City of Chandler Council Meeting 1/11/24

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well good evening and Welcome to our
study session of January 8th before I
take a row call I want to thank you all
for coming we've got quite a few things
going on in terms of recognitions and
and a proclamation
so uh we're going to work through those
uh please uh muffle and stifle your
enthusiasm for a football game that's
also going on at this time so uh no
spontaneous whoops coming out of the
school district area over there please
so but anyway we're glad you're here I'm
glad that as a city we have so much to
celebrate and with that clerk please
take the role mayor Harkey here vice
mayor Orlando here council member Asus
president council member Ellis president
council member Stewart here council
member Harris here council member post
here we have a quorum thank you city
clerk our terms of our scheduled public
appearances uh council member Stewart if
you want to join me up
front
all right first on our agenda tonight
are service recognitions and let me turn
this over to our city manager thank you
Mr Mayor members of the city council we
do have three Employee Service
recognitions this evening and uh the
first one I'd like to call Kim MO ERS
our cultural development director Ford
to make the
presentation good afternoon I'd like to
call up Tracy Wyatt for her 10 years of
service Tracy joined the art center in
2013 she now serves as the Senior
Management analyst for the art center
division Tracy is an integral part of
the leadership team providing nonprofit
Financial expertise for the cultural
foundation and impeccable financial and
strategic skills for the division Tracy
was instrumental in collecting the data
and supporting the application for the
sbog grant which was secured uh the
largest award in the center's history of
$1.6 million Tracy is deeply yes Tracy
is deeply devoted to her faith and
serves as the treasurer of the family
Bible Church prior to joining the city
Tracy and her husband Don owned their
own technology firm for over 10 years
Tracy is also a proud mom of daughter
Celeste and both Don and Celeste are
here to celebrate with Tracy today we
are so fortunate to have Tracy as part
of Team Chandler thank you
[Applause]
Tracy
mayor and Council the next two
recognitions are for retirements from
the city and for the first one I'd like
to call upon our Deputy city manager and
Chief Financial Officer Don
Lang thank you city manager I would like
to ask John Cheryl our environmental
services manager to come forward and be
[Applause]
recognized so John Cheryl has been been
with the city for almost 23 years he
began his career with the city in May of
2001 as a storm water programs
coordinator in public works in October
2006 he moved to Management Services and
we were lucky to have him as the
environmental man program coordinator
and was then promoted to the
environmental services manager in
February 2016 after almost 23 years
assisting departments in keeping ER
facilities environmentally
compliant John is heading into a welld
deserved retirement John and his wife
Amanda who's here this evening will be
living in the Quad Cities that's Iowa
Illinois area very cold with with their
two Australian shepherds Rowan and
Sapphire Amanda will continue teaching
music at Augustana University and John
being extremely creative may continue
making beautiful handcrafted writing
pens roast coffee beans or maybe
something new John's great sense of
humor passion for service and extensive
environmental regulation knowledge will
be missed and I think our city manager
will miss John because he is a fellow U
OFA thank you for almost 23 years
serving the city of Chandler we wish you
great adventures in the years to come
[Applause]
John
mayor and Council for our last uh
retirement recognition this evening if I
could please ask our chief of police
Shan Dugen to come forward to be
recognized for his retirement from the
city of
Chandler
mayor and Council it's my honor this
evening to recognize chief of police
Shan Dugen on his retirement after 10
years with the city of Chandler and 38
years in law
enforcement Chief Dugen joined the
Chandler Police Department on January
13th 2014 after serving 27 years with
the Scottsdale Police Department he
began his law enforcement career shortly
after graduating from ASU with a degree
in Justice studies following in the
footsteps of his father who served as a
New York City police officer working in
nearly every aspect of policing he
steadily Rose through the ranks
culminating in the rank of assistant
chief not initially seeing himself as a
chief of police one day when selected by
our former city manager Rich delugas for
this role in 2014 he called joining the
Chandler Police Department the greatest
honor that can be bestowed upon me
professionally in Chandler chief dougen
has brought a renewed sense of
professionalism and Innovation to our
Police Department he spearheaded the
implementation of new technologies such
as body cameras and text to 911 and the
development of the Chandler Public
Safety Training Center he also elevated
Chandler's reputation as a respected
agency both locally and nationally
serving leadership roles with the
International Association of chiefs of
police the national joint terrorism task
force and the Arizona Criminal Justice
