Bond Election Committee Kickoff 9/16/2024

well welcome everybody I'm so glad that
you're here it's taken us uh a moment or
two to get here in terms of just the
timing with the city and and putting
this committee together but we're
grateful that you're here for joining us
tonight and joining us on this journey
over the next couple months and then
helping us get a bond across in next
November as well so I'd like to
introduce our council members that are
here and then um we're going to go
around the room and give you a chance to
introduce yourselves as well so uh
here's the protocol for that share your
name how many years you've been in
Chandler and what you do if you want to
insert a fun fact make it short but
that's okay
too all right so with us tonight we've
got council member Matt
[Applause]
Orlando Council woman Christine
[Applause]
Ellis and Council
woman I was gonna say member woman
councilwoman Jane
Poston I was gonna mix it up anyway it's
so good that you're here I would also
like to introduce former mayor J tipy
who has accepted the chair position to
lead our bond exploratory committee
as a former mayor of Chandler and having
participated in previous Bond elections
Jay's expertise will be valuable
invaluable in this process and then
helping us get this across the line as
well so uh let me first if you are part
of Team Chandler you're one of our city
staff just please stand we'll get all
you guys out there you
go starting with our city manager JH
Wright and the rest of the team again we
are so glad that you are here and have
agreed to participate in this awesome
process so why don't we start uh in the
front here and work our way back and
then come around uh if you're one of our
board members speak really loud so we
can all hear you let's start with AJ
I work for the nature conservancy in
Arizona happy to be
here good evening everyone my name is
Erica Maxwell and I have been in
Chandler as an educator and as a
resident now for since I moved here in
2007 hello everyone I am jagi I am a
channel resident for the last 22 years
and I'm a current ly working as a Chief
Financial Officer and part of the Park
and Recreation board thank
you uh good evening I'm Sandy papovich I
actually work for the city of Chandler
and have lived here for almost 30
years uh Joshua Adams City staff member
worked here for 12
years hi uh Mickey Olen Community
Services Department uh been here for 29
years
wow 29 years John sefon Community
Services director uh 2 and a half years
this round but moved here in 74 do the
math um Ed Heins on the CFO of aeriz
Zone companies we're an airplane parts
company here in Chandler and I've been a
residence for 33 years the first B fun
fact the first bond election I sat on
was in 1993 for the airport wow
Dennis sa uh telecommunications utility
franchise supervisor for the city of
Chandler I've been with the city for
nine years and I've been a resident uh
since
2001 I Ryan Peters strategic initiatives
director for the city and I've been an
employee here for about nine
years hi Jason krampton Transportation
Planning city of Chandler staff I've
been here about 16 years
hi I'm Dean Brennan and I'm a member of
the Transportation Commission I'm not a
member of any of these committees but
I'm here this evening as an observer and
I've lived in Chandler for 30
years hi my name is Trinity Donovan and
child care called out about half an hour
ago and so
hi um one more we want to say hi hi
um I've lived in Chandler for about 40
years um I'm chairing Public Safety Bond
committee again on the subcommittee and
I work for
Ascend hi I'm Dana dong I'm the city
clerk and I've been here about seven
years hi I'm Dan Maya I've been here for
14 years and I work in
it oh right in front of you hi my name
is Ki Zer I'm a branch manager for VIP
mortgage I have officially planted our
first VIP mortgage branch in Chandler
and I've been a Chandler resident for 27
years hello Jennifer Hawkins uh I have
lived in Chandler for 19 years my
husband and I are small business owners
and my fun fact is I am your new
Chandler city council member
elect Jen got
[Applause]
behind good evening I'm Shannon Portillo
and yesterday was my two-year
anniversary of living in Chandler I'm
director of the school of public affairs
at
ASU hi I'm Michael Simon I've been in
Chandler for just over 10 years and I'm
also the vice chair for the military
investment Affairs
commission good evening John canuteson
Public Works and utilities director for
the city of Chandler been working
Chandler 21 years uh East Valley
resident since about 1960 3 so almost my
whole life um and Chanel resident for
probably 10
years hello Andy bass Deputy city
manager I've been with Chandler for five
years hello Jeremy Abbott I'm the uh
Public Works and utilities assistant
director and I've been with Chandler for
just over two
years hi Dan H Haskins uh Capital
Improvement projects uh was city of
Chandler for about seven years and I've
been a resident there for about
15 good evening Mike Hollingsworth a
fleet and facilities manager been with
the city for about five
years good evening everyone my name is
Melissa Deanda I am an assistant chief
