City of Chandler Regular Council Meeting 09/18/23

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this is the anticipatory quiet before
six
o'clock city clerk's clock is 30 seconds
quicker than mine we'll go with
it good evening and welcome to the
regular city council meeting of
September 18th
2023 I'd like to call this meeting to
order and next would be a roll call from
the clerk mayor Harkey present vice
mayor Orlando here council member enenas
here council member Ellis here council
member Stewart here council member
Harris here council member Poston here
we have a quorum thank you our
invitation tonight will be brought forth
by Catalina orbe from St Mary's parish
and our Pledge of Allegiance by council
member Jane Poston
sister good
evening ladies and gentlemen let us
pray thanks to God for the gift of life
thank you Lord for your presence please
send you Holy Spirit and all the board
members and others gathered here to this
meeting give us the GI of wisdom and
discernment to have a good
communication between us for the sake of
our people and our cityal
Chandler make us instruments of Love
fraternity and peace
amen please join me in the Pledge of
Allegiance
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the
United States of America and to the
Republic for which it stands one nation
under God indivisible with liberty and
justice for
all thank you for the invitation uh
thank you for the the uh prayer and for
leading us in our pledge before we go to
scheduled public appearances I do want
to do a shout out to the mayor's youth
Commission in the back if you guys could
please
[Applause]
stand usually those seats are taken at
the end of semester by Perry High School
they have to do their mandatory
government class and they wait until
December to get it done in this so we're
glad to see people here in
September if I could have uh council
member Harris join me up front for our
scheduled public
appearances for our service recognition
let me turn it over to city manager Josh
Wright thank you Mr May may members of
the city council we do have two employee
recognitions this evening for the first
I'd like to invite our community
services director John sefon to come
forward good evening mayor council Mr
city manager and team i' like to invite
up Raquel Diz to be recognized
Raquel come on
down for her 10year recognition Raquel
began her Chandler career as a customer
service service representative at the
community center and then on to
Tumbleweed recreation center and then on
and on to experience more and more with
the Housing and Redevelopment division
in 2017 she promoted to the
administrative assistant position with
the parks operations and maintenance
division Raquel is the consant
administrative assistant she exemplifies
team Chandler and consistently exceeds
expectations in the quantity quality and
timeliness of her work she's a strong
contributor to the success of the
division
and I may say she's the reason for the
success for a lot of that division she's
the glue that holds it all together in
2022 Raquel was nominated and awarded
the employee of the year for the
community services department Raquel
we're proud of you we're honored to have
you on the team and congratulations on
your decade of service to
[Applause]
chanman
mayor and Council for our second
employee recognition of the evening I'd
like to call up rayin neelen our Human
Resources
Director good evening mayor and Council
I'd like to call up Sonia
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eer so as she's walking up please join
me tonight as we celebrate an incredible
career spanning 32 years of dedicated
service and the retirement of our
colleague and friend
Sonia from her beginning as a Coe
student in August of 1990 at the water
treatment plant through her pivotal role
in HR since
1993 Sonia has continuously demonstrated
her unwavering commitment to the city of
Chandler Sonia's expertise and
dedication with the driving force behind
numerous accomplishments including her
significant role in the Oracle
implementation in
1999 and her recent achievements in the
successful implementation of the
classification and compensation study
changes her journey from HR assistant to
business system support analyst
exemplifies her growth and impact across
the organization Sonia leaves behind a
leg a legacy as our resident HR expert
and historian uh a contribution that I
miss greatly because I was always in her
office asking her questions her great
sense of humor her decorating style and
just her being there working at the city
is a family affair tonight she's joined
by her husband retired lieutenant mace
Ebert her daughter Danielle who works at
Tumbleweed her sister Myra who works
with neighbor Hood resources her
brother-in-law who works at parks so I
wasn't kidding when I said that along
with um her other daughter Ana her
stepdaughter Sage her mom and stepdad
and her granddaughter and Grandson I'm
sure I missed somebody because they took
up a couple rows back there so please
join us in congratulating Sonia on her
32 years of service and her
[Applause]
retirement
[Applause]
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mayor and Council so that concludes our
service recognitions for the
evening thank you city manager our next
on our agenda is a proclamation with
domestic violence awareness if I could
have Katie Kane our from Chandler PD as
well as our domestic violence
commissioner members please come on
[Applause]
up
all
right whereas domestic violence affects
Chandler and communities Nationwide
including American Indian and Alaskan
native families and communities and
whereas Nationwide more than 56% of
Native American women and 43% of men
have endured physical violence by an
intimate partner and whereas Nationwide
66% of of Native American women and 73%
of men have experienced psychological
aggression by an intimate partner and
whereas American Indian and Alaskan
native youth witness higher rates of
trauma amongst their families and
friends comparison to non-native peers
and whereas research shows that having a
supportive community that reduces the
occurrence of domestic violence
therefore the city of Chandler strives
to create a safe Community for all to
live free from abuse and whereas
together the the city of Chandler's
domestic violence commission law
enforcement prosecutors and Community
agencies educate and support families to
help prevent domestic violence in
Chandler now therefore I Kevin Harkey
mayor of the city of Chandler Arizona to
hereby Proclaim October 20123 as
domestic violence Awareness
Month
and are you are you our chair yes all
right you you've been our chair for a
while that's a good thing they must like
you to share yeah would you like to
share some
words thank
you uh thank you mayor and councel for
your ongoing support in preventing
domestic violence in our community next
week we are hosting our 14th annual
domestic violence event to raise
awareness share
resources and hear the stories of
survivors and this is September 26 it's
a free event we invite everyone to join
us and I do believe the information is
on the
screen well thank you uh we deeply
appreciate the work the awareness that
you bring to our community joining
others from across the county because we
know domestic violence also knows no
Borders or city boundaries so thank you
all and uh Council hope to see you all
there and we're going to have a uh
welcoming the program and all that is
presented can we have a
[Applause]
photo
our next Proclamation is for the friends
of the library if I could have
racho kerik I'm sorry Chandler public
library and Bob Lowry and Friends of the
Chandler Public Library as well and
council member
Harris
thank you
mayor whereas the friends of the chanter
