City Council - Regular Meeting

6 at 5.30 p.m. We'll have an invocation from Pastor Dale Ray with Lakeview Community Church, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance led by Stacey Lee from the Echo Group Band of Brothers Veteran Suicide Prevention. Pastor?

Good evening. Please stand with me. Paul wrote to young Timothy, this great council. He said, I exhort, therefore, that first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for kings, for all that are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life. So, Father, I give you thanks for these leaders tonight. I thank you for our mayor, our council members. I thank you for all those who serve Lake Havasu City. I pray, Lord, that as citizens, may we be found in our roles, supporting our leaders. Lord, use us, I pray, that we would always lift them up in our prayers. I ask that you would guard them, that you would lead them, Lord, in righteous decisions. Let their choices promote our peace, our justice, that the city of Lake Havasu will flourish. Make them instruments of your goodness so that we may live quietly and with dignity and with hope in Lake Havasu City. In Jesus' name, amen.

If you are a veteran or active duty military, I invite you to render the salute with the Band of Brothers. Band of Brothers, attention. Hoot! Present. Hoot! I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you and welcome Stacey. If you'd like to share a little bit about your organization with us and introduce your group.

DO I NEED THIS? OH, GOODNESS. I'M ALREADY PRETTY LOUD. SO TO OUR MAYOR AND OF COURSE OUR ESTEEMED CITY COUNCIL, THANK YOU VERY MUCH TO HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO ADDRESS ALL OF YOU THIS EVENING. I WOULD LIKE TO INTRODUCE OR TO BEGIN BY INTRODUCING SOME OF MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS SEATED HERE TONIGHT. I HAVE A FEW OF THEM. Echo Group Banner Brothers is not a typical veterans organization. In fact, when I first approached our mayor four and a half years ago about bringing our chapter to Lake Havasu, I told him exactly that, we are different. Our mission is simple yet profound, veteran suicide prevention. Many people in our community are aware of that mission, but what they may not fully understand is how we have been able to make a meaningful impact. We do not simply talk about preventing veteran suicide. We actively work to prevent it. We are boots on the ground. We support one another through life's challenges, and we involve our families in everything we do. We are an organization built on action. The citizens of Lake Havasu may see us playing softball at Rotary Park, bowling, shooting pool, participating in community events, or selling our merchandise to raise funds that support our veterans and their families. They may see us cleaning the lake shorelines, helping elderly residents relocate to safer living environments, or volunteering throughout our community. What they do not see are the daily struggles many of our members have endured as a result of their military service, and in some cases, combat related PTSD. They do not see the battles with addiction, alcohol abuse, broken relationships, isolation, anger, and hopelessness. Every individual seated here tonight has a story, many of them remarkably similar to those challenges, including my own. One couple sitting in this room today struggled with substance abuse, including methamphetamines, cocaine, and alcohol. Their addiction ultimately led to the loss of the custody of their children. When Echo Group Band of Brothers found them, we did not offer judgment, nor did we offer excuses. Their brothers and sisters spoke honestly and held them accountable. We connected them with people who had walked the same difficult path and understood their struggles through shared experience. Today, that family is sober. They have rebuilt their lives. They are helping other families overcome similar challenges, teaching 12-step programs through their church and serving as an example of what recovery and resilience can look like in this very community. Another veteran was discovered living in his vehicle in the desert last summer. He had lost hope in humanity after experiencing significant trauma and hardship. He was angry, isolated, and unwilling to trust anyone. Working alongside members of this community, we helped secure him housing, furnishings, food, and essential resources within a matter of days. Yet what impacted him the most was not the apartment or the furniture. It was realizing that complete strangers, cared to show up for him. People who know nothing about him stood beside him because he was a brother, because he mattered, because he deserved to be seen. That sense of belonging, the connection to others with shared experiences helped restore hope where there had been none. This is how we save lives. We save lives by being present, by listening without judgment, by holding one another accountable while offering support. I welcome everyone into our family, active duty service members, veterans and civilians alike. No one is ever turned away. Over the past four and a half years, The Echo Group Band of Brothers has contributed more than 5,000 documented volunteer hours to Lake Havasu City and countless additional hours that we don't formally document. Throughout that time, we have quietly served our community. We have watched other veteran organizations receive well-deserved recognition, special mentions, and prominent acknowledgement at community events. Those honors are warranted, and those organizations do tremendous work. We are not asking for a red carpet. In truth, most of the people here would likely avoid it. What we are asking for is something much simpler. We are asking for our city to see us. To remember us when recognizing the many outstanding veteran organizations that serve this community. To acknowledge that we too are working every day to make Lake Havasu City stronger, safer, and more compassionate. We ask our community to remember that while there may be a parade taking place downtown, a festival underway, or a celebration in progress, Echo Group Band of Brothers is often present there as well. We may also be somewhere else entirely at the same time. We may be sitting quietly in someone's living room talking to one of our own in defining a reason to stay. And you will never see that. Thank you again for the opportunity this evening. And on behalf of my brothers and sisters, thank you for seeing them and for giving them a reason to stay.

Thank you so much and thank you to all of the Band of Brothers for all that you do in our community. We do see you and we're so glad you could join us this afternoon. Thank you so much for being a part of our community. We'll move on to item four, which is roll call. Ms. Williams, if you'd please call the roll.

Council members Nancy Campbell.

Here.

Jenny Koch. Here. Kim Dolan. Cameron Moses.

Here.

Michelle Lin. Here. Vice Mayor David Diaz.

Here.

Mayor Kal Sheehy.

Here.

Thank you.

Thank you. Item five is our consent agenda. Would any of the council members like to remove any of the items for separate discussion?

Mayor.

Yeah, Council Member Koch.

Motion. Please. Move to approve the consent agenda as presented.

Second. We have a motion from Council Member Koch. We have a second from Council Member Moses. We are ready to vote. Council Member Lin. Thank you.

Motion carries six to zero.

Thank you. Item six is our correspondence, communications, petitions, announcements, and the city manager report. Item 6.1 is our fiscal year 2526 third quarter contracted agency reports for Haven Family Resource Center. Chief Sterling included this in our packet for the members of the council, and it's also available on our website for residents to review. Item 6. Yeah, Councilmember Campbell?

I just had a question. I did go over the report. And do we do the same thing for, like, the closed closet? Will those be coming up to us? Like, do they compare what they do for the organization as well as? I know we do it with the Humane Society. I get to see stats. And at Haven, we see stats. Are we going to be seeing those with closed closet, too, some sort of?

Yes, there is some reporting requirements. I don't recall them right off the top of my mind, but Judge Colley, do you?

Yeah, it's just, I know that they're another one that we partner with and support and appreciate. And it's just always nice to see all these reports.

Mayor, Councilmember Campbell, thank you for the question. So the contract reads that if the council would like for a report, then that will happen. And so if council decides that they want to have a report at any given time, then they just need to let us and close closet. No one will make sure that that happens.

Okay. Thank you.

Thank you, judge. All right. Moving on to item 6.2 is to announce the vacancies on Lake Havasu city boards, committees and commissions. Ms. Williams.

Here in City Council, this item is to announce vacancies on Lake Havasu City boards, committees, and commissions. The following is a listing of the current and upcoming vacancies. Board of Adjustment, three regular members, three alternate members. Parks and Recreation Advisory Board, two regular members, one student member. And the Planning and Zoning Commission, one regular member and two alternate members. Anyone interested can pick up a packet at City Hall, and they are also available on the city's website. The applications for the upcoming vacancies, which are going to be heard later tonight, the deadline was 5 p.m. on Friday, May 29th. However, the city clerk's office will continue to accept applications for any future vacancies. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Williams. Item 6.3 is our city manager's report. Good evening, Mr. Knudson.

Good evening, Mayor. Good evening, members of council. Some sad news to begin my report. This evening, as we learn of the passing of Lee Barnes, who was a true Lake Havasu City pioneer, whose impact on our community will be felt for generations. As Lake Havasu High School's first varsity football coach, he helped build the school's athletic programs from the ground up, while serving as a math teacher and mentor to countless students. Beyond education, Lee continued his service to the community as a member of the Lake Havasu City Council and remained actively engaged in local affairs throughout his life. His memorial service will be held on Saturday, July 25th at 11 a.m., and that'll take place at the Bridgewater Room at Chagrouz. On behalf of Lake Havasu City, we extend our heartfelt condolences to his family, his friends, and former students, and all whose lives he touched. I'd like to congratulate Officer Josh Messerly on graduating from Class 38 of the Western Arizona Law Enforcement Training Academy. He now begins the next phase of his training with a 16-week field training program where he'll continue developing the skills needed to serve our community. I'd like to also recognize the many instructors who helped make the academy successful, including Lake Havasu City Police Department Sergeant Chris Sautner and Lieutenant Frank Hayden. Their dedication plays an important role in preparing the next generation of law enforcement officers to serve our community. If anyone is interested in a rewarding career in public safety, The Lake Havasu City Police Department is currently hiring and accepting applications. Older adults deserve to live with dignity, respect, and security. World Elder Abuse Awareness Day serves as an important reminder to recognize and prevent the abuse, neglect, and exploitation that affect millions of seniors each year while encouraging communities to support and protect their aging populations. In recognition of this important cause, Mayor Sheehy, you proclaimed June 15th as World Elder Abuse Awareness Day in Lake Havasu City. To further raise awareness, the London Bridge was illuminated purple, joining communities around the world in showing support for older adults and reaffirming our commitment to creating a safe and respectful community for all. Construction continues to move forward at Rotary Community Park as we invest in improvements that will benefit our community for many, many years to come. The new backstop on Field 1 has now been completed, and work is underway on Field 2. In total, Fields 1, 2, and 3 will receive new backstops and upgraded LED lighting, improving safety, visibility, and the overall playing experience. These enhancements reflect our continued commitment to maintaining high-quality recreational facilities for our residents and visitors who enjoy our parks all year round. Routine field maintenance is now underway at Cypress Park. keep our sports fields healthy, safe, and ready for play. Through August 4th, crews will be aerating, reseeding, fertilizing, top dressing, and composting the turf to improve field conditions for the season ahead. That grass gets very, very busy. While Cypress Park remains open for general public use, all athletic fields are temporarily closed and unavailable for reservations during the maintenance period. We appreciate everyone's patience as we continue to invest in high-quality recreational facilities for our community and get ready for the upcoming soccer leagues. Parking lot improvements are currently underway at the Aquatic Center as part of our ongoing efforts to maintain and enhance city facilities. While construction continues through June 30, the Aquatic Center will remain open and does remain open for all programs, activities, and operating hours will continue as scheduled. To accommodate the work, the highway side parking lot is temporarily closed Visitors should access the facility from Park Avenue and use the lakeside parking lot. We appreciate everyone's patience as we complete these improvements to better serve our community. It'll look nice when it's done, but it's a little bit of a headache right now. If you're looking for a great way to stay active this summer, take advantage of our expanded lap swim schedule brought to you by the Lake Havasu City Aquatic Center. We have new midday hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and it'll take place from noon to 1.45 p.m. giving residents even more opportunities to swim, exercise, and cool off. Morning lap swim hours will continue as scheduled, and we encourage everyone to take advantage of this added opportunity to enjoy one of the community's great recreational amenities. We're excited to celebrate America's 250th anniversary with a free community event on July 1 at the Aquatic Center from noon to 4 p.m. The afternoon will feature a free community pizza party, open swim, patriotic games, crafts, family-friendly activities, and a special proclamation from Mayor Calchi recognizing this historic milestone. We invite residents and visitors of all ages to join us as we commemorate our nation's 250th birthday and celebrate this once-in-a-generation occasion. Then on July 4th, London Bridge will once again be illuminated in red, white, and blue ahead of the community's annual fireworks display. We hope you'll all join us as we celebrate our nation's 250th birthday and take part in this wonderful celebration. This community is invited to a special reading of the Declaration of Independence beneath the Lennon Bridge. It will take place on July 4th and is coordinated by one of our community members, Bob Barrett. Veterans will begin the reading at 8 a.m., followed by youth readers at 9 a.m., before the reading is open to members of the public. During the event, Mayor Sheehy will present a proclamation, and both Mayor and Councilmember Michelle Lynn will participate by reading portions of the declaration. And lastly, this is very exciting, as we invite the community to join us on Wednesday, July 8th at 8.30 a.m. for the groundbreaking ceremony for Fire Station 7. This is located at 3850 McCulloch Boulevard North, at the corner of McCulloch and Sloop Drive. This project represents a significant investment in Lake Havasu's future and our continued commitment to providing high-quality fire and emergency medical services to the community. Once completed, Fire Station 7 will enhance emergency response coverage and help meet the needs of our growing community. We look forward to celebrating this important milestone alongside our firefighters, EMTs, project managers, project partners, residents, and community leaders. And with that Mayor, that concludes my report for this evening.

All right, we'll move on to item seven, which are public hearings. During each of the public hearings, there will be an opportunity for citizens to engage on the conversation. When we open the public hearing, we encourage you to come up to the podium, state your name for the record, and engage in that conversation. We encourage you to do so during one of those items. If you're here for one of those items, we also will have a call to the public at the end of the meeting, and I'll go over those guidelines when we get there. So we'll start with item 7.1, which is the resolution number 26-3923, appointing members to the Lake Havasu City Board of Adjustment. Ms. Williams.

Erin City Council, the city received one application requesting consideration for appointment as a regular or alternate member to the Board of Adjustment. Appointments are necessary to fill the current and upcoming vacancies of three regular members and three alternate member positions. The application review panel conducted interviews for the Board of Adjustment on June 8th and recommends that Derek Ross be appointed as a regular member with the term ending June 30th, 2029. The application is provided to you in your packet, and the applicant was also invited to attend tonight to answer any questions from the City Council. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Williams. Are there any questions or comments from members of the Council? Yeah, Vice Mayor Diaz.

Ms. Williams, for the public, can you explain what the Board of Adjustment is? I think we all know it up here, but I get a lot of questions from the community what Board of Adjustment is. Or does anyone else want to explain it?

Maybe Mr. Tooneman or Mr. Gilbert. Yes. Thank you.

THANK YOU, MAYOR, MEMBERS OF THE COUNCIL, AND CHRIS GILBERT, THE PLANNING MANAGER FOR THE CITY. EVERY STATE HAS LAWS GOVERNING WHAT'S CALLED THE BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT. AND THAT BODY EXISTS BECAUSE SUBSTANTIAL JUSTICE SOMETIMES NEEDS TO BE DONE IN ZONING CASES WHERE, FOR EXAMPLE, YOU HAVE A PIE-SHAPED LOT THAT YOU CAN'T PUT A HOUSE ON THAT'S REASONABLE IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD WITHOUT SIDE YARD SETBACKS IS THE BEST EXAMPLE TO GIVE. THEY WOULD HAVE TO GO TO THE BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT IN ORDER TO GET WHAT'S CALLED A VARIANCE. in order to make that happen. And state law sets out the conditions for that to occur. So essentially, because it's an end run around the legislative process, which is the development code adopted by the council, state law makes it very restrictive on the conditions under which variances can be granted. So that's what that body does, is they review full variances, not the minor variances, that are allowed in our development code, which are typically 10% on setbacks, things like that, that staff can issue without it going to the Board of Adjustment.

I hope that makes sense. Thank you for that explanation, because a lot of people are always asking me, how come they never meet? Well, that's exactly why. It's very rare that it comes up to a Board of Adjustment item. So I appreciate that explanation.

Thank you, Mr. Gilbert. All right. Any other questions or comments from members of the council before we open the public hearing? All right, this is a public hearing. Would anyone like to address the City Council on this item? Seeing none, we'll close the public hearing, bring it back to Council for any additional discussion or a possible motion.

Mayor?

Council Member Koch? Motion? Yeah, please.

Move to adopt resolution number 26-3923, appointing Derek Ross as a regular member to the Board of Adjustment with the term ending June 30th, 2029. Second.

We have a motion from Council Member Koch, a second from Council Member Moses. Is there any additional discussion? We're ready to vote. Council Member Lin?

Aye.

Thank you.

Motion carries six to zero.

Thank you. Item 7.2 is resolution number 26-3924, appointing members to the Lake Havasu City Parks and Recreation Advisory Board. Ms. Williams?

Mayor and City Council, the city received five applications requesting consideration for appointment as regular members for the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board. These appointments are necessary to fill the upcoming vacancies of two regular members and one student member. The application review panel conducted interviews for the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board on June 1st and June 8th and recommends that Mercedes Kaiser be reappointed as a regular member and Alex Coletta be appointed as a regular member with both terms ending June 30th, 2029. All five applications were provided to you in your packet, and all applicants were invited to attend tonight to answer any questions from the City Council. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Williams. Are there any questions or comments from members of the Council?

I would like to hear from you and I had this discussion on the way up the stairs. The way this used to be done is about a month ago, I would get applications and a lot of times I would go to coffee with people to learn why they wanted to be part of our community because these boards and commissions are very, very important. And since then, there has been a change in the way it's done. So basically, we get the applications the Thursday before the Tuesday meeting. and there's already recommendations. Mayor, can you tell me who sits on that board to make those decisions? I will use this one because this is a hot topic.

Yes, so on the council gave direction to staff by about three years ago I believe to have an applicant review committee who sits on that is the mayor or the mayor's representative The council liaison for that particular board if there is one and then the staff liaison for that and then miss Williams from the clerk's office who coordinates the schedules also is in the room during the process the staff lays on this point would be Mr. Kozlowski was the staff liaison.

So it's just the four of you, or five, five of you?

It was Councilmember Moses, myself, Mr. Kozlowski, and Ms. Williams.

And I think every time, every year when we get to this point, I say I'm not happy with this process. I know that the council has decided to do it this way, but I really like it when the council members are engaged with the boards, the staff being engaged. I appreciate your work. I understand where you're going with that. But then having a recommendation from the mayor, a liaison, and the staff, it makes it – muddy for us because I've had a lot of conversations even with the ones you recommended today. We had some conversations of some concerns and it all worked out. We had a great conversation, by the way. But I really wish that we'd, I've said it last time, I'm gonna say it again. I certainly hope we can reconsider that go back to allowing the councils have time to meet with their boards and commissions, pick them individually. And even if we start on one side and council member Moses says, I went through all the applications, I met with so-and-so, and these are the ones I'd like to bring to the table all the way around, because right now I feel completely disconnected. And I even had somebody say, BEEN TOLD YOU REALLY DON'T EVEN HAVE TO SHOW UP TONIGHT BECAUSE THEY'VE ALREADY RECOMMENDED WHO THEY WANTED TO RECOMMEND. AND I FEEL THAT I DON'T HAVE A VOICE. THAT'S WHAT I WANT TO SAY.

I APPRECIATE THAT. AND I CAN ASSURE YOU THAT AT THE END OF EVERY APPLICATION, SO IN THE APPLICATION REVIEW PANEL, WE ASK ALL BOARD APPLICANTS FOR EVERY BOARD COMMITTEE AND COMMISSION THE SAME THREE QUESTIONS. AT THE END, I ALWAYS SAY THAT THIS BODY IS GOING TO MAKE A RECOMMENDATION TO THE COUNCIL AS A WHOLE, BUT THE COUNCIL HAS THE ABILITY TO MAKE AN APPOINTMENT OF ANYONE THAT THEY WOULD LIKE TO MAKE. I KNOW YOU EXPRESSED SOME CONCERNS, I BELIEVE, LAST YEAR AROUND THIS TIME, AND I BROUGHT YOU IN ON THE APPLICANT INTERVIEW PANEL SO YOU COULD SIT THROUGH AND SEE HOW THE PROCESS GOES. BUT WE CERTAINLY CAN TAKE A LOOK AND GET APPLICATIONS OUT TO COUNCILMEMBERS SOONER. THERE'S LOTS OF THINGS THAT WE CAN DO. REALLY, WE WANT TO PROCESS THE WHOLE REASON WE STARTED THIS PROCESS IS WE STARTED GETTING SO MANY APPLICANTS FOR JUST TWO OR THREE POSITIONS ON OUR BOARD'S COMMITTEES AND COMMISSIONS. And so we weren't giving a fair shake to the citizens that engaged in the process. They would come here to the council meeting, a council member would make a motion, and we would go through it. We didn't interview them. We had no process at all. And back in those days, we were getting like 20 applicants for one or two positions. So that's what started the whole process, but we wanted to be transparent and open, and we want our citizens that are wanting to engage in the process to feel valued. We want to get their experience and have them work on our board, but we also want to make sure that the elected officials have full flexibility to appoint who they think would best represent the city.

