Chandler City Council Meeting 2/8/24

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good evening and welcome to a regular
city council meeting of February 8th
2024 um just so our audience U is aware
just the flow of the evening is we have
a consent agenda an action item that
will include a few different things and
then announcements at the end so with
that I'd like to call this meeting to
order and clerk please take the role
mayor Harkey present vice mayor Harris
here council member incus here council
member
Ellis here council member Stewart here
council member Orlando here council
member
Poston here we have a
quorum thank you our um invitation will
be led by Susan Stevens Clark our
Chandler bigh Community our Pledge of
Allegiance by coun vice mayor Harris but
before um you pray Council we had a
Chandler resident who was a marine that
was killed in this helicopter crash off
of uh California that was just announced
an hour so if we could have a moment of
silence and pray for the family and then
if you would lead
us
oh my God oh my God unite the hearts of
thy servants and reveal to them thy
great purpose may they follow thy
Commandments and abide in thy law help
them oh God in their Endeavor and Grant
them strength to serve thee Oh God leave
them not to themselves but guide their
steps by the light of knowledge and
cheer their hearts by thy love verily
Thou Art their Helper and their Lord
amen
amen all right please join me as we
recite the Pledge of Allegiance IED Al
to of the United States of America and
to the rep for it stands one
nation indivisible with libery and
justice for
all
thank you Susan Stevens Clark thank you
vice mayor council before we vote on the
consent agenda I I do have one speaker
card on one item um I believe council
member Stuart you wanted to move an item
to action yes mayor thank you very much
I'd like to move item number 10 to
action and uh we take a vote as a body
on uh each item
individually on well I think think at
that point I think
we uh I'm not sure we we can move it to
action but I think if Council wants to
vote on them as one we can well I just
need some clarification on three of the
items but if we if I can get that then
we can go to we can go to vote okay
thank you mayor yeah there's like
there's a a 30 bucket load of those 30
40 and I I would rather address any
concerns anyone has and and maybe
address those individually but if we're
in agreement on 95% let's vote on those
as a corate unit I understand that mayor
if we're we're adding ordinances that
could we could find residents or or give
them tickets I think it's important that
we we take our time and go through those
so um but I understand what you're
saying and so when we get to it um I
think I'm comfortable with almost
everything on here and I think another
council member has a question about some
but so you would like to move that to
action action and we can vote on on most
of these as it thank you great
um
okay so before we make a motion if I
could call
up uh Yuri and I apologize Kenna
kuchi uh if you could please come to the
mic and uh Miss Jan koguchi you uh if
you could please state your name and
address for the record yeah up to there
you'll have up to three minutes to share
your comments the light will be green at
two and a half minutes it'll turn yellow
uh when it's read please wrap up your
comments if you have not already okay
all right my name is yaguchi I live on
Evergreen Street and then uh um I
believe there is a plan to put a duplex
um on a corner of a Highland and
aloso um we um I was trying to get my
neighbors come with me but I I think
they are just kind of giving up because
city which just do you know ignore us um
so I'm just here to represent to be
heard
um
we I I'm not sure what kind of housing
it will be um there was no not much
details um it just kind of say like how
it would look like but uh um just kind
of we have a lot of
issues the just uh north of there and
then we have a lot of police present and
then um we also have a uh um huge um
problem with number of cars that use
that street it's 100% residential street
but we get like a maybe a car every 5
seconds and U um and they do not follow
the traffic rules I we have seen people
racing on that street there's no not
even a line in the center so um there's
speed bumps but it's so small that
people just go over it like there's
nothing there and uh um so with that
duplex I believe there will be like
um eight duplexes so like 16 family um
moving in there um and uh that would
increase the traffic and uh because
there's a Walmart there and people will
be going to Walmart and they'll be using
our street and then that will just kind
of create more issues and that we we
have brought this up to the city and the
police department um but nothing has
been done um so I'm just here to kind of
um uh have my voice heard um and then um
is that like a affordable housing I
believe the county um is kind of giving
out grants so just wanted to um find out
what um who will be moving into those um
duplexes and uh um just just here to
find out
more yeah thank you um is is there
someone that could answer her questions
this is this is part of of our agenda
that this there's this is not a portable
housing unit and so this is a a normal
rent um yeah
maybe David
just good evening mayor council uh the
uh project that uh the resident is
referring to is is on the consent agenda
it's called Highland place they are
proposing uh four duplexes so it's eight
eight units total um they are uh going
to be for sale so we don't know at this
time like who's going to move in there
but um the it went through the public
hearing process um they had a
neighborhood meeting um got some
comments from the neighbors and uh went
to planning as Zing commission and uh
now it's before the city council for a
review okay thank you may um council
member Stuart David what were the
questions from the from the neighbors if
I might
ask um the uh neighbors were concerned
about the uh the distance from the
proposed duplexes specifically the
neighbors to the east um and because of
that the applicant did move the duplexes
um to the west and created a pretty
significant buffer landscape buffer
between uh the duplexes and the property
to the east uh they also made some other
accommodations um there used to be
originally there was a Remada and
amenity on the Southeast corner of that
project and they ended up moving that
towards the center of their property so
it doesn't uh create any kind of noise
or disruptions to the surrounding
neighbors thank thank you David and and
one followup question we can we do
something like the traffic issues and
speeding and the racing can we can we
get extra Patrols in that neighborhood
maybe we can put a a stop to that here
sooner than later and then I think
council member Orlando has a question
thank you yeah thank council member orl
yeah and I was at the neighborhood
meeting as you know David and um there
was about three neighbors showed up uh
they had the initial concerns uh which I
no no I know you weren't there otherwise
you and I would have talked I'm sure
earlier and you know the couple that
lived right next to that project was
there and another neighbor uh they were
happy with the changes I think they your
neighborhood actually spearheaded these
changes so I appreciate that uh at least
the majority that was there at the time
again I'm not unfortunately you couldn't
be there but uh and the other thing is
the speed bumps I know that did come up
