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HomeMy WebLinkAboutSPAC.2024.0424.MinutesTOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS SUMMARY MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING OF THE STRATEGIC PLANNING ADVISORY COMMISSION April 24, 2024 1. CALL TO ORDER Chairman Patrick Garman called to order the meeting of the Strategic Planning Advisory Commission at 4:00 p.m. 2. ROLL CALL Members Present: Chairman Patrick Garman; Vice Chairman Geoff Yazzetta; Commissioner Randy Crader; Commissioner Bernie Hoenle; Commissioner Jill Keefe; Commissioner Phil Sveum Members Absent: Commissioner Joseph Reyes Staff Present: Chief Financial Officer Paul Soldinger; Chief Financial Officer David Pock; Executive Assistant Angela Padgett -Espiritu 3. CALL TO THE PUBLIC Pursuant to A.R.S. §38-431.01(H), public comment is permitted (not required) on matters NOT listed on the agenda. Any such comment (i) must be within the jurisdiction of the Council, and (ii) is subject to reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions. The Council will not discuss or take legal action on matters raised during Call to the Public unless the matters are properly noticed for discussion and legal action. At the conclusion of the Call to the Public, individual councilmembers may (i) respond to criticism, (ii) ask staff to review a matter, or (iii) ask that the matter be placed on a future Council agenda. Seventeen members of the public were present. No one requested to speak. 4. REPORTS BY COMMISSIONERS AND TOWN MANAGER Commissioner Keefe: - Grateful for the opportunity to be on the commission. Pleased to see friends, neighbors, and customers in the audience showing passion for the Blue Zones topic. - Thanked everyone for their engagement and attendance. Commissioner Hoenle: - Highlighted involvement with the Arizona Alliance for Livable Communities and the Coalition of Arizona Bicyclists. Mentioned discussions on Blue Zones over the past year and shared experiences from south Phoenix and Scottsdale. - Discussed efforts to promote healthier living conditions through various initiatives including diet, stress relief, and multimodal transportation. - Described a recent bike ride event from a conference to a car -free housing development in Tempe. Thanked the audience for being present. Vice Chair Yazzetta: - Greeted everyone and acknowledged colleagues' help with a recent event. - Mentioned a great turnout and meaningful feedback received, which will be used to update the strategic plan. - Noted the large turnout for the Blue Zones discussion and expressed appreciation. - Shared previous involvement with a Leadership Academy project on Blue Zones. Looked forward to learning more about Blue Zones from the audience. 5. CONSIDERATION AND POSSIBLE ACTION: Approval of the Minutes of the Regular Meeting of March 27, 2024. MOVED BY Vice Chair Yazzetta to APPROVE the Minutes of March 27, 2024, Strategic Planning Advisory Commission Meeting, SECONDED BY Commissioner Keefe. Vote: 6 — 0 passed — Unanimously 6. PRESENTATION: Blue Zone by Julie Ewald and Debbie Romano • Julie Ewald from Four Peaks Rotary Club and Debbie Romano from Fountain Hills Healthy Heartbeats presented on the Blue Zones Project. • The Blue Zones Project aims to create environments that make healthy choices easier by following principles from communities with high life expectancy. • To become a certified Blue Zone community, there is a process involving an assessment, blueprint, planning, transformation, and certification phases. • The initial assessment/feasibility phase would cost around $75,000 which they aim to fundraise privately without asking the town. • Benefits of becoming a Blue Zone community include improved health metrics, increased tourism, and community unification around wellness. • They see many existing elements in Fountain Hills that align with Blue Zone principles and strategic plan goals around health/wellbeing. It was suggested they review how the Blue Zones concepts could integrate with the Town's General Plan and Strategic Plan. • They were invited to provide updates as the process moves forward, as SPAC works on implementation of the current strategic plan and develops the next one. 7. UPDATE: Fountain Hills 2022 Strategic Plan Implementation David Pock, Chief Financial Officer Paul Soldinger, Chief Financial Officer Director Pock (Outgoing CFO): Introduced Paul Soldinger as the incoming CFO starting in June when Pock moves out of state. Director Soldinger (Incoming CFO): Provided personal background - born/raised in West Phoenix, went to University of Arizona, has wife and two young daughters. - Updated on progress implementing Strategic Plan priorities for the Finance Department. Strategic Priority: Promoting Tong -term financial stability of town infrastructure, environmental and social resources. Signature Strategy 1: Maintain transparency by communicating town finances. • Hold public finance meetings twice a year (done in Nov 2022 and Feb 2023) • Conduct community survey to track satisfaction (last one in Dec 2021 at $18k cost, may consider another for FY26) - Signature Strategy 2: Promote long-term financial health/stability. Publish 5-year operating revenue/expenditure forecasts (now doing for general fund) - Update facilities reserve study identifying lifecycle replacement/repair needs (on hold, need to update capital asset policy first) Utilize grant researcher/writer services (not done yet but pursuing infrastructure grants - $3.8M this FY, $2.7M next FY) Recently applied for $380k fire dept grant to replace outdated equipment. - No dedicated grant writer position historically, has been more opportunistic. Chair Garman: Explained goal of regularly occurring survey was to gauge if town is making progress over time. - Noted facilities reserve study goal had projected 2025 completion timeframe. - Clarified intent behind task was to have skilled grant research/writing services, even contracted. Provided context that most towns have this Position which often pays for itself. Commissioner Sveum: - Questioned approach of updating policy before assessing actual facility conditions for reserve study - Asked if federal grants pursued have strings attached, using fire dept example. Commissioner Crader: - Inquired if town had a dedicated grant writer position previously before staffing was reduced. Commissioner Keefe: Commented that supporting task C about engaging an external grant writer was too narrowly prescribed. Appreciated they are still pursuing grant funding as a financial strategy. Vice Chair Yazzetta: - Welcomed Soldinger to Fountain Hills - Thanked Pock for his service to Fountain Hills before his upcoming move. 8. UPDATE: Commission Workgroups. Chair Garman provided an update on his SPAC outreach sessions: - Missed one session with Four Peaks Rotary due to a time mix-up but was rescheduled for the next day. - After the Rotary session, he will compile all the outreach feedback for the May SPAC meeting. Vice Chair Yazzetta provided an update on the recent SPAC community workshop: Had a record attendance of around 40 people. Received 101 note cards with feedback categorized into 9 areas of interest. - Will have a deeper analysis and presentation ready for the May meeting. Plans to host more community events like this during the strategic plan development process. Commissioner Keefe commented on the pairwise comparison prioritization exercise: Safety and infrastructure were the top two priorities voiced. Safety was either ranked highest or lowest depending on perception of current safety levels. - Forcing prioritization of 8 important items caused people to really think through tradeoffs. - The conversations around prioritization were very valuable. 9. DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION: Future Agenda Topics. For the May SPAC meeting, there will be an in-depth review of the results from the community outreach efforts and workgroup initiatives conducted over the past year. The goal is to bring focus to all the feedback received. • No outside presentations are scheduled for the May and June meetings. • In June, the SPAC will analyze everything they've done over the past year - all the topics heard, results from outreach and workgroups - and aim to draft the strategic pillars that will form the foundation of the new strategic plan. • The intent is to have the strategic pillars drafted by the end of June before SPAC's summer break, regardless of how brief or lengthy the discussions need to be to accomplish this goal. • After establishing the pillars in June, the SPAC can start building out the full strategic plan details (strategies, tasks, etc.) when they return from summer break. 10. COMMENTS FROM THE CHAIRMAN • Commissioner Keefe was thanked and recognized for her strong contributions as a member of the commission and in the Fountain Hills community during her tenure. • Chair Garman expressed appreciation for Commissioner Keefe's active participation, which helped make the commission better, and invited her to continue being involved in the town in the future. • Commissioner Keefe expressed gratitude for the opportunity to be involved in the community and stated that she would continue to be involved in a different way due to family priorities. • Chair Garman apologized for the length of the meeting and explained that he typically provides time limits to presenters beforehand but did not want to interrupt the passionate presentation by the Blue Zone folks, who had been preparing for a while. 11. NEXT MEETING DATE: Wednesday, May 22, 2024. 12. ADJOURNMENT MOVED BY Commissioner Keefe to ADJOURN the meeting of the April 24, 2024, Strategic Planning Advisory Commission Meeting, SECONDED BY Vice Chair Yazzetta Vote: 6 — 0 passed — Unanimously Chairman Garman adjourned the regular meeting at 5:45 p.m. TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS APRIL 24, 2024 STRATEGIC PLANNING ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES Post -Production File Town of Fountain Hills Strategic Planning Advisory Committee Meeting April 24, 2024 Transcription Provided By: eScribers, LLC Transcription is provided in order to facilitate communication accessibility and may not be a totally verbatim record of the proceedings. Page 1 of 45 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS APRIL 24, 2024 STRATEGIC PLANNING ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES KEEFE: (Starts mid -sentence) it was really rewarding to see that there were distinct themes that came out that we're going to be able to really make meaning out of. So that was a very rewarding part of being on this commission, and I am glad for the opportunity. I'm also really glad to see friends and neighbors and customers in the audience. I see that there's a lot of passion for the Blue Zone's topic, and it's just -- it's very nice to see you engaged in this. Thank you so much for coming. CHAIR GARMAN: Awesome. Thanks, Jill. Bernie? HOENLE: Just a couple of points. I'm a member of the Arizona Alliance for Livable Communities, and Blue Zone has been one of the topics we've talked about for over a year now. And we talked about some of the experiences in south Phoenix and in Scottsdale -- and I know I've met a couple of people at the health fair at the elementary school -- of some of the things that we're trying to start up here. The Coalition -- also a board member of the Coalition of Arizona Bicyclists, and we had our summit last month in Mesa. And the whole afternoon was about the total environment system for healthier living conditions, including not just diet, some stress relief, other health related things, and of course, multimodal transportation using bikes, e-bikes, scooters. Getting around out and physical, getting people moving around. And at the end of the conference, they had a bike ride from there to the Tempe Culdesac, which is the housing development where the owners of the apartments or the renters of the apartments don't have motor vehicles. They got a light metro stop, and with each apartment they get an e-bike. So lots of different things going on in this environmental area. So thank you for being here. CHAIR GARMAN: Thanks, Bernie. Moving to my left, Geoff? VICE CHAIR YAZZETTA: Good afternoon, everyone. First, I want to recognize my colleagues on the commission for all of their help in Saturday's event. We had a great turnout. We'll do a deeper dive of this later on in the meeting. But as Jill mentioned, we got quite a bit of meaningful feedback about a wide range of topics. So I've been going through and putting together a spreadsheet, and we're going to sift through that Page 2 of 45 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS APRIL 24, 2024 STRATEGIC PLANNING ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES data and figure out how to use it to craft the next iteration of the strategic plan. Blue Zones. This is the largest turnout we've ever had for a strategic planning advisory commission, so bravo. It's nice to see some faces in the audience. We received a presentation. I was on the planning team for last year's Leadership Academy, and one of the groups did their project on Blue Zones and making Fountain Hills a Blue Zone certified community. So I have a loose understanding of what this means, but I'm looking forward to learning more from you all here today. Thank you. CHAIR GARMAN: All right. Thanks, Geoff. Phil? SVEUM: I don't have any comments. CHAIR GARMAN: No comments today? All right. Okay. So we're going to move on to agenda item number 5 which is consideration and possible action which is the possible approval of the minutes from the regular meeting of the March 27th, 2024, SPAC meeting. Does anybody have any comments