good evening and welcome again to the Mesa city council meeting for January the 8th of 2024 uh our council is here with the exception of Mr Freeman who is unable to attend and is excused but the rest of our council is present uh we will begin this meeting uh with an invocation if is Pastor Mike Cash with us this this afternoon all right I know we've had some some complications so uh we will have begin this evening with a moment of silence followed by the Pledge of Allegiance I would invite everyone to please stand and for the moment of silence and remain standing for the Pledge of Allegiance thank you please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God invisible with liberty and justice for all thank you we have uh two proclamations on the awards and recognitions agenda this evening the first Proclamation this evening is to recognize January as FAFSA Awareness Month we'll explain what FAFSA is if you're confused uh the Mesa education and Workforce Roundtable Works to advance mesa's education and Workforce goals and recognizes that students who complete the free application for student aid also known as FAFSA are more likely to attend and a for college here to tell us more is mesa's education and Workforce administrator Sarah Toler thank you mayor and Council thank you to the leadership of council member spillsbury and vice mayor Heredia as chair and co-chair Mesa education and Workforce Development Roundtable has has prioritized work around educational attainment and moving the needle on the achieve 60az initiative in Mesa through this work FAFSA completion has risen to the top as an area of both Improvement and opportunity we know that FAFSA completion is not is one of the best predictors of post-secondary enrollment and persistence students who complete the FAFSA are 84% more likely to enroll in postsecondary education in the last year Arizona has been ranked as low as 48th nationally in FAFSA completion but through the significant and collaborative Statewide work being done by Arizona Board of regions as well as our K12 districts Mesa and Gilbert public schools hickley and Queen Creek unified school districts Arizona is ranked 10th in percent change with December 30 with the December 31st launch of the new F FAFSA form which is streamlined requires less information and is more accessible to families now now is the time to amplify this message about the importance of FAFSA completion for all students and all of the resources available in our community to support families throughout this process so we want to thank all of the members of the Round Table who are here to support this FAFSA Proclamation thank you very much Sarah let's present this proclamation to the Roundtable so ladies and gentlemen if you'd please come up and and join us at the at the podium the council will come down and we'll present this Proclamation okay I'm G to stand right here in the middle and let's all crowd around and uh I'll pass this over thank you for being here I know how busy you are you too you come hi time see to oh there we go all right thank you will you find a spot for that all right thank you thank you [Applause] uh thank you the next Proclamation uh is to Proclaim January as anti-human trafficking month human trafficking impacts people of all ages and demographics and we're proud of how the city of Mesa Works to address this issue and raise public aess awareness now I'd like to hand this part of the agenda and this Proclamation over to council member spillsbury all right well I am honored to be able to present this proclamation in our city tonight this is so important that we're joining with a huge Coalition of cities across the valley human trafficking is a global plague that impacts millions of people each year including tens of thousands of Americans the United stes United States ranks as one of the worst countries globally for human trafficking and Arizona ranks in the top 15 states with the highest rates of human trafficking per capita human trafficking impacts people across all demographics and ages including teenagers and children the battle against human trafficking includes supporting efforts to prevent human trafficking and to provide resources to the victims of human trafficking the city of Mesa joins schools churches nonprofit organizations law enforcement federal and state coalitions and the notr city.org movement and our commitment to increase public awareness of the human trafficking epidemic that impacts our community State our nation and our world we have some special guests here tonight to speak about this and I want to in first invite Sergeant Lee and Lieutenant Russell who are part of our heat unit which is human exploitation and trafficking unit for the city of Mesa to come up and to talk about the efforts that our city has been doing and then we will have former recovering Gilbert council member Scott September who will also come up to say a few words good afternoon everyone council members mayor city manager distinguished guests and Friends one year ago the city of MAA made a bold statement by designated January as human trafficking awareness month today we acknowledge the progress we've made while reaffirming our unwavering commitment to fighting human trafficking I stand before you today not just as a sergeant of the Mesa Police Department's human trafficking unit but as a father a neighbor and a former resident pres of this great City I'm truly honored to be asked to once again speak as a representative for the city of Mesa Police Department human trafficking is not a distant tragedy it's a pervasive threat lurking in our very streets our hotels and even our homes consider this in 2017 Arizona held the alarming distinction of having the third highest rate of human trafficking in the nation however thanks to the dedicated efforts of law enforcement those numbers have significantly declined Arizona now stands at just 13th nationally in reported cases to the National human trafficking hotline well quantifying the crime remains challenging even conservative estimates reveal the magnitude 651 tips within our state translating into 217 confirmed cases and 337 identified victims that's just in 2023 alone but these figures merely represent the tip