violence 10 homelessness
11 and kind welcome and inclusive 8 and
if you add all that together that's not
111 because a lot of those have
subcategories so those are kind of the
overarching themes that we had in each
of those areas um but they did a great
job um working forward and I would also
like to give a really huge shout out to
Judy who took my word document and
turned it into the pretty report that
you received that has colors and visuals
um so really great shout out I'd still
be working on it to be honest because it
wouldn't have turned into that um so
with that I'll take any questions but
wanted to just give you the overview and
highlights of all the work that was done
by that group over the last couple years
thank you Melanie any comments or
questions at this time council member
tki thank you mayor
um is it my understanding that this will
be published so the public can review it
as well and the media can have a copy of
it I think you probably got it in the
packet in our packet yes I believe
normally when we are done and if you
accept this report we will make it a
published document out on the website
it'll um generally live within the
community resources area okay thanks um
I just want to take just a moment to um
thank the entire task force who gave two
years of their life that's what they
gave really we met every month and a lot
of homework in between and the to
investigate and identify gaps throughout
the pillars that we've discussed again
Melanie has been a champion and worked
tirelessly to organize and staff this
task force I wanted to also recognize
Don and Judy for being there from day
one and helping us get through this it's
it this was a big heavy lift these were
big heavy topics and I I I believe the
entire task force stepped up um can't
thank Kathleen doar again for her unique
um facilitation to take all those ideas
and get get it to the point we could
give you a report
um so we've we've accomplished so much
and I hope that you took the time to
read the report because when you see the
stats of each of these pillars and then
you see the action that the town of
Gilbert has already taken it is very um
exciting to see and I think it tells the
story about a caring community and there
are things we continue to do and I think
um as we mentioned earlier it doesn't
stop here and one of the reasons I
wanted to take time just to recognize
everybody and give Melanie an
opportunity to come back up here but um
I didn't I don't want this to go on a
shelf and think we're done well we've
done these great things but here's some
amazing things that we can do in the
future and so um I hope that the council
will take a a good look at these items
and create some priorities around it as
we look into the future for some of the
efforts that we're doing
um and I'm hoping I don't know if
there's questions but I hope I get to
make the motion on this so anyway I I'll
put that off until that time
thanks vice mayor you're next you
mentioned caring did you uh know that
out of the top 100 cities in the country
we're named number four most
caring
yeah council member torguson Melanie I
just wanted to say thank you because
you're one of the people that I look at
and know that you have a passion for
what you do and you love what you do and
you go over the top for what you do and
I see you in a lot of places and I just
I just respect
how engaged you are and how much you do
care I just wanted to say it sorry thank
you very much I appreciate it this was a
wonderful project to work on um really
great to work with the folks that were
engaged and look I'm excited to see what
we can do
next council member
kosi Melanie thank you so much for your
work on this um also thank you to all
the volunteers that served on this task
force what amazing work and thank you
council member tilki for your leadership
and um driving to make sure that all of
this got done in a timely manner and
probably with very meaningful outcome so
thank
you counc bonan thank you madam mayor
they've already said everything I wanted
to say but uh thank you again and and
for the whole Task Force and and and uh
I really appreciate your hard work that
you guys did
when we when when I came on as mayor in
2021 we didn't have a community
engagement task force it was something
that was discussed coming out of the
pandemic and from the listening sessions
and um council member tilki wanted to um
take this ball and run with it for lack
of a better analogy um and a cliche and
um I wholeheartedly supported that from
what we heard from the residents at that
time and I very much appreciate
everybody said has said great things but
I very much appreciate you Melanie for
taking this and handling it and then
let's just throw at you let's turn it
into a different kind of community
engagement task force as you're halfway
through this year trying to finalize
this task force so again thank you for
stepping up and handling that it is a
passion for you you live that every
single day I'm going to point out that
Melanie has on her Christmas vest that
she wears to every December meeting but
