councilman with the city of Phoenix and I'm sure I've missed someone else so if there's anyone who is a current or a former elected official if you'll just wave your hand Brian we get some boom so we did that thank you so very much all righty so with that said uh my career and the reason why I'm in front of you all this morning I'm sure some of you all are wondering that but my career at the City of Phoenix has covered 22 years in roles that include Chief of Staff to former District a councilman Michael Johnson deputy director for Community Development and government relations at America's friendliest Airport Phoenix Sky Harbor right where's the airport people as a civilian equivalent as an as a civilian equivalent assistant chief for the Phoenix Police Department as director of Community Affairs I have been honored to serve truly I have the public in those capacities as well as in my current role as the Human Services director however I've never been more inspired by what a city could be like Phoenix what than what it took for the eight years that I served mayor Gordon mayor Gordon worked on plans projects Partnerships and programs all focused on one thing people something Phil reminded us of every single day as we came into work and as we left that we as his team were here for the people and as we gathered today at this building fittingly named for him from this day forward a residence hall a home for the people so let's get on with it it is my pleasure to introduce to you Dave Kreider former deputy city manager and forever a man of service for the City of Phoenix Dave this is the coolest collection of people I've ever participated with in my 33 years in Phoenix unbelievable I've known Phil Gordon for more than 30 years not as long as some of you but longer than most and I'm fortunate to have uh had a front row seat or should I say bench to his transition to Mayor as is uh and as his chief of staff during his first year in office during the entire time I have known Phil he has been a Relentless and passionate doer one of my favorite comments back to him during my time in the mayor's offices why don't we think about that for a day never worked because he knew that he had only so many days to be mayor of Phoenix and he was not going to waste one of them like the guy sitting next to him here um you know despite the biases and timing that fostered her Evolution as a Suburban City Phil was one of a handful of people that intuitively knew that cities real cities not Suburban places have been the center of civilization for three thousand years and that without a vibrant populated Urban core something in our soul would be missing we just we wouldn't be a real place um so you know I actually I remember a dinner that the mayor and I had early on with Richard Florida I don't know mayor if you remember that and uh he you know Florida's pontificating and after about 10 minutes I said you know mayor Gordon knows more than Richard Florida I mean it's you know it was kind of book learned but um just very interesting so as scary as it was to some Phil Gordon became Chief of Staff to mayor rimsa and then councilman Gordon and then watch out mayor Gordon uh and the first thing he did of course was this audacious handshake on a napkin deal with a much much younger president Crow to transform her downtown from from really a nice collection of things to an urban place by betting on the power of Education you know and this was not the direction of that the downtown business and political leadership was going but among His abundant skills mayor Gordon is a great political strategist we used to call him 9-0 Gordon in the beginning until Sal came back and it was A1 Gordon um so so Mayor Gordon's vision and political leadership in the collection of people that came together you know I remember a Saturday morning with you know with President Crow and with mayor Gordon and Frank Fairbanks and Cheryl Scully and Kevin Keough and Rich Stanley um and Jim O'Brien and Duke Ryder kind of you know bringing this whole thing together with help from Rick naymark and Dave Cavazos and Jay Thorne just an incredible collection of folks um and um so uh you know just I just want to conclude with one thing because I think this is really representative of uh my friend mayor Gordon so is a group of early Athenian urbanists wrote nearly 2500 years ago we will never bring disgrace on this our city by an act of dishonesty or cowardice we will fight for the ideals and sacred things of the city both alone and with many we will Revere and obey the city laws and we'll do our best to incite a like reverence and respect and those above us who are prone to a null them or set them at not we will strive unceasingly to Quicken the public sense of civic duty thus in all these ways we will transmit this city not only not less but greater and more beautiful than it was transmitted to us and mayor Gordon you certainly did that thank you so much Dave next is ASU director for residential life Christiana sletton please give her a hand clap as she comes to the podium well this is truly an exciting day for us for those who live on campus and for all of our students here downtown as stated I'm Christiana sledden avpn director for residential life here at ASU and we are so excited because we across our campus locations we have 15 000 to 16 000 students who live on campus with us and that is a great range of diversity and greatness that we have for our student body these students are supported through the wide range and array of Supportive Services and programs that are embedded within our living communities and I would like to Echo the sentiments of my colleagues who've spoken before me of this well-deserved honor and recognition of Mayor Gordon and the renaming of downtown's first residence hall Gordon Commons is home to 1300 Sun Devils with varied majors and journalism Integrated Science Health nursing public service and management when we opened in 2008 it allowed for students who were downtown to shift out of living in the hotels as they attended classes to transitioning into a well-supported living and learning community that not only facilitates their ability to be successful but also develop their love and their passion for the Phoenix community now for those of you who have lived on campus before you know how invaluable that experience is the important connection that it has to growth as a young adult as well as the success in formulation of relationships I remember my first time living away from home on a college campus I went to a small University back in Michigan and I recall the Wonder and the excitement of that experience coupled with The Angst of whether I would make friends whether I would find my way and the mark that I wanted to leave on the world around me living on campus allowed me to thrive both academically and socially and throughout that experience I was able to create some of the most formative relationships in my life it also be integrated into the fabric of the university in a way that no other experience could mirror I'm still close friends with a number of my peers from over 20 years ago and this summer I'm attending the wedding of my very first roommate you never know the substantial impact that these relationships will have on the trajectory of your life now throughout the year as we've worked to collect data on the success of students who live on campus and we know a few things and what we know is that those who reside on campus have higher rates of connection to the university they're more likely to persist to graduation they have higher rates of well-being the opportunity to have further connection to academic faculty supports as well as close proximity to all of the varied resources available here at ASU from the library campus experiences student life and Supportive Services now the students of Gordon Commons are primarily first-year students also living away from home for the very first time from all over the country as well as all over the globe and I think last count we were at 158 countries or more than that represented here at ASU now the students are all figuring out their way their unique identity and how they also want to contribute to the world so we're excited and mayor Gordon we appreciate the impact that Gordon Commons will have and make in the lives of our students and thank you for being part of their Sun Devil story thank you thank you I now have the pleasure to bring to the podium Evan list current student body president at least that's what was in the program okay all right that's right well after the video that came out I didn't know if I was supposed to sit in Dr Crow's seat thank you for having me here today and allowing me to speak on behalf of students especially those who have lived in the building were all celebrating through the course of the last 15 years when I was applying to college quite a few moons ago around the time we were celebrating 10 years of TP I made a somewhat unique decision I applied to one school you can all guess which one it was so many of my high school class classmates and teachers didn't understand my logic but when I came here and explored what Cronkite offered and what ASU on a larger scale could give me both academically and personally I just knew this was my place a large part of the decision making process involved how I how I Envision living my life here and so much of that was linked to what I saw in Taylor place literally you see I'm from the east coast and both my sisters went to college there before looking into ASU I witnessed how my older sister lived at an unnamed University in the DC area her her dorms featured communal showers and toilets two little washers and dryers for too many students that you had to pay for window AC units that worked most of the time and to scorching we're talking DC or freezing 15-minute walk to the dining hall so you can imagine my amazement when I came here for a tour of asu's downtown campus and its main residence hall where each room had its own bathroom and climate control built in where you didn't have to pay to wash your clothes and where the dining hall was just a quick elevator ride away not to mention a Starbucks convenience store and Chick-fil-A as well pretty good deal I think yeah this was definitely my place I didn't realize at the time though how many firsts I'd have in this building and how genuinely special it and the people within it would be come to me on move-in day I remember nervously packing into an elevator with my family and all the stuff we shipped here from New Jersey and going up to the 11th floor as we rolled our carts into the lounge I stood close to my parents and Sisters still Inseparable from the family unit then my CA and Rascal which are now called Pals talk to me and explain things and gave me my own keys the whole being an adult thing was becoming more and more evident uh with each passing minute we went down the hall to the last door on the left and we found my roommate also named Evan and his family also from the Northeast and a window with a stunning view of the North Valley featuring piestewa Peak the Midtown Skyline and even glimpses of camelback this kid from New Jersey couldn't believe the Desert Vista in front of him what he had now that night the first sleeping in the dorms I was glued to my window after a dust storm warning sounded on my phone I watched as monsoonal thunderstorms lit up the sky sky and blurred my view seeing how I was fixated on the events outside my roommate would tell me much later that he knew then that I would end up in weather sometimes the people around us pick up on things before we do ourselves part of what makes this residence hall Stand Out is that the vast majority of on-campus immersion students with Majors on the downtown campus thousands of students each year all have to live in it during their earliest ASU college days the most fun in my opinion there are simply so many experiences that we all share in the building discovering that certain rooms had floor-to-ceiling Windows realizing that one of the two rooms in Tower 2 controlled the temperature and the other just the fan hey Mickey the last minute judgment call to book it down the stairs instead of waiting for the elevator to have a chance at getting to class on time doing homework on the Breezeway at Sunset feeling the close sense of community that only a late night College Lounge conversation can create and definitely not learning to bowl using empty water jugs in the long TP hallways because that's against the rules and it never occurred on a Cronkite floor but probably the reason why this building is so special to so many of us is because it's where we all found ourselves after leaving the nest for the first time in our lives a bunch of wide-eyed young strangers brought together by our selected majors and quickly and deeply bonded by the terrifying but equally exhilarating experience of being on our own in the world for the first time however it was when the within the walls of TP and now Gordon Commons that we discovered that we weren't really all on our own here in fact far from it thank you thank you thank you Evan now I'd like to welcome to the podium the mayor of the fifth largest city in the nation Mayor Kate Gallego foreign on behalf of all the elected officials gathered here today it is my honor to celebrate Phil Gordon and his legacy part of the reason Phoenix has been so successful as a city is we have had the right elected officials at the right time and the fact that so many elected officials and Community leaders are here today to celebrate Phil Gordon really shows what a difference he has made and how much we all care so deeply about this city so thank you to the really impressive group of people who are here today we are all judged by the team we build and Phil Gordon this is quite a who's who one of the important things that Phil did was find that higher education is going to be key to the future of a community so many of the jobs of the future require at least a bachelor's degree and perhaps even more and then Phil and Dr Crowe brought that Legacy to Downtown Phoenix it has been incredible to see the impacts whether it be making us a bio science Hub or a semiconductor Hub so much of the jobs of the future start with ASU and with the back of the envelope deal or napkin deal that brought us here today so it is exciting to celebrate what Phil Gordon has accomplished and this lasting Legacy it will continue to help generations of Future Leaders of the City of Phoenix I have had the pleasure of now having two dozen ASU interns come through my office and help us make up brighter City and many of them have lived in Gordon Commons I'm joined today by Hannah who's pursuing a double major in non-profit leadership and management and public service and public policy and she lived at Taylor place for two years so she's my expert in this building and talked about some of the same things that Evan touched on it is a gorgeous building and it's a showcase for our city and our downtown where you see the amazing airport on one side our beautiful mountain Parks our downtown it's very fitting that we have a lot of cranes and and a little bit of construction noise as we are here today because the investment that Dr Koh and mayor Gordon good afternoon prior to the formal meeting of the Phoenix City Council we will convene the assisted housing governing board I'd like to call that meeting to order with a clerk called the roll board member guardado here board member Hodge Washington board member Maggard here board member O'Brien here board member pastor here board member Robinson here board member Stark here board member Waring Vice chair Ansari here chairwoman here item three is a resolution about the asset management budget for fiscal year 2324 do we have a motion a motion to approve resolution 218. second we have a motion and a second any comments roll call guardado yes Hodge Washington yes Maggard yes O'Brien yeah pastor yes Robinson yes Stark yes Waring I'm sorry yes there you go yes passes 10-0 thank you board member Maggard thank you so much for your service we are adjourned of the assisted housing governing board of directors meeting I'll Now call to order the June 28th formal meeting of the Phoenix City Council roll call 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 we are joined by police chaplain John Taylor would everyone please rise for an invocation please bow your head and pray with me dear wise and loving father first let me say thank you on behalf of all who are gathered here today we thank you for your many blessings and we thank you for life itself thank you for the ability to be involved in useful work and for the freedoms we enjoy in this great nation you have said that the citizens should obey the governing authorities since you have established those very authorities to promote peace and Order and Justice so I pray for our mayor for the various levels of City officials and in particular for this assembled Council I'm asking that you would grant them wisdom to govern amid the conflicting interests and issues of our times a sense of the welfare and true needs of our people a thirst for justice and rightness confidence in what is good the ability to work together in harmony even when there is honest disagreement and personal peace in their lives and joy in their work I pray for the agenda set before them today please give them Assurance of what would please you and what would benefit those who live and work in and around our beloved City of Phoenix to your Most Blessed name I pray amen thank you chaplain please remain standing for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance for all Elsie Duarte and Mario Barajas are with us to provide interpretation would you introduce yourselves yes good afternoon thank you mayor hello my name is Mario Barajas and together with my colleague Elsie Duarte we 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 is the Fondo pauses gracias thank you mayor thank you Mario would the 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 a title or agenda item only ordinances number g7125-7134 s 49904-50030 and resolutions thank you I'll now turn to our City attorney to explain the role of public comment thank you 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 item number one is boards and commissions we have a distinguished group of individuals who advise the city on a variety of items vice mayor do we have a motion motion to approve mayor and city council boards and commissions nominations second all those in favor please say aye aye any opposed say nay passes unanimously would I would ask all those who are here to be sworn in to please come forward okay now that everyone's awake 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 and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and defend them against all enemies foreign and domestic that I will faithfully and impartially faithful and partially discharge the duties of the office of according to the best of my ability so help me God congratulations thank you for serving our city if you would go behind [Applause] congratulations to that wonderful group who have served our city so much already we are excited to swear you in for some of you welcome you back and some of you welcome you to a new role we next move to the liquor lice portion of our agenda the city council provides an advisory role to the State of Arizona vice mayor do we have a motion motion to approve items 2 through 18. second we have a motion in a second any comments all those in favor please say aye aye any opposed say nay passes unanimously city clerk are we ready for ordinances resolutions new business planning and zoning yes mayor vice mayor do we have a motion motion to approve items 19 through 196 except the following items 24-27 46 49 50 56 78 79 84 85 88 93 98 111 176 through 181 194 195 196 noting that item 65 is as corrected item 193 is being continued to August 28 2023 and excluding these items for virtual public comment items 46 56 57 78 166 176 177 178 180 and can the clerk confirm if there are any other items that should be excluded for in-person public comment yes mayor vice mayor also excluding item 155 that's item 155. second thank you we have a motion and a second any corrections roll call ado yes Hodge Washington yes yeah O'Brien yeah pastor yes Robinson yes Stark Waring yes I'm sorry yes Gallego yes passes nine zero thank you it was an important agenda that included everything from Partnerships with ASU to investments in housing and economic development we next move to the payment ordinance and we'll take items 24 through 27 together do we have a motion second we have a motion from the vice mayor and a secretary councilwoman Stark I'll turn to councilman Pastor for comments yes I'm just excited that items 24 through 27 I know it's a payment ordinance but that it's going to uh training and apprenticeship programs and areas that are passionate to my heart due to the fact that I am a teacher and enjoy the fact that people can enter our city and our apprenticeship program and then those can continue training and doing uh workshops so thank you thank you so much roll call ado yes Roger Washington yes O'Brien yes pastor yes Robinson yes Stark yes Waring yes I'm sorry yes Gallego yes passes 9-0 item 46 is an agreement with esperant partners for the development of property located at 2nd Avenue North of Van Buren Street in downtown Phoenix vice mayor move to approve item 46. second we have a motion in a second we have significant public testimony on that we'll begin with Joan kelcher followed by Patricia zarmino uh thank you mayor and city council my name is Joan kelchner I am the President of the Roosevelt action Association serving the neighborhood in which this is planned I run the neighborhood we've only had one meeting in the last three years that was after your subcommittee meeting and before this one at that point with a limited presentation of this we voted to oppose a giblet and to allow at least a continuance and if not that to um to oppose it completely but there was no support at all for the giblet these are the reasons public benefit um the environmental issues such as how do we deal with water recirculation of water use of water heat with glass which is reflective and and not again heat quality according to the city were hardly dealt with in this or badly dealt with the public benefit of for our neighborhood we have worked for years to become a walkable and biking Community to that end the city has spent a lot of money in the last few years narrowing our streets and putting in bike Lanes but there is no walkable retail big retail like a Target something that would serve us us ASU and all of the downtown neighborhoods the retail included here is only for one little office building and traffic traffic is going to be severe this is more than a thousand car garage that they want to unload onto the streets that you just narrowed and the traffic congestion and pollution with this is going to be extremely detrimental they should be building something that takes all of this traffic out to Van Buren and if they're going to get tax rebates to do that they should be the ones building it rather than having the city pay even more money to correct their mistake thank you thank you Patricia is next followed by Kate good afternoon mayor Gallegos City Council Members guests visitors neighbors friends my name is Patricia zarmeno I live in downtown Phoenix on Linwood Street and I have for almost 30 years I stand before you today to encourage you to deny the city manager or his designee entrance into a development lease agreement easements or any other agreement as necessary with aspirant or their developer to build a two-phase multi-family rental and Commercial project at Second Avenue between Fillmore and Van Buren the developer came to you in June of 2020. I bet you remember that we were in the middle of a pandemic I will never forget it well at that time they asked for a government property lease excise tax a giblet for a massive 50-story phase a 50-story phase office space co-living like dormitories for grown-ups uh I I think that's what they call Workforce housing Luxury Apartments office space Hotel multi-family residential rental and commercial property wow it's big she's a 535 million dollar glass and steel building SmackDown tab in the middle of the oldest neighborhood in Phoenix my neighborhood the Roosevelt historic district the benefits that the developer would get from this giblet is 5.5 million dollars they say they'll use it to widen the Paseo from the YMCA well that's great and that they will donate to the affordable housing trust fund that's used by the city for affordable housing in the future and we need that but how about they spend some of that 5.5 million in Roosevelt we have lots they could spend it on we live in the center of this development every day when you leave the building look around it and you will see what we live with I'm asking the Phoenix City Council to postpone the vote on the giblet with instructions the developer work with the neighborhood short of that I urge you to vote no on the giblet thank you thank you Kate is next followed by Brent good afternoon my name is Kate kunberger I've been a downtown resident since 2008. I am also on the board of the Roosevelt action Association this development is not supported by the neighborhood in which it is being proposed uh the Raa sent a letter uh dated June 26 to the entire Council if you've not read it yet I urge you to read it it sets forth in detail the many issues that the neighborhood has including design and scale the impact to the character of the historic neighborhood the traffic issues environmental concerns with this building including that it is a 51 story glass and reflect a reflective glass and steel structure being put in the heart of the downtown historic Community I want to focus for a moment on the community benefit hear the supposed benefits are added Workforce housing new office space and retail for the downtown retail desert however none of those benefits are in the phase one building I remind you that this is not a single giblet this is two giblets for two separate buildings and each building must comply with the giblet requirements and building one simply does not it is a massive luxury apartment building and luxury hotel it provides none of the workforce none of the affordable housing none of the retail and none of the office that that this application is citing to to justify the use of taxpayer funds um the lack of retail is frightening for downtown residents it's going to have a thousand people living in this apartment complex and not a single square foot of retail to support them that means every item of clothing every piece of food everything they need to manage these households they have to go off site and there's a significant environmental impacts from that uh and this of course is a recurring issue with a lot of the development downtown where the city council is not requiring developers to include adequate retail so I would ask the city to postpone the vote on the giblet to give the developer time to work with the neighborhood to address these concerns and short of that I'd ask you to vote no on the giblet and especially no on dipla phase one that is not supported with public benefit thank you thank you Brent is next followed by Sigrid thank you mayor members of council the downtown Phoenix has over the past 10 years transformed and there are a number of items on today's agenda that are going to continue that transformation Partnerships with ASU and additional developments and this project steps towards that goal the idea of density in downtown Phoenix is where it needs to be I've been trying on the village planning committees to push this density further north it hasn't happened successfully but putting this building is going to create a landmark for Downtown Phoenix it is going to create a positive impact on the economy on our tourism on our businesses there are sufficient retail and Commercial properties surrounding this building while we could put more retail in there of course there could always be more retail there could be more business but to deny this giblet based on the fears of what may be is being short-sighted in Phoenix we are at a chance to have an opportunity to create something that will be lasting for decades and I I ask you all to approve this today and let's let's see this building get built so thank you very much thank you Sigrid is next followed by Jordan good afternoon mayor and Council my name is Sigrid and I live in Phoenix in District Four um I am with Unite Here Local 11. and wanted to express my support for the Astro project housing is really important to me as a renter and as a renter who has lived in