Regular Meeting - 11/14/2023 6:30:00 PM

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good evening everyone welcome to the
November 14th 2023 Gilbert Town council
meeting we have two council members that
are in Atlanta for the national league
of cities conference so they are here
virtually with us you will see their
faces pop up on the screen when it's
time for discussions and for voting this
evening Welcome to our meeting we're
going to start by asking everyone to
please turn off or silence your cell
phones and devices at this time
appreciate that and we'll start with
Pastor Thor strandh hold of Valor
Christian Center if he'll come down and
please provide an invocation for us nice
to see you Pastor
nice to see you as well thank
you mayor vice mayor Town Council thank
you so much for having me back again I
really appreciate it you know these are
very difficult times right now for a lot
of people and you know in the Bible it
says to pray for peace and especially in
particular it says to pray for the Peace
of Jerusalem so I'm going to take a
moment to pray for the Peace of
Jerusalem so as we begin to pray father
God we thank you that you father will
give the president and the prime
minister of Israel in Jerusalem
strategies on how to resolve their
conflicts we pray also that you give our
Town Council wisdom and witty strategies
in every decision made to the benefit of
our town in Jesus name we pray
amen thank you Pastor we appreciate you
coming out this evening next we will
have the mayor's youth advisory
committee come on down and lead us in
the Pledge of Allegiance if everyone
would please rise and our wonderful high
school students will lead
us
mayor's youth advisory committee is made
up of 9th through 12th grade high school
students and they meet once a month and
we have
changed their schedule around so that
instead of them having to find time to
come to a council meeting we have worked
their council meeting into one of the
monthly nights that they come to Town
Council and they learn about everything
that goes on here within our Council
meetings next I would please ask town
clerk Herrera to um please conduct the
roll call Mayor Bridget Peterson present
vice mayor Kathy tilki here council
member Scott Anderson here council
member Chuck Bon Giovani
here council member Bobby Buckley here
council member young cowsky here and
council member Jim
torguson here aor is present thank you
chaveli moving on to our agenda we have
a proclamation declaring Saturday
November 25th 20123 a small business
Saturday if the members from the Gilbert
chamber could please join me down front
thank you hi ladies Hi how are
you this Proclamation is for small
business Saturday as I stated whereas
according to the US small business
administration there are 33 million
small businesses in the United States
small businesses represent
99.7% of firms with paid employees small
businesses are responsible for 62.7% of
net new jobs created since 1995 and
small businesses employ 46.4% of the
private sector employees in the United
States and where as 68 cents of every
dollar spent at a small business in the
United States stays within the local
community and whereas Gilbert recognizes
and celebrates our local small
businesses and the contributions they
make to our local economy and across our
community and whereas gilbertt is
committed to supporting local businesses
through the efforts of Gilbert's own
economic development team the spark spot
the Gilbert together Hub initiative the
AZ step program and by supporting
Arizona Commerce authorities objectives
and whereas in 2022 72% of consumers
reported that small business Saturday
made them want to shop and dine at small
independently owned retailers and
restaurants throughout the year and
whereas across the United States the
Saturday after Thanksgiving is
recognized as small business Saturday
and now therefore I Bridget Peterson
mayor of the town of Gilbert Arizona do
hereby Proclaim Proclaim Saturday
November 25th 2023 as small business
Saturday and encourage residents to
support our small businesses and
Merchants on small business Saturday and
also to # shop small throughout the year
and I'd love to present this to Sarah
Watts who is the CEO and president of
the Gilbert Chamber of Commerce and
Karen camplin a member of the chamber
board thank you much would you like to
say a few words I will just thank you
for recognizing the role that small
businesses play in our economy and I
encourage everyone to consider shopping
small on small business Saturday thank
you for recognizing us thank you Karen
you want to say
no thank you let's get a photo
please
than
youo thank
[Applause]
you next on our agenda is recognition of
certifications and recertifications of
business partners in the Gilbert green
partnership program everyone involved in
that certification process please come
on down to the front council member
Anderson will be down here to present to
you don't be
shy we want to see you
all I see carmalita
Arin
Arin let me just say as a brief
introduction we love our business
Community Sarah knows how much we love
our business Community the business
Community here in Gilbert is responsible
for so many of the best of awards that
the town of Gilbert receives and so
we're thankful for our business
community and the things they do and um
this certification and recertification
tonight I'm going to let Aaron describe
a little bit what it's all about I think
you have a presentation but we want to
congratulate all the businesses that are
involved and for making Gilbert a better
place
okay thank you um and thank you all for
allowing us to be here and giving us the
opportunity to tell you a little bit
about our program um we're excited for
everyone to hear about it and learn a
