Health and Human Services Commission - Regular Meeting

Hey, Rick. Can you hear me? I thought you were sleeping over there.

No? No. Okay. If you do, just just set your snooze alarm.

Yeah. Don't snore.

Wow. That's a lot.

Alright. It's usually hot. That'd easy to go. Okay. I would like to call the City of Apache Junction Health and Human Services Commission special meeting of 03/30/2026 at 05:02PM to order. Pledge of allegiance. Roll call.

Chairman Brennan.

Present.

Vice Chair Danford.

Present.

Commissioner Montgomery. Present. Commissioner Krycelik? Present. Commissioner Smithson?

Present.

Commissioner Mikelin? Present. And Commissioner Wood is recusing herself.

Right.

So you have a quorum, your honor.

JULIE: Perfect. Thank you. Okay. So do I have a motion to agree to the consent of the agenda?

I'd like to move that we approve this consent agenda.

Second.

Roll call.

Commissioner Smithson? Yes. Commissioner Montgomery?

Yes.

Vice Chairman Danford?

Yes.

Commissioner Kryselik? Yes. Commissioner Wood? Commissioner Mike Lind? Yes. Chairman Brennan? Yes. Motion passes unanimously.

Okay. Cruising right along. I don't believe there is either. There isn't old business. So the new business is to consider fiscal year twenty six-twenty seven, Health and Human Services funding. Recommendations to be presented to the city council on April 20 at the work session at the witching hour of seven They don't operate in the sunlight, I guess, or something about that. At any rate Heavy?

I'm sorry. Was being educated on how to operate a computer.

Really, I fully understand. I really do.

My apologies, Commissioner. What was the question?

Okay. We have read the introit to saying that the fiscal year 'twenty six-'twenty seven funding would be considered at this meeting and presented to the city council on the April 20 during their work session. And to you.

That is correct. So April 20 is a Monday. And typically, this presentation is brought before counsel at a work session so that they can discuss further if they need to. And then they typically will make their decision. Is it the next night?

Well, officially they approve whatever you recommend. If they approve that, it's approved the same night as the actual fiscal year 'twenty six-'twenty seven budget. And then we come back with the and the contracts are listed in there under a consent agenda item. So that's typically mid June, I believe. So to begin tonight, I would suggest that I'll hand it back over to Mr.

Chair, and we can just start down the line with a new leaf, if you would like. I do have excuse me a spreadsheet. That I will keep track of as we go along, like we did last year. Does this look familiar to some of you?

Okay. So

then in an effort to try and come to some conclusions about funding, I want to make two statements. First, number one, our mission is to try and make as certain as possible that the funding is allocated for the citizens of Apache Junction. And number two, that we are aware that the amount that we have available to us is $100,000 Not a penny more, and maybe a penny less or two.

We'll see.

So with that in mind, I'm open for anyone on the commission to offer their thoughts going in order on new leaf and Kafa. I said Kafa last time, but that is a brutal esoteric.

Okay. I vote for 10,000 for new leaf.

I agree.

Okay. Is another amount that is workable? But I'd prefer that everybody get on the record for the amount that they want, Okay? So if you want to go down in line and say, and I equally agree that $10,000 is the amount, that's fine.

I think in the past what we've done is we all start off like this with the amounts that we want to give and then we do some negotiating and giving and taping on Right. What we end up So, yeah, right now I'm voting for $10,000 for new relief. Okay.

And was it Commissioner Kryselik that agreed?

I agree. I feel we gave them $6,750 last year. So that'll give them more money this year to give them a bit of an increase. And I think that's a fair gift.

I'm going to

be rogue here. I'm going to say zero, because I am looking to load up on another area.

Okay.

I had down 5,000. And I'm just trying to remember in my notes. Think anyway, yeah.

Commissioner Montgomery?

3,000.

Okay. May I?

All right.

I probably should explain my

Yes.

My zero? So for me, again, we have a certain amount of money. I'm really about the residents of Apache Junction. New Leaf gets money from so many different places. It's a huge organization. So because we're limited as to what we have, I really want to see it go to something that I know is going to be Apache Junction only, and it's going be easy to monitor. So they have so many other avenues and venues for their fundraising. Thus, that's the reason for my zero.

All right. Evie, I'm going to say $10,000 But I have two addendums. One is that New Leaf noted for us that over a past funding drive, they made $975,928 That was for, specifically, CAFA. It wasn't for a new leaf. And when we get down to the real data that says that in fiscal year 'twenty five, they served four sixty six individuals throughout the New Leaf Kapha program, while 72 were Apache Junction residents, meaning 15%.

So I think we need to take that into consideration and look at that, because I really wrestled with this. And again, I tried to avoid my past experience with a new leaf, which is both positive and negative, and how that might influence it. And then but I think we've got a good range of dispersal between zero and ten thousand. And now comes some of the negotiation on this one.

Did we

I think we just went ahead to

Yeah, we went ahead and did all then came back and looked for a model. Yeah. Okay. All right. Okay. The next one on our agenda is, of course, the Apache Junction Community Development Corporation. Who would like to?

7,500.

Okay. Commissioner Montgomery, perfect.

My vote was 7,500 also.

My vote also was 7,500.

My vote is 10,000 because I would like to see them do more work with more funding because they are definitely at Patchy Junction only.

And I agree with that. She had had a plus mark next to my Okay.

I had 7,500.

JULIE: Well, I'm Mr. Parsimony. I said only 6,000. And the reason I said 6,000 was that every year, they tell me that they have to buy new shovels and other things. Now, if people are walking off of those, then that's a problem.

But the reality of that, though, is a little artificial because those are donated things. So they adroitly pointed out the AGA Parks and Rec sum of $64.19 was something that they paid outright to Parks and Rec that had been in the budget and had been from, apparently, Parks and Recs. And they just simply returned it. I don't have a quarrel with them. I think they do a great deal.

