Regular Meeting - 2/7/2023 6:30:00 PM

I'm going to give a 30 second warning to
take our seats and we'll get started
this evening
okay good evening welcome to the Gilbert
Town council meeting for February 7th
2023
I would like to start with calling this
meeting to order and our invocation will
be led by Rabbi David roller of the
Shabbat Jewish center of Gilbert if you
could come down to the podium please
Rabbi thank you for joining us this
evening
Eternal god without whom life has no
spiritual Source no Divine meaning
purpose or destiny but with whom there
is a power for the present and hope for
the future refresh our faith that the
strains of life may not break our
Spirits restore our confidence that our
world is undergirded by Eternal purpose
bless those who give service of heart to
this great town give them strength to
Temporary judgments by The Compassion of
the human soul
know that none are free until all are
free free from Fear want bigotry and
callous hatred of the other let the
courage of their convictions make
Gilbert worthy of her past and blessed
by her future
may God's presence shine upon you and be
gracious to you is
may God's presence be with you and give
you the gift of peace
thank you thank you so much Rabbi we
appreciate you taking time to come down
and offer an invocation this evening
next we will have the Pledge of
Allegiance led by council member Bon
Jovani
I want to start getting in the habit to
ask everyone to please silence their
cell phones too please
and next we will have a roll call by our
town clerk Herrera
mayor Peterson present vice mayor Kathy
tilkey here council member Scott
Anderson here council member Chuck Bon
Giovanni here council member Bobby
Buckley
council member young kaprowski here and
council member Jim Torgeson here a
quorum is President thank you clerk
Herrera now we will move on to
Communications from citizens since we
don't have any proclamations and
presentations this evening and I will
pass that to our vice mayor
thank you mayor I'd just like to read a
statement before we call our citizens up
to speak the Gilbert Town Council values
citizens 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 bed bin prior to the start of the
meeting the communications from citizens
portion on the agenda provides citizens
an opportunity to identify for the Town
Council 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 responses limited to individual
members of the council responsing to
responding to critic 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 the place of residence and
then begin speaking all speakers are
expected to observe common standards of
decorum and courtesy personal attacks
political speeches or threats of
political action are inappropriate in
this forum and will be grounds at the
discretion of the mayor for ending a
speaker's time at the podium
so at this time we have two citizens
who'd like to speak
first up is Terry Natty and then
following will be rich Robertson
Terry
and you if you just give your name and
place a residence
hello can you hear me that work
hi my name is Terry Natty I live in a
county Island within the Gilbert
planning area
and y'all have seen me since just after
Mother's Day of last year I have been
asking and begging and pleading and I
was extremely extremely happy to see
that there's something for a possible
future meeting on this subject
so I thank you for hearing me first of
all
um I am not an engineer
I
am logical probably to a fault but I'm
not an engineer but yet I've managed to
accumulate a bunch of research on roads
and wits and
sidewalks and angles and safety and all
kinds of fun stuff
when Town staff presented that our
project to you in August
you were shown
what the project would look like at 55
feet at 60 feet and at 65 feet
there were no there was no creativity
there were no angles
I think back to ww 1060. and the
creativity that you were shown to come
up with a solution that worked best for
everyone
not just
the people making the drawings
anyone can draw a straight line that's
easy
anyone can do that anyone can put in
trees which by the way I have people
that are neighbors that ride horses
once trees get big nobody's going to use
that multi-use trail to ride a horse
they'll be afraid of being knocked off
um it's just silliness that's one thing
that you guys can cut from the plan I
have a lot of ideas
I just want to be heard
uh I I would I don't want to you know Mr
Payne and my lawyers to have to Hash
this out I want to do it like reasonable
adults
so please if you can't speak to me
because of the lawsuit then I will give
all of my research to any neighbor and
prep them and have a logical
conversation about this and we can find
something that works for everyone I know
we can thank you for your time
thank you Miss Natty um next up is Rich
Robertson and you do have three minutes
once you're here I forgot to mention
that earlier thank you vice mayor my
name is Rich Robertson I'm a resident of
15714 East Ocotillo
I'd like to address an agenda item uh
the it's under the future meeting agenda
item so it appears that you're going to
be asked tonight to consider whether to
have some future meeting at which to
reconsider possibly the widening of
Ocotillo Road I'm asking you to support
that request because as Terry said we
don't believe that the other options
have been given any kind of legitimate
consideration and we'd like to see that
done last year because of our complaints
the council instructed staff
to look at design options
we were not consulted in that process
instead the staff reported back directly
to the council that after considering
those various options the only viable
one was the one that they started with
the one that they had already chosen
staff presented their opinions to the
council in individual meetings with each
of you that were on the council at the
time
none of the residents were included in
any of that process
that was followed by an executive
session obviously we don't know what
went on the executive session but there
was no public discussion after that or
any vote taken of any kind that we're
aware of
we learned only about the evaluation of
the options when the staff scheduled a
series of meetings to which they invited
a few residents at a time they split us
up
and they told us how things were going
to be this was not a discussion
they made sure that there were more
staff present at those meetings than
there were residents in every one of
those meetings we were told that they
were doing us a favor by
limiting it to 65 feet
when they could have taken 75 feet if
they wanted
they followed that up by having
individual meetings with us on each of
our properties they told us they would
do us a favor by constructing sound
walls to block the noise of all this
increased traffic that will occur
but and to give you an idea of how this
has been going they said they would not
Build That Wall if we dared to take the
town to court
that was The Leverage
there was one public meeting about this
project at the very beginning
and we were invited to fill out cards
since then there has been no meaningful
dialogue about the design options this
has been a one-way Street
I'm asking do you agree to revisit this
project so there can be some kind of
constructive interchange that not only
considers the engineering but also the
neighborhood preservation and quality of
life issues in Gilbert
we're asking just to be listened to not
bulldozed thank you
thank you Mr Robertson that is the end
of our Communications from citizens
thank you vice mayor next we'll move on
to the consent calendar and I pass it
back to you thank you mayor
this evening we have two items that will
be pulled from the consent agenda item
number two and item number 10.
