Regular Meeting - 11/19/2024 6:30:00 PM

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welcome to town hall and thank you for
attending a Gilbert public meeting here
are a few things to know the meeting
will be held in the council chambers
should additional seating be needed you
may watch from our lobby if you would
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is here to assist you fill out the cards
and find the corresponding agenda items
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therefore disruptive behavior including
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during the presentations and
proclamations portion of the agenda
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presiding officer thank you again for
attending a Gilbert town meeting and for
your participation in local
[Music]
government good evening and welcome to
the November 19th 2024 Gilbert Town
council meeting first thing I'd like to
do is remind everyone to turn off or
silence your cell phones and devices so
that they don't go off during the
meeting council member
torguson um I will call this meeting to
order the first item on our agenda this
evening is the invocation by Rabbi
Israel Nelson of Beth Emanuel Messianic
congregation Rabbi are you
here I do do not see the rabbi vice
mayor would you like to offer a short
invocation this
evening thank
you our Father in heaven we are so
grateful for this opportunity we have to
be gathered together this evening we're
thankful
for the participants in tonight's
meeting as well as those of us who are
charged here with the welfare of the
community we pray that th will thy
spirit will be here it will prompt Us in
the things that we say and do and that
it will also help us to find the the
answers to difficult uh decisions when
necessary we ask that that will bless
each member of this community that they
will feel the spirit of Gilbert and take
that into their hearts and help one
another again we're thankful for this
time together this evening and for thy
spirit and we say this in the name of
Jesus Christ amen amen thank you for
pitch hitting there vice mayor next for
our Pledge of Allegiance it will be led
by the mayor's youth advisory committee
students that are here in full force
tonight come on down to the
front tonight is one of their monthly
learning days and we combined it with
them attending into Gilbert Town council
meeting so they can see how this
actually all comes
together if everyone would please rise
States of America and to the for it
stands Nation God indivisible
would you like us to stand ksten turn
around so your backs to us
please yeah if you'd like to step in
that would be great just watch my cup
there I just put it on the floor
sorry I feel I feel like I'm still
standing on the dis and you are still
taller than me how is that possible
thank you my ex student so great to have
you here
tonight and it was fun coming upstairs
and answering a few questions for you
next I will ask our town clerk to please
conduct the roll call Mayor Bridget
Peterson here vice mayor Scott Anderson
here council member Chuck Bon Giovani
here council member Bobby Buckley here
council member Yan
Kowski council member Kathy tilki here
and council member Jim toras here Quorum
is present thank you cheli um this
evening council member Buckley is
joining us virtually so you'll hear a
voice from the sky I call it and um
council member kosi is supposed to be
arriving a little late so we'll expect
her to arrive anytime now the first item
on our agenda this evening is
presentations and proclamations and the
first item up is a presentation
recognizing the 2024 MVP Award nominees
and winners for the town of Gilbert to
be presented by organizational
development consultant Andrew hir hi
Andrew hi mayor well done turning on the
mic Andrew thank you I've watched plenty
of you give great instructions so thank
you uh good evening mayor vice mayor uh
members of council and everyone in
attendance tonight uh my name is Andrew
hch and I'm a member of the
organizational development team for the
town one of my duties includes
supporting the internal employee
recognition programs including the
annual MVP program MVP allows people and
employees to recognize and showcase the
achievement of their peers supervisors
and colleagues over the past year
employees are nominated based on their
accomplishments that align with Town
values uh driven kind bold and humble
through written nominations and are Anon
anonymously scored by a committee of
eight or more Town employees and tonight
I would like to reflect on our values
and highlight the four winners that have
emerged from last month's ceremony uh
when I call your names please stand to
be recognized and after I would like to
invite the mayor to join the winners for
a picture that's that's all right all
right I'd first like to begin with the
value of
driven so we are passionate and driven
to excel always hungry for new
challenges and opportunities to achieve
more for our community every day average
doesn't interest us we are always
pushing ourselves for amazing we
understand the importance of our work
and strive every day to give Gilbert the
future it
deserves and our winner for that
category of driven was Marissa Morales
who's a legal secretary for the town
unfortunately she couldn't make it
tonight but we send her a huge
congratulations on her win cute dog
Marissa
yes all right next I'll move on to the
value of kind we believe in the inherent
worth of all people we are inclusive and
spread Gilbert kindness in our words and
actions we promote emotionally
intelligent leaders who put people and
relationships before processes and tools
we serve each other in our community
with respect and civility at all times
we believe the ability to connect and
help is just as important as Talent
talent and knowledge and for the winner
of kind we had Lauren Oxford who is a
digital Comm Communicator strategist has
worked for the town for seven years so
send a huge congratulations to Lauren
awesome yay
[Applause]
Lauren all right next I'll move on to
bold we innovate and take risks so we
can keep growing improving and learning
new ideas and Innovative approaches mean
sometimes we'll stumble if we do we we
quickly refocus to find the best path
forward Gilbert is a safe place for Big
Ideas we are committed to constant
Improvement and doing things differently
we value curiosity and creativity
knowing that the community Solutions
often require new approaches to complex
challenges and for the winner of
bold is Alisia
eese she's a HR specialist for the towns
worked for the town for one year so big
shout out to Alicia congratulations yes
and then finally finally the value of
humble we have a flat organization where
titles are the least interesting thing
about us service is at the heart of
everything we do we all have meaningful
contributions to make we embrace the
servant Leadership Model and relish
opportunities to facilitate the success
of others authenticity and collaboration
are critical to our success and for the
winner for humble we have Daniel heny
who's a way supervisor and worked for
the town for two years so
congratulations to Daniel
so thank you again uh mayor vice mayor
and members of council uh and
congratulations again to the winners on
a great accomplishment and thank you for
over the 100 nominees uh nomination
committee and everyone who made MVP a
great opportunity to highlight all the
hard work our employees accomplish every
day for making Gilbert the amazing place
that it is uh ask the winners to kind of
come forward to the floor and take a
picture with the mayor Patrick's going
to join us and
Patrick e
next small business up next
thank you um next we have proclamations
that we'll be handing out the first one
on our agenda this evening is for small
business Saturday could I ask Sarah
Watts the CEO and president of the
Gilbert Chamber of Commerce to please
join me and who do we have from Economic
Development Dan Henderson anybody else
from economic development that we'd like
to invite down I don't see anybody I did
put my glasses on I swear these are
getting smaller Sarah um whereas
according to the United States small
business administ Administration there
are 34.7 small businesses in the United
States small businesses represent
99.7% of firms with paid employees small
businesses are responsible for