And ex city councilwoman Evans did an excellent job of presenting things. But there is, as I found in several of these presentations, some ambiguity about exactly what I would measure to demonstrate that they are completing what it is that they agreed to provide. It's my understanding that their general focus is code violation remediation. Their secondary function is to deal with hazardous materials, or things that make environmental hazards for a portion of the community, or perhaps even just a very limited consolation of a few streets. But nonetheless, to make sure that no one is exposed to vermin, to pesticides, to various pestilence, and to dangerous debris that might lend to tetanus, etcetera, etcetera.

So again, I am willing to elevate this if that's the commission's intention. But at the moment, I believe that six thousand meets that and should suffice.

One of the things, Chairman, I'd like to add to that is, in consideration of this being 100% for Apache Junction, the thing I take a look at is the larger hierarchy of structure. And they take zero pay. These are 100% all volunteers. And we're trying to beautify and make Apache Junction a better place for all of us to live. And part of that is visual appearance and safety. And the fact that these people are willing to go out and clean up our community, rather it's a city ordinance. We all know the world is struggling with mental illness. And some of these people have issues there. Some of them have physical inabilities to be able to get out there and do that. But to me, this particular organization screams community.

And let's help make our community better. I think anybody in business knows you're going to have a degree of equipment that walks off. I have it at my own place of employment. And everybody has their name on it. How does a tape measure go missing? I don't know that answer. But I think if annually there is a little bit of money put into some supply so that the greater good is to be able to keep the community safe and beautiful, I think that renders the $7,500 or, as Sandy said, up to $10,000

Okay. I appreciate that report.

Thank you. Okay.

Any further debate on that organization? Not yet. Okay. We're cruising. Okay. The next organization that we have is Azura Vita.

10,000.

5,000. And

I said zero.

I also said zero.

Okay. Yeah, struggle with this one because of the it was just a little bit obscure for me. So, yeah, zero.

Okay. I said $4,000 My reasoning was this. They talk about filing taxes for individuals. I have to believe that they do not file taxes for businesses, partly predicated on the limitations of eligibility for them. Therefore, that means they're only really invested in doing what they do according to what they portray it as for a period of four months, from January through the April.

And since everybody else is asking for funding on an annual basis, that would mean that if we annualize that, that would be 12,000. But since it is for that limited time, because that's when that activity takes place, I think 4,000 is a reasonable amount.

I'm not sure I buy that argument, though. Mean, annualizing it, yeah, you can annualize anything. The fact of the matter is tax preparation comes around during a certain period of time. And I'm

in

a position where I can do my own taxes. I don't have any issues. But I've got a few neighbors that really can't negotiate. They don't know how to use TurboTax. They can't afford to go to H and R Block. And I think this is a pretty good service to help elderly people or people who cannot normally do it get their taxes filed. And there may be refunds coming from those taxes that they can use, which benefits our community. Yeah.

They said they got $6,000,000 back in household refunds last year.

Yeah. And that's quite a boost for our community, because those people are going to spend that money.

The part I was somewhat confused on is their ask was in reference to $323,000 for software. And that seemed like a very large investment on an annual basis for filing taxes. I don't do taxes. I'm not an accountant. But my understanding is once you purchase this software, you have it and you

can use multiple taxes? No, because the

Changes every year.

Because the tax laws change every year. So you have to keep up with those changes.

Let me restate my statement. I understood once you bought the software, you can file multiple people's taxes with the same software annually. I think so.

Oh, yeah. There's many people with the same software. But the problem is the software has to be purchased every year to keep up with the upgrades and the tax laws. And you can't just buy one license. You've got to buy one license for every computer you're using. And that adds up.

And it may determine how many people actually can use that software. Even like when you're with big corporations, they may have, let's just say Microsoft Teams, they may only have a contract for 500 employees.

Exactly.

And I use something like this similar when I was very young and a single parent. And I appreciate the need for it and, again, putting monies back into Apache Junction. The one thing I really, really, really struggled with was not having a location. And I don't know, but I feel like there were places that could have been done or secured prior to this tax season. So I really struggled with that just not having been secured.

Right. They have 11 locations. Mesa, Chandler, and Kilburn.

I was not able to find did we give them a donation last year for the second of last year?

No. They've never applied before Okay. Last

you. Mr. Chair, maybe they can come back next year with a better location, Apache Junction, Again, know that other places serve people that are in Apache Junction. But, again, we only have so much money to give. So I'm going to go with Apache Junction location.

Yeah. They do get money from Wells Fargo, from the city of Chandler, from the city of Gilbert, and individual donors. And they do acknowledge in their submission. Peak services are exactly what I stated, January to April.

That's touched on.

And that's what I said. Okay. All right. Are there any other amounts that wish to be considered? We have three individuals that have stated a sum.

And two stated zero. Excuse me.

All right. Okay. Oh.

Or three. I'm sorry.

Oh, three. Okay. So the blank is just like zero. We don't just put a zero in there?

Well, I do, but it defaults to that

blank. Perfect.

Okay. Okay. Moving on down. The next is Boys and Girls Young Football League.

Black and Gold Youth Football. Yes. It's not boys boys and girls is the Fair enough.

JULIE: There we go. Although, think they did a boys and girls.

Thousand. I

also opted for 6,000.

Speaking from experience and the importance of sports, I suggest 12,000. I found, again, the passion of the individual that spoke about the importance of leadership in young men and young women is more than about football and chair. It's about teamwork, camaraderie, self esteem, building strength, and building a community. We're trying to have a high school that's competitive. My boys went to an excellent high school.

And they both got scholarships to Ivy League schools because of football. And I think Apache Junction High School has a great opportunity here to help develop these young men and women at a young age and get them off the street of different potential exposures. And the way the gentleman presented it, it was pretty straightforward that it was for uniforms, for kids that can't afford cleats, and to be able to bring them into an inclusion and not hold against hold them against them that they can't afford it. And it would just allow for more scholarships. And I think this is very important for kids.

Yeah. I agree with all that. I just put down 2,000, but I'm willing to negotiate it.

I put down 10. My reasoning, number one, I did a lot of checking in the background. I've spoken to several people on the school board that this group actually feeds right into the school system. And they all had great things to say about it, that the kids come out of this program and they go right into the school program and have done really, really well.

