City Council | Special and Regular Meetings - June 24, 2025

Good afternoon. That was loud. Uh, I'd
like to call the June 24th, 2025 special
meeting and possible executive session
of the Scottsdale City Council to order.
This evening we this afternoon we have
Scottsdale Police Sergeant Bernest
Ingram and Officer Darren Hyman as well
as firefighter Ray Iglani, I think. Am I
saying that right, Ray?
Yes, I hope so. All right. Uh, anyone
that requires uh assistance, please let
a member of our staff know. City Clerk
Ben Lane, will you please give us a roll
call? Uh, thank you, Mayor. Mayor Lisa
Bowski present. Vice Mayor Jan Debasquez
here. Council members Barry Graham here.
Adam, Adam Quasman, any Kathy
Littlefield here. Maryanne McCallen
present. And Solange Whitehead here.
City manager Greg Kaitton here. Acting
city attorney Louis Santa here. And the
clerk is present. Thank you, mayor. So,
as is regular protocol, uh, and given
that it's boards and commission
appointments tonight, I will now turn
the meeting over to Vice Mayor Dascis,
who will conduct the, uh, interviews and
appointments. Take it away. Thank you,
Mayor Barowski. The Scottsdale City
Council is responsible for establishing
city policies, enacting laws in support
of those policies. The council relies on
volunteer citizen-based boards and
commissions to research issues and make
recommendations in support of the
council's mission and goals. The
information and recommendations provided
by council approved advisory boards is a
valuable tool in helping council members
in their deliberations. This afternoon,
the city council will be appointing
Scottsdale residents interested in
serving on various boards and
commissions. I want to thank the
individuals for their willingness to
volunteer their time and service to this
community. Following the set of
interviews, we'll vote on an appointment
for the board or commission.
As I call your name, please approach the
podium and briefly cover the following.
For the record, please state your name
and address and how long you've lived in
Scottsdale. Please tell us how your
education, employment, or volunteer
experience relates to this board or
commission and what is the top issue
facing the board or commission. Please
limit your comments to two minutes or
less. We have a timer by the screen that
will help you manage your time.
Following each nominees response, I will
ask council members if they have any
follow-up questions for you.
The first board is the board of
adjustments. We have one opening. The
board of adjustment is a quasi judicial
body that hears variance requests,
appeals of the zoning administrators
interpretations and decisions and
decides on administrative decisions or
zoning requirements which create
unnecessary hardship in the development
of property because of exceptional or
extraordinary conditions. There is one
vacancy and three nominees. The nominees
are Michael Gonzalez, Randall Polland,
Martha West.
So, please come forward. Michael
Gonzalez, be prepared. Randall Polland
and Martha West.
Mayor, council members, my name is
Michael Gonzalez. I've lived in North
Scottdale for over 30 years
and I love the city.
I've been working with the city for the
la for 12 years in various positions.
The last six years were with the board
of adjustment
and what position I certainly enjoyed.
Prior to that, I was well on the
neighborhood advisory commission for six
years. So I have six years worth of
experience working or 12 years of of
experience working with the city and the
city council.
My experience is I would have to say I'm
a professional. I'm a retired CPA. I've
had a lot of management experience and
12 years working with the city.
One of the things that uh I've always
noticed in dealing with the board of
adjustment is the board of adjustment
has strictly been assigned to take
variance
variance uh requests from different
citizens. One of the thing that's always
interesting is when you hear the
introduction at each meeting, it says
the rules parabarians are governed by
four four
areas dictated by the state
and in Mongo's rules not included or are
the rules fair and their common sense
used. And I hear that a lot when people
once a verdict is given they say, "Well,
that's not fair. That doesn't make
common sense." Well, the board doesn't
make the rules. The the board interprets
the rules as as the text is written. So,
one of the things that I would like to
see perhaps uh be addressed and only the
city council can do that is take a look
at the different zoning ordinances that
we have and see do they really make
sense since the day that they were put
into place. In a professional
environment, we're governed by rules
that say you have to review policy and
procedure every few years by federal
law. Of course, I don't know whether
that applies to the city here or not,
but would make sense that when people
don't like the way the the uh the vote
comes out when when they get an either
an adjustment or an adjustment from the
board, they want to know why. And
sometimes the board does not make the
rules. They do not interpret the rules
as whether they're right or not. We
don't suggest alternatives to the var to
the u Thank you, Mr. G. zoning codes.
So, what I'd like to do is just suggest
that the city council take a look over
time uh and look at all the different
decisions made by the board of
adjustment and say, do the rules that
that they were required to follow really
make sense? And do we need to change
maybe some of the zoning over the years?
Some of it may be antiquated, some of it
may not. But thank you, Mr. Gonzalez.
Your time has expired. Okay. Thank you
very much. I'd appreciate your vote.
Thank you,
Mr. Randall Polland. And then Martha
West. Oh, I'm sorry. Council members, do
we have any questions for Mr. Gonzalez.
Nope. Okay. Mr. Polland. Well, good
afternoon, mayor, vice mayor, and
council members. I'm Randall Pullen.
I've lived in city of Scottsdale for
about a little over four years now.
Before that, I lived in Arcadia in
Phoenix. So, I kind of know the area
fairly well. Uh, my background is I have
a bachelor and a MBA from Arizona State
University. uh I used to do a lot of
real estate deals and then I went to
work for Deote and Touch where my area
of expertise was actually real estate
related projects. That's where I spent
most of my time. So I was always on the
side of looking at the zoning trying to
figure out how the project they were
talking about would fit within that
zoning if it made sense financially as
well as physically. So I've had a lot of
experience as well doing that over the
years. I was also, you probably know, I
was the chairman of the Republican party
for a number of years as well as the
treasurer of the national party. So, uh,
my interest in this is, uh, being having
been on the other side, watching how the
zoning ordinances worked and how you had
to deal with them. And I've done that as
recently as three years ago, we did a
big project in Buckeye where we had to
have it reszoned from commercial to
industrial as well as raise the heights
of the buildings. And so I understand
how you have to go through this process
of getting it done. So I want looking
forward to helping out on that. I've
looked at the four criteria that the uh
board has to follow. It all makes sense.
I watched the last uh two uh April and
March uh board meetings to see how they
operated. I thought it was done very
professionally and I liked what I saw
and I think I would be uh a good a good
help a lot of assistance and have some
ideas for the board. So I look forward
to that as well. Thank you Mr. Polland.
Do we have any questions for Mr.
Polland? Thank you sir. Thank you.
Martha West.
Good afternoon, Mayor Bowski and members
of city council.
I reside at 8244 East Chaparel and I've
been a homeowner here in Scottsdale for
just a little less than a year. Although
back in the late 1980s and most of the
1990s, we lived in Scottdale as well.
I'm also a 21-year
um uh city employee, actually 23-year
city employee. I worked from 1988 to
2001 primarily in long range planning
and downtown planning and then from 2012
until 2021 as a real estate management
specialist in managing the real estate
program.
My educational background and
professional background that would
support my application to you as a
member of the board of adjustment
include the following. I am a um
graduate of urban reg urban planning
program from Ryerson University in
Toronto, Canada.
and I have a working knowledge of the
city of Scottdale zoning code
as um a volunteer for our homeowners
association.
I'm on on the board of directors and um
I understand the Robert's rules of order
in terms of how the board of adjustment
needs to conduct itself.
Um, I think the top issue for the board
of adjustment really is in my opinion
the fact that the board is a quasi
judicial board. It has very specific
rules and an appeal from the decision of
the board of adjustment goes to the
superior court. For this reason, I think
we have to be very very aware of the
very specific uh rules of engagement for
uh the approval of variances and also
for an appeal of an interpretation from
the zoning administrator.
And I thank you today for your
consideration.
Thank you, Miss West. Do we have any
questions for Miss West? Thank you.
Thank you.
I'll now entertain a vote for the board
of adjustment. Each council member can
vote for one nominee.
Councilman Quasman,
I am thrilled to cast my vote for Randy
Powen. His leadership, his knowledge,
his experience
uh is in my opinion unparalleled in this
state. And anything or everything that
Randy Powen puts his heart into, I know
is successful. So with that, I vote for
Randy.
Council Mallen. Yes, I uh nominate
lots of clouds and thunderstorms
technical issue weather.
Go ahead.
I nominate Martha West.
I nominate Martha West. Mayor Brown.
Randy Pollen.
Councilman Littlefield. Michael
Gonzalez.
Councelor Quasman, was it a close one
for you?
Uh, Mr. Poland and all the applicants
are qualified.
Wonderful pool of applicants. And I'll
select Randy Polland.
And with that, Mr. Polland, you have
been appointed. Congratulations.
The Historic Preservation Commission. We
have one opening. The Historic
Preservation Commission oversees the
development and management of
Scottsdale's historic preservation
program. There is one vacancy and two
nominees. The nominees are Cat Jorvik
and she will be um participating in this
meeting electronically and Bin Sharon.
Uh, Miss Sharon's term has expired and
she is eligible for reappoint.
So, city clerk, do we have Miss Jorg?
Okay, please proceed.
Hi, and good evening. Uh, thank you for
having me. My name is Cat Georgovich. I
live at 6835 East Elmarrier Road in
Village Grove historic community. I've
been living there for almost 9 years
now. Uh my professional background is in
tech, in supply chain, and real estate,
both on the sales side as well as on the
building side. I'm thrilled to be
considered for this historic
preservation commission. As a resident
of our historic community, I see
firsthand the unique charm and value our
homepring, not only for us, but for
future generations. With my uh
background in real estate, I understand
both the challenges and opportunities
that come with preserving historic
properties, especially as we enter into
the summer and are seeing higher and
higher temperatures, which I believe is
our biggest issue. I'm committed to
making sure that our preservation
efforts are not only respectful of our
past, but also practical and sustainable
so these homes can stand for another 50
plus years. I care deeply about keeping
our community in good shape and will
advocate for thoughtful and appropriate
maintenance that honors our history
while maintaining um the needs of
today's homeowners. Thank you for your
uh consideration.
Thank you. Do we have any questions for
Mr. George?
Thank you, Bin Sharon.
Hi, my name is Brent Sharon. Thank you
for having me. Um, I've lived at 2830
North 82nd Street in South Scottdale.
This is our 10th year. Um, my house is
from 1957. We're in a we're in village
of seven, so we didn't qualify to be
historic, but I love our house just the
same. I have been on the historic
preservation commission for the past
three years. Um, and I have tried
consistently to uphold the historic
preservation guidelines at every every
case we hear. Um, and I think for me
that's the top issue facing the
commission is my first meeting back in
2022 was um,
uh,
a case for Villa Monteray and our last
meeting in 2025 was three cases for
Villa Monteray and they have um, been
working under interim guidelines since I
believe 2011. So that's 14 years and
they haven't adopted them formally yet.
So we keep seeing them and I would
really like to see them get on board. So
um that's all for me. Thank you.
Thank you. Any questions for Miss
Sharon?
Okay.
We'll now entertain a vote for the
Historic Preservation Commission. Each
council member can vote for one nominee.
Councilwoman Macallen. Yes. I nominate
Bin Sharon.
Uh yeah, I vote to reappoint Brenn
Sharon.
I'd like to uh cast my vote for Cat
Dejordic
Bren Sharon.
Cat Jordivic
I'll vote for Cat to Gorge and
Councilman Quasman.
Likewise, I'll vote for Cat.
Uh, Cat Deorgic has been appointed.
Congratulations, Cat.
The Human Services Advisory Commission.
There are three openings. The Human
Services Advisory Commission provides
advisory recommendations to staff and
the city council on human services
priorities and programs and funding
allocations for Scottsdale cares
community development block grants home
home services emergency and general
funds. There are three vacancies in four
nominees. Gary Blatnik and Pamela
Hallows have withdrawn their
applications from consideration. The
nominees are Cynthia Hill, Sheila Row,
Mary Jung, whose term has expired and is
eligible for reappoint, and Cindy Schae,
who will be participating in this
afternoon's meeting electronically.
So, I'll call up Cindy Hill and then
Sheila Row.
Hi, good evening, Mayor Browski and
council members. My name is Cindy Hill.
I live at 8414 East Vista Drive. I've
lived there for 29 years. And um I'm a
also the proud wife of a retired
Scottsdale police officer who I saw just
came in. and I want to wish him a happy
37th anniversary today because this is
how we're celebrating our anniversary.
It is a privilege to stand before you
today as a nominee for the Human
Services Advisory Commission. I'm a
longtime advocate for Scottsdale's
families, seniors, and underserved
residents. And my journey to service
reflects a belief that real change
starts at the grassroots level. I'm
applying to this commission because I
see human services as the heartbeat of
Scottsdale, especially as we face
challenges in development,
affordability, and mobility. I've seen
firsthand how policies and thoughtful
decision-making can change lives. I want
to bring a voice to this commission that
reflects boots on the ground experience,
compassion, and an unwavering belief in
community.
Rising housing costs, transportation
gaps, and li limited awareness of
services are the pressing issues. As a
commissioner, I'd advocate for increased
outreach and continued support for
affordable programs that strengthen
families and foster independence. As a
former member of the Pyute Neighborhood
Community Center board, I have closely
worked with local families to connect
them with essential services. Through
the aging and place committee, I've
helped seniors maintain independence
with dignity. And when development
pressures threatened the senior
residents of Wagon Wheel Ranch RV Park,
I stepped up to help relocate them
safely and respectfully because no one
should be left behind. With a Leos, I've
built programs that bridge gaps between
law enforcement and the community. And
through Vista Del Camino, I've proudly
supported back to school drives that
ensure every child starts the year with
confidence and hope. My experiences
taught me to listen first, act with
empathy, and work collaboratively.
Three values I'd bring to this role if
selected. Thank you for your
consideration and for the hard work that
all of you do to better our community.
Thank you. Do we have any questions for
Miss Hill? Thank you, Miss Hill, Sheila
Row, and then Mary Jung.
My name is My name is Sheila Row. My
address is on file with the city clerk.
Mayor Barowski, Vice Mayor Dvascus, and
distinguished members of the council.
Thank you for inviting me here today. I
am not an Arizona native, but when my
husband's active duty military service
came to an end, we were tasked with
finding a place to settle and raise our
family.
We chose Scottsdale. That was 34 years
ago and we've never looked back.
To us, Scottsdale is a beautiful place
to live, but also a community of warm,
welcoming, and generous people. Very
much a synergy of people and place.
We're fortunate to have enjoyed a
comfortable and prosperous life here in
Scottsdale. But we cannot lose sight of
the fact that not everyone
has that same experience and some
struggle to live here.
As a person, I carry the heart of a
servant, the intellect of an accountant,
and a creative energy. These are the
qualities I bring to everything I do,
both personally and professionally. in
service to veterans organizations,
church organizations, community service
outreach projects. Those are the
qualities I believe can bring value to
the human services advisory commission.
I see two conflicting issues facing the
commission, the need within the
community, and finite resources
available to address it. Our hearts may
want to reach out to everyone, but our
intellects tell us we must be practical
stewards of the resources that were
allocated. So that leaves us to engage
creatively to stretch existing resources
and amplify them with community
engagement. I would be honored to
participate as a member of the
commission and focus on easing the
challenges of living in Scottsdale for
those who currently struggle. Thank you.
Thank you. Do we have any questions for
Miss Row? One one question. Vice Mayor,
uh, Miss Row, can you said uh that you
had the uh intellect of an accountant.
Can you say a little more about I'm just
kidding.
I'm I'm the designated accountant up
here. So I Thank you. There seems to be
an awful lot of us here in the room
tonight. This room is kind of teeming
with them. Maybe I would say lousy with
them. Yes, it's kind of
accountantinfested right now. It is.
Thank you. Certainly. Thank you, Miss
Row,
Mary Jung, and then Cindy Shop.
You're accountant. Let it be no surprise
that I'm an accountant.
[Laughter]
Mayor, council, my name is Mary Jung.
I've lived in the city of Scottsdale for
um over six years. I live at 9163 East
Nitney Drive, 85255.
I am a former human services commission
commissioner and was elected to the vice
um chair role twice um serving a
three-year term that ended in May 2025.
I work at Honor Health as the director
of community impact in the area of
government and community affairs and
part of my role is to study public
health issues um and create
opportunities to address those issues.
I'm a business person and yes, a former
certified public accountant and a
volunteer in the community. I serve on
the board of Noah neighborhood outreach
access to health and also the Scottsdale
based um partners for Pyute.
I understand public health and social
issues. I'm a financial professional and
prioritize financial stewardship.
I understand nonprofits and community-
based organizations.
I'm an experienced commissioner and
contributed to the human services
strategic plan. and I care about the
prosperity and well-being of Scottsdale
and its residents.
I believe the top issue um is that our
needs um exceed our resources.
A a wide variety of individuals and
families need temporary support during a
life crisis and unfortunately
uh we are seeing more crises um every
day. So unfortunately that that does
mean that we need to be a steward of the
limited resources that we have and I
would be honored to serve again as a
human services commissioner. Thank you.
Thank you. Do we have any questions for
Miss Jung?
Thank you.
Cindy Schop.
Hi. Good afternoon. Um I'm Cindy Schoff
and I am not an accountant. I live at 8
I live at 82222 East Via de la Equala um
on McCormack Ranch 85258.
I am not an Arizona native as well. I am
originally from Wisconsin. I bought my
home in 2021. I came down as a part-time
snowbird and now I am a full-time
resident. My background is I am a
recently retired business owner and I
was our HR director, entertainment
director, benefit advisor, um on board
psychologist, not qualified, you name
it. Uh the reason that I applied is a
lot of the work that I did with our
employees, we had 60 employees and it
was my duty to make sure that everybody
had proper benefits be it insurance,
401k benefits, uh keeping people happy,
putting together productive teams of
employees by being able to know each
person's personality as best as I could
to make sure that people could work very
well together
and that could have some uh challenging
times. I am also in the process of
becoming a volunteer for Honor Health at
the foundation location for the
philanthropy center. I'm waiting to hear
about that. So, I am newer to the area
as a full-time resident. I'm looking to
help out where I can and I feel with my
HR background, I am a very good read of
people that I could be of some benefit
to help people in our communities that
do not have some of the luxuries that
the rest of us do. Um, I have not worked
on any boards before. I I was a landlord
for 10 years, so I've dealt with people
in that way, making sure people are uh
that everybody is following the uh state
laws of Wisconsin for renting. Um, so
that's a little bit about me. I bring my
Midwest nice to the city of Scottsdale
and I thank you for your time.
Thank you very much. Do we have any
questions for Miss Shopee?
Okay, thank you.
I will now entertain a vote for the
Human Services Advisory Commission. Each
council member can vote for three
nominees.
Councilman Whitehead. Okay. I will vote
for Cynthia Hill. Reappoint Mary Jung
and Sheila Row.
Thank you. Uh Cindy Hill, uh Sheila Row,
and Cindy Schop. And thank you, Mary,
for your service to the city.
Cindy Hill, Mary Jong, and Cindy Schop.
Miss Hill, Miss Row, Miss Schae,
Cindy Hill, Sheila Row, Mary Jung,
Cindy Hill, Sheila Row, and Cindy Sha.
Mary Jung, Sheila Row, and Cindy Hill.
It looks like we have a runoff between
Mary Jung and Cindy Schae. That's
correct. So give me a moment just to
clear the board. But so uh that does
mean that Cindy Hill and Sheila Row have
been selected. Congratulations.
So we'll start with Mayor Browski.
Cindy Shop,
Mary Jung,
Miss Schae,
Mary Jung,
Miss Schae,
Mary Jung, Mary Jung.
Okay, thank you. So, uh, Cindy Hill,
Sheila Row, and Mary Jung have been
appointed. Congratulations.
The Industrial Development Authority, we
have one opening. The Industrial
Development Authority's main function is
to issue taxexempt bonds for certain
types of private developments for the
purpose of attracting new economic
activity to the community. There is one
vacancy and one nominee. The nominee is
Edgar Alvarado and Mr. Alvarado will be
participating in the meeting
electronically. Please proceed. Mr.
