City of Chandler Council Meeting 09/21/23

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thank you
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good evening and welcome to the regular
meeting of September 21st 2023 of the
city council I'd like to call this
meeting to order many of you most of you
are here because we have some
recognitions of employees as well as
recognitions of volunteers for operation
back to school that will happen early in
our meeting here so with that clerk
please take the role mayor Hartke
present vice mayor Orlando
here
councilmember Harris
councilmember Poston here yeah we have a
quorum
um
councilmember Harris
here
all right thank you or invocation
tonight will be brought by Pastor Mike
Gowens from Bethel Church
and our Pledge of Allegiance by council
member Ellis
thank you you could bow your heads
gracious Heavenly Father We Gather here
today in your name
seeking your guidance and wisdom as we
navigate the important matters before us
as your your word reminds us in Proverbs
3 5 and 6. trust in the Lord with all
your heart lean not on your own
understanding in all your ways submit to
him and he will make your path straight
we humbly ask that you'd fill this room
with your presence reminding us of the
great responsibility we bear to our
community
May our discussions be guided by love
compassion and a genuine desire to serve
the people of our city
grant us the ability to listen intently
understand deeply respond wisely to the
needs and concern raised
help us to remember that though we might
have different opinions we share a
common goal
the betterment of our community let
unity and peace Prevail in our
deliberations
father bless every individual who
contributes to the well-being of our
city for those who keep it clean to
those who keep it safe to those who
shape its future may the decisions made
here be a testament to our commitment to
Justice equity and love we ask this in
the name of your son Jesus Christ amen
amen
for which it stands one nation under God
indivisible with liberty and justice
thank you Pastor thank you councilmember
Council this time of year when we have
reduced amounts of counsel we sometimes
have more recognitions than we uh that
would just make it redundant or or kind
of not as special if we do that all in
one night so I'd like to ask council
member and cenus if you would join me up
front
thank you
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thank you
all right first whoa our first
recognition tonight is for our employees
of the Year city manager thank you Mr
Mayor members of the council I am
honored tonight to present to you the
employee of the Year Awards these were
nominated and voted on by their peers
making them extra special Awards tonight
there are quite a few of them from all
of our departments and so I will call
each of them up and we'll read a few
sentences about each and then I think
we'll have everybody up front to take a
group photo at the end so we will begin
in alphabetical order raudel castanon
from the human resources department
thank you
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player that is very knowledgeable in his
field he works well with others and
consistently delivers outstanding
service he played an integral role in
upgrades to the end user system Citywide
working closely with it and the
Management Services departments
our next recognition is Christine Clark
from the cultural Development Department
[Applause]
Christine's dedication to her work at
the Chandler museum is evident in the
way she cares for others whether it be
her dedication to providing great
educational experience for Museum
visitors or her willingness to assist in
any way needed Christine's personality
shines bright for all that have the
pleasure of interacting with her
our next honoree is Martin Cortez from
the community services department
[Applause]
's dedication to providing the best
Library experience is evident in his
interactions with patrons who he treats
with fairness and compassion he is
knowledgeable in about all the services
available to others at the library and
his dedication to serving others is
inspiring
from the police department Nathan Duncan
[Applause]
detective Duncan Works diligently to
make Chandler a safer community in his
role as a robbery homicide detective he
routinely interacts with citizens of
Chandler on the worst day of their lives
and engages them in an empathetic and
professional manner his dedication and
commitment and the service of others has
played a crucial role in enhancing the
safety of Chandler
from the fire department Val Gail
[Applause]
Val ensures the decisions being made are
centered around those he serves his
dedication to holding up the values of
the city is evident in his communication
with others Val is admired by many and
leads by example with a commitment to
delivering outstanding public service
from the communications and public
affairs Department Jennifer hohney
Jennifer takes great pride in her work
writing the monthly cityscope newsletter
and helping the city helping the team
create content on a variety of topics
from the budget and utility rates to
Transportation options her involvement
in the employee advisory and customer
connection committees reflects her
spirit for team Chandler and her
positivity for all things is evident in
her kindness to others and her can-do
attitude
from the public works and utilities
department Tyrell mock
Tyrell has embraced his role as lead
operator when his division was left
without a lead operator recently
tyrell's dedication his can-do attitude
and his commitment to his team has given
everyone insight to what selfless
service is about and it's inspired
everyone to follow his lead
from the Management Services Department
Karina Meister
[Applause]
whether Karina is interacting with
residents to resolve billing issues or
working with teammates she is always
positive and understanding in any
situation her sense of teamwork empathy
towards residents and her confidence in
her role exemplifies Chandler's core
values
from the neighborhood resources
department Priscilla Quintana
[Applause]
Priscilla is passionate about our
community and her ability to problem
solve and ask questions shows her
dedication to being an advocate for our
residents her planning and execution of
programs and events ensures residents a
unique community and an exceptional
quality of life her soul exemplifies
commitment to service and her community
from the Law Department Danielle Ruiz
[Applause]
Danielle is a dedicated efficient and
hard-working and does not shy away from
a challenge her innovative ways of
streamlining processes have resulted in
a more efficient environment her
dedication to the success of her entire
team is truly phenomenal
from the development services department
Nick recedo
[Applause]
through Nick's dedicated service to the
residents of Chandler he has obtained 28
building code certifications that has
become a mentor to others in the
department his high quality customer
service he provides with his ability to
offer a solution-based problem solving
is a win-win for all parties
and finally from the information
technology department Wes Thompson
[Applause]
Wes has shown outstanding dedication to
the city and his co-workers by owning
the problem and offering whatever
assistance is available until a job is
completed he works well with others to
find Solutions quickly Wes is a
dedicated employee and recognizes the
impact his recommendations make to the
overall infrastructure mayor and Council
that is our last honoree tonight I'd
like to recognize and thank all of our
winners as well as all of those that
were nominated
[Applause]
thank you
good job awesome thank you
[Applause]
our second recognition today has to do
with operation back to school
if I could have Jane Anderson the
president of for our City Chandler board
or the chair
and um
present to us operation back to school
which happened in July introduce our
