City Council | Regular Meeting - January 14, 2025

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afternoon oh we have a few few remaining
here good afternoon
I am mayor barowski for all of you who I
haven't met and thank you for coming
this evening I now call the January 14th
2025 city council regular meeting to
order city clerk Ben Lane please conduct
a roll call thank you mayor mayor Lisa
barowski present vice mayor Barry Graham
present council members Jandy bakas
present Adam quasman present Kathy
Littlefield
present Maryann McCallen present and
Salange Whitehead present acting city
manager Greg kton present City attorney
Sher Scott present City Treasurer Sony
Andrews present acting City Otter Lake
cluff present and the clerk is present
thank you mayor thank you Mr Lane we
have Scottdale our esteemed Scottdale
police and fire here to protect us this
evening if anyone requires assistance
please let me know or let the clerk know
I'd like to have councilwoman Salange
Whitehead do the Pledge of Allegiance
for us
tonight I pledge allegiance to the flag
of the United States of America and
the stands
na indivisible withy andice for all
well I'm sure many of you were at the
swearing end ceremony uh and I'd like to
ask if anyone has any uh anything they
want to add for inaugural remarks and if
not we'll get right to business well
almost right to business
anybody councilwoman councilman Graham
thank you madam mayor very pleased to uh
begin working with you very pleased um
the event was um remarkable and very
enjoyable and I just want to express my
appreciation for um my new colleagues
running for Council winning your seats
serving the council I look I'm very much
looking forward to working with council
member dousis councilman quasman and
council member uh macallen so very uh
congratulations on being here and last
but not least of course Madam mayor
barowski looking forward to working with
you thank you thank you vice mayor
pardon the uh pardon the misstep there
thank you very much uh at this time I'd
like to uh have a point of privilege and
call to the microphone or the podium
Pastor Ryan Goble from Scottdale Bible
to do the
invocation good evening if you would
like to would you pray with
me almighty God we beseech you this
evening for your Grace and your mercy
thank you that we live in a nation in a
state in a city that affords us the
freedom to gather and to speak and to
have freedom uh to practice civil
discourse would you let grace and mercy
Reign let Justice rain down and more
than anything let us know that you love
us and that you sacrifice for us Lord
God Jesus we call on you as the King of
Kings to preside over this meeting today
it's in the name of Jesus Christ that we
pray
amen thank you Pastor
goo at this time I'd like to hear from
the acting city manager Now Greg Kon
thank you mayor we have a short video
for your viewing
[Music]
pleasure I'm public information officer
Kelsey Perry with five things happening
around the city you need to know at
number five Parks and Recreation has a
new plan in place to guide the future of
play in Scottdale the Parks and
Recreation master plan identifies key
initiatives policies and implementation
strategies to guide the Department's
projects and services over the next 10
years the plan was approved by the
Scottdale city council after nearly two
years of research planning and a ton of
collaboration with the community
including more than 300,000 resident
interactions to read the plan visit
scottsdaleaz.gov
and search Parks and Recreation master
plan at number four Scottdale
firefighters now have a state-of-the-art
place to train the department just
opened an upgraded training facility
that features Cutting Edge training
structures including a five-story burn
Tower a three story basic skills
building and a comprehensive outdoor
skills area with props that help First
Responders prepare for a wide range of
emergency scenarios the first buyer
Academy will take place at the new
training center this month Tom hans's
training facility will also feature a
brand new police training center it is
designed to support the st's own fire
and police Personnel as well as First
Responders throughout the region it was
built largely with vooder approved Bond
financing and opens at a critical
juncture for the Scottdale fire
department as more than one-third of the
Department's Workforce is eligible to
retire in the next 5 years at number
three Scottdale welcomes a new mayor and
three new city council members this
month mayor Lisa barowski councilwoman
Jan decus councilman Adam quasman and
councilwoman Maryann McAllen were all
elected by the residents of Scottsdale
to serve four-year terms learn more
about Scottsdale's elected leadership
review city council agendas and learn
how you can participate in your local
government by heading to
scottsdaleaz.gov and searching city
council at number two some of Arizona's
biggest events returned to Scottsdale
this month Westworld is gearing up for
the Bara Jackson collector car auction
one of the largest in the world from
January 18th through the 26th and for
the Scottdale Arabian horse show which
is celebrating its 70th anniversary from
February 13th through the 23rd and over
at TPC Scottdale the greatest show on
grass is back the 20025 WM Phoenix Open
returns in early February the annual
concert in the Coliseum which takes
place at the iconic 16th hole will be on
February 1st and the Golf Tournament
begins February 3rd the event attracts
hundred hundreds of thousands of fans to
Scottdale each year for tickets or to
learn more about these events visit
Westworld a.com or WM Phenix
open.com at number one Saddle Up in
Oldtown Scottdale during Western week
from January 25th through February 2nd
headlining Western week the par Del Soul
historic parade rides into town February
1st featuring more than 100 colorful
floats mounted Riders HSE drawn
carriages school marching bands and more
the parade is immediately followed by
the trails and festival with live music
food and fun including free entry to
Scottsdale's Museum of the West also
happening in Oldtown on February 1st and
2nd enjoy the Arizona Indian festival a
cultural celebration hosted by and
honoring Arizona's Indian Community it
features an array of traditional arts
and crafts entertainment and Foods learn
more and plan your Western week fun at
Oldtown scel
a.com that will'll do it for this
edition of Fast 5 for more news and
events sign up for our city newsletters
by heading to scottsdaleaz.gov and
searching news
letter thank you mayor that completes my
report thank you well done lots of
exciting events coming
up we may recede to a possible executive
session uh this is a standard part of
the meeting where we let you know that
during tonight's meeting the council may
make a motion to recess into executive
session to obtain legal advice on any
applicable item on the agenda if
authorized by the council approved by
the council the executive session will
be held immediately and will not be open
to the public the public meeting will
resume following the executive
session public comment announcement
public comment is res reserved for
Scottdale citizens business owners and
our property owners to comment on non
agendized
items that are within the council's
jurisdiction only no official Council
action can be taken on these items and
speakers are limited to 3 minutes to
address the council if you wish to speak
on a non- agendized or agendized topic
please see the city clerk now and he can
get you in the queue we received three
requests for non
agendized uh items for public comment
I'd like to call those individuals to
the podium now starting with I'm going
to read all three names so you can be
prepared starting with Steven Sutton
followed by Dan ishak hope I'm saying
that right Dan uh Patricia badok
Steve Sutton 6637 North 81st Street good
evening and congratulations to the new
mayor and council
members it is with regret that at this
first meeting of the new Council I must
give a disturbing report on the city
manager's response letter to Citizen
petitions the former Council
accepted the city manager's letter
States a citizen Petition of 605
signatures was presented of those 477
signatures were from Scottdale
residents I simultaneously submitted two
different petitions not one the dog park
designation signed Petition of 51
signatures and the dog park etiquette
signed Petition of
489 all signatories prior to signing
were asked to confirm Scottdale
residency I doubt even 10% of the
petition signatures are invalid the city
manager letter States traditionally Park
signs had guided owners to each
enclosure based on Behavior categories
passive and active that is a parsing of
the truth that omits the fact of 16
years of successful use of passive and
active signs the city manager's letter
States in early 2023 staff responded to
multiple residents requests by updating
the signs to reflect the dog size
instead of behavior there is
documentation of only one resident
requesting sign changes staff claim
claimed survey answers supported
changing the science but do not have any
documents proving this occurred multiple
public document requests support the
conclusion that a single former Parks
and Recreation Department employee
decided to remove passive and active
designation signs due to one resident
request without any academic or
scientific research supporting the need
to do so and without seeking comment
from the hundreds of individuals who
used the dog park almost every day
additional problems with the city
manager's letter are identified in the
petition submitted tonight vice mayor
Barry Graham recently emailed residents
he was renewing his commitment to put
residents first in 2025 that starts with
my pledge to work with our new mayor and
three new members of the city council to
ensure that your city government's
priorities are more closely aligned with
yours this will be our chance to make
city government more responsive to you
and your family I hope the entire
Council shares this sentiment and
realizes a priority of Scottdale
residents is for city employees to
provide factually accurate reports s not
parse the truth to misinform and
manipulate or delay action on reasonable
and simple requests in conclusion dog
park users collaborated over two months
creating the four new signs two multi-
hundred signature petitions and
extensively research documents
supporting our request for new signs dog
park users are disgusted with
disrespectful incompetent deny delay and
defer behavior on the part of City
management Parks and Recreation
Department and commission the expect
ation is they will continue to ignore
and admit facts and spend months
delaying a decision to defend their egos
and bureaucratic power I am petitioning
the council to establish stringent
oversight and a deadline of two months
from today for City Management's
decision on installation of the
requested signs that is more than enough
time to complete the research and public
input since I've already done most of
the work for the city thank you and good
luck thank you Mr Sutton and thank you
for being here tonight I for one would
like to learn more about that in the
coming weeks thank you
Mr
isach
Excuse Dan Isaac address on record and
don't worry it's my father's fault
nobody can pronounce my name um mayor
and councel congratulations to those
newly elected tier positions by some
accounts the victories were very
impressive even more impressive is that
for two of you miss deasus and Mr
quasman you didn't even wait until
you're swearing in before going back on
a foundational promise of your
campaigns Miss deasus perhaps you don't
recall where at an LD meeting of the
candidates you said that you would not
take money from developers and went even
further to say that council members
should not be allowed to take money from
anyone expecting to have business before
Council yet you had a debt retirement
party hosted by zoning attorneys and
sponsored by some of the biggest
business people in
Scottsdale and it was held in the pedman
art gallery which directly receives
money from the city to promote its
business and other art galleries not to
mention Mr Pan's pressure on developers
to purchase his art and exchange to not
Lobby against them Mr quasman you
recently followed suit with your debt
retirement party it's even more
disturbing that your campaign debt was
in fact your loans to your campaigns so
the amounts you raised went into your
bank account with a brief stop in your
campaign alas we won't see the details
of this for a while Shameless is what
comes to
mind what's more most of this Council
repeatedly speaks about listening to
Residents yet you have exponentially
expanded tonight's agenda with little
notice and contrary to past practice or
even a modum of decorum thereby
depriving the vast majority of residents
from being able to comment or attend to
speak on the agenda items none of the
items are of an urgent nature so why
weren't they either included originally
or added to the next meeting we we all
know the answer to that again Shameless
is what comes to mind perhaps in a
spirit of decency some should motion to
table them until the next meeting I look
forward to Future meetings where I will
continue to point out hypocrisy
misstatements and bad actions of the
council again congratulations on your
victories God help scottd by the way Rod
when you write about this and more lies
about me in your rager on Twitter have
the courage to put your name to the
comments instead of being an anonymous
troll hiding in the sh
Isaac that's inappropriate I think from
the podium thank you for pronouncing my
name correctly the prior mayor didn't
for four years so thank you for being
here
tonight m b bodock bad knck I know how
to
pronounce Patty's
name good evening mayor and Council my
name is Patty bad knck Citywide sec
security risks are on the minds of many
who live here our police do not have the
manpower to manage the number one
priority of the city of Scottdale which
is Public Safety that determination is
an essential part before decisions are
made not Shoring them up after the fact
for example the ability of sdrs to put
many hotels throughout our neighborhoods
many of which are used as Party House
abuses do not adhere to the rules
because there is little ability to
uphold the
accountability must be intentional the
special police unit is just a token
gesture the height of the criminal drug
offenses within the bar district is out
of control the drug cartels with their
infighting fighting among each other for
territorial dominance is frightening
must be intentional
and with no noise ordinance The Villa
Monteray historic neighborhoods continue
to be ignored must be intentional these
and other issues all have the Practical
knowingness of plain common sense to
understand the downsides well before
their abilities to take control as any
average intelligence can determine
before these decisions are made in the
first place therefore if must be
intentional and so
finally it is the expressed
responsibility of the voting public at
large to see that this newly elected
body will represent the fundamental
Common Sense practices and that we
continue to Select Fund and support
future leaderships that intend to uphold
the city's most livable cities quotation
or slogan we are supposed to be as noted
