Regular Meeting - 4/16/2024 6:30:00 PM

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good evening
everyone welcome to the gilber town
council meeting for April 16th 201 24
just a reminder to please turn off or
silence your cell phones and devices
that you might have here in the chamber
with you I will call this meeting to
order and the first thing in our agenda
is the invocation I invite president
Rich Kempton Gilbert Santan stake
presidency the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints down to the podium
good evening thanks for joining
us turn the mic on one of the buttons on
the bottom there will turn the mic on
for you and you'll know it CU it'll go
red thank you thank
you Our Kind Father in heaven we humbly
bow uh with
gratitude for the bounties of life and
especially at the beginning of this
Gilbert Town council meeting to live in
this beautiful place that we call
home we are grateful for
the members of of these
communities um we are grateful
for this place that has been a place of
gathering and we're grateful for the
growth that we've
experienced we Express gratitude
for uh those who who
lead and for the Civic duties that
they've taken on we pray that thou will
bless them with thy choicest blessing
that they will know peace and prosperity
and and the happiness that comes from
leading with integrity and
with the sole mind of
serving we we pray father that thou will
bless us as a people that we might uh
have greater patience with one another
that we'll show
kindness and have acceptance for one
another that we might be able to
know
greater unity in this community but also
greater
diversity that we might come to a
greater
understanding that we do not have to
compromise our convictions to be able to
show
compassion we pray father that uh that
thy blessings will be here as the
Affairs of this town are discussed this
evening and we say these things humbly
in the name of Jesus Christ
amen thank you president Kempton we
appreciate you joining us this evening
next we'll have our Pledge of Allegiance
led by council member
bonani I pledge allegiance to the flag
United States Amica and to the Republic
for which it stands one nation under God
if I could please have town clerk
Herrera conduct the roll call Mayor
Bridget Peterson present vice mayor
Scott Anderson here council member Chuck
Bon Giovani here council member Bobby
Buckley here council member y Kowski
here council member Kathy tilki here and
council member Jim Tason here ACC is
present thank you thank you cheli moving
on to our presentations and
proclamations our first Proclamation
this evening will be presented by
council member Bon Giovani to the Parks
and Recreation staff Parks team please
come down to join the council member at
the front of the chamber this
Proclamation is declaring April 26 2024
as 2024 Arbor Day in Gilbert
Arizona hi Kylie hi Rocky
hey
folks this is the uh 2024 Arbor Day in
Gilbert Arizona Proclamation it's pretty
shady here we
go you owe
money had to do it okay whereas on April
10th in 1872 the first Arbor Day was
celebrated in Nebraska City Nebraska
with an estimated 1 million trees
planted and whereas Arbor Day is now
observed throughout 50 states and in the
world and will be observed in Arizona on
April 26 2024 and whereas communities
across our great nation gather annually
to celebrate trees and plant for a
Greener tomorrow and whereas the trees
are essential uh to our viable existence
uh as We Know It uh as a clean the air
uh clean the air as we breathe and
filter the water as we drink whereas
trees wherever they're planted bring joy
spiritual renewal and and provide hope
for the future and now whereas I Chuck
bonjan on behalf of Bridget Peterson
mayor of the town of Gilbert Arizona to
hereby Proclaim April 26 2024 as 2024
Arbor Day in Gilbert Arizona and I
encourage the celebration of Arbor Day
and its community support for all
efforts that protects existing trees and
Woodlands as well as well as those
energies dedicated to planting of the
trees to assist the well-being of this
and future generation
our next Proclamation will be presented
by vice mayor Anderson to the public
works staff Jessica Marlo and Eric Brown
if you could please join the vice mayor
at the front of the chamber Proclamation
declaring April 22nd to the 26th 2024 as
Gilbert water professionals appreciation
week any yeah and any other public work
staff oh hi are you the only one here
here where's your
friends well then you're going to accept
well you're perfect
but well I really appreciate the uh the
words of that opening prayer that this
is a beautiful community and you've made
it a beautiful Community thank you for
being here
tonight um a couple of weeks ago when
the last time we met we recognized
there's Jessica come on down Jessica we
we recognized uh some businesses and
communities in the town that were Award
winners for their water conservation and
we appreciate all those efforts tonight
we're going to recognize Those Who
deliver water to to the community and
for the great things that they do uh
we're the uh the special week is uh
Gilbert water professionals appreciation
week uh which I think is the 22nd to the
26th whereas Gilbert in whereas Gilbert
has been a leader in sustainable man
management of groundwater resources as a
100% water re reuse community and has
pioneered Innovations such as water
recharge and expanding the ReUse of
treated Wastewater to replenish aquafers
and improve local water supply
reliability and whereas Gilbert invests
an annually in water related programs
and projects that provide drinking water
and sanitary services protect public
health and the environment improve water
supply reliability and replenish and
clean up its groundwater Supply and
whereas protecting our Water Resources
is essential to Gilbert's future and
requires a well-trained Workforce of
water
professionals whereas Water waste water
and recycled water industry
Professionals in Arizona are dedicated
to ensuring these water resources are
safe and reliable for the use for use
and are well-managed for future
Generations now therefore uh Bridget
Peterson mayor of the town of Gilbert
declares April 22nd through the 26th as
gilbertt water professionals
Appreciation Week
thank you for all your
efforts until Lauren she was supposed to
be
here give that to you
guys you want to speak you want to say
anything
Jessica you want to say I'm
you I'll just say real quick that we
have an amazing team um that are
extremely dedicated to making sure that
we have safe reliable drinking water
every single day and we're just very
grateful for um the their dedication and
uh perseverance through some challenging
times so thank you
[Applause]
next the proclamation declaring April
21st through 27th 2024 as National
infertil infertility awareness week will
be presented by council member tilky to
Elizabeth Lee who is a Gilbert resident
and vice president of clinical
operations of well nness
fertility come on down Elizabeth this is
council
member yeah
welcome um whereas according to the CDC
one in seven couples have trouble
getting pregnant or sustaining a
pregnancy and whereas the World Health
Organization and American Medical
Association Define infertility as a
disease and whereas infertility affects
women and men equally and does not
discriminate based on race religion
sexual orientation marital status or
social economic level and whereas all
people challenged in their family
building Journey should have access to
all family building options such as inv
vitro fertilization and third-party
reproduction and whereas the cost and
lack of insurance coverage are
significant barriers for many in our
state to access the family building
option they need and whereas raising
awareness of infertility and the
barriers faced by the family building
Community is the first step to removing
these barriers and now therefore I Kathy
tilky on behalf of Bridget Peterson
mayor of the town of Gilbert do hereby
Proclaim April 21st through 27th 2024 as
National infertility Awareness
Week Elizabeth thank you do you want to
say a few words sure sure yeah I've
spent the last almost 10 years uh
building accessible fertility care in
Gilbert um Gilbert has really been a
beacon of light to many other
communities in terms of how we can
create affordable access to care and so
now I'm on a mission to take that to
other communities like Gilbert and I
just very much appreciate the accept you
know that you offering this because
infertility is a disease and it's such
an intimate disease and so everything we
can do to create uh awareness and and
really give access to care from all the
different levels is just is is an
amazing thing so I really appreciate
this very much and so do all the
fertility patients around the world
thank you Elizabeth um we'll go ahead
and get a
[Applause]
photo thank you so much nice to me
toet
Elizabeth Elizabeth thank you for
bringing that to my attention
whoa whoa that was
interesting um our next Proclamation is
the proclamation declaring April 6th
through 12th 2024 as the week of the
young child council member Buckley will
be presenting this to Beth Haw with
first things first Beth if you could
come down to the front and if you have
anyone you'd like to bring with you
please on
did they say your name correctly Beth
Beth HW oh great thank
you you ladies
ready
um whereas quality Child Care programs
build children's lives lifelong learning
skills during the critical years from
birth to age five and whereas every
Arizona child deserves access to Quality
early care and education
ECE uh environments and whereas ECE
teachers and child care providers are
essential Workforce that help Arizona
parents get to work and school and
public policies supporting ECE AIDS
families communities and the E economy
Thrive and where at first things first
Arizona Association of Education of
young children and other community
organizations in conjunction with
National Association for the education
of young children are celebrating the
53rd anniversary of the week of the
young
child and whereas these organizations
are working to improve Equitable earning
childhood opportunities that provide a
strong start for children in Gilbert and
now therefore I council member Bobby
Buckley on behalf of Mayor Bridget
Peterson do hereby Proclaim April 6th to
the 12th 2024 as the week of the young
child in Jo in Gilbert Arizona and
encourage our community to support and
invest in Early Child Care and education
in our
community thank you
all do you like do do you want to say
something okay
I guess I'm elected to say something I
would just like to say thank you to
Mayor and Council for realizing the
importance of early childhood education
in the town of Gilbert and supporting
all initiatives that support children
being ready for kindergarten so that
they can be successful in school and
life thank you thank you
next we have a proclamation declaring
April 2024 as 2024 Gilbert month council
member Kowski will present to Levi Lael
with the Gilbert did I say that
correctly Levi I only ever call you just
Levi and the straza family Levis with
the Gilbert Police Department and the
straza family if you could come down and
join council member capry at the front
please if we have someone else from the
police department that would like to
step down yeah oh Lorenzo's here
Sergeant ter Tera cor Tera perfect hi
we're gonna step right over here
whereas Gilbert's multi-use path system
that connects to other Phoenix
metropolitan Regional Pathways cap
captivates bicyclists from all over the
nation annually and whereas the bicycle
is a viable lowcost and fun form of
transportation and bicycle friendly
communities improve citizens Health
well-being quality of life and boost
Community Spirit while improving traffic
flow traffic safety and reduce pollution
and congestion and whereas the league of
American bicyclists proclaims may as
National Bike month and Valley Metro
proclaims April as Valley Bike month um
and whereas during the month of April
the joys of bicycling will be
experienced by many through various
community events helmet and bike safety
promotions or by simply going for a ride
and whereas all Road users are reminded
to share the road safely and now
therefore I Young cowsky on behalf
Bridget Peterson mayor of the town of
Gilbert do hereby proclaim the month of
April 2024 as 2024 bik Gilbert month in
in Gilbert Arizona to encourage all who
support bicycling to participate in
events around the valley that support
safe and enjoyable bicycling Pursuits I
have special guests um Alexandria straza
and her dad Daniel here today and
they'll tell a little bit about why
they're here and then we'll um be able
to provide a a few more updates as well
thank you I'll make this short winded
but I'm here with my daughter um it's
her birthday today she's eight so happy
birthday not to embarrass or anything
but
um her wife on January 15th was changed
but her wife was saved also cuz she had
a bike helmet on the day she was hit by
a red light runner on Lindsay and guadal
just at the trail Crossing
um but it helped my wife and I realized
that there's no mandate for kids in
their 18 to wear helmets on bikes
although we have a faster ebik ebikes
and regular bicycles and 250,000 plus
drivers on our roads um not counting
drivers from other towns but I want to
thank the Town Council mayor and council
member Kowski um and Chuck bovani who
also see the value in protecting our
children partnering with Y2K and Dignity
Health who are helping organize a bike
safety initiative here in Gilbert along
with our amazing local bike shops Bike
Masters Free Ride bicycles Global bikes
Pedigo bikes and in control driving
school for joining the partnership to be
pickup locations for bike helmet drive
and help spread bike safety awareness
throughout this beautiful town and we
will be doing um drives through May uh
bike events and helmet giveaways with
our local bike shops uh to help promote
bike safety in our
town thank you Alexandria I wanted to
specifically tell you how proud I am of
you and I'm so impressed by your courage
and resilience this year thank you for
inspiring us all for the community
initiatives for bike safety um and happy
birthday thank
you um as Daniel mentioned uh some of
the initiatives that we've been able to
do just in the past few months are
purchase 500 helmets through the through
a grant offered by Dignity Health and
Y2K engineering we've um through the
Gilbert Police Department we really
appreciate their support in just the
past two weekends they've been able to
distribute over 150
helmets we've had um two different
coordination meetings with the Gilbert
public schools with back to school
initiatives plan this fall to enhance
bike safety and um the Gilbert public
works department in conjunction with the
Gilbert Parks and Rec Foundation have
received funds through a private
individual and they've been able to
implement green bike paint at four
intersections just this past couple
weeks um Gilbert and Guadalupe Valvista
and Warner Valvista and Guadalupe and
reer williamsfield um and upcoming we
also have a community bike ride plann
for May 18th so I just want to really
appreciate um our community for turning
a tragedy into so much positivity um and
thank you for being here tonight
take
thato is that
okay so nice to see
you I can take both you don't have to
worry about it
thank you my correct thank you oh I
forgot my
glasses sorry I need my glasses for this
one I'm at that point now that if the
text is just a little too
small and I don't think anybody could
hold it far enough away from
me this evening we will be recognizing
the Gilbert volunteer M MVPs for
2024 Gilbert has an incredible
volunteers has incredible volunteers
serving across the community from town
