Mayor and Council - Regular Meeting

8 p.m. Item number five, adjournment of the special meeting. Do I have a motion to adjurnn? Here, Mr. Montana. I move that we adjourn the session. Special meeting. Special meeting. Uh, do I have a second? Second. Motion by Mr. Montano, second by Mrs. Dilman. All in favor say I. I I any n I have it we we adjourn the special meeting at 5:29

ready. Thank you. Mr. Mayor, it's time. I'd like to call this public hearing special meeting to order at 5:45. Roll call, please. Mayor Jose Grihalva, here. Mayor Protemper Ray Shelton. Council member Melissa Rodriguez, present. Council member Jose Montano, here. Council member Gustavo Duraso Jr. Council member Maria Dilman here. Council member Richard Aosta, present. City Manager Anoro, present. City attorney Dennis Fitzgiven, present. Treasure Alejandro Martinez here. Thank you. Thank you. Item number three, persons wishes to address the council in writing or verbally on any item not on the agenda on this public hearing. Do we have anyone, Miss Clerk?

We do not, Mr. Mayor. Thank you. Item number four, discussion decision on public hearing. On item A, the purpose of the public hearing is to allow public participation regarding the 5311 transit grant application. Miss, I don't want to butcher the last name. Goyovich. Go. Go. Yes. Go. Thank you. Sorry about that. Next time I'll tell staff sound it out so I can I could do it on the form. Thank you. You're welcome. The floor is yours.

Okay. Good evening, Mayor and Council. I am Perry Govich, the transit manager for the city of Douglas. The purpose of this public me hearing is to afford an opportunity for interested persons or agencies to be heard with respect social economic environmental aspects of our application to ADOT for continued funding of the transit department. Thank you. Mhm.

This public hearing is for anyone who wants to make comments on this. Um any questions, comments regarding to this transit grant application. We'll give it five minutes, Miss Goyovich. And if nobody talk, we'll adjourn the meeting. It's you can sit. I've instructed staff to put these at 5 like around 5:55 so they're not too awkward because we just then have to wait then have to wait for the regular meeting and then we could always start the regular meeting later not earlier so we could get a lot of discussion out something like this next time. My w just started

Seems like we have no conversation for the uh uh transit uh grant application. Is there a motion to adjurnn from councel? Mayor, Mrs. Rodriguez, I move to adjurnn. Have a second. Second motion by Mrs. Rodriguez, second by Mrs. Dilman. All in favor say I. I. Any nays? Eyes have it. We adjourn the special meeting at 5:50

Mr. Mayor, it's time.

I try to conserve the battery. I'd like to call this regular meeting to order at 6 PM. Uh let's stand for the ple uh let's stand for the pledge of allegiance and keep standing for the invocation by pastor Luis Saragosa from Grace Ministries Church of Douglas. Yes.

Well, it's time to it's time to pray. God be with you. Thank you Lord for giving me the opportunity to be with this wise men and women leaders of of the Douglas uh community today. Praise be your holy name. Lord, your word says that uh whatever two or three are reunited in your name, you will be with them. Your word also says that all the authorities were established by you. uh and we believe that please give Douglas authorities the wisdom to take every decision based on your word. Lord, then you are going to bless us and all we do will be prospered for the benefit of all who live in this community. God bless our authorities. God bless the city of Douglas. God bless the great state of Arizona. And God bless the United States of America. Amen. Pastor, uh, really quick before you leave, can you tell us about your ministry, where your church is located, and what hours of service you have or the hours?

Sure. Uh, our our ministry is, uh, at, uh, 11th Street and 5:35 is the 11th Street, not far from here. Or, uh, or services are at uh, uh, Sundays at uh, 11 11:00. That's the only service that we have. The only service. All right. Thank you. Appreciate it. You're welcome here anytime. Thank you for all your work. Thank you very much. Item number four, roll call, please. Mayor Jose Grialva, here. Mayor Protemper Ray Shelton. Council member Melissa Rodriguez, present. Council member Jose Montano, here. Council member Gustav Duraso, present. Council member Maria Dilman, here. Council member Richard Aosta,

present. City manager, present. City attorney Dennis Vitz Gibbons, present. City Treasurer Alejandro Martinez here. Thank you. Item number five, events update.

Hello from the Douglas Public Library. This is what's happening at your library in the month of February. As always, you can pick up a calendar just like this one here at the library, or you can follow us on Facebook and Instagram to learn more. Monday, we have relaxing activities from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. for all ages. You can come make Valentine's Day cards, do a puzzle, play a board game, and more. Tuesdays, we have after school activities at our Steam Club at 3:30 p.m. We do something different every week like arts and crafts, making snacks, learning about money and budgeting through games, and more Steam related activities. Wednesdays, we have movies at 3 p.m. with free popcorn and juice. Thursdays, we have story time for the little ones. We will read books, sing, dance, and have playtime afterwards. This Thursday is our special Valentine's Day story time. We currently have a nutrition class going on for 18 to 29 year olds. Um, that is on Tuesdays at 400 p.m. You can come learn practical ways to eat healthy. We also have every third Wednesday of the month office hours with staff members from Congresswoman Adelita Grihalva and that is at 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. every third Wednesday of the month. Our Valentine's Day paint night is on February the 20th. You can come register here at the library or by phone. All materials are included and that is at 5:00 p.m. Paint night for adults on February 20th. We also have our our book club that you can pick up a copy here at the library and then join us for a discussion at the end of the month on the 25th of February at 6 pm and lots of other things. If you want to learn more, you can pick up a calendar. February is library lovers month. So we would love for you to show your love for the library by visiting us, picking up a calendar, join us for the activities, checking out a book, using all of our

services, and we hope to see you here for Library Lovers Month and for the rest of the year. Thank you.

Hello from the aquatic and recreation departments. Here are a few of our upcoming events. On February 12th is an author playwright performance at the Douglas Visitor Center. Doors open at 5:00 PM. This performance is based on the book Rolo about the first Latino governor of Arizona. The first 114 people to pre-register will receive a free signed copy of this book in honor of Arizona's 114th birthday. Join us to kick off the America 250 celebrations. Join us at the Coochis County Fairgrounds for Valentine's Day for a lovely evening with Gemini and Lowe's app zone. Tickets are $20 each. Physical copies can be bought at the Aquatic Center, the water department, and Illusions Boutique on G Avenue. Starting on February 16th, the Aquatic Center will open for lab swim Monday through Friday from 5:00 to 8:00 in the morning and 4:00 to 7:00 in the afternoon, as well as Saturdays from 7 to 10:00 in the morning. Here are a few updates from the aquatic center. The surge tank has been drained, cleaned, and replastered. The facility fence has been sanded down, and repainted by staff, and demolition of the men's restroom showers has been completed. Thank you for being so patient as we work to upgrade our facilities. Thank you on behalf of the aquatic and recreation departments. We hope to see you at these upcoming events and at Open Swim. Thank you. And thank you to to our library and our aquatics and and parks and wreck. They're the ones that have every something for us to do every month. Sometimes a misconception is that there's nothing to do in Douglas. I think it's our job to advertise and market what we do so everybody could be well informed. So, thank you to our staff. Next item, item number six, mayor and council member updates and or reports. Again, we'll start with warts. Ward one.

Yes. So, I just want to share um that um Rosa from the Boys and Girls Club was gracious enough to give us a tour of the facility and um there's a lot of potential there. It's exciting what uh they have planned for the Boys and Girls Club. Um so, couple things. Um, I know part of the space is still not fully functional and I know a lot of the city has a lot of um equipment that was left behind by the act. And I know um just an idea is maybe to donate some of those desks and kind of things that can be used at for schools. Maybe we can donate them to the schools and help uh uh empty out some of those um spaces at the Boys and Girls Club. Um so I think we need to kind of rush it because there's a lot of potential there and if we want more kids to participate and join, we need to get that Boys and Girls Club up and rent running to its full capacity. So, if we can help them any way that we can, I'd really appreciate it.

Thank you. Um, more too.

Um, I don't have a whole lot. I know be brief. We have lots of people, but um I I know you guys are know some of you guys know that I'm an golfer. So, uh, what we've been working on is, uh, inviting other other areas to come golf. We've already had Kana down. Uh the March we're having Sappford come down. They're probably going to bring $25 golfers and for every person that comes down they spend money down here. So that's something that we're going to be working on and in the future I don't know if you guys know or in the past I should say that other schools would not come play golf in Douglas because of the condition of the golf course. So uh the city of Douglas has has put a lot of effort money uh into the the golf course. So, we're we're excited that the word is getting out and uh we're also hoping uh that that we can have some invitational to maybe some tournament for high school kids, not just for for older people, which is kind of a misconception. A lot of people play golf, not just older people. So, um so that's coming hopefully in the future. Uh we're going to we're going to keep working on that and and uh that's going to be hoping a good resource to get people down here. Uh because that's what we need. We need track.

Oh, thank you. W three.

Um so I went on a tour with uh uh of the airport and also the golf see uh and what say um and what condition they were and what the projects upcoming projects are. also uh a lot of uh ideas on how to simulate the the economy events uh using the Gulf and the airport as resources. Also had a meet and greet uh where four constituents went uh had pizza, donuts and cookies. Uh and we uh came across that in 2028 or 2029 is actually 100y year anniversary of the Miller Airheart um air derby. So that's a good idea to make it into a big um event because it's uh how many cities are able to say that we had the air derby with the Miller Airheart here. So uh if that's would come to fruition uh we would have to start planning from right now talking to different cities and who would attend to that uh event. Okay. and uh did talk to a couple uh con constituents uh saying that uh they've been seeing a lot about cats, stray cats, and uh they feel that a lot of people are eating them. So, we're looking into like uh talking with animal control and see where we're

first international airport. Are you comfortable directing staff to look into that event for the Amelia? Yes, you can direct staff. We're already on We're already on it. Okay. Um, W four is not here. Mr. Shelton, I I forgot to mention on the roll call. Uh, he's excused. I mentioned in the other meeting attending to a family emergency health-wise. Miss Dilman,

thank you, Mayor. I've um had a few events that I've been at. Um, I did visit the Last Supper Museum and I'm very impressed with that museum. Uh, it's very well put together. I didn't realize how many uh different types of um last suppers there are from woodwork uh different countries different depict the way people depict it and I was very impressed and you uh Eric thank you for the tour and we also when I was there there were five or six ladies from Wilcox and they were visiting Douglas they spent a day in Douglas they to pick a city, town or somewhere in Arizona or in Coochis County and they make a day of it and they go eat lunch, they go see the art and they were very very very happy and they were very impressed with the museum. There was another couple there while I was there as well. Um, Eric, thank you for the tour, the great conversation and feedback. Um, I can tell how much uh you want our community to grow and prosper uh especially through tourism and I thank you for promoting your museum because it's lovely, lovely. Thank you. Um, I attended the Elks Chili Cookoff. There were many varieties of chili that were very delicious and I congratulate the winners and thank you to the Elks for all that they do uh with our community. Uh the big event was the Thunder Mountain wrestling event. Uh there was around 200 people there that night, children and adults. Uh everyone was having a great time cheering and booing along with myself and the mayor. I even asked them to put the mayor in the ring, but they didn't listen. And um

you don't know how excited she was for that.

It was good. It was a lot of fun. Um the the wrestlers uh they have a great following in Douglas. I was noticing that and they follow the wrestlers and their storyline and they put so much into the match that makes it makes everybody get into it which which I was really really impressed with. The most thing I liked is at the end they make sure that they come out, they talk to the attendees, especially the kids. They enjoy interacting with the kids, pictures, autographs, um, you name it. They spend a lot of time at the end and I was very impressed with that. They kept thanking us for for having them come and they enjoyed Douglas. They enjoy being here and we will see them in April. Thank you, Mr. Dix.

