City of Chandler Council Meeting 5-25-23

foreign
good evening and welcome to the May 25th
regular city council meeting
um we're glad that you all are here let
me kind of explain the overall agenda
now that we're calling this to order is
it we will have a consent agenda we will
then have an action item with an
approval on a budget we have
a
we'll be looking at a public hearing and
action item and then there will be
unscheduled appearances at that
particular point so with that clerk will
you please take the role mayor Harkey
present vice mayor Orlando here council
member encinas
present council member Ellis yeah
councilmember Stewart here councilmember
Harris yeah council member posting here
we have a quorum
all right thank you our invocation
tonight will be brought by Pastor Victor
Hardy of the Congregational Church of
the Valley and our Pledge of Allegiance
will be led by council member Jane
Poston pastor
foreign
let us pray
I've got so much
to thank God for
so many wonderful blessings and so many
open
a brand new
[Music]
along each and every day
that's why I praise you
and for this
I give you praise
[Music]
for Every Mountain
you brought me Jehovah
for every trial
you've seen me through
for every blessing
Hallelujah before this
I give you praise
for Every Mountain
you brought me over
for every trial
you've seen me through
for every blessing
and Hallelujah before this
I give you
praise
for Every Mountain
you brought me over
for every trial and you've seen me
through
for every blessing
I give you praise
in the Jesus
name we pray
[Music]
foreign
okay
Council next on our agenda tonight is
the consent agenda
um I do have one speaker card on item
number
15.
that's actually
that's our action item but anyone would
like any item removed to action for any
recusals or questions
if not motion would be in order
council member Ellis
I would like to make a motion that we
accept this
regular uh agenda and said agenda this
consent agenda tonight I'll studied with
number uh proposed move to approve the
consent agenda of May 25th 2023 regular
meetings items 1 through 14. second
motion by customer Ellis the second by
council member Harris
Council please vote
council member encinas
yes
motion carries unanimously very good
next in our agenda is item number 15 and
we'll start with uh
someone's making a brief presentation I
believe
all right
mayor this is uh the budget item I
believe yeah not not uh the emsd oh I'm
sorry
yeah
I was wondering why Kim was coming up
there I'm
sure that was Matt's joke oh yeah I
thought oh we're expanding her her
abilities I've never seen Kim do that
one before
open up
yeah
mayor council it's privilege to be
before you uh this evening to talk about
the tentative adoption of the budget for
fiscal year 2324 and our 24 to 2033
Capital Improvement program
uh tonight we have some good information
to share with you and with the residents
of Chandler about our budget first off
I'd like to start out by talking about
the statutory budget process that we go
through so we have very specific
requirements under Arizona revised
statutes that allow us to go to process
or go through our budget process excuse
me we adopt a tentative budget that sets
forth the different amounts that will be
required to meet our needs from a public
expense for the fiscal year we enter
that into the minutes we prepare our
forms that are required by the auditor
General's Office of the State of Arizona
and then we publish all our of our
information on the website for public
review
and then once tentative adoption happens
the budget cannot increase from that
point on so once if the tenant of a
budget is approved tonight it won't be
changed before until the adopted budget
between that time period it won't change
it can go down but it cannot increase
after tentative adoption a public
hearing is held and we have a public
hearing on the tax levy as well and
that's set for June 15th
and then we hold a special meeting after
that public hearing to adopt the actual
budget
and then final adoption of the tax levy
will be on June 29th
so to talk about the proposed budget
this year as in all years we have a
theme surrounding our budget and our
theme this year is innovation at work
and I wanted to share just a little bit
about how we came up with that theme
actually it was kind of a you know it
kind of came to me one day I was at
Tumbleweed Rec Center
and I saw somebody doing something that
was completely Innovative at least in my
mind and so from that experience
Innovation at work happened and what I
saw was someone on the treadmill and
I've been on treadmill a lot and he was
using the Pringles holder for a water
bottle and I thought that is innovation
right there
um I never thought of that before
Pringles holder so
um our total budget this year though for
our Innovation at work is 1.6 billion
dollars 1.66 billion dollars Amanda kept
waiting for a punch line
okay
there really isn't one in that one I
mean it's just a unique experience to
find that innovation
um our general fund total is about 610
million dollars for this fiscal year
coming fiscal year
overall about a 22 and a half percent
increase uh 800 million dollar increase
in operating about a 5.9 percent
increase and then 856 million dollar
increase in capital which is the vast
majority of the increase to the budget
43.4 percent
if you to carve out just the general
fund piece we have a 23.8 percent
increase in the general fund
483 million of that in the operating and
128 million in the capital side
some things to note about the budget it
does adhere to financial policies those
policies are set by mayor and Council
and they allow us to make sure we're
structurally balanced they allow us to
maintain AAA Bond ratings those
financial policies give us guidance and
direction to make sure that the fiscal
stability of the city of Chandler is
maintained
we use strategic framework to guide our
decisions
it provides for cost-effective quality
services and we're going to talk about
some of the services that we are
providing and the cost Effectiveness
that the city of Chandler maintains
it maintains our long-term Financial
sustainability
we engage residents through input
opportunities we had a budget survey
which was very successful this year we
had a kickoff meeting with mayor and
Council two workshops
we recently had our all-day budget
briefing and then we have our tentative
and then final adoption next month
some of the things are the drivers in
our current budget or the proposed
budget excuse me of why it might be
increasing first off revenues are
increasing we have increased revenues to
reflect the actual economic conditions
that we're seeing in our local economy
increases are coming from continued
development inflation and strong
consumer spending as well as increased
State shared revenues with updated
projections
on the expenditure side as many
residents of the city of Chandler can
attest inflation has been an issue over
the last many months and inflation has
also been felt here at the city of
Chandler so we have increases to
operating in capital budgets because of
that
Personnel costs are increasing to not
only invest in the city Workforce and
retain employees but also to add some
additional services with additional
employees in the new fiscal year
from a capital projects perspective we
continue to address aging infrastructure
add in those authorized projects from
the bond authorization that was recently
passed and our grant funded projects
and then infrastructure projects to
support the Intel expansion for fiscal
year 2223 it's about 148 million some of
that will be carried forward in the new
year as well as an additional 30.5
million for new infrastructure projects
in the new year
from a Grant's perspective it includes
about 20 million in arpa funds in the
2324 budget is carry forward as those
dollars continue to be spent on programs
and services
and a continued focus on grant
