Thank you for being here this evening. Mesa City Council meeting for February 23rd, 2026. All of our council members are present. Uh we'll begin this meeting with an invocation by Dr. Pamela Anish Nater from the Islamic Social Services Association via Zoom followed by the pledge of allegiance. So if you'd please stand. >> Dr. Nadair, time is yours. >> Okay. Thank you so much. Thank you for having me, Mayor Freeman and council members. I apologize for not being with you in person today. Little under the weather. Let us pray. This man, in the name of God, the most gracious, the most merciful. Dear God, during this holy month of Ramadan, which is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar and the month in which Muslims fast from dawn until sunset, this year being from February 17th to March 20th, we come together to ask for your guidance, wisdom, and support of our mayor and city council members. Please help our city leaders engage in meaningful discussion to make good decisions on behalf of the residents of our city, the city of Mesa. Please grant them an empathetic heart and wise judgment. Help them as they consider ways to improve the economy, housing, health care, mental health, and the well-being of the residents of our diverse city. Bless our leaders to foster a community that is concerned about our children, our families, our elders, our homeless community members, those who are refugees, those who are impacted by the justice system, and those who are concerned about family members who are being oppressed at home and abroad. Bless our small business owners, those who are doing well and those who are struggling each day to make ends meet. Please bless our leaders to sew seeds of peace. Bless bless them to grow closer as leaders no matter their various perspectives for the good of our city and its residents. Bless our leaders to stand firmly for justice and to nurture the bonds of community. Amen. >> Thank you for your invocation. Please join me in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance 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. >> Okay. Item one is on the consent agenda. Mr. Christopher, would you please forward to read from what I have is 4 A, 5 A, 5B, 5D, and 5 E. Has that changed? >> Sorry, Miss Mosley. Has >> Sorry, mayor. No, that that is off >> consent. >> That is not changed. >> Those five items? >> Yes. >> Okay. Thank you. Go ahead. 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 citizen request 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. Item 3 A, act on liquor license application for Mango Mini Mart, 760 South Alma School Road. Item 3 B, act on liquor license application for Aldi, 1045 South Gilbert Road. Item 4 A has been removed from the consent agenda. Items 4B and 4 C pertain to acting on offtrack betting license applications for Turf Paradise to telecast at the following locations. 4B is at Okelly Sports Bar and Grill, 2120 West Guadalupe Road, and 4C is at RTO Solomon's 6646 East Superstition Springs Boulevard. Items 5 A and 5B have been removed from the consent agenda. Item 5 C, approving use of a cooperative contract for the purchase of 165 Panasonic Toughbook computers for the Department of Innovation and Technology. Items 5D and 5e have been removed from consent agenda. Item 5 F, approving use of a cooperative contract for the purchase of one paint striping truck for the fleet services and transportation departments. Item 6A, approving resolution to amend board membership requirements for the payload district, the theme park district established pursuant to Arizona law. Item 7A, approving resolution declaring the documents filed with the city clerk titled administrative review amendments replaced sections and chapters administrative review expirations and expansions and administrative review development standard modifications to be a public record and be made available for public use and inspection with the city clerk. And item 7B, introduction of ordinance proposing numerous amendments to the Mesa city code pertaining to administrative review and compliance with Arizona law. Mayor and council members, these are the items on the consent agenda. >> Thank you, Mr. Christopher. Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda? Thank you, Mr. Ria. Thank you, Mr. Adams. Please cast your vote. All right, that motion passes unanimously. Uh we'll go back to item 4A. We have one person who'd like to speak about turf paragodise off back bedding, and that is uh Reggie Braun. Reggie, are you here? >> Sorry. How much time do I have for this? >> Three minutes again. Okay. Thanks for meeting me today. I actually was hoping to be honest with you to talk about the homelessness agenda, but since this is kind of related to that, I'll I'll go into it, too. >> I'm sorry. What did you say? >> Um, never mind. Sorry, [laughter] I mumble a bit. Here we go. This isn't anything against Turf Paradise in general. This is just about gambling and the effects we have on on our um on our people and mainly the homeless. Now, uh, it's about 9 $9,393 per person for demand of bankruptcy, mental health, and social services. About 30% of the homeless attribute a portion of their hardship due to gambling because they're trying to get out of a situation desperately. And gambling is, of course, going to be their quick way out. They're not trading stocks. Actually, if you're trading stocks, you could just follow the Paul Bologosi tracker. Every time he makes a trade, you make money. Now when you gamble generally you are associating with people that are let's say they're not necessarily the most uh friendly of people you want