City of Chandler Council Meeting - July 15, 2024

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good evening and Welcome to our regular
Housing Authority uh commission we've
got three separate meetings tonight a
public housing authority a regular
meeting and then those two should go
quickly and then our study session of
which uh many of you were here as award
and honorary recipients at that point we
will be mentioning you and and the the
things that that draw your off aess to
this public stage so welcome again to
the public housing authority commission
uh clerk would you please uh take the
role chairman Harkey here Vice chair
Harris here commissioner
laoren here commissioner enas here
commissioner Ellis here commissioner
Stewart here commissioner Orlando here
commissioner post here
here sorry about that
all right thank you
clerk uh Commissioners we have got two
items on our consent
agenda uh environmental reviews and
approval of minutes from the previous
meeting commission how would you like to
proceed chair Vice commissioner yes I
would like to approve the consent
agendas uh
for for for Monday July 15
2024 uh for consent agenda approval
minutes of one and
two I second we have a motion and a
second uh Council please vote do a call
oh thank you thank you I'm distracted
for some reason here tonight Vice chair
Harris commissioner
laoren yes Mr enenas yes commiss Ellis
yes commissioner Stewart yes
commissioner Orlando yes commissioner
Poston yes chairman Harkey yes motion
carries unanimously thank you that
concludes our public housing authority
meeting for videio sake welcome to the
regular meeting of the Chandler City
Council on July 15 clerk please call our
our meeting to order mayor Harkey here
vice mayor Harris here council member
enenas here council member pres council
member Stewart here council member
Orlando here council member post here we
have a quum thank you so much our
invocation tonight will be brought by
Pastor Keith Shepard from the Alma
School Church of Christ Our Pledge of
Allegiance by council member Ellis
Pastor let us
pray almighty God we thank you that
you're our father we praise and thank
you and give glory to your name thank
you that you are ruling the world and
not man and you care for every person
and animal on the earth by your great
power you create the Earth heaven and
sea and Christ is holding all things
together you are the king of kings thank
you for men and women who serve in
government please be with our leaders
national state and local bless the city
of Chandler the mayor the vice mayor the
city council and staff please be with
the First Responders the firefighters
the police officers the paramedics those
who often put their lives on the line
bless their families keep them safe
thank you Father that Donald Trump's
life was spared recently and help our
country not to be filled with so much
hate and vitri all but right now to talk
and to think and have civil discourse we
thank you for our country our city and
our state we pray that you'll have mercy
on us we thank you for your great grace
that you've given to us and you have
blessed us given us jobs and peace and
safety and homes and health and
blessings and you are the source of our
prosperity and peace and not us we thank
you Father for your son who came and
became a human being and in his name we
pray amen
amen please join me from pledge i al
flag the United States of to the for it
stands naice
thank you Pastor thank you council
member Council we've got a um
brief agenda on our city council regular
meeting tonight on our consent how would
you like to
proceed
mayor council member Linda yeah I move
that we uh approve the consent agenda of
July
5th excuse me should be the regular
meeting agenda oh yeah the consent
agenda July 5th regular meeting items
one through
five we have a motion is there a second
council mcus with a second Council any
recusals seeing none please
vote motion carries
unanimously thank you that concludes our
regular meeting
get the gabble three times
today Welcome to our July 15th study
session uh I'd like to call this study
session to order clerk please take the
role mayor Harkey here vice mayor Harris
here council member enenas here council
member Ellis pres council member Stewart
here council member Orlando here council
member poon here we have a quum great
next on our agenda is scheduled public
appearances I'd like to invite council
member steart to join me up
front I always like being over here
this is my good
side I don't really either all right
under our scheduled public Appearances
first our service recognitions I'd like
to turn this part over to acting city
manager Tad
Willie thank you mayor um well I'd first
like to bring up our honorable Judge
judge scoopin for our first service
recognition we do have five service
recognitions tonight and um she will
present the first
one thank you uh mayor council I'd like
to invite Hierro Garcia up to the front
to receive his 20-year
[Applause]
recognition Cyro uh congratulations on
achieving your 20y year anniversary with
us we know that you've worked hard for
this accomplishment and truly appreciate
your dedication Cairo is a cherished
member of the Court offering years of
