City Council | Regular Meeting - October 8, 2024

e e
hello I call the October 8th 2024 city
council regular meeting to order a city
clerk van Lane please conduct the the
roll call thank you mayor mayor David
Ortega present vice mayor Barry Graham
present council members Tammy caputi
here Tom Durham here Betty Janik here
Kathy Littlefield here and Salange
Whitehead here city manager Jim Thompson
here City attorney Sher Scott here City
Treasurer Sony Andrews here acting City
auditor lay KF here and the clerk is
present thank you mayor excellent we
have Scottdale police Sergeant Brian
heiner as well as firefighter Bobby
Conan if anyone here needs assistance
let's begin with the Pledge of
Allegiance I'll call on council member
Tom Durham
pled Al to the flag of the United States
of
America
stand well at uh at this time uh we draw
our attention to the ongoing Wars in
foreign countries as they fight to
protect their democracy and freedom also
uh we will keep in mind our own military
service uh members who are deployed and
uh in our thoughts and Reflections so
I'll ask us to pause and a moment of
Silent reflection
thank
you well we have a joyous occasion
actually a birth day of sorts um which
um has to do with the 30th Ann AR of The
mcdal sonor Preserve I have a
proclamation which I'd like to read and
then I'll be calling forward uh Amanda
Hoffman handy who's the uh chief
executive officer for the sonor McDonald
sonor Conservancy so let's begin with a
happy note here
Proclamation whereas 30 years ago on
October 3rd 1994 the Scottsdale city
council established the McDow sonor
preserve to carry out the Community
Vision of protecting thousands of Acres
of the Sonoran Desert and whereas the
Scottdale mcdal sonor preserve now
consists of
30,500 Acres of natural open space that
permanently protects habitat for Native
wildlife and plants Scenic views unique
geological formations and archaeological
and historic
sites and whereas The Preserve has
continued to benefit from the unique
partnership between the city of
Scottsdale and McDow sonor Conservancy
with the conservancy recruting and
training over
550 uh Stewart
volunteers and whereas this partnership
provides interactive public education
opportunities above the preserves
ecology and re Rich cultural history
including the recent creation of the
Browns Ranch interpretive Trail and
whereas a community celebration will be
held on Friday October 18th at 10 a.m.
at the Browns Ranch trail head to
commemorate the completion of the Browns
Ranch interpretive Trail the theme of
which
is a 20th century Ranch in an ancient
landscape therefore I David D Ortega the
12th mayor of Scottsdale do declare um
October 2024 as McDow sonor preserve
month in Scottsdale and urge everyone to
experience the beauty of the mcdal sonor
and preserve to consider donating to the
mcdal sonor and conservancy and most of
all to thank the stewards and the
Commissioners who volunteer to protect
nature so I'll ask commanders to step
forward
[Applause]
um you know also if there are other
Conservancy members uh we want to to
please stand up we want to acknowledge
you as uh our commissioners involved in
The Preserve effort I see Carla in the
back don't be
shy and uh thank you
Carla and I myself as a am a member of
the mcdal sonor Conservancy so of course
do encourage other community members to
join as well next we will go to the um
City manager's report thank you Mr Mayor
this evening we have another uh Fast
Five Short video
[Music]
I'm public information officer Kelsey
Perry with five things happening around
the city you need to know at number five
Scottdale airport is launching a new
master planning project to evaluate its
facilities and operations and prioritize
projects to improve safety efficiency
sustainability and meet the growing
operational demands the airport is an
Enterprise fund meaning that it operates
without any general fund tax dollars and
this master plan effort is funded
through an FAA Grant the community is
invited to attend an open house on
October 29th at the Scottdale Aviation
Business Center to learn more subscribe
to scotdale airports e newsletters to
stay up todate on the project head to
scel a.gov and search newsletter at
number four we send a big
congratulations to all the city staff
working to make Scottsdale a more
sustainable Community the city recently
earned a platinum designation through
srp's 20 24 sustainable cities program
Scottdale is one of only two Valley
Cities to earn the highest designation
from SRP for its sustainable Focus
assets and programs such as the advanced
water treatment facility Scottdale is
currently accepting nominations for its
annual sustainable Scottdale Awards a
program that recognizes change makers in
the community visit scottsdaleaz.gov and
search sustainable Scottdale to apply
number three is a look at just a few of
the many events coming to Scottdale this
fall the Oldtown Farmers Market has
reopened for the season featuring more
than 100 local Growers and specialty
food producers each and every Saturday
mccor McMan Railroad Park is getting set
to host spooky train rides nightly from
October 11th through the 31st during its
Halloween spook tracula and don't miss
the deos muos events taking place in
Oldtown Scottdale from October 24th
through November 2nd or the city's
annual Fall Festival on October 26th at
chaperel Park featuring The Wonderful
World of Scottdale a Showcase of various
City departments and their vehicles the