thank
you thank you Patty we have one
additional speaker and that is the
esteemed Paradise Valley mayor Greg
Stanton Mark Stanton oh my gosh Mark
he's one of my good friends so sorry
it's not Greg Stanton after all it's
Mark Stanton
thank you Mary welcome to call me Greg
that's fine good man a longtime friend
um tonight I just uh am representing two
different organizations uh first of all
thank you mayor very much and on behalf
of the town of Paradise Valley and My
Town Council Partners we just want to
say congratulations and continued
success for a wonderful community and
great leadership and we look forward to
working with you and continue working
together as municipalities that support
each other uh understand each other and
will continue to work for Mutual success
U so that's from the the town of
Paradise Valley now I'm going to change
hats for a moment and speak to you as
the uh CEO of the Scottsdale area
Chamber of Commerce and from that
standpoint I wanted to say
congratulations from the board of
directors and the staff and the
leadership from the Scottdale chamber
you've all uh been very active with the
chamber in different regards and we look
forward to continuing that as we have
with previous C councils and we are very
supportive of your uh interest in and
engagement with the business community
and our chamber and this city is made up
of small business owners all the way up
to large large large corporate entities
and to know that you aware and that
you're interested and engaged means a
lot a lot to the chamber and a lot to
the community and just to let you know
that the chamber is happy to work with
you as as partners on on your engagement
with the business community and will
always be there to listen and to partner
where appropriate and make sure that the
business voices are heard and uh and
supported for for you and the council so
that's my my comment thank you and
congratulations to everybody thank you
mayor Mark Stanton we really appreciate
it and I'm looking forward and on behalf
of my colleagues very much looking
forward to working with you and Paradise
Valley and of course the chamber thank
you so
much next we turn to the approval of the
minutes and I think there's several that
we need to approve uh I'd like to ask
call for a motion to approve the first
the regular actually we can do this All
in One Fell Swoop unless anyone has an
issue with that regular meeting and work
study session meetings of November 19th
24 special meeting minutes of November
26 22nd excuse me 2024 regular me
meeting minutes of November 25th 2024
and executive session meeting minutes of
November 25th
2024 so moved
second all those in favor respond with
I or we can register or
register it passes unanimously thank you
very
much tonight as Mr Isaac pointed out we
have several added items that were added
after the agenda was
published uh that is items 14a 14b 14 C
and I thought there was a 14d
14d uh n
17
I don't want to entertain a motion to uh
add all of those items I'd like to uh do
those individually and I will entertain
a motion on
first
14a see if we can find 14a which is the
Council subcommittee on community safety
do I have a
motion so moved
second all those in favor of adding the
Council subcommittee on community safety
agenda item please register your vote
passing unanimously we will add that to
the
agenda next we turn to 14b repeal of the
Scottdale Community sustainability plan
and establishing a sustainability task
force and I will entertain a motion for
that so moved
second all those in favor respond by
registering your
vote by the majority that item will be
added to tonight's
agenda next we have 14 C amending the
roles of council procedure which uh I'll
entertain a vote to add that to the
agenda for so moved second that's item
5'11 by the
way please register your vote
by the approval oops mine didn't
register by the approval of the majority
we will add that to the
agenda
14d interim city manager
appointment I'll call for a motion to
add that to tonight's
agenda so moved
second all those in favor of adding this
item to to tonight's agenda please
register your
vote by the majority that item passes
and will be added to the
agenda
17 let's see where
oh yes uh there's number 17 agend eyes
review and possible scope change for the
planned roundabout at Scottdale Road and
dynamite Boulevard for a future council
meeting motion so
moved
second all those in favor register your
vote
that item passes and will be added to
the
agenda thank you
here we
go next we have the consent agenda items
1 through 13
does anyone on the dis have any
questions on any of the consent agenda
items or requests to move any of the
consent agenda items to the regular
agenda
um Madame
mayor yes who's talking to
me over here oh vice mayor gram um vice
mayor gram thank you I just had a quick
question the um the Scottdale item
number nine Scottdale CER for Performing
Arts has been requested to continue do
we have to pull that out of the uh
consent agenda to do that I don't
believe we do unless there's any
correction from legal very
good anyone have any questions yes
councilwoman Whitehead thank thank you
mayor I just want to point out I I'm not
pulling any item but on item seven all
of us are always worried about
uh pass and making sure that any uh
removal of right of ways don't impact
our path system so there is a removal of
a RightWay um item seven but no paths
are impacted and uh the the swap works
out well for our path system so I'm good
with that one thank you and thanks to
staff for clarifying that for
me Ben do we have excuse me clerk Lane
do we have any no no comments on the
consent agenda item see no comments
uh I will entertain a motion to approve
the consent agenda items yeah I'll
motion to approve uh consent agenda
items 1 through 13 continued
second I'll second all those in favor
please register your
vote passes
unanimously thank you very
much this gets in the way moving on to
the regular agenda items 14 through
14d plus the additions we've
made yes uh first we have item 14 I
think our city treasurer is here to talk
about that perhaps yes and you have a
slideshow for us
great thank you mayor thank you Council
this is the ordinance to establish the
budget review commission next
Slide the budget Comm review commission
will serve in an advisory capacity to
the city council for the purpose of
reviewing and recommending the operating
and capital budget including reviewing
major Revenue forecasts taxes and fees
and also budget governing uh policies
the city council remains fully
responsible for the budget assessment of
taxes and fees and setting policies next
Slide the ordinance provides for the
budget commission to be made up of seven
citizen members with financial
accounting business or government
management background um each council
member will appoint one member uh the
mayor will appoint the member to serve
as the chair and the members will have
three-year
terms next
slide and so uh the motion to establish
the budget review commission is on on
the slide and I can answer any questions
that you might
have thank you very much I don't have
any questions does anyone have
any
oh councilwoman Whitehead I don't have
any questions um I make a motion to
adopt ordinance number 4 4660 amending
scussel Revis code chapter 2 Article 5
by adding a new division 17 to establish
a budget review
commission second
second thank you all those in favor
please respond by registering your
vote and by unanimous vote yay this
passes I'm excited thank
you moving on to 14a the council sub
committee on community safety and this
is uh I don't think we have a
presentation um but this is a council
that will be of a subcommittee of the
council and three members will be
appointed to serve for the benefit of
all of our residents and the focus of
this committee will be on Public Safety
Community uh safety um those are the
same things but just
strengthening uh really what's going on
in our city and making sure it's a clean
safe enjoyable place to live and I know
that's very um overarching but I think
there's some good work to be done here
and I'm looking forward to uh to having
the subcommittee become part of our
regular daytoday week to week month to
month I'll entertain a motion if anyone
does not if you don't have questions and
if you do please let me know
vice mayor Graham thank you Madame mayor
um I just wanted to comment on this this
was a great idea um very excited about
it the potential for this subcommittee
and um I think this was one of your
campaign promises and I think it's going
to be very effective we um as far as
protecting our tourism making sure
people feel safe in their homes and as
they go about the city so I'm very
excited about this and I meant to
comment on the prior item which I won't
belabor but
uh budget commission also if I can just
talk about that very briefly you ran on
that others ran on that I'm very excited
about that budget discipline looking at
some of the cost overruns and I think we
should be very proud that we're setting
this up that up and I'm just really
looking forward to a lot of these so
thank you Madame mayor thank you vice
mayor oh and with that I will move
to let me get the let me get the uh
resolution number I will move to approve
resolution number
13334
second thank you all those in favor
please register your
vote and that is unanimous yes thank you
so
much next we turn to item
14b repeal of the Scottdale Community
sustainability plan and establishing a
sustainable sustainability task
force uh I know there's a presentation
on this I think only if there's
questions so I don't have any questions
right now does anyone have any questions
right now with that I know there's
public comment lots of public comment
about this one so I'm gonna I think
there
are well it shows there are 32 people
that want to speak on this and you all
are allowed three minutes a piece I
would personally love it if you could
limit your comments to the main points
and uh we look forward to hearing from
each and every every one of you and I
will start with the first three so that
you have your Cu uh Dr Sonny kirtley
followed by Natalie Chrisman Lazar
followed by former now former
councilwoman bet Betty
Janik Elmo Elmo
please good evening council members my
name is Sonnie kirtley I represent the
board of directors of cogs Coalition of
Greater Scottdale our address is on file
as it has been for 16
years who are these
people if you the new city council
majority vote to appeal the approved
sustainability plan these are the
volunteers that you are
disrespecting who's missing from this
list add the hundreds of Scottdale
residents who attended the many open
hous houses over the two years that this
group
met they provided constructive input to
that final approved plan and the city
staff who supported the final plan who
were away from their homes from 5:00 to
9:00 for the meetings they missed their
family dinners and they miss their quiet
time at home this is not a positive way
to begin your new terms on city council
by disrespecting the years of work of
residents if you have issues with the
sustainability plan amend it make some
changes add your fiscal responsibility
your fiscal
sustainability but whatever group you
put if it's a new task force we hope
that you will respect their work you are
not respecting two years of work from
all these people they're volunteers this
has a side effect why would any anyone
want to be on a board or commission if
they're not respected thank
you thank you
Sonnie next Natalie Chrisman
Lazar
MOSI and honorable council members my
name is Natalie Chrisman Lazar and I
have lived at 7647 East turquoise Avenue
for over 20 years I'm here tonight like
I was just last month to support the
Scottsdale Community sustainability plan
as a professional civil engineer former
chair of the Scottdale environmental
advisory commission and a mother I urge
you to vote against the repeal of this
plan there are a myriad of reasons why
you should vote against the repeal but I
want to spend my time on something that
I think you as elected representatives
of our entire
Community need to
consider repeal of the plan undermines
residents voices and
priorities I can only hope that you are
familiar with all of the work that was
put into this plan to engage residents
and incorporate their feedback over more
than three years of effort it includes
six study sessions with city council
stud sessions and meetings it includes
regular agendized discussion at the
Scottdale environmental advisory
commission a commission made up of
council appointed residents with a
commitment to environmental
stewardship it includes agendized
discussion by at least two other Council
appointed resident commissions and six
separate Community workshops receiving
input from the
public they also had a community survey
this is a Myriad of wonderful public
input people have had more than three
years to comment on this plan it was
finally approved in December an
overwhelming am amount of public input
was received that was positive and these
efforts were constructive they resulted
in a better
plan I understand that some of my fellow
residents may be riled up to send you
emails and say the plan cils their
personal Liberties or has some hidden
price tag that raises taxes inexplicitly
it does not yes it is an environmental
sustainability plan that encourages
residents to
recycle plant trees and the like however
it is in no way including mandates that
have reductions in city services like
trash pickup or rationing your water or
your electricity or the outs sourcing of
local decisions to the
county it doesn't subject your home or
business to monitoring or auditing it is
a measured Community focused road map
that sets us on a path to leaving our
community better than we found it that's
good for residents that's good for
business and it should be good for a new
city
council thank you thank you very
[Applause]
much farmer Farmer councilwoman Betty
Janik thank you mayor good evening mayor
and city council um back again uh my
address is on record I urge you to keep
the sustainability plan alive two two
years in a row we've had record high
temperatures that last longer and longer
we've had record high nighttime low know
the city doesn't cool off because it has
become so hot during the day we have
drought we've have an increase in the
number of high ozone days I know we can
make a difference I know we can change
the trajectory the plan is an outline
for all of us in the city and the
citizens and the Council on ways to live
within a desert environment and it is
voluntary
I know you have concerns on the cost of
the plan as do I I believe we all do
we're all concerned about the budget and
how our money is spent but Council has
the power of the purse you have the
power to say I don't like this aspect it
seems too expensive let's go back and
look it over it is way more efficient to
make edits to the current plan that has
evolved over the course of three years
with the input of hundreds of citizens
rather than trash it and Miss chrisen
Lazar pointed that out all the meetings
all the get togethers all the comments
all the opportunities for the naysayers
to speak out and I have found
overwhelmingly with my years of service
that the people who disagree wait until
the last minute to weigh in after
