HomeMy WebLinkAboutAGENDApacket__10-03-23_0110_519
NOTICE OF MEETING
REGULAR MEETING
FOUNTAIN HILLS TOWN COUNCIL
Mayor Ginny Dickey
Vice Mayor Sharron Grzybowski
Councilmember Peggy McMahon
Councilmember Hannah Toth
Councilmember Gerry Friedel
Councilmember Brenda J. Kalivianakis
Councilmember Allen Skillicorn
TIME:5:30 P.M. – REGULAR MEETING
WHEN:TUESDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2023
WHERE:
FOUNTAIN HILLS COUNCIL CHAMBERS
16705 E. AVENUE OF THE FOUNTAINS, FOUNTAIN HILLS, AZ
Councilmembers of the Town of Fountain Hills will attend either in person or by telephone conference
call; a quorum of the Town’s various Commission, Committee or Board members may be in attendance
at the Council meeting.
Notice is hereby given that pursuant to A.R.S. §1-602.A.9, subject to certain specified statutory
exceptions, parents have a right to consent before the State or any of its political subdivisions make a
video or audio recording of a minor child. Meetings of the Town Council are audio and/or video
recorded and, as a result, proceedings in which children are present may be subject to such recording.
Parents, in order to exercise their rights may either file written consent with the Town Clerk to such
recording, or take personal action to ensure that their child or children are not present when a
recording may be made. If a child is present at the time a recording is made, the Town will assume that
the rights afforded parents pursuant to A.R.S. §1-602.A.9 have been waived.
REQUEST TO COMMENT
The public is welcome to participate in Council meetings.
TO SPEAK TO AN AGENDA ITEM, please complete a Request to Comment card, located in the back of the Council
Chambers, and hand it to the Town Clerk prior to discussion of that item, if possible. Include the agenda item on which
you wish to comment. Speakers will be allowed three contiguous minutes to address the Council. Verbal comments
should be directed through the Presiding Officer and not to individual Councilmembers.
TO COMMENT ON AN AGENDA ITEM IN WRITING ONLY, please complete a Request to Comment card, indicating it is a
written comment, and check the box on whether you are FOR or AGAINST and agenda item, and hand it to the Town
Clerk prior to discussion, if possible.
TO COMMENT IN WRITING ONLINE: Please feel free to provide your comments by visiting
https://www.fountainhillsaz.gov/publiccomment and SUBMIT a Public Comment Card by 3:00 PM on the day of the
meeting . These comments will be shared with the Town Council.
Town Council Regular Meeting of October 3, 2023 2
NOTICE OF OPTION TO RECESS INTO EXECUTIVE SESSION
Pursuant to A.R.S. §38-431.02, notice is hereby given to the members of the Town Council, and to the general public, that at
this meeting, the Town Council may vote to go into executive session, which will not be open to the public, for legal advice
and discussion with the Town's attorneys for legal advice on any item listed on the following agenda, pursuant to A.R.S.
§38-431.03(A)(3).
1.CALL TO ORDER AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE – Mayor Dickey
2.INVOCATION - Pastor Keith Pavia, Christ's Church of Fountain Hills
3.ROLL CALL – Mayor Dickey
4.STATEMENT OF PARTICIPATION
5.REPORTS BY MAYOR, COUNCILMEMBERS AND TOWN MANAGER
A.PROCLAMATION: Designation of October 2023, as Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
B.PROCLAMATION: Designation of October 15 - 21, 2023, as Arizona Cities & Towns Week.
C.PROCLAMATION: Designation of October 8 - 14, 2023, as Fire Prevention Week.
6.PRESENTATIONS
A.Presentation and update from the Fountain Hills Youth Substance Abuse Prevention
Coalition Executive Director Tammy Bell.
B.Presentation on the Town of Fountain Hills Emergency Response Plan.
7.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.
Town Council Regular Meeting of October 3, 2023 3
8.CONSENT AGENDA ITEMS
All items listed on the Consent Agenda are considered to be routine, noncontroversial matters and will be
enacted by one motion of the Council. All motions and subsequent approvals of consent items will include all
recommended staff stipulations unless otherwise stated. There will be no separate discussion of these items
unless a councilmember or member of the public so requests. If a councilmember or member of the public
wishes to discuss an item on the Consent Agenda, he/she may request so prior to the motion to accept the
Consent Agenda or with notification to the Town Manager or Mayor prior to the date of the meeting for
which the item was scheduled. The items will be removed from the Consent Agenda and considered in its
normal sequence on the agenda.
A.CONSIDERATION AND POSSIBLE ACTION: Approval of the minutes for the Regular
Meeting of September 6, 2023.
B.CONSIDERATION AND POSSIBLE ACTION: Approving a Special Event Liquor License
application for Fountain Hills Chamber of Commerce for a wine walk in conjunction with
the Wine Walk Series, Presented by The Avenue Merchants Association (TAMA) on
October 13, 2023.
C.CONSIDERATION AND POSSIBLE ACTION: Adopting Resolution 2023-31, An
Intergovernmental Agreement With Salt River Pima Maricopa Indian Community for
receipt of Prop 202 funding.
D.CONSIDERATION AND POSSIBLE ACTION: Resolution 2023-29, abandoning 10' Public
Utility and Drainage Easements along the east and south sides of 15483 E Cavern Drive
(Application A23-000009).
E.CONSIDERATION AND POSSIBLE ACTION: Final Plat for Eagles Nest Parcel 2, a subdivision
containing 40 single-family lots and one tract in the R1-43 zoning district.
9.REGULAR AGENDA
A.CONSIDERATION AND POSSIBLE ACTION: Approval of a Memorandum of Understanding
with the Fountain Hills Youth Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition for the annual
distribution of Opioid Settlement Funds for the education and prevention of drug abuse in
the town's youth.
B.CONSIDERATION AND POSSIBLE ACTION: Approval of the recommendation for the
appointment of a Youth Commissioner to the Community Services Advisory Commission.
C.CONSIDERATION AND POSSIBLE ACTION: Extension of a Special Use Permit for residential
use in the C-C, Common Commercial, Zoning District at 15006 N. Ivory Dr., case
SUP22-000001.
D.PUBLIC HEARING, CONSIDERATION, AND POSSIBLE ACTION: SPECIAL USE PERMIT
Town Council Regular Meeting of October 3, 2023 4
D.PUBLIC HEARING, CONSIDERATION, AND POSSIBLE ACTION: SPECIAL USE PERMIT
request to allow 16 beds at a home for the aged on a 0.37-acre parcel located at the
northeast corner of Palisades Blvd. and Westby Drive (16602 E. Palisades Blvd.: APN
176-05-993) in the R-3 Multifamily Zoning District. SUP23-000002.
E.CONSIDERATION AND POSSIBLE ACTION: Approving the Second Amendment to
Professional Services Agreement 2023-033 with Kimley-Horn and Associates, Inc. for the
design of intersection improvements at Palisades Boulevard and Fountain Hills Boulevard.
F.CONSIDERATION AND POSSIBLE ACTION: Approval of First Amendment to Cooperative
purchasing agreement 2023-026 with Interwest Safety Supply for signs and sign hardware
G.CONSIDERATION AND POSSIBLE ACTION: Approval of an Employment Agreement
between the Town of Fountain Hills and Rachael Goodwin for the position of Town
Manager.
10.COUNCIL DISCUSSION/DIRECTION to the TOWN MANAGER
Item(s) listed below are related only to the propriety of (i) placing such item(s) on a future agenda for action,
or (ii) directing staff to conduct further research and report back to the Council.
11.FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS
12.ADJOURNMENT
CERTIFICATE OF POSTING OF NOTICE
The undersigned hereby certifies that a copy of the foregoing notice was duly posted in accordance with the statement filed
by the Town Council with the Town Clerk.
Dated this ______ day of ____________________, 2023.
_____________________________________________
Linda G. Mendenhall, MMC, Town Clerk
The Town of Fountain Hills endeavors to make all public meetings accessible to persons with disabilities. Please call 480-816-5199 (voice)
or 1-800-367-8939 (TDD) 48 hours prior to the meeting to request a reasonable accommodation to participate in the meeting or to obtain
agenda information in large print format. Supporting documentation and staff reports furnished the Council with this agenda are available
for review in the Clerk's Office.
On the day of the Council Meeting, the Council Chamber doors open at 5:15 p.m. for public seating.
Town Council Regular Meeting of October 3, 2023 5
ITEM 5. A.
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
STAFF REPORT
Meeting Date: 10/03/2023 Meeting Type: Town Council Regular Meeting
Agenda Type: Reports Submitting Department: Administration
Prepared by: Angela Padgett-Espiritu, Executive Assistant to Manager, Mayor/Council
Staff Contact Information: Angela Padgett-Espiritu, Executive Assistant to Manager,
Mayor/Council
Request to Town Council Regular Meeting (Agenda Language): PROCLAMATION: Designation of
October 2023, as Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
Staff Summary (Background)
Mayor Dickey will proclaim October 2023, as Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
Attachments
Proclamation - October as Domestic Violence Awareness Month
Form Review
Inbox Reviewed By Date
Town Attorney Aaron D. Arnson 09/25/2023 09:02 PM
Finance Director David Pock 09/26/2023 06:14 AM
Finance Director David Pock 09/26/2023 06:14 AM
Town Attorney Linda Mendenhall 09/26/2023 07:34 AM
Interim Town Manager Rachael Goodwin 09/26/2023 08:07 AM
Form Started By: Angela Padgett-Espiritu Started On: 09/25/2023 03:48 PM
Final Approval Date: 09/26/2023
ITEM 5. B.
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
STAFF REPORT
Meeting Date: 10/03/2023 Meeting Type: Town Council Regular Meeting
Agenda Type: Reports Submitting Department: Administration
Prepared by: Angela Padgett-Espiritu, Executive Assistant to Manager, Mayor/Council
Staff Contact Information: Angela Padgett-Espiritu, Executive Assistant to Manager,
Mayor/Council
Request to Town Council Regular Meeting (Agenda Language): PROCLAMATION: Designation of
October 15 - 21, 2023, as Arizona Cities & Towns Week.
Staff Summary (Background)
Mayor Dickey will proclaim October 15 - 21, 2023, as Arizona Cities & Towns Week.
Attachments
Proclamation Arizona Cities & Towns Week
Form Review
Inbox Reviewed By Date
Town Attorney Aaron D. Arnson 09/25/2023 09:02 PM
Finance Director David Pock 09/26/2023 06:14 AM
Finance Director David Pock 09/26/2023 06:14 AM
Town Attorney Linda Mendenhall 09/26/2023 07:34 AM
Interim Town Manager Rachael Goodwin 09/26/2023 08:07 AM
Form Started By: Angela Padgett-Espiritu Started On: 09/25/2023 03:43 PM
Final Approval Date: 09/26/2023
ITEM 5. C.
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
STAFF REPORT
Meeting Date: 10/03/2023 Meeting Type: Town Council Regular Meeting
Agenda Type: Reports Submitting Department: Administration
Prepared by: Angela Padgett-Espiritu, Executive Assistant to Manager, Mayor/Council
Staff Contact Information: Angela Padgett-Espiritu, Executive Assistant to Manager,
Mayor/Council
Request to Town Council Regular Meeting (Agenda Language): PROCLAMATION: Designation of
October 8 - 14, 2023, as Fire Prevention Week.
Staff Summary (Background)
Mayor Dickey will be proclaiming October 8 - 14, 2023, as Fire Prevention Week.
Attachments
Proclamation - Fire Prevention Week 2023
Form Review
Inbox Reviewed By Date
Town Attorney Aaron D. Arnson 09/13/2023 10:34 AM
Finance Director David Pock 09/13/2023 11:13 AM
Finance Director David Pock 09/13/2023 11:13 AM
Town Attorney Aaron D. Arnson 09/13/2023 12:56 PM
Interim Town Manager Rachael Goodwin 09/20/2023 02:32 PM
Form Started By: Angela Padgett-Espiritu Started On: 09/13/2023 08:00 AM
Final Approval Date: 09/20/2023
ITEM 8. A.
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
STAFF REPORT
Meeting Date: 10/03/2023 Meeting Type: Town Council Regular Meeting
Agenda Type: Consent Submitting Department: Administration
Prepared by: Linda Mendenhall, Town Clerk
Request to Town Council Regular Meeting (Agenda Language): CONSIDERATION AND POSSIBLE
ACTION: Approval of the minutes for the Regular Meeting of September 6, 2023.
Staff Summary (Background)
The intent of approving meeting minutes is to ensure an accurate account of the discussion and
action that took place at the meeting for archival purposes. Approved minutes are placed on the
town's website and maintained as permanent records in compliance with state law.
Related Ordinance, Policy or Guiding Principle
N/A
Risk Analysis
N/A
Recommendation(s) by Board(s) or Commission(s)
N/A
Staff Recommendation(s)
Staff recommends approving the minutes of the Regular Meeting of September 6, 2023.
SUGGESTED MOTION
MOVE to approve the minutes of the Regular Meeting of September 6, 2023, as presented.
Attachments
Verbatim Transcript
Form Review
Inbox Reviewed By Date
Town Attorney Linda Mendenhall 09/21/2023 04:46 PM
Clerk Linda Mendenhall 09/25/2023 09:24 AM
Clerk Linda Mendenhall 09/25/2023 09:24 AM
Finance Director David Pock 09/25/2023 09:26 AM
Town Attorney Aaron D. Arnson 09/25/2023 11:39 AM
Interim Town Manager Rachael Goodwin 09/25/2023 02:00 PM
Form Started By: Linda Mendenhall Started On: 09/21/2023 04:41 PM
Final Approval Date: 09/25/2023
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING OF THE FOUNTAIN HILLS TOWN COUNCIL September 6, 2023
A Regular Meeting of the Fountain Hills Town Council was convened at 16705 E. Avenue of the Fountains in open and public session at 5:32 p.m.
Members Present: Mayor Ginny Dickey: Vice Mayor Sharron Grzybowski; Councilmember Gerry Friedel; Councilmember Peggy McMahon; Councilmember Brenda J. Kalivianakis; Councilmember Hannah Toth; Councilmember Allen Skillicorn
Staff Present: Interim Town Manager Rachael Goodwin; Town Attorney Aaron D. Arnson; Town Clerk Linda Mendenhall
Audience: Approximately fifty-one members of the public were present.
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
SEPTEMBER 6, 2023, REGULAR MEETING MINUTES
Page 1 of 69
Post-Production File
Town of Fountain Hills
Regular Meeting Minutes
September 6, 2023
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.
* * * * *
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
SEPTEMBER 6, 2023, REGULAR MEETING MINUTES
Page 2 of 69
MAYOR DICKEY: Good evening, everyone.
Please rise for the pledge and remain standing if you'd like for the invocation.
ALL: I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic
for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you.
Is Steve Gay here? Fountain Hills resident, Democratic Club and airline pilot. Hi.
GAY: Hello.
Good evening. As always, I'd like to thank everybody here and at home for taking such
an interest in making Fountain Hills an even brighter gem in our beloved corner of the
Sonoran Desert. The term, "invocation", comes from a Latin word which means to
summon or call upon. Invocations often call upon law makers to set a positive tone and
put aside differences as they work together using facts, reason, and logic to resolve the
issues before them.
Seeing past big differences of opinion is a tall order, but if we can stop being this rigid
person with fixed ideas about others, it's amazing how much they improve; sometimes
almost instantly. Also keeping a gentle watch for sources of hidden kindness in others,
lets us move more freely and kindly through life, perhaps even in town council
meetings.
Humor has rarely been used in invocations, starting way back with the Romans, maybe,
because they were not particularly known for their sense of humor. However, there is
evidence that humor can summon a relaxed, positive tone in a room. I mean, how many
time do comedy shows end with people glaring at each other, right? So I'll close with
some local humor to end on a light note.
Many years ago, a woman from Fountain Hills called in to the Saturday NPR show. Wait,
Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. When asked to say a little bit our town, she justifiably
mentioned our beautiful desert scenery and, of course, the fountain. Which, she
helpfully informed the nationwide audience was the world's tallest fountain, shooting
water up to 500 feet into the air. Without missing a beat the host asked her, how do
you guys drink out of that thing?
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
SEPTEMBER 6, 2023, REGULAR MEETING MINUTES
Page 3 of 69
Thank you for your time tonight.
MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you.
Roll call, please.
MENDENHALL: Mayor Dickey?
MAYOR DICKEY: Here.
MENDENHALL: Vice Mayor Grzybowski?
GRZYBOWSKI: Present.
MENDENHALL: Councilmember Friedel?
FRIEDEL: Here.
MENDENHALL: Councilmember McMahon?
MCMAHON: Here.
MENDENHALL: Councilmember Kalivianakis?
KALIVIANAKIS: Here.
MENDENHALL: Councilmember Toth?
TOTH: Here.
MENDENHALL: Councilmember Skillicorn?
SKILLICORN: Here.
MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you.
We start, as always, with our -- oh, statement of participation.
MENDENHALL: I was going to --
MAYOR DICKEY: I was right.
MENDENHALL: -- I was going to display our new video but I can't access it. I'll see if I
can still get to it.
[Start of participation video]
MENDENHALL: Hello and welcome to the Fountain Hills town council meeting. I am
Linda Mendenhall, your town clerk here to give you an important message. Anyone
wishing to address the council regarding items listed on the agenda or under call to the
public, should fill out a request to comment card located in the back of the council
chambers and hand it to the town clerk prior to consideration of that agenda item.
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
SEPTEMBER 6, 2023, REGULAR MEETING MINUTES
Page 4 of 69
When your name is called please approach the podium, speak into the microphone and
state your name for the public record. Please limit your comments to three minutes.
It is the policy of the mayor and council to not comment on items brought forth under
call to the public. However, staff can be directed to report back to the council at a
future date or to schedule items raised for a future council agenda.
Thank you.
[end of participation video]
MENDENHALL: And what the call of this is, is really that when you walk in, starting at
5:15, I would have that on a loop. This is just to make it a little easier for those who
have never approached council with request to comment and so forth.
I hope you liked it.
MCMAHON: It was awesome.
MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. So we'll now move to our reports by councilmembers,
town manager, and mayor.
Town manager?
GOODWIN: Thank you. I just have two quick updates for our council as well as our
public.
One is, this Saturday we are going to be welcoming probably more than 3,000 high
school students to Fountain Park. It is the annual cross-country race. We have it
generally every September. It is the Fountain Hills High School host and we have
schools from all of the state that come. Which means the park will be very, very busy
this Saturday morning starting early. Probably arrival between 5 and 6 a.m. and then
the run takes place. And they're done, usually, between 9 and 10 a.m. So it is an early
morning. It is expected to be hot.
Because we have so many runners, it also closes down Saguaro Boulevard along the
park there between Paul Nordin and Parkview because we have parking for probably 50
to 60 buses in that area. So it will be busy but it will be a great event. It's fun to come
out and watch if you're around on Saturday morning.
Also I wanted to recognize that Monday is September 11th, it's Patriot's Day. And that
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
SEPTEMBER 6, 2023, REGULAR MEETING MINUTES
Page 5 of 69
we're familiar with Patriot's Day as it recognizes the tragic events that occurred on
September 11th, 2001. In honor of this the town will be lighting the fountain in red,
white, and blue in honor of the lives that were lost as well as our appreciation for our
first responders that serve our community every day. So you'll be seeing that Monday
evening.
With that, that's all my updates.
MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you.
TOTH: Thank you, Madam Mayor. I don't really have a report. I just want to say a thank
you to Rachael and the town staff for that wonderful way of memorializing those who
were lost in 9/11.
MAYOR DICKEY: Vice mayor?
GRZYBOWSKI: First thing I want to do is, I know we're probably all going to mention
this. Last week was the annual Arizona League of Cities and Town conference. The
point of it is, it gets a bunch of council people and town managers together, along with
some of our state legislators. It's not necessarily political. It's about problems that we
all have. All cities and towns have problems with vacancies. We all have problems with
our roads. One of our newest commonalities with all the other cities and towns is the
upcoming loss of the residential rental taxes. So we all went in looking for, hopefully,
some city or town that has already talked about it and maybe trying to find out how
they can backfill these funds that are going to be going away. So it's an annual
conference that I have loved going to every year because of things like that. It's a great
opportunity to find out what other cities and towns are doing and something that
maybe we can try to pick up on.
The other thing I wanted to talk about today was tomorrow morning I am attending the
first of the Make a Difference Day planning meetings. And that's coming up on October
21st. If you would like to register to be a volunteer, you can do that on the town
website. I believe we still have a couple of openings for clients, so if you have anybody
that's a neighbor or a member of your church that may need to have some work done,
have them contact Kim in community services.
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
SEPTEMBER 6, 2023, REGULAR MEETING MINUTES
Page 6 of 69
Thank you.
FRIEDEL: Thank you, Mayor.
A couple of things. October will be Domestic Violence Month and the town will
recognize that month by turning our fountain lights purple on Wednesday nights and
also they will shroud the town hall in purple as well, in recognition of that month.
And like the vice mayor said, we were with a lot of elected officials down in Tucson,
where we had different breakout sessions. We learned some things about bonds, how
they're issued, why they're issued, different dollar amounts, water conservation and
filtration, and other things like that. So it was worthwhile to attend some of those
sessions. So we did find out some good information there.
And public service announcements. So Saturday night the Four Peaks Rotary is having a
community fundraising event for the Lahaina Maui, Hawaii, residents that were
displaced by the fire and that sort of thing. So you can sign up online for that. It's a
dinner actually, Saturday night from 5 to 7. And in lieu of that, if you want to make a
donation, I'm sure they're taking donations as well.
Did I miss anything on that, Rachael, do you think?
GOODWIN: Did you want to --
FRIEDEL: Oh, yeah. Also --
GOODWIN: Show our support.
FRIEDEL: -- the town, that night, also -- since pink is the color for Hawaii, we will be
having the fountain turn pink that night in honor of those people in Hawaii.
That's it, Mayor, thank you.
MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you.
MCMAHON: Good evening, everybody.
I too attended the conference in Tucson and it was really great. I thought it was really
wonderful to be able to reconnect with our colleagues in other cities and towns,
listening to their concerns about their towns and what's going on. And realize that,
basically, most cities and towns are facing the same things. So it was a good conference.
We had a good time.
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
SEPTEMBER 6, 2023, REGULAR MEETING MINUTES
Page 7 of 69
Thanks.
KALIVIANAKIS: Thank you, Ms. Mayor.
Thanks everyone for coming tonight, out of your busy schedules to attend your town
council meeting, at home and live streaming. Again, it's very important that the
constituents keep an eye on their government. And I would like to first talk about the
cities and towns conference, which I think is expected. It was a tremendous conference.
It gave us a chance to talk to, again, the mayors, the council, the managers, state reps,
about all the problems that are concerning all of our towns. And it's surprising how
similar all the towns are.
I also just got a chance to discuss is there any perfect town councils out there, and all
the people I talked to said no, we're very flawed. And I said, oh, that's good to know
because all of us here in the town council are doing the best that we can and we're
doing the best job that we can. And that's kind of what the people and the consensus
was, we're doing the best for our constituents. Do we see things differently? Do we
have different policy disagreements? Certainly we do. But sometimes perfect is the
enemy of the good. And if you did have a perfect town council, then once you elected a
human being, it would not be perfect anymore because we're all flawed individuals.
And so let's just try to work together for the betterment of our town.
I had the pleasure to play the saxophone with the Desert Valley Winds band at the
community center. Thank you, Ms. Mayor, for attending. It was a spectacular success. I
had many standing ovations and we were asked to play there again, either during the
Christmas holidays or possibly this spring. So I'll keep you posted on that. They
expected around 50 people, we had 250 showed up. So thank you, Fountain Hills, for
turning out.
Last thing is, I did attend the lawyers luncheon this month, and the county attorney,
Rachel Mitchell, was there. Just a fascinating woman. She gave us a brief on what's
going on at the county level attorney. A few of the things that she covered, and I'll just
cover very briefly. But they are providing immunity for their prosecution of drug use
when somebody calls 911 and says my friend is dying. They're exempt from
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
SEPTEMBER 6, 2023, REGULAR MEETING MINUTES
Page 8 of 69
prosecution. I think that's really good. Instead of them walking away because they
don't want to get busted for drugs.
Also, as a lifetime injunction against perpetrators, which would keep perpetrators from
visiting their victims. I think that's really good law. Police sentencing enhancements for
ambushing police; I think that's a wonderful law too. And then lastly, the expansion of
the statute of limitations for DUI offenses involving a collision for death or serious harm.
And so the statute of limitations was doubled on that, thankfully.
So that's all I have today, thank you very much. And again, thanks for coming
everybody.
SKILLICORN: Thank you, Madam Mayor.
Yes, we all attended the conference in Tucson and I won't go into that in any detail. But
I also had the opportunity two weeks ago to do a sit-down seminar with members from
the Cap the Central Arizona project. And also the ACC, Arizona Corporation
Commission, talking about water. So it's fascinating and there was quite a bit of
interplay between the states that surround us, but also Washington D.C. So it's not like
Arizona can make its own plans. We have to come up with a compact agreement with
the other states around us and then also, it has to be approved by people in
Washington. So it is a complex process but it's coming in the next couple of years that
this has to be finished up. So this is something that we're going to be hearing much,
much more about.
So thank you so much.
MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. Thanks a lot.
At the League, I'm on the nominating committee for the executive -- the nominating
subcommittee for the executive committee. And so there was a slate of members.
They all wanted to remain in their spots and they were all voted in.
As a member of the resolutions committee, the council had the opportunity to see what
will be the next legislative agenda for the League. Three of them -- well, they all passed
except one. Three of them were passed for that short-term rentals, which Scottsdale
brought those forward and those are going to be real good for us too.
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
SEPTEMBER 6, 2023, REGULAR MEETING MINUTES
Page 9 of 69
One did not pass, though it had gotten forwarded to us by the policy committees, and
that was to support equal rights for women. So that was an interesting conversation.
So maybe next year we'll get equal rights for women. So I helped to prepare a
summary. I have some information about some of the classes I got to go to and such.
And September is -- so September is Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month. Please wear
teal and stand in solidarity with the brave women fighting this disease and honor their
mothers, sisters, daughters, wives, and friends who have been tragically lost. So keep
that in mind, please.
Our next item -- we don't have any presentations. So our next item is call to the public.
Do we have any speaker cards?
MENDENHALL: Yes, Mayor, we do.
We're going to start out with a written comment. I know this item was last agenda, but
it just came in today. So I'm not sure if they just want to continue to let us know their
thoughts. But it's from Jennifer Brown regarding the donated towards construction
materials and she's against it.
And now for our request to comment. The first up, and Jeff Webb, you do want to
speak in person? Okay, perfect. And then on deck is Chris Enos.
WEBB: Hello. My name is Jeff Webb. I am a resident and a business owner on the
Avenue of the Fountains. I met with most of you guys, except for one, and we gave you
a presentation on improving the Avenue of the Fountains. We need to start looking at
that. It's time. We're generating lots of income for the town and the Avenue is basically
a stopover point for people to walk their dogs and then they leave. No one stays down
there except for festivals. And it's trying to be everything for everybody and it's not
doing anything.
This is the nicest, most important boulevard in our town and we're just letting it sit
there. We're not taking full advantage of it, and I think it's time that the city council
starts to focus on this. And if it doesn't, then, I'm representing TAMA. I don't know if
you know what TAMA is, but you haven't heard much from us because we're a new
organization. We're The Avenue Merchants Association. But you're going to start
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
SEPTEMBER 6, 2023, REGULAR MEETING MINUTES
Page 10 of 69
hearing a lot from us if stuff doesn't start happening down on the Avenue.
And have some vision. It's time. Okay?
Thank you.
ENOS: Okay, guys. All right. So Tuesday's on a Wednesday this month, just so you
didn't know.
I thought I'd give the Madam Clerk the opportunity to pronounce my name again. So
thank you very much. You did a great job. It's only four letters but it can be very hard.
Last month I came and spoke with regard to public safety and more particularly the
contract with regard to the sheriff's services. And you have very able counsel. I've
talked with him. He's great counsel. Has a great reputation. But he is the town
attorney and he's not specific to any one particular job outside of his town attorney
functions.
And respectfully, I suggest that you hire an individual with regard to this contract that
will be specific to this particular negotiation. It's over $6 million a year as I understand
it, unless I'm wrong. And you don't know exactly what's in it until somebody presents it
to you. I don't know if it's been presented to the council yet. I think you have to
identify needs as the policymakers in this town. You have to identify what didn't go well
the last time. You have to be able to say what could we do better this time? You have
to be able to account for enforcement of your local ordinances, and you have to create
alternatives so that you can have some leverage in these negotiations.
Make no mistake about it. You're in $6 million worth of negotiations. That's not an
insubstantial sum. And it would behoove you, I believe in my humble opinion, to hire an
attorney who does this for a living, separate and apart from your able counsel who has
his own duties and is on salary, and/or another negotiator. And I would respectfully
suggest that this be put on the agenda and that the town authorize the procurement of
such an individual to assist in the negotiation of this before it's too late.
You're already in September. You've got an expiration date on this thing. And worst
thing to do would be putting a line at the last minute, say well, here it is. Take it or
leave it.
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
SEPTEMBER 6, 2023, REGULAR MEETING MINUTES
Page 11 of 69
So I would respectfully suggest that you put that on a agenda and have it authorized to
hire a separate and independent counsel who can assist in the negotiation for your
town.
MENDENHALL: Next we have Crystal Cavanaugh. And on deck Lori Troller.
CAVANAUGH: Good evening. Crystal Cavanaugh, Fountain Hills resident.
Since a pro-bond statement was made by the Mayor from the dais at the last meeting,
essentially publicly supporting a tax hike on the citizens, I want to go on record as being
against the $25 million school bond, plus interest, over a 15-year period as being fiscally
irresponsible. Considering the current enrollment of 1,174 students, it's not clear how
this dollar amount was determined or whether there was an in-depth assessment
specific to our district. But there was no actual bond committee that was formed to be
held accountable for this, who will provide the oversight.
So this brings me to a related point, our sign ordinance. As a PAC, Reclaim Our Town
tries very hard to operate within this convoluted, difficult-to-understand sign ordinance
when placing our opposition signs. In January the whole sign ordinance was repealed
but not replaced. In February an emergency council was called to reinstate the
ordinance. But the enforcement of temporary signs was rightfully put on hold.
But then, in June in the last vote before summer break, some of you surprisingly voted
four to three to start up code enforcement for temporary signs, just in time to effect the
special election period. This directly impacted our messaging regarding the bond
measure in relation to size of signs and placement. Suddenly there seems to be new
rules. Even though there is an important ballot measure, we're told there really isn't an
election cycle, although there is a still a $40,000 special election taking place.
Nothing has officially changed with the original ordinance as of yet, but locations that
were acceptable for signs last fall are now, somehow, no longer acceptable this fall.
Who decided that?
And then last week, on the website, a new bold print line suddenly appeared in the
ordinance saying that since there was no primary or general election, the state statutes
for political signs did not apply. With no changes to the ordinance, why was this
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
SEPTEMBER 6, 2023, REGULAR MEETING MINUTES
Page 12 of 69
message suddenly put on? And just as quickly removed from the website. Is the
intention to discourage free speech for this ballot measure? Once again, this sign
ordinance continues to bring inconsistent answers to our questions which is why it was
such a hot topic when the candidates ran last year.
So this has me asking, why has this issue not yet been put back on the agenda after
there was a reconsideration request? Why not revert back to the hold on temporary
sign code enforcement until a better written ordinance can be implemented?
Thank you.
TROLLER: Everybody. I was going to -- Linda, Rachael, Aaron, Mayor, council. For the
record, I would love to do that. If I can get my presentations that way, I'll give you guys
these videos, that would be great.
Lori Troller, resident. My topic tonight is 5G, specifically the broadband ordinance. It's
now a few days shy of two months since the town received a drafty ordinance from
Attorney Campanelli. I would expect by now most of the remaining council work on the
ordinance would be complete. In personal conversations with some of the
councilmembers, that's not the case.
Apparently, the councilmembers aren't even aware that the draft ordinance was
provided to the town. My concern is this qualifies as a breach of the Pierce Coleman
service contract with respect to responsiveness and in turn, is a violation of the
constitution in the form of maladministration.
At this point, with concern for lack of progress, I'm putting the town on notice that
tomorrow I'm placing a FOIA request for the town to provide me and I'll provide it for
the residence, billable hours that Aaron Arnson has charged the town related to this
specific item.
Thank you.
MENDENHALL: Jerry Sheridan.
SHERIDAN: Hello. My name is Jerry Sheridan and I live in Fort McDowell. But before
that, I moved to Fountain Hills in 1976 and at one time, I had 50 -- over 50 family
members that lived here. My daughters went to school here and my grandkids went to
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
SEPTEMBER 6, 2023, REGULAR MEETING MINUTES
Page 13 of 69
school here. Besides that, in 1977 I began to police here as a deputy sheriff with the
Maricopa County Sheriff's Office and I spent the next 40 years overseeing the sheriff's
office, administration of law enforcement in this community. To say I have deep roots
and a concern for the public safety of this town is an understatement.
So now, I'm running for sheriff. And I saw on the video of the last council meeting with
the discussion about the contract. Well, when I became the chief over the patrol
bureau in 1995, I had the board of supervisors sign a contract, an agreement with the
sheriff's office to support contract towns because I saw the need for the communities
for good law enforcement at a good price. And the value it added to the sheriff's office
and the outlying communities in a regional concept. That was very important to me and
I continued through that until I retired in 2016.
I'm standing here because your current sheriff doesn't understand that. He doesn't
understand the need. And I can tell you if Jerry Sheridan was your sheriff today, you
would not be having this problem, this negotiation, because the sheriff's contract would
have been filled from the onset. There would never have been a problem. And if there
was an issue, you wouldn't have to fight to get back that $3 million. Withholding that
money back from you should not be an issue. This is a no-brainer. This is money that
the sheriff's office didn't meet their contract and it certainly isn't the captain's problem
because he didn't cause this. This is from downtown. And I know, because I was a chief,
I was a deputy chief, and I was the chief deputy, and I know how this works. And I was
involved in the contract. And I'd almost be happy to negotiate the contract for the town
for free. Because I know all about it because I negotiated the contract from the other
side of the table for many years.
So with that, I thank you. And I know you can't answer but I'll be here after to be
available to answer any questions you might have.
Thank you.
MENDENHALL: Mayor, that's it for public comment.
MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you.
Counsel, would you like to respond?
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
SEPTEMBER 6, 2023, REGULAR MEETING MINUTES
Page 14 of 69
ARNSON: I will respond, Mayor. And I appreciate the opportunity.
You know the comments that have come as of late have been of the nature that they
accuse town staff and accuse the town attorney's office of dereliction of duty, of
maladministration in office, of violating codes of conduct and contract. And that's
enough tonight. So we're going to walk through, if you don't mind, Mayor, some of the
misstatements and uninformed statements that have come out tonight.
With respect to the 5G ordinance, I sent an email to the council already, so you're
presumably aware of this. We received that on July 11th. How Ms. Troller knows that is
a mystery to me. But she was aware that we received that on July 11th. Mr. Campanelli
advised the staff to take a look at his suggested changes and to offer any comments,
questions, redlines in response. This is what we would do with any proposed work
product that's provided to us.
We did so. Director Wesley looked at it. My office looked at it. For your information, it
is an extremely dense document. It's 50-pages long. And it's all telecommunication
regulation information. We have questions. We posed those questions to Mr.
Campanelli on or about August 28th or 29th, I'll have to go back to my email. We
haven't heard back yet. So it's in process. Nothing was withheld from anybody or from
the council. I understand that Ms. Troller may be upset about the fact that she hasn't
received the draft. That's really neither here nor there. We don't provide working
privileged drafts in response to public records requests. Nor are my bills matters of
public record. They can see hours but we're not disclosing privileged information about
what we have worked on. That will not happen.
So that's with respect to that first issue. Are there any questions from the council with
respect to that issue? Thank you.
The next issue, maybe Rachael can speak to it if she wishes to. We -- certainly with
respect to the MCSO contract -- understand that the public has strong feelings. We also
understand that there's a desire to see more that's being given in negotiations than
what apparently everyone believes we have received. I will happily advise the council
on the possibility of retaining separate counsel. I will say, at this point, I'm not positive
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
SEPTEMBER 6, 2023, REGULAR MEETING MINUTES
Page 15 of 69
how much further, how much more traction we're going to get in the process. But I'm
happy to advise council of that.
Rachael, did you have anything you wanted to follow up on with respect to that? Okay.
Third, the staff has advised repeatedly regarding the sign ordinance. We have analyzed
this issued upside down, inside and out. We have gotten back to the individuals who
are involved with the question about the signs. The statute that they're referring to
simply misreads how it applies. It doesn't apply when there's not a primary election. It
says in 16.10.19 subsection H. You didn't hear about that. So I want to make sure that
council's aware and clear that when you hear this information, and when this
information comes to your attention, it's not something that staff has been derelict in
duties. It's not something where staff has failed to respond. It's not something that we
haven't looked into. Staff's not stupid. We're not idiots. And we have the opportunity
now to be able to articulate for you, and we will from here on out, articulate exactly
what the basis is for staff's decision, and it's ultimately up to the council whether to take
that into consideration or not, do what you will with it. But we will not have our
professional dignity impugned any longer with respect to these comments.
That's all I have to say.
MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. And I appreciate that.
Does anybody have any questions or anything?
Councilwoman?
KALIVIANAKIS: May I speak?
MAYOR DICKEY: Um-hum.
KALIVIANAKIS: Okay. Thank you.
Aaron, I guess my question is when it comes to the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office, I've
got two questions as far as retaining outside counsel.
ARNSON: Yes.
KALIVIANAKIS: One would be, would retaining outside counsel to address the
overcharging that some people perceive has been done by Maricopa County to Fountain
Hills? And then two, would we be requesting to get outside counsel to negotiate the
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
SEPTEMBER 6, 2023, REGULAR MEETING MINUTES
Page 16 of 69
current contract that we're trying to nail down for future services?
ARNSON: Mayor and councilmember, I don't know. We have not discussed the
possibility of retaining outside counsel before. If that's something that the council
wishes to consider doing, then council's certainly able to provide direction to staff to do
that? Do you have any follow up on that, Rachael?
GOODWIN: No. I echo what he said. At this point there's not been any direction to do
so, to look into that potential, the cost involved, the timelines involved. As of the
beginning of the calendar year, the direction was for town manager and the finance
director to begin those negotiations, and that's what was done and that's what
continued. And again, as we discussed last week or two weeks ago, a number of council
have been part of that discussion and that's as far as it's gone. If there's interest in
doing that, we can take that direction and look into that. But as of yet, that has not
come up.
MAYOR DICKEY: And Aaron, I don't know how far we can go with some of this, but the
MCSO contract has been -- we've had many talks with MCSO. There's been deep
involvement, professional involvement. Involvement with law enforcement helping us
come up with what we want to bring forward. But this reaction to something that
doesn't exist yet, we don't have the contract. So we are reacting or hearing that there's
something wrong with the contract that we don't' have yet. We have been negotiating
it and it should be on an agenda in, likely October. And as far as the other item, it's
being stated, in a factual way, something that hasn't been determined to be factual. So
we will move on from that. If people want to look at that later, we can do that.
MCSO is a governmental entity, as we are, and we'll just stop right there with that.
The sign ordinance was not asked to be reconsidered. And the sign ordinance is exactly
like any temporary sign, just like we've said a million times, we cannot regulate signs on
content. So that's where we kind of are still with that. And that's that.
Do you want to say something to me? Do you need to say something?
ARNSON: No. The only thing I wanted to add, Mayor, in response to what you said was
two things. The first issue was with respect to the contract. I fully expect that the
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
SEPTEMBER 6, 2023, REGULAR MEETING MINUTES
Page 17 of 69
council will have an opportunity to discuss that contract in executive session before it's
presented for acceptance. So that would be a really good opportunity to have that
conversation.
The second thing that I would raise is, to correct the record somewhat, I believe there
was a request for reconsideration of the sign ordinance but it was withdrawn.
MAYOR DICKEY: Oh, I'm sorry.
ARNSON: That's what I want to be clear.
MAYOR DICKEY: It was nothing that -- we're not compelled to bring that back?
ARNSON: No.
MAYOR DICKEY: thank you.
KALIVIANAKIS: Ms. Mayor, may I address that too? Thank you.
The motion to reconsider the sign ordinance had nothing to do with temporary signs. It
had to do with banners for our friends at the bachelor pad and had to do with A-frame
signs and multiple entrances. Even if the motion to reconsider was heard, it would not
have covered temporary signs. So I want to straighten out the record on that right now.
MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you.
FRIEDEL: Can I ask Aaron a question?
MAYOR DICKEY: Yeah, sure.
FRIEDEL: Aaron, would that discussion on that contract include -- and if this isn't the
right place to bring it up, possible arbitration and other remedies for the town?
ARNSON: So you can have it be as many agenda items as the council sees fit and as a we
have time for. Certainly the negotiation itself is its own deal, prospectively, right?
We're looking forward. If it's retroactive, then that's a whole different discussion we
need to have. You can have it at the same time, but they are two factually distinct
issues. So yes, we can agendize it both ways.
FRIEDEL: And the other question I would have. It's possible that Matrix Consulting, who
did the analysis of that contract on behalf of the town, that we hired them to do that,
maybe they could represent us in negotiations as well?
