City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening and welcome to the uh Chandler City Council study session. Thank you all for being here. Apologize for being a couple minutes late. I'd like to call this meeting to order and clerk please take the role. Mayor Harky here. Vice Mayor Incinus here. Council member Poston here. Council member Ellis here. Council member Orlando here. Council member Harris here. And council member Hawkins here. We have a quum.

Great. Thank you so much. Next on our agenda is scheduled public appearances. Council member Poston, please join me up front. All right. First up for scheduled public appearances is a proclamation for National Police Week and Peace Officers Memorial Day. If Assistant Chief Perez can come up and join us, whereas the Congress and President of the United States have designated May 15th as Peace Officers Memorial Day and the week in which May 15th falls as National Police Week. And whereas the members of the Chandler Police Department play an essential role in safeguarding the rights and freedoms of the residents of Chandler in pursuit of its mission. And whereas it is important that all the residents know and understand the duties, responsibilities, hazards, and sacrifices of their police department. And whereas the members of our police department recognize their duty to serve the people by safeguarding life and property against violence and disorder and by protecting the innocent against deception and weak against oppression. And whereas the men and women of the Chandler Police Department unceasingly provide a vital public service to the community and are deserving of being honored as heroes. Now therefore, I, Kevin Hartkey, mayor

of the city of Chandler, do hereby proclaim May 10th through May 16, 2026 and May 15th as National Police Week and Peace Officers Memorial Day. Thank you. I know I've had the opportunity to be in DC DC with you and our department two or three times. It's it's a very moving uh occasion to be there when law officers from around the nation uh bike in or or drive in to acknowledge the loss's experience. So, would you like to say anything?

Well, I haven't prepared anything, but I'd like to say thank you to uh to the council and mayor. Thank you for all the support from the city manager's office as well. Uh we just like to thank um really the the citizens of Chandler because we couldn't do our job without without the citizens. really the people are the police and and police are the people. So, we're just very thankful that we have the support within this community from not only from our elected but also from the citizens at large and um oftenimes it is it is troubling when we have to bury one of our own and we've had a number here within Chandler but um that makes it a little bit easier, a little bit softer when we have the support from our community. So, thank you all very much. Well, thank you. Let's take a photo. Our next proclamation is water safety month. if Chris Smith uh can come forth and if he'd be accompanied by Chandler Aquatics fire and police team members.

All right, are we ready? Excuse me a sec. I came prepared. I'm sorry. Okay. Whereas Chandler celebrates swimming and aquatic related activities as a source of recreation, relaxation, and connection, enriching the physical, mental, and overall well-being of residents of all ages. And whereas water safety education is a shared responsibility and a powerful tool to prevent drowning and water related injuries and empowers individuals and families with the knowledge and confidence to stay safe around water. And whereas it is crucial to always maintain layers of protection, including adult supervision, barriers around bodies of water, classes like learn to swim and CPR lessons, and encourage the use of certified flotation devices for all non-swmers. And whereas water hazards can be found in everyday places from backyard pools and neighborhood lakes to bathtubs and buckets, making vigilance and preparedness essential at all times. And whereas the city of Chandler's aquatics, police, and fire departments are united in their commitment to promoting water safety awareness through education, outreach, and community partnerships. Now th now now therefore I on behalf of Kevin Hartkey, mayor of the city of Chandler, Arizona, do hereby proclaim the month of May 2026 as water safety month and encourage all citizens to celebrate by learning water safety guidelines and pledging to be a water watcher when participating in recreational water activities in the company of family and friends. I just want to thank mayor and council for all their support in this uh upcoming water safety month. And we're very fortunate here in Chandler to have a strong partnership with aquatics, police, and fire. We really work year

round um to put on these water safety events for the community and just give them the tools and knowledge to prevent drowning. So, that's the ABCDS of water safety and our updated uh uh strengthening of pool rules at our sites this summer. And we're excited to get the summer rolling and see all of you out at our sites. Great.

All right, let's do a photo. Thank you. Thank you.

All right. And uh before this before this fine gentleman leaves us uh Blasmater has served the city for 25 years. He's had a pretty storied career from Major League Baseball to city of Chandler. You've served in quite a few roles and I understand this is going to be your last meeting with us.