because she's just that kind of person
she's always happy she's always willing
to um go the extra mile and very much
appreciated in the situation and again
thank you to all of the volunteers that
stepped up for this community engagement
task force when we when we moved forward
with this idea a couple of years ago and
council member tilky for taking that
ball and running with it too but thank
you I will bring it back to the dis and
um look to council member tilki for a
motion thank you for obliging me on that
um I'd like to make a motion to con to
accept the community engagement task
force final report and I'd love to
second that so have a motion by council
member tilki seconded by council member
Bon Giovani please
vote motion passes 60 that now moves us
to Communications from citizens portion
of our agenda vice mayor thank you mayor
we value the participation of our
community members and the robust
exchange of ideas however it's essential
that this discourse remains respectful
and constructive reflecting the
professionalism expect expected in such
forums while we understand and
appreciate the passion our community
members bring to these sessions we must
remind everyone that clapping during the
meeting is not acceptable also playing
of music or showing videos May subject
the town to copyright infringement and
is not
permitted tonight um as you're asked to
proceed to the podium please when you
arrive at the podium state your name and
your city or town of residents and then
you'll be provided with 3 minutes to
address the council first up tonight is
Bob
schable thank you mayor and council
members my name is Bob Schnabel I live
in Ador trails in Gilbert um wanted to
talk briefly about the cattle issue that
we're having in ad door Trails but
before I get there I wanted to thank all
the council for the work that you do
having served on numerous boards before
I know the hard work that you go through
and I especially want to thank the two
retiring U members of the board a week
and a half ago um we were fortunate in
door Trails we had a couple of the Town
Council Members come to visit a door
Trails because they wanted to see our
cattle issue and our cattle uh firsthand
unfortunately the cattle were camera shy
because you gentleman came in the
afternoon and the cattle generally come
out at night but also unfortunately you
got to experience firsthand the messes
that the cattle leave um in a door Trail
so we understand that door uh Dawn had
taken you on a tour around the door
trails to see some of the damage Etc and
that your suggestion was to establish a
task force to move forward with other
HOAs and see what we can do um to
improve the situation in the door trails
and the others so I'm hoping that's the
case and uh we just want to thank you
for everything that you're doing any
questions
no thank you no thank you thank you next
up is Bill
Spence my name is Bill Spence I'm a
resident of Gilbert thank you for the
opportunity to speak tonight and
properly acknowledge council member
tilki and mayor Peterson and their
outstanding performance for the most
thankless and most rewarding job that I
have ever done it's hard to believe that
it's been four years since I served with
the two of you Bridget was there for my
first meeting and Kathy was there for my
last during that time we appointed vice
mayor Anderson to serve as mayor now it
seems we have come full circle as vice
mayor Anderson prepares to once again
take the Reigns as mayor of our great
town I think that we can all agree that
we didn't always agree on things but any
disagreements that we had stayed behind
closed doors and were never displayed
publicly and we were always friends our
Council roles were business and never
personal however that wouldn't be
completely true for Bridget and Kathy it
was all about personal it each having
served our town for several decades I
have never known anyone that truly loves
Our Town more than these two I miss the
dates of calling the mayor and asking
her to stop by a lemonade stand that
some kid set up in the neighborhood and
said she would show up that's just the
kind of person the Bridget is these two
leaders are the best ambassadors both
locally and abroad that our town could
have ever hoped
for I will miss being able to tell them
I have a really crazy
idea nothing compares to one of my
craziest ideas that came to fruition
because of these words from Bridget
Billy you have the veterans Advisory
Board a long story short this ultimately
led to gilber being selected as a host
town for the USS Arizona submarine I
want to thank both of you for your
support of our veterans and for carrying
the torch and giving life to our
veterans Advisory Board I don't want to
steal the mayor's Thunder but she just
returned from Pearl Harbor where she
witnessed for the first time Sailors
from the new USS Arizona honoring those
lost on the Battleship Arizona
bb39 blending the values and ideas of
our past and forging our
future that sounds like what to me what
Gilbert is all about on behalf of myself
and the residence of Gilbert thank you
both for making a difference in our