Alvarado,
thank you very much. Can everyone hear
me? Yes. Okay, perfect. Uh, thank you
mayor and council uh for making the
time. Uh, my name is Edgar Alvarado and
I live at 12235
North 93rd Way in Sweetwater Ranch. And
my wife and I had a home for four years
in, uh, Scottsdale Country Club East,
and we decided to do a new construction,
which is where we're at now. And
literally, um, you know, we have, uh,
made the decision to be permanent
residents, and we are literally in the
middle of that move this week. Uh, so
this actually comes in an opportune time
and um I've been very familiar with the
Phoenix and Scottsdale area since 1993,
which is when um I first uh went there
on business and have traveled
extensively to the area over those past
35 almost 40 years and particularly with
Scottsdale. My wife and I have traveled
there on business and pleasure for over
20 years. Fell in love with it. very
familiar with the area. Um I've been
very uh fortunate to have seen the
development of Scottdale stale over
those 354 years and been extremely
impressed with how the growth has been
managed, how it's been uh you know
looked at in terms of benefits for the
residents and for tourism etc. Um, and
so having made a decision to become
permanent residents, um, I wanted to do
my part and give back. And I do have a
history of doing that. I think it's a
personal priority for me. Um, I do have,
uh, experience in, uh, public service. I
am a trustee of the villages south
parenting here in Illinois. Um, I'm in
my middle of my second elected term,
which obviously I will res I am resigned
or have resigned since we're moving. Um
and my experience is you know uh real
estate uh investments. Um I have an
undergraduate degree from the University
of Illinois uh an MBA from Northwestern.
Um have done a significant amount of
transactions. So I have an understanding
of that financing and while I am not an
accountant
uh I am a certified financial expert. So
that means not only uh not only do uh
you know I'm I'm I basically understand
and have conversations with accountants
and and know what they're saying. Mr.
Alvarado, thank you so much. Your time
is expired. Do we have any questions for
Mr. Alvarado?
Okay, we will now entertain a vote for
the Industrial Development Authority
starting with Councilwoman Littlefield.
Thank you. Uh, Edgar Alvarado. We just
do a vote by acclamation or a vote by
acclamation. Yeah. All in favor? I I
congratulations, Mr. Alvarado. You have
been appointed.
Thank you very much.
Lost Trust Fund Board. There is one
opening. The Lost Trust Fund Board is
responsible for recommendations to the
city council regarding the
administration of the Lost Trust Fund.
There is one vacancy and one nominee.
The nominee is Tammy Smith. Miss Smith
will be participating in this
afternoon's meeting electronically.
Miss Smith, please go ahead.
Okay, let's do a sound check. Can you
hear me clearly? We got you. Okay, thank
you. Hello, my name is Tammy Smith. My
address is 7634 East Vista Drive. I have
lived in Scottsdale with my husband
since 2009. Thank you for the
opportunity to interview for the lost
trust fund board. A special thank you to
Raml who throughout this process has
been kind, professional, and helpful.
How does my experience relate to the
lost trust fund board? I graduated from
the state university of New York at
Buffalo with a bachelor of science
degree in business studies. In my
professional experience of over 25
years, I've worked for large enterprise
corporations and roles involving
financial analysis, corporate and
municipal budgets, and revenue
generation. I've held positions as a
compliance and risk manager, and as a
commercial underwriter, as well as a
regional manager of business development
with a portfolio that exceeded $500
million. I successfully completed a six
sigma green bell program as well as
Moody's risk management and lending
training. My professional career was
extraordinary. Opportunities were given
to me beyond my dreams. I am grateful
and that is why it is important for me
to give back to my community. I am the
neighborhood watch captain for my
community for the last nine years. I'm
the captain of a precinct and our
legislative district 4. Also, I
volunteer at the US Military Entrance
Processing Station in downtown Phoenix
as a volunteer for the American Red
Cross service to the armed forces. What
do I think is the top issues facing the
board? On May 7th, I attended the Lost
Trust Fund Board meeting as a guest. The
board members and staff were led by
George Woods, the director of risk
management. They discussed risk
management issues and fiscal planning
for the year for the city of Scottsdale.
The top issues for the lost trust fund
board members are to ask relevant
questions and to provide guidance to the
city staff. Thank you again for the
opportunity to interview for this board
and I will um if there are any questions
I'm happy to answer.
Thank you. Do we have any questions for
Miss Smith?
All right. I will now entertain a vote
for the lost trust fund board starting
with Councilman Graham. Um I'll claimer
by acclamation. by acclamation.
Yes.
Congratulations, Miss Smith. You have
been appointed.
Thank you. Thank you.
McDall Sonor and Preserve Commission.
There is one opening. The McDall Sonorin
Preserve Commission provides citizen
oversight for acquisition, preservation,
management, and stewardship of the Mcdow
Mountain and related sonoran desert for
the benefit of this and future
generations. There is one vacancy and
one nominee. The nominee is Savannah
Ankling. Uh, Miss Ankling's term has
expired and she is eligible for
reappoint. Miss Ankling.
Hello everybody. Um, let me just adjust
this. Uh, my name is Savannah Engel
King. My address is on file and I was
born and raised in Scottsdale, Arizona,
where I have lived for the entire 30
years of my life. Um, I would first and
foremost like to thank our honorable
city council members for supporting my
nomination. I would also like to thank
my fellow uh Mcdal Sonor and preserve
commissioners. It's an honor to work
with all of you and I'm humbled to have
been chosen as your vice chair. A little
bit about my background. Uh my education
in biology as an EMT and as a business
professional have given me a unique
perspective on the preserve and our
city's symbiotic relationship with the
land. My career as a park ranger,
wildlife relocator, and animal control
officer have provided me with a deep
understanding of public land regulation
and enforcement gained through real life
experience.
Lastly, my work as a volunteer park
guide, educator, and wildlife rehabber
has given me a true appreciation for how
invaluable education is both for the
preservation of public land and for the
benefit and well-being of our city.
I would also like to thank the city
council for protecting our residents and
our votes by continuing to support Prop
490 against the lawsuit filed by the
Goldwater Institute. It is the McDowenor
Preserves Commission's duty to advise on
the implementation of Proposition 490
within the preserve and we look forward
to sharing our knowledge and insights
with the city that we call home to help
our fellow residents that are our
neighbors, friends, and family.
Um, a top issue currently facing the
commission is the Rio Wildlife Crossing.
Um, I would again like to thank the
council for approving the feasibility
study so that we may implement this
innovative and long-term land management
tool and solution as effectively as
possible. Thank you. Thank you. Do we
have any questions for Miss Angel King?
All right. Thank you. Thank you.
And I'll now entertain a vote for the
McDall sonor and Preserve Commission by
acclamation. Savannah Engel King. I
here. Hi. Congratulations, Miss Angel
King. You've been reappointed.
Planning Commission. There are two
openings. The planning commission holds
public meetings and makes
recommendations to the city council on
all matters relating to the creation of
zoning districts, the enforcement of
zoning regulations, amendments to all
zoning ordinances, and any other
planning and zoning issues. There are
two vacancies and five nominees. The
five nominees are Maryanne Bison,
Douglas Drake, Katie Kefir, Thomas
Leblon Jr., David Reid. I will ask
Maryanne Bison and then Douglas Drake to
come forward please.
Hi, good afternoon. Hi everyone. Um I am
Maryanne Bazan and I am not an
accountant.
How can there be so many? I am however a
very proud graduate of Arizona State
University. I got my degree in
microbiology but I have made a vast
departure from that and have worked in
real estate now for over 30 years. So I
have seen a lot of progress. I've seen
what has worked, what has not worked and
I understand what the residents here
value and what's important to them as
our beautiful city grows.
Um,
I think it's incredibly important that
we are very thoughtful and very careful
in what we do, how we plan our growth.
Um, certainly there is progress, but
there should be a great deal of thought
put into that progress, knowing how it
affects our community, how it affects
our residents, how it affects our homes.
Um, and I think that's about it.
Thank you. Did I answer everything?
So the ball. Do we have any questions
for Miss Bison?
Thank you very much. Thank you. I'd be
very honored. If not this time, sometime
in the future. So thank you. Thank you,
Douglas Drake. Katie Kefir,
mayor, vice mayor, and counsel. I am
Doug Drake and I live at 6929
Montterway in Scottsdale and of course
and uh I've been a resident here for six
years. I'm a retired on air promotion
producer, writer and editor. I made
commercials for popular TV shows and
movies for many TV networks and cable
channels. I have six years of experience
on the Burbank California Planning
Commission with stints as chair and vice
chair where I reviewed quite a large
scale amount of projects and helped
settle land use disputes between the
city and homeowners and carried out many
other duties for the Burbank City
Council. I helped approve the city's
general plan that languished for years
incomplete. During my tenure, I was the
planning commission representative on
the sustainability task force meetings,
helping to keep the city well focused. I
represent Burbank during the discussions
of the 710 freeway extensions in Los
Angeles where an expansive tunnel system
under a residential neighborhood was
proposed.
I also was privileged to take several
field trips throughout California,
Nevada, and Arizona to learn more about
water resources in every area. I believe
the biggest issue facing the Scottsdale
Planning Commission is the potential for
highdensity mixed use development
proposals coming before the commission.
I feel that any large-scale development
proposals of a magnitude that we see
under construction now or in the queue
will need to face more scrutiny
for comm community uh for cumulative
impacts.
So I will bring extra passion,
enthusiasm and insight into the position
because I believe I've done it before. I
am a respectful, upbeat, and thoughtful
person that will take on this position
with the utmost responsibility to my
community. Thank you for your
consideration. Thank you, Mr. Drake. Do
we have any questions?
Thank you, sir. Uh Katie Kefir and then
Thomas Leblond.
Hello everyone, mayor, fellow council
members. My name is Katie Kefir. My
address is 9757
East San Salvador Drive. I am a
Scottsdale native. Um I just recently
relocated back to good old Scottsdale
Ranch uh from Los Angeles. Uh and
collectively that gets me at 19 years as
a resident. My experience includes a
bachelor degree in real estate
development and an executive master's
degree in urban planning.
Professionally, I've worked across the
public, private, and nonprofit sectors
for the last 15 years, giving me a
unique 360 view of land use and zoning
decisions. I've worked for developers
and represented them with the planning
process. I've worked for a council
member overseeing zoning and general
plan amendments, assessing design
overlays and cups. I've worked for a
county doing master planning for county
owned pro uh properties and land and
I've worked for a business improvement
district balancing the priorities of
property owners with the public realm
and economic development priorities. I
believe the most pressing priority is
community engagement. Uh it's the
foundation that interconnects the
planning commission's work with
individual projects. Community
engagement is simply community
listening. It's meeting people where
they are at uh to build a sense of
ownership and trust from day one of a
project and maintain the transparency
throughout that project's evolution, be
it someone's backyard, down the street,
or generally within their community. And
with that, thank you for your
consideration. Thank you. Do we have any
questions for Miss Kefir?
Thank you. Uh Thomas Leblond and then
David Reid.
Good afternoon, Mayor and good
afternoon, council members. My name is
Tom Leblond. I reside in True North at
2814
28412
North 92nd Place. As a proud
Scottsdale resident since 1985, I am
here to apply for a position on the
planning commission.
My passion is to reserve
Scottsdale's unique character, charm,
and quality of life.
I am committed to promoting responsible
growth, protecting our natural beauty,
and upholding the values that make our
community exceptional.
With 38 years as a home builder in
Scottsdale, I've constructed over 400
custom homes. This experience has given
me a deep understanding of building
codes,
city regulations,
and HOA guidelines.
My experience designing and building
high quality homes has enabled me
to provide valuable insights
for informed decision on the planning
commission.
The primary issue
facing the planning commission is the
influx of monolithic
uninspired structures that threaten
Scottsdale's unique style and its
reputation as a worldclass place to
live.
These developments risk eroding
the city distinctive character which is
defined by beautiful harmonious
architecture and natural surroundings.
To address this, I would advocate for
stricter design guidelines that focus on
architectural excellence, beauty, and
compatibility with Scottsdale desert
environment.
Done. Thank you. Do we have any
questions for Mr. Leblond?
Thank you. David Reid.
Good afternoon, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and
council members. My name is David Reid.
I live at 7631 East Corva Drive in
Scottsdale and I've been a wonderfully
happy citizen here for the last 15
years. I'm a graduate of a ASU's WP
Kerry School of Business and after
college I spent my career leading
divisions of two large public
corporations.
I currently serve on a board of
directors and on the Scottsdale Airport
Commission. My experience in college, in
business, and on the airport commission
have taught me the value of staying
focused on your goals while also
understanding how to negotiate with
different constituents to align and
incorporate their needs in plans that
are acceptable to everyone. I believe
the most important issue facing the
planning commission and the city council
is the development and also the
redevelopment of our city to maintain
its unique and valuable characteristics.
I love our open spaces, our parks, our
restaurants, our golf, our entertainment
ve venues that facilitate our
lifestyles. The architecture of our city
and the balance of high density and
lowdensity
living and working and recreational
environments must be cherished and
maintained. We can and must do a better
job to ensure quality development. Thank
you for your consideration.
Do we have any questions for Mr. Reid?
Thank you, sir. Thanks.
We will now entertain a vote for the
planning commission. Each council member
can vote for two nominees. Councilman
Quasman.
I nominate Doug Drake and Tom Levant.
Miam. Mel.
I nominate uh Doug Drake and Katie
Kefir.
I will nominate um Katie Kefir and David
Reid.
What a great group of applicants. Tough
to pick. Great choices. Thank you all
for applying. I uh am going to cast my
vote for Doug Drake and Tom Leblond.
I will vote for Maryanne Bison and David
Reid.
Thank you, Vice Mayor. All the
applicants very qualified and very
appreciate their application. I will
cast my votes for Mr. Drake and Mr.
Reid.
And I will vote for Douglas Drake and
Thomas Leblond.
Mr. Drake, congratulations. It looks
like we have a runoff between Thomas
Leblond and David Reid.
Councilwoman Macallen. Uh, David Reid.
David Reid.
Tom Leblanc.
David Reid.
Mr. Reid.
Tom Leblanc.
Mr. Reid,
Douglas Drake, and David Reid have been
appointed. Congratulations.
The Tourism Development Commission.
There is one industry rep opening. The
tourism development commission advises
the city council on matters concerning
the expenditure of revenues from the
transaction privilege tax on transient
lodging which is bed tax designated for
tourism development. Special
qualifications as specified in the
Scottsdale city code. The Tourism
Development Commission shall consist of
representatives of the tourism industry
in Scottsdale, including a minimum of
four Scottsdale hotelers, one member of
the Scottsdale Convention and Visitors
Bureau, and a balance from elements of
the tourism industry. There is one
industry representative position vacancy
and three nominees. The nominees are
Darien Wyn, Mr. Win will be
participating in this afternoon's
meeting electronically. Joseph Shenovich
and French Thompson. We will hear first
from Darien Wyn and then Joseph
Shashenovich. Darien.
Good afternoon. My name is Darien Wyn
and I'm a proud Scottsdale native of
over 20 plus years and I currently live
at 24344
North 75th Way. I'm a professional chess
player and an ASU graduate with an
educator background working with over
100 students both locally and
internationally from Scottsdale to
Switzerland and beyond. I have created
and hosted competitive programs with
local vendors at top resorts in
Scottsdale and built a global network I
can leverage to elevate our city's
presence worldwide.
With my background in education,
technology, business analytics, and
machine learning, I can help Scottsdale
modernize its outreach using targeted
marketing, search engine optimization,
and digital platform forms. The biggest
challenge for the tourism development
commission is expanding our audience
reach. I bring together both local
networks and global reach to transform
Scottsdale to a yearround
multigenerational destination. With
strong roots and passion in this
community and a global platform to build
from, I am ready to help Scottsdale grow
into a dynamic, inclusive, and
internationally recognized city.
Thank you. Thank you. Do we have any
questions for Mr. Wen?
Thank you, Mr. Wen. Joseph Shinovich and
then French Thompson.
Good afternoon, Mayor, uh, Vice Mayor,
and Council. My name is Joe Sherovich. I
live in McCormack Ranch, 85258. I've
lived in Scottsdale for 39 years. I've
worked in Scottsdale golf and
hospitality industry for nearly 40
years. My wife is a native. We've raised
our children here, built a career here
on the golf and hospitality pillars of
the Scottsdale economy. I'm thrilled at
the opportunity to give back and lend
industry perspective to the big picture
items facing the commission. I've been
fortunate to be employed as the general
manager at Greyhawk Golf Club, which
opened 30 years ago. We've hosted many
great local and national events in our
history that have brought the entire
Scottsdale hospitality community
together to deliver a memorable
experience for all of our attendees.
Most recently, Greyhawk, Arizona State,
and Scottsdale hosted the women's and
men's NCAA Division 1 National
Championships from 2021 to 2023 in May
with over 300 student athletes from all
over the country, coaches, university
sports information directors, and
parents attending. The NCAA enjoyed the
spirit of our great community with all
of our enthusiastic golf volunteers and
the host hotel being the Grand Hyatt at
Gate at Gayy Ranch and most notably our
great weather.
Tourism is foundational to the city of
Scottsdale's economy and with over 35
years in the Scottsdale golf industry, I
firmly believe that golf is the
heartbeat of Scottsdale's tourism
ecosystem. Ensuring that the golf
industry's voice is represented in the
tourism conversations happening
throughout the city and within the
commission is paramount as Scottsdale is
rightly regarded as one of the best
places to play golf in the world. The
Scottsdale golf sector employs thousands
of people and I'm pleased to be an
advocate on its behalf as it has
certainly earned its mainstay in the
Scottsdale tourism market with the great
courses and our continued returning
customers who enjoy everything
Scottsdale has to offer. Thank you.
Thank you. Do we have any questions?
Thank you, sir.
French Thompson.
Good evening, mayor, city council. My
name is French Thompson. My address is
on record. You know, I was really
impressed with these other two people
that um are in front of me. So, I'm
going to vote for one or the other of
these two, and I'm going to withdraw my
nomination. I think both of these two
are more qualified than I am. I will say
that one of the things that I think I
would bring to the uh the board because
I've presented to it, I've been involved
with it for many years. I was the
president of the Scottdale Gallery
Association for many terms. I was also
the president of the um contemporary
forum with the Phoenix Art Museum, which
is the largest fundraising group the
Phoenix Art Museum had. I've been in
retail for over 40 years. I've lived
here for 47 years. And I think if I was
on this board, I would add a unique
perspective because as a small
businessman, you have to be really
nimble on your feet. You have to be able
to adapt. You have to be able to change.
And I'm very aware that tourism is a
major draw for this city. It it you
know, we generate a lot of sales tax off
of them. And I'm right there on the
front line. I'm talking to these people
as they come in those businesses. And
one of the first things we do is we say,
"Hey, where are you from?
Honestly,
for many years, I would be surprised
when somebody would say they they're
from here. I mean, it's getting more
because the city's getting bigger, but
generally it would be a shock that
somebody said they lived here. So, I
know how important the tourism is. And,
you know, my idea would be simply to
bring a different view of the arts and
the retail business to the commission
and be able to share that because it's
all teamwork. everybody on the
commission works together to be able to
make it better for the city of
Scottsdale. So, you know, thank you for
your time and that consideration, but
I'm I'm withdrawing my my application.
Okay.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Um, I'll now
entertain a vote for the Tourism
Development Commission. Each council
member can vote for one nominee and I
will start with Councilwoman Whitehead.
Oh. Uh, okay. I am going to first of all
say I'm so intrigued again with Mr.
Nuen. So, I may be following up with
you. I'd love to see that broadened uh
to professional chess in Scale. But, uh,
for tonight, I'll be voting for Mr. um,
Sher Sher Shenovich.
I echo what Councilwoman uh Whitehead
just said. Three great candidates and uh
I'm going to cast my vote for Joseph
Shereneovich.
Same here. Thank you very much.
French.
French.
Are you sure?
Qualified. You say they're qualified.
They are qualified. But everyone's
qualified to me. But you think that
right today as we stand here, as we sit
here right now, they edge you in the
qualifications.
Okay, fine. Uh, I will cast mine for Mr.