departments nonprofits businesses Faith
organizations schools and more
volunteers come together day after day
to make amazing things happen to support
our community these volunteers help
exemplify our Gilbert values of driven
kind humble and bold and we want to
recognize them and their contributions
to our
town tonight we will recognize the
finalists and announce the award winners
are our second annual Gilbert Community
volunteer MVP
program the first value is bold with our
nominees being recognized for their
motivation I'm like I'm looking for the
slides to change are the slides there we
go I I kept looking over thinking that
it was supposed to change um the first
value is bold with our nominees being
recognized for their innovation Big
Ideas and making a significant
impact and the finalists
are Natalie
braa she has served the children in
foster care for a decade first as a
foster parent for four infant boys and
now is an educational advocate for kids
please come on down and join me Natalie
I should have said that sorry
[Applause]
the first one's always the
hardest next finalist is Trisha Johnson
who is a Force for good in our community
two and a half years ago she started a
branch of gathering Humanity in Gilbert
but unfortunately she can't join us
tonight next is Sher loner organizes
collects and donates holiday gifts to
the Foster youth in Gilbert come on down
and join me
[Applause]
would you like to do a group photo first
and then we'll announce the
winner oh we did oh the other person's
not here tonight sorry you missed that
part she's great though she does
everything she really does without her I
wouldn't be able to get through
today oh Eric's taking a picture too oh
are you related to him yes oh I didn't
oh Oscar
Oscar
okay trying to hide my glasses and stuff
behind your
back and the winner is Natalie
[Applause]
[Music]
Brown Natalie volunteers for advocacy
319 with volunteers like Natalie this
organization advocates for the
educational success of students impacted
by Foster Care kinship care and adoption
in
Arizona congratulations we like a
photo stand stay over there yeah let me
let's take one
photo you want another photo
y thank you congratulations yes please
thank
you the next value is driven these f
ters are recognized for taking on new
challenges and devoting many hours of
their time to
service I should have put this on my
iPad I like that better I'm a techie
girl not a paper girl then I wouldn't
have to wear my glasses either folks um
and the finalists are Louise ker Louise
are you here with us come on
down l is passionate about HD South and
always takes on new challenges and
opportunities to help the organization
and its
guests Casey stiti did I say that right
Stacy
[Applause]
stiti performs a wide variety of tasks
one minute he can be on a routine Smoke
Detector service appointment and the
next he can be responding to a house
fire or Cardiac
Arrest next Matthew Torell
Matthew is a young student juggling the
demands of full-time Premed college
courses and work while still dedicating
time to
volunteer thank you all for all
everything that you do for our community
and let's do one group photo we'll
announce the winner okay
oh oh
Oscar okay drum
[Music]
roll uhoh oh no uhoh see I wouldn't do
that if I had my iPad either sorry and
the winner is Casey
stiti you're welcome congratulations
thank
you
Casey who volunteers with the Gilbert
Fire Department as a community
Assistance volunteer Comm 251 time and
time again he has proven himself to be
of service to the residents of gilber
congratulations Casey thank you thank
you let's get a photo I taking these
glasses
off Natalie thank you thank you
ma'am they're always so they're always
so formal in public safety the next
value is kind these nominees exemplify
serving the community with respect
kindness and always a smile on their
face and the finalists are Pat Finch
please come down and join me
Pat if you're here
y who exemplifies kindness not only with
her words but her actions she has been a
dedicated volunteer for over 16 years
with over
6600 service hours in support of nursing
staff and patients I'm assuming you
volunteer at Mercy Gilbert Medical
Center because your Dignity Health
smok next finalist is Kelly
gisler Kelly strives to help the folks
in our community that are less fortunate
she believes all people deserve respect
and a second chance Kelly always
volunteers with a big smile and a fun
sense of humor I can attest to that
Kelly you always have a smile on your
face next finalist Leanne
s Leanne seems to have a big chering
[Music]
section she showns kindness and a
welcoming Spirit every day through her
actions and words she demonstrates how
important she believes all people are
whether that be volunteers that walk
through the door or clients to be served
one photo ladies come on over
here we'll split up a little go
don't go too
far and the winner is Kelly
gisler thank you and congratulations
thank you and
congratulations Kelly gisler who founded
cultivate goodness and is a bridge that
helps many nonprofits in the community
find needed support from volunteers and
items needed for the organization Kelly
is the living embodiment of kindness I'm
going to tell a personal story about
Kelly and I'm going to try not to cry
Kelly and her associate and I can't
remember her name I apologize Carrie
showed up here at Town Hall with a gift
for me one day and I was having an
incredibly difficult day and these two
wonderful women handed me this gift and
I burst into
tears it was the right moment for
somebody just to come into my life and
offer me a little kindness so I thank
you for that and always be in sunshine
in people's day please stand over here
Kelly oh Kelly Kelly I need a picture
with you I got telling my personal story
I
forgot congratulations
next our our next value is humble these
nominees have the heart of service and
make strong contributions to the
organizations they serve and the
finalists are Emily
Jones Emily are you
here Emily Embraces substance exposed
babies and their caregivers with
compassionate evidence-based care that
positively changes the course of their
entire lives
congratulations next is Judy
slack Judy has humbly put in numerous
hours since the Inception of Gilbert
Fire Department's community Assistance
Program and has helped make it success
congratulations
dudy
next is Debbie
trenery Debbie approaches everything
with a humble heart and pure intentions
and is always there when needed to help
out one small
step one photo one photo for us ladies
with a group
thank you a lot I swear I don't blink
sometimes I can't even tell
you and the winner is Debbie trener
congratulations and thank you
congratulations and thank you
congratulations Debbie has volunteered
for the past nine years with one small
step you have an event coming up soon
next week helping at the friends resale
Boutique and assisting with the
fundraisers her ener energetic attitude
always makes others want to do more and
her helpful nature kicks in when extra
work needs to be done congratulations
stay right here y we're gonna do a
photo here thank
you I have moved across this whole
floor next
we would also like to take a brief
moment to recognize Gail loen she was
nominated and also selected for a kind
award although Gail is no longer with us
she leaves behind a legacy of many many
people in her life who she selflessly
worked to help during her time here on
Earth Gail was an active volunteer at
one small step since 2015 she showed up
Faithfully every Monday and carried out
many different activities to help
families in need and especially children
Gail's H husband Hal is here today to
accept award an award on her behalf
posthumously
[Applause]
I didn't know tonight would be so
emotional this next award is to
recognize a group that gives back
through service contributions and more
as they make a difference in the Gilbert
Community and the finalists are Life
Community
Church and my friend Jamie Johnson Life
Community has a reputation of giving
either by non donations support to the
community monetary donations or donating
their facility as needed hi Jamie hi
next group is the Mercy Gilbert
volunteer program
come on down folks all of you wearing
your purple and knot that's here to
represent Mercy Gilbert come on down
each of these volunteers have a direct
impact on the valuable work done at the
hospital their kindness is palpable
their presence is valued oh and they
have a c they have a doggy volunteer and
they are truly the heartbeat of the
hospital congratulations Mercy Gilbert
volunteer program
Hospital volunteers are amazing the next
group is snap special needs activity
program if you're here with SNAP and
you'd like to come on down and join us
Janie you gonna bring Maddie down
I'm okay this group is totally selfless
in their dedication to serve this
underserved segment of the community
they provide hundreds of volunteer hours
each week to come up with and Carry Out
creative and valuable
activities do we want to try and get a
group photo with all this whole big
group good luck
Kirsten e
and the winner is Mercy Gilbert
volunteer
[Music]
program congratulations to the other
programs thank you for all you do in our
community and these ladies just told me
that I'm wearing their color and I
should report for duty
tomorrow I'm a little busy
all right scooch this
way e
I worked for a volunteer volunteer
services department for S years so I
very much appreciate Hospital volunteers
and our final award category atory of
the night is youth
volunteer these Nomine nominees are
definite definitely represent the
dedicated positive and hardworking youth
in
Gilbert and the finalists are rapael
Ramirez Hi
rapael how are you I think Kirsten has
something for you Raphael is kind
committed and a tireless young man who
has a passion to serve the most
vulnerable Evan
vows
[Applause]
Evan did I say your last name right vows
vowels just like vowels just AE I O U
vowels exactly Evan vows Evan is an
amazing young man he is wise Beyond his
years and is continually looking for
opportunities to serve and we have to
get a photo Kiren we have to get a photo
because we only have I think I only have
two
yes
don't an Oscar will take
one that way there we
go mom yeah okay all right I'm going to
announce the winner
and the winner is Evan
vows congratulations thank
[Applause]
[Music]
you you have a big cheering group
too Evan brought toys he collected from
his birthday party to Refugee children
he organized a successful jelly Drive I
saw that online I saw that on social
media yep successful jelly drive for
Open Arms in Gilbert which is one of our
only we only have a couple of food banks
and you took care of them raised
donations and funds to create homeless
kits that he gave to the Gilbert Police
Department and a local foundation in
Gilbert and he had other children help
make Valentine's to hand out to seniors
in an assisted living facility here in
Gilbert
well we can't wait to see what you do
next next Evan thank you you have a very
large heart congratulations for being
such a great young man thank you and now
we're going to do a big group photo okay
okay with
everybody
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okay everyone moving on to the next
portion of our agenda we have
communications from citizens I will pass
it to you 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 to speak card for
each item they wish to speak on and
submit it to the town clerk or place it
in the B provided prior to the start of
the meeting the communications from
citizens portion on 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 O
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 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 item 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 respectable 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 you'll
have three minutes our SP first Speaker
tonight is Deborah
starita Deborah will be followed by Don
Edwards Deborah just pull that mic up
and then push one of the buttons on the
bottom and it'll light there you go
perfect good evening mayor and council
members my name is Deborah starita I
live in Gilbert I am a recent Resident
of Gilbert grown growing up all through
the East Valley but never living in
Gilbert so I have a home that backs up
to williamsfield and um there's a train
so I talked to a realtor and she had
told me that this has been visited
before with the Town Council but I
called the town of Gilbert about a month
after I moved into this area because my
back wall is on Williamsville so I had
to remove pictures off my back of my
house inside because they vibrated so
bad when the train went through at 2 in
the morning so I called town of Gilbert
they said I needed to call Union Pacific
which I did call Union Pacific and Union
Pacific said all I had to do was attend
a council meeting and say that you guys
can request quiet hours and they I don't
know what the quiet hours are but the
horns are only allowed to blow in case
there's an
emergency so that was something that I
don't know if anybody's everever
presented that to you but we've got some
really egotistical Engineers that
sometimes stay on those horns a lot
longer than they need to and then you
have the nice ones that just hit it when
they need to go through the intersection
but uh 2 3 4 in the morning my dogs got
used to it in about a week I'm three
months in and I'm still not used to it
so I don't know if there's something we
can go forward with but that is what
Union Pacific did say to me that there's
something called quiet
hours that you guys can put forward I
appreciate your
time thank
you Don Edwards
Don will be followed by Steve
lavel good evening Madame mayor Mr vice
mayor and esteemed council members uh my
name is Don Edwards I live in Chandler
but I recently retired from your fire
department after I was retaliated
against for filing a complaint uh
tonight I would like to talk about
character and the lack of it at the top
of the fire department one of the top
three here right now he's pretty bad um
I was written up after I misheard a
direction over a cell phone in a noisy
apparatus Bay so I made a mistake 2 days
later as soon as I was informed when I
was sitting at home cuz I was off for my
4 days not by my supervisor but by
somebody else because that person
battalion chief Jeff Stevens decided
that he was going to talk about me to
other people instead of coming to me
directly apparently while at training
with my BC with my engineer BC Stevens
told him he was upset with what I had
done my engineer called me to let me
know and as I stated before I
immediately called BC Stevens we talked
about what happened I took full
accountability and sure him that it
would never happen again during that
conversation BC Stevens confessed that
he was taken a back because as he said
that's not who I am never have been
never will be after about a 20-minute
conversation BC Stevens said he was glad
I called and that we could move on
unfortunately a full month later I was
called and told by BC Stevens that he
quote had to write me up probably from
this guy as if that wasn't bad enough he
wrote in the paperwork that I purposely
disregarded an order which he knew was a
lie this is where character comes in in
my career as a captain I've been told to
write up employees before there were
times when disagreed with that decision
and I told my BC that I preferred to
handle it differently character count is
something that's plased on on every
school wall in this town I know cuz I
run calls in all of them it's a shame
that the men at the top of the fire
department haven't learned the lessons
of a third grader it was bad enough that
it was a full month later even though I
