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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023.1219.TCRM.MinutesTOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING OF THE FOUNTAIN HILLS TOWN COUNCIL December 19, 2023 A Regular Meeting of the Fountain Hills Town Council was convened at 16705 E. Avenue of the Fountains in open and public session at 5:32 p.m. Members Present: Mayor Ginny Dickey: Vice Mayor Sharron Grzybowski; Councilmember Gerry Friedel; Councilmember Peggy McMahon; Councilmember Brenda J. Kalivianakis; Councilmember Hannah Toth; Councilmember Allen Skillicorn Staff Present: Town Manager Rachael Goodwin; Town Attorney Aaron D. Arnson; Town Clerk Linda Mendenhall Audience: Approximately ninety-eight members of the public were present. TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS DECEMBER 19, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Post -Production File Town of Fountain Hills Town Council Meeting Minutes December 19, 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 74 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS DECEMBER 19, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES MAYOR DICKEY: Good evening, everyone. Thank you for coming. Everybody looks festive and happy. Would you please stand for the pledge? And if you choose, remain standing for the invocation. ALL: I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. Pastor Bobby Brewer from Reigning Grace Ranch Church. Hi. BREWER: Thank you. Good evening. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you so much for our mayor and our councilmembers. And Lord, we thank you for the sacrifices they have made for friends and family, for business to serve this town. And we thank you for all that you've done in Fountain Hills throughout '23, all the great events to establish community. We thank you for the protection you've provided, and we pray that you continue to bless our first responders, Lord. And we pray that we can get some rest over the next couple of weeks as well, and pray that our town council can enter '24 with fresh wind to our sails. And Lord, bless them with wisdom and guidance. And Lord, we also, at this time of year, remember another small town, Bethlehem. And we thank you, Lord, for the salvation you offer, the grace you offer to all who are willing to receive it. We love you, Lord. In Jesus' name. Amen. ALL: Amen. MAYOR DICKEY: 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. Page 2 of 74 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS DECEMBER 19, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES MENDENHALL: Councilmember Kalivianakis? KALIVIANAKIS: Here. MENDENHALL: Councilmember Toth? TOTH: Present. MENDENHALL: Councilmember Skillicorn? SKILLICORN: Here. 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 the mayor and council to not comment on items brought forth under call to the public. However, staff can be directed to report back to the council at a future date or to schedule items raised for a future council agenda. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you so much. We will start with our reports by our town manager and our councilmembers. Rachael? GOODWIN: Thank you, Mayor. Just a few quick updates. I wanted to let our council know that we have a number of items that have come up by request that we were working on behind the scenes. Specifically, an Al policy, the fire safety zone, as well as the group home inspections. All three of those are on our radar. And then we'll be back before you in early 2024. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. GOODWIN: Thank you. MAYOR DICKEY: Councilwoman? TOTH: Thank you, Mayor. I don't have a report tonight. But Merry Christmas, Fountain Hills. MAYOR DICKEY: Vice Mayor? GRZYBOWSKI: It's been a busy few weeks and we have a lot of stuff going on today. So Page 3 of 74 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS DECEMBER 19, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES for the sake of time, I'm just going to say that today is my favorite day of the month. I know you guys are all tired of hearing it, but there's quite a few out there that haven't heard this yet. I love Stellar Student Day. I am so excited to see you guys here. After you're done getting your certificates, the mayor is going to give you permission to leave if you would like to, but I'm going to remind you that it's not necessary if you want to stay. It's kind of fun in a nerdy way to stick around and see what we've got to offer here. Thank you. MAYOR DICKEY: Councilman? FRIEDEL: Thank you, Mayor. Merry Christmas to everybody. Short summary tonight. I did attend the Regional Domestic Violence Council meeting and we are working on a slew of things for teen dating violence coming up right at that month. It will be coming up right after the first of the year. So that's all I have. Thank you. MCMAHON: Good evening, everybody. Merry Christmas and happy holidays. I attended the menorah lighting with Vice Mayor Sharron, and she did a great job. It was a very nice ceremony. And there were a lot of people there. And also, I attended the community band event and that was also really, really nice. Beautiful Christmas music and very, very festive. So everybody have a happy holiday. MAYOR DICKEY: Councilwoman? KALIVIANAKIS: Thank you, Ms. Mayor. Hi, everybody. Welcome to the people online and welcome to the people on YouTube and of course, the people here live. I did have a chance to attend the Commemorative Air Force Museum tribute to the Pearl Harbor Day on December 6th, where Mayor Giles of Mesa was there; gave the keynote speech. It was quite a remarkable ceremony. And we repatriated a part of the USS Arizona bulkhead to that museum. And so it was quite a quite an interesting and beautiful service. The mayor was quite choked up the whole ceremony. There wasn't a dry eye in the house. I also attended with Rabbi Mendy and the grand menorah lighting on the Avenue of the Fountains. The grand menorah lighting was Sunday, December 10th. According to Page4of74 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS DECEMBER 19, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Jewish tradition, after the Maccabees' victory over the Greeks, there was enough oil to burn for one day in the temple. Miraculously, the oil burned for eight days. Lighting the Hanukkah menorah commemorates this miracle. It was an honor and it was a privilege to be a part of this time-honored Jewish tradition. In a year that antisemitism has been rekindled and hatred has returned fiercely to mankind, I can say on that special day that we were all united in our love for the Jewish people and we hope for their continued prosperity and safety. Lastly, it actually started a year ago when I met with councilmembers OD Harris and Christine Ellis and the mayor of Chandler, Kevin Hartke, and we discussed talking about maybe doing a little more for MLK Day this year. And so they sent that meeting. I went to the mayor and she was very, very gracious and she said, Brenda, anything that we can do to commemorate that beautiful holiday, you know, we're all in. And so I did contact staff. I contacted our town manager who went to work on that with our town staff, and we came up with just a really wonderful program this year. You might have seen it online. We have a poetry contest. It's the Martin Luther King Jr. Day poetry contest, grades 3 through 12. The submissions are due by the 8th. The town of Fountain Hills invites students attending the school, residing in Fountain Hills, grades 3 through 12 to participate. This poetry competition will bring together voices of the local youth with their reflections on MLK's legacy. And there will be three awards of $150 for 3rd to 5th grade, 6th to 8th grade, and 9th to 12th grade. And so that's a very special thing that's being rolled out. It's already on social media. Just to say why this is so important. In the history of mankind, change was usually done through an injustice, was met with war and violence to enact change. Significantly, Dr. King promoted the adoption of nonviolent resistance to achieve equal rights for black Americans in our country. Dr. King spoke of the shameful condition of the United States defaulting on the promissory note of guaranteeing unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness insofar as her citizens of color were concerned. There is nothing, according to Dr. King, and I'm quoting: There is nothing greater in all the world than freedom. It's worth going to jail for. It's worth losing a job for. It's worth dying Page 5 of 74 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS DECEMBER 19, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES for. My friends, go out this evening determined to achieve this freedom which God wants all of his children to have. Dr. King famously said, "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but they will be judged by the content of their character". That will live on through the ages. And so he changed the world forever. And we must teach these lessons to our children in this generation and for the next generations. And that's why this is so important, because the kids have to know the legacy of Dr. King and what he achieved through nonviolence and changing the country that he lived in. And so that's all I have for you today. Thank you, Ms. Mayor. Thank you, Rachael, for helping with this promotion. It's great. GOODWIN: Thank you. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. Councilman? SKILLICORN: Thank you, Madam Mayor. Hello, Fountain Hills. Just a couple of little brief things. I was able to attend a couple ribbon cuttings. I was able to attend the Future of Arizona Speaker series. This last week, the speaker was Senate President Warren Petersen. And there was quite a few activities, obviously. The month of December we had Hanukkah, we had a lot of Christmas celebrations; so there was quite a lot going on. But a lot of this proves that Fountain Hills is open for business. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. Yeah. There were a lot of things going on. But I'll just say the one thing I did was -- we have an Arizona Mayors Education Roundtable. We had a session with what's called Jobs for Arizona's Graduates. They call it JAG. They help students stay in school and acquire leadership, academic, and vocational skills so that they can be successful after graduation. I also had my meeting with Dr. Cain Jagodzinski and with all you kids here. It was really nice. And so'm glad that you're here when we talk about education. So it is time for our Stellar Students. And the way we do this is I read about each child up here. When I say your name, you come on up. And Angela has the certificates for you. And then if you would line up in front of the podium here -- and there's eight kids, Page 6 of 74 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS DECEMBER 19, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES and then we can take a picture when we're all done. So we're going to start with our Little Falcons, our Little Falcons Preschool. And our first student is Mary Gest. Is Mary here? Mary. Hi. Oh, so sparkly. "This is Mary's first year in preschool, and she's shown a lot of growth over all these months. She's developing strong social emotional skills. Mary's enthusiastic about learning new things and works sincerely on every task. Mary has a wonderful vocabulary and enjoys answering questions". That's Mary from Little Falcon's Preschool. Our next Little Falcon is Jaxon Lannefeld. Is Jaxon here? Jaxon? Yeah. I see you. Yeah. Someone can come up with you, honey. "Jaxon always demonstrates kindness and empathy toward his peers and teachers. He consistently has good manners, follows classroom rules and routines, and sets a very good example for others. He has a positive attitude, and he's kind and respectful to everyone in the classroom". Jaxon. Then we go to McDowell Mountain Elementary. We have Anna Conchas Michel. Is it Michel? Anna? Hey, come on up. "Anna is a very pleasant student to have in class as she always brings a positive attitude and a smile to brighten up everyone's day. She participates, listens, and works hard in class with maximum effort and tremendous character. She's one of the most respectful, polite, and genuine students I've ever had the honor of teaching". Wow. "She's a quick learner at Falcon Fitness and she's always participating with excellent sportsmanship. And the other students love to have her in their class and on their team. Anna is the epitome of what excellent character looks like in a student, and she's always willing to do the little things to go that extra mile, like cleaning up after class at the end of the day. She's a joy to have in class, and I'm happy to honor her as a Stellar Student". Anna. Our next student from MacDowell is Travis Ostlund. Is Travis here? Come on up, Travis. "Travis has continued to set the example of a stellar student throughout the duration of the school year so far and is more than deserving of this award. Travis exemplifies terrific character, leadership, listening, and initiative. Aside from being one of the most impressive athletes in the town, Travis is the first to encourage his peers and explain rules or techniques to others in every sport and activity during Falcon Fitness. He Page 7 of 74 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS DECEMBER 19, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES pushes his peers and teammates to bring out their full potential and continues to display a hard, determined work ethic to sharpen his skills in every sport. Travis always comes in and leaves class with the utmost respect and will follow directions thoroughly. I look forward to having Travis in class and seeing him grow as both a student and an athlete, and he holds a high ceiling in both academics and athletics". Travis. Wow, these are great. Bella Montheard. Is Bella here? Come on up, Bella. Fountain Hills Middle School. "Bella is an amazing choice for Stellar Student. She dedicates time and energy to her education. Has maintained a very high GPA. She's compassionate and considerate of her peers and the staff of the middle school. As an eighth grader, she is in high school algebra class and yearlong Spanish. Bella was part of the middle school volleyball team in the fall". Her coach said this, "Bella is very coachable and works hard on the court. She comes to practice every day with a positive attitude and is ready to give 100 percent. She was a great asset to the team this season". Bella. Thank you. Our other Fountain Hills student is Brody Skouson. Is Brody here? Come on up, Brody. Now, "Brody is an excellent choice for the Stellar Student Award. As a student in the i21 program, he maintains excellent grades, cares about his education, and participates in projects in and out of the classroom. He also has taken high school algebra and is in full - year Spanish class. He's a good and kind school citizen, often offering assistance to others. In addition, he plays club basketball for a Phoenix Scottsdale team". That's Brody. Now I'll move on to the high school. Kynzi Schaunaman. Is Kynzi here? Come on up. "Kynzi is always striving to do so well academically. She helps her peers, especially in anatomy, so they can thrive as well. Kynzi has an excellent work ethic and always turns things in on time. She makes sure to ask questions when she's unsure of something, so she understands the content to the best of her ability. Kynzi is well -liked by her classmates, makes good connections with her teachers. She is absolutely a Stellar Student". Kynzi. And our last student from Fountain Hills High is Jackson Montheard. Maybe that's Page 8 of 74 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS DECEMBER 19, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES someone's brother here. Come on up. "Jackson is a very dependable student. He's also always the first to jump up to answer a question and is someone you can count on to participate in class. He walks in the door, greets his teachers immediately, and works on building those connections with not only his teachers, but his peers. He's well -liked by his classmates. Jackson is a student who always volunteers to help me in the classroom, which is so appreciated". That's Jackson. And now we're going to take a picture for the newspaper. So just kind of curve around a little bit so we can see everybody. I'll be the short one here. Look at the cameras, honey. Oh, my gosh. Got to give him credit. He was crying the whole time, but he did it. Thanks, everyone. We're going to ask Amanda to come up and get ready for our next presentation. And again, have a wonderful holiday time off. Take care. JACOBS: And I thought they were here for me. Madam Mayor, members of council, traditionally, I am before you providing a quarterly report. Depending on perception, the last few months there's been a long agenda. Or maybe it's been short, but lengthy topics. So just to be efficient, I am here tonight to give a mid -year report on our business attraction, retention, strategic partnerships, all those good things. And so as always, we start with the business attraction. Those are the exciting things. So new openings, Dutch Bros. So that was a new build. Fountain View Coffee took over a vacant spot from Mountain View Thai Coffee. And then Joy Bird Yoga, Unbridled Beauty, and Phoenix Cannabis opened into vacant commercial space. And then coming soon -- we've announced a couple. But there's a new one in Blue Hill's Smoke Shop that will be off of La Montana and Palisades. So if you're familiar where Pisa Pizza is, it's going to be in that small strip center. Business attraction. So we're always exciting and wanting to know what is economic development doing as far as lead generations. But sometimes I can't give you all the details because we want to wait for a formal application. But we were able to meet with eight developers; one council had an opportunity to meet with. In the next couple Page9of74 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS DECEMBER 19, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES of days, staff will be giving you a report on a mixed use property in our downtown. And as a reminder, downtown is not just The Avenue, but it's off of Palisades and Parkview. So we'll be able to announce that. And with the developers, it's been mixed. And mixed in the sense of folks approaching us. We've had a couple developers on commercial retail, some wanting to do straight up multifamily or some mixed use, either it being office or commercial or office and again, having a little bit of multifamily. And for retail and restaurant, we met with two folks looking to do a new build and then two looking at space -- to fill the space. And so again, when we can tell you more, we will, but we're actively working. And also wanted to provide an update. Last week during our planning and zoning commission, we had a constituent ask what is economic development doing as far as attracting an Amazon distribution center? I have not had the opportunity to define were they talking about specifically the Target shopping center or the town in general. But let's just take the Target shopping center. That space is currently zoned commercial. There's a little bit of industrial and a drainage canal. So the answer is no. And then also we don't have the space. When you're looking at a distribution space and Amazon, it can be over 200,000 square feet to over a million. Also, we look at what is happening. So last year and this year, there's a lot of media coverage with Amazon where they're starting to do a reduction in force. And we're not talking hundreds, we're talking about thousands of people. There is actually a distribution center that remained vacant all of the year of 2023 in southern Arizona. Again, because of trying to catch up and reducing the force. Right? Thinking there was a lot of pent up demand during COVID and maybe just overdid it a little bit. And so that is the response to that. And then there's been questions about -- in our community economic development strategy, we