co-unit spaces before I've really enjoyed the experience and its affordability I'm pleased about your inclusion in this project given this as well as other specifics of this project and location I hope that you approve it thank you thank you Jordan is next followed by Jessica Bueno hi my name is Jordan hi mayor and Council so I'm from Unite Here Local 11. we represent about 3 000 Hospitality workers in Arizona we're here to support the Astro project and wow we initially had concerns about the project when first proposed the developer has met with us and our members several times to work out our concerns particularly around affordable housing in addition to addressing our concerns we saw the developer work closely with community members including a widened path to make the area more walkable and we're pleased about the additional inclusion of the donation to the affordable housing trust fund for a project of of this size we found the amount to be significant for for this specific project and with the housing crisis that many of our members and all of Phoenix face this donation and the fact that there are more housing units than Hotel units was important to us similarly like one of my co-workers said we appreciate the the additional co-unit living units and and the reduction of hotel rooms co-units are almost as common as market rate units in this project and co-living units can be much more affordable for folks that desire to live in the city at a more affordable rate and so given the full context of this project from the specifics of the development and its location and their efforts to include Community input we support this project and hope that the city council approves thank you next is Vice President Bueno followed by Stacy champion do we have Jessica Bueno with the Phoenix Elementary School District okay uh Jessica if you were on we cannot hear you we'll go next to Stacy followed by nickwood hello mayor and Council can you hear me okay yes we can um I just want to say that had this city been only giving giblets out to real affordable housing projects over the past 10 years I dare say we may not be in this situation that we're in today um these have been given out like candy to developers many of whom contribute large dollar amounts to many of your campaigns and I urge you to vote no I think that if the those who believe in the free market if the free market really works then why is the city giving tax breaks or subsidies to any project that isn't a pure affordable housing project at this point and with that I hope that you vote no if not um I I hope that something is done to real feel this in again because I find it to be terrible and also listening to the actual neighborhood and how little they had dealings with this developer is very concerning too so thank you thank you Nick Wood mayor members of the council Nick Woods now number one Arizona Center I apologize mayor I have a cold so um we have been working on this project for almost five years during that time we've had multiple meetings with the earlier leadership of our AAA in fact and the upcarian bill Sheil and others probably a dozen meetings over the time and they gave us a lot of input ideas suggestions shared concerns much of what you see in this project was in great part by their contribution even though we're not in the Roosevelt neighborhood we are south of it how we felt it important to meet with them same thing with DPI PCA DNA downtown voices or Urban Phoenix project um it's all been a combination of of where we are today um the most important thing is you know many developers have a vision but not all developers are able to execute um aspirant has already built two high-rises in downtown uh one is a steward and the other of course is a Duo that is around the corner from this one they are in fact widening Second Avenue for a full three blocks worth of distance there's plenty of retail that's being built in this project and it's really the next step in downtown this property is zoned for 550 feet in height which is certainly part of the the vision of of Downtown Phoenix so with that mayor and Council I'd be happy to answer any questions you might have thank you does anyone have any questions for any of the comments public comment or speakers all right that concludes public comment council members comment on the item vice mayor thank you I do have some questions about the project for Chris Mackie thank you we will welcome our community and economic development director Christine Mackey thank you Chris I have a number of questions around some of the concerns and questions that were mentioned in public comment first and foremost could you walk us through the process that this agreement has gone through over the last couple of years including Outreach stakeholder engagement and any necessary rezoning mayor vice mayor I'd be happy to with Mia Zane and Keating deputy director of community and economic development just in case I misstate or he can add any color to this as well this project was submitted into the city for consideration in 2020 it did do its uh its Outreach and activity in that time uh my notes here just so I can make sure I don't miss anything so applicant the application was submitted in June of 2020 the applicant met with Phoenix Union in June of 2020 and with um and met with the evaluation panel as you know our giblet policy does require a community a panel to be able to recommend these to move forward in November of 2020 it went through a text Amendment for its height which was approved and granted in December of 2020 staff presented to the Rea in January of 2021 we presented to the downtown voices Coalition and in February of 2021 as we were preparing to move forward for a council consideration the council very thoughtfully paused all giblets to come up with a policy that was driven by the city as opposed to each individual development as mayor members of the council will remember we worked on that for approximately two years with you to ensure that giblets were used in a very thoughtful manner that was a project policy was approved in November of 2022 by Council and and we relayed the information to the applicant of what the council's New Direction on giblets was the applicant did modify their application and submitted a new application back into the city since that time we have met with downtown voices and had our sub our public subcommittee meeting but then did meet with Rea following the subcommittee meeting unfortunately our timing didn't work so they were gracious enough to host us following the subcommittee meeting okay thank you for that um and I'm thank you for breaking it down uh month by month as well that's very helpful in regards to the giblet in particular for the Public's benefit it was helpful you know since I've been on Council this I think will be the first shiplet we're voting on since the policy was approved can you talk through some of the public benefits um and what the developer is doing um in regard to some of the elements of the giblet policy that we approved mayor vice mayor as part of the policy that you all created it was really important to you that the city controlled what was important to the city as opposed to having the development Community just suggest what they would do as part of the giblet application so two of the items that were of importance to the council was our affordable housing and our Workforce housing so this project in accordance with the giblet policy adopted by Council will be required to make a 200 percent deposit into the affordable housing trust fund of the tax the city would otherwise get during the eight year period of time that's the 5.5 million dollars that you hear speak of the other requirement in the South Tower is 20 of Workforce housing in that particular Tower so mayor vice mayor as you and I spoke you felt it was very important that we accommodated for all of our citizens in that particular area and the affordable housing was what we added there I think as we look at the other community benefits I I did hear one of the speakers talk about the fact that there was no retail in this project there is just under 36 000 square feet of retail in this project it will be of all of the projects that we've done outside of cityscape and block 23 will be one of the most significantly robust retail projects that we have they have also added the Paseo in the downtown strategic plan and in the community the Paseo connection from the east side of Central Avenue all the way over to 7th Avenue is critically important to the community and so the developer in our agreement has agreed not only to have the Paseo connection but to make it Ultra wide heavily landscaped and also include outdoor space outdoor dining that type of a thing in fact I believe it's a 40 foot wide Paseo through this particular area so in you know in nine years of meeting with the community on the Paseo that was one of those items that was critically important to them as is although you know the giblets are are provided for in State Statute this is a state law that we operate under for our giblets a contribution to the school district is not required but council did uh create a policy for staff in 2014 that we needed to ensure that the school districts were held harmless in other words that the taxes that they were getting off the site today wouldn't go away during the eight-year abatement time and so the developer is required to make a payment to the school district um in in that amount for the eight year period of time two follow-up questions to what you said you mentioned the 200 percent deposit in the affordable housing trust fund which amounts to 5.5 million have we ever had a deposit of this size to our affordable housing trust fund before mayor vice mayor no the largest deposit that we've had in the past was 1.5 million dollars and that would have been with the Metro Center agreement in December of 2022. before that the largest was one hundred thousand dollars and then the 36 000 foot of ret square feet of retail I just want to emphasize so that is you you said outside of cityscape and what was the other block 23 block 23 this would be the largest retail that we have downtown I don't want to mistake that it is absolutely emphatically but as I run through the buildings in my head those are the other two large retail projects that we have I mean clearly maybe something Arizona Center clearly but that's a different type of project and and long ago built Central Station has a pretty significant amount of retail but it's it's I think it's just below this one okay and then you mentioned the school board I do have a question about that my office received a letter from the Phoenix elementary school board with some concerns about making sure that they receive their contribution in a timely manner as well as ensuring that the city would questions around accountability well how will the city make sure that they are held accountable to their Workforce housing standard can you please walk us through that process mayor vice mayor I'd be I'd be pleased to and thank you to your staff for sharing that information from the letters so that I could could provide you factual information as we spoke yesterday one of the items states that a particular project that we had did not submit their contribution to the the school district for almost two years after they received their certificate of occupancy that project came online as the pandemic kicked off both the the project developer and City staff had significant issue reaching the Phoenix Union Elementary School District staff to be able to find out where they wanted the check to be sent to to make sure they knew what the check was coming for and they were they were busy running in circles with with a pandemic and thousands of children that they were trying to educate so we worked when the developer shared with us that they couldn't reach Phoenix Phoenix Elementary xandon and I attempted to reach out to them a number of times we all were finally able to connect the developers settled up that payment very quickly and has been current ever since but it was I the letter speaks to the fact that I whether we would default them or not it's hard to default somebody if they can't make contact with a person that they owe the payment to okay and then on the response or that the workforce housing component is there we receive a report from each of our projects on an annual basis Mr Keating and his team review that to ensure that they are meeting the requirements of each individual development agreement each individual development agreement has a little bit different of nuances that are with it so we do them on a case on a individual by individual basis if the developer is found to be out of compliance we notify them that they are out of compliance our contracts do allow them a 60-day period of time to come into compliance and if they do not we would as a staff we would move forward with defaulting them on the development agreement we take this very very seriously and then finally there was discussion in the letter about the teachers perhaps didn't know where these Workforce housing units they weren't being marketed to the teachers so what we had done when when Dr Weeks was there he did share with us that concern that the teachers might not know about these products there wasn't one central location so City staff and Downtown Phoenix Inc worked together to build a housing website that is housed with a link on our website and Resident on dpi's website that does show all of the housing units it shows which are the the market rate units it shows it has its own tab for Workforce units you click on which is where our units are listed so they're advertised very thoughtfully on a city controlled and a Downtown Phoenix partnership website it also has a tab for those affordable housing sites because we all think back to when we were kids and there was nothing more exciting than seeing your teacher in the grocery store and so when when Dr week shared that with us we took that very seriously and and immediately resolved that with our a good partner at DPI thought it was great to hear it thank you um my other question is around you know I serve on the economic development and equity subcommittee and we talk a lot in that committee about just our vision to build a world-class downtown a world-class City working on a number of um you know downtown updates and whatnot can you just talk a little bit about how you see this project fitting into our larger vision for really truly building that world-class destination I'd be pleased too mayor vice mayor as we look at Downtown Phoenix she truly is growing up she's becoming a much more destination location for sports and for entertainment and for music and for culture but I think what's most important to downtown is it's becoming this great location that people want to live and people from all walks of life want to live I I was regaling this to uh to a teammate this morning I remember when I first got here and a council member was very concerned about a particular restaurant that kept turning over and we were were able to have a really good discussion about the fact that there was only a daytime Workforce that was down here and so two turns of a lunch table wasn't enough to keep a restaurant in business that you needed to get people living down here so that the small businesses could Thrive because you'd have more density and more people shopping and more people eating and more people in in active situations and so it's funny I think back to that conversation in 2014 and I look forward to 2023 and this project is doing exactly that where we're bringing a thousand more people to live in downtown Phoenix and and with the workforce housing with the co-living units that have become very popular in downtown Phoenix not just for our young Workforce but we're finding interesting is more of our senior Workforce perhaps that are alone in their homes and want a more social environment in which to live and to be able to to be connected to their health care and to be able to to shop and walk is all part of that Vision having that location where when I get off work I can walk over to my house and take my dog out for a walk and take it back and meet someone for for dinner just just be outside enjoying the skyline of downtown and walking around as we look at that vision for a dense Urban downtown which is what's called for in our strategic plan this project is is in the right location it is in the downtown core it is not in one of the neighborhoods it is in the area where the densest of all Heights does allow for a 44-story building and as we look adjacent to it we see under construction Central Station at 32 stories across the street at on Central Avenue on the old Public Market side a 38-story building is under construction you have 24 stories that's under construction or recently finished finished at X Phoenix at second and and Van Buren and the list goes on and on and on of creating that density where Light Rail and our mass transit and the all of the small businesses that we have here are thriving and you know you think back to the beginning of pandemic and the council was so concerned for our small businesses and so concerned to make sure that our businesses succeeded in the absence of people actually being able to go into these businesses and because of the thoughtful work that the council has done over the last decade to make downtown more vibrant we have 35 more restaurants today than we had before the pandemic that's a bragging right for us that I was in Austin last week and I was with other large City Academic developers they can't say the same thing we had really really thoughtful conversations about where their cities are and where Phoenix is so everything that we move forward as we we thoughtfully take each piece of this puzzle and move it forward it is all to the goal of getting this vibrant robust world-class sustainable downtown and this project is part of that if I could to and I apologize for for adding this in as you all know jobs are everything to me that is my my life an industrial office bio jobs I'm I'm your girl this project is bringing a hundred and eighty thousand square feet of office into a market where everyone is trying to take the office and turn it into residential but the new and modern office space is absolutely thriving and and occupying we look at what happened in council member Robinson's district with the Grove The Grove was 100 occupied before it was completed and I see we'll see this exact same thing in downtown block 23 is doing incredibly well cityscape is doing incredibly well we've got to replace the space for those jobs that the older buildings are are going to have to reposition themselves on to be that healthy light place where people want to come back to work and so this gives us some of that replacement space or augments that space to ensure that we don't flip what we had in 2014 where we had 173 000 people working in the Central City and nobody living we don't want to go 10 years from now and have 173 000 people living and nobody working our job is to make sure that we keep this a place for for Quality jobs as well thank you Chris for that additional it's very very helpful my final question you know there were some concerns around traffic mitigation and my team and I met with at the Raa leadership on Monday with the fire department planning department zandon was present and I just want to clarify for the record that the item that we are voting on today does not address traffic or planning specific pieces of the project but rather it is only the giblet is that correct mayor vice mayor you are correct today your own vote is only taking place at the development agreement and then you had a vet development agreement does not address any traffic mitigation or any traffic improvements that will be handled in once plans are submitted that conversation will happen with our streets department and with our fire department as to what they consider safe okay and our departments agreed to this at the meeting but um just again want to put it on the record to ask your department planning streets fire all work together to explore different traffic and Fire Lane options keep my office in the loop and and we would like the community to be involved with that as well mayor vice mayor will will work with planning in those the other departments to ensure that that happens okay very much appreciate it those are all my questions I appreciate all the answers I am very excited about this project I think it is bringing I think it really will be a landmark in the downtown core as you mentioned it's bringing 697 more rental units 229 more hotel rooms 180 000 square feet of office space 36 000 square foot of very much needed retail and 2 563 permanent jobs to the heart of our world-class downtown and it's going to be a beautiful addition to the skyline I live just a few blocks away myself and I'm very very excited about this also do you want to add that this Council worked very diligently last year to update our giblet policy to ensure that there are critical Investments made two issues like affordable housing and as you mentioned the last largest investment we've seen in our affordable housing trust fund was just 1.5 million and this is 5.5 million so it's really phenomenal so I will be supporting this today but I appreciate your work and your commitment to working with the community on on their concerns thank you thank you roll call cordado yes Roger Washington yes O'Brien yes pastor yes Robinson yes Stark yes Waring please do nothing I'm sorry yeah you go yes passes eight one item 49 is next would the city clerk please read the title item 49 is for ordinance g7125 an ordinance amending chapter 43 sections 43-10 and 43-11 of the Phoenix city code pertaining to the formal competitive procurement threshold do we have a motion move to approve second comments roll call yes Hodge Washington yes O'Brien yes pastor yes Robinson yes Stark wearing I'm sorry yes Gallego yes passes 9-0 item 50 will the city clerk please read the title item 50 is for ordinance g7126 an ordinance amending chapter 2 Section 2-4 of the Phoenix city code pertaining to the payment ordinance threshold move to approve item 50. second comments roll call cordado yes on to Washington yes O'Brien yes pastor yes Robinson yes Stark Waring yes I'm sorry yes okay yes passes nine zero item 56 is revocable license with option to purchase real property owned by the state of Arizona at 1537 West Jackson do we have a motion I mean this sure is loud today this is a rather hard motion for me to make but I am going to move approval of it and then later on in my comments I'll explain why but I will move to approve second we have a motion and a second we have significant public comment on this issue which I will begin with we will begin with Tony Harris followed by Abdul is Tony with us can you hear me oh Tony's in the lower Chambers okay Tony is on screen now thank you we can hear you yeah I would like to say um when um about moving um the people from the from the uh their tents to um a blacktop is more of a lateral move and not a a ascending move because though the city can um afford housing for these homeless people and um Maricopa County is a number one growing County in the country and there's so many people moving here that are homeless and there's only been one main shelter here for all these years I don't understand why the city hasn't voted the um build more shelters for these people that are in these tents in the zone right up the street here and um you know a lot of them are being displaced as a result of these cleanups and when you put them in housing instead of putting them keeping them outside it's better for them because um it's easier for them to look for jobs and get jobs and have a place to stay and um they have their belongings they're with them even if it's like a transitional place or um but prefer preferably a permanent housing so I don't see why the city is not funding uh more shelters and more housing for these homeless people than just moving them down the street so it doesn't make any sense so that's all I have to say thank you thank you Abdul is next followed by Elizabeth Venable do we have Abdul in the lower council chambers I apologize could we get video in lower council chambers please to see if Abdul is there okay Elizabeth is next followed by Antonio I'm in the lower council chambers there you've got me okay so I am coming out in opposition to the plan to relocate people on the streets to Lots again after Maricopa County tried it and tens of people died upwards of at least 40 people died on these slots um I think that it is notable that these Lots will be basically adjacent to a um place where many people are buried historically and I think it will cause more Indigent deaths however I also wanted to say it's sort of like you buy it and then you're responsible for it or the organization that runs it is responsible for it and there is a new ruling that says from the Supreme Court that if um organizations that don't protect people with disabilities um uh it says that they can be sued under federal court now and you have a full Bevy of Rights uh that would be afforded to people for recourse for Ada violations for example also either the organization or the city should be responsible for any fatalities or drug Labs or any other misconduct including misconduct from uh guards that occurs on this property I think that because of this tremendous potential liability I think that also because of humanity and the fact that we don't want people on concentration camps um I think that we should really consider investing Beyond federal and state funding State funding's a new thing but we should invest our own money in long-term Supportive Housing which is actually much cheaper to run than to subject people to the outdoor elements and it also increases the health and wellness of people who would be essentially forced to relocate to these Lots and so with that I would just like to say please do not vote for this item do not approve this item um it's inhumane and there's a lot of potential liability especially not just for the city potentially but also for the service provider that might be encouraging uninhabitable conditions for people on the streets thank you thank you Antonio is next followed by faith my name isn't my name is Antonio Williams and the only thing I want to say that we all got to start coming together helping the homeless and we should not be always violated just because trying to send sleep and also trying to be and watch over our heads and just you know just start helping you know I mean we human just like anybody else you know we have rights you know it's dangerous out here you know I'm a sickly individual myself but I still be still be a prayed up because you got to you know I love the City of Phoenix you know it was told to me that you know I should be around mayor or governor and I'm thinking strongly because I know I can make a big difference out here in this world because it's so many of us shouldn't have to be homeless and be fearful for our life thank you thank you faith is next followed by merrily thank you okay I'm down here guys can you hear me yes we can thank you my name is Faith Kearns I'm an advocate for funds for empowerment I am also in support of housing um a strong supporter of supporting howding and I feel that's a lot better option than the lots that the city is proposing we've had too many deaths in the past and we're going to continue to have deaths unless there's some serious change and so far it hasn't done that you guys been concentrating on all the fancy buildings that you're going to put up here you're not concentrating on the other half of the citizens what seems affordable to you isn't affordable to us and with that all closed thank you merrily is next followed by Vaughn he's merely okay Mary it appears that merely is not downstairs thank you then we will go next to Vaughn followed by Rory good afternoon my name is Vaughn Winslow I'm recently just moved to Phoenix from the California area and I've just recently became part of the homeless everybody that's been in here in there I was part of the people who have been removed from the zone and removed and with no basic options no opportunities pretty much they were told we were told we had to do one thing or another um my opinion on this is moving people Outdoors again into an enclosed area would be not good for everybody especially the ones with us that have severe health issues I see it as not fair especially when there's funding that can help us get permanent housing and other opportunities as opposed to being put back outside especially with the heat being like it is right now and you can get nothing but hotter