David in a sidebar and you know we were
supposed to take a look to see if we
could make them more robust
uh now with the fire station and stuff
going in there potentially there might
be more a busier intersection so I I
understand your concerns with that so we
could take a look at those if they have
um you know degraded over the years we
could we could pop those up for you okay
thank you you're welcome yeah it's been
big issue and then people just you can't
really see but people do like 50 miles
an hour on 20 I agree so yeah and I have
I got like almost got kiss several times
andad we'll help you thanks for being
here thank you appreciate agenda
can vice mayor yes everybody went to
their seat I just want the neighbor to
know we we hear you and we we're going
to do something about that and joshu is
going to get working on that for us and
thank you for bringing your concern to
us
Council that's the only um item that's
on consent and um council member Orlando
I know there is something related to the
consent agenda that um yeah that you had
moving something else so I'm you would
please make a motion I make a motion
thank you mayor so we picked up an
action item but we're losing one so I
guess we're okay we're 5050 here um I
move that we approved the city council
regular meeting um with the items 1- 20
one with the stipulation we're moving 10
to action and move to item 23 to consent
and I want to thank
staff for helping us work that issue uh
I know it was your first case thank you
very much and uh we certainly appreciate
you working with the developer and
making this happen and um you know this
is something Council has been looking at
for the last few years as well as
pnz that sometimes projects a developer
will come in put one phase in and then
we forget about the second and third pH
pH and we're left with this corner that
has vacant lands so those vacant lands
you could see that so we try to put the
stipulation here that says everything
must be built concurrently or within a
reasonable about of time before you get
your permit so that we're not left with
vacant land there so I thank you for
working that issue so that's my motion
mayor and I second that mayor do I take
time also to expand on that
no thank you thank you Council we have a
a motion and a second is there any
crusos or anything else if not please
vote council member
poon
yes motion carries
unanimously thank you so much and um we
will uh we'll t 10 on the end of those
the ones that we're currently looking at
so we'll go through the others and then
uh move this at the the very end of what
we're doing our action items
um next is uh
resolution
5776 and uh Council this has to do with
the recognizing the harm of violence
amongst youth in the community and or
condemning all violence amongst youth in
the community and reaffirming the city's
commitment to investigate and prevent
youth violence it also States the the
current things that that we are engaged
in certainly we we want to be as robust
as we can and this is certainly setting
the stage for I believe a new
conversation with our community in terms
of this um there are some things to be
we've got a number of speaker cars
before we vote on this but I I know that
there are other things that will be
coming in terms of
proactive uh measures on a part of
council related uh to
looking at and potentially changing uh a
social meeting ordance ordinance as well
as some other Gatherings and whatever
else might come but before um council do
you have any discussion point in this
before we call Our Community all right
why don't we call
our we have three speaker cards here if
I could have
Melissa
Sante if you'd come up please state your
name and address for the record and you
have up to three minutes to address us
and then any further conversation since
this is on action we can have okay my
name is Melissa Santi um I am a resident
of Chandler I'm choosing not to disclose
my address for safety
reasons um good evening mayor Harkey
vice mayor Harris and the council
members the increasing incidence of teen
violence has led to the death of our son
Preston Lord his death has been in the
media and brought in Awareness to the
East
Valley I hate that the reason I'm
standing before you is that our son's
life was taken due to teen
violence Preston's life represented hope
for the future he had a brilliant mind
High morals and genuine
kindness we will never know what
greatness his life would have
transformed into we lost a valuable
human being to
society there are many contributing
factors at lead to and result from teen
violence but that is not why we are here
tonight tonight is about what are we
going to do about it teaching kids right
from wrong enforcing consequences and
providing a safe supportive environment
at home and school for kids to speak up
without fear or judgment is the start of
Real
Change providing resources and programs
for the Youth in our community will
assist with decreasing the incidents of
violence and
Chandler
combating issues with teen violence and
setting the bar so that this will not be
acceptable in the city of Chandler let
the neighboring cities and towns know
that Chandler is the leader for real
change and we will hold our Police
Department accountable to investigate
every incidence of violence inflicted
upon
teenagers as a Chandler resident I know
the benefit of living in this
city Chandler takes pride in their
community and listens to the needs of
the residents
we as a community need to do our part to
keep our teenagers
safe Preston's life was important he was
important piece of our heart and now his
precious life is
gone life matters his life
mattered and we need to prevent this
from happening again don't let there be
another
Preston in other communities too many
teen violence crimes went unreported and
the necessary action were not taken
which resulted in our son's death there
was a fear of reporting due to
retaliation and a lack of protection
from schools and police
departments knowing that when our
children and Chandler are subjected to
violence that they will have a voice and
that their voice will be heard will make
us as residents feel safe living in
Chandler we will need continued support
from the city of Chandler in this
manner we need to eliminate te violence
to create and maintain a safe
Community Action and change is
imperative and I do believe it's a
community effort silence is
deadly our next speaker card is from
Nick Lord Nick same uh please state your
name and address if you're comfortable
with your address and you have up to
three minutes to share sir thank you
mayor uh good evening my name is Nick
Lord I am a Chandler resident I'm also
the father of Preston
Lord Preston was one of the best parts
of my life he worked hard at both Sports
and his school work he always did what I
asked him the first time I asked him who
is a kind gentle loving soul that we
will miss this
forever the acts of violence committed
against my son on October 28th and how
he died as a result will unfortunately
also remain in my mind
Forever This did not happen in Chandler
but I think we can all agree that the
impact of Youth violence is far more
widespread than we all could have
imagined at this
point I've seen some of the things that
the city of Chandler is doing to combat
this epidemic but I'm here tonight to
urge everyone residents the city of
Chandler to think about what else can be
done to prevent this in our
community to continue to partner with
each other to develop strategies and
programs to prevent any further acts of
