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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2024.1001.TCRM.Minutes
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING OF THE FOUNTAIN HILLS TOWN COUNCIL October 1, 2024
A Regular Meeting of the Fountain Hills Town Council was convened at 16705 E. Avenue of the Fountains in open and public session at 5:30 p.m.
Members Present: Mayor Ginny Dickey: Vice Mayor Brenda J. Kalivianakis; Councilmember Gerry Friedel; Councilmember Peggy McMahon; Councilmember Hannah Toth; Councilmember Allen Skillicorn
Staff Present: Deputy Town Manager David Trimble; Town Attorney Aaron D. Arnson; Town Clerk Angela Padgett-Espiritu
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
OCTOBER 1, 2024 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES
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Post-Production File
Town of Fountain Hills
Town Council Meeting Minutes
October 1, 2024
Transcription Provided By:
eScribers, LLC
* * * * *
Transcription is provided in order to facilitate communication accessibility and may not
be a totally verbatim record of the proceedings.
* * * * *
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OCTOBER 1, 2024 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES
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MAYOR DICKEY: Good evening, everyone. Please stand for the pledge and if you'd like
to remain standing 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 Pastor John Koczman here? Yes, for Trinity Lutheran. Hi.
KOCZMAN: Yes. I'm Pastor John Koczman from Trinity Lutheran Church here in
Fountain Hills on the corner of Palisades and Fountain Hills Boulevard. And in
November, it will be three years that I've had the privilege of living here. And I want to
say on behalf of myself and the family of Trinity Lutheran Church, thank you, to you for
serving and for giving to our community. And we truly do appreciate that.
I wanted to share a devotional thought on the subject of wisdom. And where better
else to go than to the brother of our -- our Lord Jesus Christ, who in James 3:13 says,
"Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct, let him show his
works in the meekness of wisdom." I had the privilege of being at my 50-year college
reunion. The one thing I learned, of course, is that wisdom is not come from academia.
Intellect comes from that place, and I'm thankful for that and celebrated that.
But wisdom is a gift from God. So James also said in Chapter 1:5, "If any of you lacks
wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach. And it will be
given to him." That's what I love about God. He gives us that wisdom. But He doesn't
give us for our self-gain or purpose. And He gives it so that we can be of service to
others. So that we can help a community like ours here at Fountain Hills to live in peace
and unity together. Maybe not always unanimity, but unity. And I thank you again for
that. And I would ask for the privilege to open now in a word of prayer.
Heavenly Father, I thank you for these, our elected officials and leaders. I pray Father
that you would bless them with great wisdom tonight, not for the sake of themselves,
but for the sake of the community which you've called them to serve. Be a blessing and
be present. Be to us that source of wisdom. We ask it in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Again, thank you.
MAYOR DICKEY: Roll call, please.
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TOWN CLERK: Mayor Dickey?
MAYOR DICKEY: Here.
TOWN CLERK: Vice Mayor Kalivianakis?
KALIVIANAKIS: Here.
TOWN CLERK: Councilmember Friedel?
FRIEDEL: Present.
TOWN CLERK: Councilmember McMahon?
MCMAHON: Here.
TOWN CLERK: Councilmember Toth?
TOTH: Here.
TOWN CLERK: Councilmember Skillicorn?
SKILLICORN: Here.
TOWN CLERK: All right. Thank you. And I will read the statement of participation.
Anyone wishing to address the Council regarding items listed on the agenda or under
the 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. 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 a 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.
MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you, Angela. Tonight we have the pleasure of Dave Trimble.
And I don't know if you have a report or not. But he's here for our meeting.
TRIMBLE: Thank you, Mayor. No report tonight. Happy to be here pinch-hitting for
Rachel.
MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. Apropos metaphor there. Hannah?
TOTH: Hi. Well, we had quite a few different events in town. One being, of course, the
homecoming game. I'm very sorry to our Falcons that it didn't turn out as we wanted,
but it was still wonderful to see everyone there.
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One thing that I want to bring to the attention of the residents is that, you know, last
meeting the Council chose to leave our council seat vacant that is currently vacant. And
we, unfortunately, now have some attention on our town from Representatives Kolodin
and Chaplik, who wrote a letter to say when a vacancy occurred on the Fountain Hills
Town Council, it deadlocked with respect to filling the vacancy via vote on September
17th, 2024.
The Council has not agendized the filling of the vacancy for October. As a consequence,
it does not appear that the Town Council will ever fill this vacancy as it is compelled to
do by law, but will simply wait until the winner of the election takes office. A.R.S.
Section 9-235, however, states the Council shall fill a vacancy that may occur -- shall fill a
vacancy. Accordingly, the Council has no discretion to wait until the voters fill the
vacancy. But rather is required to fill the vacancy itself, pending the voters chosen
candidate taking office.
It's really unfortunate that our Council has devolved to this point, but I felt the need to
include it in my report as the community should be aware.
FRIEDEL: Thank you, Mayor. We did have a busy session between the last meeting. We
had our Oktoberfest here at the -- first time, I think, we've had it at the Community
Center and the Centennial Plaza. So I was there working with the Elks Lodge in town
serving meals and it was a lot of fun and pretty well attended.
We also had the Fountain of Lights ceremony right outside Town Hall here. I want to
thank Bart Shea for his contribution. I see you out there in the audience. Thank you for
your contribution to the base of that display.
I also attended the Aid to Women Shelter. It was a big fundraiser down in Phoenix while
I was in between meetings. I also attended the Fountain Hills Leadership Academy
where the mayor spoke on know your government. We also had a State of the County
by Tom Galvin and that was pretty interesting. He gave us a lot of facts and figures and
what's happening in our county. We have a very successful county. They have a very
healthy budget, as we found out.
And then I went on a couple of business retention development calls with Amanda
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Jacobs. We went to CrossFit Fountain Hills, which was really cool. If you haven't been
there, you got to stop by there. They have quite a workout routine there.
And then today we went to ADERO Scottsdale, where we met with David Barnett.
There's no owners -- new ownership happening up there. And they're really interested
in doing a lot with the town. So we're looking forward to a good partnership with them
and working on things in the future to help them and the town. Thank you.
MCMAHON: I thought that we -- when we're asked to come up here or asked to speak,
it's on statement of participation. And I object your very inappropriate comments. It
was nothing to do with your participation. And I -- I don't think it's appropriate for you
to take advantage of the situation like that.
I'm going to be brief. I also attended the Chamber State of the County. It was excellent
to learn how healthy Maricopa County is. I have attended our dementia-friendly
committee meeting and we are planning for another successful summit in February.
The East -- the Valley Metro Board meeting updated finances. East Valley Partnership
infrastructure committee meeting where we talked about the freeways and the
additions and the need to vote in Proposition 420 -- 479. The Fountain Hills Women's
Club, we had a great Oktoberfest this weekend. It was really, really fun. It was in the
new -- new Centennial Circle that worked out really, really well. And it was good to have
it inside because it was so hot. And also -- I also attended the Fountain of Lights
ceremony and it is a beautiful fountain. It is -- if you haven't been and walked by it yet
at night, it is very, very pretty. It's on Avenue on the Fountain just outside Town Hall.
Thank you.
MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you.
KALIVIANAKIS: Thank you, Ms. Mayor. Thank you, everybody, for being here tonight. I
noticed we have kind of a light crowd tonight. So I guess baseball playoffs take
precedence over town council meetings. I'd like to greet everybody on Cox, Channel 11,
You Tube, of course, in person, and livestreaming to our town council meeting tonight,
where we discuss the town's business.
Thursday, September 19th, I also attended the State of the County Breakfast given by
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the Maricopa County Supervisor who's currently the chairman -- vice-chairman of the
board. He gave a very optimistic report on the state of Maricopa County. It was a
wonderful thing to hear, all the great things that they're doing. I won't recount them
here because there's -- they're too numerous. But it was a good -- it was a good report.
And thank to the Chamber of Commerce for sponsoring that.
We also did the Fountain Hills Leadership Academy, Know Your Government, two weeks
ago -- but since last council meeting -- where all of our town staff, the mayor, town
manager, and all of our staff, gave presentations to the future leaders of our town. The
Leadership Academy is a very important component to our town. It's a pipeline to our
future leaders, a pipeline to our commissions, our boards, our town council, and
possibly the Mayor's Office. And so I support that.
This week is going to be the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation tour, I helped put that one
together. And I will be attending that session with the class this week. Again,
Wednesday, September 25th, we did have the Fountain of Lights ceremony. Thanks
once again, to Brian Schrader, the artist, for doing a great job and adding such a
beautiful addition to our town.
Like Gerry said, I want to thank Bart Shea for his generous -- one more generous
contribution to our town. That's what it's all about. And we really appreciate that kind
of community (indiscernible).
The 26th, I had the pleasure -- since the mayor was busy -- to conduct the state -- go to
the Aesthetic Elegance and Wellness and do the ribbon cutting ceremony. It's on
Avenue of the Fountains. And it's kind of a beauty boutique, a lot of the procedures
they do there, it's developing a more beautiful you on the inside and out. And so if you
haven't stopped by, talked -- go there, talk to Ellie, she's a wonderful person.
