good afternoon welcome to the formal meeting of the phoenix city council i will call the meeting to order and ask the clerk to please call the roll councilwoman i'm sorry here councilman decision councilwoman guardado here councilwoman o'brien councilwoman pastor councilwoman stark councilman waring here vice mayor garcia here councilman decision here mayor gallego thank you for joining us today mario barajas is with us to provide interpretation mario would you please introduce yourself yes thank you mayor hello my name is mario barajas and i'll be serving as today's spanish interpreter for the city council formal meeting i'll now take a moment to introduce myself to our spanish speaking audience and review some housekeeping matters with them thank you mayor thank you i will turn to our city attorney after we ask the city clerk to read our 24-hour paragraph the titles of the following ordinance and resolution numbers on the agenda were available to the public at least 24 hours prior to this council meeting and therefore may be read by title or agenda item only ordinances number g six nine one eight three six nine one nine s four eight zero eight eight through four eight one three two and resolutions two one nine seven seven through two one nine seven eight thank you public comment plays an important role in our council meetings and our city attorney will explain that portion of our meeting 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 community comments that go beyond the scope of the agenda item must be made during the citizen comment session at the end of the agenda speakers must present their comments in a respectful and courteous manner profane language and personal attacks on members of the public council members or staff are not allowed a person who violates these rules will lose their opportunity to continue to speak thank you vice mayor do you have a motion on item one yes mayor motion to approve mayor and city council boards and commission nominations second motion in a second any any uh comments all those in favor please say aye aye aye any opposed please say nay congratulations to our new commissioners liquor license applications vice mayor do we have a motion a motion to approve items 20 through 2 through 20 except items 19 and 20. okay thank you for motion in a second any comments all those in favor please say aye aye aye aye opposed please say nay passes unanimously we next move to item 19 which is a license in councilman de cio's district we do have the applicant here to comment i will turn to councilman decisio mayor don't need a presentation i'm going to move a uh no recommendation on this one they still got some issues that they got to work through but they can work all those through the state the applicant just needs to be aware that we're just a recommending body we don't say yes or no but the state finally does and that's the best they're gonna get today from me thank you mayor thank you councilman do we have a second i will second and second from councilwoman stark we do have rory kelly here um rory you have uh the floor is yours rory is not on the line all right um any comments roll call i'm sorry yes decisio yes yes o'brien pastor stark waring yes garcia yes gallego yes that says 9-0 item 20 is also in councilman de cio's district so i will turn to councilman for item number 20. thank you mayor i'm going to make a no recommendation on this one as well we've talked to the applicant just like we did on the last one and they've got some valid points and just make a recommendation though no recommendation on this one there thank you second thank you thank you councilman stark we do have three members to address the council on this item we'll begin with cesar followed by jeff miller followed by uh andrew samuka hello hello hi thank you for taking us uh i just want to share a little bit of what we're doing i know we talked to the liquid department about this before i'm the executive chef i've been working on my menu for almost 22 years i work for companies like cheesecake factory yard house con agrio i was a national trainer for a long long time uh worked for masters a little bit of time um and i've been putting a lot when they hired me they told me to do something unique something different and i've been working on it uh i know liquid department keeps saying that they win not a restaurant but i got like forty thousand dollars worth of equipment in the back it's not a bar kind of food we welcome anybody to come and check it out one of the things that i feel me working for those big big companies we never have problems with um liquor department i mean i was part of the front of the house at one time and i never feel harassed like i do now for for every every time they come in they're always trying to to see if we do something wrong which we're not we're not doing anything wrong i mean we try to do something new for the community something different and they keep saying there wasn't something we're not doing ah that's it i'm sorry thank you mr [Applause] good afternoon mayor and council and thank you for the opportunity uh this coyote mexican cuisine uh appreciate the no recommendation it will give them a chance to make sure we can work with the local pd and the department of liquor to ensure we get all issues addressed it's a great organization they're doing some great things for the community up there i've eaten there they're going to work towards being a you know a real restaurant um and it's just they took over a business and kept the name so they didn't get rid of some of the customers we're trying to they're going to be renaming it and kind of rebranding and coming back out to work with the department liquor to address any issues so thank you mayor and council for the opportunity thank you andrews hello everyone uh i'm andrew sumukha i um i moved from here from minnesota uh 2010 i i opened a african restaurant in 2010 i had you know some uh it was successful but you know bad partnership made everything went sour uh and since then when i moved here 2018 my goal was to you know to pursue that same dream and make it happen here so um you know since then i've been searching different venues uh i went through certain situations where i was almost getting the venue but then you know the two the owners the owner the previous owner and the landlord you know was going back and forth on the items that are in the building so that didn't work out well um in the process you know i got i got an opportunity to purchase uh this uh business i was you know going out going out of business um but you know since i started the process it's been kind of tough um you know just trying to start a new business trying to you know put things on you know um in order and you know hire the right people just that stress of starting a new business and and hoping it goes well you know was already on me but then you know um we had a visit by one of the i think somebody from the police department and uh and two other police officers um but one of the things that that's really getting to me is i'm being pushed on the side and then and uh some other negativity was being pushed on me as well as as far as me me being and you know as far as me being uh uh used or something like that i wasn't sure what what what the you know the um the words the mean words were that that they used but um my thing is just hopefully you know to get the support from the city and um and also the police department because what i'm trying to do here is really good i'm a clean thank you all for your testimony i think it is important to note that the previous ownership group associated with this did have some very serious concerns and i appreciate our police department looking into this um councilman decicio any further comments before we vote no mayor just i appreciate all the work that the police department made on this one in the previous case and i know that we're in a disagreement on that but