everybody else has listened to all the
other comments and I really don't like
that approach to governance not one bit
many of the actions involve cost-saving
measures we can reduce the landfill refu
by increasing the number of people
recycling especially in apartment
complexes this provides the city a huge
savings by stretching the life cycle of
a very expensive
landfill we have been very successful in
reducing per capita water consumption
continue installing those Leak Detection
sensors and homes I want to know if I
have a leak in my water it's going to
save me money this is not rationing and
an email went out last night from
somebody who should be more accurate in
what they
say that this is not rationing it is
prudent use of limited resources when we
live in the
desert this is a valuable service lower
water consumption lower water cost we
have to tackle the problem of extreme
heat plant a tree many companies offer
free trees and we have volunteers
willing to help us plant those trees
what could be a better solution we will
reap Financial benefits after the first
few years shade cools down your home so
you use less energy less energy means a
lower electric bill lower energy use
leads to burning less fossil fuels which
reduces greenhouse gases which in turn
lowers the air temperature
and the cycle continues that is the
beauty of
science trees gobble up the greenhouse
gas carbon dioxide and they produce
oxygen new research shows that tree bark
breaks down methane which is the
greenhouse gas 28 times more powerful
than carbon dioxide again cooler Earth
and cleaner air let's not wait any
longer to plant those trees fix the Ley
leaky f asss and recycle the true
success rests with all of us in
embracing a sustainable life and Council
can lead the way by embracing this plan
the time to start is now and the place
to start is our great city of
Scottsdale I was at the inauguration I
heard what our count what our uh new
mayor said she wants to engage the
community in the next New Movement
certainly this fall falls into that
category thank as always I have data to
back up every statement I have made
thank you thank you very much for being
here
tonight I'm going to announce the next
four five six speakers here so you're
ready to come to the podium Ryan Johnson
Brandon
Pilan Herb Bomb Dan
Isaac lla yango Dan Schwarz and then
Tara I'm going to mess up yanger L Li
lier sorry thank you uh we have Ryan
Johnson thank
you thank you for the opportunity mayor
and councel I'm Ryan Johnson I am a
30-year resident of Scottsdale I live on
East Soro Lane in Stonegate Community
with my wife of 24 years and our two
children when we were here in this
chamber a month ago I don't think any of
us thought that the plan that we passed
would literally have a shorter shelf
life than a carton of
milk last month 15 residents at this
microphone spoke strongly in favor of
the plan zero spoke in opposition zero
residents spoke in
opposition at last Summer's two public
meetings about the plan that I attended
dozens of attendees in those
conversations verbal comments Post-it
notes I saw no opposition to the plan no
General opposition to the
plan so let me reiterate what's already
been well established there are no
mandates there are no requirements in
the plan yes there are aspirations to
become more efficient with waste with
water and with
energy you see what we learned in the
two year two plus years and the
countless hours of Labor it took to
build the plan is that sustainability
for cities is just like sustainability
for companies it's about three things
reducing cost through efficiency
lowering risk and generating Revenue
through Improvement of our
brand if you're in favor of a less
efficient City I invite you to repeal if
you're opposed to reducing risk risks
such as losing tourism dollars and
conferences because our heat exceeds 110
degrees for 70 days each year again
please vote to repeal by the way in the
1950s we had seven days per year above
110 this year
70 and if you're against generating
Revenue by improving our City's and
reputation with younger Generations who
care about these issues please vote to
repeal if this vote to repeal and
replace is successful let's just be
clear the headlines won't mention the
intention to replace the headlines will
be about how Scottsdale's new mayor and
councel have just repealed the city's
first sustainability plan that's the
headline you're creating tomorrow two
weeks almost to the day before Waste
Management Open at TPC a $450 million
economic engine is set to begin 800,000
people at the largest zero waste event
in the world it is literally a global
Showcase of sustainability at the
TPC this vote sends the wrong message to
waste management the sponsor the
Thunderbirds it sends the wrong message
to Scottdale princess whose website says
they have sustainability in their
DNA it sends the wrong message to
Scottsdale's San Francisco Giants who
will be playing spring training ball a
block from here in two months the Giants
of won Major League Baseball's green
glove award 10 times the most
sustainable baseball team in
baseball the vote to repeal is a
reputation killer it's a self-inflicted
wound it's an unforced error now you say
let's replace it okay how many hours how
many dollars how many years will that
take if you repeal you'll miss the
chance to tell your grandkids yes we
planned for you we were thinking ahead
instead you'll just have to say yeah we
had a plan for sustaining Scottsdale
brief
but then somebody called it woke so we
got cold feet and we replaced
it mayor and new Council welcome Happy
new
year thank you Mr
Johnson can if we can uh refrain from
Applause I I would really appreciate it
we're trying to get through these
comments as quickly as possible and if
you could be positioned close to the
podium when uh you're next that would be
great
Brandon pman thank you you're right
there
perfect good evening mayor and Council
Brandon Putman 7536 East Virginia Avenue
in South Scottdale um good evening mayor
barowski and members of the Scottdale
city council congratulations on your
recent inauguration held just hours
before this meeting this is exciting new
chapter for Scottsdale as you step into
your roles you will face a steep
learning curve on the Inc es of city
government with that in mind I urge you
to carefully consider the sustainability
plan not to repeal it outright on your
first day but to engage in meaningful
discussions about how it can be improved
to best serve our community repealing
this plan now without fully
understanding its implications would set
the wrong tone and undermine the trust
that residents have placed in you to
lead with thoughtfulness and
accountability the sustainability plan
is a result of three years of extensive
work research public input collaboration
between staff residents and the previous
Council many residents have attended the
meetings provided feedback shared their
Vision to repeal the plan now would
disregard those voices and values that
have made Scott STL a leader in
conservation and Innovation for decades
with your opportunity to select new
members for the environmental advisory
commission you have the chance to bring
fresh perspectives to the table to make
meaningful updates to the plan without
discarding the progress that has already
been made
trees are an excellent example of how
sustainability efforts can be both
practical and uh impactful as the most
water efficient green infrastructure
available trees provide unmatched
benefits to the urban environment Beyond
shading sidewalks and streets trees
actively cool the air around them
reducing the urban Heaton effect and
improving Public Health these are the
kinds of considerations that the
sustainability plan has accounted for
and this is the kind of smart planning
that Scottdale needs to remain
livable as the climate continues to
change this plan already includes
regular intervals for updates providing
this council with opportunities to
refine its goals and Targets in the
future starting over create by creating
a new task force would not only waste
valuable time and resources but also
delay the critical actions Scottdale
needs to address challenges like like
water conservation extreme heat and
sustainable infrastructure thank you Mr
Petman I apologize we've reached three
minutes
so clock never start they didn't start
the clock okay sorry I thought it
started over so do you want to where was
he okay thank you very much thank you to
the gallery The Galley uh mayor barowski
you emphasize sustainable infrastructure
and restoring trust and accountability
during the campaign supporting the
sustainability plan is an excellent way
to deliver on those promises
this plan is not a mandate or a burden
it's a guide to ensure that Scottsdale
thrives while protecting our natural
beauty and quality of life it encourages
smart cost-effective actions without
imposing penalties or unnecessary
regulations finally with those pressing
challenges facing Scottdale we cannot
let politics derail good public policy
repealing this plan on your first day in
office sends the wrong message to
Residents and waste time that could be
spent collabor atively to improve it I
urge you to take the time to learn the
issues engage in the community and focus
on refining the sustainability plan
instead of repealing it thank you for
your time your leaderships and your
dedication to Scottsdale's future I
trust you will make the right decision
that reflects the values and priorities
of our city by not repealing the
sustainability plan thank you thank you
Mr
Petman next her
bomb followed by Dan
ISAC and then we will have
Laya
yango Dan Isaac address on record I'm
not herb um mayor one thing thank you
for actual your politeness and decorum
here it is is a refreshing change from
the prior Administration I will give you
that thank
you uh I have spoken at most of the
council meetings and the work study
sessions about the sustainability plan
which was passed last year after more
than two years of work multiple input
and information sharing sessions with
residents several Council meetings and
work study
sessions I generally supported the plan
but provided significant input on things
that should be changed or could be
better
some were made others were not but I was
pleased when the council passed it
moreover hundreds of emails in support
of the plan were sent at the last
meeting and to the best of my knowledge
not a single one against it and you
already heard that of all the public
comments all of them were in favor none
of them were against
it last summer I was greatly disturbed
by the misstatements by Mr Graham and M
Mr and Mrs
Littlefield statements that they we
probably repeat tonight even though they
are
false there are no mandates in the plan
there are no fines or penalties in the
plan there are no proposed fee increases
in the
plan in fact the plan does not make a
single change to the rules the
regulations or the ordinances of the
city of
Scottdale none of those can happen
without action by the
council and I challenge anyone to prove
that statement to be
false so why does the council want to
repeal the
plan I agree it needs
modifications but why repeal
it oh that's right it's a payback to The
Fringe groups that the little Fields
whipped into a frenzy with their
emails lies sent out despite Kathy's
sitting through the multiple Council
meetings and work study sessions where
she urged the more aggressive seek goals
than what was proposed by the
staff she supported it being brought to
the council to vote it's all on video
it's all matter of public record but
then last summer Kathy read a prepared
statement that was pure fiction because
a faction of Scottsdale realized it
could be a wedge issue in the election
and it
was instead of doing the right thing we
have political pandering to repeal it
and to spend more of the city's time and
money to make a new one stop the
nonsense do your jobs you claim you want
to listen to Residents but you are
ignoring all of the data from hundreds
of residents that supported this plan
those who have spoken in favor dwarf the
opposition thank you thank you right on
time Mr Isaac I very much appreciate
that
Laya
yango I'm amazed at what I
say I don't see oh there she is okay
thank
you um hi I'm lla yango and my address
is 11281 East Del Timber Drive
Scottsdale city council I'm a junior at
deser Mountain High School and I've
lived in Scottsdale my whole life I'm
here today to ask you not to repeal the
sustainability plan nothing could be
more important and more hopeful than a
plan to address the heat the pollution
the drought that endangers health and
happiness unfortunately my friends
couldn't be here today because of the
very short notice of this being on the
agenda but they all tell me how
important having clean air and not
insane temperatures is for them we all
just want a beautiful place to live in
peace with what has given us so much
nature also unfortunately when I talk
with my friends or classmates we all
become more
unsurprised with the worsening
environmental crisis we find ourselves
in when I told them that our new city
council is trying to repeal the
sustainability plan that we just past it
just made us sadder but we were not
surprised so I'm here today representing
all the youth that want a government
that protects us and nature and our
happiness we don't want a city
government that goes behind our backs
and repeals a plan that could only do
this city
good what we want is to stop walking on
the school Bridge each day and seeing
the haze of pollution on the horizon I'm
a student athlete I run and I know that
this pollution is fatal to Runners with
asthma so what are you going to do about
this each of you has the choice right
now to change your belief that nature is
separate from people because we
aren't imagine if you couldn't go
outside one day because the heat is so
bad or the pollution is so bad I
wouldn't live another day and I'm
serious so please please surprise us
today by keeping the sustainability plan
and doing more in the future to Pro to
protect nature we're depending on your
courage today thank
you thank you if you would hold the
Applause I if we could hold the
[Applause]
Applause let's hold the Applause please
thank you uh Leila I wanted to say a
word to her before she walked away I
appreciate you being here you're youth
you're probably the same age as my
daughter so I really appreciate that
next up we have Dan Schwarz Dan Schwarz
resident of South Scottdale living close
to the Oldtown heat island um I've lived
uh lived there since in a 1963 ranch
house since 2004 um we since we moved
there we've slowly uh evolved it to be
more sustainable we started by using
City incentives to remove grass and to
add trees the Finishing Touch of this
evolution is we recently replaced our
swimming pool
with the Zer escaped Oasis the resulting
removal of concrete and an addition in
tree canopy has been to make our
property more Serene and cooler
something I'm sure we all aspire to with
our homes the seven citizen volunteers
of the uh Scottdale environmental
commission City staff and the outd
council have done an outstanding job
providing a comprehensive view as to why
doing nothing to respond to climate
change is not an option like it or not
it's happening some of you have chosen
to respond to their work by labeling it
