City of Chandler Council Meeting 3.27.25

Hold it up.
Awesome.
Were you?
I
was. All right, we're gonna start.
Good evening and welcome to the March
27th regular meeting of the Chandler
City Council. Clerk, as I call this
meeting to order, will you please take
the role? Mayor Hartkey here. Vice Mayor
Ellis here. Council member Ninas here.
Council member Poston here. Council
member Orlando here. Council member
Harris. Council member Hawkins here. We
have a quorum. Thank you so much. And I
think uh speaking of council member
Harris, there he is. Say here. Here.
All right. Our invocation tonight will
be delivered by Pastor Christopher
Morris from Foothills Community Church
and our pledge of allegiance by Vice
Mayor Ellis.
Pastor, let's bow our heads for prayer.
Heavenly Father, thank you so much for
the leadership of Chandler, Arizona.
Thank you so much for the time and the
energy that they are choosing to invest
um to make sure that the city is run in
a smooth and efficient manner. Lord,
there are many things on the agenda this
evening. So, as um they present the
items and as those in the audience may
have items to present as well, Lord, we
just ask that all interactions will be
done in a way that brings your name,
honor, and glory. and uh may your wisdom
um we pour your wisdom into our minds
and our hearts as as this meeting goes
forward and we ask these things in Jesus
name. Amen. Amen. Thank you pastor for
praying for us. So please join me in the
pledge of allegiance.
Ice to the flag of the United States of
America and to the for it stands one
nation under God indivisible with
liberty and justice for all.
Thank you, pastor. Thank you, Vice
Mayor. Okay, council. We have two
speaker cards and then um I'm going to
after we listen to them before we vote
on our consent agenda. I want to invite
any potential board or commission
members who are in the audience to
actually come up to the mic and
introduce yourself. So, just say your
name and and what board are are you
actually uh been asked to serve on. But
first, we do have a couple speaker
cards. First is uh Mr. Brooke
Beal. And sir, you have if you please
state your name and address. For the
record, you have up to three minutes to
talk. When the light is green, uh
continue. When it turns yellow, please
wrap up. When it's red, um, please stop.
My name is Brook Beal, 85 West Tewood
Place, Chandler. Uh, I'm here to talk
tonight about, uh, item number five.
This is the, uh, the bike ride, mayor's
bike ride. U, generally, I'm very much
in favor of it. I think it's a good
thing. But unfortunately uh for the past
two years, as you know, I've been trying
to get cooperation from the city
attorney's office and the Chandler
Police Department to prohibit uh the
ebikes and other motorized vehicles from
on the on the canal. And uh I've met
with great resistance and I'm not quite
sure why that is, what uh what the
problem is with enforcing a law that
that you guys passed. uh chapter 31 uh
section 6 paragraph C was uh first
passed in
1999. Um but for some reason uh even
though it says that uh uh motor assisted
vehicles including but not limited to uh
apparently that doesn't mean a bicycle
with a motor on it that doesn't run all
the time. Uh that seems strange to me
that uh seems to be the very textbook
definition of a of a motorass assisted
vehicle. So I'm not quite sure what it
is that the attorney and the police
department have with enforcing the law.
In fact, yesterday uh I met with the
supervisor who said that uh he
considered my efforts to be a waste of
resources, police department resources
u and he would have uh really nothing to
do with it. So, I I find that very
offensive uh considering the fact that
it's uh your board, your council that
passed that law. So, uh until I think
until we have cooperation from the
police department and city attorney, I'm
opposed to this uh this this item. Thank
you, Mr. Mr. Bale. Um Council Member
Harris, I wanted to ask someone a couple
of questions if people come. Yeah,
during this we can actually have a
conversation with you. During
unscheduled, we cannot. Okay. I'm just
trying to better understand um um when
you talk about the when you're talking
about the ebikes with the motor
motorization, can you talk about why is
that important and you know is the motor
is it is a throttle is it something that
happens when ebikes go through there? I
just kind of want to better understand
that. Right. Yeah. No, that's a good
excellent question. So they're uh I I I
view the canal and the PO trail as
having four four users. First are
pedestrians, second are cyclists, third
are equestrians, and fourth are the
wildlife. Uh Chandler seems to forget
them, but they actually make up a pretty
good portion of the trail traffic. So
the problem with the motorized uh and
not just ebikes but motorized vehicles
in particular is that they can go at a
sustained speed uh for for a distance.
