City of Chandler Council Meeting 3/23/23

foreign
thank you
foreign
good evening and Welcome to our regular
city council meeting of March 23rd 2023
like to call this meeting to order clerk
please take and please take the role and
by the way we have three of our council
members one that is unable to call in
vice mayor the other two are calling in
remote from DC they're part of a
conference that many of us will be
joining
vice mayor Orlando is absent excuse
council member encinas
here councilmember Ellis
yeah councilmember Stuart here
councilmember Harris here council member
posted here we have a corn
thank you is Pastor Nathan messler here
pastor messler
is Pastor Victor Hardy in the crowd
Pastor Victor Hardy will be giving our
invocation tonight and uh I'll be doing
the pledge tonight Pastor Hardy
thanks
let us pray
we have come into this house
and gathered in his name to worship Him
we have come into this house
and gathered in his name to worship Him
we have come into this house
and gathered in his name to worship
Christ
oh Lord
[Music]
Christ
our Lord
worship yeah
in Jesus name
oh Lord
amen thank you
please join me in the pledge
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the
United States of America
and to the Republic for which it stands
one nation under God indivisible with
liberty and justice for all
thank you Pastor for that Focus
Council um honor consent item whoever
makes a motion there is a little
memorandum from our our City attorney
that refers to one of the items if this
could be read before that but before we
do that
I did want to just take a moment and um
you'll notice in this packet there is a
number of items that are were pointing
people to our boards and commissions and
I want to thank all of our city members
who applied for boards and commissions
we have a a bumper crop of people that
have applied and which means we've got a
lot of great people who applied which
also means that we are unable to give
everyone the opportunity who applied to
serve and so my methodology on this with
if someone has served a term uh unless
there had not been able to attend their
first term then I usually let people
serve a second term and that takes up
the bulk of these reappointments I then
looked to council recommendations our
staff recommendations and that takes up
most of if not all of the rest of these
so I I do want to thank everyone that
has applied and all of those in
particular that we will be uh voting in
tonight there are a few more that we
will for other reasons that next month
we will also uh complete that process a
board wasn't quite ready or asked for a
delay so there's some reasons why we
will be coming back next month and
completing that process
so with that
um is there a motion to be made here
mayor
council member
I almost called you temporary acting
vice mayor
my new row uh moved to approve the
consent agenda for March 23rd 2023
regular meeting items one through 24.
plus read that there are two please uh
plus
um
I gotta please refer to the attachment
or okay plus exhibit a to ordinance
5048 relating to the regulation of
short-term rental
um has been laid out of specific
language
um
recidivists was replaced with habitual
offender and this is not a substantial
this is not sustainable change in the
meaning and the intent remaining the
same
very good so we have a motion on the
floor is there a second a second we have
a motion and a second is there any
additional discussion
um recusals Etc mayor council member
Stewart thank you um I appreciate the
work that was put in a resolution
um five five I'm sorry uh 5048 I'll be
voting no on that city clerk only
because of the uh added tax the 250 if
that changes later I'll amend my vote
thank you I don't believe that this is
part of this vote this time so that's
what
okay okay
so we have uh one no vote on that please
note
Council please vote
council member encinas
yes councilmember Ellis
yes motion carries unanimously with the
exception of item number two which
carries by majority council member
Stuart descenting
very good thank you
uh item number six uh council member
Stewart I know we have this robust
conversation but you still wanted to
share a couple comments
well thank you mayor uh on item number
six this is the um
this is the item we talked about on
Monday a pretty long length and I think
most everyone's aware of what's going on
I think it's just a testament to our
moving forward and being a community of
innovation and trying new things and uh
trying to provide better service to the
community
or this this Century Link or this is not
the uh I don't think I called this one
in
do we move numbers because of the no
this is something related to The
Briefing item that you wanted to make
comment about 20s your breathing item
that you call there it's yours you said
I thought you said six I'm sorry six on
my cheat sheet you mean yes I followed
you there didn't I I was ready though
did you guys I did you were ready though
it's like all right Dave spec can use
you item number 26 which you would put
on the agenda
item number 25 I'm sorry I'm looking at
the one on the online