it's a danger for us in particular especially when there's lack of services at night time or anytime for support say when we need it at night time we basically get brushed off but you know in general I just feel it's a bad idea to read you something that's already been tried in this in the city and this County therefore I am opposed to this situation thank you thank you Rory is next followed by Christine hello uh my name is Rory um I really just uh I think they it's I just don't think that the whole Outdoors thing is a good idea just because uh I'm a former resident from the zone and I've seen a lot of people just pass out and die you know what I'm saying just from just being outside just sitting outside and uh yeah I just don't you know I don't think that's conducive for a lot of people excuse me especially there's a lot of older people um but yeah that's it thank you thank you Christine is next followed by Frank thank you veteran City Council um I would my understanding of the this proposal is that it would be a lot with Shay I understand that many people think a shade would be very helpful to deal with the heat um I would simply propose that anyone who votes for this as a good option for housing should be willing to sit on the ground floor for just one hour not long just one hour thank you Frank is next followed by Stacy can you guys hear me we can okay um I don't think this how this housing outside is going to be a good idea for anyone um like Elizabeth said you know it's inhumane because for at least 40 people died the last time you guys tried this which was about three years ago and with that I will close thank you Stacy is next followed by Angela hello mayor council can you hear me yes okay thank you uh for the ability to provide these comments uh how on Earth are you willing to vote on something of this magnitude without any public facing information on what the actual plan is it seems to me like yet another reactive versus proactive move because city is under the gun to clear the Zone because of your lawsuit this city continues to throw hundreds of millions of dollars at this issue in a careless and thoughtless manner in my opinion your Infamous for putting tiny Band-Aids on giant gaping ax wounds and meanwhile people are dying at a staggering rate and we've crushed our heat death records every year and just as an example I'm not sure if you're aware of how many unsheltered deaths in Maricopa County have already occurred to date but just in the first four months of 2023 414 unsheltered people have died in Maricopa County in 2022 that number of unsheltered death is 1291 people would you want your friends or family members to live on 150 plus degree pavement I'm just I'm forever mind-boggled at how much worth this has become over the 15 years that I've been doing volunteer community outreach and if you pass this without any details all I can say is shame on this city like shame on you if you do this thank you Angela is next hi I do agree with Stacy on their fact s Angela we are having some feedback is that what that is is it possible you have the meeting on and could mute it and then we'll try again what should I do that whatever you did just did whatever it was great oh I haven't touched anything oh okay well thank you it works now okay okay thank you thanks for hearing me Stacy and the fact that nobody knows anything about this yet I'm in the neighborhood there about this it hit our neighborhood like the day we woke up and had Chinese months um it feels too concentrated in that area it's gotten so brutal but if there are good points to this no one has shared them with uh with anybody in the neighborhood or people that would be affected um you know I think it's such a lack of communication that it's causes Stress and Anxiety for everyone on on all sides um you know I've got a lot of people I've got people staying on my property that I thought wouldn't survive if they didn't get off the street um I I don't think I think we have to have outside safe camping areas for people that that's the only way they're going to be comfortable but maybe you have a big structure of tent plan for this that will be a you know some place people can sleep inside I just feel like we don't know anything about it and once again I'll reiterate it's it's way too concentrated for this neighborhood but if it's a short interim then maybe it should just be leased on the part for purchase should be taken out but I just think there's so much more that needs to be explained and uh the money does get wasted it nature need insurance that cost hundreds of millions of dollars and and we keep dumping money into the same players that aren't moving the needle forward effectively and uh you know I just I we have to do something quick but you know I think maybe uh put a few of us together we can come up with something that would work because it doesn't seem like anyone that's down in the mix is uh is is coming up with anything you know that that would really work I mean if you're not down in the trenches and you're bypassing everyone that is uh and throwing something at them like you know same thing as the easements it just doesn't work I wish the city would learn that thank you thank you that concludes public comment if we could uh ask our Deputy city manager Gina Montes to come down and this could be for our Deputy city manager our city manager but could you provide some context on the court order mayor if it's okay I'd also like to have um Rachel melney join me to add additional information so apologies could could you repeat the question and Rachel is with our office of Oklahoma Solutions the director of office of Homeless Solutions thank you wonderful thank you um I guess maybe first tell us what this is and then um could you tell us about the court order absolutely thank you mayor members of the council I'd like to start off by saying that um I have always said I've said publicly I've said in many meetings I think I've said before the council that indoor shelter affordable housing is our first choice and highest priority for assisting our unsheltered residents of Phoenix and we continue to work very diligently towards those options this safe outdoor space a structured Campground is something that has been recommended by our task force our strategies to address homelessness task force and has been something that we have discussed in the past on on numerous occasions we as I mentioned had probably been prioritizing indoor spaces because it's still hot outside we recognize that however as as we we have a number of circumstances that have converged to make this an option that we think is important to have right now for the city in order to address a number of issues you did mention the court case we are under a court order to address the encampment around the Human Services campus and we have been diligently working towards doing that our priority is to get people indoors we do have and and Rachel can speak in a minute about kind of the success of those Endeavors we have had most people about 80 percent accept Services we have had some that have relocated within the area as we continue this process we are going to they will no longer be able to to be in that area at some point for those who are not ready to go into indoor shelter number one and so this is an option um for those folks and then also as we continue to get more beds online the space itself um is um you know we we have some experience um through our friends at the County and in our office of Homeless Solutions um director Rachel and and Scott Hall were very involved in that in the past and so we do have some lessons learned from that situation and from that from that option but we have um we have determined that that at this point this is one of those uh options that we think is very important we really need in order to comply with our our court order and to also be able to help people who are already outside who are in the heat right now who are in vulnerable situations to be in a safer space um and and with that I'd if it's okay I'd like to have Rachel kind of discuss the details of the setup mayor and members of the council thank you and and again just to reiterate Deputy City Montez the office of Homeless Solutions 100 percent understands that the end to homelessness is affordable housing and preventing people from going into homelessness this option is a voluntary option and an alternative option for individuals that maybe aren't ready for the indoor options that we've offered this location at 1537 West Jackson is attractive to us because of some of the the amenities at the site first and foremost there is an indoor warehouse space that is cooled there where people could receive heat respite during the day this location also has a large amount of shade space at the location and not not just event tent shade steel structures that provide a lot of shaded area around the space this option also has a a plethora of space for us to put mobile shower units mobile restroom units and to have on-site services to help people who choose to go there to help them get to an indoor location at some point this is definitely a transition piece it's not meant to be an involuntary place for people to go it's 100 voluntary or it will be 100 voluntary and an alternative for folks that that aren't ready to go to some of our indoor locations um one other comment uh right now it is a is a concrete floor underneath the shade structure but Our intention is to put padding and and turf down so that people aren't putting a tent onto straight onto concrete but there is a level of coolness there as well thank you and just one more question for me so we are spending the vast majority of our resources on indoor housing including long-term Solutions but also some hotels to housing and a facility a couple short-term facilities but over thousands of units between vouchers incentivized affordable housing hotels to housing or indoor air-conditioned and then a one possible option for people who prefer to be outdoors mayor that is correct yes councilman Waring classroom facilities none of that exists in the current situation in the zone Washington South to wherever you would say it ends correct mayor members of the council we currently have 13 porta-potties in in the area of the Zone but all of the all of the rest of the amenities are on site on the campus so so this is definitely a better setup if you're going to be living outside nobody's saying it's ideal to be living outside but this is in no way a step back and you mentioned voluntary you also mentioned it what I interpreted so tell me if I'm wrong that some people may not Avail themselves even if there was all the housing that was indoors that we could possibly build for every single person some people may not go and we're not kidnapping them and forcing them to go so this is this would be a voluntary alternative for that population I also correct correct and then I assume we're not going to allow you know rampant drug use and so forth so for those who are on the street who don't want to be associated with that and maybe either aren't ready to go to an actual physical location shelter or um it may you know there may not be one available this would seem to be a positive alternative potentially mayor councilman Waring I wanted to address something that you mentioned that we we failed to discuss there are um folks out there um that are victimizing people in the area and um and in fact this um site would have security and it and it would be an alternative to those who are for those who are being victimized and those who do who who are who want no part as you mentioned um of some of the bad things that are going on there um but certainly we need the space and the current situation is a complete disaster some of the people who spoke mentioned you know the number of deaths I I gotta imagine that number would go down with the scenario that you're the more supervised scenario frankly the more civilized scenario that you're outlining certainly seemed like it would be better um I found it a little unbelievable somebody compared this to a concentration camp but they did yes this is just the time of overstatement so I'm sorry frankly that that got kind of thrown your way or to anybody who winds up voting for it because I certainly don't think that's what this implies and I take more than umbrage at that too but outline um but we also just lost Gina we talked about this I think last week we just lost the ability to build I forget was it 600 beds uh just last week correct yes mayor councilman wiring it was a 280 beds on the site and yes we have to identify an additional site where we had planned on locating those beds sorry I mangled the number I apologize when you said that if I got you 180. so you know we gotta like try to make that stuff up in real time um and this is one more expeditious way of doing it while we search for another location again it's not ideal we got a court order hanging over our head and frankly we have Anarchy half a mile from the the front of the basketball stadium which is really just hard to explain one of the speakers did say you know you guys have focused on some other stuff that's putting it mildly this was an issue that's been coming for a long time and it is really peaked now I hope it's peaked it seems hey so we did focus on all the wrong things but I don't look at this effort as making things worse or trying to deviate from the plan of getting people off the streets but it does seem to me to be badly needed appreciate your efforts in that regard thank you mayor thank you councilman Waring councilwoman Stark followed by the vice mayor thank you thank you thank you mayor I don't know why my mic's so loud today you try to move away from a little bit um I just uh wanted to ask a couple questions I know we've had some setbacks we really are trying to get facilities open and if you could just speak to that for a moment for example you know we've been working on a facility up in the Sunny Slope area CBI and they've ran into some financial problems they're working through it they're going to get there but we also were working on something at Lower Buckeye maybe you can let the audience know we we our first mission is to try to find enclosed indoor Sheltering yes mayor council councilwoman Stark you're correct our as I mentioned our first priority is indoor space for people indoor shelter where we can get people out of the elements and that has always been our first priority and we have a number of projects and a number of beds that are um that are in the works in the pipeline both from our non-profit Partners um and ones that are partnering with us directly and those who have had projects that the council the mayor and Council have put funding towards so I'd like to have Rachel talk about that in a little bit more detail before I turn it over to her um yes I will acknowledge that we we were very excited about a site we found Seven Acres that the city owns and and it turns out that we're not able to use that site because of environmental issues with it and there was a reason that great site was available it just we it's a setback for us but we will we are feverishly looking for an additional site or sites to replace that one but if we Rachel if you could go ahead and kind of talk about what's online sure so in addition to the 600 new beds that we brought on board last year already this year we've opened 70 new beds 50 of which just came online this past month we have an additional 50 opening next week I'm excited to say in partnership with Mercy house and in addition to that in all different stages of development we have other shelter beds we are still working towards the the city-owned shelter we did have the setback with the Lower Buckeye site but we are actively looking for a new site to repurpose those to roughly 280 beds via sprung structure and some non-congregate modular units in addition to that we're partnering with cast to open the Haven shelter which will serve 170 seniors age 55 and over we have CBI opening the North Mountain Healing Center which will serve 100 individuals we have St Vincent de Paul opening ozinon Manor 2 which will serve another 100 individuals and then we've got two family shelter projects in in the stages of development both at umam as well as Salvation Army so lots of different options coming to serve many different needs throughout the community at all at different stages of development thank you and and I will also add that last night I was actually at a ribbon cutting for the House of Refuge so there are also non-profits out there that are really trying to address the issue but have not come to the city of Phoenix for help they're doing it on their own the house was Refuge is in uh Sunny Slope they've been there for many years they're expanding they're a wonderful non-profit and so I think we need to continue to highlight some of those types of developments that are occurring throughout the city as well the other and I guess the last question I have and this is a tough but for me because I I mean I I know Angela I think the world of Angela she's got a business down by the zone and she works so hard and I know she's struggling and I know she's frustrated but what we're trying to do is get people off the zone and put them into a safer location where you have better controls and better protections but also isn't this going to hopefully be temporary as we continue to build additional shelter beds mayor councilman Stark that's that's an excellent question and I apologize we did not mention that when he cut we gave our initial comments that is true we are we are looking um to this option as a as a temporary option um approximately three-year um time frame um to give us time to get more shelter beds in place and also to work with those um those residents who who are outside right now and so we would end you know then we would need to determine the disposition of the property at that time but that is it is not viewed we do not view this as a permanent um a permanent option in that location thank you and then this is just my my last comment mayor I promise um I I because this is critical that we get these shelter beds built I really hope that all the Departments deal with permitting and development and that's not just planning that's water that's streets that you guys make this a priority you've got to help be a part of the solution too I know um that Rachel and her group does a great job but we've got to make sure as a city we're all in this together and we're getting shelter beds built as quickly as possible thank you mayor thank you councilwoman in addition to the projects that Rachel mentioned there's several other City departments that are bringing on projects we have Workforce units including the ones we just voted on we have the housing department which has thousands of units and vouchers and we just had maybe 10 in the last two Council meetings new projects that we have helped bring forward I think a new hotel coming online hotel to housing project for veterans so it's really a wide variety of projects far beyond the extensive list that you mentioned vice mayor thank you mayor first off I just want to make a few points and then I'll have a number of questions I think like you all I'm you know deeply deeply disappointed that it took us a year to find out about the methane issues at the 22nd Avenue and Lower Buckeye site for those who might not be aware there are going to be 280 beds on this site and while we were running into construction issues now it is no longer happening I think that is the model of what Innovative and thoughtful housing support looks like I and very torn on this I I understand the um you know urgent timeline that we are under as a city because of the court order um but I think like many of my colleagues have mentioned you know Outdoors is not ever going to be the preference um I agree with councilman wearing that this will of course be much better when it comes to security and so many other things than the Zone but it still doesn't feel just right um also you know today it's about we heard this from many of the speakers but today it's 106 degrees it's going to reach 115 degrees later this week and every year our goal should be to prevent heat related deaths from happening on Phoenix streets every year I've been on Council I've asked your office and the office of heat response and mitigation for more heat respite around the Zone in particular the first year we brought a cooling bus the second year we added shade structures and and water and enhanced capacity but again with these opposing Court rulings and an unfortunate series of events this is what we have to consider as additional emergency shelter which will hopefully open by September um so this question is uh for Gina Gina I'm wondering when working with the state on site locations what did your office ask for and what got us to the decision to pick this Four Acre space which is only a few blocks away from the zone vice mayor we um mayor members of the council we we requested any properties that the the state had available and we requested them in the area and we also requested them throughout the county in terms of what might be available and as far as addressing the area around the Human Services campus I will acknowledge that proximity to where the services are and where the where the folks are outside was a factor and the fact that this the the characteristics of the property itself were are a huge deal having the shade having the indoor space where people could have some respite from the heat it was already fenced it's you know approx again proximity to the services those were critical factors in in doing that um you mentioned the fact that it's voluntary and if we are going to be successful and when we're working with people as we try to engage them in Services um to have them be willing to go to it to to a location um and stay with their Community as Rachel has um described to some of us before is is an important factor and so that's what I would say in terms of selecting this particular site there were not um many many sites that had the potential for this and and we will continue um to look for sites for the whole range of services as we're able to afford them with resources and as we able we're able to stand up more facilities okay um so while you know on paper I understand in theory why being near the Human Services campus could be beneficial however we also at every turn talk about the importance of not expanding services in the downtown area and the reason for the lawsuit in the first place is because this particular neighborhood has taken on the responsibility of pretty much addressing the entire State's homelessness crisis was that factored into this at all looking at sites I mean did we really look at sites all across the city that we could do a safe outdoor space and I'll just build on top of that that it would be helpful to learn a little bit more about the services that will be offered and about what the site looks like because I think in the meetings that I had with the neighbors who did advocate for a safe outdoor space in theory not there you know we saw a lot of trees we saw a lot of greenery we saw a lot of enhanced features to make it just a much more Humane solution do we have that here mayor members of the council we this is an industrial area it is a a concrete that is a parking lot with the steel and steel shade structures on top of it but what this site has that none of the other sites that we've looked at are some of the um the the county sites that we had in the past is an indoor cooled Warehouse area where people can go in during the day and be inside and be cooled off on the inside and that's really what made this site the most attractive is that it had the shade and the ability to have an alternative place for people to go and then that indoor location where people could go during the heat of the day and be inside and cooled okay um and then I want to just talk a little bit about accountability um I personally don't want to acquire this lot permanently for shelter and continue to expand the zone and that's what I hear from impacted residents and business owners as well and I'm worried that without additional stipulations that's the reality of what's going to happen here again I understand the need for services to be nearby where we already have clients located but I want to make sure that we limit the use of the space if it is going to pass to two years Max no more than that and I'm under the impression that this lot will require a special permit can you explain how this case will allow for these sorts of limits if it were to pass Council today um vice mayor I wonder if it would be possible to turn for to have some assistance on talking about the planning um side of this um we would request um at least three years um understand you know we with a goal of two years but at least three years in order to give us the adequate time to really not be disruptive when you know to get people um transitioned out into what into into housing or or the next um positive exit is the only comment I would make before um asking Ellen and Stevenson to address the other question thank you mayor vice mayor yes uh in order to do the proposed use it would require a special permit to be approved by the mayor and Council okay um I think that's all my questions um just being honest again I'm extremely torn on this I think District Seven and District 8 Downtown in particular has taken on far more responsibility dealing with this I have been the first person to advocate for more funding for housing and shelter and and have indicated you know we were working on another shelter in the district I just think this particular neighborhood um should not be doing everything and so that is where I'm struggling the most I do hope that if it does pass we can make a much more deliberate effort in communicating with the residents and the businesses nearby I think there's a sense that this was feels rushed and that a plan has not been shared with them and how they will be impacted or not impacted or any of that and I just I hear those concerns very very loudly and I also do hope that again if it does pass that we can see a plan of what services will be offered on this site how it will be a marked improvement from the situation obviously that's happening in the zone thank you thank you we'll go to councilwoman O'Brien or we'll go to I'm sorry our Deputy city manager Alan Stevenson mayor vice mayor if I could add real quick as part of the special permit in the rezoning the the council can add stipulations and conditions like you you normally would in this case the special permit the city has additional Authority that is granted to it by the ordinance as it relates to uh you know maybe transitioning some of the the structured camping to other types of uses and and the time associated with how long the special permit would be valid for all of those things can be discussed as part of the rezoning process and ultimately the mayor and Council will decide when that comes forward so to clarify that is not a stipulation that would be added today but through the special permit process mayor vice mayor that is correct thank you councilman O'Brien thank you mayor um Gina in your opening comments you talked about approximately 80 percent of the people during the the cleanups are accepting services and I would mean about 20 or not what reasons are the 20 giving our staff for not accepting services thank you mayor councilman O'Brien I'm going to ask Rachel to talk a little bit more in detail on that thank you mayor members of the council so yes we've had three engagement efforts where we've shut down streets around the campus those uh two of those took place in May and one on June 21st and in total we've had 25 people decline to go to an indoor location be it shelter or treatment or other service so yes roughly 20 of the individuals that we've engaged in around the campus have declined and and the reasons really vary um some don't tell us the reasons some some we work with for hours and and are almost they're almost ready to go to an indoor location and then change their mind so we've we've we've come across with those 25 people several different reasons um but but for the most part the ones that we we know where they went went to other open blocks to camp in the in the area so when it if this is approved and we find a provider what would be the the transition plan from the zone to there mayor members of the council councilman O'Brien so our our plan would be to phase this uh phase the opening as we continue our efforts in around the Human Services campus so that when we do close down a block if we do have individuals that aren't ready to go to an indoor location we have an alternative