Commission among many others despite all
of the Chandler Police Department's
National acclaim and the incredibly Safe
Community we enjoy today Chief dugin's
greatest achievement is the team he has
built Sean we've had the privilege of
working together these last nearly seven
years and particularly the past three in
that time I've known you to be a
passionate defender of and advocate for
your people always pushing for new tools
resources and support for those under
your command I know you feel confident
in your decision to retire knowing that
the Chandler Police Department is in
great hands being a chief of police is
an incredibly difficult job one in which
you fre frequently find yourself in the
eye of the storm and having to make the
kind of hard decisions nobody wants to
make you have met the challenge with
integrity and bravery and our community
is better for it in particular I want to
thank your wife Mary who's here tonight
as well and your children for their
patience and sharing us sharing you with
us this past decade congratulations on
your well-deserved retirement Sean we
wish you all the best in this next
chapter of your
[Applause]
life
SP
you want me to
hold
awesome so Cel I um I'll give each you a
chance if you'd like to say something as
well and I'll start so when I first
became mayor someone came out to me and
said can I have a key to the city and I
said what have you done he said thought
about it and said nothing and in fact I
don't even live here so I said well to
get a key to the city you really have to
have extraordinarily contributed to this
community and uh for for that reason I'd
like to give you one you have made a
tremendous impact on our city uh you
have uh made us really what I would call
a a a pride of the nation and uh your
demeanor your efficiency your fairness
to me have all contributed as well as
just the results that we have seen to
really make Chandler is one of the the
the best cities not just in Arizona in
the entire nation and there's lots of
factors great schools of course but uh
without saying that we are an extremely
safe City you know all those other
things would be in Jeopardy so from
myself and from city council we'd like
to give you this key to the city as
[Applause]
well let me start with council member
Stewart then we'll work away if anyone
else would like to make that mayor thank
you very much you know
[Laughter]
uh
you should
um I I gotta tell you you know Chandler
is fortunate we we live in a community
that um loves our police loves our fire
department um I I I know from going into
many doughnut shops over the years that
our police officers don't pay for coffee
in this town and and that's remarkable
but it it's because there's a
culture um in our in our Police
Department that started with Shawn uh
it's a it's a culture of Pride it's a
culture of customer service and respect
and mutual respect we don't get
complaints about the police department
um in at City at City Hall and it's
because and I've been on rideal alongs
and and y'all can too but you go out and
and these men and women of our Police
Department have a demeanor with the
community that you just don't hear about
and so we're lucky and that started 10
years ago when when Shawn joined the
police department department and so um
I'm proud of our police department and I
know it starts here it's with the
leadership with your assistant Chiefs
sergeants it permeates through the
entire culture of the of the police
department and it's why we have the the
lowest crime rate that chanders ever
experienced for for violent crime is
happening in 2023 and that's a testament
to Chief Dugen um so I'm grateful for
you for my family just personally for
being able to live in a safe community
like this so thank you very much and I I
wish you the very best in your
[Applause]
retirement I got one right
here Chief I just want to say thank you
so much for your years of dedication
here to the city of Chandler you have
definitely set the bar and you have
upheld the Chandler brand we could not
have been here we would not be here
today without you and your service so I
do just want to thank you so much for
that we only got to work together for
one year but I've seen you many more
years showing leading Chandler as a
resident and today I'm happy to be have
worked with you for this past year so I
thank you and I wish you the best for
your retirement thank
[Applause]
you thank you chief for everything you
have
done uh raising a black male son in the
city of
Chandler um was a bit easier knowing
that you were at the realm of this city
and the night that my son
died General Hospital you were standing
right there with
me and I
remember it was uh the moment that you
walked in that's when my knee buckled
because I just saw you and his name is
sea and your name is
sha and when I said Sean and that's
where it really dawn on me what was
happening and you stood there with me
that night you didn't have to
but you were there and for that I'm
grateful this city is grateful for what
your wife and your children have allowed
you to accomplish here I want to thank
your wife for making sure that every
night when you come home that you are
rejuvenated for the next morning to be
here with us again and for that I'm
grateful as I
said it's not going to be the same
because I remember when I was running
for counil you were the first person
