Chandler City Council Meeting 06/13/2024

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for for
good evening and welcome to the regular
city council meeting of June 13th so
tonight it's going to be a little
different in the sense of after we gavel
out of this regular meeting we will be
having a special meeting to specifically
vote on the on the uh budget items and
Council that's also as part of our so
we'll have a special meeting after that
so at this point uh clerk please take
the role mayor Harkey here vice mayor
Harris here council member Enis here
council member Ellis here council member
Stewart here council member Orlando here
counc member po here we have a quum
thank you
and our invocation will be brought forth
by Pastor Robert Felix from Chandler
Presbyterian Church hello sir and our
Pledge of Allegiance by council member
Mark story course good evening and
greetings from Chandler Presbyterian
Church I found that we pray like this
it's so easy to ask God for so many
things so I thought if it's okay with
you we would just take a few moments and
thank God for everything that he's
already done so pray with
me God thank you for bringing us to this
point in our lives for bringing us
together for giving us so many
blessings thank you for our mayor and
our whole city council for the energy
you've given them to serve and the
dedication you've given them to stick
with it even when it gets
frustrating thank you for our recent
graduates of all ages and for the things
we've all been learning in every stage
of
Life today we pray for everyone who's
visiting Chandler and we thank you for
them as they stay at hotel and drive
around our streets we thank you for
everyone who works behind the scenes to
keep our city safe and looking great and
especially for those who are working
outside right now in the sun and the
heat God thank you for the tax revenue
we have to work with and for all the
people who work so hard to provide
it and now God we take just a few
moments in silence to thank you for all
the blessings we have in our lives that
only we know about
oh God thank you so much for this and
everything else you've given us things
we haven't even recognized today we make
a fresh commitment to remember it all
and to live like it amen
amen please join me in reciting our
pledge of
allegiance iedge algi to the flag
of the United States of America and to
the Republic for which it stands one
nation God indivisible with liy and
justice for
all thank you Pastor thank you council
member
Stewart Council next before us is our
consent agenda we had opportunity to
have robust conversations on many of
these on Monday um like to take a motion
and a second unless anyone would like to
move any of these to action and I do
understand that there are some conflicts
of interest here but is there a motion
mayor counc Stewart i' like to make a
motion to approve the consent agenda
items 1 through 32 for June 13 2024 a
second move got a motion by council
member Stewart a second by council
member Ellis and understand there are a
few conflicts vice
mayor yes uh I can't remember what the
item numbers were 12 and 23 12 and 23
okay yes 12 and 23 all right council
member uh conflict interest on number
eight item number eight pleas all right
clerk please note those Council please
vote motion carried unanimously all
right thank you next is uh C we have a
public hearing for the adoption of the
2425 annual budget and the 25
34 Capital Improvement plan or the CIP
and setting the FY
2425 tax property tax levies so I'd like
to open this public hearing and start
with a staff
presentation yeah all right good morning
mayor and Council it's good to be with
you tonight uh unfortunately I missed
the last meeting where we talked about
the budget uh but I was at the world
kleptomaniac convention where I took
gold silver and bronze so glad to be
here though this evening to talk about
the budget with you uh so for our public
hearing tonight we're going to cover
just briefly about the budget if um
individuals throughout the community
want to know more about our budget a
plethora of information is available on
our website chandleraz.gov
budget hope we have a multitude of hits
later in the night this evening as that
people are reading about our
budget but we'll hit some highlights
tonight that doesn't seem to be working
so I'll go with this one uh so for our
fiscal year 2425 proposed budget our
theme this year is making it happen the
total budget is just over $1.6 billion
uh the general fund portions $577
million this proposed budget is a
decrease from the prior year budget of a
1.6% overall for all funds and a 5.4%
reduction in the general fund itself
again this budget adheres to the
financial policies the strong financial
policies that mayor and Council have put
in motion and is structurally balanced
so we have on on goinging covering
ongoing costs ongoing Revenue covering
ongoing costs and one-time revenue for
on for one-time costs uh we also use the
Strategic framework uh to guide the
