Regular Meeting - 5/16/2023 6:30:00 PM

good evening I'm gonna give the 30
second warning if I could have everyone
take a seat please thank you
good evening and welcome to the Gilbert
Town council meeting for May 16
2023. I'm going to take some items out
of order this evening we're going to
start with our invocation and I'd invite
Heather watts of the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints
to come to the podium hi Heather
thanks for joining us just push the
button and the mic will turn red
it will light up
it should
on the bottom of the there you go thank
you did I do that right oh yes I did
okay
our dear kind and gracious Father in
heaven
As We Gather for the city council
meeting today we thank thee for all who
have come to participate
we give thanks for our elected officials
and appointed City staff in this room
for all they have done and continue to
do to serve the people of our town we
pray for our mayor bless her for her
kindness and her strength and Leadership
we pray for our council members and
their family help them to be unified and
to listen to opposing points of view
with understanding and Goodwill
we pray for the agenda set before them
today
please give an assurance of what would
be pleasing to thee and what would
benefit those who live and work in our
beloved City of Gilbert
May the spirit always be with us so that
we can know thy will of our community
and we say these things in the name of
Jesus Christ amen
thank you so much Heather we appreciate
you coming out this evening next I would
ask councilmember Bon Giovanni to please
lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance
everyone please stand
I pledge allegiance
and now if I could please ask town clerk
Herrera to conduct the Roll Call
mayor Bridget Peterson here vice mayor
Kathy tilkey here council member Scott
Anderson here council member Chuck
bongiovanni here council member Bobby
Buckley here council member Jim Torgeson
a quorum is present
thank you chevelli now we'd like to move
item six from our consent agenda to the
beginning of our meeting that has done
an agreement with the Roosevelt Water
Conservation District if I could please
have a motion for that item
so moved oh sorry
I'll second I I have I have multiples I
have a motion from council member
Torgeson with a second by vice mayor
tilkey please vote
motion passes 6-0 council member
Kapowski is not able to be with us this
evening we would invite the members of
the rwcd group down to the front and we
would all like to come down and join you
for a quick photo thank you
thank you
look at the beautiful people in friends
right
everybody
[Music]
all right
thank you okay thank you all so much
thank you
all so much thank you thank you so much
thank you
Charming
now I'd like to go back to the beginning
of our agenda and we have the student
citizen of the month Awards um vice
mayor
thank you mayor just take me a second to
get set up here
good evening I'm vice mayor tilkey and
it is my pleasure to announce the names
of the Gilbert student citizens of the
month the recipients were nominated by
their teachers and principals for
demonstrating good citizenship and
character we appreciate the opportunity
to not only recognize these hard-working
students but to also thank all the
teachers and school administrators in
the community we appreciate all your
efforts to educate and influence our
young residents our schools are some of
Gilbert's finest and greatest assets at
this time we are going to begin our
student citizen of the month
presentation please enjoy for those of
you who are receiving an award tonight a
certificate and packet will be delivered
to your school we will begin with our
elementary schools
foreign
Ashland Ranch Elementary
J.D atten
Bridges Elementary Dallin thornock
Centennial Elementary Bailey Proctor
Chaparral Elementary Lacey Andrus
Charlotte Patterson Elementary Jack
Phillips
Charlotte Patterson Elementary Brendan
Shaw
they have two excellent students this
month that's awesome
Enterprise School Clara Speakman
Highland Park Elementary Olivia
Ellsworth
Higley Traditional Academy Oliver Gamel
Islands Elementary Bryce Zen
Mesquite Elementary Hattie Saunders
Neely Traditional Academy Michael Tyson
Oak Tree Elementary Lucas orenduff
Patterson Elementary Adam habish
Pioneer Elementary
shine
toonsy Tunes I sorry
Playa del Rey Elementary ray lynn mouta
Quartz Hill Elementary Tanner
Sosi
Riggs Elementary Trey Goodwin
Santan Elementary Chloe Damron
settlers Point Elementary Maximus King
Sonoma Ranch Elementary Liam Haynes
Spectrum Elementary Cruz mulatto
Town Meadows Elementary Isabel Lynn Blum