61.1% of net new jobs created since 1995
and small businesses employ
45.9% of the employees in the private
sector in the United States and whereas
68 cents of every dollar spent at a
small business in the US stays in the
local community and every spent at small
businesses creates an additional 48
cents in local business activity as a
result of employees and local businesses
purchasing local goods and services and
whereas 59% of us consumers aware of
small business Saturday shopped or eight
at a small independently owned retailer
or restaurant on small business Saturday
in 2023 and whereas the town of Gilbert
and the Gilbert Chamber of Commerce
actively work in Partnership to support
our local businesses as they create jobs
boost our local economy and preserve our
communities and now therefore I Bridget
Peterson mayor of the town of Gilbert
Arizona do hereby Proclaim November 30th
2024 as small business Saturday and
encourage our community members to
support small businesses and Merchants
on small business Saturday on November
30th which is celebrating its 15th year
in 2024 and Shop small and Shop local
throughout the year congratulations
Sarah you can take this want to say a
few words talk about our collaboration
with the Catalyst for businesses
absolutely well first of all thank you
so much for continuing to recognize
small business Saturday we know
businesses are the lifeblood of our
community uh the catalyst is a wonderful
uh entity within um the town of Gilbert
it's a partnership between the office of
economic development in the chamber
which allows us to serve businesses from
ideation through exit so anyone in the
in the Gilbert uh town of Gilbert who's
looking to start a business just wants
to explore opportunity or really grow
business the catalyst is a great
destination and we hope that everyone
will take advantage of that and also
shop small business Saturday thank you
thank you let's get a photo let's move
over just a little to the middle
supposed to be giving that to you Sarah
she's gonna make me
cry okay next up Gilbert days we're
going to recognize Gilbert days with a
proclamation so anybody here from the
Gilbert Corporation please come on
down these folks run the Gilbert
promotional Corporation have been a part
of Gilbert days for years it's in here
so I'm not going to say it all but they
run the rodeo they are responsible for
the Pony Express so many different
different things and I'm so glad to be
able to recognize you this year and come
on down look at this I'm
underdressed with all of you and your
Queens oh girls hi I met you guys not
too long ago hi yeah hi how are you good
so this Proclamation for Gilbert days
whereas for the past 46 years the
Gilbert promotional Corporation has
actively promoted the spirit of the West
and Gilbert Arizona and through the
annual celebration of Gilbert days with
the parade a rodeo and a festival and
whereas the weekend of events of events
is enjoyed not only by the residents of
Gilbert but many from across the State
of Arizona and by visitors to Arizona
and whereas the Gilbert Day celebration
officially kicks off annually with a
pony express 100 mile ride whereas the
Gilbert day's Rodeo will take place the
weekend of November 22nd through 24th
2024 at the Horseshoe Park in equestrian
center and now therefore I Bridget
Peterson mayor of the town of Gilbert
Arizona do hereby proclaim the week of
November 17 through the 24th 2024 as
Gilbert days in the town of Gilbert and
do urge Gilbert residents to attend the
parade Rodeo or Festival events
scheduled for this weekend and join in
celebrating Gilbert days congratulations
who wants to say something you want to
say something I can you want to say
something sure if you want me to all
right uh right yeah right uh just want
to say uh the rodeo is happening this
weekend Friday Saturday Sunday and uh
it's a good time so tell every all your
friends and family it's a good time to
get out before the chaos of Thanksgiving
next weekend so get out and enjoy the
rodeo this weekend I I want to give you
each an opportunity to just introduce
yourselves and tell us your role with
the with the
group hi I'm Patty Williams I'm a
livetime member and a co- royalty
chair I'm Kim Graziano I'm just a
Committee
Member I'm Sarah pce and I do the VIP
chairman Heather cardui and I'm OPP
poning Express
chairman my name is Jen Padilla and I'm
over the bars hi my name is Kathy Padia
I'm a lifetime member and I'm over
sponsorship hi I'm Kaitlin West and I'm
a little dude's
princess hi I'm Alba Padilla I'm the
20124 Gilbert days Rodeo princess
Gilbert days Rodeo princess and I'm JD
McGee the
president I'm Courtney Seymour the
treasurer Josh Morris Rodeo security
I'm Michelle Lance I'm a lifetime member
and director of the
royalty hello I'm Bobby pad I'm lifetime
member remember regional park has it
going on too with the parade so it's all
all about Rodeo y thank you Mary thank
you thanks for coming um yeah parade
rodeo and Festival let me take let's
take a picture you
guys
e e
and I see that council member Capri has
joined us I said that she would be
sneaking in here next we have on our
agenda the public hearing items we have
five items on our public hearing hearing
agenda for liquor licenses and one
property acquisition I will open the
public hearing is there anything that
anyone would like to hear as a separate
presentation I will close the public
hearing bring it back to the council if
someone would like to make a motion to
approve the items on the public hearing
agenda I move to approve all the items
on the public hearing agenda as written
I'll second that I have a motion by
council member torguson seconded by
council member Bon Giovani please vote
mayor Peterson I apologize because uh
council member Buckley is vir voice yes
sorry about that sorry thank you sorry
um all in favor say I I I I any
opposed motion passes 70 thank you cheli
sorry we forgot about that moving on to
the consent calendar I will pass that
off to vice mayor thank you mayor we're
going to do things a little bit
different I want to be able to approve
the entire agenda so we do have a
presentation from staff on some
questions that were
POs to them of items that were going to
be pulled off but with the presentation
hopefully we can keep everything on
consent so the staff that if you could
come forward and make that
presentation Thanks Elena good evening
mayor and Council I will not be the only
one up here tonight so following me I'll
be joined by Jessica Marlo our Public
Works director and then police chief
Stillberg
so we'd like to start this evening with
uh just expressing our appreciation at
council's request to better understand
some of the items that are being
presented before you tonight for
consideration we've worked
collaboratively across departments
together to compile these explanations
for you and to provide the requested
context and background fundamentally all
of the agenda items that we present to
council are approached with an i towards
our organizational Focus areas so we ask
ourselves do the items presented bring
value to our community and our lines of
service by providing for a strong
economy prosperous community and an
exceptionally built
environment if these answers are yes for
our
residents then we answer vet and prepare
to present the items for consideration
by you so with that let's dive in a
little bit
the first items that we had requested to
be reviewed for Council and discussed a
little bit further are items specific to
fiber Broadband projects in Gilbert so
Gilbert has long desired a robust fiber
Broadband Network and service offering
for the residents in our community it
was identified as a wig in 2020 and
considered to be a path towards possible
although the town is not building its
own fiber Network many fiber broadband
companies have come to recognize what we
know and have known all along that
Gilbert's an excellent place for them to
be in the state of Arizona fiber
Broadband companies are recognized as
utility companies much like cable
electricity and gas as
such once they obtain a license at the
state level that provides this
recognition they can legally access our
right of way a Gilbert license agreement
and there's two of them before you
tonight agenda items 9 and 10
establishes standards for permitting and
inspection requirements restoration
requirements when the work is conducted
and an annual fee calculation where the