of police at the police department and I
have been here for 25
years hi I'm Cassie guton I'm the
assistant to the Chiefs I've been a
member of Team Chandler for about 11
years and I've lived here for
27 good good evening I'm Julie built I'm
the police planning and research manager
I've been a chanler resident for 27
years and a city employee for
23 hi there Brian Chapman police chief
I've been here five months in four
days hi I'm Kim Moyers I'm the cultural
development director and I've been here
for 10 and a half
years uh Tad Willie assistant city
manager I've been here about two and a
half
years hello Sylvia delot I work I'm the
budget administrator and I've been here
for three
months Terry kimle president and CEO of
the Chandler chamber and I have been a
resident for 14
years what's up my name is Sicily roacha
Miller I have lived here for almost 14
years and a fun fact about me is I live
on the golf course so if any of you have
ever played golf I probably have some of
your golf balls in my backyard let me
know Steve Turner I've been with the
city about 5 years in the city manager's
office and been a chanler resident for
well over 20
years Keith Argus assistant fire chief
uh 24 years with the Department third
generation chanler native third
generation ASU
sundevil sorry
Josh U Craig Gilbert a 23-year resident
of chanler I am in my 27th year in
Channel Unified School District and
currently I'm the associate
superintendent over prek through2
Educational
Services hi good evening everyone uh
Larry rthur a 12year Chandler resident a
long time with the school district as
the principal of Chandler high school
for about seven years but now I work for
Intel as part of our commercial uh
segment team great to be
here I'm Matt Dunbar I'm the budget
director here for the city of Chandler
I've been here 12
years I'm Charlie sheni I lived in
Chandler for 16 years I'm a risk manager
my name is Dwayne lman uh I grew up in
South Scottsdale and moved to Chandler
in 1984 I guess I'm an involved
citizen we'll call you
that Molly mahay I work in it Arizona
native also South CH South Scottdale uh
been in Chandler for 26
years hello S doia I am the director for
the information technology department
lived in Chandler for 45 years and have
worked in Chandler for five
years hi I'm Tara Sher I am the
assistant to the city manager's office
and I've been with the city for four and
a half
years hi Jake arens been in Chandler for
12 years president of the arens Family
Foundation second go uh go round on this
looking forward to
it hello Nina Mullins I'm a East Valley
native and ch andler resident for 15
years I'm senior director at SRP at the
land department and I've been at SRP for
39 years I think longer than you
yes Chris doson uh long Chandler
resident 52 years as you can tell I
didn't move very far I've been in
Chandler my whole life uh I'm vice
president of Salt River Project been
associated with it for 19 years and I'm
excited to be here
hello I am Nora Ellen former council
member I've lived in Chandler for 22
years I'm an author podcast host
business owner and one of you has my
name tag so I just want you know check
your name
tag hi my name is ton Co I'm one of the
assistant City attorneys for the
Chandler city attorney's
office right Matt berdick I'm the
communications and public affairs
director for the city worked here for 10
years but been a resident for
28 all right we already introduced our
Council so anybody else come in all
right well thank you all and uh to me
it's important that we kind of establish
faces and names and as you have heard
there is a wealth a treasure Trove of
experience in this room and we thank you
for your commitment to Chandler so
tonight I hope to provide an overview of
the bond election and process discuss
how we form the resident exploratory
committee and its structure and provide
and discuss the status of our existing
bond Authority and actual projects built
in the process from prior Bond elections
then our bond steering committee chair
Jade tipini will discuss the resident
Bond exploratory committee purpose and
responsibilities next our CEO dollar
Dawn Deputy city manager who is also
serving as the bond steering committee
liaison will discuss the importance of
debt management and the AAA Bond rating
as well as the bond committee and
election calendars and then finally
rounding us off and getting us out of
here is our city manager Josh wght who
will provide next steps and some closing
comments so let's get an overview of
what we've signed up for
here the purpose and need of this Bond
committee so so General Bond General
obligation Bond state law requires a
city to obtain voter approval through
Bond authorization this process ensures
transparency with the public and allows
taxpayers to decide what community
enhancements or infrastructure they're
willing to pay for through their
property taxes why do we need one mainly
because the community capital and
infrastructure needs exceeds the
remaining authorization from the 2021
bond
election the
um so this is as you can imagine a
really important tool for us bonds uh