event sponsors and we'll take a group
photo it's Jane here
there you are come on
[Applause]
here right here all right
wonderful we are so excited to just
present the result of operation back to
school this was our 10th annual event
and as we like to call it it is the
community event of the summer
um it's not only a community event
because p
in forward and say we are here to serve
and so we saw that in droves this year
we handed out over 2500 backpacks
um we had 643 uniforms in the past we've
been out about 30 haircuts this year 165
which was amazing to have these 20
Barbers come out the Saturday before
school and give of their time we had
about 700 pairs of shoes
and a total number of volunteer hours
over a thousand so if we monetize that
we're looking at a donation to The
Community from our citizens to our other
citizens of about a hundred and twenty
thousand dollars so we are so proud of
our
[Applause]
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we recognize that in Chandler we know
that if we can turn and figure out what
resources we have that the solutions are
right within our community and so for
our City Chandler is so happy to try to
bring people together to make those
Solutions happen
um we had
in that spirit so many people involved
in our effort I'm just going to read off
a few of the organizations and when I'm
done all of you guys could come forward
for a picture we had Chandler police
Chandler fire Compass Christian Church
cusd nutrition sticks figures Boutique
Ascend just serve Chandler housing youth
program Chandler Boys and Girls Club
cusd The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints Blue Cross Blue Shield
the shop at lefties Chandler care center
and Edwards Vacuum in addition to
literally about 40 other people who
donated time or monetary gifts we're so
proud to be a part of operation back to
school and so proud to see our community
come together thanks so much
[Applause]
sure all the names called forward as
well as any of the the board members
from Forest City if you guys would also
come up for a photo
as the council member
he can make some noise
come on
he's the kid
thank you
foreign that concludes her recognitions
tonight
concept before we uh our next item on
our agenda is a consent agenda I do have
a comment card on number nine and I
would like to move item number 11 and
item number 33 to action just because
there was some further conversation that
results in in tweaking what was in here
originally a little bit so
come there related to
item number nine is
Ken McAllister
good evening Camp you can state your
name and address for the record and you
have up to three minutes to share your
thoughts and concerns on item number
nine Ken McAllister
24206 South 124th Street Chandler 852
four nine
um on the PLT
21-0046 Harris place
and the preliminary development plan
there's an item number five
item number five
States
the covenants conditions restrictions
ccnrs to be filed and recorded with a
subdivision shell mandate the
installation of a front yard landscaping
within 180 days from the date of
occupancy with the homeowners
association responsible for monitoring
and enforcing this requirement
it is my understanding
um
mayor and city council that this is a
private property issue with front yard
being landscaped it is not a issue that
the city can mandate and I come to that
conclusion from other meetings that I've
had here in front of city council where
I've asked four items to be stipulated
in
the action item to either approve or
disapprove and those stipulations have
been pushed back saying that it could
not be added into the ccnrs and council
could not
stipulate that that information be added
because it is a private property matter
I have been
told in an email
stated that and this is coming from
the city's Law Department
that from another development that I've
been
um
actively involved in
um and at the end of the document that
the email says that
um tree land that ccnr is our private
contracts between Tree Land and TriPoint
homes homeowners and the HOA the city
and persons not part of tree land and
tri-point homes development do not have
any ability to enforce the ccnrs
I also have an email
from the
um
planning department
that says it is not the city's practice
to dictate that statements made by an
applicant in an open or in a public
hearing be addressed in private
development ccnrs
so I would request that in this
um
motion that you're going to talk about
tonight or either approve or disprove
that item number five be taken out of
the stipulation for approving or not
proving this development plan thank you
Canada I believe you meant item number
nine right yes item item item number
nine but it's item number five in the
document of item number nine thank you
City attorney can you
share
can you address his concerns on item
number nine please yes mayor or speak to
them yes so
Mr McAllister is absolutely correct the
ccnr is our private contractor contract
between
um ehoa and
the residents who live there
the city can require that the
development have ccnr's and the city can
say certain things that should be put in
the ccnr's
um
which is what this is doing I think the
situation that Mr McAllister was
referring to is is different but in the
end even the city does not import ccnrs
that is completely enforced within the
HOA
so so we've got things in the ccnr that
ultimately are there as an initial
statement but once it takes over they
have the ability to enforce or not
enforce it is that what I just heard you
say or please clarify my my confusion
yes mayor the city can require that
there be ccnr's they can require that
certain Provisions be included certain
legal Provisions be included through the
development process
um but at the end of the day the city
does not enforce ccnr's we just make
sure that they are done and include
whatever the council directs
boy that is that's muddy to me I'm sorry
I'm sorry
okay let me back up let me simplify it
the city does require there is an HOA
that can ccnr's conditions covenants and
restrictions be
um
be drafted and be applicable to the to
the development the city can dictate
certain things in those ccnis
um that are consistent with our codes
that they be included in the ccnrs but
once the ccnrs are done and recorded the
city does not enforce those ccnrs that
is up to the HOA
so the HOA then has the authority to
take these we require them to have ccnrs
but in terms of the content that is up
to the HOA to develop alter or enforce
is that what I heard you say
if I May mare that is correct with the
provision that the city can require
certain things to be in the CCR ccnr's
like Landscaping
but it wouldn't be up to the city to
enforce those provisions
okay
Mr mayor council member Stewart
investment thank you thanks for bringing
this forward
um and thanks for the clarification I
think I'm going to need a little bit
more clarify clarification around this
just for now and in the future
um in light of that maybe we can make a
motion I don't want to hold the
applicant up on this particular project
there are homeowners that are that are
chomping at the bit to get in their
homes but maybe we could uh suspend item
number five in the PVP part of this uh
proposal until we can all talk about
that and then we'll come back to it and
get it fixed
that that is a perfectly acceptable
solution Aaron and council member Stuart
thank you
okay
I was going to suggest something very
similar okay to move to move this to uh
let's come back and address this issue
in a later time we have more
clarification but I do want to clear Mr
Mayor Mr counselor what what are you
trying to get into the ccnrs and I
please please reiterate that so in this
particular
um Harris Place project
um I am not trying to add anything to
the ccnr as I'm trying to remove this
requirement that the city is requiring
that the landscape be put in within 180
days because there is no city code that
