HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023.0418.TCRM.MinutesTOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING
OF THE FOUNTAIN HILLS TOWN COUNCIL
April 18, 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 5:70 p.m.
Members Present: Mayor Ginny Dickey: Vice Mayor Peggy McMahon;
Councilmember Gerry Friedel; Councilmember Sharron Grzybowski;
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 one hundred sixteen members of the public were
present.
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Post -Production File
Town of Fountain Hills
Town Council Meeting Minutes
April 18, 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.
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MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. Roll call, please.
MENDENHALL: Mayor Dickey.
MAYOR DICKEY: Here.
MENDENHALL: Vice Mayor McMahon?
MCMAHON: Here.
MENDENHALL: Councilmember Friedel?
FRIEDEL: Present.
MENDENHALL: Councilmember Grzybowski?
GRZYBOWSKI: Present.
MENDENHALL: Councilmember Kalivianakis?
KALIVIANAKIS: Here.
MENDENHALL: Councilmember Toth?
TOTH: Here.
MENDENHALL: Councilmember Skillicom?
SKILLICORN: Here.
MENDENHALL: Anyone wishing to address the council regarding items listed on the
agenda or under call to 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 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 future council agenda.
MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you so much. First item as always are our reports from our
manager, Council and a -- Rachel, did you have anything?
GOODWIN: Thank you, Mayor and Council. I have two updates tonight. Both are
centered around community feedback. We've had -- throughout the weekend. I think
many of you were part of an email exchange regarding a discussion surrounded by 5G,
the 5G and telecommunications, concerns and discussion and public input. So I did want
to share that since -- throughout the week we've been talking with Aaron.
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As many of you know we have retained outside counsel. We have retained
guidance -- another attorney that is based here in Arizona that is familiar with both
federal and state guidelines when it comes to telecommunications. So we are working
with them to develop and then strengthen our ordinances here in Fountain Hills. So there
will be a work session held on June 6 before our standard council meeting that evening --
or I should say that afternoon, so we can begin discussing this and taking action. So I
wanted you guys to be aware that that will be scheduled.
Secondly, the next conversation is around a community concern with a homeless
encampment. That has been quite a big topic of conversation. So at this time I would
like to ask Captain Kratzer to come forward to share some details about how MCSO has
been addressing this.
KRATZER. Good evening, Madame Mayor, Vice Mayor, members of the council. So,
yeah, to the Town Manager's point, MCSO has made of aware of a shelter that was up on
state trust land about a quarter mile north of the middle school near McDowell Mountain
Road.
In the four and a half years that I've worked here, we've not dealt with issues on
state trust land in terms of who the entity is that has the responsibility for issues such as
that, where there might be a makeshift shelter in that location. Excuse me.
With that being said, when that was brought to our attention, we had deputies identify the
location, make sure that there was a location up there that was being used as a shelter.
We did identify an area with the help of some emails or feedback from residents of
where it was located. We were able to find it. I then reached out to the state land
department, who is the entity who is responsible for state trust land, and with that, the
state trust land -- the state land department provided me with the guidance of how those
situations are dealt with, where there is somebody who potentially is remaining on state
trust land who shouldn't be there.
That process included filling out a form online, We provided some photos, some
aerial photos, some GPS coordinates, and then whatever miscellaneous information we
knew about the shelter and/or the subject who was living in the area.
We were told to submit that and that the State Land Department had officials who
would respond to those forms, go out to the location, check the location, contact any
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individuals. You are allowed to camp on state trust land for a period of time with a
permit. It's very short in the year period. It's only 14 days total within the year. So there
are some protocols in place where the State Land Department verifies that somebody who
is on the state trust land dots or doesn't have that permit, and if they do, did they outstay
it or are they valid to be there.
So that was a process laid out to us; that they would handle that, and that at some
point in time, they would make an evaluation of the area, and if the individual's there, tell
the person to leave or trespass them if they outstayed their permit or had no permit. And
then they would either put up signage that was appropriate in the area, if it was an area
that was likely to be a heavy trafficked area where other potential shelters pop up. And
so we followed that protocol.
We did have some concerns from residents about whether or not we could, MCSO
could go up there and enforce the trespassing without going through the process of the
State Land Department. It was told to us that that process could be a lengthy process. It
might not be immediate. There was really no timeframe given, but it was conveyed to us
that it may not be an immediate response by the State Land Department.
1'd think to the point I've already made is there was a lot of requests for MCSO to
go up there and locate the subject and trespass him and/or arrest the subject and just
trying to navigate through the process that's been put in place with the State Land
Department, who is the entity who does have the authority of the land. We follow the
protocol that they themselves outlined for us.
I was informed today before the Council meeting, probably about 45 minutes ago,
that 1 got a call from an official who did go out to the shelter that was there near the
middle school. They did provide notification on the shelter, that the subject has to vacate
the land and the area within 72 hours or would be subject to being charged and/or
arrested by local law enforcement. So the State Land Department officials, they do not
have arrest powers, so they do rely on local law enforcement for the enforcement of
certain rules.
I did verify with the official who called me that that was the proper procedures
that we followed, and they confirmed that that was the proper process. That there is a
vetting process that they first must do to establish that the person is indeed trespassing.
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They did that.
The subject was not there, but they did provide the notifications, and within 72
hours of the notification, we are partnering with the State Land Department to go back
out to the shelter after 72 hours and make sure it's been vacated. The instructions also
were that they must clear the area of personal property. In their experience, there's a lot
of property that gets left behind because shelters can sometimes become large and full of
debris.
The State Land Department official told me after 72 hours, we will communicate
with them, if the subject's there, we'll charge, cite and/or arrest the subject. If there is
property left beyond the 72 hours, the State Land Department is the entity responsible for
clearing that out, and they gave me their word that they would -- we would contact them,
they would come and work on clearing it out.
The official also stated that what they would do is erect a few signs off McDowell
Mountain Road. There's a couple of walking trails that kind of lead back to that area.
There's a wash and then a walking trail or two. And he said that they'll erect a couple of
no trespassing signs that would then provide local law enforcement that ability to make
an arrest should there be a future trespassing in the area. Arizona Revised Statute for
trespassing does have the culpable mental state of knowing, so you got to prove that the
individual knew or should have known that the area they were on was state trust land they
were not allowed to be there.
It is important to note the parcel of land that this was on, even the State Land
Department questioned whether or not it was private property there for a short time. It
was sold to a private investor some years ago, and they had to look and double-check that
it was indeed state trust land. And what it looked like occurred is that the deed does
show that it is private property, but the private investor defaulted on the land, and it went
back to state trust land.
So that does create additional hurdles if it's private property. State trust land --
the State Land Department doesn't have the authority of that, and we would have had to
find the owner, the investor group that had it, that we would then have to see if they
wanted the individual there or not and then remove the individual.
So that's the update on that. I'd be happy if there's questions from the Council, to
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answer what I can answer at this time and just knowing that the plan is to follow up in 72
hours to ensure that the individual is no longer residing there, and then get the land
cleared.
MAYOR DICKEY: Thanks, Captain. I appreciate the update.
KALIVIANAKIS: I actually do have a question.
MAYOR DICKEY: Well, I was going to say, I don't know, Aaron, to the extent of
questions here --
ARNSON: Yeah, we'll have to keep them limited because it's supposed to be reports to
the manager, but to the extent there's a question or two.
KALIVIANAKIS: This has been quite an issue in our town between the homeless
encampment, which I think is around a quarter mile from our schools, and then there's
also a homeless gentlemen that was on the bicycle lane right next to our schools, so I've
gotten quite a few emails and texts and part of -- quite a lot of concern.
I did reach out to State Senator John Kavanagh. He said he spoke to the head of
the State Land Department, Commissioner Robyn Sahid, who told him that the Town can
enforce laws on state trust land without needing permission from the State Land
Department. This is based on an opinion from the State Attorney General issued in the
early 2000s during the Governor Janet Napolitano's term.
People can only camp there with a permit, and they don't believe that a permit
was issued for this particular encampment. And so basically, I think you just check and
see if they have a permit, and if they do, it's okay. If they don't, then they can be --
they're trespassers, even if the camping is only for a short period of time, so according to
the head of the State Land trust Department.
So I think we do have the authority to go onto the state trust land and enforce the
law without going through the administrative procedure that you did, which I appreciate
that, by the way, following up with that, but we might want to check up with John
Kavanaugh and maybe get more guidance on this issue.
KRATZER: Councilmember Kalivianakis, thank you for that. I don't disagree for a
minute that MCSO and local law enforcement can enforce laws on state trust land. If
there was a domestic violence on the land, if there was an assault, if there was a
homicide, the State Land Department doesn't have law enforcement that's going to be
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able to go up there and investigate that. We would be the entity in town jurisdiction to go
up there and investigate those crimes.
When it comes to a trespassing and something that has a little bit more red tape
involved in terms of them vetting the process, and speaking with their department for
guidance on this because we haven't dealt with it, that was an approach that we believed
was the most practical approach. And I understand the concerns that were raised with the
subject being by the school, but we just have to ensure that we're treating everybody with
the level of -- basically respecting the constitutional rights of everyone, and we'd rather
err on the side of caution.
And I understand the argument about the individual being close to the school, but
with the State Land Department laying out that process and telling us that they needed to
vet the process to make sure the subject was not there with some sort of ability to be
there, that's the approach we took, and that was the guidance we were given. And I
would stand by that if we had to do it in the future and if we need to look into some
additional conversation.
But again, just to that point, I don't disagree that MCSO and local law
enforcement can enforce laws on state trust land, but when it came to this issue with
something that had to be vetted, I think that was the approach that was addressed based
on the guidance from the State Land Department.
MAYOR DICKEY: Yep. Thank you. Aaron, I'm going to just say that -- before we get
too far, that this item will be on an agenda in June because it's not just the state trust land,
but it's, you know, just everything in general, all the laws and all the restrictions and all
the constitutional rights and all those things. So we'll get all the information together,
and I think that's part of what Rachel's going to wrap up with, but thank you very much.
KRATZER: Thank you.
MAYOR DICKEY: Did you have any other subjects, Rachel?
GOODWIN: If I can share something on a positive note, I know those were two -- again,
happy to -- we're going to be celebrating Earth Day here in our community, and there's a
number of projects over on display at our community center. I had a chance to go over
there today. And the Recycle Up project looks wonderful, and I would encourage our
community to take a look.
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MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you.
TOTH: I have no report this week, Mayor. Thank you.
GRZYBOWSKI: Let's see. In the past two weeks -- I feel like we just met a couple of
days ago, but the past two weeks since our last regular meeting, we had one league
legislative update call that I attended. The Phoenix East Valley Critical Infrastructure
and Transportation Committee also met. And last week our Economic Development
Strategy Workshop, and I got to say, the Economic Development people put on a great
example of a way to communicate with the public and how to get our feedback. I thought
it was fantastic.
And it's also Stellar Student Day, which you guys all know by now is my favorite
day of the month. And while the Mayor's going to tell you, after Stellar Student portion
is over, you can leave, I'm going to suggest you don't because this is such a great
opportunity for you guys to see how the town runs, how we work together, how the
public has the ability to comment. It's kind of nerdy -cool. So if you're into that kind of
thing, ask mom and dad if you can postpone dinner for a couple hours. Thank you.
MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you.
FRIEDEL: Thanks, Mayor. I had the privilege of attending a ceremony of life for Phil
Yen, Purple Heart recipient, a big volunteer in this town. And I just want to say, Rachel,
the community center looked great. And thank you for turning the fountain purple in
honor of him. So he'll be duly missed, but we celebrate him any way we can. I also
attended the Economic Summit that Amanda put on. Good job, Amanda. I appreciate
that.
We also had a budget workshop -- that's the meeting you were talking about it --
that we attended. And I also attended the school board meeting, and I see a lot of able
bodied men out there. So they're having a painting party at the school on the 29th of
April, so let's get everybody out there to help them get these rooms painted. Thank you,
Mayor.
MCMAHON: Okay. I just wanted to remind everybody that on Thursday night, we're
going to have the Cares forum here at 6:30 in the community center. We're going to be
talking about teen mental health and how social media affects them. And the two teens,
high school teens, that won the annual essay contest award for the local drug coalition are
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going to be sharing their essays, and they're really fantastic. They're worth listening to.
They are so heartfelt. So we hope we see a lot of you at Thursday night's meeting.
Thank you.
KALIVIANAKIS: Thank you, Ms. Mayor. Yeah, another busy couple weeks. I did also
attend Phil Yen's celebration of life ceremony. And it was really beautiful. He was -- if
you didn't know him, he was born in China. He immigrated here. He was a veteran. He
was a Purple Heart recipient. And he was truly a great man. Everybody that met Phil felt
like they were the most important person in the room at the time. He had that kind of
personality. You just felt you're the best. And after you leave the engagement with him,
you just feel like I've just met a truly remarkable man. And so rest in peace, Phil.
I attended a State of the City luncheon in Phoenix from Mayor Diego. And I was
a guest of the Republic Services. That was a great opportunity to network. There was a
lot of state officials, a lot of mayors, a lot of town officials. So it was a great chance to
network and to find out what's going on around the state.
The Mayor gave a speech. We had a question and answer afterwards. And I did
get a chance to meet the Mayor, and I do disagree on some political issues with her, but
she's very gracious, very nice person, and I was just -- it was extremely great to meet her.
I did a business retention meeting this week with Amanda and Betsy from the
Chamber. We visited with the Comfort Inn, and it was another truly great meeting.
He's been in town since 1996, and he runs a very successful business. And just getting
these meetings, the people can talk to town council, the business development, the
Chamber. Great synergy there. We do these on an ongoing basis. and I'm just so glad to
be a part of it. And people can get things answered and get things done for their business.
And we're all about being business friendly.
Like the Vice Mayor said, Fountain Hills Cares meeting's coming up on the 20th,
addresses the mental health crisis, cyberbullying, and youth drug addiction. So for all
you people that have kids or would just like to attend, that will be on the 20th at the
community center.
I did go to the budget workshop. It was great. A lot of innovative ideas. They
also introduced workplace housing where maybe we can build housing at Fountain Hills
for people who work here. We can get it subsidized, and then so people that work here
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can live here, which would be kind of nice because our businesses are all struggling to
get personnel. So it's an innovative idea and it was great.
Tomorrow I will be attending the Pedestrian and Safety Traffic meeting. The
suggestion was made by Councilman Friedel to pivot this meeting to being a Pedestrian
and Safety Committee, and I think that's a great idea because I think public safety right
now is on everybody's minds. So I'll be proud to go to that tomorrow, and maybe we can
discuss not only streets, but general safety.
Thanks everyone tonight for coming, and it's just a blessing to have so many
people here and broadcast Channel I I, and YouTube. This is -- they say a town deserves
the government it gets, and with this kind of a turnout and this kind of excitement, you
deserve the greatest government in the whole world. So congratulations, Stellar Students.
And Allen, Go ahead.
SKILLICORN: Thank you, Madame Mayor. Yeah, congratulations to the Stellar
Students. It's a great night. Remember this honor.
A couple things that happened the last week that I was involved in. Thursday, I
did go out north of the Middle School. I did check out that encampment. And I do want
to kind of give props to Captain Kratzer. I'm sure he's just right around the corner there.
So I emailed him -- I mean, he knows this -- 9 a.m., gave him some details. And by
lunchtime, he emailed me back saying that he'd already completed the form, already had
a bunch of information. So I just kind of give real props to him. That was very fast and
really was on the ball there. Got some of the information back, so we can give it to the
people. So that's very good.
And then yesterday, I actually had an opportunity to watch the first part of the
boy's or I'll say, men's baseball game for the Falcons, and I wasn't able to stay for the
whole thing because I had another meeting to go to, which I'm going to mention, but
here's the beauty of it, is that so I had to leave a little early, and sure enough, they hit
back to back homeruns right before I had to leave, and they went on to a very big victory
last night. And so that's very awesome. Congratulations. And they're really making a
name for themselves in -- as they go farther up.
And then last night, I actually got to attend a fundraiser and an information event
for the USS Arizona Foundation. There have been three ships that have been named USS
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Arizona, but there's a fourth right now. The keel was actually laid last December, and
this organization is made up of many people of Arizona, but also some grandchildren and
great grandchildren of survivors of the USS Arizona.