as a green New Deal and propagated
mistruths about its impact on homeowners
instead of detailing specific concerns
with the goals and proposing changes I
guess we all do what we have to do to
win elections but now it's time to lead
effective governance doesn't rely on
slogans and mistruths instead Endeavors
to improve the lives of all citizens
through action if you pass pass
resolution 133 13335 you're choosing to
do nothing to protect Scottdale future
as an alternative I would like to
encourage the council to work for the
citizens by beginning to measure
progress against the sustainability
goals and to come up with a specific
handful of action plans do you really
think the citizens of scotdale are in
favor of hotter streets and dir your air
if you choose to act I for one and most
of the speakers here will step forward
to support your action and help in any
way we can we should all be looking over
our shoulders at the Pacific Palisades
and wondering where areil heel is and
deciding what we can do to make our city
more sustainable and resilient not
bickering over ideology thank
you thank you Mr
Schwarz thank you thank you for those of
you that respected the request to
refrain from Applause I appreciate that
next we have I'm going to say five more
names Tara lininger ler I know Kathy
knows how to say this name excuse me uh
Langer is she here Langer I'm sorry if
I'm butchering Langer I I is that you
you're up thank
[Laughter]
you lion
thank you thank you mayor barowski and
members of the city council for
affording me this opportunity to speak
before you my name is Tara AAR I live at
12089 East Point CIA drive I'm also a
current member of seek and a medical
oncologist I spoke less than a month ago
in support of the sustainability plan
and I still have same thoughts and
feelings that support this plan moving
forward you asked for brevity and Suess
and I will honor that request mayor put
simply a sustainability plan is a health
plan I think you'll be hardpressed to
find a physician that will tell you that
environment does not play a factor in
the health issues that our patients face
this plan is a guideline I will Echo the
sentiments of the speakers before me in
that this is not a mandate it is a
guideline as a physician I'm well aware
of what a guideline is and in our world
a guideline is a fluid contract it is
not set in stone it is meant to be a
conversation and a dialogue and it is
meant to serve as a benchmark but is not
the be all and end all of what we do in
the best interest of our patients this
plan will do the same and so I strongly
urge you to move forward and work on
this plan and not to repeal it thank you
thank you Tara I appreciate it uh the
next several people Aaron Nicollet
Lee Cel
H
uh sabon you all are Tes me sabon ultra
power and Alexandria Craig followed by
Michael Craig thank you I'm aarin
nicoletti I live on RAD Circle Drive in
Scottdale I've been in Scottsville about
14 years and in Arizona for 20 years now
um I'm here to voice my opposition to
repealing the sustainability plan for
many reason reasons that have already
been brought up but my number one issue
here is the lack of citizen in input
this morning I heard mayor barowski
speaking on kjz Z's the show she stated
that the election was a referendum on
three major issues not least of which
was quote residents did not feel like
they were being included in the process
they were not being listened to and
being disregarded and in some cases
entirely dismissed in City decisions and
that bringing citizens back into city
government in Scottsdale is a big issue
if this Council officially took office
January 1st it has been here for exactly
two weeks today mayor barowski has been
here for since today the inauguration
was today um but already there's a plan
to repeal the sustainability plan how
has there been time to have public input
on this repeal if public input is so
important to our new mayor and new
council members this plan was developed
over over 3 years through Community
workshops and study sessions and based
on input from residences businesses and
Civic organizations is there a
replacement for this plan I think it's
safe to assume that a plan that took
three years to create years of Citizen
input does not have a replacement in two
weeks if it does it did not incorporate
the citizen input this mayor and Council
told us they would restore with their
election furthermore if the council
seeks to replace the plan I would expect
its creation to take no less than 3
years to repeal such a thoughtfully
created plan for our desert city with no
replacement is wasteful irresponsible
and frankly insulting to our citizens
businesses and organizations that work
so hard to create it please do not
repeal our sustainability plan thank
you thank you Aaron next Lee crti
y hi there uh congratulations on the uh
the First Council of this year and
everybody's election uh my name is Lee
cile uh my address is 7726 East Thomas
Road um I'm not going to have much more
to say than what everybody else has
already said uh I think
that um number one looking at this plan
if I had been on that board I would have
gone further um but I but we live in a
democracy and so I don't get to dictate
how things work here and I think the the
process over three years of input and uh
revision and all the changes that have
been made to this plan over over that
time reflects the will of the people who
live in this city and work in the city
and visit the city and all the people
that uh will will come forward in the
future it doesn't seem like an efficient
use of City resources to throw away
three years worth of work and uh and
then just start over again as somebody
else said we could
always you have the power to make
changes and you can continue the work of
the previous commission and I would urge
you if you feel there are things missing
in this to continue that but
everything I saw in this commission uh
in in this plan saves the city money
because doing nothing is not free either
there is always going to be cost to
action or inaction and I want this
Council to keep that in mind when when
you do that thank you very much for your
time thank you Lee I appreciate it uh
sabon am I saying that right no sorry
good evening Miss shower yes sioban ol
power thank you very much for your time
tonight uh everyone as well as obviously
U mayor and Council um so I was one of
the many residents who participated in
the ongoing workshops I attended several
of those um but I wanted to Echo what
everyone has said here tonight and add a
few points um I just want to say that
Scottdale sustainability is not woke or
a liberal issue it's just smart for
Scott sale's future uh it's about taking
Smart Action uh preserving the beauty of
Scottdale and the resilience of our
families and my children your children
their grandchildren Etc
[Music]
um sustainability means to maintain to
make durable to make
lasting so in the business and corporate
setting leaders regularly seek to
achieve sustainable growth and strong
Roi while delivering good customer
satisfaction so Scottdale sustainability
plan is part of the city's road map to
achieve strong durable growth and um and
development while balancing the diverse
interests of our residents and
businesses so with the unique challenges
of an urban desert
setting also um
businesses uh set goals and that's
exactly what this plan has and everyone
has echoed that they're not mandates but
if you want to do anything like l lose
weight drink less exercise more you need
to have goals otherwise the year rolls
around and you're setting the same
resolution with zero changes so you need
to have some numbers in there some goals
to achieve and then we set about looking
at the strategies and tactics to achieve
those
goals um obviously Scottsdale attracts
people and businesses from around the
world and if we don't demonstrate that
we have a plan crafted to meet the
challenges of today and tomorrow
um then we're going to be in trouble and
start losing those visitors and
residents um skip that anyway so so far
what I've seen Scottsdale's playing
catchup for other cities around the
nation and around the world um and we
again draw seasonal and full-time
residents so this sustainability plan is
balanced um modest attainable goals um
there's SM and defensible and echoing a
lot of what other people said so uh
please do not repeal the plan thank you
very much thank you very
much Alexandra Craig followed by Michael
Craig followed by Tom Whitney Frederick
Tac Mark rents and Helen
Tac good evening mayor barowski and
honorable counc CC IL members thank you
very much for the opportunity to speak
here tonight my name is Alexandra Craig
I live at 8588 East Indian School Road I
am here to ask you not to repeal the
Scottsdale Community sustainability plan
that was approved in December the planet
is struggling and will not be able to
maintain the resources necessary to
sustain life 2024 was just officially
recorded as the warmest year in history
I have lived a lot of places over the
years but Scottdale has failed has felt
like my forever home it is our
responsibility to ensure a healthy
environment for ourselves our children
and future
Generations my husband and I want to
start a family here in Scottdale but I
am too scared to bring a child into this
world that is actively burning to the
ground sustainability is not just some
left-wing woke agenda it is necessary
the people that are opposing this plan
are afraid of this necessary change to
conserve resources true sustain ility
doesn't just focus on the environment it
factors in the social and economical
components as well that's what the
sustainability plan does it does not
propose radical restrictive change it
offers Progressive alternative solutions
that are economically viable and will
benefit the whole
Community if this plan is repealed then
this city will have nothing to help us
when the climate crisis comes for us the
opportunity cost will be detrimental
there are inevitable truths we all must
face whether we want to or not or
Arizona is growing hotter and hotter
each year our water resources are
depleting our air quality is affecting
the health of our residents that is why
these are the key categories of this
sustainability plan we need this plan
and I ask you not to repeal thank you
for your time thank you Michael Craig
followed by Tom Whitney and Frederick
Tech
good
evening thank you mayor rosi and
honorable council members I ask you not
to repeal the WIS scotdale Community
sustainability plan this council's wish
to do so feels personal
it feels personal because it affects my
access to basic human resources such as
clean drinking water and clean air
quality this should not be a party
versus party ideal but a shared
one we are actively seeing climate
hazards wreak havoc on our environment
all over the world and most recently to
our neighboring state
California La has been burnt to the
ground and the East Coast was drowned by
floods these natural occurrences won't
stop and certainly won't stop or bypass
Scottdale the point of this plan is to
create a healthy environment for us
mitigate climate risks and prepare
ourselves for inevitable and eventual
disasters repealing is acting in the
opposite direction of Scottsdale's
interest thank you thank you very
much next up we have Tim Whitney
followed by Frederick Tac and then Mark
rents
good evening ladies and gentlemen of the
council uh mayor uh it's a really a
pleasure to be here grateful um after a
day's work to be able to participate in
government as well it's just an honor
and a privilege um congratulations to
all the new faces here as well as the
old
ones my name is Tim Whitney I've been a
scoto resident since 2007 where I went
through the majority of my schooling
start in kindergarten I am a proud Alum
of a IA State University WP kry School
of Business with the specialization in
sustainability um ASU happens to be the
first school sustainability in the
western world as well as the number one
school of sustainability um some 10
times in a row as well as Global impact
number one and number one Innovation um
there's some incredible professors there
including um one that came up and spoke
earlier I'm a co-founder of circular
Earth uh this is my second startup we
save businesses green um by by Green
initiative we consult small coffee shops
and we help them uh eek out margins
through Energy Efficiency water
efficiency and waste
efficiency I'm an eagle
scout um it's my duty to be here um as
an eagle scout many times I put my hand
up like this looks kind of goofy but it
it means something um it means that I
have a duty as a god of my country a
duty to speak up when I see something is
wrong to support things that I see is
right um to pay my taxes to be diligent
citizen to do a good turn daily and to
leave no trace it is in Boy Scouts that
I fell in love with nature and that I
found my purpose in life to protect it
to serve it to have it for my kids and
for all of you to to to sherish this 3
minutes is just a little bit that I can
do I commit a lot more time to this
Mission than than what I'm leading on
right here I'm a frequent attendee of
the Scottdale environmental advisory
commission I've seen the diligent work I
have seen these people come together
from all sorts of corners of life and
cherish their community Through the work
that they do on that commission uh I
said this last time that I came up here
and spoke we have uh experts in medicine
professors experts in finance it
nonprofit and a couple more that I'm not
mentioning right now an example of one
of the projects that happens um through
seek and is addressed in the
sustainability plan um Dr
iard worked with
a research project to look at how waste
could be more efficiently Abad at local
Scott sale sites to save money it's uh
that Beyond plastic guidance and
handbook and cost calculator that I
ended up transferring to one of my
coffee shops the week after that coffee
shop now saves upwards of $1,000 a month
due to the diligence of that study and
it being passed on through this
community this is what the Scottsdale
sustainability plan does it empowers the
people that care we don't have to agree
we don't have to hold hands and and
cheer together we can work together to
empower people that know that they have
a good heart even if they may
disagree at at at at the end of the day
we are all Americans and we're all here
to fight for something better for all of
us now and for the
future keep the Scott sale Community
sustainability plan and
seek thank you thank you
[Applause]
Tim Fred
Tac good evening mayor and city council
uh my name is Frederick teac I reside at
8401 East Edgemont Avenue in Scottdale
as I have for the past 21 years um thank
you for providing space and welcoming us
into your meeting tonight um glad to
speak um on behalf of promoting not
repealing the sustainability plan I
speak to as a professional who works
with municipalities nonpartisan
municipalities across the state as a
professional civil engineer a board
certified Water Resource engineer a
certified sustainability professional
and also serving past president of the
American Society of civil engineers
Phoenix branch and National societies of
professional engineer similar to the
fellow speakers today I just wanted to
share some other contexts and points
having participated in those public
