City Council | Regular and Special Meetings - June 10, 2025

Good evening. I would like to now call
the June 10th, 2025 city council regular
meeting to order. City clerk Ben Lane,
may I please have a roll call?
Thank you, Mayor. Mayor Lisa Barrowski
present. Vice Mayor Jan De Bosquez here.
Council members Barry Graham here. Adam
Quasman here. Kathy Littlefield here.
Maryann McAllen present. And Solange
Whitehead here. City manager Greg
Kaitton here. City attorney Sher Scott
here. City treasurer Sonia Andrews here.
Acting city auditor LCL here. And the
clerk is present. Thank you mayor. Thank
you very much. This evening we have
Scottsdale Police Officer Darren Heman
and Detective Will Hathaway as well as
firefighter Brad Reynolds. If anyone
requires special assistance, please let
a member of our staff know. Uh this
evening I will be leading the pledge of
allegiance. So please join us.
I pledge algiance 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 very much. And for the
invocation, I turn the uh
mic over to Councilwoman Whitehead.
Thank you, Mayor. So, um I am going to
have a moment of silence, but I heard
something on the radio today that I
wanted to share. Um it was an NIH
scientist who said, "You can't be brave
if you're not scared." So for my moment
of sil silence, I wanted to pray for
bravery for all of us to um to um invoke
what Abraham Lincoln said is uh the
better angels of our nature and be
united when so many want us to be
divided and use our differences to find
the best path forward for our residents.
And I just want to share appreciation
for all my colleagues and ask everybody
for a moment of silence.
Thank you.
Thank you, Councilwoman Whitehead.
So, for tonight's mayor's report, I'd
like to take a moment uh to commend and
provide special recognition to one of
our city volunteers, Henry Crowder, who
I believe is with us here tonight. Um
great story. Henry is one of the many uh
volunteers at the city of Scottsdale and
he assists at the Pinnacle Peak trail
head on April 5th. Uh Henry's alertness
and quick actions saved the life of a
part-time city employee, recreation
leader John O'Neal. While taking a
stroll up the trail, John began to
experience distress, but was able to
make his way back down. And it was at
this point that Henry spotted Jon
experiencing a medical emergency. Henry
uh quickly sprang into action and took
Jon to the emergency room at Thompson
Peak where thanks to Henry's quick
thinking, Jon was able to receive proper
and immediate care. John's wife Patty
shared that the doctors attribute John's
speedy recovery in part because Henry
got Jon to the hospital in such a quick
period of time. Patty went on to share
that it is it is people like Henry and
volunteers at Pinnacle Peak that make
our parks and preserve a wonderful place
to visit and experience and in this case
potentially save a life. So that's
amazing. Henry, we cannot Is Henry here?
All right. Well, I'm going to give you
something here, so you might as well
come up. um we we cannot thank you
enough on behalf of the city and I'll
meet you right over there with your
certificate uh for your service as a
volunteer so you don't have to stand
right here in front of us. Um due to
your quick thinking and actions you
saved a city of Scottsdale employee, a
husband and a friend. The city of
Pinnacle Peak City and Pinnacle Peak is
incredibly lucky to have you as a
volunteer. And my understanding is that
both Henry and John Oh, I didn't miss
that part. Is John here? All right.
Well, why don't you come up and join us
here? Um, and and please join us for a
photo. And I have a certificate of
recognition here for Henry Crowder as
the uh city's rockstar volunteer.
[Applause]
to delete it. All right.
For the first public comment, which is
reserved for Scottsdale citizens,
business owners, and property owners to
comment on non-aggendaized items, uh I
will be calling up five speakers. Uh
these um speakers uh are to address
issues that are within the council's
jurisdiction but not on on tonight's
agenda. No official council action can
be taken on these items and speakers are
limited to three minutes to address the
council. If you wish to speak on a
non-aggendaized item, I note that all
spots are filled. Um so we'll just
proceed. We have received uh five for
the first period and starting with Steve
Sutton followed by French Thompson uh
then Vanessa Goldberg, Jane Adamson and
Dan Isaac.
Is Steve here?
See no. Oh, there you are.
Good evening, Honorable Lisa Barowski,
Mayor of Scottsdale, and council
members.
Last week was a terrible week for me.
Zoe, my beloved six-year-old Shih Tzu
mix, had to be euthanized on Monday
after only a week of illness.
On Thursday, a man at the dog park
behaved in a threatening manner toward
me. But fortunately, a young woman came
to my rescue and gave him a chewing out
that convinced him to leave the park.
Friday morning on the active side of the
dog park, two pit bull mixes got into a
fight, knocked a woman to the ground for
several minutes. Two people received dog
bites. A half dozen people started
screaming each other. Fortunately,
another group of dog owners communicated
and cooperated together to take action
until two police officers arrived to
sort out the mess. The signs we have
encouraging people to communicate and
cooperate are working.
Last week, I emailed all of you about my
main topic tonight. One council member
acknowledged receipt and replied by
email. Another replied in person at the
farmers market. I wish to thank
Councilwoman McGallen for doing so and
Mayor Boroski.
There is a tsunami moving toward this
council is composed of residents
opposing construction of a garage at the
Brown Avenue parking corral. The
opposition is primarily based on factors
that have nothing to do with the farmers
market. People and business owners do
not want a garage. No matter how
beautiful the design is, a garage is
inappropriate for the historic and
cultural aesthetics of the area and
detrimental to Oldtown businesses. Many
people think that there is not a parking
availability problem in historic
Oldtown. On even the busiest days, there
is a parking management problem. The
city manager has the text of the new
petition that is circulating. The
petition requests the conducting of a
parking study similar to the 2015 Walker
study, but only in the southeast and
southwest quadrants of Oldtown.
Residents will expect the study to be
nonpartisan and objective in its
methodology and parameters. The study
must be transparent to the public to
ensure that it is accepted as being
nonpartisan.
I think this council has misjudged the
public sentiments about this proposed
garage. Unless the council proves
discussed standings at this garage at
this location is essential, the council
may provoke a furious political
response.
I believe the council is about to come
under a level of scrutiny that equals or
is greater than at any time in
Scottsdale Council history. I very much
appreciate the fact that you helped me
in making the dog park safer and I very
much regret that I'm in disagreement
with six of you. Thank you for your
time. Thank you and so sorry about your
dog. Thank you, Mayor
French Thompson.
Madame Mayor and city council, thank you
for having me here. My name is French
Thompson. My address is on record.
I have a So, this is a visual guide to
Oldtown parking that I had made. There
are two premier shopping areas in
Oldtown. Fashion Square and the area
around Main Street and Scottsdale Road,
both of which need parking to survive.
This is an aerial view of Fashion
Square. I determined that all of Fashion
Square is within a thousand ft radius,
which is a comfortable walking distance.
It's a professionally run shopping
center that has plenty of parking all
around it. It's clear that the mall
provides ample parking with several
large parking structures. I decided to
apply that same 1,000 ft radius to the
crow lot seen here from above.
I also went doortodoor in that area and
documented every address and business.
There are 169 unique small businesses in
that area with employees with 401ks.
Those people are all there trying to
make a living. So that make and that's
all within walking distance of the Kell
parking garage. That makes this location
the perfect place to add additional
parking.
So here's a little bit of historical
imagery that I don't know very many of
you ever seen.
Seen from above is the giant stadium in
2005
which was after the corral lot was
built. As you can see there were 650
parking spaces to the east and south of
the stadium. After this photo in 2005,
the city removed the 550 parking spaces
to the east to build practice fields.
Then in 2019, they removed an additional
50 spaces to the south for a convention
center. That only left 50 parking spaces
at the stadium, all of which were
removed without any replacement in the
Oldtown area. So, between March of 2005
and present day, not one single
city-owned parking space has been built
in Oldtown. In reality, we've lost 600
parking spaces. The corral lot is
city-owned and all the necessary
infrastructure is already in place. The
city paid quite a bit extra to build the
foundation of the parking garage to
allow up to three more levels on top of
the surface lot.
At an Oldtown parking work study, it was
proposed to add three levels to the
garage.
In order to limit the height in keeping
with the area, the city council decided
to only add two levels.
For a multitude of reasons, this is by
far the best location to add additional
parking south of Indian School in
Oldtown. if you have any questions.
Councilman Graham.
Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Um,
did you attend the recent outreach
meeting that was held in Oldtown? No, I
did not. I had a previous engagement.
Okay. I didn't know if you had any
reflections or if you'd heard anything
takeaways from that meeting. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Vanessa Goldberg.
Thank you.
City Council Mayor. My name is Vanessa
Goldberg. I live in Scottsdale and my
address is on file. I am here as a
resident
as an outraged resident
outraged
because of the decision of the council
to cancel the Scottsdale sustainability
plan and I would like to ask for a
reversal of that decision.
It does not take unusual intelligence to
see that we in Scottsdale are not immune
to the general threats of ongoing
drought putting a strain on our reliable
water supplies.
Of merciless heat causing illness,
sometimes death and raising the cost of
cooling that we all depend on. of
extreme weather destruction with
scorching wildfires and high cost to
business.
These are among the threats that call
into question our very quality of life
and all that Scottsdale is known and
beloved for. One of the most livable
cities of America, a magnet for tourism
and reliable business environment.
It is for good reason then that the
Scottsdale general plan requires a
sustainability plan to mitigate these
dangers.
So for close to three years, scientists,
analysts, council staff, and Scottsdale
citizens like me worked on a carefully
crafted sustainability sustainability
plan for our city. The plan was passed
overwhelmingly by the previous council
last December. Our voices had been
heard. Then in January of this year, the
present council listened to public
comments by over 30 residents of
different ages and professions, experts
of different fields, all of them
passionately in support of the
sustainability plan. I was one of those
who spoke and I'm still in disbelief of
what then happened. Councilman Barry
Graham
invoked a rarely used procedural rule to
prevent the council from even discussing
the many arguments that had been
presented.
Therefore, a vote had to be taken and
four council members voted to repeal the
sustainability plan.
This was deeply disrespectful
and testimony to a closed-mindedness
that Scottsdale does not deserve.
I am inviting the council to reconsider
this January action to revive the
Scottsdale sustainability plan and to
the right to do the right thing for your
city, which is after all your
responsibility.
Thank you very much,
Jane Adamson, followed by Dan Yel Isac.
And then there are only two others right
on the
then I have uh Brandon
Gowen and Tom Franco.
Good evening. My name is Jane Adamson
and I live at 11,000 North 77th Place
and I've lived in Scottsdale for 33
years. I'm currently retired, but prior
to retirement, I had a management
consulting business and worked on
strategic planning with businesses all
across the country and often in Canada.
So, I traveled a great deal. And every
time I came home and got my car at Sky
Harbor, I'd drive north on 101 and I'd
look at the mountains and the colors of
the sky and the desert and I would be so
grateful to live in Scottsdale. That was
kind of my happy time.
But now the world is experiencing great
and accelerating climate change. And my
beloved city voted not to do more to
protect and sustain the quality of life
that we've been lucky enough to have.
The actual definition of sustainability
is quote the ability to be maintained at
a certain rate or level unquote.
My work in strategic planning gave me a
front row seat on business leadership.
And I understand the implications of
opportunity cost when you kick the can
down the road. For example, right now we
enjoy substantial economic benefits from
tourism. And yes, they come for the
shopping and the resorts and the
galleries, but they also come for the
golfing and the h tennis and the biking
and the hiking and our unique scenery.
Our reputation now is a city that honors
our environment and our commitment to
livability.
Losing that that reputation either from
inactivity or from our professed
opposition to sustaining our environment
will have significant and immeasurable
lost opportunity cost. Because clearly
as heat increases and other climate
hazards grow, the cost of sustaining our
ecosystem will only increase.
You all know the data both current and
predicted around water shortage and
energy and rising heat index. So I don't
need to go over all of that information.
And for residents, it's also not going
to take someone who follows all the
climate data. It's not going to take
someone who reads the scientific journal
or take who has a degree in economics.
All it takes is living in Scottsdale.
A resort, a golf course, or a restaurant
owner knows that if fewer visitors come,
what that affects how that affects the
bottom line. Anyone who works outdoor
like the police or construction or road
repairs
knows when the sun is hotter and every
homeowner worries about there being
enough water. So, there is no
explanation that's needed. We elect you
and count on you to sustain our quality
of life here. Most of you on this count
council basically voted against the
majority of system of majority of
citizens like me and repealed the
adopted sustainability plan that we
carefully crafted over a three-year
period.
Real leadership
requires action now. The climate is not
going to wait for us. Thank you. Thank
you very much, Dan Isac, followed by
Brandon Gowen, Tom Frankle, and Michael
Schaefer.
Dan Isaac, address on record. I have two
topics. the first of which will be
addressed by the following video.
Believe it's a toxic environment due to
the mayor at all. Um she's going to work
every day with people who are cons, you
know, allegedly conspiring to throw her
in jail, which came out this weekend and
and some leaked audio. That's the
environment she's working in. And when
uh when you're trying to lead a group of
folks and and three of them just just
try to undercut your every move and make
things difficult dayto-day, nothing's
going to get done. council. It's It's
three specific city councilors. Yeah.
