City Council | Regular Meeting - February 11, 2025

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afternoon thank you all for being here
at this time I'd like to call the
February 11th
2025 regular city council meeting to
order city clerk Ben Lane may I please
have a rooll call thank you mayor mayor
Lisa barowski present vice mayor Jan
dubow present council members Barry
Graham present Adam quasman present
Kathy Littlefield present Maryann
McAllen present and Solange whad here
interim city manager Greg kton present
City attorney Sher Scott here City
treasur Sonia Andrews here acting City
auditor L Koff here and the clerk is
present thank you mayor thank you very
much tonight we have Scottdale police
officers Sergeant sha Ryan and detective
Dustin Patrick as well as
firefighter Bobby Conan if anyone
requires their assistance please let us
know uh at this time I'd like us all to
rise for the Pledge of Allegiance which
I'm happy to
lead I pledge aliance to the flag of the
United States of America and to the rep
for it stands Nation God
indivisible jice for
all for tonight's invocation I'd like to
turn uh the mic over to council
councilwoman Kathy
Littlefield thank you mayor this is the
first evening uh of our Council meetings
uh this year that we're going to have an
invocation and we're putting it in place
to help us as it can help us along the
way for
myself I have a very strong feeling of
separation of church and state so
instead of a prayer or asking someone to
come up and give a prayer I would like
to ask for a moment of silence so each
of us can say to ourselves and to God
what we wish to say what we wish to have
happen tonight and to wish us all good
life and happiness thank
you thank you thank you councilwoman
Littlefield as the mayor's report I'd
like to start by uh offering our sincere
condolences to the victims of the uh
accident that occurred at the Scottdale
airport and um that moment of silence
many of us dedicated to their thoughts
and prayers uh for their
families in addition tonight is
councilwoman deus's first uh time first
meeting as the vice mayor on behalf of
all of the members of the city council
and the city congratulations and welcome
as the vice mayor and we'll miss you
councilman
Graham oh but you're still
[Applause]
here and one other well actually I have
two other announcements councilman
quasman appointee has changed for the
budget review commission and I'm pleased
to join uh councilman quasman in
welcoming mean the highly qualified Jim
ransco so we'll look forward to working
with him yes indeed Jim if you're here
we appreciate it uh thirdly on February
10th The Business Journal reported that
uh the research has shown that there was
a study done across the United States
and Scottdale is was awarded number one
of the 20 best cities to raise your
family in so that is fabulous news and
certainly we aim to keep going in that
direction
so with that turning to First public uh
comment public comment is reserved for
Scottdale citizens business owners Andor
property owners who wish to comment on
non- agendized items that are within the
council's jurisdiction to hear no
official Council action may be taken on
these items and speakers are limited to
3 minutes to address the council if you
wish to speak on a non-agenda IED or
agendized topic please see the K city
clerk Ben Lane and we do
have five looks like five uh non-
agendized public comment requests so
starting with Ryan Johnson will you
please Podium follow then following uh
Ryan will be Katie Nelson Hillary Lopez
Robert Fishman and Jennifer height Meer
so if you'd make your way to the stage
there in preparation that'd be great
thank you welcome Mr Johnson you mayor
and councel thank you uh Ryan Johnson I
lived on Soro Lane in stonate community
for a couple of decades now you might
notice that I'm wearing a city of
Scottsdale volunteer lapel pin which I
do from time to time you see I've served
on both the environmental advisory
commission for six years twice appointed
by the council and mayor and I served as
a volunteer on the last General plan
Committee in
2021 and I want to take a moment tonight
to comment on the waste of taxpayer
dollar
that has been represented by the repeal
of the city's first sustainability plan
which as you know was passed in December
and repealed by this body in
January as you well know the city's
General plan which passed by a unanimous
vote of council and the city's General
plan passed by unanimous Ved Council and
ratified by Scottsdale residence in 2021
called for the city to create a
sustainability plan within 1 to five
years so following that directive from
voters the commission spent more than
three years on the sustainability plan
it was agendized in just about every
commission meeting we discussed it for
hours staff did research staff met with
department heads across the city came
back with suggestions we
compromised last fall at the request of
council there were two public meetings
held in different parts of the city more
than 80 attendees zero negative comments
about the plan
overall hundreds of Staff hours hundreds
or thousands of volunteer hours in the
January city council meeting 30 public
comments I counted two of the 30 that
were in favor of repeal
as I said that time it ended up having a
shorter shelf life than a gallon of milk
sustainability plan and again for the
record the plan contains no mandates no
requirements no spooky monitoring
nobody's going to force you to sell your
car or put solar panels on your roof
although there was quite a bit of
fear-mongering uh invoked by the city
council my opinion last week on February
4th the deputy city clerk posted a news
item on the city's website Scottdale
residents to uh seek Scottsdale
residents to ser on boards and
commissions the second paragraph of the
news item said I'm quoting the Scott
sale city council relies on citizen-led
groups to research issues and offer
insights that guide important
decisions and yet last month you chose
to repeal the city's resident created
city council guided sustainability plan
so when I hear people talking about
putting residents first it sounds like a
lot of empty campaign slogan earing to
me it's just one of those things that
politicians say to get votes
one of the politicians here brags about
making the budget process more
transparent to help address cost
overruns that have been costing
taxpayers quote millions of dollars I've
got a way for you to save money use the
existing sustainability plan that was
created by residents and passed by the
city council last month so I ask you if
we're so concerned about wasteful
spending and we're so encouraging that
citizens can provide meaningful input to
the city why are we literally lighting
money on fire in the form of time and
effort and repealing the sustainability
plan starting from
scratch this is unfortunately for our
city a case of ideology first and
residents last thank you for your
attention
[Applause]
okay I appreciate your enthusiasm we
have about 80 speakers logged in books
tonight so out of respect for everybody
in the room especially mostly the
citizens that are going to be patiently
waiting their turn if we can keep the uh
the Applause and distractions to a zero
uh balance I would really appreciate
your cooperation thank you Mr Johnson I
appreciate your comments uh next is
Katie
Nelson calling Katie Nelson I don't see
her if she shows up up we can put her at
the end of this list Hillary
Lopez
Hillary okay lastly uh I I've just been
informed that Mr Fishman has moved to a
regular agenda item and therefore
Jennifer hey Meer is our last speaker
for non- agendized items
hello of all Madam mayor sweet job on
the pronunciation of my name nobody gets
that so well done um making up for all
the other names that I botched on the
first meeting so apologies to them
totally off topic a suggestion I was
here for the first sustainability and
appreciate the concern about the the
time of Applause you know the hearing
impaired Community does this for
Applause it might be an option for
people to voice their support without
taking time excellent I like it okay so
get it that this is a non- agendized
item so I don't expect responses I to
share a curiosity about where council is
on progress about the sustainability
report that I believe this body
nullified less than 45 days after it had
been called uh by the prior
Council so I'm fairly new to Scottdale I
I moved here three years ago from Ohio
oh thank you I knew there was no way
that I could be in a room in this town
without saying oh and somebody knows to
say
IO I moved to be closer to my parents
because I'm an only child and I wanted
to spend time with them before it just
became about caregiving and I was happy
to come here because they raved about
how beautiful this city was the pride
that people took in their homes the fact
that they cared for their neighbor
they talked about the sense of community
that is here in
Scottdale I was not involved in the
crafting of the recommendations and I'm
using that word super deliberately of
the sustainability plan I was only made
aware of the plan's existence due to my
participation in a Cycling group called
The wheezers and geezers who've been
writing since before you were born and
some of those guys have and let me tell
you they can still smoke me but when I
heard about the recommendations and
again I'm using that word so
deliberately I thought this sounds like
a pretty cool idea so I dug in a little
bit to the plan and yeah it sounded
great ways to make Transportation a
little more accessible for cyclists who
choose to use that either as their means
of transportation or just to stay
fit full of great
ideas and I thought I'm going to tell
Mom and Dad about this oh bet they don't
know about
this so I did tell them and I expected
them to be all in and instead I was met
with we've heard about that it's
horrible we have to tear up our lawn we
have to cut down our trees we have to
put solar in our house we're going to
have to get electric cars and I was like
what are you talking
about and what I realized in
conversation is
that somehow the ideas set forth in the
sustainability plan had been
misconstrued by so many as
laws my parents were 100% certain that
Scottdale was coming for their
lawn when we talked about the fact city
council controls the pur Springs and
nothing could be done without your
approval suddenly some of those
ideas didn't seem so bad
after
all now people hate change it's hard and
it's scary and the older we get the
harder and scarier it
is but to maintain the good of this
community we have to
change and it seemed like maybe some of
those ideas that weren't so hard and
scary might be a good place to start
thank you Jennifer very much appreciate
your participation
that closes public comment and now I
move on to the approval of the prior
meeting minutes I request a motion at
this time to approve special meeting
minutes of December 5th 2024 regular
meeting minutes of December 5th 2024 and
regular meeting minutes of January 14th
2025 so moved
seconded please register your
vote thank you very
much item number 18 on the agenda was
added to the agenda on February 6th and
requires the separate vote to remain on
the agenda may I I would like to make
the motion actually to accept the agenda
as presented
tonight uh or continue the added item to
either February 18th or March 4th
council meeting
and I'll just narrow that motion down to
accept the agenda for this evening do I
have a
second
second thank you I'd like to take a vote
on this item all those in favor please
register your
vote that motion passes unanimously
thank you very much next we have conent
consent agenda items 1 through 12 do
I'll ask I'll say that I do have
questions on the on one of the consent
agenda items and that is item number
seven and I would like to pull that off
the consent agenda at this time and
opening the floor to other council
members that uh have any questions about
the remaining items or wish to pull any
item off the consent
agenda see none just make sure uh at
this time I'd like to uh entertain a
motion to approve consent agenda items 1
through 12 with the exclusion of number
seven second so moved
second please register your
vote thank you very much regular agenda
items item 13 is a
presentation uh discussion on possible
direction to
staff to Citizen related to a citizen
petition submitted at the January 14th
city council meeting regarding uh
placement of signage throughout the
offleash activity area at chaperel dog
park I understand that this evening
uh City staff member Nick moliner our
community services assistant executive
director will be presenting on this item
item as with as will the citizen who
presented this petition Steve suton so
I'll start with the petitioner Steve
Sutton please approach the
uh Steve did you want to go first or do
you want to go
second okay let's have Mr moliner no
problem good evening mayor barowski vice
mayor deasus members of city council my
name is Nick moliner and I am
responsible for the city of Scottsdale's
Parks and Recreation Department I
believe I'm on a time limit right now so
I'm G to move through some background
five minutes some background about the
shaal park off leash area and the
signage at the off leash area and then
I'll open things up for any questions
you might have thank
you let's see so so background chaparal
dog park located
approximately Hayden and McDonald has
three separate offleash area
designations we refer to them as cells
we have two larger areas that are
designated for large dogs that are
rotated essentially for Turf maintenance
and turf regeneration and then one
smaller area that is designated for
smaller dogs the each the two larger
areas are approximately an acre a piece
and the smaller area is just under an
acre in 202 three the Scottdale Parks
and Recreation Department changed the
signs at the offleash area from active
passive to large small in response to
feedback that we had had from dog park
users over an extended period of time
and really at that point it was that
people had had said to staff that that
active and passive was very subjective
it was hard to understand what a an
active or a passive dog may be and the
large and small designation seem to be
the most common within that function so
the Parks and Recreation commiss did he
an overview about the signage change in
June of
2023 this is an aerial of the chaol off
leash area this is to to the left is
Hayden and to the the top of the screen
is is North so we have one area here you
can see this area has a lot of wear and
tear we typically rotate those two areas
and then the smaller areas down near the
bottom in response to the citizen
concerns in the citizen petition that
was submitted by Mr Sutton um we heard
public comment from Mr Sutton at
multiple Parks and Recreation Commission
meetings in the fall of
2024 and our staff had several
individual meetings with Mr Sutton
during that time and we expressed to him
that we would be interested we would be
willing to work with him on signage and
that we would do Research into best
practices as far as dog park signage
which we
did the the Parks and Recreation
Commission in October of 2024 directed
The Parks and Recreation staff to look
at dog park signage do some research and
then bring that recommendation back to
the the commission which we were
scheduled to do next week on our our
Wednesday our February uh commission
meeting and then in in November of 2024
Mr Sutton submitted a citizen petition
requesting that we move remove the large
and small designated areas that we go
back to the active passive and we use
dog behavior instead of
size he also made some really great
suggestions about additional language
that we could use to um further
communicate expectations at the dog park
I'm G to go through here really quick
I'm not going to go through all of these
points I know I'm on I'm on a time limit
right here we did benchmarking we looked
at dog parks throughout the United
States we looked at Scottdale nine
Valley comparables which we do for most
of the the benchmarking that we do and
then we looked at cities throughout the
the United States that had similar
characteristics similar population to
Scottsdale and we found that 28 of those
cities had signage using the terminology
small dogs and large dogs and then 11 of
those cities had other approaches and
they're kind of all over the place as
far as active timid
passive I won't read through all of
these but we looked at industry
recommendations which we do for a lot of
our policies and we looked at the
American Kennel Club which recommended
in dog park design small and large we
looked at the trust for public land
which had similar recommendations and
then the national recre Recreation and
park Association which has a lot of
really good information about how to
manage parks and you can see that they
have several recommendations that
they've made and one of them while they
they recommend space for small dogs and
large dogs they've also recommend uh
space for timid dog active dogs
so through our analysis we did find that
large and small designations are
probably more common and the the more
standardized designation for dog parks
but they're certainly not the only dog
park designation so when we looked at
that we we we did a deep dive in there
lots of communities that use some other
characteristic when designating the
space within the dog
parks and we are open to to the direct
to the direction and to working with our
citizens in terms of what makes the most
sense for our community in terms of dog
park
signage so I will leave this we are
either seeking direction from city
council and city council can make a
motion for us to either change the dog
park signage keep it the same or for us
to to proceed with presenting the
information to the Parks and Recreation
Commission I'll take any questions that
you might have thank you Mr moliner
don't think I have any questions for you
at this time so we'll we'll ask Steve
Sutton thank you thank
you pursuant to the rule I would like to
call just call the call the question on
this I thank you very much councilman
quma but I'm going to let Mr Sutton
who's I think spent Tire tireless number
of hours is preparing for this day so
I'm going to of course go ahead and
allow him to give a presentation pardon
me it's going to take me a moment to get
organized here no problem
I don't have a PowerPoint presentation
but I would like to use this Steve if
you could speak the microphone
Steve Sutton 6637 North 81st Street good
evening mayor Bowski vice mayor duus do
I'm sorry and council
members um you already know why I'm here
we want you to vote tonight to accept
these signs and have them
installed I've actually had a copy a
printed copy of uh director Mullen
AR's report and presentation for a
couple days enough time to uh write a
rebuttal which uh I am not going to give
I am going to say just a couple quick
things um in regards to what director
mulliner
said yes active and passive as we had it
before is
subjective our new science which you can
see
here add some additional language to
make it far less subjective what's on
the left hand side the small area and
large dog area they were also subjective
there's nothing down at the park that
tells you what's small and what's
large the petition was not submitted by
me it was submitted I just did the
paperwork for it 500 people signed that
petition and
benchmarking of cities that use large
and small without knowing the reason why
they chose that designation through some
type of academic study really doesn't
mean anything other than you've got a
list of
imitators dogs don't change their
behavior with the geography they live
in tonight we're asking the council to
increase the level of safety at
chapparel dog park the currently
installed small dog area and large dog
area signs provide less safety than a
16-year-old passive dog area and active
dog area signs they replaced residents
of Scottdale request that you vote
tonight for the installation of the new
passive dog area and active dog area
signs and the new dog park etiquette
signs these signs were created by some
of the dog Park's most frequent users
and endorsed by hundreds of other users
physical size is not a reliable
indicator of human or canine Behavior
socialization not breed or size is the
most significant factor influencing dog
behavior this is why we have videos of
pitbulls cuddling kittens and cats being
treated as members of a Paca Huskies
behavior-based designation signs are
used at many dog parks in the United
States including Anthem Fountain Hills
