Regular Meeting - 2/6/2024 6:30:00 PM

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good evening and welcome to the Gilbert
Town council meeting for Tuesday
February 6
2024 I will call this meeting to order
and
ask president Jeff Tenny from The Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to
offer the invocation good evening Jeff
thanks for being here you'll just need
to push a button on the microphone it
has a I think it has a little mic on it
or a speaker on there we go is that
working okay hello everybody and mayor
and council members thank you so much
for your service um and just also noted
tonight that in the audience is uh some
Public Safety uh Personnel
representatives of of police and fire
thank you for your service and all the
other Town employees too um just before
I offer the prayer I want to say that
Gilbert's a great place to live uh we do
have we do have some problems um some
serious things that need addressing but
thank you for your service to all of you
for uh helping Gilbert to be just a
great place so I'll offer a prayer
now our heavenly father we're very
grateful tonight to have this
opportunity to
meet
with with the well-being of uh of all of
Gilbert in mind we ask thee father to
please
bless this good Town Council our
mayor all those who
will be responsible for making important
decisions bless them to think clearly
and to hear the voice of those who will
speak
tonight we ask the also to bless all of
us throughout uh the
town that we
can be unified that we can remember to
lift up our
neighbor to look out for our neighbor to
strive to be one we pray tonight that we
can have the spirit of unity here in
this meeting and that we can get
important things accomplished and we ask
for these blessings in the name of Jesus
Christ
amen thank you president Tenny we
appreciate you attending this evening
and offering that invocation and um
thoughts for our community very much
appreciated sorry we were running a
little late we appreciate your time
moving on to the pledge
of offered by council member
torguson
if I could ask the clerk to please call
the role mayor Bridget Peterson present
vice mayor Scott Anderson here council
member Chuck Bon Giovani pres council
member Bobby Buckley here council member
Yan Kowski here council member Kathy
tilky here and council member Jim Tas
here AUM is present thank you so much
chaveli moving on
to presentations and proclamations we
have one Proclamation this evening that
council member tilky will be
presenting and she will be presenting
that to Kevin Chen if you could come
down to the front of the room Kevin Chen
is not only a member of the Gilbert
mayor's youth advisory committee he is
also o on the governor's youth advisory
committee for the State of Arizona and
on the upcoming Student Government day
on February 13th Kevin will be playing
the mayor of Gilbert for the
day welcome Kevin thank you so much
um I serve as the I say Kevin not Ken so
I apologize I must be nervous um I serve
on the um mag which is the Maricopa
Association of governments uh domestic
violence committee and one of the key
components of that is to talk about Teen
date violence and they have a website
which also has workshops where students
can log on and be part of conversations
to talk about how they can protect
themselves so I'm going to read the
proclamations to you um teen Dating
Violence Awareness Month whereas
everyone one has the right to a safe and
healthy relationship and to be free from
abuse and whereas in the United States
approximately 20% of teens report being
the victim of physical Dating Violence
annually with 65% reporting
psychological abuse and whereas high
school students who witness experience
or perpetrate physical violence in a
dating relationship are more likely to
abuse drugs and alcohol are at a greater
risk risk of suicide and are much more
likely to carry patterns of abuse into
future relationships and whereas only 9%
of teen victims report seeking help and
whereas educating young people on the
red flags and root causes of violence
while changing those attitudes that
support violence and developing
expectations for healthy relationships
all work towards the prevention of teen
dating violence and whereas Gilbert
proudly serves on the Maricopa
Association of government's domestic
violence committee as this is a regional
public health issue that crosses
Municipal boundaries and now therefore I
Kathy Toki on behalf of Bridget Peterson
mayor of the town of Gilbert to hereby
Proclaim February
2024 teen Dating Violence awareness
month and we encourage our community
members to support all efforts that
intiating violence which includ includes
the creation and access of better
resources for young people in need the
implementation of effective intervention
and prevention policies in schools and
by educating our young people on healthy
relationships so can I want to present
this to you would you like to say a few
words
yes so I want to thank you uh Council
and mayor on behalf of the governor's
youth
commission it is a great honor to be
here representing the entirety of our
commission
it is through all of our collaboration
that we are able to provide help and
resources to those who are in need thank
you thank you so much um we'll get a
quick
[Applause]
picture
thank you so much thank you appreciate
all your
[Applause]
support thank you council member tilki
and Kevin Chen I look forward to seeing
you on the 13th for Student Government
day should be a fun fun day now we will
move on to Communications from citizens
and I will ask vice mayor to take
over thank you mayor just uh for
everybody's reference in light of what
we were discussing earlier we have 13
cards tonight just so you
know
okay 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 bin provided prior to the start
of the meeting the communications from
citizens portion on the agenda provide
citizens an opportunity to identify for
the Town Council matters of Interest or
concern related to town government under
the provisions of the Arizona open
meeting law the Town Council is
prohibited from responding to issues
that have not been properly
noticed therefore the Town Council may
only listen to citizens who wish to to
address them and at the conclusion of
the open call to the public response is
limited to individual members of the
council responding to criticism made by
those who have addressed the public body
asking staff to review a matter or
asking that a matter be put on a future
agenda 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 to
speak I want to take a moment uh just to
address the conduct within our public
Communications in our Council meetings
we value the participation of our
community members in the robust exchange
of ideas however it's essential that
this discourse remains respectful and
constructive reflecting the
professionalism expected in such forums
misinformation and personal attacks
undermine our Collective efforts and do
not contribute to the productive
dialogue necessary for our Town's
progress while we understand and
appreciate the passion our community
members bring to these sessions we must
must remind everyone that clapping
during the meeting is not
acceptable this practice can disrupt the
flow of discussion potentially
intimidate others who will give up their
First Amendment right because they have
been intimidated and detract from the
respectful atmosphere we strive to
maintain as we move forward let's commit
to a standard of communication that
upholds the values of respect truth and
civility this approach will enable us to
work more effectively together in
addressing the challenges and
opportunities facing Gilbert thank you
so much for being here and participating
tonight vice mayor before we continue
with the slips council member Bon
Giovani would like to make a statement
on behalf of the
council thank you
mayor that was not a
beerer de it's Mountain Dew
okay uh at our last council meeting some
speakers participated in our comment a
public comment portion of the meeting
and Shar their opinions regarding the
office of digital government and
allegations of the Town engaging in
censorship and infringing upon our
employees First Amendment rights in 2021
when these allegations were first made
the town took them seriously and
immediately hired an independent firm to
conduct a thorough review of their
concerns if you would like to review the
findings of that report please scan the
QR um code currently on the screen
you'll also find in you will find in
that review it found zero Merit in the v
various claims and in fact found the
opposite of these claims to be true that
the town of Gilbert was extremely
intentional in respecting the rights of
individual employees to exercise their
first amendment rights this report also
completely and conclusively exonerated
the town in the office of digital
government and other words the town was
fully cleared of all allegations we've
been clear that the town will not
tolerate divisive offensive or
culturally insensitive post from employe
from employees claiming to represent the
town at any time we recognize that our
community relies on us to share
information and engagement opportunities
in which to ensure that our
Communications reflect this at all times
these accusations were raised and
disproven in
2021 I am not sure why they resurface
now but I can tell you this as a local
government we are we have the
responsibility and commitment to fair
and transparent communication with our
citizens just as importantly the town
recognizes and respects the First
Amendment rights of our all of our
employees some of these issues were
addressed years ago and I'm not aware
aware of any current
concerns it's it is it is an unneeded
and unnecessary distraction from what
the people of Gilbert's have elected us
to do we are pressing issues in this
community that need to be and deserve
our sincere attention and focus we are
grappling with daunting infrastructure
challenges with steing our Water
Resources with continued supply chain
disruptions to where we are struggling
to get the police and fire apparatus
where they're needed with instruction in
cost escalation and inflation also and
just as significantly with supporting
our community and our Police Department
in addressing teen violence in the East
Valley these topics are where our Focus
needs to be and to where I am directing
my energies I ask you to join me in
continuing to move our community forward
with these important issues thank you
thank you council member Bon Giovani
vice
mayor thank you
mayor first up to speak tonight I have a
card from Connor
jigan Connor if you'll come forward
you'll have three minutes following
Connor next up will be Bridget
Vega
thank you mayor and Council for having
me here today my name is Connor jigan
and I'm a 17-year-old Local High School
junior I'm here today in support of
Senate Bill
1183 sponsored by Senator Kavanaugh this
legislation will ban the use of brass
knuckles in the state of Arizona on
December 30th 2022 I was waiting with a
friend at the parking lot of In-N-Out by
SanTan mall around dinner time when a
group of about 10 to 12 teenagers
approached me and demanded
money when I told them no one tried to
enter my car and when I tried to stop
him and turned back to grab my keys he
hit me in the back of the head with
brass knuckles when I turned around to
defend myself I immediately felt blood
gushing down the back of my head and
soaking into my shirt it's a feeling
I'll never forget and I hope I'll never
have to relive I gave him a $20 bill and
got into my car and drove to a nearby
parking lot
while blood was drenching my sleets and
I called the police I ended up having to
get Staples in my head and doctors told
me that had the injury been an inch to
the left I could have been paralyzed
paralyzed or killed when I was filing a
proof report I was Disturbed to find out
from Gilbert Police that this was the
fifth fifth incident with brass knuckles
that month at In-N-Out alone although
not all victims were willing to follow
reports fortunately the police able to
make an arrest in my case in the state
was able to prosecute my
attacker during the juvenile court
process I met another victim who was
injured by brass knuckles and knocked
unconscious also over the summertime I
met another teen injured by brass
knuckles in North Phoenix also at an
in-out he lost eight of his teeth and
will have dental issues for the rest of
his life each of these unprovoked random
incidents involving teens resulted in
severe injuries in medical bills
recently we've seen dozens of more cases
with brass knuckles occurring over the
past year with this legation Banning
brass knuckles it would make it more
difficult for these we for these weapons
to get in the hands of the Thugs who use
them and they would also face additional
penalties according to my research 21
other States including our neighbors
Nevada Colorado and California have
banned brass knuckles Arizona is only
one of 12 states with no restri rtion on
them with heavy punishments on brass
knuckles like in Colorado where someone
found in possession of brass knuckles
can face up to 18 months in jail and
severe fines fewer people would risk
being caught with them and we'd be able
to stop the sale of these weapons online
and at smoke shops there's no useful
purpose for brass knuckles they're not
used in
self-defense and they add nothing to our
communities in Arizona besides
contributing to violent crime and
providing disturb teens and adults with
a weapon that can kill someone that's
why I'm here tonight to ask you to
support Senate Bill 1183 and I'll do
whatever I can to represent the victims
who have been injured with this
dangerous weapon uh I encourage those
listening uh to go online to no brass
knuckles. org and sign the petition in
support thank you council member Bond
Giovani for your support and getting the
website up and running thank you for
your time and consideration thank you
Conor foll Bridget I have uh two cards
clipped together Crystal k
k k and Donald Edwards did that mean
that one of you were was going to
speak yeah okay which one me doned Don
okay Don you're up
next good evening mayor and Town Council
first and foremost thank you Connor for
your courageous voice and sorry for
everything you've endured thank you to
the community and to the media for
continually applying the pressure and
demanding accountability and
transparency to the Town Council and to
the chief of police it should never be
profit over people mayor Peterson the
silence is
defining if we can get the mayor Town
Council and or the teen violence
subcommittee to add to the next meeting
agenda their plan or update on teen
violence as far as extending this
conversation to the town council's law
enforcement and school districts as I
attended Mesa Town Council last night to
discuss teen violence with
Jeremiah ais's mother Olga as her son
was murdered due to senseless acts of
violence Jeremiah along
with senior classmate Stephen jacobo was
murdered in a different case but both
from Red
Mountain a couple of us mothers had the
opportunity to talk to Sub sub Council
Members Mark Freeman and Julie silbury
who showed interest in joining the East
Valley teen
violence meetings as well as possibly a
coalition if created but they did state
that it would have to be initiated by
our mayor or council members so if on
behalf of us as the community you can
extend that invite that way they can
attend the
meeting they've also offered to invite
Mesa School District as well to sit in
on these conversations as well as host a
meeting remember the oath that you guys
all took it's never too late to do
what's right to the youth those who've
reported prior but were silenced again
you are courageous I'm sorry for
everything you you endured but I pray
for healing strength and protection as
God continues to bring these stories to
light please know we're here for you
you're enough your voice matters we see
you we hear you and we stand by you we
love you be an upstander and continue to
use your voices also keep the Lord
family the Jenkins the Stevens the AAS
the Jobo family and all of the youth in
your prayers as well as all the other
teens who have been assaulted
and have ongoing cases we have no future
if we don't protect the children we have
a duty to protect the innocent if not
that blood is on our hands if we can
take a moment of silence for all the
teens who've been assaulted mentally
physically and sexually and for all the
innocent Souls of the children who were
wrongfully murdered due to the senseless
acts of violence continue to keep the
youth and their families in your prayers
Justice for the Youth and justice for
Preston Lord thank you if we can take a
moment of silence
thank
you
Don Don is representing two speakers are
you okay with six minutes Council I
don't need six I don't think you okay
with three no no a little
extra good evening Madam mayor Mr vice
mayor and esteem council members my name
is Don Edwards I recently retired from
your fire department after 30 years in
the fire service I was hired by F I was
hired full-time by Gilbert in
1999 after finishing first in the
testing process no big deal thanks to
the town I got my bachelor's degree in
public safety
administration I retired last month
after being retaliated against for
filing a complaint against my supervisor
I had spent the previous 30 years
serving the citizen of the valley the
last 26 in Gilbert I was promoted the
captain 18 years
ago Mission men me those were my
priorities as a leader work first that's
the statement I used to use to Lo let my
crew know what they could expect of me
and what I expected of them keeping my
crew members safe and ready was the
highest priority I had at work taken
together these statements are are a DE
aration that while at work everything we
do should be in service to our mission
our reason for being for the first 28
years of my career that mission was
serving Mr and Mrs Smith as our former
Fire Chief and town coun Town manager
Colin dwit used to say then in 2020 my
new supervisor informed me quote
training is the mission of the Gilbert
Fire Department he told me this after I
questioned why why he gave me such a
poor evaluation the first of my career
after I told him that I had to disagree
and that I thought that customer service
was the was the mission the ensuing two
years were full of lies at my expense
that were spread by my supervisor a
constant questioning of my ethics and
professionalism and being subject to
differential and harsher discipline it
got so bad I filed a complaint I
followed Town policy
after I got a confirmation of receipt
email I never heard from our HR partner
again I was never contacted I was never
asked a question I was never asked what
corroboration I had for my claims any
employee especially a supervisor that
has gone through the yearly harassment
training will know this is not how
claims are supposed to be handled I
later found out that same HR partner
recommended you using an outside agency
to conduct the
investigation fire management said no
she then completed a 28 a 20page report
a report that was produced without ever
talking to me the victim when I asked
for a copy I was prade I was provided
with an 11 page summary I wonder how bad
those nine pages made management
look that HR partner went on to leave
the town as many others have in part due
to the unethical and un unprecedented
interference by management into the
recent promotional processes I wonder
