Thank you. Welcome to the Mesa City Council meeting for April 6th, 2026. Council member GoForth is unable to attend and is excused. Council member Heredia is participating by Zoom. Otherwise, all other council members are present. We'll begin this meeting with a moment of silence followed by the pledge of allegiance. So, I'd ask please stand. Thank you. Please join me in the pledge of allegiance. 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. Thank you. At Arizona Forward recently, the city of Mesa received two environmental excellent awards. And we have city staff here, Katherine Bloomquist and Stacy Bass, as well as representative from the Nature Conservancy here. Michaela is here. And so, I'd like to invite up um Mr. Bouchey and Lauren, are you here to help talk about the awards and the importance of it and share share us about it. And then we're going to come down with council and take some pictures. All right. Good evening, Mayor and Council. My name is Lauren Whiticker. I'm the deputy director for environmental and sustainability. I'm here with Scott Bouchey, director for energy and sustainability. I wanted to take just a couple minutes this evening to celebrate two awards the city recently won at the Arizona Forward Environmental Excellence Awards Gala held on March 21st. Mesa received the highest honor, a Chris Cordy Award, for our Mesa Youth Climate Action Fund. Um which is we won the category of curriculum-based and youth environmental education. The Mesa Youth Climate Action Fund is grant-funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies and Mesa has received $150,000 from Bloomberg. In turn, Mesa awards micro grants to youth uh in the amount of $1 to $5,000. And youth go out into uh work with community partners like Child Crisis Center or Mesa Public Schools to implement sustainable and resilient projects for Mesa. A amazing program that engages the community, builds confidence and workforce ready skills for youth, and creates a more sustainable environment for all of Mesa. Some of the stories from this program are particularly heartwarming for me. Um and uh the impact to the community and youth has been tremendous. The second award was won for the Reed Park Greening Project in the category of heat mitigation. Um we received an award of distinction. Um the Reed Park Greening Project took place last October and over 100 community members showed up to plant 94 desert-adapted trees, 35 native shrubs, and build three storm water uh capture basins for green storm water infrastructure. But what made Reed Park Greening Project so special, it was beyond just a regular tree planting event. Uh it was truly an innovative partnership and city of Mesa partnered with over five uh organizations and community partners. That includes the Nature Conservancy who submitted the award and is here today. Um Unlimited Potential, Trees Matter, Watershed Management Group, and Arizona Sustainability Alliance. We The project was also supported by the Garden Club of America. We hope this project will serve as a template for future collaboration between municipalities, nonprofits, and community-based organizations to increase urban shade and make our city more resilient in the face of uh increasing heat. So, thank you to Mayor Freeman and Council member Duff for attending and all of council for supporting these initiatives. Uh we hope to continue award-winning initiatives like this into the future. So. Thank you, Lauren. Yes, of course. Um shall we go down with council and take a picture? Uh Mr. Bouchey, did you want to say anything? >> Nope. Lauren covered I covered it all. Great. All right. Let's go, council. >> [applause] >> Thank you again for all the hard work and all the different uh people that work so hard on this. And I'm we're so glad that you're we have the opportunity as a city to participate in these programs. With that, we'll move over to the consent agenda. Mr. Christopher, I know there's some off the consent agenda. Yep. 4C, 4D, 5A, 6A, and 7B is what I have. 4C, 4D, 5A, 6A, and 7B. Yep. All right. Go ahead, sir. Good evening, Mayor and Council members. These are the items on the consent agenda. All items listed with an asterisk will be considered as a group by the City Council and will be enacted with one motion. There will be no separate discussion unless a council member or a citizen requests it, in which event the item will be removed from the consent agenda and considered as a separate item. Item two, approval of minutes of previous meetings as written. Items 3A and 3B, acting on liquor license applications for the Guadalupe on Main, 1526 East Main Street. Item 4A, approving 3-year term contract with 2-year renewal options for welding certification and inspection services for the Energy Resources Department. Item 4B, approving 3-year contract with 2-year renewal options for street light parts and electrical supplies for the Transportation Department. Items 4C and 4D have been removed from the consent agenda. Item 5A has been removed from the consent agenda. Item 5B, approving resolution authorizing the sale of certain city-owned real property located at 8130 East Redbird in Mesa and authorizing the city manager to enter into necessary deal agreement deal documents. Item 5C, approving resolution authorizing the issuance and sale of general obligation bonds, series 2026. Item 5D, approving resolution authorizing the sale, execution, and delivery of utility systems revenue refunding obligations, series 2026. Item 5E, approving resolution authorizing the sale, execution, and delivery of utility systems revenue obligations, series 2026. Item 5F, approving resolution authorizing the city manager or designee to purchase and contract with a qualified electric power supplier via auction. Item 6A has been removed from the consent agenda. Item 7A, approving ordinance rezoning case 25-774 for property located at the northwest corner of Ray Road and South 71st Street. This is for a major site plan modification and amending conditions of approval number one and number two of ordinance 5699 to allow for an industrial building. Item 7B has been removed from the consent agenda. Mayor and Council members, these are the items on the consent agenda. Thank you, Mr. Christopher. Council, I'll entertain a a motion to approve the consent agenda. Thank you, Mr. Adams. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Please cast your vote. Mr. Heredia, how do you vote? I. I. Okay. Thank you. Motion passes. With that, we'll move over to the agenda items pulled off. 4C, I have I know a James Markham that wish to speak. Noah, if you'll come forward. Oh my goodness. Is this on? Oh, no. >> [laughter] >> Aloha, Mayor, and to the rest of the City Council. Um 4C, item 4C, um I really like this item. It's a really good item to have um and to keep our our streets clean um in Mesa because, you know, it it gets really dirty in Arizona. So, yeah, I like this one. So, thank you so much. Thank you, Noah. Council, I'll entertain a motion to approve item 4C. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Thank you, Ms. Duff. Please cast your vote. Mr. Heredia. Oh, I. Okay. Motion passes. Thank you. Uh next, we'll move over to item 4D. Uh that's Air Park and Whitman Park playground renovation. I have a Noah James Markham that wish to speak. >> [clears throat] >> Um aloha, Mayor, again to the rest of the city council. Um, 4D I really do like this too because I seen a lot of, you know, I I'm from Gilbert and I know they do a great job with our parks there. Um but I just hope we do better with our parks here in Mesa too so it doesn't look so ghetto. But yeah, I like this um, renovation and yeah, thank you so much. Okay, with that we'll move forward to item 4D. Pardon? There is a motion for item 4D. Thank you, Ms. Taylor. Thank you, Ms. Duff. All in favor say I. Or vote. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Eddie. Motion passes. All right, the next item is item 5A. I have a Noah James Markham wishes to speak setting a public hearing date to review the proposed annual assessments for Mesa Town Center. Noah, what do you have to say? Uh, you know, >> [laughter] >> aloha um, mayor and to the rest of the city council. So, um, I yes, I I hope that we do better with the uh, Mesa Town Center and please improve it because I just don't want Mesa to look ghetto. So, um, yeah. [laughter] And that's it. So, thank you so much. Okay then, uh, 5A council uh, motion to approve item 5A by vice mayor seconded by Ms. Duff. Please cast your vote. I. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Eddie. Motion passes. >> [clears throat] >> Next one is item 6A. 6A is a rezone Real Salado 25 3.1 acres located northwest corner of West Real Salado Parkway and North Cubs Way. I have one person that wishes to speak and that would be Noah James Markham. Um, aloha mayor again. Um, to the rest of the city council. Um, 6A is a great one even though I don't like the Cubs. I like the Yankees and the Arizona Diamondbacks. Um, but yes, I like this for the Cubs. So, yes. I approve it. Thank you. Thank you, Noah, for approving. Um, we will entertain an item to approve item 6A. Thank you, Ms. Duff. Thank you, vice mayor. Please cast your vote. I. Thank you, Mr. Eddie. Motion passes. Next we'll move on to item 7B. RMCD Dance Studio uh, located southeast corner of East Warner Road and South Mountain Road. I have one person who wishes to speak. Noah James Markham. Noah, you're five for five. Yes, aloha uh, the Mark Freeman uh, mayor um, and to the rest of the city council. Um, I like this. I love dancing even though, you know, some people would call me a but it's all right. Um, I like this and I you know, we need to spread the joy in Mesa. So, yes, I like this one. Thank you. Well again, Noah, thank you for approving that. So, with that uh, council entertain a motion to approve item 7B. Thank you, vice mayor. Thank you, Ms. Duff. Please cast your vote. Mr. Eddie. I. I. Okay, motion passes. Thank you, everyone, for your voting. Next we'll move on to items from citizen present. I have three speakers. The first one is a Reggie Brown. Reggie, you're up first followed by Peter, I think Dutra or Duder. Dutra. Reggie, uh, Peter, you're on deck. A few housekeeping things uh, real quick. Can you hear me okay? Um, I just want to say that we've been talking about AI and other things. Just talk about our generation of what it is now. When we were growing up, we were told not to get in the car with a stranger. These days that's what we do with Uber. Back then we were told that what we do would be on our permanent record. That's what the internet is today. I'm again of course talking about the 287G fiduciary and economic impact. The GEM model is currently operating a state of fiduciary fraud where pros I pros narrative is contradiction to the city's own data. Uh, one thing I'd like to talk about people talk about illegality and crime. So, at a 14% drop in crime, we had a 287G transfer double to 253 transfers. So, for a 14% citywide shift in population of 512,000, right? So, it is 81% of transfers have no prior criminal history with MPD. So, shifting this program from a criminal removal to a labor liquidation. You see, uh, Mesa has a brand. This brand is used for anything from anybody moving here or anybody investing here. We're everyone's talking about international investment whether it be for industrial or otherwise which is the most pertinent for you guys right now. When they look at whether they're going to build here, they're going to look at the basics, right? How long will it take me from approval to actual building? When will that building be complete? Now, they're going to run into a few things that is well known for Arizona. We have clay rich soil which is difficult to uh, to work. There's a uh, geological CAPEX which is called. Now, when you get to these high labor situations, we see that the Latino work force is 31%. Uh, they are also