And this is a Virginia class attack submarine that's currently in Rhode Island, and
it's going to be going down the Connecticut, and it should actually be christened some
time end of next year. So that's something very exciting, and it's also very exciting that
we continue to promote the USS Arizona name. And that completes my report.
MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you, Councilman. So yeah, it's Earth Day Saturday, and
we're going to have an event over at the community center from 10 to 12, and it's with
Republic Services and F Core. There's going to be booths and prizes, and I think food
trucks. And the recycled art contest, they'll be giving out cash prizes for different age
groups. So that'll be going on.
Rachel and Captain Kratzer and I got to meet with the County Attorney, Rachel
Mitchell. So that was a very nice meeting, and she would welcome anybody to check out
what she does, and I was really happy to meet her. I met with the Superintendent Bill
Yen, of course. And Sharon, you might not like me saying this, but the Suns are playing
a game, too, at 7, so if the Stellar Students want to leave, they're free to do that.
GRZYBOWSKI: No.
MAYOR DICKEY: So this the first time -- so under our reports now, we're going to do
sessions, but I also have an outgoing commissioner, Mary Edman, and a proclamation for
somebody sitting up here who's near and dear to us.
What I'll do is like usually for the kids -- and usually we have two months of
kids -- so I'll read from up here, and I'll come down and we'll do the picture, and we'll do
it with both March and April, and then I'll stay down, and we'll move straight to the other
presentations.
So I will start with March, and I'll start with McDowell Mountain, and the first
student is Noelle Perkins (ph.). Is Noelle here?
So I'll read. Noelle is on her way up. So Noelle is an active listener. She always
follows direction the first time. She tries her best during each activity and lesson. She's a
great role model for other students in her class, and I can always count on her to stay on
task. Noelle Perkins. Thank you. I forgot to say, the kids come up and then Angela
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gives them their certificate.
So from McDowell, Wesley Oslin (ph.). Is Wesley here? Well, I'm going to read
some stuff about Wesley anyway. Wesley is so much fun to have in class. He actively
participates in each lesson and brings plenty of fun and new ideas to each activity. He's a
great role model for the whole class. I can always count on him. Follows direction the
first time and stays on task. That's Wesley.
Next we switch the middle school. For March is Lillian Santofanta. Is Lillian
here? Yay. Lillian. When working in groups on projects, Lilly motivates and inspires
her peers to stay on task and produce the team's personal best. As a student leader, Lilly
always demonstrates our school's PSIS expectations on being respectful, responsible,
safe and kind. Way to go, Lilly. Lilly Santofanta.
From Fountain Hills Middle School, Tyler Ronson. Is Tyler here? Yay.
Tyler. Tyler has worked so hard this year in all subjects with great enthusiasm and
dedication. He's a model student who always follows our school's PSIS expectations.
He is respectful, responsible, safe, kind. We are so proud of our fifth grade Falcon, Tyler
Ronson.
We go up to the high school now. Leah Nusan. Is Leah here? Leah.
Leah is a student that most teachers love to have. She always gives 110 percent and
makes sure all tasks are accomplished. She is an outstanding student for this honor.
Leah.
And last for March from the high school, Devon Copeland. Is Devin here? Well,
I'll read about Devin and then we'll clap. Devin is a super consistent student. He applies
himself with fervor and zeal especially on topics of interest. I appreciate him and his
contributions to class. I strongly recommend him for this honor. Devon Copeland.
Now, next ,we're going to go to April, and we go to McDowell Mountain with
Catherine Rodriguez. Is Catherine here? Okay. Well, I'll read this about Catherine; is an
active participant in all classroom activities, and she's quick to help with fellow students
whenever they need it. She always has a smile on her face and is a joy to teach.
Catherine Rodriguez.
Next from McDowell Mountain, Mason Gacoby. Is Mason here? All right.
Mason is always on task and follows all directions the first time they're given. He's
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dependable. I can always count on him to be a good role model for all our other students.
That's Mason Gacoby.
From the middle school, Ashley Aguilar Navarro. Is Ashley here? Yay.
Ashley is an amazing student and Fountain Hills Middle School citizen. She always goes
above and beyond in and out of the classroom. She always does her best in class. It
shows in her grades. And she also earns an A in her character by being helpful to her
peers and always has a smile on her face. Ashley, thank you.
Also from the middle school is Knox Peters. Is Knox here? Yay, there you go.
Knox is a pleasure to have in class. He's always willing to participate, is always working
hard and staying current in class and generally a nice person, which is acknowledged by
his peers. Knox also carries on great conversations. Knox Peters.
The high school. Michaela McKasey. Is Michaela here? We'll read about
Michaela. Michaela is a humble student who doesn't realize what an impact she makes.
She's eager to not only learn but to excel academically. She'll put in effort above and
beyond what is expected, not only for the grade, although that's very important to her, but
in order to further her understanding. She's respectful, responsible, self -motivated, and
consistent. She's respected by her peers, and again, without hesitation, I'm excited for
Michaela to be recognized for her traits as a student. That's Michaela McKascy.
And last but not least from the high school, J.D. Manley. Is J.D. here? There we
go. J.D. is a student who is very dependable. I can count on him to be an exemplary
student who strives to understand the content. He's organized, incredibly kind and
respectful. He's always prepared for class and readily participates in discussions.
Additionally, J.D. looks for the good in others, and encourages them to also strive for
excellence. I've been impressed with his character this year. Without hesitation, I
recommend him for this award, he deserves it. J.D. Manley.
All right. Keep smiling.
[CROSS TALK]
MAYOR DICKEY: All right. Congratulations, all of you. Congratulations. Thanks a
lot. Thank you very much, everyone. We appreciate you coming. Is Mary Edman here?
Come on up. Hi, there. Okay. You get to hold this --
EDMAN: Okay.
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MAYOR DICKEY: -- and look at everyone, and I'm going to talk.
EDMAN: Okay.
MAYOR DICKEY: All right. So we'd like to take an opportunity to recognize Mary
Edman, who was appointed to the Strategic Planning Advisory Commission by the Town
Council in April of 2021. During her time on the commission, Mary was actively
involved in projects and initiatives, including the development of the 2022 Strategic Plan.
The council and her fellow commissioners appreciate Mary's knowledge, dedication and
contributions to the commission and to the Town of Fountain Hills. Thank you so much,
Mary. Appreciate it.
EDMAN: Thank you.
MAYOR DICKEY: You bet.
EDMAN: Thank you. It's truly been my honor to play a small part in this community,
and I would recommend it to any resident to get involved. It's a wonderful experience,
and it is also something that you can give back. Thank you very much.
MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you so much. So we don't get to do this often, but the clerk's
on the hot seat, but it should be in a good way. So we're going to have Linda come down
and I'm going to read a proclamation for Professional Municipal Clerk's Week. Here you
go. So here come the whereases.
Whereas, the Office of the Professional Municipal Clerk, a time honored and vital
part of local government exists throughout the world; and whereas the Office of the
Municipal Clerk is the oldest among public servants and provides the professional link
between the citizens, the local governing bodies and agencies of government at other
levels; and whereas professional municipal clerks have pledged to be ever -mindful of
their neutrality and impartiality, rendering equal service to all; and whereas the
professional municipal clerk serves as the information center on functions of local
government and community.
And professional municipal clerks continually strive to improve the
administration of the affairs of the office through participation in education programs,
seminars, workshops and the annual meetings of their state, provincial, county, and
international professional organizations; and whereas, it is most appropriate that we
recognize the accomplishments of the Office of the Professional Municipal Clerk. Now
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therefore, I, Ginny Dickey, Mayor, do recognize the week of April 30th through May 6th
as Professional Municipal Clerk's Week, and further extend appreciation to our clerk,
Linda Mendenhall, and to all professional municipal clerks for the vital services they
perform and their exemplary dedication to the communities they represent.
So there you go, Linda. Thank you so much.
MENDENHALL: Thank you all. I am your town clerk, and I am interested in getting to
know you and knowing what's important to you. I'm here to handle everything that
comes for Council. I want to make sure everything runs smoothly. I love public
comments. I love to see you here. I love to see people engaged in their community, in
their government, elections.
I'm so happy to see that Fountain Hills has one of the highest percentages for
elections. So, 1 could talk all day about how I love participation in our town government
and especially in the election process. So, if you have any questions about elections, I'm
here and I'm ready to serve.
MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. Thank you. Last thing I wanted to mention is that
today is Holocaust Remembrance Day, and we will keep that in mind, and then -- okay,
I'm going to fill you in salvation -- I already mentioned that, so thank you so much.
Our next item is our presentation number six, which is Public Work's Director -- sorry,
I'm a little -- I've got a lot of stuff up here -- Payment Management Update for 2022, '23.
Thank you, Justin.
WELDY: Madame Mayor, Councilmembers. A disclaimer, up front, the PowerPoint
that I am presenting right now is not the one that is in the packet with direction. Some
corrections have been made, and some past history has been included in this. Also, the
Town Manager and myself and the Town Engineer continue to work with the volunteer
citizens street committee on coming to the Council with a final report prior to summer
break. We do not have that date exactly because we're still crunching an incredible
amount of data.
With that said, this is the approach professionally that we use for our best
pavement management and maintenance practices. The intent is to apply a cost-effective
treatment at the right time. That can be incredibly challenging, and so we rely on data
and our own professional opinions to ensure that what we are doing is spending the
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money in the right place at the right time. In doing so, we increase the life of the
pavement that we own, which is a substantial investment that the Town owns.
This is -- the past seven years prior to this year, the investment that the Town
made in pavement management. It should be noted that just prior to this time, there was
a resolution by the Mayor and Council to identify some funding and hold off for one
year, put that funding together that's included in that resolution and get away from the
zone approach of doing sluny seal one zone per year, and it would take approximately
seven years to go in that loop simply because as that process was moving forward, the
backlog that the Town had was increasing substantially. We know the reason that the
former administration, the director of Public Works and the street superintendent didn't.
They were struggling for finding.
This is what took place in year '15, '16. This is a $1.4 million investment. These
streets were milled and overlaid, returning them to practically new. This one right here is
for fiscal year' 16, '17. The longer redlines are milled and overlay. The small squares
that you see are areas where the intersections had completely failed more often than not
as a result of heavier truck traffic. In regards to refuse and or construction, those areas
were soft cut and removed and reconstructed in anticipation of this map.
It should be noted that the solid blue line is what we refer to as the zone we are
working in. The solid red line is an area where we milled and overlaid. And the yellow
represents a Type II polymer slurry. It's important to note, in regards to the last item, the
Type II polymer slurry, prior to that application, we go through and fill all of the cracks
in the street with a rubberized product.
This map is a little bit challenging to read. We'll go back a little bit. Keep in
mind that these were archived, and it took me a little while to find them. This is a $3.2
million investment primarily, again, in mill and overlay. So these streets were either
milled to full depth or if there was adequate depth in the cross section, a minimum of two
inches. And then the two little, tiny blue dots you see there were relatively new streets
that were turned over to the town that received their first treatment, which in this case we
refer to as a mineral bond, but it's a preservative seal.
Now were getting into the exciting part. This is the town center. Please take note
of the bright blue area, which I refer to as turquoise, that area was not included in' 19, '20.
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The reason for that, in the intersection of La Montana and Avenue of the Fountains, right
off the corner of this building, construction was underway for a roundabout. So what was
completed in' 19, '20 were the redlines, which is primarily Avenue, Parkview and Birdie
River.
This was also part of that year. And again, all of these long redlines and even the
short ones that appear to be a tail, which are the cul-de-sac bulbs, all of this is mill and
overlay.
Let's go back one. Just so you know, for year' 19, '20 the total investment for both
of these slides was $2.9 million. Moving onto '20, '21. Now the town center area has
reappeared on this map, and this time it's in bright green. The roundabout was nearing
completion, and it was in the best interest in regards to the Town to go ahead and pave
the areas leading up to it and immediately adjacent to it, so we would have new pavement
for the town center.
The other area that you see on the bottom right and the bottom left and the top
center, those are local roads, and those local roads were milled and overlaid. This was
'21, '22. These roads right here were milled and overlaid. They were in very, very poor
condition. This is the second sheet for '21, '22. Total of $1.3 million invested. The .3 is
for these two local roads. The $ I million is for the preservative seal.
It is important to note at this time that a gracious grant project that the Town
received from MAG, including a sidewalk on Saguaro, from Colony to Fountain Hills
Boulevard, for reasons related to that, we stopped this preservative seal right here at
Colony because the sidewalk will be constructed on both sides of the road, all the way up
to here. We don't want to use the limited funding we have to put a treatment in there only
for it to be damaged and or destroyed during construction. Once that MAG project is
completed, staff will return to that area and do the preservative seal for that.
Now we're up to the current time. There are primarily just a few sources that we
get funding. The biggest one that we receive is the state shared funding, which we refer
to as Highway User Transportation Funds, HURF, but to the town it's known as the street
fund. We are projected that we would receive $1.9 million for this year. As of last
month, we had collected $1.2 of that state shared revenue.
The next one up is the sales tax, which is a 0.2 percent is given to the street
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department. The projected, based on projections, we would be receiving 1.1 million
before the end of the year. We've collected 900,000 as of the end of March.
And lastly, the vehicle license tax. We had projected 790,000, and to date, we
have received 560,000 of that.
With that, we're going to go into the levels of service that were adopted by the
Mayor and Town Council several years ago. The level of service really represents the
ride ability and the pavement condition that you see and feel. The adopted one for
arterials -- the arterials arc Shea, Saguaro, Fountain Hills Boulevard and Palisades. That
one is a grade score, which we had to do a little manipulating to that, basically a 60 to 70
for the arterials.
Collectors, I'll just point out a few, not all of them; Grande is a collector; El
Pueblo is a collector. That one right there is a 50 to 60. And lastly, the local streets,
which equals a C, a 50 to 55. It should be noted that these numbers are going to become
more relevant and clear very shortly when not only the street committee, but our vendor
does an update to the Marin Council, you're going to see several of these numbers. And
you'll see that by and far, we're in relatively good condition on our collectors.
The reason for that is Shea was done in the last several years. All of Shea was
paid for by grant funding. Saguaro was a bond. The other two, which is Fountain Hills
Boulevard and Palisades, Palisades from Shea up to Golden Eagle Boulevard, I imagine
arc really not that old. It was paved only a few years ago. The section that we have
challenges with is between Golden Eagle and Saguaro. Again, these numbers will
become more clear as we move forward.
This is the basic pavement lifecycle adopted by the Town based on our rate of
deterioration. So that's the curve. The rate of deterioration changes from location to
location. A good example, but here in Arizona is Flagstaff. They have extreme
temperature fluctuations of thaw freeze, and, in fact, some of that in the same day
recently. With that, their pavements are under stresses that ours typically don't have to
endure.
As you can see if you start at zero, we have a new street, five to seven years,
around this circle we apply a treatment of some sort based on the life of that pavement.
Any questions in to regards to the pavement lifecycle?
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MAYOR DICKEY: I have just one question from the one before. Those numbers, were
those like a minimum service? Like were those the minimum levels that we had said or
is that our goal?
WELDY: Madame Mayor, that is an excellent question, so this is a minimum. And the
way that I described it to staff when they were not comfortable using letter grades that
appear to be this low, I said this is a minimum. We have a B and we're passing, that
doesn't mean we can't get an A plus. Or we can bump a C up.
So as we do roadwork the pavement condition index for that road goes
substantially higher than it was prior, and each one of them arc a little bit different. But
properly done, the pavement condition index would be above a 75 or 80, and that would
give us an A. In this, a little bit above that, an 85 would give us an A plus. So this is the
minimum, but we can always do better and we certainly do.
MAYOR DICKEY: And if I remember correctly, it has to do with trying not to get to
that tipping point, so if you can maintain that then on everything, then we can avoid that
collapse.
WELDY. Once your PCI really gets in to the mid to low 40s or below that, more often
than not -- and we refer to that as backlog -- that road has to be reconstructed. And
approximately 60 percent of the town's roads are in that condition right now. Any
additional questions on the pavement lifecycle? I knew I should have made this 78
slides.
This year the Mayor and Town Council budgeted $3.9 million. Currently to date,
we have invested 2.7 of that in pothole repair, asphalt repairs, crack sealing, preservative
seals, slurry seals. And then as we perform this work on all of the local streets -- the
collectors and the arterials -- we make sure to repair the concrete curbs, the curb opening
ramps, those types of things.