Gilbert Goodyear Mesa and Queen Creek
Arizona the behavior-based signs we are
proposing are better than any others
I've seen because they give basic
definitions of active and passive the
size-based signs currently installed do
not Define what is small and large in
fact through the United States size
based signs are inconsistent in defining
what size to lineat small and dog they
start at 20 lb for large and go up to 60
lb for large LGE in 5 pound
increments behavior-based passive dog
area and active dog area designation
signs are necessary to address common
situations at the dog park to help
prevent injuries to humans dogs
situations such as people with two
passive dogs of quite different sizes
larger older dogs and large be breed
puppies that infirmity or immaturity
make it unsafe for them to play with
very active mature dogs large and small
dogs that due to abuse prior to rescue
are very timid and unhappy at the D Park
I've seen these dogs often become
confident and happy after socializing
with passive dogs smaller hunting and
herting type dogs that occasionally are
too active for a passive area but
capable of safely playing with larger
active dogs for example corgis a breed
that was bred to dodge the feet of
cattle they heard most importantly we
need to give guidance to first-time
users of the park that have timid large
dogs these dogs are sometimes singled
out by very active dogs for play that
the timid dog perceives as torment and
this can result in physical injury it
was such an in
causing injuries requiring stitches to
close wounds that became the impetus for
asking the Parks and Recreation
Department to go back to pm and active
signs the new passive dog area and
active dog area signs would be located
at the intergate their text provides
basic guidance for deciding which area
is most appropriate for the dog's
person's dog they also succinctly
explain and encourage appropriate
behavior at the dog park appropriate dog
park etiquette is what our current
behavior policy and regulation signs
attempt to promote there are multiple
copies posted at the dog park these
signs are not located on the entry Gates
of the designated areas they are on the
inside fencing while the messages of
these signs are necessary they are
insufficiently effective due to language
style design location and most
importantly very few visitors to the
park say they read them or remember the
details if they read them the new dog
park eate signs are designed to
encourage good behavior rather than warn
people of what is considered bad
behavior these signs are intended to be
very large with very large text to
present a simple main message that from
almost any location inside the dog park
can be comprehended even if only
subliminally in smaller text between and
below the main message is explanatory
information amplifying the main message
to promote community community
communication and cooperation both types
of signs have the text talk to fellow
dog owners about cooperating and helping
each other keep your dogs and yourself
safe on behalf of the several hundred
Scottdale residents requesting your help
through petitions to improve safety at
chaperel dog park I ask that you vote
tonight to adopt the new Behavior based
designation signs and dog park etiquette
signs thank you mayor vice mayor and
council members for your time in
consideration and thank you residents
and members of the press who are in
attendance tonight thank you Mr Sutton
very much appreciate your passion for
this issue while we've received 48
requests for public comment on this item
I would like to make a motion to approve
your petition to uh change the signs
restore the signs to passive and active
or active and passive and I'd look for a
second to do that second second
all those in favor of approving this
motion uh excuse me this petition please
register your
vote thank you Mr suton this quest for
success is is approved so and I believe
it was well still waiting for vice mayor
but I think yeah she's and so there we
go on behalf of everyone who signed the
petition and all those that would have
liked to have signed the petition thank
you very much thank you for your passion
and have fun out there at the dog
parks all right thank you everyone who
showed up on that agenda item and I'm
sure you appreciate the result hopefully
and uh we'll move on to item number
14 item 14 is a request by four members
of the city council to adopt ordinance
number 4662 that would discontinue the
use of City funds for diversity equity
and inclusion systematic
programming to include the office of Dei
Dei programming and trainings and other
initiatives that could violate State
Statute the measure also asks city
council to consider directing the city
man manager to reassign the Diversity
Program director and Americans with
Disability Act compliance coordinator to
an appropriate rate department and
position we received 47 requests for
public comment on this item and it's
going to be a long night already so I am
limiting the comments the comment time
to one minute per person and you can
feel free you can feel
free you you can feel free to uh
collectively contribute your time to a
representative that you would like to
see speak um on your behalf up to 3
minutes so with that we are going to
start with public
comment the first uh let me go through
the first 10 the first individual uh who
would like to speak on this issue is
Robert Lori F followed by Dan Isaac by
Bobby SC scopa Lori baglia and Monica
Villa LZ now that's only five so we'll
we'll stop there thank you Mr
lurry hello my name is Roger lurry I've
been a resident of Scottville for 31
years live at 10592 East Mission Lane I
have three minutes of comments I'll try
to phrase this into one minute Scott
sell has a nonprofit called the
community celebrating diversity held an
dinner recently with 500 attendees this
year I was one of the recipients of the
diversity Champion award as you can tell
I'm a white male how did I earn this
award by showing compassion empathy and
volunteering to serve persons not like
me persons of different races
ethnicities income levels and beliefs Mr
quasman I too am Jewish and appreciate
your commitment to ensuring that we do
not tolerate
anti-Semitism the Torah commands us to
treat strangers with kindness and
equality I recommend that the human
relations commission be charged with
studying this with a focus on continued
support with for empathy and Care while
encouraging me meritocracy in the
workplace
um thank you Mr
Lori Dan
Isaac Dan Isaac address on record I'm in
full agreement that Scottsdale should
not lower standards or seek to fill jobs
based on race religion gender Etc
however that is not what our diversity
office does so either the council is
woefully ignorant or willfully
misrepresenting the situation to check a
box or Worse create division our
diversity office does not have
initiatives or guidelines to provide any
group with preferential hiring or
promotion the E for equity and Dei does
not exist in the diversity office in the
Scottsdale government or our website the
office does seek to ensure that all
qualified candidates employees have
equal opportunity they also provide
education to make sure that people
understand the differences in culture
for example not everybody would know why
an observant Jew would wear a
kipa further our diversity office works
with other departments to ensure all of
our visitors are welcome many businesses
and organizations whether One Believes
it to be right or wrong require tourist
destinations to demonstrate a welcoming
atmosphere that's why we have it in our
PR materials to risk even a portion of
that Revenue by eliminating our
diversity office is reckless Mr quasman
at the last meeting you correctly
pointed out that anti-Semitism is more
widespread and Insidious Than People
realize and you urge Scottdale to take
special action to Define it and call it
out but to call it poison using hateful
words is something that you should know
is not a good thing thank
you thank you thank you Dan I appreciate
it next is Bobby scopa followed by Lori
baglia and Monica V
Lobos Good evening and uh thanks for
giving me my one minute um I'm Bobby
scopa retired firefighter and fire chief
45 years experience
I've received medals for saving lives I
spent a month working at the pile at 911
in New York City I've been on many of
the mega fires throughout the country
and I've supervised thousands of
firefighters since retiring I've been
speaking to organizations about
leadership let me get down to the last
couple paragraphs this is not about
hiring unqualified diverse people
instead of qualified applicants
hopefully Dei programs ensure that the
very best person is being hired even if
they're black Trans or Jewish the reason
we have a Dei program is because highly
qualified diverse job applicants were
being passed over exactly because they
were indigenous or gay or Muslim Dei
programs remind our city staff and
citizens that we as a city value
everyone regardless of the race gender
religion or any other factor that makes
them different than their
co-workers if you think the city's Dei
program is not affected or needs
changing ask some of us to help and
figure out what we
need thank
[Applause]
you I'd ask you to use the hearing
impaired for your applause I think that
was a very good idea because it just is
slowing the process down and I
appreciate your enthusiasm however uh
Lori I believe Baga I believe you have
donated time so you have two minutes
thank you thank you I'm battalia I'm the
CEO of aligned at work in Scottsdale
Arizona and I'm a resident here for 15
years 14 years as a business
owner I came to address this tonight I'm
going to skip my opening and tell you
and not tell you about my background but
we would like to believe that people if
they just pull themselves up by their
bootstraps they'll get ahead in the
world and while that's true for some it
simply isn't true for the vast majority
like it or not if you aren't white and
straight and affluent and Christian you
probably have stories about bias and
discrimination I'm here to ask the
council to do what you elected to do to
represent all of us those that voted for
you those that didn't and those that
didn't vote at all we all deserve to be
included listened to and acknowledged
Scottsdale's diversity Focus has been
around for 25 plus years but we didn't
pass an anti-discrimination ordinance
until 2021 lagging behind other cities
in the valley it was clear in 2018
during the sarro marketing campaign that
all the voices were not represented at
the table Scottdale called a public
meeting which I and many others attended
and we created an inclusive path forward
now it appears you'd like to dismantle a
system that's been working in favor of
making a human issue into a political
one from a business leader perspective
if you have concerns about the efficacy
of Dei program s appoint a bipartisan
team to dig into it analyze it and put
recommendations in place don't toss the
entire program because one group of
people decided to get offended again
focus on Humanity not politics let's
keep Scottdale as a place of inclusion
and kindness where all can Thrive thank
you thank you
Monica
bobos thank you very much mayor members
of the council my name is Monica bobos
and I serve as president and CEO of your
Arizona Hispanic chamber of commerce for
76 years we have represented and helped
small business small businesses in this
state I'm joined today by two board
members our vice chair Lorena Valencia
and our vice co-chair Lorena van Ash and
we are here today representing the over
50 General members and corporate
Partners in Scottdale we have over 1,200
total General members and over 106
corporate partners and what I can tell
you is we have been thrilled to partner
with the city of Scottsdale for many
years in fact during the pandemic when
you needed more people out there
shopping you reached out to diverse
leaders like myself Luis Gonzalez from
the Arizona Diamondbacks Loo's uh Waffle
House all of us came and and we showed
up for you all we're asking you to do
today is show up for us as well that
shop Scottdale campaign was a very
inclusive campaign we've worked
tirelessly with Jackie Johnson in this
office to make sure that we have
representation all I would say to end is
Merit must include access please don't
stop the momentum thank you thank
you next we have Michael Norton
seeing no Michael Norton come down we'll
move on to the next one uh former
councilwoman Betty janick and Then
followed by uh Betty janick is James
einman enman Joel Martin and then Rabbi
krabit okay good evening mayor and city
council Scott still has strict city
codes and has been required to do
merit-based hiring for
years additionally Scott still does not
have any hiring quotas Scott still is
ahead of the curve on all of this any
reference to the contrary is false
misleading and
grandstanding Scottdale is served by the
most qualified employees and that's what
makes us a world class City the office
of diversity has many roles and I'll
just limit it to the one that I think is
probably the most important they
investigate media and resolve issues on
laws regulating compliance with Ada and
title 6 our city values and our city
values and respects all people whatever
God you pray to or no God at all whether
you live in an apartment or a home
whether whatever the shade of brown of
your skin is whatever your sexual
persuasion is seniors children's and
those in between and the disabled you
are welcome members of our community and
in the words of Abel Lincoln
with malice towards none with charity
towards all I urge you to reject 4662 is
unnecessary and mean-spirited and retain
the department dedicated to these ideals
thank you thank you budy next we move on
to James
eneman followed by Joel Martin and Rabbi
crabbits Madame mayor vice mayor members
of the council I'm Jim
enman I've been through this four in
1972 Berkeley enjoyed a reputation on a
par with Scottdale today and then a new
Council came in and they swept armed
with Zeal and certainty that they knew
best they soon got rid of the leaders
who didn't fit their political paradigms
they refined they redir redirected and
remodeled every Department every
activity and thus began the decline of
what had once been called the Athens of
the West
I urge you to to remember Berkeley
tonight and in all the things that come
before you for the remainder of your
term don't take Scottdale back to a time
of parochialism
narrow-mindedness and
intolerance last thing I would I believe
because I've worked with this for years
I've won awards for it there has been a
cuming of misinformation about
deia so I would urge this on you take a
step back tonight and not don't make a
reactive decision instead study deia on
a macro and a micro basis and arm with
those facts then you can make a
responsive decision and having done
these studies I will be happy at no cost
to you to provide you with study
parameters within 14 days thank you
thank you Mr
eaman next moving on to Joel Martin
followed by Rabbi
Kravitz stanna Michelle Slater and then
Trixie Anne goldber
Goldberg Goldberg
sorry I want to give you a different
perspective on De and I my husband Bob
and I moved here from New York City from
Marin County and we selected Scottsdale
as our home 24 years ago I have
volunteered for many leadership
positions including the Red Cross
Scottdale sister City Board and others I
serve two terms as the Scottdale human
Relations Committee Member I am a coach
and one of the many many people that the
US exports I've worked in 14 countries
there it's called transformational
leadership here it is called diversity
Equity inclusion and access from my
heart to
yours please maintain the de people who
are working so hard for equity in our
hospitals if you're a military person
it's touched your life if you are a
mother it has touched your life as you
look to keep your children safe and in
school and educated it has touched so
many lives from my heart to yours
diversity equity and inclusion is not
about separating people it is about
unifying people
thank you I ask that you vote Yes to
keep it thank you thank you Joel Martin
Rabbi krabit followed by Stanis Slater
Trix andne Goldberg after
that mayor members of council thank you
for granting me time to speak to you
tonight I'm Rabbi Robert Kravitz
and I've been an ordained Rabbi for more
than 50 years living in Metro Phoenix
gdale for nearly four decades during the
years of my Rabbi I've served
congregations and communities elsewhere
with an emphasis on the Mitzvah the
biblical injunction to love your
neighbor as yourself I was proud to
support the city of Scottsdale's choice
to adopt the unity pledge and I was
equally delighted when this city my city
became a became a golden rule community
and also adopted the non-discrimination
ordinance diversity makes cities Great
choosing to cancel folks because they're
different makes us weak cancelling
diversity Equity inclusion devolves into
discrimination against those who are
different because they don't look like
me because they cannot mentally process
as I do because they can't ambulate as I
do because they cannot see the world
through the same glasses as I do because
they're challenged in their activities
of daily life tonight I'm speaking out
tonight I'm cautioning you our city
council that remove moving Dei is
harmful to the livelihoods security
employment and personal rights of our
residents of
Scottdale we need to be a welcoming
Community for all businesses and people
alike Scot was continue to provide each
of us with our constitutional rights of
life liberty and the pursuit of
happiness thank you thank you next we
have Stan Michelle
Slater followed by Trix Anne Goldberg
Jeff Jameson Tonia k May good evening
mayor and council members of the public
I'm sta Michelle Slater I built my home
here 33 years ago in 1992 I remember
then that Scottsdale was a city that
would get joked about on the morning
radio as snot Dale and snobs Dale and
I've lived through 33 years and seen
that in the last 25 the leaders have
done
enormous work to change the perception
of Scottdale and that has attracted
enormous Talent some of the best talent
that ever exists is diverse a minority
person I am the lgbtq liaison for the
city some might say I'm a Dei
hire I'm also a practicing attorney 35
years some of you lawyers on the council
have practiced almost that long I'm also
a former Army officer in the Arizona
Army National Guard and the US Army
Reserve I parachuted and earned my
Silver Wing
I think I brought eight years to the
city as the lgbtq liaison not as a Dei
hire didn't earn it but because I'm
transgender but because I have something
to offer just like so many other people
here who work for the city please do not
end Dei thank you appreciate it Trixie
Anne Goldberg followed by Jeff Jameson
followed by Tonia clier followed by Neil
Sher good evening thank you for the
opportunity I'm trian Goldberg a
six-year resident and one-year home
owner here in Scottsdale I oppose this
ordinance as a resident who sees the
critical needs in our communities
including housing aging infrastructure
increased Heats uh and water uncertainty
over um I'm again frustrated to see the
critical time of our community leaders
spent recreating redundant policies
externally appearing to be responding
appearing to be responding to out side
voices over our own Community
community's economies and the desert
Landscapes are made stronger less
vulnerable and more resilient through
diversity what today is labeled as
diversity was first introduced to me as
human rights civil rights equal rights
pay Equity simply said those terms and
the vocabulary that comes from it means
making room at the table for me this is
recognizing that most people uh but in
particular young people people with
disability the the elderly and the
average Working Families uh for me um
making sure that they are heard at the
table is absolutely critical I too get
tired of the term Dei so I changed it to
SEI Scottsdale's ending intolerance
thank you please thank you Jeff Jameson
followed by Tonia Kier followed by Neil
sheer then Reverend an lighter
good evening mayor and city council I'm
Jeff James and I live on Astro Drive in
North Scottdale it won't take me a
minute just to say that this whole
proposal is wrongheaded I think it's
mean I think it's dangerous if we
eliminate the number of Staff doing ADA
compliance we could end up in court it
also sends a message to our city
employees that may dampen their
abilities or desire to make a claim of
their disabilities or bullying or other