And I also want to mention one more thing that this is six weeks before an election period and I'm gonna say it we have the splash pad initiative person that is put in an application and we also have the swim team person both wanting to be in this process plus we have other really great people all on this and when I just feel when it does staff recommendations and I don't get to speak with everybody individually, I really feel like I'm out of the conversation. And so I understand that we can motion who we want, but also having it on an agenda that states, these are our recommendations. I think I would love to hear from every one of them. I want them to come up here and talk to me about why they want to be on this board and commission and allow each and every one of us, but we aren't even allowing, we're not even doing that. So hopefully maybe we can do that today. We can ask each one to come up and talk to them like the last person we just appointed was the only one, but I think we should hear from them.

Sure. As a council member, you have the ability to ask any of the questions that you would like. I know you mentioned an election season, and we are in the middle of an election season, but We still have to do the work of the residents every single day. Our fiscal year starts on July 1, so it's almost our new year. And that's why these appointments are occurring. It has nothing to do with timing other than the appointments start on July 1. This is how we've done it historically for for decades because that's when our fiscal year began.

I think that we should be more cognizant of that moving forward. And I've even had one of the applicants ask, is there a way we can table this to after the election so it isn't political? I mean, it was one of the applicants that even asked.

Sure. Yeah, I mean, I can assure you when we ask the same questions of every applicant across the last several years that there's nothing political about this. But Council Member Moses, did you have?

I just wanted to chime in because I do remember, especially when we first got on council, Yeah, Nancy. It was weird and you had all these people and you're going through all these resumes and you're just like, I wanna follow up, I wanna ask them questions. And the first time that I asked them questions, they faltered like it wasn't it was a pretty night and I immediately felt bad for that person because here I am putting them on and putting pressure on them in front of you know god knows who everybody here everybody on TV and and I immediately stopped asking questions to everybody else after that because I just felt bad for the for the person so you know I we went through and we made some changes to the to the process is it perfect no But, I mean, it still allows us, like, we still got the packet of all of these people. And if I wasn't on the recommendation committee, I could have reached out to every single one of them and done my own interviews and stuff like that. So while it's not perfect, I don't think we'll ever get perfect because all seven of us can't sit in a closed meeting asking the same questions and hearing the same words from all of these, by the way, wonderful candidates, every single one. Every single person we interviewed was very qualified. We're literally splitting hairs up there. But yeah, it's messy. But we have to abide by the law. And I'm open to hearing your suggestions once we get through this process. But I'm all ears. It's just there's a lot to unpack there. There's a lot of weird, you know what I mean? I felt really bad for the person that I asked one simple question to.

I appreciate what you're saying, but what I'm concerned about is whoever we pick in this position is going to have to sit up here in front of cameras having hard questions thrown at them, as we know. So to say that you felt bad that they came up and we wanted to hear why they were running and what they can bring to the community and why we appreciate them stepping up the way they did and to ask a question, I could do it. And I would certainly hope whoever runs for our boards and commissions will be able to handle the heat because what's going on right now in I want fields, I want pools, and I want splash pads in the world of parks has gotten a little dirty. And realistically, I would hope that our Parks and Rec Department, and I spoke to a few of them today, and I said, I want you to do that work. Like back in the day, like all the splash pads, I thought their intention, like the planning and zoning was to give us direction. I don't think they should come like straight to us first with all these requests. If anything have to do with parks or go to liaison, go to the parks and rec and I feel that The city council is in a really hot seat. And I'm not worried about what I say today. I'm not in the election period. But I will tell you, how we vote today is going to be strategic for anybody that's running for council. There is going to be at least two or three groups, two groups for sure, that are going to feel that you picked one priority over another. And that's what it just looks like. I'm already hearing it. And that's why they came to me and asked if I'm also in it. So I've said my piece. I don't want to say anymore. I just wish this would change. I'm going to say it probably every year that I just think we should give it back to the council members to make these decisions, have candidates come up and be able to interview them where they feel comfortable.

Are there any other questions or comments? Vice Mayor Diaz? Mr. Mayor? Yeah, we're going to go with Vice Mayor Diaz, Council Member Lynn, and then we will go to your comments.

Thank you.

So since this is an open forum, and I know Mercedes Kaiser, I've talked to her before. She's currently on the Parks and Rec. She's doing a great job. What rose the other candidate that we picked? What rose her to the top of the other four, I guess, or the other five? No, four. I guess it would be four. Why was she the most qualified versus, if you ask them all the same questions, something had an IQ. I've done interviews before hiring people. They say something, or they do something, or they, that person I really want on my team. What was the, because I heard it from one of the parks people today that was in that meeting, that she was the most qualified. But from looking at some of the resumes, I don't see that. But just tell me what you think.

Yeah, so from my perspective, all of the candidates that applied are amazing people, and we do great work, and bring different perspectives to the board that we have in front of us.

Just willing to apply.

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, it's a real stand-up position for someone to do. So all of them are very qualified folks that represent Lake Havasu City on the Parks Advisory Board. When it comes to this person from the recommendation body, FROM MY PERSPECTIVE, IT WAS SOMEONE THAT HAD AN ALL ENCOMPASSING VIEW OF THE PARK SYSTEM AND WOULD BALANCE OUT THE CURRENT MIX OF THE PARK ADVISORY BOARD. THAT'S MY PERSPECTIVE. I DON'T KNOW, COUNCILMEMBER MOSES.

I MEAN, I CAN WEIGH IN, I GUESS, ON MERCEDES. I LOVED HER PASSION. I LOVED HER COMMITMENT. SHE'S ALREADY BEEN SERVING.

I'M NOT QUESTIONING MERCEDES AT ALL.

I THOUGHT YOU DID.

I'm asking about the other person that we're recommending. Mercedes, I agree 100%.

Okay, did you answer about Mercedes?

I answered in general for all of them. Okay. Yes.

I mean, so here's what I look for. I look for somebody who has a pulse in the community. I look for somebody who is well-connected within the community that can spread the word of what's going on in the public. I really liked their connectivity to all of the user groups. If you're asking about Ms. Coletta specifically, yeah, she's been a part of the Splash Bad, I think she started that initiative, at least a Facebook group or something, but really she's been coaching since she was a teenager, even before she had kids in the soccer community. I loved your passion for the city. I mean, I think you've talked enough with me. You know me. I love people who love Lake Havasu, and that connects with me. But we're a recommending board. Yeah, I got it. We're just a recommending committee. You can fill in these blanks however you want. This is the recommendation of our committee. But like I said, we were splitting hairs up there. It was a very, very good slate of candidates. And every single one of them gets told hey, even if it's a no now, we're going to hit you up and we're going to bring you in to the next round of interviews, give you another shot, and see where the dice fall then.

Council Member Lynn?

Mr. Mayor, do we have all the candidates there?

We have... We have a few of them. I'm not sure if they are all here, but we do have a few of them here.

Would you mind, because I'm kind of torn between a couple of them. I think we do have a lot of good applications in here, but I'm kind of torn between a few of them because of some of the things that they're working towards. And I know that in the community because they've been very vocal. And I'd like to know if we could hear from a couple of them just kind of a minute on what their, I guess, agenda is or goals are to be on this committee. Could we bring them up, please?

Sure. And who are those that you'd like to hear from?

Well, actually, everybody, to be fair.

Okay.

But specifically, as I'm looking, because I understand that you want to have a good balance, and some of the applications are not as thorough as some of the other ones, but I know that Ms. Coletta, she's very interested in the splash pad, and I've been talking to her a lot, and I know that our swim coach, I understand he put an application. I'd be curious at least to hear from those two.

We can just go down the list. Is Mr. Burnham here?

Thank you.

Ms. Coletta, would you like to come to the podium and give a little synopsis of your vision for parks?

Hello, hello, Alex Coletta. I think I just would like everyone to know that one of my favorite quotes is be the change you wish to see in the world. And my little world happens to revolve around Lake Havasu City. I met my husband here, got married here, had my daughter here, and Yes, I am very for the splash pad. I think everyone knows that. I've spoken to every one of you now, so I think you all know that about me, but what you may not know about me is I do love recreation as a whole. My family is Brazilian. They're playing in the World Cup right now, so soccer is huge to me. They play tomorrow. I've coached for years here in town. I care about recreation as a whole to Lake Havasu City, and I care about making it the best city that we can for our residents and the people who visit here. And that's not just about the splash pad. I would like to make that known right now that I want what's best for the city, even if I may not always agree with it. I want to work with everyone and I really just want what's best for the city. So thank you so much.

Miss Kaiser.

Mayor and City Council, while that conversation did not make me nervous before having to come up here, my name is Mercedes Kaiser, and I want to thank you for allowing me the opportunity to continue to serve our community, our city. I moved here in June 2018, and I learned about disc golf, and now I'm a part of the disc golf family, and I helped run events, gather things with the club, doing fundraisers, and I figured, how can I be more involved? because I'm a little bit nosy and I want to dabble in things. And so I applied to be on the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board three years ago and you all accepted me. So thank you for that. And again, I hope to continue to serve our community and learn more along the way.

Thank you so much. And Ms. Percival. And then finally, Mr. Wheeler.

Been a while since I've been up here. I'm glad I'm not up here talking about this swim team right now. I moved here three years ago. I packed up my wife, my fiance, and her son and moved down to Lake Havasu to take the job with Havasu being raised. I fell in love with this place. What I am is I'm solution driven. If there's a problem, I want to find a solution, however that might be. I love your passion for the splash pad. I feel the same way. And working with anybody and everybody to make it what it should be in a small town that it's just not there right now. I've been in sports my whole life. I've been in Asia. I played softball in Asia for many, many years. It's always been there. It's ways that you can grow the community is by having sports. Getting kids off their behind and getting them out in the sport. I don't care if it's any sport. Swimming? Nah. Anything else? I am all for it. I play softball with the senior group down there. So thank you guys for doing the fields. I don't know what the extra backstop for, but I thought they were fine. But anyway, that's great. I wasn't obviously in on this one. Doesn't mean I'm going to stop. Because again, I think anything anybody brings to the table, they got to have a willingness to listen to other people. and figure out ways to work within the groups that you're into, okay? And that I think is what's one of the hardest things about this is I see that there's so many different things going on right now and it's not really a community anymore. It's a lot of divided people. So I wanted to come on to the board and like I had mentioned before, I see why we can't do this. I want to know why. I want to try to dive in and figure out why. Have conversations. I just had one of the hardest conversations today that I didn't think I'd ever have to have with another company I work with. It was difficult. But you know what? I did it. So again, having these tough conversations with people who don't agree with you, that's OK. As long as you can find common ground somewhere, because it's not about me. It's not about you. It's about what you can do for the community, and especially the kids, I feel. is lacking in this community. So that's what I got to say. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Wheeler. All right, are there any other comments or questions from members of the council before we open the public hearing? All right, this is a public hearing. Would anyone like to address the city council on this item?

Morning, Mayor, or afternoon, Mayor and Council. Joan DeZero, DZURO. Having gone through this process, I'm not afraid to come up and speak in front of people. But what I found is that the confidentiality of just sitting in private with the group that's there, it's always a large group that's in the room. The questions are very thorough because this is a small town. Somebody puts themselves out there and then you guys don't choose them. You do this in a public forum as you did before. and they ask all these, and what you get is, well, why didn't they pick you? How come you didn't? So you end up embarrassing people, I think, unnecessarily, who've put themselves out there. These are all volunteer positions. Nobody gets paid to do this, and it takes a lot of time in some cases to do these board positions. So I think the system you've set up is... And the fact that any council member can call anybody on the application and ask any question I think is a good idea. But I do think the process you have does keep people able to come up and talk and be open and still not get embarrassed if they're not chosen for this position. Because no matter what, you're doing a job application, you run for council, you run for a board, whatever it is. somebody loses and doesn't get to go and then you have to deal with that. So I think the system keeps that minimal embarrassment down. Thank you.

Can I add something, Joan? Just to be clear, we're not picking. They're recommending recommendations. I understand. You don't have to pick these people.

I know. You still have to recommend. But to put it out, my point is if you put it out in the public, and you interview everybody in public, then everybody knows who all applied, and then somebody doesn't get chosen. And then those people are embarrassed. And I think it's unnecessary when the process we have is thorough. And again, every single council member can talk to every single applicant. And so there's really nothing that's being hidden, nothing that you guys don't know. But it just saves, in my opinion, the embarrassment of not being chosen if you're in a public forum for the whole thing.

Fair enough. Your question, said Joan. Mr. Zerl, yeah, Council Member Campbell. My biggest concern is I'm not, to get into these positions to be embarrassed or not be able to put, I say I put on my thick skin and my big girl panties on a regular basis to do this job. So in the meantime, I'm more concerned about why is there more staff, it seems like, in the room than there is actually council. And if I guess another change that would be nice is I would like to get the applications when you guys all get to do it because I got it on Thursday and I am sorry I could not call everybody. And honestly, I knew that if I change the recommendation, it was going to be all of this, which is more embarrassing for all of us in our community other than what we used to do before, which is allow council members to vet their boards and committees and bring them to the table. and trust in what we can bring to the table and be able to explain to the applicant, pick up the phone and say, I'm not going to be voting for you tonight because of this, that, or the other. So my concern is more staff than actual council. What is your concern?

Well, when I interviewed for my position, there was, I think there was four staff members, three staff members. There was Mr. Tuneman. Mr. Kowalski, I don't remember who all was there.

Mr. Gilbert.

Yeah, and Gilbert. Oh, that's it. Tim and Gilbert were there. And then I had Ms. Williams and the mayor were at the meeting. So it was like evenly back and forth, two and two, for the time, I think the last time that I interviewed for that.

But I have had people, especially in planning and zoning, that were contractors that wanted to be on the board or surveyors that said, oh, I had a problem with the staff before. They're never going to pick me. So that's where we are the elected up here, and we're the ones that should be vetting who comes to the table because there's a lot of people that have said, oh, I couldn't work very well with so-and-so, so-and-so. They're not going to be recommending me. I'm not even going to apply.

So that's what we're worried about. If you guys get the applications earlier and can go through those, I think that would solve your concerns that you have about it. But my only point is when you started talking about interviewing everybody up front and then somebody is not chosen, it's more public. And it's just my concern is we're a small town. And right now we're kind of a mean town. So if somebody doesn't get chosen for something, they're going to feel it. And I think it's unnecessary. With the process you have now, everybody gets to be done. But, yeah, certainly if you guys modify the process so that the applications get to all of you earlier so you can talk to them, I mean, that might solve the concerns.

And I guess I would never put them up here for interview. That's why I picked up the phone and called them and took them to coffee or lunch and had a conversation. And then I was just saying for everybody to be able to have, like what, They all did. That was great. They all felt very comfortable, I believe, correct, to come up and tell us a little bit about yourselves and why you want to run. And I think everybody else needs to hear that as well. It might inspire other people to do it too. But thank you again. Thank you for all you do.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. I'm Dave Johnson. And I just wanted to point out, it's Mrs. Coletta. I can actually say that because I'm the guy that married her to her husband. just wanted to say something about i just wanted to say something about alex uh she did coach long before she had kids and she coached several soccer teams and she actually coached my kids soccer team when they were little she's an extremely hard worker she's very intelligent i've known her for many many years and uh just a character reference to say that i would put my vote towards that if it was me up there so thank you anyone else like to address the city council on this item

Mayor and Council, I just wanted to put my two cents in. As in being embarrassed, I am not a public speaker and it's very hard for me. But if you want to be who God created you to be, you're gonna put yourself out there. And if the world's, if you're not picked, how can you be better for next time, right? How are you going to build you so that you can be picked next time? So I believe that it's very honorable to have us, whoever wants to run. I could not do it, so thank you all for really, honestly, I couldn't. So thank you, because really, they need to come up here and express why, right? Why do they want to do it? What is What is their passion, right? Because you guys need to hear and see it in the eyes, right? It's everything that communication, right? God made us to communicate. So I feel it's a wonderful opportunity for anybody that's running for any position. Because you can't be embarrassed. And if you're not picked, put your big panties on and keep on going and try and improve. Thank you.

Thank you. Would anyone else like to address the council on this item? All right, seeing none, we'll go ahead and close the public hearing and bring it back to council for any additional discussion or possible motion.

Mayor motion.

Council Member Moses.

I move to adopt resolution number 26-3924 appointing Mercedes Kaiser and Alexa Coletta as regular members of the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board with the terms ending in June 30th, 2029. Second.

We have a motion from Council Member Moses, a second from Vice Mayor Diaz. Is there any additional discussion? Mayor. Council Member Campbell.

He was on the selection committee. We have a recommendation from only two mayor and a council member, and you were saying, oh, you can recommend who you want, and he's the one that does the motions. So it's very awkward up here. I was possibly considering Rick, but I know how this is going, and I don't need to make any more turmoil than we always have. But we need to really consider this moving forward. We can do better. Thank you.

Is there any additional comments? All right, we're ready to vote.

Mr. Mayor.

Yeah, Council Member Lamb.

Mr. Mayor. Yes, I'm going to tell you I'm going to vote no on this, but my reasoning is because I would like to see Ms. Coletta and Rick as the two holders in this. Nothing against Mercedes, but I'd like to see two new people on it. Nothing against her at all, but those are the two candidates that I was going back and forth on, and so I'm going to say no because I would like to see those two on there. That's my reasoning. Thank you.

Thank you. All right, we are ready to vote. Council Member Lin.

Nay.

Motion carries five to one.

Thank you and congratulations to the candidates and thank you for all of you for applying for the position. We will keep your resumes on record and hopefully we will get you appointed at a future position. Moving on to item 7.3 is that resolution number 26-3925 appointing members to Lake Havasu City Planning and Zoning Commission. Ms. Williams.

here in city council the city received seven applications requesting consideration for appointment as a regular and or alternate member to the planning and zoning commission appointments are necessary to fill the upcoming vacancies of one regular member and two alternate member positions the application review panel conducted interviews for the planning and zoning commission on june 1st and june 8th and recommends that Lonnie Stevenson be appointed as a regular member with a term ending June 30th, 2029, and that Mary Costa be reappointed as an alternate member, and Kay Patel be appointed as an alternate member, both with terms ending June 30th, 2028. All applications were provided to you in the packet, and the applicants were also encouraged to attend tonight's meeting to answer any questions from the City Council.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Williams. Are there questions or comments from members of the Council on this item? We'll open the public hearing. Would anyone like to address the City Council on this item? Seeing none, we'll go ahead and close the public hearing, bring it back to Council for any discussion or possible motion. Mayor motion. Councilmember Moses.

Well, actually, before I motion, I'd just like to say, again, another great group of candidates. I got to see, when I was leaving the Parks and Rec Advisory, I got to see a bunch of you in there, and I was so happy to see so much engagement for this very important commission, so. Appreciate you all, but at this time I move to adopt resolution number 26-3925, appointing Lonnie Stevenson as a regular member with the term ending June 30th, 2029, and Mary Costa and Kay Patel as alternate members to the Planning and Zoning Commission with the term ending June 30th, 2028.