ARNSON: That's something we can certainly discuss.
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
SEPTEMBER 6, 2023, REGULAR MEETING MINUTES
Page 18 of 69
MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you, all.
Our next item, our consent agenda items, unless you'd like to take something off, can I
get a motion please?
GRZYBOWSKI: Move to approve.
SKILLICORN: Second.
MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. Roll call, please.
MENDENHALL: Councilmember Toth?
TOTH: Aye.
MENDENHALL: Councilmember Friedel?
FRIEDEL: Aye.
MENDENHALL: Councilmember Skillicorn?
SKILLICORN: Aye.
MENDENHALL: Councilmember Kalivianakis?
KALIVIANAKIS: Aye.
MENDENHALL: Councilmember McMahon?
MCMAHON: Aye.
MENDENHALL: Vice Mayor Grzybowski?
GRZYBOWSKI: Aye.
MAYOR DICKEY: Mayor Dickey?
MAYOR DICKEY: Aye.
Thank you, all.
Our first regular agenda item is about a cut and fill waiver request. Rachael?
GOODWIN: It's okay. I'm going to hand it up to Farhad. He's going to give us an update
and a little background on the item.
TAVASSOLI: All right. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Thank you, Rachael. Members of the
council.
What you have before you is a cut/fill waiver request for a single family residential lot in
Eagle Mountain. The exact address here on the screen.
Now, the reason this is before you is not because of a zoning ordinance provision, but
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
SEPTEMBER 6, 2023, REGULAR MEETING MINUTES
Page 19 of 69
because of a provision in the subdivision ordinance that states whenever you propose
cut or fill on any one lot of more than ten feet, it requires town council approval. In this
case and I'll make this a point of clarification to the staff report, the applicant is
proposing 14 feet of fill in a small area of the lot. I beg your pardon. I'm here to clarify
it and I misstate it again. About 14 and a half feet of fill, and so I had rounded it up to 15
in the staff report for simplicity sake.
So the subject property is in Eagle Mountain just south of Shea Boulevard there and just
east of the border with City of Scottsdale, about three lots over. Again, it's a single
family residential lot with a considerable grade. It's about 22 percent sloping down
towards the west. The property is a little over 27,000 square feet and is zoned, just for
purposes of background information, is zoned R-110A. And incidentally, just as a side
note, because of the zoning at R-110A, it's not subject to the hillside ordinance. So it's
allowed 100 percent disturbance.
I've provided a bird's eye view of the lot just so the council can appreciate the -- at least
to some extent -- the grade. Again, I mention it's about -- this is looking north
incidentally, as indicated by the arrow here on the left. It's looking north as you can
see -- well, actually at this pin, I should mention is roughly the geographic center of the
lot. Immediately to the north is, as you can see, is an existing single-family residential
lot and downhill to the site is another existing single-family residential lot. The lot
immediately to the south is currently vacate, however, there's another existing home
south of that.
Another bird's eye view, this one looking south. You can see the existing single-family
residential home in the distance and the three downslope towards the west.
Okay. So what the applicant is proposing is a home, a one-story home of a little over
3,800 square feet livable and total under roof, including the two-car and single car
garage, almost 5,400 square feet.
Now, this area here, just to the west of the home, is the subject for this cut/fill waiver
request. This is roughly a 954-square-foot area, that indicates the area that will consist
of fill of over 10 feet. And as I mentioned rounding up, 15 feet maximum. The fill is
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
SEPTEMBER 6, 2023, REGULAR MEETING MINUTES
Page 20 of 69
shallower towards the east and because the contours go down, the amount of fill will
increase to about 15 feet. Staff is recommending approval of the cut/fill waiver request
as we believe the fill is occurring in a relatively small area, again, of the 954 square feet.
And it is staff's belief that no view sheds will be blocked from any of the neighboring
residents particularly to the west, as they will be looking up towards the home and the
area that will be filled is roughly consistent with the finished floor elevation of the home
that's being proposed.
In case the council would like to see some elevation drawings, I have provided a few --
actually just a couple elevation drawings. But with that, I can end my presentation and
open it up to questions.
MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you.
Did we have any speaker cards on this?
MENDENHALL: No, Mayor, we did not.
MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you.
Anybody have any questions about this project?
Yes, Councilman?
SKILLICORN: Thank you, Madam Mayor.
Director, is this an HOA?
TAVASSOLI: Mayor, Councilmember, yes. Eagle Mountain does have an HOA.
SKILLICORN: Okay. And they have approved this or does this still go through their
process?
TAVASSOLI: Mayor, Councilmember, I don't know for certain the answer to that
question. But typically, we do advise developers to go through the HOA first before
submitting any building permit filings with the town. But the architect, I should
mention, is here as well and he could --
SKILLICORN: Okay. We have a nod or a not if it's -- if the HOA has approved it?
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Yes, it has.
SKILLICORN: Okay. And then, Solitude Canyon, is that Fountain Hills or Scottsdale? The
street to the west?
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
SEPTEMBER 6, 2023, REGULAR MEETING MINUTES
Page 21 of 69
TAVASSOLI: Solitude Canyon, since I'm familiar, councilmember with that street name
as I reviewed a few permits --
SKILLICORN: you have to go one street to the west. That's the name of it. I think so.
Yeah, it has to be.
TAVASSOLI: It would be in the town's jurisdiction.
SKILLICORN: Okay. And then, so typically, I like to go by what the zoning says on
waivers. I typically don't like waivers. But I have a test and one is, is there something
special about the project or is there something special about the property? In this case
it sounds like the project is just a home, but it's the angle of the property and it does
seem to be because of the zoning it was -- you know, when it was originally zoned it was
known that there would be -- dirt would have to be disturbed. So it probably passes my
test unless someone has like a water runoff issue or something like that, that I'd want to
hear about. If anyone has anything like that, then feel free to voice your concerns.
TAVASSOLI: Oh, and Mayor and Councilmember, if I can just mention real quick. The
area that is being filled at a 15-foot max level is a uncovered patio primarily. Just a tiny
portion of the home is within that fill area.
MAYOR DICKEY: Any further comments or questions?
Can I get a motion please?
SKILLICORN: Motion to approve?
FRIEDEL: Second.
MAYOR DICKEY: Roll call, please?
MENDENHALL: Councilmember Friedel?
FRIEDEL: Aye.
MENDENHALL: Councilmember Skillicorn?
SKILLICORN: Aye.
MENDENHALL: Councilmember Kalivianakis?
KALIVIANAKIS: Aye.
MENDENHALL: Councilmember McMahon?
MCMAHON: Aye.
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
SEPTEMBER 6, 2023, REGULAR MEETING MINUTES
Page 22 of 69
MENDENHALL: Councilmember Toth?
TOTH: Aye.
MENDENHALL: Vice Mayor Grzybowski?
GRZYBOWSKI: Aye.
MENDENHALL: Mayor Dickey?
MAYOR DICKEY: Aye.
Thank you. thank you.
TAVASSOLI: Thank you.
MAYOR DICKEY: Our next item is going to be -- we're going to hear about our
community economic development strategy. So what we're going to do is, we're going
to hear from Amanda. We're going to get the presentation. So we'll go through that
whole presentation. Then we'll see if we have any speaker cards and then we'll discuss.
Is that okay with everybody that we hear the whole thing? Okay.
JACOBS: Madam Mayor, members of council, I want to let you guys know that I have
been battling the last few days with laryngitis, so bear with me. And then, a request, I
have 21 slides. There's about 19 of content. A couple of weeks ago I provided you an
update on the data. So if you guys are okay, I won't go into lots of detail. We'll pass
through some of those and I won't read everything; will try to summarize it. So is
everyone okay with that? All right.
Well, again, Madam Mayor, members of council, members of the audience, extremely
excited to be presenting the proposed economic development strategy. It is actually
been ten years since we've updated the plan. There was an attempt back in 2019, it
wasn't approved. So when I started with the town, it's something that our town
manager said we need to start working on. And really felt that a few years ago it didn't
pass because it was missing a very important ingredient and that was community
engagement. And so this strategy we're proposing as a three-years. Some folks, as I
met with you guys one-on-one and then presenting this with SPAC said, wow, there's a
lot in here.
But know that economic development is a team sport and so I want to thank Bo Larsen,
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
SEPTEMBER 6, 2023, REGULAR MEETING MINUTES
Page 23 of 69
John Wesley, John Perez, Kevin Snipes for their help and know that your mighty big
economic development team of two is not handling all of this and the work is not going
to get done in one year.
So community engagement. We attempted to have a leadership workshop back in
October but because of schedules, we were also right in the middle of an election, we
decided to wait and have that in January. And we had about 50 of our leaders; so
residents, business owners, at the table. We had a public workshop April 12th. Again
we had our one-on-one meetings in May and June with council. It was presented to the
strategy planning advisory commission. I want to make a note, it was in the paper about
them perhaps making a recommendation.
In talking with the chair, Patrick Garman, because their scope really is the town overall
strategy plan, he chose for the group not to make a recommendation, just be a sounding
board. So again, that's again good to hear from our residents. They brought good
feedback, and some retired business owners, et cetera. And then was able to present to
the Scottsdale/Fountain Hills Area Association of Realtors.
So data and trends, again, I'm not going to read all of this but want to point to the
median household income of 87,000. The median sale price of 660,000 and our median
rent price of almost $24,000.
Now, if we go to our current major employers. Again, I will not read this to you. But if
you look at this, this is service-based industry employers. If you look at those workers,
they make less than $40,000. So if we go back to those median prices, we don't have to
be a mathematician, which I'm not, it's not adding up. These workers are not living in
Fountain Hills mostly likely. And we're hearing that through some of our business
retention site visits.
Our targeted industries currently -- so again when I started day one, what we were
promoting was financial services, healthcare, professional services. Through just my
profession and then listening to the community, I will say I've modified this a little bit.
But also want, hopefully, council's blessing. By adding assembly, small scale. We
actually have this today. We have businesses behind the Target shopping center. We
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
SEPTEMBER 6, 2023, REGULAR MEETING MINUTES
Page 24 of 69
have our watch company doing assembly. So on a small scale we should be advertising
that. And with that too, it sends a message to the Arizona Commerce Authority who's
the state economic development agency. And then the Greater Phoenix Economic
Council, our regional economic development organization, that we're open that if they
have a lead to come known on Fountain Hills' door.
Bioscience is new. That came up multiple times in our public work workshops. Financial
services will keep health care, hospitality, retail and startups.
Apartment occupancy. I think I've been beating a dead horse. Supply and demand
issue, we'll skip that one. Vacancy we just talked about. Again, though it's nice, office a
few months ago was at 50 percent. There's a significant drop. And I will tell you with
John Wesley, myself, the phone's being ringing this summer. Which is exciting.
Our tourism. Again, I'll just make a note here. When I came in, I was like is Fountain
Hills traditional tourism? And if we take our events impact study and combine our
visitors, local/regional, when it comes to events, we're missing out on the traditional
tourism. And so what I mean by that, heads in beds. So when they're staying here for a
period of time in our hotels, that is bed tax and sales tax. And so a significant
opportunity there.
Our focus areas, our business attraction, retention and expansion, marketing, strategy
partnerships, and tourism. So first under attraction, there's going to be about three
slides on this, but staff is proposing to do a new downtown strategy. I don't always like
to assume, that's not a good thing. But the last time we approved a plan was back in
2009. And so if you think back in 2008 and prior, if that was some of the work product
of hearing things from the public. We then were hit by the great recession, things
happened with the economy. Things now with COVID. There's, right now, nine districts
within the strategy and perhaps we need to scale that back. Because buckle your seats
if we're wanting to do stuff with downtown, this is going to be a multimillion dollar
project.
Two, collaborating with the property owner of Four Peaks Plaza. If we're not familiar
with plaza names that is [Tar'-jay] or Target. I'm looking at redevelopment
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
SEPTEMBER 6, 2023, REGULAR MEETING MINUTES
Page 25 of 69
opportunities. Again, aftermath of the great recession as well as COVID. Half of the
plaza is empty. We don't want that. It benefits nobody.
Exploring opportunities in four different areas. Again, if you guys can read that. For
redevelopment and revitalization, and wanting to create zoning districts and flexible
uses. So Palisades, for example, is within our downtown area. I have shared with you
one-on-one and publicly that there have been opportunities to place some people in
some of those vacancies in that area, but it does not meet the zoning requirement. And
so we're not even going to try. And so we're waiting to work on that. Bring to council
opportunities to have some flexible zoning and also look at height and various things to
entice people that they can do an administrative track. So again, there's that
administrative approval. If we get through those flexible zonings, that's an incentive or
it's saying, okay, if you want to do something above and beyond that, here's your path;
going to planning and zoning town council. And so that adds four to six months. Time is
money for our businesses.
Again, business attraction. Developing and publicizing a streamlined development
review process. That has come up numerous times. And I'll have to say to you coming
in as a new girl, I would ask John Wesley and team, you don't do a permit for this or we
don't do this. So it's telling our story because there are things where traditionally with
other municipalities, there is a review process, there's a permitting process. And so
being able to articulate that, but also meet with some of our property owners to
understand what are areas for improvement, and that we're open to hearing that.
Again, just earlier painting that picture of who are major employers are. Those median
prices, were need to start diversifying our housing opportunities even more.
And then looking at developing architectural design standards for our businesses. So
again, the downtown, a lot of people don't know that they're in a downtown. So is
there an opportunity to modify where we're looking at revitalization or looking at new
businesses to have design standards.
This is the last slide, I believe, on business attraction. Wanting to partner with the
Arizona land department. A couple of you have been interested in this. Our residents
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
SEPTEMBER 6, 2023, REGULAR MEETING MINUTES
Page 26 of 69
want to know that we're being forward thinking. But this is very long-term. Again, Mr.
Wesley and I have a lot of experience dealing with the state land department and it's a
long process but to, again, reinitiate those conversations.
Also looking at modifying the public art policy to allow for performing and temporary
art. So again, for example, we have commercial businesses. We have a requirement for
public art. Instead of continuing to do sculptures, is there a way that they give the
money back? We entice them to give it to the town, and we look at expanding our
concert series. Again, later on we'll talk about a second Thursday concept. And then
creating a placemaking strategy to enhance the vibrancy of the downtown.
Business retention and expansion. Continuing that wonderful program. Again, thanks
to all of you for participating, monitoring those trends, and when applicable, bringing it
to council to take action. Continuing our eight-week shop local summer campaign.
Again, when I started our businesses wanted support and so asking what does support
look like. So in the summer just reminding our residents to please shop local and just
reminding folks who are new and are used to paying a primary property tax, that you
don't do that in Fountain Hills. So we really rely heavily on that sales tax.
Partnering with the Fountain Hills Chamber of Commerce on a welcome package to our
new businesses. So again, welcoming them, having that red carpet sort of moment, but
also letting them know opportunities of different events that are happening, knowing
what to do, not to do; we've heard related to the sign code, et cetera.
And then creating a second Thursday concept on the Avenue. It may not be second
Thursday, but just to give an idea.
And then conducting a market analysis of our existing businesses who are looking to
expand. So I can say this publicly, everybody knows. But Adero has plans to expand.
The Fountain Hills Medical Center has plans to expand. Restaurants have talked to us
about expanding. And so keeping track of that and then making sure, one, when they're
ready to pull the trigger, that we're ready to take action, and then making sure we're
not a barrier for them expanding in the town.
Marketing. Wanting to create a comprehensive economic development marketing plan.
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
SEPTEMBER 6, 2023, REGULAR MEETING MINUTES
Page 27 of 69
Different infographics related to those targeted industries. A specific economic
development marketing brochure that really paints the demographics, the quality of life.
And then collaborating with key stakeholders on consistent brand messaging. So I'd
shared with some of you, several months ago, Bo and I were looking at YouTube video,
got really excited, and there was a real estate agent promoting the town. Well, then, as
we're watching it became cringeworthy because the person's saying that you know,
we're a sleepy town, we're boring, we have no nightlife. Yes, the Mayor's mouth is
open. So was ours.
And so again making sure all of us are ambassadors. It's not just economic
development. That we have consistent messaging. Because again, when things happen
like that, it takes us months to prove that that is a false narrative. And sometimes too,
with our real estate agents, they're the first to meet our potential residents. And so
making sure that we're on track with messaging.
Strategic partnerships. So looking at the possibility at creating a coworking space within
the town with our homebased businesses, our startups. This past year we worked with
the Arizona Business Alliance and we have a market here in Fountain Hills, and so
looking to see how we could tackle that with the public/private partnership. Identifying
opportunities to attract a university or satellite campus. So working with the Fountain
Hills school district to understand what our potential students and leaders' looking at for
the future. I have met again some of our employees working in our businesses and they
shared with me the town used to have a design school. And so finding out, okay, what
happened with that? And then of course, the International Dark Sky, there's obviously
an opportunity there and they've been working very closely with the issue.
Again, collaborating with those universities for pipeline programing. Collaborating with
Fort McDowell to improve the aesthetics as you're coming in. So you guys have heard
me too, when I was applying for the job, came in off the B-line, went on Shea and I was
like, oh. When I saw the broken-down building and some of our faded away finding
signs. So again, that's a brand image and messaging. Partnering with Fort McDowell
and Salt River Pima on ways to explore our growth opportunities on the B-line with the
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
SEPTEMBER 6, 2023, REGULAR MEETING MINUTES
Page 28 of 69
town being the immediate community. We, of course, as residents unfortunately have
sale tax linkage just to Scottsdale, but how do we work with them to grow that corridor
to where then too, the people visiting are coming to Fountain Hills and then we can seek
those sales tax.
For tourism, creating a comprehensive tourism marketing plan for targeted audiences.
So this past year we've been looking at the top ten businesses who are coming to
experience Fountain Hills. So how do we start targeting to some of those states?
You've been seeing that the top five, that we are seeing Chicago, New York, Los Angeles
looking, and so what can we do to boost that visitation and get people traveling here, an
opportunity to attract a new resort. With some of our hotels, unfortunately, an
aftermath of COVID, is they're scaling back on their meeting rooms, thinking like we're
never going to be in a room together again. I was at a conference in July with 500
people. And so there's an opportunity here to work with the resort to see how we can
add meetings and conventions. Looking at new signature events and tournaments and
then collaborating with existing hotels on the events that we're having. Giving folks a
reason to stay, collaborating with our hotels. Some people don't know, but to be able
to attract with an event or with a business group, you need an actual code. So again,
there's an area of opportunity there.
We, of course, want to support the progress of the International Dark Sky Discovery
Center.
I think one more slide. And then partnering with the Dark Sky Association on a
permanent location within Fountain Hills. So again, we have this wonderful designation.
Our phone is ringing. The Dark Sky's phone is ringing, but we're having to do planned
events to go to certain areas for stargazing. So this is an opportunity that again, at
night, you know if it's at midnight or 2 in the morning -- we're not a sleepy town, dang it.
That there is a place for people to stargaze.
Cross-promoting events can be very effective. So we've got spring training, waste
management. If people are coming here for a couple of weeks, we have fabulous
events. So it's why not come to Fountain Hills? And then looking at potential
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
SEPTEMBER 6, 2023, REGULAR MEETING MINUTES
Page 29 of 69
opportunities within Fountain Park itself. Again, because I can pick on myself. Again,
when I was a visitor, again applying for the job, I went to the fountain. It was beautiful.
It was gorgeous. Spent my 10, maybe I didn't last the 15 minutes, but then I didn't know
what to do after. So are there things that we can activate within the park?
Next steps. So staff is recommending approval. Again, we think it's time. I'll tell you,
I've been getting good reviews. People are excited. And then I'll share with you fast,
1:25, so a couple of hours before the strategy planning advisory commission, there were
some folks that go ahold of the proposed plan. Been a little gun shy. And they said hey,
I saw this in the plan. I get it. It's proposed. It hasn't gone to council. But in a couple of
weeks we want to meet with you and John Wesley, looking at a development project.
So again, people are excited. Let's keep the momentum going.
If you guys do approve the plan, staff will then come to the November council retreat,
November 2nd, and have a high-level implementation plan. What's ongoing, short-
term, mid-term, long-term. Give you a sneak peek into the short-term objectives.
Where there may be some dollars we're wanting attached and just kind of check the
pulse of council. And then looking at a phased budget approach back to, again, our
downtown.
Some things have happened with the downtown. A lot of things where we're looking at
nine districts, have not. So we need to take a phased budget approach if we're wanting
a vibrant downtown.
With that, Mayor, it sounds like you're going to open it up for public comment and then
I'll come back for questions.
MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you.
Do we have any comment cards?
MENDENHALL: Yes, Mayor, we do. First in your packet, we'll go through those.
We have Geoff Yazzetta, he's for it. Christian Bergman is for it. Andrew Gonzales is for
it. Mike Hoops is for it. Suzanne Nann is for it. And then we also have, maybe they're
still here in attendance, but Jim Bourdamis, he wishes to comment in writing that he's
for it. And Susan Dempster also wishes to comment in writing that she's for it. She
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
SEPTEMBER 6, 2023, REGULAR MEETING MINUTES
Page 30 of 69
support it.
And then we do have two cards -- speaker cards. And so first up is Clayton Corey, and
then on deck is Karen Webb.
COREY: Hello, Mayor and council. Clayton Cory, eight-year resident. I can't believe it's
been that long. Wow. What an amazing presentation. I just wanted to come up here
and let you know that I think Amanda and John did a wonderful job with the economic
development presentation and I hope that you approve that. I think they bring a lot of
good ideas and a lot of energy to something that should have been updated a while ago.
It's been about ten years, so it's really something that we've needed. And I think that
they have a lot of good ideas with revitalizing downtown, mixed use in particular. So I'm
really looking forward to this and I just wanted to say, wow, what a great presentation.
So thank you.
WEBB: Hello. Hi, Mayor and Councilmember Skillicorn. I am Karen Webb. And I am a
resident and a business owner. I'm fully in support of the economic development
strategy. I think that we have been here about four and a half, almost five years, and I
haven't seen anything really happen on the Avenue. I see it every single day and the -- I
hear from so many businesses the stress about just surviving. And what needs to really
happen is we need to infuse that vitality that Amanda talks about, not only into the
Avenues but honestly into the council. Because this is the time to really revive it. A lot
of people were lost curing COVID, you can see the vacancies. And I've heard
councilmembers say that the key is just to bring more businesses. I can tell you right
now, without the vitality there, the businesses will not come. So I'm excited to see
Amanda's plan. I think she's done a phenomenal job. I really, in the entire time I've
been here, she's been the only one to really seek out the business owners and inspire us
and get us excited about staying and thriving in this town.
So I think it's time and before we lose more people, it's time to create that vitality and
turn the tables and so have people start coming to this town.
Thank you.
MENDENHALL: Mayor, I lied. Betsy LaVoie had her comment card. And then we had
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
SEPTEMBER 6, 2023, REGULAR MEETING MINUTES
Page 31 of 69
Larry Meyers submit one. So Larry you're on deck, after Betsy.
LAVOIE: Hi, good evening. Betsy LaVoie. You all know me. I've been a resident since
1979, represent the Fountain Hills Chamber of Commerce. And as you all know I
worked closely with Amanda Jacobs since she started here at the Town of Fountain Hills
with the Chamber of Commerce.
So I'm here to enthusiastically support the economic development strategy plan
proposed for our town by Amanda and her team. I think it's a comprehensive, well-
structured plan. It demonstrates clear commitment to fostering economic growth, to
fostering and enhancing the quality of life for our residents and positioning Fountain
Hills as a thriving and sustainable community. I'm confident that the economic
development plan will serve as a catalyst for positive change in our community. I'm
hopeful it will not only boost our economic vitality but also enhance our town's appeal,
and overall appeal, making it a more desirable place to not only work but live and visit.
Thank you.
MEYERS: Mayor, council, Larry Meyers. Resident 42 years. I support this plan. It's
admirable. It's been talked for 30 years probably. With one exception, and I'm going to
take you to the way back machine. I am not in favor of any administrative control over
rezoning and business building and development in any section of town, and I'll tell you
why.
So a group of residents, way back, five years, six years, opposed the nursing home at the
entrance to town at the corner of Trevino and Saguaro. It would have been a bad look
for the town, I don't care what you have to say. Come here to die, we're all old.
And it was a struggle and we stopped it. And I personally negotiated the deal with Dan
Kaufmann (ph.) to bring the medical center here. And we got it here. And it got built. It
just didn't get built correctly, because the town service director overlooked about five or
six town ordinances, exposed mechanical, a vegetation plan that was never enforced.
Trevino getting widened to accommodate the traffic jam at the bottom of the hill.
There's a few others and I'm not going to bore you with them. And that's why I don't
want administrative control. I think the planning and zoning people did a heck of a job.
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
SEPTEMBER 6, 2023, REGULAR MEETING MINUTES
Page 32 of 69
They worked through all the things. The residents weren't happy about some of the
stuff. Ambulances weren't supposed to back up and they still do, because of the
beeping alarm. Nobody enforces that.
And that's all due to the fact that everybody let it be administrative control. And Mayor,
I remember when this came up and phase two and phase three were under
consideration and this SUP was given administrative control, you personally said we
might have to revisit this for phase two and phase three. So if they're going to expand,
you're going to revisit it. But as for the rest of this stuff, if it's a great idea, I think the
planning and zoning commission, which are all people volunteering that you've
appointed, should have a say in this, not just some bureaucrat sitting up in town hall
making decisions where the citizens don't get a chance to speak. And that's the only
point of Amanda's presentation that I will fight to the death on.
Thank you.
MAYOR DICKEY: Yes, ma'am.
GOODWIN: Mayor, to Aaron's comments earlier. I'd like to ask John if he'd like to
clarify anything? I realize that that's out of context of what we're talking about tonight.
John, I realize that's also putting you on the spot. If you'd like to share some follow up
after this meeting to Mayor and council you certainly can.
MAYOR DICKEY: I'll just add that during that whole process, both of the projects, I was
very involved and council was very involved. And one thing I want to mention before
we take comments from everybody is that I did notice you saying you worked with John
or John was at a meeting with you and such, and I just wanted to point out that many --
well, several years ago, one of the things that a former economic development person
said was there was never any interaction and how could development not have to do
with economic development? So I really appreciate that and heard that. And I think
between the two of you and the other John and everybody else that was involved with
this, that you went through a very thorough process. You had obviously had the two
meetings, the public meetings. You gave everybody up here the opportunity to meet
with you one-on-one, Evelyn Casuga with the Center for the Future of Arizona, I want to
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
SEPTEMBER 6, 2023, REGULAR MEETING MINUTES
Page 33 of 69
make sure I mentioned her, she was at the League. And how well she did to get us to
kind of all come up with some of these ideas.
So with that, unless you had something right now, should we start with the questions?
Questions and comments from council?
Yes, sir.
FRIEDEL: Two things. Thanks for the presentation. And to Mr. Meyers, your question. I
think most of the projects will come back through the council any way. So we will have
some say. So they probably will end up as agenda items.
But my one question for you, Amanda, is you highlighted a marketing plan, tourism plan,
and a business retention plan and different plans in your presentation. Those will all
come back to the council as well, right?
JACOBS: Madam Mayor, Councilmember Friedel, traditionally no. Some of those plans
don't go back through council because it's operational in nature. It may not be a policy
related decision. Anything policy related -- so again to Mr. Meyer's point, doing an
overall district, that will have to go through planning and zoning as well as the council as
you articulated. And so if there was something that residents took exception to, or
council it would be at that point.
But those other plans, we would not. Because it's operational in nature and wouldn't be
policy related. Unless some of those are tied to a budget. That of course too, we would
bring back.
You're welcome.
MCMAHON: Thank you, Amanda. I read through your presentation before and I
thought it was very well done, very focused. It's obvious you're driven. It's obvious you
want to represent the town in a great capacity to have it be better and have more
business, sustainable, et cetera. It's a lot of work but thank you very much.
JACOBS: Thank you.
MAYOR DICKEY: Councilwoman?
TOTH: Well, I'd like to echo some of that praise, Amanda. I want to very much highlight
that you put together this plan, the strategy, put all this work into it, and then said
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
SEPTEMBER 6, 2023, REGULAR MEETING MINUTES
Page 34 of 69
exactly when we're going to start talking about implementation. And I love that and
that is my only comment. Thank you.
JACOBS: Thank you.
MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you.
Vice mayor?
GRZYBOWSKI: Two things. First of all, thank you. That was fabulous. I want to -- I know
I'm preaching to the choir here, but I do want to mention that I always feel like Parkview
gets left out. So I would like to make sure that while we're talking downtown that we
remember to include Parkview. Parkview is considered downtown. No matter what
people say, we call it downtown on our plate. So we need to treat it as such.
Also, I really like your concepts on the public art. I think it's a fantastic idea that it
doesn't necessarily have to be what we traditionally consider art. There's so many
different forms of art out there. So I love that you included that in your presentation.
Thank you for thinking about it.
JACOBS: Thank you.
MAYOR DICKEY: Well, I also just have things to say that I liked.
Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't see your little thing here.
KALIVIANAKIS: Yeah. If I may Ms. Mayor?
Thank you. A very good presentation. Well put together. I'd like to see maybe just a
little more meat on the bone. And I say that with all due respect. You mention how we
would like to streamline business development procedures. We talked about possibly
increasing fees for streamlined procedure. We'd been talking about this since I've been
on council and tonight I was kind of hoping you'd say this is how we're implementing
that strategy, instead of just talking about that strategy.
I think a lot of the things are really great: public art, partnerships, brochures, aesthetics.
That's kind of all the window setting. But like when somebody runs for office or when
you are selling computers, you get your signs, your get your brochures, you get your
strategy, you get your talking points. But it's not until you start knocking on doors that
you get votes or if you're selling computers, you can have everything lined up but you've
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
SEPTEMBER 6, 2023, REGULAR MEETING MINUTES
Page 35 of 69
got to start knocking on doors and talking to people. I'd kind of like to see if we're trying
to attract biosciences that we start going to biosciences conventions and putting up a
Fountain Hills booth. I'd like to see if we're trying to attract financial services, maybe we
do a mailer to all the Valley financial services, Fountain Hills is open for business.
The way I did it in Chicago is I looked at how many people are here and then you look at
the type of business that you're trying to court and it's math, as they say. It's all the
numbers. If you've got 25,000 people and if you open this kind of a boutique this will be
a profitable business. And so I'd just like to see just a little more of that knocking on
doors, talking to people, going out into the Valley or beyond and just letting people
know. Because if we just work on aesthetics and art, and we're just kind of shuffling the
chairs in our town. And we have to reach beyond our town to attract more people to fill
all these vacant storefronts that my constituents keep telling me there are too many,
and we need to get those filled.
And so again, with all due respect, I think your steps are there. There's a lot of good
here, but I would just like to see the implementation a little more and just have reports
on how we're implementing getting more business owners and more people to
populate our empty storefronts.
But thank you for all the work.
JACOBS: Thank you.
MAYOR DICKEY: Councilwoman Toth?
TOTH: Thank you, Mayor. And I don't mean to set aside your comments as well. But I
just wanted to cut in. Councilwoman Kalivianakis, I appreciate your comments. The
economic development strategy is that strategy. So how you mentioned like when we
were running for office, right? We needed a strategy; we needed our handouts and
then we started knocking doors. This is us approving the strategy. Amanda's talked
about our handouts and knocking doors starting November at the council retreat. So
that implementation that I just complimented her on, that's what kind of you're talking
about that meat on the bones.
So this specific strategy, I think it's a good overall plan. I think it's something that we
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
SEPTEMBER 6, 2023, REGULAR MEETING MINUTES
Page 36 of 69
should be passing and I will make a motion once the Mayor's had a chance to say what
she wanted to say.
MAYOR DICKEY: You can make it now.
TOTH: I would like to move to approve the economic development strategy as
presented by Amanda Jacobs. Thank you.
SKILLICORN: Second.
GRZYBOWSKI: And I just wanted to expand on Councilmember Toth's statement that a
strategy is a high-level, big umbrella picture of what's going on. It's not the intricacies
involved. You'll come back, we'll talk about that in November and you'll continue your
quarterly updates to us and we'll still have an opportunity to keep communication open.
So I don't feel like anything was missing. Just wanted to reiterate Councilmember Toth
there.
MAYOR DICKEY: Thanks. So when we talk about housing and possibly having more, I
want to make sure that we have some parks involved with that. One of the things that,
when we talk about having younger people live here and you look at some of the other
communities, there's a lot -- there are neighborhood parks that are walkable. So that
might be part of that conversation. I love the performing art thing. Placemaking
strategy to enhance the vibrancy of downtown. We had a speaker come up earlier,
TAMA, I think. We've been hoping that that group would be a big partner with this and
so I can see that that will happen. Second Thursdays? What happened to third
Thursdays? Isn't that we talked about? Kind of sounds rolled off the tongue.
JACOBS: So Madam Mayor again, high-level -- it's just a concept. We're not picking
right? We're not implementing that it's second or --
MAYOR DICKEY: It's just I thought of third Thursday, so I want to make sure that that
goes on the record.
JACOBS: We'll consider that.
MAYOR DICKEY: Attracting the university and satellite, so I love that. You kind of tie
that in with the fact that some of our focus is on medical and nursing schools. There's
nursing shortages, medical schools. So sort of that niche thing. Even PAs and EMTs. I
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
SEPTEMBER 6, 2023, REGULAR MEETING MINUTES
Page 37 of 69
know some firefighters and such, they train in other cities than where they're working.
So there could be opportunities there. You mention a issue as far as the town pipeline.
I hope that we would make sure that that is included in that, and that's the Fountain
Hills School District because that's kind of along those same lines and years ago we
looked at what they called -- I think it was in Minnesota but it was called a college
preparedness school, which was a really unique -- we were finding that kids were
getting out of high school and maybe not doing as well as they could in college. And this
was something -- it wasn't adding extra time but it was something that kids could go to.
And again, the kind of thing that you can attract people to come here even though we're
not right on the 101 and the 202 as such. You know, it's got to be something that really
fits well. And the astrotourism, obviously does.
And again, you had that crossing over with other events. So when we have a Super
Bowl here and I know we used to go to NASCAR races and you could go to the one in
New Hampshire and you'd stay as far away as Boston. So even though the NASCAR race
is over in Avondale, you could packages together here and get you there. So I think
that's really awesome that you thought of that.
And the last thing is recognizing our weather. Recognizing that you don't go to Cape
Cod in December and get a lot of action. So what do we do to always make sure that
we're aware of that and not try to do something that's not going to happen because it's
a 110 degrees or something. So I appreciate that you're recognizing that. And I think
that the whole thing is a great step. We will bring forward the implementation which
has a lot more of where we'll actually go, what the next steps are and that it will take
some years and we're ready for that.
So we have a motion and a second on the table. Are there any other further
comments?
Can we get a roll call, please?
MENDENHALL: Yes, Mayor. Councilmember Skillicorn?
SKILLICORN: Yes.
MENDENHALL: Councilmember Kalivianakis?
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
SEPTEMBER 6, 2023, REGULAR MEETING MINUTES
Page 38 of 69
KALIVIANAKIS: Aye.
MENDENHALL: Councilmember McMahon?
MCMAHON: Aye.
MENDENHALL: Councilmember Toth?
TOTH: Aye.
MENDENHALL: Councilmember Friedel?
FRIEDEL: Aye.
MENDENHALL: Vice Mayor Grzybowski?
GRZYBOWSKI: Aye.
MENDENHALL: Mayor Dickey?
MAYOR DICKEY: Aye.
Thank you, Amanda. Rest your voice.
JACOBS: Thank you.
MAYOR DICKEY: You made it through the whole thing.
Our next item is adoption of resolution approving a new -- adding an ethics complaint
procedure in our council rules of procedure. I think we'll start with Linda.
MENDENHALL: Okay. So are we doing comments or are we going to talk about it real
quick?
MAYOR DICKEY: So we hear from staff. So whatever the presentation is.
MENDENHALL: All right.
MAYOR DICKEY: And then we'll take comments and then we will go through. And I was
speaking over to councilwoman about this and I think what we can do, if it's okay with
all of you, after we have the comments, let's have someone make a motion on the main
motion. That way when we go through section by section, if there are amendments we
can vote on them at the spot. Because we will have had the main motion. So does that
work? So we're not like discussing and wondering what we thought later. We'll actually
vote on them, okay?
KALIVIANAKIS: Yep.
MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you.
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
SEPTEMBER 6, 2023, REGULAR MEETING MINUTES
Page 39 of 69
Linda?
MENDENHALL: Okay. So before you today is an update to the council rules of
procedure and adding the ethics complaint procedure policy to the rules of procedure.
This came about as -- it started with the ethics complaint procedure. We started
receiving more ethics complaints and so we wanted to have a way to deal with those to
make sure that everything was logged in, that there were some check and balances, that
I would receive it, and then I would forward it along and who is responding. So we
wanted to get a process in place. And so we started doing some research of what other
municipalities did and then it evolved into updating the rules of procedure with respect
to our elected officials. I would say it's more -- we're representing our town, and so we
needed to find a line of how we were to do that, covering free speech and also their
ability to represent the town based on comments from the public. And so it's a
balancing act.
And so what we did is we reviewed different municipalities with respect to their ethics
procedures, their code of conduct and added some of that information in there. And
what I'd like to do is go over it after public comment.
Is there any questions? Anyone want to add anything Rachael, Aaron?
MAYOR DICKEY: Just wanted -- yeah. Rachael and Aaron, do you have anything to add?
GOODWIN: No. And I think you covered a lot of the high points. I think what the
understanding is is that this is a draft. It's intended to be a draft. It's intended for
discussion and feedback and direction. It sort of evolved as it was going through. Again,
there was a lot of feedback and a lot of different things happening internally. And I
wanted to really echo what Linda mentioned is that there is an accord between
professional decorum and constitutional rights. And this is a first draft that is trying to
navigate a balance between the two. So Linda's comments of a balancing act are exactly
right.
But we are anxious and very receptive to comments, feedbacks, and direction on this
draft.
MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you.
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
SEPTEMBER 6, 2023, REGULAR MEETING MINUTES
Page 40 of 69
Do we have any speaker cards?
MENDENHALL: We have quite a few. Okay, so what we're going to do is we're going to
go through the packet real quick for the people who submitted written comments and
you have a -- it's in your packet. The first one is Debbie Elder, and she's against it and
she also made a comment. So you'll want to read that.
Patrick Flynn also is against it and he made a comment as well. Darla and Tom Jacobs
are against it. And they also made a comment. Rory Wilson is for it. She did not make a
comment though. Steven Schmidt is against it and he made a comment as well. Gina
Waldo made a comment that she's against it and also a comment. Nancy Thornes is
against it and she made a comment that you'll want to read. Sandi Meehan is against it
and she has a comment as well. Alan Meehan is also against it and has a comment.
Dina Galassini is against it and has a comment as well. Sharon Fried has a -- made
comment and she's against it. Laurie Scherer, RN -- hopefully I said your name right,
Laurie. She's against it and made a comment as well. Victor Scherer, he's against it and
made a comment as well. Jeri Hensel is against it and made a comment as well. Richard
Rutkowski -- Dr. Richard Rutkowski, he is against it. Oh, he wants to speak. So we'll
set -- put yours to the side.
And then Wendy Klocke is against it and she made a comment. Trinette Cannon is
against it and made a comment. Kathleen Sylvie is against it and also made a comment.
And Art Sylvie is against it and made a comment. Faryl Palles, is against -- no. She is for
it and made a comment as well. Robert Petersen is against it and made a comment.
I think he submitted twice but I printed it because he may just want you to know he's
against it. He's really against it.
Okay. So now we'll go to the people who want to comment in person.
MAYOR DICKEY: Excuse me. I just want to make a comment that a lot of the -- when
you said the people were against it and they made comments, I'm looking through
them. It appears that people think this is applying to them. So just as we move forward
I just want people to know it does not apply to them, it only applies to us. Thank you.
MCMAHON: I second that. Because it looks as though they think they're going to lose
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
SEPTEMBER 6, 2023, REGULAR MEETING MINUTES
Page 41 of 69
some right to free speech and this has nothing to do with that. So most of the ones as
you read through them, that is what I understand they're against. And don't understand
the concept of what we're doing here.
MENDENHALL: Right. And that it's for the rules of procedure that pertain to the council
and to the boarding commission members as well.
KALIVIANAKIS: I'd like to make a point of order and a comment. My point of order is
addressing Rachael, when she said this was just a draft for discussion. If you look at the
regular agenda items, all three items, A, B, and C were consideration possible action.
And so this isn't just a draft set for discussion. This is set for action.
And then the second thing is, with all due respect, Ms. Mayor, I don't think that we can
get into the minds of the people that wrote these comment cards and assume that they
didn't understand what we're voting on tonight. I think that's a little bit of an insult to
the people who took time to fill out the comment cards that they didn't understand
what they were commenting on. And so I'd just like to put that on the record.
MAYOR DICKEY: Well, I'm not meaning to insult anybody. But when they say you're
taking away my free speech, I want people to understand it's not -- it doesn't pertain to
the public; it just pertains to us.
MENDENHALL: Okay. First will be Dr. Richard Rutkowski and then on deck will be
Crystal Cavanaugh.
