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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023.1003.TCRM.MinutesTOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING OF THE FOUNTAIN HILLS TOWN COUNCIL October 3, 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 5:33 p.m. Members Present: Mayor Ginny Dickey: Vice Mayor Sharron Grzybowski; Councilmember Gerry Friedel; Councilmember Peggy McMahon; Councilmember Brenda J. Kalivianakis; Councilmember Hannah Toth; Councilmember Allen Skillicorn Staff Present: Town Manager Rachael Goodwin; Town Attorney Aaron D. Arnson; Town Clerk Linda Mendenhall Audience: Approximately Forty-four members of the public were present. TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS OCTOBER 3, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Post -Production File Town of Fountain Hills Town Council Meeting Minutes October 3, 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. * Page 1 of 65 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS OCTOBER 3, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES MAYOR DICKEY: Welcome. Please stand for the pledge and remain standing if you choose, for the invocation. ALL: I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. Pastor Keith Pavia from Christ's Church. Hi. Oops, your entry music. PAVIA: I like it. That was my batting music when I was in college playing baseball too. No. Thank you, I'm so honored, Mayor Dickey, thank you. And everyone on the council. We'd just like to start with prayer. Dear God, we come here, and we ask to lift this up to you. We love this town. We love this town. We know you love us. Be with us as we grow and learn and do the things with integrity and character to make this town the greatest. We thank you and we ask all this in Jesus' name. Amen. ALL: Amen. PAVIA: Thank you. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. Roll call, please? MENDENHALL: Mayor Dickey? MAYOR DICKEY: Here. MENDENHALL: Vice Mayor Grzybowski? GRZYBOWSKI: Present. MENDENHALL: Councilmember Friedel? FRIEDEL: Present. MENDENHALL: Councilmember McMahon? MCMAHON: Here. MENDENHALL: Councilmember Kalivianakis? KALIVIANAKIS: Here. MENDENHALL: Councilmember Toth? TOTH: Present. Page 2 of 6S TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS OCTOBER 3, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES MENDENHALL: Councilmember Skillicorn? SKILLICORN: Present. MENDENHALL: Anyone wishing to address the council regarding items listed on the agenda or under call to the public should fill out a request to comment card located in the back of the council chambers and hand it to the town clerk prior to consideration of that agenda item. When your name is called, please approach the podium, speak into the microphone, and state your name for the public record. Please limit your comments to three minutes. It is the policy of the mayor and council to not comment on items brought forth under call to the public. However, staff can be directed to report back to the council at a future date or to schedule items raised for a future council agenda. Mayor, we do have one correction to the record. At our last meeting item number 96 for the community center improvements. We mentioned that GCON was not a responsive bidder. They were indeed a responsive bidder, meaning that they fulfilled the RFP submittal requirements. They were not the high score on the bid tabulation. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. Appreciate that clarification. We'II start with our reports. And we will start this time, I remember, with the town manager. GOODWIN: Mayor, I don't have a report tonight. MAYOR DICKEY: Oh, okay. We remembered you. TOTH: I also don't have a report tonight. Thank you, Mayor. MAYOR DICKEY: Vice mayor? GRZYBOWSKI: This past two weeks, I attended the Greater Phoenix Economic Council board meeting where we learned that GPEC received three honors recently. They are ranked number one regional economic development office in the country. This is especially exciting because it's voted on by their peers; so that's pretty cool. Also, the International Economic Development Council gave them two forms of recognition. One of them was a top economic development organization in the U.S. and the other was recognition for excellence in regionalism and international cross -border collaboration. Page 3 of 65 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS OCTOBER 3, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES It just goes to show you how hard GPEC works for the area to bring development and business to not just Fountain Hills, but the Greater Phoenix area. And while some of those businesses may not find their way here, we do find that we get residents based off of some of the big businesses that come into town. So that's actually very exciting news, those three pieces of recognition. The other thing I wanted to do was also remind you guys that Movie in the Park is coming up on Saturday the 14th, at Four Peaks Park at 7 p.m. and they're playing the Super Mario Brothers movie, which is a very fun movie. Thank you, Mayor. MAYOR DICKEY: Is it (indiscernible)? GRZYBOWSKI: It's super. MAYOR DICKEY: Councilman? FRIEDEL: Two things, Mayor. First one, we are recognizing domestic violence month here in the town. We're all dressed in purple tonight. The Mayor's going to read a proclamation in a little bit. But a couple of things that the town is doing, on Wednesday nights, we're going to have the fountain purple and also the town will be draped in purple as well. And we do have a voucher program for anybody that you know that is in need of that, that's administered through our MCSO and town manager. And a couple of little statistics. A child witnesses domestic violence once every 44 minutes in this country. So it is a problem. It is an issue. And there were 101 domestic violence fatalities in Arizona, and over half of them occurred right in Maricopa County in 2022. So we take it seriously here. We want to recognize that. And so just be aware of what we're going to do there. And then, Mayor, I have a second thing that -- it's an initiative that I want to roll out tonight. So many of you, when you came into the meeting tonight, saw the blue barrel out in the hallway for our foodbank. So my wife and I have long supported our foodbank here in town. It came to my attention that they're really low on supplies and we've got holidays coming up. So my initiative and challenge is to everybody in this town, when you come to town hall or come to our campus here, drop something in that Page 4 of 65 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS OCTOBER 3, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES barrel. Help us support our foodbank and get them restocked up, because they do -- dozens of local families use our foodbank here in town. So that receptacle is out there and through the help of the town, which I want to thank you the town for doing that and stepping into that. Rachael will work out some of the final details. But I also have volunteered, so make me work on this one, will you? Fill that thing up, fill that whole lobby up, because I've got volunteers from American Legion Post 58 that are going to help me take everything down to our foodbank. So it won't involve any town employees or anything like that. So again, I want to thank the town. And what I'll do is, I'll try to work with Bo Larsen, our communications director, and give updates as to where we are and what we've taken down there so that everybody knows what we're doing with that. And just to start that off, Rachael, I want to give you this. This is the first donation into that blue can. GOODWIN: Thank you. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. Good idea. FRIEDEL: And that's all I have, Mayor. MCMAHON: Good evening, everybody. I wanted to provide the council with an update on the homeless ordinance. Mayor Dickey and I, and town manager Rachael, have been speaking with stakeholders about providing shelter and other services for our homeless people here. And once we have that matter addressed and resolved we'll get back to the council. In addition, I attended the East Valley Partnership statespersons' luncheon honoring various very successful women in our county. And those women are going on to mentor younger women, which is really great, so that all will be successful. I also attended the Valley Metro board of directors retreat at their facility down at 44 Street. And it was really an amazing time to be able to walk through that whole facility and see how they keep up the trains and maintenance. And I remember walking in, and you saw the wheels separated from the train, and it reminded me of putting trains together at Christmas. Where you'd put the boxcar on the train wheels, et cetera, and Page 5 of 65 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS OCTOBER 3, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES go around. But this was for real. It was really amazing. And the majority of the employees there have been with Valley Metro for years. So that was really great. And then I also wanted to remind everybody that we have a Cares Forum coming up on the 19th. It's going to be about 6:30, and it is on elder abuse in the form of fraud, phishing, and scams. We will be having someone from the FBI come out and address that and also from the Attorney General's office. So again, that's going to be on the 19th of October, 6:30, at the community center, and I hope you can attend. Thank you. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. KALIVIANAKIS: Thank you, Ms. Mayor. Thanks, everybody for coming out tonight. I see we don't have a packed house and so all you people at home, you've got to get out here. I want to -- what former vice mayor -- councilmember said on the Fountain Hills Cares. Yeah, we do have a great program coming up and word-of-mouth would be really a nice way to spread this too. If you have any loved ones or people that you know that would be subject to, particularly elderly, getting scammed, please let them know. Also Councilmember Friedel told me about his foodbank initiative which 1100 percent support. I think that's great. Thank you, Gerry. I brought some food with me. I'm going to be second to donate tonight. So I'll be seeing you later, Rachael. I have a short report tonight, but I did take time off. I took ten days of between last council meeting and this council meeting, and I went to California; took a little R and R. And I went to the Reagan Presidential Library and there they have the Holocaust Auschwitz exhibits. I think it's gone now. It was at the very end of its run. And it was amazing to see. The sadness and when you left that display it was heart wrenching, and I literally cried many times throughout the presentation. I have just a couple of quotes that I want to read tonight that were there at that exhibit. They said, "Remember it didn't start with the gas chambers. It started with those in power dividing the people; us versus them. It started with intolerance. It started with hate speech. It started with people stop caring, become desensitized and turned a blind Page 6 of 65 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS OCTOBER 3, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES eye. It became a slippery slope to genocide. This hatred gradually developed from words, to stereotypes, to prejudice, to legal exclusion, dehumanization, and escalating violence". At the end of the tour, there was a proclamation from somebody who had survived. I am always reminded of our shared humanity and my responsibility to defend those who are disadvantaged and discriminated against. It helps me remember that small actions can bring a big difference in making our community safe for all people. And so let's never forget what happened. I said this before in an editorial to the Fountain Hills Times and I'd just like to repeat myself today. I think we can all do better. So thank you, Ms. Mayor. SKILLICORN: Thank you, Madam Mayor. Thank you very much for everyone attending tonight. Everyone at home, hello. Just a couple of very short things. It was great to be part of the Chamber of Commerce ribbon cutting and a few of us were there. Again, proves that Fountain Hills is open for business. Also had an opportunity last week to attend the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors meeting to see how things are going there. Yeah. They had a lot more public comments than we do, so that was very interesting. So some of us were also there. And one thing I just -- and I thank you with that statement there it was very passionate, very important. Kind of on the same note, I did want to share one of my favorite verses here. And this is 2 Chronicles 7:14, "If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, I will forgive their sin and will heal their land." Thank you very much. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. Had a couple of meetings but one thing I want to mention was that we did have our Leadership Academy Town Hall Day here so that was pretty nice. And Brenda was the host, I think. Or I don't know what you call yourself, the moderator? KALIVIANAKIS: Yeah. Page 7 of 65 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS OCTOBER 3, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES MAYOR DICKEY: But it was really good, and it was -- Tammy came and spoke and had a lot of great interaction. So I've got three proclamations and I'm going to go down there and I'm going to make Gerry come down for the first one and Rachael come down for the second one and Dave Ott come up for the third one. So we'll get going on that. Okay. So the first one is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, which is the purple we were just talking about. So I will read this and then you can say whatever you'd like. I know you said a couple of things, but if you'd like to, that would be great. "Whereas home should be a place of warmth, unconditional love, tranquility, and security; and for most of us, home and family can indeed be counted among our greatest blessings. And whereas tragically for many Americans, these are blessings that are tarnished by violence and fear; women, men, young children, and the elderly are all counted among victims of domestic violence. And whereas domestic violence is a major contributor to homelessness, particularly among women and children. And whereas physical injury and deaths occur, and emotional scars are often permanent, and whereas law enforcement officials, shelters, hotline services, health care providers, the clergy, and concerned citizens are helping in the effort to end domestic violence. And whereas we recognize the compassion and dedication of these volunteers and professionals, applaud their efforts, and must increase public understanding of this important problem. "Therefore I, Ginny, Mayor of the Town of Fountain Hills proclaim the month of October as domestic violence month and urge all citizens to please observe this month by becoming aware of the tragedy of domestic violence and supporting community efforts and working towards its end." Gerry. Let's have Gerry say something because he's on our MAG regional council: domestic violence. FRIEDEL: Thank you. Thank you, Ginny. I want to thank the town for really stepping forward and backing us on this. I have a meeting Thursday down in Phoenix. We have our regional meeting then. So they'll Page 8 of 65 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS OCTOBER 3, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES know what we're doing here in this town, and they know that we are a big partner in this. We saw a tremendous spike in domestic violence during the COVID days and it hasn't gone back down, ironically enough. So alcoholism, drug related issues, and also homelessness as you mentioned, are all either influences or byproducts of domestic violence. So again, we have programs in place in town. So if you know of anybody that's in need of that, reach out to us and let us know, okay. Thank you. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you very much. Next is our Arizona Cities and Towns Week, and who better to give it to than our town manager. So she will hold that, and I'll read a little bit of an abbreviated version. "Whereas the citizens of Fountain Hills rely on the town to experience a high quality of life in our community; and whereas cities and towns work 24 hours a day, seven days a week to deliver vital services such as fire, police, emergency response to ensure our community's safety. Whereas cities and towns provide services and programs that enhance the quality of life for residents such as parks, utilities, street maintenance, sanitation and recycling, libraries, community centers, and recreational programs. And whereas it is one of the responsibilities of town officials to ensure open and accessible government through frequent communication with citizens using various avenues and means. And whereas through participation and cooperation; citizens, community leaders, businesses, and staff can work together to ensure that service provided by the town will remain exceptional elements of the quality of life for our community. "Therefore, I, Ginny, Mayor proclaim that the Town of Fountain Hills joins with the League of Arizona Cities and Towns and fellow municipalities across the State of Arizona in declaring October 15th through the 21st, 2023, as Arizona Cities and Towns Week." Yes. And you need to say something. I'll hold that for you. GOODWIN: All right. I'll be brief. Thank you, mayor, council, and thank you to our staff. Our Cities and Towns Week is a time that we recognize our municipal employees, our volunteers, and our elected Page 9 of 55 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS OCTOBER 3, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES officials, that continue to work to ensure that our services are delivered effectively. The dedication of our town team and community partners is second to none and they work all hours of the day and night, 365 days a year, to provide these services to our community. Right, Justin? Right. Our team takes a lot of pride to ensure the safety, the protection, the well-being, the convenience, and the enrichments to all of our citizens who live, work, and play here in Fountain Hills. So thank you. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. And last, we have our chief coming up here for Fire Prevention Week. There you go. I definitely cut that one down. But I've still got quite a bit. "Whereas the town is committed to ensuring the safety and security of all those living in Fountain Hills. And whereas fire is a serious public safety concern locally and nationally and homes are where people are at the greatest risk from fire, with departments responding to 338,000 home fires in 2021, most recent information. "Whereas smoke alarms sense smoke well before you can, alerting you in the event of a fire in which you may have as little as two minutes to escape. And whereas cooking is the leading cause of home fires in the United States with more than 166,400 annually, two of every five home fires start in the kitchen and 31 percent of those fires resulted from unattended cooking." It's a good thing I don't cook that much. "Whereas more than half of nonfatal cooking fire injuries occur when the victims try to fight the fire themselves. And whereas residents should turn pot handles toward the back of the stove, keep a lid nearby, keep a three-foot kid -free zone around the stove, and elsewhere, and watch what they heat and set a timer. "And whereas residents who have planned a home fire escape plan are more likely to survive a fire, and working smoke alarms cut the risk of dying in a home fire in half. And whereas Fountain Hills first responders are dedicated to reducing the occurrence of fires and injuries through prevention and protection and education. And whereas the 2023 Fire Prevention Week theme is: Cooking safety starts with you, paying attention to fire prevention reminds us to stay alert when cooking to reduce the risk of kitchen fires. Page 10 of 65 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS OCTOBER 3, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES "Therefore, I, Ginny, Mayor, proclaim October 8th through the 14th, 2023, as Fire Prevention Week and urge the people of Fountain Hills to check their kitchens for fire hazards and use safe cooking practices and support the many public safety activities and efforts of our town's fire and emergency services." Thank you. OTT: Thank you. I'll keep it brief since I'm up again here in a few minutes. But fire prevention is really the key to a lot of safety in the home. We're lucky enough here that we also have a fire sprinkler ordinance. Besides all new homes that are built requiring smoke alarms, they also require fire sprinklers, which will, if you sleep through your smoke alarm, the fire sprinkler will put the fire out and you wake up wet. But well be out in the schools next week -- starting next week. So we did kind of a weather -related class last week or the week before in the schools. So we're looking forward to getting back out into that. So thank you. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. Thanks so much, everyone. So our first presentation is from the Fountain Hills Youth Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition executive director, Tammy Bell. Welcome Tammy. And Shawn's here too. BELL: She's going to join me. MAYOR DICKEY: Good to see you. BELL: If you some questions. MAYOR DICKEY: You bet. Thank you. BELL: Can it go full screen, or no? Oh, there. Thank you, Mayor, Vice Mayor, council, and staff. My name is Tammy Bell. I've been a resident of Fountain Hills for 18 years and, as of September 1st, the executive director of Protect our Youth. Very recent. Before then I was a sector leader for years and also a board member. I just came today to tell you about the Coalition because I really want to make sure that you understand who we are and how we work before your decision this afternoon. Our mission for Protect our Youth Coalition is to achieve sustainable reductions in substance abuse in youth in Fountain Hills and the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation with a Page 11 of 65 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS OCTOBER 3, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES focus on marijuana, vaping, alcohol, and opioids. And now Shawn and I are standing up here as staff members of the Coalition, but I really want you to see who the Coalition is as a whole because we do not make up the Coalition. Coalitions by definition is a formal arrangement of collaboration among groups or sectors of our community. If we have any of our sector leaders here, would you please stand up? Raise your hand. I think we have several. Yes, you too. We have fire and police in back. Thank you very much. 5o these are the people who make up the Coalition. We do not make our decisions without them. It's a Fountain Hills fire, MCSO, the Times, Boys' and Girls' Club, faith community, the school district, the sanitary district, the chamber, the Town of Fountain Hills, parents, PTO, the recovery center, the crisis team, service organizations, the Yavapai Nation, and the medical center and more. So just to give you that picture that the Coalition does exist and function with the community involved. And I just wanted to say this quote too, "By mobilizing the entire community, parents, teachers, youth, police, healthcare providers, faith communities, business and civic leaders, and others these communities transform themselves", which is our goal. I want to give you a little bit of our strategic focus as to how we work as a Coalition, in these five steps. Our first step is we have to collect data to get local needs. So there are national issues, there are state issues, but we go as far as collecting local issues so that our efforts are directly related to our community, our youth, Fountain Hills, and then the Yavapai Nation. Second, we build our capacity and our resources, which is why we have the Coalition, and everyone involved in the Coalition. And then the third, we get together as a Coalition to decide what's going to work in our town and who's going to participate in doing those. Fourth, we implement our action plan that we came up with as a team. And then, finally, we evaluate our impact with data again and we report back. So we are Page 12 of 65 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS OCTOBER 3, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES completely funded by community supporters and grants solely. We utilize a strict -- for the DFC grant particularly, that's the largest fund that we have. We utilize strict monthly reporting and it's a reimbursement system. So we don't get the money in advance and can use it however we want. We have to show that we're using it for those measures that they approve, and then we get reimbursed after they've reviewed what we've spent it on. Our board gets a monthly financial review. Our sector leaders get a bi-annual review of all our grant sources and spending. And our CPA evaluates it annually. So we do have systems in place to track our activity, to report our activity, and to show those who so graciously give us a grant and our community supporters that we are using it to be effective in our Coalition. We don't do this ourselves, not even within our town. There's so much to learn within the State of Arizona and our country. So these are some of the people that we partner with. We have the Substance Abuse Coalition leaders of Arizona, CADCA, Arizona Criminal Justice Commission, and SAMHSA, just to name a few. What we know and what drives what we do. These are some of the key things. We know that if parents are talking to their children in their home, they have a 50 percent chance less that their kids will not do drugs. If parents are talking to their kids in their home, there's a 50 percent chance that their kids will not get involved with drugs. It's really important to us that we are consistently providing education for our parents to not only have the facts about the harms and the things that the kids are perceiving, but also just to know how to communicate those facts with them. Sometimes teen communication can be kind of hard, so we help with that also. We also know that youth who begin using addictive substances before the age of 15 are nearly seven times more likely to develop a substance abuse compared to those who delay their first use until age 21. This is why we focus on middle school and high school, but we also get into the elementary school because we know early prevention matters. And we can age -appropriately speak to anybody about drugs. I started with my kids as soon as I dropped them off at preschool -- don't take vitamins from other kids. Right? It Page 13 of 65 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS OCTOBER 3, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES starts simple and then it gets more complex. There are perceptions that we know of. The kids think that there's no harm in trying it, and the kids may also think, well, everyone's doing it. And those are false. And so we do a lot of advertising and campaigning to speak to those perceptions. So these are our goals for our current action plan. We have five percent goals in many different ways. We want to increase the perception of risk by five percent. And we want to do that specifically for nicotine vaping, marijuana concentrates and opioids, e- cigarettes, and the use of youth marijuana. We want to increase that percentage of harm and risk in our community by five percent. We also want to decrease by five percent the perception that the youth have that everybody does it and this is a social norm. Because we already know from local data that 60 percent of our students have never used. So majority is, it's not the norm to be using drugs in Fountain Hills. We also want to decrease the access that our youth have to substances in Fountain Hills, and we also want to decrease, obviously, the use that our youth are having. We do know that it takes one year to change an attitude, and we know that it takes two years to change a behavior. So we're going to be here for a while, because we know it takes time to really make this kind of difference. I should have pointed out too, we started in 2009. So we have been an active Coalition for 14 years. I'm going to give you a brief, and I won't go through all of this unless you want me to. But this is just last year's annual review. I will say when we started in 2009 the Coalition started mostly about alcohol parties and kids who were underage drinking. That was the biggest concern back in 2009. Since then, as I've told you, we've expanded that to nicotine vaping, marijuana use, opioids, and prescription drug abuse. So we have found that those are elements that are in our community, so we need to address those as well. In the last year-- our year just ended in September, we did nearly 100 events, programs, and meetings with the purpose of prevention. And we had over 100,000's of impressions in doing so. We did this by awareness campaigns through media channels. There's a list of things Page 14 of 65 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS OCTOBER 3, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES that we did just in this last year. We do this through community partnerships and engagement. This is where we work most closely with the town where we participate in Back to School Bash, Teen Takeover, Fountain Hills Cares. Also with the Chamber on Fountain Hills Day, with the community center we did the volunteer expo. With MCSO we promote the Drug Take Back days and with the Yavapai Nation we recently were invited to the educational Pow Wow. We also do school programs. Shawn stays very, very busy with our students, and I think when you look at the list here, you'll see that we utilize some art, some writing, in our contests and we do them because we know that kids build resilience when they are using creative measures. It's also important to add here that we did increase our Narcan training and distribution this last year. In addition to those, we also expanded our reach to the Yavapai Nation. We actively participate in SACLA, went to trainings in Washington DC, and in Arizona we did a parent resource direct mailing kit. We did a rebranding and renamed the Coalition with our new website, and we did that so that our grant would allow us to expand to help our youth in the Yavapai Nation. Originally the grant was just for Fountain Hills community, so we wanted to expand that, and we had to change our name to protect our Youth in order to reapply for the grant and expand our community reach. And then of course, we did a community perception survey as well to continue collecting data. So through these media campaigns, community involvement, and school programs we got results. Since 2018 these are the results we've seen. Between 2018 and 2022, a 58.6 decrease in youth e-cigarette use, 40.7 decrease in prescription drug use, 33.7 percent decrease in alcohol consumption, and 19.2 decrease in marijuana use. So we're very proud of that. And those are just the use reductions. I did not calculate the perception reductions, which are great too. In fact, Shawn just reminded me, she just finished the vaping curriculum, and we know that when a child is presented with curriculum on the harms of vaping, they have a 50 percent less chance of ever using. Our future action plan. We want to develop a youth coalition, because peers listen to peers, and we need to give them the skills to talk to each other about living drug free. Page 15 of 65 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS OCTOBER 3, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES And so we really want to do that. We are participating in the internship program with the Chamber and the school district. We are again, expanding our reach. We want to reach out to our homeschool educators, the Boys and Girls Club, our Inspiration Academy, providing the same education and message with them and include them in the Youth Coalition as well. We want to rebrand our safe home network and get safe home toolkits into every home. We want to continue support for Narcan and drug testing, increase social medica presence, continue to enhance our tracking and reporting platforms and grow our community involvement presence. At our next meeting in October, we have our consultant coming who's going to be giving us the data from our 2022 youth survey and giving us suggestions as a community as to what should be incorporated in our action plan to meet our needs. So I welcome each of you, because our town is a sector leader, to attend and learn more. This again is just a reminder that we're doing it together. And that is the end of my presentation and our information if you need anything. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you so much. I appreciate it Tammy and Shawn. Do we have any questions or comments? Yes, ma'am. MCMAHON: I'd like to say thank you to Shawn and Tammy very much. Those results are amazing. And I know you worked really, really hard for this, and I really appreciate it. I attended your meeting. I'm planning to attend the next one. And I'm just -- again, thank you so much for making such a difference in our community. Appreciate it. BELL: Thank you. MAYOR DICKEY: Yes, Councilmember? FRIEDEL: When is that meeting again? BELL: October 20th, it's a Friday, at 9 a.m. at the learning center. FRIEDEL: Okay. Thank you. BELL: Any questions? MAYOR DICKEY: I guess no questions. Just good comments, pats on the back. I ,....,... ,.