Regular Meeting - 5/21/2024 6:30:00 PM

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good evening everyone welcome to the
Gilbert Town council meeting for May
21st
20124 I will go ahead and call this
meeting to order and invite the members
of the Hindu Faith to the podium to
offer our invocation and if you would
like to please all tell us which
organization you are with and give us
your names please
spee
speee spe
Namaste my name is Shi basti Namaste my
name is via
badw Namaste Namaste my name is Dan
basti Namaste my name is name is rushi
naak Namaste my name is Ana Nayak we are
student volunteers from the Hindu swam
saak s in the month of May we all
celebrate Teacher Appreciation Week in
appreciation and sincere gratitude of
the teaching Community we the Hindu swam
saok s USA celebrate Guru
Vandana Guru Vandana is a Sanskrit word
for Teacher veneration today we will be
chanting the guru stam to show our grat
gratitude and Mark of respect to all the
wonderful
[Music]
teachers salutations to that glorious Ur
who has shown me the reality of the
pervasive unbroken infinite mandala of
movable and immovable
[Music]
[Music]
beings salutations to that glorious Guru
who when I was blinded by ignorance
applied medicine and opened my
eyes
brah
vah Guru is Brahma Guru is Vishnu Guru
is the Supreme Lord Shiva Guru is both
manifest real ity and the absolute
salutations to that glorious
Guru I bow to the universal God of South
the teacher of all Worlds the doctor of
all diseases and ailments and who is the
storehouse of all knowledge
Dad thank you so much for sharing that
with
us we appreciate you coming to our
council meeting this evening and sharing
that for our invocation next we will
have the Pledge of Allegiance led by
council member
tilki thank you mayor if you'll please
rise and join me I pledge
allegiance next if I could have Deputy
clerk Martinez please offer the roll
call Mayor Bridget Peterson present vice
mayor Scott Anderson here council member
Chuck B Giovani here council member
Bobby Buckley here council member young
Kowski council member Kathy tilky here
council member Jim
torguson here we have a quorum present
mayor thank you thank you Judy um
council member Capri will be joining us
in a little bit our first Proclamation
will be to the American Legion members I
think it's actually auxiliary members if
they would come down to the front of the
council chambers to declare May 24th
2024 as Gilbert poppy
day I I wear my red for poppy day kid
okay whereas America is the land of
Freedom preserved and protected
willingly and freely by citizen soldiers
and whereas since the Inception of our
great nation Millions have answered the
call to arms and undeniably many have
fallen in battle and are known as fallen
soldiers and whereas a nation whether at
peace or in Wartime must never forget
the price of a war and must honor the
debt owed to those who died in war into
their families and whereas the red poppy
is universally designated as a symbol of
the lives sacrificed in all wars and
whereas annually the American Legion
auxiliary pledges to remind Americans of
these sacrifices and this debt owed
through the distribution of this
Memorial flower now therefore I Bridget
Peterson mayor of the town of Gilbert do
hereby Proclaim May 24th 2024 as Gilbert
poppy day and I encourage all residents
to honor and pay tribute to those who
have made the ultimate sacrifice in the
name of Freedom by wearing the memorial
poppy on this
day thank you thank
you and I'll have you all introduce
yourselves I'm Taran Chris wait you're
junior auxiliary member you want to say
that um I'm a junior auxiliary member
I'm Chris Brena and I'm an incoming
eboard member with the auxiliary the
auil Claudine rosson eboard member and
mik Bailey uh past Commander American
Legion Gilbert post 39 Bridget Peterson
proud auxiliary
member thank you all let's get a photo
thank you all I'll see you see you
Monday for Memorial Day thank
you next star on our agenda this evening
is a proph clation declaring the week of
May 19th through May 25th 2024 as
National travel and tourism week council
member Buckley will present to the
office of Economic Development please
come down to the front of the
chamber this is great pardon me
sometimes we get it right
is
on hi
there um do you do you want to say
something first
okay all right uh whereas the US Travel
Association in the National Organization
that represents and advocates for all
components of the tourism industry and
whereas travel is a pillar of economic
growth supported by the Gilbert office
of Economic Development velopment to
enhance the quality of life for
residents of Gilbert and visitors to
Gilbert and whereas Gilbert is a premier
Leisure Sports and business travel
destination and hash Gilbert is
recognized by the Arizona office of
Tourism as Gilbert's official tourism
marketing
organization and whereas in 2022 tourism
activity within Gilbert generated
$357 million in visitor spending
and in 2023 attracted 5.4 million
visitors and now therefore I Bobby
Buckley council member and on behalf of
Bridget Peterson mayor of the town of
Gilbert do hereby Proclaim May 19th to
the 25th
2024 as National travel and tourism week
and we encourage Gilbert employees and
residents alike to support all tourism
efforts that serve the best needs of our
community
thank you thank you very much for what
you all do and uh do you want
to certainly thank you for the
recognition we appreciate that um we're
going to do some introductions here in
just a moment um but I'd like uh Glenn
to talk a little bit about uh what
tourism means in
Gilbert yeah so uh tourism in Gilbert is
all about supporting the community it's
about the things that we love uh here in
the town and sharing those with uh V
visitors to the town a lot of times it's
our friends and family who are coming to
visit us but also uh people from
overseas across the country and for us
they come they experience they learn a
lot and they spend some money in our
community and that benefits us at the
end of the
day uh a couple of brief um
introductions we'll start with Denise
Denise Lopez I'm the president and CEO
of HD South the Gilbert Historical
Museum and I also serve as a member of
the tourism Action
Group hi I'm Liz Mangan I am a tourism
project manager serving the tourism line
of service within the office of Economic
Development thank you Dan Henderson I
serve as the director for economic
development and in that we support
Redevelopment Economic Development and
Tourism and Glenn schlotman tourism
program manager at the town of
[Applause]
Gilbert e
thank you all hash discover
Gilbert next we'll move on to our public
hearing portion of our
agenda items will be heard at one public
hearing at which time anyone wishing to
comment on the public hearing item may
do so I have slip for request to speak
on items 7 8 and 12 council members are
there any other items that you would
like to pull off to speak about or
discuss
individually nine please man
nine nine please any other
items seeing none I will open the public
hearing on items 3 4 5 6 10 and 11 close
the public hearing if anyone would like
to make a motion on those
items I'd be happy to take one mayor
I'll make a motion with and to approve
items 3 4 five 6 10 and 11 thank you I
have a motion by council member tilky I
second seconded by council member
Buckley because we have council member
Toran torguson virtually we'll need to
do a Voice vote all in favor say I I
I any
opposed motion passes 70 Judy thank you
moving to item number seven code of
Gilbert conduct hearing and consider
adoption of ordinance number 2901
amending the code of Gilbert Arizona by
amending chapter 42 offenses and
abatement of public
nuisance um Chris Payne would you like
to address this issue
please uh yes mayor councel would you um
we had a study session on this last last
week or two weeks ago I need to open the
public hearing sorry open the public
hearing on item seven now Chris pan
thank you okay we had a study session on
this ordinance and the and the next
ordinance last um I guess it was two
weeks ago would the council like a
presentation on that it's the same
presentation or very similar to what was
given or can we or we can just do a
discussion I'm seeing I'm seeing NOS
just the changes that we discussed if
you wanted to highlight those okay
sounds great so what was discussed at
the study session two weeks ago was an
ordinance that would ban uh The
Possession and then you know lending or
borrowing or selling brass knuckles or
Knuckles of metal to anyone under 18
years of age um that's the agenda that's
what's been published in the agenda
that's the ordinance there's been a
suggestion to modify that to expand that
prohibition to include brass knuckles of
any type of material whether it's
composite bone whatever it is it's all
all Knuckles of any type for that
purpose would be banned no matter what
the material is so that's a change that
you have on the dis right now that you
can look at it's the same ordinance that
was discussed two weeks ago with a
definition added at the end to say brass
knuckles shall mean basically Knuckles
of any material
type any comment
questions on
this I do have public comment I want to
see if you had any questions for Chris
at this
point no do you have a question or
comment for Chris at this point uh I
well I just wanted to confirm from uh
you know the meeting a couple weeks ago
did we decided on 18 and under right the
21 and under how how did that come out
or is that something we're talking about
so mayor council member Buckley the at
the study session two weeks ago the
council decided on um 18 and under or
under 18 I think is what it says let me
verify any person under 18 years of age
that's what was published and that's
what we're discussing council could
decide to go with a different age group
I would like let Council know that
Chandler passed their ordinance last
week and they went with under 18 so ours
would match what Chandler did I thought
that was what how we ended up I just
wanted to confirm that not not what I
want to but thank
you thank you I will go ahead and um
invite the member of the public that
would like to speak on item number seven
which is um Connor
johnigan down to the public Podium
Connor you've spoken to us before so I
think you know how this
works three minutes on the timer Judy
please hi Connor you're probably going
to need to pull that mic up you're
pretty tall there you go thank you
thank you mayor and council members for
taking action in ordinance tonight I
will hopefully make it illegal for
miners to possess brass knuckles or for
businesses to sell them to miners in the
town of Gilbert as most of you may know
I was assaulted by a Gilbert goon in the
back of the head with brass knuckles at
the Gilbert in andout on December
2022 this individual was 16 at the time
which is the same age that I was I did
not know him but I do find it disturbing
that he could have easily P purchased
brass knuckles anywhere in the East
Valley since we currently have no
regulations on them whatsoever brass
knuckles are dangerous weapons designed
with a single purpose in mind to inflict
maximum harm upon another human being
unlike many other weapons brass knuckles
are specifically engineered to enhance
the force of a punch turning a
relatively harmless blow into a
potential Lethal Weapon I know this
because doctors told me had my in injury
been an inch over I could have been
paralyzed or killed like many arizonans
I am proud of our freedoms and
individual rights so it may seem
counterintuitive for me to advocate for
the Banning of any object based on my
personal experience I believe there are
certain items whose sole purpose is to
cause harm and whose presence in our
society serves no legitimate purpose
brass knuckles fall squarely into the
category we cannot allow individuals and
in this case that you were voting on
tonight specifically minors under 18 to
possess tools whose only use is to
inflict pain and suffering among among
others I personally believe in a
complete ban but I can understand other
viewpoints Al although I do not buy the
argument that they are used for
self-defense but taking decisive action
tonight to ban juveniles from possessing
brass knuckles and to ban the sale of
them to minors the gibbert Town Council
will send a powerful message that teen
violence has no place in our
community this ordinance shows that
Gilbert is attempting to make a positive
difference in our community we will
solve team will we solve teen violence
no I'm not that naive to believe that we
will but if it prevents another
Disturbed team from accessing a deadly
weapon and possibly preventing what
happened to me to someone else then
it'll be worth it in closing I'd like to
say thank you council member Bon Giovani
for your support and willingness to
listen to my ideas thank
you thank you Connor um please refrain
from Applause thank you Connor we
appreciate you coming and speaking this
evening to the Town Council I don't have
any other um people wishing to speak on
this item so I will bring this
discussion back to the council any
comments thoughts
questions discussion
member council member bu oh council
member tilki thanks mayor um I'm
supportive of the changes before us this
evening um I think the council member
bonani probably wants to make the motion
so I don't want to jump ahead of
that thank you no
pressure Council giovan you have a
comment yeah I'm um let me think here
I'm real proud of Connor um
um you've been um Really Brave to move
forward with this
um I wasn't going to miss this for the
world I was discharged from ER about 30
minutes ago and the doctor said as long
as I don't get angry or upset he will
let me come here today so I'm asking the
council to Save a councilman's Life and
make sure this thing gets
passed I um
it's been a it's it's been a long haul
but when I heard your story Conor I knew
that something had to get done and I
want to thank the council for listening
to you also and making this
hopefully a possibility and and a new
ordinance
tonight I will go go ahead and close the
public hearing and challenge council
member Bon Giovani to make a motion on
this
item if as long as that fits within your
health require en for the evening it
does so um I'm going to master this soon
but right now um I make a motion to pass
item seven code of Gilbert um chapter 42
offensive and abatement of public Nuance
article five four offensive including
Public Safety relating to brass knuckles
I second that motion as presented this
evening by Chris Payne as presented by
Chris Payne perfect that will that will
include the changes
we have a motion by council member Bon
Giovani seconded by council member
Buckley all those in favor please say I
I I I any
opposed I heard our voice from the sky
motion passes
70 thank you moving on to item eight I
do have one it one person wishing to