instit institutional knowledge that we
cannot replace hirro grew up in Chandler
attended Chandler high school and
actually joined our city as a student
through the Coe um study program that
they had there so he's been with us ever
since aside from his understanding of
the court system he is very friendly he
brings a sense of humor and a sense of
comfort to the co-workers he works with
as well as the people he serves at the
court he has an extraordinary ability to
make everyone around him feel
comfortable and important
on a personal note hyro is our resident
mcgyver he can fix anything with a
hammer a paperclip and a little duct
tape um and we we see him in action
almost every day he is also a
prize-winning pigeon racer so that's a
very interesting hobby that he has and
you can ask him about that another time
um hyro thank you for your commitment to
the court and to the city of Chandler we
appreciate everything you've done over
the last 20 years and please don't leave
us thank you
[Applause]
I
forgot so I get the the honor and the
privilege of recognizing this next
individual for 25 years of service
that's
[Applause]
Michelle so Michelle started at the city
in
1999 where she became and she became the
manager of the Arts Center division in
2014 as the president of the cultural
foundation and with the dedicated board
of directors the foundation's endowment
has more than doubled in The Last 5
Years From 3.4 to 7.1 million her vision
for the art Center's place in the
community has been recognized by the
Phoenix Business Journal as an
outstanding woman in business in
2016 Michelle was honored in 2006 with a
fellowship from the V Virginia G Piper
charitable trust and in 2024 as an Arts
Hero by on media she was elected by her
PE years as president of the Arizona
presenters Alliance state Consortium of
art presenters her passion is expanding
diverse cultural experiences and
creating lifelong art lovers thank you
Michelle for your dedication to the city
and we wish you much success during the
center's upcoming 35th Anniversary
[Applause]
[Applause]
the next three recognitions we have are
in our police department and I'd like to
welcome our chief Chapman up to present
those recognitions
good evening uh the first one I'm going
to present is for 25 years for Michael
Pendergast Mike began his career with
Chandler PD in
1999 is important to mention that Mike
is a Chandler native and prior to join
in the police department he served in
the Marine Corps from 1995 to
1999 Mike started his career in the
police department as a patrol officer
and served in many capacities during his
25 years to include recruit training
officers
field training officer Honor Guard SWAT
and the neighborhood Response Team he is
currently assigned as a Professional
Standards Lieutenant overseeing the
Department's hiring unit in Internal
Affairs 2007 Mike earned a bachelor's
degree from NAU and later went on to
earn his MBA Mike has earned the respect
of his peers by setting high standards
for himself as well as those around him
his quality is exceptional he embodies a
strong work ethic exceptional
communication and attention to detail
congratulations ations on your 25 years
of service and his daughter Ashley is
here tonight to watch this presentation
so
[Applause]
congratulations come
[Applause]
uh the next one is also for 25 years for
Commander Preston Pierce
[Applause]
uh Preston Pierce joined the Chandler
Police Department on July 26
1999 throughout his career he's held
various roles including Patrol bike
bicycle patrol officer and property
crimes detective in 2015 Commander
Pierce was promoted to Sergeant
overseeing a variety of teams and later
Advanced to Lieutenant where he managed
both Patrol and property crimes he's
purposely served as the SWAT Commander
is currently assigned as a commander in
the Chandler Heights Precinct his
dedication exceptional service has ear
earned him numerous accolades such as
swad operator of the year in 2013 a
multi-year meritorious service award and
the unit citations for his outstanding
work on the bicycle Patrol team and in
the property crimes unit Commander
Pierce's unwavering commitment to Public
Safety and the performance in every
position makes him an asset to the
Chandler Police Department his diverse
experience and dedication to duty are
Testament to his professionalism and
passion for law enforcement reflecting
the highest standards of the department
and inspiring those around him and I'm
proud to say that 48 hours ago he was
promoted to Commander so congratulations
[Applause]
congratulations and last not least we
have a 30-year officer and Eddie
Cuthbertson come on up
Eddie officer Eddie kerson has had a
distinguished career over the past 30
years he has served in the Patrol
Division as a school resource officer
background investigator on call drug
recognition expert for the vehicle
crimes unit and motorcycle officer
officer kerson has been the impaired
driving coordinator for over 10 years at
the police department the relationships
he's built in the impairment community
and with the governor's office of
Highway Safety have helped provide much
needed training to officers in Chandler
Arizona the count the country and even