lives and in true neighbor tradition I
wanted to wish you Fair Winds and
following Seas may God bless you in all
of your future endeavors thank you I
small gift for both of you that includes
my last purple Bendy straw and
Bella if you know you know but I'll give
it over to Judy and uh take care of that
thank
you thank you Bill Scott
September boy how do you follow that I
wish I went first
now
um I I'm here for a couple reasons one I
wanted to thank everybody here on the
Das and staff who thought it was
important enough to show up last night
as we dedicated the new Gilbert Water
Tower Plaza it was an exciting evening
and uh it was funny as I got there
probably 10 minutes early but I couldn't
find a parking spot and I'm not
complaining because I was actually happy
I was like this is a big turnout that
I've got a park at the very end of vau
Road um where there were no lights it
was dark and it was scary but it was
worth it because because of the
community turnout for that event so
thank you everybody for being there and
thanks to uh don Prince and her team
that executed that project under budget
uh um and Rob Carmona and those folks
that did a great job I'm also here
tonight to um to thank uh mayor Bri
Bridget Peterson and uh council member
Kathy tilki for their service to this
town um their service started decades
ago um it's not just the service that
that they performed here on the dis for
the community their Community
involvement started long long before
that and it was an honor for me to serve
with them um on this dis this Das is as
you know is a jealous mistress so I want
to thank your families as well for
sharing um you with uh this town um and
I also want to um congratulate um vice
mayor Anderson on your election your
successful election and you're soon to
be uh seated there in that mayor's chair
I look forward to the experience and
expertise that you're going to bring um
to the town and uh I know that your
involvement in this town spans uh even
probably further than than these two
that are coming off the dis and I think
that's going to um that's going to
you're going you have a lot to bring to
the town of Gilbert and you're going to
continue the vision that you started
long ago so thank you very much um God
bless you and I wish you all the best
Merry Christmas happy New
Year thank you Scott that concludes
Communications mayor thank you vice
mayor moving on to Future meetings only
item listed is meet and confer follow-up
discussion scheduled into 2025 next is
Communications report from oral red and
Bacher Our Town manager I can't I can't
unsee it I'm sorry it's my last night to
make fun of you
Patrick mayor and members of the council
I'm just looking at the pallet of colors
up in the dice and like see I have to
carry Christmas cheer for everybody up
here and I think this jacket is doing
that job ay I've got just a couple
things that I'll share tonight if we
want to move to the first slide just in
time for the holidays we want to Welcome
Home Stefan
Walston one more okay Stefan wal Walston
who is our water Energy Services
resources planning adviser returned
safely home after deployment to the
Middle East from January to November
November of this year he served in the
Army for 17 years and was recently
promoted on his deployment to Master
Sergeant in the 856 military police
academy so or company my apologies um
we're glad to have him back I'm sure his
family is thrilled to have him back just
in time for the holidays and he is a
beloved member of our team and we're
glad he's home safe with
us next um we all knew this was coming
but it certainly Came Upon Us quick want
to wish Cathy tilky um godspeed and the
best in every everything with the next
stage of your life we know you're going
to still stay involved and we're really
happy to hear that but we thank you for
your long service to this community not
only officially with um various
capacities with the town but with your
leadership of the chamber for 25 years
you served on our Economic Development
Advisory Board from 1996 to 2008 you
were on a Citizens budget advisory
committee is my understanding during the
recession and then most recently as a
council member for 2020 and 2025 Kathy
we have sincerely enjoyed working with
you and appreciate everything you did
for this
community and then lastly uh mayor um
your long service starting with your
service on the Planning Commission in
2000 going all the way to
2014 then as a council member from 2015
to 2021 and then for the last four years
as our mayor you have take a lot of
history with you um from all your viors
and service in your various capacities
um we greatly appreciate all of that we
know you'll be moving to a new home in a
new community to be near your daughter
and grandson and son-in-law we wish you
the best in all of your future endeavors
and thank you again for your your years
of service to this organization with
that I just like to thank our employees
for another great Year I hope all of
them find the time to enjoy time with
their families their loved ones their
friends rest and recuperate and have a
happy holidays and we'll see you in 2025
