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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2024.0221.TCRM.MinutesTOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING OF THE FOUNTAIN HILLS TOWN COUNCIL FEBRUARY 21, 2024 A Regular Meeting of the Fountain Hills Town Council was convened at 16705 E. Avenue of the Fountains in open and public session at 5:30 p.m. Members Present: Mayor Ginny Dickey: Vice Mayor 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; Executive Assistant Angela Espiritu Audience: Approximately thirty members of the public were present. TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS FEBRUARY 21, 2024 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Post -Production File Town of Fountain Hills Town Council Meeting Minutes February 21, 2024 Transcription Provided By: eScribers, LLC Transcription is provided in order to facilitate communication accessibility and may not be a totally verbatim record of the proceedings. Page 1 of 41 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS FEBRUARY 21, 2024 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES MAYOR DICKEY: Good evening everyone. Thanks so much for coming. Please stand for the pledge and if you like, 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: Pastor Keith Pavia from Christ Church. Hi. PAVIA: Thank you, Ms. Mayor, and everyone on the council. Bow your heads. Dear God, we come here today just to give you this meeting and help us to keep integrity at the forefront, to just work together to have peace and joy and love as we help this town grow and be the best it can be. We thank you and we ask all this in Jesus name. Amen. ALL: Amen. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. We have Angela here as our clerk. Can we have the roll call, please? ESPIRITU: Mayor Dickey MAYOR DICKEY: Here. ESPIRITU: Vice Mayor Grzybowski? GRZYBOWSKI: Present. ESPIRITU: Councilmember Friedel? FRIEDEL: Present. ESPIRITU: Councilmember McMahon? MCMAHON: Present. ESPIRITU: Councilmember Kalivianakis ? KALIVIANAKIS: Present. ESPIRITU: Councilmember Toth? TOTH: Present. ESPIRITU: Councilmember Skillicorn. SKILLICORN: Here. ESPIRITU: 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 Page 2 of 41 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS FEBRUARY 21, 2024 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES of the council chambers and hand it to the Town Clerk prior to consideration of that agenda item. When your name is called, please approach the podium, speak into the microphone, and state your name for the public record. Please limit your comments to three minutes. It is the policy of the Mayor and council to not comment on items brought forth under call to the public. However, staff can be directed to report back to the council at a future date or to schedule items raised for a future council agenda. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. Angela. Please note her words for tonight because we're going to be enforcing them and our rules of procedure with little to no flexibility for the time being. This isn't the way I usually would proceed with things or really needed to in the past. I've always liked people to finish their sentences and such, but -- and welcome conversation and encourage input, but our meetings have become habitually long, untenable as a means to do business in a reasonable way. So for the good of the public interest, we'll be doing that. Council, and staff, and guests, and those with items that are before us and our community at large expect professionalism and respect from us and from each other. Therefore, as described by our attorney and our rules of procedure, as previously announced, the town clerk will not accept comment cards for calls to the public or for an agenda item once that item has been announced. And speakers are limited to the three minutes. We'll be enforcing the basic procedure that all present in the chambers speak through the chair and be recognized. If the speaker is not recognized, they could be called out of order. I'm not going to be automatically recognizing points of personal privilege. Points of personal privilege are not prescribed for in our rules of procedure and, in any event, are within the discretion of the chair of a meeting to grant. Further, I will not be having requests to explain the vote because there is ample opportunity to discuss all items and explain our reasoning before we take the roll call. Also, as stated at a recent meeting, reports from the council are reserved for providing Page 3 of 41 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS FEBRUARY 21, 2024 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES an update on activities performed in our official capacities. It's not an appropriate time to express opinions or provide extra information. And the reason for that, of course, is -- and also during the call to the public has to do with open meeting law. So back and forth with the public is not allowed. While we can respond to direct criticism and, again, ask staff to look for other items and put them on a future agenda, we are restricted -- restricted by open meeting laws that make it impossible to have debates or one sided comments. Since the topic is not on an agenda, the public wouldn't be afforded the opportunity to participate and that's a violation of state law. I've been informed by legal counsel of the options we have to maintain professional conduct and decorum, which includes, you know, the gavel as usual but also can include recessing and adjourning meetings. I'm reluctant to do any of those things. I never want to. I don't want to use the gavel. So I'm asking for your help in this and asking for your consideration. And with that, I will ask our manager, Rachel Goodwin, for her announcements or activities to report from the last couple of weeks and anything coming up. GOODWIN: Thank you, Mayor. Council, guests, I just want to give a little credit to all of the events that we've had going on. Last weekend was no exception. It was beautiful. We had our skate park competition where we had 37 competitive entries as well as over 200 spectators come out to enjoy our new skate park. We also welcomed the delayed, but no less wonderful, Concourse in the Hills where we had 1,000 cars and about 5 helicopters on site. Again, really well attended. This weekend is the fair. So a reminder to our locals to come out and join us for the fair. There will be road closures in effect, so plan for that. And then lastly, just a reminder that our Community Center will serve as a ballot drop- off station only starting Monday. It'll run Monday through Friday next week. That's what I have. Thank you. TOTH: Hi, Mayor. I attended the Fountain Hills Republican Club's candidate forum on Saturday. What an awesome opportunity to hear from some of our candidates running Page 4 of 41 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS FEBRUARY 21, 2024 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES for office this year. We had, of course, Councilmember Friedel, Gail Earle, Matt Corrigan, Rick Watts from our Planning and Zoning. And it was really exciting to hear from them. So just a cool opportunity to let your voice be heard and let voters make their decision this year. GRZYBOWSKI: I feel like it was a really long two weeks. A whole lot of stuff went on. Arizona League of Cities and Towns, we actually only had one call this go round because we just had the switchover week where the Senate sends their stuff to the House, and the House sends their stuff to the Senate. So we only had one call from them. I also attended the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation Council inauguration. Their new president, Sandy Pattea, used to be on the River of Time Museum board, which I have been on. So we all got a table. It was super exciting to see her get inaugurated as president of Fort McDowell. That was pretty cool. Of course, sadly, that means we have a vacant spot on our board because she can't do both. There's no way she has time to do both. And then I want to be excited about Stellar Student Day. We love today. It is so much fun to see the audience filled up and see the young people and the energy in the audience. Thank you guys for coming. Thank you for what you do. We appreciate you for being here. Thank you Mayor. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. FRIEDEL: Thank you, Mayor. The skate park competition was unbelievable, very crowded, as Rachel mentioned. And also the Concourse in the Hill, it was a little bit slow in the early hours. Maybe a lot of people were at services, but it really picked up during the day. And I heard a lot of our vendors did really well down there as far as selling food in there. The farmer's market is in full swing on Wednesdays here in town. And I did do a business retention call with Amanda, our economic development director, and it was a very interesting one. So thank you. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. MCMAHON: Good evening, everyone. This past Saturday, the Rotary held a Health Fair Page 5 of 41 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS FEBRUARY 21, 2024 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES at the elementary school, and it was really, really great because it was -- there were a lot of vendors there, and they were all local businesses that have to do with the health and welfare of our community. And they are very engaged, and they offer some really pretty terrific services. Also, the community band played Sunday night. And it was really, really a nice event. The choir joined them, so it was extra nice. And I also attended the grand opening of the Phoenix -Mesa Gateway Airport. There is a whole new addition on it, and it just opened today, and there'll be more and more flights out of there. So it's going to be very, very convenient for the people in that area. So thank you. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. Councilman? KALIVIANAKIS: Thank you, Ms. Mayor, and good evening, everybody. And once again, thank you for coming. Thank you for viewing us on Cox Channel 11 for livestreaming on YouTube and for, of course, being here tonight. As our Vice Mayor said, it was an extremely busy two weeks. And so I'm going to take what I normally articulate as the things I've been doing, and I'd just like to narrow it down to just three things that I had a chance to represent the Mayor, this council and the people of Fountain Hills. The first one was again with the Vice Mayor. We went to the 2024 inaugural of meet the tribe, the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation. They swore in that night Gerald Doka as a councilmember, Ernestine Kill as the treasurer, and Sandra Pattea as the president- elect. It was just a beautiful ceremony at the Weekapaug; 450 people in attendance. And it just harkened back to ancestral rituals, respect for past leaders, cultural traditions, and folklore traditions. It was an amazing thing to attend and to be there. They had food and drink afterwards, refreshments, and I was just so proud that we could both be there to represent the town and to welcome them as their new leaders. The second thing that I did that I'd like to share is I did represent the Town of Fountain Hills, the Mayor and its people at the City of Chandler State of the City address. And that was a wonderful thing. We have quite a commitment with the City of Page 6 of 41 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS FEBRUARY 21, 2024 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Chandler. And when the State gave her State of the Town speech, Governor Hartke was there last week with the MLK address. Several other councilmembers were there. And so we've got kind of a special relationship with our friends in Chandler. I was so proud to be there. Just to let you know what they cherish in Chandler, if you go on their website, they're committed to commitment, communication, diversity, innovation, integrity, personal responsibility, respect, and teamwork. And that shows in every one of their Town Council meetings. And so that was a wonderful thing to go to. Lastly I was fortunate enough -- this was at the Grand Canyon University on Sunday night and it was a Not in Our Town, A Night of Hope. That was just a beautiful event. It was actually in the main basketball arena that was filled with thousands of people. With 50 members of the clergy, with law enforcement, and with dignitaries and councilmembers, mayors, senators, state senators, and representatives from all over the State. As you recall last month, the mayor read a proclamation. And so we're one of the new cities to say, not in our town when it comes to trafficking. It's called The Night of Hope. NIOC is a community -centered coalition against human sex and labor trafficking. It unites local, state, federal law enforcement agents, legislators, city officials, frontline organizations, schools, faith communities to educate and equip the public in the fight against human trafficking. Human trafficking of young girls and boys is beyond illegal. It is pure evil. This is modern day slavery, and it's happening on our watch. These young people in many cases have given up hope. They wonder, does anybody remember me? Does anybody even know I'm here? It's up to me. It's up to you. It's up to this council. It's up to our state and local law enforcement, our churches, and our advocacy groups to care and to rescue these children that are being held hostage against their will. Human trafficking will not be tolerated, not in our city. Just one more thing where you can help. If you're looking at a car next to you, or you're at a mall, or you're at a bus station or a train station, the universal sign for distress, just put the thumb here, and the child will go like this. When they do that, that they're not Page 7 of 41 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS FEBRUARY 21, 2024 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES waving at you. They're saying, I'm in trouble, and I need somebody to rescue me. And so please keep that in mind because we're all the solution to this. We can't let this happen on our watch. And so I that's all I have to say tonight. Thank you very much for listening. As you can see, I'm very passionate about this because this is happening not hundreds of years ago, it's happening today, and it's got to stop. SKILLICORN: Thank you, Madam Mayor. Good evening, Fountain Hills. Good evening students. Good evening parents. And how can I not talk about the Fountain Hills Concourse? That was Sunday. What a success it was. What a crowd we had. How many, you know, amazing vehicles were there. But also, there were times that there were a bit of traffic, but it seemed like we alleviated that traffic very quickly. There were people parked like a block away from my house. So there was obviously, you know, parking spread out. So it was maybe a problem or a challenge. But it just really shows that -- how successful that event was. What a great thing it was for our businesses here. And Fountain Hills really shined Sunday. It didn't -- it doesn't hurt that it was a beautiful weather too. And frankly, I just -- I'm just reminded that Fountain Hills is really a city set on a hill, and it cannot be hidden. And you do not light a lamp and put it under a basket. And that is just -- that is actually Matthew 5:14. So thank you very much. It was just a great weekend. And that's my report for tonight. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. Again, I'll remind council that we're reporting on our activities, and I appreciate that. Just, I had a few things. Just the Greater Phoenix Economic Council Mayor Supervisors quarterly meeting, and they talked about the Commerce Authority's four year extension. I know Amanda is interested in that. Healthy international prospects, a lot of activity there. And energy grid resiliency is starting to emerge as an issue that is important to investors and businesses in the State of Arizona. 2024 Nonattainment for Air Quality. Everybody's trying to figure out a way to comply so that we can keep our, what they called, mute mega projects coming into the state. And Page 8 of 41 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS FEBRUARY 21, 2024 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES then Prop 479, which is the extension of Prop 400. Then the League Executive Committee, which I sit upon, we were fortunate to meet with the Governor in her office. And some of the things we talked about were rental tax, zoning bills, housing, and the sober living home bills that are going through legislature now that we support very much. And last, this morning I got to go to Coffee with a Cop, which was at the Starbucks at Target. So their staff, the Starbucks staff and the Target staff are there, the public, they came out to talk to our MCSO officers. And Fountain Hills Fire was there as well. So they were able to talk about topics. And it was just very casual and get to know each other. So that was very, very nice of them. And Target is talking about being interested in taking a more , I guess, position, like Make a Difference Day and things like that. So that's really cool. The next item that we do -- so bear with me because I have a lot of proclamations and things going on here. --but first, we've got our Stellar Students. So the way we do this, kids, is I'll read your name. I'll say what your teachers said about you. And then Angela, who's doing double or triple duty tonight, is going to come down, and she'll give you the certificates, and then we'll all take a picture together. And then while I'm down there, I'm going to be giving a couple of recognitions as well. So as always today we only have one from Little Falcons Preschool, and it's Saylor Gruszecki,. Is Saylor here? I see some movement. There we go. Hi, Saylor. So Saylor was selected for Stellar Students because of her tremendous growth this year in all areas of development. Saylor is excelling in her academic growth, and I'm so proud of her. Saylor is helpful to adults and peers. She's a very good friend and very patient with peers that are still learning. Saylor organizes play and takes on a leadership role, which is so helpful to her younger peers -- her younger peers. She doesn't leave anyone out and is always kind and understanding. For these reasons, I am nominating Saylor for Stellar Student of the month. Saylor. Next we're going to McDowell Mountain Elementary School, and it's Ellie Habicht. Is Ellie here? Hey, I hope I said your name right. Ellie is always a Stellar Student in PE Page 9 of 41 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS FEBRUARY 21, 2024 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES class. She sets a good example with her positive attitude and efforts. She always does her best and is a good friend to others. Ellie is always willing to help others and provide support. She is kind, compassionate and respectful and a pleasure to have in class. Ellie. All right. Next from McDowell, we've got Keaten Baxter. Is Keaten here? Come on up, Keaten. Keaten is a Stellar Student in PE, also. He always does his best in the activities. He's very athletic and a great basketball player. But the thing that makes him a Stellar Student is his positive attitude. He's always smiling. He's kind, and respectful, and helpful with cleanup after activities. He works hard, plays by the rules, and demonstrates good sportsmanship. Keaten Baxter. Moving up to the middle school, we have Ashley Aguilar -Navarro. Is Ashley here? Come on up, Ashley. Ashley comes into class ready to learn daily. I never have to ask her or remind her to get out her materials for the day or start her work. Her calm demeanor makes it easy to have her work and makes it easy to have her work with any student. Ashley is hardworking and a complete joy to have in my class. Ashley. Also from the middle school we have Evan Williamson. Is Evan -- there he comes. Evan is a very hardworking student. He comes to class happy and ready to learn. His home and classwork is always completed, and he has no problem helping others. He participates in class activities and even when the task is challenging. I'm always impressed by Evan's focus in class and his friendly demeanor. He's a joy to have in our class. That's Evan. Now we're going to the high school, and it's Allison Guerrette. Is Allison here? Allison? Come on up. She is an awesome kid in the classroom and out. She maintains good grades and really takes responsibility for her learning. She goes above and beyond as a student to ensure she's getting the most out of the class that she can. Outside of the classroom, she participates in extracurriculars like cross-country and band, representing a well-rounded Falcon. She also volunteers at various events just because she's a good human. She's the epitome of the Falcon way and definitely a Stellar Student. Allison. And from the high school we have Yahshua Harris. Is Yahshua here? Come on up. All Page 10 of 41 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS FEBRUARY 21, 2024 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES right. Yahshua embodies responsibility and excellence. He is a committed student. He not only submits his work on time, but even if he's absent, he takes ownership and makes up his work and keeps pace with the