Val Vista Lakes Elementary Everett's
Bender
Weinberg gifted Academy Gavin Hill
and now we'll honor our Junior High and
high school students American Leadership
Academy Nathan Nielsen
Campo Verde High School Matthew Cagney
Canyon Valley High School Nolan Hess
Christ Greenfield school Luke Farrell
Gilbert Classical Academy Katie Chen
Gilbert High School zadie Perkins
Higley High School Evelina Quan
Leading Edge Academy Early College Judah
Womack
South Valley Junior High Kendall
kubik
and with that congratulations
[Applause]
is this the last one for this this
school year by smear I believe this is
the last one for the school year and I'm
hoping that we can bring this back in
person once the school year starts up
again so August or September I'm looking
forward to that most of you on the dice
haven't had the experience of doing a
student of the month so it'll be a first
time for most of you and it's really
great to see the kids in person and I
think they're getting tired of it
because I saw less and less pictures
this month less photos this month I
think we want to see them back in person
again thank you for that next we have on
our agenda two proclamations
Proclamation declaring May 21st to the
27th 2023 as National Public Works week
and a proclamation declaring May 2023 as
mental health awareness month and I will
head down to the floor
this
okay team who's here for public works
for Public Works week come on down and
join me Jessica Marlow with her short
hair
Eric Brown
anybody else you don't have you always
have short hair Eric
Susanna
yeah Lauren Hixson
yeah oh I didn't even see you over there
yeah I can't even see them back there
come on Tim come on down and join us
Public Works is a big part of what we do
in Gilbert every single day should be
recognized
National Public Works week whereas these
infrastructures facilities and services
could not be envisioned built or
maintained without the dedicated efforts
of Engineers managers and Public Works
employees found in all levels of Public
Works departments and whereas Public
Works departments are responsible for
rebuilding improving and protecting
Transportation water supply water
treatment and Solid Waste Systems public
buildings and other structures and
Facilities essential for all citizens
and whereas Public Works professionals
focus on infrastructure facilities and
services that are of vital importance to
sustainable and resilient communities
and Safeguard Public Health quality of
life and the well-being of the people of
the town of Gilbert and whereas it is in
the public interest for the citizens
Civic leaders and children in the town
of Gilbert to gain knowledge of and to
maintain an ongoing interest in
understanding of the importance of
Public Works and Public Works programs
in their respective communities and
whereas the year 2023 marks the 63rd
annual National Public Works week
sponsored by the American public works
Association
can Canadian Public Works Association be
it now therefore I Bridget Peterson
mayor of the town of Gilbert do hereby
designate the week of May 21st to the
27th 2023 as National Public Works week
and I urge residents to acknowledge and
thank our Public Work professionals
Engineers managers and employees for
their substantial contributions to
protecting our health and safety and
quality of life
testicle would you like to say a few
words so yeah just thank you very much
for the acknowledgment our teams work
really hard every day to make sure that
the town is the place that we all love
to live behind the scenes so you don't
really see them and they like to keep it
that way so that's why there's not very
many of us here today but we're very
grateful for all the hard work that they
put in every day
they never want to be recognized these
are the folks that make sure that when
you flush your toilets they flush when
you turn on your faucets water comes out
of them this is these are the people
that get it done every single day please
hold this we're going to take a photo we
have to Center in the middle because
Kirsten will get mad at me so we need to
move a little over to the right there we
go yes the town seal yes Lauren she gets
it thank you
thank you
squish a little ocean like we like each
other
thank you thank you all congratulations
thank
[Applause]
you thank you and next Mental Health
Awareness Month who is here to accept
this members of the community engagement
task force yes your double duty tonight
Heather
and Suzanne Lunt
vice mayor do you want to join us please
I keep forgetting to bring my glasses
down here so if you see me holding this
further and further out that's why