opportunities and having shovel ready
projects that may qualify for additional
grants as they come available during the
next fiscal year
now one thing that's driving potential
debt or potential increases down in
future years is an increase in what
we're paying off from a debt perspective
we have additional one-time payment of
73 million dollars to pay off
essentially our Public Safety pension
obligation that unfunded liability
that's been on many councils Minds for
many years and the City of Chandler has
done an excellent job in planning to be
able to make a hopefully one-time final
payment on that unfunded liability
portion
on this slide we can see the total
annual proposed budget from where the
money comes from as well as where the
money goes
as you can see from where the money
comes from we have a variety of Revenue
sources here at the city of Chandler
primarily this fiscal year or coming
fiscal year fund balance will be a major
source of Revenue so we have additional
fund balance that we'll be tapping into
not only for those carry forward
projects from the capital side but for
other projects moving forward in the
capital plan
we have local taxes we have grant
funding this year we'll be issuing bonds
so 209 million dollars of that is
anticipated Bond sales we do an
evaluation closer to when we actually
sell the bonds to ensure that what the
total dollar value is that we need for
that sale so it may come in less during
the fiscal year but that's the
anticipated Bond sale
we also have utility charges for our
Enterprise funds
we have other charges for services
fees and services
we have state shared revenues property
tax and system development fees
on the where the money goes portion of
the slide it shows the breakout between
operating in capital and some other
reserves and contingencies and Debt
Service that we have within the city
as you'll notice Department operating is
the largest portion of that when you
break it out individually but if you
were add together the carry forward for
major Capital as well as the new major
capital capital is driving the majority
of the budget over half of the budget is
capital related whether it be carry
forward from the current year projects
that haven't finished or new projects in
the next fiscal year
from some operating budget highlights
um this year the city has reduced the
property tax rate for the eighth
consecutive year through direction for
mayor and Council we also have no change
to the transaction privilege tax rates
which is good news for our residents we
do anticipate some water Wastewater and
solid waste rate changes to continue to
move towards cost of service
recommendations and ensure those
Enterprise funds are fully funding
themselves
the budget also maintains existing
service levels and enhances programs
tied to the Strategic framework
we've added funding for our labor
Association obligations or commitments
and also General employee Merit and
Market
to maintain our Workforce
it does plan towards that debt reduction
that we've talked about recently here
the 73 million dollars in one-time
funding to essentially pay that off and
that's a significant payment the last
two years we've been able to make these
substantial payments to virtually
eliminate that debt
and then we also continue to maintain
strong reserves including a 15 general
fund contingency reserve and a 20
million dollar budget stabilization
Reserve which allows us to maintain a a
strong Financial Focus going into the
future it also helps us maintain that
AAA Bond rating as we meet with rating
agencies whenever we issue debt they'd
like to see a stable government one with
contingencies and Reserve set up to make
sure that we are planning for any
decrease in the economic activity in our
area
when we talk about the cost associated
with the services res channel the
residents receive we do look at a
comparison in the City of Tempe provides
each year we'll get an updated uh cost
comparison in probably August of this
year and this is based on last year's
estimate but it really shows kind of the
total cost a household in the city of
Chandler can expect to pay for
government services water Wastewater
Solid Waste property taxes and the sales
tax that help fund General operations of
the city
as you see the city of Chandler is one
of the is the lowest cost for each home
household in in the State uh for all the
Valley Cities anyway uh at 1754 is our
average anticipated cost on an annual
basis for a uh household in the city of
Chandler Yeah question on that so just
wanted to you said something uh I just
want to make kind of highlight
so you said this is going to be updated
in August so these are the current of
other cities but this is our real
numbers and the other cities will only
increase at that point correct mayor
that's correct so this and this shows
our anticipated rate changes in the
current fiscal year but it does not
reflect any rate changes for the other
communities until those are set by their
Mayors and Council so our numbers will
really be starkly uh even lower than the
others when this is said and done maybe
that's that's correct from what we're
hearing from other Valley Cities
especially on the Utility side their
water Wastewater rates are growing at a
much larger percentage than ours are so
that will create more of a difference
between what our residents are paying
and other residents for the services
provided and that's really because of
really great planning for decades at
this point that has allowed us to handle
these expenses and the costs of water
and wastewater in a much more efficient
manner yeah mayor that's exactly right
through years of planning from councils
before including this this Council great
Department directors guiding through
that process to ensure that our
infrastructure is maintained that we
don't have you know large facilities
needed all of a sudden from the budget
staff making sure that our rates are
ratcheted up slowly and surely to ensure
fund balance is there to pay for all the
projects and upcoming infrastructure
needs all of those things play into
allowing that rate to remain so low
thank you
when you break out speaking of water and
wastewater in solid waste specifically
again this shows what Chandler with our
anticipated rate increases in the next
year would look like compared to
existing Valley City rates we maintain
the lowest rates for those Enterprise
services
moving on to talk about some of the
capital Improvement highlights the
capital budget for the 10-year Capital
plan for 24 2024 to 2033 is 1.96 billion
dollars about 299 million dollars more
than the 23 to 32 CIP
um that update does reflect inflationary
pressures we've mentioned that already
once how inflation has impacted uh
speaking from a capital perspective
inflation has really hit hard anything
with steel concrete asphalt and labor
and when you put those four ingredients
together you get a capital plan so just
about every Capital program that we we
do has those main inflated articles in
it so we have had to reflect those
inflationary pressures on our projects
we do have an increased Focus or
continue to focus on that aging
infrastructure as we've mentioned uh
additional analysis has gone in this
year to ensure that aging infrastructure
has been taken care of or planned out
for the next 10 years and there's still
more work to do but for the most part
The City Is On Target to make sure that
we're ensuring quality infrastructure
for residents now and into the future
and then additionally we have those
projects that are supporting our Intel
expansion the partners with Intel
Bond authorization longevity has been
shortened though by inflation so we
recently went out to the voters for
authorization need and with some of
those projects coming in higher due to
inflation we anticipated about seven
years of authorization before we needed
to go back out to voters and that has
been reduced down to about five years so
