good afternoon and Welcome to our May 31st meeting before the Phoenix City Council convenes our formal meeting we will host a meeting of the Park Central Community facilities District board let's call to order the Park Central Community facilities directors will the clerk call the roll board member conlon board member Gervais here board member guardado here board member Hodge Washington here board member O'Brien board member Pastor here board member Robinson here board member Stark here board member Waring here Vice chair I'm sorry here chairwoman Gallego here we have one item for today's meeting the consideration of the district's budget and financial forecast do we have a motion this is Mr continent so new so moved second we have a motion in a second all those in favor please say aye passes unanimously thank you to our board members Conlan and Gervais for joining us we are adjourned and now we will move to our formal meeting for May 31st we will begin with an invocation and invite police chaplain John Taylor to join us thank you all please bow as I pray heavenly father thank you for all who are gathered here today and we're grateful for the opportunity to be here we thank you for the freedoms that we enjoy in our great nation we ask for your hand of blessing on this meeting and we ask that you would guide and direct the council so that it is full of wisdom productivity and respect for one another I pray for the agenda that's set before them today please give them wisdom as to what would benefit those who live and work in and around our city thank you for helping them to accomplish their work and their goals this day in your holy name I pray amen please remain standing for the Pledge of Allegiance councilwoman Pastor Will you lead us thank you thank you chaplain Taylor and councilwoman we will call to order the formal meeting of the Phoenix City Council will the clerk please call the roll councilwoman guardado here councilwoman Hodge Washington here councilwoman O'Brien here councilwoman pastor here councilman Robinson here councilwoman Stark here councilman Waring vice mayor I'm sorry here mayor Gallego here Mario Barajas and Carmen Kota are with us to provide interpretation would you please introduce yourselves yes my hair thank you as you said mayor my name is and together with my colleague Carmen Kota will be serving as today's Spanish interpreters for our city council formal meeting I'll now take a moment to introduce ourselves to our Spanish-speaking audience Hispana real is thank you mayor thank you so much will the City attorney please explain the role of public comment yes mayor members of the public may speak for up to two minutes to comment on agenda items comments must be related to the agenda item and the action being considered by the council General comments that go beyond the scope of the agenda item must be made in the citizen comment session at the end of the agenda the city council and staff cannot discuss or comment on matters related to pending investigations claims or litigation the city code requires speakers to present their comments in a respectful and courteous manner profane language threats or personal attacks on members of the public council members or staff are not allowed a person who violates these rules will lose the opportunity to continue to speak thank you thank you item will this city clerk please read the 24-hour paragraph the titles of the following ordinance and resolution numbers on the agenda were available to the public at least 24 hours prior to this council meeting and therefore may be read by title or agenda item only ordinances number g7112-7117-s-49701-49807 and resolutions 22123-22128 item one is boards and commissions vice mayor do we have a motion motion to approve mayor and city council boards and commissions nominations as revised second we have a motion and a second all those in favor please say aye aye aye any opposers passes unanimously thank you to the distinguished group of Phoenix leaders who are serving on our boards and commissions we will now ask them to come forward to be sworn in please raise your right hand I state your name do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution and laws of the State of Arizona that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and defend them against all enemies foreign and domestic and that he will faithfully and impartially discharge the duties of the office State your office according to the best of my ability so help me God congratulations thank you for stepping up to serve our great City the council members would like to personally congratulate you if you would come behind [Applause] our boards and commissions have helped us be a much stronger City and we are excited to welcome our commissioners thank you the City of Phoenix serves in an advisory role to the State of Arizona on liquor licenses and we will turn to that portion of our agenda vice mayor do we have a motion motion to approve items 2 through 13. second we have a motion and a second any comments all those in favor please say aye aye aye aye aye any opposene passes unanimously city clerk are we ready for ordinances resolutions new business and planning and zoning yes mayor vice mayor do we have a motion motion to approve items 14 through 178 except the following items 40 through 45 47 66 73 87 93 98 116 125 126 127 135 138 144 157 174 175 176 177 and 178 noting that item 46 is continued to June 14 2023. item 47 is as corrected and excluding these items for virtual public comment item 47 and 177 and can the clerk confirm if there are any other items that should be excluded for in-person public comment yes mayor item 25 item 70 and item 154 that's item 25 item 70 and 154. and before we take that motion could um the staff confirm whether the speaker for 25 is still with us okay our staff has indicated the speaker for one for 25 is not with us so we could put 25 back in yes mayor would that be okay with you vice mayor yes second second thank you we have a motion and a second roll call yes Hodge Washington yes O'Brien yes yes Pastor yes Robinson yes Stark yes wearing yes I'm sorry yes Gallego yes it passes 9-0 thank you we next go into special proceding proceedings to adopt our Capital Improvement program resolution and budget ordinances item 40 is a public hearing on the 2023 to 2028 Capital Improvement program I now declare the hearing open is there anyone wishing to speak all right we'll close the public hearing item 41 is the adoption of the 2023-28 capital Improvement program vice mayor mayor I move adoption of resolution 22127 the 2023 to 2028 Capital Improvement program will the clerk call the roll ado yes Lodge Washington yes O'Brien a store yes Robinson yes Stark yes wearing yes I'm sorry yes Gallego yes s is nine zero hey item 41 is the adoption of the 2023-28 capital I'm sorry item 42 is a public hearing on the adoption of the tentative 24 20 23 24 annual public budget ordinance declare the hearing or open is there anyone wishing to speak we do okay we do have a speaker Denise yes mayor we have Ann Ender all right and Ender the floor is yours thank you sorry it took me so long um but mayor Gallego Vice Marion sorry and um council members I just I wanted to um thank the council and I want to thank city manager Burton and Barton sorry and Amber Wallace Williamson and their team for crafting this amazing budget that I believe really addresses the needs and the priorities of the city um impressive to me is also the attention to and the funding of all employees and current employees and future employees that I think says so much about um how this city feels about the folks that work here and of course close to my heart the funding for Public Safety is so critical fund our fire department to be able to help bring down the time with the calls for service and of course the training and the new programs that the police department have so I just wanted to say thank you for supporting this and I appreciate time to come up here and do that thank you thank you so much we'll close the public hearing thank you for your testimony item 43 is the adoption of the 2324 annual budget vice mayor mayor I move that item 43 being ordinance s-49709 the tentative 2023 to 2024 annual budget be adopted second second roll call yes Hodge Washington yes O'Brien yes pastor yes Robinson yes Stark yes wearing no I'm sorry Gallego yes passes eight one item 45 is the adoption of the tentative 2324 reappropriated funds budget vice mayor all right item 44 is the adoption of the tentative 2324 Capital funds budget mayor I move that item 44 being ordinance s-49791 the tentative 2023-2024 Capital funds budget be adopted second roll call yes Dodge Washington yes O'Brien yes pastor yes Robinson yes Stark yes wearing I'm sorry yes Gallego yes passes 9-0 item 45 is the adoption of the tentative 2324 reappropriated funds budget mayor I move that item 45 being ordinance s-49710 the tentative 2023-2024 reappropriated funds budget be adopted second roll call cuardado yes Todd Washington yes O'Brien yes a store yes Robinson yes Stark yes wearing yes I'm sorry yes Gallego yes passes nine zero yay thank you to everyone who worked hard to bring the budget forward and the many residents who participated in our meetings as well as the city staff who helped craft the budget and support those meetings we next go to an exciting item 47. which is related to the pay ordinance do we have a motion fair I motion to approve as corrected per the May 31st 2023 memo issued by the Human Resources Director David Matthews second we have a motion and a second does any council member wish to provide comments before we go to public comment I would like councilman O'Brien thank you thank you so much I had some constituents bring to my attention that there were some concerns with a couple of the common class areas David could you explain a little bit on the corrected memo what we're doing today yes good afternoon mayor members of council the corrected memo corrects three your icon I believe it is there we go good afternoon mayor members of council the corrected memo that was submitted this morning corrects three positions that were civilians in the police department to to correct some errors that we found um late yesterday as far as the alignment within the department okay and I and I appreciate you working so quickly to make sure that that alignment will be um was fixed prior to us doing approval today I would also like to ask a couple of questions um another group that reached out to me was um local 493 for the fire department and we were very they were very grateful for the class and comp study but there were still some concerns regarding the engineer classification so can we talk a little bit about what is going on with that classification as mayor members of council so the concern that has been brought forward by 493 to me has to do with where Engineers land in the pay structure so not the pace structure itself but which Step they go into in the new pay structure so what I would like to mention is that this class in comp study is being implemented according to our our pay ordinance and how other class and comp Studies have been implemented where an individual will go into the new pay plan at a step that is closest to their current rate of pay without going under any change to that process would have a significant budget impact and are there any steps we'll take in the future to look at this particular classification mayor members Council again the the pace structure meaning the top of the range is is where it should be according to our study I believe what the concern is is what step individual will go to so they may go to step 14 or 15 out of a 17-step plan so as they get their Merit dates they'll move up through that pay structure okay thank you very much thank you mayor thank you we'll go to councilman guardado and then councilman Waring and then councilman Festival thank you mayor um so this is a very um sorry for the black noise um but um I had to stay home today um but I'm very excited um for this item I'm super excited and thankful um for City staff um to be working very very hard on this um since I first came onto this console in 2019 the most common issue I would hear from departments and briefings was a consistent lack of Staffing that was the Common Thread that laid behind the issues we saw in the last couple of years it was the same in my neighborhood I could not leave a single community meeting without hearing from residents upset about being put on hold for half an hour 245 minutes to make a report on Crime Stop during the pandemic the first step in crisis we had was our 911 operators I I am together with my colleagues had to push really hard um to making sure that we were able to change those wages studied and raised them so that we can retain employees and ensure our current employees were not being overworked the tragic death of Pamela Cooper a 911 operator who was pushed to work a 16-hour mandatory Overton shift after having recovered from covid-19 show the urgency of this issue and again I want to thank my colleagues for their support I'm making sure that we made the changes that needed to be made um to not have something like this ever happen again across our city residents saw their bulk trash pile up as we struggled to hire and retain our public workers Solid Waste equipment operators again Lopez saw senior workers leave the city and we could not hire new employees quick enough it got so bad that I was receiving emails and texts from residents with the book trash pile five feet high again we led to push to urgently address the city to deal with this issue with our city manager and again thank you Jeff thank you Lori for always um listening and making sure that we were able to deal with this issue but then this continued on from not being able to open our city pools because of our lack of lifeguards and pool managers to the lack of Staff in the Head Start programs low pay for our city workers had led to vary consequences for the services we provide our residents this is why I am so happy today to finally be voting on a comprehensive Improvement to wage for our city workers our workers have gone through a lot they went from a recession to in 2007 to this awful pandemic that we just got through so I'm very thankful um for all of our workers for all of for all of our essential workers that went through some really tough times in the last 10 to 15 years and I'm excited that we're finally gonna compensate everyone as we move forward um you know again huge shout out to our staff I know Dave you and I went rounds and rounds and rounds and trying to figure out how how fast how faster can we make this happen so thank you um for your leadership on this I know Lori I think we started the conversation with you as well so thank you for all of your support and I think we started the conversation probably um with edzerker but really thankful to you Jeff for really making this happen and pushing this forward and also thankful um for my colleagues um that will be voting yes on this today it's something that's been needed for a very long time and I think now you know we will have a lot more work that will stay and work for the city and we will be able to continue to push to hire in those open positions that we still have and looking forward to support this thank you mayor thank you we'll go to councilman Waring followed by councilwoman Pastor followed by the vice mayor thank you mayor uh like councilman O'Brien I I talked to the firefighters as well and what I took away from it was they first they emphasized they were satisfied but second uh you know they had a chart with the different jobs the chief was at the top and then working down to the to the newest recruit it sounded like maybe the folks in the top third bracket I think it was broken up by pay and title so they they were fine the people in the bottom third were fine it was sort of the middle group that seemed to have an issue I'm sure you've probably seen their chart I don't have a copy myself but um you know what I took away was they you know other people were going to be able to advance faster I think they talked about it was going to take four and a half years or something to advance through I could be misremembering but but the way I took it was four and a half years for I guess somebody to get a benefit from what we're doing here today whereas the other two groups of firefighters and then staffers all around the city were going to get the benefit a lot quicker and that was understandably if true frustrating for the folks in that middle if that's true maybe you can address that too but or am I just wrong but is there a way for us to address that without having to wait four and a half years or do a whole other study or change the whole city code is there some way we could do it a little more expedited than that mayor members of council councilman Waring I I believe where that concern comes from is how far off a market a position is so the the further off a market the longer it's going to take someone to get back to the top so if two employees are at top step and your position is only you know six percent off Market you may get to that TOP Step because you only have one step to go in one year when other classifications like the middle of that chart that you're speaking of are further off a market it's going to take the merits a few more Merit increases which are annual for those individuals to get back to TOP Step okay I understand what you're saying um but it just seems like I guess if I interpret what what you're saying and I understand it's a really complicated process you guys did a great job putting a lot of puzzle pie it's like you did a 2000 piece puzzle in the Grand Canyon or something so I applaud you for your tenacity in doing it but that almost sounded to me if I was just listening to nothing about this like the people who are already furthest behind are also going to take the longest to catch up is that but it pains me to hear if true mayor members of council councilman Waring um the way to answer that is we're using our marriage system to move people through the steps just like all other class and comp studies we've done so if your position doesn't have any additional steps added onto it you the vendor came back and said you are at Market there's no room for growth there however if your position is off a market there is that future earning potential that individuals get to each step is five percent so annually those individuals that are off the market will receive five percent plus whatever negotiated changes occur um let me ask this uh if you don't want to answer I understand I mean is this this is the first I heard of it I think was yesterday so and I don't think I've heard this same thing from any other group and the police we've had this in place for a while and I don't think I heard a single complaint and that's a bigger group in terms of population I mean are they right to be complaining is it the way I would respond to that is this is the same way we've implemented all other class and comp studies including the police class income study that was implemented last year is there anything we can do about this David with bonuses or anything like that any any change to that process whatsoever would have a significant budget impact that would have to be looked at through BNR I did understand it wouldn't be free got that far in school but all right well thank you maybe it's something we could discuss uh you know councilwoman O'Brien and I are on the Public Safety Committee maybe that's something that could come up to just see kind of what we're talking about you know again this is relatively new news to me but I appreciate your Indulgence and if there's anything we could do I'd appreciate that but I get that it's complicated so thank you thank you councilman Mary Waring councilwoman Festival yes I just want to mention uh local 493 is supportive of the class and comp the area that they are concerned about is in the engineering Rank and that there are 25 behind other cities and so as we're having this dialogue I would like to uh or I would like to know uh what is the process of looking at those those ranks and what ends up happening if they're 25 behind it's it's it's too hard to promote and they don't want to promote because they're behind other cities and they're jumping to other cities so I would like to have a commitment of of from staff of saying we will look at these before you do that we will look at these things the other thing is the same thing with uh aspatia aspatia is also they're they're grateful for this but there are gaps within this whole process so I would like a timeline of when um HR will look at those gaps and then close the gap so that then employees are at whole place whole and able then to continue on with the city because I would hate to lose them so mayor members of council councilwoman Pastor so our our plan for implementation is is with a council vote