how many I wonder why the fire
department has such a high turnover the
mayor and town manager should explain to
the citizens and more importantly to the
men and women who depend on him why the
current fire chief was hired he was
objectively the least
qualified the least experienced and when
asked the last choice of Labor if you
read the last few Employee Engagement
surveys especially during the time frame
my problems occurred you'll find a
common and troubling sentiment there is
no accountability for
management accountability stops at the
Captain's level in the fire department
over my 30-year career I've been a
member of four different fire
departments the members of the Gilbert
Fire Department as some of the best
firefighters I've Had The Good Fortune
to work alongside in my 30 plus year
career they deserve competent qualified
and trusted leaders not the Slate of
managers currently in place now that I'm
retired and no longer in the chain of
command I could speak freely and frankly
much to the disappointment of the
Cowardly commandant of the fire
department who tried to have me sign an
NDA when I was filling out my retirement
paperwork I will be continuing to come
to the Town Council meetings to continue
to shed light on your fire department
and you will begin to see that PD yes
digital and the manager's office are not
the only problem departments in this
town the current fire management are
living breathing examples of the Peter
principal huh that degree finally paid
off thank you for your time see you in
two
weeks this is is just a reminder about
the
Clapping
please next up is Moren
hoppy mayor Bridget and council members
you have an agenda item to discuss my
ethics complaint filed against council
member torguson you're literally being
asked to review an investigation which
was conducted without a single piece of
evidence being provided your decision
tonight will determine my next course of
action the only appropriate action to
take tonight is to table this item until
you can review the information I have
found you would only need four votes
since it is an agenda item and not an
Ethics complaint
vote excuse me I approve of significant
violations of the agreement to serve as
special counsel by investigator
investigator Sarah Barnes Miss Barnes
failed to review all pertinent documents
as she failed to take all action needed
to conduct a full fair and impartial
investigation as required by her
assignment as special counsel I
attempted to withdraw my complaint after
I was told that I could not provide
additional evidence related to my case
my withdrawal notification was denied by
council member tasen and the town so I
continued to work with the town to
obtain evidence requested by Miss Burns
I I know Miss Barnes did not review any
evidence because one I'm the only one
with the security key to access the
foyer results and number two after more
than three months I just received
hundreds of record this very afternoon
that shows dozens of instances where
council member torguson shared
information with Cecilia Chan at the
Gilbert Sun News I was coordinating with
Miss Barnes to deliver evidence to her
office when she abruptly concluded the
investigation without providing any
notice or Reason as advised by the town
clerk I was also in the process of
filing an amendment to my complaint du
to disco due to discovering emails sent
by torguson to Scott Rundy and other
individuals that contain my personal
information Mr torguson in the interest
of transparency will you send me all the
emails between you and Mr
Rundy Scott Rundy was at the last
meeting and is the person responsible
for organizing everything regarding
Gilbert
digital just like Miss de berardo who
spoke at the last meeting stated she'd
been harassed by by many of the same
people and did not feel safe speaking in
person let me be clear about something
my complaint is not solely about the
illegal sharing of personal information
it's about this information being leaked
to specific people for the purpose of
perpetuating and encouraging harassment
I have found that torguson has also
shared information about Dana Burman
young Kowski and of course good old
mayor Bridget to some of the same very
people mayor Bridget I've spoken to you
one time but I can see that you've been
screwed by torguson for years sorry I
didn't come speak sooner I wrote a
letter to counsel about tason's emails
to Scott Rundy and other issues prior to
the last meeting I also informed you of
a possible protest and my concerns about
speaking in person while this letter was
not provided to you last meeting I've
taken steps to ensure that everyone has
seen it for this meeting I also have
information that the town attorney
removed the independ independence and
impartiality of the investigation by
providing certain Legal Information that
was inappropriately Miss leading and
represented his personal legal opinion
additionally he exercised poor judgment
and that he had sufficient information
to question the assignment of Miss
Barnes I've reviewed emails and invoices
related to all the investigations
conducted by Miss Barnes and I found
several concerning issues the Town
Council has the ethical and fiduciary
responsibility to review the details and
proper conduct of these
investigations there is so much more but
I'm tired of wrestling with a pig I've
only got 3 minutes to speak you have
some big problems to address do the
right
thing next up is Steve
lavil Steve are you uh speaking for
Stacy
also following Steve is Stacy
lville
oh wait I need this
up mayor and Council uh all the
information and documents that I have
here tonight and that I talked about two
weeks ago they were obtained by a foyer
request through justat maybe we can get
a logo up to push put those up too so
the the public can uh take a shot and
get get all the documents I have uh the
last time I spoke here if you'll recall
the mayor saying quote as stated
personal matters fall under the purview
of the Town manager so I will ask that
the town manager to look into those
situations and report back to us if he
would choose to have uh excuse me if you
would choose to have that as a council
we can put this down on the dis like you
asked that's nothing but letting the fox
watch the hen house the town Gilbert
Personnel rules 1.3.2 and 1.3.4 clearly
stated St the town manager shall be
appointed by the council and Shall Serve
at the will and the pleasure of the
council in accordance with the code of
Gilbert so is the code of Gilbert to
hire based on gender and
ethnicity I still have 28 people and I
still have the list whether you put that
up there or not and by the way the
ironic thing that Bob badget sent that
email to Joe Bush about replacing 28
people by Nathan Williams HR Director
back
there and the fourth question in the
first round of interviews that year was
that the fire department success relies
heavily on the values of trust and
integrity the irony of the question
you're asking your new recruits when
your organization doesn't have trust and
integrity let's move on let's get back
to the digital media since they're doing
such a good job all right here's one uh
this one was under the Tweet by the
governor not wearing a mask at the RNC
so one of your employees of course
quoted of course he's not going to wear
a mask he knows that they're a joke
right so we went on about I got more
mask mask masks and then I got digital
media saying another mask comment
another mask comment rules for me but
not for thee they're spying on people
just because they're posting about masks
let's go on let's get further let's talk
about vaccination status I literally
have emails titled vaccination status
vaccination Mis misinformation
mask misinformation misinformation was
used tonight who decides what the heck
is
misinformation who who decides this who
has the right to silence any of these
people I don't have to agree with them
matter of fact that guy I worked with
for well 20 of his 30 years and we don't
politically agree a lot that's true but
I respect the hell out of him and we can
have
conversation and you know what just
because he tells me something doesn't
mean it ain't true doesn't mean it's not
his opinion I should say does doesn't
necessarily mean it's true doesn't mean
it's his opinion okay perception's
reality but truth is
truth okay that that's that's bottom
line the here's here's some stuff here's
your your team on on January 6th like it
or not the truth of that's coming out
and I'll make it quick they're going
back and forth talking about did we have
employees there in January 6 for the
quote unquote Insurrection which I don't
think was an Insurrection but that's
another opinion literally going through
that now let me ask you when Ro versus
Wade was overturned and the state
capital was overrun by insurrectionists
breaking windows at the state capital
Did the digital media team send anything
out about that did they talk at
all did they in did was there any
internal communication about did we have
any employees down there because they
sure was about January 6th and that's
because it was conservative and liberal
and don't be fooled don't be fooled you
want the true truth it's right here I
have it I'll sit down with anybody I'll
bring the facts I'm not talking about
what I believe in I'm talking about what
I've read and I don't get to finish
unfortunately because I'll respect your
time but I will leave you with this one
last thing I talked about standing in
the Gap okay so you can stand in the Gap
with me and we can start to fight for
this country and speak truth we don't
have to agree we just speak truth okay
or you can hate me but it's Galatians
4:16 am I your enemy
because I tell you the
truth thank you Steve Stacy
LEL on Deck is Becky
Wyatt good evening uh my name is Stacy
Laval domicile in Gilbert I have to say
first of all I'm super disappointed in
the fact that it took two weeks for you
to come up here and say here's a report
it's all good no it's not good I'm going
to talk tonight about a former uh
firefighter and these are his his words
I'm a resident of Gilbert as well as a
retired fire firefighter from the town
of Gilbert I'm writing with a concerning
experience I encountered while I was a
firefighter with the town this took
place in 2020 the first morning of
interviews for firefighter recruit
candidates I was one of several
firefighters who was on the interview
panels and we were all asked to meet in
fire Administration Room 2 because Human
Resources would like to speak with us
prior to interviews when the HR
representative came in he stood and
looked around the room he then proceeded
to tell us you all need to hire
candidates that do not look like you to
be honest it almost felt like it was an
order I was stunned by this as I had
previously sat on two to three interview
panels throughout my 20 plus years and I
believe that Gilbert Fire and Rescue has
always done an excellent job at
recruiting and keeping diversity in
mind I happen to be a minority that was
hired by Gilbert Fire and Rescue and I
believe HR could learn from the Gilbert
Fire and Rescue on diversity recruitment
without being divisive knowing what was
said by HR as a taxpaying citizen I want
my tax dollars to go towards hiring the
most qualified employees of our town and
not based on
politics again shame on you all you all
for sweeping this under the rug you know
better thank you Becky
Wyatt on Deck is Corey
cleverer my name is Becky Wyatt I've
lived in Gilbert 18 years and I'm a
stay-at-home mom and a small business
owner raising two middle
schoolers I watched the public comments
from the last Town council meeting on
the very convenient YouTube channel that
the digital team created and was shocked
to see a manufactured drama unfolding
against the town's digital team I'm
missing dinner tonight with my young
family to counterbalance the attacks on
our digital team a team I believe is an
absolute asset to our town I'm wearing a
t-shirt the digital team designed and
sold to benefit charity I gave these as
gifts at holiday Favorite Things parties
and they were a huge hit among my
friends who love living in Gilbert as
much as I do I watched the public
comments from the last meeting and
thought to myself this is a very odd
blend of being concerned with teen
bullying and violence political spying
swirled in with for the jobs of 11 Town
employees a cuttingedge team led by a
Gilbert native a woman raising upstander
teens that creates content for all the
Departments of government including the
police department who is crafting the
fear cocktail that the Gilbert goons and
the digital team should be tied together
in any way I think it is so wild that
people with political aspirations are
rallying their supporters to literally
take down town employees and neighbors
that don't politically align with them
this attitude of cancel culture is so
uncalled for my friends rely on the town
of Gilbert digital team to be connected
to this community we share their posts
about where to see Christmas lights free
concerts Veterans Day parades we share
the missing person's alerts the
recycling programs the council meeting
dates the voting locations the list of
the helpful things they share online is
immense if the loud minority of people
who spoke at the last meeting got their
way what would happen would all
departments go back to running their own
Facebook pages and being followed by 20
people we'd save $1 million by firing 12
Neighbors which on our $2 billion budget
is equivalent to less than a penny on a
$100 bill the digital team is worth that
and much
more go ahead and voice specific factual
complaints but calling for the career
destruction of the good people of the
Gilbert digital team over conspiracy
theories and old investigation that were
resolved in 2021 is just a waste of our
Town's time and energy it also erodes
the neighborly glue holding this
community together I tell my kids and my
girl scouts that you need to think
before speaking and there's a widely
shared
acronym to see if something passes the
think test T is it true H is it helpful
I is it inspiring n is it necessary K is
it kind so much of what was said about
the digital team last meeting was none
of these things if the very young town
of Gilbert going through a big growth
spurt wants to blossom into a quality
community that respects others even with
different beliefs then we need to
prioritize generosity and Grace over
political Maneuvers stop this cancel
culture and start supporting our
spectacular digital team thanks for
listening thank you Corey
Cleaver Corey will be followed
by Lisa and
Raa that two of you together
okay good evening my name is Corey
clever I am an army Veteran Federal law
enforcement officer and I serve on the
board of directors of a national
nonprofit benefiting
veterans on December 9th I took my
family to the Gilbert Regional Park on a
play date my three-year-old went down
the concrete
slide she hit her head and was thrown
about 5T past the slide when she hit the
ground she started making loud guttural
noises and she was crying for
me in fear of my daughter's safety I
went down the slide to get to
her I could not believe the speed of the
slide and was unable to slow myself
before hitting the dirt and breaking my
ankle in three
places I spent four and a half days in
the hospital having two plates and
multiple pins placed in my leg I've been
out of work for nearly 9 weeks unable to
gain medical
clearance shortly after the injury I
contacted the Gilbert parks department
to report the injury I asked if any
other injuries have been reported on
that concrete
slide I was told that information could
not be shared with me so I submitted a
Freedom of Information Act
request approximately 30 days later that
request was
fulfilled the Gilbert parks department
was made aware of seven total injuries
on that concrete
slide four adults three
children three broken legs a broken
back a broken shoulder cracked tailbone
and a concussion and one of these kids
is having problems with
seizures all in approximately 3 years
since that park has been
open this isn't a matter of my bad luck
it is a matter of potential
negligence the town of Gilbert Park
department is aware of the injuries and
has not acted
it is now public record that you the
Town Council have been made aware
tonight and you Madame mayor you're now
aware of these
injuries this injury was
preventable as are future
injuries I am formly requesting that the
slide be removed as soon as possible
failure to do so will result in more
injuries and will be due to your neglect
thank
you thank you Cory
Lisa
Marisa good
evening hello we wanted to speak um
about in
action uh your inaction is truly
disheartening the community is United
and Vigilant yearning for
acknowledgement of the senseless
violence that has been occurring we
implore you to demonstrate that you see
and hear us yet week after week our
please go
unanswered what catalyst is needed to
initiate action considering you're not
pursuing reelection why not conclude on
a positive note by performing a good
deed perhaps Illuminating the water
tower in Orange anything We crave action
and we recognize it can start with small
gestures as we Forge ahead taking
significant strides we simply ask you to
take one small step and
acknowledge acknowledge Preston Steven
jir Haley Jeremiah and all of the
victims that have been forever impacted
by these senseless acts of violence this
group of individuals has acted time and
time again now it's your turn one last
mention our fearless partner Lily
Waterfield couldn't be in attendance
today so she's not here to point out
flaws but plans on attending in the
coming weeks to demand further
action hi my name is Risa I want to
thank Chuck Scott and I want to um thank
Jim for showing up at our walks and our
fundraisers it means a lot to us and the
Lord
family um my speech is going to be
short truth will ultimately Prevail will
that where where there is pains to bring
it to light this speaks for
everyone in this room I'm going to
repeat this again truth will ultimately
Prevail where where there is pains to
bring it to light right now we are the
light for Preston
Lord we walk together as a community a
lot of communities walk together we do a
lot of
fundraisers I have personally hung about
150 ribbons in the town of Queen Creek
Chandler and Gil Gilbert I'm asking
every one of you here in front of me
tonight that I'm looking
at to do
something maybe orange Queen Creek City
Hall last night my daughter drove by
everything's lit up in
Orange I don't know why we can't do that
here I'm asking I'm praying about it we
need to be a voice for the Lords this is
not going to go away
we need
Justice I know that they're working on
it we see the rests but what I'm asking
and all of us are asking is that we all
together show our support for this
family it's not hard orange orange is
the color I wear orange to church my
sneakers these are my dirt my girls I
borro them my blazer my bracelets
everything orange because everywhere I
go people are asking what is the orange
about out actions speak louder than
words we know that you were at a ribbon
cutting ceremony right next door there
was a
fundraiser at Brass Tap right there just
show some support that's all we're
asking
something it would mean a lot to us it's
all I'm asking I know you can't answer
now but just think about it
please thank you next up Dan
Reynolds Dan will be followed by Rebecca
Mahia mayor councel um thanks for the
opportunity today um some of you