thank you
thank you Patrick um means a lot next
report from the
council well you always have written
comments I'll go first thank you Madame
mayor um I want to start yeah I want to
start with
um talking about Kathy um it it it took
me half a year to stop saying to vice
mayor
Toki uh and I I I remember the first
time that we met um you said to me Chuck
because of your business background do
you have the patience to not get things
done
immediately and um I had to think about
that for for quite a while but I learned
that sometimes slowing down is actually
a benefit and you taught me that there's
always a um long-term consequence for
every decision that's made up here and I
want to thank you for that and we'll be
forever grateful for that I'm going to
miss looking down the dis uh and seeing
seeing your either face of approval or
face of what the heck is Chuck saying
now I'm definitely going to miss that um
but it's been a it's been a a pleasure
serving with you um and I I wish you all
Lu in the
future uh Madame mayor I'm probably GNA
say Madam mayor to Scott for half a year
because I've been so used to saying that
um our first year was Rocky very Rocky
we acted like brothers and sisters up
here but I think after some time we both
grew a little bit and I have to honestly
say um that this last year uh has been
an honor uh and a pleasure to serve you
and wish you nothing but good things in
the
future now I do my my uh I almost forgot
about that let me see so here we
go Fremont Recreational Center New
Year's Eve part noon Year's Eve party oh
I got that that was cool okay right now
ringing the new year with a bang at the
Freestone Recreation Center at 10:00
a.m. on December 28th December
28th gather your family for a free
Unforgettable celebration filled with
fun and festivities dive into various
exciting games compete for fantastic
prizes and Unleash Your creativity with
a special craft activity don't miss the
exhilarating balloon drop that promises
to Dazzle everyone as the clock strikes
noon thanks thank
you council member Tason I just want to
say also Kathy it's been a pleasure but
Bridget I want to say this because we
had the most horrible
start and through the last two years
I've learned a lot about you you've
you've opened up a lot of things you
singularly taught me something about my
own privilege that I grew up with and I
want to say I do have a profound respect
for you and you've come through your
life raising a extremely successful
daughter uh that you found the right man
for you that is that is an absolute
defender of you and I have a lot of
respect for people that do that for
people in their lives and I wanted to
let you know as as you leave this St
that I do respect
you anyone else any report from Council
no final report Council councilman tilky
no okay then it's down to me I have
quite a few things to report um I think
we have a slide my
traditional schedule and it's a little
light because um for the last two weeks
out of the last two weeks I was in
Hawaii for one of the week so we have
some meetings on there and then I went
off to Pearl Harbor which um I'll have
Eric add up another slide Eric or Judy
whoever's doing I think it's Eric that
is um Nikki Stratton she is the sponsor
for the USS Arizona and she was the
keynote speaker at the Pearl Harbor
remembrance ceremony in aahu you can see
the Arizona Memorial over Nikki's left
shoulder there um it's amazing to be
part of this organization and uh thank
you to Bill Spence for bringing this
idea to Gilbert it really has changed
and enriched my life and so many
different ways that I can't even begin
to wrap my head around next we have the
official crest for the USS Arizona SSN
803 the commander and a few members of
the crew were present in Pearl Harbor
and they released this Crest unveiled
this Crest officially while we were all
there together um you'll notice that
it's in the shape of the state of
Arizona and it has a copper Edge since
we are the Copper State if you look very
closely at it you see the submarine but
below the submarine you see the
battleship and um Nikki's comments are
always forging the future of the
namesake of the Arizona while reflecting
on the past and I think that this Crest
does such a great job doing that but I
also wanted to mention that this Crest
came about through an art contest that
was of high school students here in the
state of Arizona and then some crafting
from the crew following the contest and
the art contest was actually won by
Elise Hansen who is a ninth grader at
Highland High School and then the second
place winner was um Kaylee gerhauser
who's a 10th grader at Highland High
School and so it's really great to see
and they got a lot of entries let me
tell you they got a lot of entries but
they put this Crest together from a
couple of those entries that were made
and um they were thrilled to be able to
start to show this off um the crew is
coming together very nicely for the
submarine that now we don't think we'll
be probably um launched for the next
four years I would say later in the day
on Pearl Harbor day if you want to go to