RUTKOWSKI: Good evening Mayor and councilmembers. Rich Rutkowski, 22 year
resident of Fountain Hills. I oppose the adoption of Resolution 2023-30, specifically the
proposed new language in section 8.4(a) of the rules of procedure. And I do understand
to whom it applies. While it is important to maintain public confidence in town
government, that's a quote from the proposal. As stated at the beginning of that
section, the additional proposed language present several serious concerns. While
claiming to, quote, recognize the exercise of free speech, end quote, much of the
language does the opposite.
For example, quote, refrain from spreading hate speech misinformation. These terms
are subjective and not clearly defined. And as we have witnessed in recent years, what
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
SEPTEMBER 6, 2023, REGULAR MEETING MINUTES
Page 42 of 69
is considered misinformation by some is considered factual and accurate by others. As
we have also witnessed, what is at first characterized as misinformation is often later
determined and proven to be the truth.
Second quote, avoiding personal attacks or derogatory language. Is it derogatory to
question the actions or votes of a public official? If someone characterizes the vote of
an individual as being harmful or contrary to the public good, is that derogatory? It's
certainly not a compliment to say that they criticize that vote. Again it's subjective and
essentially undefined.
Next quote, refrain from making verbal attacks upon the character or motives of other
members of the council, boards, commissions, the staff, or the public. Now that's a very
broad and vague restriction, which in practical terms limits any negative comment or
opinion. And that is not free speech.
Next quote, refrain from making disparaging remarks about other members of the
council, boards, commissions, the staff, or the public. This basically says the same thing
in another way and yet again places limits on true free speech. Respect for others is an
admirable and desirable trait for all of us and should definitely be expected in our public
officials. One can be respectful, disagree, and express that disagreement. However, if
respect is to be legislated as is somewhat proposed here, that legislation of the rules
should be and must be objective and clearly defined and must not in any way limit free
speech. Those rules should not in any way be able to impose anyone's personal biases
or concept of what constitutes misinformation, what is disparaging, what is derogatory
upon others. The proposed language in section 8.4(a) does not meet these criteria and I
urge you to vote no on this resolution.
Thank you.
MENDENHALL: I'm sorry.
MAYOR DICKEY: Oh, I'm sorry. Go ahead.
CAVANAUGH: Should I wait?
MAYOR DICKEY: (Indiscernible).
CAVANAUGH: That's okay. I strongly oppose implementing a fee to file ethics
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
SEPTEMBER 6, 2023, REGULAR MEETING MINUTES
Page 43 of 69
complaints and I would like to go on record to say I never have actually filed one myself.
I'm also aware that some have filed multiple unfounded nuisance complaints over this
past year. That is indeed unfortunate. However, it is a matter of free speech. This is
the designated recourse that citizens have to hold elected officials in check if need be.
Will some abuse the process? Of course. But to punish all others is not reasonable. On
the other hand, if false malicious accusations are made against councilmembers that
rise to a level of prosecution, for example, that's another matter entirely. And the
wronged party could certainly pursue legal recourse against that person. There seems
to be other first steps that should be taken before restricting free speech through fees.
Have you considered announcing at council meetings who has filed ethics complaints
that month and the end results? I think over time people who file multiple frivolous
complaints will hopefully be discouraged from wasting town resources. And there
seems to be a lot of subjective speech in some of the redline changes. Hate speech,
how our words affect others, misinformation, infringing, marginalized or vulnerable
communities, insensitive language, and verbal attacks on motives, to name several.
What hasn't been working as it is currently written, there is a certain level of decorum
that should be expected by both the council and the public and usually that occurs. But
sometimes on both ends, it does not. But micromanaging speech or requiring personal
finances to play a role in decisions to file, does not seem to be the answer. Be careful
what you wish for. Depending who's in the majority can impact the decisions or the
implementation of consequences base on subjective measures.
Thanks.
MENDENHALL: Next we have Liz Gildersleeve and on deck, Mathew Corrigan.
GILDERSLEEVE: Good evening. Liz Gildersleeve, Fountain Hills resident.
The only resolution to resolution 2023-30 is not resolving it at all. It must be, in my
opinion, completely rejected. Implementing roadblocks to make it harder for residents
to voice their concerns about elected officials is simply unconscionable and maybe even
unconstitutional. Yes, even those that aggravate you by filing ethics complaints
frequently have an absolute right to do so. Ethics complaints are a form of checks and
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
SEPTEMBER 6, 2023, REGULAR MEETING MINUTES
Page 44 of 69
balances and the price we all pay for living in a free society. The cost to the town of
$11,000 in fiscal year 2023, as stated in the agenda, to investigate ethics complaints
against councilmembers is a drop in the bucket for what taxpayers pay for things like
studies that you approve regularly. At the last council meeting for example, the
majority of you approved a parking analysis and a traffic light study totaling $82,000.
But now $11,000 gives you angst?
Even more troubling than the $200 proposed ethics complaint filing fee to residents is
the redlining that was done to the code of ethics itself. After reading the suggested
changes yesterday I felt like I'd been dropped in a George Orwell novel. Now you get to
regulate and decide hate speech, censure your peers, and decide which of our laws are
equitable. There is so much ambiguity in the proposed changes that I can't cover it all in
three minutes tonight. But bottom line, this redlined code of ethics and rules of
procedure, takes a supposed problem and makes it far worse. So who's going to stand
up tonight against this garbage?
I would encourage each of you to throw out every word of this redlined resolution and
vote no on the ethics complaint filing fee and move on to more important business for
the town, like the MCSO contract, code enforcement of signs, the solicitation ordinance
and 5G, just to name a few things. This agenda item and resolution is completely
nonsense and I can't believe we're wasting time on it tonight.
Thank you for listening.
MENDENHALL: Next we have -- oh, sorry. Matthew.
CORRIGAN: Madam Mayor, councilmembers, good evening. Mathew Corrigan, home
owner in Fountain Hills. And I'd like to, to a certain extent, reiterate what's already
been said. However, I think the ethics resolution could be a good one. But let me tell
you why I think it should change. Page 22, section 8.1, the word, "equitable" in line 4
could have multiple meanings. Equal on the other hand, is objective and means having
the same privilege, status, and rights. The phrase equal justice under law, for example.
A good example.
Equitable is subjective and can apply to a balanced or biased analysis. Fairness is
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
SEPTEMBER 6, 2023, REGULAR MEETING MINUTES
Page 45 of 69
assumed to be a popular opinion rather than a rational analysis. Equity and inclusion,
for example, can imply social justice as equity instead of equality. Eliminate the word,
"equitable" and add equal.
Page 23, section 8.4(a), line 8, refrain from spreading hate speech. Wow. The term,
"hate speech" is subjective and should be eliminated. The term, "misinformation", is
subjective and should be eliminated, line 10, 11, 12. Our words might affect
marginalized or vulnerable communities. Both phrases are subjective and should be
eliminated. Also potential harm that insensitive language might cause, is subjective and
should be eliminated. Page 23, section 8.4(c) line 4, stakeholders, a new term, is
subjective, not defined, and is clearly not specific and it is defined and that should be
eliminated.
Page 24, section 8.7, seek no favor. Believe that personal benefit or profit secured by
confidential or privileged information or by misuse of public time is dishonest. Yes, it is.
This section seems to be ill-defined and vague at best. I suggest you eliminate that
statement in favor of a clear definition, one that can be defined.
Page 32, section 2 -- sorry, page 32, 10.2 code of ethics. The $200 can be waived if the
complainant receives sponsorship from a member of the town council. That might give
cause for pause. We have had very skeptical ethic complaints from some community
members, but again that doesn't justify a councilmember speaking up and allowing that
to disappear.
Page 33, section 10.6, line 3, members of the public body, filing fee is waived. Members
of the public body may use anyone of the following methods to file a complaint.
Eliminate section 10.6. by eliminating these six parts, you might have a better proposals
at hand.
Thank you.
MENDENHALL: Next we have Lori Troller and on deck, Larry Meyers.
TROLLER: Hi, Mayor, council. Linda. I never get her. Rachael, Aaron.
Lori Troller, resident. Thanks to the Mayor for bringing up the topic of hate speech in
effect. It's a perfect opportunity to discuss exactly what can and cannot be done with
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
SEPTEMBER 6, 2023, REGULAR MEETING MINUTES
Page 46 of 69
the First Amendment. You can't put a fine on someone for speaking. You can't gavel
someone if you don't like what they said. You can't punish someone for speech. You
can't force one to speak an apology. And you can't overturn voters by a simple majority
vote.
Ethics violations are more than a sour mark on the council's record or on a councilman's
record. It's the process by which we, the people, have checks and balances to curb
rogue council behavior. Not only are the proposed changes to the code of ethics
violating the process of checks and balances, they are violations against the First
Amendment. Whatever legal counsel is advising for these changes, is seriously in legal
jeopardy and incorrectly advising the council. If there is an issue motivating these
changes, I ask that you go back to the drawing board for a legal solution.
All public servants have sworn to uphold the Arizona and United States' constitutions.
Your signed oath is a contract with We, the People, to accept frequent, recurrent, and
fundamental principles and minimal or -- and to maintain individual rights. See the right
of petition, assembly, speech, and press. Nowhere does the Constitution specify word,
time limit, or allow a servant to remove a right by rule or code. For rights that are
secured by the Constitution, there can be no rulemaking or legislation which would
abrogate them. Which means to do away with or annul.
Your lesson tonight is that to vote against the Constitution by any rule or code is to
breach the contract you swore as a public servant and a trustee to my rights and
everyone's rights.
In a trust, when a trustee breaches a contract, that contract is dissolved. Therefore, you
have dissolved your position of office and granted authority. Worse, by acting outside
your sworn lawful position to uphold the Constitution, you're now personally liable for
trespass, maladministration, and malfeasance. Consider this a verbal explanation of a
forthcoming notice I will serve if necessary.
Thank you.
MEYERS: Mayor, council. Larry Meyers, 42-year resident.
I am, too, against charging for filing of ethics complaints. And I think you're probably
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
SEPTEMBER 6, 2023, REGULAR MEETING MINUTES
Page 47 of 69
coming to that conclusion. I think possibly those frivolous and frequent filers may be
public acknowledgement here from the dais, and that would discourage them from
being frequent and frivolous. Maybe they'd be more detailed and to the point.
I personally don't know why we have to change the one we had. I liked it. I think it
covered just about everything. Section 8.1, says, "Obey the Constitution and laws of the
United States of America, the constitution and laws of the State of Arizona, and the laws
of the Town of Fountain Hills". Pretty much says what your job is.
If you did the first part, you don't need the part that says, "Work to enact and enforce
just and equitable laws that promote the well-being of our community". If you do the
first part, you've already covered the second part. And we won't have any arbiter.
Then we get to section 8.4(a) and while it sounds nice, it's just a violation of 8.1, as it is
regulating speech. I ask again, amongst you on the dais, who is the arbiter of this
speech marginalizing, et cetera? And any rewrite to rein in anyone's public or private
speech violates 8.1.
Further as to the public, the only demeaning speech that I've heard at council meetings
comes from town folks, specifically mostly railing against Councilmember Skillicorn and
Councilmember Toth, and mostly personal attacks, never gaveled. And I have yet to
witness either of them even make a comment. They've sat there and taken it. Which is
to the point. It's the person's right to say what they say and it's your right to sit there
and take it.
So I would ask why are we even doing this? We've got the MCSO issue. We've got 5G, I
beg your pardon, since April of 2022 being discussed. We've had provisions stripped out
of the detox ordinance that all the other towns and communities are putting in,
insurance and inspection provisions. We haven't talked about that. The sign ordinance
is certainly a mess. You can't figure out where to put it, where the daylight is. So don't
charge them for the ethics violations, keep the old one. We don't need any red in this
thing and let it be, and move on.
Thank you.
MENDENHALL: We have one last comment. It's Robert Petersen.
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
SEPTEMBER 6, 2023, REGULAR MEETING MINUTES
Page 48 of 69
PETERSEN: Mayor, councilmembers. I'm a almost nine-year resident of Fountain Hills. I
will die here. This is a wonderful town. But I am an absolutist on free speech. I don't
know how many of you -- you're all youngish and you may or may not have ever heard
of Mario Savio. He led the free speech movement at University of California in the very
early 1960s. He was a moron. Virtually everything he said was stupid, but he is one of
my heroes, posthumously.
He said things. He defended everyone else's right to say things. The last few years in
national politics we've been talking about hate speech and so on. Unless someone is
saying this person or this group should be exterminated, I don't think it's hate speech. It
may be stupid, it probably is stupid, but we got to stand up for stupid speech because
repressing speech does nothing but harm. And First Amendment forever.
That's all.
MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you, all.
Does anything change what we want to do to proceed or -- Brenda? Because my
thought was that we would make a main motion which would allow us to amend it. And
we can still do that if somebody moves the main motion and someone seconds it. Then
we can discuss it and amend it as we go along. I'll defer to you.
KALIVIANAKIS: Just a few thoughts. Yeah, we do have the main motion. Just so
everybody at home and here knows, I did draft and submit that to everybody up here,
and amendment to 9(c) that denudes or guts all of the redline language for the most
part, leaving in the harmless stuff.
Based on the comments that I've heard today, exactly what I was going to say up here.
And so I think -- unless, Mayor, if you or anybody else here would like to, I guess, state
the opposition to what we've heard tonight, I'm ready to vote on either the main
motion or on the amendment. Because I think we've reached a point. The arguments
have been made, unless there's a counterargument to be made, I'd love to hear it. I'd
just like to vote.
MAYOR DICKEY: Councilwoman?
MCMAHON: I didn't see the document that you sent because I haven't had time, so I
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
SEPTEMBER 6, 2023, REGULAR MEETING MINUTES
Page 49 of 69
can't consider it. It was sent to all of us. I wasn't on notice, so my concern was with
open (indiscernible). I did go through the document that we have, so that's all I have to
reference.
MAYOR DICKEY: Councilwoman? Vice mayor?
GRZYBOWSKI: While I do have a lot of things I'd like to discuss if we're to go item by
item. My first comment is why are we even doing this? Why are we governing
ourselves? I do not believe that as an elected official we should be making our own
code of ethics. This should be done for us. If my mom had to ask me, when I was a
sophomore in high school, what do you want your curfew to be? Guess what it would
have been? And I just -- I feel like we're letting the fox into the henhouse. So I want to
go on record that I think it's completely asinine that we're even having this
conversation.
That being said, I do have things to discuss along each number. If we feel that we have
to continue this, I will support it as a council but I think it's asinine.
MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. Councilwoman?
TOTH: Thank you, Mayor.
I just wanted to address the previous statement regarding the open meeting laws. We
pretty specifically voted on this being the -- we voted on it right? This being the process
for when we're wanting to have a handout at the meeting. That's turned into Linda and
then Linda sends to everybody. I remember us having a conversation about that and
that was sent to all of us by Linda. That was --
ARNSON: And Mayor and Councilmember Toth, you're correct. We did institute
something where we said we would share in advance. We may need to refine what we
did to make sure that the process for getting it out is in order and that it's soon enough
to ensure that it's getting out in the appropriate way. But yes, it was sent out in
advance to your point.
TOTH: Okay.
ARNSON: Yes.
TOTH: Thank you. Yeah, my main concern was just the comment regarding open
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
SEPTEMBER 6, 2023, REGULAR MEETING MINUTES
Page 50 of 69
meeting law. We're not doing anything against open meeting law, otherwise we
wouldn't have passed that procedure. So, thank you.
FRIEDEL: Aaron, can I ask you a question?
ARNSON: Sure.
FRIEDEL: So in lieu of the fee, can we -- there was suggested here that the town
manager or somebody list the filers of the ethics complaints. Can we do that in lieu of
the fee? Would that be something we could do without any issue?
I'm worried about the fee turning people off from -- and I was a proponent of the fee.
ARNSON: That was the idea, right?
FRIEDEL: Yeah.
ARNSON: Is that if you have serial complainants, that it serves as some sort of a
deterrent.
FRIEDEL: Right. So now I'm wondering if it might be better to, in lieu of charging the
fee, take that suggestion and have the town manager recite what violation or what
complaints have been filed in lieu of the fee and see how that works? That's always
something we could always amend at a future date, if that doesn't seem to remedy the
situation. I don't know. That's just something I'll throw out for everybody to think
about.
ARNSON: If I could respond to that, councilmember. So Mayor and Councilmember
Friedel, the suggestion for any sort of a deterrent to mitigate those serial complaints, is
a good one. Fee is one option. You know, the manager putting in the packet
somewhere. We've done something similar in another jurisdiction where we reported
who are the complaints from and -- actually, I think it was with respect to public records
requests, frankly. But who it came from and how much was spent in resolving it, right?
So that's an option. I don't know how, operationally, Rachael, that works. But legally
it's an option.
FRIEDEL: Because I have heard from at least a half a dozen residents today about the
fee. Several of them saying, hey, we're -- why should we give up our right? We're on a
fixed income and the fee is tough for them. So I want to recognize that.
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
SEPTEMBER 6, 2023, REGULAR MEETING MINUTES
Page 51 of 69
ARNSON: I got that. I think I understand that. I did want to -- Mayor, if I may? I see
that Councilmember McMahon has her light on.
I do want to make clear that some of the comments that came from the public tonight
were about, you know, this is the constitutional method or the way by which we hold
councilmembers accountable. It's what we've adopted in our code as a process for filing
ethics complaints. There's nothing in the Constitution that says you have to have an
ethics complaint process. You can remove the thing entirely if you wanted to.
You're not going to choose to do that tonight, I presume. But you could. There's no
constitutional right to make an ethics complaint.
So likewise, there's no constitutional right that would prohibit us from imposing some
sort of cost mitigation on that. It's not like we're imposing the right to make speech
that's constitutionally guaranteed. So I did want to make sure that we understand that.
Some jurisdictions don't have them at all. Other jurisdictions do have them and they're
a lot more fleshed out than this. So I want to make that clear.
Whatever we do to Councilmember Friedel's point, there does need to be -- whether
tonight or at future adoption date, I do recommend that there be some sort of
deterrent for the frequent complaints. That's how this whole thing got started. And
frankly, as the town clerk referenced earlier, this conversation started as a procedural
discussion about how are we going to intake complaints? How are we going to keep
track of them to make sure they don't get lost in the shuffle? How are we going to make
sure they're processed in a timely manner? And most importantly, how do we stop the
influx that's, in some respects, wasting town money and resources.
We don't want those and we don't want to deter good complaints or complaints that
may have merit. So that might be a good option.
Anyway, that's kind of what I wanted to put out for council's consideration.
MAYOR DICKEY: Councilman?
SKILLICORN: Thank you, Madam Mayor. I'm curious, and this is -- it's totally serious of
how many actual comments we had on this. I think this is the record breaker, and I kind
of wonder if we charge $200 per comment, if we could pave our roads with that.
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
SEPTEMBER 6, 2023, REGULAR MEETING MINUTES
Page 52 of 69
But actually, I'm kind of just prepared to -- we had a comment about making this to a
vote. I'm prepared to just make a motion. You know, I read through the amended draft
by Councilmember Kalivianakis and I'd like to make a motion to approve that with one
small amendment and that is just to include the names of the filers with that.
So if there's a second?
FRIEDEL: Second.
ARNSON: Can I ask for point of clarification? We just had a big discussion about not
charging a fee.
MAYOR DICKEY: Right.
ARNSON: The amendment contemplates charging a fee. So is that what you're moving
for?
SKILLICORN: I'm striking it.
MCMAHON: I have a comment, please, if you don't mind. Not to mix things up very
much. But based upon what you said, the objective of this was to look at charging fees.
Theres a lot more in this than charging fees. I think that there's a lot of language, et
cetera, that's been added that I would like some legal advice on before moving forward,
and I would like to know, if this is possible, is if we can move to remove this from
tonight's discussion, have an executive session to go over it and figure out the exact
meaning of why we're doing this and narrow it down to that, before entertaining any
motions or votes.
MAYOR DICKEY: Council, Attorney, I agree that some of the items that were brought up
did have legal ramifications. I don't -- again, I don't believe that we're stopping free
speech. And I agree with Sharron that it's unfortunate that we're a golden rule
community and yet we have to explicitly define do unto others here. And we've always
had this though, even though it hasn't been as specific. But I think that it's not only the
money that we're spending and the time that is being used that could be used for other
resources as we go through a lot of these complaints. But it's also -- we have been
getting emails from constituents upset by some of the things that they've heard had
been said. Some of the things that have been said about our staff. So it wasn't just an
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
SEPTEMBER 6, 2023, REGULAR MEETING MINUTES
Page 53 of 69
organic -- I mean it was an organic broadening of this item after we've realized that
people were upset about some of the comments that they've heard. Some of the way
that our staff has been referred to, to a lesser extent each other. But there are
disparaging remarks being made, some threatening, some targeting remarks. We have
vague targeting, we have vague threats, we have overt threats, we have public
statements that are made that I don't think are for the good of the community. And
yeah, some of it is subjective. But we've got people -- when we get elected, we are not
to be alienating members of our constituency. We have a code of ethics. Just to jump
to the last part of the amendments. The part about whether we can turn it around and
say that we're getting accused of something. Well, we all know up here that we have a
higher threshold and there's not a lot for us to do if somebody disparages us. We can't
really -- we don't have the same rights that other people do to defend ourselves.
There's a higher threshold there. But we don't have -- but then when we say things that
maybe we shouldn't be saying. We write letters to the editor that say things that didn't
actually happen at meetings, and then they're taken.
I think back to something that happened a couple of years ago where a councilmember
did something and was specifically said, if you weren't a councilmember, it would have
just been fine. But your words had more something to them. So we have to take that
seriously.
That said, we are definitely not in agreement on the charging, I don't think. It doesn't
sound like we are. The last part of your amendments there, with the kind of way that
we can make people pay. Like, so if they bring something forward and it's found
without merit and it cost $1,200, what we just motioned and seconded on, would make
the person making the complaint pay that whole amount. Do you really want to do
that?
MCMAHON: (Indiscernible).
KALIVIANAKIS: If I could just clarify that? And to clarify that but to just back up a little
bit. I mean, two weeks ago, we discussed the U.S. Constitution and freedom of speech.
We discussed a stranger going up to somebody on the street and saying hey, I'm short
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
SEPTEMBER 6, 2023, REGULAR MEETING MINUTES
Page 54 of 69
on cash, can I get a few bucks off you? And we couldn't regulate that speech. And we
didn't pass that ordinance, respecting freedom of speech.
Mayor, you said that threatening behavior tonight, that we get threatened. We do get
threatened. On the other hand, there is a remedy because threats aren't free speech.
And so if somebody says I'm going to hurt you, I'm going to kill your cat, you can turn
that in to law enforcement. So there is a remedy if they cross a line of free speech.
Free speech, you can't yell fire in a movie theater. And so it's not unlimited speech. So
if somebody threatens one of us, that's not constitutionally protected.
As far as the fee, actually I'd been receiving the same complaints that Gerry has and
maybe many of you. I would be for just waiving that fee. Because, and in my motion to
amend, I wanted to add 10.4. In the case of an ethics complaint being filed and
forwarded to outside counsel for a review, outside counsel shall make a determination
whether the complaint has merit or is without merit and deemed frivolous. If deemed
without merit and frivolous, the petitioner, the person that would have paid the $250
shall agree to pay the legal expenses associated with the claim. And so that in itself
would deter people from filing frivolous claims. So we don't have to hit them on the
front end with a fee and then on the back end too.
And then I also put other language in there about false or frivolous complaints. They are
subject to criminal prosecution for perjury if they file something against the law. And by
the way, that was taken right from Scottsdale. And so they've already vetted that with
their attorneys.
GRZYBOWSKI: I know Councilmember Toth has her light lit, but while you're talking
about that one particular item, I feel like we're asking more of the citizens in this
particular section. We're holding them to a higher standard than we are to ourselves.
Because we're trying to remove the misinformation section but yet we're telling the
citizens at the same time you can't come to us with a frivolous and misinformation -- it
just doesn't make sense to me.
So now y'all are held to a higher standard than we are, is what I see in this
documentation, and that's just one of the problems that I have with it. I honestly, I
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
SEPTEMBER 6, 2023, REGULAR MEETING MINUTES
Page 55 of 69
would like to go through each of the items. 8.1, I feel like you deleted too many words.
I still disagree with it, but I don't understand why you want to delete the words, "just
and equitable laws", because then it reads, "work to enact and promote the well-being
of our community". So I feel like we do need to address these things individually, item
by item and not just carte blanche approve everything. Thank you.
Sorry.
MAYOR DICKEY: Councilmember Toth?
TOTH: That's okay. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I have a few points to address here as
well. I'm just scrolling up to -- because I realize I also want to kind of piggyback off of
what Sharron was saying. I apologize, Councilwoman Grzybowski.
GRZYBOWSKI: It's okay.
TOTH: Point being with -- I do, thinking about it now, share the concern when we talk
about the individual. If they are to file a frivolous claim that they would be liable for
that legal expense. And the reason I have this concern is who defines frivolous? Who
decides whether or not you had the right to take issue with something? I have some
concerns about where that could very easily become a slippery slope. Where I
understand that we do receive frivolous complaints and we do receive complaints that
don't quite make sense or whatever the issue might be. I do hesitate to err on the side
of restricting someone's ability to raise an issue if they do have one.
And then whether or not outside counsel decides if that's important enough, that
should not be their financial responsibility. So that would be my one suggestion as we
continue discussions with that motion that we do already have on the table.
On top of that, when we do talk about the removing misinformation, the reason that I
support that personally, misinformation is an extremely vague term. And as was
brought up in call to the public, several things that were misinformation two years ago,
three years ago, four years ago are now not misinformation. A really good example of
that is just the history when it comes to what has been referred to recently as the
science. Well, science is all about questioning, right? Back in the day we believed that
the earth was flat and if you said the earth was round you'd get stoned. Further than
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
SEPTEMBER 6, 2023, REGULAR MEETING MINUTES
Page 56 of 69
that, lead paint; we used to think that was safe. All fats are bad for you, not true.
Avocado fats are now pretty widely considered healthy for you. Carbs being the base of
the food pyramid -- the list goes on and on and on. Science is always changing, always
evolving. When we talk about misinformation and if people are speaking about a really
hot topic right now, vaccine injuries. Four years ago, five years ago, it was not
considered a real thing at all. If you brought it up, you were a nutjob. Well, now these
stories are coming out and it's been proven that these things do happen. Maybe it's a
small percentage, but it does occur.
My point in bringing all of that up is, I take major, major issue with limiting
misinformation with the same reason that I take issue for the frivolous thing. Because
who defines misinformation? Who gets to tell you what is or is not true? Who is the
authority on scientific truth when it comes to the council in Fountain Hills?
KALIVIANAKIS: You want to go first?
MAYOR DICKEY: I just want to see --
ARNSON: Oh, I'm sorry. Do you mind if I just interrupt?
MAYOR DICKEY: Oh, go ahead.
ARNSON: Oh, sorry.
KALIVIANAKIS: Okay. Thank you. And this will be quick. But I want to address
Councilmember Toth. That's why I struck out that misinformation. That's just going to
be gone if we adopt the amended. Because your points are 100 percent valid. And as
far as your concerns about 10.4, and this will be reviewed by the outside counsel to see
whether it's meritless or has merit. And just again, my experience as an attorney and I
think, in Aaron's experience as an attorney, when I used to be in the State's Attorney's
office people would file charges which I would review before they were filed. Attorneys
do this all the time and you'd get the complaint: crap, crap, file, file. It's easy. It's really
easy to determine if somebody is doing this maliciously just by reading the pleadings or
if there's some substance. And so I think we can trust on whoever the outside counsel is
to read through this and say no, this is meritless. This is a person that's just got an axe
to grind. If that will allay your fears because I'd like to pass it as is.
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
SEPTEMBER 6, 2023, REGULAR MEETING MINUTES
Page 57 of 69
MAYOR DICKEY: Councilmember?
SKILLICORN: What I have to say might make what you want to say moot. I'd like to
amend my motion to take out the $200 fee. I don't know if Councilmember Friedel
wants to amend his second?
FRIEDEL: No, that's fine.
SKILLICORN: Okay.
ARNSON: Great debate, great discussion. And I don't -- it can continue for as long as
the council sees fit. There was a question -- the only thing I want to respond to is
Councilmember McMahon's question about postponing discussion. I want to talk about
if that's going to happen the appropriate procedure since you had a question that I
didn't get the opportunity to answer.
That has to be in the form of a motion. It has to be seconded. It takes precedence over
the main motion according to our rules of procedure, but if it fails, we proceed with
voting on the main motion.
MCMAHON: Do I need to make a motion then?
ARNSON: You would need to make a motion to postpone.
MCMAHON: So I make a motion to --
ARNSON: Postpone indefinitely. And we would bring it -- and staff would bring it back
for discussion.
MAYOR DICKEY: This is a discussion that we are able to have in executive session?
ARNSON: You can get legal advice in executive session.
MCMAHON: Yes. And that's what I would like. I think that -- I appreciate everybody's
discussion. There's been a lot o f words and things said that they don't understand
what -- frivolous, or not understand and excuse me, who gets to decide that, et cetera. I
think that there are so many questions in the document about -- that I would appreciate
legal direction on and refine it down to the essence of the matter so that we can feel
that we are voting on a document that's going to stand up.
So I'd like to make a motion that we table this and we move it to executive session for
legal advice.
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
SEPTEMBER 6, 2023, REGULAR MEETING MINUTES
Page 58 of 69
MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. Is there a second?
Okay. Then I want to discuss the motion that's on the table. Because it's basically, what
your amendments here, including the last part. But just taking out the $200. So again, I
just have an issue -- one of the issues is about how do you decide something that's
frivolous. I get what you're saying. But obviously, if it was that easy we wouldn't have
had all of the things that have happened here. And so it's not that easy for everybody to
say something is frivolous. Or again, you have without merit. So basically, if somebody
brought something forward and there was no finding and it was without merit, then we
would tell that person that they had to pay for that complaint, which can be 1,200 bucks
or something.
So I don't want to pass that. I don't want to pass that part. And then I don't like the
part where you get to have a sponsor. I think that's also something that -- I think there's
a lot that's still there even with your amendments that I would --
KALIVIANAKIS: Just to address that. On the sponsor, since there's no fee, I don't think
you need the sponsor, because you could file it without the fee. The sponsor was to
waive the fee.
MAYOR DICKEY: I understand that.
KALIVIANAKIS: So that would moot, that point.
MAYOR DICKEY: Well, it would. But the language is still there. I think it's kind of -- it's
not going to look like a very good document for us to be voting on. In my opinion, I
would prefer to not do that. But the changes that you made, again, you took out the
words, "just and equitable laws". And like Sharron said, we probably just meant just and
equitable. I just think that there are issues here that I would rather go back and fix it,
clean it up a little bit.
Let's see. Well, you left that part, so that's okay. And the gentleman had said
something about saying equal instead of equitable. So that would be something to
change.
GRZYBOWSKI: Did you pass 8.2, because I want to mention something about that?
MAYOR DICKEY: Well, let's just say 8.1 then.
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
SEPTEMBER 6, 2023, REGULAR MEETING MINUTES
Page 59 of 69
GRZYBOWSKI: Okay.
MAYOR DICKEY: It's like an amendment, I guess. But instead of saying, remove just and
equitable laws, can we change it to just and equal laws.
SKILLICORN: I can amend my motion and put laws back in, in 8.1.
ARNSON: What kind of laws? Just and equal laws or just and equitable laws?
SKILLICORN: Just laws.
ARNSON: Just laws. Laws?
MAYOR DICKEY: Well, I'm amending your --
SKILLICORN: I was under the impression that was the word that was missing.
MAYOR DICKEY: Well, you amended what -- you are adding this as -- your amendment
is this document. So I'm amending that to say just and equal laws.
GRZYBOWSKI: Why do we even need the sentence if you're going to get rid of those
particular words?
KALIVIANAKIS: Yeah. We're removing the sentence.
FRIEDEL: Yes.
MAYOR DICKEY: Excuse me.
GRZYBOWSKI: Well, first of all, these -- I feel kind of bad for these guys because we're
just kind of talking about stuff that they don't get to see. But instead of removing the
just and equitable, which we all agree that the laws needs to stay in there otherwise it's
this really awkward sentence. Instead of removing those words, let's just take out that
sentence that's in red and leave it as is.
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Can we get it on the screen?
KALIVIANAKIS: No, I know. I wish you guys could see it.
MAYOR DICKEY: Well, it's just --
KALIVIANAKIS: All my -- I would just say, we are going to work to enact and enforce laws
that promote the well-being of our community. That's how it would read. And we
would take out just and equitable because -- to go back to the environmental plan,
that's politically charged and I don't like it.
MAYOR DICKEY: Well, and to the point of not being able to see it. Normally, or what we
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
SEPTEMBER 6, 2023, REGULAR MEETING MINUTES
Page 60 of 69
could often do would be, people would be offering amendments that you wouldn't be
seeing. We would come to a meeting, you have something in front of you and you
amend it. She just happened to write down her amendments. But she's speaking them.
Yes, sir.
SKILLICORN: Thank you, Madam Mayor.
And I don't want this to go very long. But trying to be as quick and -- if we take out just
and equitable, I think we have agreement here. So if we take the motion right here and
it says, "Just and equitable laws". Cross out "laws" and it's just those three words, "just
and equitable" that will be amended. Is there amended second?
MAYOR DICKEY: Yeah, just -- that's fine.
KALIVIANAKIS: 6.2 which is the sponsor.
SKILLICORN: Oh, yeah. And let's -- 10.6, since there's no $200 fee, let's remove the
sponsor.
KALIVIANAKIS: Let's remove 10.6 completely.
SKILLICORN: Yeah. 10.6 completely. Sounds like there's a second.
FRIEDEL: Yes.
GRZYBOWSKI: I would also like to know why we're getting rid of the red verbiage in 8.2?
I'm not sure I understand why we're removing it, as your elected officials, you should
expect me to corroborate my statement with facts or references or something like that.
And I feel like by removing this, you're saying I can just --
MAYOR DICKEY: Make stuff up?
GRZYBOWSKI: Make stuff up.
MAYOR DICKEY: Yep.
GRZYBOWSKI: So I have a problem with removing that. I don't understand the thought
process behind that.
MAYOR DICKEY: Well, if you'd like to put that back in you can amend and put that back
in.
GRZYBOWSKI: I would like to leave the red section of 8.2 which is on page 22 and 23,
Amanda. Thank you for doing that. Instead of removing it as is in our suggested
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
SEPTEMBER 6, 2023, REGULAR MEETING MINUTES
Page 61 of 69
amendment. I would like to leave it in, because I just don't understand the removal.
TOTH: Can I have a point of clarification? Are we allowed to amend motions to amend
that we did not create?
ARNSON: Yeah. So this is -- we're presented with two alternate versions. The one
that's in the packet, the one Brenda proposed. So technically this is a main motion.
Because we're asking for Brenda's. Brenda's proposing an amendment but all it is is a
main motion, right? That's a misnomer. This is a main motion. So if we want to go
through and talk about, like, Sharron just said a motion to amend the main motion, we
can do that.
TOTH: Motion?
MAYOR DICKEY: The motion to amend is now --
TOTH: But the motion would be a motion to amend the amendment because Allen
made the motion to amend Brenda's main motion. I'm sorry. I'm just very confused.
ARNSON: What we're doing is calling, it's still the main motion. Allen accepted a
friendly amendment from whoever. Whoever suggested it. And now it's all
incorporated into the main motion. I'm just trying to make it real easy.
MAYOR DICKEY: Right. Councilwoman Hannah, his is not an amendment. What he
proposed is the motion.
ARNSON: Yes. He's the motion.
MAYOR DICKEY: So right now we're --
GRZYBOWSKI: What we're calling the amendment.
TOTH: Now, we're talking about a motion to amend.
ARNSON: The main motion, yeah.
MAYOR DICKEY: And we already did twice because we removed the sponsorship thing
and we put back the word, "laws". So we've already amended it twice and --
TOTH: Because that was --
MAYOR DICKEY: But we didn't vote on those, but I think everybody was okay with
those.
TOTH: Yeah. It was --
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
SEPTEMBER 6, 2023, REGULAR MEETING MINUTES
Page 62 of 69
MAYOR DICKEY: And now Sharron is trying to amend by putting back in section 8.2 as
written. And do we have a second for that?
MCMAHON: I'll second.
MAYOR DICKEY: Okay. Should we vote on that?
ARNSON: Vote on the amendment? Sharron's amendment?
MAYOR DICKEY: Yeah.
MCMAHON: Leaving in the red words from 8.2 which we're all looking at right here.
ARNSON: Here is the main motion's amendment. If it fails, Allen's motion stays exactly
the way that he proposed it.
MAYOR DICKEY: But we still are discussing it.
Roll call on this amendment.
MENDENHALL: Councilmember McMahon?
MCMAHON: Aye.
MENDENHALL: Councilmember Toth?
TOTH: Nay.
MENDENHALL: Councilmember Friedel?
FRIEDEL: Nay.
MENDENHALL: Councilmember Skillicorn?
SKILLICORN: Nay.
MENDENHALL: Councilmember Kalivianakis?
KALIVIANAKIS: Nay.
MENDENHALL: Vice Mayor Grzybowski?
GRZYBOWSKI: Aye.
MENDENHALL: Mayor Dickey?
MAYOR DICKEY: Aye.
Thanks. Aaron, should we vote on those two minor amendments that we already kind
of accepted?
ARNSON: It seems like everyone --
MAYOR DICKEY: Or is it okay if we don't?
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
SEPTEMBER 6, 2023, REGULAR MEETING MINUTES
Page 63 of 69
ARNSON: -- understood.
MAYOR DICKEY: Okay.
ARNSON: And that Allen, you acceded to those amendments and Gerry seconded it --
MAYOR DICKEY: The laws and the sponsorship.
ARNSON: We seem okay.
MAYOR DICKEY: Okay.
SKILLICORN: I just don't know if there's any other -- Councilmember Grzybowski, I'm
curious if she's had more -- if she finds something. I mean, I don't want to be here all
night, but if she finds something that we want to change.
GRZYBOWSKI: Absolutely. I told you I have something about every one of them. Well,
most every one of them. Going to 8.4. We've got on there that we're removing the
section where -- the red words again, "We recognize the exercise of free speech", blah,
blah, blah. Ending with, "Impact our words". Again, where I see removing this, we're
suggesting that we draw a line in the sand regarding our official capacity and our
personal behavior. Deleting that and deleting the two red things that are, "refrain from
spreading hate and reflect on how our words", blah, blah, blah. Deleting that and those
two lines, these behaviors are unacceptable from anyone, let alone an elected official
who's representing the entire town, not just 25 of our best friends. Then add too, what
we're going to look at, adding section 10.4 which you guys aren't going to see at all
because it's in writing in front of us. The section 10.4 talks about holding you, the
citizen, to a higher standard because you've made false or misleading or
unsubstantiated statements. And talking about criminal prosecution. So I just -- I have a
problem with that. You're deleting stuff from us as elected officials regarding false and
misleading statements, but leaving it in for the general public. That it's not okay for
them to do it, but it is okay for me to do it. I have a huge problem with that. I hear all
the time that our elected officials do this and they should be held to a higher standard.
Again, why are we making our own rules, and if it is true that we should be held to a
higher standard, then why the hell are we removing the statement? Thank you.
MAYOR DICKEY: Councilwoman?
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
SEPTEMBER 6, 2023, REGULAR MEETING MINUTES
Page 64 of 69
TOTH: Thank you, Madam Mayor. I'm still figuring out how to ask my question. I'm so
sorry. Speaking of Councilwoman Kalivianakis' point regarding maybe politically charged
language and also the earlier point that we already have a code of ethics, I would like to
strongly suggest that we take out this preamble. When we talk about, "In keeping with
the town" -- actually, okay. You know what? I can loosen up on that a little bit. My only
real issue with the preamble is the, "To the effective functioning of democratic
government", we do not live in a democracy. We live in a constitutional republic. I
know that is very anal of me, but it is truly a pet peeve of mine. We do not live in a
democracy. Thank you.
MCMAHON: Are we turning this to politics now?
TOTH: I believe that --
MCMAHON: Aren't we nonpartisan?
TOTH: -- this turned it into politics. This --
MCMAHON: I disagree with your statement.
GRZYBOWSKI: For those of you keeping track at home, that's the very first red section
under section 8, code of ethics.
MAYOR DICKEY: Are there any further amendments? No?
TOTH: Was I supposed to make that a motion? I'm sorry.
MAYOR DICKEY: Are you trying to remove the preamble?
TOTH: I am trying to remove -- what am I trying to remove? I am trying to remove --
KALIVIANAKIS: Democratic government.
TOTH: I want to edit the language to the effective functioning of town government, of
our government, however you would like to say that. I'm sorry, but it is a major pet
peeve of mine.
ARNSON: So just remove the word, "democratic" is that --
TOTH: Pretty much, yes.
ARNSON: Okay.
KALIVIANAKIS: Just remove democratic.
MAYOR DICKEY: You want to remove the word, "democratic" out?
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
SEPTEMBER 6, 2023, REGULAR MEETING MINUTES
Page 65 of 69
TOTH: Yes, ma'am.
KALIVIANAKIS: If I may add? Just to recap. Just so we can get our amendment right and
to my main motion. We will remove in the preamble, "democratic". We will remove
the fee. We will remove 10.6 altogether. And I think Allen -- I'd still like to keep "just
and equitable" out of there. But whatever you want to do. But those -- just for you,
Aaron, I think that's my tally of what's on the floor right now.