that I sat down with to ask if there was
one thing that you would like to see in
this city what would it be and you
opened your heart to me and told
me and I felt that I had lived to that
uh by giving you what your heart mostly
wanted which is to have a department
where mental health is going to be the
priority here for your guys and also for
the people of Chandler thank you again
for accepting the key of the city and
for having worked to put us where we are
right now and may tomorrow bring you a
day that you will feel that the best is
yet to
come thank
[Applause]
you all right Chief well uh it's the
retirement and I got to tell everyone
although Chief seems so Stern he is
probably one of the most compassionate
human beings you'll ever meet he really
do care about his job he really do care
about the people of Chandler and I can
tell you I've had so many constituents
come up to me and tell me that they
sleep better knowing that Chief was at
the HM of the city of Chandler um and I
can't say enough that during the time
where our city needed you to step up the
most and during the time that we really
really needed you to show your
leadership you showed your leadership
and you continue to keep our our city
safe um during protests going on
throughout the nation no one came to the
city of Chandler no one harmed anything
you made sure that you kept a orderly
woman and you allow people to exercise
their freedom of speech and you never
try to stop that freedom of speech and
for that I think that's probably
something that you and I we've talked
about I think that's one of your
greatest moments when you was able to
allow people to express how they felt
whether we agree with it or not but I
just want to tell you um it's been four
years it's been amazing serving with you
and thank you for always picking up your
phone from me thank you for always
listening to me thank you for the
coffees that we've had thank you for
being able to just to be a person I can
just lean on and depend on and I know
that you think you're retiring you're
just going to your next phase of me
calling
you but I also want to thank your wife
and your family and um you know that she
keeps you lifted and thank you for
putting Chandler first and I know your
family had to make a lot of sacrifices
so you can continue to keep us first but
I want to tell you thank you so much use
that key well it opens up the mayor's
house thank you again she thank
[Applause]
you
well Chief when when I first came on
Council you set me up with a tour of all
of your facilities and then later in in
the term you set me up with um a ride
along with your staff and the pride that
emanates from every one of your staff
from being part of Chandler emanates all
the way through the community and the
community has pride in its police
department and I thank you for your
leadership and of that and what you've
done for me in introducing me to your
police department and everything that
you've done and all the things that I
didn't know um I appreciate it I wish
you the best good luck in retirement
thank you for your service thank you for
all of the years that you've been here
and I'll Echo what council member Harris
said Thank you to your family because
any police officer from the chief right
down to anyone that's there it is a
family job and I appreciate you and the
sacrifices your family has made and wish
you nothing but the best in
retirement
vice mayor would you like to add any
comments thank you hey uh Sean thank you
very much for your many years of service
uh not just to our community but more
importantly I think uh your leadership
on a national level a lot of folks don't
realize that you have been greatly
involved in setting standards and
training not just for Arizona and our
local but for the nation uh that that
that must be an epitome of of your
career and I'm sure you're very proud of
uh those activities so um good luck to
you and your future endeavors and and
all the best to you and the family I
made that without coughing I did
it
thank again thank
you and we'll see you on Thursday oh
would you like to say something I think
I need to say something at this point um
just real briefly I just want to say
that it has been the absolute greatest
honor and privilege to serve as your
Chief but really to work alongside so
many courageous talented and dedicated
men and women who help every single day
to keep our city safe and it's that
partnership that we've uh We've
developed over many many years um that
has made Channel such a great City but
but specifically a very safe City
because of your support and um and
really working with the community um we
have something very special here and and
I'm confident um as a resident that will
continue uh the city's in great hands we
have a deep leadership bench and U the
trajectory will continue to go upwards
and onwards so thank
[Applause]
you so Thursday I'll be bringing that
photo of you wearing a firemen's outfit
that I still have stored on my
archives all right next on our agenda is
recognition our Public Works equipment
Road yo Awards and uh we did some
extraordinary things this last year and
John canuteson is going to tell us about
it well thank you may and Council um for
the opportunity to highlight the great
work that our Public Works streets and
traffic divisions do for the city I'd