We have a motion, do we have a second?

Second.

A motion from Council Member Moses, a second from Council Member Koch. Any additional discussion? Council Member Campbell? Yes, I was hoping to discuss before that motion.

I see a long list of people here. I just recommended that I would love to hear everybody come up to the dais and tell us why they wanted this position. And I see Chip Chilofsky in here. I see all these great names in here. And I like your recommendations. I really do. But how many people are in the room other than the ones that were recommended? Is Chip in here? No. Lonnie in here?

No.

Derek Ross here? No. Kay Patel? Yes. Would you like to, or is it too late? We already did a first, second, right?

Well, we have a first and a second with a recommendation for Kay as an alternate. But if that motion fails, another motion can be made if a position changes.

And Mary Costa, is she here? Yes. And Kevin Burnham? No.

No, from earlier, he was not here.

Annette. So, Again, these people already have the idea in mind that whatever your recommendations are, and my next question was B, who was the liaison for the planning and zoning since we don't have one?

Yeah, so I sit on that. Mr. Tooneman and Mr. Gilbert sit on that.

So you didn't pick any other council member to?

That's not how the policy is. So that was the one I invited you to when you attended two years ago when you brought these concerns, but that's not how the policy reads.

I thought that we were to pick at least one other for the planning and zoning. Nope, that's the way the policy is read. Okay, there we go. All right, thank you much.

We all still have the opportunity to reach out to every single one of these people. I know quite a bit of them. And the ones that I didn't know, I have conversations with.

Yeah, this particular, the Planning and Zoning Commission, what we generally try to do, it's not always successful, is if somebody is an alternate, we try to make a recommendation that we move alternates into regular positions. In this case, that's what we're doing. Two of the current alternates apply for the, we only had one position, one regular position. So Mr. Stevenson was an alternate. We're making a recommendation. He has applied from the alternate to a regular member several times. Ms. Acosta is also an alternate. She also applied to be a regular member. And this was her second time applying to move from an alternate to a regular member. And so this position, we only had one. Next year, we will have three positions. So it'll be a much better opportunity to get some additional new faces onto the Planning and Zoning Commission.

And then that becomes very concerning to me because how many, we only have six people on Planning and Zoning. So we're gonna have three open seats that you and two staff members are gonna make recommendations for. And again, I think you and I spoke about this. And the reason why I really wanted to be more involved in the process, I mean, look at how quick that was. Boom, boom, let's go. But the thing is, is there's so many people on this dais that have years and years of experience in planning and zoning. And we may have... want more input than what we just got. Because I'm going to tell you, if anybody out there is watching this process, you're seeing it. There's recommendations. First and second immediately, we're done. No more conversation. That's the end of it. So I don't think we're doing it justice to all of our council members to have more of a voice.

But it's your choice. There's seven members of the Planning and Zoning Commission with alternates. And when I first introduced this item, we had an opportunity for any of the council members to have any feedback about inviting the folks in the room up to the Dyson. Nobody asked for that. We opened up the public hearing. It all just occurred. We closed the public hearing. And then I asked for any additional discussion. And that's when Council Member Moses made the motion.

I understand what you found, but when we get to picking three planning and zoning people, and it's the staff and the mayor and a quick recommendation and a first and second, I don't think we're doing right by the citizens, but thank you. You're welcome.

So we have a motion from Councilmember Moses, seconded by Councilmember Koch, to appoint Lonnie Stevenson as a regular member with a term ending on June 30th of 2029, and appointing Kay Patel and Mary Acosta as alternate members with a term ending June 30th of 2028. Correct. Again, that motion has been made by Councilmember Moses, seconded by Councilmember Koch. Are we ready to vote? All right. Please vote. Council Member Lin?

Aye.

Thank you.

Motion carries six to zero.

Thank you and congratulations to the members that were appointed this evening. And again, thank you to all of the applicants that applied. We appreciate you wanting to volunteer and give your time to Lake Havasu City. Item 7.4 is amendment number two to the professional services agreement with Haven Family Resource Center Inc for domestic violence response, victim assistance. Chief Sterling.

Good evening, Mayor, members of the council. This item for you to consider approving amendment number two to the professional services agreement with Haven Family Resource Center for domestic violence and victim assistance for an additional one year term. In July of 2023, following a request for proposal process, A professional service agreement was entered into with Haven for a two year term with a maximum of three additional 12 month periods as agreeable to both parties. Haven has reviewed the amendment number two. and is not requesting any revisions to the terms. We desire to renew the agreement for an additional 12 month term ending, excuse me, on June 30th, 2027. This amendment is the second renewal of the maximum three from the initial professional services agreement. HAVEN, which stands for Havasu Abuse Victims Education Network, is a nonprofit agency that has partnered with Lake Havasu City to provide victim services since fiscal year 2005. Haven provides services to victims of crimes against children, domestic violence, sexual assault, and other cases as requested. Services include forensic interviews in a safe environment, sexual assault medical exams, crisis counseling, and other services to help support victims. Appropriation in the amount of $100,000 is included in the police department's proposed 26-27 budget. And with that, I'll take any questions.

Thank you, Chief. Are there questions from members of the council for Chief Sterling? All right, this is a public hearing. Would anyone like to address the city council on this item? Seeing none, we'll close the public hearing, bring it back to council for any discussion or possible motion. Vice Mayor Diaz.

I move to approve and authorize the city manager to execute amendment number two to the professional service agreement with Haven Family Resource Center Inc. for an additional one year term.

Second. We have a motion from Vice Mayor Diaz. We have a second from Council Member Moses. Is there any additional discussion? All right, we are ready to vote. Council Member Lin.

Aye.

Thank you.

Motion carries six to zero.

Item 7.5 is resolution number 263921, adopting owner-occupied housing rehabilitation guidelines dated June 25th, 2026. Good evening, Mr. Hernandez.

The item before you tonight is a proposed amendment to the housing rehabilitation guidelines to align the program's procurement threshold with the citywide purchasing threshold adopted by council on April 8th of 2025. This amendment does not create a new spending authority. It simply updates the housing rehab guidelines to reflect the procurement threshold previously approved by council and to maintain consistency between city policy and program administration. While I am before you this evening, I thought I might take a few minutes to highlight the rehab program, the residents it serves, and the positive impact it continues to have throughout our community. This program helps income-qualified homeowners address health and safety concerns, code deficiencies, accessibility needs, and other critical repairs that help residents remain safely in their home. When a homeowner applies, I work closely with them to review program eligibility requirements and documentation needed to determine eligibility for assistance. Many applicants need help with navigating the process, and I work with them to ensure all required information is submitted and reviewed. During this process, I get to know the homeowner, understand their concerns, and learn how they function in their home. This help ensures the rehabilitation work not only addresses critical health and safety concerns, but also supports the homeowner's ability to safely and comfortably remain in their home. Once eligibility is established, an inspection is conducted to identify all the necessary concerns. Lake Havasu City has an agreement with Mojave County to perform these inspections. Based on those findings, environmental reviews are completed, a scope of work is developed, contractors are selected through the procurement process, required permits are obtained, inspections are coordinated, and construction activities are monitored through the project completion. Now, before I show some of these photos, I acknowledge that they're all not particularly pleasant to look at. However, they represent real challenges faced by homeowners in our community and illustrate why this program is so important. THIS CURRENT PROJECT INVOLVES A HOMEOWNER WHO EXPERIENCED MAGING PLUMBING FAILURE THAT CAUSED EXTENSIVE DAMAGE THROUGHOUT THE HOME, RESULTING IN THE LOSS OF FLOORING, WALLS, CABINETS AND BATHROOM FACILITIES. THE HOMEOWNER HAS BEEN UNABLE TO FULLY USE PORTIONS OF THE HOME WHILE WAITING REPAIRS, AND WE ARE WORKING CLOSELY WITH THE HOMEOWNER AND INSPECTORS TO MOVE FORWARD WITH THIS PROJECT. ANOTHER PROJECT REVEALED A BROKEN DRAIN LINE BENEATH A PROPERTY THAT HAD PREVIOUSLY GONE UNDETECTED FOR YEARS AND ALSO DESPITE PREVIOUS REPAIR ATTEMPTS. THE ONGOING LEAK CAUSED SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE AND REQUIRED EXTENSIVE REPAIRS TO CORRECT THE UNDERLYING PROBLEM AND RESTORE THE HOME. Another homeowner experienced significant roof damage that ultimately resulted in an opening above the shower. And here's the roof and it shows the damage before and then the repair after. IN ANOTHER CASE, A HOMEOWNER HIRED A HANDYMAN TO PERFORM WHAT SHE THOUGHT WOULD BE ROOF REPAIRS, BUT THE WORK WAS LEFT INCOMPLETE, LEAVING OPENINGS FROM THE EXTERIOR OF THE HOME DIRECTLY INTO THE ATTIC AND KITCHEN AREA, SO SHE WAS LITERALLY AIR CONDITIONING THE OUTSIDE. WE WERE ABLE TO ADDRESS THESE CONDITIONS, RESTORE THE HOME'S WEATHER PROTECTION AND SAFETY. These are the types of situations, there's the repair, these are the type of situations that we encounter through the program. They're not just cosmetic improvements, they are repairs that directly impact the health and safety and the quality of life of our residents. This program continues to provide meaningful benefits throughout our community. In the last two recent grant cycles, the city assisted 16 households through housing through CDBG funds. SEVEN HOMES THROUGH HOME-FUNDED REHABILITATION PROJECTS, AND CURRENTLY WE HAVE TEN PROJECTS UNDERWAY. SOME ARE COMPLETED, SOME ARE STILL ONGOING. THESE PROJECTS HELP PRESERVE EXISTING HOUSING, IMPROVE ACCESSIBILITY FOR ELDERLY AND DISABLED RESIDENTS, AND IN ADDITION TO BENEFITING INDIVIDUAL HOUSEHOLD, THESE INVESTMENTS ALSO HELP MAINTAIN THE CITY'S HOUSING STOCK AND STRENGTHEN OUR COMMUNITY AS A WHOLE. The city is always accepting applications for the housing rehab program, and residents that are interested to learn more about the program are encouraged to contact the grants division, and we'd be more than happy to give them all the help they need to apply for the program. So we recommend the approval of the proposed amendment, and we'd be happy to answer any questions.

Thank you, Ms. Hernandez. Are there questions from members of the council?

Yes, Mayor, I promise I'm not gonna ask questions every single time. But if we go back to the one picture where there was holes and the air conditioning was going out, that almost looked like a brand new home.

It's not.

It was. How did that happen and why wasn't a contract? I mean, how did that happen?

To the best of my knowledge, what I was told is that the homeowner hired a handyman because she had a roof in the attic. And he opened everything up, took her money, and then never finished the job.

Okay.

Thank you. Because when I was looking at that, I thought there's a contractor liability all over that one. But all right. Thank you.

So explain to me again what, because it says fiscal impact zero, so I guess this is all grant money.

That's correct.

But you're saying we're bringing up the spend limit to $100,000? Is that what you're saying?

Thank you for the question. And no, I'm just following what the city has said. It's not my intention to take $100,000 to every home and do that. We have multiple applications. The last few homes that we've had have really required extensive work. So at the previous spending limit, we have to bring the homes up to code for home funds. CDBG requires also a certain amount, and so it was getting difficult to stay within that.

What was the previous spending limit?

It was 50, I believe.

50, and now it's going to be 100?

Yes. So the reason that this is zero fiscal impact is this is updating the guidelines. Updating the guidelines, yeah. To mirror our procurement. So when we updated the spending thresholds from 50 to 100,000, this just mirrors that to bring it into.

Why didn't this happen when we did that?

I would be happy to answer that. Thank you for the question. So the reason why we didn't do it in our grant cycle, certain things fall and might fall outside of where we were at the time. And so when I approached ADOH about it, they recommended making this change for future grant cycles.

Thank you. Thank you. I just say great job, especially handling all the questions. Great, love that you are so in depth on this. And then also there's a couple, GOOD REMINDERS OF WHY IT'S IMPORTANT TO USE A REGISTERED CONTRACTOR ON OUR PROJECT. BUT THANK YOU SO MUCH AND THANK YOU FOR THE WORK YOU DO.

THANK YOU SO MUCH.

THANK YOU. THIS IS A PUBLIC HEARING. WOULD ANYONE LIKE TO ADDRESS THE CITY COUNCIL ON THIS ITEM? SEEING NONE, WE'LL GO AHEAD AND CLOSE THE PUBLIC HEARING, BRING IT BACK TO COUNCIL FOR ANY ADDITIONAL DISCUSSION OR POSSIBLE MOTION.

Mayor, motion. Council Member Moses. Move to adopt resolution number 26-3921, adopting owner-occupied housing rehabilitation guidelines dated June 25th, 2026. Second.

We have a motion from Council Member Moses, a second from Vice Mayor Diaz. Is there any additional discussion? Seeing none, we're ready to vote. Council Member Lin.

Aye.

Thank you.

Motion carries six to zero.

Thank you. Item 7.6 is approve and authorize execution of a non-federal sub-grantee agreement with the National Foundation for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Inc., for the Understanding and Preventing Drowning Grant Project Mission 3, Water Ready. Ms. Sari.

Thank you, Mayor and Council. Do you have the PowerPoint ready? Okay, perfect, thank you. So the CDC Foundation was created by Congress to connect CDC with the private sectors, including individuals, philanthropists, CORPORATIONS, GOVERNMENT ENTITIES TO ADDRESS PUBLIC HEALTH PROTECTION CHALLENGES. THE CDC FOUNDATION'S UNDERSTANDING AND PREVENTING DROWNING INITIATIVE IS A NATIONAL EFFORT TO IDENTIFY EFFECTIVE STRATEGIES FOR REDUCING DROWNING DEATHS. THE PROGRAM FUNDS COMMUNITY-BASED SWIMMING AND WATER SAFETY INSTRUCTION WHILE COLLECTING OUTCOME DATA TO DETERMINE WHICH INITIATIVES MOST EFFECTIVELY IMPROVE WATER COMPETENCY AND REDUCE DROWNING RISKS AMONG CHILDREN. So in working with our Lake Havasu City Parks and Recreation Department Aquatics Division, we've had a longstanding commitment to drowning prevention and water safety education through our programs such as Kinder Swim, Mission Five Ready to Rescue. Our program evaluations had identified a need for additional swim instruction among elementary age students. WHO EITHER PREVIOUSLY DID NOT RECEIVE SWIM LESSONS OR REQUIRED ADDITIONAL SUPPORT TO ACHIEVE WATER COMPETENCY. SO TO ADDRESS THIS GAP, WE HAD WORKED WITH THE CDC FOUNDATION TO SUBMIT A PROPOSAL WHICH WE ARE CALLING MISSION THREE, WATER READY. The program goal for this is that at least 85% of participant students demonstrate measurable improvement in water competency following instruction. So each student that participates in our program will receive 90 minutes at the Aquatic Center. These are for third graders. 15 minutes of that will be water safety instruction and lesson preparation. They'll get 60 minutes of direct in water instruction, totaling 250 minutes total of swimming. AND THESE ARE GOING TO BE PROVIDED BY AMERICAN RED CROSS CERTIFIED WATER SAFETY INSTRUCTORS THAT ARE STAFFED WITH THE CITY. SWIMMING AND WATER SAFETY EDUCATION HAS BEEN INTEGRATED INTO THE LAKE HAVASU CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT PHYSICAL EDUCATION CURRICULUM. SO THIS IS GOING TO BE A PARTNERSHIP THAT WE'RE DOING WITH THE SCHOOL DISTRICT. And as you can see, the funds are for our staffing structure for our personnel, which is our water safety instructor certified lifeguards. We'll be serving six elementary schools. Each school is divided into three groups and each group will receive two providers in the water with them providing direct instruction and then one dedicated safety monitor. The personnel costs will be $8,363. LESSING COSTS AND INDIRECT FACILITY OPERATIONS ARE TOTAL $14,700. THE TOTAL GRANT RECEIVED IS $23,063.30. AND THEN OUR PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENTS UNDER THIS GRANT, WE WILL BE REQUIRED TO COMPLETE EVALUATION TRAINING, COLLECT AND SUBMIT PARTICIPANT SWIM COMPETENCY DATA, ATTEND MONTHLY STATUS MEETINGS, SUBMIT PROGRAMMATIC AND FINANCIAL REPORTING AND SERVE APPROXIMATELY 350 THIRD GRADE STUDENTS ENROLLED IN OUR SCHOOL DISTRICT, INCLUDING OUR SELF-CONTAINED SPECIAL EDUCATION CLASSROOMS. And so again, for our fiscal impact, you'll see here the total amount there. We do have some in-kind costs or in-kind funds that we don't need to necessarily report to the grant, but we will have our administrative costs are gonna be completed by existing staff. And then we will also have a partnership with the school district to provide transportation and their staff to supervise the children during their transportation and then in and out of water. And you can see that we have a number of benefits under this grant. We're expanding access to life saving swimming instruction for our local youth. We're reducing drowning risks in our community, especially the CDC Foundation was especially interested that we didn't have a third grade THIRD GRADE SWIM LESSONS WHEN WE'RE SO CLOSE IN PROXIMITY TO WATER AND WE'RE ALREADY SERVING KINDERGARTEN AND FIFTH GRADE. SO THEY'RE VERY EXCITED ABOUT THIS. THEY'RE EXCITED ABOUT THE PARTNERSHIPS, WHICH WAS A REQUIREMENT TO EVEN APPLY FOR THE GRANT. AND WE'RE GETTING A LOT OF SUPPORT FROM THE CDC FOUNDATION IN AND OF ITSELF. AND THEY'VE ALREADY CREATED ADDITIONAL LINKAGES WITH OTHER LIKEWISE FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE CITY.

SO APPROVAL OF THIS AGREEMENT WILL ALLOW US TO START THE PROGRAM ON SEPTEMBER 1ST THANK YOU MS. SARI THANK YOU OTHER QUESTIONS FROM MEMBERS OF THE COUNCIL COUNCILMEMBER KOCH YEAH AWESOME PROGRAM CONSIDERING WE LIVE SO CLOSE TO THE LAKE JUST IS THIS GOING TO BE DURING THE NORMAL SCHOOL DAY THAT THEY'LL PARTICIPATE SO THEY'LL BE TAKING THEM FROM THE SCHOOLS DOWN TO THE AQUATIC CENTER YES OKAY ARE THERE ANY OTHER QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS YOU HAVE VICE MAYOR DIAZ QUESTION

In our packet, it says the city will subsidize the cost of administration, including any required staff training. This includes the grant manager, the program coordinator, aquatic supervisor, recreation superintendent, and parks and recreation director. No administrative costs will be incurred by the grant. Grant funds are allocated and available, blah, blah, blah. We know that. So how much is this costing the city? $23,000 is not that much money, but how much is it going to cost the city to implement this program? Do you have any idea?

FOR IMPLEMENTATION, AS FAR AS THOSE FOLKS, THE GRANTS MANAGER, AQUATIC SUPERVISOR, RECREATION SUPERVISOR, WE'RE SALARIED EMPLOYEES, SO THIS WOULD JUST BE SOMETHING THAT WE DO ON TOP OF. SO WE DO HAVE OUR INDIRECT COSTS, WHICH WE JUST USE THE COST PER SWIM LESSON, AND WE ATTRIBUTE IT TO THAT. SO IT SHOULD BE, IT SHOULDN'T BE AN ADDITIONAL COST TO THE CITY.

OKAY. THANK YOU.

How is it working with the kinder swim program that's been around forever? Is it just this on steroids a little bit?