and with that
I'd like I can make the motion can I I'd
like to make a motion to approve the
consent items number one three four
five six seven eight nine
and eleven
can I have a second
I have a motion by vice mayor tilkey a
second by council member Bon Giovanni
please vote
motion passes seven zero
thank you mayor item number two has been
pulled by council member Bon Giovanni
thank you um I want to start by saying
I'm not against termination of this of
this lease
um but there's certain things in the
agreement and I have some suggestions
for for future contracts for the council
when I looked at the agreement it was
very well written staff was very
detailed in protecting our best
interests except I didn't see a penalty
for non-performance and I understand
that sometimes those are included in our
agreements we spent five years of Staff
time Council time
suffered some Community relationship
damage when we added go-karts to the
project but in the end we are left alone
at the altar without a partner
so I would ask Council in the future to
consider consistently adding Vehicles
like Surety bonds or insurance policies
to compensate us for non-performance and
consequence developers who find
themselves over their heads and that
said thank you
any other comments on that
would someone like to make a motion on
item number two
I moved to approve
I'll second that a motion by vice mayor
tilkey second in by council member
torges and please vote
motion passes seven zero
mayor item number 10 has been pulled by
council member Torgeson
I I put this forward to Dan Henderson
earlier today I want to understand why
Equity is part of the description of the
Community Development block grant fund
we're using
is anybody able to help explain that to
me
Jason can you please introduce yourself
thank you
we'll try that again mayor council
member Torgeson my name is Jason Hafner
I'm the transportation planning manager
um the raise Grant as far as the equity
part goes from the town's perspective
we're looking at safety and
accessibility for all users of our
transportation Network
for this project that we're playing for
in particular we're trying to create a
safe way for all users in the town to
get over the railroad
so in the in the common use of this at
this one it has nothing to do with
anything but uh and everybody being
invested and be able to cross not uh any
other any other interpretation of the
term correct that's correct thank you
could you talk about
um when when federal funds are pursued
um like the federal 40 and how that may
increase the chances that this project
would get funded
are you familiar with the federal 40
analysis
uh mayor council member I am not
familiar with the federal 40. I
apologize it's an equity analysis that
the federal government does and they
have certain set-asides for additional
funding in those areas the Heritage
District area is the only location in
Gilbert that falls within that category
so I feel that this particular project
and location
would be a good candidate for these
funds
in respect to that it absolutely is the
right place to have that and having sat
on that committee years ago for a long
time and now
being entrusted to be the liaison to it
it does as a Redevelopment Zone
completely qualify for that my concern
was just the the use of that term and
what what maybe the strings involved
attached are and it doesn't seem like
there are any but if there are please
explain them
mayor council member as far as I
understand there are no additional
strings attached based on the word
Equity being in the raise Grant acronym
thanks Jason for that explanation would
anyone like to make a motion on item 10.