A little bit more detail on the following slides. This is what we have spent as of
this afternoon on pothole repair, $200,000. Our prioritization for pothole repair, as you
can see, is the arterials, the highest traffic volume. The next one down is the collectors,
and with all due respect to the residents, we do get to the local streets, and we fix them as
quickly as we can based on the prioritization.
To date, these are asphalt repairs on local streets and some collectors where we
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simply -- if the pothole is unimaginable, we saw cut and remove that and repair it in that
section. We spent $192,000 to date, as of this afternoon on that. And lastly, $260,000 on
crumbling concrete, so the curbs, the ramps and the valley gutter. Keep in mind that
some of this work is forthcoming before June 30th.
The areas highlighted in green were the areas that you saw on an earlier map from
' 15, where the Town opted to stop doing anything for a couple of years; save up the
money. The Mayor and Town Council allotted some funding. This entire area right here
was milled and overlaid and repaired. This is its year for its first treatment. As you can
see, to seal the cracks in this area was just over a half million dollars; to preserve it was
1.4 million.
This is another project that we've been working on for a considerable amount of
time. This is one of three slides. This is El Lago between Fountain Hills Boulevard and
Palisades. Staff approached the Mayor and Council on this almost a year and a half ago
and proposed that we do some pavement maintenance with traffic calming involved in it.
That was just finished last week. This is what El Lago looked like two weeks ago, and
this is what it looked like yesterday.
On this one right here we're going to take just a few minutes. In regards to the
traffic calming, you'll now see that we have an eight -foot shoulder, a five-foot bike lane,
an I 1-foot travel lane and a 12-foot two-way left turn lane. In the past, the parking lane
and/or the shoulder could be anywhere from 8- to 12-foot wide. These travel lanes could
be as wide as 18 feet, and this two-way left turn lane, more often than not was about 20
feet. Keep in mind that El Lago in this location was designed to be two lanes in each
direction, with no on -street parking and a two-way left -turn lane in the center.
We anticipate, based on feedback this afternoon from an individual in this room,
that this traffic calming measure in his opinion is working. He followed some vehicles
down from Palisades and noted they were going considerably slower. We have data for
speed and volume for this area that we collected. We will now go back and collect that
data again to determine the benefit of this traffic calming.
The intent is on these unusually large, wide roads that we will apply these
pavement markings when we treat them because other municipal governments, including
the County and the City of Phoenix have had a very positive outcome with this type of
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traffic calming, which is considerably less expensive than narrowing the road.
GRZYBOWSKI: If I may, before you switch slides --
WELDY: Yes, ma'am.
GRYZBOWSKI: -- thank you for remembering the bikers. My only complaint would be
I want the little guy painted on there so they will understand that's what it's for.
Otherwise, we're very excited about the bike lane. Thank you.
WELDY: You're welcome. Please note that this is the temporary paint here, and in 60 or
so days, depending on how quickly this cures, this will be recoated with thermal plastic,
and at that time, all of the bike symbols and all of the lane assignments -- those are the
arrows -- will be replaced with thermal plastic. We will also now update the MAG map
to show this as a dedicated bike lane.
With that-- and I'd mentioned in my opening statements, that the Town Manager
and I are working with a volunteer streets committee to come forward with a final report
and some funding mechanism or solutions for the outlying years. With that said, this is
what the Town Manager and I are proposing for next fiscal year. A little bit of
background information. These roads were originally slated to be done in this year if at
all possible. I became increasingly uncomfortable with that because we had not done our
due diligence because this money was not in our budget upfront, and we hadn't planned
for it.
I spoke with the previous Town Manger and the current Town Manager and
explained that we needed to complete our due diligence on this. One of the primary ones
is utility clearance letters. Prior to undertaking and spending $5 million of someone
else's money, we need to make sure that the roads that are selected do not fall in the five-
year horizon of water, sewer, electricity, gas -- where it occurs -- or communication lines.
If, in fact, that is the case, we will select a different road similar in length and width to
put on the map and do that and allow that utility to go in there and work. The last thing
we want is to make this type of investment and have the road destroyed by construction
for utilities.
The next part of the due diligence, which is very important, is our geotechnical.
We discovered that some of the as-builts that we've inherited from the master planner for
the community and developers, they're not accurate. So we went out and did some
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paving to discover what we believed to be there was not. In fact, when it should have
been two or more inches thick of asphalt, it was one and a half to two inches. We had to
make some decisions at that time, and it drove the cost up substantially. So our
geotechnical exploration will be out over the next several weeks, finishing up, drilling
holes in all of these roads to get us a cross-section almost two feet deep, tell us what's
there and provide us a recommendation on how best to move forward to meet our own
adopted subdivision standards.
But believe it or not, that's all of it. All that 1 could continue to go on.
MAYOR DICKEY: Questions or comments? Councilmen?
KALIVIANAKIS: Let me -- thank you, Ms. Mayor. Am Ito assume that basically the
pre -incorporation roads just need to be repaved and then possibly the post -incorporation
roads could just be milled? Is that a proper assumption?
WELDY: Madame Mayor, Councilmember, the pre -incorporation roads need to be
reconstructed. So the asphalt and the undcrlayment needs to be removed, approximately
eight inches total in depth --
KALIVIANAKIS: Right.
WELDY: -- and a select material. The post -incorporation roads will simply receive a
mill and an overlay one and a half to two inches deep.
KALIVIANAKIS: Right. And how much does it cost per linear mile to do the mill and
overlay? If you don't have that, that's okay. You weren't expecting that. I was just
wondering the cost savings between a total repave and the mill and overlay because it
seems like a really good solution.
WELDY: Councilmember, the last time that we looked, 1 believe it was a little bit above
$3.5 million for a local road per mile to have it reconstructed, and that included the
appurtenances, which are curbs, gutters, sidewalks, that type of thing. We don't have as
much of that. 1 don't have our mill and overlay, but it's -- I'll certainly send you
something on that before the close of the week.
KALIVIANAKIS: Okay. Thank you.
WELDY: You're welcome.
MAYOR DICKEY: So you had the El Lago. What kind of a road -- what is the
characteristic of Palomino? Is that a collector? How is that categorized?
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WELDY: Palomino, Madame Mayor, is categorized as a collector.
MAYOR DICKEY: Collector.
WELDY: And I don't want to do a lot of history here, but a little bit of history. The
previous Town Manager, based on traffic volumes, had several different classifications
that are not recognized by the industry, including but not limited to minor and major
collectors. So he would have referred to Palomino as a major.
But the bottom line is if Palomino is a collector, it's also a pre -incorporation road,
which is basically an inch and a half to two inches of asphalt on one inch of select
material and graded desert. That's one of the ones that will need to be reconstructed.
MAYOR DICKEY: So if -- if that one was something that we could -- because I know
you're physically saying that we can't probably go beyond this 5 million, but if that was a
separate project and you're saying it has to be reconstructed, do you have any idea how
much that would be?
WELDY: Madame Mayor, I do not have that estimate tonight, and there's a couple
reasons. One, Palomino can be reconstructed in it's current configuration. I would make
a strong argument that the configuration for Palomino changed primarily for traffic
calming measures, and secondarily for future reduced costs. My suggestion was to
narrow Palomino and add curb, gutter and sidewalk on either side.
For those who mayor may not be cringing right now because of the steep slopes,
the sidewalk, curb and gutter would go on the flat portion. What we'd be doing is
narrowing the road and narrowing the travel lanes and the two-way left -turn lane. It
would be very similar to what Ijust showed you for El Lago. The exception to that is
there would be a sidewalk on either side, but we would still have on -street parking and
adequate width for a bike lane, travel lanes and a two-way left turn.
Road narrowing is one of the best traffic calming measures that we have
available, including but not limited to speed tables and speed bumps, which more often
than not cause issues.
MAYOR DICKEY: I guess the -- you know, we've heard some obviously -- feedback
about Palomino and seeing El Lago in that photo just looked like it would be a perfect
solution, but it's a whole different situation if the road can't be repaired that way.
WELDY: Correct.
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MAYOR DICKEY: I think it's a future discussion to have on that because once we're
talking about sidewalks and everything else, maybe it ends up looking like a whole
different project, but anyway. Yes, Councilmember?
KALIVIANAKIS: Thank you, Ms. Mayor. It sounds like we've been getting the same
emails because Palomino keeps coming up, I think, to all of us on the council. And Allen
just looked it up. I guess it's four miles long, so I know that's a very --
SKILLICORN: 1.4.
KALIVIANAKIS: 1.4? Okay. Well, that's better. But just, yeah, I think it's on
everybody's minds that's one of the ones we have to put on the top of the list.
FRIEDEL: Thanks, Mayor. Not to put you on the spot, but El Lago around the war
memorial is in kind of rough shape. Do you have any anticipation as to when we're going
to address that and what needs to be done there?
WELDY: Mayor and Councilmember, we did go in right there at that little U-turn at the
memorial and removed that and repaired that area. This section of El Lago is really in
our backlog, so it -- most of it cannot be saved with the exception of the part that was
newly constructed with Plaza Fountain side up closer to Saguaro. That one is in the
outlying years.
1 don't have any outlying year maps right now simply because we're still
crunching that data, but we'll see where it falls on the prioritization and the optimization
of the available funding based on the scenarios that we have and give you that.
MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you so much. We really appreciate it.
WELDY: You're welcome.
MAYOR DICKEY: Our next item is Call to the Public. I'm going to ask you to please
speak in the microphone. I keep hearing that the people that watch can't hear. And do
we have speaker cards? Yes?
MENDENHALL: Yes, Mayor, we do. I see him. Larry Meyers, are you still here? Oh,
there you are.
MEYERS: Okay, Mayor and Council. The Mayor and I finally agree, the Suns are
playing tonight, and I have tickets, so I'm going to read this really fast.
First, I'd like to preface what I say with the fact that I've spent my entire career in
RF, radio frequency. That's the large family in which small cell towers reside
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technologically. My talk tonight underscores the need for everyone to get educated, so
I'm happy to hear that you're finally going to educate yourself after you're being beaten
up on this.
On the 6th -- and it's exemplified by a quote from one of our council people sent
to me a few days ago, and I'll redact it a little bit for anonymity: "I live in a cell phone
dead zone. I'm polling my neighbors to see how they feel about cell towers before I act."
This person obviously does not know that small cell towers have nothing to do with voice
traffic. They're for data. And I bet there's a lot of people that don't know that, so don't
feel left out.
So when asked about licenses coming in during the working of the commercial
detox ordinance, John Wesley, Town Services Director, his own record, paraphrasing
that: No licenses would be issued while the ordinance is under construction. This,
however, is contradicted by Mr. Wesley on March 30th, 2023, with the quote: "The
Town does not have a policy that stops the processing of an application while a text
amendment is being considered. All applications arc processed under the rules in place at
the time the application was submitted." So I asked which statement is correct and
which procedure would he follow if the Town received 1,000 applications tomorrow?
That's concerning to me.
To add further lack of clarity, just last meeting when asked about the requested
moratorium subject by Councilman Friedel, our Town Attorney misled the Council in
stating: "If we could adopt a moratorium theoretically. Yes. Would it have any practical
effect? No, because federal law preempts any moratorium that we adopt."
Unequivocally a false statement. In the packet you're in possession of is one of the
countless municipalities east in Connecticut. Their moratorium was put in in August of
2021 and is in place today until the end of 2023.
A simple one -page document allowing for time to make an educated decision on
this subject before the telecom industry storms the town, much like the (indiscernible)
industry continues to attempt to do.
One last comment before the Council and the Town Attorney invokes the oh, my
God, we'll be sued by the telecoms. That's absolutely untrue as well as they are unable to
charge the Town any money for any legal actions. That's how it works. You can look
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that up if you doubt me.
So my request would be, that on the very next agenda, for discussion and possible
action, a moratorium be put in place on the applications until December 31st, 2023, or
until such a time as education has taken place on the subject. Copy the verbiage from the
one in your packet if you need to do so. Thank you very much.
MAYOR DICKEY: All right, sir. Your time is up. Thank you. And we will address
questions at the cnd of Call to the Public.
MENDENHALL: Next we have Lori Troller.
TROLLER: Council, Rachel, Aaron, Lori Troller, resident. When a town decides to
correct an ordinance, per se, or updating that ordinance, that -- such that the effects -- I'm
sorry, such that that affects the permitting. Obviously, any permit that is requested
during that time can and should be held until the ordinance is corrected. This should be
standard practice for any ordinance updates. That's called a moratorium, whether it's
called formal or informal.
The definition of the moratorium we are asking for is a halt of permitting small
wireless transmission facility applications until the end of December or till the time
period it takes from now to the time that the new ordinance is effective. This -- the
immediacy is the telecoms will apply for all the towers they need to blanket Fountain
Hills all in one day.
That minimum number of applications per telecom company for this town is
approximately 2,000. That day, that one day is the day that it is too late to make sure that
our ordinance is okay. That is too late to do anything about it because once these are
approved, they're in there forever unless we put a moratorium in place.
The process we have now says that the moment we receive an application, we
have to process that in ten days. By default, all 2,000 applications will be automatically
approved if we don't get that done in ten days.
John Wesley will be processing these as if anyone could possibly properly review
2,000 applications in ten days. The ordinance we have does not protect the residents
from excessive property devaluation, privacy issues and untested exposure. It is past
time to make this priority.
Over the 100 notices you will be served with tonight represents a small sampling
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of the example of the passion of the residents that are extremely concerned that you are
not doing what you should to keep your oath to we, the people, to protect our health and
welfare and your personal liability for our property values.
This notice informs that the state law that our current ordinance is breaking, the
responsibility you have to the people to place the moratorium and the fact that the
Telecommunications Act does not supersede the State's protections we have. As a
resident of this town and representative of other residents in this town, we'd like and are
asking for the aforementioned moratorium to be on the agenda -- or be an agenda item at
the next meeting for discussion and possible action. Thank you.
And Justin, I'm going to get an asphalt company because somebody's making a
ton of money. That's very expensive. Thank you.
MENDENHALL. Our next is Liz Gildersleeve.
GILDERSLEEVE: Good evening, everybody. I recently read in the Phoenix newspapers
that Arizona School Superintendent Tom Horn was extending the deadline for towns to
apply for grants for police officers for their schools thanks to a whopping $50 million
safety grant through the Arizona Department of Education. Mr. Horn said that he was in
the process of writing letters to all mayors regarding the grant extension, which has been
extended to April 22nd.
Mayor Dickey, I hope you have already received his letter and are taking action
concerning the grant. I would also hope that our town would jump at the chance to apply
for this grant and have another officer at our schools to ensure children's safety. In doing
further digging on this grant process, I've learned that a letter is required from Captain
Kratzer to ensure that there is an available officer. And I've got to think that there's a
retired police officer or a police officer nearing retirement somewhere in Arizona who
would welcome this opportunity.
Taxpayers already pay for one school officer, but there are multiple campuses.
Two would be better than one, especially if grant funding could pay for the second officer
or even pay for the one officer that we already have, although I personally would prefer
another set of eyes.
According to polls included with the news stories announcing the $50 million
safety grant, approximately 80 percent of parents in Maricopa County would welcome
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having more police officers in their kid's schools and who could blame them. It would be
very foolish not to take advantage of this grant.
On another note, but also under the category of unattended consequences of
inaction, 1 want to make a quick statement concerning the telecom moratorium that Lori
Troller just talked about. Ms. Troller has a compelling viewpoint about the need for a
stronger ordinance regarding where and how telecom equipment is placed in our
neighborhoods. Certainly, everyone wants faster intemet, but there should be stricter
guidelines for the placement of the equipment and where it can be located, preferably
underground. Hopefully, we can all agree for that. Who wants an 18-foot tower in their
front yard? I don't.
Currently that's possible. So not adopting a stronger ordinance, which cities and
towns are able to do, could result in those unintended consequences like decreased
property values, ugly eyesores and even increased health risks. Thank you for your
attention tonight.
MENDENHALL: Next we have Jeff Sellers.
SELLERS: Greetings, everybody. Loud enough? I'll make it fairly quick. I'm not here
representing anyone other than myself and I suppose my colleague here, and perhaps in
some unofficial way, all of the rest of the epileptics in the world. There is a serious threat
to all of us in my situation from RF radiation. It's a well-known cause, well-known
trigger. We picked a house where we did specifically because we were that far from
towers. So if you're going to put a tower in within the range of where is a safe loop for
me, I have to move. It's that serious. And really that's about all I have to say.