on the meeting minutes? VICE CHAIR YAZZETTA: Move to approve. CHAIR GARMAN: You beat the gun. Hold on, hold on, hold on. I have one job. We can do it in order. So I heard a motion from Geoff. Was your motion to approve? VICE CHAIR YAllETTA: Yes. CHAIR GARMAN: Is that what I heard? Okay. Thank you. Okay. So any discussion about the minutes now? We have a motion to approve. Of course. My comments are, Angela, your minutes were great. Everything you wrote in there was excellent. You hit all the high notes. The transcription had something to be desired. We could probably do without that. Okay. And we have -- I know we had a second as well. So that was the discussion piece. So all in favor of approving the minutes from our monthly meeting in March say aye. ALL: Aye. CHAIR GARMAN: Any opposed? Hearing none, the minutes are approved. Thanks, Angela. Okay. Quickly, today we move on to agenda item 6, which is our presentations for the day. So our first presentation is going to be the Blue Zone presentation. We're going to Page 3 of 45 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS APRIL 24, 2024 STRATEGIC PLANNING ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES get you up and going right away Julie. So Julie, I don't have your full bio in front of me. So if you and Deb can tell us a little bit about yourselves before you start. But I think everybody here is pretty familiar. We've been talking about having you come here and talk for the last few months, so we're glad you're here. And you talk a little bit and then we can either ask questions, like, during, if you have a time to stop or at the end. We can hold our questions to the end. EWALD: Typically, if you could hold through the end and then -- but feel free to raise your hand, jump in, stop me. You have two talkers right here. So feel free. Thank you, Chair, feel free. Yes. CHAIR GARMAN: For sure. EWALD: Wonderful to be here. Thank you, first and foremost to Commissioner Jill Keefe over here for bringing us to this platform here to talk about the Blue Zone. Patrick Garman, happy, Chair, to be here. Vice Chair, all the chairmen. So I am -- might have a time for an introduction -- but current Four Peaks rotary president. As I move forward through the presentation, I'll give you a little bit more information about me. But this is a project from the Four Peaks Rotary Club that I've kind of created during my time of presidency. Here we have the chair of our Four Peaks Rotary well-being committee here, Mr. Art Tolis as well. He supported this project as when this was brought to our board, can I move forward? So we're going to be talking about the Blue Zone project. So good to hear that everybody -- a little bit -- knows something about it. So the goal here today, we'll provide our introductions -- Debbie and I. Primary goal, we'll share what my primary goal was. Debbie came on board as a primary goal as well. Why here in Fountain Hills? Why is it necessary? Why is it a need? Why is it a must? And then Debbie is going to do her expert food and nutrition on the Blue Zone's overview and the impact. During this time we both will be tag teaming as well. I will provide you, if we moved forward with this, the different phases. You have that information in front of you as well, the three phases of how this rolls out. But I'll give you the price of the first phase and we'll go Page 4 of 45 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS APRIL 24, 2024 STRATEGIC PLANNING ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES through that. And then time for Q&A. So this is our squad. The two of us, and Debbie will explain how we met. But I am with Four Peaks Rotary. Debbie Romano, go ahead. ROMANO: Thank you for having me today and I really, really appreciate the kindness and welcoming today on this platform. I'm Debbie Romano and I am founder of Fountain Hills Healthy Heartbeats here in town. I have a business here in town, I live here in town, and I love my town of Fountain Hills. I am a nutrition and wellness consultant and I have a certification in plant -based nutrition from Cornell. My story of -- I was corporate America for a long time before Fountain Hills, and due to a personal and my husband's health was turned around through plant -based nutrition, the environment that Commissioner Bernie brought up. And I just -- it just is strong with my heart, my passion that you will hear today. And I will do my best to bring this passion to you, to the planning commission, so you understand how important, as Julie said, the need is here in Fountain Hills. So thank you. EWALD: And do you want to explain how you spent on the -- ROMANO: You know that -- EWALD: -- how you founded Blue Zone -- ROMANO: -- as I said, we could talk for hours. And I will say, two years ago I was a speaker at the health fair. Debbie Clason organized that, and the wonderful Four Peaks Rotary Club was there, and I was able to meet Julie. Last summer I received an email from Julie saying, what do you think about this Blue Zone Project they're having in Scottsdale? Would you like to join us? Because I am involved with the Fountain Hills Community Garden. I think the environment, our blue skies, the committee, everything in this town, our environment, and I said I would absolutely love to go to Scottsdale and learn more. I love learning, but most of all, I want to bring that knowledge and bring those questions back to my town, bring that back to Fountain Hills and move forward with that. So Julie and I did that last summer. We went to the focus group. I had many questions. I've always known about the Blue Zones through the last ten years with my business, Page 5 of 45 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS APRIL 24, 2024 STRATEGIC PLANNING ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES because I teach wellness through nature, through the foods we eat, the movements, and we will talk about the principles of the Blue Zones. But when we were in Scottsdale and we were together at these focus groups, every time we would come back and say, do you see Fountain Hills? Do you see Fountain Hills? So this is what I'm hoping you will hear today. The passion that we have for our town and how we see it more coming to fruition. And that is our goal here today. EWALD: Perfect. Yeah. And as far as Four Peaks Rotary, I've been a Rotarian for over 43 years now. Back in Chicago, Illinois, born and raised in Illinois, came to Fountain Hills back in 1981 on a summer trip with my sister. I graduated high school. She graduated college. What better to do is go visit our grandparents, get in a car, and take off. So as we were finding the rounds and we did all the whole sightseeing, we were coming to Lake Saguaro. Lake Saguaro, on the way up, we see tallest fountain. And I said, let's go see that tallest fountain. Pulled in. Saw the tallest fountain. And in 1981, barely 18 years old, I says, I will live here. Met my husband in college. Fast forward. You want to marry me? I want to live here. We got married in 1985. Finally got him out here in 2001. 2001 we were very prominent with the Rotary group, still not me as a member. But in Rotary -- I'm going to fast forward another topic. Lunch or breakfast with all of you would be great. Rotary has seven causes that we focus on. Those seven causes is the environment, economic development, disease prevention, maternal mothers, and saving lives of children, amongst a few others as well, but local economies and building those local economies. As president coming in, I looked at that and says, what can I do to support this town that I do so love as well? And have been coming here for a long time. Have my board in place, I started shooting off a bunch of different ideas, met with Rachael, met with Kevin. As you know, Four Peaks Rotary is responsible for the splash park that is at the fountain. Four Peaks Rotary is responsible for that musical instrument as well, that's down there -- the musical instruments. As you all know the last, under Todd Harris -- does that name sound familiar? He did the community project at the high school, the painting project. Big shoes to fill after Todd Harris. So what can I do? Shoot Page 6 of 45 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS APRIL 24, 2024 STRATEGIC PLANNING ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES for the stars, shoot for the moon, shoot for the universe. I'm looking at this all in conglomeration of Debbie Clason, Blue Zones health fair. I said we need to be a Blue Zone community. That was the primary goal. That was the start of all of this happening right here today. When we look at those icons on your screen, it says a certified Blue Zone community. What did that mean a year ago? No idea. But I did my research. Started to bring in stakeholders around. Went to the expert in town, of course, do you know anything about this Blue Zone? And she provided that. What it takes to be approved is a process. As I learned going through Scottsdale and talking to the Blue Zone's vice president of development. You can certify a work site, a school, a restaurant, and if we don't get to that certification, at least we can be a participating site. So I reached out. The Blue Zones started in Minnesota. You're going to give your overview about Nick Buettner. But they were Rotarians as well. So there are Rotary Clubs around the world that have adopted these Blue Zone principles. Next step for Julie as incoming president, what's happening in our town? Strategic plan, you guys, very important. All of you. I read that strategic plan, looked through it. What can I do? Our honorable Mayor Ginny Dickey, focused on thriving this community and importance of building partnerships and relationships. What was your focus when this came together? To improve public areas, including the infrastructure, town facilities, public safety, the overall quality of life and to promote economic development. Amanda Jacobs comes on board. I think she's doing a bang up job, so kudos to her. When I look at public safety, for my purposes, I'm thinking of pedestrian safety. What are our pedestrians doing? Especially when we have somebody getting -- whatever. Okay. So pedestrian safety, let's move forward. As you know, your four strategic priorities of the plan for the purpose of our audience, collaborative. The four of them were collaborative economic development, environmental and social resources, continue to improve the public health and the well-being, and number four, emerging trends that increase public safety, pedestrian safety, and the quality of life. Page 7 of 45 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS APRIL 24, 2024 STRATEGIC PLANNING ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES Again, Blue Zones comes to mind. What is the targeted -- so I'm only going to cover the three of those four. I mean the two of those four. The first one, the economic development. The strategic priority focuses on the need of ongoing collaboration. That means no silos. That means coming together. As I worked at Mayo Clinic for over 12 years, stuck behind a desk, my husband was out more in the forefront. He knew what was happening in this town from top to bottom. His name, Jeff Pointer, if anybody can recall. I am not a voice. I don't have a voice that would be well-known. But again, the need for ongoing collaboration. I immediately started to network with all the leaders within the community. The biggest one here was to continue to improve public health, well-being, and safety of our town. You divided that up into signature strategies, provided the rationale, and a supporting task to go with each of those. The first one -- I only picked out a couple here -- was to promote the natural and built environment of Fountain Hills to improve the public health, well-being, and safety of this community. If I look at the task, it says incorporate public health, well-being, and safety in Fountain Hills' policies when relevant. I have looked at some of the policies, FYI. My background is in health care administration and that's what I did at Mayo Clinic, was policies accreditation, for them under the graduate medical education department. The other signature strategy promote Fountain Hills as a community focused on public health, well-being, and safety. And let's get that recognized. A, the supporting task, support the expansion of preventative health and wellness access within the community. Awesome. Sounds great. Number four signature strategy was utilize services provided by other government agencies and outside entities, private companies, nonprofit organizations, and volunteer groups in evaluating and supporting the health of our town. That is what the Blue Zones Project will do. ROMANO: What are the Blue Zones? I stand before you today and pledge that I will be a voice for the town, the community. That's my job, to be a voice, but I also have to explain what the Blue Zones are. Who is this Dan Buettner? The Blue Zones are to Page 8 of 45 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS APRIL 24, 2024 STRATEGIC PLANNING ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES create a lifestyle and an environment that makes it easy for healthy choices. We need to create that environment for an easy choice. The Blue Zones created a documentary, "Live to 100 years". I would suggest everyone watch this documentary and it will make you smile. In 2004, Dan Buettner teamed with the National Geographic, the National Institute on Aging, and the world's best longevity researchers to identify pockets around the world where people live measurably better and longer. He looked for answers not in a test tube, not in a petri dish, which I so agree with. But he looked among populations