That is correct. Well, we want to thank you and uh thank you for your service. Thank you for the assurance that you continue to bring, the confidence and and the confidence you furthered of us having in our in our uh sworns and and certainly our public safety. So, thank you so much. Would you like to say anything?

Sure, I would. Well, first of all, I want to thank uh mayor and council uh for city management uh for allowing me the 25 years that I had to grace this community. Um I put all my eggs in one basket. Chandler was where I wanted to work because I lived in this community. Uh and I wanted to serve the people that uh that I would run into at the malls, at the grocery store, any place else. uh when somebody loses their life as a firefighter, we we take it personally because we feel like we can um save everyone. Uh but we know that's not the case. Um this water prevention or the water safety uh month uh means a lot because I told you I said this last year that it's a community's effort. It's not just police, fire, and aquatics. We all have to watch over our community, our loved ones. And I know that police when we go and ask a police officer, they sit in the back of the restaurant that they have they're facing the front door, situational awareness. As a firefighter walking up a building, I see the what kind of sprinkler system where the where the uh the AED is in that location. As parents of individuals where they're they have a pool, it's situational awareness. You just need to keep your eyes on your children at all time. Um, I hope that we will never ever have to go through a tragedy of a drowning here in the city of Chandler ever again, but we know that accidents do happen. And as a police officer, as a firefighter, we are there to help in any way we can. And I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for allowing me to be here uh to say a few words after 25 years. And I uh look forward to the next chapter. And I'm not going anywhere. So uh I hope to run across you wherever that might be. So thank you. Mayor, Mayor, can I can I take a point of privilege real quick? Can I can I thank you, Chief, for being there for my

family the night that my son passed away. Thank you so much for everything you have done for us. Appreciate you. Thank you, sir. I was going to grab one more photo with you, but he's already out the door. Come back here for a photo with no.

Come on, council. Get in here. Thanks again.

We do have one more proclamation. Earth Day. If Theo England and Derek Kersonen can join us, whereas the city of Chandler is enriched by its environmental beauty and natural landscapes, which enhance the lives of our residents and visitors while providing valuable resources for native flora and fauna growth and providing an essential habitat for wildlife. And whereas Chandler and his residents recognize the importance of preserving and protecting our natural environment, the commitment to environmental education, and the importance of using natural resources wisely. Whereas the city of Chandler has adopted strategies to mitigate climate impacts, conserve water and energy, reduce waste, preserve and expand our urban tree canopy, and pursue renewable energy alternatives. And whereas Earth Day acknowledges positive progress made in the environmental movement and achievements, the dedication to climate literacy, and deepens our commitment to environmental stewardship. And whereas the city of Chandler urges all community members to join in celebrating the importance of environmental advocacy and renew our collective commitment to future environmental actions for current and future Chandler residents. Now therefore, I Kevin Hartkey, Mayor of the City of Chandler, do hereby proclaim April 22, 2026 as Earth Day. All right. Thank you, Mayor and Council, for helping make sure that every day is

Earth Day here at the city of Chandler. Um, we are fortunate to either work for or live in a city that is so dedicated to securing a sustainable future for its residents. Uh, I am here I'm proud to represent the Chandler Nature Center, a place where we encourage sustainable lifelong learning and appreciation for our natural snore and desert environment. Uh, the proclamation here will be on display for the next year at the Chandler Nature Center. So, we encourage you to come by and see it.

Thank you. Well, let's do a photo. All right, that concludes our public appearances. Council, before we get into calledin items for further elaboration and understanding, do want to introduce we have our teen advisory group, TA AG tag volunteers. So, if you would all please stand. And if any of you are here at the we shouldn't be that much longer. A few items called out. Council would love to have a photo with you all up in front here. So, thank you for coming and uh being part of our council meeting tonight.

What's uh TAG stands for teen advisory group. All right. Thank you all council. As I mentioned, there's just a few items called in. First is by council member Orlando. Questions on item 11, referral of proposed amendments to article two and nine of the city charter to voters at the November 3rd, 2026 general election. Uh, Deputy City Manager Ryan Peters over here, mayor. Oh, there he is. Council member, how long you'd look around for me? Yeah, I would have kept looking. at least sits over there.