You need to think about this one because if it's in and close to around people,
you've got cardiac patients with pacemakers -- known problem -- dementia patients,
et cetera, et cetera. Anything that's any kind of a neurologic issue or defib, et cetera, et
cetera, people with, you know, drug pumps, you know, and pain relieving pumps and
things like that in their body, all of these things are impacted by RF radiation. That's why
they can't go through the little detector things in the airports.
So, really, that's it. But this potentially, it's not just the money. It's that you're
literally putting people at risk. If that goes within a quarter of a mile of my house, I'm
moving because I can't stay there. Thank you.
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MAYOR DICKEY: No applause, please.
MENDENHALL: Next we have James Kirk.
KIRK: Good evening, Madame Mayor, members of the Council. Last Friday I
discovered that I was a victim of multiple felonies, including identity theft. MCSO,
LIPD and the FBI are currently investigating these claims, and my legal team is preparing
for a litigation against the perpetrators. While it is still early in this investigation, it has
been identified that a member of this Council before me is involved in this case.
Therefore, I'm asking that the Town Attorney and the Town Manager institute an
investigation of their own as the Town of Fountain Hills could be held liable in this
instance. Thank you.
MENDENHALL: Next we have Matthew Corrigan.
CORRIGAN: Madame Mayor, Councilmembers. Matthew Corrigan, homeowner,
Fountain Hills. As I was driving back from a meeting on Saturday, I took a little detour
and decided to drive by Fountain Hills Middle School. And on my way, coming the other
way, there was an individual well known to anyone living or visiting in Fountain Hills,
and he was pushing a stolen shopping cart from Target on the sidewalk. And a growing
number of individuals ignore existing ordinances prohibiting vagrancy and littering,
loitering, illegal camping and panhandling.
Our town government answer seems to be to this problem posting a couple of
signs near Shea Boulevard stating, It's okay to say no to panhandlers. Give instead to
agencies that help those in need. Nice advice. But that advice is the vocation of
charitable groups, not government. The town government vocation, your vocation, is to
enforce ordinances and keep residents safe.
If you want to see how a few government tolerated and sanctioned homeless
encampments can turn into a vast slum covering a massive area of prime downtown real
estate, visit the zone on 8th Avenue and Jefferson downtown Phoenix.
In January of 2020, the City of Phoenix sanctioned a homeless zone, which grew from
100 people to over 1,000 residents today, known as the Zone.
No one describes the situation better, I think, than the AZ Free news journalist,
Corinne Murdock, in her May 6th -- sorry, March 6th, 2023, article. She describes it this
way: "Intense poverty, frequent crime, social insecurity, high mortality, poor living
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conditions, these qualities describe third world countries. They also describe the Zone."
It's an area where law and order don't seem to exist. A premature baby's body was found
there last year burned in the middle of the street. A month after that in a similar incident,
a burned body of a homeless man was found here. Death and evil prevail here.
In February 2023, the Phoenix Police Department shot and killed a homeless man who
lunged at them with a scissors after a stun gun failed to stop him from attacking a woman.
Drug deals, using addicts, deification, urination, assaults, sexual assaults, sexual
acts, rapes are done with open impunity. Gangs run the streets in the Zone. Not in
Fountain Hills. Not if we resist government -assisted housing. Instead support charities
that recover, give recovery and assistance to those individuals and give them hope. As
the great Ronald Reagan said, "The most terrifying words in the English language are,
I'm from the government, and I'm here to help you." The government vocation is to
enforce the laws and keep residents safe. Thank you.
MAYOR DICKEY: I can recess or we can ask people to be removed. No applause.
That's in our rules. It's our rules of procedure. Please respect each other.
MENDENHALL: Next we have Stephanie Czopp. Hopefully, I said your last name
correctly.
CZOPP: Close. Hello, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Councilmembers. I grew up in a very
modest household. My mother and I were the recipients of others' generosity and
kindness on more than one occasion, and it was not a time we were proud of.
If you have ever had volunteers bring a box of food to your home that you desperately
needed, the mixed emotion of shame and extreme gratitude is one I vowed never to feel
again. We were extremely thankful for the gift and worked hard that we would not need
volunteers from the church to darken our door again.
Based on the comments I've seen on social media, a great deal of conversation,
kindness, generosity and opportunity have been given to some of the needy that have
been hanging out on our streets, and yet they are still there. Why? Because they don't
want a hand up. They want a hand out. So it's time to show them the door. I'm pretty
sure none of them are from our community even. Fountain Hills, like the neighborhood I
grew up in, takes care of their own.
We need to get these people off our streets, off our sidewalks. We don't want to
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become desensitized as the population grows in Fountain Hills. We're tired of feeling
uncomfortable as we try to shop at Target and Safeway. We don't want to have concerns
of safety for our school children or our parents as they go about their daily routine. We
don't want our small business owners to struggle more than they already do or our
neighbors uncomfortable to access them because of people loitering in their storefronts
and sidewalks.
We need only look to Phoenix, as the gentlemen before -- I won't go into that.
They're dealing with that, and they've been sued and have to clean up the mess there. The
City of Phoenix let it go too far. Let's be smart and do some preventative maintenance.
The community has attempted to help them become productive members of our town.
That method didn't work. Now it's time to evict them. Thank you for your time.
MENDENHALL: Next we have Alan Meehan.
MEEHAN: Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Councilmembers and staff. My name is
Alan Meehan, and I live in Fountain Hills with my beautiful wife Sandy. I'd like to take
a moment and talk about the slippery slope of compassion as it relates to homelessness.
I'll tell you why this issue is so important to us.
One of our sons and his family recently moved from Eugene, Oregon, to a small
town in rural Florida. Oregon had been their dream home for the last 14 years. That
wasn't an easy decision for them to make as he operates a commercial fishing boat and
has several employees. His wife owned and operated a sustainable clothing
manufacturing company and recently walked away from it and its two dozen employees.
It was their dream to raise their family and retire there. If you've never been to the
Oregon coast, it's one of the most beautiful places in the country, much like Fountain
Hills.
That said, the benefit of raising their children in one of the most beautiful places
in our country is offset by the unintended consequences of good intentions where it
comes to the misguided helping of the homeless. Eugene, Oregon, has become a giant
cesspool of filth, crime, drugs, tent cities, derelict cars, junk RVs, constantly police
sirens, et cetera, all because the City wants to help the homeless.
We helped our kids move. I got out of the car at Home Depot while getting some
moving supplies and stepped on a used needle that was left in the parking lot. Take a
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short drive around town and you'll see any number of people walking the streets high as a
kite, screaming at the sky. That's the one person dressed in rags complete with a football
helmet that had the top half of it missing, singing at the top of his lungs at nothing. Pan
handlers are everywhere.
While in Fred Meyers store, we stood in amazement as a homeless person walks
out after filling his backpack with beverages and snacks without paying. Later we saw
him on the curb sharing his loot with another indigent.
There's a giant encampment right next door to a grade school. All it took was one
tent, now there are dozens. The City thinks they're being compassionate, providing drop
boxes for needles and porta potties at these encampments. That doesn't help, nor is it
compassionate. It's simply enabling behavior. And yes, I call it a behavior because I do
believe in some cases, at least, it's their choice to live like this. And what's not to like?
No responsibilities, handouts at every turn, drugs and booze all day, all night.
One person started a fire on a doorstep of a bakery, and when the owner put it out,
he got charged with assault because the homeless person got a little wet in the process.
The problem now is so big and so out of control, our kids and our grandkids, it was the
only thing they could do, and that was to run. And we don't want to run. We like it here.
So Mayor and Council, I'm glad to hear this issue, and I'm relieve to hear this
issue's going to be on the agenda so we can talk about trying to come up with some fixes
and some solutions before it's too late, and our beautiful city turns into the Eugene of the
Southwest. Don't think it can't happen because it did there, if we don't act. Thank you.
MENDENHALL. Next we have Andrea Boutsclis.
BOUTSELIS: Good evening, everyone. Can you hear me okay? Okay. Last night I
was at the beautiful Golden Eagle Baseball Park at about 9:30 p.m. I'm there every day,
often two times a day, morning and evening because I have two very young dogs that
need a lot of exercise.
Last night for the first time in eight years, my fight or flight instinct kicked in.
There was suspicious activity going on in the parking lot. I know what a drug deal looks
like. I felt it, I saw it, and my dogs sensed it, too. Dogs are smarter than many people I
know. Let me repeat, I have never felt my safety was threatened with the exception of a
few Javalinas.
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Fountain Hills has been a town that I've often described as a place you never need
to look behind your back for fear danger was lurking. That changed less than 24 hours
ago. As disturbing as that is, what's more disturbing is I'm now recognized and been told
that there was no law enforcement nearby. In fact, I've never seen police patrol at the
park at night, not once.
Now I hear we have a homeless population 150 to 250 feet from the middle
school and that there was relatively none, if any, police activity there. My question is,
why are we not policing our town and protecting our most important residents, our
children, families and visitors?
I see police every single day and night in multiple locations pulling people over
and ticketing them. I'm all for enforcing the speed limit, but there seems to be a
disproportionate use of our resources, and those who need the most protection are of less
importance than revenues generated from traffic violations. Our children are our most
precious resource in this community, which was beautifully demonstrated tonight. I
would ask that we place more importance on their safety as well as our residents.
I read the crime report in the Fountain Hills Times for years. Crime is increasing.
That was a rare thing just a few years ago. I've met people who had their homes and their
cars broken into. I've seen more police activity in this town in the form of traffic stops
than patrolling the areas where the most vulnerable are. schools, baseball fields,
restaurants, small business parking lots and residential neighborhoods, and I might add,
dog parks. I respectfully ask that all of you with your platform and your influence in
Fountain Hills, please keep us safe.
MENDENHALL: Next is Paul Bozzi.
BOZZI: Good evening, everyone. I would just like to say I'm in total agreement with
every person that just came up here and spoke about this issue, which was brought up in
the beginning of this meeting. They've said everything I was going to say. I was
relieved, Councilwoman, that you addressed the sheriff. It seemed to me like a simple
answer. Do you have a permit or not? If you don't, you got to leave.
I do appreciate the sheriff coming up here and explaining. I feel better that it's at
least being looked at, but I want to say thank you to a lot of squeaky wheels, not all of
whom I know; that what makes me a little uneasy is that I'm not sure this would have
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gotten rolling without them. Thank you.
MENDENHALL: Next we have Libby Settle.
SETTLE: Good evening, Mayor, Councilmembers. My name is Libby Settle, and I
stand before you this evening as a concerned parent and community member. I want to
say thank you for the quick response and action regarding the concerns this past week. I
really appreciate it. My family and I have been fortunate enough to call Fountain Hills
home for the past 18 years, and we've never been concerned as deeply as we are
currently.
As you've heard from Captain Kratzer, on the morning of Tuesday, April 11th,
there was an individual sitting on the curb and into the bike lane on Fountain Hills
Boulevard, or McDowell Mountain Road, directly across from the Fountain Hills middle
school, watching the students being dropped off at school and playing outside while our
MCSO officers were pulling over speeding vehicles.
After discussing this concern with other concerned parents, a parent went out to
see how close to the school the encampment actually was. Once they were there, they
noticed a makeshift shelter, buckets, generator, gas cans and other garbage just north of
the middle school. It was located on one of the trails where the individual can walk to the
top of the ravine, less than 50 feet, and stand there and lurk and stare at our children
while they're at the playground without anyone noticing. This is highly concerning as we
look around the nation at what is happening.
We must take the safety of our community's children seriously and ensure that
this camp does not grow, and our children and parents don't feel threatened. I ask you,
Mayor and Council, to have MCSO enforce the laws and regulations already in place and
create stricter policies regarding the proximities to our schools.
Additionally, I ask you to move this agenda item up from June. We need to
ensure our unsheltered community members have access to the assistance they need, like
a new leaf, and our Fountain Hills families are provided with the utmost assurance that
their children are safe, not only from vehicles speeding down the road, but from any and
all perceived threats against their children. Thank you for your time.
MENDENHALL. Next we have Wendy Bozzi.
BOZZI. Hello. I, too, am very happy to hear the results of some people going out to
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check about the homeless situation behind the middle school. I discovered it on my own
during the school's spring break. I was back there hiking with my dogs and came across
it. And 1 didn't see any people, but I noticed a lot of buckets and things that looked rather
permanent. So I had talked to my husband about it, and he went out with me, and I
showed him also where it was and was just able to locate where it was. And we've made
a couple reports but hadn't got anywhere. So I'm glad to hear that something is going on.
We do have vagrancy laws and laws that just need to be enforced. And I've lived
here for 24 years, and I've worked for our schools for the entire time we've lived here,
and McDowell Mountain is going to be at the new middle school location. So I would
like to know -- to feel safe working in that location, but in all the locations, too. But just
the proximity of that area, there's a lot of open desert right behind that school, and we're
all looking at it as we move for safety for the kids.
So 1 appreciate and 1 encourage to some of the no trespassing kind of things that
might relay into the school property to help our kids. So thank you very much.
MENDENHALL: Next we have Ed Stizza.
STIZZA: Good evening, Mayor. Good evening, Councilmembers. Good evening, Vice
Mayor and staff. So you've heard everything there is to hear about the homeless
situation. The only thing that's not really being said that I've noticed is the fact that
there's got to be some -- these people need to be addressed with some sort of mental
illness and -- or dealing with mental illness.
And that's been my experience talking to these people because I've offered them
job, I know several people have offered them jobs, and we can debate who wants to work
and who doesn't want to work. But there's a mental illness problem with most of these
people walking the streets of Fountain Hills. So that's got to get addressed. Now, does
that mean we need a homeless shelter here? God, no. So it's just like having detox
facilities here. There's not enough population that certainly needs to have that be another
detriment to the community.
So couple things, Rachel, welcome. And you and Kevin have done an absolutely
bang-up job with the skate park. I've heard nothing but kudos, and people love it. They
feel it's very, very good. So that's great, but welcome. Hopefully, this is going to be fun
at some point, right? So -- but thank you for your service and everybody else's service.
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The other thing with 5G, it is so important. I do not understand, including with
the homelessness issue, why we cannot move the agenda items up faster. Okay? These
are -- you have residents here that are taking time out -- and I'll try to be quick with this --
that are here, and they're expressing their concerns. Okay. So why can't we move faster
on this? It shouldn't be that difficult. Our agenda items are not packed, you know, so --
and certainly if something gets done, it would lessen the amount of people sitting here
keeping us from the Suns game.
So I'm glad to hear that we're going to talk about the logo tonight. It is very, very
important -- how can I say -- decision to be made on that. And hopefully -- well, I'll
speak during the local part of it -- but so thank you guys for everything. So the town has
been an absolute joy over the past several months, and let's really work hard to keep it
that way. I mean, you've got a lot of residents that love this place, more so than a lot of
places I've been in the country. So this is something you've got to take importance with
these items. And thank you.
MENDENHALL: Okay. So the next ones are not -- they're just written comments. John
P. and Margaret A. Jones wish to comment in writing that they're for a moratorium on the
5G in Fountain Hills. Theodore C. Price, he is also for a moratorium on 5G cell towers.
Ronald Peterson is also -- he's against 56 tower zoning. Thank you. You also
have a comment, he talks a little bit more about setbacks and so forth. Then we also have
Linda Olson, who is also against 5G tower installations in Fountain Hills, and she wrote a
comment, too, which is at your station. And then Jane Bell is also for — she supports a
5G moratorium.
And then I have some others who dropped off comments, but I don't know if
they're here, and they didn't check if they wanted to speak or not. So if you're here,
Maureen Earp, are you here? Okay. So she's probably just wanting to let us know that
she wants a 5G moratorium. Mark Earp, he also wants to have a 5G moratorium.
How about Gary Hukka? Okay. Gary also wants to a 5G moratorium. And then
Barbara Hukka, she's probably not here either, but she wants to put a 56 moratorium
also. That's it for public comment.
MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you, Linda. Aaron and Rachel, so the end is Call to the
Public, we can respond, and part of what I wanted to maybe ask about is the moratorium
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comment, and then just in general, the idea that when we do have stuff on the agenda, we
don't want to do any speculating. We don't want to say maybe this or maybe that, so
that's why it's so important that this consultant, this legal consultant for the 5G stuff,
there's no point in meeting until that person -- that consultant group has the answers
because, otherwise, we'll just be wondering and does that have to do with Arizona?