Public Library is a non-for-profit
volunteer-based organization of
dedicated Advocates who collectively
support the mission of our library
system and whereas the friends celebrate
over 40 years of service this year and
the generous gift of their time energy
set an example in volunteerism and
positive Civic engagement contribute to
a better community and whereas the
friends understand the importance of
well-funded libraries and they continue
to Advocate and attract resources that
enhance the library providing
programming Library materials resources
equipment services and special events
year round and whereas National friends
of libraries week celebrate the vital
role that Volunteers in Advocates play
in our community and recognizes the
significant impact of the friends of the
channel public library and encourage all
to join in thanking our friends for
their generous Legacy of service to our
library and Community now therefore
I on behalf of Mayor Kevin hary right
here uh do hereby Proclaim October the
15 through the 21st uh 2023 as National
friends of libraries
week would somebody like to
say thank you mayor and city um uh I am
happy to accept this Proclamation on
behalf of the friends of the library uh
I would also like to thank our patrons
donors and volunteers for the support
they give the friends as well as the
library thank you thank you all right
let's have a
photo thank you so
much
[Applause]
next we would like to some recognition
of our annual Water Festival sponsors so
if Dena burns from public works and
utilities can come up and
um then we've also got our water
festival sponsors that I I think we'll
be awarding so take it away yes I
believe we have someone here to accept
from from Hazen and Sawyer um and I
believe in Tellis that name I'm not sure
if they were able to open put come on
[Applause]
down she's GNA hand
you
so we definitely wanted to thank our
wonderful sponsors um Chandler has held
our annual Water Festival for over 18
years and the festival curriculum was
established by Arizona project wet and
provides Chandler fourth graders with a
deeper understanding of water in the
Earth Systems Arizona Water Resources
and Water Conservation through a
curriculum unit driven by exploration
and inquiry uh the program includes
teacher professional development inclass
lesson plans to activate learning and a
two-day Hands-On Water Festival which is
what we're talking about today um this
Festival takes it takes a village to put
this thing together we bring in about
160 volunteers between two days and if
it wasn't for are wonderful sponsors we
would not be able to support all the
volunteers that make this project happen
um so we want to thank you and let you
know how much we appreciate you we do
also want to recognize black and& Beach
who could not be here today um but we
thank you and appreciate you and uh
appreciate all the support that you've
given us through the
years thank
[Applause]
you
I guess I
can thank you all so
much and next this is a very exciting
one for us who believes in Steam and
stem and Chandler recognition of an
outstanding biology teacher award
Miranda
[Applause]
thoron Frank nuchi can join us
too Miranda teaches biotechnology at
basa High School for the Career and
Technical education program the National
Association of biology teachers
recognize Miranda with the 2023
outstanding biology teacher award award
in Arizona the award recognizes her
commitment to Student Success by
providing Hands-On and learning
experiences and access to Cutting Edge
lab Technologies Miranda has been
teaching science courses for 18 years
with 11 of those at basa and we're so
honored to have you here as a guy with a
biochemistry degree I'm really thrilled
about you being honored so would either
of you like to say
anything not really okay
just last minute was like Frank you're G
to be saying something
[Laughter]
right this is just a teacher and then
some and what I call the and thenum is a
teacher that really impacts and changes
kids' lives and their pathway for the
future we have teachers like this we
have 5,000 employees but you you do it
well and thank you so much for not only
helping our Channel Unified School
District students find their pathway uh
but for every student that you reach out
too from your Early times at pain when
you started there all the way to basa so
we appreciate you very much thank
Youk all
[Applause]
right she's gonna move us over here come
this
way all right she wants
to
thank you
all all right that concludes our um our
this portion of our of our journey
tonight we'll
[Applause]
continue
Council owner agenda tonight it's all on
our consent but council member Stuart
had a question for a City attorney
council member Stewart mayor mayor thank
you so much and uh I know we're making
some updates to our code as it relates
to fireworks especially in our parks
can you clarify uh this ordinance and
and this won't affect neighborhoods or
or homes or people that want to do
personal sparklers in front of their
house or anything like that will it and
does it change the code to to to to make
it less punitive if I may mayor uh
council member Stewart yes on both
accounts so the this ordinance um only
impacts property that is under the
control of the community services
department of the the city so basically
our parks and City facilities it does
not impact um residential neighborhoods
private property anything like that also
it is taking what is currently a Class
one misdemeanor so if somebody is cited
for littering in the park they could be
cited with a Class one misdemeanor and
this will change it to a civil offense
simply a ticket with a fine um rather
than the punishment that can go along
with a
crime thank you City attorney I
appreciate the
clarification
any of the questions otherwise a motion
would be in order seeing no questions
we'd like to make a motion or consent
agenda mayor vice mayor I move that we
approve the the start again here sorry
about that the city council regular
meeting Monday September 18
2023 agenda items one through four
second right we have a motion by Vice
there second by council member in cenus
unless there are any recusals Council
please
vote motion carries
unanimously thank you so much that
concludes our regular city council
meeting I'm going to gavel out and then
we will have a study session and uh uh
have questions related to the agenda on
Thursday
Welcome to our September 18th 2023 uh
city council study
session at this particular meeting we've
had uh council members had looked over
the agenda and had called in a number of
these that they wanted clarification or
um to discuss in a little deeper order
the first one before us tonight is item
number seven council member Orlando I
believe you had a comment related to the
Washington Street study or a question
yeah just just real quick mayor I had a
chance to chat with the city manager um
and as well um all I'd like to see is is
to take a look at whether this is still
this is probably over 20 years old I
believe or I can't remember exactly when
we started this Wasington Street uh take
a make one of the option being um not to
do it at all and if it's still
legitimate to do based upon what we've
done Arizona Avenue in the past I don't
know 10 15 years so just make one of
those options basically do nothing or
this okay that was my concern mayor vice
mayor that's an easy one to add we can
most certainly do that thank you very
good any other questions on this seeing
none the next item called in was item
number 11 by council member Stewart
related to the the use permit of K9
Resorts thank you may I appreciate that
yeah this is a uh this is a an item that
we talked about a few uh a couple years
ago was it or two years ago where we had
the dog park over on Chandler Heights