little bit about what we've been up to
for the past uh past year here um so the
green Gilbert program uh was founded uh
as a way to give all of our local
businesses in Gilbert an opportunity to
really show that they care about the
environment here in Gilbert and that
they are making a leaving a positive
impact in their day-to-day uh operations
so it's a coordinated effort between uh
four different teams of Gilbert uh
Environmental Compliance which I a part
of our Solid Waste and Recycling team um
water conservation and then our
Wastewater treat pre-treatment uh team
as well we all come together we meet
once a month we visit businesses we go
over a lot of um the best management
practices that we like to see and we
expect our businesses to adhere to and
then we certify them as a green Gilbert
business partner um we are able to kind
of prioritize those changes in
businesses that they need to make in
order to have that sort of lasting
impact that they need um and it's also
nice because we generally try to tailor
it to the businesses it's not just
limited to restaurants or manufacturing
sites or anything like that any business
can become a green Gilbert business
partner and we would can tailor that
program specifically to your business um
so just a little recap of all of our
businesses that we've been able to
certify and recertify this year are two
recertifications are the BR recyclers a
company that pretty much builds their
entire um business model based off of
the notion of sustainability they take
used clothing and ensure that none of it
ends up in garbage cans anywhere gets
thrown out gets repurposed reused or
recycled in some way um and elain Burks
Mitchell who was going to be here
unfortunately she had to pull out last
minute um she does a really good job
over there um with all the work that she
does our other recertification Arizona
wilderness Brew Pub and Gilbert um if
you guys haven't been there it's a
really nice place to go grab a a drink
or two but they've been part of their
program since the beginning um they have
been had sustainability as a focus for
their business model um pretty much
since they've opened and they've been
able to expand all throughout the valley
as well and then on to our some of our
new members uh cactus yards uh for those
of you who are not familiar with that is
Gilbert's um uh baseball fields over off
of um Power Road in the Elliott area um
where we have a lot of adult leagues as
well as youth leagues um Dan Wilson is
here in attendance um representing
Cactus
yards uh here for their certification he
does a really good job making sure that
everything stayes clean over there and
they have a minimal impact uh toast and
mow up on um uh Gilbert Road over there
by Sam's Club they uh serving up tasty
treats for all uh Gilbert residents
they're cute little place over there
that smells really really good whenever
you walk in those waffle cones you can't
resist when you smell them uh olivan Elm
is a lovely S Salon just right over here
um uh just past uh the Civic Center off
of Elliott Road um excuse me Warner Road
um and then Thrive co-working for women
in floor to our sister brother sister
companies they actually uh Thrive
co-working for women is an office space
specifically for women um to use uh as a
sort of open Office rent the space use
it for meetings anything like that and
offers a safe space for them to continue
to work and floor 2 recently open right
below them as a co-ed uh workspace as
well and then northw Grumman one of our
larger manufacturers in the town of
Gilbert um always building satellites
over there on their facilities and
whatever fun stuff they get up to but of
course they have a huge commitment to
sustainability in their company as well
um and we are happy to include them
also thank
[Applause]
youus
here he is we've got Cactus yards
receiving their CT recertification I
think tonight is that right
certification certification first
certification
and
Sor I'm sorry it's okay it's okay
Aon all of an
elm thank you is this a this a
recertification or certification I think
it's certification good congratulations
thank you thank
you again thank you for your partnership
with the town of Gilbert this is the
reason that Gilbert does receive so many
different Awards when we have
Partnerships like this do any of you
want to say
anything no you sure okay picture we're
going to get a picture we're going to
Pi
Mak
I'm going to take the agenda just a
little bit out of order and I'm going to
do comments from the mayor at the
beginning because we have such a great
audience here that I want to share some
of the updates that we have going on
first I want to thank for our town
Gilbert and for our City Chandler for
bringing us together for the 14th annual
multifaith gratitude gathering on Sunday
evening and thank my friend um Chandler
mayor Kevin Harkey and Chandler council
members Christine Ellis and OD Harris
for joining us for this joint event
celebrating gratitude within our lives
and our communities next I'd like to
remind everyone that the 2023 Gilbert
Days festival will be held at Gilbert
Regional Park from 4: to 9:00 p.m. this
coming Friday and Saturday November 17th
and November 18th and then Saturday is
the 2023 Gilbert Days parade November
18th the time of the parade is 8:30
there will be road closures due to the
parade and other events going on in
Gilbert so please keep an eye out for
that and fingers crossed that we don't
get that r a i n I don't even want to
say it out loud and then on Monday
November 27th we will have the water
tower lighting holiday celebration the
celebration is held from 6:00 to 8:30
p.m. right down at Water Tower Park and
right in that area and the water tower
will be lit for the holidays at 7 p.m.