You know most people they tire out going
15 miles an hour after half a mile or
so. When you have a when you have a
motorized vehicle you can you can
maintain that speed for quite some
distance and in fact um go faster than
20 or 30 miles an hour. Um over the past
two years when I've been collecting
these uh uh these issues and reporting
them to the police um you guys were good
enough to put in lamp posts at 100 foot
intervals. So I can measure the time it
takes for a bicycle to travel from one
to the next. And if it's more than uh if
it's less than uh say
uh 3 seconds um that means you're going
33 feet per second or about 25 miles an
hour. If you're going 25 miles an hour
uh you shouldn't be on a sidewalk where
there where there are pedestrians and
horses. And remember there are this is
an equestrian trail. So, so this is
about this is about potential traffic
accidents with people moving at
irregular speeds versus someone that may
be walking versus someone that's moving
at a faster speed. Popping wheelies, um,
zigzagging all over the place. Uh, my
wife is hard of hearing, so she can't
hear when they zip past her and think
it's amusing.
Um there are lots of problems. Uh in
every mile of canal between uh the major
streets, there are about three or four
million gallons of water. It's potential
drowning risk when these guys are
screwing around and going fast. You
know, it's a it's an issue for you. This
is why SRP does not allow any motorized
vehicle. Does not allow ebikes, does not
allow golf carts, does not allow
anything. Thank you. I just kind of
wanted to better understand Yep. what
your perspective was on that. Thank you,
mayor.
Thanks, Mayor. Thank you, mayor. Now,
can you expand on that for me a little
bit? I I I understand you're saying that
you don't want motorized uh bike to be
to be there.
How far do you live from that trail?
How far do I live from the trail? Oh, a
mile or so. A mile or so. Yeah. And it's
it's not me that doesn't want it. This
um SRP has a rule that they posted it.
No ebikes. It it's it's not me that set
the rule. If if uh if SRP said you can
have an ebike, I'm not going to pursue
it. But in addition to that, you guys
have created yours. And since the trail
is a part of the parks and recreation
department, that law 316 actually does
apply in that case. So it's it's all of
ours. You mentioned that there are
people who are doing it and they're
passing your wife and they they
disturbing the the the whole trail and
everything. I would like you to give me
an instance or how do you think that
with the police department we can
actually manage those people that by the
time you call or someone call us when we
get there they gone. Uh how can we stop
them? Do you have a solution for us here
at the city? I believe in working
together with our constituents to come
to a solution. So there is a problem.
You have observed that problem for two
years and now you're in front of me and
you would like me to help you solve this
problem. I want you tonight to give me a
tangible solution that you think beside
the police trying to run there, get into
an accident to get there to catch
someone right while they are doing it.
give me something that I can go back to
manager and said, "Okay, can we work on
these things?" Okay, so there I have
quite a few suggestions for you. Number
one, which is the suggestion I made to
the supervisor last night since he was
parked in the Target parking lot. I told
him I said, you know, I would appreciate
it if you would go park your car on the
end of the canal because if if you were
to have officers do their paperwork on
the ends of these canals, these are
public places. These are your guys have
a not a lease but a a u
um a license on this. So you have a
responsibility for this. So if they
there on every mile there are two or
four or six place eight places where you
could park a vehicle. Um that would be
the first thing because you see a a
motorized vehicle coming towards you.
You can uh get out of your car. the
officer can get out of his car, walk,
stop them, and have a conversation with
them. Uh, second thing, you could put up
traffic cameras. I don't necessarily
think that that's the best thing to do,
but it's certainly a possibility. Uh,
third possibility would be to have
bicycle officers on patrol down there.
You guys are about to start spending two
and a quarter million dollars on Fry
Road to make it a bicycle friendly road.
As soon as that gets in place, who do
you think's going to go from that that
uh separated bike path onto the canal,
that's going to be people who are
anxious to get home, anxious to get to
work. They're going to be on their
electric on their electric bikes.
They're going to turn off. They're going
to head down. So, the problem you have
now is going to be exacerbated when you
start putting in this two and a half.
And once you put in the one on Chandler,
what's that? Another $15 million. So
you're spending upwards $15 million on
these things. You can afford to have
hire police officers to patrol this. So
my my concern right now is that you are
asking us to do behavior modification.
Okay. Behavior modification can only be
reinforced if there is a negative
contenance to it, a punishment to it.
Right?
So in in the case of these bikes or
people who comes from everywhere,
they're not necessarily resident here in
Chander. They could be from anywhere.
That's right. So if I might, this actual
what we're voting on is Mr. Beal is
using Thank you, sir. is using this
particular item to voice his standing
complaint, but we're actually only
voting on the bike uh the mayor's bike
ride. Yeah. So I would if I would prefer
that if this conversation continues
let's carry it under his concerns which
is that's why I was with that but it's
not really nothing it doesn't direct I
understand bad things could happen on
this bike ride but it were the only
commonality is we're talking about using
the same path and his concerns with that
is not whether we should do a execute
this it's just the item on there that
concerns him. So I want to say thank you
sir and if I could I'm the other person
on the your second card and my second
topic was where we are talking about
right now. So I can I'm more than happy
to come back and discuss that although
you will not be able to ask me
questions. Yeah. Thank you sir. All
right. Thank you.