ARNSON: That's what I have. The only thing we haven't actually gotten to is
"democratic". We still need -- I still need to know whether --
KALIVIANAKIS: Yeah, we still need --
ARNSON: -- he's either going to accept it or we need it as a affirmative motion.
KALIVIANAKIS: You want to make that as a --
MAYOR DICKEY: What's it going to be replaced with?
ARNSON: Nothing.
KALIVIANAKIS: Just government.
MAYOR DICKEY: And you're removing 10.6. I'm sorry. Let's do that first. So is the
"democratic" thing okay with you?
SKILLICORN: I want to make sure. Okay. Well, it's also a point of clarification. I believe
I already made in my motion and Councilmember Friedel seconded about the "just and
equitable"?
KALIVIANAKIS: Yeah.
SKILLICORN: Record reflect --
MAYOR DICKEY: We did vote on it.
SKILLICORN: That was already removed from the -- so the only proposed amendment
right now, from Councilmember Toth, is to remove the word, "democratic". We're
not -- we're for democracy, but we're a democratic republic. We know that. We're --
MAYOR DICKEY: (Indiscernible).
SKILLICORN: Yeah. But we're not trying to say we don't like democracy. But -- and it's
not -- but yeah, we're going to --
KALIVIANAKIS: Gerry, you agree with that?
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
SEPTEMBER 6, 2023, REGULAR MEETING MINUTES
Page 66 of 69
SKILLICORN: -- if you're agreeable to that, remove that one word.
MAYOR DICKEY: And now we're removing 10.6, which means we can't -- we are saying
the public body cannot follow the same process?
KALIVIANAKIS: I think certainly we can follow the same process. But this is just waiving
the fee, I thought.
SKILLICORN: I think 10.6 was the sponsor. Removing the sponsor.
GOODWIN: 10.6 is, for members of the public body who feel that there's an ethics
complaint. That's for them, that's their provision.
MENDENHALL: But it says filing fee waived. So let's say a member up here wants to file
a code violation against another member, they would follow that procedure, they would
not be paying a fee.
KALIVIANAKIS: But we've already waived the fee.
GRZYBOWSKI: So you're looking at 10.2.
MAYOR DICKEY: Yeah.
GRZYBOWSKI: Is what you're talking about. Because if we don't have a filing fee then
we don't need a 10.2, right?
SKILLICORN: I'll just --
MENDENHALL: 10.2, let's see. Let me make sure.
SKILLICORN: And just directing to the Mayor instead of the way we should be doing it.
We did get rid of 10.2 which is the $200, but that left a gap because of 10.6 it
mentioned waiving.
MAYOR DICKEY: Okay.
SKILLICORN: And currently we don't have a 10.6 and people still have the ability to file
an ethics filing. So removing this does not take away anyone's right there. So I see that
as moot. And I'd like to call a previous question.
ARNSON: Yeah, 10.2 and 10.6 work together. So if we remove one, we should remove
the other.
SKILLICORN: Right.
ARNSON: You said call for the question of motion, then it has to get a second, and then
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
SEPTEMBER 6, 2023, REGULAR MEETING MINUTES
Page 67 of 69
we have to have a two-thirds vote.
FRIEDEL: The second was me.
ARNSON: Okay.
KALIVIANAKIS: It's already seconded.
MAYOR DICKEY: So we have a motion and a second. And all of those amendments and
such, others excepted things. Just to clarify in myself that the 10.4 is still in existence as
far as the public having to pay for the whole thing if it's found without merit?
SKILLICORN: If it's frivolous, yes.
MAYOR DICKEY: Okay. Okay.
Can we have a roll call, please?
MENDENHALL: Councilmember Kalivianakis?
KALIVIANAKIS: Aye.
MENDENHALL: Councilmember McMahon?
MCMAHON: I don't know. (Indiscernible).
KALIVIANAKIS: My amendment.
MCMAHON: Nay.
MENDENHALL: No? Councilmember Toth?
TOTH: Aye.
MENDENHALL: Councilmember Friedel?
FRIEDEL: Aye.
MENDENHALL: Councilmember Skillicorn?
SKILLICORN: Yes.
MENDENHALL: Vice Mayor Grzybowski?
GRZYBOWSKI: No.
MENDENHALL: Mayor Dickey?
MAYOR DICKEY: Nay.
All right. Thank you. Our last item before future agenda is council discussion, direction
to the town manager.
I do have a couple of things, just calendar-wise. So we were talking about having a mini
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
SEPTEMBER 6, 2023, REGULAR MEETING MINUTES
Page 68 of 69
retreat on November 2nd. And I'd also say that I would like to cancel the meeting on
November 7th, which is election day, if that's okay. And so we'll be having the extra
meeting. I know. Don't fight me on this now. Everybody's happy as can be. So we'll do
that. And is there anything from call to the public or anything that anybody would like
to comment on? Yes, sir?
SKILLICORN: Thank you, Madam Mayor. Just thanking staff, thank you very much for
the check register, it's very helpful. I know it's purview of manager, I'd love it be part of
the packet, so that people could see it. Think about that. And then I just had -- oh, I
want to check on the update of the emergency services. I know it might take time to
work on that but is that coming?
GOODWIN: Right now, it's scheduled for October 3rd. We're going to be working with
Chief Ott to make that happen. The October 19th agenda is pretty lengthy. So keeping
that in mind we wanted to -- the plan is for that date.
SKILLICORN: Thank you so much.
GOODWIN: Yep.
MAYOR DICKEY: Okay. Our next item is just future agenda items. Anything else?
SKILLICORN: I'll make a motion to cancel the November 7th meeting.
MAYOR DICKEY: You don't have to --
TOTH: Second.
MAYOR DICKEY: We did it. We're done. Any other --
KALIVIANAKIS: Me.
MAYOR DICKEY: Yes, ma'am.
KALIVIANAKIS: For future agenda, I'd like to put on the next agenda set for two weeks
from this meeting, a revision of the invocation guidance. There has been new case law I
have discovered that will clarify the previous guidance, and so it I'd request that that be
placed on the next agenda. Do I need a second and a third?
FRIEDEL: Second.
TOTH: I'll second that.
KALIVIANAKIS: A third? Allen? You said yes?
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
SEPTEMBER 6, 2023, REGULAR MEETING MINUTES
Page 69 of 69
FRIEDEL: Yes.
KALIVIANAKIS: Yes, okay. Thank you.
MAYOR DICKEY: Okay. If there isn't anything else, we are adjourned.
Having no further business, Mayor Ginny Dickey adjourned the Regular Meeting
of the Fountain Hills Town Council held on September 6, 2023, at 8:09 p.m.
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
_______________________
Ginny Dickey, Mayor
ATTEST AND PREPARED BY:
__________________________
Linda G. Mendenhall, Town Clerk
CERTIFICATION
I hereby certify that the foregoing minutes are a true and correct copy of the
minutes of the Regular Meeting held by the Town Council of Fountain Hills in the
Town Hall Council Chambers on the 6th day of September 2023. I further certify
that the meeting was duly called and that a quorum was present.
DATED this 3rd Day of October 2023.
_____________________________
Linda G. Mendenhall, Town Clerk
ITEM 8. B.
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
STAFF REPORT
Meeting Date: 10/03/2023 Meeting Type: Town Council Regular Meeting
Agenda Type: Consent Submitting Department: Community Services
Prepared by: Ryan Preston, Recreation Manager
Request to Town Council Regular Meeting (Agenda Language): CONSIDERATION AND POSSIBLE
ACTION: Approving a Special Event Liquor License application for Fountain Hills Chamber of
Commerce for a wine walk in conjunction with the Wine Walk Series, Presented by The Avenue
Merchants Association (TAMA) on October 13, 2023.
Staff Summary (Background)
The purpose of this item is to obtain the Council's approval regarding the Special Event Liquor License
application submitted by Tammy Bell, representing the Fountain Hills Chamber of Commerce
submission to the Arizona Department of Liquor. The applicant and Fountain Hills Chamber of
Commerce are keenly aware that the final issuance of a liquor license, as well as approval to hold the
Wine Walk Series, Presented by TAMA on October 13, 2023, is contingent upon the state, county, and
local ordinances and guidelines as it relates to public health. All special event liquor license applicants
are required to submit an application and pay a $25 fee for processing. Once the fee is paid, and the
application is reviewed by Town staff, the application is forwarded to the Town Council for review and
consideration. After the application is approved by Town Council, the applicant will bring the signed
paperwork to the Arizona Department of Liquor and be issued a physical license to be displayed for
the duration of the event. The special event liquor license application was reviewed by staff for
compliance with Town ordinances, and staff unanimously recommended approval of the application
as submitted.
Related Ordinance, Policy or Guiding Principle
A.R.S. §4-203.02; 4-244; 4-261 and R19-1-228, R19-1-235, and R19-1-309.
Risk Analysis
NA
Recommendation(s) by Board(s) or Commission(s)
Staff Recommendation(s)
Staff recommends approval.
SUGGESTED MOTION
MOVE to approve the special event liquor license.
Attachments
G:\SPECIAL EVENTS\Special Events\Liquor Apps\2023
Form Review
Inbox Reviewed By Date
Finance Director David Pock 09/14/2023 05:57 PM
Town Attorney Aaron D. Arnson 09/18/2023 09:48 AM
Interim Town Manager Rachael Goodwin 09/20/2023 02:32 PM
Form Started By: Ryan Preston Started On: 09/14/2023 05:17 PM
Final Approval Date: 09/20/2023
ITEM 8. C.
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
STAFF REPORT
Meeting Date: 10/03/2023 Meeting Type: Town Council Regular Meeting
Agenda Type: Consent Submitting Department: Administration
Prepared by: Amanda Jacobs, Economic Development Director
Staff Contact Information: Amanda Jacobs, Economic Development Director
Request to Town Council Regular Meeting (Agenda Language): CONSIDERATION AND POSSIBLE
ACTION: Adopting Resolution 2023-31, An Intergovernmental Agreement With Salt River Pima
Maricopa Indian Community for receipt of Prop 202 funding.
Staff Summary (Background)
Proposition 202 (Gaming Compact with the State of Arizona) was a ballot measure passed by the
Arizona voters in the 2002 state general election and codified in A.R.S. §5-601.02. This legislation
allows for distribution of funds to cities, towns, and counties for their programs from Arizona Indian
Tribes for government services that benefit the general public, including public safety, mitigation of
the impacts of gaming, and the promotion of commerce and economic development.The Gaming
Compact permits the Nation to allocate 12% of the fees it pays to the State to cities, towns and
counties in the State of Arizona. Many non-profit organizations also request Proposition 202 funding
as "pass through dollars" from cities, towns, and counties to support programs within their
communities. Since the legislation required funds to be solicited by a municipality or county, the Town
Council approved Resolution 2004-34 on July 1, 2004, which adopted the Town's policy and
procedures relating to the Proposition 202 application process for the procurement of funds on behalf
of various entities (i.e. as a pass through for funds).
The Salt River Pima Maricopa Indian Community (SRPMIC) has awarded the Town of Fountain Hills a
total of $50,000 for the annual Music Fest in 2024.
Related Ordinance, Policy or Guiding Principle
2022 Town of Fountain Hills Strategic Plan Priorities: Targeted Collaborative Economic Development
and Promote the Long-Term Financial Sustainability of Town Infrastructure, Environmental and Social
Resources; Section 12 of the Gaming Compact 2002 and A.R.S. § 5-601.02; Fountain Hills Resolution
2004-34.
Risk Analysis
If the intergovernmental agreement is not approved, the Town will not receive $50,000 towards the
2024 Music Festival.
Recommendation(s) by Board(s) or Commission(s)
N/A
Staff Recommendation(s)
Staff recommends approval of the IGA.
SUGGESTED MOTION
MOVE to adopt Resolution 2023-31.
Attachments
Resolution 2023-31
IGA between ToFH and SRPMIC
Form Review
Inbox Reviewed By Date
Town Attorney Aaron D. Arnson 09/19/2023 08:21 AM
Finance Director David Pock 09/19/2023 08:36 AM
Finance Director David Pock 09/19/2023 08:36 AM
Town Attorney Aaron D. Arnson 09/19/2023 08:52 AM
Interim Town Manager Rachael Goodwin 09/20/2023 02:38 PM
Form Started By: Amanda Jacobs Started On: 09/05/2023 05:10 PM
Final Approval Date: 09/20/2023
PAGE 2
RESOLUTION NO. 2023-31
A RESOLUTION OF THE MAYOR AND COUNCIL OF THE TOWN OF
FOUNTAIN HILLS, ARIZONA, APPROVING THE INTERGOVERNMENTAL
AGREEMENT WITH SALT RIVER-PIMA MARICOPA INDIAN COMMUNITY,
ARIZONA, RELATING TO PAYMENT OF REGULATORY COSTS AND THE
STATE OF ARIZONA GAMING COMPACT
RECITALS:
WHEREAS, the Town wishes to enter into an Intergovernmental Agreement, dated October
3, 2023 (the “Agreement”) with the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, a Federally-
Recognized Indian Tribe (“SRPMIC”), for the distribution of a portion of 12% of the SRPMIC
annual contribution (“Contribution”) under Section 12 of the Compact to cities, towns, or counties
that benefit the general public or promote commerce and economic development pursuant to
A.R.S. §5-601.02.
ENACTMENTS:
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE MAYOR AND COUNCIL OF THE TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS as
follows:
SECTION 1. The recital above is hereby incorporated as if fully set forth herein.
SECTION 2. The Intergovernmental Agreement (“IGA”) between the Town of Fountain Hills (the
"Town") and Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community (“SRPMIC”) relating the distribution of
a portion of 12% of the SRPMIC annual contribution (“Contribution”) under Section 12 of the
Compact to cities in the Town is hereby approved in substantially the form attached hereto as
Exhibit A and incorporated herein by reference.
SECTION 3. The Town hereby authorizes the acceptance of funds.
SECTION 4. The Mayor, the Town Manager, the Town Clerk and the Town Attorney are hereby
authorized and directed to cause the execution of the Intergovernmental Agreement and to take
all steps necessary to carry out the purpose and intent of this Resolution.
PASSED AND ADOPTED by the Mayor and Council of the Town of Fountain Hills, Arizona, this
3rd day of October, 2023.
(Signatures on the following page)
PAGE 3
FOR THE TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS: ATTESTED TO:
Ginny Dickey, Mayor Linda G. Mendenhall, Town Clerk
REVIEWED BY: APPROVED AS TO FORM:
Rachael Goodwin, Interim Town Manager Aaron D. Arnson, Town Attorney
PAGE 4
EXHIBIT A
TO
RESOLUTION NO. 2023-31
(Intergovernmental Agreement)
See following pages.
INTERGOVERNMENTAL AGREEMENT
BETWEEN
THE SALT RIVER PIMA MARICOPA INDIAN COMMUNITY
AND
THE TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
This Intergovernmental Agreement (“Agreement) is entered into by and between
the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community (“SRPMIC”), a Federally-Recognized
Indian Tribe, and the Town of Fountain Hills (the “Town”), pursuant to Section 12
Payment of Regulatory Costs; Tribal Contributions (“Section 12”) of the SRPMIC and
State of Arizona Gaming Compact 2002 (“Compact”), as Amended and Restated in 2021,
and Article VII, § 1(h) of the SRPMIC Constitution and A.R.S. §5-601.02.
RECITALS
1. The SRPMIC and the Town may enter into an agreement with one another for the
distribution of a portion of 12% of the SRPMIC annual contribution (“Contribution”)
under Section 12 of the Compact to cities, towns, or counties that benefit the general
public or promote commerce and economic development pursuant to A.R.S. §5-
601.02.
2. The SRPMIC is authorized by Article VII, Section 1(h) of the Constitution of
SRPMIC to consult, negotiate, contract and conclude and perform agreements with
Federal, state, local governments and Indian Tribes, as well as any person, association,
partnership, corporation, government or other private entity.
3. The Town is authorized by A.R.S. § 11-951 through § 11-954 to enter into
intergovernmental agreements with other governmental agencies including Indian
Tribes.
4. The SRPMIC desires to convey to the Town a portion of its annual 12% local revenue-
sharing contribution (“Contribution”) required to be paid to local governments.
NOW THEREFORE, in consideration of the foregoing recitals, which are
incorporated herein, and the covenants and promises set forth below, the SRPMIC and the
Town hereby mutually agree as follows:
AGREEMENT
1. Purpose. The purpose of this Agreement is to set forth the rights and
responsibilities of the parties with respect to the payment and distribution of the
Contribution(s), as hereinafter defined.
Page 2 of 6
2. Contribution: The SRPMIC shall provide the Contribution to the Town, in the
amount of $ 50,000.00 following execution of this Agreement. The Contribution
shall be used for the Town’s music festival program.
3. Payment and Use of Funds.
a. Use of Funds for Purposes Other Than to Fulfill Agreement. The Town
shall use the Contribution only for the express purpose contained herein.
b. Inspection and Audit. To ensure compliance with this Agreement, the
SRPMIC hereby reserves the right to inspect any and all records maintained
by the Town with respect to this transaction upon seven (7) days prior,
written notice to the Town. The Town shall allow the SRPMIC reasonable
access to the records pertaining thereto. This section shall survive
termination, cancellation, or revocations, whether whole or in part, of this
Agreement for a period of one (1) year following the date of such
termination, cancellation, or revocation.
4. Management of the Project.
a. Use of Contributions and Recordkeeping. The Town shall have
responsibility for disbursing the Contributions to the recipients in amounts
consistent with this Agreement. Within a reasonable time following receipt
of the Contributions from the SRPMIC, the Town shall use the
Contributions in accordance with applicable Town policies and procedures
governing the use of funds. The Town shall keep and maintain records
relating to this Agreement.
b. Responsibilities of the Town of Fountain Hills Following Disbursement of
Contributions. The parties agree that the Town is merely acting as a
conduit for distribution of funds to the recipients that are not departments,
agencies or offices of the Town (“non-Town recipients”). Upon
distribution of the Contributions to the non-Town recipients as specified in
Section 2 of this Agreement, the Town shall have no further responsibility
to the SRPMIC with respect to such funds or the use thereof by the non-
Town recipients. Therefore, upon the Town’s payment of the
Contributions to the non-Town recipients as provided in Section 2, the
SRPMIC shall release the Town from any and all claims, demands, debts,
liabilities, or obligations that may arise in the event that the non-Town
recipients fail for any reason to expend the Contributions in accordance
with Section 2. The SRPMIC further agrees that the Town shall have no
obligation to reimburse the SRPMIC the amount of the Contributions for
any reason after the Town disburses the Contributions to the non-Town
recipients and that the SRPMIC shall look solely to the non-Town
recipients for repayment of the Contributions in the event the
Contributions are not used for the intended purposes.
Page 3 of 6
5. Notices. Any notice, communication or modification shall be given in writing and
shall be given by registered or certified mail or in person to the following
individuals. The date of receipt of such notices shall be the date the notice shall be
deemed to have been given.
For the SRPMIC:
Martin Harvier, President
Salt River Pima Maricopa Indian Community
10005 E. Osborn Road
Scottsdale, Arizona 85256
For the Town of Fountain Hills:
Rachael Goodwin, Interim Town Manager
Town of Fountain Hills
16705 East Avenue of the Fountains
Fountain Hills, Arizona 85268
6. Transactional Conflict of Interest. All parties hereto acknowledge that this
Agreement is subject to cancellation by the Town pursuant to the provisions of
Section 38-511, Arizona Revised Statutes.
7. Term and Termination of Agreement.
a. Effective Date. This Agreement shall be effective on the date it is signed
by the SRPMIC authorized representative.
b. Term. This Agreement shall commence upon the Effective Date and shall
terminate when the Contribution has been received and fully used by the
Town, as specified in Section 2 of this Agreement.
c. Termination: The SRPMIC may terminate this Agreement with or without
cause at any time by providing the Town five (5) days advance notice in
writing. In the event the SRPMIC terminates this Agreement after the
Town receives the Contribution but before the Town has disbursed the
Contribution to the recipients, the SRPMIC shall include in the notice of
termination specific instructions regarding disposition of the Contribution.
Page 4 of 6
8. Indemnification.
a. Indemnification. Each party (as “Indemnitor”) shall indemnify, defend,
and hold harmless the other party (as “Indemnitee”), its governing body,
officers, departments, employees and agents from and against any and all
suits, actions, legal or administrative proceedings, claims, demands, liens,
losses, fines or penalties, damages, liability, interest, attorneys, consultants
and accountant fees or costs and expenses of whatsoever kind and nature
(collectively referred to as “Claims”), but only to the extent that such
Claims which result in vicarious/derivative liability to the Indemnitee
resulting from or arising out of the negligence or willful misconduct of the
Indemnitor’s employees or agents in performing the duties set forth in this
Agreement.
b. Severability. This section shall survive termination, cancellation, or
revocation whether whole or in part, of this Agreement for a period of one
(1) year from the date of such termination, cancellation or revocation
unless a timely claim is filed under A.R.S. § 12-821.01, in which case this
paragraph shall remain in effect for each claim and/or lawsuit filed
thereafter, but in no event shall this paragraph survive more than five (5)
years from the date of termination, cancellation or revocation of this
Agreement.
9. Interpretation of Agreement.
a. Entire Agreement. This Agreement constitutes the entire agreement
between the parties pertaining to the subject matter contained herein, and
all prior or contemporaneous agreements and understandings, oral or
written, are hereby superseded and merged herein.
b. Amendment. This Agreement shall not be modified, amended, altered, or
changed except by written agreement signed by both parties.
c. Construction and Interpretation. All provisions of this Agreement shall be
construed to be consistent with the intention of the parties as expressed in
the recitals contained herein.
d. Relationship of the Parties. Neither party shall be deemed to be an
employee or agent of the other party to this Agreement.
e. Days. Days shall mean calendar days.
Page 5 of 6
f. Severability. In the event that any provisions of this Agreement or the
application thereof is declared invalid or void by statute or judicial
decision, such action shall have no effect on other provisions and their
application which can be given effect without the invalid or void provision
or application, and to this extent the provisions of the Agreement are
severable. In the event that any provision of this Agreement is declared
invalid or void, each party agrees to meet promptly upon request of the
other party in an attempt to reach an agreement on a substitute provision.
10. Non-Waiver of Sovereign Immunity. Nothing in this Intergovernmental
Agreement shall be construed to waive the Sovereign Immunity of the SRPMIC.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the Town has caused this Intergovernmental
Agreement to be approved by the Town Council, executed by its Mayor and attested to
by its Town Clerk, pursuant to the above stated powers and authority, and the SRPMIC
has caused this Intergovernmental Agreement to be executed by the SRPMIC Council
and attested to by its President.
This Agreement is effective upon signature of a duly appointed representative of
the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the Parties have executed this Agreement.
SALT RIVER TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS,
PIMA-MARICOPA INDIAN COMMUNITY, an Arizona Municipal Corporation:
A Federally Recognized Indian Tribe:
By:______________________________ By:___________________________
Name:_Martin Harvier ________ Name:
Its: President_________________________ Its: Mayor
Date: Date:
ATTEST:
______________________________
[Insert name, title]
Page 6 of 6
APPROVAL OF SRPMIC ATTORNEY
The undersigned attorney acknowledges that s/he has reviewed the above
Agreement on behalf of the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, and has
determined that this Agreement is in proper form and that execution hereof is within the
powers and authority granted under the Constitution of the Salt River Pima-Maricopa
Indian Community, Article VII, §1(h). This acknowledgement shall not constitute nor be
construed as a waiver of the Sovereign Immunity of the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian
Community.
________________________________ ______________________
General Counsel Date
APPROVAL OF CITY ATTORNEY
In accordance with the requirements of A.R.S. § 11-952(D), the undersigned
attorney acknowledges that (i) s/he has reviewed the above Agreement on behalf of the
Town of Fountain Hills and (ii) as to the Town of Fountain Hills only, has determined that
this Agreement is in proper form and that execution hereof is within the powers and
authority granted under the laws of the State of Arizona.
By: _______________________________ _______________________
Town Attorney Date
ITEM 8. D.
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
STAFF REPORT
Meeting Date: 10/03/2023 Meeting Type: Town Council Regular Meeting
Agenda Type: Consent Submitting Department: Public Works
Prepared by: David Janover, Town Engineer
Staff Contact Information: Justin Weldy, Public Works Director
Request to Town Council Regular Meeting (Agenda Language): CONSIDERATION AND POSSIBLE
ACTION: Resolution 2023-29, abandoning 10' Public Utility and Drainage Easements along the east
and south sides of 15483 E Cavern Drive (Application A23-000009).
Staff Summary (Background)
This is a proposal to abandon the pre-incorporation 10' Public Utility and Drainage Easements along
the eastern and southern property lines of Plat 602-A, Block 2, Lot 8 (15483 E Cavern Drive), while
retaining the front 10 feet of the southern easement as a Public Utility Easement. Daniel Piber, the
owner of the property, is planning to install an RV gate and retaining wall, which will encroach into
the existing easement. Staff have reviewed the site to determine the potential on-site drainage issues
in addition to the Town's general interest in the easement. There is no need for the Town to retain
the drainage easement proposed to be abandoned, with the understanding that the owner of the lot
is required to pass the developed flows generated by the upstream lots across their property. All
public utilities have approved the abandonment of this easement, and SRP has requested that a 10' x
10' Public Utility Easement be retained at the front of the southern easement (adjacent to the street)
to accommodate their existing infrastructure. SRP has acknowledged and will allow the proposed
retaining wall to encroach into the 10' x 10' Public Utility Easement being retained.
Related Ordinance, Policy or Guiding Principle
N/A
Risk Analysis
N/A
Recommendation(s) by Board(s) or Commission(s)
N/A
Staff Recommendation(s)
Staff recommends adoption of Resolution 2023-29
SUGGESTED MOTION
MOVE to adopt Resolution 2023-29
Attachments
Vicinity Map
Aerial Photo Map
Res 2023-29
Exhibit A: Survey
Form Review
Inbox Reviewed By Date
Development Services Director John Wesley 09/14/2023 02:08 PM
Town Attorney Aaron D. Arnson 09/14/2023 04:28 PM
Interim Town Manager Rachael Goodwin 09/25/2023 02:20 PM
Form Started By: David Janover Started On: 08/28/2023 11:04 AM
Final Approval Date: 09/25/2023
BEELIN
E
H
W
Y
SHEA BLVD
PAL
I
S
A
D
E
S
B
L
V
D
SAGUARO BLVD
SAG
U
A
R
O
B
L
V
D
PALIS
A
D
E
S
B
L
V
D
PALISA
D
E
S
B
L
V
D
SA
G
U
A
R
O
B
L
V
D
FO
U
N
T
A
I
N
H
I
L
L
S
B
L
V
D
McDOWELL M
O
U
N
T
A
I
N
R
D
FO
U
N
T
A
I
N
H
I
L
L
S
B
L
V
D
SUNR
I
D
G
E
D
R
EL
L
A
G
O
B
L
V
D
AVEN
U
E
O
F
T
H
E
FOUN
T
A
I
N
S
PA
N
O
R
A
M
A
D
R
FI
R
E
R
O
C
K
C
O
U
N
T
R
Y
CL
U
B
D
R
CR
E
S
T
V
I
E
W
D
R
SIERRA
M
A
D
R
E
GRANDE BL
V
D
G
O
L
D
E
N
E
A
G
L
E
B
L
V
D
E
A
G
L
E
R
I
D
G
E
D
R
E
A
G
L
E
R
I
D
G
E
D
R
VICINITY MAP
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
NORTH
SCALE: 1" = 3500'
All that is Ar i z o n a
F O U N TAIN HI
L
L
S
T
OWN OF INC. 1989
TOWN HALL
DEVELOPMENT SERVICES DEPARTMENT
SCOTTSDALE
McDOWELL MOUNTAIN PARK
FO
R
T
M
c
D
O
W
E
L
L
Y
A
V
A
P
A
I
N
A
T
I
O
N
SALT RIVER PIMA MARICOPA INDIAN COMMUNITY
TOWN BOUNDARY
SCOTTSDALE
15483 E
Cavern Dr
A23-000009
DEVELOPMENT SERVICES
A
ll that is A r i z o n a
F O U N T AIN HI
L
L
S
T
OWN OF INC. 1989
ZONING: R1-10
LOT 8 LEGEND:
PHOTO MAP
2022 AERIAL
LOT 7
A23-000009
LOT 9
E C
A
V
E
R
N
D
R
ABANDON 10'
P.U.E. & D.E.
RETAIN 10'X10' PUE
& ABANDON 10'X10' DE
RESOLUTION 2023-29
A RESOLUTION OF THE MAYOR AND COUNCIL OF THE TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS,
ARIZONA, ABANDONING WHATEVER RIGHT, TITLE, OR INTEREST IT HAS IN THE PRE-
INCORPORATION 10' PUBLIC UTILITY AND DRAINAGE EASEMENT ALONG THE EASTERN
AND SOUTHERN PROPERTY LINES, EXCEPT FOR THE WESTERN 10’ OF THE SOUTHERN
EASEMENT, TO BE RETAINED, OF PLAT 602-A, BLOCK 2, LOT 8 (15483 E CAVERN DRIVE)
FOUNTAIN HILLS, ARIZONA, AS RECORDED IN THE OFFICE OF THE COUNTY
RECORDER OF MARICOPA COUNTY, ARIZONA, RECORDED IN BOOK 161 OF MAPS,
PAGE 42
WHEREAS, the Mayor and Council of the Town of Fountain Hills (the “Town Council”), as the
governing body of real property located in the Town of Fountain Hills (the “Town”), may require the
dedication of public streets, sewer, water, drainage, and other utility easements or rights-of-way within any
proposed subdivision; and
WHEREAS, the Town Council has the authority to accept or reject offers of dedication of private
property by easement, deed, subdivision, plat or other lawful means; and
WHEREAS, all present utility companies have received notification of the proposed abandonment.
NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE MAYOR AND COUNCIL OF THE TOWN OF
FOUNTAIN HILLS, as follows:
SECTION 1. That the certain public utility and drainage easements, located at the EASTERN
and SOUTHERN property lines, except for the front ten feet (10’) of the SOUTHERN easement of
Plat 602-A, Block 2, Lot 8 (15483 E Cavern Drive) Fountain Hills, as recorded in the Office of the County
Recorder of Maricopa County, Arizona, Book 161 of Maps, Page 42, and as more particularly described in
Exhibit A, attached hereto and incorporated herein by reference, are hereby declared to be abandoned by
the Town. Certain lots within this subdivision are subject to lot-to-lot drainage runoff. The property owner is
required to pass the developed flows generated by the upstream lots across their property.
SECTION 2. That this Resolution is one of abandonment and disclaimer by the Town solely for
the purpose of removing any potential cloud on the title to said property and that the Town in no way
attempts to affect the rights of any private party to oppose the abandonment or assert any right resulting
there from or existing previous to any action by the Town.
PASSED AND ADOPTED BY the Mayor and Council of the Town of Fountain Hills October
3, 2023.
FOR THE TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS: ATTESTED TO:
Ginny Dickey, Mayor Linda Mendenhall, Town Clerk
REVIEWED BY: APPROVED AS TO FORM:
Rachael Goodwin, Interim Town Manager Aaron D. Arnson, Town Attorney
EXHIBIT "A"
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
EASEMENT ABANDONMENT
LOT 8
A23-000009
ITEM 8. E.
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
STAFF REPORT
Meeting Date: 10/03/2023 Meeting Type: Town Council Regular Meeting
Agenda Type: Consent Submitting Department: Development Services
Prepared by: Farhad Tavassoli, Senior Planner
Staff Contact Information: Farhad Tavassoli, Senior Planner
Request to Town Council Regular Meeting (Agenda Language): CONSIDERATION AND POSSIBLE
ACTION: Final Plat for Eagles Nest Parcel 2, a subdivision containing 40 single-family lots and one tract
in the R1-43 zoning district.
Staff Summary (Background)
MJFFH7, LLC is requesting approval of a final plat for Eagles Nest Parcel 2, a subdivision containing 40
single-family detached lots and one tract in the R1-43 Zoning District. Lot sizes range in area between
43,566 to 105,023 square feet. Streets are private and are shown on the plat as Tract A. The primary
street is looped and provides two points of ingress/egrees for the neighborhood at Mountain
Parkway, which minimizes the potential for blocked access.
In addition to the zoning standards for the R1-43 zoning district, the final plat layout is shaped by the
amendment to the 2014 settlement agreement between the developer and the Town, which was
approved by Town Council on May 16 of this year. The purpose for the amendments was to allow 14
additional lots in Eagles Nest Parcel 2, which was originally planned for a total of 26 lots per the final
plat from 2005, which was never recorded. Thus, there is a total of 40 lots in Parcel 2. The
amendment also allowed relocation of emergency and utility easements, allowable disturbance and
retaining wall construction. Staff find the plat to be in accordance with the recent amendment and
the R1-43 zoning district.
Related Ordinance, Policy or Guiding Principle
Zoning Ordinance, Chapter 10, Single Family Residential Zoning Districts
Subdivision Ordinance
Resolution No. 2023-20, Amendment to Amended and Restated Final Settlement Agreement
Risk Analysis
N/A
Recommendation(s) by Board(s) or Commission(s)
N/A
Staff Recommendation(s)
Staff recommends approval of the Final Plat for Eagles Nest Parcel 2.
SUGGESTED MOTION
MOVE to approve the Final Plat for Eagles Nest Parcel 2.
Attachments
Final Plat
Form Review
Inbox Reviewed By Date
Development Services Director John Wesley 09/20/2023 03:12 PM
Form Started By: Farhad Tavassoli Started On: 09/20/2023 12:00 PM
Final Approval Date: 09/20/2023
221112 COVER SHEET 1.dgn 8/22/2023 11:05:40 AM
221112 PLAT - SHEET 2.dgn 8/22/2023 9:46:24 AM
221112 PLAT - SHEET 3.dgn 8/22/2023 9:48:01 AM
221112 PLAT - SHEET 4.dgn 8/22/2023 9:47:07 AM
221112 PLAT - SHEET 5.dgn 8/22/2023 9:51:52 AM
221112 DE - SHEET 6.dgn 8/22/2023 9:49:19 AM
ITEM 9. A.
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
STAFF REPORT
Meeting Date: 10/03/2023 Meeting Type: Town Council Regular Meeting
Agenda Type: Regular Agenda Submitting Department: Administration
Prepared by: Linda Mendenhall, Town Clerk
Staff Contact Information: Aaron D. Arnson, Town Attorney
Request to Town Council Regular Meeting (Agenda Language): CONSIDERATION AND POSSIBLE
ACTION: Approval of a Memorandum of Understanding with the Fountain Hills Youth Substance
Abuse Prevention Coalition for the annual distribution of Opioid Settlement Funds for the education
and prevention of drug abuse in the town's youth.
Staff Summary (background)
In October of 2021, the Town Council approved the Town of Fountain Hills to join the One Arizona
Distribution of Opioid Settlement Funds Agreement. The agreement, finalized in 2022, was part of the
2021 National Opioid Settlement, which resolved all opioid litigation from states and local subdivisions
against pharmaceutical distributors. Over 18 years, local governments of Maricopa County will receive
an estimated 80 million dollars as their share of the settlement. Per the agreement, local governments
received a 44/56% split of the total state settlement. The town's share is 0.17% which is based on
three factors: (1) the number of opioids shipped to the region; (2) the number of opioid deaths that
occurred in that region; and (3) the number of people who suffer opioid use disorder in that region.
The Town has already received an initial distribution of $41,418.94 with subsequent annual payments
of accumulated settlement collections in June of each fiscal year.
Under the One Arizona Opioid Settlement Memorandum funds must be used for future opioid
strategies that are nationally recognized. All local government entities receiving settlement funds,
including Maricopa County and its cities and towns, will be required to submit annual reports to the
State of Arizona by July 31 of each year, as outlined in the Agreement. Approved uses include
evidence-based, evidence-informed strategies regarding:
Treatment of Opioid Use Disorder (OUD)
Support for people in treatment and recovery
Support for people who have or are at risk of developing Opioid Use Disorder
Prevention of overdose deaths and other harms
Prevention of opioid misuse
The Fountain Hills Youth Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition was founded in 2009 and is a 501c3
nonprofit organization made up of 12 community sector representatives including town leadership,
law enforcement, public school district, tribal representatives, healthcare professionals, parents,
treatment facilities, and youth participants. The Coalition is a recognized leader in youth drug
prevention and awareness efforts with Fountain Hills. Staff recommends distributing the One Arizona
Opioid Settlement funds to the Coalition to support the program initiatives and remain in compliance
with the settlement requirements.
Related Ordinance, Policy or Guiding Principle
N/A
Risk Analysis
One Arizona Opioid Settlement funds must be utilized within the guidelines of the agreement. If funds
are not distributed to partner groups that meet these guidelines, the Town will need to institute their
own programs or initiatives to adequately meet the settlement requirements.
Recommendation(s) by Board(s) or Commission(s)
N/A
Staff Recommendation(s)
Staff recommends approval of the MOU with Fountain Hills Youth Substance Abuse Prevention
Coalition for the yearly distribution of One Arizona Distribution of Opioid Settlement Funds for the
education and prevention of the use and misuse of opioids in our community.
SUGGESTED MOTION
MOVE to adopt Resolution 2023-26 for the approval of an MOU with Fountain Hills Youth Substance
Abuse Prevention Coalition.
Attachments
Resolution 2023-26
Form Review
Inbox Reviewed By Date
Finance Director David Pock 09/26/2023 09:48 AM
Town Attorney Aaron D. Arnson 09/26/2023 09:56 AM
Interim Town Manager Rachael Goodwin 09/26/2023 10:48 AM
Form Started By: Linda Mendenhall Started On: 09/26/2023 07:41 AM
Final Approval Date: 09/26/2023
RESOLUTION 2023-26 A RESOLUTION OF THE MAYOR AND COUNCIL OF THE TOWN OF
FOUNTAIN HILLS, ARIZONA, APPROVING A MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING WITH THE FOUNTAIN HILLS YOUTH SUBSTANCE ABUSE PREVENTION COALITION RELATING TO DISBURSEMENT OF SETTLEMENT FUNDS PURSUANT TO THE TERMS OF THE ONE ARIZONA DISTRIBUTION OF OPIOID SETTLEMENT FUNDS AGREEMENT.
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE MAYOR AND COMMON COUNCIL OF THE TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS, ARIZONA, as follows:
Section 1. The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Fountain Hills Youth Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition relating to the disbursement of settlement funds allocated to the Town of Fountain Hills pursuant to the terms of the One Arizona Distribution of Opioid Settlement Funds for use with youth education and drug prevention measures. The MOU
is hereby approved substantially in the form and substance attached hereto as Exhibit A and
incorporated herein by reference. Section 2. The Mayor, the Town Manager, the Town Clerk, and the Town Attorney are hereby authorized and directed to cause the execution of the MOU and to take all steps
necessary to carry out the purpose and intent of this Resolution.
PASSED AND ADOPTED BY the Mayor and Council of the Town of Fountain Hills, Arizona, this 3rd day of October 2023.
FOR THE TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS ATTESTED TO:
Ginny Dickey, Mayor Linda Mendenhall, MMC/Town Clerk
REVIEWED BY: APPROVED AS TO FORM:
Rachael Goodwin, Interim Town Manager Aaron D. Arnson, Town Attorney
Resolution No. 2023 - 26 Page 2 of 2
EXHIBIT A to RESOLUTION NO. 2023-26
(MOU with the Fountain Hills Youth Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition)
See following pages.
1
MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING BETWEEN
THE TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS AND FOUNTAIN HILLS YOUTH SUBSTANCE ABUSE PREVENTION COALITION THIS MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING (this “MOU”) is entered into as of
October 3, 2023, between the Town of Fountain Hills, an Arizona municipal corporation (the
“Town”) and Fountain Hills Youth Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition, an Arizona nonprofit corporation (the “Coalition”). RECITALS
A. The Town is the recipient of settlement funds pursuant to the terms of the One Arizona Distribution of Opioid Settlement Funds Agreement (the “Settlement Agreement”), attached hereto as Exhibit A.
B. The Settlement Agreement establishes Approved Purposes for the distribution and
spending of funds appropriated thereunder and, one of which is support of nonprofit and related organizations that focus on youth education drug prevention. C. The Coalition is a nonprofit corporation the purpose of which is to educate about
and prevent the incidence of underage drinking and drug use.
D. The Town desires to appropriate funds received under the Settlement Agreement to the Coalition for the purposes set forth in the Settlement Agreement.
AGREEMENT
NOW, THEREFORE, in consideration of the foregoing introduction and recitals, which are incorporated herein by reference, the following mutual covenants and conditions, and other good and valuable consideration, the receipt and sufficiency of which are hereby acknowledged,
the Town and the Coalition hereby agree as follows:
1. Term. This MOU shall be effective as of the date first set forth above and shall remain in full force and effect until two years thereafter (the “Initial Term”), unless terminated as otherwise provided in this MOU. After the expiration of the Initial Term, this MOU may be
renewed for up four successive two-year terms (each, a “Renewal Term”).