had seen him multiple times in the
interim but the fact that he straight up
lied in the paperwork shows that there
is no Integrity in the leadership excuse
me there is no leadership in the
management of the fire
department this is just another example
of the current culture of your fire
department if you're not a full-blown
Rah RW cheerleader for everything that
comes from admin they will find a way to
get you there are multiple people right
now going through what I went through my
plan is to continue to shed light on the
management of the fire department and I
hope some of you will take the time to
actually talk to the dedic ated men and
women that are still serving to keep
this community safe to get more
information than I could give you in
three minute bursts thank you see you in
two
weeks three minutes thank
you Steve LVL Steve will be followed by
Dan
Reynolds in regards to the study session
two weeks ago the biggest disappointment
was that only one council member asked
any questions of Patrick as to why the
odg pushed a far leftwing narrative by
using the town social media sites and
Personnel thank you council member
torgenson Patrick bought up Benchmark
cities in regards to the volumes of
social media engagements and their
respective populations however when
providing a comparison view of FTE and
their budgets he only used two Benchmark
cities and four cities that were not
Benchmark cities there could be a simple
explanation however none of you asked
why he used different cities for
different statistics to say that I was
disappointed from the lack of
questioning would be an understatement
council member Kowski you stated that
you like the direction of the OG odg
team so are you anti-ir Amendment are
you pr- Marxist Pro BLM Pro CRT Pro de
and I in the last in in at least two
cities this past week I've have seen
people in our country chanting death to
America do you support that
ideology let let let me remind you of
your odg mission statement to provide
accurate and engaging information to
promote Gilbert safety and overall
Community Pride council member Anderson
reads Preamble and every meeting about
decorum and misinformation council
member answer and I didn't hear you ask
one question regarding the
misinformation that odg pushed out
regarding the clot shot that doesn't
vaccinate the masks that don't and
didn't work and the social distancing
lies of course everyone would say we
didn't know it was in the middle of a
pandemic however the people who were
trying to speak the truth were attacked
by odg and the internal communication
proves it statements like he's posting
that he won't wear a mask and he's
pushing vaccine misinformation or mask
information yet not one question was
asked of regarding the misinformation
pushed by this local government and
under the disguise of Public Safety
while the town took millions of covid
funds to push the narrative I know
firsthand because I sat down in a
meeting and I tried to discuss some
facts about the mask and and the size of
the variant I was told we were going to
follow the CDC zero apologies zero
accountability just sweep it under the
rug and talk about engagement numbers
from 2023 so mayor if this information
is just perception and you think some
people need to get over it like you
stated two weeks ago and I would ask
both you and Patrick why did Dana Burman
resign Patrick mentioned in his
presentation that the town had 37
million engagements in 2023 and a third
of the population of Gilbert is under
the age of 18 why didn't any of you ask
him why the odg team wasn't involved in
the team violence response or lack
thereof why didn't Patrick Lee and chief
soberg use this outstanding Town asset
to protect the most valuable assets in
our society our children all it does
after all say safety in their mission
statement as a matter of fact I heard
the advice from odg was to not post
anything I don't know if this is true
but there's only one council member I
think that will dig into it I have so
much more but I'll finish with this
tonight council member torgenson my
father told me to trust your gut trust
yours keep digging council member
Anderson as you mention as I mentioned
you speak of decorum was the mayor's
comments about panties the theorum you
speak of Mayor nice example and you are
correct many employees will tag the town
because they are not trying to hide
anything I know of police officers that
were pulled off their patrols by their
sergeants during the odg rebanding and
told that they can post their opinions
but do not tag the town mayor I know you
say you're a big supporter of the Second
Amendment but your actions and your
words don't support the First Amendment
which is first for a reason mayor we had
breakfast back in December 2020 while
you were being attacked and I told you
it was going to take that you it was
going to be worse than you could
anticipate it was going to take strong
leadership and accountability to write
the ship mayor I did support you for
that I am sorry because I was wrong
about you please do us all a favor pull
your big girl panties up and resign
immediately as for the rest of you I
have exposed multiple leadership
problems over the past five Council
meetings and the inaction of this
Council speaks volumes thank you for
your time thank you Dan Reynolds Dan
will be followed by an
duet Chris Chris can I make just a quick
so it doesn't get too off the
rails uh council member ton any comments
need to be wait till the end of I just
because something's out of context is
you you have the you could respond to
criticism but you have to wait till
after all the comments are done that's
state law
good evening mayor councel uh my name is
Dan Reynolds uh I am
a 25 year employee here and retired I've
been living in the town for over 37
years uh sorry about the redundancy but
uh in the previous uh meetings I've told
you about uh why Josh Reynolds was asked
to resign or be fired um so I'm a voice
for Josh Reynolds again because we have
an injunction still
on behalf of your fire chief and your um
Rob Dugen and your HR Director Nathan
Williams
so um I've given you two of the three
reasons why Josh was basically forced to
resign Blue Line flag on the truck and a
video with the other firefighter and by
the way that other firefighter was never
disciplined and he shouldn't have been
because Josh shouldn't have been either
because they were both in agreement of
it so
um the
uh he was told to
um if he didn't resign he he had a
choice either be fired or resigned and
then after that he was said uh if you do
choose to resign uh then you're going to
sign a piece of paper here saying you
won't sue the town which I'm not sure I
understand why somebody would do that
like that doesn't make sense to me um so
tonight I'm going to share the the last
reason and that one was um Josh taking a
picture of his arm around uh a cardboard
cutout of President
Trump um and that was in 2018 so he was
not running for office he was already
already the sitting president so from a
political standpoint there was no
candidates there was no running there's
none of that so there's nothing that he
did wrong about
that
um is in the background it showed a fire
truck but there was no identifying um
that showed where it came from doesn't
know that it was from the city of Gil or
the town of
Gilbert uh his uniform is in a in a such
a way that it did not show him any
identifying that it was the town of
Gilbert Fire
Department um I always thought that was
ironic because the the person who's no
longer here from the social media uh
blatantly showed things from her office
that showed her uh place of employment
and her position and was never
disciplined for
that um town of Gilbert odg asked uh for
these people to send
in uh tag them and post them on this
particular thing it happened to be
National selfie day so Josh did that
with that cardboard cut out of President
Trump but they didn't post his and so he
called and asked and said uh how come
you didn't post
it and when he was told by one of the uh
employees that probably doesn't need to
be named was that um that Josh you're
too controversial is the
response so at some point he got in
trouble for this and your current fire
chief Rob Dugen who was the assistant
fire chief at the time asked his
supervisor to discipline him but he
couldn't tell him why because he really
didn't have anything that he could tell
him that he had breached any kind of
policy um it just kind of tells the
story that Josh was targeted the whole
time for probably four close to five
years uh by the odg and other
people so I know it's not super exciting
but those are the three reasons why he's
no longer an employee with the town so I
appreciate uh you you're giving me the
time to to express this and again uh let
your conscience be your guide and
remember that the The only voice you
can't stop hearing is your
conscience thank you very much thank you
Dan and duet Ann will be followed by
gisma
Arnold hi my name is and DEET I've been
in Gilbert for 26 years this evening I'd
like to address a few pressing issues
that uh concern the fabric of the
community in Gilbert first is the
essence of the invocation within our
Chamber of Commerce meetings the chamber
is indeed meant to be a reflection of
our diverse community of various faith
and
denominations however it's been very
clear that certain denominations seem to
have a predominant presence during the
invocation per the city council meeting
agenda it states the invocation may be
offered by a person of any religion
faith belief or non-belief as well as
council members this raises questions
about why there isn't a diverse
representation and whether the other
churches in Gilbert are aware of these
meetings this community is
representative by represented by many
faiths including the Christian faith
it's imperative that we ensure equal
representation and Foster an environment
where we where our entire Community is
represented the other issue that needs
to be addressed is the timely process of
investigating incidents and crimes
within our city recent events such as
the appalling Act of two teens throwing
a fire extinguisher off the Gilbert
garage highlight the importance of Swift
communication and action citizens have
continued to voice their concerns about
the lack of monitoring at the Gilbert
garage this incident is a reminder of
the consequences of delayed response we
must address why it took 14 months for
this incident to come to light and why
such delays continue to persist then
just this Saturday there was a teen
walking on the ledge of the Gilbert
garage like a tight rope then throwing
something off the ledge where are the
police the Gilbert garage cameras did
not catch that one as the citizens
recorded it the teen is very lucky very
lucky to be alive citizens continue to
bring these issues to the attention of
the city council and police yet what is
done about it all also this past
Saturday makes sense to be at the garage
on the Saturday there were many teens in
the Gilbert garage as it was like a frat
party why is the Gilbert garage not
being monitored oh yeah the camera wires
were cut are the cameras being replaced
are they being worked on what is going
on in that garage I have a fear once
again that a teen will have to get hurt
for any action to take place please
don't let that happen let us strive to
be a chamber and a community that truly
represents the diversity of Gilbert and
a community where incidents are reported
swiftly and addressed thanks for letting
me
share thank you Carissa she'll be
followed by Chris
Brennan I I um just wanted to share a
scenario with you that I got to share at
the teen violence committee and just to
bring a little bit of an understanding
as you guys get ready to discuss um
things on teen violence tonight um I
want you to put yourselves in the shoes
of a 17-year-old girl who has just been
told she starts dating a guy and she's
just been told she is the most
incredible thing to him he pumps her up
he he gets her going and and it just and
gets her to a place of really believing
that she is everything in his eyes and
then he turns around and he flips on her
and then starts telling her she's the
worst person that she's responsible for
his Drive she is at fault for everything
that is going wrong in his life he
starts to assault her he emotionally
abuses her and everything she finally
gets the courage to come and tell her
parents what has happened or tell her
mom what has happened and a phone call
is made to the police dispatcher and
then they contact an officer and then it
goes to sex crimes and then from there
we go and you go and you sit in the
office and as a parent you're told that
you have to wait in the lobby while your
child walks into a room with an officer
that you don't know and as a parent
you're sitting there and everything on
your mind
is I teror that your child is going to
get hurt all over again and not because
that officer has done anything to
present it that way but because your
child has just been hurt and that's the
one thing that's on your mind on the
other side of it your child is sitting
there and the only thing that's on their
mind is I want my mom right here with
me that that was the scenario that
played out for us and even though the
officer was very kind and I I fly
believe that he respected my daughter
the one thing coming into this as we
look into and talk about teen violence
and and Advocates and especially
pertaining to sexual assaults is that
when you are a victim of a sexual
assault or abuse it is really difficult
to keep your mind focused in an
interview and I know that officers have
ways of interviewing and things like
that but no matter what if your mind is
on in another place not going to be able
to think and communicate clearly the
ways that you need to communicate and so
my plead is that there's a way to bring
in I know Advocates are going to come
hopefully with the center and that
there's advocates in the aftermath of
the interview but as a teen girl and as
a parent going into an interview with an
officer and not knowing what's going on
what's going to happen my ple is to have
those Advocates to start coming in now
to have explanations to these girls so
that they can have a more relaxed
interview with an officer and he even
have a female in the room with them as
well thank you for your time thank you
Carissa
Chris good
evening over the last few months we've
seen changes within our community around
teen violence
we've seen the arrest of various
individuals in relation to the brutal
murder of Preston Lord we've seen the
creation of the teen violence
subcommittee and we have seen some
members of our community come forward
with their stories of teen violence as
the community moves forward it is clear
that more needs to be done and that
leadership needs to step up so that our
community can heal from our police we
need to see the classification of these
violent groups as gangs we know this is
being worked on we know that this takes
time and we understand that but
expediency is needed we need to accept
that Gilbert has a gang
problem classifying the Gilbert goons
and other groups as gangs with mcao
agreement it will bring resources and
funding this will help Gilbert Police
and surrounding police departments in
their fight to eliminate these gangs it
will bring harsher sentences to
discourage more from forming and it will
show the community that action is
underway by Gilbert
Police second the teen violence
subcommittee is due to make
recommendations and those
recommendations should be actioned on
with haste please do not delay in
implementing any of their
recommendations should you delay this
will only show serve to show Gilbert is
not serious about trying to resolve the