have bioscience and assembly. I have over 20 years of experience in doing that and Fountain Hills is ideal. But what I have shared publicly during economic summits is we don't have the proper zoning. And so myself, our development services director, at times, can try to be flexible. If, for instance, a bioscience company -- I told Page 10 of 74 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS DECEMBER 19, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES you we wanted to reach out to Optics (ph.) through the Greater Phoenix Economic Council. If they start telling us about 70, 80 percent is clean room, that is industrial. If we're talking 50/50, a 60/40 where they're leaning more towards office, we can be a little bit creative. And so just wanted to provide that update. And again, constituents know where to find me. If you want to get into a little bit deeper of the process, always happy to do that. MAYOR DICKEY: Can I say something real quick about Amazon? JACOBS: Of course, yes. MAYOR DICKEY: Do they usually locate someplace where they're by a highway or by some sort of other -- you know? JACOBS: Madam Mayor, that would be correct. And so the one, too, that I'm talking about in southern Arizona, they're literally next to 1-10. There's housing around, whether it's single family, there's four multifamily right adjacent. So there's a lot of recipe in making a decision, especially when you're playing with the big boys like Amazon and Google. All right. Business retention and expansion. So just wanted to provide updates again, based off of what myself, Betsy LaVoie heard during our site visits, as well as our councilmembers rotating in on the site visits. But our restaurants really said we want to know, like, what events are happening because they do have workforce issues, so we can ramp up during those event times so people have a wonderful experience. Want to come back not to the restaurant but to Fountain Hills. And so we've continued for a second year the Fall Event Guide. We're working on our Spring Event Guide. And then, recently, council did adopt some new rules for the sign codes, specifically temporary. And what we've heard throughout the past year is businesses are like, just tell me what to do so I'm not in trouble and can be successful. And so thanks to our development services team, they've put together a guide of do's and don'ts that we're starting to share. And then always like to point out our relocations, remodels. Jazzercize relocated from Shea onto The Avenue. And then Burger King, Safeway, Starbucks have done some remodeling; exterior and interior. And that's just always a positive sign that they're Page 11 of 74 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS DECEMBER 19, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES keeping up with trends and investing in their business and the community. We did a Shop Local Holiday social media campaign with Debbie Clason, with Clason Communication. So again, a local business. And so after January, we'll monitor the success of that campaign. Our procurement officer held a vendor forum this fall. We have folks that are interested in doing business with the town, not quite sure what our procurement policies are. And so Rob was able to outline that. And then as part of, again, the community economic development strategy, if you hear me say "CEDS" for short, we are now joining again with the chamber like we always do. And when we know that there's a new business in town, we're providing a welcome packet of, again, a lot of the free services. But just to let folks know that we're walking with them. They can choose Mesa, Chandler, but these businesses chose Fountain Hills. Downtown. All right. So there's two things that are not on the slide. One, I told you November 2nd I would keep you apprised of the restrooms. So as a reminder or if someone's just tuning in or just joining us in the chambers, council did approve 35,000 for designing of a restroom this fiscal year. To date -- and right, it's December, we still have not used that money because staff is doing a lot of due diligence. I had shared with you in November that we were being creative with plat 208 and a private entity. Unfortunately, our creativity didn't work, so we're back to the drawing board. But again, rolling up the sleeves that were not coming before you in February to say actually, instead of 150, I need 500 grand. Don't shoot me. 'Tis the season, right? We're in good spirits. So we're still working on that. Second, also want to point out there was a bit of confusion starting last week. But last week there was a digital opinion piece in the Fountain Hills Times Independent that said that the council approved $535,000 in streetscapes. That is actually not true. So I can tell you that personally. But if you don't believe me, you can go to our town website, go to the June 6th meeting and select the presentation. But I was before you during a workshop just trying to get a vibe of what the council wanted to do: price point, provided different options A through D, and we were a bit split. And I said if I didn't get Page 12 of 74 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS DECEMBER 19, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES consent, I was happy to remove it. And so after that meeting I went to Manager Goodwin and CFO Pock and asked them to remove it. I didn't want to play the games of bringing it back to you, forcing you to make a decision in December or January. So again, that has been removed. I just wanted to make that publicly because our businesses and residents were confused. All right. So getting to what's on here. So again, we've heard things of, we haven't really invested in the downtown. I'm still -- when I can play the new -girl card, been here over a year and a half. But we've joined forces, economic development, development services, community services, public works, and since 2014, the town has actually invested 6.6 million into The Avenue district specifically. Again, there's business districts, there's other districts. But just wanted to point that out. And I think was eye opening, not just internally for council but for the public. Last year when I joined the town, there is actually a statewide movement of trying to get all the cities and towns together that are either starting a downtown, maybe are a bit advanced, and some folks belong to the International Downtown Association. I didn't want to have a knee jerk reaction and join right away. But again, with all the positivity that is happening, the town has joined and that is Tess than $500. And then downtown placemaking. The council approved $25,000 in the downtown fund for placemaking. Placemaking can be murals creating a sense of place. And so before we initiated this, we did a lot of homework. I spoke with the chair of the Public Art Committee and said, is your scope of work placemaking murals, look to the Valley? And then so we actually worked with the Southern Arizona Arts and Culture Alliance, and they say the world is small. And so the executive director has actually been a visitor of Fountain Hills for over 40 years because her aunt and uncle reside here. And then, I won't give lots of details just what she gave me authorization for. But one of her relatives is a pastor in one of our local churches. And so she's been working for over ten years, her organization, in Phoenix Valley and have commissioned over 50 murals. And my first day walking along The Avenue, our business had said we don't like looking at these ugly white utility boxes. And so we made some magic work. And I'II say through Page 13 of 74 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS DECEMBER 19, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES social media, just personal interactions with the businesses, they love it. It's gorgeous. We'II continue to do that. And thank you for council support. And then, let's get ready. We're going to roll -up our sleeves in January, so just a few weeks away. And we are going to update our downtown strategy. Again, just to remind folks, that will be handled internally. But you approved, at the beginning of the month, some monies to help us with some landscape architecting. We don't have anyone that does that on staff. And also looking at forecasting of, okay, if we add a little bit of industrial or an overlay district, what does that look like? We've had some constituents say, well, what if we got rid of everything and turned everything into apartments? We're not going to want to do that. But again, to be able to show some forecasting of data driven decisions. And so stay tuned, we'll be rolling out what those stakeholder meetings will look like. Apartment occupancy rates. Again, beating a dead horse here. You can see that we're over 90 percent occupancy. It's a supply -demand issue. When you're in that 90-plus percentile, people who want to move here cannot move here because there's not options. There's either one option, two option, not a lot of availability. Over the last couple of weeks, there's been a lot of inquiry into how many apartments do we have? How many are in the pipeline. And so letting council and the public know that staff is working on that, looking at land uses, again, pipeline. And some of the pipeline finding out that, yes, council may have approved that, but where are they at in the development process? Have they even reached the building permit process? And then to know some of them are five units and we'll go back to Gunsight that has nine. After they received their certificate of occupancy, a CFO, within two months full. There is a demand. And so we'll provide more information and see to how we want to articulate that with the public. MAYOR DICKEY: Amanda, the Four Peaks one. So those are condos, and I know that there's been some -- an entity buying them up and I think trying to change them all into apartments. But there are still people that want to stay there and own. So does that 80 percent, is that reflecting of the units that are for rent? Because it's kind of in flux. Page 14 of 74 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS DECEMBER 19, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES JACOBS: So Madam Mayor, that is correct. So thank you, because usually I point that out. So with this one, it's always 80 percent. It could be a little bit lower because some have been purchased and some are for rent. And then so we'll investigate further what you're also mentioning of either converting, converting more; we can research that. That I'm not familiar with. MAYOR DICKEY: Okay. I'll talk to you about it because it's something that some people don't -- that are there. Well, we'll talk about it. Thanks. JACOBS: You're welcome. And then vacancy rate existing buildings. So I ask you to look at the first vacancy rate column. Again, it looks like the little keynotes below got messed up. But so again, this is using CoStar software just for transparency, that this is what it is demonstrating to us. That we only have 14.4 for office, 7.1 for retail. That is not true. And so we continue to struggle. Some of our commercial brokers are not letting us know about vacancies. Which again, as staff, it's a struggle. Because one, we're having to go, which is a little bit of a waste of time. And then two, over the last couple of months, we're having people contact us, developers or tenants of developers saying that they're interested. And so we're wanting to be able to quickly say this is the perfect match. But we don't have that. So we're having to do our own due diligence. So I won't go through the first quarter. We'll just skip to the second quarter. And so comparing, again, the manual and what is being populated. So office has reduced to 26.7. Industrial has increased a little bit. So again, off of laser and technology, some spaces have popped up; it's at 11.8 percent. And then retail, just a small decrease of 19.3. But again, that is the explanation for that table. MAYOR DICKEY: Sorry. When this CoStar, is that who determines other cities and towns? Like if we wanted too -- because I know that we were similar -- though office was a little bit off but were similar to the vacancies that occur in other cities and towns. If they use CoStar, then we would really be in line with them, correct? JACOBS: So Madam Mayor, yes. So they poll in all cities, towns. They poll nationally. So we can look and compare ourselves against Chandler, Phoenix, and some of it we may, once we do the math and the numbers, were in a little bit of alignment. Page 15 of 74 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS DECEMBER 19, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES MAYOR DICKEY: Okay. Thank you. JACOBS: You're welcome. All right. Update on grant funding. We are on track for the AOT Prop 302. That's a little over 60 grand. The AOT, Arizona Office of Tourism visit Arizona initiative round two, that is complete. So we had applied last year for $230,000. We were able to use all of that. We are waiting to be reimbursed by the state. In the summer we were told that Governor Hobbs was going to continue this program that was started by Governor Ducey. We were informed a couple of weeks ago that unfortunately, they will not be continuing it. They feel like there's other things in the state that need monies and need more recovery versus the tourism. And so this again, too, kind of points out what I said in November from an economic development standpoint, to not continue to rely on grant funding. That if we want to market our town, let's invest in it. And again, I told you July 1 last year for economic development, I had a zero budget. But thank you, we at least got 15. We were able to reinstate that. But I will be asking for more and I warned you of that in November. And so Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation, we applied. Unfortunately, we did not receive any funding. And then Salt River Pima Maricopa Indian Community, we did receive 50,000. Traditionally, we've been receiving 30K. And again, it's like it doesn't hurt to ask for a little bit more. So we ask for 50K. Received that and a 100 percent of that will go towards the music fest. Marketing. So our marketing is hitting to business retention. It's going to help with attraction. But I told you last year we started a blog feature on the Experience Fountain Hills website and again we've been contracting with Clasen Communications. Debbie Clasen is assisting us with that and we'll continue to monitor. We also needed fresh content when it came to photos, and our businesses are loving that. They're like, we haven't seen economic development or community relations and you're coming in and taking pictures and what are you doing with that? And so sharing that, that's on our economic development website, the Experience website; it will be on social media. And then, again, in the CEDS, community economic development strategy, we need a more robust economic development marketing brochure. We've done print media in Page 16 of 74 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS DECEMBER 19, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Experience AZ, Phoenix Magazine. And again, too, we've been able to go in and we're working with DayLite Films, another local business, Andrew Day. So going in and it's, hey, we have live music, why aren't we promoting that? So going into our various restaurants and putting together a full solid piece. We've got shopping, we've got boutique shopping. So compiling all that into one and being able to push that message out. Partnerships, there are a ton. But as always, we'll only highlight a couple. But want to highlight Fountain Hills Dark Sky Discovery Center. They were able to announce that in the beginning of the year -- summer, March, April, that they will be breaking ground on the Dark Sky Discovery Center and super excited. I know the whole community is excited about that. And then, myself, the mayor, vice mayor, at times get to monthly meet with the Greater Phoenix Economic council as directors or mayors and supervisors. And again, a lot of the stuff we're reporting, what is nice. It's consistent with what they're seeing regionally and nationally. They were able to attract about five companies to the state. And what was fascinating -- I had shared with the mayor and vice mayor is it was over 20,000 square feet all the way to 300,000 square feet. And obviously, 300,000 square feet is not going in Fountain Hills. So trying to be competitive with the market. And then the average salary that they're seeing is below 70,000. And then they are also really puzzled that we haven't started really returning when it comes to the office. That talking to health care or call centers, if there's that large component of customer service, that it's been a benefit for employees, it helps recruit employees. And so a lot of those positions are remaining remote. So just wanted to share that. I think we have two more slides. Thanks for hanging in. So tourism, we remain at 63.8. You'll see our work is really paying off, when you look at the social media and the Experience Fountain Hills website increase. We started adding -- my last update, looking at the live feed. So people are watching us, watching the fountain. And then, again, thanks to the businesses supporting and our AOT Prop 302 funding, we're able to get that 100 percent paid for. So our visitors' guide was actually put out a couple of Page 17 of 74 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS DECEMBER 19, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES weeks ago. So again, to really get in time to have our winter visitors. And then something new we're going to start reporting on. Instead of just the top five that are looking at our website. We've broken that into the top five for AZ, and the top five nationally. So that is a benefit for tourism. But also looking -- so again, with the downtown -- or if you look at the bio convention, sometimes that is in San Diego. And so again, can it not just be tourism or not just attending a conference but also talking to businesses to recruit them? So if we're already going to be there for three to five days, let's look at the conference schedule. What can we wiggle in there? Or talk to Manager Goodwin and say I need an extra day because we're trying to recruit people to Fountain Hills? So again, the data is powerful. With that, Madam Mayor -- and then before I forget, happy holidays. Merry Christmas. Happy Hanukkah. What questions can I answer? FRIEDEL: Thank you, Mayor. You mentioned CoStar, and that's our data analyst. And I would be careful comparing us to Chandler because I think they have like ten times the population and they have 2,700 brick and mortar businesses. That wouldn't really stack up with us I don't think. So when we're using that as a comparison, we're able to drill down and get cities more along our line, right? JACOBS: That is correct. So Madam Mayor, councilmember, I just threw that out of just different cities. But yeah, we try to do a little bit of apples to apples. FRIEDEL: Thank you. JACOBS: You're welcome. MAYOR DICKEY: Councilwoman? KALIVIANAKIS: Thank you, Ms. Mayor. Thank you for your report. JACOBS: You're welcome. KALIVIANAKIS: When it comes to tourism, I know that Adero has been in the news lately. Is there anything you can fill us in on, or have you been in touch with the people up there and what's going on? JACOBS: So Madam Mayor, Councilmember Kalivianakis, I have not at this time. So there's nothing I can report on that. Page 18 of 74 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS DECEMBER 19, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES MAYOR DICKEY: All right. Thank you so much. JACOBS: Thank you. MAYOR DICKEY: We appreciate it. Thanks for answering the questions all along. JACOBS: You're very welcome. MAYOR DICKEY: All right. Our next item is call to the public. Do we have speaker cards, Linda? MENDENHALL: Yes, Mayor, we do. But I also want to let you know that I received many online written comments regarding the development at the Four Peaks Plaza. And I just want to let you know you don't have those in your packet but when the item officially comes to the agenda, I will retain those and hand them to you. So if you're watching and you submitted a comment, council will see it at the time that it's on the agenda. If it makes it to the agenda. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. MENDENHALL: All right. So we do have about 15 cards, if I counted correctly. And first, we'll start with Pam Cap. And on deck is Phil Sveum. Hopefully I said your name correctly. CAP: Did not bring my book this time, so I promise I won't turn anything on. Good evening, Madam Mayor, councilmembers. My name is Pam Cap. I've resided here in Fountain Hills now for eight years. Fountain Hills needs affordable housing and it needs an identity that is not restrictive or only for rich white folks. According to several articles published on the Arizona Builders Exchange, Fountain Hills has a reputation as being one of the most difficult communities for commercial businesses to build in. How does this help us? Our economic development director, Amanda Jacobs, and her team are doing an outstanding job identifying development possibilities. She has presented this council with recommendations that will increase revenues for our town. One of them is affordable housing. This has the potential of bringing people closer to jobs here in Fountain Hills. Remember all those folks complaining about restaurants being closed because of staff shortages? This could be one solution to that problem. This will put Page 19 of 74 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS DECEMBER 19, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES more butts in the seats, as our economic director has said in the past. And it will also keep our Target here. Losing Target decreases 100 percent of the revenue we receive from them. How does that help our community's improvement budgets? Infrastructure will suffer even more. This plan will increase revenues by $500,000. That can fix some roads. That will help Fountain Hills. This council receives recommendations and advice from our attorneys, some of which have fallen on deaf ears. This council has received recommendations from citizen advisory boards regarding environment and road conditions. The majority of this council refused to listen. Currently, one councilmember is openly campaigning against Target on his X account regularly because he fears rainbows and gay people. How does that help our community when we have a Target and gay people? It's time this council majority starts listening to the people who have factual information instead of listening to the fearmongers who believe only bad people will move into our community and the Villages at Four Peaks. Several councilmembers ran on platforms that included commercial growth and economic development. I'm asking that you actually fulfill those promises. Please support the Villages of Four Peaks for Fountain Hills. Thank you. From my family to yours, we wish you a very happy holidays and a healthy 2024. Thank you. SVEUM: Good evening. My name is Phil Sveum. I've owned property in Fountain Hills off and on since 2006. My wife and I became permanent residents a little over a year ago. I watched the planning commission meeting regarding the Target development; all four hours. It was interesting. I think the project -- I agree with everything that the previous speaker talked about with development, bringing more people into the community. But specifically, the logistics of this -- of what Sandor is planning to do is very intriguing. I have had personal experience with wraparound apartment buildings. I was introduced to it as a Texas Donut or a Dallas Donut when I first saw it. It's very efficient. The density is part of what you have with it, so there is less footprint of property. I think it very much is environmentally friendly. Obviously, the density issue is part of the biggest tug of war with this. However, there's tradeoffs. And you have Page20of74 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS DECEMBER 19, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES someone of this caliber that has a 65 percent vacancy in their Target center but is also willing to put their money where their mouth is with a parking deck rather than a spread out parking lot. I think that's a major advantage to this property. Target is going to benefit. Streets of New York is going to benefit. All the other -- they'll be able to attract other retailers because retailers use trade rings. They want to have make sure that there's people that are within walking distance or at least a very short driving distance. So I think it's maybe that -- and I hope that between now and when it comes in front of you officially, that you will look further into the advantages of this type of architecture. It's not just the pretty elevations, which it is. It's a very good looking architectural building. But if there's reasons for this parking deck and it will play major advantages for the tenants there that are not walking from their car in 110 degrees across the parking lot into the building. They'll drive up the ramp inside this building, get out on floor 2, go to their apartment at 204. It's an advantage from a marketing standpoint and from an environmental standpoint. And I also noted that they were planning to pursue some LEED certification, which is another advantage. So anyway, thank you very much. MENDENHALL: Next we have Beth Culp. And on deck Art Tolis. CULP: Good evening. I have a prop. I have actually two props. There she is. Vanna White. Hi, my name is Beth Culp and I've been a resident of Fountain Hills for six years. The code of ethics obligates every member of this body to safeguard public confidence by being fair, caring, honest, and respectful. The code also obligates every member of this body to avoid derogatory language and to refrain from making disparaging remarks. Since taking office, Councilmember Skillicorn has repeatedly used derogatory and disparaging language in referring to members of the transgender community by posting and reposting content, referring to them as pedophiles, groomers, and trannies. He has repeatedly exhibited his disrespect. Crime statistics establish that transgender people are at risk. Murders of transgender Page 21 of 74 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS DECEMBER 19, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES people have more than doubled in the past few years. It is unthinkable to me that an elected official would deliberately target this vulnerable group. A group that includes not only his constituents, but also people he actually knows. Last month, Mr. Skillicorn posted a link to an animation titled, "Matt Walsh Thanksgiving". The annotation is intended to serve as an allegory. It's Thanksgiving and a turkey is attempted (sic) to avoid being killed and eaten by disguising itself as a human. The disguised turkey is seated at the table with seven bearded white men when the host of the event, Matt, announces that the celebration must be canceled because the turkey cannot be found. As the guests express their disappointment, Matt stares at the disguised turkey and says, I can't help but feel a sneaking suspicion that you might be a turkey. The turkey insists that it is a human being and not a turkey. Matt asks, so what is a turkey? The turkey responds, a turkey is anyone who identifies as a turkey. Matt then asks, does a turkey have a pecker? The turkey, now clearly agitated, says, I don't understand why you're so fixated with biology. And goes on to state, not every turkey is assigned turkey at birth. MAYOR DICKEY: (Indiscernible). CULP: All right. Well, I'm just going to finish by saying I would appreciate it if you would all view this and then consider doing your own ethics investigation and determine whether or not Mr. Skillicorn should be sanctioned. Thank you. Oh, and I will post the ending prop that I had, which shows that murdered turkey. MENDENHALL: Art Tolis. TOLIS: Good evening, Mayor, council. Art Tolis, Fountain Hills. Do I state my -- I don't state my address. No? MAYOR DICKEY: No. TOLIS: No. I didn't think so. I'm here to speak to you in regards to the Four Peaks project and my support of this. I painfully listened to four -plus hours of the P&Z meeting online. And I understand a lot of the controversy, a lot of concerns. I see both sides in regards to what we want for this community or what the constituents would like to see in this community. But I would tell you, every project when I was on the council Page 22 of 74 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS DECEMBER 19, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES had controversy. Every one of them. And I can go down the list. But even before me, thinking back to the Four Peaks apartments, when Mayor Jerry Miles was the mayor. That was incredibly controversial and it ultimately was built and became successful and provided housing. And ultimately, created more vitality within that Safeway area. If you look at the Pillar project that is now Pillar; was previously a different name. That's provided housing and there was controversy there. I remember sitting on that council and one of the councilmembers concerned about the parking. Same conversation that's really happening right now with the Four Peaks. And I said at the meeting -- I have to go back to the meeting and say exactly what I said. But the controversy, it wasn't about the parking, it was about killing the project. And anything that could have come up that could have, maybe, gained some teeth to it, was continuously brought up. So either you're for development or in this case you're not. And in this particular case, I've seen the plans. I saw the design. I walked the property. I've talked to the owners of buildings down there, the owners of businesses. I believe that if the information is correct, there's likely going to be a freestanding Starbucks down there at some point after, potentially, this is built or even maybe simultaneously. Okay. Don't quote me. But these are things that I'm hearing and that would be adjacent to the Bank of America building, is what I'm hearing. Okay? So there's a lot of improvements to that project. And I think that ultimately it would be incredibly successful. I don't like to hear the debate about we need affordable housing or -- we need housing. We need people that can choose to live in an apartment complex similar to this and the pricing of these apartment complex. It goes back to the same argument that we had with the downtown. And the downtown as to the affordability and bringing people to the downtown. This downtown is more vibrant now because of the development that's happened over the last ten years than it would have ever been. And hopefully we're going to continue to finish this out in the downtown area as well. So I would encourage you to make sure it gets on the agenda, to openly discuss this and debate it as a council and take into consideration how our town is funded and where Page 23 of 74 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS DECEMBER 19, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES the growth of this community needs to be. That area for the apartments is perfect, and the complex, and the developer. I think it's a win -win for the community. So I encourage you to move forward, put it on the council and pass this. Thank you. MENDENHALL: Next we have Clayton Corey. And on deck, Crystal Cavanaugh. COREY: Hello, councilmembers. Thank you for the opportunity to address you today. My name is Clayton Corey and I've been a Fountain Hills resident for the past eight years, and I have witnessed our town's growth and evolution. And today I'm also here to advocate for the Villages at Four Peaks, a pivotal project that I believe is not just a development, but an opportunity to realize the vision for our general plan. The development, strategically located on Shea, embodies our plan's emphasis on revitalizing the Shea corridor. Its mixed use design aligns with our community's goal of promoting diverse, walkable neighborhoods, bridging the gap between residential and commercial. The Village at Four Peaks is more than just a construction project, it's an example of our town's commitment to thoughtful, progressive urban planning. By introducing a mix of residential and commercial spaces it directly supports goal 3 of our economic development plan, attracting families and younger professionals to our community, thus enriching our social and economic fabric. And furthermore, the development's innovative parking, as we heard a moment ago, is an environmental considerations' reflection of our town's dedication to sustainable growth as outlined in our natural resources and open spaces policy. These features demonstrate a commitment to maintaining the character and beauty of Fountain Hills while accommodating modern needs. And the support from our local business community, as we may hear, is not just a vote of confidence in the project's economic potential, but a recognition of its alignment with our town's vision of a vibrant, economically diverse community. By boosting local commerce and creating new opportunities, the Village at Four Peaks is poised to be a catalyst for economic growth in line with our general plan's goal of long-term financial stability. So I respectfully urge you, when this does come to you in January, to approve the project and embrace the positive transformation it represents for Fountain Hills. Page24of74 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS DECEMBER 19, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Thanks. CAVANAUGH: Good evening. Fountain Hills resident Crystal Cavanaugh. The magnitude of this upcoming rezone request goes well beyond our highest R-5 zoning density by about 100 units, while at the same time being short on the required parking spaces. The 316 units starting at 760 square feet will likely be rented by retirees and part-time residents. Why would the Chamber of Commerce and the economic development team so quickly get behind such a high density project that won't feed the schools with children and likely not help local businesses by being so close to Scottsdale? And the public is only recently hearing of the project details, even though the development staff and the Chamber have been meeting with the developer for months. We need transparency on this. Adding such a high density project can negatively impact our community resources without offering significant benefits at times. Has our economic development or our Chamber gotten assistance in reaching out to existing corporate entities who may wish to relocate to this location? Adding a high -paying corporation would be valuable and may be of interest to the developer, too. It's a good location for that, with easy access to the 101 and the 202, and an international airport. And we could do rezoning for that just as they're asking for this. How is it that our economic development director used words like, "workforce housing" and "diverse housing" in her description, but then the developer presented these units as luxury. Understandably, the developer would need a certain price point to make money, and that's not the affordable housing market. I do not fault the developer in any way for wanting this to go through, but to get a rezone of this magnitude, we need it to be a fit for the community. Selective development is important. This would likely be more easily accepted if it was a smaller luxury condominium project, for example. And it was offensive that the Chamber equated high -density apartments to vibrancy while mischaracterizing those of us who have serious questions about this project as simply, quote -unquote, "opposing everything". Such high density projects significantly Page 25 of 74 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS DECEMBER 19, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES change the small town environment, which was precisely why many residents chose to purchase here in the first place. Many residents were disappointed when our own economic development director didn't seem to understand our community when she sent out that AZBEX article citing a legacy of difficulty in Fountain Hills. So I urge you to please take the time needed to get our questions thoroughly answered and find the right fit for Fountain Hills when this comes to the agenda. Thank you. MENDENHALL: Next we have Betsy LaVoie. And on deck, Pamela Curtis (ph.). LAVOIE: Good evening, Mayor, council, staff. As a 45-year resident and the CEO and president of the Fountain Hills Chamber of Commerce, I often emphasize my deep connection to this community. However, tonight I'd like to shed light on the broader pro -Fountain Hills engagement story that goes beyond my personal background. The Fountain Hills Chamber of Commerce holds a significant position as the 17th largest advocacy organization in Arizona despite our town not ranking as the 17th largest in the State. Additionally, I serve as the managing director of the Fountain Hills Chamber Foundation, sitting on the boards of directors for both nonprofits as well as plat 208. Furthermore, I'm part of the executive team for all three boards. My commitment extends to family roots as well, with my children being fourth generation Fountain Hills residents. Our family's involvement spans businesses, volunteer work, and ongoing service to this community. The Chamber of Commerce's Board of Directors comprises individuals who share similar deep roots and are key stakeholders in our town. Tonight, I stand before you in strong support of the Four Peaks Plaza rezoning and encourage you to put it on the agenda for January 17th, if it's not. Having attended the P&Z meeting, I've noted opposition stemming from fear and a perceived lack of abundance for our town. It is perplexing to witness the repetition of questions and false statements that have already been addressed and clarified. One prevalent point of contention revolves around safety concerns, particularly the need for additional fire safety equipment. However, our very own fire chief Ott, confirmed at the P&Z meeting that no further equipment is needed or required, dispelling this as a nonissue. Page 26 of 74 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS DECEMBER 19, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Another point raised is the apprehension regarding traffic and parking. This has also been clarified as a nonissue with the reassurance that traffic at full residential capacity would be less than the current scenario at full commercial capacity. Additionally, there is misinformation circulating about the developer seeking a zoning change to develop and convert the entire plaza into thousands of apartments. This is inaccurate as the new PAD or planned area development is required to bring this plaza with the town's current zoning standards. There are no use changes for the commercial. PUD commercial will then be PAD commercial. That's it. And the only area that will be allowed use change is the 6.7 acres for the apartments and that will be a PAD residential, and that's the only area with a use change. A misconception has arisen about density, which I found somewhat baffling. This was an argument against Park Place. However, have you seen swarms of people flooding the streets, causing a problem? There was also a question about rental rates. We all know that rental rates will be at fair market value at time of completion. End of story. In conclusion, I urge the town council to consider the facts and the merits of the Four Peaks Plaza rezoning with an opportunity to redevelop the plaza on our main artery, which will contribute positively to the economy and prosperity of Fountain Hills. And I thank you for your time and thoughtful consideration. CURTIS: Good evening, Mayor and councilmembers. I've been a resident here for 29 years and I painfully attended the P&Z meeting as well. The developer purchased this property, seeing the empty storefronts and the empty freestanding buildings. And because they didn't put the work in to draw in