classroom. He's always striving for excellence in all he does. Yahshua. Whoops. I have to take this with me here. All right. You guys have to get close together. We're going to get a picture taken for the newspaper, okay? There you go. And then right there. Thumbs up. All right, you guys. Thank you so much. Okay. So now we're going to go to a proclamation. And then we're going to do a recognition. So the first proclamation we have is for Government Communicators Day. And I think Bo Larsen is the man of the hour. Where are you? Oh, there you are. So I was used to looking at you out there. Okay. So whereas the role of government communications profession is to inform, educate, and engage their communities. And whereas robust communication and government creates trust and inspires residents to take action and be involved. And whereas government communications create relationships and calls to action, builds awareness and understanding through storytelling and fostering engagement on civic issues, using all channels to include people in critical decisions. And whereas it is essential to have strong communications in government because it's a foundational element of living in a democracy where citizens have the freedom to make their voices heard. And whereas the Town of Fountain Hills has deep gratitude and recognition for government communicators' professionalism, dedication, hard work, commitment, enthusiasm, and sacrifice. So now, therefore, I, Ginny Dickey, Mayor, do hereby recognize February 24th, 2024 as Government Communicators Day and extend appreciation to our government communicator -- that's a mouthful -- Bo Larsen and to all who have dedicated their careers to ensure effective, impactful, and successful communication strategies that resonate and are relevant. Thank you Bo. And you have to talk. Page 11 of 41 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS FEBRUARY 21, 2024 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES LARSEN: I don't know -- I don't know what to say. Well, thank you very much. Government communications is quite the profession, especially during these times. But it's one of the first lines of information that residents get. It starts with us. I share with Bob, I share with regional media, I share with national media, the good, and the bad, and the ugly. So it's all about getting the word out. It's about promoting events and promoting this great Town of Fountain Hills. And I know I'm one of the luckiest guys around in the world of government communications. So thank you. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. LARSEN: I have to do a -- . MAYOR DICKEY: I'll take that. LARSEN: Since I can't get my own picture, we're going to do a selfie. Take a selfie. All right. So there you go. Thank you. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. Thanks, Bob. LARSEN: Let's go. I'm not a non-selfie guy. MAYOR DICKEY: All right. Thank you. So is Kevin Beck here? Come on up. You get to hold the heavy one here. BECK: How are you? MAYOR DICKEY: I'm fine. BECK: Good. Thank you. MAYOR DICKEY: There you go. BECK: Thank you. MAYOR DICKEY: All right. Now I have the big -- the big writing. So this is our recognition of Kevin Beck. We'd like to express our gratitude to Kevin, who has served with distinction on the Strategic Planning Advisory Commission since his appointment by the Town Council in 2022. Throughout his tenure, Kevin has proven to be an involved and esteemed member of the Commission, providing significant contributions to key initiatives such as the 2022 Strategic Plan. The Town Council and his fellow commissioners are grateful for his dedicated service and the positive impact that you've had through your work on the Strategic Planning Advisory Commission. So we want to Page 12 of 41 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS FEBRUARY 21, 2024 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES thank you and ask you if you'd like to say a few things. BECK: Well, thank you. Thank you very much. We love Fountain Hills. We've been here about 13, 14 years. And what a treat. And we meet a lot of good people on the SPAC Committee and also with the International Dark Sky Development Center, which some of my friends are there. We made a quick move to be with our grandkids. We're getting old, downsizing, and being with family so no longer here in Fountain Hills unfortunately. But, thank you. MAYOR DICKEY: Well, we appreciate all your work. Thank you so much. We really appreciate it. Thank you. All right. Thank you everyone for your indulgence here. Thank you everyone. We have no presentations tonight so we go straight to call to the public. ESPIRITU: Thank you, Mayor. I want to start first with Crystal Cavanaugh, and then next will be Barry Wolborsky. CAVANAUGH: Good evening, Mayor and Council. P&Z is the usual setting to obtain pertinent information that the council needs to make fully informed decisions. P&Z asks the hard questions, gets the details and minutia regarding the specific development plans. They rejected this rezone due to the lack of key information. But just a few weeks later, you disregarded their concerns, and you approved it. Had you seen this specific plan with a specific development agreement regarding the 316 high density, 55 foot high apartment project with parking garage that you approved? No, you didn't. You saw a glossy, pretty picture up on the screen that they weren't even locked into. You then approved it, four to three. Since you voted on it, it does not go back to P&Z to get the details worked out. It does not come back to the council for any input. Without the referendum to slow this process down, it will be left entirely in the hands of John and Farhad to make any and all decisions about what's acceptable. No more input required from anyone. The council approved the rezone without a clear development agreement. This particular developer may not even be the one to build it. Did you think of that? If he sold the property to someone else with this rezone and vague guidelines, what Page 13 of 41 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS FEBRUARY 21, 2024 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES would they choose to build? While collecting the over 1800 signatures for the referendum, we found that many residents had no idea about this project. Some were just hearing about it. And why? Because there was only one public meeting with this Town Council. It did not go on over several transparent meetings in the public forum, as it should have, in order to nail down the necessary details and provide time for the public to become aware. But I have some questions. Just before being voted -- just before being voted down at P&Z, when Clayton pushed for that premature vote, why would the developer not want further discussion to make their case? I know commissioners did not -- did give them that option. Why would the developer be so confident of a yes vote as to quickly proceed on to Town Council? Why wouldn't the developer think that he should make some modifications, such as changes to density or height, for example? Perhaps add more green space, or add more parking, or even throw in a traffic light? Or how about presenting an agreement for a specific plan? Things that could encourage a council or community to get on board. Shouldn't a council take the needed time to get the best for their community? Why would a council have four prepared speeches ready to go January 17th when they hadn't even heard the developer's pitch that night or concerns from the public yet? If there was indeed a parking agreement, were all the councilmembers aware of it or just one? In the rush to approve the high density rezone without complete information, along with pushing community members to withdraw their signatures from petitions, the town, the Town Council and the chamber did a disservice to the residents. And that's why we have a referendum. WOLBORSKY: I'm Barry Wolborsky. I live here too. And my talk isn't going to be as exciting as the last one. Some time ago, several councilmembers spoke to our MCSO officers about spending more time patrolling in the neighborhoods and less time hiding on side roads and parking lots with radar guns. It seemed to work for a while, but the situation has returned and has gotten even worse than it was before. And last week I've seen a deputy parked on Arista Lane twice with their radar gun. Arista Lane, as you may Page 14 of 41 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS FEBRUARY 21, 2024 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES know, is about a half a mile west of Fry's and is right at the edge of our community. If this deputy had to respond to an emergency in town, he could not be further away and still be in town. With our uncertain MCSO staffing, this could be a major problem. I live on Sunset Drive. I've lived there for four and a half years and have never seen a deputy patrolling my street, ever. Our MCSO contract bills us for 300,000 miles per year of driving. I think since we're paying for all those miles, we ought to use them by having the deputies patrol the neighborhoods. ESPIRITU: Next we have Henry Male. MALE: Good evening and thank you, Mayor, Councilmembers. My name is Henry Male. I lived here for 20 years and I'm a -- full disclosure -- an independent running for Town Council. But that's not why I'm here. First, I just want to say that I'm dismayed that despite due process taking place, and that what I think is the right move to to help spur economic growth and vitality to this -- to this town and this community, we have people trying to undermine it with the call for referendum. And being told that it doesn't cost anything to do that is disingenuous and misleading in all means because there is indeed a talk -- there is a cost to this. Secondly, and again, I'm going to be short. I do want to call upon the council to adopt, you know, proper decorum. What we saw here at the last meeting and what has been going on here for a while is, well, it's embarrassing as an adult. You know, my wife and I have disagreed on every political forum there's been for 33 years. But we love each other and that's okay. You can be different. We don't have to agree, but we have to respect people. And that did not take place two weeks ago, and it has not been taken place uniformly recently with this council. And that's a shame. And it's an embarrassment. You're adults. You're a grownups. You've been elected by the town to represent the town, not a faction, not a person, but the town as a whole. You sitting up there -- and if God willing, I make it up here -- it's my job to represent everybody and to recognize everybody. But I don't have