and just one more reminder Student
Government days will be held on February
13th of 2024 and applications are open
now on the town of Gilbert website so if
you know anyone that that is a high
school student that's a district school
private school Charter School hes school
they're all welcome to apply
applications are open on our website
gilbertaz.gov
SGD for Student Government day and those
are my announcements and now I will move
to Communications from citizens vice
mayor thank you mayor we have no request
to speak this evening that's
unbelievable and then we will move to
the consent calendar vice mayor thank
you mayor um I don't believe we heard
back from council member Bon Giovani I I
I believe you're online there did you
were you going to pull anything from
consent
tonight no I'm good vice mayor okay
thank you um with that mayor we don't
have any items to be pulled and I would
like to make a motion to approve the
entire consent agenda items three
through
17 I have a motion from the vice mayor
can I have a second second I have a
motion from vice mayor seconded by
council member Anderson we're doing a
voice vote all those in favor say I I I
any opposed motion passes
70 thank you vice mayor moving on to our
public hearing agenda we have two items
on our public hearing agenda this
evening items will be heard at one
public hearing at which time anyone
wishing to comment on a public hearing
item may do so I don't believe believe
we have any comment cards for anything
on our agenda this evening and we
received no comments online I will open
the public hearing we have two items one
is a liquor license and one is a zoning
case that is just asking for a
continuation to the December 12th
2023 meeting would anyone on Council
like to hear either one of those
separately seeing none I would entertain
a motion for items 18 and 19 I'll close
the public
hearing go ahead I I make the motion to
uh continue with item 18 and 19 for the
motion 18 is an
approval you move to approve item 18
right oh I'm sorry I thought we were
doing both at the we are we are but you
said continue 18 approval of the liquor
license for for number
18 and approval of the continuation for
for item number 19 thank you I just want
to be clear for the record thank you can
I have a
second second I have a motion from
council member Buckley with a second
from vice mayor tilky again we'll have a
Voice vote all those in favor say I I I
any opposed motion passes 70 we'll move
on to administrative items on our agenda
we have Council Administration consider
adoption of a resolution authorizing the
application to the Arizona Department of
Water res resources to modify the town
of Gilbert's designation of assured
water supply and authorize the town
manager to execute the required
documents do we have a presentation on
this do we need a presentation on
this I'm seeing no um can we have a
motion I'd be happy to accept a motion
on that move approval thank you second I
have a motion from council member
Anderson and a second from council
member Kowski again we'll do a voiced
vote all those in favor I I
any opposed motion passes 70 moving on
to item 21 sorry if I'm talking too fast
council member Koski shut me down if I
am she's really good at
that um item number 21 Council
Administration consider acceptance of
the budget report and contingency report
for the first quarter of FY
2024 anybody need a presentation for
that have any questions or
discussion then I'd be happy to accept a
motion
move to
approve item
21 I have a motion from council member
Kowski seconded by council member
Buckley another Voice vote please all
those in favor say I I I any any opposed
motion passes 70 now moving on to our
policy items policy numbers 20
23-2 and
20233 consider approval of a an update
to council policy 2023 32 regarding
ethics handbook for elected officials
and update to council policy number 2023
20233 regarding code of conduct for
elected
officials any discussion conversation
presentation needed council member
Kowski I would just like to thank the
ethics subcommittee for reviewing our
policies and making the suggested
changes thank you thank you council
member any other comments on this
item seeing none I'd be happy to take a
motion on this move approval thank you
can I have a second I have I have a
motion by council member Anderson
seconded by council member Buckley and
we'll take a Voice vote all those in
favor please say I I I I any
opposed hearing none motion passes 70
folks this is going to be our fastest
meeting on record um Communications
report from the town manager on current
events Patrick thank you mayor members
of the council uh just won some
recognition
for office of digital government they
won three Awards recently they won a
public relations copper Anvil award for
the town's Instagram account at Gilbert
yourtown and two Awards of Merit for our
community relations campaign for the
crisis response team and the most
effective campaign on a shoestring
budget for Gilbert's ice cream party as
part of the parks Master planning
process so congratulations to them the
great work they do for us that's all I
have tonight thank you mayor thanks
Patrick on a shoestring budget I like
that those ice cream parties were fun
for the parks plan um any report from
council members on anything yeah I do
yes council member Buckley just make
sure you speak into your microphone
please okay thank you I shall I shall do
this uh thank you everyone for being
here um I am the liaison for our tourism
department and so they have a few little
things I wanted to pass along to you
guys tonight uh gilbertt is currently
experiencing the highest Hotel Demand on
record with over
234,000 room stays through the end of
September according to the Smith travel
research and keep in mind all of this
brings income into our town um also the
office of economic development is
partnering with the local first
Arizona uh to support tourism business
is in gilbertt by creating the Gilbert
Small Wonders map the Small Wonders map
will likely launch in February or March
with highlights uh it'll highlight local
businesses and it'll be available for
visitors throughout uh Gilbert so kind
of keep an eye out for that and see if
you want to get your business on there
uh business uh Satur business Saturday
holiday shopping campaign launched on
November 3rd I don't know how many of
you have heard about that yet but I bet
some of you have and the campaign
supports the Gilbert Small Business
Community by promoting consumers to shop
in Gilbert this holiday season through
business awareness ease of access
through promotional web page and
featured initiative and you can learn
more by going to Gilbert discover
gilbert.com and then forward SL shopping
uh shopping Gilbert Hol Gilbert holiday
and that's it thank
you thank you council member Buckley I
did my report at the beginning of the
meeting but I will just emphasize what
council member Buckley just reported on
the small business Saturday in the
proclamation that represented shop where
your home is when you shop in Gilbert
you are putting money right back into
your community and helps everything that
we're able to provide for you since we
especially do not have a primary
property tax here in the town of Gilbert
since this is our last meeting until
November 28th I say have a very happy
Thanksgiving and we will see you at the
end of the month thank you meeting
adjourned how's that Tom you have time
to get hot
[Laughter]
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