teen violence within our
community lastly I will ask again that
Gilbert's leadership step up and
proactively work to make our town and
schools safer the stories that continue
to come from our teens show there is a
fear of violence and organized bullying
both at school and within our community
the stories and evidence of violence is
overwhelming and yet it has been almost
6 months since the death of Preston Lord
and Gilbert has yet to make any
changes your actions decision and
Leadership will make our community a
better place to live and I urge you to
take Swift action to ensure this becomes
a reality thank you thank you
Chris is uh Le is she is she gone she's
gone okay that concludes the
communications mayor if I could give one
comment sure just direction to uh
Patrick could you direct whoever's needs
to look into the train
whistle sounds like that's being bandied
back and forth and and maybe we can
respond to that yes thank you thank
you council member tenson and just you
know for context purposes
uh the mayor had said for me to put my
big girl panties on uh during a study
session two weeks ago but it was
actually her comment truly did refer to
something that I had said two weeks
before that uh so I don't believe it was
an Iman spirit I think she was tapping
into the fact that uh I said I would put
my big girl panties on and deal with
somebody that was a problem and so I
don't want it to to be out of context
that uh I can accept that this was done
with a sense of humor and I would hope
that that anybody else could see this
would accept that I see that let's have
a laugh because if we can lighten this
up a little bit it's going to make
things work better and she was playing
off something I said I didn't recognize
it even at the moment because I was like
trying to move something forward and I I
it and it was based off something I had
said two weeks before that so I wanted
to make that clear I don't believe it
was me
sir and I understand it I appreciate it
but she did she I truly believe she was
working off my sense of humor and I am
wearing my big girl panties though so
you
know it's offensive as a woman well I'm
sorry you can't unsee that oh I see we
can't we can't council member we can't
go back and forth okay thank you though
sorry um anyone else like to make a
comment um vice mayor asked to follow up
on the trains and um Kirsten if you
could check with the resident that spoke
this evening about the train and get her
information because then we could reach
back write out directly to her since we
we can't respond to her and as far as um
the comments that we keep having over
and over and over again about um the
office of digital
government I learned something a few
weeks ago that um somebody left this
meeting and went out to the lobby and
wrote the makeing model of one of our
emplo employees cars on the Blackboard
out in the lobby and to me that's not
acceptable as a employee they should not
have to be exposed to something like
that yes they choose these positions
here in the town of Gilbert we choose to
run for office here in the town of
Gilbert and expect the abuse that we
constantly get the the employees do not
deserve that and if I hear of something
like that again I will for darn sure
make sure we find out on camera who did
that and I will take action whatever
that needs to be because that is
completely unacceptable in this building
you want respect and you want to be
heard for the issues that you claim that
you've had over the past few years you
are showing absolutely no respect to any
of us or to anyone that works in this
building and I am just really really
disappointed with that out of some of
you
and that's all I'll say moving on um
Chief soberg if I could have you come
down to make a comment now that we're
done with public comment
please good evening uh mayor and Council
Mike sber chief of police with gber
Police Department thank you to everyone
who is here tonight and for those who
continue to participate in our efforts
to end teen violence within our
communities as a result of the tragic
death of Preston Lord and Queen Creek
there has been an increased awareness
about the issue of teen violence
Preston's death has had a profound
impact on so many in our respective
communities and we have seen that
incidents of teen violence have affected
the entire Valley and our country as a
whole tonight the Council subcommittee
on teen violence will provide us with
updates on their recommendations to the
Town Council these recommendations would
not have been possible had it not been
for the community's passion and
participation in finding effective
Solutions these are the type of efforts
that need to continue within our
community and to successfully bring an
end to teen
violence this is an important next step
in combating teen violence but there's a
lot more work for all of us to do any
truly meaningful long-term solution
will need to be based on continued
Partnerships and collaboration between
law enforcement and our many Community
leaders and
stakeholders the Govern Police
Department is committed to working with
parents our schools our nonprofits and
with Council to continuously build and
strengthen our Partnerships to support
our
youth regarding our ongoing
investigation into the Gilbert goons
because it is an active investigation
I'm unable to say anything further at
this time other than we have made
significant progress and I anticipate
the investig investigation concluding
very
soon before I wrap up I want to assure
the community that the gibert police
department remains steadfast in our
dedication to thoroughly investigating
all of our cases and bringing Justice to
anyone who's committed a a crime here in
Gilbert most important of all I want to
thank everyone here and everyone in our
community along with our Council leader
ership who have worked tirelessly to
find solutions to address the issues of
teen violence thank you for your
participation and thank you for our
future efforts to combat teen violence
thank you thank you Chief appreciate
your comments moving on to the consent
calendar vice mayor thank you mayor I
haven't received any requests to pull an
item and seeing none with that I will
move that we we approve items seven
eight nine 10 want me to save you a
second you can say the entire consent
agenda as presented well there there's
one oh do we have to make a change to
one of them item
18a will refer to the changes we in our
addendum and I was trying to you I'll
just identify that as well as the rest
of the consent calendar thank you I'll
make that motion so moved do I have a
second second I have a motion by vice
mayor seconded by council member till
please vote sorry I was waiting for the
screen to come
up motion passes
70 Council would you like to move up the
discussion
on um the teen violence
subcommittee to before the before the
other
items we can move just that one
administrative item up if you would like
to no they don't typically yeah is there
anyone here for a liquor license raise a
hand okay there is one person sure thank
you for
that okay now open the public hearing we
have
just a few items on our public hearing
agenda does anyone wish for a separate
presentation on any of those
items seeing none I'll go ahead and
close the public hearing and I I'll just
make the motion move to approve items 22
23 24 and
25 I have a second by council member
Buckley please
vote motion passes
70 your liquor license is done
moving on to administrative items we
will um let's move to the the let's move
to the council sub on subcommittee on
teen violence to the first
item uh vice mayor thank you
mayor we uh did take the time uh I think
it was it last week last week yeah it
was last week sat down for a couple
couple of hours and took all of the
items that we've received from the
public as they particip ated in our
subcommittee meetings uh we tried to
compile all those recommendations and
come up with something that we could
send on to the council that kind of uh
encapsulated what was being asked for by
the public as far as recommendations and
that's what you see the things that we
broken out into three general areas uh
the the first area being
um existing uh actions that are going on
right now which is uh adding a police
officer for Community youth engagement
in the fiscal year 25 budget and also
approving all three phases the family
Advocacy Center which will be important
in the
CIP um those are two items that are
ongoing now that have actually begun uh
now the things that we had recommended
that we look at into the future the uh I
think that we felt as though the most
important thing that we can should
consider is working together with the
school district um we have um Liaisons
to each of the
districts um there are only three
districts there's seven of us we thought
that we might even recommend that if we
can go to some of the charter schools we
might want to do that also but we want
to see what we've done in the past where
we've met periodically with the
superintendent to go over issues that
may affect the town and the school
district um those discussions were Fair
fairly shallow I think for most part
we'd like to get to be um something
that's more regular something that we
can involve more people in uh it was
just normally the council liaison and a
and the superintendent and it would be
make sense to expand that whether it's
involving the uh the administration the
uh the uh the principles of the high
schools uh parents uh the sro's uh
others that should be involved in
meetings on a regular basis with the
school district so the town and the
school district can address these issues
that are now coming up um council member
Bon Giovani had a 10-point plan that was
recommended I Believe by one of the
citizens that we've is included in your
packet that we felt uh was very
appropriate to be considered as part of
this recommendation of everything kind
of pivots on working together better
with the school districts um that seemed
to
a recurring themee that we needed to
address that uh the last General
category the three categories were were
potential ordinances in the
future uh one being the uh looking at uh
other communities ordinances that are
already in place for Banning brass
knuckles for uh juveniles and also
ordinances that may Define par parental
responsibilities and uh uh how we treat
that in the
community um this is all these are all
recommendations that we're we've
prepared to forward on to the uh
Community engagement task
force and uh that's we're kind of
passing the Baton now so that we can
take further action and get the task
force involved in that and um council
member tilki has got some
recommendations on the uh on the Task
Force and and and the process of passing
this on to the task force and I'd like
her to address that but before we get to
that I'd like to hear from council
members bonani and and Tason to see if
they have anything things to add to uh
what I just
summarized council member Bon Giovani
thank you mayor um I don't have much to
to add um to Vice mayor's um
recommendations I just uh again want to
um
reiterate uh how proud I am of the
community what we've been through the
last couple of months and how much
everyone came to the plate and I hope
that we can uh continue uh with that
open
communication uh and expand it even more
to to other people to get involved in
this now is the opportunity for us to
get involved work with the um Community
engagement task force and actually set
out and do some of these things that
that took us a while to get um to get to
get input from everyone so we can agree
on some things that we think that uh
that we can work on and um it's it's
it's been um it's been great to see
Community uh get together I mean it's
it's sad over the topic that we had to
get together on but I I I see people you
know in the audience today that didn't
know each other you know prior to
president's death and many of them are
now friends and working together for for
one thing working for uh working for the
Youth in in in Gilbert and I feel very
confident um handing this off to um
council member um tilki and the task
force and hopefully many of you can be
participating uh in that also and just
continue with the hard work you've been
doing council member torguson yeah to to
reiterate some of what Chuck there said
there one of the things that sometimes
it's misconstrued people are looking
saying well why is it the police are
asking for help and the Beautiful part
of it is is that the community is
involved out of tragedy has come
something good is that people are paying
attention uh when something's hard to
Define people are chiming in and part of
the problem that existed as this started
was the lack of a feeling that could be
involved whether it be the a victim or
the victim's family and people are
speaking and being involved and
hopefully there's more creative ways
where people are involved in this
solution as it moves forward and it
there is no 100% solution for anything
in life but to see that people are
engaged and care and spend a lot of
their time uh people that never met
Preston people that never uh had uh a a
victim that was related to them and they
cared enough to volunteer their time and
their their expertise and their soul and
to see this moving forward it it
is it's it's nice to see that our
community does exist at 288,000 people
or where wherever we are today there is
still Community there and people do care
and uh I'm I very happy to have
participated in this and and really for
to me Chuck carried the carried the
water most heavily and as well as Scott
and it was I was just I was proud to be
associated with the process more than
anything and to see people that love
their community and do something about
it and I'm just going to leave it at
that c member tilki thank you mayor um
I'd like to start by thanking the three
gentlemen who served on this
subcommittee and all the work and the
time that you've put into this and all
of the communities um input and um every
just ditto to everything that you all
have said um we received the
recommendations yesterday those of us
who didn't serve on the committee and so
um I I just took today to try to put
together
um more of a format of how we're going
to be able to transition this and and to
try to make it very clear to the
community how that's going to happen um
in re so I haven't had the opportunity
to talk to any council member up here
about any of these
recommendations um I think uh chevel I
think you have that so we could put it
up on the screen is that right um I can
display that just give me one second
okay thank you um as she's doing that as
I as I reviewed the memo that came to us
in the packet yesterday I I felt that
there were some actions or direction
that could be giving from the council
today so that um we could move some of
these items forward quickly that they
didn't need to go back through the task
force and so I'm presenting those to you
um for your feedback um and then uh
following that I would talk about the
community um engagement task force and
how that process will work going forward
um I I'll just she's yeah I'll just
start talking while you you're you're
putting that up so um on the first Pages
um four items that um I thought we could
move quickly on um as vice mayor
mentioned um support for adding an
additional police officer for Community
youth engagement in this um upcoming
budget we could do that as a direction
and recommendation to the town manager
to include that with as they bring the
budget forward um as we had mentioned in
our Retreat um approving all three
phases of the family Advocacy Center to
be included in our upcoming CIP plan uh
there are a lot of the uh services and