and secure retail businesses, they want to revitalize this area, this commercial area, by tearing half of it down. How does tearing down half of this commercial area draw in commercial businesses? Regardless, they want to rezone for apartments. However, they didn't even prepare properly for this proposal. They're requesting a rezoning that does not allow for 316 apartments, but for closer to 220. They're proposing 100 less parking spots than are required for the number of apartments that are proposed. They haven't allowed for required setbacks along Technology Drive, and they're proposing heights way above Page 27 of 74 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS DECEMBER 19, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES what is currently there and approved, not just for the apartments but for new signage. They wish to almost double the size of the sign at Shea and Center, making it, if not the same height as the traffic lights that are there, but maybe even higher. The reasoning being that you cannot see the one at the center -- at Center and Shea. There is one large tree on that opposite corner that partially blocks the view of the sign as you drive up to the intersection. That tree can be trimmed or relocated. There is no need for a humongous well -lit sign when the storefronts themselves shine brightly with large red or green lettering. And when people use Google Maps or other apps on their phones or in their cars to locate a store, should they not know exactly where it is? There is a sign at Technology that lets you know the center is there as well. Another like it, I would not be opposed to at the other end of the center near the old Blockbuster or Verizon store structures. What we need here are high quality, good paying jobs that will attract young people and families that can purchase homes here and stay for decades like we did. The apartments proposed will not do that, especially when only 15 are proposed to be three -bedroom and the others mainly one -bedroom and a slightly less amount of two bedroom. Also, there are not family -friendly parks or schools within walking distance here, just a large parking lot and a main thoroughfare. We also do not need 300 to 500 more cars emptying onto Shea each and every day there. When people shop, it's at various times during the day. But people go to work and to school pretty much at the same times each day, adding to the traffic situation on an already increasing thoroughfare there and close to a very busy intersection at Shea and Saguaro Boulevards. This proposal just isn't the right solution. Sandor should think of lowering the rents and going out and enticing businesses to come to Fountain Hills or bring a corporate headquarters there that would adhere to the current height and lighting codes and restrictions; or a nice corporate center. We claim to be a Dark Sky community, but do we say except for over there? I'm also wondering. Oh, sorry. Thank you for listening. Page 28 of 74 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS DECEMBER 19, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES MENDENHALL: Next, we have Barbara Sudderth. Are you still here? Okay. And then on deck is Barry Wolborsky. SUDDERTH: Good evening, Madam Mayor and council. My name is Barbara Sudderth, and I've lived in Fountain Hills for nearly 30 years. I also have spent today listening to the four-hour P&Z meeting because I wanted to know what their concerns were. And I realized that you're not going to address this project tonight and that it's going to be in January. But I just wanted to make my comments now. I want to congratulate the town, first of all, and the economic development manager for bringing options to us. And I think that that's something that we need to look for. We know that nationally we have a housing shortage, and that's true in our little town, too. We need to have places where people can live. You're not going to have a Google if you can't provide the people housing to live nearby. And we're all familiar with the supply and demand of our econ 101. But if we have a low inventory, we're going to have high prices. So if we would generate the inventory, that could reduce the prices. Now, personally, for myself and maybe for you, I don't particularly want to live in a mixed use high rise, but that's addressing a different generation. And those younger people seem to like that kind of mixed use housing. So we need to have something for everyone and we don't have that now. We need to have housing -- we've talked about this for years -- for single teachers, nurses, young professionals, and sometimes even our children or our grandchildren might want to move to live near us. But if they don't have the down payment for a single-family home, where else are they going to live? This would be a new option for them. Personally, I'll just tell you a story. I got back from a high school reunion, and the town -- that suburb that I grew up in, was created about 80 years ago. And. I was surprised that a lot of my classmates stayed in town. Their children stayed in town. Now they have grandchildren in town, but they have lower cost housing there because some of the housing is 70, 80, 60 years old. So they can start -- and our town, obviously, isn't that old so we don't have lower cost housing. Page 29 of 74 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS DECEMBER 19, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES I would like to encourage the economic developer and the town to start looking at answers and answering questions of people's concerns. I'm positive -- I'm a positive spokesperson for this this project. I'm sorry I didn't get to finish all my points. MAYOR DICKEY: That's fine. B. WOLBORSKY: I'm Barry Wolborsky and I'm out of step because I'm not going to talk about the development at all. I'm the statistics man, and I have a problem with the economic development update. My rule for statistic is and always has been, if it seems unbelievable, probably is. First, the vacancy statistics do not state what they're measuring. Are we measuring vacant buildings, offices, and storefronts? Are we measuring square feet of vacant property? I don't know. I think it's much more important to measure square feet because a little tiny office that's vacant is not the same thing as a huge building that's vacant. But I'm not getting that information from the presentation. Also, I have a problem with the tourist statistics and I may have misunderstood this because it wasn't very clear. But what I think was presented was that we're number four in terms of getting response online in the State of Arizona. What I didn't see there was the Grand Canyon. And I guess we're more than they are. I didn't see Sedona. I didn't see Tucson. I didn't see Flagstaff. I have problems with this data. And I say based on these issues, I don't have much faith in that report. Thank you. MENDENHALL: Next we have Mel Carr. And on deck, Stephen Gay. CARR: Good evening, Madam Mayor and council. My name is Mel Carr. I own an executive virtual assistant company which is a 100 percent woman led U.S. based. So with that said, earlier this year, I was looking to move to Fountain Hills to have a new home, and where I work from home. I came to Fountain Hills only to find that there were limited options available, and the options that were available were a little bit older. So I work from home, I want my home to be nice and modern or have all the options and benefits that I can have in -- say in Scottsdale. So with that said, there was nothing for me to choose from in Fountain Hills. I paid more in Scottsdale to get what I wanted. So with that said, I do have a number of clients Page 30of74 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS DECEMBER 19, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES here that -- we support them so that their company can grow and add to the community. I love supporting community. I love being local and I'm a proud member of the Chamber of Commerce. So that's why I come to support this Four Peaks project. And I look forward to someday being able to call Fountain Hills my home. Thank you very much. GAY: Good evening. My name is Stephen Gay. And wow, what amazing talks we've had by people commenting tonight. This will be my last time at the lectern for a while. I've had a home in Sonoma County, about an hour north of San Francisco for ten years now. I have family close by and they have made increasingly loud but still mostly civil requests that I go ahead and make the move back there. I'm sorry. Excuse me. Sorry about that. I intend to keep my home in Fountain Hills and hope as a property owner, I can still fill out comment cards, participate in call to the public when I am in town and write the occasional letter to the editor. I'd like to commend everyone, on and off the dais, who worked so hard to keep our town running, especially Capt. Kratzer back there who remains standing the entire evening at every meeting. God bless that man. And let's not forget Bob Burns of the Fountain Hills Times Independent who sits inconspicuously at his desk, accurately reporting on the driest subject matter every two weeks while also keeping our town officials and employees accountable. I appreciate the civility found in these chambers and for twice having been afforded the privilege of giving the invocation. Outside of these chambers, the discourse is a lot more lively with a national political figure telling his cheering audiences that progressives like me are not very good citizens, adding that we are indeed vermin living among you. Oh, great. Now Fountain Hills has a vermin problem. What's that going to cost us? Speaking of citizenship, 53 years ago in 1970, an elementary school student wrote Peanuts creator and fellow Sonoma County resident Charles Schulz and asked him what makes a good citizen? Here is what Charles Schulz, the creator of Peanuts, wrote back. "Dear Joel, I think it's more difficult these days to define what makes a good citizen than Page 31 of 74 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS DECEMBER 19, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES it has ever been before. Certainly, all any of us can do is follow our own conscience and retain faith in our democracy. Sometimes it is the very people who cry out the loudest in favor of getting back to what they call American virtues who lack this faith in our country. I believe that our greatest strength lies always in the protection of our smallest minorities". Well, that's the letter. If you ask me, it's a great definition worthy of consideration by all of us. Thank you. MENDENHALL: Next we have Cindy Couture and on deck Scott Schlossberg. COUTURE: Hello, Madam Mayor and councilmembers. I'm Cindy Couture and everything I was going to say has been said. So I'm just going to say I'm totally in support of the plaza at Target. I don't want to lose Target. I go there probably once a week. I'm hearing they're having trouble. And then I'm hearing that all these people in Fountain Hills are saying empty buildings. Amanda Jacobs, you've got to take care of those empty buildings. Well, she figured out a way and for some reason the P&Z people decided to vote against that way. And so I'm urging you guys to remember things like, I was in this very room when we had a big fight about having a single garbage hauler and people were crying and moaning and screaming about having a single garbage hauler. It would take away their American rights. And my God, we've had one now for years and it's been wonderful. So we kind of have a lot of curmudgeons who are against change in Fountain Hills. I think they're a loud minority. I think if you had a vote, the majority would be build these apartments. Thank you. SCHLOSSBERG: Mayor, council. Scott Schlossberg. I can proudly say now this is my tenth year. I'm a ten-year resident in Fountain Hills. I'm raising my family here. I have a local business in town which actually happens to be located right across the street from this project, so I'm very familiar with it. I'm also a commissioner on the planning and zoning commission, and I'm a board member of the Fountain Hills Chamber. So I don't know what to say. Thankfully, or after hearing about the four-hour craziness that went on; I missed the meeting on Monday, and I'd say I'm sad that I missed the meeting. But after I know now that it was four hours and all that, maybe I'm not that sad. But I Page 32 of 74 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS DECEMBER 19, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES wasn't able to cast my vote and I wasn't able to attend via phone because I wasn't able to attend via phone. So I know you guys -- basically, with planning and zoning, we send you a recommendation and that's all we do. And then you guys deliberate and you decide whether you want to take our recommendation. And sometimes you decide you don't like our recommendation. And sometimes that irritates me as a commissioner that spent a lot of time. However, in this particular case because I wasn't part of the vote and I wasn't part of the deliberation, on my side, I'm hoping that you guys will choose to ignore the recommendation that was sent to you and hear the project and hopefully vote in favor of the project. It's a great project and I'm not going to talk about whether the ladder can reach the top -- the fire ladder can reach the top of the building. I want to talk about the big picture. And I said I'm aware of the big picture because I work there, I'm there every day. I'm in a building across the street that's probably 30 percent occupied. And then, obviously, the plaza across the street, we know what's there. So I think the end result will be pretty amazing. And when I got my packet for planning and zoning, the first thing I said was, man, I love this project. And that was the one thing I said, again, without looking into anything else. And honestly, I liken this project to the one, if you're familiar, at Raintree and the 101 in the Walmart parking lot. And I remember when they started building, I was like, what in the world are they building there? And it turned out they're building this huge apartment complex there in that area where there was anchors that were -- so Sam's Club was there. They pulled out. There were all kinds of other anchors that were there that pulled out. However, not saying it's the result of the apartment complex, but that apartment complex moved in there and is now full. And it seems to be revitalizing that whole area. There's new businesses coming in there every day. So it's kind of a cool little thing that I've seen happen there. Another comment. My staff -- some of my staff drive from Mesa every day, and it's painful for them to drive from Mesa and especially with the bridge closed. Boy, wouldn't they like to have a place right across the street where they could have like a Page33of74 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS DECEMBER 19, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES 30-second commute to my office? So finally, I'm going to leave you with this, that I hope you will take the planning and zoning commission's recommendation and turn it into an approval. Perfect. Thank you. MENDENHALL: Next, we have Gene Slechta. And on deck, Ed Stizza. SLECHTA: My name is Gene Slechta. I've been here 28 years and I'm still alive. Thank you, Mayor, council. Happy holidays to everyone. First of all, I want to acknowledge the great work our commissioners do serving our community. I recently watched the P&Z commission, the four hours that I keep hearing about, discuss the merits of the proposed Target Center redevelopment. Very impressive preparation done by all the commissioners. Most times they make the right decisions. Rarely do they make the wrong decision. As a former P&Z commissioner, I know that this time they made the wrong decision in recommending rejection of the proposal. Let's not blow this. You just heard from Amanda about we need affordable housing and apartments. We've seen a plan now to help save the Target center and maybe Fry's down the street. May be the last chance to save it from being an empty shell and on the most visible road through town. Our Target is the lowest producing Target in Arizona. I believe Fry's is there, too. As you know, the plan submitted was to build an apartment complex on the west end of the Target center at Technology Drive. It would add about 500 residents and could save or could produce about $500,000 in sales tax revenue. This location is attractive for its ease of access to employment centers in neighboring Scottsdale and Mesa and even Tempe. And it will bring year-round young professionals and families to live here. The Chamber supports the proposal. Why? Because it retains existing retail, creates new demand for services, adds dollars to our coffers, and brings younger residents to town. I've heard plenty about opposing views. Traffic. Are you kidding? Shea a six -lane road that can carry a whole lot more vehicles. And unlike many vehicles that are just passing through to get to the mountains, these residents could walk to Target center for Page 34 of 74 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS DECEMBER 19, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES groceries, restaurants and not even drive their car. An image. We don't like the types of people renters bring. Ask Amanda what she thinks. She's a renter. Finally, the Shea corridor is literally our front yard. Think about that. We've all heard, location, location, location. What would be the impact of an empty shell? The decaying center in our front yard. So I wanted to voice my concerns before this agendized in January. We must convey now to the developer that this community knows the value of this center and we are not closing the door before they walk out the door. Thank you. One more thing. In my five years in the town's P&Z -- sorry. Okay. Thank you. MAYOR DICKEY: (Indiscernible). STIZZA: Good evening, Madam Mayor. Good evening, town council. Good evening, staff. Good evening, Aaron, and good evening to all the residents of Fountain Hills. So happy holidays to everybody again. And I hope everybody's enjoying the season because this is the time to do that. So I wasn't going to speak on the actual the Target center development. But I, too, sat through planning and zoning and listened to every single word during the entire time. I didn't find it painful because it was a discussion and that's what needs to happen. We need to broaden the discussions. I don't care what the subject is because we just don't do enough of that. And rolling the dice on this, I want exact proof that you're going to need 700 apartments here. We don't even have a downtown built yet. What's going on with that? Nobody seems to know what's going on with that property. We have a fence sitting there that's surrounding that property that's been there for almost two years. And I'm going to have to explain to all the people that I have coming into town why it's still there and I don't have an answer for them. So that's one thing. Why don't we really look at how many apartments we need here? I respect and appreciate everybody's opinion and also all their experience and knowledge and everything else. But somebody please tell me exactly how many apartments we need to make Fountain Hills actually viable. Okay? So there's one thing that Fountain Hills was founded on, and that was high -end luxury Page3Sof74 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS DECEMBER 19, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES homes that had more views and a beautiful surrounding than any other place in the Valley, except maybe Cave Creek and a few others. And this apartment complex is a high -density unit or a complex and I don't want anybody to say anything more about affordable housing. You're not going to -- these developers are not going to make -- what's affordable housing? Somebody describe that to me. Please give me the demographics of affordable housing. Is that $500 a month? Is that a $1,000 a month? These guys are going to rent 700-square-foot apartments for over two grand. And somebody tell me that you can't prove that before you vote on this. You need better demographics, not just we need more apartments in Fountain Hills. And I hate to say it, but some residents have gotten up here and said, well, let's take this to a vote. Well, you know what? Take it to a vote. And I almost guarantee you that the vast majority or a majority in this town is not going to want their homes devaluated as far as with more apartments. So get the downtown built. Somebody please explain to the public what's going on down there, because I'm getting sick of answering questions. The other thing is the 5G. Would somebody please tell me why we are 600 days into the discussion and we have not moved it forward? Please explain. Thank you. MENDENHALL: Mayor, that's it for public comment. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you, Linda. Thank you all very much. We really appreciate it. And if it does come back in January, we'll be pleased to consider your comments. Next we have our consent agenda. Could I get a motion, please? GRZYBOWSKI: Move to approve. TOTH: Second. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. Could we get a roll call? MENDENHALL: Councilmember Toth? TOTH: Aye. MENDENHALL: Councilmember Friedel? FRIEDEL: Aye. MENDENHALL: Councilmember Skillicorn? Page 36 of 74 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS DECEMBER 19, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES 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 I think is going to be John. It's a public hearing. I can open it and John will give a presentation. We will discuss and take public comments if there are any. Thank you. WESLEY: Good evening, Mayor and council. Thank you for this opportunity to make this presentation to you this evening. We're going to be talking about another text amendment to our zoning ordinance. This time we're talking about changes to section 1.12 definitions and section 2.01. As the council is aware, we've been working on an update to all of chapter 2 of the zoning ordinance. Each of the sections deals with different procedures that we bring before you or use to process development applications. We have previously brought to you changes to section 2.02, which deals with special use permits, and section 2.04 with site plans. Tonight we'll be talking about section 2.01 again, which deals with rezoning of properties and changing the text within the zoning ordinance. And we're following it up in the months to come with the remaining sections, 2.03 and 2.07 of chapter 2 to bring them all up to date. As we worked on this particular update, it was noted that we were making the changes in the text of chapter 2 to change from the previous town organization, where we had a community development director, and changing that to the development services director that we currently have. And we thought it was time we probably go into the definition section and make that modification there, as well as several times in chapter 2 Page37of74 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS DECEMBER 19, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES we just refer to the director and so make it clear when we say "director", meaning the development services director. I'll note that if you look closely at this slide versus what's in your packet, I noticed one minor error that was made in the ordinance. In that last line, I had put the word "services" in the wrong place. If you look at your packet, it'll say "Services Development Director". And so I've corrected it here and so I'll have that in the ordinance itself too. So switch those words in the correct order. Moving then into section 2.01 of the zoning ordinance, which again deals with amendments to the ordinance itself as well as zone changes. What we're doing here is updating all this chapter so we get consistency in the organization of each of the sections. So if you're doing different processes, you can pretty logically find the different pieces of the process in each one. Updating the language in each section so we can be as consistent as possible. So when we talk about hearings and one and hearings in another that the language is the same. And then, updating it to follow the procedures that we actually use and also to be compliant with state statutes. So then, going through just an overview then of the main changes made to each of the subsections within the application submittal requirements. A couple of years ago we went to all electronic online submittals. And so we're reflecting that in the ordinance versus the paper copies. We are eliminating the option for the public to directly apply for an amendment to the zoning ordinance. We don't do that for any other part of the town code and it can create some challenges if we get applications for something that's particularly challenging to work on. It doesn't stop somebody from approaching staff about an issue, and we've done that on a number of occasions or for the planning and zoning commission of the council to recommend those changes. But have not seen that in any other code where you can make applications to amend the text of the zoning ordinance. We're proposing take that out. We're clarifying some of the parts of the tentative development plan that gets submitted with the rezoning. So that when we've got new builds, that we understand how they plan to use the property. It was noted in some review that we left out the Page 38 of 74 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS DECEMBER 19, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES words that the plan should be drawn to scale. And so we propose to add those words in if the council approves this in one of the sections there. And then also added under this section, the reference to the citizen participation plan requirement. There's a new section in this version that we've called "review". We've had the same section in the other ones that have come before you. It just gives a high level overview of the process that we go through with staff. Initial review of the application for completeness and then, our review of the proposal back and forth with the applicant until we have something that's ready to bring forward for hearing and then that review to council. The wording here is the same as the special use permit review process that you've already approved. The notice requirements. We've made some modifications here, and hopefully, it will make it more clear. There are some exceptions provided in the current ordinance. If you're modifying more than this percentage or Tess than that percentage, it kind of changes. In practice, we always do the three kinds of notification for every case. We're going to mail notice, we're going to post notice on the site, and we're going to post it in the paper. So rather than have the confusing language with different types for certain situations and have to figure out those situations, just provide the same notice for all types of rezones. And one change we are making there is to have the applicants post the property rather than staff have that responsibility. And then they document to us that they have done so and we just monitor to make sure that it stays there over time. The only notice requirement for a text amendment will be and has been, for it to be published in the paper. There is a provision in the code that if somebody wants to be on a mailing list so when we do text amendments they get notified. We provide for that in the ordinance. We haven't had such a list in the past. Maybe now that I'm talking about it, we'll get such a list in the future, but that is available also in the code. And then clarify that if a case is continued to a date specific, either at P&Z or council, then we don't have to do a new notice. Then the next section in the ordinance talks about the hearing process, provides an Page 39 of 74 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS DECEMBER 19, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES overview of the process for speakers, and also allows for the body conducting the hearing to conduct an investigation, if needed, as part of that process. And then requires for a summary or basically the minutes of the meeting to be provided. Written protest is another section that's unique in the rezoning. This is provided for in state statute and has been in our code. Several years ago the state modified its language with regard to what is used for what we commonly refer to as a legal protest. And so this is our opportunity now to amend our code to follow the state statute. It does provide that written protest needs to be filed with the town clerk no later than noon the day before the hearing so we have time to review it and do the calculations and see if the standards are met to trigger a higher percentage vote by council. The council can, however, set an earlier date if they feel there's a need to in a particular case to give us time to do that review. And then if we do have a legal protest, it would require six councilmembers to vote to approve a case versus just four. And then the section on action. We divided this out a little bit more clearly between the actions by P&Z and actions by council. The current ordinance allows P&Z to continue a case up to 60 days. We've extended that out to 90 days because we often find that 60 really doesn't work. By the time you communicate back and forth with an applicant, maybe you need to involve the public in that a little bit. We made that change, I believe, also in the special use permit requirement. Council may send a request back to P&Z for further study. Council cannot make changes to the zoning district boundaries without sending that back to P&Z. Currently the ordinance says P&Z has 15 days to act on that. That was kind of short, so we lengthened it to 30. The question's come up, is 30 even really enough time given when council meetings might be and when the following P&Z meeting might be? Should that maybe be something a little bit more than 30 days? So we're open to discussion of that if council has some desires. I think that should be a little bit longer. And then clarifies that if a time limit is placed on an approval that the zoning would automatically revert to what it was before. We still would have to come back through a public hearing process to make that change if, again, it isn't implemented during that time frame. Page40of74 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS DECEMBER 19, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES MAYOR DICKEY: Are you looking for something on that 30-day thing right now? WESLEY: If council -- yeah. If you'd like to right now. MAYOR DICKEY: So something like that, has it ever happened or is is it a rare thing? WESLEY: It's a very rare thing, Mayor. MAYOR DICKEY: So if 60 days solves that problem that you're talking about then -- and the fact that we never send stuff back like that, I mean. WESLEY: Mayor, it would help if we did that. And we've got 15 days today. We pushed it to 30 in the draft because we knew 15 didn't work. But we really need more -- MAYOR DICKEY: It's something we've seen -- sometimes when it's like, well, they just met, so then they're not going to meet for a month or that kind of thing. So I think since it hardly ever happens, it's okay with me if you want to make it more. Anybody else have any ideas? FRIEDEL: I think 60 is good too. WESLEY: Okay. We'll make that change. Thank you. And so there's the last couple of sections that are in the ordinance that really didn't change. Dealing with open space rezoning, which again, is something we really don't do much anymore. But we didn't change any of that. So in summary, P&Z had reviewed this and discussed it at their meeting last month, made one minor adjustment to the review process to make sure it stays consistent with our overall time frames. Staff and P&Z recommend approval. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. Since it's a hearing, I'll ask if we have any public comment cards? MENDENHALL: Mayor we only have one written comment from Rory Wilson, who is for the project. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. MENDENHALL: Or the -- MAYOR DICKEY: For the change. Yeah. Okay. Well, I will close the hearing and we can discuss and then we can vote. Let's see, Councilwoman? MCMAHON: Good evening, John. Thank you for addressing some of the questions that Page41of74 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS DECEMBER 19, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES I had. I appreciate that. But I would like to make a suggestion in the tentative development plan. Section 3, at the end of the first sentence, to add and include "drawn to scale for clarification" when you submit that. And also at 2G, I'd like to suggest that the language at the end of the paragraph includes, "further study of boundary changes and/or any proposed amendments". So that it covers both of them. Okay. Thank you. WESLEY: I see no problem with that. FRIEDEL: John, I had a quick question. So in here, 2.01.E for application, it says that change for boundaries shall be filed electronically on the town's website. Does that mean we won't take any applications in person from anybody? WESLEY: Mayor, councilmember. That's been the situation for the last couple of years when we went to the online application process. When we do have somebody trying to submit an application that has any challenges, staff works with them to help them through that process. If we really got to the point where they just couldn't do it, they could bring it to us and we could scan it in for them and help them create that. FRIEDEL: So do we want to change the wording to maybe highlight that? I would hate to turn anybody off that's not computer literate and couldn't deal with it. So could we add that as an option? WESLEY: Mayor, councilmember. Obviously, we can if the council would like to. We've already approved this exact same language in a couple of the other sections that have already come to you that have have this exact wording. It's the type of thing, I think, is really more of a process of procedure that doesn't really have to be in the ordinance for us to do it. FRIEDEL: I'm wondering if any other councilmembers have any comment on that. MAYOR DICKEY: Councilwoman? TOTH: Hi, Director. When we passed the last text amendment there, you said that language was already present, the "electronically". Would it require a council vote to add it to that section as well? WESLEY: To go back to the other sections and change -- Page 42 of 74 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS DECEMBER 19, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES TOTH: Just to say electronically or in person or something. Where if someone goes to look this up, they don't think that they have to go online because we do have a lot of older residents. And I can see the appeal for them knowing that that's an ability. WESLEY: So Mayor, councilmember. If you're asking about the two sections that have already been approved, it would take going back through a text amendment to put wording into those -- TOTH: It would? WESLEY: -- at this point. And they're already there. I guess, ultimately, it is going to become an electronic application where they file it directly or we file it for them, because that's our means for tracking and processing cases. TOTH: Okay. WESLEY: So it's always going to become electronic. TOTH: All right. I see what you mean. Thank you. MAYOR DICKEY: Is there a way, when -- whatever it is online, because I haven't actually looked through this. When they apply that you can just add a line, we will assist you or something? So because basically, if somebody comes in with something, they're already here, so they already know they would get it. But like Hannah was saying, if somebody looks online and goes, oops, I can't do it and doesn't even bother or something? Just something to kind of open the door, but it wouldn't make us have to go back and change all the other sections? WESLEY: Yes, Mayor, we can certainly do that. We have instructions online already. Numbers of people to call if they need any assistance, and we walk them through that already. We could add something else that says you can bring it in, we can help you that way. MAYOR DICKEY: Sounds good. Councilwoman? MCMAHON: I just want to reiterate that because I recall the last time we looked at these amendments and you explained the whole transformation to electronic applications. That it is online, that you offer assistance, and that people can come in if they have any questions, et cetera. And that you'll sit down and help them go through Page43of74 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS DECEMBER 19, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES the whole process. Right? Okay. Thank you very much. I appreciate that you do that. MAYOR DICKEY: Any other questions or comments? Okay. Somebody make a motion, please? MCMAHON: Move to adopt ordinance 2315. SKILLICORN: Second. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. Roll call, please? MENDENHALL: Councilmember Friedel? FRIEDEL: Aye. MENDENHALL: Councilmember Skillicorn? SKILLICORN: Yes. 