and uh I think it was Arizona and so
they've been a great neighbor uh which
is one of the reasons we had them come
back for a use permit uh you know re re
re-approve their use permit but uh
there's been no complaints so I'd like
to uh position this for Thursday to to
approve this with removing stipulation
number five uh on there the condition
number five excuse me which basically
means they don't have to come back
there's a lot of cost associated with
these small business owners and this is
a this is fits within the vein of you
know Chandler being a great place to do
business especially for our our small
business community so um if Council
would be so inclined so just to be clear
this one is on 1870 West Germaine but
you're you're drawing attention to the
other was it they were good neighbors
when they started and this one had a use
permit they've had no complaints so
rather than have them come back for a
time just removing that time constraint
and if there are other issues that are
reported then we can handle them at that
point is that correct certainly thank
you Council are you guys good with just
removing the four-year time constraint
and uh allowing them if we if we are in
agreement here tonight they'll just
change the uh that remove that STI for
Thursday and we will vote that normally
unless anyone has reservations then we
will see where we go uh council member
Ellis yeah thank you mayor I had spoken
with uh city manager and asked did we do
our due diligence with staff in
understanding will this imped in
anything that staff would like to do in
the future and there was none according
to what you had told me so at this time
I'm inclined to go forward with that
without the stipulation okay um to my
right
councils well I got a
question question by Vice so yeah so I
guess let's take us back a little bit on
this um staff what what do we
this is normal process for us to do
these inter terms and then a long term
and then after this one they don't have
to come back any longer
correct I just want to make sure we're
not jeopardizing future expectations on
individuals that's coming
forward good evening mayor and vice
mayor uh Council so historically uh when
we would do conditional use permits we
would kind of approve them with a short
leash and then give them a little bit
longer longer leash a little bit longer
leash but historically it's been a 135
then we would go unlimited um as we have
evolved over the years uh we have
started off with two years and then we
look to a foure and then maybe a six or
maybe just go straight to a limit at
that point um we we are starting to
break kind of tradition and get out of
the kind of rigidity of those tiered
timelines uh and so Planning Commission
has had some similar thoughts over the
years as well in this instance we're not
really we're not in our hands in any way
um it still allows us to do the things
that we need to do if we get
neighborhood complaints things like that
um so at least on this case is well for
tonight we are good with eliminating
that time condition okay and there again
just to reiterate there was no neighbor
concerns or complaints any of this
correct I know I heard it say that
earlier just want double check correct
all right so um when will you be coming
back with some other thoughts on these
use permits is there something you're
doing in the uh when we continue uh when
we fix our codes in uh
November or is this something you need
to dialogue more mayor vice mayor uh
these time conditions aren't necessarily
codified we've we've done these tiered
approaches uh by policy over the years
just through implementation so we're not
looking to change the code uh in terms
of these timelines we've just simply
been taking city council Planning
Commission um direction to adjust those
tiers yeah and I don't mind doing this
so you got my answer mayor but my my
point is
I if we start setting precedent and then
someone comes in here and says well you
gave it to them why can't I get it and
then may be extenda circumstances why we
wanted particularly particular um
music that's a permit and we usually
have a pretty strong stipulation on that
which is probably more intrusive than
this one so I would just say I have no
problem with this one but again I would
be careful about us trying to um set a
precedent where someone come in here and
say you did it for them why not for me
so Vice may we hear you loud and clear
typically it's it's a neighborhood uh
involvement Community kind of concerned
that tightens up those timelines for us
so but but we hear you thank you thank
you mayor other council members council
member seen us thank you mayor I would
just like a little clarification um is
there any other businesses or um
entities that are in the same industry
that are within this same use permit uh
we have we have a handful maybe a half
dozen that are this type of facility
that are in different stages of their
use permit kind of life cycle so about
about a half dozen more okay thank
you this side thank you thanks for the
clarification uh a couple questions um
there's a cost associated with this
process to get use permits redone and
and is there neighborhood Outreach and
things like that do you know what that
cost generally is for a small business
owner uh few hundred doll um300 to $500
depending on if they hire health if they
do it by themselves and that type of
stuff yeah that's a lot um Can can
Council remove somebody's use permit at
any time we have that we have the
discretion right uh the zoning
administrator can uh can can
with but they're bad actors yes so let's
say we we'd have to bring it back to
city council for a formal vote but right
yes we can bring something back to city
council if there's if there are issues
with it along the way so you the real um
heart of this is it's just going to make
business easier for good neighbors so
that they don't have to keep coming back
to us for approval and then spend that
extra money is that correct uh yes
correct super thank you proceeding down
you guys good or what's your thoughts
yeah just one um I agree um just I
wanted to ask you just a few questions
around um these tier steps um is that
something in terms of the tiers in terms
of saying okay okay we have this Sunset
Clause where you don't have to come back
again is that something that we have
done that's something that we've done in
the past right mayor correct from even
before I I started we've always had kind
of a a short leash a little bit longer
leash and eventually take off the leash
and then it's just them showing that
they can be a good Community partner
okay and that's that's pretty much the
purpose of it is to show that you're
going to do the right thing once we
release the permit to you okay thank
you counc po
mayor I see this as a positive for our
businesses I don't have any problem with
this one great well Council I think
we're all in agreement so I don't mean
to squash you but I think everyone's
agreeing with you Council M to just
mayor I'm just it just I just want to be
clear that we we're not our our business
owners are are not burdens on our our
community right and when we sit up here
and start talking about um wrangling
them in or holding them or whatever
they're they're the lifeblood of of the
community and we need them them for for
everything that we do and so we need to
be doing things to facilitate facilitate
not regulate them so I just want to
leave that thought thank you mayor sure
and I I generally agree with you
although sometimes we've had uh we've
had some business owners that that um
you know we're we're more less
interested in being good neighbors and
that's important to us all yeah um City
attorney can you uh or city manager uh
remove that step so when we vote on this
Thursday we won't have to address that