uh Community Education opportunities
that will be um handled through that um
in regards to um advancing the or
enhancing the relationship between
school um District reps and our Council
liaison um my recommendation is that uh
a meeting is set up with school district
reps and Council liaison to discuss
potential expansion of liaison
responsibilities that include regular
meetings on timely topics to include
updates to the full Town Council during
Council meetings so that's what we do at
the end of every meeting the Town
Council gives a report out on any of our
Lea on assignments and so this could be
part of that and that way we would be
identifying actions that might be taken
or issues that come up on a monthly
basis um using the 10-point program
recommended by council member banani and
our packet explore opportunities to part
part partner sorry on consistent
programming policies within our schools
and the easy tip line development and
marketing aspects and once that meeting
has been held in um any recommendations
that come out of that we would ask that
the council liaison would report back to
our our task force by September
24 um and then bringing any of potential
actions back to the council in September
24th so that would be um just the first
kind of report out and if there's any
action that we could be taking in
September i i i purposely put in dates
and months just because I think the
community is asking that we are showing
progress on this and then by putting
these dates in there it um make it
commits us to doing so
um if we're interested in uh any
ordinance that had to do with Banning um
brass knuckles for juveniles or uh a
parenting responsibility ordinance
um we could give direction today to
staff to uh do the research and bring
back in June to a study session and we
would have an opportunity to look at
those um ordinances and see if that at
that point we wanted to make any
decisions so that's the first part of my
um I guess I'll just call a report at
this point that I I feel that we could
take action without that having to go
through a task force and and let me just
CL clarify council member if we take
action tonight it's direction to the
staff because these separate items
aren't on an agenda to be voted on so I
would struggle with voting on each one
individually without the public having
an opportunity to speak on them too
Direction yeah that would be the action
is give direction yes thank you for
clarifying and I think so should we just
go back one by one um give staff
direction to add the police officer for
Community youth engagement in the fy2
budget yes I see seven head nods
direction to staff to do so
um we have already during our most
recent Retreat asked that the staff
prioritize all three phases of the
family Advocacy Center so that's really
already done yes and it's a great time
to just acknowledge that for the public
yes that that we have um already
clarified that with our staff and hoping
to see that part of the CIP plan the
next 5e CIP plan um the next part to set
up a meeting with school district reps
and Council aons that's a little bit
more um
intensive and
how how do you presume to do so I guess
is my question we already have uh
council members serving as at liaison
and they already have that rep um that
um relationship so I would say the three
council members along I I'll just say
Patrick because I'm not sure who on his
staff um would reach out to the school
districts and and ask for
representatives to to meet with them the
the the only concern I have is that
means that council member Kowski has
four high
schools and five Junior highs if I'm
counting correctly in my head so I know
that I think Council M Von Giovani you
mentioned maybe splitting up leas on
responsibilities I chanler schools has
one high school Higley Higley schools
has two high schools I'm trying to make
sure that member Koski doesn't get
overwhelmed yeah I I can I can
definitely help um council member kosi
with Gilbert I'm I'm in contact with
with the superintendent quite regularly
yes yeah she's she's the one that I'm
most concerned with she has a full-time
job and kids and to add four more
responsibilities I I can more than help
with I'm I'm contact with them quite
frequently okay yeah okay and I I was
assuming on from my end that this would
be start with the the district level and
then if they wanted to bring in their
high schools or any of those people at
for that meeting so I was thinking of it
more as the three districts not not each
School individually I'm just trying to
wrap my head around all of this we did
just get it yesterday and reading it and
hearing your version of what we received
trying to wrap my head around it um and
make sure
everybody's not overwhelmed right
there's a lot so I just want to make
sure everybody's not just just to
reiterate again this is the key to this
whole thing is our relationship with the
schools and what we can develop with
them so we've got to have real intent to
to work on this item and Higley too is
in transition at the moment with a new
superintendent and all of that so we
need to keep that in mind also
um
and I I do like that you added date so
thank you for that yes is that
reasonable do you feel M I think so okay
yeah in the I do have an ad Ed group
that we meet we were meeting twice a
year but it became too difficult with
their schedules with Springtime once
everybody expanded and and went to two
weeks off in March the shorter summer
breaks two weeks off in the fall two
weeks off at the Christmas holidays um
it got hard to schedule those with
everyone and I do get participation from
our districts our Charter Schools our um
local colleges so we've had a we've had
a good discussion and we've talked about
all kinds of topics including like Tick
Tock challenges that were out there that
was affecting all of our schools the
same way so they are a great group to
get together with um mayor yes um does
that group get together all of the
school districts and charter schools at
the same time it's whoever decides to
participate and so yes all of the school
districts are invited the charter
schools are invited and I get a mix
every single time and universities I
think yeah the universities um Chandler
Gilbert Community College ASU Park
University we've had them participate
and when are those held um we were doing
the spring and the fall now we're just
doing the fall because we just could
we're having a hard time scheduling and
when the also the um spring testing
schedule got to be an issue too for them
I think that that something like that
sounds like a good first step but I
don't want to delay that
meeting um and I am confident that even
through the Liaisons but with the
support of other council members that we
can meet with all the school districts
to at least get the conversation
continued and uh moving forward good
okay good since you have the largest
District at the moment in Gilbert yes
um next the other community ordinances
is that the next one and so are we going
to ask staff
to maybe reach out to the surrounding
communities and see what they're doing
I've already been speaking with um
council member Stuart and um Chandler um
I've spoken with Chris he is um working
with the um Town ATT or City attorney of
Chandler to look at their language when
it's already but I know they're moving
forward I believe uh in May I would like
to move this up to May uh so we can
possibly have a vote before summer
begins um or the
teenagers
okay if I'm understanding uh you want to
change that from June to May correct is
that correct okay
yeah Chris do you think you'll have
enough time to work on something like
that to bring It Forward in
May uh yes I I wouldn't just for
clarification is the thought to have a
study session on this first meeting in
May I I mean we could have a study
session I I I just I don't we' we've
we've talked about this on the diets
before we we passed 7 to zero vote on
this to support Senator Kavanaugh's bill
I don't know if we need a study session
but if if the majority of you feel it
that we do then then I'm okay with
that um we haven't seen the language and
so if we're going to go straight to a
vote I would like to get that language
in time for us all to provide feedback
to uh Chris so that we're not word
smithing up here on the dice that my
comments are pertaining to the brass
knuckles MH ordinance because we have
talked about that um the parenting
responsibility we have not talked about
that and that would need to come to a
study session I I'm not even sure what
that entails and so I would not feel
comfortable it going that one going to
the um so um study session in May for
the parenting and then uh Town Council
vote in May for the brass knuckles is
that what you're recommending yeah
that's what I'm recommending okay mayor
is that what you understood yes that's
what I understood I think that it's
important to to discuss the um what that
parenting responsibility looks like and
to me there's a big difference between
supporting something that's legislative
that will affect everyone in the state
versus what we're doing here directly in
Gilbert it's a big difference to me
and what I would vote on here at the Das
and so
um that's why I have some
reservations
um it's good to talk about and it's
and to to there's a difference between
between doing State legislation and
local legislation right definitely and
seeing the actual language is very
important and understanding if there's
any unintended consequences in the way
that we've written
um so I typically like a study session
first um but you know I will go with the
council either way on that one I think
if we're going to do a study session for
the parenting responsibility we could
just do it at the same time it we really
have wrapped them both up together so if
there's a possibility to do a study
session for the first meeting in May
with these issues and then bring it back
for a vote later in May and I know one
of those meetings in May will be our
preliminary budget night too on the top
of my head
yeah second I don't even know what those
dates are mayor council preliminary
budget is the second um council meeting
in May so we could we could Target the
first meeting in May um and I'll work
with Kelly over at City Chandler um to
try to coordinate so we're putting
putting forth similar
ordinances thank you and I do know
Chandler is working on on um items I've
been speaking to their mayor too mayor
counil clarify the study session for the
preliminary budget adoption is May 7th
okay so it would have to be maybe an
earlier start time potentially to work
everything in to work everything in yeah
I'm fine with that I think we have a lot
of topics to cover so perfect I'd I'd
like to mention something sure council
member Buckley yes uh no I just wanted
to mention make sure you're in your mic
please thank you I can't get much CL you
you can just lean forward I just want to
make sure the record picks you up that's
all council member okay yeah I just
wanted to mention I know that Queen
Creek
recently uh approved an ordinance
against brass knuckles so that could be
you know maybe something we could start
with for verage and and I know
Chandler's looking at something and
that's exactly what Chris will do he'll
check with the town attorney and City
attorney for wi Creek and Chandler and
see what they have yeah okay great
perfect okay council member did you have
more I did okay thank so thank you um so
I think we've got Direction on that
first part um this this next section is
really TR transitioning over to the
community engagement task force and so
um I just wanted to put this out in the
public so they understand what the task
force is and just as a reminder um so um
the community engagement task force is
appointed by the Town Council and is a
recommending body and does not have the
authority to take action recommendations
will be shared with the Town Council for
potential actions on items within their
purview the Town Council has no
authority over the various schools or
nonprofits any recommendations coming
forward that fall outside the authority
of the Town Council will be shared with
the appropriate appropriate entities
with the intention to create meaningful
relationships to accomplish the goals
presented by the community engagement
task force on teen violence
the current um vision and Mission is on
the website um the community engagement
task force will provide a forum where
matters of social welfare and Community
concern may be presented discussed and
collaborated upon to address concerns
within the town of Gilbert as the task
force concludes the work on the original
identified areas of focus domestic
violence human and sex trafficking
mental health Suicide Prevention
homelessness lowincome Challenge and
ensuring Gilbert is a kind and welcoming
inclusive community a final report will
be presented to the Town Council in May
2024 for potential action on the work
that they've been um undertaking for two
years the community engagement task
force was formed to allow additional
topics to be assigned by the Town
Council for further review as deemed
appropriate with the sudden rise in teen
violence in ents within our community
and after months of the teen violence
subcommittee meeting with the community
the Town
Council I'm making an assumption here
adopted teen violence as the next Focus
area of the community engagement
engagement task force to undertake so um
today if we were interested in doing
that we would need to give direction and
we can approve it formally at the next
meeting however we will not have to wait
till the next meeting to start the
application process so I wanted to make
sure you guys knew that and I'm sorry I
always have my back to you councilman
tus um trust I I'm trusting you that is
true that is true um the task force
values in alignment with the mission and
the vision have have been developed and
are listed on the website um so they've
already been established but I just
wanted to put it out there because that
won't be something that we're going to
have to start over again with the the
new members it's respect honesty
transparency communication listening and
unifying in order to um put the um
request for applicants out we really
needed to um further Define the scope
and um the number of members that we
want to serve and all of that so I've
highlighted several areas here but um
the scope is the community engagement
task force focusing on team violence
with an in um with an initial meeting in
June
2024 after the application process has
been concluded so I think I missed a
word in there but I apologize I did this
fast um the task force will examine
existing resources including recent
school survey results town of Gilbert
programs Partnerships with schools and
nonprofits current websites Etc identify
the gaps and prepare recommendations to
to the council in the areas of resources
education and promotion and I those vary
just a little bit from what you all
presented but those are the the areas
that the task force is now um presenting
information in I think that it still
covers the areas that you had put
forward
um the taskforce will provide a monthly
update from either the council liaison
or the chair to the council beginning uh
September through November 2024 with a
final report due December
2024
um I I things it takes a while to get
this moving and so I hope that that
timeline is okay with you we can shorten
it but um it it's up to you whichever
way you'd like to go um in addition the
number of voting task force members um
so this looks a little odd and I
understand that
but because we're addressing teen
violence and hearing the comments from
the community and from the subcommittee
me Members over the last few months I