speak I will go ahead and open the
public hearing on COD of Gilbert conduct
hearing and consider adoption of
ordinance 2902 amending the code of
Gilbert Arizona by amending chapter 42
offenses and abatement of public
nuisance article 3 offenses involving
public peace and Order division 3
related to unruly Gatherings and throw
it to Chris Payne for introduction of
this item Chris mayor and Council as we
had a study session on this a couple of
weeks ago I'll just go over briefly what
this ordinance would do um Gilbert has
historically not had an ordinance like
this in place a lot of other cities have
um Gilbert has not so what this would do
it would make it illegal to have an
unruly Gathering um within the town
whether on private property or public
property whether it's residential or
commercial and that the way it's defined
it's a party Gathering event or any on
any property um which causes a
disturbance of the reasonable enjoyment
or of the property by any persons and
that's that's the main point and what it
does is it holds it identifies the
responsible person and under the code
change the responsible person would be
any person who's the owner landlord or
tenant or the sponsor or host of that
UNR Gathering so this is a a large party
that gets out a hand that's disturbing
the piece the person that through the
party or the property owner landlord
tenant could be held responsible under
this uh currently if there's a large
party like this police go out if there's
underage drinking they could cite that
but they can't hold the re the homeowner
or the person that th threw the party
responsible um the exception for that
responsible person is if if you're the
property owner or the tenant and you
didn't know about it then you're not
going to be liable under this so if
you're you're the homeowner and you
didn't know about the party happening um
you may be able to get out of it that's
a defense that you would have if you're
cited except that if there's a second
UNR gathering at that same property
within 180 days then you're on the hook
and the idea is you can't just say hey
I'm an absentee owner I don't know about
this and Escape liability if you knew a
party happened then you got to make sure
it doesn't ever happen again or else
you're going to be responsible directly
so the penalties um as written would
include a first citation would be a fine
of not less than $500 it's a civil fine
and not more than $2,500 the the judge
or the court would make that
determination where that should fall in
in that range and then a second
violation after a second violation
within um an 18 month period would be a
criminal violation a Class one
misdemeanor and the other for for penali
as well the other component that that's
there is the the responsible person
would also be liable besides whether
it's a civil or criminal fine for the
actual cost of the town and responding
to that so if you have a large unruly
Gathering large party that happens and
police and fire have to roll out the
responsible person would get a bill for
the actual cost of you know what it took
for the town to respond to that
event on top of anything that the court
imposes on top of the Civil fine or the
criminal fine whatever whatever ends up
out of that thank you any comments or
questions for Chris at this point
council member
Buckley I seem to have a lot of
questions tonight but um Chris I I just
would can you clarify at the beginning
when you started uh talking you
specified the different sections or
people or areas that this applies to did
you say commercial in there I thought I
heard you say residential commercial so
that that's correct the the idea is it
doesn't just apply to Residential
Properties if there's an unruly
gathering on a commercial property then
that commercial property owner whoever
through that party would be held liable
under this would be held responsible
under this ordinance Okay so if if one
of the local restaurants or Resorts
maybe as we have them in Gilbert maybe
Double Tree but if they were to have a
New Year's Eve party those anybody could
say a New Year's Eve party is unruly
sometimes um just because you know of
the circumstances it would would they
get fine for this I mean does that's why
I'm concerned that commercial is in
there
so and I I think I'm going to defer the
chief to come up on the discretion side
the answer is if the behavior Rises to
the level of an UNR Gathering where it's
disturbing the peace and the reasonable
en joyment of the neighbors then yes
potentially but our police officers also
have discretion and know when to use it
and chief can speak on that better yes
mayor and council member Buckley uh to
as Chris mentioned we would have to take
the totality of the circumstances
um this ordinance provides several
examples of uh different items we can
look for to identify as an unruly
Gathering so if you're example at a
hotel a New Year's Eve party that gets
very loud we have to look at traffic
flow pedestrian flow is there underage
drinking illegal drug use these are all
factors that we would take into
consideration to determine is that party
an unruly Gathering um and keep in mind
also we have the state statutes as well
so if you have a commercial property
that's let's say you have a th people
there we may also have disorderly
conduct as well so that is another
option uh in addition whether it's
residential or commercial but just the
fact that you have a large party we have
to take into consideration of the noise
the containment of that noise um
reasonable precautions uh normal
business we get noise downtown Heritage
with our uh businesses that's reasonable
and expected but at times if it gets too
high we can have that conversation and
bringing that noise leveled down we also
have our noise ordinances as well so
it's not a blanket if there's a party
and the police get called you're going
to get cited we have to go through all
these steps to document how and why it's
unruly okay so so there are some
stipulations with commercial
already yeah yeah as mayor and council
member Buckley the same with residential
as commercial the same law whether it's
state or ordinance would would apply to
both equally okay okay great our burden
of proof is the same okay perfect I just
want I just wanted to clarify that so
that we don't have our businesses all
over us but they already
have most of those anyway the
restrictions okay I got
it council member Bon Giovani um I just
want to noted I wanted to thank um Chris
Payne for working with the um Chandler
attorney hard to get this um language
through and also to the um Chandler Town
Council um to bring this uh issue to
light um for us to move forward with it
here in gilber I hope other cities uh
join both the brass knuckles and uh this
ordinance thank you council member tilki
thanks mayor um Chris I have a little
bit of problem with my computer so I
can't pull up the actual packet at this
point for the well I can but it's blurry
um so I don't know what's going on but
um the so I don't have the the final
that was in our packet um I thought we
talked about 18 months not 180 days so
that's what I was confused about we had
but then Chris explained it to us in a
different way and we went back to the
180 days
correct yes there's actually there's two
components just to clarifies there's
there is an 18 months and there is 180
days so the the change that we discussed
at the at the uh study session was if
you're a responsible person who is a
landlord or an owner or a tenant they're
not you know if an unruly Gathering
happens at their property they're not
responsible under the code unless they
knew about it yeah or unless there had
been one within 180 days prior to that
current one okay so that's what the code
says the 18 months comes in on the
criminal side on the penalty side so if
there has been an unly Gathering and
someone was cited for that and they get
cited a second time within 18 months
then that jumps it from that second
citation is no longer civil it's going
to be criminal
okay okay that's what I agree with like
and we had talked about making I think
talked about making them both the same
but then we realized that you actually
have to be well behaved for a longer
period of time right that's what I had
thought the nicest way to put it
probably so I apologize I thought I was
gonna have it pulled up so
um I didn't have any other questions I
think that you covered the changes that
we had all discussed it sounds like it's
in um pretty close to chanders I think
the only difference is the responsible
party which I think is more enforceable
on ours and so that minor change there
is something they'll have to deal with
but I think overall we're very close and
similar which is what we were hoping for
thank
you thank you I will yes council member
torguson uh my question here is when if
the court does not find it to be Li
someone to be liable but we've had this
or we've attempted to build them I'm
assuming that that the ability to uh put
the costs of
police uh to a to a land owner to a a
homeowner would
be un it' be unable to be enforced
because they've not been found
criminally negligent is that
correct council member torguson that's
correct that the provision that talks
about being reliable or being
responsible for the expenses comes after
a person commits a violation is found
responsible so only after a
qution and that would be on the criminal
not on the Civil end of it correct it's
it's both on the Civil or the criminal
so if you get cited and you
either plead guilty or accept the
penalty or a court finds that you're
civil responsible you would also be
liable for the expenses same thing on
the criminal
side thank
you thanks council member Tuson I'll go
ahead and bring our speaker up and do
set if you come up to the public Podium
please Judy can we have three minutes on
the clock
hi my name is an ducet I'm speaking on
behalf of the Lord
family an upstanding young man named
Preston Lord had just turned 16 years
old when he was murdered as a result of
teen violence at a house party that was
out of control it is time that stricter
laws are created to hold teenagers and
adults account accountable and
responsible for their actions Chandler
city council has stepped up as a leader
in the East Valley to create the unring
gather unruly Gathering ordinance we ask
that you follow suit in creating a
unified commitment to join the city of
Chandler in this
ordinance this amended ordinance will
make the residents of Gilbert feel safer
we live in a time where the prevailance
of underage drinking and out of
controlled parties among minors has
become a troubling Norm these events not
only endanger the lives of our young
citizens but also disrupt the peace and
Harmony of our neighborhoods it is
imperative that we take decisive action
to address this issue the amended law
will enforce stricter consequences for
minors caught drinking and hosting
unruly parties by holding these
individuals accountable for their
actions we aim to deter such behavior in
the future and predict protect the
safety of our communities moreover this
law extends its reach to the parents who
must take responsibility for the actions
of their children under their care it is
a collective effort to ensure that our
youth grow up in an environment that
Fosters responsibility and respect for
the law the unruly Gathering Gathering
ordinance would serve to strengthen
existing laws and reinforce these values
in conclusion let us Stand United in
support of the amended law to enforce
accountability amongst Miners and their
parents together we create a safer and
more nurturing environment for our youth
to thrive the Lord family would like to
thank the city of Chandler city council
for partnering with the community to
make this these necessary changes
quickly and
efficiently let us also take a moment to
reflect on the remarkable life of
Preston Lord whose memory will forever
be cherished in our hearts thank you the
Lord
family thank you bring the discussion
back to the dis I'll go ahead and close
the public hearing any more comments
discussion questions
vice mayor I'm ready to make a motion I
would love to have a
motion I would move approval of item
number eight an amendment to chapter 42
offenses and abatement of public
nuisance article three offenses
involving public peace and Order
division three related to unruly
Gatherings I'll second that as presented
this
evening I have a motion by vice mayor
Anderson seconded by council member Bon
Giovani all in favor please say I I I I
I any
opposed hearing none motion passes
70 and thank you Chris Payne and again
to um the city of Chandler and the city
council of Chandler and their their City
attorney Kelly Schwab who was my town
attorney here in Gilbert when I first
started volunteering thank you for the
work on this we appreciate that moving
on to item nine I'll go ahead and open
the public hearing council member torg
you requested that item 9 be pulled do
you need a presentation or do you have
specific questions for
staff well specifically I want to know
the Community Development block grant
reporting back to HUD I want to confirm
the reporting requirements and
expectations of such okay I think I
heard you would like to know what the
reporting requirements and expectations
are with the cdbg
grants yes because they're reporting
back to HUD yeah thank you Melanie mayor
council member um torguson uh the
reporting requirements are developed
where after we complete the annual
action plan is if it is adopted this
evening we move forward and submit that
to HUD who then reviews and makees we
are in compliance with what we're
looking to move forward with and then at
the completion of every year we actually
create What's called the Caper and it's
an actual evaluation of all of the
accomplishment ments and what we did and
how we spent the money uh we do provide
that report to council as well but it's
submitted also through HUD um it gets
actually promoted to the public uh
there's public comment available and we
have that as our requirements to make
sure we've met the expectations and that
we have spent the money in accordance
with all of the
regulations Council M torguson any
comments or questions on
that are there any further requirements
of doing this and it's it's the typical
thing of do we have any other ongoing
expenses with it are we engaged in any
other Federal programs by taking this
money uh anything you know the strings
attached explanation mayor council
member
torguson you are required to make sure
that you meet one of the national
objectives when you set out in spending
These funds and making sure that you are
either benefiting lower moderate income
persons um it does have to either Aid in
the elimination of Slum and blight or U
meeting a particular urgency our annual
action plan outlines very specifically
how we will be utilizing those funds uh
you can use some of it you can use a