says that you have to have a front yard
landscape
um so I'm not sure why the city is
stipulating that that be a requirement
when it's a private property map
all right so let me understand this um
you're really concerned about the 180
days requirement that you must you
personally or someone must put this in
that's what I'm asking a question so how
does this affect you okay so this
affects me because this is a requirement
that the city is mandating
be put into the ccnrs when the city has
no no jurisdiction because it's a
private property matter
I'm I'm
I'm requesting that this be removed for
this development okay so let me just
take it one step further
uh we have numerous projects in the 22
years I've been here that stipulates you
must have two trees in a yard
a front yard you must have grass or not
grass so we've been doing this for a
long time
and again I'm trying to figure out how
this affects you because you're just a
neighbor you're not being a part of this
organization that's what I'm trying to
figure out how does this tie back to you
you're not going to be buying a home in
here are you
um I do not know that
okay so then but you had that
opportunity yes to look at that and say
gee I don't agree with this okay so my
my reason for bringing this forward is
from other
projects that I have been a part of that
I have been told numerous times that the
city cannot mandate private property
matters into ccnrs
and I see a mandate for a private
property manner matter being mandated by
the city into the ccnrs okay I see a
discrepancy there all right I think what
you're talking about and let's be one
here you're talking about specifically a
SRP
Canal or something that irrigates your
adjacent property correct I am I am
talking about a private property matter
that I had issues with in another
development which was in the irrigation
ditch that was put into a pipe and was
told numerous times that that could not
be added into the ccnrs for upkeeping
maintenance yet I'm seeing a discrepancy
here with the city mandating that the
private property matters I'll tell you
what it is emotion there's a motion
let's do this there's none of motion so
let's do this let me just take one more
executive council member so I there's
nothing wrong with me saying
that item number nine here that you
shall have man a landscaping within 100
days in front of your house
I have to put that in ccnr's that's my
point I'm trying to make to you uh sorry
I could put a motion right now say item
nine that within 180 days from the date
of occupancy the homeowner show be
responsible for putting a
a front yard landscaping
that's not the ccnr's
no I I understand that that's not in
ccrs but it's a private property matter
and but you're buying okay sir I'm not
going to argue you're buying into
something let's do this
um let's go with the council member
suggestion let's leave this step out for
now and we'll come back and address it
but we could also add a separate step in
here my point is to you we come back
here and say item nine
Ed landscape with the 180 days of your
yard
so well at this point yeah councilmember
Stewart would you like to make a motion
and yeah the same motion I made I would
like to move these this item
um item number five in the PDP area to
to amend the
um motion on item number what is it nine
nine item number nine to suspend item
number five in the PVP plat until it
gets more clarification around that and
uh and we could bring mayor just to
clarify we could bring a second let's
let him continue
we could bring that back on the final
preliminary development correct vice
mayor let him continue but the Motions
on the floor yeah
all right is there a second yeah I vice
mayor made a second so but we could
bring this back on the final preliminary
plan correct this is just a preliminary
PDP
this is the airplane I don't believe we
come back for final approval on this so
we wouldn't be addressing it on this
issue of course the developer is still
free to put the condition in the ccnrs
on their own as well
okay thank you for bringing this forward
though so we can get some consistent
consistency around this issue I know
it's something you've dealt with County
and so we'll get this dialed in and make
sure that we move forward so that it's
consistent across the board in city and
county thank you so city manager we have
a motion and a second on this to amend
this to take that particular item off
and as you mentioned they can the
developer can put that in if so chooses
do uh for clarification we need to vote
on this and then it becomes part of the
consent engine right yeah yeah all right
Council all in favor say aye
aye well actually no uh first police
take their own
go ahead and vote electronically yeah
okay
sorry I got a little confused in the
councilmember Harris
councilmember Harris is having
difficulty with his signal so on this
one um I don't have a registered boat
plan okay so it carries um unanimously
there okay
um next on our agenda as mentioned was
uh our consent agenda I've asked for
item number 11 and 33 to move to action
is there a motion for to approve the
consent agenda may hurt minus these two
vice mayor yeah I moved yeah we approved
the consent agenda's agenda of September
21st 2023 regular meetings items one
through 59 with the exceptions of item
11 and 33 move to action second mayor
second by council member Ellis any
additional questions related to this
councilman if I may I was going to say
this at the end of our meeting but I
think it's pertinent to talk about this
now
um we have an incredible
um let me set up the story here about a
year ago I got involved with a group
called night of Hope which is a is an
organization that that that is involved
in stopping human trafficking and uh
about two months ago we had a meeting
with Pastor Mike here
um we talked about you know what we're
going to do moving into this next year
and the things that are going to happen
to stop human trafficking and especially
child crimes in our city
and literally about two weeks after that
I hear the news that Julie has
appropriated two million dollars to our
city
for this particular need and it just
struck me as like when you when you take
action and you move forward with things
like we did as a council beautiful
things like this happen so I want to
thank you Julie for for your commitment
to to this atrocity Mike I want to thank
you for your commitment to what we're
doing here and and I absolutely
emphatically want to vote Yes on this
and consent agenda to move this two and
a half million dollars into our general
fund so we can start battling like we
need to yeah mayor thank you any
additional comments vice mayor yeah
councilmember I mean a state
representative will be Julie Willoughby
thank you very much for a person bound
the job for about four or five weeks
maybe six that are stretching it you
you've given us it was five minutes
seemed like that well you're you're the
most effective freshman I've seen in a
long long time so thank you very much
for that money it's going to go a long
way and particularly in hiring
additional uh bodies to actually do that
look at the uh the exploitation so thank
you very much for your effort there
Council please vote
council member Harris has registered his
vote as a yes vote for consent agenda
items and promotion carries unanimously
thank you we moved two items to action
and uh they largely are as presented
with a bit of a tweak
uh council member Stewart item number
11. thank you mayor so I'd like to move
to approve use permit
plh22055 canine Resort subject to the
conditions recommended by Planning and
Zoning commission with the deletion of
condition number five which just for our
audience State what that is that is the
uh requirement of the applicant to come
back after four years to go through the
whole process again to get their use
permit okay we have a second by council
member Ellis any further conversation on
this seeing none
please vote on item number 11.