probably can uh look at me and know I'm
a little familiar to you I've been
living in Gilbert for about 35 years sir
can you speak a little louder I really
want to hear you but I can't do that
okay uh said I'm a resident for 35 years
I was also a former employee here for 25
years
um contrary to what they uh posted from
that news article from the odg about
disgruntled employees I'm not a
disgruntled employee so I want to make
sure that's clear I loved working here I
don't love what's going on right now you
could say that I'm a little bit of a
disgruntled citizen because I am so I
want to share a few things
couple of uh text messages that went on
through some of the people in our
digital department and it feels kind of
choppy but there's a
message um this came from uh I I believe
Jen Schneider because she was lays on
from fire to uh the
odg hello Josh Reynolds is replying to
people that he's not going to wear a
face mask on PD's
post so p had a post that said and a
lady said I'd like everybody to wear a
mask I think it's important to wear a
mask and I think everybody should wear a
mask Josh responded to it then I don't
want to wear a mask I'm not going to
wear a mask and you're not going to like
it next uh text message from odg he's
allowed to have his own opinions but
this is dangerous because it would make
people think that our fire department is
not safe and that our firefighters
aren't caring about the safety of others
Josh Reynolds post says nothing about
being a firefighter or the fire
department where did she get that
information what assumptions are made
here and why are they spying on
him they targeted him for a long
time here's the next text hang on here's
the next
text this is from
odg to current fire chief Rob
dougen wait those two are the same that
is the only video I had he
responds he had a second one where he
said he would follow rules while at work
Sally might have it I think I know who
Sally
is but I'm not going to come to an
assumption but that puts another person
that's watching Josh on social
media that's
disturbing I know and I thought I
recorded it but I can't find
it because since it was on Instagram now
it's
gone I tried to grab it this morning
when I realized I didn't have it but it
was already
gone okay why are they watching him on
social
media I would like you to ask that
question I have one last thing I'll wrap
it up if am
allowed Josh was invited by a
neighboring fire department to be on the
podcast as a
guest he accepted they did the podcast
podcast they presented it to that fire
chief who looked at and said this looks
looks good it was entertaining sitting
around serving or solving world
problems talking about little
stuff and they also asked him why he
left here and so he told him about that
too when they presented it to that fire
chief he said this looks fine but then
he got a phone call from our current
fire chief Rob dougen who asked them to
not play that
podcast so my question is did Rob dougen
do that on behalf of the town or did he
do that on on his own
behalf why are they trying to silence
him last week excuse me two weeks ago at
our last council meeting Josh was
sitting right back there and the police
officers had to serve him with
another uh injunction of her
harassment I have no idea why they're so
afraid of Josh he doesn't even work here
anymore so those are questions I know
you can't answer but I think uh that
they need to be
asked and I think you need to let your
conscience be your guide and please look
into this thank you very much I
appreciate it thank you Dan
Rebecca
Mahia
Rebecca will be followed by Ann
duet hi my husband and I bought our
first house here in Gilbert right behind
Joe's Barbecue we moved over to Mesa
from Mesa in the year 2000 we brought
our first baby to that house we moved
out to Power Ranch in 2003 and we moved
two more we brought two more babies home
there my babies are Gilbert babies our
our family grew as Gilbert grew and grew
and grew um they are Gilbert bred young
adults out there making Gilbert proud
giving Gilbert a good name unlike some
of the Gilbert teens that seem to be
making the news today I don't want those
people to be forgotten I remember when
Gilbert first got a digital platform
back in
2012 my kids were still participating in
Gilbert parks and Rex Services we were
on the swim team we took dance classes
we did the basketball and Rocket rock
climbing at Freestone I appreciated the
information I could now get online and I
really appreciated when the system was
upgraded so I could sign my kiddos up
online I remember the accolades and
positive attention the town of Gilbert
got with the Justin Timberlake Can't
Stop This Feeling challenge that video
showed us as a fun diverse inclusive
town and that is what we are we have
various political parties various age
and tax brackets various religion and
that's the part of Gilbert that my kids
are proud of when they say they are from
here I remember when Gilbert water tower
p park was opened and all the positivity
surrounding that I look for all that
special Lighting on the tower and go to
the page to see what we're supporting
now this makes Gilbert Feel Like Home to
me I've seen the town of Gilbert floats
and parades and I love the coverage of
Gilbert days I often check out the
Gilbert yourtown Instagram page and I
love the relevant content content set to
pppe music wasn't it just three years
ago that our digital team was named
social media Team of the Year I remember
how the digital team gave us updates
during Co and kept us a breast of what
we needed to do as a resident and a
business owner I appreciate the digital
team for all their videos and
information about our ever Chang in
recycling rules and how to drop off
things at the hazardous waste center I
appreciate the team's work to engage the
community the regular Community depends
on this type of
communication the digital team is what
we need in this day and age with all the
negative press we are getting now we
definitely need some positive light
shown on all the good things happening
here I can't imagine in 2024 not having
a digital team
I hear people asking for more and more
transparency but why get rid of one of
the lines of communication I can't
imagine the Gilbert Facebook pages
really being the only things perspective
home buyers could see let's be honest
those don't always show us in our best
light I was here last meeting and heard
the concerns of others it seems an
investigation has been done if it needs
to be reopened so be it but those
calling for the entire department to be
shut down are really being shortsighted
I as a longtime Gilbert resident am
speaking for those of us that are
actually part of the digital age and we
certainly need a digital presence it is
2024 this is how people engage and I
want to say thank you to the digital
team and the Town Council for putting an
end the slander against
them thank you
an and du
set
hi my name is an ducet I've been in
Gilbert for 26 years for weeks now I've
stood before City councils discussing
the pillars of leadership transparency
and communication today I want to dive
deeper into community and empathy
because I fear that we may have lost the
sight of what that truly means in my two
decades of leading recovery groups here
here in the East Valley I've seen
firsthand the power of empathy in
connecting with grief and loss the
longest distance in the body is between
the heart and the mind the heart is
always playing ketchup taking months to
comprehend what the mind already knows
last night at mesa's uh shortest city
council meeting that I attended 23
minutes and 1 second a mother of a
victim of one of the Teen violent cases
spoke she expressed her concerns and
talked about her Stellar son
Jeremiah after the meeting I got to
listen more to her
heart it has been said that when we have
asked school system to help they say
that that's a parenting issue they
deflect and they stay silent let me tell
you what what is not a parenting issue
Jeremiah's mom shared
how she asked for her son her son's name
to be read at
graduation she was told that they could
not read his name because he was not
physically
present I found out this morning that
this also happened to another family
member of a victim as well Steven
jacobo he was a straight A student as
well Stellar student they didn't allow
Stephen to graduate because he didn't
finish the semester due to his death yet
they allow Steven's murderer to graduate
although he was in jail during
finals committed a huge crime murder so
where is empathy has the heart of human
life become so gray and callous that
these teens could simply not be
honored they said it was
policy and well they said they would
they didn't really have a policy on this
and and they would rather follow policy
than honoring these young lives that
have been taken too
soon let me tell you
something grief doesn't
discriminate it finds you whether you
seek it or
not I don't know anyone who has ever
sought out
grief people don't understand grief
until it's your front row seat at the
funeral and then what will our community
rally around them offering support and
Solace let me tell you I have seen the
army of God wrapped around these
families communities multiply our Joys
and divide our sorrows our community is
crying out and leaders I ask you are you
listening you cannot deflect deflect
deflect action must be taken we must
demand change we must advocate for the
rights of victims and that their voices
are heard and their grievances be
addressed it's time to reassess our
priorities and ensure that our justice
system truly serves all members of
society not just those Accu accused or
wrongdoing are the leaders hiding behind
pride and ego failing to acknowledge the
need for accountability and Improvement
I don't know leaders may think that if
we don't say anything and stay quiet
these folks will just go away and we'll
be done with that part of the journey
staying quiet speaks volumes this
movement will not go away we are a
community that supports the families and
we honor the lives of Haley
Preston
jir Jeremiah Steph Christian and I am
sure there are many more we will
continue to push back and honor these
lives that were taken too soon and yet
lived so well thanks for letting me
share thank you
thank you thank you all for your
comments this evening mayor that
concludes the request to speak thank you
vice mayor I'd like to invite um Chief
Michael soberg to the podium to make a
statement like we've been having done at
each council meeting
Chief good evening mayor council all our
uh participants tonight thank you uh I
want to do a shout out to Connor uh
thank you for being here I don't know if
he's still here might be doing homework
um he's at volleyball practice he's
trying to get on the team tonight okay
thank you um but he sent me an email
last night and I just wanted to express
appreciation for the effort he's doing
to help provide
Solutions uh last week uh we gave a
update and so I wanted to provide I I
know how important this is obviously
obiously to the community we hear it
each week we hear it every day and so I
wanted to just give an update of what we
presented last week and let little
insight of what's coming as well uh
based on the information that we've
provided over the last 30 days to the
community and the overwhelming amount of
information we've received from both the
media and from the community we've been
able to make 22 arrests in January alone
based on teen violence cases and the
majority of those cases were cases that
were just brought to our attention in
December in January just last week alone
we made six arrests on four different
cases the great majority as I mentioned
were uh we were able to make those
arrests based on information we received
from the community so again thank you to
the community for providing that we
continue to ask for additional
information we updated our web page with
additional information of uh at least
one more person that we're looking for
and we may have some additional updates
uh for additional uh people that we are
looking for so I want to thank you uh
for the continued support we will have
more arrests and we will continue to
update the Community Council on those
arrests and as we Pro proceed on these
investigations safety remains our number
one priority obviously in Gilbert and we
uh are committed to working with the
community and working together to uh
bring successful conclusion of these
cases and prevent future cases thank
you thank you
Chief vice
mayor what's your name
sir
Joseph because you're a public hearing
item and we haven't gotten to that
portion of our agenda yet the folks that
spoke are Communications from citizens
and you're on a very specific item on
our agenda that will allow a two-way
conversation with you not the oneway
during
Communications thank you no no problem U
vice mayor the consent
agenda thank you mayor yes um
been asked to remove item
seven for discussion item
11 and item
14 being no other requests to pull any
other items I would make a motion to
approve items two
three four five 6 8 9 10 10 12 13
15
16 and
17 I have a motion from vice mayor can I
have a second a second council member
tilki seconded by council member tilky
please
vote vote passes 70 moving on to the
first item item seven councilman
torguson
I was hoping to have a a uh a quick
presentation on as we're hiring a
construction at risk manager where we
are in phase two if it's fully funded or
if it's something that's being pushed to
a future Bond item uh just so I'm
completely
informed I see someone
walking is it Robert Robert Robert
Carona approaching the podium
uh good evening mayor Peterson council
member Tuson uh in regards to Desert
scar Park phase two uh right now um that
item is for uh design of the park which
was funded in the FY 24 uh budget
process but in terms of the construction
funding uh those are unidentified at the
moment uh the designed funding uh ahead
of time will allow us to really get
deeper into the cost estimation and be
able to even possibly divide into future
phases uh based on what future funding
may be available along with utility
coordination and uh the community
engagement side of of understanding uh
deeper what the community would like at
Desert Sky park because the last uh
touch point we had was more of a
conceptual master plan just with more of
the overall rendering of what could be
possible at the location right and I'm
going to assume that's the same with
item number
11 uh mayor Peterson council member
Tuson that's correct it would be the
same with number 11 uh doing the design
process but also looking for ways uh as
we identify future funding um to be able
to uh W you know wisely use that with
with the cost estimations and the
different phases and amenities of the
the parks all right so we're not making
a whole lot of assumptions on it we're
still going back to the drawing board to
see where we may end up in this process
yes you know our goal in the design
process is really to work through all of
those those items and have a very
interactive process with not only the
community but uh Parks Sport and Council
to to decide what the best way to move
forward is not only with construction
but design on the park and still work
with with Council on those different
funding options as we look at how we
could possibly phase you know 265 Acres
of development you know wisely with the
other Capital needs that that Gilbert's
facing all right thank
you any other questions that Robert
could answer all these thank you
Robert I make a motion to accept uh item
seven and 11 on the consent agenda we
got a combo deal on that one I have a
motion to accept 7 and 11 do I have a
second I'm sorry council member Koski
second by council member Koski please
vote motion passes 70 so that kcks off
seven and
11 item 14 council member
torguson I just I really wanted to to
confirm what the uh what strings if any
are attached and Reporting back
regarding the uh the funding from rays
and
USD for that project and there you
are
suanna the mic's not on
Susanna there we go there we go see I
haven't done this for a while so I
apologize um mayor and council member
torguson and and the rest of the coun
members um this grant is a grant that
basically we be putting um a pedestrian
way across at Water Tower way um called
Veterans Memorial Bridge those a aspects
of that Grant are that we will have to
provide a 20% match based on the total
estimated project cost actually design
cost at this point in time is all we're
looking for with this grant 20 or $2
million so our match will be
$400,000 one of the other ones is we
will have to follow all the ri rules
guiding the use of federal money
um that includes Davis bacon title 6 um
requirements as well as um bamerican uh
type items um the these are typically
handled and often times we we will enter
into an IGA with it with the Arizona
Department of Transportation that will
help administer that project for us make
sure we dot all those eyes
appropriately um and then also one
Federal rule is that we will have to
basically go under construction with
this bridge Within years so um should we
get this and we should we move forward
with it so those are the basic three um
that will be a kind of a requirement on
this grant there's no other other than
constructing it there's no other
performance uh requirements there's no
if we don't perform there's a
problem so with every IGA that we go
into there will be some obviously there
will be some of that language that goes
into the IGA should we get um get this
grant then we will we definitely bring
that IG in front of you to make sure
that that is also taken care of so thank
you uhuh thank
you I'd like to propose uh
accepting item number
14 as presented thank you I'm sorry vice
mayor and I were um we we kind of
chuckled that the has to be constructed
within 10 years the speed of government
right and bureaucracy sorry that just
kind of caught us off guard I have a
motion by council member torguson to
accept do I have a second I'll second
that council member ban Giovani please
vote motion passed to 70 thank you is
that it vice mayor that was it thank you
moving on now to our public hearing
portion of our
agenda we have our um public hearing
items will be heard at one public
hearing at which time anyone wishing to
comment in the public item may do so
I have a few items to a few slips for
people to speak on a on one of the items
actually two excuse me 20 22 and
23 our first item on our public hearing
agenda will be items 18 and 19 combined
it's annexation I'll open the public
hearing annexation a
22-04 GP 22-15 and Zoning z22
D15 I'd like to ask the public work
Department to come up and give us a
presentation we had asked for a history
on this
project and I see Kyle Maris from
development
services are we still going to do the
same
process turn the mic on Kyle please
thank
you there you go mayor and councel um
yes good evening um we are going to um
follow the same process I was just going
to give a little introduction to the um
to the cases and then I will turn it
over to to Jessica who will give us a
history of the project uh the Lindsay
Road and Lexington project um s will
then come up and go through the planning
um process and the planning case uh with
you and then again I will uh wrap up uh
at the very end um I do want to say um
thank you to miss Shu and her sister um
we've been working um tirelessly with
them over the last few days um trying to
come up with Solutions um to some of the