And for the children

who can't afford, and parents who can't afford for their uniforms and cleats and things of that nature, again, is Apache Junction. One caveat though, he

did say he had children from

all different areas. I would like to make sure that the scholarships only went to Apache Junction kids.

JOSHUA All right. And my decision came down to the season. The season is approximately from July 7, which really is practice. And it starts officially on the twenty ninth, but he didn't say when it ends. And my assumption is it ends probably in November.

And 20% of their yearly budget is what they're asking for. And as a consequence, I said $4,000 But I'm willing to look at more. It's just I think we're getting with some of the sums into a range where some of the things that have a more direct benefit for the community at large get compromised with those sorts of sums. But we can discuss that. Okay. Moving on. Number five. This is for Boys and Girls Club. I think I have boys and girls correct with that one. Yes.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Okay.

15,000.

0. 20,000.

Wait. I agree.

Oh, sorry.

We'll talk about it.

Jeff, let's talk about it.

Right. Well, I mean, this shouldn't come as a surprise because every year I vote to give them zero. My feeling is the Boys and Girls Clubs is a great organization. My kids used to go to it. One of them did. But they have a lot of other funding sources, an awful lot of funding sources. And I'm also concerned that a lot of the money they make from that big gala they do every year doesn't even go to the Apache Junction Boys and Girls Club. It goes to the East Valley Club. And they only get a portion of it. So, yeah, right now I'm at zero. I mean, you can always twist my arm like you do every year. But right now I'm voting zero.

I said 10,000.

I said 3,000 for the same reasons that Commissioner Danford said. They have a lot of funding. They're a really big organization. And they're certainly worthy. But again, I'm back to Apache Junction. And I'm earmarking some of that money for something else.

May I ask, do we know what their gift was last year from this organization from us?

I don't recall off the top of my head. And I don't think I can access that information. But I can certainly I mean, it's probably not going to help your decision later.

Commissioner, but the question you remember?

I think they asked again for thirty, but I'm thinking it was closer to ten to fifteen that we did.

I feel like the reason I'm asking is that was a very pointed question in their application. And I read through it, and I couldn't find it in the application. So it would have been nice to know that information.

I think that's a tangent that we ought to address, is that there were several things done in the application that seemed really not quite standard. And especially for individuals that had been previously on the submission, then not abide by the rules of submitting an application. It seems kind of interesting. But nonetheless. Okay.

So I had put 15,000, and my rationale was this, that if you add up the sums that they had from the Star Gala, the Avondale Cup, and the Connect brunch, that was $2,200,000 that they had available. The other was that they continue to have a paucity of individuals that are graduating from high school. And I keep asking over and over through these years, what is your attrition rate? How many people are involved from the five year old level all the way up till 18? And I don't get a clear answer.

The other issue that I find interesting is, in a way, younger kids are subsidizing older kids. If you remember what they told us, the fee that they charged younger kids and families was $60 a month, Where older kids got charged 10. So

I have the information for you. Okay. They were granted 9,000. 6,000 was for mentorship, their mentorship program. And 3,000 was for the hardship to individuals.

Thank you.

Okay. Any further discussion on that, besides our afterwards? Alright. The next is Kiwanis. And, again, neatly typed.

2,000.

2,000 for me too.

Excuse me, I said 10,000.

I said 2,000.

I said 1,000.

And I said 2,000. I thought that that was one of the problems I had with many of these was that when we look at identified performance measures, they weren't explicit.

Mhmm.

They were implied. Mhmm. And that makes it difficult to assess whether or not what they said they were going to do was accomplished.

I

appreciate taking nine individuals to the rodeo is a unique experiential event. But I don't know how much that changes the life of that individual compared to some other interventions, such as happens with the Boys and Girls Club, where you theoretically have several days a week of intervention, perhaps for an entire year's time over several years. And that's my diatribe on that one.

Yeah. And you know how much I love the Kiwanis Club, but I feel like it was a little hard to track exactly kind of the same thing, where the benefit was going to go with that.

All right. Okay. Next is a very interesting one. And you got a little added email that said something about what was represented here. So this is NASCAR.

NASCAR is an organization that is in the MercyCare Regional Behavioral Health Entity catchment area. And as a consequence, they do get funds from that. And that's not really listed. They really do not have the assumption, because they wanted funds for capital improvements, and lent, at least for my assumption, that they were talking about a structure in which they may have domiciled people. But that wasn't the case.

They have meetings there. But people meet throughout the week, with the exemptions being holidays and weekends. So they don't meet every day. And they have that there. When asked about follow-up, especially with SMI individuals, the biggest reason for anyone having rehospitalization for whatever medical problem is noncompliance with protocol.

And therefore, you wonder whether or not they intervene at a given level when they see someone initially deteriorating, decompensating, and try and get some help. And I was remiss. I didn't ask about that and should have. Because I think that's really a critical part of what they do. I was intrigued by the fact that all of their phone numbers are for Northern Arizona. May mean nothing. May mean nothing at all.

May mean everything.

It may mean quite a bit.

Excuse me, Chairman. I think she did make an announcement, or somehow we found out that their main branch is in Prescott. Seems like did she say that during her presentation?

I think she did. But I did some collateral research. Because I a very interesting source of a person who was the CEO of the hospital up there, my brother. And he tells me that, actually, they're an excellent organization that does quite a great deal for the community. But again, that may be something that's a little more robust.

They may have a sort of because what she's implying is sort of a day hospital format versus a hospital format that would intervene with decompensation and helping someone get restabilized and back into the community. She addressed, in a way, issues about helping people have some sort of training to have gainful employment, even if it's only part time or whatever. And yet, the real problem was the statement that SMI funding was compromised and not there. And you will note that the email you got said that at the site for Access Behavioral Services, that those benefits have not been cut, that there is potential cuts to them as the year progresses. But at this time, that is not the case.

Funding is intact.

My biggest concern with this provider is I feel like when I look at what we're doing with the monies, these are for community services. And I really feel like it will be a slippery slope when I feel like we're interjecting into access and Medicaid and patients. And if it was, Okay, we wanted this because we wanted to do a community day or something like that. But I feel like we're subsidizing Medicaid services. And I struggle with that.