yeah mine has it reset yet
there we go
mine just in
yes you're in
um councilmember Harris votes yes on
this item as well great and our other
one again that there's a slight uh
amendment to what was presented on
Monday item number 33 council member
Stewart
thank you mayor on item number 33 I'd
like to ask Marion Council to pass an
adopt resolution 5723 authorizing the
city manager to expand and amend and
extend the five water conservation
rebate programs with the clarification
increase the single-family residential
grass removal rebate from 20 cents per
square foot to two dollars per square
foot of grass removed for the maximum
rebate of three thousand dollars for
each single-family residential property
and further authorizing the city manager
to apply for and accept funds from wifa
related to the forward water
conservation measures I think that's up
to 5.7 million dollars for use for this
program over the next
two and a half years so we have a motion
on the floor a second second
by council member postington and just
again for reference what had been
recommended for this was to move from
20 cents 25 cents which was it city
manager initially it's uh 20 cents to
one dollar yeah 20 cents to one we we
wanted to further incentivize
residential uh turf removal or or sod
removal uh as there was we were looking
at the same bar uh retail and commercial
for three dollars so this would kind of
bring a closer sense of parity
nice bear thank you mayor just quick
question do we have I know when we did
this originally proposal we had the
funding for this
um I guess the only caution I would give
us is and I'm for this by the way is
that if we're starting to cap out or
something come back to us because I
don't I know when we did the initial
calculation of 20 cents we expected x
amount of the of the property the
residential owners to apply for this now
we're we may have less so let us know if
we need to increase this funding during
the year yeah mayor vice mayor if we
start to run up against that limit then
we'll come back and revisit with you for
direction perfect thank you thanks mayor
great so we've got a motion and a second
any further comments seeing none please
vote on item number 33.
councilmember Harris registered his vote
as a yes motion carries unanimously
thank you
next on our agenda uh item number seven
a public hearing on our bank biennial
impact fee audit city manager
thank you Mr Mayor members Council I'd
like to introduce Ryan Fielder to give
this presentation
foreign
good evening mayor and members of
council my name is Ryan Fielder and I'm
the city's budget and research
administrator and I'm here tonight to
share the results of the city's most
recent system development fee biennial
audit
cities that collect system development
fees or impact fees are bound by State
Statute one of those requirements is
that you either form an advisory
committee or you conduct a biennial
allotted in the city of Chandler along
with all the other cities in the state
of Arizona have conducted a biennial
audit
yeah
our most recent biennial audit was
completed by heinfeld and meech and it
covered fiscal Year's 2020-21 and
2021-22
some of the procedures that were
completed during the biennial audit
include comparing the growth projections
that were originally adopted during the
2019 time frame when we adopted the land
use assumptions in the infrastructure
Improvement plan then and comparing
those to what has occurred today and
they compare those for reasonableness
they also review the progress of our iip
projects and they review the revenues
into the impact defunds and the
expenditures out of those same funds
so the results of the audit include a
sampling of 80 permits that were tested
and one of those permits was found to
have used an incorrect land use
classification and that resulted in a
refund to the developer which has
occurred there was no inequities
reported between the land use
classifications the biennial audit
requirement has been met under State
Statute and there's no formal action
required by Council this evening this is
a public hearing enrollment
all right thank you very much Council
any questions two more slides okay sorry
Mr Mayor we just said no more I already
moved on
oh well they're yeah you don't have to
do anything
listen just for two more slides okay
I'll go quick so State Statute
requirements for impact fees one of the
requirements is that we file an annual
report in cities that collect impact
fees are required to do that within 90
days of the fiscal year end and the City
of Chandler posted their annual report
on the city's website on September 12th
we're also required to complete a
biennial audit and hold a public hearing
and that requirement is being met this
evening
and then there's the system development
fee update which is currently in
progress
the city engaged a consultant who's
completed that and we now have a draft
public report that will be available on
the city's website tomorrow
um that needed to be posted 60 days
prior to the initial public hearing for
the Lua and the iip which is scheduled
for December 7th
concurrently we have a meeting scheduled
with the development community community
and other stakeholders involved in this
process and that's scheduled for October
11th and we also have a work study
session scheduled with Council for early
November
and so walking through this system
development the update process the times
that we will be back in front of council
uh
as noted previously December 7th we'll
be back for the initial public hearing
of the Lua and the iip
on January 11th we will be back to adopt
the Lua and the iip and by state law we
actually need to do that by January 24th
that same evening we will be back or we
will be adopting a motion of intent to
modify the impact fees and then after we
do that the impact fees themselves walk
through a similar process is the Lua and
the iip where there's a public hearing
and then there's ordinances that will be
adopted the ordinances adopted along the
way so that you can
implement the new fees and we anticipate
those fees going live August 1st of 2024
so it's a lengthy process to walk
through this
so just to remind Council there's no
formal action required this evening this
was just a public hearing only and that
concludes our presentation
council do you have any questions
thank you
a couple of things real quick thank you
very much for the update um I know she
took a 80 assets what was the pool what
was the General Pool you took out of
that 80s oh all permits yeah all permits
pulled over that two-year period And I
don't I don't have that number with me
this evening so it was 80 I guess my
question is 80
um a scientific sample I'm trying to
figure out if that was a good sample or
is that something it's a metric you use
or a set formula or something like that
right
um
mayor council member uh so it's auditing
how Auditors do that the techniques they
use they're going to look at the total
pool of the number of pit permits that
are available and then they're going to
use their techniques that they use to
pull a sample of that and then they test
that sample I don't know what the total
number of permits that were pulled over
that two-year window was but it are
exceeded the 80 for sure I'm sure it did
the other question is since we did the
last update were there any legislative
changes that we need to be aware of now
mayor council member there are no
legislative changes that have occurred