All right. Our next speaker card is on
item number eight.
Radvas Sakumar. And I apologize for the
way I pronounced your last name. if you
could state your name and address to
correct me and uh and for the record.
Right. Uh my name is Rago Silkumar. U I
live at 1041 East Armstrong Way
Chandler. Um I'm the chairman of the
Arizona Cricket Association and I'm also
the chief director of uh cricket for
youth programs for uh USA Cricket. Um so
uh good evening Mayor Hardk uh council
members and other uh city officials
here. Sorry, I've written a a note here
so that I don't forget what I have to um
present here. First of all, it's an
honor to be here in front of everyone.
Um I'm talking here for the agenda
number eight. Um this is regarding the
cricket pitch that has been planned at
the Msquet Grove Park. Um I would like
to thank everyone for uh making this
happen. It's been a long uh overdue
coming in. This isn't this isn't about
just building a sports facility. It's
about creating a space that reflects our
city's diversity um ambition and the
community spirit overall. Um cricket I
just want to give you a good quick
background for people who are not aware
of cricket in general. So cricket is
more than a gra. It's it's the next
highest followed sport in the uh in the
world. We have more than um two billion
or even quite a more than that followers
for cricket next to soccer. It's
connecting cultures, generations uh for
my I mean like take an example I've been
playing cricket from the age of three
ever since I started uh walking. So it
has been in our genes like we been
embedded as cricket like cricket is
considered as a religion when I growing
up. So this p pitch in partic uh is in
particular has immense potential because
uh especially our weather in Arizona has
potential to uh host games all
throughout the year and we have in
particular we have not been able to like
uh leverage that in its fullest
potential even though the the facility
at Niger is at in play. Um we've been
getting requests from other uh states
like Colorado, Utah or other states from
California when they get the winter
headsets and they're not able to play
it. want to conduct like really good
tournaments and the USA cricket has been
in constant touch with me asking for
more facilities and this one would be a
a fantastic u venue for that and uh if
if if you don't mind uh I would like
some give some suggestions on what could
be the the potential way of like
constructing it so that it could be
maintained and like for the long term it
could be like a a great uh venue for
cricket. First uh a dedicated turf
maintenance is very critical handled by
a team trained by cricket pitch care. I
mean it's not it's it's a little extreme
what I'm suggesting but then uh we could
like as a community cricketing community
we could be involved it's fulllet and we
are absolutely ready to volunteer at
what whatever capacity that you're
asking us to be uh involved with. And um
second a thoughtful rotational schedule
uh with integration of syn syn synthetic
nets apart from uh just for p p p p p p
p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p
p p p p p p p p p p p p p p practice
like apart from the main nets so that
the longevity of this one could be
maintained for just games as opposed to
just for practice or like uh Thank you.
Yeah, your time is up. Oh, sorry about
that. I would say that um this is just
the initial uh planning for that. Uh all
the details that you're talking we're
years away from that still. Okay. And
that's more of a conversation once about
maintenance actually when this is done.
So we're thank you for your presentation
of cricket. Um, council member Orlando.
Yeah, I I was just going to say the same
thing. Why don't you uh put your
suggestions in writing and get it to
John Sheffron. I know you talked to John
and I do know you you have how many how
many teams of cricket you that's up? We
have more than 800 people uh in Arizona
playing cricket. Uh just in Chandler we
have like around 350 odd I would say. So
yeah. So like I said come put your
suggestions with John and I know his
staff is looking at other options as
well. Sure. Again let them you guys work
together offline to be able to come up
with a game a good game plan.
Absolutely. Thank you. Thank you so
much. Really appreciate it. Thanks
Mayor. Thanks Ka. Council member Harris.
Yes just got one question for you. I'm
not familiar with cricket or the game
cricket. I was kind of looking at trying
to look it up online, but if you can
help assist some of us. I've never heard
of cricket, you know, like that. So, I
would love for you to help give us some
more better experience because I will
probably be on the short end of
understanding all the components. So,
when that time comes or you can reach
out later, let us know. I would love
Absolutely. Yeah, I'm planning on being
a scheduled public appearance pretty
soon. So, I'll give you a much detailed
overview of like what cricket is and
what we've been
doing last 35 years. So, thank you. I'll
also invite Council Member Harris to the
mayor's cricket tournament next week.
I'm still waiting for my invite for
pickle ball. Okay. Thank you. Right.
Thank you, Council. We do have one more
uh uh uh appearance for uh consent item,
Mr. Paul
Kerr. And Mr. Kerr, please state your
name and address for the record. And you
have up to three minutes to state the
number and your opposition or your your
position. Perfect. My name is Paul Kerr.