of the iceberg countless others endure the suffering of Silence trapped in the webs of exploitation and control these scars of trafficking are profound extending far beyond physical wounds they are the scars of stolen innocence shattered trust and a future brutality ripped away human trafficking doesn't segregate like we just talked about in the in the proclamation and knows no social boundaries we recover victims and apprehend perpetrators from diverse backgrounds regard regardless of race gender socioeconomic status or Geographic origin there's also a big need for collaboration while law enforcement plays a vital role combating this evil requires a comprehensive approach we rely on strong Partnerships with federal agencies other law enforcement entities and dedicated non-governmental organizations here in Mesa our heat unit though small with only two detectives one civilian investigator and one federal agent has demonstrated remarkable efficiency last year they launched 16 successful operations targeting human sex traffickers exploiting both adults and children resulting in 87 arrests these were not faceless strangers they were our daughters sisters neighbors friends individuals that you might encounter at the park or grocery store we are truly blessed to have the city council's continuous support particularly evidenced by this year's Proclamation however our journey is far from over to the to the community I urge each of you to become a guardian in this fight educate yourself your families your neighbors learn the signs of trafficking if you see something say something together we can make Mesa a city where traffickers fear to live where survivors find healing and every individual knows they are safe valued and free thank you for your time thank you I I'll talk briefly also about our organized crime section which also has our our sis Squad which targets illicit massage businesses here is which many of you know also has a strong component of human trafficking associated with it also um in the last three years we've seen a significant reduction of that activity in Mesa which when we started we had over 70 identified and at last count we were down below 35 so we continue to have success um primarily focusing on um tactics I'll say we stole the page out of the Playbook of Code Compliance I know a guy that used to work over there and uh we're working with property owners now to get the businesses evicted and moved out of Mace also so um we have really a two-fold approach or a two-prong approach in organized crime both with heat and with our sis Squad great thank you council member spillsbury mayor Giles my name is Scott September I'm a former council member with the town of Gilbert and uh I've enjoyed serving with council member spillsbury on some nonprofit organizations that focus on the healing part of rescued victims and I I've enjoyed that uh very much uh council member um I just want to thank the council and staff especially the Heat organization um for their collaboration with other jurisdictions around them like they said this is not something that just happens within a city's boundaries and their collaboration with other jurisdictions with the FBI with um other task forces um is integral in stopping this um we're just getting started this will end and uh I'm excited to to be a part of it I just want to encourage everybody to go online go to nottin our city.org sign up take the pledge and say not in our city and learn more about our night of Hope event that's coming up February 18th um it's going to be at the Grand Canyon University it's going to be a really amazing event and a and a show of unity for all of us there's so many things that divide us today this is something that we can all get behind together I'd like to uh introduce here a couple of pastors here in Mesa that would like to say a word or two thank you Scott Mr mayor city council pleasure to stand before you this evening I certainly want to affirm what uh Scott has said and as a pastor right here in the community I would be remissed to not add my invitation for you to join us in our not in our city event at Grand Canyon University we're expecting well over a hundred churches to participate in collaboration and somewhere in the neighborhood of two to 3,000 people attending and we're expecting to uh amplify the voices of victims in our community and across our state who feel often times unseen unheard and without uh any sense of hope for the future so our upcoming event a night of Hope is based on that thank you Pastor Chris uh and Scott my name is Pastor Tim alond from Christ Greenfield campus is in both Gilbert and in East Mesa as well as a pastor at L Mesa Ministries which has been doing a lot over the years to care for the lease the loss the hurting the marginalized especially those that are walking through the experience of of sex trafficking we stand behind this Proclamation are grateful to partner with you as churches here in in the East Valley again night of Hope coming up here in February warmly invite everyone to come to that and a final word I know tomorrow in Gilbert we're having the same Proclamation that's taking place so thank you for your partnership and eradicating uh sex trafficking well thanks again for everyone who's been involved in in giv getting us to this point and we we certainly support your efforts we appreciate uh what's going on uh with our police department and the enfor enforcement efforts there let's convene in front of the podium and present this Proclamation and uh again express our appreciation to everyone who's helping to raise awareness on this very important topic thank you very much thanks a lot thanks you guys thank you much council member again thank you so much yeah absolutely thank you thank you good to see you good to see uh next item on our agenda is the consent agenda we'll invite Mr Kevin Christopher forward to please read the agenda thanks again to everyone who was here for those proclamations good evening mayor and council members these are the items on the consent agenda all items listed with an asterisk will be considered as a group by the city council and will be enacted with one motion there will be no separate discussion unless a council member