Man, I had to follow Miss Dilman. Okay, I'm just going to keep it really brief. Um, again, I have been talking constituents and uh, you know, just driving around town. One of the biggest concerns that they, it's not a concern basically. It's just that we know for a fact that the port of entry is already being constructed as we speak, except that they don't see it visibly. they, you know, you drive by the highway, there's nothing out there you could see. So, they were talking about maybe tours taken out there, maybe, you know, I said, but it's just a secure construction site. There's no way you could get in there. But, I did ask Mr. Pedrosa for some pictures. He did send them to me and I did put them on my Facebook page so just so they could witness that, you know, they are coming along. So that's probably the biggest thing that are a lot of constituents here is here and within the community and they did bring up the fact that you know you know you guys get so much grant money there's so much you know but it's our responsibility to educate them as to how that grant money can be used. So you know road everybody wants their curves fixed their streets paved and so forth and I know our new asphalt machine is coming along. Uh so again you know just um we are progressing you just can't visually see it but it's coming along. So that's probably the biggest thing I hear from from many talking. So I just tell them is just trust me you know I promise you that here within 10 years you'll see a big difference in town. So that's basically it.

Thank you. Uh for my first report, I'd like to report that uh I I've scheduled quarterly meetings with law enforcement, whether it's CBP, uh Coochis County Sheriff. Uh we did have a call to the public talk about the flock cameras. We'll be having a study session on the flock cameras, uh so we can uh ask questions and then the community can also ask questions. I'd like to thank the religious leaders for the invitation to the first responders brunch. Uh it was a lot of different departments there and it was very much appreciated, especially what they do for us. I'd like to thank Senator Mark Kelly for the $20 million connector road. Something we've been waiting for uh for so long. It's been uh uh it was a whole burden off our shoulders, I think. Um and he's been advocating for it for years and we finally got it. So, we want to thank him. Um I'm not going to say I lied because I'm a politician, but the last time we had this uh report, I said we're going to have a futures meeting. So, right after the meeting, I get an email on ICSE, which is economic development. And um it was going to be in Phoenix the next week, the day of the futures meeting. Uh and we talked about who's going to go. There was a lot of relevant uh individuals there for us in Douglas. So, we went we canceled the futures meeting. Uh but we did uh get a hold of a representative for a very big need that we have here and they're going to come to town and visit us. So, uh, that that trip was just worth that because of our constituents and what they know we need. Without going into too much detail, like to also thank, uh, Cornerstone Group, uh, Brian and Bernice, they got me. So, if you know me, I hate traveling. And I told staff, if I'm going to be up there, you get me in whatever meetings you can. So, not only after ICSC, then we went to a gym uh, to promote the boxing event on March 21st. So, we announced that they're with the kids that were going to box. So, they were excited. They didn't know about it until we announced it there. So, I mean, that was a loud room and it was a very big gym. And then the day after, uh, I talked to the state legislators, which included, uh, our

representation in in the senator and the two representatives. Uh, but we also, uh, talked to, um, uh, the the appropriations chair, and this is what I want to really make a point of emphasis. We we are now asking the state for $30 million for the infrastructure out to the commercial port which is going to come out of WIFIA. Um that's the ask that we have uh anyways. Um and when I went and they um and they said you know what's the bill number and all that then the legislator said I have a note here. Oh it's way too much money. So they didn't know what we were doing. They didn't know the purpose of the commercial port. They didn't know that it was going to be the most modern in the nation. They didn't know that we're reaching out to Mexico and reaching out to these different companies. And they also didn't know that I, you know, I basically told them, I'm not only advocating for Douglas, but I'm advocating for the whole state of Arizona. We want as much industry as we can here in Douglas. If we can't handle it here, there's Coochis County in general. We can't handle it in Coochis County, there's Puma County. And then last but not least, there's also Maricopa County somewhere around the map. So, um, it it was uh after that conversation, he basically said, "I didn't know. We don't want to hear from your staff. We don't want to hear from your lobbyists. We want to hear from the public servants, the public officials, because we're supposed to be representing you all. We're supposed to be telling them what you all need. So, uh, as far as, uh, with that, uh, I'd like to encourage council. We need to get up there. We need to talk to our representation, whether it's state or federal. And we have to be the voice of the people. It can't be our staff because our staff is representing us. We're representing the people. So, it's it's the staff. You want to take the bureaucracy out of the way and take the people's voice up there to the legislators. So, I think we need to make time for it. I know we're all busy, but at the same time, the bigger picture is the advancement of the city because we want more people to live here. That's going to help our school system. That's going to help our sales tax. That's going to help the businesses grow. So,

we need to be a little bit more active on that front. Um, Thunder Mountain Wrestling. Well, Mrs. Dilman. Basically, she said the whole the the whole part of it. She tried to get me beat up and then you I told her, you know, you're I'm a bad bump away from you having Mayor Shelton up here. He's not here so I can pick on him. Uh but it was really great. Uh I did tell her, you know, how many of these people do you know that are from Douglas? And at least 95% of them are not from Douglas. And I could and I told her for the past year, these are all different people. So, we're spending money sponsoring this event to bring different people from Douglas. That's tourism. That's marketing. That's the that's the hook that we need for hotels so they can stay here. We need more lodging. They stay here. Guess what? Then we can push them to the museums. We can push them to the retail stores, to downtown, to our specialty shops. So, I mean, it's very important to build on these things. Not just say, "Well, it's wrestling. The mayor likes it. The mayor wants to get beat up." You know, it's it's not about that. It's and like she said, it's about the kids, too. The kids had something to do on a Saturday night. Instead of being out on the street, instead of, you know, doing god knows what, they had fun. They had their energy spent. The kids that were sitting by us were screaming like crazy. I'm sure they slept good that night. We need to give them something to do. So, it's very much appreciated. Thunder Mountain Wrestling loves Douglas. They're based out of Sarah Vista, but they told me we care more for Douglas because of how our community is treating them. So, they're very much appreciated, too. And also with that, I don't know if you all remember, but uh Thunder Mountain Wrestling was also a catalyst in bringing Synergy Home Care to have an office front in Douglas. They're going to be opening uh their re their uh uh storefront on Coochis Avenue and they're going to have a they wanted to have a block party and uh they said, you know, what if we have this what if and that's when I kind of told them, you know, we have Energized Douglas. We should be taking it out into the community. Let's throw you the party for coming here. So, they're very much excited about that and

I told them bring the wrestlers too so they can so the kids can have fun out there. Um, I also had lunch with the Richard Rosales from APS. Very much appreciative on the partnership that we've had throughout the years. Um, and uh these these business lunches are important because I said, you know, Richard, what's up with the with the power over there at the asphalt plant? And he didn't know anything about it. So the day after then our staff gets notification that they're going to give us some a solar panel so so we can have power out there at the asphalt plant. So it's it's these connections, these relationships that matter. Um I went with Mr. Pedrosa because uh uh council wasn't available and also Mrs. Zipo wasn't available for the mayor manager lunchon in Tombstone. I know this is going to probably sound like a politician giving you you know political talk. The supervisor was there. she'll speak right now. Right now, but I just want to say every city has something to complain about, right? Every city was I need this, I need this, I need this. I'm going to confidently say we were the only city that said we're doing this, we're doing this. So, Douglas is in a good situation overall. I know we tend we tend to get pushed maybe aside for Bisby, aside for Tombstone, aside uh for Willox, Sansa Vista, and Fort Wuka. I mean, the only other one that was had a positive report was well, I think Wuka City because they got a sidewalk and they were very happy about that. Uh, so it's the little things they appreciate that we take for granted at the same time, but we're in a good place as far as the the county goes. And I really want to appreciate the relationship with Kathleen Gomez, who's the county supervisor, who um we had we had dinner. Uh oh, yeah, that too. Uh, but that that's that's a relationship. Again, I'll I'll regurgitate this every month when she's here. a relationship we've never had with the county. It's closer than it's ever been. So, I thank you for that. Um, we we also went to a governor visit uh yesterday and Sarah Vista, she was there. Uh, Governor Hobbes was there.

Uh, gave her a state of the city pamphlet. Asked her to advocate for us on that $30 million because we need both sides to agree with it. We need both legisl uh both political sides, but also she's going to be working with the state legislator and and with the govern and as the governor, she has a say on the budget. So, she said she would support us and it's very much appreciated. I also went to my first MPC meeting. Um, and I don't golf, but I told them whatever you need, let us know. It's budget season, so we talked not only about the greens, but we talked about what we call the country club, about the kitchen area, about the the the dining room area. Basically said, whatever you need, let us know. Um, and and you know, I I I know I get a lot of flack about me appointing myself to the committees. We should let council, but I'm looking at this as work. And no offense to anybody. I'm looking at this as work. I'm not going to go there and just, hey, whatever they need, it's business. Let's get it done. So, I could unappoint myself. I'm going to appoint myself somebody else on there. We need to get things done. So, hopefully we could uh get new um stuff for the kitchen area, for the dining room area. I told them, "Do you need monitors for the what the the reception area there where they have it? If you have um you know, funeral after funeral services, have pictures there or something, a sound system that they don't have. When we have our events, we have to take a speaker with a microphone out there and it's kind of embarrassing. Let's give Let's give the golf course in general what everything that it needs." And there was also an ask after talking to one of the board members for the Boys and Girls Club today, earlier today. Um, we could direct staff to inquire about the painting on the walls. Uh, we kind of left it in bad condition, so they'd like it painted, and I think since it's going to be their building, we should ask them what color they want and in what way they want it painted. Rant over. Thank you all for putting up with me. Item number seven, uh, reading of proclamations. And we have two.

The first proclamation in proclamation is anti-human trafficking month. Whereas human trafficking is a global plague that impacts millions of people each year including tens of thousands of Americans. And whereas the United States ranks as one of the worst countries globally for human trafficking. And whereas Arizona ranks in the top 15 states with the highest rates of human trafficking per capita. And whereas human trafficking impacts people across all demographics and ages including teenagers and children. And whereas the battle against human trafficking includes supporting efforts in schools, churches, nonprofits, law enforcement, and businesses to prevent human trafficking, intervene, dis disrupt, and dismantle human trafficking syndicates, and provide resources to and support for victims of human trafficking. And whereas the city of Douglas joins schools, churches, nonprofit organizations, law enforcement, federal and state coalitions, and the notincity.org or movement in our commitment to increase public awareness of the human trafficking epidemic that impacts our community, state, nation, and world. Now therefore, let it be resolved that I, Jose Gihalva, mayor and on behalf of the council, do hereby proclaim March 2026 as anti-human trafficking month in Douglas, Arizona, and urge our residents, churches, schools to work together to eliminate trafficking from our community and support the efforts of frontline organizations and law enforcement in their battle against human trafficking and to take a stand and say not in our city. And if we see something, let's say something to prevent it. Next proclamation is Arizona Statethood Day. Whereas on February 14th, 1912, Arizona was officially admitted as the 48th state of the United States of America, marking the culmination of decades of in aspiration and perseverance by its people to join the Union. And whereas Arizona's journey from territory to statehood embodies the resilient spirit, diversity, and enduring legacy of its communities, recognizing its indigenous heritage, pioneers, cultural landscapes, and economic contributions that have shaped state identity. And whereas this

year, Arizonans and communities across our state commemorate the 114th anniversary of Arizona statehood, a time to reflect on our history, accomplishments, and continued growth as citizens of this remarkable state. And whereas in 2026, our nation celebrates America 250, the semi consentennial anniversary of the founding of the United States of America, a historic milestone inviting all Americans to pause, reflect on our shared heritage, honor contri honor contributions from every community, and look forward to building a future of unity, opportunity, and service. And whereas the state of Arizona has established an Arizona America 250 commission to coordinate initiatives that uplift voices, preserve history, celebrate diversity, and connect community communities across Arizona in meaningful ways as part of this nationwide commemoration. And whereas the city of Douglas is proud to host the Raul Castro Otto otter Otter otter playright event on February 12, 2026 at the Douglas Visitor Center to celebrate Arizona's 114th statehood and serve as a local kickoff to America 250. And whereas Douglas Days, the Fourth of July celebrations and other community events in Douglas will incorporate America 250 themes promoting civic pride, historical appreciation, and community unity. Now therefore, let it be resolved that I, Jose Gihalva, mayor and on behalf of the council, do hereby proclaim February 14th, 2026 as Arizona Statethood Day in Douglas, commemorating the 114th anniversary of Arizona's admission into the union, and proclaim February 12th, 2026 as the official America 250 kickoff celebration in Douglas, encouraging all our residents and visitors to join the celebration of Arizona's history, our community's heritage, and the shared values that unite us as Americans. in February 14th, Los Absson. That's how you can se all celebrate uh Valentine's Day in America statehood. Thank you. Item number eight, persons wishing to address the council in writing or verbally on any item not on the agenda.