in the last two years now perfect thank
you thank you mayor any additional
comments or questions
seeing none thank you all right thank
you next on our agenda uh item number 60
is a briefing requested by council
member Stewart related to community
outreach Navigators and our homelessness
programs
Ryan Balch
all righty so good evening um
if I may I hate to interrupt I apologize
that was a public hearing and we
realized you didn't close the public
hearing and make sure that no one was
there to speak on the last item so all
right thank you um
thank you for the clarification is there
anyone here that would like to address
comments related to the public hearing
so presented
seeing now I'd like to close the public
hearing thank you City attorney
please proceed Ryan thanks
I wanna
mess that up all right so good evening
thanks for allowing me the time to
provide an update tonight as you know
homelessness is a growing concern in our
state and nation and so I'm really happy
to provide a little report on what
Chandler is doing and with great success
foreign
so this is a little bit of a new look at
data for you this is what we call
systems flow data and it comes from our
homeless management information system
where everybody in the region that
provides homeless Services contributes
to this system so as you can see there
were about an average of 5 800 people
um on any day in Maricopa County
experiencing homelessness
so this is very different than
um our point in time data which just
shows us one given day in a year this
system allows us to see how many people
are actively using homeless services in
our County every single day so in FY
2223 we had over 5800 an average of 5
800 people using our services each day
that green line at the bottom is for
Chandler so in our system in our
programs we had about three an average
of 304 people a day utilizing our
homeless services
and that was in last fiscal year
the next slide this is your typical
point in time data that you guys are
very used to seeing
um and I just wanted to show it to you
because you're familiar with it and you
can see it's a little bit less than what
we see from our systems flow dashboard
it still shows the trend that
homelessness is slowly increasing over
the years but it's a little bit lower
than than we had we've been counting a
little bit lower than now our systems
flow data is showing us
so over the next couple slides I'm going
to talk specifically about city of
Chandler programs but I wanted to
provide you oh I must have missed one
sorry about that I wanted to provide you
a picture of what our Continuum of
homeless Services looks like here in our
city
so the colorful boxes portray sort of
the the journey or path that somebody
might take towards their um Journey out
of homelessness and we have each of
those components here in our community
we have each of those housing
interventions but what I might point out
to you is that piece on top that talks
about the essential services that our
staff are providing to people as they go
through these different housing
interventions and that is the the
navigation and crisis services that
we're going to talk about today through
our community Navigators they're
providing crisis Services out on the
street building Trust
uh once you engage in someone in
Services then comes the really intensive
case management and trying to assess
their situation and develop a case plan
that's very intensive requires a lot of
touches
once somebody enters into a housing
program then you're really then you
really have them
right there with you right and you can
start to focus on what issues brought
them there and then work on building a
foundation for stability moving forward
and then once they have some stability
and you're going to potentially walk
away from them while they're in stable
housing you want to build a community of
support around them you want them to be
integrated into their Community you want
them to be part of their their maybe
their faith Network their recreational
Network you want them to have stable
health care and Behavioral Health Care
before you leave them so this is sort of
our cycle of homeless services
this is our Great and Mighty Community
navigation team led by Misty Gustafson
who I know we you all
um know and admire and many of you have
taken the time to do a ride along so
thank you for doing that because there's
nothing like seeing this work in action
so I appreciate that this service our
community Navigator service is available
seven days a week we operate from six in
the morning until 7 30 at night it looks
different day to day depending on if
it's a weekday or a week end we have
different activities and that team
together does three things they do the
Outreach on the streets making
relationships building Rapport getting
people into very basic Services meeting
their emergency crisis needs they also
operate the non-congregate shelter
program which we call operation open
door and that is providing
um via a hotel room shelter to
specifically vulnerable people and they
also staff the support Port which helps
people experiencing homelessness get
through their justice issues
ultimately the goal is always housing so
they're making connections to services
and housing and they all have
professional credentials including
they're all behavioral health
technicians and they're also certified
peer specialists
so this is our Chandler connect program
that's actually the official name for
our outreach program
we don't use the name very often but
it's Chandler connect and this is where
they're out on the streets um you might
see them out there in their trucks
looking for people experiencing
homelessness homelessness each day last
year we were able to serve 621
households that included 717 persons and
just from the street alone we had 75
positive outcomes which are very very
narrowly defined by Hud
um so you can see we had about uh
let's see
I put my notes down so we have about 43
percent of people went to emergency
shelter straight from the streets and we
had 13 go straight to permanent housing
from the streets also notable is that 11
went to it went into institutional
settings and that's usually substance
use treatment or a behavioral health
setting or facility so getting people
who are living on to this on the streets
into those scenarios is a is a great
thing
um the other that 25 could be we've lost
touch with them and it's also death
death is seen as a negative outcome
um by Hud and so and we also see it as a
negative outcome of course and then
eight percent were diverted to their
natural support systems which could be
family
and friends in other states that's
generally what it is
for operation Open Door that's the
official name of our non-congregate
shelter program we were able to serve
last year 151 households and that
included 306 persons and that's because
we have a lot of families in that
program that program in additional to in
addition to serving very vulnerable
people who just cannot live on the
street or cannot live in a congregate
setting because they have medical issues
need to store medication can't get up
and down from a floor where they might
be able to stay at um in our in the eye
health program things like that that
program also serves as a holding spot or
a bridge for families because the family
shelter list in our region is always
about six to 12 weeks long I checked
today just to see it was it's about
eight weeks long tonight so we don't
want a family on the street for one