I did go on the 26th -- the same day -- after the ribbon cutting, to the school board
forum that was at the Chamber of Commerce too. There, we got to hear from the
candidates that are running. We are extremely fortunate in this town to have such a
great talent pool for our school board. Dr. Rich Rutkowski, Dr. Anne Evans, and Kim
Duckworth, who's a concerned mom that has children in the school district, all shared
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their thoughts about the school district. And those are three winners, we can't go
wrong. So I'm really glad people are stepping up and volunteering for school board.
I went to the Oktoberfest ceremony, which was the 27th and the 28th. And we tapped
the keg, played a lot of music, ate good food, and then recreated. It was a wonderful
time. Normally it's held down at the lake and it kind of services, more Scottsdale, Mesa,
Gilbert, we scaled it down this year. It was at the Community Center in the pavilion --
the Centennial Pavilion. And I kind of liked it better. It was more intimate. It was
pretty much town -- Fountain Hills resident centric, which I really appreciated. And it
was charming. And so that was good. I hope we keep doing it there.
Lastly, as everyone knows I play for the Desert Valley Winds Band. And we have two
gigs coming up. On December 7th, we're going to have a Pearl Harbor Remembrance,
it's going to be at the Community Center. I hope everyone can come out and join us.
We're going to play music to remember the day that we lost so many brave souls. And
then our band was also selected to play at Munch and Music this Spring. So that date's
to be determined but I talked to the organizer yesterday and that's a done deal. So
anyway, that's my report. Thank you, Ms. Mayor.
SKILLICORN: Thank you, Madam Mayor. Actually, I just want to point out, if anyone
missed the Oktoberfest, this was last weekend, there's another one going on at Desert
Canyon Golf Club the 19th and 20th of this month. And there's plenty of events coming
up, obviously, this is the season that we treasure here when it's not nicer weather. So
that's all I have for tonight.
MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. Yeah, everybody is talking about the weather. But I think
the Oktoberfest was fun and kind of authentic under the -- under the tent like that.
Leadership Town Hall Day was great. Everybody had such a varied and impressive
background. The new leadership class VIII went to most of the events everybody was
talking about. I was able to do the ballet welcome. And what I like about that is then I
can do kind of what you were saying about all the -- all the events coming. So I could do
this -- there was a lot of people there. So I could sort of do a commercial for Fountain
Hills events.
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I went to the MAG Regional Council, which they have 25 years of the Domestic Violence
Council -- Awareness Council -- and Gerry's going to make that proclamation. I didn't
realize it was 25 whole years. They also did a first things first childcare focus on working
parents and what they're trying to do in the state there.
AZMAG so azmag.org, is a really comprehensive -- it's the MAG website -- and you can
go to the meetings and then they have all the presentations. Specifically was about air
quality, which was something we were talking about getting downgraded,
unfortunately. So the efforts that they're putting forth to try to mitigate that, because
outcomes of getting a downgrade -- it wasn't just ozone, but also particulates will affect,
you know, the chip factories and all of the economic development that we're seeing in
Chandler and some of these other big cities. So it's important for us to try to get our
arms around that.
I have several proclamations but I'm going to mention -- I don't have a proclamation for
it -- but that October is breast cancer awareness month. I also want to mention that
starting tomorrow at sundown is Rosh Hashanah, which is the Jewish New Year. You
can find all the information. You're invited to an event there, it's
jewishfountainhills.com. And then of course want to mention that our thoughts are
with all those that are affected by the devastation happening today and also in the past
year and more.
And then, like I said, we'll do the proclamation. I'm going to go down there, I'll present.
We have Arts and Humanities Month. We have Community Planning Month, Fire
Prevention Week, and then Gerry will do the Domestic Violence Awareness Month --
October, so.
Barb, you're up. Barb Hansen from the theater. I'm going to start with Arts and
Humanities.
So whereas the nation's 120,000 nonprofit arts organizations, the National Endowment
for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the nation's 4,500 local arts
agencies and communities across the country and the Arts and Humanities Councils of
the 50 State and the 6 U.S. -- this is a mouthful -- U.S. jurisdictionals and districts, have
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regularly issued official proclamations on an annual basis designating October as
National Arts and Humanities Month. And whereas cities and states have celebrated
the value and importance of culture in the lives of Americans and the health of thriving
communities during National Arts and Humanities Month for nearly 30 years. And
whereas the humanities help diverse communities across the United States explore
their history and culture and the arts and humanities embody much of the accumulated
wisdom, intellect -- we just were talking about that, right -- and imagination of
humankind, enhance the enrichment and the lives of Americans and play a unique role,
our families, communities, and country.
And whereas the nation's arts and culture sector, which includes nonprofit, commercial,
and education is an 877-billion-dollar industry that supports 4.6 million jobs
representing 4.2 percent of the nation's economy, a larger share of GDP than sectors
such as agriculture, transportation, and utilities, and boasts a 33-billion-dollar
international trade surplus. And whereas the nonprofits arts industry alone generates
27 billion dollars in government revenue, 166 billion in economic activity, annually,
including spending by attendees to arts events of $31 per person per event, beyond the
cost of admission on items such as meals, parking, and lodging, making the arts a vital
income source for local businesses. So therefore, I, Ginny Dickey, Mayor of the town, do
hereby proclaim the month of October 2024 as National Arts and Humanities Month
and call upon our community members to celebrate and promote the arts and culture in
our nation to specifically encourage greater participation in the arts and humanities in
cities and towns. So there we go. And you have to say something. Okay?
HANSEN: On behalf of Val Stasik, President of the Board, of which I am a member -- for
many years -- we're very appreciative. And I think our town is so lucky to have what we
have as far as the arts, particularly our wonderful theater.
MAYOR DICKEY: I agree with that.
HANSEN: Thank you very much.
MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you.
HANSEN: Thank you.
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MAYOR DICKEY: Hold on, you got to get a picture.
Our next one is -- oh, shoot -- okay, this is the community planning month. And I think
Farhad is coming up to get this one. Thank you. You're wearing your purple. That's
good. You get the honors there and I'll read it.
So whereas change is constant and affects all cities, town, suburbs, counties, boroughs,
townships, rural areas and other places, and whereas community planning can help
manage this change in a way that provides better choices for how people work and live.
And whereas community planning provides an opportunity for all residents to be
meaningfully involved in making choices that determine the future of their community.
And whereas the full benefits of planning requires public officials and citizens who
understand, support, and require excellence in planning and plan implementation,
whereas the month of October is designated as National Community Planning month
throughout the U.S. and its territories. And the American Planning Association endorses
National Community Planning Month as an opportunity to publicly recognize a
participation and dedication of the members of planning, citizen planners, and
commissions who have contributed their time and expertise to the improvement of the
town.
And we recognize that many valuable contributions made by the professional
community and regional planners of the town of Fountain Hills and extend our heartfelt
thanks for the continued commitment to public service by these professionals.
Therefore, I, Ginny Dickey, Mayor of the town of Fountain , in conjunction with the
celebration of National Community Planning Month, hereby do proclaim the month of
October as Community Planning Month. Thank you. Okay. You going to say a few
words?
TAVASSOLI: Yep.
MAYOR DICKEY: All right.
TAVASSOLI: Well, thank you, Madam Mayor. I just have a few words here to share. So
as we gather to celebrate Community Planning Month, we recognize the vital role that
planning plays in shaping the future of our communities. Planning is not just about
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zoning laws or building regulations. It's about envisioning a better future. It's about
ensuring that our neighborhoods are vibrant, safe, and resilient. From economic
development and transportation to housing and protection of our most treasured
natural resources, planning is at the forefront of our -- of addressing the challenges and
opportunities that lie ahead.
This year, as we continue to navigate the changes brought about by continuous growth,
the importance of thoughtful and comprehensive planning has never been more
evident. Let us commit to supporting and engaging in the planning process. Together,
we can create communities that reflect our shared values and aspirations. Thank you
and happy Community Planning Month.
MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Clayton (ph.). All right. Okay. Last one for
this spot is Fire Prevention Week. And that'll be Chief Ott. Whereas Fountain Hills is
committed to ensuring the safety and security of all those living in and visiting our town,
fire is a serious public safety concern, both locally and nationally. And home is where
people are at greatest risk from fire. Home fires killed more than 2,700 people in the
United States in 2022 and fire departments responded to 360,000 home fires. Whereas
roughly three out of five fire deaths happen in homes with either no smoke alarm or
with no working smoke alarms, which cuts the risk of dying in half. Whereas smoke
alarms alert you to danger in the event of fire, in which you may have as little as two
minutes to escape.
The residents should install smoke alarms in every sleeping room, outside each separate
sleeping area, and on every level of the home. And residents should make sure their
smoke alarms meet the needs of all their family members, including those with sensory
or physical disabilities and should test smoke test alarms at least once a month. And
whereas residents who have planned and practiced a home fire escape are more likely
to survive and whereas first responders are dedicated to reducing the occurrence of
fires and injuries through prevention and protection education. And residents are
responsive and able to take steps to increase their safety.