whereas mental health month has been
observed since 1949 to raise awareness
of mental health conditions and the
importance of mental health and whereas
mental health is a fundamental part of
an individual's overall health and
well-being and mental illness is a major
public concern Nationwide and whereas
each year millions of Americans face the
reality of living with a mental illness
themselves or an impacted by mental
illness either directly or through
someone they care about and whereas the
number of people in our community and
Nation impacted by mental illness
continues to increase with no
socioeconomic boundaries as it can and
does affect anyone and whereas during
Mental Health Awareness Month the town
of Gilbert joins the Mental Health
Community to reaffirm our commitment to
building on our understanding of mental
illness to helping reduce the stigma
surrounding mental illness and mental
health treatment to supporting increased
access to treatment and to helping
ensure those who are struggling know
they are not alone and whereas the town
of Albert is committed proactively
approaching mental health and wellness
by supporting the recommendations of the
community engagement task force in the
areas of awareness education and
connection to resources and now
therefore I Bridget Peterson mayor of
the town of Gilbert do hereby proclaim
the month of May 2023 as mental health
awareness month and remind Gilbert's
residents and employees to acknowledge
and prioritize the mental health and
wellness of yourselves your loved ones
and your community
foreign
next on our agenda is Communications
from citizens vice mayor oh yes if I may
enter intervene for a moment because we
have our legislators here and I didn't
want to make them wait all night
I wanted to recognize them for something
they've done for us recently
and they'd they were going to stay here
and I wanted to talk to them later but
since two of them are here already I'd
like to talk for just a moment take my
moment of later and throw it now uh we
have Travis Grantham and Lauren Hendrix
here and I wanted to point out what
these these two gentlemen have done for
us recently and uh with all due respect
to their schedule I'd like to do it now
but several weeks ago representative
Hendricks called me and asked what I
thought was a pressing issue in Gilbert
that everybody could be equally shared
in and after some discussion it came to
water
and after a little more discussion we
had involved
councilman Anderson and then discussing
with him with his history of water and
and The riparian Preserve and all his
knowledge on water we took this to our
town manager Patrick Banger and Patrick
provided every detail possible to these
gentlemen
and
what really occurred is is they went to
fight to battle for this town since ld14
is basically exclusively Gilbert other
than a few precincts that are ld13
they went and got back 28 million
dollars of money so we could put our
well projects further forward and
protect the water and the water rights
this town is is growing on and will
continue to grow on for the next hundred
years
and that wasn't an easy thing they went
through a long fight for it
and they brought it home to us it was
signed by Governor Hobbs who's rejected
just about everything as everybody's
read and what I really wanted to do is
because I got to see Scott work with
people and Patrick and our two
legislators I want them to stand up and
I want you all to recognize how hard
they worked for this town to bring those
that money back here for Wells to be
moved forward several years and if I
could just please have you all of you
stand Scott even
[Applause]
thank you
and it was it was just a very healthy
and rewarding experience to be able to
sit with these gentlemen and have that
done and I was going to say that later
but I figured I didn't want you to stay
here all night
[Laughter]
thank you so much
thank you for joining us this evening
Representatives we appreciate all you've
done for the town of Gilbert now moving
on for with our agenda Communications
from citizens vice mayor
thank you mayor
the Gilbert Town Council values citizens
comments and input anyone wishing to
speak before the council must fill out a
quest 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 provides citizens an
opportunity to identify for the town
councils matters of Interest or concern
related to town government that are not
on the printed agenda under the
provisions of the Arizona open meeting
law the Town Council is prohibited from
responding to issues that have not been
properly noticed therefore the Town
Council may only listen to citizens who