�.,.,..., T ....,.,�.a.o... «T..,..,.,...,»«....a. Page 16 of 65 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS OCTOBER 3, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES remember speaking one time, right for the Coalition, right before prom, and it was pretty interesting because my son, that's the firefighter now, was a senior and they did a whole reenactment of an accident, and it was a drunk driver. And it was very powerful because they had a helicopter come. I don't know if Dave was here way back when, but he's going to be 40 this month. And they took him away and his girlfriend. And then they said they took him to surgery. And then they said, oh, Brian passed away. And it was just, like, you know, and you were in the football field, and it just really had an effect. And I mean, the kid, of course, the one that was the drunk one, you know for the setup and all, wasn't hurt. And it was just a really powerful, powerful message. And it really worked, and you've been doing it for years. I have a quick question. Is this Red Ribbon Week right now? UPHOFF: It will be. MAYOR DICKEY: Oh, okay. UPHOFF: October 23rd. MAYOR DICKEY: October 23rd? UPHOFF: Through to the 31st, every single year. But we celebrate it in the schools, 23rd through the 27th, this year. MAYOR DICKEY: And what does it mean, the Red Ribbon Week? Can you talk into the microphone? UPHOFF: Yeah. It just honors Kiki Camarena, who was a DEA agent that worked with the drug cartels, and in 1985 he was murdered by the drug cartels. And so his hometown community here in the United States started a grassroots movement to celebrate his life and they all wore red ribbons. And then, I don't know, I guess it was maybe about four or five years later it became a nationwide movement. MAYOR DICKEY: Wow. UPHOFF: And so last year, we got back in the schools, we were at middle school only last year, really successful, eventful week. And this year, we're actually in all three of the schools. So we're having our high schoolers do public service announcements which will be shown during Red Ribbon Week to our middle schoolers. So we've already got a Page 17 of 6S TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS OCTOBER 3, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES few. Yeah. MAYOR DICKEY: That's great. Thank you. Any further comments? Thank you so much. We appreciate all that. BELL: Thank you. MAYOR DICKEY: Good information. FRIEDEL: Thank you. MAYOR DICKEY: Next, we're going to hear from Chief Ott and he's going to talk to us -- and this will relate to, I think, some of the questions that some of the council people had about preparedness and fire safety around your home and such. So welcome. OTT: Good evening, Mayor, and Council. That's a tough group to follow and I want to brag on them a little bit. I go to a lot of public health meetings across the Valley, and we are one of the only communities that has a youth coalition. And I brag on them quite a bit. Even gave Shawn a few props now and then, but they're in much better hands now. 5o I'm glad to see they're still continuing. I'm going to talk to you a little bit about our emergency preparedness, and forgive me, there's a lot of initials for things that we do in the emergency management side of things. So if I spit out some letters and you're not really sure what I'm talking about and I don't take the time to explain it, just ask me and I'll go ahead and go through it. I did a whole presentation one time just using three letter abbreviations for everything that we deal with, and it took up about 15 minutes. I will not do that tonight. So with your fire department leadership, between Chief Winters and myself, we have over 70 years of emergency management experience. We've both gone to extensive classes at the Emergency Management Institute, but we've by no means laid down the groundwork for our emergency operations plan. Chief Roberts and Chief LaGreca did a great job of formulating that before we got here, and we just kind of kept things rolling. Really the town's -- in modern times, the town's first threat from a wildfire situation was the Rio Fire in 1995 and that stopped short of the north town boundary. So we've had experience here where we've looked at things. Being an emergency manager in Arizona is a little less challenging than being some Page 18 of BS TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS OCTOBER 3, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES places that have dynamics like the wildland areas of California, the coastal regions where we have hurricanes. The central area, the plains, where we have tornadoes. We really have a few things that we look at here and probably most emergency managers in the Valley will say that one of their biggest concerns would be an extended power outage. And some of those things we have control over, some of them we don't have control over. But we do have an emergency operations plan, an EOP, if I refer back to that and a continuity of operations plan. Both of those are kind of protected from FOIA because they have proprietary information, if you will. It's much like things that we deal with on law enforcement with the Maricopa County Sheriff's. We've got plans in place for things like active shooters and that, but that actual plan is not something that if you ask me for, I could give it to you. Almost every situation is dynamic and changes. One plan doesn't work for all of them, but the other part of that is that there's some vital information in that that is sensitive and if it got into the wrong locations in the wrong hands, it could be detrimental to us in the event of an emergency. But we are a little behind on doing tabletop exercises. Part of that was COVID. It kind of put a damper on some of the group functions that we would do. And then Maricopa County Emergency Management also had a little bit of changeover coming out of COVID so some of our planners weren't there. Chief Winters had also -- we're lucky enough to have him with us. He was a planner of the emergency management for the county and also helped develop our latest emergency operation plan. So those items are in place, and they cover a gamut. It's really kind of FEMA 101 on the emergency operation plan. It lists out a lot of potential things that we could do. How are we going to handle that? What do we do? And it's a group effort. It takes all of the town departments for us to function in an emergency, to keep things functioning, to keep the town running, to live into our emergency operations plan and make that work. As many things disaster related, you think you have a really good plan until something happens and then you realize where the weak parts are. But in that event, that's why we do things like have Page 19 of 65 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS OCTOBER 3, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES our EMT, emergency management team, that would come in, kind of look at things. We try to plan ahead. We do a lot of forecasting. What's the event going to do? What's the extent of the event? What are we going to lose? What's the potential for losing things? What are our backup plans? Our relationship with Maricopa County and our IGA partners through that really give us a lot of depth into what we can do. If we needed frontend loaders, we go through our IGA with the county. We go to the county; we say we need some frontend loaders to help with the flooding condition we've got out here. They can make that happen for us, going through one or two calls. If we did not have that relationship, it might take us five or six calls, a lot of noes, but we can kind of turn around and go to the county and through that group get what we need. Even if we need additional people to sit in our emergency operations center to cover those operational periods. So we all work pretty well throughout that side of it. We also have a community wildfire protection plan, which is a countywide document as well. It goes through things like mitigation. And as I said earlier, prevention is a huge part of our world. And if we can prevent the fire or prevent a disaster, then we're farther ahead at that aspect. So I know a lot of things come up and our terrain and our really foliage growth is kind of unique. We have what we call a WUI, wildland—urban interface, and I'd like to think ours is more of a DUI, which is a desert -urban interface. We don't have tall trees. We don't have things that when you get up into, like the areas of Yarnell and you start climbing up into the higher elevations around Crown King, where we've actually got timber here, we've got medium fuels. In some areas they're a little thick in some of the washes but public works has a great plan in place. It's on a rotating basis that they go through, and they try to hit every area of the town -owned washes. Most of the HOAs also have some sort of a wildfire protection plan in place and maintain defensible spaces around their areas. But it still comes back to every resident that's responsible for their own area. And every year as we get into the season, with the help of Bob and the Times or the Independent Fountain Hills or whatever we're at now, and Bo put out public information that we'll be glad to come out and do surveys around your property to help you with -- we're not a Page 20 of 65 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS OCTOBER 3, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES fire -wise community. A fire -wise is a good program. We adopt a lot of fire -wise philosophy and part of that has to do with a clear space around your area. Kind of concentrating a little bit more on wildfires because that seems to be the theme of what people are concerned about here. You see smoke in the distance, you're not sure how fast that smoke or fire is going to travel to you. When you take a look at things, like some of the devastation that happened in Lahaina, and then you look at the houses that survived. We've had wildfires in New Mexico that have devastated towns. You look at the houses that survived. If you look at the before and after pictures, those houses that are still there today were well -maintained, they had defensible spaces around them, and that's really the key to when things like firebrands start blowing in the wind. If you look at your house and you've got leaves collecting in one pile close to your house, if it was a firebrand blowing in the wind, it's going to go that same location that those leaves are at. So those are areas that you want to make sure that you remove anything that's combustible, that would allow something from a fire to get there and then maybe extend to that. We're also very lucky in that we live in a community that has a lot of stucco and tiled roofed houses. But in the areas that we do have some of that urban interface left in there, we've had neighbors and some of our honorary firefighters get out with the garden house and kind of knock some things down until we got there. I'm referring to the help that you gave us. But it's a group effort and we're here to do what we can to protect the investment of the town and the lives of the people that reside here and visit here. And one of the best things, I think, in my years and I do remember; this makes me feel old. I kind of do remember Brian getting flown off at the graduation thing. I went on the Brian thing and got lost there. But as we move forward and we protect things here, one of the important things is that we do have communication. Sometimes there's a lack of communication. We've had issues in the past and we've kind of corrected those. But a couple of years ago we decided on a product that is Code Red, not to be confused with the national weather Page 21 of 65 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS OCTOBER 3, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES services' code red. But the town has a code red program that you can go on the website, you can sign up for it. We don't use it for every little thing because we don't want people to think we're crying wolf and get used to it and you ignore it. If we had an actual event where we needed to shelter in place or evacuate, we're going to put that information out through Code Red. It's a wireless emergency announcement or a WEA. The county also has a WEA program, not to be confused with ours. We're in control of ours. We would have to go through the county for the county to put theirs out. But there would be times that we would do that as a joint effort. And you're kind of limited to the number of characters that you can use so the message you put out might not be as broad as you would like it to be. were going to refer you back, at that point, to look at the town website and some of the town's social media things and with the help of Bo we'll get all that information out so that it's pertinent, it's up to date. If there are things that -- I'II frequently send the council and the mayor and the town manager information on things that are going on, like the current fire going on at the landfill. Those things typically, if there's an issue or a threat to the town, we'll take that a little bit further and we'll stay on top of that. But that's what we end up doing and with the help of Maricopa County Sheriffs and Larry and Jonathan, we kind of work together on that. And if there's things that they know that we don't know or we know that they don't know, we try to share that information so it's kind of one united voice coming through and you're not getting information from a lot of different sources. And sometimes that's where some of the problem lies, is that in a disaster or an emergency there's a lot of mixed messaging and we want to have kind of one source of that, so that we can give you the best information there is. And I mentioned shelter in place, and sometimes sheltering in place is the best thing that you can do. If you're in a tornado, you're probably going to try to shelter in place in an area in your house that you know is fairly secure. If we have a wildfire in the area of Adero Canyon, that's kind of a draw going up in there. It's got light flash fuels, and maybe some medium fuels in there, our direction to you, if you are a homeowner in there might be to close your windows, stay in place, 20 minutes after the fire blows .w.>....„.o.....,...,. ._.w..,,� .�... ..r�„v.4.o.. ,.,,,.... ......„.Pa6e 22 of 65 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS OCTOBER 3, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES through, we're going to be in pretty good shape and be able to go back to a somewhat normal life with a little bit of a scarred landscaping. But those are things that we have to take into account. And is it better as a whole to keep you where you're at or is it better to try to evacuate you out in an orderly manner and get you into another area of safety. And if we do that, we kind of follow the county's ready, set, go model as well. One of the last fires that we had up in McDowell Mountain Park, we had our maps out, everything was designated. We have a ready line, we have a set line, and we have a go line. And it gives you time to work through that. With that, that also gives you time to try to set up shelters or a place. You don't want to evacuate somebody without a plan on where they can go and where you want them so you can work through that and you're not just saying you've got to leave, and you've got no place to go. We're going to have that set up through American Red Cross, through the county emergency management. Those shelters are kind of in place and identified and again, that would be a unified effort to come through and make all that happen. So kind of in a nutshell, that's a lot of emergency management. But I think the biggest thing is that I feel very comfortable as a resident of town that if there were any varied number of emergencies here, that we would be able to handle them and keep everybody safe and limit the amount of devastation to the town. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you so much, Chief. Councilman? SKILLICORN: Thank you, Madam Mayor. And I ask this after, obviously, Maui and then, maybe, at the end we'll talk about the landfill fire too. But I know you talked about there's certain specifics you don't want to share but what did you learn from the Maui situation? Hypothetically, imagine power going out, no water, potentially no Internet, and we only have a few roads going into town and going out of town. When you saw that happening, what were you thinking that you would respond to prevent the tragedy that happened there? OTT: Mayor, Councilman, it's kind of one of those dynamic things that you're look at and there's -- you can either look at it from the 10,000-foot level or you can look at from the boots on the ground level. And one of the boots on the ground side of things is that Page 23 of 5S TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS OCTOBER 3, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES you go in and on the wildland setting kind of things, we used to do a red rock, green rock. You would do a red rock for a house that had -- you had no chance of saving because of the vegetation, the state of the structure, things that might add to your inability to get in there and put the fire out in that house. And a green rock would be a house that you had a chance of going in and being able to save with limited resources as you go through. Overall, and foremost, is life safety when you look at that. What can we do to get people out that are in a situation that they're trapped? Lahaina is a little bit unique. It is a one -road in. The road on the backside is not on the rental car maps. I know that because I've driven that road and got in trouble from the rental car company. But you were kind of stuck in that area. It's very hilly terrain. Fire in a wildland setting moves 16 times faster uphill. It was wind fueled. The initial reports that we saw were that it was potentially started by a powerline that went down. They don't have the ability to shut the power grid off on Maui. So that was something that was a factor. If you look at Paradise, California, that was another fire that was started by the powerlines, in an area where a lot of maintenance that should have been done was not done. But that's secondary to how do we get people to the safest spot? And can we get in, and that's part of the evacuations. If we've got everybody leaving, are we able to get in there to do anything? What are our resources and what can we do? If I'm going into an area where the water supply is down and I only have the water that I have in the tank on my truck, I have to be very good at what I'm doing. I might not be putting house fires out; I might be focused at that point on