to understand or agree with them. I do have to respect them. And I'm asking and imploring this council to start respecting everybody. That's it. Thank you for listening. Page 15 of 41 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS FEBRUARY 21, 2024 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES ESPIRITU: Next we have Ben Larrabee. And then after him will be Mathew Corrigan. LARRABEE: Howdy y'all. I'm Ben. So I want to address what happened in the last council meeting, which was also my first. And from what I understand, most are not that rowdy. I'd like to address the fact that multiple councilmembers sitting here today were called bigots for claiming that children are indoctrinated, groomed, and irreparably harmed by the LGBTQ movement and its allies, which puzzled me, because not only are all of these things true, it's impossible for anybody to deny them. So I figured I should drop by to correct the record. To claim that I heard that assaults don't happen in gender neutral bathrooms, this is a lie. See Irvine, California, or Riverside rather, where a student assaulted girls after flashing them in the locker room and then proceeded to beat them once they confronted him. See Peoria, right up the road, where a student was assaulted by another dysphoric student after he told him to stop scaring girls in the women's locker room. And of course, we all know Loudoun County, Virginia, where a couple of years ago, multiple girls were assaulted by a student who was allowed to use whichever bathroom he wanted. And of course, before anybody says that these are anecdotal evidence, just note that a survey of trans identifying inmates in Canadian prisons, half were convicted of sexual assault and upwards of 90 percent were convicted of violent crimes, well above the general prison population. It's important to note this for the same reason that after transitioning, people become more at risk for self -harm and depression. Why? For the simple fact of the matter is, when you deny somebody is in a false mental state, you put them at risk for continuing to deteriorate and then to harm themselves and those around them. Now to the claim that I heard that children are not being groomed, this is also a lie. In Appomattox, Virginia, a student was trafficked because her guidance counselor refused to tell her parents. MAYOR DICKEY: Sir, what does this have to do with business for the council? LARRABEE: I'm getting there, I'm getting there. Page 16 of 41 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS FEBRUARY 21, 2024 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE SPEAKER: This is Call to the Public, Mayor MAYOR DICKEY: I'm sorry? UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE SPEAKER: This is Call to the Public. MAYOR DICKEY: Call of the Public is for business. It absolutely does have to [cross -talk]. LARRABEE: Yes. And I'm getting there. And I'm getting there, and I reclaim my time. So a student was trafficked because her guidance counselor refused to tell her parents that she was transitioning. Instead, she was referred to an anonymous, gender affirming online forum that allowed her predator to court, stalk, and then abduct her. To the claim that I heard that transitioning does not harm children at all, this is a lie. The puberty blockers used on dysphoric teenagers permanently sterilize them. Other drugs that are used in the transition process cause a lifetime of health complications, ranging from mood swings, depression, osteoporosis, heart attacks, and multiple forms of cancer. And I wish to say to the councilmembers that pointing this out does not harm anybody. What does cause harm is ignoring the generational damage adults that should know better are inflicting on children to satisfy their own ideological and sexual preferences. So to councilmembers I say, you've done nothing wrong. You've said nothing wrong. So please ignore the noise and then get back to work. Thank you. CORRIGAN: Good evening, Mayor, Councilmembers. Mathew Corrigan, homeowner, full-time resident of Fountain Hills. I'd like to preface my written remarks tonight by saying that I'm encouraged by the Mayor's address previous to this meeting and I thought indicated maybe a change in in the way that we proceed. Maybe not. I support the U.S. Constitution First Amendment to free speech for all speakers in Fountain Hills, with the exception of those who violate Robert's Rules of Order in regard to disorderly conduct, threatening behavior, physical confrontation, and profanity. I do not support overreaching attempts to constrain speech as I stated to this Town Council on August 6th, 2023, in regard to Resolution 2023-30, which was rife with censorship. When I attended the 2-6-24 Town Council meeting two weeks ago, in regard to resolution -- pardon me -- was -- I was very disappointed with the Mayor. And let me Page 17 of 41 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS FEBRUARY 21, 2024 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES tell you why. Her apparent inability or unwillingness to control the meeting disturbed me. Councilmember Skillicorn and Councilmember Friedel were vilified by a speaker when questioned by Councilmember Friedel if the speaker was the source of a falsified, vile, lewd, and inflammatory image of the 45th president of the United States. She then made aggressive and threatening, profane -filled remarks directly pointed at Councilmembers Friedel and Skillicorn. The speaker later left the meeting while screaming profane slurs while exiting the building. The meeting was brought back to order, unfortunately not by the Mayor, but by the town attorney, who shouted stop and called for order. The Mayor seemed to defend rather than admonish, in my opinion, the disruptive behavior of the departing speaker. View the video if you don't agree with my stance. You can do that and judge for yourself. I suggest you begin with 1 hour and 20 minutes on the video or if you like, view the whole thing. It's your council. It's your decision. And as the public knows, full visibility is important. My hope in bringing this subject up tonight before the public is to encourage the Mayor to use more discretion in the future. I'm encouraged by what she said previously. Thank you. MAYOR DICKEY: Okay. Thank you. Obviously, the comments are people's opinions, and we'll just leave it at that. Our next item is our consent agenda. Can I get a motion, please? TOTH: Move to approve. GRZYBOWSKI: Second. MAYOR DICKEY: Yes, councilmember? KALIVIANAKIS: I'd like to pull 8C off the consent agenda and put on the regular agenda, Ms. Mayor. MAYOR DICKEY: Okay. So let's just say we have a motion to approve the consent agenda of A and B, right? Okay. Roll call, please. ESPIRITU: Councilmember Toth. TOTH: Aye. Page 18 of 41 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS FEBRUARY 21, 2024 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES ESPIRITU: Councilmember Friedel. FRIEDEL: Aye. ESPIRITU: Councilmember Skillicorn. SKILLICORN: Aye ESPIRITU: Council member Kalivianakis. KALIVIANAKIS: Aye. ESPIRITU: Councilmember McMahon. MCMAHON: Aye. ESPIRITU: Vice -Mayor Grzybowski. GRZYBOWSKI: Aye. ESPIRITU: Mayor Dickey. MAYOR DICKEY: Aye. Thank you. So what we do in these circumstances is take that item and make it the first one on the regular agenda. So that would be approval of a lease agreement between the town and AMR ambulance services. And if you have questions, do you want to have Dave come up or the chief? KALIVIANAKIS: Can I just address the council and then -- MAYOR DICKEY: Oh, sure. KALIVIANAKIS: -- we can go in that direction? MAYOR DICKEY: Yeah. KALIVIANAKIS: Okay. Thank you. And thank you for pulling this off the consent agenda. This is for housing the AMR ambulance crew in our fire stations. The AMR, as proposed, will pay the town $31,500 for the first year for their entire crew to use our facilities. As we all know, with all the talk about apartment buildings and how expensive it is to live in Fountain Hills, $31,500 is what I think it would take to to live at Park Place for a single person for the year. And so it just seems to me that that figure is extraordinarily low. And we took Fire in-house, which is not profitable. But the ambulance services are extremely profitable for the ambulance provider. For them to only be compensating us for them to be staying in our fire stations that token amount, I find kind of offensive. Page 19 of 41 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS FEBRUARY 21, 2024 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES The second thing is -- and there will be a 3 percent increase for the terms of the lease. The lease is for one 5-year term and for two 2 year renewals. As we all know, if you're keeping track of Fountain Hills current events, last year we passed a 7 percent cost of living adjustment to our staff because of the extraordinary expenses that people have been paying recently. And we've thought that was fair. I wish it could have actually been more. For AMR to be capped at 3 percent per year, that does not take the cost of living into effect. I wonder if the cost of living for this type of thing is 7 or 8 or 9 percent? We don't know how the future is going to roll. We don't know if there's going to be a recession next year, which I heard there might be. And so again, to say that -- to put a cap of three and not to acknowledge that that number should be based on reality, what's on the ground, what should be the cost of living be to increase that? I'm just a little uncomfortable with that. I did bring this to the attention of our town manager. And I told her I'd be pulling this off tonight. So at this point, you know what my concerns are. And if Chief Ott or somebody would like to address my concerns, I would really appreciate it. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. Chief, would you come up? I'd like -- you know, if you'd like to respond. And then I have a couple questions if you don't cover that. OTT: Good evening, Mayor and Council. We are 52 days strong as Fountain Hills Fire Department. I am not a rental lease expert. I will tell you that the amount in the original lease was based on what AMR had been paying at the Frys Center. We had , to give you a little background on that, around 2005, when Scottsdale Fire had gone on their own, it left a hole in the west end of town for stopping the clock on medical emergencies. Chief LaGreca had thought that if we put one of the ambulances in a storefront on the west end of town, that would help with our responses in those areas and get ALS response much quicker than when the ambulance was coming from the old Station 2 location down on Saguaro, kind of behind Target. The original fee was based on what they had been paying at the Target Center at that point up until 2018 when we moved them into the new Fire Station 2. And that works Page 20 of 41 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS FEBRUARY 21, 2024 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES out to about $2,600 a month at the 3,100 or $31,000 a year. So at that point it seemed that that was a reasonable expectation for rent. They do occupy two rooms and have a bathroom, shower, and cooking facilities in there. I don't know what that breaks down to square footage. But it's much less than a studio apartment, I would think, as we come into the two modest bunk rooms that they occupy. It also gives them the ability to park the ambulance. As we saw with their original proposal when we asked for two ambulances and they were wanting a subsidy on that, most private ambulance companies that have responses in contracts across the country are looking for some sort of subsidy. We were able to get them down to provide us one ambulance full-time here, and they're moving a second ambulance up at peak times, which for us is really the hours between 7 a.m. and probably 5 p.m. We seem to double up a lot of calls at that point. So they're moving that other ambulance up here again without the contract that requires a subsidy. We're not giving the space away. And we think that from our side that we think it's a reasonable expectation. It was tied to the original fire contract, and the original fire contract itself had the 3 percent escalator per year in there. And that, again, reflected back into the lease agreement that was there. Once the fire contract went away, the lease agreement was tied to that. When there was no fire contract with rural Metro, there was no lease agreement for AMR up until the point that at the end of December, when we had finalized that they were going to still provide service to us and that they needed a spot in town, that made it beneficial to them to be able to come in and occupy that space at that -- at that lease. It might affect the relationship between what they're able to provide if they had to pay more money for a storefront. But we would like to think that we have a hundred percent occupancy rate in our buildings. GRZYBOWSKI: This isn't a question. This is actually a comment. Generally speaking, commercial rent is less expensive than residential rent. If you take that $31,500 and divide it by 12, you come up with $2,625. And granted, I don't know exactly how many square feet the people are occupying. So instead of dividing it by square feet, what I'm Page 21 of 41 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS FEBRUARY 21, 2024 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES doing is I'm going to divide it by $21, which is the going rate, $21, $22 per square foot for some of the commercial spaces here in town. That comes up with about 125 square feet. I imagine they're renting much more than that. I just wanted to go through the math part portion for you so you can see where we are commercial rate -wise. While I agree $31,500 is a little inexpensive, not a whole lot when you use the $21 calculation. But in all honesty, commercial rent is way cheaper than residential rent. I have talked to a number of business owners that have said that if they could rent something to live in for what they get their commercial rate at, then this would be the city that they would live in. But unfortunately it's not because we don't have that going for our market rate. So anyway, that's a really long way to say, I think we're good with the $31,500, 3 percent might be a little low, but if that's something that we were doing before, I feel like we need to stick with that number. Thank you. KALIVIANAKIS: Okay. Thank you, Ms. Mayor. And just just to illuminate further how big is the crew and how many people are we housing? OTT: Two people for a 24-hour period. KALIVIANAKIS: Okay. And they serve the whole 24-hour period. OTT: Correct. KALIVIANAKIS: Okay. Okay. And then is the the food included in that? And -- OTT: No, they provide their own food -- KALIVIANAKIS: Okay. Good. OTT: -- their own other living supplies, sheets, blankets, that type of thing. KALIVIANAKIS: Okay. Good. Good to know. FRIEDEL: I think Brenda's point was 3 percent ongoing is a little bit light when inflation is all over the place. So maybe we just -- is there a possibility of tying it to the CPI? It's a commonly used index. And then you don't have to worry about what they're paying right now. And also commercial space in town is right now between $14 and $16 a square foot, depending on whether it's land or office. But just my thought, tie it to an index and let it float, if we can. Page 22 of 41 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS FEBRUARY 21, 2024 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES ARNSON: Mayor and Council, Councilman Friedel's point is, I understand his point. If we're going to go down the road of talking about the substance of the agreement and getting into renegotiation of it, I would suggest that we recess into executive session to have those discussions, and they not take place publicly. But if we're not going to go down that road, then there's no issue. MAYOR DICKEY: I just want to point out that Chief said that this amount was tied to services that we were getting. And by increasing the rent, we may be touching on the level of service that we get. So I wouldn't really be in favor of doing that. And I just also wanted to ask a little bit about the idea that ambulances are that profitable. Did you -- do you have any thoughts on that? OTT: Mayor, Council, I have my own thoughts on ambulance service in the fire service. There is quite a bit of fire -based ambulance service across the country. A lot of it is done for convenience and control. I think that it would be hard-pressed to find very many fire chiefs to say that the the ambulance portion of their fire service is a very profitable and equitable service. What it does is it gives you full control over what you're providing for your residents. And I think there's a value in that, that you can't put a dollar amount on. As we're moving forward and as we move to the point of where we are going on our own, we are looking at the possibility of applying for a CON, which is the first part of being able to have an ambulance service. And luckily for us, as many things in the fire service, it's not a new model that we'd be looking at, but we will be looking at that. I'd like to get about 90 days under our belt first, moving forward with our department before we start looking at the the other options there. Our neighboring departments are all moving towards that fire service ambulance provider. And it creates some challenges. Finding paramedics these days is -- is a challenge. And do you do it as a civilian side or a fire -based side, a sworn side? Those are options that we'll take a look at and see if that ends up being the way that we want to proceed with the ambulance service in town. That would put it fully back under our control. Page 23 of 41 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS FEBRUARY 21, 2024 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES But I think there's some challenges in there as well. We don't necessarily have a billing mechanism set up. We would need to kind of look at a third -party billing. And ambulance billing is tricky when you get into insurances and proper coding and all of those things. But it's -- it's something that we'll take a look at and see if that's -- if that will be a benefit to us moving forward. KALIVIANAKIS: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Just to be clear, Aaron, If we did a motion to approve the lease agreement but with the cost of living index in place of the 3 percent, would that require an executive session? ARNSON: No, it wouldn't require an executive session if there were further discussion about other substantive points. That's fine. We could do that. But if that's the direction, I would advise the council that you wouldn't be able to -- obviously, you could approve with that caveat. We'd have to take it back to the contractor to determine whether that's an acceptable change. And if it's not, we have to come back and talk again. KALIVIANAKIS: Okay. Thank you. And then if you do proceed with the CON, what kind of time period would we be talking about to know if that was going to be practical, usable and if we've got the logistics, the billing capability, to see if that would be done? Because if it's temporary that we live with the 3 percent for a year or two, I don't think it's a big deal. But if it's going to be many years, it could -- it could be a lot of money. OTT: Mayor, Council member, the CON process itself, it can take anywhere from six to -- six months to a year to get that part of it in. I think that we would also need to come back. We would have capital purchases for ambulances and increased personnel. So that's going to be a couple of year process through there. We did have the three percent increase for at both stations when we had ambulance companies -- or ambulances at both stations. So we'll take whatever direction you give us and -- FRIEDEL: Chief, how many firefighters now are paramedics that we have on our -- on our staff? OTT: We have two that are in the final stage of testing, which will give us 20 out of our 30. We also have a grant opportunity to send possibly two more, which would give us Page 24 of 41 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS FEBRUARY 21, 2024 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES 22 out of the 30 field personnel as paramedics. And that is probably the highest average out of any department in the area. FRIEDEL: I was going to say that's outstanding. Thank you. KALIVIANAKIS: I guess this time I'd like to just make a motion to table this lease agreement to the March 19th Town Council meeting, where maybe our manager and our attorney could could take this up and see if we have any options available. I'd like to put that as a motion. FRIEDEL: Second. MAYOR DICKEY: Although -- please, a roll call for tabling. ESPIRITU: Councilmember Skillicorn. SKILLICORN: Yes. ESPIRITU: Councilmember Kalivianakis. KALIVIANAKIS: Yes. ESPIRITU: Councilmember McMahon. MCMAHON: No. ESPIRITU: Councilmember Toth. TOTH: Yes. ESPIRITU: Councilmember Friedel. FRIEDEL: Yes. ESPIRITU: Vice -Mayor Grzybowski. GRZYBOWSKI: Nay. ESPIRITU: Mayor Dickey. MAYOR DICKEY: No. So We'II table it till the 19th. Does this have ramifications to you? Well, I guess I can't talk about it, so. OTT: Mayor, Council, I just have one question if I can? We currently