Outreach sessions both workshops on this
plan and having to share that I heard
many contradictory opinions as this plan
came together and I have to say that
those discussions were done with theorum
and open face to face with their fellow
citizens and what I found the difference
opinion was what on was on what was
important to them be the plan based on
where they lived in nor Scottdale based
on where they lived in sou Scottdale
based on whether they were a business
owner or um were elderly and needed
walkability the thing about the
sustainability plan is it actually
reflects the craft and shape from all of
that input and from the input from the
staff and the third party Consultants
that help put that together so even more
than just a sustainability plan it is a
Liv livability plan you can no long or
no more disregard that than you could
your recently advertised top five uh
parks and wck project uh plan that was
put together then your transportation
plan than your water resources plan
again it's not a map that tells you
where you're at today a plan tells you
how to get to somewhere where you want
to be and that plan helps provide that
context what I hear is that there is
descent that the plan needs to be
changed so it's been out there for 42
days um I can't think of any investment
that I've made as a professional or in a
business that I've repealed after 42
days without any evidence I have yet to
hear any evidence of why this plan is so
egregious that it does not meet the
Mandate of its Mission or Charter that
was put forward and to get approved uh I
agree that a vote or a amendment to
change the approach to want to um
revisit and update the report is that
right of the council and with the staff
that you have to do that but provide
that opportunity to do that throwing out
this plan 42 days in with no data would
be like getting rid of the parks and
recck plan that you just announced how
wonderful that it is give the city and
the citizens a chance to reflect on that
and please vote no on repealing the plan
thank you thank you thank you Frederick
appreciate that uh Mark Ren followed by
Helen Tac Carissa Fowler next and philli
elop good evening Madame mayor members
of the Council uh my name is Mark Ren
and for the record I did submit written
comments on this particular item I would
like to take this opportunity to
reiterate once
again that I am in strong opposition to
the repealing of this
plan I find it kind of ludicrous that
three hours
ago three hours ago I stood across the
way at the performance center and
watched new members of the council and
the mayor sworn in and that three hours
later they are
considering repealing a plan that was
three years in the
making I also think that it is an insult
to the citizens that were
involved and your staff over that
three-year period where they conducted
many workshops public public workshops
there are many city council hearings on
it they retained professionals as the
previous speaker alluded to to provide
expert advice in the development of this
plan yet 42 days later we're seeing a
proposal to improve to uh repeal this
plan like any plan of of complexity the
Scottdale city council needs to provide
oversight and in flexibility as the plan
is
implemented they need to require their
staff to report back on a regular basis
as to what has been done for inflamation
what has worked what has not worked and
propos changes the plan it is a living
document next of all I would like to
also say that I that reiterate what many
people have already said in this plan
there is nothing mandatory there is no
regulatory proposals there's no fee
proposals so it is in
actuality guidelines to incentivize and
encourage voluntary per uh uh voluntary
performance in sustainability for
Scottdale let me close close with one
comment if I
can uh Madame mayor today I had a chance
to hear your speak and I was quite
impressed with it and two two points she
made during that speech resonated quite
strong with me the first one was your
pride with which you talked about the
green belt
project that was put in play instead of
a concrete ditch from my perspective
that in tune with the Sonora natural
Preserve is just a progression that this
pant plan re reflects of the the people
of Scott still want and finally I think
that another task force would be a waste
of taxpayers dollars something that you
strongly opposed in your speech today so
I encourage all council members and the
mayor to please consider rejecting this
proposal to repeal the plan thank you
for your time thank you very much
uh we have Helen Tac Carissa fer Philip
alsop and
Michael
molo good evening mayor and Council my
name is Helen Tac and I'm a South
Scottsdale resident for over 20 years uh
I'm also a sustainability professional I
work for the City of Tempe and their
sustainability office I'm here to ask
Council not to repeal the sustainability
the Scottdale Community sustainability
plan I was engaged with the process
attending the workshops as well as um
submitting written comment on the drafts
as they went through at its core the
plan addresses livability in
Scottdale um it presents a coordinated
approach to the factors that are most
pressing regarding livability in the in
the city Energy Water waste air quality
and extreme heat as a city that touts
its livability not having a
sustainability plan that addresses how
Scottdale will adapt to these challenges
and address the root causes speaks
volumes I find the vote to repeal the
just adopted plan alarming especially as
it is one of the first acts of this new
Council seeing as the majority of the
council is new and that four me this is
a four members first council
meeting I am concerned on whether the
council has taken the time to read the
sustainability plan in depth and discuss
it with City staff with seek and with
businesses and residents I do not see
how it it is in the best interest of the
city to spend more time looking at this
plan with a handpicked task force what
would come out of that
process the plan has been through
evaluation by seek by the city's former
sustainability director and by Scottdale
uh community members by repealing the
plan the city council would send a loud
message to businesses and residents that
they are stalling to implement solutions
to the city's most pressing problems why
would a business want to invest in a
city that is with an uncertain water
supply where workers are not protected
from extreme heat or their
infrastructure is threatened by
wildfires why would young families and
seniors want to stay in a city with
deteriorating livability other cities in
the region are well beyond the planning
the planning stage and are actively
implementing Solutions it is well past
time that Scott stale joins them and to
move this plan into the implementation
stage so that Scottdale can be livable
for decades to come
thank you thank you very
much Karissa
Fowler good evening mayor and Council um
I'm here tonight to strongly oppose the
repeal of the community sustainability
plan and the creation of this so-called
sustainability task force I speak to you
as a scotsville resident and a
sustainability professional with a MERS
in sustainability from ASU in your
appeal you want to establish a
sustainability task force which in
theory sounds great if it was actually
designed to implement the sustainability
plan your repeal is vague and states
that the task force will and I quote
look at the sustainability plan what
does that mean the environmental
advisory commission ASU sustainability
professionals and the Scottdale
community members have already spent
over 3 years developing a comprehensive
121 page data driven plan
the research is done the strategies are
in place what exactly will this task
force accomplish that hasn't already
been addressed and mapped out in this
plan repealing the plan disrespects the
hard work of Scottdale residents ASU
experts and the environmental advisory
commission this is not just a document
it's a road map for combating extreme
heat drought and Rising energy costs and
you throw it all away for a hollow task
force which is irresponsible and
Reckless economically repealing the plan
is shortsighted Scott still thrives on
tourism yet extreme heat will deter um
residents and harm local businesses
tourists from cooler climates are not
adaptable to our increasing heat um and
without proactive me measures Scottdale
will contribute to heat related deaths
and driving visitors away for half the
year can we economically survive that
loss from the half year younger
Generations are choosing to live work
and invest in cities that prioritize
sustainability and ignoring this trend
risks losing both tourism revenue and
long-term economic contributions of
younger residents and entrepreneurs
scotsville future depends on its ability
to tract attract and retain these
populations additionally we must
consider the financial consequences of
climate in action in California
insurance companies are pulling coverage
from cities that are vulnerable to
climate disasters Scottsdale could face
similar risks and without climate action
we could become uninsurable devastating
homeowners and businesses alike when not
if the disaster hit
Scottdale let's not forget the financial
benefits outlined in the sustainability
plan the strategy benefit column
highlights numerous opportunities for
municipal savings and with the recent
Revenue hit from the rental tax ban I
think it'd make more sense to adopt
measures that save the city
money by repealing this plan your are
rejecting more trees cleaner Air
Electric Vehicle infrastructure
Recycling and lower costs the residents
of Scottsdale deserve action not empty
gestures from uneducated politicians we
deserve clean air affordable energy and
a city that is prepared for the very
threats of climate change voting to
repeal this is a is against my health my
safety and my future of the city I urge
you to reject this repeal and the hollow
task force honor work the work of the
years that have been done if you don't
you will to be to blame for the impacts
thank you thank you for your input
philli alsop Michael
molo uh Michael Fus Fus has donated his
time to Alysa
McMan and so Alyssa I guess will take
his place and then we have
Michelle
coer thank
you hi good evening my name is Phil olar
I'm a 19-year resident of Scottdale
living at 10933 East Saro Drive in
Scottdale um this uh sustainability plan
is pretty close to home for me not only
because I'm a resident of this city this
wonderful City but also my day job is at
the intersection of the climate
emergency Public Health Human Habitat
and sustainable Finance that's the work
that I do and I see this in Canada I see
it in the UK and other parts of the
world uh many speakers before me have
already touched on uh some really
important topics so I'm not going to go
over that again but what I would say is
that the sustainability
plan is in fact a very important Public
Health Endeavor implementing it will
make a huge difference in the field of
Public Health which I'm very familiar um
um actions and a plan that will uh
reduce heart disease uh reduce asthma
increase safety prevent people from
dying of excess heat would be a a me
medical miracle if it was a single
intervention but in the field of
sustainability and the ability of
painting a picture and implementing that
for the future of a city it is a willing
and an attainable possibility so I would
urge you all not to repeal this plan it
is vital for the health of our city and
for every resident here every visitor
here and for future generations to come
thank
you thank you very much Michael
Meo thanks
good evening mayor barowski council
members my name is Mike Malo it's
Italian uh and I will try and keep my
comments brief
because it's a long meeting and everyone
wants to go home but also because I sent
you an
email hopefully each of you have read it
I sent it
yesterday um as noted in the email I'm a
33-year resident of the city of
Scottsdale and I also had the honor of
working for the city of Scottsdale for
16 years uh I was the city's first
Transportation planner back in
1985 then I was a project coordination
manager during the city's rapid growth
period of the
1990s and I ended my career here um as a
environmental coordinator
and I was actually responsible believe
it or not for putting together and
coordinating a sustainability indicators
project and I
actually uh coordinated with much of the
other City staff in order to measure
environmental economic and cultural
indicators of the city
sustainability
so I'm kind of surprised that this is on
the agenda but I asked five questions in
my email why is this coming back to the
council so soon after
approval who requested that it be
brought back I think I already know the
answer to that question based on the
votes to uh put it on the agenda
tonight number three is there a hidden
agenda that our residents are not
informed about
number four where is the transparency
that our citizens voted for in the most
recent
election and number five why did Lisa
McNeely the sustainability director
resign immediately after presenting the
plan I urge you to decide against
repealing the
plan if you must reopen the plan and and
want to make modifications I volunteer
my services I've already served six
years on the city's preserve commission
I currently volunteer for the historic
uh uh Museum and so I'd be happy to
serve again thank you thank you very
much Mr Malo thank you uh Michael Fus
says I oh sorry Michelle karali
I'm short I gotta lower it all right um
Michelle caprelli I'm speaking you to
you today not as a sustainability
Professor or an environmental
professional but as a resident of whom
you represent mayor and City Council
Members thank you for taking the time to
hear from me this evening I'm here to
request that you reconsider the repeal
of the Scottsdale sustainability plan
every day I drive by a sign that calls
Scottdale most livable City and removing
that plan you might as well remove that
sign as someone who attended the
preliminary meetings it feels as if the
years of public comment are being
ignored because of frankly personal
politics this is the time your
constituents who you represent took out
of their day to attend please take note
these meetings had full rooms of people
talking about these plans
water scarcity and unrelenting heat are
not concerned about who you voted for in
the last
election as elected representatives it
is your job your sworn Duty in fact to
support and represent constituents and
not push a Personal Agenda this plan has
had ample time to hear from the public
including those of you that are newly
elected this gave you time to then
repeal or to talk about all of these
things things during that public comment
however I do find it a bit disheartening
to repeal and then assemble a new task
force as this is an inefficient
government a platform that some of you
ran on to remove yet here is an
inefficiency and an example of how most
people view current politics there is no
reason to repeal the plan that Scottdale
residents supported and it feels as an
abusive power to wait to voice concern
until after you were elected I'm
imploring you to to do better for
Scottdale and to keep the Scottdale
sustainability plan thank you thank you
very
much uh we have like I said Michael Fus
Fus is donating time to Dr Alisa McMahon