I have three. We'll start with um Diana Pacheco.

Good evening. Oops. Okay. Good evening, council members. Um, my name is Diana Pacheco and I wanted to reintroduce myself once again. I'm the market manager for Douglas Market. Uh, we've been organizing it since October and we're happy to say that we finally have our first starting date. It will be February 27th. Um, given to you were a couple flyers that if you would like to um, display wherever you can. Uh right now we're in the search for vendors as well as promoting as much as we can to um the Douglas uh community members who would like to participate. It will be every Friday. Uh we're currently going to be having our winter hours due to the cold in the afternoon. So it'll be from 2 to 6 until further notice. And that'll be every Friday for the exception of May 15th which would be a Douglas Day's uh celebration. It will be on the market will be held on Ted Street Park as well. And now that's about it.

Thank you. And keep us informed on the dates, please, and how the progress goes and how the city can help you out. Thank you so much. Is anybody else hot? Okay. Can we put it down a little bit? Whoever Alex, it's getting better. Oh, you're just sweating it out, my friend. That's um Next one is Rosa B. Rodriguez, Boys and Girls Club. And just to let you know, the walls have been painted. Okay. So, you guys are welcome to go see the new Well, I I already got my ask already then. That was quick. Thank you. Right.

Okay. So, I'm not here to talk about a building. I'm here to talk about a future for Douglas. Every afternoon, while the community search and answer to challenges facing their youth, the Boys and Girls Club of Douglas is already building them, creating safe spaces, strong values, and confident young leaders who will one day give back to this community. But the future like this has never is never built alone. So, that's why I'm asking the community to help us. We invite you to come visit to see the impact for yourself and to become a part of this mission. Through your time, your support and donation are very kind and help to open more doors for our children because we invest in our kids and we're not just helping today. We're straightening we're strengthening this youth and Douglas for the generations to come. I am Rosa, the director of the Boys and Girls Club. And just I'm here to let you guys know about our hours. Monday through Friday, 2:30 to 6:00 p.m. Wednesdays from 11:30 to 6. Right now, we're still working on the school transportation. It's coordinate, it's getting coordinated through the district. We are doing community outreaches to let everybody know that we're here. I'm going to community meetings and to anything I can get myself into. Our grand opening was post postponed until a new date to be determined. So, I will let you guys know. Club tours, you're always welcome from 9:30 to 11:00 a.m. And then Boys and Girls Club is a 501c3. It's a nonprofit status. So, if anybody would like to donate to us, you do get that 501c3 paperwork. We're also accepting donation, inkind donations, so that can also be tax deductible. We're also coming up with events. On February 27th, we'll be having a teen night from 4 to 6:00 p.m. ages 14 to 18 as well. So, we are going to start doing things

for teens and families. So, that at least would be twice a month. The first family night will be March 25th, the time to be determined, as well as another teen night in March as well, but our first te night will be February 27th. We're gearing also towards the older kids just so they can stay out of trouble. Especially um our high schoolers, we're also trying to implement them a lot because the kids the younger kids are more engaged than the older kids. So we're trying to engage older kids as well. Any questions for me?

I don't like back and forth, but um please keep us updated on the events. send it to our emails if you can so we could be promoting it, putting it in all across downtown and then hopefully we could be announcing it to the district so all the schools can announce it too. So everybody could know and there's no excuse on not knowing. So we appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate it. And I guess last but not least, madam supervisor for your updates. Yes.

Um thank you very much um council and mayor. So, I wanted to come to you and I hope to come to you every month to give you update of what the county is doing. Um, right now I think I had expressed to you that we proposed or asked for an RF RFP for an economic development strategic roadmap for the port, the new Douglas commercial port, the 191 corridor and for the county. I'm happy to say that we had 10 proposals as far as way as Washington and California and Phoenix. So we are looking at the top four and we'll be having a work session and then down the road I'd like to have a work session with you all to tell you what the economic proposal is uh states. One of the big things that I was surprised about was that each one of these proposals included a hospital for Douglas in the proposal as something that has to be done for economic development. So that was really exciting to see that I didn't have to pay out of my pocket for a feasibility study for the hospital. I wanted to let you know that it looks like there's going to be land for the hospital in Douglas. I don't want to say where. Got a couple of different locations, but um that is probably the easiest step. I have talked to three different hospitals that are interested in administering the hospital once we build it. And now I'm going out um to talk for money in DC and to the state. At the Cisco Mani meeting we had, I talked to him about a hospital in Douglas and he agreed that it's needed. He sits on the appropriations committee in DC and that's really key. So, I'm going up to DC to lobby for several things for the county and for the city and um a hospital is one of them. I really feel very very confident that the money is going to come in. I've talked to, you know, from the Howard Buffets to the different corporations and it's looking so positive that the hardest thing they told me to get was land and

that's ending up being the easiest. So, that's really a a good thing to announce. Um, also, one of the things that the mayor said was about talking to people. I was invited to the Ciscomani meeting which the um and I kind of really gave uh talking to the staff person of Ciscomani because his district does come to BDI and when I went to that meeting I saw the mayor of Serist and I said you know I have a bone to pick with you why do you have the carnival at the same time that we have the Coochis County Fair and he says oh it's not me it's the base commander and he's sitting next to you so I asked him the same question he says you know I have been stationed in Sierra Vista or Fort Wuka for three times times and I've never even known there was a county fair. And he says, "And I didn't even know that we were competing with you all." And he said, "Maybe we can meet and we can have our conal at a different time so they don't we don't compete with a county fair and maybe you guys can talk about a military appreciation day." And I said, "I don't see that would be a problem." They would then promote the staff at the fort to come to our Coochis County Fair. Now, it's interesting that the fair is the largest event in Coochis County. Last year, 53,000 passed through the gates in 4 days. I asked the county fair to come uh the fair, you know, the staff to come to the board of supervisors to give us an update of what they're doing. Nobody promotes them. So, the county because it is in the incorporated area, we're going to start marketing the Coochis County Fair. One of the biggest keys is we got to have internet for those vendors to be able to sell their goods in a much easier way. I plan to help and I'll be talking to the city and maybe we jointly can do something to help the county fair be more prosperous. So there again is just by talking to these people that you know come together and you know I've heard this complaint why does Vista compete with us? Well, no one ever asked them not to. So I'm

really encouraged and really happy. I'm gonna talk to Nikki. We're going to make sure that we have a military appreciation day so the soldiers from the fort can attend. Um the other thing, as you know, Ciscomani put in for $2 million to update BDI. I'm going to make sure that the fort does not try to take our airspace. That port is going to be very, very crucial to the port of entry, the new commercial port. So, one of the other key things about it is about in the 70s at the uh BDI, we had a screworm distribution center which was really really critical in stopping the screworm from coming up into the United States. As we see the screw room appro approaching Sonora, I'm pushing and with Cisco moneymani and I'm going to talk to uh Congresswoman Grihava to have that distribution center here at BDI because as you know Sonota's major export is cattle. Cattle industry is really key to this county and so if BDI can have that distribution center it means jobs and it means that we you know protect our industry. Um, okay. So, the other thing too is that we had a whole work session on flock cameras. We are not the county going to go with flock. There are a lot of other companies that are smaller that don't store data which they sell and they can sit there and say, "Okay, well, the mayor, you know, Mr. Sugar Hollow, the mayor of Douglas, went in a car with a supervisor and they went this route. So, we'll do a a either a, you know, Burger King or a Panda Express and then they sell this information. It's really really um crucial that when you all look at that, there are a lot of other vendors. You can have control over what data is is stored and how it's used. And I think that's really important. The CEO of Flock claims that in 10 years he'll be

able to make everything so safe. You won't need the sheriff's department. You won't need the police department. And when anyone makes that kind of broad comment, you have to be somewhat nervous of how they're going to gather the information, how they're going to store it, who they're going to sell it to, and what they're going to do with it. So, we did have a work session, I think it was last week. I encourage you all to go on to the county website and just listen to the concerns that were raised. And it's so much so that the sheriff, even though he was a little upset with us about that, now Tucson is not going to have flock cameras because of the issues that were raised. So, you're going to be one of the few cities in Coochis County that didn't already do that. So, make sure that you guys listen, you know, to that work session and really understand and do some background checks on Flock, the company itself. Now, as far as Thank you for the mayor's lunchon. I think that the mayor is correct as many of you who can attend need to come because it's a very good networking. The commander had also told I think it was a colonel who's in charge of the MW morale welfare and recreational department and he came to me he said we're going to work with you on the county fair so that we don't compete with you. So these are things that are really really crucial and I encourage you all to go. The other thing I noticed that wasn't mentioned was that um the Rotary Club is having their 8th annual Dehill run. the Trojan Run on April 11th at 7 a.m. You can call 5204177340 or recreation at douglasaz.gov. All the money raised goes to restoring the museum or giving them whatever they need. That museum is a treasure and you know Bisby or Tombstone would be marketing that to the tea. So we always have this event. I'd like to ask the city and the council to please part participate and get the word out because like I said, all money raised goes back to um the Douglas Air Museum. And with

that note, I'd like to bring up to that in 1928, Elellaner Roosevelt inaugurated the Douglas International Airport. 28 is coming up real soon. So maybe with a Rotary and with the city, we could figure out now we have what, two years or so. and something that we could do because I'm I'm a when I tell you when I was talking uh to some of these students they didn't even know who Elanor Roosevelt was. So history is key and this is an incredible gym that we have this international airport with the Douglas and Municipal now whether it's the Millia Airhhat or the Powderpuff Derby race that was the first all female pilot race in the United States Douglas was part of it. So hopefully I'll be reaching out to any member who wants to join the Rotary Club from the city council to talk about doing that kind of a celebration in 1928. So with that, thank you very much. Um I would like to come and and give you an update on the hospital on the new port of authority board and uh things that we the county want to do for Douglas to bring to the table so we make sure economic development comes to our city and to 191 and we prosper. Thank you.

Thank you. And I'd like to direct staff for this. Absolutely. They're cheering because you said out of all the scenarios with the flock camera, it's you and me going out to eat somewhere.