companies provide compensation to
Gilbert for the space that they occupy
within our right of way this calculation
is standard across all fiber license
agreements in our jurisdiction and the
amount is regulated by the
state there are two license agreements
on our agenda tonight one for cable
vision light path and one for
bental item 11 on the council agenda is
related to the gigap power reimbursement
agreement that you approved in September
this is the final piece of that puzzle
regarding the reimbursement agreement so
as you know gigap power has a large
project that they have determined to
deliver in Gilbert and it does exceed
the capacity of our available resources
in areas like inspections and utility
locates the agenda item in front of you
tonight being that final piece of the
reimbursement agreement establishes the
contractual
agreements with two inspections
contractors that will provide our teams
with additional support to
comprehensively inspect the projects
related to the gigap power build the
contingency funds that are being sought
in relation to this agenda item will be
offset and fully reimbursed by gigap
power as the contracts are services are
being
utilized with that I'll turn it over to
Jessica good evening mayor members of
the council um item number 13 um is a
list of several Cooperative purchasing
contracts for um vehicle parts and
supplies as well as contracted
maintenance service for our Fleet
Department uh that primarily will
support our Solid Waste vehicle repair
and maintenance as well as our fire um
heavy equipment apparatus maintenance um
having access to the parts and supplies
that we need in order to be able to do
the maintenance in house or having
specialized maintenance and repairs done
by the equipment venders um when we
don't have the capacity or the right um
specialized Tools in order to complete
those repairs obviously keeping those
vehicles in good working order at all
times is really important for us to be
able to provide not only our Solid Waste
Services to our community but also our
critical um fire and emergency response
so um those are all and especially with
the long lead times we have on replacing
those Vehicles making sure they're in
good working order at all times is
really
critical item number 14 um is also a
Cooperative contract for replacement of
street sweepers with that one you also
have a contingency request with cost
escalation for equipment over the last
few years um the the purchase price for
that vehicle has just exceeded um what
we originally had budgeted but it was a
budgeted expense um street sweeping is
an important part of our um
environmental compliance team where it
helps us maintain air quality compliance
with particulate matter um it helps
minimize pollution to our storm water
infrastructure it helps extend the
useful life of pavement by reducing
debris um and last but not least it it
definitely protects for the safety of
the traveling public on our roadways um
by keeping debris litter um free from
the travel lanes and the bike Lanes
specifically um item number 20 is a task
order with Felix construction for some
maintenance work that's happening at our
San Vista water treatment plant um that
is one we haven't taken the Santan Vista
water treatment plant out of service for
several years because of the work that's
been happening at our northwater
treatment plant we've had to keep that
plant um up and running this year the
central Arizona project is taking the
canals out of service um to do some of
their own maintenance and so these um
maintenance activities are things that
we can only do when the plant is offline
so the timing of that um for work in
January is critical um that particular
project um that plant is a shared plant
with Chandler and so the $124,000
contract that you see before you is a
cost share um Chandler will pay half of
that cost for those maintenance
activities and then the last one that I
have gets its own slide um because it's
a rep uh approval of contingency and
contracts for phase three um guaranteed
maximum price contracts for our wells
development program um these are uh
critical to our water resiliency
planning for shortages on the Colorado
River um this contract you see before
you is for multiple different
contractors that are working on seven
different well sites around the
community um with this request three of
those sites will be equipped and
completed um and give us functional
Wells um there are four more sites that
will have additional action um by
Council in the future um to address some
water quality treatment and blending
strategies um but we've been really
lucky with the contractors that we have
on board um being able to time all of
this work um and by phasing it in
multiple different guaranteed maximum
price contracts we're able to keep our
contractors moving and keep these
projects on schedule so um this this is
just the next planned phase um for these
different projects that will allow us to
um make sure we have the Water Resource
production capacity in place when U
Future Colorado River shortages um occur
and I'm going to turn it over to Chief
for the last one
mayor council good evening Mike soberg
police chief uh last item is agenda item
29 and this is a grant from the Arizona
uh governor's office of Highway Safety
and this grant is specific for youth
alcohol enforcement uh contract this uh
Grant would be for 8,100 which would
cover overtime expenses for education
and enforcement focusing on underage uh
drugs and alcohol uh focusing again on
DUI underage uh DUI DUI drugs underage
consumption and alcohol and provides
resources to focus on responding to
reports of unruly Gatherings and common
locations where you ga uh congregate and
often would do uh either drugs or
alcohol gives us enforcement uh
opportunity and funds to fund that any
questions for myself or anyone
else sorry I'm going to change my screen
back vice mayor Anderson has his mic on
first was that just for the consent yes
okay sorry council member torguson I I
the reason I asked for these items to be
brought off is not for any critical
point of view but for people to
understand let's say with what you just
presented things are being done
consistently that seem to fly under the
radar with people and this is another
program directed at teens alcohol
consumption parties fights Etc that
would normally just go on a consent
agenda and people don't hear that and I
just wanted to say thank you for taking
the time from your night to explain it
so we can have a little bit more open
dialogue with the public and I wanted to
thank everybody that stood up here and
presented normally during a consent
agenda because uh with Jessica they're
upkeeping people think we have
goldplated trash trucks they're buying
parts to keep things going for years and
years and extending the life there is no
frivolity and the the water uh the wells
people aren't understanding that the
tens and in the end hundreds of millions
of dollars that will be spent to make
sure we have water and that's why there
are costs associated that so many people
don't like but it's going through
consent agenda and nobody hears it and I
wanted people to be able to hear these
things that are happening so it's not
that it does it stings any less in your
pocketbook but at least you know why
it's there and that that is the sole
reason I pulled these things off consent
is for people to understand where this
money is going and what's happening it's
consent cuz nobody disagrees this has to
happen there was going to be there's no
discussion about the fact it has to
happen the discussion needed to be with
the general public so you can see where
this money is spent and that is the only
reason I took all of your time this
evening and I appreciate it very much
thank you mayor council appreciate it
thank
you any other questions or comments for
any of the
staff I may did you have the Advocacy
Center as one of the items to discuss
this evening for your consent
agenda was that which item was that
22 no nobody had brought that up this I
guess during the small groups it was
requested that a short presentation be
done on the Advocacy Center would
everybody be okay with just having that
done now thanks it's always good to
bring it out Chief back up you're back
up thanks chief
all right mayor and Council we want to
take this opportunity I believe you said