very good next item before us as brought
forth by uh council member Orlando item
number 12 related to a permit use permit
for bottle and bean vice mayor yeah
mayor I just want to uh compliment the
staff the residents and the owner to
come together I know we had a start and
a stop last year at this time so
appreciate you uh Harley was that your
doing again Harley did it again thank
you Harley for for working with man
Harley I just give it to Harley man I
tell
you no uh you know and you know the
issues behind this uh there was a lot of
residents that were concerned about this
and I I appreciate you working with
everyone to make this a win-win for
everyone so nice job job great item
number 13 um questions are around the
final plant for Chandler airport
Business Center count Vice May Orlando
yeah Mel
Miranda come on up
Michael yeah I have no no problem what
you're trying to do to assemblage
properties here I guess my question is
What's the employment thought process on
this particular parcel through the mayor
uh vice mayor this parcel uh Falls
within the Chandler Air Park area plan
which spells out specific uh employment
uses that the city prefers to see
specifically Advanced
manufacturing uh Aerospace Aviation
Advanced business services and so what
we have here um the final Concepts the
renderings were really driven by Council
feedback from years ago pushing design
um and Aesthetics of the building so
we're really looking to attract those
higher-end uh tenants into that um not
just heavy Warehouse distributions okay
that's really the the direction this
product is heading towards yeah I saw
the word Warehouse in there and that's a
lot of you know that's a lot of
different interpretation of what that
really means but from what I'm hearing
you're saying sticking with the economic
development strategy for that area
correct okay great thank you you're
welcome thanks mayor thank you any
additional questions related to
this all right next item uh was brought
forth by council member incus and vice
mayor Orlando has to do that the
acceptance of funds from Senate Bill
1720 for the Chandler Police Department
uh our legislator Jennifer Willoughby uh
had brought this forth uh Chief do you
want to give us a brief overview of this
and uh then we'll take questions sure
well good evening mayor members of
council um the state legislature passed
Senate Bill 1720 back in May which
allocated a number of ear marks for
different Public Safety agencies
throughout the state including two
specific a marks for Chandler PD the
first one allocated
$250,000 to purchase pepper ball less
lethal systems uh for patrol officers to
carry uh this is device it's um the same
as a paintball gun essentially and it
shoots a small paintball type pellet
which contains a pepper ball sprays an
IR tin so those that's a tool that we
can use on combative or violent uh
offenders to help take them into custody
rather than escalating to a higher level
of force so that's the the first uh
earmark and that's 250 $50,000 the
second one um was a earmark for $2
million under the title of purchase
technology increase services and enhance
officer Wellness so our plan is to take
half that money $1 million of it and to
hire part-time temporary employees uh
most likely former police detectives to
help current detectives with their case
loads especially especially in those
High trauma areas of human trafficking
internet crimes against children and
then we have a a wide variety of from
coal cases from homicides and sexual
assaults so these people will be able to
work side by side with our detectives
and help uh solve ideally some of those
cases and then the second part of that
uh funding would be to purchase
different Technologies to help our
detectives in a in a wide array of areas
and to help purchase new technologies
for our new real-time crime
Center thank you Chief and I I apologize
if if Julie Willoughby is watching this
I called you Jennifer uh but Chief just
a quick question me then I'll go to
council member and cus as in your
Communications with Julie willab be any
questions that she've had about the the
dedication and where this money goes you
and her are on the same page yes so
essentially the spirit of this money is
to help in our human trafficking and our
crimes against children and that's where
the majority of this money would go
especially our our detectives and then
technology that will help our detectives
conduct their investigation thank you
council member and Cen us thank you
mayor uh thank you chief for that
clarification um majority of my
questions were mainly the priority and
the breakdown of that funding and you
just basically answer the question there
and so thank you for that and um thank
you to Mrs willby for her support on
this yes we're very appreciative of her
efforts and her her support for policing
in our city very good vice mayor yeah I
told her the other day for a freshman
who's only been on the job a couple
months she did great so kudos to her I
think she'll be here Thursday night so
we could probably give her thanks then
um Chief this is great stuff as you know
you've been wanting to do a lot of this
stuff for a while I'm glad she was they
put money in here but the the the hires
are you going to go out actually is
there like a contract or um let me
phrase the question is there like a um
established contract where we go and
hire these employees we have to actually
go out and do this peace meal we take
more time we're working with human
resources right now creating that job
description so that's being created once
that goes out then we can uh put it out
and see how many applicants apply and
which ones that we want to bring on
board okay so there's no broad um
contract we have an employment agency
that we could just go in there and ask
if they have this expertise what I'm
hearing to say no okay our our desire is
to identify and hire and attract uh
retired or former law enforcement that
have experience in these complex
investigations excellent thank you great
job thanks Council any additional
questions related to this uh council
member Stuart then we'll go to this
thank you thank you Chief uh a couple
questions one maybe for the city manager
um it may take some time for us to get
this appropriation from the state is
there a way that we can do like what we
do with Intel where we we use our
general fund dollars and get reimbursed
so we can move quickly on this yeah Mr
mayor council member Stewart um this uh
bill was set up that it'll come in
quarterly installments to the city and
so we've already received the first
installment we'll continue to receive
those funds throughout the year but we
will certainly make sure that we can I
guess float is the best word to make
sure we continue to execute the projects
even as the money comes in that's great
that's what I like to hear good question
Chief thanks so much for you know I know
we talked up here about a month ago
about trafficking and just the the
crimes against children and I really am
grateful for your uh dedicated uh
commitment to to ensuring that that ends
in our city uh and and this this funding
will help tremendously so um keep
communicating with us like you have uh
whatever you need to to make that end we
we would appreciate it thank you C
Harris yeah Chief thank you so much for
the presentation I wanted to ask you a
question um the you described that we're
going to be using the the pepper um the
pepper gun is that to replace the uh so
can you describe what weapons we have
currently right now um to like to maybe
like if a if a person was in a violent
outside of shooting what do don't they
have two other weapons that they have
so this would be an addition this would
augment the systems that are already in