thought it's important to have teens
assigned and allow them to have voting
rights and so that's why it looks a
little different but in this case we
would have nine
adult um
task force members so they are voting
and two adult alternates because that
helps if some some life happens to
somebody and they have to drop off um
that would include our um current um
Community engagement task force members
we've um they've agreed to look at the
scope and and we've offered that they
could remain on should they choose
they'll let us know by Friday I believe
to if they want to stay on we'll be and
then we could post this on Monday and
start that process um so the applicants
must be Gilbert residents with
experience in the area of teen
Behavioral or similar
programs um two teens um no more than
one from each School District or charter
school and then um a quum will be based
on the majority of the members the
voting members so that's typical um in
addition um again I I'm trying to pull
it from the information that's been
shared with us over the time um I think
it would be good to have advisory
members part of the the conversations
for all the months and so that they're
they're there even though they're not
voting they're helping us and Advising
us making decisions um so this would be
Gilbert Higley Chandler School Districts
Charter Schools um you have La ala sanan
and I know there's more but I apologize
I was doing this fast and I didn't look
up everybody and then a representative
from the police department
so um with that I'll stop and we can
take any
comments so my first suggestion was
going to be the teens because I had
suggested it when we started Community
engagement task force two years ago so
I'm glad to see that on there and I
would love to put this out to our myx
students once we know um once we open it
up to the to applicants um any other
comments coun marowski my only comment
is related to the teens where it
currently says no more than one from
each School District or charter school
but as mayor had pointed out earlier the
Gilbert Public School District
represents greater majority of our
community and so I would um either
identify that one of those teens be from
Gilbert Public Schools or that we
somehow just change the language that
maybe it's no more than one from each
public high school or Charter
School be careful how we say public high
school and charter school because
charter schools are public too okay
district and Charter Schools um but I
would say I I'm not I'm I'm fine with
the wording and I'm and because of the
fact that we don't know who will apply
so if we just leave it open and wait and
see who applies and how the ranking goes
and how the interviews go it still Lees
us leeway to choose I just wouldn't want
to be restricted if we had the two best
candidates from Gilbert public schools
and then have to not pick one because of
our own
restriction and one of the
reasons I only have two listed is
because we get into the Quorum problem
and my concern is if you have more teens
and they are involved in sports or choir
or theater or any of those things on
those nights that they have to be there
they would miss and we could lose a
quarum and that's my only concern about
adding more but we could look at that
what would your thoughts be for if the
teen Representatives would be nominated
by their school district or charter
school and having more having
again the the only concern I have is
quum and what happens in these meetings
which I know it's hard for people to
understand if they're not part of this
is that if we don't have a quorum we
don't get to have a meeting we can't
even just do the informational stuff and
so that
creates the problem and we've had that a
couple times with our community
engagement task force where we've had to
skip a month because Quorum you know for
whatever reason wasn't there I think
council member Bon Giovani had his mic
on next thank you mayor um our last um
our last subcommittee meeting when we
had the M students there um they were
amazing and not just them but I think we
need to have the teen
voice I I would I would actually like to
see seven adults from four teens so we
can deal directly with with the kids
themselves vice mayor had his mic on
next and then talk about that um the
only thing I'd say is remember that we
talked about expanding the the
relationship with the school district
and the town through our
Liaisons and my suggestion was that if
we want to make that group bigger with
more student representation that
wouldn't necessarily have to be on the
task force but they could certainly work
in the Lea on um with the liaison and
whoever else is working with that school
district um and the only other thing
that I'm I'm not necessarily concerned
with I I don't know if everybody's
comfortable with the uh the time frame
but uh expediency is Chief right now
that's what we need to
do we should be able to have the
committee or the task force
seated
June and then we're off in July summer
price yeah so that's the only reason I I
I move that a little bit but
um we can shorten that it's that you
know whatever you desire um will make
happen I think even if you try to
schedule a July meeting you'll lose too
many people and not have a quorum just
because it's summer break people on
vacation even the adults are on vacation
and so that become and we take the month
off obviously well as Council meetings I
should say um I I'm I I would love
increasing the amount of teens like
council member ban Giovani said and
there's there's even a possibility of
doing a liaison from the current mayak
class and they wouldn't have to be a
voting member but maybe come in as a
liaison because they are amazing
students we had a great conversation
last Tuesday night about this very topic
I had 32 kids from 14 Schools district
Charter private um you name it and we
had an amazing conversation about this
topic and um I would love to share some
of that with you but I think to move
this forward we have to decide how many
people total would you like to see on
the task force and if if you're saying
you would like what did you say seven
adults and four students 14s so that
would be 11 and I always want to do an
odd number right are you comfortable
with that plus two alternates or are you
talking
11 two two adult alternance you mean no
yeah council member Koski I'm just I'm
just wondering do we need to specify the
number of adults versus teens and just
keep it more General so let the all
apply and see how it washes out
M and that'd be up to the council as we
do our review process we'll still be
making the choice as to who's appointed
to the to the task force you wouldn't
have to Define it but we would still
make that decision when we know what the
final number is going to be well I mean
once we have the final number and who
the applicants
are again I said I'll go with however
you guys want to go I just want to Pro
provide some some guidance and
um I just like us clarifying that we do
want teens on this yeah committee and so
I'm not quite sure how to do that I mean
you we can say
um 11 adults oh well 11 plus two
alternates which
includes teens I guess is that could you
could even say no less than two teens
but we could always choose more should
we
interview them and CH you understand
what I'm saying yes yeah yeah I like
that better mayor pet if I could just
jump in real quick sorry just to want to
clarify that there's been discussion
about kids from public schools and
Charter Schools but private schools as
well you had mentioned private schools
want to make sure do you want to include
that in the language Gilbert Christian
for example y that you know any any
school basically in Gilbert kids could
be eligible to participate just like we
open it up for myak it's any any schools
in in over they can be homeschooled they
can be private schools Charter Schools
district schools um Go Christian would
be the private school on your list there
but would you be more comfortable with
that 11 11 members two adult two
alternates with no less than two teens
I'd like to see no less than four teens
no less than four
teens we always get to decide that
though we get to decide it as we're
doing the interviews on how many we
appoint so if we say no less than two we
can always choose four
see what I'm saying yeah but we could
also choose three or two so I so you
want no less than four no less than four
yeah
um where's Melanie a nine it's a nine
member task force isn't it it is but I
think we have
seven Don do you know how many are on
the and we don't know how many are going
to remain because council member tilki
just said they have till Friday to let
us know right it could be five remain
out of whatever is out there it could be
three remain and then we'd be appointing
those seats too
yeah trying to keep track of all the
pieces yes
Don one of those buttons Works Don there
we go mayor uh council member tilki we
have seven members right now and four
vacancies four
vacancies I don't know if all of them
are going to want to remain uh they've
given
two years of their lives and and on very
heavy and deep topics so they may be
ready to move on but we wanted to give
them at least a couple days to look at
the scope and make that
determination okay so we have a I was
going to say we have a bet on the table
we have we have an offer of 11 members
two alternates with no less than four
teens do I have a counter offer um thank
you mayor trying to keep it I hear you
so my mind is gone with numbers right
now so if every member stays on which
you don't think will but if every member
stays on how many new members will there
be it depends on what we decide tonight
as to how many we'll choose so if you
have three that decide to stay right and
we're going to have 11 then we would be
looking to fill those so we'd add five
no depends on how many teens you do too
that's what I say and then of those it
would be te
I hate
math trying to keep
it trying to keep it organized but so
it's four openings right now four
openings if if everybody stayed in um we
you have two Alternatives right I mean I
I don't I don't know the people that are
on it currently right so but I also know
of the
instrumental people that have been
involved in this for months and I would
hate to see only four
members being chosen if the three maybe
my math is off yep okay if everyone
stays on that's on it currently we we're
only open up for four four more does
that include the teens too well if you
say no less than four then that they'll
all be teens but that would that would
take us to seven what the current CF is
set for we're talking about expand
exping okay the Tas Force okay so
pretend I'm it's in second grade here
I'm trying okay melan's going to not
that much of a reach Melanie Melanie
help us turn your mic on please thank
you mayor council members just for
clarification currently we have two
regular seats open and two alternate
seats available okay so just to make
sure that you're aware if everyone was
to stay you have two regular and two
alternate seats that are currently
available so no matter what we decide
right now Melanie we have we have two
alternate seats to fill no matter what
so that's kind of settled you have two
alternates and two regular seats to fill
Curr no no but we're changing the number
though so that's where we are today
that's where we are today what we're
what we're making the decision on is 11
members with two alternates that's 13
people four no less than four of those
teens is what's on the table
so so again how many if the current
people
stay and we go to 11 you would have five
five open seats well 13 because you have
two
alternates you would be seating five new
people plus the 14s plus the
14s no no no
no you have to decide on the total
number that you have okay so um I think
we rais it to
13 no 13 plus two alternates 15 I'm
going to say 13 is the number you have
to go
to accommodate this we can't do we need
to do odd numbers no matter what we do
is another option to because we're
providing direction for the task force
to focus on a new subject matter that we
reconsider the entire slate of members
that sit on it based on this subject
matter so you're you're you're part of a
task force that does not um have an
expiration
date however they Patrick did you need
to say something before I go on mayor
council member took a yes I was just
going to suggest the same thing that you
do have the ability to reconstitute the
entire body they serve at the pleasure
of Mayor and councel and so that is an
option available to
you and we would welcome the
applications of those previous members
to be reconsidered amongst the greater
pool I I
think I'm not disagreeing so just know
that if that's what what you'd like to
do
um I think you have to take some kind of
action
to end their term on the task
force and I'm looking at chevel because
I didn't
cuz I I I we may have to make that
formal action later even though we're
moving forward and we can notify them
but can you help me with
that I consulted with the expert ah
thanks um she indicated that she
believes because no term was indicated
that we don't have to formalize the
conclusion of them once we we can say
once their final report out that's the
end of that scope of work for them at
that
time okay
um we need to notify them in a polite
way uh I I don't like I I'm not
disagreeing yes let's move forward let's
have them uh apply but they have given
two years of their lives on this and I
don't want them to fill like we've just
said kicked them to the curb so I I'm
just going to be sensitive to make sure
they understand that at the at at the
end of the May uh report out that they
uh we'll thank them for their uh
contributions and in the meantime we'll
allow them to reapply should they like
to continue on under the teen violence
is that okay yeah with with with that
set up I'm I'm good back at 11 plus the
two I do my math right yeah 11 new
positions two alternates and no less
than 14s
yeah have the members of the task force
already been asked if they would like to
remain we um spoke with them because we
didn't know what direction this was
going to be going and
from the first meeting we had on this
when we were talking about our next
steps
um we asked if they would be willing to
take on a new topic should the council
ask that and they said yes they'd be
willing to in the meantime as this has
moved forward we um we talked to them
about the ability to stay
on should they choose um there wasn't
any formal action or anything like that
it was just an understanding that since
say had agreed to yes we'll take it on
if they chose to stay we would allow
them to um that's why I want to be
sensitive to the way that we communicate
with them because they've done a lot of
hard work and I don't want them to think
that we're not grateful for that um but
understanding that this is a new topic
and a different um skill set that we're
looking for that if should they be
willing to reapply that we would
consider them
I have the I have the
most I have the most problems with that
to if they've already
been asked if they would like to stay I
have trouble without now
just disbanding
them so I think that um I I'll just take
that one on my shoulders and I'll make
the I I'll make the call yeah as Lea's
on that um again we didn't know what
direction the council was wanting to
take and so we wanted to try to prepare
to provide you with an option should you
had it have it and so I'll um I'll deal
with
it okay volunteers are my heart heart
and soul and that hurts me
um okay 11 members two alternates no
less than four teens the one thing that
we need to Define is team are you
talking a high school student do you
want an age set for the teen because I
think that will be important and a