So, uh, mayor and council, I appreciate the opportunity to talk about the charter. As you know, we spent, uh, many hours and months over the course of late last year and then early this year talking about the product back in um, I suppose a couple weeks ago. Uh, we identified recommendations for you on which of those you should prioritize from a staff's perspective. And from there, we took council consensus, identified four that you'd like to see presented back to council for voting action to be ultimately placed on the November 2026 general election ballot. Um, those four items include the selection of the vice mayor uh term begins in January of each year. The second item relates to residency requirements for appointed officials and department directors. The third has to do with uh two readings going from two readings to one reading on ordinances preserving uh the council desire to maintain a second reading expectation in city code. And then the fourth is uh shoot for that's hidden. Okay. Um, oh, the resign to run. Okay, so the resign to run. Uh, just clarifying that resigning to run happens um when the petitions are filed um and not necessarily when you draw the paperwork. So, those were the four recommendations that we took council consensus on um back in that work session. And those items are presented to you as one agenda item, but four different resolutions. So, there could be four different voting opportunities should um council disagree on one or all or any of them going forward.

Thank you, Council Member Orlando. Yeah, Mayor. Thanks. I just want to get a clarification. You and I talked a little bit about that as well the attorney. Um uh uh the charter is related in a lot of areas and it weaves in and there's a section here 2.13 action require an ordinance that spells out predominantly fines and penalties taxes revenue land purchasing um levy assessments which is one of the heart of the matter that I was concerned about. Uh that should be two readings of an ordinance. Um and we never really discussed these particular items here. So what are we codifying to make sure that we do have at least two readings at least in my mind from the discussion we had a couple weeks ago that these key areas will have two readings. Mayor, Council Member Orlando, my recommendation, should the chair voters agree to approve these amendments in November that very quickly adopt a city code um that gives that direction from council on which items you'd like to see maintained for two readings and then those that um business related items, land use cases, things like that. Um that was the motivation for this recommendation. Um, so things like you mentioned, uh, you know, fines, taxes, uh, anything that's in that section 2.13, you know, you could pick and choose, give a menu of what you'd like to see a second reading, but that would be, um, the vision or that that expectation would be set in city code.

So, we'd be coming back with the code to clarify what what's on that code that we would get a second reading on. Right, mayor, council member Orlando? That's that's the recommendation. So the other question is this minor, but how did we ever start giving second readings on plats? Is that required by state law? Mayor, council member Orlando, my understanding is state statute does declare ordinances required for certain activities. I don't know all of them off the top of my head, but I'm

when we when we go through this Thank you. I'm sorry. When we go through this exercise, we need to get a copy of that so we're clear on what those are, too. is if a state law requires two readings, we haven't really asked this in all fairs really asked this question. If a state law requires two readings, then we'll not be compliance with state law. Mayor, council member Orlando, that's correct. I I can't off the top of my head think of any instances where it specifically requires two readings other than stuff associated with um utility fees and things like that. But okay, the way they the nomenclature they use in statute references ordinances a lot and not necessarily resolutions.

All right. Thanks, Mayor. I'm not going to belab it. We'll have to see what the voters decide on this one. Additional questions. Council member Poston. Yeah. And this this might be more for the attorney. It just occurred to me as you were speaking. If if we're writing code that comes after our voters have recently approved a charter amendment, wouldn't the code then be in conflict with what our charter amendment says? I guess in my head I had thought that we would probably be writing that charter question to include that language in there that there might be um exceptions.

Mayor, if I may, um council member Poston, the way the language is proposed right now to go to the voters on the charter, it would get that authorizes the council. It would require just one read but authorizes the council to require more than one read for the certain matters that are important, you know, that they feel required to to read. Okay. So, the language would be in the charter question. It and specific to which items? No, it wouldn't be which item. Um, that would be for the council decision um through an ordinance. So, it would just authorize us to have that as an option. Correct. Okay. Thank you, mayor. Council member Orlando

clarify but that's not in the charter language going to the voters though if I understand the question from the council member mayor um council member Orlando because the the charter language that would go to the voters still gives you the authority it doesn't specifically say that you always have that authority you cannot adopt an ordinance that conflicts with the charter but you can definitely adopt ordinances that are more restrictive than the charter Yeah, I just I would like to make sure that our as as this is as clear as possible so that future councils understand this and they're not referring back to this council meeting to try to understand uh

what that is. So, uh, please take a second look at that and if we need to come and amend this, we still have till June, I believe, to on the we've certainly have May, if not the first meeting in June to uh proceed with us. Yes, mayor, that's correct. June 8th is the deadline to provide ballot language to the county. Okay. So, if there if there are some changes essential, let us please look at that before Thursday and then we can always uh defer this at a time. But if you're confident in it that it allows us but it's the clearest possible then I guess that's what we're looking for. Absolutely council or mayor we will do so. Okay. Thank you.