Does the mayor know that like the three
of us are participating in this? No. So,
what we're do is doing is basically just
gathering as much information from
especially from the three of you because
the three of you are the uh the ones
that brought things forward. I think
through Rachel Mitchell, the county I
think Jan did and then um yeah, I was
reached out to and I think Adam was
reached out to. Uh I did not report
this. I think I think it was Jan. We
we've frankly um have done a lot of
research on can we just 5 to2 vote her
out and that's not how that charter
doesn't allow it. Um and so uh she has
to quit or she has to be convicted to be
gone. We're just trying to kind of
figure out exactly what which would play
so we can determine whether or not it's
appropriate for us to go forward with
criminal investigation or not. Jan Barry
and I had a conversation and so we were
like got to we got to call somebody.
called we we decided to call you guys.
She's mad that I won outright and she
didn't. Um and she's that type of person
that she thinks she's the person who
everybody should be paying attention to.
Four of us are friends and we're tight
and Lisa's just always been a And
so, and as you can tell, I was I was her
last pitch. It totally backed my letter.
Totally backed my letter. Yeah. Yeah.
I think that speaks for itself. Second
topic. I I'd like to understand why
Kathy would nominate a person for a
border commission who has often shown a
blatant disregard for the rules of order
of council meetings. I'm speaking of
French Thompson, who has used public
comment to make personal attacks and
discuss matters over which the council
has no purview. This is now how we
reward bad behavior by nominating a
person with no applicable experience to
our tourism board because he contributed
to your campaign. And let's return to
Jan's foundational campaign promise
about conflict of interest. The one she
broke before even taking office by
accepting contributions from businesses
and then again by not recusing herself
from votes. Jan, we're five months in
and you have yet to put on the agenda
any strengthening of the conflict of
interest rules. Not that they seem to
matter to many of you, particularly
Barry, who was found guilty of violating
the ethics code, and Adam, who sends
vulgarity laden threatening texts to our
mayor, or Eugen, who has been too busy
with other things. By the way, your lack
of judgment saying all that on tape is
remarkable. But here is a thought. To
avoid any sense of paytoplay, how about
we make a rule that no one who received
a campaign contribution from an
individual is allowed to nominate or
vote for that individual to hold a
position on a board or a commission?
seems quite sensible and I think most
residents would support that. I won't
hold my breath since you've demonstrated
no desire to actually keep your promise.
Thank you. Thank you. Uh Brandon Gowen,
Mayor, Council, everybody, how's it
going? Um my name is Brandon McGawan. I
just moved here from the East Coast. Um
just moved here to Scottsdale. Uh, I
just moved from Rhode Island. And for
some of you that don't don't know, Rhode
Island not is the smallest state in the
country, not Rhode Island, uh, not Long
Island, New York. Um, I just want to
introduce myself. Um, I moved here
because my girlfriend's finishing up med
school. I currently own a drone company
for search and rescue. Um, I've trained
with numerous departments back home. Um,
obviously budgeting is a big thing for
each state in each city. Um, I help
successfully train numerous departments
back home all the way from Boston PD uh,
for Rhode Island State Police. Um, I
have also done budgeting as far as
buying drones for departments uh
wholesale, so it's cheaper as far as
budgeting and planning. Um, little bit
about my background. Um, I I currently
have uh was was a hockey player. I
played on the United States hockey team.
I won two gold medals. Uh, suffered a
severe spinal injury which left me
paralyzed for over a year. Um and um
once I miraculously had a recovery, I
set out for a goal and decided to take
that and uh start a business and and
help others and and train and lead and
educate. Um so with that being said, I
trained numerous departments, provided
overwatch for crowd control. Um busiest
times of the year is in the summer for
Rhode Island because we are the ocean
state. Uh with that being said, we did a
lot of serving for uh you know
contracting work for departments,
training them, leading them, educating
and stuff with the company um and just
providing them with solutions as far as
budget planning because unfortunately
drones nowadays are not cheap and as far
as everything goes is budget and
planning to to buy one you have to buy
multiple. Um, so I just wanted to
introduce myself and um, you know, say
who I am and my story and and try to let
everybody know that with me being here
recently, I'm going to try to work my
way in and and maybe help with some of
the departments in the city of
Scottsdale to either help educate, lead,
and and do some things with them. Thank
you. Thank you. And welcome,
Tom Frankle.
Tom Frankle, 7340 East Maine. New
council members, haven't seen you.
Welcome on. I've been here 40 years and
have maybe seen um 20 to 25 versions of
various councils. some in disarray, some
in unity, some as ugly as maybe some of
the things that are happening with this
one and some where it worked well. But
in maybe a a idealistic perspective from
someone who has benefited from those 20
to 25 councils,
Scottsdale is a beautiful place to live
and work. And all the dissension and
arguing and whatever, ultimately it
forms a really nice community and and if
I had given the opening benediction or
induction or whatever you call that, I
probably would have hoped for that. we
we head toward that uh that virtue or
that goal. And I guess that's what I'd
start off with. Um the reason I am here
to speak is I am a property owner. And
the last thing we probably want to talk
about with with my opening comment is
the parking garage, but I am uh I have
three four parcels in the immediate
area. And maybe I'm going to toss a
little different angle than you've heard
before as far as the parking garage. I
would probably and I don't speak for the
owners in that area but I know most of
the owners on Brown on first and second
and there is no question that a parking
garage extra parking is needed in that
area. Um,
I think that and I had talked to a few
council members and not that I want to
get on sides of this issue, but if
needed, I think I could get almost a
unanimous
uh agreement of the actual owners of the
real estate in area that they'd like to
see the parking garage, a parking garage
built, whether it's in that specific
site. I'll talk a little about that, but
it would like to be built. Nobody would
say no, not a good idea. Um, everyone
loves the farmers market. Not about the
farmers market. There's no one that
doesn't love it. It's got to be
somewhere. It's not the farmers market
or the parking garage. Uh,
a lot of public input went into it. It's
not that this came out of nowhere and no
one got notice. Uh, an awful lot of time
went into it. And the idea that, oh my
god, this just came out of nowhere is
not the case. I was involved in a lot of
it and watched it. Uh reasons why I
think it should be in this location and
if you could give me 15 another 30
seconds if it if I run out of time. A it
was mentioned it was designed for it.
It's there. I believe it's on the south
edge of downtown. It's not in the heart.
It's closer to the medical. It's not
going to ruin the mission church.
Everyone loves the mission church. It's
not going to ruin the blacksmith shop.
Will there be a disruption? Yes. There
was a disruption in Civic Center Park
for two to three years and it's a
beautiful park and it was worth all the
hell and we're glad it's there. The same
with this.
Can I have another minute? I'm getting
to a there's a If you could just wrap up
as quickly as possible. Um in fairness
to everybody. Okay, that's fine. All the
other garages also went through the same
thing. They're in use in downtown and
they get used. They would cost four or
five times more to be built. I want to
talk about Mayor Barowski a little bit
also in that I know her. I do not
believe that she would have ever wanted
this as the the campaign or not it's not
even a campaign that this would cause
the amount of array. Do I think she was
sincere in her in her wishes that it
could be in a different location or
better? Yes. Is it self- serving?
Absolutely not. I don't think it's to
help a consultant who builds massive
buildings and could care less about a
design fee for his thing. And if at this
point if there was a better location and
Mayor Barrowski wanted to go for it,
everyone would applaud it and whatever.
I don't think there is personally as
someone who's lived in the area. And uh
thanks for hearing the comments. Thank
you, Tom. Appreciate those comments.
Uh Michael Schaefer will be the last
speaker.
Chair, chair, uh, mayor, people of
Scottsdale. Um, I love Scottsdale. I've
lived in here since 1982. I think most
of us love Scottsdale and we appreciate
the challenges that have come forth in
Scottsdale. Too many large apartments,
um many other things going on
simultaneously. We were thrilled at the
the recent election, the past election.
We were thrilled with the complexion of
this board. We were thrilled by
the
belief and hope and understanding that
there would be a great alignment with
the board. I know a number of you
personally. I I like those of you that I
know very much. And I'm optimistic. I'm
hopeful and are prayerful that we
sometimes recognize in our world, those
of us that are Christian, read the
Bible, that we are affected by
principalities and darkness. And those
can come across a legislative district 4
which I am involved in and it can come
across just in our politics from top to
bottom. We see it everywhere in our
country. And so I just want to provide
encouragement and support to the board
in its entirety that when it seems like
there's no way we make a way to come
back together to unite and find the
common ground. Not all of you are going
to agree all the time on all things.
It's impossible and many of us here
don't agree on a number of things and
we're all citizens. But uh I just want
to extend hope, support, anything that
we at legislative district might be able
to do to help bring things together to
put the past behind us. Recently I was
in a similar deliberation very difficult
situation and the Bible tells us to
forgive and forget and I'm just hopeful
that it's possible to just put the past
behind and and
um restart just reset the computer
reboot the computer and come back to
back together and we uh I will we will
support you in any way we can to bring
that back together just thank you for
what you're doing. Thank you, Michael.
Appreciate that.
That concludes the non-aggendaized
public comment. And next, I will move on
to the meeting minutes. I will entertain
a motion to approve the regular meeting
and work study session minutes of April
27 2nd, excuse me, 2025. Special meeting
minutes of May 6th, 2025. Executive
session minutes of May 6th, 2025.
regular meeting and work study session
minutes of May 6, 2025.
So moved.
Second. All those in favor, please
indicate your vote.
Thank you. Next, we have our consent
agenda items 1 through 21A.
Um,
let's see here.
Madame Mayor, was the food bank gonna
present? Oh, we did. Sorry.
Yes. I would like to back up. Beep beep
beep. And we are going to do We skipped
over Kira's food bank presentation. So,
let me see where are we here. Tonight we
have a presentation. Forgive me Kira, my
apology. Uh we have a presentation on
the Scottsdale Food Bank and presenting
this evening are Kira Peters and Sue O.
Uh Kira is senior director of library
and human services and Sue is uh
Scottsdale Human Services Manager. Thank
you for joining us. Thank you very much,
Mayor. Good evening, Mayor Barowski,
Vice Mayor Dascus, and members of city
council. Sue and I are here today
tonight to give a brief presentation on
the Scottsdale Food Bank.
Scottsdale Food Bank has recently moved
to a new location on Mccelpson Miller
Road. And just for brief history on the
food bank, the Scottsdale Food Bank has
been located at Vistadel Camino
Community Center for approximately 47
years. We were getting to a spot where
we were outgrowing that food bank and
really the human services department
looking for more space for community
connection and we really thought if we
can find a new location for the food
bank, we can offer more recreation
programs at Vista Del Camino. So because
of Sue and the work of her team, we were
able to successfully expand our food
bank to this new location. And we're
going to have some great images and talk
briefly about that tonight.
Just an overview of a food bank, which
most of you might already know, but
basically in our food bank, we have um
food boxes that include fresh produce,
protein, dairy, hygiene products, pet
food, diapers for vulnerable citizens in
our community. We've got ready to eat
bags. We have got a bread program at
Vista Del Camino that you can just come
in, pick up a loaf of bread, whatever
you might need, and head out on your
way. We have a healthy packs program
that benefits children in the Scottsdale
Unified School District system if they
are food insecure at their home. And we
also support the brown bag food program
at the Granite Reef Senior Center um for
seniors in our community that are food
insecure. And then finally, human
service has several sites including the
two senior centers, Pyute Neighborhood
Center and again Vista Del Camino. All
of those locations serve as satellite
areas if a person is in an emergency
situation and needs some food.
So, here are some pictures of the food
bank expansion. Again, I mentioned at
the beginning of the presentation that
the food bank was located at Vistadel
Camino and you will see here some
pictures. Hopefully, you can see them
pretty well. The tiny space at Vistadel
Camino that we were operating in. Um and
you can see the trucks coming in too
that we really were having some safety
concerns with big trucks coming in to
drop off food. Um residents coming in to
pick up their food. So really this
expansion was much needed. And these are
just some images of the breakdown of
Vista Del Camino to prepare for the
expansion.
Here are some happy pictures of us
moving into the new location. You can
see warehouse style, a lot of space.
staff did a lot of research on how
successful food banks operate and most
all operate out of warehousike settings.
There's a place you can see here to
store the food. We've got a place for
volunteers to work to pack the bags. We
had a happy grand opening celebration.
Several council members were there to
celebrate with us. Thank you. And we had
that in the spring. So, we are all moved
in and serving the community. Well,
speaking of community, these are the
residents that we serve at the food
bank. Scottsdale residents, Scottsdale
seniors, school district, Scottsdale
Unified School District, and people and
families who are experiencing
homelessness. So, those are the people
using our food bank.