the next slide I went and visited
because we actually had two bands from
Gilbert Arizona in in aahu for the Pearl
Harbor Day Parade a a Gilbert resident
Joel bigs is the parade um organizer
every single year and during our
Veterans Day event here at um Gilbert
toown Hall a mom she's actually up there
in the photo on the left she is a
Gilbert
team family member is the best way to
say because she's married to one of our
firefighters and she's the mom of one of
our firefighters she also has a kid in
the band and she came up to me and said
we're going to be in aaho for Pearl
Harbor day and the red t-shirt that I
have on there in the middle she
delivered two of those to my front door
for my husband and I to be able to wear
when we found when we went down to see
the band that afternoon so we went down
and spent a few minutes with them um I
took a lot of pictures with the kids and
then we had a second band there from
that's williamsfield high school and the
second band is from Higley High School
which I didn't find out till later that
they were going to be there so I went
over to visit with them and one of their
moms that was on the trip with them gave
me her Hawaiian shirt to put on so that
I could have a picture taken with the
band and you see that I had to um button
it all the way up because I had to try
and cover that red t-shirt that I had
from williamsfield high school so higgle
high band was there in williamsfield
high school band was there and it was
just amazing to be able to see them
participating in that event out there in
aahu I think that's all my slides Eric
right um and then I wanted to just make
an announcement coming out of Phoenix
Mesa Gateway this morning um as of July
1st this year the City of Phoenix had
officially removed themsel from the
Phoenix Mesa Gateway Airport Authority
board leaving the cities of Mesa the
town of Queen Creek town of Gilbert
Apache Junction and heila River Indian
Community as the five remaining members
of The Authority board and this morning
at my last Phoenix Mesa Gateway Airport
Authority board meeting there was a
resolution passed to um authorize the
change in the name of the airport
Authority it is now um Mesa Gateway
Airport Authority board officially
dropping the name Phoenix it um passed
with a motion well it passed with a 41
vote and I was the dissenting vote on
that one
um it's difficult to run an airport when
you don't have a major city attached to
it so we'll see how that goes and I wish
everybody the best it was my last day
there and and they G presented me with a
beautiful photo of the
airport this evening um December 17th
this evening I had to miss but I was
invited to the University of Arizona
College of Nursing was holding a
graduation for nurses over at our
University building in Downtown
Gilbert they were graduating 63 nurses
in tonight's class and in that 63 nurses
one of them is the 500th nurse graduated
from that U OFA col of Nursing campus
here in downtown Gilbert and from when
we had the idea to put a university
building in Downtown Gilbert and then
bringing in the University of Arizona
that partnership has paid off in
multitudes because the nursing shortage
is so great and there's such a lack of
great nursing colleges for those
students to be able to go to that this
partnership now has created 500 new
nurses out in the out in the
world the other part of the news for the
University of building that Patrick gave
me was next summer we will be paying
that University Building off early and
saving over $15 million in interest for
the town of Gilbert and the building
will be completely paid off and leased
out and can make plans for the future I
hope that the town continues to keep
that and sees it that the asset that I
believe that it is and continues to help
groom these nurses out into society
because nursing isn't just a shortage
here in Arizona it's a shortage across
the country
um I think that's all that I have it has
been oh I I did want to mention Water
Tower Plaza it came up a couple times
this evening and with the opening of
Gilbert Water Tower Plaza last night the
ribbon cutting and the kickoff for the
holiday season with the lighting of the
water tower we've missed our water tower
being lit in downtown Gilbert and to
bring it back and to see the new park
opened up was just amazing and thank you
to the staff who pulled that off in time
to get it done for Christmas Christmas
because that we were we were had our
fingers crossed that it was going to
happen and thank you for that it was a
beautiful event there were so many
residents there and it was so nice to
see them but um congratulations on
opening that great Park and creating a
space that I think everybody in Gilbert
will love to be able to go out and
participate in that's all I have I would
entertain a motion to a
journ I'm voting instead of saying it
the last thing I do on the D I can't
figure it out oh mayor I'd like to make
a motion to journ I have a
motion second I have a second I have a
motion by cons member tilki second by to
cons member
kosi all in favor just say I I meeting a
journ