2. Designated Recipient of Funds. The Town designates the Coalition as a recipient of funds received under the Settlement Agreement for the duration of this MOU. The Coalition acknowledges and agrees that the Coalition may not be the exclusive designated recipient of funds
and this MOU does not guarantee the availability or receipt of funds in any Renewal Term. The
Town may provide funds periodically and in its sole discretion.
2
3. Fund Distribution. The Town shall provide the Coalition with an initial distribution of $41,418.94. Subsequent annual payments of accumulated settlement collections, if any, shall
occur in June of each fiscal year while this MOU is in effect.
4. Purpose. The Parties agree that funds received from the Town may be used for any Approved Purpose(s) as set forth in the Settlement Agreement.
5. Reporting Obligations. The Coalition acknowledges and agrees as follows:
a. The Coalition will comply with all audit and reporting requirements set forth in the Settlement Agreement or in any other applicable law or policy. The Coalition is solely responsible for fulfilling any such requirements, and the Town will not be responsible for the
Coalition’s failure to fulfill any such requirement. Failure to comply with audit and reporting
requirements shall be grounds for immediate termination of this MOU by the Town. b. On or before June 1 during each year that this MOU is in effect, the Coalition shall provide an annual report to the Town, in a written form satisfactory to the Town
Chief Financial Officer or his/her designee, of the purpose(s) for which the funds were used and
how much was spent during the preceding term. 6. Termination. The Town may immediately terminate this MOU for the Coalition’s violation of any term of this Agreement, including for failure to fulfill its obligations set forth in
Section 5, above. Either party may terminate this Agreement for its convenience upon 30 days’
written notice to the other party. 7. Modifications to this MOU. Any amendments or changes to this to this MOU must be in writing and executed by authorized representatives of both Parties.
8. Severability. In the event that any provision or section herein is held invalid or unenforceable, the remaining provisions and sections shall remain in full force and effect. 9. Indemnification. The Coalition shall indemnify, defend, and hold harmless the
Town and each council member, officer, employee or agent thereof (the Town and any such person
being herein called an “Indemnified Party”), for, from and against any and all losses, claims, damages, liabilities, costs and expenses (including, but not limited to, reasonable attorneys’ fees, court costs and the costs of appellate proceedings) to which any such Indemnified Party may become subject, under any theory of liability whatsoever (“Claims”), insofar as such Claims (or
actions in respect thereof) relate to, arise out of, or are caused by or based upon the negligent acts,
intentional misconduct, errors, mistakes or omissions, breach of contract, in connection with this MOU. 10. Governing Law. This MOU shall be construed in accordance with the laws of the
State of Arizona, without regard to conflict of laws principles.
3
11.Entire Agreement. This MOU constitutes the entire understanding between theParties and supersedes any other written or oral agreement between the Parties with respect to the
subject matter of this MOU.
12.Further Actions. Each Party hereby agrees to perform any further acts and toexecute and deliver any documents that may be reasonably necessary to carry out the provisions of this MOU.
13.Compliance with All Applicable Law. The Parties agree to comply with all federal,state or local laws, rules or regulations applicable to the subject matter of this MOU.
14.Independent Status. The Parties are independent contractors, and nothing contained
in this MOU creates a relationship of partnership, joint venture, agency, or employment between
the Parties or any of their employees, officers, agents, or contractors.
15. Execution. This MOU may be executed in one or more counterparts, each of whichwill be deemed to be an original, but all of which together will constitute a single instrument. A
signature on a counterpart may be made by facsimile or otherwise electronically transmitted, and
such signature shall have the same force and effect as an original signature. Further, this MOU may be retained in any electronic format, and all electronic copies thereof shall likewise be deemed to be an original and shall have the same force and effect as an original copy of this MOU.
16.Israel. The Coalition certifies that it is not currently engaged in, and agrees for theduration of this Agreement that it will not engage in a “boycott,” as that term is defined in Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 35-393, of Israel.
17.Conflict of Interest. This MOU may be cancelled by the Town pursuant to Ariz.Rev. Stat. § 38-511.
FOR THE TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS: FOR THE FOUNTAIN HILLS YOUTH
SUBSTANCE ABUSE COALITION:
___________________________________ __________________________________
Rachael Goodwin, Interim Town Manager Tammy Bell, Executive Director
ATTESTED TO: APPROVED AS TO FORM:
___________________________________ __________________________________
Linda G. Mendenhall, Town Clerk Aaron D. Arnson, Town Attorney
ITEM 9. B.
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
STAFF REPORT
Meeting Date: 10/03/2023 Meeting Type: Town Council Regular Meeting
Agenda Type: Regular Agenda Submitting Department: Administration
Prepared by: Linda Mendenhall, Town Clerk
Request to Town Council Regular Meeting (Agenda Language): CONSIDERATION AND POSSIBLE
ACTION: Approval of the recommendation for the appointment of a Youth Commissioner to the
Community Services Advisory Commission.
Staff Summary (Background)
The Council Subcommittees for the Towns Boards, Commissions, and Committees conduct interviews
and make recommendations for membership based on the term expiration, vacancies from
resignations, or changes in membership eligibility status. Appointments are made each year in April
and October.
The Community Services Advisory Commission has a vacancy for a Youth Commissioner. Staff would
like to move forward with the appointment now instead of waiting for the October recruitment
appointment which will take place at the November 21, 2023 meeting. Approving this appointment
now will allow the Youth Commissioner the ability to attend the October and November meetings.
The Council Subcommittee for the Boards, Commissions, and Committees held a meeting on
September 20, 2023, to interview the students who applied for the vacancy and made a
recommendation for appointment to this committee.
Related Ordinance, Policy or Guiding Principle
Chapter 2A of the Town Code.
Risk Analysis
N/A
Recommendation(s) by Board(s) or Commission(s)
Recommendations to the Mayor have been made by the Council Subcommittee XXXX
Staff Recommendation(s)
To approve the Council Subcommittee recommendation as follows:
To approve the Council Subcommittee recommendation as follows:
Community Services Advisory Commission
Appoint _________________________ for a term from 10/3/2023 to 6/30/2024
SUGGESTED MOTION
MOVE to approve the Council Subcommittees recommendation for the appointment of a Youth
Commissioner to the Community Services Advisory Commission, as presented.
Form Review
Inbox Reviewed By Date
Town Attorney Linda Mendenhall 09/21/2023 04:36 PM
Finance Director David Pock 09/25/2023 06:29 AM
Town Attorney Aaron D. Arnson 09/25/2023 11:39 AM
Interim Town Manager Rachael Goodwin 09/25/2023 02:00 PM
Form Started By: Linda Mendenhall Started On: 09/21/2023 04:18 PM
Final Approval Date: 09/25/2023
ITEM 9. C.
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
STAFF REPORT
Meeting Date: 10/03/2023 Meeting Type: Town Council Regular Meeting
Agenda Type: Regular Agenda Submitting Department: Development Services
Prepared by: John Wesley, Development Services Director
Staff Contact Information: John Wesley, Development Services Director
Request to Town Council Regular Meeting (Agenda Language): CONSIDERATION AND POSSIBLE
ACTION: Extension of a Special Use Permit for residential use in the C-C, Common Commercial, Zoning
District at 15006 N. Ivory Dr., case SUP22-000001.
Staff Summary (Background)
The Town Council considered and approved the request for a Special Use Permit (SUP) for the lot at
the northwest corner of El Pueblo Boulevard and Ivory Drive at their regular meeting on September
20, 2023. The approved SUP will allow up to four dwelling units on the second floor of a two-story,
mixed-use building.
The applicant has preceded with a formal site plan approval and submittal of the building permit
application. The ordinance requires the building permit application to be submitted within six months
of SUP approval and the building permit to be issued within one year. Extensions may be approved by
the Council.
The applicant has proceeded through the development process in a timely manner. Construction
plans for the building permit were submitted March 2023. Plan review was completed by the Town in
August 2023 and a permit is ready to be issued. Following Town review of the application, the
applicant learned that the electrical system designed for the building was done incorrectly for a
service more than what is needed for this building. He is in the process of having those plans
corrected prior to issuing the building permit.
Because he has not received the building permit within the one-year requirement by the code, he has
requested to have the SUP extended.
A copy of the September 2022 Council report is attached.
Related Ordinance, Policy or Guiding Principle
Zoning Ordinance Section 2.02
Risk Analysis
N/A
Recommendation(s) by Board(s) or Commission(s)
N/A
Staff Recommendation(s)
The applicant has proceeded through the review process in a timely manner. The Town was ready to
issue the building permit when the issue with the design of the electrical system came to light. Staff
supports approval of an extension of this SUP.
SUGGESTED MOTION
MOVE to approve a six-month extension for SUP22-000001.
Attachments
Vicinity Map
Site Plan
Form Review
Inbox Reviewed By Date
Development Services Director (Originator)John Wesley 09/20/2023 03:03 PM
Form Started By: John Wesley Started On: 09/20/2023 08:43 AM
Final Approval Date: 09/20/2023
Vicinity
CASE: SUP22-000001
SITE / ADDRESS:
15006 N Ivory Drive
APN 176-04-715
REQUEST:
Special Use Permit - Mixed Use
All that is Ariz on a
FO U N TAIN HIL
L
S
TOWN OF INC. 1989
MCDOWELL MOUNTAIN REGIONAL PARK
SALT RIVER PIMA - MARICOPA INDIAN COMMUNITY
FO
R
T
M
C
D
O
W
E
L
L
Y
A
V
A
P
A
I
N
A
T
I
O
N
SC
O
T
T
S
D
A
L
E
Site Location
Vicinity MapMap ::CaseCase DetailsDetailsSUP22-000001SUP22-000001
FO
U
N
T
A
I
N
H
I
L
L
S
B
L
V
D
GLENBROOK BL
V
D
EL PUEBLO BLVD
AL
A
M
O
S
A
A
V
E
I
V
O
R
Y
D
R
E
S
C
O
N
D
I
D
O
D
R
M
I
R
A
G
E
C
R
O
S
S
I
N
G
C
T
SABIN
A
S
D
R
ALLEY
AL
L
E
Y
SITE PLAN
ELEVATIONS
ITEM 9. D.
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
STAFF REPORT
Meeting Date: 10/03/2023 Meeting Type: Town Council Regular Meeting
Agenda Type: Regular Agenda Submitting Department: Development Services
Prepared by: Farhad Tavassoli, Senior Planner
Staff Contact Information: Farhad Tavassoli, Senior Planner
Request to Town Council Regular Meeting (Agenda Language): PUBLIC HEARING, CONSIDERATION,
AND POSSIBLE ACTION: SPECIAL USE PERMIT request to allow 16 beds at a home for the aged on a
0.37-acre parcel located at the northeast corner of Palisades Blvd. and Westby Drive (16602 E.
Palisades Blvd.: APN 176-05-993) in the R-3 Multifamily Zoning District. SUP23-000002.
Staff Summary (Background)
The owner of the Fountain Manor assisted living home has filed for a special use permit (SUP) to
increase the number of beds from 10 to 16, including beds for the live-in caregivers. The facility has
been operating as a 4,259 sq. ft., state-licensed, assisted living home since 2005 with a total of 10
patient beds and 2 to 3 live-in caregivers. The Town has allowed these facilities, now known as
community residences, by right in all residential zoning districts subject to certain limitations and
requirements. The requested increase to 16 beds moves this out of the community residences
category and would require a special use permit, as the operation would be characteristically
commercial in nature. Furthermore, a facility containing more than 10 beds must meet different
licensing prerequisites by the state Department of Health. One such prerequisite is approval for the
use from the governing municipality.
The home currently consists of 7 bedrooms, a den, living room, family room and a study room. The
home originally had a garage, but that was converted to one of the bedrooms.The increase to 16 beds
does not entail an expanded building footprint, but does require an expanded parking area to
accommodate additional residents, including the live-in caregivers. The increase will also require the
placement of an additional bed in each bedroom. Access to the home is provided by a 17-foot wide
(approx.) driveway from Westby Drive. The driveway currently has enough space for at least 2 parked
vehicles. The driveway would be expanded to include 4 marked parking stalls, including one ADA stall.
Parking is currently allowed along Westby Drive, should there be any need for additional short-term
parking.
The request for the increase represents the maximum number the applicant believes could
comfortably be housed in this home. If an increase is approved by the Town, their next step will be
review and approval by the state Department of Health.
Citizen Participation
Citizen Participation
The applicant held a virtual meeting on March 7, 2023 at 5:30 p.m., following their posting of
notification letters on February 20. The meeting was attended by one person, who was concerned that
the building footprint would increase, which it is not. They also received three emails of opposition.
Staff also received three letters of opposition. In addition, staff received two phone calls from
residents expressing their opposition. Attached for your review are the applicant’s Citizen
Participation Plan, Citizen Participation Report, and all emails received by both the applicant and
Town staff in regard to the SUP request. Concerns summarized include increased traffic, parking on
the street and neighborhood safety.
In response to the concerns that were expressed during the citizen participation process and at the
Planning and Zoning Commission meeting, the owner has provided a letter to the Council addressing
some of these concerns along with some letters of support from clients who have placed a parent at
the assisted care facility. These letters are attached for your review.
Analysis
The zoning ordinance Section 11.03 allows consideration of certain uses within the multi-family
zoning districts with approval of a Special Use Permit (SUP). Section 2.02 of the zoning ordinance
establishes the process and criteria for consideration of a SUP. Section 2.02 F. 1. d. of the Zoning
Ordinance states:
d. In order to recommend approval of any use permit, the findings of the Commission must be that
the establishment, maintenance, or operation of the use or building applied for will not be
detrimental to the public health, safety, peace, comfort, and general welfare of persons residing or
working in the neighborhood of such proposed use, nor shall it be detrimental or injurious to property
and improvements in the neighborhood or to the general welfare of the Town.
The Town Council may consider additional details such as visitation hours, traffic impacts, separation
from neighboring uses.
The property is located in the Neighborhoods character area, under the subarea of "urban
residential", an area characterized by a mix of multi-family and small single-family residential
development. Such areas "may also contain schools, churches, parks, small office and retail uses at
collector and arterial intersections, and other neighborhood serving uses" and are "typically located at
arterial and collector intersections." The property is adjacent to Palisades Blvd, an arterial, and is
surrounded by mostly commercial and multi-family development. Although Westby Dr. is a local
street, it serves a number of condominium homes to the north of the subject property.
Given its proximity to Palisades Blvd and neighboring land uses, it is staff's opinion that the bed
increase would have minimal impact to the neighboring properties. Furthermore, the applicant will be
expanding its on-site parking area to accommodate the increase of live-in caregivers. There will be no
expansion to the existing building footprint.
Related Ordinance, Policy or Guiding Principle
Zoning Ordinance Section 2.02 - Special Use Permits
Zoning Ordinance Section 2.08 Citizen Participation
Zoning Ordinance Section 11.03, Uses Subject to Special Use Permit in an M-1, M-2, M-3, R-3, R-4, and
R-5 Zoning District
General Plan 2020, Section III: Thriving Environment
General Plan 2020 Character Areas, Table 1 Character Area Plan
Risk Analysis
N/A
Recommendation(s) by Board(s) or Commission(s)
At their regular meeting on May 8, 2023, the Planning and Zoning Commission recommended to DENY
the Special Use Permit with 5 to 1 vote, primarily citing concerns over the proposed total number of
occupants within the existing livable area. A verbatim transcript has been attached to this staff report
for your reference.
It should be noted that when the SUP request was originally advertised for 16 beds before it went
before the Planning and Zoning Commission, the number did not include the original proposal for 3 to
4 live in caregivers. The applicant has since decided to reduce the number of patient beds to 14
patients and 2 live-in caregivers.
Staff Recommendation(s)
Staff supports a recommendation for approval of this Special Use Permit.
SUGGESTED MOTION
MOVE to approve/deny the Special Use Permit to allow a home for the aged at 16602 E. Palisades
Blvd for up to 16 residents.
Attachments
Case Map
Project Narrative
Site Plan
Citizen Participation Plan
Citizen Participation Report Redacted
Good Neighbor Statement Redacted
Emails of Opposition Redacted
P&Z Meeting Transcipt
Applicant Explanation and Support Letters Redacted
Form Review
Inbox Reviewed By Date
Development Services Director John Wesley 09/20/2023 03:08 PM
Form Started By: Farhad Tavassoli Started On: 09/20/2023 07:26 AM
Final Approval Date: 09/20/2023
CASE:
SP23-002
SITE / ADDRESS:
16602 E. Palisades Blvd.
APN 176-05-993
REQUEST:
SPECIAL USE PERMIT request to allow 16
licensed beds at a home for the aged on a
0.37-acre parcel located at the northeast
corner of Palisades Blvd.and Westby Drive
(16602 E.Palisades Blvd.:APN 176-05-993)
in the R-3 Multifamily Zoning District.
Site Location
KONTEXTURE architecture | interiors | urban planning
3334 N. 20th Street, Phoenix AZ 85016 T:602.875.6221 F:602.875.6239 www.kontexture.com
February 9th, 2023
Project Narrative
RE: Fountain View Manor ALH
16602 E. Palisades Blvd.
Fountain Hills, AZ 85268
The proposed project at 16602 E. Palisades Blvd., Fountain Hills, AZ 85268 is a single-family
residence operating as an Assisted Living Home for the Elderly. We are looking to increase the number
of residents from 10 residents to 16, while keeping the residential status and feel of the home. We are
providing additional parking to meet the requirements of one parking spot for every four residents.
All the residents currently housed are elderly and most of them need assistance with their daily living
tasks. The proposed Special Use Permit request is necessary in order to provide the same opportunity
to more elderly individuals needing care.
Increasing the number of residents will not adversely impact the community since the it will keep it’s
residential function and appearance.
If you have any questions or comments regarding this design narrative, please contact Daniel Istrate, AIA
at 602.875.6231 or daniel.istrate@kontexture.com or Denisa Istrate at 602.875.6235 or
denisa.istrate@kontexture.com.
Sincerely,
KONTEXTURE
Denisa Istrate
E PALISADES BLVD.
R.O.W.
55' - 0"
E WESTBY DR.
R.O.W.
30' - 0"
APN: 176-05-993
R-3
N 69º 21' 52" W 125'
N 20º 38' 08" E 110'
N 69º 21' 52" W 144.70'
N 20º 38' 08" E 75'
N 02º 19' 24" E 15'
N
2
4
º
3
6
'
4
3
"
W
2
8
.
2
7'
BUILDING SETBACK
30' - 0"
BUILDING SETBACK
30' - 0"
BUILDING SETBACK
10' - 0"
BUILDING SETBACK
30' - 0"
APN: 176-05-994
APN: 176-05-695
27' - 6"
COVERED
PATIO
364 SF
RESIDENCE
4,229 SF
COVERED
ENTRY
133 SF
EXIST.
GATE
7' - 6"
7' - 9"
21' - 3"
19' - 6"
18' - 5"
EXIST.
GATE
103
TYP
363 TYP
103 TYP
104
TYP
155
155
TYP
TYP
104 TYP
104 TYP
103 TYP
103
122
150 TYP
150
TYP
155 TYP
W
141 TYP
S107
TYP
70' - 1"
76' - 8"
46' - 8"
46' - 5"
31' - 6"
45' - 2"
MECH
ROOM
45 SF
158
1
2
3
122
1
1
10' - 0"
11' - 0"
18' - 0"
4
10' - 0 "1 1' - 0"5' - 0"
1
8
'
-
0"
113
1
159
159
160
17' - 0"
ISTRATE
DANIEL
53898
.............
A.
S.U.
ARIZON
.
Dat
e
Signed
.O
N
TAC
TEFITI
RC
IHEC
E RED A
R
T
CE
STGEIR
AEXPIRES:12/3 1/2 0 2 4
0 3 .3 0.2 0 2 3
DRAWING NUMBER
PROJECT NUMBER
SCALE
DRAWING TITLE
KEYPLAN
SEALS AND SIGNATURES
ISSUED FOR REV DATE
Pl
o
t
D
a
t
e
:
FO
U
N
T
A
I
N
H
I
L
L
S
16
6
0
2
E
P
A
L
I
S
A
D
E
S
B
L
V
D
FO
U
N
T
A
I
N
H
I
L
L
S
,
A
Z
8
5
2
6
8
AP
N
1
7
6
-
0
5
-
9
9
3
KONTEXTURE, LLC
ARCHITECT
3334 E. 20TH STREET
PHOENIX, AZ, 85016
602.875.6221
K
O
N
T
E
X
T
U
R
E
ar
c
h
i
t
e
c
t
u
r
e
|
i
n
t
e
r
i
o
r
s
|
u
r
b
a
n
p
l
a
n
n
i
n
g
1" = 10'-0"
4/
2
6
/
2
0
2
3
1
2
:
4
2
:
2
6
P
M
SITE PLAN
A0.2
23-009
PROJECT INFO
1" = 10'-0"1 SITE PLAN
103 PROPERTY LINE.
104 BUILDING SETBACK.
107 EXISTING SEWER LINE.
113 CONCRETE DRIVEWAY ENTRANCE/EXIT.
122 VISITOR PARKING.
141 WATER METER.
150 EXISTING SIDEWALK.
155 EXISTING 6'-0" BLOCK FENCE.
158 EXISTING STREET CURB.
159 CURB CUT.
160 EXISTING LANDSCAPE.
363 METAL FRAME GATE.
KEYNOTES
VICINITY MAP
PROJECT LOCATION
LEGAL DESCRIPTION
BEGINNING AT THE SOUTHEASTERN MOST CORNER OF LOT 4; THENCE N 69-21-52 W,
125.00 FEET; THENCE NORTHWESTERLY 31.42 FEET ON A CURVED ARC CONCAVE TO
THE NORTHEAST HAVING A RADIUS OF 20.00 FEET; THENCE N 20-38-08 E, 75.00 FEET;
THENCE NORTHEASTERLY 15.00 FEET ON A CURVED ARC CONCAVE TO THE EAST
HAVING A RADIUS OF 370.00 FEET; THENCE S 69-21-52 E, 144.70 FEET; THENCE S
20-38-08 W, 110.00 FEET TO THE POINT OF BEGINNING;
CONTAINING 15,862.64 SQUARE FEET MORE OR LESS, SUBJECT TO ALL EXISTING
EASEMENTS.
APN: 176-05-993
ZONING:R-3
STR:15 3N 6E
PUC:1960
MCR:378-09
LOT:4A
SUBDIVISION:FOUNTAIN HILLS AZ FP 102 LOT 4 BLK 2 REPLAT
SETBACKS:
FRONT:-30'-0"
SIDES:-10'-0" STREET SIDE: -30'-0"
REAR -30'-0"
BUILDING HEIGHT ALLOWED -30'-0"
BUILDING HEIGHT PROPOSED -25'-0" @ 1 STORY
SITE INFORMATION
LOT AREA:= 15,952 SF
COVERAGE:-Covered Entry = 133 SF
-Covered Patio = 364 SF
-Livable = 4,229 SF
-Mech Room = 45 SF
-Total building footprint : 4,771 SF / 15,952 (x100) = 29.90% lot coverage
MAX LOT COVERAGE ALLOWED: 50%
CITY COMMENTS 1 03.29.2023
KONTEXTURE architecture | interiors | urban planning
3334 N. 20th Street, Phoenix AZ 85016 T:602.875.6221 F:602.875.6239 www.kontexture.com
February 9th, 2023
Citizen Participation Plan
RE: Fountain View Manor ALH
16602 E. Palisades Blvd.
Fountain Hills, AZ 85268
Fountain View Manor ALH Special Use Permit
Purpose: The purpose of this Citizen Participation Plan is to inform citizens, property owners,
and nearby neighborhood associations of the special use permit application to increase the number of
residents at this Assisted Living Home from 10 residents to 16. This plan will ensure that those affected
by this application will have an adequate opportunity to learn about and comment on the proposal.
Applicant:
Simona Tolan
16602 E. Palisades Blvd.
480-886-1761
tolansimona@gmail.com
Location: The property being considered for this SUP is located at the northeast corner of E.
Palisades Blvd. and E. Westby Dr.
Action Plan: In order to provide effective citizen participation in conjunction with this application,
the following actions will be taken to provide opportunities to understand and address any real or
perceived impacts of the development that members of the community may have.
1. A contact list will be developed for citizens and HOA’s within 300’ of the project
location.
2. All persons listed on the contact list will receive a letter describing the project, site plan
and invitation to a neighborhood meeting to be held virtually.
• The meeting will be an introduction to the project, and opportunity to ask questions and
state concerns. A sign-in list will be used and comment forms provided. Copies of the sign-in list and
any comments will be submitted with the Citizen Participation Report.
3. Presentations will be made to groups of citizens or neighborhood associations upon
request. Copies of the sign-in list and any comments will be submitted with the Citizen Participation
Report.
4. An email will be sent to the case planner following the scheduled meeting, and at any
other time there is significant input, to inform the staff of the progress of implementing the Plan.
Schedule:
Mail letters by February 20, 2023
First neighborhood meeting March 7th, 2023
KONTEXTURE architecture | interiors | urban planning
3334 N. 20th Street, Phoenix AZ 85016 T:602.875.6221 F:602.875.6239 www.kontexture.com
March 10th, 2023
Citizen Participation Report
RE: Fountain View Manor ALH
16602 E. Palisades Blvd.
Fountain Hills, AZ 85268
Fountain View Manor ALH Special Use Permit
Overview: This report provides results of the implementation of the Citizen Participation Plan for
Fountain View Manor ALH. This site is located at 16602 E. Palisades Blvd. This report provides evidence
that citizens, neighbors and interested persons have had adequate opportunity to learn about and
comment on the proposed plans and actions addressed in the application. Comments, sing-in lists, and
emails are attached.
Applicant:
Simona Tolan
16602 E. Palisades Blvd.
480-886-1761
tolansimona@gmail.com
Contact:
Kontexture, LLC
Denisa Istrate
3334 N. 20th Street
Phoenix, AZ 85016
602-875-6235
denisa.istrate@kontexture.com
Neighborhood Meeting:
1. March 7th, 2023 – Virtual, GoTo, at 5:30 PM – 2 citizens in attendance
• Simona Tolan, Owner – 16602 E. Palisades Blvd.
• Bob Jensen, Neighbor – ; Their only concern was
if the building is increasing in size, which is not.
Correspondence:
1. Letters mailed to contact list (82) on February 17th, 2023 to all property owners within 300’.
KONTEXTURE architecture | interiors | urban planning
3334 N. 20th Street, Phoenix AZ 85016 T:602.875.6221 F:602.875.6239 www.kontexture.com
Results:
There are 82 persons on the contact list as of the date of this Citizen Participation Report.
Emails received are attached.
1.Summary of concerns:
•Increased traffic
•Parking on the street
•Increase in square footage of the home.
•Congestion and safety for the condos nearby.
2.How concerns, issues and problems were addressed:
•The increase in residents will have very little impact on the traffic. Since we are only
adding 6 more residents, live-in staff will increase, which means that they won’t be
commuting every day to add to daily traffic. Also, the same nurses and medical staff
that needs to come in sporadically, will be providing for the new 6 residents.
•We are providing 4 parking spots on our property, and that will suffice for the
number of visitors we have.
•There is no increase of the building footprint or square-footage of the home.
•The proposal of the addition of 6 new residents will have very little impact on the
congestion of the nearby area. These residents do not travel or are in and out of the
home. They all need care and supervision and most of them are disabled or bed-
bound, therefore they will mostly be inside, getting care from the live-in staff.
3.Concerns, issues, and problems not addressed and why:
•Applicant has very little control over the traffic and vehicles parked on E. Westby Dr.
We will post a sign for our visitors to park in the available parking spots on our
property, but there are condos on Westby Dr. that also have visitors or residents that
park on the street.
1
denisa.istrate@kontexture.com
From:Paul & Sharon Fogtmann <>
Sent:Tuesday, March 7, 2023 8:40 AM
To:denisa.istrate@kontexture.com
Cc:sandigundberg@gmail.com; ssarle@juno.com; cbulg7@aol.com
Subject:Sup23-000002 16602 E Palisades Blvd
Flag Status:Flagged
Hello,
We are owners in Windstone Casitas that is adjacent to the property in question.
We are opposed to the Special Permit being filed with the Town of Fountain Hills (SUP23‐000002 with the property in
question located at 16602 E Palisades Blvd in Fountain Hills.
Our reasons are as follows:
1. There are already numerous vehicles parked on E WESTBY Dr that belong to caregivers currently working at this
residence. Not only will there be more cars for residents but there will be additional cars for added caregivers at this
residence.
2. The footprint would change as this higher density proposal is not in line with current zoning of this area
3. We are very worried about congestion and safety as this is a corner lot close to our condo.
We are therefore OPPOSED to this Special Use Permit.
We just received this notice today in the mail and were stunned to see the meeting was today. We are unable to attend
this meeting as we are busy at that time.
Please acknowledge that you have received this email.
Regards
Paul & Sharon Fogtmann
Fountain Hills, Az. 85268
1
denisa.istrate@kontexture.com
From:Cheryl Bulger <c >
Sent:Tuesday, March 7, 2023 9:01 AM
To:Paul & Sharon Fogtmann
Cc:denisa.istrate@kontexture.com;
Subject:Re: Sup23-000002 16602 E Palisades Blvd
Attachments:image0.jpeg
We as Homeowners at 16631 e Westby #207 never received a letter!
But 100% agree with the above letter from the Fogtmann's
Not a spot for a business in a place that was built for a family. Not an overcrowded business
John & Cheryl Bulger
On Tue, Mar 7, 2023, 8:40 AM Paul & Sharon Fogtmann <> wrote:
Hello,
We are owners in Windstone Casitas that is adjacent to the property in question.
We are opposed to the Special Permit being filed with the Town of Fountain Hills (SUP23‐000002 with the property in
question located at 16602 E Palisades Blvd in Fountain Hills.
Our reasons are as follows:
1. There are already numerous vehicles parked on E WESTBY Dr that belong to caregivers currently working at this
residence. Not only will there be more cars for residents but there will be additional cars for added caregivers at this
residence.
2. The footprint would change as this higher density proposal is not in line with current zoning of this area
3. We are very worried about congestion and safety as this is a corner lot close to our condo.
We are therefore OPPOSED to this Special Use Permit.
We just received this notice today in the mail and were stunned to see the meeting was today. We are unable to attend
this meeting as we are busy at that time.
Please acknowledge that you have received this email.
Regards
Paul & Sharon Fogtmann
Fountain Hills, Az. 85268
m m m m V
1
denisa.istrate@kontexture.com
From:Farhad Tavassoli <ftavassoli@fountainhillsaz.gov>
Sent:Tuesday, March 7, 2023 4:36 PM
To:denisa.istrate@kontexture.com
Subject:FW: Special Use Permit
Flag Status:Flagged
Denisa,
You may want to reach out to Ms. Sarle, as she says her email to you had bounced back. Below is her email to me.
Thanks,
Farhad Tavassoli, AICP, CFM
Senior Planner
Town of Fountain Hills
(480) 816‐5139
‐‐‐‐‐Original Message‐‐‐‐‐
From: Marla Sarle <>
Sent: Tuesday, March 7, 2023 4:27 PM
To: Farhad Tavassoli <ftavassoli@fountainhillsaz.gov>
Subject: Special Use Permit
EXTERNAL EMAIL
To the Fountain Hills City Council:
I would like to state my strong disapproval of this permit. The traffic on E. Westby is already very busy and way too fast
with no traffic control. Too Many cars parked on the street make it difficult to exit driveways. The fact that there is NO
CROSSWALK y yHighpointe hacross Palisades at Westby is a very dangerous situation (this situation is a disaster waiting
to happen). We do not need more traffic and cars parked in this area.
Sincerely,
Marla Sarle
Sent from my iPad
________________________________
Disclaimer: All messages created in this system are the property of the Town of Fountain Hills, Arizona and should be
considered a public record subject to disclosure under the Arizona Public Records Law (ARS 39‐121). Town employees,
town public officials, and those who generate email to them, should have no expectation of privacy related to the use of
this technology.
April 25th, 2023
Good Neighbor Statement
RE: Fountain View Manor ALH
16602 E. Palisades Blvd.
Fountain Hills, AZ 85268
My name is Simona Tolan, owner of Fountain view Manor ALH, located at 16602 E. Palisades
Blvd., Fountain Hills, AZ 85268. My cell phone number is 480-226-1761 and my email address is
tolansimona@gmail.com. I am available to answer any questions you might have about my business at
this phone number and email.
Through this letter, I commit to place emergency contact information on the property in a location that is
visible to the public. I am the emergency contact and the number and email above apply here as well.
There will be designated four parking spots on the property, to address the parking issue that was raised
by the neighborhood and ensure to let our visitors know that they need to park either on our driveway or
the designated parking spots to avoid any negative impact to the neighborhood.
We are open and available to answer any questions or concerns and thrive to accommodate any
suggestions from the neighbors in the eventuality of any conflict. The neighbors can contact me at my
cell phone number or through email and we will answer to the best of our abilities.
The home has been open to elderly residents at this location for twenty years and we are integrated in
the neighborhood. The addition of 6 more residents will not impact the surrounding neighborhood. The
steps we are taking to mitigate any concerns are to provide parking spots on our property and ensure
that our visitors park in the designated parking spots.
Sincerely,
Simona Tolan
Fountain View Manor ALH - Owner
From:Steve
To:Farhad Tavassoli
Subject:SUP 23-000002
Date:Tuesday, March 7, 2023 9:24:37 AM
EXTERNAL EMAIL
I’m a resident of Condos two doors down from this property. I strongly object to this request.
Traffic parking and overall congestion near the corner will be overwhelming to local residents and visitors.
Thanks in advance for considering my concerns.
Steve and Marla Sarle
Fountain Hills
Sent from my iPhone
From:Marla Sarle
To:Farhad Tavassoli
Subject:Special Use Permit
Date:Tuesday, March 7, 2023 4:27:10 PM
EXTERNAL EMAIL
To the Fountain Hills City Council:
I would like to state my strong disapproval of this permit. The traffic on E. Westby is already very busy and way too
fast with no traffic control. Too Many cars parked on the street make it difficult to exit driveways. The fact that
there is NO CROSSWALK y yHighpointe hacross Palisades at Westby is a very dangerous situation (this situation
is a disaster waiting to happen). We do not need more traffic and cars parked in this area.
Sincerely,
Marla Sarle
Sent from my iPad
From:Paul & Sharon FogtmannTo:denisa.istrate@kontexture.com
Cc:Subject:Re Sup23 000002 16602 E Pal sades B vdDate:Wednesday March 15 2023 8:22:06 AM
EXTERNAL EMAIL
Hello,
Simply said this is a for profit business. From what I ve checked online Fountain View Manor located at 16602 E Palisades Blvd, Fountain Hills, AZ 85268 currently takes care of ten residents atapproximately $3200/month for each resident resulting in gross income of $32,000 per month. You are looking to increase your return on investment and would prefer to take in $51,200 based on sixteenresidents. Graph attached below.
You have no concern for the community around you as simply put this is a business for you.
Your comment about about control of traffic and cars on E Westby makes no sense. Yes, as you say caregivers do stay the night but they have to get to your care facility and need to park.
Increasing resident numbers from 10 to 16 will impact our community. That is an increase of 60% and for you it is the bottom line. The bottom line is PROFIT!
As a resident of Windstone Casitas we are against your special use permit.
Paul & Sharon Fogtmann
On Mar 13, 2023, at 5 49 PM, denisa.istrate@kontexture.com wrote
Hello
Thank you for sending in your concerns.
I would like to respond to your concerns as follows
1. The caregivers working at this home are live-in and do not drive or park on the street. Also if they own a car there are available spots on our property for them to park their cars. We are providing 4 car
parking spots on our property to avoid anyone parking on the street. The increase in residents will have very little impact on the traffic. Since our staff is live-in they will not be commuting every day to add
to daily traffic. Also our residents do not leave the home unless is for a doctor appointment which is very rarely. They do not move in with cars that will need to be parked.
2. The footprint of the home will not change. We are not making any additions or changes to the residence.
3. We have very little control or impact on traffic and vehicles parked on E. Westby Dr. We will post a sign for our visitors to park in the available spots on the property but there are condos on Westby Dr.that also have visitors or residents that contribute to the traffic or the issue of parking on the street.
I just want to mention that this is not a business in the traditional sense and is a care home that provides care and housing to the elderly. The elderly are most often disabled or bed-bound. This is allowed in the
current zoning. We are not asking to change the zoning or increase the size of the home. The owner will be able to provide for 6 more residents without having to add to the size of the house or impact traffic
patterns.
I hope that I was able to respond to your concerns and clarify the nature of our request.
If you have any more questions we are happy to respond!
Thank you
Denisa IstrateOffice managerKONTEXTURE, LLC3334 N. 20th StreetPhoenix, AZ 85016P.602.875.6221D.602.875.6235F.602.875.6239www.kontexture.com
From: Paul & Sharon Fogtmann
Sent: Tuesday March 7 2023 8 40 AM
To: denisa.istrate@kontexture.com
Cc:Subject: Sup23-000002 16602 E Palisades Blvd
Hello
We are owners in Windstone Casitas that is adjacent to the property in question.
We are opposed to the Special Permit being filed with the Town of Fountain Hills (SUP23-000002 with the property in question located at 16602 E Palisades Blvd in Fountain Hills.
Our reasons are as follows
1. There are already numerous vehicles parked on E WESTBY Dr that belong to caregivers currently working at this residence. Not only will there be more cars for residents but there will be additional cars for
added caregivers at this residence.
2. The footprint would change as this higher density proposal is not in line with current zoning of this area
3. We are very worried about congestion and safety as this is a corner lot close to our condo.
We are therefore OPPOSED to this Special Use Permit.
We just received this notice today in the mail and were stunned to see the meeting was today. We are unable to attend this meeting as we are busy at that time.
Please acknowledge that you have received this email.
Regards
Paul & Sharon Fogtmann
Fountain Hills Az. 85268
<image001.jpg>
1
Farhad Tavassoli
From:Carolyn Bischof <>
Sent:Thursday, August 31, 2023 8:02 AM
To:Farhad Tavassoli
Subject:Case#SUP23-003
EXTERNAL EMAIL
Farhad Thavassoli, AICP, CFM
Senior Planner:
We as homeowners at are disapproving of the single family residence that seems to be
turning into a Business operaƟon in OUR residenƟal area. We do not need more congesƟve traffic in this area &
intersecƟon!! We elderly residence NEED to be taken CARE of as well!!!
Homeowners,
David & Carolyn Bischof
Sent from my iPhone
1
Farhad Tavassoli
From:Cheryl Bulger <
Sent:Tuesday, August 29, 2023 11:40 AM
To:Farhad Tavassoli
Subject:special permit issue
EXTERNAL EMAIL
We have recieved another letter on the on going Special permit you are asking many of
us for a positive answer which is a No vote from us!
The traffic is to heavy for any additional cars and visitors for your the Business you are
running with the Elderly Home and the caregivers.
This was a residential home next to the only other home next to that...No place for a
buisness!!
All the condos and apartments keep that street very busy with traffic and parking.
We have MANY times asked for speed bumps to eliminate the fast moving cars that
occur and was always denied.
So thank you for sending a letter to let us give our oppinion
WE VOTE NO!!
John and Cheryl Bulger
Fountain hills az.
1
Farhad Tavassoli
From:Debbie Huberty
Sent:Tuesday, August 29, 2023 5:33 PM
To:Farhad Tavassoli
Subject:Special Use Permit for SEC of Palisades Blvd & Westby Drive (SUP23-003)
EXTERNAL EMAIL
Farhad Tavassoli, Senior Planner
Planning and Zoning Division
Development Services Department
Town of Fountain Hills, AZ
Dear Farhad,
We are residents at . We are very concerned about the proposed change in use of the
property at 16602 East palisades Boulevard. We do not see the benefit to the neighborhood and see multiple
negative impacts to immediate neighbors, other residents in the general area, and to the Town as a whole should the
renewed application for a special use permit be approved. Our objections to the proposed change in use are:
1. This is not in keeping with the overall character and uses of the Westby Drive neighborhood. This changes the
south end of the Westby neighborhood from residential to commercial or institutional.
2. The address of the development is on Palisades but the entry to the site and the real impact of the proposed
conditional use is on Westby.Drive.
1. The loss of landscape buffers is on Westby;
2. The increase in surface paving is along Westby;
3. The access to the site by visitors and employees is along Westby;
4. Shuttling of employees from remote parking (as suggested in previous rejected applications) puts traffic
from shift changes along Westby.
3. The density of use proposed in the application adds to congestion at the intersection of Palisades and Westby.
1. This is the intersection of a residential street and a major arterial road. Turns from westbound Palisade
on to Westby have to deal with cross traffic, high levels of pedestrian movement, and, on many
occasions, ambulances providing emergency services to current residents. With more residents
proposed, we would assume an increase in the number of workers, visitors, residents, and others
accessing the site adding to the safety concerns for neighbors and both pedestrians and motorists along
Palisades.
2. Walkability from the Westby neighborhood would be sacrificed in favor of access to the
proposed conditional use.
4. The floor plans lack specificity. Without identification of beds and with no clear indication of limits on a future
number of residents, we are not convinced that the applicant will not be back at some point in the
future requesting additional permissions. Our understanding is that this applicant was already denied a
condition of use of the site for a 10-bed unit.