and then depending on how Bond rates
come in how if things costs are able to
come down that may shift out but we will
be watching that closely over the next
few years
another question so that large number in
there for the Intel even though it's
part of our budget that's a
reimbursement from Intel right so that's
not taxpayer expenses but we have to
account for it of all things spent in
our budget even if we're being
reimbursed correct yeah that's an
excellent point mayor thank you for
bringing that up uh for that partnership
Intel and as well as a tax rebate for
infrastructure through the State of
Arizona is what's paying for that
although we do provide the in the in
investment in that infrastructure
projects so we have to have the
authorization to spend it it is
reimbursed back to the city from those
two Partnerships with the state as well
as with Intel thank you
foreign
so for the proposed budget only adopts
or authorizes spending for the first
year of the capital plan years two
through ten are then adjusted every year
and only the new year is what's
appropriated so this talks about just
the appropriation for the new fiscal
year and a total of 856.5 million
dollars of appropriation for Capital
needs of that we have a small reserve
four hundred fifty thousand dollars and
then between Capital Carry forward
almost 500 million dollars and new
funding 360 million dollars so this is
the first year since I've been with the
city that we've had Capital Carry
forward exceeding our new funding for
Capital programs a lot of that has to do
with long lead items the delays in the
supply chain as well as just finding
labor to go in and get the work done so
we have a lot of these projects that are
a little slower on the uptake if you
will to get to completion
that brings us to kind of our final
slide here key budget dates so tonight
we are talking about the tentative
budget adoption and CIP
on June 15th is that public hearing for
not only the budget but also the tax
levy and then we'll have a special
meeting to adopt the final budget and
then on June 29th will be the adoption
of the final tax levy for property tax
purposes
so for your consideration tonight
resolution 5694 approves the tentative
budget again once that is approved the
budget cannot increase it can only
decrease from this point forward
and I do want to point out that there is
additional information on our website
chandleraz.gov forward slash budget
where you can get the entire budget
proposed budget as well as the entire
CIP proposed CIP documents and a lot of
other information so if residents would
like to go out and see exactly you know
all the details of the budget they're
out there for them to review any
questions can come to my office and our
contact information is on that website
as well and with that mayor I'll turn it
back to you for any questions thank you
um just related to the budget and
transportation I did have a question for
city manager
so in this budget there's there is no
money that is I know we've got the bike
project that is that is not going to be
reducing Lanes it's going to be putting
bike Lanes on the side but there is
we've got a number of folks here that
are quite interested in transportation
is there any money in this budget or
what's the timeline of future budgets
that you would see related to the
concept of bus Rapid Transit and what
would be the process if if indeed future
council members decide that they want to
do that
yeah Mr Mayor members of council thank
you for the question first let me be
clear there's nothing in the budget
before you tonight that includes any
sort of removal of lanes for many roads
or what's been termed a road diet none
of the projects in your budget reflect
that in fact quite the opposite you have
quite a bit of arterial road
construction that is still going on
throughout Southeast Chandler
particularly where you're actually
adding Lanes in fact I think you have
some other speakers tonight that we're
going to talk about adding Lanes on
Ocotillo roads so actually there's
there's nothing that would reflect any
sort of road diet in the budget same
goes for brt bus Rapid Transit there are
no projects in your in your 10-year
Capital plan that reflect a project of
that nature I think where that notion
comes from there is a regional
transportation plan that mag has put
together where one of the
recommendations
could be for a bus rapid transit system
but that would not be able to be funded
or even discussed until 2045 so 22 years
from now would be the soonest you could
even really talk about that and again
that's not something that you're locked
into there's no requirement that the
city adopt that recommendation there are
other Alternatives the city could
consider and certainly a lot can change
between now and 2045 when it comes to
Transportation so there is nothing in
this budget that reflects any of those
items it's similar to
um
in a light rail we had conversations and
we did studies that looked at bringing
Light Rail and and members some members
on this Council are at least two of us
and as well as previous
members decided that that was not a plan
that we wanted to pursue and any future
things related to that would alter the
roads or or specifically dedicate
something that would be that would be a
conversation in the future by that
Council would initiate whether magnix a
recommendation or not and as well as and
the Press what would be the process even
if 10 20 years from now this
conversation starts yeah Mr Mayor
members of council just as it took many
public hearings and tons of public input
to even get to where they are now there
would be a bunch more of that between
now and 2045 so you're a long way and a
lot of public conversations and
additional study and research before you
would ever get to that point okay
cancel any questions I did I did have
one speaker card related to this but any
questions for Matt or anything related
to this budget
councilmember Stewart thank you
um
this is the 10 of a tentative adoption
so I'm gonna hold my comments about the
final adoption I've got a little bit
more research I want to do with with
Josh but uh we will have an opportunity
to kind of talk about this budget a
little bit more in our in our final
adoption meeting versus tonight is that
is that a safe to say mayor it'll be in
a it'll be an agenda item again okay
sure thank you okay
um
seeing no questions let me bring up our
our one speaker
thank you man
um Janet Eckerman
if you please come forward state your
name and address for the record
um
you have up to three minutes the light
will be green when it turns yellow if
you please wrap up and when it's read
then your time is over state your name
and address for the record though man
um Hello thank you mayor and city
council for this opportunity my name is
Janet Ackerman my address is you want
the full address or sure uh 6320 North
16th Street uh Phoenix Arizona 85016
Phoenix okay I'm here
um today just to give you uh the
perspective that I have as someone who
um uses the the Light Rail and uses uh
you know public transportation I used to
use it for uh daily commuting to work
and
um riding the bus
and
I'm really
um I'm opposed to these
um
uh the plans for Road diets in the
future I'm probably not going to be
around here in 20 years from now so I
want to give you my testimony now
um
I I think it's
um
the the big issue that I have with uh
with light rail in the bus in Arizona in
Phoenix
is that
um
just the summer heat I was sitting at a
bus stop uh waiting
um uh like at six o'clock at night to
take the bus home
it was 115 degrees outside I had to call
an ambulance to go to the emergency room
because I was suffering with heat
exhaustion
that's not the only time that I've been
taking public transit in the summer so
it's just the idea that
um we are going to convert from our
air-conditioned cars to public transit
during the summer months is you know