Um I'd like to direct staff. So uh IDA does this with the city during their meetings, they put uh basically like an item on there for city updates. So I'd like to have the same thing for our city council meetings with the county updates. That way you don't have to go to cod to the public. you're already in because it's important to know what the county is doing, how we need your help, how you need our help, and how we can uh how we can keep working together. So, thank you, Kathleen. Item nine, discussion decision on approval of consent agenda items. Items A through J, expenditures for the month of January 2026, totaling $2,574,610.90. Meeting minutes for January 2026. Bid award to KP Ventures well Drilling and Pump LLC uh company LLC for drilling and installation of a new water production well number 20. Contract award to Clifton Larson Allen for independent auditor services for fiscal years 2026 through 2028. Resolution number 26-1716, a resolution of the mayor and council of the city of Douglas Coochis County, Arizona, authorizing the submission of a two-year grant application to the Arizona Department of Transportation encompassing October 1st, 2026 to September 30th, 2028 time frame for section 5311 and 5339 rural public transportation program funds to continue to provide public transportation services via the Douglas Wrights program. Resolution number 261717 26-1717 a resolution of the mayor and council of the city of Douglas Cooches County, Arizona ratifying and granting a utility easement to Arizona public service company for installation and maintenance of electric lines together with a a pertunent aer a tenant facilities and fixtures over part of city-owned parcel number 408-34-008B to service a temporary well site and

authorizing the city manager to execute all necessary documents. Resolution number 267-1718 a resolution of the mayor and council of Doug of the city of Douglas ar Douglas Coochis County Arizona ratifying and granting a utility easement to Arizona public service company for installation and maintenance of electric lines together with a per a pertenant facilities and fixtures over part of city-owned parcel number 408-34-008B to service the new commercial port of entry and authorizing the city manager to execute all necessary documents. Resolution number 26-1719, a resolution of the mayor and council of the city of Douglas, Hooes County, Arizona, ratifying and authorizing the city of Douglas to accept GR grant funding from Best Friends Animal Society in the amount of $10,000 for participation in the bring love home challenge resolution number 26-720, a resolution of the mayor and council of the city of Douglas, Coochis County, Arizona, providing for workers compensation workers' compensation insurance coverage for volunteer law enforcement. personnel. And item J, City of Douglas administrative policy 4.90, drug and alcohol policy for FTA and FMCSA regulated positions. May I have a motion to approve the consent agenda items?

Mayor, Mr. Aosta, I move that the council, mayor and council approve the consent agenda items A through J. Do I have a second? Second. Motion by Mr. Aosa, second by Mrs. Dilman. Any discussion? Hearing none. Roll call, please. Council member Rodriguez, yes. Council member Montano, yes. Council member Duraso, yes. Council member Dilman, yes. Council member A Costa, yes. Mr. Mayor,

yes. Motion passes. Item 10, 10A, ordinance number 26-1228, an ordinance of the mayor and council of the city of Douglas, Coaches County, Arizona, amending section 10.08.010, section 10.16.020, 020 and section 10.19.010 of the Douglas Municipal Code related to park relating to parking establishing severability of components of ordinance and establishing an effective date thereof. Mr. Rockwalk.

Uh good evening uh mayor and council. Um we're we're um asking to uh modify this ordinance. Uh so decisions on on things like parking, uh striping, signing, all the all these um and there there's um as an engineer, there's a bible we follow. It's called the manual of uniform traffic control devices that has all these items in there. It's very uh very important and that we follow that uh when we when we make decisions on on things like striping, signing, uh traffic control, uh uh crosswalks, uh putting signals in. Uh there's quite there's quite a bit there and it it gets very technical and it's very important to follow that because uh believe it or not more lawyers buy the METCD than than engineers. Uh so anyway, we're asking that the uh the responsibility for uh traffic control changes within the city of Douglas be uh be uh put on the uh city engineer and with the um with the county manager. Uh currently we have to uh bring things to the council for traffic control changes. It'll go through, you know, first reading, 30 days, and the second reading. So we we're probably at 60 days before we can actually take action on on a traffic control change. There any questions?

Mayor, if I may. Yes.

So this also Thank you uh Mr. Rockwell. This also adds for uh an ability for the city to streamline some of our processes and be able to provide quicker service, but it also provides an ability to um go back and and update so many areas because of the the red tape and bureaucracy and layers and layers of code review uh over the years. There are, for example, some limited parking areas that uh code has been changed and we haven't caught up to make those changes. So, it also allows us a new set of eyes to go in and kind of clean things up and be able to work together through the engineering portion. I'd work with the engineer and um gives the city manager the authorization to make those quick changes uh when somebody uh comes in to request limited parking changes. So, just wanted to add that. Thank you. Um, may I have a motion to approve the placement of ordinance 26-1228?

Mayor, Mr. Aosta, I move that the mayor and council approve the placement of ordinance number 26-1228 and its first reading by number and title only. Do I have a second? Second. Motion by Mr. Aosa, second by Mrs. Rodriguez. Any discussion, mayor,

Mr. M? I just have a uh I think this came about uh because one of my constituents uh they have a nonprofit and they wanted to to make a couple of small changes to their parking struct uh area. And we found out that in order to get that done has to come to council and it has to be second reading plus 30 days. So it's going to take three months before anything can be done. with this change the city manager within his her designate which would probably be the city engineer would be able to make that decision and make it quick and not have to wait three four months before any I think this is the first step to kind of simplify

and if you don't mind me saying limited parking is like uh ADA parking disabled parking uh with the blue stripe it would have to go if somebody says I I like um handicap parking it has to go through us. Then you have to write up the ordinance. You have to then like everybody's saying, you have to wait until the next meeting, wait until the next reading and the 30 days. So, um, this sort of streamlines it for those individuals and those businesses that would like uh that type of parking there. Any other discuss

mayor? Yes, and that's a perfect example. There are other examples like um 15minute parking uh loading zones, things things like that. Thank you. especially with businesses that you know they need the parking but maybe across the street it's you know they stay there shop there and then they don't have that parking so uh that that's the limited parking it's not just anytime uh so there's some sort of a designation for it any other discussion hearing none roll call please council member Rodriguez yes council member Montano yes council member Duraso yes council member Dilman yes council member Aosta yes Mr. Mayor. Yes. Motion passes.

And honest of the mayor and council of the city of Douglas County, Arizona, amending section 10.08.010, section 10.16.020, and section 10.19.010 of the Douglas Municipal Code relating to parking, establishing serability of components of ordinance, and establishing an effective date thereof. I have a motion to approve the first reading of ordinance number 26-1228. Mayor, Mrs. Rodriguez. I move that the mayor and council approve the first reading of ordinance number 26-1228 and place it on place it on its second reading by number and title only. You have a second. Second

motion by Mrs. Rodriguez. Second by Mr. Aosta. Any discussion? Hearing none. Roll call, please. Council member Rodriguez, yes. Council member Montano, yes. Council member Duraso, yes. Council member Dilman, yes. Council member A Costa, yes. Yes, Mr. Mayor. Yes. Motion passes. And honest of the mayor and council of the city of Douglas Coochis County, Arizona, amending section 10.08.010, section 10.16.020 and section 10.19.010 of the Douglas Municipal Code relating to parking, establishing several of components of ordinance and establishing an effective date thereof.

Thank you. Item 11, acknowledgement of city petition related to the downtown streetscape designs. I'll be presenting it sort of from the point of view. Um I was kind of in the situation when it started. So um it was presented by Mrs. Ida Pedreo last month. Um her ask was basically transparency. We started off with two options. This was when I was council how many years ago? Uh started off with two options. Those two options were not popular. Uh then we added a third option and then staff kind of said if you vote for the third option but you voted for one or two already then it cancels it out. Uh and then uh the uh the petition was because the the day on a special meeting I think May uh in May May 1st it was voted on on a fourth option that night a motion by the mayor which is kind of the it's I'm not going to say unheard of but it's you usually let the council do it. Um and uh after the bid was rejected, Mrs. Pedro Go has kindly made the petition to basic uh as the petition says to further discuss it. Um so that's where we're at today. I'm going to give you the floor, Mrs. Pedrico. Um and Mr. uh I have a a a form for you and also a form for Mr. Eric Braverman. And he has given you his time. So instead of three minutes, you'll be allotted five minutes as we discussed. and mayor. I also turned in more petitions to the city clerk, so there's over 300 and some now. Good evening, Mayor Dehala and members of the council. My name is Ida Pedigo. I own Illusions Boutique and I'm a resident of Douglas. I am here tonight representing a coalition of over 300 merchants and residents who have signed our petition opposing the current Douglas Streetscape plan. as it is written. Let me be perfectly clear. We are not against the revitalization. We

love G Avenue. We want it to succeed. We wanted to be beautiful and welcoming. But we are against a plan that risks harmoning harming the very businesses it claims to help. And we are against a process that has threatened the merchants of this downtown. The people who pay the taxes, who employ the constituents, and serve customers every single day as uninformed constituents rather than experts that we are tonight. I am not here to say no. I am not here to offer. I am here to offer a better way. The petition and the problem. We have submitted over 300 signatures. That is not a handful of disgruntled neighbors. That is a broad bipartisan cross-section of Douglas stakeholders saying slow down. Our concern is not change. Our concern is that the plan was designed by a larger city like Tucson, Phoenix, maybe even Chandler. There was never pro uh properly scaled down to fit Douglas. In smaller cities, cars equal customers. Our customers drive here. They will circle around and around till they find parking. They make quick stops and if we make it inconvenience for them, confusing or congested, they will not walk to our businesses. They will simply drive to other side of town. And you know what I mean. The city has presented us with renderings but have not presented us with data. Five questions that remained unanswered. We are asking respectfully for the council to de demand answers to these questions before p pouring a single yard

of concrete. First, what data proves that increased food traffic, foot traffic will offset the loss of vehicle access and parking in the city of our size? Second, where is the data demonstrating that the majority of Douglas constituents actually approve this specific design? Third, what is the specific funding plan to mitigate business losses during this construction which could last months? Fourth, what are the metrics for success? If you did not define what winning looks like, how will you know if it has failed? And fifth, the most important question here, what is the ro roll back plan? If this project harms commerce, how do we undo it? Once the curve is moved and the concrete poured, the decision is irreversible. Think of the cost. Our proposal is the pilot block alternative. We are not asking you to kill this project. We are asking you test it first, cheaply, temporarily, and reversible. We propose that the city implement a 3 to sixmonth pilot program on the single block of G Avenue using paint, planters, decorative tires, removable bullards. This is not radical. This is standard practice for cities that respect their small business communities. During this pilot, we measure traffic flow and parking utilization, business revenue both during and after. You also have customer feedback

collected directly from the people who are actually shop here. If the pilot works, great. Now the city has data to prove that the community will get behind a permanent version. If the pilot fails, if congestion increases, if merchants lose revenue, if customers stay away, if you if you have not destroyed two blocks of downtown, you have spent a few,000 on pay planters, and you have learned something very valuable. This is smart government. Then there's the communication failure. I also need to address something that's very uncomfortable for most of us. The city has attempted to gather feedback through social media and through surveys. This does not work in Douglas has not. We are a bilingual community. Many of our businesses owners and residents rely on personal conversation, not Facebook polls. If the city wants genuine input, they need city employees that are fluent in both Spanish and English. Going doortodoor, blockto block, explaining this plant to the community. Right now, the information gap has created suspicion. People feel decisions are being made for them, not with them. They feel the city has not been transparent. This is not democracy. This is what one of our members called fake accompanymentoto. We are asking you to close that gap before moving moving forward. In conclusion, Mr. Mayor and members of the council, we are not your opposition. We are your partners. We are the ones who unlock the doors

every morning. We are the ones that sweep the sidewalks. We the merchants greet our neighbors when they come to spend the money in Douglas. We want G Avenue to thrive, but we cannot thrive if we cannot be reached. Do not make us a cautionary tale. Do not let Douglas become another small town that spent a million dollars to lose its customers. Sarah Vista is going through this right now. If you go to the port of entry, it was on channel 13. They narrowed the street. It has created more accidents and now city council is not sure how they're going to fix it. Please vote to pause this plan and direct the city on a reversible pilot program that gives us the opportunity to see if this works. And I want to thank the three councilmen that made time to visit me with and ask me question and so I could ask you and you shared with me. Mr. Montano, Mr. Toaso and very much Mrs. uh Tilman. Thank you very much. And with this I want you to know we do support because we want to beautify Douglas. I'm a very passionate employee employee employee of the city of Douglas and I do it with a lot of passion and I believe that before we spend millions of dollars doing something that may or may not work, let's assess, let's find out. Thank you for this opportunity. So, I do have here in my notes a motion, a second, and any discussion, and then roll call. But this is an acknowledgement of the petition. So, this is not a voting item. Um,

legally, I could just say, "Hey, we we got your petition. Thank you. Good night." But I I want uh it's important to have the the public uh discuss it. Um, but I I did want to ask our legal before we go on because this was a description of what she said on on the petition. Dennis, do I need to bring it to the floor for discussion since it's not a voting item? It's just a discussion item. Yes, Mr. Mayor. I think council can just discuss the item. I mean, it's okay. I don't need the motion and Okay. No, I I think it's it's properly on the agenda. Discussion portion is is on the agenda, so you can just discuss it.