like to invite um all of the Public
Works streets and traffic Folks up uh
we've got quite a few here
tonight
Charlie
so the streets and traffic divisions 56
field staff are responsible for the care
and maintenance of the city's 2100 Lane
miles of roadway 3,000 drains catch
basins and drywells 240 traffic signals
29,000 street lights 40 miles of
alleys 420 Acres of rideway landscape
and just about 52,000 Road sides
with a staff this small they couldn't do
all of that unless they were the very
best at what they do fortunately every
year there's a Statewide competition
called the maintenance superintendence
Association Rodeo spelled o r o a d EO
where Public Works organizations from
across the St State can come together
and showcase their
skills in this year's competition not
only did we win and place but we also
took the show with first place finishes
and an asphalt patch concrete repair
street light install sign placement and
backo operations we also placed third in
traffic marking and the most important
the free throw competition and with all
these outstanding performances Chandler
was also chosen best of the best for
this year's competition not only this
year but looking at the trophy we've
gotten it five years out of the past 11
so tremendous tremendous
show
I'd like to thank each of you for your
great work you do for our city and truly
demonstrating what team chamber is all
about thank you very much
guys
congratulations that's uh John coming up
let's take a
photo
[Applause]
council member Stewart reminded me that
uh a former Phoenix city council member
uh was my biggest advocate of Chandler
roads and he always deplored his own but
he would always Rave about Chandler and
and this is the team
that uh brought us all of those
accolades so thank
you next on our recognitions is Chandler
Unified School District that was rated
best school district by Niche and I'd
like to invite Frank nuchi to come on
up as the proud parent of four graduates
of cusd I affirmed that statement and
this has been proven time and time again
through our students experience
educational offerings and Niche is one
of the leading School search websites
recently recognized Chandler Unified as
the
2024 best district and number one best
school district in Arizona for both
academics and Athletics so
congratulations C USD
[Music]
Frank mayor thank you uh council members
thank you very much also uh city of
Chandler executive team thank you very
much we are not only proud but honored
to be a part of this community a part of
a community that has grown together that
supports each other as well we've had
relationships with the city and their
support for decades for the century we
grew together it's symbiotic and we are
so appreciative of your unwavering
support of our children our students
it's not only an award it's not only
only um a onetime thing but this
community has been so supportive of Chan
Unified School District as a matter of
fact
23% of the students that live in our
area choose Chandler schools which is
one of the highest capture rates of any
District in the state so that means that
they're choosing Chandler but it's not
only because the district it's because
the city is one of the best in the
nation it's a livable City it's a great
place to raise children and um and the
support that they get I we've many of us
have raised our kids here in Chandler
which is which is a credit to this the
wonderful City that it is but also it
also takes place with our community
businesses and our industries that have
supported the schools our nonprofits
that make sure our families are ready to
come to schools it's not a district
doing it alone it's all of us working
together we take our role very seriously
in developing the next Workforce for the
city of Chandler and so our kids have to
come out prepared for the four e uh
whether it be in enrollment whether it
be enlistment whether it be employment
or or whether they want to be an
entrepreneur and that's our dedication
is to make sure our kids come out with a
graduation uh certificate plus that they
are ready to go and they have a lot of
opportunity ahead of them we take this
very seriously but Niche is just one
ranking um 30 of our schools were
recognized by US News and World Report
um as being the best in the nation and
the best in the state that's 30 schools
it's very hard for a large District to
have this kind of quality for so long in
addition to that uh we have seven more
schools than ever before in the history
of Channel unified that were rated as a
a schools by the Department of Education
which brings it to a total of 30 schools
that have the a rating which also led to
the district being another a-rated
school district again a district that
serves 43300 students every day in
addition to that we thank our chamber
and businesses we thank all of our our
business partners for coming in and
helping us do what we do every day today
and we are affirming that commitment
what's coming out and I'll just say it
now is there's going to be a ranking
coming out um by Stephanie ranking
Arizona I wanted to say ranking.com
because you never know who these people
are but I think ranking Arizona ranks
everything the best waffle the best
whatever but we will be ranked also as
best school district but this happens
not by us alone this team here is our
cabinet this is our executive team these