These are just some statistics on the
food bank and I think the ones that are
most important to note are towards the
bottom, unduplicated households. So this
is through March of 2025 and we had 533
households come to pick up food from the
food bank and that is a total value of
approximately $596,000
of support offered to these families in
need. And then also the healthy pack
program which is a program for the
students and 349 students were served
through this program um put together at
the food bank. This is a great picture
that Sue, my colleague, often points out
to because many people think of a food
box. You're just picking up this box
full of canned food. Take a look at
what's offered here. It is fresh
produce, it's vegetables, it's meat,
it's dairy, and this is what is offered
to people in need when they come in. So,
it's really healthy, great food, and a
good amount of it, especially depending
on your family size. So, we love to show
this picture um of our food box.
These are a few stats continued. Um the
food bank really operates on donations.
So it's not us going out and buying
food. It is donations coming in. And so
the amount of donated and rescued food
in um equals $435,000
pounds of food that are donated to the
food bank and that's an approximate
value of $972,000.
And then also uh Mayor Barowski was
recognizing a volunteer and we've got
some amazing volunteers that are at the
food bank that contributed through March
202,937
hours and that was just in March. So
that number has increased. So very
grateful for all the donations that make
this program operate.
Sources of support. So how do we get
this how do we get the food into the
food bank? We've got a partnership with
St. Mary's food bank and a strong
partnership with an amazing nonprofit,
Scottsdale Community Partners that
support the work that we do in the food
bank through these bulleted items here
to help us get emergency food boxes,
grocery rescue, and weekly delivery. We
also work with Saint Vincent Depal. We
receive grant fundings from the Salt
River Puma Maricopa Indian Community.
Obviously, we also get some community
donations. People will do food drives.
We're always looking for grants and
we'll always accept monetary donations.
Just the staffing and some of the costs.
We have got five personnel that work in
the food bank and this is where the
general fund dollars do go is to the
staffing costs. And those staffing costs
for those five employees, of which Sue
is one of them, totals around 230,000
annually for those five employees
working in the food bank to serve the
community.
As I get close to the end, I love this
slide here because these are our
volunteers and it's pretty impressive.
30 plus volunteers work weekly in the
food bank. They sort donation, organize
our donated products, make the ready to
eat bags and assist with the food box
appointments. And then we also have
group volunteering opportunities. So, if
there's businesses or organizations that
want to come together as a group to
support community in this work, Sue
staff will work with them to schedule a
time. Um, not only is it meeting a
community need, it's a great team
building activity to do something good
together.
So, with that, that's the brief
presentation on the food bank and Sue is
and I are happy to answer any questions.
Thank you, Councilwoman McCallen. Thank
you, Mayor. Um, thank you, Kira and Sue.
Uh, just, uh, some comments. Uh, the
food bank, the expansion, it's
beautiful. I was there for the opening.
Um
it's come full circle. Uh I'm really
happy that we're also working with other
departments to bring a trolley hopefully
soon. We um discussed that recently and
you're already working on that to bring
a trolley from other parts of Scottsdale
to get people who cannot drive to the
food bank because it is a little further
away than the original Vista Del Camino
um food bank. But full circle, as you're
talking about healthy packs, I'm sitting
up here. I'm looking at uh our assistant
city manager, Jeff Walter, who helped
create the healthy packs program more
than 10 years ago with a group of people
from Scottsdale leadership. I think
Chris was the director back then. I was
the mentor for Jeff. So, full circle,
how our community supports our community
and it hasn't gone away. The need hasn't
gone away for it. So, I just I want to
applaud you for all your efforts and all
the wonderful things you've been doing
since you became the director over that
department, but that the need not only
was it needed 10 years ago, it it has
escalated in our community and we're
still answering that need. Um, so
congratulations on all your hard work.
Thank you.
Thank you, Councilwoman Whitehead. Um,
thank you, Mayor. Thanks to both of you
and I concur with what was just said and
I think the trolley is already in place
because I know at Granite Reef Senior
Center we're telling our bra bag
customers that there'll be a trolley to
the new location. So I do think that's
in place. So anybody knows me knows that
I'm going to talk about the full circle
here and what I'm so excited about and
of course I've been you know with this
uh with one of the programs for a long
time but what I'm really excited about
is the food rescue which you just
breezed right through. But I just want
to stress to people that we're feeding
people with we're feeding people, not
landfills. So this um group, this
department is rescuing
however many tons you had up there on
the screen of food and and using it to
feed people. That's really exciting to
me. I'm also always excited about the
food that doesn't feed people but then
turns into compost and then is used on
local farms to grow more food. Do you
happen to have the number handy of how
many tons are composted?
Mayor Baroski, um, Councilwoman
Whitehead, actually Jonathan just told
us that 31,000 pounds was composted um,
in the last fiscal year. Talk about
four, you know, full circle and making
sure that we use every uh, bit of food
in a positive way. So, I'm just super
excited. I can't wait to see the new
location. I like the picture with uh, my
colleague in it. But good job, ladies.
Thank you.
Thank you, Vice Mayor Dascus.
Thank you very much for your
presentation. Jonathan, thank you so
much for the work that you do every day.
It's a pleasure to volunteer and see it
for myself. Um the work that you do, the
compassion that you show to the
individuals. Um we heard some really
heartbreaking stories and um I have a
lot of respect for the work that you do.
One of the things that you said,
Jonathan, is that this is an opportunity
for a family that may be near homeless.
If we can help them, give them what
amounts to probably a couple hundred
dollars worth of food. 200 pounds of
food for a family of four is a lot of
food. Um, if we can help folks in that
way and keep them in their homes, I
think that's a wonderful solution. um
especially because these these food is
coming to us through donations and so
we're we're we're utilizing it
effectively and and efficiently. The the
really surprising thing about it is when
you load up a giant cart, you start with
a watermelon and then a loaf of bread
and then spaghetti squash and then
tomatoes. They have a refrigerator full
of more eggs than the grocery store um
and strawberries and it's just lovely to
see all the fresh healthy food that's
going out into the community. So, I just
want to thank you deeply uh from my
heart for all the work that you're
doing. This is really meaningful. So,
thank you.
Thank you very much. Thanks for the
presentation and good job. Oh,
Councilwoman Clausman, sorry about that.
You guys snuck in there. Casman. Well,
that's no problem. No problem. Thank
you. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Wonder
wonderful presentation as a as a former
volunteer um uh growing up in Tucson at
the Tucson Community Food Bank just so
and through El Rio. This is so
important. Um this is a this is a
curveball. Just want to give you just a
quick preparation. As a former member
for Arizona Sportsman's for Wildlife
Conservation, I want to know if there is
an availability currently or if
something that I can help work with um
work with your team to be able to
provide uh uh sportsmen in Scottsdale
and in throughout the valley to be able
to bring uh properly processed game meat
to the food bank. Um there's always a
glut and this is something that game and
fish has talked about um uh pretty much
on an annual basis. I understand that
some some wild game like bear needs to
be prepared in a very specific way but
there are but but deer meat and other
meats can be provided. Um I understand
that this is a marginal aspect of what
the food bank can provide. But bringing
more people involved in the food bank
has its own reward to bring more
volunteers, more donations, not just not
just of the specific activity. Just want
to get people who are who are involved
in one activity into involved in our
community in a in a very different way.
Thank you, Councilman Graham, Mayor
Baroski, and Councilman Quasman. Um, we
do have a permit through Maricopa County
Public Health. So, we will definitely um
make sure that that's allowable. And
with our partnership with St. Mary's and
Scottsdale Community Partners, we're
always short on protein. So, we would
love to um see if we can get those
handed donations at our food bank. Thank
you.
Sorry about that, Councilman Clausman
and uh Sue. And now we'll move on to
Councilman Graham. Thank you, Mayor
Kira, and Sue. Very good presentation.
Um, I I know the uh food offerings that
are put forward to participants are
exceptional and they stack they stack up
way above and beyond any other food bank
in the area, probably the whole valley.
Um, people can I know it was on there,
but I just want to uh underscore and
highlight people also bring pet food. Is
that correct? Can you say just a little
more about that?
Yes, Mayor Barovski, Councilman uh
Graham. Uh we do ask everybody calling
in for an appointment if they have pets,
if they have babies, and what those
needs are. If they do need pet food, we
are um always giving donations of pet
food. And we have a small grant that can
um purchase pet food. So, we do always
have pet food on hand and we give it out
to anyone that needs um dog or cat food.
And sometimes we actually get bird food
as well. bird food, fret food, who
knows, right? Okay. Well, thank you,
Kira, Sue. Thank you so much. You thank
you again. Well done. Thank you very
much for the presentation and update.
All right. Now, resuming, we'll move
toward the consent agenda items 1
through 21A.
Do any members of the council have
questions or uh or any discussion for
consent agenda items? Seeing none, uh we
received no public speakers on the
consent agenda item items and uh so now
I will
entertain a motion for approval of the
consent agenda items number 1 through
21A. Mayor, I motion to approve the
consent agenda items 1 through 21A.
Thank you.
All those in favor, please indicate your
vote.
All right,
moving right along to the regular
regular, excuse me, agenda items. First,
we have item number 22, which is the
city council review and possible
reconsideration of the development
review board's April 17, 2025 decision
regarding BB living at Cababasan,
uh, which was case number 35-dr24,
which approved design plans for a new
191 unit town home community on an
approximate 18 acre site with a planned
community district planned air park core
zoning and this evening we'll start with
uh principal planner Greg Bloomberg who
will provide the staff presentation.
Thank you. Hey, thank you, Mayor uh
Barowski, Vice Mayor Dvasquez, and
council members. Greg Bloomberg with
current planning here to give you I know
you got a lot on your plate tonight, so
I'll just give you a brief introductory
presentation. And I will point out that
since you are acting as the board
tonight, I do have material and color
board should you wish to see those. Uh
I'm here to give you again an
introductory presentation of baby living
project.
This site is located within the uh
Cavisson master plan which is 130 plus
acres bordered by the 101 Hayden Road
Legacy and 76th Street. Uh presently the
only development in the Hecavasan area
is in that southeast quadrant. You have
the nationwide building. uh two office
building including buildings including
the choice hotels uh headquarters
building a retail building and a hotel
and the site outlined here in yellow is
the site we're talking about tonight.
So just a quick timeline on how we got
here. Uh on April 17th, 2025, the
development review board uh did review
this case and uh approved it with a a
vote of 5 to one. And then on uh May
6th, 2025, uh the city council voted to
review the DRB's decision uh with a 4
to3 vote.
So at that uh May 6th uh hearing, there
were a couple of a few issues raised,
but I'm just sum summarizing here. uh
there was a concern raised that the uh
colors were not compatible to the area
and that the project design is not
contextually compatible to the
surrounding area.
So this is just for your reference uh a
copy of the site plan and landscape
plan. It's 191 town home units on about
18 acres with a central amenity area uh
and uh quite a bit of uh streetscaping
and landscaping along the perimeter.
So, there were two different uh that's
primarily what we're here to talk about
tonight, I believe, anyway, is the
building elevations and the and the
building design. There were two uh
themes introduced to the board or
presented to the board at the 417
hearing. One was the modern desert
prairie theme, which I'm showing you
here. Uh there was uh there is some
stack stone or at least a stone element
and uh stucco uh with a shake roof uh
element
as part of this particular design.
And then here's the materials for that
modern desert prairie. These uh
materials and colors uh are all
consistent with the sensitive design
principles which is our primary guide
when we're reviewing uh building
designs. Again, mainly stucco with some
stone veneer and various shades of earth
and colors.
And then the other theme that was uh
considered was the Spanish theme. This
is a little different. It has it does
indeed have stucco. There is some stack
stone, but the roof element is mission
tile as opposed to the shake.
And then this is the u previously
approved materials and colors for that
theme.
And it's my understanding there may be
some updates uh to the building design
that the applicant would like to present
to you. So without further ado, I will
defer to Mr. Barry. Thank you, Greg. And
now we have an applicant presentation uh
provided by John Barry with Barry
Redell.
Mayor, members of the council, for your
record, John Barry, 6750 East Camelback
Road in Scottsdale. Uh with me this
evening is the BB living team um which
includes the architect which presented
at the uh at the DRB hearing back in
April. Um and also with the team is
Brandon Lombardi. So I asked Brandon to
identify himself in case if this gets
built and you don't like it, you know
who to call. Um but the real reason is
because Brandon is the president of BB
Living. Um and so we're very happy to
have him here this evening. Mayor,
members of the council, Scottsdale is
unique. Our community is unique. Our
community is committed to high quality
design.
And our community is also the home, the
corporate headquarters of BB Living. In
fact, BB Living's headquarters is
located at Scottsdale Road and Indian
Bend. There are executives and employees
that are proud to call Scottsdale home.
Now, from that headquarters building in
Scottsdale, BB Living has been
successful. They have built communities
in five different states and 20 cities,
including uh some in the valley and and
uh states outside of Arizona. Now, this
is the first time that BB Living will
build a community in its hometown in
Scottsdale. And I will tell you that
Brandon Lombardi, the president of of BB
Living, um they have five other
communities uh under review and
consideration and construction at this
time. And he was not active in the
design of these elevations for his first
hometown project here. Now, one of the
things I can tell you unequivocally
unequivocally is that Brandon Leardi is
now fully engaged in the design of this
project and he recognizes the importance
of this to his hometown u uh company.