violence I'm also asking that we hold
everyone to a higher degree of
accountability our community cannot
afford complacency
it's important to me and my family that
we are a part of this solution and I
know that many of you here tonight feel
the same
way I always told my kids that if you
want to do better you have to be willing
to look at yourself in the mirror at the
end of the day and say I Can Do Better
city of
Chandler we can do
better thank you to everyone that
continues to support us for allowing me
the time to speak here tonight and thank
you for the city of Chandler for
supporting us as well thank you thank
you our next speaker card is Bridget
bega
Bridget
um also before I speak I wanted to share
if we can add um I don't know if it was
added to this or public comment he
didn't realize it was on the agenda item
but Stephen jacobo's dad would like to
speak as
well and uh Jeremiah of Al's mom if they
could fill out a a a card
please they put it on the public comment
so if we could switch it they didn't
realize it was an agenda item sorry
about
that good evening mayor and Town Council
thank you for putting teen
violence as an agenda item in opening
the conversation ashon speaks
volumes Olga Lopez Jeremiah ais's mom
said it best teen violence has no zip
code with that being said not sure if
our leaders from Gilbert has informed
you mayor or councel but we would like
to extend the invite to join the
conversation on teen violence
subcommittee meetings in Gilbert with
the community to come together on a
partnership to bridge the gap Chandler
takes pride in community and there's a
cry for help will you please step up and
take the lead as the word Unity is in
community and accountability we all must
do better please pray over the youth and
Connor as he continues to take a stand
Connor we're proud of you it takes so
much courage to do what you're doing and
what you have done especially this past
week meeting after meeting while still
trying to be a child no one ever asked
how does a child feel think about the
trauma inflicted on the innocent teens
how his life is today and what his
mental health looks like while he's
still trying to be an athlete going to
school and his life of going going out
in public after coming forth and sharing
his testimony his life has been
completely flipped upside down due to
these individuals who assaulted him for
no reason my heartbreaks for the
children the amount of strength and
courage to speak not only Conor but for
grieving families please note from a
trauma-informed perspective cptsd is
real and every time this young man and
the family speak they're reliving what
has happened to not only him but to
their
Sons or
daughters this just gives us a glimpse
into the assault and murders the trauma
the pain the hurt and so much more to
this the Journey of forgiveness to be a
Light Of Hope for so many who aren't
ready to come forth Connor is the voice
for those who don't have the strength
yet but pray to God for those who are
suffering in silence know they have a
community behind them to love on them we
have yet to create a safe space for the
children we must show them love on them
action speak l louder than words to the
youth those that have reported prior but
we're silent you're courageous I'm sorry
for everything you've endured but I'm
praying for healing strength protection
as God continues to bring these stories
to light please know we are here for you
you are enough your voice matters we see
you we hear you we stand by you we love
you be an upstander continue to keep the
Lord the Jenkins the Stevens the AAS the
jacobo families and all of the youth in
your prayers we have no future if we
don't protect the children we have a
duty to protect the innocent if not that
blood is on our hands if we can take a
moment of silence for the Youth who've
been assaulted mentally physically
sexually and for all the innocent Souls
of the children who were wrongfully
murdered due to teen violence and keep
the youth as well as the families again
in your prayers Justice for the Youth as
well as Justice for Preston Lord if we
can take a moment of
silence
thank you thank
you um City attorney there's no problem
with shifting these great okay all right
that adds two more speakers to this uh
we have ogal
Lopez NOA please state your name and if
you can if you choose your address you
have up to three minutes to speak when
the light turn turns red Please wrap up
and there by the way this is Conor
Jernigan you you're addressing about
right that was that the name that you
what's that teen violence no no but you
had mentioned uh Connor was that Connor
jurnigan that you
were okay thank you good evening
everyone my name is ogal Lopez I have
the privilege and honor of being
Jeremiah ul's Mom we are residents of
Chandler 7018 West Corona Drive
we have been residents of Chandler for
the last two years and my beautiful
amazing Stellar
son opted to make the decision and
choose a school outside of Chandler
which I supported due to a program that
wasn't offered
here my son would drive 30 minutes one
way at the age of 16 with the permit
abiding by the law as a good citizen and
with drive to Mesa to be at school at 6:
a.m. he did this for two years without
complaining I don't know how many
teenagers would do that but he
did on o on uh May
6 he went to Mesa the neighbor
neighboring City for a
sleepover my son is a home body he never
goes
anywhere so naturally when he asks for
something I know who I raised and I know
to trust him and I said yes my son never
came home from that neighboring City my
son was murdered on May 7th
2023 nine months ago
yesterday and so I wasn't planning on
speaking today I just wanted to be here
to
support the fact that you're even
acknowledging the need to address teen
violence and I thank you personally from
the bottom of my heart and this is just
the beginning and I I hope and pray that
the neighboring cities would take a look
at what Chandler is doing and that they
would they would also choose to lock
arms in community that we stop looking
at the boundary lines which is only one
street side literally it's a a crossing
a crosswalk that's what divides our
cities and that we stop looking at each
individual city as if it's its own and
we don't want to play in someone else's
sandbox our kids travel
and so we have to ensure that we lock
arms and model for our kids what it is
to be in community and so I hope and
pray that you will also uh receive the
invitation that was extended to you
today to be part of that collaborative
and show the other cities how effective
this is going to be thank you thank
you and our last speaker card on this is
is uh Mark jacobo did I say your name
right
yes please state your name and address
if you're comfortable with the record
and you have H three minutes to share
what you will sir uh my name is Mark
chobo I live in Mesa 919 North Shannon
Circle I'm here today to tell you about
my son Stephen I have three boys he's my
youngest uh he went to Red Mountain High
School and um he's an amazing kid loves
music loves baseball he had many talents
one of them was definitely being a
scholar student but also loving music
writing music playing music and
unfortunately uh on his 18th birthday on
November 6
2022 uh he went out for his uh birthday
actually November 5th and on November 6
he was murdered at a gathering with a
bunch of
friends um and I'm here today to just
thank you guys for taking
action um unfortunately we're dealing
with a lot with uh Not only was his