decision-making throughout this budget
process and it really provides
costeffective services to our residents
we maintain our long-term Financial
sustainability and our resident
engagement was throughout this process
we had our budget kickoff uh the
resident budget survey three budget
workshops our all day budget brief and
our tenative and finally tonight final
adoption uh for this budget process some
of the proposed drivers that we have in
this former Revenue standpoint we've
re-evaluated revenues as we do each year
to make sure that we're keeping a foot
of our actual economic environment uh we
do have some increases continuing to
come into the through revenues in our as
development continues in the city of
Chandler but we will and reflect some
decreases from the residential rental
tax that will be going away halfway
through the year in January of 2025
we also have updated our state shared
revenues using the latest projections
from not only our own projections but
the state and League of cities and towns
from the expenditure side the majority
of the increases we've seen on
expenditures are due to inflation
whether that's in Goods or also Services
as the cost for our existing employees
is also increasing those have been taken
into account we've also continued to see
expenditure increases in our capital
projects due to inflation as well as
additional needs across a variety of
projects from a g grants perspective uh
we continue to focus on finding new
grants that are available to us and have
projects ready to go should we be
selected for those grants from a debt
and reduction of cost perspective uh we
were able to maintain and actually
enhance our AAA Bond rating this last
year uh which helps reduce costs for our
borrowers for our capital projects we've
maintained our funded status for our
Public Safety pen Personnel retirement
system or psprs
to ensure that that liability does not
grow we've we have some solar energy
Investments and utility cost savings are
anticipated because of those Investments
and we're also investing in some Turf to
zeroscape projects throughout the city
to reduce utility
costs from the operating budget the
highlights are include I'll just talk
about briefly a couple of these number
one uh we do reduce the city primary
property tax rate through the direction
of Mayor and Council so that's a great
um thing for our residents to see some
of the offset and increased valuations
come down because of the reduction of
the tax rate uh again this year we don't
have any planned water Wastewater or
solid waste rate changes uh in the new
fiscal year so that will be a benefit to
our residents as well as they continue
to have those uh wonderful services at a
much reduced rate compared to some other
Valley Cities uh we we have wonderful
Services
here as far as the capital plan our
10-year Capital PL program increased uh
about 52 2 million this year to a total
of almost 2.5 billion it was updated to
reflect additional utility projects and
significant utility projects as well as
project costs and the current value of
today's construction environment uh it
does increase the focus on our aging
infrastructure as Chandler continues to
age we want to ensure that the
infrastructure uh supporting all of the
needs of our residents is uh top quality
and then our voter Bond authorization to
support this Capital plan has been
shortened however by this the
inflationary impacts we've seen on many
of these
projects to talk about our property tax
levy uh just a reminder for our
residents that of the typical dollar
that you would pay on in property tax
only about 10 or 11% of that comes to
the city of Chandler the majority goes
to our Public Schools community colleges
and the Maricopa County and some Special
Districts our property tax levy this
year for the prior year excuse me was
2023 24 Levy was 42. 6 million uh that
comes from a limited property value for
the city of Chandler as a whole from at
$3.9 billion of property valuation in
the new year that's been adjusted to
reflect new property and appre
appreciation to $4.1 billion for a total
Levy of
44,47
3,791 or an increase of about $1.9
million again the property tax reduction
from
1.0929 26 uh will reduce some of the
impact of those property valuations that
increases primarily from appreciation
4.4% with additional increase in that
Levy of 0.9% related to new
property again this will be the ninth
consecutive year we've been able to
reduce those property tax rates for our
residents so what does that mean for a u
median value homeowner in the city of
Chandler uh that means from last year's
tax Property Tax Bill the median
homeowner would have paid $257.66
in taxes and this year they'll pay
$268 111 an increase of $10.41 for the
year which is about 87 cents per month
in additional tax
revenue from a key budget dates we are
wrapping up quickly uh tonight is the
final budget public hearing and final
adoption of the budget and then we'll
have the adoption of the tax levies on
June
