City of Chandler Study Session 3/18/24

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all right
good evening and uh it's fun to see you
guys
joke welcome to the uh regular council
meeting of March
18th uh clerk would you please take the
role mayor Harkey here vice mayor Harris
here council member andc here council
member Ellis here council member Stuart
here council member
Orlando the C here we have a COR thank
you our our invitation would normally be
led by Pastor Scott Smith he is under
the weather so I've asked council member
Ellis if she could lead us in that and
council member Stuart if you could lead
us in the pledge thank you please stand
with me and bow your head as I pray
Heavenly Father we thank you for this
evening we bless your name we ask for
your presence in this forum right now as
we ask your Holy Spirit to teach and to
open our eyes to see what we need to go
father you have promised in your word
that you will teach us all things and
wisdom if we don't have it we can ask
for it and you will give it to us freely
right now we ask for the wisdom of the
things that we have to decipher this
evening let our eyes be fixed on you God
as you lead us in the right way because
you said your way is higher than our way
and let your word be our lamp to our
feet and also to our path we pray for
that in Jesus name amen amen amen pleas
joed
I the United
States the stand
na
indivisible thank you Council thank you
council member council member vice mayor
council
member
next on our agenda is scheduled public
appearances and I'd like to invite vice
mayor to come up front with
me
so first on our agenda is service
recognitions city manager thank you Mr
Mayor members of the city council we do
have two Employee Service recognitions
this evening and for the first I'd like
to call forward our Chief Information
officer s
toia good evening mayor and Council for
our first service recognition I'd like
to invite Anan over to the tribe
please in continuing with the last Trad
last recognition I'm going to try to
start a new tradition in citing an O to
anun anath started as a contractor in
2007 then he converted to a full-time
employee in 2009 at which time it team
was in heaven his first position was a
developer but eventually he was promoted
to a manager okay now I want everybody
to grown with me at this one he managed
Lotus
Notes then he helped the city get on the
Microsoft o365 vote electronic document
management the HR portal and riskmaster
three other applications for which he is
the
grandm oh dear respected mayor and
councel you know the Press
portal that was something cre by this
spiritual humble mortal here with his
lovely wife and two sons in the audience
to celebrate 15 years the city an
amazing gentleman a cook a singer and a
humorous
Visionary thank you
congratulations
mayor and councel for our second and
final recognition I'd like to call
forward our planning administrator Kevin
Mayo
on thank you city manager mayor council
members it's my honor tonight to invite
David deor up to celebrate his quarter
Century 25
years so David joined the city uh of
Chandler in March of 1999 before Y2K as
a planner one where he processed
countless use permits devel plan and
Zoning applications became evident that
his knowledge and ability of GIS systems
was a valuable skill and many don't know
this but David actually helped create
the land use database layer ngis which
we still use
today 2005 found David promoted to
planner 2 as well as the city's General
plan coordinator where David calculated
Chandler's buildout projections monthly
population estimates projections and
maintain numerous other databases all
related to land use in 2008 David became
principal planner he took the lead role
in the development and process process
of not one but two State Statute
required General plan updates in 2008
and in
2016 and if that's not enough David's
team will be starting up the next
general Plan update uh in late spring of
this year in August of 2018 David became
planning manager basically my rightand
man where he oversees the day-to-day
current and longrange plan efforts for
all of chair outside of work David's
been married to his beautiful wife Liz
for 23 years together they have six
children so obviously he has lots and
lots of free time five of them and Liz
are in the audience tonight so David
thank you since cly for 25 years of
service to see the CH maybe 25 years
more but we'll take what we can get
thank you
[Applause]
David mayor and Council that concludes
our service recognitions this evening
thank you
all right our next Proclamation has to
do with red cross month I could have uh
Georgie
danz let's have not Georgie
D all right
Natalie
whereas during American Red Cross month
in March we recognize the compassion of
people in Chandler and reaffirm our
commitment to care for one another in
times of Crisis and whereas today
kind-hearted individuals in our
community exemplify this commitment as
they step up to provide a Beacon of Hope
for our neighbors in need and whereas
through their voluntary and selfless
contributions they make a life-saving
difference in people's Darkest Hours
whether it's delivering shelter food
Comfort during disasters providing
critical blood donations for hospital
patients and supporting military members
and whereas we hereby recognize this
month of March in honor of all those who
lead with their hearts to serve people
in need and we ask everyone to join in
this commitment to strengthen our
community now therefore I Kevin Harkey
mayor of the city of Chandler Arizona to
hereby Proclaim March 2024 as Red Cross
month
you to say
anything I'd be happy to thank you so
much I'm Natalie Bowers I am on the
board for the American Red Cross I just
recently joined in 2016 I started
working for the American Red Cross as a
corporate development officer before
that I thought the Red Cross was simply
donating blood I had no idea that there
were so many lines of alleviating human
suffering that the ameran American Red