Okay. Thank you, Dennis. Uh, next we have Lana Diffy. Good evening, Mr. Mayor, Council Persons, Community of Douglas. What she said, every word of what she said. I thought that was amazing. I'm coming up on 21 years of having my own business here in Douglas. It's been a stretch. Uh I want to come at it from a little bit different angle. These tariffs are going to be really a mess for small businesses. We do maybe 50 to 75 computers a month depending. There is a part that we buy regularly for those computers and last month it was 17 $1745. This month it's $49.80. That's three times. That's going to be really tough. And my concern is if we start tearing up G Avenue, and I'm not on G Avenue, but if we start tearing up G Avenue and the and the people that we generally have coming down don't come down and we're paying higher prices for the things that we're trying to sell, this could be catastrophic because most of us are on a pretty narrow margin anyway. Um, that's just something to think about. I love the fact that we're doing this what what's going on in your area stuff. That's that's fabulous. If we could ever come up with a community calendar, I've talked about this so many times I'm blew in the face, but if we could have some way of being able to let people know more than a week ahead that something was coming up, it would be easier to pull people from Tombstone, from uh Bis Benson, etc. Could we maybe at some point consider using the sign outside of city hall to announce some of those

events or some of those um coming events? Uh there's that and that community calendar. That's all I have to say. Thank you very much. And we'll attribute the community calendar to the downtown events that could fit in the the topic. But thank you, Miss Dippy. Kathleen Gomez.

So yes, I come as a resident uh Kathleen Gomez, 2350 East 12th Street. One thing that I remember when I came in 2008 was that or 2007 was that there was a a huge survey, a huge study. It was in the AL drug consultants were hired on revitalizing and bringing economic I guess prosperity to the city of Douglas. I think we spent 180,000 80,000 I'm not sure and then there was another study and then there was this study. So there have been so many studies even there was a consultant studies on what to do with the airport and nothing happens. I think what happens is we're not listening to the people in the community that live here. I really would like to see Douglas downtown Douglas become once what it was which is maybe only about 10 years ago. So, what I feel that we have to do as a city, too, is not put up walls. Like, I'm I'm gonna tell you, I was so upset when golden times closed because it was the one place I could get a BLT here. And a banner should not be a reason why you close down a business to sit there and say B, you know, that is minuscule. What you want is you want people downtown in these buildings because if you paint it, if you build sidewalks, extend sidewalks, if nobody's occupying those buildings, it's going to be look the same way in 6 months, 8 months, it's not going to bring the improvement. You bring business first and then you revitalize, paint it, put trees, but without any businesses there, that's really kind of throwing money down the drain. You know, I I look at what happened to Golden Times and then I, you know, hear about all the code enforcements and then I look at the bario district where you put in a brand new tire auto department right where the historic district is. And I think what you have to do is figure out what you're doing because the staff and all respect to the staff, I say it to the staff in

Coochis County, they are not accountable. You guys are accountable. I'm accountable. You're elected. you have to go out and knock on doors. The community expects the elected officials to set policy and to change policy if it's needed. So that's the big difference. And I really having worked in the county, I'm having to change those views, too. I can go to jail. You can go to jail. You can get recalled. You have to knock on doors. You have the election. You are responsible for listening to your constituents. And when they have this many people say, "Hey, you got a problem." you've got a problem. The staff is not accountable to the people. They're accountable to you. And so you have to step up and see when things aren't going right, make the difference. Thank you. Our last speaker, Za Baltierz. Did I pronounce everything right? Um hello u mayor council members my name is Valtierz um for those that don't know me u my business is the savannah uniforms I am also the food service director for the coochis county jail which I am very happy to have Miss Gomez um support the jail stay in the area I know it's a little bit off topic but yesterday we actually did celebrate our first annual correctional food service appreciation day. There's a lot of work that gets done behind the scenes at the jail. Um, so just kind of wanted to throw that out there. Um, maybe show some pictures of the staff that work there would be great so you guys can know. Um, but what I did want to talk about was uh, G Avenue. I'm super excited about what's going on. Um, just that at some point we got blindsided. um we were very vivid in what was

happening and then um all of the sudden it's like hey this is what we're gonna do. However, I do think that there's items that you guys are looking for but that don't benefit us overall. Um we don't need larger sidewalks. We don't have that many people walking the sidewalk. Uh but definitely we do want to beautify it. We do want to make it look good. Um I love my building. I love where I'm located and we do want to promote more business coming through. Um, I love my parking area, but definitely I would like to see it look nice, right? So, I think overall that's what the focus is, allowing people to come to Douglas Touring, especially the people that do stay in the Gaton and they do walk around our stores. they do come into our buildings and providing the safe sidewalks for them, you know, not being cracked and um causing a slip or trip and fall for that. So, definitely we don't want that, but we do want it to look beautiful. Um just like you do your home, you ask somebody, "Hey, what do you think about this?" Um especially if you have your wife, you're going to ask her what she thinks. And I think that's who we are. We're that person that, hey, what do you think about this? How do you want it? because overall we're the ones that are there. Um I'm looking forward to meeting with you guys to seeing what the next projects are and I think overall it's a big success for downtown and for us merchants. I see four merchants uh business owners here in this meeting. So I do think that it's something important that we look forward um in beautifying downtown Douglas. So that's all I have to say.

Thank you. Thank you. So that's for the community speakers. Uh any discussion from council? Mayor, Mr. Mo Costa.

Okay. I just want to clarify a couple things here. I know that last time when the petition during the special meeting, it was brought up to our attention that um we had just gotten the appointed to be a councilman and that we had no idea what was going on. Just to clarify that, well, to something to that extent, but we did get educated the day after we got appointed. We did have a one-on-one meeting with the city manager and went through the whole timeline of the streetscape. Okay.

Mrs. Pedrick, Mr. Petrick, I'll let you after he's done, I'll let you because this is a call to the public. So, there can be a

second of all, um, you know, I I do read social media and and you know, uh, journalists have the right to publish what they think is right. And sec, you know, that that that kind of I read an article based on, you know, your petition and the mayor quote unquote states that us the council always go with what their staff tells us. No, we vote based on what we feel. They're right here. Born and raised here in Douglas. I know the sense of urgency for our downtown. This streetscape is vital and it it's it's a great idea. Douglas, the change in our community is important. We want to bring investors in. We want to bring commerce in. We want to bring new businesses in. This streetscape is the way to go. Now all of a sudden we go from the the petition originally this the speech was from the turning lane if I'm correct or not correct right and now you know it's it's offset to uh they want to go to a pilot not one word today I believe was mentioned about the turning lane and you know I've done research you know we're we're educated people up here we're educated down there as well we do our research We learn, we ask, we talk to our constituents. And I mentioned before about the port of entry. They're tired of us acknowledging the fact that these projects are going on. They want to visually see a bulldozer. They want to see they visually want to see all that. They want to see the impact in our community, construction, so forth. It's unfortunate that we are losing businesses, small

businesses. Yes. It's unfortunate. And there's research says that 20% of small businesses in the rural community go out of business within one year. 50% go out of business within five years. This is research. Okay. Research also states uh lane reductions. Our streetscape here states the fact that going back to the turning lanes, it's been part of the Douglas, but you know, Mr. Douglas back in the day, you know, you're talking about horse carriages and so forth that and there's also a train that ran down. That's why it's it's wide. But research states that a two-way road is a natural slow traffic and it benefits businesses because why? You could turn around and look at the businesses, look at their windows, see what's going on. Okay. And the other thing that you know it's important is those bumpouts. It extends the sidewalks. It gives a pedestrian a shorter walk to cross the street for safety reasons. Okay? And I'm not making this. This is all research. And the fact of the matter is here's a final concept. This is what we voted on. Okay? It's there angle parking. And I know you did communicate with me one time via phone call to my work and we kind of got confused in the link you sent to me via email about the the final concept that we had voted on. This was it. I mean, totally different of what you were telling me on the phone. So, yes, I am kind of upset, but you know what? All this here, you know, this is all on their engaged website 3.3. This is beautiful. This is what we're looking at. Uh, Miss Valer mentioned, we just want a beautifile area. This is what we have to look for. Yes, it's not going to be exactly the same, but it's the same idea. So, I think we need to give the opportunity. And if I'm not mistaken as

well, uh, Miss Oro, there's a timeline on the grant, so we got to get moving on it. You know, your suggestions, you know, they they're they're important. We appreciate what you're doing, Miss Vivo, and everybody who spoke today and everybody who signed that petition. We truly truly truly appreciate and admire for your love for this community. But let me tell you right here, all around here, we do not work for them. We work for you. We make decisions what's best for you and our city, not what they want. So, I just want to clarify that, mayor, because if I know it was quote unquote uh told by you. Okay. So, we're here to make this community the best we can. It's a small Yes. It's a small and and the research, you know, was a small rural community. Streetscapes, what is it for? You know, it's all here. There's bunch of it online, you know. I I I take the time and read it. You know, we I never been to your museum, sir. But you know what? Research is data. Correct,

Mr. Braverman. Mr. Braverman, research is data. But I the point I just want to make is that we understand where everybody's coming from. We do understand that. And and again, it goes back to yes, I was educated before we made the vote on the final concept. Thank you, mayor.

Okay. And I want to I'll let them go because I don't want them to say one thing and then go back and forth. But I will clarify on my vote because the city manager did tell me a councilman texted them what this mean. You have my number. You can call me or text me. I said staff lives in a bubble at city hall. It's up to us to go out to the people to find out what you need because especially when we have a discussion and I'm going to tie it to this Dennis in case you're going to cut me off few months ago when we say we need to keep wards because wards, you know, we don't want somebody from W 2 to tell somebody from W six what to do and vice versa. This is W three. So where's the W three representation throughout this whole time? I know you're new. I'm not putting it on you, but it seems like we need to have our representation go out there, not staff. Because with all due respect to staff, and I've told staff this, there's already something they want that they're trying to sell instead of what do you all need? Because we don't know. I've been downtown ever since I was a W six councilman. I got attacked for going downtown because they said that's not your ward. Yet, you didn't have the representation from that at that time. go to the businesses. So that was my quote. City city staff lives in a bubble. No offense, but it's 9 to5. I one time because I told them, you order off the app at Walmart. You don't even get down and hear the conversations of what people want or introduce yourself to see what they what you can do for them. It's just back and forth from city hall. It's our job to be out there to talk to everybody. And do we have words or not? because if we do then let's talk to this ward ind these wards to see what they need individually because it's not the same but my comment was staff lives in a bubble the representation needs to be out there if they misqued me I can take it up with the with the newspaper but that's what I said anyone else

mayor Mr. I just want to uh to your point the the staff work 9 to5 that's their job not job go do more jobs after work so they're if you're expecting them to to go to Walmart to get down and talk to people then we need to adjust their hours that's not their job to go that's our so anyways on on the streetscape I talked to a bunch of you a bunch of of uh of people around town. Huh? Maltier.