place that we can offer them a safer place that we can offer them as an alternative to going and being on someone's doorstep and in front of someone's business they can go to this other safe location where they can have Case Management Services provided by a third-party non-profit provider they can have access to restrooms to showers and have the the quality of life with 24-hour security and knowing that that it is a safer location than the the street they were previously on so it will still be phased in but if I did my numbers right roughly we've we've contacted about a little over 100 people at this point through three um engagement efforts is that correct yes that's correct we're at 121 people engaged in our three efforts and 25 of them have have declined to move to an indoor location and how many people do we believe are in the zone we have a rough um sorry Mayors and members of the council we have a rough estimate the Human Services campus does a count every Tuesday of of the area in the media area around the campus and then in what they call the expanded area around the campus in the immediate area which is roughly Jefferson to the railroad tracks 7th Avenue to 15th Avenue there are roughly 600 people as of this last Tuesday and that's a rough count they don't actually count people they count tents and assume a number of person pertend and then in what they call the expanded count which is from Van Buren down to Buckeye 7th Avenue to 19th Avenue it's it's more it's 900 individuals so with the the expanded account includes the immediate account that is correct yes okay will only people from The Zone area be allowed into this structured encampment area mayor members of the council councilwoman O'Brien Our intention is to open this specifically for our efforts around the campus um and certainly um every day that we we have we know that there might be people coming to to the area around the campus and so it will be specifically targeted as we do our engagement efforts and close down area streets around the campus but certainly if there are other individuals that voluntarily from around the campus go there before we get to their block it would be open to them as well and what service requirements will the city put in place for the selected operator um councilman O'Brien so we are we are intend to use our qualified vendor list of shelter operators to to seek an operator for this location we've got a pretty good idea of what we want to have happen at this location we we definitely want to make it an inviting place for people um and and not necessarily as strict as say a a shelter however there will be rules uh and a client right and responsibility that individuals will have to accept as they go in but we will have that that level of safety there so that if we do have an incident a heat related incident for example we'll have on-site service provider non-profit service provider shelter provider as well as security there to to help address that and then our uh the main purpose of our shelter provider who will be uh who will be housed there 24 7 on site will really be to help the individuals that are staying there move on to their next indoor location and and get on the path of ending their homelessness how many people do we anticipate will be able to um be here at this encampment mayor members of the council the site is is rather large we have not done a a you know a full assessment of how many 12 by 12 spaces we could put on the site Our rough estimate is several hundred um we don't anticipate doing that at all at once certainly um it would be a very phased approach as we open it up and you you talked about inviting but not strict will there be a code of conduct conduct in place for the site mayor members of the council there definitely will be a code of conduct on the site Deputy city manager Gina Montez mentioned that Scott Hall and myself were at Maricopa County when the county opened its safe outdoor space so we have the rules and regulations that we utilized at that space and we're planning on learning from that experience and making some minor adjustments but we will have a code of conduct and rules at this location as well so does that mean based on that code of conduct if people commit crimes will they will you all be calling the police yes we will absolutely be calling the police if there's criminal activity on the site okay um thank you mayor I was going to go next to councilman HUD Washington unless councilman Waring has a clarify okay all right so then and our current Speaker queue is councilman Hodge Washington councilwoman pastor and then we'll go back to councilman work thank you mayor many of the reports that I've received on my office have to do with the lack of community input on in this process can you help me and those individuals understand what happens after this leases if this is approved what happens after Solis is signed mayor councilman Hodge Washington um at this after this point if the council were to authorize this to move forward then we would um we would um work on finalizing agreements with the state and all our operational procedures and we are happy to um conduct Community meetings and work on on a good neighbor agreement similar to what we do when there is a shelter even though it's not a shelter work with the community and and lay out kind of what those what we're planning on doing we would also proceed with identifying a service provider to operate the facility though to be clear are there is it intended to engage to take those steps to engage a community or is it only if the council requires you to do so um yes mayor councilman Hodge Washington um just acknowledging that we are in the middle of um a um a court action a court order and so um so we do have to take that into account in terms of um you know the communication with the plaintiffs and just just want to acknowledge that that's part of um that will also kind of guide we'll have the attorneys involved as well but yes we do intend um regardless as we move forward to engage the community in in the process and what will happen on the site okay some of my questions I've already been answered so I'm going to skip around for purposes can you identify all of the services that you intend to provide at the facility yes I'd like Rachel milney too talk about that in detail picture so mayor members of the council so at a typical shelter site we would provide a shelter provider with Case Management Services Behavioral Health Services if needed security food access to hygiene we'll provide the majority of those services at this site as well realizing of course that there's a reason people chose not to go to that indoor shelter location and are looking for a little bit more freedom here so whereas we intend to have these items available for people they won't necessarily be required to participate in any any type of service we mentioned that there was a warehouse an industrial Warehouse on this site that can do you know the square footage of this warehouse and how many individuals it can actually accommodate mayor members of the council it's a 12 000 foot square square foot Warehouse did I say that right yes it is a very large rare house we could get well over a hundred and I have no idea I'm sorry can you see how many people again well over 100 individuals one of the questions that sorry um were there any other sites outside of district 7 or District eight that were considered for the safe outdoor space mayor councilman Hodge Washington as I as I mentioned we um we have been looking to identify sites throughout the city for various um Services Hotel conversions shelter we did prioritize um the the area around the campus in order to make a site for specifically those who are encamped around the campus to access so in this particular situation we did look to the area surrounding the Human Services campus to have a site that would be workable for this population okay um I am philosophically torn on this one because I do understand that the need to have safe outdoor spaces for those that are not yet ready to take um start indoor services but I must say that I am also Disturbed that it continues to be a burden-only sure by district 7 and District 8. many of the other districts have the luxury of being able to plan for their types of development in the form of Hotel conversions or more structured construction and in this situation it is simply was presented as a lease and not really given the kind of transparency that I would have liked to have seen on this when it comes to presenting something of this magnitude for our involve in our city I am definitely a supporter of the unsheltered community I definitely think that more needs to be done for them um but how do we I think we need to consider how do we do that in a way that does not always seem like it's burden in only certain parts of the community when we talk about at least when I talk about a regional approach to this to the solution I am not just talking about the other cities I'm talking about my fellow districts as well and if we continue to use the proximity to Services as our rationale then D7 and d8 will always be our go-to and while I think vice mayor and I will agree that we think D7 indeed are great we should not have to bear The Lion's Share of that burden thank you thank you we'll go to councilwoman pastor and then councilman Waring thank you mayor um Gina I would like to actually give a directive that uh that you meet with the community on a regular basis um several of those community members in that in that area also happen to be my constituents and got several calls on the fact that they weren't notified and I understand the the caution uh because they're part of a lawsuit they're applaint is however this piece still affects them and some way somehow there could have been a neutral party that could have communicated to them to let them know that this piece was going to happen um so I want a solution to that and uh and the way I look at that is that there is communication uh regarding this property the other piece is I think they also need to be engaged in part of the solution on part of what is going to happen in this space I don't know what that looks like I don't know if it's providing uh services and saying these are the following services that are provided and that uh Community understanding why it's being provided to this particular population because I hear the the term they have more freedom in this space and I heard in a typical um shelter this is what would happen and so I think that needs to be clarified and cleared up uh for understanding not only for the community but I guess for us too um what data will you be collecting or or and I don't know if it's data what would you be collecting to see if this is an effective way of shelter of Sheltering people mayor councilwoman in terms of the data we will we will be tracking um outcomes in terms of this side and ultimately we want positive exits um you know to shelter or treatment housing and that will be our goal with this group as well and just to address your concerns yes services will be available on site we will be working to engage engage those who who are on the site and and that that is in fact the case I think what um what director Milne was discussing is that we are attempting to remove the burden from right outside the doors of the businesses and the property owners where folks are encamped right now and so moving them into a safer place where there will be you know um where they won't be victimized where they have access to facilities better easier access to facilities right on site um and and if I could I'd like to have Rachel do you have you want to talk about a little bit to elaborate on on what will be um doing to assess our success certainly mayor members of the council councilwoman Pastor yes I think the number one measure that we want to see coming out of this site is people moving to from this site to an indoor location that would be the most positive low uh positive outcome someone could have from this site moving them into permanent housing certainly but if they were to move from this site into a an indoor shelter location is the number one thing that we'd be looking for certainly we're going to make every effort to connect people with the Behavioral Health Services that they need while they're on site and and so that would be another measure that we would cover as well and I will just say we'll be opening an hmis project on this site so we'll know exactly who's who's in the site who's residing there every day oh sorry um thank you mayor members of the council hmis is the homeless management information system so it's our regional system to collect information so we'll know who's on site who's who's residing there at any at any given day and when they exit where they go to um and then I I'm glad to hear like um I'm not sure but a code of conduct I guess my question to that is if they're out of code of conduct um I think of students uh then then what happens like what if it it's I'm just too hot and I'm having uh now a heat related issue and I'm not speaking I'm just out of it and I'm not speaking well and I need a medical emergency uh type of uh assistance um but people are thinking that I'm being disruptive or some I mean how how is that going to work itself out mayor members of the council so we will have certainly um people on I think that's the main reason we'll have service providers and security on site to address issues that might come due to health health concerns but I think what you're also maybe getting at is will we have consequences for people who might break the rules who might break through that code of conduct and and that is what we had previously when Maricopa County ran at safe outdoor space in partnership with the Human Services campus there was an agreed upon consequences and and rules that people who stayed there agreed to abide by and they knew if they did not there were um consequences to those actions okay and then uh I have two more questions and the last one is what happens if it's full because it sounds like there's only a hundred if I'm if I heard that correctly or is there more more people could be on that property mayor members of the council councilwoman Pastor so the the safe outdoor space the actual camping area has has room for several hundred individuals or campsites the indoor warehouse location that people could come into to escape the heat has room for over 100 individuals to be there at any given time okay now I understand and then my final one is an environmental because we just went through a process where we thought we had something and then it became uh an environmental issue how do we know we don't have an environmental issue with this property councilwoman password we have ordered a phase one environmental assessment that is in process and and so that will indicate whether are there any concerns and that will be during their due diligence process and um and if there are any indications then further testing will be done and and we will know before finalizing a purchase on the property okay and we are purchasing this property am I correct before you um today yes councilman Pastor members of the council is is a license agreement so a lease and purchase yeah that's what I want to make sure because my understanding is uh the lease uh the lease has a requirement to purchase the land by October 31st so that's my understanding October 1st um councilman okay so we are purchasing okay I just wanted to get cleared okay thank you appreciate it thank you councilwoman councilman Waring I just want some clarification because we've talked a lot about rules hitting by rules I asked earlier or certainly mentioned earlier our illegal drugs going to be tolerated at this facility mayor members of the council councilman wearing absolutely not upon entry folks will have their belongings checked and know that will be one of the consequence or one of the codes of conduct there will be no illegal drugs on the campus thank you councilwoman Hodge Washington thank you um two more quick questions or maybe two but first one will individuals be able to just walk up to this facility mayor members of the council um the the intent is that people are referred as we do our engagement efforts um we we are focusing this effort on the people in and around the Human Service campus so uh we we would have a referral basis certainly for our engagement efforts and and then I think that we would be open to discussing walk-up just for clarity purposes is the plan to utilize this safe outdoor space before you receive the special use permit mayor members of the council the the plan would be to get it going as soon as possible but have the special use permit in place prior to any uh purchase the special use per so I just want to make sure we're clear that from a time frame perspective there is the city's plan it's not the plan to have the actual premises be used as a safe outdoor space before we have received the special use permit mayor councilman Hodge Washington we had intended to ramp ramp it up during the as soon as possible and and possibly prior to the special use permit so that would um you're planning I want to make sure I'm clear so we would be planning to do that before you get the Community start the community input process we would intend to engage with the community prior to it starting up for sure thank you councilman O'Brien have we lost connectivity with councilman O'Brien councilman you're might be muted councilwoman we are unable to hear you mayor this is councilwoman pastor go ahead and we'll come back to councilman O'Brien oh wait um I guess my question to Gina is uh we are purchasing this property but the space is temporary what are we intending to do with the property in the future mayor councilman pustod members of the council um the the disposition of the property after its use is is definitely something up for discussion with the mayor and Council um we we do not have a long-term plans for it um there are several options that that could be considered but we would not consider it for um you know possibly maybe a transitional housing something I'm probably speaking out of turn because um because we're very much focused on the immediate use and these were the terms that which we were able to access the property okay and has phase one in in say we passed this in phase one has that already been into play or we we're waiting to pass it and then that's when all the equipment everything comes into play um Council on Pastor if you're referring to the phase one environmental review that I mentioned um that has already been ordered um there has not been any additional supplies or equipment um ordered at this point um for the site and what if it shows that there's a need for a phase two um Environmental peace I apologize I I didn't hear the last part of the question like if there's something wrong with the property or you we need to do a further phase two I guess um councilman Pastor then we would we would con complete the due diligence if it uh merits had further testing um we would get guidance from our office environmental programs and and conduct the additional testing that's needed prior to having any people inhabit the site okay thank you councilwoman O'Brien councilman we're showing you muted councilwoman I am still we are still not hearing you does anyone have any additional comments before we go to roll call and then okay we'll try it councilman O'Brien mayor we got you hello okay sorry about that technical difficulties I had to disconnect um I'm curious about the plan to get folks onto the next steps but for how long can someone stay in this encampment mayor councilwoman O'Brien at this point there won't be a a a length of a a length of stay that someone has to stay within we would welcome them onto the site and then work with them to help them move on to their next step okay and um to councilman pastor's comments about the community engagement and and my other council members who are concerned about Community engagement as I am as well I but I am also concerned about our our lawsuit so I would make want to make sure that if we are going to do community engagement especially with those um who are plaintiffs that we ensure that legal is involved in every step of the way and not process so that we can um be doing things above board there um and I think that based on some comments about accountability and and where we want to go I think there needs to be a future discussion about what you know what the end goal is um for all of this I realize ultimately it's for everybody to go into housing but if people keep saying no and and they want to live there in perpetuity what does that mean for us as a council and the City thank you mayor mayor if I may mayor and councilman O'Brien just to address your your last comment I just I did I did want to say uh uh Maricopa County when it closed down its safe outdoor space after the pandemic there was a a huge effort to make sure that everyone there was also offered an individual place to go so we do have experience and know how to shut down an effort like this as well and to phase it out and and ensure that people are connected with the right services at that time as well okay thank you thank you Rachel thank you roll call cuadato yes not Washington I want to explain my vote mayor please do um I'm going to support this because I understand the need for additional services for our unsheltered population but I also am steadfast that we need to ensure that there is a sufficient community outreach and engagement this community as we've seen not only as a rate of court orders but we see it from a tangible standpoint that this community in this neighborhood Bears a large a lot the brunt of this and we need to make sure that we're doing it in a way that does not unjustly inconvenience them I also want to make sure that we are looking towards decentralizing our unsheltered population we definitely that is a that is something that's very important to us and we need to make at least to me and I think we need to make sure that we are also not going to allow this to drag on unnecessarily longer than it needs to be so with those caveat I would definitely also I presume district 7 would like to have some say but I think we definitely want to have some input in the stipulations that are drafted and moving forward to make sure that this is not becomes more of a burden to our community than it needs to be O'Brien yeah pastor yes Robinson yes Stark yes Waring yes I'm sorry American expensive please do um I will be voting no um although it is a very very difficult decision I do want to say that although I'm voting no because I don't believe that this is a regionalized approach which we have promised our residents and at least I have promised district 7 residents I do want to work on this with you and make sure that there are already private sector Partners who have reached out during this meeting indicating interest in bringing additional support whether it's tree shade just help in making this a really Humane place for people to be and I also very much want to be part of stipulation process and making sure that we engage the community and really holding ourselves accountable to this being a temporary site and again we need to focus Beyond downtown and and the Human Services campus thank you no yes passes eight one the next item is item 57 which is a termination of a refuse collection easement located west of 27th Avenue and North Coulter this do we have a motion move to approve item 57. do we have a second um this is an item in 1966 Donald and Mary Patrick granted the city of refuse collection easement and was no longer required because Public Works doesn't provide service in the area we have Angela O'Doyle here to comment on the trash easement Angela Angela the floor is yours on the trash easement we are okay we are not getting any audio okay does anyone have a comment on the trash easement roll call cordado yes much Washington yes O'Brien yes a store yes Robinson yes Stark yes wearing I'm sorry yes okay you go yes passes 9-0 we next go to item 78 which is a request to establish the Phoenix Community Court do we have a motion move to approve item 78 seconds second second we have a motion and several seconds we'll go uh first to councilman Waring and then councilman O'Brien for comments and then councilman guardato councilman Waring thank you start with I was pretty surprised I think you were given our interactions I brought up a specific case where a knife was allegedly uh well I can read what the police report says or what they sent to us anyway the office of Homeless Solutions team spent several hours today working with one individual offering indoor shelter providing multiple Edition notifications that the block would close to Camping today toward the mid-afternoon the individual threatened one of our Outreach workers if he held a knife in his hand and refused to come out of his tent Phoenix police were called including crisis information teams officers who tried to get the man to comply and come out of his tent a small amount of chemical irritant was used to persuade the man to come out he did so and was taken into custody he was arrested for threatening and misdemeanor trespassing on a state land with clearly no posted no trespassing signs and we booked into jail I brought up this specific case I thought I had been pretty clear with staff what I was asking would this person be eligible for the homeless Court the answer was no that would be a felony now I understand language was used that maybe they thought it was a hypothetical I thought it was pretty clear I was talking about a specific case if you don't know the resolution of the case you shouldn't be throwing around words like felony like I'm an idiot for even suggesting it would go to this court and then I find out later that person was released but charges were dismissed now I know you're going to tell me procedurally you know there's reasons for this maybe he'll be charged with a felony later of course finding him might be a challenge unless you're going to tell me different we have no idea where this individual is right now now this is all allegedly this is the police report I guess that doesn't inspire a lot of confidence you could tell me well this person wouldn't go into this court because they were allegedly threatening violent things that would be something different but what am I supposed to think what am I supposed to tell my constituents because this is the way the person gets treated in the regular Court without the special homeless Court now I got told on emails and stuff I'm compassionless and so forth well I guess I have enough compassion to think our employees shouldn't have knives waived at them I have enough common sense to think that if we sent out a street person um a street department worker to fix a pothole and they met with a citizen and the citizen brought out a knife and didn't even wave it around just had it in their hand that would probably be treated a little differently than this so I guess I'm curious if this person that we released goes out and kills somebody in the interim period what the hell would we tell a family member of the victim about how this was handled I'm not saying it's your individual's fault I don't even think it was the fault of the people who I thought badly misled me at the last meeting and I was pretty Furious about it but um I'll give you a different hypothetical well it's not hypothetical it happened today so apparently at the library and I have complained about security and the situation at the Burton Bar library before an adult male has been taken into this is from police this is what they send us when there's an incident this happened today at 11 17 a.m an adult male has been taken into custody after threatening patrons at the Burton Bar library he was combative with officers and needed to be tased twice the adult male is being transported to the hospitals appears he is under the influence of drugs did any Wonder there's no way in hell I'd ever take my kids to that Library and I discussed that with Jeff's predecessor multiple times he upped security it did seem marginally better the last time I was there at least more subdued it's not a great family friendly environment that I've seen that's one of our libraries we spent a ton of money on it and we flooded it through malfeasance you know it cost another 10 million you can't we're not building parks and bus stops and libraries they're not homeless shelters and they shouldn't be respites for violent behavior and if there is going to be violent behavior that needs to be punished I said that to reporter yesterday she used the word punitive it is not unreasonable that if you're going to behave this way on drugs