5. The Town of Fountain Hills has an identity based on quality of life. There are many other, more suitable sites for
the uses proposed by the applicant that will provide the residents of such a complex the quality of life one
associates with Fountain Hills without compromising the quality of life enjoyed by current residents. Blurring
the line between established residential uses in favor of a drastically different density of use would undermine
the clarity and effectiveness of the Town's ordinances,
2
This is not the only property available in Fountain Hills. There are many sites available for development or
redevelopment that would afford the applicant the opportunity to provide assisted living services without the adverse
impacts entailed in theith current proposal.
Lastly, we appreciate the efforts the Town has made to contact area property owners.
Best regards,
Joe and Debbie Huberty
Fountain Hills, AZ 85268
1
Farhad Tavassoli
From:Claudia Walker <
Sent:Tuesday, August 29, 2023 3:45 PM
To:Farhad Tavassoli
Subject:Case#SUP23-003
EXTERNAL EMAIL
In response to the prospectus letter regarding rezoning;
1. Location. The existing corner site is now congested with street parked cars, condo guest parking, traffic turning onto
and off of thoroughfare Palisades onto Westby which is a busy multi-residential street. There is a blind curve onto
Westby Dr. that makes seeing on coming traffic limited. Narrowing Westby Dr with cars parked on both sides and traffic
turning into and off of Palisades not possible.
2. Medical & emergency traffic. Visiting medical staff will add additional congestion and first responders will necessarily
need to park in the middle of the street.
3. Footprint. There is no mention of additional square footage being added. It is impossible to read your printout of
general notes on the floor plan page. If the FHFD has ok'd the number of beds stated in the space allotted I am shocked.
4. Residential vs. Business. You are trying to put a full fledged business operation in a residential area.
For the above stated reasons and not addressing the issue of area property values and the hideous thought of infirmed
individuals crammed into a residential house is sickening, we as property owners object to the proposed change.
A side note; last year a resident of the home walked out the front door, down the street with her Walker, crossed the
street, walked up our driveway and subsequently ended up bu our pool fence, fallen over onto the ground into the
shrubs covered by ants and unable to get up. We happened to hear her crys for help and Jim being ret PFD helped her. It
could have been so much worse.
James and Claudia T Walker
Westby Towers condominiums
Fountain Hills AZ 85268
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 28 of 72 MAY 8, 2023, PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES
Page 28 of 72
DEMPSTER: Aye.
WOODWARD: Commissioner Watts?
WATTS: Aye.
WOODWARD: Vice Chairman Schlossberg?
SCHLOSSBERG: Nay.
WOODWARD: Chairman Gray?
GRAY: Aye.
WOODWARD: Five, one.
GRAY: Thank you, Paula.
Okay. In our reorder here, Farhad's up. We're going to move up the agenda to agenda
item number 6. Public hearing and consideration on the special use permit 23-0 -- a lot of
zeroes and a two at the end. Farhad, let's give the room just a minute to clear. Farhad,
your presentation, please.
TAVASSOLI: Very good. All right. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and members of the
commission. I'm going to speak as closely as I can into this microphone. So as you said
Mr. Chairman, this is a special use permit request before you for a 16-bed home for the
aged. The site is at the northeast corner of Westby and Palisades Boulevard just north of
here. The -- sorry, as you can see here outlined in red, it's a little over a third of an acre.
Now, it is important to note that currently this home, which is about 4,500 square feet is
currently operating as an assisted living facility for the elderly, with a total of ten beds.
Now granted that certain distance requirements are met, and more specifically distance
requirements between other assisted living facilities that exceed no more than ten beds,
this is a use that's currently allowed by right. It has been licensed as a ten-bed assisted
living facility since 2005, as our records indicate. And so once we go above ten beds,
that's when it becomes more commercial in character. Thus it comes before you today as
a proposed 16-bed facility, in the case which a special use permit would be required.
A little bit about the zoning. The property itself is zoned R-3, which is one of the several
multi-family designations. As are the properties to the north and east, and to the west as
well, across the street from Westby. To the south you have the Heavenly development
that's, for the most part, complete as well as the Bash Center and the CVS facility -- CVS
store rather, here, catty corner to the site.
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 29 of 72 MAY 8, 2023, PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES
Page 29 of 72
And again, as I mentioned, this is a special use permit for a home for the aged. The
applicant is requesting six additional beds for a total of 16 altogether. I may have said
earlier it's about 4,500 square feet. It's actually a little bit less than that. And currently
there are two to three live-in caregivers at the facility given -- depending on the level of
service that is needed. With a special use permit for the 16-bed total there would be a
total of three to four live-in caregivers to accommodate the patients.
GRAY: Farhad --
TAVASSOLI: Yes.
GRAY: Just so we don't have to come back. Is 16 total occupancy inclusive of the
caregivers or is it 16 plus the three to four?
TAVASSOLI: This is only for the beds for the patients, the elderly.
GRAY: Okay.
TAVASSOLI: Yeah. Am I correct in saying that? Yes. And so again, the state
oversight here requires that these beds be licensed. And one of the prerequisites for
licensure for the 16 beds is that the applicant receive approval from the governing
jurisdiction. This is a closer look at the subject property. Now, I should state that the
applicant is not requesting any additions. So the building footprint will not be expanded
upon. There are about -- if I remember my count correctly, about seven bedrooms
currently in the facility. Eight? I beg your pardon, eight bedrooms aside from a kitchen,
a great room, and living room.
The only change that would be required is accommodation for the additional parking that
would be required for the live-in caregivers. And so you take a look at the property, right
now there is a driveway leading into the site, with a rather small area for parking. This
driveway, just by way of reference, I measured to be approximately about 17 feet wide.
And so you see a rather large concrete pad for the cars that would be parking there,
particularly for the live-in caregivers. If you look at the slide that will follow, the
applicant has provided a drawing in which they will be providing some additional
parking spaces for the live-in caregivers. And incidentally, the required parking for
nursing home, convalescent home, home for the aged as in this case, if you look at the
parking section of the zoning ordinance, the requirement is one space per four beds. So
with 16 beds, this meets the parking requirement; at least, for the onsite requirement.
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 30 of 72 MAY 8, 2023, PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES
Page 30 of 72
Westby Drive, incidentally, parking is allowed on Westby Drive. There are no no
parking signs currently, at least in this stretch of Westby Drive.
What I should mention before going to these review standards, the applicant did conduct
a virtual meeting, I believe the date was March 7th, for the citizen participation
requirement required of the applicant, in which there was one member as you see in the
citizen participation report. There was one member that attended that meeting.
Apparently that member was concerned about any kind of building footprint expansion
and the applicant clarified that there will not be.
However, there were about three emails, exactly three emails, actually, that staff received
or either was copied on and each expressing opposition to the request. Some of the --
well, primary concerns were parking and traffic and drop-off and things like that.
And since this was in participation component the staff also received two additional
emails. I believe those two were from the same folks that were included in your staff
reports as well.
So section 2 establishes standards for review and some of the things that the Commission
can consider are -- or should consider is the nature of the use, any special conditions; in
this case there should be -- one should be attentive to visitation hours. I'm told that the
applicant has said to me, just briefly before the meeting that visitation takes place any
time before 8 and 6 -- 8 in the morning to 6 p.m. daily. And then traffic impacts and
influence on adjacent uses. And as John said with his presentation, really, the question is
does the special use request, is it a detriment to the health and safety and general welfare
of the public.
Now, it's staff's recommendation that the use is compatible with the adjacent land uses.
It's consistent with the 2020 general plan in terms of the neighborhood character in this
case, which is urban residential. The parking area as you saw will be expanded. That is
really the only modification that will be made to the exterior of this site. If the special
use permit plan is approved the applicant does plan to make some modifications to the
interior but that would be a tenant improvement. And also there are -- there's no, as I
mentioned, no building expansion proposed in this case.
So with that I'll conclude my presentation and open up to discussion points or questions
you might have.
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 31 of 72 MAY 8, 2023, PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES
Page 31 of 72
GRAY: Commissioners?
COREY: I do just have one question for clarification. I'm trying to do the math on the
parking and our ordinance of -- what did you say it was? One park per four beds?
TAVASSOLI: Correct.
COREY: So we have 16 beds for -- 16 residents. But there are caregivers that are onsite
as well.
TAVASSOLI: Correct.
COREY: So aren't there more than 16 beds? That's what I'm trying to understand.
There's 16 for the residents and are there three more for caregivers? Or is it 16 in total?
TAVASSOLI: If I understand you correctly, all the --
COREY: Maybe I'm just not understanding that part.
GRAY: Yeah, our table doesn't account for it that way.
COREY: Okay.
DEMPSTER: The parking is just for the caregivers.
TAVASSOLI: Oh, Mr. Chairman, Commissioners --
DEMPSTER: Correct?
TAVASSOLI: -- the parking standards don't clarify whether or not the parking -- who
the parking is intended for. It is assumed that the patients won't be --
COREY: Driving?
TAVASSOLI: -- driving vehicles. At least not on a daily basis. But it is a good
assumption that it is intended for the live-in caregivers.
COREY: Okay.
GRAY: Thank you. Commissioner Watts?
WATTS: Farhad, do you -- when we pull up the building permit for remodel, are the
plans to update anything to make it current with normal code requirements? So
everything has to come up to code for the remodel?
TAVASSOLI: Yeah, that's correct.
WATTS: So in this case, I don't see any documentation that was supplied or provided by
the applicant that would be consistent with the requirements for a community home,
community assisted living. And there was a plethora of -- in Section E, I think it's E-13,
there's a list of requirements are necessary, including financial. Is there a financial
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 32 of 72 MAY 8, 2023, PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES
Page 32 of 72
hardship? Is there a reason why there needs to be inclusion? So that's one, you may or
may not be able to answer.
Two, it looks to me, based upon the plan that the building already encroaches into the
setback areas. In footnote 104, and there's a lot of encroachment. Is there a percentage of
coverage in the building envelope that is allowable? And it looks like this building has
already exceeded that pretty significantly.
TAVASSOLI: Mr. Chairman, Commissioner Watts, the lot coverage percentage limit for
an R-3 property is 50 percent. So that's about a -- a little over a third of an acre, so it
would be --
WATTS: So you're --
TAVASSOLI: I believe it --
WATTS: I think you're pretty close.
TAVASSOLI: Yeah.
WATTS: But you're already encroaching into the setbacks.
TAVASSOLI: It is encroaching in the setbacks. It is a nonconforming building and my
last check it has been there since the early 2000s.
WATTS: Right.
TAVASSOLI: I don't know for what reason it was approved --
WATTS: And --
TAVASSOLI: -- under what conditions, I'm not sure.
WATTS: To Commissioner Corey's question about, does it include the caretakers? If
you have one parking space for every four residents regardless of their capacity to drive
or not, you need additional parking spaces for caregivers and that's going to be on the
street, isn't it? You have no choice really.
TAVASSOLI: Right. The applicant is --
WATTS: You're stuck?
TAVASSOLI: -- likely as much -- yes.
WATTS: Okay.
TAVASSOLI: -- it's possible here.
WATTS: Because I think you're going to end up with, if you have two to three and right
now if you have two for ten people and you use that equation and then if you add six
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 33 of 72 MAY 8, 2023, PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES
Page 33 of 72
more you're probably going to have probably a 60 percent increase and maybe even a
three -- you're going to end up with five caretakers, maybe even six caretakers. And then
you go back to quality of life. If you skimp on the caretakers, it's something that I know
doesn't come into the building department necessarily, but it's something that I would
definitely take into consideration as far as quality of life and the caregivers' ability to
provide that quality of care for the residents. So thank you.
TAVASSOLI: Yeah. Mr. Chairman, Commissioner Watts, if I just -- I believe the state
and perhaps the applicant could be more specific, but I think the state would have a
minimum number of caretakers required for number of -- depending on the number of
beds or number of patients. Whether that's actually --
WATTS: I hate to defer to the minimum number.
TAVASSOLI: Right.
WATTS: You know, again, it goes back to the quality of care. The minimum number
for what the residents and fortunately or otherwise, I've got first-hand experience with
caregivers and there's a premium price that goes along with that quality of care.
GRAY: Vice Chair?
SCHLOSSBERG: Quick question on the footprint. So I'm looking at the footprint up
there and I'm looking at -- also looking at the aerial, and the 4,259 -- is this all on one
level or is there a basement or -- it's all one level?
TAVASSOLI: It is all one level, correct.
GRAY: They converted the garage.
TAVASSOLI: The garage has been converted.
SCHLOSSBERG: Okay.
TAVASSOLI: Yes. There is a rolling door that you can see on the facade, but it has
been converted to one of the bedrooms.
SCHLOSSBERG: The garage? Okay. Thank you, sir.
GRAY: Farhad does fire marshal weigh in on this scenario on occupancy? And we're
down to circa 200 square feet per bed. Might put everything in hospital ratios, so 140,
150 square feet per patient room, plus all the staff support and adjacencies for supplies
and so on and so forth; this is tight by my programing. So what's the fire marshal think?
TAVASSOLI: Mr. Chairman, Commissioners the fire marshal is involved in the
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 34 of 72 MAY 8, 2023, PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES
Page 34 of 72
review -- the administrative review process early on and he has actually signed off on the
proposal without any comments.
GRAY: Okay. And then I also have the same general question as Commissioner -- I
think Commissioner Watts asked. Since the adoption of our community residence
guidelines, this would have -- and correct me if I'm wrong here, but this would have been
considered a nonconforming use upon adoption. Now, going forward, does this
application not need to conform to all of those criteria?
TAVASSOLI: John's coming here to say a few words.
WESLEY: Chairman, with this application, with the special use permit, they're moving
from being a community residence to an institutional use. So no, those regulations don't
apply to this with the special use permit. So it has been a group home where our
community residents, under its current configuration, that's what they've been licensed as
at the ten units. But by going higher than that, they're no longer in that category. They're
moving to a different category in the zoning ordinance and that's why they're here
requesting a special use permit.
GRAY: But doesn't that take you into an high-occupancy category?
WESLEY: That's a building permit question you'd have to ask the building official.
WATTS: Commissioner Gray, wouldn't it just be common sense that if we're ask it for
10, we're going to ask it 16, it's the exact same thing.
GRAY: It's exponentially more worthy of asking, this time.
WESLEY: So this --
WATTS: I agree.
WESLEY: -- moves in into a similar category to a Morning Star or a Fountain Dew
Village, that type of operation which isn't a residential facility at all. It's now a
commercial facility that needs a special use permit in the zoning district.
GRAY: And it's not our lens to ask the engineering questions presumably? In that, I
mean, simply put this is a residence converted and now becomes, I'll say it's a I-
occupancy, because that's what it is. So plumbing design was designed as single-family
et cetera.
WESLEY: When they request their building permit to upgrade the facility to rearrange
it, that all had to be all part of those reviews before they could get a permit issued.
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 35 of 72 MAY 8, 2023, PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES
Page 35 of 72
GRAY: And do we know that -- you read through the packet on this one and it's all kind
of geared towards the impact on the adjacent community. Which this is a zoning hearing,
so I understand that certainly. But Commissioner Watts -- or sorry, maybe it was
Commissioner Corey, raised kind of that quality of care component. And I just think
back to when we went through the whole community residence deliberations and we
really did try and weave as much of that quality of care piece in as we possibly could.
Down at 200 square feet per resident. I guess, I have questions on is the overnight staff?
What's that split between square footage that's designated towards the patient population
versus the support population and then on the site circulation, we start to get into
institutional, we're talking about refuse collection, we're talking about logistics of
deliveries and so on and so forth. I just don't see how this site supports -- I don't see how
it supports 10, let alone 16. So --
WESLEY: Good questions for the applicant.
GRAY: Okay. Any other Commissioners? Farhad, does the applicant have any
prepared presentation or --
TAVASSOLI: I'm not sure if he has a presentation but I'm sure he would like to come
up.
ISTRATE: Good evening, Chairman, Commissioners. My name is Daniel Istrate and
I'm the applicant and the architect of the project. A couple of things that I wanted to
answer some of the questions you guys brought up as far as the requirement. The first
question is all of the assisted living facilities in the City of Fountain Hills we're governed
by the IRC, which is international residential code. International residential code
specifically states, and the number of 16 was not at random. Up to 16 it falls under
residential. That is a -- that is throughout all jurisdiction, all states. And the building
code clearly states up to 16 it's residential. 17 and more it becomes I. That's what
distinction is, that's what makes it residential up to 16, above that it becomes I, which is a
full commercial hospital, what have you.
So up to 16 is considered residential. It is not a commercial building. Building code
does not -- so once -- if we were to get approved it goes to the building department. It
does not need to -- it's not a commercial building. You do not need to do anything on as
far as being a commercial component. Anything above that -- so now ends up happening
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 36 of 72 MAY 8, 2023, PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES
Page 36 of 72
is each local jurisdiction, just like Fountain Hills, they set the limit of number for beds
and Fountain Hills has it to ten. And that's just -- it was decided by council whenever
that was done, God knows how many years ago. But 16 is what IRC states. So that's
universal. So for example, I happen to know in the State of Texas every jurisdiction in
the State of Texas, 16 is what they allow and then above that is institution.
Here in Arizona, for whatever reason it's ten, although City of Phoenix has moved away
from that and they've approved in the past year at least 20 of them that went up to 16.
And I guess one thing for the Commissioners to understand is, the operator and the
owner, wouldn't be sitting here asking for the increase if there wouldn't be a need.
There's a constant waiting list for people to go and to be placed in here. If people from
the community that have lived here very, very long time, once they reach a point where
they're no longer able to live by themselves, they want to presumably still live in this area
and not have to be taken to Scottsdale or further, Phoenix, and further west, where there's
a greater density. So Fountain Hills has more limited numbers. So that's just to clarify
on the -- as far as the requirements. It is -- falls under residential.
There's no upgrades that needs to be done to the building whatsoever. Plumbing-wise,
HVAC, everything else can stay as is. The building is not changing. The fact that it's
already at ten residents already has fire sprinkler, which you asked a question earlier
about as far as the fire department and the fire marshal. Their requirements is as far as
the building has to be fully sprinkled and the fire alarm monitoring. That is the
requirements for the fire department. All the existing assisted living home in the State of
Arizona are governed by AZDHS, the Department of Health Services. They have
minimum guidelines. Going back to your question as far as minimum area requirements.
AZDHS has a requirement of minimum of 80 square foot per resident or of 120 per two
residents. So if you are to build a new building, you can make -- you can designate 80
square feet per resident or 120 for two residents. That's not what we're proposing, just to
answer because you're wondering what the square footage comes to.
Going back to parking, which was another question that was brought up. The parking is
mainly for staff and for visitors. The residents do not drive for obvious reasons. They're
in place, they're in here because they need help and also for liability. As the operator you
would not want to let them drive. They're supposed -- they're on medication, they're not
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 37 of 72 MAY 8, 2023, PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES
Page 37 of 72
to be driving. So it's for mainly for the staff. And then, visitation hours they usually call
ahead. They don't just drop, especially we're coming out of a pandemic. Actually
visitations were pretty much halted that time, but even as they're reopening, you have to
call ahead to visit. You don't just show up. And then they have the occasional deliveries
for medical supplies. A doctor or a nurse might stop by too.
I'm going to try to see if I can figure out how to work this backwards. Because I want --
it's not my slide, it was in here. There was an aerial -
TAVASSOLI: Let's see if I can pull it up for you.
ISTRATE: Okay. There was an aerial that was taken, you know Maricopa County does
their yearly flybys. I'm not sure which year this was taken and you can see there's one car
on the driveway. So when I looked at it -- when I went to Maricopa County, I think, right
now, they allow us to go back to maybe 2014, '15. Even if you guys have access to your
monitor, I'm not sure. I looked, I don't know, they take them at random days. Nobody
controls that. Every picture they've ever taken, in '15, in '16, in '17, in '18, '19, all the
way to '23, at no point was more than one car on the driveway. So there was not -- we
don't control -- we didn't take those pictures, they're taken by County. Obviously, at
random time but that's a pretty good indicator that at no point, since any -- they've been in
operation since 2005. So at least since 2015, there's never been more than one car on the
driveway. Most caregivers, they're -- they either don't have a car or they will share a car.
So I don't -- the argument of increased traffic of up to 60 percent, there isn't really any
traffic. If you actually ever go and visit one of the residents are -- they're not driving.
And then the caregivers are there on permanent basis. They have to be on premises.
They don't come and go. The most traffic will be a family member decided to stop by, a
nurse or doctor coming by, or a delivery and those are minimal at best. So there's not this
increase of traffic, from going from 10 to 16, as far as extra cars because that's just not
the case. I've seen just -- to give you backgrounds, I must have done maybe north of 100
assisted living facilities in the greater Phoenix area. They are not high traffic facilities.
They just have the elderly as they're moving in out of their own homes.
As you can probably imagine, it is very intimidating to go from a home setting into a
assisted living facility or hospital that has a 100 beds or more. It's just a lot and then you
just become another number in a multitude. So one of the reason why the smaller scale
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 38 of 72 MAY 8, 2023, PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES
Page 38 of 72
homes did well is because it's just less, I guess, intimidating and still maintains that
home-like environment. But there is just a lot of need. Arizona obviously, we're a state
where people come to retire so, and we're having an aging population. They do need to
go somewhere and I know most people don't like to have them. I have one that's two
doors from my house. But they need a place to stay. So I guess, and also thing to make a
distinction because they do fall under the same as far as the state goes and even the city,
there's no difference that the state and the city makes between a assisted living home for
the elderly or one of those behavior health places. And they're the exact same
requirements and I do wanted to specify that this is a home for the elderly. There are old
people in her, somebody's mom and grandparents that live in this homes. That there's just
that much need that there is on it.
So I'll open up to any questions that any of the Commissioners might have. And then I
guess, last one was just on the encroachment. It's an existing noncompliant. So we didn't
make the house to be out of -- encroaching into the setback. And actually to answer your
question, sorry, Commissioner Watts. The lot coverage is 50 percent. Right now, we are
at 29.9. So we're -- okay, we can round up. We're at 30 percent lot coverage, and the
allowable is 50. And that's on sheet A0.2 that was provided.
GRAY: Commissioner Dapaah?
DAPAAH: Sir, you introduced yourself as the architect?
ISTRATE: Yes.
DAPAAH: Okay. So if approved, what are you doing to renovate the interior to add six
additional beds?
ISTRATE: We are not renovating to add additional beds. We're not taking the rooms
that we have and making smaller rooms. A lot of assisted facilities do function in a share
bedroom capacity where they'll just -- the bedrooms are 2, 300 square feet and there's two
beds that will be sharing the same room. So it's not -- we're not taking space out of the
living room or the dining room or the kitchen to add more bedrooms. So there is no
bedrooms being added. There's just the capacity of the bedroom will just be increased.
Most of these rooms typically have a twin size bed. So if you can imagine a twin size
bed in a corner of a 250 square foot room, does not take -- a twin size bed is 3 foot by 7.
So that takes 21 square feet. So the bed itself takes ten percent of the footprint of the
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 39 of 72 MAY 8, 2023, PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES
Page 39 of 72
room. They use the bedrooms usually at night to sleep. And then during the day they're
sitting in the common area, whether it's at the dining table or in the living room, watching
TV. So there -- some of them are bed-bound and obviously, they don't leave the room
very often.
DAPAAH: Okay. So nothing on the interior will change. You're just going to add six
more beds; is that what I'm understanding?
ISTRATE: At this time, yes. So there are no proposed -- as you look at the plan, there is
no proposed to -- maybe in talking to the operator, there is one larger master bedroom
with a large -- the house was a single-family house. So the master suite itself was
probably close 400-some square feet. So that has the opportunity to be divvied up
differently to maybe create two additional bedrooms. We did not want it to get as far
as -- we didn't wanted to start laying out floorplans if the land -- if the project doesn't get
approved, there's no reason to make plans for something that might not happen. So if it
gets approved, obviously, we still have to submit for full building plans to the building
department. So we'll see what interior changes could be done to accommodate or create
more rooms.
We haven't sat down to start laying out rooms for something that might not come to
fruition.
DAPAAH: Sure. So right now at ten beds, are you at capacity?
ISTRATE: Yes. They're at full capacity.
DAPAAH: You are at full capacity now, with ten beds?
ISTRATE: Yes. Also I'm the architect. She's the operator and the owner. So any, I
guess, questions specifically on the operation I'll obviously defer because I --
DAPAAH: So all ten beds are full right now?
TOLAN: Yes.
ISTRATE: Yes.
DAPAAH: So at 16 beds, you plan to also be full at 16?
TOLAN: I don't know what the plan in the future might be. I just apply and I was
approved for provider for access. Access space for semi-private. So I'm trying to plan
ahead for some people that they don't have money and they apply for Medicaid and use a
room as a semi-private. That I'm going to have 12 or 14, but why not applying for 16 and
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 40 of 72 MAY 8, 2023, PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES
Page 40 of 72
see if I -- how I'm going to accommodate or not.
DAPAAH: So you're just trying to --
TOLAN: Yeah.
DAPAAH: -- go as far as the IRC allows you to?
TOLAN: Right. So but like I said, I just apply for access number. So now I can accept
people that they work with Medicaid.
DAPAAH: Chairman or John -- John or -- I'm sorry. Chairman Gray or John, is there --
would this be considered under healthcare facilities where they have to comply with
building exchange, air exchange codes on the interior and all that? Or this would be a
different type of --
ISTRATE: So as far as the -- when we submit to the building --
DAPAAH: As far as your mechanical systems?
ISTRATE: We will go under -- it's no different than a residential.
DAPAAH: So no different --
ISTRATE: So the house has, I think they currently have two conventional split units, AC
units that supply every room with a diffuser and there's a return in every room. So
obviously, that comes from fresh air from the outside. So it still falls under, as earlier
stated, as a residential. So there's no requirements to provide any additional HVAC or
any additional retrofits to the building as far as changes, since it still falls under
residential and not commercial.
DAPAAH: Okay. So building maintenance, that remains the same as well, even with
additional six beds?
ISTRATE: Well, there's no -- as far as I know there's no maintenance on site. It's
obviously just like a house. As a repair is needed, someone will be called. If the water
heater goes out, some -- I'm sure a service call would go out for somebody to come and
service that. If somebody comes in to probably replace the lights and filters, if the AC
goes out, somebody gets called for that. So there is somebody that comes, but there is not
as much maintenance as maybe one will think. Even with -- even going from -- even on
the 10 residents or even going to 16. There's just not --
DAPAAH: Sure. So there's no routine maintenance happening? I'm assuming there's
not much being torn up in the house.
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 41 of 72 MAY 8, 2023, PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES
Page 41 of 72
ISTRATE: No. I mean, like I said, given the residents, they're senior residents. They're
sitting in their bed or in the living room watching TV. To be honest, I got four kids at
home, I think my house needs a bit more maintenance than the 16 residents, because
they're playing in the house and punching holes in the walls with balls and playing,
whatever. So there's not a lot of traffic as far as them causing damage to the house.
One thing to notice is AZDHS does a yearly inspection on every facility. They do that on
every house and then they assess and they put in deficiencies. And the owners here, they
don't have deficiencies. So if food is not stored properly, if chemicals are not stored
properly, you will get deficiency and they'll take your license away. So there is
regulations. The fire department does their yearly inspections too. So they are inspected
and they're not announced. So they do show up whenever they feel like -- similar to a
restaurant. When the Health Department shows up to a restaurant, they don't give them a
heads up so they can, you know, to get their stuff in order. They just show up and if
you're not ready you get deficiency. If you have deficiency, they will revoke your license
and they will close you down.
So they been in operation since 2005, that wouldn't be the case if they weren't operating a
clean facility.
GRAY: Commissioner Corey?
COREY: Thank you. Thank you, Daniel. You already addressed some of my questions
earlier. One was going to be what's the basis behind the increase. But you addressed that
saying there's a need. So you know that there's people waiting for something like this.
ISTRATE: Correct. So the operator can probably. So they get calls constantly and
they're saying well, we'll put you on the list. We're let you know if, when we have an
opening. And I know the openings don't stay very long. And I think, going back to one
of the other questions that Patrick had is, just because somebody applies for 16 that
doesn't necessarily mean they'll be running at full capacity. Just like anything else, like a
hotel --
COREY: It gives you that buffer.
ISTRATE: -- is not at full capacity. They might take two, three additional and just given
the nature of the use, some -- well, not some. All residents, at one point, will pass away
and then other ones will come in. So that, our first -- let's hypothetically say that they
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 42 of 72 MAY 8, 2023, PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES
Page 42 of 72
only have one room open right now, they're at nine and they have one room. And a
couple calls in to be, you know, they would like to stay -- which actually, that happens
quite often. They both move out and they say, well, we only have one bed available. So
they cannot take both of them in. They just -- state law will not allow it, and just, they're
very strict on enforcing. If they come in and you have more than ten residents, they will
close you right there on the spot. So that will allow them to have those two couples -- a
couple to be able to stay in. So that's one of the reason to do that. So they might be, I
think, as Simone had mentioned, maybe 12 or 13. Doesn't necessarily mean -- and
they're not always at ten either. As somebody comes, somebody might be coming in,
that's just how they operate.
COREY: Okay. Thank you. And you also addressed visitors. So I was concerned about
how many may show up at any given time but it sounds like that's a scheduled visit.
ISTRATE: It is a scheduled thing. And it's kind of more of a side commentary. I think I
mentioned earlier that I must have done hundreds of this and I've been in a lot of them. If
you really wanted to know the truth, the visitors are very minimal at best. They do end
up being placed there and a lot of time the immediate family are children. They're out of
state in California and Illinois, so they do not come as often as one would think that they
would come and visit. They really don't. If somebody's local, sometimes they do. And
I'm not saying that that's the rule. But more often than not, I go to them -- through these
facilities all the time because I have to take measurements, I will say not even one out of
ten that I've gone in there and I've seen family visiting. It does tend to increase around
the holidays, Christmas. Maybe since they're out of state they might be coming back to
visit. But no, not as much as one would -- if you think that one family is coming in and
the other one is leaving, that's just not the case.
COREY: Okay. And aren't there some insurance companies that -- I think ALTCS is
one of them that I heard of that requires sometimes that people have to share a room in
order to get the benefits of the insurance?
ISTRATE: Correct. So that's -- they've applied for that. So they will not -- so ALTCS
will not pay for private rooms because they're -- you know, the government pays for it
and I guess, private room are considered a luxury that the government doesn't seem that
people deserve. So they would only pay for a shared room. So obviously, there's cost
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 43 of 72 MAY 8, 2023, PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES
Page 43 of 72
involved. So a private room will cost more but then if you have two rooms, then that way
you can take residents in a room that normally will just be reserved for one person.
COREY: So it sounds like that double occupancy is common if they're looking for that
as well.
ISTRATE: Correct. And that doesn't mean that you put -- I mean, just the way it
operates. If you place a parent or a grandparent there and you're paying for a private
room and you want them to be in a private room, they will not put somebody in just
because they have the occupancy of 16. It doesn't mean they're going to put two because
they say -- that gets established on day one. I will like to get a private room, so then they
will put him in a private room. You can't show up the next time you visit and there's
somebody else in there. I mean, there's contracts between the --
COREY: Sure.
ISTRATE: -- people that place them and the operator. So you can't just -- I guess just
like a hotel, you can't show up and somebody else is in your room.
COREY: And just one final question. We all know that my math skills are not that good.
Where do the caregivers stay?
ISTRATE: So there are nine rooms, not eight. So there's nine rooms and the caregivers.
So if we look at the floorplan there's nine rooms. The caregivers stay in one of the
additional room. So and even right now, you can still have double occupancy. So the
eight rooms are for the residents, the other ones are for the caregivers. And like, as
mentioned earlier, if it gets approved we'll look at a ways to add a few additional
bedrooms to figure out. We haven't, truth be told, haven't been paid to do a program yet
for what it could be. I'm sure we can always find the master suite, as mentioned. It's
about 400, 500 square feet. It's -- those bedrooms are quite large. And nobody needs,
that large bedrooms. So those could be reconfigured. Maybe another room for a
caregiver or split into two more rooms for the residents.
COREY: Thank you. You sound very educated in this area. So I appreciate all your
answers.
ISTRATE: No problem.
GRAY: Just to tag onto Commissioner Corey real quick. So the caregiver model is a
live-in caregiver model. So the patients has the same caregiver 24/7 essentially, or is it a
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 44 of 72 MAY 8, 2023, PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES
Page 44 of 72
rotating?
ISTRATE: They're the same caregivers that stay there. It's the same caregivers.
GRAY: Okay.
ISTRATE: They do have -- well, they're not working 24/7 because nobody does that.
That's just --
GRAY: No. Understood.
ISTRATE: But they are live-in caregivers and they are required to have at least -- every
six days they're required to have a 24-hour period off. So then they either rotate.
Sometimes they -- actually the operators will be the ones that stay in, just from operation
purposes to make sure that, you know, if it's your business you want to make sure that it's
going okay. So sometimes -- or they will bring in additional person during that day to
give somebody the day off whenever they're not working. But it's the same familiar face.
So it's not -- isn't a staff of like 20 people that, you look on schedule to see -- in a
hospital, for example, my wife is a nurse in the pediatric unit. There's, I don't know,
there's -- they only hve six beds in the -- it's the PICU so they don't -- you know, less.
But there's, I don't know eight nurses that, you know, to rotation. But these are the same
caregivers that they're -- day in and day out.
GRAY: So just to clarify for me. I'm not a residential code expert, but 16 licensed beds
plus four fulltime, 24/7 caregivers is 20, since I'm better at math than you. Does that not
cross your residential code occupancy threshold?
ISTRATE: No, it does not. So the residential code is based -- strictly controls the
number of residents. Which number of residents are what the State of Arizona, AZDHS,
Department of Health Services, they refer to the people that you're placing in there to be
cared for. There's a lot of facilities based on -- there's a lot of facilities that actually bring
in -- they actually have larger ones. I don't mean larger like more residents, larger just
square footage. Because I do some, they are still ten residents but they're like 10,000
square foot and they have larger rooms. They bring in a -- almost like, let's call it
dayshift. There will be caregivers that show up at 6 o'clock in the morning and they'll
stay there until, I don't know, 8, 9 o'clock at night. There'll be three, four of them that
come in. and they will leave at the end of their shifts, at 9 o'clock. They don't actually
stay. And there'll only be one, or at the most time, two caregivers that stay at night
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 45 of 72 MAY 8, 2023, PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES
Page 45 of 72
because somebody has to be there. And they don't go to sleep. They sit on the couch,
just like someone in a hospital with the night nurses. They'll sit there all night in case a
resident needs help, because they have a little bell that they ring or a little buzzer and then
they go into the room. So the building code regulates the number of residents because
the caregivers are not a given that they stay there. They're not required that's why they
make no concessions for parking or number. And as, I think, a earlier question was
brought in, believe it or not, and I don't make the rules. AZDHS does not have a number
of caregivers that they are required based on number of residents. It is impossible, I can
tell you right now to have one caregiver for 16 residents. But that, if you were to have a
facility and only have one -- I think to one of the points that Commissioner Watts made,
it is virtually impossible to have one caregiver for that. But the state does not regulate
and they're not control how many -- they don't say well, once you're at ten you need three
to four. If you're at 16, you need five to six. There is no number that they associate with
that. There just isn't one. Just like in hospitals, they can have -- one nurse can have five,
six patients. And we know that that's actually a reality, it happens quite a bit.
GRAY: So I appreciate the state has their definition of what is a clinical resident. But
then the building code has a definition of resident being basically occupant, inhabitant.
Farhad can you offer -- do you concur with that interpretation that 20 is actually 16,
because they're not clinical residents? I would challenge that simply because in the eyes
of building code, a resident is an occupant spending the night within the premise of the
perimeter walls, no matter whether you're the provider or the caregiver. So are we not
talking about 20 as our real number here? I just don't want to -- I don't want to allow the
blurred line. I think we've got a lot of blurred lines coming into this so far. But I don't
want to allow that particular blurred line to get -- to lose sight of it anyway.
TAVASSOLI: Yeah, Mr. Chairman, in the grand scheme, we are talking about 20
residents. The zoning ordinance refers to ten residents. And I believe it's referring to
beds, actually. So we'll take another look at that.
GRAY: And that's how I remember the deliberation as well. As it was really heads and
beds regardless of your purpose on the premise. And then can I also just ask while you're
up. I guess I interpreted this, as I read the packet, I interpreted this as a net zero, no
changes other than the site adjustments that were going to happen. But I understand now
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 46 of 72 MAY 8, 2023, PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES
Page 46 of 72
we're saying, that no, we're actually going to go through a full architectural plan review
process, including manual J Calcs for HVAC loads and so on and so forth. Is that where
this is actually progressing if we do in fact subscribe to the special use?
TAVASSOLI: Mr. Chairman, I cannot say at this point what modifications would
accompany this. In my brief conversations, and I may have misunderstood my brief
conversations just before the meeting. I heard there would be some modifications, but it
may have been reorientation of the bedrooms or addition of beds and so on.
GRAY: Okay. Thank you. Sorry. Commissioner Watts.
WATTS: I'm still struggling with a couple of things. One, the math on the personnel.
The 20 people -- the caregivers first off, are -- my math says there's going to be
ultimately, if you're at 16 beds, you're going to have five caregivers. Based upon
utilizing what you've got now, assuming that you get a ratio of somewhere three, because
of your rolling schedules and so on. So you're always going to have that. And when you
extrapolate five, I don't -- I grant you that when you've gone back and looked at the
pictures you've never had any cars in the parking spaces. Do they all ride in one car?
ISTRATE: The caregivers live on the premises. They do not ride on -- they don't
commute to and from the facility. That's where they --
WATTS: How do they get there?
ISTRATE: Somebody give them a ride. I have no idea how they get there. But they
don't -- okay, I let the operator, they just don't -- most of them do not own cars. I mean
that's not -- it's not a requirement to own a car. Somehow they got there. I can tell you
right now that there's not three cars for the -- you're more than welcome on any given
day, without announcing to stop by to see if you ever see more than one car on that
driveway. So they just, most of them don't own a car.
WATTS: Does the caregiver headcount include -- first off, are the caregivers all
licensed? Are they required to be licensed?
ISTRATE: Yes. So every caregiver is licensed. They have to have a fingerprint card.
And the caregivers don't -- the owner and operator could be considered one of the
caregivers with aiding two more of the other caregivers that are there 24/7. So at the end
of the day, the owner might opt to go home at their own house, so then it will leave the
two other caregivers to stay there for the night.
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 47 of 72 MAY 8, 2023, PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES
Page 47 of 72
WATTS: So which of the caregivers does the cooking? One of them?
ISTRATE: I have no idea. I will leave that --
WATTS: That's a 24/7 job. Cooking.
TOLAN: 24/7?
WATTS: Pretty close.
TOLAN: Nobody eats after 6 p.m.
WATTS: Okay.
TOLAN: It's not quite 24/7.
WATTS: And how about the laundry services and housecleaning? Who does that? Is it
one of the caregivers again?
TOLAN: Yes. So that's how all the care homes operate in the valley or at least 90
percent, and all my friends. I've been in business 19 years, with two care homes. At one
point, four care homes. And somehow we find a way to make it cleaner than you believe.
And everybody comes in the house and say like, I can't believe it's so clean. And yes, we
do manage to do all these things. And the caregivers, sometimes the husband, the family
brings some of the caregivers, let's say they're from California or whatever, and they
come here to work for like, I don't know six months, a year and then they go back. And
they save on rent and stuff like that. And they're happy with the opportunity to live in the
premises. So most of my caregivers they don't have a car. I cannot say all of them, but
most of them, you know, they don't.
WATTS: So just so I'm clear again. We're going to put two residents in each bedroom or
each area --
TOLAN: That will be at maximum capacity.
WATTS: And you're going to put between four and five caregivers, depending upon
rotating schedules in another separate room.
TOLAN: Well, even when I have three, one of them, it's mostly for the nighttime. And
you know, maybe give days off for like -- we rotate it and depends of the need and what
kind of residents I have. Sometimes they need a lot of help at nighttime, sometimes not.
And I adapt. I not always have like three or -- I might have two or three at -- at the 16
capacity, I may have four or five, but not five during the day all of them. Maybe three
during the day and two during the night. So it will not be all the time.
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 48 of 72 MAY 8, 2023, PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES
Page 48 of 72
I will manage. As I said, I been 19 years in business and we are governed by health
department. So they regulate us and they make the rules and we follow the rules and also
we try to the best to make the family happy. Because if the family residents are not
happy, I will not have a business. So somehow we do manage to do all these things.
WATTS: Thank you.
GRAY: Commissioner Dempster.
DEMPSTER: Hi. I just would like a little clarification, because I -- just to further
clarify. So it seems like at any given time, overnight there may be two caregivers there;
is that correct?
ISTRATE: Well, two caregivers, yes. But there are --
DEMPSTER: On duty, awake?
ISTRATE: Yeah, on duty. Yes. Not sleeping.
DEMPSTER: And they -- all the caregivers would share a room? The same room?
ISTRATE: I think what she mentioned earlier, I think that she has a family that lives
there, which is a -- made up of a husband and a wife, which --
DEMPSTER: Are two caregivers?
ISTRATE: -- so they're going to share a room. And then -- so right now, they have the
two and it sounds like they bring somebody else at night. So if that's the case, then
there'll be an additional room for the additional caregivers. Right now, there isn't one
because there just wasn't a need for one.