this was agenda item 22 sorry I forgot
the number uh but we want to present uh
with you an update uh we have the
contract coming before you today for our
construction company and so just to
update not only the council but our
community on the the need of our
Advocacy Center we will quickly cover
this looks long but we'll move quickly
through this uh the project need how
it's been funded our approach to
managing the process uh the bid results
uh from the bid this is different than
our normal uh semr type project what's
in the numbers and then managing risk
and our construction partner and the
next steps so moving on Gilbert is not
immune to Crime while we're a safe
Community we have domestic violence we
have homicides we have sexual assaults
child abuse elder abuse we're no
different than any other community and
as our community continues to grow uh
that rate of uh crime continues to grow
as well this graph here represents how
our population has grown over the last
nine years and with that the incidence
of specifically uh domestic violence and
sex crimes both on children and adults
have continued to increase as well this
next slide is a summary of that graph I
just showed you which shows that 63%
increase in that time frame of adult
victims for sex crime related incidents
a 45% increase in ch uh child related
victims in sex crimes for an overall
increase of just over 50% increase on
the domestic violence cases uh just
short a 49% increase in adult victims a
50.4% increase in children that have
been victims of domestic violence for an
overall increase of 49% so as our
population grows the incidents uh grow
as well our community has recognized the
need of an Advocacy Center and the
resources if provides in 2019 the
recommendation to council and to the
town were to provide additional
resources and and immediate connection
with services and
resources and second to that uh to
reduce domestic violence sexual assault
and abuse and human trafficking in
Gilbert the Advocacy Center that you've
uh been briefed on several times over
the last three or four years provides
for those recommendations and before you
tonight we want to talk to you a little
bit about the process uh this graphic is
somewhat symbolizes the process now we
rely on Mesa and Chandler's Advocacy
Center but it it's not in Gilbert and
it's an additional trip it's uh away
from home for our victims we want to
streamline that process and our Advocacy
Center will do that it will streamline
the focus on the victim so they aren't
ret traumatized they're focusing on the
uh prosecution of the crime but also
providing resources for the family the
victims and their support group to move
forward so that this doesn't happen
again the gubert Advocacy Center
designed as we spent the last year plus
um focusing every single aspect from
colors to design the floor plans the
flow of traffic on the victims making
sure that we're minimizing trauma um on
our uh group we had a trauma informed
specialist who is a professor up at UNLV
that reviewed everything we did every
design our furniture our colors
everything we did was designed with the
victims in mind to not
retraumatization our Advocacy Center
will be different and unique in the fact
that we will provide immediate after
care through counseling services for the
victims as they uh move on through the
criminal justice process part of the
import important part of an Advocacy
Center is cutting down that timeline so
that we get the information we get
successful prosecution and we provide
the services right away to our victims
so they can successfully move forward
with that I will turn it over to Ryan
Blair to talk about uh project Tim
line good evening Council mayor council
appreciate this opportunity this is
exciting to be up here once again
talking uh about the Advocacy Center
just to go over some of the project
timelines 2019 20120 is when this
project need was identified through the
gilberg community needs assessment um
2021 the council approved and designated
the use of arpa funds um and that's our
federal funding part of this project and
our and our predesign was completed
December of 2022 is the procurement of
our AE and our
pmcm and January 2023 to April 2023 our
design started and our business Cape was
developed on the project um further on
during the design process September of
23 we d a value engineering Workshop
September of 24 our project design was
completed and then April of 24 today are
procurement um for
construction oops went the wrong way
sorry I'm still going the wrong way
okay sorry um so just talk about the
arpa funding a little bit December uh
31st the arpa funds must be obligated by
December 31st um that basically what
that means it must be under contract by
that date or we lose the opportunity to
be able to utilize the arpa funds um of
of 22,9 51,8 78 um December the the
other deadline is December 31st of 2026
that we have to have this completed by
that date um and just FY our current
schedule on that is is way before that
so um we're happy to to be able to um
have that with us now to be able to
follow that process um just a little bit
of federal procurement process um as I
think believe Chief mentioned that
typically our process is a construction
manager at risk process um and that is
for those who may not know what that is
that is to bring the contractor on board
during the design phase um and then the
risk is basically um given to the
contractor
um if anything are missed or whatnot so
um unfortunately we couldn't follow that
process because of the federal
compliance um so we are doing a design
bid build and it's exactly what it says
is we design it we bid it and then we
build it um so we don't have that
flexibility of having that contract
contractor on board during the design
phase um so here's the process that we
followed and it's it's it's a little
unique um to a design bid build which is
really an awesome thing um is we
actually did a RFQ advertisement that we
were able to do a pre-election of
contractors um so instead of the instead
of having this bid of of contractors
that go to to everybody which it did but
this basically vets out those
contractors that we feel confident and
comfortable moving to the next step um
and actually to build this um and a few
slides here it'll go into more detail um
here's some of the evaluation for our
interviews um I won't go through all of
the the questions and things that we
were thinking about but again we wanted
to make sure that whoever the contractor
was that they we were comfortable and
confident as a team because this is a
low bid whoever was on this list and
they got Advanced to the actual be able
to bid on this project that we were
comfortable with whoever that was to bid
on this project so that's really what
makes this unique um and still following
State Statute and federal
compliance and the evaluation of our
criteria for bids this is our
construction documents that each
contractor has to um Ensure that they
submit as part of their bid to be able
to be considered responsive and
responsible a few more timelines so
April May the RFQ was issued um June the
town pre-qualified six different
contractors or vendors um September um
the ifb or the the bid was sent to six
different biders in October 17th 2024
the town received a total of five bids
um and four were considered responsive
um which means somebody forgot to had
some of those that paperwork in there so
they were considered non
responsible and moving forward so here's
the bid results um the the lowest app
apparent lowest bidder um was Gil bang
and they had as you can see they had 18
milon 578 some change on their their
lowest bid um talking about risk on this
project since it is a low bid Pro
process um and since the contractor was
not on board during the design process
is the risk is fairly High to for
unforeseen conditions um and and utility
conflicts and different things so um the
town decided to put a 15% um Town
controlled allowance on top of the the
the bid that gilban provided U we
rounded that up from 2.7 million to 3
million and then after taxes and
everything was added to that the total
contract award would be 21 million 624
935 um and this is just our bud budget
um when we first started out with this
project just as a reference um from our
Professional Services construction
management but to really focus on the
construction cost um it is $30 million