So, with that in mind, I want to tell
you that there's a few things I'd like
to give you a little background on
before we get to the to the images and
the comparisons. But this community,
this proposal that staff showed you
briefly has 29%
more open space than required. This is
not putting 10 pounds in a 10- pound
bag. It is gated. All the town homes are
two-story. They each have a twocar and
they're proud to say oversized garage so
that you can get two cars in there and
you don't have to squeeze or there's
some room for for storage in there as
well. They are all three or four
bedroomedroom town homes. They all have
backyards.
Now, as you would expect in Scottsdale,
this proposal for this neighborhood has
amenities that you might think read like
a resort in North Scottsdale. Let me
give you just a quick list of some a
partial list of some of those amenities.
You got to have the obligatory pool, but
this has cabanas. There will be a full
outdoor kitchen. Not just a barbecue,
but a full outdoor kitchen, a dog park,
sport courts, game lawn, a virtual golf
driving range does not consume any
water,
a playground, and a tot
including cold plunge and sauna, and an
entertainment pavilion that will include
an outdoor bar, outdoor TVs, and
barbecues. So, with that in mind, let's
go to the uh to the PowerPoint.
So, I want you to keep in mind that this
piece of property, and you're acting as
the DRB, not as the city council. This
piece of property is hard zoned, has the
right to develop up to 400 apartments on
this site. And in fact, the permitted
zoning allows heights up to 84 feet on
this piece of property. And in fact,
three years ago, there was a DRB
application that came through and was
approved, but expired, was approved for
400 apartments at this location. These
are the elevations for those 400
apartments. We're here with a request
for 191 town homes. Now, what you see on
the screen are elevations from the DRB
hearing back in April, which
precipitated this appeal to DRB or to
you acting as the DRB. These are some
additional images that were presented by
the applicant back at uh in April at the
DR hearing. And these are images of
existing construction for communities
they have in other cities around the
valley or other states.
Now, before I show you the pictures, I
want to kind of go through some I'm not
an architect. I'm not I'm not even going
to fake it, but let me just go through
the list prepared by the great
architects that that BB Living has.
There's a significant amount of stone
that was added on all four sides of
these town homes. There are these Juliet
balconies with rod iron that were added
as well. They added deep recesses to
break up the massing of the building.
They added roof elements to the
buildings in order to break up the
massing as well. They added these accent
windows with rot iron detailing on them.
The overhangs on the roof were increased
by 50% to create more shade and shadow
on these buildings. The gables and the
overhangs were increased as well. The
roof and facades were also modified to
reduce massing. The garages were
recessed as well and the roof elements
were changed as well.
The elevations on the sides of these
town homes were articulated with stone.
There were additional deep recesses and
more stone added. They added a porch
element in stone and arched it in order
to emphasize the el the entrance and
they decorated that with row iron
detailing as well. They also and I don't
know about you. How many of you have
pavers on your driveway? Most of us have
concrete. These town homes will have
pavers on their driveways. So here are
the pictures. This is where we are
today. Now this is looking at the front
of these town homes tilted a little bit
so you can see how the buildings and the
massing and the roof lines and how it
breaks up the massing of these buildings
with these changes that were just
described uh in those prior slides. Now
this is the front of the town homes now
looking straight on instead of at an
angle. And again you can see the quality
and the additions that I described in
the uh prior slides.
This is zooming in on the front of these
town homes. And again, you see the
stone, you see the pavers, you see the
Juliet balcony on the second floor off
to the left. This does not look anything
like 400 apartments that could be up to
84 feet in height permitted by right
under the current zoning.
This is the back of the town homes, the
rear of the town homes. Again, you can
see the roof elements, the stone again,
the decorative windows with row iron on
them. This is now again looking this is
show and tell. This is compare and
contrast. This is before and after. On
the top is the front of these town homes
that was approved at DRB. And below is
the revised what we're proposing this
evening. And you can see the differences
on the front of these buildings.
This is the back of the town homes. On
the top is what was presented at DRB and
at the bottom is what we're proposing
today. clearly substantial meaningful
architectural material changes to the
elevations.
These are the ends of the of the town
home buildings. On the top is what was
approved at DRB. Below is the revision
that we're bringing forward today.
Again, just a quick glance tells you
that these are major changes.
This is the other end of the town homes.
Again at the top what was presented at
DRB and below where we are today.
Significant changes.
These are the revised this is the
revised material board. As staff noted
we have the actual samples if you want
them. These don't show as well as they
are in real life. But in the middle
column at the bottom you can see the raw
iron. That's actually not that color.
It's not a black color. It's actually a
dark uh dark brown, let's call it. And
on the far right hand column, those are
the pavers that will be used on the
driveways. The type of paver
mayor, members of the council, um this
is again to remind you the images that
were presented at uh DRB.
And to remind you as well, this is not
400 apartments that were approved
previously, but these were the
elevations approved by DRB some three
years ago. In conclusion, mayor, members
of the of the council, Scottsdale is
unique. Our community is unique, and BB
Living and Brandon Lombardi know that
Scottsdale is unique and they are
committed to quality just as our city
is. This becomes a legacy project. This
becomes a showcase, a showpiece for BB
Living, for their communities throughout
the country. Brandon Lombardi is aware
of the importance of quality to our
community. What's been the result of of
this involvement and this and these
revisions to the to the plans and the
elevations?
This is a project that is uniquely
Scottsdale and it is a project that is
now right for Scottsdale. Mayor, members
of the council, I would respectfully
request that if you were to move forward
with this case that you affirm the
decision of the April 17th DRB approval
with the revisions in in accordance with
the submitt resubmitt to city staff on
June 3rd, which embodies all of these
changes that you have seen presented to
you this evening. I'm happy to answer
any questions. I understand you may have
a public comment, but I'm happy to
answer any questions or wait until after
public comment. Thank you. Thank you.
Let's take the public comment, Dan
Isaac, and then we'll open it up for
council questions.
Mayor and Council Dan Isaac's address
still on record.
Coming to this meeting, I had no opinion
on the design of the project. Um, but
after hearing what the uh petitioner and
developer has put together, I don't
understand why there would be any
objections to this. Uh, but I am
speaking because I have a strong opinion
about wasting council's time on this
matter. Jan, your role on the DRB is to
address these issues within the DRB. The
reason we have boards and commissions is
to lessen the burden of city staff and
the council so they can attend to more
pressing matters. For example, maybe
keeping a Fortune 100 company here. But
you, Jan, chose to remain silent during
the DRB meeting. And you ambush the rest
of the DRB and the petitioner by
bringing it to council. You are wasting
time and money.
I can only think of one reason you would
do so. In plight company, it's called
grandstanding.
You wanted a bigger audience to show
your commitment to preserving the look
and feel of Scottsdale. The DRB wasn't
big enough for you, nor was your op-ed
in the paper. So, once again, you've
decided that politics trumps the needs
of Scottsdale. Funny that you are
concerned with this project, but support
destroying the most historic part of
Oldtown with an unneeded parking garage
that will be taller than one of only a
dozen nationally recognized historic
buildings in all of Scottsdale.
This along with your petty name calling
demonstrates point of order, Madam
Mayor, and it's not good.
What's your point of order, Adam?
I'll take it from here. Um, point of
order. You've called for a point of
order.
Madame Mayor, members of the council, my
understanding, and Miss Scott, can can
you uh please give us a ruling on this
in terms of the the narrowness and the
scope of of any public comment regarding
um regarding this specific application?
I'll go ahead and comment on that and
then if uh Sher if you disagree with me
and please keep your comments just like
everybody else to the scope of this
agenda item which is the BB living
project which I believe that you are
doing. So
go right ahead unless you disagree.
Sherry.
Um, Mayor and, um, Councilman Quasman, I
I do agree that the public comment needs
to be relevant to, um, the agenda item
that we're discussing.
Yes, me too. Thank you. If you'll
proceed with the comments relevant to
the agenda item. I was actually done.
But as I said at the beginning, I hope
that the council stops wasting time and
supports this petition because it meets
all of the requirements of our design.
Thank you. Thank you very much.
All right. Uh starting with Councilman
Graham.
Thank you. Thank you, Mayor
Mr. Barry. Good presentation as always.
When I compare the before and after of
those images,
there's no comparison.
This is going to be a better product.
Would you agree with that? Um, Mayor
Barowski, Councilman uh Graham, uh my
job is not to agree or disagree with the
uh design. I'm not an architect, nor did
I ever stay at a at a holiday in. Um but
uh that's for the DR acting uh to
determine whether this design is more
appropriate. we believe it is and hope
that you would find. So, thank you. Um
the um I want to commend Vice Mayor
Dowskis for bringing this to the council
and um this is about better architecture
in Scottsdale and this project is
exceptionally better than what it was.
Uh, Vice Mayor Dowski has used all the
necessary proper appropriate channels
and the residents of Scottsdale,
particularly those in the north in this
section of the city, I think, will be
appreciative of the additional
investments that are going to be made to
um the design elements and the
architectural quality that's going to
bring
higher quality of life in this area. So,
a good presentation. Um, and I will be I
will be supporting this. Thank you, Mr.
Barry. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Vice
Mayor Dascus.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, Mr. Barry, and
thank you, BB Living very much for being
open and receptive to the feedback and
for coming to us with a superior
product. This is beautiful. Um, I live
in the area, as I mentioned, uh, my
parents do as well, just down the
street, and this looks like something
that would be there already. Um, but
it's going to be new and beautiful. So,
I'd like to make a motion and Greg, can
you help me with what the motion should
be to as Mr. Barry recommended? Is it to
accept the DR decision with the
applicant's updates?
Uh, Mayor Barowski and and Vice Mayor
Dubosquez. Uh, I will ask Miss Scott to
correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the
motion would be to approve or uphold the
development review board's decision. Uh
but uh with the changes uh presented
tonight,
mayor, I apologize. Vice Mayor, if I
could please note that that would be in
accordance with the revisions submitted
to staff on June 3rd uh to reflect these
changes.
So moved. Second.
Yes, Councilwoman White. Okay. Um thank
you. Thank you, mayor. Thank you, BB
Living. Thank you, uh, Mr. Barry. Um,
I'm supporting this project, obviously,
and I am for a number of reasons. Number
one, I am really, really excited to
have, uh, 400 apartments not get built.
Um, and I'm even more excited to have
191 homes get built. So, we are, we know
there's a housing shortage, but I don't
believe it's apartments. People are
looking for homes. They're looking for
yards. They're looking for garages.
They're looking for dog parks. And so,
um, with the revisions, too, I I really
think those add a lot of value. So, I
and I also want to say that it's always
nice to have a local development team.
So, for many, many reasons, I'm um
really enthusiastically supporting this
project. Thank you for bringing homes,
new homes, the middle housing to
Scottdale.
Thank you. I don't see any other
comments. So, with that, we will uh
indicate our votes um to the motion to
approve with those modifications.
Good.
Thank you all. Thank you very much.
Okay. Next we move on to item 23 which
is the truth in taxation and public
hearings on the proposed fiscal year
202526
property tax levy. This item solicits
public testimony on the proposed fiscal
year 202526 property tax levy and by
roll call vote consider possible
approval
motion of a motion excuse me to levy the
proposed property taxes taxes to be
assessed by or by ordinance on June 24th
2025. Presenting this evening is city
treasurer Sonia Anders Andrews who will
be discussing a recent re revision to
the proposed property tax. I now open
the public hearing and we will pay take
now take public testimony which we have
one speaker uh Brian Scott.
Is Brian here?
I don't see Brian Scott. So, we will go
ahead and
move on. I now close the public hearing.
Do I have any questions from the council
before I request uh a motion to approve?
Oh, Sonia is going to speak first. Thank
you. Thank you. Getting way ahead of
myself. I must be getting start I must
be hungry.
Um, thank you, mayor. Thank you,
council. This is a revised presentation
for the uh proposed property tax rate
and levy for fiscal year 2526. There was
a late revision where we removed an
additional levy that was originally in
the proposed um tax rate and levy for
the quasmire refunds which we lost
revenues on. So that's been removed and
this presentation will reflect that.
Next slide.
Before I begin with the proposed
property tax for next year, I wanted to
go over some property tax basics. Next
slide. Our property taxes are assessed
by different taxing districts as shown
on this slide. The city's t uh property
taxes are only 15% of the total property
taxes that being assessed. Um making
being made up of the primary component
and the secondary component. Currently
in this fiscal year, the city's property
tax rate for a residential owneroccupied
home is $6. And most of that goes to
schools, counties, and districts. And
the city's tax rate is the 50 cents and
the 43 cents for a combined 93 cents per
$100 of assessed value. the tax rate is
applied to a limited property value um
to arrive at the actual amount of
property taxes paid. So next slide.
So in uh the current year the limited
property value which is not the same as
the market value for a Scottsdale res
residence the median which is the middle
um is $391,864.
And applying the 93 cents, our current
property tax rate for residents is 300
uh computes to $3643
of the total 20 um
2351
tax bill.