um yeah so this was the the discussion
about inflation reduction opportunities
and we had a robust discussion on Monday
and I appreciate that and we have some
council member members missing uh and
they definitely need to be here as we
talk about more opportunities to uh to
lower revenues or help our community uh
with the struggles with inflation so
we're going to table this discussion to
a later time maybe even our next budget
workshop and talk a little bit more
about that take another stab at it thank
you mayor okay
with that we do have a couple
unscheduled speaking cards and
see if I can get them
let me see it was David first of the two
of you right all right so if I can call
up David Fletcher
David if he would come up to here the
lights will turn green when it's time to
wrap up you it'll turn yellow and please
be done by when it's read you have three
minutes and please state your name and
record or name and address for the
record please sir
yes my name is Dave Fletcher and uh I
live at 701 South Dobson Road Mesa
Arizona
I just moved there four months ago but
I've been coming to Arizona for the last
actually 17 years uh for the winter I
was a snowbird from Indianapolis
and uh my two sons my only two children
and their wives and my nine
grandchildren live here in Chandler and
both of my boys and myself are all
interested in playing at table tennis
and have been playing at your community
center
and and your Tumbleweed recreation
center and we've enjoyed it and got a
lot of benefit out of it but uh there's
some things that need to be added to the
program and we're asking as players that
you that you get a facility where it
will be a permanent facility where
tables can be set up permanently not
have to be set taken down and rolled
away and then put back up uh most it's
been players that have been setting the
tables up setting the chairs up setting
uh other tables for equipment to be set
on uh that has been preparing the
facility for for play and then they has
to have to disassemble everything at the
end of play uh if we if we're not unable
to get a permanent facility where we can
leave the table set up
we would request that maybe you have a
person that could have the facility
ready for play
the truth is uh you probably think well
this is kind of silly table tennis well
table tennis is probably the most
popular sport in your community if I
don't know if you knew that or not but
there's more interest shown uh for
instance I went Tuesday to the community
center we had four tables we had more
people sitting around waiting to play
than they were playing and they had to
wait their turn
so we need we need more tables more of a
permanent facility so we can leave the
table set up
and uh we need more days to play at one
time it was three now it's been reduced
to two even though the interest is great
and
um so uh we would like to have at least
three or four days through the week to
play and then it's an extended times
also
so uh you've given a lot of
consideration to some of your other
sports like racquetball hundreds of
thousands of dollars or pickleball
rather hundreds of thousands of dollars
have been spent for pickleball very
little of money has been spent on the
sport of table tennis and uh we're just
asking that for the
public that loves the sport that you
will consider these proposals and give
us some help thank you David appreciate
your time thank you and although we
cannot engage you
um staff is listening and they they will
have your address for further follow-up
or if you would like to talk to Steph
after the meeting they'd be more than
willing to further the conversation
thank you sir thank you
next up is
um
Mike foshino
and again we cannot engage you as an
unscheduled public appearance but please
state your name and address and you have
up to three minutes to share your
thoughts or concerns sir okay Michael
fucino 1081 West Boston Court Chandler
and um I'm also I'm here for uh two
issues both of them dealing with table
tennis uh we when we've been playing
there's 600 people now on the on Sean
and he was the president he's the
president of our club there's 600 people
on his email list that he sends that
wants to play table tennis and uh right
now we have I believe six tables at
Chandler Community Center and they ate a
tumbleweed but we only can play a few
hours a week at both facilities and when
when you know I'm one of the higher
rated players but when I go there
there's so many paddles for people
waiting to play it frustrates the
players because they have to wait around
and sometimes so because of that a lot
of players don't even show up out of
those
600. uh they wanted me to bring to your
attention that uh
that
that that
pretty much like Dave said that they
they haven't spent that much on table
tennis and I I think you're building a
new facility facility we're hoping that
maybe we can have a table tennis at that
facility or maybe expand and Tumbleweed
to have more room or a place that we can
play all the time I know the president
was thinking where they have the uh
physical fitness if maybe they can
divide half of that into a maybe a