place it starts with our training our
presence our communication our
deescalation and then we have actual
tools from our tasers to our wrap
technology um we have our batons we have
they car we have pepper spray so we have
a wider array this is another tool that
depending on the circumstance because
they're all different this could create
time and distance so we don't have to
engage the suspect and that's where a
lot of the injuries occur so this allows
us to project some type of control from
a distance and then it's a it is a
non-lethal device and the whole idea is
be able to gain compliance without
resorting to a higher level of force now
do they um so with the so with the
pepper now will every officer have this
on will this be something that every
officer would now have as a part of
their deescalation tool no we would
assign we're going to purchase about 50
of these devices and have two or three
on on per team just like we do some of
the other specialty equipment it's a
specialty so there's enhanced training
and responsibility that goes along with
this so every officer is issue that the
taser and pepper spray but this is a
different device which will require more
specialized training so our desire is to
have at least two to three of these
available each each team and there
multiple teams that work throughout the
city so no matter when that call happens
there'll be people that be able to
respond in a in a uh um in a expedited
fashion quickly to get there with this
device and then that 250,000 will also
cover the training does that cover the
training for those would cover the
overtime for training it covers the
canister all the all the all the
logistics okay thank you
Chief thank you all right thank you
Chief thank
you our next item uh called in was item
number 32 and council member in cus
council member Stewart vice mayor
Orlando uh all chimed in on this one so
water conservation rebate program
good evening mayor vice mayor council
members just gonna make sure I have this
in the right mode my name is Simone
joles rude I'm the water resources
manager and I'm happy to share with you
some of the information about our new
water conservation rebate
programs so just a reminder that um one
of our uh strategic framework items is
the sustainability and technology and
that water conservation Falls within
this area of our strategic
framework so we would like to uh present
to you the proposal for some changes uh
both expanding some existing programs
and then also adding some new rebate
programs for our water conservation
department the first rebate Pro first
I'll cover the residential rebate Ates
um and then I'll talk a little bit more
about some proposals for the commercial
side of things the first rebate proposal
is to increase the single family
residential grass removal program and so
that would go from the current rebate of
20 cents per square foot of grass
removed all the way to a dollar per
square foot we would also be proposing
reducing the minimum from a th000 square
feet to 500 square feet and including an
artificial turf limit of a th000 square
feet maximum in that
policy the single family residential
smart controller program would not be uh
changing it would be the exact same as
it is now we would continue that program
on with the reimbursement of 50% of the
cost of a controller up to
$250 we would also like to work towards
developing a customer engagement portal
which is going to be uh integrated with
Advanced metering infrastructure as that
process moves forward so this allows
customers to receive um real time alerts
if they have a leak or um any kind of
change in water use it would also allow
them to sign up for various conservation
programs rebate
programs and the um the last change to
the residential side of things is that
we would propose eliminating the new
home initial zeroscape rebate uh we just
haven't seen very much participation in
that
program so the non-residential rebates
we have a few new programs um the first
is the large landscape grass room
removal and that would reimburse 25% and
this would this would be for commercial
industrial HOA multif family any kind of
large landscaped area where we would um
Simone could you change the slide oh
sorry there you go thank you thank
you so this would cover a reimbursement
of up to 25% of the cost of the project
with a maximum of
$75,000 um one important piece of this
program is that there would also be an
additional incentive for removing
nonfunctional grass and we would pay $3
a square foot for um specific areas of
non-functional grass where we know that
we will see a higher water Savings in
those particular areas and if if we
wanted to talk more about the details of
how we Define non nonfunctional grass we
can I'm G to have to ask our program
manager to talk about that because it's
actually quite complex how we measure
slope and you know how wide the strip is
how close to the street is whether or
not it's actively used by um
humans um so perhaps you could just send
that to us afterwards okay sounds good
but but that additional incentive really
is a um a helpful way of making those
particular each of those programs even
more water efficient by Saving more
money on those particular types of
turf and then um the other piece of that
program is that you would have to have a
minimum of 5,000 square feet of grass
being removed to qualify for that
program the second new program is the
water efficient techn technology rebate
and that would reimburse 50% of the cost
of the new technology up to
$10,000 and that's going to be um any
kind of water efficiency technology that
has realtime monitoring and alerts built
into it so that could be for um
improving the water efficiency of a
cooling tower it could be for large um
landscape areas where you're putting um
a very large smart controller system in
that has flow sensors and um more than
just kind of a standard smart controller
there are several different kinds of um
Leak Detection Technologies and we also
want to embrace any new technologies
that might come out so we we're really
open to um any type of new technology
that would improve water efficiency and
again that program is it's designed to
incentivize um water efficiency to
implement these technologies that uh
would probably be more in like a
commercial industrial maybe a large
landscape facility and then the last is
the large landscape smart controller
rebate this is not new because we've had
a smart controller program but this is a
um more targeted towards commercial
industrial HOA facilities where we're
not limiting it to Just One controller
it could be up to five smart controllers
or even uh like one central control
system that has a hundred different
controllers as part of the system so
very large
areas and then I just wanted to mention
some of the funding sources that would
help to support these programs so we do
have the uh the two residential programs
I mentioned the the grass removal and
smart controllers those would be funded
through our water conservation budget
that is already um planned for fiscal
year 2024 I will mention that that
budget had a $500,000 increase to help
support those programs and and a couple
of other programs as well but we had a
um a nice increase there to help with
that the large landscape grass removal
that I mentioned was actually um just
recently awarded a grant through the
water infrastructure Finance Authority
so there was a $975,000 grant awarded to
support that program just last month and
then the water efficiency technology we
have applied for a wifa grant of a one
1.5 million that we're expecting to see
board approval um one way or the other
next month so that goes actually next
week it goes to committee for approval
and then it'll go to the full board in