life safety. How are we going to get people out? Are there people that are injured? How do I keep our people safe as we're moving through that? So the things in the initial beginning are, you know, holy crap man, that's a lot of flame. And then trying to work back on how do you work that and where does the emergency management portion of that come in? And when do you change from, you're in the first responder mode to we move into the whole emergency management, how are we going to manage this whole scene. What does this look like tomorrow? What does this look like next week? What does this look like in three months? Where Page 24 of 65 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS OCTOBER 3, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES are we at. 5o I don't know if I answered your question fully, but those are the things that I look at. One is how do we immediately protect life safety in that area? I think we're set up pretty good here. I take a lot of pleasure in going across the country and talking to other people in the fire service. We only need a fire truck to carry -- and don't hold me to this when I come back and ask for another fire truck. But we only need the firetruck to carry the hose because EPCOR supplies us with a fantastic water supply. They've got redundant pumps; they've got redundant systems. If we lost water in one area, we would -- more than confident in the EPCOR staff that we'd have water in another of the town. And in that case, we would call in other departments, use our mutual aid contacts, call in water tenders and get water and do water shuttles, do whatever we needed to to protect those areas. But again, life safety is the most important part of that. SKILLICORN: Madam Mayor, Chief, we don't have any type of siren, right? Like air raid siren, a tornado siren? OTT: No. I went back and looked after you asked. SKILLICORN: Okay. And then the Code Red is the text service, that's 100 percent opt -in, correct? OTT: Yes. SKILLICORN: And obviously, we need to sign up for that. Everyone need to log in and sign up for that, put our phone numbers in there. But also like, what if cell towers are down? How are we going to communicate to the people. So let's say power's down, cell towers are down, people can't go to the social media, the town website because there's no power. How do we get the message out? OTT: Mayor, Councilman, that goes back to like my starts, where we didn't have internet. We did not have all of those things. So we went door to door. Early on in the Rio Fire, I was over on the Scottsdale side when that started the first night, we went door to door with the help of Scottsdale PD and we evacuated neighborhoods. And the flipside of that is that you knock on somebody's door, even though they can see the .. , — Page 25 of TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS OCTOBER 3, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES flames coming in the backyard, they don't want to leave. I don't blame them, but you can't -- in a controlled manner where you have to tell everybody that in your best interests you need to leave, grab your bare minimum, a little bit of cash, your medications, whatever you need. At that point you didn't have to worry about cell phones because not very many people had them either. So if the things that we rely on the most aren't there, we still know how to go back and do face-to-face notifications and work it out that way. Part of my emergency management experience have been with Indian Nations and there are a lot of Indian communities that do not have any of the modern conveniences, which also made it a little bit easier, when you'd say well, the power's out and the people you tell that you've got a cooling center will respond with I've only had air conditioning for a year. I've only had power in my house for five years. So when you take a look at that aspect of it, that you can do with a lot, we just choose not to. If we don't have those there for notification or whatever, we need to go back to doing what we did before and we'll do it. And maybe it's to a point where we're not letting people into that area opposed to notifying that they need to get out. It's all based on our resources. And I know Lt. Halverson (ph.) could add to that. One of the last fires they had up off the Beeline Fire, it was kind of a door-to-door ranch notification on an area that's very spread out and you don't see your neighbor. So you actually have to go and physically do that. That's the worst -case scenario. Nobody wants to lose the internet. Nobody wants to lose a cell tower. There's a lot of redundancy built-in in things and since you brought up the opt -in, the civil defense is testing their WEA tomorrow. So if you get a WEA alert, the wireless emergency notification, it is a test. Palo Verde frequently test their system. We try to test our system just not overly frequently. But generally when people start coming back to town we'll go ahead and do something. Probably October, November, or January, depending if we want to skip over the holidays. SKILLICORN: Great. And Madam Mayor, Chief, any advice for homeowners clearing brush or anything that -- their own personal wildfire prevention? Page 26 of 65 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS OCTOBER 3, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES OTT: Mayor, Councilman, we'll be glad to come out and kind of give you some pointers and, depending on the day, we might even help you haul a little bit of brush. But to me it's clearing the area, but not throwing your brush over the back fence and into the wash where it's going to become a potential problem when it dries out. So I think those things, keeping it clean, keeping it healthy, choosing the right plants when you're looking for landscaping. Keeping trees trimmed up so that-- we talk about flash fuels, medium fuels, latter fuels. A flash fuel is your dried grass, as that's dying and it's going out. But if you've got an area and you've got trees that are limbed up, nothing's touching down to the ground, a lot of times that flash fuel will just do that. It will just flash, burn through it, and not extend to anything else. It's where you get more dead growth that's down there, maybe get a little bit more from the light fuels to the light - medium fuels, will then start to propagate as the fire goes through and move from there. You also mentioned the Greenways Fire. And that is probably the best example of spontaneous combustion you can get is that decaying organic matter just heats up to the point where it will get hot, and if the conditions are right, and on Saturday the wind condition was right to kind of keep that fire going, and it's still burning now. They estimate it's about a 15-acre stretch but it's contained within the boundaries of the landfill. They did a good job on Saturday afternoon to kind of maintain that, keep anything from extending out into the desert area to the north and west of that, and now it's really a heavy equipment operation, pretty much run by the landfill staff overseen by the fire department up there. So it could potentially burn for another two or three weeks. MAYOR DICKEY: Three weeks? OTT: Potentially. Whether or not they can do it. I mean, it's a lot of work to go back and work through that. And if you've lived in an area that you have either large stacks of hay or large stacks of manure, it's the same thing. Spontaneous combustion and nobody wants to go on a manure fire. MAYOR DICKEY: Just a quick one. When you talk about getting information out, like Page 27 of 65 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS OCTOBER 3, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES with the fire over there at the landfill. And when you send us an email that says it's all under control and such, and you see -- maybe you see people on Facebook or something, thinking that it's something else, is that public? I mean, can you just say no, it isn't or don't worry or, you know? OTT: Yeah. Those are things that we can always look at addressing. I usually kind of take a look at it. We get calls, we'll notify our alarm room. And it will be the same, we'll go over to Mesa that we have a fire in the area and could be getting calls. So when those people call 911, it's a little bit more immediate. Because the problem that you have with social media sometimes is that unless it's the football score or some things that you -- I don't even know what you'd call it, because I need Bo to help me through all that. But unless it's a notification -- it would come up -- that would pique your interest, you're not going to see it. It's going to go right past you. 5o as an example, that would not be something that we would use Code Red for, because it's really-- and we can geofence -- that's a term I do know. We can geofence where the message goes, and would that be to everybody in Eagle Mountain or just Fire Rock on that side of it? It's not really-- when we kind of set up the criteria there were things that -- is it area - specific or is it townwide worthy? Some of it, it's there. They're going to be -- it's going to be out on the news and maybe that's where you get your information from, is Channel 3 or 5 or 10 or 15, and that brings that to light because they have more information on it than we do. MAYOR DICKEY: That was more like if you see someone. I just want to -- not to be the one that initiates it but if you see someone saying, if they're worried about something and you can already just comment and say, everybody knows and everything's under control or something like that. I don't know. It's tempting to do sometimes. OTT: Madam Mayor, and council, I will leave that up to your discretion on what you chose to share with your constituents. KALIVIANAKIS: Thank you, Ms. Mayor. Yeah. Thank you for your thoughtful presentation. And any town, I think, if you take the top five concerns, fire prevention and public safety are definitely one and two. Page 28 of 65 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS OCTOBER 3, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Disaster prevention, of course, it's really important. Being a member of the United States Coastguard Auxiliary, I did take those FEMA courses that you referred to earlier in your presentation. I've got the certificates on the wall. And the level of coordination between the local, the state, and the national government and the number of contingency operations is just unbelievable. When Allen made a good point, but what if the internet goes out. Well, it's getting like a flowchart, well, then you do this. When that happens, then you do this. And so these things have been thought out, flowcharted, brain trusted and we're in really, really good shape in this town, and I don't ever worry at night about an event like Hawaii, thankfully. I will throw you one softball question. And that's, has the Town of Fountain Hills done everything to make your job and everything regarding fire prevention easy? Do you have our full support or is there some area that we might do better? OTT: Mayor, Councilmember, I got to say from the start my job up here has been well - thought out and well -supported. Even with that weird kind of transition, go-between with Rural. The town has always been supportive of the fire department up here and given them the tools to do what they need to do. Going back to Chief LaGreca and chiefs prior to that, before Scott got up here. But it has always been kind of easy to come up here and work. The fact that council was wise enough back in the early 2000s to adopt the sprinkler ordinance on the firefighter side of things, that's huge. We kind of fight through that in other areas that people think that it's not worth the money that you spend on it. I've had experience in fighting fires and investigating fires and that -- between sprinkled homes and nonsprinkled homes and it's just incredible. So the support from the town has always been there. One of the other things that -- I think I kind of a senior moment in there. Was we're also a storm -ready town or a storm -ready community, which is through a membership with the National Weather Service. So when things start to look like they're developing into some sort of a weather event, I know Director Weldy is very up on it as well. Chief Winters and I kind of do the nerdy thing and listen to the weather radio and see where Page 29 of 65 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS OCTOBER 3, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES that's going to go. Is it a potential for something that could create flooding or for us, the flooding has not been as bad as some of the lightning strikes. So those are all things that again, in the event that we had a lightning strike that took out some of the cell signals and the cell tower and the internet's down, and people that have been here over 15 years, 20 years, remember when every time the wind blew, or it rained your lost TV, you lost any sort of internet. When we had hardline phones, the phone lines went out. So those things we're very attuned to, and again, if we look at emergencies on a smaller scale, because that's what we deal with every day, in the event that we had a residential fire and we needed to remove the people around there, we would do that. Going face to face and probably utilizing MCSO to help with our evacuation. Utilize our crisis response team to help get those people that are being displaced into a place that they've got cover over their head. And helping with calling the insurance companies or whatever they needed at that point. So this town is very, very good to work in and very well -receptive to a lot of things. We just wish that more people would call us at the start of wildland season, when everything's blooming and growing. We average about three calls a year for people asking us to come and look at their properties. So we would like to do more of that. That's probably the only thing I could say. FRIEDEL: Thank you, Chief, for your presentation tonight. And there's no doubt in our minds up here that we're in good hands. I just have one request; will you wait a few years before you want a fire truck? OTT: I will. That's good maintenance but some things you just can't forecast. That's like your emergency management plan. You go, oh, everything but that. We will do that for you. MAYOR DICKEY: On that note, thank you so much. Really appreciate it. Our next item is call to the public. Do we have speaker cards? MENDENHALL: We have one card. It's in your packet. And I believe they're wanting call to the public; Kimberly Kroker just wants to give you another comment about Sycamore Wash. And that's it. Page 30 of 65 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS OCTOBER 3, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you so much. Our next item is our consent agenda. Can I get a motion, please? SKILLICORN: Motion to approve. FRIEDEL: Second. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. Roll call? MENDENHALL: Councilmember Toth? TOTH: Aye. MENDENHALL: Councilmember Friedel? FRIEDEL: Aye. MENDENHALL: Councilmember Skillicorn? SKILLICORN: Aye. MENDENHALL: Councilmember Kalivianakis? KALIVIANAKIS: Aye. MENDENHALL: Councilmember McMahon? MCMAHON: Aye. MENDENHALL: Vice Mayor Grzybowski? GRZYBOWSKI: Aye. MENDENHALL: Mayor Dickey? MAYOR DICKEY: Aye. Thank you. Our first item on our agenda is about our Fountain Hills Youth Substance Abuse Coalition and an MOU. Is this yours, Linda? Are you doing this one or -- no? Oh, Rachael. GOODWIN: I'll take this one. MAYOR DICKEY: I thought I was -- never mind. Go ahead. GOODWIN: That's okay. As you noted, after Tammy's presentation it's actually a different name but the same idea. This item tonight is brought forward actually as an act or as a result of action that was taken in October of 2021, where staff are directed to join the One Arizona Distribution of Opioid Settlement Funds agreement. As part of that national settlement Page 31 of 65 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS OCTOBER 3, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES agreement, Maricopa County is expected to receive roughly $80 million. As part of that settlement some of those funds will be distributed to local municipalities, including ours. We've already begun to receive our portion and that's over, I believe it's a 15- or 18-year settlement agreement. So it will be coming in over the next decade or more. But we've already started to receive that and as part of that, we need to begin allocation or disbursement of those funds. So keeping in mind that the funds must be used for treatment, prevention, or awareness, it's recommended that this funding be allocated to the Prevention Coalition. With that, and you just heard about the Coalition. You heard about what their mission is, how they serve our community directly, and that is partly why we believe this is a good partnership. I'm here, as well as Aaron, as well as Director Pock, to answer any questions you might have. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. Do we have any speaker cards on this item? MENDENHALL: Yes, we do. First, well start with the packet. These are people who just wanted to express their support or nonsupport. First, we have Rory Wilson who says she's for it and she also wrote information. Dwight Johnson is for it, and he also wrote a comment. Bob Ditta is for it and also wrote a comment. J.P. Ward is for it. He makes a comment. Thomas Aiello is for it and also makes a comment. And now we do have two speaker cards and first to speak is Joshua Logan. And on deck is Lilian Acker. LOGAN: Madam Mayor, Council. I'm Josh Logan. I'm a Fountain Hills member of the Chamber of Commerce. I own Guardian Training and Consulting. Both my wife and I are retired law enforcement. I spent 15 years in law enforcement, in three different capacities, in two different states. I've watched the opioid crisis go from a schedule 3/4 drug, you know, Oxycodone, to being rescheduled to a Schedule 2 drug, which created the heroin epidemic. And now we're seeing unadulterated fentanyl across the country. Not going to get into a political stance, but fentanyl's crossing our border at an epidemic rate and seeing it first-hand on the streets and now being in former law enforcement, I Page 32 of 65 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS OCTOBER 3, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES feel now, I can speak what I want to say because I don't have a police chief. My wife is my boss. Which is actually more dangerous if you know my wife. But I can speak my mind on this matter. I have distributed Narcan on multiple occasions to people that have overdosed firsthand, and on two occasions I have watched and held people that have died and expired from opioid overdose. The reason I'm so choked up about this is because I feel fervent about this, and we need to educate the public on the dangers of opioids. Albeit important for pain control, I -- you know, being a disabled veteran, I understand pain firsthand, but I also see the dangers of this. And that a lot of people think because they're prescribed that they're safe, and yes, they are. But the addictive qualities of it is extremely dangerous. And so seeing that firsthand, I will absolutely support more funding for prevention. Because being on the law enforcement side, I was reactionary in nature and it's near and dear to my heart. And so being a member of the Chamber of Commerce, going to these Coalition meetings for a multitude of years and watching what the Coalition is doing and now, with Tammy Bell's leadership, the future is only getting brighter. And I just want you to consider that and do what we can as a town, as a community, to help these people and to prevent this and get the war on drugs is a whack -a -mole kind of proposition. You take one drug dealer down and you get another one. Working as an advanced roadside impaired driving enforcement officer for 15 years, I see it firsthand. So let's approve this and have big pharma pay their dues. That's what I want them to do. So thank you. ACKER: Lillian Acker, resident. I wasn't planning on speaking, but I will. Madam Mayor and Councilmembers, I am working with the school district, I'm on the school board and I have seen what the Coalition has done there. It's just an amazing job. And having had a dear friend's child die because he had taken -- he started with a prescription, and it just went worse. It is something that's dear to my heart and I think if we can support the Coalition with this, it would be very helpful. Page 33 of 65 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS OCTOBER 3, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Thank you. MAYOR DICKEY: Any discussion or questions? Anyone? Yes, Councilwoman? Oh, I just had one question about the amount. I didn't know if that was -- was that 40,000? Is that a year or is that over the years? It's over the years? GOODWIN: That's how much we've accrued at this point. MAYOR DICKEY: Okay. GOODWIN: That's how much we've collected. The disbursements are -- actually vary year by year and it really depends on how much the state gets in based on those settlement agreements. There's three different agreements, each one is based on a different total and each one runs out differently. 5o it can vary wildly. So some years it's predicted to be 15 or 18,000. Some years it's as low as 7,000. So during the course of that settlement agreement, it fluctuates from year to year. So I believe the way we have structured this is to, whatever we're collecting year over year is what would be disbursed. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. Councilwoman? KALIVIANAKIS: Oh, thank you, Ms. Mayor. Rachael, I know these funds are available. I know that the intent of this program was to obviously remediate the opioid dependency. By us directing the funds simply to the Youth Coalition, are we ignoring -- because if you look at it, it says affected youth and other individuals. Its for opioid remediation activities. And it calls for media campaigns, school -based prevention programs and medical provider education to prevent youth and other individuals from misusing prescription drugs. So even though that's under the auspices of the youth, is it going to go deep into our community, to medical facilities and other people that are affected by opioid addiction? Or just merely youth? GOODWIN: The way we have it structured; it would be disbursed to the Coalition which is youth focused. So it would intensify or would be focused on youth prevention efforts. Because our portion is not -- I'm not going to say, it's not nothing, but it's also not a Page 34 of 65 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS OCTOBER 3, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES substantial amount of money. To be able to reach all of those different sectors would be difficult. I don't think the intention was to say you need to do all of these. It's these are the -- this is the gamut of which we need to serve, and we need to stay within those parameters, but we don't need to touch all of those. Again, in discussion internally, we felt like the idea that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, the prevention efforts and targeting our youngest, most at -risk community, our youth, seemed to be the wisest use of the money. KALIVIANAKIS: Yeah. I can appreciate that. But again, I think that the prescription nature of the opioids, this is something that should factor in because the monies are available because of the -- too many opioids were being prescribed legally and creating such havoc in our society. So I just wanted to throw that out there. GOODWIN: Sure. MAYOR DICKEY: Councilwoman? TOTH: Thank you, Mayor. I just wanted to make the nate that they do say youth and others. The Coalition and the education that they pour into the community it is targeted toward youth and to prevent youth from using these substances. But I see it all the time. I think everyone else sees it all the time. I wouldn't be surprised to hear that this is helping people of all age groups to understand the true risks of these substances. I also really quickly, I want to sincerely thank those that came up to speak about this topic. I know that a lot of us, this is something that's very close to our hearts and being able to prevent young people from leaning on these substances for whatever mental health or other issue that they might be trying to compensate for, even when that is pain and that is a prescription, is something that's really close to a lot of our hearts and I think a lot of us hve lost friends or family due to these kind of issues. So it's something that we all have a lot of passion for. However, I wanted to point out that with this money -- well, not, however. That's the wrong word. But I wanted to point out with this money we would have to create something completely new. So just as a note to my fellow councilmember this is the best way to make sure every cent of this money gets used for the purpose that we've been instructed to use it for, which is .m,...,......,... ., »....�.-.. r �. �,.�-�.. .,M..u..- �..,,.. ,.. Page 35 of 65 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS OCTOBER 3, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES prevention and education. This is an existing part of our community that specializes in this. Has the proper training and the proper experience on the topic. Meaning that we don't have that experience. And if we were to try and do it, where it's covering the full system, we would end up not using as much of that money for the correct purpose. So I don't mean to get on a soapbox about that. I just wanted to really point out that I truly believe this is the best way for this money to be used to its fullest extent. KALIVIANAKIS: Thank you for setting me straight. FRIEDEL: I would have to agree. They have the programs and the board and the staff in place to deal with this. And with that, I'd like to make a motion to adopt resolution 2023-26. TOTH: Second. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. Roll call, please? MENDENHALL: Councilmember Friedel? FRIEDEL: Aye. MENDENHALL: Councilmember Skillicorn? SKILLICORN: Aye. MENDENHALL: Councilmember Kalivianakis? KALIVIANAKIS: Aye. MENDENHALL: Councilmember McMahon? MCMAHON: Aye. MENDENHALL: Councilmember Toth? TOTH: Aye. MENDENHALL: Vice Mayor Grzybowski? GRZYBOWSKI: Aye. MENDENHALL: Mayor Dickey? MAYOR DICKEY: Aye. Thank you. Thanks again for all your work. Our next item is the recommendation of appointment of a youth commissioner to the community services advisory commission. We have subcommittees of our -- council has Page 36 of 6S TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS OCTOBER 3, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES subcommittees, three members each who interview applicants for openings that we have on our commissions. So this time it was a for a youth commissioner, and I would like to please, first of all, thank anybody that applied and get a motion please to approve the recommendation by the council interview subcommittee to appoint Kevin Williams to the community service advisory commission serving until June of 2024. TOTH: So moved. FRIEDEL: Second. SKILLICORN: Second. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you very much. Is Kevin here? Okay. Congratulations to him and again thank you to the committee and the applicants. Can I get a roll call, please. MENDENHALL: Yes. First clarification. I heard two people second. Who gets the honor? Okay. All right. MAYOR DICKEY: The honor of the second. MENDENHALL: All right. Councilmember Skillicorn? SKILLICORN: Yes. MENDENHALL: Councilmember Kalivianakis? KALIVIANAKIS: Yes. MENDENHALL: Councilmember McMahon? MCMAHON: Aye. MENDENHALL: Councilmember Toth? TOTH: Aye. MENDENHALL: Councilmember Friedel? FRIEDEL: Aye. MENDENHALL: Vice Mayor Grzybowski? GRZYBOWSKI: Aye. MENDENHALL: Mayor Dickey? MAYOR DICKEY: Aye. Thank you very much. Our next item is item 9C, which is consideration of extending a special use permit on Ivory. Page 37 of 55 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS OCTOBER 3, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Shall I go straight to John? Okay. Thank you. Hi, John. WESLEY: Good evening, Mayor, and Council. This should hopefully be fairly quick. It is about the extension of a special use permit. In September of 2022, council approved a special use permit for the property at the corner of El Pueblo and Ivory. This would allow for four residential unit on the second floor of a mixed -use building. The code requires a building permit to issued within one year. The permit approved -- I probably didn't write that one like I should have. The town has approved the building permit for this development, but due to some issues that the applicant recognized with the designed electric service for the building, has determined not to pull the permit until he gets that corrected. And so he's made every attempt to get the permit, in fact it could have been issued and then got an addendum afterward, but he chose not to go ahead and pull the permit at this time. So again, just a reminder of the property we're talking about, in the plat 106 area, zoned C-C. It's a property there at the southeast corner of that plat, or northwest corner of that intersection. This is what the building would look like. And the floor plan with office and parking on the ground floor addition the four residential units above. Again, the applicant has shown every intention to move forward and get the building permit by taking it as far as he has through that process. He's shown continued interest in the area with the purchase of three other lots that the council's approved special use permits for. So staff recommends approval of this extension for six months. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. Did we have any speaker cards? MENDENHALL: Not for this item, Mayor. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. Any discussion? Questions? I just want to point out there was just little typo in the staff summary. It was September of 2022. All right. Can I get a motion? GRZYBOWSKI: Move to approve as written. MAYOR DICKEY: I'm sorry? Page 38 of 65 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS OCTOBER 3, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES MCMAHON: Second. GRZYBOWSKI: Move to approve as written. MAYOR DICKEY: Roll call, please? MENDENHALL: Councilmember Kalivianakis? KALIVIANAKIS: Aye. MENDENHALL: Councilmember McMahon? MCMAHON: Aye. MENDENHALL: Councilmember Toth? TOTH: Aye. MENDENHALL: Councilmember Friedel? FRIEDEL: Aye. MENDENHALL: Councilmember Skillicorn? SKILLICORN: No. MENDENHALL: Vice Mayor Grzybowski? GRZYBOWSKI: Aye. MENDENHALL: Mayor Dickey? MAYOR DICKEY: Aye. Thank you. Our next item is a public hearing, which I will open. And this is regarding a home on Palisades and Westby Drive. I will hear our presentation and then we'll get the cards and then we'll discuss. Hi. TAVASSOLI: Hi. Thank you, Madam Mayor, members of the council, and the public. What you have before you is a special -use permit request for a 16-bed home for the aged. Which is really a specific type of community residence. And really as you'll see, this is actually an expansion of a home for the aged that has been in existence since 2005 actually. And it's currently capped at ten beds. The location we're talking about here is just a few blocks away from here to the north at the northeast corner of Palisades and Westby Drive. It is a property that's a little over a third of an acre. The home that sits on it is about 4,259 square feet. Here's just a idea of some of the zoning characteristics in and around the property. The Page 39 of EIS TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS OCTOBER 3, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES vast majority of the area is zoned R-3, multi -family, with the exception to the south which is a planned area development known as the Havenly. And just off the picture there to the east, is the Basher shopping center and the CVS drug store, south of Palisades there. Her's a closer look of the property, right there at the center of your screen. Again, as I mentioned, the property is about a little over a third of an acre with almost a 4,300 square foot property there. There is a driveway access to the property off of Westby Drive. And I should mention here that at one time there was a garage there. In the following slide you'll see a garage door, but that has since been converted to a living area and is currently functioning as a bedroom for the existing ten -bedroom facility. There at the bottom you see a Google street view of the property, looking east towards Westby. But to summarize, the special -use permit request, the applicant again is requesting six additional beds in addition to the ten that they are currently operating under. Now this includes -- these six beds includes two beds for live-in caregivers. So it would be for 14 patients plus the two live-in caregivers. I already mentioned the size of the home. Part of the reason they're coming before you is they're seeking licensure from the Arizona State Department of Health. They require owners of such facilities to get approval from local jurisdiction for issuing a license. This is a conceptual site plan that has, of course, been included in your packets. The applicant is not requesting any physical expansion of the building. They are adding some more beds to the bedrooms that they have available. By my count there's about seven bedrooms in the facility right now. There's a living room and a den, and of course, kitchen facilities as well. The only physical modification to the property that will be proposed is expansion of the parking area. And although what you see before you is a conceptual site plan of what that parking area would look like at the end, should the council decide to grant approval of the special use permit, the applicant still has one additional process to go through -- one additional zoning entitlement process to go through, that being the site plan review Page 40 of 65 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS OCTOBER 3, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES in which we will receive a more precise site plan of the parking area. There are some details that would need to be worked out, which are not shown here on the site plan, such as landscaping and some other details with regard to the configuration of the parking areas. The applicant has gone through the required citizen participation process with the neighboring landowners within 300 feet of the subject property. They've used the property owners on record with the county to send out mailers. They did have a virtual meeting, actually way back in February, shortly after we received the application for this request for special -use permit. Followed by a planning and zoning commission meeting back on May 8th. At the conclusion of which the application was recommended for -- or I should say the request was recommended for denial. What I should note is, at that time, although the facility was advertised for 16 beds, at that time it did not include the two to three caregivers that were going to help operate the facility. And so the applicant decided to go ahead and somewhat modify the request to cap it at 16 max, including both patients and caregivers. Throughout this whole process, and this is kind of an update to the staff report, staff has received eight letters of opposition, citing a number of concerns with regard to traffic or, more particularly, parking in the area. And you'll see some of the details that have been spelled out by the various members of the public in your staff report. So section 2.02 establishes standards for review by the commission and the council. Some of the things that the commission -- or I should have updated this. But there's some of the things that the council, y'all, may want to consider is the nature of the use. It is a commercial operation by virtue of it expanding to more than ten beds. Any special conditions that might exist with the property itself or the home may be brought under consideration. Things such as pick-up, drop off, visitation hours during the day, and the staff report covers a few things with regards to traffic and adjacent uses, some of which we can discuss with myself and the applicant later. So the staffs recommendation is approval of the SUP request. And although this goes without saying, I should say emphatically, it is subject to the administrative site plan Page 41 of 65 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS OCTOBER 3, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES review process, should this request be approved; mainly because the parking area must be expanded. However, the use is consistent with the 2020 general plan and no proposed building expansion is proposed. There may be a few modifications in the interior, we'll have the architect explain those in greater detail. But no expansion to the footprint. And at this point, I will open it up to questions. The applicant and the owner of the facility are both here as well. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. Why don't we go with the public cards and then we'll discuss, and I'll close the public hearing. Thank you. Do you have any cards? MENDENHALL: Yes, Mayor, we do. Well, in your packet. We'II start with the written comments. We have Liz Gildersleeve, she's against it. William Thomas Liffiton, he is against it. And then we have three speaker cards. First, we'll have, we'll start with Diane Bach, and then on deck is Tammy Helm. And after Tammy is Crystal Cavanaugh. BACH: Madam Mayor, councilmembers. MAYOR DICKEY: Can you put the microphone -- yeah. Thank you so much. BACH: I live across the street from this facility. And I know that we need these in this area but it's like that saying, not in my street. Anyway, we adamantly oppose any proposed changes to this Fountain View Manor home for the following reasons. Impact on traffic alone is already congested and unsafe along Westby Drive. Vehicles are traveled -- they travel off to Palisades competing for room, where there are cars parked on both sides of the street for this already feeling -commercial facility that is a residential home trying to be commercial. Emergency vehicles come more often to this building than you might think, with flashing lights and sirens. And there's only ten beds here. Their parking situation has been downplayed by the owner saying that this fly by plane that comes in the air and sees one car down there, to take a photo from the air one day of the year seems disingenuous. We see cars over there as many as six at a time, staggering, coming and going. I have pictures here if you want to see. Page 42 of 65 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS OCTOBER 3, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES The applicant states that she wishes to increase the number of residents while keeping the facility's residential status and feel of the home, residential function, and appearance. But approving this SUP will only destroy all of that. It will change the nature of the residential look and lower our property values. Especially, when they plan to pull out all those plants. There's an ocotillo there they have left, I think, to die. And it's huge. It's probably as tall as this ceiling. And I'm sad to see it. Even commercial properties have more landscaping than they have on Westby Drive. It's all parking. All of it. And they're -- I guess, they're going to make it more of a slab? I'm not sure exactly what they're going to do but it's upsetting, actually, to look over there and see that. There is not a mix of residential and commercial properties as the erroneously stated staff said. I'd like to make it clear that all properties along Westby Drive are residential except for this one property that already feels uncomfortably commercial, yet supposedly is not. So commercial property will only degrade the nature of the residential look and feel of the neighborhood that we need to keep so as not to create a slippery slope for any future proposals. Garbage collection has like three cans out there for ten -plus beds now. Wouldn't it be six or seven if we had more? We strongly urge the council to deny this property be changed from a residential property to commercial. Even if only for safety reasons for the patients inside and for all those traveling down Westby Drive. If the planning and zoning commission has denied this, I'm unsure how the council can support it. I think that if you lived in Westby Drive -- MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you, ma'am. BACH: -- I'd be willing to bet you wouldn't want to live there either. MAYOR DICKEY: Sorry. The button went off. So thank you. BACH: Oh, okay. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you very much. BACH: Thank you. MENDENHALL: Tammy Helm, are you still here? HELM: Yes. Page 43 of 65 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS OCTOBER 3, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES • MENDENHALL: Oh, there you are. HELM: Yes. Good evening, Ms. Mayor, and councilrnembers. I am here on behalf of my parents and myself. We, the three of us, are Fountain Hills residents. They cannot be here tonight. My parents have lived in Westby for over 15 years. I have noticed the traffic has gotten worse over the years. I have the same sentiments as the last speaker that was just up here. So I will just quickly go through my things. There are so many parked cars which cause difficulties for drivers who are trying to turn onto Westby or off of Westby. Often it's reduced to one lane on Westby because of all the parked vehicles. There have been multiple accidents on this corner. I understand one as fatal, many years ago. Many of the condo residents who live on Westby park their personal vehicles on both sides of the street and, in addition, there are numerous commercial and delivery trucks parking on both sides of the street that add to the congestion on this corner. Increasing the size of the driveway will not alleviate the current traffic problems, let alone the future traffic problems that will result from an increased number of patients. Meaning, there will be more visitors, more employees, more deliveries to that property. We're also concerned about the health and welfare of the current and possible future patients. There are already too many people crammed into one house. I believe the square footage is over 4,000 because they utilize the garage. The garage has been turned into living space. So apparently there are seven bedrooms, five bathrooms, all on the same property for 20 people and now they have 10 but increasing it up to 16. I'm sorry, not 20. I just think that this is very unreasonable. You know, do the math for 20 people living in one house that was originally built for a single family. I ask you, councilmembers and Mayor Dickey, how many of you would be willing to put one of your elderly loved ones into a facility with this many people? Please consider what many of these residents are asking you to do and please deny this special permit request. Thank you. CAVANAUGH: Good evening. Crystal Cavanaugh, resident. I was at that P&Z meeting Page 44 of 65 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS OCTOBER 3, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES earlier this year when their 5-1 recommendation was for the council to deny the expansion of the community residents from 10 dependent adults to 16, plus staff. Which essentially at that time put it around 20. I was expecting that to be on an agenda some months ago, but the applicant apparently reconsidered and waited. So tonight, there's the request to increase the number of residents from 10 to 14, plus two live-in caregivers, totaling 16. The staff report has indicated that they recommend that this should actually be permitted. Are you kidding me? The P&Z commission, the previous town council, and many citizens worked very hard last year to provide input on our ordinance, talked through concerns, and came to an agreement that the number of residents in longer -term family community residence like tonight should be eight, plus staff. And the transitional community residence, such as drug treatment, be allowed at five, plus staff. So this request tonight for 14 residents in a residential neighborhood, plus two live-in staff, should be denied. The number of residents in this home was already grandfathered in after the ordinance was changed last year. They already have two more residents than are allowed under the current ordinance, which states eight. They want 16 people staying in a residential home at the corner of Westby and Palisades. They've already modified the garage, like stated, to be a bedroom for staff. Now they want to add an additional bed in each bedroom. Will this make it even more difficult for some of these elderly residents to move about their bedrooms and the home itself? There is no way that the current residents will get better care or even the same level of care if you bring in six more dependent adults. It might improve billing, but it will not improve care for these people. This also opens the door for any of the other community residences to request expansion and exceptions for their homes to bring in more people. It is a very bad idea to start undermining our current ordinance in this way. We definitely need to avoid any unintended consequences. Please do not approve this SUP. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. That's it? All right. Do we want to ask questions of Farhad or the applicant? Anybody have any questions Page 45 of 65 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS OCTOBER 3, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES or comments? No. I will close the hearing. And we are free to speak among ourselves or make a motion. GRZYBOWSKI: Actually, Mayor, if I may? One of the things that -- and Ms. Cavanaugh made it perfectly clear is that the P&Z people were led to believe it was 16 patient beds with the two caregivers. We've now changed it to 14 patient beds with the 2 live-in caregivers. According to the P&Z meeting, the applicant said at the time that they are allowed as low as 80 square feet per -- I'm going to say bed, but per person in the room -- or per resident, I think, is what he said. It's not for me to judge somebody else's financial or personal comfort level with that 80 square feet or 100 square feet. If that's what they can afford, then that's what they can afford. I won't judge them based off of that. People don't like a 1,300 square foot home. My husband and I live in a 1,300 square foot home, but that's nobody's business. It's my comfort level. That being said, also the number of cars were mentioned, and I know at the P&Z meeting the applicant or the attorney or somebody reminded us that these are assisted living people. They don't drive, they don't own cars, so the cars that are there are generally that of the caregivers themselves, and he said that throughout the history of however many years he looked at pictures, there was one or two cars parked in the driveway. And I'm actually looking at two pictures right now. One from Google Maps and one from the presentation from Farhad. And the Farhad presentation shows one car in the driveway. The Google Maps presentation not only shows no cars in the driveway, but the next car up on the street is quite a distance down. So I appreciate the concern over the vehicles, but I don't think that I see that as a problem. Also, again, looking at the street and the number of multiple resident households that are already located on the street, granted one of them we're looking at the backend of one set of apartments or condos, I don't think that's the frontend. I think that's the backend, if I remember correctly. So basically, I'm saying I don't think I have a problem with this particular situation. Especially now that we've gone from 16 patients, down to 14 patients with the two beds. Thank you. Page 46 of 65 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS OCTOBER 3, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. Councilman, did you have? SKILLICORN: Thank you, Madam Mayor. I actually just want to -- I think the presentation was great. Told me everything I didn't know. Planning and zoning voted it down. We had multiple residents say that they didn't want it. I trust planning and zoning. I trust our residents. MAYOR DICKEY: Councilwoman? TOTH: I just wanted to point out that 80 square feet is actually the size of two regulation pool tables. So if we put two of those together, that is the amount of space that we're talking about for someone living. I do understand -- I'm the biggest proponent of the free market that there is, but at the same time we do, at some point, need to look out for people and we talk about seniors. Seniors might not always realize what they're signing up for. If they need that special care, that might be what they can find. And we need to be looking out for the ten beds that are there and ensuring that they're getting a standard of care that is providing them a good quality of life. I find it extraordinarily hard to believe that you can find a good quality of life with living within the space of two regulation size billiard tables. So with that I motion to disprove -- deny. Thank you. Jeez, Louise. SKILLICORN: Second. TOTH: Thank you. MAYOR DICKEY: I think we have a motion and a second. Hold on, one sec. We closed the hearing and once we make a motion we don't -- we're not supposed to take public comment. MENDENHALL: Yeah, this is the applicant. MAYOR DICKEY: It's the applicant? TOLAN: This is the owner. I just wanted to say a few words. MAYOR DICKEY: Okay. The applicant can -- TOLAN: Even though it was denied -- MAYOR DICKEY: Well, the applicant can come up. TOLAN: -- people don't know about this. Page 47 of 65 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS OCTOBER 3, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES MAYOR DICKEY: I'm sorry. Could you get to the microphone and identify yourself? I appreciate it. TOLAN: Yeah. First, although she was mentioning correctly. We took pictures, physically over and over again when it's a street full of cars, none of ours. They're like neighbors or whoever. The one accident, a few years ago, was on Palisades not on our street. They're eight bedrooms and the ninth is caregiver. The rule is true, 80m square feet per person. If it's in a room, double, whatever. The house was approved for (indiscernible). Meaning, people with no money, okay? So for people they are okay with two in the room, it's wonderful. There is another thing, after we just passed all the fire inspection, whatever, health department supposed to approve me. And let's say, hypothetically, I have license for 14 in the end, and then you and you and you and you, you're going to come in my house and you're going to decide by yourself if it's too crowded or not, and you are going to be the one who decided that I'm going to have 14 in the house. Because there are houses licensed for ten and there are only four, six people in the house because they cannot put more. Either because no good care or too crowded whatever. So then even I have the license for 14, that doesn't mean I'm going to have 14. If the people of Fountain Hills, they're going to decide it's too much. I am bothered because people don't understand ourself. I've been in business 20 years, and I have good reputation in the city and all these people -- like my house is almost 4,500 square feet. There are homes in Phoenix, 3,300 square feet, approved for 16. Based an the fact that yes, people don't -- not everybody has money and maybe in a smaller or not extraordinarily large room, two people are happy just to have good care, clean, good food, medically and everything care in the house. But regardless, it's you -- you're going to decide if I'm going to have 14 because I can be licensed for 14 and maybe only 8 people in the house. That's all I wanted to say. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you very much. We do have a motion and a second on the table to move to deny the permit. Can I have Page 48 of 65 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS OCTOBER 3, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES a roll -- wait, Brenda? KALIVIANAKIS: Yeah, I just had a little further discussion. Is that in order? Has that ship sailed? MAYOR DICKEY: No, you can. KALIVIANAKIS: Okay. Thank you, Ms. Mayor. Yeah. I'm a little troubled by our residential neighborhoods becoming commercial zones. They're wide open for detox, extreme outpatient therapy, sober living. Now these residents, although our code provides for them, you know, we do have to look out for the neighborhoods and the people that live in those neighborhoods. I understand these people are eligible for access and so maybe your concern about we'll at least have a safe, clean place, even though it's very small -- I kind of disagree with that. I think it's too small, just me, personally. It's just -- it seems to me that there were -- I forget, eight letters submitted in our packet, all of which were neighbors that were against. The only letters in our packet that were for are people that were -- whose parents were residents there and they signed a letter saying, yeah, my parents really like the soup here and it's been really nice to stay. Well, those are people that live there or their caregivers. But the people that are affected in the neighborhood categorically don't like it, including our speakers tonight. So to me, this is a pretty simple no vote. Thank you. MAYOR DICKEY: I'm sorry? MCMAHON: Can I ask a question? MAYOR DICKEY: Yeah. Sure. MCMAHON: Farhad, it says here that a facility containing more than 10 beds must meet different licensing prerequisites by the State Department of Health. What's their license right now? Is it ten beds? Do they need to go and get another license and the process for that? Do they need to have this pre -approved in order for them to apply for more beds? Or is the cart before the horse or what's going on here? In addition, this seems like a very crowded situation to me. There's been no mention of restrooms, et cetera. So I would like to know about that and just like, what's the process here? Are we taking Page 49 of 65 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS OCTOBER 3, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES the cart before the horse or what? TAVASSOLI: Mayor, Councilmember McMahon. As I mentioned in my presentation, this does require -- going back a ways. Yes, they are currently licensed for ten beds by the State Department of Health. Any increase in beds would require modification to that license. However, any modification by the state would first require local approval. Not only for the special -use permit but my understanding is also the site plan review process which would follow, should it be approved. Did that answer your question? MCMAHON: Yes, it does. Thank you. It's a little bit confusing, seven bedrooms — eight bedrooms. I mean, how many — what is the projected number of people per bedroom for the elderly here? And the caretakers, I understand, would probably have their own bedroom. So what is the ratio, is important. TAVASSOLI: My understanding is no more than two beds per bedroom. I think, I believe the architect could be more articulate. TOLAN: There are currently eight bedrooms. So they're going to be maximum, it would be 16, but they are not. So some bedrooms, and they are pretty large, the bedrooms, believe it or not. They're like, let's say if it would have been 16, it would have been two per bedrooms and the bedrooms are not small. You can walk anytime in my house. And an extra bedroom for caregivers. So right now, as it is right now, there are nine bedrooms and five bathrooms. But as you can imagine not every resident uses the bathroom. Most of them, or at least half, they are incontinent. MAYOR DICKEY: Yes, Aaron? ARNSON: Mayor, before the council takes a vote, I just wanted to put a reminder to make sure everything's clear. It's a motion to deny. So if you want to deny the request, vote yes. If you want to approve the request, vote no. Okay. So there's no confusion. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. Okay. We'll take a roll call vote, please, on the motion to deny. MENDENHALL: Councilmember McMahon? MCMAHON: Aye. Page 50 of 65 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS OCTOBER 3, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES MENDENHALL: Councilmember Toth? TOTH: Aye. MENDENHALL: Councilmember Friedel? FRIEDEL: Aye. MENDENHALL: Councilmember Skillicorn? SKILLICORN: Aye. MENDENHALL: Councilmember Kalivianakis? KALIVIANAKIS: Aye. MENDENHALL: Vice Mayor Grzybowski? GRZYBOWSKI: Nay. MENDENHALL: Mayor Dickey? MAYOR DICKEY: Aye. Thank you. Thanks very much. Our next item is approving a second amendment with Kimley-Horn, Palisades Boulevard and Fountain Hills Boulevard intersection. Thank you. Hi Justin. WELDY: Madam Mayor, Councilmembers. As you can see from the staff report, not only myself but previous public works directors have been working to improve the level of service for this intersection for a considerable amount of time. In the past several years we have certainly done our best to make improvements, including, but not limited to, either the elimination or the trimming of vegetation in the raised medians that are in the western leg or on the southern leg. We've also increased the green ball for the protected left turn, just slightly, to see if we could gain any level of service improvements there. But prior to getting any further into that, let's run back a little bit and talk about the challenge we face. The challenge that we primarily face at this location is northbound left turns. And the majority of this traffic we know, over the years, is directly related to the high school. It's important to note when that traffic signal was originally built and managed by the county, the school at that time was a junior high school. The high school was added at a later date after incorporation. As of recent, the junior high school has been moved back in there and for anybody that Page 51 of 65 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS OCTOBER 3, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES may or may not use that intersection in the early morning, or lunch time, you'll note that there is a considerable amount of congestion. The challenge that we primarily faced is we're not providing service to not only the northbound left turns but also the eastbound, westbound, and southbound left turns simply because we don't have adequate storage and the traffic signal is currently like our remaining other 12 signals, it has protected left turns. Over the last -- well, during COVID or during the pandemic times, obviously, we didn't have any challenges there. Once this new school year started up, we were right back into the same situation. It should be noted that this has been discussed amongst staff and the town manager for a considerable amount of time, trying to determine when the best time would be to bring it back and we believe that time is tonight. A brief description of the design is simply to increase the lengths of the lefthand turns, offset them just slightly. So if someone wanting to make a left turn could see past the opposite side vehicle sitting there. And also most likely eliminate the lefthand turn -- backing up. The protected left turn. Let's spend just a moment and discuss protected left turns. Protected left turns are just that. The vehicles that are wishing to make a left turn get their own indication, in this case a green arrow, and all of the left turns for the north and south legs enter that movement at the same time. The same for the east and west. Unprotected, which we don't have any of those here in town, allows for the vehicles to enter the intersection and if there is adequate gaps in the vehicles traveling the opposite direction, make a left turn. That's really the difference between the two of them. The design will also include some badly needed improvements, primarily on the southeast corner, adjacent to the service station there. There is a very steep sidewalk and a very steep angled ramp. Year before last and last year, to alleviate some of the challenges there, we went out and installed some smaller poles and put push buttons on those because we have at least two daily users of that intersection that are in a specialty vehicle. I don't want to call it a wheelchair but it's an electronic or motorized Page 52 of 65 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS OCTOBER 3, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES wheelchair. And they were simply not able to reach the button because of the steep grades. So this design will also take care of that. It's important to also note this is just the design. Part of that will provide an engineer's estimate for the project. We will be returning to you, most likely with the -- somewhere around 60 percent. We'II bring some exhibits up and show you want we're proposing and what we think is going to work best and then obviously after it's approved, we'll be meeting with the council whether or not we're going to be including it in one of our capital projects in the future. With that, I'll do my best to answer any questions you may have. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you, Justin. Do we have any speaker cards? MENDENHALL: Yes, Mayor, we do. First, we'll have Barry Wolborsky, and then on deck is Kim Wolborsky. B. WOLBORSKY: I'm Barry Wolborsky, and you know me as a frequent flyer here. In keeping with my theme that everyone loves a study, I want to talk about the proposed add -on study, and this is an add -on study, and I've mentioned add -on studies before. That if you do the initial study suggesting that you need a big project, then you get the add -on study which is a lot more money. And this is an add -on study regarding traffic revisions mentioned before. Once again, I will say, that if a study is opposed to your common sense the 99 percent of the time, the study is wrong. I admit that there are a handful of times per century when science amazes us. Galileo's proving that a pound of feathers will hit the ground just as fast as a pound of lead from the top of a tower is one of those. Fleming's discovery that mold could cure infection and naming it Penicillin was another one. I don't think this study falls into that category. But I feel certain that Mr. Weldy's study is designed to give an end and I'll tell you why I think that. The idea that permissive left turns at that intersection, meaning cars can dart in- between traffic is the solution to the problem, to me is terrifying. This indicates that the goal of the study was actually to reduce the population of Fountain Hills. Clearly, they have no concept of what kind of drivers we have here. The fact that the safety Page 53 of 65 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS OCTOBER 3, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES committee found that this was the best choice presented to them makes me shudder what the other choices were. For the safety of our community, I recommend that this study not be approved and that an alternative firm, who understands our situation better, be hired to do the follow-on study. I don't think speeding up traffic a few seconds at that intersection is going to be worth the death and injury that will occur when cars are trying to dive in-between each other and kind of thread the needle through the traffic stream. Thank you. K. WOLBORSKY: Hi, I'm Kim Wolborsky. Madam Mayor, Council, and 1 am a resident of Fountain Hills. And I'm married to that guy. And when the light of my life told me he was going to speak on this issue, I had some great ideas and he said, well, if you want to present those you have to do it yourself. So here I am. So well, I think they're great ideas. Quick plug for the online agenda again with the detailed links. And I do think it's a great idea to increase the length of the turn lane when you're heading north on Fountain Hills Boulevard. It clogs up, people get stuck with the behind of their car sticking out in the other lane which clogs up traffic. I think that's great. What I am concerned about is the permissive left turns. The median age in Fountain Hills is 58, and I can say that because I'm helping to raise that median and based on my age. And you know, that means our reflexes aren't really what they were when we were 18. I come from a town where we had permissive left turns, and it was a mixed town, and you did see a lot of accidents that way. I think that's a real possibility. Did the recommendation, did the original study take this into account? I regularly see very slow and hesitant drivers on our streets. Added to this is the higher rates of alcohol and drug abuse since the pandemic. I see a strong possibility of an increase in accidents at this intersection. But the main thing here is, what is the cost of the project? Like, we have no ballpark on the cost of the project. And the design cost just for this piece of the study is over 80K. Is this money better spent on paving our streets at this time? Like, it would be great to improve this intersection, is this our top priority? That's all I got. Thank you. Page 54 of 65 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS OCTOBER 3, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES MAYOR DICKEY: That's it? Okay. Councilman? SKILLICORN: Thank you, Madam Mayor. Director, a couple of questions. One, this study. Is this study needed to lengthen the turn arrow length of time? I mean, can we increase it a few more seconds or double it with or without the study? WELDY: Madam Mayor, Councilmember, this is not study. The analysis for this intersection was done several years ago. What we're asking for tonight is funding for the design. So the design is based on the analysis. And as part of this design the protected permissive left turn will be visited. We may not end up with unprotected left turns at that intersection based on the geometry in its current configuration and it may not be possible for the future. That will be determined as part of the final design. Again, this is for the design of the exhibits and the concepts that were provided almost two and a half years ago. The analysis was completed. There's no additional analysis. In regards to construction cost, that will be included in the 90 percent design. They will make an estimate at that time. SKILLICORN: Madam Mayor, Director, so this $21,000 is engineering. But if we let it go ahead it could very well turn up to a project that has these unprotected left turns without some direction. And that's kind of where I want to get into is -- I don't think it's appropriate to have the unprotected left turn. So I want to make sure that direction is on the record. But also one question I have is, you mentioned a lot of this is traffic relating to the school, right? 5o I'm going to guess that's only a few very specific times a day. Morning, lunch time. This would be going to the school and not away from the school. So I'm guessing it's mostly morning and lunch time, is that correct? WELDY: Councilmember, this is three peak flows. So a.m., midday, and p.m. SKILLICORN: Okay. Do you have maybe like -- I'm not looking for a specific like, you know 7:16 to like 7:45, but I mean is there -- can you give me a guestimate of the times we're talking about here? WELDY: The queues usually begin to create challenges just before 7 a.m. and because of the split times at the school, probably about 8:30, 8:45 is whenever we see things begin to slow down. Page 55 of 65 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS OCTOBER 3, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES SKILLICORN: And -- WELDY: And in that mix we also have a select number of parents that are also on their way out or residents that are on their way out to their employment during that time frame as well. SKILLICORN: And is that constant? From 7 to 8:45? WELDY: It's pretty constant. SKILLICORN: So I made this an argument about something else recently. I don't like to change things up for such a small period of the day. You know, there's 24 hours a day and we're talking about one hour and 45 minutes that there's a little bit more traffic. Now, no one likes to sit in traffic, I get it. But for 22 hours, 15 minutes a day, there's not a lot of traffic here. 5o I mean, I'd be okay with lengthening the green Tight. I'd be okay with extending the distance of the left turn lane, but I'm not so sure redesigning something and making significant changes for one-12th of the day, is enough for me. That's where I'm a stickler on this. It's that yeah, it's inconvenient for an hour and 45 minutes, but again that's only one-12th of the day and we're going to make major changes on it. I'm very hesitant here. WELDY: Understood. And for a point of clarification. Right now there is a very strong push for the Town of Fountain Hills to visit their other 12 traffic signals and remove the protected left turns with flashing yellow arrows. That's what a flashing yellow arrow is, is an unprotected left turn. It's just a brief reminder to tell you to not only look at this arrow but try and determine whether or not there's a car coming in the opposite direction. And in regards to increasing the time, all traffic signals work on seconds. And we've increased the green ball time as far out as we can. The longer you increase two legs, the more you're decreasing the other two directions which creates a separate problem. MAYOR DICKEY: Councilwoman McMahon? MCMAHON: Director, I serve on the pedestrian traffic safety committee, and we've been talking about this for a while. It's not just high school traffic. It is also the snowbirds. I think that's one of our busiest intersections in town, right? Page 56 of 65 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS OCTOBER 3, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES WELDY: Madam Mayor, Councilmember, it certainly has an uptick. Our busiest intersections are Palisades and Shea and Fountain Hills Boulevard and Shea, and then lastly Saguaro and then we move to the interior. MCMAHON: Right. And I recall that when we went through this particular process, looking at this, you already tweaked the timing on the light, and it didn't really help the congestion. It didn't help the left turn, the right turn, et cetera. Personally, I don't think it's just for the northbound. I think it's for the east- and westbound because I've come over Palisades and turned left onto Fountain Hills Boulevard, there's been a long line even during the day, shopping time, et cetera. I think based upon what you've told us in the past that this is really a safety issue, and also to address the sidewalk for access for disabled, et cetera, this would be included in that as well, is what you were saying? WELDY: Correct. MCMAHON: Okay. Thank you. And let's see -- I think that given the fact that we're looking -- we've been talking about traffic lights, et cetera, and adjusting them for more safety in the town, I think that this would be a good idea to proceed with, thank you. WELDY: Madam Mayor, one last point that I think is important, for clarification. Whenever you have a traffic signal that is not meeting its service demands, what we end up with are red-light runners and I'm not going to single out any age group, but I'm certainly going to say that we have a number of youth that may or may not need to be somewhere at a certain time, a couple of times a day, nearby and we want to be ahead of the game on that. MAYOR DICKEY: Councilwoman? KALIVIANAKIS: Thank you, Ms. Mayor. As much as 1'd like to go along with you on this one, I think I can't. This reminds me of the conversations we used to have about want -to -have items versus need -to -have items. I've literally gone to that intersection. I took pictures of that intersection, they're on my phone. It's honestly one of the better intersections I've seen in the east Valley. It's completely ADA compliant and all four corners. The traffic flow is good. I go through that intersection daily. It seems like this is a waste of almost $100,000 and then .,,..,..,.m..........,m...