And I love the concept. I'm a therapist. I love the concept. I like that it's somewhat psychosocial rehab. But I'm really struggling with what she presented was we had two clients that are no longer able to come. And if we do that, when does that stop? So I just don't want to do that. I like what they do. And maybe if they had something specific outside of that, I just don't want to get in that arena.

That was my thought too. So I put zero. I don't want them to depend on this for services like that.

I also said 0.

Commissioner Montgomery, was your 0?

It was 0. Okay.

All right.

Mine was 10000.

Mine is 0.

And mine was 4000. Exactly correlate with what the facts were. And that when we look at it being essentially a day hospital well, it wasn't even that. It was like a day program that offered some services. But even the services, per what she revealed, were diminished because she said two staff members had to be let go because of the cuts. And again, since the cuts didn't quite happen, I don't know what that exactly means.

And because it's that type of program, and when you do things like that, you need to show that it is repeatable, and that it is measurable. And what are we doing and what are the results from it and what is working and what is not. And I felt like there was a grave deficit in that information. I feel for her because that's my field. So I expected a little bit more. I appreciate her coming in and saying, we asked for this but this is really what we could use it for. Even though I recommended zero, I want to give a number. I worry about my forward thinking with the monies.

Look, I think your points are issues that I have, too, in many of these. We need data that demonstrates the efficacy of what's happening. Or else, we're funding with an idea that something's being accomplished without any information that demonstrates that it has been. There used to be a part of the application that said, how are you going to measure your efficacy, the effectiveness of your interventions? And that wasn't there this year.

I understand. I do. And that ought to be there. And as I've said a little bit ago, one of the major reasons in medicine, regardless of the specialty, for decompensation is noncompliance with treatment.

Yeah. Okay.

Moving on up to the West Side. All right. Oh, here's Eric's deal. All right.

54.5.

How much?

I'm sorry. 545.

I'm sorry. What was your number?

54500.

Okay, so I said $75,000 Is this the time that it's appropriate for us to talk about how that money is going to be spent? Okay. So I would like to see at least $40,000 of that go to the backpack program, maybe even more than that. And I would like specific schools, if possible, to be named if that's appropriate. So that we know for sure that that money will end up going there and not going into another fund. And I'm sure there's lots of needs that Eric has, but I want that money specifically to go to the backpack program.

I will just interject at this point. When you actually get ready to make the full motions, that's where you'll want to

include Perfect.

For the record, your expectancies are for

Like those contingencies. Absolutely.

Would it be proper for us to ask Eric if that's doable to commit just $40,000 to the backpack program? Okay. Now we can negotiate after. I want to make sure he I didn't want us to vote on it and have him say, oh, I can't do that.

Well, that's kind of the format. Because if you only have so much money and that's what you say it's for, then you've got to find a way to make something like that work.

I thought it was worth asking him, though.

Fair enough.

So I did 75.

So, did 30,000. And the reason for my thought on this was kind of some of the conversation we've had with other organizations. Last year, they got in excess of $3,000,000 from multitudes of donations. And they're a very large organization that people typically attract to for donations. I think part of my challenge is that we don't know what other schools want to sign on.

And in the interview process, the schools that were already on board are the ones that exist. But the other schools have not committed. And I don't know how much it costs to put a backpack together. I know there was some conversation that the backpacks could have more food in them, which is great. But I also know they also give a great deal on donation day.

And it just personally concerns me that I've seen very wealthy individuals with fancy cars in that lineup. And I can't understand how you could drive a Tesla but still need food. And I feel that there's other organizations that are of a smaller magnitude where, to me, the food bank falls in the category of the Boys and Girls Club and some of these larger organizations that has a lot of different resources for funding. And I feel like you've got a lot of people here that have asked for money. And to give that large of amount is excessive by my standards, considering last year they got 70.

The year before, 56, two fifty. The year before, 35. The year before, 30. The year before, 26. So over the course of five years, their donation sum has tripled. And that seems excessive to me, considering to Joana's point earlier. There are other programs like access that provides food to people. And then when the government shut down, it was stated in the meeting that even though the government shut down, there were still 45,750 individuals excuse me, 45,790 individuals that received funding. But yet, Apache Junction only has a population of 47,000. And so 62% of those people are from Apache Junction.

To me, it's very difficult to see and guarantee that those funds are strictly for Apache Junction. It seems like there's a lot of people from other communities that are benefiting from it.

I'd like to take your point about the people showing up in Alexis. The reason for the food bank is to help people who need a hand at that time. There are many people who have houses, who have decent cars, but just lost their job. They may not have money in the bank. They may not have the resources. And we're not expecting them to be feeding them for the rest of their lives. But we are looking to give them Eric's group is giving them a handout that they need at the time. And I know I've run into this myself fifty years ago where we needed help, but they told me I had to sell the car. I had to sell all our belongings. We had to be in debt for x number of dollars.

And when I asked him, does that mean I have to be at rock bottom? He said, yeah. There's no and they told me straight out, there's no provision for helping people who need a helping hand. That's where I'm concerned now is that, you know, if we look at somebody and say, well gee, look at the car they're driving. Well, what do you want to do? Sell their car so they have to walk to work? And tell them you can't have food because of it? I have a problem with that thinking. That these people need a helping hand. Now, they do have income requirements, as I recall, that you cannot be making over a certain level in order to qualify.

So just the fact that you've got a nice car, your income may have just dropped down to zero. And you still need help.

Look, I understand completely. And I'm compassionate and have empathy for that situation. When I was in medical school and we were living on $400 a month, while I attended the U of A, I got food stamps. And I really appreciated that.

Me too.

And in my post medical school days, I obviously paid taxes and other things and believed that I more than covered all of that. Nonetheless, that was really a lifesaver at that time for me and my family. The issue, though, is this. For example, with access, if you have more than $1,500 in assets, you may not qualify. Right?

Right.