today the pace structures that are part of the packet as corrected will be implemented on August 7th immediately following that implementation but between now and then our staff will be figuring out where all of the employees land in the new pay structure after August 7th our plan is to Circle back with every department head individually to find those those pain points or those gapses as you said in their structure for their Department and then we will come up with our ways to correct those and there's many avenues that can go uh to for those Corrections the items that need to come back to council will be coming back to council probably starting this fall with those Corrections for to fill those gaps as you mentioned what I heard is we will be looking at those gaps fill them we will be coming back in Fall as the I want to say the most essential uh worker space and then they will continue to move throughout the year okay thank you thank you vice mayor and then councilman thank you mayor like I said in my comments on the budget a couple of weeks ago I truly believe that this update to our class and compensation for our employees is one of the most significant actions that we have taken as a council in many years so I'm very excited we cannot deliver top-notch services for our residents without quality and well-compensated employees who really feel like they are getting what they deserve for the job so I'm really excited about this I'm especially eager to hire on more Park Rangers I think the parks department is one that very much needs additional support very excited to bring on more staff to our planning department who are doing critical work to address our housing shortage and councilwoman guardato pointed out many of the challenges we've had in our public works department and our water department so thank you for all the hard work on this I did have the similar questions around the the firefighters and the engineers in particular so I appreciate your response and I just want to thank you all for the hard work on this because I think once we really implement this first wave of wage increases we're really starting to get on a better track and set an example of what well-paid employees who are running the fifth largest fastest growing city in the country should be getting paid so thank you so much thank you councilman Robinson mayor thank you very much um I would be beating a dead horse if I asked the questions I had prepared well I won't do that but what I will say Mr Matthews and to city manager and their staff the employees that I have spoken to are overwhelmingly happy grateful for the efforts that have been put forward to ensure that they are the highest paid employees around and deservedly so so I wanted to make sure everyone did understand that from based on what Mr Matthews has told us the the issues the concerns that we all have especially about the fire engineer position that's going to be looked at and you know I've been around long enough to know when someone says they're going to do something they're going to do it and we're grateful for that and again the employees of the city are grateful and I thank everyone for their hard work in doing this so Mr Matthews I know you and your staff if you've slept lately that would be a good thing I'm sure but I know you put a lot of hard work into it so thank you very much for everything thank you I will Echo councilman Robinson's comments this is a lot of work for our entire city staff up particularly HR so thank you for your work to make sure we are compensating people in a competitive way this is a win for Phoenix residents because we'll be able to hire even more top-notch individuals and and finish fill vacancies it's also a work in progress and so we'll continue to understand and study more and whether it be our contract negotiations next year or other ways continue to make sure that we achieve our goals we do have several individuals including representative our employees here to comment so I will go to them now we'll begin with Jason Henley Jason Emily I'm the president of ask me 2384 represent about 1400 unit 2 members for the City of Phoenix um Phoenix City Council thanks for having me mayor vice mayor I stand before you today to emphasize the critical significance of in approving the new pay ordinance and express my profound gratitude for the completion of the comprehensive compensation and classification study has employees of this great City we recognize the importance of fostering motivated and dedicated Workforce and the decisions you make regarding employee compensation play a vital role in achieving this goal first and foremost I would like to extend my deepest appreciation for the effort and commitment that went into conducting the common class study this thorough examination of our City's pay structure is a testament to your dedication to ensuring fairness and equality earning Equity among our valued employees by investing time and resources into this study you have demonstrated your commitment to providing a workplace that is both rewarding and fulfilling for the individuals who serve our community day in and day out however the true impact of this study will only be realized if we take the necessary steps to implement its findings the proposed pay ordinance represents an opportunity to put into action the principles of fairness recognition and appreciation for the exceptional work carried out by our city employees approving this ordinance will not only enhance the morale motivation of our Workforce but also enable us to interact to attract retain and retain the best talent ensuring the delivery of high quality services to our residents we must recognize that our city employees are the backbone of our community diligently working to keep our City operating maintaining our Public Safety recreational facilities provide essential public services and much more they're unwavering commitment oh their unwavering commitment to deserves to be rewarded fairly reflecting The crucial role they play in shaping the well-being and prosperity of our city thank you so much thank you we will now go to a virtual comment we'll begin with PJ and then Luis good afternoon can you hear me okay you're a little faint but we can hear you outstanding uh mayor Gallego members of the council my name is PJ Dean and I'm the secretary of the United Phoenix firefighters Association I speak today on behalf of our president Brian Willingham who is currently in Tucson presiding at our state convention serving in the Phoenix fire department is a great honor but also no easy task in the past decade our call volumes have increased by almost 50 percent 71 percent of our units are currently operating at crisis levels last year our call volumes reached a record level those who work under the most demanding of circumstances such as Phoenix firefighters deserve to be paid at a rate that leads the comparative salary Market as the class and comp study indicates our pay scales have become significantly outpaced by surrounding agencies left unchecked over time this issue will undoubtedly compound itself and impact our ability to maintain an adequate Workforce a problem we simply cannot afford to have as the many council members today have indicated we are extremely grateful the city manager Barton and his team have taken the steps necessary to remedy this paid disparity our organization is in complete support of the pay ordinance and urges its approval this comes with one notation however a concern for the amount of time it will take to arrive at what has been established as the top of the market of our three ranks Engineers the members who shoulder the great responsibility of driving and operating our apparatus are the furthest behind at approximately 25 percent below Market of comparative agencies in the time it will take our Engineers to progress through these pay steps the goals go the goal post that represents the top of the market will undoubtedly be much further down the field based upon the implementation of these pay scales engineers in our other ranks will likely never actually be at the true top of the market and comparative pay our request is that a means in which to expedite the implementation of these pay scales be investigated doing this will ensure our firefighters and their families can more quickly obtain the top level of compensation they deserve we are confident this can be achieved and as always we stand at the ready to be a good partner in engineering any solution that is fair and Equitable to both employee and taxpayer thank you very much for your time today and the opportunity to speak before you we appreciate it greatly thank you Luis will be our final speaker hi thank you for the opportunity for comment on this topic and I want to thank you all for the efforts and and just for the study for to get up a contribution for all city employees uh one of the questions I have it's already probably answered there's a lot of inconsistencies in the pay scale especially you know I work in the environmental service division for water services and I I see some inconsistencies are those inconsistencies going to be addressed after the implementation of this um proposal and I think you mentioned that fall is going to be kind of like a between aggress and and October is going to be a period where there can be addresses those gaps that's my question thank you thank you for that testimony um do you want to answer the question yeah mayor members of council I believe the question was in in relation to the internal alignment so that is as I mentioned we'll be circling back with department heads after implementation and identifying concerns within each department and we'll be addressing those wonderful thank you so we're doing a very important step today but it is a step it is not the end of the process wonderful thank you so much any additional council member questions or comments councilwoman Hunter Washington I just wanted to Echo all of my colleagues comments I won't belabor it um but I do again as I mentioned at the last meeting thank you to Amber and her team thank you David for implementing all of this I think an investment in our greatest asset is our employees so I am proud to vote Yes in favor of this pay ordinance thank you any additional comments roll call yes Dodge Washington yes O'Brien mayor may I explain my vote please do um I am going to be voting yes but I did realize that I was um horrible in not saying thank you to all the hard work that you all have done so um I look forward to fixing our areas as we go forward but I do not want it to go unsaid that my office and my constituents are incredibly thankful for all of your hard work thank you mayor pastor let me think about no it's a solid yes it's for it's for I think they've done a great job and uh yes yes yes Robinson yes dark yes yes yes wearing yes I'm sorry yes Gallego yes that's a big woohoo that says 9-0 by unanimous vote the city council has voted to have more competitive compensation item 66 is the police employment marketing Services contract are marketing contract over the decades has been sometimes the focus of some parity accounts and a lot of different stakeholders have weighed on this and and how the city can best effectively market and hire police officers while we are in a major hiring push I do have some questions about this one what geography to will we be marketing to as we try to hire can ask under his team Chief Chapman to come up and speak to this more directly our primary Market is the Arizona market and we will be marketing to the State of Arizona but we will also be reaching past that so I'll let Chief Chapman speak to that afternoon mayor members Council the primary focus where we see the most interest is from the southwest United States specifically Arizona Texas California state of Washington Oregon Nevada and New Mexico by analytics from what we see on our social media those are the areas that we get our most hired applicants from not necessarily interest so we're putting our focus on where those applicants are coming from so it's 1.7 million over five years so per year it's not a particularly large marketing budget I'm sorry could you repeat how much are we spending per year mayor it's it's 1.7 million over the five years but it's not evenly divided and I apologize I don't have the exact number per year it's a larger amount in the first year and then it's approximately 200 000 per year ongoing for the other four years the five states with 200 000 or even half a million seems like too much to me I mean that you just can't message to that many people you would not people would not see it very often mayor members Council I didn't write the contract and we are grateful for the money that we do get in this because we are a recruiting staff of four in the police department we have just onboarded a senior Pio in some marketing folks that are going to be able to help with that so anything that we're doing to augment this is going to exponentially create a larger footprint for us in the digital world as well as the natural marketing world I would prefer that we focus locally I think we want people who know this community and are excited about it mayor members of council that has been our immediate Focus through the creation of a pipeline with our Cadet program which targets high school students throughout the Phoenix Metro Area we're looking at 14 to 19 year olds who can onboard in a volunteer capacity and then transition into full-time employment in a variety of areas within the police department detention officer Communications Bureau Police assistant records clerks Etc where that is where we're spending the focus of our time is building that pipeline so in four or five years we continue to reap the benefits of that pipeline that is currently in process and we are at currently maxed out at 50 Cadets in that program and we have been that way for the last two years will we and with this contract be focusing on laterals or new hires or what will be the would you would you be your preference and how we divide uh mayor members council is a broad-based approach where we can do the most Outreach um in in the broadest span um I'd say with respect to our hiring challenges um we're several hundred spots down there is a challenge associated with putting that many people through the academy in a short amount of time from a structure standpoint so we are as focused on lateral officers from within the state and around the country as well as our traditional recruit applicants that start and graduate from our six-month Academy we had a previous reflected on some of the laterals we got from outside of the state and felt that they turned out to not be the best cultural fit just because we have very specific Phoenix values is that something we we still believe mayor members of council I would just say by by rough numbers we hire somewhere between five and eight percent of all lateral applicants that come into the organization and I think by snapshot over the last five or six years we've had upwards of 500 of those lateral applicants they do not make it through the process for a variety of reasons from post requirements in other states to the background requirements of the state here in Arizona so that that number of of getting through that system is small compared to the overall applicant pool and will you tell us about the two firms that are recommended for support mayor the two firms that are being recommended today are on advertising and Lincoln strategy group both um scored very highly on the um scoring criteria pretty close together one received 782 points and the other received 762 points in any what are their expertises mayor members of the council neither of us were on the scoring panel so we would have to bring an additional person up here to speak to the the group specifically if if you want us to do that that'd be great Chief or David do you want to speak to that okay David Matthews our HR director is coming back up to to speak to that good afternoon mayor members Council so this procurement for for the this item was conducted in accordance with administrative regulation 3.10 where the the panel evaluated based on method of approach qualifications and experience as well as pricing and those two firms were the ones selected by the committee you talk about their background I do not have the the background of the actual vendors councilman Waring yes thank you mayor I just Echo a couple of mayor's comments but from a different angle so around the Public Safety Committee so we've talked about this issue a lot um we haven't had a lot of success with the laterals I would have thought it would be great you know other cities having their issues with police we got great weather but you know it sounds like from what you've told us in the past a lot of those officers maybe had issues with their current department and that's why they were trying to move and so um so I get that we're advertising in other cities maybe to the younger people but I just wonder what kind of return on that investment we're going to get to the mayor's point also it's not that much money we all spent more money than you're talking about to win our seats and that was a few months of advertising to a pretty small uh you know population compared to like trying to advertise to the entire city of Dallas or something uh you know I know what Billboards cost I know what digital costs I mean yeah I can get a lot of imprints and stuff but you better have a lot of that to get somebody to move away from their family to come here so I do agree with the mayor about the focused effort here I do think the biggest advertising we have is that the current the current officers you know basically promoting their work uh to the extent they feel that's appropriate and uh and frankly us being supportive because I just don't know that the dollars you're talking about are are going to make a huge difference so is there a way to maybe come back and discuss a bigger budget and um maybe maybe something that's a little more focused where the return on investment isn't like five percent of the applicants because I just those laterals I would have thought that made sense before I knew a lot more about it and then realized that that hasn't been the ticket and never really has been for the department they never even get to the stage of actually fitting in because most of them never even get selected to work here in the first place um and we also I hope are spending money on retaining the officers particularly the ones who are retirement eligible some aren't even waiting that long to leave which is really dispiriting but hopefully the ones that are retirement eligible we've tried to do the pay raise so that should incentivize at least a couple of years we thought of people staying but I'd almost rather focus on that at this point but uh I don't know if you have any comments to what I just said it kind of Echoes somewhat the mayor said maybe from a little bit of a different perspective but uh mayor members Council councilman Waring uh it it is is a tough situation to to recruit I would say was respect to retention uh our retention numbers are much better year over year you forgive me I don't have those percentages right now but we are not um we do not see the attrition this year that we've seen in the past two years specifically and I can point that to one uh the market adjustment and pay so thank you for all of that and to the extension of the drop program through the through psprs is encouraging people to stay beyond the five years where they would be normally capped out also I would say with respect to uh recruiting and the academy uh again 20 to 21 21 to 22 we're seeing year over year increases percentage of of hiring and and attracting people I think we have a long way to go to perfecting that there's certainly areas that we can focus on I would I would like to focus as may as we can out of our our backyard but in fact remains just very transitory with people moving in here on a regular basis so we do we want to cast the widest net and attract people from a wide variety of backgrounds in addition to that things specifically we're doing in the police department is we're taking hiring teams to to places like Southern California and not just recruiters but background investigators and polygraphers to initiate and finalize as much of that background process that we can because it is kind of an audacious background it's it's very intrusive it can take several months and so we're trying to shorten that those steps necessary and be proactive and do things differently than we have done in the past where we've had everybody come here so far far from being perfect but a lot better than we were a year ago and I'll sit here a year from now and tell you we'll we'll be a lot better than we are to today mayor and I would just add you know it is better so appreciate your efforts on that but it's not nearly where it needs to be either to get