you're going to be waving knives around these are hypotheticals I don't know these two individual I didn't witnessed either of these um incidents obviously I just know what the police are telling us about it but what am I supposed to tell people who might want to use City facilities so there's a lot there I mean is there some assurance that this person wouldn't go to this community court because I I have really had concerns and I'll give you one example when you go over to Jefferson half a mile from this facility we're in right now you'll see piles of trash out in the road but if I put piles of trash in front of my house anytime outside the two-week window where we go and pick up bulk trash you guys are going to cite me and take me to court that's only one example of where we have really built a different structure and made the situation that we have half a mile from this site we're on right now really just complete Anarchy so we're doing this which I am now interpreting as another way to not hold people accountable I was bemused I think it was Christina Estes had an article where there was a quote from the last meeting where one of our staffers talked about accountability and none of what I'm talking about here am I seeing any accountability at all I heard how tough counseling is well maybe but it doesn't seem to be working particularly well maybe in a few individual cases but there is no circumstance where I would be crazy enough to tell citizens The Situation's improving so how do I respond can you give me some satisfaction Lori we actually have talked about this and Jeff and I talked about this quite a bit too offline what are we doing here man how did this person get released and the rest of it mayor members of the council councilman wearing what I can tell you is that the community Court as it's structured is not intended to serve the the types of individuals who have committed offenses like you've described it is intended to serve individuals who have committed offenses that are tied to being unhoused and and not to Violent Behavior so for example individuals who may be trespassing which is something that is happening due to the fact that they are experiencing homelessness individuals who are perhaps committing offenses like shoplifting or something that may be also tied to their unhoused situation it is not intended to focus on individuals who are committing violent types of offenses I do want to apologize that that you received information that was intended to be generalized and was was not intended to be about the individual that you were talking about however that was not made clear in the meeting when you asked the question and so it was misinterpreted and and unfortunately um you know provided publicly in a setting where it shouldn't have been provided in that way and so I just want to apologize for that and I understand your concerns but I do want to reassure you that each and every potential case for Community Court will be reviewed by the prosecutor's office and and if you would like we can have our city prosecutor Bob Smith come up and address some of the particulars of how those cases are charged since he is the subject matter expert in that but he and his staff will be reviewing those cases on an individual basis they will be looking for things like propensities for violence violence Behavior violent behavior and other things that would be um excluded from the community court process those who are deemed appropriate for the community court process would be subject to all of the accountability that the traditional court process holds as well as additional requirements such as counseling or Addiction Services or other things that may be beneficial to their success in the long term so I do want to assure you that this is not intended to relieve any one of accountability by any stretch of the imagination it is intended to increase accountability and to provide services on top of the accountability that the judicial process holds thank you Lord understand given first how that went last week I appreciate the apology it's not really for you to say but I I appreciate that um that was infuriating that was um hadn't had that experience a while I have had it before but it had been a while since I felt like well you knew what I was asking and at the very least I wish there had been some follow-up where people had you know they knew what I was saying go find out what happened to this guy but instead I got to read about it in the newspaper because the reporter Taylor Seeley was smart enough to crack the code that they were kind of misdirecting so that was personally embarrassing for me that she cracked it and I didn't and I'm usually more on top of my games that was bad on me I should have known I was being misdirected she understood it very completely so hats off to her but in any case that's how we're coming to have this conversation here now I was surprised they didn't have you know the gumption to call you and at least explain it to you you told me you read it in the paper as well so that's that's not reassuring when we're talking about starting a new court because in the actual court with actual apparently according to police violence being threatened the person just walked I understand the prosecutor will have reasons why that's so but of course finding this person and getting them back here if they ever do get charged with the felony that was alluded to at the public safety meeting I think that's probably not realistic um I am worried what this person might do in the interim and what people might have to say about the competence of the city just overall because there might be a lot of what the hell are you guys doing if something terrible happens just something we might want to think about what we're going to say if that does happen I'd be thinking about it where I in your shoes because it's not going to be for me to answer I've already said my piece about it um I will say for the people who think this sounds harsh or compassionless I guess I'm trying to have some compassion for the city staffers the business owners the homeowners who don't want people going to the bathroom in their front yards so I asked uh last week about the person who was seen by City staffers defecating right out City Hall that's not the first incidence there's been certainly is out of City Hall it's one that I gotta say is probably going to stick with people for a while that just shouldn't be it did strike me last week that no City staffer that I recall said you know that is bad we're going to really jump on that we shouldn't have people doing that and they should be held accountable for their actions I don't really remember that coming up at all so uh just because you're having a hard time doesn't mean you get to wreck it for everybody else and if you do record for everybody else there won't be any money to build new shelters and so forth so that's something people might want to consider as well for people who think maybe I don't represent anybody or I'm just mean spirit and so forth I might cause people to reflect a few years ago when the state government tried to do a re-entry Center off on I-17 it's in uh it was Delta um Williams District district one but it's right across the street from District Two I can tell you people will um they'll have patience up to a certain point but when they were being accosted at Walmart or you know their wives and kids were being bugged at the parks and the bus stops and so forth from people who are being released in that re-entry Center yeah that all went out the window pretty fast people are expecting a civilized this basically like a base level of behavior and we're not seeing it and we've allowed it to go on right down the street down here and now it's starting to spread to the rest of the city I understand very much the comments of uh District 8 and District Seven I don't blame them for being ticked they've been putting up with this for years but I can assure you I got a call from Desert Ridge last night like what the hell Jim I don't blame him for you know it's it's going everywhere I'm not saying we should not equally bear the pain but it is a shock to the system for people who aren't used to venturing downtown seeing this and anything that seems like the status quo is frankly not acceptable to me because it is impossible to explain to City this is this is increased exponentially first call I got about homelessness in my office was in 2013 and it seemed like a weird outlier and now it's the number one issue and it will crater everything else we're trying to do everything Chris Mackey's trying to do everything Economic Development wise I would strongly advise us let's get people into shelters let's do what we need to do but a lot of this Behavior is Criminal and should be treated as such and to soft you know soft sell it and say it's not what it is it's it's absolutely outlandish if you're going to the bathroom literally in front of everybody somebody wrote me that that's a cry for help I'm sorry that's ridiculous I'll tell you what that is that's somebody who's telling us I'm not going to file any of your rules I'm going to do whatever I want whenever I want wherever I want to do it and there is absolutely no way if it's happening outside City Hall it's not happening all around the city there's going to be a backlash there just is and so we saw it with that re-entry Center people just aren't going to stand for it who are trying to raise their kids and and just trying to make a living so you can ignore this you can make fun I saw some people smiling go ahead and smile but you might want to consider that when that comes people are not going to be forgiving of the behavior that they're seeing so that's what I meant by punitive if you got people who are threatening other homeless people they should be in jail you're not doing them any fevers they keep them out in the street you had 1100 dead or whatever was mentioned in the previous item so for that people who think that's compassionate keeping the status quo that's nuts so I really hope this isn't more of the same I'm going to vote against it just because I I was pretty put off by last week's for I would have voted no if I had had complete information but um that shouldn't happen again either that I thought was embarrassing for all involved so you know you might just want to consider what I'm saying and hopefully this will work good luck with it but let's try not to release any more people who are threatening our fellow citizens and let's try to apply to laws equally because I don't think that's happening whether it's piling garbage up in the streets or anything else San Diego I they just enacted new ordinances it was a five to four vote and I thought I think it was their mayor who said you know we've kind of gotten to the point where it's not reasonable which long past that point from Elizabeth to San Diego in the last few years he's like people can't actually walk on the sidewalk and taxpayers should be able to walk on the sidewalk and that's what it's come to they actually have a discussion about gee should the sidewalk be cleared or not I don't know how it came to this but let's not have that happen here thank you for indulging me mayor I appreciate it thank you councilman Waring we'll next go to councilwoman O'Brien followed by councilwoman guardato um thank you mayor first Lori I I would like to follow up on councilman waring's uh comments as he and I also talk about talked about that incident as did you and I and um and how there is a process that allowed that person to be released from the city court I would just like to ask for staff to look into the system and processes to explore ways to make changes so that we don't have to procedurally let someone be released for a misdemeanor so that we do not adversely impact their potential felony charges that seems to me to be laborious time consuming ineffective and certainly not in the best interest of our Public Safety so if we could look into that I would greatly appreciate that thank you mayor councilwoman if I may just address that real quick I I do um agree with that suggestion and have already scheduled a meeting with staff over the summer to have that conversation to better understand how the process works and why it works the way that it does and how we might be able to make adjustments to ensure that those goals are achieved wonderful thank you so much for that Lori um and now on to Community Court I'd like to thank Jeff and Lori for their support um I'd like to thank presiding judge Taylor Bob Smith and David Ward and all those who sought in meetings for the last um six months or or maybe longer to bring us to this point I do really appreciate it I'm I'm incredibly proud to support the establishment of the Phoenix Community Court it's similar to our other nationally recognized therapeutic courts Community courts and award-winning Court model that successfully lifts people out of homelessness while reducing recidivism and preventing crime it's recognized by elected officials from both parties our state supreme court and the Phoenix homeless task force Community Court is an effective way to provide services to individuals in need of assistance and lifting people out of homelessness and enforcing our laws doesn't have to be in either or decision we can do both when appropriate this voluntary pre-adjudicated court system is designed to provide individuals with the tools and resources needed to get out of homelessness and the opportunity to take control and accountability for their lives hundreds of homeless individuals cycle through our judicial system on a never-ending cycle of offense arrest release and repeat and rather than cite individuals and put them through the judicial process we can offer navigation assistance and a personalized plan to get to be lifted out of homelessness should individuals want to accept the services offered they have the chance to reimagine their lives and improve their standing standard of living if people don't want to accept the services provided the city will then process them through the judicial system as they normally would I want to make it clear that these folks as Lori stated earlier they're not getting a pass they're doing additional work above and beyond what they would if they went through the normal process and ending up in a better spot every citizen deserves a standard quality of living and the opportunity to succeed and it is Our obligation of the city council to provide that thank you mayor thank you councilman O'Brien councilwoman guardato thank you mayor the idea of a community Court in Phoenix has been a long time in the works I started talking about this with former city manager Ed Zucker after hearing about the success story successes of a similar model in the city of Mesa in our past model here in the city of Phoenix at that time we started conversations with our Municipal Court staff we also began meeting with City leadership in law enforcement in Mesa as a follow-up to those discussions I thought it was imperative that we include the idea of a specialty courts in our strategies to address homelessness plan and I was glad to see that it was when I worked with neighborhood leaders and City staff on the 27th Avenue Corridor Community safety and crime prevention plan I knew we needed to incorporate a community-based approach to our strategies to that end we created a dedicated Community prosecutor staff that can work with our law enforcement and other City departments to provide residents with resources education and new ways of getting those in need into services to today's vote on establishing Phoenix's own Community Court is an important step forward in combining the efforts we have been making over the past few years I am very appreciative of all the different city departments that have worked to make this happen including our police law City prosecutor public defenders and homelessness Solutions departments and with that mayor I will be supporting this today thank you thank you councilwoman councilman hunt Washington Lori quick question a couple questions for it um one as a lawyer I want to make sure that we are not burdened already an individual that is burdened as they're coming into the system are there any fees for individuals to participate in this process in this program mayor members of the council councilwoman Hodge Washington um no there are no additional fees added on to a defendant to participate in the program that would be outside of what they would perhaps all already have incurred as part of the judicial process okay thank you and then I also wanted to make sure I know the answer but for the benefit of those in the audience does someone have to plead guilty in order to be able to participate in a community Court mayor members of the council the answer to that is no it is not like a it's not like a traditional diversion program that is correct yeah um the other question I wanted to ask Is We I didn't have the pleasure of sitting on the council like some of my other colleagues but we cite the success of our behavioral court and our veterans court and we talk about the Mesa Court as well do we have any statistics that we can share regarding the success of those those programs yes mayor members of the council councilman Hodge Washington a couple of things that I can share with you and with members of the public are regarding our veterans court and our behavioral health court for the veterans court over the um last several years since 2019 the veterans court has served 1557 clients and over that period of time there's been an average success rate of completion of veterans court by 60 66 of the clientele that have moved through that process and this is considered to be a very successful outcome for veterans court on the behavioral health court side what we can tell you numbers are tracked a little bit differently in the behavioral health court there are 922 defendants currently participating as active participants in behavioral health court 81 of those are currently successfully participating they're compliant with everything they're being asked to do at this point in time so that is an 81 percent active success rate for Behavioral Health Court thank you and then I think my last one unless you asked me tell me something different is in addition to having the prosecutor's office or the course determined that somebody's eligible can a defendant request to be placed into the community court system mayor members of the council councilwoman Hodge Washington that is a great question at this point in time um we are are asking our prosecutor to be the The Entity that decides eligibility but I don't see why um and Bob's going to come up here um you know I don't see why we couldn't have those conversations you know between the prosecutor and perhaps the defense attorney to have that conversation but Bob I'll let you speak to that thank you mayor council members Lori and councilwoman Hodge Washington yes a defendant could ask usually a prosecutor a public defender the court might even come across or office of Homeless Solutions and Navigator May recognize an individual but the individual themselves could say to their defense attorney to the prosecutor if they're Pro per I would like to be part of this court so yes they can ask to be part of the Court they would still go through the same review process as everybody else thank you for that clarification because many times we see disparities in the actual charging of individuals and this is one way I think and it allows a defendant to Avail themselves this opportunity if they are the right candidate so thank you for that thank you and and Bob while you are there thank you for your service to the city although you are not going far we appreciate your time here thank you mayor appreciate it mayor councilwoman Stark yeah I just wanted to take a moment um to thank councilwoman O'Brien for this issue I she wrote a very moving editorial in our newspaper I I remember talking to her about the issue several residents in the sunny soap area had approached me about what Mesa was doing and she and I talked a little bit about the the Mesa courts and she decided to take it on and she sure did and now we're going to have our own Community Court so I want to thank her a lot for what she did I really do appreciate her stepping up thank you councilman starkwell said councilwoman O'Brien put a lot of research and time into this as did several members of the council but I don't think I had as long a policy briefing from anyone as councilman O'Brien and her team who really love their research and it shows with good policy roll call we I'm sorry we have two speakers and they are very patient those two patient speakers are Jeff Spellman and Brent Kleinman so why don't we go first to Jeff Spelman and then Brent a good afternoon mayor members of the council first I wanted Jeff Spelman with the violence impact project Coalition I live in District 5 over in 27th Avenue and Northern um first of all I want to thank councilwoman O'Brien for her leadership on this I also want to thank my councilwoman aguerdado for supporting this item this issue she's heard us talk about it for a long time many of your community leaders have been advocating for a community court that is modeled after the community Court that's used in Mesa which has proven success I had the privilege of serving on the city managers uh task force for homeless strategies and this is something we talked about extensively in that task force was following the same model that Mesa has we experience a lot of problems with people experiencing homelessness a lot of them get picked up for what might seem like minor crimes trespassing drugs drug use but these are the things that are really impacting neighborhoods and it's a vicious cycle where people just keep coming in and out of court in and out of court and the issues don't get resolved uh May sense of model uh does work we've seen it work and we've talked to the detectives for several years over there that are using it and so it has proven success and so we're looking forward to that happening here in Phoenix I encourage our council members to support this item thank you thank you Brent the floor is yours can we unmute Brent Kleinman we want to come put into the real world when you have hello sorry about that mayor um I just I I wanted to share my support on this on this program and I think that the the possibilities for this program are endless I I fully hear councilman waring's concerns and I believe his concerns are valid I however believe that there are enough things set up to protect from those being the types of cases this court would hear and the ability to provide people an opportunity to stay out of the Criminal Justice System in the proper cases is a phenomenal opportunity for Citizens and creates an opportunity for continued success within our our society because the the hardships of incarceration the fisa fines the late fees the interest would set people back so far that it's a whole they may not be able to dig themselves out of and this gives them an opportunity to succeed without that burden so I hope you all approve this and I'm very excited to see it being implemented thank you very much thank you so much that concludes public comment roll call yes Dodge Washington yes O'Brien yes that store yes Robinson yes Stark wearing no no I'm sorry yes okay yes passes eight one we next go to item 79 will the city clerk please read the title item 79 is for ordinance g7131 an ordinance amending chapter 8 Article 1 Phoenix city code by amended sections 8-3 and 8-3.08 relating to animals animal cruelty thank you councilwin Pasteur do you have a motion yes I would like to move item 79 and can I make some comments or should we just move in and then I make comments why don't we get the second I'll second okay a second from councilwoman Stark councilwoman Pastor comments thank you uh this ordinance is three years in the making my office has worked closely with the Animal Rights group and Phoenix police we made sure to create an ordinance that keeps dogs safe and is fair Equitable and enforceable for everyone many Phoenix families can't afford to pay extensive fees for leaving their dogs out that's why we made sure to lead with education we want to make sure families know the consequences of leaving dogs outside in a hundred plus degree heat I would like to thank MJ Simpson and Don Bentley they have helped us so much by doing extensive and in the field research for this ordinance thank you for helping us get this passed and protecting our dogs thank you thank you councilwoman and MJ and Don are here do we have any why don't we go to our public comment we'll start with uh Don and then MJ followed by Christy mayor and members of the council my name is Don Bentley I would I first want to commend you for your planned educational campaign and involvement of Neighborhood Services and reducing animal cruelty I think sternly worded letters from Neighborhood Services could be a very effective and low-cost way to improve compliance with your animal ordinances I also want to thank you for your steps in the right direction in improving your animal ordinance and encourage you to complete the work you have started today there is a model animal ordinance for cities and Counties in Arizona Glendale Tucson and Pima County all use the identical ordinance and it's the best in the state in fact your proposed improvements today to the shelter requirements come directly from this ordinance it also contains similar requirements concerning food water exercise and veterinary care that should be in the Phoenix ordinance and most impactful of all and includes a complete no exception dog tethering ban I know what you're thinking won't that result in packs of aggressive dogs roaming the streets the fact is we have real world experience from Glendale Tucson and Pima County that these bands cause no noticeable increase in loose dogs Phoenix has stated that you don't support tethering as a preferred method to maintain a dog and part of your educational campaign is to work on this issue this is where a complete tethering band would be very useful it would require dog tetherers to listen to you and possibly be referred to other services to assist them currently they can just ignore your letters or in-person contacts in closing thank you for the improvements you're considering today but please don't stop here the next steps to take have already been proven to work thank you thank you MJ is next followed by Christy good afternoon mayor council members I'm MJ Simpson I'm an animal welfare Advocate and I live and work and spend lots of money here in Phoenix I rise today in qualified support of the proposed changes to Phoenix's animal cruelty ordinance by way of background I began volunteering at the Maricopa County Animal Shelter four years ago and saw the incomprehensible overpopulation of pets here primarily from Phoenix as a part of the volunteering I began walking the neighborhoods where dogs where the dogs come from who end up at the shelter and I walked with fellow Advocates here today to help animals there and the people who own them offering free spay and neuter clinics vaccinations and supplies and Sheltering this is where I encounter dogs who were on tethers and tie outs in no uncertain terms having a dog on a tether is cruel confinement these dogs suffer from the fluctuation of temperatures this week with the extreme temperatures that we're experiencing it's really unimaginable in addition they have aggravation by people and other animals passing by or even attacking them and they often strangle or injure themselves getting caught up in the tethers a tethered dog is a dangerous dog there are reports from the CDC the Arizona Humane Society through their currently ongoing campaign called break the chain and the New Mexico Department of Public Safety who all confirmed that a tethered dog is a dangerous dog all that being said these are there are concerns from stakeholders that abandoned tethering would lead to loose dogs increasing danger to the public the evidence is just the opposite as Mr Bentley said Glendale Tempe Pima County and Tucson all have complete bans on tethering Glendale and Tucson officials can confirm that there is no increase in loose dogs as a result of tethering of a tethering ban today I am grateful for the forward for the step forward clarifying and improving the ordinance Champion by council members pastor and Ansari along with assistant city manager baze and Attorney Ben Benton and all the partners working so hard on May making the lives better for our four-legged friends I look forward to continuing to work with you in the future thank you thank you Christy will be our final speaker good evening mayor and council members my