Shashenovich.
Joseph Shersenovich.
Madam Vice Mayor, I just want to say
very quickly that one of the one of the
exciting aspects of having um uh Joseph
on this commission is really the focus
of golf in our tourism industry. Um as
the chair of the uh of the subcommittee
of economic development, golf is is a
forefront of our future and our our
present, our past and our future. and I
am looking forward to working directly
with you as much as humanly possible as
we make sure that uh it it has the
environmental focus, the economic focus
and the cultural focus for this city. So
enthusiastically
uh for Mr. Shenovich.
All right. Uh Mr. Shenovich has been
appointed. Congratulations. Vice Mayor,
can I vote? Sorry.
I was just going to say that was very uh
humble of French who does have a vast
knowledge of arts in Scottsdale to so
kindly withdraw and I'm um
enthusiastically voting for Joe
Shashandovich uh because of his decades
of experience and how that affects
tourism in Scottsdale. So, thank you,
Vice Mayor. My apologies. Thank you and
congratulations. Uh, Vice Mayor, if I
may, uh, for the record of Councilwoman
Littlefield, if we can just get your
formal, uh, vote for this opening. Yes,
it's for Mr. Shashenovich. Um, but also,
I would like to say I see a a good place
for uh, professional chess players in
Scottsdale, too. So, you might reach out
to this young man and see what you can
come up with together. Thank you.
This concludes our appointment process
for today. I would like to thank all of
our nominees for their interest in
serving on a city board or commission.
We are fortunate to continue to receive
qualified applicants for the position on
on on our boards and commissions. If you
were not appointed today, your
application will remain on file for
consideration at a future date if there
are additional vacancies. City staff
will contact the individuals appointed
this evening and provide them with in
information on next steps regarding
their appointment. The city of
Scottsdale is very fortunate to have
such dedicated and talented individuals
who are willing and ready to serve our
city. Thank you very much to all
applicants and congratulations, Mayor
Browski.
Thank you very much. And yes, thank you
to everyone that applied and please come
back if you didn't make it tonight
because lots of great applicants and we
really appreciate your support and
enthusiasm for our city. So with that,
our our special meeting uh business has
concluded. I'll entertain a motion to
adjurnn. So second. All those in favor
say I. I. Thank you. We'll uh go ahead.
We have a five o'clock regular meeting,
but we're going to go ahead and take a
five 10 minute 10-minut break. Let's go
with 10. I heard 10. Uh thank you very
much for your patience.
We're having too much fun here.
This time I'd like to call the June
24th, 2025
regular council meeting to order. City
clerk Ben Lane, may I please have a roll
call. Thank you, Mayor. Mayor Lisa
Barowski, present. Vice Mayor Jan
Debascus here. Council members Barry
Graham here. Adam Clausman.
Kathy Littlefield here. Maryann McAllen
present. And Solange Whitehead here.
City man city manager Greg Kaitton here.
Acting city attorney Luis Santea here.
City Treasurer Sonia Andrews here.
Acting City Auditor Luff here. And the
clerk is present. Thank you, Mayor.
Thank you, Clerk Lane. Tonight we have
Scottsdale uh Sergeant Bernest Ingram
and Officer Darren Heyman, as well as
firefighter Ray Iglani. In the event
anyone needs any assistance, please
notify a member of our capable staff.
And uh for the pledge of allegiance, I'd
like to ask uh Councilwoman McCallen to
lead us.
To the flag of the United States of
America and to the republic for which it
stands, one nation under God,
indivisible, with liberty and justice
for all.
Thank you. And tonight uh tonight's
invocation will be led by Councilman
Barry Graham. Thank you, Mayor. I would
like to invite to the uh podium pastor
Mark Driscoll
who is uh making his way to the podium.
Say a few brief words about pastor
Pastor Mark. Pastor Mark founded Trinity
Church in Scottsdale in 2016 and it has
grown the city's faith community through
his dedicated leadership. Under his
leadership, Trinity has invested in over
five has invested over $5 million
uh to expand and renovate the historic
Glass and Garden Church located at Puma
and uh Indian or McDonald. It's the
circular white church. Yeah, that's
right. And u while preserving its legacy
and serving thousands. A prolific
author, Pastor Driscoll has inspired
many with his writings and alongside his
wife Grace wife and high school
sweetheart Grace Grace Driscoll. Uh
raising five children and with four
grandchildren, the fifth on the way, it
is my honor to introduce Pastor Mark
Driscoll to lead today's invocation.
Thank you. Thank you, Barry. It's an
honor to be here. On behalf of our
family and our church family, we love
you. We appreciate you. We thank you. Uh
our family moved here almost a decade
ago. It has been one of the great joys
of our life and the church we started
eight years ago has been richly blessed
and very well loved by the community. So
we appreciate you very much and it's
it's an honor to pray. If you'd like to
bow and join me, you're welcome to. Lord
God, I first and foremost say thank you.
I thank you for the history of this
great city founded by Winfield Scott, a
Bible teaching veteran who was committed
to faith and to family and to freedom.
And God, I thank you that those values
continue to this very day. God, I thank
you for where we are at the present here
in Scottsdale, a growing, thriving,
prosperous city. We say thank you. And
Lord God, I pray for our leaders as they
have decisions to make regarding our
future. Lord God, those decisions that
will affect my children and my
grandchildren who call this home as well
as many other. Lord God, I ask for
wisdom that they would make decisions
that would consider all the variables in
the future. And God, I ask that you
would give them courage to do the right
thing, whatever the personal price may
be. And Lord God, I thank you for each
of their sacrifices and their time. I
ask for a blessing in Jesus' name on
their families as they're giving time
here. I pray that you would be blessing
those who love them and those whom they
love. And Lord God, we thank you for
these people and their service and we
ask for their decision-making and
leadership to guide us into a great
future. And we ask for all of this in
Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you. Thank you,
pastor. Thank you, mayor. Thank you very
much. Uh possible executive session
announcement. Uh as is always the case
during this meeting uh tonight, the
council may make a motion to recess into
executive session. In the event we need
to obtain legal advice on any applicable
item on the agenda if authorized by the
council, the executive session will be
held immediately and will not be open to
the public. The public meeting in that
case would resume following the
executive session.
Right now, I'd like to move on to first
uh the first public comment which is
reserved for Scottsdale's citizens,
business owners, andor property owners
to comment on non-aggendaized items that
are within the council's jurisdiction.
No official council action will be taken
on these items and speakers are limited
to uh 3 minutes. And uh if you wish to
speak on a non-aggendaized item or an
agendaized uh topic this evening, please
see city clerk uh Ben Lane. And this
evening for non-aggendaized comments,
public comments, we've uh received
I'm going to take all of them uh now and
that's seven people I believe. Starting
with Alexandra Craig, who I understand
has uh some donated time. Okay, if you
have four minutes as a result. Does that
work for you? Okay, terrific. And then
Michael Fernandez, uh, RL Whitmer, Dan
Isaac, Carrie Cox will be up in the
queue.
Good evening, mayor and council members
of the city council. Thank you for the
opportunity to speak this evening. My
name is Alexandra Craig. I am a citizen
here to share with you the results of
the 2025 sustainable Scottsdale awards
program which was led by the Scottsdale
environmental advisory commission.
This award program celebrates members of
the community who are spearheading
significant environmental advancements
and recognizes innovative change makers
whose efforts inspire actions to improve
quality of life and make Scottsdale a
more livable, eco-friendly city.
applications were assessed using two
main bench points benchmarks producing
impacts and fostering innovation.
On this slide, you can see a snapshot of
the history of the award. An excellent
example of a previous winner is the
Hyatt Regency Scottsdale, which
demonstrated that financial success and
environmental stewardship are
interrelated and mutually achievable
goals.
For the 2025 application process, we had
a two-phase format developed by SEEK and
a total of 12 applications were
submitted representing a diverse range
of initiatives including resorts,
financial firms, local nonprofits, small
businesses, and even one of Arizona's
largest healthcare networks, Honor
Health.
That said, the 2025 award was presented
to Scottsdale Unifi's Echo Canyon School
for their successful implementation of a
closed loop food system. As demonstrated
on this slide, Echo Canyon initiated its
efforts by partnering with Arizona State
University to conduct a food waste
audit, sparking conversations with
students K through eight about the
importance of taking only what they
need. They introduced mood fill mill,
pardon me, mood mill food recycling bins
into their classrooms and implemented
worm farms
to provide hands-on composting lessons.
The resulting compost is then used in
their campus's pesticide-free gardens to
grow a variety of fruits and vegetables.
Echo Canyon then partners with local
chefs through their blue watermelon
project to harvest the gardens produce
and prepare nutritious meals for
students. Any leftover produce, any
leftover food is then returned to the
composting system, completing the closed
loop.
Altogether, these initiatives are
grounded in science and data while also
engaging students in hands-on learning
opportunities. Over the past year, from
September 2024 to April 2025, Echo
Canyon has calculated a 65% reduction in
the amount of waste going to the
landfill. This was achieved by not
giving anything up, but rather the
students simply being more mindful and
making better choices.
Echo Canyon's composting efforts help
reduce food waste and mitigate the
harmful environmental impacts. This is
critical as 30 to 40% of the US food
supply is wasted and accounts for
approximately 24% of all mun municipal
solid waste that is landfilled.
Additionally, wasted food squanders all
the valuable resources that went into
producing it such as water, energy,
labor, transportation, and more.
Conversely,
composting not only prevents the harmful
impacts we saw on the previous slide,
but it also returns the valuable
nutrients to the soil, improving its
overall health and ability to retain
water. In turn, healthier soil stores
more carbon, combating climate change on
a local scale.
Echo Canyon's initiatives also
demonstrate strong social benefits. The
commu the program actively engages
school staff, students, families, and
the broader community. From a schoolwide
survey, approximately 75% of families
are engaging in conversations about
minimizing food waste at home. Students
learn resource allocation and mindful
decision-making and are encouraged to
take leadership roles through their
culinary cultivators program. Notably,
the prek students are able to understand
the concept of waste and recognize that
they should only take what they need.
We do have a video. I know I'm out of
time, but I know you had two other
contributors for your time. Um, how much
time? Another minute. Would that The
video is one moment. One minute and I
can see. Okay, perfect. Let's let's see
the rest of it. Thanks. Okay, great. Um,
Clayton, are you able? Okay, great. Uh
so this is a video just highlighting
some the some of the video or excuse me
some of the photos from the awards
ceremony that took place on the campus
on April 28th. And we had the students,
staff, and administration team join us
for the awards ceremony, which was
immediately followed by a campus tour
led by the student culinary cultivators
who proudly were uh enthusiastically
sharing their work and showcasing the
sustainability efforts that they helped
lead. and we saw their um their critter
farms, their hissing cockroaches, the
worms, butterfly sanctuary, tortoises.
So, it was really an exciting experience
for the commissioners that were able to
attend as well as the students who were
incredibly excited to share all of their
achievements.
So,
does that conclude your presentation?
That does. Yeah. Well done. My apology
because I didn't know you had a
presentation. I That was very well done
and thank you for sharing all that
information with us. I do think there's
a couple of comments and Councilwoman
Mckllen. Okay, Alexander, great uh
presentation. Uh I did have the honor of
attending the awards ceremony. I was
very honored that you asked and I know
one of the um seek uh board uh two of
the SEK board members other than
yourself were also there. Judah was
there also. Uh, but just watching the
kids and Senator Warner was there, Karen
Warner was there also with us. And just
watching the pride from when they're the
young kids growing up through the ranks,
they all know that when they get to a
certain grade level, they get to do this
responsibility and then by the time
they're in eighth grade, they get to
mentor the kids who are in fifth grade.
just a lot of really um well done
programming that benefits our city um
and helps with the sustainability
efforts, but most of all helps build
leadership amongst the students. Thank
you for all your efforts. Uh it was it
was an honor to be a part of it. So,
thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you,
Councilwoman Whitehouse. Yes. Thank you,
Mayor. Yeah, I'll echo that. I am just
thrilled that the uh commission somehow
I missed that that you were doing this.
And I want to point out that of course
just last meeting recycled city was uh
on topic again because not only is
Recycled City doing the work at the
school, but they also are um composting
our food waste at our food bank down
south. So, it's just a wonderful company
and I'm just This is why commissions are
just really makes Gastel uh the best
city. So, thank you for that great
presentation. Thank you. Thank you very
much. Thank you,
Michael Fernandez.
Uh oh. I'm in trouble. We're
disappointing. You brought your full uh
band with you. This is my posy of girls.
There you go. You're back. You're back
up.
I'm married to my wife, Lisa, and I love
her, but these are my friends.
Add a girl.
Uh, is this
thing on?
Thank you.
I'm Michael Fernandez. Address on
record. I own Pottery Paradise, a
business that has been in Scottsdale
since 1951.
After having been extremely active in
Scottsdale politics and elections for
three decades, I took a short respit
only to re-engage only to get re-engaged
early this year when I heard the city
council was going to build a three-story
concrete parking garage that will ruin
the appeal of historic Oldtown,
desecrate the old Adobe Mission,
displace the farmers market, and
decimate area businesses like the
Mission Restaurant, Carson's
bootleggers, and many others, forcing
them to relocate if they can. On May
20th, we handed in a petition with more
than 5,000 signatures asking for a
public hearing. Six of you, led by
Councilman Barry BS Graham, rejected the
mayor's plea to give us a public
hearing. When campaigning, Mr. Graham
promised us that he would listen, always
listen to the public. He pledged in a
column, "If elected to the city council,
I will respond to the citizens
feedback."
Really?
What he didn't reveal is that you would
never have the opportunity to give any
feedback on the public record for crying
out loud? Why are you being so
obstinate? You're acting like my kids
when they were 5 years old and younger.
Unless, of course, like them, you have
something to hide.
Stop digging the hole and covering
yourself up. Recently, Patty Badnock
conducted a survey of 41 area
businesses. 33 opposed building the
garage in historic Oldtown.
Mr. Graham, in your emails responding to
residents, you claim that I am working
as a lobbyist for the light rail
industry. That is complete BS. Mr.
Graham, when you were a pimplefaced
teenager, I was spending vast amounts of
money,
time, and money fighting light rail
coming to Scottsdale. Mr. Graham, your
anonymous social media flax have
resorted to attacks claiming that
committee members are paid grifters.
This is also BS. I'm here tonight to
request that the council turn over a new
leaf and actually put citizens first and
give us our public hearing so that you
can get an accurate on there public
feedback.
You okay?
Okay. Thank you
very much. Thank you, Mr. Fernandez. Uh,
did you It looks like Councilman Graham
has a question. No, I'll just respond
very quickly. Thank you, Mr. Fernandez.
Um, but I dispute ever making that
accusation about you. I don't I didn't
make that accusation, but I appreciate
your uh comments. Thank you.
RL Whitmer, followed by Daniel Isaac,
Carrie Cox,
and then Steve Sutton, and Jason
Alexander.
Good evening, mayor and council.
Arl Whitmer, address on record. It's
been over 15 years since I appeared
before this body. Um, but uh, you know,
maybe we'll change that.
Um, I'm going to read a few excerpts
from a column written in 2022 by Barry
Graham, a candidate for Scottsdale City
Council titled, "Listening to residents
isn't enough." I'll repeat it. Listening
to residents is not enough. Quote,
"Every candidate running for city
council says if elected, they will
listen to residents. We've heard that
before only to be disappointed after
they were elected. I don't believe
listening is enough. Since I began my
put residents first campaign for
council, I've communicated with
thousands of residents. Several themes
have emerged. The overwhelming majority
of residents say that they're worried
that there is little regard given to
their opinion. They tell me they want
our city's economy to grow and prosper.
They also say it's important to make
sure the city enforces standards for
quality development.
I agree with residents. Protecting our
city's character is paramount to
preserving our quality of life,
expanding our economy, and attracting
visitors.
Quality standards are not just about
design, aesthetics, building materials,
or even heightened density. They include
ensuring residents input about a
project's appropriateness for an area.
Sound familiar?
As a member of the city planning
commission, I was influenced I was was
influenced by political hyperbol. I
carefully scrutinized projects and f
focused on the intensity of the
residents feedback. I never went along
to get along, nor did I hesitate to
reject projects like green belt 88 or
shade corridor apartment projects that
the majority of residents opposed. While
it is important for council members to
listen, listening isn't enough.
If elected to the city council, I will
respond to citizen feedback." End quote.
Barry, you now have the opportunity to
do what you promised the voters to
listen to the public and respect citizen
feedback. Supporting holding a public
hearing on building the parking garage
in the heart of old historic Oldtown is
a place to start. Please give us our
public hearing. Thank you. Thank you.
Uh, Councilman Graham has a question or
comment. Thank you, Mr. Weber.
Okay. Dan Isaac,
Dan Isaac, address on record. Mayor,
three minutes is not enough. I would
need three hours to talk about all of
the bad behavior of several of our
council members, but I'm going to
highlight just a few things. Um, Adam,
you keep talking about respect, although
you don't even have the respect to look
at me while I'm speaking. Um, yet you
sent a text vulgar laden, threatening to
pull the mayor out of our office. You
were unapologetic about it. In fact, you
told the press it was just your passion
showing. Adam, I don't think people
think that's passion. I think that's
something that's unhinged and
inappropriate. Not quite as bad as
chasing after a school bus full of kids,
but I'll give you some time to do
something worse.
Jan, you're also unapologetic.
You referred to the mayor as a female
specific porative.
You told the press you shouldn't have
said it. You didn't say that it was
wrong, nor did you apologize for it.
Jan, do you believe that's an
appropriate term for you to be referred
to by your colleagues or by residents?
Is that the term that you teach your
children to use to respect women? And
God forbid, what happens when your girls
are old enough and are called that. Do
you think it's okay, but you don't
apologize. You just said, "I shouldn't
have said it."
And then there's Barry.
Yeah, I'm going to listen to residents.
Barry and his minions have had me thrown
off next door. But guess what? Barry
doesn't want to listen to residents. He
wants to listen to residents that
support him. Could I have the ammo,
please?
So, since I'm off next door, my husband,
who abores politics but loves me, is
posting some comments.
Barry Graham is reporting them to
moderators to have them removed.
You can see what my husband posted,
which is actually 100% factual about the
2019 bond election. But Barry then tells
the next door moderators that I am
providing false information about an
election. And he says that I that Javier
is not civil.
Barry. Oh, and I'm sorry. We're also
circulating a third petition and Javier
posted a link to that petition online.
Barry told Next Door that it's spam and
its solicitation.
Barry, did you complain about the dozens
of Axon posts asking people to sign the
petition? No, you didn't.
So Barry, why is it that you only want
to listen to residents that support you?
There's a reason for that because you're
the worst type of politician.
So maybe, and if you care about civil
dialogue, call off your attack dog,
Scottsdale voter, aka Rod Pritchette,
who revealed himself during your ethics
Zoom meeting,
and talk about the horrible things that
he says about residents and business
owners in Scottsdale. But you won't
because we know what you are.
Thank you,
Carrie Cox.
My name is Carrie Cox. I reside at 13326
East Sorl Lane in Scottsdale for the
last 12 years. Good evening. I'm here
tonight to talk about the Shea Boulevard
corridor road work project. I have a
degree in traffic safety and with this
degree I taught driver education for 35
years. How many of you have taught a
teenager how to drive?
I'm still here.
The driver ed curriculum uh which I
taught included teaching about highway
features, safety, and designs. For your
recollection, the Shea Road work project
extends from the 101 loop east to 136th
Street. The road work project enhanced
enhancements included sidewalks, right
turn lanes, and offset left turn lanes.
We know for a fact and according to the
National Highway Transportation System,
rear end collisions are the most
frequent type of accidents on our
roadways. By adding the right turn lane,
this will help to alleviate this type of
accident. The second leading cause of
accident is side impact, which usually
occurs in an intersection with vehicles
turning uh left across traffic by adding
the offset left turn line. This allows a
driver to have an excellent visual lead
to see all lanes of traffic to make a
safer left turn. Mayor Barowski, you ran
a campaign that highlighted a promise to
quote strengthen public safety and
implement common sense traffic
solutions. End quote. I would say
promises made, promises kept on this
project. And kudos to city council men
and women for working together on
identifying and completing this road
work. This project is good for the
well-being of drivers in Scottsdale.