October we did also submit an
application for a project to remove that
same non-functional grass that I was
talking about from public property so
that could be Parks streets storm water
retention basins potentially even
schools um and we have not heard
anything on that yet but we expect to
hear something within the next couple
months so that's not a rebate program
but it is a program that we're hoping
would help to um fund some of the
projects we'd like to see happen on
public property and then last I'll just
mention that water conservation customer
engagement portal that I mentioned would
be integrated with our Advanced metering
infrastructure um we did submit a with a
grant request of $150,000 to help cover
that portal and that was approved in
committee already and it actually goes
to the full with a board for approval
this
week than council member in CIS thank
you mayor um obviously water
conservation has been a big priority
here in Chandler and I'm glad to see
these additional um changes to adapt to
the changes in the city that are going
on Trends and what so one quick question
or a couple questions which of these
incentives has been the widely used by
whether residents or commercial um users
and how what is our plan to communicate
these new changes to promote it to help
to get people to use them even more
thank you mayor uh council member and
cenus I appreciate the question we we
have mostly traditionally focused on
more of our residential programs a lot
of our rebate programs have been
available to commercial customers but um
just to be honest the incentive wasn't
significant enough to really make it
worth it for commercial customers or
large landscape kind of HOA customers so
that one of the things that we're trying
to do with these new programs is to
really offer programs that are targeted
both to both audiences so we would we
would our our most used program has
definitely been our residential grass
removal um we also have some programs
that are not rebates where um customers
can call us up and ask us to to come out
and visit their home and we do
water-wise site visits and Audits and we
have we have quite a lengthy list of
water conservation programs that are not
rebates we have wonderful education
programs like I can tell you all about
some of those if you would like but as
far as rebates the grass removal has
been the biggest one and we do have a a
pretty extensive campaign going out um
assuming that we receive support for
these programs and we decide to move
forward with them we would plan to
launch a campaign um as soon as even
like a week from now by early October uh
so there's a press release that would go
out there's a there's a third-party
digital marketing firm that has helped
us to design some digital media
campaigns we have um multiple different
forums both in person education events
and then also um newsletters and and and
print as well so there's a our Kappa has
done a great job of helping us plan for
how to announce these programs got you
thank you thank you for the information
one other last question I have obviously
this program is kind kind of more
promoting for grass removal more Turf
style type of thing which is is great
we're looking for the water conservation
is there any concerns as far as like
heat aspects here in the desert and
those type of effects thank you for the
question mayor council member and cenus
we we are very conscious in planning
these programs about how it impacts heat
island effect so one of the requirements
for grass our grass removal programs if
um there are kind of a lengthy list of
require IR Ms and the policies for these
programs if your if your application is
approved one of them is that there's a
requirement to when you remove grass you
need to put in at least 50% ground
coverage so things like trees shrubs
things that are going to create shade in
order to minimize that heat impact
that's good to hear okay that's all my
questions thank you wer thank you mayor
someone great job as usual appreciate
you and the staff working on this but
some one of the things uh I know if
anyone's done this before but as we're
driving around we notice a lot of
landscaping and and um existing uh
commercial centers have not been you
know replanted or grown and have we
anyone ever looked at um incentivizing
some of these landlords that own some of
these properties to actually put more
Desert Landscaping back into the
properties mayor and vice mayor Orlando
we we are definitely working hard at
identifying specific um commercial
industrial HOA properties that we want
to develop relationships with and help
them to make sure that they're aware of
the various programs that we offer to
help support their efforts to make their
property look beautiful with beautiful
low water use plants so uh we're
approaching it more from the perspective
of reducing water use and so we're
starting with the higher water use um
currently if they're currently already
in Desert Landscaping they probably
wouldn't make it to the top of our list
but we are definitely promoting all of
these programs to everyone yeah I'm
thinking if they could replant desert
trees for instance you know pales or
something uh that once were there but
they're knocking them down and I don't
know it's just something as you get as
you talk to other cities and communities
see if there's other programs out there
we can incentivize them to replant some
of those um those type of you know
shrubs and bushes again the heat island
effect I'm concerned about because they
were there at one time time and who
knows how many times that property
flipped or something so just curious
absolutely thank you council member
Stewart thank you mayor um isn't that
covered by code the the uh trees that
are on the commercial Lots aren't they
supposed to be like does our code
enforce well you would can ask somebody
else that's for another maybe for
another meeting but it's a great but
it's a great question and and you know
what council member and Cena has brought
up a great point about the heat island
effect like we make these changes and
that all seems good good and we've asked
our neighbors to do a ton like over and
over year after year and they've they've
uh heated the call right to to conserve
water and so we need to keep talking to
our commercial um customers and folks
like that I think we've asked enough of
our residents at this point but these
resident these rebates are great so to
stay on that point I noticed a
discrepancy between what we give we give
a dollar per square foot to Residents
but three to commercial is that what I
uh mayor council member Stuart so the
the $3 per square foot incentive is um
it's specific to a type of what we call
non-functional grass so that would be uh
generally we it's also known as
ornamental grass so you tend to find in
very very large Landscapes it wouldn't
so much necessarily exist on a
residential property but in large
Landscapes um often there's maybe way
out in front near a fountain there's a
bunch of grass but it's not a piece of
grass that anybody ever used es and it
could very easily be converted or um
very narrow strips of grass that are
very difficult to water efficiently so
and and also grass that's on a slope
where it's very hard to get the water to
sink into the soil to the roots it just
kind of runs off because of the slope so
there's various different types of uh
areas of grass that would qualify as
non-functional grass and those are
really what we're trying to aim for just
adding an extra incentive to make sure
that those large landscape customers are
focused on wanting to remove those that
type of area first sure well great
explanation thank you i' city manager
I'd like to see a little bit more parody
uh in in those rebates for our residents