Uh my address is 12625 High Bluff Drive.
That's in San Diego, California. Uh I'm
one of the owners of an apartment
building called Trevy, which is an
amazing building here in Chandler. It's
273 unit apartment building that's
adjacent to a project you're considering
tonight off of Ellis. I believe it's
item number 12. We wholeheartedly
support it. uh the developer of that
project was also the original builder of
the building that we now own. Uh think
the world of him. Love the project.
There's just this one small issue. Uh I
want to preface by saying I was raised
in Arizona, a little town called
Eloy. I don't know if any of you heard
it, but apparently a couple of you
have tiny little town, but I'm from and
my first job when I was a kid was
actually picking onions. I know what the
heat is. I know what the issue is that
we're I'm about to address.
It's the construction start at 5:00 a.m.
that's allowed at the county level. Uh
we talked to staff. Your staff has been
amazing, by the way. But and I know why
they want the uh I know where the county
has that start time at 5:00 a.m. Of
course, it's the heat. Uh it's a big
deal. It's not an insurmountable deal um
or an an issue that's easily, you know,
overcome. But uh and the developer has
asked or in our conversations with him,
he's going to help us to the best of his
ability. But the Trevy apartment
community is adjacent to another 420
unit building that just went in uh
that's not even done completing. And our
tenants have a lot of noise and a lot of
dirt, a lot of, you know, the trucks
when they back up with the, you know,
whatever it is, whether they're laying
pipe, whether they're running the
electric, whether they're pouring
concrete, etc., etc. totally support the
project. The one request we have would
be uh if you all could limit
construction start to 7 a.m. Again, I
live in San Diego. This isn't going to
impact my life, but I have 200 I have
550 residents at this property and we
already have a lot of stuff that went on
with the related project next door.
I know it's a hard ask and I believe uh
Tom's going to do everything he can to
help
us, but at the end of the day, if if you
all could do something, that'd be
appreciated. I appreciate your time. I
know it doesn't come up until number 12.
I just wanted to lay that out for you.
We we do field a lot of issues and a lot
of questions and concerns from our our
tenants about the project. And now we're
going to have this one that's even
closer. Mr. There's a good chance that
that's even not going to be our issue.
The state is contemplating and I I think
it's going to pass a state bill saying
construction can start at 5. So I was at
a I was testifying at an event where
that was also just heard in the House.
The Senate approved it. So I um I I
don't think that we if they pass that
that won't be our perview to even u
comment on that and I understand it.
It's a tough ask. Yeah. Thank you, sir.
I I only I'm happy it's a 29 unit
project. It won't be that big. It won't
be that long. Our tenants will have to
Yeah. Thank you, sir. Thank you, Mayor.
Uh, Council Member Orlando, hang on
there. Yeah, that's it's for staff
anyway. What do we normally allow?
Or what have we put in the stipulations
in the past?
Mr. Mayor, Council Member Orlando, I am
trying to look up that time because I
don't know off the top of my head. We
could certainly get you that
information. Okay. Yeah. I just know in
the summertime you it's hard to pour
concrete at if you don't pour early. It
it gets too hot and it so you really
need to do it that times.
Yeah, but I know we do have a limit on
there and I thought it was five but the
status again they're going to be uh
chances I thought we had an ordinance.
That's why I'm asking. All right, we can
look that up. Yeah. Okay, council.
That's all the cons all the uh speaker
cards that have been in and
um do you have any questions or comments
be I would like to introduce the board
and commission members in case you want
to vote anyone out at the last second.
Uh but
any quick question at 12 mayor. Okay.
comment. I just want to thank staff and
we did receive a really gracious email
from the owner of this and they assure
us that they're going to start as
quickly as possible. So, um certainly
appreciate that. I'm holding them at
their word. They've done other projects
that they feel like they can meet the
timelines. So, hopefully this one is a
um a go earlier rather than later. All
right. And that's six o'clock in the
morning. No, just kidding. All right.
Thank you.
Um, hearing no others, um, if you were
on board or commission, why don't you
come up, state your name and address if
you're being appointed to one, uh, just
state your name and address and the
board. Don't need to ask say anything
else.
Montgomery, 1353 North Bedford Avenue,
Bedford Drive, Chandler, um, reappointed
to parks and recreation. Thank you.
Thank you. Don't really even need your
address, just your name and what you're
being appointed to. Uh, so I'm Jay
Mat 848 East Libra place. I'm on the
human resources commission. HR human
relations HRC. Yeah. Again, just your
name and your your your commission.
Shauna Risinger, Human Relations
Commission. Thank you, Shauna.