us back where we where we'd like to be um one thing that uh we had done in the past is focus on the military uh I don't I don't maybe it slid by me but I don't recollect that being mentioned that was a specific Focus under uh previous Chief I think they were actually going uh to military bases and when people were leaving the military they were basically met by Phoenix recruiters I I would think given how many veterans we have on the force I think that would uh certainly behoove us and if we're going to go out of state focusing on that out of state population might make a lot of sense uh and I know digitally they can really really narrow this down so you can probably find those people online too and put the thought in their head like hey I was thinking about being a police officer I got all this training um you know might like to continue with this kind of work I hadn't thought about Phoenix before you know that might be something if I'm sure you probably thought of that but I don't think it got specifically mentioned so it might be something um to revisit mayor members the council Council and councilman Waring uh we are a proud member of the skill bridge program through the Department of Defense which allows transition military veterans to come out of that service six months out of their contract early and on board with the city of Phoenix not only for the police department but in a variety of Public Works heavy equipment operators fire department we they're welcome to come for a variety of those we are specifically working with those uh the nice thing about that is Department of Defense does a lot of that marketing for us because that is a transition program so we do get regular inquiries from people all over the country and it's a matter of of being able to complete their background and solidify that six months before the time goes again we're five months into it so we'll have a lot more data in that probably by the end of the calendar year thank you thank you mayor thank you councilman Waring so I had tried to get a briefing on this but our assistant chief who oversaw the procurement was traveling and chief Chapman did a very good job with this I think maybe was not what you would have preferred to brief on and then obviously our HR people team has been very busy with the class and comp item that we just approved so I would ask if we could continue this to the June 14th council meeting which is our next council meeting um but I think some did uh councilman O'Ryan wanted to comment I don't know if the continuance changes well my my questions were in relation to when we recruit outside and while I realize recruiting to other states as it relates to laterals you said results in about five percent um do we have any data and I realize you're you weren't expecting this maybe today on how many new officers as opposed to laterals we got from out of state mayor members Council uh councilwoman O'Brien is your question what is our what is our laterals compared to our new hires from out of state I'm sorry I do not have that data off top my head but I can find that for you okay I appreciate that I I mean I guess if we're going to continue that we can have that conversation if it's going to be continued we'd have that conversation I think what is important is that when I started as a council member approximately two years ago we were um we were way upside down folks were leaving us far quicker than we could recruit them we have corrected that and while we haven't turned it all the way around as councilman Waring said and recruited all the folks we need to to fill our hundreds and hundreds of positions it is um it's a bunch of different actions that are going to get there not just any one thing and and I applaud the department in realizing they couldn't continue to do things the same way so thank you for that and thank you mayor thank you councilman Robinson thank you mayor you know my question at Chief Chapman I think you answered it already but I may have missed it and I was just going by my notes were this this contract will focus regionally correct uh mayor members Council councilman Robinson it will focus on the southwest region but I think traditionally what we have seen we do marketing efforts in the midwest in the East uh end during times of extreme cold weather for obvious reasons so I think there'll be a there will be a lot of that as well at the focus from my understanding of this contract is this is primarily going to focus a large chunk of it on social media social media and digital marketing specific to uh the the age group in the demographics that we're interested in hiring which I think is the the right approach and I thank you for that I was I was more concerned that it was more wasn't more of a national approach but I also realized that by the amount of money we are paying for the contract that may not be able to do as much as we want to but to your point with regard to this being specific about the age groups I know when I'm teaching my students and usually it's anywhere between three and four hundred ASU students a semester they're on their devices that's how they see things that's how they find things and then they ask me questions about various agencies based on what they're seeing online what I would argue or what I would suggest a little bit more of a budget that would allow us to be more expansive allowing us to be more diverse in our reach you know and I and Mr Matthews I guess my question for you would be are there metrics or can we put in place metrics for these two advertising agencies to hit certain you know benchmarks that we want them to hit or certain groups we want them to reach out to I I'm just if we're spending the money and we want to make an impact and you know law enforcement and fire and these are the backbone of our cities I you know I want us to do as much as we possibly can to ensure that we're reaching all the possible candidates we can for these positions mayor members Council councilman Robertson so these contracts do allow the city to require the city to approve any communication before it goes out so those targeted groups we would approve what targeted groups the vendors would be going at for their advertising so that is in the contracts that we we direct kind of what type of advertising and and what population we're targeting what the messages actually say that is all within the city's control okay thank you thank you chief thank you councilwoman O'Brien I have a follow-up question to councilmember Robinson's questions how was and I'm not sure whom which of you to address this to how much how was the amount determined for this contract I can answer that mayor members of the council councilwoman O'Brien it was determined by a group of employees that were put together between pdhr and our Communications office to determine what types of advertising we think we might utilize and and they put together a recommendation for how much of a budget should be requested for this contract and while I recognize that in some Realms it's this feels like a little bit of money for advertising for the police department it's actually a big improvement from what budget they had previous to this contract if it's to be approved and so this was this was put together through the recommendation of our Communications office staff our HR staff and our Police Department staff thank you Lori and how many respondents were there to the RFP mayor members of council councilwoman O'Brien there were four respondents deemed to meet all the requirements that responded so there was four that were evaluated as part of this before were evaluated and these were the top two based on the scoring and the rubric yes that's correct okay all right and council member Robinson did you have an amount that you thought was appropriate for increasing or you I'm trying to understand a little bit more about your comp statements and what I I thank you for the question councilwoman O'Brien I what I was trying to figure out I was going to ask some folks in that Arena what would 1.7 you know one one million seven hundred thousand dollars do for them how far would that reach because as councilman Waring said you know when we campaign and we're out there and doing these types of things I I'm signing off on those invoices I know what they cost I was just curious as to whether or not we're doing enough like I said we know how important Public Safety is if we're going to do it let's do it the right way let's not just go at it half-heartedly and ensure that we get an organization or a company that can do what we want it to do and that that was my position that was my point more than anything else okay I have one more question would we have the ability to increase the amount of this contract um if it were passed today or at the next meeting mayor members of the council councilwoman O'Brien um yes we could come back with a request provided you know we have the budgetary capacity to do that in the future I think to councilman Robinson's point this will give us an opportunity to evaluate exactly what um sort of return on investment we are getting from this this level of contract and we can look at those metrics see what sort of applicants we're getting based on on this advertising and then re-evaluate and come back to the council with some additional recommendations perhaps on how we should move forward this is again you know a big step up from you know the few Billboards and other things that we did previously so this will allow us to have a much bigger reach especially through digital marketing and that's really the focus of this contract we're trying to get the biggest bang for our buck and be able to reach the audiences we want to reach and and as it's already been described those audiences are on social media they're in in the digital realm and so we want to capitalize on that focus on those types of advertising opportunities and then we can come back to the council report on how that's doing and then what we think we might benefit from going forward uh Beatrice Johnson is here to provide testimony Miss Johnson the floor is yours so I'm here to uphold 66. I feel those funds could be better used to train your Phoenix police detectives which include detective Taryn Campbell who had all my sister Dorothy Jean Dale Chambers next to Kent info but he refused to call and notify our family that money can better be used to train your police officers that when a driver who was speeding zigzagging in and out of traffic killing two people with the .031 alcohol and the first respondent officer wrote he showed signs of impairment you need to use those funds to train your officers to do a blood test instead of letting a driver who kills two people drive off you can use that money to train your city prosecutor Hillary to ask for a warrant for arrest when the driver failed to appear in court on February 7 2023 the family had to ask the judge for a warrant and last but not least you can use that money to train your city prosecutor City judge that went defendant has two counts of bodily harm with death in a first degree failure to appear because he did not show up for his arraignment on February 7 2023 was arrested on March 1st saw no judge but was released and City prosecutor City judge agreed with his attorney to allow him to make a plea on the phone violating again our family's victim right it was not pre-arranged he just did not show up I opposed as a phoenix homeowner and taxpayer I oppose you using that money you could use it somewhere else like training your officers so no other families will experience what our family experience thank you I move we continue item 66 to the June 14th Phoenix city council meeting all those in favor please say aye aye aye aye sorry I councilwoman pastor had comments and I don't yeah but it's continued so it's not done no I just want to make a comment go for it so I appreciate what you're trying to do because we do need police officers and uh understand totally understand uh the cadet piece of wanting to recruit but we don't have enough Cadets in the pipeline of uh Franklin Police and Fire so I understand I understand the issue you're in and wanting to try to solve this problem and be able to get police officers I just feel uh at right now with the dialogue we probably well we did uh continue it so that then there's a deeper dive on what does this really look like and if we have to add additional dollars my one question was did this go to the PSJA committee they are members of the council councilman pastor we talk about hiring and recruiting at PSJA every month and so this has been part of the overall conversation the contract itself didn't go as an individual item but it we have been talking about strategies for police recruiting on a regular basis I just wasn't sure if this dialogue happened in committee that's why okay thank you thank you I believe is it's item 70 is next all right a motion on item 70. move to approve item 70. second Leonard Clark is here to testify hello mayor and council members um I support this item I want to thank the Biden Administration for getting us the money necessary to help our this funding go to the firemen and also I believe this office of Homeless Solutions is going to get one million 963 927 I guess primarily it's going to focus on making sure our homeless brothers and sisters are not having their property destroyed but no offense I would like to hear from them to see how well this is going as I drove here today I did notice they were moving people out but again while with government things can sound Rosy and pretty we do need to talk to people who are actually involved in you know government legislation but I support this and once again I want to thank President Biden uh and uh you know the people in Congress mainly Democrats who at least tried to get some money to help out people despite you know what other things that are going on thank you thank you appreciate our federal Partners who are working with us to provide or to try to provide funding to the City of Phoenix any comments on item 70. roll call Hodge Washington yes O'Brien yes pastor yes Robinson yeah Stark yes wearing I'm sorry yes Gallego yes this is 9-0 item 73 is authorized revisions to Phoenix city code chapter 32 related to stormwater will the clerk read the title item 73 is for ordinance g7116 an ordinance amending Phoenix city code chapter 32A pertaining to grading and drainage chapter 32b pertaining to floor floodplains and chapter 32c pertaining to storm water quality protection we have a motion move to approve item 73 second yes Hodge Washington yes O'Brien yes pastor yes Robinson yes Stark yes wearing yes I'm sorry yes there you go yes passes 9-0 item 87 is the annual View and updates to the neighborhood services department code enforcement policy do we have a motion move to approve item 87. second councilman O'Brien um hoping that we could have a friendly Amendment to motion87 to to include the following addition to section one six titled exceptions violations include but are not limited to non-permitted events where the owner has been notified but activity continues such as on unauthorized parties that occur on Commercial properties events with outdoor entertainment without the appropriate use permit and mobile vending on properties with complaints from the community um I wanted just to have this additional language in our code so that so people are constituents reading it could have some idea of what would fall under that area this would not be exclusive to a list but just kind of an idea for folks to understand I'm fine with that that's one Pastor yes and um I'm sorry councilman O'Brien but could you give us the page number and read that one more time yes ma'am just give me one second it is section one and then it's six which is on page I believe 427. or 427 of the entire book or page four of the code enforcement policy episodic violations was added with that um then a and then we would include what violations include but are not limited to okay so that there are some examples for people to better understand I read that paragraph and I just thought what I don't know what falls under that so that's why I asked NSD and Spencer to provide some ideas of what that would be thank you and Steph is this NSD here okay the uh leader of a nature service department has given the thumbs up the famous policy making tool all right and I do appreciate all the work that was done on this I just I think anytime we can help out our constituents to better understand something by examples oh yes you're right on this thank you all right uh definite second any council member comments mayor councilwoman Stark what level oh I'm sorry councilman guardato whoops yeah um can we just have staff explain just a little bit more what this amendment means just because I haven't seen it um not saying I'm not in support but if someone could just explain that a little bit more what that what that actually means foreign guardado the substance of the update to the code enforcement policy allows us to address some of these uh not regular regularly occurring issues so you know some of the items that we see with short-term rentals or even spaces that are being used for events that are not properly permitted to do so so the council women's Amendment would give some examples of where this could play out and what what kind of um um what's the accountability to that or what would I mean I know that this is something that we've been wanting to do um for a little bit so what does that actually mean what is the accountability or or what's the retaliation towards this once we implement this um councilwoman so this would keep within our uh the intent of our policy which is to lead with education but then follow up with enforcement when necessary uh so what this allows us to do is when we have issues like let's say noise complaints from a restaurant that is using outdoor space for events when they don't have that permit to do so when we get complaints we can have that initial conversation with the business owner or or the business and then if they continue to have that violation when we do observe the violation we'll be able to move straight to citation so it allows us a little more accountability when it comes to Residents from the community who are regularly complaining but it is very difficult for us to kind of catch the abuse in the act or the violation got it okay great thank you thank you mayor thank you councilman pastor okay so episodic violations Please spell that out to me what's the definition of episodic violations foreign because if I read it correctly it says including violations at short-term rentals and if I understand which I don't know all the nuances of short-term rentals is that when there are items that happen at short-term rentals that then police are called because this is what my short-term rental group neighborhood group and says this is continuing continuing and NSD isn't doing anything and then I find out well why can't you do something and then I hear uh these are the reasons why is this what's we're trying to close the gap on mayor and councilwoman Pastor absolutely so when we initially went to subcommittee in March and presented on our initial draft of recommended changes to our code enforcement policy we also committed to going out to the community and listening to feedback about what the community thought about our recommended changes at the time we weren't intending to address anything related to short-term rentals because we know that there will be additional ordinance changes that will be coming soon based on some of the State Law changes but as we heard from the community we heard that there are a lot of frustrations which certainly is nothing new but we we really sought to make some changes to our policy that would allow us to be more responsive better responsive to address these issues so yes we added this in the episodic violation definition because right now our process is very administer administratively burdensome and it adds a lot of bureaucracy and steps that prevent us from being able to go quickly to hold folks accountable when they are abusing short-term rentals so absolutely the this is intended to help us reduce those steps lead with education of course but hold folks accountable more quickly so then okay so I I understand that but will this also uh help with those uh areas that are permitted with say they get a permit uh to host uh music outside and then it's beyond what that special permit is allocated for and then they're I think I've been dealing with this for two years year and a half of uh constituents documenting getting a noise machine doing everything that they are doing and then I'm told we can't do anything uh mayor councilwoman Pastor yes I believe I know the specific situation that you're referring to and yes that one part of the reason that it took so long for us to get into court and we did win our case we did Issue the citations and and we were