-..n.... ,,,,...,-,. .. — .......-..a.®,...,..�..�.�o.,., Page 57 of 65 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS OCTOBER 3, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES to put on top of that, after the design study comes, there's going to be another huge bill to correct an intersection that really, right now, is functioning rather well. We pledged a year ago, on this council, to build the darn roads and to fix the roads. I haven't strayed from that. That's still what I want to do. Some people call it roads first, whatever you'd like to call it. There were recently two letters to the editor, published in the Fountain Hills Independent, neither of which were supporters of mine and both of which acknowledged that what happened to the roads first? What happened to this council? How come we're not fixing the roads? This, to me, would be a dereliction of duty, to take these funds and to put it to what I would consider a fully functioning intersection that's ADA compliant and except for a couple of kids that run stoplights, I don't think we can throw that much money at it. And so I would be a no for this expenditure. WELDY: Madam Mayor, just one clarification. None of the four corners of that intersection comply with the DOl requirements for accessibility. All of them are out of compliance. One of them, in fact, on the southeast corner is very, very steep, and difficult to walk on, much less get a motorized cart or wheelchair on. KALIVIANAKIS: Just a point of clarification, when they were built they were compliant, correct? WELDV: No, ma'am. KALIVIANAKIS: Oh, they weren't? WELDY: No, ma'am. KALIVIANAKIS: So how did that happen? WELDY: You would have to talk to the county about that. KALIVIANAKIS: How long ago was that built? WELDY: The original intersection and the geometry, '79,'80, perhaps. KALIVIANAKIS: Okay. Yeah. I'm not handicapped, obviously. But visually, it looks ADA compliant with the ramps and everything. But I will not dispute your assessment. MAYOR DICKEY: Vice Mayor? GRZVBOWSKI: So the ADA noncompliance thing is new news. So that hasn't changed Page 58 of 65 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS OCTOBER 3, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES my mind how I feel about the intersection. But I wanted to say is, ever since I started coming to council meetings, 2016, early 2017, lengthening those left -turn lanes has been a conversation by every single council, multiple calls to public. So I feel like it's something that we really need to do and unfortunately you have to design it first before you can even figure out to find funding in the budget. But I wholeheartedly support doing that. Just, like I say, conversation has been going on for years. So I'm ready to actually move to approve as written. MCMAHON: I second. MAYOR DICKEY: Is there any further discussion? I do have a question. The design doesn't include sewer, landscape irrigation; is that because you know where all those lines are and it's not a concern or is that something that the design doesn't usually — WELDY: Madam Mayor, what I'm going to describe in civil engineering is shallow construction. So the curb gutter and asphalt, we would like to believe are not going to impact the sewer lines or water or electrical, they should be deeper. We have a minimal amount of irrigation there. It would be in what we refer to as the west leg, which is on the west side of the intersection. We have a raised median there. And then we have a raised median on the south leg. Most likely, what we would do is eliminate the majority of the landscaping and the irrigation for the length of the left turn pocket as part of that. And the reason for that, you end up with a very narrow, maybe two feet wide or narrower, and that's not very safe for someone to get out there and do maintenance in. MAYOR DICKEY: Thanks. I just wanted to make sure that that was okay with you that that wasn't in there. So we do have a motion and a second to approve this design. It's not a study; design of an intersection. And I would concur that we have been discussing this for quite a while and also from folks who have told us that the mornings were difficult for them, not just the students, as far as getting in and out of there. And we all know where Starbucks is and such, it can get really congested. So I think it's a good, safe move to make. Can we have a roll call, please? Page 59 of 65 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS OCTOBER 3, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES MENDENHALL: Yes. Councilmember Toth? TOTH: No. MENDENHALL: Councilmember Friedel? FRIEDEL: No. MENDENHALL: Councilmember Skillicorn? SKILLICORN: No. MENDENHALL: Councilmember Kalivianakis? KALIVIANAKIS: No. MENDENHALL: Councilmember McMahon? MCMAHON: Aye. MENDENHALL: Vice Mayor Grzybowski? GRZYBOWSKI: Aye. MENDENHALL: Mayor Dickey? MAYOR DICKEY: Aye. Thank you. I would like to go on to our next item which is approval of Interwest Safety sign contract. WELDY: Madam Mayor, Councilmembers. Thank you for the opportunity. This contract amendment is directly related to our street name signs, our stop signs, our regulatory signs, occasionally some of the signs that we use for trails. But primarily, this is going to be covering the signs we need that are required by the federal, state, and/or county. We do have a sign shop and oftentimes, when we're having discussions or if we're doing tours, you will hear me say that. I want to be clear that the sign shop we own only contains our inventory and allows the location for street apartment staff to assemble as much of a sign structure as they can prior to taking it out on location. It's important to note that over the last several years materials have been increasingly short in supply. And so as we continue to replace either outdated or worn signs or damaged ones, what little bit of inventory we kept has been all but deleted and we've been one -offing it for replacements. We also have a large number of stop signs that were purchased with grant money back in the mid-2000s. Those signs are going to be reaching their end of life in regards to their reflectivity. Page 60 of 65 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS OCTOBER 3, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES And oftentimes you'll hear me mentioning reflectivity. I think it's important to note that the street department has a reflectometer. That is a device that we use after the sun goes down to determine whether or not it meets the standards. And if it doesn't meet the standards, based on the last time it was graded, approximately how much longer do we have? That's part of our maintenance and inventory. And we know for a fact that the total purchased in 2011, through $14 for the stop signs, was 75,000. Approximately 58,000 of that was a grant. We also have just simply a large number of street name signs, warning signs, and regulatory signs that are coming up. We're asking for a relatively large amount. The primary reason for that is we know we spend between 50- and $60,000 on average for signs and hardware. But we now need to build up one, our inventory, and were also looking over the next several years to begin phasing in the replacement of the regulatory signs. Those are the stop signs that are going to be the primary factor there. It's also important to note that this particular contract through the City of Peoria went out to bid and our procurement officer was kind enough to be proactive and sent me some information on this. For this bid, which was a 2021 Interwest Safety Supply bid, Zumar Industries, Xcesssories Squared Southwest and Care Products LLC (ph.). So there were four competitive bids, and the City of Peoria selected this one. And we would like an opportunity to take advantage of this pricing prior to it going up, which it most certainly will, based on past history. Any questions related to this; I'll do my best to answer them. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. Do we have any speaker cards? MENDENHALL: No, Mayor, we do not. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. Any questions about this item? Comments? No? Okay. MCMAHON: I'm just going to make a motion. MAYOR DICKEY: All right. MCMAHON: I'd like to move to approve the first amendment to cooperative purchasing agreement 2023-026 -- KALIVIANAKIS: Second. Page 61 of 65 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS OCTOBER 3, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES MCMAHON: -- with Interwest Safety Supply for signs and sign hardware in the amount of $100,000 annually. Thank you. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. Yeah, no kidding. Roll call, please? MENDENHALL: Councilmember Friedel? FRIEDEL: Aye. MENDENHALL: Councilmember Skillicorn? SKILLICORN: After hearing four bids, I'm an aye. MENDENHALL: Councilmember Kalivianakis? KALIVIANAKIS: Aye. MENDENHALL: Councilmember McMahon? MCMAHON: Aye. MENDENHALL: Councilmember Toth? TOTH: Aye. MENDENHALL: Vice Mayor Grzybowski? GRZYBOWSKI: Aye. MENDENHALL: Mayor Dickey? MAYOR DICKEY: Aye. Thank you. Thanks a lot, Justin. WELDV: You're welcome. MAYOR DICKEY: Our next item -- no, we're -- no. FRIEDEL: No, not so fast. MAYOR DICKEY: Our next item is our approval of employment agreement for the town with Rachael Goodwin in the position for town manager. Aaron? ARNSON: Mayor and Council, thank you. By way of introduction, you all know why we're here on this item tonight. Ms. Goodwin has been serving as the interim town manager for the town since April. And what a six months it has been. We've had several discussions and executive sessions with the council to negotiate a formal agreement with the now -interim town manager and hopefully soon to be town manager, so that she can fulfill the position on a permanent basis. Page 62 of 65 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS OCTOBER 3, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Staff is extremely pleased to present the agreement for the council's consideration and approval. And if you'll indulge me a short personal aside? I've had the opportunity to work with Ms. Goodwin for many years and in the last six months to work very closely, and very often together, over the last six months. I work with many, many managers, and many directors in my role as town attorney, here and elsewhere. And she's a keeper. I would recommend that the council approve the employment agreement with Ms. Goodwin. And with that, I'm happy to answer any questions. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. Aaron, do we have any speaker cards? MENDENHALL: Yes, we do. They're in your packet. They just want to submit in writing, Rory Wilson is for the agreement. J. P. Ward is also for the agreement. And that's it. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you so much. Comments? Questions? FRIEDEL: Move to approve. GRZYBOWSKI: Second. MAYOR DICKEY: We have a motion to approve and a second. And obviously, everything you said we agree with. And not only just for the last several months but for as long as you've been there with the award -winning Parks and Rec department, and we are very happy to be moving forward in this way. You've been very professional, and I look forward to signing this agreement on behalf of the council and continuing to serve with you for our community. With that, can we have a roll call, please? Oh, I'm sorry. Were you going to say, I saw your thing? SKILLICORN: Oh, Madam Mayor, I mean, I'll just point out that I think that staff morale has been very high. I appreciate some of our contract negotiations. Now, I do -- I have to be critical of things. I do think that salaries for management positions should be merit -based. I think that we do need to -- have to focus on trimming our budget and also getting vacant spaces filled and I'd prefer a little more priority to that. And frankly, I'd be glad to pay like a $200,000 salary if it was like a base -salary, plus incentives, to get those things done. So those are my comments on that. Page 63 of 65 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS OCTOBER 3, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES MAYOR DICKEY: Roll call, please? WELDY: Councilmember Skillicorn? SKILLICORN: No. WELDY: Councilmember Kalivianakis? KALIVIANAKIS: Aye. MENDENHALL: Councilmember McMahon? MCMAHON: Double aye. MENDENHALL: Councilmember Toth? TOTH: Aye. MENDENHALL: Councilmember Friedel? FRIEDEL: Explain my vote? Thank you, Rachael, for the job you've done with the employees and certainly it's well -deserved. Aye. MENDENHALL: Vice Mayor Grzybowski? GRZVBOWSKI: Aye. MENDENHALL: Mayor Dickey? MAYOR DICKEY: Aye. Thank you. Thanks a lot. Again, I'm looking forward to the future with you, Rachael. I don't know if you want to say anything. No? GOODWIN: Nope. I'll just say thank you and I'm looking forward to it too. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. Our next item is the council discussion, direction to the town manager. 1 don't think we had any questions or anything from call to public and our last item is future agenda items? Councilman? FRIEDEL: I have one, Mayor, thank you. It's come to my attention that there are several cities right now that are doing inspections in transitional housing and detox facilities. I'd like to have us bring that back and take a look at that, and I have some information here that I can leave with you, Rachael, that will give you some details on the towns that are currently -- some new ones that are currently doing this. So I can leave this with you Page 64 of 65 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS OCTOBER 3, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES afterwards. Thank you. MAYOR DICKEY: Councilman? SKILLICORN: Thank you, Madam Mayor. There's two items that I'd like to add to the agenda. One of them, I'd like an opportunity to tweak some rules, specifically about how the vice mayor, the roles are there. So I'd like to -- and I'd can give specifics on that to write that up. And then the second one that I actually do have printed up a kind of a sample ordinance here to not enforce lockdowns and mandates. So I'll hand one off the clerk, I can hand one off to the staff also. To not enforce lockdowns and mandates. MAYOR DICKEY: I mean, we're fine. You can bring them forward and we can figure out what that even means, Aaron. Because mandates -- ARNSON: Is that the Queen Creek one, Allen? That you have a sample? Okay, I thought maybe it was. MAYOR DICKEY: Okay. All right. Thank you. Thanks everyone, we're adjourned. Page 65 of 65 Having no further business, Mayor Ginny Dickey adjourned the Regular Meeting of the Fountain Hills Town Council held on October 3, 2023, at 8:02 p.m. ATTEST AND PREPARED BY: TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Gi Dickey, Mayor G. en.' 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 3`d day of October 2023. I further certify that the meeting was duly called and that a quorum was present. DATED thjs 21 °' Day of November 2023. Llfida G. Mefidenh6ll, Town Clerk