Cross does it is the oldest nonprofit in
the world it is international and you
may hear the American Red Cross here on
our Shores but in other countries it's
known as the international um Committee
of presentent societies Henry Don
started this along with
um major leadership in our own country
back in 1888 American Red Cross is
something I'm very proud of I was proud
to work there and I'm even more proud to
be on the board thank you so
much let's take a
picture
our next Proclamation is National
Library week and if Rachel kazak and Sue
Van Horn could come on
[Applause]
up you know before before that we read
this I was in DC at this Museum called
Planet word that council member Orlando
had turned be on and there was this
quote I want to read to
Librarians if Librarians were honest
they wouldn't smile or act welcoming
they would say you need to be careful
here be monsters they would say these
rooms house heathens and Heretics and
murderers and Maniacs deluded desperate
and salute if libraries if Librarians
were honest they would say nobody spends
time here without being changed maybe
you should just go home while you
can
the the the power of reading and the
power of
libraries that was good mayor whereas
libraries serves as a Cornerstone of our
community providing resources and space
to engage in lifelong learning Community
enrichment and connection and whereas
these resources celebrate the diversity
of our communities by providing
inclusive places that welcome people of
all ages from all backgrounds cultures
walks of life and whereas tanler public
library has a long sered has long served
as an trusted institution at the heart
of our city in neighborhoods and school
campuses leading in Innovation providing
technology training and access for St
state of the art Creator equipment in
whereas Chandler public library and
Librarians look beyond their traditional
roles providing transformational
opportunities for education employment
entrepreneurship empowerment and
engagement while thoughtfully developing
Collections and programs that explore
the diversity of our Ever Changing
society and whereas America is
celebrating National Library week to
recognize the far-reaching impact of
libraries and Librarians including
National Library giving day on April the
thir encouraging communi to support the
libraries now therefore
I on behalf of Mayor Kevin hary who is
standing right by
you in the city of Chandler do hereby
Proclaim April 3rd through the 13 2024
as National Library week thank
you
would somebody like to
speak thank you but you said it all what
could I say that's any better but um
truly thank you to council City
Administration and the community for all
of your support of public libraries you
may know that we're in the news a little
bit more lately than we might normally
be and um you just won't find a group of
people more dedicated to what they do
and Tara angen is here on behalf of our
friends group who donates countless
hours time money and everything to help
support programming at the library and
so to the city of Chandler if you have
not come into our doors recently please
come visit us and get your library
card thank you let's take a photo why
don't we move this way a little
bit
thank you
all and our last Proclamation is Earth
Day Derek Gerson come on
[Applause]
up
all right whereas the city of Chandler
is enriched by its Green Space and
environmental Treasures which enhances
the lives of residents and visitors
alike while providing space for
essential habitat fostering growth for
local floral and FAA and whereas
Chandler and his citizens recognize the
importance of preserving and protecting
our natural environment sharing a deep
commitment to raise awareness and inspir
Collective efforts to safeguard the
planet of present and future generations
and whereas the city of Chandler has
adopted strategies to mitigate climate
impacts conserve water and energy reduce
waste preserve our Urban Tree canopy and
pursue renewable energy Alternatives and
whereas Earth Day is an annual call to
action uniting communities locally and
internationally to acknowledge the
environmental achievements to enhance
climate literacy and continue our
dedication to environmental stewardship
and whereas the city of Chandler urges
all members of community to join in
celebrating the legacy of environmental
advocacy and renewal of our Collective
commitment to Future environmental
action in Channel now therefore I on
behalf of Mayor Kevin hary who is
standing right next to you of the city
of Chandler do hereby uh do hereby
Proclaim April 22nd as Earth
Day thank you vice mayor mayor uh
Council I appreciate uh your support uh
for recognizing Earth Day uh for those
of you who don't know me my name is
Derek gers and I'm the supervisor down
at the Chandler Nature Center at
veterans Oasis Park and um I wanted to
just take this opportunity Unity to um
mention that you should come check out
the proclamation we're going to have it
on display at the lobby of the Nature
Center so you can come check it out um
next weekend we have a sort of a
precluding event to Earth Day it's
called nature at night it's all about
land conservation uh Wildlife protection
so you should definitely come check that
out and then of course our Earth Day
celebration is going to be uh April 20th
Saturday well I'm sorry nature at night
to be there that's 600 to 9 but um Earth
Day is going to be 99 to noon Saturday
April 20th and we'll continue the uh
celebration for Earth Day um both events
are going to be really fun we got
vendors exhibitors all supporting planet
Earth and uh last thing I wanted to say
that I'm so glad to be a employee of
Chandler where we recognize that every
day is our day we truly do within all
our divisions and all of our departments
so thank
[Applause]
you
that concludes our um announcements and
uh special
recognitions
C on our agenda for our regular meeting
we only have one item and uh nobody
called that in which are the minutes of