And whereas the 2024 Fire Prevention Week theme smoke alarms, make them work for
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you, serves to remind us of the importance of having working alarms in the home.
Therefore, I, Ginny Dickey, Mayor, do hereby proclaim October 6th through 12, 2024, as
Fire Prevention Week, throughout the town and urge all to make sure their homes have
smoke alarms and to support the many public safety activities and efforts of Fountain
Hills Fire and Emergency Services.
OTT: Thanks for this. It has been quite a few years that we've been doing this here.
And I did start my career in fire prevention a long time ago. And sadly, the stats don't
really change that much. We're progressing, we're doing things, we're requiring fire
sprinklers. But in the areas that are really dependent on smoke alarms to -- to save
people's lives, the stats haven't really changed. I can pull up an article probably once a
week where somebody has died in a fire because the smoke alarms didn't work. So
maybe at some point, we'll get past that and be able to not have such high numbers,
but. Thank you.
MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. We appreciate what you do, of course. Thank you, Chief.
FRIEDEL: So for those that don't know, I serve on the Regional Domestic Violence
Council for -- for Fountain Hills as their representative. Just a couple of notes about
domestic violence. We saw a big increase during the COVID years and those numbers
really haven't gone down because there's been an influx of population here in Maricopa
County. So the numbers are still rising. The town takes it seriously. We have a voucher
program that we have set up for anybody that's in a situation like that and they need to
have a place to go to. And also, on Wednesday nights in October, the town will be
having the fountain turn purple and also cloak the Town Hall in purple lighting, as well.
So with that, I'll read this proclamation. And then, Bob, if you want to get a picture of
the Mayor and I, that would be great.
Okay. Proclamation for Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Whereas home should
be a place of warmth, unconditional love, tranquility, and security, and whereas for
most of us, home and family can indeed be counted among our greatest blessings. And
whereas tragedy for many Americans, these blessings are -- these are blessings that are
tarnished by violence and fear, and whereas women, men, young children, and the
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elderly are all counted among victims of domestic violence. And whereas domestic
violence is a major contributor to homelessness, particularly among women and
children, and whereas physical injury and deaths occur, and emotional scars are often
permanent and whereas law enforcement officials, shelters, hotline services, healthcare
providers, the clergy, and concerned citizens are helping in the effort to end domestic
violence and whereas we must recognize the compassion and dedication of all these
volunteers and professionals, applaud their efforts and increase public understanding of
this important problem. Now therefore, I, Ginny Dickey, Mayor of the Town of Fountain
Hills, Arizona, do hereby proclaim the month of October as Domestic Violence
Awareness Month in Fountain Hills and urge all citizens to observe this month by
becoming aware of the tragedy of domestic violence and supporting our community
efforts in working towards its end. Thank you.
MAYOR DICKEY: Good job. Thanks. We appreciate you. You know, these
proclamations -- we get requests and we like to honor them when we can. And a lot of
times we'll get folks who want to come and get them. But we're happy to do them even
if someone can't come. So thank you.
Next, we have a presentation from our Chief Financial Officer, Paul Soldinger. And the
floor is yours.
SOLDINGER: Great. Excuse me. Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and
councilmembers. Tonight, I'll just be doing a brief presentation just to give you
information on our fiscal year 2024, quarter four-, and full-year revenues. Most of the
presentation will be positive. But there are some headwinds to consider for this current
fiscal year that I'll discuss in depth.
So our total net taxable activity, which is basically just all of the TPT filers filing their TPT
sales tax returns to the State of Arizona through ADOR, that amount for fiscal year 2024
for the fourth quarter was 194 million. It was actually a decrease from the same period
from the prior year, but that year that quarter had a bit of high activity that was
uncommon. So it really was a strong quarter because if you go back two years, it was
still a $20.4 million increase from that two-year ago period.
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And just real briefly, about our total TPT collections. Our TPT -- our local sales taxes --
just for everyone's information -- if you don't know, it's our largest source of revenue as
a town. It's about 55 percent of our total revenues per year. The fourth quarter local
sales tax collections came at -- came in at 5.39 million, which was $1.2 million more than
projected. Also, fourth quarter overall collections were $278,000 more than the prior
year fourth quarter, an increase of 5.4 percent.
You'll see at the bottom of your screen that our collections actually slightly decreased
from the prior fiscal year, but like I mentioned, there was some large construction
activity on fiscal year 2023 that kind of accounted for that increase in the prior year.
Overall, fiscal year 2024 was a strong year of local sales tax revenues that stayed
consistent after a large increase two years ago. If you see on your screen, from fiscal
year '22 to '23, it was about a 17 percent increase in those tax revenues two years prior.
So it's good to see that they're stable -- staying consistent in fiscal year 2024.
This bar graph on your screen breaks down that total revenue of 20.5 million by
category. So as you can see, there's different categories, construction, utilities, retail,
restaurants and bars, real estate services and miscellaneous. Just some things to note.
Our construction revenues have shown resilient growth over the past two fiscal years.
As you can see on your screen, it was right around $2 million a year, is what we were
bringing in. But the last two years, we were bringing in closer to three -- three to three
and a half million dollars. So there has been a substantial increase in construction
activity in our town.
Utilities and retail have kind of consistently grown. But restaurants and services have
started to show a little bit of contraction in fiscal year 2024. Those revenues have gone
down a bit. And I'll discuss those further in my presentation.
Real estate showed continued growth as well, but that is the category where we're
going to lose significant amount of that revenue starting in January, in just a few
months. We're losing a little bit more than half of that revenue every fiscal year, so I'll
talk about that, as well. And please stop me if you have any questions as we go along.
Retail sales, the town's fourth quarter retail sales collections came in at 2.78 million,
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which was $190,000 more than projected. Also fourth quarter overall collections were
$24,000 more than the prior year, fourth quarter.
You'll see at the bottom of your screen that our retail collections increased by 1.8
percent from the prior year. While it's positive to see growth, like I mentioned, there
are some headwinds within that amount to consider in this category which I'll break
down on the next few slides.
So when we look at retail sales taxes, if we take out the food sales, we see a little bit of a
different picture. There was still -- as you see on the bottom of your screen -- there was
still a 1 percent increase for the full fiscal year. And the town collected $8.5 million for
that full year compared to the previous year of $8.4 million. But if you get down a little
bit more into the nitty gritty and you consider kind of the micro -- or the micro-
economics where the differences within the certain categories within that amount.
There's also a remote sellers category. And you can see at the bottom of your screen,
our remote sellers sales tax has gone up quite a bit, also 14 percent. So that's really the
crux of the increases of our retail sales increases. If you take out that and the food tax,
our actual in-town retail sales taxes have slightly dipped.
So this may --
MAYOR DICKEY: Paul. Paul.
SOLDINGER: Oh, yes.
MAYOR DICKEY: What's the purpose of removing those things -- those items -- as far as,
you know, what is the meaning of that?
SOLDINGER: I actually got a request from a local businessperson to break that out. And
they thought it might be interesting information. And I thought it would be helpful to
see that. Because when I looked at it myself, you know, it kind of did tell the story that
there are more people spending money online, there's a little bit less people spending
money in our town. So it's important, I think, for Council and Mayor to know, in this
presentation. Thank you for the question.
So as we talked about already, construction sales tax has been resilient these past two
fiscal years. As you can see, the town collected $782,000 in the fourth quarter of fiscal
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year 2024, which was $412,000 more than projected, and an increase of $224,000 with
the same period in the prior year. But please keep in mind, as I mentioned, there
were -- as you see on the screen -- there was an audit collection fiscal year '23. That
was one of the large taxable activities that happened within construction. We also had
another large taxable transaction, fiscal year '23. So just keep that in mind that that is a
bit skewed. And fiscal year '24, while not quite as high, it went down by seven percent
compared to fiscal year '23, it was still very strong, very resilient, as far as compared to
the prior years before that.
MAYOR DICKEY: How often do we do audits?
SOLDINGER: Yeah. So that's a great question, Mayor and Council. We contract our
sales tax auditor services. So we -- we pay a monthly fee to -- over 15 years to a
company that had significant experience working for the Arizona Department of
Revenue, conducting sales tax audits. So they do audits on an ongoing basis. The
town's really, actually, pretty hands-off. It's them evaluating, doing risk assessments.
They do request information from the town at times about business license information
and things of that nature, so they can compare to the revenues coming in. But they're
the ones conducting the sales tax audits and they work through the Arizona Department
of Revenue to complete those audits.
MAYOR DICKEY: And then so this spike, how often will we expect that to happen?
SOLDINGER: Mayor, Council, we get a few sales tax decision -- sales tax audit
decisions -- per year. This was a larger one than most. Some of them can -- I mean,
they're random -- they could be a lot smaller. So it just depends on the year. And that's
all confidential taxpayer information that I can't release.