or citizen request in which event the item will be removed from the consent agenda and considered as a separate item item two approval of minutes of previous meetings is written item item 3A act on liquor license application for St Timothy Roman Catholic parish one day event January 26th 17:30 West Guadalupe Road item 3B act and liquor license application for Mesa United Way one day event January 19th at ASU mix Center 50 North Centennial Way item 3 C act on liquor license application from ao's Mexican food 1920 South Dobson Road item 3D act on liquor license application for Morning Glory restaurant 9221 East Baseline Road item 4A approving dog limit increase to the term contract for fire department uniforms for the Mesa fire and medical Department item 4B approving job order Master contracts for electrical Construction Services item 4 C approving Cooperative contract use for the 11-month term contract with three years of renewal options for bul gasoline and diesel fuel for the Fleet Services Department item 4D approving Cooperative contract use for HVAC services for city-wide facilities as requested by the parks recreation and Community Services Department item 4E approving threeyear term contract contract with two years renewal options for tree pruning removal and other related services for the parks recreation and Community facilities Department item 4f approving three-year term contract with two years of renewal options for water meters registers equipment and parts for the Water Resources Department item 4G approving three-year term contract with three years of renewal options for carbon replacement and airation Basin towers for the Water Resources Department item 48 approving three-year term contract with two years of renewal options for original equipment manuf ufacturer cumin generator diagnostic maintenance and repair services for the Water Resources Department item 4i approving three-year term contract with two years renewal options for Trench Shoring safety equipment and rental services for the water resources and energy resources departments item 5 a approving resolution to enter into an intergovernmental agreement with maesa Unified School District for surveillance system emergency access item 5B approving resolution to enter into an intergovernmental agreement with the Arizona Department of Revenue for the uniform administration of the city's transaction privilege tax use tax Severance tax jet fuel excise and use tax and rental occupancy taxes imposed by the state or the city of Mesa item 5c approving resolution to enter into an intergovernmental agreement with the Salt River Puma Maricopa Indian Community to continue providing Mutual enforcement Aid item 5D approving resolution extinguishing of Public Utilities and Facilities easement at 409 South Country Club Drive to allow for construction of a new self- storage facility item 6A introduction of ordinance for zoning case 22-5 4 for property located south of Thomas Road and on the east and west sides of alvista drive this is a rezone with a planned area development overlay inside plan riew to correct an ordinance map and allow mix of single residents multiple residents and Commercial development at agritainment District at Pioneer Crossing item 6B introduction of ordinance for zoning case 22-174 for property generally located north of melbs road on the east side of Center Street a reone of the planned area development overlay to allow for single residence development item 6 C introduction of of ordinance for zoning case 23478 for property generally located west of Ellsworth Road on the north side of Southern Avenue rezone with planned area development overlay inside plan review to allow for a multiple residence development item 6D introduction of ordinance for annexation case 23480 for property located west of Ellsworth Road on the north side of Southern Avenue item 7A introduction of ordinance amending section 11-31 34A of the Mesa zoning ordinance which includes modifying the spacing requirements between Medical Iana dispensaries and dual license facilities item 8A approving Subdivision plat Mountain Vista Marketplace parcel e for property generally located west of signal be Road and south of Southern Avenue item 8 B approving subdivision plant Elliot tech center phase 2 for property located north of Elliot Road and West of signal be Road item 8 C approving subdivision plant the conf the Confluence at Mesa Gateway for property located north of Ray Road and West of Ellsworth Road and item 9A approving Bingo applications for bouncing balls bingo club 8700 East University Drive mayor and Council memb these are the items on the consent agenda thank you Mr Christopher Miss Mosley do we have any requests to speak on an item on the consent agenda no requests were received mayor thank you very much I see we have a motion made by council member spillsbury seconded by Council me I'm sorry motion made by council member Summers seconded by council member spillsbury uh please vote uh the Voting is unanimous uh with Mr and absent uh approving the consent agenda uh next item on our agenda is item 10 this is the city's annual conference of financial report and single audit report M Mosley do we have any requests from the public to speak on this item no requests mayor all right thank you uh we'll proceed then with a a presentation uh by Irma Ashworth our finance director along with our our auditor Miss Dietrich ladies yes thank you good evening I'm my asro finance director and with me is Jean Dietrich she's a partner with Clifton Larson Allen okay great are you seeing it I see it on the computer there we go okay all right on start thank you um we CLA have audited the financial statements of the governmental activities and the business type activities in each major fund and the aggregate remaining fund information of the city of Asa for the year ended June 30 2023 We performed our audit in accordance with government auditing standards and we performed a single audit in accordance with uniform guidance in performing our audit we noted that the city of Mesa did have one change in accounting policy associated with the adoption of governmental Accounting Standards Board statement Number 96 regarding subscription based