I talked to a couple. Yes, I stopped by there. I stopped in your block. I stopped to her. I stopped Joey. I talked to Mr. uh Figaroa. I didn't get a chance to go to your shop, but yes, I did. I talked to anybody. No, but this is this is the thing. This is our belief here right now, the way downtown is, we just had a a business shut down. Yeah. Five years from now, what if if we don't do anything, what do you think's going to happen? So, why do we, Mr. We'll let council speak and then if anybody else wants to speak, we can

think what's going to happen if we don't do anything. But if we don't do anything in the next two years, another shop closes down. Two years from there, another two. If we do this this revitalization, maybe we will have investors come down and say, "Hey, this is a a pretty area. You already have investors." Well, we Well, and no, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, we right now I'll let them if you'd like, you can fill a paper so you can talk if that's okay. Because then

they come down, they see that the area is beauty be uh pretty and then they'll they'll say, "Well, maybe I can open a a restaurant there. Maybe I can open a brewery." we can I can open something else. So that's that's our our our belief that that's what this is going to bring. If if we don't do anything, I I can almost tell you and most of you guys will know that what's going to happen is we're going to have another place shut down, another empty building. So that that's one of my my fates. The other thing that I I I when I spoke to to people, right? Uh not I I didn't just speak to businesses. I spoke to people on that list that signed the petition and most of them said, "I've been hearing this forever. Why haven't we done it yet? So why delay it more?" They said, "Just get at it." So,

no, I I talked to them. I talked to them. They told me that. So, if if you don't believe me, that that's not my problem. But uh I I think this we need to get this going. It's been going on uh I think the first study was like in 2011. That's 16 years 2008 maybe. So it's been almost 20 years and nothing has been done. So why are we just delaying it more? We we change anything right now we're going to lose the what we've done. That's I think, correct me if I'm wrong, but it's about $300,000 in studies and drawings and all that. We change it. That's out the window. Now we have to do it up up to

Mrs. Petrick. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Can't go back and forth. Mr. Braverman can't go back and forth. Let them say their piece and then I'll allow any any um u comments after if you're if you're called out. But Mr. I'm just going to reiterate that. I talked to a bunch of people and they agreed we need to get something going. We can't just keep changing and changing and changing it. 10 years from now, we'll still be talking about this and nothing will be done. That's all I have.

Okay. So, I'm going to talk mention me again. My point was we can't say that staff knows what the people want if they're not around the people. That's number one. Then we also have Tuesdays that our city manager when I first went I said we could put on my sneakers, we can walk downtown. I haven't done that with anybody. It's just been me after I get out from the gym. So no, it's not adjusting. It's basically don't say that you know what the people want when you don't talk to the people. That was basically it. Um we have So Mayor, Mrs. Rodriguez,

I'm just going to keep it brief. I agree with u Mr. Costa and Mr. Montano. Um, so I'm not going to go off on a tangent and repeat the same thing. Mrs. Pedigrego, I appreciate that you provided a an an option of doing a pilot. Um, but the way I see it, if we're going to pilot something for three to six months and then it doesn't go well, you've already wasted that time instead of

and it and if it goes well, okay, you've wasted that time because now you're doubling the amount of time that is going to be affecting your business. But I also know that when contractors are hired to do uh jobs like this, they make sure to ensure that businesses still have the availability to keep running. They make accommodations for the businesses. So, we're looking at all of that and that is all on the website. Okay. So, um I honestly think I'm not a merchant. I'm not a business owner. So, you're right. I cannot, you know, spend a day in your shoes. But what I can say is that a lifelong resident of Douglas, I want to see this city prosper. Okay? And yes, earlier you asked me, well, where do you shop? Well, you know what? First of all, it's none of your business where I shop. But second of all, second of all, okay, we need to increase tourism in this city. Okay, Bisby thrives on tourism. So if we can beautify our downtown, then I feel that businesses will come, we'll increase our economy, and that is my opinion. If you don't like it, then okay. But I just really think that if we can beautify our city, then it's going to it's going to be like a it's going to be a snowball effect where then positive things are going to come to our city. Okay? And I can tell you I get it. Things are expensive. Miss Duffy, I feel for you because yes, things are expensive now. And it doesn't matter where you shop. Shop at Walmart, it's

expensive. things have have increased in prices and unfortunately that does hurt us. That hurts our economy. That hurts the people that are purchasing. We're not able to buy things the way that we used to be able to buy things. Okay? So, we can't control that, right? We can't control tariffs. We can't control things like that. And I know I read a Facebook post regarding uh Son Paisas and they they closed their their stores a little over a year ago and the owner um you know if I can quote her post you know she didn't put anything on the city. She says that people in Douglas don't shop local because it is expensive. you know, a lot of things that she would sell, she said that that you could get it cheaper online. Um, so I honestly believe that if we beautify downtown, um, and not just by putting up trees or painting, we make a significant change that's going to attract more people to our city. No. Mayor,

I was not involved when the scape started in that, but and I appreciate the love that we have for our community and everyone sitting here tonight. All of us included. We all have a vested interest in Douglas. And maybe in 1909 it was, you know, great to have the streets the way they were, the sidewalks. We need to move forward in our future. Our port of entry is like the key to what we've been waiting for for this whole time. And we now have to move forward and make our downtown more beautiful. We have to and we need to make it more safer. You know, we we look at how we park now. The rear ends of our cars stick out in the street and I mean it could people just zoom by and our I think our our parking will be safer. Our crosswalks, I mean, who knows what's under the pavement that's going to end up needing to be fixed. So, as as time goes on and they start opening these these things up, we have to get back to code as well. So, um I just feel we need this downtown. We need to beautify downtown. We've got to do something and um that's what I have to say.

I didn't want you to be the only one. It's under your award.

No. So this uh was planned from the concept uh was uh back in 2011. Okay, that was a different uh scene here in downtown. Now what 15 years later, it's a very different uh downtown. A lot of business have closed. We have to change. If we don't adapt, we'll go extinct. Businesses are closing all the time. And if I if I'm correct, uh, initially it was budget budgeted for three blocks, correct? And now with inflation and everything, we don't have enough money only for two blocks. See, so if we wait more, what's going to happen,

mayor? Yeah. Well, we we still have a a viable threeb block budget per our engineers. Okay. It's still going through bidding. So, but everything's more expensive. Construction is more expensive. So, now the build is more but the the more we we wait it's more going to be more expensive to us and we also have a time limit on the grants.

Okay. If we don't use it, we will lose it and we'll be end up with nothing. But we had 15 years to see the change. Douglas is losing businesses and it's not because we want to. is because the world has changed. Just prior to 2020, we had more businesses and what happened? Everyone's moved to online after them. Okay? Prominent shops started closing up. Okay? Chains that were that we thought were anchor stores have now left. Okay. That this happened in downtown Tucson. Okay. the ch the Chicago music store which was there for I think almost 100 years clos why because it was no longer feasible to be there now it's a thriving community of restaurants and and a gap everyone has shifted to that we have to adapt if we don't adapt we will uh and our our our town will not grow we would not attract different people to move over here. I have lived all my life here. I wanted to grow up. I wanted to be a place where my kids want to stay. Okay. If we don't have this, obviously who I wouldn't judge them to to want to leave to a bigger city because they have more accommodations, better downtown scenery, it it's safer over there. So, it's all about perspective. Okay. So nowadays commerce is all online all and I'm sorry like like Walmart was one of one of the major catalysts that close up shop of a lot of businesses here. Why? Because it's cheaper. People stopped shopping locally here on G Avenue. Also the dollar started getting very expensive. So now the

people from Mexico don't want to shop here. It happened to my aunt's business on G Avenue on Second Street. Everyone wants to shop online. Now, she has to pivot somewhere else. She has to adapt. So, we have to adapt as a as a city to be able to attract more people. Okay. So, I got a few um you were called out, so I'm going to let you speak. Um, don't hate me, but there if you already spoke before, unless you were defending yourself basically, uh, that's your time. So, I'll have you speak, Mrs. Pedro. Defend yourself and then I'll have the other speak.

Mr. A Costa and Mr. Montalu, I did not say you did not have the opportunity to see the schemes. I said you did not have the opportunity to speak with constituents, the people you represent. That's what I said. And again, I am a business owner and I've been a business owner for over 30 years very successfully. The property, that's the other big thing. The people that own property on G Avenue, like the people that have spoken, they weren't contacted. They weren't informed. We were never asked. And I'm not speaking on my behalf. On the first committee, it was myself and Mr. Montano, if I'm correct. After that, we weren't on a committee anymore. And you say this is going on. It's been longer than 12 years. Longer than 12 years, Mrs. Oro, because long before I have been on, I can't tell you how many streetscape um what is it committees. Thank you. I've been on so many and I even mentioned it to you back then. I'm so tired because it's Maradas Petate. You talk talk, nothing happens before Mrs. Jireine left. She was our city manager. Everything was already set. That was when Mr. and I can't remember the mayor's Urribe. And then you came along and how many how many feasible studies have we had? How many feasible studies since you have been city uh city manager? because we we do this and then you do another feasible study to add more to add more and to add more you said and it was you who said that we were talking about the turning lane the turning lane is a big issue I didn't mention it because I had already spoken on that behalf but yes the turning issue the other issue is the parking you say there will be access to

our businesses yes sir there will be but who shops locally and when I asked you the question. It wasn't to insult you and I'm sorry if I did because it's not my business. But this is why I asked because as she said, she doesn't shop locally here other than Walmart. But let me share most of us the senior citizens where do we shop? I'll tell you locally. We don't go to Tucson. We don't go to Sarista. We shop here. Those are the customers. The people from Mawapet and you said they don't come. Oh, they come to my shop. almost 80%. It used to be 95. Now it's like 80% of my shoppers are from Mexico. Do you know why they're stopping and calling? Because of the um what is it? The coming in to Douglas it takes them two hours. Going back home is another two hours. So what I do is I adjust. Sometimes I'm at the store at 7:30, 8:30 till they can make it. But my customers know I'm available. But no, it isn't because our prices. May I also add, why do people come from Tucson and Phoenix to my shop? Do you know why? Because my prices are cheaper.

This is you can ask. But and then there's more. You need to consider that one of the biggest problems, and I mentioned that tonight was transparency. There was no transparency. Yes, sir. You read what Mrs. O suggested and you accepted that day. The problem is constitu Yes sir. You did not meet with constituents and that is my final say. That's who you need to ask. What do we want? We pay taxes. Thank you.

Okay. So, unless you were called out as she was, um I'm going to call on the ones that signed uh speaker request forms that have not talked. You have three minutes as the as the you were called out on your museum. Go ahead. Say it real quick.