we've done a little bit of research ourselves on it and they seem to be pretty i mean they just want to make it you know i don't ever want to get in somebody's way of being successful in life unless there's some type of hidden ownership that we have to prove or some type of dirty you know some laundering of money or things like that and right now there isn't anything on that so i hope that these guys are successful i hope they do what they say they're going to do and at the end of the day they still got a fifth yeah and match the 60 40 rule if they don't they'll be in front of us again or they'll be in front of the state uh under license so best of luck to them best of luck to the previous owners uh like i said i just want people to be successful thank you mary thank you any additional comments roll call i'm sorry yes to cco yes o'brien pasteur yes stark yes waring yes garcia yes vallejo says 9-0 city clerk are we ready for ordinances resolutions new business planning and zoning yes mayor nice mayor do we have a motion that's my motion to approve item 21. okay um maybe the omnibus motion yes sorry about that maybe a slower meeting if we want one by one yeah okay motion to approve items 21 through 84 except the following uh 21 24 34 35 37 38 39 53 55 56 and item 49 is continued to december 1st 2021 and excluding these items for public comment 29 54 55 and 82. second nicely done thank you any corrections roll call i'm sorry yes decision yes guardado yes garcia yes gallego passes 9-0 wonderful now we will ready for that motion on item 21. thank you mayor uh motion to approve item 21 second thank you i'll turn to the vice mayor for comments thank you mayor um made comments on on this case before um and even got a couple of questions this week about if if this settlement was justice um and i just wanted to mark that this settlement isn't justice for muhammad or his family justice would have been for muhammad to have had housing and resources he was living without shelter and without the support we needed to give everyone in order to care for all of the constituents we need to provide housing behavioral and mental health resources and other programs instead of only turning to enforcement i'd leave it up to the family to answer that question of what justice looks like for them but what i've heard from them is that they want accountability and what i've heard from them as well is they want to make sure that this doesn't happen to another family i hope these funds help uh mr uh family his his young kids um to have a successful life and not have to go through some of the things he went through i'm looking forward to continuing work with the cap program to support folks with mental health and i'm looking forward um to looking into this case further i think like some in the community i would i would appreciate the county attorney's office reopening this case and investigating what happened um some folks have referred to this as as um something that's not settled and so i just want to be um honor the family understand what they went through and i'll be voting yes on this thank you thank you councilwoman guardado thank you mayor yes as well i would like to just take a moment and offer my deepest condolences to the family of muhammad mean nothing we do as a council can ever undo what they have been through we must continue to prioritize accountability and transparency as well as services and support for those who need it in our community thank you mayor thank you any additional council comments roll call i'm sorry no yes o'brien pasteur stark yes waring no garcia yes vallejo yes classes 7-2 we next move to item 24 maricopa county community college district rio salado payment authority noting that councilman pastor will not be uh participating in this vote vice mayor do we have a motion motion to approve item 24 second comments roll call i'm sorry yes to cco yes yes o'brien yes stark yes waring yes garcia yes gallego passes 8-0 uh vice mayor we have a motion on item 29 related to 13th street van buren and moreland motion to approve item 29 okay second from councilwoman stark um raleigh on behalf of the garfield neighborhood association thank you mayor and council this is raleigh dambach 767 eastmoreland street and we just wanted to say thank you for moving forward with this project it's been a very long time coming uh we appreciate that and we also just wanted to get clarification on um the properties and what the details of the acquisition wonderful thank you i believe our streets director is coming up to the microphone could you tell us a little bit more about this project uh mayor members of the council this project the 13th street project is one that had a lot of support several years ago and we've been working very diligently to complete the design of this project it's to complete a lot of necessary amenities in the stretch of 13th street um just east of the downtown area um specifically related to the we're in i should say we're in the process of design on this project um as part of that we've identified some land acquisition that's necessary for that i would say that in the the council port report there's 14 properties that are identified however 12 of those properties only require temporary construction easements related to them so that just as a temporary necessary land right we need to be able to do the construction work the two remaining properties are a minor acquisitions than necessary there are triangle pieces at the corners of the property for us at the intersections of 13th street and roosevelt and 13th street in moorland thank you for that update i just wanted to say if we could also as a neighborhood organization just be kept better informed of um that because that did cause some alarm in the in the community so thank you and um i know i had listed myself as neutral but obviously uh as an organization we are very in support of this project continuing forward and we'd like to thank everyone in the city for their efforts to keep it moving forward thank you wonderful thank you i know a lot of neighbors had been advocating for similar investment and i think the streets department has been at several garfield neighborhood association events but i imagine would be available to come back again and our streets director just nodded any additional council comments vice mayor thank you mayor and thank you kinney i think just echoing what the garfield organization uh wants is a little bit more communication i think they fought really hard showed up to a lot of our budget hearings and and did a lot of work to make sure that this happened so really excited this is happening obviously i'm supporting the item but uh thankful keaney's here to explain it and and would appreciate more communication with the neighbors to make sure that we all get to celebrate and enjoy uh all this amazing work and and the new infrastructure that's going into 13th street so thank you all we'll do vice mayor roll call i'm sorry yes decease you stark yes garcia yes diego passes 9-0 thank you next we move to item 34 home investment partner partnerships program call for interest vice mayor do we have a motion motion to approve item 34. okay second we have a motion and a second uh this uh awarding these funds are always uh an exciting vote for me at the council i do have um a few comments and maybe a question for either uh gina or our housing director um but this one um several of us on the phoenix city council have tried to work more closely with the state housing department and its new leadership to line up on goals they have just put out some funds with um you know um with some priorities that are are aligned with the cities including support for housing for victims of domestic violence veterans people experiencing homelessness and youth exiting the foster care system i am hope they also assign some points for people who have other funding sources and so i just want to um ask are we able to line