27th so for your consideration tonight
in the special meeting we'll be
resolution 581 which will adopt the 2425
annual budget set the amount of the
proposed to be raised by direct property
taxes and adopt the 25 to 34 CIP program
and then the tenative and final adoption
of the ordinance
5095 sets the property tax levy will be
June 24th and 27th again there's our
website for those that have additional
questions or want additional information
and with that I'll answer any questions
you may have so Council next part on our
public hearing is Council discussion and
uh vice mayor you want to start us off
with questions absolutely um so just the
the slide that talked about lowering
property taxes so today if we a yes vote
is lowering the property taxes in the
city of Chandler property tax rates
property tax rates in the city of
Chandler so we're at okay through the
through the mayor vice mayor a vote
tonight sets the tax anticipated tax
revenues in the budget however the
actual rate setting will happen at the
end of June we have the first hearing on
the Monday and then the following
Thursday evening will be the final
adoption of the tax levy itself so
essentially we're going to be we're
lowering um we're lowering taxes for the
people of champ okay my next question is
is that um the budget proposal talks
about the appreciation of the value of
the property so talk to us about how
talk talk to us about the appreciation
of the value of the properties in the
city of Chandler yeah so through the
mayor Vice May mayor the the uh Maricopa
County uh does an evaluation of property
values throughout the uh count entire
County and with that they evaluate not
only the new addition of property that
came onto the tax roles during the given
year but also the actual limited
property value of each residents uh
throughout the city of Chandler uh once
they do that evaluation they send us out
what those valuations are and the tax
levy is associated with those valuations
so they go through uh an entire process
of valuating what those property values
are are and they're limited to no more
than 5% growth because of a a state
statute that limits that property value
increase for to 5% so this year it was
4.4% was the average increase to
property valuation and then my my next
question is over the last four years or
five years or so how long have how long
have we been lowering the property taxes
for for the people of Chandler how long
have we been lowering that mayor vice
mayor it's been this is will be the
ninth consecutive year of property tax
reductions so this is the ninth year
that we've lowered the property as as a
council great my last question is that
did we do any creases to any of the any
other taxes that we may have had in the
city of Chandler was there any other
increases that has happened yeah through
the mayor vice mayor we have not done
any other tax increases uh for for
residents other than in January of this
last year we did a utility rate increase
but where there's no utility rate
increas is planned for the next fiscal
year thank
you additional question
yeah seeing none mayor C stent so this
is kind of the final opportunity for us
to to thank you for the process you know
there's a lot that we have to chew on
with our budget books and with the
meetings that we've had you went through
the the calendar there and I want to
tell you that I appreciate you know the
direction that you've given us I also
appreciate that we have a lower budget
this year from a general fund
perspective and a CIP love that the CIP
is stable it's actually growing a little
bit which means we're investing in our
water infrastructure and our roads and I
know I talked last year we were gulping
down that huge increase in our budget
and then we realized that you know a lot
of that was because of the federal funny
money that was coming in that's created
this inflationary environment that we're
living in right now I mean some way or
another you're going to pay for it and
so we've got $12 Big Max uh because of
all that and some other things but um we
were able to use that wisely and so we
invested that money we just heard
tonight that our roads have uh improved
Four Points comparative to uh um what
they were the year before and they'll
continue on that trajectory we're
investing $250 million in our water
infrastructure we invested in the uh Dam
elevation um that's going in uh to to
help secure our water um there a study
uh but there's a lot of things that
we're doing right around here as it
relates to the budget and you know me
I'm uh always saying how can we uh you
know squeeze a little bit more juice out
out of this orange uh without you know
without spending money and uh you guys
have done a good job of measuring that
so General funds gone down by almost 6%
or was it 10 um and CIP is continuing to
invest so you're doing more with less
which is what good corporations do um
and I think you guys are running a a
really good Financial policy here and
it's what Chandler residents expect so