issues that they may face it's um
something that has been in place for
years thank God we passed the uh Equity
ordinance in 2021 this goes against that
in many many ways there's many
discrepancies in this there's language
that you want to continue training but
you want to eliminate the trainers that
makes no sense at all and I wonder if
you have any knowledge at all what Dei
training is all about this is uh a slap
in the face of all citizens of Scottdale
a community that is quite diverse and
needs to be continuing diverse so we can
Thrive as a city thank you thank you
Jeff Tonia
CER followed by Neil Sher then Reverend
Anne lighter then Lee
cell good evening mayor and city council
my name's Tanya Coler I live on Angel
Spirit Drive in Scottdale I'd like to
speak to the topic of the EI in terms of
the assumption that it means that we are
underqualified or accepting positions
for people who are not educated enough
or who aren't trained to do the position
that is exactly wrong we can't advance
and re and represent our entire
Community unless everyone is represented
and our community in Scotsdale is very
diverse and everyone who lives here
should have an opportunity to have a
seat in the room to bring forth ISS
issues that someone who doesn't have
that perspective would not be able to
bring forth the country and the world is
larger than small and Petty issues that
bring us Division and hurtful actions I
live here as a choice with my husband
and I hope to continue to live here in
an environment that accepts me and all
that I bring to the table thank you
thank you very much Neil Sher followed
by Reverend Anne lighter Lee KAAL and
Rhonda
Kelo good evening your honor and members
of the council Neil Shear longtime
scotdale resident almost 21 years ago
today a man affiliated with the white
Aryan resistance sent a pipe bomb
through the mail addressed to my friend
and colleague Don Logan the first
director of The Office of diversity and
dialogue Don was seriously injured when
he opened the package as were two of his
co-workers it strikes me Beyond I IR
onic that a convicted felon white
supremacist through hate-filled and
violent means could not succeed in
silencing the diversity office yet the
city council could accomplish the same
End by shutting down the office through
a simple majority vote of the council in
your first 30 days in office my plea to
you tonight is to pump the brakes give
yourself time to get up to speed on the
issues and facts we already have
merit-based employment employment we are
already complying with State local and
federal
laws please take the time to get up to
speed uh and to govern with wisdom and
discernment before making sweeping
policy changes that disrupt the entire
fabric of what makes Scottsdale a
special place thank you thank you Neil
Reverend ligher
[Applause]
Reverend Anne ligher my address is on
file I'm a pastor with the United
Methodist Church and my denomination
values diversity whether that is based
on ethnicity age gender or whatever
man-made category we might apply because
all people are beloved by God and
created in God's image the IMO de in
addition to being a minister I bring
almost 20 years of experience as a
corporate employment lawyer and my com
my clients experienced what Forbes
reports companies that prioritize Dei
tend to have happier and more Innovative
employees higher retention rates and are
better at problem solving if Scottdale
has been hiring substandard employees
are hiring to fulfill some kind of
diversity quota which is illegal where
is the evidence and why are you not
dealing with that and if there aren't
sub substandard highers then what is
this all about is this Council truly
against diversity in the year 2000 there
was a study published that orchestras
had trouble hiring women and the reason
was because when you you could see the
musicians the men were hiring men but
when you put a screen they hired women
at substantially higher rates bias is
real and we need to address it so that
we can hire the best people thank you
thank
you Le Lee cuffel followed by Ronda Kelo
Jan Dolan and then maryan
Kelly hello uh Le Lee cofle my uh uh my
address is on file I normally wing it
but uh I decided to actually write
something down this time um so hello
mayor and other city council members uh
before you repeal the city's Dei program
I want to make sure you understand the
decades long history of attacks on this
office uh and programs like in and
programs like them that the city and in
this city specifically nearly 20 years
ago on February 26th 2004 the the city
staff was attacked by a terrorist it's
the only terrorist attack against a city
employee I could find uh it was
mentioned earlier it injured three of
our City's employees after months of
aggressive phone calls trying to get the
city to shut this office down the men
that it was two brothers they were twins
one of them uh Dennis he was a member of
the white Aryan resistance and a grand
dragon in the Klux Clan and he was also
part of many other neonazi and white
supremacist movement along with his
brother Daniel just so you know tonight
after you repeal this those people will
be celebrating the 20 years of their
efforts to close this office thank you
very much Lee Ronda
[Applause]
Kelo good evening mayor vice mayor and
council members I stand in favor of
retaining Dei in the city of Scottdale
it's vital we all need it we all benefit
from it our kids benefit from it our
health care benefits from it every
single business in this city benefits
from Dei Dei brings us
diversity in um by bringing different
people different thoughts and different
ideas Dei brings us equality where
equality in education provides a more
solid education brings differences of
ideas into the courtroom into the city
council room and into the classroom
inclusion the act of including and
accommodating people who have been
historically um
excluded I
ask have you ever been a member of a
group have you ever been
included have you ever been provided
Justice when perhaps you did not earn it
equity
they ever been brought to a setting due
to Unique opinion or skill set
diversity who do you wish to deny being
included who do you wish to deny
Equity who do you wish to deny diversity
thank you Jan
Dolan followed by Maran Kelly Todd key
Tammy Bassy and then Victoria kerich or
lck good evening mayor barowski members
of the city council I don't think I need
an introduction to many people here but
let me just say I served this city on
and I've lived here over 25 years I was
not a Dei hire I got the job on the
merits I too am concerned that in a few
short Moments One council meeting you
will throw out what the could not do
standing here with me tonight in case
you are not familiar with him is Don
Logan who was the diversity director
when I was the city manager who they
tried to kill I ask you do not try to
kill diversity and its efforts I can
assure you as Ken I'm sure the new
acting city manager the police chief the
fire chief the fire Union president all
employees of the city the city Only
hires on Merit only on Merit the only
people who got a slight introduction
into the door were the rural metro
firefighters but they were all hired on
Merit so there is no hiring
based on quotas or diversity or whatever
it opens the door it opens the door for
you to be on the city council for Don
Logan to be alive I ask all of you yes
you can applaud because if you're
hearing impaired you don't know what
this means thank you J so appreciate it
yes and I have
a thank you next is Maran Marian Kelly
and I'd like to introduce Marian Kelly
who is one of my close friends and an
advocate for diversity and he will give
you his speech as will Mr Logan who we
are all thankful can be here with us
tonight thank you Maryann I appreciate
that Jan thank you good evening mayor
vice mayor councel um elected officials
citizenry of Scottdale Arizona I'm
Marian Kelly I wear more hats than a
minute will give me to tell you about
them but I will tell you that the 27
years that I've lived in Arizona I've
lived worked and played in Scottsdale my
children are all graduates of Scottdale
schools and the adopted child that I
took out of the foster care system is
now seeing patients in
Scottsdale I am here because I support
Equity inclusion and diversity in its
broadest sense and so so I don't want to
confine Equity inclusion and diversity
to affirmative action because it's
absolutely the opposite affirmative
action is a part of it but understand
that affirmative action is giving
qualified people the opportunity for a
spot that they otherwise would not have
gotten so what does diversity inclusion
include I will tell you that it includes
ramps and sidewalk curb cuts it includes
restrooms it includes changing tables in
men's bathrooms it includes
breastfeeding pumping stations pay
equity and all the more coming back to
work after childbirth not having to
accept work forth har Force harassment
and many other things I I lived worked
and played here because I love Scottdale
I'm here to support you not work against
you thank you thank you so much
next we have Todd
key followed by Tammy bossi Victoria
KCK I don't see oh there's Todd
okay hello hello my name is Todd
key I'm A Team USA par
Olympian I've traveled all over the
world racing
bicycles for
the United States of
America they
have incredible programs all the pl all
of the places I race everywhere I've
been 20 years ago a friend of mine was a
quadriplegic she was rolling down a
street in Scottdale I've been a resident
for 35 years she was rolling down a
street came to a corner the corner was
badly designed she fell over in her
wheelchair no one was there to help her
she burned to
death over a hundred degrees at the time
she died in the hospital a few years
later because of the
sidewalks because of no
inclusion what kind of a
city are we if this are the choice
choices that we are
making that is
insane we are here to help the less
fortunate that is our job to create and
provide thank you very much
Todd Tammy
bossi followed by
Victoria is Tammy
here come on down Victoria appreciate it
and if Tammy is here you can come to the
podium after uh the speaker and maybe
Tammy Harry meloff Aon nicoletti Larry
barnowski and Daniel
Schwarz thank you please proceed hi my
name is Victoria cosler I've lived in
Scottdale for 13 years and I've owned
property here for 23 years I have more
than 20 years of experience in human
resources and when I look at merit-based
hiring versus Dei I look at it through
my Human Resources lens and I invite you
to do the same follow along with me and
you'll find that there's a
misunderstanding about how hiring
practices work and how Dei role fits in
with
those Dei and merit-based hiring don't
stand alone from one another in fact Dei
ensures a robust merit-based hiring
system because it promotes consideration
of all applicants who meet the the
agreed upon hiring criteria these
approaches work together with Dei
assuring that merit-based systems are
robust facts can be Troublesome things
the city already hires based on Merit as
I've described Dei enhances merit-based
hiring the proposed ordinance is a path
to nowhere I hope that you can see a
vote to kill Dei is another way of
saying that you're not serious about
merit-based hiring clearly if
merit-based hiring is your goal it
cannot be the reason for killing
Dei what is thank you very much Harry
meloff followed by Aon nicoletti
my name is Harry maof I'm a certified
public accountant living in Arizona for
45
years and have come here from
Philadelphia
originally when I was first notified
about diversity equity and
inclusion uh that was being taken out
from the city my first thought was
what's wrong with the program
I figured if let me look into it I said
hey looks good to me are there's that
you know ways to check on uh funds that
were being used incorrectly or whatever
there ords there so there's ways to make
sure everything is going right but what
I couldn't understand is why somebody
would call it
poison and somebody who Jewish that
would call it
poison and in this time of racism and
anti-Semitism I just can't understand
quite frankly especially in my
background coming from Philadelphia
inner
city and I could go on for a long time
but I just don't see why this program
should be
discontinued uh we need it today thank
you very much Mr
massola Aaron
nicoletti followed by Larry bernoski
Daniel Schwarz stepen
marer my name is Erin um and I'm a
resident of Scot for 15 years um Dei is
the new conservative Boogeyman like CRT
the Trojan Horse that used to wreak
havoc on our Public Schools Dei is the
new Trojan Horse this time to destroy
our democracy without Dei on a city
council currently dominated by women
there would be none because without Dei
women would not have the right to vote
let alone be elected to any government
position Dei is what allows councilman
quasman to freely wear his yamka
anywhere and frankly he likely would not
be on this Council either if not for Dei
Dei is a simply a recognition that we
all have differences and that those
differences should be embraced as assets
to our enhance our community not used
against us as a way to shun us from it
last meeting I was shocked my um by the
Christian prayer especially in the
presence of C members that clearly do
not practice Christianity I was even
more shocked to find out that the
reintroduction of the prayer was pushed
by councilman quasman I'm happy to learn
this rotating prayer that was rep that
will represent diverse examples of
spirituality this too is Dei why is it
okay here I would say it's likely
inclusion for me but not for thee I'd
like to add that this attack on Dei is a
siply slope it will take down anyone who
is in white straight Christian and mail
from birth if you don't check all those
boxes I think twice about getting on the
bandwagon if you do check all of them
you are hurting yourself by believing
that you don't also benefit when many
people are are
included um kindness is free Dei hurts
no one please oppose 14 thank you very
much Larry
[Applause]
bernoski good evening my name's Larry
boski and uh good evening to the mayor
and the council uh uh I live at 19700
North 76 Street here in Scottdale and I
urge the council to vote against um
ordinance 4 4662 the so-called Merit
based employment and distination of Dei
this proposal was not only
counterproductive but a step backward in
our City's efforts to Foster Unity
collaboration and effective problem
solving unfortunately this misguided
move suggests a pattern of the council
majority prioritizing ideology ol over
analysis or careful consideration the
council appears to be working from an
ideological Playbook that disregards the
tangible benefits of Dei programs before
making such a significant and damaging
decision I urge the council to educate
itself of the roles and contributions
made by the diversity office the council
must have factual justification for this
proposed ordinance and include specific
examples of where poor decision- making
resulted because of Dei
to do otherwise it would be a failure of
leadership I implore the council members
to to reject ordinance 4662 and uphold
your duty to serve the true needs of the
community thank you thank you very much
Larry Daniel Schwarz followed by Steven
M Mark Rens and then Lindon
milhaven good evening Dan Schwarz a
20-year resident of Scottdale address on
record the most disturbing thing about
4662 is it's purely performative
addressing no problem other than
pandering to some counselors narrow
basis are we really happy with the look
as attested to by the media here today
which appeared in the axio headline
Scottdale Council looks to emulate Trump
policies on Dei and return to work will
we also follow brilliant policies such
as investing the city's treasury in
cryptocurrency I urge the council if
they insist on this resolution to focus
on its potential negative economic
impact even more grous is this attack on
the city staff anyone who works with the
city staff knows they are gems of the
city implying that any of them have
their positions because they were hired
or retain to meet a non-existent
diversity quota is slander adjacent and
dishonest I would encourage the council
to show some leadership by converting
this proposal into a study it item or
even better rejecting it outright thank
you thank you Dan Steven M followed by
Mark Ren Linda Mel Haven Elanor
schaer Steven
marer okay Mark
gr former councilwoman mil
Haven good evening my name is Linda
milhaven and I live in Belgian Trail
here in Scottdale it seems that Dei has
gotten a bad reputation it is not and
should not be about quotas quotas are
illegal it is not and should not be
about Advantage advantaging one group to
the disadvantage of another group it is
not and should not be demanding white
people apologize for being white to me
it is about equal opportunity and
understanding and respecting our
differences while we may disagree about
what Dei means I think we agree on
several things I support the mayor and
her response to constituents stating
that the city is committed to abiding by
and enforcing all federal and state laws
I also agree with the mayor when she
says when we invest in the equity for
all people and Empower all communities
all of Scott still
gains I agree with councilman quadman
when he says goel is for everyone
actions speak louder than words if you
pass this ordinance tonight many will
see it as a gesture that contradicts
your words occasionally you will be
presented with an opportunity where
everyone can win this is one such time
the president's executive order requires
that programs comply with federal
anti-discrimination laws there is no
reason to eliminate all programming on
the off chance that they might violate
the law I am confident that programs do
not violate the law but a review will
give you and others concerned about the
negative impacts of divver diversity
programs the confidence that we are
compliant and help to keep worthwhile
programs that support your spoken goals
and send a message that God still is
open for all please do the right thing
and do not pass this ordinance thank you
thank you Linda Ellen schaer followed by
Joe junker Chris
asmon Mark Rens then Katherine
cogins good evening Council uh my name
is Elanor I was born in Scottsdale
raised in Scottsdale and I live in Scot
with my three children um I'm here today
to ask you that the city council does
not adopt ordinance 4662 and instead let
the city continue with its initiatives
to celebrate diversity work towards
equity for all and to be inclusive
diversity equity and inclusion are
things that the city should be proud to
embrace and work towards there is
strength in diversity we should want the
world to be a more Equitable
place and we should strive to be
inclusive these are values that I teach
my children that I try to hold for
myself and these are values that the
city should embrace and not turn away
from therefore I ask that the city not
adopt this ordinance and instead
continue to work towards these values
that should be celebrated thank
you thank you Eleanor Joseph junker
followed by Chris
asmus Mark
R uh see no Joe junker I'd like to move
on to Chris asmon
good evening thank you for the
opportunity to speak good evening mayor
and city council my name is Chris
osmanson I'm a longtime resident live on
East montabello for the last 25 years
I've been a school administrator the
first 22 of those years I was a
principal right here in Scottdale I know
a little something about managing large
groups of diverse people as Danny Brown
would say little humans we know how mean
kids can and unkind kids can be we hear
the harmful effects of bullying
harassment and intimidation and we know
that bullying is not just a plague on
our kids adults behave in the same way
toward one another and violence is not
just limited to the playground I contend
that if we are to manage unkind Behavior
we have to instill a little empathy in
one another we have to teach people to
celebrate each other's differences and
then through that recognize that we are
more alike than we are
different helping people celebrate
diversity and building Pathways to
acceptance to acceptance is building the
skills to be able to coexist it's
building the skills that a Workforce
needs to compete businesses and uh
businesses need collaboration and
communication it's about breaking down
the stereotypes that have us judging one
another before we even know one another
these are diverse times how will you
continue to unite us without
Dei thank you very much Mark rents
followed by Katherine cogins Katherine
Patton Laura