successful but it did take longer than what we had hoped because of the additional steps that when our were in our previous code enforcement policy so this exception allows us to address those far more timely okay so can I ask what those I think those steps need to be placed in here so that we're clear and what I mean by that is as a council body when we're dealing with these issues um I it's nice to have this code enforcement policy but I also want to know first step Second Step third step and then when is it going to be enforced um so I would like to see that only because many of us are probably dealing with the same thing but at different levels and very frustrated at the fact that then we can't do anything or there's no enforcement so I I don't know if we added to it or if there's a just appendix when you come back and say this is what happens in these situations thank you and mayor and councilwoman Pastor if you look at page 425 of the packet 426 and 427 the code enforcement policy outlines the standard code enforcement process which includes inspection and pre-notification immediate inspection when warranted pre-notification letter the formal notice of ordinance violation civil citation criminal complaints and exceptions and so what we're talking about here is those are the typical standard code enforcement steps this item item six which is added is episodic violations to allow us an exception to move more expediently through the process and the and councilwoman O'Brien's motion helps explain what types of situations May address may be included within those exceptions we ready for a roll call mayor councilman guardado thank you um can you explain a little bit because I'm reading the language right now Spencer um are we is this are we including food trucks in this foreign guardado uh so yes potentially if we have a a vacant lot owner let's say and they are allowing a mobile a food truck to vend from that site in violation of our mobile vending ordinance that absolutely is something where if we've discussed with the owner we've let them know that we've received complaints from the community and they continue to have these events maybe not consistently this isn't intended for the situations where let's say there's a food truck every every day or every Friday Saturday and Sunday where it's regular enough that we can go through our typical code enforcement process but if we have the events the periodic episodic issues we can better address those based on those complaints in an Abridged process I mean I just think this is a little bit difficult for me I know that all different neighborhoods are are different you know I know that in Maryvale one of the things that we've been talking a lot about is the fact that we don't have enough restaurants for families to be able um to go out and eat we talk about the long lines that we have in a lot of our in a lot of our in a lot of our restaurants I know that we have a lot of um food trucks um I know that there's a lot of areas where if we didn't have the food trucks we would have a lot of other issues happening um in a lot in a lot of these places I'm having a really hard time with this because I think that we are definitely going after the micro businesses um in our neighborhoods um you know we saw this issue during the pandemic um when we were trying to help people and give people some aid for their small businesses I would you know I would like for us to either I would like to make a motion a secondary motion to either continue this to talk about how we implement this or we go back to the original motion just because I'm having a really hard time with this because um we you know we had passed something in CCI that I thought would definitely help would be very helpful and I was very in support of that but with some of these additions I understand short-term rentals I I agree with that so if we can either um remove um the the food you know the the food vendors that we're adding onto this and talk about that at a later time and just continue with the short-term rentals I can be okay with that or if I would or I can propose doing a secondary motion to continue to talk about this because this from what I'm hearing and what you're saying Spencer like we're going after our Moms and Pops places that Elise and Maryvale are very help helpful given the lack of restaurants that we have the maker of the motion and I guess it would be a substitute motion is that what we would need Julie mayor and Council that's correct so I think we have an initial motion on the table we had a friendly Amendment so we've had one motion so okay and so and councilman guardato would I think we would want to date to which you are continuing it but first let's hear from I'm sorry councilman Pastor made the motion councilman I'm sorry I made the motion okay so I think that would then be a question to you do you want to keep your emotion as amended in which case councilwoman O'Brien could could we just review oops sorry didn't mean to hit my microphone um I would be happy to have it end with um end events with outdoor entertainment without the appropriate use permit and get rid of the mobile vending on properties with complaints from the community as an example these are merely examples I'm happy to remove the mobile vending on properties with complaints from Community as an example councilman I'm sorry that will help councilwoman guardado councilman guardato with that address your concern that would be great yes okay all right councilman I'm sorry or vice mayor and sorry is comfortable with that and councilwoman Pastor are you go floor is yours thank you um are you talking about food trucks because I think there needs to be Clarity on what you're speaking about or what this example is about uh mayor and councilman why would I guess I understand that these are examples of episodic violations but the violations period so why do they why are we putting them in another category is it to move the process faster or can we just say change this process to move change the timeline of the process to move faster mayor and councilwoman Pastor yes when we're talking about mobile vending that is a food trucks on private property are considered mobile vending violations if they don't have the correct license for that location as per city code so that's that's an existing city code you're absolutely correct when we talk about this section and the exceptions to our standard code enforcement process yes it's about moving the cases a quick along quicker and mostly that has to do with notifications so we want to make sure that we're giving folks plenty of time to come into compliance and so we have our processes such as the pre-notification process which is a letter that is sent out when we first get a reported violation for a an offender who is not a recidivist so we we haven't had a case within the last 12 to 24 months depending on this policy after that our staff go out within 10 days and we do an inspection at that point if the violation still exists we'll send a notice of ordinance violation and then we'll give them a certain amount of time additional amount of time to come into compliance at that point if we go out and we identify the issue we'll move on to the next step of civil citation unless there's additional conversation for you know to allow them additional timing based on those particular circumstances what this exception allows us to do is not go through those same processes so what we would intend to do and I think short-term rentals is a great example before we ever go out before we ever have a complaint we can send everyone who's registered as a short-term rental with the city a notice letting them know what types of common violations we see with short-term rentals so that would serve as our first notice then when we receive a complaint from the community we could send them a second notice before we verify a violation just putting them on notice that we've we've explained to them the potential violations and now we've received a complaint on their property and that way by the time we're able to actually catch them in the ACT violating the city code we would be able to move straight to citation so it's because of the episodic nature of these events it's different than let's say a broken fence or weeds where they're there until they're gone episodic issues occur infrequently and so it's difficult to use our standard code enforcement process related to those types of violations and that's what this exception would allow us to do okay um I guess my question is if they're violating their violating period and so there needs to be some type of enforcement so are you saying it's taking too long because then let's change the timelines of all this because I think it takes too long already in the 15 days and all this other stuff so I'd rather change that um and move things faster because what I get from NSD is we can't do it because of this we're Bound by this we cannot move faster because it's we need another 10 or 15 days we don't have enough staff staff doesn't want to necessarily enforce so I'm having problems I guess now with all of it and in particular because there are some Dynamics in District Four that are completely out of violation and there's a public health issue going on and so I don't know and it has to deal with food so um I'm not sure how to handle this now I lean towards continuing it to the 14th thank you okay so councilman guardato is um you I don't think had a date would you be comfortable continuing this to June 14th okay so we have that motion do we have a second second we have a substitute motion and a second all those in favor please say aye aye all right next go to 93 uh good news in District Seven councilman I'm sorry move to approve item 93 . I'm sorry um first of all I want to thank Chris Mackey and her team for all of the hard work that they have put in to deliver on the promise of the loop 202 South Mountain Tech Corridor we're approving two industrial Tech parks in district 7 today with the goal of bringing high-wage tech jobs and advanced manufacturing jobs to Levine yesterday my office joined uh councilwoman Hodge Washington on a driving tour of Levine to discuss new developments and share our Visions for the area this was the second of a similar bus tour that we did several months ago to bring local restaurateurs to Levine to make the pitch for what a great area this is but more importantly with growth we will also need to deliver on needed infrastructure to ensure that Levine can grow response responsibly so whether that's Street improvements to Water and Wastewater lines this item does just that idm's lead on this project is Jeff Gordon and I just want to give them a shout out because they have been fantastic partners and they have gotten significant buy-in with the living community and it's truly exciting to see these projects come to life so I'm excited to vote yesterday councilman hunt Washington I just want to quickly Echo repeat what vice mayor has said Thank you again to the our city staff Chris Mackey for leading those efforts and I also wanted to say a special thank you to IDM companies they are proven to be a valuable partner in our community one of the things that they are investing in is our Parks we do have the only and 59th Avenue Park that they have made a commitment to invest in that Park so I just wanted to say thank you thank you councilwoman for your hard work for for this to move forward it needs to create high-wage jobs and we're really excited or I'm very excited to see such exciting Forward Motion in the South Mountain technology Corridor this proper donor has worked with us to try to recruit really high wage jobs so it's very exciting to see this move forward roll call guardado yes Hodge Washington yes yes and congratulations Pastor yes Robinson yes Stark yes wearing yes I'm sorry yes there you go yes this is 9-0 we next move to item 98 resolution to participate in and support the bid to host WNBA and NBA All-Star games and related events move to approve item 98. second we have a motion and a second I am really excited to support this item we have become known as Championship Valley because we know have the know-how and ability to execute the best major Marquee sporting and mega events and we have really put our communities on the spotlight including most recently with Super Bowl we are already preparing for the NBA men's final four in April 24 and the women's final four in 2026. we're seeing a lot of investment in downtown and we're learning how to more strategically leverage these events including for economic development and to support our small businesses and highlight those great successes we've even found ways to highlight our historical historic preservation efforts as well as our wonderful food and bar scene this will be an exciting opportunity to partner with our beloved sons and Mercury as well to work to recruit these events it's particularly exciting to me that we're pursuing the WNBA All-Star game as we have just welcomed Brittany Greiner back to our community and I think right now it feels like the whole country is rooting for Brittany Greiner it's been a a unifying moment from my perspective so excited to support that councilman Waring uh thank you mayor uh so I'm adamantly opposed to building stadiums um and and think that's a big mistake but once you go down that crazy path which this council did a few years ago uh you have to maximize the use of the facility so I just for anybody who thinks it might seem strange that I supportive of stuff like this now that it's there we have to use it it would be like building a two million dollar house that you can't really afford and then saying oh but I'm not going to buy the air conditioner that goes with it and we're only going to get to use the house a couple months a year that would be stupid so I definitely think we should bid on every one of these that we can get because the cost of doing that is uh de minimis compared to what the Stadium cost which I think in this case was 230 million dollars your thank you notes from Robert sarber in the mail everybody who voted for that um so you know I definitely hope that we are successful in this because we need to be uh to get some of this money back so thank you mayor I appreciate the time thank you councilwoman O'Brien um I I do think you just gave Chris Mackey the next terminology for her shirts Championship Valley so I think that's an excellent idea and I'm also happy to support this since we have the investment we absolutely should be taking full advantage of this wonderful asset as well as promoting our teams in our city whenever we can wonderful and to give credit where it's due I believe the team at visit Phoenix Ron Price's team first coin Championship rally so it's not not a cake Gallego original but I I like it and I appreciate the folks that visit Phoenix recognizing an area of excellence and I should say we're not just pursuing sporting events so we worked with visit Scenic Phoenix and gpec to bring semicon West toe the big semiconductor meeting and we've pursued other Mega events including Summit of the Americas so we want to show off the valley to a wide variety of of audiences as well one of our great Partners from Downtown Phoenix is here and so we will welcome devony Marley to speak about this item well good afternoon mayor and members of council my name is devny Marley president and CEO of Downtown Phoenix Inc and I am here today to enthusiastically support the proposed resolution for the city to participate in and support the bid to host WNBA and NBA All-Star games and related events having worked for the Phoenix Suns and Mercury for nine years before working for the 2015 Super Bowl in 2016 college football playoff National Championship post committees and overseeing their downtown fan activities I can confidently say there is just no louder megaphone in no larger billboard for a city then hosting Mega events like WNBA and NBA All-Star weekends I joined Downtown Phoenix Inc in 2016. and have watched firsthand over the years the businesses that have located or expanded into downtown as a result of experiencing Phoenix during previous Mega events and we continue to see positive impacts from the local the national and the international media and visitors who also descended on downtown for the related activities the Phoenix Suns have been very inclusive of Downtown Phoenix Inc and visit Phoenix as they think about ways to engage and include the downtown community and their bid efforts knowing Community impact is a pillar under the new ownership hosting WNBA and NBA All-Star weekends in downtown will be economic boosters for the local street level businesses which are still recovering from the pandemic in the community as a whole the city of Phoenix's collaborative approach to executing major events is well known amongst National event producers and it truly has become a competitive Advantage for landing Mega events in the region we will keep our fingers crossed at Downtown Phoenix Inc for positive news very soon thank you thank you roll call cuardado yeah Washington yes O'Brien yes pastor super yes Robinson yes Stark yes wearing yes I'm sorry yes there you go yes that says 9-0 116 is our annual operations funding agreement with Valley Metro do we have a motion move to approve item sorry I lost 160. 116. second come on wearing roll call I apologize yes thank you Dodge Washington yes O'Brien yes Pastor yes Robinson yes Stark yes wearing I'm wearing no what was I saying about crazy pass before I'm sorry yes there you go yes passes eight one item 125 amends city code to establish the shared micro Mobility Program will the clerk read the title item 125 is ordinance g7113 an ordinance amending sections 4-1 23-1 23-120 23-128 24-43 24-51 31-80 31-85 31-86 31 36-136-29 36-40.1 36.36-40.2 36-300 36-301 36-302 36-303 36-304 36-305 36-306 36-307 36-308 36-309 36-310 36-311 36-312 36-313 36-403 36-500 36-501 36-502 36-503 36-504 36-505 36-506 36-507 36-508 36-509 367 510 36-511 36-512 and 39-7 of the Phoenix city code to establish a shared micro Mobility Program and to enact related regulations I feel like we should applaud you for that do we have a motion move to approve item 125 second Patrick McDaniel is here to provide testimony good afternoon mayor good afternoon and vice mayor Ansari and members of council my name is Patrick McDaniel I'm the director of advocacy for Phoenix Community Alliance I'm here today on behalf of our multimodal connectivity committee we initially helped support the adoption of the micro Mobility Program today I am here to support and to applaud the city council for efforts made to increase Mobility for all of our residents throughout the city through various means numerous economic Studies have shown that micro Mobility programs often tend to help food and restaurant food and beverage institutions which are still coming out of covid but I'm here today to also make one request to members of council there are currently two providers for the program spin in line by the RFP that established the market Mobility Program there should be roughly 600 bikes or e-bikes placed throughout the city deployed throughout the city as of yesterday for a conversation with the streets and transportation department there's roughly the bikes or e-bikes should make up roughly 20 of the assets that are deployed as of yesterday there roughly five percent of the assets that are deployed we are several months into the program it seems time it seems that the market the providers are trying to make it difficult to deploy these bikes trying to make it complicated for individuals to obtain these bikes through a reservation system through a library system that seems to be an unfair encumbrance placed upon the end users and we and our committee um respectfully asks that steps be taken to ensure that these assets are provided as as were laid out originally in the program speaking on behalf of Phoenix Community Alliance One of the requests we received the most from downtown convention visitors is where can we get a bike where can we get on just hop on a pedal bike to enjoy your city so I think deploying these Assets in a manner that was initially spelled out in the in the program through the RFP would be beneficial to all that are involved trying to use these throughout the city thank you for your time thank you for the opportunity to speak today thank you for that testimony roll call yes Dodge Washington yes Orion yes pastor uh I'd like to make a comment um the ede subcommittee has spoken about this this is also going to do the transportation I can't tii I think uh to have this you have two subcommittees uh speaking about this and wanting to get the bikes out uh the way the contract is written and so uh I am requesting or or making a directive of we need to get these out and if you're having issues getting them out then come talk to us but two committees are speaking about micro mobility in these bikes so um