just want to thank you for that thank
you
than sorry just one last thing um we
have an audit that we do with our budget
every single year um we did a thirdparty
audit to look at our finances this is a
separate review per the State per the
state statute how did we turn out per
the State statue in terms of the third
party review that came back in to review
our books yeah so through the mayor vice
mayor just to to kind of clarify that we
do a thirdparty financial audit of our
uh annual Consolidated financial report
our act for
uh not the actual budget document so
they come in and after the fact and
review all the expenditures and make
sure that we are following all of the
requirements from uh Gap requirements
for our financial reporting and we had a
clean report clean report I assume
because I didn't hear about it we didn't
so squeaky clean report um but we do for
our budget document we do submit it to
the government finance officer
Association for an award uh for the
presentation of our budget and we have
won that 39 consecutive years and we
will be submitting this budget we feel
that it meets all of the qualifications
for that award again so thank you and so
we've been very fiscally responsible
with the taxpayers dollars there has
been no wasteful spending out there okay
thank
you right thank you um suddenly I wanted
a big Mech when you were talking and I
remember decade and a half ago when
people said damn the elevation they
would have added project on the end of
that so there was an old project by the
ball the skeleton called elevation
so memories all right uh discussion from
the audience related to our budget
process seeing none I'd like to close
our public
hearing um before we move into um where
after unscheduled public appearances I'm
going to gel out and then we will vote
on this specific special meeting I I did
talk to the City attorney before we have
our unscheduled public
appearances um this is not for schedule
or not for conversation we cannot
discuss it but uh Conant I did uh talk
with our staff this week and uh affirmed
again today that as a parliamentarian of
the of the meetings or work sessions in
that that I'm able to make changes and I
have uh as of our now our work sessions
and our study sessions will have a
public comment portion in there we'll
I've talked with most of you about about
that and I caught no heartburn about
doing this so in order to try to
depoliticize anything having to do with
this I'm we will start that as of our
next work session or study session
that's going to be happening this week
and next so with that we'll move
into unscheduled public
appearances I did get one comment card
from Linda Sawyer that will be put into
the records and for those actual speaker
cards we'll start with uh Les
Minkus Mr Minkus as you know we cannot
engage you you have up to three minutes
to share your
thoughts thank you name and address
thank you mayor and councel my name is
Les M my address is 3372 East G courton
Chandler three months ago in March 13th
and again on March 18th uh at the
request of many of the Chandler
residents and business owners we
submitted a formal 15-page request on
behalf of the legislative district the
13 local government committee and LD 12
committee um on U uh on uh Community
activists and Precinct committeemen
supporting the right of Channel
residents uh and voters the right to
speak at all city public meetings
including study sessions work sessions
committee and subcommittee meetings as
well as three minutes that we get at the
council meetings that request uh has has
not been put on the agenda of the city
council nor brought to a vote by the
mayor council for three months now uh
while the majority of council members
tell me that they agree with this
request they say the mayor is resisting
allowing uh this to be voted on and
fully documented as a an official
procedure uh in the uh city code I just
submitted the city clerk a copy of the
email I got from the Arizona Corporation
Commission about encouraging um uh
Arizona residents uh participation and
right to speak at their meetings quote
public uh input is welcome and often
times informative uh of the commission
unquote uh I also submitted uh petitions
uh that about 100 uh signatures from
Chandler residents and there are more to
come uh that want this right to speak at
public city meetings about health safety
and quality of life issues that impact
them their families in the community
there is clear and adequate
justification in the 15 page uh request
that we submitted the three months ago
uh for the residents right to speak uh
uh to their elected representatives
public servants and City staff on these
topics there are incumbent City uh
council members currently running for
re-election in July as well as new
candidates uh that are being um
evaluated now uh by voters the voters
have the right to know if their elected
representatives are in support of the
resident's right to speak uh or against
and denied their right to speak as
requested therefore the request for a