internationally he is a recognized
impairment subject matter expert in
Superior Court he has received numerous
commendations for his professionalism
from citizens and fellow employees the
governor's office of Highway Safety and
the IAC iacp as a drug recognition
expert instructor the second most senior
drug recognition expert in Arizona he
has also received mad DUI officer of the
year two times and received the chanler
police department Medal of Honor he is
here with his family tonight and to this
day he rides a motorcycle and we can't
talk him out of it congratulations
[Applause]
DD those are all our service
recognitions tonight tonight thank you
mayor all right we do
have we do have more
scheduled appearances after service
recognitions next we want for
recognition the healthy Arizona work
site Platinum award so if I can call up
Lisa marinara or Moler and Fernando
akuro how badly did I butcher
all right you're not supposed to ma
laugh at the mayor when he butchers
people's names
Julie we do have an amazing Wellness
team here that works hard to support
team Chandler by providing programming
resources and events in fact our team is
so exceptional they want award to
approve it chanders receive the healthy
Ariz a work site Platinum award for the
third year and this recognition is well
deserved so we are so excited and let me
turn this over to you Lisa or
Fernanda great thank you well um we're
just honored to accept this award on
behalf of Chandler and Chan life the
wellness program and I just want to
thank you all for continued support of
this program so that we can provide it
to our employees thank you than
all right that concludes our our
recognitions
you before we go into our next section
as people are leaving I I just want to
say Council isn't it great that people
applaud our police officers when and all
these things that we get to honor up
here I I just it Bo my spirit every time
that we're here and see uh our our
communities uh respect to our
organization all right Council next on
our agenda is um comments on a few
questions and comments or briefings on
items that we'll be voting on on
Thursday I do want to say before we uh
get into these that item number 20 on
our agenda is uh going to be pushed to a
future council meeting there's still
some work yet to be remained on the
contract to complete it so that that
will appear perhaps in the August or
Beyond meeting so with that first item
called in was council member Orlando for
a briefing on item number six the pickle
ball tennis court status right John
sepon
welcome thank you mayor members of
council it's an honor to present tonight
for a quick
discussion on our next recreational
amenity the pickle ball courts many of
you know that pickle ball is a support a
sport like none other in that it has
pickle in its name because it's a lot
like tennis and it's a lot like pingpong
and a lot like bad Mitten and it it's
played with a whiffle ball so you know
it's one of those really uh enjoyable
activities but over the past 20 years
we've definitely seen an increase in
demand and an increase interest in
pickle ball itself so item number six
for this week is a Construction Services
agreement for GMP number one for our
early materials procurement uh with
Hunter Contracting and it'll be just a
shy of $1.8
million we have throughout or since 2018
constructed pickleball courts across the
city we have six at Arrowhead met
Meadows one at La Paloma one at Arbuckle
one at posos Ranch and one at Homestead
North Park so we've been working to meet
the needs of the community in this area
over the past several years we even uh
expand our Tumbleweed Rec Center and the
community center in those gymnasiums and
multi-purpose rooms to provide
additional programming and
lessons so with that uh this has been
part of the Strategic master plan that
was passed in
2021 we also have for before you is the
procurement of the specified
construction materials these items are
the long lead items you've heard this
before especially with Mr Canon's items
that come forward these are the long
lead items that are uh considerably risk
uh to the construction if we do not have
them on site so items like Electric
electrical equipment shade ratas masonry
structural steel sewer water and storm
drain pipe and of course the light poles
and the SCS equipment so we try to get
those in those orders in early the GMP
number two will be before you in
September
this project will include the 18 pickle
ball courts as we have here on the
description at Tumbleweed Park and the
uh additional three Courts at the tennis
center along with upgraded LED lighting
so it'll be a great project for anything
with a paddle or a
braacket as far as uh our engagement
with the public as with all of our Parks
projects we've done an extensive amount
of Outreach in August 15th of 2023 we
held a public meeting it was was before
the parks and recck board in October of
23 and here we are ready to make things
happen uh with this approval and
ultimately the GMP approval in September
we will expect to have construction to
begin in October and then be ready for
fall of
25 with that I'll do my best to respond
to any specific questions counc no mayor
the only question I had was the the time