However, I do have two suggestions. My
neighbors and I have given Shea
Boulevard a new name. We call it Shea
Speedway.
We all know Arizona drivers have a very
difficult time controlling their speed.
50 really means 60. We also know that
the Shea Corridor has grown in housing,
businesses, medical facilities,
hospitals, schools, and churches. In my
professional opinion, I would change the
speed limit as follows. From the 101
loop to 100 street, drop the speed limit
to 35.
From 100 street to 136th Street, which
is the last part of that, 40 miles an
hour. My recommendation would be do
would be for the walk and don't walk
signs to flash before the light turns
yellow. I also taught my young drivers
to peek at the crosswalk signs to
determine when a light would change
before entering the intersection. Just
maybe we could have fewer red light
runners in Scottsdale. I thank you and
it's been my pleasure speaking before
you tonight.
Thank you, Carrie. All very good
information and uh hopefully we'll have
more to come on the on the red lights
and turn. Adam, I taught and I coached
girls golf for 35 years. So, I'll meet
you there and anybody. Okay, I think we
have another question or comment. Vice
Mayor Dascus.
Thank you, Madame Mayor. Um, I just
wanted to make sure that we had the
opportunity to record her
recommendations and perhaps through the
new constituent services team um get
back with Miss Cox. Yes, absolutely.
Thank you. Thank you, Madame Mayor.
Councilman Graham, did you come to kind
of tell us that we did a good job in
some ways? I am definitely saying that
changing the tune, you know, we'll
get that very often. We'll take that.
Exactly.
Madame Mayor, uh, Councilman Clausman, I
just want to I want to add and and just
as somebody who does this for a living
and and deals with car accidents, um, I
think your recommendations are
outstanding. Um, I think also, uh,
increasing yellow lights by 1 second has
proven to be a huge benefit for the
community in stopping red light runners
and and I think there's national data on
that and looking forward to working with
you.
I think it's outstanding. So, thank you
very much for all you've said.
Thank you, Steve Sutton.
And lastly, we'll have Jason Alexander.
Could
you turn on this? Is this This is
working great.
Sorry, I've got a couple things here.
Steve Sutton, address on record. I'm not
giving my address tonight. I think
you'll understand why later.
Good evening, Honorable Lisa Barowski,
mayor of Scottsdale and council members.
At the last meeting, Tom Frankle said
something about being sure he would get
near unanimous support from Oldtown
business owners to build a garage at the
parking corral. I think you've already
got some evidence tonight that that's
not necessarily true.
I've only made contact with 12 business
owners and property owners south of Main
Street in historic Oldtown.
11 of the 12 signed my petition. Two
property owners told me to use their
names as references to get more
signatures.
At the last council meeting, I told you
I have a petition circulating asking the
council to direct the city manager to do
an unbiased objective parking study in
the southeast and southwest quadrants of
Oldtown.
Shortly after I told the council that, I
asked Rod Pritchette, Barry Graham's
political adviser,
"How angry is Barry with me?"
Rod Pritchette's response was, "He's not
angry with you. He thinks you're
irrelevant.
Apparently, I'm not so irrelevant
anymore.
Over the last two weeks, Barry Graham,
his political adviser, Rod Pritchette,
his and his friends have conducted a
near continuous attack upon me in social
media.
Through email,
through a Scottsdale Progress article by
Susan Clap,
complaints to the police. I'm harassing
people for petition signatures. French
Thompson harassed me while I'm
collecting petition signatures to the
point I have to call the police
and through Barry Graham's abuse of
political power in an attempt to
intimidate me using the Scottsdale
Police Department.
As explained to me on the telephone by
Detective Dustin Patrick, Barry Graham
insinuated a post I made on Next Door
gave him concern because of the
political assassination in Minnesota.
Pardon me, Councilman.
You should be more concerned about your
unintentionally inspiring one of your
devotees to assassinate me. The very
next day, Rod Pritchett's Scottsdale
Edge,
made the following statement, which is
on the bottom of this page.
Another conspiracist working on the
mayor's campaign to relocate the Oldtown
parking garage got himself in hot water
by being accused of making threats to an
opinion leader on social media. He has
been placed on the police department's
watch list. Now, I wonder where did Rod
get that tip.
By the way, a detective, sergeant, and
assistant police chief have told me I'm
not on a watch list. In fact, there is
no watch list. I did nothing wrong other
than exercise my First Amendment right
to criticize a politician.
I see a pattern here. Barry, Jan, and
Adam first tried to silence Mayor
Barowski, and now they're attempting to
silence me.
All because I dared to rebut the
misinformation Barry Graham and his
followers post on Next Door. And I am
asking residents of Scottsdale to
request by petition that the city
council conduct an up-to-date parking
structure or study before spending $20
million for a garage most people do not
think they want or think is even
necessary at the parking corral. Thank
you for your time. Thank you, Mr.
Sutton. Uh Councilman Graham, Mr.
Sutton, thank you. Um I plan for all
that to stay private. Um, most of what
you said is is unproven speculation that
I wouldn't agree with. Um, I wanted to
keep that that issue. This is your
police report, Councilman Graham. It's
not speculation, Mr. Mr. Sutton. Thank
you. I wanted to keep that incident
private. You did make the comment on my
social media that um about unpleasant
consequences that would happen to me.
And so I I informed the a member of the
police and it was supposed to remain
private. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor.
And there was no privacy involved
whatsoever. Thank you, Mr. Sutton.
Jason Alexander.
Thank you, Mayor Barowski. Uh, I would
like to use the overhead as well,
please. Jason Alexander, my address is
on record, and I would like to speak
about Barry Graham's conviction for
violating the city's ethics code.
Barry's testimony, what got him
convicted, was that it diverged from
three separate city employees. One might
conclude that Barry was lying, but the
judges certainly concluded that three
witnesses said one thing and Barry said
something else. The judges did not
comment on Barry's intent. Barry claimed
that it was just an innocent mistake.
But I think if you go on social media,
what you see from Barry is very
different than a simple innocent mistake
where we go, "I'm sorry, there was a
mixup." This was an email Barry sent
around the day the complaint was filed.
Barry is the target of tax and spend
leadership phobic losers. I won't be
intimidated by a gaggle of losing
candidates with a grudge against
residents.
Barry and his publicist Rod Pritchette
quickly sunk lower, calling out and
publishing the names and faces of the
complainant and her assistant. It must
suck to be you. Now, this gentleman is a
70-year-old blind senior citizen who
simply wanted to walk safely in his
neighborhood so he could live his life
autonomously and with dignity. And
before Barry denies any knowledge of who
Rod is, others have said it here
tonight.
Rod was best man at Barry's wedding and
worked on his 2022 campaign. The
toxicity continued,
posting photos and history of the
complainant, Lauren Norton, and trying
to rally a mood against her by making it
partisan, claiming this was all a
partisan attack. This is from the
councilman who said, "We are passing an
ideologyfree budget. We are finally
getting ideology out of city council."
Now whether Miss Norton volunteers for
Kla Harris, asking for a sidewalk and
being a neighborhood advocate is
irrelevant. And shame on you, Mr.
Graham, for turning this into a partisan
issue and trying to out and dox this
woman. After the conviction, Barry's PR
team went into overdrive. Leftist city
attorney Sher Scott reviews leftist
Laura Schwarz's complaint and it's ruled
on by leftist judges. Does this sound
like someone who made an innocent
mistake as Barry claimed?
This is the worst one. Barry and his PR
team called out and doxed the two city
staff members who were simply doing
their job responding to a subpoena.
Calls them out, calls them out by name
and ends with, "Would you hire them?"
This is why we have whistleblower laws
to prevent the abuse of power.
There's more. There was lots more.
Here's another one. Unforgivable leftist
losers. Two washed up leftist judges. So
now, not only is Barry just acting
completely despicably, but he's casting
doubt on the entire legal process around
the city. That in itself, I think
deserves consequences. Finally, Barry's
latest email,
at least with putting his name behind
it, he takes a slightly more
consiliatory tone. Polyimically
motivated, had zero merit. Well, the
judges felt it did have merit. And he
ends with to avoid weaponizing the
ethics complaint process. Well, I guess
it's okay for Barry to weaponize social
media, weaponize partisanship, out
people, abuse his power, punch down.
Any questions?
Thank you, Mr. Alexander.
Uh, Councilman Graham. Thank you, Mayor.
I appreciate Mr. Alexander's
spiritedness.
Um, a lot of that's just wild, unproven,
baseless accusa speculation. Mr. Mr.
Alexander, which which part Barry was
speculative? Oh, substantial amounts of
it. Please, please, I'm here. Let's talk
about it. I've got the screenshots. Why
don't you tell me which ones were
speculative? Let me give you an example.
Um, there. So, excuse me.
Maybe we can have this conversation off.
Okay, let me just wrap up the D some
other time. Let me just the the sucks to
be you. uh that was posted by Protect
Scottsdale. I don't know I don't know it
might have been reposted but that's from
Protect Scottsdale and um you actually
penned an op-ed where you used the word
conviction which is arguably defamatory
because there was no such thing as a
conviction and you actually were forced
to retract what you wrote in your oped
in the Scottsdale Independent and
multiple on multiple cases. What you
said was inaccurate and you had to
retract it. I retracted nothing. It was
changed. it was changed. So, um I
respect your spiritedness. Uh but it was
just baseless speculation. So, what what
word would you use other than
conviction, Barry? All right. This is
for public comment on non-aggendaized
items. So, you all can take that
somewhere after. Thank you.
All right, moving right along. Uh now we
have the that concludes the uh first and
second public comment on non-aggendaized
items and uh now we'll move on to the m
meeting minute approval meeting meeting
minutes approvals. That's harder than it
sounds. Um are there any revisions to
the meeting minutes special meeting
minutes of May 13, 2025 or executive
session minutes uh May 13, 2025? If not,
I'll entertain a motion to approve
those. So moved.
Second.
All those in favor, please indicate your
vote by I.
Next, we move on to the consent agenda
items. We have consent agenda items 1
through 21A.
Uh, do any members of the city council
have um any questions or wish to speak
or have more information about any of
the consent agenda items? If not, we did
receive Let me pause. Does anyone have
any questions or comments? Okay. Uh, we
did receive one public comment on item
number seven that I'd like to take
before we take any vote. Uh, and that is
from Dan Daniel Isac.
I handle it. Okay.
Dan Isaac address still on record.
Um
I don't like when the state overreaches
into municipal business. Um, but it
does, despite our legislature claiming
to be conservative, uh, they overreach
quite a bit. When they passed the ADU
and the adaptive reuse, it was a clear
overreach. But unfortunately, it is the
law.
And Scottdale is partially responsible
for that overreach because the state
legislature said, "If you cities keep
saying no to everything, we're going to
override your rights." Again, I don't
like that from philosophical
perspective, but it is the law of
Arizona.
City of Scottsdale took the law,
drafted various legal documents to
comply with the law. The state made it
clear, you're not complying with the
law. State passed more legislation, and
Scottdale is now trying for the second
time to circumvent the law. Now, I read
through all of the meeting materials and
it's a bunch of legal blah blah blah,
but what was very clear was the opinion
from the Arizona Multif Family Housing
Association, which pointed out why the
proposed changes that Scottsdale is
making not only is violating the spirit
of the law, but it's violating the
letter of the law. Scottsdale is racking
up legal fees defending various
lawsuits, whether it be the Axon bill,
the Goldwater
uh uh lawsuit, and now they're going to
end up racking up legal fees if they
pass these amendments, which are not
compliant with the intent of the law.
So, I'm asking city council to defer
this item, actually rewrite it so that
it is in compliance with the law, so
that we don't have to waste our staff's
time and our taxpayers dollars to defend
a lawsuit, which will certainly come if
you pass this document. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. The lawsuit won't be for
me. I don't own any property that's
developable.
All right. Thank you, Mr. Isaac. Uh,
seeing no other speakers or questions, I
will uh entertain a I close the public
comment as a result and I will entertain
a motion for uh approval of the consent
agenda items.
So without move,
who wants to do the second? Okay, thank
you very much. All those in favor,
please indicate your vote.
All right. Next, uh, there's a couple of
things that are out of order. Citizens
petition, which is on our agenda, is
item number 28. I understand we have a a
petition that's been submitted. Is that
correct, Ben Lane? Uh, that that's
correct, mayor. Okay. Uh, as a result,
um,
this portion of the agenda is reserved
for the submission andor consideration
of citizen petitions. There is no limit
on the number of petitions a citizen may
submit. However, each citizen is limited
to a total time of three minutes to
speak on his or her petition during
either the first or second public
comment which we heard I believe it was
Mike Hernandez we heard from on this. Is
that right Mike? Okay.
Now the council must accept and
acknowledge which we'll do now receipt
of ci of the citizens petition. Any
member of the council may make a motion
to uh to be voted on by the council to
direct the city manager to agendaize the
petition for further discussion. Direct
the city manager to investigate the
matter and prepare a written response to
the council with a copy to the
petitioner or uh three take no action.
And having received the petition, I am
going to make a motion to agendaize this
matter uh the petition for further
discussion at a future hearing. And I'd
like to speak to that motion uh before I
hear if there's a second. Um and
hopefully there will be this time. So,
having been on council 2008 to 2012 and
now a a big five months as mayor, um
I've seen a lot of issues come and go
before the city council that um raise a
lot of, you know, input from our
residents. And I have to say this
probably tops the chart, at least uh
between 2008 and 2012, and definitely so
far as my term uh as mayor, during my
term as mayor. And you know, literally,
universally, there's been such an
outpouring of uh support for this
council to uh change the location or
reconsider the location of this garage
at uh Second and Brown or across from
the old Adobe mission. So, uh at a
minimum, I think all of the this diverse
support for that, uh direction, and I
thought it was a bad location. And I
mean, everyone knows that right now, but
it certainly I didn't expect it to turn
into such a big issue for, as I said, a
universal universally um it's opposed by
diverse factions and uh constituencies
in our community. So, at a minimum, I I
would urge my colleagues to schedule a
hearing. We we have hearings on agenda
items all the time. Uh for those of you
by way of background, this particular
garage at this location was approved
before four of us took office. And uh so
we did not make that original decision,
but as has been proven by this council,
we're not afraid to reconsider and look
at what was done to see if it can be
done better. And I certainly would am a
big proponent of doing that in this case
because the decision to move forward and
break ground will be uh you know it'll
be too late and irreparable. And so my
motion is to simply uh agendaize this
for future um future meeting uh and so
that we can hear from our public and our
residents and business owners and
property owners. Just going to add one
more thing. the city uh I've confirmed
we've confirmed did not do outreach on
this to the business owners before the
vote was taken by the prior council. So
there's a key component that's missing
from this discussion and that is in fact
resident input and business owner
property owner input and we've heard
from someone uh last week that said all
the property owners support it. Well, I
personally want to hear from all those
property owners that support it because
I haven't met one. So, uh, with that,
I'll I'll stop and, uh, my motion to set
this for a hearing. Uh, mayor, I'm going
to second it and I I'd like to speak to
it. Sure. Of course. I think this is a
great example of haste makes waste. You
know, I'm I was on the council and I
approved this parking garage, but I
wanted very much to have a parking study
and all the clamor, all the push, all
the noise to just to just to support the
parking structure in this location and
without a parking study, without an
up-to-date parking study. So,
uh, January, I believe it was in
January, the mayor asked for a month.
she was new to the job in order to
review the location.
Honestly, I I'm not sure there is
another location, but I supported her
because it's better to be sure than to
spend millions and millions of dollars
for something we we probably need, we
may not need in a location that may not
be the best suited for it. So, once
again, haste makes waste. So, here we
are. If I had gotten my parking study
three years ago, we would have some
certainty. Um, other things that uh need
to be resolved, we've we've gotten
emails from so many people and I really
do resent misinformation
uh
accusations of misinformation. That
seems to be the norm. And that is sad.
That is sad. It doesn't matter what the
subject is. And I'm I'm definitely um
being accused of things I certainly
didn't do. So, what are some of the
issues? We have the issue of the
location. We have the issue of the
farmers market. We have the issue of the
need. I'll tell you our success the
success of the last few councils that
have made Oldtown the success it is
today. We probably do need the parking,
but we just need we need to hear from
the people. We need to confirm these uh
we need not to look like we're hiding
something by not having a meeting, by
not allowing people to speak, by not
giving the mayor that month she wanted
by not giving the parking study giving
time for a parking study. We look like
we're hiding something. Um and we
certainly don't want to do that. So
listen, I approved this garage twice. I
approved it under great pressure. I
think it was in November last year. Um,
I approved it again when we couldn't get
the month or two delay that the mayor
wanted and we had the contract ready to
go. But I do think now is the time I've
heard from such a desperate group of
people um people who again are
suspicious that we're hiding something
and worried about the place we've all
chosen and all love. So I'm going to
second that motion. I think there's no
harm done in uh making sure there's
transparency in this government.
Thank you. I don't see any other
speakers. So, uh, let's go ahead and
take a vote on this motion to schedule a
hearing in the future on the topic of
the location of the parking garage.
All those in favor indicates your
approval.
All right, moving right along to the
regular agenda.
Okay, moving on to the regular agenda.
Next, we have seven regular agenda items
number 22 through 27. City council will
consider each item on the regular
agenda. And uh again, we're going a
little bit out of order and we're going
to start with item 25 because I
understand there are some residents to
address the council before we move on to
a pretty heavy um city business schedule
for the rest of the agenda items. Pardon
me. Item 25. Madam Mayor, I just want to
have a point of order allow you to be
able to hear to be able to speak so we
could hear you. Thank you. So item 25 is
city council consideration of three
items which are adopt ordinance number
4664 approving a zoning district map
amendment from plan community uh center
environmentally
sensitive lands hillside district zoning
to plan community center and adopt
resolution uh number 13379 declaring the
document titled the Artessa development
plan to be a public record as well as
resolution Solution 13380 authorizing
development agreement number 225
2025061
COOS with Lifestyle Communities
Southwest LLC. And I see we have our
staff member, principal planner Jeff
Barnes here to do the staff
presentation. Take it away, Jeff. Good
evening and thank you, Mayor Barowski,
uh, Vice Mayor Dvascus, and members of
the city council. I am Jeff Barnes with
the city's planning department.
presenting uh this combined presentation
of 2ZN 2024 and 2DA 2024.
Uh I won't spend too much time on these
because I recognize you just read them
for me. I appreciate it. Um but there
are three actions uh for you uh tonight.
the um adoption of the zoning ordinance
uh for the district map amendment, the
adoption of the resolution declaring the
development plan a public record, and
the adoption of the resolution
authorizing the associated development
agreement.
For context for you, um the site uh
boundary is highlighted in yellow here.
It's located at the southwest corner of
Dynamite Boulevard and Alma School
Parkway.
Getting in a little bit closer. Uh you
can see this is a mostly existing
developed site. Uh there are uh several
existing uh commercial and office uses
within the buildings uh on the site uh
along the street frontages. There is a
uh partially developed future pad site
uh that was uh anticipated as part of
the prior development plan. And then
there's a uh undeveloped area at the
back of the site that was contemplated
for development with the original
development plan and never pursued
development. So it is currently vacant
uh and it's currently the reason that uh
that this application is coming before
you.
So quickly just covering uh some of the
details here. The existing zoning on the
site um is PCC uh ESL. Uh we have the uh
HDHC designation on there because this
originally got zoned under the hillside
district ordinance which was later uh
replaced with the environmentally
sensitive lands ordinance. Uh and so it
carries the exemptions back to that uh
that set of development standards. Uh
the proposed zoning uh maintains the PCC
uh is seeking to add a PSD overlay which
is a planned shared development uh
overlay uh and uh drops off the HDHC
exemption um and brings the ESL into the
current version um that we utilize
today.
The general plan designates this site as
commercial. Uh there is no change to the
general plan uh included as part of this
application. The uh PCC underlying
zoning district aligns with the
commercial designation and because it is
unchanged there is no reason to change
the general plan designation.