You know, I mean there's just a lot going on so that I can't see doing before the 6th.
And then with the homelessness thing, it's kind of -- you know, we've got legal
aspects to that. We just have a lot of resources that we want to get.
And the other thing, and I don't know if we're allowed to talk about this, is that
whether there were anything pending for the 56 because as far as I knew there weren't
active applications or anything. So that might help with the idea that we can wait and get
the good information. But would you address that moratorium.
ARNSON: I can. I'll reiterate what I said the last time. And Mr. Meyers was the first
speaker during the Call to the Public and quoted what I said; that the Council is welcome
to adopt a moratorium on 5G facilities or on certain wireless facilities. It will not have a
legal effect of pausing a shot clock.
So what I want to make clear is that under federal law and state law, there are shot
clocks, which say that once a municipality receives an application for a wireless facility,
you have X number of days to approve it. Under state law, in the right-of-way for small
cell facilities, it's 20 days. If you don't respond to it within 20 days, it's deemed approved
by operation of law. That's in the statute. Under federal law they have similar guidelines
and similar timetables.
So we can adopt a moratorium, that's fine, but I want to reiterate that I don't want
there to be an expectation that it's going to pause the operation of federal or state law. It
cannot do that. So that's the best response and the clearest response that I can possibly
give, Mayor and Council.
MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. Councilman?
FRIEDEL. Could we do something like this resolution or a moratorium, even though it,
like you said, it won't stop the shot clock? Just so that the word is out that we're seriously
taking the residents' initiative.
ARNSON: Absolutely. If you want -- if you want to adopt a moratorium, recognizing
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that it won't have legal effect to pause the approval period under federal and state law,
you can do so.
FRIEDEL. How is this town -- if this is true, how is this town able to do this resolution
then? And maybe that's too much for this meeting.
ARNSON: And I don't know what legal advice they received. I don't know what was
going on behind the scenes there. Maybe they did the same thing that is being suggested
that we do here, right? Doesn't mean that it was something that had any legal force or
effect.
MAYOR DICKEY: Is that in the state of Arizona?
ARNSON: It's Connecticut.
MAYOR DICKEY: Oh, okay.
ARNSON: It won't make a legal difference, Mayor.
MAYOR DICKEY: Okay. Thanks.
FRIEDEL: I have one other question or comment. Somebody brought up the crime issue
in this town, and I think we've given some direction for our traffic safety committee to
expand their role and to help deal with some of these things. So that's something that's
being considered right now. Is that right, Rachel? Thank you.
ARNSON: Mayor, can I respond to that real briefly, and Councilmcmbcr Friedel. One
of the things that I'm actually glad to hear is coming on the table. It hopefully will have
consideration of several different policy proposals. We've heard about a couple of
suggestions. Some of them are workable; some of them are not as workable.
My firm's actually been working for other municipalities engaged in this exact
same conversation, so I think that for whatever this meeting is, you know, supposed to
transpire, I think we'll have a lot of suggested options to bring to the table for you. This
is an area -- this is an area where we have constitutional restraints in some respects, and
there are easy solutions. But it's not a preemption issue; it's not an issue where nothing
can be done. I think there's a number of solutions that will be available to the Council.
So I just want you to know from my legal perspective.
FRIEDEL: So getting back to the moratorium, is that something you need direction from
this Council to do or do we need a special meeting for that? What would be the next
step?
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ARNSON: Well, as far as I'm concerned, the next step would be -- of course, this would
be for Council consideration for adoption, so I'm happy to put -- seems like there's at least
one other municipality that put something on paper, right? I'm sure there are others that
put something on paper. You could easily put something on paper and have it on the
agenda for approval at the next available meeting, which I don't know why it couldn't be
the next meeting in May, Rachel.
GOODWIN: (Indiscernible).
ARNSON: Yeah, that's fine with me.
MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you very much. Next we have our Consent Agenda. Unless
you'd like something removed, could I get a motion, please?
SKILLICORN: Madame Mayor?
MAYOR DICKEY: Yes, sir?
SKILLICORN: I'd like to remove 8C from Consent.
MAYOR DICKEY: I'm sorry, which one?
SKILLICORN: 8C, the resolution with Maricopa County.
MAYOR DICKEY: Okay. Could I get a motion for A and B, please?
FRIEDEL: I move.
MAYOR DICKEY: Can 1 get a second, please?
SKILLICORN: I second.
GRZYBOWSKI: I second.
MAYOR DICKEY: All in favor of? Do a roll call, please.
MENDENHALL: Councilmember Toth?
TOTH: Aye.
MENDENHALL: Councilmember Grzybowski?
GRZYBOWSKI: Aye.
MENDENHALL: Councilmember Friedel?
FRIEDEL: Aye.
MENDENHALL: Councilmember Kalivianakis?
KALIVIANAKIS: Aye.
MENDENHALL: Councilmember Skillicom?
SKILLICORN: Aye.
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MENDENHALL: Vice Mayor McMahon?
MCMAHON: Nay. (CLERKS NOTE: VOTE IS AN AYE, SEE DISCUSSION
BELOW)
MENDENHALL. Mayor Dickey?
MAYOR DICKEY: Aye. Thank you. So our first item on our regular agenda is going to
be the approving the intergovernmental agreement with Maricopa County for emergency
operations management and disaster services. We'll have the Chief come up and tell us
about that.
MCMAHON: I thought we were (indiscernible).
MAYOR DICKEY: We just did.
MCMAHON: Oh.
MAYOR DICKEY: But you voted no.
MCMAHON: Oh, I'm sorry. I thought you -- I thought you were voting to --
MAYOR DICKEY: No, there's no vote to move an item off of the Consent agenda.
MCMAHON: I'll change my vote.
MAYOR DICKEY: Okay. She approves of the Consent agenda.
MENDENHALL: Okay. Good. All right.
MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. All set?
MENDENHALL: Yes.
MAYOR DICKEY: Thanks.
MENDENHALL: And I just had one for the record, both Councilmember Skillicom and
Councilmember Grzybowski seconded. For the record, who was first?
GRZYBOWSKI: Skillicom.
SKILLICORN: Her voice had to travel farther.
MENDENHALL: Okay. All right.
MAYOR DICKEY: For that all important second on the Consent agenda. Thank you.
Hi, sir.
OTT: Good evening, Mayor, Council.
MAYOR DICKEY: Can you explain this IGA, please.
OTT: I -- yeah, I've got 76 slides that we can go through that on. The IGA is something
that we've had in place. I believe this is probably the third go -round with the IGA. It's
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with Maricopa County Department of Emergency Management. It provides services
throughout the year for things like the Emergency Operation Plan, the coupe plan, the
County Wildfire Protection Plan, a number of other training opportunities. It also allows
us to have a voice when there's a declared emergency. If we had not been part of
McDam -- and I believe all the Valley cities and Tribal Nations are part of the IGA. It
will provide for us, when the feds declare an emergency, the state declares an emergency,
then the county declares an emergency, we're all part of that as an IGA partner.
If we're not an IGA partner with Maricopa County, we would have to fight for
those funds that are available during an emergency on our own as a sole entity besides the
County. So our ARPA money; our Terrace money -- all of that that came through that --
any of the Maricopa County public health; POD, point of distribution sites that we might
do; our vaccine sites that we did during COVID; our ability to have strategic national
stockpile supplies delivered to us were all part of that.
Over the last five years of the IGA that is currently expiring in the end of June, we
spent about $13,000 in those IGA membership fees. This one is slated to go for ten years
because there's no change in who the members are. It's kin have been the same for
almost 20 years, and there's very little change as that moves forward. The cost increases
are incidental. I think over the next -- the projected cost over the next ten years will be a
little bit more than $30,000, but that works out to about $3,000 per year for all the
services that Maricopa County would provide for us as being an IGA partner.
Are there any questions?
SKILLICORN: Thank you, Madame Mayor, Chief. Well, one of the reasons I'll pull this
off, you know, I wanted to see what we get for our $25,000. You know, some of these
things really sound like they should just be natural and a part of being part of the county.
I'm a little shocked that we have to spend $25,000 to have access to like natural disaster
relief, you know, and federal government disaster. It's just a little bit surprising that --
and we effectively -- it is very clear here.
It's just a very simple IGA. It doesn't have any details as to what we get. You
know, is there a response team? Is there a HAZMAT team that's 24/7? There's no details
here. It's just -- you know, we all want emergency response; we all want to be part of
those programs, right? This is shocking to me that there's not very much detail here and
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are asking $25,000 for it. And it is only five years, not ten.
OTT: I believe it is a ten-year IGA. The previous one was five years. The current -- the
one that we're asking to renew is ten years. And it's $25,000 would be probably over
$30,000 in total over the next ten years, but emergency management and emergency
response are slightly separate items.
The emergency management comes in to -- it is a larger piece of what's going on.
Emergency response would be if we have a HAZMAT spill here, we would get an
emergency -- or a HAZMAT team here from local fire departments, we bring them.
That's separate from what the emergency management is.
The emergency management process through the County is that in order to have a
voice on the bigger items that come down -- COVID is an example -- it all starts through
the County. And the members that are in Maricopa Department of Emergency
Management, the other cities in the Valley, they are part of that. They get the bigger
piece of the pie because they're involved in that.
As part of the state statute we have to be part -- have an emergency operations
plan. That plan has to be submitted to the County. That plan then gets submitted to the
State. Then the State would adopt that. And in order for us to be eligible for FEMA
funds as they become available, or any other government emergency management funds
that are available, we have to be part of that organization.
It doesn't mean that we could not save the $25,000. We would be on our own to
go through that process, and, again we'd be going up against the other 26, 27 and the
Tribal communities that are part of McDam Emergency Management IGA currently,
we'd be going against that on our own. So we're fighting against the rest of the Valley to
try to get additional funds. An example would have been that the strategic national
stockpile funds -- or supplies would have been available to us, there would have been
more an incurred cost to us than what the $3,000 that we had spent on the IGA fee. So
that was all kind of inclusive in that.
I can give you a more detailed breakdown of everything, but the Emergency
Operation Plan is an integral part of Arizona Department of Emergency Management as
the County plan. The County Wildlife Protection Plan is a bigger part of the County plan
that goes to the State.
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The coupe, which we have just recently completed and submitted to the County
for inclusion in their coupe plan, is the Continuity of Operations Plan. if we had a local
disaster that wiped out things, we're now -- being an 1GA partner, it would allow us to
take part in some of the contracts that the County has. If we go to the County first
because we have severe flooding here, as an IGA member, we can go to the County, ask
them for services, ask them for additional equipment, ask them for resources. If the
County can't supply that, then the County goes to the State.
That's a small price to pay in that $3,000 a year to have all those resources really
at our beck and call during an emergency. It's an insurance policy to some extent because
we typically do not have a lot of emergencies, but if that happens, we're now -- if it's
Valley wide, we would be on our own to be fighting with the County to try to give us
those resources. They're going to provide those services first for the people that are in the
IGA and move forward from that standpoint.
SKILLICORN: Mayor, Chief, and isn't our emergency plan already filed with the
County?
OTT: It is, but it's constantly reviewed, and we make revisions to it, and then that gets
readopted and then resubmitted to the State. So it's a living, breathing document, the
same as the Wildfire Protection Plan and the Continuity of Operations Plan.
SKILLICORN: Thank you, Chief, Mayor. The only thing I want to make a note is that
our clerk pointed out that the staff report is incorrect. Let the record reflect that the staff
report is incorrect. It's ten, not five. The effective date is 2033.
MAYOR DICKEY: Okay. So that -- Councilman?
KALIVIANAKIS: Yeah, thank you, Ms. Mayor. That's actually why I turned on my
light is just to clarify whether this was a five- or ten-year agreement, but our efficient
clerk has answered that question. So on that note, I would like to move to adopt
resolution 2033-12.
FRIEDEL: I second.
MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. Roll call, please.
MENDENHALL: Councilmember Grzybowski?
GRZYBOWSKI: Aye.
MENDENHALL. Councilmember Friedel?
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FRIEDEL: Aye.
MENDENHALL: Councilmember Kalivianakis?
KALIVIANAKIS: Aye.
MENDENHALL: Councilmember Skillicorn?
SKILLICORN: Aye.
MENDENHALL: Councilmember Toth?
TOTH: Aye.
MENDENHALL: Vice Mayor McMahon?
MCMAHON: Aye.
MENDENHALL: Mayor Dickey?
MAYOR DICKEY: Aye. Thank you.
OTT: Thank you.
MAYOR DICKEY: Pass is unanimous. Thank you, Dave. Our next item is regarding
the new town logo. We'll start with a report from our Economic Director, Amanda
Jacobs. Thank you.
JACOBS: Good evening, Madame Mayor, members of Council. So here to talk about
the new logo that Council unanimously approved on March 21 st. Right before the
motion, Councilmember Kalivianakis requested could we do a minor tweak. So, again, if
you'll look at your screens, on top is the approved option A, variation 3, which, again,
was approved. And then one week later, on March 28th, we made some modifications.
So, again, if you'll see that dark blue line, you'll see that the consultant
straightened that out. And then the Mayor requested that, again, with the approved
option A, variation 3, that we modify the roundness and oval, and so hopefully, you'll see
that that was also corrected. Again, the consultant did do some modifications to the
mountains, decreased them a bit, and then added some sunshine because we see a lot of
sunshiny days.
And so during that meeting I had mentioned to Council that if we could not fulfill
those requests, you would hear from me just for the public's benefit. Council never heard
from me because we made the corrections, and so we began the implementation process.
I want to add, so over the last couple of weeks, there's been some misinformation,
and so just want to take the opportunity to clarify. So in my staff reports in January and
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March, I thought I made it clear, but three times a charm, the Town seal is going
nowhere. The seal will remain. What staff requested back in January was a logo to
target market new people and with some of your direction, on appealing to young
professionals.
We respected Council's opinion back in January. There was not a consensus to
move. Maybe we're being too, you know, modern. So we seeked [sic] Council feedback.
So what you see is based on direction we received in March when you guys approved it,
but also in private to include the mountains because you'll remember affectionately,
Councilmember Friedel referred to the original logo as a fancy napkin holder.
And so we've added the mountains; we've modified the fountain. And so on April
4th, Councilmember Kalivianakis did request to bring this back. There was a second
from Councilmember Skillicorn, and a third from Councilmember Friedel. So we're here
just to get a little bit more direction. And, again, originally when this was posted, I
believe on Thursday, it was for a little bit more direction. That was modified so Council,
if they wish to do, so can take action. And so we will be listening and can help with any
type of motions. And as always, there's always options. So with that, Madame Mayor.
MAYOR DICKEY: Thanks very much. Councilmember'?
TOTH: Thank you, Madame Mayor and Amanda. Great work as always. As promised,
the updates were made and -- excuse me, that one in the middle with the sun, I think, is
really lovely. It looks like our fountain. It looks like something that I hope you would be
proud to use in a presentation about our town.
I, of course, also love the Town seal. I thought that it was there. It's not. The Town seal.
It was like right over here. It's not there. I made that up. I. of course, love our town seal.
so I'm glad that that's sticking around, as well. But wonderful work on this. I think it
looks great. And those were the updates that we requested, and now they're here, so
thank you.
GRYZBOWSKI: I think it's fantastic. I thought it was great before, but honestly, I love
the change of the spray, and a reminder that one of the conversations we've had at every
one of your meetings is that the colors are there, very neutral colors, just so that we can
see what it is. Colors may change based on what it's put on, whether it's a note card, or
letterhead or maybe a shirt. So I'm just saying that so we all know. But I love it. I think
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it's fantastic. I appreciate the extra effort that you guys put in.
SKILLICORN: Mayor, Director, so when was this originally approved to go ahead and
start the logo process?
JACOBS: So Councilmember Skillicom, can you clarify what you mean?
MAYOR DICKEY: I can answer that.
JACOBS: Okay.
MAYOR DICKEY: You're talking about where this all came from in the first place? We
had retreat in February last year. Council that was there discussed having a logo --
actually, a branding, for purposes of attracting, like you said, for tourism, for kind of
honing in something that would help economic development and help the businesses,
help tourism.
And so there was quite a bit of discussion, and in fact, I wasn't like one of the
most, you know, ardent proponents of it, because I thought we have a brand and it's the
fountain. But after seeing what some of these other cities were doing and noticing Tempe
and some of them, it's like there, you see it. And then we started U of A and you can tell
the font. You know immediately you're talking U of A. So it won me over, and Mike
was a little reluctant, too, but in the end unanimously wanted to go ahead with this
process. And the process included not just, you know, printing some-- drawing
something out on a napkin.