whether it's
um the bus the uh or light rail
um
or you know whatever we it's the time
that you're spending Outdoors
uh waiting for that Transportation
um
that
creates a health problem for people
um and I was reading on the brt plan uh
site and they were saying that well it's
going to be faster because they'll make
fewer stops but the problem with fewer
stops is that means you have to walk
further to your destination
so it's basically going to cut off all
business and in in those areas between
the stops
um people just aren't going to come
um the other issue I have is that I
think cutting down the roadways down to
a single Lane
um unless there's a dedicated Lane for
buses you're going to have congestion
thank you thank you
all right
um
that was the only card
um
related to I guess the transportation
which is part of our budget
um council at this point motion would be
an order
our conversation yes sir mayor I uh move
city council pass and adopt resolution
number 5694 adopting the FY 2023 24 10
of the budget and the 2024 to dash 2033
tentative CIP and giving notice of the
dates and times of it for the hearing
taxpayers for final adoption the budget
and the setting of the tax levies and
the tax rates
so I've got a motioned by vice mayor
second by council member Ellis
Council please vote
council member and Cena's
yes
motion carries unanimously all right
thank you
next on our agenda is Kim Moyer so
excited to share on this public hearing
and action item number 16 having to do
with their annual assessment for
Downtown Chandler and hence Municipal
Services District
Kim we are so excited to hear what
you've got to say thank you thank you
I'm so excited to be here mayor
and get this started
okay
uh mayor council tonight I'm here to
present the fiscal year 23 24 enhanced
Municipal Services District annual
assessment the emsd was created in 2005
and is now in its 18th year and covers
61.4 Acres an enhanced Municipal
Services district is formed to provide
city services up and Beyond typical city
services such Services include safety
beautification marketing and promotion
and professional management and
communication these services are
provided by the downtown Chandler
Community Partnership the dccp through
an annual contract with the city that we
will bring back next month for possible
approval and with that I would like to
call up Rebecca Hill the executive
director to highlight a few of the emsd
services provided by the dccp last year
Kim thanks Mr mayor council members for
the time tonight
quickly my name is Rebecca Hill and I am
the new executive director for the dccp
um I would just like to take a few
minutes to talk about our mission our
board of directors and then a brief
overview of our services as Kim
mentioned
our mission statement is the downtown
Chandler Community Partnership is a
501c6 not-for-profit corporation whose
mission is to mobilize leadership and
resources to advance the development of
downtown Chandler as a regional
destination for shopping dining living
culture and the Arts
our board of directors include downtown
business owners property owners and
developers all of them owning businesses
that we know and love here in downtown
the dccp services includes management to
provide board meetings stakeholder
meetings strategic plans sustainability
budgets and building Partnerships
events are one of the more visual
services that we provide including the
farmers market and with an intentional
Focus over the last six months the
Farmers Market has grown in vendors and
in attendance
the Chandler's Farmers Market has been
nominated for the top three markets in
Arizona through the best of the desert
2023 from AZ Central
other events include the wedding walk
which highlighted San Marcos Hilton Soho
63 Chandler pops and various restaurants
that may be a good fit for rehearsal
dinners and brunch the next morning
continuing on small business Saturday
various Pub crawls and creating great
Partnerships allows us to host Fine Arts
and Wine Festival Beer Bourbon and
Barbecue Oktoberfest all with the great
Partners from San Tan and pedal house
breweries
another important pillar of our service
is our marketing of downtown we have
more than 33 000 followers on our social
media combined pages and we have several
thousands who subscribe to our monthly
newsletter
and we create various campaigns
throughout the year to include Channel
your chill which will be released here
in the next week or so which includes a
dive-in movie for families stay and play
campaigns to attract the Leisure
traveler and locals
in addition we help all the business
Market their specials services and
events
but we're more than just putting the
word out on the street about what's
happening in downtown Chandler we're
committed to the experience and
welcoming of visitors placemaking such
as planting flowers placing the American
flags holiday lights and displays
rooftop lighting and overall and
inviting downtown
one of the most important and noticeable
Services we provide is the clean team
the purpose of the clean team is to
ensure litter and garbage is picked up
graffiti is removed and or reported
promptly emptying trash cans removing
stickers and random Flyers that end up
on poles in the downtown as well as
emptying trash cans and wiping down the
surfaces such as the park benches and
this person serves as a downtown
Ambassador again all services over and
above what the city is already committed
to doing
we look forward to continuing to provide
these services and so much more we
invite you to attend our upcoming annual
meeting on June 8th for more information
thank you for your time back to Kim
mayor thank you
yeah Rebecca
I um just want to compliment you on your
approach you got a hold of the council
members City staff stakeholders and you
really did a due diligence on where
we're at what the Baseline is and where
we need to go so I certainly appreciate
that
and um also as you know taking your
input obviously we talked about arts and
we talked about the trees replanting
some of the other stuff and you'll see
some of that in our budget to help
supplement some of those activities
um as you know art uh has is a big
attraction and as we expand in that area
we've given Kim some more additional
dollars to work with us to get some more
of those art walks that drive people
down here and conjuncts what our tourism
dollars would you give them something to
do at our downtown so I certainly
appreciate your approach and the
optimism and positive that you brought
to this organization
thank you very much vice mayor Orlando I
really appreciate the feedback and
appreciate the opportunity to meet with
the individual council members and also
Mr Mayor and staff for providing that
insight and that feedback and you know
trying to put some of those missing
pieces together and so I appreciate the
feedback and we really appreciate the
support and the uh hopeful dollars that
will be coming soon thank you so much
any other questions for me additional
Council discussion Vice council member
Stuart thank you thank you for the
presentation and Kim thanks for all the
work you've been doing downtown I know
in basically the last five to eight
years our downtown has become a tourism
it's a destination uh place for people
to come so we can get tax dollars from
Gilbert and Tempe for no I'm just
kidding but people are coming to our
downtown and it's because of what's
being done at dccp and what the people
on that board are doing to drive events
and things like that so it's a real fun
place and it's safe and it's vibrant and
uh we're just grateful for what you're
doing so thank you very much for the
presentation and continuing forward
thank you councilmember Stuart I
appreciate it
customer Harris just wanted to say uh
Rebecca I got a chance to sit down with
you and I appreciate your
professionalism and I and I definitely
appreciate Kim Moyers because she
definitely knows downtown she definitely