I'm a yes though Robinson yes Stark yes wearing I'm sorry Gallego yes passes eight zero 126 is related to The Vision zero Community advisory committee well the clerk read the title item 126 is for ordinance g7114 an ordinance amending chapter 2 article 42 Phoenix city code relating to Vision zero Community advisory committee do we have a motion exactly yeah move to approve item 26 126. second comments roll call yes Dodge Washington yes O'Brien yes pastor yes Robinson yes Stark yes wearing I'm sorry yes Gallego yes passes eight zero 127 is related to speed limits will the clerk read the title item 127 is ordinance g7115 an ordinance amending chapter 36 vehicles and traffic article 12 section 36-158 schedule 1 of the Phoenix city code relating to local speed limits and 25 at 25 locations move to approve item 127. second comments roll call cordado yes Roger Washington yes O'Brien yes that store yes Robinson yes Stark yes I'm sorry yes Gallego yes passes eight zero item 135 is related to a new fire station councilman Robinson thank you mayor um I wanted to mention the fact last Friday I believe my office and I had an opportunity to spend some time out in ahwatuki for our first getting out in the community event and we probably had close to 50 folks who stopped by and I would say there was a good a large percentage of them all comment on how happy they were that the fire State Fire Station is coming out to East Chandler Boulevard it was something that they're looking forward to it's something they're well aware of it's something that is welcomed and you know I I moved to move to approve item number 135. second motion and a second I look forward to supporting this as well this is an architectural contract that moves us forward with Perlman architects of Arizona who did a great job for us on station five and their expertise will help us get this station up and running more quickly because we're Expediting design so I am really excited to welcome this new station to awatuki and I want to thank the fire department and the city engineer for all the work to move this forward look forward to supporting it any additional comments roll call yes Dodge Washington yes yes O'Brien yes a store yes Robinson yes Stark yes wearing I'm sorry congratulations to councilman Robinson and the mayor yes Gallego yes passes 9-0 item 138 is light rail capital and I-10 extension Water and Sewer design review and construction inspection oversight Services move to approve item 138. second roll call yes Hutch Washington yes O'Brien yes Pastor yes Robinson yes Stark yes wearing no I'm sorry yes there you go yes passes eight one we next moved to 144 Phoenix bus Rapid Transit programming planning Support Services do we have a motion yes move to approve item 144. second a motion and a second Leonard Clark is here to provide testimony thank you council members my name is Leonard Clark born right down the street at Good Samaritan Hospital Phoenix Arizona I just want to say that it is not a political thing to say that as a parent or as somebody who has a loved one who rides our Mass Transit System in Phoenix that they should feel that if they have a loved one who wants to ride the bus alone whether it's your 16 year old son or daughter or wife or husband that they should feel safe at least safe enough so that they don't have to worry about being viciously attacked so this is not coming from the fact that I'm a tree-hugging Progressive which I am but even if I was a Republican or a conservative I am saying that I'm not comfortable because of uh with I don't hear anything about security there was a woman who was murdered God Rest her soul I can't remember if it was five to six months ago there was only the man and the woman on the bus and there was a bus driver yet the bus driver didn't know who committed the crime the murder and quite honestly I'm going to be honest with you now I don't live in the beautiful city of Phoenix right now but I come in and out of here all the time I would not want if I had a 15 year old child or tenure anybody that's old enough to ride the bus to ride the bus without me on the bus and if you could connect this to whether we should hire an engineer for bus Rapid Transit that would be helpful well I'm just saying that I think and thank you mayor for your interjection but I think it's very germane and apropos because that is one of the things to be considered in engineering bioengineering ergonomics comfortability I think that Safety and Security is very is extremely important but I do thank you for your interjection but I must say that I think it is apropos and it is very germane but at least I wouldn't have been allowed to say that because in the state legislature they would not let me say that thank you thank you a good idea to include safety in our design councilwoman pastor yes um this program at planning and it's actually additional dollars to uh the brt in order to do a lot of its engineering but it's also to do some Outreach and I think it's very important uh to do the Outreach that is needed in order to see or get the support of the community of the brt and so I'm supportive of this item and I do agree with Leonard Clark on the safety piece so somehow some way in the future of the brt maybe we need to talk about the safety piece thank you bus Rapid Transit will be a new form of transportation to our community this is us moving forward on a commitment we made with the transportation 2050 plan we are very hopeful it will be able to move people very effectively and accommodate a large number of Travelers as well as people who have a specific Transit needs such as those who use Mobility Aid so it'll be exciting to see that coming forward and for our residents there's several opportunities to participate in both the design of the system as well as the corridors Council vice mayor I'll just add how excited I am for bus Rapid Transit several of us took a trip to Houston a couple months ago to visit there to go check out their brt system and we were really really impressed and it's exciting that that'll be coming to our city and then when we had the delegation here from suwon South Korea one of our sister cities and I met with their vice mayor they were telling us about how they have brt all across the city and have had it for so many years so it's definitely going to be really really exciting for Phoenix to um to expand upon this and to really come into the 21st century when it comes to our public transportation system councilman O'Brien thank you I'm too I'm excited about this project largely because it will provide bus service in a more rapid fashion thus the name but for folks who use the bus for work and for everyday living is really important for us to get this right and do it in a way that will provide a better quality of life to those writers so I'm excited to support this as well thank you councilman Washington no okay roll call yes Washington yes O'Brien yes pastor yes Robinson yes Stark yes Waring I'm sorry yes there you go yes passes 9-0 item 154 is the biomass power and solar power production partnership with the Salt River Project do we have a motion move to approve item 154. second Leonard Clark uh thank you mayor and Council yes I uh I'm hoping you'll vote for this uh it's ridiculous that we don't have more of this going on uh you know biomass and trying to get the trees cleaned out we can be helping the rest of Arizona because like with Lake Pleasant you can see all of the debris in there and at the same time do that but I'm particularly interested in the Solar the solar project you know I I do like Salt River Project the hard-working employees and APS and all the rest I just wish that the State of Arizona would allow mom and pop solar companies to be able to compete in Arizona so we could have actual more solar power so yes while this is what something affiliated with SRP I just wish they didn't have such a strong Monopoly over solar power we need we need actual and Entrepreneurship and business people to be getting involved that helps make government more efficient than just having public Monopoly utilities but that being said I do agree with this thank you so much vice mayor thank you I'm very excited about this item it provides up to 13 million dollars in funding towards biomass power station and Forest thinning efforts in northern Arizona forest setting is essential in combating forest fires which wreak havoc on not only our natural landscape and homes but on our water systems as well and while biomass is not necessarily the cleanest form of renewable energy there's no denying that forest fires especially those caused by human activity and exacerbated by climate change have extreme impacts on our air quality and our water systems as part of this SRP will be building 20 megawatts of solar which is fantastic and anything that we can do to protect our natural resources and reduce large fires is a win in my book and it's even better that it's tied to a large-scale solar project I want to thank our water and our environmental programs departments for working on this deal with SRP thank you so much thank you roll call guardado yes Hodge Washington yes O'Brien yes pastor yes Robinson yes Stark yes wearing yes I'm sorry yes there you go yes passes nine zero we next move to item 157 which is an agreement with the Bureau of Reclamation and the central Arizona Water Conservation District vice mayor move to approve item 157 second vice mayor thank you um I am extremely proud that our city is going above and beyond to do our part in helping to secure the entire Southwest Region's water future while the wet winner we had is a great blessing we know that it is it can be very well be followed by many dry Winters and lackluster Monsoon Monsoon Seasons we need to use wet Seasons like the one that we had this year to save more rather than thinking it gives us an opportunity to use more this agreement with the Bureau of Reclamation gives us a fantastic opportunity to not only reduce our Colorado River water usage but also to invest the up to 60 million dollars in compensation provided in diversifying our water portfolio and providing more conservation tools for our residents and industries I will definitely be supporting this agreement today thank you councilwoman O'Brien thank you mayor I couldn't be more thrilled that the states were able to come to agreement and that as vice mayor Ansari stated that Phoenix is leading the way in these conservation efforts um I had the chance to meet with Bureau of Reclamation earlier this month to talk about the steps that Phoenix is taking and how important it is for us to decrease our dependency and advocate for additional dollars so that we can help with things like raising the dam at Bartlett Lake and our Advanced water purification system so again thrilled to be voting yes for this and look forward to Phoenix being a leader in our conservation steps thank you thank you both for your work on our water supply so with this item we will make available up to 150 000 acre feet of Phoenix's Colorado River entitlement to stay on the river and help us with the drought situation we join communities such as Tucson as well as the Gila River Indian Community in being part of the solution I'm hopeful that this will be part of a bridge agreement to get us to another major agreement on the Colorado River we do it at the same time as councilman O'Brien mentioned that we're making a variety of other Investments including this Council unanimously voting to move forward on an advanced water recycling facility that will help us sure up our water supply sometime soon the State of Arizona will release the Phoenix active management area plan the City of Phoenix has a very solid plan that does not rely on groundwater even though the plan is named after Phoenix it includes a region that is much broader than Phoenix and different communities have very different water supplies but the City of Phoenix has been working very hard to make sure that we have a robust water portfolio including the Salt River Project system as well as the Colorado River and very little use of groundwater so we are in a good position in that area any additional comments roll call cordado yes Dodge Washington yes O'Brien yes Pastor yes Robinson yes Stark yes Waring I'm sorry yes there you go yes passes 9-0 item 174 is the biennial certified audit of land use assumptions infrastructure Improvement plan and development fees we will begin with a staff report thank you mayor as you said me uh item 174 is a request to hold a public hearing regarding the biannual certified audit of land use assumptions infrastructure Improvement plan and development impact fees as required by state statute ARS 943-05 requires a biannual certified audit of municipalities land use assumptions infrastructure Improvement plans and development fees to be conducted by a qualified professional the rule further specifies that the city the city shall conduct a public hearing on the audit findings within 60 days of posting the audits report on the city's website world and financial services was retaining to perform the biennial audit the audit review development impact keys and Water Resource acquisition fees through the period of July 1 2020 through July 30th 2022 mayor there is no motion necessary the audit was completed and made available to the public prior to this public hearing to comply with state law Adam Miller our deputy director overgrowth and infrastructure is available to answer any questions or go through a short presentation mayor happy to answer any questions one member of the public here to comment so I will come to council members after we hear from the public and we will open the public hearing Laurel the floor is yours do we have Laurel oh okay perfect um for those of you who are watching online Laurel explained that she is here for 175 and does not wish to testify on the audit all right uh we'll close that public hearing council member does anyone wish to hear me uh mayor go ahead councilwoman thank you I just want to thank staff um the fact that we can hold a public hearing and we don't have any negative comments tells me that they're doing an excellent job with our impact fees and as we know impact fees are important that's how we're paying for the fire station down in ahwatuki so uh big kudos to our staff thank you mayor thank you so much um and and while Adam is here Adam played an important role in our effort to challenge the census for the City of Phoenix and we are now the largest city in the country to have successfully challenged our census effort bringing millions of dollars each year into our community so thank you and the entire team for the work on that I do not see any council members wishing to ask questions or comments we do not need to vote on this item so thank you Adam we will go to items 175 and 176 which are related items in district one at the North corn north of the northwest corner of 17th Avenue and Happy Valley Road we will have a brief staff report we will open a public hearing each side will have up to 10 minutes the applicant can reserve up to two minutes at the end to respond to questions uh raised by the Appellate side and we will take up to two minutes of testimony from each member of the public registered uh was turned to disc this is in Council district one Council one do you wish to make any comments to introduce the item I'm happy to hear from staff at this time mayor thank you wonderful well then we will open start 175 and 176 with the brief staff report thank you mayor members of the council item 175 is gpa-dv-3-22 a request to amend the general plan to residential 15 plus item 176 is z59-22 a request to rezone the site from S1 to PUD to allow for multi-family residential the Deer Valley Village planning committee was scheduled to hear this case on April 20th but did not make a recommendation due to no Quorum the Planning Commission heard this heard both requests on May 4th 2023 and recommended approval per the staff recommendations on both requests the Planning Commission recommendation was appealed and a petition for a three-quarter vote was submitted on May 11 2023 a three-quarter vote is required staff recommends approval of item 175 per the Planning Commission a recommendation and Adoption of the related resolution staff recommends approval of item 176 for the Planning Commission recommendation and Adoption of the related ordinance mayor happy to answer any questions thank you I do not see any questions so we will begin the public comment with the applicant who has up to 10 minutes thank you mayor and Council my name is Ben Graf with the law firm of Quarles and Brady thank you very much mayor representing shelter Asset Management our client who is the applicant in the proposed rezoning case while staff pulls up our presentation I just want to start by just outlining the collaboration with council member O'Brien's office with planning staff and with the community that took place on this case there was a lot that went into this a true effort on all sides and in fact looking back at my calendar we first started meeting with councilmember O'Brien's office a bit over a year ago and really just want to thank the team thank planning staff for everything that we've done to go back and forth on this to really ensure that we have the best possible development and we have what as you'll see as I'm explaining today an opportunity for True attainable housing and I and I want to be respectful of of the time clock and I will reserve a couple of minutes mayor so thank you for pointing that out shelter asset management is a company that has already made a big splash in Arizona investing in district one and in multiple unit Renovations across the valley this will be the second development to break ground in Arizona they are a long-term owner and manager and that is the key to why they come in just under market and more of an attainable fashion with rental rates and I'm happy to answer other questions on that if needed as we look at the major question before the council today it's really to address what's happening with this slide both from employment needs and the lack of housing this case is specifically designed to respond to Phoenix's housing plan and the need to meet what is now estimated at 118 000 missing units we also if you can see the star on the map are conveniently located near tsmc USAA the airport and Mayo Clinic we are an ideal location for nearby proximity for attainable rental housing for our growing Employers in Phoenix so again we started to discuss this site just here at 17th Avenue and Happy Valley Road just over a year ago and the ability to place a quality multi-family development and quickly worked with staff to identify that a planned unit development or PUD would be the most efficient rezoning category this allowed us within what you can see as the edge of the border of the City of Phoenix and next to a county Island to specifically curtail our development standards to respond to the neighborhood and to respond the needs this is not a cookie-cutter development that you would get from an R4 or an R5 we have specifically tailored our development standards to create the best possible development you'll see that we are tucked in next to what the city council already approved for the Toll Brothers PUD and the county approved for the Bungalows so this is certainly an area where you're seeing higher density multi-family growth and the Synergy with the commercial center to our South is key we have an empty pad that is looking towards being redeveloped because of this multi-family development we have our main access through the commercial development down to Happy Valley Road and secondary access on 17th Avenue and we really in a sense complete the puzzle here of providing the most efficient housing without honestly stuffing this site to too many units one of the examples is that the Toll Brothers site to our left is a slight more intense development we've got 35 dwelling units per acre as you come over to us we are at 226 units at 28 units per acre so if we were to have copied the Toll Brothers model we would have had 280 units on our site but instead we're coming down to 226 we're lowering the intensity as we get closer to the county Island the zoning as you can see will be compatible it's another PUD next to the Pud for multi-family and as we stated two items tonight one will require us to do a minor General plan Amendment to the 15 plus dwelling units per acre that will take the general plan from this exhibit to the exhibit here which again will be consistent with everything to our West this is probably the most important slide I'll spend most of the majority of my time left on on this slide before we even hit the site planning we read every single opposition and support email that was associated with the Bungalows and the Toll Brothers we learned from those two examples that came through the city processes and County processes and tried to make the best