us to think of. You know they're gambling they're having their dopamine going. They're loving of money in a quick way that doesn't encourage generally a lot of hard work. And then you have now the most important part I'm going to talk about today. FanDuel and online betting. this in particular uh for turf paradise and for their uh sharing of deals is going to be spending a lot of time with co-opting uh TV space with FanDuel. Now FanDuel is an online betting platform. I'm not sure if you're aware of it. It uh gamles on anything. You could gamble on somebody falling off stairs. It it doesn't matter what it is. But what's really insidious about this is that on the apps, it takes a dopamine hit for everyone who makes a bet. That dopamine hit is the same thing as you would have for any kind of addiction, whether it be hard drugs or alcohol or being angry about something. Anger is a dopamine hit. Now, they are currently in talks for being sued for particularly deceptive services. This means that this is near miss concept and this is something I've had experience with when I was consulting for a slot machine company in Reno. When you make that gambling bet, they know if you've won a loss already. It's happening right away, but they do a bit of theater. They show you that, oh, you were so close. Oh man, you were just one thing off. You should make the next bet. This obviously is insidious. It has a psychological effect that increases levels of trauma, loneliness, and depression. Now, I've seen a lot of people here complain directly or indirectly about homeless people. Homeless people on our borders and our streets and our trains. Homelessness is out of a symptom of social problems. It has to do with addiction. It has to do with gambling. It may have to do with sexual assault. for victims of sexual assault are more likely to get drugs to find an ability to maintain jobs and relationships. People who are homeless are not just people you see on the streets. They're people who are working at Walmart. They're living in their cars. They're going from couch to couch among friends. And gambling, >> Reggie, your times Times if you can't see it. >> And gambling is a direct influencer of that. >> Thank you. Well, you know, your Arizona voters voted for this gambling bill. So you just have to you you'll have to talk to your Arizona voters. We have the by right have to do this. >> I'm sharing that with you because I know this is on YouTube and I'm talking to Arizona voters. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you, Reggie. >> Is there a motion to approve item 4A, the Turf Paradise new offtrack betting license. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Second by Miss Taylor. Please cast your vote. Okay, that motion passes unanimously. Next is item 5A. I have a Jason Smithson. Jason, you want to talk about a one-year term contract for 4-year one-year renewal options for industrial plumbing, building plumbing, electrical HVAC. >> Mr. Mayor, council members, I signed up to speak on 5A and 5B, so I'll address them together so you can disregard my name when it's called again. >> Okay. Thank So, I'd like to raise several oversight questions that go beyond these two contracts and speak to how we approach vendor contracts as a whole. Item 5A is structured as a one-year contract, while 5B extends three years. In today's market, 3 years is a long window. What safeguards are in place to ensure pricing remains competitive over the full term of 5B? Would a shorter term, perhaps one to two years, provide greater flexibility for the council to reassess pricing, performance, and market conditions? I'd also like clarity on vendor performance standards. What specific metrics are used to evaluate service quality, responsiveness, and value? How are those metrics tracked? And how often are vendors formally reviewed? And with respect to Imperial Window Cleaning, Inc., there appears to be little to no online presence, and publicly available information suggests that the business may be temporarily closed. What due diligence is conducted before awarding contracts to confirm a vendor's operational status, experience, and capacity to perform? What internal accountability measures ensure we are contracting with companies that can reliably deliver services at fair and competitive pro prices? I'm also concerned about the response rate. We received seven proposals, but out of how many potential vendors? When the agenda states all registered and known vendors, does that refer to vendors within Mesa, Maricopa County, or statewide? Is this a highly specialized scope of work? Or are there elements within the RFP process that may unintentionally limit participation? If participation is consistently low, has the city evaluated whether adjustments could increase competition? In the interest of transparency, I would encourage the council to make vendor contracts and RFP documents easily accessible to the public without requiring a formal records request. If the council retains discretion over annual renewals based on vendor performance, then publishing evaluation criteria and contract terms would strengthen public trust and demonstrate accountability. Finally, how are contract amounts determined and how much of the previously authorized funding was actually expended during the prior term? Understanding the difference between approved amounts and actual expenditures helps provide context for fiscal stewardship. These are reasonable oversight questions. My intent is to not delay progress, but to ensure strong fiscal responsibility, vendor quality, and transparency as we manage taxpayer dollars. I also want