that had achieved what we want, long, healthy lives and sharp brains till the end. This idea pulled together a grant from the National Institute of Aging and a National Geographic assignment. A Blue Zone community. A Blue Zone community is a region where lifestyle and the environment promote a longer and healthier life for its residents. These communities are characterized by a high concentration of individuals who lived exceptionally old age while maintaining good physical mental health. The Blue Zone projects that incorporates Buettner's findings and works with cities to implement the policies and programs that will move a community towards optimal health and well-being. It's a community led well-being improvement initiative designed to make healthy choices easier. It's going to create that environment where everyone wants to be involved to become healthier, but an easy way. I'm going to talk a little bit about the principles of the Blue Zones. And there are nine principles, but I also want to tell you the five original Blue Zones in the world. And those five Blue Zones are: Sardinia, Italy; Ikaria, Greece; Okinawa, Japan; Nicoya, Costa Rica; and Loma Linda, California. I'm going to tell you a little story about Loma Linda, California. That's an original Blue Zone where I assumed when I had my ribbon cutting five years ago in Fountain Hills, one of the things I said was, I cannot wait to help transform Fountain Hills into the next Loma Linda. Crickets. And I remember that to this day because I assumed everybody knew what I knew. And it's my pleasure to share the information that I want to bring to Fountain Hills, that environment. And I will be Page 9 of 45 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS APRIL 24, 2024 STRATEGIC PLANNING ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES that voice, and I will help any way I can. And that star right there is the Blue Zones that I would love to see someday. I want to talk a little bit more of the nine principles. Those five original Blue Zones, do they all eat the same? No. Do they all move the same? No. Do they all drink the same? No. But there were commonalities and similarities that made them -- every Blue Zone, there was the commonality that made them who they are and the longevity that all the communities enjoyed. I'd like everyone right now in this room to close those eyes for one minute, and I will let you know when to open. Everyone in this room close your eyes, and I want you to think of the most joyful place in Fountain Hills that you can imagine in your mind. Mine is on top of the Overlook. It's a hiking trail in Fountain Hills, and I am sitting there. Where is yours? Is it in your back yard, looking at the beautiful mountains? Is it at your favorite church or any faith -based community? Is it with your neighbors? Is it with any place in town that you can bring joy? So have that in your mind, and now I want you to open your eyes. Okay. So as we move forward and Julie and I talk about the nine principles, I want you to have that vision in your mind. Imagine Fountain Hills. The first principle is moving natural. That's one of the most important. We have to move. We have to get up. And if we can create an environment where we can walk to the grocery store, we can walk to work, we can walk to our neighbor's house, and we can walk all over, which we do. Fountain Hills is right there. I mean, this is a beautiful, beautiful town where we all have these nine principles in place. We're just going to make that environment easier. The next is a right outlook. So the second is purpose. Why do we wake up in the morning and what's our why? What is our purpose? It's key to happy living and quality living. What is your purpose? Do you still have that vision in your head of the happy place in Fountain Hills? I do, and I thank and I'm so grateful every time I'm on top of that hike. I have the physical capability of health to get up to the top of the Overlook and be grateful. The third principle is downshift. What is a downshift? Less stress. How do you Page 10 of 45 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS APRIL 24, 2024 STRATEGIC PLANNING ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES destress? Everybody's different. I like to exercise. There's so many fitness centers in this town and it's amazing. We need to take advantage of that. There's places where you can go meditate. Whatever you do that you enjoy, go do it. Our community garden, putting hands in the dirt. Wherever you are, there's a purpose. There's less stress. The 80-percent rule, that is the fourth principle. And the Okinawans practice hara hachi bu. Has anybody ever heard of that? That is eating until you feel 80 percent full. And when you feel 80 percent full, put the fork down and then wait a little bit, have a conversation with your loved ones. And then if you're still hungry, go ahead. But really, if you sit down and you're 80 percent full, you're satisfied. So we're not going to add those extra calories. We're not going to add any of that. We can bring weight down naturally. And that's what I want really to stress, the more natural health that we can get. And the fifth principle is plant slant. And that, my friends, is where I come in. That is my passion for this town. I know that when we eat from the earth -- and those original five Blue Zones, they did not eat the same, but the commonality was eating from the earth. So the beans, the garden vegetables, those are the cornerstones of the health and the food that the centenarians eat. And it's a great way to bring into Fountain Hills. We need to see that in our restaurants. We can bring that into more community gardens, the schools teaching our children; they are our future. And that's a great way to show them. Wine @ five, most of the Blue Zones, the original Blue Zones, they do drink, they'll have a glass of wine and -- moderately. But they do it with friends, they do it with family, and they don't do it in excess. We actually have a wine bar here in Fountain Hills that has the wine from Sardinia, Italy. Belonging is the seventh principle. This is a really, really deep principle that I think we could all adhere to. The majority of the centenarians belong to some faith -based community. There is not a certain denomination that we have to, but it's just -- it doesn't seem to matter. This, to me, is another sense of purpose, and this to me is Page 11 of 45 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS APRIL 24, 2024 STRATEGIC PLANNING ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES another positive. The eighth is loved ones first. So that principle, the successful centenarians put their family first. Their family and friends first. And when we do that, there's no isolation. There's helpfulness, there's being part of a community. That is where we see the principle of an environment that makes it easy. And the ninth is the right tribe. The world's longest lived people choose or were born into social circles that support healthy behaviors. So when you feel healthy and when you surround yourself with healthy behaviors, we all tend to smile more. We all tend to be in an environment then, where we want to help each other, we want a healthy community. EWALD: Do you want to talk about this too? ROMANO: The life radius. I can talk about the people and the places, and I will leave the policy to talk about to Julie. So on this brochure here, when you open it up and on the far right, it's the life radius. What is the life radius? Almost all Americans spend 90 percent of their lives within 20 miles of home. This is the life radius. We were talking about in the environment, riding our bikes, walking trails, moving. We have to move. And this is where they focus on evidence based lessons of longevity from the Blue Zones called the Power of 9, which we just went through. So if you read that, that's so important. We have moais and that is purpose. We have a purpose in this community. We bring happiness. We have volunteers all over our community that bring such joy to so many people. The places, our work sites, our schools, our restaurants. The restaurants, we don't want to change anything. We just want to give healthier options. And they're going to do that. And that's a beautiful thing because then it helps the community. We want our community to support each other. We want to stay in Fountain Hills. The grocery stores. So important to practice and support our grocery stores. And also in the last thing, our faith -based organizations here in Fountain Hills, and there are so many. And that is really, truly a great purpose for so many people. You have the floor. EWALD: Yeah. To thrive. Correct? To thrive. So when we talk about policy Page 12 of 45 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS APRIL 24, 2024 STRATEGIC PLANNING ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES commissioners, Chair, Vice Chair, you know all about policy, so I don't have to go into the deep conversation. But the policies of looking at what we have here in Fountain Hills to build that environment, to look at the food policies that we have in place, to have that to tobacco policies that we have in place, as well as the alcohol policies. What are we doing? What are we promoting as a town? What are we doing at the P&Z? What are we doing at the environment side? What are we doing with community projects? What are we showing popping up in our town to build that economic development? Do we want to be a town full of vape shops and tobacco shops? Do we want to be a place full of bars and reckless going down the avenue of the fountains? Or do we want it to be a place that is going to strive? Are we going to build this community so we can be all together, as we were back when I was in 1981, a thriving community, a small community? As we become that melting pot of people around the world moving in here, we're adopting those behaviors. Do we want to continue that way, or is there something that we all can do about it as a community? And Patrick Garman, thank you for doing the outreach and coming to the Rotary Clubs to get what we have and the strategic plan. The thing that you had Saturday, the workshop -- fabulous. So thank you. Listen to the voices of the community and what they want. When I brought this Blue Zone, you don't have this book, but I needed to pitch it to our club. This is the Blue Zone 30-day challenge. I took this challenge. I provided it to all our Rotarians during the month of November. Which is what? Food time, family time. I asked them to read this book, look at it, take practices from it, come back, maybe in January. We'll talk about it. What kind of project can we do? As my meetings progressed, I had the wine from Grapeables and was raffling that off just to keep it in their mind. Some of the members participated. Some of the members quietly participated, but here we are today. So this started the movement of getting Blue Zone principles out and about, going into Jill Keefe's door, saying Blue Zones because I need to be plant -based, because I need to eat better. I need to live better. So let's look at this. Page 13 of 45 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS APRIL 24, 2024 STRATEGIC PLANNING ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES The legend here is United States Blue Zones have now been developed to deploy to 6.5 million lives in over 90 community projects across 17 states over the course of the last 13 years to improve health and well-being. If we focus in on Arizona, the legend, you'll see the community transformations that's already taken place, the Blue worksite campus transformation. Bernie, you were able to explain some of what's been happening, and what you've been seeing. Recently, ASU has collaborated with Scottsdale, and they've created a -- they started a module -- $250 -- for anybody to take this online course. So ASU is a partner with the Blue Zones. Then we get to the orange, which is in development, which is Scottsdale. They are in the kickoff phase they had in February, and they are working it. How the Blue Zones works, it's also by zip code. So all of Scottsdale is not necessarily participating. It's going by the Blue Zones. Hence why you see in California, if you look at that, that's amazing. But anyway, imagine. So data, I know you're all data driven. I'm data driven. Prove it to me. Show me. Don't tell me, show me. So Dan Buettner has been collecting data since the start of this project, as he was a National Geographic researcher. And that's how he started to gain all this information. He's put it into practice, and the studies have been coming out now since 2000, I believe he started. But if we look at the communities here that are listed, we have Alberta Lee, which is a smaller community, beach cities, California mid -size, Fort Worth large size, and the NCH Healthcare System, which is a larger employer. We do have a large employer in this town, which is the Town of Fountain Hills. Of course, we know if we can get them to to adopt these practices, how wonderful we will help shape the mental well-being of those children to get them on the right track, instead of thinking about the drugs that are happening in town. But getting to get those practices of moving naturally. As Art Tolis has been participating with the Inspiration Academy with a Wellness Wednesday and that is exceptional. So that's kudos to him. Anyway, what has the data shown? 