you'll see the bid that came in the
total bid was around 21 but that doesn't
account for some of the relocations the
permitting um to to higher quality
assurance um things like that to be on
the project so those are additional
funds that's required that's outside of
the contract um and in addition to that
the furniture equipment um since this
was a design bid build project we wanted
the opportunity for Town staff to be
able to still select Furniture um of
what they wanted and to be able to do
that we had to try to get that out of
the the process from the contractor and
so we have a separate vendor um going
through that RFQ process the same way
and selecting some vendors so that we
can have the opportunity for Town staff
to be able to select some of their
equipment trying to be as flexible as we
possibly can um of how we normally do
business um and again federal funds is a
little over 22 Mill just 23 million and
then General funds um coming in after
the obligation of the federal funds A
little over 20
million there we go um just a little bit
about gilbane so this is a um unique for
us we we're we're hiring a low bid
contractor that we've never utilized
before and so we did some research on
them um and this is just a little bit
about them of you know established in
1870 and that's not a typo um 1870 U
building in since 1999 and as you can
see their portfolio they're National
company that's that's done a lot of work
around the nation and I believe in 20
other countries as well um some of their
Awards is the number 11 in the top 400
contractors of 2024 um so really this is
a you know we kind of put our put it the
town that's a difficult situation with a
low bid but then we got really uh
blessed or lucky whatever you want to
call it to be able to have a good
contractor on our team um and the second
piece of this is our pmcm and our
architect Tech have both worked with
gilb and have nothing but positive
things to say about
them um here we are next step so here we
are November we're going for the the
Construction contract get those funds
obligated by our deadline um
groundbreaking ceremony is coming up in
January and then construction will also
start in January um with a completion
date um again this date is the
obligation date of being um expended by
December of 26 and uh and that our
future phase is to be determined and
again our recommendation to the council
tonight would be to proceed with the
award for construction services with
gilban thank you Ryan any questions or
comments for Ryan or chief
soberg thank you for the presentation um
I think members of gilbane are here
thank you for joining us this evening
and um if our meeting goes a little
short maybe we'll get to actually meet
you when we step down from here tonight
moving on vice mayor what do you have
next that's it unless anybody has any
other further questions on the items
that were presented no with that I would
make a motion that we approve the
consent agenda which is items 9 through
33 I'll second that have a mo I have a
motion by vice mayor Anderson seconded
by council member Bon Giovani we need to
do a Voice vote so all in favor please
say I I
I council member
Buckley oh I any o
opposed M motion passes
70 is that all you have Vice that's it
thank you moving on to the next portion
of our agenda which is Administrative
items item number 34 is a discussion and
update from the community engagement
task force council member
tilki thank you mayor um we met on
November 4th and participated in a
facilitated compression
planning exercise to capture ideas from
the entire task force these uh there
were 111 original ideas produced uh and
the first round of priorities were
categorized into our task force silos
which are education awareness and
resources I want to give a special
thanks to Kathleen dor who's an amazing
Community partner with dignity house for
her
facilitation our next meeting is
December 9th where we will finalize
priorities by evaluating smart goals
level of impact high medium low and the
amount of work to accomplish these goals
we understand that the Town Council
cannot mandate participation from others
within the community but we feel our
longstanding relationships will help us
work together on the recommendations
we're going to present to the Council on
December
17th and that's all I have for
now thank you Council member tilki that
group has been very busy in a short time
frame so thank you and yes Kathleen
dollar is a treasure to the community
not just Dignity Health but to the
community so thank you for that next on
our agenda is Communications from
citizens back to you vice mayor thank
you mayor we value the participation of
our community members in the robust
exchange of ideas 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 uh copyright
infringement and is not allowed as you
your name is called tonight please come
up to the podium and state your name and
your city your town of residence and you
will have three minutes to speak unless
otherwise indicated first up tonight is
Bridget Vega
good evening mayor and councel thank you
Chief soberg and Commander for meeting
with us and answering some of our
questions thank you assistant chief and
those who attended like the night to
honor Preston
Lord as we do want to remain focused on
teen violence not only in the schools
but in our communities as it is a
critical issue that affects the
community as a whole but also the
student safety and the well-being of the
children it impacts their ability to
learn in safe
environments again teen violence can
manifest in various forms including
bullying physical fights drug or alcohol
abuse suicidal ideation and even more
severe incidences like shootings as
children are looking for a place of
belonging of being seen and heard
addressing this problem requ requ Ires a
multi-facet approach we ask that you as
a council and the community task force
act as a liaison to help bridge the gap
with Gilbert Public Schools if you guys
can sh uh share your alarming stats from
the Arizona Youth survey presented by
your Council to the public schools that
would be helpful as I'm going to leave
this copy with you guys as well um we
did present to them tonight the cusd
random student drug and alcohol abuse um
program that they have we would like to
share and see if you guys can act as a
Le liaison to get that implemented as
well for
Gilbert um but also I still do want to
address as a community engagement task
force we have yet to see you show up to
the last couple community events
especially around teen violence and
Preston Lord that has been and would
have been a great opportunity to show up
and connect with the community we did
have police presence but again we do ask
and invite that you guys bridge that Gap
and start taking the steps as we work on
communicating and trying to heal as a
community um as well as leadership
continues to turn a blind eye and not
address the root cause of teen violence
as again there is no zip code um but we
also want to address and we do
appreciate the law enforcement and
enforcement campaigns on curfew but we
would like to uh revisit the unruled
Gathering and holding parents
accountable as there still are parties
going on including in v
vrbos as well as if we can get an
amendment on the brass knuckle ordinance
and adopt the language from temp as they
have the most comprehensive
language um and again let us not be byst
standards and commit to Breaking the
cycle of harm and fostering a community
built on love empathy and accountability
together we can create a brighter future
for generations to come as it starts at
home and leadership in this
room thank you next up is Bethany
Britain is Bethany here
hi um thank you um for
listening um tonight this is my first
time ever speaking at one of these
things um I'm speaking as a very scared
parent um who lives in Gilbert my child
attends mosquite High School uh there
have been two gun incidents at their
school in the last month and it's Terri
verifying getting these text messages
and these
emails not knowing what it's going to
say until I open it up and it's the
worst in your head that you're thinking
every time it seems to be a little worse
and my
child they're scared when they go to
school I didn't used to think metal
detectors were necessary but my thoughts
have changed on those in the last few
years I grew up in Mesa I went to
Mountain View um I remember when Kino