permanent table tennis facility
um so I'm just requesting more hours to
play because so many people are
interested and uh maybe more days to
play or like Dave said it ideally in the
future if we could get a a either a
facility where we can put a tables uh a
permanent facility to play or else uh
expand the cover they're playing at
Tumbleweed and Chandler Community Center
also when I go to Tumbleweed I have a
silver and fit health insurance and I've
been bugging them since I've had that to
have that covered because they they
cover uh silver sneakers and one of the
other uh programs so I called Silver and
Fit I said how come we can't go to
Tumbleweed and they said tumble we won't
allow it so I went to uh I forget how I
went to a tumbleweed one of the higher
up may be able but I'm not sure and he
said well he tried to get it with silver
and fit but they they said they wanted
him to have too many programs so I
called Silver and fit back and they said
no we're not very strict anymore and
we'd be glad to have Tumbleweed uh
covering the silver and fitment which is
under the Medicare Advantage program and
uh but I when I brought that up they
said they would check into it and see
about getting it covered but it's been
over a year now I haven't heard anything
back so if it maybe you guys should just
look into having the silver and fit
because that's under several of the
Medical Care Advantage Programs to have
them that we could use Tumbleweed as one
of our physical fitness facilities thank
you thank you sir
good step I you know we could have erect
books look at that
council member thank you Josh um you're
playing ping pong you ever play table
tennis
once or twice yeah it's good I used to
play a lot
um but I I know what they're talking
about and I think remember uh
councilmember Wong I put some table
tennis into Tumbleweed Park but I'm sure
we've got a few more thousand people in
town that love to play or at least uh
dabble in it from time to time if one of
you guys will take me up on a challenge
we'll get some new tables in there maybe
uh I'll take on you said you're high
rated so I'll start with somebody that's
a little lower rated first maybe the
mayor
lower rated
okay thank you uh next up uh Mike
Simpson Mr Simpson
again we cannot engage you but you have
up to three minutes uh if you can come
up to the mic and state your name and
address for the record sir
we won't start till you get up here
Mr Mayor of the city council and staff
my name is Mike Simpson
I'm a project manager for Simpson Walker
Contracting
and we are the contractor that's
remodeling the tennis center restrooms
we're at tumbery Park and uh we
completed that project on November 4th
was accepted uh substantially completed
by the architect and by the city of
Chandler uh
the reason why I'm here tonight is
because we have a thing called uh
Liquidators not liquidated damage but
the uh uh change orders
and um that's where we are there I
understand that the city of Chandler
have to approve all change orders in
order to get paid well that's why I'm
here tonight and uh I brought what you
need in order to get us our money uh we
have completed the project now what's
happening over there now is uh one of
our subcontractors is uh Through the
Windows and glass companies
slow about putting in the glass and it's
been a problem there so we had to call
in the register our contractors to uh
give them a little boost well they gave
him to March 31st to be through with
those windows and uh that's another one
of the problem is but it had nothing to
do with us remodeling the bathroom those
are complete and people who use them but
we can't get paid
and uh it's two names I want to throw
out which is the Jason Garcia
is the project manager for the city of
Chandler and then that's clay cornworth
who represents Keith kitchen
construction and Clay is the problem
where we can't get paid
Jason Garcia have located have told clay
to pay us and he still won't pay us so
right now we're talking about uh change
orders uh more or less under a thousand
dollars the city of China is already
holding 55 000 in retention
uh we need to get paid so we can pay our
people and pay our bills
is there any questions for her we cannot
have a conversation with you sir
because this is unscheduled thank you if
you would like to take that material uh
maybe to that gentleman or the clerk
over there they would love to be able to
look at that and someone will get back
with you
thank you sir
our last speaker card is from uh Victor
Hardy
get to make the long walk twice
okay
again unscheduled public Bears if we can
listen please state your name and
address or the record sir
Pastor Victor Hardy 2220 East Spruce
Drive Chandler 85286
he's part of my congregation
council member Stewart
um I am here to uh formally resign from
for our City Chandler board
I know it's not something that I need to
do in front of you here and I understand
that
um but I wanted to do it here because I
wanted everybody to know that no one
talked to me about it no one said
anything to me about it I didn't want
any questions about why where or
whatever that situation is is a decision