percentage toward Administration so we
do use some of our funds to help pay for
a staff member that runs our emergency
minor home repair program which that
program does help townwide uh with
emergency repairs for someone who is
income eligible so that's meeting the
low income um benefit qualifications so
all of our projects do have to meet that
minimum expectation as required but
we're not tied into any other Federal
programs federal funds um again these
are very specific requirements that are
um ident identified through the cdbg um
allocation that we do receive as a
community that's over 50,000 it is a
Formula allocation that we receive these
funds I appreciate you going through the
explanation for the nth time for me
thank you you're welcome the nth time is
that what I heard thank you council
member tus and any other questions or
comments on this item I'll go ahead and
close the public hearing back bring it
back to the Das would someone like to
make a motion on item number
nine mayor I'll make a motion I move to
go
ahead go ahead council member torguson
okay I I make a motion to adopt uh
public hearing item number nine
Community Development block R funds uh
for fy2 24 to
2025 a second I have a motion by council
member torguson seconded by council
member telkki all those in favor please
say I I I I any opposed motion passes
70 thank you very much moving on to item
number 12 elections conduct a hearing on
the capital capital projects
accumulation fund option on the November
5th 20204 general election I'll open the
public hearing on this item do we have a
staff member that could oh kellyo I see
you that would just give a general
overview of this item before I bring up
our public
speaker yes thank you mayor and Council
thank you yep we'll get I've got just a
couple slides um because it's a detailed
topic so I think that will help provide
clarification
all right perfect the uh public hearing
tonight is related to the state and post
expenditure limit we anticipate there
will be two questions on the November
2024 ballot for voters they are related
to this expenditure limit one of them is
a permanent base adjustment which
permanently changes the number that the
state imposes on the town the second uh
item is a capital projects accumulation
fund it allows for Capital money that
the town spends on capital projects to
be exempt from that state
limit voters can approve both of these
items they it's not an either or
option a little bit more information
about what the state expenditure limit
is in the Arizona Constitution it
includes uh from the 70s is when this
was put into place and it said whatever
the cities or towns spent for their
budget in 1980 that was a wonderful year
and that's the total amount that the
cities and towns are allowed to spend
moving forward inflated for population
growth and then inflation in the
market it does not change that number
does not change based on changes of
services that the town has over time
count of Gilbert voters did approve uh a
permanent base adjustment so it changed
this number which started in fiscal 1998
so it's about 25ish years old
now um and voters are allowed to make
those adjustments so Gilbert has changed
significantly since 1998 when that last
change was made new fire stations uh
expanded to water treatment plants
wastewater treatment plant multiple
Public Safety buildings pools libraries
Parks lots of services in Gilbert have
changed since that
time the permanent base adjustment as I
mentioned would permanently change uh
the number the base that the it is
calculated off of uh it is not a tax
increase it does not change any of the
revenues that Gilbert would get it
simply changes the number that the state
has for us that's the maximum we're
allowed to spend in a year the chart on
the slide here shows you what the per
capita expenditure limit is for the
various cities in the valley Gilbert
currently the per capita amount since
all of the cities have different numbers
of population this help makes helps make
it more
comparable uh Gilbert's currently under
$2,000 per resident that were allowed to
spend if the permanent base adjustment
was put into place it would increase to
about 3 $200 per resident it would be
second lowest in the valley so still a
very conservative number uh Glendale
would be just above Glendale um
Scottdale is also asking for a permanent
base adjustment on their ballot this
year the capital projects accumulation
fund allows money that the town spends
for capital projects to not count
against the expenditure limit um if
other things that don't count against
the expenditure limit is if the town
bonds for projects so we can cash fund
the projects it counts against the
expenditure limit if we Bond it does not
this exemption would allow the town to
bond to cash fund more projects instead
of bonding for them uh and still be
within under the expenditure limit is
the value of this the penalty if the
town goes over the expenditure limit is
that the state is able to withhold our
state shared income tax revenues uh
various amounts depending on the amount
over and then they would divide up those
revenues withheld from Gilbert to all of
the other cities and towns not including
Gilbert the total penalty could be a
maximum of $60 million per year for
every year that the town would be over
so it is a a large penalty
there on the May 7th meeting council did
approve a resolution that allows the
permanent base adjustment to go onto the
ballot in on November the November
ballot the capital projects accumulation
fund that exemption has a different
process in statute for how that would
would get to the ballot it requires two
public hearings tonight is the first of
those public hearings the second public
hearing will be the June 4th meeting at
which point Council can make a vote on
whether or not to include this item for
voters to vote on in
November we will be doing extensive
public Outreach because this is kind of
a not well-known part of State Statute
so that voters can make an educated
decision we do anticipate that the
ballot will be three or more pages long
so we encourage voters get all the way
to the bottom and make sure to express
your uh thoughts and opinions on those
important Town items which are usually
towards the bottom of the
ballot any questions thank you Kelly
council member banavani okay I have two
um in no way shape or form could should
this be called a debt ceiling am I
correct correct it is a total
expenditure limit ceiling in fact debt
is exempt from not even close to a debt
ceiling correct no if we see that social
media we need to remember that this is
not a debt ceiling correct correct thank
you second question let me see if I can
understand this right pretend I'm 10
years old I said pretend um I have $100
of cash in my pocket I want to buy an
$80 watch but my parents or the state
says you can only spend $50 in cash so
if I want to buy that watch I'd have to
take a loan out for
$30 which would kind of like be a bond
correct correct so even though I have
the cash to pay for it the state can
tell me that I can't pay cash for it and
voting correctly on this would raise
that so I could pay cash for it correct
your analogy is correct I can't
influence an election so I okay I there
is no voting correctly vote how you
would like but the analogy is correct
okay thank you for not influen the
record she has to be careful how she
responds I got it okay I want to make
sure I was 10 years old fully understood
that so if I go on social media tomorrow
I'm still 10 years old and I I get this
right yes thank you and council member
you can influence an election staff
members cannot
influence okay anyone else have a
comment at this point or a question for
C oh yes council member
T and and I'm kind of reiterating what
Chuck just stated but for instance uh
Chandler I think paid cash for their
Town Hall
correct did yes um Patrick is shaking
his head yes that's true yes that's my
understanding so yeah I I as I recall
they paid cash rather than having the
bond for it so in essence it's allowing
us let's say more Revenue came in with
some sort of State shared Revenue sales
tax
whatever we wouldn't be subject to going
over that limit and we wouldn't have to
borrow and pay interest against money
that we're sitting
on if we sold properties whatever we
wouldn't be penalized and in the end it
would cost us less is that correct mayor
council member tarus and yes that idea
is correct there would still be a limit
that we couldn't go over but it would be
higher so we would be less likely to
exceed
it thank you very
much thank you council member torguson
um thank you C for the explanation I
will go ahead and invite Doris masado
Liddell to the
podium to speak to us this evening Judy
three minutes on the cloth please and I
can see it up here Judy I know that I
can see it up
here hi dor turn the microphone on one
of those two buttons and I'm sorry I
forget which one it is there you go
thank you hi my name is dor michad Adell
I was just going to comment on the
proposal for the election um I think I
missed some of the comments but my one
question is um how much is this costing
uh to place the ballot or place this on
the election ballot how much would it
cost the taxpayers of Gilbert that's my
my one question and if there is a cost I
think we should know that also I think
that spending and I understand spending
we need to spend and paying cash is
great but I've seen it time and time
again in where the town of Gilbert has
allowed developers to postpone their
development agreements because the cost
of building is so high so I think
sometimes as a town we may look at
things like that and may postpone
projects that not are infrastructure
that are not necessary Roads Traffic
fire things like that but we need to
look at things and look at our budget
rather than going to the people and I
know know that it says it's not a tax
increase I understand that however we
can't spend more money than we're
bringing in and eventually we're going
to run out and we're going to have to
ask the taxpayers to pay that so I just
ask that we consider that and that we be
we are fiscally conservative also um and
I understand uh cash is great and cash
is King but the cash has to come from
somewhere so I ask you to consider that
and then also if you haven't discussed
the cost to the taxpayers I would
appreciate um if that was addressed
thank you thanks Doris um is there
anybody that can answer the question
about putting on the ballot I know that
this is a regular election year and the
ballots already being printed and this
is part of a regular election typically
we don't have to pay extra for that
because there's already an election
going on but that's just
spitballing mayor Peterson you are
correct I don't have the exact cost and
it would include publicity pamphlets and
things like that but you are correct in
that it is part of a regular election so
the costs are more nominal at that time
we're not trying to run a special
election on this it's part of the
regular general election that's going to
be run um Kelly even referenced the fact
that the ballot is probably going to be
about three pages long so everybody
needs to pay attention all the way down
their ballot as we're hearing there's
going to be so many issues on the ballot
and elections on the ballot that it's
going to be a very long ballot that is
correct thank you Judy thank you thank
you I will go ahead and close the public
hearing bring it back to the Das for any
discussion and or
motion M Kos oh council member
Tuson I just wanted to confirm on with
Kelly on these expenditures we're not
allowed to spend money we don't have if
we're spending cash correct reopen the
public hearing Kelly thank you mayor
council member Tuson thank you that is
correct we are still required to
maintain a balanced budget we still
cannot spun money that we do not have um
this just changes the number from the
1980s that the town has or that the
state has for us fantastic thank
you any other comments or questions for
Kelly at this time Koski yes we I don't
think we need to vote on this tonight
it's just correct this is the first
public hearing the vote will be June 4th
I got excited all right thank you Kelly
um in response to the question from uh
dor who made the comment could you talk
a little bit about some of the upcoming
CIP projects and how they would be
funded I believe they're funded through
repair and replacement funds
and that in my mind is like a savings
account that we've been holding that
money in for this time period when those
repairs need to be um done can you talk
a little bit about that sure thanks uh
the there are a lot of CIP projects
coming up you're correct one of the
funding sources that we use is money we
have set aside for repair and
replacement project projects we have the
cash in the bank account there is a now
a need to do those projects whether
they're water pipes Wastewater pipes
Building Maintenance and Repair all of
our funds have these types of things if
we go over the expenditure limit or get
too close then we can't use that cash
for those purposes that were planned um
and which could change Town
operations thank
you council member vanjani again I'm 10
years old so this will actually save
taxpayers interest on bonds that we
really don't need if we can pay
cash yes that it it will give more
opportunity for Council to make those
decisions about bonding or cash rather
than having to bond to stay under the
expenditure awesome thank you because
essentially we get penalized for doing
one versus the other under M yes any
other comments or questions okay seeing
none council member Tuson you
good well I'm never good but I'm okay
with
this I'll go ahead and close the public
hearing ring it back to the Das if
someone like to attempt a motion oh
sorry we don't need a motion never mind
iay on the motion sorry again I got
excited um moving on to our next item on
our agenda I will recess the regular
meeting and convene into a special
meeting to discuss the budget and the
acceptance of the preliminary budget for
July possible acceptance of the
preliminary budget for July 1st 2024 to
June 30th 2025 of 2 B 344
m2188 and establish June 4th 2024 is the
date of the public hearing and Adoption
of the final budget inviting Kelly F oh
she's already back at the podium to the
podium you get me back to back back to
back all right we'll do just a quick
presentation and we've talked about this
item several times so you're very
familiar with it um but we are here
tonight to talk about the preliminary
budget
adoption Gilbert has won a lot of
accolades continues to best city for
early retirement second fastest growing
city in the US third healthiest midside
employer in Arizona lots of good things
are happening in the
town this year we also are every year we
do zerobase budgeting um this year was
another tough year uh we typically