knows what makes the city come alive and
I think with the partnership that we
have with dccp being led by you and Kim
Moyers you guys are doing such a great
job but I will say this uh I don't know
how many times I get compliments about
our Downtown Chandler all the time like
people like coming to downtown Chandler
and um thank you for making it a clean
welcoming warm safe place for people to
kind of come live hang out and just you
know if I can say this word chill
yeah that's what I'll leave it at thank
you great thank you councilmember Harris
I'd also Echo that other
um in January at our uh at our
International Film Festival we had a lot
of folks coming in from across the
nation and internationally and what I
heard again and again is that they felt
safe they felt that our people were
friendly that our city was clean that
really was uh most of their Universe on
that trip was just in her downtown and
staying at the Hilton across from City
Hall and just traversing back and forth
so uh that's the kind of comments and
Vibe we want to continue to build a
thank you Mr Mayor
um
all right Council um no further
discussion is there any discussion from
the audience related to this public
hearing do you have a little America oh
I'm sorry we're still going yep mayor
apologize we just need to finish the
process for it to vote if it's okay
um so uh just where we're at now um to
further expand on the emsd process the
assessment was authorized by the
property owners in the district with a
hundred percent of the assessment
proceeds being paid by uh by the
district the city council is the
governing body who officially enables
the district and the district must be
renewed every year the annual steps are
as follows the step one is to set the
rate by the council the rate has
remained the same since its uh Inception
in 2005. this year is the first year the
dccp requested a five percent increase
that is allowed by the emsd bylaws as
the law largest property owner in the
downtown the dccp also requested the
council approve a five percent increase
to our voluntary contribution which
would increase that contribution from a
hundred and eighteen thousand eight
hundred and four dollars to a hundred
twenty four thousand dollars uh 744 124
744 uh on March 23rd the council uh
provided a tentative assessment approval
on that since then we've had a published
notice of hearing as required by ARS for
five consecutive days before the hearing
the dccp also mailed notices to all
property owners in the district of their
right to file an objection and no
objections have been received at this
point tonight's the hearing and then
finally we'll be back on June 22nd for
the possible approval of the contract
with the dccp to administer the enhanced
Municipal Services district and with
that I'm finished unless you have any
other questions Council any questions on
the emsd process here quickly
Kim again thank you for the presentation
yesterday did we pick up new members
from last year this year you know I
asked that question every year so right
I'm keeping tradition okay yes we
um through the mayor vice mayor yes we
did
um uh for example the maple house which
will be opening up
um that was a residential home so as we
convert that into commercial that will
be an additional assessment any
expansions that we see would be that
assessment as well but the maple house
is the most is what the ones that you
would know the most recent one okay
thank you thank you mayor yes all right
all right is there any discussion from
the audience on the emsd process or what
is before us
seeing none
I'd like to close our public hearing at
that point thank you all
item 17 is a resolution approving the
fiscal year
related to the enhanced Municipal
Services District Council I believe a
motion would be in order
okay vice mayor yeah I moved at the city
council passion top resolution number
5692 approving the fiscal year
2023-2024 annual assessment for the city
of Chandler Arizona downtown Chandler
enhancement Municipal Services District
sort of motion by vice versa second
second second by council member Poston
any further discussion seeing none
Council please vote council member
encinas
yes
motion carries unanimously
great thank you Council
next on our agenda public agenda here is
unscheduled public appearances we do
have a few cards here
um to those who desire to speak as an
unscheduled item we cannot engage you in
terms of the public meeting process but
you you'll have your time and I ask that
you
um please stick to that I would ask that
you do not repeat what's already been
said if you've got something new to
bring
uh please share that uh and if you're
comment is as simple as I agree with
them that's just as acceptable or if
someone previously has said what you
desire to share
you can also decline to speak at that
point so I've gotten a number of cards
on two separate issues first up is Mr
Clovis hungate
go big or go home sir there you go
that's true
my name is Clovis hungate thank you
mayor council members I'm here before
you regarding the property located on
the Maricopa County Island it's located
on the north east corner of Ocotillo and
140th
due to a conflict we are requesting to
further work on that location and said
project be suspended until the following
issue is ready Matt can you turn his
singer in for us please
keep going sir
uh until the following issue was
rectified except for the repair of our
irrigation valve that
blew up on us by their Construction
there was a temporary construction
easement dated 11 9 11 20 the grants a
five foot temporary strictly temporary
easement for the construction phase of
the widening of Ocotillo Road
after that construction the tce is
supposed to be reverted back to our
property as our Southern
ordered and property
there that borders on the Roosevelt
water district easement as well the TC
has been surveyed and stake by mlc
Services showing the legal north side of
that tce
the mlc services staked at the location
of the vinyl fencing that was purchased
well and replaced by Chandler
the thought on that is they said it was
permanent and they replaced it but
they're telling us now that they need to
tear that down so
um the fence
and at their expense and they're wanting
to remove it
the vinyl fence is already located on
the north side of that tce this allows
Hayden construction access to use that
five foot easement however the fence was
not installed in a straight line
set an angle all the way down 300 feet
on our property doesn't look all that
well
there's an inclusion of a block wall
which was part of the purchase agreement
on our southern south easement line Mr
Lissette with CEI said that the wall
would be on our Southern property line
which is the easement area there Mr
Garcia with Chandler City Public Works
in utilities was there and he agreed
with that point that Mr lissett had made
but the wall is going to be at an angle
as well which on that corner which is
like I said 300 feet it's going to be a
lot different this has been going on
since 2016. we've had conflict
information with several of the land
agencies with Chandler
and the info that they've been giving to
us I've talked to the May the
city manager already tonight and you'll
be getting with us gotten to the point
it's hard to trust because it's subject
and the information has changed
drastically over the last seven eight
years
to the point where it's happened one
time and one day it took place four
different types of information
thank you sir okay
and again city manager you're going to
be following with Mr hunger yes mayor we
had a conversation earlier tonight we'll
get a meeting for next week with uh Mr
and Mrs Hungary great thank you next of
our unscheduled public appearances Janet
who and I apologize if I'm saying your
name wrong
again please state your name and address
for the record and you have up to three
notes perfect thank you my name is Janet