Utilities and communications, it's pretty consistent. You'll see that it's risen a bit above
projections. We collected $355,000 in the fourth quarter of the last year, which is about
57,000 more than projected.
Real estate, you'll also see the real estate tax collections have shown steady increases
above projections, but this is the category where the town will be losing a significant
revenue stream starting in January in just a few months, which I'll go into on the next
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slide. Specifically because of the State's recent elimination of the long-term residential
rental sales taxes, the town will no longer receive that revenue, which is more than half
of this category, in a few months. For fiscal year 2024, the town collected about $1.35
million in this category, increase of 7.4 percent from the prior -- prior year.
So I just, you know, we talked about it during the budget season. We talked about how
much we may be losing. I want to kind of provide you the information on the actual
revenues we received the last three fiscal years in this category. So within the rental
category, we've collected between 540 to 769,000 dollars per year of this revenue,
which we'll no longer receive.
We've already considered that in our fiscal year 2025 budget that we're in now and we'll
also consider that in our fiscal year 2026 budget. But I thought it'd be important to just
highlight this information for you. Almost done.
Restaurants and bars, I think it's important just to see this information, that our
restaurants and bars in town, our sales tax revenues have gone down. Fiscal year 2024
was a decrease of 4.3 percent compared to the prior year. So I don't have all the
statistics in front of me at this time, but essentially there -- this could be an indication of
a slowing economy, people eating out less at our restaurants. It could be related to
restaurant closures -- I'm just speculating at this point on that. But something to keep in
mind. People are eating out less within our town.
And lastly, for sales taxes, our services category, it's also showing headwinds. Although
the town -- you'll see that big spike towards the right of your graph. We had a big
month a couple months ago where we brough in a lot -- a substantial amount of sales
tax revenue in this category. The town actually received less revenues in this category
compared to the prior year. It went down by 3.2 percent. So this category is basically
hotel, short-term rentals, golf, leisure type activities. So it could be another indication
of a possibly slowing economy, people spending less money on -- on leisure type
activities. And that's all I have for sales tax. Any questions before I finish on state
shared revenues?
SKILLICORN: CFO donor. I'm just kind of curious or, you know, this is a little bit
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conflicting stuff. Obviously, we're doing very well with the Wayfarer Collection. But I'm
actually kind of surprised -- I would have thought -- because with inflation, prices are
higher and since we're paying -- or you know, sales tax is a percentage of what people
pay at the stores, it does the people are, you know, spending or buying less at the
stores. I mean, if you buy a pair of socks a year ago and you only paid a certain
percentage on that. And then now the socks are more money and you're paying that
same percentage, you know, we're going to collect more sales tax. But they're obviously
buying fewer pairs of socks.
But also it seems like STR, you know, short-term rentals, you know, there's a reduction
even though now we -- we can collect that. But that's still -- that industry has taken a --
pretty much a dive right now. So it is interesting seeing that conflicting information. I
don't know if there's -- if there's any other projections on some of these where they're
going to go or if it's just, you know, we're going to kind of wait and see.
SOLDINGER: Yeah, Mayor, Councilmember Skillicorn, that's a good question. So every --
around December to January, that's part of my responsibility is doing the projections of
revenues for the next fiscal year. And so that will be done. I provide that to the town
manager and then we discuss it during the budget sessions. So I'll be sure to highlight
some of those projections during that time, probably in the February to March
timeframe of next year.
All right. Just real quick, state-shared revenues, these always -- not always, but at least
since the time I've been here, they come in pretty consistently based on projections.
Our state-shared revenue for sales tax is they've come in a little bit higher than
projections at 921,000 for -- this is for the fourth quarter of last year. State-shared
revenues for income taxes -- also known as urban revenue sharing -- that we collected
1.58 million compared to projections of 1.6 million. HURF revenues actually came in a
little higher than projected at 505,000 compared to 462,00 projected. And vehicle
license taxes came in at 348,000, a little bit higher than projected. And with that, are
there any other questions?
MAYOR DICKEY: Councilman?
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SKILLICORN: Thank you, Madam Mayor. (Indiscernible). I don't know if we could bring
up the last couple slides. Curious about the state-shared revenues. You know,
currently there's a 1487 investigation which could actually direct the treasurer to
withhold our state-shared revenues. Is that, you know, just income tax money or is that
sales tax and does it also include HURF? You know, what does that specifically add up
to?
SOLDINGER: So Mayor, Councilmember Skillicorn, I -- you know, for that specific
instance, I'm not 100 percent sure which -- which state-shared revenues they would
consider withholding. But what I've seen in the past is they -- they usually look at the
urban revenue sharing, which is that second -- that second one on the right right there.
And so right now, we're receiving about $5.1 million this fiscal year of that revenues.
But for the specific incidence that you're mentioning, I'd have to get back to you on that.
SKILLICORN: Actually -- and yeah, could you include the rest of the Council?
SOLDINGER: Yes.
SKILLICORN: Appreciate that. Thank you.
MAYOR DICKEY: Any other questions or comments. Aaron, do you know is it -- does it
affect all state-shared revenue?
ARNSON: I don't know. That's something --
MAYOR DICKEY: I think it does.
ARNSON: -- we need to -- yeah, we were just talking about that over here. I don't know
the answer to that question.
MAYOR DICKEY: Okay.
ARNSON: But I can certainly work with Paul to get back to you on it.
MAYOR DICKEY: Yeah.
ARNSON: Yeah. I know, right? I think it would, but.
MAYOR DICKEY: And was the flat tax in effect all last year, as well, or just this year?
SOLDINGER: Yeah. So Mayor, Council, it went into effect last year, but the -- that -- that
state-shared revenue is kind of odd. It's kind of a two-year lag because they based it on
income tax revenues that the state collected two years prior. So last year we kind of
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had a temporary increase. And this year we're seeing a decrease going back to almost
more steady levels. And we're going to see another projected decrease next year
before it starts to -- the State projects it to start stabilizing and starting to go back up, as
well.
MAYOR DICKEY: And it's stabilizing because there's more, you know, the percentage is
staying the same. So I was reading something about the flat tax that once -- it's only 2.5
percent, right, so 70 percent of the -- of that went -- of the benefit went to households
above 200,000. But I wasn't sure what that meant for cities. It seems like it just is going
to go lower. And if it does go higher, it's just because of an automatic of the base
amount, but not helpful as far as the percentage.
SOLDINGER: Yeah, Mayor, Council. Basically the State projects it to start increasing
because after the effects fully go into place, you know, how the flat tax brough tax
revenues down, they're projecting that people -- basically, people are going to -- and
corporations are going to start making more money with inflation and everything else.
And so then they're going to start seeing an increase after all the effects of the
implementation go into effect.
MAYOR DICKEY: And just to reiterate, the loss of the likely more than 700,000 --
because that was going up because rents are going up -- so the --
SOLDINGER: Um-hum.
MAYOR DICKEY: -- amount was pretty high, we -- we took that into consideration of
losing half of that. And then next fiscal year, we'll lose it all?
SOLDINGER: Mayor and councilmembers, yes. We're going to consider that we're
losing the rest of that. We considered half of it for this fiscal year. We're going to
consider it all gone for next fiscal year. We'll also consider the final projections for the
decrease in urban revenue sharing, which is right now, about $500,000 more that the
town will probably be projected to -- to lose.
MAYOR DICKEY: That's a blow. Thank you. Any other questions or comments? Thank
you, sir. The next item is call to the public. Do we have speaker cards?
TOWN CLERK: Yes, Mayor, we do. And we also -- you'll have -- as part of your packet,
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you will find some online comments that the Town has received. So first up, will be
Larry Meyers. And then second will be -- to speak -- will be Blake -- I'm not for sure how
to pronounce your last name -- is it Janell (ph.) or Jakel?
JAKEL: Jakel.
TOWN CLERK: Thank you. Noted.
JAKEL: It's spelled (indiscernible).
TOWN CLERK: Noted. All right. Thank you.
MEYERS: Mayor, Council. Larry Meyers, resident 43 years. I'd like to take this
opportunity to publicly apologize to Ms. Earle -- Councilwoman-elect Ms. Earle, for my
failure to appear at the last council meeting to express my opinion as one of the 4,226
voters who selected Ms. Earle, that should have been rightfully seated early, no pun
intended, in juxtaposition to the 60-some odd comment cards rounded up by certain
members of the Council and their clubs, opposed to Ms. Earle's early seating.
But then as I watched, I and 4,226 voters were lectured about left and right, thumbs on
the scale, nonpartisanship, serving the people, on and on, mostly pompous bologna, the
same lecturer then takes to the airwaves to spew an endorsement in the upcoming
election in the context of political parties, while at the same time preaching
nonpartisanship and also dissing the political PAC that helped it get elected, which is
essentially the same 4,226 voters and then some, all residents, all to be served.
Curious.