Scottdale police department will
participate in the desert dog police K9
trials on October 27th out at Westworld
and will host a trunk or treat event on
October 30th in the melops district
parking lot plus the annual Canal
convergence is happening from November
8th through the 17th at Scottdale waterf
front opening night will feature the
city's onew Brewing showcase where the
public can sample beer from Valley
breweries made from recycled water
delivered directly from Scottsdale's
Advanced water treatment plant for a
list of all the things happening this
fall visit Scottsdale az.gov and search
events at number two it's a heartfelt
thank you to the Scottsdale Fire
Department and its Regional partners for
their Brave work on the gate fire a fast
moving Wildland fire that erupted in
North Scottdale on September 12 thanks
to their coordinated efforts no lives or
homes were lost in the blaze Scottdale
fire was the first on the scene and
immediately engaged in fire suppression
efforts while Scottdale police began a
swift evacuation of residents in the
area find tips on how to prepare for
wildfires or other emergencies by
heading to scottsdaleaz.gov and
searching emergency preparedness and at
number one it's a look back at a
historic decision that shapes scale's
future forever 30 years ago this month
on October 3rd 1994 the Scottdale city
council held a special meeting with one
goal to save the McDow mountains on that
day Council voted to establish
Scottsdale's mcdal Sonoran preserve to
protect the natural beauty wildlife and
vegetation of the McDow mountains at the
time The Preserve was 4.5 square miles
in size today it's the largest urban
Preserve in the country it boasts 23 M
of trails that can be accessed by eight
major Trail heads on October 18th The
Preserve will host a dedication ceremony
for the brand new Browns Ranch
interpretive trail located about a mile
from the Browns Ranch trail head guided
Community hikes will take place on the
new Trail on October 19th for more
information visit mcdal senor.
org that's it for October for more news
and events sign up for our city
newsletters by heading to Scottsdale
a.com go and searching
[Music]
newsletter thank you Mr
Thompson moving on um 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
the executive session will be held
immediately and will not be open to the
public the public meeting would then
resume following a an executive session
also per Council rules of procedure
citizens attending city council meeting
shall observe the same Rules of Order
and decorum applicable to members of the
council and staff um unauthorized
remarks or demonstration would just
delay our meeting and um we appreciate
your courtesy Additionally the council
recently updated its Council rules um
council members shall not send or
receive electronic communications while
attending these public meetings or any
executive meetings and uh we do have
devices supplied to us uh for following
the agenda but otherwise other devices
must be stored elsewhere during Council
meetings um the next portion of our
agenda and I know that there's some some
young um people out here taking notes of
how an agenda Works uh city council and
the Arizona um uh statutes call for
public meetings to also allow public
comment public comment is reserved for
Scottdale citizens business owners or
Property Owners to comment on any non-
agendized item that would be within the
jurisdiction of the council advocacy for
or against a ballot measure or a
candidate during a council meeting is
not allowed by state law and therefore
would not be deemed within our
jurisdiction
and no official action could be taken uh
regarding a u public comment request um
speakers would come forward have three
minutes to address the Council on a non
agendized item we have one speaker
request and that is Darien
priolo thank you please come forward and
and state your uh name place of
residence and then
um let us know what what's on your mind
hello thank you my name is Daren priolo
I live at 11350 East saharo
Drive so I moved here from Washington
state is my time started yeah you're
fine okay fine um I moved here from
Washington State at the end of
2022 to escape the nonsense that was
going on there in the small town that I
lived
in and I figured I'd live here cuz it
was great I Lov the people here it was
very righteous feeling everyone felt
like they were doing the right
thing um I've come to find out that
whether you're in a small town or a big
city there's always bad apples and we
have to get rid of
those um I would like to say thank you
for everyone showing up in city council
or the council members thank you for
showing
up um the small town I moved from people
wouldn't show up oh where are they oh I
don't know great great
um in the beginning of this meeting I
noticed you had brought up foreign
countries Wars to keeping their
democracy and no offense Ortega but that
doesn't really jive with us we're
Americans we should care about America
this is Scottdale we don't really have
anything to do with Foreign
Wars and I would like to say also that
the participation in here for them
amount of people that live in Scott sale
is kind of
disappointing but we all have lives so
maybe we should move the time up to a
later time or maybe even a weekend where
everyone can make
it um I have about a minute 30 left I
don't think it's going to take that long
I'll end after this but the first city
hall meeting I had gone to we were