that I had to make for myself
and so I wanted it on videotape that way
no one has to say well Victor told me
this or Victor told me that
so that is my reasoning for coming here
uh tonight to let you know that I am
resigning from the board and I thank
everyone who has supported me in uh
getting things done we
had some moves we did some things it was
a long process to get things done but I
think it's time for me to relinquish my
post with for our city Channel thank you
very much have a blessed day thank you
sir
foreign
public appearances
next we have announcements
and I will
start with that
what a first uh remind everybody that
the Chandler jazz festival will be here
from March 30th to April 2nd each day
you can experience some great jazz music
some of the best you'll ever hear and
you can learn more at chandleraz.gov
today you may or not be aware of it but
it is chip and dip day
and we celebrated at City Hall with a
chip and dip Party on Fifth Floor sorry
to those of you on Council that that
didn't get the memo that didn't get sent
out
staff brought some of their best recipes
and there were some really good ones
here's a fun fact more than 284 million
Americans consumed potato chips in the
year 2020. that's probably three-fourths
of our population if not more and after
this afternoon that number might go up
some more
so it's not too late Serranos and other
stores and other great restaurants in
Downtown Chandler are still open and
would love for you to uh to celebrate
chip and dip day
secondly uh today is also pasta
challenge day today hundreds of people
gathered at piesto a peak for the pasta
challenge the purpose was to honor the
177 women who have given their lives in
combat operations around the globe Lori
pastua Arizona native was one of the
first women to be killed in combat
during the Iraq War in 2003 her Convoy
was ambushed and she and several others
were taken hostage she later died of her
injuries so we all joined of today's
challenge we we joined all of today's
challenge participants in honoring the
memory of Lori and those who made the
ultimate sacrifice for our freedom
next I I do want to invite
Council and our audience to our East
Valley mayor's prayer breakfast the
topic this year is youth mental health
and suicide awareness It's a Wonderful
opportunity to network with faith
leaders and other councils and Mayors
from around the East Valley
the date is April 20th tickets are still
available at evmpb.org
and then finally I want to say Happy
Easter and happy Passover to our
community as we will not be gathering
until after those dates next month
council member Poston
thank you mayor
um I just wanted to congratulate the
Chandler chamber for another successful
ostrich Festival it was four days this
year which is a little bit different and
I think despite the weather being a
little bit cooler they had great
attendance and a lot of people out there
I did want to recognize the fact that
our Public Safety had an enormous
presence out there both the police and
the fire department you know there are
some things that are are better when
they're boring and it was safe and calm
and family friendly and a lot of that
was due to their efforts and in one
final note
um there were quite a few other
municipalities out there being toured
around looking at what Chandler is doing
in terms of their events and how they're
drawing people to the community and so
that is something that we can be very
proud of so I just wanted to say
congratulations to the chamber and to
the city for the partnership that we
have with them it was another great
successful event
thank you councilmember Harris all right
thanks mayor uh so this past weekend
um council member Cena and I attended
the fresh brunch by one in ten
um they are celebrating 30 years of
service and among many of the
distinguished guests that were there was
uh Governor Hobbs uh representative
Stanton and many other elected officials
uh it was pretty cool and there there is
Nate standing between councilman racinas
and I at the fresh front it was pretty
amazing
um really good time 1500 people attended
the um the event it's always a great
event to uh to be at as you guys can see
I'm styling with my shorts and my blazer
I'm just giving some style that's it
little Style also I attended a mental
health Symposium
um that was held at Saint Matthew's
Church in Chandler many of our
constitians was there to discuss the
issue of mental health uh it was a
packed house a lot of great feedback
cusd was there as well and so we had a
great time to engage in conversation
mental health continues to be something
that I feel is very important that needs
to have a light shine too and we need to
continue to remember to dial pound 988
if you know someone that's experiencing
that type of emergency
and we also this uh past week I attended
the American Legion on 104th birthday
right here in the city of Chandler and
as you guys can see Bill he is 90 96
years old and he's the oldest American
Legion member and I'm the youngest
American Legion member so typically what
they'll do is they'll have the oldest