49 percent decrease in medical claims; 2.9 years added to one's life; 48 percent increase in tourism. Amanda Jacobs -- take a look at this. I have reached out to Amanda - Page 14 of 45 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS APRIL 24, 2024 STRATEGIC PLANNING ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES to be here today. She had a conflict, but I will be meeting with her, hopefully, within the next couple of weeks. If you look at the beach cities, 50 percent reduction in childhood obesity, 15 percent drop in overweight obese adults, 10 percent more increase in exercise. A big one right here that I am full onboard, 17 percent drop in smoking. If you look at the other smoking area, Fort Worth, 31 percent decrease in smoking. Nine point increase in the residents who exercise at least 30 thirty minutes a day. And the largest employer, 4.9 point increase in overall well-being amongst their employees. Third -party recognition of Blue Zones. They're listed here. I won't read all of them, but what they have been doing is certifying the U.S. Surgeon General's, the Association of State, and the Territorial Health Officials as a groundbreaking approach to population health. The governor's task force of Alzheimer's prevention and preparedness to encourage cities and regions with grant funding to use Blue Zones model to build more dementia friendly communities. The U.S. conference of mayors passed a resolution encouraging cities to adopt a proactive system approach to health based on a proven Blue Zone model. The AHA, American Hospital Association awarded Fort Worth the award winning. Also for the National Council, I don't know who these people are, Foster McGaw, but prize winning excellence in community service. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation awarded Blue Zones in Oregon. You see, I like to talk. For placing a priority -- a prestigious award for placing that priority health and creating a powerful partnership and deep commitments that enabled everyone, especially those focusing, facing the greatest barriers to good health and the opportunity to live well. With all that being said that brings us, how do we transform this town? How do we become Blue Zone community? In my own thoughtful, rightful mind, we are a Blue Zone community right now with all that has been happening within this town. But to be a Blue Zone certified, you must go through their process. Which, the first process is an assessment of our town. It's a readiness and feasibility report that they put together. Then they create this blueprint. From that blueprint, they'll have foundation, planning, transformation, and the certification and sustainability of how that will take place. You have all of that information that I gave to you and the pamphlet as well as -- here, that Page 15 of 45 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS APRIL 24, 2024 STRATEGIC PLANNING ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES expounds more on those phases. Scope of work. So let's just stay with phase one -- pre -planning phase. I call them up. Hey, Blue Zones, we're going to go forward with this. Pre -planning, they're going to come out. Look at this. Give us some online education and engagement. Stakeholder engagement. They're going to bring in all the leadership from all the large groups, small groups. Places, they're going to go visit all of our places, one-on-one meetings, focus groups, group events all led by the Blue Zones team. Policy. They're going to look at our policies. They're going to come to one-on-one and meet with us, focus groups, and see what we have and the focus municipalities building our environment for transportation, food, environment, tobacco, and alcohol. The cross -sector analysis is what will also continue with the Blue Zone. Experts will process and evaluate and design a unique approach for us to follow. They're going to take a look at the happiness, well-being policy if we have one, which I don't believe we do. But the prioritization that is the book that I'm leaving you with today. And they have also partnered with this Happiness World Health Organization. They are partners in putting that together. And you have the executive summary as well that I printed the report. It's just hot off the press in late March, I believe. So the Well -Being and Blue Zones impact analysis is what they're going to create for us using a Gallup Well -Being index, as well as other data sets, and provide that preliminary well-being analysis for us. And looking at the trends again, what trends do we have? What opportunities can we build upon? And they're going to provide that report. Let us know if you're ready and evaluation and bring in the key sectors, talk in front of whoever they need to talk to and give us that value brief. What is that value brief? These are the deliverables that will come to us, the timeline, milestones, governance, scope of work, array of services, resource intensity, value metrics, fees to move forward to a phase two and to go for phase three and then a return on investment analysis. I've been quoted from the Blue Zones and Blue Zones quotes their prices on population. So the population that I provided, and they looked at as well, came up to be 24,987. Is Page 16 of 45 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS APRIL 24, 2024 STRATEGIC PLANNING ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES that a correct number? Close? So our fee would be $75,000 to move forward to get this report. That $75,000 is not an ask out of the town. It's not an ask out of strategic planning. It is an ask from volunteer organizations such as a Four Peaks Rotary Club, such as anybody else invested within this town that wants to be healthier, Tess stressed, and live longer. I don't think we'll have an issue collecting 75,000. Just Four Peaks Rotary collected 10,000 in a matter of four days to support the Maui wildfires. So now this is something at home and dear, I think we can run this project and get that 75,000 to at least get a phase one out of this report to see where we are. If we go ahead and say, yeah, go ahead and do it. This is a eight -month example timeline because that's what they're quoting. Eight months it takes to put this all together. Planning and research phase in March or May. They'll come on out, do some press releases. Again, they do all of it. They are the behind the scenes with newspapers, all of that's included in that fee. In June, if we look at this and move forward community leadership kickoff, as well as lead presentations where the Blue Zone experts come in and speak. I will not be that voice. Debbie will not be that voice. But it is the experts of the Blue Zones. June/July analysis findings. After they do all those meetings, they'll produce that report with the proposal for us. At that time, then we will look at that, review it, and say, yes, we need to present this. Who do we present it to? Everybody and anyone is my -- the proposal is presented, then we have more focused one-on-one meetings through that September, which is the sponsor outreach. Now, if we have a go to after what they come back and say, it's going to take you $1 million to get certified because you need to do X, Y, Z, and this is how you're going to have to sustain it. Then that's the million dollars where we would have to go and do that fundraising or have pledges from the community. And that's exactly where Scottsdale is right now, having pledges. The big sponsors out of Scottsdale: HonorHealth, Cigna Insurance and Goodwill. I've spoken to people at HonorHealth, they are willing to come on board and support the neighboring city here with the move forward with the Blue Zone project. I said, hold up, we're only at this step -- because I have to be cognitive to Mayo Clinic as well as the Page 17 of 45 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS APRIL 24, 2024 STRATEGIC PLANNING ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES health care -- Fountain Hills Medical Center. But I already have that pledge. We also have pledges -- who else did I get a pledge from? I don't know, but I have pledges. So Tina Duffy, our fundraiser. I brought her in. She somehow found us. I still don't quite know how. Through Jill? Yes, through Jill. Thank you. And she's been very involved with this community for 20 years. Tina, are you on the line? She hung up. DUFFY: Yes, I'm here. EWALD: Oh. Can you give a brief overview of how you're connected to the town? DUFFY: Yeah. Well, hi everyone. I am connected to Fountain Hills for many years. I was on the board for 11 years of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Scottsdale. I was their vice chair my last year there. I was also in Rotary. I was in Kiwanis in town. I was part of the mentor program. I was in Four Peaks Women's group. I'm now not involved in any charitable events in town. When I was involved in the Boys and Girls Club, I raised over $750,000 in my 11 years in that organization, and that was from educating people in our town to become involved in our local Boys and Girls Club. I have pulled back from fundraising. We did host many events, as I'm sure people in that room may know. For the Boys and Girls Club, I pulled out of all charitable stuff. I guess probably about three years ago after I left the Boys and Girls Club, I was also on the board of Children's Cancer Network, which I got originally involved in through Four Peaks Women's Group. I still help a little bit with Child Crisis in Arizona, that organization. But I started after going to college many, many, many moons ago, I went back to a yearlong program based out of New York City called the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. I am a health and wellness coach as of now, for the last four years, where I coach clients all over the world virtually, in health and wellness. And I've been involved with the Blue Zones, specifically, for four years, but involved in knowing about the Blue Zones and participating in the Blue Zones for 20 years now. So I have a huge passion for this. I coach all my clients in the Blue Zones, and I am very -- feel very fortunate to have met Julie and Deb and very excited to help in any way I can in the Town of Fountain Hills. I live there, I love it. I've lived there for 20 years, so Page 18 of 45 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS APRIL 24, 2024 STRATEGIC PLANNING ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES thank you -- EWALD: Thank you, Tina. DUFFY: -- for having me today. EWALD: Thank you so much for participating. DUFFY: Thank you. EWALD: So that's really about it when we look at this picture here. Do you want to take this? This here is the Blue Zone team that was from Beach Cities, California. That was their project team. So imagine, when we go back to imagine, who in this community will support that. We talked about the Leadership Academy and doing that project. I know the two people. One is a fellow toastmaster with me as well. She's on board with this project and has been participating not only through the challenge, but she's going to list that as Leadership Academy as another project to build upon what we've already started. The Health Services Stakeholders Network from the Chamber, they have been at the groundbreaking stages for the last two years working hard. I've now partnered with them to help create their mission, their purpose, and the vision of why are they here in this town. I'm hoping that once they see this a little bit more on paper, that they can read it and start to adhere to how we can make this town more healthy with the health services that are provided to them in this town. As well as talking to Ms. Betsy LaVoie and partnering with her as she does -- as her term is stop the leakage of people going out of town to keep them here in town. That is the Vivek Murthy, Dr. Murthy. He is the U.S. Surgeon General. He was part of that Blue Zone project at the Beach cities. And that was his quote: "In an age when poor health seems to be intractable, you've taken this community from a place of resignation to a place of hope." Imagine that. Dan Buettner, if you look at that little light blue bubble, the tall guy with his arm around that lady, that is Dan Buettner. That is the founder of the Blue Zones. He is very active with any Blue Zone project as he comes on sites and meets with others. ROMANO: The secret to longevity. Dan Buettner, as he sees it, has less to do with diet Page 19 of 45 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS APRIL 24, 2024 STRATEGIC PLANNING ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES or even exercise, and more to do with the environment in which a person lives, social, and physically. What I want to say today is Fountain Hills is the town that can and does have the environment. That we create an easy way to be healthy and happiness, number one. EWALD: Yeah. And to bring recognition to this town as the awards, as I was looking up, what kind of awards has Fountain Hills received in the last ten years? We were very active with awards throughout. I don't have them quoted in my head right now, but you can go to the website. 