Next item up. Uh I'm going to treat these all as one. Item 123 14 15. Council member Ellis. Uh Rianbach and friends are going to from neighborhood uh resources are going to talk to us. uh about some uh funds and resolutions related to block grants and other ways that we are assisting the community and nonprofits. Proceed. Just wanted to make sure I had the slides up. Good evening, Mayor and Council. Thank you very much for this opportunity to present on items 12 through 15. And in fact, Ryan will be picking up on item 15. So, I am here to speak about resolution 5998, which is related to the um funding recommendations for home investment partnership program funds that we anticipate receiving for fiscal year 2026. The purpose of these funds is to increase affordable rental housing or affordable housing opportunities here within the city. And we plan on uh directing these funds for next fiscal year toward the ongoing support of the tenant-based rental assistance program that we provide to Chandler residents uh who have low and moderate income. The next resolution item is n uh 597 related to our receipt of uh community development block grant program funds. So, we are seeking council approval for the submission of the Oh, thank you. I'm sorry.

Go back. Nope. Actually, I went through it so quick. Uh, Council Member Ellis, uh, we are actually, uh, advancing on to the next resolution, which is 5997.

Thank you. So now we are seeking council approval on the annual action plan for submission of um the annual action plan to HUD. The purpose of the annual action plan serves as a prerequisite for receipt of community development block grant programs otherwise known as CWG for fiscal year 2026. We have included those funding recommendations within the annual action plan. Um the purpose of these funds is to develop viable uh communities uh within the city of Chandler by providing funds to support decent housing, suitable living environment, all with the support for individuals and households with low and moderate income. You can see before you um how we plan on actually uh directing those funding recommendations both to public services as well as capital projects. And then lastly, we have resolution 5995, which highlights one of our programs that does receive um uh support from CBG to administer these programs. It actually is the homeowner rehabilitation program which assists homeowners with low and moderate income to help with uh immediate needs within their home to ensure that they can remain within their home and live in a safe suitable living environment. Um this particular resolution is to provide funding support to an existing contract that the city has with FSL. FSL Home Improvement is uh a provider, a vendor of sorts um that provides subcontracted management services and oversight to the rehabilitation services to Chandler homeowners who are eligible for this program.

I just want to highlight some of the types of work that are um provided in participation of this program. anywhere from HVAC replacement and uh repair, roof repair replacement um most notably um and highlighted here in this picture is also um making adjustments within a homeowner's home uh to accommodate ADA accessibility needs that a homeowner may have. So you hear see here a chair lift that have been recently installed. And then next slide here shows the eligibility criteria for participation in this program. There are several uh requirements. These are federal funds that are used to support this program and support our residents. Um but it is a huge benefit um that you can see in these highlighted pictures as well. So again, uh improving livability within the home, but also as this picture shows, highlighting how it benefits its neighbors as well through neighborhood revitalization, um providing exterior paint when necessary. Last year, we actually uh served 33 households uh through this program. And highlighted here are a few of the demographics both by income, geographic, uh, distribution, where they reside, as well as age. And I will just note that 70% of the participants who were served last year were 62 years of age and above. Um, this slide actually provides one of the testimonials that we had received from a resident who had received our assistance. I think it really highlights the benefits to the Chandler residents and the work that is done both with our partners at FSL as well as with our city staff implementing this program. So I I felt like it was a very heartwarming uh

testimonial and one that really speaks to the program and its benefits. So how can Chandler residents learn more? Um both uh by by word of mouth uh primarily through neighbors and friends. Many times we hear from residents who are applying that, but they have a a neighbor or a friend who had already received assistance and they wanted to learn more and see if they might be able to benefit from this program. We also have staff who go out to a number of community events throughout the year and uh provide information and answer questions about the program. And we also receive referrals from our friends at Neighborhood Preservation when there is an obvious issue in terms of a potential code compliance and they will inquire with us or point homeowners to us to see if assistance can be provided in that way. At times we are also um handing out door hangers uh in an effort to also raise awareness and sometimes we work with other team members to get those distributed to neighborhoods that might be in need. Um, we do have a phone number here on the slide if individuals are interested in learning more about the program as well as a QR code that takes you to the website. And next, um, we will have Ryan Walch speak to item number 15.