different challenges with the with the
project um there are a lot of new want
us with some of these things and unless
you're kind of um really buried into the
planning or Public Works World um some
of these look really confusing and um
don't seem to make a lot of sense but I
believe we are in a good spot um we
worked even up until late this afternoon
um working out Solutions um I think
we're in a great place um so with that I
will turn it over to Jessica to start um
kind of give us a a history of the
background we can walk through this
whole thing and you can see where where
we've all ended up thanks for that
Kyle Jessica can you just introduce
yourself so the public knows who you are
please yes I will thank you I'm Jessica
Marlo I'm the Public Works director here
in Gilbert uh good evening mayor and
members of
council uh I'm just here today to give
you a little bit of an a background on
the Lindsey road project uh and Le
Lexington Road Improvement project um as
you all know as Council part of our
responsibility in the town is planning
for the future of the community in
public works that includes providing for
a safe and Transportation Network as
well as underground utility
infrastructure um as part of our general
plan our transportation master plan
several different traffic studies that
were completed in this area um
improvements for Lindsey Road and
Lexington were identified as being
needed in order to provide for that
adequate Transportation Network and
underground um utility infrastructure so
I'm going to walk you through the
Lindsay project um and the Lexington
project as well as um some of the the
history of the parcel that's the subject
of this anex ation General plan and
resoning case before you tonight um
there are a lot of complexities as Kyle
mentioned and so we wanted to just kind
of give you that background and then
delineate you know the past project from
the current
request so the project description for
the Lindsay Road um which we like to
call
st17 um is the completing of lindsy Road
improvements from posos including the
intersection um to uh South 144 Street
to Major arterial standards including
additional Lanes rais Medan sidewalks
and street lights improvements on
Lexington between Lindsay and 144th are
also included in the scope so the
project itself started um with design in
April of 2017 um construction started in
April of 2019 and the project
construction was completed in September
of
2021 so with respect to the parcel
itself um our Outreach for land
acquisition which was needed as part of
the Lindsay and Lexington project
project we approached all the property
owners along those alignments where land
was going to be needed in order to
complete those improvements um with this
particular um parcel Outreach started in
2018 um significant negotiations back
and forth over the course of about a
year um which uh culminated in a
purchase agreement that was signed in
2019 for ride of-way acquisition um and
then the property closed escrow in uh
April of
2019 so the property itself we went
through the appraisal process as we do
um with all property when we're looking
to acquire it for rideway um and um
through the negotiation process we
acquired approximately 22,000 Square ft
of rideway um along with some drainage
easements temporary construction
easements and other improvements um for
a total of
$187,000 um part of that um appraisal
process was uh it it did indicate that
additional dedication of ride of way um
would likely be required when the
property was developed in the
future um there were s some additional
um improvements that were done with the
Lindsay and Lexington project that were
um added value to the subject parcel um
in order to prepare it for future
commercial development including some
waterline stubs the actual improvements
to the roadway of Lindsay um and the the
signal intersection at Lindsay and
Lexington um so just kind of a little
bit of phasing of the history here
you've got the original property on the
left um what the new property looked
like after the acquisition of rideway
for lindsy Road and Lexington and then
um on the right you'll see the
approximately
6279 is square feet that's still an
estimate um that will be required um
that we're looking to acquire as part of
the current zoning application process
and I will now turn it over to cell to
walk you through that part of the
presentation thank you thank you
Jessica welcome up S could you just
introduce yourself please for the public
absolutely uh good evening mayor and
Council s Danto planner one uh and thank
you Jessica as well so now just carrying
forward onto the uh planning application
here uh the subject site is located at
the southeast corner of Lindsay Road and
Lexington Street and the property is
approximately 2.7 Acres gross um also
like to point out that the property is
adjacent to rivulon location to the West
uh Maricopa County residential to the
East and then some town of Gilbert
Business Park located to the north and
south and building off some of the
previous conversation left by Jessica
the three applications we do have in for
review with the planning staff is a
proposed annexation of the 2.7 Acres
from Maricopa County Rural
r43 uh to town of Gilbert single family
43 as an indexation requires the
property to come into the municipality
as the most comparable zoning District
uh the second application is the
proposed General plan Amendment uh from
General office to General commercial and
finally the proposed rezone which would
then bring that SF 43 property in the
town post annexation to the proposed
General
commercial uh for the annexation
annexation exhibit itself we just wanted
to show you all today uh the roughly 2
.7 Acres that it is currently in the uh
in Maricopa County as a residential
property and with the zoning or I'm
sorry the annexation application it
would come into the town as the most
comparable District which would be
single family 43 or SF
43 moving on to the general plan exhibit
uh again an outline here of the property
and just wanted to call out the existing
land use designation as general office
and the proposed uh General commercial
there
moving on to the zoning exhibit we can
see here uh that the proposed zoning is
to be General commercial from the what
would be SF 43 here with the town and
staff believes that a commercial
property here does make sense since it
is adjacent to um quite a bit of
employment in Business Park
opportunities and the commercial piece
would provide um a new opportunity in
the
area the sit's relationship to with the
general plan it's important to call out
that it is located within the Gilbert in
the 202 growth area which is um which
indicates a primary focus on economic
growth through office and employment
uses and due to the nature of high
employment uses in the area Lexington
Road has been designated as a collector
through the circulation and transit
system of our general plan so if we take
a quick look there at the graphics we
can see the 202 growth area there in
that darker shade of blue and then in
the circulation and transit systems
within our general plan that Dash purple
line that is highlighted is in fact
Lexington
Street uh following the general plan
it's also important to add or bring to
light the traffic circulation study that
was performed in 2017 for the area which
did um indicate that Lexington Street
would in fact be a major collector and
with a major collector the uh with total
is 80 ft and that is why with a zoning
application the dedicated uh right of
way is 40 ft for those half Street
improvements so I just wanted to provide
that circulation study there for a
visual of where um Lexington is called
out as that major
collector since this also is a
conventional uh zoning application there
is no Associated pad therefore the
development on site at this time would
need to follow our General commercial
uh development standards which I have
Pro um provided for you all on the
screen here and again you know nothing
here is deviated from our um LDC
standards moving over to public
participation uh we did hold in a
original neighborhood meeting back in
March of 2022 when the app prior to the
application being submitted with the
town uh for surrounding community
members did ATT 10 and it was um you
know the input was revolving around
General General curiosity um on
development in the area and of course
question centralized potential noise
odor and
lighting so with that we provide to you
all tonight the planning commission's
recommendation of to the Town Council of
approval of GP
22-15 Z
22-15 and a
22-04 of course subject to all
stipulations uh leading to uh updated
conditions and stipulations I'll pass it
back off to Kyle to dig in a little bit
further thank you thank you
s mayor and Council I mentioned that
there's been a great deal of work that's
gone on with the um applicant um to work
through some of the solutions and talk
about that 40-foot um Dedication that
was in the original um stipulations that
came from the Planning Commission um as
we look through the application there is
a 30ft strip of land that is still um
shown as an easement um located to the
north of this which is still on um missu
property um that 30 ft um the dedication
of that 30 ft would fulfill that
requirement of the 40 foot um
requirement of dedication when a
property is reasoned and since we've
purchased property just to the south of
that for Lexington when Lindsay and
Lexington was constructed that entire um
that entire requirement would be taken
care of um with that strip of of um
easement just to the north so we've
changed the stipulation in your your um
packet um we've removed the 40ft rideway
dedication and added the language here
that the applicant shall be responsible
for dedication to Gilbert for the 30
foot of Lexington Street right of way on
the subject site is depicted in and
that's a Maricopa County record where
it's shown as the easement um and then
in discussions with Mrs Shu um we've
also um um asked and come to agreement
that any additional ride of way required
for the new alignment of Lexington and
you can remember the diagram that we saw
that was a little bit of an odd shape
that was about 6,200 Square ft um shall
be purchased by the town in accordance
with the zoning exhibit again that
exhibit shows that that area so again
it's a a little bit of an interesting um
timing how the CIP project worked uh
along with the development application
um we feel like we're being consistent
with everything that we've done uh and
how we've treated every other
development project um in the in the
town um uh and I'm happy to say that I I
believe we come we've come to a solution
um Mrs Shu and her sister are here and I
I know they intend to speak but um we
feel like we've we've made a lot of
Headway um since our last discussions
with Council so um if unless there's any
questions I'll stop and and turn it
over thanks Kyle council member Capri hi
Kyle I just wanted to I guess get get a
little clarification um regarding the
history of the center line of Lexington
and I think that was something that um
came up in some of the recent
Discovery mayor council member cowy that
is um absolutely true when rivulon
Boulevard went in on the west side of
Lindsay Road it had a wider
um wider ride of way and so as that was
constructed out in the intersection of
rivon and Lexington and Lindsay were
constructed the center line shifted to
the South so as we measured the 40 feet
on the east side for Lexington we were
measuring from that southern line that
lined up with um uh rivon Boulevard to
the West instead of that original Center
Line Road um Center Line of the road
which would have been to the north so
that whole thing shifted it South
pushing um that ride of way further into
the property so that was one of the
things we were able to discover that 30
foot in that original Center Line gives
us that additional 30 feet for the
dedication of the ride of way thank
you any other questions for Kyle at this
time seeing
thank you Kyle thank you team appreciate
it now it is time for the applicant to
speak so
Gina looking forward to hearing from you
[Laughter]
tonight we're gonna get there we're
going to make sure your mic's on so we
want to hear every word you have to say
positive things no uh thank you I just
want to say thank you for working with
me and hearing hearing hearing me and
hearing everyone I didn't have a speech
lined up because we literally made the
deal like minutes before this so I just
feel very relieved and grateful I can
move on and I feel like it was much more
fair so I appreciate it so thank you
everyone and I hope you guys have a
great night because I finally am gonna
be able to sleep thank you I appreciate
it thank you thank you thank you Gina um
where's your sister and I don't have any
okay thank you I see thank you I got a
heart though thank you I appreciate that
um I will go ahead and unless staff has
any question I mean Council has any
questions for Gina or for staff I can
bring it back to the Das for discussion
okay I'll go ahe and close the public
hearing and bring it back to the Dias
for discussion who would like to
start anybody nobody jumping council
member tki thank you mayor um I just
wanted to take a moment to thank our
staff and Gina and her sister for
working together and finding a solution
we knew that there was one out there
sometimes getting around all the legal
mumble jumble takes a while so thank you
for your patience but it it really was a
big lift for everybody and we we
appreciate that and um if there's no
discussion I'll make a motion if you'd
like I'd be happy to take a motion
unless anybody has any did you want to
make a comment okay okay oh wow see that
I want to make sure I do it right so are
you're going to correct yes I want to
make sure they're going to put that
language back up because oh okay the
motion's going to need to replace what's
in the packet for um it's condition a
condition a Kyle is that correct or S
it's condition a correct
Y and hopefully you'll put it here so I
can actually read it can it go on our
small
screens yes than just need to get back
to the slide thank
you not the
continuance that's the updated condition
okay um
so we'll get we'll get there okay I'm
I'm going to wait till you tell me
go there you got it there is it with the
updated conditions
so uh mayor uh council member tilki
these two conditions would replace what
condition a is in the
ordinance can you confirm s is that
correct both of these correct okay so I
just want to make sure I I need to make
two separate motions if I understand
right one for the an excuse me first one
for the annexation and you're going to
need to do one for the general plan and
the zoning so three technically right
correct and so with which one am I going
to put the stipulation or both that's
what I need to know this would be on the
zoning zing on the zoning item Z so so
we could do the annexation get that done
and then move on to the general all
right we're going to try to get it done
right thank you um uh mayor I'd like to
make a motion to approve item 18
annexation
a224 I have a motion by council member
tilki seconded by council member Tuson
please
vote annexation motion passes
unanimously 70 you will become members
of the town of Gilbert next motion
council member okay um mayor I'd like to
make a motion to approve item 19 General
plan GP 22-5
15 and Zoning z22
D15 with the following stipulation the
application applicant shall be
responsible for dedication to Gilbert
for the 30 foot lexingon street right
away on the subject site as depicted in
2000-07
33370
MCR 30 ft and and any additional
RightWay required for the new alignment
shall be purchased by the town in
accordance with a attachment
5B exhibit to zoning exhibit I have a
motion by council member tilki and
council member tilki could you just
clarify that that new condition replaces
existing
a can I just say you say that
y that that condition replaces exhibit a
can condition a condition
a I have a motion you got it I have a
second by Council M Buckley please
vote
okay motion passes 70 General plan and
Zoning are passed
unanimously thank you Gina I know it
wasn't easy to get here government
bureaucracy isn't always the easiest to
manage or navigate but we appreciate
your patience and we got to the right
point in the end okay so thank you so
much thanks everybody that was I know a
tough one for everyone moving on to our
next item open the public hearing items
do we need to hear a presentation on
items 20 and 21 or could I have a would
anybody like anything on 20 21 I don't
have any card slips to speak I have no
public comment from on line then I will
go ahead and open open the public
hearing for item 20 property acquisition
and item 21 property acquisition as
stated in the agenda this evening I will
close the public hearing and entertain a
motion to accept items 20 and
21 mayor I'll make a motion to approve
items 20 and 21 I have a motion second I
have a second by council member covi
please
vote motion passes 70 now we will move
on to item
22 23 and 24 I'm just going to open the
public hearing on all three because I
think we will probably discuss all three
together we will need separate motions
when it comes to 22 23 and 24 but we
might as well have the public discussion
on all three would a member of Staff
like to make a presentation on oh here
comes Eric Brown down to the podium Eric
please just introduce yourself for the
public
how we broke
it get
there one more try
again
you know what why don't you guys just do
it your way try it your way and I'll
just follow along myself good evening uh
mayor and councel I am Eric Brown I'm
the assistant Public Works
director oh that looks like
mine hang
on there we go now we got it no it's
okay sorry about that I'm very needy and
uh in my techn technology doesn't always
work for me um I'm not going to belver
the points before you tonight on um the
rates items um this will be the third
time the council has seen this
information in public meetings uh the
same information was presented in more
detail at two Public Works Advisory
Board open
meetings uh at the customer open house
at the HOA Roundtable event and has been
available on the website since October
but I will have some new information
regarding um those events and some of
the feedback that we have received from
the
community tonight we're going to walk
through one of the local government's
most impactful responsibilities which is
the provision of Public Health through
solid waste and Water
Services even though I'm an efficient a
of Public Works I recognize that water
and trash rarely get the headlines that
the federal government gets we don't
train the military we don't secure the
Border we don't provide health care so
there's not a lot of attention given to
what we do the public doesn't see much
of our infrastructure so it's easy to
keep it out of mind until these
conversations come up so the task before
us tonight is kind of a tough one it's
giving these services that are so
impactful to our community the attention
and the resources that they
need these four bullet points are the
financial Cornerstone for how we plan
and pay for utility services growth pays
for growth is not subsidized by rates we
maintain a minimum level of financial
flexibility and we protect our credit
rating to ensure the lowest borrowing
costs when it is
needed we have four utility rates that
the town provides for our customers and
tonight we're going to focus on water