Information Technology Arrangements we did not identify in our single audit nor our financial audit any deficiencies of internal control such as significant deficiencies or material weaknesses we did not identify in irregular or fraudulent transactions and we have issued a clean unmodified opinion on that report which is the highest level of assurance you can provide can receive from a CPA firm good anything else that's great Jean summarized my first slide very well all right um I'm going to go through the highlights of our financial um audit and the results um the city's revenues increased by $85 million this year in comparison to the prior year um you can see that the increase was in both in governmental activities and in the business type activities which is our Utility Fund and our airport and overall breaking down specifically some of the government activity revenues um City sales tax increase um over the last three years are unrestricted intergovernmental revenues have also increased or unrestricted intergovernmental revenues are State Shar sales tax state shared income tax and a vehicle license tax the transfers from the Utility Fund to the general fund have been consistent as is um the city follows formula and our program revenues um decrease slightly in comparison to Prior year the decrease is due to um federal funds um we received less this year than we did last year we had a lot of federal funds for ER in 2022 and we didn't have that in 23 our 5-year net position comparison shows that the city's net position has increased over the The Last 5 Years our net position is a result of our assets less our liabilities also the net result of our revenues and expenses so you can see that um in our governmental activities and our bu um and overall as a city we continue to increase our net position the city's total assets increase to 5.3 billion this is a slight increase in comparison to the prior year our two largest components of our um assets are our Capital assets which is buildings infrastructure water treatment plans and such and then also our cash and Investments um this is a snapshot of our cash and Investments at June 30th of 2023 um cash with our uh in our operating account was a little bit over $4.8 million our investment in local government investment pools in cash custodian are invested in different areas um to get more diversity but they're very liquid at the same day we can receive those funds cash with physical uh agents um are Debt Service payments that we due July 1st um the city provides those funds to our um trustee and they make the the payments and then our long-term Investments are the $1. billion City's total liabilities are $4.1 billion um this is decreased slightly in comparison to the prior year um our largest two components are long-term obligations which are like our general obligation bonds our revenue bonds and then the next big component is our pension and opep liabilities the next two slides will provide a little bit more detail in our long-term obligations and also in our liabilities I mean pension and OPB our long-term obligations decrease slightly um both the general obligation bonds decrease those are paid and backed by the city's secondary property tax our um Highway user revenue bonds are backed by our Highway user revenues and while the utility revenue bonds and obligations are um through um repaid through um rates um you'll notice that the revenue bonds decrease but the obligations increase and that's just the city's shiting on how they are issuing the revenues um utility revenue obligations and then excise tax obligations also decreased our pension and opip unfunded liability um this increased for our pension but decreased for the city's oped plan asrs pension and psprs firey pension police pension and police OPB all increase um in comparison to the prior year in the city's oped plan decreased um our unfunded liabilities actual determined we receive an actual study from actuaries every year um the changes in our liabil are based on those changes and assumptions that they have and how long someone will live and healthare cost and other factors any questions Council any any questions for these ladies I know we we got this presentation in a more detailed form at our study session a week or so ago so and we had a good discussion then uh but thank you for coming back and and sharing kind of the highlights of this mayor yes Mr Brady can I just take take this opportunity to express my appreciation to Irma and her staff uh we get this report today this is really a yearr round process for them um and putting this together it I hope you heard Jean mention that this was the highest how' you say it uh ofur assurance that a CPA can give about a city's finances so thanks for clion arson for doing the audit they've been doing it for many years but we want to thank uh and her staff because it takes a lot of work to get to this point we appreciate that and I just want to make that recognition today so thank you well thank you Mr BR and thank you Mr Brady for uh leading an organization that gets a clean financial report we appreciate that as well yes I just like to chime in and say thank you as well I think it's so significant for our city our size to have no findings at all is it was a six week exhaustive audit by third party party Auditors and um it is something to be proud of and it certainly speaks well of your work and I want to thank you um for this good report thank you any additional Council discussion or questions all right thank you very much ladies uh council is there a motion to approve this item thank you we have a motion from council member Summers seconded by someone who is it from Vice from coun from vice mayor Heredia thank you uh please vote they must have hit it at the same time all right the pass motion passes unan unanimously with council member Freeman absent and excused uh next item on our agenda is items from citizens present Miss Mosley do we have any requests to speak on this item no request mayor okay thank you that then concludes our agenda for this meeting is there a motion to adjourn thank you Mr Summers and miss spillsbury all in favor please say I I thank you we are [Music] adjourned let's get [Music] funky