night right a family with children let
alone eight weeks so we often put have
families in our non-congregate shelter
program
in that program in the last year we had
94 positive outcomes and that's because
with this model when you have people
available to you they're getting good
sleep they're able to have a home base
from which to work from you get better
outcomes so
um we're very proud of the
non-congregate shelter program
and then we have another team that you
might not know as much about this is our
housing stability team and this is the
team that really follows up once we get
people on the street to help people find
their housing and stay in their housing
and that's no easy task so these guys
are responsible for engaging landlords
recruiting them educating them about our
programs helping them work with our
population they help the people who are
going to be moving into housing locate
that housing build a relationship with a
landlord because they do end up having
their own lease and finding that housing
and then they help them with move-in it
could be the physical move-in like
logistically moving in and also finding
them furniture and all the things they
need to live in housing and then the
real work begins and that is keeping
them in their housing so now we are
addressing all the barriers they came
with whether it be Behavioral Health
regular Health all of those things
Justice issues
all of those things and then eventually
we want to turn them out of our services
right and leave them stably housed in
our community and so that takes
connecting them with their community so
Community integration whether it be with
their you know Faith houses with
recreational activities with groups that
make sense to them so that they have
their own support network in the in the
community
so in that program and that program very
specifically supports our internal
Chandler program so we have our
tenant-based rental assistance program
which houses 25 people for up to two
years at all times we have our emergency
housing voucher program and that we're
at about 34 chronically homeless people
now in housing through that program and
then we also have just our our regular
housing Choice voucher tenants or sex as
you might know it at section 8. A lot of
those tenants were coming from
homelessness or were very precariously
housed and also need supports to
maintain their housing so this team is
then providing that ongoing case
management to them to keep them housed
or when we something bubbles up and we
and a resident in our community is about
to become unhoused they will jump in and
try to divert that crisis and keep them
housed in that program we had 97
positive outcomes in the last year
hmm
and then
um we also you as you know we had a heat
relief very robust heat relief services
last last year we were fortunate to get
a grant from the county
um and we did a competitive RFP and we
contracted with two providers
Resurrection Street Ministries and the
Chandler Salvation Army and um that we
did that for both Mesa and Chandler it
was a partnership and each City had a
day Respite Center uh 10 cooling
stations mobile services showers and
laundry and meals in our city so far
we're not done we're going to operate
through the end of September we've
served 411 unduplicated individuals and
those folks have come to the day Respite
Center over 2 900 times so it's been
highly utilized and we hope to have
prevented a lot of illness and death
we're already talking with our partners
about this for next year because we do
anticipate a record number of homeless
fatalities this year in our region
foreign
and then last but not least we have our
change up campaign and this is a public
education campaign to make Chandler
residents aware that there's a better
way to give than giving out that dollar
out your car window to somebody who is
panhandling and that is because
um the average lifespan for somebody
who's living on the street is anywhere
between I think it's 42 and 52 right in
there so that is not long we don't want
people living on our streets any longer
than humanly possible so the campaign
teaches people that you can text to
donate this is a partnership with for
our City Chandler and those dollars will
still contribute to ending homelessness
but they will go through our Navigators
and help our Navigators engage so it
might be can I buy you lunch it might be
um it could be a million things and that
money has been really helpful since we
uh installed our new signage this last
year we'd we have 14 ADOT signs up at
all time and we have about 47 new
changeup signs in our community
um we've already raised the most we ever
have over twelve thousand dollars in the
first
six months of this year so I think our
high last year was just over ten
thousand and this year in the first six
months we've already raised thousand so
that yes so that has been a huge benefit
and we're very grateful for that
and I think
that is it do you guys have any
questions thank you Ryan any questions
starting with council member Stewart
thank you Marin thank you for the great
presentation that you know we did this
about a year ago and I remember that we
were seeing the the numbers start to
Plateau we're starting to see them
flatten out so the efforts that are
being put forth in Maricopa County but
especially here in Chandler are are
being noticed like I just did click
count you've served 1500 people
um minimum within the city in the last
year and the one thing that I noticed
that three people a day were being
helped in housing
that's remarkable and uh so I want to
thank you for doing that and you know I
just had a question for you maybe this
is maybe you'll have to get back to me
because I'm going to put you on the spot
but what's gonna what's gonna flatten it
and make it go down like when can we
start looking for people on your team
and repositioning them in different
departments in our in our city right
right wouldn't we love to do that is
there the work that they're doing is
amazing
uh more housing stock
um and more support services to keep
people in the housing that they're
already in
and um
more Behavioral Health Services
thank you yep you're welcome thanks so
much additional comments from Council
um council member Morales I think uh
vice mayor first that's fine go ahead
Professor umbrellas thank you thank you
thank you so much uh Mr Ryan this is
amazing news uh for us here and the fact
that we are put in so much into getting
people off the street tells us that
we're a community that cares about each
other and that's important for us to
keep that message going out that we
don't want someone to spend the night on
the street another night when I first
came here three years ago that was a
priority and and I'm sitting here so
proud and thankful and grateful that you
guys have taken uh the charge from mayor
and Consul and run with it in every area
you you just keep championing this thing
and taking it to the next level at this
time where I am as far as being on mag
on that board uh replacing
um council member Stewart I think that's
going to be the place where we're going
to be pushing A lot of advocacy for for
the team Chandler and thank you so much
for putting so much into this my
question is that with numbers like 93
percent
of success 97 of success are you
receiving uh the the support that you
mentioned earlier here from us or enough
from the community itself to keep
getting to the place that you just