a majority of our sheetrock wallers. And if anybody believes that if they're eliminated from the job force that they will be replaced by other people who will work for cheaper, that's just inaccurate. We see that in 2024. Pinal County tried to put in a task force. As a result in January 9th, the Associated Builders Association noticed a 22% drop in skilled trade. Pinal County we're we're intricately absorbed with them in our economics. Our workers go back and forth. Now, again, the highest uh, sorry incarceration and and deportation is at our people who have not had any criminal previous criminal record. This means that we are removing from our economy people who work jobs and contribute. >> [clears throat] >> I've also covered expenses for the MOA. But in my few seconds here I would like to talk about a failure to meet my PRR requests. We're at 104 days for me for asking ethnicities, reasons for arrest, time for detention, and other anonymous information. This is exactly Reggie, your time's up. Thank you. I just want to quote the ARS. >> day. Your time's up. Thank you. >> Peter. Thank you and followed after Peter is a Noah James Markham. Mr. Mayor, council members, thank you for this opportunity to speak about a very important matter. Certain elements here in Mesa are attempting to have our 287G agreement with ICE rescinded. This is a long-standing partnership signed in 2009 under the first Obama administration that is vital to the safety and security of our great city. We have been subjected to example after example of the dangers, chaos, and lawlessness that non-cooperation presents to any city over the last year. The simple fact that any reasonable person can understand is that we are a city, state, and nation of laws. When any individual entity unilaterally decides to take these laws into its own hands or worse still to break these laws, the outcome is predictable and tragic. We must cooperate with federal law enforcement whether it be ICE, CBP, or FBI. To do otherwise places our fellow citizens as well as the subjects in force of enforcement at grave risk. Releasing criminals onto our streets and requiring ICE to track them down and attempt to detain them increases the risk for law enforcement, innocent bystanders, and the criminals themselves. The orderly transfer of custody while still detained is a safer and more humane avenue of enforcement. On the other hand, there are example after example of cities who honor their 287G agreements and their streets have remained peaceful, their citizens secure and safe, and their voters receiving exactly what they voted for. To end our 287G agreement will put Mesa at risk of experiencing a surge of federal law enforcement descending on our city as we have seen in the lawless and failed so-called sanctuary cities throughout this nation. The simple fact is that a majority of voters in this city, state, and nation voted clearly and decisively for these laws to be enforced and for the federal government to take back our country our country from the unconstitutional legal open border policies of the previous administration. We must resist the very vocal minority that obeys only one rule to use vitriol, anger hate division intimidation and even violence to silence anyone who disagrees with them. The majority of the citizens of Mesa, of Arizona, and of the United States are law-abiding peaceful hard-working people who just want to live in a city and country that respects the rule of law, is obedient to our great Constitution, and places the welfare of their families and their fellow citizens above all else. Therefore, I strongly urge you to resist any attempt to rescind our 287G agreement that if successful will only diminish this great city and place every single citizen in danger. Thank you for your time and consideration. The voters of Mesa, your constituents, eagerly await your decision. Thank you. Thank you. Uh Noah James Markum, our last [clears throat] speaker. Aloha, Mayor and to the rest of the City Council. Um I am a strong Democrat. And I know that I've said some things about my Congressman Greg Stanton, but I do agree that we do need the 287G agreement. And I'm very grateful that Greg Stanton, as a Democrat, has done his job as Congressman. I'm very proud of that. I'm not proud of the way that the Republicans have handled the 287G agreement. We've had Barack Obama, President Biden. They've done a great job with the ICE agreement. But it's just the Republicans, and I could not you know, Republicans could be Republicans. If you want to stand on that side, you can. But I am not a Republican, and I'm so thankful that the the Democrats have done something with the ICE agreement right. And then, since I asked for this agreement, this continuum, that I asked that we extend the the light rail in Mesa far please. Also, there's another thing cuz there's a failure, you know, when I go into a store and I take my shirt off, people have that weird audacity to >> [laughter] >> think it's, you know, a weird thing to do. But I, you know, I think it should be appropriate. It's hot outside. I, you know it's heat season. Also, I know that people are talking about um the Palo District, too. Um I am so excited. I am so excited for this. I'm ex- so excited for the soccer stadium, too. Oh my goodness, I I love sports. Um and I, you know, I hear a lot about the women's stuff going on, so I am excited for women out there. Also, um there's one more thing I would like to add. Um we should add more citizen presence. And if you're Republican, you know, we do like freedom, right? But I don't know if you will, because I don't know if you do like freedom. So, maybe you should uh >> [clears throat] >> add more citizen presence. So, thank you so much. Thank you, Noah. Uh Council, that's all the items we have for tonight. Is there a motion to adjourn? Thank you, Vice Mayor. Thank you, Ms. Taylor. All in favor, say I. I. Ms. Heredia. All right, we're adjourned. Thank you. >> [music]