up this pot of money so that projects in phoenix might be able to compete with this pot of money for state fund the state qap thank you mayor members of the council i mean the answer is yes we are um aligned um in terms of um what our priorities are and the opportunities within the state and i'll let um titus matthew our housing director elaborate thank you members mayor mayor and council members deputy city manager actually articulated the qap process for this year effective april of next year will be in linemen with phoenix and most of the phoenix projects that apply for the our home funds will be alignment with the state tax credit application process as well and we hope to issue our award letters subject to council approval in march as well to align it for the application period as well wonderful and when you say next year you mean that the awards they will make in 2022. that is correct wonderful thank you and then i just um in the past we have awarded these funds through projects throughout our city and i would be excited again if we have geographic diversity and where we award these projects because we need affordable housing in every single part of our fee of phoenix there's data in maricopa county saying 20 of our population has housing challenges right now and so that's common throughout our county i also was very excited that sustainability and energy efficiency is an area where we are awarding points um there are housing authorities that are looking at net zero goals we've awarded in the past to some projects with solar integrated and i am excited to see what what is out there with this ground as well so thank you housing is on our resident's mind very much and we'll hopefully get some high quality projects that we can show off uh additional council member comments roll call i'm sorry yes decisio yes yes o'brien yes a store yes stark waring yes garcia yes gallego passes 9-0 [Music] thank you next we go to item 35 which is agreements with aunt rita's foundation and the arizona community foundation to support the fast-track cities initiative do we have a motion mayor i have a motion councilwoman pasteur one of our chairs of the fast track initiative committee i have a motion to authorize uh to enter their agreements with aunt rita's foundation and the arizona community foundation go ahead a second i'm seconding the second co-chair yes or the co-chair [Laughter] um customer comments yes thank you i wasn't sure what to do uh i just wanted to thank staff for really staff and fast-track cities for really uh working hard and getting making this happen and the efforts that they did during the budget of uh pushing or advocating for a budget for fast-track cities and this is one way uh that we will get some dollars out into the community and uh be able to reach our goal uh to end aids and so uh i'm really glad we're doing this thank you thank you thank you to you and councilwoman stark for chairing this very important committee we'll turn to councilwoman stark thank you i want to echo the comments that councilwoman pasteur made it is an amazing group of people on this committee that are very very vested and passionate in this cause and i too want to thank them as well as our great staff thank you mayor thank you hiv is 100 preventable and 100 treatable and we can do so much more to lead the way in this area i'm very proud that the city has been a fast track city since 2016 and i want to thank you guys again for the work you have done as co-chairs some of the great work that the committee has done has been the creation of the rapid start protocol start state of arizona rapid treatment which is to have newly diagnosed hiv patients start on on art within five days after diagnosis or after re-engaging in care we have gotten international recognition for for um the work that we have been doing in this area and we are making good progress by for our towards our goal of ending hiv by 2030 and eliminating the stigma and discrimination associated with uh hiv and aids so more work to do but today is an exciting step forward and i know this is a priority of our community and our council in the budget and it's good to be moving forward additional comments roll call i'm sorry yes to cco yes o'brien asked or stark yes waring yes garcia yes diego passes 9-0 we next move to 37 golf management system vice mayor motion to approve item 37 second we have a motion and a second comment okay i have a question mayor councilwoman o'brien thank you can um is there someone there available to explain how the system works please welcome our parks director thank you and our deputy city manager good afternoon mayor uh councilwoman o'brien i'd be happy to answer any questions thank you so this is uh explain how it is that this does not impact our general fund absolutely mayor councilwoman o'brien members of the city council this is a contract that we have had for many years that we went out for a new solicitation on and the way this works so that there is not an impact to the general fund is that we essentially give the vendor a block of tea times golf tee times every month they then go market and sell those tee times and that's how they generate the revenue that they need to cover the expenses of the software the software allows us to accept credit card payments uh perform the online bookings of t times and track other valuable data related to our city golf courses and so it's just a block of tee times it's not all of our tea times councilwoman o'brien members of the city council you are correct um we go through and identify a very small portion of those tea times they are not our most popular booked tee times either i can tell you that they tend to be tea times uh that are not booked by us historically so it also serves a dual purpose of helping us get those tea times booked and further market and promote our golf courses excellent thank you so much mayor thank you any additional comments or questions roll call i'm sorry yes decision yes i'm sorry pastor thank you stark yes waring no garcia yes diego yes passes 8-1 we next move to item 38 which is public hearing and resolution to improve the 2022 downtown enhanced municipal services district we will open the public hearing we do not have any members of the public here to comment so i will close the public hearing council member questions or comments thank you all this one will be something i am looking forward to supporting as well as item 39 which is a related item coming out of covid it has been powerful to see the momentum in our downtown compared to other peer downtowns and we appreciate our partnerships with the enhanced municipal services district we have now more restaurants in our downtown than we did pre pandemic and 83 percent of them are both the restaurants and retail businesses are locally owned the the services district has helped us navigate and avoid some of the challenges with small business closures that have plagued many of our downtowns and we appreciate their creative marketing we've also seen a 77 increase in total commercial and residential projects under construction in the downtown phoenix partnership 1.7 square mile area between the end of 2019 and q4 of 2020. we have 3 700 residential units under construction and 3200 in pre-development so we will have the same amount of residential units in the next two or three years as we produce over the last 20 years our our ambassadors are are very busy before the pandemic they were getting 4500 assists with patrons per month and last month they had over 10 000 assists i also really appreciate the work the green team is doing on removing graffiti and trash was over 2 000 graffiti tags last year so appreciate the hard work and look forward to even more investment and amenities in our downtown roll call mayor if i may we do need a motion oh god thank you i'm so excited nice mayor motion to approve item 38 second and i think we had a second from councilwoman i'm sorry yep