So the purpose of this request uh the
applicant is seeking uh to allocate 47
dwelling units uh of available density
uh from the overall 22.26 26 gross acre
site um to develop a new uh residential
uh component to that undeveloped portion
of the site I highlighted for you on the
aerial map. Um this is intended to be
done uh by implementing the planned
shared development the PSD uh overlay
district uh which is which allows for
the sharing of development standards
across the five parcels that currently
make up this site um within the
boundaries of the overall development
plan. Uh as I mentioned on the zoning
slide, um this application maintains the
existing PCC zoning designation and the
existing ESL zoning designation and is
adding uh the the plan shared
development overlay.
Some uh key points to cover here real
quickly. The existing PCC zoning on this
site was established back in 1983 as
part of the uh true north master zoning
actions. Um the latest development plan
that exists on the site uh was last
updated in 1995.
Uh and uh I will have a slide kind of
showing that for comparison uh after
this. Um, in that existing development
plan, um, there were no, uh, dwelling
units proposed. And so, the the updated
development plan seeks to, uh, draw from
the allowable dwelling units, uh, under
the PCC zoning um, to utilize 47 um, to
create the new residential component on
this site. Uh this uh went before the
planning commission uh May 14th uh and
received a unanimous recommendation of
approval. Uh at the planning commission,
the applicant team provided uh some
updates based on resident feedback that
lowered uh the proposed building height
uh building massing I should say from uh
three stories initially proposed down to
two stories in response to feedback
received. And that had a corresponding
uh reduction in the total number of
units from 67 which was being uh
proposed initially down to 47 which is
now the new number.
So this is that original 1995
um development plan. Uh it's a little
fuzzy from the the records back then,
but uh you can generally make out
hopefully on here that there's that
existing set of buildings along the
street frontages. Um over to the right
hand side of the screen is Dynamite
Boulevard. To the lower part of the
screen is Alma School Parkway just for
reference there. that back corner uh in
the previous development plan was
contemplated to have a large anchor
tenant building and various inline shops
uh that that never came to fruition. So
the other the other buildings got built
that got left uh behind. So the current
proposal seeks to instead update the
development plan to create uh a new uh
residential component uh in that back
part portion of the site. um that access
is still through the existing driveways,
still the the drive aisles through the
site um and connects back out to the
streets. Um a little bit closer view of
that here as part of the exhibits and
the development plan. That uh twotory uh
massing structure uh that I uh mentioned
had been brought down from three
stories. that's made up by uh
effectively three buildings that uh that
are sequenced in a staggered line here
along uh the uh the right side of this.
Um the there are then smaller cassita
one-story units uh along the the left
side.
The development plan also contemplates
uh open space requirements both uh
common open space and frontage open
space of the underlying district and
then the natural area open space
required by the ESL overlay.
Uh it accounts for circulation and
integration of both uh pedestrian and
vehicular uh movement through the site
and back out to the the streets as I
mentioned through the existing driveway
access points.
Some renderings were provided as part of
that. Uh the upper images are the
two-story massing uh buildings. The
lower image is the singlestory cassita
units uh to give you a sense of of what
those uh can look like. Uh also
elevation drawings provided as part of
that development plan for the two-story
structures, the singlestory cassita and
garage units.
Um, a lot of this I' I've mentioned the
development plan accounts for how the
site is meeting the development
standards. I just wanted to come back to
the bottom two bullet points here
highlighting that the PCC zoning itself
uh allows for dwelling units at a two
dwelling units per acre density. um
where practical uh in in the site that
would in calculation yield 89 units uh
in the 22.26 acres of this site. Um the
applicant is is seeking 47 uh for their
proposal.
the uh the the plan shared development
overlay requires a development agreement
uh which accompanies this case that
regulates and controls the distribution
of development standards among the five
parcels. I just wanted to put this slide
on the screen uh to convey what's going
on with that. not so much for content uh
for you uh as I'm not sure how visible
it is but to remind you that this is in
the development agreement uh and would
be the mechanism for controlling uh the
distribution of development standards.
Uh I mentioned this uh was heard by the
planning commission and uh received a
recommendation of approval uh with a
vote of 70 accounting for the uh pres
presented modifications that the
applicant brought forward at that
hearing. Um, and I'll conclude staff's
presentation by just coming back to the
the three action items for you on this.
Um, happy to answer any questions, but I
know the applicant team is here as well,
and you may want to hear from them.
Thank you. I don't see any questions on
the board. And it says here we have
applicant presentation by John Barry,
but I think that's not correct. And I
I'm sorry. I don't know. I can't recall
your name. Apologies.
Can we have the overhead projector,
please?
Mayor, while Cheryl's setting up, I am
Steven Anderson. I'm a land use attorney
with Gam Burnham and we are here this
evening on behalf of Lifestyle
Communities. I'll take the next slide,
please.
For your record, my address is 40 North
Central, 20th floor in Phoenix. Uh we
are joined this evening uh from
Lifestyle Communities by Tim Nichols,
who is the CEO of Lifestyle, and also by
Ben Landhauser, who is the executive
vice president. Wave. Hello.
Thank you. Uh the rest of our technical
consulting team. Pardon me, Stephen.
Would you mind speaking up? No problem.
Is that better? I think so. Okay, great.
We are joined by the rest of our
technical consulting team in the event
you have specific questions for us. Uh
and that primarily includes Susan
Bittermith from technical solutions. Uh
Susan led the community outreach effort
on the project and also presented the
case to the planning commission.
I'd like to begin with a brief overview
of the case that's before you this
evening. The reasonzoning case that is
before you this evening comes before you
with about two dozen letters of support
from area businesses and residents and
with the staff recommendation for
approval. As Jeff noted, and with a
unanimous planning commission
recommendation for approval, the scope
of the proposed zoning that's before you
this evening is very limited. The site
has been zoned planned community center
with an ESL and hillside designation for
more than 40 years now. In 1995, the
city approved a development plan for the
site to allow a grocery store on the 8
acre rear corner of the site. That's
here. That is the approval that does
remain on the property today. Can I have
the next slide, please?
The application before that's before you
this evening would keep the existing
zoning in place but add a planned shared
development overlay. That overlay will
cover the entire 22 acre site. The case
would also update the development plan
on the rear 8 acres to replace the
grocery store with a 47 unit age
restricted owner occupied residential
community made up entirely of one and
twotory buildings. That's really the
heart of the case. So I'm going to
repeat it for you. 47 for sale, owner
occupied homes, age restricted, all one
and two stories. This community, which
we call Artessa, would provide an active
adult option for residents who want to
age in place in the True North
community. We think Artessa represents a
major upgrade over the current approval.
And tonight, we hope you will agree with
us. Could I have the next slide, please?
Now, on to the details of the Artessa
proposal. I'm going to start with the
physical context of the site, just as
Jeff did. This is an aerial photo of the
site today. Dynamite to the north, Alma
School is to the east. Can I have the
next slide, please? The existing
commercial buildings, which have been
there for years now, will shield our
project from passers by on Alma School
and Dynamite both. As you can see from
this slide to the east, our buildings
are nearly 350 ft back from Alma School
Road. Uh, and they are behind the
existing two-story multi-tenant
commercial building that fronts that
street as well as the exist or future
commercial pad. To the north, our
buildings are nearly 450 ft back. Um,
from Dynamite Boulevard, we are behind
the Walgreens, the bank, and the Circle
K. Can I have the next slide, please?
Thank you. The topography of the site is
the next thing uh worth mentioning. I
already told you that the property had
hillside designation as Jeff noted as
well. As you can see from this exhibit,
there is a significant 11 foot high hill
on the west side of the property within
our NaOS that basically shields our
project from all of the homes in
Pinnacle Canyon to our west. It turns
out that the most attractive part of the
site for our Tessa is to build here in
the low part of the site while leaving
the high part of the site unscathed. A
point that's worth emphasizing again
given that our heights are limited to
one and two stories. Could I have the
next slide, please? That's the physical
context of the site. I'd like to next
describe the Artessa site plan and
architecture. The site plan consists of
two sets of buildings arrayed in a north
south alignment along both sides of the
wash. So the wash becomes the central
amenity area and outdoor gathering space
for the residents including the pool and
the dog area and all sorts of other
central gathering spaces for residents
to enjoy. On the west side of the
community, we have a series of one-story
cassita buildings. There are six cassita
buildings total with 14 total units.
Each of these one-story cassita
buildings are 11 ft tall to the flat of
the roof and 14 ft to the corners of the
highest slopes. On the east side of the
wash here, we have what we refer to as
the villa building. This building has 33
total homes within a single two-story
building and also includes the common
indoor areas for the Artessa project.
The villa building is 24 feet tall to
the flat of the roof and 29 ft to the
highest architectural elements of the
parapit. By the way, each of the homes
within the villa building are themselves
one story. So there no interior
staircases for this age restricted
community. By contrast, as the staff
report has noted, the approved grocery
store has PCC zoning which allows 36
feet in height to the parapit. So 7 feet
above our proposal plus additional
height for screen mechanical equipment.
That seven foot reduction that we are
making here is a 20% reduction in height
from the current approval. And that's
where I need to pause to emphasize for
you the major change made by lifestyle
and response to community input. Based
on feedback from the April 2025
neighborhood meeting and concerns
expressed around the same time by our
neighboring community to the south, the
Serene subdivision lifestyle lifestyle
decided in May to remove that proposed
third story from the villa building.
This height reduction, as Jeff noted,
also had the impact of reducing or
eliminating 20 homes from the project,
reducing our unit count from 67 homes to
47 homes. I hope you will all agree that
that is a significant change made by the
applicant in response to community
input. One more fact for you regarding
the 47 homes here, short-term rentals
will not be allowed at our Tessa. Can I
have the next slide, please? Now, on to
the architecture. Here are a series of
renderings as well as our material
pallet. So next please to give you a
sense of the architectural approach that
lifestyle is taking at Artessa. Our
general goal here is to use a design
approach that is harmonious with the
general style of the surrounding
community. Can I have the next slide
please? But I also need to note a
specific factor related to height. Our
roofs are sloped. When compared to the
approved grocery store that means that
they look better, they fit the
topography better and their height drops
away as the slopes also drop across the
site. Can I have the next slide please?
Of course, our NaOS is itself a major
amenity for Artesa. In total, the NAOS
will preserve 2.95 acres of the Artessa
site, which is a little over one-third
of our site. Aesthetically, we'll be
providing a public trail through the
middle of the NAOS, and we do not plan
to fence either the NO NAOS or the
project itself. Can I have the next
slide, please? As a result, our building
setback to our neighbors to the west is
350 ft behind the hill. So, again,
they're not going to see us. were very
far removed. The next aspect of our Tesa
I want to address is traffic. It almost
goes without saying almost that our
Tessa is a big improvement over the
grocery store when it comes to traffic.
These numbers are shocking. The store
was projected to generate almost 7,800
trips per day. Our age restricted
community is projected to generate 231
trips per day. It's a 97% reduction.
Could I have the next slide, please? Our
setbacks from the Serene community are
actually where I'd like to conclude the
design discussion because we believe
Serene is the neighbor that benefits the
most by the replacement of the grocery
store. Serene is a 21 lot subdivision
that was platted in 2008 at the dawn of
the Great Recession and it has four lots
on its north perimeter adjacent to us.
Two lots are adjacent to our one-story
cassitas. One serene lot sides onto our
villa building and the fourth serene lot
is adjacent to their driveway and alma
school road. Keep in mind that for the
three adjacent lots, they are set back
from their property line by a 23-foot
common area setback that includes their
trail that will connect to our hillside
trail. Serene has no perimeter fence
either, just like our project. Can I
have the next slide? Next slide, please.
Our building setback to the Serene lot
lines is generally well over Whoops.
Well over 100 ft. We feel that this is a
very generous setback and as you might
have noticed it's more than four times
the setback that Serene is providing for
us. Next slide please. More importantly
of course is that our building setbacks
and height are much better than the
approved grocery store. If you all
approve our Tessa this evening then the
residents of Serene will no longer have
the risk of looking at the service side
of a grocery store and or listening to
the sound of delivery trucks coming day
and night. In addition, that grocery
store was planned to be within 100 ft of
Serene lot lines. And at its closest
point here was going to be less than 70
feet away. So instead, Serene residents
will live next door to well-designed,
owner occupied, age restricted homes,
which we think is a big improvement for
them. Could I have the next slide,
please? Lifestyle has taken its time
with the Artsa project, making sure to
try to get things right. They've made
extensive revisions over the two years
of community input and thereby earned
neighborhood support. In absence or in
advance of this evening's hearing,
technical solutions canvased the
community once again. The result are the
two dozen letters of support that you
have from both local businesses and
residents uh that are mapped here on
this chart to give you a sense of where
they are coming from. I would note that
we were unable to obviously get um
feedback from the two gated communities
that we are adjacent to. Next slide,
please. In conclusion, this evening you
have an applicant who has made major
changes to its plan throughout the
process that is that has secured
meaningful community support as a result
that has a staff recommendation for
approval and has a unanimous planning
commission recommendation for approval.
All of which is is designed for a
proposal that seeks to replace a
monolithic grocery store with a
well-designed one and twotory owner
occupied age restricted home community.
We hope you all will agree with all of
the recommendations that you have
received this evening and see fit to
approve our request for a planned shared
development overlay. We would be happy
to answer any questions. Thank you very
much. I see a couple of uh questions or
comments here from the council members
and then we'll take the public comment
because there is someone that Katherine
Long that wants to say some a few words
about this. Councilman Graham.
Mayor, my button was inadvertently
pressed. Thank you, Councilwoman
Whitehead.
Wow. So, having been at the open house
or the community meeting, um it was kind
of one of those where you might not be
from around here kind of meetings. So,
there was a lot of things that didn't
quite fit with our community and we're
not a shy community. So, it was rowdy.
It was a rowdy meeting, but it's such an
important area to we don't just have
this vacant land behind a shopping
center, and it'll just improve the
neighborhood. It's going to improve the
shopping centers of vitality, too. And
this project, I I just can't believe
what a difference um you've made. Just,
you know, there's a lot of obvious
things and I'm not going to say it. This
is a beautiful project. I've called on
residents in the area for all the right
reasons. You have support. Um the
traffic numbers are kind of almost
funny, but you know, it's little things
like no fencing because actually that's
good for people and wildlife um and just
the one story and just the added NOS
trail. There's just that's what makes
Scottsdale Scottsdale is the details
that our development community puts into
our different neighborhoods. So I am I'd
be glad. Did you say we have a public
speaker?
Yes, we do have a public speaker. Okay,
let's have the public speaker, but then
I I'm going to motion to approve this.
And I just thank you for listening to
us, however rowdy we may be, and coming
back with such a perfect project.
Councilman Clausman.
Thank you, Madame Mayor. I just my my
message is just to uh to the city, the
manager, and everybody. This is a
no-brainer project and fits well within
the schematics of everything that this
council's going for. I believe in in
especially in that region. Um I would
have liked to see this and projects like
this on a consent calendar. Not no
offense to the the outstanding
presentation, but I mean the the goal of
government is to move this move great
projects through the right way and to be
a be a goalie on projects that aren't.
This is a no-brainer and I wish we could
have seen it on the consent calendar and
had this already done for you.
Thank you. I totally agree with
Councilman Clausman, but you never know
what's going to happen, I guess. But
that's excellent point. Uh, and I said
the wrong name. It is Michael Joiner
that is speaking on this project. Thank
you.
Whoops. You'll be happy to know that I'm
not going to be um uh calling out
anybody on the dis.
Um me uh my name is Michael Joiner and
my address is on record and Mayor
Browski uh and Vice Mayor Dascus and
city council. It's a pleasure to speak
with you. Um, I live, my husband and I
live approximately 300 yards from this
application and I'm here to
enthusiastically
encourage you to vote yes on this
zoning. Like Councilman Whitehead and
Councilman Littlefield, I was at that
meeting two and a half years ago. And
seldom have I seen an applicant react as
quickly as this applicant did to the
very negative comments they got at that
meeting. They started by hiring an a
local representation for their legal
council. They hired a local architect
that came in and made these beautiful um
changes. And first they eliminated the
co-op and turned them into condos. And
then they eliminated the third story and
significantly reduced the number of
units. The main issue two years ago was
traffic, ingress and egress, because the
original plan had all the traffic going
through the Walgreens shopping center
out onto Dynamite, which was would have
been a nightmare.
Um, they have redone the traffic
pattern. It's going to come out through
Greythorn and dump onto Elma School,
which has significantly less traffic.
Um, and the one thing I found about your
packet is the uh traffic pattern or the
traffic numbers are not allowed to
reflect that these will be senior
citizens and senior citizens
consistently drive and have less cars
than say a family that has teenagers or
are raising a family and going back and
forth to soccer games. So the actual
number of trips will be significantly
less and I believe the attorney
referenced that. Secondly, the design of
the NAOS further buffers this project
from neighbors to the west and um it
creates a beautiful, beautiful area.
This new design of this project is
totally respectful of our amazing North
Scottsdale desert that we all love so
much. And the developer is also
commented that they are going to be
installing lighting that is sensitive
sensitive to our dark skies that we in
the north value so much. While that
condition is not part of this
application, I hope that it will be made
a requirement through the DRB process.
The current zoning would allow a grocery
store. And I don't know how many of you
have driven back behind a grocery store.
It's really ugly. and that that
neighborhood of multi-million dollar
homes immediately to the south of this
Serene would be looking at that back if
the original grocery store was built.
Um, several grocery stores have looked
at this project and they all um said
that it simply was not feasible. Please
approve this request. Everyone on the
dis
have gone on record stating that we want
the absolute highest quality development
for Scottsdale. This application and
this applicant have exhibited that.
Thank you very much.
Thank you. And I councilwoman Whitehead.
Okay. I'm I'm ready to make a motion.
There was one other item I wanted to
point out. We've been really striving
for this missing middle that they call
it. this these for sale products that
aren't just big apartment complexes and
you know that what you're providing is
definitely high-end missing middle. So
great with that. I am motion uh making a
motion to adopt ordinance number 4664
approving a zoning district map
amendment from planned community center
environmentally sensitive lands hillside
district zoning to planned community
center
um I lost my sight. Environmentally
sensitive lands planned shared
development overlay zoning on a 22.26 26
gross acre site, including approval for
an updated development plan for a
development of 47 residential units on a
previously undeveloped um 59 acre uh
portion of the 22.26
26 gross acre site and adopt resolution
number 13379 declaring the document
titled the Artessa development plan to
be a public record and adopt resolution
number 13380 authorizing development
agreement number 2025-061-
COS with Lifestyle Communities Southwest
LLC.
a second.
Would you like to speak to that,
Councilwoman Littlefield? I know you had
your Yes, I would. Thank you, Mayor
indication. Uh, I just have a short
comment to make on this. Um, I really
like and I'm appreciative of the
responsiveness to the desires of the
neighbors and the citizens in this area
by the developer.
It really puts a much better light and
feel to looking at something like this,
making it fit into the neighborhood,
making it a part of the neighborhood
before it's even built. And I think
that's very, very important. And
uh I also like the fact that you
listened not only to the values of the
citizens, but also to the staff and
their recommendations as well. And so I
I want to give you a big thank you for
that. and um that's why I seconded it.
Thank you.
Thank you. I don't see any other
indications uh from council. With that,
I'll take a vote. All those in favor,
indicate your approval.
All right. Excellent.
Moving on. Uh, regular agenda item
number 22 is the Scottsdale Arts amended
and restated management services
agreement and financial participate
participation agreement. And we have
Rachel Santana presenting for staff.