The people that came, they were part of -- I think there were six applicants. It
was unanimously approved to be in the budget, so that was -- so we had the retreat. We
had the budget last June. Unanimously approved $20,000. Went out for a bid; got the
people to come in. They did this big survey, so they got a feel for what was important,
and I think what came out was natural, nature, scenery, mountains, you know, everything
we thought, and obviously, the fountain.
So they brought some stuff to us. They presented to many of us a couple times.
Amanda had us all come in and see the different choices. We all picked. That's how we
ended up with what we voted on, and I think at that point everybody was okay with one.
And then, Brenda, you had another idea, so then you came in, I think, a couple days
before, suggested something similar to the one that we unanimously approved at our last
meeting.
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So it thought -- and again, it's for branding, and there was more work done that
we haven't even gotten to yet, but -- so this has become a little bit more than I think we
all thought it was going to be. And now if I'm hearing -- if everybody looks at these and
sees something that they can agree with, like what you just mentioned, then we can move
on. That's why I made into an action item so that maybe if something was here that was
appealing to everyone, we would move on, but it wouldn't involve any extra expense to
the company that came up with these. So that's kind of the history of where it came from.
SKILLICORN: Thank you so much, Mayor. May I ask the Director a couple questions?
MAYOR DICKEY: Of course.
SKILLICORN: Thank you so much. Amanda, what -- Director, what is your vision for
using this, and what are your projected costs and budget for implementing it?
JACOBS: So Madame Mayor, Councilmember Skillicom, initially, we're thinking-- and
again this is going to be part of the implantation process, which we stopped after April
4th -- is looking at the website. The print media that we're already doing again to
target -- so, for instance, site collectors -- it'll be added on there.
We're considering business cards. There will be a new PowerPoint template.
And some of that will be for myself because, again, as I've mentioned, the seal, yes, we
love it, but when we're up against our competitors, it's a little stuffy and old. I apologize,
no disrespect. As 1 mentioned before, there will be no additional cost.
This third phase that we're in, that we've now temporarily stopped, will be
included. So these things that I'm talking to you about, we will get those templates from
the consultant. So no additional cost. Again, you guys saw last year the fiscal year '24
budget. There are no requests from myself for any additional branding. It's $20,000. We
are not requesting to expend any additional taxpayer dollars on this.
SKILLICORN: And Mayor, Director, if were printing business cards, if we're printing
out advertisements, there has to be a cost to that, right?
JACOBS: Not in there, Councilmember Skillicom, yes. So those are already budgeted.
So, for instance, let's just take the business cards. When you guys have finished
distributing all your cards, you request new cards. That's a cost that's in our office supply
budget, so there'll be no additional costs. So it's just kind of slapping on the new logo.
SKILLICORN: Madame Mayor, Director, so to say there's no additional cost, come on,
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we know better than that. We see through this. I make a motion to suspend this logo and
exclude any additional costs and end this now.
KALIVIANAKIS: I would second that.
MAYOR DICKEY: Who's seconding it?
KALIVIANAKIS: (Indiscernible) .
MAYOR DICKEY: So the motion is to suspend this activity?
KALIVIANAKIS: I still have more discussion, if you want.
MCMAHON: Clarification, please? What is the motion for? To stop the whole process,
stop the new logo or just stop this to not —
SKILLICORN: Madame Mayor, Councilwoman, I think it's appropriate because an
outright outcry that we -- this is not have enough public support, and I am not a fan of
moving forward on this, and I'm not a fan of spending any taxpayer resources going
forward. We already have a logo. I say we use that.
MAYOR DICKEY: Okay. So when we have our presentation and we can ask questions,
then we have to go to comment cards, so I'm going to allow comment cards right now.
MENDENHALL: First we have Crystal Cavanaugh.
CAVANAUGH: Good evening. Even though I've been a little more preoccupied and
focused on the outpatient treatment center trying to go into the wrong zoning, I do have
some thoughts on the logo. And would I have spent the 20,000 to get the very mediocre
and limited options that were presented to you? No, but it happened. So now what?
1 do believe that this current Council, for the most part, cares whether money is wasted,
so I do think that must have been why you went ahead and voted yes on the uninspiring
logo.
However, I think that when we do pause and revisit this, you'll realize the best
route is to toss out all of those uninspiring logos that were presented by that company.
And that company chose those options after reaching out to our community using a free
service called SurveyMonkey -- that actually any one of us could have done -- to get a
feel for branding, a branding direction in Fountain Hills. And surprise, surprise, it
included a fountain. And guess what? That is indeed our very recognizable brand here.
So we're not limited to just that, of course, but not many other towns or cities can use it,
so why fight it?
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Some of you had mentioned you wanted a more modem logo, and that was
definitely not achieved with the new ones, nor would it have been achieved satisfactorily
with that initial napkin holder one. I personally like the fountain on the wall right behind
you. I actually see it as having very modem edges. And what is wrong with using the
interior of our existing town seal, which includes a nice fountain, mountains and a moon
for our dark sky community? Simple and recognizable, using nice colors, I mean, even
for young professionals.
Even though the Town has already spent the 20,000 to get the lukewarm logo
selection, there's no reason to go full speed ahead now with a new expenses, which will
be involved in rebranding websites, merchandise, products, print media, et cetera. So we
don't want to throw even more money towards this uninspiring graphic. You may just
have to chalk it up to a bad investment, a mistake and look for other ways to fix it. And I
say go back to the drawing board in a fiscally responsible way. It'll cost less in the long
run.
We can either use the interior of the current seal or a spend a tiny bit more money
elsewhere and, hopefully, achieve a great logo for less than $500 or less than $2,000 or at
a maximum $5,000. Nowhere near 20,000, that's for sure. Because you can reach out to
our local sign and graphics companies, a college design class or an online artist website
such as Fiver where freelance artists vie for your business and create multiple logos to
choose from at a very small cost. So we are Fountain Hills, a location of beauty and
destination, and we just deserve more than settling for a logo, in my opinion. Thank you.
MENDENHALL: Next we have Ed Stizza. Now you can talk about the logo.
STIZZA. Good evening. Can we spend a couple hundred bucks and get an extension on
the mic? So a couple things. I've a question that Amanda brought up, and, that is, are
you going to use this logo on all their town cards? Because that's what you said. Oh, I
well -- she's going to answer the question.
MAYOR DICKEY: I'm assuming that was as we go through them, then the new ones
would have a new logo on them.
STIZZA. So it would have a new logo? So the seal that's on your cards now would go
away, which is the official seal of the town. So that's what you're going to do?
MAYOR DICKEY: Yeah.
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STIZZA: Okay. Because I pass those cards out all the time and --
MAYOR DICKEY: I'll ask Councilwoman to respond.
TOTH: I just wanted to give the chance for Amanda to clarify. Was that just an example
of needing to reorder an item?
JACOBS: Ed, Madame Mayor, Councilmember Toth, that is a -- that is an example. So
again, during the implementation, we will still have those conversations. I am flexible,
open minded, and so it's an example. It's not set in stone. You're welcome.
STIZZA. Okay. So that's that answer. Thank you, Amanda. So then the next thing,
obviously, they worked a little bit harder, so that's nice to see. Still not there. Still needs
a little tweaking. And why we're using the first list of pantone colors to describe this is
beyond me.
I mean, why aren't we throwing in some colors now? And that way people could
possibly look at that and have a better opinion of it. There is not one person over the
past — now, this isn't out there yet, right, as far as the three logos that came back, right?
JACOBS: No.
STIZZA: So definitelya vast improvement, but it still needs a little more tweaking. It
would be nice to be -- nice to see some real colors. Okay? These are right off the first
color palette of the pantone list. So let's see what's real and how you're really going to
use it. And then maybe some of that vibrancy will come out. You can do a few little
more tweaks. It certainly displays the fountain better, and your lily pad, Councilwoman
Toth.
So it's getting there, but why are we rushing? No reason to rush; is there? Are we
losing money by rushing? Are we making more money? This is a big decision, and
that's what I tried to say each time. You know, so just take a little more time, that's all.
And get the public happy because the public was not happy at all. So I can tell you that.
So all right? Thanks, guys. Have a great night. Go Suns.
MENDENHALL: The next are just a written comment by Matthew Corrigan that he
opposes the logo. He likes retaining the existing logo. Lori Troller is against the town
logo. And Liz Gildersleeve, she wrote a statement, but she's against the logo. And that's
it for public comment.
MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. Brenda?
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KALIVIANAKIS: Thank you, Ms. Mayor. Where do I begin? I think you would have
to be completely tone deaf to live in Fountain Hills and to think there's any support for
any variation of this. I'd like to agree with Crystal Cavanaugh. The lack of options to
me — and you said this tonight, and it just rang true. We were presented what was
essentially the same thing in various iterations. We didn't get like five different logo
designs, and then let's wind it down, let's wind it down. We were basically given one and
said you're going to accept this.
We did vote unanimously. And a very wise man once told me that, Brenda,
occasionally, you're going to make mistakes, and when you do, you got to own them, and
you got to fix them. And so I'm trying to fix the mistake that I made, and I'll definitely
own up to it.
If they would have used this town seal as the inspiration for the logo, I think it
would have been approved, and we'd probably be implementing it right now. But they
didn't do that, and I just feel like the Gordley Group from Tucson just doesn't understand
Fountain Hills. They don't get us.
And so I don't like this, and then I shouldn't disagree with the constituent end, but
it's not tweakable. Okay? The strategic plan calls for an effective brand. This is not an
effective brand. So I think we're violating the very strategic plan that we're supposed to
uphold.
People have asked me, Brenda, this is not a big thing. It's a little concern. Why
are you so wrapped up in this? Well, there is a flag that's been flown incorrectly in
Fountain Hills, and the citizens came up to me and said that's an improperly displayed
American flag. Okay? That was worth my time. A lot of people might think that's a little
deal. It wasn't to me.
A pot hole on a street that's only six houses on, that might be a little deal, but no,
there are six people who live on that street; we've got to fix that street. And so whether
it's important or not is just a matter of perspective. What's important to you might not be
important to me and vice versa.
Community branding -- and I'm sure you know this, Amanda; and I think we're all
just trying to get a correct brand; and I think that's why I'm having this conversation
tonight -- it's become the new economic development rattle. More significant than the
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value of financial incentives, giving your town, city, community a brand that represents
its values, beliefs and will ultimately attract people, attract businesses. Community
branding revives neighborhoods, revitalizes districts, packs restaurants, creates an
economic buzz. Does anybody think this logo will do any of those things? I don't think
so.
Based on the amount of input that I've received from the public, which has been
voluminous, if we vote for this, we are violating the very public trust that I think we're
sworn to uphold. Why is the public's trust declining in government all across our
country? Because citizens don't feel like they're being listened to anymore. The
consultant and the expert classes have seemed to have driven out common sense in
governments and replaced it with what the government thinks is right for you. And they
will defer on their consultants and their experts to say how wrong you are and what
you're thinking is not good to think. Okay?
I think that I listened to the people, and that's what I heard, and that's why I'm
voting with Allen's motion to terminate the agreement with the Gordley Group and to
terminate this logo going forward. When it was published in the Fountain Hills Times, I
had an outpour I really didn't expect after I had voted for it. The people were angry that
we spent $20,000. There's no doubt about that. The people, they wanted the new brand,
but they wanted a new brand that we could be proud of, and I don't think this is
something that the people are proud of.
I reached out to town forums, at stores, to restaurants and many other gathering
places, and I had my phone and I showed everybody that logo. You like it or not? Do
you like it or not? I swear I don't think anybody liked it, and a few people said it's
tweakable, which I disagree with. I think this logo missed the mark. Are we going to
listen to our residents and our constituents or are we just going to tell you, don't worry,
it's good even if you don't think so? This logo has been subject to ridicule, jokes, scorn.
The descriptions that come to mind are numerous.
One other point that I really feel has to be made tonight is the treatment of the
Four Peaks mountain range, which I don't -- again, I don't think they captured. Now, I've
got the Four Peaks chapter of the Daughters of the Revolution. The Four Peaks is the
center of their chapter. They said that the Four Peaks and the backdrop for Fountain Hills
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and Rio Verde is considered sacred by the Yavapai community, and so they consider this
mountain range sacred, and we're tweaking it. I don't think we should be tweaking it.
If someone were to use a Christian cross and took liberties with it, and maybe the
bottom was wavy or looked like a piece of lightening, I would be offended as a Christian.
I think that we're doing that to the Yavapai Nation. We don't get a lot of input from them,
but I have gotten input from them, and they don't like what we're doing with this emblem.
And they're our neighbors, and we have to -- we have to respect them. What am I asking
the Council tonight is to accept the fact that this is flawed, it's not a good brand and to
move on.
One last argument I've heard is we've already spent the money, why waste it?
Just go forward with it. We've already spent the money. I disagree with that. I reject
that argument. Why throw good money after bad? If you buy a used car that's constantly
in need of repairs, do you just keep throwing money at it or sell it and buy a new one?
I say the money's gone, that's unfortunate, but let's open this up to the community. Let's
make this a community project at the high schools, at the senior centers, and let them
design the logo.
We could put together an ad hoc committee, and we could go from there. They
could reduce it down, bring it in front of Council, and then we could vote. It would bring
our town together, it would be fun, and we could get a branding logo that truly represents
our town. And so those are my thoughts on that. Thank you for the extended amount of
time tonight. I appreciate it.
TOTH: First and foremost, Amanda, if I'm correct that you had mentioned in the last
two times that we've talked about the logo that the implementation would be simply as
we ran out of things. So we would already be ordering those business cards, we just
added that artwork onto it theoretically. We don't know if the business card would be the
example. Sony, Ed.
JACOBS: Mayor, Councilmember Toth, that's correct.
TOTH: Okay.
JACOBS: So again, when we have an ad, let's just take -- we get grant money, and some
of it is dedicated to print advertising. When we're working with the graphic designer, we
have to provide the content, the logo, the imagery, and so it's added on. That part is not
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an additional cost.
TOTH: Thank you. So just once again to reiterate, that there really is not an
implementation cost besides what is included in the $20,000, correct?
JACOBS: That is correct.
TOTH: Thank you. Furthermore, while we have heard -- and I won't deny that, that
we've heard a significant amount of feedback on whether or not people enjoy the logo, I
take major issue with the statement that there is no support of the logo. Because even,
frankly, the Councilmcmbers own social media posts showed people that said, yes, I like
the logo. Now, were they outnumbered? Yes. However, they did exist.
I think the conversation around this logo has gotten extraordinarily out of hand.
This is something that, frankly, we would not normally have so much of a say in. And
while I understand we all have our feedback and our preferences, and I'm sure if I drew a
logo for Fountain Hills, it would look different than everyone else in this room and vice
versa, right? Each of us have our own preferences and opinions, and that especially
comes out when we talk about artwork. And that's what this is.
And I think also that having the responsibility of attracting people to town lies
solely on a logo is not an accurate depiction of what a logo does. It grabs your attention,
it looks good, has our fountain, that is our brand. I fully agree you, Madame Mayor.
I suppose this is my very long way of saying that I continue to support this logo. I
really -- I'm interested to see what they come up with when it comes to colors, but I think
that you had this handled when it came to the feedback that we had given you, and I
appreciate it, and I thank you for putting all of this extra work into this.
MAYOR DICKEY: (Indiscernible)?
GRZYBOWSKI: Thank you, Mayor. I'd like to just say ditto and leave it at that, but I'm
going to go just a wee bit further. My first question is, will we place an ad to say here's
our new logo? No. I can tell by the look on your face. You don't even need to answer
that if you don't want to. So to me --
JACOBS: No. Just for the record, no.
GRZYBOWSKI: Okay. So now officially it is on the record, you said no. So to me, that
would be the added expense that perhaps -- the only thing I can think of. Because like
Councilwoman Toth said, I run out of business cards -- which, honestly, I don't see me
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ever doing, but I run out of business cards and I call Angela and say, order me new
business cards, and she may say, do you want the town seal or do you want the new logo?
I want the new logo. Whatever. So this is just a part of doing business.