and for commercial I see grass being
grass I think our written neighbors
would say the same thing um and then I
had another question about it's $5.7
million is the total cost of this
program if everybody used it all up is
that
annual so uh mayor council member
Stewart the total cost the total amount
of the each of the grant funds I believe
is probably what you're referring to
and if we were to manage to expend all
of those funds they would need to be
spent by the end of 2026 so we expect
those funds to be spent over a
multi-year period we got a few years and
then that's all grants there's no
general fund involved in that the only
programs that I've mentioned tonight
which are part of our water conservation
budget are the single family um so the
increase from 20 cents to a dollar is
part of our water conservation budget
part of our regular fiscal year budget
the commercial HOA that would be 25% of
the cost plus that $3 incentive that's
Grant funded that's Grant funded so how
much would you say percentage wise is
general fund funded the reason I asked
is we're going out for uh a utility rate
increase which has water into it but
we're if we're using general fund for
you follow what I'm getting at like
do you know what the percentage is of
Grant versus general fund well you can
get back to us with that if you don't
know it okay I can I can get back to you
with the exact percentages there's about
there was about 500,000 of additional
money added to the water conservation
budget I don't know off the top of my
head exactly how much of that supports
the rebates versus specific individual
projects if I had to give you a round
number I would say roughly 300,000 of
the 500,000 is directly supporting
single family residential rebates okay
the rest of the grant funds are
supporting and remember there's a $3,000
maximum on those single single family
there's a $75,000 maximum on the
commercial so they we're just talking
about a very different scale of what the
cost of these projects are your average
commercial HOA grass removal program
that's going to remove 100,000 square
feet of grass could be spending s or
$800,000 to do it yeah whereas the
single family residents might be
spending 5 to $10,000 final final qu so
do do you see that residential usage
more in the like South part of Chandler
versus in our fixed income communities
in the northern part of Chandler or do
you see that like what do you see it use
the
most mayor council member student I have
not done an analysis I'll Circle up with
you thank you great good job those a
that was a rapid fire session so thank
you Simona question I have for you is it
um I know this if Council passes this
this will take effect October 1st um I
think November 4th aren't we giving um
at veterans Oasis Park uh we're we're
actually doing a tree giveaway to
Residents as well that so this kind of
is timely with that would could someone
help me with that one
was this is out of the blue no Parks
people but yeah I think can definitely
send out some more information to you
yeah yeah yeah I'll be there all right
John
sepon yeah
Ando our Urban Forest
to
ofal day out and these these could be
the kind of trees that we're giving away
would would qualify under this program I
guess that was my
K yeah mayor council member uh any any
shade coverage so trees shrubs they do
need to be on a low water use plant list
so I I don't know the specific trees
that are being given away but there is a
there is a list of low water use plants
that qualify for great
okay no but you can ask John sepon
afterwards any additional questions on
this one thank thank you so much if I
may really quick I just wanted to let
you know that our water conservation
staff is here and they've done an
amazing job of envisioning all of these
new programs and um and working to
support
[Applause]
this the last item called in uh really
had to do with a number of these items
uh related under uh under John canuteson
but I've got on here asks City Manager
for a staff briefing city
manager thank you Mr member of the
council I I believe there was a question
about uh infrastructure projects on the
agenda so we can certainly have Mr
canuteson come up and give you a an
overview of the projects on this meeting
mayor as John when I see the the
millions and millions of dollars I
always want to get a little bit of a
briefing and it's a good investment I
just want to hear about
it well mayor council thank you for
allowing me to speak to uh mayor and
Council and residents tonight about the
necessary and difficult projects we have
ahead of us as as our city ages uh a lot
of our infrastructure is approaching 50
plus years of age and uh a lot of that
infrastructure really has about a
50-year design life uh when we talk
about pipes pumps all the different
things things that we we operate uh to
provide water and wastewater services
for the city of Chandler so what I like
to do very briefly if I could is just
touch on uh we have about 28 items uh
tonight on on agenda which is I think a
record for us anyway uh about 15 of
those are related to some of these
construction projects related to aging
infrastructure so um first I'd like to
talk about very briefly
uh a little project that we're doing uh
over at the gazelle Meadows Park which
is just North of Chandler Boulevard
between Arizona Avenue and McQueen uh
the the parks folks call it gazelle
Meadows Parks uh we in uh the Water
Wastewater storm water area we call it
Detroit Basin so we have uh it's a
retention Basin it's a it's kind of a
neighborhood retention Basin or a
regional retention Basin used for storm
water collection so so a uh a large
project is formed to install large uh 48
in 40 30in diameter piping to uh improve
the uh storm drainage flood flooding
drainage in that neighborhood they've
had uh flooding problems in the past
this uh project that was the emphasis or
the beginning of this project was storm
water from the beginning of that project
we now have decided uh that we also have
uh water pip that need to be replaced
sewer pipes that need to be replaced and
then we've also joined this project with
the gazelle Meadows Park uh redo which
is an amazing project that Mickey Oland
and John sepon are working with us on uh
which is going to be a a really really
exciting project when that's done and
then we'll finish it all off uh with
Erie Street being done we're kind of
going to build a streetcape out of it so
to speak we'll do some some uh asphalt
stamped asphalt at some intersections
we'll put up some some art and things
along the way to kind of give the
neighborhood kind of a sense of place
and so when that project is wound up uh
in in a few years uh it's going to be a
really really nice add to that
neighborhood and really great great ad
to the community so that's that's one of
the projects very briefly now um we we
in public works Chiles have a a very
rigorous Wastewater collections
Assessment program that we've been
running for years and so what we do is
we're out uh running videos doing Mann
entries in in all of our manholes
throughout the city 19,000 manholes uh
and we're constantly evaluating our
pipes our manholes to see uh how they're
how they're aging uh and each year we
come up with a program and that program
includes manhole rehabilitations pipe
rehabilitations uh and this uh four of
the items that you have have today item
48 52 51 and 41 are related to uh
Wastewater uh collections improvements
um the first is on Price Road uh we have
a frontage uh The Price Road
Frontage uh which would be I would say
it's the the Northbound Frontage on the
Eastern side of the 101 from Elliott all
the way to the 202 will'll be working on
a sewer line a large 42in SE line that
runs that entire distance and this work
will be going on for probably the next