right to speak must be voted on by the
mayor and Council no later than the next
council meeting on the 27th of June so
that the voters are well informed and
have full transparency of how each
council member uh has voted before the
July election uh so there is no
plausible
deniability mayor the sky is blue and
the grass is green uh but when the
clouds uh when it's cloudy it's hard to
tell the true color of the sky this
issue of the council voting for uh
residency's right to speak is clouding
the truth Thank You Les your time's up
okay I just want to finish this last
sentence thank you I'd like to hear from
each council member about taking a vote
now and if they are for or against the
residents's right to speak at all
Chandler City public meetings thank you
sir um next up uh we cannot engage you
during unscheduled so our next speaker
is Shannon
Hayes sorry Shannon will this be coming
up on the June 27th meeting we can't
engage you at all sir and an unscheduled
public appearance based on open meeting
law Miss Hayes please State your um name
and uh address for the record you have
up to three minutes to share your
thoughts with us this is unscheduled we
cannot engage with you thank you my name
is Shannon Hayes I am actually a
resident of
Gilbert um I am a community advocate
with Hayes Resource Group and the
education chair for the Arizona State
Conference of the
NAACP I'm here to express my deep
concerns about the presence of the
Chandler Police Department on school
campuses within the Chandler Unified
School District specific to the behavior
of Officer Tyler service for the past
two school years I've been involved in
addressing several incidents involving
officer service and a black family at
bogul Junior High School his actions
have been unprofessional retaliatory and
biased specifically targeting this
mother and her children these actions
have included trespassing the mother
from the campus and most recently filing
misdemeanor charges against her son
putting him at risk of entering the
school to prison
pipeline the role of law enforcement in
schools is intended to ensure safety but
when officers like Tyler service exhibit
these harmful behaviors it Fosters an
environment of fear and
distrust these incidents are not
isolated they underscore a pervasive
issue of systemic bias that
disproportionately impacts black and
brown students and families in your
District I urge the council to take
immediate and decisive action this
includes thoroughly investigating
officer Services conduct implementing
comprehens comprehensive bias training
for all schools resource officers and
exploring alternative models of school
safety that do not rely heavily on
police presence our children's
well-being and educational success
hinges on a nurturing and unbiased
environment I thank you for your
attention to this critical matter our
Community depends on you to ensure that
our schools remain places of learning
safety and equality for all students
thank you thank you city manager you
please make sure that uh we're able to
address M ha concerns and the right
people are with him yes sir thank you
our next unscheduled public appearance
is uh Bridget
Vega Miss Vega please state your name
and City you live in and you have up to
three minutes Bridget Vega
Gilbert thank you mayor and counsel for
taking the lead and Chandler for your
presence by being proactive but also
your efforts in prevention in continued
pursuit of safety for the Youth and the
community it's been seven months since
Preston Lord was brutally assaulted and
murdered thank you for taking a step in
the right direction with the ordinances
to create a safer community and hold
people accountable as a community we ask
for transparency as a community advocate
and a concerned parent and Community
member I ask ask for your help to bridge
the gap amongst parents the school and
the sro's in the cusd district since you
guys have a relationship with the
schools the districts and the SRO as the
SRO are mandated reporters that are
sworn officers as a community we ask
that you bring mandated training back to
the Forefront as you guys have taken the
lead on prevention we must address
policy and procedure as well currently
see SD and SRO specifically at bogal and
Perry have failed to protect the youth
and the community there has been
physical assault sexual assaults
bullying drugs and on the campuses as
well as lack of accountability and
safety concerns we have brought this to
the attention of the district as well as
the Board of Education next we ask that
you as a council help bridge the gap
with the communication to create a safer
environment for the children let's keep
Preston Lord the youth at the center of
all of this if we can take a moment of
silence for Preston Lord and all of the
teens who've been assaulted mentally
physically and sexually and all of the
youth that were wrongfully murdered due
to senseless acts of
violence thank you God for the community
and may we break every chain bring it