Good evening. Did you guys have any questions for Karen before I send her off?

Go ahead. Thank you. I was going to wait until after you finished um to kind of bring it all together. I I think I thought Miss Miss Karen did an amazing job and answer pretty much all the questions that I had, but really truly I wanted to highlight these programs because we are doing amazing job in that department. And then I wanted to make sure that the people of Chandler realize that there are services that are available when it comes to those kinds of things and the partnership that we have with HUD and how do we utilize those federal dollars. There was a time when it was people they were questioning why we take federal dollars to put them into programs like that and I wanted to make sure that we highlight uh why is it important that we do that because the the need is there number one and then second we see the result and we keep able to keep people into their homes and also help them to have better quality of life. So appreciate that.

Perfect. and we just so appreciate our partnership with HUD and I'm happy to report um since the release of this memo that you see before you, we have received the HUD allocation and the numbers I showed you have the applied contingency. So the actual numbers that we anticipate receiving with federal funds next year. We actually received nearly $13,000 increase over last year's funding. Um and a very slight decline $1,200 through the home dollars as well. So, we're very happy with the allocations for this year and look forward to uh continuing to do good work in this community. Ryan.

All right, Mayor Council, thanks for having us this evening. So, this next item, let's see if I can get it back. Oh, perfect. Thank you. So this next item is about um some agreements that we will be entering into with sober living uh providers. So we put out an RFP to contract with with um organizations that provide sober living services. And these services are provided to people who are unhoused and also to other people in the community that need somewhere to go after they've become sober. So maybe they've gone to detox um but but cannot go home or did not have a home to return to while they start to build their independence and then move on to self-sufficiency. So we put out an RFP as I said we selected uh five licensed facilities. All of them are licensed as required by the Arizona Department of Health Services. That licensing uh came to bear in 2019. Um through those five facilities we will have 170 through I'm sorry. Yeah, through the five providers we will have 176 beds. Those will be in five different Oh, I'm sorry. I I have to recalculate. It was 10 19. Sorry, I put a wrong number here. 19 homes with 176 beds will be available to us um when we need them. Uh so far to date in in the in providing this service that has been about the right number of available beds. We've never had to turn anybody away when we have an eligible client. Um and all of that referral is handled through our community navigation team. Some of the selection criteria when we were uh selecting vendors were again they needed to be licensed but we also

things looked at things like having managers on site having congregate kitchen facilities having free Wi-Fi laundry services some of the amenities that we know really helps set somebody up for success as they're building on their stability. We also had some property requirements to make sure the houses and properties are managed well and then the services are actually provided through the city of Chandler navigation team. So we are providing that wraparound service that daily case management and those next steps to um independence and and permanency that might include looking at employment uh looking at benefits uh clearing up um justice issues things like that. So we are providing that service. Uh this contract will take us through the end of next fiscal year and we intend on starting in in May. Take any questions.

Thank you mayor. Um out of the 19 homes that we uh that are licensed that we are in contract with they all here in Chandler. Yes. So it's actually five organizations. Five organizations and they each have multiple homes. So there are 19 homes total within those five organizations and altogether there's 176 beds. Are they all in Chandler? Actually no. Are any of them here visiting with us today? None of the licences are here. Okay. Okay. So they're all over the valley. Um no we did not invite them today. Although that would have been a really good idea. Yeah it would have been nice to say thank you to them and next time I will do that.

Yeah. And if you've ever like to take a tour, I'd be happy to. Well, that was going to be my next question. Would it be um you know possible for us to tour? Absolutely. Because of my background. So, I'm very interested in seeing those places. When you mention all the things that are available to for them to be successful, would love to see that. What about the component part of the mental health part? I know that you mentioned um that the navigators are the one bridging that gap and things. So, do we have contract with providers on that side or

um through the mayor, Councilwoman Ellis? We are actually providing all of the wraparound services including behavioral health services. So, as you know, all of our community uh navigators are l are behavioral health technicians. They're certified. They're also peer certified. when we do we do work very closely with all of the behavioral health agencies here in the valley and also with the fire and police departments who also work closely with those a organizations and can access these sober living services. So we really between ourselves providing direct services and us working with organizations um we provide those wraparound services. Some organizations we do have contracts with through our human services allocations which will be coming to you in the the next couple of weeks here. Um but a lot of the pro a lot of the services we're providing ourselves.