got their metal
detectors um I want to see my child safe
at their school and um we did just move
downtown a few years ago and we were
really excited to do that but we don't
feel safe down there anymore um we've
had two instances of gun violence in the
last 6 months um at our
intersection we don't feel safe walking
the short half mile to the restaurants
downtown anymore I can hear the cars and
the parking garages still racing every
weekend
um it's just scary uh having teenagers
right now in this area we've already
been in the national news for it and I
don't want to be in the national news
for it again and I I just spoke at the
school board meeting before this and um
I just again want to follow up and agree
with Bridget that I would love to see uh
communication between this board and the
school board so that our students can
feel safe when they go to school and
that as residents we can feel safe
downtown and that's all
thanks thank you next is Carissa Arnold
good evening so I actually want to
address the garages again because
nothing's really changed down there I
was driving through downtown the other
day or a couple weeks ago I know the
picture got sent to you but there was a
teenage girl sitting on the ledge of the
garages um I hear the cars every night
the weekends are horrible as she was
saying residents in downtown hear them
all the time you guys had said that you
would try the security it hasn't worked
worked nothing's changed kids are still
hanging out in the garages there's still
loud cars down there you still have kids
sitting on the ledge of the garages it's
not going to be long before another kid
dies and falls off one of those Ledges
so coming back to you and asking you
guys again to start taking this
seriously pull the security either start
doing validated parking for your guests
or and or make that top level to where
it's employees only and nobody else has
access to it because mark my words as
one of our um team members had said
before somebody is going to die soon a
month later a kid fell off it is not
going to be long before it happens again
and your residents are being affected in
downtown when you have these cars going
up and down all night everybody off of
Gilbert Road hears it it's not difficult
to know what's going on down there the
cars are loud and it's
constant I hear them with my windows
closed so and I'm not even in downtown
so something needs to be done to address
this because clearly what the solution
that was implemented is not working as
we had already addressed so thank
you thank
you next up is there Michael
Benson you're donating your time to Bill
okay Bill Spence is up
next six
minutes just realized I've never I've
never used this uh the button all
pressed okay uh mayor count counc my
name is Bill Spence and I'm a resident
of Gilbert um I wanted to start out by
saying I was really happy to hear about
the victim's Advocacy Center kicking off
and that's something I think is a a
definite high priority three uh CIP
project that benefits the residents um I
was provided a list of priority 3 CIP
projects and I think the list is the
water treatment waste water a lot of
these other things there's a couple
priority threes that I don't agree with
but I'll save that for another meeting
over the last two years I've been
provided and have reviewed tens of
thousands of public records that have
been legally obtained from multiple
sources ources they include emails phone
records text messages audio and video
recordings and statements by people
willing to testify under oath I recently
been contacted by members of the media
and others regarding my knowledge of
certain issues within the town I'm aware
of Investigations are currently in
progress and several complaints have
been filed with numerous agencies
including at least two that have been
filed with the State Attorney General's
office I been told that one of these
complaints alleges quote
serious public corruption and gross
misconduct by public officials in the
town of Gilbert unquote and that I have
been and that I have been identified as
one of nearly two dozen witnesses that
may have
information there were several
complaints filed last year against
members of this Council I was shocked to
recently discover and confirm from
multiple sources that key evidence
related to these complaints was
deliberately withheld from public
disclosure without a clear legal
justification additionally I have
discovered a flaw that may result in
significant loss of information while
fulfilling certain records requests this
flaw and other issues requir the certain
requests be divided into several
separate requests to receive the full
results I've attempted to communicate my
findings with the
town while some of you in this room may
be upset it was this Council that stated
its desire for investigations to be
handled by the Attorney General's office
I not aware of all the details of these
complaints however I am support of the
external organization conducting these
investigations they have the authority
to obtain records that are personal
privileged or otherwise
protected and they can compel sworn
testimony of all Witnesses including
those that are not affiliated with the
town something that is not possible
during investigations by the
town in the wake of Preston Lord's
murder I opted to no longer pursue the
issues with Council it had been
explained to me that Gilbert's
reputation for safety prosperity and
political stability were vital in
attracting new businesses to Gilbert and
that my complaints were quote bad for
business
the council then quietly eliminated the
complaint process and changed procedures
to move heal the comments to the end of
Council meetings a move that proved to
be wildly unpopular with the pro with
the public the message was made clear
that this Council was not interested in
conducting investigations or being held
accountable for their actions in anyway
vice mayor Anderson even campaigned on
putting all these investigations behind
us I completely disagree I started this
year with the intention of supporting my
friend's campaign and nothing else
however I contined to receive more and
more information regarding issues with
the town from new numerous people I was
provided with recordss to show greater
detail regarding issues that occurred in
2023 but also that members of this
Council have continued to conduct
themselves in a questional manner
throughout this year this council is so
hyperfocused on spending money raising
taxes raising service fees raising your
pay executing personal agendas and
protecting Gilbert reputation for safety
and prosperity that you've turned a
blind eye to the people of Gilbert and
are ignoring the realities affecting our
everyday lives we are a big city with
292,000 residents and we don't feel that
you listening to what we're trying to
tell you I have a few specific concerns
I want to
address how we doing I have here a
police report for Miss Lani HUD
singer I'm stunned by the circumstances
in the involvement of council members in
this report I'd be happy to discuss this
in detail further but I'll be shocked if
the lawsuit isn't filed following this
uh following their pre-trial disposition
tomorrow I am concerned by what appears
be weaponizing the public safety I have
found and been provided with several
records that identify concerning level
of involvement and influence by council
members in the initiation and conduct of
police
investigations I have obtained records
that lead me believe that meet and
confer is being used as leverage in
exchange for campaign donations and
assistance with executing the political
agendas of certain council members I am
continuing to discover issues with the
disclosure of public records by the town
and with the general transparency of
council members although you all have
Town email and town phones many of you
decided to conduct have decided to
conduct Town business using your
personal phones and personal emails to
avoid disclosure through public
records how much time do I have I'm not
sure how much time do I have there it is
since I have a little bit of time I do
want to address I was really happy to
hear about some of the issues with
pulling things out so we know what we're
spending our money on I wasn't going to
discuss the spending habits of this
Council I don't agree with them I think
that the budget process was flawed you