Well, I for one, am glad there is no longer any mystery. Throw open the window, let the
fresh air in, a modicum of transparency is returned to this town government and I can
only attribute this to a virus that is known as rot-derangement syndrome. Others in
Fountain Hills have come down with this virus. As with COVID, masks will not help the
afflicted stay safe. Rot-derangement syndrome may or may not be deadly, also, as with
COVID. Only time will tell and will reveal the final mortality rate. Thank you for the
time.
JAKEL: Hello. My name is Blake Jakel. I'm a new town resident. I bought up in North
Heights a year ago June. I'm here today, the topic sentence would just be, I think the
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town, the community members, the people who police it, deserve a tool that would be
a city ordinance violation for a dog off-leash. We -- currently, we don't have one. We
have one that is a misdemeanor ticket for a dog at large. That's one that is usually
reserved for when an owner isn't present. It's meant for, like, somebody who lets their
dog roam the neighborhood unattended.
I, in August, had an issue up in North Heights where a couple of cops were waiting for
me at 5:30 in the morning. I have never had a run-in with cops here in this town. They
said they were told to go there by their manager to look for a guy with a scooter with a
dog that runs next to it, as a report of a dog at large. That was me.
About 5:30 in the morning they stopped me. My dog sits by the scooter. I go talk to
them. They issue me -- or they said hey, hey, sorry about this, but you know, we got to
call our supervisor. He said give us a call if we run into you. I said, well, hey, we're on
Sierra Madre, that's the only busy street over here. I was like, do you mind if we just do
this at my house over at Elena? They said yeah, no problem.
So they just let my dog run next to me on my scooter back to my house, about another
mile, right? We get back. The cop comes out of his SUV. He gets off the phone, he look
at me and he says, hey, man, I'm really sorry about this. He goes, your dog's a
sweetheart, he's like, she's great, no problem. He goes, but my supervisor says I have to
give you a ticket. I said, hey, no worries, dog off-leash, you know, I must be in town
limits, it's probably a city ordinance ticket. He's like, yeah, no -- no worries or whatever.
He's like, I'm really sorry about this.
Unfortunately, you know, back in my day, 20 years ago, I've gotten a couple
misdemeanor tickets for underage drinking. No cop has ever let me finish my beer, I will
say that. But so anyway, I look at the ticket, I realize it's a misdemeanor ticket. I was
like, it's the first time ever talking to a Fountain Hills cop -- super nice guy, called my dog
a sweetheart, very reasonable, everything was great. There was two cops there. And I
said -- I said, don't worry about it.
So I get inside and I realize it's a misdemeanor ticket, it's not an ordinance violation. So I
have to go to an arraignment and then I have to go in after I get arraigned again, to talk
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to a town prosecutor for a misdemeanor, for a dog off-leash, right? And all along the
way, I thought, well, maybe I'll just go to talk to the supervisor and see what the real
deal here is, it's a small town, maybe it's just sending a message, or whatever. Go in and
talk to the night shift supervisor. He wasn't the one on duty. All the cops thought it was
an ordinance violation. They didn't realize it was a -- it was a misdemeanor level ticket.
I said, I promise you -- they said, well -- the supervisor said, I'll call you the next day, let
me talk to the prosecutor.
The prosecutor told him, no, he's absolutely right, we only have a misdemeanor ticket
for you guys to offer. That's what happened. So again, the topic sentence is, I do
believe we deserve a city ordinance dog off-leash ticket.
TOWN CLERK: Okay. Next we have Crystal Cavanaugh and to follow, Bart Shea.
CAVANAUGH: Good evening. Crystal Cavanaugh, Fountain Hills resident. You
acknowledged there were only three meetings left and yet three still refuse to seat
Gayle. Let's talk about some of the 65 -- not 67 -- submitted speaker cards, referenced
more than once, as though important in justifying your no-vote. Most of these
orchestrated submittals didn't even give a reason, they were just against. Some made
nonpartisan references while being extremely partisan. Sort of the like the Council's
political no-vote, while claiming not wanting to put your finger on the scale. Some card
submittals didn't seem aware Gayle Earle had even been elected outright. One thought
all of the Council candidates would still be on the November general election ballot.
Councilwoman McMahon, are you paying attention to my call to public?
MCMAHON: Council (indiscernible).
CAVANAUGH: Excuse me. Or how about the in-person speaker who referenced being
offended by Gayle's married son's t-shirt, or that his family wore political buttons, and
so that was a reason not to seat Gayle. Another one stated winning a primary is not the
same as actually being elected to a position. Wrong. In Fountain Hills, she won
outright. Forces are attempting to turn what should be a nonpartisan town council into
a council of extremists. Gayle is no extremist. Seating a partisan, such as Gayle Earle,
will change the dynamics prematurely. Earle ran as a polarizing figure and does not
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deserve an early swipe at town policy. Yet, she did win.
And there were those who were so worried about the voice of the people, but were
unaware that 4,226 voices had already elected Gayle outright from a field of eight
candidates. Some wanted to just fill the vacancy when we call all vote and not appoint
someone who is not elected. She was elected. The intent is to circumvent the voters of
Fountain Hills and install a non-elected political ally to create an invalid majority on the
town council. Democracy works when the voters actually vote and elect an official
candidate to the position. That was a comment. Again, Gayle won outright and the
vote was canvassed by you.
So since this Council did not appoint the duly elected Gayle Earle, or fill the vacancy, our
State Representatives utilized SB 1487 and filed a complaint with the Attorney General's
Office yesterday. The failure to fill the vacancy could result in Fountain Hills losing some
state-shared revenues if not rectified. And for the record, I did not initiate or request
that, in any way. But thank you State Reps Joseph Chaplik and Alex Kolodin for doing so.
Thank you.
SHEA: Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Councilmembers. City attorney, town
attorney -- Rachel is not here. June -- I got called to a meeting for a "update" to the
Town of Fountain Hills on my projects. It's been a miserable three-year process on
those since we originally were financed to do this and we timed out the development
agreement and killed that financing. Then we went ahead and set it up two more
times -- killed that.
So in June I get to called to a meeting for an update on where we're at. Blindsided, I
asked what the agenda was in the meeting multiple times -- was never told of an
agenda. Got here, was blindsided. And then blackmailed into signing off my rights
under my estoppel, which I had -- which I'd sent to the new round of financing, which
the town would not confirm with the new financing until I met with them. And then
they removed the estoppel. Ironically, after they removed the estoppel, they told the
new finance company that I didn't have an estoppel after I'd already sent it to them.
Round three, financing gone. So I'm blackmailed into this -- signing this document.
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Came back here about two weeks ago -- about a week ago -- and I asked for my estoppel
to be reinstated. I don't want to go through litigation. I don't like doing litigation
against this town. If you didn't hear earlier, I put a lot of money into this town, doing it
freely -- of my own free will, including Oktoberfest that just went off. 2000 bucks on
that and they parked on my property to go do it.
All of that being said, I came to Council, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Mr. Friedel was the
councilmember -- Friedel was there, the town attorney was there. I said hey, I don't
want to get into this whole Prop 207. I don't want to make you guys liable. I don't want
to get into the lawsuit. Could you just reinstate my estoppel? Give me my rights back.
Because under the law, I had them and you took them away. I know the town attorney
doesn't believe them, but my attorneys all do. It's about $24 million that the town just
became liable for because we decided we didn't want to give me my rights back.
Because why -- because somebody on staff decided I didn't fulfill some of the
obligations inside the development agreement. That's inaccurate. He said so in court
that he has no concept of when it starts. And the only reason they weren't fulfilled is
because he decided not to grant permits, ever. So please reinstate my estoppel. Please
do that. Before I give a notice of claim and it's going to be in excess of $23 million to the
Town of Fountain Hills. And I know the town attorney doesn't believe it's real. I guess
we'll find out in court. Thank you.
TOWN CLERK: Last, we have Ed Stizza.
STIZZA: Good evening, Mayor, Town Council, staff, Aaron. I hope everybody had a great
summer. And I just got back into town after being gone for about -- almost two months.
And I was able to watch each and every one of you, each and every time, and also to
listen to a bunch of people reporting on what has happened in this chamber -- in these
four walls. Boy, it's just amazing. I -- I am absolutely in shock. I tried to explain to
people what your actions were and who you were. And I found myself just absolutely --
it was unbelievable -- trying to describe how each and every one of you make your
decisions.
I just want to say thank you to Hannah, Gerry, and certainly Allen, for trying to bring
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some sort of common sense to the decision-making that's been done over the past
couple months. And just like one of -- somebody else had just said -- you know, I'm
watching Peggy McMahon right now absolutely not pay attention while everyone else
has your eyes focused and listening to what's going on. The arrogance level is appalling.
The narcissism that three of you up there have created within our town, you are to
blame for. And all your followers that are writing stuff -- not only online -- but out there
talking about -- you guys have caused your own problems.
I took time to go to your civility meeting last -- the last one you had. And let me tell you
something, you are more than hypocritical. It's appalling what you tried to push in that
meeting. And for you to sit up here and preach -- you guys are supposed to be
representing the residents. And you haven't done that. You haven't done that. I'm
sorry. These three are listening, Hannah, Gerry, and Allen. And right, wrong, or
indifferent, how it's presented to the actual public, I'll tell you what -- it's time for a
change, you guys. It would be nice for you gracefully to step down.