and solid waste and
recycling I'll get into a little bit
more um detailed reason for these rate
increases um but it's really three main
points on the solid waste and recycling
side the volume of trash and the cost to
dispose of it has risen significantly on
a per customer basis trucks cost nearly
double what they were two years ago and
are now well over half a million dollars
each and the cost to keep our aging
Fleet running has
skyrocketed but our customers demand
this service of us and so we have to
continue despite those cost
pressures on the tonnage um and fees
side we're receiving 10% higher tonnage
than before covid which has outpaced our
our customer growth and we are charged a
10% higher fee per ton disposed which
has resulted in a nearly 25% cost
increase in Total Disposal costs just in
the last four
years as our Fleet of trucks ages
because we cannot purchase new ones due
to supply chain disruptions the cost to
repair the older ones has nearly doubled
in the last four years
this swallows up any available funding
that we would have to purchase new
vehicles should we even be able to get
in line and order
them and lastly we've accured a 30%
additional cost of the parts to repair
those aging trucks just in the last four
years our expenses far out seed our
revenues and our Solid Waste and
Recycling funds are approaching empty
rapidly approaching empty but our r
proposal helps bring them into balance
for our residential customers that is an
$852 per month impact for most of those
customers that will allow us to keep
offering these top-notch services to our
community our commercial program resides
in its own fund separate from the
residential program but it requires an
average 22% increase across the board
for those
Services I'll move on to water um but
let's first remember the impact that
water service can have on a
community we've recently seen tragedies
that can occur when water systems fail
both
instantaneously and as well as in long
slow
declines but we don't have these
problems in Gilbert right well we have
experienced in recent memory the success
that comes from a well-maintained water
system that receives constant
reinvestment and care it serves the
community in way ways that go well
beyond watering a lawn or filling a
swimming
pool and yet we still have work to do to
keep this community protected and to
retain their trust in our ability to
effectively serve them especially as the
system ages and wears
out there are there are three main
factors that are driving the need to
increase the water Revenue the need for
Water Resource
resiliency skyrocketing Construction
costs and new awareness of additional
infrastructure
needs we are not alone in these cost
pressures every city in the valley is
facing the similar situation as we are
how they choose to deal with these
pressures is their choice and how we
deal with them headon is always our
choice in
Gilbert you have seen how the rising
cost of the water itself takes up more
and more of our operations budget each
year Rising more than 66% over the last
four
years we're also activ proactively
adding more Wells into our inventory to
counteract the Colorado River
shortfalls just like our neighbors in
Mesa and Peoria and Glendale are
doing our community is very well aware
of the dwindling Colorado River and it
expects us to act aggressively to
protect their way of life we are doing
so through all of these additional
measures that are meant to provide water
certainty and to meet their needs as our
desert lifestyle evolves these measures
are the execution of our L held plans
for sustainability and
reliability no one could have seen have
foreseen the effects of global supply
chain disruptions due to pandemic to war
in Ukraine and the regional industrial
boom that that have had on the market
but it has nonetheless wrought havoc on
our financial ability to carry out our
Capital Improvement plans many of the
projects that we are now constructing
have been planned for many years it's
unfortunate that the market is affecting
them in this way but that impact is not
a reflection of previous mismanagement
or a lack of
leadership the obvious example is the
northwater treatment plant project which
is simultaneously critical to Gilbert's
water reliability future and is also the
major obstacle in maintaining Financial
equilibrium inflation in the
construction Market is the only reason
this project has escalated in cost we
have held the scope of the project
constant since its Inception almost six
years
ago as we look into the future and we
make plans for the the buildout needs of
the community we're also finding
existing deficiencies through these
planning efforts some of them are Urgent
in need of Correction so we include them
in our immediate budget some are not so
urgent so we push those fixes off until
a later time to reduce the financial
impact to the
community similarly we course correct
our existing plans both because of
changing water use patterns and Supply
availability and also to balance the
those needs against the ability of our
town to carry the burden necessary to
execute those plans the results of this
Balancing Act is the rate proposal
before you
tonight you've provided us direction to
notify our customers of this financial
plan which is equal measures of directly
dealing with the financial realities
facing us and Feathering out the impact
and providing planning time for everyone
to Pivot to this new reality
but you did not take this decision alone
you solicited the advice of the
appointed Public Works Advisory Board
which made several recommendations based
on their in-depth study of the issues
and the
options they grappled with the same
issues you did and ultimately you both
came to the same conclusion that this
gradual water rate option is in the best
interest of Gilbert both today and
tomorrow
it impacts everyone differently the
higher Residential Water use tier
increases in cost and is a consideration
for efficient Desert Water use the
nonvolumetric water rates for non-res
the volumetric water rates for
non-residential customers are rising at
a lower Pace than residential in
recognition that businesses have an
incentive already to be in in efficient
and many professionally man managed land
apes are more efficient than Residential
Water
Landscapes you asked us to increase our
Outreach and we did you can see that we
began in the spring with media and
website information and realistically
this Outreach um and education actually
began two years ago when we presented
the upcoming rate review schedule that
showed that water and solid waste and
recycling would be reviewed again in
2024 during the summer we made special
notifications to our largest water users
and to groups involved in our planning
or advisory
capacities and then once our financial
options were solidified we leveled the
Outreach up once again to make sure as
many people as possible were aware of
what is to
come during this process we listened and
here's what we
heard we heard people want us to make
sure that development pays for its own
impacts so we explained the the
difference between rates and system
development fees and we assured
residents that development does pay its
own fair
share people ask what we are doing to
contain our costs we we shared our
competitive Contracting requirements the
value Engineering Process that we do on
a significant basis that reduced the
northwater treatment plant cost by $30
million the delaying of important
capital projects until they can't be put
off anymore and even how we route um
efficiently our Solid Waste
trucks we heard a lot of confusion over
Municipal finance and funding sources
and the limitations behind those sources
we explained the separation of utility
revenue and the expenses from those from
the general fund the discussion about
Transportation bonds not being allowed
to utilize for utilities and then how
growth related system development fee
funds are
used we heard a lot lot of concern over
the future Water Resource availability
and that current landscape choices may
not align with that
reality many of our residents understood
that the old days of water
abundant uh of overabundant water are
gone but some of the Landscapes are
relics of that area and they really
wanted large scale changes in particular
from their own
HOAs we also heard concern from high
water use about paying more than
others we discussed the conservation
oriented rate structure that is designed
to encourage efficiency we also directed
them to our water conservation team and
their resources for
efficiency we also heard concern from
HOAs that they won't have the budget to
meet their water
bills we made improvements to our
proactive Outreach to these customers
mailing them a letter in the summertime
notifying them
some customers heard that and they made
changes to their budgets accordingly
others did
not and lastly uh we heard that there is
help needed for fixed and low-income
households and we researched this and we
presented a plan to develop an
assistance a customer assistance program
to put in place by the summer and
Council you approve that
tonight as a recap of our former process
that we have followed um this
information has been before you since
March um you've taken formal action in
November and tonight we are asking you
for the adoption of the
rates mayor and councel the projects and
the work supported by these rates have
been developed by your professional
staff they've been double checked by
your appointed experts on the Public
Works Advisory Board and triple checked
by you yourselves the financial plans
went through the same rigor by those
three groups and you have settled on
these options for adoption the staff
request for you tonight is to approve
the three resolutions regarding Solid
Waste and Recycling and water rates and
fees that's all I have for
you that's all
Eric that was a lot thank you Eric does
anyone have any questions for Eric at
this
time council member tilki thank you
mayor um I just wanted to make a comment
that Eric and I have communicated and
we've received several emails from
residents who are in a
position of um probably being retired or
limited um financial resources and um
we're collecting all of those emails so
that we can be proactive to reach out to
them about some of these Financial um
opportunities that we have to help them
out so I just wanted to mention that for
the council thank you council member
Tuson a couple questions because it was
brought to me
is for
clarification uh budget year uh fiscal
year
2023 uh was projected to have a 14
million operating deficit is that
correct um could you clarify are you
talking about water fund I imagine
that's probably the one
he's phoning a friend yes I needed help
that phone a friend yes I'm afraid I may
not be a very good phone a friend I I
don't know that off the top of my head
um I can look it up and get back with
you though
the if this if this would help you just
it's so I can understand something
that's all it is if you want to take
this
I like that
uh thank you mayor council member
torguson so it's from the budget page in
it does show that there was a planned
use of about $13 million more than the
revenues for that year so that would be
using revenues in the fund balance from
prior year usually for onetime projects
like capital in that year which is why
there would be more expenditure than
Revenue planned for that year yes but it
is now projected to be $1 million
positive you can have it again it's okay
I don't want to stump you I mostly it's
looking at when is the one-time revenues
being used will be the difference in the
offsets for that okay so it's looking at
that it's not being used probably this
year that's swing of $25
million I love
that all right so the paper that you
have is the projected for 2023 and we
build that based off of how much of the
CIP has been spent through March when we
pull our projections and so it's
assuming not all of the projects
happened by the projection and then the
budget for the remaining part of those
projects are included in fiscal 24 so
it's a timing of when the CIP is
projected to be spent un used versus the
next year okay and the only other
question I have and this is not so much
as what we're building here which which
is the big part of it was just million G
gallons per day the the productivity the
output per full-time employee I'm I know
there's an answer for this it's just one
of those things you look at and you want
an answer for is it's gone down
substantially there was times where it
went up and then it went down it went up
and it went down is there a way to
quantify that so I can understand
that I most of that would be a
difference in the capital expenditure
per year so
probably which changes can drastically
from year to year especially right now
as we're doing a lot of capital with the
northwater treatment plants so that
might be a metric to look at more on the
operating side not not including the
capital that has led larg right I was
looking at as an operating issue did I
hear you say million gallons per day per
employee okay yeah um so when we're
talking about our water system um the
the only it Water Production is not the
only thing we
do we have to deliver it also and
maintain the the system and that system
is ever expanding to meet the needs of
additional customers and so the
maintenance that goes into that is not
going to be reflected in production of
an employee per million gallons of
water understood thank you with that I'm
good Council mayor
banavani Eric I promise you won't need a
calculator to answer my
questions two quick questions um does
the town make a profit when we charge
residents for water or solid race
Trasher no no do other cities around the
valley charge residents more than what
they um what it cost them to provide the
services to supplement other needs the
city may have yes thank
you vice mayor Anderson Eric one of the
most common U comments I get in emails
is why didn't we forecast all this so we
could avoid all these rate increases
could you list the things we would have
to know to be able to forecast what's
going
on know all have to a list a
few the Commodities market for nickel
internationally would probably be one of
them because it's a a big part of Steel
and uh we're using a lot of Steel in our
construction right now that's that's not
very Nuance right um but that's that
really is what feeds into construction
Market um cost escalation um some some
other things that might be a little bit
more tangible to people Colorado River
conditions um seven years ago the
federal government was not making
month-by-month changes to our allocation
on the river and they're doing that now
and that's not a very good place for us
to be in for us to have that long-term
reliable water supply jerked around like
that and so we've recognized that and we
are building additional backup supplies
for the community so that in this
unknown future we're still reliable and
they still have that water service um
hydrology on the river is something that
we thought was pretty pretty secure for
a long time and that has drastically
shifted just in the last decade and even
more in the last three or four
years that's very critical to what's
happened to us
um the the condition of our northwater
treatment plant as well was something
that uh until about seven years ago was
not known because of the the way it was
designed and our inability to get in and
inspect it until once every decade dry
up of the canal when we did do that we
then
understood um the difficulties that that
facility was was facing and so then we
began the plan in 2018 for uh
restoration reconstruction of that
plant we just didn't know that the
construction Market would erupt in this
way we probably wouldn't know the
location and the severity of forest
fires that are affecting the water
quality and Basin also it's another one
right affecting our ability for that
plant to even treat the water that is
incoming
yeah oh thank you I just there's there's
so many things that me being able to to
answer that question about why we can't
forecast well a lot of those things we
can't forecast they've happened and
we're reacting now the best way we can
thank
you thank you vice mayor the your very
first answer to that question about
nickel and I look at these photos with
all the steel that's just in those three
photos that you you're showing behind
you I mean it's so appropriate and
um we had no idea what these costs were
going to look like and when we we've
been talking about this since 2020 but
in 2018 we lowered
fees and had we had a crystal ball to be
able to look
forward we probably wouldn't have
lowered fees at that time because it's
so much harder to have to then come back
and go up and nobody ever remembers when
you lower fees everybody remembers when
you increase your fees always will
remember who increased the fees and that
that they were increased and um that's
why we took a new tactic in was it 2020
that we decided we would we would look
at everything every every two years so
that we weren't just putting this out to
a date unknown we would stop and look at
everything every two years to make sure
that we were doing this on a much
regular basis so that things wouldn't
get out of hand but again we had no idea
that we would be facing the conditions
that we're facing today and the town of
Gilbert is a business like any other
business and our costs have increased
while everyone else's costs have
increased and that's been our biggest
issue right now council member Buckley
thank you um well everybody else has
asked most of my questions so uh but on
the northwater treatment plant uh that
treatment plant was actually built in
1997 correct was that it was I believe
before yeah was 19 mid 90s mid90s and
then it was exp okay yeah mid90s so what
so that to me it seems like that
treatment pl's completely um at the end
of its life or the vast majority of it
is yeah and because when when I did the
tour and actually I think that was in
the in the newspaper but uh we I we did
the tour and we were we went under
underground underneath and in really
great area where the water would have
been because it's empty now because
they're working on it but the
uh I and I apologize if here if if she's
here I can't remember her name but they
led the tour did a fantastic job and but
she reached up and she was saying that
you know the concrete is and and all of
the things that they had built it with
is so old that they're starting to crack
or fall apart and then she touched
something and a piece of it fell out so
I and I a lot of people I don't think
realize what the cost is and how
Monumental that project is and the cost
to have that in so um I just you know
kind of wanted to bring that up the
other item is the cost of the water and
we were talking the other day and and i'
I've heard Eric's presentation like five
times but when we were talking we're
talking about I think the delivery of
the water from Salt River and it used to
be much much cleaner than what it is now
and because of all the wildfires and
things that have happened above the
water that comes down and it's
costing I'm assuming a lot more money to
clean that water
so that you all have potable water and
you turn your faucets on it's nice and
clean and you can flush your toilets and
um so I just kind of wanted to bring
that out because those are some things
that people we just don't think about I
didn't think about even and uh the the
the Monumental project that the