zerobase removes money from the budget
we rightsize it to the amount of money
that's needed to continue to provide the
services that have been authorized the
department but because inflation has
been so high those Services have
increased in cost and so several of the
Departments had to add money to do the
same thing that they have been doing
you'll notice Solid Waste in the middle
on the bottom is our largest it had to
add about $2 million to their budget
because of increased fuel costs uh and
increased tipping fees or landfill U the
cost to take things to the landfill uh
same Services just higher cost for those
departments but we continue to work and
want to maintain that uh responsibility
for the zerob based budgeting our budget
process is a long process it goes all
all year kicks off in September um we do
budget input from the different
departments uh based on information from
the Departments get all year long uh
information from citizens or um Master
planning efforts different things that
we do executive team deliberates we have
a financial Retreat where council's able
to give input on a lot of financial
topics that help us um move forward and
give direction through the year Town
manager's office reviews the budget as
well there's a council study session
which was held in May and then tonight
we're at preliminary adoption final
adoption is the last
step in Arizona uh there is a rule that
the 10 the tenative or preliminary
budget once it's been adopted that
number cannot increase the number that
is adopted tonight will be the maximum
that we can spend for the year um and
the final budget can be lower but it
cannot be higher than what's adopted
tonight in the recommended budget there
is 46 positions across the various areas
in the town and in your packets you have
received information earlier about all
of those positions and the business case
need for each of
them the largest part of the budget is
the capital projects uh investment in
the infrastructure of the community it's
about $1.6 billion doar across these
different areas the largest being the
street improvements and the water
improvements or the areas of investment
right now if we look at the carry
forward versus new uh for the capital
Improvement projects about 1.1 billion
doll are projects that we are currently
working on that we will continue to work
on and carry forward into next year most
of these projects take more than one
year to complete and then there's about
$430 million of a new projects um that
will be added into the queue to work on
in the upcoming
year if we look at last year's adopted
or current Year's adopted budget it's
just over $2 billion the proposed budget
for fiscal 25 is about $2.3 billion the
biggest difference there is that $224
million more for the capital projects
the net difference from last year to
this year
there were some changes that were
requested at study sessional and you'll
notice that the total budget number is
the same as what you've seen before and
that's because the nonprofit funding was
increased um by $70,000 to make a total
of $500,000 at council's Direction the
employee development in the Council
budget was reduced by about
$25,000 uh leaving $3,000 per council
member and $6,000 per mayor which is an
increase over what our base budget is um
but less than what was originally
proposed there was a placeholder for
potential Recruitment and Retention
programs it was reduced by $45,000 in
order to balance everything which is why
the total number that you see is the
same as what you saw before it was a
movement of money within the
budget for property tax the proposed
Levy is 33,2 75,000 this is um what we
would need in order to meet our
principal and interest payments for the
upcoming year uh there are some refunds
that the county will be providing so we
will be getting about $1.5 million less
less than this after they make the
refunds that is more refund than we were
anticipating so we will have to di into
our reserves in order to make all of the
payments that are needed next year um
but there are sufficient reserves to be
able to do that uh we anticipate and it
does maintain the 98 rate that we've had
for the last for last year and this year
um would maintain that even rate for the
taxpayers the Milestones uh we had the
budget study session and the levy
property tax hearing on May 7th tonight
we have preliminary budget adoption and
the first reading of the CIP and then
June 4th is final budget adoption final
CIP adoption and final tax levy adoption
coming up any questions thanks Kelly any
questions or comments for Kelly at this
time Council ran gani Kelly I know the
number can't be moved can't be changed
after tonight's adoption correct can't
go up can't okay okay um so between now
and the next meeting
can it go down or can
it move around at all for any last
second changes down is the only movement
it can do can it stay the same it can
stay the same okay thank
you questions or comments for
Kelly mayor council member
torguson he Kelly so are you saying that
uh if I looked at a a line item let's
say digital government which is of
course my favorite thing
uh and I looked at it being a
m521 th000 for 23 and 2, 1,000 for
2025 uh are you saying that we wouldn't
be able to move that $450 to $500,000 to
a different department between now and
then um mayor council member terson
Council can
make request to have changes in the
budget we would whatever number is
adopted tonight we can't do anything
that would make the budget higher for
final
adoption but would I be able to say take
$250,000 to fire make their budget $
250,000 larger while making digital
government's uh budget $250,000
less um that instruction could be given
technically the council adopts the money
at the fund level but as staff we
definitely would listen to the
instruction of council if there were
changes that you wanted made um Patrick
has some overvie I wish to propose to
take the increase and split it evenly
between police and fire which I think
police and fire are much more germine to
the uh health and wellness of our
community that wouldn't be impossible to
do either tonight or in our next meeting
would
it council member torguson what what the
number is that I read as I opened this
topic that's the number that can't
change that's the total number of the
budget so that can't increase after the
vote tonight once the preliminary budget
is passed it can decrease after tonight
movement around within the budget is
subject between Council and discussion
with our town manager because
technically we set the limit of the
budget and the town manager handles how
that budget is specifically dispersed
within the
town I'm just confirming that it doesn't
that there's no there's no reason it we
can't increase the budget of one
Department while decreasing the budget
of another keeping it at net zero that's
accurate with council with Council
support you have you'd have to have
consensus of a majority of the council
with a discussion with your town manager
because really technically our lane is
the overall budget and health and
wellness fiscally set forth by this
Council under the policies that we've
made the town manager runs the everyday
business of the
community well I'm very well aware of
that I'm just thinking it's much more in
the interest of the Health and Welfare
of our community to fund our police and
fire more uh more
robustly yes thank
you and also I'm just sorry go ahead go
ahead con M tenson no I'm also just
curious and this isn't I'm not not
trying to to to nitpick anything I just
I would love to understand the increase
actually in the mayor and Council uh
general fund budget it's uh it's page
two what was it 227 of the packet I
think it's page one of the uh expenses
summary and that had gone up
approximately
$316,000 uh I'm just curious over the
last few years how that's grown what
since we don't see it in Pay where is
the extra
$316,000
going thank you mayor council member
Tuson I don't have that number right in
front of me I can look it up and provide
an exclamation back to you but I'm not
prepared at the moment to provide that
okay I would really appreciate having an
explanation I'm just looking at 2022 to
you know budget
2025 and it's it's quite a leap
uh for something that maybe I'm missing
something but it certainly isn't uh uh
$36,000 certainly isn't going to anybody
on mayor and counsel and the first
person the average person's going to
point at is me and six other people
thinking that we're patting our pockets
for
$316,000 I just I just need an
explanation to defend myself in
that I know there are additional things
that are paid out of the mayor and
Council budget membership
uh and different things that would have
had increases over that time because
there hasn't been significant salary
increases over that time um there have
been some additional people coming into
the Council budget there was the
addition of um Taylor Taylor's position
Taylor and uh Council Aid I think there
used to be um just the mayor's Aid so
there are some changes like that that
have happened um but I would need a
minute to look into to the in-depth
detail not just up the top of my head
for you yeah council member T yeah sorry
council member Tuson that budget you
have to remember encompasses um the
staff that supports mayor and Council
and encompasses the cell phones the the
all of the technical equipment that we
have it's going to Encompass all of that
including meals that we have for
meetings and memberships like Kelly
mentioned so it encompasses a lot more
than just what you see every day I know
I'm extremely aware of that uh my point
is is just I need to be able to explain
that because I think the average person
can look that and go wow I mean that
could be two people and their the costs
of Health Care and and uh co- payments
and taxes you know all the things that
come along with hiring somebody to
assist us for instance you know as you
had stated earlier we'd like a little
bit more uh a little bit more power over
some messaging and some some Community
contact and maybe that's the cost of it
I just would really like to know what
that cost is because certainly it's not
when people say salaries it's not your
salary or our salary so I would like to
see just what it is so I can defend that
in an appropriate manner Kelly would be
H Kelly would be happy to get you that
information yes I
will vice mayor Anderson a question for
council member torguson are you talking
about when you mentioned about digital
government and police and fire are you
talking about moving funds around around
and or positions around could you
clarify
that you can approach it either way I
know that fire loves their their
embedded person uh Jordan I believe her
name is I know that they refer want her
they actually want her to be part of the
fire family so if moving a full-time
employee from digital government and the
appropriate costs with that over there
is the way to do it that'd be great I
assume that it should be more the budget
of
and if they wish to tr you know to bring
her in uh letting the the fire chief
have that say over that fund uh and
having that person report directly to
that Chief and one of the things I asked
about a couple weeks ago is how are we
going to gain trust when we've had so
much trust obliterated with a few
departments I think giving them their
voice much the same as the mayor said
that the Town Council would like to have
more control over its voice I think that
it's great to make sure they have
control over their voice if they wish to
transfer that person and those funds
underneath fire that's fantastic that
actually answers a couple questions it
takes care of
of giving police and fire that trust
back the most trusted organization in
the world the highest rated thing in the
world is a fire department that red
truck and if we trust them and Empower
them and it it by moving that person
underneath them with transferring money
over and putting it under that control
that's fine with me I'd love that I
think that I think that that would do a
huge amount to repairing the the trust
and what the public sees is is is
something that has taken on a uh uh
unfortunate uh political agency of its
own so if you were if we wanted to talk
about transferring one or two FTE to
police and one or two to fire I think
that'd be fantastic also and just take
the accompanying uh funds for those ftds
with them that'd be
fantastic council member tilki thank you
mayor um in regards to questions about
um switching money between departments
um I agree that that is outside our lane
we can give recommendations about
priorities um a priority of this council
is Communications with our residents and
our digital government um team is the
team that does that for us and if there
are specific things that um council
member Tuson is looking at I think he
needs to be very specific when he comes
back to ask I um it's not our role it's
our tent manager's role as to where his
people are assigned and how we move
forward how we're communicating with our
community is a is a policy decision at a
high level that we can give direction so
I want to be really
careful of talking about we like this
employee and we think that employee
needs to go somewhere or somewhere else
I don't think that's our role but um I
do think that that um focusing in on all
the things that digital government does
which we had a presentation on that
reducing that budget means that we're
going to reduce those
Services if that's where we're going
then that's a conversation we need to
have at at at this level if we're
looking at reducing services so um I
think we need to be very specific I
think this is a conversation that
probably again should have happened
during the retreat should have you know
if we wanted to go down that path not at
the 11th hour but um I look forward to
see what comes out of it thank you counc
member um
yes I you know I although you know you'd
love to leave it just under you know
saying it's not our our lane I I
completely disagree with you it's our
lane to make sure that we have the best
police in Fire and that's the policy we
are the most important things that we
Supply to this this community are police
and fire and I feel if we want to just
take it back to a dollar figure I think
funding police and fire is more
important than anything we got police we
got fire we got water we got roads uh so
to be able to say I feel that it is more
important that we add $200,000 per
Department $250,000 per Department uh
that's fine if if somebody wants to find
it somewhere else find it somewhere else
but I'd like to if nothing else I'd like
to see it I'll pull the number
$250,000 more for police and 250,000
more for fire how it's divied up and how
it's done I don't care but I think it's
more important that we put money to
police and fire than anything else thank
you council member banani um I hear what