ho and I live at 21632 South 140th
Street in Chandler Arizona
um talking to you specifically on an
addition to what Clovis was talking
about
um that is the Ocotillo widening project
we live off 140th Street between Lindsay
and Gilbert that is the only entrance to
that entire neighborhood we do not have
a back area because that easement was
closed by the Roosevelt District back in
1999 so we have not had another entrance
out to that property the agreement was
made when the widening would happen that
we would be able to continue to use a
left turn lane onto 140th they have
closed that off not just during
construction hours but non-construction
hours to get a fire truck into our
neighborhood yesterday they had to stop
and move cones to get in which is a
safety issue in addition to that I
cannot move my horse trailer with my
horses in and out of that property with
the cones I must stop and move cones in
order to make a right turn safely to
move my horses out there are about a 150
houses back there multiple houses have
horses have cows have sheep have all
kinds of property our garbage services
have been blocked from getting in and
when the garbage trucks cannot get in
they do not come back they leave and
we'll come back the next time which
means we cannot have our poop removal
which is a problem I get pellet and hay
delivery by the squeeze every 10 days
they cannot get in at this point in time
because they are blocked from making a
left turn the biggest and most critical
issue though on top of all of that the
school buses now are dropping off on the
south side of Chandler and the kids are
walking in front of the bus through the
construction onto the other side because
the bus is not stopping on that turn
lane where they used to the cars coming
West are not stopping and those kids are
walking with no one supervising them
through that street on top of that
anyone coming from the west side has to
make a U-turn to get into our property
well Lindsay is now blocked off on the
right side so you cannot safely make a
u-turn on Lindsay and there is
construction going down in Greenfield
you cannot make a U-turn so anyone
coming in that needs to make a U-turn
can't get into our property so we're
completely blocked and we want to work
with the city we want to work to get
this resolved but there's a safety issue
for our kids for our property for our
animals right now and so we need to to
work with you guys to get this resolved
thank you thank you and city manager
again
okay thank you
an extent scheduled public appearance is
I'm just taking these not around Adam
Jen Dixon
again if you please state your name and
address for the record you have up to
three minutes to share your thoughts or
concerns
hi my name is Gene Dixon I live at 625
North Hamilton number 19 in Chandler
Arizona
85225 I've lived here 18 years in
Chandler I moved here and decided I
liked it and I stayed
and I've seen lots of changes in
Chandler downtown Chandler's as well of
all of Chandler but the main thing I've
seen
and it was brought to my attention we're
going to have a road diet
and that that project is going to now
make one-way streets and it's going to
be bus lanes in the middle of my section
of Arizona Ave which is where I go in
and out to get to my complex the I saw
this same kind of thing happen in mace
in down in downtown Mesa it on Main
Street when they put the light rail in
and they had construction for three
years and most of those businesses went
out of business because people couldn't
get there and that's what's going to
happen if you put that construction in
down that those are all small businesses
they're nothing there are no big big
named ones they're all small businesses
and they they've just recovered from
covid and now you're going to put a
construction site in there and take away
their business because no one will walk
down there they won't be able to get
across the street and we already have
problems with the high school kids
running across the street you know in
front of cars which you know causes its
own problem and
um we've had police officers have to
stop people from walking down the in the
middle of the street because so it
that's going to cause that problem even
more when you put in the bus lanes
because where are the people going to
walk
and I so I'd like to put an A in for
that for not putting in the road diet
thank you
again city manager could you release the
issue to council explaining the process
that was explained earlier just so we
could have those that were not
restricting lanes and that none of this
is is happening if you could please send
us a memo on that again I'd appreciate
it
next up our speaker is
Derek Logan Derek again if you could
please state your name and address for
the record
thank you mayor hockey vice mayor
Orlando council members my name is Derek
Logan I'm living lot 96 by Mike Estates
in Chandler
um I was brought here because of hearing
about their own diet but it just got me
thinking about all what's going on and
where the future is going I moved here
33 years ago I love Chandler I love
where we've gone how we've we're you
know where we've
whatever we've gone since then we
certainly have developed a great City
you guys have been doing a great job in
all those before you really appreciate
it so now where are we going and we may
say well this road diet is not going to
be 20 45 we won't know about it for 10
years but mag is thinking about it now
obviously there's already stuff out
there what about what are the draw for
this they might say well you got all
this high density ultra high density
housing like the proposed housing in the
north east corner of Pine Lake you know
just north of Planet off of Ocotillo
Road
um so the thing is so let's not build my
you know my
wish for you guys is please let's not
try to build massive ultra high density
Pockets throughout the suburbs where
people have moved because they wanted to
be in the suburbs let's keep the city
you know as a city let's keep the
suburbs as the suburbs we won't have to
worry about his mass transit which
really when you look at it as a per
person per per mile or per time I mean
do they really transfer that many more
people
they really don't I mean especially if
you have dedicated Lanes I mean even
like the light rail
um so let's just what's what's the plan
going forward what can we do what can we
do now can reach out with mag start
talking to them now not wait 10 years
from now for them to come to us with a
proposal what can we do now I know you
can't answer that right now that's just
my thoughts for you and if you want any
support please let me know because I've
worked a lot in transportation too
thank you sir
next person uh Jeff Caldwell again sir
please state your name and address you
have up to three minutes to share your
thoughts
Jeff Caldwell I'm a residence resident
of Maricopa County
originally thank you mayor for this
opportunity and council members
originally I wasn't going to speak
um but it was concerning to me with the
mayor who's also a member of Mag
standing outside requesting for us not
to speak on this issue because it's not
on the agenda and so that's a huge red
flag to me as an average citizen and it
compelled me to speak but from a
previous presentation we saw earlier
tonight because of Decades of planning
and what has helped out uh residents of
Chandler to cut down on their costs we
have planned decades into the future on
what's going to happen and so this plan
I congratulate you guys and thank you
guys very much for not moving forward
currently with Road diets however mag
shouldn't even exist and these types of
decisions should be left up to the city
and the residents on how they want their
City run
and so with that being said I just
wanted to get ahead of the curve because
Road diets will cause more pollution
to add on to Janet's uh comment earlier
because you have more congestion and
more CO2 emissions from cars in the