thank
you can we turn this on can we turn the
Elmo on thank
you can you do this in four minutes is
that possible have time okay maybe even
less oh good thank
you all right
um okay um good evening welcome um some
of you I've known for a long time and
others I'm meeting for the first time um
I'm Dr Alisa McMahon I'm a doctor um a
longtime cogs member um a fiscal
conservative and a member of
Scottsdale's environmental advisory
commission there is so much I would like
to share with you about the plan tonight
um particularly I wish there was time to
correct the many misconceptions and
false information that has been
disseminated ated about the plan and I'm
happy to have those conversations with
you um but with my short time tonight I
will speak mostly about public health
before I do that first uh one point that
hasn't been made tonight that I think is
important this is a page from our
general plan
2035 and the implementation section and
the plan that was adopted in December
fulfills three items on this to-do list
and I think that's an important thing to
bear in mind completed and within the
designated time frame okay now on to
Public
Health okay um to my mind well let me
back up it seems to me that the plan has
become a political football and to my
mind the environment is not a par as an
issue if you strip away politically
loaded labels we all agree uh we all
care about the air we breede the sports
Fields our children play on the impact
of unrelenting heat we all care about
preserving our precious desert our
property values our tourism
industry the environment is also not a
cause it's what we live in it's our
habitat we talk about water and energy
and so forth but fundamentally
environmental issues are about us our
health Health our safety our comfort our
quality of
life I'd like to geek out just a moment
and uh share a study with you a study
that looks at two of Scottsdale's
critical concerns extreme heat and air
pollution this was a retrospective study
that analyzed Statewide mortalities
deaths over a six-year period relative
to temperature and air pollution the
study found one shortterm exposure to
extreme heat or or high air pollution is
associated with increased risk of death
two co-exposure to both extreme heat and
high air pollution has a synergistic
effect in other words an effect greater
than the two added together specifically
the risk of death from all causes
increased 6% on days with extreme high
temperatures 5% on days with high fine
particulate matter and 21% on days when
both conditions exist when the cause of
death was isolated to cardiovascular or
respiratory
causes increased Coos increased
co-exposure risk was even higher 30% and
38%
respectively if Health
matters if health care costs
matter if quality of life and life
itself matters then our environment
matters that is why I care deeply why I
volunteer to do this work and why we
need a sustainability plan to address
these issues in a sensible systematic
and fiscally responsible way in my
professional experience ignoring
problems consistently results in more
expensive treatment and far less
successful outcomes please do not repeal
this plan thank
you thank you very much next we have
Patty bad
knck Patty still
here followed by Kate con Conway Vanessa
Goldberg Linda Sullivan Nancy Dodie and
Robert Bob seagull Dr Ro Robert seagull
Seager
good evening mayor and councel Patty bad
knck 40-year resident of
Scottsdale this is a
amazing setup situation Michael Crow
kind of
predominant situation where all these
people have shown up in this response
not to repeal
sustainability the language just passes
a foothold to further compromise our
freedoms it's not a mandate yet but it's
intention there's that word again is all
too clear it's the new normal we'll have
to endure as all of these a thousand
plus apartments and condos come in play
where's that in
sustainability sustainability omits
after three years of study the operative
word is buildout where's that word and
wanting to sustain our livelihood for
the reason we moved here in the first
place
it's about a developer short-term profit
at our
expense I could say more but I'm going
to curtail it thank
you thank you Patty we appreciate it uh
Vanessa I'm sorry Kate
Conway mayor council everyone um who
largely are way more intelligent and
qualified to speak than me I'm Kate
Conway and uh my husband and I own a
home in McDow Mountain Ranch in
Scottville we've raised both our
children here uh they're now both
college students and today is my
birthday uh before you all judge me
though you should know that I try and
avoid meetings I despise public speaking
and I was hoping to to spend this
birthday in a much different way and
frankly I'm a little salty about being
here with this last minute change on
January 14th
1976 I died and then I was born through
an emergency C-section after Dr Carolyn
Kum a Pioneer in a Pioneer OBGYN at the
male clinic in Rochester Minnesota could
not find fetal heart tones when
delivered my umbilical cord was wrapped
around my neck twice and my appar scores
were zero and one if you're not sure
what that means look it up my mother who
spent her entire career as a ncku nurse
and who is also a devout Catholic
considers my life to be a miracle she's
always told me that God has a plan for
me I've come to believe that speaking my
mind to you today is part of that
plan repealing the scotl sustainability
plan which provides a blueprint for how
to maintain a healthy thriving community
and address Water waste addresses Water
waste management Energy Efficiency air
quality and extreme heat is either
extremely misguided
or a malicious attempt to undermine the
future of our city and the right of the
citizens of Scottdale to live a
productive life
here when I was 21 my house burned to
the ground and last week after the LA
fires broke out I packed a go bag to
ensure that I have what I need if McDow
Mountain Ranch catches on
fire how can you not conserve and
protect Scottsdale's water especially at
a time like this when we haven't Seen
Rain since August when my son who worked
uh for teen cores through the city of
scel he was uh proud to support Dave
Bennett and the Professionals in scottso
Solid Waste Department as a political
science and mechanical engineering major
now he feels that developing a circular
economy approach for materials
management and effective city-wide
diversion of all wa streams just makes
sense I'm here to ask you to continue
and implement the sustainability plan
which was developed with significant
input from Scot environmental advisory
commission whose meetings I've actually
attended and whose members are more than
qualified to offer Sound Advice to the
city thank you for your
time thank you Kate Conway if you'll
hold your applause thank you Kate we are
glad you are
here Vanessa Goldberg
my name is Vanessa Goldberg and despite
my German accent I've been um scotdale
citizen for over a quarter of a
century I find it quite remarkable and
amazing that we citizens have to stand
here and plead
for the sustainability
plan all we need all we need to do is
look around the country and see what
climate change has been waking on
communities
Nationwide we and Scottdale are not
immune to that we are already suffering
from consequences of this and
it has been described by so many in what
ways it's impacting Our lives our
economy our very
existence to prevent an
unbridled
continuation of what could would be
getting worse and worse Scottdale has
actually been forward-looking
Scottdale
has SEC been proactive and for over two
years has involved
scientists expert analysts and citizens
like
me to create a vision of
sustainability our voices were heard in
the entire process our voices were heard
last December when the city council
overwhelmingly passed the
plan why would anyone knowingly with
fuse this Vision this carefully
planned uh this carefully planned
Vision which has no other purpose than
to secure a safe and healthy a life for
us in Scottdale as
possible another task force as proposed
would be a waste of precious time and
needed City
funds it would also fly in the face of
the bipart izens ship science and expert
analysis that were the basis of it it
would be an insult and discouragement of
the citizens who so passionately worked
on
it we can only hope that any effort to
repeal this carefully crafted
plan is not motivated by some
shortsighted political game
but is actually
based on insufficient knowledge of the
plane we the citizens of
Scottdale want and need the
sustainability plan and we invite you
the mayor and you the council
people to study it carefully and then to
support it
wholeheartedly thank you
thank you very much next we move on
to Nancy
Dodie I think did we do was that Linda
Sullivan Linda Linda Sullivan I'm sorry
Nancy Linda Sullivan is next
apologies okay Nancy B alarm
uh good evening uh congratulations to
our new mayor and city council it's very
nice to have
you uh I am Nancy Dodie and I live at
5461 North 78th Street in
Scottdale and at the risk of taking my
life and putting out there I am opposed
to the sustainability plan as recently
approved as some of it is UN
reasonable uh a couple of uh issues I'd
like to bring up are that it puts
suggested mandates on citizens requiring
water raions on usage for single family
homes while giving a pass to businesses
and
apartments and suggesting a 90%
reduction in
trash in the next 15 years I feel as
just totally
unreasonable so we need to look at some
of those things and thank you for your
work in considering
this thank you very much Nancy Dr Robert
Seager good evening Dr Robert Seager 50e
resident of
Scottdale I'm looking up here and I'm
congratulating mayor Lisa
and Jan and Adam and all the work that
my wife Gloria and I put in and all the
others that got you elected were so
happy to see you there thank you I come
from a different perspective than most
of these liberal leftists that are up
here an army of them
speaking uh speaking for this
uh I could gag sustainability
why not just have some common
sense these people most of them that are
here did not vote for you people can I
interrupt you if we could keep the
comments on the agenda item I would
really appreciate it yeah well thank you
so what I'm saying
is I think we should have some common
sense here and
revisit this
plan cherry pick it for what's good of
it reject what isn't good I don't have
any idea how much it costs I respect
people that put in work and whatever but
you know this side of the uh equation a
lot of times they just believe in
theories and and equations and don't get
any place with it so if it doesn't have
any mandates fines or laws why was it
pushed through at the 11th Hour by the
lame
Ducks I believe that the new board can
have fresh eyes and look at it and
should should have never been passed
before and there are other areas that
money can be focused on and one that I'm
a real activist with and that's the
roads in our city so many of them are in
just terrible condition third world
conditions I've been in over 135
countries I've traveled extensively
throughout the US Mexico and Canada and
I'm telling you for a class City like
Scottville is supposed to be I cannot
believe the condition of so many of our
roads and I want the city to put a
committee on to focus on roads and drive
money up on the budget so that we can we
can have a a real quick turnaround and
make this a class city as far as the
roads
go uh as far as
uh
apartments
that put a uh total break to the uh uh
developers and their uh sque
uh sharks AA
lawyers and also uh I would like to have
a
re-evaluation like a doge as far as the
uh staff and the City there's a lot of
dead
weight and there's a lot of celeries
that are so we are out of time Dr Sager
I really appreciate you being here thank
you so
much I uh now turning to Lori
Ryan um hi Madame mayor and to the city
council I've never been to one of these
meetings before and and uh shame on me
um I'm a practicing physician
anesthesiologist for a living I manage
you know the hours of boredom as they
describe and then moments of Crisis uh
I've probably never come because my
heart rate is Skyhigh right now because
I don't public speak and I'm terribly
uncomfortable right now um so I'm asking
a few of you to also get uncomfortable
for a moment um I have something in
common with Miss Conway who spoke we
have kind of a birthday connection to
this subject matter I was born on April
22nd I'm old enough that didn't used to
be ARB or Earth Day used to be Arbor Day
but now I have an Earth Day birthday and
my children refer to me as older than
the
earth so anyway I don't want to
reiterate you got a lot of experts here
and you know vice mayor Graham I I have
spent my life uh in the provision of
care that's what I do for a living um
they've often connected my profession
with that of Pilots
about not only providing care in safe
diligent
format but also responding to crisis
appropriately to reduce the chance of an
untoward event
escalating I believe that any of you
that sought out to sit on this Council
also sought to provide care may not be a
patient may not be your customers but it
is to the community and I don't only
believe that you have sought out to
provide provide care but Mr Graham I
believe the
Dead the former providers of Care on
this Council your lame ducks that I
really find it unjust that they're
referred to probably had the same notion
and the same motivations to serve the
community I'm not going to reiterate
things that there are experts here I'm
thrilled I came there's people I'd
really like to engage in areas that I am
not an expert in but I do believe that
we do live in a bubble here in Scott
Dale um I'm referred to as a working
mother as a professional physician we
are really fortunate in a lot of ways
but I was raised by a family that
believed in the dedication to the
community and service of the community
my father retired here he spent 20 years
uh volunteering for The Preserve
teaching and caring about our
environment I'm here because what I do
do in that delivery care is utilize
information data and fact to help guide
my best
practices and I also understand that the
escalation of Crisis comes when we fail
to respond to realities at hand no
matter how
uncomfortable and those realities are
occasionally uncomfortable and
expensive they force me to ask my fellow
physician to stop a procedure underway
to inconvenience themselves because I
with my experience and understanding can
recognize the CR crisis at hand and my
failure to do so much like a pilot or
much like a city council to recognize
the scenario we're in contributes to the
escalation and and more or less
malpractice in their delivery of care
and I suppose all I'm asking for you to
understand is that when we avoid
appropriate response to the data and
what we know to be true around us what
we don't have no different than what I
don't have is
time and I'd like to thank everyone who
contributed all of the work to come up
with this plan I guess I'm one of the
leftists who believes my plan would have
gone much further because I think the
facts the data and the science in front
of us tells us we're not going far
enough I have two adult children I have
a grandchild I live in a community that
I was a static was taking these measures
to at least put a mission statement in
hand excuse me me the time has thank you
