Study Session - 12/12/2023 5:30:00 PM

e
good evening everyone welcome to the
Gilbert Town Council study session for
December 12th 2023 you know we have some
friends here in the audience for a
discussion that we're about to have
study sessions are limited to the
council discussion no public comment is
taken no action or vote will be taken
this evening based on state law we are
not allowed to do that study sessions
give us an opportunity to get
information from our staff and to have a
conversation amongst the seven of us on
topics that we haven't had otherwise an
opportunity to speak about we're very
limited in the times that we can get
together to discuss items and this is
one of those situations where it was an
item that has become I guess a hot
button and so I wanted to bring it
forward so that we could discuss it here
as a a group instead of um Everybody
maybe being on the on a different page
and get the facts out there so I've
invited staff I'll call this meeting to
order
agenda item is just one discussion and
overview of the code of Gilbert and
Robert Carmona is here to present this
evening hi Robert all right good evening
uh mayor and Council thank you very much
for having me this evening Robert
Carmona parks recck and Facilities
director for Gilbert uh so Council asked
that we put together a quick
presentation uh giv a little bit of the
history of the wildlife feeding
ordinance within uh Gilbert Parks and
Recreation so we have a few slides just
to uh talk about a little bit of the
history so in 2015 uh the ordinance uh
was originally approved uh in the
subject of feeding uh being unlawful to
feed or place food Outdoors for any
animal in the repairing and preserve
except with some of the uh items below
feeding water foul in accordance with
signage posted and then the parks
recreation director could authorize
specific persons to feed in purposes of
wildlife rescue rehab rehabilitation or
management in 2018 uh the below
ordinance was also uh approved um with a
little bit deeper than the one we just
talked about in 2015 uh having it be
unlawful to feed or place food for any
wild or F for feral animal on town-owned
property or a public rideway with that
same exclusion that the parks recreation
director uh at his or her discretion
could authorized uh for the purpose of
animal rescue Rehabilitation or
management so with that uh one of the
topics that I know has been a question
is the the Trap neuter return program uh
within Gilbert um it is a method method
that humanly attempts to manage
populations of of feral cats um
essentially the practice of TNR is
allowed on private property uh per the
ordinance in Gilbert there's nothing uh
stopping uh TNR from happening on
private property the ordinance does
state that is not allowed on Town owned
property uh per the
ordinance and with that just a very
simple upfront that's what the ordinance
States and and doesn't state but wanted
to make sure we open it up uh for
questions at the Council may have thanks
Robert any questions from anyone on the
council vice mayor I see you reaching
thanks mayor um I'm not quite sure if
it's a question for you um Robert but it
could be um I know that several years
ago we um we didn't talk about it as a
council as a whole I think individually
we had some conversations with um with
your staff and and management about
about um other programs and other
communities um the one that I'm most
interested in is the one where we put
together a grant program which allows
neighborhoods to access dollars to work
with nonprofits to help um address this
concern in their neighborhoods is
um I I think that's what we talked about
and I don't know if maybe we could have
some more information provid Ed to us in
the future mayor um I'm interested in
that type of program if um the other
council members are interested in um I
am supportive of the current um
ordinance um because of the liability
for the community um and the town as a
whole um when we try to take uh this
kind of action on Town property but um
anyway I'm open to having a conversation
about putting a grant program together
which is funded by the town of
Gilbert any other questions or
comments council member Bon gvani thank
you mayor um Robert also um along with
what vice mayor is saying um an idea of
the cost associated with that um both
for us and or if it's a volunteer
situation like know the cost is yeah
mayor Peterson Council M Bon Giovani I
think that's something we can definitely
gather some additional information for
you um we do know that there are
programs such as Chandler which does the
neighborhood uh grant program at about
$1,000 per neighborhood annually and I
think it's up to
$122,000 uh annually that they have that
but I want to make sure I'd have the
correct information but if interested we
could bring back um additional
information on that with other
municipalities and the funding levels
that they've had towards a program um
such as that
one are you yeah a followup you have a
followup go ahead yeah yeah um do you
your organization or any other
organization have any idea of an
estimate of the number of cats we're
talking
about uh mayor Peterson Council M bonani
we would not at this time it's not
something that's that's studied uh by
the town and we don't have any current
numbers and any of our um you know Parks
per se at the current moment okay thank
you council member
Kowski you might have just answered this
but my question was related to if you
had an a of any existing conditions uh
within our existing Park facilities yeah
mayor Peterson uh council member Kowski
I think that um overall uh we're not
aware of any that that I can say that we
have an abundance of any of our Parks
based on uh complaints from uh the users
of the park system um but I will say
that's not something we we track in