Ginny, you've served the town well, but it's time. So it's time for a change.
And Brenda, I -- I -- there's no words for what has happened with you. I -- I -- I don't
know what to say without absolutely not understanding what collectively -- or the three
of you -- have come up with. And -- but it's not representing the constituents that you --
that elected you. And it's wrong. It's wrong. So thank you.
TOWN CLERK: That is it, Mayor, no more cards.
MAYOR DICKEY: Thanks, Angela. Our next item is our --
SKILLICORN: Can I ask another question?
MAYOR DICKEY: Oh, yeah.
SKILLICORN: Aaron -- and maybe assistant -- stepping-in town manager. Is there
something we can do on the dog off-leash ordinance to get that gentleman rectified?
ARNSON: Mayor and Council, there is. I was taking a look at the ordinance section. So
maybe some of the confusion is that the -- it is a city ordinance -- the prescribed penalty
is a misdemeanor. So it may just be something as simple as changing the prescribed
penalty to default to a civil instead of -- instead of a criminal.
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SKILLICORN: So how do we get ahold of him to --
UNKNOWN: Can I say something?
MAYOR DICKEY: (Indiscernible).
UNKNOWN: May I say something about the subject real quick, please?
ARNSON: That's up to the mayor.
UNKNOWN: I'm a dog behavioralist. I didn't know that this was going to be
(indiscernible).
MAYOR DICKEY: Okay.
UNKNOWN: Just two seconds, please. Thank you so much. Thank you. I'm Amy and I
am a dog behavioralist. And I have to say something about that ordinance. I don't -- it's
not really very clear. But if you need a second, an eighth, a thousandth person to vote
on this, you've got my vote on that. Because dog bites are really unfortunate -- and
they're not to children, they're not to mailmen, but they're to people being attacked
because, number one reason, are dogs not able to be called back by their owner. We're
very lucky he's able to have a dog so well trained.
You have three owners. One dog that's so well trained, they wouldn't do anything
without their master saying go. The other one is a dog pulling you, we've seen all that
going on. Well, the other one is kind of, oh, let me make a choice.
But the fact that he was able to control his dog, I applaud him on that. But let's just get
that ordinance taken care of because a dog bite is a $9,000 fee that's to be one, it's
under law. Mr. Arnson can look it up. It's a very popular lawsuit -- maybe it's 12,000.
But it's so-so important. In my neighborhood, we have eight people who lead their dogs
without a leash. And it's really very sad. Because I have to watch for my dogs and it's
not appropriate. So the sooner --
MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you.
UNKNOWN: -- we can get that posted.
MAYOR DICKEY: Appreciate it.
UNKNOWN: Sure.
MAYOR DICKEY: And one thing, part of the question is too is like what's off -- off-leash
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versus, you know, on -- what was the other one --
SKILLICORN: Dog -- dog at large.
MAYOR DICKEY: At large, yeah.
SKILLICORN: Dog at large, yeah. So is there a way for us to get ahold of him and get
that straightened out, do you think? Okay.
ARNSON: Yeah.
SKILLICORN: All right. Thank you.
ARNSON: Yeah, Mayor. I don't think an ordinance needs to be retro-active, but I think
the intent could be clearer from a prosecution side.
MAYOR DICKEY: Thanks. And I also forgot to ask if anybody wanted to respond to any
of the comments in call to the question -- I mean, call to the public. Wishful thinking.
KALIVIANAKIS: Thank you, Ms. Mayor, that's very considerate. I appreciate that. Just
say a couple very brief words regarding this 1487 action. Alex Kolodin did call me before
they filed it and I did a review of it. It's going nowhere. It's -- we have a reasonable
amount of time to fill that seat. But the thing I did want to call the attention to is the
last town council meeting, the only person on this (indiscernible) that wanted fill the
seat and reached out to former community leaders and trusted business leaders to put
somebody in the seat -- that was hoping to get a 6-0 vote on -- I was vilified by
Councilwoman Toth and Councilman Friedel -- claiming that I was going behind the back
of this council. I was doing my job. Had -- had they followed my lead, they would have
never filed the 1487 action because we would have been pursuing -- which I was doing
because that is my job --
FRIEDEL: It's not your job.
KALIVIANAKIS: It is my job, Gerry, because it's a job of the Council.
MAYOR DICKEY: One at a time, please.
KALIVIANAKIS: So anyway, that's what I wanted to state.
TOTH: I was mentioned by name, so I'll be responding to that. The reality is, is that
Gayle Earle won the election in the primary. You're getting a lot thrown in your face to
distract you, but the reality is, is that Councilmember Kalivianakis voted no to fill the
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seat. Were there interviews to potentially bring someone who had not been chosen by
the people allegedly -- and Councilmember Kalivianakis claims that -- that person was
never brought forward to this Council. I was never aware who that person even is.
They were not brought up in a motion. The decision of this Council was to leave the
seat vacant, period.
FRIEDEL: It's the Council's role -- not yours, Brenda. And -- and there's a process for
that and it's called for the interview and applicants. None of us knew anybody. How
many people did you talk to? We don't even know. So it's the Council's role, not you as
an individual.
KALIVIANAKIS: But I am on the Council, Gerry, and it is my role. And I was doing my --
my job.
FRIEDEL: I'm sorry. We're going to have to --
KALIVIANAKIS: And doing my job well, by the way.
FRIEDEL: -- agree to disagree because it's the role of the Council, not you as an
individual.
TOTH: If you were simply doing your job we would know who that person was. So --
MAYOR DICKEY: We do have -- we have several processes for filling vacancies, including
not filling one. And that's what happened. At the meeting, anybody could have said,
well, let's do an interview process or put out a request for interest.
There was an article from 2018 that I just looked up, which had all six times this ever
happened -- I don't know about ever -- but six times that it happened fairly recently.
And in some cases, we did put out -- had people come, had public -- even had a public,
you know, forum kind of a thing. Obviously, there was a little bit more time.
And just for the record, when I was -- when I was appointed, I had won in -- we did the
March and May elections in those years. And I had won in March. The three people had
won straight out, so that was decided. But the key to the 1487 part of it, is that that was
a vacancy for almost a year. And now, Senator Kavanagh was on that same council that
didn't fill that vacancy from May of 2005 until April of 2006. So it's always been
something that we were able to do, is to not fill a vacancy, so.
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And we've done it different ways. We had -- when we appointed Councilman
Kavanagh -- and I think Gerry -- we -- those were after elections that weren't successful.
When we appointed -- oh, I'm forgetting. But anyway, we've done it where people have
won, we've done it where people didn't win. We've done it -- opened up to the whole
community and we've left them vacant for a year. So we've done it all. And I just want
to set that straight because of this 1487 discussion going on.
TOTH: May I ask a question?
MAYOR DICKEY: Yes.
TOTH: Was that ever after a primary when we have someone who's about to fill the
seat?
MAYOR DICKEY: Since when?
TOTH: Have we ever left a vacancy after an election where someone is due to fill the
seat?
MAYOR DICKEY: I don't know, I would have to check. But --
KALIVIANAKIS: (Indiscernible).
TOTH: Because there was no --
MAYOR DICKEY: -- it doesn't really matter. You don't know that. But -- and again, if you
want to -- and -- and not to put a big focus on you, but, you know, 4,000 votes, we had
an election, 10,000 people voted. Some of us take things differently. And that's what
happened. And we only have a couple more meetings to go. And I think we'll be fine.
Anyway, let's move on to the consent agenda, please. Can I get a motion?
MCMAHON: So moved to approve.
KALIVIANAKIS: Second.
MAYOR DICKEY: Roll call, please.
TOWN CLERK: Councilmember Toth?
TOTH: Aye.
TOWN CLERK: Councilmember Friedel?
FRIEDEL: Aye.
TOWN CLERK: Councilmember Skillicorn?
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SKILLICORN: Yes.
TOWN CLERK: Councilmember McMahon?
MCMAHON: Aye.
TOWN CLERK: Vice Mayor Kalivianakis?
KALIVIANAKIS: Aye.
TOWN CLERK: Mayor Dickey?
MAYOR DICKEY: Aye. Thank you.
TOWN CLERK: Yep.
MAYOR DICKEY: Thanks. I'm sorry, I cut you off.
TOWN CLERK: It's okay.
MAYOR DICKEY: Our first regular agenda item is services agreement about the washes
and -- Justin. Thank you.
WELDY: Madam Mayor, Councilmembers. Wash maintenance in one form or another
began shortly after incorporation. As the town has moved forward with technology and
other innovations, so has the wash maintenance. There are a few things that have
remained standard. In the beginning, the intent was that they would maintain the areas
where we had under-road crossings or over the road low-flow crossings to keep material
and sediment out of those areas to prevent any flooding issues.
There have been a couple of minor changes to that included, but not limited to, the
eradication or the attempt to eradicate non-native species, primarily all the different
species of palm trees. And another one that is a challenge is saltcedar.