member and the youngest member cut the
cake so we kind of cut the cake together
and has some words of expression and
it's America this one is I think this is
the oldest one in the city well it is
the oldest one in the city a channel
that is for sure I think it's one of the
oldest ones in the state we have a lot
of documents that's still there and it's
pretty pretty amazing a pretty amazing
event and lastly I'll share that this
weekend I will be emceeing uh the Jack
and Jill
um Jack and Jill event uh where we will
be featuring Young young men uh
African-American men uh which is like a
symposium uh and it's going to be right
here at the Gila River uh and the
mission is basically to uh what we do is
we really help these young men get to
their next level through mentorship and
so it's gonna be pretty cool it's gonna
be at the White House pass the men
actually the young man they actually
engage in entertainment staff all kinds
of stuff so it's like a full event so if
you want to come out come and join us
it's gonna be a full full event that's
right here at the Wild Horse Pass
um this Saturday 6 p.m and uh I look
forward to seeing everyone there thank
you
that was quite the old redefinition of
formal wear
you're on The Cutting Edge you know I
like to wear my sneakers you know what
I'm saying I like my legs get some some
breathing room
[Laughter]
get those legs on a calf machine
hey I had a I gotta tell you to Echo
your sentiment about the ostrich test I
checked off a bucket list item to see
The Commodores in person a few years ago
cooling the gang I mean those are like
some childhood memories brought back and
I just had a great time and and Chandler
chamber always does it right it was a
perfect Community event so great catch
hey speaking of good music
in the dovetail on what mayor Hartke was
talking about make it to the channel
Chandler Festival the jazz festival it
is top shelf and uh there'll be big
bands there'll be small one-man bands
but it is a great weekend if you haven't
been I mean it is a blast and uh I'm you
might see me down there
on another note our budget is underway
we had a great meeting on Monday we
talked about a lot matter of fact we
talked for four hours about we really
dug into you know the the meat of the
budget I think it's one of the most
important things we do as a council and
everybody brought their ideas we used
the surveys from the community so just
so you know we are looking at it and
combing over it with a fine-tooth comb
so uh at the end I know it will be
another fiscally responsible budget and
it will be uh set us forward into 23-24
well
um hey I want to congratulate 8th grader
Claret ricecraft and her robotics team
they are the 2023 Arizona state
champions of the first tech robotics
challenge that seems to happen a lot
here in Chandler and um Steam and stem
programs are so important to Chandler's
future as a community of innovation and
we're excited excited are you here she
is hey
congratulations
thanks for being here Claret um can we
get the camera on Claret is that
possible back in the back row
maybe we could we'll take a picture with
you right now we'll take it right after
we'll get a picture with you up here
thank you but hey we're excited to see
what happens for you in the future and
congratulations and thanks for being
here
all right there's a picture of it on the
screen too man that's it for me oh you
know what there is one more thing
Pastor Hardy
while I I don't want to get into why or
what for I just want to thank you for
everything you do in your invocations
are just Second To None it in in the
mayor kind of whispered you set the tone
for what we're here to do uh for our
meeting so I know that uh you may be
resigning from one post but you're not
allowed to go anywhere so uh that's back
and I'll see you at church see ya
city manager
thank you Mr Mayor members of council
just two brief things I'd like to add
tonight uh just to Echo councilmember
postens and councilmember Stewart's
thank yous for our staff that work the
ostrich Festival not only our Public
Safety teams and police and fire but
also our cultural development staff that
put a lot of effort into planning that
special event and also our community
services teams our Park maintenance
folks they do a great job helping get
that facility ready for such a wonderful
event so I wanted to publicly thank them
as well also want to let you know that
this week I had the opportunity to
welcome our very first class of
Chandler-Gilbert Community College
interns to the city they started here on
Monday and so I wanted to thank raylen
Nielsen and her team from the human
resources department great partnership
that you approved several months ago
with our partners at Chandler community
Chandler Gilbert Community College to
start bringing interns over here to help
with our department needs so 13 Fresh
Faces joining team Chandler this week
and will be with us for the next several
months so we're very excited to have
that program up and running thank you so
much that's it thank you all right
Council staff that concludes our meeting
have a good evening foreign