possible plan when we started to have neighborhood meetings the neighbors directly to our North they're named Kim and Wayne Hudgins they reached out and said can we meet can we talk about how making your site plan better more compatible with our site could work because of that what you now have is instead of a 280 unit multi-family development again if we had really packed it in as much as possible the 226 units now represent the fact that we only have a two-story Town Home Development along our northern border we guaranteed that to the Hudgens and to the neighbor to the north we also guarantee that within a hundred feet of the northern property line we would not have any building taller than 30 feet or two stories we've essentially created a buffer on the North hand side specifically tailored to the requests we received from those neighbors very early in the process in fact those discussions date back to October of 2022 and then moved through as we started working with planning staff on how to incorporate again within the Pud these very tailored methods another unique aspect of our site is the five-story building on the southwest corner now the reason that we have found this and that staff has recommended approval to be appropriate is because we reduce density so incredibly on the Northern portion of our site that in order to still pencil this out at an attainable level for rental rates it was essential that we do have more units toward the South so our five-story building as you can see is uniquely situated next to a self-storage unit and behind the Learning Center which is the daycare area it is in fact 215 feet away from 17th Avenue and over 475 feet away from the closest single-family home so while we have the five story building only one and then we basically break down to four stories two stories we have a three-story step down it was important for us to basically buffer that height appropriately within this area the other thing that was incredibly important with this site that we received direct feedback from the city was the fact that we originally only had our major access through the commercial center to the South to Happy Valley and we only had emergency access on 17th Avenue in working with the city and realizing the needs of the Learning Center and some of our commercial users it was essential to create two forums or points of Ingress and egress this made it so that our entire congestion if you will of traffic didn't occur in the commercial center down to Happy Valley Road but instead was shared between 17th Avenue and Happy Valley Road and you will see today but we have an incredible amount of support from our commercial Partners our commercial neighbors to the South because of the Synergy that is about to take place mayor I'll stop there for now and reserve the rest of my time thank you thank you the Ellison has up to 10 minutes and Allison you may use all 10 minutes or welcome other speakers if you choose to speak for the whole 10 minutes then it's all yours so the floor is I am afraid I could not hear what you were saying but I think it was who was speaking so whoever that is come up perfect okay thank you we will welcome you for the 10 minutes and if you could begin by letting at least me know your name well mayor and members of council my name is Gordon Loucks and I've been living in the area in question for well since 1988 or something like that I want to start out by saying that I couldn't agree more with what the the applicant has stated he stated that this is necessary housing great pressures are and should be on the city to make more housing just like this he didn't address as deeply as I would be comfortable with in describing whether or not this is the site for said high density the difficulty in your job can't be overstated I appreciate your attention in this matter during the entire as it turns out eight minutes because I will Reserve also do I have a you want a PowerPoint Advance yeah all right could they bring up the PowerPoint please there it is okay I know this this is labeled issues that are driven by new facts I'm going to go very quickly through this quickly this list here we have new data to show that with quite certainty that the Happy Valley Rural neighborhood is not in support of this as was Prior told to the public rezoning for high density immediately adjacent to a neighborhood that is very rural conflicts in fact with the PDD General plan the area in question puts the highest of density five-story buildings right across the street from the highest rural you can possibly get where you've got lots that don't don't even go below one in one quarter acre typically two and a half or five acre lots Ingress and egress issues which are on the top of the slide are touching many of the areas so I'm going to seem like I'm spending a lot of time on Ingress egress but I will uh show the connectivity of all of that what you can see here is uh the development as shown in the lower part of that the developers traffic plan in this entire area uh did not include any of the rural area which is to say the unpaved and the unpaved and undedicated roads in that area home at Happy Valley traffic will be able to make a simple left turn out of the the Ingress egress that he showed on the east side of the property a simple left turn and they will very quickly be on a dirt road and that dirt road can lead only a couple ways can lead out of the area but I don't think the plan itself was sound it didn't reach far enough in fact it was fallacious to the extent that the plan didn't even seek to check out what was going on with in the new trafficked areas we were simply told that people won't turn left when pressed and pressed they finally said well we could put up a sign that says no left turn I think that kind of a fix to the problem would be unattainable more Ingress more Ingress and egress here I need to have you pay attention to the picture while I point out a bunch of things very very quickly first the white area the that's blocked in at the top is the lower edge of the property in question and it's about 300 about 250 feet from Happy Valley Road you see in the uh what just below that is the preschool area now notice carefully on your on your high-res screens there that where the blue lines are are the exit points from the south end of the property you see and I don't think this will reach that far but yes if you look if the if the public is looking you can see that these lines here and here are exits this exit goes by the preschool and daycare that exit at the narrowest point is about 23 feet wide and it goes through a commercial area I don't understand about zoning but it seems to me that having that kind of a high traffic area right next to a school like that is not advisable the three people I just happened to talk to outside that place at 7 30 this morning when they opened all agreed with me like it didn't put them on any any sign up sheets because most of them weren't living directly in our rural area but they still are seemingly against having that kind of traffic next to their little ones oh I need to go back because that this is the best the square in the lower left hand corner this is the best slide to show you I'm pressing there it is okay now just the button all right the uh the forgive me there all right in the lower left hand corner is a blow up of the 17th Avenue a chunk of 17th Avenue showing where it is currently half paved and half not the paved Parts on the on the west and the non-paved part is the dirt road is on the right I measured that as well the paved Road there is 22 feet wide and cannot be widened because nobody has dedicated the other half of the street had the same thing happen in front of my home on 15th Avenue the city wanted to come in and pave the entire Road they paved half the road it doesn't work it especially won't work with high traffic areas 15th Avenue is not in any case a high traffic area this area is and that width will just not suffice skip that all right here you see a messed up diagram and the reason it's messed up is because we have created through the plan that we that was presented to you we have created for ourselves a very complex entry and exit situation it turns out that I call this an intersection with no controls because you have traffic coming out of two exits South hitting Happy Valley Road then directly across from the main one that the applicant wishes to use as their main uh egress and graphs I'm going to take this time um directly across from it and all these lines represent one of a possible move that an automobile would make other than staying in the Middle Lane what we see here is on the left hand side out of view to the West three lanes of Happy Valley Road at this point it's two lanes with a median in the middle to the right to the east it no longer has anything but a old-fashioned two-lane road and this kind of confusion with the traffic plan they have put together not considering in the traffic plan other developments which were mentioned by the the applicant they have not shown that they've accounted for the cross-linking of separate projects that'll affect traffic we think these things needs to be done this is a slide that I think nails down some bad information that's been floating around supposedly supposedly a study was done and to show how many people are in favor of this project it was localized much more so than any statistical value would account for what we did was try to pull the entire population that's what you do when you have a small population we tried to pull the entire population this is how much we succeeded on and you see that the incredibly vast majority of people wish this project not to occur thank you [Music] thank you Gordon for you clearly worked incredibly hard on this uh Mr Graf would you like your two minutes now or at the end of public comment mayor I can take it at the end of public comment thank you all right we will open the public hearing on 175 and 176 so one hearing on both items we will begin with Melissa Crawford followed by venut baban our third speaker will be Diane thank you for your for your time I'm a resident on Parsons Road which is the road behind this project the next major road there part of the problem is not just this development but what is happening in our area so we're horse property the smallest properties there are an acre and a half up to five acres so we're talking about an environment that has livestock has horses pulling in horse trailers in and out of the facility and then you've got Apartments going on and and the problem also is this isn't the only apartment so we have in our area we have the canal that black that blocks our east side and then we have three major roads to get out we have 15th Avenue 17th Avenue Parsons that I live on that goes into 19th Avenue we now have Toll Brothers and the Bungalows going in on 19th Avenue that is going to be feeding right alongside we also have this proposed 226 apartments on 19th Avenue there's is a mega church on 15th Avenue We are Becoming landlocked and nobody seems to care we've been I've been on all the virtual meetings myself trying to say our cause and it feels like because we're County it's hard to get a voice so that's I'm thanking you for the opportunity to do this but we've got a major problem going on and it is majorly changing our environment and where we live we're not opposed to growth we're not opposed to seeing the expansion for making more housing but the two environments that are trying to collide are overtaking our entrances and our exits where we are not able to leave come and go and the Toll Brothers in the Bungalows projects haven't even started yet so the added traffic that's going to come is overtaking thank you thank you vanute is next followed by Diane followed by Debbie Caruso hello counselor my name is I'm a resident at 26415 North 17 drive I'm here today to inform you that I am in support of the Happy Valley Project I support Sam development first I I was there for a couple of the meetings of the development Sam has been responsible and engaged voluntary holding additional neighborhood meetings that require uh about the development um Sam has taken other steps in order to best fit in with surrounding communities such as providing building with the heist step back to put high highway for Community resident the tall building will be located closer to the other future multi-family use based in the building apart to allow View Corridor throughout the property beautiful pool and Recreation areas I support 100 Sam project Happy Valley thank you so much and apologies for my pronunciation Diane is next followed by Debbie followed by Margaret good afternoon I'm Diane habener and I live at 25312 North 16th Avenue I am one parcel away from this I live on two and a half acres I have horses and run a dog and cat animal rescue I have lots of complaints but the main one is the traffic nobody has thought this out we had uh first of all there I feel totally disenfranchised because the village planning commission had two meetings and there was not a quorum at either one so we did not get to address any of our grievances there at all then at the Planning Commission that we were here at the other day there were three people that voted against it the three people that voted against this project all had personally come and spent some time on 17th Avenue in Happy Valley at rush hour I challenge the city council to do the same there's going to be no way that this is going to work traffic wise and I cannot believe that there have been any studies on this that's probably my main concern but just is going against your whole plan that was originally set up that we had all agreed to that the people that lived in the area agreed to it's just wrong and having two minutes to tell you my grievances isn't nearly enough thank you thank you Debbie is next followed by Margaret followed by Charles hi there I'm Debbie Caruso I'm from The Learning Experience I am the franchise regional manager representing the owners today since they could not be here um the owner of the lot Charles is actually on the docket to discuss a little further some of the things that people had concerns about the owners and I have discussed it and looked at the traffic and the flow that it's looking at and we are not currently opposed thank you thank you we'll go next to Margaret and then to Charles hello um I appreciate the opportunity to speak my name is Margaret Langley I live at 1607 West Parsons Road I'm on the corner of Parsons and 16th Avenue we use 17th Avenue and Parsons to leave our landlocked County Island my family and I returned to Arizona to start a homestead where a multi-generational homestead my daughter son-in-law and my three grandkids we all live on our property we're beekeepers we sell honey we have chickens we sell eggs my we all three of us have also full-time jobs when we bought that piece of land our dream was to Homestead become self-sufficient we raise our own vegetables since we've lived there I've already seen an increase in the traffic on our dirt roads the amount of dust on our dirt roads the damage to our dirt roads during the very rainy season I know that those cars are not from our neighborhood I work from home my office window faces the street all I can assume is that because of the increased traffic on 19th and Happy Valley from the massive development that's occurred at Union Park up to Joe Max um that might be a reason for the increase in the traffic it's going to get worse it's already been spoken about with the other developments that are coming and um I just want to appeal to your minds and your hearts this is not compatible with our rural living thank you thank you Charles is next followed by Allison good evening mayor members of the council my name is Charles Eckert our offices are at 24925 North 15th Avenue in Phoenix I'm the managing director of Red Hawk Development Corporation we've developed most of the property in between 17th Avenue and 19th Avenue on Happy Valley Road we've part of the the concept with the child care center and I've talked with Jim and tally Stewart who own the uh or operate the child care center there they wanted us to point out that you know all of the drop off the supervised drop off and loading for the children occurs on the front of that building which is the south side of that building the driveway the roadway that the neighbors seem to be concerned about is a dry vial that is on the east side of the building it does not interfere with the supervised dropping off and picking up of children in the area and they they've been very clear that this does not interfere with any of the uh pose any kind of a danger to the students at The Learning Experience or the parents or the uh the teachers um a couple of other points I want to bring up uh and it's part of the development that we've done over the last 10 years we've started the projects there back in 2010 we brought 13 new businesses to the area those new businesses collected collectively have created over 200 direct new jobs and hundreds indirect uh in of indirect new jobs in addition to adding significantly to the sales tax base for the City of Phoenix and the area these projects have brought in sorely needed infrastructure we've widened Happy Valley Road from four lanes to six Lanes white and 15th Avenue and widen 17th Avenue which is the road on the east side of this project economically these businesses have added significantly to the quality of the life in the local neighborhoods they serve and increase the values of the property values significantly Homes at Happy Valley will fill a significant Gap in housing caused by incredible growth in the area the TM uh the tsmc plant and it will benefit current and future residences in the neighborhood [Music] uh for these reasons we are supporting the project and we are looking forward to having Homes at Happy Valley and very excited to having homes of Happy Valley be a part of our neighborhood Allison is next followed by Marius hi I'm Allison McKee and I am a resident of the unincorporated County Island and I want to point out a few things first of all I wrote the appeal and we are asking for a continuance at this hearing there are some errors in the staff report itself first of all and the staff report it only reports one owner there are three parcels and two of the parcels are owned by Red Hawk one of the parcels is owned by Happy Valley Investment Group Happy Valley Investment Group was never even mentioned also in the general plan map it shows our County Island as being three and a half to five residential units per acre in that staff report we are not three and a half to five residential Acres we are one residential or residential unit per acre so those are errors that are in the staff report itself I do want to address um something that happened at the Planning Commission level in with the owners that are directly north of this proposed PUD at that meeting it there was even a slide that showed that Kim and Wayne who own that property were in support of this project they are not in support of this project and that was grossly misrepresented to the Planning Commission we even had a commissioner specifically ask about that parcel and we were not able to rebut or address her concerns there is a letter in the appeal from that parcel and they state that they do not support it so that in itself we we really need you to look more carefully at this we need you to look at the traffic that has not been addressed they we have not had an answer as to how they are going to keep this traffic off of our private dirt roads that we must maintain ourselves the developer has not given us an answer other than will put up a sign if any of you had bothered to come out and I hope that some of you have and look at our area and experience the traffic like those three Commissioners did that voted against this you would see that this is absolutely just ludicrous from the five-story height to the traffic the misrepresentation of support by our neighbors thank you we need to we need to step back and we need our continuance thanks guys I really appreciate it thank you Marius is next followed by Megan foreign sorry I'm taller ladies and gentlemen of the console mayor vice mayor good afternoon my name is Marius groza and I reside at Union Park as a local resident and a business owner in our community I'm heavily invested in our neighborhoods growth development and prosperity today I'm here to voice my support for the new apartment complex known as home at Happy Valley Apartments blend in our area by shelter Asset Management shelter Asset Management has shown commitment to transparency Community engagement and consultation from the very beginning they voluntarily held more neighborhood meetings than required demonstrating their willingness to align their plans with our community needs and interests this kind of dedication and representatives is condemnable and indicative of a genuine