future so I do greatly appreciate you
guys taking a stand right now but uh
this is something that is very serious
and that we need to get ahead of thank
you very much
thank you sir
mayor
council member Harris I want to just
talk to Josh for a second
um I'm just going to Echo the sentiments
what mayor have already said to put the
press release out that we're not doing
that
because we keep hearing people share the
same thing that what we're not doing
don't do this but we're not doing it but
we keep hearing them say don't do it but
we're not doing it so I think having a
clear
to send to our residents in the city of
Chandler
that they'll know we have the city scope
we do inform our community Through
social media
um
and various other ways that we inform
them but I keep hearing people saying
don't do this and we're not doing this
and I don't know how many times you need
to say it that we're not doing it but if
you could please just let everyone know
that we're not doing it get the press
release done whatever that needs to look
like so we can do it so we can move
forward so we can stop saying
thank you
the last speaker is um Linda Hamilton
again please state your name and address
for I'm sorry I'm
Marissa I'm very sorry yeah
please state your name and address for
the record you have three minutes my
name is Marissa Hamilton I am a resident
of Maricopa County I did not realize I
signed up uh but I will just add to this
uh the commentary on the road diets I
understand that you are not doing it
however there is this unelected
bureaucratic entity that you are
associated with called mag that is
constantly trying to ruin our cities and
ruin the ability for the people to be
able to have self-governance in their
local government I would encourage you
to discontinue your relationship with
this entity this entity is hostile to
self-governance it is hostile to the
people they do not care about the
relationship that we the people have
with our elected officials they are here
to disrupt that they were created in
1960 the government actually calls it
coercive federalism
we need to end course the federalism
bring us back to self-governance where
we the people have a direct relationship
with our elected officials and we make
decisions together about spending and
Taxation and Roads so I just want to
thank you for making a definitive
statement on this and I encourage all of
the other cities in Maricopa County to
do the same and it is my wish to see the
councils of government in Arizona cease
to exist because they are no longer
needed thank you very much
all right thank you next on our schedule
is we have
heard events of which I will be starting
I do want to wish everyone a very happy
Memorial Day
and I hope that this weekend that you
take time out from the the family the
barbecue whatever you're doing to
reflect upon the reason that we are
celebrating
the fact that we enjoy so many rights
today and that a price has been paid in
order that we can enjoy them we
appreciate the the work and those who
have died in defense of our our great
nation Memorial Day was started and
during the Civil War what Americans
would bring flowers and other items to
Graves so those lost in battle
So speaking for Council and perhaps
other Wills too so speaking for myself
we will never forget the sacrifices of
those who have lost their lives to
preserve our freedom
two other announcements I'd like to make
is
um really a big congratulations to Micah
Miranda our economic team and the City
of Chandler as Chandler is being
recognized as the Arizona Chambers 2023
best city for business
and this event which will be coming up
in early June is award given the cities
and towns that show that they drive
economic development through high
quality of Live And favorable business
conditions do want to congratulate again
our city staff who helped make this
possible in Chandler and many of us will
retent will be attending this awards
ceremony on June 6th and then finally at
our last council meeting we brought up
some Hamilton High School students that
that were top of the state representing
us related to a national economics
challenge while they is that you in the
back Olivia yeah Olivia was one of them
so they traveled East and came in fourth
in the nation and congratulations to you
foreign
new mayor's youth commissioned members
that Council you voted on tonight so
thank you for joining us
uh councilmember Ellis
thank you mayor
um this last weekend I had an
opportunity to be part of the annual
Haitian Flag Day and I was able to read
a
proclamation of the 1803
flight day for the Haitian people we
have many of them that are living
through our Chandler and also all over
Arizona those of you who don't realize
it Haiti was the first black nation in
the world to have taken its independence
before anyone else did the first black
nation from the French as a French
colony and from that place Haiti went
all over the world to help others get
their freedom and so freedom for the
Haitian people is innate in them it's
something they carry with them wherever
they go and wherever they are they come
to bring that peace with them they come
to bring that let's put our hands
together and work together
the Haitian people as they have traveled
all over the world and United States
included never come here to just only
take they come here also to give back
and to help they are not asking for a
handout they are asking for a hand up we
do have a lot of refugees that are
throughout the United States and also in
Arizona currently and those refugees
they are here legally and those who are
not legally they are under the status of
being a refugee and for that matter the
city of Chandler as we have stand to
receive them and to help them thrive in
this city we have quite a few of them
here and we will continue to work with
them as they go to school
as they provide a place for their
families to live and to thrive right
here in Chandler and so we want to thank
you mayor for having given me that
Proclamation
and for having given me the opportunity
to spend the time there were about 300
of them in a room on Saturday nights
they were really happy that Chandler had
opened a door for them to be here and to
thrive thank you mayor and constell
appreciate you all
thanks man come here
oh okay you did you get applaud go ahead
no good it wasn't for you I know I know
not that self-centered I knew it was for
her
patients go ahead all right we're good
it's all good
so on Monday Memorial it will be
Memorial Day and the as the normal event
Valley the sun uh at nine o'clock I'll
be saying a few words on on behalf of
the council and thank you for the honor
mayor um
but I do want to say a real quick thing
is um if I had to present the flag many
times to um deceased you know members of
this deceased um member of the military
and just recently I received one myself
and was my dad
um and as we go forward this weekend I
want you to remember keywords that we
say during that little that little bit
of uh discussion with we have with the
um the the deceased members family
member
um the words are on behalf of a Grateful
Nation
keep those in your mind
and saying thank you to that and
specifically if you lost a loved one
keep reminding that because
without the support of the American
public the American Military would not
be where it is today so on behalf of a
Grateful Nation thank you
thank you
[Applause]
council member story
mayor I don't want to follow that
was powerful thank you yeah
so I've got about 10 announcements that
I want to go through real quick now but
hey this this week earlier this week I
was able to uh go through a simulation
training event with uh Commander fan and
Lieutenant shellam over at our uh
world-renowned Public Safety Training
Center and I got to tell you you want to
talk about a professional group of men
and women
um there's a we've got a video on our
Facebook page for the city council