And so I think that they try and look at parameters. We have a very problematic environment right now economically as lots of people are losing jobs, finances are becoming quite difficult, stock market is losing every bit of the gains that it's had since

Gas the beginning

prices.

Of the

Food is getting more expensive.

And food is a lot more expensive. Gasoline is outrageous. If you have a car, you might be lucky you have a Tesla, because at least you can electrically charge it. That might be a

little less expensive. I wouldn't say.

But at any rate, I'll get to my part. Eric, I said 55,000. I think that you do exceptional things. And I think I've told you that over time. And so I believe that adds up on my side to the 100,000. But I'm willing to negotiate in all sorts of ways with my thought being that if there is an agency that I think could use a little more, I'd like it to go to the food bank. That's that.

How much was your amount, Commissioner Montgomery?

So I did some changing around my apologies. For the Black and Gold Youth Football League, I would like to give them $7,500 And then when it comes to the food bank, that will be 60,000

Now the fun starts.

So real quick on the food bank, because now I've been doing this for a couple years here. When it comes down to it, and since I deal with food and kids every day, it's you just I don't want to use the phrase bang for your buck. But if you're going to have an impact on kids, humans, everything, they've got to be fed. And there's just really no other way around it. I have kids of course, we're in Mesa and stuff.

So I can only imagine where I teach is in Mesa, kids here in Apache Junction, people here. If they are not fed and healthy and not worrying about whether they've got food in their pantry, then it escalates into the other problems that we have, whether it's the mental health and physical and everything else. So that's my thought on it. And that's why I usually go with and of course, you know, I love kids and stuff go with giving the full amount there.

So just to be clear, I also like feeding children. This is not about not feeding children. It's about dispersing a given amount of money to different organizations where some have larger other resources for gaining donations and income. And some of these other organizations just don't have those resources. But after looking and doing the research I did, Superstition Food Bank does get, as I mentioned before, over $3,000,000 in donations. So I'm not opposed to them feeding their children. I just don't think that we need to allocate threefour of our grant to one organization. Where

did you get that $3,000,000 figure from?

While she's looking it up, I can tell you.

It was from last year's nine ninety form.

I can tell you food costs money. I just had to go spend a ton just for my students to cook. So I get it.

So it came from last year's nine ninety form, contributions and grants, 3,045,462.

That came directly to the Apache Junction Food Bank? Or did it go to one of the parent organizations?

It says Gary Cloughenkorn, five seventy five North Idaho Apache Junction. Is that true, Eric? That's what the nine ninety form says?

So like Pinal County charges us $1 a year for our building, but they get an in kind donation of $80,000 And so with in kind donations, our budget because it's in kind. So all the food that gets donated has a dollar amount placed on it. And then that takes our budget to what you're probably seeing. As far as donations, we are not subsidized by United Food Bank. We're not subsidized by Feeding America.

We're not subsidized by Pinal County or Arizona State. Everything is community based giving. And so that's like we're not a government agency. So with donations like food and in kind donations, our budget is elevated. But as far as monetary donations, we don't get $3,000,000 every year. Wish we

could didn't say monetary. It says just contributions and grants.

JEAN Yeah. So they place a dollar amount on everything we get donated to us but monetary financial donations. I wish we were in the 3,000,000 range.

May I ask a question while you're still there? So I know in last year and I'm not sure if I remember you saying it this year what does it cost to pick up one school for a backpack program, approximately?

So we had estimated that the price to have all four schools was going to be $42,000 last year. We were only able to add the one. So if we're going to add the other the fifth one, I haven't done the math yet. But I would say we could probably squeeze the other fifth one in with the 40,000. And if we have to put a little bit of our money in or I have to go after other grants to make up the difference, then that's what I'll do. So yeah.

Thank you.

Anything

else? Nope. Okay. Now it's time to squabble. Well, I'll be fortunate it's not a scrum.

Do we need to go to an order? If we're still on the food bank, I'm not going to budge. I'm saying 75,000.

And I'm not budging either on that. But I am flexible on other things.

Well said.

Okay.

Well then my recommendation would be in Eric's description that we do 42,000 to cover the schools for the backpack program.

So I'm sorry. You're asking that we put how much more into the food bank?

I had 30,000 and I would say 42 specified specifically for backpack program.

So when we fill it out at the bottom, it says for the specific project of.

But I think it's got to be broader than that, because they do more than that. So that's the addendum, is the backpack school program. This is a new forum, have you? Yeah. Okay.

All right.

Maybe we start with New Leaf and just kind of whittle down from there. Whittle up, whittle down.

R. Fair enough. New Leaf has funding in a myriad of ways. And there was some discussion about the CEO. He's going to retire. But it's my understanding that even his retirement may be a funding source. At any rate, they do belong to United Way. And they get funds from that. And Dana didn't mention what they get from United Way. So I agree.

I think that that can go down some. And I'm willing to have that dropped by about $4,000 so $6,000 How did we do this? Didn't we set up we kept this intact. And then we just went to a second link.

She's got the options.

MARY Oh, good. Thank you. Okay. You. Perfect. Okay. MARY JOHNSON: And

then the AJ CDC.

MARY Yeah. I would like to keep AJ CDC there. I'm

so sorry. We going to go with an option two or an option three under a new leaf? Or is there only one option?

No, no. We can have multiple options to deal with that.

I would like to propose $8,000 for option two then. I think that's a fair compromise of what the three people at $10,000 and two at 5,000 and 3,000 recommended.

So maybe we can put, for option two under a new leaf, 8,000.

Maureen?

And yeah, I guess we could put do we want to put an option three under a new leaf?

I think one option should just be like getting the mean of the numbers because that's what I've been doing over here.

Okay. Good.

Yeah, I mean, because I did it like by the amount of people that actually recommended dollar amounts. I came up to 100. So maybe that can be the third option.

Just doing an actual mean. Yeah. Not that we want Evy to have to do more programming here. But an actual mean of

Of the numbers.

Divided by the number the good old arithmetic. Right. JULIE by the number of people that put in.

JULIE I mean, a new I did them all already.

JULIE what is a new leaf?