council member uh Tuson is saying and
what council member Tikki is saying um
if we have any I just want I'm looking
more for procedure on this if we had
any
um changes such as what council M Tuson
would like to see what is the process
for that I don't want to um put Kelly on
the spot and say come back with with
answers right now go look it up go
figure out get the budget but I'm not
asking that is that something we can
talk with Patrick about and then either
will we have a another public meeting or
how does that how does that
work Patrick do you want to this is a
new one for me so Patrick thank you
mayor council member m Bon yes I'd be
more than happy to have any
conversations with any of you about any
of the um allocations that have been
proposed in the budget anytime we look
at Staffing there is a lot of work and a
lot of studies that go into that so it's
not as simple as moving Personnel around
there are um
roles and responsibilities for work that
has to get performed and so that's
always the analysis as we build our ft
projections and FD requests um but I'm
happy to talk about any of that with you
offline council member
Koski thank you for everyone's comments
I just want to state that I've never
heard this Council not support our
police and fire I think we have their
backs um and we would support
the budget for what they need at our
last meeting we actually did approve the
budget for over $2 million in overtime
for police and in this meeting number
item number 11 we approved an increase
in the budget for fire of
$750,000 so I think it's important to
see that on the page that I believe
council member Tuson is
referencing that the proposed budget for
fiscal 2025 is a number a placeholder
but if you look at the budget for 2024
and the projected actual that there are
some departments like digital government
that actually spend less than budgeted
and we we do approve higher projected
spending amounts for departments like
police and fire um than what was
originally budgeted through our meeting
agendas and those Mercy requests so I
think that what we're talking about is
actually happening we are supporting
those departments where they need it
when they need it it just simply comes
back to council for transparency for
those contingency requests and we are
seeing that although we may budget
certain amounts for departments not all
of that gets spent in every Department
it's it's a budget and and those things
can move um so so I would propose that
we keep things as staff has proposed
them and as we've discussed in previous
Financial Retreats and as others have
discussed that we bring our um changes
or or different areas of support to the
town manager for review and that we do
need a consensus of the council for
major items thank you thank you Council
M Koski council member Buckley um I I
just wanted to re
reiterate as well that um I and I'm sure
they know this I fully support our
police and our fire and and what they
need and as council member Kowski said
you know we we did come up with the
overage that they had on their budget
that they needed and um I I will support
them with whatever they need as well as
I think probably every council member on
the Das
thank you thank you for the comments um
any other comments or questions for
Kelly since she's still standing at the
podium poor Kelly I want to let her sit
down seeing none Kelly thank you very
much for the presentation and um for
answering the questions this evening we
appreciate your time any other
discussion here in the
dis
conanan um I'm not sure you answered it
or Patrick answered it but um if we do
have a um uh any kind of
change um how would we process with that
after we spoke with Patrick would it be
a another public meeting or how would we
get consensus if it's if it's something
that you want to discuss with Patrick
and um if Patrick needs to bring it back
to a few of us to see if we would
actually no this is Patrick's Lane
Patrick decides how the funds are
distributed within the budget in the
community and you know when I meet with
when I meet with groups I explain it
like this the town of Gilbert's a
corporation right every corporation has
a board of directors we are the board of
directors for the corporation and every
corporation has a CEO Patrick is the CEO
for the town of ybert we set the policy
we set the bottom line that bottom line
is outlined here in the budget and then
Patrick as our CEO runs the town every
day on that if we find major
discrepancies we're going to discuss
those if it's a minor thing that you go
and have a conversation with Patrick and
maybe he decides that that's a good idea
that he thinks it's necessary but I
think council member Kowski really
outlined the fact that every single
person on this di supports Public Safety
we have I have from day one in January
of 2015 when I stepped on this dis as a
council member have always supported
Public Safety and just because there's
less new staff in the budget this year
for Public Safety doesn't mean there
wasn't an overwhelming amount last year
for Public Safety or the year before
that
and sometimes they're needed and
sometimes they're not sometimes the
funding is needed and sometimes it's not
for the Departments and we have to base
our decision this evening on the work
that this staff has done for the past
how many months is it seven September to
today as they're bringing us this
preliminary budget so I say if you have
concerns that you want to discuss with
Patrick every member is free to do that
myself too yeah I wouldn't call them
concerns I just wanted to find out what
the discuss yeah find out what the
process was and uh you know you are 100%
right Patrick is the CEO of this
organization and his decisions on where
things go or where employees go and such
like that so I just wanted to make sure
we knew what the process uh the process
was thanks and we and we run that the
budget in the town on those fiscal
policies that have been set by this
Council and we've all
reviewed yes um I don't know who was for
vice may I was just going to say I think
it's worth Patrick did say he's open to
meeting with council members and talk
about the issues because there are
underlying issues here that may not be
coming up right now and we can talk
about those with Patrick and he's
offered to do that and I think it's
worth doing
that yes and I I heard some issues um
that I think were discussed at a study
session last month or two months ago
I've lost track of the days
um and Communications from this Council
and how that's done and I don't think
anything has moved forward so I think
those are discussions that need to be
had
too but that's off topic from the budget
tonight trying to stay on topic too
council member Kowski did you want to
make a motion oh I have one more comment
okay
um this budget is always a really
important topic each year and I just
want to mention that the that within the
past year we've had a lot more Retreats
and meetings and workshops and study
sessions with all of council dis to
discuss important topics and I really
appreciate that those started back for
us in November and um the process was
mentioned to us at those times as well
that that that those are great times to
talk to Patrick is November through
January is like the ideal time
and then checking in after that to see
how that gets integrated into the budget
um I'm sure we had requests that may not
have been accommodated especially with a
tight budget this year um but I do
appreciate um the additional
opportunities to discuss certain topics
and items as a group and we were able to
Pro provide that direction so I hope
everyone felt like they had that
opportunity to talk to staff and Patrick
um prior to this budget and that we can
continue to provide that feedback to
Patrick and staff for future budgets and
I if there's no other discussion I would
um be happy to make a motion to accept
the preliminary budget item number
13 I second that I have a motion by
council member Koski seconded by council
member Buckley all those in favor please
say I I I any OPP oh any
opposed hearing none motion passes 70
70 preliminary budget that's two years
in a row we'll see what happens okay um
at this point I need to adjourn the
special meeting and reconvene our
regular meeting but we're going to take
a short recess so we'll be stepping away
for a few
minutes
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okay we'll give a 30 second warning to
get started again I see our council
members making their way in for
go ahead and reconvene our regular
meeting move us to our consent calendar
and pass off to vice mayor thank you
mayor um the consent
calendar we'll only be removing three
items let me make a motion to approve
our consent calendar items 14
[Music]
through what is it 31
21 31 isn't it but you're pulling three
off but I am going to poll items so I
move approval of those items 14 through
31 with the exception of item 22 26 and
29 so I have a motion to approve the
consent
calendar except all items except for
item
26 22 22 26 and 29 miss that I'll second
that so I have a motion by vice mayor
seconded by council member ban Giovani
all those in favor please say I I
I I I any opposed hearing none motion
passes 70 item 22 is council member
torguson council member I'm just hi
sorry sorry mayor sorry go ahead I'm
just looking I'm looking for an
explanation you know the the increased
cost the change orders on a relatively
what I feel is a relatively new project
but I just want the explanation for
myself and for the residents of town why
we're applying these change orders at
this
point Thank You council member who can
come to the podium to explain item 22
please I'm seeing movement but I can't
see who that is Oh Oh Susanna oh Su I
like Oh Susanna very funny very funny
Susanna I try once in a while sorry
thank
you so this um these items that we had
before you tonight are are absolutely
change orders um when we're building
Wells or putting Wells into the ground
there's certain steps that have to
happen before we can move to the next
step and we can't really do the whole
thing as an initial contract so we start
these projects with the first step move
to the next step step move to the next
step and I think this work right here is
for the is for some long lead items a
lot of it is for long lead items for
some electrical equipment that would
come in so that's one of the pieces of
the puzzle for
this ma'am so what you're saying is it's
not the change order isn't really
necessarily an increase in the cost of
the contract it's release of funds for
something that's coming up in the
contract of that bill of the building of
that uh well or Wells per se um it it is
a increase in the current contract
amount but it was an anticipated amount
within the budget but we can't basically
set when we put a contract together we
put the first step and then we add the
second step and the third step so it's
adding different amounts of money with
different types of scope depending on
what we find with the first step
hopefully that kind of explains that
it absolutely does I just wanted to
confirm that it wasn't uh oh it I just
wanted the explanation thank you thank
you thank you Susanna and thank you
council member torus and would anyone
like to make a motion on this
item I make a motion to accept item 22
as
written I second I have a motion by
council member tgus and seconded by
council member um Buckley any other
comments or questions no I'm good okay
um all in favor I I I any
opposed hearing none motion
passes item 26 council member
tilki thank you vice mayor um this is in
regards to our Capital Improvement plan
and if I understand um the communication
that this we're accepting the draft
today and declaring it a public document
however I think this is an opportunity
to request a change and so I guess I
better clarify that before I start my
long conversation that this is the
correct time to do
that mayor council member tilki um yes
if there are changes that are requested
in the document then council could give
that direction tonight okay thank you
Kelly um first I I know that this is a
long process and we've had a lot of um
uh briefings on this and a lot of
conversations and there's a couple of
projects that I just wanted to pull out
for
consideration
um but before I get to them what one of
the things I just want to make sure you
understand is that I have a strong
opinion about two projects but I'm
truly trying to compromise that's where
I'm coming from a a spirit of compromise
on this in regards to the South Gilbert
recreation center and pool projects um
as I mentioned my preference is to
eliminate the projects all together but
I also understand um especially council
member Buckley's passion to represent
residents Desires in the area we've had
to make many very difficult decisions
these last two years and it has been
challenging to prioritize projects based
on urgency and desires of the community
I want us to ensure that we can
appropriately provide the resources
needed for all of our current Parks and
Recreation offer offerings and
priorities which makes it hard for me to
support a new service line in the midst
of shrinking budgets escalating cost and
limited resources so here's my thoughts
again in the spirit of compromise this
is where I'm coming from um the South
Recreation Center um based on our
previous uh discussions I appreciate
this uh project being pushed out to
allow for higher priority items to be
funded in the reduced scope of work um
there is no funding for the next 5 years
which will allow us to focus on
finishing out the south regional park to
its full potential of almost 300 acres
of recreation for our community along
with other upgrades to both North and
South Gilbert Trails um so um I'm
recommending because I've changed this
since I've had a conversation with staff
so I hope that I'm I've got it right now
because it was just this afternoon um
the uh just so you know they have
reduced the total project from 70
million to 37 million which I appreciate
so the scope has has um been reduced and
um to be funded in 29 and so I'm I'm
supportive of that um and then on the
South Pole um Gilbert's historic
involvement in pools is through its
relationship with the schools which
significantly limits our liability and
resources needed to maintain and staff
the pool offerings building our own pool
or Aquatic Center is very expensive not
to mention the ongoing cost to maintain
and staff it year round I I support
exploring private and other Public
Partnerships to accommodate the desire
of South Gilbert residents without the
full responsibility of owning our own
facil
I recommend the South Gilbert pool be
reduced from 61 million to 30 million
with the intention of a private or
public partnership discussion and
keeping this funding in the six to 10
years column so um one thing I want
everybody to keep in mind is we look at