talking about recycling sewage water to
drink and so they had brought in
popsicles and you guys said you tried
them they were
great but I could shine up a turd and
have you eat it and say we short on meat
and would you say it tasted well
probably not nobody wants to drink their
piss or their
poop um it's disgusting and we don't
want to pump it back into the aquafer
it's
absurd and we're always watching we are
the people we the people run this nation
not elected officials thank
you thank you I will now close public
comment next agenda item is moving on to
our minutes I would request a motion to
approve special meeting minutes of
September 10th
2024 executive session minutes of
September 10th
2024 regular meeting minutes of
September 10th 2024 do I have a motion
so move
second we have a motion a
second please record your
vote thank you we are
unanimous next we have
consent agenda items 1 through 14 um I
am told that there is no request to
speak from the public on any agenda item
uh items 1 through 14 if a council
member has a a question they could ask
it at this point I have councilwoman
Janik wishing to speak and then vice
mayor Graham and council member Durham
thank you thank you mayor um I have some
questions on item number eight the
gravity sewer
good
evening okay um basically I just wanted
a little bit more clarification
on um it says the north pump xation
project construction phase contract
modification and I was concerned when I
saw the word modification could you just
explain um how those contracts work and
why it's considered a
modification uh yes uh councilwoman
janic mayor members of council so this
is one of our construction manager at
risk contracts so we award the initial
contract and sometimes we do the
construction in phases which is what we
did in this case so we originally came
back um came to you in December of
2023 with gmp1 guaranteed maximum price
one and that was for the procurement of
the material s and then we came back in
February of 2024 for gmp2 which was for
the first phase of construction we came
back in August of 2024 just a couple
months ago with the third GMP and then
this is the fourth and final GMP and
what this allows us to do is we can be
continuing design while we're procuring
materials we can do one phase while
we're continuing design of the next
phase um would you say that the cost
involved is in line with expectations uh
yes the this is not asking for any
additional funds this is all within the
existing approved budget okay thank you
very much I appreciate that sure okay
next I have vice mayor Graham and then
council member
Durham I was I was actually also going
to ask about item number eight so thank
you
Allison um
the phase three versus phase four why do
we use why would you say we're using
different
vendors um council member Graham we're
using the same vendor it's Aken Gardner
construction I read the packet and I
thought it had different vendors between
phase three and Fa phase four so maybe I
misread
it
um okay
so forgive me if I misread
that couple more questions um
how would you say the overall the
project is
going uh vice mayor mayor member of
council uh it's going well we're
proceeding on schedule we were targeting
to be complete by October of
2025 um and there have there been any
scope changes since
August um no no additional scope
changes and
um you said the project on on schedule
correct
when do you when when was the schedule
as far as completion uh fall of 2025
okay very good thank you mayor thank you
Alison good and let me just ask is there
any other question for item eight uh
thank you council member
Durham thank you in in the package it
said that there had
been um sort of a credit that we were
getting on this project my my computer's
not working so I not sure the details
but it said that there was a credit that
we were getting towards this phase from
a prior phase I think it was in the
neighborhood at 3
million something or other because that
money hadn't hadn't been
used yes um council member Durham mayor
members of council so in one of the
earlier gmps uh GMP to we realized some
savings with that that construction work
we had some contingencies in there that
weren't needed and we are able to
utilize that savings towards this GMP so
those so those savings came from things
we thought we were going to need and it
turns out that we didn't need them after
all correct all right thank you that's
all I
have okay so for the record we close
public comment there's no other request
to speak from Council therefore do I
have a motion to approve consent agenda
items 1 through 14 so move D second
motion by councilwoman Littlefield
seconded by councilwoman janick please
record your
vote thank you we are unanimous moving
ahead we have a second opportunity for
public comment public comment is
reserved for uh citizens to come forward
I'm told there is no uh request for
additional public comment therefore I
will close public comment uh moving on
to petitions um our city Charter allows
for uh citizen to petition the council
by presenting a written petition at the
count at the clerk's office and then it
would be read today at a meeting uh we
agendize that possibility but I'm told
we have no request for a u petition
citizen petition therefore I will close
uh that item and move on um and finally
I move to adjourn um our meeting do I
have a second second motion a second
please record your
vote we are adjourned thank you very
much e