all to light and Let It Be Your Will and
your way we demand Justice for the Youth
thank
you thank you and again if there's any
specific things city manager can you
address those for us yes maam um my last
speaker card I just have a single name
sadena good evening again if you state
your name and address for the record uh
we cannot engage you but you have up to
three minutes to address us okay thank
you um I'm sadena I am Pro police uh I
embrace the police I believe we need the
police but me and some chanler PD have
some issues my interactions with some of
officers of the Chandler Police
Department make me fearful for myself
and my children I've experience biased
base policing as a black woman
exercising the freedom to speak and
inquire one officer in particular that
I've had issues with this SRO Tyler
service who works at bogu junor high
school he has failed to prioritize
reasonableness and unbiased reporting
whether these actions are of his own
recognizance or due to being weaponized
by cusd staff it is
unacceptable I have raised these
concerns about cusd District to the US
Department of OCR since 2022 and as of
December
2023 the claims are being investigated
as of April 22 2024 my child was
assaulted by another student on Bogle
School premises and there were no staff
members present neither was the SRO not
one person in sight at the initial
assault yet my child was suspended and
referred to long-term
suspension and it was recommended the
same day that he was assaulted no due
process I requested a meeting with
executive leadership and staff of cusd
and Bogle to learn how they made the
decision during our May 1st hearing they
uh canceled the suspension the long-term
suspension and reinstated him after the
reinstatement I thought this was the end
it wasn't until 6 weeks later this
Monday June 10th that I was informed by
mail that my child is being offered a
diversion program a MISD mean of one
charge the school alleges they were not
informed by the SRO but please note that
theou between CPD and cusd state on page
five line five of law enforcement action
is taken that SRO should make the school
administration aware of the action as
soon as practical what is practical it
seems that both the school and the
officer service collaborated to punish
my child enforcing criminal charges
trying to stain his record although he
is the victim and attack occur occurred
on school grounds of Bogle Junior High
School regardless of this ping ponging
of blame all of this is together cusd
and
CPD but I do not Embrace these Jim Crow
behaviors from either
entity they are all targeting my child
and it has to do with race I am
requesting a thorough investigation into
the charges officer service has brought
against my child these processes exhibit
bias retaliation discrimination and
dehumanization my child was the victim
of an attack and both the CPD and cusd
have failed to address the situation
appropriately and fairly and the
situation is very concerning again I I
Am pro police I believe we need the
police but we need reasonable police and
police that will be Equitable in their
response thank you
sadena all right city manager same
thing Cons with that I'm going to um
gabble out of this meeting we'll vote on
the uh the special meeting of budget
adoption and then give our Council
remarks and sharings at the end
that hello and welcome to our city
council special meeting uh budget
adoption and uh clerk please take the
role mayor Harkey here vice mayor Harris
council member here council member Ellis
here council member Stewart here council
member Orlando here council member poon
here we have a quum thank you so much
Council we've got a single action item
which is resolution number
5801 would someone like to make a motion
mayor council Stewart considering this
is my last
budget and uh I know I've given staff
such a hard time over my seven and a
half years here over the budget um I'd
like to make a motion to approve
resolution number 5801 adopting the
annual budget in the amount of 1
b629 million $72
I got that wrong didn't I yeah you're
the budget
yeah so I could have nailed it on my
last one couldn't I little practice but
uh like to make that motion mayor so we'
got a motion second and mayor all right
I heard council member Ellis first for a
second
um Council please vote
motion cares
unanimously all right thank you so much
next is current events uh public
comments and and Council as I was saying
later I do want to bring not a
resolution but resolution to the request
and discussion regarding public comment
at work sessions and subcommittee
meetings and I have been informed we
have the means to adopt this practice
now Council work sessions and
subcommittee meetings from this point
forward will include public comment
agenda item public comments will be
limited to an item on the published
meeting agenda rather than just coming
and talking about uh whatever it has to
be related we'll set aside 15 minutes up
to 15 minutes for public comment
allowing up to three minutes for speaker