7,000.

So that would be option three.

Option three.

I am sorry. Tell me where we got the 7,000 from.

It's just a rough mean. So what I did is I added it all up and I divided it by the amounts that were given. I didn't do it by six if they didn't if someone said zero. Understand.

Yeah. So it's just You know, the only problem with that,

though, is

there's a disparity in need. And that doesn't accommodate that. So that's a parameter that distorts that math.

DAY: agree. I mean, we can change That's

an interesting way to look at it.

JAMES Yeah, just an option three, just to kind of because even when we're looking at this, this is literally the midpoint between six and eight.

Not if you factor in my zero.

JULIE Yes.

Yeah. And I did factor in

my zero.

Did not do that.

When you do this kind of math, the zeros have to be factored in.

Well, that's true.

How do you factor that One, two, three, four,

five, six.

You would take the total numbers, add them up, divide by I'm

going divide it by six instead of five.

You would divide by the number of commissioners, not

the Okay. Ones in 30

that puts us at 6,000.

So 6,000 would be the

Option one.

Because we're

back at Option one. Right.

All right. AJ CDC?

The average of that was around 7,000. So that can be option three.

And I don't have a big problem with that.

So then what about Azurabita, the average?

Like three.

3,000?

Yeah, because it's 19,000, and then we do that by six.

By six, yeah.

And boy We've

got some mathematicians.

Okay.

This right here, boys and girls. Well, that's black and gold, right?

Yes. Black and gold.

I was the one that was Six.

Boys and girls.

6,000.

Yes. I don't want to sound too picky here, but those should actually be option one. And she's taken the average of the numbers that we first came up with.

Okay. We could Okay. That's fair. I'm sorry. Do you mind? That is just a little manipulation. Just move it up with all of those when And then the hackers. Make sure Montgomery does

mean. And then the hackering starts.

And then the real mean stuff starts.

So then the Boys and Girls Club,

12.

Kiwanis?

Three. NASCAR? Okay. NASCAR, I got to do a little bit different because I just did the 14. So it's going six going into '14. It's going be like 2,000. Roughly 2,000 because 6 going to 14.

And food bank.

The food bank was 50.

I

think that's where we're going to have our biggest problem.

But it's only at 89.

We're only at nine So we have some

We've some math.

Move with those sorts of mean values.

Okay.

Well, and then maybe we just go down and

Manipulate up and down.

Well, in that case, I'd take the 19,000 that we let's see, we're talking 11,000 that we didn't count. I'd add that to the food bank.

Okay. So you want option two being 61,000?

Yes, sir.

Good call. I'm okay with that. That would square the thing if we keep everything else constant. I, you know, not to be judgmental about Qantas, but what we addressed was that it didn't seem to be And really 2,000 seems to be sufficient.

I agree with that. After hearing everybody's comment, I could absolutely agree with that.

Okay.

So can we give that to the black and gold?

Right.

And give them seven? I would love that. Okay.

The guy really had passion.

He did. He did a really good job considering he was new. And

they're new. Like that. New and local.

I still feel the VIDA is too high.

I do too. Okay.

The Vida, the tax people.

Azura Vida.

Okay. So they're at three.

Can we just go zero there? I would offer zero.

That's the one I struggle with.

Well, asked for 10, but I would be willing to go down quite a bit on that one.

So maybe two?

Maybe two or three. Two or three.

Okay.

What And. About just giving them the 75 that they ask for at least?

I agree.

Okay. Yeah. 7,500. Okay. NASCAR, leave at 2,000.

But what exactly is going to be done with the 2,000?

Know

I don't know that that's enough for them to even work with to get done anything that she brought up. Because it was all about basically the day program for And these it was servicing, well, she said gentlemen, but servicing one or two of them a week. But that was only, like, for a month. I don't think the 2,000 would benefit them. I think they'd have to find ways to try and spend it.

JULIET So

what are we talking, zero for NASCAR?

JULIET J.

JULIET Which brings us down to $87,500

Can I speak

J? Have to go because we didn't finish with Boys and Girls Club.

JULIE Could I speak a little bit on NASCAR?

JULIE Sure.

JULIE I do believe a lot of which because I think this was the one, if I remember correctly, well, it even says it on there. They were talking about renovations. But then she talked about staff help. And And I think the fact that they lost and had to lay off two people doesn't solve the solution of, well, you lost people, so now we're not going to give you anything. I feel something helps them because it gives them the opportunity to bring in some part time people to help, even if it's one person for one hour to give them an ear to listen to, somebody to play chess with, or somebody to have time with.

I understand it's not a full time program. They don't have the means to do that. But I still think the program is valuable enough to give them something and to be able to put that towards some additional people to help them.

JAMES But that's predicated on the assumption that that's 2,000 that they only have. Remember, they're part of the REBA. They get paid a per diem for the individuals that they have there as patients. So they have a funding for the population that they serve. The dilemma that they had, she said, was she insisted that SMI funding was cut and that wasn't the case. And that as a consequence, they lost two staff members. So this is in addition, what wasn't defined because when they submitted their form, it was capital gains.

Yes. I mean

capital repairs. Yes, expenses. So as a consequence, we sort of missed out on some of the real meat of what it is that they were asking for and what the other part of that substance was they have. But they get funding from the REBA for whatever. I've been out of that arena for ten years or so. I can't tell you what the daily per diem is. But do you know?

I'm not sure what the per diem, but I'm still going to go back to the fact that we supplementing medical care.

Right.

And I struggle with that. Because if that's the case, that's a slippery slope.

JAMES can be. But at the same time and again, I'll hold my advice.

That's a fact.

That, as I said, one of the biggest problems with mental health care is non adherence with care. And if they really do, she broached that they had an affiliation with the hospital here. And

And they had like a liaison.

And having outpatient. But I don't know how well they coordinate that. And I was remiss in not trying to get that better defined.

If we were to give them even a small amount, I'm thinking, even though I don't have a ton of experience with it, it's going to be difficult for them to find the person to spend it properly and adhere to all the things for such a small amount. And we don't want to supplement something and then have it just disappear. I think if we give them zero, they will come back stronger next year when they submit their application. Because they will know. And we've seen that over the years. We've seen some groups not And get then they figure it out. And they come back better.

