City Council - workshop

Welcome to the Chandler City Council meeting. To help us conduct tonight's meeting efficiently and respectfully, we ask all attendees to follow these rules and procedures. Please submit a speaker card or comment card to the city clerk before the meeting is called to order. This helps us manage the meeting and ensure everyone has a fair opportunity to be heard. Speakers must be recognized by the Mayor before addressing the City Council. Once at the podium, please direct all comments to the City Council as a whole rather than to individual members or to the audience. Courteous and orderly conduct is expected from everyone present in the chambers. Disruptive behavior such as booing, shouting, yelling, or stomping of feet is not permitted. Any person whose conduct disrupts or interferes with the meeting may be warned by the mayor and, if the disruption continues, may be asked to leave the council chambers. This meeting is being recorded and broadcast live on the Chandler Channel and online. Thank you for your participation in maintaining a respectful environment for all.

Good evening and welcome to the September 14th, 2026 regular meeting of the Chandler City Council. We'd like to call this meeting to order and ask our clerk to please take the role.

Mayor Harkey.

Here.

Vice Mayor Encinas. Here. Council Member Poston. Here. Council Member Ellis. Present. Council Member Orlando. Here. Council Member Harris.

Here.

And Council Member Hawkins.

Here.

We have a quorum.

All right, thank you. Our invocation tonight will be brought forth by Elder Bruce Lundquist of Faith Church, following the Pledge of Allegiance by Girl Scout Troop 201. Elder Bruce, please stand, everybody.

Thank you, Mayor Hartke. Heavenly Father, may your name be blessed. Your greatness is clear to all. Thank you. that you love mankind and have an abundance of mercy toward us. We pray now for your presence during this city council meeting. First, we thank you for the city of Chandler and the peaceful place it is. We pray for safety and happiness among the diverse people who call this city home. May there be unity here and a genuine desire to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. We thank you for our city council members and we pray for unity and wisdom among them. May their decisions be fair, impartial, and made with the good of this community in mind. Grant them patience and clear judgment, especially on the matters before them tonight. Thank you, Lord, for those in attendance here this evening. May your blessing be upon each of them and upon their families. We also lift up those in our city who are struggling tonight, those without work searching for it, those who are sick or awaiting difficult news, and those who are grieving the loss of someone they love. Lord, be near to them in a special way. Give them strength for today and hope for tomorrow and surround them with people who will care for them well. And Lord, I want to always lift up our first responders. Keep them safe as they serve this city. I pray that our police officers would be respected and protected when they go out on a call, and I ask that you would put a hedge of protection around them and their families. We ask all of this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Amen. Girl Scout 201.

Please join Girl Scout Team 201 for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible,

Thank you. I'll make a confession. I whispered the pledge because I wanted to hear all of your voices. This is Girl Scout Troop 201. They are a multi-level group with junior Brownies and Daisies. From fifth grade to kindergarten, they represent Haley, Ryan, Rice, and Chaparral elementary schools. And we're grateful tonight that you guys came and joined us. So thank you so much. Next on our agenda is scheduled public appearances. I would like to invite Councilmember Poston to join me up front. First up, our service recognition. So let me turn it over to our city manager, John Pompierre.

Mayor and council, first I'd like to invite Matt Dunbar to come on down. And while he's doing that, we'd like to ask Helen Parker to come on down to be recognized for 20 years of service.

Thank you, City Manager, Mayor and Council. Helen began her career with the city in September 2006 as a financial analyst in the Management Services Department before transitioning to the Budget Division in October of 2008. She was promoted to a Senior Budget and Research Analyst in August of 2015 and since January of 2023 has served in her current role as Budget and Research Principal Analyst. Throughout 20 years of exceptional service, Helen has played a critical role in helping the city achieve its goals by ensuring that resources are thoughtfully planned and responsibly budgeted. She has been instrumental in developing, tracking, and managing the city's utility financial rate models, helping ensure funding is available to meet both current needs and future demands. Helen is also our resident capital program guru, helping to plan and ensure funding is available for projects throughout the city that benefit residents every day. Beyond her technical expertise, Helen is an all around fantastic person who is always willing to help. She is a tremendous asset to the city and the many departments that rely on her and is especially appreciated by me and everyone in the budget department. Thank you, Helen, for 20 years of outstanding service, dedication, and commitment to our organization in the city, and we look forward to the next 20 years. 15 years? 15, 10, 10 years.