roll call i'm sorry yes to cco no yes o'brien yes garcia yes diego item 39 is a companion item to pay the invoices for the downtown enhanced municipal services district vice mayor do we have a motion motion to approve item 39. did we get a second yes mayor all right any comments roll call i'm sorry yes decisio no yes o'brien yes pastor yes stark yes no garcia yes passes 7-2 we next move to item 53 which is updating our city code regarding impoundment vehicles cited for racing or reckless driving while our city clerk please read the title item 53 is for ordinance g6919 in ordinance repealing ordinance g 6822 and chapter 36 sections 36-70.01 through 36-70.04 of the phoenix city code regarding the impoundment of vehicles cited for street racing or reckless driving and making all required conforming changes thank you do we have a motion i move item 53 second yes second wonderful and just i'm i'm sorry i'm having a hard time hearing from our city clark we got a motion in a second yes mayor all right any comments mayor councilwoman pastor um i'd like to thank all of those that worked on this item uh we had during uh 2020 or even beforehand uh had several people approached me in the maryvale area regarding street racing and some of the pieces that were happening within the shopping centers and shopping malls so those that collectively worked on this worked on it for quite some time i would like to thank former councilwoman thelda williams because she also led this piece and glad to see it here there was legislation that was passed at the state to help us in this process and to change the code so i like to thank all of those that were a part of this thank you roll call i'm sorry yes decio yeah waring yes garcia yes diego passes nine zero we next go to item 54 the green tech transit technology request for proposals we will begin with public comment beginning with autumn johnson followed by julian zepeda yes good afternoon mayor and council i will reserve my comments for the next item but do you support this item thank you thank you mr zapeda i'm also going to wait for my hi good afternoon this is financial peda i'm actually going to give my comment for the next uh agenda item as well wonderful and everyone will just have two minutes on that item this is an exciting item that allows us to make sure we have the understanding of the best technology out there and support a sustainable transit system uh councilwoman i'm sorry do you have a motion i move to approve item 54. second question and a second any comments councilwoman i'm sorry just say i'm very excited about this item this is a really really big step forward just a couple weeks after we adopted our climate action plan um i do have a couple of questions i don't know if i can answer them offline but i guess i know this is a 25 million dollar test program and just to say that i really hope that this will be successful and that as we try to meet our goals both around city fleet electrification but also the infrastructure that's necessary to make sure we get there i hope that we will have future requests for proposals that focus on the infrastructure pieces there so that we can move our city along as fast as possible but i'm excited to be moving forward with this and i think that i'm very confident that it will be a big success for our city thank you thank you councilwoman phoenix has long been a leader on sustainable fuels and hopefully we can continue to lead the way with the result of this i would encourage our partners in the private sector to please participate in this um we have a robust transit program that is only growing and it's such an exciting time for our country with the infrastructure and jobs act passing this week councilman pasteur yes and i would also um commend the both of you for for really uh leading the way i would also like to ask staff or put on record that they come up with a plan on how we will reach these goals and working with the sustainability uh the 2050 piece in in the way we're going to meet our benchmarks and uh start uh implementing some of these items or put in a plan and then we're able to implement with the timeline and dollars so uh commend you both for uh going to the conference and bringing back some great ideas and uh getting started within phoenix thank you thank you roll call i'm sorry yes decisio no guardado yes o'brien a store stark yes waring no garcia yes gallego asses ii thank you next we go to item 55 which is a purchase of bus contract we will begin with public comment we'll begin with maggie acosta followed by don emiden hi can you hear me yes we can okay hello thank you for letting me um give you the time my name is maggie costa i live in phoenix um just on district 7 to be exact it would be on 71st avenue and indian school um spectators phoenix has just passed its climate action plan from my understanding we have a goal of reaching zero emissions and improving our city's air quality if we use buses powered by compressed and natural gas instead of converting to electric hybrid or hydrogen powered vehicles we will probably fail i have lived in cities for the for the last 25 years and have observed the value become polluted over time and this is largely important in part due to our reliance on gas powered vehicles this pollution has been affecting a lot of people elderly young people with health issues like myself with asthma so it's um i really believe that there are other cities who use electric vehicles and i would like to see uh not locked into a contract that makes us depend on dirty fuel sources when there are new technologies available thank you for your time thank you don will be next followed by katie lavra all right i guess that beat me hello yes don hello don yeah can you can hear me okay uh my esteemed counsel my name is don and i live in uh district four of phoenix i'm speaking to urge the count the city council to reconsider this contract compressed natural gas should not be the the future of our transit system and we need to seriously consider zero emission alternatives phoenix just passed the climate action plan so we need to be forward thinking and innovative and if we want to achieve net zero and attain our air quality goals the fact is that cng powered buses are one of the most polluting options second only to lng and locking us into decades more of dirty fuel sources is not in line with sign and will cost us dearly in economic and public health impact it may delay goals set by our newly adopted climate action plan technologies for renewable energies and electric vehicles is rapidly improving and our federal government is investing heavily into electrification so locking our city into five more years uh maybe uh i just lost my place oh my goodness five more years locking us into i'm sorry okay it's irresponsible both from a fiscal and economic perspective i'm sorry about this folks um at the very least this contract should be uh required to be reviewed and voted on annually so that we can consider new zero emission technologies on a regular basis thank you for this opportunity to speak and be heard thank you don so katie will be next followed by autumn johnson can you hear me we can okay my name is katie lavra and i've lived in phoenix all of my years 61 years that i have been alive and i'm calling to urge the city council not to buy the buses that use compressed natural gas to purchase hybrid or electric buses since phoenix has started making moves to be more economically sound we should not lock in for five years with the dirty air buses instead we should look ahead at the more environmentally clean buses technology is moving so fast locking phoenix into a five-year contract with buses using compressed natural gas does not make any sense what makes sense is to invest in hybrid or electric clusters in addition we request that in addition the issues there's issues with the request for proposal it does not make sense as i said as the city to be making