murdered arrested once uh the state
released him for a whole year to wait
for Mesa Police to write rewrite a
report not only once but three times and
about two weeks ago they finally
arrested them a second time and finally
pressed charges for second deegree
murder but as Olga is saying we
appreciate you taking charge again we're
all one state these kids are getting
killed daily on a daily basis um from
other cities and hopefully these other
cities could pigy piggyback with you
guys on gathering together to take
proper actions to not allow any other
parents go through what we're going
through uh with that being said to honor
my son's love that he loved everybody
that he impacted so many people teachers
adults kids um me and my family have uh
came up with a foundation to uh it's the
Steven Bonito jacobo Foundation to uh
bring
awareness uh educate and also support
families that are dealing with gun
violence against our juveniles so again
I thank you guys for taking action and
hopefully you guys could call upon other
cities to uh take action as well thank
you thank
[Applause]
you I think I speak for councel when I
say
Melissa and
Nick and Bridget and
ogga and
Mark we not only acknowledge your grief
we we're sorry for your loss we're here
with you and to the fullest extent that
our actions are able to make a
difference in Chandler model other
cities work with other cities our police
network is strong through these we we
stand with you and we acknowledge your
loss and uh we will continue to see how
we can be part of Solutions in Chandler
and in our great relationships with
surrounding cities and and engagement
with the state to see how we can make
this a better place a safer place for
all of our children so we thank you for
being here each and every one of
you C any motion comments before we make
a
[Applause]
motion was going to make a motion
mayor here like to make a motion
okay I'd like to make a motion that we
approve item number 14 resolution number
5765 authorizing the application I'm
sorry it number item number
22 sorry I'm a
little we got
yeah item number 22 resolution 5776
recognizing the harm of violence among
the youth in the community condemning
all violence among the youth in the
community and reaffirming the city's
commitment to investigate and prevent
youth violence in Chandler second we all
second mayor I just sorry I just want to
thank you for bringing this forward
um
thank
you and I want to thank Council for
there's a lot of other ideas that I know
you guys are offering uh vice mayor for
looking at some uh social initiatives
and others so again I think this is a
one of many others that we will
participate in continue work together on
that thank you for your a few of us are
working with other cities as well
council member torguson and uh we're
talking to Queen Creek and Mesa council
member Julie spillsbury we're we're
going to come together so and we're part
of our group
yeah Council we have a motion in a
second uh please
vote council member
Poston yes motion carries
unanimously very good thank
you vice mayor you're being the Applause
starter here tonight aren't you
all right we we had moved item number 23
to consent we took item number 10 off of
consent
um let me just uh start with uh council
member inis and then if there's any I
know council member Stuart if there's
any particular statements uh if we can
make a motion that would include most of
these or any of you want a separate vote
on one we can vote for that I I think
understand that you just wanted to be
known that you uh while supporting the
over the body of these you you perhaps
you would like more work or do you not
support something and if we could
entertain those with comments and vote
on all these that would be great if if
we want to pull them off we can do that
as well so council member and C us I
don't have a comment or statement for my
item so I'll pass it forward to council
member all right council member Stewart
thanks very much um on the homebased
business piece I just want to make sure
we're clarifying that that and I I think
I covered this in the study session but
for me to to to approve this I need to
make sure that there aren't going to be
any hindrances to micro businesses in
the home um I understand that we're
worried about traffic and things like
that U but the lifeblood of our
community is is entrepreneurship and and
well make sure this is not going to
hinder us is there any language in this
ordinance that states that that people
will not be able to do business in in
their home or in the other in the other
vein is this opening it
up
good evening mayor members of the
council um great question through the
mayor council member Stuart uh if I was
to understand your question you were
asking uh with the home occupation code
amendment number l or letter L yep let
me get I have a slide for that let me
just throw it up
here there we
go yeah so currently within the city of
Chandler uh we don't have home
occupation uh outlined within our code
uh it's defined uh and by policy we've
allowed for home P home occupations to
occur within a single family Zone prop
or a single family or a residence pardon
me a residential property uh but under
that uh there were certain uh
limitations that would occur uh
currently you are unable to have any
employees or customers come to the home
uh it would need to be conducted all
within the principal dwelling unit um
there would be no signs uh there's even
some language that says inventory should
be limited to the size of a a small
closet uh so with the code Amendment we
were hoping to allow we we hear quite
often uh uh residents wanting to be able
to use their property for uh business
type related uses uh so we wanted to
open it up um we weren't totally opening
it up uh under the proposal we would
allow certain uses uh but not limited to
personal services
Consulting therapists uh piano lessons a
seamstress uh Beauty Services
photography uh we do have language in
there that would prohibit uh motor
vehicle services uh any animal services
massage therapy and General Medical
Offices um under the proposed code
Amendment you would be able to have one
employee and one customer at the same
time on property uh as recommended by
Planning and Zoning commission uh
businesses could occur within a
residential property between the hours
of 8:00 am and 700
p.m um as feedback that we've heard from
the council at our our January work
session uh we did make some
modifications uh because uh with this
proposal we're opening it up to allow
for home occupations to be permitted
within um accessory units uh um garages
uh but we did uh amend the language to
say business activities may take place
in a garage so long as no permanent
modifications are made to the garage
thus maintaining the ability to park
vehicles um the resident May opt to use
their garage for a business but if the
next property owner comes in we would
hope that it would be modifications made
uh wouldn't uh no longer allow the
garage to be parked in there's also
language in there that that gives us the
discretion that you know any activity
that occurs it should not generate any
uh vehic uh vehicle or pedestrian
traffic that alters the characteristic
of the neighborhood you know the whole
purpose of how we regulate home
occupations now is we don't want it
changing the residential characteristics
of that
neighborhood and then uh the businesses
should uh at all possible extent try to
keep their uh Vehicles parked within the