these capital projects that we're going
to be financing through these are
typically large expenses that can easily
eat through all of our cash reserves
having other Financial tools are
important like issuing bonds provides
funds for needed capital projects and
allows us to fund land Acquisitions
Capital Construction Equipment and other
items Additionally the community
infrastructure need can be addressed
immediately while other financing
sources are limited yet the cost can be
spread out over time and finally the
city collects primary and secondary
property tax through our resident
Property Tax Bill the secondary property
tax collected are the dedicated revenue
streams that funds the principle and
interest on our general obligation fund
bonds so why is this important when a
community has a capital plan to maintain
and enhanced public infrastructure like
we do it's important that we can
continue moving forward and improving
our community having Bond authorization
is like having a credit limit it allows
us to sell bonds when needed to fund the
plan additionally when we draw down our
bond authorization by selling bonds we
can pay the debt over the life of the
capital asset minimizing the impact on
the taxpayers today so if we're building
a park future users of that Park will
also be paying for that Park rather than
those of us who would who would just be
paying now if this was additional or
other Revenue sources and the debt cost
is paid as I mentioned by existing and
new taxpayers that will enjoy this
Capital asset over time therefore it
really provides a better equity for our
entire
community Chandler is amazing concerning
our financial strength we're in great
shape and we want to continue the
tradition of fiscal strength and
maintaining the highest AAA Bond ratings
I like to say that we are the best
fiscally run City in the nation I've
already I've already skipped a
Iona maybe in the world and I bet we've
got anything beat in Mars or the Moon
too so we'll take the solar system but
our current and past councils have built
a strong financial foundation and
created a great quality of life for our
residents but we want this to continue
it's been three years since our last
bond election but it will be four by the
time any potential election will occur
this process ensures transparency with
the public and allows
taxpayers to decide what community
enhancements are infrastructure they're
willing to pay for through these taxes
so why do we need this bond
election mainly because inflation has
impacted the project costs estimated
during the last bond election causing
the need for additional authorization
sooner let me give you one great example
of this is we have been looking now at
building a forensic science building uh
for our police department and when we
had speced this out four years ago we
had a price tag of about 32 million on
this today in today's dollars we are
well over 50 million to build the same
type actually to build some cutbacks on
this it is just the fact that steel
concrete labor costs of everything have
gone up incredibly because of
inflation and
and if we wait much longer we won't have
the authorization or the ability to
finish the projects that those of you
who are on this committee before are
that we promised our our community as
well and additionally the community
capital and infrastructure needs are
soon going to exceed this remaining Bond
authorization from a 2021 bond election
and although we've come a long way from
our days of of farm Fields is that right
Chris our community is aging and there
continues to be need as Chandler changes
and grows over time therefore it's time
for our our resident Bond exploratory
committee to review these capital and
infrastructure needs and I look forward
to all of you coming back to us on city
council with your
recommendations so let's look at at the
committee the committee formation and
structure this is a little small
sorry about that but the community
members all of you were strategically
chosen to represent our city considering
our Geographic coverage diversity and
Community influence you will all be part
of Team Chandler throughout the process
and through the election so I might have
fibbed a little bit when I said you had
just maybe four or five meetings and two
months of work because really you are
part of Team Chandler and we're going to
be looking to you and through your
social media through your community
contacts to help us get this thing
across the line so that that's a little
different schedule you don't have to go
to a meeting for those things but we
hope that the things that you bring to
us that you will also help us bring to
our community you're part of Team
Chandler and if I need to officially
deputize each of you tonight we'll do it
and make you part of our
team the committee consists of a
steering committee with chair tib shy
leading this charge the steering
committee has six other members made up
of the four that are the chairs for each
of these uh subcommittees and then two
other at large people the four
subcommittees also have seven members
including themselves made up of the
subcommittee chair who also holds a