them big moves to be more sustainable that we would only request proposals for cng or biodiesel buses especially up to a five years worth of replacements when we know technology is moving so fast i do thank you for your time and i do urge you to vote no on this and to get some more proposals thank you for your time thank you autumn will be next and julian will follow good afternoon mayor and council my name is autumn johnson with tiara strategy public interest policy advocacy i would like to encourage you to vote no on agenda item number 55. as you know and as other callers have previously stated the city recently passed an ambitious climate action plan that calls for 50 percent economy-wide carbon reductions by 2030. continuing to invest in fossil fuel transit or fleet vehicles is incompatible with this goal with the best available climate science and with the enormity of the crisis before us the city should be looking to invest in electric or other zero-emission vehicles it should not continue to rely on emitting vehicles this is a step in the wrong direction in addition to climate change vehicles are a significant contributor to ozone and clean air act compliance is already a problem for maricopa county at the very least any rfp issued for new transit vehicles or other procurement should be all source it is important that other technologies be allowed to compete on an equal playing field we simply do not know what other more cost effective options are available without that information the public interest is not served by continued investment in fossil fuels especially when we do not even know if that is the most fiscally prudent option finally many other cities including those with comparable climate to phoenix are moving to electrify their buses tucson for example has five electric buses and will be adding five more in 2022 miami has 75 electric buses batteries perform better in warm climates than cold electric vehicles are the future and it behooves the city to figure out how to modify their systems to accommodate that change sooner rather than later replacement of any items with a lifespan of over a decade should be made with an eye towards the future not the past please vote no on item number 55. thank you julian will be next followed by irma pacheco hi everyone i'm julian cepeda i am calling on behalf of chispa an environmental justice organization and i'm calling to also ask the city council to reconsider this contract compressor natural gas is not the future of our transit system and we need to seriously consider cleaner zero emissions alternative solutions for our city and also on the federal government just passed the largest investment ever made for public transit and electrification we should wait until we know how much money the city of phoenix is getting to to electrify transit before we even sign a 145 million contract for cng buses uh providing this five year contract today is not physically responsible and i want to also um take the time to say thank you for the city council members who are taking the lead on on making sure that the city does move forward with renewable electrification of buses and i also asked the city council to vote now on agenda number 55. thank you thank you irma will be next followed by joanna our final speaker today on this item hi hello you can hear me [Music] yes we can hello oh yeah good afternoon my name is irma pacheco and i live in seventh district i'm calling to urge city council to reconsider this contract because in my area there is a lot of pollution there is already many recycled companies that emit a lot of pollution compressed natural gas is not the future for a transit system and we need to seriously consider cleaner fuel emission alternatives the city of texan just purchased five electric classes from angelic debris company staff is for passing to buy a cng buses from they also committed to five more into 2002 miami dade county has 75 elected passes from portreta phoenix will be already a leader on this front and these other hot cities can make the ship to electric with you too so at the very least these contracts come back to both annually so we can consider new zero emission technologies and regular basis a as a part of this contract thank you for the opportunity to speak today thank you so much thank you our final speaker will be joanna good afternoon mayor and city council members my name is joanna strother and i serve as the senior director of advocacy for the american lung association as a public health organization we urge you to vote no phoenix has some of the worst air quality across the country the american lung association's 2021 state of the air report ranked phoenix as the fifth most polluted city for ozone 13th most polluted city for unhealthy particle pollution spikes an eighth for the most annual particle pollution levels these dangerous levels of air and climate pollution exacerbate respiratory and heart conditions and is especially harmful to children and persons with asthma and copd vehicle emissions are the largest source of our air pollution burdens the american lung association's 2020 road to clean air report revealed that transportation electrification could yield up to 1.5 billion in health benefits in arizona annually through the adoption of electric cars buses and medium heavy duty trucks in addition to increasing levels of non-combustion energy sources all electric transportation can save lives prevent asthma attacks and avoid lost work days just last month the american lung association spoke in support for the climate action plan and celebrated its adoption so locking phoenix into a five-year contract for polluting buses does not make sense you just heard the federal government passed and everyone knows the largest investment made for public transit and electrification you also heard the city of tucson just purchased five electric school but or five electric buses and are committed to five more next year phoenix should be a leader on this front and make the shift to electric too investing in clean air means investing in our health i ask you to consider investing in cleaner zero emission transit and not cng polluting buses especially locking us into a five-year contract thank you thank you that concludes public comment i will turn to councilwoman ansari thank you mayor um i actually have a i want to start with some questions if that's okay wonderful we'll welcome our deputy city manager and our transit director perfect um okay so i just wanted to start uh to better understand the scope of the rfp um can you please explain what fuel sources were included in this request for proposal councilwoman i'm sorry uh this is mario paniagua wcd manager and here with me is public transit director jesus sapien to to answer your questions um and and i will i will turn it over to jesus to answer to answer your questions on the scope of the rfp of what for what was included in rfp so jesus do you want to take that thank you mayor councilwoman i'm sorry the scope of this particular rfp was cng and biodiesel and that was the request we made to council in february when we requested to issue the rfp and the rationale behind that is in 2013 we did an analysis of our overall fleet fueling infrastructure we were observing some changes in the transit industry relative to movements be between propulsion systems and so at that time we presented to the council a recommendation to have a mixture of two-thirds of our fleet operating on natural gas and one-third operating on diesel which in our case is biodiesel so the issuance of this rfp was following that recommendation for our department i i would just want to add to jesus's response a little bit a little bit more context just first of all to thank i want to thank the council for the leadership on um on all we're doing and all of the efforts the city is doing to address climate change and committing to getting to zero emission vehicles in the future