Also, if I remember correctly, you presented two distinctly different logos at the --
I don't remember what day, January something or other meeting. There were two
distinctly different logos, if I remember correctly, and we gave direction as to which one
we were leaning towards. Then at the March 21 st meeting, you went with that and came
up with the different variations. So we did have two distinctly different ones to choose
from at that first meeting.
Then the other thing I wanted to talk about was the boring colors, for lack of a
better word. This is just kind of how logos are created. They do these colors so that our
eye is not distracted by our favorite color. Purple, for example. If you put a purple logo
up there, it almost wouldn't matter what it was, that would be my favorite logo. So this is
strategically done to help us determine what we like better. Then that was all my notes.
Thank you very much.
KALIVIANAKIS: Thank you, Ms. Mayor. Guess it's the theme tonight for me is
correcting mistakes. Let me correct one more mistake. I'd like to amend my previous
statement to say that almost all the people in Fountain Hills don't like it. I shouldn't have
said everybody. It's almost. So I'd like -- I'd just like to retract my words that everybody
didn't like it. There's a slim majority that did. Thank you.
MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. I concur with Sharron and how this has been brought
about. We all voted unanimously for it last time. In fact, I think that the suggestion for
the Four Peaks was from Brenda to change from the original version, which you went to
great lengths to accommodate that. We all agreed with it. I don't understand why it's
being brought back, especially since it was an unanimous vote, but I would like to move
forward with the logo.
I think that it is -- it represents our fountain, and the sun is coming up and all that.
I don't think there's any insult to any women's group or that -- you know, the Yavapai
Nation or whatever. Even religious crosses, people have different ones. They're changed
They're decorated different, et cetera. It's a matter of interpretation. So thank you for all
your hard work. I appreciate it.
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KALIVIANAKIS: Ms. Mayor, just one more just comment. I was the one that wanted
to get the Four Peaks in there, and it wasn't done right. And according to our packet, if
we want to change this current logo at all, except for the colors, it's going to cost us
another ten to $15,000. Just to change this thing to make it, as Ed would say, tweakable,
it's going to cost us 10 to 15 grand. It's in the packet.
MAYOR DICKEY: It says if additional changes. Sharron?
GRZYBOWSKI: One more thing I wanted to say, and this is what I try to stress to
constituents when they say they want to email me about a particular situation, What I
have found in the past two years on a couple months of being a councilperson is human
nature, we all have a tendency to like one person or one ideal better, so we have a
tendency to follow that person on social media, to only email that person. And I'm a big
believer in, I want to know all your opinions.
So when they say, Sharon, I'll send you an email, I'm like can you please email
the entire council? This is how you do it. Because I want the entire Council to know how
you feel. I don't want to be the only one to see your thoughts. I think it's important that
all seven of us have the ability to see your thoughts, to read your thoughts.
So I kind of feel like if we say something on social media, it's going to be the
same kind of thing, that people are following Sharron, so it'll automatically pull up
because that's what Facebook does, is it knows who you follow and knows who you like
and who you comment on, so automatically, it's going to pull up on your feed
So what I'm thinking is the reason why she's getting more no's than she got yeses
because those are the people that have already liked her post or talked to her via social
media more. So again, to the thousands of fans that we have that I know watch the
meeting every day, I think it is -- this is another really good example when you have
something to say to one of us, please say it to all of us so that we can all hear all sides of
whatever the conversation is. Thank you.
KALIVIANAKIS: Thank you, Ms. Mayor. As I prepared this statement tonight and
thought about this, I was very careful to not make mention of Facebook or of any
Facebook posts or Facebook feedback. Matter of fact, it's right in my notes. I said my
feedback was on town forum meetings, restaurants, gas station, et cetera, et cetera. You
all heard my statement. I specifically didn't say it was from Faccbook because of what
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just Councilwoman Grzybowski s concerns were. I did not use that as a guidepost to
what the people of Fountain Hills thought.
I took it upon myself to go out and engage people. I thought that that's the right
way to do it, not just rely on a Facebook post, which is obviously going to be skewed,
and you can get any result that you want. So I just wanted to let you know that my whole
thing tonight was not based on anything more than my personal contacts and interactions
with the citizens of Fountain Hills.
MAYOR DICKEY: I think the idea that there's 25,000 people in this town and if we
tried to ask who likes what as far as art is so subjective, and Amanda as our Economic
Development Director did as directed, not only from -- going from the most recent
meeting where we unanimously told her what we wanted, but she brought to that meeting
what she was directed to bring to it. And she did the same in January.
And the ones in January came from the previous council seeing all these designs
and honing down to -- you know, in separate groups and honing down. So there were
four or five -- there were six, I think, in the beginning. Then it got narrowed down. If
people didn't want to spend $20,000 on branding, the time to do that was during our four
or five budget meetings last year when it was there as a budget item or before that when
we spoke about this entire effort, which, like I said, lukewarm, ended up wanting to do it
and feeling like it was a good thing to do.
I think that Amanda should not be questioned as it when she says that they're not
going to spend more money on this, that to just like say, oh, come on, like that to her, is
disrespectful. I don't appreciate that.
I wanted to ask Hannah since you're so close in with businesses, are there
businesses that are either members or not of the Chamber who are professional
marketers -- I shouldn't ask you this. But in other words, it's a profession. It's not a
contest for high school kids. No disrespect to high school kids, but we're professional.
We're a town. We're looking at a logo. We're attracting business. We're going out to
different places, not only in the Valley, but all around the state and even outside and
saying how great we are.
We're in the Smithsonian Institute. We want people to give us millions of dollars
to do that discovery center. And why would we not want to have this marketing effort
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that any business would likely want to have? So do you have an opinion about that,
Hannah?
TOTH: So this is to be entirely clear, Councilmember Toth talking, not Chamber Toth.
Just kidding. But Councilmember Hannah does agree that there are several marketing
companies here in town. I actually did receive a comment from one who kind of floated
the idea for leaving it up to students, and in full disclosure that, if this was this time last
year, I would be very interested in pursuing that. However, we are at this point of the
process where we've already committed $20,000 to this. And like I said, I like this logo.
I, (a), do not see a reason to go back and start all over and by doing so, probably spending
more money, and secondarily, I like the logo, so I want to use this one. So sorry.
MAYOR DICKEY: Okay. There's a motion on the table to suspend or prevent this from
moving forward and a second. Can we have a roll call though on that, please.
MENDENHALL: Councilmember Friedel?
FRIEDEL. Aye.
MENDENHALL: Councilmember Kalivianakis?
KALIVIANAKIS: Aye.
MENDENHALL: Councilmember Skillicom?
SKILLICORN: Aye.
MENDENHALL: Councilmember Toth?
TOTH: Nay.
MENDENHALL: Councilmember Grzybowski?
GRZYBOWSKI: Nay.
MENDENHALL: Vice Mayor McMahon?
MCMAHON: Nay.
MENDENHALL: Mayor Dickey?
MAYOR DICKEY: No.
MENDENHALL: It fails four to three.
MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. Do we have any further discussion? Anybody have a
motion?
TOTH: Yes, I do.
TOTH: Madame Mayor --
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MAYOR DICKEY: Just make the motion.
TOTH: -- I apologize, but I don't actually know if we need to do a motion since
technically this was already approved. I mean, is there anything really to vote on?
MAYOR DICKEY: Well, which design.
TOTH: Oh, oh, I see. Thank you. Thank you, Madame Mayor. With that, I move to
approve the -- I guess it didn't technically have a title -- the middle one.
MAYOR DICKEY: In the third version?
TOTH: Yes, modified option A, variation 3.
MAYOR DICKEY: Middle.
TOTH: The one in the middle.
MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you.
JACOBS: Madame Mayor?
MAYOR DICKEY: Yeah, I'm sorry. Yes, Amanda.
JACOBS: Aaron and I arc kind of looking at each other. You guys don't need to make a
motion.
ARNSON: That was my -- I mean, you directed to make these changes. The changes
were made. It's done.
UNIDENTIFIED COUNCILMEMBER: We've moved on.
JACOBS: Yes, that --
ARNSON: I mean, if you want to do that, that's fine, but --
JACOBS: Yeah, that --
ARNSON: -- you don't need to.
JACOBS: Basically, I received my direction March 21 st, got to keep up with the dates,
and so we will move forward. And so again, like you've seen different variations, those
three are different variations. And so again, the blue, white or it's like a solid black --
MAYOR DICKEY: The middle one -- one of them didn't have Four Peaks. It just had
separated mountains. Where did it go?
ARNSON: I was going to say, if you want it for clarity, go ahead and do it, and we'll be
done with that.
MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. So we do have a motion on the table for that. Do we
have a second?
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JACOBS: Second.
MAYOR DICKEY: All those in favor, please, we'll do a roll call. We're always doing
that.
MENDENHALL: Okay. Councilmember Kaliavinakis?
MAYOR DICKEY: Hold on one second. I'm sorry, we need some clarification.
MENDENHALL: Okay.
MCMAHON: What's the motion again?
MAYOR DICKEY: A motion to approve number three --
MCMAHON: Okay.
MAYOR DICKEY: -- the middle one.
MCMAHON: Okay. Thank you.
MENDENHALL: Okay. All right.
GRZYBOWSKI: I know what you're talking about.
UNIDENTIFIED COUNCILMEMBER: Oh, it's on the --
MENDENHALL: It's on the screen. Okay. All right. Councilmember Kalivianakis?
KALIVIANAKIS: I'll abstain.
MENDENHALL: Councilmember Skillicom?
SKILLICORN: No.
MENDENHALL: Councilmember Toth?
TOTH: Aye.
MENDENHALL: Councilmember Grzybowski?
GRZYBOWSKI: Aye.
MENDENHALL: Councilmember Friedel?
FRIEDEL: Aye.
MENDENHALL: Vice Mayor McMahon?
MCMAHON: Aye.
MENDENHALL: Mayor Dickey?
MAYOR DICKEY: Aye.
MENDENHALL: It passes.
MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. Thank you, Amanda. Appreciate it.
JACOBS: Thank you. And so again, we'll continue to move forward. Again, we'll push
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the (indiscernible) --
MAYOR DICKEY: We need to do cards. No, I don't.
JACOBS: We'll move forward. And again, I told you about 30 to 45 days, so well be in
touch. Thank you.
MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you very much. Our next item is adoption of Town of
Fountain Hills Public Art Master Plan. Rachel?
GOODWIN: Thank you, Mayor. Tonight Kevin Snipes is going to be presenting this
item. Just a little review that our Public Art Committee is not a directly appointed
committee from the Council. It is an outside working group that staff liaises with in
order to procure and care for our public art. The recommendations that arc in your packet
tonight originated from that committee in order to modify how we fund that program.
So Kevin, I'll turn it over to you.
SNIPES: Hi. Thank you, Madame Mayor and Council. So I've been asked to present
this on behalf of the Public Art Committee as they are doing a pump house pilot project
ribbon cutting ceremony tonight for the new art that's being put down at the Fountain
Park.
So their statement reads as follows: "The Public Art Committee is recommending
eliminating the option of developers to match the percent for art donation with public art
located on their sites and having a monetary donation to the Public Art Fund held by the
town as the only option. A few projects in the past have not been executed as presented
by the developers. Taking in mind that there arc artistic parameters to consider, the
Public Art Committee does not feel that the end result or the processes followed met the
requirements outlined in the Public Art mastcrplan.
"The Public Art Committee feels that the check and balances of the current plan is
not adequate and, therefore, eliminating the option for public art on site would allow for
greater oversight of these funds by the Public Art Committee and Town staff."
With that, I'll take any questions and do my best to answer them.
SKILLICORN: Madame Mayor, and I actually don't know if there's a town manager or
director here because I know the Town Manager did the report. But as I'm reading
through here, I see the changes. Of course, I sec that it's crossed out, provide public art
work, and the only option is to make a donation. Doesn't the art committee actually
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approve, yay or nay, our donations?
SNIPES: Correct. Yes, they do.
SKILLICORN: Okay. So Mayor and staff, if they approve it, I don't see the problem. If
they have an ability to approve it or not allow it, I don't see the reason for this change.
And I've seen developers donate art, and it's been great and something that compliments
that; their investment in town.
Whereas, if it's an outside body that is going to be doing the determination and
they're only making a donation, a monetary donation, it may not compliment their design,
it may not compliment, you know, the feel, and we might get a situation where they don't
like the logo or whatever that is they have to contribute to. And because the art
committee has the final say of if the art is acceptable or not, I don't see a need for this.
SNIPES: Madame Mayor, Councilmember, so part of the discussion that's happened
within the committee is that they feel that what they've approved is not the final product
that has come to fruition. So that's where their discrepancy is with the existing plan that's
in place.
MAYOR DICKEY: Sharron, did you have something -- I'm sorry, oh, Rachel.
GOODWIN: I was just going to add to that. So to your point, Councilmember, that they
do have the approval process, and ultimately, so does this body. When they make a
recommendation to accept a piece of art, it also comes here. There are two levels of
approval that it goes through. So I just want to make that clarification.
GRZYBOWSKI: I don't want to give an example, but I've actually been to one of the art
ribbon cuttings, blow -offs, introductions, whatever you want to call it, and walked away,
and my husband would be like, you look surprised. And I'm like, yeah, it's a little
different than we expected.
So I totally get the vibe of where the art committee is going, and I appreciate that
because as artists do, sometimes when we sketch something out on paper and we go to
put it together, we get a little more creative, and it turns out different.
So that, Councilmember Skillicom, I think is what they're trying to prevent, where
we all approved this particular drawing, and the artist got a little more creative, and it
came back different. And it does happen probably more often than we think it does.
SKILLICORN: Madame Mayor and Councilmen, I kind of wonder if maybe the more
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appropriate step is, instead of requiring only monetary donation, maybe there's some sort
of final approval or some sort of check and balance that this, you know, isn't what we
approved, this isn't going to cut it if the art commission and ultimately the Council
disagrees with the final product. I wonder if that's a better solution. I don't know how
to add the language for that right this moment, but just kind of curious about people's
opinions.
MAYOR DICKEY: Councilwoman?
TOTH: Something that Councilmember Skillicom just mentioned actually really
interested me of whether -- I don't know if he would know this or not, but has public art
considered -- or is it something that they could do where there would be some sort of fine
if the sculpture looks reasonably different? I'm -- how --
MAYOR DICKEY: If they got too creative?
TOTH: Yes, if they got too creative. I'm trying to figure out the right way to word that,
where obviously, sometimes an artist might sketch something out, and it just doesn't work
the way that it was sketched out, and there needs to be changes made. And I want to be
understanding of that, first of all, but if it's significantly different where Councilmember
Grzybowski s walking away going, oh, what was that, is there anything to hold
accountability there?
SNIPES: Madame Mayor, Councilmember, so the way that it's written right now is it's
supposed to hold up the certificate of occupancy if it's -- what's put in is not approved of.
Doing that becomes a serious issue for the town and for everybody involved if you try
and stop people from moving into a development because of their art.
And so that's another step in what the issue is with the artwork going onto the
property, is that if were going to say no one can move into this development until you
change your artwork and it takes them six months for the artist to redo it, is the town
really going to tell that developer that they can't let anybody move into their development
for that six months?
MAYOR DICKEY: Okay.
FRIEDEL. When I read through this, the thought going through my mind was, (a), we're
taking away maybe some flexibility from the developers. And (b), what would be the
reason for having all that cash sitting in that fund? Is there something we don't know
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about?
SNIPES: Madame Mayor, Councilmembers, the thing that I believe the Public Art
Committee's going to tell you is that this would allow them to select art to put throughout
the town and to maintain the existing art.
And frankly, we have a lot of art pieces that are starting to get older, and they're
going to start needing more and more maintenance, and so the funding would then be put
back into also repairing old artwork instead of having to decommission it as we've had to
do with some of our pieces.
FRIEDEL: We haven't had to decommission that much. I don't know that I'm in favor of
this suggested change.
MAYOR DICKEY: And I was on the Council when we adopted the fee, 2007, I think.
And to me, the reason for it was you're putting in a building, you're putting in a new
office building, whatever, so this is your way of making that project better, nicer,
whatever, like the car one. But this just seems like another fee then.
I mean, I'm not in favor of just an out and out fee for putting up a development.
So if you're going to put up a building -- and we want, you know, our town to be a certain
kind of thing. So you put a building up; we'd like something there. There's got to be a
different way to work out a way for it to be what was expected, right value, the right
materials, all that type of stuff, which is pretty baked into the public art policy either.