to close by thanking the Mesa Police Department for their swift response at my son's school last week when a suspect entered campus and was quickly apprehended. that professionalism and rapid action made a real difference to the school. Thank you guys. >> Thank you, Jason. Uh Mr. Butler, do we have uh some of his questions are valid >> and we go through I know a really strong vetting process with a scoring table for municipalities. >> Yeah. >> And I'm sure Mr. Queens can answer all of those. And maybe in the future, Mr. Smithson, send us an email and that way we can answer your questions during this uh when you pull something off the agenda if you have time for that. Ed, >> so there was a lot to unpack there. Um, so mayor, council members, uh, our practices are very consistent with what the rest of the municipalities as well as the state goes. Um, our procurement policies are based on the ABA model procurement code just as the states is, just as most states, most municipalities are. Um, we do publish solicitations publicly. So, our requests for proposals documents are open to the public. They're available on our uh vendor self-service website. Um, we also post our uh um award documents um without a public records request. Um they are available on the purchasing website. Um with regards to the terms um as we look at a uh a project we do look at uh the term our standard term is three years initial term and a twoyear two years of renewals. Sometimes it's uh two one-year option. Sometimes it is um one two-year option. But um we do go for multiple years because we don't have infinite staff to be putting these solicitations out over and over again. So um we do uh see the economies of term contracts, multipleear term contracts. Um in the uh case of protections um all of our contracts are tied to either CPI or PPI as a max. Um we do evaluate each price increase that a vendor proposes um to see uh the impact on the uh award of that as well as to make sure it lives within those uh uh metrics that we had established when the RFP or the uh the bid was published. Um in the case of what we have in front of you um uh the first one is a one-year term contract um with options to renew. that is so that staff can assess both the performance of the vendor as well as price increases because these are uh you know as council is well aware um the market right now is very volatile on just about everything. So, um we do have protections in the contracts [clears throat] for the prices. Um but the one-year um does give us the options to assess that as we get into the contract in about the 7 8 n I'm sorry, seventh or eighth month time frame in the life of the contract. With regards to Imperial, um Imperial has been uh our contractor uh servicing the windows um probably almost as long as I've been here with the city. Um, so as far as I know, there is nothing um uh that I'm aware of that says they aren't in business. Um, and again, since we've been doing business with them, and this was an RFP process, um, the department in the evaluation process um did not um uh in any way uh raise any flags that they weren't qualified to be considered in the evaluation. Um, and I'll leave that for any further questions from the council. >> Yeah. I'm just curious, are they doing this building as well? [clears throat] >> Yes, they are. >> So, they're doing they're the ones dangling off the roof for >> I believe we have two projects right now going. We have the copper refurbishment as well as the window cleaning. I think Tony's over my shoulder, but I think the window cleaning is probably being held until the copper is completed. >> Okay. Mayor, council. Yeah, we have two two vendors right now. Emperor Window Cleaning does the window cleaning, which we're holding off until the copper polishing is done. >> Okay. Because I've seen them do their work in the past, and if it's pretty advanced to do high-rise uh window work, so I would think that this is a pretty stable company. So, thank you. >> All right. Thank you, gentlemen. And Mr. Smithson, if you want some further information, uh we've got our experts right here. Uh based on what you said. >> Okay. Yes. Oh, Mr. Adams, >> thank you. if I might be able to add a little bit of information to uh to this discussion with respect to uh with respect to 5A uh I'll not name any of them individually but among the U electrical supply houses that are mentioned here and and other supply houses I probably have over 30 years of personal experience and knowledge of these businesses and they are uh to my knowledge they are all wellestablished um reliable and uh there are no issues that I've been aware of in that period of time that would cause me to have concern as a council member or or otherwise. So if that if that adds any information that's helpful to make a motion >> uh Mr. Smithson if it's okay with you then we'll combine A and B together 5A you you mentioned that. So, I'll entertain a motion to approve items 5A, that's a oneyear term contract for four one-year renewals, and then a three-year term contract with two your renewal options, and that's 5B. Thank you, Mr. Summers and Mrs. Go forth. Please cast your vote. Motion approved. Thank you. Next, we'll move down to 5D. 5D is a onetime dollar limit increase to the term contract for stadium lighting, lighting control systems for the parks, wreck, and community facility services. Mr. [clears throat] Brone, you're on again. Reggie, >> uh it's a well-known fact that currently stadiums are a drain on the public community. It's normally publicly funded and privately to get the the money. Now, this is specifically about the onetime dollar