terms of of colonies so I don't want to
give you you know a full definite answer
but nothing that that we're aware of at
this point thank you
council member
Buckley hi Rob hi
um I I'm I'm wondering about the Humane
Society I know we haven't had this issue
until maybe the last five or 10 years
and it's my understanding that Humane
Society will not take cats anymore and
is there do is there any way we can go
and have a meeting with them or talk to
them and see if you know even if we
contribute a little bit to have them go
back to the program they had before and
you know they can catch these the
straight cats and then they put them up
for adoption if the feral cats I don't
know I mean they can maybe get them
domesticated a little bit and then adopt
them out I think after a few months they
would be better is that something that
I've i' be happy to to go with you if we
could set a meeting up with them and let
them know that this this whole feral cat
issue in Gilbert is way out of hand and
we need we need to find a solution some
kind of a solution to humanely make this
work
and yeah uh mayor Peterson council
member because I think you're correct in
that they're no longer accepting um the
cats but I do think there's several
nonprofits you know in the community and
around Phoenix uh who would be
interested in having a
conversation um overall and especially
if you partner that with if there is
interest in a a type of grant program
for uh neighborhoods or or private
property I think that's a conversation
that we could definitely have and
there'd be interested parties to to have
that okay okay
um you know I just I just feel that
probably we're not going to solve this
here today but if we can get some ideas
and some some things that we can do it's
it's absolutely something that somehow
we need to
fix thank you no
problem are you finished council
member sorry thank you oh no
sorry
no back you have to turn it on and shut
it off thank you okay is that helpful
okay I like this
um thank you any other comments or
questions did you have anything go ahead
council member
to there we go is TNR still is that
legal in all parts of the
town uh mayor Peterson Council M terson
uh TNR is uh you can do it on private
property uh right now the ordinance
would say that you would not be able to
on public property uh rights away or
Parks uh without discretion of the Parks
and Recreation director but um you are
allowed to currently do it on private
property uh without uh any approval
except for whoever's land the private
property is thank
you Robert the town of Gilbert owns
maybe 5% of the land in Gilbert I'd say
right so 95% of the land in Gilbert is
private property and accessible for TNR
programs and um I I love the the
conversation that we would potentially
look at um some sort of a grant program
but there's a lot of there's a lot of
balancing that we need to do with that
who would be running that program which
department would that come out of and
yesterday we heard a list of items that
are needed by this community right now
and so I struggle with how much we would
give to that process and and how that
would be run through the through the
town and we would essentially be
offering money to folks to go on
somebody's private property to do TNR so
they'd have to show that they have
permission to do so um oh council member
Anderson you have your microphone on
would you like to say something go ahead
okay um I believe in the TNR system I
have a kitten who came from a TNR he was
his mom was trapped and with all intense
purposes to spay her and she was
pregnant and she delivered about 3 days
later and um so Stanley became my covid
kitten I think everybody adopted a pet
in the middle of the pandemic Stanley
was mine and so I got to watch him from
the second that he was born until now
he's lived with us for 3 years so I
definitely appreciate the program and it
was a friend who lives in Chandler that
tnr's in her neighborhood she has
permission to do so and um she didn't
know that this that this cat was
pregnant she she trapped her and found
out that she was pregnant and so then
she had four kittens to to take care of
and they were all adopted out to Great
families um so I really do believe in
the program and the process but and I'm
definitely open to having a conversation
I think that I don't think that we have
an out ofhand process problem here in
Gilbert but I do think that there is a
situation and I'm a huge cat lover and
if there's something that we can do to
maybe help the situation I'd like to see
that council member
Anderson I would just encourage that if
we're if we do end up agendize this
discussion that it not be about
resending this ordinance but talking
about a program with uh grants and so
forth but not resending this
ordinance any other comments on that
no um I agree I think that um we do have
the ordinance in place and it does it is
a liability for the town and the
property that we own and that's why that
was put into place but I think there's a
lot of opportunity for us to work with
groups potentially um and to offer maybe
to offer some funding to allow that to
happen on the 95% of the land that's out
there in the town of Gilbert that the
town doesn't own and um maybe we even
help with connections on how to reach
the person that does own the land if
that's if that's a necessary thing that
some somebody needs help with
so any other comments or
questions yeah uh mayor Peterson members
of the council we appreciate the
feedback tonight and we can absolutely
go back and talk as a team and um look
at some of the options based on some of
the feedback that we received tonight
thanks Robert all right thank you very
apprciate your time that was the only
item on our agenda this evening and so I
will I will adjourn this meeting thank
you