year uh we're reining that entire uh
entire uh pipe and relining the pipe is
the easy part it's pumping of and and
rerouting of the Wastewater which is the
difficult part if any of you have been
through the intersection of Chandler
Boulevard and Dobson that's what's
happening there right now we are we have
a we call it a pump around and it is
extraordinarily expensive and difficult
what you have to do is you plug the
sewer upstream and you pump all the
Wastewater through uh surface piping all
the way around the area of interest that
you're working on and sometimes that can
be just one manhole away or it can be
miles away and in this work that we're
doing on Price Road Frontage uh the the
uh pumps are going to be very long and
extensive back through neighborhoods
it's going to be a difficult project
what we always try to do with these
projects as we execute is we always try
to maintain at least uh a mile between
uh we like to have I'm sorry two miles
separation between these projects and we
like to not have heavy construction work
on the arterials at the same time so
we're going to try really hard to try to
make uh for the traveling public uh try
to avoid those issues there are going to
be times where there will be work let's
say at Chandler and Dobson there will be
work going on there uh water line work
and things uh happening there uh and
there'll also be work happening on the
Frontage roads there'll be work
happening in these other places but the
the project team our CIP group
consultants and contractors with
tremendous job trying to plan and and
orchestrate these projects with
milestones and trying to keep people out
of each other's way and to try to keep
the roads traveling safely so uh if
during these projects we have uh an
occasional pickup we'll solve it uh and
and we'll get through but more and more
of these projects are going to be coming
up because the infrastructure is aging
and if we don't do this the consequence
is is not good so I just want to be sure
that you're aware of that uh then we
have two other smaller manhold projects
um item 52 and item 51 um which are uh
really just manhole rehabs uh contractor
will get in uh they'll set up barricades
around the manhole they'll go in and
Reign the manhole and then move on to
the next one so those are not not nearly
as
intrusive um we began number 41 we began
the design on we're beginning the design
on the rehabilitation of our largest
sewer en chamber a 6 6 in line that runs
right down the middle of Price Road
right down price corridor from the 202
all the way to Queen Creek Road and that
is a project that's coming um we haven't
talked about it a lot it's a year or so
away before we actually get in the field
and that one also does include a pump
around these things are not nice uh
they're difficult to do but when you go
into these sewers that are of this age
and with the videos and you see the the
lining of these sewers coming apart we
have to get in we have to get them
repaired and so that's just the essence
of what we do um and that one is in
design uh we have another one in design
which is a traffic project which uh is
kind of a nice uh a nice alternative
here and that's Ray and Dobson
intersection there have been concerns
over the volume of traffic at Ray and
Dobson safety issues at Ray and Dobson
and so that one is beginning design and
that one will be going to Construction
in 2026 27 in that time frame and when
that one happens that one's going to be
a a difficult project as well but these
are projects that need to be done uh and
then finally I did want to bring up a
project uh we're just finishing up and
some of you may have seen it it's been
uh in progress a little too long uh it's
one of those projects where we got into
a Water Production facility uh we call
it the Arrowhead Water Production
facility and I believe it's uh it's just
north of Arrowhead Park
and we have a a booster station and tank
set up there and with any of these older
uh facilities you get into them uh
contractor gets in consultant has done
their best job of design and we get in
and we you know open up the roof and oh
what do we find we get in we start doing
pipes and pumps and what did we find and
so the project grew a little bit and so
and the time frame grew a little bit so
we've been on that project for about a
year and a half I think is what I'm what
I'm understanding and so the the
arrowhead item before you tonight item
50 is a a final change order for that
project to close it out and be done with
and it's uh what's great for us is we
have uh basically a new booster station
right in the middle of town right where
we need it and uh we're back in business
again so uh with that I happy to take I
I didn't cover all of them like I said
there are 28 items tonight but I'd be
happy to attempt to answer any of your
questions council member Stuart
thank you Mayor John that was very
thorough and uh and and that's the I
just love that stuff like that's the
blocking and tackling stuff that's the
core competencies um your your team and
your staff just does a phenomenal job
and I like to see that we're investing
right because we don't want what
happened in other cities in in the
United States to happen in Chandler when
you're talking about 50y old pipes these
are the things we're getting on in front
of so I just appreciate that when you
see these big price tags there's a
reason for it but um we have the
financing for it and uh so and that's
what our bond went for too right like
was from some of our Waterworks and
things like that y yeah so we're putting
that money right to work so thanks John
I appreciate the the thorough uh
explanation thank you so so John you're
going to be here long enough to finish
all these projects I understand too U as
far as you
know council member Harris yeah um thank
you so much John um first of all um
thank you for being proactive and
bringing this and making sure that we
know that infrastructure is needed and
we have to go down deep to get it taken
care of um we don't want a crisis on our
hand we don't want bad water we don't
want lead in our water we don't want
things um breaking down and we're
getting foreign substances in our water
um what I wanted to do as city manager
um my my biggest concern um not the fact
that we're taking care of business like
we should my biggest concern is
communicating to our residents um that
tends to be our biggest complaint right
now we have construction going on right
now um and neighbors are calling council
members and Mayors and saying hey what's
going on with the traffic and things
like that but what I would like to see
um us do is overc communicate during
these projects um perhaps we can have
better signage up that says hey we're
we're doing this go to this link where
residents can see and find out more
information about that I definitely
would like to see more overcommunication
if that involves mayor and Council
getting on videos and talking about it
uh whatever we need to do I just think
that we need to over communicate so that
way residents can feel comfortable and
they can understand especially as we
have new residents coming into our
community and not knowing what's going
on so we can do that I know we have a
monthly news utility bill that we send
out every single month um so maybe we
can include that but I really would like
to see overcommunication um throughout
this
process thank you Council any additional
questions for John
can yeah yeah we don't want to overc
communicate our questions
here all right Council that's the uh the
last one has been called in uh thank you
City staff for the great reports and
programs and any remaining uh mayor's
youth commission we'd love to have a
picture with you all up front so with
that let me close our
meeting