2010 Living Well Awards people on public policy. The mayor all had an award. We have not received an award since 2022. I don't know if that 2023 has left us already, so I don't know when they would present for 2023 or '24. But imagine pulling into Fountain Hills and showing this for Amanda Jacobs as well as others, how we're committed to the health and well-being of this community, health and well-being of the children, the elderly -- the middle age as I call them because I think I'm going to live to 150 -- I don't know. But anyway, you know, a healthy you is the best caregiver. This is something for all of us to take note of. How do we want to live longer? What do we want to do? What can we do? Follow those nine principles. It works. It's proven. The data is there. Thank you. ROMANO: Thank you. Can I just say one more thing? If I ask everyone in this room right now if Fountain Hills can be the next Loma Linda, I'm not going to get crickets. Thank you. EWALD: Any questions that you may have that you would like to ask us now or later? CHAIR GARMAN: So Julie and Deb, thank you very much for the presentation. We all very much appreciate it. So I'm going to look and see if any -- oh, Jill's got a question. She's got her light on really quickly. Jill? KEEFE: Thank you so much for coming and sharing your obvious passion for this topic. I think it's -- of those nine principles, there's something that all of us can connect with. But in terms of the process and getting Blue Zones certified, if I'm understanding it correctly, Blue Zones were first observed places around the planet that seemed to have something going right and which caused there to be a disproportionate amount of Page 20 of 45 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS APRIL 24, 2024 STRATEGIC PLANNING ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES people living over 100 and living well, indeed. So to be Blue Zone certified isn't that Fountain Hills would be observed. This organization would come in and step us through a certification process. So two questions with that. First is, have they shared with you objective criteria that need to be achieved to get this certification? And -- okay. And I'll hit you with the second okay. EWALD: No, no. KEEFE: Yeah. You can ponder on the second. And then the the second question is any city or town stepped through this process and failed to be certified? EWALD: Great question. The second one was great. Yes, they do have criteria and that is what that feasibility assessment will show. They have their list and list and saying do we have this? Do we have this? When they provide their report on their recommendations, they'll say in order to be certified you really need to have more bicycle lanes, you really need to have more walking; we don't have that problem. As talking with Martha Brown, she is the VP of development of the Blue Zones. I've already talked to her a few times and told her what we have. She has been doing a little bit of research on her own, as well as -- because she speaks to the Scottsdale group. We are right there. And she feels that this would be very easy. The work that we've already put in, Debbie and myself, as well as the Four Peaks Rotary Club and the community garden. And that lady right there, she doesn't know it, but yeah, we're right there. The second piece, yes, there are some places that were not go through that next step. The next phase is phase two and three. If they're still stuck in a phase two and a phase three due to money or what have it, they do have some grants that they give away to award communities to get over that hurdle. I don't think we'll have that problem, but it's -- KEEFE: Is it just failure to do the needful things in the plan? EWALD: Correct. And it always comes down to money. Where do they have the money to build that infrastructure within their town plan or their general plan? KEEFE: And have any cities -- have they come in and said, looks like you got it? EWALD: Yes. Page 21 of 45 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS APRIL 24, 2024 STRATEGIC PLANNING ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES KEEFE: Really? EWALD: And that depends on the years, right? How long is it going to take to do that? Is it going to take one year, two year, three year, four years? The Scottsdale Blue Zone project, they told me, was a four-year project before they get certified. And that was last June. So that's already coming up one year. So they have three more years unless they're fast tracking and being able to move forward quicker. There is the sustainability piece of that which they keep a good eye on that, the Blue Zones. They have another team that looks at that and we have lost certifications. Do you want to talk about the Toss certification in Okinawa? Okinawa. ROMANO: And they do. And they keep track of the original Blue Zones. And Okinawa is now at a point where the fast food chains are in and they're not practicing an environment of health. And they are showing a decline in their health and that they will take that certification away. KEEFE: Wow. EWALD: Yeah, and that's all due to us Americans bringing all that bad stuff to those countries and not making them move naturally, giving that accessibility of a drive thru restaurant, of a drive thru grocery store. Now you can order your food on an app. Go and sit in a lane while you're absolutely doing nothing and not getting in that store and walking up and down the aisles. People don't realize at least you're getting your steps in. There's been so many studies, as we all know, 10,000 steps, but the goal should be 15,000 steps. Right now, we're just decreasing that by having those fancy accessibility to make it easier for our life. And if you dive deep into that, why? Why is that happening? Right? Why is there two people working in a household? Why are our children failing? And then now you can talk a whole another subject, mental health, and wellbeing, which is my passion. But anyway, did I answer your question? KEEFE: You certainly did. EWALD: Sorry. KEEFE: I'll throw another one at you. Which is what -- EWALD: Yes. Everybody's (indiscernible). Page 22 of 45 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS APRIL 24, 2024 STRATEGIC PLANNING ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES KEEFE: Let me throw another one at you. What support do you two need to create the momentum necessary for the next steps? What does help look like for you? EWALD: Support out of like, today strategic planning, you know. Yes, we would support you all doing this project, Four Peaks Rotary. I can bring that to them. I would partner with the other rotary clubs within our vicinity, that 20-mile radius, which is the Fountain Hills Club, which is the afternoon club, as well as the recent Rio Verde Club Rotary that's up there that we sponsored them. So we have those three clubs within those three clubs, similar to as we did the community outreach for that painting project or the beautification day that we have going on this weekend, we would make that call out as well and say, hey, will you support us? And given us that letter. As, like I said, HonorHealth is already in full support. I don't have it in writing. I have a meeting to be scheduled with him and I said, hold off and let me get through this day. ROMANO: And I just want to add to that support of our town. So then we can bring in the Blue Zones that have the data that will lead us and guide us to the place where we want. We want that environment of health to be easy, and that when we get the approval from our town, from all those steps, and then the Blue Zone professionals come in and outline what we need to do, I see the smooth sailing. KEEFE: And did I read that National Geographic will come in and take photos -- EWALD: Sure. We'll get them to do anything. KEEFE: -- of our town? I think I saw that and -- EWALD: Yeah. ROMANO: Sure, he will. EWALD: Yes. That is true. No, it's true. I will get him here. I tried to get him here to do a talk at our presentation. ROMANO: Yes, you did. EWALD: At least one of one of the brothers. So one of the brothers, Nick Buettner, is the one that's holding up the Scottsdale. And when I met him, I says, I need you to come talk up to us here at the Rotary Club and bring this to us. He goes anytime, just Page 23 of 45 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS APRIL 24, 2024 STRATEGIC PLANNING ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES give me a call. Of course, Scottsdale said, no, no, he's mine right now. So a year later, maybe I can maybe engage him to come up and speak at a Rotary meeting and then as well invite the community. KEEFE: I'll add one final comment. That's not a question, just in support of what you're doing. Nationally and in Fountain Hills, it's that this is a tense time and there are seeds of division and I believe it's true that the journey is as valuable as the destination. And if out of this assessment came a set of achievable goals and doable projects for us to improve the community, I just -- part of your imagine is, imagine us all being too busy doing good things to argue on Facebook. Yes. EWALD: Looking forwards to that. KEEFE: I think Angela's got it. But -- EWALD: Happiness is the goal, right? KEEFE: Happiness is the goal. EWALD: And it's by one candle leads to another candle. I light your candle, and it just goes through. And people in my club, as well as this community go, why are you always smiling? Why are you always happy? Well, that's a strange question. Why are you not happy? Let's go deeper here and find out why. That's right, you know, I'm spreading that -- CHAIR GARMAN: Julie, we got one other question to my left. We'II keep going. You can continue. EWALD: Sorry. I told you I was -- CHAIR GARMAN: I want to make sure that we get to the questions. EWALD: You jump in. CHAIR GARMAN: Go ahead, Phil. SVEUM: Debbie, tell me that ice cream is a plant? I'm asking that question for a lot of people in this room. ROMANO: I know. KEEFE: Debbie, you know where to send them ROMANO: My answer is, I have an option for you -- Page 24 of 45 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS APRIL 24, 2024 STRATEGIC PLANNING ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES SVEUM: Okay. ROMANO: -- that tastes just as good. And if you come and see me teach a class at the community garden, you're going to agree. SVEUM: You got it. KEEFE: Is it avocado? SVEUM: Okay. Just a couple other questions on -- any of the cities have gone, actually, have reached kind of the peak of this and have been awarded the -- EWALD: Yeah, the map that was on my -- SVEUM: I saw a lot of the dots, but I couldn't tell which. EWALD: Sure. So the legend. I think it is the gold, that says that they have -- SVEUM: Okay. EWALD: -- transformation and that's what they call it. SVEUM: Okay. So you mentioned data, and what I would want to see is how has it impacted these cities that have reached that pinnacle and how has it impacted their economic development? How is Betsy to be able to promote this, and what's the impact going to be for the Chamber to promote that designation? EWALD: Exactly. SVEUM: And I think whenever you're raising money, it's going to be really important to say, okay, this is what -- this is what the impact is going to be for the community by spending this money, whether you're raising it privately or you're asking the town for money. EWALD: Yeah. And that's when we bring in the commissioner. Thank you. That is when we bring in the Blue Zone experts so they can outline all of that and answer all of those questions that they've been working with. SVEUM: Well, even if it's data from those cities that you can contact directly and say, tell us how it's working for you. What is it done from -- EWALD: And again -- SVEUM: -- before and after type of thing? EWALD: -- yeah. In that one slide I rolled out four cities for you, a smaller community, a Page 25 of 45 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS APRIL 24, 2024 STRATEGIC PLANNING ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES medium sized, larger, and then the organization. SVEUM: Right. I remember those percentages, but I'm talking about revenue generating for the community. EWALD: Sure. SVEUM: Okay. EWALD: I can get you that. SVEUM: All the qualitative information is really important. EWALD: Yeah. Absolutely. SVEUM: And then is there an emphasis -- just one other question, Patrick. CHAIR GARMAN: Sure. SVEUM: Is there an emphasis on promoting with the children rather than working us adults over? I mean, I think that it's -- you need to start young with this rather than at this point in our lives -- or younger people that are here -- in their lives because you have to learn to eat right and to find your happiness, because so much of that unhappiness is in the younger generations right now, because everything that's going on. So is there emphasis on starting at a lower or younger ages than focusing on us old people? EWALD: Absolutely. You're not old. Yes. And that's the purpose, right? Changing the environment, changing the culture, changing of what has been done in the past to live better, to do things better. And that's up to us to be the mentors, to be the educators, to bring that to the young folks. Right? Not give them a seat and hand them a phone and say, play on that for 24 hours and their minds getting manipulated. Right. That's for us to do that education. So to pass it down to a mentor. SVEUM: They may have a lot of influence on their parents as well. EWALD: Absolutely. ROMANO: Absolutely. And as far as the children, they are our future. I was giving a tour of the community garden four years ago. Love it, love it, love it. And I had a little -- I'm from Chicago, so my hands are in the dirt all the time. I had a little guy come up to me and he said, Ms. Debbie, what -- and I'm talking about a corn stalk. And you know, I Page 26 of 45 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS APRIL 24, 2024 STRATEGIC PLANNING ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES grew up with that. And he goes, that's not corn. Corn is what my mom gets out of the freezer at the grocery store. So education is key. And once we start with the kids and maybe bring in more of those gardens and education with that, it's going to become just natural. Easy. We got to make it easy. EWALD: Yeah. And that book, this Blue Zone Challenge, kind of sets you up. For four weeks you go through a challenge and it kind of guides you as to what you can do. You have little tests