DEMPSTER: Okay. So then let me back up then. I thought you said you had eight
bedrooms for the residents and plus one bedroom. So I'm thinking that plus one is for the
caregivers.
ISTRATE: Correct.
DEMPSTER: And the eight bedrooms are for your residents.
ISTRATE: Correct.
DEMPSTER: So all your caregivers share the same room? Is that correct?
ISTRATE: Yes, but there's only --
DEMPSTER: Does that make sense?
WATTS: We don't know.
ISTRATE: Correct. But she just said that there's a family. There's two caregivers that --
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 49 of 72 MAY 8, 2023, PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES
Page 49 of 72
DEMPSTER: Right. But they're not there all the time. So when they're not there other
people are using the room? I mean, when they have a day off and the other caregivers
are there, I mean they're not there 24/7, right?
TOLAN: No. Usually, I will give like, even when they have days off, that will be there
room as well. Not for the residents. So I have not used that room --
DEMPSTER: Well, not a resident, but another caregiver?
TOLAN: Oh, yes. Of course.
DEMPSTER: They share the room?
TOLAN: Yes, they can share the room. Yeah.
DEMPSTER: And as the owner/operator, you don't live there?
TOLAN: No.
DEMPSTER: Okay. And then, I'm curious about the sanitary district going from 10
beds to 16 beds. Is there any check and balance there?
ISTRATE: So the way it works is it's just based on number of fixtures. So up to -- the
way sanitary line works, up to three toilets you have a three-inch sanitary line. Once you
go above that, four and above, it's a four-inch line. And it stays at four-inch line all the
way. When you get to 24 toilets it can still be staying on a four-inch line. Only when
you get above that, does it go up to six. So you have to have hotels of at least 24 rooms
before that increases to a six-inch line. So up to -- so since there is four bathrooms there
is a four-inch line. Even if we put a bathroom in every room we will still not be
exceeding what code requires as far as the size of the sewer line.
DEMPSTER: Okay. And then none of the residents own cars?
ISTRATE: The live-in --
DEMPSTER: The residents?
ISTRATE: No. They do not.
DEMPSTER: Okay.
ISTRATE: And out of the all the projects I've done I don't know a single house that will
allow a resident to stay there with a car just for liability purpose. I mean these people, if
they're there, it's because they need help. And there's dementia and other cases, you do
not want them to -- let them --
DEMPSTER: Okay. I just want to clarify.
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 50 of 72 MAY 8, 2023, PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES
Page 50 of 72
ISTRATE: -- some of them do want to come with cars but they're not -- they're, like,
yeah, you can't drive.
DEMPSTER: And now, does a doctor come to the facility? Because if the caregivers
don't have cars, how do they get to appointments?
ISTRATE: So if they go to appointments, that's where a lot of times the operator will
take them. But nurses and doctors do come in. But they will call and if there's a need,
they say, so and so resident needs to be there -- but I'll let her --
TOLAN: I have a house doctor for 19 years, same doctor. And he is coming every
month for visits. And all the symptoms and we monitor the -- every day them, and we
also over the phone with them. So the doctor is coming once a month, same doctor for all
my residents.
DEMPSTER: So they don't go out of the facility for appointments?
TOLAN: They rare -- they do, sometimes for specialist doctors, but that's very rare and
it's with arrangement with the car; it comes, pick them up and drops them.
DEMPSTER: Okay. Thank you. All right. Thank you.
GRAY: Just you had mentioned. You haven't been engaged to do any programing or
blocking of rooms within this property, right, at this point?
ISTRATE: Correct. I blocked the property but I have not -- and I did, what is called an
as built condition. So I measure what's there existing, but I have not start making a
program and laying out to see what a potential two or three or four bedrooms will look
like. We didn't get that far.
TOLAN: I'm sorry. Another architect about, I don't know, six, seven years ago, he make
the plans for 11 bedrooms and nine bathrooms. And it was approved by City of Fountain
Hills but I never act on it.
ISTRATE: So I have no knowledge of that, as she mentioned another --
GRAY: Can you help us -- yeah, it's not in our packet either. So under -- so let's see, if
you were to draw this today, you would be under residential code, we think.
ISTRATE: Correct.
GRAY: Although, we're saying that the real number is 20, so maybe not. What do we --
what do you look at for the clinical component? Do you look under FGI for outpatient
facilities or what's the guide for the clinical care component, and mainly just as an
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 51 of 72 MAY 8, 2023, PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES
Page 51 of 72
example. When you're blocking this thing out, when you look for clearances around the
bed for patient safety and so on and so forth, what is that point of reference? And I'm just
curious.
ISTRATE: Okay. So there's couple of things that we do when -- as was obviously,
established. In the beginning this as a built on day one as a single family residence. And
a lot of this, but most of this facility somebody purchases an existing house that then they
convert to one of this assisted living facility. Very few are the people that can afford to
actually build one for ten residents from the scratch. So then there's certain requirements
that we have. We still have to provide a ADA restrooms but they're not -- so provide
ADA restroom, make sure that we have grab bars in the bathroom. Even if the bathroom
itself is not a full ADA bathroom, which you're not required to have them. There's one
ADA bathroom required but the rest of them every operator installs grab bars just for
ease of use. We typically, replace all the doors. Most homes comes with I think 32-inch
doors, that's just what most builder put in. We replace the door to 36-inch doors just so
you can get in with the wheelchairs a lot easier. They do that for a lot of reasons. For the
wheelchairs also just so the doors don't get banged up as they're going by. We talked
about fire sprinklers, fire alarms. Clearances, keeping -- if some rooms have exits to the
outside, make sure that that exit is provided. Make sure beds do not go in front of
windows because windows are still a second means of egress if they -- residents
themselves are not able to self-evacuate, you still need -- fire department, they can use
windows to get in. So bedrooms not to go up against windows. ADA bathrooms, grab
bars, and just wider corridors.
Other than that, that's usually at a minimum -- I guess, another thing too, maybe to
specify. The type of resident, they are not on like ventilators or anything like that.
They're still mobile. They get up from their beds and they come sit on the couch and
watch TV. So they're not, as far as, needing medical -- they need help taking their meds
but not as far as -- they're not in a strict regimen or they're not, where they're walking
around with IVs connected to one of those -- those require actually hospital. If a patient
decays to that point, they are taken to a hospital. They're not -- that requires a nurse and a
doctor to administrate that.
GRAY: All right. Paula, do we have any speaker cards?
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 52 of 72 MAY 8, 2023, PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES
Page 52 of 72
WOODWARD: Yes, Chairman. There were four written statements, speaker cards
against approving the 16 beds. And then there are speakers. In order of appearance, the
first speaker will be Tom Lifton (ph.), Crystal Cavanaugh, Veronica Oliver (ph.), and
Larry Meyers.
LIFFITON: Hello Chairman, Commissioners. Thank you for the opportunity to provide
some input. Thank you for your work. Just to start, I want to say some nice things about
the neighbors. My wife and I live directly across from the facility --
GRAY: Tom, will you pull that mic up a little closer to you? Thanks.
LIFFITON: How's that? So my wife and I live directly across from the facility. You can
see our place right at the end of Westby Towers, right at the end of Westby. So we get to
see quite -- I'm retired. So we get to see a lot of what goes on over there. It's a very quiet
place. In general it looks very nice. Traffic either is from zero parking all the way up
to -- there can be, to this morning there were two cars in the parking spaces on site, and
one in the street. But that can get expand to more. It can go to three or four in the
parking onsite and it can be up and down the street on both sides of the street. And
sometimes, somebody might park all the way at the end, at Palisades. Which is a little
bothersome. But in general, I would say it's tolerable. So I know nothing about what
goes on inside the house. It's very quiet. At night we don't really see or hear anything
from them.
Our concern is really with what we see through our living room window. And with this
picture that you have up there, we can see from the -- we're looking straight across, we
can see to the left there's an area of landscape with one Ocotillo and a bush and a little
white mailbox. On Tuesdays they bring out three trash cans, one of those three big trash
cans. They're filled to the gills, to the top. The top can't close. That's only on one day of
the week. But what we're really concerned with is this driveway. If you'll see it's sort of
a semi-circular driveway in a way. Right now, it covers about, I would say a third of the
property. If you look on their proposal, you're going to wipe out all of the landscaping on
the left. You're going to take out all that gravel, sand. You'll take out the Ocotillo and
two cars will be parked right there. And then, on the opposite side, that area, the parking
area is going to be bumped out a bit toward Palisades. So what you're going to end up
with is with at least two-thirds of the driveway -- at least two-thirds of the front yard will
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 53 of 72 MAY 8, 2023, PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES
Page 53 of 72
be all driveway. Which just doesn't look good. And quoting the statement that came
along with the request, Kontexture, that's the company that wants to do this. Stated it,
"wishes to increase the number of residents while keeping the facility's residential status,
feel of the home, residential function, and appearance". And I just don't think that what
they're proposing by taking out this landscaping and paving over the whole front yard --
or most of the front yard is going to do that. Plus, it's got to increase the traffic to some
extent, I don't really know about that.
Those are our concerns. So saying all that, I'm against the proposal as it stands. We're
against the proposal as it stands, my wife and I. But we have a suggestion that if they can
put up some kind of high bushes, the size of the Ocotillo, high up there to hide the new
parking lot, the two spots there, that might be a compromise. I don't know that it takes
care of all the other problems I've heard here. But it's maybe something in the right
direction. So that's all I have to say.
GRAY: Thank you, Tom.
LIFFITON: Thanks very much.
CAVANAUGH: So I did drive by this property today and I did notice the parking was a
little interesting also. There was only one vehicle and it was a white pickup truck. I'm
not sure whose that was. So if there were any staff in there that was their vehicle. And it
was parked at the end of the driveway, across the driveway, blocking part of it. That
alone kind of worried me because I thought what if you have to have an emergency
vehicle. So I didn't know if that was a typical thing. But I also noticed it was going to be
kind of a difficult street to bulk up with more parking. And I can see where this would
even increase all the pavement that this neighbor's talking about.
But my other thought on this was, a bigger surprise was the staff recommendation. Why
would they automatically suggest that you approve this? Did we not spend over a year
talking about our community residences? We talked about the family-style community
residence, longer term, and then we had the transitional. So we didn't distinguish with
behavioral. So I'm not sure they're really familiar exactly with our Fountain Hills
ordinances, because at ten occupants they were one of the grandfathered in ones. I would
judge that to be the case because now the new ones, if you want to start up a new one,
you can only have eight plus staff. So now we're talking, they want to not change
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 54 of 72 MAY 8, 2023, PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES
Page 54 of 72
anything in the building, they just want to bring in a whole lot more beds and stack these
poor people in like sardines for funding. And so I'm very concerned about their quality
of life but I'm only concerned about the neighborhood's quality of life and I'm concerned
that if we start changing our ordinance this quickly, and allowing them to bump up to 16,
the next family community residence, why can't they ask us to do the same. And then the
transitional homes will feel discriminated against if we don't bump them back up. So this
is just a slippery, slippery slope and I say no. Thank you.
OLIVER: Good evening. Thank you. I'm Veronica Oliver. I live in Westby Towers.
Westby is a little bit of a speed road and a lot of cars speed. With cars on both sides of
the roads, which a lot of the time there are, cars can't even get through and there's an
accident waiting to happen.
I was -- just received my paperwork today in the mail. And on this sheet it says seven
bedrooms. It doesn't say eight. It doesn't say nine. It says seven. Regardless, I do
volunteer work at group homes back in Michigan where I summer. And the homes could
not possibly take this many beds and put in this small of a area and take care of the
people the way they should be taken care of. I mean, they're not in regular beds. They're
in hospital beds. And if they have wheelchairs, and they have all their other equipment.
They can't fit into these rooms.
I am concerned about the patients. And the clients, or whatever you want to call them,
because they do deserve the best possible care that they could get. And it doesn't help
that there are cars coming and going. And I know they said back from 2015 there's only
been one car in the parking lot at each time they took a picture. Well, that is very
abnormal. I don't think this is a good place and it's a residential area, it's not a
commercial area and it should stay residential. Thank you.
MEYERS: Chair, Commissioners, so it took us two years to debate the ordinance that
separated the community residents from the transitional residents. The debate that took
place massive amount of time was about the level of care. We settled on five residents
and a caregiver for the transitionals. We took it from ten down to eight for the
community. They happen to be at ten, so they got grandfathered in.
That house is 4,500 square feet and I live in 4,500 square feet, and if you stuck 20 people
in my house, it's crowded. I don't care whether you're in a wheelchair, whether you don't
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 55 of 72 MAY 8, 2023, PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES
Page 55 of 72
move, whether you stay in bed, there's -- it would be very crowded. And so we spent a
lot of time talking about level of care and numbers of occupants, and caregiver to resident
ratios during the two years that we took to thoughtfully make our town ordinances,
regardless of what the state says. We felt that in this town this is what the level of care
that we wanted to deliver to people in these conditions. And we decided on our numbers
and I don't see any reasons to change our numbers because it was two years' worth of
thought and you're the people that were the thoughtful people.
It ended up being your ordinance with a slight twist at the council level, that ended up
going into effect. And now here we are. That thing's not even a year old. The ink's not
dry on the paper and we're getting asked for a change.
So I'm more looking at this from a level of care and caregiver to resident ratio, and the
square footage and the building stuff doesn't mean anything to me. I think the building's
too small for 20 people, period. And I think 20 people and a few caregivers piled into
4,500 square feet is a lower level of care than 10 people. And that's just that. And if
anybody feels differently, well, then so be it. But it's -- I don't think it's what we decided
to do and I think Vice Mayor McMahon would agree since we're now a dementia friendly
town. So we're going to lower the level of care and I disagree with that. So I would say
don't increase the occupancy on this building. Let's just operate as it is and be done with
it. Thank you.
GRAY: Paula, any more speaker cards?
WOODWARD: No, Chairman.
GRAY: Thank you, Paula. All right. We'll go ahead and close the public portion of our
hearing. Let's call Farhad back up for any final deliberation ahead of a motion.
DEMPSTER: Hi. Can you just clarify for me, sorry, this has gotten a little confusing.
Currently, this property is residential home and we do not have a zoning that would
accommodate, should this go through; is that correct? So if this change went through it
would be considered a commercial property, correct?
TAVASSOLI: Mr. Chairman, in terms of operation, how it operates, it would be
considered a commercial property.
DEMPSTER: Changed to commercial? Okay.
TAVASSOLI: Yeah.
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 56 of 72 MAY 8, 2023, PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES
Page 56 of 72
DEMPSTER: And I'm -- because we have all R-3 surrounding that, all residential. So,
okay. Thank you.
TAVASSOLI: Thank you.
GRAY: Commissioner Dapaah?
DAPAAH: So five years ago I saw many of the elderly here in Fountain Hills move --
size down from their homes into Park Place, okay. Today you go there and most of them
are dying. A lot of them due to loneliness. So there's a -- I know that there's a real need
for this service. Okay, I know we've been talking a lot about the drug treatment facilities
and all that and we know where that's going. But for this, there's a real need here in
Fountain Hills. Literally, abandoned parents, abandoned elderly here in the Town of
Fountain Hills. I cannot get too caught up in that.
Our obligation here today is, it says here, "to make recommendations to the council based
on the maintenance and operation of the use of the building that's applied for, that it will
not be detrimental to the public health, safety, peace, comfort, and general welfare of
persons residing or working in the neighborhood or anything". I did a due diligence and
walked the whole neighborhood. And to be honest with you, what I observed was this
particular building was one of the buildings that was very well cared for in the
neighborhood. I even walked into the facility unannounced and saw how clean that it
was. And no one -- the need here, Mr. Chairman, I would like to move that we go with
the staff recommendation to approve the special use permit. Of course, with the --
hoping that they will do some modification on the interior to be able to take this
additional 16 beds. I, in no way, believe that they will fill it to the max to 16 but want
the capacity to be able to operate and move to approve the special use permit to allow the
home there at 16602 East Palisades Boulevard for this additional six beds.
GRAY: Commissioners, Commissioner Dapaah has put a motion to recommend
approval to the town council of the requested case ahead of calling for a second. I, at
least, want to vocalize kind of where I'm at on this. And frankly, I just think we're -- I
think we're too premature with this. I cannot get past the -- I appreciate everything that
Commissioner Dapaah has stated and I appreciate that he's visited the facility. I
appreciate that the facility runs well and is well maintained at ten. But based on the
information in the packet, based on the intent to retain a lot of the public -- or not the
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 57 of 72 MAY 8, 2023, PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES
Page 57 of 72
public, but the gathering spaces within, based on the information that we now understand
the staff are also fulltime residents of the facility and thereby we've got 19 or 20 people
living in this single family home at any given time, for me personally, I at least need a
layout that shows me how those beds are going to work inside of this facility before I'm
going to -- before I'm going to get behind this recommendation. So as we consider a
second to Commissioner Dapaah's motion, I just want to be clear that I'm going to be
voting against this recommendation at this time.
So Commissioner's any other thoughts or potential amendments to Commissioner
Dapaah's motion? Or a second, please. No seconds to the motion?
Commissioner Dapaah's motion has failed. Opens the floor back up to discussion or any
alternate motion if we're all done with discussion.
WATTS: So Chairman Gray?
GRAY: Commissioner Watts?
WATTS: I would move to deny the special use permit for the multi-zoning district
SUP23-000002.
GRAY: Commissioners any amendment to the motion or a second, please?
DEMPSTER: I would second that.
GRAY: Commissioner Watts has made a motion to recommend denial of the special use
permit. Commissioner Dempster has seconded the motion. Paula rollcall vote, please?
WOODWARD: Commissioner Corey?
COREY: Aye.
WOODWARD: Commissioner Dapaah?
DAPAAH: Nay.
WOODWARD: Commissioner Dempster?
DEMPSTER: Aye.
WOODWARD: Commissioner Watts?
WATTS: Aye.
WOODWARD: Vice Chairman Schlossberg?
SCHLOSSBERG: Aye.
WOODWARD: Chairman Gray?
GRAY: Aye.
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 58 of 72 MAY 8, 2023, PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES
Page 58 of 72
WOODWARD: Five, one.
GRAY: Thank you, Paula.
Okay. Commissioners, informal straw poll. Do we want to carry on to agenda item 5 or
do we want to take a five- or ten-minute break?
DEMPSTER: Break.
GRAY: Break.
DEMPSTER: Break.
GRAY: All right. We will recess for ten minutes. Let's reconvene at 8:45. [Ins] 2.54.33
[RECESS]
CHAIRMAN GRAY: All right. We're back in session. Agenda item 5. Public hearing
consideration of action. I'll skip to the end. RZ23-1.
TAVASSOLI: Okay. Sorry. Trying to get this on presentation mode here. We'll just
use this.
Okay, Mr. Chairman and Members of the Commission. So the application request before
you is a zone change for a .86 acre parcel which is a dual zone property right now. It is
split between R1-35H and OSR, which is open space residential. The request is to zone it
in such a way that it's uniformly zoned R1-35H. A little bit of history here. This
property was actually replatted in March, just this past March. It was originally at about
29,000 square feet. With the replat it increased to 37,284 square feet and that was done
through a transference of ownership from the Fire Rock Country Club to the applicant for
this rezone request, a private owner of this property. So what the applicant is requesting
is -- and let me just go straight to the map here. The property outlined in red is the parcel,
is the subject parcel in question. A portion of which here is zoned open space residential,
while the rest is zoned R1-35H. The applicant is requesting a rezoning of the OSR
portion to R1-35H. The reason being, right now as it stands, the lot coverage percentage
was already exceeded under the original configuration. The applicant wishes to make a
few additions and the only way, in order not to exceed the lot coverage limits any further,
and incidentally lot coverage limit is 20 percent, was to basically expand the boundaries
of the property and Fire Rock County Club agreed to transfer ownership for a small
portion of their property to the current landowner.
And this is just depicting the fact that upon approval it will be uniformly zoned R1-35H.
August 11th, 2023 Explanation Letter RE: Fountain View Manor ALH
16602 E. Palisades Blvd.
Fountain Hills, AZ 85268
My name is Simona Tolan, owner of Fountain view Manor ALH, located at 16602 E. Palisades
Blvd., Fountain Hills, AZ 85268. My cell phone number is 480-226-1761 and my email address is
tolansimona@gmail.com. I am available to answer any questions you might have about my business at
this phone number and email.
Through this letter, I would like to give a more in-depth view of my business and our reason to request the
increase of operations from 10 residents to 16.
This home has been open to elderly residents at this location for twenty years with a license for 10
residents. I operate another home in the City of Scottsdale, that also has a license for 10 residents.
The homes have been consistently full, with an overwhelming need for more openings, that we have a
waiting list to home the elderly in need. Through this process, we are striving to provide the ultimate care
to our residents and make sure that we are able to offer this opportunity to the families in need to place
their mom or dad or grandparents in a safe, hospitable environment, where they can be treated as family
and not just another patient.
This year, we have also applied and been accepted to the government program Access that helps
residents that do not have the funds to pay for their care. We now have a provider number for this
program and we will be able to help even more elderly people in need, if our request is granted.
With everything said, there are a lot of steps to be taken, if the committee gives us the approval.
We have to go through the Town of Fountain Hills development process, where they will make sure that
all of the modifications that we are making are up to code and adhering to the ADA code as well.
After we receive permits from the Town of Fountain Hills, we have to go through the licensing process
with AZDHS where we need to comply with their codes as well, updating the kitchen to a commercial
kitchen and having all the necessary paperwork that complies with their requirements.
AZDHS has yearly inspections at each and every Assisted Living Home to verify that they are in good
standing. We were never found deficient at any of their inspections.
AZDHS also has codes in place for space requirements. They will not re-issue our license if we do not
comply with that also.
This increase in occupancy will be done by complying with all the required codes by Town of Fountain
Hills and also with AZDHS.
My business has a great reputation and I am committed to go above and beyond and provide excellent
care no matter if for 5, 10 or 16 residents.
Please see included with this letter below some letters of recommendation.
We are open and available to answer any questions or concerns and thrive to accommodate any
suggestions from the neighbors in the eventuality of any conflict. The neighbors can contact me at my cell
phone number or through email and we will answer to the best of our abilities.
Sincerely,
Simona Tolan
Fountain View Manor ALH - Owner
Lin Hammond
Fountain Hills, AZ 85268
August 1st, 2023
To: Dana, Manager
Fountain View Manor
My Mother has been a resident at Fountain View Manor since July of 2020.
We found the perfect room right by the entrance. The activity by the front door is great and
keeps my Mother active with all of the people walking by.
The food is excellent there. They cook many meals from scratch.
The meals are varied, too. Breakfast serves a variety each day offering something different like:
oatmeal, cereal, baked eggs, pancakes, waffles, omelets, fried eggs, scrambled eggs, fresh
fruit, hash browns, toast, coffee and juice. Lunch is more basic, but after eating a big breakfast
each day, the portion is more than enough. Before you know it, dinner is served. The evening
meal is excellent. Dinner is always hot and delicious and dessert is always served.
I especially like when a resident celebrates a birthday. They all get to sing Happy Birthday and
enjoy
a personalized birthday cake. Flowers and balloons make it a happy time.
The home is exceptionally clean. The floors are cleaned daily. The bedrooms are attended to
daily as well.
The caregivers are great and compassionate. They take good care of my Mother and the other
residents.
They also have activities at the facility and get the residents all involved.
All in all, this is a great place to have your loved one stay at for their forever home.
Lin Hammond
ITEM 9. E.
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
STAFF REPORT
Meeting Date: 10/03/2023 Meeting Type: Town Council Regular Meeting
Agenda Type: Regular Agenda Submitting Department: Public Works
Prepared by: Justin Weldy, Public Works Director
Staff Contact Information: Justin Weldy, Public Works Director
Request to Town Council Regular Meeting (Agenda Language): CONSIDERATION AND POSSIBLE
ACTION: Approving the Second Amendment to Professional Services Agreement 2023-033 with
Kimley-Horn and Associates, Inc. for the design of intersection improvements at Palisades Boulevard
and Fountain Hills Boulevard.
Staff Summary (Background)
The signalized intersection of Palisades Boulevard and Fountain Hills Boulevard has been a priority for
the Mayor and Council for several years.
In 2014 grant funding was utilized to replace the outdated incandescent signal heads with LED heads.
Staff were also able to utilize grant funding to replace the pedestrian signal heads with LED's. Other
measures taken at the intersection, include trimming or removing vegetation on the south and west
leg to increase sight distance, and relocation of the pedestrian push buttons to A Poles, placing them
closer to the sidewalk. Staff increased the time of the protected left turn phases by 2.5 seconds, (this
is the longest allowable turn phase window within the signal timing parameters) but this did not have
any notable effect on the delay and congestion often present at this intersection.
In 2020, staff presented the Pedestrian and Traffic Safety committee with a list of issues that
remained unresolved. Based on their direction, the Town entered into a Professional Services
Agreement with Kimley-Horn and Associates, in the amount of $21,480, for a traffic analysis to
determine how to improve the intersection level of service and overall safety of this arterial-arterial
intersection. The analysis specifically called for a signal timing review and evaluation of the left turn
lane storage lengths.
Fountain Hills Boulevard has 2 through lanes and an 85-foot left turn lane on the northbound
approach and has a left turn lane, a through lane and a shared through-right lane on the southbound
approach.
Palisades Boulevard has a left turn lane, a through lane and a shared through-right lane on both the
east and westbound approaches. All the left turn approaches are protected left turns. There are
chronic queuing problems with the northbound to westbound left turn approach, mainly due to the
proximity of the high school (now the high school and middle school). It was determined that physical
proximity of the high school (now the high school and middle school). It was determined that physical
improvements to allow for permissive left turns at the intersection would be needed to positively
address congestion and delay issues.
The intersection analysis was completed and demonstrated alternatives that were presented to the
Pedestrian and Traffic Safety Committee. The selected alternative was to modify the roadway
geometry to accommodate protected/permissive left turns on all four approaches. By allowing for
permissive left turns, vehicles can turn left when there are gaps in oncoming traffic, allowing for
increased throughput of vehicles, reduced delay and improved level of service.
For the vehicles to recognize gaps in oncoming traffic and perform the left turn safely, there has to be
adequate sight distance, which require median and striping modifications. The south leg of the median
will be pulled back approximately 50 feet, and the west leg of the median will be pulled back
approximately 500 feet and the left turn lane approaches will be laterally shifted, resulting in
improved sight visibility of oncoming traffic. The selected alterative will also provide ADA sidewalk
ramp improvements on all four corners of the intersection.
Kimley-Horn and Associates, who prepared the original Intersection Analysis in 2021, has submitted a
scope and fee for the design of the intersection improvements. The design will include the
development of construction drawings, technical specifications and an engineer’s opinion of cost for
construction. The design cost is $83,095, which also includes post-design services (responding to
contractor’s requests for information, reviewing contractor submittals, attending construction
meetings and preparing record [as-built] drawings).
Related Ordinance, Policy or Guiding Principle
Public Works Mission Statement
Risk Analysis
Not approving the contract will delay the design which is a necessary element to make any future
intersection improvements.
Recommendation(s) by Board(s) or Commission(s)
Recommended by the Pedestrian and Traffic Safety Committee
Staff Recommendation(s)
Staff recommends approval of the contract as presented
SUGGESTED MOTION
MOVE to approve the Second Amendment to Professional Services Agreement 2023-033 with Kimley
-Horn and Associates, Inc. for the design of intersection improvements at Palisades Boulevard and
Fountain Hills Boulevard in the amount of $83,095.00
Fiscal Impact
Fiscal Impact:$83,095.00
Budget Reference:N/A
Funding Source:Capital Projects
If Multiple Funds utilized, list here:N/A
Budgeted: if No, attach Budget Adjustment Form:N/A
Attachments
Professional Services Agreement
Scope and Fee
Concept
Form Review
Inbox Reviewed By Date
Public Works Director (Originator)Justin Weldy 09/19/2023 03:57 PM
Finance Director David Pock 09/19/2023 04:29 PM
Town Attorney Aaron D. Arnson 09/21/2023 03:30 PM
Interim Town Manager Rachael Goodwin 09/25/2023 05:10 PM
Form Started By: Justin Weldy Started On: 06/07/2023 07:35 AM
Final Approval Date: 09/25/2023
1
Contract No. 2023-033.2 SECOND AMENDMENT TO PROFESSIONAL SERVICES AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS AND KIMLEY-HORN & ASSOCIATES, INC. THIS SECOND AMENDMENT TO PROFESSIONAL SERVICES AGREEMENT (this “Second Amendment”) is entered into as of execution, between the Town of Fountain Hills, an Arizona municipal corporation (the “Town”) and Kimley-Horn & Associates, Inc., a(n) North
Carolina corporation (the “Consultant”). RECITALS A. The Town and the Consultant entered into a Professional Services Agreement (the
“Agreement”), dated March 2, 2021, for the Consultant to provide Engineering Design Services (the “Services”). All capitalized terms not otherwise defined in this Second Amendment have the same meanings as contained in the Agreement. B. The Town has determined that it is necessary to add to the scope of the Agreement
with the Consultant for Services and the Consultant is the Engineer of Record on as ongoing project. C. The Town and the Consultant desire to enter this Second Amendment to amend the
Agreement to (i) add to the scope of the Agreement (Exhibit C) and (ii) provide for compensation
to the Consultant for the Services. AGREEMENT
NOW, THEREFORE, in consideration of the foregoing introduction and recitals, which
are incorporated herein by reference, the following mutual covenants and conditions, and other good and valuable consideration, the receipt and sufficiency of which are hereby acknowledged, the Town and the Consultant hereby agree as follows:
1. Compensation. The Town shall pay Consultant an aggregate amount not to exceed $237,692 for the Services, resulting in an increase of $83,095. 2. Exhibit C is hereby incorporated by this reference.
3. Notices and Requests. Any notice or other communication required or permitted to be given under this Agreement shall be in writing and shall be deemed to have been duly given if (A) delivered to the party at the address set forth below, (B) deposited in the U.S. Mail, registered
2
or certified, return receipt requested, to the address set forth below or (C) given to a recognized and reputable overnight delivery service, to the address set forth below:
If to the Town: Town of Fountain Hills 16705 East Avenue of the Fountains Fountain Hills, Arizona 85268 Attn: Rachael Goodwin, Interim Town Manager
With copy to: Town of Fountain Hills 16705 East Avenue of the Fountains Fountain Hills, Arizona 85268 Attn: Aaron D. Arnson, Town Attorney
If to Consultant: Kimley-Horn & Associates, Inc. 7740 N. 16th St., Suite 300 Phoenix, Arizona 85020 Attn: Kimberly Carrol
or at such other address, and to the attention of such other person or officer, as any party may designate in writing by notice duly given pursuant to this subsection. Notices shall be deemed received (A) when delivered to the party, (B) three business days after being placed in the U.S. Mail, properly addressed, with sufficient postage or (C) the following business day after being
given to a recognized overnight delivery service, with the person giving the notice paying all required charges and instructing the delivery service to deliver on the following business day. If a copy of a notice is also given to a party’s counsel or other recipient, the provisions above governing the date on which a notice is deemed to have been received by a party shall mean and
refer to the date on which the party, and not its counsel or other recipient to which a copy of the
notice may be sent, is deemed to have received the notice. 4. Effect of Amendment. In all other respects, the Agreement is affirmed and ratified and, except as expressly modified herein, all terms and conditions of the Agreement shall remain
in full force and effect.
5. Non-Default. By executing this Second Amendment, the Consultant affirmatively asserts that (i) the Town is not currently in default, nor has it been in default at any time prior to this Second Amendment, under any of the terms or conditions of the Agreement and (ii) any and
all claims, known and unknown, relating to the Agreement and existing on or before the date of
this Second Amendment are forever waived. 6. China. Pursuant to and in compliance with A.R.S. § 35-394, Vendor hereby agrees and certifies that it does not currently, and agrees for the duration of this Agreement that Vendor
will not, use: (1) the forced labor of ethnic Uyghurs in the People’s Republic of China; (2) any
goods or services produced by the forced labor of ethnic Uyghurs in the People’s Republic of China; or (3) any contractors, subcontractors or suppliers that use the forced labor or any goods or services produced by the forced labor of ethnic Uyghurs in the People’s Republic of China. Vendor
3
also hereby agrees to indemnify and hold harmless the Town, its officials, employees, and agents from any claims or causes of action relating to the Town’s action based upon reliance upon this representation, including the payment of all costs and attorney fees incurred by the Town in
defending such as action. 7. Conflict of Interest. This Second Amendment and the Agreement may be cancelled by the Town pursuant to Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 38-511.
[SIGNATURES ON FOLLOWING PAGES]
EXHIBIT C TO
PROFESSIONAL SERVICES AGREEMENT
BETWEEN THE TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS AND KIMLEY-HORN & ASSOCIATES, INC.
[Scope & Fees/Palisades Boulevard and Fountain Hills Boulevard
Intersection Improvement Design] See following pages.
kimley-horn.com 7740 N. 16th Street, Suite 300, Phoenix, AZ 85020 602 944 5500
August 22, 2023
Mr. Justin Weldy
Public Works Director
Town of Fountain Hills
16705 E. Avenue of the Fountains
Fountain Hills, AZ 85268
Re:Palisades Boulevard and Fountain Hills Boulevard
Intersection Improvement Design
Scope and Fee - Revised
Dear Mr. Weldy:
Kimley-Horn and Associates, Inc. (Kimley-Horn) is pleased to submit this letter agreement
(Agreement) to the Town of Fountain Hills (Town) to provide professional engineering services
associated with the intersection of Palisades Boulevard and Fountain Hills Boulevard.
PROJECT UNDERSTANDING
As directed by Town Staff, via email on 6/10/2021, this scope of work includes intersection
improvements consistent with “Alternative 2” recommendations provided within the
Palisades Boulevard and Fountain Hills Boulevard Final Intersection Traffic Study, prepared
by Kimley-Horn. An exhibit of the proposed improvements is included in Appendix D.
Additional information on the scope of work was further discussed with the Town via
teleconference meeting on 6/28/2021. The following is what Kimley-Horn understands the
Town would like to include for this project:
· Remove Type R signal heads, replace with Type Q signal heads for all left turn
approaches.
· Median modifications and striping modifications to improve left turn sight visibility
(see attachment for exhibit).
· Evaluate need for warning signage approaching intersection.
· Modify all corners of the intersection for new ADA compliant directional ramps (this
will require signal modifications as well).
· Attend 2 council meetings (30% design and 90% design).
The following outlines Kimley-Horn’s detailed scope of services:
Palisades Blvd & Fountain Hills Boulevard
Intersection Improvement Design
Rev. August 22, 2023 / Page 2
kimley-horn.com 7740 N. 16th Street, Suite 300, Phoenix, AZ 85020 602 944 5500
SCOPE OF SERVICES
Task 1.1 Topographic Survey, Right of Way, and Coordination
a. Kimley-Horn’s subconsultant (CRS) will provide horizontal and vertical control and
topographic survey. A copy of our subconsultants scope and fee is provided in
Appendix C.
b. Kimley-Horn will develop base design and right-of-way using the survey provided by
CRS.
c. Kimley-Horn will illustrate existing right-of-way and easements with the design
submittals using the data available from Maricopa County Assessors and by the
Town.
Task 1.2 Utility Coordination
a. Kimley-Horn will coordinate with Blue Stake to identify known utility companies within
the project limits. Kimley-Horn will contact the identified utility companies to obtain
their utility location information.
b. Kimley-Horn will prepare an electronic CADD file depicting the horizontal locations of
existing utilities both overhead and underground.
c. Kimley-Horn will update the utility base file based on comments received from the
utility companies.
d. Kimley-Horn will submit utility clearance letters to each of the utilities identified within
the project limits at each stage of the project.
e. Kimley-Horn will determine if any utility conflicts will require the utility to be relocated
or adjusted and shall advise the Town. Kimley-Horn will verify that prior rights
documentation submitted by the utility companies represent the correct relocation
area.
Task 1.3 Intersection/Roadway Plans
a. Kimley-Horn’s design will provide for:
i. ADA sidewalk ramp improvements on all four corners of the intersection
ii. South leg median pulled back 50 feet (approx.)
iii. West leg median pulled back 150 feet (approx.)
b. Kimley-Horn will develop intersection/roadway construction drawings in accordance
with Town guidelines and details. A single 24”x36” sheet will be developed at 30% in
order to illustrate initial design plans and identify preliminary constraints. Full Plans
will be developed at 60%, 90%, and Final. Intersection Roadway construction
drawings will be prepared to scale as noted and includes the following sheets:
i. Cover Sheet (1 Sheet)
ii. General Notes and Legend Sheet (1 Sheet)
Palisades Blvd & Fountain Hills Boulevard
Intersection Improvement Design
Rev. August 22, 2023 / Page 3
kimley-horn.com 7740 N. 16th Street, Suite 300, Phoenix, AZ 85020 602 944 5500
iii. ADA Sidewalk Ramp Details (1 Sheet) (1” = 5’ Scale)
iv. Intersection Improvement Sheet (1 Sheet) (1” = 20’ Scale)
Task 1.4 Signing and Pavement Marking Plans
a. Kimley-Horn will conduct a field inventory of the existing conditions for pavement
markings and signing within the project limits.
b. Kimley-Horn will prepare final design signing and permanent pavement marking
construction documents. The permanent pavement marking and signing plans will
be designed in conformance with Town requirement and in accordance with the
MUTCD. Plans will be prepared at 1” = 40’ scale and will be submitted with 60%,
90%, and final. Signing and pavement marking sheets include the following two (2)
sheets:
i. Signing and Marking General Notes and Legend (1 Sheet)
ii. Pavement Marking/Signing Plan (1 Sheet) (1” = 40’ Scale)
Task 1.5 Traffic Signal Modification Plans
a. Kimley-Horn will conduct a field inventory of the existing traffic signal equipment at
the intersection at Palisades and Fountain Hills. The field investigation will confirm
location of existing signal equipment.
b. Kimley-Horn will prepare traffic signal modification plans for the intersection of
Palisades Blvd and Fountain Hills Blvd. The traffic signal plans shall include the
existing traffic signal layout including poles, conduit, pull boxes, controller cabinet,
and meter pedestal.
c. Kimley-Horn will prepare traffic signal plans at 1” = 20’ scale and will be submitted
with 60%, 90%, and final. Traffic signal plans consist of a total of five (5) sheets
described as follows:
i. General Notes and Legend (1 Sheet)
ii. Traffic Signal Removal Plan (1 Sheet)
iii. Traffic Signal Layout (1 Sheet)
iv. Pole Layout Schedule (1 Sheet)
v. Conductor Schedule (1 Sheet)
Task 1.6 Technical Specifications and Engineer’s Cost Opinion
a. Kimley-Horn will prepare the technical specifications in accordance with the
Maricopa Association of Governments (MAG) Standard Specifications and Town’s
Supplement to MAG Specifications and details.
b. Kimley-Horn will provide draft technical specifications and special provisions starting
with the 90% through final design submittals.
Palisades Blvd & Fountain Hills Boulevard
Intersection Improvement Design
Rev. August 22, 2023 / Page 4
kimley-horn.com 7740 N. 16th Street, Suite 300, Phoenix, AZ 85020 602 944 5500
c. Kimley-Horn will prepare an engineer’s opinion of probable cost for each design
submittal.
d. Kimley-Horn will prepare quantities at each design submittal using standard
measurement and payment methods starting at 60%.
Task 1.7 Project Management and Meetings
a. Kimley-Horn will attend up to three (3) project meetings, which will be scheduled
following the approval from Town staff to proceed with work. The meetings are
described as follows:
i. Project Kick Off Meeting
ii. 60% and 90% Comment Resolution meetings (2 Meetings)
Meetings will be held virtually and will consist of no more than two Kimley-Horn staff
members.
b. Kimley-Horn will attend up to two (2) council meetings, which will be scheduled
following the approval from Town staff to proceed with work. Kimley-Horn will
prepare presentation slides to be shared during the Town council meetings. The
meetings are described as follows:
i. 30% Design Presentation
ii. 90% Design Presentation
Meetings will be held in-person at the Town Hall and will consist of at least one
Kimley-Horn staff member.
c. Kimley-Horn will be responsible for preparing the meeting agenda and submitting
notes of the meeting to the Town.
d. Kimley-Horn’s project management task covers the management and administration
hours for the duration of project activities identified in the project schedule in
Appendix B. Project management task includes contract management, internal staff
coordination, and coordination with Town staff outside of the meetings described.
This task coordinates and administers the day-to-day operations of the project,
including organizing and filing project data and communication files, responding to
project correspondence including emails, and budget and schedule monitoring. This
task also includes the management of sub-consultants (CRS). This task includes the
preparation of monthly invoices to the Town for services performed.