Next, I'll ask John Sefton to come on down and Ben Hernandez for 25 years of service to the city of Chandler.

Good evening, mayor and council, and thank you, Mr. City Manager. I'd like to welcome Ben Hernandez down. Ben joined the team on September 18th, 2001. I think we all remember that week. As a general maintenance technician, bringing skill, reliability, and a craftsman's eye to the masonry and concrete work here in the city. In his early years, Ben's versatility quickly became evident as he was loaned to buildings and facilities while he still supported parks maintenance. After returning full-time to parks, he steadily expanded his experience taking on community services support and irrigation maintenance with his trademark calm and capable approach. Ben is known for his thoughtful communication, steady humor, and a problem solvers mindset that keeps projects moving and people at ease. Fast forward to 2023, Ben was entrusted with one of the roles of our park maintenance supervisor in recognition of his mentorship, his integrity, and his 25 years of unwavering service. Given the now 70 park locations and the myriads of systems that equip them, Ben and his team have truly become certified gremlin hunters. throughout our system. His legacy is one of commitment, craftsmanship, and a genuine care for the community and the staff that he serves. Ben, thank you for a quarter century of service to the city of Chandler.

All right, we have a couple, several, three proclamations tonight. The first is National Good Neighbor Day. I could have Priscilla Quintana, Chandler's Neighborhood Preservation Program Manager, come on up and join us, and team. All right, the team is requesting that Leah Powell join them up here. Whereas National Good Neighbor Day is observed annually on September 28th and provides an opportunity to recognize the importance of kindness, friendship, and community amongst neighbors, and whereas strong neighbors are built when residents look out for one another, share their time and talents, and work together to create safe, welcoming, and connected communities, And whereas the city of Chandler recognizes that good neighbors strengthen the fabric of our community by building relationships, welcoming others, lending a helpful hand and creating a sense of belonging. And whereas Chandler is proud of the many residents, neighborhood champions and community organizations who volunteer their time and work together alongside city staff and elected officials to make their neighborhoods stronger and more vibrant, And whereas the City of Chandler encourages residents throughout our community to celebrate National Good Neighbor Day by getting to know their neighbors, sharing kindness, and finding meaningful ways to strengthen their neighborhoods, now therefore I, Kevin Hartke, Mayor of the City of Chandler, do hereby proclaim September 28, 2026, as National Good Neighbor Day. Woo!

do i have someone explaining this a little more all right thank you good evening mayor and council this evening we've invited members of the envision committee made up of various city departments to receive national good neighbor day proclamation because they have been dedicated community partners since the envision initiative launched in 2020. The Envision initiative was created to give residents a stronger voice in shaping the future of their neighborhoods, to create opportunities for neighbors to come together, share ideas, identify priorities, and to work alongside city staff to turn those ideas into actions. The Envision Committee has played an important role in making visions come true through participation in neighborhood events, activities, and conversations. Committee members have helped build connections among residents and encouraged neighbors to become more involved in a place they call home. That's exactly what National Good Neighbor Day is.

Let's do a photo.

All right, if you guys can all move. Keep going, keep going. There you go. Our next proclamation is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. If we could have Katie Kane, Victim Services Senior Program Manager and Chandler's Domestic Violence Corporation Commission come up. Councilmember Poston, would you read this one?

Come on up.

Okay.

Sorry, let me put on my glasses. I brought mine down. Thank you.

I just was a little unprepared. I apologize.

All right. Whereas one in three teens in the United States is victim of teen dating violence, which involves physical, sexual, emotional, or verbal abuse from an intimate or dating partner. And whereas one in three women and one in four men experience physical violence by an intimate partner in their lifetime. And whereas, although limited statistics are available, it's estimated that 10% of the older adult population experience intimate partner domestic, And whereas nationally, intimate partner rape, physical assault, and stalking generate an estimated $6 billion in annual costs, with more than $4 billion directly tied to immediate medical and mental health care services. And whereas together with the City of Chandler Domestic Violence Commission, law enforcement, prosecutors, and community agencies educate and support families to help prevent domestic violence in Chandler. Now, therefore, on behalf of Kevin Hartke, Mayor of the City of Chandler, we do hereby proclaim October 26th as Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Thank you.