i want to express the staff's commitment to to those goals as well and the fact that we are continuing to to look forward to the future to to convert to cleaner buses many advancements have been made in the field of electric vehicles not quite as far along in buses as as they have been with smaller vehicles and personal vehicles but still advancements are happening into developing technology as demonstrated with the previous item for the the green transit technologies rfp as well as another item that that went through on the omnibus motion item 57 which was a application to apply for a grant with the fta to to bring in some additional funding to to for specifically for electric buses and charging facilities and and it was mentioned with the public comments as well the uh infrastructure investment and jobs act includes substantial amount of funding for electric vehicles and electric buses and charging technologies and we're very excited about that because that's going to enable us to to move forward in that conversion at the same time it's important for us to to maintain our existing fleet of buses and be able to to make sure that buses are safe reliable an enjoyable experience for our passengers we want to make sure that we are continuing to keep our bus riders and attracting even more bus riders and and part of that includes making sure our buses are operating safely and they're not breaking down or they're not having problems or they don't or they don't look bad just because they're they're running down and old and so bringing it bringing in new riders is also a way that we we get people out of their cars and in the buses and so that's a way that that climate change uh we can we can reverse what's happening there as well and so i just wanted to give that context um in addition to what jesus responded on on kind of where the the rfp what the scope we asked for um it's it's it's making sure that the this this rfp is making sure that we can keep those keep our fleet in operation at the same time as us moving forward with uh responding to the council's call for for the zero emission vehicles thank you mario well first of all i appreciate both you and jesus i know that you are committed uh to transitioning to zero mission um and i appreciate you reaffirming that here um i guess where i so we know the rfp was limited to cng and biodiesel we know that cng and biodiesel still are you know they're still fossil fuels and they're still emitters i guess where what i'm wondering to you is why was this rfp for our five years up to 145 million dollars which is pretty much six or seven times what we just inve what we just authorized in the item prior to this which was only 25 million um when you know maybe in a year or two like i understand the need to replace i you know my residents ride buses all the time i don't want them to be riding toxic buses that are falling apart of course but from data that you shared with me i also know that's only really 12 buses this year and under obligation with contract 40 buses um a year so what yeah so why was the why was the contract scope so large through such a large period of time mayor uh councilwoman i'm sorry thank you for that question and a little bit of background so if you'll if you'll indulge me i've been with the public transit department almost 15 years and i would say for about 10 of those we have tested other technologies literally kicked the tires on hydrogen battery electric hybrids lng cng diesel biodiesel the list goes on and several years ago our tests with battery electric buses showed the buses to travel approximately 80 to 90 miles and that was when the vehicle manufacturers approached us and said that they have an estimated distance of 120 to 150 so of course trying them out trying them out in our environment yields a little different result over the years we have continued to test them invite the vehicle manufacturers to our environment both in the spring and summer and the latest advancement i'll call in technology was we observed buses that traveled between 150 and 180 miles so the technology has improved um but in looking the way looking at the way that our regional transit system is structured as you know we not only operate within phoenix but adjacent cities phoenix operates 55 percent of the service miles on the bus side so we need buses that cover a great range so two kind of two things number one we issued the rfp for five years just in case we need to cover the five years of vehicle replacements but we also have language in the rfp that says that we are not committed to buying all five years worth so if we do find another viable technology that we can start replacing buses with we can absolutely do that but at the same time we recognize that from a procurement standpoint um you know we just in case cover ourselves for five years uh from a bus replacement schedule okay thank you for that context um can you also okay so just to clarify the point that you just made um let's say we replace this year and next year the buses that most urgently need replacement and meet our obligations of the 40 replacement under contract and then let's say through the rfp in item 54 we see next summer or the year after that that we are meeting our benchmarks and and the hybrid or hybrid electric vehicles are working here are you saying that that means if that's the best and we can transition either expand those rfps or just not live out this 145 million yes so mayor councilwoman i'm sorry that's absolutely what we can do we can transition from one technology to the other once we identify one that is proven in our environment okay all right um that is good to know um i think i'll i have some comments at the end but i want to go to other council members who want to speak to thank you [Music] thank you mayor so unless they're you know believe it or not i actually like clean fuel i know as a republican it sounds strange but i do um and it's interesting always with government it's always the first to tell everyone else what to do but what comes to them well it's too difficult it's too hard to do that these things are never easy decisions to make they just aren't you're talking about literally beginning to retrofit an entire fleet it's either you're going to do it or you're not uh the fear that you anybody should have here is unless you know exactly the amount of buses that they're going to purchase in the first year or second year when you know people look toward you know hey we'll monitor this we'll see what it's like after first year you'll see individuals buying large amounts right up front that's what will end up happening why not i mean i i don't know if there's a huge rush to do this today but why not put it out to where you're doing an additional rfp include the electric buses in there and see what they come back with i mean why not be able to compare all uses at the same time we can i think we're all smart enough to figure out which buses would be the right ones or not be the right ones to do the way this is today or even without monitoring i'm not going to support that but at the same time if people want to do a comparison you the more options you put on the table rather than having one or two people dictate those options the better off we're all going to be as you move forward on anything so from my end of it i think you know we would have been easily been able to determine whether or not 80 to 90 miles was enough versus 120 miles or how those schedules could work i mean we could have made those determinations ourselves but we weren't given those options to do that um so i'm not going to be supportive of this in any way unless it's either to go out and redo this or to turn it down thank you mayor thank you councilwoman councilwoman guardado followed by the vice mayor thank you mary um yeah i guess like one uh one of my biggest um questions is um to the to the two of you or mainly to you jesus um i'm your the expert on