Yeah. We served 100 people. What is the u success rate as far as retention? Um,

so actually through the mayor, uh, councilwoman, we anticipate with this particular contract with the amount of money we're we're utilizing, we will serve a 100. Last year, we actually served, I want to say, 115 persons. Um, 90 of them or 78% had zero income at entry and, um, we improved that greatly. And 82 of them or 71% did not return to homelessness anywhere in Maricopa County. That's that's where we can see the data. So, we follow this and we follow um once sometimes what happens is we'll pay for the sober living service and then they will get employed and then they will take over payments and continue to live there. Sometimes they're moving on to a a more independent setting. Um and so it becomes a little bit harder to track them after that. But we do watch our homeless information system and make sure that they haven't returned to homelessness. So last year out of all those we served 71% did did not return to homelessness.

It's such an amazing I mean if this was a business we would have been making a lot of money. It would be great.

Now lastly u wanted to find out talk about the funding. Where is the funding coming from? I know um we we have our general funds and then other places with funds. Can you discuss where the funding is going is coming from for this? In this particular contract, um we'll be using both general funds, but the majority of it will be opioid resettlement funds. Um we do have some flexible funding through grants that we bring in through um other agencies like the Arizona Department of Housing, um things like that. And we also have some general funds that support the work that our navigators do. And we can fall back on that. But the the big majority of funding for this will come from the opioid resettlement funds. Um we are a partner with the fire department and with the police department and together we all provide an excellent array of opioid um services and this is one of them.

I am so grateful for the work that the team is doing and uh your team also. One of the things that the people of Chandler need to realize is that the reason why we're not having encampments around our city, this is the reason this is why right here. That's why we you're not seeing people line up on Arizona Avenue or at our freeways and everywhere like that. So, thank you again to the team and every one of you for putting such great work out there. Appreciate you.

Thank you, Councilwoman and council, mayor and council. Um, this is such a unique thing that we have done as a city and it has had such success. We have other cities asking how we've accomplished this, asking how it works, wanting to replicate this model and we're really proud of it and it it's extremely effective. So, thank you for your continued support on that. Mayor, council member Harris.

Yeah, I just had a couple questions, Ryan, and just thank you for the work that you're doing. Your department always doing an amazing job. I just want to start there. Um, so keep doing the good work. I guess my question is the money that's coming into Chandler, and this is more specific to Chandler, the money that's coming in from HUD, why are we not utilizing the businesses in Chandler? Is there not one business qualified here in the city of Chandler to do this work? Because I really really would like to see when we get federal money in. The purpose of that is to serve Chandler. We're serving the residents, but we're moving the residents out of our community. Um, and they have issues. But we couldn't find nobody in Chandler

through the mayor councilman. Um, many of the homes are in Chandler. So we have these parent organizations, right? And then they have multiple homes throughout the community. So we we do, you know, we did put out a competitive request for proposal and we looked at all the agencies and we took five of eight of the agencies. Um, one of the agencies we did not select was purely in Mesa. Um, I'm I can't tell you the location right off the hand, but I can certainly follow up with you where the location of the other two, but a lot of our services are right here in Chandler. Um, and it it is nice to have an, you know, houses in multiple places because sometimes somebody is employed. We want to keep them very close to their employment. They might not have transportation yet. Other times, um, you know, all of the, for lack of a better word, all of the homes have a different vibe, if you will, and different settings are best for different people with different needs. So, it is nice to have that array, but we we would like to have I mean, if we could, we'd keep them all here in Chandler. And I do think we have a number of homes here in Chandler, but they're not all here in Chandler.