property uh at planning and zoning
commission uh Commissioners did add that
swim lesson swim lessons be added as a a
permitted
use so to be clear this also does so
this isn't this isn't a wide open door
for any businesses you mentioned some
auto mechanics anything that would
change the nature of a mer of a
neighborhood to a business park those
aren't allowed but the types of
businesses that we're allowing are what
I would consider non-intrusive into
their neighbors by noise or by parking
the occupation that that would change
the makeup of a nature of a of a home or
NE or the neighborhood so suddenly there
wouldn't be cars parked all over the
place or or a Home full of of students
or or uh whatever else correct I mean it
adds businesses but it's still allows
ensures that this is a neighborhood and
the neighbors have their their ability
to enjoy their their house in the
neighborhood as a neighborhood and not a
business that'd be a correct statement
mayor okay good May I've got a go ahead
I've got one more and then another
comment um on the uh item number uh n on
the property maintenance relating to
Vehicles trespassing light Landscaping
Maintenance Etc can you tell me what's
the penalty on the trespassing light and
then who
decides what's trespassing is it a
subjective or do we have some sort of
metric that we use I get it's an issue
uh but we've got some houses now that
we're growing out or building out that
are pretty tight and so how do we how
are we going to manage that and then
what is the penalty and then how far
that does that penalty go if like let's
just say I'm not moving my St spot
Spotlight in the backyard not me I'd
always move it but my
neighbor my neighbor is being a little
difficult what what's the remedy and and
do we tick it and then does that go into
probate and can they lose their house I
mean how what's the slippery slope here
is what I'm worried about you just took
us off a cliff
right it's more than
yeah City attorney could I help out on
that one yeah um mayor violations of uh
Chapter 30 for the most part are civil
offenses okay um which means you've be
cided and subjected to a fine which
could goes to our municipal court system
um for the very difficult people that
choose not
to that choose to not resolve the
problem and they continually get cited
it could be elevated as an habitual
offender to a Class one misdemeanor but
nothing in um this would allow for any
um leans against the home or anything
like that it is a personal uh offense to
that person and they would be subjected
to in all the um enforcement action that
the court currently has for other civil
offenses thank you for that clar and
just to to be clear has the State of
Arizona are you familiar with any cases
in Chandler where somebody has where
this where this is continued and
somebody's actually lost their private
residents or it's been put on lean what
lean means that when they sell it they
have to then pay the fine from the
proceeds of the sale yeah um but they
can't be kicked out of their house ever
for being mean mayor and May m Stuart
this is again not an offense that we
would lean the property there's no
authority to put a lean on the property
so it would not affect ownership or um
value of the property it is a personal
offense similar to a parking ticket okay
okay thank you I'm comfortable with that
okay and then the final the final
comment that I had thank you for item
number uh where's my rat's
one um any anyway for for relaxing the
code in our backyards and bringing that
forward I know that Council and mayor
have talked about that and and I think
it's a big deal right somebody wants to
build something in their backyard within
reason and their neighbors are okay with
it they should be able to do that it's
private property rights 101 so I don't
know why that was ever in our code in
the first place but I hope to see
hundreds of new ratas beautiful ratas
all over Chandler will be known as the
rata city I don't know anyway thanks for
doing that thank May council member I
hope from your house you cannot see
hundreds of new ratas they would violate
code mayor do you I was going to ask
council member do you want me to go talk
to your
neighbor I mean I'll be happy to talk we
do a petition all right we'll do that we
can get the Italian connection to um
Vice Mar did you have a comment yeah I
wanted to know um just with item L um it
seemed like an item that I can um I can
get on board and supporting but I for
this specific item if council is willing
I would like to have a sunset Clause one
year to see what that looks like to see
if there's um if individuals if we get
complaints or whatever there could be I
just really want to be able to look at
it one year from now to say okay this is
how many people apply this is what's
going on with it I just really want to
make sure um our businesses feel um
comfortable with it but I just would
like to have a one-year Sunset Clause
first after bring it back so would you
be happy with a report from one year
rather than a sunset means it's over I
don't I don't think there's yeah I I
would be I can I menend your request to
say give us a report on on on perhaps
all these how are these how are these
impacting us in our community would you
be happy with that yeah I I'll be happy
with that so we can go come back and
revisit if we feel like there's some
things that we need to make some
adjustments on just want to make sure
we're being good good stewards over what
we have okay okay thank you thank you
mayor council any others otherwise is
there a motion on the floor
mayor
um you hit her thing but she said it I'm
gonna go with her council member
Ellis motion that we pass thein um item
number 10 item number 10 with all the
letters starting with a all the way to
O right we have a motion on the floor we
have a second by Vice there with that
Amendment added to it that we'll come
back I think that's just a I don't think
it it's just a report okay we don't need
to okay got it all right all right we've
got a motion and a second uh before we
vote mayor I would just like for the
record um to be known that I'll be
voting now on item number 10e 35- 18041
regarding multif family parking
requirements okay so one aspect that um
council member in cenus is specifically
call calling out to say no any others
hearing none Council please vote council
member
Poston yes motion carries unanimously
with the exception of item 10e which
passes six to
one all right Council I want to thank
you that was a whole lot of work this
entire year to get us through this I
want to thank our our staff Lauren uh
David Kevin all of you that uh is really
going to offer some more freedoms to our
community
I I just think it is an excellent thing
that we can move that
direction all right
council do we have any I don't believe
that we turned any we have any other
unscheduled public
appearances oh we got one
more I'm sorry I'm I'm missing
this yeah vice mayor this is your job do
uh one one more okay very good thank you
uh all right we also have uh resolution
number
5769 accepting the annual comprehensive
financial report for fiscal year ending
June 3023 and demonstrating compliance
with Arizona revised
statutes some numbers all right we have
a report in front of us good evening
mayor and council members I'm Christy
Smith I'm the financial services
assistant director here on behalf of the
accounting division and tonight with me
we have Cory arisu and Joshua jumper
that are both now Partners from hfield
meetart external Auditors um just a