the previous uh meeting and a motion
would be in order mayor council member
Stewart a motion to approve the consent
agenda of March 18th 2024 regular
meeeting we have a motion by council
member Stewart second by vice mayor I
don't think there's any possible reasons
for recusals so Council please
vote motion carries unanimously great uh
Council that then uh ends our regular
meeting Welcome to our study
session
clerk would you please take the role
mayor Harkey here vice mayor Harris
council member enus here council member
Ellis where it council member Stewart
here council member Orlando here council
member po here we have a quum great
Council only one item I did move the uh
the Quick Trip item to action but only
one item's been called in as part of our
consent agenda and that was item number
five by council member Ellis requesting
a short
presentation John sefon hello
sir good evening mayor members of
council City management it's an honor to
continue the theme of Earth Day and
talking about this item number five for
your consideration this week is the
adoption of resolution 5781 approving
that the city enter into a subrecipient
grant agreement with the trust for
public land to for pass through funding
from the US Department of Agriculture
for a service in the amount not to
exceed
$767,000 under the uh inflation
reduction act the urban and Community
forestry program received a historic
$1.5 billion doll to support Urban tree
planting urban forestry planning and
management and the related activities
particularly in disadvantaged
communities only 46% of the grant
recipients uh were selected uh from the
forest service Chandlers was one of 884
to applicants from entities working to
increase Equitable access to trees in
nature and the benefits that they
provide for cooling the city streets
improving the air quality and promoting
food security public health and safety
our proposal includes planting trees and
irrigation installation to address
extreme heat yes it gets hot here and
health issues from the lack of tree
canopy in our disadvantaged communities
as identified by the climate and
economic Justice screening tool or CEST
uh this screening tool identifies
disadvantaged communities that are
underserved and overburdened by a
mirriad of issues including pollution
energy costs Health rated impacts
housing issues Transportation challenges
and even Workforce Development burdens
the grant time time frame will end June
30th of 2028 and it is 100% uh
reimbursable so no match for there from
our local city dollars the project
includes public education on trees invol
involving local communities to assist
with tree planting discussing the
benefits of trees and proper maintenance
of the long-term health of our trees
throughout the community a key partner
in this with us is the Chandler Unified
School District and the students that
will actually help plant trees and the
potential to plant on school grounds
within the defined area of the CEST
Title One schools we estimate that we
can plant nearly 700 trees across
approximately 11 of our public parks and
properties contractors will be selected
via RFP to process and perform
irrigation installs maintenance and
purchase purchase of the trees and
assist with other labor
items and uh we anticipate this starting
as early as the fall of this
year we also will have the team of our
Kappa group and our community services
marketing Communications uh folks will
provide the lead in informing the
community about the project we plan to
leverage their production and design of
newsletters Publications press releases
speeches videos websites Etc to get the
word out and to broaden the knowledge
within our community and I certainly
want to recognize Ryan McCarthy our
Urban Forester for the work that he's
done in putting this together Kerry
Williams who is the Chandler High School
FFA uh director as well as our grants
administrator rosin sleep for all of her
help and support with that mayor and
Council I'll do my best to answer any
questions
thank you mayor that was very thorough I
really appreciate it this is exactly
what I wanted the public to be aware of
even though we getting this information
in review prior to um the grant being
received but it is important for us to
know that uh we getting a lot on return
on our dollars by investing um with this
new Forester that we have just emplo so
I'm grateful that he was Forward
Thinking into doing this uh grant for us
and as you explain it's going to do so
much good for the quality of life for
the people of chend and for that I'm
grateful appreciate you doing that this
and giving us such a ter every question
that I have you already answered timing
what we were going I know you're
thinking way ahead whatever we're going
to do and how we going to apply the
money and and how are we going to get
the community involved into the and uh
the planting of the trees you already
answered all those questions so I'm
grateful thank you John thank you mayor
thank you council member St joh thanks
so much for that I appreciate it hey do
you think we could tie this in with the
for Parks uh initiatives that we're
working on where we could maybe have the
community take part I know you'll have
contractors with most of it but yes
through the mayor council memb through
it yes it it falls right in line with
all of the public programming that we're
doing um council member Ellis spoke of
of Ryan's work that he's already done
he's already had students out in the
field in planting we did a number of
trees over at chib shy This falls right
in line with your vision of for our Park
some inspiration along that line and
thank you yes than any additional
questions or
comments thank you John you're welcome
as that was the only item called in that
concludes our study session Council we
have uh another budget session at
Thursday at 4M with a council meeting
that will'll be voting on these 31
consent agendas as well as the one
action item with that we'll see you
Thursday