are the people that make the decisions
that impact our children and that work
with our team of 5200 employees every
day that come to work with the end then
sum attitude to make a difference in
everybody's lives so thank you all for
your support we appreciate you very much
and we know what you do is very hard but
you do it well thank
you all right Jennifer line us
up
thank you
again
okay y'all don't need to leave you can
stay
wow leaving us for a football
game okay our next recognition is the
Parade of Lights winner so if I could
have her Melinda yamas come on up our
annual timbleweed tree lighting and
Parade of Lights is one of is one of my
favorite Chandler traditions and we do
it so well there were so many creative
entries I would like to thank our
mayor's youth commission for judging
this year as their job was not easy and
I would also be remiss if I did not
thank her Melinda and her team for their
work to make this event a success
congratulate I'd like to congratulate
all of our winners and let's get started
with the awards wonderful well thank you
mayor um it's my honor to recognize the
20 uh 23 Parade of Lights winners um
it's a long-standing tradition with the
city of Chandler many families
organization schools and businesses to
attend and participate each year we are
excited to present the winners of the
2023 Parade of Lights and thank them for
all their hard work and
participation we will have each
representative from the winners come up
when they're announced um let's start
with our first category best lit musical
or dance group our second place winner
for this uh category is O Oasis
ensembles Unfortunately they are unable
to be with us tonight but we still want
to thank them for their participation
and their winning efforts our first
place
yes our first place winner for best lit
Musical and dance group goes to Carlson
big Spirit
[Applause]
line accepting their award tonight is K
Kelly maretta and Kat Ken kendrickson
sorry and all of these lovely young
ladies we want to thank them for their
uh spirit and what they brought to the
parade and putting a wonderful display
on for our
community
they got do their now
thank you
ladies all right moving on to our next
category bestl community group our
second place is awarded to spark of the
holidays Colleen engineer and Sandy
Lucas are they here tonight come on up
ladies are here to accept the award we
appreciate and celebrate their Tiny But
Mighty entry and all the effort it took
for them to be part of the Parade of
Lights this
year
thank
you you're welcome congratulations our
first place in best lit community group
goes to Chandler Unified School District
transportation and accepting their award
tonight is Sonia Jones and Tom
Ginger
CD Transportation always puts so much
work and effort into their floats and
this year's no exception with their
Yellow Submarine as a crowd pleaser we
look forward to seeing what their
Creative Minds come up with next
year wonderful congratul rul one more
picture all
right thank
you our next category is BET best lit
business group our second place winner
is junk Brothers although they were
unable to be here tonight we do want to
thank them and appreciate their
participation enthusiasm for the Parade
of Lights our
first our first place in best lit
business group goes to but Trey
magazines accepting the award tonight is
Jessica and Tiffany
Gwyn there they
are we love seeing new business take
part in this iconic event with all of
their creativity on
display
got it one more I
think congratulations
again the next category is always a
favorite of the parade Watchers and
participants biggest and brightest our
second place is awarded to Chandler
youth baseball and accepting the award
tonight is Lisa and Justin suton
[Applause]
are this group brought an awesome
display to the parade of lights and
everyone loves seeing
them
first place in biggest and brightest
goes to Copper State four-wheelers and
here to accept their award tonight are
Jim nett and Mike
nolles this club was formed in 1972 by a
group of families to promote safe and
enjoyable family style for willing and
lucky for us they choose to bring their
for lit wheelers lit up Fort Willers to
Chandler each
year
thank
you and our final award for the evening
is judge's choice and it goes to
Chandler Unified School District
transportation
and and accepting the award for their uh
great entry is Sonia Jones and Tom G
Ginger C USD transport Transportation
has been a staple in the parade of
lights for many years and they now
receive their second award for this
entry of their Yellow
Submarine now you know why we're the V
it's Transportation
reward all right congrats to all our
winners and thank you to everyone who
participated in the 2023 Parade of
Lights we know creating these entries
are a labor of love and is appreciated
and recognized by all thank you and have
a good even thank you Melinda and uh
thank you again for I think we had our
highest attendance ever this year at the
at the parade and uh you guys always do
an amazing job of of uh creating an
amazing memory and night for our
community so thank
you next on uh our agenda tonight is a
proclamation anti-human trafficking
month so if I could have Pastor Mike
Gowens Pastor Bill Kirkpatrick Pastor
Jason Turner Pastor David Wright Pastor
Carl Whitner Whitmer and anybody else