amount to electronics. Looking at it, it's an interesting thing. They have a no compete clause, so we can't take in vendors. And this is the hardest part that I see about it. It's that we are required to retain the level of any other stadium to exceed that or better. So that means that if New York or Chicago or LA raise their standards to, I don't know, 10 $13 million, we're contractually obligated to follow that. Now, I know that when I first started came here, you guys were tired about hearing people talk about the Cubs and that that was 15 years ago and the voters voted for it and you know, I don't really like that, but I'm here to try to help you out with some data solutions. It looks like the A's contract's coming up in what 2036 or 2019 we'll be starting our contract negotiations with them. I recommend starting now to re-evaluate them and speaking with your lawyers so we can come at them with a good decision. And if that isn't applicable that you should follow baseball's current Otani effect. If you don't know baseball guys, Otani is an incredible utility player. Previously baseball focused on a guy who could hit, a guy who pitch or a guy who could catch, but does it all. He's brought millions of dollars to Los Angeles. He's revitalized the game. He's forced rules. Let's do that for Mesa. Let's focus on multiple utility fields. Currently, we're going to invest about $3.2 million in the scoreboard. Right. That field is dedicated only to baseball about 30 days a year. 330 days a year that place is empty. It's not being used. Now, we have an equivalent I think it's what a field. What's that called? Uh a a Arizona athletic grounds in Ellsworth. Now, that facility has multi-use that they can be used for soccer, lacrosse, and multi-purpose events. Consider now when you guys are negotiating for the next part of some L M MLB site that maybe some money should be spent on alternative fields that are used all year round. Fields like soccer where we have a global economy of $50 billion or MESA currently be considered as a training field for FIFA which will bring billions of dollars to the US. When we're going to consider these contracts or anything where you say that the may that the voters chose for that. Let's talk about moving ahead. Let's talk about our next plans and say that hey we are going to make a better investment that we're going to get not locked into to an organization that says hey you're not allowed to compete saying that we did that in 2013 anything where you say that in the past this was made and that this was the way it goes that doesn't really hold up if that was the case then say frankly women wouldn't be here in this council they wouldn't be allowed the house you were going to go back Italians and Irish wouldn't be allowed here so let's focus on the now and the future and make it a better world. Thanks, >> Reggie. >> Yes, >> while you're there and warmed up, let's just move forward to 5e and then I'll put the two together. Is that okay with you? >> Yeah. What's 5E? >> Uh, you you took that off the consent agenda. >> I took it off the consent agenda. >> Yeah. >> Sorry. Which one is 5e? >> Onetime dollar limit increase for the term contract for video display. >> Oh, that was it. I'm sorry. That was what I was speaking of. >> Okay. >> Yeah. Was that not correct? You did? >> Yes, sir. >> All right. >> Thank you. Okay. Appreciate it. >> Okay. Do you need >> You talked about stadium lighting as well as scoreboard. You kind of combine the two together. >> Yeah. >> So, we're good. We're going to move forward on vote on both of those. >> Yes. Thanks. >> Thank you. All right. I'll entertain a motion to approve items 5D and E. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Thank you, Mr. Ready. Please cast your vote. That motion passes unanimously. Thank you everyone. All right, moving on. Our first speaker tonight for our items from citizen present. Reggie, you drew number one. >> Yes, sir. >> Wow. >> My hope is >> you're hitting you're hitting the cycle. You know what we call the cycle playing? >> I was raised with the idea of duty, honor, and service, and that's what I'm trying to do for you. I'm not trying to hold you guys. >> Following you as April Joy is on deck. Okay. >> Okay. >> Thank you, I'm actually going to be kind of quick here. Um, I've been hoping to give you some as a data analyst, I've been hoping to give you some actual numbers and what's going on with our MOA agreements. Unfortunately, it's been about 62 days since my initial request and I've had some assistance from uh your IT and stuff like that and they helped me with some things, but right now technically we're out of compliance with ARS. Um all people are allowed both to speak here and to access all documents in a timely manner. 62 days is not a timely matter and Tempe actually provided me similar information in less than two days as well as an API. So now I can only guess at what we're spending on things and you know these are just things that I've seen in the MOA and I was told originally that there's only one detention officer going part-time to service requests. Now either that's true or the fact that we're in violation of MRA. We're required to do six DIIOS 247 to meet that task. I was also told that we don't take any SCAP um funding. That means that is Mesa funding all of the GEM requirements? I mean, we're going to go ahead and spend the detention times because when someone gets arrested, they're going to be in the jail at what, $200 a day, and then we're all paying for that. Seems kind of strange because really, when we say that we're doing this, it's for the worst of the