question that will ask that will be
asked of us I'd say high school student
a high school
student that could be 14 to 18 probably
I I would typically yeah I'd like to say
high school student throughout that
whole
process follow for myak we do um 14 to
we do we do freshman through seniors for
May it didn't always used to be that way
sometimes it was Juniors and seniors
I've chosen to go with freshmen through
seniors mayor Peterson can just to jump
on that can we clarify High School
obviously they have to be residents they
have to live in the town of Gilbert do
they have to go to school within the
town of big Gilbert because a lot of
kids go to school Bas a high school
where yeah other districts other Charter
Schools outside of our corporate limits
so not only a Gilbert resident but
attends school within the Gilbert
boundaries also because you so
choose the code says you'd have to be a
Gilbert resident to be on a commission
and the council can further restrict
that to actually go to school in Gilbert
yeah couldn't we also my numbers are
right have one from each school district
and then one representing private or
Charter then that person could actually
be the person that the liaison work with
in the schools if we go forward with
something like that I think we don't
want to restrict ourselves at that level
in writing but we can keep that in mind
as we have our discussion for forming
the board I would suggest that we
identify it as a student that it that it
is a freshman sophomore or Junior for
the 23 24 school year so that for the 24
25 school year they'll still be in high
school high school you don't want a
senior right now because they'll be
graduating in May and you probably don't
want a
incoming
freshman that may not and I agree with
council member kpros I think if you
restricted too much I think we can do
that as we're choosing the members to
put onto the task force since we do the
rankings and the
interviews anyway okay would would we I
know we've done differently okay when we
assigned this um these
people um is it just the
sole decision of the liaison nothing
against you council member I'm just
saying is it is it we have we have in
the past we've had recommendations but
it's always been the council member who
L out who makes final
choices it's like every other border
commission technically so we would have
to discuss whether or not that would be
the case if you're saying when we do our
deliberation yes on the members and who
has final say on that correct I think
it'll be a discussion of the seven of us
in an executive session yeah it similar
as before I I think when the council
aison had the final say it had to do
with the with two candidates that were
equal and the the council said both of
them are great you get to decide that's
the only time the liaison does that um
yeah now the timeline that I have set
forward is your final report would be
December
2024 so can I say something before we
get to timelines again sh sorry council
member buy you turn your mic on yes you
did sorry yes yeah I I thought I did I'm
going
okay no I well I have a question we're
only going to have four teens out of all
the high schools how are you going to
select which High School those four
teenss are going to come from it it'll
be based on who applies because randomly
people will apply for this for these
positions just like we do with our
boards and commissions we can't control
who applies or what schools they go to
but then as we choose them we can make
sure that we're mixing it up a bit so
that there's a variety so every high
school is going to get invited to apply
we will put out we will put out a
request for for people to apply like we
typically do which would be social media
and we can send it out to as many
schools as we have contact I'm looking
at Kiren and she's nodding her head we
have contacts at a lot of the schools so
we will put it out to as many schools as
we have contacts for to have them share
it we can't guarantee they will share it
with their student body but we can put
it out to them right I I just would like
to make sure that if they're is a high
school that maybe has had more violence
than others that they have the
opportunity to be here over maybe one
that is you know a lot a lot more quiet
and we will do our best to make sure we
get that information out for them to
apply yeah I think that's really
important and like I said the current
mayak group is 32 students from 14
different schools that's that's a big
variety for those kids so we get a lot
of applicants so I'm hoping we'll get
applicants like that from different
schools well hopefully I I I personally
wouldn't mind seeing at least six in
there because it gives us a you know I
mean you know we're a community of
almost 300,000 people and I just want
them all to have have if they want to do
something like this and they want to be
on here that they more than four people
but it's a start so I think if we if we
get a lot of applications and we get you
know some backlash that more people want
to be on there then we can hopefully
reconsider that well and I will point
out that we're saying no less than four
teens so it will be up to this group
when we do interviews and make the
decisions okay that's great could you
can you explain to me um alternative
situation how does that work so the
alternates typically come to the
meetings and don't vote but they can be
part of the conversation um at the task
force meetings and then if somebody
isn't going to be there for a regular
meeting they get to sit and vote at that
meeting okay so with that said and high
school sports and that kind of stuff can
we throw two alternatives on the teen
side two
besides you want two adult Al alternates
and two teen alternates we're getting
bigger I know I know bigger the better I
would think but yeah that's or or at
least
one we could do two adult alternates and
one teen alternate okay does that work
yeah it works for me and that doesn't
impact our Quorum yeah and mayor before
you move to timeline I just want to
clarify something I said chevel reminded
me the the town code says for boards
commissions and committees those members
have to be residents but for task force
they don't have to be
you can require it for this task force
you have the ability to but you don't
need to just want to clarify that and
and back to what Chris said a few
minutes ago I don't know that we decided
what he asked is we're talking they have
to be a Gilbert resident which Chris
just clarified um do you want to make
sure that they attend a Gilbert School a
school within the Gilbert
boundaries yes okay okay just to make
sure we get that CL um covered thank you
timelines council
member um I would the only reason I went
back to it was we were talking about
when they serve or when they are going
to school the timeline here um is a
final report in December 2024 so there I
don't know who's graduating before
December so I don't know if we have to
clarify that
they're um going to be a high school
student the entire time but yeah that
would be the intent of freshman
sophomore junior for the 23 24 school
year that means that they would be a
senior throughout this fall and next
spring so um you wouldn't have any
issues with any that are graduating this
year thank you sorry I'm forgetting
we're going into a new school year so I
was thinking of our fysal year so do got
it do we commonly have high school
students that graduate early in December
okay just checking I know with college
it's common I don't know about high
school my daughter's been out of high
school for a long time just wanted to
ask so timelines did we need anything
else to clarify on
timelines we
good council member tilky can you wrap a
bow on that I hope so um so um let's see
we've given Direction on the first four
items to um to staff and so we'll be
hearing back on from those which
includes the ordinance study session and
the first meeting in May um the scope of
the work for the task force has
um
been uh I guess agreed upon uh with
initial meeting in June and um monthly
report back to the council beginning in
September through November with a final
report due December 20 24 um
11 um
members uh which includes no less than
four teens that are going to be a high
school student during this time period
um two alternate two adult alternates
and one teen
alternate and just to clarify they all
have to the teens must go to
school in a school that is within the
Gilbert boundaries and must be Jun
freshman sophomore or Junior this
current year 23 24 yes thank you um on
the
advisory members uh I don't think we
really discuss it any further but um I
don't know if there was any additions
um there is one addition of Gilbert
Christian Gilbert Christian as a private
school oh yes um you have Charter
Schools ala and sanan and then for a
private school we have Gilbert Christian
there's a couple Gilbert Christian
campuses in Gilbert Police Department
and police department do you mean the
sro's um I I left that open because um I
thought the chief could assign somebody
I'm not sure who the best person is
because it could be somebody over
sro's um so that's why I left that open
and then you had a representative from
mayak as a advisory a potential liaison
if
um we don't get myx students to apply
maybe but mayak will be done in May for
this year and then we'll be advertising
for more mayak students
in probably May June to sign them up for
the next school year I like having that
leaz on only because they can take back
the information to your monthly meetings
and those students represent schools
throughout the whole community and
perhaps they can share some of that back
as well and we've started a new um part
of mayak which is to allow students to
apply for a second year so they actually
get to go through the program for a
second time and serve as mentors to this
year to to the new students that are
coming into myak that's been part of the
mayak prog program for the past two
years with first um so maybe we'll get
somebody that would reapply that would
be a great liais on because they've just
gone through the program and they're
going to do the program
again so we can put that down as a
possibility in my yeah Le on I like the
idea okay so um I think as we mentioned
today we give direction to staff based
on the the overall what we F what we
finalized here as um consensus so that
we can begin the the
um the recruitment for the application
process they uh just so the public knows
that usually takes two weeks for we'll
send it out by by Monday and uh two
weeks to apply and at that point we the
council needs to review all of the the
resumés the the application and the
videos that are part of that process and
rank all of those um applicants
that goes back to the town clerk's
office who then um publishes the um
ranking so typically just so you know we
interview double the number of people
who uh uh that are going to serve so if
we have
13 for
14 we'll be interviewing 28 people um
also um just so the public knows that we
do our rankings individually and they go
to the town clerk's office we do not
know who made the top 28 until it is
posted on the agenda so just so you know
I just want you to understand that
process so there's nothing none of us
know any of that until that time so um
anyway I think we've got Direction I'm
going to look at Chelli make sure that
we covered everything for you yes
council member tokki we will get that on
the next agenda for formal approval but
we can start the recruitment whenever
you're ready thank you and I will follow
up with our current um task force and
Council it might mean an off night for
interviews potentially because we have a
lot of executive sessions and study
sessions coming up for other things and
some interviews for other boards and
commissions so we might need to try and
schedule a Wednesday night or a Thursday
night if people are aable to that yeah
looking at other schedules why they pay
us to big bucks that's right exactly C
remember exactly okay I think everybody
has Direction on how to move forward
with that one Judy you're going to have
your hands full wait is Ashley take has
Ashley taken over board both of us okay
thank you I appreciate it um that was a
lot of work everyone thank you very much
we will move on I have to go backwards
on my agenda now okay back to
administrative items Council
Administration a presentation of the
annual audited Financial reports for the
fiscal year and June 30th 2023 and B
consider adoption of resolution number
4460 confirming compliance with Arizona
Revis statutes in accordance with ARs
9481 um does anybody need to take a
break council member tilki you haven't
asked okay we're sorry Hawkin I
appreciate you coming right up to the
podium but we're going to take a recess
for about five minutes thank
you
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okay we're back thank you everybody um
Hawkin thank you I apologize I know we
have our auditor online we will move to
the item that I already introduced
before the recess uh Hawkin please very
good thank you mayor and councel uh once
year we get to highlight the tremendous
work that our accounting team does uh
led by our financial services officer
Tanya Wright uh overviewing the audit uh
once again fantastic news that that
she'll be able to share but the team
just does a fantastic job of sorting
through every single transaction that
goes through this town which is
significant uh and so it's late so
without further Ado I will pass it on to
Tanya and and go from there brief
presentation
it's only 60 slides
good um mayor members of council thank
you for having me here tonight along
with Jim ranar who is our audit partner
from Hein fed me he's joining us
virtually um so we're here to present to
you our annual comprehensive financial
report or what we refer to as the acur
for fiscally year ended June 30th
2023 I'm going to start by going over
some just general information about the
accounting Division and then Jim will
give you the results of the audit so
quickly um some of the roles that we
provide to the organization is we record
transactions like and stated all of
the inflows and outflows that come
through this organization there're quite
a few um from that we report out on
those uh the biggest report that we
prepare is the the AER uh takes quite a
bit of time to comp to compile and we
also prepare reports for various boards
and commissions such as the quarterly
Financial reports for the self-
insurance trust board the veterans
Advisory Board the annual meetings for
the MPC boards uh and then various other
financial statements we ensure that we
have a strong internal control framework
to prevent fraud and insurance
compliance ensure compliance with laws
and regulations we provide services to
keep the town running such as paying our
vendors and of course paying our
employees which is uh extremely
important for to keep things going going
and we do this with a high
ethics uh what is the importance of an
Acer uh the biggest thing that it does
is it provides accountability it shows
our taxpayers what we're spending their
money on it provides full transparency
to our public it also is kind of a
report card on Management on how the
public funds are being managed and as
well as uh uh elected officials on how
they're managing public finances and
then lastly to investors in our bonds in
the municipal market and in the
secondary Municipal Market provides a
snapshot of Gilbert's Financial
stability at a point in time to help
them make decisions on whether to invest
in our bonds
and also one other thing is with credit
rating agencies they use our Aur to
determine how to rate our bonds amongst
other
things so there's a lot of components of