Kind of, so the kinder swim is really about exposure to the water, how there's really a level that's assigned to each student that comes in there. Are they getting ready to just blow bubbles in the water? Are they scared of the water? Those kinds of levels that are given. This is really to address more of that drowning prevention. It's not as much water exposure, it's really seeing To be frank, we have a few kids that had come in the fifth grade who had never been in any kind of swim lesson, who's never been in any kind of drowning prevention. A lot of those kids were kids who had moved into the city and there were a few scares for those kids. And so we realized that in order to fill that gap, we really need to see our third graders. So it is on steroids, but the focus is more on drowning prevention than water exposure.

Thank you for that answer. I wouldn't have known the difference, but thank you.

Are there any other questions or comments before we open the public hearing? All right, this is a public hearing. Would anyone like to address the City Council on this item? Yeah, please. Yeah, just make your way to the podium. State your name for the record.

Yvonne Toddy. Sorry, I missed that last time. Mayor and council. I was just curious why third grade? I'm a huge swim thing. We've lost a couple of friends have lost their one and a half year old. So it's very important and close to my heart. So I was just curious why it starts at third grade? I'm just, that's my question.

Yeah, great question. I'll turn it over to Ms. Sari.

SO THE CITY ALREADY PROVIDES OPPORTUNITIES FOR SWIMMING LESSONS THAT PARENTS CAN SIGN UP FOR AT OUR AQUATIC CENTER. OUR PARTNERSHIP WITH THE SCHOOL DISTRICT RIGHT NOW IS FOR THE KINDER SWIM AND THEN THE FIFTH GRADERS. THE GRANT PROPOSAL ITSELF REHADS SOME REQUIREMENTS AS FAR AS NARROWING DOWN WHAT AID YOU'RE GOING TO WORK WITH, WORKING DIRECTLY WITH SCHOOL DISTRICTS, IDENTIFYING WHERE WE COULD BEST SERVE OUR CHILDREN, AND WE DECIDED OUR AQUATIC SUPERVISOR, OUR SPECIALIST, AND THE CDC FOUNDATION REALLY THOUGHT THAT THE THIRD GRADE WAS THE GAP. SO WE HAVE KINDERGARTEN, THIRD, AND FIFTH. AND THEN HOPEFULLY THIS IS A PILOT PROGRAM THAT THE CDC FOUNDATION IS FUNDING, AND SO WE'RE HOPING THAT WE'LL HAVE SOME DATA TO REALLY SAY THAT, YES, SWIM LESSONS, WHEN THEY ARE PROVIDED IN CONJUNCTION WITH SCHOOL DISTRICTS AND MAKING IT A MANDATORY PART OF THEIR PHYSICAL EDUCATION OR OTHER PART OF PROGRAM, ARE AN EFFECTIVE USE OF OF FUNDS AND THAT THERE WILL BE FURTHER OPPORTUNITIES TO EXPAND OUR SWIM LESSONS, BUT MOSTLY THE DROWNING PREVENTION.

THANK YOU. HI, MAYOR.

HI, CITY COUNCIL. MY NAME IS MADDIE ODELL. I'M NOT JUST A LOCAL MOM. I ABSOLUTELY LOVE ALL OF THIS. I HAVE BEEN A SWIM INSTRUCTOR FOR MANY, MANY YEARS. IT'S SOMETHING I'M REALLY water safety. I know for a lot of younger families like myself that live here, it's quite an expensive town to buy homes. A house with a pool is quite expensive. We don't have a pool. Trying to get my kids in the water as much as possible is really important to me. I've lived in a lot of places smaller than Lake Havasu where the high schools have pools, the middle schools have pools, and the community has an Olympic size lap pool. And obviously, we live in a lake town. We're around water, and water safety is super important. So while all of this is awesome, and my kids have been involved in the kinder swim program, it is great for exposure. It's a couple of days. I wouldn't say that it's adequate in helping prevent drowning, but it's really great. I mean, it's a good start, especially for children who aren't given a lot of opportunity to be in pools. So I would love to advocate for whether it's a high school pool or a community pool, it would be really great to see that in our community. Thank you.

Thank you. Anyone else like to address the council on this item? Seeing none, we'll close the public hearing, bring it back to council for any additional discussion or possible motion. Vice Mayor Diaz.

I move to approve and authorize the execution of a non-federal sub grantee agreement with CDC Foundation for the Understanding and Preventing Drowning Grant Project, mission three, water ready.

Second.

We have a motion from Vice Mayor Diaz. We have a second from Council Member Campbell. Is there any additional discussion? Seeing none, we're ready to vote. Council Member Lin?

Aye.

Thank you.

Sorry.

Motion carries six to zero.

Thank you. All right, item 7.7 is our truth and taxation hearing and public hearing on the proposed fiscal year 2026-27 property tax levy. Good evening, Ms. Olsen.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. I just have a very short presentation. So the Truth in Taxation hearing is required by state law to be held whenever the amount of the property tax levy is going to be higher, the amount that's collected higher than the previous year. We did leave our property tax rate the same, but we are gonna be bringing in more revenue due to assessed valuation. So the important aspects of this, what's important to know, that there is, again, no change in the tax rate from the prior year. The city portion of your tax bill, only 6.7 cents of every property tax dollar goes to the city. And then the impact, financial impact for anyone who has property in the city, it's about $2.84 a year additional for each $100,000 assessed valuation. So if you have a $400,000 home, AB, then you take the $2.84 times four, and that would be your total financial impact for the year. There will be additional revenue collected, including new construction of about $442,000. The property taxes that we collect help fund our primarily public safety and parks and recreation programs. The remainder of the taxes after our 6.7 cents is received by us goes to the schools, the county, the community college and various special taxing districts. So to recap, or to compare FY26, the fiscal year we're in right now, compared to FY27, the year that we are adopting a budget for, you can see that the tax rate will stay the same. The assessed value has gone up. That information comes from the county. And then that creates or generates a dollar amount of the total revenue that will be collected. So you can see that additional amount, as I mentioned. And with that, I'll turn it back to you, Mayor.

Thank you, Ms. Olsen. Are there any questions or comments from members of the Council? Ms. Olsen?

All right.

This is a public hearing. Would anyone like to address the City Council on this item? Seeing none, we'll go ahead and close the public hearing, bring it back to council for any discussion or possible motion. Mayor motion. Yeah, Council Member Moses.

Move to approve the levy of the proposed fiscal year 26-27 property tax and to assess the levy at the July 14th, 2026 City Council meeting. Second.

We have a motion from Council Member Moses, a second from Council Member Koch. Is there any additional discussion? Hearing none, we're ready to vote. Council Member Lin.

Aye.

Thank you.

Motion carries six to zero.

Thank you. Item 7.8, we're going to adjourn to a special meeting. Welcome to our special meeting. We'll now go to item 7.9. We're gonna discuss resolution number 26-3927, adopting the fiscal year 26-27 final budget. Ms. Olsen.

Thank you again, Mayor. As you indicated, state law does require that the city council adopt the final budget during a special meeting. So that's what makes this so special. So wait for that to come up. So this is the process, part of the process. We're at the very end, except for the property tax levy setting, which should occur in July. Just to go over again the budget process, it's about a 10-month timeline that's governed by state law and by our policy. You can see that we started the CIP in September. We have now gone through several. We went through the council planning session. WE HAD TWO SPECIAL BUDGET WORK SESSIONS WITH THE COUNCIL IN APRIL AND MAY AND WE ADOPTED, YOU ADOPTED THE TENTATIVE BUDGET AT THE JUNE 9 MEETING AND YOU ADOPTED THE CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PLAN. SO TONIGHT THIS IS FOR COUNCIL TO DISCUSS THE ADOPTION OF THE FINAL BUDGET. For the final budget adoption, again, the tentative budget was published as required. Council may change or reduce the amount of the final budget, but cannot increase the amount higher than what the tentative budget was adopted at. And we have made no changes to the budget since the tentative budget adoption on June 9th. And the total budget is a little over 303 million. And again, as I've mentioned before, the total budget amount includes all funds and all revenue sources, including grants and the legislative appropriations. So that is everything. Again, for property taxes, the next step, should council adopt the budget, we will meet on July 14th for the purpose of adopting the tax levy rates for the city property tax and for improvement district number two. The proposed rates, as I mentioned before, city property tax rates staying the same at .6718 per $100 of assessed value. And then the improvement district number two, which is the London Bridge Plaza area, that tax rate is staying the same as well at 0.7370. And the levy amount for that district is a little over $21,000. So again, as stated in the Truth in Taxation hearing, process, there's no increase to the tax rate, but we do acknowledge there is an increase in revenue collected due to the assessed valuation of the properties increasing. And I'll turn it back to you, Mayor.

Thank you, Ms. Holson. Are there questions or comments from members of the council on this item?

No, go for it.

Yeah. Council Member Campbell? Waiting for you, Cameron.

Can you tell me again, I'm looking at the Exhibit B general fund five year forecast that was all in our booklet. You have budget stabilization reserve. What was our goal on that? I see that 2026 we have 39 million. I sent you the paperwork in question that I'm asking you about. What is our goal? I thought we were trying for 50% of our budget and the part that confuses me is if it's 303 million, Can you explain that a little bit more of what that budget reserve means and what was our goal?

The goal is the amount that's here. It is 50% of the operating expenditures does not include capital improvement plan. Over the last five years, we averaged that and we take 50% of that and that becomes the target.

Okay, I appreciate that. And my next concern would be is I see the beginning resource available was 95 million 482 930 ending minus the budget reserve down to 41 million. But as we project out five years, I am seeing that ending resources after the reserve is 1 million 602,000. So I'm very concerned in the five years, what is that going to look like for Lake Havasu City when we are depleting our funds approximately $40 million in five years? You see that what I see, right?

Of course, and we've been pointing that out for a few years now. That is the amount that's left over after we set aside the budget stabilization reserve. So it is FUNDS THAT ARE IN EXCESS OF WHAT'S REQUIRED BY THE BUDGET STABILIZATION RESERVE. THOSE ARE THE FUNDS THAT WE HAVE BEEN USING, THAT COUNCIL'S BEEN USING OVER THE LAST FEW YEARS TO PLAY CATCH UP ON THE DIFFERENT MAINTENANCE ITEMS, THE OLDER VEHICLES, FACILITY REPAIRS, ROOF REPLACEMENTS, HVAC REPAIRS AND REPLACEMENTS. So that money, that extra fund balance, so to speak, is what we have been using. And so as you see in the five-year CIP, all of those projects that are general funded are being funded through using these dollars. And so yes, if we spend according to what's in the CIP now, then the anticipated balance at the end of Fiscal year 31 would be around the 1.6 million, assuming every other assumption in those numbers comes true.

Right. And I know you do a great job. And when I saw this, I was very, very concerned because we are doing catch up just to eventually slow down, I suppose. We talk about a balanced budget, which this is obviously a balanced budget. We had money in the account. We're not going into debt. I see that. But I'm very concerned. What is do you have any suggestions after this? Are we talking tax increases or how are we going to continue to I'm assuming we're always going to be catching up, and I will be voting no again on this budget because three, what is it, three miles a year of water main infrastructure is very concerning to me when we have 300 miles of bad pipe. I'm really, as a business owner, I'm worried about these numbers and this budget. Are you worried?

Certainly I'm always concerned about what that balance might be and that's why we even during the budget work session that's one of the main reasons we brought to council that spreadsheet that we put up on the screen to kind of show we don't have enough money to pay for everything up front. We've spread the money out over the five years and we knew at the end of it we would only have 1.6 million that's why we were very concerned about how much was spent when because we didn't have a cushion to spend any more than what was in the five years other than the 1.6 so we're very cognizant of that that's one of the main reasons this is general fund here but we certainly have to start looking at are there other revenue sources or you know will we just this year we even We approved fewer supplemental requests, those above the base budget, because we are starting to catch up. Are we caught up? No, I don't think anyone agrees with that, even on just the general fund side. But we're doing much better. Council's been very conscientious about putting money toward replacing some of those 25-year-old vehicles and repairing roofs and all of the facility repairs and maintenance that we need. So yes, we're concerned. We definitely need to be looking at the revenues and we need to be looking at which expenses will actually be recurring. And that's why we focus in the budget on the recurring expenditures, those things that are annual. personnel, the wages and benefits, our recurring annual utilities, recurring annual expenses. And then we have the one time items. And the one time items are the first thing that we would look at to see if we need to back perhaps, we may not be able to replace them at the same rate that we're anticipating right now without additional revenue identified.

And have we considered or thought about like what we did with a sewer plant? Nobody likes debt. To assume that we can catch up on 300 miles of water main in the next five years is going to be impossible. And if we do it at three miles a year, we're behind from the get-go. We're 100 years out. Has there been any conversation, and I'm asking you as a staff directly, has there been conversations on how we could possibly catch up on some of these water mains? I know that the staff had come up and told us they had a plan, but I never have heard that plan. And I don't know what we can do at this point. What can we do?

those are all things that we consider and that was taken into consider in consideration in particular during the last rate study that's where we took a look at like 10 years worth of expenditures knowing that we couldn't afford to actually increase the rates to the level that was actually needed We do know that not all of the pipe, as Mr. Kellett mentioned, needs to be replaced right now, but as it ages, more and more will need to be replaced, and that's what the plan, I believe he was referring to. During the next rate study, we'll be looking at that again. What reasonably can we do, and how much cash do we have to do it? And part of that plan could be considering additional debt so that we could actually do more. We just have to make sure that we put the debt service payments into those numbers as well. So the rates will be increased so that they can also accommodate the debt service principal and interest.

And I remember the past mayor, Nixon, always saying the reason why he felt confident about doing the sewer system the way we did with the $300 million with the debt service. I'm not for debt, but the $13 million a year that we owe in debt services. is minimal compared to a $303 million budget. And I don't believe that we'll be able to catch up with water rates in a five year plan or a 10 year plan unless we continue to look at this. And for all of you out there that are going, she just wants to sell asphalt, give me dirt roads any day, but the minute you have to turn on a water hydrant and it blows out of Maine, I think we the city needs to be really, really concerned and I wanted to have this conversation. Thank you for coming up here and talking to me about this. And that's why I was asking you questions way ahead of time. I didn't wanna shock you with any of this, but I have a lot of concerns about this direction that we're going in the amount of money we're spending. And then we have the expenditure limit that will be looking right in our face. And the last mayor told us when we all voted, we will never, ever, ever meet this. Well, we are going to meet this if we have to fix this, but debt is not part of the expenditure limit. Am I correct?

That's correct. It is excluded from the calculation.

Thank you so much. Thank you, Joe, for all you do. I do appreciate you.

Thank you.

Mr. Knutson. Mayor, Council Member Campbell, if I can add to that conversation a little bit. We'll be coming before the council here in the next few weeks, month or so, giving a presentation if council is so willing. to talk about the status of our infrastructure when it comes to water lines, sewer lines, and so forth, and be able to display that for the council. So we'll have a solid understanding of what the current condition of our water and sewer system looks like, and what does that mean for the council, what does that mean for the budget, for possibilities of looking at the rates, and so forth. So we're going to bring all of that to council. and we'll have it all organized and ready to go for council and for the public.

Thank you.

Vice Mayor Diaz?

Yeah, so I'll be voting yes on this budget, but I still have some major concerns that I mentioned at the last meeting. And the concerns were that we have all these meetings, we have workshops, we have a council retreat, and things get prioritized, and then at the last minute things get changed. And that to me was a little interesting. But I ran some numbers, so Mojave, I didn't say this before, but they just adopted this last Monday, the Monday before last. Mojave County is the fifth largest county in the United States. They just approved a budget for $599 million. And we're gonna approve a budget, we have to have it in by July 1, for $303 million, and we're 60,000 people here in Lake Havasu City. So we're really going to have to, so we don't have to run into the situation that Nancy is outlining, and you so greatly answered, Jill. We're really going to have to start looking at wants and needs. And if we have to make cuts here and there, we're going to have to do it because we cannot continue to go in the direction that we're going because money doesn't grow on trees. And that's just it. We're a little over half of a spend that the fifth largest county in the United States is spending for their budget annually. And we're half as big as 60,000 people. Let that sink in a little bit. But I'm gonna be voting yes, cuz by law we have to have a budget in by July 1st, so I'm a yes vote on this budget.

Yeah, thank you. And just for clarification, Mojave County is the fifth largest by land. By land. By land, not population. Yeah. The budget includes the $303 million is all funds and includes the grants in there that might be realized or not realized. So just so that there's context to some of those statements. Are there any additional comments or questions before we open the public hearing?

I would just make the comment that each time we've had the workshop where we talk about the water rates and the wastewater rates, there's always a lot of hesitation about changing rates. But this is why we've said in the past that we need to update those rates. Otherwise, it's going to be catastrophic when we have to finally do it. So when we have those conversations, when those studies come back, I mean, we're going to have the real conversations because this is what happens when we don't.

Mayor? Councilmember Campbell? Councilmember Koch, do you really think that we can catch up in five years on a water rate study increase that would cover the water main issue that we have going on? Do you think that we can raise the rates year after year high enough to be able to fix this or do you think we have more things we need to look into?

Saying that we can, I'm saying that we have to have the real conversation when we're sitting back here and we can't be saying, we're not gonna raise rates, it's not fair to raise rates, we can't raise the rates that high. Those are the conversations that have happened in the past. I'm just saying, we're gonna have to be real about it.

Right, and it's because we've had deferred maintenance for so long on our water mains that now we're doing massive catch up and we can't expect the water rate citizens of today to pay for 60 years of neglect, we can't do it. So I just wanted to clarify that with you, thank you.

ALL RIGHT, THIS IS A PUBLIC HEARING. WOULD ANYONE LIKE TO ADDRESS THE CITY COUNCIL ON THIS ITEM?

YEAH, PLEASE.

GOD TELLS ME TO SPEAK, SO I'M SPEAKING. MY NAME IS YVONNE TODDY. SO I KNOW SHE MENTIONED, IS THERE IN COUNCIL, SORRY, MAYOR, COUNCIL, IS THERE ANY SOLUTIONS TO THAT? I'm going to say out loud, nobody's going to like me right now, but that's okay. God loves me. I know people don't want to raise taxes, but I'm sorry. I live in a world of don't want to try to catch up, you know, and I feel that, you know, to move, increase a little, and I know everybody's just going to dislike me. That's okay. But if we all want better, but we don't want to give money, and I think that's a problem. Sorry. We want our beautiful town paradise here to be better, to have this. I love our firemen and police, because my daddy was a police, and I love my military. So I believe they need to get paid more. And how are we going to take care of them? How are we going to take care of this beautiful town? And I know you're not going to like it, but I'm going to say it out loud. We need to raise our taxes. I'm sorry for everybody. It's not like that, but we all want better. We just don't wanna pay for it. So the solution is, do you have a solution? Is there solutions? That's kind of a question back to you all. Because we said we're gonna try to catch up and we're not gonna be able to catch up. And we're leaving it to our children, our grandchildren, our great grandchildren. It's gonna be tough for them, right? The streets. So is there a solution? Because let's try to find it. What can we do? Get more grants? How does that work? I don't even know. That's why I'm not up there. But what's the solution? And again, raise the taxes so we can have better. Thank you, I'm sorry. Sorry everybody.

Yeah, what we have in front of us though, let's not lose focus of what's good here. So it's a balanced budget for five years that has a fully funded CIP plan that has a plan in place to address the items that we have in front of us. In year six, at the end of the five year, there's still a beginning fund balance of a little over a million dollars in the current projections based on all things happening as according to the plan. The budget in front of us now is a balanced budget, no debt financing, keeping the tax rate the same, and taking care of the priorities that we have and making investments into the infrastructure that we have. As Mr. Knutson mentioned, we'll have a public hearing at a future meeting where we can talk about the condition. Right now, people are just saying that there's failures and that it's in a bad state. We don't know that. Let's get the full information of where we stand and then we can make decisions and plans based on that. Would anyone else like to address the City Council during the public hearing? Please just make your way to the podium and state your name for the record.