worst. Yet, only five violent offenders, about five per year, are doing it. And my numbers are going around close to 650,000 to a million dollars to maintain this program. a program that unfortunately is not great for our brand. We've talked about investing from Asia, but it's not going to happen if every time they look up ice and Mesa comes up. So again, I encourage you like this is something that you inherited, you know, just move forward. All these people behind me um they could be working, they could be going to the economy, but instead they're here. So like let's not again say that it was 2009 and 2020 that we agreed with it. Just say, "Hey, we got to move from this. We got to do the Mesa brand." And I'm going to yield my time to a young lady, 13 years old. She want to speak. >> Okay. Thank you, Reggie. Uh, next we'll have April Joy come forward and after which Mary Pritchard is our third speaker. Thank you, April. You have three minutes. >> I don't know how to >> Yeah, that one's fine. >> All right. Mayor, council members, my name is April Joy. I'm here to talk about 287G. I'm here today because I care about my community and I don't want my heart to grow numb from the daily reports of ISIS senseless violence. What we're seeing today is the use of military, police, and surveillance in our streets. I don't want this to become the new normal for our community. I don't want to lose my humanity. Our actions lead our heart. The council says the 287g agreement keeps the community safe. But does it? No factual evidence has been presented that confirms this. The facts research show that engaging in 287G program did nothing to create safer communities. The research was done by criminology and public policy by Eric P. Bomber and MG. Over the past years, we've seen ICE interactions deteriorate the uh relative safety we have in our communities. We've all seen the recklessness ISIS has perpetrated in our streets. What we have learned and bear witness to in Minnesota is that when ICE is present, no one is safe. Council members, by engaging in this failing 287G agreement, your complicit co-conspirators in this increased violence. when the Mesa website proudly displays to the community by having Day of the Dead and Elgreo celebrations, but do nothing to protect or ease the burden of the Latino community and other people of color who bravely face darkness that ice pours out into those streets. Those actions become lip service and passive tolerance, not inclusion, not active tolerance. ICE will continue with its cruelty, fear, and hate, but we will but it will melt and dissipate. As the Latino community courageously faces each day, I and others will continue to stand beside them with our humanity. I'm asking you to look at your humanity. History is watching. God is watching. The people are watching. If you do nothing to remove this 287g agreement, then it's time for the community of voters to rise up and remove you from your positions that you hold. Thank you, Miss Joy. Mary Criter. Welcome, Mary. You have three minutes. Thank you, council. My name is Mary Pritchard and I am a Mesa resident. I choose to live in Mesa because of how diverse the city is. I love my community, but I am deeply, deeply saddened that so many members of my community are living in constant fear simply because of the color of their skin. When the Black Lives Matter protest started, the Mesa PD realized that they had lost the trust of a large part of our community and they made a lot of effort to regain that trust. I believe all of those efforts have been for not because of the 287g agreement. People cannot trust a police department that works with an agency such as ICE that is extremely violent and has shown little respect for the laws. How can we have our law enforcement working with law breakers? People don't even know the difference between ICE and police anymore. And the comment that I keep seeing over and over again is it's Mesa. They have the 287g agreement. Is there even a difference? If people can't trust the police to call when there when there's a crime, what do you think is happening to the perpetrators of those crimes? Even if you argue that it is only the jail enforcement model that we have, that means that you are okay with handing people over to ICE to be put into detention facilities where the conditions are so poor that people are literally dying. Their basic needs are not being met. They are not being provided with basic medical care. They are literally dying. [clears throat] And that is what you are saying you are okay with happening if you don't cancel this agreement. You are okay with more Mesa residents being added to the list of names of people who have died in ICE detention. Mayor Freeman, you recently made statements on TV that you had been in contact with those most affected by ICE. I don't believe that because those most affected can't even leave their homes. They're afraid to go grocery shopping. They're afraid to take their kids to school. That is not the life I want for my neighbors. And this room is packed with people who also do not want that life for their neighbors. These are your neighbors as well. You are elected to represent all of Mesa, not just the people who voted for you and not just people who look like you. >> Thank you, Mayor. Your time's up. Have a good evening. [applause and cheering] >> Miss Mosley, is there anything that we've missed on the agenda? >> I have no other. >> Okay. If not, thank you. Thank you. Uh, I'll entertain a motion to adjurnn. >> So moved. >> Thank you, Vice Mayor. Mr. Adams. Thank you. All in favor say I. >> I. We're adjourned. Have a good evening.