baglia she already spoke sorry uh
followed by Dr Raquel
Armstrong good evening mayor council
members Mark Ranson for the record I
submitt written comments on this item
number don't look at me while I'm
speaking look out at the
audience recognize the diversities here
and you must admit to yourself that in
part that diversity is the success of
oid now you want to get rid
of a program that has been s so
successful for your
constituency I looked over the staff
report the purpose statement mentions
nothing about policy development so it
can't be an argument that they're
creating wrong
policy furthermore I am unaware of any
infraction or violation of law by this
office and therefore there is no
misconduct on their part that justifies
the dissolving of this
office and finally I looked at the
fiscal aspect in that
report it is
$716,000 of a $2.3 billion annual budget
that's less than onethird of 1% that
goes to this office I can only assume
that those of you who are voting in
favor of this ordinance tonight either
do not understand
and consequently do not support oid
oie I uh I also believe if that's not
the case that you generally oppose
diversity equality and inclusion thank
you Mark appreciate it thank you very
much M Katherine cogins followed by
Catherine Patton and Dr
Armstrong don't see Katherine
either Catherine oh there we go
Katherine Patton all right followed by
do Armstrong Dana close Michelle Rose
Nancy
dallet
okay good evening Council mayor my name
is Katie Patton I'm a 16-year resident
of Scottsdale and this is my first time
speaking because I am compelled to do so
you've heard a lot tonight about
diversity Equity inclusion the city of
Scott still is speaking in volumes about
this important issue and
matter and as a mother of a young
daughter and as a woman in Corporate
America who has benefited from
Dei this is an important issue to
continue I look out at this Council I
look out at this room not a single
person either directly or indirectly has
not benefited from the diversity equity
and inclusion of others even today the
the invocation was
inclusive of those who may or may not
approve of
prayer inclusion is in the pledge of
allegiance that we started this meeting
with if the issue is meritocracy I will
end with this meritocracy without
inclusion is purely an illusion thank
you thank you Dana close followed by
Michelle Rose followed by Nancy dallot
and Caitlyn
Barnes uh Dan
CL good evening mayor barowski members
of council my name is Dana Clos I'm a
35e resident of South Scottdale while I
stand with everyone here I'll jump right
to the uh to another section of my due
to the editing here I'll Focus my
comments on the concerns for the
physically challenged as well as the
autistic and neurodivergent Community
specifically I'm alarmed by the proposed
reassignment of the ADA compliance
coordinator and the reduction or
elimination of city funding for programs
that promote inclusion accessibility and
Equity according to current estimates
around a half a million Americans with
autism are expected to enter the
workforce within the next decade
these people with unique gifts that any
Workforce would be lucky to have amongst
their ranks they may simply need a bit
of Health with office accommodation or
they may be best served working from
home this does not mean that their work
and talents are not valuable they could
very well be more skilled in various
areas than any other applicant we would
be hiring the best but sometimes the
best comes in different packages that
was a very fast minute I encourage you
to please
reconsider and I suggest a work study so
that we can really look at what's coming
up in the future so that we can work
together for all of our community
members thank you thank you Dana
Michelle Rose followed by Nancy delier
Caitlyn Barnes and then Jason
Alexander good evening my name is
Michelle Rose I am the secretary at the
NAACP East Valley Branch President jeev
de hodj asked me to deliver a message
the NAACP East Valley branch urges
Scottdale mayor Lisa barosi and the
entire city council to vote no on
ordinance number
4662 Forbes recently reported Dei isn't
just about social justice it's an
essential component of business success
Workforce Innovation and long-term
economic growth companies with greater
gender and ethnic diversity on their
leadership teams are far more likely to
financially outperform less diverse
companies president Hajj emphasizes this
is not just about one office or one
ordinance this is about the future of
Scott's economy and reputation when you
dismantle Dei programs you don't just
hurt marginalized communities you hurt
businesses workers and families across
the city the economic is clear inclusion
drives Prosperity scottone must decide
whether it wants to move forward or
backward and we will not stand by as
progress is
undone vote no on ordinance number
4662 and I have a message for the
audience Freedom Fighters the NAACP East
Valley branch Works to disrupt
inequality dismantle racism and
accelerate change in key areas join the
movement www.ev NAACP .org thank you
Nancy
[Applause]
daler followed by Ka Caitlyn Barnes
Jason Alexander and Jeff o
Conor I come tonight before you mayor
and Council as a 35-year resident of
Scottsdale with grave concerns for the
speed with which the council is
attempting to dismantle our city
government seemingly unlocked step with
the federal government's attempt to
derail values policies programs and laws
we you must stop alarm alarming
initiatives to undo many of the unique
and forceful visions and sustainable
successes that have contributed to
living in this Unique city diversity
equality and inclusion programs lead to
creativity Innovative engagement and an
enhanced
reputation by eliminating a dedicated
director and staff to Envision and
Implement policies and programs we say
to the world we want to dismantle our
unique culture for seemingly purely
political reasons to turn our backs on
the fact that we all make a contribution
we are all in this together and each of
us brings something to the public
imagination and eventually can become
the soft and hard infrastructure of our
future no Hispanic heritage black and or
women's History Month programs no
Holocaust remembrance or MLK Day the
next generation of citizens will be
stripped of their understanding
appreciation and opportunity to benefit
from a richly diverse inclusive
Innovative citizenry that values each
individual not regardless of but because
of their diverse backgrounds gender
creativity and dedication to building a
city and a world for everyone please
keep your eyes and energy on what what
binds us and makes us stronger do not
eliminate Dei thank
you Caitlyn
[Applause]
barns Council putting Dei and Merit into
a binary is simply wrong and a gross
misrepresentation of what Dei does Dei
is A merit-based system that brings
performance and diverse experiences
together performance has always been
rewarded and Dei ensures that it
actually remains that way for all Dei is
not a poison Dei is a gift Scottdale
states that diversity is a core value
and getting rid of Dei is a miscarriage
of what this what makes this city great
please vote to keep Dei in place and
continue making Scottsdale a progressive
beautiful city to live and work in thank
you thank you Jason Alexander and I
understand you have donated time so two
minutes Jason Alexander address on
record uh a few years ago I was managing
a team of software developers and one of
the guys on my team young man was a
quadriplegic now I would uh venture to
Guess that most of us here have never
worked side by side with a person with
those particular challenges I had never
done that before before and uh certainly
as a manager I had some uh initial
concerns um just because I didn't know
what those challenges would be would I
do a good job how would it work out well
this young man thank goodness the
company hired him because he was a
terrific programmer had a terrific
personality I mean for God's sakes the
guy programmed with like two fingers and
his lips I mean you tried that it was
incredibly difficult and his mind was so
sharp he was an incredible asset to our
team both because of his skills and his
personality and it would have been very
easy for the folks who hired him to have
looked at him and gone gosh do we really
want to take this on is this is this the
challenge we want to take on or are we
going to let our biases and preconceived
notions get in the way of hiring an
extremely capable young
man so I'm going to ask for the overhead
real quickly
here uh having worked with that
gentleman and and really grown as a
person as his manager um learning to be
more empathetic learning to take each
employee for what they brought to the
table it certainly made me a better
people lead and I'm glad that I grew
through that process I think he was a
tremendous asset to his teammates as
well as they all learned from him and
learned to pick up on his positivity and
his
skills so I think this picture really
says so much about our city and so much
about the culture we try to create here
in our city
so you can imagine how I was really a
gas when Mr
quasman posted something on his Twitter
describing that image as
poison Mr quasman on January 21st 2016
you got into uh what became a national
incident in your law school class with
Professor Joshua Dressler you took issue
with a comment he made and you burst out
and interrupted his class saying quote
comments like that affect people's lives
you went on further to say I know how to
affect people through language so again
when you use these words poison
bombarded rooted out how are you
affecting people sir and we were all
entitled to our opinions but the words
matter the next day on January 22nd 2016
you went on the James T Harris podcast
and said you would immediately find ways
you could cut the University's budget if
you were still in the legislature so
should cities uh should businesses
divest from Scottsdale based on your
words should conferences not come here
should tourists not come here please
consider that thank you thank you Jason
Jeff Jeff o Conor Erica Rand Josh
U and Nicole
Balbo
balof my name is Jeff OK Conor uh 45
year resident of Scottdale native of AR
Iona uh when I first heard about this I
was so angry I thought we lived in a
different city uh I'm confused why there
is the need to eliminate an inclusivity
policy is inclus inclusivity bad I don't
get
it if inclusivity is bad then
exclusivity by default is good we're not
that we're better than that I'm looking
at the council members up here in 1960
five men and two women now it's two men
five
women what were you valued for back your
merits back in 1960 I know what my
mother was Housewives a baker that was
it take care of the kids look where
you're at
now I have seen the 60-year battle it
takes to be included you're there now
you're women of
power we are on a path of exclusivity
not
inclusive we're going backwards history
shows us what happens when we go
backwards Mr
quman
also do not be complicit with removing a
program that has a philosophy that has
enabled you to rise into power on the
backs of those who fought for you don't
do this thank
you Erica Ren followed by Jos Josh
[Applause]
ersu followed by let's see Nicole balof
thank
you hello my name is Nicole balof and I
have been Scottsdale City resident since
2021 not very long I know but I moved to
Scottdale thinking that I was moving to
to a progressive and inclusive City and
I'm really hoping that it will continue
as such Dei is obviously an extremely
important measure to ensure that people
are not being discriminated against for
jobs that they will they are qu fully
qualified for it seems to me that the
city council would like to ensure that
elected employees of the city are being
selected based on the highest quality
candidates available that is what Dei is
here to ensure is
happening Dei is what allows me to know
that when I go toe-to-toe against a man
for a job that I am not going to be
passed up simply because I'm a woman or
that other qualified residents are not
being passed up solely based on their
age race gender sexual
orientation ability Etc I see many
female council members in front of me
who have all benefited from Dei it's not
too long ago that women had to fight
simply for a single seat at the table
let alone five finally if you or anyone
else feel so threatened by Dei maybe you
should consider becoming more qualified
rather than trying to exclude those who
are
let's we will not go back thank you for
voting no thank you Nicole Rabbi John
Linder followed by oh sorry I'm gon to
call up uh Dr Raquel Armstrong she was
uh left out of order I guess earlier
thank you and Then followed by Rabbi
Linder Janice
M
Kubo and Andre
Miller good evening uh mayor and Council
thank you for the opportunity to speak
uh my name is Dr Raquel Armstrong and by
day I am a researcher um by profession
and I want to draw your attention to a
case study so in the early 1990s when
Arizona failed to adopt uh Dr Martin
Luther King Day the State of Arizona
lost approximately 230 billion doar
along with the disinvestment of public
events many of which um come to Arizona
today and so thinking about the economic
imperative along with what the office of
diversity Equity inclusion and access
has done in the city of Scottdale this
office has done transformative work
under the transformative leadership of
director Johnson that would ably be
harmed with the adoption of this
ordinance and so thinking about all that
has been heard this evening thinking
about what would be lost in this
community not just for the residents of
Scat but all the people who view this
city as a wonderful place to travel to
to shop and eventually to live thank
you thank you very much Rabbi
[Applause]
Linder moving on to Janice Schmo Kubo
good evening mayor vice mayor and City
Council Members I'm Janice shimbo and
over the last seven years I've served on
multiple boards and commissions and I
want to make it clear that I stand in
front of you tonight speaking solely on
behalf of myself I had a 30-year career
at Fortune 100 companies of which I was
a Dei hire and it was drilled into us as
best practices to make business
decisions based on facts and data so
tonight I have multiple questions to ask
you how have you conducted a full review
of The Office of diversity's programming
and trainings how much of the systemic
programming violates ARS 411 1494 by
placing blame or judgment on the basis
of race ethnicity or sex what data do
you have to show that city employees are
not being hired evaluated or promoted
based on Merit and what percentage of
employees have been subject to unlawful
and antiarc gratic forms of
discrimination in the spirit of good
governance if you can't answer these
questions tonight then I urge you to
vote no on ordinance
4662 and to conduct a study to show the
consequences of any changes Scottdale
residents and taxpayers deserve this
necessary due diligence thank
you thank you Andre Miller followed by
Andrew sha cath Kathleen gry gr and D
Don Logan mayor and Council I'm Andre
Miller the vice president of the NAACP
Arizona State conference I shop in
Scottsdale dine in Scottsdale and spend
dollars that support this community the
Dei we see in various news race baits
which isn't the design the Dei we see in
the various news outlets panders which
isn't the design Scottdale should not be
carrying the water of the current
resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue or
carrying the sentiment of
those or carrying the sentiment of those
who have no problem seeing migrant
children sleep SP on a concrete slab
separated from their parents or the
sentiment that America is the Bastion of
Hope when we have a ton of work to do
and that work starts and continues with
diversity realizing it's our strength
and nothing to make you feel bad in your
Humanity some have said Dei Dei promotes
Reverse Racism and I say the only way
you rid Scottsdale or any other place of
racism is to reverse it the proposed
ordinance is misguided and an affront to
the many advances we've made as a
community here in Scottdale and Beyond
diversity equity and inclusion isn't
just about a person's race but
understanding and growth Martin Luther
King said I have a dream that my four
little children will one day live in a
nation where they will be not judged by
the color of their skin but the content
of their character the premise of that
statement can be found in diversity
equity and inclusion debates we are
having here today the statement meant
that we would always examine the
internal and that can only be done
through a willingness to learn which is
afforded through diversity equity and
inclusion thank you thank
you Andrew Sha
that was Andrew Sheek followed by Don
Logan and Nicholas Mena and Katie
Conway see how I can do this in a minute
uh so how do I know that this is all
about ideology because Monday I called
the department of diversity and I asked
them how many people from the city
council called you to understand what
this department does which does amazing
things
and only one of you did and I know which
one thank you Maryann so how do I know
it's
ideology because you continue to
practice it from the scotdale Green New
Deal to now there is no facts that you
have about any of this to councilman
quasman you did use the word poison you
had a great great speech last month
about the Holocaust you lost family I
did too lost 50% of my family the
Holocaust as you well know in that
lesson using the word poison there was a
guy from Germany who used that against
our
people remember that when we say never
forget and never again we talk about the
lessons learned it's inclusive to
everybody because we never want to
happen to what happened to us to happen
to anybody else it seems to me instead
of learning lessons about history you're
trying to repeat it this Dei should is
is the first step in that keep it in
place it is for the people it works for
everybody it's the way it's supposed to
be in scotdale
thank you
Andrew Don
Logan mayor and Council good
evening councilman Adam I'm talking to
you I uh
there's a lot that's going through my
mind about what's happening here
tonight and what I'm hearing I had a
three-minute presentation May or I
understand we got a minute I got 46
seconds this is personal for me people
have moved on from the bombing of
February 26 2004 but every day I'm
reminded of what happened that day and
why it happened and it happened because
of
how I'm packaged an
anti-diversity
extremist who I never talked to never
knew that attacked me and my colleagues
because of what we
represent now I read this packet
here there's nothing in this packet that
suggests to me that diversity equity and
inclusion is a
threat ding ding
I leave you with this quote from Dr
King the true test of a man is not where
he stands doing convenience and comfort
but where he stands amongst
challenge come on y'all can help me
anybody know what that how I fin that
finish that amongst
challenge we need diversity training
here thank you
thank you very much uh that was Don
Logan and for the record we don't we
don't engage in the public comment we
don't participate and respond so
apologies for that so thank you for the
question uh Nicholas Mena
greetings Mr Miss mayor and uh city
council it's an honor to be here um I'm
my name is Nicholas Mena I'm a resident
of the city of
Scottdale just these are just individual
comments I believe in the power of
meritocracy which is a form of unity in
diversity given that it truly
inspires and includes all that makes a
person
qualified Merit is often assumed to mean
only individual skill but a person's
background lived experiences and
cultural perspectives are also
invaluable assets that contribute to
Excellence in
service appreciation of diversity is not
a departure from
meritocracy it is the very Foundation of
it removing programs that cultivate
inclusion risks creating an environment
where certain perspectives are
systematically excluded whether
intentional or not without efforts that
ensure Fair access we risk allowing
unconscious biases to Define merit
rather than genuine ability character
and potential so please inclusion does
not happen by accident it happens by
intention thank you thank you Katie
Conway followed by Robert Fishman
Yolanda Potter Hillary
Lopez hi there I'm Kate Conway and I'd
prefer to um not continue to meet you
like this each month um I have been
living in Scottsdale for 21 years and um
am a resident of mcdal Mountain Ranch
the ordinance we're discussing brings
about a number of words the first is
embarrassing also sad frustrating