Somebody going to speak? Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, City Council. Thank you so much for making the space and the time today to talk about domestic violence, the importance of awareness and prevention. As you heard from the statistics, we know that we are among survivors here in this room. including myself. So for me, it's more than just being part of the commission. It's feeling a warm embrace from the community of Chandler as a survivor and as an advocate. And I just, they do a great job of the commission. And just thank you so much for giving us an opportunity to be up here and for the proclamation.

And before you all go, we have an event coming up soon too. Would someone like to share what that is to our public?

Thank you. So we do have our annual event which serves as awareness for domestic violence. It's not in October. We are so excited that we can't keep it in October. We have to do it in September. So every single year we have a different theme and this year it's Domestic violence, all ages, all stages, recognizing that every single community, whether it's teenagers, children, young adults, older adults, they can all experience domestic violence. And we're going to have great conversations, panels, and food to bring the community together to learn more about how to support.

And it's going to be on September 29th, the important part.

Next is the library card sign up month. If I could have Rochelle Krzyk and Joelle Miller with the Chandler Library. I was originally going to try to give this to council member Poston. I'm always fearful of the words that librarians might slip in here. How many syllables can you add to one of these? All right, whereas libraries are vibrant hubs for community connection, learning, and discovery, offering free access to diverse programs, literature, and resources, and whereas the Chandler Public Library is a place for everyone, offering access to educational materials, technology, and services that support lifelong learning for people of all ages and backgrounds. Whereas Chandler residents are eligible for a free library card, providing a passport to knowledge and adventure within their library, whether exploring digital resources online or visiting one of Chandler's four library branches and the Discovery Library Outreach Vehicle, And whereas the Chandler Public Library cardholders enjoy access to thousands of books, magazines, movies, and music, as well as digital resources, including e-books, audio books, streaming media, and opportunities for language and professional learning. And whereas library... Card Sign-Up Month is a time to celebrate our libraries and encourage residents to register for their Chandler Public Library Card, empowering them to pursue their interests, spark their curiosity, and achieve their goals without financial barriers. Now, therefore, I, Kevin Hartke, Mayor of the City of Chandler, do hereby proclaim September 2026 as Library Card Sign-Up Month. Woo. Would one of you like to talk?

Thank you, Mayor Hartke. I would just like to let everyone know what an outstanding public library system we have here in Chandler. And it's thanks to our amazing staff, the support of city administration, city council, Mayor Hartke, the community who comes in to use us every single day. And we have a special initiative this year, and that is Joelle and her outreach team are working on getting a library card into the hands of every single first grader in Chandler. So that is a really big initiative for us this year. So if you have a first grader, bring them into the library. We're trying to get out to schools to make sure that we can achieve that goal, but we're really excited about that this year.

I applaud your literacy efforts and goals. Thank you all so much. All right, photo.

Actually, you're good right there. Oh, sorry. All right.

We've got a couple of exciting things to close out our time up in front. Next is recognition of Pranath Annapurthi from Basis Chandler. Come on up, Pranath. Let me tell you a little bit about this young man. Pranesh, as I mentioned, goes to Basis Chandler. He's the national second place winner in the International Economics Olympics. Any of our economic team here tonight? Well, we're going to have to... We got an intern right here. Let's get him. Pranesh is a senior at Basis Chandler. He recently represented Team USA at the 2026 International Economic Olympiad in China. He earned a silver medal in the business case competition. We are so proud of you. Would you like to tell us about your trip and what it has meant to you and what are your plans after this other than serving as maybe a future intern?

Yeah, for sure.

First, I'd like to thank the city council and everyone for having me here today. To tell me a bit more about my experiences, I recently competed in the International Economics Olympiad in China, like the mayor just said. It was honestly an amazing experience as I got to connect with some of the brightest economic students in the world, and I've learned a lot more than I could have ever imagined. Me personally, putting my personal bias for economics aside, I think that economics and financial literacy is one of the most important things that students should be learning in high school as I believe that it truly prepares them for their life ahead and truly believe that in the future we should all work towards full financial literacy and I'm fully prepared to collaborate and assist in any way I can to make that happen over the next few years. Thank you. After a senior, first, I would obviously like to go to college, pursue even more economics, and then potentially come back to Chandler, come back to Arizona, where I can believe I can truly make an impact. And first, increasing financial literacy and also increasing the economic development of Arizona and Chandler. Thank you.