Yeah. I guess because my thing is that sometimes, you know, law enforcement encounter these type of situations where they're utilizing their resources and and sometimes I've seen officers like, "Hey, I got a resource for that person because they're not always actively moving into arrest, per se, because we don't criminalize our homeless, nor do we criminalize those that are kind of doing things, you know, due to being unsheltered or whatever." But when I think about when I think about how you know, how we deal how law enforcement and how we deal with individuals. Sometimes they do get in the car. They're not necessarily going to jail, but they could be going to a facility or a home or something like that. And I just I really want us to focus making sure that the money that we do, if the homes, the organizations are based in Chandler, I I mean, I want to see that work in Chandler. I don't want to see our dollars going out because I think we're doing good work. We're getting results, but we also have to build um because when when we need support here, it's easier for our wraparound services to go up the street. It's not as easy when they're going all the way to another community. And I don't want us to be the community that sends these type of people that need help out of our community if they're from our community because what that does is it it's like we're working we're working harder in a sense because we're using more money because we're checking in. We're seeing what's going on. Staff is working. We're driving to those locations. They're outside of Chandler, although they're a Chandler resident, but they're getting Chandler dollars. And I understand that the organizations um may have setups here and that's that's great because you know we want them to be here but I'm just I just don't want to see our residents people that are resident that claim Chandler leaving and I don't want to see our resources leaving our communities

because when we're when we when we get those dollars all the economic development that comes from that from that support we're we have all these different wraparound services we're putting on this money in there But if they're leaving our community and when they get back on their feet, they're they're going they're they're locked somewhere else because now they're building their life somewhere else because they seem better in another community and we want those people to come back and be productive members in our community. So, I'm I'm nervous and so I put the warning out there that when we're if we have to extend time to get more people, we have to start having more conversations with more of our community members. Maybe we need to build better databases with our business center. Whatever that may be, I just want to make sure that whatever dollars you get from your department that those dollars are being recycled back in Chandler for the purpose of Chandler. And we're seeing those businesses in channel because that does come back and help everybody. When they're paying that utility bill, it comes back and helps us. When they're when they're buying gas up the street, it comes back and help us. When they're at Winko or grocery shopping, it comes back to help us. So, I just kind of want to make sure that that's our intentional goal, but I don't want to see our residents leaving our communities. Um because, you know, I I just don't want to see that happening. You understand what I'm sharing with you?

Absolutely. Through the mayor, Councilman Men Harris. Um so, with our human services allocations, the $2 million we give out, one of our qualifications is that you need to be a Chandler based agency. And if you are not a Chandler based agency, you um have to be filling a gap of service that cannot be provided by a Chandler based agency. And on all of those dollars, you must serve Chandler residents. On these dollars, while it was a separate procurement, we absolutely contacted everybody that we work with in Chandler. And then we also had some organizations that came in from outside of Chandler. Our goal, like you said, is to always keep a a participant as close to their community as possible. in their community is Chandler. Everything really is local. Um and people want to stay in their community. So, I hear you. Um we we will do a deeper dive in particularly in relation to sober living services and see if we can't find some other organizations that might be in Chandler that we're unaware of. We did absolutely um solicit every single Chandler organization that we knew to reply to this RFP. We we we called them, we sent letters, we had public notices. So, it's it's I would hope that everybody in Chandler absolutely knew about this, but we would certainly be willing to go do some more um investigation to see if there's ones we missed.

Yeah, happy to do that.

Thank you. Cuz um Deputy Manager Leah, I definitely like to see city manager, I definitely would like to see I want to see more of a correlated conversation about that. There could be a lot here, but I just kind of want to make sure that I understand the criteria that you're looking for in terms of the wraparound. Those are very important, too. But I just kind of want to make sure that we have a a community built in and we may be surprised that we actually go out there and continue to pound the pavement because there's new businesses opened up every day and we'll be able to um to do that. Uh, so I just kind of want to make sure that that that energy is out there. But other than that, I appreciate the work that you're doing. You're doing a good job. Um, and I think this is going to continue to help serve the betterment of Chandler. But let's continue to work with the new ones that's coming in and making sure that we're making sure those those dollars are staying in Chandler to the best of our ability.

Happy to do that. And if you know of people, please send them our way and we will check them out. All right. Council member else, final comment on this.