wish to address them on non-agenda items
at the conclusion of the open call to
public response is limited to
individuals 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 asked that when your name is called
you come forward to the podium state
your name and place of residence and
then begin speaking all speakers are
expected to observe common standards of
decorum and courtesy personal attacks
political speeches are threats to
political action are inappropriate in
this forum and will be grounds for
ending a speaker's time at the podium
mayor we only have one person wishing to
speak this evening Terry Natty if you'll
come forward you'll have three minutes
you'll want to go ahead and turn the
microphone on since you're the first
tonight thank you
hello my name is Terry and Addie I live
in a uh
County Island within the Gilbert
planning area and y'all have been
listening to me
more often I've been more Council
meetings than not in the last year
I'm
frustrated
um
I watched
representative Hendricks and former
councilman Anderson rip your staff
member
to Pieces about the Wastewater
WWE 1060 I think
and
and mayor Peterson you said that you
lost sleep over it in my mind
my my situation is no different
but yet
you won't bring it back up to council
um I'm not asking you to
remove it I'm asking you to rethink it
I've been asking you to rethink it
I have an engineer that says it can be
done in 55 feet
your engineers told you it could be done
55 feet they showed you it could be done
they didn't want it to be done that way
but it could be done
there's no reason
my lawyer said that your lawyer said
that I'm against the project well that's
not true I'm not against the project I
like my toilets to flush I like my water
to flow and I like roads that are in
good shape
doesn't mean that you need the excess
I'm against the excess
this project can be done in 55 feet it's
been proven by your own people your own
documents say that a minor arterial can
be 55 feet
do we need to go to court do I need to
embarrass everyone in front of a judge
I don't understand why we can't fix this
at this level
this should be done properly we
shouldn't have to go to court
that's ridiculous I'm absolutely willing
to go to court
I will I will go to court and I will win
and I will embarrass the town of Gilbert
publicly
I don't want to do that
I don't want to spend more time fighting
with you guys
I want you to see reason I want the
project to be done I don't want to hold
it up
I just don't I'm against the excess and
there is excess
and I don't know why hubris maybe I
don't
I can't answer you because I'm not in
the minds of your staff but your staff
is manipulated and lied to me to you
I will
I've told you all of it I've shown you
all of it I've given you countless
pieces of paper on it
I don't understand why we're still I'm
still up here and I will continue to be
up here more Council meetings than not
until we can come to resolution thank
you for your time
thank you Miss Nettie mayor that's it
for communications from citizens thank
you vice mayor now if you'd like to move
on to consent calendar
yes can I say something real quick
it depends on what it's referring to
just these guys and those guys
you need
well I just wanted to explain why I
stood up
oh okay yeah no I just won't ever been
Noah I was not involved in in the water
thing that Travis and Lauren and and
these guys did I stood up because I
thought they deserved it
so I just wanted to let you know that I
don't want anyone to think I had a part
of this one
thank you thanks councilmember
vice mayor thank you mayor um
no uh council member has requested an
item be pulled from the agenda however
we will be adding item 33 and council
member Bon Jovani is going to read that
motion
we go I have a motion to appoint Michael
Clark Rick Kettner and Bob Ferrin to the
Parks and Recreation board with terms
beginning May 13 2023 and ending May 12
2026.
thank you um I will include that as part
of the consent agenda if that's all
right with that I would like to make a
motion to approve the consent agenda
items three
four
five
seven
eight
nine
10 11.
12 13 14 15 16 17 18.
1920 a through f
21 22
a
23 24 25 26
27 27 a 27b 28 and 33.
did you put that in the form of emotion
or yes okay thank you can I have a
second please second
Emotion by vice mayor telkey seconded by
council member Anderson please vote
motion passes 6-0 unanimously this
evening
now we will move on to
our public hearing portion of our agenda
thank you are there any items that the
council wishes to hear a presentation on
off of the public hearing agenda this
evening
32 ma'am 32.