for hearing me out and I know you're
passionate about this and thank you for
speaking to us today thank you for the
first
time Lee
cfile he already spoke okay Tammy thank
you vice mayor tamy
bossi she's not here oh
some told me there is I've never used
this them I'm not sure it can you say in
the microphone please put on the Elmo
put oh please put on the Elmo my name is
Tammy bosy I have lived in Scottdale not
far from here for since 1992 what is
that love it it's a wonderful
place and this picture
I have been in tears since I saw that
this was on the
agenda I cannot tell you how distraught
I
am I'm sitting here listening to these
amazing people thank you so
much as a former commissioner I spent
thousands of hours trying to help this
city be a better place so many of my
fellow commissioners for their heart and
soul I lost my sister I lost my aunt I
lost my stepdad during the last period
of time where I've been serving
Scottdale staying up late at night I
sent my comments in last night at 3: in
the morning I'm busy I run two
businesses I am busy but I care about
this city and I know you do
too I appreciate you all being willing
to
serve and I thank you for the time here
I have so much to say and what I know we
all want an amazing city that is
well-run and beautiful and safe but in
order to do that we must have and we
must rely on a high functioning
ecosystem that is healthy and resilient
so that we have the resources and Ne
necessary conditions to create this
wonderful quality of life in our city
this is essential it is essential that
we nurture the core the very foundation
for our city
vibrancy and we this plan takes cost
effective and Common Sense approaches to
protect the very Foundation of our city
vibrancy hundreds of people look spent
so much time on this this plan doesn't
go far enough it is time that we lean in
and make this plan happen an ounce of
eventure is worth a pound of cure the
cost of not doing this today is far far
greater than the cost of taking some
very smart prudent actions now to
protect our citizens to protect our
quality of life to protect our safety to
protect our economy and everything that
this that our magnificent ecosystem
gives us it provides everything we need
to power our economy Our Lives to
protect our children
and this picture is is a family
member who is fighting
fires while his friend's house is
burning
down because we're not going far enough
we put our head in the Sands we are not
going far enough to take action today to
prevent bazillion dollars of expense and
pain
tomorrow will you be proud of your vote
tonight will you lean in and start to
let's roll up our sleeves and make these
plans happen and let's prevent
tomorrow's pain for our children and our
grandchildren thank
you thank you Tammy bossy I appreciate
it thank you to everyone who spoke
that's the end of the speakers as far as
I know the last one on the list so
before there's a couple of names three
names here on my screen before I open it
up to Council debate I think it's
important to uh to start with a couple
of points um first off uh this gentleman
let's see who it was oh it was yeah uh
Mr Malo whose name I said incorrectly
you asked a question you started with a
couple of questions one of which I think
is important because I don't know as
your new mayor I don't know how many
people know how how items get on the
agenda and I will share with you
uh that there you know you should know
how it happens four or more members at
least four members I should say must uh
if someone any one of the council
members adds it to the agenda uh there's
a poll that takes place by Ben Lane our
city clerk and he calls starting with
three council members and if they all
agree to add it to the agenda that then
it is put as an added agenda item having
nothing to do uh so it's not just the
mayor it Absol actually it's not the
mayor that sets the agenda quite
unfortunately um that is because I'd
love to be able to just add things or
not for example tonight's agenda item in
any event uh for I do enjoy the the
input from my Council colleagues and I
hope we can we can embark on a a
smoother uh
agend
agendize system that maybe has less um
political uh outcry such as we see
tonight but having notwithstanding it
was an important question that I think
many people don't know the answer to so
to be clear there are two ways to put
items on the agenda it is either through
the city manager or one of the other
four five total Charter officers so
that's five Charter officers that can
sponsor an item and uh or the polling uh
positive response from four council
members so I uh can tell you I voted to
put this on the agenda because I think
it needs to be discussed if it wasn't
tonight it would have been another night
and ideally uh I I'll start by saying I
think I agreed with every single speaker
in the room honestly I may not agree
with everything you said on your three
minutes or or so but you all made good
points and I think they were all valid
and I uh as you all saw if you were
there at the followed the last 10 months
of the campaigns or the inauguration I
am very number one commitment resident
input and uh along with that goes saving
or preserving or uh ra rationally and
conservatively uh watch dogging your tax
dollars so as I see this issue tonight
before I open it up for a debate and I
hope my Council colleagues will join me
and trying to find a compromise here I
too agree that having the length of time
and the number of citizens that served
on this committee are should we should
not be throwing the baby out with the
bath water as that saying goes I don't
think that's um the most prudent
decision I don't like the sustainability
plan I'm a lawyer I've done litigation
for 25 plus years anything that's 140
pages does not take action I mean you've
all identified there's no action items I
think that's a problem I don't think
that's a reason to keep it so having SP
on to another agenda item that is uh
going to be interesting uh now the now
we found out tonight that the uh acting
city manager effective today before this
meeting retired um Bill Murphy so after
30 years here Bill Murphy suddenly
retired and but before he did I had the
opportunity to say what's up with the
sustainability plan I mean I know are we
doing that at City
Hall I know what I don't like you know
I've heard a lot of uh tidbits from
everybody I know what I don't like about
it I've said it's 140 Pages there's no
action items involved a lot of people
are bound to be disappointed when no one
pays attention to it so I think we can
improve on that according to the now
retired acting city manager our
departments are very focused they go to
conferences all the time they are
focused on sustainability in their
individual departments I'm told so I
think a a great way to approach this
we've now passed the uh subcommittee the
Council subcommittee on community safety
I would really like the opportunity uh
to have those appointed members we
haven't done that yet go through through
carefully and identify where we can come
up with action items out of these 140
Pages I'd like to see a two or three
page document I know it can be done if
we're looking to really do categories of
things and take proactive measures I
think that can happen so be as we
proceed with the debate I would like to
encourage um you all to think about that
I'm sure you already have uh but I would
love to see this you know respect the
citizens input and I agree I don't know
what a new task force would do I would
probably rather see City staff work with
the community safety uh subcommittee to
scale this back make it meaningful and
come to some sort of consensus so with
that I will off open this up to debate
vice mayor Graham thank you Madame mayor
and I appreciate those remarks um Scott
is second to none in citizen input and
uh we are so appreciative for all the
citizens that come to us and speak to us
and share their mind um it's um the
participation of skotel citizens is
unmatched and it's something that I
think we can all agree we're very
impressed by um I also believe everybody
supports
sustainability we all know that it's
critical to our
future what's under discuss discussion
tonight is actually
expanding the sustainability
plan which up until now has been limited
to environmental
issues this item tonight is about
including including and broadening its
topics so that the
economy and environment work
together to preserve our quality of life
residents who studi the plan tell me
they're disturbed by its contents when
they learn that the prior city council
majority voted to empower city
government to begin enjoining reduction
in your household trash output by 90%
within 15
years restricting your electrical usage
regardless of power
source restricting water usage for
single family homes while giving
businesses and apartments a
pass Outsourcing local control your
local control to the agendas and
politics of County and bigger
government redirecting your tax dollars
to speculative environmental
spending and subjecting you to
monitoring and auditing of your home and
Business resident have told us loudly
and
clearly and
repeatedly that city government should
stay in its own
lane our lane doesn't include searching
for ways to impose restrictions on your
lifestyle because our residents are
smart and they don't need us to tell
them the right thing to
do residents pay a premium to live here
and they expect us to be
sustainable and I believe this Council
will respect
that so thank you again and with those
comments Madame mayor I move to call the
question to allow members to cast their
votes
second the question having been called I
will take a vote all those in what's
call the question what's the question
that's the that's the
request
mayor I would like to have the City
attorney
speak it he can call the question
meaning someone makes the motion so we
all need to vote on the call of the
question unless unless I'm wrong well
did I miss the motion was there a motion
I made a motion to I made a motion I
missed the motion too oh I I
respectfully made a motion I I said I
move to call the question in order to
allow ow members to cast their votes
freely correct
but but is there a motion to call the
question on that's my question so can
you make the motion and then call the
question make the motion to call the
question but there needs to be an
underlying motion uh to approve or or
deny the ordinance right what whatever
the motion is that you're call ending
debate on thank you Sher well then I
will uh move to adopt resolution 13
335 and call the question thank
you just to be clear are you seconding
the motion and the call to of the
question uh based on so we have two
votes if I point of order yes the that
based on that vice mayor Graham's
request to call the question you've
heard the underlying motion I will first
entertain a vote on the call of the
question and we can do that now followed
by the motion if NE well it will be
necessary the motion to call the
question passes uh with the majority and
uh now I will entertain the motion which
just to clarify vice mayor Graham is to
repeal can you can you articulate that
please for me I Madame mayor I was just
keeping it I was using an economy of
wordss in concision to move move to
adopt resolution
13335 thank you okay so the resolution
as I as it's written is to
repeal the sustainability plan and
direct staff to put together a new task
force mayor I would like to make an
alternate
motion Point owner you
can't pursuant to the rules so this is
an attempt point point of order point of
order this is point of out of order out
of order point of order once out of
order out of order Madam parliamentarian
according to rule 11:20 once the once
question is called it's out of order to
debate any further I
understand council member quasman I'm
well aware so we will take a vote on the
underlying
motion which uh bcea Graham has moved
and councilman quasman has seconded
please register your
vote the resolution passes and we will
move on to the next a agenda item thank
you for all of your input here today we
very much appreciate it
I
speak so
while in people are leaving do we want
to take a yeah I would like to thank all
the people who spoke thank you
mayor council councilwoman yeah I would
like to thank everybody here who spoke
point of order
[Music]
excuse me if you would just I know
you're unhappy with the results please
just exit quietly and we we really do
appreciate you being here we really
appreciate you being
here we're GNA take a short
recess I seen a city council to prevent
others
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e e
with that we'll invite councilman
quasman back to the Das and get the
meeting back
in
place all right turning
to we
have
apies okay thank you
calling the mo the meeting back to order
we now move on to item this is the time
for uh mayor and C a mayor and Council
item actually we have agenda item 17 to
go through because we took a vote to add
that to the agenda and so that was added
to the regular agenda yeah mayor we have
a 14 C and 14d 14 oh sorry did I skip
this
ah really whole page I skipped apology
for that item 14 C moving right along
amending the the rules of council
procedure and do we have a staff
presentation I don't think we do this
deals with uh rules of council procedure
section
5.11 and uh that was recently enacted as
far as I understand to not allow council
members to have their cell phone on the
dis so there uh and this particular
agenda item calls for a repeal of that
section and I don't think there's very
much to talk about here I'm in favor of
repealing this because if you didn't
elect adults to serve on your city
council and as your mayor who can't be
trusted with their cell phones then we
have a much bigger problem than cell
phones on the Das so with that I will uh
take comments from open it up for a
debate and take comments from
councilwoman
McAllen actually mayor um I was in the
queue for earlier I needed a
clarification question the the mo and
this may be for um the City attorney the
motion was made for to repeal the
sustainability plan but we didn't add a
motion for the task force
oh I didn't hear it as part of the
motion
sorry okay oh it's part of the ordinance
okay my apology I just needed a
clarification thank you thank you so
I'll open up item agenda item 14 C
amending the rules of council procedure
specifically
5.11 oh we do have a speaker
Lee c
hi again uh name's Lee cofle uh dresses
on file I wanted to speak to the repeal
of this and my confusion about why it's
on there um
the the the first thing I just want to
point out was the the rule is about
sending and receiving messages back in
electronic messages while on the dis and
uh and then if uh if there's some sort
of Emergency the city staff will provide
a device or something like that that
family and loved ones and whoever can
reach out to this was uh proposed
because there was at the last Council
this was past
70 um and it was proposed because there
was obvious communication happening with
uh with members while City business was
going on that was not transparent to the
public and so this rule was clarified to
make that very clear that we were not
going to as a city we're not going to
allow that communication and so as
everybody up here has spoken about
transparency is important to this