that's part of your
gang the middle
here all right I'm going to read a
proclamation and then uh turn it over to
you Pastor Gowens for any comments you'd
like to
make whereas human trafficking is a
global plague that impacts millions of
people each year including tens of
thousands of Americans and whereas the
United States ranks as one of the worst
countries globally for human trafficking
and Arizona ranks in the top 15 states
with the highest rates of human
trafficking per capita and whereas human
trafficking impacts people across all
demographics and ages including
teenagers and children children and
whereas the battle against human
trafficking includes supporting efforts
in schools and churches and nonprofits
law enforcement and businesses to
prevent human trafficking intervene
disrupt and dismantle human trafficking
syndicates and provide resources to and
support for victims of human trafficking
whereas the city of Chandler was
recognized by the Arizona
anti-trafficking Network for
becoming becoming a city empowered
against sexual exploitation or cease
designated City highlighting the
collective efforts to eradicate human
trafficking and sexual exploitation
within Arizona and whereas the city of
Chandler joins schools and churches and
nonprofits law enforcement federal and
state coalitions and the not in our
city.org movement and the commitment to
increase public awareness of the human
trafficking epidemic that impacts our
community Community State nation and
world now therefore I Kevin Harkey mayor
of the city of Chandler Arizona do
hereby proclaim the month of January
2024 as anti-trafficking
month pastor G would you like to share
some comments or the event coming up
yeah thank you and um thank you city
council for um and the City of Chandler
for just being leaders against this
fight six years ago we started with an
event here in downtown Chandler called
night of Hope and that um has continued
to last year being at gamage Auditorium
where we had over 50 churches dozens and
dozens of elected officials celebrities
pro athletes uh many of you have
attended and supported and it's making a
difference um you know this is a
Darkness none of us wants to talk about
we don't want to acknowledge it but we
have to and we're shining a light and
driving out that darkness and making a
difference and so this year night of
Hope 6 is going to Grand Canyon
University they're partnering with us
givings the basketball arena where again
we already have uh many celebrities pro
athletes elected officials you're all
invited there um city council is VIP
guest we would love to have you there um
and we're supporting uh dozens of
front-line Ministries that are fighting
and and and that night recognizing them
they're again bringing awareness we got
to continue to shine the light um and
drive this Darkness out of our our
cities um this Proclamation again being
made this year um we're believing for
dozens of cities making we have 91
cities in the state of Arizona I
discovered that in the past year and so
we're believing for 91 proclamations
again Chandler you are leading the way
in fighting this and making a difference
so thank you February 18th
Grand Canyon University to Sunday and uh
it'll be at 5 o'l and we would um we
would love to have everyone watching
anyone you can let know come it is a
night of hope uh as we shine a light on
this darkness and so we'll celebrate
wins we'll SE celebrate the victories
that are going on honor those there that
night but um again thank you for this
time and for this
Proclamation
thank you all for your tiess
work
our last public appearance is uh by Mr
Sayad
Taha and um Mr Taha come on up state
your name and address for the record and
as you know you have up to three minutes
when the light turns yellow please uh
wrap up your comment and be done when it
turns R thank you sir good evening
ladies and gentlemen um I appreciate you
guys having me over and I love coming
here and my whole goal is as a public
service uh we all live here I've been
living in Chandler for almost 25 years I
currently I used to live at 1736 East
fry this is about a mile and a half from
here now I live at 10an East Kaiba and
uh we just uh recognize the police chief
and no one is perfect
now the I don't want to be the party
pooper on his retirement I would like to
say what happened under his supervision
and I brought this to his attention and
he said he will talk to me after the
case is dismissed and he never called me
back uh now the reason is I want to go
ahead address the public at large for
the benefit of innocent citizens I don't
want them to be go through the same
thing that I went through under the C
Police Department under Mr Dugan's um uh
leadership August 20 21 Santa police
raided my house and violated in uh in
violation of search warrant arrested me
in front of my children charged me with
horse neglect seven felony counts dragg
me through two years of cod appearances
closed my business Tri my travel lights
traumatized my whole family I cannot
describe the horror and the trauma my
children uh endured the detectives who
arrested me lied about everything they
lied about my horse's condition and then
what they did was eventually they
replaced the the horse that my that were
my horses and made a 160 page uh report
of the dying horse that they found
wherever they found it and then the