Again, limited property taxes is not the
same as market value. So, next slide.
limited uh property value is lower than
the fair uh market value or full cash
value, the annual increase is restricted
by law to 5%. So even if the market
value increases significantly, the
limited property value increase is
limited to 5%. And then again, the
limited property value is then used to
calculate property taxes. Next slide.
And I said earlier there's two
components to the city's property taxes.
the primary component which is assessed
for general fund and tort settlements
and the secondary component which is
assessed for the debt service on voter
approved bonds.
Next slide. So at the current property
tax rate, we are one of the lowest
property tax rates when compared to our
peer cities in the valley. Next slide.
Now moving on to what we're proposing
for 2526.
Um next slide. Our proposed property tax
rate for 2526 combined is 91.2 cents
which is a two 2.1% decrease from the
current tax rate of 93.2.
Both of the components are decreasing
and I will go over each of those
components and why they they're
decreasing. Next slide.
This is the primary property tax
component. This current year is at 50
cents or more specifically 49.6 6 cents
and it's decreasing based on these
components you see um on the slide.
Primarily the the appreciation of the
assessed value reduces the property tax
rate. Um we also have a uh that's offset
by an increase because of the allowed 2%
maximum levy increase but then it's then
offset by a reduction in the levy that's
needed for our tort settlements. New
construction also contributes to the
levy. So overall with those components,
our tax rate is going down from 49.6
cents to 48.9 cents and our levy is
going to go up from 39.6
million to 40.3 million.
Next slide. For the secondary property
tax component, the change in our
secondary property tax rate is due to
mostly to the reduction in the amount
needed for debt service.
So our levy is pretty much staying the
same at 34.8 million for both years and
primarily the rate goes down because we
don't need to assess that much because
the assessed value has gone up. So next
slide.
So at the 91.2 2 cents that's proposed
for fiscal year 2526
and because of the increase in the value
of the uh property the um actual
property tax to be paid is pretty much
flat. So there is a 2% almost 2%
increase in the assessed value but then
a 2% reduction in the rate. So net net
is going to be about the same. Next
slide. And then again at at that 91.2
two cents. We remain one of the lowest
in the valley. Next slide.
Adopting the property tax is a two-step
process. Today, we're asking council to
hold the public hearing and adopt a
motion to levy the the property tax. And
on June 24th, um council will be asked
to adopt the property tax levy and fix
the actual rates. Next slide. So, this
is the action that we're requesting of
council and I can answer any questions
that you may have.
Thank you, Sonia. I don't see any uh
requests to speak by the council, but I
will check to see if Brian Scott is
here.
No. Okay. Anyone have any questions on
this one?
Uh, Vice Mayor Debasquez.
So property tax rate will come down
2.1%.
That's music to my ears, Sonia. Thank
you for this wonderful news. Thank you.
Yeah, it's coming down. All right,
seeing no other speakers, I now close
officially the public hearing and uh I
will entertain a motion to approve the
tax levy.
So move second.
All those in favor indicate.
Oh, roll call vote. Yes, you can take it
from here. Okay. Clerk Lane. Thank you,
Mayor. Mayor Lisa Browski,
affirm.
Vice Mayor Jan Debasquez, yes. Council
members Barry Graham, yes. Adam Quasman,
yes. Kathy Littlefield, yes. Maryann
McAllen, yes. And Solange Whitehead,
yes. Uh, mayor, the item passes seven to
zero. Thank you. Thank you very much.
Item 24 is a public hearing on proposed
fiscal year 202526
municipal streetlight improvement
district expenses and property tax levy.
This item solicits p public testimony on
the proposed fiscal year 2025-26
municipal streetlight improvement
district proposed expenses and tax levy
and considers possible approval of a
motion to adopt the annual statements
and estimates of expenses and levy the
proposed fiscal year 202526 municipal
streetlight improvement district taxes
by district taxes to be assessed by
ordinance on June 24th.
2025. Presenting this evening on this
topic is Anna Henthorne, assistant city
treasurer. Thank you. I now open the
public hearing. Thank you. Good evening,
mayor, members of the city council. This
action is to solicit the public
testimony on the proposed fiscal year
2526
municipal streetlight improvement
district proposed expenses and tax levy.
The streetlight improvement districts
were established in 1971 to allow
taxpayers to pay for the operation of
street lights. The city has 357
streetlight improvement districts formed
by petition of the property owners.
The streetlight improvement districts
are established for the sole purpose of
purchasing electricity for lighting
public streets. The city levies a
special property tax based on the
estimated electricity cost for each
district.
The operating cost for each district
varies in relation to the electricity
usage, number of street lights, and
whether they are serviced by APS or SRP.
The city completes 357
separate property tax calculations for
each district representing 33,970
properties.
Here is a map of the streetlight tax
districts. The blue represents APS and
the green represents SRP.
The fiscal year 2526 levy is $578,426
with an average levy per lot of $17.3,
an average decrease of 72 per property
lot from the prior fiscal year.
Here
is the action item and again it's to
solicit the public testimony on the
fiscal year 25 26 street light
improvement districts and I can answer
any questions you may have. Thank you.
Thank you. And I don't have any speakers
on this uh item. So do I have any
questions?
Mayor, I'll make a motion
a motion to levy the proposed fiscal
year 2526 um SLID taxes by district
taxes to be assessed by ordinance on
June 24, 2025.
Second.
All those in favor, please indicate your
vote.
All right.
Item 25 is the final public hearing on
the fiscal year 20 2526 budget. This
item seeks to solicit public testimony
on the fiscal year 202526 operating
budget and capital improvement plan as
tenatively approved on May 20th, 2025.
Presenting this evening on this topic is
Sonia Andrews, city treasurer. And I now
open the public hearing.
We will take public testimony first. And
I don't
no speakers on this.
So Sonia Andrews, let's go ahead and
proceed. Yes. I'm actually going to have
our budget director, Scott Selene,
present that. Thank you. Thank you.
Good evening, mayor, members of the
council. Uh Scott Selen, budget
director. Before I start my
presentation, I want to acknowledge that
there have been a couple changes that um
have been posted and provided to the
council. The first is that funding for
the Thompson Creek Peak Bridge capital
project was adjusted. There was $5.2
million of expenditures that were moved
forward from FY2728 to FY2627.
Uh this change does not impact either
the FY2526 capital budget or the 5-year
total CIP expenditures. And the other
correction is the property tax issue
that Sonia mentioned in her presentation
about property tax.
This is the adoption timeline. We're at
the final step of the timeline tonight,
which is a final public hearing and
adoption of the FY2526
budget.
Total budget is just over $2.2 2 billion
split up into 885 million for operating,
947 million for capital, and then 370.5
million in contingencies and reserves.
This slide shows the details of the
changes that were made in the tenative
budget. Um there were two positions
added to the mayor and council's office
which impacted both the operating budget
and the reserves and contingencies at
the bottom. And there were no changes to
the capital budget
other than the Thompson Peak Bridge
project that I mentioned at the
beginning of my presentation.
This slide compares the final budget to
last year's adopted budget. When
compared to FY2425,
the current year's budget shows an
overall reduction of $91 million and a
reduction of 4%.
Before going into the details of this
slide, I want to emphasize that the
proposed budget, the tenative budget,
and the final budget have anticipated
the specific changes to compensation and
to the pay tables that are listed here
on this slide.
The budget contains the new police pay
program which makes step plan and market
adjustments that will be effective on
July 1 and longevity payments that will
be effective on September 1st
and market-based adjustments to all
ranks. The budget includes a market
adjustment for all other employees of
2%. And then finally, the budget
provides specificity to the city
managers manager organizational changes.
These changes were also anticipated in
the budget and resources were allocated
to carry them out.
This brings me to the end of my
presentation. Um, there are slides that
follow from the council retreat that
were included as a resource this evening
if there are any questions. And uh, with
that, I'd be happy to entertain any
questions. Thank you, Scott, and
Councilman Graham. Thank you, Mayor.
Thank you, Scott. Scott, can you say a
little more about that uh, Thompson Peak
Bridge? Um, it was just moved from 27
fiscal 27 to fiscal 26. Is that it was
just how how does that affect the
budget? uh it it funding was moved from
year three of the CI of the five-year
CIP which is fiscal year 2728 to 2627
year two. So it does not impact next
year's capital budget or the ad the
aggregate 5-year CIP. Um that's a bond
2019 project. Correct,
Madame Mayor? I I don't believe so, but
I I can get that information back to
you. Sonia Sonia seems to be uh wanting
to say something. Allison Timu is about
to is about to
the city engineer, Miss Tim Q might have
something to say. Um, mayor, council
member Graham, yes, that is a bond 2019
project.
Okay, thank you. And that so that was
one of those 2019 bond deliverables. Um,
I've gotten a few questions about that
project. When when do you realistically
kind of expect to see the project
starting? Um, Mayor, Council Member
Grant, we're currently um proceeding
with the design of that project right
now. So, um, feasibly we could be under
construction in the next fiscal year,
the following fiscal year. And so,
that's going to add a bridge, um, on the
north side, right? So, then the the
eastbound southside will be separated
from the westbound north side. That's
correct. Okay. Very good. Thank you,
Miss Timu. Thank you, Scott. Thank you,
Mayor. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman
Graham. And just to be clear, we're not
taking action at this point, right?
This is the public hearing.
We You're not looking for a motion at
this point. Correct. I'm sorry, mayor.
Was that question to the city attorney?
It doesn't matter. Sonia, that that is
correct. That That's all we're doing is
the final public hearing. And we don't
have any we don't have any. So
final public hearing. We have no public
testimony.
So, I'm closing the hearing. Yes, I'm
closing the hearing. Do you have a
question?
Yes. Yes, mayor. Sorry, I am a little
bit confused. I actually have some
remarks about the budget, but there um
our packet and I have I'm having
technology failure. I can't get my iPad
up and running. But um the packet that
we received included the final budget
and also the um uh compensation package
and I don't have the verbiage. Is that
the next item since I am operating
without my iPad?
So that's I I think Councilwoman um
Whitehead is getting at the special
meeting content. That is correct. So the
special meeting item one would be the
adoption of the final budget, the
five-year capital improvement plan and
the fisc year 2526 job classification
plan plan and pay table. Okay. All
right. I will then wait for that. Okay.
Um, good. Okay. Thank you. Thank you,
mayor. Thank you, Sonia.
Thank you, Scott. And you're not going
to have to wait too long. So, what we're
going to do now is recess the uh I I now
close the public hearing, which is what
we just did. So, we'll recess the
regular meeting and move directly to the
special meeting. Uh, which now we have
special
SP1. And I don't know why you're calling
it special
SP1, but okay. Special meeting, which is
the final adoption of the fiscal year
202526
budget estimates. Point of order. Go
ahead, mayor. Real quick. I'm sorry,
Madam Parliamentarian. If I just may,
can we switch from the regular to a
special meeting and go back? That's
Yes, you could. You can recess the
regular meeting. Okay. hold the special
meeting, adjourn the special meeting,
and resume the regular meeting. Okay. I
wasn't disputing what we were doing. I
just wanted to make sure everything was
Thank you. Yes. So, we
Thank you. Okay. Moving right along. Uh
final adoption of the fiscal year 2025
26 budget estimates, 5-year capital
improvement plan, and fiscal year 202526
job classification plan and pay table.
This item requests two actions. The
first is adoption of ordinance 4670
setting the final budget estimates for
the fiscal year 202526 budget as
tenatively approved on May 20th, 2025.
adopting the final fiscal year 202526
job classification plan and job
classification pay table in conformity
with Scottsdale revised code sections 14
through 20 through 14 through 24
and authorizing or approving as
applicable certain salary adjustments
including in the final budget for city
employees and charter officers and
setting the salaries of the presiding
judge and associate judges. The second
is the adoption of ordinance 4671
approving the capital improvement plan
for the period beginning July 1, 2025
and ending June 30th, 2030.
Presenting this evening is Sonia
Andrews. Do we have a second
presentation? Okay. Thank you.
Thank you, Madame Mayor, members of the
city council. Uh, just one slide. Oops.
This is the only slide of my
presentation. Um, it provides the
necessary council action in order to
adopt the budget. Happy to entertain any
questions. And this was based, this
refers back to the presentation we just
saw. So, Councilwoman Whitehead.
Well, this is just moving along
speedily. So, I do have some remarks
about the budget. I see it as an
opportunity for unity. I'm I'm thinking
we're going to have a 70 vote, and I got
to tell you, that always feels nice and
I guess like a product of any healthy
democratic process. Um there are items,
expenditures in this budget that I
champion. Some of these expenditures I
support and then I do have some
concerns. I want to stress that this
budget is powered by the fiscal
discipline and the good policies of past
councils and it is funded uh primarily
by our voters that have repeatedly gone
to the ballot box to support taxes that
cost each of us just a little bit amount
of money but deliver that which none of
us could uh afford without uh each
other. Um, I want to talk about where
that funding is coming from and that I
support the continued investment in our
infrastructure and new parks from the
2019 voter approved bonds. Um, and I
support water infrastructure investments
and transfer stations that are turning
our waste into valuable resources, the
2018 transportation tax, which is
improving our roads for all users. And
of course, Prop 490, which is doing
that, which most communities don't do,
and setting aside money for maintenance
of all the things that we already
approved and built. I also um commend
the voters for approving 491, which is
key, Proposition 491, which is key to
our police pay program. Um, I didn't
champion, but I support the uh 41
million set aside to improve our roads.