Thank you, Mayor. I would like to although I I agree with council member uh Harris that our dollars needs to stay here in Chandler but when you're talking about a specialized care and you're looking at people that they needs very much specific uh to a license that is granted by the department of health services and you have to go through hoops to get that license. Not everybody can provide that specialized care and so enlarging our borders to find other and with the same to be able to get 176 bed that's a big fit I mean that's something very much so you have to have great relationship with people to amass that kind of amount of bed within that specialized care mental health and sober living I mean that's what I did for a living at one time we had 19 houses providing care for over uh 89 89 to 90 people at a time and 50 employees finding not only the employees is hard for an agency to only have houses the houses in Chandler to do this type of care in are very expensive and so enlarging them to other places and making sure that we find those beds is what's important right now but the money still get to come back to Chandler because the company that we l we we contracted with stays in Chandler. So, I mean, continue doing and if I find more people, you'll find more people. We'll send them your way. But I'll tell you, this is a very tight-knit community. And there's not a lot of beds, the good ones. When you find them, you got to keep them. You cannot just get home just because they're in Chandler. You have to get the ones that are going to give you the best result for the clients. with a 98% gets not coming back to homelessness. That's mean that those homes are doing what they're supposed to do.

Thank you, council members. Our last item is uh item number 20 called in by council member Orlando briefing and questions related to our service agreement with Black & Beach Corp. for integrated water, wastewater, and reclaimed water master plan consulting. Jeremy Abbott.

Good evening, mayor, council. uh thank you for giving me the opportunity uh to kind of explain this item uh and what we're doing here. So with this integrated master plan, we we look at all three source types and all three systems that includes water, wastewater, and reclaimed water. And we evaluate water demands um on all of those systems throughout those systems. We we it the overall document is a very technical document essentially it's a roadmap for us in developing future capital programs. So takes a lot of staff effort as well as you can see a lot of uh consultant resources to go through this. Some of the other things that that we will be looking at as we develop this master plan is incorporating the results of the uh new 2026 general plan. We incorporate those land uses, find out and identify where those changes throughout Chandler have been made or where they may be made based on that those general plan uh revisions and then again apply them to our current system to identify uh are we undersized in certain areas and where might projects need to be defined to ensure that we can meet those demands in the future. this year and and as we progress through this master plan scope, we will it'll be the first time we'll also incorporate AMI data. So, our automated meter infrastructure data, this is our daily water demand data. Um, it's important because we've never had accurate data at this level and it'll help help us make better decisions again to ensure we don't oversize or undersize any of our facilities. So in general that that uh kind of describes the process. Um it's very

typical for an agency to update their master plan every 8 to 10 years. And by the time we have completed this effort uh our our prior uh master plan was finalized in 2018. So it'll be approaching the 10-year mark. And with that, I'd be happy to answer any questions you might have. Council member Orlando. Thank you, Mayor. Thanks, Jeremy. I appreciate your conversation earlier today and on Friday. Um, and I get, you know, I get we have to do a master plan, but the 600 days is almost two years, right? And who knows if And that's working days or total days. Uh, calendar days.

Calendar days. Good. Okay. I forgot to ask you that the other day. I assume it was calendar days. Um, I I guess my concern is this. We've been talking a lot about development growth uh in our city for a while now and I know we had our budget hearing just recently and revenue streams and my concern was that or my question is this does this plan allow us to be flexible if a developer wants to and I use Arizona Avenue because that's the I've been using that for a while now. Uh go up Arizona Avenue and we're in the middle of this plan. Do we say, and I'm assuming that's not the right answer. Hold on, we got to finish our plan first, but does it allow flexibility to prioritize what areas we want to look at?

Through the mayor, council member Orlando. So, very good question. And and just to kind of clarify too, this effort doesn't slow or or create any hurdles for development to take place. Again, uh that would require some drastic changes even to our general plan that might require that. But with that too, we we are a very agile department, an organization. We work very closely with development services. And if any developer were to come to the city of Chandler and and propose a development, we would work in concert with that that certain area would be evaluated separately from our master planning effort. So it would not halt a proposed development from moving forward.

Okay. So you do have the the flexibility of looking at a system within the system is what you're saying. Correct. Okay. Yes. That's that's perfect. Thank you. I appreciate that. Welcome. Thanks, mayor. Additional questions, comments related. All right. Thank you, Jeremy. Um that concludes our meeting. Again, we'd like our tag team to uh come on up and we'd love to get a photo with you. With that, thank you everybody. Thank you, council and staff. Am I