Hello, Kathy Kouch. Uh, Mayor Hartkey,
members of the council here. Thank you
so much for the appointment to the uh
housing and human services. Looking
forward to it. Thank you. Thank you.
And I'm Chris Holly. I'm the chairman of
the airport commission and uh very
thankful to be reappointed to the
commission. Thank you.
I'm Eric Peepenbrink, a new member of
the Cultural Foundation board.
Good evening. My name is Nicholas
Gonzalez. I'm honored to be on the board
of
adjustments. Thank you.
Mayor Harky Council. My name is Melinda
Hamilton. I'll be with the neighborhood
advisory committee. Thank you,
Mayor. Thank you for having me. This is
Chris Tiller. Um and I will be on the
citizens panel for police complaints and
use of force. Thank you. Thank you. And
council, we reappointed um on this
agenda is 37 for reappoints and I think
17 new appointments. I tried to make
sure that every one of you has someone
at least one person who is uh who was
able to appoint someone uh Mr. Incenus
is the lucky guy this time in terms of
who he appointed just by who they the
availabilities and etc. So well played
council member and all right with that
um is there a motion for our consent
agenda?
Mayor, Council Member Martinez, I move
to approve the consent agenda of the
March 27, 2025 regular meeting items 1
through 37. Okay, we have a motion.
Second. Motion by Council Member Incena.
Second by Vice Mayor Ellis. Any
recusals? None.
Mayor. Uh, yes. I just want for the
record to know I will be voting no on
item number three and number 10. All
right. Thank you for
that. All right. Council, please vote.
Council member Harris.
Me. Council Harris. Yes. Motion carries
unanimously with the exception of item
number three and item 10 which post
passes by majority um with council
member dissenting. All right. Thank you
so much. Council, next on our agenda is
the public hearing results of the
bianial impact the
audit. Welcome
Good evening, mayor, council members. My
name is Sylvia Dalot and I'm the city's
budget and research administrator and
I'm here tonight uh to present the
results of the bianual um system
development fee
audit. All cities that collect system
development fees and impact fees are
required to follow Arizona state law.
One of the requirements is that u
municipalities must file their annual
report to their city clerk
um within 90 days following the end of
the fiscal year. And they must also post
this report on their website. The city
of Chandler posted its most recent
report in August of 2024.
Another requirement is the bianual um
audit and the purpose of the bianual
audit is to review the progress of the
infrastructure improvement plan. Um
review the collection and expenditures
of the development fees for each of the
projects in the plan and to evaluate any
possible inequalities in the
implementation of the plan and in the
imposing of the fees.
The third requirement is that
municipalities shall update their land
use assumption and infrastructure
improvement plan at least every five
years. Um, and this plan update serves
as a precursor to system development
updates. The city of Chandler um
completed its most recent update in the
spring of 2024.
Please note that it may be possible that
Chandler may need to um complete its ne
next update sooner than five years and
that is in light of the inflationary
impacts that capital projects have
experienced in the last few years and
also to allow for an opportunity to add
new projects that are related to infill
in the areas of parks and public arts.
um state requires that municipalities
um either form an advisory committee or
complete a bianual audit and all cities
in Arizona have opted to complete the
bannual audit and so has the city of
Chandler. The most recent audit was
completed by um Heinfield and Meech and
it covers fiscal years 223 and 2324.
Please note that this audit is based on
the adopted 2019 land use assumptions
and infrastructure improvement plan
because that's the plan that was um
applicable through June 30th of
2024. The audit procedures um they
require a comparison of growth
projections
um from the 2019 adopted plan to the
actual growth that took place in those
two fiscal years.
The comparisons um are evaluated for
reasonleness. Auditors also reviewed uh
the progress of each of the projects in
the infrastructure improvement
plan. Additionally, auditors reviewed a
sample of 80 building permits to
validate that they were charged properly
and we followed the adopted schedules.
And lastly, um, auditors reviewed a
sample of 50 expenditures to validate
that they were for projects in the 2019
plan. The result of the audit is that
the city of Chandler has a clean
audit. Other than
um slight differences in uh growth
projections um in comparison to actual
growth, no exceptions were
reported. the requirement of completing
a bannual audit has been
met. Since this is um um public hearing,
there is no formal action required by
council at this time. And this concludes
my presentation.
Thank you council. Is there any
discussion? Any questions for our
presenter?
Seeing none, is there any discussion or
questions from the audience which is
part of a public
hearing? Seeing none, I would like to
close our public hearing. Thank you so
much.
Council, next we do have um one
scheduled unscheduled public appearance.
Again, that is again Mr.
Brook. Um sir again you have up to three
minutes. Um when the light is red,
please uh be done. We cannot engage with
you because this is unscheduled.
All right. Thank you very much.