at my discretion if obviously there is
30 people that show up we will adjust
accordingly comments for non-agenda
items will continue to occur as
unscheduled public appearances during
our regular meetings and ccil of course
uh you're we you're certainly your
perview if you would like to take
additional acin to either review this to
add to this to detract from this so that
is your perview at this point but as of
after this meeting all of our sessions
will include that number two ReDiscover
South Chandler campaign for the past few
weeks members of council have been
visiting our South Chandler business
Community as part of our ReDiscover
South Chandler campaign we have many
exciting local businesses and hidden
gems that call South Chandler home and
it was a great opportunity to
reintroduce ourselves to these business
owners and thank them for not only
choosing Chandler but sticking in
Chandler during rad construction and
some harder times so if you're looking
for a new restaurant a shopping
experience or local stop I encourage you
to ReDiscover some of our South Chandler
businesses there's something for
everyone and to get a look inside some
of our South Chandler businesses head to
our visit Chandler Instagram for behind
the scenes Peaks and Insider
recommendations and thirdly I think um
council member Poston I thought you
brought this up last year and no one was
doing it this year so I thought I would
the summer reading
program and uh I signed up I've already
got the beginning of this month I've got
600 minutes in already I'm reading a
crime series I'm way ahead of you guys I
believe that's not even counting Council
agendas which I'm going to include so
want to challenge all of you for our
community we're we're asking our
community to sign up for the summer
reading challenge it's available at uh
Chandler libraries.org is that correct
in the back yes my thumbs up
librarian and uh so I encourage you to
follow council member poston's
admonition from last year my admonition
from this year and Lead our community in
being readers there's some prizes
available some sweet sweet offerings
from KES and and others to incentivize
you this is for the entire
family uh with
that oh I had some more
notes I think I covered them all the
theme is Adventure begins at your
Library through reading fun events and
earning great prizes through the summer
the program is for all ages runs from
June 1st to August 1st so make sure to
register to start earning your points at
Chandler library.org
SRC summer reading program and lastly
Happy Father's day before I turn it over
to our wonderful Council I would like to
wish all of the fathers here and out
there a happy Father's Day um Matt uh
Matt thank you for leading us in a bad
dad joke once again we don't have to
cover that but I hope everyone has time
with their family and loved ones this
weekend council member and Cen
us okay thank you mayor I'm more into
scrolling but I'll take you up on your
challenge of reading so we'll see how
that
goes but that's not why are you
say anyways um you guys so June 7th last
Friday was very exciting here in the
city of Chandler for the first time ever
we raised a pride flag um over Dr AJ
Chandler Park I'm very proud of our city
um that our city continues to be a place
and a community that is welcoming to all
I want to be um give a thanks to
everyone that came out especially our
community um the office of Governor
Hobbs the office of Secretary of State
Adrien Fontes um other elected officials
again the community residents that came
out and I want to give a special thank
you to our mayor and Council without you
guys who would not be able to put this
forward um and as well as um our prior
Council council members um that passed
the ndo without those steps we probably
would not be where we are at today so I
just want to say thank you guys my
fellow council members and mayor for
putting that together thank
you council member Ellis thank you mayor
talking about juneth is that week
tomorrow night as part of Chandler's Jun
te celebrations the South Chandler
self-help foundation and the City of
Chandler will host the annual M
Jun Arizona scholarship program through
workshops and Community Services a
contestant further their knowledge of
juneth their cultural heritage and
current days issues the pageant kicks
off at 7M at the Chandler Center for the
art I'm sure it will be an event of
Excellence women of Chandler city
council series I just started this
series because I felt that we needed to
highlight those women who have served
here in our city I wanted to share an
exciting video series that I have uh
coming soon I recently sat down with
Derek horn from the museum to discuss
the 14 women yes we had 14 of them that
have sat on uh Chandler City ccil and
who paved the way for myself and council
member postan our videos will be Premier
on the city council Facebook page on
June 14th and June 21st the first video
is already posted on June 7th so be sure
to go and check it out in the future the