position on the steering committee and
six other members therefore we've got 31
volunteers helping formulate a
recommendation
to city council each committee has staff
Liaisons and you have met them whether
you knew it or not
tonight and uh they will lead and guide
and get whatever information that you
need to help make great
decisions so let's talk about next the
authorization status actual projects
that we built since our last
one in our general voter bond election
status we the city has some money
authorization ready and remaining and
we're going to continue the capital plan
of selling blondes to complete these
projects the 2021 bond election went
through a similar process and by the way
let me just ask how many of you were on
the previous one wave your hands loud
and clear sh shouts there you go I guess
you're not shouting you're waving but uh
so probably about a third of this of our
bond committee were on there previously
and I want to thank you for signing up
again end you guys will be invaluable
concerning answering the questions on
your own committees as
well the 2021 bond election went through
this process and we were very uh it was
a very strong message from us from the
council and from our city that there was
no property tax increase based on the
financing assumptions of a strong
economy continuing at regular inflation
but as mentioned due to this
unprecedented infl the current Bond
authorization will not last long
Chandler needed to start the process
again to ensure the continuation of our
Capital plan as you know and appreciate
we are a beautiful city with great
amenities and infrastructure because of
voter supported Bond elections and just
since the last election many great
projects have been completed are in
process right now so let's look at some
of these
from our Parks and Recreation Department
we had we just did a a ribbon cutting
for our Tumbleweed softball complex and
I have video evidence that I actually
threw the first
strike I didn't bounce that sucker
across the plate I was quite proud of
myself but beyond this the Tumbleweed
multi-generation expansion and pickle
ball courts are underway and various
neighborhood and Community Park
improvements our Public Works uh
Department act these are actual projects
built that are also in the process from
prior Bond elections Street Paving
projects Citywide Boston Street
improvements of which we've recently
have opened up Boston street again our
downtown alleys project our City Hall
Parking Lot Cooper Road Insight Loop Fry
Road protected bike Lanes Ashley Trail P
Trail
connection and with our police and fire
Fire Station 2 rebuild our fire dispatch
equipment refresh our police work area
and storage renovation and police
forensic services facility design and
soon hopefully
construction our facilities 21 fire
alarm systems replaced 15 roofs replac
center of the Arts Sunset main libraries
and many others five hvacs replaced
Center for the Arts Boys and Girls Club
fire training to mention a few various
electric and structural enhancements
Citywide and as you can see Chandler
continues to improve the amenities that
have been and maintain the amenities
that have been proved by past councils
and past Bond elections so it is now my
pleasure to bring
up the mayor who was my mayor when I
first came on Council J tip training
[Applause]
okay that
working thank you Mr Mayor appreciate
that just pull my comments
out couple of fun facts before I get
into the meat of this I have had two
terms as mayor two year terms as mayor
so 16 years mayor split between a state
senate of eight
years if prior to all those I had eight
years on the city council after I was
done with my second mayor go around I
had uh an elected position to justice of
the peace and so I retired from that in
um
2022
so I have I understand because of some
of that experience the importance of
obtaining Bond authorization to continue
Chandler's impr Improvement
plan I want to thank all of you in
advance for your service and for your
effort and I look forward to working
with all of you throughout this
important process so what is our purpose
of this commu commit committee it is to
provide a recommendation to City Council
of bond authorization needed to support
important public capital infrastructure
based on the highest priorities and the
advocates for the elections when we get
to that in our community this is a big
task as we get kick it off tonight and
here's an overview of how to get there
we have it broken down into six phases
phase one committee education and
expectation setting this includes
tonight's kickoff meeting and your first
subcommittee meeting which will include
open meeting law training and a
financial and a capital plan
overview phase two subcommittees meet to
discuss capital projects gauge public
support for projects identified and
prioritize recommended
projects phase three subcommittee
presents and discusses findings or
recommendations with the steering
committee phase four steering committee
reviews discusses and obtains financial
analysis of recommended
projects phase five steering committee