My name is Dave Johnson. I took a look at the budget. You got a $303 million budget. And in 2027, you are spending less than 1% of that budget on roads. You're spending $2.8 million. And on your water mains, once again, it's $3.5 million, which is $1.15 of the budget. Just Googling around, most cities spend between 5% and 20% on their infrastructure. I don't know where all this money is going, but you guys really got to seriously dive into this light item because if we can't afford 1%, how are we going to get to 5%, let alone 20%?

It's important to know that the water and wastewater are enterprise funds. So when you're comparing, it needs to be apples and apples. So enterprise fund of water, what that budget is and what the investment is in water main replacement. And then when it comes to roads through the HEERF plant. So you're taking a full budget that takes all revenue sources at the $303 million, which also includes grant funding that could be realized or not realized. And doing a math calculation doesn't give a full representation of what this budget does. But we appreciate the comments.

That's also important to realize that during the CIP budget meeting, Jill went up there and said to, during the water projects, that these will not be funded without a water rate hike. You know, these things are all coming, but it keeps getting pushed down the road. Numbers don't lie. You know, you're spending 2.8 million bucks, that's less than three miles of road. 3.15 million, or excuse me, 3.5 on water mains is not very much money. So you guys need to really look at it.

Thank you for your comments.

Good evening, Mayor, City Council. Everything that you all said is valid, every single point. Even what River Dave said was valid. We're not spending enough on it. One of the things that's also valid is, or was valid and is not anymore, is the irrigation drainage district. That was a way to bring funds into that budget column. So basically what you're saying, I think, this is more of a question, you're saying that we can't spend money on the water system unless it comes directly from the funds collected from the water bills.

It's the enterprise funds. The revenue source is from the ratepayers.

Right. So in order to, I'm really looking forward to the city staff's presentation on infrastructure. Thank you for that, Jess. THERE SEEMS TO BE IN THE PRIVATE INDUSTRY, WE FIND WORKAROUNDS. WE FIGURE OUT HOW TO DO THINGS. BUT WHAT I HEAR TOO MUCH OF IS, WELL, IT HAS TO COME FROM THAT FUND SO WE CAN'T DO ANYTHING MORE ABOUT IT. WE NEED TO LOOK AT THAT FUND AND SEE HOW TO BRING IT UP. WE NEED TO FIX THESE PROBLEMS, NOT LOOK AT IT AND SAY, WELL, THIS IS ALL WE HAVE TO DO WITH IT. And then the other thing about the question I had is about the HEERF funds. And I think you even alluded basically that roadways can't be worked on without HEERF funds. Is that what you said?

No, we've made general fund appropriations into the HEERF fund. We've made transfers into there.

So we could budget out of our own general fund for our roadways. So the roadways has nothing to do with the water mains per se.

Yeah, it does not. My point to the previous speaker was about the calculation. We're taking a full calculation of $303 million and making math calculations to that. They're enterprise funds, and we need to compare an enterprise fund to an enterprise fund when we're making those comments. That was my point earlier. But we absolutely can make a general fund transfer like we have done over the last several years.

Correct. Okay. Yes. And then one more question about, if I have just a second, about the water issue. Now, the infrastructure on the water is also part of what has to be paid for by water receipts. Yeah, it's an enterprise fund, yes. Not just for the delivery of it, but including the water mains. Correct, yeah, the capital investments that we do as well. So when they dig up a water main and repair it, where do those funds come out of?

Out of the water fund.

Out of the water fund?

Yes.

It's an enterprise fund that has revenues and expenses that include general maintenance, repairs, and then also capital expenses.

And the roadway repairs is also part of that, or does that come out of highway funds?

That comes out of the water fund, yes.

Also out of the water fund?

Mm-hmm.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Lutz.

Would anyone else like to address the council on this item?

Good evening, Mayor and High Council. My name's Tom Toddy, and I know everybody else is thinking this. I can't be the only one. You don't have a balanced budget. If my house needs a roof, and I say, oh, we make this much at work during the week or all year long, and I don't budget in to fix my roof, the house is going to fall down. The city's going to fall down. There's going to be a point when This all comes to fruition. And just hoping that a main doesn't break is not gonna fix it. Just hoping it's not gonna rain isn't gonna not flood my house. So it's really, I mean, everybody in the city knows the budget is not balanced. You can say it is all you want, but it is not balanced because we need to fix this stuff. It's going to snowball and it's all gonna hurt us.

It is a balanced budget, and we do have money in the budget to fix a main that may break throughout the year. So we have money for repairs and maintenance, we have capital investments, and we have a balanced budget that allows us to do those things.

Politically spoke.

The truth, yes. Ms. Swenson?

Hi, Pam Swenson. The water pipes is a big issue with me, and I've talked to you before about that. I think it's great that you're gonna have a meeting about it coming up, but I think it's too late. You're having, this is a meeting about a budget that is gonna be set in place for the next five years. So you're pushing everything off for another five years. Basically, your CIP budget is gonna be put in place, and it's gonna be for five years. You're gonna have a meeting and learn about the infrastructure, the status of the infrastructure, and what condition it's in, but you're not gonna be able to do anything MAJORLY ABOUT IT FOR THE NEXT FIVE YEARS UNTIL YOU PUT ANOTHER BUDGET IN. SO IT SEEMS TO ME SINCE WE'VE KNOWN THAT THIS INFRASTRUCTURE, PARTICULARLY WITH THE WATER LINES, IS AN ISSUE, THIS MEETING SHOULD HAVE TAKEN PLACE A LONG TIME AGO. AND I THINK, AGAIN, IT'S NOT BEING PROACTIVE PREVIOUSLY. IT'S ALWAYS REACTIVE. AND, AGAIN, THIS IS MY ARGUMENT ALWAYS WITH THE WAY THINGS ARE DONE. The other thing is that the staff says that they have a plan to deal with all of this. And I'd like to know who on staff makes that plan and what they base it on and what their education is. Because this is not a plan doing three miles a year for 300 miles. That's not a plan that any good engineer would make. I really am very concerned about this. I know that there's issues with money. There's always issues with money. But again, I believe what Vice Mayor Diaz said with we have to change and address the needs before we do the wants. And it's becoming more and more critical that we face our problems that way versus making everybody happy. Infrastructure and all of that, nobody wants to spend money on it. You don't wanna spend money on a roof, you don't wanna do any of that. But I've said before, it's gonna be a catastrophe if things keep getting pushed back more and more. But I think the plan that is in place now is completely ineffective. And it's gonna be bad going forward. I know, so thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Swenson. So what we're considering tonight is a one-year budget. There's a five-year outlook on the CIP, but years two through five can change with next year's budget adoption. So it's just year one of the CIP with a five-year CIP plan. Anyone else like to address the City Council on this item? All right, seeing none, we'll go ahead and close the public hearing, bring it back to Council for any additional discussion or possible motion. Council Member Campbell? Mr. Mayor?

Mr. Mayor?

Yeah, Council Member Lin?

Yes, can somebody give me the number that we have in our contingency fund for this budget?

Yeah, for what? For the general fund?

Yes, please.

Yeah, Ms. Olsen?

The annual amount that we set aside for operating contingency is $1 million in the general fund. Then there's the budget stabilization reserve, which is separate, so I'm not sure which one you mean.

Okay, do we have a separate utility contingency fund?

Yes, wastewater has a million and water has 500,000, I believe.

Water only has 500,000? Okay, all right, thank you.

So the contingency funds are for things that are unbudgeted. So everything else, there's money in the budget for repairs, maintenance, operating CIP, but anything that's unbudgeted, we can potentially use for use contingency dollars, which fortunately we've not had to do very often. Council Member Campbell? Yes.

When I got into office, I believe, don't quote me exactly, but it's pretty darn close, was the budget was $147 million. Fast forward five years later, it's $303 million. And That tells me, without a doubt, roads, well, I'm not even gonna say roads anymore. Again, I'd rather be on dirt roads than good water mains. Water mains have not been a priority. And I don't know how we can spend almost $150 million more in five years. And again, we have $3 million on the books. that's that's mind blowing to me and so for everybody anybody that wants pools splash pads whatever this is just a budget that we approve all of this comes in front of us later once we hire a contractor and all of the others but i do totally agree with pam over there i really would have liked i think everybody in this room probably would have liked to seen that presentation on our infrastructure and where we're at right now before we write the check for the largest, I think this is the largest budget in history other than the sewer treatment plant. This is big, so I'm sorry I have to vote no, it's just because I don't think we have our priorities straight, thanks.

So again, I've said it a few times this evening, but $303 million is the revenue of all funds, which includes the $35.5 million from the bridge. Wasn't a discussion when you first got on council. It also includes grant funding. We have a very robust grants department now that we did not have before. Last year, they generated over $18 million in grants to the city. This year, there's money in the budget that may not be realized that are in that budget. IN MUNICIPAL BUDGET, IF WE DON'T BUDGET FOR IT, IT CANNOT BE SPENT. SO IF WE WERE TO BE ABLE TO GET A GRANT FOR, WE TALKED ABOUT THIS EVENING, FOR THE THIRD GRADE SWIMMING PROGRAM, BUT IF WE DIDN'T PUT MONIES IN THE BUDGET FOR THAT TO BE THEN REALIZED AND THEN EXPENDED, WE WOULDN'T BE ABLE TO EXPEND IT OR WE WOULDN'T BE ABLE TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE GRANT. SO THERE JUST NEEDS TO BE CONTEXT. YOU CAN SAY THAT THERE'S But it's $303 million in all funds. It includes $35.5 million for the bridge. It includes all of the grants and several other things that are in there.

So how much grant money do we have for water mains? I didn't even see the one-time appropriation in there of $18 million that our tech works on. I didn't see that as a grant in this as well. So again, I completely understand the process and I completely understand the grant funding. I looked at it all. I got every number that there was from Jill. I appreciate her 100%. But at the end of the day, let's not kick the can down the road and pretend that we're fixing the water mains. And like I said, I would rather, dirt is better. It'd be even cheaper to fix when the water mains blow, trust me. So dirt roads are the way I would go at this point for everybody out there. But in the meantime, I've said it for five years, this needs to be a priority. And this is clearly not a priority. And the minute one of our chiefs need to hook onto a water main and turn that thing on and it blows another water main, which it will do, I kind of know what's going on in those roads, all the way to the one that was running down. A few people called me. I'm like, oh, that's probably a plug in the sewer line if it's coming out the main line. And it's really, really hard to see this. Somebody that ran on this gets to drive by it every day. It breaks my heart that if you guys really think $3 million this year with this $303 million budget, nobody's even, where's the grant funding? I mean, we've got some water main replacements. That's part of grants. I appreciate that. We needed that. We need to keep working harder. Mr. Kowalski and I are going to definitely battle this, I hope, together to bring some funding back to Havasu. And this is all I got. But I need... I need the council and the staff support. I have my hands all over grant funding, but I'm kind of a lone soldier up here trying to get it done other than Vice Mayor Diaz, but I need staff's help and we really need to focus on grant funding and how we're going to fix this.

Councilmember Campbell, it's $4.5 million this year for the water main replacement that's in the budget outside of the grants, and I'm available to help as well. This is the first time hearing about it that you're chasing grants and need assistance, so feel free to reach out to me. You haven't reached out to me.

I think I've CC'd you in so many emails.

You've told me about it, but you haven't said, hey, you're working and advocating through ARTAC, which I appreciate all of the work that you're doing, but if there's something specific I can do, I'm happy.

I've requested our lobbyist assistance. I'm using Tom Dorn, a lobbyist from ARTAC. I'm writing letters to legislators. I've been told to direct, I've been directed to work with Anthony. So hopefully, Anthony, we've got a lot of work to do, okay? See you in D.C. soon.

Do we have a motion or any additional discussion?

We have a motion. Council Member Moses? Yes. Move to adopt resolution number 26-3927, adopting the fiscal year 26-27 budget in the amount of $303,688,635. Second.

We have a motion from Councilmember Moses, a second from Councilmember Koch. Is there any additional discussion? Hearing none, we're ready to vote. Councilmember Lin?

This is a no for me.

Just waiting for Vice Mayor Diaz. Yeah, can you do a verbal vote, Vice Mayor Diaz? Aye. Thank you. Hopefully his screen will reset when we get to the next item on the floor.

Motion carries four to two.

Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Olsen, and thank you to your team and the entire city team for all of the work that you've put into this budget process. All right, I hope you all enjoyed our special meeting, but we're gonna reconvene back into our regular meeting for item 7.10. Moving on to 7.11, resolution number 26-3928, approving amendment number three to the intergovernmental agreement with the Lake Havasu Unified School District number one for the joint use of publicly owned facilities and equipment. Ms. Gary.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. The city and the school district have been engaging in a joint use IGA since 1981. The current agreement was executed in 2014 and expires at the end of this month. Both parties have introduced new elements into the proposed IGA and we need additional time to work out some of the details. So this amendment extends the current agreement until the end of January, 2027.

Thank you. Are there any questions for Ms. Gary from members of the council?

Mayor, what would be the reasoning for the extension? What are the agreements that you're working out?

There's a couple different, so the city, we've been engaging with our officers at the school, so our school resources officers, but we don't have anything in writing. So we did propose some language in the agreement this year to just outline the terms and conditions and the responsibilities of the parties for that. We also, the school district, Came back and they want to make some changes and maybe enter into a separate facility use agreement for the use of their facilities So we're going through whatever that may look like and whether they want another separate agreement We're also exploring whether or not the city on the school district is interested in the Buena Vista site and how that how that may work out as well as the gymnasium at 100 University Way to see if the parties both the school district and the city are interested in possibly working on an arrangement for that as well and

That's a lot of things going on, huh? It is. With the Buena Vista site, I would love for you to clarify later, not here today, that it was brought to me by Mr. Parrott that years ago that McCulloch had donated the land to Lake Havasu City for the sake of school districts and it was not to be resold for development purposes. I don't have that information. I think I've reached out to the school board to talk to their attorney to see what that means before we even go into those conversations because a long term lease for the conversations I even heard Michael Smith was talking about putting like a light tack apartment complex our buildings on it and leasing it and I just want to make darn sure we're ahead of all of that that number one did we check the box are we allowed to even enter into lease agreements as a developer I find it very difficult to think I would have missed a whole lot of money leasing property It's weird because if it's really successful you would think the school district would do it by themselves. So I was told that even by developers and real estate people trying to get funding or lending or anything on leased land at that point might be quite difficult. So please before we pull the trigger if we're going that way or any further discussions to have us in the loop and make sure we have the proper data and information in front of us. I don't want to be shocked by just an IGA that may be have this conversations going on that may possibly be illegal. So that's all I would like to say, but thank you. I appreciate you.

Are there any other questions or comments from members of the council? Yeah, Vice Mayor Diaz.

Ms. Gary, so this is just extending the current IGA. Correct. When addendums or amendments come to this will already be a separate agreement.

be a completely separate agreement so it'll be a new agreement this the current agreement is from 2014 and it's being all redone just to bring in some of the new elements and then take out some of the things that have expired and we're no longer using and so you will bring and present a brand new agreement to the council thank you all right this is a public hearing would anyone else like to would anyone like to address the city council on this item seeing them we'll go ahead and close the public hearing bring it back to council for any discussion or possible motion

A motion.

All right, Vice Mayor Diaz.

I move to adopt resolution number 26-3928, approving amendment number three to the intergovernmental agreement with the Lake Havasu Unified School District, number one, for the joint use of publicly owned facilities and equipment. Second.

We have a motion from Vice Mayor Diaz, a second from Council Member Moses. Is there any additional discussion? Seeing none, we're ready to vote. Council Member Lin.

Aye.

Thank you. And then Vice Mayor Diaz. Aye. Thank you.

Motion carries six to zero.

Thank you. Item 7.12, ordinance number 26-1381, extending and increasing the corporate limits of Lake Havasu City, Mojave County, Arizona, in accordance with the Arizona Revised Statutes, Title IX, Chapter 4, Article 7, by annexing certain territory, 3500 Highway 95 North, contiguous to the existing Lake Havasu City limits. Mr. Gobert.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor and members of the City Council. This is one of two Arizona statute-required public hearings before action can be taken to annex a single Mojave County-owned parcel, formerly the Sheriff's Department building at 3500 Highway 95 North, into the city to manage its future reuse and evaluate its potential as an economic development opportunity. The former Mojave County Sheriff's Office property totaling 1.13- Mr. Gilbert, you're on the next item on your presentation.

Thank you.

My apologies, I hit start from beginning rather than current slide. The former Mojave County Sheriff's Office property, totaling 1.13 acres, is located at 3500 Highway 95 North, just north of the Tractor Supply retail store, which is inside the city limits. This part of Lake Havasu City just outside the city limits is shown as commercial mixed use in the current general plan future land use map. And there appears to be no need to alter this designation based upon its location on a major highway. The property is currently located in the county under their zoning scheme, but the logical zoning designation to apply If the property is annexed, would be C2 general commercial to match the existing zoning on the adjacent tractor supply company property. The county has a C2H, so it'd be a logical equivalent to bring it over as. This slide and the following slide show the property from up close, which is this one. And further away to give a sense of the condition of the property, and the surrounding uses. The property is located within the EPCOR water district zone of service and is served by a county approved septic tank. On January 27, 2026, the City Council gave staff direction to proceed with this process at the statutorily required public hearing to consider whether or not to move forward with the process. The numerous steps to get to this stage as required by Arizona statute have already been completed as noted in great detail in the staff report. including the Mojave County Board of Supervisors approving and signing the petition. This public hearing is part of the final steps in the process with about two to three months worth of required actions to follow should the City Council ultimately approve an ordinance. And this is the first of two, this is the introduction, the action one would be next month in July. Mayor, this concludes my staff report. I'm available to answer any questions you or the city council may have.

Thank you, Mr. Gilbert. Are there questions from members of the council? Vice Mayor Diaz?

Mr. Gilbert, if someone decides to, once this process is completed, someone decides they want to develop that site, would it continue to be EPCOR or would they hook up to the city sewer and water system?

Unfortunately, on the water system, that's part of the EPCOR district, and that's not something that this annexation would change. It would give us control of all the other factors, such as if we wanted to sewer the property and it was even feasible, which I don't believe that's necessarily the case right now due to the sewer main that runs up 95 to the mall at the north end. It may not be tappable, and that's an engineering question, but we would at least be able to control what happens on the lot if it's reutilized and the developer comes in and says, I want to do X, and the county would say, yes, that's okay. Our regulations may say, whoa, that needs a PD rezone or some other action that would require public review.

We would get any property taxes on the building and so forth, right? Yes. Thank you.

Are there any other questions from members of the council? All right, this is a public hearing. Would anyone like to address the city council on this item? Seeing none, we'll go ahead and close the public hearing, bring it back to council for any discussion or possible motion. Mayor motion. Yeah, Council Member Moses.

Move to introduce ordinance number 26-1381 to annex into the Lake Havasu City limits a single parcel of property addressed at 3500 Highway 95 North, Mojave County.

Second. We have a motion from Councilmember Moses, a second from Councilmember Koch. Is there any additional discussion? All right, we're ready to vote. Councilmember Lin?

Aye.

Thank you. Vice Mayor Diaz? Aye. Thank you.

Motion carries six to zero.

Thank you. Next item is item 7.13, ordinance number 26-1382, approving a planned development rezone and general development plan of 1926 Swanson Avenue and 1851 Magnolia Drive, track 2304, block 1, lots 18 to 27, 4.49 acres from residential, commercial, and health district to residential, commercial, and health plan development district. TO ALLOW 68 ATTACHED SINGLE FAMILY HOMES ON INDIVIDUAL LOTS, ELIMINATION OF SIDE AND REAR YARD SETBACKS, AND A REDUCTION OF THE MINIMUM LANDSCAPED AREA. MR. GILBERT.