I moved to approve item 10. can I have a
second I have a motion by council member
Torgerson seconded by vice mayor tilkey
please vote
I can see when you're voting before I
even get through the motion it's funny
it's like it lights up on the screen
um motion passes 7-0 this is it's all
new technology so it's new stuff motion
pass is 7-0 thank you we'll move on to
our public hearing portion of our agenda
this evening we I will open the public
hearing we have two items one liquor
license and one code of Gilbert update
does anyone wish discussion or
presentation on either one of those or I
would entertain a motion to approve both
emotional proof
mayor Peter
Peterson
click
close the public hearing a motion by
council member Giovanni second by vice
mayor tilkey please vote
motion passes seven zero moving on to
administrative items this evening boards
commissions and committees do I have any
reports from console Liaisons
looking down both sides I see none item
number 15 Council Administration these
are a little out of order and chevelli
made me aware of that consider
acceptance of the budget report and
contingency report for the second
quarter of FY 2023 does anyone yes vice
mayor mayor um I've asked Kelly to get
just a brief presentation I think it's
really important that our residents
understand the transparency of how we
handle our overages when cost
escalations happen and things like that
so thank you vice mayor is going to look
right at you because I knew you would
have asked Kelly for this thanks Kelly
wonderful thank you mayor and Council so
as you'll notice we have the quarterly
budget and contingency report that is
part of our financial transparency in
our policies and you'll see that every
quarter is you're on Council the
contingency reports if you'll remember
when we talked through the policies
Council approves everything over 50 000
of contingency we don't have extra money
or what if money in any of the
department budgets it's just what is
what they're going to need to provide
services so when unexpected things come
up there is the ability to approve some
contingency at my level or Patrick's
level and then we provide a report to
council so you can see what all of those
items are and that's the report that's
before you tonight
and then we also provide a list of what
that contingency adds up to throughout
the year so you have a historical
context about what that looks like
departments using more or less
throughout the year and you have the
opportunity to ask questions or the
public has opportunity to ask questions
about those changes in the budget
any questions for me
councilmember Anderson
Kelly are we finding that we have more
reasons for contingency because of
inflation problems and supply chain
problems that are delaying things
mayor councilmember Anderson yes we are
seeing a higher use of contingency this
year and last year even a lot of them
are related to supply chain or cost
increases that weren't built into the
base budget because we didn't anticipate
this level of inflation when we built
the budgets
are we thinking about that for Budget
purposes next year
yes we are we are zero based as added in
money to be able to maintain the same
level of service which is unusual for
our zero base and then you'll you'll get
that infrared spoiler alert you'll get
that information uh when you hear the
budget in a couple of months
um but and then the other Department's
not part of zero base have also seen an
increase in requests for maintaining
just that same level of service or
contracts that are costing more than
they used to or other supplies
thank you
any other comments or questions
if I could just say thank you Kelly I
appreciate it
thank you Kelly I would accept a motion
to accept the budget report and continue
to report for the second quarter
so moved I have a second
second
I have a motion from vice mayor Toki
seconded by council member Anderson
please vote
council member Buckley you need to vote
please
motion passes 7-0 thank you
moving on to our Communications report
from town manager on current events
nothing tonight
nothing
wow report from the Council on current
events
wow okay it's all on me report from the
mayor and current events first I want to
talk about the fact that we have
um a Gilbert feeding family's food drive
that has started and will run most of
the month of February up until
February 26th for more information
please visit
gilbertaz.gov forward slash feeding
families and there it is on the screen
you can even use that
QR code right there look at how prepared
you are I'm just so impressed thank you
the code on the screen there if you
would like more information as to where
and what to donate and there's also an
option for financial donations cash
donations and that's very helpful too
the next thing that I wanted to discuss
is something that's very important to
not only the town of Gilbert but also
other cities and towns in the state of
Arizona tomorrow morning I will be
headed down to the Senate to testify
against a bill that is number
sb117 it's a housing infrastructure bill
by Senator Kaiser the legislation will
have long lasting and adverse impacts to
years of careful planning for our cities
and towns it is essentially a buy right
Zoning for multi-family projects within
all of our communities within the State
of Arizona it would also affect
single-family residential to the point
that nothing would be larger than a four
thousand square foot lot in all of our
neighborhoods that we would develop in
the future of our city and since we do
have land that we will still be building
out I think it's essential for us to
come together and make sure that we are
opposing this bill if anybody would like
in from excuse me information please
reach out to us we have the names that
you can contact again I will be headed
down there tomorrow morning I think I
can say safely that this bill will
change the landscape of our state over
the future and luckily Gilbert is close
to being built out but there are a lot
of cities around this a state that are
not close to being built out and this
would definitely affect them and how and
when we're looking at even our water
issue and how this would affect the need
for water in their communities long into
the future of this state a lot of us
have worked very long and hard on
planning our communities doing our
general plan updates when we're supposed
to making sure we're developing our
communities the way that we would like
to and I think it's essential that we
all stand together on this
then for so I'm going to take us from
something super serious to something
super fun today is my aide Kirsten's one
year anniversary with the town of
Gilbert and I want to give her a shout
out because she does amazing things for
me and for this community and I bought
her candy so I think that's a good gift
and then a week from today is
Valentine's Day so happy Valentine's Day
everyone and meeting adjourned
okay