northwater treatment plan is and that's
where your money also is going
is the you know we have to have the
infrastructure to deliver that water to
you
so thank you very much for all your all
your presentations great doing it thank
you thanks Eric um if there aren't any
more questions at this time I will open
I will bring up the um residents that
asked to speak I have three slips from
residents that would like to address the
council one the first one is Joseph
Bessler and then next will be Ed
Weaver you might want to pull that yes
you're very tall there we go yeah thank
you for hearing me and I'm sorry about
uh speaking out earlier about not being
called this is the first time I've ever
attended a council meeting and well I
was reading right from your thing and it
said that these public meeting things
would public hearings are noticed for
6:30 p.m. so I thought that's what we
were doing but like I said that's my
inexperience and I appreciate you
hearing me out tonight um a lot of what
I had to say has already been talked
about and refuted by the good
gentleman's from our public works
department um but from a personal level
these kinds of increases are just beyond
ridiculous I mean me personally I'm a
single person and a single resident home
I have drip Water
Systems uh and when this rate increase
came out I was starting to think I was
probably GNA have to go take a shower at
the gym just to try to keep my rates in
line since
2021 my rate has gone up
by where's the number on here 34.9 %
that's just since 2021 it's already gone
up that much and now with this increase
for this year it'll go up by about
another 20 to
$25 I tend to be on the low end of these
numbers because again I'm one person
living in the house not three or four or
five all taking showers and washing
dishes and
whatever uh but this rate increase uh if
you look at what's proposed going out
it's a total of about 50
a month extra over the next couple years
the projections I saw were 25 this year
13 next year and 12 the year after that
if I add all that up that brings my rate
increase from
2021 to
114% that is just beyond
ridiculous now I know there are needs to
keep it up but what has Gilbert done
what Gilbert has done was expand
residential building we're building all
over the place putting even more burden
on the existing water
system why am I being responsible to
subsidize that out of control growth and
it is out of control I would actually
like to see a moratorium on growth in
this town for a couple of years just to
maybe give the utility department a
little time to catch
up uh and again personally I'm not
speaking for anybody else just me
just in the last several years there
have been not one not two not three but
four
massive high density apartment complexes
built within two miles of my house
that's a lot of people apartment
complexes I couldn't couldn't say for
sure but I could estimate probably house
six to 10 times the number of people per
square foot that I represent on my
property it's a lot of Burden on a
system which apparently is taxed and
needing some
work what I am asking is that you quit
reaching into my bank account to pull
out this money I know there are rules
saying that things that I pay for in my
utility rate have to be used for the
utility
department I'm not aware of any rule
that says that money can't come from
somewhere else in the Gilbert budget and
be used to subsidize costs for the
utility I could be wrong on that but
don't believe there is anything like
that and the Gilbert budget I I looked
at it I'm I'm sorry when this town has
averaged somewhere between 500 and 700
million a year in revenues and expenses
and we come up with a
$2.1 billion
budget I mean it wasn't even worth my
time to look at to me that just seemed
like a real pipe dream so I'm pretty
disgusted about it uh in fact I in my
notes I had a nice little speed because
I thought I was just going to have the
three minutes but I'm kind of just pick
picking out of this but this thing is
just to the point of being so far beyond
ridiculous I could only call it
ludicrous as far as we're concerned and
I just think it has to
stop I don't mind a reasonable increase
uh the good gentleman cited that other
towns are increasing their rates on a
proportional level yet I personally
heard a news report I think it was ABC
problem
about how tson was asking for a 9%
increase well when inflation's
35ish and the federal government was
benevolent enough to give me
3.2% this past year on my social
security I'm already starting this year
off three1 of a percent behind the
gun okay uh these are my numbers other
people have theirs uh it's just it's
going to be a point at the rate these
things are increasing with no end in
sight don't get me wrong I mean this is
this is now and if this would fix it we
could get back to something
reasonable
okay 50 what did I say was 55.3% this
coming year it's or over the next three
years whatever it was that's not really
what I call reasonable when inflation is
only several percent we don't get
increases and I know you were talking
about having programs for people on
fixed income and everything
I'm probably going to have to pursue
that uh I have a good budget I just
retired this past year and I'm already
thinking gez at this rate I'd have to go
out and get a job probably in the next
five or six years just to pay my utility
bill that is
absurd so I ask that you go back to the
drawing board at least with the budget
try to find some money from somewhere
else to help subsidize these utility
costs if that's allow ow it in our city
Charter and maybe if it's not maybe we
need to change the city Charter to allow
it you cannot keep dipping into the
residents bank accounts and pulling out
what you
need let's
see yeah just the other things were kind
of like I said kind of pointed and I was
I had a nice six and a half minute
presentation made but when I thought I
was going to be limited to three it got
Tri down to something which was just
kind of pointed and nasty so I've
trimmed it down even a little bit more
I'm sure I've gone over 3 minutes on
nobody's timing me but well technically
we're supposed to be timing you each
person's supposed to get three minutes I
don't know what happened to our clock
thank thank you Mar oh the computer
froze so there was a delay I apologize
sorry thank you well I'm sure I've
talked over my three minutes I do
appreciate you hearing me out on this uh
going to be looking forward to
information on any help I can get
personally
with my fixed income because again I
have social security but I also have a
pension the pension doesn't change year
to year so inflation goes up I lose like
this past year I've lost 3.7% in buying
power from my pension just because that
doesn't change that's a fixed amount the
rest of my
life and I guess that's all I had to say
thank you so much thank you next up will
be Ed
Weaver
hi Council I uh really hadn't planned to
talk I was just going to voice my uh
disapproval of The Proposal that's in
front of you right now but sitting here
listening I do have one question to the
council and I'm I'm just going to leave
it with
that in 2022 you had a study done by an
outside
firm the Wen financial services
company that provided you with some
information in November of
2022 that portrayed the financial status
of the solid waste or trash
pickup and they recommended an
increase to go
from $24. 73 a month for trash to
$32.75 you approved that
study that study showed
profitability down the
road 14 months later you're coming and
asking for another
$852
why I ask you why did you not believe
the
study I too am asking for maybe an
outside source to look into your Public
Works to look at their
finances these rate increases are
terrible I'm on a fixed income and I
will not go asking for public
help I will make Cuts
elsewhere but it's pretty sad when
senior citizens have to make choices
whether they can take a shower daily or
not thank
you thank you Ed next I have
John CA
and I probably just butchered that last
name do we have John that wanted to
speak on this item on
fees oh you're good okay thank you John
I will go ahead and
um close the public hearing and bring it
back to the Das for
discussion any I have vice mayor I have
one question I'd like to ask Patrick
sure in light of of the confusion about
whether we could transfer funds from
other places would you explain the
concept of Enterprise funds and general
fund in the town yes mayor vice mayor
Anderson so Enterprise funds are
specifically set up in a segregated
separate fund from the general fund and
general fund is generally supported by
sales tax generated within the community
as well as state shared income that we
receive to provide for General
government services those ENT prises or
those service lines that are within our
Enterprise funds are set up as
Standalone entities much in the same way
that a a private business would be that
the revenues generated by that service
line pays for the costs and we have no
profit margin built in as was U
mentioned during the conversation some
cities do pull additional revenues out
of their Enterprise funds we do not one
of the things that's also important is
and our credit rating and those funds
are have ratings that are separate and
aside from the the town's um General
credit rating with for our general
obligation debt that credit rating is
assessed solely on the sustainability
the viability of the fund itself so for
water um it they would analyze our
revenues see that the town is taking
steps and making decisions to ensure
that the fund is self-supporting um to
provide for the operations and the
treatment and delivery of that water and
if we were to subsidize that from other
sources um that would be subject to
annual Appropriations that could change
they would probably look to potentially
downgrade our credit rating because of
the volatility of a council making that
decision to make that transfer each year
and if there were a tight budget year or
we entered into a recessionary
environment and our revenues fail uh
fell and we didn't have enough funds to
make that transfer it would put that
individual uh fund at risk risk and so
therefore we would we would take a hit
to our credit rating which would means
when we go to the debt markets to to
issue bonds to for primarily um capital
projects within the fund we would
actually pay more in interest as a
result thank you vice mayor any other
comments questions discussion council
member Kowski I was wondering if Kelly
could come up and just explain a little
bit about um for example the northwater
treatment plant is Project is expanding
capacity um and the ex the expanded
capacity is actually paid for by SDF
funds which is paid for by new
development can you explain that a
little bit sure mayor council member
Koski I'd be happy to you explained it
beautifully there um with the northwater
treatment plant there are different
funding sources we use for that if it's
replacement of our existing
infrastructure we use our repair and
replacement fund if it is the expansion
um for the additional water capacity
that's provided um then we use our
growth related fundings which are system
development fees or called impact fees
and other places um new residents and
businesses when they build homes or
businesses in Gilbert have to pay a fee
and that is what is used to offset that
cost and that makes it so that our
existing residents in their water bills
are not paying for that expanded growth
um the people that move here are paying
for
that thank
you any other comments questions
discussion oh sorry yes Kelly I do have
one more question Kelly getting her
steps in
tonight um we recently also approved
increases to the SDF fees that we
charging development and and I believe
that percentage was also quite High um
in line with the discussion that was
made today regarding um just the overall
increase in the
construction cost index and those costs
can you give give a little bit more
detail about um about that uh just to
give some context that we're not um that
that we are trying to balance the needs
and and getting the revenues from the
appropriate sources yes very good um
there is a study that's required with
the system development fees to make sure
we look at all of the growth related
costs uh and what that infrastructure is
maintaining the same level of service as
our existing residents so it can't be
higher um and we're working through that
process right now council's adopted uh
part of the fees will continue the
process and adopt the actual fees
there's a public Hearing in March um but
that is calculated so so that um growth
pays for growth and that increase uh was
80 something per on the system
development fee side is what that's
looking like um for a single family
resident so um they are not in
substantial fees it's looking right now
total growth related fees for a single
family home um is about
$220,000 and we're looking to go up to
about
$36,000 so those are the types of things
that we have to balance and make making
sure that we protect our existing
residents that that's not built into the
water fees that that they pay for the
water service or trash service that that
impact is part of what they pay when
they build their homes and come here and
it is a a large increase on that side as
well thank you for the additional
context Kelly before you sit down I'm
not going to make you walk back again we
also and um Eric showed it in his
presentation but we also the council
voted
to um do an $80 million bond to offset
these costs so that the residents are
not shouldering these costs all on their
own that it's actually the town is
actually taking out an80 million bond to
cover these costs too yes mayor that'll
help with the cash flow of uh planned in
the fiveyear period so it is built into
the plan um with this rate study we're
not anticipating issuing those bonds for
a couple of years will use the bonds
that are currently outstanding and then
they would be repaid with the the rate
Revenue over time trying to strike that
balance between ripping the bandid off
and having a higher increase immediately
or having it more slowly over time that
residents can have more time to build
that into their planning it also gives
us more time to see what happens in the
construction Market hopefully costs come
down um which gives us more room and we
would need less Bond uh in the future
we'll continue to watch that as the
economy unfolds over the the next few
years and again that's why um the
council chose to review these rates
every couple of years so that we can try
and stay on top of those things and like
I mentioned before we have lowered the
rates in the past when we've had the
opportunity to do so yes and um
Gilbert's also always been one of the
lower rates in the valley of all the
municipalities in the valley over the
years and this still will keep us pretty
low compared to some of the other cities
and towns yeah thank you Kelly now maybe
you can sit down but I'm not promising
we won't call you back fa thank you any
other comments questions or discussions
here on the
D any anybody to kick this
off
or discuss amongst the seven of
us nobody wants to talk about this this
is not an easy topic it's not an easy
topic for any of us and as you can see
from the um from the charts that Eric
showed also that that we've been
discussing this for a very long time and
trying to figure out the best route to
take and that's why it in also included
a vote to do an 80 million Bond um that
we will pay substantial interest on over
the years to try and offset the cost to
the residents and I saw a oh thank you
council member tgon just to empathize
with you on it I'm not thrilled about it
either I'm going to pay an awful lot
and I've looked at this as many ways as
I can and I cannot find I cannot find a
reasonable fight to pick about it I
can't find a big hole I have a couple
questions I feared the answers were
going to be reasonable and they were
um I've looked it's it's not set up uh
to go anywhere but back to you and
servicing you and me and I look at it
and I'm trying to figure out do I want
to put Turf in my front instead of
instead of
grass things like that I'm I'm looking
what more desert scape can I do what
less use can I have
uh and I just I nobody up here is immune
to this and I I want you to know
that also wanted to mention I know that
we had a request to um delay
implementation potentially for HOAs but
there is no way for us and the town to
be able to um calculate that handle that
from a perspective of how do you how do
you do that for which water users and
it's really not something that they
would be able to do so and I don't think
legally we would be able to treat one
group of people differently than another
group of people so we have to I'm
looking at our town attorney and he's
nodding his head so I don't think we'd
be able to treat another one group of
people differently than another group of
people for those I
either nobody really wants to tackle
this nobody wants to be the one counil M
Kowski do you have some comments or are
you ready for a
motion all right I'll make the motion to
approve um adoption of the resolutions
for items 22 23 and 24 do they need to
be three separate votes or is one vote
okay one vot's okay she made one motion
so I just wanted to make sure um we have
a motion by by council member
Kowski second second by council member
tilki please
vote motion passes
70 I really wasn't sure I wasn't sure
how that was going to
go I wasn't sure how that was um GNA go
quite honestly I know we've talked about
it a lot and it was a very tough
decision to have to make and it's
different when you're sitting in the
seats compared to those seats isn't it
and you have to make these very tough
decisions um council member keski you
have your mic on oh sorry thought you
wanted to add something okay now we will
move on to so that was 22 23
24 moving on to administrative items we
have um a few items to discuss the first
one item 25 is discussion and possible
action related to a status update from
the Council subcommittee on to team
violence but I'm going to ask this
Council you've been sitting in these
seats for more than two hours now does
anybody need a break and I see yeses
okay we will take a
recess
thank you everyone we will um call this
meeting back to order come back from our
recess and thank you for the break we've
been sitting here for over two hours
like I said so and I know you all have
too we appreciate it um moving to our
administrative items item number 25
discussion and possible action related
to a status update from the Council
subcommittee on ten violence vice mayor
I I yes I'll make this uh quick and give
the other two members a chance to report
also um I was hoping that our group
would have stayed here to hear what
we're actually doing because that's what
they thought we weren't doing I guess
anything
anyway um we did meet as a subcommittee
here in the past week we had a very good
presentation by Melanie dystra about all
the services that we are providing right
currently things that we don't have to
create that these are things that
already exist uh she outlined one two
three four five six different programs
that exist now that address teens teen
violence domestic violence all the the
the things that we would pay attention
to
and then uh we had an opportunity to
listen again to u u people at at the uh
the library and I made a promise at the
time that I would um contact a u an SRO
in one of the schools and see if I could