THANK YOU, AND GOOD EVENING, MAYOR, MEMBERS OF THE COUNCIL, AND PUBLIC. AND I DO HAVE THE RIGHT STARTING SLIDE THIS TIME. MY APOLOGIES. THE SUBJECT PROPERTY IS 4.49 ACRES OF VACANT LAND DELINEATED ON THREE SIDES BY SWANSON AVENUE ON THE NORTH, MAGNOLIA DRIVE ON THE SOUTH, AND SMOKE TREE AVENUE ON THE EAST. The parcel was zoned Residential Commercial Health District, RCHD, and is surrounded by the same zoning on the south across Magnolia Drive and to the west with Commercial Health District, CCHD, to the north across Swanson Avenue and residential uptown McCulloch Main Street to the east across Smoketree Avenue. The Residential Commercial Health District, the RCHD, which is the subject zoning on the property, serves as the residential component of the broader commercial and health area. The district is intended to accommodate a wide range of medium to high density residential development adjacent to existing and future health care facilities along Lower McCulloch Boulevard, providing housing options for health care professionals and seniors seeking proximity to medical and other essential services in the adjacent commercial districts. The subject property is located within this district, which was established to support higher density residential development as reflected in its 42 foot height limit and minimum density requirement of 15 units per acre. Permitted uses include apartments, condominiums, attached single family and other residential forms capable of meeting the minimum density and applicable development standards. The adjacent residential uptown McCulloch Main Street zone to the east across Smoketree Avenue has the same residential uses permitted, same minimum density of 15 dwellings per acre and height limit of 42 feet as the RCHD zone. The commercial commercial health district to the north across Swanson permits multifamily residential development with a height limit of 60 feet. These zones all share the same intent to encourage increased density in the urban core your vital amenities and medical care facilities. The general plan designation for this property is high density residential, which is consistent with the requested use for the property. The general development plan illustrates the 68 unit attached single family owner occupied development that is being proposed. All applicable city code requirements including signage and the required shared access easement will be reviewed during design review to ensure compliance. The community will have a screen wall, will not be gated, and will have two access points to public streets on the west end of the proposed project. One to the north onto Swanson Avenue and the second to the south onto Magnolia Avenue. The developer has already stated the intent to install a traffic signal at their expense as part of this project should it ultimately be approved at the intersection of Swanson Avenue and Smoketree Avenue. The complete traffic signal design, permitting, construction, and installation processes constitute the placement of this signal. Per the traffic study submitted with this application, The signal warrants were met regardless of whether this project is built or not, and that's at the intersection of Swanson and Smoketree. The applicant is requesting with their letter of intent two exceptions as part of this planned development application. First, that the side and rear setback requirements be eliminated for this project to permit attached single family dwellings that can be sold along with the ground beneath them, unlike condominiums, which would be airspace only. Second, that the overall landscaped area in square feet required for this project, not the number of planted trees and shrubs, be reduced from 20% to 15% for this project and be permitted to be placed on the interior of the perimeter wall of the development. So this first computer generated graphic shows an aerial view of the project and these were provided by the applicant. And then the next one is from within the complex kind of showing what the feel is going to be of the project that's being proposed. Code compliance conditions. We'll start with the Planning Commission unanimously recommended approval of this project at its June 3rd, 2026 regular meeting. The conditions as shown A through F. The property shall substantially match the general development plan as determined by the zoning administrator attached as exhibit A. B, the side and rear yard setback requirements for all 68 units within development are eliminated to permit attached single family homes. C, the overall required landscape area percentage for the total lot area is reduced from 20% to 15%, and street frontage landscape is permitted on the interior side of a perimeter screening wall. D, developers responsible for the design, construction, and full cost of a traffic signal, along with any other traffic improvements identified during the review process at the intersection of Swanson Avenue and Smoketree Avenue. If the project is phased, the traffic signal shall be installed as part of phase one. E, building permits and design review for compliance with city codes shall be required prior to any construction commencing on the subject property. And finally, code compliance condition F, combine both parcels of property that constitute the project into one parcel through the parcel plat process. Mayor, this concludes my staff report. I'm available to answer any questions you or the council may have. Representatives of the applicant are present here today, and they did provide a presentation to us to put up for them as well that they will be making.

Thank you, Mr. Gilbert. Do we want to have the applicant make your presentation now, and then we can take questions on the entirety of the project?

Good evening, Mayor and Council. My name is Rob Sampson with Selberg Associates. Thank you very much for allowing me to be here today. Everybody's been here a long time and Mr. Gilbert did a phenomenal job of presenting everything. So I'm going to rip through this as quick as I can and I'll answer any questions you have. We also have the Applicant presence, if you have questions for him, you're by all means feel free. So we're here today to just present a couple of slides here about Paradigm Flats. Paradigm has been an integral part of Lake Havasu for the last, I'd say, four to five years. We're nearing completion on Storage Building F and starting on Building G over at Retail Center. Paradigm Gym is nearing its completion through the permit process and we're starting to move forward with that as well. So we're really excited to see where this is moving. This is just another one of the exciting projects that Paradigm is bringing forward. This project evolved quite significantly from start to finish to where we're at today. A lot of questions came up during our neighborhood meeting about density and why we're presenting this the way we are. It's very important to note that this is the minimum density that we can do. There is no going back to doing 40 units or 25 units. It's the 68 units that are required. The other thing that's very important to note is the cost of the land is such that if you want to see it developed, we have to do something with a big splash, and that's what this splash is. Perfect. So essentially what we're proposing is seven buildings, three story town homes. What we're presenting here today is just a, we have the ability by, I was told not to say this exactly the same way, so we'll start over. This project is code compliant should we want to build it as apartments or condominiums. What the owner would like to do due to financing restrictions is have the ability to sell these as fee-simple townhouses. In order to do that, Lake Havasu City does not have, in this particular zoning district, the ability for us to sell these as townhomes without presenting before you. WE WENT TO THE PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION AND MADE A SIMILAR ARGUMENT. AND IT'S IMPORTANT TO KNOW THAT WE WANT TO BUILD THIS PROJECT. WE WOULD LIKE TO BUILD IT AS TOWNHOMES JUST SO IT IS OFFERED UP TO MORE PEOPLE THAT WOULD HAVE THE ABILITY TO GET CONVENTIONAL FINANCING FOR THEM. THIS PROPERTY, THE DESIGN CONSISTS OF SEVEN BUILDINGS, 68 UNITS TOTAL. Here's the unit breakdown. We don't have to go through that next. Mr. Gilbert already showed you our site plan. couple questions that did come up during planning and zoning was why do you need to reduce the landscaping and it's important to note that we're going above and beyond on the trees and the shrubs we're just not putting as much decorative rock down on the property we are landscaping to the street to the back of the sidewalk in some cases that's very minimal in some cases it's you know five or six seven eight feet so we're trying to improve the area one thing that You may have noticed as you've driven down Retail Center as tall palm trees is becoming the paradigm, their claim to fame, so to speak. So this will have tall palm trees around it. The intention is to bring life and vibrancy to this, even though there is less landscaping. Another question that came up was parking. Parking is code minimum right now. There is, it's code minimum. I don't know what else to say about it. I know it's a sticking point for many people that we've talked to, but it is code minimum. Airbnbs, the owner's already said he's interested in keeping this a, you know, it'll be governed by the HOA and that we don't expect that airbnbs will be allowed. It's something that we'll cover through the homeowner association process, but that is the intention. Mr. Gilbert. FOR THIS PROPERTY, MR. GUBERNATORY COVERED ALL OF THIS, SO WE'LL JUST KEEP GOING. SAME THING AS WELL. IT'S ALREADY BEEN COVERED. SO THIS IS THE EXCEPTIONS WE WERE ASKING FOR. MR. GUBERNATORY COVERED ALL OF THIS AS WELL. SO WE'RE HERE TO ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS FOR YOU. SORRY I'M NOT AS LIVELY AS NORMAL. I AM HURTING REALLY BAD. MY LEG IS SORE TODAY. A WEEKEND WARRIOR THAT DOES KNOW WHEN TO STOP.

THANK YOU, MR. SAMPSON. QUESTIONS, VICE MAYOR GILES?

I WAS WONDERING WHY YOU LITTLE forlorn, but usually really excited. Nice to see you again. Nice to see you again. So I do have a one major concern about this, and it's probably not going to be as a negative as you think it's going to be. Well, number one, it parking, how many how many guest parking spaces are there?

It's code minimum, it's 12, I believe.

Okay. And then someone buying these things are going to come with their trailer, their motorhome and their boat. Everything's gonna how deep are these garages?

They vary in depth. We're 60 feet to 45 feet.

And then I have a real concern about the traffic signal. I think that would be a mistake to put a traffic signal in there. Amen, brother. And the reason I say that, we just, well, we didn't. It never came to us. But the plan in zoning 7-0 not to approve the Circle K on Mesquite, because it's exactly the same issue. You put a traffic signal there during when McCulloch is closed down, You're creating a huge traffic jam and people trying to beat the light, you're gonna cause a safety issue. So I would like to see you guys, yes, put some more money into the community and help with some kind of, I know we can't do impact these, but something on that. But I would not put a traffic signal in there. I think that's a huge mistake.

In fairness to the developer, this was not his idea. This was something that was thrust upon him by the Public Works Department.

I would talk to the public works department. I will, because I think it's the best. And the traffic study they used, I think it was from 2005 or something, or I heard it was an old traffic study?

No, what happened, we just had to do a new traffic study that had a number of conditions that they talked to us about. What's important to note is all of the development that's happened on Swanson generated the need for a traffic signal by the accounts that they do. It's eight years ago. So this is not, this isn't new. This is just someone who's available and connected to the corner that can pay for it.

And I was going to call the developer for that Circle K, but then the person sitting in the audience got a hold of me, and he said they understand that's a bad place to put a traffic signal, and they're going to find another. This is a perfect piece of land for what you guys are doing there, I think. It's zoned for that. Thank you. Swanson and Mesquite. But we'd have to really discuss the traffic signal. I would probably take that out of there if If we all agree to that, but maybe with some more dialogue or input or something.

Mayor.

Yeah, Council Member Campbell.

We didn't even talk about this, but here we're gonna parlay. First off, what I'm really concerned about, and I'd love to see the Public Works Department explain this. I know what Magnolia looks like, Magnolia Drive. If you drive down it, you should see it. Again, we talk about growth should pay for growth. They were gonna have you put in a stoplight. And I'm looking at that going, I would love to know if the public works can come up there and tell me. Obviously they evaluated all these streets. We know Swanson just got new water mains and new roads and we're good there. One thing I'm not happy about, we have no turn lane into here, which goes back to a super close to the corner. You gotta stop, then you're gonna wait for somebody. I'm confused as well. And I'm just a city council person, I probably shouldn't, they always say don't get in the weeds, you're not supposed to get in the weeds, but there's no turning lane. I mean, I would like to see more of a turning lane where you pull over and get in and get out so you can get out safer. That is a busy, busy road. And then the other is Magnolia, same thing, no turning lane there. And then I wanna know, what does that infrastructure on Magnolia look like? When was the last, how old the water main is? Public Works says that they always evaluate all of this, so I would love to hear from, maybe not you, you don't need to answer this, but I would love to hear, did the Public Works Department give you an idea what the water infrastructure is like on that street, or did they ever have that conversation about, hey, you know, this is old water main, you're going to put a lot of pressure on it, what do we need to do?

We had a number of pre-application meetings about this, one I believe official. And they did talk about what the pipe material was, but there was never a discussion about infrastructure. I remember.

And what was the pipe material, and how old was it? Do you know? Do you remember?

I believe it was, I don't believe it was ductile iron pipe. I think it was cast and placed concrete. It's old.

Yeah, it's an asbestos-old pipe, and it's had many failures. So did the Public Works Department talk to you about helping to invest money in that road for all those neighborhoods that are there? Because we obviously, you can tell in the budget, we have no money to do this. So what about you guys? And this is not my place to negotiate with you. I'm asking you a question. Is this something that you would be interested in conversations over?

No, I don't have anything to say about that particularly. But I can tell you that the code does require us to. You improve the road as it needs to be because of what we're improving. So we would be responsible for upgrading the road to the street and to the property line.

Sidewalks and all the multifamily. Correct. And it would be on Magnolia too, correct?

Yes, correct. On all three sides.

Okay. Okay. And do you know why there was never discussion to have a turning lane put in there? And do you think that would be?

One of the concessions that we had made was we knew that we couldn't get a gate there to work, so we took the gates off. Obviously, we would love to have this as a gated community, but the reality is the location of it, you just don't have the ability to stop a motorhome and wait for the gate to open. And to your point and to everybody else's point, traffic is going to be a question. We certainly didn't want to be a detriment to the community.

I understand that, okay, thank you.

Mr. Knudtson?

Mr. Mayoress?

Yeah, Council Member Lin?

Do you want me to wait, Jess?

You go ahead, Council Member Lin. Yeah, you can go ahead.

Okay, okay, I don't hate this project, but I do have a question. I'm kind of confused with the traffic study. So this is a current traffic study or this is a traffic study from From years ago that that justifies having a stoplight there. This is a brand new traffic study council member and that brand new traffic study says that we have to have a, we have to have a signal there. We have to because of that study.

Mr. Mayor, if I may, the city engineer has stated that the same thing as the traffic study that's current from their consultant, that the warrants were met already before this project was proposed. And the same thing as the traffic study finds is the warrant continues to be met and recommends a signal there because city warrants are met. That doesn't mean necessarily that one has to be put there. It's just we're going off of the Public Works Department's traffic warrant, which is a rated hierarchy.

Mayor, Mr. Gilbert, it's not Public Works' standards. So there's uniform standards that are identified in terms of traffic counts and so forth. There's MAG standards. There's the uniform traffic standards that exist. So when the city takes a look at speed limits throughout the community, when the city takes a look at where stop signs are located, where traffic signals are located, These are not decisions where we drive down the street and point and say this is what we need to do. They're all based on traffic counts, on traffic accidents, pedestrian accidents. Obviously the traffic study that was conducted in previous years and updated as part of this process, eight years ago identified it as it met warrants for a traffic signal. So the conversation here was rather than with the development that's being proposed here, that if it already meets the warrants or the standards identified through traffic counts and otherwise for a traffic signal, then we open that conversation with the applicant to discuss the construction of a traffic signal. A traffic signal will need to go there if we abide by the standards and the process that the city has had in place for years and years and years. If not part of this project, the city would pay for the installation of that traffic signal based on meeting the warrants from eight years ago. I know there's been some conversations about, sorry, one second, Councilman Berlin. There's been some conversations about events and so forth. City fully controls the ability to utilize these traffic signals in a way that makes the most sense to program them for events, flashing reds or something that we've identified for downtown events from time to time. BUT WE HAVE OFFICERS THAT CAN STAND BY THE CABINET OR PUBLIC WORKS EMPLOYEES THAT CAN STAND BY THE CABINET AND IN ADDITION TO PROGRAMMING THEM, BUT TO CHANGE THEM ON THE FLY WHEN WE HAVE HEAVY TRAFFIC IN THE AREAS. I JUST WANT TO KIND OF EXPLAIN THE PROCESS IN TERMS OF HOW WE GO ABOUT WHETHER IT'S A SPEED LIMIT, STOP SIGN, TRAFFIC SIGNAL OR ANY OTHER ROAD IMPROVEMENTS THAT OCCUR OUT THERE. WE STUDY IT AND WE UTILIZE THE STANDARDS, THE ARIZONA STANDARDS AND THE NATIONAL STANDARDS THAT EXIST OUT THERE THAT ARE OUTSIDE OF HAVASU.

Thank you. Did you have a follow-up question, Councilman Berlin?

Yeah, actually, yeah. Okay. So ultimately, I guess I just want to know, do we have to have a stop light there? Do we have to, yes or no?

Mayor, Councilman Berlin, according to the warrants and the study and the process that the city and other cities and towns all across Arizona and all across the country utilized to identify where traffic signals go, the answer is yes.

I think that this study that we did years ago and that we're comparing to, there's been a huge amount of growth there on that street with building. And so with the flow of traffic coming in and out of there, people parking on the side with a short, What do I want to call it narrowing that street? I just have a huge issue with that stoplight there. And then I have a, I have an email from Bonnie toy that she would like me to read, but I wanted to state 1 more thing. I don't hate this project, but I think we need to call it what it is as we heard our staff member. I can't see you guys who stopped talking tonight. I have an issue with calling it that this district is intended to accommodate a wide range of medium to high density residential development to existing and future health care facilities along Lower McCullough Boulevard, providing housing option for health care professionals and seniors. Let's be honest, that's not what they're building this for. They're not being built for health care professionals and seniors. These are being built for second homeowners that are coming in. And that's fine, but I think we need to call it what it is. That's what it is. But if you don't mind, Bonnie Toy would like me to read this, if you don't mind.

Yeah, Council Member Layton, just so you know, we all have it in front of us as well. She sent it.

She asked me to read it out loud.

Okay.

And it's not that long. There is a requirement for the developer to put in a traffic signal on the Main Street area on the intersection of Swanson and Smoltry. The requirement, as stated per the developer during the Planning and Zoning Commission meeting on June 3rd, 2026, was based on a need from a 2018 traffic study. In 2018, our population was 55,310. In 2020, our population was 57,373. And in 2024, our population was 59,037. according to the U.S. Census. Our city development has changed since 2018. The flow of traffic has changed. The requirement for the developer to have to put in a traffic signal at that intersection is based on outdated information. Our population has increased. However, the flow of traffic and the style of traffic has changed. However, the street size and location has not. In 2018, e-bikes were not as popular as they are currently. According to Chief Pelopis, our population is considered higher than $80,000 on a daily basis during the winter months to account for visitors. The traffic statement that the developer submitted for this item states that this traffic statement they are submitting was done on March 31st, 2026, a Tuesday. The traffic study was not done during McCulloch Boulevard holiday closures. It was not done on a holiday week or weekend, which means the traffic study is outdated and not factual. Based on the size of the intersection, it does not seem logical that a traffic signal is necessary there or needed. When you look at the layout of the street itself, it seems outdated and unneeded. The traffic study needs to be updated for current information. The traffic study does not take into consideration the surrounding areas. The other end of the development is Swanson and Riviera. Swanson and Riviera is already a dangerous intersection to cross in which the city has been told of the need of painted signage and the city has not done that. I would request that the city have a new updated traffic study completed before requiring the developer to put in a traffic signal based on outdated data. That was by Bonnie. I was just reading that. I want to know if there's any truth to any of those statements that she had in there. Could we do an updated? traffic study, or would it even matter?

Mr. Tueneman, yeah, Mr. Tueneman.

Thank you, Mayor and Council. Thank you, Council Member Lin. The traffic study that is provided with this rezone is the most current traffic study. So they took traffic counts over a 24-hour period at this intersection, and then they went through those guidelines City Manager discussed and through that analysis is where they came up with the warrant in that three different warrants to for that intersection to provide a signal at.

Okay, one last question, Mayor. So if I'm going to be honest, my vote really is detrimental on that traffic signal. I think that traffic signal is is gonna cause a chaos in that area. And so are you saying that you have to have that traffic signal in order for this project to go through?

Mayor and Council, Councilman Berlin, more so, the staff is indicating through the warrants that have been identified to the traffic study that a traffic signal is needed before, even if the development doesn't occur. The warrants identify the need for a traffic signal eight years ago.

But why haven't we done that then? Why are we waiting for this project to do that? Like if we're outdated and we're not in compliance or whatever you're saying, why now all of a sudden we have to do it? I'm just curious.

We have an applicant at the table that we'll have that conversation with. And adding 68 more units at that intersection obviously triggers a much higher need for a traffic signal.

Thank you.