quick note last time we met and
presented Joshua was a manager and he's
since been promoted to partner so
congratulations to
Joshua ultimately they're both here to
present on the fiscal year 2223 audit
process and requirements um this is the
first year of the contract with hinfi
meech however we've had contract in the
past with them um before they do begin
though I would like to give a special
thank you to Corey and Josh and their
team and also the accounting Division
and others across the city for all of
their efforts throughout the audit
process and Report preparation because
this takes individuals across the entire
city in order to get this complete but
with that I will turn it
over
good evening mayor members of council
and management we appreciate the
opportunity to present the results to
you for your
2023 audit as indicated my name is
coryer visu partner and along with me is
Joshua jumper partner as well so two
partners for the price of one on this
audit and I will give credit where
credit is due Joshua managed and led
vast majority of this engagement so with
that uh I believe the audit reports have
been included in your packet that
includes the annual comprehensive
financial report our single audit which
focuses on some of the control areas as
well as your federal funding as well as
what we call a communication letter to
governance that somewhat wraps up the
report um all of our audit procedures
are completed so once again we've
completed the audit and happy to say and
is probably expected from us Council we
have issued an unmodified audit opinion
on the financial statement it's
otherwise known as a clean opinion and
we did not have any audit findings to
report to you under auditing standards
so start off with that that good news
there on on that statement and we'll
just kind of go through the audit and
provide you an opportunity to ask any
questions and we have about the audit
process so where are these audit
requirements to begin your city Charter
has audit requirements state statute has
audit requirements and is a recipient of
a significant amount of federal funding
also a requirements so number of parties
that play here is with the expectation
of the city of Chan issuing audited
financial statements why are we here
specifically to present to you tonight
uh it has not always been a requirement
in the past in the state of Arizona as
indicated there uh in 2021 statutes were
revised where your Auditors in any
municipality in the state were required
to present the audit results to council
and audit reports are on align for the
past five years so that provides access
to Citizens constituents and interested
part ities to review those over over the
past number of
years just we always like to include
this in a presentation just reminders as
far as the importance of the audit we as
your Auditors verified Management's
representations regarding financial
statements and the financial activity
recorded in your financial statements
that's our job look at the numbers these
are these accurate uh fairly represent
the the financial operations of the city
a lot of interested parties there to
demonstrate stewardship too that
citizens and governing body count
Council primary ones being at that
granters I mentioned Federal funding
those parties are always interested
state agencies through their
distribution of State funds Bond holders
um your bonds have Bond covenants in
them and requirements there so in number
of interested parties looking at
compliance and laws and regulations
whether those whether those be uh
federal or state requirements or even
your own Charter itself and some of your
own internal requirements we we will
look at those and last reminder
ultimately you know this is a lot of
number parties at play as far as the
financial statements are concerned and
ensuring their accuracy uh we have a
role the governing body has a role as
his management and we just like to you
know ultimately that rest with you
ensuring management fulfills their Duty
and we come in as independent party to
review that so with that I'm going to
turn over to Joshua and he'll provide a
little bit more insights as far as the
audit was concerned in some of areas we
looked at and uh wrap it up and provide
an opportunity for questions from
Council
good evening I'll be brief uh just start
here with the audit process in a little
more detail so the engagement letter
which is signed by uh management uh
signifies the beginning of the audit
which was done last May uh we made four
on-site visits July August October and
November um onsite and worked with the
accounting department and we also
perform audit procedures remotely
between those on-site visits and the
audit reports have been issued both in
December and
January uh and as Corey mentioned the
audit reports that were issued and
included in your packet as well uh the
audit communication to those for for
charged with governance uh that
summarizes uh a bunch of required
information and just the audit overall
the actual annual comprehensive
financial report the Acer which includes
the city's financial statements and the
our audit opinion on those financial
statements the single audit reporting
package which again is uh filed with the
federal government um and is reporting
on uh your internal controls under
government auditing standards as well as
your internal controls and compliance
with Federal uh Awards uh so it's
reporting to the federal government uh
your compliance with the federal grants
that the city has received additionally
uh the adq landfill report that's
required by the State uh has been issued
and the expenditure limitation report uh
is uh near completion as
well uh again we mentioned
unmodified uh clean audit opinion dated
December 22nd uh there are no internal
control deficiencies noted for the
audit uh just noting once again uh the
city continues to spend uh the covid-19
federal dollars that have been received
received over the past few years and
that was uh requires a significant
amount of time and effort on the audit
team and then uh an ACC accounting
pronouncement that uh the city had to
implement and report to related to
subscription-based technology agreements
a very exciting one um but the city
complied with all reporting requirements
and implemented that
successfully and then uh in that letter
uh charged to go for those charged with
two governance uh attached to that
letter is also the actual engagement
letter that is signed at the beginning
of the audit and the management
representation letter which is signed at
the end of the audit uh that gives us
the authorization uh to issue our audit
opinion and those are our
uh prepared remarks but we're happy to
answer any questions you might have
Council any questions yes vice mayor
great job thank you so so much I mean
Dawn your team continues to do a
fantastic job I I really appreciate the
third party uh confirmation because it
shows how well of a well- ran City we
really are we're using your dollars we
putting them to work and we're holding
oursel accountable to those dollars so
our neighbors and our communities can
enjoy great Parts can enjoy um great
Recreation facilities can enjoy various
things and this report as an accountant
uh makes me so proud uh to hear and it's
it's amazing and and I'm thankful and I
know that you guys went the length Don
your team you you just guys keep doing
so well and um thank you so much and um
again we appreciate the city we
appreciate what you're doing Josh you're
doing a great job keeping putting the