described I know housing is really an
issue right now but the other two Mental
Health
and the support for the wraparound
services are you receiving enough
support to make sure that we push in
those areas
uh thank you through the mayor
councilwoman Ellis I'm receiving
incredible amount of support and as you
you know in the last budget cycle you
are extremely
um gracious to provide us two permanent
Navigators that is an immense help
they're all um temporary so they are
thrilled to have that level of support
um we've also been very successful in
getting grants in our community in the
last year we've pulled in a lot of
dollars and a lot of that is because you
are so willing to support our efforts
and Champion our efforts so I yes I feel
extremely supported and our entire team
feels extremely supported and the love
um that you guys give them on a daily
basis I mean if you've ever been through
our office
uh your pictures with them are
everywhere they look you know it's their
their pride and joy they're very you
know we have a lot of Pride we're doing
a lot of great things
um the opioid stuff coming up
um your support and those efforts is
fantastic so yes we feel very supportive
and very blessed to do this work and if
we could pass on the message to our
house representative that is in the
house right now these are the places
where we need your voice the strongest
in legislatures for us to be able to
continue doing this kind of work that
we're doing here Chandler so thank you
so much for listening
additional comments yeah thank you mayor
question
um so uh representative Willoughby you
got an action item now you thought you
were coming here to say thank you and
you got an action item we appreciate you
both both sides of that
um hey I've been reading where one of
the highest
um
population of homelessness is seniors
are we singing that too here yes yes
through the mayor um vice mayor
absolutely we and and we are struggling
with it I've actually recently been
reaching out
um to uh
APS
um all of the entities as you can
possibly think of we are having people
who were finding in their vehicles who
um have just their income's not keeping
up with the rental increases and we're
finding a big dementia issue so ASU has
just finished a pilot study of
um Dementia in the homeless population
and we're finding big numbers and we
just have an issue uh I'll just uh as an
anecdote we actually have a situation
right now where we have a older person
in our non-congregate shelter program
who has dementia and she keeps wandering
out and so we've reached out to every
entity you know she's not safe here we
need a higher level of support and
um we're not able to get that and so um
I have reached out to the county the
county is scheduling some meetings with
the state we'll see if we can get
anywhere there but we really need
advocacy about safe places for seniors
particularly with dementia
to have not only shelter but where are
they going to go after that and what
level of support are they going to get
and yes our our population is aging age
it's
a big challenge all right so I guess my
takeaway is yes it's true and number two
as you do this due diligence uh whether
it's on the Committees I hope you're
doing a better job than he did not just
kidding Mark did a great job
he chaired it be a little bit more
aggressive he he chaired it I believe so
um seriously let us know if you got
thoughts in our act in mid-year whatever
case may be if there's something we need
to do from our standpoint to help the
resources for that okay will do thank
you so much bye
councilman one of the things that I I
know that we have been advocating for uh
with the state is uh to find a way to
partner with the Assisted Living World
so that we will be able to place those
uh elderly people that'll have Dementia
or whether the whole point was the fact
that I bought 2020 we were supposed to
have all our elderly people off the
street and here we are we're still
discussing that and it's the link that's
missing is those contract with those
assisted livings specifically the
assisted living homes where they will be
willing to take these people if they can
have payment for them for their
long-term care I am open to every option
all right yeah I've been working on it
all right thank you Ryan thank you
our next item is unscheduled public
appearances but before we do that city
manager I do notice we've got some new
visitors that are here before I've got
one speaker card so one person will be
coming forward to speak but can you
again give a a summary the conversation
of the speaker card is related to dogs
can you again give us a summary before I
invite the one person to come up yeah
certainly mayor as we heard earlier
tonight from assistant chief Ramer the
city uh police department has been
intimately involved in this issue since
September 8th we've had several touch
points with the property as well as the
ownership of that shelter and we are
working very closely with the Arizona
Humane Society as our experts in caring
for these animals to make sure that the
proper care is given to them and that if
necessary the proper homes are found for
those animals so that will continue and
we are continuing to work with them uh
again even through this weekend there's
some scheduled veterinary care that's uh
planned okay
thank you so much under unscheduled
public appearances I've got one speaker
card uh Coco Garcia
Coco you're welcome
this Garcia You've Got
um up to three minutes to share your
thoughts and concerns as this is an
unscheduled public appearance we're not
able to engage with you or or answer any
questions that you might have although
staff is more than able and willing to
do so so if you'd state your name and
address for the record
thank you for having us and
um to follow up with what was said from
the previous officer and what you guys
have said that there is involvement with
the house that you're talking about this
woman has over 40 dogs at her house we
have collectively counted over 63 dogs
that she has in her care that she has
acquired since January
she is posing as a rescue she is taking
everyone's money that wants to help and
she is not providing vet care
we know from people that have talked to
her today
that the Humane Society was there we've
all been there we've all seen I got in
trouble for trespassing because she has
one of my dogs and I asked for it back
illegally illegally has my dog
and she won't give it back we have we
have contacted the police we've
contacted Humane Society and today she
told us that the Humane Society did give
her a an outline that she had to follow
that she needed to get vet care for
these dogs and she did not follow the
rules and she said I got in a lot of
trouble for that
and there are still over 63 dogs at that
house there have been video recordings
these are not just dogs these are dogs
that are paralyzed these are dogs that
are blind these are dogs that can't fend
for themselves if they wanted to
and there are recordings of Outsiders
passerbys of neighbors that have
recorded these dogs dragging themselves
through the 115 degree weather in her
filthy riddled backyard
it's an atrocity it's something like
I've never seen and we we for some
reason cannot get the Humane Society or
law enforcement to push for heavier
action I was told by the supervisor of
the Humane Society that they cannot do
anything because per Chandler that
Chandler does not recognize hoarding as
as any kind of
um any kind of uh losing that crime