anything else
I will open the public hearing and I
would entertain a motion to for 29 30
and 31 and then we will have a
presentation on 32. I'll close the
public hearing
I moved to approve 29 30 and 31. thank
you
second thank you I have a motion by vice
mayor Chelsea seconded by council member
Torgeson please vote
motion passes 6-0 moving on to item
number 32 fees I would like to ask staff
to please come to the podium I'll open
the public hearing
good evening Hawkin
good evening mayor council
I do not have a presentation ready I'm
happy to to do kind of an overview
answer any questions
um
from a process standpoint what this is
this is Council directing staff to post
a notice of intent that then starts a
60-day clock of the intention to to add
a new fee or or charge and then there's
a date certain where we will have a
public hearing to talk about those fees
and and establish them in 30 days from
that point if if Council approves that
and it moves forward then then that
would become a new fee in place
and so right now we have a four percent
maximum and then a four dollar maximum
those are not stacking they are
independent of each other the way
utility bills are charged through the
credit card processing Merchant accounts
visa rules if you will require it to be
a fixed fee for utility accounts and
then for all other uses of credit card
it would be a a fixed rate per
transaction we're in the process of
honing in on exactly what that would be
so these are caps and then as we come
back to council August 1st there would
be firm
numbers for council's consideration at
that point
all right so at this point you're
looking at that as the maximum but
you're going to come back to us with the
actual numbers that is correct all right
and are we shopping other providers
because as a businessman I saw four
percent and I I couldn't have shown you
the door faster if you were my credit
card processor you know uh
thank you uh we do look at competitively
bid all of our services must be
competitively bid we are looking at
other providers right now also and so we
have contracts in place that were
competitively bid and we'll continue to
look at additional options and we did
take your comments from the retreat and
and look and understand and
there are some subtleties behind the
rules that that I would be happy to talk
about where some Merchant accounts might
uh
they might
pay for a portion and and lower that fee
right so you might see fees lower those
are agreements between different
Merchant accounts and when we
competitively bid what whatever the
market is offering us is what we look at
and what we compare against and so I can
say that from the cities and towns
perspective we're going to be very
competitive among those groups but the
private sector does have some different
rules and and things that they that they
play with and so there is a discrepancy
or a disparity between the rates charged
in certain services but we are looking
at those from a competitively bid
process
and I assume we're not marking up the
fees we're just doing cost recovery then
we are not allowed to and so our fees
will be either precisely at or even
slightly below full cost recovery just
to avoid any potential issues with the
credit card Merchants thank you sir
again this is just to put notice out
that we're looking at this process and
looking at doing this we have to do it
by law notify public that this is going
on here at the town and it will come
back for another hearing on August 1st
2023.
any other questions or comments for
Hawkins thank you Hawken I will go ahead
and close the public hearing bring it
back to the diocese
conversation or motion
I'll move to accept that move to a proof
move to approve can I have a second I'll
second that thank you I have a motion by
council member torges and seconded by
councilmember Bon Giovanni please vote
motion passes six zero moving on to our
administrative items for our agenda this
evening we've already covered item
number 33 for boards and commissions
number 34 Council Administration
consider acceptance of the budget report
and continues to report for the third
quarter of FY 2023 does this require
unvote yes okay thank you Kelly I see
you're nodding your head back there
any conversation discussion about this
item vice mayor I saw your point oh I
was going to make a motion to approve I
will take a motion then too
of emotion by vice mayor Toki seconded
by council member Torgeson please vote
and that passes with a 6-0 vote also
moving on to boards commissions and
committees any reports from Council
Liaisons for boards commissions and
committees
yes council member Torgeson I just
wanted to say that it was uh it was an
absolute pleasure for the RDC for the
economic development department to host
a meet and greet the other day at Hale
Theater and to show a lot of the history
and the hard work of things that they're
doing there and that having the the
chamber involved brought the the
attendance very high compared to what
it's been in the past and to see that
part of the community really come
together and move forward and
first time I'd ever been in this hail
theater I'd been in one Glendale
California but out here and it was just
it was a great experience and I'm hoping