this um when when can we see a plan and how when how we're shifting you know from what we're doing now to electrical because it's not i i i don't i think we're beyond whether how much this is gonna cost or what's more costly i don't think those are the numbers or the comparisons that we should be doing at this point i think it's more about i think it's more about like okay where's the research um you know we're seeing other states around the country we're seeing other other places that are that are moving to electrical and have a plan and have a timeline on how we're going to get there um i will definitely support whatever councilwoman ansari would like for me to do um but a buddy but i do think that given that that's the directive um i don't know that we've had you know that i think that's the sentiment that i think all of you guys have gotten from the city council that we want to move into electric electric everything um given given the situation in our state and in our country i i think it it is a little um mind-blowing to see that this rfp still went out the way that it went out um and that we still did things the way we did them i i definitely would like to see a plan done like in in the next in the next couple of weeks on how we're moving in into that direction because these are 145 150 million dollars that we could be putting into that because i know it's gonna cost more but it's but it's about how is it that we're efficient and how do we truly commit um to what we said we're gonna do and just try to get it done because we do have that reputation where we say we're going to do something and then it either doesn't get done or it takes years for it to get done and i and i do think and i do think kisses that that we just need to figure out how do we how do we move that forward thank you mayor thank you vice mayor thank you mayor um agree with sal and some of the gordala said um i think we have to lead the way on this i think acknowledge our own mistakes we voted for this in february we uh asked staff to to move forward with this and what i'm saying now is i regret that and that was before we had our our our plan that's now put forth that we've accepted and now that we have that plan this is in direct contradiction to that i think it especially we have a five-year commitment and be okay if you know i understand that we have a couple buses we have to make sure that are okay in the next year but i don't see how um we can move forward with the five-year uh commitment to something that's directly contradicting the plan that we just approved i also want to know how we're working with environmental programs or the new office of heat mitigation to make sure that you know all departments or or staff are working together to make sure that we're both respecting that plan but also getting support because i know as soon as you have to figure out how to get people from point a to point b and maybe you know figuring out what the best bus what this logistically or how it looks um is something that is too much to add to your plate so what are resources that you may need whether it's working with other departments or support that we need to give you to make it easier for you and us to follow through with our commitment obviously we see the community cares um it is an issue you know councilman tsar and the mayor just just came back from from the conference i think others have mentioned it's it's a crisis that we've acknowledged that we've set a plan forth uh for and i think we should respect it and move forward with that so um unless we shift this around i can't support um this proposal as it is i can't commit to five years when we literally just voted the item before to figure out new ways of doing it and i understand that we've tried in the past to understand what the technology is uh made a little joke earlier uh you know we're probably three or four iphones from the last time we had this conversation so i i do see and others have mentioned other cities and other folks figuring this out i think we could do it as well and we shouldn't commit to five years until we make this happen thank you thank you we'll go to councilwoman pastor and then back to councilwoman and sorry for um understanding the the the elements and pieces of this because we are part of a regional uh transit system and what happens in phoenix affects all the the region affects tempe affects scottsdale affects glendale all the border areas of how we move our buses and our transit through i'm not i do feel we do need to move and support our sustainability plan my recommendation or actually i'm going to make a motion that this item is continued until uh my motion is to continue this item until uh staff can come back and bring something to us uh that includes or maybe it's only the 40 buses and it's not a five year or we uh put uh this year something needs to happen in order for the majority of us to be in uh to feel comfortable with this so i'm asking for a continuance would would you be comfortable with a continuance to a date certain um and then well let me ask our city attorney do we need a date um mayor members of the council yes when we're continuing students on an agenda if it's not withdrawn it's going to be continued you need to date certain okay i will turn to uh mario and jesus um to what uh i think we have december 1 or december 15th our upcoming formals mayor thank you at this point i would i would recommend we continue based on what what's being requested um let's see is it december 15th was that with that december 15th be be the date we continue to um and we will shoot for that date councilwoman pasteur as the maker of the motion would be comfortable with the motion to continue to december 15th yes i'm fine with that wonderful and i believe that uh councilman guardado was our second yes i'm great with that too yes wonderful so then we have a motion on the table to continue to december 15th um any comments before we vote on that motion sorry and we'll go to councilman sorry and then councilman decision thank you um we'll just want to i i will be supporting the motion i just i do want to thank um mario and jesus we've been and all the council members i'm excited that there's a lot of interest about this i think it just shows everyone's really really wanting the city of phoenix to lead the way in in electrification efforts i know it may push us behind a little bit but i think i just want to reiterate my main issues with this it's even if there is this even if there is a you know good faith effort made to say that we will not live up to the 145 million and all of that i think just i don't feel i think it several of us clearly don't feel comfortable authorizing that much towards a fuel source that is toxic and harmful um and that is counter to everything we're doing in the climate action plan and the significant amount of hours and manpower being put in by senior city staff members through the electric vehicle ad hoc so there's any way to limit that that would be great i had mentioned previously and what we thought maybe we'd get to today would be an annual review at council but i know the conversation has shifted now but i just think we need to be looking at this regularly as a full council every single year um and putting out rfps that are relevant to the time and the research and the technology of that current moment not what was the case a couple years back so um that would be my hope in whatever comes out in the continuation thank you so much and so we will next go to councilman decisio and then our team has informed me that karen potter was online and that and and registered far in advance of the deadline so after councilman decicio we will go back to public comment for one public comment oh thank you mayor and following with what councilwoman are sorry and garcia just spoke about so this is more of a direction towards staff when they come back come back with how do we do this how do we get this