desire to be positive a positive addition to our neighborhood some has meticulously designed the home at Happy Valley Apartments project to harmonize with our existing existing Community they have proposed thoughtful adjustment like Building height variants variants and step backs to respect our current Skyline and neighbor neighborhood Aesthetics they also committed to spacing the buildings apart maintaining the important view corridors through the property a detail which emphasized the value they placed on preserving the character of our community their plans for improving exterior landscaping around the property and enhancing pedestrian experience along North 17th Avenue show an in-depth understanding of our neighborhood's needs notably the addition of a fully detached sidewalk along North 17th Avenue will greatly improve The Pedestrian safety and convenience shelter asset management will remain as the owner and manager of the home at Happy Valley apartments complex past development creating an ongoing relationship with our community this commitment Fosters trust and reassures us reassures us of their continued involvement in the interest in our community's well-being in conclusion I fully support the homemade Happy Valley Apartments project which is considered planning Community Center design responsive management and the potential benefits it will bring to our local local businesses and Community this project truly deserves our Collective endorsement I urge you to see this project as a significant step forward in the evolution of our beloved neighborhood thank you very much for your time and consideration thank you Megan is next followed by geronim High Bayer and Council people I am Megan Rock I am a resident in the county Island I am a voice of many of our neighbors who are unable to attend today as you hear from these support it is not from the people in the county Island we currently live there we purchase property in this neighborhood six and a half years ago it was an acre and a half and I am here to support the theme of this County Island it is a rural theme we love our horses we love our donkeys they make noise we love our roosters our goats we have children and we paid a lot of money to get into this community a daily fight with the traffic currently I am on a corner of a gravel dirt road my son can ride his bike to the mailbox it is a private Dirt Road it is only accessible by one vehicle I challenge all council members to go back and look at the PowerPoint of the opposition that this is receiving from the county Island we are not appreciating this it has been not open to us I did not attend the first few meetings because I was not notified I am raising three children and I highly am appealing to your wisdom and your respect to our residents that are already there who love their animals love this community and paid to get in that Community we do not want these high-rise Apartments it will intrude upon our privacy it's a flat area five stories you will be able to see my home I do not wish for that I own cows I own goats I understand Farm life brings flies these City authorities will be receiving complaints if these apartment goes in from a quick apartment renters who do not understand our rule lifestyle about the farm noise and about the way Farm brings thank you thank you geronim is next followed by Linda It Was Written Geronimo I guess it's probably Geronimo but there's no o1 what's this person registered nope okay good evening mayor and City Council Members my name is iranim Mitch my address is 1920 West Yearling Road Phoenix Arizona 85085 I am here today to inform you that I am in support of the home at Happy Valley Project and a supporter of Sam the developer Sam has been responsive and engaging voluntarily holding additional neighborhood meetings then required Sam has taken necessary steps that best fit the community such as providing Building height variants and step backs to pull High away from County residents the taller buildings will be located closest to other Future Family multi-family uses spacing the buildings apart to allow view corridors through the property improving the exterior landscaping around the property through the addition of tree shrubs and other plants also improving pedestrian experience along North i-17th Avenue including the addition of fully detached sidewalk along North 17th Avenue Sam will remain the owner manager of the property even after development completion as a result they have a vested interest in maintaining relationships with the neighborhood which improves Community compatibility I believe the more people that make this area their home the more it will improve the surrounding commercial amenities as well as infrastructure again I would like to reteriate my full support for the home at Happy Valley Project and the developer Sam thank you for the opportunity to speak thank you Linda it's followed by Laurel good afternoon my name is Linda slay I live at 25411 North 16th Avenue I am a resident of the county Island I do have animals on my parcel as many of the people sitting over there with me do um really the main main problem that we have with this is the traffic the traffic study that the developer had was flawed because they did not consider 17th Avenue an existing Road and the answer that we got in a meeting was well our people aren't going to go that way you can't tell me these people can't look to the left say well let's see three to five minutes to get on Happy Valley no cars that way they're going on that non-county and City maintained private dirt roads that we have to maintain and in the slides that Gordon showed you you saw the malaria germs of the left turn Lanes with completely no stop signs inadequate turn Lanes no no it's I call it chicken in the left-hand turn lane which sounds funny unless you're the one you're trying to turn left onto 17th Avenue and someone's trying to turn left in the into the apartments or whatever those are across the street I've been like head on with someone in the left turn lane we barely got past each other there's no there's no regulation and that's without Toll Brothers without the bungalows without this project and there's no the city can't do anything or they're not going to the county can't there's no improvements on Happy Valley Road scheduled in any time in the near future and I mean 19th Avenue and Happy Valley are the only ways to get out of this neighborhood you must go on either 19th Avenue or Happy Valley if you're going to go anywhere and it's totally dangerous I mean you should try to turn left on Happy Valley during rush hour and it's not just our lifestyle that's at stake here but perhaps our very lives and you know sorry have you lost someone through an accident I wouldn't wish that anybody not us and not the new presidents either it's sorry but thank you thank you Laurel is next followed by Mike hi thank you for your time my name is Laurel Brody I live at 25657 North 17th Avenue I am a county Island resident I have been one since 1988. I've seen so much 19th Avenue wasn't even paved when we moved there so quite a lot of changes I'd like to address another issue of this that causes us issues too though so the developer states that the site has been designed to be compatible with the surrounding single family uses however we aren't just single-family homes as we were referred to over and over we're rural allowing for livestock Etc and must be on an acre and a quarter site we aren't naive and we understand that likely any development of this property would involve a higher density than our r43 zoning everyone keeps using the terms appropriate and compatible for this proposed PUD that's where we think this is lacking reality we aren't unsympathetic to the fact that a housing is needed but our tiny County island has already been subjected to two large developments in process that drastically change from our r43 zoning and have yet to experience the traffic impact of that we would ask that you disallow the proposed building Heights of up to 65 feet and allow no more than the 30 that is currently zoned for staff analysis stated that the subject site is appropriate for residential uses at the proposed densities they are achieving that density through height however which is at the expense of what is compatible and appropriate for the area developer states that they have drastically reduced heightened depth standards current zoning calls for a maximum 34th structure they are wanting to put 55 and 60 foot structures located 600 to 800 foot from r43 developed property they reference 65-foot building as being tucked in I hardly think you can just tuck in the highest building that would exist within a one to two mile radius and sit 800 foot of horse properties I did a lot of driving over the last weeks specifically looking at building Heights focusing on apartment complexes up to Dove Valley Union Hills I-17 7th Street nowhere did I find a five-story building within an apartment complex most or three and don't exist in the backyard of single family homes let alone next to r-43 housing the height in this area would be intrusive and would break precedent based upon observations every apartment complex I went and looked at had three-story four-story buildings so the five-story buildings I found there are hotels on Whispering Wind that's the only five-story buildings you can find anywhere nearby my last statement would be if if the I-17 complexes and the many many other recently built complexes can maintain three stories we would at a minimum ask for the same considerations however the ideal situation for us would be one that conforms to what is already zoned in the immediate area and I thank you for your time thank you Mike is next followed by Kimberly and then we will have Ben Gruff our final speaker do we have Mike Perry all right we will go to Kimberly and then Ben hi I'm Kimberly Wampler I live at 25919 North 17th Avenue Phoenix Arizona I've been out in this area a little less time than Laurel I moved out in December 1998 and the 19th Avenue was still dirt then too we have seen a lot of developments we've seen a lot of change and we've all hit on the traffic and I would like to say the other thing that nobody is considering here is 19th Avenue between Happy Valley and Joe Max road is two lanes when I-17 gets shut down everybody comes over to 19th Avenue to go North 19th Avenue at one point was backed up all the way to Union Hills when 19th Avenue gets backed up all that traffic comes into our area trying to avoid 19th Avenue so they'll come down 17th Avenue thinking that they can just go right over the canal go on they don't they they hit 17th Avenue it goes up to the canal and they have to make a left to get back over to 19th Avenue this happens time and time again whenever 17 I-17 gets shut down nobody's considering that they're saying hey you got Happy Valley you got 19th Avenue Bill deal with it I cannot make a left onto 19th Avenue I cannot make a left onto Happy Valley I have to go make a right to get out of my neighborhood at all times I mean you know maybe Saturday afternoon Sunday I can make a left but other than that it's purely make a right and move to get out and then you go somewhere make a left to get back into go to Walmart you know um if I turn on 19th Avenue I have to go right to go up to Joe Max make a left and then go back over down 23rd Avenue or North Tower Parkway we are we are landlocked we can't get out it's it's ridiculous and I did make an effort I reached out to Ben I had him over to my house I had not been informed I had not got any letters in the mail from them about what was going on I knew about it um about a couple of months ago before we found out and I reached out to him I had him over to house I said what can we do I said what can we do can you make a road down behind Happy Valley to get behind Circle K to make your traffic exit on the 19th Avenue can you keep the traffic off a 17th Avenue please and he did say we can only make a left I said can you make it only an emergency entrance for emergency vehicles only because half of the road is dirt right there where they're going to be they said they can't pave the whole from Happy Valley to the north end of their property because it's private property on the other side it's all residential so we can't pay that so you're going to end up with dust in all these apartments it's going to make more dust into our area and dust is a concern in the valley so we need to think about that also thank you thank you Mr Graf spoke for eight minutes so you have two minutes thank you very much mayor and Josh if I could have the presentation please pulled up in the remote I actually want to start by thanking Kimmy who is the individual that was just up at the podium she's absolutely correct when we were basically notified at the second village meeting so we had had two neighborhood meetings we had an initial Village meeting with no opposition when we were at our second village meeting and multiple County members showed up and this was the first time that they had expressed any opposition um we immediately acted by holding extra neighborhood meetings and Kenny was one of the ones that hosted one at her home so I want to thank her for letting us get to know her and her neighbors and I want the council to know we were very Hands-On once the County residents made it clear they had concerns we were in their homes we were meeting with them we were holding special meetings um there's one item that needs absolute clarification there was a accusation of a misrepresentation and there certainly was no misrepresentation what there was was one of the biggest surprises in my career so far which is as we worked with the Hudgens for 10 months and reduced the height or guarantee there'd only be a two-story here put into the Pud arrays seven foot wall just for their benefit increased the landscaping for the Hudson but they came to the first Village meeting they testified in support of our case we did show them that Planning Commission is in support and in between Planning Commission and city council they signed the oppetition petition opposition petition I can't explain it but those are the facts so there was not a misrepresentation there was a change of mind I do want to stay on the record however I'm very proud to work with my client because despite that opposition letter from the Hudgens we are 100 keeping every single benefit on the Northern property within the Pud we are not changing a thing we are not changing a commitment made to the neighbors I may have a couple other clarifications maybe they'll get answered in questions but I want to respect the time so I'll end there thank you Ben will you please leave this slide up staff councilman would you like me to keep the public hearing open or close it close it we'll close the public hearing we will first take item 175 and I will turn to councilwoman O'Brien um so mayor I have some questions please okay Josh one of the speakers talked about staff reports and that there were errors could you please address that mayor councilman O'Brien I believe the first comment was related to the ownership that's mentioned in the staff reports the ownership that's mentioned in the staff report is Redhawk Partners LLC as the speaker noted that is correct there's also an abbreviation shortly after that that basically says and others it's common practice in the staff report where we have multiple owners just to list the primary one listed in the application but all the owners are captured in the actual application but from a formatting standpoint we'll use the the abbreviation e-t-a-l just to recognize that there are other owners associated with the application with respect to the general the common about three to five dwelling units an acre that is the current designation on the general plan land use map and the speaker is correct that is not their actual zoning but they while while the area is in the county it is within the Phoenix planning area and as such the general plan land use map does apply and the designation on their properties today is three and a half to five drilling units per acre but that is not their zoning thank you very much Josh one of the other um a common theme has been the traffic can we please talk about what is going to happen to 19th Avenue and I asked this slide to be left up because you see we have Toll Brothers coming and then Bungalows at Norterra multifamily as those developments occur what will happen to 19th Avenue mayor councilman O'Brien like the Bungalows at notora noterra rezoning case and the Toll Brothers multi-family case this case has a rezoning a condition on the rezoning to do and complete and get approved by the city a traffic impact study those studies usually come with conditions for improvements in the area that are at the full cost of the developer not having the the results of the Toll Brothers and Norterra projects right in front of me I can certainly say with assurance that there there are improvements coming to 19th Avenue and we'll see what the results of this study but ultimately some improvements on 17th and Happy Happy Valley would most likely be associated with any approved traffic study okay thank you Josh I too was concerned about traffic in this area and initially only having one Ingress and egress near the daycare and so I am the the one who asked for us to have an additional Ingress and egress on 17th Avenue having heard the concerns of the County residents I want to know if we can have the developers include and maybe if Ben you could step up over here I'm going to check with Josh first if it is okay to have um a right turn only exit on 17th Avenue which would prevent the residents of the apartment complex from turning left onto 17th Avenue in the form of what I believe is called like a pork chop that possible mayor councilman O'Brien if it is the will of the council you certainly could include a motion that moves to approve for the Planning Commission recommendation with an additional stipulation that limits Ingress and egress on 17th Avenue to right right turns only and Ben would the developer be willing to include that in the development or agree to that stipulation is it back on okay um I I just took a look over at my client we did a kind of a psychic nod and uh mayor councilmember O'Brien uh we would be in favor of uh the Restriction as long as it only restricted egress uh a right right hand turn exiting uh the property yes I apologize for not making myself clear only when exiting that somebody could come north on 17th and turn left into the apartment complex but when they're exiting the apartment complex on 17th Avenue they would only be able to turn right and go south to Happy Valley Road okay and I know Josh you're gonna hate me because I didn't write down that language but you'll help me when it's time to make the motion right absolutely thank you so much um I apologize I want to get back to my notes so when thank you Ben thank you when this project came to me one of the things that um he made me excited about supporting it is that it is attainable um housing and in our community having sat on the Deer Valley Unified School District governing board for eight years and and lived in that Community for many many years attainable housing is so difficult um it's just it's almost non-existent and I say that knowing that my daughter who's a high school teacher in that District there's no way she could afford to live in the very District that she teaches in so in our current housing shortage in the city of Phoenix and in district one with all the development that is coming it was with pride that I support this project in addition the Union Park area to the West has provided much of the work work and some live play I should say the Norterra area even farther west where we have work options and we have many play options with shopping and eating and I'm proud to again like I said bring more housing to this areas for our community and for our city so for that reason I I will be supporting these I will move sorry I've lost all my notes I moved to approve partner the Planning Commission recommendation and adopt the rated related resolution um with the amendment that the developer shall limit the access on the 17th Avenue to right outturns only mayor councilwoman O'Brien if I may that you would need to make a motion on the general plenum at first the stipulation could be associated with the rezoning case and so the general plan Amendment would be per the Planning Commission and the adopted related resolution I apologize so for 175 I moved to approve for the Planning Commission recommendation adopt the related resolution second okay roll call I'm sorry guardado Washington yes O'Brien yes Pastor yes Robinson yes Stark yes wearing yes I'm sorry yes there you go yes passes eight zero 176. thank you mayor I moved to approve for the Planning Commission recommendation and adopt the related ordinance and now do I add the amendment