prepares final recommendation including
any alternatives for Council
consideration phase six steering
committee chair will present the final
report and recommendation to the mayor
and Council all of this is anticipated
to happen between now and February 2025
property tax
impact now as we review all of the
current Community Capital needs and
complete the prioritization the property
tax impact will be a consideration and a
very important consideration it is
important to keep in mind that in
obtaining additional Bond authorization
does not mean additional taxes will
increase not necessarily as the mayor
mentioned Bond authorization like a
credit limit to pull from when needed in
order to achieve no tax increase it
requires a balance between assess value
and property tax rates so those two are
very much linked cess value property tax
rates this formula generates the tax L
Levy or Revenue required to pay the debt
service on Geo bonds that's a sess value
divided by 100 times the secondary
property rate tax rate as I looked at
this this afternoon I figured I'd have
to have Don explain that formula to you
so I'm not going to try and explain how
it works I don't even think I've started
it right but projects may be delayed or
accelerated depending on changes to
assessed values as debt is paid down new
debt can be added leaving the tax rate
flat
through your subcommittee discussions
the priorities will become obvious the
capital project priorities will be
provided to the committee Finance leison
Matt Dunbar Chandler's budget and policy
director who will produce a capital
financing plan he will share what can be
funded with existing bond
authorization and how much more will be
needed the the results May Show the
capital needs exceed the tax capacity
the subcommittee has various options at
this point they can refine project
prioritization they can recommend a
project shift to a different
subcommittee or they can decide to shift
a project outside of this current time
frame and include it with the next bond
election projects we just need to do our
best to recomend the plan while
addressing the community needs so it's a
balancing act and the information we get
from staff is going to be critical in US
figuring out what's the best way to go
for Chandler and what to recommend to
the mayor and Council and then to
support that recommendation once the
council has added to it deleted from it
acted
on so I look forward to working with all
of you as we complete this important
effort for the city of Chandler with
that I'm going to turn presentation over
to Don Lang Deputy City man manager CFO
and our existing committee leaza so
thank you Don you're
[Applause]
up all right well good evening everyone
so thank you chair tip shiny I'm really
excited to work with you again I think
this is going to be a wonderful
experience and thank you all for saying
yes to the mayor's call it was great um
so our community could look very
different if it wasn't for our strong
debt Financial policy and our AAA Bond
rating it has really served us well over
the
years
excuse okay so the city has had a long
tradition of smart debt management the
city's policy was last updated in 2024
and provides guidelines for issuance of
bonds and other debt and ongoing annual
care of debt it also sets limits on City
indebtedness such as when to use voter
authorization debt coverage goals no
variable rate debt and making sure we do
not sell debt that exceeds the life of
an asset finally it provides a framework
for maintaining our bonds or credit
ratings and why is that important the
city maintains AAA Bond ratings from all
three rating agencies Moody Fitch and S
SMP
um since the city has a strong financial
position we are considered a lowrisk
investment therefore AAA Bond rated this
results in a lower cost of borrowing to
fund our needed Community Capital which
is really important especially in a time
of high inflation like we have
today so that then correlates to lower
taxes or lower utility rates depending
on what revenue is paying the debt and
that is actually shown and I don't have
those char with me today but we'll look
at those in the subcommittee how we
compare with other cities we do have
very very low rates compared to other
Valley Cities um so that is something um
that I think over the years Chandler has
done very
well so the city also often refunds
bonds when the market is Right ensuring
maximum savings by maintaining our tripa
bond ratings the city continues to keep
secondary property tax rate as low as
possible so real quick I'm going to run
through the calendar for the resident
Bond exploratory committee the timeline
um our chair J chip Shin mentioned the
fact that this effort is going to go all
the way through to February um depending
on if we get it in the February council
meeting or the March it could go a
little longer but for our subcommittees
the time commitment is really for the
month of October and November and some
some depending on how many projects
you're talking about could go slightly
into December but the majority majority
of it should be done by then but for the
chairs of those subcommittees the chairs