here, vitality tests along the way. You go through the four weeks. What has it done for you? I did the four week challenge last year. And I'll tell you, I started at one age, and I gained seven years of my life. And I took it as a test maybe about five weeks ago and I'm still at that mark. Can I do better? Absolutely. So as a matter of right up, down, up, down, Julie, stress, stress, stress, you know, being happier but doing what you love, finding that purpose, educating the kids to do what they love, educating our older folks, our middle aged. Are you doing what you love? There's so many people on different committees and working so hard in this community, but if we have 24,000 people, where are those people? Why are we seeing the same people everywhere I go? SVEUM: Well, they're back in Minnesota and Wisconsin and -- EWALD: Yeah. I know (indiscernible) in a Blue Zone anyway. SVEUM: That's what they (indiscernible) right? CHAIR GARMAN: All right. Got a question from Bernie as well. HOENLE: Yeah. One of the main tools that they use during assessment is a walkabout. So when they do that, give me a call I'll join in. EWALD: Okay. Awesome. HOENLE: And the second thing, I have to leave in about five minutes to go to my happy place. I'm playing in a concert down in Tempe, so. EWALD: Well, thank you. We're here to answer any questions any time. ROMANO: Thank you. CHAIR GARMAN: Wait, wait, wait. Hold on. We've got -- Randy's next in the line. EWALD: Oh. I didn't see that. CRADER: Thank you for the presentation. I was just curious if either from Scottsdale or Page 27 of 45 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS APRIL 24, 2024 STRATEGIC PLANNING ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES some of the other communities, any examples of some of the community projects that we might anticipate needing to do here to get us to where we want to be with the Blue Zones? Just even small, just to bring it to life a little bit. ROMANO: Children and gardens, that's what I -- that's what I love. And I saw that, and they are starting to do that within the schools, and that's key. And to make it easy for young families to eat healthy because all I hear is I can't eat healthy, it's too expensive. And I want that to come into Fountain Hills where, yes, we can. EWALD: And then that's all of us participating with imagining. If you have Netflix, I encourage you to watch that movie on Netflix. It's a four part series, takes about two hours. When you get to the fourth part, imagine Fountain Hills and you're going to say, oh my God, we are right there. Our community center bangs it out of the park with all kinds of activities for all ages. Our community volunteers in town knock it out of the park with running all different types of events. So we're right there. I think we're on the cusp. As far as what can we do more? I always think of pedestrian safety and that fits with your strategic plan, public safety. CRADER: Yeah, there's concrete costs that come about from this though. I mean, interconnecting sidewalks. There's infrastructure that comes along with it as well. EWALD: Absolutely, 100 percent. And that's when you say, okay, here's a project, but what project, Amanda Jacobs, are we going to look at? What are we going to tackle? What's moving forward in the strategic plan that you're going to be working on? Correct. So we're here today. What are we doing now? But what is the next three years? Five years? What focus do you want to that you can bring to Four Peaks Rotary or any of these other clubs, to say, hey, can we work on this as a community project? Because this is a community, I say all in, and we're a smaller community that can thrive, as Mayor Dickey does say. CHAIR GARMAN: Geoff? VICE CHAIR YAZZETTA: Julie, Debbie, thank you for your passion. In a previous life, I ran a CrossFit gym, and it wasn't so much about the workouts and the eating right. It was fostering a community where people wanted to do those things. So this is a very Page 28 of 45 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS APRIL 24, 2024 STRATEGIC PLANNING ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES interesting proposition, and I'm looking forward to reading more about this. I feel like this is right up there with the Dark Sky designation that we have. It's just another X factor for Fountain Hills, for Betsy, the Chamber, our realtors to attract people to the community. And all the other questions have been answered. But the $75,000, the initial fee, that's just the phase one. That's like a feasibility study that can be privately funded. It sounds like you have some corporate sponsors that want to hop in on that. And then from that, that gives us a foundation to then say to the town, hey, we need X, Y, and Z as far as infrastructure goes. Because I'm sure you're aware that is -- EWALD: Correct. VICE CHAIR YAZZETTA: -- you know a challenging topic right now, budget speaking, you should probably stick around for the next presentation here. But I'm just curious to know, like, how much heavy lifting there could be in the future? EWALD: The Blue Zones guarantees that it's nothing for a strategic planning advisory commission, nothing for the town, so this is community based. They will give us the leads with different types of grants that we can solicit to help support that economic development plan. VICE CHAIR YAZZETTA: Got it. Thank you. And to Jill's point, I think we really could use something to unify our community, so what better topic than health? EWALD: Exactly. Well-being -- VICE CHAIR YAllETTA: Appreciate you both. EWALD: -- mental health well-being. Yes. VICE CHAIR YAllETTA: Thank you so much. ROMANO: Thank you. EWALD: Thank you. CHAIR GARMAN: And SPAC is doing its part, right? VICE CHAIR YAZZETTA: We are. CHAIR GARMAN: It's unifying the town. One second. So my question is -- not my question -- but. So our strategic plan for the town, you know, we have two guiding documents. We have a general plan for the town and our strategic plan. Our strategic Page 29 of 45 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS APRIL 24, 2024 STRATEGIC PLANNING ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES plan is a ten-year plan that we open up and edit every five years just to make sure it's going in the right direction. Just so I would ask you to think about how this -- the goals of this might fit into that horizon that we deal with here at the SPAC. I would also ask you; I know you've read our strategic plan, but I would ask you to constructively look at it and see what's in it to see if any of the things that are in it already lend themselves to meeting this certification. I think you'll find that there is, in other words, after the assessment, they might come back and say some of the same things that are already in our strategic plan. So when you talk to people from outside of Fountain Hills, you can say, well, this town's already dedicated to some of the goals that are likely to be established for the town to be a Blue Zone. EWALD: That is 100 percent, Chair. I told them how to negotiate that 75,000 because I said when they come in and do that feasibility study, they're going to see immediately all the things that we have accomplished here that won't need to go into that study. And the answer was no. But I didn't -- I can negotiate more. ROMANO: But that's a great question and point too. When I was at the focus group in Scottsdale, you know, when I went to every single one and in my mind, we've got that already in Fountain Hills, we've got -- this is already happening in our town. CHAIR GARMAN: Or we're working toward it. ROMANO: Absolutely. Yeah. CHAIR GARMAN: And then I would, the last thing before we move on is, so now you've addressed the commission so you can be a regular, which means you're welcome back whenever you would like to come back and address us, you just let me know. Let Angela know if you have updates along the way because we're putting together the next strategic plan, the one we're undergoing now is 2022. Right? We're going to talk about implementation. The next one will be around 2027, when we'll put that in front of the counsel and let them discuss and vote on it. So that's the time frame we're working on. So as things move forward you have a welcome mat to come back. ROMANO: Awesome. Thank you. EWALD: Happy to do so. Yes. Page 30 of 45 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS APRIL 24, 2024 STRATEGIC PLANNING ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES CHAIR GARMAN: All right. Thank you very much. EWALD: Thank you, again. CHAIR GARMAN: Hey, David, while you're setting up. This is off script, but hey, Julie, where's the Rotary Club? EWALD: Community center, tomorrow, 6:45 a.m. Over there. CHAIR GARMAN: He's leaving. So I just wanted to bring that up. Okay. There you go, Bernie. Thank you. All right. So we're going to move on to the next agenda item which is -- wrong piece of paper in front of me. Agenda item number 7, if you're following along. So we're going to have an update today on the implementation of the current 2022 Fountain Hills strategic plan. I'd like to welcome David Pock. Thank you very much for coming back. Thank you for your patience. And I'll let you introduce Paul if you'd like to. It's the first time, I think, seeing Paul here. So welcome. POCK: Sounds like a plan. Good evening, Chair. Good evening, commissioners. My name is David Pock, the current chief financial officer for the town. I just wanted to introduce Paul, Paul Soldinger. He's going to be the incoming CFO in June when I move out of state. So I'll let him introduce himself a little bit more, and then I'll stick around for any questions after he presents information. CHAIR GARMAN: So Paul, your first introduction to Fountain Hills is a common appearance, which is once finance starts talking everybody walked out. And -- SOLDINGER: Yes. CHAIR GARMAN: Thanks, Betsy. But I mean, Dave does have open forums throughout the month that some of us attend to look at the finances. So the finances are transparent. But sometimes you don't have the audience, I think, required. But anyways, over to you. SOLDINGER: Yeah. Chairman Garman, I've seen that already in my three months, brief three months with the town. But it is important. Finance is important. So everyone still watching, we're here to provide a brief update to the commission. So let me introduce myself real quick since this is my first time in front of the commission. My name is Paul Page 31 of 45 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS APRIL 24, 2024 STRATEGIC PLANNING ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES Soldinger. I've been working alongside David for the past three months. After about a 14-and-a-half-year career with the Arizona Auditor General's office. I'm a West Phoenix born and raised individual. Went down to Tucson to go to the University of Arizona. Bear down. Go, Cats. Yes, yes. I know we're having some budget issues, but we'll get through that. But not the town. The town, we're having some great -- we're working through our budget for the town. Beautiful wife and two wonderful children -- two daughters at home. Seven -- I can't even remember their age -- seven and five. And I'm just really grateful to be here today and thank you for the opportunity. So my presentation isn't going to be nearly as interesting, I think, as the last one. That was a really good, interesting presentation. I mean, wow, some of the information was really helpful, even for myself. I'm going to try to take that 80 percent rule home and try it tonight. See how that works out for me because that was pretty cool. But yeah, I'm just here to provide a brief update on our progress in the finance department on the strategic plan of the town. And so I'll be talking about one strategic priority, on your screen, promoting the long-term financial stability of town infrastructure, environmental, and social resources. And I'll be going over two signature strategies as well as several supporting tasks and what we've done. And just feel free to jump in with any questions as we go along each slide. There's only five slides in the presentation. So for the first strategic priority signature strategy one, maintain transparency by communicating the town's finances to the public. So under supporting task A, we're required to hold public meetings twice a year, separate from council meetings, to present the town's finances. So past November, David presented a public outreach presentation to the public, just basically reviewing the past fiscal year's finances, revenues, expenditures compared to our projections, and ending fund balances after the audit of the town was complete. And then this past February, when we were kind of kicking off our budget process, we also did another public outreach session open to the public, just talking about the budget and what's going to be coming in the next few months. So for the same Page 32 of 45 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS APRIL 24, 2024 STRATEGIC PLANNING ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES signature strategy, one supporting task B requires us to conduct a regularly occurring community survey in order to track satisfaction levels with town services. So about three years ago, a survey was completed in December of 2021. This cost the town about $18,000 at this time, and I'm not too familiar with that survey. So if you have any questions, David would be happy to answer them. But at this time we do not have plans to conduct another survey, although we will consider that in the next year's budget process for fiscal year '26. CHAIR GARMAN: So regarding that, it was really -- the goal of that was to get a regular