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 so much. Our next item with our patient public art committee. We're going to talk about our Pump House pilot. I mean, Pump House project pilot program. It's four Ps in a row. That's alliteration if I ever heard it. Kevin, are you handling this or Rachael? SNIPES: Either way is fine. MAYOR DICKEY: All right. GOODWIN: I think Kevin will introduce the item, but I know we have a number of our public art committee folks here that can answer questions and walk through the vision. SNIPES: Sure enough. So with us tonight, we have Dori and Jenny, who are going to be going through their proposal for the changes being made to the Pump House wall Page 44 of 74 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS DECEMBER 19, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES project, as well as what all has happened with it so far. So with that. WITTRIG: Mayor, council, good evening and happy holidays. My name is Dori Wittrig. We don't need to do all that for this, do we? Okay. So we'd like to give you a little background on the Pump House project first. The Pump House wall has been sort of a revolving program of attempts at providing public art in a very, very visible location at the Fountain Park walking path for many years. In the past, murals by various individuals or groups were presented. These murals are often very, extremely expensive and labor intensive, and they take a long time to complete. Unfortunately, the murals were never very long lived because the Pump House wall is a concrete stucco surface that doesn't allow a proper medium for long-term painted surface. Plus, there is always damage caused by irrigation and fountain water, unfortunately, at our park. Last year, the public art committee came up with a plan to address the problem. For those who don't know, the public art committee is made up of local volunteers and various individuals from the community services department. This scope and duties of this committee is fully defined in the public art master plan that was developed in 2020 for the Town of Fountain Hills. They meet regularly every month to shepherd the public's desires for public art, facilitate placements of public art, and troubleshoot problem areas within the public art collection, like the Pump House wall. Members are often artists, architects, or designers. Funding for the PAC comes from two sources. First is the town's one percent for art program, but also private donations generally of either funds or sometimes art. Usually these donations are made through the I Love Fountain Hills Organization, also known as FHCCA. It is not the public art committee's job to be fundraisers, but to really shepherd the donations for art. So we went looking for a lasting solution, and in 2022, the public art committee proposed a program that is basically a temporary public art installation or known more formally in the art world as installation art, which is defined as an artistic genre of three dimensional works that are often site -specific and designed to transform the perception of a space. And that's how our Pump House project wall proposal came into being in the first place. Page45of74 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS DECEMBER 19, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Temporary installations are a great way to present art to the public that is always fresh. The committee believes that we've come up with a concept that allows the public to not only enjoy fresh new art on the Pump House wall, but also to participate in the incremental funding of the program and also to own reprints of the art. We propose a program that would each be one year in length. The program works like this. A national call to artists occurs via an online portal. This call to artists asks them to provide concepts that suit the theme of the current year's concept. Last year, that theme was Legends and Lore of the Valley of the Sun. So when you walk by the Pump House wall, you see images that different artists felt appropriate and that we voted on and chose. The winners receive a stipend of $300. The art is then transferred onto seven four by eight panels. We were searching for a brilliant presentation of the art and in 2023 we decided on a process which I can best describe as laser art on an aluminum medium. One of the challenges of that process is its cost. Some of the other challenges we learned in our first year include the framework that hangs the art without harming the Pump House wall. While we have found a solution for that, the brackets themselves do not work with the aluminum process without damaging the metal. This forces us to have to replace the four by eight panels of aluminum each year. Again, running up the cost of the program. One of the other challenges of the installation is finding donors each year willing to donate the needed $10,000 it takes to create the program as it was originally conceived. So our public art chair, Jenny Willigrod, continued to research different materials and methods of presenting the art and came up with what the public art committee agrees is the best solution for the installation in 2024. Which, by the way, we have a theme known as Expressions, with the artist's interpretation on a facial expression that portrays an emotion. The origin of the face can be human, animal, or plant. Any artist or photographers are encouraged to apply. So that'll be a fun project. The new process is one we are all probably much more familiar with. That is applied vinyl that is used to wrap vehicles in other mediums. So we've got a sample here for you. This is my Vanna White this evening, Jenny. Everybody has a Vanna. So here's a Page46of74 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS DECEMBER 19, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES sample of the two art mediums, both the laser from last year and the vinyl wrap from this year. We're going to pass it around to you if that's okay? And we'll ask you to see if you can tell the difference, because I'm going to tell you that you probably can't. So the benefits are, the new material is Tess expensive than metal. It is called DIBOND. DIBOND is the industry's leading aluminum composite material, or ACM. It's comprised of two pre -painted sheets of 12/100ths of an inch of aluminum with a solid polyethylene core. So two thin sheets of aluminum with a core in between. The DIBOND boards can be used over and over, whereas the metal cannot. The manufacturer has indicated that the vinyl wrap product can withstand the Arizona climate for up to four years, therefore more than adequate for our one-year program. The appearance is the same. The committee also recommends that a framing system be utilized for the boards to be easily slipped into and out of, instead of the current situation which permanently adheres to the boards, thereby rendering them useless after a year. So I believe you have a spreadsheet or a little bit of a matrix that goes into our current project, our vinyl year 1 and our vinyl year 2. But I'm just going to summarize it. You'll see in the cost comparisons presented to you the differences. The 2023 program costs $10,608. The 2024 program would be 8,255, and the 2025 program would be 5,755. Each year coming down a little bit because we would be able to reuse the DIBOND. You'll also see that we are anticipating income from two sources. $7,000 each year; that represents seven donors of $1,000. We were able to do that this year. We hope we are this year. Potential sales of the product, which will occur by selling reprints of the pieces as they are ordered, via our FHCCA or I love Fountain Hills give smart online auction program. And that's part of the proposal as well. So that's about what we have for you tonight. I'm sure you might have questions. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. Questions from council? Councilwoman? MCMAHON: Hi, Dori. Thank you. Art is unique, and I know that you just mentioned what expressions will be for people, animals, plants. Are there parameters for that? Because sometimes expressions might offend people, may not, et cetera. So I'm curious Page 47 of 74 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS DECEMBER 19, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES if you've gotten that far about any type of parameters, et cetera, given where these are going to be in our town? WITTRIG: Well, as you say, art is art. MCMAHON: Right. WITTRIG: And this online portal -- what's it called again? WILLIGROD: Cafe. WITTRIG: Cafe will deliver to us many, many tens, maybe even hundreds of different proposals. And then our public art group, the combined committee, will go through and they'll choose the ones that they think are most appropriate. So we're not trying to give anybody limitations. We want to see what they come up with. MCMAHON: Right. I understand that. But I just wanted to know if you guys had anticipated anything like that, you know? So also maintenance. How are these going to be maintained? If one doesn't work out, will it be replaced? Will there be people waiting, so to speak? And just, basically, who's going to maintain them? If one doesn't last or one wants to be removed, will you have one in line, so there won't be a blank space? WITTRIG: Well, we anticipate, really, the only possible problem with this -- because, again, keep in mind, this is the vinyl that wraps vehicles that run all over town, get rock chips, everything else. And we anticipate that it's going to hold up pretty well. There is the possibility that there could be vandalism. If there is, the town sometimes knows how to deal with that. And at the worst case, we have to reprint the vinyl. Not a big deal. MAYOR DICKEY: Councilwoman? KALIVIANAKIS: Thank you, Ms. Mayor. Thank you very much for your presentation. I'm a little concerned about the vinyl wrap, too, and the environment of the fountain and of where these are going to be located. That's not my primary concern, but that's one of my concerns. I originally questioned why this even is before council because this doesn't meet the $50,000 threshold. WITTRIG: Right. Page48of74 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS DECEMBER 19, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES KALIVIANAKIS: And so why are we hearing this tonight? I did make inquiries of staff, and from what I understood, that this is going to be a for -profit project and that's going to be a fundraiser that won't be a break even or financially neutral. But this is going to be a fundraiser for funds to be used for other things -- WITTRIG: It goes back into public art. KALIVIANAKIS: -- other than art. Could you -- WITTRIG: It goes back into the public art fund. KALIVIANAKIS: Right. And will that be used to fund more public art, or what will the uses be for that? WILLIGROD: I think last year, initially, the program -- if there was going to be any profits, we had discussed putting it into the art programs at the schools. But really, we're just trying to get it to a breakeven project so we don't lose money and we don't really make money. It's not really a money maker intended project. WITTRIG: And nobody gets paid on this project. It's just a labor of love for the public. And there are two public art funds. One is the FHCCA public art fund and the other is the town's. And wherever that goes, it gets used for something else in the future, whether that's maintenance or another piece of art, if there's enough money to do that. KALIVIANAKIS: Yeah. I'm not so worried about the fund that's going back to the town. But the I Love Fountain Hills Fund, is there a chance that this is going to go to pay for legal fees for a legal battle that you guys are currently engaging in with -- WITTRIG: The FHCCA -- KALIVIANAKIS: -- the donor to your project? WITTRIG: I'm not going to get into a lot of that because I'm not sure how much of that really needs to be public at this point. But the FHCCA has funded a legal effort regarding a large bequest that was made to the FHCCA's public art fund. It's interesting because that bequest, we weren't aware of it at all until it occurred. And it was very specific that it was for public art. KALIVIANAKIS: I guess what I'm concerned about is we're using taxpayer funds with a taxpayer project, to raise funds for something other than we're going to reimburse Page 49 of 74 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS DECEMBER 19, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES taxpayers. That concerns me. What I'd like to see is for this, possibly, to go back to our staff. To not make a decision tonight. So we can flesh these issues out to make sure that we're protecting the taxpayers. WITTRIG: What would you like to see happen? KALIVIANAKIS: For this to go back. For the arts committee to go back to our staff and kind of flesh these issues out. WITTRIG: Well, let's talk about options, because if one of the options is to go back into the the town's, we don't care. It goes for public art as far as we're concerned. MAYOR DICKEY: Can I -- WITTRIG: To go back into the town's public art fund, do that, and then you guys can decide how to spend it. MAYOR DICKEY: Dori, let me just -- I want to ask Rachael to clarify the staff recommendation. And I also want to clarify the idea of the 50 -- we're not spending money here, are we? I mean, when you were saying it was under the $50,000, but that that's a whole 'nother thing that we do, that you have authority to spend $50,000. But this isn't about that. And could you just explain your recommendations? I have vinyl wrap on my car; it's been fine for six years. But I'm not concerned about that really myself. But I see that that's one of the concerns of staff. So maybe you could just explain those things? GOODWIN: Sure. Absolutely. And -- MAYOR DICKEY: I'm sorry, Councilwoman. Is it okay? GOODWIN: Dori did a good job explaining that there is two funds and it does get confusing, right? There's the town bucket. There's the town fund that is contributed to by our developers, if and when there's development that happens. So it's sort of in small starts. And sometimes the developers choose to put in art as opposed to contributing to that fund. So it's not generally growing. It doesn't fluctuate very often. And that fund is generally what we use for upkeep, maintenance, cleaning, repairs -- MAYOR DICKEY: Insurance? GOODWIN: -- insurance. Yes, that's a big one. If something were to be vandalized or Page 50 of 74 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS DECEMBER 19, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES stolen or broken or whatnot. So that's kind of what that pot has been used for. And we made a commitment with our last council to try to maintain a balance in there, so that it wasn't subsidized by the general fund. And that's kind of what we shoot to do. The fund that is through FHCCA tends to be more of the philanthropic arm. That is where the donations come in. That's where folks who want to donate a piece of art or sometimes -- we now have the ability to accept a piece of art and able to resell it to create a revenue and to benefit the value of our public art long-term. The recommendation here tonight is a couple of things. And I know, Kevin, you can feel free to jump in if you'd like to, because I know you've been meeting with the group. This is a different process. We're not familiar with the vinyl. I know we do have a lot of corrosive water down there. We just don't know how it's going to act up. I think the only way we know is if we give it a try, and that is the recommendation; that we are a little concerned, but on a trial basis, let's give it a shot. Everybody wants to see it look good. I do agree that a changeable annual renewal of art is a good thing. It creates continued interest. If we find that the art is not holding up, we're having issues, it's being damaged, it's not maintaining, okay. We'll have to come back to the drawing board. If it is, if it goes really well, then great, we have a new medium in which to try. In terms of the funding side of this, the question we have come back to it's not specifically about art. It's about the policy of when a revenue is generated, when, if that revenue goes outside of the town but it's happening on use of a town facility, that creates a inconsistency there. So it might be -- and in this case, there isn't a huge revenue expected, if anything. But if we get down to a point where there is a revenue generated, it goes back into -- I'm going to call it their bucket versus the town bucket. If it makes more sense for that to come back into the town bucket, it sounds like there's some amenability to that as well. But again, it's the idea of that bigger policy discussion of when revenue is generated on a town space through tax on a town -owned facility, where does that go and how do we manage that? Does that answer that question? Page 51 of 74 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS DECEMBER 19, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES MAYOR DICKEY: Yeah. Because I think that has wider ramifications to it. So I think we would want to guard against that just in general, having town property be revenue generators even though the two plots do the same thing pretty much. So that would probably raise a comfort level if it was going back to -- because the public art, the insurance, the cleaning, all of that it just all kind of does the same thing. So I think we'd be more comfortable with that. Kevin did you have anything to add? SNIPES: Just a couple of things. The reason that it's here tonight is we did a year 1 pilot program. The year 1 pilot program is now being modified. So I didn't want to have it be where what was approved by council was changed and then put up into the public without your understanding that the project is different than what it was originally. So that's the main reason why we're here tonight. Any time we make changes to something that was approved by council, I think you should have the right to bid in again on whether or not you want to do the change to the original. So that's the main reason why we're doing it. And the 50,000 isn't town -- there's no town funds. KALIVIANAKIS: Right. SNIPES: This is public art run. And so that's why that didn't have anything to do with it. KALIVIANAKIS: Right. MAYOR DICKEY: Can I ask Hannah, if she -- because she was waiting from before? KALIVIANAKIS: Sure. MAYOR DICKEY: Did you have a comment? TOTH: Oh, I'm okay. I'll just do mine at the end. MAYOR DICKEY: Councilwoman? KALIVIANAKIS: Thank you, Ms. Mayor. Again, just to repeat my concern. It's being sponsored by the town. It's being run by the town. It's going to be a moneymaking endeavor. The money can be spent. And the things that we either want them to be spent on or we're not sure what they're going to be spent on. I'm just afraid that everybody talks about precedent, precedent, precedent. Well, is it setting a precedent for the dog people? Is this setting a precedent for other people that are using our town Page 52 of 74 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS DECEMBER 19, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES resources to have a revenue -generating project based on what they envision? As, well, you know, we would like to have this dog situation. We'd like to sell diamond encrusted dog bones, and then we could provide more services outside of the town for the pet community. And it's just -- I'm just afraid of a slippery slope here. And I guess that's what my main concern is, are we opening the door for the town to be funding private projects that the monies can be spent elsewhere? And that's why when I said that -- I don't want to kill this tonight, but I just want that to be fleshed out more so we know exactly what we're getting into and what we're binding future councils to. And so that's, that's my concern. SNIPES: Mayor, councilmember. So there's a couple of different things that we could do. We could, instead of having it be an auction where it could be any number that comes in, we could set a price that makes it go even. The other option that could happen is, as Dori was saying earlier, it could be put back into the town's coffers. And I think they would be okay with that. It can go into the public art fund. That's the town side as well. Right? WITTRIG: Yeah. I mean, first of all, we're not talking about a lot. But I understand about the precedent that you're talking about. But understand that this -- we have a very public wall that looks like crap a lot of times. More often than not, it's either in process or it's perfect or it's deteriorated because the wall is what the wall is. And we came up with a great solution here. But the first end of the solution was very expensive and it was very difficult to fund the first year. We don't know that we can do it again. So you talk about a town project. Well, this is a volunteer project and we really don't care where the money goes. But understand, we're not doing this to make money. We're doing this for public art. KALIVIANAKIS: No. I understand that. And that's why even with my concern with the wrap. Try it for a year, let's see if it holds up. So I'm definitely for the trial for the wrap to see how that holds up. But if we could do this in a revenue neutral fashion or if it is profitable, to just make sure that those funds went back to the art fund and the town. I would have no problem with this whatsoever. It's just being a revenue generator, and Page 53 of 74 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS DECEMBER 19, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES then that revenue going to a bucket that we don't control and that could be controlled by outside sources for whatever they think would be a good expenditure of that those funds. WITTRIG: Well, keep in mind also -- I'm not sure you ever factored this in. But after five years, we have to have a new DIBOND? WILLIGROD: Oh, probably so. Yeah. WITTRIG: Yeah. So at some point in the future, we're going to have to replace the DIBOND and it will be an expensive year again. So hopefully, that we get credit for that money and we don't have to go raise that. MAYOR DICKEY: That's what I was just going to say. Why can't we just say whatever you make you just keep for the next year? If we're going to do -- if you're going to change it every year, there's always going to be some kind of expense. Or maybe you didn't get the seven grand one year or something like that. So it always goes towards this project. And I don't really -- I mean, I think it's cleaner if it's in the town bucket, but either way it just keeps going for this. I don't really have a problem with that at all. We're not looking at it as using town property as a fundraiser. You're looking at it as, if you happen to go over, you can keep it for the year after. I'm actually fine with that. But I mean, I think everybody would be happier if we put it in the town bucket. WITTRIG: Yeah. I think it's better in your bucket than ours. MAYOR DICKEY: Yeah. Okay. Sounds good. Any other comments or did we have any cards on this? I'm sorry. MENDENHALL: We had one written comment from Dianne Price that she's in favor of this project. MAYOR DICKEY: Great. Hannah? TOTH: Thank you, Madam Mayor. I want to thank you both for the work you've put into this. I can tell that you were looking at different options, and you came up with something that I think is a really good idea for it to be rotating like this. I do hear the concerns regarding the precedent that we're setting. And because the town does have a lot of partner organizations, I can see the question of when we're using public Page 54 of 74 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS DECEMBER 19, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES property, how we might be able to just ensure accountability for future? Do we have, just really quickly -- sorry. I thought this would be so much faster. Really quickly. Do we have an ability or would you be amenable to, if you do keep the money that if you do go a little bit over, would you be amenable to just keeping a record of how that money gets spent? Of, hey, we made 200 more than we thought we would, we kept it. We used it to fix one of them that got scratched. WITTRIG: It sounds to me like the best solution here is for you to make a motion and that any excess funds go into the town's coffers. TOTH: Okay. Thank you. WITTRIG: And you guys keep track of it. I think that's what you'd be most comfortable with, and we don't care. KALIVIANAKIS: Okay. Sounds good. Just want to make sure we're keeping everybody happy. In that case, I move to approve the -- I'm sorry. I lost the language. The public art committee Pump House project pilot program update with the change of ensuring that it's aiming for balanced budget. And if it does go over, that would go into the town fund. MAYOR DICKEY: I think Rachael has something to say, but if she could take a second? All right, Rachael? GOODWIN: That's okay. I just was going to clarify, and I think Dori kind of nailed it. It's the idea that it's anything in excess. So whatever their expenses are, the intent is to recover that. So it's just anything over and above. Okay, great. SKILLICORN: Second. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. Any further discussion? Can we get a roll call, please? MENDENHALL: Councilmember Skillicorn? SKILLICORN: Yes. MENDENHALL: Councilmember Kalivianakis? KALIVIANAKIS: Aye. MENDENHALL: Councilmember McMahon? MCMAHON: Aye. Page 55 of 74 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS DECEMBER 19, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES MENDENHALL: Councilmember Toth? TOTH: Aye. MENDENHALL: Councilmember Friedel? FRIEDEL: Aye. MENDENHALL: Vice Mayor Grzybowski? GRZYBOWSKI: Aye. MENDENHALL: Mayor Dickey? MAYOR DICKEY: Aye. Thank you so much. Look forward to seeing all those expressions. WITTRIG: Happy holidays. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. Happy holidays, Merry Christmas. All right. Our next item is Kevin, I think. Are you going to do our community services strategic plan? Everybody doing okay? Okay. SNIPES: All righty. Tonight, we're looking at our community services department second strategic plan that we've done. Our first was from '20 to '23. This one will -- since we're still in '23, we're going to stretch it a little bit from '23 to '27. And this is something that I think is really good for our staff as a whole. This is intended to guide our staff, each of our divisions and community services, including our parks, community services, community center volunteers, and senior services. The plan's developed by staff to guide our decisions and our priorities for the department over the next three years. We don't take this lightly. It takes us a long time to get through all of it because we all have different ideas and different approaches. It's neat to see the volunteers in the senior services, in the community center, and the parks people all throwing in their ideas and seeing how many of them overlap. You'll notice, as you've looked at the strategic plan, that it is a 5,000-foot view. Our master plan is kind of the 10,000-foot view. This is kind of the 5,000. So it's kind of squeezing it in a little bit. This is a three-year part where the master plan is more of a ten. So we set lofty goals. If you look through it, you'll see that we don't think small; we never have and we're not starting that now. So if it looks lofty, that's our intention. We Page 56 of 74 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS DECEMBER 19, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES don't want to get to where that we're sitting back and watching what we did. We're the doer group and that's what we're going to keep doing. So with that, the objectives of the plan is to show public transparency and deliverables to our community, assist the public in understanding the purpose and objectives of the entire department. We are the biggest department still until Dave Ott takes over that. So it's important to us to set some examples and show people what all we do, because it's a long list of things that we're involved in. The development of the plan. It was developed by all the community services staff, from -- everybody got a chance to participate in coming up with ideas. And it started out with the managers and our upper management group and then they took it out to each one of their divisions and was able to share it with them. And a whole bunch of new ideas came rolling in, of course, because everybody looks at what their section of the department's different. So then they brought it back and then we went back through it again and kind of tried to figure out what things were fit under which areas of our visions and came up with a final project. It has been approved by both our MMPC group commission and our CSAC commission, unanimously. And some of the things that we didn't make changes to were our mission statement: "To enrich and provide an active quality of life for all residents and visitors through proactive community engagement, resolute stewardship of amenities and open spaces, and enhancement of the overall health and well-being of our town". Don't think that's going to change for us much. When we got into our visions and our themes, those two have stayed the same. It's the steps underneath that where we felt we had room for improvement. Different ways to do things, and/or we had completed the things that were in our last strategic plan. So here you can see our visions. Number one, "Provide recreation that inspires personal growth, healthy lifestyles, and a sense of community". Number two, "Expand and strengthen outdoor experiences and opportunities to contribute to the region's attractiveness as a place to live, work, and play". Number three, "Optimize safe utilization of facilities, amenities, and open space". Number four, "Actively seek Page 57 of 74 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS DECEMBER 19, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES progressive, future -oriented options for funding, operations, and programs. And number five, "Embrace a collaborative spirit and support teamwork within the department and the community". These are our overall -- we call it the -- it's the big umbrella of all the things that we do. And then each year we come back and look at the strategic plan and put in the things that we've done that year that fit these visions and themes. It's been received really well by staff. It does give us motivation and that's the whole idea of doing it. With that, I'll take any questions that you have. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. Do we have any speaker cards on this item? MENDENHALL: Yes, Mayor. In your packet you have two written comments. Both are for the item from Dianne Price and Rory Wilson. And then we had an in -person written comment that's for it as well. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you very much. Questions? Discussion? Councilwoman Kalivianakis? KALIVIANAKIS: Thank you, Ms. Mayor. I'd like to commend you and your staff on this really aggressive plan that you put together. My first question was, are we going to require more staffing on this? And they're like, no, no, no, no, we've got the staff. But you guys really have taken on a lot. You've bit a lot off. I can see it's all just for the good of the community. More interaction, more safety checks, more committees to think about these things. And so it's really inspirational. Where most people would try to cut their work and cut their workload, you guys are not. No, bring it on. We want to increase our workload. We want to make this much better. So I commend you so much and I'm looking forward to all the exciting changes that are coming up. SNIPES: Thank you. I appreciate that. And our staff is -- they all work so hard and love what they do and they are the group that is constantly pushing to do things better and more and finding ways that we can afford to do more things. So I appreciate your comments. KALIVIANAKIS: Yeah, that's very apparent. Very apparent. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. Councilwoman? Page 58 of 74 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS DECEMBER 19, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES MCMAHON: Once again, you and your staff have hit it out of the ballpark. Thank you very much for all that you do. I mean, serious. The reflection and the proudness of our community and our parks and rec is just amazing. You guys continue to earn and be awarded national awards year after year. So thank you very much. And with that, I would like to move to adopt resolution 2023-37, approving the community services department 2024 through 2027 strategic plan. Thank you. KALIVIANAKIS: I'd like to second that. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. I wanted to add that this -- we've had a lot of conversations about budgets and such, and equipment and improving our parks, but this is the reason we do these things. And one of our items we had for this year is to do some work at Desert Vista. And part of the idea of having strategic plans like this is that this is actually part two of something that we started last year. So we had the skate park and the bike area and now this will be the exercise, sort of the -- I forget what they call it, but you know, the Iron Man stuff or whatever. And then there's some other amenities that will be there. And so this is the second part of something. And then that's what we appreciate is having a plan. Because then you're not just throwing random things out, you're purposely doing them. And obviously, everything in your department -- and you mentioned until we get the fire department on board, it is. It's a $5 million or so department, up or down a little bit every year, and it's absolutely important to the quality of life of our community, our residents, our visitors. If we want kids to be playing, we want older people to have -- senior people to have equipment and things to do in our parks, dogs walking, Splash Park, all of that. So I never want you to feel that that is diminished in any way or looked at with derision because these are necessary to make the town the way it is, just like tourism is and everything else that we talk about here, to have a well-rounded community. So we do have a motion and a second. Yes, sir? FRIEDEL: I have a comment. MAYOR DICKEY: Okay. Gerry? FRIEDEL: Thank you. Thanks for the report. It is critical to give options to everybody in Page59of74 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS DECEMBER 19, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES town. And that's what you guys do. And I'm glad to see that you're looking to grow the volunteer programs, too. I think that's a big, big essential part of your your department and your area. And we do have a lot of volunteers in town, so it's good to see that you're going to try and grow that as well. So thank you. MAYOR DICKEY: Great. With that, can we get a 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: Yes. MENDENHALL: Vice Mayor Grzybowski? GRZYBOWSKI: Aye. MENDENHALL: Mayor Dickey? MAYOR DICKEY: Aye. Thanks again. SNIPES: Thank you. MAYOR DICKEY: Appreciate it. Next, we're going to talk about some capital improvement items, again, for parks and other things that we need it for. So go straight to Justin. CLERK'S NOTE: Vice Mayor Sharron Grzybowski left the dais at 7:58 p.m. and returned at 8:00 p.m. WELDY: Madam Mayor, councilmembers. Thank you for the opportunity and thanks for staying late for me. A little disclaimer. The next three items on the agenda that I'm going to be discussing, I rarely single myself out and use the word "I" unless it's for criticism, if there's some controversy, or there is some deficiency that needs to take Page 60 of 74 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS DECEMBER 19, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES correction. With that in mind, I'm going to get started here. The Golden Eagle Park is actually an impoundment area. What that means is there is a dam on the downhill side of it. That dam's intent and the construction of it is to eliminate or minimize downstream flooding that could result in loss of life or property. It was originally constructed just a little bit lower than it is right now. In early mid-90s it was raised. As part of that project there were some changes made to the inlet structure of the dam. That inlet structure became clogged with organic matter. That's debris that floats down from three main streams in that area. I'm going to show you some of the results of the back watering, is what is technically referred to in this slideshow here. The two storms that happened happened on October 2nd, 2018. And then we had a subsequent forum in September of 2019. As I described it earlier, the inlet and outlet gates clogged. As a result of that there was back watering, including but not limited to about 30 inches of water in the facility there. Which is actually where they keep all of their equipment and chemicals and other items necessary to maintain that area. Also Cloudburst Wash -- and for a reference that is the one on the southern end, just runs by the basketball area, and then there's a little picnic pavilion. The water coming down that wash overtopped that pedestrian bridge and flooded into that pavilion area. After the first event and obviously, after the second, town staff went in under the direction of the mayor and council with a relatively large amount of money and removed all of the sediment off of the face of the dam and cleaned a lot of organic material out and dirt from the three primary washes that service that area. As part of that, we also installed some reinforcing rip -rap along Bristol Wash. Bristol Wash is the one in the center. This is what it looks like after a very heavy rainfall when the water is simply not able to get through the dam in a timely manner. For some clarification, when I referenced "backwater", backwatering by itself is not an issue in an impoundment area where you've made improvements, if it's cleared. A good example would be some of the larger areas in Scottsdale where they've made improvements in their washes, you'll often see Page61of74 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS DECEMBER 19, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES them standing feet deep in clear water. When the water drains, it just requires a little bit of cleaning. Nothing major. Backwatering in this case had organic matter in it. Not only did we have backwatering, but we also had outbreak. One of the washes, Bristol Wash in the middle, broke and that water flowed into the park and deposited materials in there. This is an aerial view after the first event. Those of you that are familiar with this can pick out the ball fields that you know by number. For the record, I do not know a single number of any one of them or most of the parts. Kevin has to correct me oftentimes when I describe it. This is a photo I took standing at Bristol Wash on the sidewalk looking east. That is the middle of the ballpark where this water is heading during this event. This right here is the video I took from the top of the dam. I refer to it as the calm after the storm. I know. That's why I put it on here. That's the end of that little show right there. I think it's important, not only for this community, but the downstream residents including, but not limited to those adjacent to the Ashbrook Wash which is where all of this funnels but also our neighbors just across the fence, that we share relationships with and professional opinions and even meet as a joint session with them, that this dam and the maintenance of it and the necessary work that we have been doing and the upcoming work that will be necessary to increase the storage capacity in the three washes and also on the face or in the main impoundment area of the dam is critical. I'm very passionate about this project and have been since the very beginning when we began to help out with some of these issues prior to this flooding. With that I'm simply asking permission for this project to be continued as part of the adopted budget for this fiscal year. And we'll be glad to answer any questions that I'm able to. MAYOR DICKEY: Do we have any speaker cards for this item? MENDENHALL: Yes, Mayor, we do. We have one. Kim Wolborsky. K. WOLBORSKY: I'm Kim Wolborsky. I'm a resident of Fountain Hills and I am not Page 62 of 74 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS DECEMBER 19, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES downstream of the park. I'm upstream of the park. And Justin, you're going to like this. I just want to add to what Justin said. My husband and I moved here on November 20th, 2019. So fortunately we were way too busy to go to the park for a long time moving in. But we do use it now. And I just wanted to remind everyone of how much money we just spent on lighting in that park. And you can see how that's all underwater there. And we noticed the old lighting, how much rust there was around the bottom of the lights. And also, we talk once in a while to Michael, who manages that park in person, and he mentioned about the -- just the work that was required to redo those fields after it. And you know, I'm all for saving money. For me, in this case, it seems like this is money well spent to avoid spending bad money. Thanks. MAYOR DICKEY: Councilman? SKILLICORN: Thank you, Madam Mayor. This is a great investment, and feel free to comment, but I'll make a motion to approve. TOTH: Second. MAYOR DICKEY: Any other discussion? All right. KALIVIANAKIS: I do. MAYOR DICKEY: Oh, I'm sorry. KALIVIANAKIS: Thank you, Ms. Mayor. I wish that when we were putting this regular agenda together, that this would have been item F, and that item F would have been item D or possibly E would have been D. It seems like we're approving paying for it, and then later we're going to talk about designing it. Does anybody else get that impression or am I just off the mark? MAYOR DICKEY: Rachael? GOODWIN: No, you're absolutely right. There was a -- these two do go together. D and F are partner items. And I think -- and Justin I talked about this today because I had kind of thought the order was a little wonky as well. And the idea here is that if D is not approved, then F becomes null and void. So they do go together in that element. So the idea is, if this project is approved to move forward, then we would need to now talk Page 63 of 74 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS DECEMBER 19, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES about how does that move forward and that would be item F. Justin, did I get that right? WELDY: That is correct. KALIVIANAKIS: And I understand that. Like you said, this does go back to 2018. There was another council, the same mayor in this, I believe. No? 2018? MAYOR DICKEY: I got elected in 2018, but I didn't start till 2019. KALIVIANAKIS: Oh, okay. Well then two mayors and several councils, I guess. This has been amended. I think this is the fourth amendment on the design that we're talking