get a tour of the schools and talk about
sro's and I did that this week and had a
very good uh tour one of the uh
participants had mentioned that I should
I should surprise urised them that I
shouldn't go on an organized tour but
surprised them if I would have surprised
the schools I went to the kids were all
eating lunch and they could have cared
less what was going on so um but I got
some good information from the sro's um
they and these are tangible things that
we can actually talk about especially
when we get to the budget the only thing
I heard from them was that they they
felt they needed
one one more SRO to be kind of a Rover
to be able to plug gaps where they where
their their there are
needs and um they were very uh they they
work very closely with the school
districts but the school
districts
um they hire security Personnel that are
good people I know they're good people
but they they don't pay much of
anything and so the turnover is very
high and that could be a a a very strong
um again this talks about how important
it is that we get the schools in the
school districts involved because it
could turn the security into a very
strong element of what's going on in the
schools to supplement what the SRO are
doing um who are doing a great job
anyway but that's what I kept hearing
from that was that the schools were the
key we need to work with the schools um
whether it's with the teachers and and I
know Chuck and and Jim will talk about
some other things that are going on but
working with the the the students
directly working with the teachers
directly it all seems to boil down to
let's get the schools involved in
this and can I clarify who was saying
all of that that we need to work more
closely with the schools well that's
just my own obervation okay thank you
sorry which schools did you visit would
you can you say yeah I went to um
mosquite Junior High where they have an
SRO there I went to uh mosqu high school
went to Gilbert High School went to
Highland High School and I went to their
security office where they um showed me
their security system which is very
sophisticated Public Schools security
Public
Schools yeah excellent so those are
things especially this whole idea of
another uh officer who can fill the
holes that's something we can talk about
as we get into budgeting and I think
that's a tangible thing that we can
shows is happening what I'm worried
about through this whole process up to
now is we're doing a lot of things
things but I don't know that it's
showing up as something that we promised
that we would do in their minds in their
eyes and I'm worried about that a little
bit maybe we need to work a little bit
more on an actual plan that we can bring
back to the council and the council can
look at and say yes those are actionable
items we would will we would approve of
taking action on those and doing
something about
it
council member kosi I just wanted to
make a comment uh vice mayor Anderson
that I've been very impressed with
Gilbert Public Schools infrastructure
for security that they've installed the
past few years and it was unfortunate
that their recent Bond didn't it pass
because about 12% of it I think was for
some additional security improvements
and so I think that'll be critical even
though they're separate entity and
that's their only source of Revenue um
we still need to be Community Partners
in those
efforts that's a great point and I know
that um the partner that Gilbert Public
Schools worked with worked really hard
to install that security before the last
school year so and it's been installed
at a lot of the elementary schools and
Junior High School High School Gilbert
High School's got a completely different
entrance now when you walk in there you
just went the first time I had been
there recently Giani did you say I was
I'm really impressed with the the
relationship that our sro's have with
the students that was very
impressive those SRO love their
positions yeah they do they're special
people I think too
yeah is that your update yeah well
council member thank you um update on
the teenage um teen violence survey that
we were talking about doing um I want to
thank staff for um bringing to my
attention the Arizona Youth survey along
with um Chandler high school or Chandler
uh District um we got to go ahead to
utilize the ays uh survey instead of
building our own because it would be
much quicker we' have a better S uh
sample survey uh sample size um to give
to just take the some of the results
that we get from the ays survey which
will fit the questions that we were
looking to do um and some of the schools
are starting that actually this month
I'm still waiting to hear back uh
finality from Higley um District um so
that should be moving forward um and
we're hoping to get the results uh
before the official public um gets the
results due to uh what we want to do
with them um the no brass knuckles. org
uh I just checked my phone we're at
1756 right now uh I'd like to see a lot
more of that considering a local
petition against a local bar got
4500 so I'd like to have everyone if you
haven't done it yet please support us at
um no brass knuckles. org uh currently
working on uh putting together some
workshops um looking
for uh people who
um if you have a topic you'd like to
discuss like to present to other parents
um just please email me I'm trying to
get a a uh a speaker list shall we say
put together so if you know someone also
who has something valuable to work to
speak with um parents about uh please
email me um the first one we're we're
looking to talk about um social media
and then there is a a gentleman who um
grew up in gangs
and he wants to talk to uh parents about
things like um what his parents didn't
say to him where what they weren't there
for to help support U some of our
parents also we're looking at doing this
in ele schools and middle schools all
that is still being arranged uh as we
get more people interested in bringing
topics forward um for
those um something I I wanted to mention
um after communication from um citizens
and didn't get chance to to jump in
there but um you know the public is
invited to our subcommittee meetings so
we're not keeping people from them um
but she did bring a good point about
other uh council members and other
cities I will I will make a fact uh
tomorrow to personally invite um those
other City Council Members they would
like to come they have to figure out the
Quorum issue uh and all that also um we
haven't scheduled our next one yet um I
don't know if a if the committee wants
to do it um you know without me that's
fine with me um I am out of town on
various trips from the next 14 and the
next 21 days so if you guys want to
continue and do the next one I'm I'm
okay with that um otherwise I'm I'm
hoping that we can work out um a time to
get the next one together here pretty
soon I really want to get in front in
front of more people to get more ideas
uh about topics and people who want to
uh come talk to us and talk to talk to
other parents
also can I follow up with something you
just said Council I just signed your
petition by the way I sorry I forgot um
to do that before
um The Mention Of coming to the
committee I think was more of an East
Valley Coalition type situation we've
spoken about that not necessarily just
bringing people I think if I was
understanding correct yeah Council
council member Stuart mentioned that to
us so and so that would be separate from
this subcommittee thank you just because
we've been very clear that we can't add
people to this sub committee so I just
wanted thank you I I misunderstood her
but thank you for cl I think that's what
they meant yeah council member Tuson can
I ask a question of course you can I'm
so sorry um council member
banani when
you I know this so formal um
when you talked about schools and then
you said districts I just want to
confirm that the survey is going to
include charter schools because we have
a a big contingency with yeah we're
working on that one right now we haven't
had too much success yet with the
charter schools because some of them I
don't believe they have to take that
that test um or that survey that test
I'm sorry but we still got calls in and
and my hope is that we can include them
also thank you
uh mayor we uh we did have some Charter
Schools say that they would be available
and and work with us on that which was
was nice
uh council member Anderson has taken a
great great uh heavy load on it by going
to these schools every day and Chuck has
put in an incredible amount of
work but one thing that I thought was
uh humbling
as I sat there and watched some parents
that had lost their kids whether it was
Steven jacobo's parents or J's parents
uh I
realized everybody's fear in that room
was what those two people live through
and the overreaction that some had the
uh blame game all those things at a
certain point it had to be rained in but
uh they just really wanted to be heard
and to see jere's mother that there the
pain in her eyes I as I sat up and and
talked to her and she hugged me and just
to see that was something that no parent
wants and I think that uh for everybody
that that feels that something's not
been listened to or something's not
being done they they need to take into
account that every person up here has a
child or two or three and no one is
immune to that feeling I can be the
hardest guy in the world but I looked at
that woman and I wanted to cry because I
could see what she was feeling and
whether people think this is an
insignificant move on our part or they
want to say it's politics or whatever it
is at the end of the day I believe
something good will come out of this and
uh I do hope that uh people can be
patient which no one wants to hear but
people can understand that that you know
they
are kids and parents alike they're
thought of I just I don't to say I saw
this and I was really just that struck
me so hard to see her eyes so that's
that's really all I wanted to
say I I also just wanted to mention real
quick the power of um this community um
I mean chief mentioned it earlier about
the tips he's been getting and the power
of that Community itself um given us
really good ideas really good feedback
um you know we're working hard to do
whatever we can what we can do and put
in motion um but I've also um want to
thank the the the schools for uh
superintendent for meeting with me and
um including us on their uh ays um
surveys to get the information that we
want to get much much earlier um at a
much much smaller cost to the test
also council member tilki thanks mayor
um this is comment for the committee to
consider um through this all I know that
many people think we haven't reacted
fast enough or in or been vocal or you
know out there enough but um I do
believe that everybody on the council
has the desire not only to address
what's happening today but to have a
long-term plan to make sure it never
happens again and those things don't
happen
overnight um wearing orange and all of
that is very important for the moment
but let's not forget
longterm that these um that we honor the
lives that were lost by making sure that
this doesn't happen again in some of the
conversations and just in some of the
results
that we've received since all of this
began you know we're all very saddened
by it but I'm even more sad that it took
a death for people to finally feel
comfortable to come forward and to me
when I look at what is that Nexus that
was missing we we got reports we
responded to reports but then Witnesses
would go away and victims would go away
and nobody want want to talk about it
and we've learned time and time again
that if you don't have a good case if
you don't have the evidence then those
people will walk or they won't ever be
arrested and I um I'm hoping that as you
move forward and look at those long-term
goals that we're going
to reach out to the media to become a
partner as we move forward from now on
not to be breaking stories and all of
this and then now they're not here to
hear the report you know I I I I want
them to be a partner to get news out and
get information out quickly when it
matters I want
parents and kids to feel safe that I'm
I'm going to be able to speak up and it
this isn't because we live in Gilbert
it's everywhere and and um you don't
want a tragedy to create an environment
that people feel I have to do
something versus this is the right thing
to do at this time and so I I wish there
was something I could just unbottle
right here and hand it to you there
isn't but I think as you mentioned the
power of the people who are passionate
in our
community want to do that but we have
systems in place maybe we need to
communicate that better all of these
things um
because I know that there are victims
who are afraid to speak up because it'll
get
worse but yet how can we protect them if
we don't know and because kids know
doesn't mean we know or their parents
know and so anyway I'm speaking to the
choir up here I understand it but I just
think it's really important that
yes let's do stuff now and make sure
everybody understands how important is
but let's not forget long term so it
doesn't happen again thank
you vice mayor and that brings out a
good point something that I've
considered all along is that what we're
doing is tactical the the subcommittee
is doing actionable things that are
tactical the short term and it may and
it'll probably get to a point where the
community engagement has Force should
look maybe at the longer term and what
they they can
do it
it I struggle with what to
say I was so proud of this Council um we
we did not have any of this information
going into that December 12th meeting we
came into this meeting with I think one
or two emails um before that December
12th meeting so we did not have the
information that the community had
and for a council that hasn't been
unified on anything we put
together a great statement I thought the
ne the very next day and recognized the
victims and I'm sorry it's late and I
know Preston Lord in the C and the Queen
Creek case
and the Santan case in the ca Grand case
and I don't want to get those kids names
wrong I was proud of this group for
coming together like that to make that
statement and
um then it just was a
whirlwind and I don't
know how it happened but it
did
and we all handle things the best that
we can and I get accused for not showing
up for events that
I don't know
about nobody has sh if the three of you
are going that's not being shared with
me I don't know about these events I
cannot possibly show up to something
that I just don't know about um the
walks I found out about the walkin
Chandler after the
fact and again I can't be someplace that
I just don't know
about so if you have that
information and would share it with the
rest of us and then we need to do a
notice that we potentially would have
more than three present because we have
to be careful with that too
but I'm so sad to see the hate that we
have in this community over this issue I
think that this issue should be bringing
us together so that we can find a way to
work through it and and for the past
couple of weeks all I feel like
is and I said this earlier in the study
session is that we're using hate to
combat violence and it's not the right
way to do
it and I feel
like we've gone
from a teen situation to an adult
bullying
situation and that's not the right way
to handle this it's just not
and we have to find a way to come
together we put this subcommittee
together very quickly you've all hit the
ground running you've had a couple of
meetings you're having people
attend which is way more than we have
with other subcommittees you have people
attending and participating and it took
it's going to take some data gathering
in order to put a plan together vice
mayor you said we need to have some sort
of a substantial plan you you can't put
a plan together until you have the data
Gathering and that's what you're working
on so thank you for doing that I'm
hoping that we can take this and move
forward and find a way to come out of
the hate and stop weaponizing social
media in this
community to to beat each other up
metaphorically that's all I ask council
member bonanni um you all have my
commitment I see something I'll say
something so when I find out of of an
event I'll let you all know okay thank
you yeah let Monica know so it can be
distributed to us if if you're if three
of you are showing up then someone's
telling the three of you but they're not
telling all of
us
and then we get beat up for not being
there but we don't even know about
it that's how all this starts started
because we didn't know about it and we
couldn't do something that we didn't
know
about so please find a way to share that
information
please and no parent should ever have to
lose a
child my grandfather was 60-some when my
mother passed away at 43 and he said
that it doesn't matter how old you are
or how old your children are no parent
should ever have to lose a child under
any circumstances
thank you any other thank you any other
updates from the
subcommittee okay thank you no action
needed from the subcommittee you're
still moving forward council member Bon
Giovani has
[Music]
um has some travel coming up but he
wants to make sure that you can move
forward you only need two people in
order to move forward with your
subcommittee meeting so that's that's a
plus moving on to item 25A Council
administ ation review discussion and
possible action of final yes mayor could
we discuss 25b before 25A sure stay on
the role of one topic yep so we'll move
to 25b discussion of possible action
related to support of Senate bill um SB
1183 brass knuckles prohibition weapons
bill um three of you put this on the
agenda for tonight council member Bon
Giovanni um Conor's word spoke for all
of us I think and I was really happy
that he was able to be here today and I
I hope if he's watching this I hope he
got uh he got on the volleyball team
because he had a he had a tryy out
tonight that he was kind of late for so
I preciate him coming and talking to all
of us and I and my hope is that we all
agree as a council to officially um
support uh s sp111
183 I I will say that we are already
supporting sb1 183 that um we have
signed in in support of SB 1183 as a
community and
um what is your action for tonight I I'd
like an official vote from the from the
council that we support
it okay okay I'll make I you have to you
have to learn how to make a
motion there you come Council so where
did it go here we go
um I move that the council uh supports s
sb11 183 the brass knuckles proh
prohibition prohibition weapons bill so
I have a motion from councilman ran
Giovani I have a second from council
member
Buckley please
vote motion passes 70 as I stated our
ing team has already signed in in
support of sb11 sorry 83 I lost it out
of my brain late um s SP 1183 and we
will continue to do so as needed and um
Chief is part of an organization that I
believe has already um also supported
the bill thanks again to Senator
Kavanaugh for um for creating that bill
and forwarding that bill we appreciate
that support um now moving on to item
25A Council administration review
discussion possible action of final
report and recommendation of a code of
ethics complaint filed against council
member Tuson by mein hoppy who would
like to start the discussion I'm going
to look at council member tilki because
she usually tackles these things sorry
did I put you on the spot she's like
sorry I wasn't