occurring survey or pulse on issues from the town, just to see when you have a comparison is the question, is the town making progress? Is things getting better or things getting worse? That was why there was the verbiage in there about a regularly occurring type of survey. So just so you know whether it's a survey or something else or an expensive one or inexpensive one, it was really just so you have a comparison over time to see if things are getting better or worse or staying the same. SOLDINGER: Okay. Yeah. Thank you, Chair, I appreciate that. Commission, I appreciate that information. That's helpful for me to understand going forward. I know, thinking about other departments, I know we are going through a downtown strategy kind of outreach process now. So I know, previously mentioned, our economic development director, Amanda Jacobs is going through that process. So that might somewhat meet this criteria. But definitely from a finance perspective, that's something that we'll keep in mind going forward. All right. So moving on to signature strategy number two, promoting the long-term financial health and stability of the town. And supporting task A was requiring us to produce and publish a five-year financial plan with revenue and expenditure forecasts. We do that internally already, but starting with this current year's, fiscal year '24 budget that was published last year, we did begin publishing on our website our budget portion of our website, the five-year operating revenue expenditure forecast for the general fund -- our general operating fund. And I'm not sure if any of you had the opportunity to watch some of our work sessions for the budget. But we regularly talk about future fiscal years Page 33 of 45 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS APRIL 24, 2024 STRATEGIC PLANNING ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES Tong -term impacts, as well as our multi -year capital project plan. I think one good example of that is we have been talking a lot about the future Lake liner project, because that will be a large fiscal expenditure in coming years. Beginning with about three fiscal years from now, we're planning on spending about $16 million over a three- year period to be able to take care of that large capital project in the future. Okay. Under the same second signature strategy, supporting task B requires us to update the current facilities reserve study to identify life cycle replacement and repair of facilities and infrastructure. So that study began but was put on hold. Working with the consultant, we kind of -- and this was before my time, but my understanding of it is, is that our capital asset policy really needs an update first, because it doesn't really address how we use the facilities reserve fund and outline how we use it specifically. So once we go through that process, and that is on my to-do list on things to do here, coming shortly, looking at our policies and how we can make those necessary updates, we'll revisit that with with the consultant to be able to move forward on that study. CHAIR GARMAN: So you don't have any idea, the time frame on that? SOLDINGER: Chair, Commission, definitely, it's a high priority. It's something, you know, me being newer to the town, there's so much to learn, so many things to get through, especially the budget, which is our busiest time of year. But certainly it's something that I'm looking at starting to begin here shortly. Probably going to start looking at it more in June and hopefully start considering updates in the July to August time frame. We would have to bring updates to town policies to council, which, they begin their sessions again in August. So I think that's definitely the timeline I'd really like to shoot for to start considering some of those updates. And really with the facilities reserve, there's not too much there as far as policy perspective to update. It's just on -- the way I could explain it is outlining some policies on how that fund can be used, and when is it necessary to first go to the town manager for approvals, and then go to town council for approvals on repairs and maintenance of, for example, town hall or the community center, and using the monies in that fund. CHAIR GARMAN: No, it sounds great. And the reason I bring that out is because there Page 34 of 45 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS APRIL 24, 2024 STRATEGIC PLANNING ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES was, you know, there's a projected completion date on all these goals that are, you know. And this one was like three years. So it's a 2025 time frame. SOLDINGER: Okay. So noted I appreciate that. I will definitely make that a priority. CHAIR GARMAN: It's a goal not a directive. SOLDINGER: Okay. Good to know. Appreciate that. CHAIR GARMAN: All right. Thanks. SOLDINGER: But yeah, definitely a priority and something we'll be looking at in the finance department soon. SVEUM: Patrick? CHAIR GARMAN: Yeah, Phil. SVEUM: Aren't you working with a reserve study expert on these buildings? I mean, what's your role in doing that? SOLDINGER: Chair, Commissioner, David might be better to answer that one, since he's been involved with the consultant already. POCK: Yeah. So Chair and Commissioner, we did contract with Willdan Financial and Pat Walker Consulting to conduct the reserve study and kind of work that through. One of the first things they did was looked at our current plan that was set up in 2015. They requested our capital asset policy. It was very shortly after that that they read through it and said, well, your capital asset policy doesn't even mention the facility's reserve fund and how it's to be used. So they suggested that before they went any further, because it would all depend on how the policy is written, to get the policy updated and then call them back in. SVEUM: Well, maybe I'm missing something here, but don't you have to start with the condition of the assets first, and then develop your policy and expenditures around what the condition of the assets are? POCK: Well, we already have -- we already have a value in our accounting software for the value of our capital assets and their depreciated value. SVEUM: Right. POCK: So yeah. That's there. That information and that gets updated each year. But as Page 35 of 45 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS APRIL 24, 2024 STRATEGIC PLANNING ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES far as how the facility reserve fund would be used and for what purposes and for what amounts, who would approve it, that all needs to be incorporated into the policy, the capital assets. SVEUM: Life cycle replacement in accounting doesn't always reflect life cycle in reality. POCK: True. SVEUM: Okay. POCK: Very true. SVEUM: So the water's coming in. POCK: Right. SVEUM: Well, it doesn't say that here. POCK: Okay. No, and life does happen. SVEUM: That's fine. I was just curious about how you set that all up. POCK: Right. SVEUM: I'm good. POCK: That's definitely where the study would be headed towards the end. So as far as once we have those policies in place. SOLDINGER: Thank you for the question. It was really helpful. All right. Okay. And then for the same signature strategy too, supporting task C would require us to utilize the services of an experienced grant researcher and writer. The town has not taken this step yet. However, we have applied for grants primarily for infrastructure projects. So for the current fiscal year, I know the previous presenters they were talking about more sidewalks in town and things like that. I remember that was mentioned. Right now, during this current fiscal year, it was just now in the Fountain Hills times, I believe, this morning, we're about to start a large sidewalk project around the downtown area, and a lot of that grant funding on the screen -- the $3.8 million is going towards that project. So it's mostly covered by federal grant monies. And also for fiscal year '25, we have projected and budgeted for about $2.7 million in grant funding for the next year as well. And just lastly, real quick, because of the fire department becoming an in-house fire Page 36 of 45 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS APRIL 24, 2024 STRATEGIC PLANNING ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES department, we may have more opportunities for grant funding going forward. We recently, actually, just applied for our first grant in collaboration with the fire department, the Assistance to Firefighters Grant. We we applied for $380,000 to replace outdated equipment for the fire department. So we'll hopefully hear about a decision shortly and hopefully be able to take advantage of those types of opportunities going forward. SVEUM: Question? CHAIR GARMAN: Yeah. Jill, first and then Geoff. SVEUM: Go on, Jill. KEEFE: Yeah, just a comment actually. I think supporting task Cis weirdly specific about engaging an external grant writer. I think the spirit of the task you've illustrated, which is we're pursuing grant funding as a financial strategy. And I'm not sure what's behind that comments, that task calling for an external -- spending money on a grant writer to go get money. But I really appreciate that you've illustrated that there's still action happening. CHAIR GARMAN: All right. Phil? SVEUM: Are there typically -- are these federal funds that you're from the grant? SOLDINGER: Chair, Commissioner, a majority of them are. There are some state funding grants mixed in there, but a majority -- for example, a 3.8 million in grant funding for this current year, a lot of that is related to the sidewalk project. It's, I want to say it's around three, three and a half million of that is just for that one project. And we're getting federal grant monies being paid through the Arizona Department of Transportation. SVEUM: And are there strings attached to these grants? For example, the fire department, I mean, are they going to have to change how they are structured or is it other meaningful strings? SOLDINGER: So Commissioner, good question. So I can speak about the firefighter grant because I helped apply for it. So basically, it's -- you just have to be able to demonstrate and what we did was demonstrate a financial need, and a really a need to Page 37 of 45 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS APRIL 24, 2024 STRATEGIC PLANNING ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES update really outdated equipment. So it's more based on the risks and the safety of your firefighters. So in that case, the specific equipment that we're trying to replace is very expensive. I always forget the SCBAs, like scuba. Self-contained breathing apparatus for firefighters to go into a home firefight. Going into a home that's on fire, they need to be able to wear these apparatuses so they can breathe. Right? So that costs about $400,000 to replace it for all 33 firefighters for our department. And the ones that we have are very outdated. So when you read the grant criteria, it basically says this is a high priority item, we need to -- they're willing to provide grant funding for these types of opportunities. And this would be a considered a high risk replacement. So in that case, there's not really strings attached other than the compliance requirements that really every federal dollar is going to have some sort of requirements. And they're relatively simple. You need to use the monies within a year of receiving it, you need to use it for the priorities you've outlined in your application and provide evidence such as invoices on what you spent the money on, things like that. But relatively straightforward compliance requirements. SVEUM: Thank you. CRADER: Has the town at any point had a grant writer position? It might be a question for David. SOLDINGER: Might be a better question for David, but I'm not familiar with us ever having a grant writer position. I know it's been mentioned in council meetings as as being desired, but we haven't historically had a lot of grants with the size of our town. CRADER: Sure. SOLDINGER: So I'm not sure that there's been the full need for that. CRADER: Yeah. I was just curious if it was -- because I know the total staff size was reduced following the great financial crisis, and it's slowly been crawling back up to where it was, but just. POCK: Right. So Chair, Commissioner, there's never been a paid staff member, but I do remember hearing about some volunteers and some working with the community services department, but that's the only one. Page 38 of 45 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS APRIL 24, 2024 STRATEGIC PLANNING ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES SOLDINGER: To that point real quick, Chair, Vice Chair, so I did help apply for the firefighter one and it is -- I will say it is time consuming. So just something to consider. We'll see if we get that grant. But it was very time consuming because you have to work with the department that knows more about their needs and being able to explain some of the questions on the application process. And you also have to be careful about writing the application in a way that aligns with the guidance, because they put out a lot of guidance on what they're looking for and what they want to be able to evaluate through their peer review process. CRADER: Thank you. CHAIR GARMAN: So the history of that, I think you guys have all like explained and really have to to summarize, grants for this town, doesn't have a history of seeking grants. It's been kind of haphazard, unfocused, opportunity -based done by a team or a group of people in different areas. Most towns have some type of a skilled grant writer, which pays for itself many