name is Christy margario I'm speaking on behalf of a group of concerned Phoenix citizens who have been actively working to improve Animal Welfare within our city we would stand in front of you for hours with pictures and stories of her horrific animal abuse neglect and backyard breeding cases within our communities have gone unresolved despite efforts to address these cases using existing enforcement mechanisms to this end we appreciate the support we appreciate and support the proposed changes to the animal cruelty ordinances included on today's agenda to be clear we strongly oppose any ordinance that legalizes tethering as it has been well documented tethering is fundamentally cruel confinement however the ordinance changes on the agenda will reduce subjectivity and improve enforceability while increasing animal owner accountability with that said the proposed changes are a step in the right direction and we encourage the council to formally approve while these ordinance changes are welcome the city must also Implement changes in how these ordinances are enforced we strongly encourage the city to move forward with added functionality of the Phoenix 311 website to allow the public to report suspected animal abuse and neglect incidents via an online form additionally all organizations responsible for receiving animal abuse and neglect complaints including third-party contractors working on behalf of the city must be required to enter complaint data into the forum to ensure all incidents are sufficiently tracked and resolved consistent with city ordinances this will create a single source of data resulting in streamlined enforcement efforts we are confident that this tool will be effective in deterring irresponsible backyard breeding and increasing pet owner accountability with respect to animal neglect and cruelty our group along with other partners across the local animal welfare Community are working together to further Drive positive cost-effective change in animal welfare in Phoenix as our work progresses we will be updating the public safety and Justice subcommittee we intend to present a variety of information and suggestions to resolve some of long-standing issues regarding animal abuse neglect and backyard breeding in our underserved communities we look forward to working with you stay tuned thank you for your time and consideration thank you that concludes public testimony do you like the idea of looking at 3-1-1 and the city's reporting to see if there's new efficiencies in how we can make sure we get this appropriate data um we are actually already working on a 311 feature so that NSD May communicate out with individuals who have received a complaint about an animal ordinance violation and and we are working on the upgrades that were mentioned fabulous well thank you to our 3-1-1 team vice mayor Ansari thank you just want to indicate my support and excitement about this I'm proud to have worked with several of the advocacy groups who are here today and they mentioned the the photos that they have shared about animal cruelty which largely um does unfortunately takes place in District Seven and I just want to give them a prop uh props and a shout out from the very very first few weeks I believe it was of when I started this position you all did a phenomenal job reaching out on social media sharing photos we actually got calls from all across the United States to our office about this issue so we had a number of meetings with the advocacy groups poverty pets AZ Humane Society incredible Stella and one love Pitbull Foundation about updating this language I want to thank Lori and the police department for working with us on this as well and very excited about the 3-1-1 feature my team has spent a lot of of hours working with Neighborhood Services to create this animal neglect reporting option on Phoenix 311 which will as Lori said automatically send a notice to pet owners on information about how they can get in compliance and contact information for the organizations that have resources like free spay and neuter clinics which I was happy to go to also in district 7 just a couple of weeks ago so really really proud to serve such great advocacy groups in our in our district and hope that we can work towards an outright tethering ban in the future thank you thank you roll call juanado yes Hodge Washington yes O'Brien yes pastor yes yes yes Robinson Stark wearing just one yes I'm sorry yes Gallego yes passes 9-0 congratulations councilwoman we next go to items 84 and 85 which are both related to American Rescue plan housing Gap fizing financing program amendments vice mayor do we have a motion move to approve item 84. and 85. second we have motions on 84 and 85 councilwoman pastor yes I just wanted to thank I'm glad that Arbor Housing Gap funding is helping Catholic Charities uh uh finish the affordable housing that is happening within the district it's senior housing and that will bring on about a hundred and then on on 7th Avenue in Camelback and then on 19th Avenue and Camelback it will supply 300 homes or apartments for in an affordability area so I just want to thank Catholic Charities for the good work in this space of affordability thank you thank you any comments roll call yes Dodge Washington yes O'Brien yes pastor yes yes Robinson yes dark yes wearing yes yes I'm sorry yes there you go yes passes nine zero item 88 is an authorization to enter into a purchase and sale agreements with the Isaac school district and Phoenix Community enhancement LLC do we have a motion move to approve item 88 second we have a motion in a second councilwoman pastor this is another property that is uh with you Mom it's a it's a Isaac umam and Phoenix Community enhancement LLC where uh other affordability is going on on 35th and uh McDowell or more 34th Avenue 32nd Avenue so this is another property of affordability and putting uh property or apartments into the space to House people so thank you thank you roll call yes Roger Washington yes O'Brien yes pastor yes Robinson yes Stark yes Waring yes I'm sorry yes there you go yes passes 9-0 item 93 is the authorization to amend the emergency shelter and heat related respite operator and Supportive Services qualified vendor list do we have a motion move to approve item 93. second we have a motion in a second councilwoman O'Brien actually mayor all of those are answered at the previous item for the land sale great roll call ado yes Dodge Washington yes O'Brien yes pastor Robinson Stark yes wearing yes yes I'm sorry yes there you go yes passes 9-0 item 98 is the authorization to amend the Ida's contract with the city of Phoenix do we have a motion move to approve item 98. councilwin guardado thank you mayor I just would like to take a moment to personally thank Juan Salgado and his entire team at the Phoenix Ida for their support of our mobile home residents thanks to the efforts of the Phoenix Ida as well as our Phoenix housing department and Human Services Department the Community Legal Services team helping families in need and trellis we were able to ensure that no District 5 residents of the Periwinkle mobile home park ended up on the street thanks to the Phoenix Ida meant many were granted legal settlements to compensate them for their terrible situation they were in well we have a long way to go to ensure that we truly protect our city residents that live in our mobile parks I am glad we were able to offer these services to those currently being displaced thank you mayor thank you councilwoman roll call cordado yes Hutch Washington yes O'Brien yes pastor uh I would like to thank Ida for this because it also includes Las Casitas and well done and all the trailer areas that parks that we have been working with so it's a yes yes yes yes yes Robinson yes Stark yes Waring yes I'm sorry yes there you go yes passes nine zero we next go to item 111 fee increase for the use of Phoenix Tennis Center move to approve item 111. second we have a motion in a second we do have two members of the public to speak on this Veronica Ragland and then Joe Ragland to speak if necessary Veronica the floor is yours and Joe if you would like to speak feel free to come up after good afternoon mayor Gallegos and distinguished council members my name is Veronica Ragland my husband and I live in District 2 and the Phoenix Tennis Center is in District Five public-private Partnerships are opportunities for Innovation and risk sharing Raglan tennis Services assumed the risk of managing the Phoenix Tennis Center even though the city's fee Authority controls nearly 80 percent of our Top Line we chose to trust the city because of our common goal excellence our risk became a reality when our bottom line consistently outpaced our Top Line numerous continuous improvements did not offset the exponential increases in the cost of contract compliance minimum wage supplies coveted requirements and more in 2022 our expenses increased 12.5 percent while Revenue increased 2.5 percent the ratio of expenses to income over the life of the contract is 17.5 percent to 3.2 percent we raised our hands Parks and Rec listened and verified our reality our dialogue led to presentations to the parks and rec board and the community and cultural investment subcommittee like those two bodies we hope that you will be persuaded not just by our numbers but also by our story by our pursuit of Excellence commitment to contract compliance and uncharacteristic transparency at four dollars per 90 minutes which was set a decade ago RTS cannot afford to operate the PTC no other metro area tennis facility is asked to operate for less than the cost of a latte without some other form of cost sharing or without ignoring business or contract requirements exercising your authority to increase the 90-minute court and light fees to six dollars to six dollars is um less than the average latte will allow RTS to focus on our Core Business we'll demonstrate the city's commitment to people thank you for that important testimony I think you got your vote but do you Joe do you need to testify okay all right any comments roll call yes Hodge Washington yes O'Brien yes Pastor you and me lady you and me yes Robinson yes dark yes wearing my vote I appreciate what the operators uh were saying but I traditionally vote against free increases this one I considered because I understand what they were saying but it's also a 50 increase um so I'm going to vote no but it's going to pass so yes or no excuse me no I'm sorry yes there you go yes pastors eight one congratulations thank you for helping us provide tennis item 155 is related to Temporary traffic signal trailers do we have a motion move to approve item 155. second emotion and a second Beatrice Johnson is Miss Johnson in the lower Chambers this item was pulled for consent for her comment roll call I don't see her I think we gotta keep going we're gonna take her comments during public comment roll call yes Dodge Washington yes O'Brien yes pastor yes Robinson yes Stark yes Waring I'm sorry yes Gallego yes passes 9-0 item 166 is the street planning and design guidelines manual do we have a motion move to approve item 166. second we have a motion and a second virtual public comment we have Derek tomich followed by Abigail Thomas hi um good afternoon can you hear me yes we can okay um I just want to say this amendment uh for 166 has many issues for cyclists pedestrians and motorists the design speed for arterial and collector streets is the posted speed plus 10 miles per hour and on local multi-family and single-family streets the design speed is speed limit plus five miles per hour this does not improve safety for anyone outside of a vehicle it is proven that faster speeds increase risk of crashes and fatalities and why make the design speeds faster than the posted speed limit if you do not want drivers to go above the speed limit this sends mixed messages to drivers and they will go the speed that the design allows them to no matter what the speed limit says also the control vehicle should not be an unnecessarily large vehicle especially not one that is so infrequently used those fire trucks are meant to be replaced every single 15. the streets are meant to last much longer the truck should be adapted to the street not the other way around also the city should consider including a bus Rapid Transit Lane on our streets to make travel by bus more appealing and efficient those are my comments thank you thank you and is Abigail on the same line uh no okay uh she's not here right now okay then we will go next to Nicole Rodriguez hi good afternoon I just want to say that I'm opposed to 166 as well just like Derek Thomas and with the vision zero advisory committee not being consulted with prior we have concerns on the review of aspects you know with safety as was brought up by Derek Thomas with the design speed which is really critical in ensuring safety for everyone as well as motorists and there has seems to be no changes to the design speed so it would be doing us the public no due diligence in proving this as is also as well on May 17th at the T uni subcommittee the very abbreviated presentation that was provided by streets uh misled Council and undermined the importance of the manual and there was actually no changes that are obvious but really no changes that have Incorporated recent policy changes for streets or recent plans that have been Incorporated by streets so there's a lot of red flags with this amendment or their lack of of amendments that are needed so safety is number one and I've heard all of you here talk about Street safety in the design speed especially councilwoman Stark and councilwoman Ansari and Pastor I believe all of you care about our safety so hopefully you actually deny this as is and give it a really good review because it hasn't been done yet because it's being pushed through and it was abbreviated and the presentation to council and staff are to the public that concludes my comment and I'm here for any questions if any and thank you thank you that concludes public comment uh councilwoman pastor um thank you councilman Pastor on item 166 has comments yes I actually have three four comments or maybe five um and uh the first question is given the vision zero adoption and understanding that the design of the streets for high rates of speed what changes to design speed were made in the manual and how do they relate to the vision zero and saving lives mayor councilwoman Pastor members of the council the update to this design manual was begun a while ago before the adoption of the vision zero Road Safety Action Plan by the city council the primary reason why we were updating this manual is because the manual had not been updated since 2009 there are a lot of actions taken by the street transportation department and the city to be able to adopt include additional plans such as complete streets and guidelines some other things with Transportation 2050 the climate action plan there's other things that we incorporated in there so we were working to be able to update the plan so it's updated for our use of both as City staff but also when we're working with developers to do that so we did not make any major changes with design speeds we were trying to make sure it was clear and more usable for consultants and also the last time in 2009 when this thing came when this manual was put together it did not come to council for approval and one of the reasons why we wanted to bring it to council approval gives us additional ability to make requirements to create requirements on developments that come in to make sure they're designing our streets to the current standards and our current plans okay I appreciate that I appreciate you uh pointing out that 2009 it didn't come to council approval but it is coming to council approval to in order to have more uh I guess meet to the to the design or to the guidelines the manual guidelines um so what I heard at the question is that changes weren't made to the speed uh peace and that uh Vision zero because it was voted in late they weren't able to look at it and have a discussion about some of the areas that's what I heard Am I Wrong mayor vice mayor memo is the council that's that's correct but I would let you know that with any updated manual we do have an enhanced portion on active transportation that does take into account some of the things we've done on active Transportation including improved and enhanced bike lanes and Facilities that are Incorporated in there as well and I appreciate that um my next question is what changes to design speed if any were made and what specific industry practices did they use to make those changes councilman Pastor members of the council there were not changes made to the design speeds as part of this manual the references made by some of the one of the commenters through the public comment process was about the 10 miles an hour and we do that with our streets to be able to handle to make it a safer accommodation for a emergency vehicle use of the roadways because they are allowed to go 10 miles an hour over the speed limit but so there were not changes made to the design speeds okay and number three is why didn't this street design manual go to Vision zero Community Committee for Community feedback and comment uh mayor vice mayor I'm sorry but mayor um councilman Pastor members of the council the reason was as I mentioned before this this manual has been going through its development over the last year plus we went to the development Advisory Board in February we went to the tip subcommittee in May in the first meeting of the vision zero Community advisory committee was in April we had one just recently last week but it was not on the agenda for either those because it had been a point where it already been voted on by the tip subcommittee for moving to council for approval okay and my question to that I I understand that Kenny and I understand that we were moving these things uh but we do have Vision zero now into play in a a committee and to help with some of these pieces and so I can understand the timing and um I guess what I'm saying is we now have Vision zero into play and I think it's important to have their voice so then my next question is if we approve these amendments when will the opportunity take place to make additional amendments once it goes to Vision zero mayor councilman pastoral members of the council as things may come about that require us to change those we can make amendments to the manual for example if the vision zero Community advisor committee or out of the vision zero task force process if there are changes or to policies that are recommended and come through to counsel for approval we can make changes to the manual through that mechanism so this is not a one done kind of situation we can make changes to the manual as the city decides that these changes need to be made so can um if if I make a motion to continue this and have the vision zero committee have a voice doesn't make any difference I mean if we we continue it till August when they have are able to look at this and then that first week the I think we have a September 1st or mid-september the ability to bring it back is there a rush for this mayor councilman Pastor members of council no I I would uh mention it not sure exactly what action the community advisory committee may take but if there are major changes or things that they request we'll have to consider those and that could delay the ultimate coming back because we don't if they make any changes then we'd have to come back to council subcommittee for any recommendation for approval changes and then ultimately to council so I'm not sure based on what action that Vision zero Community advisory committee may take what delays that might make for it coming back to council for approval and US beginning to use this for our work with our own projects and for our working with Developers okay so if Vision zero has some comments regarding um the manual then how do what do you do with those comments what do you do with those suggestions what mayor councilman Pastor members of the council the vision zero Community advisor committee is an advisory body uh and there is actually two other commit committees within division zero Task Force One is Staff level working group and also an executive working group um and through that anything that uh the committee Community advisory committee decides may or may not move forward to council for approval but if there's any changes that they would recommend we would take it through the vision zero task forces to be able to see whether it goes forward to any with any if we go forward any of those changes to the subcommittee or Council mayor go ahead councilwoman O'Brien I I was going to say my understanding of this manual is it's a very it's a fluid document and that you revisit it from time to time you just haven't brought it to us in a while but there have been some significant changes over the course of time and because it's fluid you can bring it back at any time so I you know a suggestion might be to work with the vision zero group over the summer and then if we have to do another amendment let's do that mayor councilman Stark members of council we could do that as well that's like I said it's it could be admitted at any time so mayor council that was councilman Pastor right this is councilwoman Pastor yeah please go ahead I would like I would like to do that so do I need to make a motion to continue this item and uh have uh staff work with the vision zero committee or Advisory Board uh over the summer so then they could bring back uh recommendations or looked at the look at the some of the concerns on the vision zero Advisory Board it my sense would be we should ask the chair of the vision zero committee if the chair would like to hear this item and I guess I I have a preference I think well go ahead councilman yeah I was going to say and I feel like we vetted this through various boards and so we probably should move on with these um changes and then I I still think it's okay to work over the the summer but I think what you're proposing now is uh is important and and as you noted dab chip looked at it we've had various organizations so I I would kind of like to move forward with the original motion okay and the reason why I'm bringing this up is because um I'm sorry mayor I stepped in please go ahead okay uh is because at TNI committee there was uh some we were told or we were led to believe that it got Incorporated in the recent policy and plan changes and so that's why I am trying to uh figure these pieces out but it's okay we can move forward and then uh what I would like to request uh I don't know if it would be part of the motion is that uh team goes back to business zero and they can provide some recommendations and then go through the process okay and the original motion was the vice mayor is that right did you make the original motion okay so the motion would then be we would pass it but the vision zero committee could look at it okay we would ask the chair to hear it but it would be the chairs yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah exactly right whatever the process is all right the maker and the second door are okay with that okay so we would vote now on a roll call to approve this and then give that uh Vision zero committee the option to help us improve it or take a look at it roll call cuardado yes God Washington yes O'Brien yes pastor yes Robinson yes Stark yes Waring I'm sorry yes there you go yes that says eight one next we will go to items 176 through 181 which are related to the proposed Water and Wastewater service rate and revenue increases and the stormwater excise tax increase staff will begin with a presentation on those items and I will turn to our city manager Jeff Barton to introduce our team mayor members of the council first and foremost I want to thank you for this opportunity I do want to Welcome to the table or our team and I'll let them introduce themselves individually as as we transition to them I do I do want to say a couple of things as we tee this item up and I know you often get you grow tired of of my repetitive references to my financial stewardship throughout my career at the city but but I do think that that Financial stewardship has given me a great appreciation for the fiduciary role that you serve as well as the role that we serve as staff in this capacity today's action and today's discussion is a difficult one and it's not one that I take lightly as you know our water system and our Wastewater system is a complex system that that moves Water and Wastewater over our extremely complex urban area that encompasses over 500 square miles larger than many other major cities of Arc size from a population perspective this aging system as you know from the breaks that we see from time to time that are increasing with frequency as well as severity requires investment to ensure that that our system is sustainable efficient and that we can provide Safe Water Supply to our residents and our businesses and over the last couple of years I'd say the last 15 years as a result of the Great Recession and the long lengthy recovery that followed as well as covid those Investments have been impaired and I want to thank you today for having this for having the willingness to have this conversation I also want to thank our staff for their due diligence and I also want to thank the staff that are out in the field making sure that we all have potable water to drink on a daily basis and with that I'll turn it over to Ginger Spencer who will lead this off and then follow it up with the rest of our team thank you mayor and thank you city manager Barton mayor and Council we we know rate and fee increases are never easy the increases we're seeking today are due to inflationary pressures and unfunded mandates items that are beyond staff's control where we can save monies for our residents and customers we've done so where we can find and increase efficiencies staff has done so where we can apply for federal and state grants we've done so all while maintaining AAA Bond rating which was just increased the last time we were before you as directed by Council staff conducted significant community outreach by attending more than 30 meetings including many of your District Community meetings thank you for hosting those meetings we listened to you and our residents and we're adding more money to help residents who are on fixed or low incomes who qualify for the city's project assist program the rates you will hear about reflect the cost of running the water utility to ensure a safe reliable drinking water for our Phoenix residents and customers and were vetted over the last year by the members of the water and wastewater rate advisory committee we will continue to monitor our revenues and expenditures each year and com and we commit to coming back to Mayor and Council on an annual basis to review our fee forecast and if our costs go down significantly we can look at the possibility of lowering the rates for our consumers and we'll have that discussion with mayor and Council thank you mayor and Council for your leadership and consideration of this item and thank you Mr City Manager for bringing this item forward I also would like to thank our staff in the water Finance Office of Environmental programs and human Human Services Department and thank you to all the residents Who provided us with their feedback and with that I will hand it over to Water Services director Troy Hayes thank you Ginger mayor and Council as pointed out we are here today to discuss the proposed Water and Wastewater Revenue increase the water allowance and the proposed changes to the stormwater excise tax on April 18th became before this Council to request the intent to consider the proposed Revenue changes is to schedule today's public hearing and to highlight and continue our public Outreach on this initiative on January 26th the water and wastewater rate advisory committee unanimously recommended the proposed Revenue adjustments as well as adopting the changes to the allowance levels to hopefully send a stronger message on water conservation we are requesting a six and a half percent increase in October of 23 for the water and wastewater revenue and a six and a half percent increase in March of 24 followed up with a 13 increase for the water and a seven percent increase for the Wastewater in 2025. as well as changing the allowance levels from six units in the non-summer months to five units and from 10 units in the summer months to eight units adopting the proposed revenue and allowance changes would allow the department to continue meeting our mission of providing high quality reliable cost-effective Water and Wastewater service and maintaining the trust that we've built and fostered