Framing and you already announced did a
good job on that thank you appreciate it
yeah let's get those built that's
probably the number one question we get
out
there that they do yes all right any
additional questions for John sepon on
this particular
item see in thank you sir thank you sir
next item called in was by ausome by
council member Orlando item number eight
looking at the vacant property and land
acquisition and Michael Miranda
coun M you had a question yeah I got a
question
great yeah thank you mayor uh yeah Mike
I we we've had discuss this several
times but I guess the one of the action
item was here or one of the results of
this is to go out and look a survey when
are the timelines have we able to button
those tighten those down a little bit
more I know last time we talked about
this they were a little bit more fluid
have we able to be able to get a chance
to get the timelines set through the
mayor uh Council of Orlando yeah so
right now we're we're completing our
negotiation with the disposition of the
property one of the items that is um uh
challenging we haven't come up with a
close date on escrow so our tentative
time frame right now is to get the RFP
on the streets in early September okay
great so we'll be that's a lot that's a
lot earlier we talked about it that's
good so September roughly 60 90 days uh
having the RFP on the streets I mean
getting the response back yeah
approximately 60 to 90 days yes and then
maybe by the end of this year early next
year January have some thoughts how what
we want to move forward on that on that
after we have the RFP on the street
usually we U leave those open for 30 to
45 days so the public can see what's
going on we can interact with the
development Community bring them in
answer any questions on the proposal and
then we will convene a team to provide a
recommendation mayor council to
ultimately decide on excellent well
hopefully we get some uh different ideas
I know council member Stewart was get
some good ideas about broadening this I
appreciate that so absolutely good doc
thanks thank you additional questions on
related to item number eight you're not
you're not off the mic yet so off the
mic
mic are we still within the uh frame
thought of looking at different project
rather than because I know we talked
about housing we also talk about
commercials and things so we're looking
all those different gments through the
mayor council Ellis yes the direction
staff received was to put a RFP on the
street that was inclusive of multiple
different development scenarios and
that's the direction staff will continue
to
take thank you mayor thank you Mike all
right thank you right thank you next and
last item called in was item number 14
by council member Stewart and council
member Orlando asking for a briefing on
the uh settlements and pursuit of claims
in the multi-district litigation matter
related to P pass thank you mayor I'm
going to have ton Co and one of the
assistant City attorneys who's been
spearheading this for the Law Department
to address this matter
thank mayor council members thank you um
and I have John behind me to answer any
technical questions yeah can can you
give us just a little rundown of what
the class action suit is I know that's
not what it's called why we're involved
in it and then John I just want to get
some background on you on what that
means for our water like where our water
levels and then what is the impact uh
and what can we go get later in order to
maybe buy the filters or expand the
water treatment plant if this ever
becomes a problem for us and how these
two things sort of connect because I
think we have two things that are
important like super important that's
our water and Public Safety those are
the core things we need to do so um this
is important to me thank you sure so
through the mayor uh council member
Stewart the um the lawsuit and this
What's called the multi-district
litigation it started out there were
thousands of lawsuits against
manufacturers of the forever chemicals
called pepas and what the federal court
did is Consolidated all those and calls
it's called a multi-district litigation
and it's being overseen by a judge in
South federal judge in South Carolina
hundreds of those lawsuits involveed
Public Water Systems and then it was
going to go to trial and and a couple of
the big
defendants proposed settlements we had
two options either we were to we had to
stay in the case or we had to request to
be taken to be excluded from the case
staying in the case was in the best
interest of the city um it would be
costly to pursue separate litigation for
one and two by participating in
settlements with these uh defendants
they have more of a guarantee of a
recovery for future monitoring and
remediate
versus you you never know if any of
these companies will go bankrupt given
all the lawsuits they're
facing
okay thank you sure it's a good intro
okay go ahead John John can can you
answer what this means for our water and
and where we're at today and then where
we may end up
being uh through the mayor council
member Stewart um this EPA has been uh
working on posos uh rulings for quite a
while now and as part of their
unregulated contaminant monitoring rule