Appreciate your time again. Um so state
your name and address. I'm sorry. Yeah.
uh Brookdale uh 85 West Tewood Place
here in um
so the issues that I've I've discussed
before um apply 365 days of the year,
not just the day you guys you have your
bike ride. Um, I've been having problems
with the uh parks and recreation
department, but I would like to say that
it appears that um I've been the most
recent uh email from Erica and Corey
there. They seem very uh cooperative and
I'm looking forward to uh the progress
that uh they they have promised there.
Now, uh again, back to the issue of the
of the police department and the
uh the city attorney. Um I I I don't
know
uh I I don't know what to do about it.
Um you know, you've you've guys have
have allocated uh two and a half two and
a quarter million dollars for the
improvements along Fry Road, but have
you allocated any money for uh the
police department to enforce the enforce
the law? I mean, this isn't, you know,
you don't get to pick and choose this.
You you have an obligation to do this.
you have a you have a license, uh you've
put in improvements there, uh you need
to be taking care of this issue.
Um there's, you know, the risk of of you
losing your your license there, uh by
not following the the terms of your of
your of your license. Um and it's
unfortunate because it's a really it's a
great place. I mean, they're the uh the
birds, you know, you
got all manner, quail, clovers, uh dove,
pigeons. My favorites, of course, are
the the ducks and the geese, but uh you
know, it's it's a it's a great it's a
great path, and it would be a shame to
lose that. Um and the rule is not going
to go away. I don't I don't see the
Department of the Interior uh Bureau of
Reclamation changing the law, changing
the rule that says there are no ebikes.
If anything, I think it's going to get
worse. I mean, I think it's going to get
more people are getting injured. Uh it's
it's going to be a risk that they're not
going to be willing to to take. And so I
think you guys need to step up and and
tell police department and the city
attorney that they need to cooperate
with with SRP and get this uh get this
taken care of. Thank you very much.
Thank you, sir. Mayor Clando, staff, um
can you get us some ideas on what we
could do to mitigate some of these
issues? Obviously, other cities are
facing this dilemma. Um, and I don't,
you know, I don't know what we can do in
all fairness, but at least we'll
investigate and come back with some
thoughts and if there's something we
could do make this a little bit more
palatable, appreciate it for safety,
mayor. Mayor, uh,
Counc uh, the trail in a while. Um, is
there a separation on there as far as
like directionwise? If people are going
south or north or if there's like if
you're a walker, runner, is there
anything like
that marked on the trail? No. No, it's
just a trail. Just a trail. Okay.
Council member Harris. Yeah. I just want
to piggyback on council member um
Orlando. Is it possible that we can um
get a study done um just to kind of
understand exactly some of the normal
things that we deal with which is
mitigation of traffic and how that flows
there? Is there any way we can get like
some type of coordinated study to better
understand how that trail is used,
accidents, all the data to kind of come
together and say, "Hey, is it going to
be better for us to say um if we are
going to have people with if ebikes are
going to be in there?" Because I know
some ebikes you can ride like a moped
and they could got an engine going, some
are some convert to a manual an analog
type riding. So, I don't know if that
looks like, hey, we're gonna have to put
up traffic signs that says, hey, no
faster than 10 miles, you know, or
something like that, but whatever we can
do, all that we can do to kind of
mitigate the traffic and what that looks
like and putting up signs and doing what
we need to do to to better support all
our residents, that probably be a really
good idea.
Mr. Mayor, Council Member Orlando, and
and Council Member Harris as well.
Um, the this the challenge here is
enforcement. It's it's not a matter of
the laws being in place. They are in
place um to enforce this. There's some
state law that applies here as well. Um
we have been talking with the police
department about some additional
enforcement measures we may be able to
employ. And so we'll we'll share those
with you um that we're going to try to
do maybe some more targeted or specific
enforcement. It's it's a challenge
catching the behavior in the act. Um so
that's that's what we're trying to
combat here.
Do we have sign can we put up more
signage? bigger more signage maybe
bigger signage can also help um with
that as well. Mayor, we're starting to
really get into a discussion item. I'm a
little concerned. Yeah. So, we're able
to give them direction but not to have a
conversation or on this. Okay. Council
member Poston,
the question I've been wondering is can
you use an ebike in that pedal motion?