times, even with just a simple -- you can see how much these grants are worth. A skilled grant writer that can go out and research and find them from across the country, whether it's federal, state, local, and it doesn't take much to pay for their salary. So that was put in there on purpose by the last group. I think it was softened a little bit at the end from hiring a actual position on town. I mean, looking at the exact verbiage which basically says utilize, which gave the opportunity to contract or use some other services. But it was definitely the focus to try to have the town have the services of a more skilled grant finder and writer. So and that's why -- what's it say? Two years. So was definitely part of the plan. So I know this is not under the financial guise, but writ large, that was the intent. SOLDINGER: Well, thank you, Chair. That's really valuable information. Definitely consider that going forward. CHAIR GARMAN: Yeah, yeah. SOLDINGER: And that's all we have today. Any other questions from the commission? VICE CHAIR YAZZETTA: Paul. Welcome aboard. And David, thank you for your service to Fountain Hills and good luck on your next adventure. Tennessee, right? Thank you. Page 39 of 45 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS APRIL 24, 2024 STRATEGIC PLANNING ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES SOLDINGER: Thank you. CHAIR GARMAN: Any final questions? I'm looking to the right and just -- thank you very much for addressing us, by the way, today. We really appreciate it. We look forward to hearing you in the future. And again, if anything comes up, the welcome mat is out for you to come back in and address this in the future, so. SOLDINGER: Absolutely. I appreciate the welcome mat and thank you so much. CHAIR GARMAN: All right. Thanks. Okay. Let's move on, I think. So we're going to go down to agenda item 8 right now, which is an update on our two commission work groups. Mine is really quick, before I turn it over to you, Geoff. Which is nearing the end of, kind of, the outreach sessions that we've had. I think they mentioned, I don't know if I told everybody -- I think I told some of you I was scheduled to talk. We were scheduled to talk at the Four Peaks Rotary and -- not Julie, but another gentleman told me it was at 7 o'clock. Right? And be there at 6:45. Which sounded great for me, I was prepped and ready to go, and I was brushing my teeth in the morning, getting ready for work. And I got a text that said, where are you? It was like 7:05. And I was like, who's this? And what do you mean? It was at 7 in the morning, and I had no idea that it was 7 in the morning. So I missed it the first time. So they were nice enough to reschedule me. So tomorrow at 06:45, I'll be at the community center to preach the gospel on the SPAC for the Rotary Club. And then that's the last one that I have on the schedule for this year. So that we I'll be able to take all that information, put it together for our meeting in May. So -- okay. Over to you, Geoff, for the workshop. VICE CHAIR YAZZETTA: Sure. Just in the essence of time, I think in addition to having record attendance, this is also the longest SPAC meeting that we've had, at least while I've been sitting in this chair. So I want to again, thank my colleagues just for all the work that was put in last Saturday. We had a great event. We had an attendance -- I want to say it was about 40. And that seems to be, I think, par for the course. I know Amanda Jacobs had a similar forum a year and a half, maybe two years ago, I think 35 to 40 people showed up for that. We got from the 40 or so people that showed up, we Page 40 of 45 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS APRIL 24, 2024 STRATEGIC PLANNING ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES received 101 note cards that had a variety of thoughts, topics, just different things, things you'd expect, things from out of the blue. It was a lot of good feedback. We categorized things across nine areas of interest. And I'll have a deeper dive on this for our meeting in May. But it was a very helpful exercise just to hear the community out. And this will be the first of several that we host -- several events like this that we host while we craft the pillars and then the strategies and then the tasks. But yeah, right now just kind of sifting through and refining the data and I'll come up with some dialed in spreadsheets and a full presentation for everyone to review in May. And before I sign off here, I want to ask if Jill has -- anything you want to say about the pairwise comparison just because that's your area of expertise? KEEFE: Oh. Thank you. So I spent a little time last night adding some comments to our spreadsheet that were -- the patterns that I saw or what the key takeaways were in the prioritization exercise. And so those notes are listed there. But but a couple notable things is the safety and infrastructure were the top two priorities, pretty loudly voiced. There were -- what was interesting about safety, though, is it was either considered the highest or the lowest priority. And the commentary, the voices that went along with that were already really safe, therefore, it's not a priority. Or others would say, we're really safe, we need to stay really safe. We got to continue to have this be a priority. And so you know, it came down to your perspective. And we're going to -- as we're sifting through those comments, we're going to have to think a little bit about the lens that those pairwise comparisons were made. There was -- when you force rank eight very important things, it's an exercise in causing people to tease out their thinking. And I'll tell you, besides some of the findings that you guys can go over in depth, the act of being at that station and causing people to make those trade-offs and saying, no, you got to choose, you got to choose was -- the conversation around it was just as valuable. There was a lot of people feeling like they really wanted to make sure something was done with downtown, but they still feel that safety is number one. Yeah. So it was purposefully difficult for people. And it caused them, I think, to add a little more dimension and a little more comments to -- than just Page 41 of 45 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS APRIL 24, 2024 STRATEGIC PLANNING ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES their voices, just their votes. That's all I'd say. CHAIR GARMAN: Yeah. Thank you. Come on in. Well, I'll get into it. Well, we can go to the next one as well because we're going to talk about -- anybody -- comments, by the way, before I move on to the next agenda item. No? So the next one is agenda item 9, discussion of possible action. Those are future agenda topics. I'll give you the draft and you guys can bring something up if you want me to change something or add something. But you know, we're looking at the wrapping up the end of this year, I guess, as far as the SPAC goes and our work. And the way we're going to do that is we've pretty much stayed to the calendar that I put forth last fall, which is amazing and great, both together. So the meeting in May, we're going to do more of an in-depth review of the work group results and our community outreach results. So kind of a wide ranging of those two initiatives that we've done this year to try to bring focus to them. And we're going to come back in June with no presentations, by the way. I was purposely not scheduling any presentations in May or June so we could do some work. So some analysis bringing to the table in May. And then in June again, take a look at everything we've done for the year, all the topics that we've heard, all the results we've gotten from our two work groups and outreach and actually put together a draft strategic pillars going into the summer. However many those are. What they are is to be determined. But you know, if it takes us several hours, like today or if it takes us 15 minutes, I want to make sure that when we leave for our summer break, we have the pillars that are going to hold up our plan as we start into the next year. So that's why you'll see for the next two meetings. I don't have any -- I mean, I can always schedule some, but right now, I was not going to schedule any outside or town related presentations, so that we can make sure and get out here in the summer with a good conscience that we actually put pen to paper. Okay? Okay any comments on that? Nobody wants to comment. VICE CHAIR YAllETTA: Sounds good. CHAIR GARMAN: Elegantly. Elegantly stated. Huh? Hardly. All right. Okay. So now we're going to move down. So that's next two months. Agenda item 10, which is Page 42 of 45 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS APRIL 24, 2024 STRATEGIC PLANNING ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES comments from me, finalize the meeting. Before I say my comments again, I want to look to my left and my right. Anything else today? We've already jumped the shark. We're already way over an hour, so it's okay. All right. Nothing. So here's how I wanted to leave today before I ask for a motion on adjournment. Jill.? KEEFE: Yes, sir. CHAIR GARMAN: You know, I'm a person of few words, so allow me to say that you know your time here -- when I think about your time on our commission, I think you've been a very strong member of our commission. You're a very strong member of the Fountain Hills Leadership Academy. You have a strong family and you're a strong, strong mother, from what I've seen. I think you are a strong citizen in Fountain Hills, for sure. You're definitely a strong business owner that you bring to our town. Right? So the word that keeps coming to me when I think about you is, is strength. KEEFE: I don't feel very strong right now. Thank you. CHAIR GARMAN: So thank you for your time on our commission. You've made the commission better through your strength. And I very much appreciate that because you helped. You just didn't sit and soak up stuff, you actually helped and participated and made our commission better. So as a commissioner, you will be missed. But I want to thank you for your service to our town, and you're always welcome back. Whether you want to apply again or you want to come and participate out there with the public, you are always welcome. So I think we'll probably have a recognition through the town. That's not that's not letting anything out of the box, is it, Angela? We'll have -- PADGETT-ESPIRITU: No, no. CHAIR GARMAN: So go ahead, Angela. PADGETT-ESPIRITU: Yeah, it is. It's May 7th, your recognition. Yeah. CHAIR GARMAN: So thank you very much. And I didn't know if there's anything you wanted to say before we. KEEFE: I have so appreciated the opportunity to be hands on involved with this and with just such a confident and cool group of people. Yeah, it broadened my understanding of Page 43 of 45 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS APRIL 24, 2024 STRATEGIC PLANNING ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES the town, but I hope took away a couple of friends out of the process, too. This is what I wanted to do when I left corporate life. I wanted to be able to be more involved in the community. And yeah, this is just stepping back a little bit to focus on some family priorities, but yeah, no, I've got town fever now. Y'all are stuck with me. It just is going to just show up in a different way, when the time makes a little more sense. And I've been so grateful for your leadership. I can't tell you how much I value a well -run meeting. It just -- you respect and respect our time, respect the speaker's time, and keep it clear and orderly, and that just makes for a better commission. So thank you for that very much. CHAIR GARMAN: Thanks, Jill. You took my thunder because I was going to apologize for the length of the meeting today. But the reason is, I mean, I think you saw the Blue Zone folks have been wanting to come and address us for a while. They've been practicing putting their things together. So they were very motivated, very passionate, and I just did not want to interrupt them because if you saw they brought a lot of their friends with them, the group, and they felt like -- which we do care, and we showed that we cared. So I apologize for that. I did work with them beforehand. I told them they had 15 minutes. I looked at their slides. I reiterated that they had 15 minutes. I do that to everybody, just so you know. VICE CHAIR YAZZETTA: It would not have done it justice. CHAIR GARMAN: So -- KEEFE: It needed to be what it was. VICE CHAIR YAllETTA: Okay. It was good. CHAIR GARMAN: Yeah. It was good. Thank you for that. All right. So any other further comments before we -- okay. I can entertain any motions on the floor as far as adjourn -- KEEFE: Oh, let me do this one. CHAIR GARMAN: Adjournment? KEEFE: I move to adjourn. VICE CHAIR YAZZETTA: Second. Page 44 of 45 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS APRIL 24, 2024 STRATEGIC PLANNING ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES CHAIR GARMAN: We have a second. Any discussion? All those approving the motion say aye. ALL: Aye. CHAIR GARMAN: Any opposed? Hearing none, this meeting is adjourned. Thank you all very much. Page 45 of 45 TAIN HILLS Patrick Garman, Chairman BY: Angela Padgett -Espiritu, Executive Assistant CERTIFICATION I hereby certify that the foregoing minutes are a true and correct copy of the minutes of the Regular Meeting held by the Strategic Planning Advisory Commission of Fountain Hills in the Town Hall Council Chambers on the 24th day of April 2024. I further certify that the meeting was duly called and that a quorum was present. DAT)111000..• gett-Espiritu, Executive Assistant