with the community this is done by adequately funding our operating needs and responsibly continuing the capital Improvement program while maintaining our very high AAA Bond ratings and we feel that our rate structure strikes a balance between affordability and water conservation in 2022 the valley saw the nation's highest inflation rates these increases were not necessarily isolated to consumer goods as both of our utilities have experienced significant cost increases associated with inflationary pressures this issue is not isolated to the Phoenix as other Water and Wastewater utilities across the valley and the nation have experienced these pressures and are causing similar Revenue changes in its simple looks expression the cost to produce a gallon of water or treating a gallon of Wastewater has increased as we've gone over this table before it illustrates the inflationary increases that the department has experienced over its largest four operating expenses the water utility has experienced a dramatic increase in the chemical cost of our primary coagulant ferric chloride chlorine caustic and polymers for electricity we've seen an increase of 12 to 17 percent a 35 percent increase in raw water costs passed on from the center ozone project and the Salt River Project and an increase in Personnel costs over the past few years we've experienced vacancies in key operating divisions these increases have allowed the city to retain and recruit highly skilled staff and to provide this essential service these School graphs show a comparison of the city's Water and Wastewater charges after the implementation of the three-year changes for the average residential user as compared to the current rates of other local Water and Wastewater providers this shows that our future charges are somewhere in the middle as compared to the other providers current rates after my recent discussions with other Valley Water directors they've expressed that they are planning to move forward with their proposals for the revenue changes in the fall and so we would expect as we normally sit as Phoenix usually sits over on the right hand side there towards the bottom of both of those charges to help incentivize water conservation the department will be rolling out new water conservation initiatives many of which will start this summer as we discussed earlier this month we are implementing the conservation ad hoc committee recommendations that was co-chaired by councilwoman pastor that's the summary of the issue proposed today and now I'll go through an update of our Outreach efforts over the past four months as part of the proposed Revenue increase plan Phoenix Water developed a comprehensive communication strategy aimed at reaching all customers in English and Spanish and to educate on the proposed changes to the water and wastewater revenue and the storm water taxes we did these discussions jointly a new web page offered a complete explanation of the proposal a rate estimator an online comment form FAQ section and a link to the new comprehensive web page dedicated to financial assistant resources in addition to the digital resources Phoenix Water Department staff gave presentations explaining the proposal of an increase and answered questions for over 500 attendees at 30 public meetings to ensure transparency and accessibility of video recordings of some of these meetings were available online our Outreach records have been multifaceted employing various mediums to ensure that we reach all of our customers staff leverage the city's website social media and the water Department's Main and City of Phoenix accounts grocery TV regular mail monthly bills and email to disseminate information about the proposed changes our digital Outreach campaign saw significant engagement levels recording more than six thousand unique page previews between March 15th and May 16th the average time spent on the page was nearly three minutes indicating to us that the visitors were taking time to try to understand the information that was presented furthermore we've leveraged the power of social media platforms such as Facebook Instagram Twitter and next door to broaden our Outreach and with more than 150 posts across these platforms that garnered approximately 200 000 Impressions and these metrics confirmed the wide reach of our campaign and the effectiveness of our multi-channel approach to informing and engaging our customers about the proposed changes throughout this process we welcome feedback both in person and online and so far we've received more than 1400 comments providing us with a valuable Insight of our community's perspective on the proposed increases after all of our discussions with the residents it was basically generally understanding of the need for the increase many people think that the Phoenix needs to have higher water rates to motivate water conservation but there were concerns about being able to afford these higher rates for residents that may be living on fixed incomes some people said the challenges for the water allowance will be impacting them and that will prevent planting trees or the increasing of heat island issues as a reminder the maximum impact of the allowance change is one unit in the non-summer months and two units in the summer months also to help with this the city manager's office has helped up set up a multi-department committee to look at the helium Island issues and to further investigate Solutions several residents suggested the water services apply for Grants and other Federal funding to make up the difference as Ginger pointed out and as we discussed in April the department is continues to pursue all grants and loans that make Financial business sense through the council's leadership and the feedback from the community we've made few impact impactful changes to assist the program administered by the Human Services Department the first is working with our proposed change that we Inc while working on this proposed change we increase the income eligibility from 150 percent to 200 percent of the federal poverty level to cast a wider net to help those in needs we're also proposing to increase the funding levels from 700 000 to a million dollars a year to accommodate any potential need that may be out there and at this point I will turn the presentation over to Trisha bailiff to discuss the stormwater excise tax thank you Trey mayor members of the council I'm here representing the multi-departmental stormwater group The stormwater excise tax is also proposed for an increase today this is separate from the water and wastewater race that Troy has been speaking about the stormwater excise tax is proposed as a result of our permit requirements so I'm going to provide a brief background on the permit discuss the proposed increase and then return back to results of public Outreach the stormwater excise tax supports the city's compliance with our Municipal separate storm sewer system permit or ms-4 permit this permit allows the city to discharge untreated storm water collected in our storm drain system interpretected surface waters such as the Salt River this permit is required by the federal Clean Water Act and is issued by the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality the city is required to have this permit because of the potential for pollutants to be carried by stormwater the city's latest ms-4 permit became effective on July 1st 2021 and as several new and expanded requirements with which the city must comply as a result an increase is being proposed in the stormwater excise taxes to support on compliance with those new requirements he does not comply with our permit we could expect significant enforcement actions to be taken against us the tax structure is primarily based on meter size and the current rate is 70 cents for single-family residences and the with the amount increasing beyond that based on meter size the proposed increase is 25 cents per month for single-family homes and properties with 5 8 and 3 4 inch meters for a total of for a total of 95 cents per month per the current tax structure the proposed amount increases based on water meter size as shown on this table staff work to identify the most efficient and cost-effective method to comply with our new permit focusing on utilizing existing expertise and processes to save costs and keep staffing needs small and the increase of the stormwater excise tax minimal the multi-departmental stormwater group joined Water Services Department in the Outreach efforts that have been going on over the last several months which Troy described previously we did receive several comments related to the stormwater excise tax summarized as follows requests we got several requests to clarify permit requirements and how the funds would be used to support those requirements we did hear concerns related to inflationary pressures encouragement we heard from several folks encouraging the use of green stormwater infrastructure and stormwater harvesting both from the perspective of improving water quality in our protected surface waters and from the perspective of harnessing the potential of stormwater to help support outdoor water use and reduce Reliance on potable water for that purpose we also had some flood mitigation questions and some identification of pollutant concerns that we passed along to the appropriate departments to handle we heard from and talked to many throughout the Outreach effort who understood the need for the increase in the importance of maintaining permit compliance and I'm now going to turn it over to Alan Stevenson to wrap up the presentation thank you Patricia bear and Council staff is undertaking significant Outreach and with your leadership fostered a public dialogue about these important items that fund our water Wastewater and storm water activities throughout the core of continuing to build a great City these costs balance the current economic realities and our compliance with government mandates with the need to efficiently plan and manage our shared Resources with that staff ask for your support on the following items and we're happy to answer any questions thank you thank you any questions for our staff all right well thank you for all the work on this and I want to do a special thank you to our water rate advisory Commissioners who have given so much time and really gotten deep in the numbers include folks Like Richard Ray who first came involved and really had a lot of hard questions for us and input the time in to really get into the details we will begin with a public hearing first on the Water Service rate and Wastewater and then we will have a separate item related to storm water so items 176 and 177 are public hearings on the proposed Water Service rate and revenue increase and proposed water Wastewater service rate and revenue increase I now declare the hearings open we will begin with our alumni of the Phoenix City Council Claude Maddox followed by Marty Schultz all right maybe not uh we'll go Claude and then Richard Ray and then Marty Schultz well good afternoon and I should say good evening it has been quite the meeting I remember these don't miss them I remember them I don't miss them my name is Claude Maddox I am here as a resident of the City of Phoenix and a former chairman of the water Wastewater rate advisory committee as the former chair I support the water and wastewater rate proposals I know that stay I know that staff and the rack committee has spent a lot of time in reviewing this decisions are not made and these recommendations are not made lightly also I'm a former president of a small Rural Water business and quite frankly they're in the same position they're they're dealing with the same dilemmas that the City of Phoenix is and are actually working through the Arizona Corporation Commission right now on their own rate proposals and increase the multiple reasons which have already been enumerated but I'm going to repeat them anyway um chemicals to meet Federal clean water regulations have skyrocketed as you saw costs of electricity and raw water continues and will continue to go up and the need to add staff to meet the growing Water and Wastewater needs of our city as has been the case with prior requests the water and wastewater departments are addressing the needs to replace aging infrastructure encouraging conservation meeting the needs of today and looking at our future as Phoenix continues to grow Phoenix has been a leader not only in Arizona but in the United States and in the world when it comes to water Clean safe and available water is what Phoenix residents want we respectfully request you vote Yes on the proposed water and Weight Watcher Wastewater rates and thank you very much for your consideration thank you so Marty and then Richard are richer than Marty Marty all right mayor members of the council I'd like to associate myself with Claude to Marks my name is Martin Schultz and I think I'm going to put 43 years of water legislation and policy into two minutes because in 1980 Arizona established the 1980 groundwater management act which you use today every time you approve development before that I'm going to use the word Lawless because we really didn't have much guidance and we were a little Lawless as it relates to water policy now ramp up 43 years later to what has gone on the last several years and now this proposal where as uh was said we're establishing a modern if you will continue to establish a modern water system that takes into consideration all of the increases in costs they were mentioned in terms of chemicals technology you name it in order to provide this fastest growing city with adequate Water Supplies Safe Water Supplies and in addition dealing with Wastewater which is part of the proposal we have some very unique and I know from other meetings you've seen them some very unique far-reaching Wastewater recommendations to to make sure that Phoenix is continuing as Claude said to be the leader in water policy and in water operations I think the residents of Phoenix are benefited tremendously by knowing that this the talent if you will and the thinking in water and wastewater has been solid over the many many years and now going into the future yeah there are going to be some challenges and this proposal and I support this proposal recommends that a modest increase occur in order to cover the costs of a very not modest expanding we're expanding dramatically in Phoenix and for that reason I support this proposal thank you Richard is next followed by Joe whitoff I've been fascinated by water and water issues for 60 years I've been on a board of directors of a water company for 27 years I was on the rate advisory committee for a period of time all the people that I came followed and the ones who came after me have done a better job I think than I was able to do when I look at this and what I see the effort that the city has done since in the last three years I'm impressed that they've looked at it they've done the financial expertise they've applied the things that needed to be done and they looked at the best way to address the issues that our city and our citizens have we have to make sure that we have a way for this the citizens of the future to have water and water be provide correctly and the Wastewater being taken care of correctly and I'm also very not aware that the city has done a good job of looking at ways that it can address the issue of those people who may not be able to afford the increase or perceive that they cannot and find a way to help them they've done it in the past and they have a methodology now where they'll do it in the future you don't go down the list of the things that you are all kind of responsible for of of 8 000 or you know 110 billion gallons of water a year kind of a nice big number of what 62 billion gallons of waste kind of a big number too and these numbers here mean that we have to do and get things ready to take care of the future and that's why we need the needs now we didn't create the inflation we just now need to react to it and get it done I strongly support and hope that you'll vote for it thank you thank you Joe is next followed by Marissa Hamilton thank you very much mayor I'm the city council my name is Joe whitoff I am a member of the water Wastewater rate advisory committee you really need to look for a new name I think if you're for that and I'm a little humble to follow these folks here actually uh Richard I was at my first meeting as a member of the public and I may hold the distinction of being the only the first member of the public to show up at a committee meeting at eight o'clock in the morning I think and he that's right and he shocked me when he turned to me one time and said so what do you have to say Joe and I thought I wasn't even supposed to talk because I was a member of the public but anyway I'm here to to speak in support of these rate increases as you know the job of the committee is to support the Water Services Department in providing safe affordable and sustainable Water and Wastewater services to the citizens of Phoenix so I'd like to talk just briefly about those three elements and how the proposed rate increase relate to them providing Safe Drinking Water requires infrastructure process and materials and the proposed rate support the proposed rates support those goals by allowing to fund the debt service related to maintaining and enhancing the infrastructure and the increased cost of materials which we've already heard about um affordability is something we've been talking about on this committee since I've been involved and I'm sure it's been going on for ever as a matter of fact one of the meetings I attended was solely devoted to water equity and what that is and how to make sure that the city provides its services in an affordable way for all of its citizens and I also served uh I think as the only member of the efficiency committee I think so that's what it was called Troy and the level of support and the detail that the Water Services Department goes through to make sure that it is efficient and effective is quite astounding finally we've talked about sustainability I am very excited about the fact that not only will the water the allowances encourage conservation the move to take the Cave Creek Water Reclamation facility and turn it into a water purification facility is really important so I support the increases and I thank you for your time thank you Marissa is next followed by Jeff Caldwell thank you mayor and members I'm here today because we have actually talked to over 2 000 residents in Phoenix I'm sorry we've knocked on the doors of over 2 000 residents in Phoenix to discuss this issue we've also emailed somewhere between 20 and 30 000 of our residents to get their concerns about uh the Water shortages the what the cost of water and other issues the number one concern that our residents currently have is actually inflation and so the items before you today are going to increase the cost significantly for many of our vulnerable citizens the interesting thing is that these are concerns not just for vulnerable citizens in our poorer communities but also Even in our middle and upper middle class because the cost of so many things are pressuring them and so there's some concerns that I wanted to bring forward to you I find that the suggestion of reducing the uh um sorry the penalties for water for water consumption with the unit allotment science I think that that is a punitive way for water conservation and I think that the city can take a different approach one we don't currently have a text or call or email alert system when water use is unusually high residents find out after the fact that there's a leak and uh and so if we did that we would be able to stop leaks faster and Stave extreme water bills for our residents also my understanding is that from cap is that our city is getting millions of dollars due to a voluntary 30 percent consumption reduction that we made a deal with the federal government how is the city planning to use that federal government money another question that I have is how do your water costs go to supplies such as from cap versus the amount of your water cost that goes for treatment and delivery to the residents I'm concerned that that information wasn't presented today I think that that needs to be broken out for your stakeholders the citizens also how much of your water supply is Source from the Colorado River versus other sources and then what is the city going to do with those conservation fees that the residents are going to pay I would encourage you to get those answers before you vote on such an important issue that's going to penalize families over businesses thank you for the time thank you Jeff is next and then we will go online to Karen mayor see City Council Members thank you very much for allowing us to speak on this issue um the city manager earlier said that you were unable to take advantage of investment in water during covid times and that is very unfortunate because we had a lot of cash from covet and the world has World Health Organization says that sanitization of water helps prevent the spread of disease also the United States government wants to enhance our Wastewater capabilities to track to see if residents are sick from covid so those are actually two ways that you can use covid funds in order to offset the increases that we're about to experience one thing that was not presented in the presentation is um in form a attached to the agenda further down in the agenda where it lists all the details customers are actually wondering if you can increase the cost to businesses to offset the costs people are concerned that a single home families are going to be paying the most money and then businesses are going to be paying the least amount of money when it comes to increasing the rates so that actually was a huge concern that was notated in the agenda so I am curious are families negatively uh just dis disproportionately impacted versus businesses that is a huge problem that I can foresee happening it's not been addressed we're just seeing blanket increases and um I I think that we have poorly managed the covet funds I really honestly think that this issue should be tabled and brought back forth after summer break so that way you can figure out lower impact costs on water consumers thank you thank you Karen is next Council I am here to express my support of the water rate increase I commend the water services department for doing its due diligence and designing these rate increases it's clear especially given where Phoenix Phoenix's rates fall compared to other major cities that there needs to be an increase in rates to keep up with the rising operational costs and aging infrastructure and most importantly to encourage water conservation in a time of drought and redification thank you thank you Cynthia Graver can you hear me hello can you hear me yes okay thank you mayor and council members my name is Cynthia Graber I am a fourth generation native Water Works and Water Conservation is a huge deal to me I would like to thank City staff for spending the time with me so that I understood all components of the water and wastewater rate increase often say that Phoenix will run out of clean air before we run out of water what is happening now with these exponentially large increases was caused by Financial neglect the city plans to issue 1.5 billions for water Capital Improvements and 1.4 billion for Wastewater improvements as we know interest rates have drastically increased if these programs would have been done a few years ago they would have saved the city citizens 72 million dollars a year we are today trying to figure out how we can make the numbers work to finance these bonds to keep our AAA rating working the numbers backwards that came up with this rate plan this is not right ninety percent of Phoenix Water customers will be paying surcharges for consumption environmentalists keep saying we are getting hotter meanwhile Phoenix will be upcharging 90 of its customers just to maintain their current water use that's 90 percent it is possible for some people to be charged a 60 increase for water citizens will let trees die citizens will let their food Equity programs die the oxygen provided by our large trees will be gone Phoenix poverty rate is over 20 percent in January of 2022 we had over 17 000 people that is four percent of water users didn't help with their water bill water department has said if citizens have a difficult time with their paying their bill there are resources available to pay will we be using general fund money to support our water Enterprise funds this is not doable Council needs to approve the 6.5 increase for this year and we need to go back to the drawing board and develop a better plan if we don't Phoenix will not survive all the people low-income seniors and everyone will suffer my home Phoenix will not be livable for my grandchildren the fifth generation Phoenicians how may I help to keep this from happening thank you for your time to thank you to the water department for all their help thank you that concludes the public hearing 176 and 177 this public hearing is closed item 178 is to amend the Phoenix city code section 37-63 related to the proposed Water Service rate and revenue increase vice mayor move that item 178 being ordinance g-7128 the proposed Water Service rate and revenue increase be adopted as recommended will the city clerk please read the title item 178 is for ordinance g7128 and ordinance amending section 37-63 Phoenix city code pertaining to water rates within the city and within the town of Paradise Valley and providing for an effective date of the first bill date of October 2023. do we have a second second we have a motion and a second thank you for our again everyone in the public who has waited hours to testify on this important topic and our staff for doing a very impressive number of meetings and going out to the community and we did get some ideas that we'll be able to move forward with separately from this process I want to reiterate something that our water services director said this really is about Rising costs so the cost of water coming to us has gone up the cost of energy water is very energy intensive has gone off the cost of chemicals has gone up we have separate initiatives such as the drought pipeline that are related to the drought but this really is the cost of the inputs in the water system council member comments we'll go to councilwoman guardato thank you mayor I just wanted to say I think it's it's sad that today's vote is really the result of past leadership not addressing water raid increase ours in a responsible way from 2013 to 2018 the average yearly water rate increases was 0.83 with four of those years seen absolutely no increase to water rates and that same time frame the average yearly Wastewater increase was 0.67 percent with another four-year that saw no increase when the proposal for water and wastewater rate increases was first proposed I expressed my concern about the impacts I was concerned that residents would be paying more because of the rising costs to our water system or water inflation the leading cause of this water inflation is a dramatic rise in the cost of chemicals used to treat our our city water understand living I was on I was not on the probating side of that vote I began working extensively with our Wastewater service department and our city manager to see how we could lessen the impact of these increases to our ratepayers my goal has been to find ways for the City of Phoenix to become less reliant on the large multinational chemical companies that provide us with services and supplies I believe we owe it to Phoenix residents to use our purchasing Powers as the fifth largest city in the country to negotiate better purchasing and service agreements some of my concerns came from findings of a report the city's auditor Department published last year violia one of the largest water chemical companies in the world with annual revenue of over 30 billion dollars currently operates the city of Phoenix's Lake Pleasant water treatment plant and reviewing veolia's operations the city audit found concerns related to the maintenance of the water treatment plant's security of the facility and monitoring and compliance to keep our water safe as I said a few months ago I want to ensure that we have a modern and dynamic water system that delivers clean drinking water to Old City residents I support bringing the Lake Pleasant water treatment plant operations into the city where our city workers will provide the level of quality and service that they that we need for such a stretch strategically important asset to our whole water system this step will bring us one step closer to independence from