But my cautionary
statement there is the success of this
investment will depend on how we
prioritize and use those funds. And
we're all now very aware of investments
made in 2010 in the 2010s where we put
pretty ahead of durability for our roads
and we're paying the price for that now.
So I'll be watching closely for that. Um
but finally my concern is with some
changes that have been made between uh
the adoption of the preliminary budget
and today's vote. and that pertains to
the part of the packet that's part of
the budget uh with um pay grades. And
for the voters out there, people are
paid in government based on grades. And
there were um and I'm not talking about
the I'm going to pull up my notes on
this so I get it right. I am not talking
about the police pay grade changes.
Those have been extensively reviewed by
I think all of us on council, but there
have been some pay grades that um are
that that are pretty steep and this is
not private sector when it comes to
paying our employees. We have to make
sure that it uh is we're managing our
tax dollars and that these increases are
validated and justified through data and
uh reports. So I haven't seen any of
that and so this is my concern. I'm just
going to give one example and I want to
tell you this is always hard for me to
do because the employees that fill these
roles are people that I really like and
respect but it's still our duty to make
sure that A we're managing your tax
dollars well B we can justify any
expenditures
and C we're transparent and because this
change was made and because we haven't
had a public presentation and in fact
I've seen no documentation that's why
I'm calling it out in this. Um, so the
example I will give you is we had a
position at the city that has gone up
seven grade changes in less than a year.
So that's pretty significant. We're
talking about uh almost $100,000 change
in what that previous uh position was
paid to what it could be paid with a new
grade. So we went from 37 pay grade to
39 in November for this position and
included in this budget we're going from
39 to 44. Now is this justified? I don't
know. And that's exactly why I'm pulling
it. So, I would like to make a motion
and I hope to get the support of my
colleagues to um adopt ordinance 4670
setting the final budget estimates for
the fiscal year 2526 operating budget as
tentatively approved on May 20th. Um and
adopt ordinance 4671 setting the 5-year
capital improvement plan as tentatively
approved on May 20th 25. Now, I have an
a motion, an added motion pertaining to
the pay grades. Would you like me to
hold off on that until I I see it's not
up there. Would you like me to read
that? Is would that be I guess I'll ask
this of the um city attorney if this
would be the appropriate time.
Uh mayor and um councilwoman Whitehead,
if I'm understanding your question, uh
let me answer it this way.
the adoption of ordinance 4670
uh will include adopting the pay
classification plan that has the changes
that you're referencing. So um if you
can amend the pay classification plan
um by a motion and adopt ordinance 4670
with those amendments to the pay
classification plan. You can do that in
one motion. Thank you. Yeah, I think
I'll go ahead and do that. So, I've made
my motion and I'm going to amend it to
um to adjust the pay classification plan
or to accept the pay classification plan
with the exception that no unsworn
positions be increased by more than two
grades without specifically returning to
this council for a separate approval
that includes information and justific
ifications for the requested changes.
I'm getting
Oh, okay. Well, anyway, thank you. Do I
hear a second?
Can I speak to this? Sure. Um, I think
uh, Councilwoman Whitehead might be
referring to this study that we
requested um, from the human ser uh,
resources director and it was just
published today. So maybe she did not
have time to review it. Uh,
I'm just saying that. Okay. Well, I
don't hear a second, but I think that
it's not transparent and it's not good
governance to supply us with a document.
I'll second your motion. I mean, we can
vote on it, but All right. So, I I do
think that this is part of the very real
problem I'm trying to show. This is not
a criticism of any employer and any
employee, but it is our job as a
government to first be transparent and
second be fully responsible for how we
spend tax dollars. And I don't have
time, I'm sorry, to read a report a
couple hours before a meeting that is
pretty already pretty full, but thank
you.
I don't see any uh we have a motion in a
second so we're going to take a vote on
it but I just want to add that I I have
concerns about the same issue um in
particular the the dramatic leap and I
understand the logic because there was
there have been structural changes uh in
the city manager's plan to um to
eliminate certain positions specifically
assistant city manager positions and
consolidate that into one position, but
I I I do still have concerns about um
about that dramatic of a of an increase.
Uh and uh there's a motion on the table
and if no one else has any comments,
let's go ahead and take a vote on that.
Yes. Councilwoman, uh, for the benefit
of all of us, including Councilwoman
Littlefield, Councilwoman Littlefield,
who just requested it, can you please re
repeat your motion? Okay. Sorry, she's
trying to challenge me. Okay. Um, I
motion to adopt ordinance uh number 4670
setting the final budget estimates for
fiscal year 2526 operating budget as
tenatively approved on May 20th with a
an amendment to the pay classification
plan that uh uh that is an exception
that no unsworn position be increased
more than two grades um tonight without
specifically returning ing to council
for a separate approval with information
and justification and I'm going to add
and the opportunity to have a discussion
on the changes.
Thank you. Did Did you hear that council
woman? Okay, great. Um,
sorry. Go ahead, mayor. Sorry. Uh, since
there was an addition to that motion,
can we just reaffirm the second?
Second.
I have a question before we vote on that
motion. Um,
how many positions
are impacted by that revision, not more
than 20% of a of a classification
increase. Madame Mayor, uh, as I heard
the motion, it was specifically to grade
levels, and so I heard two grades,
which, um, doesn't necessarily translate
to 20%, but uh, I believe we are
isolating, uh, one position. And I will
just for the record indicate that this
motion feels a lot like revisiting what
we had a year ago where there was a year
and a half of extensive
study class and compensation and six
positions were moved out of the
consideration at the time by council
member Whitehead and there was
significant other positions that made
movement and that's why the November was
referenced because those six positions
were modified. died uh in November
versus the June which was the initial
scheduled time. Additionally, for the
record, I did provide a response to
council member councilwoman Whitehead to
some initial explanation to the
adjustments. This position was initially
uh at 37 grade and the classing
compensation study referenced moving it
to 40. It was subjectively pushed down
to 39 and as you referenced rightly so
mayor with the elimination of two
assistant city manager uh positions. We
used to have three. We've reduced those
to one. based on that with internal and
specifically movement within the police
department and market analysis that was
completed and provided today as
councilwoman McAllen referenced uh and
actually in front of your dis today
represents internal alignment and market
analysis which uh recommends and
coincides with moving that to grade 44.
So circling back specifically where we
are talking about one position. Thank
you madame mayor. Thank you. And that
one more time.
I guess that's you. Go ahead. Go ahead.
Okay. Thank you, mayor. I do want to
address that that those positions were I
requested at that time that we have a
presentation and I was denied. I you
know, we're giving our employees a 2%
raise. I am not suggesting. And I want
to talk about the fact that we are a
240,000
person city with 11 million visitors
every year. We have lost the two
assistant city managers that literally
built this city.
This is not a city that I think can
operate well on two city assistant city
managers. And that's why Mr. Kaitton was
hired so that we could have three
assistant city managers. So I think that
the financial health that this council
inherited is our superpower, but it's
our Achilles heel as well because when
you're flushed with cash and we're using
we're using vacancies as cash. Vacancies
aren't cash. they're possibly positions
we really need to fill. So the Achilles
heel is when you're flushed with cash
cash sometimes you don't spend as wisely
as you should. And again I want to
stress we're a government perception
matters. Transparency matters and the
positions we were replacing were paid I
thank you for your email Greg were paid
in that $250,000
um level. And this new level is um well
into the $300,000
a year. So listen, I value everybody. I
especially value the people who pick up
my trash and recycles, but I value all
of you equally besides that. And I just
think that our community deserves this
transparency, a public discussion on how
we spend your tax dollars, and how does
this affect our future ability to fill
these roles? Um, can I ask a question?
Because, and I have to tell you, having
no pension ever, I mean, I've just never
worked in that space. I don't even know
how pensions work. So that's something
I'll be looking into understanding more.
But
we are spending a tremendous amount of
your tax dollars this year to pay down
ballooning pension debt. Because when it
comes to a government, the first thing
we pay is debt. We pay debt before we
hire a police officer. We pay debt
before we maintain your parks. Debt
comes first. And so why I'm questioning
this is I don't want a future council to
say who the heck put us in this position
where we can't even take care of our
current residents because we're stuck
with all this debt. So I just want to
understand the impacts of paygrade
changes and how that affects the whole
system and we haven't had we didn't last
year when I requested this there was no
there was no public meeting to discuss
it and I think our residents deserve to
have that this time and I will ask you
our charter officers can you can
somebody tell me what are the paygrades
of our charter officers I would really
appreciate just knowing because I
haven't looked it up. So, does anybody
have that handy?
Councilwoman, if you give me just a
second. I I have them. Mr. Lane, Charter
Officer Lane has it.
Uh, Mayor, uh, Councilwoman, uh,
Whitehead, uh, the grays for the charter
officers are, uh, the city auditor is a
37, the city attorney is a 44, the city
manager is a 48, the city treasurer is a
40, and the city clerk is a 37.
Okay. So that's a wide range. So and I
you know I so I again I think the answer
on the city charter officers kind of
gives me um more reason to believe that
we need some a a public meeting to
discuss this requested change and it has
no reflection on the people who fill
these positions. Thank you.
City Manager, you've indicated a request
to speak. Thank you, Madame Mayor. I
just wanted uh for the record to uh
comment about the pay adjustments uh
broadly across the organization. The 2%
was referenced. And so what we do have
is a 2% market adjustment and then we
have a 3% merit adjustment. And so those
are eligible. And then for the
individuals on the step plans, the steps
move at 5% and then also they're
applicable for the market adjustments as
well. So I just wanted to um add that
additional information. Thank you. But
Mr. Kane, um the 2% plus the merit is
for non non FD nonPD and the step is
only FD and PD. Correct. Uh Madame Mayor
and uh Councilwoman Whitehead, that is
correct. Okay. Thank you. So, I am I
think it's easier for us to always
support our firemen and policemen. I'm
talking about the regular employee
population. Thank you so much,
Councilwoman Littlefield.
Thank you, Mayor. Um,
I would like to move to approve
ordinance 4670 setting the final budget
estimates for the FY2526
with the following changes. Removal of
the management analyst or similar
position from the mayor's office budget
and removal of one management associate
position from the city clerk's office
budget for council. It's it's uh
therefore council as needed if needed.
This will result in two management
associate positions in the city clerk's
office that support the us the council
members and a chief of staff and
executive assistant in the mayor's
office. I also move to approve ordinance
4671
approving to the the capital improvement
plan for FY226.
So, Councilwoman Littlefield, there was
a motion on the table with a second. So,
that is okay. Not your motion. Alternate
motion.
So, why don't we take a vote on the
motion and the in the second, please?
The motion I made. Correct. Yes. Thank
you.
So, we're voting on motion. Correct.
There was a live motion and a second.
So, and before we move on to any other
motion, like to take a vote on that one.
there.
There. Oh, you you have to do Yes, you
have to do that. Thank you. It passes.
[Music]
Point of order. No point of order. I you
know I sit up here and listen to
everyone telling others how to vote
here. I'm going to just say that it's a
little bit disturbing to listen to this
point. So as a point of order point of
order I'm fine.
This this was for this was fores motion.
Oh so I don't think it's appropriate for
Councilman Graham to be questioning
another council member. We know we
mayor,
I misunderstood what we are voting for.
I wish to change my vote to a no
with with changing the vote. It would
fail three to four.
It It's fine. Let's just do it again.
Whatever. Or change hers. Okay.
Okay. Yeah. If you all would like to I'm
sorry. Vote one more time.
And this is on Solange's motion. Yeah,
that's correct. Sorry, it's just
confusing.
U
then I would like to if I Madame
Parliamentarian, can I consider Council
Member Littlefield's motion, an
alternate motion or a new motion? She
can just make the motion. Councilman
Graham, I
Yeah, it might be good for her to
restate the motion because I don't think
there was ever a second on on the
motion. And I don't it it doesn't really
matter to consider it an alternate
motion at this point in time. It'll be
the only motion on the floor.
I move to approve ordinance 4670 setting
the final budget estimates for FY2526
with the following changes. Removal of
management analysis or similar position
from the mayor's office budget and
removal of one management associate
position from the city clerk's office
budget for the uh and that would affect
the council if needed. This will result
in two management associate positions in
the city clerk's office that support the
council members and a chief of staff and
executive assistant in the mayor's
office. I also move to approve ordinance
4671 approving the capital improvement
plan for FY2526.
Second.
I have a question uh for the maker of
the motion. Um you've stated that this
will result in a management associate
and a management analyst in the city
clerk's office, but that's inaccurate.