The research that we have and it's this thing is from NAU University was a 10ear study and we have another university. I like to address the people and that research shows that what people want to see tourists is an old school looking town the way it did. End of story. That's what all the research says. We can do it so much cheaper and we can promote what we have. Our car world, the friendly port, the Gadston, the Cultura Center, the Last Supper Museum. We can just Why don't we promote what we have? We were working on this J2 project four years ago and the city went to J2 and said, "Do not take our input and I have proof." I have emails where they're saying, "We the city does not want us talking to you." So, and we heard handed our petition years ago. What we need to do is make the street looks like it did. Look how old tombstone looks. Get it?

Right. And all we have to do is promote the great things we have. The best weather. The airport museum. The last supper museum. There's one in the world. We're open six days a week. And one of the toughest obstacles we've had is explaining to the city employees what it takes to have an organization or a business down here. We don't promote what we have. How many of you have I showed to the Day and Douglas thing. We don't promote the Day and Douglas thing. We have a day of free stuff. We have AA Prieta and we have great local restaurants. We could have been promoting that years ago and we have the evidence of suggesting all these things. Your research is not correct, sir. And you've never come into our museum and sat down and said, "Hey, I'd like to talk to you about streetscape. Have a good night."

Thank you, Mr. Thank you, Ida.

Mr. Shoe Shoemaker Shoeacher. Thank you. No,

uh I haven't had the pleasure to meet a lot of you guys and um I know that uh my contact information is posted on a couple of our buildings. Um been coming here since I was 12, just so you know that I used I grew up in Illinois as a little kid, but our vacations were always to Arizona. um the mining towns. My dad had a passion for that. Um and what we're seeing right now is Douglas in such a state of disrepair. Um I had a amazing speak because she's called it she's called it over and over and over for years. We've been trying to do our best to watch what's what's going on through YouTube. We're not only investors, we're also residents. We have a ranch out outside of town. We have a a residence on top of one of our properties here down on G. We have four properties on G. Not once were we approached. Not once were we searched out. Not once did anybody come to us and say, "Hey, what would you like to see? What what's your plans? What is your experience? Why are you investing here? Why did you choose to uh have a have a part-time residence here?" Nothing. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Jose be kind of midstream when we started coming into town and and actually putting our money here, we had a belief in in you and others and we still do. That's not going away. Um when big investors come, they're going to push you guys around and make things happen whether you want them to or not. But currently what we see is, you know, I love to see that what's in your heart matters, but what matters more, with all due respect, is what's in our hearts as property owners and business people. with all due respect, and I know you grew up here, so

you got a little more seniority than I do on Douglas, but just as as all you guys probably do, um, as far as being a resident, but when you come to a town like Douglas who have that has such rich history, the people that have stepped foot and stayed in the Gaton and and and helped build this town, these modern versions of the streetscapes are garbage. They're trash. There's nothing respectable about them. We need to embrace what we have as a history in Douglas. That's why I'm here. That's why my girlfriend Chrissy is here. She's she was born here in Arizona. There's not a lot of you guys around. I wasn't born here, but with all due respect, and I understand the budget and the timeline and all of that, but we really need to talk. I have property in your district or your ward and I have property in your ward. Welcome to the the team. Um, a couple of you guys, I guess, but uh I think I think um there's probably a way to exercise and execute with the funding that's already been established in a limited scope using those funds fully through that grant. But I think there's also a way to do it to where we can then do a stage two and a stage three to make sure that all the business people uh get their say. I've been a business person since I was 13 years old in Arizona.

Never filed bankruptcy. I don't have any issues and I'm and I'm going to continue to do it and my heart's in Douglas. That's why we're so heavily vested here. But again, I'm not just an investor. I'm not a speculator. I've heard that term. Uh we are also residents. Thank you. I appreciate it. Thank you. Look forward to meeting you guys.

Mrs. Tanya Darte. My name is Tanya Darte. I live at 2001 9th Street here in Douglas. I had not planned on speaking here tonight. I was and I had told several people I wasn't going to speak tonight, but the way that I heard our council members speak to our constituents, our business owners, and the residents of Douglas, it was offensive. How dare you all speak to the people that way? You are here to represent us. You are not our parents. You are not the principal. You're not the boss. We are. And you guys are here to listen to us. And you need to respect what these business owners are going through. None of you have a business downtown. You don't have any skin in the game. It's really, really offensive for you to think that this plan won't hurt these people. It will. It absolutely will. and you all need to treat them with more respect. Thank you.

Is Diana Lamar.

Hello, Diana Lamar, 1303 F Avenue. Um, I wasn't planning on speaking tonight at all, so forgive me for my um disjointed comments, but uh I do appreciate uh the woman who just spoke because I've been sitting here feeling like you're not really listening to people and no one is suggesting, at least I haven't heard anyone suggesting that we do nothing. I I haven't heard anyone suggest that. But I have heard a real concern from people who are going to be significantly affected by these decisions. And I I have to say if if the number of respondents for the streetscape was anything like some of the other surveys that have gone out, the city has not done its job because you can't you can't take nine 11 30 surveys or whatever it might have been in this case, I don't recall. and and like put that in your hat and smoke it. You know, that's not a significant number of respondents. And so if you want to really know what people think, it it has to be done in a different way. Um, I know for myself and various people in the audience and in the community that do a lot of research, Mr. Costa, really a lot.

I know in fact more at times, not speaking to any of you directly, but in the past I know for a fact that people in the community have done more research on subjects that come up than our council persons because when we have gone to speak to somebody outside of a council meeting, they really do not seem informed. Again, I'm not speaking about you personally, but you know, folks that come up here, as far as I know, have really put time in. They really have. So, I I I just want to say take this into consideration. I haven't heard anybody brainstorming about how can we, you know, address some of these concerns but not, you know, throw the baby out with the bathwater. I haven't heard anybody doing any creative thinking and that's been a issue I've had, you know, in the past as well. So, um,

time.

Thank you very much, sir. your seat belt. Stephen Hellfrick, 1303 F Avenue. Um, my company's studio architecture. Um, I came down here six years ago. I bought uh the slab which is on G Avenue uh just north of Divorce. I bought a hotel on F and 13th. I put my money where my mouth was. I spent almost well between Diana Lamar and I between 300 and $400,000 on on rehabbing our building. Um we have uh 90% of that 95% of that was local at BND uh Payless and Ortiz. I bought what I thought was relatively inferior products at a higher price, but I bought that because I thought it was important to be local. Um, I once again I tell you I have 30 to 40 years at small business running an architecture office and analyzing the urban the urban streetscape and historical renovations of buildings and I told you spent what 80,000 on J2 plus another 70,000 on J2 150,000 and then you spent another 370 75,000 on the construction documents and we told you that at the end of the J2 bid when they were finished that we

had a problem with the streetscape and you didn't listen and then you went ahead and construct did construction documents and I have asked the city for a hard copy of the of the construction documents since the middle of December and I still haven't got a copy of it. Read your contract. I can guarantee you that in the architectural contract there is a provision that that they are going to require you they would are required to give you a set of full printed out working documents in their in their in their construction contract. So, I would like to look at the construction documents so I can figure out what they have on paper and what's going to get built and then I can come back and and educate you on what exactly they're talking about. And and beyond that, I've I've walked these streets for six years now. I I've walked your alleys. I've walked all over. I've ridden my bike over. I talked to people. I know for now, I wasn't ready six years ago, but I'm ready now. You know, the first thing you do is don't take the curb and gutter out. You start there. You move the trees into the street. You don't necessarily widen the sidewalks. Thank you very much.

Since Mr. Hell Brook said he asked for documentation if we can get it to him. Um, we'd appreciate that. Sorry about that. The last speaker, Renee Lopez. Hey everybody. All right. So, um, I'm not here as as an investor, as a business owner, not Yeah, sure. My name is Rene. I'm I'm just somebody who lives in Douglas, right? Uh so about 3 years ago or whatever it was, I participated in a survey. You know, I picked out, you know, whichever little things I like most and this and that. And I was kind of excited about it, right? I was excited about it. I lived at the time in uh Lichfield Park. And in Lichfield Park, Arizona, it's u it's a small town within a big area, right? and they've been making a lot of headway as far as pedestrianization, as far as road diets, you know, getting rid of parking spaces, narrowing streets, and people hate it, right? Until it starts working. So, the only reason I'm up here is just to kind of give my opinion on that to say that I do support what you guys are saying. I I support the project and at the same time, I completely agree with people like Miss Pedro. They they have skin in the game. I don't know how overlooked they were or they weren't. That's for them to tell you and I'm sure they've been vocal about it now. What I do have to say about that is I think it's worth it's worth a shot because whatever's been going on for the past 20 30 years in Douglas, it's not working right. It's uh like yourself, you're pretty new to the community, so you didn't get to see it, you know, kind of at its at its apex.

Oh yeah, that's great. And so you remember people just walking all over the place and it was great. And that's been gone for a while. So, how long are we gonna kind of keep pushing back any kind of real uh any kind of real attempts to revitalize anything? Right. I don't agree 100% with J2's uh plan, right? I agree with more of a historical looking area, but that's I guess that's neither here nor there at this point. Uh there's there's things that we can learn a lot from our neighbors in Bisby. I work for the city of Bisby, so I get to see the way that city functions every day and they do a lot of things right. I understand we're not Bisby, you know, but you know, to everybody here, I'm sure that's that's a pretty lofty goal when we see the way that Bisby is constantly, you know, bringing in people. That's kind of what we want here too, right?

Right. And you look at any any downtown in the Phoenix metro area, whether it's Lfield Park or Tan or Yeah. Uh, Glendale has a beautiful downtown area. All of these places look like Douglas used to look, right? So, let's make Douglas look kind of like it used to look at least. Uh, and again, all I wanted to say is uh to Miss Featherville, even though I disagree with some of your points, I you know, I agree with the passion you guys put forward. I just I would like to see that uh interconnection between what you guys are seeing and what they've seen. you know, like she mentioned earlier, some of us are just uninformed constituents and some of you guys are experts, right? And so, I mean, that's pretty much it. That's all I have to say. I I support what you guys are doing. I can't wait till it gets uh fixed up and and best of luck.

Thank you, Mr. Lopez.

So, after all this, I'm going to direct staff. Mayor, can I have a la a last comment, please? If you could make it as general as you can because then Okay. So, I first want to apologize if anybody was offended by what I said, but when I'm questioned about what I do in my personal time, I don't think that's okay. So, I do apologize for any comments that may have, you know, offended anybody, but that's was not the intention. It's just what I do in my personal time is my business. Thank you.

Uh so after all this, I'd like to satisfy the petition in the sense of um whether it you want to call it an expo carnival fair. I think we need to have anformational type of event for down for the downtown revitalization as a whole, not just the streetscape. because no offense if we move with the street skip and then there's another aspect I'd rather not have another petition come in. So um not that this wasn't fun but uh sort of like a an it's way too long sorry uh but sort of like an information expo carnival fair. That way the constituents can go, staff can explain and then we could get your feedback and then whatever time it is, whether it's during the day, whether it's during the evening, whatever time it accommodates our constituents the most, I think council should be there. And that's the only way because we have we have uh we have um a duty to listen to the people. Um I'm not going to let the city manager speak on this, but I'll let her present it during her report or during her report so it doesn't go back. Is that okay? Item 12, uh, city manager reports.