thank you and they also don't recognize
failure to provide care
as any kind of crime towards dogs we've
spoke with two attorneys we've retained
an attorney today because we are all
fighting to get our dogs back there are
over 30 rescues Nationwide and out of
country that have sent dogs to this
moment she lied to us she scammed us
very well we are very upstanding rescues
we do hundreds of thousands of dollars
of free work every month for this
community
and she scammed all of us
and we have we have
um
our attorney told us today that this is
a state level that maybe at Chandler
level that they don't recognize hoarding
but at a state level you do you do
recognize hoarding you do recognize
failure to provide care you do recognize
animal abuse
and that's why we're here we have asked
and repeatedly asked and we couldn't get
answers from anybody I went to social
media
and I don't want to be there I know
nobody wants to be in the Limelight with
this I don't I'm humiliated I sent one
of my dogs to This Woman This is my
entire life I have given my life to
these animals
it's horrible but we are asking for help
we are asking for those dogs to be
seized not one by one they're medical
they're dying we have reports of two
dogs that have died on her property we
know she told us and she has told us she
has never adopted out one of those dogs
she is violating everything that a
non-profit stands for Miss Garcia can
you wrap up your time
we are asking that there be
active movement not two or three dogs
removed from this property
all of them the woman is unwell she has
got police records that you wouldn't
believe
we need help
thank you thank you
city manager to do again whatever uh
whatever further conversations can you
ensure that those happen certainly mayor
thank you yeah
in America
city manager um
can we also take a look at we could
adopt our own ordinance in the future to
make it our lives a little bit uh easier
hoarding and failure to provide care
things like that something that we could
take a look there's sure there's models
around here of the community so let's
bring that back so help our police
officers uh better uh serve this weekend
mayor and vice thank you
[Applause]
next on our agenda tonight is current
events and I'll start and we'll continue
um September 24th the Sunday at 11 A.M
we're resuming our Downtown Chandler Art
walks thank you Council for funding that
it'll be at 11 A.M on Sundays coming up
downtown
for more information visit downtown
chandler.org
next Tuesday September 26th at 10 A.M we
have our annual domestic violence
awareness breakfast it'll be to register
or attend this it'll be on
eventbrite.com again the dates is
September 26th at 10 A.M
I am excited to join Council in
celebrating our neighborhoods at the
October 14th gain event from 3 to 8 p.m
and those who are interested in
neighborhoods to learn more about this
visit
chandleraz.gov forward slash slash gain
for more information and finally Shields
is going to be holding its grand opening
of its first Arizona store at the
Chandler Fashion Center on September
30th at 9 30 a.m it'll be an exciting
event for Chandler and the greater
Phoenix as well as all of the Arizona
community so excited about that
councilmember and cenus
thank you mayor for my announcements
tonight I just wanted to highlight the
hard work of our staff on kicking off
another successful Chandler Contigo um
season again we kicked off this weekend
on Saturday at the Chandler Public
Library here in downtown uh thank you to
my fellow council members that were able
to attend in the morning and help set
that off we had over 2 300 people attend
that throughout the hours that we were
there it was great to see a lot of
students there from the high schools
that were doing different demonstrations
and working with the kids so it was
great to see that kick off
um and also I want to send a thank you
to our partners at Cox Communications I
was honored as one of the honorees for
the Hispanic Heritage Month at Chase
Field so I was able to take my parents
out on the field and have a great
experience with them so I want to thank
them for that and also on the same light
for the Contigo events if you guys are
still available
um the next coming weeks there's a ton
of um events still going on all through
I believe through October 15th or so so
for more information visit
chandleraz.gov forward slash Contigo
thank you thank you council member Ellis
it was a lot of fun lots of fun well
mayor thank you for mentioning about the
breakfast for domestic violence and the
commission that is putting that domestic
violence truly it's something that none
of us really want to see in our
community and we want to work really
hard to make sure that that doesn't
happen and one of the things we're going
to do for the month of October which is
the 2nd of October at 6 PM we are going
to have a video where we here at the
chamber where we're going to have it
light up in purple and all of us will be
here recognizing the fact that we are
working together to end this domestic
violence wherever we can and however we
can we're going to all work together for
that
um at the level of Mag since I sit on
that board uh the Tolleson May uh vice
mayor Lupe benden she serves with me on
that board and we have a subcommittee
that we work on which is to educate and
try to get more and more people to get
involved into those areas also not only
to help with that but also to go in
those fields because we are lacking in
those areas of people entering whether
it's kids from school or at the level of
college so we really want to put the
message out that it's together when we
work together that we'll be able to make
a debt into this thing and get rid of it
in our communities so we're looking
forward to have you on October 2nd at 6
PM please join us here in our chamber
and now we will be right there in the
courtyard having a good time and talking
about awareness and what next we're
going to be doing in our community for
that thank you mayor nice mayor
thank you mayor I guess did you throw
out the first pitch
no oh okay well let us let us know man
you get the all right well I will show
up for that game to show you the first
pitch
mayor I just want to give you thanks I
know I don't do this often at least
publicly because I don't want to over
over
um you know over emphasize or you know
make it make it more like a platitude
but thank you very much for this last
week in dealing with this issue with our
the animals and as well as this council
meeting that show True leadership and
you're working with staff in the police
department to get to the bottom of this
so I I thank you for that thank you
Council memory Stewart thank you nothing
for me tonight
councilmember Poston made a nightmare
thank you all right city manager already
shared yes uh do I can I have one more
second mayor
[Music]
just a quick follow-up mayor uh just uh
thank you councilman sinus for speaking
about Contigo uh over the weekend that's
one of our major events from our
diversity Equity inclusion office and I
did want to just mention that our leader
of that office Nikki Tapia was
recognized this week with a top Latino
leader award by the council for Latino
workplace equity which is part of the
national diversity Council she was one
of only 25 uh honored with that
recognition across the entire country so
just want to give her a shout out and
thank you for the work that she and her
team do
have a good night
don't feel a good job today