There was a uh an approval unanimously
to um provide for the two positions,
executive assistant and management
associate were moved into the city
clerk's office for the benefit of the
city council. That happened back in at
the last council meeting on this budget.
And also there was a um unanimous
approval to add a management analyst or
equivalent an executive assistant back
to the mayor's office. So the motion is
uh I'm just curious uh Councilwoman
Woman Littlefield um are you trying to
add a position to the clerk's office now
because that was not a reflection of
where we stood.
removing
removing an analyst or similar position
from the mayor's office and removal of
one management associate position from
the city clerk's office. That position
is in the city clerk's office for the
benefit of the council's office, but it
is not filled
and hasn't been filled. So where would
that leave us then in your opinion at
the mayor's office and at the coun
council level?
The the council level would the actual
members that are working for the council
would stay the same. Uh and the same
would be true of the mayor's office at
this time.
So that would be a management analyst in
the mayor's office, an executive
assistant in the mayor's office, and
that would be an executive assistant if
it's remains the same in the city
council office. It would be chief of
staff and executive assistant in the
mayor's office.
And what in the clerk's office? I'm
sorry because now I'm very confused.
There's two positions in the budget for
the clerk's office right now. There's
three. Oh, there's three. This makes it
two. This makes it two. So, it just
basically removes one of those positions
and from the budget resulting in which
positions?
What are the two positions that are now
in the clerk's office for the council?
So, we know so I know what we're voting
on. They are um
a associate position in the clerk's
office from the city clerk's office and
they are position holders
um in the clerk's office. They've
actually never been utilized.
Point of order. Madame parliamentarian,
is the motion clear enough?
I'm
I'm just going to have to be honest. I'm
having trouble following the motion, but
I do think my colleagues understand it.
The city manager and the treasur,
they're the ones that are going to be
implementing it.
Would you like me to repeat it? Well,
well, is it clear to the city manager,
Madame Mayor and Council Member uh
Graham? Yes, I'm clear on the motion.
Okay. Okay. Would you mind repeating it
then back? I I believe I would leave
that to uh Councilwoman Littlefield to
restate her motion if that be the case,
but I'm happy to if if you would like me
to. What I'm asking is what direction
are you taking from this motion? That's
the question. Okay, fair enough. Madame
Mayor, I heard the motion to be that the
removal of one management
if I'm Well, I'll just state that if I
need to go back. I'm happy to do the
history of how we got to this point, but
it's a removal of one position from the
mayor's office as a management analyst
and a removal of one from the city
clerk's office which supports city
council which is a management uh
associate as well.
Thank you,
Councilman Graham. Oh, I I'm sorry,
Mayor. I thought I was Councilwoman
Whitehead, can you put the slide up with
the uh ordinances that were
to make a motion? Thank you. Okay. Hey,
I would like to make an alternate motion
to adopt ordinance 4670 setting the
final budget estimates for the fiscal
year 2526 operating budget as tenatively
approved on May 20th, 2025 and adopt
ordinance um 4671 setting the 5-year
capital improvement plan as tenatively
approved on May 2025.
Second
All those in favor.
Having failed, we'll go back to the
original motion and uh take a vote
if the lights go.
Councilwoman
Whitehead, you know, I have a question.
I find the motion being offered to
it's this is putting us in a position.
We just had four council members
literally vote against the budget. Point
of order is this. And no, I am speaking
Mr. Graham. I would like to have
Whitehead. You can always make a point
of order. Councilman Graham, please
don't interrupt a point of order. This
is playing this is playing politics with
our budget. Um, every single one of us
up here wants to approve this budget and
to make these last minute unclear uh
wranglings to remove mayor the mayor's
staff is putting is holding this council
hostage.
I would like a clean vote on the budget
as presented um by this, you know,
unless there's a specific change she
wants to make that is different from the
tenative budget we approved to today's
budget. The the ch the request I made
wasn't because I was trying to change
the budget that was approved in the last
meeting, the tenative budget. What I was
referring to in my motion was a change.
Point of order. Point of order. And I I
do not want this council to be forced to
vote against a good budget that we all
worked on because there's some political
maneuver to take away the mayor's staff.
This is an outrage. And I would like to
understand
what our options are. And I would like
that from the city attorney, not my
colleague, Mr. Graham. Okay. Point of
order. You're not speaking. You don't
have the floor, Mr. Graham.
A point of order. A rules of procedure.
Councilwoman Whitehead. The rules of
procedure always. Councilman Graham,
you're out of order. We'll let the city
attorney
procedure. Can a point of order always
be called?
Not for the sole purpose of interrupting
a colleague. Not the purpose,
Mayor. Um, and Councilwoman
Councilwoman Whitehead, um,
respectfully, uh, the rules do provide
that a point of order can interrupt
another speaker. It can, um, it does not
require a second. It's not debatable.
It's not amendable and it cannot be
considered once raised. Mayor, a point
of order requires a ruling by the
presiding officer. That's of course the
mayor. And if held to be an order,
enforcement of order by the presiding
officer. I I'm familiar with the rules.
So, what's your point of order,
Councilman Graham? My point of order is
that we voted on a motion that failed
and then we were in the middle of voting
when uh Councilwoman Whitehead just
began speaking and then the and then we
all of a sudden just inexplicably
stopped voting.
So that is is that does that comply with
the rules of procedure passed by this
council? You just because someone is
displeased with the vote, the way the
vote's going, they can just start
speaking and then we stop voting. That's
not what happened. So that that's
exactly what happened, Madame Mayor. So
was that your point of order? That's not
what happened. Did you register any
votes, Ben? I Yeah, there were four or
five votes already registered. Let's ask
Ben.
Uh, mayor, some individuals had had
voted. Yes, because it's flashed on my
screen several times, not indicating
that the vote was live. In fact, I the
buttons were all three lit up when I
called on councilwoman and so and so my
whitehead but notwithstanding. So that's
your point of order. Let's let's go
ahead and take a vote. Okay. My point of
order, Madame Mayor, is that just
because one person on this dis is
displeased with their perception of
what's going
in the middle of when voting has begun.
We've covered that, Councilman Graham.
If it that was the case, it was an
error. There was screens flashing up and
down. I did not see us as in process of
voting order. There was no second. There
was a second. Was there? I did not hear
it. So maybe that's part of it. I did
not hear a second. So I was not voting
at that time. My point of order,
presiding officer, is can we resume the
voting?
There was an alternate motion on the
table. The alternate motion matt point
of order. The alternate motion failed.
Why don't we ask the city clerk to recap
because now there now it's thorough
confusion. Where are we? Which which
vote are we taking? Uh so the uh thank
you mayor. Um so the al alternate motion
failed. Um there was an initial motion
made by sorry there was initial motion
made by Counciloman Whitehead that
failed. Uh there was then a motion made
by Councilwoman Littlefield. Then there
was then there was an alternate motion
made by Councilman Whitehead. Uh that
alternate motion failed. Uh so now we're
back to the original motion made by uh
Councilwoman Littlefield.
That's where that's where we said. So
let's take a vote on that. Yeah. Did you
get a vote on that? Did you say? Okay.
Mayor, can I add add I just want to
clarify that the motion given the screen
that was put up with the with the draft
motion. if you could put that up again.
It talks about the tenative budget
approved on May 20th. That has changed
with the classification and comp plan.
And I want to make sure it's clear to
this council that that's with the new
changes in the classification and comp
plan minus the the amendments that um
Councilwoman Littlefield mentioned and
that the second agreed to. I just want
to clarify that for the record before
the council votes.
might as well make it as clear as it
possibly can be at this point. Thank you
for that.
So, we're going to vote on Councilwoman
Littlefield's motion. Okay. Now, we've
got three people that want to speak. No,
no, no. My You didn't make a decision.
Point of order. My point of order was
can we resume voting, Madame Mayor, as
we were. That's my And I need And the
maker of the motion would like to speak.
Are you opposing that?
I'm asking you as a presiding offer
officer to make a decision about my
point of order. There was obviously
confusion. I don't know what you're
continuing to make a point of. We have
to take the vote over. So, we'll start
the vote over because I was unaware that
the screen was indicating the vote.
We've already talked about this. You've
made the point. Okay. There's been
several votes coming across the screen.
So, Councilwoman Littlefield, would you
like to say anything at this point?
You're indicated.
Uh, I was just going to say a a reason
why I I believe this would be a
reasonable thing to do at this time. Um
we have some necessary large increases
in our budget with uh public safety and
with other departments
and while the overall budget is not
increasing so much it will as we go
forward with the inditional people in
order to try to keep that as small as
possible and to benefit our taxpaying
citizens. I believe we should all be
open to reducing our departmental
budgets as much as possible. After
studying both of the budgets for the
city council and the mayor's office, I
made this amendment because these are
positions that are not filled at this
time. They are in the budget, but they
have no people there. So, I thought I'd
like to take some one of those from the
council office, one of those from the
mayor's office. Both of them empty
positions but in the budget. And because
they're in the budget, they have to be
funded. So, I wanted to say, let's hold
off for a year. Let's wait till we get
through all this and then go back. If we
want to, if it shows up that we need
those positions, and there are still
empty positions in both offices, then we
can always use those open positions and
we can go back next year and refund
those positions and reopen them up if we
find that there is a need.
This is an action to reduce the budget
probably by 200 $250,000 total by the
time you finish paying all the extra
fees and fines and taxes and stuff for
these folks. And both of these positions
are unfilled.
No one would be fired, but their
salaries would be removed from the
budgeting process for this year. And of
course we find that there is an
additional need if we find there is for
these positions either one or both of
them can be reconsider considered and
added back in when we put next year's
budget together for consideration. In
the meantime this fiscal year we can
still each hire an additional staff
member to cover necessary tasks for both
the mayor's office and the budget and
the council office. And finally, I also
I move to um well, no, that's just what
I want to say right there is is that's
why I made this motion. It's a matter of
shoring up the budget, keeping it in
tune because we have a lot of increases
in in staff, which will over the course
of time increase our budget
tremendously, trying to get ahead of the
curve. Thank you, Councilwoman
Littlefield. I really appreciate that
clarification, but um there's a major uh
factual inaccuracy. The management
analyst position that's in the mayor's
office is filled. It's occupied fully by
a full-time employee who would have to
be terminated.
That's what is the case currently.
Um Mr. Lane, can you verify that? Did I
pick the wrong budget
title?
No. Uh
the the management analyst position in
the mayor's office is is filled right
now. It's the executive
uh executive uh administrative assistant
that's that's vacant right now, I
believe. Okay. Could I amend my motion
then to make it that position?
Uh
uh Sherry, I'll do I assume. Yes, you
could. Provided it's Yes. Um mayor, if I
may. Um yes, Councilwoman, you you could
amend your motion if that's what you
want your motion to be, provided it's
also agreed to by the second um um
councilwoman or I'm sorry, Councilman
Graham.
Just confirm that. So, are you making
that amendment? Yes. And Councilman
Graham, are you agreeing to second that
amended motion? Yes.
Okay.
I don't see any additional speakers. I
think it's because the speaker button,
you've cut us off finally. Uh, mayor, I
apologize. The gonna have to reboot this
computer at some point. The the if
people want to speak, if they can just
acknowledge to you, uh, I apologize.
We're gonna have to do all the votes
verbally and if people want to speak,
they just need to acknowledge you. We
broke the system. All right.
I don't I don't blame it.
Okay, Councilman Ben Mallen, that's a
really good way to get a new system,
Ben. Just kidding. Just kidding. Um, we
do need a new system uh next year. I am
in need of clarification on this. Uh, I
want to make sure that we are not
cutting any of the mayor's staff and
that it stays exactly the way it is. Um,
with the the position that was ISIL's, I
believe, and then the position that's
currently being held as well as the
chief of staff. That's what we agreed on
a couple weeks ago. So, I just want to
make sure that's the vote we're making.
Am I That's not the motion on the table,
Councilwoman McCallen. Okay. I thought
that's what she was just amending it to.
I'm sorry,
mayor, if I could. Yes, I am I am
removing two empty unfilled positions.
One from the council's office and one
from the mayor's office as a cost
savings. It's a it's a ma matter of
cost. Yeah. Reduction for the budgeting
process right now because it's budget is
pretty high.
Thank you. Uh, Councilwoman Whitehead,
you know, I just want to talk about this
budget saving. This is the group of
people who forfeited 31 million federal
dollars this year. And I and I want to
talk about cost savings when when I
simply requested some clarity on a
tremendous bump in in salary grade and I
all I wanted was to have a a public
testimony so we could explain to our
constituents. So I think getting rid of
a frankly an assistant who answers the
phone. Let's call it what it is. We had
already agreed a few weeks ago to how
the uh staffing would be. It was very
amicable. So this last minute gotcha
change because somebody got mad is all I
can figure to get rid of an assistant
that answered the phones and helped
every one of us for the entire six plus
years I've been here is ridiculous. And
it's not a cost savings.
Madame Mayor,
Councilman Graham, I'll just move to
I'll move to call the question. Thank
you.
All those in favor?