dollars to work you doing following the
mayor and Council Vision we appreciate
that all right thank you thank you man
council member orando You Know spoken
like a true tax
accountant you know he would give he
gave you guys credit for thank you for
doing your job because he's one anyway
we'll we'll uh let that go hey I do have
a question and uh so we do covid audits
with the federal
government uh do this like a and I mean
the is this a redundant audit or this
stuff that you do does that get back to
the federal government as well help me
connect the dots for me if there is any
dots to
connect uh so in the single audit uh
reporting package which is the report
that gets filed uh it
includes uh the schedule of the
spanature federal award so all the
federal dollars that the city uh has
received and is spending uh so in
relation to covid-19 funding the federal
government has deemed a lot of those
monies higher risk so they're under more
audit scrutiny so we may be looking at
it uh from that standpoint but different
agencies or entities may also be looking
at it for other reasons as well so my
question is thank you I appreciate that
my question is do we if do we forward
this audit to the federal government as
well in order to make sure we're in
synch synchronized with those federal
agencies yes uh council member Orlando
that's part of the report District R
bution process and goes to the federal
agencies depending on the federal
agency's housing there's the
treasury various departments will get
those based so they can review the
report their funding so there's a lot
more value what I'm hearing you say than
just we're doing an audit you guys are
great and it's also satisfying some
federal requirements as well which would
be redundant if we had to do the same
thing got it thank you very much thank
you mayor
seeing no other questions is there a a
motion on the floor
mayor the text let me do this okay I'm
gonna get this right okay mayor I would
ask um for the Council on the action
item resolution 5769 accepting the
annual comprehensive financial report
for the fiscal year ending um June 30
2023 and demonstrating compliance with
Arizona revised statute 9481 hn a r
s411 1494 just trying to get a right C
the
attorney uh we moved that the city
council passed the adopted resolution
okay we have a motion by vice mayor
there second second vice mayor by
council member and
cus no one has any excuse to recuse
themselves on this one hopefully Council
please vote council member
Poston yes MO carries unanimously
excellent thank you
gentlemen all
right have any unscheduled appearances
appeared since I last inappropriately or
out of order asked a few minutes ago
just those two cards you had M hearty
those two cards you had earlier those
were the ones for that item correct I
figured someone could have snuck one
over to you when I wasn't looking thank
you all right next on our agenda is
current events and I'll start I've got a
couple I'd like to share so our Chandler
Sports Hall of Fame event is coming up
again on febru on Saturday February 17th
seven individuals who have brought
recognition to Chandler through their
athletic accomplishments will be
celebrated and inducted into the
Chandler Sports Hall of Fame one of them
my understand you might see on TV the
week before so that will be kind of
exciting we're excited or at least he
will be honored in this particular case
we have a lot to be proud of from
skateboarding to golf and volleyball
football these athletes all show an
impressive talent and dedication to
their Sport and community and tickets
for the event are available online
through event prite and additional
information can be found on
chandleraz.gov look forward to this
annual event of honoring some of our
Chandler residents number two I am very
excited to invite each and every one of
you to attend our annual state of the
city address this year's event will
focus on what brings people together and
takes attendees on a game board
adventure to highlight Chandler's
successes from last year and Council
there were a lot of successes that we
are celebrating this year doors will
open at 5:30 pm at the Chandler Center
for the Arts for our pre free event
reception with favored games to enjoy
and free food samples from local
vendors uh the speaking part my address
will kick off at 6:30 the event is free
unlike some of my
neighbors to the west and to the north
flashing
lights but ours is free and open to the
public it is our Our intention on can
and Chandler that this is a celebration
of our community and and as I mentioned
we have much to celebrate and would love
as many of our community members to
attend as possible for free RSVPs are
encouraged though we want to make sure
that we have enough resources food Etc
and re reservations can be made through
Chandler
a.gov stateof thee City so I can't wait
to see all of you there and to celebrate
what a tremendous year 2023 was and
everything we have to look forward to in
2024
all right Council announcement let's
start with council member
enenas thank you mayor um I just want to
take this time to thank our residents of
downtown Chandler the Pu vle uh
neighborhood for attending our recap
neighborhood meeting on Tuesday want to
thank the mayor uh council member Ellis
vice mayor Harris and uh council member
L for being in attendance and uh being a
part of the discussion uh this meeting
was an opportunity back in November we
had an Outreach meeting to listen to the
downtown neighborhood to see what their
needs are what their concerns are in
their neighborhood and this was an
opportunity for our city to come back
and present the resources have
discussion and um education on what we
already offering here in our
neighborhoods and it was a great event
at the end I was getting a lot of thank
yous from a lot of the attendees but I
made sure to let them know that I'm
spearheading this but it's all the
efforts of our great staff I want to
give a shout out to Leah and her team
with Priscilla for putting that all
together you guys are are clappers today
but um
I also want to thank all the directors
of of each department um that came out
to be a part of that um from uh Public
Works to Community Development uh
neighborhood resources as well as PD for
being out there the residents were so
appreciative of having such high level
officials being there to answer all
their questions um we got away with some
great wins um we're looking forward to
some speed bumps upgraded lighting out
there and I look forward to continuing
to work with neighborhoods and building
some reinvestment here in Chandler so
thank
you and to be clear not speed bumps in
the process but physical speed bumps
we're looking forward to yes yes On's on
the
road coun Morel thank you mayor really
appreciate it I wanted to bring uh
something up that I did last couple of
weeks I was in Washington DC with neon
which is the national Haitian American
elected officials we have 350 of us
strong throughout the US and recently we
attended uh a meeting in Washington DC
were it was said that we were going to
reignite the fire so we took it there
because it was our 15 annual Leadership
Summit Washington DC really enjoyed us
and we enjoyed was Washington DC we met
to discuss partnership investment
opportunities and advocacy efforts was
made on behalf not only the Asian
American that are here but those also
abroad in Haiti as the largest Network
that network is the largest one of
Haitian American elected official and
appointed officials neon Works