Task 1.8 Post Design Allowance
a. Kimley-Horn will prepare for and attend up to two (2) meetings with the construction
team. Meetings will be held virtually and/or at the project site. No more than one
Kimley-Horn’s representatives will be present each meeting. Agenda’s and Minutes
will be prepared by the Town or Contractor.
b. Kimley-Horn will respond to Contractor requests for information and issue necessary
clarifications and interpretations of the Contract Documents to Town as appropriate
Palisades Blvd & Fountain Hills Boulevard
Intersection Improvement Design
Rev. August 22, 2023 / Page 5
kimley-horn.com 7740 N. 16th Street, Suite 300, Phoenix, AZ 85020 602 944 5500
to the orderly completion of Contractor's work. Any orders authorizing variations
from the Contract Documents will be made by the Town. Kimley-Horn will track
RFI’s using an electronic logging format.
c. Kimley-Horn will shop drawings submittals on behalf of the Town. We estimate
reviewing and responding to eight (8) submittals, including electrical, concrete,
asphalt, signing, and marking. Kimley-Horn will track submittals using an electronic
logging format.
d. Kimley-Horn will prepare final record drawings, consisting of transferring redline
changes shown on the Contractor and Inspector field plans onto the original final
construction documents. These changes will be done using CAD.
Kimley-Horn shall not be responsible for the acts or omissions of any Contractor, or of
any of their subcontractors, suppliers, or of any other individual or entity performing or
furnishing the Work.
DIRECT EXPENSES
a. Direct reimbursable expenses such as express delivery services, vehicular mileage,
and other direct expenses will be billed at cost. A summary of anticipated expenses
is shown in Appendix A of this document.
SERVICES NOT INCLUDED
Any other services, including but not limited to the following, are not included in this
Agreement:
· Attending more meetings than specifically described in the sections above
· Phase I ESA
· Public outreach
· Additional submittals
· Landscape/Irrigation Services
· Water/Sewer Service
· Construction Management
INFORMATION PROVIDED BY TOWN
Kimley-Horn shall be entitled to rely on the completeness and accuracy of all information
provided by the Town or the Town’s consultants or representatives. The Town shall provide
all information requested by Kimley-Horn during the project.
FEE ESTIMATE
Kimley-Horn will complete the project in accordance with the fee estimate provided in
Appendix A.
An allowance is included in the scope of work to cover the potential cost increase by CRS
since preparation of the 2021 cost proposal. Kimley-Horn will submit for at cost fee at the
completion of the survey work to the Town.
Palisades Blvd & Fountain Hills Boulevard
Intersection Improvement Design
Rev. August 22, 2023 / Page 6
kimley-horn.com 7740 N. 16th Street, Suite 300, Phoenix, AZ 85020 602 944 5500
SCHEDULE
We will provide our services as expeditiously as practicable with the goal of completing the
project as outline in the project schedule included in Appendix B. This design schedule
assumes a Notice to Proceed date at the end of September, 2023. Following the official
Notice to Proceed, Kimley-Horn will submit an updated schedule to the Town for approval.
We greatly appreciate the opportunity to provide these services to you. Please contact me at
602-525-9098 or Zack Handy if you have any questions at 602-906-1191 or
zack.handy@kimley-horn.com.
Very truly yours,
KIMLEY-HORN AND ASSOCIATES, INC.
By: Kimberly Carroll, P.E., PTOE
Sr. Project Manager
Palisades Blvd & Fountain Hills Boulevard
Intersection Improvement Design
Rev. August 22, 2023 / Page 7
kimley-horn.com 7740 N. 16th Street, Suite 300, Phoenix, AZ 85020 602 944 5500
APPENDIX A
FEE ESTIMATE
Detail of Consultant's Compensation
Town of Fountain Hills
Palisades Blvd Fountan Hills Blvd
Intersection Improvement Design
Fee Proposal
(Revised 08/22/23)
Sr Project
Manager Sr Prof Prof Analyst Technican Admin
TASK DESCRIPTION SUBTOTAL $ 250.00 $ 215.00 $ 185.00 $ 155.00 $ 125.00 $ 95.00
Task 1.1 - Topo Survey, ROW, & Coordination 2,195.00$-1 4 8 --
Develop Base Survey Design Files/Coordination with CRS 2,195.00$1 4 8
Task 1.2 - Utility Coordination 5,210.00$1 4 12 6 -10
Bluestake and Utility Mapping Request 565.00$1 4
Utility Base Map (AutoCAD)1,115.00$1 6
Utility Clearance Letters and Conflict Resolution 3,530.00$1 4 10 6
Task 1.3 - Intersection/Roadway Plans 13,855.00$3 12 15 50 --
Cover Sheet (1 Sheet)895.00$2 3
General Notes (1 Sheet)525.00$1 2
ADA Sidewalk Detail Sheet (1 Sheet) (1" = 5' Scale)3,590.00$1 4 16
Median - Paving Plan Sheet (1 Sheet) (1" = 20' Scale) (30%, 90%, Final)6,835.00$1 3 12 24
Address Comments 2,010.00$1 2 3 5
-$
Task 1.4 - Signing and Pavement Marking Plans 7,825.00$1 1 11 15 24 -
Signing Inventory Review 1,360.00$4 4
Signing/Marking General Notes (1 Sheet)560.00$1 3
Signing/Marking Plan (1 Sheet) (1" = 40' Scale)4,230.00$1 4 8 16
Comment Resolution 1,675.00$1 2 3 5
-$
Task 1.5 - Traffic Signal Modification Plans 15,235.00$5 -27 58 --
Signal Field Review 1,360.00$4 4
General Notes (1 Sheet)495.00$1 2
Traffic Signal Removal Plan (1 Sheet) (1" = 20' Scale)1,920.00$1 4 6
Traffic Signal Layout (1 Sheet) (1" = 20' Scale)6,190.00$1 12 24
Traffic Signal Pole Schedule (1 Sheet)1,860.00$1 2 8
Traffic Signal Conductor Schedule (1 Sheet)1,860.00$1 2 8
Comment Resolution 1,550.00$1 2 6
-$
Task 1.6 - Technical Specs & Engineer Cost Opinion 7,300.00$4 6 12 18 --
Technical Specs (90% and Final)2,050.00$2 10
Quantities (Disciplines & Master Compliation)2,410.00$2 4 8
Cost Estimates (60%, 90%, Final)2,840.00$2 4 8
-$
Task 1.7 - Project Management and Meetings 9,025.00$11 11 16 --10
Three (3) Project (Virtual) Meetings (KO, 30%, 90% Cmt Res)1,860.00$3 6
Two (2) Council Meetings and Presentations 2,350.00$2 10
Project Management and Administration 2,450.00$6 10
QA/QC (11 Shts)2,365.00$11
-$
SUBTOTAL DIRECT LABOR 60,645.00$25 35 97 155 24 20
EXPENSES 300.00$
Subconsultant 8,000.00$
Topographic Survey (CRS/See Appendix C) Allowance 8,000.00$
SUBTOTAL SUBCONSULTANT EXPENSES 8,000.00$
TOTAL CONTRACT FEE (W/OUT ALLOWANCES)68,945.00$
ALLOWANCES 14,150.00$5 12 33 18 0 15
Task 1.8 - Post Design 14,150.00$5 12 33 18 0 15
Construction Meetings (2 mtgs)(1 Person)1,480.00$8
Respond to Information (RFI) & Tracking 2,885.00$2 4 8 5
Submittal Review & Tracking (8)6,630.00$4 8 16 10
Record Drawings 3,155.00$1 2 5 10
TOTAL CONTRACT FEE (W/ ALLOWANCES)83,095.00$
Page 1 of 1
Palisades Blvd & Fountain Hills Boulevard
Intersection Improvement Design
Rev. August 22, 2023 / Page 8
kimley-horn.com 7740 N. 16th Street, Suite 300, Phoenix, AZ 85020 602 944 5500
APPENDIX B
PROJECT SCHEDULE
ID Task
Mode
Task Name Duration Start Finish
1 NOTICE TO PROCEED 0 days Fri 9/29/23 Fri 9/29/23
2 Design Kick Off Meeting 0 days Thu 10/5/23 Thu 10/5/23
3 Topographic Survey & ROW Investigation 20 days Fri 9/29/23 Thu 10/26/23
4 Utility and ROW mapping (Design level)5 days Fri 10/27/23 Thu 11/2/23
5 30% Design Stage 48 days Fri 10/27/23 Tue 1/2/24
6 30% Design and Plan 20 days Fri 10/27/23 Thu 11/23/23
7 30% EOPC 5 days Fri 11/24/23 Thu 11/30/23
8 30% Plan Submittal 0 days Thu 11/30/23 Thu 11/30/23
9 30% Town and Utility Review 20 days Fri 12/1/23 Thu 12/28/23
10 Town 30% Comment Resolution Mtg 0 days Tue 1/2/24 Tue 1/2/24
11 60% Design Stage 53 days Fri 10/27/23 Tue 1/9/24
12 60% Design and Plans 25 days Fri 10/27/23 Thu 11/30/23
13 60% EOPC 5 days Fri 12/1/23 Thu 12/7/23
14 60% Plan Submittal 0 days Thu 12/7/23 Thu 12/7/23
15 60% Town and Utility Review 20 days Fri 12/8/23 Thu 1/4/24
16 Town 60% Comment Resolution Mtg 0 days Tue 1/9/24 Tue 1/9/24
17 90% Design Stage 48 days Wed 1/10/24Fri 3/15/24
18 90% Design and Plans 20 days Wed 1/10/24 Tue 2/6/24
19 90% EOPC and Technical Specs 5 days Wed 2/7/24 Tue 2/13/24
20 90% Submittal (Town/Scottsdale/Utilities)0 days Tue 2/13/24 Tue 2/13/24
21 90% Town and Utility Review 20 days Wed 2/14/24 Tue 3/12/24
22 90% Town Comment Resolution 0 days Fri 3/15/24 Fri 3/15/24
23 90% Utility Coord Meeting 0 days Fri 3/15/24 Fri 3/15/24
24 Final Design Stage 15 days Mon 3/18/24Fri 4/5/24
25 Final (Sealed) Plans, Specs and Estimate 15 days Mon 3/18/24 Fri 4/5/24
26 Final Submittal 0 days Fri 4/5/24 Fri 4/5/24
9/29
10/5
11/30
1/2
12/7
1/9
2/13
3/15
3/15
4/5
9/21 10/1 10/1110/21 11/111/1111/21 12/1 12/1112/21 1/1 1/11 1/21 2/1 2/11 2/21 3/1 3/11 3/21 4/1 4/11 4/21 5/1 5/11 5/21OctoberNovemberDecemberJanuaryFebruaryMarchAprilMay June
Task
Split
Milestone
Summary
Project Summary
Inactive Task
Inactive Milestone
Inactive Summary
Manual Task
Duration-only
Manual Summary Rollup
Manual Summary
Start-only
Finish-only
External Tasks
External Milestone
Deadline
Progress
Manual Progress
TOFH - FOUNTAIN HILLS BLVD AND PALISADES BLVD
FINAL DESIGN SCHEDULE
2023-08-22_Schedule_Palisades_FH.mpp Page 1 Tue 8/22/23
Project: 2021_0623_Schedule_P
Date: Tue 8/22/23
Palisades Blvd & Fountain Hills Boulevard
Intersection Improvement Design
Rev. August 22, 2023 / Page 9
kimley-horn.com 7740 N. 16th Street, Suite 300, Phoenix, AZ 85020 602 944 5500
APPENDIX C
SUBCONSULTANT SERVICES
CRS – Topographic Services
Palisades Blvd & Fountain Hills Boulevard
Intersection Improvement Design
Rev. August 22, 2023 / Page 10
kimley-horn.com 7740 N. 16th Street, Suite 300, Phoenix, AZ 85020 602 944 5500
APPENDIX D
Alternative 2 Exhibit
Figure 6
Alternative 2 - Fountain Hills Blvd and Palisades Blvd Sight Distance (Improved Conditions)
Fountain Hills Boulevard and Palisades Boulevard | Intersection Traffic StudyJune 2021
NORTH
SIGHT DISTANCE METHOD
Fo
u
n
t
a
i
n
H
i
l
l
s
B
l
v
d
Palisades Blvd
June 2021 Fountain Hills Boulevard and Palisades Boulevard | Intersection Traffic Study
SIGHT DISTANCE METHOD
Palisades Blvd
Figure 6
Alternative 2 - Fountain Hills Blvd and Palisades Blvd Sight Distance (Improved Conditions)
Fo
u
n
t
a
i
n
Hi
l
l
s
B
l
v
d
ITEM 9. F.
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
STAFF REPORT
Meeting Date: 10/03/2023 Meeting Type: Town Council Regular Meeting
Agenda Type: Regular Agenda Submitting Department: Public Works
Prepared by: Justin Weldy, Public Works Director
Staff Contact Information: Justin Weldy, Public Works Director
Request to Town Council Regular Meeting (Agenda Language): CONSIDERATION AND POSSIBLE
ACTION: Approval of First Amendment to Cooperative purchasing agreement 2023-026 with Interwest
Safety Supply for signs and sign hardware
Staff Summary (Background)
Highway signs are the means by which the Town of Fountain Hills communicates the rules, warnings,
guidance and other highway information that drivers need to navigate their roads and streets safely.
The Town's sign maintenance program replaces and repairs signs such as stop and yield, speed limit,
warning, parking regulatory and street name signs. Essential signs are handled as emergencies and are
usually replaced within 4 hours of notification. These include stop, yield, do not enter, one way,
detour and school crossings.
The Town is responsible for over 5,000 signs. The sign management system includes inventory,
inspection, preventive maintenance, repair and replacement, and recordkeeping as part of the
maintenance program.
Several days a year, Street department staff remove damaged, old, and faded traffic signs from streets
and return them to the Sign Shop. Outdated and damaged signs are collected and sent to an
aluminum recycling vendor, who pays the Town the current market rate for recycled aluminum. This
routine maintenance and proactive approach ensures compliance with State and Federal guidelines.
During the pandemic it became increasing difficult to purchase signs. During this time frame the
Town's sign inventory was greatly depleted. This contract in the annual amount of $100,000 is
budgeted in the Streets Fund and will allow staff to perform standard maintenance as well as restock
the inventory and prepare for numerous signs that are nearing the end of their reflectivity life.
By utilizing cooperative purchasing agreement contracts, the Town of Fountain Hills has been able to
take advantage of competitive pricing from procurement processes of other municipalities.
The City of Peoria recently solicited bids for Street signs and Hardware. (RFP NO: P21-0063) Based on
this competitive process, the City of Peoria awarded the contract to Interwest Safety Supply.
this competitive process, the City of Peoria awarded the contract to Interwest Safety Supply.
Interwest Safety Supply has agreed to extend Peoria’s contract pricing to the Town of Fountain Hills.
As a result, the Public Works Department wishes to take advantage of this outstanding pricing by
entering into the first Amendment to this cooperative purchasing agreement with Interwest Safety
and Supply, LLC, to provide the Town with signs and hardware as needed.
Related Ordinance, Policy or Guiding Principle
Public Works Mission Statement
Risk Analysis
Not approving the CPA will delay the purchase of signs and sign hardware.
Recommendation(s) by Board(s) or Commission(s)
N/A
Staff Recommendation(s)
Staff recommends approval of Amendment to Cooperative Purchasing Agreement 2023-026 with
Interwest Safety Supply LLC, as presented
SUGGESTED MOTION
MOVE to approve the First Amendment to Cooperative Purchasing Agreement 2023-026 with
Interwest Safety Supply LLC, for signs and sign hardware in the amount of $100,000 annually.
Fiscal Impact
Fiscal Impact:$100,000
Budget Reference:N/A
Funding Source:Streets Fund
If Multiple Funds utilized, list here:N/A
Budgeted: if No, attach Budget Adjustment Form:N/A
Fiscal Impact:$100,000
Budget Reference:N/A
Funding Source:Streets Fund
If Multiple Funds utilized, list here:N/A
Budgeted: if No, attach Budget Adjustment Form:N/A
Attachments
Cooperative Purchasing Agreement
Underlying Agreement
Form Review
Inbox Reviewed By Date
Public Works Director (Originator)Justin Weldy 09/15/2023 04:27 PM
Finance Director David Pock 09/18/2023 07:10 AM
Town Attorney Aaron D. Arnson 09/18/2023 09:53 AM
Interim Town Manager Rachael Goodwin 09/25/2023 05:10 PM
Form Started By: Justin Weldy Started On: 09/06/2023 04:42 PM
Final Approval Date: 09/25/2023
1
Contract No. 2023-026.1
FIRST AMENDMENT TO COOPERATIVE PURCHASING AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
AND INTERWEST SAFETY SUPPLY, LLC THIS FIRST AMENDMENT TO COOPERATIVE PURCHASING AGREEMENT (this “First Amendment”) is entered into upon execution, between the Town of Fountain Hills, an
Arizona municipal corporation (the “Town”) and Interwest Safety Supply, Inc., a(n) Delaware
limited liability company (the “Contractor”). RECITALS
A. After a competitive procurement process (IFB No. P21-0063), the City of Peoria
(“City”) entered into Contract No. ACON19421, dated August 16, 2021, as amended (the “City Contract”), with the Contractor for the purchase Street Signs and Hardware. All of the capitalized terms not otherwise defined in this First Amendment have the same meanings as defined in the Contract.
B. The Town and the Contractor entered into a Cooperative Purchasing Agreement dated July 1, 2022, based upon the City Contract (the “Agreement”), for the purchase of Street Signs and Hardware (the “Materials and Services”). The terms of the Agreement are incorporated herein.
C. The Town has determined that it is necessary to extend the term of the Agreement and additional Materials and Services (the “Additional Materials and Services”) are necessary. D. The Town and the Contractor desire to enter into this First Amendment to (i)
increase the compensation authorized by the Agreement for the Additional Materials and Services,
(ii) allow for $100,000 as the amount not to exceed per term, and (iii) extent the term of the Agreement (Exhibit C). AGREEMENT
NOW, THEREFORE, in consideration of the foregoing introduction and recitals, which are incorporated herein by reference, the following mutual covenants and conditions, and other good and valuable consideration, the receipt and sufficiency of which are hereby acknowledged, the Town and the Contractor hereby agree as follows:
1. Compensation. The Town shall pay the Contractor an aggregate amount not to exceed $350,000 (including all renewals) for the Additional Materials and Services, which increased the contract amount by $300,000. The aggregate amount per renewal term shall not exceed $100,000 in
2
any case unless the Agreement is affirmed and ratified via an executed amendment. All remaining terms and conditions of the Agreement shall remain in full force and effect.
2. Term of Agreement. This Agreement shall be effective as of the date of execution and shall remain in full force and effect until August 15, 2024 (the “Initial Term”), unless terminated
as otherwise provided in this Agreement or the City Contract. After the expiration of the Initial Term,
this Agreement may be renewed for up to two successive one-year terms (the “Renewal Term”) if: (i) it is deemed in the best interests of the Town, subject to availability and appropriation of funds for renewal in each subsequent year, (ii) the term of the City Contract has not expired or has been extended, (iii) at least 30 days prior to the end of the then-current term of this Agreement, the Contractor requests,
in writing, to extend this Agreement for an additional one-year term and (iv) the Town approves the additional one-year term in writing (including any price adjustments approved as part of the City Contract), as evidenced by the Town Manager’s signature thereon, which approval may be withheld by the Town for any reason. The Contractor’s failure to seek a renewal of this Agreement shall cause this Agreement to terminate at the end of the then-current term of this Agreement; provided, however,
that the Town may, at its discretion and with the agreement of the Contractor, elect to waive this requirement and renew this Agreement. The Initial Term and any Renewal Term(s) are collectively referred to herein as the “Term.” Upon renewal, the terms and conditions of this Agreement shall remain in full force and effect.
3. Exhibit C is hereby incorporated by this reference.
4. Effect of Amendment. In all other respects, the Agreement is affirmed and ratified
and, except as expressly modified herein, all terms and conditions of the Agreement shall remain in full force and effect. 5. Non-Default. By executing this First Amendment, the Contractor affirmatively asserts that (i) the Town is not currently in default, nor has it been in default at any time prior to
this First Amendment, under any of the terms or conditions of the Agreement and (ii) any and all claims, known and unknown, relating to the Agreement and existing on or before the date of this First Amendment are forever waived. 6. Israel. Contractor certifies that it is not currently engaged in, and agrees for the
duration of this Agreement that it will not engage in a “boycott,” as that term is defined in Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 35-393, of Israel. 7. China. Pursuant to and in compliance with A.R.S. § 35-394, Vendor hereby agrees and certifies that it does not currently, and agrees for the duration of this Agreement that Vendor
will not, use: (1) the forced labor of ethnic Uyghurs in the People’s Republic of China; (2) any goods or services produced by the forced labor of ethnic Uyghurs in the People’s Republic of China; or (3) any contractors, subcontractors or suppliers that use the forced labor or any goods or services produced by the forced labor of ethnic Uyghurs in the People’s Republic of China. Vendor also hereby agrees to indemnify and hold harmless the Town, its officials, employees, and agents
from any claims or causes of action relating to the Town’s action based upon reliance upon this representation, including the payment of all costs and attorney fees incurred by the Town in defending such as action.
3
7. Conflict of Interest. This First Amendment and the Agreement may be cancelled by the Town pursuant to Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 38-511.
[SIGNATURES ON FOLLOWING PAGES]
EXHIBIT C TO
COOPERATIVE SERVICES AGREEMENT
BETWEEN THE TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS AND INTERWEST SAFETY SUPPLY, LLC
[Cooperative Term Extension] See following pages.
7/31/23 14:08 MST
07/31/2023
ITEM 9. G.
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
STAFF REPORT
Meeting Date: 10/03/2023 Meeting Type: Town Council Regular Meeting
Agenda Type: Regular Agenda Submitting Department: Administration
Prepared by: Linda Mendenhall, Town Clerk
Staff Contact Information: Aaron D. Arnson, Town Attorney
Request to Town Council Regular Meeting (Agenda Language): CONSIDERATION AND POSSIBLE
ACTION: Approval of an Employment Agreement between the Town of Fountain Hills and Rachael
Goodwin for the position of Town Manager.
Staff Summary (Background)
Rachael Goodwin has been serving as the Interim Town Manager since April 2023. Following direction
from the Town Council in executive session, the Town Attorney's office negotiated an employment
agreement with Ms. Goodwin to allow the Council to appoint her to the Town Manager position on a
permanent basis. The staff is pleased to present the Employment Agreement for the Council's
consideration and approval.
Related Ordinance, Policy or Guiding Principle
N/A
Risk Analysis
N/A
Recommendation(s) by Board(s) or Commission(s)
N/A
Staff Recommendation(s)
Staff recommends approval.
SUGGESTED MOTION
MOVE to approve the Employment Agreement between the Town of Fountain Hills and Rachael
Goodwin.
Attachments
Employment Agreement
Form Review
Inbox Reviewed By Date
Town Attorney Linda Mendenhall 09/21/2023 03:13 PM
Finance Director David Pock 09/21/2023 04:25 PM
Deputy Town Manager/Admin. Services David Trimble 09/25/2023 06:03 PM
Town Attorney Aaron D. Arnson 09/25/2023 09:07 PM
Form Started By: Linda Mendenhall Started On: 09/21/2023 03:04 PM
Final Approval Date: 09/25/2023
1
EMPLOYMENT AGREEMENT
BETWEEN
THE TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
AND RACHAEL GOODWIN
THIS EMPLOYMENT AGREEMENT (this “Agreement”) is made and entered into October 3, 2023, by and between the Town of Fountain Hills, an Arizona municipal corporation (the “Town”) and Rachael Goodwin (“Goodwin”). The Town and Town Manager are sometimes referred to herein collectively as the “Parties” or individually as a “Party.”
RECITALS
A.The Mayor and Council of the Town of Fountain Hills desire to engage theservices of Goodwin as Town Manager of the Town, as provided by A.R.S. § 9-239 and Article 3-1 of the Fountain Hills Town Code (the “Town Code”).
B.It is the desire of the Town to enter into this Agreement to provide certain benefits,to establish certain conditions of employment, and to set working conditions for Goodwin, and
it is the desire of Goodwin to provide the benefits of her training, experience, and expertise to
the Town.
C.The parties acknowledge that Goodwin is, or within 30 days of the effective dateof this Agreement will be, a member of the International City/County Management Association (“ICMA”), and that Goodwin is or will be subject to the ICMA Code of Ethics.
AGREEMENT
NOW, THEREFORE, in consideration of the foregoing recitals, which are hereby incorporated into and are deemed an integral part of this Agreement, the mutual covenants set forth below and other good and valuable consideration, the receipt and sufficiency of which are mutually acknowledged by the parties hereto, the Town and Goodwin hereby agree as follows:
1.Duties. Goodwin shall perform the functions and duties specified for the Town
Manager in the Town Code and applicable laws and to perform other legally permissible and
proper duties and functions as the Town Council shall from time-to-time assign. Goodwin shall
not be reassigned from the position of Town Manager to another position without her express, written consent.
2.Term. This Agreement shall be effective as of the date first set forth above andshall remain in full force and effect until terminated by either the Town or Goodwin as set forth in this Agreement. The Town and Goodwin agree that Goodwin shall continue her official duties
for the Town and, during the term of this Agreement, Goodwin shall be in the exclusive employ
of the Town and shall not accept other employment or carry out any other business except that
of the position of the Town Manager unless authorized to do so by the Town Council, in
writing, prior to Goodwin engaging in such other activity; provided, however, that any such
2
additional duties shall be conducted on Goodwin’s vacation time and without the use of Town resources or equipment.
3. Termination. This Agreement may be terminated by the Town with or without
cause at any time, subject only to subsection 3-1-1(E) of the Town Code and the severance
provisions set forth in subsections 3.1 and 3.2 of this Agreement. Except as otherwise set forth
in subsection 3.4, Goodwin may terminate this Agreement at any time, with or without cause,
upon not less than 30 days written notice to the Town Council.
3.1 Severance With Cause. If the Town Council terminates this Agreement
with cause, no severance pay will be paid to Goodwin unless otherwise approved by the Town Council in its sole discretion. For the purposes of this Agreement, “with cause” shall mean that the Town Council, at a duly posted public meeting, has determined that Goodwin has: (A) committed an act of gross insubordination by refusing to take a legal action that is within the scope of her employment when specifically directed to do so by a majority of the Town Council at a duly posted meeting, (B) been charged with a felony, a crime involving moral turpitude, or an act made criminal under Arizona Revised Statutes and that adversely affects the business or reputation of the Town, (C) either in her personal or professional capacity, severely damaged the
reputation of the Town or the Town Council, (D) materially failed to perform her duties as the
Town Manager as set forth in this Agreement, (E) caused or by gross negligence allowed any
practice, activity, decision or organizational circumstance that is either illegal or immoral, (F)
violated provisions of the ICMA Code of Ethics, or (G) committed malfeasance in office or
willful breach or habitual neglect of the duties described in subsection 3-1-l(H) of the Town
Code.
3.2 Severance Without Cause.
A.In the event the Town Council terminates this Agreement without
cause, Goodwin shall be entitled to severance pay in an amount equal to six months of her annual
base salary and benefits, in addition to pay out of accrued vacation and sick leave at the then-
current rates set forth for all Town employees in the Town’s personnel rules, at the time of such termination, but specifically excluding any payout for unused Management Leave as described in subsection 6.8 below. Payment of any such severance shall be contingent upon the following:
(1)Goodwin executing a severance agreement acceptable toboth parties, which shall include at least Goodwin’s: (a) full release of the Town and all its agents,
officers, and employees from any and all claims, including but not limited to, demands, damages,
causes of action or liability arising out of Goodwin’s employment or termination of employment with Town, (b) agreement not to initiate or cause to be initiated under any lawsuit, claim, grievance, proceeding, or investigation of any kind, under any contract, law, or regulation, pertaining to her employment with the Town, and (c) acknowledgement that the Town will
provide no more than neutral references for Goodwin, but that the Town may be required to
disclose any and all records related to such termination pursuant to a valid request for public records.
3
(2) Goodwin making herself reasonably available as needed by the Town for consulting purposes for a period of time equal to the number of months of severance paid.
B. It shall be deemed severance without cause if, at any time during
the term of this Agreement, the Town Council: (1) reduces Goodwin’s salary or other financial
benefits in a greater percentage than an applicable across-the-board reduction for all Town
employees, or (2) refuses to comply with a material term of this Agreement within 30 days after
written notice from Goodwin.
C. If Goodwin’s employment is terminated pursuant to this subsection 3.2, all benefits furnished by Town shall terminate on the date of termination of this Agreement. 3.3 Voluntary Resignation. In the event Goodwin voluntarily terminates this Agreement for any reason, she shall not be entitled to severance pay, unless otherwise approved by the Town Council in its sole discretion. 3.4 Forced Resignation. In the event of a suggestion, either formal or informal, by one or more members of the Town Council, including the Mayor, that she resign, Goodwin may require that the Mayor, Town Council, and Goodwin meet and discuss the matter in an effort to resolve any disagreement or misunderstanding that led to the suggestion of
resignation, subject to compliance with the Open Meeting Law and other applicable laws. If
Goodwin resigns following an offer to accept resignation by a majority of the Town Council,
whether formal or informal, then Goodwin is entitled to the same severance pay as set
forth in Section 3.2 Severance Without Cause as of the date of the acceptance.
4. Suspension. If the Town Council has determined that “for cause” termination is appropriate as set forth in subsection 3.1 above, the Town Council may, in its sole discretion, as an alternative to, or prior to, termination, suspend Goodwin with or without pay for a period of up to 30 days. 5. Disability. If Goodwin is permanently disabled or is otherwise unable to fulfill her duties hereunder due to sickness, accident, injury, health or mental incapacity for a period of four consecutive weeks beyond any accrued sick leave, or a minimum of 12 weeks as defined under the Family Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA) should said accrued sick leave be less
than twelve weeks, the Town shall have the option to terminate this Agreement. A termination
due to disability shall not be exercised unreasonably.
6. Compensation. 6.1 Salary. The Town agrees to pay Goodwin a base salary of $195,000.00, beginning with the first pay period immediately after the date on which this Agreement is effective, for services rendered pursuant to this Agreement, payable in installments at the same time as other management employees of the Town are paid. Goodwin’s base salary shall be
increased in each fiscal year by the 12-month Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers
4
(CPI-U). 6.2 Merit Pay Increases. The Town Council may, in its sole discretion,
increase the compensation paid to Town Manager by an additional amount to be determined by
the Town Council. Increased compensation may be in the form of a salary increase or other
compensation and/or benefits as determined by the Town Council.
6.3 Disability Health and Life Insurance. The Town agrees to provide life, accident, sickness, short- and long-term disability income benefits, major medical, hospitalization, surgical and comprehensive medical insurance, workers compensation and FMLA benefits in the same manner and at the same benefit level as is generally provided to all the Town employees.
6.4 Retirement and Deferred Compensation. The Town shall make
contributions to the Town’s ICMA 401 plans on Goodwin’s behalf in the same amount as
contributed for other management employees of the Town. Goodwin may, at her sole option and
expense, contribute to the Town’s existing ICMA-RC 457 plan account (any catch-up amounts permitted by the plan shall be made separately by Goodwin). Such contributions shall be in 26 equal bi-monthly installments. The Town further agrees to transfer ownership of Goodwin’s plan(s), to the extent permitted by law, to any succeeding employer in the event of Goodwin’s termination of employment, for any reason. 6.5 Cellular Telephone. The Town shall provide Goodwin a Town-issued
cellular telephone through which to conduct Town business.
6.6 Automobile. The Town shall provide Goodwin with a vehicle allowance of $600 per month.
6.7 Vacation and Sick Leave. Goodwin shall accrue vacation and sick leave at the same rate as granted other employees. Goodwin shall be compensated for unused vacation and sick leave upon termination according to the provisions of the Town’s then-current personnel rules relating thereto. 6.8 Management Leave. Upon the effective date of this Agreement, Goodwin shall be granted a prorated number of hours of Management Leave to be used at her discretion. Thereafter, Goodwin shall be granted, on July 1 of each year, 80 hours of Management Leave to be used at her discretion. Leave under this subsection 6.8 shall not accumulate from year to year,
and the unused portion shall be forfeited on June 30 of each year. This leave shall not be included
as a portion of Severance Pay as set forth in Section 3.2 above.
7. Performance Evaluation. The Town Council shall annually review and evaluate Goodwin's performance in or around October of each year. Goodwin’s review and evaluation shall be based upon: (i) success at fulfilling the reasonably achievable goals and performance objectives set forth by the Town Council in its annual retreat, (ii) personnel management, including overall management style and ability to lead and direct staff and ability to supervise
5
department heads, but specifically excluding any evaluation of Goodwin’s hiring and firing decisions with respect to individual staff members, (iii) obtainment of additional, reasonably achievable policy objectives and goals as set forth by a majority of the Town Council at a public meeting; provided, however, that such goals and objectives are generally obtainable within the
time allowed and within the limitations of the annual budget and (iv) professionalism, including
manner of addressing the Town Council, preparation of Council agendas and supporting material
and preparation and management of the annual budget.
8. Hours of Work. The Town Council recognizes that Goodwin is a salaried employee and must devote a great deal of time beyond the normal office hours to business of the Town and, to that end, Goodwin will be allowed to take reasonable time off as she shall deem appropriate during said normal office hours.
9. Dues and Subscriptions. The Town agrees to budget for and to pay for Goodwin’s
professional dues and subscriptions necessary for her continuation and full participation in
national, regional, state and local associations and organizations of which she is currently a
member or expected to be a member because of her position as Town Manager, and for other necessary and desirable expenses for her continued professional participation, growth, and advancement, and for the good of the Town, as the Town Council deems appropriate. This benefit shall not be included as a portion of Severance Pay as set forth in Section 3 above. 10. Professional Development.
10.1 Professional Associations. The Town hereby agrees to budget for and to pay for Goodwin’s travel expenses of professional and official travel, meetings, and occasions it deems necessary to continue her professional development and to adequately pursue necessary official functions for the Town, including but not limited to the ICMA annual conference, the Arizona City/County Management Association conferences, the League of Arizona Cities and
Towns annual conference, and such other national, regional, state, and local governmental groups and committees thereof on which Goodwin serves as a member. This benefit shall not be included as a portion of Severance Pay as set forth in Section 3 above. 10.2 Continuing Education. The Town also agrees to budget for and to pay for
Goodwin’s reasonable travel, registration and subsistence expenses for short courses, institutes
and seminars that it deems necessary for her professional development and for the good of the
Town. This benefit shall not be included as a portion of Severance Pay as set forth in Section 3
above. 11. Expenses. The Town recognizes that certain expenses of a non-personal and generally job-affiliated nature are periodically incurred by Goodwin. The Town agrees to: (A) reimburse or to pay said general expenses and (B) authorize the Finance Director or authorized
designee to disburse such monies upon receipt of duly executed expense or petty cash vouchers, receipts, statements or personal affidavits. 12. Civic Club Membership. The Town recognizes the desirability of representation in and before local civic and other organizations, and Goodwin is authorized to become a
6
member of such civic clubs or organizations the Town Council deems necessary and for which the Town shall pay all expenses. Goodwin shall report to the Town on each membership that she has taken out at the Town’s expense. 13. Indemnification. In addition to that required under state and local law, the Town shall defend, save harmless, and indemnify Goodwin from and against any tort, professional
liability claim, or demand or other legal action, whether groundless or otherwise, arising out of
an alleged act or omission occurring in the performance of Goodwin’s duties as prescribed by
the Town Code or separate directions of the Town Council.
14. Bonding. The Town shall bear the full cost of any fidelity or other bonds required of Goodwin under any law or ordinance.
15. Default; Cure. Failure or unreasonable delay by Goodwin or the Town to perform
or otherwise act in accordance with any term or provision hereof shall constitute a breach of this Agreement and, if the breach is not cured within 30 days after written notice thereof from the other party, shall constitute a default under this Agreement; provided, however, that if the failure is such that more than 30 days would reasonably be required to perform such action or comply
with any term or provision hereof, then the party shall have such additional time as may be
necessary to perform or comply so long as the party commences performance or compliance within 15 days after written notice and diligently proceeds to complete such performance or fulfill such obligation (the “Cure Period”); provided further, however, that no such cure period shall exceed 90 days, unless otherwise agreed to, in writing, by the parties. Any notice of a
breach shall specify the nature of the alleged breach and the manner in which said breach may
be satisfactorily cured, if possible. In the event a breach is not cured within the Cure Period, the non-defaulting party shall have all rights and remedies which may be available under law or equity.
16. Notices and Requests. Any notice or other communication required or permitted
to be given under this Agreement shall be in writing and shall be deemed to have been duly
given if: (i) delivered to the party at the address set forth below, (ii) deposited in the U.S. Mail,
registered or certified, return receipt requested, to the address set forth below or (iii) given to a recognized and reputable overnight delivery service, to the address set forth below: If to the Town: Town of Fountain Hills 16705 East Avenue of the Fountains Fountain Hills, Arizona 85268 Attn: Mayor
With copy to: Town of Fountain Hills 16705 East Avenue of the Fountains Fountain Hills, Arizona 85268 Attn: Town Attorney
7
If to Goodwin: Rachael Goodwin
Fountain Hills, Arizona 85268
or at such other address, and to the attention of such other person or officer, as any party may designate in writing by notice duly given pursuant to this Section. Notices shall be deemed received: (i) when delivered to the party, (ii) three business days after being placed in the U.S. Mail, properly addressed, with sufficient postage or (iii) the following business day after being given to a recognized overnight delivery service, with the person giving the notice paying all required charges and instructing the delivery service to deliver on the following business day. If a copy of a notice is also given to a party's counsel or other recipient, the provisions above governing the date on which a notice is deemed to have been received by a party shall mean and
refer to the date on which the party, and not its counsel or other recipient to which a copy of the
notice may be sent, is deemed to have received the notice.
17. Waiver. No delay in exercising any right or remedy shall constitute a waiver thereof, and no waiver by the Town or Goodwin of the breach of any covenant of this Agreement shall be construed as a waiver of any preceding or succeeding breach of the same or any other
covenant or condition of this Agreement.
18. Attorneys’ Fees. In the event either party finds it necessary to bring any action at law or other proceeding against the other party to enforce any of the terms, covenants or conditions hereof, or by reason of any breach or default hereunder, the party prevailing in such action or other proceeding shall be paid all reasonable costs and reasonable attorneys’ fees by the other party and, in the event any judgment is secured by said prevailing party, all such costs and attorneys’ fees shall be included therein, with such fees to be set by the court and not by
jury.
19. Headings. The descriptive headings of the sections of this Agreement are inserted
for convenience only and shall not control or affect the meaning or construction of any of the
provisions hereof.
20. Further Acts. Each of the parties hereto shall execute and deliver all such
documents and perform all such acts as reasonably necessary, from time to time, to carry out the
matters contemplated by this Agreement.
21. Time of the Essence. Time is of the essence in this Agreement.
22. Assignment. This Agreement may not be assigned, in whole or in part. 23. Entire Agreement. This Agreement constitutes the entire agreement between the parties hereto pertaining to the subject matter hereof. All prior and contemporaneous agreements, representations and understandings of the parties, oral or written, are hereby superseded and merged herein. 24. Amendment. No amendment or waiver of any provision in this Agreement will
8
be binding: (i) on the Town unless and until it has been approved by the Town Council and has become effective or (ii) on Goodwin unless and until it has been executed by Goodwin or her authorized representative. 25. Governing Law. This Agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Arizona, and suit pertaining to this Agreement may be brought only in courts in Maricopa County, Arizona. 26. Severability. Every provision of this Agreement is and will be construed to be a
separate and independent covenant. If any provision in this Agreement or the application of the
same is, to any extent, found to be invalid or unenforceable, then the remainder of this
Agreement or the application of that provision to circumstances other than those to which it is
invalid or unenforceable, will not be affected by that invalidity or unenforceability. Each
provision in this Agreement will be valid and will be enforced to the extent permitted by law and the parties will negotiate in good faith for such amendments of this Agreement as may be necessary to achieve its intent, notwithstanding such invalidity or unenforceability. 27. Covenant of Good Faith. In exercising their rights and in performing their obligations pursuant to this Agreement, the parties will cooperate with one another in good faith
to ensure the intent of this Agreement can be attained. The Town and its Town Council shall not unreasonably withhold appropriation authority to fund the salary, benefits and other provisions of this Agreement. 28. Conflict of Interest. This Agreement may be cancelled by the Town pursuant to ARIZ. REV. STAT. § 38-511. 29. Counsel Assistance; Fair Interpretation.
29.1 Counsel for Goodwin. Goodwin has either been assisted by counsel in
connection with the preparation and execution of this Agreement or has chosen to forego such
legal representation despite a recommendation from the Town that Goodwin seek advice from
legal counsel.
29.2 Counsel for Town. The Town has been assisted by counsel of its own
choosing in connection with the preparation and execution of this Agreement.
29.3 Fair Interpretation. This Agreement shall be construed according to the
fair meaning of its language. The rule of construction that ambiguities shall be resolved against
the party who drafted a provision shall not be employed in interpreting this Agreement.
30. Non-Default. By executing this Agreement, Goodwin affirmatively asserts that:
(i) the Town is not currently in default, nor has been in default at any time prior to this Agreement,
under any of the terms or conditions of the Employment Agreement and (ii) any and all claims,
known or unknown relating to the Employment Agreement and existing on or before the date of
this Agreement are forever waived.
9
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the parties have executed this Agreement on the day
and year first set forth above.
“Town” TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS, an Arizona municipal corporation
________________________________ Ginny Dickey, Mayor of Fountain Hills
ATTEST: ________________________________
Linda Mendenhall, Town Clerk
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
________________________________ Aaron D. Arnson, Town Attorney
“Goodwin”
Rachael Goodwin, Town Manager By: __________________________