Taking all of that information into consideration, we -- in the past, the town had three
different types of contracts related to washes and/or drainage slivers and/or dams.
Staff has not been before the Council in approximately eight years to discuss wash
maintenance contracts because there was a long-term five-year contract. And then
there were some issues related to that agreement. The pandemic affected that. And
coming out on the other end, we simply had to terminate the agreement. During that
timeframe, staff worked with the town management, legal counsel, stakeholders, and
developed a plan that would allow us to bring all of the three different types of
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drainage, wash, and dam maintenance together for one contract.
That's what we are here to discuss tonight. I've put together just a short PowerPoint to
point out a few things. It's important to note that wash maintenance is not come in and
clear-cut everything and remove all of the vegetation, native, or non-native, or invasive
species. The intent of wash maintenance, which can be viewed in the ordinance
referenced in the -- in the staff report, is to ensure that we have adequate drainage
primarily and also mitigation measures related to the potential or the possibility of
wildfires.
We're going to spend just a moment to discuss fires. The direction from the chief in the
back of this room and the fire marshal, is that we help to eliminate or minimize ladder
fuels. Ladder fuels are the shorter, more combustible, organics that are near the
surface of the wash, that allow a fire to spread quickly. And then they -- they -- those
ladder fuels use wind to climb the trees and stuff like that, obviously, and rage out of
control.
This is a map of all the town-owned washes that we are responsible for doing
maintenance in. It should be noted, there are several washes within the town limits
that are privately owned by homeowners associations, neighborhood associations,
and/or golf courses. We are not responsible for any of the maintenance related to that.
But we certainly share our expertise as does the fire department share theirs.
MAYOR DICKEY: (Indiscernible).
SKILLICORN: Thank you, Madam Mayor. Director, the color-coding; does that have any
significance?
WELDY: Initially, it did. What it's -- what it's primarily doing is identifying locations
where we would have gone and worked in the past and considered that a single project.
It also helps to identify the named wash in that area.
As you can see, we have just over 200 acres of washes. That's a considerable amount of
open space to maintain. I'm giving everybody just a moment to look at that map before
we move on. This right here is a graph that we developed with support from the fire
chief and the fire marshal. And the reason we're showing this tonight is over the past
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several months -- but certainly over the past few years -- people call and are -- share
their concerns related to the fire dangers and materials that are growing in the wash.
This right here show the defensible space. A defensible space is 30 feet from the
inhabited dwelling. There's some miscommunication related to 30 feet from the fence
or 30 feet from the front set back or the back set back. No. In fact, it's 30 feet from
the -- the dwelling -- the occupied dwelling.
When we come in and do wash maintenance, if there are materials that are hanging
over back walls and fences that are actually on the town's property, we will take some
measures to eliminate those. But oftentimes, we don't. We also do not clean, cut, or
remove the majority of the material that is on the slopes. The primary reason for that is
we need that vegetation and those trees to help stabilize the slopes for not only runoff
in the channels, but runoff from adjacent properties.
This particular item is budgeted. And this is just a little clip from the town's adopted
budget, which is online. This is funded from the environmental fund. This is the last
year that the environmental fund will actually be identified as that. Next year, the
majority of it, if not all of it, will move to public works. And each of the segments and/or
projects or associated fees from the environmental fund will become a separate
supplemental ask from the Public Works Department to additionally the town manager
and eventually the Mayor and Council.
We have a considerable amount of money in here just for this purpose. Not only for
wash maintenance, it also handles all of our other environmental requirements that are
mandated either by the state or the county. It also helps us to support our household
hazardous waste event and our electronics recycling event.
With that, if there are any questions, I will do my best to provide an answer.
MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. I'm going to ask if we have any speaker cards first.
TOWN CLERK: Mayor, the town received one written comment with a position for.
MAYOR DICKEY: Okay. Thank you.
TOWN CLERK: That's it. Sure.
MAYOR DICKEY: Questions for this item? Councilman?
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FRIEDEL: Thank you, Madam Mayor. Director, I don't know if you saw that written
comment that had been mentioned. You know, fire and, you know, invasive species. I
know specifically we're not looking for invasive species, but that's something -- I don't
want to add to the scope of this, but that's something that we also should communicate
to the -- to the vendor -- is that part of this, you know, invasive species, a lot of times
(indiscernible) that's something we want to, you know, be aware of and try to eliminate
as much as we can without changing the scope of the contract.
WELDY: Madam Mayor, Councilmember, that is clearly spelled out in the scope in work.
It was included in the scope that was released in the bid and it's also in the contract
document and the agreement related to that. I think it's important to noted -- note --
and that was a -- that was a good question -- that town staff will be monitoring the
activities of this wash maintenance every day. And this is not a year-round activity.
Because of the environment that we live in, washes oftentimes have creatures and
snakes and other things in them that are very, very active during the summertime and
can be easily startled. Oftentimes, if you're walking in one of the washes, you may not
be able to see three or four feet -- maybe ten feet -- in front of you. Imagine if
chainsaws and chippers and stuff were running, you also cannot hear. So it's typically
around October, November until March or April -- occasionally we'll go into May -- but
very rarely, it's all dependent on temperature. So it's a -- it's a part-year project. You're
welcome.
SKILLICORN: I'd like to move approval of professional services agreement 2025-030 with
the Top Leaf Services --
MCMAHON: Second.
SKILLICORN: -- in the amount of 210 --
MCMAHON: Sorry. Second.
MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. Roll call, please.
TOWN CLERK: Councilmember Friedel?
FRIEDEL: Aye.
TOWN CLERK: Councilmember Skillicorn?
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SKILLICORN: Yes.
TOWN CLERK: Councilmember McMahon?
MCMAHON: Aye.
TOWN CLERK: Councilmember Toth?
TOTH: Aye.
TOWN CLERK: Vice Mayor Kalivianakis?
KALIVIANAKIS: Aye.
TOWN CLERK: Mayor Dickey?
MAYOR DICKEY: Aye.
TOWN CLERK: Motion passes.
MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. Thank you. Our next item is, I'm assuming, Chief Ott to
come and talk about an agreement with the Town of Gilbert.
OTT: Good evening again, Mayor and Council. I'm usually used to Rachel kind of giving
a little background in there. But I'll take it from here.
We've got a -- before we used an IGA with the Town of Gilbert for the use of their public
safety training facility which is a fairly new facility. It's kind of state of the art. It's big, it
was -- when Paul Mood was here, his buddy was running the project and I got updates
from him quite frequently on it. It's a -- it's a beautiful facility.
And this IGA allows us to go down and train -- part of our regional training options. It
will also afford the option to be able to run people -- candidates that we have -- through
a new regional fire training academy when that time comes -- when we start hiring new
employees. It will also open up medic school training for us, as well as just other day-to-
day training at their facility. It's kind of one of those pieces that needs to be in place so
that we can be on their property and have our people there taking advantage of the
good quality of training that's provided there.
So the cost for additional training is -- is -- if we were sending a recruit to a fire
academy -- is in line with the other regional training facilities. This is -- we'll have one
more IGA for training coming to you and that will be with the City of Scottsdale. This
month, I believe, they are opening their revamped training facility, which is down off the
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101 and basically Scottsdale Road, kind of in that area.
Again, it's -- they've done a marvelous job on that. It's going to afford a lot of
opportunities to us. So we've got things that are relatively close to us with the Mesa
facility, the Gilbert facility, GRPSTC from Glendale -- which we signed a IGA earlier this
year on -- it's a little bit farther, but they also have a good quality training, that
sometimes is only available at those facilities. So we are looking to get this one signed
and in the book and we're winding down on -- on the agreements and IGAs with the --
our local municipalities to kind of keep us rolling and -- and keep all our opportunities
open for us. So I would appreciate you.
MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. Do we have any speaker cards?
TOWN CLERK: No, we do not.
MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. Let's see. Who's first here? Councilwoman.
MCMAHON: I was just going to make a motion to approve.
KALIVIANAKIS: Second.
MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. Roll call, please.
TOWN CLERK: Councilmember Skillicorn?
SKILLICORN: Yes.
TOWN CLERK: Councilmember McMahon?
MCMAHON: Aye.
TOWN CLERK: Councilmember Toth?
TOTH: Aye.
TOWN CLERK: Councilmember Friedel?
FRIEDEL: Yes.
TOWN CLERK: Vice Mayor Kalivianakis?
KALIVIANAKIS: Aye.
TOWN CLERK: Mayor Dickey?
MAYOR DICKEY: Aye.
TOWN CLERK: Motion passes, 6 to 0.
MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. Thanks, Chief. Next two items are related. And I think --
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Angela I might be calling on you for this.
TOWN CLERK: Yeah. Yes. Yes, Mayor and Council. As you know, Rachel Goodwin is
unable to be here tonight. So she asked me to pitch-hit on this particular item.