ignorant racist prejudiced sexist mean
and
fearful diversity equity and
inclusion is a smart investment for
Scottsdale it's not just about fairness
this is a Smart Financial strategy that
drives business success especially here
in Scottdale with our rapidly with our
rapidly growing in diverse populations
companies and cities that Embrace Dei
are better positioned to
thrive research from McKenzie and
Company in 2020 shows that businesses
with diverse leadership are 25% more
likely to to outperform their peers
financially in a city where Industries
like real estate health care and
Technology are booming we need to
embrace diversity to gain the
Competitive Edge simply put Dei is not
just good ethics it's good good for our
city join others here today to urge you
to reject
4662 let's align with some other words
like fun creativity
inclusivity Savvy smart wise and Big
Hearted thank you thank you
Katie circling back to Erica Ruland
thank you Council for the limited time I
want our Council to know that what is
being proposed goes against everything I
thought Scott still stood for if passed
it would result in decreased Workforce
engagement a lack of community and halt
all progress that has been made for
Scottdale Council should be focusing on
how to support Dei programs they Foster
empathy among employees and citizens
which is needed more now than
ever one of the core employee values
Scottdale has it's on all the posters
value
diversity to the council members who
decided this request was so important
that it had to be added to tonight's
agenda I ask you are you upholding the
values of our
organization when a Workforce is diverse
it means every employee is bringing in
their expertise and experiences to help
further grow the
organization and shouldn't our
citizens the people we serve feel
reflected in our city
employment supporting these initiatives
mean that our employees will continue to
be able to seek support and continue to
feel empowered to voice their ideas and
participate in our Workforce please
continue to support Dei initiatives
because it means supporting a better
Scottdale thank you thank
you Robert fish Yolanda Potter Hillary
Lopez Isaac young and then zenita
Fortune will be the fifth one down
there mayor members of
council diversity equity and inclusion
Dei is a collective effort to provide an
accessible environment where a person
with a disability different in
ethnicities difference in gender and
gender neutral age differences in lgbtq
plus Community would be welcome Dei is
not part of a nefarious agenda that
seeks to bring unqualified individuals
into the workplace there appears to be a
connotation that the human resources
department does not View and vet
applications based on the applicant's
qualifications data such as the
applicants age race gender is not
included or submitted to the Departments
for consideration Dei is not an
initiative that engage engages in
training or orientation that presents
any form of blame or judgment on the
basis of race ethnicity or sex and
compliance with ar 41-1
1494 this is a sacred moment where the
city of scottso can choose to stand with
the sister cities of Tempe and Mesa to
retain the diversity office and embrace
a culture culture of diversity Equity
inclusion my final thought is this in
the future after many considerations and
debates will the city of Scottdale land
on the wrong side of
History thank you
Erica Josh ersu is now here so I'm gonna
pick up where he we missed
him so next will be Robert Fishman
Yolanda Potter Hillary Lopez Isaac young
Den
Zena good evening mayor and city council
my name is Josh hu I've been living in
scoto since 1997 we have lots of family
here in town and we could probably fill
up the soul downstairs here with just
the family that I have and we're all on
the same page um I've uh I worked at WS
Fargo for 39 years and I have my fair
share of uh experience with Dei and I
believe there's a lot of confusion about
it um those in support of it say it
promotes fairness and protects the
disadvantaged but I believe it's the
exact opposite I think it promotes
divisiveness identity politics and
stifles free thought a Dei attempts to
eliminate our Traditional Values and
Norms through social engineering it uses
coercion to um apply its policies it
becomes like a it it's kind of become
like a secular religion um it's got its
own dogmas its own
rituals uh it's it's got its own
Heretics dogmas like Equity over
equality rituals like diversity training
and pronoun
declarations and uh Heretics you know
those who challenge or don't conform to
its
principles so uh right I think it's an
attempt to control thought and speech
through the push for specific language
use like pronouns or inclusive
terminology and a systematic attempt to
replace our traditional value systems
with the new secular ethos I've seen it
in practice uh in my 39 years at WS
Fargo and uh totally reject it please
vote to remove Dei from scussel thank
you thank you
Josh
uh city clerk Ben Lane are we did we
Robert Fishman is he next okay there we
go followed by Hillary Lopez Isaac young
and finally Zen Fortune
hi Robert Fishman I've lived in
Scottsdale for 13 years I visited here
for 40 years I was a lawyer at the uh a
clerk for the Arizona court of appeals
back in
1973 so I have I have a lot of
background and my question is why and
what what caused this why did this come
forward
I don't get it do you get it what
possible benefits have been evaluated to
determin that adopting this
legislation is beneficial to
Scottdale you know the people that have
come before me are a lot more eloquent a
lot more experienced and deeply engaged
in this I haven't heard one person come
forward in support of this
legislation where are they
where are
they have you seen
any have you heard any are you going to
speak I hope you are because I'm looking
forward to it you know the only reason
you
would the only reason you would adopt
this is that you believe that Scottdale
is not using B merit-based systems and
thus diversity equity and inclusion
promote bias division racial basis and
inefficiency in government and that it's
part of a wo agenda that misuses
taxpayer
money show me where show me the cost
benefit analysis what I'm very disturbed
about is why the city council would even
want to bring this
forward that is a more important
question are you going to do your duty
and actually do evaluations that are
meaningful and productive thank you
thank you Robert Hillary
[Applause]
Lopez hi I'm Hillary Lopez um I live on
East Tacoma drive um the costs of losing
this program are vast this program
promotes diversity diversity brings a
sense for all that they belong it it
brings a larger talent pool new ideas
creativity even stronger
profits diverse communities can enhance
soci social cohesion by promoting
understanding and reducing Prejudice
among different groups exposure to
diverse cultures and perspectives
Fosters empathy and mutual respect
contributing to a healthier society and
minimizing hate if we need nothing else
right now mutual respect and Harmony
have to be at the top I implore you to
consider the true Gifts of diversity and
know that if you don't show our
community and our children that all
people matter and should be
intentionally effort fully represented
you are telling those of us that are not
white or male or heterosexual or
typically abled that we matter
less just know your decision today can
benefit our city or break Hearts as
Martin Luther King stated so eloquently
Injustice anywhere is a threat to
Justice everywhere be on the right side
of history and keep our Dei program
thank you thank you Isaac Young
good evening mayor and members of the
council my name is Isaac young and I am
the current director of Outreach for the
mayor Copo County young Democrats
however today I do not come to you as a
Democrat or as a minority or even just a
young Scottsdale citizen but what I come
to you as is a human I come to you as a
human on this Earth who deserves the
right to be respected many years ago Jim
craw and other discriminatory laws were
set in place to limit the access to
certain benefits based on a criteria of
lism generational poverty has been even
been set amongst families because of the
racist substructure Dei is a framework
that was created on the behalf of the
unfair and the unjust treatment towards
others who did not live live up to a
specific agenda however as a young man
of faith I believe that God created all
mankind equally the excuse of not having
the funds is very unappreciated coming
from one of the wealthiest cities in
Arizona delivering this ordinance will
do the opposite of exercising our 14th
amendment by posing the actions of
making one feel inferior because of the
agenda that God did not create Equity
brings Unity inequity brings disunity
and I want to thank you for this
opportunity and I want to urge you all
to not pass this ordinance that will be
a disgrace to people who look and feel
the same as me thank you members thank
you
[Applause]
Isaac
okay
so Adam what you uh wrote you're
actually absolutely right about um I am
one of the vast majority
who elected Jan Adam Kathy Barry
Lisa uh into Council to represent us and
not the Wasps out here who want Dei
which is actually Reverse Racism all
right if you go online you go to Tik Tok
you go to YouTube you go to Instagram
and all of the comments that you read
there are thousands and thousands of
comments that I've gone through uh of
people people saying that there's
massive Reverse Racism that's been
happening in this country all right for
example someone mentioned about women
have we not had women uh being elected
to city council outside of di for the
last 20 years Linda milhaven she's here
she was here elected here before Dei was
she not none of you got in here due to
Dei raml and Johnny Mexican and Filipino
have been here for for seven and 17
years and not due to Dei we do not need
Dei all right represent us and get Dei
the world economic forums ideals out it
is indeed social engineering get it out
of our lives and by the way we are a
conservative City we are not a you know
Progressive City all right if you want
to go to a liberal City go elsewhere go
to a liberal City ah it's a hole
that's why you're here to turn Scottdale
you don't want to accept illegal
migrants we do not want illegal migrants
here do not allow Dei thank you
Zena thank you very much and seeing no
more speakers on the board that wraps up
the uh comments for item number 14 so I
a couple of names on the board but I
just want to uh start with first off
thanking all of you for being here
tonight it's very Lively conversation
and I appreciate your passion and your
participation in this Civic process and
we
definitely like to hear from you even if
at the end of the day we don't agree
thank you for showing up so uh
personally I'm a native of Scottdale
lived here all my life went to
elementary school and high school and
college at ASU I just want to say that
personally my experience is that we have
evolved tremendously as a city I mean
the difference between when I was in
grade school and where we are now is
phenomenal it's great and I I also want
to observe I've been not only in the
political process I've been a uh
practicing attorney in Scottdale since
2006 and diversity equity and inclusion
is alive and well and highly valued in
Scottsdale Arizona
so and allow me just a few more minutes
here uh as a city as your mayor I am
committed to abiding by and enforcing
all federal and state laws which
Faithfully Advance the principles set
forth in our US
Constitution which ensures dignity
rewards hard work and Excellence the
future I Envision for Scottdale is where
every one of our residents has equal
opportunity to dream big and achieve
their goals Scottsdale is a diverse City
we're all here we're evidence of that
and we are dedicated to supporting each
other and those who live work or visit
our city Scottdale will continue to
prioritize merit-based
hiring performance reviews and
promotions that reward individual skill
work ethic and productiv ity we are a
welcoming City and make no mistake we
are open for business to everybody now
listening to all the speakers I I can
tell you I again I pretty much agree
with the majority of individuals here
but what I didn't hear is the tangible
impact that Dei or a department
dedicated to that has on our Hiring Our
welcomeness welcoming as a Community the
way we do business the way we treat
employees you've seen several former
employees here that preceded Dei uh in
any diversity training I happen to be
one of them I was elected to city
council not because I was I'm a woman I
I agree with whoever just said that um
who knows you know I want I rest on my
skill set and we all should do the same
uh so I want you to rest assured no
matter the outcome of tonight's vote
that if there is evidence of
discrimination and uh and being anything
other than the qualities that I've just
espoused you definitely call me I'm easy
to find and so with that I will turn
this over to the speakers that have
recorded their interest in voting
councilwoman
McAllen thank you
mayor I'm simply going to move make a
motion
that the mayor direct the city manager
to schedule this item for a work study
session at a future meeting and that we
continue this action item until that we
do not continue it until we can have a
work study session on item
14 I'll second and I'd like to speak to
my second
please first of all once again I am
humbled by the people of this community
it has been such such a pleasure serving
Scottdale you the talent in this
community the heart in this community is
simply amazing you guys make me laugh
you make me cry you make me think you
make me a better person and that's
really the foundation of our democracy
isn't it it's about working together
listening to each other and doing things
so that we can all Thrive and all be
safe and so so I absolutely want to
Second my colleagues motion if there is
a problem with our diversity equity and
inclusion Department let me tell you
yeah we've had it it was called
something else you don't like the name
folks change the name don't change the
process don't change the the belief in
it and I want to be clear that the
policemen that are keeping you safe
tonight they were hired based on Merit
and the water scientists that are making
sure you can drink and survive tap water
yeah they were hired based on Merit this
ordinance was done behind the scenes
without a public process and serves no
purpose
the claim the claim by my colleagues
that they desire to have merit-based
hiring I got good news for everybody who
wrote and we heard from hundreds of
people and the few people who wrote in
support of the ordinance what did they
say they said we demand merit-based
hiring I got good news for you for as
long as I have been in Scottdale and for
long before that this city has been a
merit-based hiring
city and what about the training that is
so
offensive let's talk about that
training our community programs include
dinner and dialogue that certainly
sounds poisonous we support Community
diversity um partners and multi
multi-city Regional Unity festival and
walk and the mayor's committee on
employment of people with
disabilities those are the programs that
are at risk today for political gains
because somebody up here didn't
understand how the city operates how we
are the programs we have in place and
we're willing to risk it for some kind
of political gain
now let's talk about how did we end up
with this horrible ordinance as I
mentioned it was done without Community
process and I get it when we get up here
as council members I've been up here six
years we don't know a whole lot okay
anybody can get elected as long as you
get the people who you know think that
they represent you that's fine we're up
here to learn and the way you get an
ordinance done is a you identify a need
and often that need is identified by the
very community that you
serve and then you start a community
process just like we did with with every
ordinance that we have that pertains to
Social and environmental issues we bring
the community together because the seven
of us don't know everything so we have
to listen to you and then we bring in
the experts and we bring in our staff
and we design an ordinance that actually
solves a problem and does not undermine
anybody but lifts everybody up that was
not done let me tell you something else
we have work study sessions I have spent
more time in the last six years at work
study sessions a work study session is
an informal way for this city council to
discuss issues because we have to do it
in a public process but we can't just
vote on something without hearing about
each other so that's the purpose of a
work study session there have been no
work study sessions
nobody on this Council who supported
this ordinance asked me my opinion asked
me about my life's experience nor did
they ask you about yours this is a an
ordinance that is aimed at accomplishing
nothing and solving problems that never
existed and sadly sends a message to the
world that this International
destination is not open for all
there is not one policy at the city of
Scottdale that will change if this
ordinance is pass but the downside risks
are endless We Are Better Together We
are better when we have a a office of
diversity because it enables us to
educate the public create events where
people meet people they would otherwise
not meet and it
ensures that the people we hire are the
best and the brightest you cannot say
you support diversity you support
inclusion you support keeping scota open
for all and vote for this ordinance you
know I've been told I hate being called
a
politician and I've been told that
there's a difference between politicians
and leaders politicians say one thing
and do another and leaders deliver what
they say and they deliver for the people
they
represent I encourage my colleagues if
they have concerns they should they
should support my colleague's motion we
should have Community meetings we should
discuss the dangers of di that one of
our speakers mentioned none of those
exist here in the city but if they do
let's have those Community meetings
let's have the work study session find
that find those those problems and root
them out as my colleague said I just
want to end with a photo that already
appeared on uh previously with us there
we go this is Scottdale for all this is
the picture that my colleague supporting
this ordinance said is
poisonous this is not who we are as a
community and again I give my I I'll
give my colleagues who are new to this
Council some space there's a lot to
learn when you become a council member
please
support uh please support the motion on
the table let's continue this discussion
let's truly root out problems if there
are any and find ways to make this
better and again you don't like the name
of the department we can change that
let's not change the values that uh that
that stands for thank
you thank thank
you see
no other request to
speak there's a motion and a second on
the table and that is for a continuance
and uh work steady session so I'm going
to go ahead and take a vote on that and
all those in favor of this idea register
V
city clerk register register a no for me
please thank
you the motion fails 5
to2 seeing no seeing no speakers on the
board
[Applause]
well let me speak let me speak to that I
do you all want to do this over again
and do a work study I don't I don't see
the point of
that you've all been here I think that
would that would not be a good ex good
worth wa use of your time or the city's
resources so having having said that um
task forces actually do cost taxpayer
money and we've heard what you have to
say if we can
councilman
quasman I'll speak to the I'll speak to
the whole vote after this is after the
after this motion
closes I don't have a motion on the
table okay so we're we're in the final
vote okay I want to talk about there was
a specific story that was brought up
that I wanted to talk
about about a professor that was at ASU
law
and that Professor the the professor was
in criminal law and the day that day you
know most 1l students are they have to
take criminal law because criminal law
is a uh it's a required course it's
going to be on the bar and Professor
Dressler was a visiting Professor
he was one of the most famous criminal
law professors in the country and
onethird of the law school class was
there uh the top the subject of the
class I will make sure Madame mayor
Madame mayor I will get to the
point yeah yeah councilman quasman has
the floor so please be respectful the