All right.

Let's do a photo.

Councilmember Poston, weren't you involved with some financial literacy things? Didn't I go to a couple things that you were involved originally? What was that? Tell us.

The Arizona Council on Economic Education. We've done pro bono work for them doing videos on Teacher of the Year Awards, and you know I love education. So I think Puneet actually had participated in that, and we are actually working with city staff to see if we can get them an internship. So we're way ahead of you. We're working on it.

I'm not surprised here. Well, very good. Our last recognition is the Chandler National Little League. Anyone from the team, come on down. So the Chandler National 12U All-Stars recently represented Arizona in the Little League Baseball West Region Tournament last month. They had an undefeated season. The Chandler National Little League's team success is driven by hard work, teamwork, and dedication. And Council, if you guys want to come down, I know many of you joined them at their sending away party in South Chandler, and I'm just going to announce it. So I know next year, a team from... Tainan Little League wants to come here and hopefully we'll be in a position to host them. And then they want to take our Little League team and figure out how it works and go to Tainan in two years. So very exciting to expand the international reach of Chandler National Little Leagues. Would you like to say anything, anybody?

Well, I just want to say thank you for this recognition. We can't be here without all of you, the community, and really without the great players like Alex and the rest of the team. We wouldn't be anywhere without them. So thank you so much for the support. Alex, anything you want to say? Thank you so much.

All right. All right, Carolyn, tell us where to stand.

I know. I've lost it. Thank you so much. Did you ?

All right, council. Next on our agenda is the consent agenda. Then we have a study session. There is one item on the consent agenda of this meeting. Council, how would you like to proceed?

Vice Mayor. I move to approve the consent agenda of September 14, 2026, a regular meeting, item number one.

We have a motion. Is there a second? Second by Councilmember Ellis. I don't think there could be any recusals on that one. Council, please vote.

Councilmember Harris?

Yes. Yes.

Motion carries unanimously.

Very good. That concludes our council meeting tonight. And welcome to the council study session of September 14th. Clerk, please take the roll.

Mayor Herkey.

Here.

Vice Mayor Encinas. Here. Council Member Poston.

Here.

Council Member Ellis. Present. Council Member Orlando. Here. Council Member Harris. And Council Member Hawkins. Here. We have a quorum.

Great. I've got two questions that are comments that have been called in by Council for tonight. The first is item number, question number five, Council Member Orlando.

Who's coming up? We're seeing you a lot tonight, huh? So Jason, I know the first amendment we had on this was mitigated. This is the second amendment. What are we doing here?

Yes, through the mayor, Councilman Rolando. So this amendment will cover additional concrete work, curb and gutter. As we went through the project, we identified cracked concrete in the vicinity of the project that we wanted to get repaired. So that's a big part of it. Wayfinding signage and trailhead signage as well is included. This change order will leverage federal funding. So it will be 94% grant funded and 5.7% locally funded.

So was this street repairs that we would have to make eventually and you just add it to this contractor? I guess that's the clarification I'm trying to figure out here.

Yes, correct. Through the mayor, Councilman Orlando. These curb, gutter, sidewalks that we identified that were cracked would have to be replaced at some point. So we preemptively included that.

We just made it part of this project. Okay. Thank you. Appreciate you. It's a great project. Looking good. How many total miles was this again?

It's about two and a half miles. Thank you.

Appreciate it.

Thanks.

Any other questions? Seeing none. Thank you, Jason.

Thank you.

Item number 21, Councilmember Ellis looking for the police agreement on first responder cancer screening services. Jason. Chief Jason.