Dan and uh Sarah from the chamber
continue to do these
I just wanted to say that and that's all
we have from RDC
great
any other comments from boards and
commissions councilmember Buckley
well I just wanted to mention that uh
I think most of us were there but the
police on fire did a police on fire Ops
for the council members to let us see
what they do and how they take care of
every take care of the town and I I
actually got to fire a gun for the first
time in my life I was like oh wow this
is great but they did a fantastic job
and uh
bonjiovanni and I got to go up in the
fire truck ladder we went up 50 feet and
I asked does this go up any higher and
he says yeah you want to go higher and
before I could even answer that one said
yes let's go hire so we we went up about
75 feet but they took the entire day to
show us every single thing they do and
and it was probably one of the most fun
days I have had so mayor council member
tilkey was there Bon Giovanni
Torgeson was dressed up he was in his
fire uniform and uh so there they did a
lot and they also showed us how they
handle an accident when they go to an
accident so it was it was pretty
incredible
thank you
any other reports from boards and
commissions
we'll move on to Communications report
from the town manager on current events
thank you mayor members of the council I
wanted to recognize the hard work
councilman Torgeson had had recognized
the hard work from our several members
of our local legislative delegation with
the assistance of the appropriation
through the state budget to which will
help to construct three new wells in
Gilbert to help us with our water
resiliency plans but I want to recognize
some staff members that were behind the
scenes that were of tremendous help Leah
reinheimer Jessica Marlow Eric Braun Rob
Bohr all of those individuals really
helped pull together and short order the
information that we needed to provide to
our delegation so they could go to bat
for us and great outcome and we're very
grateful for it and every little bit
will help with all the work we had ahead
of us also tonight we you approved the
rwcd domestic Water Services agreement
that has been an effort that has been
going on for 10 plus years and there was
a tremendous number of people who worked
very diligently through a very
complicated issue for this community and
and we couldn't be more thrilled that
that was approved tonight and we look
forward to our relationship going
forward with rwcd which is such a huge
part of the town's history and I would
like to recognize some key staff members
behind that effort Eric Braun Lauren
Hixson Chris Payne John Baird Jessica
Marlowe Stefan Watson Jeremiah Churchill
Rebecca Hamel Mary Goodman and Leah
reinheimer we could not have got that
done without those team members
thank you mayor that's all I have
tonight thank you Patrick moving on to
report from Council on current events
anything to report no moving on to the
report from the mayor on Cameron events
yes the rwcd contract is a very big it's
been going on the whole time that I've
served on this Council and thankful for
the employees that have worked so hard
to bring it to fruition and giving us
the opportunity to vote on that this
evening and very thankful for our
partnership with rwcd I've known Shane
Leonard for
20 years now from serving here on the
Planning Commission together I'd like to
recognize that May 14th through 20th is
National Police Week and is a is
observed and honors those who lost their
lives in the line of duty I'd like to
take a moment and recognize our two
fallen heroes Lieutenant Eric shoe
Handler and officer Robert targos may we
never forget their sacrifice for our
community
I'd also like to recognize that some of
us attended the eggs benefit breakfast
for Ascend the other day and I saw a
post that at that breakfast we helped
raise a total of fifteen thousand three
hundred dollars which is just amazing
and they'd like to reach a goal of 20
000 and we wouldn't be able to provide
the services that we do in the town of
Gilbert if it wasn't for the Ascend
community and the work that they do
especially for our seniors and those in
need at a time they find themselves at a
time in need and as I've promised for
every single meeting I'm going to talk
about the Memorial Day ceremony which HD
self and Gilbert are hosting right here
at Town Hall it's a free Event open to
the public at 50 East East Civic Center
Drive and it will be on Monday May 29th
from from 8 30 a.m to 10 a.m it includes
a flag and wreath ceremony Battlefield
cross pow Mia table National Guard band
will play it's really an amazing event
if you'd like to come out bring your
chairs blankets pop-up tents there's
plenty of room out here on the lawn to
do all of that and then HD South home of
the Gilbert Historical Museum at Gilbert
and Elliott is also open to the public
from 10 a.m to 2 p.m for free so I hope
you go and stop by there and visit and
that is all I have I now need to recess
the reg recess the regular meeting and
reconvene an executive session
thank you
mayor can we have a vote a vote on that
sorry thank you chevelli I will recess
regular meeting reconvene an executive
session can I have a motion please so
moved
and please vote
motion passes thank you