diligently with constantly in meeting to
support domestic policies legislation
issues affecting Haitians living here in
the United States and also in Haiti I
will always represent my Heritage as you
guys know I was born in Haiti I came
into this country when I was 17 years
old and I'm proudly to say that I'm
thankful for the productive time that we
spend with my colleagues and
and the work accomplished together and I
couldn't be able to do that without the
support of you all mayor and and councel
sending me there to work hard for our
community so I really appreciate that
the next thing that I would like to
bring to you is that I attended a
conference on Asian made easier
conference last week oh NOP it was not
last week it was on January 30th I
represented the city at the Asian mid
easier conference it was hosted by the
neighbors who care this was a fantastic
opportunity for Neighbors to come
together the community was all there we
share resources information on Asian
related issues whether it was
Alzheimer's and Dementia and every other
thing that we were talking about you all
know that I am a nurse and as a nurse I
know how important it is for us and our
seniors to receive support and Community
Connection as a transition to later
stages of life I used to own assisted
living homes and through through that
process we've seen that together we can
truly push through to help our seniors
neighborhood cares is one of our
partners and very critical uh partner I
would say that bring this Gap bridging
this gap for us and I thank them for
their work in putting this conference
together it was amazing I had a great
time I met so many people that I knew in
the industry and you can't walk away
from something like that after 20 years
and being in that space so whenever I
walk into a space like that I feel
revived and I I feel that I missed it
but I'm doing things here I'm okay with
that thank you mayor for allowing me to
bring these things up tonight thank
you Vice
may I didn't
say it's up to
you there's an inside joke going on up
here I'm telling you right now I'm gonna
say it I'm Gonna Keep it
going but I wanted to also recognize uh
uh uh Council woman Ellis because as
although she hasn't really announced
this out loud um but she did receive an
honorary doctor's degree and I wanted to
congratulate her on
that it was in humity so she's doing her
thing so oh my wife just walked in here
hey baby that's a distraction it's a
distraction anyways uh February 8 your
know that's our first perfect timing
babe um I can Farmer Market if you have
not already checked out the acail
farmers market you need to swing on by
every Sunday from 9:00 am. to 1:30 pm.
you can visit local farmers and vendors
to pick up Arizona grown and made
produce food and crafts last time I went
I found the tomatoes big as my head I
swear it was that big it was that big I
promise you but I love checking out the
farmers market with my family getting in
some steps supporting our local farmers
and artists and to learn more about
acail farmers market or find local
market near you at Arizona community
farmers markets.com and number two this
is huge for the city of Chandler and I
was proud to be there with the mayor and
all the council members came out to
celebrate the opening of Fire Station 2
this past Saturday yes let's are we
clapping for that all
right Fire Station 2 is Chandler's
busiest fire station serving nearly
50,000 res residents in North Chandler
this is our first project completed with
funds authorized by you the voters
during the November 2021 bond election
the completion of this project is is
already increasing capacity for our
First Responders helping them better
serve our community it was great to see
so many of our community members out at
the news station meeting with our fire
department and seeing firsthand the
improvements that they voted for and
thank you to everyone that made this
project a success including our city
manager uh Josh Wright y'all can give
him a clap for that and our fire yeah
our fire chief Tom dwiggins where he's
at he's in the back give him a hand
clap where's my guy assistant Chief
Keith harus where is he at where is he
at he in the back he's in the back all
right let's give him big shout outs and
most importantly you the residents made
it happen so give yourself a big old
Round of Applause yes so make sure you
guys continue to support our bond
election efforts because it makes your
community more beautiful and thank you
mayor that's all I have for you I told
Vice May if he brought up that in
announcement I was going to from now on
calling Mr tomato head but uh I think
instead I'll just demand
evidence you to bring a tomato the size
of your head as long as he we can all
see as long as he as long as he doesn't
call me Mr Potato Head I'm all right
because I don't want to infringe on
anyone's trademark vice mayor tomato
head
okay City man uh City attorney I think
we're digressing up
here
council member Stewart thank you mayor
and and it is exciting to be able to
open a new fire station that not a lot
of cities get to do that so that's
fantastic probably get murdered for this
but um judge scoopin is our recent hire
and our magistrate and uh I'm I'm proud
to let our community know that
Chandler's very own judge scoopin has
been appointed to to serve two roles
with our Arizona Supreme Court she's
been named the the uh a member of the
Arizona Judicial Council and the chair
of the Arizona Supreme Court committee
on limited jurisdiction
courts she does an amazing job with our
courts and we're just grateful for you I
mean we one of the things about being in
city council is you know you don't want
to get complaints from the Departments
and uh I can tell you we haven't gotten
any complaints from your department and
sometimes this is people's worst days so
uh commend to you and congratulations on
your uh on your appointments um you know
one of the things that that uh I like to
do is it get starts to get warm as I
like to head out to our park so if you
haven't tried may you haven't been out
to Veterans Oasis park that is in the
very Southeast corner of our community
it has a fishing lake hiking horseback
riding trails and it's home to our field
of Honor which is a tribute to our uh
Fallen veterans so we have a special
events coming up on the 13th and the
15th out there we have a free concert
Under the Stars so uh get outside enjoy
the fresh air and and check out veterans
always part thank you
mayor councilman orando mayor there's
nothing left for me to say so we'll
leave it at that got all right city
manager thank you mayor and Council just
very briefly wanted to make a quick
announcement about an achievement from
one of our Frontline staff uh learned uh
earlier uh this week or last week that
Kennedy Terell who is one of our
Recreation coordinators in our community
services department was named uh
nationally to one of the top uh 30 under
the age of 30 uh Recreation
professionals by the national Recreation
and park Association so we
uh we have some uh phenomenal staff as
you know Kennedy's been very involved in
our teen uh programming and Outreach
programming especially our Teen Mental
Health Series so uh she was named to a
national list and of course we're very
proud of her and all of our community
services team for their many
achievements that's all mayor thank you
thank you and thank you community uh we
thank you for what you've entrusted us
to uh hear you and to run the city so
with that our meeting is
adjourned