So as many of you may not know, the Sister Cities Advisory Commission was formed in
2016. And it was formed in an advisory capacity just to support the Fountain Hills Sister
Cities Corporation. Over time, our locally based Sister City Corporation has taken on
most of the programs, operational responsibilities. Effectively, they are overseeing the
day-to-day operations and strategic direction of the Sister Cities Program. So the role of
the commission has become largely redundant.
So on Wednesday -- on Wednesday, September the 18th, the Sister City Commission
voted unanimously to approve the sunset of the body. And one reason why is because
many of the members serve both as commissioners and on the corporation board. And
they do supporting of the streamlining efforts. So the town will continue to support the
efforts of Sister Cities, meet regularly with the governing board and -- and continue to
maintain those close relations with the corporation and our sister cities around the
globe. So any questions?
MAYOR DICKEY: Sounds good to me. Do we have any speaker cards?
TOWN CLERK: No, we do not.
MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. I just want to point out that we thank Zarrin Caldwell, Lisa
Ristuccia, and Bev Tall who are the remaining members. There were four vacancies.
And we want to thank them for their service and I think we'll be doing something at our
next meeting for them. And could I get a motion?
KALIVIANAKIS: Yeah. Motion to adopt resolution 2024-39.
MCMAHON: Second.
MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. Roll call.
TOWN CLERK: Councilmember McMahon?
MCMAHON: Aye.
TOWN CLERK: Councilmember Toth?
TOTH: Aye.
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TOWN CLERK: Councilmember Friedel?
FRIEDEL: Aye.
TOWN CLERK: Councilmember Skillicorn?
SKILLICORN: Yes.
TOWN CLERK: Vice Mayor Kalivianakis?
KALIVIANAKIS: Aye.
TOWN CLERK: Mayor Dickey?
MAYOR DICKEY: Aye.
TOWN CLERK: Motion passes 6 to 0.
MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. Did we need a further explanation of the next item? It's
just basically taking it off of the books.
TOWN CLERK: Correct.
MAYOR DICKEY: Do we have any speaker cards on that?
TOWN CLERK: We do not.
MAYOR DICKEY: Okay. Does anybody have any questions? Councilman Skillicorn?
SKILLICORN: I was just going to make a motion to approve, Mayor.
MAYOR DICKEY: Okay.
KALIVIANAKIS: Second.
MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. Roll call, please.
TOWN CLERK: Councilmember McMahon?
MCMAHON: Aye.
TOWN CLERK: Councilmember Toth?
TOTH: Aye.
TOWN CLERK: Councilmember Friedel?
FRIEDEL: Aye.
TOWN CLERK: Vice Mayor Kalivianakis?
KALIVIANAKIS: Aye.
TOWN CLERK: Councilmember Skillicorn?
SKILLICORN: Yes.
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TOWN CLERK: Mayor Dickey?
MAYOR DICKEY: Aye.
TOWN CLERK: Motion passes 6 to 0.
MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you.
TOWN CLERK: Thank you.
MAYOR DICKEY: There's going to be an event on the 12th of October. So if you're
interested in looking -- that's going to be for all three Sister Cities -- and it's at
fountainhillssisters.org. You can get the information for that. I think -- so we talked
about the off-leash thing. So I don't think there was anything else. Yes, Hannah?
TOTH: Considering the new information of the complaint and potential investigation by
the Attorney General, I would like the Council to reconsider filling the vacancy in order
to not risk losing state-shared funds.
MAYOR DICKEY: I'll have to ask Aaron about that because is that considered a
reconsideration of a -- of a vote?
ARNSON: Yeah. So the reconsideration -- the time for that at least -- for
reconsideration of the item proper, can't happen. What we can do as an alternative --
and this up to the Council to decide whether you want to have it or not -- is to obtain
advice and counsel in executive session for one, what your options are, because that
would clear legal advice that you might want in light of this. And potentially, agendize
that for action to direct staff. So that would be my suggestion.
TOTH: Okay. To be clear, the reconsideration that doesn't matter with new
information, such as a legal threat?
ARNSON: Well, I mean, if the Council wants to take that step after getting advice and
counsel, then sure.
TOTH: Sure.
ARNSON: I'm just telling you that absent the Council learning -- you know what I
mean -- what your options are, that would be my suggestion.
TOTH: Okay.
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ARNSON: Okay.
TOTH: I'm for it.
ARNSON: Okay.
TOTH: Do I need a second?
MAYOR DICKEY: No. We can do that. We'll do --
TOTH: Okay.
MAYOR DICKEY: -- we have a -- I think we have an executive session already for that
night.
ARNSON: Yeah.
MAYOR DICKEY: So we can just add this, I think.
ARNSON: We can. Can you give me one second, Mayor?
MAYOR DICKEY: Yeah. Sure.
ARNSON: Yes.
MAYOR DICKEY: Yes what? No. Okay.
ARNSON: Yes. We have an executive session that night and we could add --
MAYOR DICKEY: And we can add this. Okay.
ARNSON: Yes.
MAYOR DICKEY: Councilman, did you have something?
FRIEDEL: Madam Mayor, just a clarification. Are we -- you know, obviously we have the
executive session part. Are we going to add that as an agenda item?
ARNSON: So we're -- so at least we're adding the executive session. If you want to put
on -- I'm trying to think of how to do this -- because we -- the rules say that you have
ability to reconsider. It has to be done, one, within a certain period of time. And two, it
has to be someone who, you know, voted to the contrary position wanting to change
their minds to reconsider it. Right? That's in our rules. So that's what I'm -- I'm trying
to make a way that we can one, talk about in e-session. And if there's direction to be
given to staff as a result of that, to have a public agenda item for that purpose. Is that
what your question is, Councilman?
FRIEDEL: Well, Madam Mayor, Attorney, is that specifically laid out in our rules that it
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has to be reconsidered or is it -- I mean, can it be considered it a new agenda item?
ARNSON: No. It's specifically laid out how motions are reconsideration work.
TOTH: So I suppose the question would be is anyone who voted in that way willing to
reconsider?
KALIVIANAKIS: And if I may just do a point of order. The time to do a motion to
reconsider has lapsed.
ARNSON: It has. Yes, it has lapsed.
MAYOR DICKEY: I think we can have an executive session to discuss the 1487 and then
we can put something on the agenda that would -- we'll figure out how to put the
wording. But that would be possible action-related to what we hear at the --
ARNSON: That would be -- that's what I'm trying to get at --
MAYOR DICKEY: Yeah.
ARNSON: -- right? Is if you're going to -- if we have a discussion in executive session and
it's hey, here are your legal options in light of a 1487 complaint or whatever it is, right --
your options are A, B, and C. And then there's direction from the Council, which frankly,
I would recommend that direction be given in a public meeting, right, so that we can all
be on the same page about exactly what's happening, then we can have that be an
agenda item and we can proceed accordingly. That's what I'm trying to get at. I'm not
trying to mince words or talk around the issue. I don't know exactly how to word it
otherwise until we know what direction is going to be given. And then we say direction
and possible action regarding, subject matter discussed in executive session.
TOTH: Then I suppose my original statement slightly changed --
ARNSON: Yeah.
TOTH: -- still stands that I would like for an agenda item on the next regular agenda --
ARNSON: Yeah.
TOTH: -- following our executive session.
MAYOR DICKEY: As long as it's not the same, I think. We can't bring it back for
reconsideration.
ARNSON: Right.
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MAYOR DICKEY: It has to be something that comes to light --
ARNSON: If it's different than --
MAYOR DICKEY: Right.
ARNSON: -- then that's a different story. If it's the same, it can't just be -- it can't be
repeated again because that's the whole point --
MAYOR DICKEY: Right.
MCMAHON: But also --
ARNSON: -- with difference on reconsideration.
MAYOR DICKEY: Okay.
MCMAHON: Also given what you said, it has to be from someone who opposed it.
MAYOR DICKEY: Not anymore.
TOTH: Not anymore.
MCMAHON: No?
ARNSON: Not if it's a different agenda item.
MCMAHON: Okay. So it's -- we'll have to go -- we're going to into an executive session
first to discuss it, correct?
ARNSON: Yes.
MCMAHON: Thank you.
ARNSON: Um-hum.
FRIEDEL: And Madam Mayor, there is another avenue is that the -- this Council could
change that rule.
ARNSON: Yep.
FRIEDEL: And that would just be a simple majority. And I don't want to risk $5.1 million
at all so that's something that -- I mean, we have another nine days or whatever before
we need to make that decision. But I think that that -- we should have that discussion.
MAYOR DICKEY: I don't think the -- the vote for reconsideration is a local ordinance.
Isn't that something that's true everywhere? You can't have something reconsidered
unless you were on the prevailing side.
ARNSON: Yeah, it has to -- well, if we follow Robert's rules and whatever the list of
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parliamentarian things is in our code, then yes, it's -- that's what we do, right? Because
otherwise, someone who voted against or in the negative, can be the one to just
advance any agenda item, right, and keep bringing it back?
MAYOR DICKEY: I think we all get what we want to try to do here. So we're good.
Anything else? Thank you. We're adjourned.