have them in place. How would you like us to proceed with the lease payments at this point? ARNSON: Well, Mayor and Council, my unsolicited -- some unsolicited advice. That I think that the arrangement should just continue and maintain the status quo until, if that's possible operationally until the item comes back. Page 25 of 41 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS FEBRUARY 21, 2024 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES KALIVIANAKIS: Yeah, I think that's that's reasonable. And that's how I'd like to proceed. Just a status quo until we can just meet for one more council meeting. OTT: Okay. Thank you. I'll relay that to the AMR. Thank you. MAYOR DICKEY: Our next item is approval of recommendation for the appointment of a member to the Town's Boards, Commissions, and Committees. That would be that a Town staff recommended that we appoint Randy Crader for partial terms February 1st, '24 to April 30th, '25 to the Strategic Planning Advisory Commission. If Randy is here, I would say congratulations and thank you for your service. Do I have a motion to approve Randy Crader for a term to the Strategic Planning Advisory Commission? MCMAHON: So moved. SKILLICORN: Second. MAYOR DICKEY: Roll call, please. ESPIRITU: Councilmember Kalivianakis. KALIVIANAKIS: Aye. ESPIRITU: Councilmember McMahon. MCMAHON: Aye. ESPIRITU: Councilmember Toth TOTH: Aye. ESPIRITU: Councilmember Friedel. FRIEDEL: Aye. ESPIRITU: Councilmember Skillicorn. SKILLICORN: Aye. ESPIRITU: Vice -Mayor Grzybowski. GRZYBOWSKI: Aye. ESPIRITU: Mayor Dickey. MAYOR DICKEY: Aye. Thank you very much. Our next item is approval of actually sunsetting our McDowell Mountain Preservation Commission. Rachel, would you like to kick it off, please? GOODWIN: Sure, I can do that. I've had the pleasure to work with the MMPC for a Page 26 of 41 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS FEBRUARY 21, 2024 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES number of years in different roles. And they are a fantastic, hardworking group and have done a lot for our town. The MMPC was founded to help establish and create the Adero Canyon trailhead. As we know, that trailhead has been established and is a well - loved and well -used amenity in our community. That was sort of the charter purpose of the commission. And after the trailhead was founded and established, they continued to work to help us develop standards, help us develop guides, help us develop operational procedures. And as they have finished that process they among themselves, as part of the commission, have decided that they feel like their purpose has been served. So they did take a vote internally to recommend sunset of the commission. I know a number of them are here. I know Kevin, who is our current staff liaison, is here, so I'd be happy if anybody would like to speak. MAYOR DICKEY: All right. Thank you. I understand that several members are here, so I'm going to call your name. If you would come up, and then I will read what your peers have said and present you with the plaque. So I think that Sherry Irwin is not here, but I do want to mention her. And Brian Jennings also I don't believe is here. Bill Craig, come on up. Scott Grzybowski., I know I saw you. Janice Holden and Steve Nurney and DJ Willard. All right. You guys did it on purpose, right? All right, so DJ, Steve, Bill and Scott. All right. So, a couple of folks that aren't here, so I'm going to read about them so they don't get shortchanged. And then we'll hit you guys, and you can say a few words. First is Sherry Irwin. She served on the commission since April of 2022. Her dedication and newer perspective of the Preserve brought many great ideas to the commission and the Town of Fountain Hills. Her many hours of volunteer service are sincerely appreciated by staff, council and her fellow commissioners. And also Brian Jennings, we'd like to recognize him. He's been on the commission since May of 2021. His dedication, his work, group efforts, and support to the Commission and the Town of Fountain Hills have been evident in his many hours of volunteer service and sincerely appreciated by staff, council and fellow commissioners. Page 27 of 41 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS FEBRUARY 21, 2024 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES So hold on one second here, because I think Janice is not here either. So let me find her paper. Yeah, I thought she was, but okay. So tonight we would like to recognize Janice Holden, who has served on McDowell Mountain Preservation Commission since January 2020. Her dedication, her attention to detail with the trail master plan and support to the commission and the Town of Fountain Hills have been evidence also many hours of volunteer service, and she is, as well, sincerely appreciated by staff, council and her fellow commissioners. Okay. You guys, so I'll do it all. And then you guys can take turns touting all your wonderful work, which it's just an amazing accomplishment, and we can't thank you enough. We'll start with Bill Craig, who has served on the Preservation Commission since 2012. Your dedication, your trail design, your vision of the Preserve and support to the Commission have been evident by so many hours of volunteer service. As a trail designer, you're a trailblazer, a visionary of the Preserve, and you're sincerely appreciated by staff, council and commission. Next we have Scott. I think there was a little extra in here. Tonight -- you'll know what I mean. You will recognize Scott Gryzbowski, who has served on the McDowell Mountain Preservation Commission since February of 2019. His willingness to be chair, dedication and support to the commission and the Town of Fountain Hills have been evident in his many hours of volunteer service as a muscle toting, rock moving trailblazer. And you are sincerely appreciated by the staff, the council and your fellow commissioners. I thought maybe they had that mixed up with Janice, but no, they meant you. Steve, tonight we'd like to recognize Steve Nurney, who has served on the commission since May of 2021. His dedication creating the trail naming survey and the mountain bikers' vision, and support of the commission has been so evident. And you were vice - chair and had many hours of volunteer service, and you are sincerely appreciated by staff, council and your fellow commissioners. And DJ, we would like to recognize you. You've served on the commission since November of 2020. Your dedication, participation in trail difficulty rating guide Page 28 of 41 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS FEBRUARY 21, 2024 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES development, and support of the commission and the Town of Fountain Hills has been evident with your many hours as a trailblazer. And you are sincerely appreciated by staff, council and fellow commissioners. I love the way they pointed out the different contributions that each of you made to this tremendous effort. It's just unbelievable. So if you guys like to say a few words as you sunset -- as you go into the sunset? We'll start with you, Scott. S. GRYZBOWSKI: Sure. I mean, first of all, thank you. It's been an honor to be on the commission and have such an impact to our trails. And I do have to give a shout out to old Bill Myers. I know he's been recognized in the past, but he's the original chair. And he really worked extremely hard to get the ACT or Adero Canyon Trailhead built. So again, I just want to thank you and everybody in the town for letting us do our job. CRAIG: My complete thanks to Mayor and council. It's been a pleasure to be able to do something I enjoy. Thank you. NURNEY: I echo all that. Thank you all. The town is just so fortunate to have such a treasure right in our backyard. And it's just been really an honor to continue to preserve it, have a part in it. WILLARD: I want to call out Rachel and Kevin and Bill as far as really making this commission a success and getting a lot done and being productive and contributing to the town and in the Preserve in terms of having a pristine place to enjoy nature. So thanks to thanks to all of you. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you so much. We got to get a picture taken. I did want to ask you guys how you managed to make it snow that one time up there. That was awesome. Thank you so much again for your hard work. And speaking of, our next item is approving the lease agreement. GOODWIN: Mayor, I'm sorry to interrupt you. I think we actually need to take action to formally sunset. MAYOR DICKEY: Oh, see, I don't even want to do it, so. Okay. Who wants to make the motion? I'll let you do it, Sharon. GRYZBOWSKI: I moved to approve Resolution 2024-06 and Ordinance 24-07 to sunset Page 29 of 41 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS FEBRUARY 21, 2024 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES the MMPC. FRIEDEL: Second. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. Roll call please. SKILLICORN: Are you sure? ESPIRITU: Councilmember McMahon MCMAHON: Aye. ESPIRITU: Councilmember Toth. TOTH: Aye. ESPIRITU: Councilmember Friedel. FRIEDEL: Aye. ESPIRITU: Councilmember Skillicorn. SKILLICORN: Aye. ESPIRITU: Councilmember Kalivianakis KALIVIANAKIS: Aye. ESPIRITU: Vice -Mayor Grzybowski. GRZYBOWSKI: Aye. ESPIRITU: Mayor Dickey. MAYOR DICKEY: Aye. And thank you again so much. So now we're ready to move on to our International Dark Sky Discovery Center lease. Rachel or Aaron? Aaron. ARNSON: Sure. Thank you. Mayor, council, you are all aware of the reason we're here tonight is to approve a long time coming and long awaited lease agreement so that this project, the International Dark Sky Discovery Center, can get underway. You're all aware of the terms of the agreement. We've discussed them both in executive session. You've seen the -- you've seen draft copies of the lease. Now, a final copy of that for your consideration and approval is attached to the agenda tonight. The staff is excited about the potential opportunities that this presents. And I know that the applicant, or rather, the proposed lessee is here -- is here tonight to talk to us. And I imagine that Joe or Joe or Jeff or somebody is going to have a presentation. So with Page 30 of 41 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS FEBRUARY 21, 2024 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES that, I'll turn the time over to them. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. Come on up. AMANDA: Just pulling up the PowerPoint, a jack of all trades. YAZZETTA: Thank you, Amanda. Good evening, Mayor, councilmembers, staff. Geoff Yazzetta, resident and board member of the International Dark Sky Discovery Center. I believe the last update that we provided was in 2022 after the site plan was approved. So obviously the lease agreement is a major checkpoint for both our organization and for the town. So I wanted to take a few minutes to give you an overview and bring you up to speed on where we're at. So let me see if I can figure this out. Okay. Some highlights and an overview of the International Dark Sky Discovery Center. First, it's a 23,000 square foot, first of its kind, STEM facility that will be located here in the town's Civic Center complex adjacent to Centennial Circle. The major interior components are the Dark Sky Observatory, which will feature a 27 -- 27 and a half inch plane wave telescope which, when installed, will be the largest mounted telescope in the greater Phoenix area. Pretty exciting. The Hyperspace Planetarium is going to seat 66 guests and will feature 3D technology, where we'll be able to give you the point of view from anywhere in the universe. The Inspiration Theater will seat 150 guests and will have state of the art projection and sound system technology. The Night Sky Experience is an interactive exhibit hall that will go into the history of light pollution and its negative effects on plants, animals and human beings. And the Einstein Exploration Station is a classroom setup where there will be a hands- on, deep dive opportunity to learn more about the physics of light. One other item that's not listed as a major component, but I know Pluto came up during the last council session towards the end, I want to let you know that the Pluto Snacks -- the Pluto Snack Station will be a part of the Discovery Center. So Pluto, which was discovered here in Arizona at the Lowell Observatory in 1930 will receive proper recognition at the Discovery Center. There are a variety of partnership opportunities that will come about, potentially, with Page 31 of 41 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS FEBRUARY 21, 2024 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES ASU, community colleges, and local high schools. And there are a wide range of uses for the space. When it's open, we can do things like lectures, research, tours, star parties, receptions, and much, much more. The facility has been designed by SWABACK Architects and will be built by McCarthy. So we have partnered with two of the very best in the business to bring this facility to life. Some key historical dates, in 2015, the Fountain Hills Dark -Sky Association was formed with the goal of preserving dark skies here in town. In 2016, Town Council unanimously approved the updated Outdoor Lighting ordinance. And in 2017, the town and the association fulfilled all the Dark Sky International requirements for a dark sky designation. January 8th of 2018, Fountain Hills was recognized as the world's 17th dark sky community. This is really important because as of today, I believe there are 46 dark sky communities worldwide. So it's a rare honor for Fountain Hills to have this designation. In 2019, the International Dark Sky Discovery Center board was formed with the mission of dreaming up, designing, and ultimately delivering this incredible facility. In 2022, as I mentioned, the town unanimously approved the site plan and elevations. And April 8th, which is right around the corner, many of you are probably aware there's a solar eclipse taking place that day but that is not the most exciting event occurring on April 8th. That is the day that we will be having our official groundbreaking ceremony, and we look forward to commemorating the start of our construction phase with all of you on that date. Current status and next steps. To date, we have raised a little more than $18-1/2 million for the project, out of $25 million total. We are confident that beginning construction will generate a lot of positive momentum on the fundraising front. Our board of directors has been in contact with a number of charitable organizations and high net worth individuals who have expressed interest in making a contribution once we start to go vertical with this. So we are anticipating bridging the gap and completing the fundraising here in the coming year. Permitting. Plans were submitted to town staff on January 31st and are currently in Page 32 of 41 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS FEBRUARY 21, 2024 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES review. We are anticipating comments back in the coming weeks. And on the construction front, McCarthy issued a call for bids in January. Those bids are due on February 23rd. They will then review those bids and come up with a guaranteed maximum price, or GMP. And what that means is that that's a contract where this is the maximum amount that we will pay to build the Discovery Center. We will have that figure by March 20th, and we will have a week to review and approve the contract. As I mentioned, the groundbreaking will take place on April 8th. And construction, we are expecting to begin mid to late April. Once construction begins, if everything goes according to plan, fingers crossed, we are anticipating a soft opening summer of 2025. Mayor, council, with that that concludes my update, and I will answer any questions that you may have. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. First I wanted to ask if we had any speaker cards on this item? ESPIRITU: The town received 105 comment cards. And out of those 103 position was for and only 2 against and those -- you can find those in your comment card packet. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you, Angela. Any questions or comments? Councilman? FRIEDEL: Thank you, Mayor. This is a really exciting time for the Town of Fountain Hills. So I want to thank everybody for all their years of hard work and efforts toward this. We're looking forward to this. It's really exciting. Thank you. MCMAHON: I would also like to say thank you very much. The dedication, the determination and the drive that the board has had to bring such a momentous event, you know, and to have something like this educational, you know, in conjunction with our dark skies is just phenomenal. And I would like to personally thank you as well. And I would also like to move to adopt the resolution approving the lease agreement between the Town of Fountain Hills and the International Dark Sky Discovery Center. So again, thank you. SKILLICORN: Second. FRIEDEL: Second. MAYOR DICKEY: Rush to second. Any other comments? Roll call please. Page 33 of 41 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS FEBRUARY 21, 2024 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES ESPIRITU: Councilmember Toth. TOTH: Aye. ESPIRITU: Councilmember Friedel FRIEDEL: Aye. ESPIRITU: Councilmember Skillicorn SKILLICORN: Aye. ESPIRITU: Councilmember Kalivianakis. KALIVIANAKIS: Aye. ESPIRITU: Councilmember McMahon. MCMAHON: Aye. ESPIRITU: Vice -Mayor Grzybowski. GRZYBOWSKI: Aye. ESPIRITU: Mayor Dickey. MAYOR DICKEY: Aye. Thank you. Thank you all for all your work. Exciting. MCMAHON: It's almost 10. MAYOR DICKEY: Our last action item is our discussion about our legislative bulletin. I sent you all the summaries because they, as Sharon mentioned, they didn't have a meeting. And pretty much it's all the same bills going back and forth. So I don't know if anybody had anything to add that they wanted us to do or just status quo for now. Councilman? MCMAHON: I'm good with the -- MAYOR DICKEY: Sorry. MCMAHON: Sorry, I'm good with the -- MAYOR DICKEY: Oh. SKILLICORN: Sorry. MAYOR DICKEY: Allen. Did you want to? SKILLICORN: No, it's all right. MAYOR DICKEY: Okay. Thank you. Our last item then is our council discussion/direction to the town manager. Anything that was asked for us to look into. Page 34 of 41 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS FEBRUARY 21, 2024 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES I don't think so. Hannah? TOTH: Sorry, mayor. I waited till the end out of respect, but I guess I'm testing out our new policy on point of personal privilege. If I could get a second on that? MAYOR DICKEY: I don't understand. Sorry we can't take action at this point on anything. TOTH: It's a -- sorry -- question of personal privilege, which is allowed in Section 6.6 C, paragraph 2, item D in our Rules of Procedure. MAYOR DICKEY: I guess I don't know what the question is. Because I know we can't take action on anything that's not on the agenda. So -- TOTH: So yeah. So it's a question of privilege, which, according to Robert's Rules of Order, includes the rights of the members of the body. And I received a second. So if we could vote on that motion. MAYOR DICKEY: Well, we absolutely can't because you can't take any action. Robert's Rules of Order is not what we follow here. We follow our rules of procedure. So it's like state law, rules of procedure, parliamentary, and then Robert's. That's the order that we do follow. And regardless, the chair can entertain a point of personal privilege. It's at the chair's discretion, so we never have to do it. I can hear what your point is if you'd like. And then, you know, you can proceed. TOTH: I appreciate that, Madam Mayor. It actually has to do with the email we received at 8:54 p.m. last night. In our council rules of procedure, which, as you state, is the primary source. MAYOR DICKEY: State Law is primary. TOTH: Right. Secondary source -- in Section 6.6 C, paragraph 2, it lists the motions that we can make as councilmembers. Actually, it puts in the order of, I guess, hierarchy of the motions. The third item, or fourth item, Item D, is question of privilege. And question of privilege being a term from Robert's Rules of Order, that's where I consulted to find the definition of that motion. MAYOR DICKEY: Okay. But basically, Aaron, would you please let me know? It's still up to the chair whether they entertain points of personal privilege. Correct? Page 35 of 41 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS FEBRUARY 21, 2024 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES ARNSON: Well it's up -- TOTH: Actually, I received a second. So that would then go for a vote. MAYOR DICKEY: Aaron? ARNSON: Well it's up to the chair whether to entertain a motion. MAYOR DICKEY: Right? ARNSON: Right. Like those are the motions that can be made. If the chair is not entertaining the motion then, then we're not entertaining the motion. But I think the Mayor made it pretty clear that she wasn't just going to automatically grant points of privilege. I think that was the language. But I think you would certainly entertain a question if it were if it were raised. Am I wrong? MAYOR DICKEY: Yeah, I said I'm not -- I -- ARNSON: Right? MAYOR DICKEY: -- wasn't automatically just going to because I've been, you know, reluctant to stop speaking or talking or input. But I think things have been a little bit contentious. So I would -- I want to hear what the point is before I would entertain it. But I just don't understand the motion part. How do we motion and vote on something that's not on the agenda? ARNSON: Well, we can do point, right? You can do a point of order right where it says, if you say have a point of personal privilege and the mayor says, I'm not entertaining it. We've done that once, at least once before, right where it says, I'd like to raise a point of order. You can follow that procedure, right, to essentially compel the hearing of the motion, if that makes sense. TOTH: I see. Okay. ARNSON: Yeah. Yeah. So there's that. So the avenue is available is what I'm trying to say. It's built into our rules okay. TOTH: So point of order, I would like to say my point of privilege. Is that correct? I'm -- I'm -- I think I'm confused. ARNSON: So you have a point of personal privilege you want to make now, is that what you're saying? Page 36 of 41 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS FEBRUARY 21, 2024 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES TOTH: Correct. ARNSON: Okay. Now I'm getting it. All right. So you're -- so you're citing this. Okay. One second. Okay. 6.4 A Presiding officer shall determine all points of order after consultation with the parliamentarian, subject to the right of any member to appeal such determination to the whole council. If any appeal is taken, the question motion, in parentheses, shall be substantially similar to the following shall the decision of the Presiding Officer be sustained, et cetera. So tell them -- my advice would be, tell the Mayor what the issue is, and then the Mayor will rule on the point of order. I mean, there's no more business pending before us, so it can't be about any business that's pending. But I would suggest explaining it. The Mayor can rule on it. And if there's an appeal of that item, 6.4 says that's the process. Was that clear as mud? Clear enough? Okay. TOTH: That was perfect. Thank you. ARNSON: Got it. TOTH: Okay, Mayor, the point of privilege that I'd like to address is for -- is regarding the rights of the body. And it is in reference to the email that we received at 8:54 p.m. last night. Considering the festivities of today, I didn't want to take away from those moments. But I do have major concerns regarding the rights of the body, and that would technically include the public, regarding that email that -- actually, my job is a little easier now because you were kind enough to read the points of it. But what I'm trying to say is that I would like to address the body with my concerns of suppressing the voices of the body. MAYOR DICKEY: I guess I don't think I'm suppressing the voices. I'm exercising our rules of procedure more strictly than I have in the past. The activities are -- are to be -- are in our official capacity. So it's not supposed to be something that the public doesn't have the opportunity to respond to. So if we -- if -- if during that time we say things that are not on the agenda, then they don't know that that was going to be discussed. So I don't want -- I see Aaron, I just -- we -- first of all, point of order is different than a point of personal privilege? Page 37 of 41 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS FEBRUARY 21, 2024 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES ARNSON: Right. MAYOR DICKEY: So a point of order is like it was my turn or whatever. And then you kind of rule on that. But a point of personal privilege never has to be entertained, does it? ARNSON: No. MAYOR DICKEY: This is from -- ARNSON: No. MAYOR DICKEY: -- what my understanding is. ARNSON: The whole idea of a point of personal privilege, which, by the way, they haven't come up that often. But the points of personal privilege are, hey, I'd like to address someone. There's a guest here tonight, right? Or it's too hot or cold in the room. Or one of those types of things. But they can be taken further than that. And so I think the idea behind it was to say -- not to say point of personal privilege, can we take a bathroom break? I think we could all stand to use those every now and again. I think it was more along the lines of if something is going way beyond the matters of business at hand, that frankly, we've got to -- we've got to start reining that back in because it's been, I think we'd all kind of agree, that it's been a little rough the last -- the last couple of meetings. FRIEDEL: Aaron, can I make a point? ARNSON: Sure. Mayor? FRIEDEL: Can I? Mayor -- Mayor, may I -- may I -- may I make a point? I think the -- reading that email, and correct me if I'm wrong Hannah, is that it said that the Mayor would not entertain any -- entertain any personal points of privilege without even knowing what the question was. So that was ambiguous to start with -- ARNSON: Fair enough. FRIEDEL: -- and I -- ARNSON: Fair enough. And hopefully this is providing a little bit more clarity where we're -- I'm -- I think, and Mayor, if I'm speaking out of turn over -- please overrule me. You're the chair. But I -- I really do in the conversations that we've had believe that Page 38 of 41 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS FEBRUARY 21, 2024 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES that's the point. That if things are just going so far afield that we have to rein it back in, that's -- that's what we're talking about here. It's not to say I'd like to acknowledge the presence of somebody in the audience here tonight. It's not to clamp -- it's not to clamp down on those sorts of things. TOTH: I understand that I -- Mayor, if you don't mind. Thank you. My main concern would actually -- there was an example of this tonight where one side of the aisle two weeks ago was allowed to continue until the -- they were thrown out of the room. And the other side of the aisle was gaveled and questioned during call to the public when they were specifically addressing something that was said to councilmembers. While I agree that we need order in the room, I am very concerned that some of these acts are not being done equally. And I'm more so concerned considering that there's two mayoral candidates on the dais, that this is going to become some type of battle. I actually really appreciate that this is something that was read in the beginning of the meeting. As Ephesians 5 states, take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them for it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible. That was actually something I wrote down for my previous -- for my point of privilege. But my point being, this is something that the public should be aware of, that the councilmembers should be thinking of, and that I think we need to discuss further. I agree with enforcing the rules of our council and our rules of procedure. I've actually been advocating for that for a long time. But I'm -- day one, I'm already seeing it unequal, so I think we need to talk about this. MAYOR DICKEY: Well then this discussion is bringing to light -- the problem with this is we're probably talking in an illegal way right now. This is not on the agenda. I don't know how we are allowed to go into this -- this depth of discussion, Aaron, on something that's not on the agenda. ARNSON: I don't know either. I think Mayor -- Mayor and Council -- oh, sorry. Brenda. Did you -- KALIVIANAKIS: Thank you, Aaron. Yeah. I've done a great deal of exhaustive research Page 39 of 41 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS FEBRUARY 21, 2024 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES on this. I think the town manager and Aaron knows on that. I think there is a solution to this, but I would encourage us to continue this into an executive session where we can discuss these laws because it is state law. It is local custom. It is Robert's Rules, and it's procedure at a glance. So there's many different buckets of information that we can dip into. And then I think there's a way that we can all be happy. If we could talk about it candidly with our attorney and come up with a reasonable solution. TOTH: If that's a motion, I'll second it. ARNSON: If -- if it's a -- if it's at least a -- the concurrence of the council as -- as a whole or three councilmembers, right, to say I would like to see that as a future item, that's a possible -- that's -- I assume, what you're getting at, right, Councilwoman? KALIVIANAKIS: Yes. Exactly what I was thinking. ARNSON: Okay. MAYOR DICKEY: Okay. I mean, I'm fine with talking about it in any way, shape, or form that's legal. ARNSON: Right. MAYOR DICKEY: And -- and everything that was in that memo was a legal memo -- ARNSON: Right. MAYOR DICKEY: -- was a legal -- taken straight from -- anyway. ARNSON: Yeah. So -- MAYOR DICKEY: And I'm not admitting or agreeing with anything about being uneven in any way, shape, or form in any of this stuff. We can all watch the videos and see. And that's why I said speak through the chair. People aren't speaking through the chair. They're not waiting to be recognized. So you can say, I didn't take control. I did as much as I could. Yes. Thank you for -- for, you know, getting control as you did, but that should not be necessary ever. And I'm trying to rein it in in a mature legal way right now. And so yeah, I think I'm happy to go talk about it in any way you want. But I'm not happy talking about this right now because this was not agendized. And if it was, we probably would have had a different -- we would have had people here who were Page 40 of 41 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS FEBRUARY 21, 2024 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES interested in speaking about it. And I don't like doing this. And I don't want to do it. So I think unless we have items for a future agenda -- do we have anything at this point? We're going to adjourn. Page 41 of 41 Having no further business, Mayor Ginny Dickey adjourned the Regular Meeting of the Fountain Hills Town Council held on February 21, 2024, at 6:58 p.m. ATTEST AND PREPARED BY: TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Ginny Dickey, Mayor Linda G. Mendenhall, Town Clerk CERTIFICATION I hereby certify that the foregoing minutes are a true and correct copy of the minutes of the Regular Meeting held by the Town Council of Fountain Hills in the Town Hall Council Chambers on the 21' day of February 2024. I further certify that the meeting was duly called and that a quorum was present. DATED this 2nd_Day of April 2024. Linda G. Mendenhall, Town Clerk