Can I just clarify the direction, mayor? Is there any is that uh to have anformational? Does that need a vote? You didn't vote on acknowledging the you have a motion and No, Dana said it could be just No, I think I think uh I think the city can take direction from the council if if council would like anformational sess session if that's the direction of council. Is that what I'm hearing? I I think what I'm hearing though is anformational session session on downtown revitalization. But I thought you needed a vote to acknowledge receipt of the petition. Th this isn't

Do we need to vote on acknowledging the petition, Dennis? I thought you have a motion, don't you? Yes. No, there's a motion. I thought you had a motion. No. Oh, okay. Do we need a vote, Dennis, or no? I mean, article 2, section 19 talks about um such shall be considered an action taken thereon by the council. So we have we have acknowledged if the direction of council is to have anformational section I think staff can take that and I think that if that's the direction of council informationational session on downtown revitalization yes

Dennis um so we don't need an an acknowledgement of the petition accepting the petition well I think it was on the agenda I mean it yes it is I mean we we put it on the agenda the I mean the charter talks about that shall be considered which I think everybody's doing tonight and then I I've heard action would be having anformational session I think that seems to be the consensus of council is there is there any question about that hearing none item 12 city manager reports Mrs. keeper.

Thank you, mayor, members of the council. Um, I'll be brief on uh my general items. We do we have a small business development center offering a business 101 workshop on learning the building blocks of business success using the business model canvas. That's scheduled for March 17th, 2 p.m. Coochis College. You can find information on our website. Also, Arizona Apex Accelerator and SBDC will be hosting a workshop for laying the groundwork for government contracting. This is scheduled for uh next week on February 19th at Coochis College SBDC in Sar Vista at 9:30. Aquatic Center is ready to reopen after the the winter break that they uh take for maintenance and upkeep. Uh during that temporary closure, they we did complete preventive maintenance on our pump room, small facility projects and started the construction of the men's shower room. Uh please note that improvements to the men's restrooms will continue through March. Uh but restrooms will remain open. However, the showers will be temporarily unavailable through that uh completion. Uh please plan ahead to reach out to our uh rec coordinator, aquatics coordinator if you need an accommodation. on our connector road. As the mayor mentioned, we have full funding for the connector road for the uh commercial port of entry uh but met by the $20 million CDS award to AOT last week. We're a huge partner and we've all been supporting that together along with Coochis County and the shout out again to our congressional delegation for their broad support, especially Senators Kelly and Ggo. Our utility corridor funding continues to be our critical infrastructure project now uh needing to complete

funding as well. Similar efforts are underway to fulfill the $30 million shortfall through various means. We've already gained $19 million for that project and that's the portion for the utility corridor for water, sewer and broadband conduit west of town to meet the needs of the commercial port of entry and through Coochis College. uh using college as a support uh as a water campus. We just finished 14 solar street lights in the Coil Run area. Crews are scheduled to install also street name signs and we'll be sweeping all of those uh streets next week. Uh work continues on the asphalt plant. This is a giant plant and with it comes a you know the the tall lift. So, we're working on concrete footing still and uh we are working um to keep that plant on schedule. As the mayor mentioned, the electrical panel uh does have a rush on it by APS and is scheduled for a May installation. Uh we do have a new run generator at well 17 which is located near our public works barn on Sulfur Springs Road. that generator has been installed so that the well continues to deliver water during uh downtimes or power outages outages I'm sorry this is part of our strategy to address our uh vulnerabilities in our water distribution area as mentioned boys and girls club ribbon cutting has uh been moved to March uh we don't have a definite date in March and uh that's to be determined and will be uh relayed to the community. Uh there was a question on uh community center funding and where we are on that is we're uh seeking our our funding or allocating funding for an

additional uh 83,000 to get design concepts um and uh plans done for their portion of the expansion. And uh then after that uh we continue to find funding for the community center portion. So uh that is uh something we continue to work towards and we do although we do have a temporary place for them. There's possibility for expansion of still temporary space but we we are working with them on various efforts. They all are also working with Cox with their uh innovation lab and Cox will be celebrating also a ribbon cutting of that innovation lab as a separate event and we are also awaiting a date for that. Our development services have uh they've hired a new building compliance specialist, Alejandra Machado. Uh and we've done some reorganizing internally uh to uh re uh assign building what we call reclassifications to building compliance specialists. Um so we have Luis Peralta and Alejandra uh working crossf functionally on building compliance. uh one more involved in the plan review and other on building inspection but still working on being crossunctional to support each other in those areas. We continue to work with Coochis County Development Services. They do assist with our planning efforts, mentoring and backup inspection. Uh as mentioned, our futures meeting is now scheduled for 2:25 to kick off our budget cycle. Uh as confirmed, painting has been done at Boys and Girls Club. Um we do have um the playwright tickets for the Raul Castro playwright tomorrow uh at 5:30 available using the Eventbrite app. And

the reason that's important is that's how we're using the uh lottery for giving away those 114 free books. So go on to your Eventbrite app. Uh it is a free event. You really don't need a ticket to come in, but I just wanted to make you all aware that getting that ticket reserves also that um that free book from our author that will be there as well. And so I you know I I don't have a report um specifically on on streetscape because you said you would take that mayor but there there's so much on the website on the efforts. There's a few clarifications to be made along the way. uh you know there there were three designs that so I came in I I didn't do any more feasibility studies I came in after J2 had been selected um streetscapes go back to a 2008 uh first design by UFA students there was no funding for that it sat on a shelf same thing finally there was some money put out uh 2011 there was a streetscape study done those are those feasibility studies no funding for that It sat on the shelf through Jiren Watson and Mayor Urrive. Uh the 2011 was dusted off. Mayor Urriva gathered a group uh including Coochis County. Coochis County Planning kind of led the effort. There was community input. They dusted that off. They recreated the streetscape and approved it by resolution. Van Darene hired through mayor and council at the time hired J2 to develop those preliminary concepts. When I arrived a year later, preliminary concepts were starting to be entertained through different means, public meetings and survey tools and everything I'm talking about is on the website. I carried that um torch forward uh and I

started looking for the funding because we had gone through so many sitting on the shelf. Didn't want another one to do that. We starting hitting some of our big grants. In 2023, we were awarded $2.9 million for the project that had already been approved and was in preliminary concepts. uh the city put aside an additional million 1.3 million and uh as soon as the funding award was confirmed I took mayor and council back to a retreat and said this is everything you've heard this is everything you've heard on trees this is what you've heard on lights this is what you've heard on sidewalk length bumpouts everything was separated and they took everything individually ually and with all of that and all of the work that had been done, J2 incorporated all of the necessary public input, we did struggle. We would send out some um surveys. We sent them out again. We we did different things that were required through the public process and uh every comment to that point that was on social media we put it memorialized it into a word document or PDF document and all of that is on the website. So they looked at everything. They looked at the good comments, the um bad comments, the concerned comments, the passion from the community. uh they developed through that process of breaking everything down um that what we call hybrid plan. J2 took those comments back on what they had consensus on doing and J2 continued to guide the ADA compliance on they did

they didn't want to do the extended sidewalks anymore to the extent that some of the designs had because of the concerns but because when you touch uh a sidewalk and it's not ADA compliant we also heard that the curbs were too high and um we were trying to deal with ADA parking as well. Once you touch and improve something, you don't have a choice but to make it ADA compliant. So, they stretched it out by the amount they needed to do that. It's no longer a 24 foot sidewalk or a 20ft sidewalk. It's going from 13 to 17. um they came up with that as a result of all of the efforts that they pulled in from so many different documentation from the community because now we had money, we had funding and it's taken this long. It then had to go not to feasibility studies. It had to go to engineering design. It had to go to 30%, these are all engineering terms, 60%, 90%, and it finally got to 100% where it's now uh we have the ability to bid it out for a contractor. every portion of uh those bid uh requests have called for working with when they finally get here to work with uh the merchants especially in that threeb block area to make sure that they um give them a time frame. Uh they have told us that it's going to be minimal time on the sidewalk portion. They're working primarily this phase of streetscape is infrastructure uh new electrical irrigation uh conduit for awesome Wi-Fi in the downtown area. Um this isn't the aesthetics part. We

still need to work on the benches and we're and the um landscaping and the colors and all of that where you will continue to get information for. This was the preliminary engineering design and that portion addresses uh the um storm drainage and the height of the curb so that we can accommodate and finally get gain ADA compliance. We have a couple of others. We do know that it took, you know, over a year to get from 30, 60, 90 to 100. And we knew with inflation, we're worried about our $3.9 million budget. We're still worried. But it's still a viable project. It's a because they were conservative figures and we just have to uh cast the net out and see where where that comes back. But we have a viable project. It was uh approved uh by council. I do have the authority to move that uh project forward with everything that has been established up to that point. May of 24 is when it was authorized. What comes back at this point after the next bidding cycle is a um hopefully an award and all of that revitalization um that I'm hearing for uh information session. I I think it is important because you you can see the streetscape as it's currently approved to move forward and you get to see um what we're doing on historic preservation, what we have underway for environmental cleanup of buildings, uh what we have as initial uh

concepts for um tax incentive uh programs for um property owners. ers. You know, there is a lot more. We adopted Title 18 2 and a half years ago to become a credentialed city to receive awards and grants for historic preservation, but we um were delayed because of our administration change and we had um the that office of historic preservation kind of lose its its foundational federal agency. So, we're kind of back on track trying to get that credential so that we can become eligible. Uh, we're working with Sego or COG to get um more funding because we anticipated we might have some gaps. We are on a state uh legislative cycle for uh additional funding for streetscape. But let me remind you, we also are recipients of $23.5 million for commercial road resurfacing. That also includes G Avenue, 10th Street. There's nine corridors in the community. And we have to get these things going. I just received a an email uh early this week from HUD, which is the granting agency for the $2.9 million that states, "Where are we? We need to get moving on this." Our lobbyists at the federal level are cautiously looking at that because they you have three years to uh use those is based on their guidance from the point you start drawing on it. Um I'm still um we haven't started drawing because we're still trying to get through the bidding portion but uh I don't expect that this threeb block section is going to to take that long. But we are working with uh

the granting agency to try and deliver. So I'm I'm just giving it to you from the factual perspective. I so respect all the comments. I'm I'm a native here as well. I grew up uh walking G Avenue every afternoon because my parents had a TV shop and I went to the Arizona Drug for my chocolate coke. It's now a museum. I went into uh Douglas Drug for my French fries with my friends after school and now it's a tattoo shop. You know, all of us have so much uh to remember, but this is the direction from a 2008 study by students and then um the firms that were brought in in 2011 and then dusted off again in 2019. I believe that was with uh UI Mayor Uribe and um it's the baton I'm I'm pushing forward with all of the public input with everything that was uh previously heard and um everything everything has been uh on their we sat here in this room uh for public meetings. Uh we send invitations. Uh we'd get some stragglers come in. So, we'd go back out and we did visits to the three um blocks in person and have interviews. All of those interview answers and and transcripts are also on the website. Uh council has seen all of that. They're well informed on the process from the very beginning. This is not a project that I'm suggesting that I'm making recommendations for. I've just moved the baton to give them everything they need to make their decision and how council came up with uh hybrid that I wanted to clarify that because I think it was mentioned earlier

a little different on how they chose that final one. So you know um very passionate discussion uh and I I respect every every comment made and we um you know that's why I wanted to clarify that it's anformational session. Um but we have um from you know everything that I've heard here a viable a viable project and it's at the bidding stage at this point and I'm always open to uh visit with anyone that has questions. Um but unless there's you know anything else mayor and council that is my report.

Thank you mayor. Item thank you. Item number 15 future agenda item request for mayor and council. Do we have any just that one? Just that one on the uh county uh supervisor if we could put it in and if we get lucky enough to have state reports every month then we'll add them too. So hopefully item number 14 adjournment. Do I have a motion to adjurnn? Mayor Mrs. Rodriguez. I move to adjurnn. Do I have a second? Second. Motion by Mrs. Rodriguez. Second by Mr. Montano. All in favor say I. I. Any nays? Eyes have it. We adjourn at 8:18.