these projects every year and so the
next Council gets to look at this
project and if they think it needs to be
moved up or it needs to have a bigger
scope of work they're able to do that
every single year I just feel like um in
such a tight budget year escalating
costs the priorities that we spent so
much time moving those forward that I
would just like to see these projects
reduced and pushed out but not
eliminated and that's my spirit of
compromise so um so anyway that's uh
where I am on that and um I won't make a
a motion to accept it until you guys are
ready in the spirit of compromise um
council member Bon Giovani um council
member Toki that's um that's just good
business it isn't compromise it's good
business and being a businessman myself
I'm all about public private um
Partnerships to reduce the price and the
cost for
taxpayers and you know if if a a company
wants to come by in five six seven years
whatever and make a public private pool
Club whatever uh I'm all for that so
thanks for being able to take a look at
that and potentially carving out a
couple tens of millions of
dollars Council mayor
Buckley um I I agree with Chuck that's
just good business compromise as always
good I I I my intentions were were never
I mean my thoughts were never that that
South Gilbert would get you know an
aquatic center a rec center next year at
all it it is you know was just to put it
on you know put it on the budget so that
we can discuss it like you said in five
years or six years or whatever but um uh
in your spirit of compromise I like that
and I agree with that you know just so
long as we don't get rid of it and we
can continue um to to advocate
for services in that area because the
the residents there deserve those
services and but we also know that
progress is not quick so thank
you council member Kowski council member
tilki I just have a clarification
question on your comments does do those
revisions have an overall reduction in
the CIP budget or are those funds
shifted to other like a contingency or
other
projects the um if I understand
correctly the recreation center had
already been changed so that was already
reduced this would be
reducing the
um Aquatic Center so that would come out
of the total amount 61 million down to
30 so 31
million okay out of the long
term um CIP again we what we're really
focused in on on is what we're going to
be spending this next year but I think
um we also have to look long term at
some of these projects and those changes
are separate from our budget because
it's outside of that fiveyear window
that is adopted in our budget thank you
okay and and it's still staying there
correct
okay vice mayor
Anderson I like the idea of moving it
out further because that gives us an
opportunity to monitor the progress for
like Cactus surf for expansion of the
regional park and desert sky so we can
measure that performance and see if
we're meeting the needs of those people
in that area versus just going out and
building something now and not knowing
whe whether the need is really there
so my comment
was similar to council member tilis
which is I I was not opposed to having a
Recreation Center in South Gilbert I
think that North Gilbert has had a rec
center for quite some time and South
Gilbert is um Prime for having a
recreation center my concern was the
Aquatic Center when you call it an
aquatic center that is a Big Ticket item
that needs long-term funding Staffing so
many different things and needs but I'm
willing to leave it in there for
compromise but I also want considered in
the future a pool added to North Gilbert
near the recreation center that was cut
from the recreation center now this plan
is from 2025 out to 2034 so it's a
long-term plan and as council member
Toki
mentioned the council talks about this
every year and this Capital Improvement
plan is rolling and moving and adjusting
all the time as we move forward as a
community things change but that's the
same comment that I meant that I said at
The Retreat earlier so I'm throwing that
back out there mayor I I I just want to
point out that in review of this
document there is a Freestone Rec Center
pool good thank in the list I missed
that but since she brought it up I had
to Absol I didn't see that oh sorry I
kept on the whole time sorry um it okay
I knew it was on but I and there's
actually you were done a fre recx Center
Splash Pad as well which I'd love to see
accelerated but um it's in there I would
love to see a splash pad accelerated too
Council Mar because those are very
popular um oh pickle ball pickle
ball I did a grand opening for an indoor
pickle ball last week it's a whole
different topic okay any other comments
on this topic yes yes yes okay so I I
have I have no issues with North Gilbert
getting a pool I think South Gilbert
should get a pool first because they
have no
pool and and yeah and I'm good I'm good
with that compromise and or we can do
them together we can do twin polls of us
will be here by then oh well I know that
yeah I well maybe maybe not you never
know so mayor yes Kelly could I ask a
clarification on on the desired change
is the desire change on the pool to go
from 60 million to 30 million have a
smaller project or to change the funding
source to be public private partnership
for half the project but the whole
project would still
exist um reduce the
cost with for private partnership public
yeah we so switch the funding source on
half of it to be okay so the total
number you'll see will be the same but
the funding source 30 30 million will be
the total fund for the for the town's
portion yes well yes we get money from
somebody else like a public private
partnership it would assume they would
give us the money but it would show the
full amount of the project does that
make sense yeah it does but I I'd like
to keep it where it is so that
conversation continues
because um yeah I I know what you're
saying but I don't want it funded at
fully I don't want the full so I think
Kelly's trying to figure out if she's
looking at a $60 million budget that's
30 million by the town and 30 million by
an outside entity
or are we looking at 30 m million total
with the town providing a portion of
that with a public private partnership
providing the rest of
it the way million $6 million for and
there's a difference between in my
opinion and I'm not a Parks person just
play one on TV um there's a difference
to me between adding a pool to a
recreation center and building an
Aquatic Facility an Aquatic Facility is
in my mind a whole different ball game
right I think
slides whole n yards right yes
so it depends on what the expectation is
I just want to make sure we capture it
correctly my intention is 30 million
total total okay finding other funding
sources if possible thank
you it can be changed in the future Yeah
well yeah no I like what I mean I we
should go further and you know look for
a dog park you know sponsored by Kibbles
and bits I mean if we can save some
money let's do
it that's a dollar
yeah any other comments or questions for
Kelly at this point thanks Kelly we
appreciate you um anyone like to make a
motion on that
item make motion um and again I I wasn't
able to pull up my computer I could now
but I didn't have time um so I make a
motion to accept uh the draft CIP fi FY
2025 to
2034 with the following
changes um that the set Gilbert South
South Gilbert Recreation Center um will
be reduced in Project scope and to be
funded in FY
29 um for the amount that's currently in
there um um and that South Gilbert pool
will be reduced from 61 million to 30
million with the intention of a private
and public partnership discussion
keeping this funding noted in the six to
10 years
column I have a motion I'll second that
I have a second by I have a motion by
council member tilki seconded by council
member Bon
Giovani all in favor say I I
I is council member is is Council M
Tuson still with
us yep I'm a nay okay oh thank you um
all oppos say nay nay we already cut
that one so um motion passes
61 thank you sorry council member Tason
I didn't mean to forget you or bypass
you number 29 vice
mayor council member tilki IEM no I'm
sorry council member
torguson yeah unfortunately I didn't
find any explanation of 25 29 in my
packet so I would like an explanation of
what 29
is is so dark over in that corner oh
it's
Nathan Nathan Williams coming to the
podium good evening mayor
Peterson vice mayor Anderson members of
council uh council member Tuson
um item 29 is
our somewhat regular it's we're on about
a three-year trajectory here of um
Personnel policy updates most of which
this go round are um you know wording
changes shortening of certain terms and
removal of certain redundancies with a
couple specific asks in the um Personnel
policies
can you please explain what the asks are
and what the what the actual change of
uh let's let's call it the uh clarifying
language what it's actually going to
mean mayor Peterson council member Tuson
the the the two asks that have a
financial impact um one is uh
40-hour fire Personnel um being granted
one additional um floating holiday for
some reason they we assume it's a it's
it's a policy that
dates back quite some time ago they were
um offered one uh floating holiday in a
in that in their capacity and they are
the only um 40-hour Personnel in the
town that has only granted one so
there's the addition of one floating
holiday a year for those roles um and
then the other sorry
um drawing a blank on my
other uh
[Music]
item oh that actually may be the only uh
Financial impact item and then outside
of that again it was a lot of uh removal
there there were a lot of redundant
terms and there were a lot of terms that
predate the current Personnel policy so
we had um terms in there like key staff
things like that that that are no longer
used in our language and were just
simply removed and updated um outside of
that
there's let's
see trying to see what's not just a word
change or a word update um or clarifying
language the only other item there is a
um there's an addition of language um
that gives Town manager
um the option to allow on a caseby casee
um rare basis based on critical
operation need needs um vacation carry
forward adjustments and and this really
has to do with this would be in extreme
situations where um you know say a a
Workforce say our Police Department is
forced to be um on patrol picking up
overtime shifts and toward the end of
the fiscal year and as a result they're
unable to take vacation time and their
um Carry forwards would be affected or
they uh they would lose vacation the
town manager would have some
authorization to make um exceptions to
that policy but again it would be on a
Case by case not a blanket townwide um
adjustment or
approval I think everything else council
member is again is is really just
updates to to language and um and
wording trying to clarify some things
that that can be a little bit misleading
or um easily misunderstood by our
employees based on language that's not
typically used
anymore yeah since it for whatever
reason wasn't in my printed package but
what we're saying is that uh fire will
get an extra floating holiday that that
for some reason wasn't there previously
and that uh the town manager May extend
uh carry forward on vacations no policy
changes no we're going to comply to some
policy that that that council's unaware
of correct mayor council member no not
at all at all it it's it's and I
apologize I'm I'm not sure um why it's
not reflected in your packet but um no
other no other significant changes no
additions no removals of any you know
access or or or privileges or anything
of that sort um and just to clarify the
floating holiday piece again it is for
um
40-hour uh fire that that is for some
reason the one group that was not um
being allowed the two floating holiday a
year like everyone else in the
organization and so it's just a matter
of of clarifying and and giving them the
same uh holiday acral option as everyone
else I appreciate the explanation sir
thank you of course thank
you we have an outline of the changes in
our packet it's not like the whole
document with every single change
outline but we have an outline of the
changes in our packet we do have the
redline document but it's after the
full document it's kind of in the wrong
order
but the the redline document is there I
went through the outline
of we've all been taking so much time
this past year especially I think Chris
we started well over a year ago with
updating all of our policies and trying
to get everything caught up to where we
are today and making everything easier
easier to use if you will I think
inconsistent well considering we had to
read 3,300 Pages this week for this
meeting sometimes like you can get conf
sometimes you miss things absolutely
yeah last time I missed the whole
outline of the community engagement task
force I stopped at the two items before
it and was done I was like okay you're
right there's over 3,000 pages so um
council member torguson and with the
extension of the um of the Town manager
being able to extend that option when
needed for vacation pay it really it it
became a Hot Topic during the pandemic
especially when our our employees
couldn't take their their um vacation
time and so this way it's not extended
to every single employee but only on a
very as needed basis at Patrick's
discretion and I'm comfortable with that
I had had a conversation with him about
that does that answer your question
sir yes
ma'am okay thank you would anyone like
to make a motion on this
item mayor I'll I move to accept who's
it moveed to accept okay I have a motion
by council member tus and seconded by
council member tilki all those in favor
please say I I I I any
opposed motion passes
70 now moving on
to administrative items one
administrative item for Council
discussion and Action Council consider
acceptance of the budget report and
contingency report for the third quarter
of FY 2024 does anyone need
a presentation on this
item seeing none would someone like to
make a motion to approve this accept the
budget report and contingency
report move approval of a motion by vice
mayor and seconded by council member
Buckley all in favor please say I I
any
opposed motion passes 70 moving on to
Communications from citizens vice mayor
thank you
mayor the Gilbert Town Council values
citizen comments and input anyone
wishing to speak before the council must
fill out a request a speak card for each
item they wish to speak on and submit it
to the town clerk or place it in the bin
prior to the start of the meeting the
communications from citizens portion on
the agenda provide citizens an
opportunity to identify for the Town
Council matters of Interest or concern
related to town government under the
provisions of the Arizona open meeting
law the Town Council is prohibited from
responding to issues that have not been