That actually goes to when I first looked at these numbers, my original reaction was zero because they didn't do the vetting.

Is application right?

Yeah. They didn't do the vetting or their homework before they wrote this application. And then they come back and say, oh, well that's really not what we're asking for. We're asking for this. And I'm kind of concerned that, you know, they're

They got a lot of

They didn't do their homework. They didn't do their due diligence to figure out exactly what we're all about and what they couldn't fill out the application properly. So the hardliner in me originally said zero for that. And then I bought in some of the other arguments, So I'm still in favor of giving them zero.

As am I. Because that's $2,000 that we take away from somebody else.

Yes, sir. So,

I vote zero.

Okay. All right.

Which leaves us as a grand total of $87,500 Boys and Girls Club is still left there.

Yeah, we got to

Oh, did I redo that one? Wait a minute. I think that's around 12,000 So I think it was $63,000 divided by 12 Yeah, think that was still like $12,000 Okay. Well,

I'm going to stand on zero for them. Because I just think that the money we have such a limited pool of funds that we can allocate. And I'm thinking the bigger bang for the buck is going to come from one of these other organizations like the Food Bank or even AJ CDC. Boys and Girls Club have they've got access to a lot of funding. And I'm just concerned yeah, with the limited funds we have, I just really don't want to give them the money without, in my mind, shortchange somebody else.

I'm going to lend to a retort that I learned in the process of being on this commission. And an individual came to me and said, Doctor. Brennan, I want you to know that if it had not been for Boys and Girls Club, I would not have been able to go to work and them take care of my children during that time span. And I found that terribly important for me to be able to do that and sustain my family. So

if we were to allocate some money for them, we'd want it to go for what, particularly? AJ scholarships for kids for the Boys and Girls Club?

Yes. Well, they said that when you look at their mission, they said it's to improve reading and math skills by, I think, 3%. And that seems pretty meager. I would think that you'd hope that over the course because they're dealing with preschool all the way through high school, that you'd hope it's a lot better than that. And since reading and math are really pretty atrocious in this state, one would hope that they improve a couple of grades in their competency the course of that time.

And maybe if they are at a reading level of pre high school, that they get into a high school level of reading, at least by the time they're done.

Well, I am not a teacher, so I don't know what percentage of improvement is. But I do know that the Boys and Girls Club is also a mechanism, as you said already, for families to be able to work and have their children in a safe place. And it's more than just education, because it's not a school, although they do a lot of teaching. There's a lot more that kids learn than just reading and math. They learn to play together, work together, respect each other, integrity doing the right thing when mom and dad aren't around.

And it gives them the means so that if 3% is what they get, that's better than them sitting at home playing Xbox or on the streets if they're too young. So for me, having that means for the parents to be able to go to work and have their kids there is very worthy. Especially with the mentor program, the divorce rate is so high that a lot of people are yearning for a father figure or a male or a female figure in their life. And I think the Boys and Girls Club offers that.

JOSHUA You know, last time I broached it, there was a study that was done. And I think I even talked about it when we interviewed them. And it was where they went to an institution that dealt with males that were there. And they were incarcerated. So it a juvenile detention center. And they took two soccer balls. And they took two young men with one soccer ball. And they turned to them. And they said, Okay, get the soccer ball from him. And there was a struggle.

So after a while, making sure nobody got hurt, they stopped it. Then they brought up two other individuals and gave one the ball and to the other one that says, ask him if you can have the ball. And it was a way of saying, you deduced that I asked you to take the ball away from them when there's another way to do that. And it really seemed simplistic, but it had consequences that played out later as people were able to see a way to negotiate things that didn't lend to physical confrontation. And so I'd like to abide by the $12,000 For

me, the Boys and Girls Club is amazing. But I have to go back to how much funding we have. They're a huge organization. They have wonderful funding outside, tons of membership. It's just, for me, I'm going back to my smaller amount. I just think there's things in AJ that we could do better. And we only have 100,000. So I'm not debating whether it's a great group or not. It certainly is. Almost everyone who's asked for money has some sort of current value. But for me, again, they're a really big organization. And they can get money elsewhere.

I'd like to propose we go to option $23,000 for Boys and Girls Club and give the rest of the food bank.

Fair enough.

And that should bring us up to our $100,000 if I'm not mistaken.

Then

It would be like

No, it's only 90. Oh, wait a minute. Okay.

Just a little bit more.

Good job.

You

you punch enough buttons, you'll get there.

You'll get there.

Okay. So, and just for clarity, so that we have no ambiguity in this, we are of a consensus that option two is the amounts that we wish to present to

not the in consensus. I'm in consensus that option one is what we're presenting to the city council.

So there is still $11,000 in option one that you're going to want to distribute.

Give it to the food bank.

So, by and large, new leaf gets a little less. AJA DC gets a little more, but not $500 less than option two. Azoravita, not to be too taxing. He has 3,000 instead of 2,000. Bad pun and nobody left.

I got to smile.

I was hoping you weren't.

We smiled enough. Okay. Black and gold. Because Brennan said boys and girls get 6,000.

I would like to up that in order to reach our total, or at least a portion of the total.

I would like to up them as well. When I think about them and one thing that he said that I like was, he was like, Gilbert took some of our kids. And when we think about a long term community based city, people love football.

Yes, they do.

And football brings other things with it. And I feel like he has the gumption and the attitude to be able to bring it when it comes. We want people to come to Apache Junction and watch how these kids flourish. So if I was to give anybody anything extra, it would be that organization second to the food bank. Okay.

So how would you divide that? We have approximately $11,000

So I would give 5 to the football and six to the food bank.

Well, that's being pretty generous.

I put you all that. That. Yeah.

Yes, you did.

You did.

I would probably give them about maybe $8,500 And then because I'm looking at option two, like $8,500 and then the remainder to the food bank.