Good evening, Mayor Bowski, Vice Mayor,
members of council. Uh, it's nice to be
with you, although I was hoping I would
be home with a glass of rosé and a cold
slice of pizza by now. It's been quite
the Tuesday already. Um, I am here this
evening to ask for your approval of a
six-month extension of the Scottsdale
Arts Management Services Agreement and
the Associated Financial Participation
Agreement. So, a brief history, uh,
about 60 years ago, four school in seven
years ago. You know, about 60 years ago,
a hundred residents along with city
officials and sa and staff set some
lofty goals for Scottsdale through an
effort called the Scottsdale Town
Enrichment Program. uh different task
forces were formed and the outcome of
this was the uh Scottsdale Municipal
Airport, Scottsdale Community College,
Scottsdale getting its own water
department and they also recommended
that the civic center area become a
municipal arts and culture um and park
space here. So this photograph right
here is from 1974
and you can see the center for the
performing arts under construction and
it was opened in October 1975.
Um so they are celebrating 50 years this
year which is very exciting. The city
operated the Scottsdale Center for the
Performing Arts until 1987.
And at that time, city council, Mayor
Herb drinkwater and the council decided
to
uh work with a nonprofit organization.
At that time, it was called Scottsdale
Cultural Council and uh the Scottsdale
Arts Council and later the Scottsdale
Cultural Council was established
expressly to provide management services
for the city. Um, at that same time,
Mayor Jenu and council decided to also
uh recommend and approve that the
Scottsdale Arts Council take over
operations of the city's public art
program, which had started in the early
70s. So, by 1987,
uh,
we had turned over most of our arts
programming to what is now in 2016
became Scottsdale Arts. Of course, since
that time, let's see, now we fast
forward 38 years later. Um, and we are
at the end of the most recent five-year
management services agreement. So, since
that time, uh, Scottsdale Arts has added
other programming to what they offer to
the community. It's not just the Center
for the Performing Arts and Public Art
any longer. Now they offer a wide
variety of education programs from early
childhood to seniors with dementia and
everyone in between. Um they have
performance art, writing workshops,
visual art. We also in 1999 there was a
adaptive reuse of a an old movie theater
which is now the wonderful um Scottsdale
Museum of Contemporary Art and there's a
new exhibit opening this Friday which I
can't wait to see. They also do Canal
Convergence, which is a 10-day festival
on the canal, which I'm sure you're all
familiar with. And they also manage and
program events at the newly renovated
and remodeled Civic Center. So, we are
bringing a five-month extension because
in the five and a half months we have
had new city management and I have had
new leadership. Uh we haven't really had
enough time to
look at this contract carefully. Uh last
fall there were some audit findings
as uh related to this contract and how
the city administers it and some
recommendations that said that the
contract probably needed some
clarification that there are some things
we could be doing better. And so we're
asking for a six-month extension on this
program of work um so that we can move
forward with those negotiations and make
the contract and these programs
stronger.
So the management services agreement is
part of it. The other half of our
request tonight is for the financial
participation agreement which you can
see here. This is um the budget numbers
here uh is for a six-month period. This
is half of the budget allocation you
adopted on June 10th with the exception
of canal convergence. Canal convergence
takes place uh entirely within the
six-month period that we're requesting
the extension for. So it's 100% of the
canal convergence funding. Um, this
funding as well as the fullear funding
that you approved as part of your
adopted budget um, equates to about 32%
of Scottsdale Arts total unrestricted
operating funding. And um, that's
roughly the same as last year, 32% as
well.
So again, we did request originally
way back when, last uh the end of 2024
a full year of funding. These are those
numbers. And we also put an outofbudget
uh request in for some contingency
funding.
Um, it was 2.5% cost of living, which
the Scottsdale Arts contract had not
received in a few years, as well as
$100,000 for a public art strategic
plan. And I'll explain more about that
in the next slide.
The financial participation agreement
we're bringing for you tonight, however,
does not include the contingency fund or
uh even half of it. So it is just half
plus the full funding for canal
convergence of the council adopted
budget.
So
um
the public art strategic plan. So we had
put forward a request for $100,000 for a
public art strategic plan, but you
rightly pointed out that there wasn't a
lot of information or context around
that request. So, even though we're not
requesting it this evening, it is
something we have to do. And so, I
wanted to take a few moments to explain
it tonight.
Uh, Scottsdale Public Art is a city
program that is run by uh um that is
let's see, I apologize. Scottsdale
Public Art is a city program run for us
through this contract by public art. As
you know, the city sets aside 1% of the
approved budget for each publicly
visible capital project for new
permanent public art. Scottsdale Public
Art works with the city's capital
project management team to commission
these pieces that fit into the context
of our public projects. The newest
public art piece which I'm very excited
about um that we just assess assessioned
into our permanent collection is called
parallel companion at the McCormick
Stillman Railroad Park. And if you
haven't seen it yet, it's just
delightful. And when I was uh when I was
looking at this being installed,
Councilwoman Littlefield, I saw some of
the tiles you made. So if you haven't
seen it yet, you're going to see some of
the tiles you made for that
installation, which I thought was pretty
neat.
Additionally, some private development
projects are required to make a 1%
contribution for public art. So, the
request uh you move to contingency is
for the city's public art plan. I I hope
that's clear. Uh obviously, a
professionally facilitated public art
planning process would involve community
engagement, research, benchmarking.
Um, so we have a forwardlooking fiscally
responsible
road mapap and remain a leader in the
public art sphere which is great
and I went through that really fast. It
must have been the latte I had about
4:30. Um, I'm happy to answer any
questions. Here is our request to adopt
both the sixmonth extension of the
management services agreement and the
financial participation agreement.
Again, I'm happy to answer any
questions. And Dr. Gird Vman is also
here should you have any questions for
him.
Councilwoman Mckllen.
Thank you, Mayor. Uh, yes. And I don't
know necessarily if my uh question is
for Rachel or if it's for the city
manager. Um, in the past, the uh
contract has always been 12 months. I
know that we've already approved the
full amount in our budget. Does this
mean they're coming back in six months
asking for the second half of it? Um,
and my question is why would we do it
twice unless it's because of the audit
and we just want to make sure that
things are rolling perfectly along.
I guess that's three questions. Sorry.
I'm happy to start off. Uh, Madame Mayor
and Councilwoman Mckllen. So, first of
all, as referenced in the presentation,
the 5-year agreement or the agreement uh
expires here in a few days at our end of
our fiscal year. And as referenced, we
were unable to uh secure significant
negotiations for an extended period or
I'll call it a renewal period of the
contract. And therefore, we're looking
for a six-month extension to dive into
what I would refer to as in-depth
discussions and negotiations to really
understand if there are opportunities
uh to partner uh with different
organizations for the city to play a
different role to really I would say we
have a bundled package and to all a cart
that try to bring that back to city
council for explanation of all the
variety of functions and services and
put a specific dollar amount to each one
and therefore when we unbundle the
package and bring it back all a cart I
think that presents opportunities
uh for further partnerships for
enhancements of those areas where we see
uh could use some additional resources
or some reallocation of resources.
Furthermore, should some of those
changes take place uh upon city council
approval, we would envision some type of
extension to finish out the fiscal year
and then have an extended period uh
relationship beyond that. So, what this
does is forces us to come together in a
fairly short order uh and not push this
uh to a 10-month of a 12-month cycle,
but to come back with city council and
check in after our discussions and
negotiations to ensure we're on the
track of the policy makers. Thank you.
Okay. Um I have another question on
that. Um, as a former events planner, I
plan years in advance and you have to
make contracts with dance companies,
plays, etc.
Will the annual calendar of the Center
for the Arts be affected by this because
I imagine they already have to have
commitments and they're putting forward
money and we've already budgeted money.
I mean, these are just questions I have
as an event planner. Um,
I need answered.
Mayor, vice mayor, members of council.
So, there is a clause in here that says
that any contracts that they enter into
now would be our responsibility um if
they don't follow through with those.
But I don't know if you want to hear
from Gird more specifically about uh
business operations. I didn't highlight
that particular clause, but I have
reviewed it recently and understand that
we are on the hook. uh if they during
this fiscal year they um they enter into
contracts with performers and then for
whatever reason uh again you you have
already approved the entire year funding
um so we're you know hopeful that
nothing like that would happen but if it
does then it would be the city's
responsibility to make Scottsdale Arts
whole in that case okay I being a season
ticket holder at other venues news as
well as you know events that go on an
annual calendar. It's a concern for
board of directors. It's a concern for
me if I'm buying theater tickets. I want
to make sure that the play that I bought
an entire season for is going to happen.
So, I know these are silly qu they may
appear to be silly questions, but I
really believe that um I guess if
they're coming back in six months to get
the second half of the funding, then I'd
be all right with this. Um, otherwise
I'm not sure that I'm okay with it.
Councilman Graham.
Thank you, Mayor. I thought that, um,
Council Member Macau had some good
questions. Rachel, thank you for your
presentation. So, um,
you already you already told us this.
I'm going to ask you to repeat yourself
a little bit, and I apologize for that.
This isn't the most straightforward
request. like um
what
we already approved this for fiscal 26.
Are you asking for beyond 26 or is this
within 26?
This is the first six months of fiscal
year 2526. Okay. So, so it goes till the
end of this calendar year. Yes. And do
you is this a is this a normal request?
Do we do six month allocations like this
when like when's the last time we did
that or six month or mayor uh members of
council? I cannot say for certain the
six month it's not something that I've
been aware of uh in my contract
administration before but again I think
it um what the city manager intends to
do is to fasttrack negotiations so that
we can bring things back. he can get a
better understanding of of this contract
and the different programs and um bring
it back to you at some point in a in a
format that makes sense. And then just
for the public's edification, do we have
a multi-year contract over overarching
contract with Scottsdale Arts or is it
renewed annually? Thank you for that
question and I apologize for not being
clear. I I came to you a little nervous
this evening, mayor, uh vice mayor,
members of council. So what we do
generally is uh negotiate a master
services agreement which is five years
and then has two terms t typically that
we could renew for five more years. In
the past in some instances for the same
agreement it's been 10 years or longer
but that period seemed too long. So in
the master services agreement it is
required that every year we come before
council with a financial participation
agreement for the following fiscal year.
So typically what we've done is waited
until council has adopted the budget and
then at the very next meeting we bring
forward a financial participation
agreement that matches the budget you
just paid. Okay. And then um when is are
those fi are those multi-year then on a
fiscal year or calendar year basis?
Um, it's interesting that you say that
because the last time the negotiations
went a little long, I understand. And so
it the period begin in January with an
end date that matched the fiscal year.
So we're kind of four and a half years
into what is a five-year contract. Um,
but normally what it would be is a full
five fiscal year contract. And so does
the next five years start
January 26? that uh mayor, members of
the council, that is a great question.
We haven't started those negotiations
yet or what that would look like, but it
would the next contract, however long it
is, start in January 26.
Um, potentially or potentially could be
a six month. Well, regardless of how
long it is, the next because we're
talking about the master service
agreement, not the annual financial
participation. Yes. So, the next master
service agreement starts in January. Is
that correct? It would. Yes.
theoretically theoretically
um I'm just looking at the changes in
what we're we're looking at remove
required development of citywide arts
and cultural calendar as that has become
part of a larger cityled global calendar
of events initiative. Can I just get you
on record that's that's the case mayor
members of council that is the case. Our
communications department uh has a big
dream and what they would like to do is
uh what they are doing and what is
becoming close to uh actionable is build
a system so that our nonprofit partners
and others in the community including
experience Scottsdale would have some
sort of widget so they could plug their
computer so the uh city calendar would
also um they could plug their events in.
So, the city calendar would be um kind
of a a more global communitywide
calendar of of all sorts of events.
Okay. But the I guess you or would it be
you or or
somebody you report to as assistant city
manager who gets the final say about
what that calendar looks like?
Mayor, members of council, if you look
on the city's website right now, you'll
see a version of that. those events that
are on there. Um that is the the genesis
the prototype I guess and so it's hel
it's right now it lives with our city's
communications department. Okay. So
which position title would approve that?
The director of communications I believe
but I may be speaking out of turn. Okay.
and then um remove requirement to
propose new facility rental fees for
this contract period but will be
evaluated with the requirement included
in the long-term contract
because you don't expect any for the
remainder of the contract. That is true
me members of council and also right now
it's unclear it's one of those unclear
parts of the contract. It's unclear if
it goes through the city's rates and
fees process, which no other outside
organization goes through. They're all
cities rates and fees that you Okay. So,
the city would decide those fees is what
you're saying, right? We just uh need to
also have some clarity on the process of
how that works. Um and then what um we I
know we contribute about 32% of their
total gross revenue. Um,
can you just how much do we contribute
like uh how much are we budgeted to
contribute in fiscal 26?
Sonia's
city treasurer Andrews is putting on her
glasses. Yeah, I think if Madame Mayor
and Council Grant I think if we go back
a couple slides then we that would help
us. I think it's approximately six
million as um the treasurer can Okay.
confirm. Yeah. Do do you um
just for the public's uh sake is that do
you have that on a historical basis or
is that is that increasing? Is that what
what benchmark is that based on? Is that
a percentage of
how do we decide that amount?
Maybe maybe Miss Andrews isn't the right
person to ask. I'm happy to maybe Miss
Smatana. Yeah. Mayor, members of
council. So this is uh negotiated. It
has been pretty flat. In fact, it's been
a $100,000 reduction between 23 and 24.
So, it's something that is negotiated
between Scottsdale Arts and the city and
then it's brought forward to council for
uh your review. And then are does this
uh amendment here does that include the
um I know that you mentioned it um the
the plan the the plan I I forgot the
term for that. the the strategic plan
the strategic plan for public art. Yes.
Okay. And then so so we would we would
fund that. Correct. We would that is a a
city program. Obviously public art
doesn't really have an opportunity to
generate revenue. This is something
public art is something the city has
supported since the early 70s. um having
a strategic plan as we approach buildout
and uh taking into account all sorts of
new factors of um what our community
thinks today as opposed to 2012 the last
time the plan was produced. Um I'm just
not seems to make I'm not city manager
wants to say something. I'm not 100% com
comfortable with that. And my question
for city manager is do we fund those
strategic plans for our other partners,
our other nonprofits that we contract
with? Madame Mayor and Councilman
Graham, how I would answer the maybe the
former part of the question is kind of
more of a mechanics of the budget
process which was briefly alluded to. Uh
this was a component uh move to the
contingency correct upon the final uh
deliberations of the budget. Yep. And I
don't believe it's within our
recommendation this evening to move it
out of that contingency. That would take
separate action. This evening's uh
discussion and uh suggested action is
specifically related to the contractual
amount which uh we're not suggesting
that be uh moved from the contingency.
Um Mr. Kaitton, do we have do we fund
strategic plans for our other nonprofit
partners to your knowledge?
Uh, Madame Mayor, Councilman Graham, I
know that each uh outside jurisdiction
and partnership has uh various
arrangements and uh this one is a
component, but I believe that this, you
know, we're actually in overtime now, if
you will, of the agreement and so I
think we have some latitude specific.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor, and thank you,
Miss Maton. I've taken enough time and
we're going to we got a lot more stuff
to go through tonight. So, I'm going to
wrap up my questions. I'm not totally
comfortable or on board yet with that
mechanism, but I'm going to approve the
contra the six-month contract extension
and then uh that'll be the end of it for
me. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. Vice
Mayor Dasquez.
Thank you, Madame Mayor. I I I had a
similar question to where we ended up. I
just wanted to ask if the um 3.4 4
million for resolution 13429 if that
included the 2.5% contingency fee.
It does not. Thank you, Mor, members of
council. No, this is flat over fiscal
year 2425. Half of that except for canal
convergence. Okay. So, you're not
recommending that we add in the 2.5%.
It's not part of tonight's request.
Okay. All right. Um, I will make a
motion to adopt resolution 13428
and 13429.
Second.
I have a couple of questions before we
take a vote on that, unless there's
anything there further. Um, so that your
last conversation there with Councilman
Graham made things a little murkier for
me. Did you say we're in this is a
5-year contract with Scottsdale Arts
between the city and Scottsdale Arts?
And where are we exactly today? We are
at the end of five years. So it ends
June 30th, 2025.
So ordinarily we would have done a
renewal for five years. Is that right?
Potentially we could have done a renewal
for five years. Yes. This is a a
short-term extension um
to renegotiate and re um configure the
contract. So why did and maybe this is a
city manager question. Why did who made
the decision to enter into these changes
and six-month extension versus coming to
the council with a renewal and a
presentation about the renewal? because
I I don't recall us discussing that as a
council or giving direction about that.
Madame Mayor, I'm happy to take that.
Madame Mayor, members of council. So, as
referenced earlier on in the
presentation,
uh there was an audit completed and that
initiated some negotiations and
discussions that were initiated uh
partially with some previous staff
members and partially with existing
staff members. And given the transition
of leadership, including myself, uh
quite frankly, the negotiations were not
completed in time uh for uh next week.
And so we began discussions some months
ago, quite frankly, alerting um the
vendor, if you will, to the idea of an
extension uh so that we could have uh
the time and not be rushed to have the
extension. And it could be a varying
length. uh that fit the need and also
varying resources and relationships
because things have changed and wanted
to give it its appropriate time. And so
therefore, we thought the extension
would allow both uh sides, both parties
uh the time required and needed to have
those types of discussions.
So ordinarily, I mean, I think it's the
case that you would bring that back to
us to decide which direction to go. I I
I don't know exactly what's happened
here, but you know, it feels like there
should either be on for renewal or not.
So, it seems like a lot of information
um behind the scenes and a decision has
been made to d, you know, dish up a
six-month extension with contingencies.
is I mean I'm going to get to the next
question which is and I you touched on
this but I still don't know the exact
answer is the strategic plan
uh pursuant to the contract a
requirement that is funded by the city.
The strategic plan is uh in the contract
it is uh two years expired right now. So
because this is a short renewal period,
uh it's not contemplated to complete
that or to have that expenditure during
this six-month period. So is do you mean
that that should take place in the
future over the next five years? That is
the hope. Well, no, pursuant to the
contract. pursuant to the contract. Yes,
it is in the current contract that uh
and it's also uh part of the zoning
ordinance that uh art and public uh
private development also have a and
actually the director of public art is
here who may be able to speak to that.
She's had a little more experience with
it if you like. And also Dr. Gerd
Worsterman is here too if you want to
hear. I'd like to hear from Gird because
I I don't know exactly what the answer
is here. I thought I understood that
that strategic plan was part of the
contract and also um an obligation of
the city to fund, but now I'm unclear as
to when if we're in the last six months
of the contract, when was that supposed
to have happened pursuant to this
contract? Thank you, G. Thank you,
mayor. Thank you, council. Thanks for
hearing us tonight. And thank you,
Rachel, for the hard work in presenting
this. I want to be very specific and
clarify first this contingency piece and
the strategic plan.
It is not a strategic plan for Scotss.
Scots, like any self-respecting
nonprofit, makes a strategic plan. We
make one every three years under a
12-year umbrella. We pay for it. We do
it ourselves. There's nothing to do with
this. In our contract with the city,
we're required to every 10 years, every
decade, produce a new vision plan for
the future of public art in the city.
That's what this is. It is $100,000 for
a vision plan. We call it a vision plan.
used to be called a master plan.
Nowadays we call it a public art vision
plan. It is a 10-year document that is a
roadmap to guide us of how to develop
public art within the city for the next
decade. It is always presented, it is
paid for by the city as per our contract
and executed by our staff, by our public
art team. That particular piece is
always a oneoff out of budget request
because it only happens once a decade.
So it wouldn't make any sense to have it
as part of a standing agreement
obviously, right?
The $100,000 that are requested are 100%
passed through. They would enable us,
our team, to interface with outside
consultants to do the uh overarching
research, the public engagement, and
then the public commentary feedback to
create a plan that we as a city can be
proud of. I just wanted to clarify that
we would never come to you and ask to
pay for our strategic plan. This is the
city's public art 10-year plan.
That is that is moved in a contingency
uh a few months ago because it wasn't
clear then and it appears it still
wasn't clear tonight. The second part of
the contingency was a modest 2 and a
half% increase and as I think uh staff
pointed out, Scotsel Arts has not asked
for or request or or received a modest
increase for cost of doing business in
the last four years. Okay. Thank you for
that. pursuant to your contract. So,
you're not in the first how many
renewals have you had? What where are
you in the cycle of your five years? How
many are you been? This will only be my
second renewal of a contract. I arrived
here seven and a half years ago. The Zen
city manager said, "You're new. Some of
our team is new. Let's take some time to
make a new contract." At the time, we
had a really we had a contract in place
that I think was like the house that was
renovated one too many times, right? you
couldn't find your way through anymore.