Uh mayor, I apologize. Uh do a do a roll
call vote. Uh this is on uh Councilwoman
Littlefield's amended motion. Um uh
Mayor Barowski,
I'm a no for the reason that uh when
Councilwoman Littlefield and I talked
about this, she fully agreed that the
mayor's office needs a secretary
executive assistant position. And I'm
shocked by this change. and it screams
of political gamesmanship which I know
my esteemed councilwoman
Littlefield does not
engage in. So I'm very disappointed.
Vice Mayor Dasquez. Yes.
Council member Graham. Yes.
Council member Clausman.
Counciloman Littlefield. Yes. Council
uh Counciloman McCallen, I would like to
comment on my statement. I was here to
vote
for the police increase. I do not want
anybody to say that we are not pro
proublic safety, but to take away the
mayor's staff at the last minute, I am
forced to vote no.
And and Councilman Whitehead, I would
like to make a statement as well. I'm
going to vote yes on this budget.
But the fact that this council has been
called the most toxic council on in
multiple media outlets. Um I guess we
upheld that that we earned we reearned
that this this session. We had a budget
that seven of us worked hard on. Seven
of us were willing to support each
other's priorities. seven of us were
supposed to vote for and we also had
already resolved the issue of the
mayor's staff. So this is an outrage.
This is exactly the political
gamemanship that earns politicians the
lowest level of trust. And I am proud of
the leaders that are up here that are
trying to do the right thing. I wish it
was the majority. I will vote yes,
mayor. It uh passes 5 to two.
Thank you.
All right, we are resuming. Let's see
where we left off here.
We can give her one of ours if she needs
it.
All right, moving on to item uh I'm
going to close the special meeting and
resume the regular meeting. Moving on to
item 25A, which is the independent
ethics panel report of findings of fact
and conclusions of law for this item for
period. For this item, the council will
consider and either accept or reject the
independent ethics panel panel's report
which found a technical but
unintentional ethical violation arising
out of the March 23rd, 2025 complaint
filed against Councilman Barry Graham.
There is no presentation on this. I
don't know that we have any
we do we have two speakers on this. So,
I would like to open um Madame Madame
Mayor point of order. I need to step out
at this point, don't I? Um
uh Mayor, I perhaps nobody told you. I
believe that uh Barry Graham is recusing
himself from this item and he should
then leave the dis and go into the next
room. Do I say pronounce anything or
just depart? You depart. Okay.
Thank you. Sorry to interrupt. No, no,
that's perfect. Uh, we received two
requests to speak. First is Bob
Littlefield.
He doesn't have his hearing aids in.
So, I'm not going to spend a lot of time
talking about why I think this ethics uh
so-called violation is wrong and why it
should be rejected. Others will come up
here and talk about that. I just want to
point out that this particular
if you have any question as to whether
or not this this is f a valid finding or
not there's really only one thing you
need to know which is that when uh which
is that when uh the investigator who
originally investigated Graham's case
said there was no violation and yet the
the judges cons continued this. That was
a mistake. That should tell you right
there that this is BS, but there'll be
more to come with that. Now, I was
actually on the council when this ethics
code was adopted. And at the time, I
remember having reservations thinking,
whoa, I would not want this to be used
as lawfare. But I voted for it anyway
because my aspirations overcame that and
I was hoping it would do some good.
Well, guess what? I was wrong. My
aspirations were not realized but my
fears were realized.
So um
and in fact to that point later on we
realized on the council that this thing
was way too restrictive in terms of its
restrictions upon council members
talking to staff members. In fact, it
was so restrictive that we realized it
was preventing people from council
members from doing their jobs. So, we
actually put that on a ballot and and
opened it up a little bit. Um, and it's
pretty clear that if someone were to
actually think that this were an ethical
violation on Graham's part, that we
didn't open it up enough because there
needs to be some level of uh there needs
to be some level of interaction with the
staff in order to get things done.
There's also one other thing I would
like to mention that I don't know if
anybody up here has thought about. Uh,
one of the judges on this panel said,
"Oh, I don't think anything bad should
happen to Graham." Even though they said
he did something wrong.
There are several of you up here who
have various professional
certifications. I see a couple lawyers,
some real estate agents, uh, CPA, at
least one. All of those professions have
ethics codes. They have ethics
requirements. You have to think about
this. If your political opponents are
allowed to uh get say that you did
something unethical, that can actually
hurt your ability to make a living. It
might cost you your profession. So I
would say tonight, first of all, this
needs to be rejected. Second of all, you
need to look into the way this ethics
code is written so it truly deals with
ethics, not with politics. Thank you.
Thank you.
Next, we have Tim Loda.
Thank you, mayor, members of the
council. Timothy Lota here, 2198 East
Kelback Road, and I'm here to urge you
to reject this report from the panel. Uh
hopefully some of you read the letter I
submitted, but you know what we had here
was a charter officer or excuse me, a
council member going to a charter
officer to have a meeting, being led
into a discussion with other
subordinates of this charter officer. At
the hearing, the complainant spent the
whole time trying to establish that
Councilman Graham had made a request of
the um the subordinates because the
complainant had an old version of the
city code. What these subordinates
testified to was they were not given an
order by Councilman Graham and they
couldn't even tell who Councilman Graham
was talking to. Um it it stunned me. I I
have no idea why the two members of this
panel couldn't understand the difference
between an order and a request. Uh they
seem to be stuck on the old code, too. I
don't know why that happened, but it
did. Uh but it's your job to correct
their error, and I would urge you to do
that. Um you know, one of the things
that was also clear is is Councilman
Graham sitting in that meeting looking
at a computer screen and and basically
not talking to anyone particular. led
into that room by a charter officer who
remained in that meeting the entire
time. Um, excepting and I know it's not
been a a terribly happy night on council
tonight. There's been a lot of ranker,
but I would submit to you that if we're
going to get into crediting these what I
think are are meritless uh panel
recommendations that there's been an
ethics violation, I think it's going to
get worse. Uh, I I work I don't know if
I think some of you know I used to work
here two years. In fact, I could say my
old office from here. And it's just it's
an unworkable system when you can't go
have a conversation. Um, I worked for
Jim Lane for two years. And if this is
if this is the rule, I would tell them,
look, I don't know how you can have a
conversation with subordinates of a
charter officer. And I think we have to
be very careful uh the environment we
create um where we're we're nervous
about what we say, we're nervous about
people pouring over our emails because
we happen to have a casual conversation
in which someone misunderstood something
or four months later we've got five
lawyers sitting in a room arguing over
what was said. That is just I I think we
need to get on with the people's
business and not dwell on these things.
Um the uh oh, this is my my favorite
part about the report is the the the two
judges actually said, "Well, we hope
this doesn't have a chilling effect."
Well, I'm I'm glad they hope that, but I
I I can tell you that if we're going to
get into this is an ethics violation um
for for basically having a conversation
in which the subordinates say, "No order
given, and you can't even tell who
Councilman Graham's talking to." Yeah. I
mean, I I don't know how to break it to
them. that's going to have a chilling
effect. Uh it's it's been kind of a a
rough night, rankerous night. It's not
going to get better if we start
crediting groundless ethics reports like
this one. Thank you.
Thank you. Uh the system is working
again. And if anyone would like to speak
on this, that was our last public
speaker.
Councilman Clausman. Thank you, Madame
Mayor. I just think that I think it's I
think this is important as this body
sits to be able just to ask some very
simple questions to Miss Andrews if
that's possible.
Miss Andrews,
did did Councilman Graham go around you
to speak with one of your subordinate
staff members?
Um, Mayor Bowski, Councilman Quasman,
no, he did not go around me. Did did he
did Miss Andrew, did did Councilman
Graham first go to you before speaking
with any of your staff members regarding
the issue at hand?
Uh, yes. Council member Graham came to
me first.
Miss Andrew, did you go with Councilman
Graham into the office? Did you did you
join him um during any discussions that
went on at the staff members office?
Yes.
Were you, Miss Andrew, were you
coordinating with Councilman Graham
on the project and on the on the on the
specific actions that that Councilman
Graham was seeking to achieve? Yeah.
Yes.
Point of order.
What's your point of order, Councilwoman
McCallen? I believe that we are allowed
to only do two things. Uphold or not
uphold the statement, not reinterrogate
our city treasurer. That was already
happened by the attorneys. Madam Madame
Mayor, my reasoning for asking those
questions brings the foundation of why
we should not uphold the findings of the
uh of the panel. So, Councilman Quasman,
I'm going to ask the city attorney to
chime in, but my understanding is this
was fully um reviewed, analyzed, heard
by a three judge panel. Uh both parties
had attorneys, so I don't I have to
agree. I don't think it's appropriate to
do an examination, a direct examination
on the city treasurer at this point. Um,
it was a three judge panel, uh, two of
which I know quite well. I'm sure you
probably do, too, and hold in very high
regard, as I do, uh, Mr. Graham's
attorney. So, I don't know that it's
it's, uh, appropriate to re um,
re-examine,
uh, the city treasurer. Um, so I I'm
going to grant the point of order and,
uh, we can move on. This agenda item
doesn't call for us us to be the
deciding body. And if you didn't watch
the hearings, we all had the opportunity
to. We're uh directed to accept or
reject the panel's report.
Then, Madame Mayor, let me just say this
then.
Accepting this report would mean the
following. you agree with a with a with
a judge panel and that's fine whether
you like the judge, don't like the
judge, but that he interfered with the
authority of a charter officer. You have
to agree with that because we do have
the power of accepting a report and
therefore agreeing with it versus
tossing it. You have to agree that he
interfered with the authority of a
charter officer and gave orders and
explicit de uh directions
to subordinate
a subordinate.
And I and what you just heard in my
inappropriate questioning apparently
according to according to your ruling
is that that never happened. So there's
either truth or not truth here. I mean
that's that's just the end of it. And if
we are in a situation where
we can't hold a committee hearing and
ask a staff member that I know two
members of this body right now were at
just yesterday where I asked a staff
member to schedule something and I said
it in front of two charter at least one
charter officer to schedule something.
We're guilty of a we're guilty of an
ethics violation.
We have to think rationally here.
Everybody wants to make sure that we
obey the rules and are ethical.
Everybody. We need major reform of this
language. This situation is unfortunate.
We should throw this out and fix the
rules. Thank you. Thank you. I don't see
Oh, there is another comment. Uh no
other comments. So, at this point, I
will entertain a motion uh to either
accept or reject the independent ethics
panel's report.
Uh, mayor, I I'll just add a comment.
We're not agreeing or disagreeing. We w
we received a report it and we are
either accepting the report by the
professionals that that oversaw this
process or we're declining. So, I I move
to accept the um to accept the report.
I second that motion.
All those in favor, please indicate your
vote.
Mayor, that motion failed three to
three. It takes four members of the
council to uh take an action. I think
the report is deemed rejected by default
of the tie vote.
Okay. Thank you.
We don't have any second. Uh non-aggenda
is public comment and
there.
Yes. We'll invite Councilman Graham to
come back.
Next we have receipt of citizens
petitions. We don't have any. Is that
correct?
So, moving right along on to mayor and
council items. Next up, we have mayor
and council items. at the request of
Vice Mayor Dasquez.
Um,
requesting direct the city attorney to
draft an ordinance for consideration at
a future council meeting related to
possible changes to chapter 19 of the
Scottsdale Revised Code regarding
prohibiting smoking within 50 ft of a
city playground.
The uh only possible council action to
be taken on item number 27 is to direct
the city manager
uh or responsible charter officer to
agendaize the item for a future meeting.
Direct the city manager or charter
officer to investigate the matter and
prepare a written response to the
council or take no action.
No public comment will be taken uh on
this item. Vice Mayor Damascus, would
you like to discuss this item? Yes,
thank you, Mayor. Um, it came to my
attention that we've had an issue with
smoking near playgrounds, uh, the city
playgrounds, and I think we all feel
very concerned about our children, and I
was actually really surprised that we
don't have an ordinance that prevents,
um, smoking near our playgrounds. And
so, uh, what I would like to do is I'll
make a motion for option number one to
direct the city attorney's office or the
city attorney to draft an ordinance to
consider at a future council meeting
related to possible changes to chapter
19 of the Scottdale revised codes um,
which would uh, prohibit smi smoking
within 50 ft of a city playground. I'll
second it.
Before we take about I have a question,
Sherry. Do you do you know the answer to
this? Does ARS36-601
the smokefree Arizona section I don't
know if you've looked at this yet but
does this already address it? I think
there's a provision that you can't be
within 20 feet of the entrance to a
location. Um, but I know this is a
little bit different, but does is this
covered this potential action by
Smokefree Arizona? And if you don't know
the answer, I know that's very big
question, but I think it is not covered
already because I think that's for
interior spaces and and I'm sure we're
talking about outdoor playgrounds here.
Um, I do think that this is an ordinance
that this the city attorney's office
will be able to bring forward.
Thank you very much.
All those in favor, please indicate your
vote.
Thank you.
That concludes all of our business for
this evening. At this point, I would
entertain a motion to adjurnn. So moved.
Second. Thank you.
All those in favor?
Okay.