number five it's a big phrase they use
um they have asked all water utilities
that have uh more than 3,000 connections
to do uh monitoring and testing on all
of our water supplies and Chandler has
completed that and we are compliant uh
with all established maximum contaminant
rules uh that they intend to promate uh
they're going down to a level of about
four part per trillion so to give you an
idea of what four part per trillion is
it's equivalent to 1 second in 32,000
years so if you can imagine that that
level of uh uh that that uh level of
contamination 1 second in 32,000 years
it's quite small and it's actually um
becoming more and more difficult as they
go lower with those contaminant um
uh levels to even test at that level so
it's uh it's they're getting quite low
um but we have completed our testing and
our system is compliant and and so we we
have no no issues today uh and Chandler
will continue to Monitor and and do the
testing according to the rules and and
so in in that sense our water system is
is in good shape now uh we are as part
of planning for a future uh
future work at our water treatment plant
we are looking at facilities that will
not only help us with the tthm
trihalomethane issues that we have um
but at the same time we'll also if we
ever do get contamination posos
contamination in our water coming to us
through the canal uh it will also be
able to help us with that so it'll be
kind of a a a a double a double
treatment so we're looking at that now
uh and that's something that um we have
in our current capital program and it's
uh for construction in in the years to
come thank you so if this is settled and
we get revenue from this that will help
offset some of the cost of that is that
the idea that's how these are that is
correct I always like when we talk about
water feel like I'm at church it's like
it's I feel calm or I feel better but
thanks John good I'm glad you do all
right got some Relando
the attorney um I hear John all the time
with water
S I don't get a chance to talk to you
that um so how far away from this
settlement or we're still are we still
in the rowing stage here or storming
stage or what um the mayor council
member Orlando uh there are uh two
defendants that have settled that have
been approved by the court and that is
3M and Dupont or Dupont companies Dupont
Affiliated companies there are two other
defendants and and I'll say that there
are at least two dozen defendants and
there may be more to come so there are
two other defendants uh Tao and bassive
Corporation they have preliminarily
settled and those settlements are
pending court approval there's an
objection period in such so timing wise
though each settlement is different okay
I'll give you an example 3M that settled
for 10.5 billion to 12.5 billion the
settlement terms there are that'll be
paid out over 10 years versus the other
defendants not as much as 3M um they
will be lump sums and and so they
they'll be paid out a lot sooner than
that yeah I'm glad we obviously being a
part of this but I think all 50 states
are pretty much part of this or what yes
that's that's correct our attorney
general of the State of Arizona did file
in this in this litigation yes so the
chances of actually getting any
substantial dollars at this thing is
when I say substantial John John's
talking
millions and we're probably talking 100
thousands here
comparison at this point there the
formula is is depends of course on all
those who participate there were a lot
of um cities and towns that opted out oh
wow um yes so there it just really
depends on um how many participate on
what their detection levels are things
like like that there's a lot of factors
and and formulas are based on uh the
flow rates of those Public Water Systems
and so it's too soon to say and just one
quick question I'm assuming cities like
Tucson or i' I've heard they've had high
PE B because of the the military
installation I know there's a bunch of
those throughout the United States
military old industrial
organizations do they have any leverages
getting first or most or is just going
to be in your mind at least the first
two ones are divided over a popular or
some other
formula um mayor council member Orlando
there are um there are formulas and
those those who have like kind of first
dibs are based on a little bit of timing
um the city of Chandler was able to get
into the phase one with 3m which is the
kind of the first so we're we're part of
that with those who are in the beginning
yes okay thank you mayor
thanks so more questions coming don't
disappear so are there multiple groups
also um representing this when I was at
us Conference of Mayors I know I I was
approached by a group perhaps council
members have others how how does this
work when such a broad scheme and is it
is there are there a lot
of or is there a kind of an assignment
by geography or is there just a bunch of
groups vying to get to represent cities
how does this work mayor there are a lot
of um law firms buying for for cities
and towns to represent them um we have a
lead lead Council are part of there's
five actually lead affirms in the
litigation and our council is one of
them and then our local Council that is