If you are using it as a traditional
bike, can it be used that way? Yes, is
the answer. Councilman. Yeah. Again, why
don't any Why don't we take this to
one-on- ones rather than I'm a little
concerned. Uh
yeah, thank
you. All right. Next on our agenda is
public announcements. I'll start. This
Saturday is our annual for our city day
event. For the past 14 years, Chandler
has hosted for Our City Day, and I've
been at every one of them. a day of
service dedicated to revitalizing our
one neighborhood in Chandler with the
help of hundreds, in fact well over a
thousand volunteers the last several
years. This year we'll be serving in the
Pamela Park neighborhood near downtown
Chandler in honor of Caesar Chavez. Walk
up volunteers are welcome. So, if you're
interested, join us this Saturday at
Trinity Christian Fellowship, 50 South
McQueen at 7 a.m. to get signed up. I do
look forward to seeing each and every
one of you there. related to this
because he actually had signed up to um
to be at the the pre-event this Saturday
and this next event. Many of you, if not
all, on council, have heard that one of
our city's dear friends, Victor Hardy,
passed away uh Saturday morning at 12:45
a.m. He was going to be out there at 7
a.m., I think, uh as part of this
particular day. Victor's work was never
about seeking recognition. U he usually
sat and that right in front of the chief
over there um and was at many council
meetings. He had a genuine desire to
serve the people of Chandler. And
whether through leading prayers,
offering heartfelt performances,
speaking out for justice, Victor used
his voice to connect with and inspire
others. His presence always made people
feel important. His words were a source
of comfort. And as we remember Pastor
Hardy, we recognize that his work and
spirit will continue to guide us. his
commitment to the people of Chandler
will live on through the countless lives
he touched and were grateful for his
being there. I was also his pastoral
mentor and pastor Hardy would meet with
me whenever he had a pastor question and
we would go out for lunch and um I will
miss my my uh coffee and lunch with him
immensely.
At our next coming for our city day this
Saturday, we will have a booth there in
honor of Victor with the opportunity for
people to share comments, to share
memories, and try to scribe those down
and and I think uh Vice Mayor Ellis is
working on an event that will bring all
these things together. We also have here
Victor Hardy Love Out Loud buttons that
um I have some here for council and
others and we will be handing out a
thousand thousand of these on our forest
city day as we remember him and thank
him for his service to our city. And I
think I can speak for council. As a
council and city, we send our deepest
regrets and condolences to Cynthia, his
wife. We love her as
well. My last item is the Chandler
family bike ride that has been
discussed. Another fun Chandler event is
around the corner, the Chandler family
bike ride on April 5th. I hope that
you'll join me and uh several council
members for a fun and scenic ride along
the beautiful PO Trail. The 7.8 mile
ride is perfect for cyclists of all ages
and skill levels. The ride will end with
free Kona Ice to cool down and
celebrate. So, we will be leaving
Tumbleeed Park, riding up to Kib Shrainy
Park, returning and that's where you get
your get your Kona ice. And if you can't
join us on the 5th, you can still
participate in the virtual ride anytime
from April 5th through the 13th by
riding in your neighborhood or favorite
park with friends and family. So, dust
off your bikes, grab your helmets, and I
look forward to seeing you on April 5th.
Pastor member Encus, thank you, Mayor,
and thank you for acknowledging Pastor
Hardy. Um, I will miss his invocations
that he had here and his singing, his
voice in general. So, uh, my condolences
to his family. Um, March 31st is Cesar
Chavez Day. This time provides an
opportunity for our community to come
together and celebrate his work
organizing and advocating uh, for labor
rights. His advocacy reached us here in
Chandler uh, with the first one of the
first United Farm Workers offices in
Arizona being opened right here in
downtown Chandler on Boston Street. The
building still stands there. Uh, so he
had a lot of impact here in this
community. Um, we have a variety of
events to honor the day uh through the
end of the month, including a speaker
from the National Cesar Chavez uh center
visiting some of our local schools and
for our for our city day in honor of
Cesar Chavez, as the mayor mentioned.
Um, I look forward to participating in
these events and seeing uh how our
collective efforts can strengthen our
community and keep Cesar Chavez's vision
alive. Thank you.
Thank you, Mayor. And I just wanted to
also share my condolences to Cynthia and
her family and thank both of you for the
work that you're doing to help us honor
his memory. So, we appreciate that.
Um, I also wanted to mention that the
Ostrich Festival wrapped up this
weekend. Um, actually two weekends in a
row. It was a little bit chilly. We had
people from all over town and from out
of town to come out and see the
ostriches. A little cool that first
weekend, but very nice the next. And one
nice thing about two weekends, because I
had one kid out one weekend and another
kid out the second weekend, by doing it
in two weekends, those lines are short.
You don't have to buy that Disneyland
fastpass, but that's expensive because
it does lower the lines, makes it a
little more accessible to the families.
You can you can hit all the rides. And
that was the feedback I got from my
family and a lot of the families out
there. So, thank you to the Chandler
Chamber of Commerce, which hosts this
really um signature event for the city
of Chandler. So, that was a lot of fun.