subject the subject of the class or the
subject of the class was
attempt and within the first three
minutes the professor talked about about
Senator Ted Cruz who was running for
president at that time Senator Cruz made
a phrase and said that values coming out
of New York are not the values of the
rest of the country fine he's running
for president fine but Professor
Dressler in a very
impassioned very almost to the point of
Tears rle stated the following he said
when he talked about those no New York
values he's talking about the Jews and
that's what he wants for you that's what
he
thinks I was in the
class yep he said you know what he means
when he said New York values he means
pause the Jews that's just what he said
so I stood up in the
class and I said that you can't do this
right and the rest of the story that was
told is a true
story here's the next part of it here's
the next part of it and I think it's
important and it gets to the point of
this
vote when there was a petition that was
sent around to discipline me at the law
school I was called into the dean of
students
office and we had a discussion and at
that time I was able to show the dean of
students Professor dressler's personal
Facebook page and on the cover of his
personal Facebook page was a picture of
a dog urinating on a picture of Ted
Cruz now what's the point in what's the
connection to
tonight there is a purposeful conflation
between
intentions of those who do not believe
in certain government programs and those
who have a heart that's
aimed true and caring toward a diverse
crowd toward somebody toward a diverse
Community to belief in equity to a
belief in inclusion because the
definitions of diversity equity and
inclusion are wonderful they're
wonderful nobody questions it
diversity brings together people from
different backgrounds and different
viewpoints it enhances div uh decision-
making it prevents group think Equity is
a centuries old concept of of
law it it it boils down to treating
people
fairly and and who could object to
making people F feel welcome where they
live and
work you're doing a good
job the
problem the
problem is where the rubber meets the
road the problem is that Dei as
practiced here and
elsewhere it runs policies through the
lens of race and sex and other identity
categories it actively
prevents it actively prevents diversity
of
viewpoint it subverts equal opportunity
in favor of an artificial Equity
outcome it excludes those believe whose
beliefs diverge from a narrow orthodox
y companies as of today that have moved
away from Dei include the following as
of today
Disney GE PayPal Comcast Amazon
Bloomberg
McDonald's Walmart Lowe's Ford Jack
Daniels which I think we all need one
after tonight Harley-Davidson and John
Deere
Scottsdale must be a city where all are
welcome all are welcome and they need
they're all welcome to build a future
and a flourishing future for themselves
and their families a place where
everyone is treated equally and fairly
under the
law this ordinance does not get
rid of our ADA
compliance nor does it get rid
of our anti-discrimination
ordinance and I stand with the mayor
when she
stated that if there is ever an instance
of
discrimination in this city I will stand
shoulder Tosh shoulder along with
everybody on this dis everybody on this
dis to fight discrimination
Madame mayor members of this Council we
don't
need another government
program that is what we've heard doesn't
do much at all we don't need another
government
program we don't need another government
program that teaches children as little
as zero through five 0 through five sir
stop lying stop lying you are teaches
children zero through 0 through five
be it
teaches it teaches children zero through
five and
[Music]
narrow we we may need to take a recess
if excuse me
sir or order
please let's take a five minute recess
I'm almost Madame mayor I'm almost done
I'm I'm I'll finish my sentence I'll
finish my sentence then we're done we we
all sat here and listened to everyone in
the room please show respect which is
what you're asking for from us 0o
through
five programs of zero through five a
very narrow Viewpoint we're better than
that we believe in equality and equal
justice under the law that is
all we're not taking public comment
anymore thank you showing thank you
thank you Adam I'm sorry councilman
quasman vice mayor
deasus I move to adopt ordinance
4662 second
thank you before I register the vote I
am going to
uh I
am let's just register our votes thank
[Music]
you thank you moving on to item 15
this is another request by for members
of the city council to adopt resolution
13353 that would direct Charter officers
and the presiding City
judge to consider all positions working
remotely and develop a plan to return
employees to work in office in a timely
manner we received two requests for
public comment I think that's all we've
got right now so I'll open it up for
public comment starting with Victor
Assad
yeah go right
ahead my name is Victor Assad and I've
been in a Scottdale resident for 11
years living near Oldtown
and I saw this item of the agenda and
because I have worked with this issue in
private business I wanted to speak with
you all and what I'm speaking to I have
shared these documents with all of
you based on and what I'm really
advising is caution with this and that I
believe if you move forward with this
recalling people back into the office
you're going to drive up costs you're
going to have turnover and it will not
go well based on iCal research and based
on the research for over um 10 years and
I'm sorry did I did I start with three
minutes oh here it is never mind 10
years on homebased and hybrid work I
urge you not to do this in 2011 and 2012
I implemented a hybrid and homebased
work model for metronics coronary and
peripheral stenting business based in s
Santa Rosa California it was a great
success the company aimed to reduce
office space cost costs and redirect the
money to research and development to
create life-saving stance it was very
successful our business saved over 2
million annually from reduced real
estate costs and benefited from a 22%
Improvement in remote worker
productivity improved morale less
turnover and easier recruiting plus the
employees lived loved saving the commute
time I have submitted this case study
which goes over several other studies at
the time that found the same thing but
what I want to call to your attention in
my last 30 seconds 30 second is an
article that I sent to you by Brian
Elliot who looked at research at
companies that had brought people back
into the office that worked remotely or
in hybrid work productivity as that CEO
said many of them did not improve they
did not have any financial advantage and
in some of these companies their stock
price went down turnover went up so I
encourage you not to move forward with
this thank you for your time thank you
Daniel
Schwarz is Daniel
here okay seeing no
further I'll hear from councilwoman
Mallen thank you mayor uh thank you
Victor for sending us that report it was
very informative and um I appreciate the
time you took to reach out to all of us
that being said I have a question uh for
the city manager about bringing people
back to work um do you have an idea of
how many positions this would
be that's number one number two does
this take into
consideration uh jobs that were never in
the city that were telea jobs um and the
cost that it'll take to bring these
people to work and office pollution all
of that my and then my third and final
question
is does this affect um flexibility work
schedules like for10 things of that
nature uh Madame mayor and uh council
member Malla maybe I'll take a minut in
reverse order we actually have an AR
which is Administrative regulation that
speaks to remote working and alternative
work schedules and it's my understanding
that uh employees are uh encouraged and
required to fill out a form I I believe
that was probably in its earlier years
of the implementation of the A and I
believe our records are likely not up to
dat in that regard so I do not have an
accurate a number of how many people are
remote or are actually on an alternative
work schedule I'm very familiar with
remote work and alternative work
schedules and what you find in municipal
government specifically I'll speak to
the alternative work schedule first is
that many of our employees are already
on one I'll just use uh firefighters and
police officers are case in point uh who
have what most people would refer to is
not an 8 to5 of course I'll stop there
uh just because I think that proves my
point but I think what this directs us
to do as Charter officers is to really
uh dig into uh the situation and at our
discretion allow those unique
opportunities then I'll move to the
middle point where I believe you asked
about uh contract employees or people
that were always uh remote to my
knowledge I could certainly uh look to
be corrected uh amongst the standing
colleagues in the gallery but I do not
uh believe that is the case uh in any
significant measure uh and so I I think
this
uh I believe that answers your three
questions thank you so
much thank you councilman
Graham was there a staff presentation
for this item um was that was that
planned no sir okay um so this uh we're
talking
about we're really res you know
resolving
to say that we prefer um office work to
remote work because
we um believe that we see companies
doing this we um I think there's a value
up here that working together in
person um brings value to the taxpayers
and the residents of
Scottdale um we you know there was
probably discussion in people's minds
about do we mandate a return to the
office and
um I just want to confirm my
understanding when I read this is that
it is not
compulsory it is not airtight and it
leaves room for discretion for our
managers our directors our Executives
our supervisors and I just want to ask
the question to the city manager if
that's how if that's how you interpret
it because I think that it's kind of
it's it's really just a balance
between um
expressing our value for in-person
work
and have an allowing
flexibility um with our professionals
thank you Mr Kaden U Madame mayor and
council member Graham that's exactly how
I receive it and read it I also think
we're in a unique situation with the
city of Scottsdale uh with I'll call it
the increased number of Charter officers
that if if uh there is not consistent
direction from the city council then you
could have some differences of
implementation uh within the respective
areas so a consistent message in this
regard is likely more needed uh in an
organization such as ours and I again
receive it exactly as it sounds like you
interpret it uh it's really our
requirement as I'm receiving it to
understand uh the the situation uh to
the ex all of the level and the numbers
and then make sure it's still serving
the business purpose uh there are
certainly I would imagine some
circumstances uh where uh employees have
personal situations they've they have
gotten used to and made Life Choices
around that type of work schedule uh I
will tell you from an interim city
manager perspective I'm certainly very
sensitive to that and we'll be mindful
as we develop a transition plan based
upon City council's prefer
see that's I think that's a good signal
because we're not you know um we're not
a startup we're not all in the same
Bullpen we've got 2700
professionals and to what what I hear
you saying um I think is um going to be
appreciated and valued to have a unified
message that this is a value of our city
so Mr Kon thank you very much for those
responses and I will I'll move to aop
resolution
13353 without sorry Madame mayor without
I'm not trying to cut off any more
debate but I'm ready to vote when my
colleagues are let me hear from I hear
your second and I I'd like you to speak
to that as soon as we hear from Council
councilwoman Whitehead thanks thank you
mayor uh Mr
Kon this um ordinance or this adopted
procedure says um stes that uh remote
work um inperson office work is
preferred to remote work because working
in person allows increased efficiency
for residents can you provide data that
backs that
up uh just a point of clarification
Madame mayor and Council uh member
Whitehead are you speaking to the
administrative
regulation I'm speaking to the item
that's on the agenda oh okay I just
wanted um okay thank you for that
clarification cuz we had the
administrative regulation and that's not
adopted yet so I I was misunderstanding
your question there uh I would say uh
it's twofold when we start looking at
our Workforce and how we deliver our
services um we have many individuals I
would estimate approximately two-thirds
of our staff members that are in the
field every day as I started to
reference earlier I think our First
Responders are great examples uh where
they're not working remote and we have a
number of other uh individuals employees
that are in the field and they're not
applicable to uh a work remote situation
I have been in other organizations over
the last uh 28 years and this became
much more pre prevalent in public and
private sector through the covid
environment I think what we've seen
particularly in public service is a
return to the workplace in many
instances and specifically to your
question about efficiencies and
delivering Public Service uh to our
customers and even internal customers I
do find that in many instances in person
does deliver a higher level of customer
service okay but you don't have any
specific data that you can show us
because it was pretty compelling data
that we received um about in my own
personal experiences I have uh
professional children I have certainly
worked remote uh for many decades and
nobody has ever accused me of slouching
um so can you so I would like to see
data again I think what we're doing is
uh making decisions blindly also how
many you mentioned many city employees
like if you work in solid
waste and you drive a truck you don't
work remote so how many of our employees
currently work remotely yeah Madam
Madame mayor and council member
Whitehead I I think that's part of this
uh value being sent from city council is
at a minimum that we understand that
number and we do not have that today uh
our forms are not up to date as far as
employees filling that out okay so we
don't know so we're being asked to adopt
a preferential a policy that prefers
inperson office work but we really don't
know how many people currently don't
work in the office or what they do or
how their performance is has there been
any studies or have you done any work to
um identify problems with those that
work remotely I mean I'm just asking
questions it seems again I'm being asked
to vote on something and not provided
any data to back up the assertions not
provided any data to make a an educated
vote please tell me um what you've done
to evaluate people who work remotely and
you know working remotely let's face it
I mean it's it's
that's a pretty broad stroke do I think
that people need to get together and
meet each other and talk around the
water cooler yeah I actually do and I
like the idea of people working you know
sometimes in the office or finding ways
to be together but what this is this as
I read it is is kind of pushing for
everybody to return to work and I think
the data that I've seen is 70% of our
Workforce doesn't live in Scottdale I
mean if I didn't work in if I worked in
Scottdale but was allowed three times a
week to work from home and I lived in
Peoria that might work but if I have to
make that drive every single day why not
take the same job in
Peoria so again I don't mind this if it
was backed by data and we knew exactly
what changes we were making so I you
know I appreciate councilman Graham
saying that gives you flexibility but
don't you have flexibility
today uh Madame mayor and council member
Whitehead I heard a number of questions
in there I presume the last one was the
one you would like me to address and so
what I would say is that it is very uh
important when you have six Charter
officers from just being one of those in
a temporary position to have the message
from the board of directors from the
city council of your uh preference quite
frankly of the organization and the
governance model I believe that that uh
message is uh cannot be overstated of
the type of organization and the culture
that we want to develop
here okay so you're saying that you do
have the flexibility but the problem is
you don't have the flexibility over the
treasurer's
office Madame mayor and Council whad I
did certainly did not you twisted my
words there I don't believe I said that
I didn't mean to okay I don't believe
that there was any in ins insinuation
amongst my other colleagues but rather a
consistent message across the
organization amongst the various areas
when you have uh a different Charter
officers seeing those so the
consistencies I do feel uh the direction
from city council I think uh a general
policy statement is which the way I
intend uh read this in addition to to
our management opportunities to use
discretion I will mention that there are
certain opport uh certain positions I
mentioned the ones that are specifically
meant uh to deliver services in the
field First Responders people driving
Solid Waste trucks for example I think
there are in many instances positions
where we compete with the private sector
and those uh are potential opportunities
where I see uh some lenience or some
flexibility
uh accounting positions for example
people in finance people in uh
Information Technology we certainly
don't want to put our organization at a
disadvantage as competing uh with that
top talent and so again as I read here
that discretion to make those choices
based upon the highest delivery of
service to our organization okay I
definitely appreciate that and again I
appreciate the fact that councilman
Graham stressed that this is uh fle
gives you the flexibility to decide and
yes we will lose people to the private
sector no question um but I will just
reiterate that the only data I have
received is from a member of the public
who spoke and who opposes um this
opposes what we're voting on and it's
just against my against what I've agreed
to as a councilwoman to vote on
something without data without knowing
the impacts without even knowing the
number of employees that it that it
could uh impact so I'll be voting
against it thank you
thank you councilwoman Whitehead uh to
be clear the charter prohibits Council
mayor or Council from directing
individual employees we can only provide
Direction policy direction to the
Charter officers so we're giving you a
clear message that this is how we feel
and we'd like you to work on it all the
charter officers so I don't think there
should be any confusion we can't require
or mandate that people come back to work
it's part of the Char that we cannot do
that so I don't want to spend any more
time on this I know um oh vice mayor
dequez I make a motion to adopt
resolution
13353 there's a motion in a second
wonderful let's vote I'm going to let
I'm going to let councilwoman
Littlefield speak to it if you wish and
otherwise take a
vote thank you um I do support this idea
coming back to work just so that the
city can offer the highest and best
service that we can to to our citizens
at all times that there would be someone
here to answer questions and to help
people out um I think that meeting
citizens face Toof face um helps to
solve issues helps to solve problems and
I think especially in Economic
Development and areas like that it
really creates an atmosphere where
questions are answered and perhaps
long-term issues can be resolved more
quickly so I do believe that this is a
good thing I'm not saying everybody has
to come back to work tomorrow that is
not my intent what I'm saying is if we
can do this people should be able to
come to work and to uh serve our
citizens in our city with the highest
level of service possible thank you
thank you with that please register your
vote thank
you turning next to item agenda item
number seven and that is the parking
structures structure I'm sorry we have
items
16 uh the it's a water
item but we took seven off the consent
oh you want to do seven yeah I would
like to do
that because there's no public comment
on the water right are there public
comments there's no one signed up there
yeah so let me take the people that are
in the audience that are speaking first
because all the staff we're going to be
here through the
duration in any event item number seven
which I pulled off the consent agenda is
the parking structure in Oldtown