And so we said, let's do a clean sheet
contract. Let's go back to the table and
take our time to make a solid new
agreement. I think back in the day, um,
then city manager took a one-year
extension during my first year here and
then another one-year extension on the
contract for the second time before we
passed this new contract. The MSA, the
agreement, as it states uh, in the
agreement allows for up to five one-year
extensions. I think I'm correct in
saying that. So, it took two one-year
extensions at the time to create this
fully researched and vetted new document
from our end or from the city's end.
That contract went into effect when
council turned over in January of 2021
and we were only allocated four and a
half years to get back in cycle with a
fiscal year because we always have
overlap at the fiscal year for obvious
reasons because the financial
participation agreement is the annual
renewal on the same cycle for the
five-year contract. So, we anticipated
that on July 1st this year, a new
five-year contract would begin and we're
now fully back on cycle with our fiscal
year and the city's fiscal year. Again,
lots of changes. We have many new board
member and council members on the dice.
We have a new city staff, a lot of
reorganization. Um, I am completely
respectful of the desire to take time to
really get under the hood and look at
this contract and look at where can we
can approve. Some of you have referenced
the city audit which has identified some
weaknesses in the contract. There are
some ambiguities and some things that we
can certainly improve and we want to
take this to heart as much as anyone and
I think city staff is in full agreement
with this. What we've recommended, and
what normally would have happened in the
past, would be a full one-year extension
of this contract because that would
allow you to allocate our full financial
participation agreement today, which
would enable us to in good faith enter
contracts with artists through the end
of our fiscal year, engage with the
public art pieces we're supposed to
install throughout the fiscal year, and
it would be responsible to our board. Uh
imagine your treasurer reports to you
and suggests you need to approve our
budget for the fiscal year, but they're
15% of the budget that aren't quite
they're there, but they're not really
allocated. I think it's a precarious
situation. I know my board has given us
some grief for asking them to approve
our financial year budget for 2526
because it has to be submitted to the
city as part of our budget request to
you. So we had to approve a budget not
knowing that the city is fully committed
for the year. I would also suggest that
the last goound there was a city manager
in place that had been here for a while
and um not as many changes in city in
general. I was the new element and it
still took us quite some time to fully
understand the complexity because as you
saw from Rachel's presentation, we are a
very complicated large organization.
We're the largest arts organization in
the state of Arizona. And as such, I
think doing the diligence of really
trying to improve the plan and taking
the time to really learn what we do well
and where we need to improve, I think
seems prudent to me. Okay. Thank you. Uh
I'm going to hear from Councilwoman
Clausman and then Councilwoman Al
McAllen.
This is just madame mayor I I just have
to say just for the folks at home this
is any this is like nails on a
chalkboard for anybody who has a sense
of fiscal responsibility. This is like a
Soviet commisarate cannot get together
to have the vision plan for the
year-long contract so we need another
year so we can install certain art so
they can see another vision plan. It is
crazy.
Mr. City Manager, if we give you six
months, can you get it done as quickly
as humanly possible and get a darn a
darned contract through so we could have
some stability? And it it is amazing how
private art exists in this world without
these types of negoti ridiculous
negotiations.
There was a question in that. Okay. I
just uh Madame Mayor, Councilman
Quasman, uh yes, I I think uh I was
going to emphasize with the discussion
about 6 months uh that it's up to 6
months and in our conversations that
would give us uh enough time uh and
should it not be enough time, we can
certainly come back for another 6 months
that would or a year that would round
out the uh the 12-month on the fiscal
year. We anticipate that it it could be
handled in short order depending upon
how much we get under the hood as was uh
referenced. But I think it's not an
insignificant dollar amount and I think
both parties want to make sure that as
we enter into if it I'll just use five
years for sake of discussion that was
before that it's done comprehensively. I
I agree with you. I agree with you Mr.
City Manager. But the fact the matter is
and Madame Mayor, Mr. city manager. I ag
it's not as if we didn't have years to
do this. This is not this didn't just I
I agree for you it is new. For you it is
new. I do not put the blame I do not
shoulder the blame on a city manager who
came in 10 minutes ago and had to deal
with a major contract. Totally
understand that. But the former city
manager had plenty of time to get this
done. The people deserve to have
stability in in their contracts. They
deserve to have stability in their
public private partnerships and and this
is just it it becomes an embarrassment
of the city when we can't get this done
and we need to and and when somebody's
telling me that I need to see art
installed to see the vision. It's just
it's absurd and and so let's just get
this done. I'm for a six-month increase
and and hopefully we could get a
contract worked out a lot quicker than
that. Councilwoman McCallen. Thank you,
mayor. Uh, thank you, Rachel. Thank you,
Gird. Uh, thank you, uh, City Manager
Kaitton. After hearing what she said,
the extensions, understanding the full
picture that it had been kicked down the
road to you, literally, uh, I understand
the six-month time to make appropriate
plans with, uh, the executive director
of Scottsdale Arts, uh, Mr. voicement
and make sure they understand what our
commitment is, what their commitment is,
and taking the time to make sure it's
appropriate because that would be a
five-year contract. That's why it was
hard for me to go from five years to six
months. I wasn't getting the picture.
So, thank you all for making sure that
we all understood it and thank you for
your commitment to making sure that
everything is in the best interest of
the city and the arts program,
Scottsdale Arts. So, thank you. So, I
know there's a motion on the table, but
getting back to the conversation, you
know, it seems like after all this
information that we have, this should be
presented to us for a year-long
extension. And, you know, with a staff
recommendation, I feel like this hasn't
been packaged very well, at least from
my perspective. And I do think it's
appropriate that there's a year
extension to work out the bugs. I mean,
six months, you know, that's two months
we're off for the summer. Not that you
can't continue to do this work, but I uh
that's going to fly by. And if it alters
their ability to make their budget to
properly um you know, fund and cover
their upcoming necessities, I think
that's a really big problem. Um I'm
going to make an alternate motion to
have these same terms apply for a year,
not six months.
And I'll take a second if anyone's
interested. M Madame Mayor, I I'm happy
to second it, but just can I speak to a
second? Of course. I don't think it's
the right I'm going to second it just
out of respect for for your idea. I I
don't think you're wrong. I I don't
think you're wrong, but here's what I
would advise. 6 months puts pressure on
the contract to get it done. A year is
going to put us right back in the
situation, and it tells other
organizations that are not unlike
Scottsdale Arts to do exactly the same
thing. And don't worry, they're just
going to get another year. And I just I
I see where you're I absolutely see your
point. I again, I don't think you're
incorrect, but I think a six-month
strategy puts pressure on contracts
being made and and I if they can get it
done, bully for them. I actually think
if we if we put 6 months and then we
ourselves ask to bring it back up in
three and see where they are and then
they're not and if they're not anywhere
close to getting this done, let's extend
it another I'll I'll be for extending it
for a longer time because then it's just
the rubber is just not going to meet the
road. So, did you second it? And yes, I
second it and with that I second it. All
right. And uh Gird, you indicated you
want to respond to that. You know, I I
sometimes feel like I I'm Germanborn
American acting like Switzerland. Um
because I really appreciate most
everything that was said on the DIS uh
in the last five minutes. Let me be
clear. I would have loved to have a
contract ready to present to you today
for the next fiscal year. Um but this is
not where we were because of all the
changes and because of all the newness
and I think because we wanted to be
diligent and do it right. I'm prepared.
We're prepared to make a new contract as
quickly as possible. I know city manager
and I have talked multiple times at his
desire. We'll say this many months, we
do it in half the time and everybody
lives happily ever after because that's
the dedication we bring to the job. The
reason why we're making respectfully the
suggestion to approve the MSA extension
for the year. It would enable us to
actually tonight approve the FBA, the
financial participation for the full
year, which gives my board the respons
which is fiscally responsible for the
organization, which gives my board the
ability to go home tonight and sleep
well because they have the assurance
that we're in this together and that
they pass the budget where the bottom
doesn't drop out. If we make a new
agreement and the financial numbers
change in three months or six months,
the city has in the contract the right
to peel money back or withhold if that's
their desire. If other things happen in
this contract negotiation, it leaves the
options on the table. But what I'd like
to respectfully submit is the
financially responsible thing for for
our fiscal year administration would be
to say this is a year-long extension.
We're committed to doing it as quickly
as we can. We're all in this together.
We I think have proven to be a great
partner to this city for what the better
part of 60 years. We want to stay in
exactly that place and continue to grow.
And again, I want to respectfully submit
that.
Well, I'd like to I'd like to hear on
from Councilwoman Whitehead because
she's had her button pushed chair, but I
do want to take a vote. I I think a year
just makes sense. I don't know how an
organization that's on this fiscal year
cycle, same as the city, that how you
plan ahead without there being huge
risk. And I get I get Councilman
Clausman's point about pressure, but
obviously you're under the gun right
now. So I I'm assuming you're going to
do your best with the city to come up
with a a deal that works. I'll commit
100%. We keep the pressure on. I want to
mad madam mayor you know and I'm sorry
if counciloman right whitehead has not
had the chance to speak but I'm just
going to say if it if we do the year I
am going to talk I am going to agendaize
this coming back up within 3 months and
then 6 months I'm going to keep bringing
it up if we do the year just to force
this to turn it into the same thing as
six months anyway to put as much
pressure as humanly possible even though
you don't have pressure but I'm going to
pressure you. Perfect. Well that that's
fine. I think six months to burn it back
up is fine. I would if that's a friendly
amendment, I would take it. And
Councilwoman, that's what I was just
going to say is I'll make a friendly
amendment to um give us an update. Just
a quick update without you needing to be
present in three months and then six
months. It seems to me that there's no
cost savings to the city to do a six
months because we're still liable for
all the costs that you will incur
because you've gone under contract with
the different events. So there's no cost
savings and yet it's it's sort of bad
business practice to have our partner um
try to plan a year out and yet only have
a commitment for six months and it's not
like this kind of a new relationship and
having worked on that 2021 uh contract
re renegotiating that contract we did a
lot of big improvements. One thing I
think that has slowed things down now is
we also did an audit. So, there's
reasons, no one to blame, but there's
reasons for the slowdown and having the
new contract. But, um, I'm going to go
ahead and support the year-long with if
the mayor will accept my friendly
amendment to have a, you know, a three
months and six months have a six months
review and and with the goal of having
it wrapped up by then if if six months
works for people. Um, yeah, I second. I
I'd second that. But I I want to just
say the audit, my understanding is the
audit was done two years ago, right?
When was the audit when was the audit
completed?
A year ago, every year. So, they had a
year. So, I just want to be very clear.
It's not like the audit was 10 minutes
ago. They had a year to do this. They
ran out of time. Again, I don't blame
brand new staff coming in and and and
trying to pick up when when the last
person didn't do their homework. I just
let's just be very clear for just
everybody in the audience so they know
what this is. They ran out of time. They
had plenty of time. They didn't do their
homework. We're giving them extra time.
Please please get it done.
And to that point, because that's a fact
I I don't know to be Thank you for
sharing that. What's Yeah, the
Councilman Quasman, I appreciate the the
passion and the energy and and and with
you 100%. I love deadlines. I want to
get things done as quickly as possible.
We work hard and fast and we work well
together. But as a matter of form, the
the city audit always precedes a new
contract by a year. That is actually by
design to give needed information and
input. So the city audit concluded and I
think was introduced to council to the
council's audit committee last fall with
the anticipation that we then would have
a new contract to ready to go today. Um
but then since last fall a lot of things
changed.
Okay. So, city attorney uh indicated a
request to speak interim
interim assistant. Sorry,
mayor and members of the council. Um,
one thing I need to clarify, I need to
pose a question to city staff. Um, the
original resolution is for a six-month
contract with a certain dollar amount.
Is that dollar amount for six months?
So, if you're extending the contract for
a year, you're are you extending it for
a sixmonth dollar amount or um a full
year um dollar amount necessarily the
full year dollar amount assuming that's
okay with the second because that
wouldn't make that would defeat
everything that we just talked about.
Yeah, you may want to modify your your
motion to um to what you just said. Yes,
ma'am. Okay. Uh motion to extend the
contract as is fully funded for a year
with a uh requirement that no later than
six months that you return to council
for a status uh check and wellness exam.
Right.
Does that work? Does that work for my
second? Yes. Okay. Second says yes. So,
I I think we should Councilman Graham.
Sorry. I'll keep it brief. Thank you,
Mayor. Um I I I I'm going to vote for
the alternate motion. So, I guess I'll
withdraw my motion, but um I have doubts
about this motion because it seems like
Councilman Clausman's intuition, six
months, more pressure, get it done. I
think that if I read the tea leaves from
the city manager, it's not even going to
take six months. So, um, but I will join
my colleagues and, uh, and we'll see
what happens. Thank you. Thank you. I
don't see any more requests to speak.
So,
I said fully funded. So, would that
include the contingency?
It's $100,000.
No. No, that wouldn't double it. It
would be the 2.5% and the public art
strategic plan for $100,000. To be
clear, is this going to be done this
year? The strategic plan?
Okay. And city. Okay. All right. Let's
everyone okay to take a vote on this
one? This is turning into a very long
discussion. All right. Uh all those in
favor, please indicate your vote.
All right. Thank you very much for your
for letting us twist you all over with
these questions. I appreciate it. All
right. Moving on to uh item number 23.
Scottsdale's Museum of the West
financial participation agreement. Uh
this evening we have Rachel Spentana
who's already present to go over what
we're talking about this from the staff
perspect perspective.
Yes. Hello again, Mayor Barski, Vice
Mayor, members of council. Tonight we're
bringing you the annual financial
participation agreement for the Museum
of the West. Um, just a few weeks ago,
Councilman Clausman mentioned that we
don't talk often enough about how the
um, Western Spirit Scottsdale Museum of
the West is a Smithsonian affiliate. Out
of 35,000 museums in the nation, only
200 are Smithsonian affiliates. And we
have one of them right here in beautiful
Scottsdale, Arizona.
So, uh, and of course this year they are
celebrating their 10th anniversary, the
museum having opened in 2015.
Um,
and we are all excited about the museum
expansion. Councilwoman Whitehead, you
will love that expansion with the lovely
white cooling roof that expands the the
gallery space. Um, so tonight's request,
uh, again, I want to say construction is
on track and they are expected to open
this year in time for their 10th
anniversary. We're very excited about
that. Um, tonight's request includes
$600,000
for refreshing and renovating the
existing 10-year museum. So, everything
that's not under that uh, white roof.
and they are um the $600,000 for this
fiscal year and another trunch of
$600,000
for next fiscal year for updating the
existing museum. Um the expansion was
privately funded. Um but the 10-year-old
museum needs some love and so you
decided through the budget process to go
ahead and approve that. It is over two
fiscal years um which is currently in
line with financial policy 10.02
limiting annual project commitments to
$600,000 a year.
So the most recent 5-year agreement
between the city and Scottsdale's Museum
of the West was approved by city council
in October 2023. So no painful
discussions like we just had a moment
ago. All you need to do tonight is uh
approve the financial participation
agreement. Um
these are some of the requirements
and if you want to see more they have a
wonderful beautiful annual report
attached to the um city's the city
council agenda for this evening. It was
many pages so I won't read it to you but
it talks about their many community
partners the Eddie Basha collection and
many of their other wonderful metrics.
Um,
so tonight for 2526, all of the funding
comes from the Tourism Development
Commission paid for by bed tax. And in
April, the Tourism Development
Commission recommended
that this be funded. And now it is up to
you to approve that uh recommendation
and what we're bringing forward. It
makes sense that it's funded by tourism
bed tax. 50% of the museum's visitors
are from out of state. So tonight's
request is for $1,250,000.
Um again, that was included in the
operating budget you just approved. The
city funds, these city funds are 16.3%
of the museum's total operating budget.
Um we received documentation for the
matching fund program. We received
documentation already for 2425 and they
have exceeded their $400,000 in matching
donations and I was really touched to
see that one sizable recent donation was
made in memory of Paul Messenger. I
thought that is wonderful community
support.
So I told you this one was easier. The
action that we are requesting is that
you approve the financial participation
agreement in the amount of $1,250,000
as stated.
And uh Todd Bankfair, CEO and president
of um Western Spirit, Scottsdale Museum
of the West, is here to answer any
questions should you have any.
Councilwoman White. Thank you, Rachel.
Uh Councilwoman Whitehead. Okay. Thank
you, Rachel. And thank you the whole
team here from the Museum of the West.
Wow. Uh$1.2 million for almost $20
million privately funded investment once
again earning accolades nationally
international. I it's just I'm so proud
to have this museum and it was last year
was a particularly exciting year with
the Basha gift, all the uh financial
gifts. Um there was a funny article
about um Mr. Bankhoffer coming in and
just just finding lots of treasures
waiting for him. Anyway, with that um
thank you for giving us an easy one,
Rachel. Um, so I would like to motion to
adopt resolution number 13431
authorizing financial participation
agreement number 2025-084-COS
with Scottsdale's Museum of the West,
Inc. for fiscal year 2526 in the amount
of 1,250,000
aortioned as follows. 250,000 for
operational support, 400,000 for
matching donations, and 600,000 for
renovating the existing original museum,
consistent with the Museum of the West,
Inc.'s maintenance responsibility set
forth in the museum management agreement
number 2021-088-
COS-81.
And again, huge thank you. I'm so proud
to have you in Scottsdale.
Second
Councilman Graham has indicated a
request to speak. Thank you, Mayor.
Thank you, Miss Batona. This will
hopefully this is simpler, but last time
I asked some questions and it kind of
set off a chain reaction. I don't want
that to happen again. Um,
attendance was down. I I I noticed the
attendance was down a little bit in 24.
I didn't know if Todd Bank offer if you
wanted to talk about that a little bit.
Um I only ask about that because we
invest you know this this this
contract with Museum of the West is
I mean this is this this museum I think
is ascending.
Um, we there's a lot of city investment
in that and I was going to wait to ask
questions about some of that stuff until
the appropriate time, but I think this
is the only time to do that really as
far as how often you come to us. Maybe
not. Sure. Maybe maybe you could talk a
little bit more. And by the way, before
you start, sorry, I am pleased about the
uh $400,000 matching donations. I'm
pleased those were exceeded. There was a
time in the past before your time when
it wasn't even nobody was even checking
that those were received when when we
reimbursed it. And so I think some of
those benchmarks in the past that hadn't
been met are now being met. So I'm very
pleased about that. U maybe you say a
little bit about the attendance and and
maybe where you forecast next year.
Thank you council mayor. I appreciate
the opportunity to be up here.
specifically to the attendance.
We the city uses the place the plaster
um instrument to to count these and this
is what's on here as for annual
visitation. At the museum we saw an
increase because of two things. Plaster
doesn't count kids under 18 years old.
And secondly, as you know, our
headquarter offices are behind the
museum and we do not have that geo
fenced to pick up people that go to it.
It has the Western Spirit Library in it,
has the war saddle exhibit, has our big
conference room, which people use every
day for different different reasons. So,
we're not able to count those, but we
count them at the museum. And the
numbers that should be if you used used
our um numbers for 2022 it would be
43,000.
For 2023 it would be 45,000 and for 2024
it would be 49,000. So it's actually
increasing.
Councilman Graham, I just want you to
know that based on the fact that we're
not being able to count those Yeah. that
I just mentioned, right? Okay.
So the the table two, Museum of the West
annual visitation, these numbers show
32,000 and 24 down from 33,000 and 23.
So you're saying these numbers aren't
correct. Well, they're just not we're
not able to count them. So we do with
our system with people come in the door,
we immediately count everybody that
comes through those doors because we
know that one, we're not being able to
count students. and we had over 7,000
students come to our museum last year.
So you add that to the 30 $3,000 here at
40 already. Okay. Before we even count
the offices and the library and the
conference room and all that. Okay.
Okay. Uh I think that's why I wanted to
speak to that. I'm glad you asked the
question. Thank you. Thank you. I have
my only I have one more question for
Miss Matana and then and then I'll wrap
my comments up because people want to
get home before midnight.