talked for exactly zero seconds
this last uh budget you talked more
about your pay raises than you did about
the CIP projects and about proper and
responsible fiscal um
spending the repair and education center
is something that I've been arguing
about we had the whole list I was provid
a list of about 25 priority three items
for CIP uh for the CIP projects the
repair and education center is a$ 13.5
million project that exactly one person
in this town wants to have
I would like for this Council to address
some of these priority three projects
let's focus our money and spend our
money where is best served where it's
serving the public
um and that's all I have I just want to
remind you that we don't have setbacks
we have opportunities I thank you for
your
time thank you Susan
Berea good evening
um mayor council and
staff Susan boria I'm a resident of
Adora trails in very South
Gilbert um I have a couple things to
talk about and my first subject is the
cattle are
back U roaming the streets of the
community and we are looking for help in
making sure that there isn't going to be
an incident either with residents
walking on the streets or the
cars they're enjoying I guess our grass
and ornamental plants and prefer that
over the uh bales of hay that they can
get at home and unfortunately now a lot
of them are very dark in color so
they're even more difficult to see at
night um so it's basically just an
update
um what I really wanted to talk about
was uh the Patriotic celebrations that
the town of Gilbert holds and say kudos
to you all and the committee that puts
it all together I attended this year the
veterans previously I've attended the
Memorial Day 4th of July and this year I
came to the veterans and I um am
overwhelmed with how um professional and
inclusive those celebrations are I love
seeing the kids being involved because
they should all learn about this and I
love the opportunity to um participate
in something very
patriotic I traveled for
business and went to some very lovely
places Belgium France Japan and after my
very first trip overseas in 1981 so this
is a time ago I came back to the United
States stood in customs and said God I
love the USA it's the best country in
the world so thank you for the
opportunity um to be able to participate
in those patriotic
celebrations and lastly I just want to
say to everybody to have a s safe and
happy holiday season and for the council
members who will not be back in January
I wish you all the best and um that's
it thank you thank you
Susan that concludes the communications
I'll just remind the council that they
may respond to criticism ask staff to
review a matter or ask that a matter be
put on a future agenda if there is
anyone
that counc member bonani thank you mayor
I would like staff if we can um to get
us a copy of the Tempe brass knuckles
ordinance so we can take a look at that
I appreciate
that thank you council member and
council member tilki thank you mayor um
I I wasn't sure what the timing of the
report out on the parking um security
was going to be but I'm hoping that will
be coming up soon thank you great
comment um and for
um the resident that spoke at the at the
school district office tonight you can
connect with assistant chief Bley he's
sitting right over there he just raised
his hand he's got his glasses on his
head he would be happy to connect with
you on that and um Susan if we could
connect you I think with our inner gov
office about the cows and Adora Trails
Rob Bor sitting over there um second
same row as you Susan actually over um
at the end of the row so if you wanted
to connect with him we would be happy to
have you do that too I know the cows
have been an issue down in a Tor Trails
um otherwise I think I covered the two
main points that we were
discussing moving on to on our agenda to
Future meetings one item is listed meet
and confer for after the first of the
year and moving on to Communications
report from the bearded Town
manager thank you mayor members of the
council I've got a number of staff and
great things I'd like to highlight for
you tonight start with we move to the
next slide we had a trun or treat event
which a number of our Personnel in
various departments participated in we
had a huge turnout for it we have some
contest each year and for our winners in
each category best town overall was by
Public Works Solid Waste and Recycling
they had a minion Trunk or Treat display
most creative was by forensic services
in our Police Department a psychic
readings Trunk or Treat display and
those speak spooky was by detention in
police as well out of control inmate
trunk Retreat display that was a great
event for all the families and the
children who got to participate and they
gave away a lot of
candy next I want to congratulate our
office of economic development for
winning a golden prospector award the
office of Economic Development
collaboration with higher education
institutions and Workforce Development
Partners to grow career pathway training
for Gilbert's growing population earned
recognition Gilbert identified a
partnership with Maricopa County
community College District which
Illustrated they had the foundation
necessary for long-term economic growth
and success of this type of program
scholarships were offered to Gilbert
students enrolled in courses related to
emerging Technologies and a strong focus
on stem Innovation congratulations to
the entire team in Economic Development
they also won a golden prospector award
for the work they did as part of the
LPGA tournament that was in Gilbert
earlier this year the campaign utilized
the internationally visible LPGA forward
Arizona Championship govern's first
professional go golf tournament to
develop a sophisticated and informative
commercial that reached nearly a million
viewers the tournament attracted
18584 attendees
4,735 unique visitors and accounted for
about $1.7 million in visit visitor
spending and I believe we've got their
video that they created
[Music]
thinker did great work and welld
deserved recognition and that video was
actually produced in-house by Oscar
who's a member of our digital government
team he does outstanding work next I
want to recognize one of our town
leaders assistant Town manager uh Leah
reinheimer who received the 2024 women
leading in excellence award in
government this award recognizes women
who lead by example mentor and expand
women's contributions in the public
sector Le has been a transformative
force in advancing women into leadership
positions within Arizona's local
government her commitment is exemplified
through the founding of Gilbert's Native
American management internship program
in 2013 which empowers indigenous women
to serve in leadership roles across
tribal and public sectors congratulation
to Leah and that was recognition that
was very well deserved we're thrilled to
have her on our team and lastly I'd like
to recognize our Wellness team within
the people team Gilbert was named one of
the top 100 healthiest workplaces in
America the prestigious Awards program
celebrates organizations that prioritize
the well-being of their employees
Gilbert placed number 47 on that list
out of all the Employers in the country
congratulations to the entire Wellness
team and the people team and everybody
who helped support that program success
that's all I have for you tonight thank
you thank you Patrick congratulations to
everyone that was just recognized during
Patrick's manager update now we have a
report from Council would anyone like to
offer council member Bon gvani thank you
may let's talk about parks and wck so
Gilbert Days festival head to Gilbert
Regional Park for for the Gilbert Days
Festival on November 22nd and 23rd this
family-friendly event will feature live
music games Inflatables food shopping
and more pre pre-sale tickets are $5 per
day and children 12 years and under are
free the event will go from 4:00 to 9:00
on both days let's talk about our
Gilbert Days parade the two 2024 Gilbert
Days parade celebrates our Town's
Heritage with the theme of decades party
this year over 75 Local Schools
businesses and Community organizations
will showcase floats and entries that
highlight iconic Styles and Trends from
their current from their favorite
decades this long-standing tradition
brings together Community organizations
as they March down Gilbert Road every
fall the parade kicks off at 8:30 a.m.