about here, if you skip ahead to F. And I guess, I know there's been some problems with the sanitary district, Maricopa Flood and various other agencies that are constantly demanding design changes. And I guess, I'm skipping ahead a little bit, but can we be assured tonight that if we approve this final design change, that this is going to be the last and final amendment? WELDY: Madam Mayor, councilmember. I would like to stand here and tell you that we've clumb (sic) over all the hurdles that could possibly be thrown at us. And when I say "we", I mean I. I, absolutely, standing here cannot guarantee that. But I will do my best to represent this town and get those last few hurdles addressed. And we'll discuss this in more detail in a couple of more agenda items. There is a state, county, and a local agency that we partner and work with that have valid concerns. We believe we have addressed all of them. But we won't know until we get that 100 percent, which we're approximately 5 percent away from. Once it's 100, it goes back. If all of our comments and all of their concerns have been addressed, we start the process of notice of bid, to set the project out for bid to actually start construction. But for me to give you an absolute, I cannot do that. It wouldn't be fair. KALIVIANAKIS: Yeah. I understand. And I also understand that it's a fluid situation, so to speak, because of all the other agencies that are involved. Literally, a fluid situation. Thanks, Gerry. I appreciate that. But one of the things that the citizens come to me about, one of the things I think they do all of us, is why do you guys spend so much money on designs, designs, designs, and when are you going to put a shovel in the Page64of74 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS DECEMBER 19, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES ground? And so I think this is over $400,000 worth of designs on this project, if you go back to the four revisions. And I guess, just publicly, I just want to just say that I hope we're nearing the end of this. It was kind of a 100-year flood that now it's five years later, we're still talking about and we're still trying to do mitigation for. And I know you'll do your best to try to wrap this thing up, but I just wanted to be on the record just to say that I just hope this is the last council that will be addressing these amendments and we can just move forward, get this done, and move on. FRIEDEL: Thank you, Mayor. Justin, I appreciate your honesty when you were asked that question, and I know that you're going to do the best for this town. There's a lot of players that are feeding into this. So I think a lot of us get that. So stay with it. Thank you. MAYOR DICKEY: Rachael? GOODWIN: Mayor, just a point of order. Because the conversation about D and F are related, if you're comfortable, we can move F up on the agenda to address both items consecutively, if you'd like? MAYOR DICKEY: Sure. We have a motion on this. Did we get a second? I think we did. FRIEDEL: Yeah. MAYOR DICKEY: So can we take a roll call on it first and then we'll go right to F. Thanks. MENDENHALL: Councilmember McMahon? MCMAHON: Aye. MENDENHALL: Councilmember Toth? TOTH: Aye. MENDENHALL: Councilmember Friedel? FRIEDEL: Aye. MENDENHALL: Councilmember Skillicorn? SKILLICORN: Yes. MENDENHALL: Councilmember Kalivianakis? KALIVIANAKIS: Aye. MENDENHALL: Vice Mayor Grzybowski? Page 65 of 74 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS DECEMBER 19, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES GRZYBOWSKI: Aye. MENDENHALL: Mayor Dickey? MAYOR DICKEY: Aye. Great. So we'll just go to the amendment then, please. GOODWIN: So Justin, we're going to talk about the item F, the JE Fuller one now, since it's related to that item. CLERK'S NOTE: Councilmember Hannah Toth left the dais at 8:10 p.m. and returned at 8:12 p.m. WELDY: Thank you. Madam Mayor, councilmembers. It's going to get a little bit difficult in here because some of the things that we're going to discuss, he's sitting close here by because he is partnered with me on this and he and I have butted heads on this. And for the record, I had several uncomfortable conversations with the former community services director and the former park superintendent related to this project. In this particular instance, and a little bit of background. This, I believed when we did a direct -select of JE Fuller with the then town engineer's approval and the town manager's approval, this was a no brainer to me. Just a few thousand dollars. I think it was $35,000 after they did their floodplain study of the area up above and came with their recommendations. I went to the community services director at that time and insisted that we would under construction in phase 1 in six or seven months. During that design process we began to encounter challenges that are all but insurmountable in that time frame. I'm just going to go over a few of them briefly. When the park was originally platted and designed, for reasons that will remain a mystery the rest of my professional life, the primary irrigation and electrical was put in the drainage channels. And not just placed there, but subsequent thousands of tons of sediment piled on top of them where the gentleman behind me could not gain access to valves and stuff like that. Also, as part of this, there was -- I met a considerable amount of resistance from Rachael and Kevin regarding the multiuse path that goes around the pack, around the back of the ballpark. I insisted that that thing be removed which would give us the necessary capacity for storage and eliminate some of the challenges that we faced. Page 66 of 74 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS DECEMBER 19, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Their argument was compelling and strong enough that I agreed that the multiuse path would remain, be widened, be used for maintenance, and realigned so it could be utilized. And for those of you that are not familiar, if you go to that park on any given morning, midday, or afternoon when the weather is nice, there is a lot of people walking there. We all obviously see Fountain Park. Take a look at Golden Eagle Park on the nice days. So I argued unsuccessfully for that to be removed. I also argued that the scoreboards weren't as important as others thought. With all of that, each time we encountered all of these unknown issues, we had to go back to the drawing board with JE Fuller and we got it up to about 65 percent design. That is when you would typically submit it to the partnering agencies. That usually takes anywhere from three to five months. In some cases it takes eighteen months. When we got the plans back, they had legitimate concerns and comments regarding the drainage courses, the face of the dam, the throughput of the dam. One of those agencies has named me directly in regards to removing the access barrier on the dam and has demanded since the day it was removed, it be put back. However, I strongly believe that is the reason we have not had the same flooding impact that we had had in the past. I also argued that the reasoning for the access barrier -- because there was an adjacent school was void, due to the fact that there wasn't one on the back of the dam where the school actually lies. With that said, we are eventually going to have to address that, but it's not going to be that type of an access barrier. It's more than likely going to be in a delta configuration, what I refer to often as "used but not used up" power poles in a V-shape to keep large trees and stuff out of the pipe. With that said, the sanitary district also had a legitimate concern. You may not be aware, but one of their main facilities runs across the ball field and then comes out of the ground and runs through one of those culverts that goes through that dam. So much so that they are funding, on their own, a design to protect their facilities as a direct result of our improvements. Lastly, the Arizona Department of Water Resources and Maricopa County Flood Control, Page 67 of 74 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS DECEMBER 19, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES their concerns about the impoundment, the tow in the face of the dam, were such that we had to eliminate that project from phase 1. So we're going to be working just to the west of the dam and all of the other areas of this impoundment. But the dam is going to be a second phase. That is likely after we get those couple of pages to a 100 percent, 18 to 24 months for a review. So we broke them apart. So rest assured, we will be back in the future to show you that. This amendment includes money for that phase as well. And we already know the majority of their concerns and they will be addressed. Lastly, and I think this is important. When we initially started this project -- and I went over that, we had no idea that it would ever rise to this level in regards to the funding. There have certainly been questions asked internally, at my pay grade and above my pay grade, about what types of decisions were made that brought us to this nearly half million dollar contract. And I've said it the same all the time. It's a result of all of the changes that I demanded and gave back to JE Fuller. They never once changed their scope. All of the scope changes were a result of the comments that I sent back to them. With that said. I'm sure there are questions and I will do my best to answer them. MAYOR DICKEY: Do we have any speaker cards on this? MENDENHALL: No, Mayor, we do not. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. Questions or comments? Not seeing any -- KALIVIANAKIS: Just a quick -- MAYOR DICKEY: Councilwoman? KALIVIANAKIS: -- question. Thank you, Ms. Mayor. Could you explain the pedestrian bridge and why that's necessary over the proposed sidewalk that we currently have on the planning? WELDY: Madam Mayor, councilmember. This park is very active in regards to the community. There are walkers, cyclists, those types of things. As a state or as a local government, when we build an amenity, we have to make it accessible. One of the ballfields is separated from the other two. Currently, the only way to gain access through that is a flooded area that is oftentimes covered with debris. For those that are physically challenged, there's absolutely no way. Let's say they have a grandchild Page 68 of 74 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS DECEMBER 19, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES playing on the north field -- it has a number; I don't know it. And a second one playing on the other side, they have to go all the way up to Golden Eagle Boulevard to go all the way around on the sidewalk or they have to get in their car and drive around because there's not a safe passage. This will make the entire park accessible even during inclement weather or when there is storm debris in and around the area. MAYOR DICKEY: Any other questions or comments? Gerry? FRIEDEL: Is it safe to say that if we need services like this in the future, you'll be looking elsewhere? WELDY: Madam Mayor, councilmember. It's safe to say that despite legal advice that I shouldn't cut ties with this group some time ago, I agreed because it's not a good thing to change mid -game, for lack of a better description. In hindsight, if we have anything in this scope, we will simply do a request for qualifications or proposals. And the process of elimination will fall in place there. MAYOR DICKEY: To be fair, it's not exactly a routine project. And so it's kind of like the the lake liner. How many bids are we going to get for that? Yes. Councilwoman? Councilwoman McMahon. MCMAHON: I was going to make a motion. MAYOR DICKEY: Yeah. MCMAHON: Move to approve amendment number 4 to the professional services agreement, 2019-079 with JE Fuller and Hydrology and Geomorphology Incorporated in the amount of 111,862. KALIVIANAKIS: Can I just have a little more discussion before we proceed? MAYOR DICKEY: Yes. KALIVIANAKIS: Would that be possible? MAYOR DICKEY: Do we have a second on the motion? FRIEDEL: Second. TOTH: Second. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. Okay. Discussion. KALIVIANAKIS: Okay. Thank you, Ms. Mayor. Just one other thing I just wanted to bring Page69of74 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS DECEMBER 19, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES out. If you look at the professional services agreement between the town and JE Fuller and under item 2, it calls for compensation. "The town shall pay consultant an aggregated amount not to exceed $437,294.90. Even though on the agenda it says 115,000. Could you explain those two numbers? WELDY: Madam Mayor, councilmember. The amendment is in the amount of 111,000. The total amount includes all the amendments since the beginning. And what I don't -- I'm not seeing what you see right now. I have looked at that professional agreement and that would be the accumulative amount, including this. MAYOR DICKEY: Yeah. Okay. KALIVIANAKIS: Okay. Yeah. Because it is in our packet. GOODWIN: I think I can chime in on that. MAYOR DICKEY: Yeah. Go ahead. GOODWIN: And I think it's just a matter of what you're seeing is, you're right, the aggregate amount, which is what we have spent up to date, which is 325,432.90, plus this amendment tonight. If you put those two together, the total is the 437,294. So the contract is what we've spent up to date and this amendment, should it pass. KALIVIANAKIS: Okay. So what was 111 or whatever? GOODWIN: Yeah. It's 100 tonight -- KALIVIANAKIS: That's what we're authorizing tonight? GOODWIN: Correct. Yep. 111,862. KALIVIANAKIS: Okay. Thank you. MAYOR DICKEY: Okay. We have a motion and a second. Can we get a roll call, please? MENDENHALL: Councilmember Toth? TOTH: Aye. MENDENHALL: Councilmember Friedel? FRIEDEL: Aye. MENDENHALL: Councilmember Skillicorn? SKILLICORN: Yes. MENDENHALL: Councilmember Kalivianakis? Page 70 of 74 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS DECEMBER 19, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES KALIVIANAKIS: Aye. MENDENHALL: Councilmember McMahon? MCMAHON: Aye. MENDENHALL: Vice Mayor Grzybowski? GRZYBOWSKI: Aye. MENDENHALL: Mayor Dickey? MAYOR DICKEY: Aye. Thank you. Our now last action item is E, and that's about the stormwater rehabilitation. WELDY: Madam Mayor, councilmembers. Thank you again for the opportunity. This is a multiyear project in which it was previously approved for several years and we're utilizing this money to address the outdated or antiquated or damaged storm drains. The project that we're tying it to now is an extension of two projects that were completed last year. One of them was on Deuce Court where we made improvements to that area, and the other one was on Grande Rosita. While we were working on the Deuce Court, which is in the Courtside Villas, the contractor that dug up that area to put in the new pipe and the new infrastructure, when he got to the existing pipe that comes out of Love Court, he discovered that a small portion of it was in poor shape. We brought out camera crews that run equipment in there and discovered, in fact, that the pipe was facing catastrophic failure. So we immediately spoke to the town manager in regards to that. We took some preliminary steps to make sure that it wouldn't fail for right now. What we're asking for in this approval, to get this capital project approved is to let us -- allow or to get started on the design and then apply for grants whenever that grant window opens earlier next calendar year. Again, we had utilized grants for the other two projects. They paid 75 percent. The town paid 25 percent. We're relatively certain, based on this and their criteria, that we will once again be able to apply for a grant. So there will be, most likely, an offset to this project; 75 percent of it, through the flood control district once again. But we need to get started now so we're ahead of the game in regards to design. They really like to see design projects brought in front of them so they have a full Page71of74 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS DECEMBER 19, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES picture of what they're funding. With that said -- MCMAHON: Thank you, Justin. I appreciate it. You answered one of my questions about the offset up to 75 percent. So if you don't get the offset, then it's 150,000, or can you explain how that will work? WELDY: Madam Mayor, councilmember. We don't have a construction estimate at this time, but I do not believe it will take all of this budget. I believe it will be substantially lower than that. It's less complicated than the last one we did in regards to some of the accessibility and the catch basins that we had to do. So probably around the $100,000 mark, but I'm not certain of that. MAYOR DICKEY: Thanks very much. Did we have speaker cards on this? MENDENHALL: No, Mayor, we do not. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. If there's nothing further, can I get a motion, please? GRZYBOWSKI: Move to approve as written. MCMAHON: 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. Thank you, Justin. Page 72 of 74 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS DECEMBER 19, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES WELDY: You're welcome. MAYOR DICKEY: All right. Council discussion, direction to town manager. Anybody have anything? Future agenda items? Councilmember? SKILLICORN: Thank you, Madam Mayor. I just have one. I would request a 12-month 5G moratorium ordinance. MAYOR DICKEY: Anybody? TOTH: And I know we're not supposed to discuss it, but can I ask a question? MAYOR DICKEY: See what Aaron says after you ask it. TOTH: I'm scared now. Councilman, would it be a new ordinance or would it be changing the current resolution? Expanding the current resolution and switching that to an ordinance? ARNSON: I'll let the question slide. That's fine. SKILLICORN: Madam Mayor, councilwoman. It's a great question. The intent is actually to create an ordinance. TOTH: It would be a new one? MAYOR DICKEY: We already have that on the agenda. I mean, we're already going -- we're working on that. MCMAHON: We're working on it. MAYOR DICKEY: So I don't quite understand this. We're working on a new ordinance. KALIVIANAKIS: And we already have a resolution. MCMAHON: Yeah. I mean, it's already on. I don't -- MAYOR DICKEY: It's coming. ARNSON: Well, the question is -- MAYOR DICKEY: Yeah. We already said we're going to bring it to P&Z -- ARNSON: -- that there's support -- MAYOR DICKEY: -- in February. ARNSON: -- for it. So that's how we're -- MAYOR DICKEY: And we're going to bring it back here before the summer break. We've already had this discussion, right? Or not? Page 73 of 74 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS DECEMBER 19, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES GOODWIN: We have. And just for -- again, just for added data, it is in the P&Z packet for January to begin the discussion. Obviously, it will not take one meeting. It is the introduction of the item, so they'll get the first intro into SG and what it is and what not. So it will be moving along with P&Z starting in January. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. Anything else then? All right. Well, happy holidays. Be safe. Have a lot of joy and love with your family and friends. And we will see you in the new year. We're adjourned. Page 74 of 74 Having no further business, Mayor Ginny Dickey adjourned the Regular Meeting of the Fountain Hills Town Council held on December 19, 2023, at 8:27 p.m. ATTEST AND PREPARED BY: TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS :1---\ it Gin y Dickey, Mayor Lihda G. Mendenhall, Town Clerk CERTIFICATION I hereby certify that the foregoing minutes are a true and correct copy of the minutes of the Regular Meeting held by the Town Council of Fountain Hills in the Town Hall Council Chambers on the 19`h day of December 2023. I further certify that the meeting was duly called and that a quorum was present. DATED this 6th Day of February 2024. Lirida G. Mendenhall, Town Clerk