And I know a lot of you were out there
as well. And then the other thing that
had me kind of coming in hot to our
budget workshop is that I was out at
Arizona College Prep High School today
and I was speaking to the academic
decathlon team out there. Um actually,
shout out to Allison who was actually
here at a council meeting a couple
months ago. I I ended up chatting with
her. She invited me to come and talk to
her class or to the Decathlon team. One
thing to note about this Decathlon team,
this is only their third year and they
are already award-winning. So they have
lots of big plans. They were working on
sustainability items last year. This
year they're working on studying the
20s. And so the work that they do, they
do speeches, they do presentations, they
do a lot of learning. But they asked me
to come in and talk about municipal
government, which I absolutely loved
because they said they learned a lot
about the federal government, about the
state government, but not so much about
what cities do. And so I got to go give
my speech about how municipal government
is the most important government there
is. We're accessible. gave a shout out
to all my fellow council members because
I guaranteed if any one of them called
any of us here on the dis we would
answer that phone call, answer that
email along with the staff doing the
same thing. So they were just an really
impressive group of kids. I wish them
well in the future and wanted to thank
them for letting me come and speak to
their classroom today. Thank you,
Council Member Kelsey. Vice Mayor,
nothing this evening, Mayor. Thank you
so much. Thank you, Council Member
Orlando. Nothing this evening, Mayor.
Thank you. Uh, Council Member Harris.
Thanks, Mayor. Um, again, I'm extending
my um heartfelt condolences to Cynthia
and her family. U, Victor was an amazing
guy who really cared about the
community. Um, he was a loving husband
and someone that we can really just, you
know, when you're having a bad day,
he'll lift you up. And I am definitely
going to miss his many songs that he had
sung around this city. Um but I do
believe that um God had him here for a
reason, for a purpose and for a reason.
And we should honor that. Um because
only God knows the day and the time of
our hour. And it's so important that we
understand that as a community that no
matter what we do in life, we need to
learn how to come back together and love
each other a little bit more because
when it's all said and done and your
eyes are closed, um you really have to
ask yourself, did you do everything that
you supposed to do? And was it with love
or was it with hate? And um and Victor
did everything with love. And I
appreciate that. Um, so, um, I
appreciate you, Victor, and may God
bless Cynthia and his family. Uh,
getting into my announcements, um, I had
the awesome opportunity to visit last
week George and Gather, um, the new
opening. Um, it was a ribbon cutting and
it was amazing. And George and Gather is
the newest restaurant in the community
gathering space right here in downtown
Chandler. And let me tell you, it was an
awesome addition to our downtown. Uh the
owners, Mike and Amber, have created a
beautiful space that serves even better
food. And I'm excited this for this new
offering to be brought to life. The
interesting thing about the name George
and Gather, George was the gentleman
that owned the building before they
bought the building. And Gather was what
Amber wanted. His wife wanted it to be a
place for people to gather together. So
they tell this story, but when you
actually go inside Georgian and Gather
um you actually see um historic pictures
of things in the city of Chandler and on
their pizza boxes, it says made in
Chandler. And then also when you look at
their logo that's embedded into the
ground, it says Chandler. So it's
spelled ch and it has apostrophy and nl
e r. So it's pretty cool. So get a
chance, go check it out. It's pretty
amazing. I was there. Um Kim Kim Moyers
was there. A lot of city staff was there
and and thank God for her good work that
she was doing to work alongside this as
well. So check out Georgian Gather.
That's all I'm trying to tell you. Um in
this springtime in Chandler and with the
weather warming up in Chandler, that
means the return for some familyfriend
outdoors before it gets too hot. There's
a lot of great facilities and
programming that we offer for families
and kids of all ages. So, make sure
you're checking out the quarterly
recreation
um break time uh to find classes,
activities, and special events that's
offering um through our recreation
department. So, we have six aquatic
facilities spread out throughout the
city. Whether you're looking for diving
boards or water slides or family play
pools, you can find a cool down activity
for everyone. And with over one park per
square mile in Chandler, there are
plenty of outdoor options for you and
your families. So keep your keep your
eye out, keep looking. It's going to be
some great stuff. And I want to actually
send a special congratulations to
Commissioner Shauna and Commissioner
Chris Tiller. Thank you.
whatever you want me to be tonight.
Thank you, Mayor. Okay, so my
announcement tonight is uh coming up in
April on Good Friday. It's the family
Easter celebration. So, keeping with
Council Member Harris's announcement.
It's just another fun activity for the
family. Um this one, if you go online,
you'll see there's all kinds of
activities going on. There's going to be
vendors, there's an Easter egg hunt, um
carnival games, and so it's gonna be fun
for all. I think the age group is about
up to nine years old for the Easter egg
hunt. Um so come with your Easter
basket. Should be fun. Um I almost want
to say it'll be exciting. There you go.
I'm not even
trying. City manager
Nothing tonight, Mayor and Council.
Thank you. All right, council. With
that, that concludes our meeting.