So I'm not in favor of this either, and I don't know whether that blows everything
else up, but did think there were a couple other changes. But Ijust as soon -- instead of
trying to go through each of them, just kind of push this back and have a rework to solve
that problem. Gerry?
FRIEDEL. Mayor, 1 think also part of the development is a statement piece outside of
that development. It finishes the project. And I think didn't we a few years ago reduce
the fee?
MAYOR DICKEY: Urn -hum.
FRIEDEL. So, you know, I'm --
MAYOR DICKEY: Yeah.
SKILLICORN: Madame Mayor, and to -- also as a counterpoint, likc if we withhold a
certificate of occupancy, that's a bad, bad thing. But that also means that the developer
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needs to keep their artist on a short leash so that what Councilwoman was talking about
that they go a little too wild. I still wonder if — I'm not going to support this tonight
unless someone amends this motion or something, but I kind of wonder about going back
and just taking out, you know, the part that it's only monetary and allow some veto, let
the art community have a veto on this, and let the developers know don't let it get too
wild. And I think that would be more appropriate. And ultimately, we're open for
business, but we also want something that builds value and character to our town.
TOTH: I just wanted to reiterate, I suppose, a couple of the points that have been made.
First of all, that this does kind of make it just a fee, and second, that it takes away some
of that flexibility for a developer.
While I love public art and I hope that they get more money -- I really do, and I
hope that were able to bring back things like art walks and everything-- I just don't see
this as the way to do. So I'm not sure if -- again, if this would be a motion or if this is a
motion to table or if we just kind of let them know they need to fix it and send it back.
SNIPES: Yeah. Well, it looks like there's a few different parts of what's being proposed.
There's artwork donation procedures, which I haven't heard any discussion about. It
doesn't sound like there's much objection. But then there's the percent for public art
requirement, and then it looks like there's a CFO portion. So if the Council wished to
make a motion to approve just those portions they're okay with, we can do that and then
just not approve the percent -- the modification to the percent for art requirement.
MAYOR DICKEY: Okay.
TOTH: Sure. So in that case I would like to --
UNIDENTIFIED COUNCILMEMBER: (Indiscernible).
TOTH: -- yes, so moved. I'm not even going to try. So moved.
SNIPES: You did okay. That's good.
MAYOR DICKEY: Is there a second?
SKILLICORN: Second.
MAYOR DICKEY: There's a second. Thank you. Roll call, please.
MENDENHALL: Okay. Councilmember Skillicom?
SKILLICORN: Yes.
MENDENHALL: Councilmember Toth?
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TOTH: Aye.
MENDENHALL: Councilmember Grzybowski?
GRZYBOWSKI: Aye.
MENDENHALL: Councilmember Friedel?
FRIEDEL: Aye.
MENDENHALL: Councilmember Kalivianakis?
KALIVIANAKIS: Aye.
MENDENHALL: Vice Mayor McMahon?
MCMAHON: Aye.
MENDENHALL: Mayor Dickey?
MAYOR DICKEY: Aye. Thank you very much.
SNIPES: Thank you.
MAYOR DICKEY: So our last action item is kind of two things. So as far as the
legislative stuff; their not working right now, and there really isn't that much of a change.
It's just pretty much the same attempts to do what we've -- you know, the zoning stuff and
the municipal tax exemptions and things like that, so -- but there's not anything
happening because they're not meeting this week because they have to appoint somebody
else to be in the house.
So the other part, though, was the part with going -- if you had any suggestions
for the legislative agenda for next year and then the members of our Council who are
various committees and -- but it doesn't have to be a proposal to go to one of those
committees, but basically, if anybody had any idea that they would want to present from
the Town of Fountain Hills to the league, that these policy committees would look at
them, and if they wanted them, they would recommend them then to go to executive
committee and such.
So did anybody have any ideas of anything, either on your own committee or just
in general, that you would like to see forwarded to the league?
MCMAHON: Not at this time.
MAYOR DICKEY: Nobody had anything? Okay. Do you? I think the ever present
1487, hoping to try to slim that down or get rid of it, which is the one, obviously, that
allows any legislator to question anything that a town council or a city council does and
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put a halt to it and bring it to the attorney general. And it's a really very flawed thing
that's been happening for a while. So that would be the only -- and that's longstanding.
And then the other one is the State Statute 1610.19, which is about the political --
not sign free zones -- that's in there — but it's the political signs and how that just does not
comply with the Supreme Court. It didn't last year, it didn't the year before, it didn't the
year before that.
So I would appreciate bringing that one forward. It would actually probably be to
general administration, human resources, and election, which is the only one we don't
have somebody on, but if -- and really what it is would be to be asking for this statute to
be brought into alliance so that it would comply with federal law because right now,
every time there's an election, every city is faced with not being able to comply with the
state law and the federal law at the same time.
So I wouldn't mind -- if you don't mind, I wouldn't mind putting that forth. It's
not a new idea at all, and it's not -- it doesn't favor one thing over the other. It just asks
for them to put us on the position of every year of having to figure out which law we
comply with. And again, the reason for that is the state law says that the cities have to
allow political signs in rights -of -ways during elections. The federal law says you cannot
make laws based on content.
UNIDENTIFIED COUNCILMEMBER: Right.
MAYOR DICKEY: And that's literally a law based on content. So they can either
change the state law or they can say -- I don't know. I mean, there's probably legal
remedies for this, but nobody's tried it yet. Nobody seems to be able to do that.
So Brenda, did you have any opinion on that?
KALIVIANAKIS: I think you covered it really well.
MAYOR DICKEY: Well, I'll bring it forward. I don't think it'll go anywhere, but I'll put
it on -- you know, I'll fill out the form and see -- there's two meetings for these
committees, and so if we can get it in -- I think the deadlines Friday, but I could do that. I
don't think there's any harm done with it.
UNIDENTIFIED COUNCILMEMBER: Yeah, (indiscernible)
MAYOR DICKEY: Okay. Thank you. There's really no news on Prop 400, that the bill
that's there is bringing in other things, and it's really difficult to know what to do with that
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one, so we're still waiting. Any other items to discuss?
The next to last item is our Council Discussion Direction to Town Manager. I
think we kind of took care of some of that after the Call to the Public. And then the next
one would be the Future Agenda Items. So did you have anything for --
KALIVIANAKIS: Yeah, for Future Agenda.
MAYOR DICKEY: Okay.
KALIVIANAKIS: Thank you, Ms. Mayor. I guess tonight I want to put something in
the Future Agenda and maybe just have a conversation about the process. As we recall a
couple weeks ago, I did ask for the anti -homeless encampment ordinance and the
aggressive panhandling ordinance to be placed on the agenda for tonight. The reasons
were given and discussion was made why that wasn't done.
I know -- I'm a little confused. That's why I wanted to just bring this up for
conversation tonight. I mean, earlier this year, Councilwoman Toth addressed this issue,
and we revised the rules of procedure to include that the requested items would be placed
on the next available agenda, and we rewrote the rules of procedure as a result.
Since our last meeting, we were informed that the staff was assigned to work on
these two ordinances and a future agenda to be determined. And I guess what I'm trying
to flush out here tonight is, I think it's crucial for the staff to know how the Council wants
to go forward on these important issues. I believe it's imperative before the staff will
spend many hours on this anti -homeless, the panhandling and the encampment bill to get
guidance by your town council, which would, in turn, give the Town Manager guidance,
and then it would give the staff guidance. And what exactly do we want for these two
ordinances? I think that's what's been missing.
It seems that the task of writing the new panhandling and homeless ordinance
without guidance by the Town Council is kind of putting the cart in front of the horse. I
think we have to tell them conversationally what we would like to see and maybe get a
discussion on the next council. So then we can kind of again have a direction to staff
because the way we're doing it right now, staff could be working on erecting a homeless
shelter, which might just fix the whole problem. We'll just put them in a homeless
shelter.
I'm not saying -- that's an exaggeration, okay, but I'm saying their direction could
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be great, and I think we should try to hone in exactly what the majority of the Council
would like to see, so when staff works on it, they would have some guidance from us,
who ultimately has been elected by the people to represent the people.
MAYOR DICKEY: So I think I can respond a little bit, right, Aaron, and you tell me
what's off. So I sent you an email first because Allen sent me an email about it also,
about wanting to do it and didn't think that there'd be any state statutes that were going to
change anything.
Because that was my original thought, was states that there are definitely some
bills floating around in there. I thought let's see what they come up with, which should
be in the next month or so. And in case it ended up being a law that we would have to
adopt anyway, so why go crazy making something up, and then we'd have to change it.
Then after that it became obvious that this is a complex issue, and what I did not
want it to turn into is us saying, let's try this, let's try this, let's try this before knowing
what the parameters are legally for sure because there's really no point in that. And then
we just keep talking about what we want, and there could be restrictions on it.
So I thought June -- it's not an emergency timewise in the next couple of months
or whatever, but we want to have the good information in front of us so we can discuss
what solutions are available to us, and we can't get that overnight. And having a meeting
where we just kind of say what we want, and if it's not legal or doable or whatever, I don't
see the point in that. It doesn't mean you don't say it, but once we have the facts in front
of us, then we can do that.
And so I agreed to move it up and not wait until the session and all that, but, you
know, May 2nd we're going to have Momingside on here or whatever -- or Mountainside.
I mean, there's a lot of things going on, so I think June is fine.
KALIVIANAKIS: Ms. Mayor, I do appreciate that, what you're saying. But just
listening to our guest speakers tonight in the Call to the Public, when I made this motion
about homeless encampments two weeks ago, right now it almost seems pressing that --
all of the sudden, we find a homeless encampment next to the high school. It seems like
an issue, and some speakers even addressed that tonight. Why are we waiting on this?
You know, we've got to get you guys working on this.
And so again, just listening to the public, I think this is something that -- although
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it might not be an emergency, I think it's something that's very important to our
constituents, and our lack of moving forward in an expedited fashion might again be read
as a signal that this isn't very important to the town members, to us, and I don't want to
leave that impression.
MAYOR DICKEY: Aaron, I don't know how much we -- how we can go -- how much
we can go forward, but I would like to allow Councilman Toth and Vice Mayor to speak
now.
ARNSON: Of course.
TOTH: I'm not speaking on this item. I just didn't want to lose my turn for --
MAYOR DICKEY: Okay. Okay. Vice Mayor?
MCMAHON: Tonight we heard Maricopa County Sheriffs Department saying the
procedures that they went through, they gave notice, they're enacting within the law.
They're acting as fast as they can to take care of that encampment, They're doing it
within the law.
In addition, Aaron, on things like this, I think it needs some legal research instead
of coming in -- I need their parameters that we usually get, that we could look at that. It
could be legal. We could have a basis for starting a discussion versus speculation and
then go from there. That's how I would prefer.
I think that we need more than like two weeks to do that, I would assume, et
cetera. I think what you said about what's coming before the legislature, et cetera, I
think, you know, we're at the end of April, we have May, and then we have June. That's
a reasonable time period. We're not ignoring what's going on in our community. We're
not treating it like it's not, you know, really important. It is.
So I really think that given some things that I want to look at and research, I'd like
to keep it at June. Thank you.
MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you.
KALIVIANAKIS: Thank you, Ms. Mayor. Just to address that briefly, when I was
asking to get this on the agenda, I wasn't up here to speculate. I had been working with
our State Senator John Kavanaugh on draft language, which I would have presented, and
I also have looked at the big Glendale ordinance. So I was actually going to present what
has been done and was working around the state. I wasn't just going to pontificate and
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speculate on what we should do.
MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. Okay.
MCMAHON: I didn't mean to insult you and say that. There was a lot of comments,
public comments made. Some were you could deem speculation or whatever. I just want
something with parameters and legal parameters that we have to work with in order to
formulate whether we're going to go forward with an ordinance, et cetera.
GRZYBOWSKI: Just piggy -backing on all that stuff, I ran into Ginny -- the Mayor --
right after I got the email that said that we were postponing it or whatever the email said,
and I thanked her because I feel like we need to include a social worker, our emergency
response people, like our crisis response team, the sheriffs office and the EMS, also
MAG and maybe the NewLeaf people.
And if Councilwoman, you have, I believe you said, Glendale's ordinance, if you
have that and can give it to the Town staff so that they have something to work on for us
and that they can present to us because I kind of would like to see that kind of stuff
before a meeting, so that I can come in better prepared as opposed to being handed it at
the meeting. So thank you for trying to loop all those people in that I said really fast.
MAYOR DICKEY: Councilman?
FRIEDEL. I think what Brenda was saying, correct me if I'm wrong, she had a baseline
force, and I don't know why we need all those other people weighing in. It's our
ordinance. It's for our town. So if she had a baseline, something to start with, I think that
was part of the discussion. I didn't think she was going to unload that on us and then say,
this is going to be our ordinance. So we've got to start somewhere.
And like she said, there's a lot of people that are concerned about this. Why not
get a discussion started on it? It doesn't mean that we're going to adopt Glendale's
ordinance either, but it's a baseline, something for us to look at anyway.
MAYOR DICKEY: Aaron?
ARNSON: So I was going to at least suggest, I think I understand the desire and the
direction of the Council is to see -- and certainly from the public, to see something on this
sooner rather than later.
When that actually gets on an agenda, maybe we can -- we may not be able to see
something today because it depends on how fast I can work to advise you all on what the
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proper and legal courses of action should be and present you with options, several options
that you can consider for adoption. Right? So please bear with me. I'll provide you with
that information.
Brenda, I'm happy to connect with you on a couple of fundamental underlying
issues that I have with Glendale that may be relevant -- that will be relevant to the
Council's consideration. I would like to have that conversation with you all at executive
session and just to circulate a memo with research that, frankly, some of which is already
done, right? So it's just a matter of compiling it and making it tailored to you and for
what our needs are here. So I'd like that opportunity. I really appreciate your
understanding that we're moving as quick as we can.
MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. Councilwoman? No.
TOTH: Mine's luckily a fun one, and technically not for our agenda, at least it wouldn't
be immediately. But I had a wonderful member of our community bring to my attention
that the fountain is over 40 years old. Of course, I knew this, but I did not realize that it
was qualified to become a -- to obtain a state historic designation.
This would be something that, I think, I would hope our community would get
really excited about. Our Fountain Park has such obvious strong ties to the origin of our
town and our history, and so I would very much love for -- and I have that contact and
some of that information as well to help get it going and get it started, but I would love
for our historic -- I looked it up, so I wouldn't mess up the name, Historic and Cultural
Advisory Commission to take a look at that and hopefully bring it back to us at a later
date.
MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. Councilman?
SKILLICORN: Madame Mayor, and I have a motion, but does that include Nessy?
TOTH: Yes, Nessy is included in that designation.
SKILLICORN: Okay. So I do want to make a motion with the passing of an American
hero, Phil Ycn. I think we should do a tribute to him in town. It could be as simple as
renaming the path around the park, but I think we should do a tribute to him. But I want
to give it appropriate time to discuss it and make sure it's right, and make sure that it is
fitting for such an American hero.
MAYOR DICKEY: Good idea. Trying to figure out if that's like a talk to --
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SKILLICORN: I wonder if we do a nonaction item when we have time to discuss this,
throw out ideas, let staff work on it, then we'll come up with specifics? Does that sound
workable?
MAYOR DICKEY: You bet. We can do something for sure.
FRIEDEL• I was going to say, at the appropriate time. You might want to check with his
wife Debbie, too.
MAYOR DICKEY: Oh, yeah. And again, maybe we'll talk before an actual meeting
because we could do like a resolution at a meeting, but as far as how you want it to look
or something, I think we could definitely do that.
SKILLICORN: Yeah. I mean, I think that it's worthy of a discussion. Nothing really
long, but I think we really need to make sure it's right.
MAYOR DICKEY: Okay. All right. Thank you. Anything else? Any other items?
Hold on one sec. Not that I've been looking the whole time. We're actually winning. We
really were losing. So 92-87. Go Suns. We're adjourned.
(Meeting adjourned)
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Having no further business, Mayor Ginny Dickey adjourned the Regular Meeting
of the Fountain Hills Town Council held on April 18, 2023, at 8:50 p.m.
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
ATTEST AND PREPARED BY:
Gir(dy Dickey, Mayor
Lin G. Mend nhall, 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 18th day of April 2023. I further certify that
the meeting was duly called and that a quorum was present.
DATED this 6'h Day of June 2023.
Linda G. Mendenhall, Town Clerk