um thanks thanks um I wasn't planning to
speak on this one actually so um so I
didn't do all my homework like I I
normally do so I apologize
um I think that just for the public that
uh a complaint was uh filed under the
new process um
mediation um was held
and um the Miss hooby had decided to um
move forward with an investigation at
that time our attorney provides um sends
that out to a um an attorney to review
and um it has come back and because I
didn't do my statement I don't have it
right in front of me of what the
recommendation is um Chris maybe you
could share what the final
recommendation was I
apologize yes mayor councel uh the
outside investigator found that uh made
determination there was no ethical
violation okay thanks thank you and
sorry to put you on the spot okay you
still did a great
job council member Koski thank you um in
the past six months or a little bit more
than that there's been numerous ethics
complaints filed and investigated which
have highlighted the need for us to take
a hard look at how we all conduct
ourselves in public service um I don't
believe the report being discussed was
very thorough and personally would just
prefer to take no action um I also don't
believe that our current ethics process
is working very well and would like to
be able to focus on the critical issues
that the town is
facing prior to joining the council none
of us had prior experience as an elected
official and this path is Deni
undeniably challenging it's marked by a
steep learning curve and the necessity
to quickly adapt to expectations and
responsibilities that these roles carry
Council mber torguson has made mistakes
along the way during in-person
interactions as well as on social media
um there were times when he communicated
and acted in a way that didn't
necessarily align with the
professionalism and respect that our
positions as elected officials demand
but he's also not the first or last to
do so we're all human and making
mistakes as part of learning and growing
and what's important is recognizing
these errors and working to do better I
have felt a noticeable effort and
Improvement and how we as Council have
been interacting with each other and the
public thanks to some Medi mediation
training that we had last fall and a
genuine desire to wipe the Slate clean
and understand each other's um different
perspectives so that we could work
better for the
town however this is still an ongoing
journey and the progress observed does
not negate the need um for continued
awareness of our actions and commitment
to Improvement and I think this applies
for everyone um our responsibility is to
maintain the trust and respect of the
Gilbert Community through the actions
that reflect honesty integrity and
dedication and as we move forward I
trust it's with professionalism and
respect and honestly I think this
meeting has shown um a a lot about how
this Council has grown and worked hard
to understand the critical issues that
affect our community um and that we are
ready to make those decisions and come
together for our town and hopefully um
we can continue to move forward in that
path thank you council member Kowski
that was
wonderful any other
comments mayor I think that um and Chris
maybe you would like I really apologize
I I think because I always had it ready
because I was the vice mayor and I
tended to have to do that piece but um
there's there's I think three actions
that we can look at one is to accept the
report as presented one is to take no
action and which means that it the the
case is dismissed but we're not taking
any action as far as accepting or
rejecting the report and then one is
rejecting the
report um so um I think council member
caasi was recommending taking no action
um and I think we had this discussion
last time um you at least need to make a
nod that you were going to take no
action um if if that's recommended
because you don't need a motion to take
no action but I think at least you need
to understand that everybody understood
that taking no action what that
means yeah uh mayor Council that that's
correct so um in the code it says you
can accept the report and
recommendations in whole or in part you
can send it back to the investigator you
can make your own findings with regard
to the complaint you can dismiss the
complaint and then take any other action
so those would all be motions that would
have to be seconded and voted on and
then the alternative is if you just take
no action the code says it's dismissed
with prejudice so even if you if you
take no vote then the complaint is
dismissed thank you Chris um
again um council member Koski you did a
great job uh and we did say the last the
last um ethics complaint that we had
that we just weren't comfortable with
the investigation the evaluation how it
all went how it was all handled the
investigator I haven't seen one that
I've been comfortable with the fall into
this this year and it's
disappointing and the process is
broken and as I stated earlier with
Communications from citizens during our
study session that it's been weaponized
the ethics complaint process was
weaponized to use I didn't even know it
existed i' had been on the council for
six and a half seven years and I didn't
even know it existed and it's
disappointing that it's being it's been
used the way that it has over the years
and
um I would be fine with just not taking
any action whatsoever because I can't
really agree with their report and I
don't want to send it back to an
investigator that I don't think did a
great job for us and it's difficult to
go forward from there so with a nod of
heads do we say we just want to let it
go
okay vice mayor okay thank you sorry I
didn't see you sorry okay moving
on policy items policy items are for
Council discussion and action we have
none at this time future meetings the
council may discuss whether to place an
item on a future agenda but may not
discuss the item discuss the merits of
the item at this time anything that
anybody would like to put on a future
agenda seeing none Communications report
from the town
manager thank you mayor members of the
council I know it's been a long night so
I'll keep my comment short just want to
recognize a lot of hard work um on some
issues that we brought to a conclusion
tonight first I'll start with the
Lexington Road annexation and rezone no
I'm going to miss staff members so
please for those that I do recognize
thank all the people that were involved
and help bring this to a successful
outcome for all the parties but Kyle Mir
Mary Jessica Chris um I saw you in in
meeting rooms a lot working on this
issue I know you brought me a lot of
updates on the issue and I know it was a
really complex one but I'm really
pleased that we were able to find a
solution that everybody thought was fair
and that we could move forward with and
then next on the rates you know that was
the conclusion of of a almost a two-year
process and it was a really challenging
issue and a difficult issue for all of
you for this community for all the staff
members that worked on it and again some
of the key people Jessica Eric Kelly
Paul Leah suzan and so so so many more
um we greatly understand the need to
balance that impact to our rate payers
and and our residents and our community
um while also balancing what is the
right thing to do um to secure our water
system and to make sure we have access
to a safe reliable sustainable water
supply and some really really
challenging times and and I know that
the right decision is is seldom the easy
decision and that was a hard one tonight
so thank you all for working through
that with us and again thank you to the
staff that worked very hard to bring
that to a conclusion tonight that that's
all I have thank you mayor thank you
Patrick um next we have report from the
council anyone have any items to
report Council M Bon Giovani had his mic
on first so we'll go down there and then
you'll be next Council Buckley thank you
mayor first I want to I want to thank uh
Chief soberg and the gilberg police
force for all the hard work you guys
have been doing um and the arrest you
have been making appreciate
it okay so from Rocky and the rec team
the Center Court pickle ball paloa
tournament I swear to God they make this
stuff up just so I sound like a anyhow
um try out your pickle ball skills at
the center Court pickle ball paloa
tournament at Gilbert Regional on Park
on February 17th 20
24 the um Gilbert Outdoor Expo put on
your camouflage and boots and head over
to the Gilbert Outdoor Expo on February
24th with repairing Preserve at Water
Ranch go fishing explore Wildlife climb
on the rock wall and much more this
event is this event is sure to be
something the whole family will enjoy
February 24th get out there do it that's
it Cil M
Buckley well I I can never match Jim or
Chuck that's just all there is to it I I
do want to say just quickly because I
didn't make very many comments about the
ethics complaints or anything but this
council is ethics complaint free as of
today you you blew it that's it word yes
yes so I'm happy about that yeah so Jim
behave would
you so anyway I I have uh some U tourism
uh
related it points and items that I just
wanted to pass along that uh our tourism
director and economic director uh Dan
Henderson would like for me to do and so
Arizona travel industry is upgrading
with two new big developments in our
airline industry Phoenix Sky Harbor
airport I was thrilled to see this I
just now I need someone to go with
me Paris Paris oh yeah yeah yeah the
Phoenix Sky Harbor airport team has
landed its first ever nonstop flight
between Phoenix and Paris so if there's
any
single men out there you know go there
keep
going air it says Air France has
committed to Bringing French visitors to
Arizona multiple times a week and uh
carrying our passengers there discover
Gilbert and neighboring destinations
marketing organizations will work
collaboratively I've been trying to
practice saying that to keep demand up
on these flights in an effort to grow
this market so that is really exciting
for the the whole Phoenix and East
Valley area uh now the other one is
Phoenix Mesa Gateway Airport is Will
debut a five gate 30,000 square foot
Edition to their terminal on February
20th uh the new South Concourse replaces
the temporary placed portable building
previously used this will give incoming
visitors an elevated warm and welcoming
experience that reflects our East Valley
Hospitality so two very exciting things
and I think most of us have been invited
to the opening of the new
Concourse so I'm excited I'm looking
looking forward to that as well I'm more
likely to do that than the
other all right anyway thank you thank
you all I'm I'm want to say thank you to
everybody that's still here because I
commend
you council member Capri thank you
council
member thank you um the Gilbert Symphony
Orchestra is happy to announce um that
our concert for Gilbert's belated 100th
birthday cele celebration is happening
tomorrow night uh it's happening at it
starts at 700 p.m. at the Higley Center
for Performing
Arts um this is also a really special
event
because Council banani and I have been
working on a dementia friendly
Initiative for the community and so this
is one of our first events that is um
going to be um dementia friendly and
what that means is that in order for um
people living with dementia their
friends and caregivers um it gives the
flexibility and freedom for them to
relax and make the concert experience as
enjoyable as possible so the musicians
will introduce the music that you'll
hear in each concert the doors will open
um 45 minutes early so there's plenty of
time to get settled in so that means
6:15 you can arrive and start coming in
um there'll be wheel wheelchair spaces
available um and there's no need to keep
quiet quiet or sit still and you can
come in and out of the in and out of the
auditorium during the performance and
there will also be quiet areas available
if anyone needs to take a break um the
actual concert is I think going to be
amazing the the Gilbert Symphony
Orchestra has grown to a volunteer
Orchestra even the conductor is a
volunteer um to over
75 dedicated
members yeah
and the music that you'll hear tomorrow
the first half will be music from the
1920s when Gilbert was incorporated and
then the second half will um focus on
the place of Gilbert and our kind of
country um roots and Heritage and so I'm
really excited about this tomorrow if
you can make it we'd love for you to
join and I'll be there so I'll see you
all
there thank you thank you counil member
Koski wow that's the the symphony has
grown the orchestra has grown council
member torguson um one thing if there's
council member kosi if there's something
else that you need for the symphony I
know I donated a couple things
previously but if you need something
last minute do not be afraid to call
because it's I'll take care of it um and
I don't want to deflate anything that
the mayor may say but I I wanted to say
this morning was something interesting
that I went to uh something called
Preston's Pursuit and it's uh I'll let
the mayor speak about what that is I
would like you to because you deserve to
but I saw Chief soberg there I saw
Patrick Baner Our Town manager saw young
cowsky I saw the mayor Chief Dugen and
Scott Anderson there and it showed uh
this is for you know autistic um let's
call it training for officers and they
raised money to make sure that there was
something there to help with that and I
watched you know everybody participate
and I watched the mayor write a
substantial check and to see people that
have been told they have no empathy for
children uh write a check and be present
at 7 in the morning I wanted to point
that out in case she wasn't going to say
something about it but I would like her
to talk about Preston's Pursuit thank
you any other comments from Council
Members well then I will move into my
report I will start with Preston's
Pursuit for acceptance Preston is um the
son of one of our Gilbert Police
Department lieutenants and he was
diagnosed with autism and um our our
Lieutenant Chris and his wife Autumn
have started a nonprofit under that name
PPA and the this morning was their
kickoff breakfast and for any of you
that have ever been to the small
gathering room at HD South it was packed
more than I've ever seen it packed ever
ever and and um the enthusiasm and and
the spirit in the room was just so
heartwarming for them to be kicking off
this nonprofit that will help to train
[Music]
our Public Safety First Responders in
answering calls so that we don't
see stories similar to what we've seen
come out of the West Valley when an
officer responded to a call that was an
autistic person or a neurod deficient
chief I'm going to lose the terminology
for it I'm sorry um member of our
society that the officer really wasn't
capable of dealing with and that is a
scar on that officer forever and it is a
scar on that family forever and this
family with this nonprofit that they
started with their own money and they're
not taking a penny from it will be zero
money to them all used for this
nonprofit will train our First
Responders and our Police Department our
fire department parks and wreck are
already autism trained and autism
certified and um so proud of them for
that and this will take that so much
further it costs $50 to train one first
responder
and for those of you who know Jim Hayden
he kicked off the basically auction
style of the donation portion with who
will donate for 200 officers which is
$1,000 and he got a couple of
takers immediately and then he went okay
200 officers let's make it a 100
officers let's make it 50 officers let's
make it
and they proudly raised
$50,000 in 10 15
minutes I was just shocked beyond belief
but that's what this community does
that's what the people in this East
Valley do do they come together there
were people from Scottsdale north
Scottsdale Phoenix the general Council
from Mexico Jorge Mendoza was there um
former mayors from Scottdale it the
mayor Chandler myself are members of
council and it was just an incredible
incredible heartwarming thing to see and
to take care of our First Responders
because they take care of us every
single day and we don't want any of our
members to have that
situation come before them whether it's
a firefighter or police officer that
they don't know how to handle the
situation that that they have come to so
very proud of them and thank you council
member torguson I don't ever like to
toot my own horn when it comes to those
kinds of things but that family is very
special to me and um just an amazing
family Preston happens to be one of the
mayor's youth advisory committee
students he was last year and we've let
him repeat for this year so he know not
only has gone through the program and is
going through it again but he's also
serving as a mentor to the students this
year and this kid didn't like to have
his photo taken he's a senior in high
school didn't like to have his photo
taken never would want to take a selfie
and he and I now can do a cheek to cheek
selfie which is just Monumental for him
Monumental and I so proud of him and
that family thank you sorry um Ashley
I'm ready for my slides or the screens
just went
down
oh that's okay that's okay I'll stay on
the public safety thing I have two
projects that I just wanted to mention
because again I want to show that this
Council and this community are so behind
our Public Safety and their health and
well-being that last week we opened a
recharge room at the Gilbert Public
Safety Training Facility in this
recharge room is um will support the
mental and emotional health of our
members of Public Safety whether they be
sworn or professional members of those
teams and we wouldn't have been able to
do this if it wasn't for support from
Rich Ganley the owner of colair Beauty
Lounge and Med Spa it will um support
them with um infrared and um headphones
that will serve for their mental
well-being and a cold tub that's 43
degrees and a sauna and there's a
specific order that you do these things
in to help with your well-being and so
very proud to be able to kick that off
for them last week and then yesterday
we opened new Emergency Operations
Center right in the building across the
street in 2020 when we were facing all
of the issues going on in the world that
happened to come right here to downtown
Gilbert at the corner of Gilbert and
Warner roads um it was found that our
current emergency Operation Center was
just not capable it couldn't handle the
technology it didn't have the space it
wasn't able to be upgraded and I I what
we opened yesterday is really a
reflection of this council's commitment
to ensuring our Public Safety members
are able to serve this community with
the tools and resources that they need
into the future we have on the screen a
CommunityWide food drive that will run
from February 12th through February 26th
you can scan that QR code on the screen
for drop off locations and many other
details and next slide we have a
community needs assessment survey that
Melanie dyster would love for everybody
to please take so scan that QR code and
take this brief survey before Friday
February 16th and you could be entered
to win one of four $50 Visa gift cards
and I will end there because it's late
thank you all thank you to staff that
got us through this evening appreciate
everything and all that you do and I
will adjourn the meeting because I don't
need a motion to do it so
far