Uh, Miss Matan, are there so we talked
about that 400 matching wasn't being,
you know, documented in the past, but
that was corrected. Any other benchmarks
in the contract that you're aware of
that need improvement that need
improvement? Actually, there the
contract doesn't actually have the
metrics, but last year attached via uh
it was via attachment. There were some
year-over-year metrics. They hit them
all except for the one we pointed out in
the council report, which is the
attendance piece. But again, he uh
the Museum of the West points out that
they had 58
um school tours and also they have a a
large number of older seniors who may
not have the smartphone that they're
picking up as well as their adjacent
building that's not geo fenced in our AI
data. Um and then I think you said this,
but when do you expect the expansion
complete to be completed?
We are on schedule and it's it's it's
scheduled to be done October 1st, which
then we'll spend three months curating
it and putting in all the art and it
will open in February 2026. I'm sure I
speak for my colleagues that we uh look
forward to the invitation to that. Yes,
you you definitely will. Um thank you
Mr. Bank offer and um Miss Matana,
there's a motion on the floor and so I
appreciate your
information about the attendance. I
think that this museum is on the ascent
and when this the more this museum
prospers, the more the entire downtown
and Scottsdale prospers. So, thank you.
Thank you, Mayor. Thank you,
Councilwoman uh Mckllen.
Okay. Um I don't see you're still up
there, but I don't see any other
questions. I did have a strong
recommendation. I feel like we put the
cart before the horse when we adopt
budget, you know, funding for these
organizations ahead of see of hearing
presentations. And so, you know, I hope
we can look at that and change that. I
feel like these are could be meaty
discussions and before, you know, we're
locked in for funding. nothing to do
with this organization, but I feel like
that we should get ahead of that and be
having these presentations about um
funding these organizations a ahead of
time. So, in case there's any things
that we should be doing differently and
the city manager is looking confused,
but I feel like this is kind of after
the fact as has been said a couple of
times. It's already been approved
through the budget, the funding for it.
So, with that, I don't see any other
comments. Uh, all those in favor of I
think it was Councilwoman
what? Whitehead's uh motion to approve
this item, please indicate your vote.
All right, that passes, I think.
Councilman Graham. Okay. All right.
Moving on. Uh, thank you, Rachel. I
think you might have this next one, too.
experience Scottsdale destination
marketing plan. Yes, mayor, members of
council, now we're having some fun. Um,
finally for me tonight, we are here to
request your acceptance of experience
Scottsdale's strategic business plan.
So, unlike Scottsdale Arts and the
Museum of the West, the destination
marketing contract doesn't require an
annual participation agreement. However,
it does require the tourism uh
development commission and the city
council to approve the plan. Um the
tourism development commission just did
recently at their May meeting and so
we're here for your approval tonight.
But first, uh the destination marketing
services agreement also discusses
specific performance measures.
Experience Scottsdale actually tracks 17
different performance measures. The five
listed here are specific to properties
within the Scottsdale city limits. As
everyone knows, um Scottsdale,
even properties in Phoenix, the Salt
River Puma Maricopa Indian Community or
Paradise Valley are sometimes mislabeled
as Scottsdale. So, we ask Experience
Scottsdale to supply numbers for those
properties that actually pay Scottsdale
sales tax versus the whole market. And
these five metrics are those
um the numbers you see here are through
the third quarter and you'll see that
the number of media placements is a bit
low for third quarter. Um ex I followed
up with experience Scottsdale as a good
contract administrator is want to do and
they explained that they came on strong
in April and May and they are now
hovering around 100% with placements in
publications like Forbes ARP inflight uh
Air France magazine and my favorite
headline Coloradoatans will love the six
summer travel destinations which is
hilarious because we're all trying to
get to Colorado right Now, um the total
media placements through the third
quarter were actually over 3,000
um for the entire Scottsdale market. But
a few years ago, it was decided after a
city audit that even in if an article
was entirely about Scottsdale, if it
didn't mention a specific Scottsdale
property, they couldn't counted in this
metrics. But again, they've come on
strong in uh April and May and uh plan
to be over 100% of their annual goal.
Bless you. The spec um strategic
business plan always contains the items
listed here and I encourage everyone who
has interests to review the plan which
is also hyperl to the item on tonight's
agenda. It was 58 pages. I was tempted
to read it to you uh but instead I will
just say it is linked. Please check it
out. It is um a very smart and important
piece of strategic business planning.
So the city services funding and I
understand that mayor and council you
understand this but I often hear
misconceptions
um or some confusion from the community
from time to time. So, just a a little
bit of information on the annual budget.
The city does not negotiate this budget
with experience Scottsdale. Uh, by will
of the voters and ordinance and
financial policy, 50% of all the money
we spend uh that we collect through bed
tax must be used for destination
marketing. Our contract states that we
give 45% of that to Experience
Scottsdale and the city keeps 5% for our
own destination marketing work. So
you'll see here um the number that was
just adopted by council the 2526 on this
chart adopted budget that is 45% of our
treasur's office forecast of the amount
we think we will collect in bed tax next
year from July 1st to July 30 and we pay
in real receipts. So you can see in 2425
the adopted budget uh the forecast at
that time 45% of what we thought we
would collect um originally was $14.2
million
earlier this year. I think in January uh
we reforcast that because receipts were
coming in much higher. So we reforcast
it to 15.2 2 million, but actually I
just got the May receipts and and we're
uh closer to 15.6 million as of the end
of May as well. So, um again, we pay in
real in real tax receipts. So, if we
collected a million dollars in bed tax
in June, we would pay experience
Scottdale $450,000
regardless of what the forecast was.
Conversely, if something happened and we
only collected $1,000 in bed tax, they
would only get $450
regardless of the forecast. So, we'll
never be in debt over the budget that
you adopted. It's um contractually
obligated in real dollars. Also, just
quickly on the Fiesta Bowl pass through,
uh we are in the last year of a 20-year
agreement and we pay half and experience
Scottsdale pays half to the Fiesta
Sports Foundation. I believe is their
name now. And um in 2425 the estimated
spending of Fiesta Bowl visitors brought
about 1.88
million to Scottsdale. So we're we're
getting about a 784
uh%
return on that 200 uh $212,000
investment from last year. Uh this year
it's gone up to 221,000. Again, this is
the last year of the Fiesta Bowl
contract. Um, I don't know much about
college football, but it's in flux. So,
we don't know what the future looks
quite like, but they are a lovely
organization, and we hope to keep having
college football fans and teams here um
every holiday season.
Okay. So, in this year's plan, every
year, Experience Scottsdale evaluates
their strategies and updates depending
on identified market trends. Um, these
right here you can see are their 2526
strategies. Some are the same, like
promoting city venues and supporting the
five-year strategic plan. And some
others uh are a new angle to an existing
important initiative like elevating
activation and driving needed time
business. And some are brand new this
year, which um this year are the super
exciting focusing on golf, teeing up
Scottsdale golf, which is fantastic and
matches exactly what our um council
committee on economic development is
talking about, and also
the French market,
tapping the French market.
So, the performance standards less you
think that experience Scottsdale rests
on its laurels or that we would let
them. Here are the year-over-year
increases uh for the 25 26 performance
standards. Again, those same five
standards specifically for Scottsdale
properties within our city limits.
And on this one, I made a ton of notes,
but let me just summarize by saying in
2223,
um, the city hired Longwoods
International to determine the
effectiveness of the advertising dollars
that Experience Scottsdale
spends. And it was determined that for
every dollar in advertising investment
they make, the city receives $4 in tax
return on that investment. We actually
are planning on doing this again this
year in 25 26 revisiting these numbers,
relooking at this um and seeing if
there's any difference from the 22 23
numbers. But um that's a pretty good
return on investment. Although I'm a
bureaucrat and not a financial genius,
but it looks like it to me. And so the
action requested tonight adopts
resolution 13430
authorizing the strategic business plan
and the lovely Rachel Sako is here
should you have any questions for
experience Scottsdale.
Thank you very much. Uh let's see.
Councilwoman Mckllen.
Thank you mayor. Uh thank you for the
presentation Rachel. Um, I move that we
I request that we uh adopt resolution
number 13430
authorizing the fiscal year 2526
strategic business plan performance
standards and contract budget under
destination marketing services contract
number 2022-054-
COS with the Scottsdale Convention and
Visitors Bureau Incorporated doing
business as exper experience Scottsdale.
I'll second that and I'll speak to my
second. Good job, Rachel. You know, I
guess we feel some of us feel like we
already know this stuff, but that was a
really good presentation definitely
capturing some of the um public
misperceptions that we don't approve a
budget and um the always like to see the
return on investment. Good, very brief,
but good presentation. So, thanks to
Rachel and her team and uh city Rachel
for this great presentation. and um we
just had another good year and it just
keeps coming. So, thank you.
Uh Vice Mayor Dascus, thank you. Madame
Mayor, I wanted to ask a question about
the um KPI for the 1300 um travel
advisors that will be um trained are it
doesn't say in there new.
That is true. Um thank you for that. I
don't know that I can speak to that
specifically, mayor and vice mayor. Um,
would it be okay? Could go. Is that
okay? Thank you.
Thank you, Rachel. Thank you, Mayor,
Vice Mayor, members of the council. That
particular metric is referring to
one-on-one personal interaction with
those travel advisors across the entire
globe and we are meeting them in Italy
and France in Germany in the UK and all
across this country as well as Canada
and Mexico. Most of those are new
because the ones that we are training
are specifically in our uh sites, if you
will, to learn about Scottsdale so that
they can then go out to their high-n
networth luxury customers and talk to
them about why don't we go to Scottsdale
this year as opposed to perhaps the
south of France or maybe on a a safari
or a cruise. So most of those end up
being new and they're all in the luxury
field.
Thank you.
Councilman Clausman.
Thank you, Madam Mayor. I I just want to
again for everybody at home listening,
we are
supposed to be proud of telling people
in the summer that are living in the 70s
of degree degrees of the 70s to come to
Scottsdale. Now, I just want to We're
spending money to get people to come
from the cold or the cool and the calm
and comfortable to come here and we're
excited about a brand new French
initiative. Well, a Shante to everybody.
I'm looking forward to seeing a detailed
report about the success of our new
French initiative um and coming here.
And let let me I just want to be very
clear.
When I I heard in the economic
development subcommittee that that
tourism was down everywhere, markets
were down everywhere and therefore, you
know, Scottsdale's hitting a bit of a a
bit of a bump like everywhere else.
Well, the the objective of experience
Scottsdale is a closed pie objective.
The markets, the economy is an open pie.
It's unlimited growth. So, I understand
that there's market trends everywhere
and that should be even. But there's
only so many visitors. It's a closed pie
and we have to make sure that in that
closed pie, our slice is bigger than
everyone else's, even if the pie itself
is reduced. And so I'm going to vote for
this tonight, but I am very very keen on
looking through this with a fine tooth
comb to make sure that we are getting
the true bang for the buck that we're
all being told. So with that, I will
vote we
would you like for me to talk about
return on investment, council member, or
because we are our numbers are not down
in Scottsdale. They are higher. As a
matter of fact, when we ask people to
come here in the summertime, just last
year, as a result of our efforts to
bring people here in the summer, and
they are coming for group business as
well as individuals, we were able to
increase the actual revenue of our
Scottsdale properties from our efforts
by 47%.
Which isn't just relevant to just the
hotels. that num number of people and
those people go throughout all of
Scottsdale turning up more bed tax but
also turning up a lot more sales tax and
as you talk about the French initiative
we have been working for years on trying
to get new air lift into Sky Harbor so
that we benefit from that so we are a
part of bringing Air France here that is
the French initiative I'm talking about
and already it's been so successful that
they've increased not only their
frequency every week but they're looking
at increasing their entire um equipment
to handle more. With all due respect,
Madame Mayor Misso, you testified in our
committee, not just a couple weeks ago,
that you know, things were a little
deflated. It wasn't looking as good, but
the economyy's been down. This is the
problem is that again, I'm for
Experience Scottsdale. I am a supporter
of Experience Scottsdale. I want to see
the best of this city. I want to see
everybody coming to Scottsdale. is the
greatest city in in America, frankly.
And and the fact of the matter is is
that I just don't want to be told one
thing in a committee looking for excuses
and then seeing it later. I want to see
I want to see true numbers of success.
I'm looking forward to the audit. I'm
looking forward or your your the new
polling to tell me. I want specific
questions in that poll. I'd love to see
I want I would love to see them not
saying did you come? What is the reason
you came? What is the reason you came
here? With a with a with choices with
open choices of a poll. I want to see
them write it down. I heard an
advertisement X, Y, and Z. Here is why.
And if we want to offer an incentive for
individuals who are coming in and
spending money at our hotels and
restaurants, so for them to be able to
fill out a card that gets actual data
and accurate data, I would be happy to
uh support that as well. Thank you,
Council Memberwasman and Mayor. If I
may, I think the ultimate probably
return on investment is the bed tax is
increasing. These are people who are
coming here and there there's more for
not only uh the city of Scottsdale, but
there is more for all of our businesses
as well. And I believe what you might
have been referring to in terms of any
sort of downturn was we had some
comments I believe about the Canadian
impact. um Canadians are still coming to
Scottsdale. But all in all, the entire
um I think robustness of the tourism
industry for Scottsdale even in that
meeting that we attended um was also
always talking about being on the
upside. There is not a downturn right
now in spite of what's going on perhaps
in some of the target markets like
Canada and they are still even coming.
But thank you for your comments,
Councilwoman Whitehead. Yeah, I just
want to add something as long as we're
talking to the residents who are
watching on TV. These are not your tax
dollars. So we have the general manager
of aliho here. These are bed tax. So
number one I want to repeat experience
Scottsdale is funded by voterapproved
uh initiatives. It's in taxes. It's not
funded by the general fund and the taxes
that fund that that the voters approve
to fund the operations come from the
hotels. They come from the bed tax. So
um
it's it is in it's a closed loop system
in a sense. The uh what experience
Scottdale does is based on the funding
they get based on the success of our
tourism industry. So I just want to make
that abundantly clear and yes we cannot
control whether or not um geopolitical
events are slowing down our tourism.
What we can do is make sure that as we
did dur during 2020, we can just make
sure that we Scottdale are always
operating efficiently with our tourism
dollars, making sure that we're
welcoming people from wherever they may
come from. Um whether it's uh west side
of Phoenix or France and um and and then
have the best resorts, best hotels, best
amenities, best restaurants. So, I just
really want to stress that this is not
um this not your general fund tax
dollars. And again, as Rachel said, we
don't approve the budget. Thank you,
Councilwoman McCallen.
Thank you, Mayor. Uh thank you, Rachel's
uh for your presentation. I do want to
say that I have been attending the
tourism commission a lot this this year
and learning, you know, kind of what uh
Councilwoman uh Whitehead said that
really what you're doing is you're
funding your own organization by the bed
tax dollars. The better you produce, the
more you produce, the more people come
here, which you know, it's a cycle. That
being said, at the last tourism uh
commission meeting, there were four new
events. One of which is the women's
final four. Um this is my favorite part
of it is that it's happening in another
city, but all of the events around it
happen in Scottsdale. Everybody stays in
Scottsdale. The golf tournaments in
Scottsdale. All the socials are in
Scottsdale. The meet and greets are in
Scottsdale because of the type of
advertising. Um, the Polo Festival, in
case you didn't know, is now expanding
and it's expanding an extra day. It's
adding a brunch. It's adding a kind of a
glitzy party at the beginning, a VIP.
The uh Ferrari art show is going to be a
little larger. So, all of and the
women's uh marathon is coming here. The
every woman's marathon is coming for the
first time ever. And it's going to be on
the opposite weekend of Canal
Convergence. So, we're going to have one
event over here with the women's
collectives 5K run canal convergence and
then every woman's marathon. They chose
Scottsdale because of the women wanting
to come here, shop here, spas, etc. So,
uh, I appreciate all that you do, but we
keep getting new events. These aren't
old events. These are new things coming
to Scottsdale, and that once they come,
they'll stay because of their
experience. So, thank you. I just had to
say it. Thank you, Councilman Graham.
I appreciate all my colleagues speeches.
They were wonderful speeches.
I'm ready to vote.
I second that motion.
Councilman Clausman.
I was going to go on a diet tribe about
fungeibility of money and taxes. Um, but
I think we should just vote.
Vice Mayor Dasquez was Thank you. Just
real quick, I did want to um give a
shout out to Experience Scottsdale. I do
feel that the six profiles that you
created earlier in the year um I think
those are going to be very interesting.
I'm real excited to see the results from
that. Um and then um as we talked about
in economic development and I have
spoken with GER, I think if we can work
together on complimentary events that
you could then also advertise. so that
folks who come here, they know that
there's lots to do. Um, so I think
there's a lot of opportunity and and
growth and so I appreciate your
responsiveness and then taking the time
to to spend with me to go over those
profiles. So, thank you. Thank you, Vice
Mayor. All right, I think that concludes
the questions and comments. So, with
that, uh, let's there's a motion in a
second and all those in favor indicate
by I.
Excellent. All right. Thank you very
much. Uh, moving right along.
Next, we have item 26, which is the
fiscal year 202526
property tax levies.
And I thought Scott S. Oh, it's you.
Okay. Then we will hear from city
treasurer Sonia Andrews. Thank you,
Mayor, Council.
Next slide. So this is our final
adoption of the property tax levy and
rates. We did a public hearing and
presentation of the property tax levies
and rates on the 10th and tonight we're
asking council to do a final adoption.
Next slide.
The property taxes that we're proposing
for fiscal year 2526 is 91.2 cents per
$100 of assessed value. That's a 2.1%
decrease from the current year property
taxes. It's made up of two components.
The primary property tax of 48.9 cents
which gen which generates about 40
million uh for our general fund and tort
claims and also a secondary property tax
component of 42.3 cents which generates
35 million for voter approved bond debt
service. Next slide.
So given that the property tax rate is
decreasing by 2% and given that the
median property values will likely
increase by about 2% so the net net um
impact would be pretty ne negligible.
Uh next slide and that um and at the
91.2 cent combined rate we are one of
the lowest in terms of property tax
rates when compared to the peer cities
in in the valley. Next slide. And this
is the motion that we're looking for
council to adopt.
Councilwoman
McCallen or Whitehead. I thank you.
Thank you, Mayor. Um, and thank you,
Sonia. I move that we accept the uh
ordinance number 4672 assessing the
fiscal year 2526 primary and secondary
property tax levies and fixing the
primary and secondary property tax
rates. Second.
All right. All those in favor indicate
your vote.
That's easy. There we go.
All right. Finally, I think this is
finally. We have
item number 27, fiscal year 202526,
streetlight improvement district
property tax levy.
Also presenting uh is it city treasure
again? Oh no, assistant
city treasurer Anna Henthornne.
Hentham. Sorry. It's okay. Henthorne.
Thank you. Oh, it is okay.
Good evening, mayor, members of the city
council. This action is for the fiscal
year 2526 municipal streetlight
improvement district property tax levy.
This is a two-step process uh required
by state law. On June 10th, we had the
public hearing and presentation.
And tonight is the adoption of the
property tax levies.
The proposed tax levy is for $578,426
with an average levy per lot of $17.3.
And the action item is to adopt
ordinance 4673 assessing the fiscal year
2526 streetlight improvement district
property tax levy by district in
accordance with Arizona Reise statutes
and the city charter. I can answer any
questions you may have.
I don't see any.
Councilwoman Whitehead, I move to adopt
ordinance number 4673 assessing the
FY2526
street light improvement district
property tax levy by district in
accordance with Arizona Revised Statutes
and City Charter. Second.
All right. All those in favor, please
indicate.
That passes unanimously.
And while I didn't open the hearing on
these two items, I will now It's okay.
Yeah. Okay. Got it. Uh that concludes, I
believe, our agenda for this evening.
And thank you very much for your
patience and for those of you who stuck
around. And thank you staff for being
here. I'll entertain a motion to
adjurnn.
All those in favor? Actually, anyone
opposed? No.