Mayor? Councilmember Campbell? Can somebody please explain to me why we don't believe that there needs to be turning lanes like we did it on the upper part of Swanson as well. We narrowed the road, we put in a bike path, and then we reduced the turning lane. I mean, at least we had three lanes. We had at least a turning lane. We have nothing, and that's a busy street. Can somebody please explain to me why turning lanes aren't needed?

That's why we requested the traffic impact statement to do that analysis related to the traffic and a turning lane was not warranted into those intersections, or excuse me, into those proposed driveways due to the distance from the intersections.

Okay, so staff's recommendation is the light. Staff is recommending that no turning lanes. Also, and it wouldn't be you, it would be probably Public Works, Jess, why have we not talked to this applicant about the Magnolia asbestos pipe down that road and trying to improve that for the citizens in that area? He said it was a conversation. we are have no plan to in place to really be able to catch up with this and this is very old outdated road and pipe why was that has this been discussed or how much more was that or what are we looking like i'm just trying to give direction in the future we keep talking about growth pace for growth and to me if i had a traffic light or repair the water mains on magnolia i would say put in the thing see how long it takes i don't see a problem on that street that That four-way stop doesn't bother me in the least, but what does bother me is the water main on Magnolia. But I'm not supposed to get in the weeds, but I just have to ask questions. We should be having developers improve our infrastructure. That's what we get told all the time.

Typically with a project like this, when we review it, we look at is the water main properly sized? Can it provide the water this development needs? Yes, it can. Do they need to do the offsite improvements? Yes, they need to widen the street. They need to put the curb and sidewalk in. They are going to put the internal infrastructure in, obviously. But for a rezone or a project like this, we wouldn't request the applicant to replace a water main. that's already in place, that's been sized appropriately for this vacant property.

The conversation staff's going to have is in terms of capacity. So a new development with 68 units, is there capacity in the area to support that through service, whether it's road, signals, water, sewer? Those are the conversations we have with all developers in terms of growth, pace for growth.

Okay, so the capacity is fine. Are we looking... This is gonna be a lot of extra pressure on an old pipe. It's not even in the CIP budget to look now at Magnolia, cuz I know what the citizens are gonna say. So now the taxpayer is gonna be paying for upgrading that pipe. But I think about all the taxpayers that live on that road already. And yeah, that property's been there, it's gonna be developed. And the property owner has the right to good water and sewer as well. I get it, I understand what we're saying. But I don't know if we should be changing the direction on some of these because Some cities will put a moratorium on certain lots until they can actually update an old asbestos pipe if they find it dangerous, if there's been a lot of breaks. I'm going to tell everybody that loves moratoriums, legally you cannot do a moratorium unless there's a fix or a solution in the end. You can't just cover the blanket city without any reason just because we don't want to do this. But you guys, the public works at this point feel confident that Magnolia is going to be able to handle the load and it's going to be fine.

Mr. Mayor?

Yeah, no, I was glad, I love talking to both of you, but I'm just saying, I gotta know these things.

Tim Kellett, Deputy Director of Public Works, typically look over our utilities, water, wastewater. Anytime we have any of these developments, and in fact, our entire water system has been put through a water model. We do that with our engineering firm, Jacobs. They've been doing our water model for over a decade, almost 20 years at this point. So every spot that we have that has potential development has already been run through that water model with an existing demand profile put on that. So this particular property, well, we might not have mapped it exactly this way. The idea of it being used for multifamily housing has already been established, has already been through our model. It doesn't affect the pressure, doesn't affect delivery. Those are ACP lines. They are old, but our break data does not suggest that we would even be going after those in the next five, six years. Our AI model doesn't suggest we would be going after those in the next five, six years. Our water master plan does not suggest we would be going after those particular two lines in those areas over the next five years. So there's nothing currently in all the data that we have available for that area where this development is going that would have initiated that conversation. It's not normally part of the conversation when we're talking to developers. It is exactly what city manager had described. It's capacity. And we do have the capacity. We have the ability to flow to this project without any concerns.

All right. Thank you. You answered my question.

Mayor, if I may, we do send out comments to all the departments and Engineering of Fire both did not provide comments back regarding issues they want addressed with this application for a PD reason.

Thank you. Vice Mayor Diaz.

Mr. Knutson, I like what you said about you could turn it into a blinking red light, turn it into basically a light stop sign during those events. That makes a lot of sense. Thank you.

Are there any other questions from members of the council before we open the public hearing? All right, this is a public hearing. Would anyone like to address the city council on this item?

Yeah, first off, I tend to agree on the stoplight thing. I think that's gonna be a disaster. It's gonna stack up traffic. Can you put that top view on one more time? What is the, this is just a question for the developer, what is the distance from garage to garage in there? Because I don't see how you're ever going to get a motorhome or a boat or any kind of trailer in this community, let alone in a garage. It doesn't seem to make a lot of sense to me. It seems like it's kind of stacked for maximum density. And I was listening to him and he said it was a minimum of 68.

Why does it have to be 68?

Is that where it depends a lot or?

Yeah, the zoning code, the Lake Havasu City zoning code requires that minimum density.

Gotcha. Well, I don't know how you're going to get a boat or a trailer in that. So to me, it's not exactly what that land was intended for, as they said. Medical staff and things of that nature. But I love the paradigm developments in their first class. I mean, I do think it would add a certain flair to the town. But just looking at that top view, I don't know that it's quite as functional as they're laying it out to be. Second thing is I lived in a community in my youth with my wife that had a similar guest parking situation. 68 units and 12 parking spots is going to be difficult for anybody. That's it. Thank you.

And again, Mayor, City Council, my name is Kelly Lutz. My first question has to do with the zoning. It was kind of unclear. Initially, they wanted to rezone it to planned development. Now, since they, I believe he said that they were going to sell them as individual condos and then they don't need to rezone it for planned development. Could I get a clarification on that? Mr. Gilbert?

The application is for a PD rezone, and they're asking for exceptions to eliminate side and rear setbacks so that they can create a single family attached, in other words, a row of structures where the ground underneath can be sold with the unit. Without the PD rezone, they could go an apartment or a condo route and not have to go through this process.

So if they go with the planned development so that they could sell the land underneath it, Who's going to own the driveway and be responsible for the driveways and that part of it if it's owned by the condo owners?

They are proposing an HOA, which the applicant stated earlier. All 68 owners will be members of the HOA, similar to what's in the foothills.

So if that's the situation, what's the difference between the... between the condominium and individually owned units if they're still in HOA taking care of the landscape and their driveways. I don't really understand why the applicant's asking for this to change to a planned development. This could go right through with simple code and ordinances about the landscaping and the setbacks if they simply went with how it was originally zoned. And one of the things that's come across in this recent election HAS TO DO WITH THE CITIZENS ARE TIRED OF EVERYTHING BEING CHANGED, THE ZONING. WELL, THIS IS A ZONE FOR HIGH DENSITY. THEY'VE GOT A HIGH DENSITY PROJECT HERE, SO WHY DON'T YOU JUST RUN IT AS A ZONE INSTEAD OF REQUESTING THE REZONING? THAT'S MY FIRST OBJECTION. AND THEN I'M GOING TO FOLLOW UP WITH WHAT RIVER DAVE SAID ABOUT THE SITE PLAN. COULD WE PUT THE SITE PLAN UP THERE REAL QUICK? THANK YOU. Could you give me some measurements? I have them here, but between building C and buildings, I believe it's G if you could make that a little larger so I could see it. Go to the other site plan that actually has the dimensions. Do you have another site plan with the dimensions?

Yeah, we go to the city's presentation here and see if that works better.

Can I hold my time a little bit? I want an answer for this. There you go. That's the site plan that I'm talking about. Could you give me the dimension between the building on Magnolia and the inner building? Well, this dimension here is 40 feet. Right. How about that one right there? That one's 28 feet. 28 feet. So in 28 feet, you're going to back a boat and a motorhome into that RV garage that's 45 feet long?

Well, there's 10 feet to the garage doors from that. Right, and that 10 feet is for parking, I believe. Is that part of the parking calculation in order to get to parking for that? It is not in that location. The only place it is is the smallest units. This is parallel parking through here.

Okay. So, again, just what I'm saying is that you have how many feet total to back a trailer and a vehicle into those RV garages? That'd be 48 feet total between units from here to here.

On the particular buildings that I'm talking about. Yeah, that'd be 48 feet. You have 28 for the drive aisle. There's 10 feet here and there's 10 feet here. TOTAL OF 48 FEET.

WELL, NOT EXACTLY, BECAUSE MR. GILBERT, THERE'S ACTUALLY STRUCTURES IN BETWEEN EACH UNIT THAT EXTEND OUT INTO THE STREET, SO YOU DON'T REALLY HAVE 48. THE STREET ITSELF IS, WHAT, 28 FEET? THE STREET ITSELF IS 28 FEET, THAT'S CORRECT. RIGHT, SO YOU HAVE 28 FEET IN BETWEEN THE STREET, AND LIKE I SAID, THERE'S STRUCTURES, THERE'S EMBUTMENTS AND EVERYTHING THAT, SO YOU DON'T REALLY HAVE ANYTHING MORE THAN 28 FEET TO CURVE A TRAILER OR A MOTORHOME INTO THESE UNITS. I REALLY LIKE THE PROJECT. IT'S IN A GREAT LOCATION FOR IT. LIKE SOMEONE ELSE SAID, IT'S A PERFECT LOCATION FOR A HIGH-DENSITY PROJECT. BUT THE WAY THAT IT'S SET UP, THERE'S JUST NO WAY FOR IT TO BE USABLE, AND LET ALONE THERE'S SERIOUS PARKING ISSUES. I THINK WHAT I SAW ON IT WAS ONE HANDICAPPED PARKING. 11 guest parking spots and just no way to actually use these rv garages as as they're intended i hope that i hope that this plan gets redesigned so that it could work i like the plan but i hope city council VOTES NO ON THIS BECAUSE THERE'S JUST NO WAY THAT THIS IS GOING TO WORK THE WAY THAT IT IS. AND I REALLY DON'T SEE A NEED TO REZONE THE GENERAL PLAN ANY MORE THAN IT IS. THE PROJECT FITS IN THAT SPOT AS IT WAS ZONED. SO WHY ARE WE REZONING IT? THANK YOU.

THANK YOU, MR. LUTZ. WHAT ANYONE ELSE LIKE TO ADDRESS THE COUNCIL ON THIS ITEM?

I have a question or have a problem with regards to the traffic study. The 2025 Lake Havasu MPO did project selections with regards to where there needed to be work done. This is 2025. For the intersection of Smoketree and Swanson, THAT INTERSECTION, THEY SAID INSTALL TRAFFIC SIGNAL IF WARRANTED. AND THE TIME FRAME FOR THAT WAS MEDIUM. THAT WASN'T IMMINENT. IT WAS MEDIUM. AND THAT'S A 2025 STUDY. AND I AGREE WITH WHAT COUNCIL MEMBER LYNN SAID AND WITH WHAT BONNIE TOY SAID. USING A 8-YEAR-OLD TRAFFIC STUDY FOR THIS, IS NOT APPROPRIATE BECAUSE THERE HAVE BEEN A LOT OF CHANGES WITH THE WAY OUR TRAFFIC FLOWS. YES, WE'VE GOTTEN MORE PEOPLE HERE AND EVERYTHING, BUT THE TRAFFIC FLOW IS DIFFERENT THAN IT WAS EIGHT YEARS AGO. IN ADDITION, A TRAFFIC STUDY RECORDS TRAFFIC FLOW IN MORE THAN 24 HOURS. A 24-HOUR PERIOD IS NOT SIGNIFICANT TO GET A FULL PICTURE ON HOW TRAFFIC FLOWS OVER A PERIOD OF TIME IN AN INTERSECTION. 24 HOURS ON WHAT DAY? TUESDAY? SATURDAY? SUNDAY? YOU CAN PICK THE SLOWEST DAY OR THE MOST, THE BUSIEST DAY. AND YOUR STUDY IS GOING TO BE WHAT IT IS ON THAT DAY, NOT OVER A PERIOD OF TIME. AND THERE'S A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A TRAFFIC STUDY A traffic study and a traffic impact statement. And then traffic impact statement was what was included with this. And that was done this year. And in that impact statement, one of the things that was brought up by this traffic engineer, they gave a table with regards to intersection, LEVEL OF SERVICE FOR SIGNALIZED INTERSECTION AND UNSIGNALIZED INTERSECTION, WHICH IS THIS INTERSECTION THAT THEY'RE DISCUSSING. AND IN THE TABLE, IT SHOWS THAT THERE'S MORE DELAY FOR THE TRAFFIC WITH A SIGNAL THAN THERE IS WITHOUT ONE. AND THAT'S THEIR IMPACT STATEMENT. SO I'M QUESTIONING WHY WE NEED TO HAVE A SIGNAL WHEN THEIR IMPACT STATEMENT SAYS THERE'S LESS DELAY WITH STOP SIGNS. SO I REALLY AM INTERESTED IN THAT. AND ALSO, I WAS AT THE PLANNING AND ZONING COMMITTEE MEETING WHEN THIS CAME UP, AND MY QUESTION WAS WITH REGARDS TO THE PARKING, AND I STILL THINK THAT THAT'S GOING TO BE A MAJOR IMPACT BECAUSE THERE'S NO other parking available in that area, except right within there. There's no public parking anywhere. You can't park on the streets. There's no public parking anywhere. And I was told then, well, the driveway spots are 40 feet wide, so you have room for two cars. Okay, so if you have a boat in your garage, you have two cars at your park there in your driveway, and you have, say, three couples over on a weekend. That's three extra cars that go into those 12 spots. That's just you. That doesn't allow enough, there's not enough parking for visitors in this. Okay, it meets the code, I agree. I think this is a really good example that our codes need to be looked at. Because I think that there's a lot of changes that have gone on in our society, and I think that we need to look at how our codes are written. And I think that this is a really good example to say that they're outdated. So that's all I have to say about this. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Swenson. Anyone else like to address the City Council on this item?

Sorry, go ahead.

good evening mayor and council neil tinsley um looking at it as um like a safety thing right the the my question is is the mcculloch light an adaptive light or intelligent light that could you know be linked with that swanson light if that's what you guys are really pushing for to have a light there because in the towing industry um you know i i just don't see a light in that intersection being a good idea as well as you know smoke tree leads straight down to the skate park we got a lot of kids that you know use that to travel down to the skate park And I feel like with a light, people are just going to be not paying attention as much and just cruising through, right, versus stop time. They know they've got to stop, look all ways. I just see it as a safety issue. So do we know, is McCulloch an adaptive or intelligent light, and would it link with Swanson?

Mr. Knutson, do you? Yeah, Mayor, members of the council, there was an agenda item that was on before the council just a couple meetings back that identified some improvements we're doing for all of our signals throughout the community. to make them smart signals and adaptive and be able to control them in a much better way.

If not, it's going to definitely congest right there. There's a lot of businesses, a lot of stuff going on right there. If it's going to be clogged, nobody's going to be able to get in and out. It's just going to be a cluster. So that's my main concern. I would vote against the light. Thank you. Thank you.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. James Gray with the Partnership for Economic Development. I just wanted to come up to the podium and speak in favor of this development on a couple items. One paradigm is bringing a lot of new products to our community. And as shown, a great craftsmanship in the products that he's delivered and the products that are coming in the future. I think that should be under consideration SECOND OF ALL, FROM A HIGH DENSITY PERSPECTIVE, 68 UNITS WITHOUT A POOL AND MASSIVE LANDSCAPING, THIS IS VERY WATER. CONSERVATIVE IN DESERT. AND SO IT BRINGS THAT MANY MORE UNITS ONLINE. AND THEN IT DEFINITELY HELPS ALL THE BUSINESSES IN DOWNTOWN, WHICH IS ROOPTOP'S NEED. AND THEN FINALLY FOR PERSPECTIVE AND JUST IN BRINGING ANY AMOUNT OF HOUSING ONLINE, IT REALLY HELPS OUR COST OF LIVING FOR HOUSING. SO JUST A COUPLE OF PERSPECTIVES. In Q124, we are running at 174 on our housing index. And just once and alone with Mr. Tarkozy's projects, he's brought so many more units online, especially to the rental market. This not necessarily would be in the rental market, although some could. UM BUT THIS YEAR IT'S DROPPED TO 148 THAT'S A LOT CLOSER TO FLAG STAFF AND SO I WOULD ENCOURAGE YOU THE MORE UNITS YOU PUT IN THE MARKETPLACE THE BETTER IT IS FOR UH PROFESSIONALS AND WORKERS TO UTILIZE JUST A COUPLE COMMENTS THANK YOU THANK YOU MR GRAY WHAT ANYONE ELSE LIKE TO ADDRESS THE COUNCIL ON THIS ITEM

All right, we'll go ahead and close the public hearing. Bring it back to the applicant if you wanted to talk about any of the items that our residents brought forward.

Yeah, sorry, I didn't mean to disrupt the flow of the meeting. I just wanted to be polite. Honestly, I can tell you that Paradigm does their research, so in all of the comments we received about site plans and being too tight, there's a product variation that they're offering, and there is a target market that they're working to, and it's not just the boating and the full-size diesel pusher market. There's a number of people who are trying to work through, and I promise you that And Ryan at Paradigm has done his homework, and this is something that we're not worried about even a little bit.

Thank you.

Council members, thanks for having me. I want to address this gentleman's concern. Mr. Gilbert, will you pull up that site map, please?

I'm sorry, which one?

Site map. Site plan, site map.

So yours, okay.

Scroll in a little bit. We're going to go on the distances between those garages, the one that he had a concern with. So as most of you guys know, I'm an avid developer in regards to storage. So this is a very calculated structure between the distance on those units. And obviously, we had to stay at 68 units to stay on the density count. He's assuming that everybody that's going to buy those wants and has some sort of... TRAILER OR RV. KEEP IN MIND THOSE ARE THE SMALLEST UNITS THAT ARE IN THE PROJECT. SO THOSE ARE GOING TO BE THE CHEAPEST. WE'RE TRYING TO TARGET THE MARKET OF PEOPLE WHO ARE EITHER FIRST TIME HOME BUYERS OR PEOPLE WHO UNFORTUNATELY HAVE GONE THROUGH DIVORCES, PEOPLE JUST TRYING TO OWN AND GET OUT HERE AND HAVE A SIT. I have clients that are here, and they're going to know this is a true fact. I have over 1,200 people on a waiting list to buy these units and other units, and we do not have a problem with anybody's concerns with buying it at that price, that product, or even the additional parking. So I think we did, and thank you, Rob, for saying the nice things. We did do our homework. I believe this is something that most people are going to look for and what they want. I cannot figure out another way to make this deal work or make anything work given construction costs and so forth. So a lot of heart into this. So I hope you guys see the value in it. And thank you guys for the kind words and support for all the years. Appreciate it.

Thank you.

Mayor?

Yeah, Senator Moses? Yeah, I'd like to ask a couple of questions so anybody can answer. Can you go back? Is that me?

Yeah, no, it went to all of our screens. Yeah, if we can go back to the site plan. The public hearing is closed at this point, so we can go ahead and just keep it on the presentation. Yeah, thank you. Thank you.

So can you explain to me, can someone explain to me, so the parallel parking is going to get us to the number that we need for this development, and it's in front of the garages? Yes.

As far as the parking requirement?

Yeah.

Yeah, so if you guys go up to...

The additional parking requirement.

Yeah, so if you scroll in just a little bit closer, you actually have a little bit of a... I call it a right-of-way, but right in front of the actual unit itself, you have a little bit of a driveway. Okay. So one of the concerns that some of the community had originally was just, again, parking. And it always is. And even to be honest with you, I host. I love to always have people at my place. So parking is definitely going to be an issue. However, you have a big RV garage. So the hopes is that the owners will be able to park in the garage. And if you have any guests, then they can park in your driveway. That's really the idea. So you do have a little bit of a driveway in front of some of the units. And then you obviously have the parking over there on the right side, so the east side of the project. OK.