done and you also are going to need to come back with you know what is the number that you would need in the next year or so you don't want a dilapidated uh system i get that but you only have an eye you know you can strike when the iron is hot this has been more of a notice to some of the other council members that are there if you make these electric vehicles i'll support it you keep it this way under any scope of the imagination i won't do it this is your only one opportunity i like electrical i think it's a great idea to do that but it's the only time you can get something done is when you're able to purchase in mass in mass numbers it's hard to get one little group to do that in the private sector but if government does this then you're going to see the other cities coming along because they're going to do that they're just going to do it you know tempe will probably head in that direction mesa will likely head in that direction i think they're the first ones that bought the electric school bus or they i think they're part of that school district fire truck so our fire truck that's it sorry thank you for that so everyone is heading in that direction to do that and unless you have an opportunity with this type of massing because of the amount of monies you'll never get it done it's just not going to happen you can't retrofit an entire fleet like that unless you do it all at one time and able to get everything constructed and put it together so for my end for staff tell us how to do it how do we get to from a to b not why we can't anybody can tell us that we need to know how to get there and uh to look at it under a situation where you know how many are you going to buy the next year what's the number how much are you going to spend that will tell you a lot too where our priorities are so there isn't a mad rush to purchase a bunch of vehicles so for my end of it if you move it to electrical i'll actually vote for this believe it or not i will do that but until then i'm not thank you mayor thank you councilman i appreciate karen potter and her patience we will now go to karen potter for public comment good afternoon mayor gallego can you hear me we can thank you yeah thank you thank you for the opportunity to come back and to provide comment and good afternoon again to council members and city of phoenix staff my name is karen potter for the record and i'm speaking today on behalf of sweep the southwest energy efficiency project which is a regional public interest organization focused on eliminating waste from the power generation and transportation systems in arizona in order to save all arizonans money uh we would like to thank staff for its efforts in putting this proposal forward today and and thank you all for your efforts and and discussion in today's uh conversation while we really appreciate the work put into this rfp respectfully we do oppose this proposal for uh two main reasons really first as noted by some of the earlier comments the request for proposal did not allow for all resources to competitively compete at that same level while we really commend council's previous vote to approve the green transit technology proposal it remains unclear why electric buses were not allowed to compete at that same level as cng or biodiesel technology in this specific rfp as the city jump starts investments that will assist in achieving its climate action goals while also spurring economic development limiting competition in a bidding process like this can make that much more difficult and second the the city should not make significant transportation investments before understanding all the options available from federal dollars that will trickle down to help all arizona cities including the city of phoenix the funding available to the city will be significant and sweet believes that the city should coordinate the current needs of transit buses other fleet vehicles all in a really coordinated fashion to best maximize the benefits we get from those federal dollars uh for the benefit to the taxpayer into the city at large so in conclusion we do urge the council to consider other options and to not make a decision without considering all the pathways in front of you thank you so much for the opportunity to speak thank you karen and again we appreciate both your testimony and your patience motions to continue can be done on a voice vote so all those in favor on continuing this item please say aye aye aye any opposed please say nay that one passes unanimously thank you we continue our focus on transit with item 56 a request to uh retroactively authorize uh to submit to the fta for arpa dollars for route planning restoration grant application and enter into a grant agreement do we have a motion motion to approve item 56 second thank you we have a motion in a second comments all those okay i'm not hearing any comments then we will go to roll call i'm sorry yes to cco yes yes o'brien yes pastor yes dark yes wearing no garcia yes gallego that is 8-1 thank you we next go to item 82 which is modification of a stipulation request at 75th avenue and baseline we do have one member of the public mark rodriguez here to comment councilman ansari this is in your district i will turn to you for a motion thank you so much i move to approve item 82. again thank you we have a motion i did not hear a second second thank you councilman guardado we will next go to public comment marc rodriguez hello mayor kate gallego and everybody at the phoenix city council phoenix mary kate gallego how are you doing all doing today good we're doing great you're doing well i'm doing awesome because i live on right behind 75th avenue and baseline because i live on the metal loops west on my neighborhood because i live on 72nd avenue and baseline that's my my area even i live in district 7 and i hope you have a great time and i hope you guys got your holiday card especially you mayor kate gallego i hope you got it especially all of you i talk to you guys all you guys in the in the office and all that because you guys received it because i hope you give me another give me a card in december because i'm waiting for that because and yazzy i hope you got your last week i talked to you and also everybody and i live in this neighborhood because this neighborhood is kind of nice and all that stuff and i like having living in district 7 because it's my area and also like a shout out yasmine i'm sorry betty wangado laura pastor deborah stark ann o'brien carlos garcia jim waring sal decisio even though i'm not a fan of yourself but it is what it is dude because i know i like talking to you all you guys and mayor kate gallego i hope you get your holiday card and jim waring i hope you got yours and sal even though i'm not a fan of you i received i give your card to your office but hey it is what it is but you know mayor kate gallego thank you for that i didn't get it thank you mark you're welcome saw the cto i'm not a fan of you dude but i respect you dude because it's kind of cool to talk to you guys and you sorry i hope even though i like talking to you all the time because hey it is what it is because and thank you self for that for that because i'm not a fan of you but hey you know mayor kate gallego members of the city council and also you i want to say happy thanksgiving to all of you have a wonderful time happy thanksgiving to all of you thank you so much mark happy thanksgiving happy birthday so mark is in support of item 82 roll call i'm sorry yes to cco yes yes and mark i did get your card in your pictures thank you o'brien yes pastor stark yes wearing thanks for the card mark i saw it yes garcia yes diego yes passes 9-0 thank you that is our final item for today's council meeting we are adjourned no that's just you're in a small sect and let's broaden your vision of that out i mean so take that perception because it occurs and it is documented in the psychological world to the employee that has to be