other episodes will be discussed some of
their challenges motivations for serving
and the unique legacies that they have
left behind I am sure you won't want to
miss that one specifically the ladies of
Chandler please join us thank you mayor
nice mayor thank you I want to Echo
council member Ellis's comments about
tomor Smith Jun pageant it's a really
good time for people to engage in the
community and these young women are the
future of our community and I'm looking
forward to meeting them in hanging out
with my community and to add to the
celebration on Saturday night I hope to
see all of you guys out at the culture
music in the part to continue our juneth
celebrations is the party starts at 7 pm
at Dr AJ Chandler Park and we'll have
music from Von Willis and er candy two
of the most Soulful bands in the Valley
so bring your own la chair chairs
indulge in delicious food from local
vendors and stay cool with some some
great water that's going to be
everywhere for you guys with the cool
cool with the misters and everything
it's going to be on it's going to be
pretty amazing and if you have not seen
me cut a rug or should I say cut a
cobblestone you will get the chance to
post all the most exciting mems of me
dancing with the
mayor at culture music and aart and
bring your dancing shoes and do not try
to run away from the celebration mayor I
will find you it's a dance off you've
been officially challenged let's go
thank you
everyone I I already acques before the
challenge starts I
concede I've been working on the moves
I've been working on the moves that's
all I'm saying that's Stuart thank thank
you very much mayor you know so many
great things are happening in our town I
I I had the luxury of being invited out
to uh Princeton University for the
second time to basically brag about our
city all expenses paid by them not
taxpayer dollars by the way but um you
know one of the greatest things about
Chandler is uh and and I think staff can
attest to this is that we are a very
Innovative Community uh when I go to
other places and talk about the things
we're doing in this city jaws drop uh
the fact that I can share that we've had
autonomous vehicles on the road here
since 201 basically 17 um we are uh
Leaps and Bounds ahead of not only the
nation but the world in bringing in
Innovative technology and microtransit
like buo and cruise and things like that
so we are a Bastion of innovation and uh
really puts us on the map and really
fits our brand as a community but uh
it's it's a pleasure to be able to go
out there and brag about the things that
we do as a city and our staff makes that
happen and uh our people in our
community uh are proud proud of that as
well so um I'm very proud of our
community and it was a great event thank
you thank you council member Orlando
yeah mayor I as you know I just got back
National League of cities board
directors spring board director or
summer board directors meeting and E
council member Stewarts um going around
the room there's maybe 75 board of
directors from small towns Villages
large cities Chicago New York um nework
my hometown and I hear some of the
issues they're facing and I say to
myself wow what Have We Done Right and
what are we and our future endeavors I
mean we are so many light years ahead of
these folk and um I just think it was
good governance good good staff members
uh solid uh thought process not just the
next election but the next generation
and it's very makes me proud and
sometimes a little bit sadden that we
are doing so well and other communities
just can't figure it out so um it was a
a sombering but also a proud moment for
Chandler again as you indicated when I
say things that we're doing over here uh
I just talked about the solar uh we're
going to put our solar arms and they
said wow how are you making that happen
and it's amazing it's just an amazing
thing so anyway thank you residents the
biggest thank you goes to the residents
for supporting us the bond elections the
supporting of all of our facilities and
letting us know truly what's on your
mind so with that happy uh have a great
Father's Day Happy Father's Council M
Poston well I originally didn't have
anything but somebody's been a little
sneaky with the reading program over
there so now I have a little catchup to
do with the summer reading program um so
challenge accepted encourage everybody
out in Chandler get those kids reading
and kind of mitigate that little summer
slide that the kids have so thank you
for picking that up and doing that this
year so that's a great program so and
again Happy Father's Day to all the
fathers out there thanks mayor thank you
and and City librarian can you keep us a
breast of how the challenge on the days
is going here so do it privately no
public shaming but we want I just I just
want to know if when Poston overtakes me
okay city manager nothing tonight mayor
thank you all right Council before we uh
gavel out we have a resumption of our
exact session uh in the other room so
with that