Council it is a promise that all
everybody on this Council has said and
so I believe that we should keep this
rule in effect it hasn't impacted did
anyone uh that I'm aware of the uh also
additionally as you spoke uh we want
adults up here and we want because we
want our elected officials to respect uh
the people here and as stated previously
there was a problem with people using
their electronic devices and not paying
attention and not giving the respect to
the people to to the citizens of
Scottdale while it was
happening um another thing that uh I
noticed or that I want to use as an
anecdote is uh while my co-workers who
uh live in Scottdale watch these
meetings without any prompting they
mention the fact that some members were
constantly on their phone it was very
obvious uh to anybody watching that
there was that uh that behavior that was
happening and then
uh and and then finally as just to
reiterate if there's a concern about
emergencies and needing to the city
already has a workaround for that to
ensure that there is transparency to
ensure that the respect for the citizens
is given and to make sure that we don't
have a repeat of that behavior so thank
you thank you very much seeing no more
public comment coun will open it for
debate and councilwoman Whitehead so in
government public perception matters
so what we just witnessed really
undermines public trust in the
government it's not about how you vote
it's about the reasons for your vote and
the ability to debate the ability to not
be afraid of facts and the resident
voices this item was put on the agenda
because rather than debating we did have
pardon me councilwoman Whitehead I'm
speaking to this item this item excuse
me if I may there's been a point of
order called and I would uh I've asked
for debate on 14c it's a very specific
agenda and I think there's there's
plenty of time to issue comments about
the last agenda no I'm speaking about
this one now okay thank you thank you
mayor thank you mayor yeah so there was
we received many complaints I've been on
the city council for six years and we
received many complaints that a council
member was communicating with other
people and not listening to the speaker
or to the de the debate that was going
on up here on the dice we have open
meeting laws we can't debate with each
other offline we have to do it in public
so in the end I it wasn't my idea that
this uh new rule was put in place and
actually all seven of us voted for it
and there hasn't been a problem with it
nobody has complained um I will say that
if you're going to break rules you're
going to break rules whether this rules
in place or not and I am very
sympathetic to the mayor's comment about
needing to have access to her phone in
case there is an emergency and staff did
make some accommodations for that so do
I think this rule is absolutely critical
no do I think it's better to have it
because it um increases public trust and
and shows that we respect the public
that we're here to serve yes um but I
and again I just want to stress that all
seven of us voted for so I was surprised
to see this on the agenda with very
little notice like pretty much
everything else on the agenda thank
you uh councilwoman
McAllen yes thank you mayor um I do
believe it's important like our last
speaker Lee who talked about
transparency and that the public
understands that we represent them and
that I I do not think we should repeal
this but I do think that we should be
acting in a transparent manner for our
citizens that's all I have to
say thank you and just I see no further
uh comments but just to clarify
councilwoman Whitehead's comment that
wasn't my concern at all my concern as I
stated is that we're all adults up here
and we should be responsible for use of
our devices and so with that I'll call
for a motion entertain a
motion Madam mayor I
move I move that item 14 C amending the
rules of council procedure
resolution i' see it 13 resolution
excuse me resolution
13336 uh uh is approved okay
second all those in
favor register your
vote having passed uh I now move on
[Music]
to agenda item
14d however I'm not sure what's
happening with agenda item 14d as I
mentioned earlier we I was notified that
the interim city manager retired and we
have uh assistant city manager Greg Kon
now sitting here this evening as the
acting interim city
manager uh is this still an agenda item
that we wish to continue to discuss I
would prefer to move this given the
change in circle circumstances actually
I'll just make a motion to uh continue
this item until the next regular council
meeting uh under the circumstances so
that we can all identify and and find
out what's going on with the situation
second may I speak to my second
sure actually I'd like to make a
friendly amendment to my second and
request that the we um pull this
discussion to the next meeting and make
it an executive session
seconded I would prefer to leave it as
is we have a standing placeholder For
Recess into an ex exe executive session
and I don't think that's a necessary
amendment I think that complicates it
more than I'm trying to do thank you I
guess I agree my second holds with that
I'll take a vote
on continuing this uh let's see we are
at
14 D all those in favor please register
your
vote the motion passes to
continue I'm sorry I misre the motion I
want
to she
voted having failed we'll take the item
as it is written uh and that is
replacement of the interim city manager
appoint current appointed City interim
city manager excuse me and discuss
salary
uh now would be the time to make your MO
to recess into EXA
session so seeing no motion
accordingly let's oh sorry I'm covering
up oh
Vice so we'll just go ahead with the
agenda item vice mayor Graham thank you
madam mayor city council is responsible
for Staffing our Charter officer
positions and with the resignation of
the prior city manager last month the
new city council uh plans to initiate a
a search for a city manager probably
beginning in the next meeting uh I want
to comment real quickly that the city
has been very fortunate to have three
dedicated assistant city managers after
conversations with all three of them and
feedback from colleagues
stakeholders um and others um um we
noted that interim city manager Bill
Murphy appointed assistant city manager
Greg Kon to the position of assistant
city
manager um
we received the res resignation of
assistant city manager Bill Murphy today
which I would like to take a moment to
thank Mr Murphy for his Decades of
dedicated service to our city and I also
want to thank him for stepping in as
assist as interim city manager During
the period of time between the
retirement of the prior city manager and
today
um for those who don't know Mr Kon he
has served as a city manager of Grand
Junction and he's also served as city
manager of Oro Valley which I believe
has a similar profile attributes to
Scottsdale the prior city manager hired
Mr Kon in early 2024 and he has seen
overseen several of our departments
including Scottdale water our
Communications and Human Services Human
Resources excuse me so I find myself in
a mement with Mr Murphy today and when
he through administrative channels
appointed GRE Kon as interim city
manager and I really my motion today is
to if you'll allow me to move to appoint
Mr Kon or confirm that
appointment by dual by duy appoint it uh
confirm it by Council vote uh effective
today and uh I think this emotion adjust
Mr kon's compensation during his interim
city manager appointment
and based on his skills knowledge and
experience to match our pay practices at
5% above the highest city Charter
officer $335,000 perom I mve to confirm
Greg Kon as inter city manager for the
time being
second before we do that I'd like to
hear from staff is uh assistant city
manager Greg Kon are you the next in
line pursuant to the organization chart
uh Madame mayor thank you for that
question I do not believe that we have a
next in line I would probably uh defer
that to uh maybe the City attorney uh as
the vice mayor referenced there are
three uh assistant city managers one
departed today and there is one other in
myself so and did I understand because
this is the first I'm learning of this
uh vice mayor Graham to say that
outgoing
assistant city manager Bill Murphy
appointed you as his replacement is that
the case can I get some staff
input
certainly go ahead I don't mean to butt
in um Sher Scott City attorney mayor uh
a resolution was passed some time ago
resolution number
9774 that provides that the city manager
shall designate an advance by written
notice to the city council AAL qualified
city of Scottdale employee to serve as
acting city manager in the event the
city manager is unable to perform the
duties of office uh the outgoing city
manager Jim Thompson designated Bill
Murphy and Bill Murphy earlier today in
writing designated Greg um Canton as the
interim city manager in his absence this
Council can thank you confirm that that
was the
answer with that I will take a vote on
vice mayor Graham's motion which had a
second right yeah okay uh to confirm the
outgoing Bill Murphy's appointment of
Greg Kaden please register your
vote thank you uh do we have vice mayor
Graham yes passing unanimously we will
move on to the next agenda item
okay 17 right Ben 16 16 16 no no 17 was
added to the regular agenda yeah uh
mayor uh thank you mayor um we have item
15 we have the citizen petition uh to
for the council to consider and then it
item 16 was added was on the agenda in a
timely manner uh so that will be
considered tonight as well item 17 thank
you
mayor so citizen petition has already
been
presented uh correct mayor uh you uh
need to consider what action to take and
the actions are on the screen for you
thank you so I'll entertain a motion on
the citizens petition
please actually I can make the
motion the citizens petition Mr Sutton
if I recall his name so I would like to
make a motion
to
see direct the city manager to agendize
the petition for further discussion I'll
second that
motion seeing no request to speak I'll
take the vote on this item all those in
favor register your Vote
or
not thank you unanimously passed to come
back to council for discussion now
moving on to did you say 16 is on the
regular agenda yes yes mayor it was on
the agenda in a timely manner so you can
on
separately all right item number 16
is initiate city council review of the
development review board September 12th
20 2024 decision
regarding Dr case 4 I'm sorry Dr case
46d
2022 number two the Marshall living
project this item was added by
councilwoman Littlefield and the council
has three options in terms of making a
motion the three are direct the interim
city manager or Charter or other Charter
officer to agendize the item for a
future
meeting direct the interim city manager
or responsible Charter officer to
investigate the matter and prepare a
written response to the council or take
no
action councilwoman councilwoman
Littlefield thank you mayor appreciate
it um I was
um addressed by a number of City uh
citizens in the downtown area this is
Oldtown and it regards an issue that was
put before Dr Dr passed it 6 to1 and um
the citizens are very concerned about
this because it is for residential in
Oldtown that has not happened before
they don't want it there and it also has
some very serious um problems with the
building that they want to do um and I
have a a list of them I'll I'll give a
few um here it's a a site that consists
of about 9,000 square ft and it's about
1/5 of an acre and it has
um
12 uh duus on a fifth of an acre which
is the equivalent of about 60 housing
units for an acre and this is an area
that does not have at this time
residential so it would make a major
change in our zoning laws second is the
the substandard driveway for this is not
ADA Compliant and it's um a north and
south parking it would take the parking
away from the current businesses that
are here and make it even harder for
those businesses to get parking for
their
patrons um it also does not meet the
ordinance requirements for 2 4ot
maneuvering clearances of 90° for
parking and finally the last major issue
and there are some other ones but the
major one that I'm concerned with is
this Council uh several years ago very
carefully decided that they did not want
overhanging balconies on the walkways
from the businesses and this is an uh
extension of the private balconies Over
The Pedestrian walkways and they're not
granted by right and particularly in our
Oldtown and Council has the discretion
to not allow taking public space above
the walkways for p uh private usage city
council revised the Oldtown character
area plan and ordinance which restricts
those balconies in Oldtown just a couple
of years ago so I think this has a
number of other issues also these are
some of the things I've been looking at
I walked the area I'm concerned about
parking the parking that's there is used
by the current business businesses where
is the new parking going to be how is
that going to maneuver in there and I
think it's worth a council discussion if
we agree on agree to do this as a
council we would be acting as a Dr board
as as opposed to a council and we would
be making Dr decisions so that's what I
would like to put before us and have a
vote on that if we would uh agendize
this item for further discussion as a Dr
board thank you I'll second the motion
second
o seeing no other request to speak I
have a motion in a second I'd like
to uh what was the motion was it to can
you put that back to a future meeting
which must be 30 days from now and the
soonest being February
18th uh all those in favor please
register your vote
yeah and that unanimously passes with
that we'll move on to item 17 agenda is
a review of a possible scope change for
the planned roundabout at Scottdale Road
and
dynamite I will open that up to brief
discussion hopefully or you do a motion
I'm going to very briefly comment on it
and then I'm G then I'm going to move to
uh agendize it um the project at
dynamite in Scottsdale you know Dynamite
to Joe Max it vast majority of it is a
great project uh people that use that
intersection they don't like that
intersection it's uneven it's old it's
needs Improvement and uh you know it
needs um it needs um raise medians it
needs more visibility it needs uh
coverts it needs evening it needs um a
lot and I spoke with you know we got a
30 million give or take a $30 million
Federal Grant on this Transportation
staff said that money is not conditional
on putting a roundabout in that
intersection there's a lot of details to
it I don't want to belabor it because
we'll talk about it more when we City
staff brings it back to us we do a lot
of business with Hunter Contracting and
we hope to continue doing business with
them um and so if they're listening
tonight uh just know that we are
interested in talking about the terms of
this so thank you mayor I will move to
agendas that for a future meeting if I
can have a second
second thank you seeing no other request
to speak please register your
vote this item passes and we
will with that that's item 17 I'll move
to adjourn yes I'll entertain um motion
to aurn second or can I second my own no
no second you
could all those in
favor absolutely thank you all for
coming tonight I know it's been a long
meeting appreciate your time