Scottdale design build pre-construction
Services contract for the sum of$ 1.6
to9 million does anyone have the
presentation
handy I don't want to spend a lot of
time on it but I want that one slide
where it shows the actual structure that
we're paying one
69 million pull that up to uh to invest
in but this this involves um a parking
structure in above ground two stories
200 spaces uh parking lot at Brown
Avenue and I think it's first right
across from the Old Mission church and
where the where the farmers market
currently goes on on a regular basis now
for 15 years
so I wasn't part of this decision uh
there are people on the council that
were but it it was approved under the
prior
Administration um and I know from
working with the stakeholders and being
friends with the stakeholders I was not
involved but I know it's been a
hotly uh debated and activated
discussion and I'll tell you I've met
with some of the stakeholders many of
them I've talked I've heard from so many
citizens don't let them scrape don't
scrape you know get do away with the
farmers market I think this is going to
be a really big deal I don't think many
people know that this is going to be the
outcome of it and by the time you know I
got here a week you know on this was on
the consent agenda um and pulled it off
then and now pulling it off again I I
think that once people learn about this
it's going to be a really big deal more
importantly and and I ran for to be your
mayor
to
do things as good as we can do in
Scottdale Arizona and make make
Scottdale as good as it can be and most
importantly high quality development and
revitalization of Oldtown Scottdale this
takes us two steps back at a minimum in
my
opinion
so my ask today is to continue this and
I have some really key reasons why I'd
like to continue this and by the way I
met with some stakeholders yesterday I I
want to do you right and good and I want
to get the parking lot in the best
location the most aesthetically pleasing
format so that we don't have a
monolithic structure you know in the
center of the centerpiece of our old
town that we're not going to ever see go
away and there's not going to be much to
do with it after this is done that's not
the at all the The View that we were on
the page that was the parking
structure that was in the presentation
materials uh this mayor members of
council this was in um the
presentation well that's not what I'm
talking about then there was a slideshow
that maybe maybe Terrence maybe you can
find it I
think anyway I won't I won't digress if
it's in the packet somewhere so because
I had it on my desk upstairs nonetheless
my key reasons for uh pulling this and
wanting to work on it personally not by
committee not death by committee not so
it rots you know and and eventually is
forgotten about uh but from my
understanding none of the stakeholders
that that advocate for more parking like
this location none of them so it seems
like a
compromise of disagreement which again I
think we can do better than
this the second reason I would really
like to see this continued so that I
personally have time to make this my
number one priority the revitalization
of Oldtown is one of my top number one
priorities uh and I will dedicate myself
to coming up with a solution that is way
better than what we're looking at right
now and it won't involve getting rid of
the farmers market so
not only does no one seem to like this
but that when I as I mentioned when I
think the general public when the
general public learns about this and is
impacted the construction that will go
on in Oldtown these Merchants will be
you know impacted for a very long period
of time which is never good in that area
not only that it will bring more traffic
to the area which I don't think is a
good thing in that iconic historic area
so what I'd like to do uh two options
I've already been in touch with honor
Health they have several Parcels around
uh the city that we that the city has
actually worked with them on in the past
some of which were the city of
Scottsdale's uh part property in the
past and uh there's no commitments yet
obviously because we just started this
dialogue when the Panic set in of what
this is going to do for me um but there
is a commitment to work on identif
ifying a a parcel in the area that I
believe would prove to be a much better
solution and would not have a negative
impact on business owners residents
residents first business owners first or
visitors to the area over how long is
this going to take to construct do you
have any idea uh mayor members of
council uh we're planning about a year
for design and about a year for
construction can you imagine the entire
block being ripped up for a year there
yeah I can't that's going to be not a
great result I'd love to see it on the
uh periphery of Oldtown whether it's
gold water or drink water and I'd rather
see it bigger I'd rather you know if
we're going to do that and see it um a
design quality that becomes an amenity
or a artistic for our city not just a
big cement structure in that location so
working with Scottdale Healthcare or
other Parcels that I believe would be
viable uh I think it's important to take
a hard look and a fast look not wasting
time the second alternative is to make
uh the
existing typical parking structure of
two stories 200 Spaces by the way it's
going to cost us s $16.2 million I
believe the cost of this is um but take
a look at if it has to be if we're stuck
with this location which I don't believe
we will be
um after a thorough deep dive into this
idea and making it happen uh I would
like to see it become an activated
resource and that will include you know
even though it's a two-story parking
garage making it much more um Advanced
architecturally and allowing for the
farmers market to still maintain a
presence on top making the top more of a
parklike or amenity uh Community
gatherings space and I know that's an
option because we've been working on
renderings for the last week on that
some of which that I've shown to the uh
well it's only one rendering but it's
dramatic which I've shared with the
stakeholders some of the stakeholders
not all all of them and I think there's
no question if you put the what we're
about to spend $1.62 n million on and be
stuck in the process and compared to
what you can do with it and making this
an amenity and not lose the lose the
farmers market I think it's worth the
you know put it at a Max month delay to
come back with the answers and the
viable Solutions so with I I hope I can
get the support of my council members to
uh indulge me in pushing this down a
little bit not to again let it suffer
the consequences death by delay that's
not at all what I'm looking to do with
that I'd like to oh is there anyone on
there with that I'd like to make a
motion to approve mayor I'm we do have
three public comments on this item oh
that's right I'm sorry sorry about that
I forgot uh I don't see them on my board
oh they're here pardon
me uh mayor the three to speak are Dan
Isaac uh French Thompson and Bob
pesman oh they're back on number seven
there we are Don Dan Isaac
followed by French Thompson and Bob
pedman Dan Isaac address still on record
um mayor thank you for your comments
because I align very closely with many
of them I believe that this parking
structure is bad for three fact-based
reasons one the majority of this Council
campaigned and preaches about being good
stewards of our taxpayer money there is
yet to be a parking study that says this
specific area has a parking deficit
other than on 12 Day Spring training
games therefore why would we spend more
than $15 million of our taxpayer money
to build a parking structure that will
be largely underutilized and vacant for
as much as 90% of the year that is not
being fiscal
stewards second as you mentioned this is
one of the most historic parts of our
city and the majority of our council
members repeatedly talk about the
importance of preserving our Western
Heritage the old Adobe mission is
arguably the most historic structure in
Oldtown to put a twostory parking
structure immediately across the street
from it is maddening to anybody who
values the history of our city not to
mention mention the entire surrounding
area is generally one story western
themed retail and Commercial Enterprises
there is no amount of money that you can
spend wisely that will make a twostory
parking structure fit into this area and
the third factbase you have mentioned
mayor is that the farmers market is a
beloved venue for hundreds of Scottdale
residents and supports dozens of our
vendors this would permanently displace
the farmers
market now when the prior Council
approved moving forward on this people
mistakenly said that the bond language
required us to put it there that is
factually incorrect the bond language
said here are three proposed sites but
they are not exhaustive and the city
will determine the appropriate site
based on business
needs so to
summarize more than $15 million of your
tax dollars being spent on something
that is
unnecessary it will ruin the look of the
most historic part of our city and it
will permanently displace the farmers
market not only should this be delayed
it should be cancelled however if you
can find space in honor health I would
fully support that because there are
areas of the city that need more parking
this is not one of them
thank you thank you Dan French Thompson
followed by Bob
pman good evening my name is French
Thompson my address is on record and I
hate following a liar that guy hates to
downtown town he has never said anything
good about the downtown he runs it down
all the time he's never supported
anything in the downtown he says it's
going to permanently ruin the farmers
market there is absolutely no proof of
that they could move three blocks over
to Goldwater in Second Street be there
for two or three years and move right
back right up on the roof the mayor said
she'd like to see it up on the roof she
had some guy come in and and make a
presentation said we can put it up on
the roof
you just move it a little bit Dan it's
not going to permanently ruin anything
the fact that it was in a bond it's been
voted there's a $21 million in the 2019
bond for this garage to be in this area
this garage was built to have two more
floors put on top of it the fact that
you are now literally trying to make
this not happen for years and years is
like I want to just tell you right now
if I tell you how I really feel I'm
going to get rested for profanity and
other terrible things because this is a
most
terrible Injustice to the merchants in
the downtown area and that guy is
consistently always lying about us and
I'm down there when I'm down there every
single day of the week and I'm seeing
what we need and what we don't need he's
not there you guys aren't there you
don't know you need to listen to the
people are on the ground seriously mayor
I voted for you if you want to make a
cosmetic change to that thing fine but
put it there we've been waiting for 28
years for this to happen this is this
just I would love to just throw up right
here on this on this Podium listening to
you want to change this don't do it put
it there don't listen to this guy don't
listen to Jason Alexander both of them
hate the downtown everything they say is
against the merchants in the downtown
and they don't even know anything about
them they don't go in the stores they
don't do business with him Jason
Alexander's never once been in my
business Dan's never once been in my
business he goes in there and he says
hey these developers had have bribed on
uh Bob pedman to to get art all this
stuff those are lies Dan they're just
and you're a loser too you're a you're a
loser you ran for City coun you you won
the the least amount of votes why don't
you as a loser get the hell out of town
go to where somebody wants you but don't
cut down your city cuz that's what
you're doing you're cutting down your
city mayor I would love to see you
support this garage and put it where it
is and make it look beautiful a firste
architectural student could make it look
good with the with the mission and if
you want to call it the mission parking
garage go right ahead
thank you Bob
pedman AB barowski council
members but the name is Bob pman just
that that's a tough act to
follow uh but you know I I seriously
feel like I'm in Twilight Zone okay so
one is that why the fear-mongering about
the farmer market that's really you know
gaslighting and fearmongering the Mark I
mean you're telling people the farmer
mark Farmers Market is going to
disappear so they don't support this
design during the construction of this
parking lot the farmer Farmers Market
can be relocated across the street to
this empty honor Health lot that we're
leasing currently and after we build
this parking lot they can go back to
their their original ground floor level
with now a roof above their head and if
we design this parking properly through
the Outreach it's going to be a
tall ceiling above them so that they can
be on the first floor in their current
location forever now with a roof above
her head rain or shine so that's
fear-mongering the farmers market is not
going to be replaced and anybody who
tell that to I'm going to say that's a
lie okay number two who are these
residents or stakeholders that oppose
this for two years we fought this to to
happen which is on the counil consent
agenda now for two years nobody spoke
against it in
writing or in person asani knows that
cogs knows that the historic um in the
Oldtown
historic Association knows that where
these magical people that appeared all
of a sudden that that you have to save
them from this ugly building and it's
not going to be an ugly building because
what's on the consent agenda right now
has an element of significant
stakeholder public Outreach that's the
chance for your architect or whoever
else to influence that design it should
blend in with a mission it can blend in
with a mission that can be done so this
is all I'm just I just can't believe I'm
here again with the same stuff by the
way that David Ortega pushed and now you
guys are pushing
here
um the honor Health C lot is going to
cost money that is that is a very very
uh that's a prime lot that's not going
to be able to be purchased for under 5
million so now you're adding 5 million
to the cost building it on the Farmers
on on the honor Health lot will make you
go underground which means that you know
the whole design you know the whole
construction you're going to end up
spending 10 more million dollars on this
you can simply go on top of what that
lot is that lot was I heard
that um I heard
that where is it here that oh it's
shortsighted to use that to use that lot
it's not short said that lot was built
from its Inception to be built two three
stories above that is the lot it can be
made to look
good you know we don't need to spend $10
million more and pursue something else
this battle has been fought now the bond
was passed in 2019 5 years later we had
to it was tooth and nail to get where we
are now and now let's go back to square
one I'm not for it thank you thank you
Bob I appreciate it so my ask was to do
a continuance for not more than 30 days
so that we can gather information on a
higher quality high quality being the
key uh design before we commit to paying
Chase Building team the $ 1.6 29 million
once we get that signed we we're not
Switching gears from the their design on
this um because then it'll be an
enforcable contract and you know if I'm
all wet on this idea and I'd love to
have you gentlemen and work with me on
it so the people that said at the
stakeholders not only the general public
that have has heard about this people
that I'm sure are here today um French
Thompson told me yesterday he didn't
think it was an ideal site John
Rosenberg told me he it wasn't his
selection and I heard that you didn't
love the selection either so the
information I think it's a compromise
that's not of any of us so
might uh within the next 30 days or at
least a strong lead on it and at a
minimum a better design and so I think
putting a farmers market on the top of
something like the Civic Center Parking
Garage is unrealistic I think that's
completely unrealistic so with that I
have a motion is there anyone that wants
to speak I'll second
it oh you were on the list before so
sorry Zen you can go ahead and speak
that's right sorry go ahead you have to
go to the podium
though so my issue is I shop at the
farmers market every Saturday and I have
for the last decade and um if this is
honor Health uh that we're talking about
uh which is owned by Black Rock State
Street a Vanguard they are trying to
destroy the organic uh food supply in
America and Destroy farmers markets so I
do not support anything that involves
Black Rock State Street and Vanguard and
hospitals hospitals are not interested
in organic farmers markets
succeeding thank
you councilman Graham um Madame mayor
there
um I will if may I make a few remarks of
course okay thank you so
um our downtown companies desperately
need more
parking when customers and visitors
drive to Oldtown in
downtown you want to have somewhere to
park
the voters in
2019 gave us 20 million
doll and they demanded us to build
another Oldtown parking
structure and that was approved by
70% we're hiring a top architectural
firm who will Design
an
aesthetical sensitive and cohesive
structure to the
area and as far as the building height
in the area across the street there's a
four-story tower
so let's remember
that um one of the speakers mentioned
that there is the P the chance for
public
Outreach that the vendor is required to
obtain your feedback as they construct
Ed to be cohesive with the Adobe
architecture and we're going to make
sure they live up to
that um when the voters
approved uh $20 million and they
demanded we build another parking
structure in
Oldtown that was
before we supercharged spending $35
million on the Civic Center and we've
made massive Investments to improve and
expand Scottdale Stadium
so here we have even a supercharged
area with more crowd size with bigger
crowd size and more
frequency so one of the thing is that we
spent significant time as a council on
site
selection we started where we should
start with the parcels that we own the
farmers market is
built for additional structures on top
of it when it was first installed it has
a substructure that can hold additional
levels so I think that moving forward
this meets both the spirit and the
intent of the voter improved 2019
bonds um and then I'll just uh wrap up
my comment here I want to read four
brief sentences into the record from one
of the downtown stakeholders that we
received from that we heard from today
this location is closest to the merchant
who desperately need it this location
will provide much needed parking for
Scottdale Stadium Scottdale arts and
Scot and Civic Center events the ground
level of the parking structure can be
designed with more
height so that once completed the
farmers market will benefit from having
a covered
area for their events no more no more
they don't they can have Farmers Market
events rain uh rain or
shine and during construction of the
farmers market there many areas that
they can lease or use during that that
interim period of time so I think moving
forward with this is meets the
spirit and the letter of what voters
told us to do and it's based on
significant
Outreach and study by this and prior
councils and I will make an alternate
motion Madame mayor to adopt resolution
13338 thank you
before we move on Council councilwoman
oh we don't have a second you're on the
board yeah would you like to speak yes I
didn't hear a second though I'm
sorry
second yeah I I would just like to say
this is something that has gone on for
years and years and years with no
solution and it's time we made a
solution to this and we fixed this
problem once and for all the ma the
citizens of scotdale in the last bond
election agreed with that and they voted
for $21 million for Oldtown parking as a
part of the $330 million bond funds that
they
approved it was approved by 70% of the
voters so it wasn't a slim
margin the city has so far allocated 2.5
million of the 21 uh million amount to
add a 54 space public parking level to
the underground parking at the Artisan
apartment complex that leaves $18.5
million to be spent on Oldtown parking
structure and or expanding
one the Farmers Market has always been
the earmarked lot for expansion and that
has been true even Dan worth admitted
that in one of his video clips that's
where the parking garage for downtown is