I think for a brand new organization, as much as I, you know, love kids and stuff, anything more than the 8,500 would be a lot for him to track, manage, and adhere to all the requirements. Think you're right. He's that's a one man show.

Right. If we want to support people and encourage them and say, you know what, We want to try to give something for everybody because we want everybody to feel like I can come there and have a place in AJ. But we want to be able to give it in a way to where it's not overwhelming or we put too much on them and they don't produce how they probably work.

Okay. So if we take some time now, I'd like to be specific with what we're believing we're allocating the funds for. So per this option one, we have $6,000 I can put this down in ink. Is that correct?

Not necessarily.

Are we done fine?

I think we still have 2,000 going to NASCAR. And the argument was I mean, if we're looking at option one, the argument was that's very little for them they to couldn't even present the application correctly. And then they spend two hate to say it like that dollars 2,000. But then we also have $3,000 going to Kiwanis. And we're right back at the same

Dilemma.

I mean, they're taking kids to the rodeo. Dollars 3,000 for them to figure out how to spend it according to the guidelines is a lot.

Yeah, they didn't have the greatest definition to how the allocation of funding was going to be expended. One day Well, it was on

funding, too.

To the rodeo was going to be an expense and an interesting experience. But they did have pamphlets on predators and other things. But I just don't know how actively they were involved. And Jeff was not over elaborating on the other things.

Well, did say they do a donation of 72 backpacks and of school supplies, not That's true. School supplies. And they do a lock in where they do give kids food. They do student awards to special education. But is that

where the money's going? Think that's old things? Okay.

One thing I look at when I start doing the numbers here is how much are they asking? They're asking for an amount in their application that they think they can spend responsibly. And that's why I usually on some of these amounts, I usually start with what they're asking. Because I think Commissioner Smithson makes a good point. Can they handle more than they're asking for? Because if they needed more than that, they would have asked for more than that. I mean, that's my thinking. So if they're asking for $6,000 and we're offering them $8,500 are they going to be able to adequately use that extra $2,500

Oh, you mean blue and

gold? Yeah, Yeah, and gold. He and

said you were doing a Hail Mary. He didn't know what to ask for.

He didn't say that.

Said he didn't know what to ask for.

Because I asked him. I said if you had more, if you were given more, why did you ask for $6,000 he goes, because I didn't want to be greedy. He said, but if you allocate more money to me, we can I

remember definitely that?

And I think next year we would see them coming back with a different amount because now it's based on more experience that they have, And they'll ask for more money. And then next year, we have the option to give them more money.

Yeah. Okay.

That's fair enough. So does option one get modified with BGYFL to 6,000? 6,000.

Okay. I say no. I think we should still leave it at 85. So do I. Can we split the baby? Yes.

Do Sulliman. This Solomon.

Yes, Solomon.

Sullenic, yeah.

Yes. Give GREGORY him $7,000

$7,000 Yeah.

Well, that's option two.

Can you deliver that?

GREGORY Yeah. Isn't it? GREGORY

GREGORY I

would prefer 85 Because I think everybody's trying to push all the money to the food bank. And I feel like there's plenty of money in the food bank. I think the AJCDC should get bumped up to the 75, which was their ask. And I think the football could use way more than what he realizes. Uniform scholarship, shoes, I feel that they could responsibly spend that money.

JOSHUA I don't know, because he obviously has a generalized format. And if, with time, he becomes more droid about what his actual expenses are going be

He is brand new to his position. He explained that.

JULIE 7,000 will give him confidence to come back next year.

Yeah. Where

are we splitting the difference?

But I do agree, 7,500 for the CDC. That's what they asked for. It's $500

Okay. So

One group is advocating for one option, and the other group is advocating for the other option. Now it's time for a vote.

We necessarily have groups. But we have one person that is advocating for 8,500. And then we have others that have voiced some difference about

I think we have two that are advocating for 85.

Are we looking at option one or option two now? I'm so confused.

We're on option one.

Okay. We're on option one. Yeah. Well, I definitely want to give the AJCDC what they asked for, and if not more. I still would love to give them more. So I'm definitely not Okay with $7,000

I agree. All right. So let's try and look at this. And so we're wavering between the initial request of 6,000 and perhaps 7,000 for BGYFL, correct? Yes. Okay.

Or 8,500, I guess. 7,000 and 8,500?

Yeah, I think we've got two over here that want the 85

I'd be willing to give a little bit on that for sure to make sure that the AGCDC gets at least 7,500. I'd like to see more for them as well. But I can 7,000 or

How about 8,000? How about 7,500 or 8,000?

I could do 7,500.

7,500.

7,500.

Okay. Can we have a vote on 7,500, please?

And this is that's for what who

I'm voting for.

Yeah, what group This is for BGYFL, seven thousand five hundred.

Let's just vote option one or option two.

That is what the vote has to be, is the full option. Okay.

Yeah. Perfect. So we've taken some

we're 1,000 off on option one.

And is that going to AJ CDC then?

Yes. Would

say. 500 to

oh. Yeah. 8,000.

That brings us up to 100,000 Okay.

Fair enough.

So you've got option one and option two here.

I think we need to talk a little more about Azura Vida for option one.

Okay. What are your thoughts?

I would put it to 2,000. Okay.

Yeah, I don't have any problem with

That was zero, so

And then where would the extra 1,000 go then?

Food Bank. Bank. Food Bank.

I'm getting happier. By midnight

we'll have Okay. All right. So are we set pretty much on options one and two?

Boys and girls have $12,000

Any other modifications to either of those?

The only big difference would be the Boys and Girls Club. There's quite a

Yeah.

If we're for option one, dollars 12,000 is too much.

I disagree because if

you The boys look and girls and food bank are where the biggest discrepancies are.

Well, think when we go back to our original thoughts when we were individually going through them, have fifteen, fifteen, twenty, ten, and three, and one, zero. And so that averaged 12. That's actually 12 is lower. So I stick with the 12. I think 12 is a fair amount based on everything we shared today.

That's the average.

JULIE: Okay. Is everyone comfortable with that? We've got two options here.

JULIE: are we comfortable taking a vote between option one and option two?