the Aur uh which is why it's called
comprehensive uh so there's the basic
financial statements which is the
minimum requirement by state law but we
go far above and beyond that to include
all of these different things and I
won't speak to all of them but um the
management discussion and Analysis is
something good to keep by a bed side to
read at night if you want to fall asleep
uh it provides a a written over overview
high level overview of what is in the
financial statements and what that means
in English uh not accounting speak uh we
also have the notes to our financial
statements which talks about specific
line items that are noteworthy such as
the debt we have our pension system
information inter intergovernmental
receivables that we have Etc and then um
lastly is we have a statistical section
which is interesting I think it it's a
10-year look at various things from
Financial in nature to operational in
nature such as how many fire trucks we
had 10 years ago versus now so it's
that's also something a little bit
interesting and I'm proud to announce
that for the 32nd year in a row we have
received the government Finance Officers
Association certificate of achievement
for excellence and financial reporting
for the fiscal year ended June 30th 2022
and we expect to receive this award
again for our fiscal year 23 Acer and
this really speaks to the quality of
work of the accounting division that
hawen was speaking
to um our staff are just tremendous
they're dedicated they are dedicated to
quality work and ensuring um transparent
information and also we have four CPA on
staff which is not uh is not a usual
thing for a municipality and so I I'm
very proud of that of our our division
um and I especially want to thank you
know everybody in the accounting
division for compiling this report but
especially want to thank Anthony St
George our accy manager he manages the
manages the data today operations Emily
Harmon who's our accounting supervisor
and Matthew Masters who's our senior
accountant so if you don't have any
questions I will hand it over to our
audit
partner hello thank you mayor and
members of the council for having me
tonight to present the town's fiscal
year 2023 audit um I think Tanya did a
great job summarizing the ACT first so
I'll be brief um but to start I did want
to congratulate her and her team on
receiving a clean audit opinion um and
being awarded the certificate of
achievement by
gfoa um as a reminder our audit is
performed under generally accepted audit
standards and government auditing
standards and at the conclusion of the
audit we issue our auditor report on the
financial statements which again
included an unmodified opinion for this
year uh in addition to that the town is
required to undergo a uniform guidance
audit due to the amount of federal
funding it receives and during that
portion of the audit we review
compliance with requirements over
Federal programs and issue our results
in the single audit
report um in that single audit report we
did disclose one instance of
non-compliance uh which was noted on a
reporting requirement which is triggered
by the town making sub awwards uh so
such as to local nonprofit
organizations now it doesn't mean that
this was an unallowable use of the funds
um but just that it was not reported
back as required but other than that we
noted no other findings or deficiencies
in internal control over financial
reporting or federal
compliance uh I wanted to mention that
throughout the audit management staff
were very cooperative and we were
provided access to all information and
records that were requested uh we had no
disagreements with M over the
application of accounting principles or
the reporting of audit
matters uh and finally I wanted to
direct the council to our governance
communication letter which you will
receive a copy of this has additional
information related to audits such as
our firm's compliance with ethical
requirements and our independence to the
town uh so please be sure to read
through that at your
convenience and with that I'll open it
up to any questions the council may have
Jim I just want to say thank you for
your time this evening we appreciate you
hanging on with us um I know it wasn't
easy does anyone have any questions or
comments well I'm yes one how can the
the one thing that was an outlier how
can we eliminate that for the next
fiscal
year Jim did you hear that question
sorry one one more time can you repeat
that uh the one thing that was an
outlier about the
nonprofits how do we eliminate that for
next year how do we make sure we comply
with that right I I think it was just um
a requirement that wasn't aware of uh
with a lot of the the influx of covid
funding that came in there was some new
reporting requirements that came with
that um so prior to that it was probably
a report that had never been submitted
before but now that that they're aware
of it um I I have um I I'm sure they'll
they'll make sure they they file the
reports required going forward Tanya can
speak to that
too mayor council member tenson we
have um completed a corrective action
plan and have already filed the reports
that we needed to file and will continue
to do so going forward thank you now
that we know they're required So yeah
thank you thank you very much team great
job 32 consecutive years and that's
amazing work everything everything that
you do every single day we appreciate it
thank you thank you have a good evening
thanks you
too moving on to policy
items oh sorry thank you for reminding
me I'm trying to move
on we have to adopt a resolution um
consider adoption of resolution number
4460 confirming compliance with Arizona
revised statutes would is anyone
interested in making a
motion I'll move to approve adoption of
resolution number 4460 confirming
compliance with
ARs I'll second that I have a motion by
council member kosi seconded by council
member Buckley please
vote motion passes 70 now I can move on
to policy items mayor Peterson can I
confirm was that second council member
Bon giovan it was council member buck
okay sorry use your mic Bob thank you
she be she beat you use your mic by a
second um next we'll move on to policy
items one policy item to be discussed
and action policy number
20233 consider approval of revisions to
the council policy of the code of
conduct resending and repealing policy
number 2023 d02 ethics
handbook um Council would you like to
discuss this item anyone have any
comments questions Chris I don't know
that you need a presentation I know that
you provided us a few changes that we
have here in a hard copy on the dis this
evening small minor changes I should
say any comments discussion nothing um
would somebody like to make a motion one
way or
another I'll move to accept uh policy
item
28 or is policy number 202
3-03 okay I'll second mayor I have a
motion by council member torguson
seconded by council member tilki please
vote motion passes
61 with um myself as the no
vote moving on to Future meetings we are
going to have a lot of them that's all
I'm going to say because we have exec
sessions study sessions and um Regular
Council meetings coming up and of course
it's budget season season so we will
have extra meetings for that too
anything anyone needs to add for future
meetings thank you Communications report
from the town
manager thank you mayor members of the
council clerk's office bring up some
slides oh I love that he's doing slides
okay we want to advance to the first
slide uh on March 28th town and Gilberts
municipal center re renovation project
won the award of Merit for the
international design Association
Southwest Awards under the public
facility uh category so congratulations
to everybody involved with that effort
next slide you're all probably aware
that autis uh April is Autism Awareness
Month we have a a couple things I wanted
to share with you first on April 13th
the Gilbert Police Department and
Gilbert Fire and Rescue hosted our first
safety awareness family event safe at
the public safety day at the Gilbert
Public Safety Training Facility the
event was designed to provide a
welcoming environment for our special
needs community members to connect with
our firefighters and police officers
active activities included opportunities
to ride in a fir Tru experience a
simulated police traffic stop and
getting an up close look at police and
fire gear with the assistance of
multiple Community Partners we had a
successful event we had over 800
register to attend and nearly 400 in
attendance fire provided nearly 300 ride
alongs in their fire trucks it was a
very beneficial event for our community
and our Public Safety personnel and we
received a tremendous amount of uh
positive feedback from those
attended next our park parks department
that is also an Autism certified
department has implemented something new
uh sensory bags at our recreation
centers their helpful resources intended
to Aid participants and patrons of all
ages on the autism spectrum who may be
experiencing sensory over stimulation
due to noise lighting touch Etc each bag
contains tools that may help Youth and
adults regulate emotions self soothe and
feel more secure and different in new
environments such as a weighted blanket
noise cancelling headphones
communication cards you be blocking
sunglasses uh texture tiles and fidget
toys and I just greatly appreciate the
work um by our entire organization in
this space as we continue to find
Opportunities to include all members in
our community in our programs and better
understand how we can serve them with
that thank
you thanks Patrick congratulations to
everyone on the award for the um remodel
of town hall I'm sure that Mary Goodman
is thrilled with that she worked very
hard on this facility I know many other
people did too but she really poured her
heart and soul into this building so
congratulations on that next we have
report from the
council council member ban
gani okay from our Parks Rec Department
we have our Earth and Arbor Day
celebration join us for our annual Earth
and Arbor Day celebration on Thursday
April 18th at the McQueen Park activity
center from 10:00 a.m. to noon learn
valuable resources to create a happier
healthier sustainable place to live
free free familyfriendly activities
include crafts and games recycl D DIY
ideas a live animal display and tree
planting ceremony next is our Badges and
bomber Badges and Bobbers join us for a
free community fishing event uh
featuring first responders from
Gilbert's fire police and park ranger
teams as they partner with Arizona Game
and Fish for a morning of fishing fun
learn proper casting and reeling
techniques from the pros in a safe
friendly environment on April 20th from
9:00 a.m. to noon at Gilbert Regional
Park fishing poles and Tackle will be
available to check out for those um for
those not bringing their own equipment
register online today
thank you council member
kosi just want to remind the community
of some upcoming events um on Saturday
May the 4th at 300 PM is the next
Gilbert symphony orchestra concert um it
will be held at Camp over at a high
school auditorium and the theme is
surrounded um around the Olympics which
are set in Paris um uh also there's an
upcoming Community bike ride on May 18th
Reg registration for that will open uh
in a couple
weeks anyone else oh council member
Buckley turn your mic on
please turn your mic on please thank you
it's
late uh okay so um town of Gilbert and
discovered Gilbert were a proud sponsor
of the LPGA Ford Championship presented
by KCC held at Seville Golf and Country
Club March 27th uh to the 31st I
actually was there and that they did a
really fantastic job everything was
totally
perfect um the event was it was a
success in every area with attendance
topping 177,000 people over the five
days of the event um a big thank you to
LPG a civille golf and country club and
all the members of Team Gilbert we had
we
had
um oh my gosh I'm looking for the word
volunteers uh everywhere out there and
I'm sure they had as much fun as
everybody else had as well and um anyway
all the members of Team Gilbert that
helped Gilbert shine during this
International Event in addition to
playing host the event allowed the town
to promote Gilbert to visitors at the
event and to Golf Channel viewers during
all four days of the live broadcast a
full economic impact analysis of the
event is currently underway so this this
was really a a very big deal and I I
want to say thank you to to the
organizers and Dan and and his team that
put this together because I live in that
community and I did not see one car
parked on any residential street they
had the par the parking was at the
gilber regional park and um yeah so I
was a little bit myself worried about
that you know thought the streets were
got some of the streets are smaller and
uh I did not see one um person that was
attending there to have a car parked in
the neighborhood so I know all the
residents out there really appreciate
that as
well thank you council member anyone
else um comments from the mayor I wanted
to mention that this morning um several
of us attended the East Valley mayor's
prayer breakfast that was held at the up
at Talking Stick Golf Course which I had
never been to um beautiful setting sat
we sat outside uh at 6:30 this morning
gentlemen um and it was hosted by this s
River Pima Maricopa Indian Community it
is the first time that this event has
ever been held on tribal land so it was
a very big deal to be up there and to be
part of that event they had some amazing
demonstrations um from from their people
and um the food was great and the
company was great and we some of us
received the I guess everybody that
attended received one of these shell
necklaces and I I loved the story that
he shared so I was going to share it um
president Javier said that it seems
unusual for a tribe in the desert to be
giving out shells but he said that the
that their tribe used to make
pilgrimages to the ocean to collect salt
and a lot of them would pick up shells
to bring back and then they would give
them as gifts and that's why they
offered them as gifts to us today and
that the necklace should protect us and
I said I would wear mine all day and I
have mine on counc banani has his on too
and that was lovely and president Javier
shared some um very
heartwrenching personal stories from his
life and family and that was just um it
was nice to be part of that and and to
all be together this morning in prayer
um and I think it's so important to do
so in the time that we're living in and
then moving on I went to the Phoenix
Mesa Gateway Airport Authority board
meeting and then we moved on to a
groundbreaking for znergy a Montreal
based company that manufactures climate
systems for data centers and we all know
we see more and more data centers all
the time they broke around on their
first phase of their US headquarters in
East Mesa and that's important to the
town of Gilbert as partners on of
Phoenix Mesa Gateway because it is all
located at Gateway East which is an
emerging development at Phoenix Mesa
Gateway Airport and the company is
expected to invest $300 million into
that project and a full buildout will be
a 1 million square foot production
facility across four buildings that
could eventually employ up to 2,000
employees that we know will be many
Gilbert residents out there at that
facility so congratulations to zery and
welcome to the East Valley and um it's
great to have their first US
headquarters here in the East Valley and
part of Phoenix Macy Gateway and that's
all I have so I will and I don't know if
this is formal yet but I'll take a
motion to
adjourn so moved by council member
Buckley second council member torguson
all all in favor I thank you and good
night for