Facebook page you should check it out
there's uh some training exercises that
we did we've got an Advanced Simulator
room that they train in uh from a
company that's right here an Innovative
company right here in Chandler and so go
check that out but I gotta Tell You
Folks the investment that we made in
that public safety training center was
worth every penny and I got to tell you
I had lunch with the chief this week and
we talked about some of the challenges
that were faced but we also talked about
the successes that we're we're seeing
and once again crime is down
dramatically uh in Chandler Arizona and
we'll continue to see those Investments
of adding police officers adding firemen
that was part of our budget tonight that
we approved uh to continue to make
Chandler one of the safest communities
and and not just the state but in in
America so thank you lieutenant thank
you Commander for having me out and uh
Team Chandler for for doing the video
and uh you know I got to tell you it's
pretty cool to see people come and
address their their uh their government
that's what it's that's what this is all
about right three minutes but you get to
tell your your elected officials we are
you to this body to this to this
government and we're here to represent
you uh the we the people so it's just
really cool to see this and to see
people coming out and sharing what they
think and and where they want to see
their government work for them so thanks
for being here tonight
thanks thank you so much um just gonna
follow
vice mayor as a military veteran myself
um have proud to serve but also my
father I'll be mourning him over the
weekend because he was also a military
veteran as well and he died from agent
orange he served in Vietnam and so I'll
be mourning him and actually
um this is my father passed away when I
was 14 years old he's been he's been
gone 26 years now
so uh I do know about that sacrifice and
I know that I'm grateful it encouraged
me to join the military and things of
that nature so
um so we're military families is about
those that passed away and we're going
to all band together as brothers as
sisters and um salute those that left us
um but definitely not
um going to leave those out of our
memories so with that being said also as
you know may is armed forces uh we
there's a day in May 20th we celebrate
Armed Forces Day so vice mayor and I had
the awesome opportunity to gather to pay
tribute to our veterans and active duty
military uh it was a wonderful to hear
the stories from our Chandler veterans
um Dave from our commission he spoke he
talked about his time traveling across
the the nation and all these men and
women are veterans along with myself
sorry vice mayor you was not there for
that picture
yeah
so it was a really good turnout and
lastly I wanted to make sure I take my
point of privilege to talk about my
beautiful daughter who received her
master's degree in digital audience
strategy and with distinction uh she
graduated from ASU off the concrete so
I'm a proud papa uh I asked her to give
me the pictures you want me to show of
you
because I know okay but I'm really proud
of her because uh number one she works
for she currently works for Disney right
now Good Morning America uh she was an
anchor for PBS uh for a while she worked
at several of the news stations here and
I couldn't be more proud of this young
lady so if you have a roll open for my
daughter Chief marketing something
uh she's definitely ready uh and I would
just say this last Point
as a family that kind of does media and
you appreciate this and you appreciate
this
um she's been on so many red carpets
that most people only see like the
Grammys the BET Awards Oscars and she's
been able to participate in that in her
journey and getting her master's degree
so it's just really been great just
having her do some amazing things and
you know I can't wait to see what uh
tomorrow holds for her because she has a
bright future and she graduated with
distinction so she did something even
really good she had great grades
throughout school so very proud I'm
proud of you love you thank you
well congratulations that's a hard act
to follow but you have a nice way of
lightening some things up and I would
like to say thank you to vice mayor
Orlando and recognize you and
councilmember Harris for your service
like you you your words are
kind of hard to follow and very moving
so um thank you very much
um I do want to recognize that today was
the last day of school for our kids for
cusd driving around I just saw kids
everywhere today it was great and it was
it was just fantastic so wishing them a
safe and happy summer that being said we
talked about the summer slide before and
you know our libraries are putting on a
summer reading challenge I commend
council member uh council member Ellis
for jumping in and joining the challenge
I did go to a used bookstore bought
about 15 books so I'm getting ready to
jump into this challenge myself I know
you're ready too
so on my own library at home but we uh
yeah I I do too I added to mine so that
that was very fun and then just to
continue sort of the the summer
tradition we have great news from our
Downtown Chandler area
um even more so than Kim Warriors here
our Chandler chamber shared an economic
development update they do that on a
regular basis and we had our very own
Micah Miranda our economic development
director and Kim Moyers actually speak
to all of the great things going on with
businesses here in Chandler one of the
things that was pointed out is that one
I have some great facts here we were we
were shouting out our downtown before
but our 2122 sales tax was the best year
on record that they've seen an increase
of 57.4 percent year-over-year growth
and one really interesting fact is that
you know we used to have Summers that
would be slow and now we're finding that
our downtown businesses are are seeing
an increase in steady business over the
summer that's good for them it's good
for us it's good for small business it
was just a great fact that I wanted to
share and then we have plenty of new
restaurants we talked about the maple
house I'm going to give you a few more
Elliott steakhouses opening a couple of
brewing companies roll them up to ketos
and crispy cones so that was great news
we got plenty of places to go and
support those businesses during the
summer we've got over 600 new
multi-family units coming into the
downtown area and then office industrial
and Retail lease rates all exceed The
Five-Year average so we have great news
of the city of Chandler for our
businesses
um I appreciate the information from
both Micah and from Kim and the Chamber
for putting that on they do a great job
of helping us share the good news that
Chandler is doing in terms of Economic
Development finally just really quick I
would like to also give a little shout
out to public works there is this unsung
gem believe it or not
um did a little spring cleaning cleaning
out the garage dropped off dropped off
junk at our solid waste facility there
on McQueen and and Queen Creek they do
such a fantastic job it's something to
be proud of it's a great service to our
residents you've never seen such a clean
facility that's taking your household
hazardous waste your landscape all of
that kind of stuff so just to shout out
out to them for doing such a nice job I
happen to be through there today and
appreciate it and it's it's a benefit to
our residents so thank you mayor thank
you city manager
thank you mayor just very briefly wanted
to uh add to councilor poston's comment
it's actually also the end of National
Public Works week this week uh so great
time to bring up the many services they
offer just wanted to commend John
Knutson our director and his outstanding
team for all the work they do to keep
Chandler looking fantastic and safe
every single day thank you mayor
Council have a great weekend we'll be
back at work next week
thank you