is intended to be and is planned to be
the city just spent $50 million to
overhaul and repurpose the Civic Center
mall and they did a beautiful job it's
great however they did not include any
extra parking to accommodate the
anticipated large crowds that might go
there we need the parking near the mall
this has an entrance to that mall to the
uh Center therefore adding extra level
to the parking Farmers Market lot makes
logical sense for the use of this money
and it's what we've promised our
citizens that we would
do it's even if it's only for this one
purpose to help the the Civic Center
mall and to help the the people who have
their businesses right there and don't
have adequate parking to support their
clientele the added levels to this
parking garage could also handle parking
needed for being training as parking is
not always adequate at that time in that
area and other additional things that go
on in the area as our special events
occur during the
year I believe we should do this we
should do it as soon as we can in that
parking lot if we add it if we build it
so we can build extra Heights to it we
can build a really nice place for the
farmers market to be there and that's
fine too nobody's trying to get rid of
that we all want it and uh I think it's
it's the best most logical way to go and
it's what the citizens voted for and and
put the money up for so that we could
have the bond money to do it and we're
we're wasting time people we need to do
it as soon as we
can councilwoman Whitehead yeah I'd like
to speak to my second um we're not
proposing to not build a parking garage
the old adage measured twice cut once
that applies here if the current mayor
who was not part of the process and it
was an agonizing process nobody liked
the idea of putting a two story parking
garage right in the in the heart of
historic downtown so if the current
mayor uh who was not part of the process
once a month to evaluate other options I
fully support
that thank you anyone else see no other
speakers uh
the do you want to rephrase the amended
motion
please oh madame mayor I just made an
alternate motion to approve the
resolution I can put I can recite the
number if you
desire just go ahead and repeat your
alternate motion then oh um alternate
motion is to approve resolution
13338 City attorney is that
satisfactory um yes mayor that's a
satisfactory motion but our rules do
provide that motions to continue take
priority over other motions so let's
proceed with that vote uh motion to
continue the item for not more than 30
days to I don't even know what date that
would be mayor it would be uh March 18th
is close council meeting so that's the
active motion on the table please
register your vote
that
motion fails and so I will turn now to
the alternate alternate motion all those
in favor of approving ordinance I don't
even know agenda item number seven
please register your vote
thank you very much moving right
[Music]
along we are
at the water and
wastewater
presentation Madame mayor I
move
yes just a break just a bathroom break
I don't know should we take a vote on
this no I'm kidding just a two minute
just a two-minute bathroom break thanks
why don't we take five
minutes two minutes okay two minutes
okay I
can
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we are moving on to item number 16 and
uh let let the record reflect there are
no public comments on this agenda item
and if you want to speak on it see uh
clerk Lane
presenting on this item is Kevin Rose it
is a public hearing presentation on
proposed Water and Wastewater land use
assumptions and infrastructure
Improvement
plans uh go ahead Kevin Rose our interim
Water Resources executive director
welcome thank you mayor council um what
I'm going be presenting tonight is an
update to our land useth assumptions and
infrastructure Improvement plan for
water and wastewater and overall what I
want to paint is this is part of what
we're trying to do related to our
development feas so this public hearing
is part of the process that we have to
follow per state statute now the land
use assumption report covers a period
from 20 uh 26 to
2035 this must be updated every uh five
years just like our infrastructure
Improvement plan and water has typically
or historically has done this every
three or four years uh the land use
assumption shows projections and changes
in land use densities intensities and
pursuant of the general
plan we use that land use assumption to
come up with our infrastructure
Improvement plan uh defines existing and
future level of service I'll go on the
next slide on the level of service that
we're required to uh Define we use
equivalent demand unit which is equal to
one detached single family dwelling unit
based on our 1 in water meter uh we use
this to estimate the cost of future and
system expansion based on the land use
assumptions and the iip timeline is the
same as the
Lua now state law requires us to define
the level of service and they're
different for water and wastewater the
water level of service is defined as a
system's ability to meet the peak day
demand per edu the Wastewater level of
service is defined as the system's
ability to meet the average annual day
demand per
edu based on all that information we use
this to come up with our development
feed currently it's in draft we're still
working on it
and we use these development fees to
charge um offset costs associated with
providing necessary public services to
new
development uh must be beneficial to the
new development it can't be used uh the
development fees for existing services
and historically scottown has adopted
the only water and waste water
development fees as you see in the
simple diagram there we have to go with
the Lua first iip to look at our
development
fees so the development fee process
timeline
uh started December 4th we actually put
this on a website the Lua the iip plan
uh for those to review it then a public
hearing meeting tonight February 11th
then April 8th we'll come back and
request uh city council to adopt the Lua
and iip we have to leave it open for 30
days no more than 60 days then May 20th
um after if it is adopted um we'll be
looking at to come for a public hearing
on the development fee report then and
request Council to adopt those
development fees then by September 15th
the new development fees would become
effective so on that I'll be happy to
answer any
questions councilman
Graham thank you Mr Rose and so what do
you how do you how would you assess the
um fiscal health of um the fee process
and what developers are paying hang in
and do you see any sharp increases that
that's kind of three questions isn't it
I can I
can I can put those peace meal you've
got a good memory mayor uh councilman
Graham uh Council I I'll do my best so
what we're seeing with the fees and this
one reason why we went back and updated
the Lua and the iip uh the past three
years we have seen inflation really
increase um then we looked at the last
year and we're starting to see it uh I
would say decrease but still high
uh based on that we know our development
fees are lagging and once we get the
final report we able to present uh to
the council what our findings are and
our recommendations for a new
development
fee so you're not totally confident in
the fiscal health of the process or of
the of the current plan is did did is
that what you
said can you repeat the question there
uh councilman Graham trying to
understand so we're trying we're trying
to understand what our costs are okay
let me just ask this you said you
mentioned because like you mentioned
some inflation what's what's what in
your opinion is driving the
inflation um we did come out of the co
years again we haven't updated the plan
uh three to four years so as coming out
of Co we notice the costs went up we are
noticing costs are starting to go down
on construction costs right so based on
that we said we need to develop our
update our plan and look at our
development fees to ensure the
development fees are capturing the cost
okay well um we've approved some recent
you know major projects so I hope we've
been able to
capture
enough I guess just in general do you
think we're capturing it are we
capturing enough to cover our costs U
councilman Graham mayor council best way
I can answer that any current
development that has happened or is in
processed or has been approved uh those
costs are captured under the current
ones we will recommending increases once
we get an idea what those increases are
any future development will not be
captured under those
costs okay I I understand it's that's
it's difficult to say so all right thank
you well um I'll move to accept this
agenda item I I lost the resolution
number a
second is there a vote tonight Kevin no
they're counc okay I withdraw my motion
my attempted motion I yeah thank you
thank you very much for the presentation
call
it thank
you okay moving on to the second public
comment we have another opportunity for
non- agendized public comment we've
received three three requests Zen are
you still here Fortune
John
deal Lee
cofell hi there Le Lee CTI um I just
wanted to uh celebrate one of the things
that you said earlier today which was uh
that we were awarded the best city to
raise a family
and acknowledge the hundreds of War
awards that we've gotten just like that
and for other things over the past 20
something years so I just wanted to yeah
celebrate that and what what a great
City we have to have uh to have won all
those
Awards well that's a nice change of pace
thank you very
much okay moving on to our last final
item
harah uh this is an item that I as added
to the agenda for
consideration on the three options and
that is to agendize a work study
discussion to of the council in order to
identify specific scope structure goals
and need or purpose of the task force
created through resolution number
13335 and to look at long ter the
long-term sustainability of the city by
examining fiscal population and
conservation
needs uh and the reason I am asking to
do this is because there was certainly a
rush to uh to the vote on this one and
while I supported the repeal of the
sustainability plan I did not and do not
support re impaneling or reopt
reorganizing a task force of seven uh
seven residents who served on the last
you know not the on same ones obviously
but that's how the prior task force was
situated and I don't think that worked
out very well for
anybody um and so I really think it's
important to for this Council to have an
open discussion about um how we see this
playing out uh I asked the city
treasurer to provide me and one thing
that was really um difficult for me on
this Prospect of reamp paneling a a task
force to do this again a do over um albe
it ideally with the right results but as
as we see in that you never know what's
going to come out of um you know a a
task force or it depends on who's
running it who's interfacing with the
charges so all of those issues I think
are are ripe to discuss um I personally
don't think we need a sustainability
plan I said that already our departments
are doing that I don't think we need to
reamp panel a seven member group of
residents to do this again um but if if
that was the vote and I I get that um
but now I think it's important to hone
in and be more specific uh and I learned
from the city treasure that um $2.2
million was spent on the last task force
so that's problematic for me I ran and
got elected presumably about conserving
taxpayer money so doing this again um
without a real specific uh Direction and
this I'll use this also I'm a big
proponent of direct appointments we
could we could agree to use this as a
trial run on Direct appointments so that
we have real good input and
accountability for our task force
members and I also think we need to
identify how long out you know what's
our what are the goals how long is the
Task Force going to be um have their
charge and be together what's their
timeline is Staff directing traffic on
it are we Etc so with that I see some
comments here and I won't make a motion
but uh Council yet councilwoman
Whitehead we spent 2.2 million on what
sorry the sustainability plan okay and
we have ridiculous I agree um okay so we
call spending money with Community
meetings that were requested by
councilman Graham a waste of money
that's fine what is the purpose of a new
um of of a new task force are you I'm
trying to understand what what you're
requesting here mayor are you requesting
that we not have a task
force so unfortunately the this is a
whole another issue I have with how the
agenda is being done this was a dual
purpose agenda item and it was one fail
swoop of a vote so I voted no because I
don't want another task force impanel
and I don't want to go down that road
again I think it's completely pointless
and unnecessary and that's beside the
point that was the vote and so to answer
your specific question that's what we're
that's what we have already voted on
that's the ordinance the T the
sustainability plan repealed but let's
do it again with a new task force so I I
have real concerns about about that I
don't you know I'm sure everyone wants
to be specific on this what what the
task force is going to do uh I'd
probably rather see it be a subcommittee
of the council that does this or at you
know at best
but it it's direct appointments would be
amazing on this task force as a trial
run so anyway you asked me a question I
didn't mean to interrupt no no you
didn't interrupt from me you answered
the question I appreciate that I'm just
trying to understand we have a
commission um
for sustainability and I just wonder why
we would have a separate task force
again that was part of the vote that
took place yeah I understand but I I
guess that would be part of the work
studies we could discuss whether or not
we want a task force or whether or not
we want to just use the commission
that's already in place my motion and
agenda item deals with the facts that
we've got before us and I would like to
be uh I would like to do a work study
that explores what the goal Direction
and uh structure of the task force is
for the benefit of obtaining a better
outcome than we did last time okay okay
well of course I think the outcome was
fine last time but okay that's fine I
can support that
thanks vice mayor
devasquez thank you Madame mayor
um when I went to the um the community
outreach program over the summer I went
around and I talked with of the city
staff um and I asked I won't name the
names and I said are you already doing
this work is is the sustainability
office providing you additional goals is
this something uh above and beyond your
normal work right you're already working
toward reducing water things like that
and they said yes the staff said yes
these are these are our goals and the
sustainability office is is really just
tracking them and putting them together
um and so my impression from speaking
with several of the um experts that
we've hired on the city staff is that
they're this is their profession and
they're excellent at it um and so maybe
some of what we should consider is the
opportunity um to take what we are
obligated to do by the general plan
which is have a sustainability plan um
and direct the city manager to put that
together with the experts that they have
in house and maybe that could comprise
our task force that's just an idea um
but but we do have in-house experts who
are already doing a lot of this work so
maybe we don't need to spend a lot of
money and a lot of Resident time um so
that's just a thought to consider is
maybe we look at number two and ask the
city manager to to give us some thoughts
on
that thank you councilwoman McAllen
thank you mayor um I'd like to move move
to accept item 18 for a work study
session I'll second
that and I'll call the
question you know I'm GNA let councilman
Graham speak to this
first yeah it was a choice a session or
a future meeting that's right what this
says yeah I asked for a work study
session so see it's even in the
title so it is it is one of the options
sorry it there's some confusion on the
agenda item there council at any point
if there is any that
point if there is any confusion we could
suspend the rule and and and allow for
and move to have a work study session
it's added to the uh a possibility as a
number four
action yeah U there's no question we can
do
that okay so I'm going to point of order
real quick because there was a lot that
happened right
there council member McAllen moved to
approve the item but the motion should
just be moved to for number item number
one is that what you meant to
do no I meant it is listed as well maybe
I'll ask the City attorney for item
number
18 uh would the motion be just to accept
item number 18 to create a work study
session related to sustainability task
force yes I I think that that's an
appropriate motion that fits
into paragraph one the first option U to
move this item forward to a work study
agenda and it's properly on the agenda
as agendize a future work study session
related to the sustainability task
force so um my apologies I was reading
the screen but then okay okay I'm
getting some head nods that I wasn't the
only one confused um and then council
member Whitehead called the
question she she called the question but
so I I just wanted to respect the rules
the the Parliamentary
order I didn't realize you wanted to
speak I just was thinking it was time to
vote go ahead I I can take that back I
can I cannot call the
question yeah you okay okay and then is
there a second for council member
there's a second okay okay I I have
nothing to add thank you so I see no
other speakers on the board I uh I agree
with what council what VI vice mayor uh
dequez just said and I think I made the
exact same point at the meeting that we
took this up under and based on my
discussions and I think I talked about
this with uh acting city manager Bill
Murphy we're we're already doing
everything we need to be doing we're so
Advanced and we're cutting edge and
we're this is their jobs to paraphrase
what you said and we have the best in
the business and we're looking to get
the best in the business and so I
struggle with why we we would we would
do the the task force again until
because you'll remember Bill Murphy left
and so there wasn't an opportunity to
really hear from him at that time um of
that meeting and I agree I mean I would
I would be comfortable with the motion
making an alternate motion than what's
on the table that says First Direct the
city manager to con coincide with what
uh vice mayor just said to report back
to the Council on this what are we
missing what do we need to do what would
a citizen's task force need to
accomplish what's you know purpose yeah
what's the purpose CU $2.2 million on
the task force is no small investment
and it's a process and I would hate to
see seven you know new residents show up
and and then we do it all over again and
maybe we don't I believe we don't need
it I've been on record I I heard what
you just said and I concur entirely so
and when the city manager does report
back to us I believe it's going to be we
don't need this because we're doing it
this is our jobs in every Department
so but assuming that was a
complete not the case completely not the
case then we could do a work study
session to come back and bring the task
force together and ideally do a direct
appointment experiment but I'd rather
see it be the former and not the latter
okay so that alternate hearing from the
city manager I think is a good Prospect
first so the alternate motion is on the
table and do I have second second I have
a second Madame mayor I'll withdraw my
motion oh thank you that's easy so now
we've got one motion on the table and
that to be clear is AG uh not agenda a
work study session but direct the city
manager or responsible Charter officer
all of them ideally right to contribute
to investigate the matter and prepare a
written response to the council and just
to be clear about the need scope and to
councilwoman littlefield's point the uh
purpose of what you would see a task
force adding to a resident task force
adding to what we are already
doing so without complicating things
which I think I did just then but can I
have can I have a can I have a vote on
the motion
please sure
there was a second thank you
councilwoman Littlefield thank you very
much and with that this passes
and please go ahead with that action and
I think we are all said and done does
anyone have a motion to move to adjourn
second thank you very much thanks for
all of you that were here all night long
night e