CJ. CJ. Good evening, Mayor and Council, specifically Councilmember Ellis. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to highlight this fantastic program. The amendment before you tonight adds eligible Chandler Police Department employees to the Fire Department's existing cancer screening agreement through the Vincere Cancer Center. The goal of our program is fairly straightforward. That is to detect cancer and other serious medical conditions where treatment is generally more impactful and effective. This is a voluntary one-time pilot program for approximately 239 of our employees. that are age 40 and older. The pilot program is funded entirely through our forfeiture fund with no additional budget appropriation required. What we understand is that throughout our careers, police employees experience cumulative occupational risks similar to those of firefighters. These include chronic stress, disrupted sleep from shift work, traffic-related concerns from working in the roadways, hazardous material exposure, as well as emergency response exposures of things of that nature. These risks simply build and compile over one's career and can contribute to cancer, cardiac conditions, and other serious illnesses. Early detection benefits the employee and can reduce extended leave, disability medical retirement, overtime backfills, and the loss of our experienced personnel. This is targeted as both an employee wellness initiative as well as a workforce readiness initiative. The programs that we aim to provide our employees with include a multi-cancer early detection blood test, cardiac blood testing, a whole body MRI, oncology consultation, breast cancer blood testing for eligible women in our department, and the participation of this is voluntary in nature, and medical decisions will remain between the employee and medical provider consistent with what Chandler Fire has been participating in since 2024. Council originally approved this first responder screening agreement with Vincere Cancer Center in June of 2024, and the agreement has been extended through June of 2027 as of now. The amendment before you simply expands the eligibility to the police department, and we have budgeted approximately $1.1 million, again, from our forfeiture fund to cover this. Services are billed at an established per unit rate, which is covered in the contract as well. And with that, I'm certainly happy to take any questions or follow-up.

Thank you, Mayor. As a first responder, I always look forward when we can put something out that's going to help those who are serving us in the front line. When this rolled out in 2024, I remember asking specifically why police was not involved. So when I saw now, finally, we added police because I knew of the risks that you just mentioned, they are numerous and there was quite a bit of them. Piling up and the mental health part also is not even mentioned, but I did that to what we're doing right now is really going to. Push I think for us to see you guys in the better light and our goal is always to send you home healthier than we receive you every single time question for you right now. How are we going to make sure that all the 239 people participate? Because you just said it's voluntarily. And I know with FIRE, we didn't mandate it either, but we had incentive for them to participate.

We're going to embark on a robust campaign to make sure that every eligible employee that can get this benefit partakes in it. We anticipate or we hope for 100% participation rate. That is ultimately our goal. That is where the funding number derives from, given those amount of employees and the average cost per employee for all of these various screenings. We are going to be offering this as on-duty time as well. So our folks are not going to have to use their leave time. We'll afford them time during their shift to go up, get these screenings done, and then come back. That way we hope to get even more participation and more buy-in out of this program.

Yes, that's what's going to be one of my suggestions. Are you going to bring it to them? Because a lot of times having them, people to drive to somewhere, because they have to go in into the centers to get tested. But when you give it to them during the time that they are working, I think you definitely are going to get great participation. Thank you, Chief, and thank you for everything that you all do.

Any additional questions? Thank you, Chief. Thank you. Council, those are all the questions that have been called in. We'll see you Thursday at an exec session, a study session, and then again in these chambers. Have a good night.

I love Chandler for providing a place to play table tennis and providing top of the line tables to play. It's an excellent place for recreational sports.

Hashtag love Chandler. The Chandler Cultural Foundation determined it was time to create a donor wall that was reflective of the gathering space the center had become. Working with the city's visual arts coordinator, a call for artists and their design ideas for the new wall went out into the community.

We looked up a lot of like donor walls in some of the libraries and some of the local places that we have access to and they all look like they're meant to be seen from a distance and they felt unapproachable and not necessarily inviting. And to me, any art that I am interested in, I feel it should be accessible. And at the time we were like, what if there was a wall that was not a wall, but it was more like an installation, but it's still a wall. And you could play around with it. It had multiple sides and it would tell you a story depending on which side you approach it from. There were just ideas that we wrote down in a proposal not fully knowing how to do them. And once we wrote them down, we were like, well, I think we need to find somebody who can help make this real.

From there, we were able to say, OK, well, 12 columns is the right number of columns for this project. They need to be about a foot on each face. And to keep people from getting pinched when they're spinning, we need a little bit of extra space. I think another part of the inspiration is just seeing those kind of graphic images that can change as you move by them and understanding how that works in a very small level and seeing if we can make it happen on a larger, more interactive level.

The concept was to honor the donors, but also have something interactive and really exciting for people actually visiting the space to touch and