And then one of the things that I liked about this, because I've heard, and I think you must have heard this too, so many residents have hated certain developments because you rent the property, you know what I mean, we're talking, we position them as a starter home, but you never actually own the land, and so the fact that you're trying to provide that product, I think it's something that the people have really wanted, and very digestible for the community. What BUT I KEEP HEARING THAT THERE'S SOMETHING THAT YOU'RE ASKING FOR IN AN EXCEPTION THAT ALLOWS YOU TO DO THAT. AND I DON'T UNDERSTAND WHAT.

YEAH. SO WHEN WE HAD A PRE-ET MEETING, ONE OF THE CONCERNS WAS GOING FROM A CONDO. SO IT'S ZONED, AS YOU GUYS KNOW, FOR THIS DENSITY, RIGHT, THESE MONEY UNITS. TO BE ABLE TO GET THAT TO WORK IN THE WAY IT WAS ALREADY APPROVED WAS YOU HAD TO HAVE EITHER A CONDO OR MULTI-FAMILY. I HAVE TO SWITCH IT TO SINGLE-FAMILY ATTACHED TOWN HOMES. so I can sell the property like a normal house. Otherwise, you have to go through the headache of going through condo finance, and that's a whole other nightmare in itself. I don't know if you guys know much about my background, but I manage multiple funds. I deal with, like, lending money to people on debt for homes. So there's no way that you're going to get a condo with this high interest rate environment. People are going to have to come in with a lot more down. It's just kind of a nightmare, and your HOA costs go up. So to be able to make it work and try to stay in an ability, to be able to look at the comps and say, okay, we're going to sell these units based on square footage, RV garage, what have you, I had to try to compress my costs the most I could. The way to do that was to rezone this in single family and try to get it to an actual fee-simple sale. So that's the only thing. Other than that, we can build it as is right now the way you see it, just without switching it to single family, fee-simple.

Thank you. Yeah, thank you.

I thought you had another question. Was there something else? I just want to make sure I addressed it.

Yes You married these two pieces of property together and I'm after just looking at this just getting the minimum in there You're saying was near to impossible if you wouldn't even a mirror. I'm Everybody I go she's developer. I'm seeing what you're talking about here and Getting the minimum that she's asking and he had to marry him together which got rid of setbacks and other issues and and the parking minimum literally when we did the 2016 general plan and said we want this thing high density and 168 units is there there is no possible way we're going to get that in this property correct well you can go up that's the minimum unit count you can go up in unit count right so where's the parking so that's going to be so i just finished apartments in san antonio i build all over the place

IF WE, SO I'M GOING TO BACK UP TO ONE OF THE BIGGEST CONCERNS I WOULD HAVE AS A COMMUNITY MEMBER, AND I WANT TO TALK TO YOU TOO ABOUT, I THINK YOU WERE GOING TO BRING UP SOMETHING ABOUT AIRBNB IF I RECALL. OKAY, MAYBE NOT. BUT BASICALLY ONE OF THE CONCERNS THAT I HAVE IS IF YOU'RE GOING TO TRY TO BUILD MORE UNITS, OBVIOUSLY PARKING IS GOING TO BE AN ISSUE. SO THE ONLY WAY IS TO GO HIGHER, RIGHT? SO YOU HAVE TO GO UP. AS YOU GO UP, THAT COSTS MORE MONEY PER FLOOR. WE ALREADY KNOW THAT'S EXTREMELY HARD AS FAR AS CONSTRUCTION COSTS COMPARED TO RENT PRICE. THERE'S NO WAY YOU'RE GOING TO GO UP THREE, FOUR STORIES, GET AN ADDITIONAL MORE UNIT COUNT IN THERE, GET YOUR PARKING REQUIREMENT, AND STILL GET IT TO PENCIL BETWEEN CONSTRUCTION AND RENT PRICES HERE. This wasn't going to work. So the only way that I foresaw it to work at all is to go get low-income housing, go after some of that kind of incentives to be able to make something like that pencil. And in my opinion, that would be a much worse nightmare because you have a lot more units, a lot more people, and you're going to have more of a parking issue. And I think a lot of the people were concerned about parking on Magnolia, and I would too. So all those houses that line up on the opposite side of the street. THE WAY THAT THIS WOULD WORK IS PEOPLE WOULD GO INTO THE UNITS AND COME THROUGH, YOU KNOW, COME IN THROUGH THE PROJECT AND THEY COME INTO THEIR DRIVEWAY. YOU KNOW, THAT'S REALLY THE IDEA, TO TRY TO ELIMINATE ALL THAT PARKING AGAINST MAGNOLIA, WHICH IS IMPORTANT. YEAH, BECAUSE IF I WAS A HOMEOWNER ACROSS THE STREET, I'D BE LIKE, THESE GUYS ARE PARKING ACROSS, YOU KNOW, BECAUSE THEY'RE NOT USED TO IT NOW, RIGHT? I WOULD HATE TO JUST HAVE MORE BOTTLENECKS THERE TOO.

AND THE MORE DENSITY WOULD BE MORE GAS, MORE ALL OF THE THINGS. I CAN SEE THIS. THANK YOU FOR DOING THIS. I THINK IF YOU I could see why those, I've always wondered why those properties stayed vacant for so long, but it was a difficult build.

It was one of those, I actually dragged Rob out with me to look at some projects like out of Park City, and I'm kind of a nerd, so forgive me, I enjoy this stuff. But I really wanted to build something that has a higher caliber feel and touch, but for a lower price. And so we had to match all this up. It had to work. And construction costs aren't easy, and that's my contractor over there, and he's really expensive. And so, as a joke. But at the end of the day, I had to try to make it work. And the only way to do it was really to build this product. And then, again, the traffic. And one of the biggest issues, too, is if we didn't have a turn lane coming into the project, you're going to have people that do have boats and RVs, and they're going to come through as they're coming off of, let's say, Swanson or Smoketree. Or sorry, Smoketree. Sorry, Swanson. If you're coming off Swanson, then you're going to have your trailer sticking outside to get through the gate. Now you're just going to bottleneck more traffic. So we're like, let's just get rid of the gate altogether. And yeah, the HOA cost is a big deal when it comes to homeowners. So if we can compress those costs would be really, really important.

I like the view up above. I like the, at least they have a yard of some kind. Because in this case, you wouldn't. And I've had a condo, I understand the financing in condos nowadays are near to impossible. At first I had concerns, but here it goes. If later we get bottlenecked and everybody's lined up and water mains are blown on Magnolia, please don't call Campbell and say she did this to us, okay? And I'm not even gonna blame you cuz they all said you had to do this, that or the other. Please go and complain to the staff, you guys. Well, I have an idea.

I'd love to sit with you and talk to you about some of the budgeting and all the stuff that you guys were talking about. I actually have some ideas to kind of help out with that where developers can actually come in and cover a lot of that and actually get the work done at the time. I love where you're going with it. Of course, I didn't want to hear it because I'm like, she's making me spend more money. But at the end of the day, that is one way to do it. You just want to create incentives for your developers, but then that street would actually get that water fixed right now. you get in front of it. I know where you're going with it, and I know that's something that I think a lot of the, just for other council members to kind of consider to work with other developers to do that. It's getting done at that moment.

Yeah, absolutely, 100%. Because when you're shaking the ground and moving things up and hammering and nailing and all that, I'm really worried about that old, probably.

And I have a civil engineer background, so I know exactly where you're coming from. So I have a civil background, so I kind of know where you're going with that. Any other questions?

Nope, that's it.

I just have a quick question and not a bearing on, I just out of curiosity just because of the demographic of Havasu. Will any of them have elevators or will that be an option?

Yeah, so the very first building, which is building A, which is the farthest north side, that actually has a third story master suite in it, very similar to the barn caves project we're building. That will have an elevator in it because you do have a third floor suite as far as your master suite. All of the rest do not. Now, we have the ability to put it in, but just for cost, it's getting more and more expensive for these. I've already priced them out with my other project, and it's basically about $15,000 a stop. So by sticking another $30,000 on per unit, this wasn't penciling for me. But I would love to be able to get an elevator shaft to get to the very top, where you just come up with your drinks and what have you, and then you stand outside and you have that view. But that view is stunning. If you sit at that stop sign, and you look kind of, let's just say, due southwest, you can see the water. So imagine from either the second or even the third floor, I think it's going to be a beautiful view in my opinion. Almost all of them.

Dumb waiters in there and people can send their stuff up.

Yeah, totally. Yeah, you can do all kinds of stuff. Yeah, I got all kinds of cool ideas. Very good.

All right. We have already opened the public hearing. Do we have any additional comments from members of the council or a motion? Thank you. Make a motion. Okay, Vice Mayor Diaz. To my screen.

I move to adopt ordinance number 26-1382, approving a planned development rezone and general development plan of 1926 Swanson Avenue and 1851 Magnolia Drive, track 2304, block 1, lots 18 to 27, from residential, commercial, and health district to residential, commercial, and health slash planned development district to allow 68 attached single-family homes On individual lots, elimination of side and rear yard setbacks and a reduction of the minimum landscape area.

Second. We have a motion from Vice Mayor Diaz. We have a second from Council Member Campbell. Is there any additional discussion? Any number ready to vote? Council Member Lin?

This is a no for me.

Thank you. Councilmember or Vice Mayor Diaz? Aye. Thank you. It's so strange with your computer.

Motion carries five to one.

Thank you. All right, and then our final public hearing of the evening, 7.14, a statement of work for Enterprise Asset Management System Software Professional and Support Services with OpenGov, Inc. Mr. Kellett.

Good evening, Mayor, City Council. Pleasure to be here. Today we're talking something that is related to infrastructure, but is even more global than just the utilities. And that is looking at a scope of work and an agreement with OpenGov to have both an open work order system and an asset management system. The more broad term is called an EAM, an Enterprise Asset Management. But in order to get to that point, let's see if our clicker's working today.

I turned it on this time, I did.

All right. Wanted to warm up. First, I feel we need to start with what is an asset. Just sort of ground ourselves in what we're talking about. Assets can be defined multiple different ways depending on how you're using them and what structure you're within. It can be the computer in front of you. It can be a large piece of heavy equipment. It can be one of your HVA systems. It could be your chlorine analyzer. Every one of these is a type of an asset. And in some aspects, you'll see an asset be this building. This building is an asset. IN ITSELF, BUT THEN THINGS WITHIN THE BUILDING ARE ASSETS. THE TVs ON THE WALL ARE ASSETS. SO WHEN WE'RE TALKING ABOUT WHAT THOSE ARE, KEEP THAT IN MIND. THESE ARE MULTIPLE DIFFERENT TYPES AND VARIATIONS. AND THE ADVANTAGE OF WHAT WE'RE PROPOSING TODAY TO ENTER INTO THIS AGREEMENT IS TO BE ABLE TO TRACK AND MONITOR ALL SORTS OF DIFFERENT TYPES, INCLUDING PARKS AND OFFICES AND THE WATER SYSTEM, THE WASTEWATER SYSTEM, THE STREETS. ALL OF THIS IS INCLUDED IN THIS PARTICULAR EAM WORK ORDER ASSET MANAGEMENT PROGRAM. What does it look like? The company that we chose through this process is OpenGov. OpenGov is a nationally recognized and probably the industry leader in this particular field. We went through an extensive, I'm going to say, roughly 18-month process of trying to determine who to go with. They were the most responsive to what we were looking to do. They are going to give us a work order system, an asset life tracking system. There's a planning tool inside of this. There's reporting dashboards. There's integration with our GIS system. And of course, you're going to get a mobile version. And before you ask, it is Android and Apple capable. So it does both sides. Laugh as you may, we interviewed at least one client that all they had was Apple. So it was actually something that came up on our checklist of things. So what we're overall doing is we wanna have better tools that we're looking for planning into the future and tracking the stuff that we have within the city. There are multiple different departments involved in this particular effort. So at the department level, you have Public Works, Parks and Rec, and Administrative Services as far as the different departments. We're going to be looking at covering things within water, wastewater, streets, facilities, parks and rec, traffic control, IT are all involved in this stuff, as well as integrating some of our existing systems. Like for fleet management, we use a company called RTA, which is already doing an asset management. So we're not adding that into this effort because we have an existing functional, actually highly usable system that will crosstalk with this one as well. The company is, again, ready to go day one. We'll have a kickoff meeting within the first two weeks of assigning the agreement, probably before the end of July. And it'll take about 12 months to get us up and running. And then this agreement that we have in front of you is actually a five-year overall agreement. It's just over a million dollars, a little over $1.1 million. And what we're doing is creating this system over the first 12 months and then implementing it throughout the entire city. And with that, I can take any questions on this effort. Thank you, Mr. Kellett.

Are there questions from members of the council for Mr. Kellett?

I think I have asked a question on every agenda item, and I promise not to do that.

Yes, thanks.

Why break a streak now? Yeah, the PCI software that we just purchased for the roads, does this incorporate that?

Yes.

They all work together? Yes.

Thank you. It's actually in the scope of work. You'll see something called Paver Saver that is in the scope of work that integrates into the system as well.

I just didn't know if we were buying another paper saver.

Oh, no, no. It takes the existing data we've already got and plugs it into what we're doing as far as tracking the work and work orders and such.

You have the staff and the people that you need to implement this program.

There will be some – there's no new staff involved in this. I think that's the answer you're looking for. There's no new staff. There will be new assignments because certain aspects of our existing work order asset management system will no longer be needed, so we'll be having staff transition off of the existing system into a new system. But as far as a new staff person, no.

Are there any other questions from members of council? All right, this is a public hearing. Would anyone like to address the city council on this item? Seeing none, we'll go ahead and close the public hearing, bring it back to council for any discussion or possible motion.

Mayor motion.

Yeah, Council Member Moses.

I move to approve the statement of work for the enterprise asset management system in the approximate amount of $1,115,463.90 plus applicable tax over the next five years and authorize the city manager to execute all necessary documents on behalf of the city.

We have a motion from Council Member Moses, a second from Council Member Koch. Any additional discussion? All right, we are ready to vote. Council Member Lin?

Aye.

Thank you. Vice Mayor Diaz? Aye. Thank you.

Motion carries six to zero. Thank you.

Thank you. All right, the next item on our agenda is the call to the public. This is where citizens have the opportunity to address the City Council on items within the jurisdiction of Lake Havasu City. Your comments are limited to three minutes, and we can't have a two-way conversation, but we can listen intently to your comments. Good evening.

I'm going to talk quick. Bridget Stevens, I'm Dean Barlow's widow. I'm a resident of 30 plus years. There are people who seek recognition, and there are people who earn it. The man we are discussing belongs firmly in a secondary category. When he arrived in our community, he did not ask what the town could do for him. Instead, he immediately began asking what he could do for the town. He immersed himself in volunteerism, devoted countless hours to improving our community, supported local organizations, enhanced the beauty of our city, and quietly worked behind the scenes to make a better life for everyone around them. His impact cannot be measured simply in dollars, though his personal generosity exceeded well over $1 million. It cannot be measured solely in hours, though he contributed thousands upon thousands of them. His true legacy is found in the parks improved, the organization strengthened, the projects completed, the lives touched, and the community spirit he helped create. What makes this story even more remarkable is that he never sought credit. He never pursued recognition, headlines, or applause. He believed in doing the right things for the right reasons. He preferred to fly under the radar, helping not because it would benefit him, but because it would benefit others. In an era where recognition is often sought before service is given, he reversed that equation. He served first. He gave first. He cared first. Naming something in his honor is not about rewarding one individual. It's about preserving and celebrating the values that built this community, selflessness, generosity, volunteerism, civic pride, and unwavering commitment to others. Future generations may never know the thousands of hours he worked, the personal sacrifices that he made, or the countless acts of the kindness he performed without fanfare. But if his name is attached to a place, a path, a park, a building, or a landmark, they will ask who he was. And when they ask, we will be able to tell them about a man who gave more than he took, who improved every corner of the community he touched, and demonstrated what true citizenship looks like. The question is not whether he deserves such recognition. The real question is whether we can afford to let a legacy of this magnitude pass into history without ensuring that the future generations know the example he set. Communities are defined by the people they choose to honor. By placing his name on something permanent, we are declaring that service matters, generosity matters, character matters. and that a life dedicated to others should never be forgotten. Some people leave footprints. Dean Barlow helped build the path. So this is something that I have been wanting to do for a long time and I have talked to a few people about. It was very interesting that Vice Mayor David Diaz didn't know that Dean built all the balusters for Pima Wash. So When we talk about all the things he did, it's time we need to name something after him. So let's get that started. And whatever the cost is, we can have that conversation to take care of it. So I look forward to naming something.

Thank you, Ms. Stevens.

Yeah, hi, my name is Scott. Hello, Mayor and City Council. I'm Scott Taylor, 55-year resident here. And, you know, I work closely with Dean on hundreds of different types of projects, and I don't know what the city's policies are on being able to find a way to add his name to it. I can only tell you from the very bottom of my heart that... This guy was just, he's just different. You know, his heart was huge. He shared his money, millions actually. She's short, it's several million. And if there's a way, I just want to let you know that there'd be a lot of us out there who would support your efforts to make something happen with his nomenclature. Thank you.

Mr. Taylor. Would anyone else like to address the council during call to the public? All right, we'll go ahead and call a close call to the public. The next item on the agenda is our current events. Are there any council committee reports? Yes. Vice Mayor Diaz.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So I just want to read a few things going on with Gold Lake Havasu. And number one, I think they said they had 11 applications for a new director position. So they are working on that, working with an outside company to get that bill as soon as possible, which I encourage them to please do. and they have a uh some new data that they've been a mining company they've given some good data to share with you so out of state visitor visitation continues to grow in may 2026 84 percent of visitors to lake havasu were from out of state up from 76 during the same period in 2025 and this seven point increase reflects the growing awareness and demand for lake havasu as a regional and national destination which is encouraging to hear the sign heading back into the peak summer season. Visitor spending remains a meaningful driver of the local economy. Visitors accounted for 42% of all spending in Lake Havasu during May 2026 compared to 41% during the same period last year. Food and beverage led all spending categories at 49% of visitor spend, up from 44% the prior year, and gas and service stations rose to 33% from 24% year over year. suggesting visitors are increasingly driving to reach the destination. I'm not going to read all this. I'll read one where it's kind of interesting. Top markets observed at accommodations. Los Angeles, California led accommodation visitors at 57% up from 32% the prior year, a notable increase in overnight stays from that market. Phoenix, Prescott, Arizona accounted for 13% of accommodations visitors compared to 18% the prior year and area to watch. In San Diego, California grew to 8% from 5% year-over-year, a positive trend for that market. Las Vegas, Nevada came in at 5% compared to 9% their prior year. Tucson, Sierra Vista, Arizona held steady at 4% versus 3% their prior year and showing consistent overnight engagement from that nearby market. There's a bunch more stuff, but I'm not going to bore you right now, but I just wanted to give that quick update.

Thank you, Vice Mayor Diaz. We appreciate it. Are there any other Council Committee reports?

Yeah, it was Father's Day and my daughter made me a tie. So that's what I get to wear. Thank you, Kennedy Moses, for my tie today. I feel like a celebrity dressed in a famous person's clothing.

Are there any other council committee reports? All right, the next item is our future meetings. Our next meeting will be on Tuesday, July 14th, 2026 at 5.30 p.m. It's a regular meeting, plus the property tax levy adoption. And then on Tuesday, July 28th, 2026 at 5.30 p.m., we will also have a regular meeting. Are there any future discussion items? All right, we are adjourned. Thank you for being here. Be kind. We'll see you next time.