state did not want to persecute me
because when they picked up my horses
there was no evidence of any neglect so
then the city of Chandler sent in
January of 2022 a report and asked them
to prosecute me and then uh the what do
you call
it then uh the state prosecuted me and
then I told them all the information
that uh is available to me that this is
not my horse and every single
information that's on the police report
that's on every single document is false
after two years of me uh running after
the uh State they dismissed the case and
before uh they dismissed the case I
talked to uh the police chief and I told
him this is what is happening he should
have investigated and dropped the case I
talked to the mayor Kevin har and I
brought it to his attention and he said
uh we cannot do anything about it
because there's a pending case going on
it cost the State of Arizona almost qu
of a million dollars it cost me two
years of my life and nobody cares and my
goal is to bring this attention to the
chanler police chanler uh mayor chanler
councel so this doesn't happen to
someone else now then I filed a case I
came here and talked after the case was
dismissed in June and I talked to you
guys and I said this is what happened
and then nobody cares and then I came
last month also thank you Mr CH your
time's up give me about 30 more seconds
I'll let you finish your paragraph no
problem so all I'm asking is compensate
me for the wrongdoing that was done that
you you stole my horses pay me for my
horses and do something about just do an
investigation on what actually happened
and all the all the information that you
have is false talk to me and interview
me I'll tell you everything that is
false that is uh being presented to you
by the police thank
you and I think City attorney you I know
you have given uh Mr Taha paths that
some he's explored and some is exploring
and if he would like more of paths to
pursue this he certainly has
opportunities is that
correct mayor there are very limited
opportunities at this point um but I can
assure you that um Mr say has explored
all a lot of opportunities including um
filing a case in court okay it was
subsequently dismissed okay all right
well thank
you council member St thank you mayor um
Kelly would you mind getting me some
information on on why the case was
dismissed if that's if that's even
available I'll just be curious um mayor
uh council member Stewart I'm happy to
provide that to the
Council next on our agenda tonight is
our consent agenda and we've only had
one item called in by council member
Poston on item number four a briefing on
our certified Autism Center agreement so
John
sepon well thank you mayor and council
member Poston for bringing this one
forward good evening mayor and Council
uh this request for for you is to
approve an agreement to qualify the
community services department Parks and
Recreation divisions with a certified
Autism Center designation and of course
authorize the city manager to execute
the agreement the community services
department Parks and Rec divisions are
seeking to the authorization to engage
the international Board of credentialing
and continuing education standards also
known as
ibcc and to enter into an agreement
supporting the Department's design ation
as the certified Autism Center ibcc is
recognized as an industry leader in
cognitive disorder training and
certification for Education Health Care
corporate and travel and entertainment
professionals around the globe for over
20 years
ibcc has provided evidence-based
training and certification programs
created in conjunction with its Board of
clinical and subject matter experts and
autism autistic individuals to provide
professionals with a better
understanding of autism and other neurod
divergencies the program will enhance
awareness and understanding of autism
related challenges and include safety
and communication protocols and best
practices to qualify a minimum of 80% of
our Parks and Recreation staff uh that
are in the customer facing areas will be
trained additionally
ibcc will conduct five facility audits
that aim to offer valuable suggestions
on enhancing
accessibility and other ways to improve
those facilities these Audits and
recommendations will focus on strategies
that make Chandler's Community spaces
more inclusive and accommodating for
people with Autism and sensory needs the
agreement itself is a five-year term it
features ongoing staff and supervisory
training a fi that five facility audit
and a financial our financial commitment
of just over
$9,900 probably the lowest item that
you'll take action on on Thursday as far
as cost so why is it important
individuals with autism have unique and
special needs because it is described as
a spectrum disorder no two will be alike
some will function at a higher level and
others will require different sets of
needs and take different sensitivities
to things like light and sound and touch
all of that may cause an individual to
become upset or dysfunctional with
whatever Recreation setting they may be
in a trained staff will provide a
seamless experience for the participants
and the entire family it's important
some of the figures provided by IBC CES
are that one in six people have a
sensory need there's been a 600%
increase in autism diagnoses over the
past several years and one in 44