the multinational corporations that regularly engage in what economists are calling greed inflation since I am a strong believer in negotiating in good faith and appreciate the time Jeff has spent with me on figuring out some of these issues I will support today's item if I can get a few commitments from City management one water services will bring Lake Pleasant water treatment plan under City operations two we will increase the and I I heard this already that we will be increasing project assessed allocation to 1 million to help low-income residents that may fall behind on monthly payments three auditing of chemical and service contracts related to our water system with a plan by the city manager's office on how to use or purchasing power to reduce costs form a commitment from our Waste Water Services Department to apply for all eligible federal grants to improve our water system available under the bipartisan infrastructure Bill and five lastly that we have the ability to evaluate cost inflation and potential efficiencies on an annual basis to determine whether there are ways to pass on any savings to our rate payers and reduce future increases thank you mayor thank you councilwoman mayor members of the council councilwoman guardato I think all of those things that you mentioned to us are things that we can easily do and that we are already working on many of those anyway the one thing I will emphasize is I think our conversation about water rates Solid Waste rates and many of those things that our rate payers pay those are conversations that we need to have annually I know we've had those conversations before even in a year where there's not an increase I think it needs to be in front of this Council so they understand the pressures that are facing our system and so we will be doing that moving forward thank you Jeff oh Council comments okay this first vote is the Water Service rate roll call ado yes Hodge Washington explain my vote please do thank you thank you um as much as I hate to increase the financial burden on any Phoenix resident um the overwhelm the overarching goal of making sure we have continued Clean safe and drinkable water must give way in this circumstance one of my many inquiries of the water department was understanding the true cost of continuing to Kick the Can down the road and one of the things I did specifically ask was about we saw unfold Before ice in the recent months was what happened in Jackson Mississippi and I wanted to understand the cost of those so what might seem like a an increase is a drop in the bucket when we consider what would happen if we do not do the adequate maintenance as councilman gardato said we are now dealing with the consequences of Prior leadership not taking the necessary steps and while we can sit and cast stones I think the more prudent responses for make sure that we do not sustain the same results I also had made a focus of Mind understanding how much resources would be available for those residents that are affected and I too am pleased that the project assist will be able to help that I also wanted to look to see how many individual residents of Phoenix would be who were knowledge who were previously under the consumption under the the limit would now be over and although it is uh it's not it's not insignificant it is four percent of our population and I do believe that project assistant and other resources can help fit that need I think while we're trying to solve the problem um and I also want to commend the water department and City staff for the commitment to return back to city council if the if we now have a new alternative on the cost of doing business does decrease that we can make sure that this is not a profit center for the city but simply an asset in which we get the best reliable water for our residents so thank you I will be voting yes O'Brien no that store yes Robinson yes Stark yes wearing I'm sorry yes Gallego yes passes seven two we next go to 179 Wastewater rate will the clerk read the title item 179 is ordinance g7129 an ordinance amending section 28-39 Phoenix city code pertaining to the Sewer Service rates and charges within and without the city and section 28-92 Phoenix city code pertaining to sewer environmental rate and providing for an effective date of the first build date of October 2023. vice mayor mayor I move that item 179 being ordinance g-7129 the proposed Water Service rate and revenue increase be adopted as recommended second we have a motion in a second any Council comments on Wastewater roll call yes watch Washington yes O'Brien no pastor yes Robinson yes Stark wearing I'm sorry yes Gallego yes passes seven two item 180 is to amend the Phoenix city code section 37-65b to authorize an increase in the assessment of the stormwater excise tax will the city clerk please read the title item 180 is ordinance g7127 an ordinance amending Phoenix city code section 37-65b to authorize an increase in the assessment of an excise tax on all water services accounts to defray City costs and expenses including costs of the city's storm water management program and providing for an effective date of October 1st 2023. vice mayor mayor I moved that item 180 being ordinance g-7127 the storm water excise task tax be adopted as recommended we have a motion in a second we have two speakers on this item Marissa Hamilton is first followed by Jeff mayor and council members again I just want to reiterate the pressures that are on the families in Phoenix we when I used to work at the city council of water issues and water bills which I believe this impacts were some of the highest number of calls that we received and there are more responsible approaches that we can take and one I do appreciate the comment that was made by council member Washington about making sure that this doesn't become a profit Center I would encourage you to do a 90-day review after the first round of rate increases to see how this goes and continuing to do 90-day reviews to find out to make sure that this did not become a profit Center and also I would really encourage you I want to double down on having a text message service to Residents because it's it is not a conservation effort if you're allowing water to leak for an entire month we need to be able to have a faster response to our residents when when there's issues whether it be with the water or the Wastewater or what have you and so I really highly encourage you to do that this was something that was requested from us in 2018 and 2019 and so if we're going to raise rates we need to be responsible on how we do so and empower the residents to control their water usage and their Wastewater usage thank you thank you our final speaker on stormwater is Jeff Caldwell mayor council members thank you very much so based off of the presentation I do realize that there are different rates going up for different people but on average they'd said it was 25 cents and so there's about 1.5 million households that utilize the water system of Phoenix that is 375 thousand dollars are you guys telling me that you can't find 375 thousand dollars to utilize to to cover this bill that's all I have thank you very much I have a question for you yes yeah I um got an email that was asking people to come to this meeting to oppose it as well as the Maricopa Association of governments and to go to the corporation commission to oppose some things APS was doing it was stop the Arizona deep State could you tell us what the Deep state is and how it has infiltrated the water department so we didn't that was directed towards what APS and tep are doing to do demand side management and so if you guys are trying to implement smart meters to um protect people from themselves on utilizing water or energy then that is taking rights away from people and so um we are adamantly against um people giving the rights away in order to get services that are from government granted monopolies through our utility services and so I do greatly appreciate that question thank you appreciate your testimony Smart Meters would be essential to doing more Outreach such as text messages that are automated when we have leaks advanced technology would also be essential to doing coveted monitoring in the sewer system all right we will close that public hearing does anyone have comments on stormwater roll call ado yes College Washington yes O'Brien no pastor yes Robinson yes yes Stark yes Waring I'm sorry yes okay yes passes seven two item 181 is to authorize expenditures and new positions funded by the stormwater excise tax increase or the ms4 permit compliance vice mayor mayor I moved at item 181 being ordinance s-49965 the stormwater excise tax expenditures and new positions be adopted as recommended second we have a motion and a second any comments on stormwater roll call cuardado yes Dodge Washington yes O'Brien no pastor yes Robinson yes Stark wearing I'm sorry yes Gallego yes passes seven two item 194 is a public hearing about the north east corner of 24th Street and University Drive it is in District eight I understand we do not need a staff report we will open the hearing for public comment we do not have anyone we will close the public hearing councilwoman HUD Washington I move that we approve move to approve the per the planning commission's recommendation and adopt the related ordinance second motion the second any comments roll call cortado yes Dr Washington yes I vote in favor and I also want to say this is a prime example of what happens when the community is engaged and allowed to have input into the actual formulation of this uh the Good Neighbor agreement so I'm very grateful for this one so I'm pleased to say yes oh Brian yes a store yes Robinson yes dark wearing I'm sorry yes Gallego yes s is nine zero items 195 and 196 are related so we will have one public hearing on these but two separate votes we'll open the public hearing on 195 and 196. we do not have anyone to testify we will close the public hearing on 195 and 196. vice mayor do we have a motion on 195. move to approve item 195. for the Planning Commission recommendations yes per the Planning Commission recommendation and adopt the related ordinance second we have a motion and a second any comments roll call cordado yes Dodge Washington yes O'Brien yes pastor yes Robinson yes Stark wearing I'm sorry yes Gallego yes passes 9-0 item 196 vice mayor move to a motion to approve per the Planning Commission recommendation and adopt the related ordinance second we have a motion in a second any comments roll call yes Hutch Washington yes O'Brien yes pastor yes Robinson yes Stark wearing I'm sorry yes Gallego yes passes 9-0 thank you that and concludes our agendaized business I will 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 to them the citizen comment session is limited to 30 minutes the Arizona open meeting law permits the city council to listen to the comments but prohibits council members from discussing or acting on the matters presented thank you we'll begin with Miss Johnson followed by Sherry Dale so my name is Beatrice X Johnson I am the baby sister of Dorothy Jean Gerald Chambers who was killed along with her companion Joseph Gutierrez on April 26 2022 I speak on behalf of my entire very huge family we are devastated and disgusted by the continued victim rights violation our family has experienced at the hands of Phoenix City prosecutor's office there are so many I am so tired of documenting all the violations atrocities since January 2023. I have documented to the city prosecutor's office Attorney General's office and the Department of Justice it's too overwhelming today for me to go over it I will be sure to submit them all in writing to this body at the next city council meeting before you break in less than one week and a half our family received three letters from the city prosecutor's office in less than a week June 16th stating that Court would be on April 26th June 19th charges of Nebraska Pick a bit was dismissed June 22nd the case has been sent to Maricopa County for review I also read see the calls saying the case was sent to Maricopa County for misdemeanor charges when I received a call from the victims advocate she called to let me know the case was going to county of course we asked questions and she said she didn't know she would ask the prosecutor office and let me know and like in time as she did not get back to our family with basic answers I requested a meeting with the prosecutor's office a meeting I have been requesting since the first meeting I had with this prosecutor Hillary until this day I have yet to have a meeting with the city prosecutor's office despite me calling this entire week and last week every day the nice lady in front of the office always tried to get someone as well as send an email to Smith and others when I call back she let me know she let them know and she was told to tell me someone would call me I still have not received a call we are the victims not Nebraska Pekovic we have a right to know we have a right to receive three diff we have received three different letters and with no explanation no one answering questions our family have the right to know I live in California where there are beaches do you really think I would choose to be here this week with these double-digit numbers instead uh the case this case after 14 months if anyone sitting on this Council had anything to do with it going to thanks okay 14 months is too long to fight to hold a speeding Under the Influence pekkovic accountable for killing two unsheltered human beings is far too long so can you ask your city prosecutor's office to call us back and set up a meeting we really don't feel like launching a campaign but we definitely will I'm spending way too much time here with you guys can we get this done uh 14 months is a long time for our family to suffer for someone who was speeding under the influence and killed two unsheltered human beings in Phoenix Arizona on April 22nd thank you thank you Sherry is next followed by Dave Peterson good evening my name is Cherie Dale I am the niece of Dorothy Delp Jean Chambers I said in the courtroom proceedings on April 26 2023 with my family members and support from around the country while my family and supporters travel from across the country but the killer Nebraska Pekovic was not in the courtroom nor was he there for pre-arraignment for him not to be there and I didn't see how he was he would be eligible for anything other than being there since he was picked up on the first degree failure to appear I further watched the city prosecutor City judge and pekovich attorney agreed to allow him to plead guilty or not guilty over the telephone the judge admitted that the request for him to be on the phone is not a regular practice and as you and is unusual but she still allowed it I I personally along with others watch pekovic's attorney put the phone in his pocket while my aunt Beatrice was speaking on the to the court I also witness pekovich's attorney placed the phone on the judge's bench when he had prosecutors attorney approach the bench the defendant was able to hear what was said at the bench but not our family 14 months is a long time for one family to receive so many victim right violations and no accountability for my auntie who was killed by someone who was speeding under the influence and killed two people thank you thank you Dave Peterson is next followed by Jim hello uh mayor council my name is Dave Peterson I'm a regional supervisor for restaurants of America I have some locations here in Phoenix Yuma Tucson the one I kind of want to talk about or get some support on if at all possible is uh Maryville mall area you know we've talked a lot today about homeless and all the challenges out there we're really seeing a lot in that Maryvale mall I think it's District Seven don't know it's split between seven and five but I've really tried to reach out and talk to some of the Circle K's get some support with them they're on board I've been working with Transit PD the lieutenant at Mark um he's been very responsive but the challenges are real I mean we call PD probably twice a day they have to come out they talked us about what they can can't do so there's a lot of challenges with that so excuse me it's been a long afternoon sitting here um but you know with we're trying to find some help to figure out what we can do um because it's only hurting our businesses it's definitely hurting that area there's a lot of new builds going up there's a lot of great things going on but you know the drugs are out of hand it I think I feel like I know the difference between homeless and drugs um and these aren't homeless people these are drug addicts I witnessed today at Circle K um getting gas just trying to support uh I saw the drug dealer sell it I saw them change exchange money I saw them smoke it um right there in that uh the common denominator is the bus stops I think um they're they're using that for shelter they build houses in those um and and talking to Circle K they have kind of the same problems in three major locations and that would be the 75th and Thomas 75th and hold on a second sorry [Music] what's the uh 75th and Thomas 75th Avenue McDowell um and I think it's 59th and McDowell are three major problems and and so I guess what I'm asking is one what can we do how can we support um two is you know can we get some support with the bus benches maybe unsheltered maybe move them maybe get them out up front I don't know what the options are but I'm definitely willing to help support and figure out plans to make it a little bit safer over there you know I did hear some talk about families and where you would go it's sad I wouldn't take my family into my own restaurants um and that's not the way I want to go about it I have three children under 14 wife you know we go into our restaurants all the time and I would not go into 75th Avenue and Thomas right now with the challenges that we're having on a daily basis real quick thank you we'll see if we can get a couple minutes it might be a couple departments to follow up in addition to the work that Lieutenant Schweikert is doing and and I do have an email that I received today hired with uh Circle K they're more than willing to support and jump in in any way they can um so we're I'm just trying to get Collective here you know we have another location of Metro Center so we have seen that same process and I've seen how long it went down and how long it took to come back up and I'd hate to see that happen with Maryville as the next one um and we do have Fiesta Mall area we were part of Arizona Center so we've been a part of this community for a while in Maryville right now it's struggling and you can see it in the businesses thank you thank you Jim freedom is next followed by Marissa Hamilton Marissa is next followed by Elsa online mayor members thank you for um allowing me to have so much time today uh the last thing I wanted to discuss was a concern that I had when I worked here before which is our procurement process we don't uh just to give you a little bit of background I come my professional background was in the supply chain and I helped to create some of our national and international traceability standards that we have today my concern is with our bus Rapid Transit program I asked the city for some documents and I'd like to thank my councilwoman for helping with this about to ensure that our bus Rapid Transit program that the buses did not have any type of child slave labor that was used to procure any of the materials the materials that go into electric buses electric vehicles solar panels Etc are known to be prone to be procured from child slave labor or slave labor coming from China and so the documents that were forwarded to me by the City of Phoenix on this are simply from from the federal standard which really isn't sufficient and the documents just say that there's a low risk that forced indentured or involuntary labor was used in their manufacture that's not really a sufficient statement to ensure that you aren't voting on money that's uh comes from that ends up going back to profiting uh slave labor and so I would encourage Phoenix to develop an independent traceability process within your procurement process to ensure that as these programs move forward that you can be for certain that none of our tax dollars are going to such abhorrent practices thank you thank you Elsa is next followed by Stacy hello can you hear me a little bit faint but yes uh okay I'll try to be I'm here to um my name is Elsa I'm here to upload um uplift the story and the call for justice for Dorothy Jean Chambers Joseph Gutierrez and a call for the City of Phoenix to reopen and relook and re-research into the case of Jacob Harris who was murdered by Phoenix Police but whose friends are sitting in jail right now instead of the people that were actually murdered him and I'd call in for justice for both Jacob Harris who was murdered and his friends Jeremiah Triplett Soraya busani and Johnny Reid one of which was tried as an adult when they were just 14 years old as I urge this Council to research and return to this case and to look into ways that the justice system as a whole failed these families and failed our youth on a regular basis and I've urged the council to really re-prioritize where they put most of their wherever you're putting City resources has so much of City resources that I even heard during throughout this meeting could be repurposed into direct Community Support including supporting our youth thank you thank you Stacy is next followed by Michael Norton hello mayor and council members can you hear me okay yes thank you almost daily I get notifications about pedestrians and cyclists injured and killed and are dangerous by Design city streets three things related to The Vision zero Community advisory committee you may not be aware of but should be I have attended both meetings just as a a passionate member of the public one the majority of volunteer committee members expressed the desire to meet monthly the bylaws were changed to allow this but your director of streets told members they can only meet every other month because his staff can't support monthly meetings um this isn't okay also per the director of streets any ideas recommendations from this advisory committee don't even go directly to you the mayor or Council they can ignore change decide to not push the commit the community advisory committee recommendations forward Etc this also isn't okay in my opinion uh the city doesn't need any more toothless tiger window dressing committees we need action perhaps another city Department could assist streets to ensure that these passionate volunteers aren't muzzled like past active committees that were shut down like the urban heat island tree and shade committee subcommittee and the complete streets committee before that um and and to that families please there are a very very large number of unsheltered folks who are involved in hit and runs and just pedestrian fatalities on our city streets so I think it's important for this committee if you guys are really serious about Vision zero to be supported to meet monthly thank you for your time have a good night thank you Michael is next followed by Mimi city council vice mayor I'm sorry thank you very much for allowing me to speak my name is Mike Norton I moved my business and my family the Phoenix and specifically the southwest side of Phoenix in 1994. I'm here today speaking on behalf of the Rogers Ranch Community which consists of thousands of homeowners in a square mile that was developed in the late 1990s and the early 2000s and was the Leading Edge of the development of the Levine Community as we know it today the Rogers Ranch family gave 14 acres of land to the city to become a park it sat next to the Rogers Ranch School sat next to the Levine area conveyance Channel and it was supposed to be the centerpiece of the community for the last 23 years it has been a dirt lot surrounded by a chain link fence with weeds growing and nothing more we have come to you repeatedly over the last years in the last two years we asked for the opportunity to be part of the general Bond obligation funds we were told no we asked to be part of the impact fee funds we were told no we asked to be part of the 2023-24 budget we were told no we were also told recently by the park recreation staff that we're not even on the list of projects that might be considered before 2030 three full decades after that land was given to the city and we should not expect to be a park before then imagine how we felt a month ago when we watched you approve 20 million dollars of funding for two Industrial Park developers who had plenty of money to do that that project on their own but you wanted to move them ahead faster we want you to activate the Rogers Ranch Park if you are not going to activate the Rogers Ranch Park we ask you to give the land back to us and we will do it ourselves we're capable of managing this project if you will get out of the way because right now you're just in the way nothing happens so either please put this project on the list of capital Improvement projects it should be and must be approved or put this on the list of land that should be given back to the people that could do the job because you don't want to do it thank you thank you Mimi is next followed by refill way who is our final speaker yes hello everyone my name is Mimi and I am an organizer at black lives matter Phoenix Metro I am also here to uplift the caves of Dorothy Jean Dale Chambers and I'm here today to speak about a case from January of 2019 where Phoenix Police Department's special assignment unit officers Christopher burtz and David Norman murdered 19 year old Jacob Paris Not only was Jacob Harris shot twice in his back by officers Christopher bertz and David Norman who fired 11 shots at him total they left him face down without calling for any medical attention but instead officers proceeded to yell at Jacob with deadly bullet wounds in his body to rise and as he does officers shoot Jacob with the beanbag guns in his face and leave him laying down on the ground while they then deploy a police dog who drags his body across the ground continually torturing him and now officer Christopher Burts is still employed by Phoenix Police Department and David Norman is still receiving a pension and training officers who are currently on the force well now Jacob and his friends Jeremiah Triplett as mentioned Soraya busani and Johnny Reed who were on the scene that day have been serving prison sentences that were enhanced with felony murder now reduced to manslaughter for Jacob's death that the Phoenix Police Department killed one of those young folks being a 14 year old who was tried as an adult so I want to urge the city council to return to this case and to look into the ways the Injustice system as a whole who was already in the Phoenix Police Department specifically a Phoenix Police Department who is already being investigated by the Department of Justice I want I urge city council to please look at this case look at how our our system is failing young black and brown youth in our communities and their families and I want you to reach out to us reach out to our organizations reach out to our families city council mayor and work with us to get Justice now is the time we know that our lives matter so please I urge you again reopen the case we need we need Justice for these youth continue looking into these matters the Department of Justice is here Phoenix Police Department continually tin is abusing our communities please I urge you to do the right thing thank you thank you refill way will be our final speaker boy and I am an organizer with the anti-police terror project I've now addressed this Council a number of times as justice has been delayed and solidarity and outrage with the family of Dorothy Jean Dale Chambers and her partner Joseph Gutierrez people have yet to see Justice for the murder of their loved ones and continue to have their victims rights violated as underlined by the family tonight I'm also here and will continue to be with Community Partners like black lives matter Phoenix to call for the justice of Jacob Harris and the freedom of Jeremiah Triplett Johnny Reed and Sarah usani the injustices of January 2019 that changed these young people's lives and took one of them forever and the ongoing deadly failures of the Phoenix Police Department's special investigations unit are egregious and cause for your immediate attention the community looks to have your support in our fight for justice the extrajudicial murders of black and brown people in Phoenix and the adult prosecution of Youth will not go answered unanswered and cannot stand thank you that is our final speaker we are adjourned foreign