JoJo tan who also U represented
interests on the opioid settlement
litigation Kelly can speak to that but
there are there are definitely other
there are lots of firms involved in this
litigation but we have one of the
leading hers okay thank you and John I
have one question for
you so until this was EPA listed this at
at you said like four parts for trillion
it wasn't that long ago where it was
parts per billion what did it used to be
before this current
Crackdown mayor I I believe that number
was in the 50 part per billion but I'm
not sure I'm not sure what the the
former uh MCL was but we can we can
check on that for you so quite a bit
higher I mean by what a thousand or five
it was substantially higher I I don't
know the number but I can certainly get
back with you on that okay thank you
Council any additional questions for
either John or to uh council member
Ellis thank you Mayor John uh knowing
the fact that we can do a lot more with
partnership have we looked into
partnering with SRP or any other group
that we have done work with in the water
industry prior to this through the mayor
uh council member Ellis um we're always
looking for Partnerships as you know and
uh we're very successful with many of
those that we've done in this particular
situation the sources of this
contaminant posos uh it can come from
many places uh so for instance it could
be in the surface water that comes to us
from uh the mountains that is
contaminated in some fashion where
during the runoff it might run across
land that has this contamination on it
and then it becomes and it gets into the
surface water uh it also can be uh in
the groundwater so uh for instance I
think Tucson was mentioned Tucson has
some issues uh nearby the Air Force
bases where the uh firefighting foam had
been used for many many years that
contained uh this material and so
anything down gradient or in the flow
path underground flow path of that water
uh their Wells may be
contaminated um we again uh Chandler's
fortunate um other cities not so
fortunate but Chandler's fortunate in
that our wells uh are are fine and
they're they're not in uh areas of
concern so in Chandler we have really
two areas that concerned us one would
have been the airport where uh those
types of firefighting Foams could have
been used in in the past and the other
may have been uh at our fire training
center um and we don't have any Wells uh
in close proximity to either of those
sites so we haven't seen anything and I
know our fire department when this first
came out and the posos was recognized as
as a concern um that foam was was no
longer used so as quickly as possible uh
when we discovered that this was a
concern uh I think the fire department
switched out from that phone so it's
it's been been some time Willie want to
thank you for being the Visionary and
seeing the fact that our wealth need
maintenance and putting a lot behind
that I know when I spoke with uh SRP
they enjoy looking at our whales because
they said we have one of the best of
them here in Arizona so thank you for
all the work you've done in that area
appreciate it thank you ccart thank you
mayor little more church so just to just
to be just to be uh clear the number is
four parts per trillion is the new EPA
standard that is correct if you were to
put a dart where where do we
fall well we have many sources in our
system we have about 32 Wells and two
surface water plants what comes out of
the tap uh we it's all Blended the the
the issue with our well or our
distribution system is at any given
point in town if a well is operating you
might be getting water from that well
versus another Well versus a surface
water plant so it's difficult to say uh
but we are I think um nicely under the
four we under uh oh absolutely yeah
we're we're we're under and we're nicely
under the four I don't know those I
don't know whether we're at uh so we've
had Decades of good water drinking in
town and and it looks like we're heading
in the right direction for a while okay
the pa uh through this uncontaminated or
unregulated contaminant Rule pro uh
process that they go through uh they
choose certain contaminants and they
group them and uh they give many many
years to study those rules or study
those contaminants and then they send
out um uh processes and procedures for
uh water utilities to do testing so that
they can one prove the relative risk uh
of of a contaminant
and then determine the cost of removal
and and all that so this posos was uh
considered under this uh number rule
number five which is the fifth the fifth
uh version of this uh unregulated
contaminant rule making process and so
this posos is really this is the first
time it's been looked at in I'll say
probably the last five six years where
it's been looked at strongly and just
now is when they've come up with these
rules so we've been abiding by the rules
they've told us what to do we've done
our testing and and in ch and we're
under and we're safe things are good
thank
you all right any other questions for
amen
right Council that concludes the uh
requests for conversations or briefings
related to our city council meeting on
Thursday look forward to seeing you
there and that concludes our council
meeting