children are now diagnosed with autism
so I want to recognize our staff as
Champions Becky Kyper Recreation
superintendent and the Adaptive
Recreation team for Colette Colette and
Sarah for bringing this item forward as
a way for us to be better educated and
to be intent on creating and making sure
our programs and facilities are
accessible and comfortable for all and
with that mayor council members I'd be
happy to do my best to answer any
questions thank you J council member
Poston thank you mayor um thank you John
I've been very I've been supportive of
this item I think we talked talk a lot
about diversity equity and inclusion and
this is really at the heart of inclusion
and I think that sometimes gets
forgotten so I was so excited when this
first came up to see what your um
department is doing um can you just and
what I'd really like is also that you're
focusing on the customer facing
employees and that they'll be doing that
work could you just give us an idea of
what that means in terms of practical
application is it being able to
recognize people that maybe have some
special needs like because like you said
everybody's different or will you be
doing some marketing or so when people
come to our facilities they'll know that
maybe there's an employee they can talk
to how does it work in the in the
practical sense great one of the
fortunate things is we're not the first
at the to effort in this Arena um a
number of cities um including my my
former uh City at the library they've
for two years now I've been trained and
have been in this practice and I'm
hearing very positive things that both
from the public as well as the clients
that everybody serves uh but just the
general awareness from staff and I
wanted to roll through maybe some of the
different there's five or four different
levels of training uh that the
association brings to us so covering
autism just an overview so our front
Frontline staff lifeguards will actually
receive an aquatic specific level of
training um there is evidence um that
individuals with autism are experiencing
a higher rate of drowning in aquatic
incidents so this is something that with
our lifeguards and our training and all
the efforts that we're putting into that
program in its Essence this is one more
level but for that level one all of
those that are front-facing whether it's
our camp counselors um our our
Recreation front desk our our coaches
our our other folks that are working in
sports in different areas They will
receive autism and sensory awareness
training as a second level uh which will
be including some of the managers and
the supervisor you'll start to get into
some of the behavior recognition and
modification opportunities really
focusing on individuals perspectives
that may have autism or uh sensory needs
they're um also focusing at that level
on parent
communication uh I think back to some of
the my early times in running camps in
the 90s when some of the first diagnoses
in my experience were coming out where
parents had no idea what was going on
with their children and the pain and the
anguish and the frustration that they
went through I feel it uh and I think
that had I received this type of
training then that that and we're just
there we're getting there and this is
such a dynamic for our society right now
but this is one of those they've even
broken a higher level to include not
just the individual perspective but how
we will approach this as a community and
then when you get into some of the other
comorbidities associated with some of
the the diagnoses and the different
types of issues those are ways that as a
public health um not as an agency but as
a parks and wreck agency ways that we
can help impact lives really really
deeply from having awareness knowledge
and uh helping families that are
experiencing the circumstance to be able
to access and connect the opportunity to
take a nice walk in a park and have
certain experiences is one being in a
program like a summer camp or having an
opportunity for a child to learn and
explore and to grow that's what we do
every day through our programs and this
is that one more level of training for
the specific Arena and have you already
or will will you as part of this program
reached out to Chandler residents who
who maybe need the services or will be
will that be part of the program to
communicate with families who need the
assistance I couldn't be more proud of
our uh adaptive Recreation team uh with
our camp challenge um our Special
Olympics teams we go through um a a very
very service oriented set of programs
and this Council has supported for years
um those programs um and we have a great
community support starting there is the
first and foremost um training and
educating the staff that part of this
will also be that nomenclature when we
can step up and say that we're a
certified Autism Center and be able to
demonstrate I sense that there'll be
more people that more families that will
feel that need to connect with us to be
able to connect with our
services well you're doing exactly what
you're supposed to do thank you to you
and all your staff for doing that and
taking on that
thank you mayor thank you council member
Council any additional
questions all right thank you sir yeah
Council no other items were called in so
that concludes our study session we'll
see you on
Thursday