properly noticed therefore the Town
Council may only listen to citizens who
wish to address them and at the
conclusion of the open call to the
public response is limited to individual
members of the council responding to
criticism made by those who have
addressed the public body asking staff
to review a matter or asking that a
matter be put on a future agenda 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 this practice can disrupt the
flow of discussion potentially
intimidate others and detract from the
respectful atmosphere we strive to
maintain the town asks that when your
name is called you come forward to the
podium state your name and place of
residence and then begin speaking for
the allotted time
first up tonight will be Don Edwards
and
um he has had time donated to him by
Crystal
Don good evening Madame mayor Mr vice
mayor and esteemed council members my
name is Don Edwards I recently retired
as a captain from your fire department
tonight in my ongoing effort to shed
light on the people currently in charge
of the fire department I would like to
talk about an issue that's currently
going on the Gilbert Fire Department
much like high school is ruled by clicks
the one with the most s currently is the
training Cadre yeah they gave themselves
a
nickname these are the men and women who
believe that according to Balian Chief
Barton quote training is the mission of
the fire department not Service delivery
as I've stated before and it was one of
the factors that led me to falling out
of favor I believe Service delivery is
the actual mission of the fire
department you should know that
currently 90% of the chief officers in
the fire department have worked in the
Training Division it's pretty much an
undocumented prerequisite for
promotion the current issue involving
the Cadre is not just unethical it might
be un
illegal since I was hammered for not
following the letter of policy you
should know that we have a policy that
addresses off-duty
employment a couple of the highlights of
that policy are that you have to get
written permission from the fire chief
that your side job can't conflict with
the fire department and that job can't
shed a bed light a bad light on the fire
department as you guys might be aware of
the fire department recently needed to
purchase a whole bunch of new
hose um as you know there's also a
defined process for doing so currently
there are I believe three members of the
Cadre that are under investigation for
not following that
process here's what you should be asking
yourselves did these guys just not
follow policy or did they have the tcid
approval of the Chiefs that are also
Cadre members did one member in
particular shop for the answer he wanted
after he was told
no so what did they actually do well
allegedly they took took an on duty fir
Tru engine
252 went down to the training
academy and decided to run some drills
that in and of itself is not bad the
problem is they decided to film those
drills and then use them for a
commercial not for the fire department
not for the town of Gilbert but for
their off-duty
employer that's not great but I guess
you could explain it unfortunately
that employer just so happened to get
the contract to provide the new hose for
the town and I think that was around
$250,000 there's some questions that
come to mind were these guys just
emboldened by the fact that since they
were part of the Cadre they could do
what they wanted to do did the did the
fact that for anyone to use the training
academy a member of the Cadre sorry the
Training Division had to be allowed had
to be down there which allowed them to
fly under the
radar by the way that fact that one of
them always has to be present it
explains why you have a BLS engineer
who's making close to
$200,000 I know when I was a captain I
had to prove my guy's time cards was
nobody watching what was going on down
there why are the Chiefs that were
running the Training Division why don't
they have to answer for this rumor has
it that that same engineer was trying to
recruit a certain Captain to come down
to the Training Division he supposedly
promised that Captain that he would make
quote up to
$200,000 with all the overtime I could
give
you I ALS uh we also heard tonight that
Chief Dugen came to ask for
$750,000 in contingency funds to cover a
shortfall in the overtime budget the
citizens should know that the majority
of that is to cover training costs not
to keep fire trucks on the
road in the Gilbert Fire Department
threers fire trucks and putting trucks
out of service due to Manpower is the
norm these guys deserve better you
should know this whole thing is part of
why I went to file a
complaint I was never contacted by
HR in
contro contrary to what says so I'm now
forced to air this in
public my career was always more than
just a job to me I truly felt like it
was a calling and I was never in a
position to have my Integrity question
the way these guys Integrity is being
question
now this situation is the natural
outgrowth of having people in positions
of power that only look at things in the
light of what can I do for my own
personal
benefit thank you and I again urge you
to talk to the men and women who are
still working under these guys and if
you do I wouldn't be surprised if you
heard a group of men and
women that can say and do what they
please because they are are part of the
in
group something I heard on my way in
today um that same $200,000 engineer
also somehow was able to trade equipment
with a neighboring Fire Department Queen
Creek had them buy new equipment so
that's something I'm going to keep my
eye out for and hopefully when I'm back
in two weeks I'll have some more to talk
about that made it thank you
sir thank
you next up is Bridget Vega who has
received donated time from Lisa aler
good evening mayor councel Chief and
Banger you don't get to look the other
way on this issue Gilbert has a gang
problem we need you as leadership to
step up to be proactive vers reactive
the community has stood up while you sat
down thank you to the Lord family and
Connor Jarnigan for being a Beacon of
Hope and your strength throughout the
process of both city
ordinances as we continue to demand
accountability and transp parency
according to Arizona revised Statute
39-1 127 a victim of a criminal offense
related to the recording a victim's
attorney on behalf of the victim or the
immediate family of the victim they have
a right to obtain public records request
and a copy of law enforcement video for
free with that being said we demand that
Gilbert releases the records of Rick
keener's son to the family or to the
attorney as he has been waiting since
August of last year and Connor Jarnigan
records as it has been 4 months since
the most recent request that Gilbert is
withholding the records and trying to
charge the victim families a fee in
order to get to the root cause of teen
violence we must address the elephant in
the room as previously stated 6 months
ago where is the youth getting the drugs
and the guns what is the plan for the
summer especially as the goons have been
released and there is so many more who
are causing further vandalism and harm
to the community that we have yet to be
arrested and held accountable now that
the Gilbert goons is classified as a
gang we demand that Chief soberg to
recuse himself from the investigations
and allow the gang unit and the human
trafficking unit experts to take
over we are seeing skyrocketing numbers
in suicide teen violence drug use sex
trafficking sex extortion across the
East Valley Human Trafficking is
happening now in Arizona schools and
within our
backyards the average age victims are
alured into sex trafficking is 11 to 14
years old and it's 150 billion industry
personally we have spent the last four
months at the garages downtown Gilbert
it wasn't until the community complained
and called non-emergency multiple times
and an internal affairs investigation
was open just a couple of weeks ago then
you guys started taking it a little bit
more
serious thank you to the officers who
are actually iding people but until
people are sided in charge for
continuously loitering drugs underage
drinking we won't see any change in the
result of the lack of Your Action a
19-year-old died and fell off the top of
the garage last night let me repeat that
in the result of the lack of Your Action
a 19-year-old fell from the top of the
garage last night and we've had this
conversation with multiple officers and
said when are you guys going to do
something are you going to wait till
somebody else dies we also brought up
the fact of Preston Lord's case we're
sick of teen violence being brought to
zip codes teen violence is not a zip
code issue the officers have stated and
there is on the body cams of them
stating the fact
that there's been multiple kids on the
ledge and they're surprised that they
hadn't seen more deaths so that's
actually concerning seeing that come out
of your officer's mouth but I'm glad
that you guys are finally doing
something but still again aain died last
night we demand an immediate upgrade to
all of the cameras in the garages we ask
that all of you take your Council hats
off and take a break from your paid
engagement take a walk up to the top of
the garages we have no future if we
don't protect the CH protect the
children we have a duty to protect and
Gilbert you have blood on your hands we
demand an external investigation it's
never it should never be profit over
people rise up do something
Gilbert thank you Karissa Arnold
thank you I also want to address the
park and garage issue because I have to
say it has been incredibly frustrating
to see the things that we've seen I
recently sat and talked with my one of
my adult children who told me that they
had hung out in the garages and had I
known these things were going on back
when they were hanging out in 2020 to
2021 it would have been a much different
story and I would not have allowed my
kids to go they confirmed with me that
they also had been seeing spotters going
in and out but we're not aware of the
activity and what the spotters were
doing the fact that my own child can
tell me that spotters were in there few
years ago this has been going on for a
long time and should have been rectified
a long time ago kids are drinking
underage up there we've sat and watched
drugs get rolled right in front of our
eyes and this is all within the last few
weeks you have cars going in and out
they go back and forth they um are
trying to avoid the officers as much as
they can your own officers have to be
bored out of their minds as they are
sitting there babysitting kids what
needs to happen is that you guys need to
put paid parking in there and if needs
to be then get it validated with the
business when they are going in and um
going in in a um sorry I can't think of
the word but anyways do you know what
I'm saying so all of that being said
nothing is going to change in those
garages and we are wasting our City's
money by having our officers set up
there on top of that school has just got
out our school is in the process of
getting out and I just want to say just
3 hours before this young man died I was
in the garage and here is what I was
hearing in the
garage now I don't know if you could
hear that but that car that was
squealing out was two floors above me
and my windows were rolled down on my
car that's how loud it was the kids up
there don't care you don't have enough
staff to sit and monitor the garage
every single minute of the day because
the school being out it's going to
become an increasing problem not just on
Thursday Friday and Saturday so please
get paid parking in this garage
thank you bavan
chintala Namaste everyone my name is
bhagwan chintala from HSS Hindu seak s
and I'm here to speak about uh the guru
wandana teacher appreciation program we
celebrated in recent days so um Hindu
swak s of Arizona wishes um all our
teachers uh all our teachers on the
account of Teachers Appreciation Week
the society is in debt to the teachers
because of their role and selfless
service to make and model um our future
citizens of this country so um we
express our heartful gratitude to all
our um teachers for their Divine
services so in Hindu Society back in
India we celebrate uh Guru Wana which is
teacher appreciation day as a day um you
know where we pay our respects and
gratitude to the teachers so following
the same path in Arizona Hindu saak s
celebrated Guru wandana which is a
teacher appreciation day for uh five
event I as five events we have over 400
guests um attended the programs of five
events and we had 8 80 teachers from
different community and different
religions attended the event and we
celebrated the gurana program so we are
all here because of our teachers and I'm
here to I'm speaking because of my
teacher so we want to pay our respect to
all our teachers that is what um and we
are following as a as a Hindu saak s
thanat to all of you and my um you know
wandas to the teachers who made you and
modeled you to sit here and my respects
and wanas to the all the citizens who
made uh to the teachers who made and you
know moded them to sit here Dan thank
you very
much thank you Stacy
LEL hi my name is Stacy Laval I just
want to Express a concern mayor you
mentioned earlier that the town of
Gilbert's a corporation which it is so
Patrick's like a CEO you guys are the
board of directors which makes us the
citizens the shareholders so as a
shareholder and I'm probably speaking on
to on behalf of a lot of shareholders
here curious why the communication from
citizens or shareholders is put last
instead of where it was at first do you
have an answer to
that no I guess not um my guess is it's
probably all the dirty laundry about the
town that's coming out that you guys
don't want shared you're probably
thinking well we'll do this late at
night so people won't show up not
working sorry I think it's very
concerning that you're doing that and I
probably speak from a lot of us that
what you're doing is wrong and you
should be ashamed all of you thank
you
please Dan Reynolds
good evening my name is Dan Reynolds uh
been a resident here for a very long
time also a u a retired employee here U
not disgruntled as some people have
previously
stated so I want to talk a little bit
tonight about um a presentation that Mr
Baner gave you folks and I think it was
on April 2nd it was a special session
had to do with our OGD uh
department for those of you who have not
seen this yet it's basically gives
information on this department and how
the information on this department
compares to other cities towns in the
valley and in other
states U talks about how the tit of
Gilbert basically Stacks up against
other entities as it relates to the
number of employees in that uh
particular Department uh the number of
engagements the odg budget and that type
information