will actually then bring that
recommendation to the steering committee
and that will happen in December and
that's where Matt Dunbar comes in he's
going to take all of those
recommendations from all your
subcommittees roll it all up and start
the financial analysis to see what the
impact of the tax rate is going to be
and that's a really important part um
that's where the prioritization of all
those projects when within your
subcommittees is so important because
depending on where it all lands with the
tax rate and the timing of the projects
we may need to look at those that are
higher priority making sure those are in
the plan and those that maybe are lower
down get will po possibly get pushed
into the next bond
election so um January 2025 is really
going to be the bulk of the effort for
our steering committee that committee is
going to be uh we'll we probably have I
I think last time we had maybe five
meetings in January um we actually have
one where the um Bond Council for the
city will come in and actually help us
work on the wording of the bond
questions as well that actually go on
the ballot so um by then everything gets
put pulled together in a nice
recommendation and our staff um and will
probably be U City manager's office step
Turner will will work on a report that
will will um really make it very
readable we'll put it out to the public
but our chair J tip shy will then take
that to Mayor and counsel in either
February or March council meeting and at
that point Council will have to
deliberate and I'll move to the next one
on whether or not um they'll deliberate
between February March all the way up
until the council meeting in may they
have to make a decision by May 8th on
whether or not to call that election and
at that point then the whole election
calendar begins with the ballot language
given to Maricopa County arguments proon
filed with city clerk by September
sample ballot language and informational
pamphlet is mailed to the voters for the
election and Hallelujah November 4th is
here and it is election
day all right so at that at this point
I'm going to take any questions if
you're sitting there want to have a
question about anything we talked about
I'll be happy to take him
nothing excellent well you're going to
learn so much throughout this process
you have the most awesome Liaisons with
your team you'll meet them here in just
a moment but I'm going to turn this over
to our city manager then to finish up
and uh U tell you what our next steps
are
right that thank you Don thank you chair
tip shiny thank you mayor hary and thank
all of you for for being here tonight um
as you can probably see already from the
caliber of people in the room and the
spirit of cooperation that exists in
Chandler this is a very special process
this is something that not a lot of
residents get to see and we are honored
that each and every one of you was
selected and has agreed to be part of a
process that will make Chandler continue
to be such a strong City not only
financially but in our community Spirit
going forward if you think about how
much success Chann has had financially
including through Bond elections over
many decades it's because of great
decisionmaking by the leaders that
you've elected over many years is
because of a great staff that works
extremely hard but it really is because
we do it the right way and this is a
process that you won't see in many
communities we don't we don't take this
lightly we really want to see our
residents engaged and be advocates for
the kinds of projects that they will
themselves and future Generations get to
enjoy so thank you for being part of
this we really are honored to have you
as part of Team Chandler along with the
other 1,800 plus employees that I get to
represent as city manager so again I
want to thank you for being part of this
important effort and managing our
Capital program and the types of
projects we deliver to the community
with financial responsibility is among
one of the most important duties that we
have as public servants and we need to
keep our community moving forward we
certainly didn't think we would probably
be back this quickly having another
conversation about Bond
the good thing is just about every other
city in the valley is in the exact same
boat as we are because inflation took
its toll and none of us came to expect
that as we were preparing these
estimates years ago but it's our our
Diversified Investments in the city our
infrastructure the quality of economic
development that we've delivered over
many years our excellence in public
safety our excellence in Recreation this
is what makes our Quality of Life Second
To None in Chandler and you all get to
be a part of delivering that process so
at this time I'm going to ask that each
of you uh go to your respective
subcommittee areas to meet with your
staff leasons and get to know each other
a little bit better you'll notice all
around the room there are signs up for
the different subcommittees and we'd ask
you at this time to go ahead and find
your subcommittee and again thank you so
much for being here tonight as part of
this process
go