Josh councilman Brian you could offer new stipulation number eight that states that the driveway on 17th Avenue will be limited to Right Turn Only egress and full Ingress that second vice mayor and councilman Stark roll call Dodge Washington yes O'Brien yes pastor Robinson yes Stark yes wearing yes I'm sorry yes there you go yes passes eight zero thank you who all who participate in that important pair of agenda items um in today's meeting we've now approved 226 units of housing we'll add a plea that in the future if people are signing petitions we not do one per page because the packet today is a 1196 pages we next move to uh two citizen petitions beginning with 177 a petition from Mr Morales and Mr Morales the floor is yours uh thank you mayor and members of the city council my name is Ismael Morales um the reason I come to here for you today and I decided to come here last minute because it was an online um but um it's just very simple um I was very deeply enraged um last time I know that it is very hard for you guys as a body to limit public comment to certain items it is very hard and very challenging to hear new things that come up um but I know that you know more than likely it could be denied but I think it'll start a conversation amongst you guys to look into um look into many ways to promote public comment especially when new items come up to you within the certain same subject so I decided to write a petition you know knowing that maybe it is something for you to consider and something for you guys to prom to actually to promote good government to promote open government and so um it was very simple it is to change the council rules and procedures or at least attempt to have that conversation to at least if there is a item that is being continued that if there's new items that that needs to be considered that that needs to be taken care of um I know that was related to the mobile home parks issue but I not that was that was last time I'm relating to what it can come for for come to you guys in the future so um that is the reason why I ask for you to maybe either you know have this conversation station that this should at least not attempt not to happen we should be promoting good government and good open government and transparencies thank you very much if there's any questions let me know thank you any questions or comments I have some comments um councilwyn pastor what happened on April 5th um was not only shocking to me but was a demonstration of of as the gentleman said of it wasn't a demonstration of good government and regardless if we've heard the statement over and over two hours three hours four hours five hours two seconds one second uh we were voted in by voters to listen and uh so and we were invoted to also to do due diligence and allowing to people speak especially when they sat in a meeting for over I don't know how many hours and then be told uh or be voted on um by colleagues to say no we don't want to hear you anymore we're still in the same situation of the trailer homes we're still in the same situation as to today is the 31st so today for some of the Periwinkle residents they will be leaving and uh I know that they're working with them to ask how much more time they need same thing with Weldon Park and uh it's an unfortunate situation but as Government we're we're supposed to help and so um I I am just saying that I I support your petition I support your your citizens uh petition so that's what I have to say thank you and vice mayor um I agree I don't know if there's going to be emotion or not but um I agree the public should never be denied the opportunity to speak on a subject especially one that is life-threatening so I appreciate the citizen petition being brought forward I will make a motion I move to support the citizens petition to change the I believe I can lost all my notes but uh to accept the citizens petition and change the code second I will not be supporting the motion the city council heard hours of testimony on this item when it was brought back by a three-person memo I asked councilwoman pastor had anything changed and she said no so it seemed that we had already heard hours of testimony on that item I would also point out that the subcommittee cut off testimony but for some reason that has not been the focus of this particular petition would Council like a roll call or Voice vote I'm going to respond to that um when I was met with the mayor it was with a little anger uh because we did receive we did write a three-person memo we have the authority to do that we have the ability to do that change the rule um and she asked why we did the three-person memo and she asked uh did anything change and I said I don't think anything changed but we wrote it so that uh people could be heard and secondly so that councilman Garcia that was his last meeting and would be able to hear the community and be able for his final vote to vote the way he wanted to or with the community and that's what happened and then you saw what rule came into play so thank you many lawyers disagree on this item about whether you can bring something back to the council when no one on the prevailing side has asked to reconsider it but we did move it forward to avoid a legal issue but many lawyers think that our city council rules do not allow you to hear the same thing twice unless a person on the prevailing side has asked for it to be reconsidered all those in favor of councilman pastor's motion say aye aye all those opposed nay nay the name Carrie item 178 is a petition by Jeremy Thacker Mr Thacker the floor is yours good afternoon mayor and Council both of my citizen petitions are based around the question of whether prop 207 the property protection act not the marijuana bill prevents the city from implementing land use laws that are directly related to public health and safety regarding transportation and traffic control the answer to that question is no based on a plain reading of prop 207 all case law precedent and even a report commissioned in 2009 by the city along with the EPA city of Mesa Urban Land Institute damage and Burnham and Valley Metro so instead of addressing the specifics of my requested changes the staff report implies that ambiguity and vagueness exists and determinations are hard to discern nothing could be further from the truth here uh my requests are specific and directly related to health Public Safety transportation and traffic control my requests are not NIMBY or anti-development in fact they are pro-tod pro affordable housing and pro-density specifically I request that lot sizes be reduced we don't have super blocks that we don't and this is all in transit oriented developments districts only next to the light rail that we don't allow these Investments to be completely thrown away and be Pennywise and pound foolish and that's exactly what we're doing so that the other things that are directly related to health are not having completely gated communities that prevent pedestrian access that we don't allow free parking that encourages more vehicles and decreases Public Safety as well that we increase ridership by lowering parking minimums or eliminating them these are all directly related so the city staff report seems to be misguided and misrepresented in this area stating that these are hard to answer when they've already answered them themselves and anyone with uh I'm glad we have a lawyer here that can look at it as well thank you thank you questions or comments mayor councilwoman Stark thank you um I know right now there is a bill going through um the legislature that may impact what Jeremy is proposing Josh do we have any updates on that or maybe I'm maybe you're not the right one to ask but I'm sure you're keeping abreast of that councilwoman Stark Josh is coming to the table mayor councilwoman Stark I I don't know the exact status of the bill but what I will say is that we're having productive conversations with our office of immoral governmental relations about how we can address some of the the issues that have been brought forth at this this session what I will also add is that there are text amendments moving forward through the public hearing process this month one of them is parking reductions and as part of our work program for Tod and walkable Urban code we do have planned updates for that moving forward but happy to check in with our intergovernmental team on the exact status of the bill so I guess mayor if I might I guess what I'm I'm trying to get at is that maybe it's it's premature to to try to address some of the concerns of Jeremy until we know what the legislature does but in the meantime I think it's important that we get them involved in our general Plan update some of the issues he's mentioning I think are important to incorporate into our general plan and perhaps um we can work over the summer on some of these issues and then better address the concerns that Mr thack was trying to get at foreign we're happy to work with Mr Thacker to walk him through what text amendments are currently through the uh going through the process one of them is a parking reduction and a significant parking reduction along Light Rail but also talk about what other text amendments we have as part of the work program moving forward right and then perhaps seeing what the legislature does we may have to do some additional text Amendment so maybe it's just a matter of timing um before we can really thoroughly address some of the comments that Mr Thacker is trying to get at I so I would suggest that perhaps we work on this over the summer thank you thank you mayor thank you it's councilman Pastor yes um I'm actually have been working with Jeremy Thacker and a whole constituency regarding some of this language and pieces one of the things that I did notice Jeremy was that um and I think this is not pretending this is pertaining to the assistance petition but I would like to request that this petition be changed from creating a separate zoning overlay to amending the walkable Urban code my recommendation would be uh for us to get together to work with Josh and map out an approach of what that would look like and what the implementation would be and uh be able then to meet with our constituencies that are having concerned about the Tod especially in Central Avenue and be able to maybe put some meat uh to to the Tod or the walkable Urban code so those are my uh requests on the citizens petition um I think what's going to happen is we'll see what the legislature does and uh if we don't get moving and recognizing some of these things we will be back at the same place next year so thank you thank you for being willing to put in the time so there okay if you don't mind um yeah uh and more I loved councilwoman Pastor I love to work with you on it too I actually have a case that will be coming up along Dunlap what's going to be dealing with the Tod and um so I too would like to look and revisit some of the issues within the ordinance so if I can lend a hand I would be happy to do that thank you thank you thank you so that includes the agenda's portion of our meeting and I'll now turn to our City attorney to explain public comment thank you mayor during citizen comment members of the public May address the city council for up to three minutes on issues of Interest or concern the citizen comment session is limited to 30 minutes the Arizona open meeting law permits the city council to listen to the comments that prohibits council members from discussing or acting on the matters presented all right our first speaker is Leonard Clark followed by Beatrice Johnson hello council members I just uh several things I wanted to talk about thank you for letting me speak my name is Leonard Clark I just think we should send out a red alert to our staff because we have 30 school districts from what I understand approximately 30 school districts located in the fifth largest city of the United States which is Phoenix Arizona the Arizona Department of Education has just put out that the skyrocketing uncapped vouchers which now other studies are showing three out of four parents who already have their children private schools are the ones using these vouchers are going to go and cost the State of Arizona by next year to 900 million dollars now I'm here independently I'm not with other organizations but as a concerned person about our public education which we do know there are other individuals who do not like public education because our Educators they feel are partisan and put out a left-wing perspective but this is not entirely true it's not a political thing we have Republicans who are teachers we have Democrats but please we have 30 school districts here our state this is looking a lot like the year 2000 with Mr Jeff grosko's gross cost uh God Rest his soul uh with all alt fuel energy but at least that was a republican governor who led that Fiasco with a republican-controlled legislature but this affects citizens the second thing I would like to talk about I'm non-indigenous but as an I consider myself a non-indigenous Ally I've heard a lot of talk about low-cutting locating the bodies of children uh located uh located across Indian or I don't even like the term these crimes against humanity former Indian schools Phoenix Indian School Park the mayor has yet to call and I asked Secretary of the Interior Deb Holland to use the sonar penetrating ground sonar that they've used in Canada nobody has done that and that land is going to be developed which part of it is owned by corporations we need to do something about that now while I was there I saw these plaques that were put up in 1993 and that is definitely whitewashed history they speak of the school in glowing terms as if the children were sent there of their own volition their hair wasn't cut and it wasn't some type of form of ethnic cleansing that needs to change those plaques need to come down that is false history up there um also while I was there I want to let you know I had a young man come up to me with a gun on his hip now he didn't do anything illegal because in the great state of Arizona now because the Second Amendment apparently has turned us back into the old west the young man brandished the weapon trying to intimidate me and it just seems everywhere we go now the shootings are going up the crime the hate people don't feel they can trust the police and I look I'm not for defunding the police but we do need police reform they put their lives on the line police officers have lost their lives but at the same time many people feel that you guys have not done the reforms necessary and around the country so people feel they cannot turn to the police and the others so thank you for letting me speak thank you next we have Beatrice Johnson followed by Elizabeth Venable okay I am Beatrice X Johnson I am the baby sister of Dorothy Jean Dale Chambers my message today is for the mayor and the city manager and city council because it is your employees that continue to violate our family's victims right in the death of my sister I'm not here to talk about any legal process I am here every city council meeting all the way from the Bay Area to address the continued disrespect disregard of our family's victims right which continues to be violated our family was denied our family's victims right from day one April 26 2022 the night my sister was killed in Phoenix City detective Taryn Campbell had all information but did not notify our family our victim rights violated on March 1st 2023 when the Bosca Pekovic was arrested released without seeing a judge with two counts of bodily harm with two deaths and a one for first degree failure to appear on February 7 2023 when Pekovic failed to appear in court for an arraignment I had to ask the judge for a warrant and when I finished I asked prosecutor Hillary couldn't you have done that she replied yes and I said but you did not why our family victim rights were violated while in a meeting with prosecutor Hillary she said it would be hard to prosecute peck of it because because a case like his is hard to get a conviction then Hillary said there was a woman who was driving and killed a police officer and they were not we were could not get a conviction the judge threw it out so I asked her are you talking about that innocent Latino woman who was trying to adopt a baby and the Phoenix Police Department in Maricopa County hunted her down for three years took her through pure hell when they had the truth and video all along I asked her are you talking about that case and why would you address our family with that case I guess prosecutor Hillary did not know I paid attention when I come to Phoenix our family was completely traumatized by that meeting and her statements to us I have been asking my victims right Advocates since January for a meeting with Hillary boss a supervisor named Sarah called me to tell me that the city prosecutor also represents the city not your family I asked Sarah do you do you represent my sister and she said yes I said I told her my sister is dead we are the victims of her death I am still waiting for that meeting with Hillary's boss our victims rights were absolutely violated on April 26 2023 on a one-year anniversary of my sister's death I informed prosecutor Hillary that on March 1st 2023 because Pekovic did not see a judge our victim all around the country will come time is up sorry the the time is up sorry I'm not going to read it all so don't be rude to me because you wasn't rude to them All I'm gonna say is that I'm asking for the mayor because her City her chief of staff got my number to call me but he has not called me and I requesting that meeting to the city council okay you only did that to me I sit here and watch so many people go over you're so rude thank you for your testimony next we have Elizabeth Venable followed by Frank Urban hello my name is Elizabeth Venable some people are familiar with me some people are not I think people in the council might be a little bit more familiar with me um I'm here to talk a little bit about a variety of subjects but the first topic I would like to address is is what does consent mean and so I looked to Cornell Law and their definition of consent it says consent means that a person voluntarily and willfully agrees in response to another person's proposition the person who consents must possess sufficient mental capacity consent also requires the absence of coercion I'll say that again coercion fraud or error consent is an essential constituent of a contract and a defense to a tort however consent is generally not a defense in criminal charges however the reason why I wanted to read that definition of consent um without going on to the parts about sexual assault um is because I have become aware that um there is a problem with people's possessions being soared theoretically by the City of Phoenix under our lawsuit uh uh fund for empowerment V City of Phoenix and I have become aware also that people maybe and uh this is from information getting from a CBI supervisor um by one of our organizers that people may be being forced to relinquish some of their property in response to an offer of shelter and a shelter that they may or may not be that may or may not be appropriate to them and the reason why I say shelters I know I only have 30 seconds left the reason why I say shelters may or may not be appropriate for people is especially people with serious mental illness um often are kicked out in the back end uh you know a week later or half a day later if they're placed in an inappropriate placement they're generally either placed in 100 sobriety or a fentanyl Hotel it's one or the other right and um neither is an appropriate placement and they're kicked out on the back end so all I would say is that think about uh I'm sorry I'll wrap it up think about what consent means and if it's actually consensual thank you thank you next speaker is Frank Urban and then our final speaker is Jason Kelly all those council members my name is Frank Urban I would like to speak on housing and the fact that I believe wholeheartedly that you should take like five percent only five percent to ten percent of the safety budget and put it into affordable housing that'll go a long way to uh helping out and with that I'll close oh and I'd also like to uh uh mention the 2024 general fund I think you guys can do a lot better and with that I'll close thank you final speaker is Jason Kelly all right we don't have Jason Kelly we're adjourned thank you of you know Fire EMS transportation for the community operating in Special Operations which was technical rescue operations that we see more and more of hazardous materials response we started in the mid 90s working on a program called the community response well now is today the community response program going out and assisting folks that may need assistance of grief support or after a fire they're having they needed some supportive help with getting connected to Social Services