information it also gave information on
the population which I think was 288,000
uh talked about the age of our citizens
which is very young median age is 35
years old uh I think he said a third of
our population is under the AG of
18 uh much of the information given was
very positive so much so that it makes
me want to dig into these numbers and
compare apples to apples it almost
seemed like an audition for another
award it was so
positive so I have some questions and I
have some concerns about this
presentation first question is who put
it
together where did they get the
information I'm guessing it came from
the office of digital government that'd
be my
guess uh last time they gave us some
information it was because of a
newspaper article that talked about how
the I odg was spying on its employees
uh and that it was just a group of
disgruntled
employees but the foyer showed the
information and appr that they were
spying and monitoring and we shared that
with you
guys I'm talking about the town of
Gilbert employees they were spying on so
my confidence is on this information is
a little bit
suspect next
question how many of the engagements and
the hits and clicks are actually
positive or real and where were they
where were they going towards which
department has anybody done any research
on this I think the mayor and the
council has an obligation to check into
this information and find out the
legitimacy of it I think it's important
councilman torguson who's not here
tonight had some
concerns uh seems like he he asked a lot
of questions to Mr Baner appeared as
though his intuition was telling him
something that didn't seem right I think
he was correct on his intuition some of
the council members asked some fair
questions some of you guys were very
happy with the presentation and the
information so last thing I want to uh
talk about is this I'll be quick with
all the problems we have with this teen
violence in this town does anyone see a
problem or a connection to social media
and teen
violence remember our members here and
our uh citizens are very young as we
stated so there's plenty of information
out there connecting social media and
its use by our younger population we've
had some discussion about it tonight
anxiety anger depression suicide just to
name a
few so I think before we get too
enamored with all this completely
positive information I think it's
probably a good idea to take a closer
look into this presentation and I would
ask you to do that thank you for your
time remember let the conscience be your
guide thank you thank you Steve Laval
all right good evening let's get right
to it uh Pierce Coleman
report uh let's see it's the uh
conclusion section you guys can look it
up they came up with conclusion this is
a the law firm that wrote that stuff
says Town officials speaking on behalf
of the town did not promote the
political Marxist agenda of
BLM Point number two says Town officials
speaking on behalf of the town did not
nor did they actively promote or engage
in publicly supporting the BLM political
or social agenda while using taxpayer
funds I believe your police chief took a
knee when he was in uniform along with a
couple other police officers supporting
a BLM event I do believe your former odg
director posted a bunch of stuff on the
social media sites within the town as a
matter of fact I believe the Instagram
account still has a blacked out police
page and a blacked out fire page blacked
out in support of BLM still to this day
but this report says NOP you didn't do
that so I wore this shirt today it says
mostly peaceful reminds me of the CNN
reporter during the BLM riots with the
building burning behind him and he's on
reporting he's saying it's mostly
peaceful
like we're going to believe that kind of
like we're going to believe this
report it's it's kind of like a mostly
peaceful
report the third part on this one is
uh the chief digital Officer Dana Burman
did not use the town of Gilbert
equipment resources or funds to express
her personal political views and agenda
by using the town of Gilbert's
governmental social networking to
support a particular political platform
which includes that of the Marxist in
BLM organization if that's the case why
did she resign I heard she was crying
when she left your office Patrick if
that's the case why did she why did she
walk away from this
job so let's move on to the uh Dei
portion of this since it's tied to BLM
your your police or your fire chief here
wants $98 million he wants to redo
station 11 at Rigs Road by the way they
do need a new gym there but uh they
don't need individual bathrooms and he
also wants to propose this for stations
one 2 3 5 6 and 8 all these stations 11
included were built 2002 or later
they're all what less than 25 years old
and he wants to put individual bathrooms
in all these stations you ask him why he
has one transgender member he refuses to
hold accountable he refuses to hold him
equally responsible to the same level of
every other employee so does your HR
manager and they're going to build
individual bathrooms because they let
this man use a woman's bathroom and he
also does it in uniform in
public okay I have a wife I have a
daughter and I respect women they have a
right to have their privacy in public
when they need to go use a
restroom okay we're not supporting that
within our organization how about the
women in the fire department are they
getting that right are they getting that
protection I don't think they are I
think you have a lot of internal
problems and it starts with your
leadership thank
you thank you mayor that concludes the
uh
Communications thank you vice mayor um
anyone want to make comment seeing none
speakers continue to utilize the one-way
citizen comment section of the Town
Council meetings to share their opinions
regarding the office of digital
government and town leadership
continuing to highlight claims that were
thoroughly investigated internally than
externally by a third party investigator
who found the accusations had no merit
I'm concerned with the potential Damage
Done to Gilbert's name heart and town
organization by these continued efforts
of a few to highlight allegations
opinions and false claims the spoken
word has the capacity to inflict damage
this community is facing pressing issues
I respect and welcome any and all
efforts and energies that worked to
bringing us together as a community not
those that divide us any that moves us
forward in a positive manner any that
honor the town's small town Roots we all
know in love those neighborly attitudes
that were the very reason many of us
moved to
Gilbert I challenge us to be better
humans to each other thank
you to the next item on our agenda
future meetings Council may discuss
whether to place an item on our future
agenda but may not discuss the merits of
them anything that the council would
like to
add next Communications from the town
manager slides from the town manager yes
fanciness see what you started advance
to the next slide so one thing tonight I
wanted to highlight we had our first
ever Gilbert Community bike ride it was
held on May 18th and the event included
booths focused on bike safety and
maintenance rout started and ended in
downtown Gilbert and was led by council
member Kowski I want to thank our teams
in Parks and Recreation Gilbert PD
Economic Development development
services and digital government for
making the event a huge success and I'm
sure council member Kowski will talk
more about it and her update that's all
tonight thank you mayor that's all
Patrick thank you next report from
Council
council member tilki was first thanks
mayor um I want to um give a special
thank you to Mr James Davenport and
Nikki mccardy whose dad is in the final
stages of ALS for bringing to our
attention that may 2024 is ALS Awareness
Month while we didn't receive the
request in time to be added to tonight's
agenda a proclamation will be provided
to Mr Davenport separately ALS often
referred to to as Lou garg's disease is
a progressive fatal neuromuscular
disorder that occurs when motor nerve
cells cease to function and die often
leading to total paralysis and death
within 5 years of diagnosis there is no
cure you may not be aware that multiple
research studies indicate that people
who have served in the military are
twice as likely to develop ALS and die
from the disease than those with no
history of military service and I just
wanted to tell Nikki that our thoughts
and prayers are with her and her family
thanks mayor thank you council member
council member bonani Parks W report
summer registration is now open and
available online we're offering over 600
programs this season for adults and
children to play learn and explore they
include Fitness dance cheer and
gymnastics Sports programs for those
with special needs cooking and baking
computers and Robotics summer camps life
skills and so much much more free
Freestone Splash Pad looking for
something fun to do around town this
summer pick up uh pick up at pick up a
free a free Stone Splash pass where you
live uh you you'll have free access to
the Freestone Recreation Center along
with access to public swim uh at any of
our four Gilbert aquatic centers what a
deal contact uh Freestone Recreation
Center for more information and let's
not forget to beat the heat at Gilbert's
H2O Fest join us Thursday June 2 or June
6th for a familyfriendly waterfest at
Freestone Park the event will feature
playful water obstacles food trucks
music and more three sessions will be
held to ensure optimal slide time for
each participant and tickets are on sale
now thanks
Rocky council member Kowski I'm going to
build off of your announce coun Giovani
CU I went to the H2O fest last year with
my family and it was a lot of fun the
slide they're talking about is
essentially a um a slip and slide down
the hills at Freestone Park and because
they limit the attendance there's um
it's just great for the kids to play on
all the equipment so I did definitely
highlight that Freestone Rec Center also
got new gym equipment and they are
having a sale right now on all their
memberships through May 24th
um we were able to stop at afone Rec
Center on the community bike ride that
happened on Saturday so thanks Patrick
for highlighting that and I hadn't even
seen the pictures yet so that was super
super fun to see was able to go with um
my family and the straza family
Alexandria straza who was the the she's
eight years old now but she was seven
years old in January when she was hit on
her bicycle she was a able to join as
well although she didn't have her new
bike so she joined in a like golf cart
um that was holding all the water for
everybody so it was a really nice event
um it brought the community together
everyone expressed their love for our
Trails we saw a ton of people using our
trail system really want to thank Parks
and Recreation and the police department
for facilitating that event um
unfortunately there was some tragic news
in the past week that there were um two
bike related crashes last week that
resulted in ser ious injuries so it just
brought more awareness to the fact that
this is a pressing issue in our
community and to bring awareness and
education and encouragement to our youth
and adults to wear bike helmets and be
those good role models and protect
themselves is really important so thank
you anyone
else seeing none then I'll do um report
from the mayor so I have a few things to
report first um on Monday May 27th
please join us here at town hall for the
Memorial Day celebration from 8:30 to
9:30 this free event includes a flag and
wreath ceremony Battlefield cross pmia
table live music and guest speaker
guests are encouraged to bring their own
blanket or lawn chair for seating and
the Gilbert Historical Museum will be
open for free following the event from
9:30 until noon visit HDs south.org for
more information up on the screen you'll
see a slide about heat relief Network it
we've heard over and over this past
spring that we had the most heat related
deaths in Arizona last year and we
really want to make sure that we're not
part of that here again or that we don't
hear the same news again repeated for
2024 the heat relief network is
collecting for this program and as you
can see there's lots of items that are
needed and lots of places in Gilbert
that you can donate and the QR code
there is on the screen for anyone that
would like to scan that for more
information thank you to Melanie dyster
and her department for featuring that do
you know a high school age teen in
Gilbert that's interested in learning
about local government and Leadership
while volunteering in our community well
the mayor's youth advisory committee is
the perfect fit for them application for
the 20242 mayak is open until 11:59 p.m.
on June 30th 2024 visit gilbertaz.gov
myac for more information it was
mentioned earlier but this week is uh
the last week of school for our students
here in Gilbert all three of our school
districts will be getting out between
today tomorrow and maybe just today and
tomorrow so please be aware of all the
students that'll be out running running
around and everybody have a safe and fun
summer break and congratulations to the
2024 graduates graduating from the seven
district high schools and all the other
Charter and private schools that we have
here in the town of Gilbert
I wanted to say that we had a great
visit with a small delegation from our
sister city from Northern Ireland last
week and from Newton Abby thank you to
Patrick and the staff for the meetings
and presentations and for sharing best
practices with our friends also a big
thank you to the Gilbert sister cities
board for the events Etc that they held
big shout out to Chief Rob Dugen for
cooking a lot of burgers and hot dogs on
that great Grill owned by the fire
department and then a very huge thank
you and I don't think she's here tonight
to Elina Bay with the manager's office
for well everything because I couldn't
even start to list everything that Elena
did to get ready for that visit last
week and then to make sure that it went
off on without a hitch so very big thank
you for
that and one last thank you to Amy
sitting right there at the clerk's table
this is Amy's last night with us in the
clerk's department but she's moving to
the CIP team so we won't be seeing her
here at Council meetings in this
capacity but sometime in the future I
expect to see you at a Podium making a
presentation Amy so congratulations
thanks for choosing to move up within
the the town and and the jobs here that
we have available for our employees we
really appreciate that and thanks for
all you've done in the clerk's office
and best of luck to you that's all I
have thank you um I will take a motion
to adjourn is that how I'm supposed to
do it
now I'll make a motion to adjourn have a
motion to adjourn second all in favor I
we are adjourned