on Saturday November 23rd down Gilbert
Road between Juniper and Elliot roads
and we hope to see you
there anyone else council member Koski
I just wanted to highlight that
um as council members a few of us have
been doing some additional
coordination um recently three of us
attended a quarterly meeting with the
three public schools within the town of
Gilbert Gilbert Public Schools Hegel
Unified School District and Chandler
Unified School District it's been a
great opportunity to share information
between our police department and with
those School superintendents and it um I
think that this will be a strong
partnership moving forward that will
continue quarterly and we hope to expand
it to include Charter Schools as well um
so that that's something that that that
is positive that has come out of um the
work that's been discussed earlier this
year and I'll let council member tilky
maybe talk about our East Valley council
member meetings as well next actually is
council member torguson no let Kathy go
on that Alo
thank you um we started this past year
an opportunity we kind of um took it
from the fact that the Mayors get
together every quarter and we thought it
would be really nice to meet with our
peers and the and our East Valley
Community so uh we meet with our fellow
council members and we talk about unique
um Trends going on in our community uh
discuss how they're handling them um
we've been able to come back and share
ideas with our staff of something that
might be able to be considered into the
future and so I I really appreciate when
we get together it's all very informal
so there's no action being taken similar
to what you do mayor I think but um it's
um I know in some ways it it's nice to
know that we're not the only one that
has issues that need to be addressed um
but it's also heartwarming how
everybody is willing to share what's
going on and and and actually
acknowledging that there are there's
work that we all need to do together and
that a lot of the decisions we make
don't stop at our boundaries and so um
thanks for the opportunity to talk about
us doing
that council member torguson I just
wanted to say I had the opportunity to
go to the National League of cities uh
conference in Orlando or Tampa and one
of the greatest greatest things about it
was hearing where other towns and cities
were and many of the things were far
ahead of concerns that are just now
Rising for other people we've
pre-planned so far ahead on many many
things and there were interesting things
like talking about the electric air
taxis that'll be coming uh within the
next 10 years they figure it's here uh
Amazon doing drone deliveries and it
starts in the West Valley next month I
believe uh the trial program out there
uh but there was a lot to leave with
feeling very good about the staff that
serves this community being as focused
on things
coming uh where people they're having
thousands of cities listen to this as
though it's new news we've been working
on it for three years and to see that we
have a staff dedicated uh to the people
is town to be ahead of the curve was was
very much enlightening and it it
happened last year but even more so this
year and it was
uh it was it was just a very great
experience for me to to feel that and
I'm going to say one thing about Tampa
I'll take dry heat over wet heat any
day Vice May
Anderson I believe you have a birthday I
yes I do and we want to we want to wish
you a happy birthday I think there's
some goodies in the back for you yes
some cupcakes in the back good big
60 next Tuesday I wasn't going to say
that well I I said it too months ago
when it was council member tason's
birthday were exactly two months apart
in age and yes thank you well happy
birthday thank you oh thank you yes the
The Voice from from oh The Voice from
the sky would like to speak yes C can
you hear can you hear me okay
yes okay well happy birthday by the way
and I I would like to uh add a few
things uh that the economic development
department has been doing and the uh
about the Heritage District so the the
Heritage district will they're featuring
what's uh called the Gilbert
postcards and will they will feature
five postcard mailing stations set up
inside downtown area locations this new
activation supports the ongoing public
art initiative in Gilbert's Heritage
District referred to as the community
canvas which aims to integrate Gilbert's
history historical and cultural identity
into the public spaces each station will
offer a different postcard that visitors
can fill out and drop in the mailbox for
special delivery these postcards feature
exclusive illustrations created in
collaboration with the design team at
Cactus Country depicting various
Heritage District locals and icons such
as the water tower Heritage Marketplace
and heway the postcards will be mailed
to spread to spread holiday cheer
directly from Gilbert Arizona this
season and um according to the uh Dan
and the office of Economic Development
one and four visitors to Gilbert will
visit the Heritage District during their
stay and nearly 27 million visits took
place in the herit District Over The
Last 5 Years The Source was the 23 2023
placer.ai the hello from the heres
district postcard stations will be in
place starting the week of November 12th
so that started a few days ago and they
will run through new the new year or
while the supplies
last is that all council
member and that that is it that's the
end yes thank you thank you very much um
any other reports from Council I'll move
on to report from the mayor um first I
have my I think I have my my schedule
for the past month because we haven't
been here for a whole month and it was
quite full um one of my favorite things
to do was attend the veterans advis the
veterans Advisory Board held their
annual Veterans Day celebration here and
we do hold it off of Veterans Day so
that students can specifically be be
involved in that celebration and um it
was very well run we brought it back
here to town hall during the day and um
we had a great turnout I'm very proud of
that group for everything that they do
and then I walked in the veterans the
East Valley veterans parade on Veterans
Day with the Gilbert Fire Department and
police department and one of the
highlights of my month was a whmo ride
to our mag Regional council meeting
there we are um Chandler mayor Kevin
Harkey invited myself Queen Creek mayor
Julia Wheatley and that's the city of
Maricopa mayor Nancy Smith in the front
seat to come out to Chandler city city
um headquarters there down Chandler City
Hall and we rode in a wh Mo all the way
to our mag Regional council meeting now
let me tell you folks weo doesn't use
the freeway so it was all surface
streets from downtown Chandler to
Downtown Phoenix First AV in vanen it
took us hour to get there but it was so
well worth it because the four of us had
a great time we had great conversations
and discussions and so thank very big
thank you to um mayor Kevin Harkey for
inviting us to do that little event we
we talk about different modes of
transportation all the time and that was
just one really fun way that we got to
celebrate that and um this weekend as
was mentioned it is Gilbert days and
there's some road closures for you
please have a heads up check our social
media as you can see Gilbert Road will
be closed Saturday from 5:00 a.m. to
11:00 a.m. they come through and clean
up from that parade pretty darn quick so
you'll be back downtown pretty fast um
there's no Gilbert Farmers Market this
weekend because of the Gilbert Ace
parade and you will also see that the
half marathon will cause closures along
rer Road from North Gilbert down to
South Gilbert at different times in the
morning so please be aware and please be
prepared for those things too yesterday
um yesterday I attended what I consider
now to be the kickoff of the holidays
every single year which was the kickoff
of the giving machines in downtown
Gilbert if you haven't visited these big
vending machines that you can go and
purchase donations at for nonprofits it
is a great way to celebrate the holidays
and just give back there's two machines
this year they're located right in front
of hail Center theater in their
Courtyard right downtown Gilbert across
the street from our water tower Park the
park is still under construction so they
couldn't have the machines in the park
this year um there are six local
charities that you can donate to and a
couple of global Charities and it is an
amazing way like I said to just give
back and there are all dollar different
dollar denominations to be able to
donate and you can donate all kinds of
things like meals $5 for meals that
that's 25 meals that you can donate you
can donate shoes and books and soccer
balls and some sometimes chickens and
goats to around the world so please if
you haven't had the opportunity to go
visit those machines they are provided
by The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints they cover all of the
administration fees for those machines
no money goes back to the church all the
donations go Strictly To those um
nonprofits and they come here every
spring to hand out really ginormous
checks too so please if you haven't done
that it is a great way to celebrate the
holidays and to give back at the same
time one more thing about the Veterans
Day event I I would be remiss if I
didn't mention that state representative
Jennifer poock um attended that event
she is always a representative that
comes and celebrates just about every
event that we have going on here in
Gilbert and she is she decided not to
run for reelection to the state
legislature and I just wanted to give
her a Hu huge shout out because she
really has represented the city of
Chandler and the town of Gilbert so well
for the time that she has served in the
state legislature and um she's an
amazing woman and I will miss work with
her that's for sure um thanks for
mentioning cops and goblins and the
trunker treat Patrick because I attended
that and walked around and I don't know
who was having more fun the staff or the
kids walking around and picking up candy
I would say probably the staff um Chief
was down there handing out candy at one
of the trunks but I met this really
sweet family with two little boys and
they said they have come every single
year it's something that they look
forward to they love the police
department and finally the wife wife
said you look very familiar are you are
you the mayor and I said yeah after we
had talked for about 10 minutes so it
was very cute and very sweet and thanks
for doing what you do because I think it
really makes a difference in the
community and I can't imagine how much
candy you handed out that night that is
all I have to report everyone please
have a very safe and happy Gilbert Day's
weekend please be safe out there and
Happy Thanksgiving next week um stay
safe with your families and enjoy your
time I will take a motion to adjourn the
meeting
I have a motion in a second motion by
council member tilki second by council
member ban gavani all those in favor I
motion meeting adjourned thank you