City Council - Regular Meeting

Council meeting of June 2nd, 2026 to order and ask everyone to put their cell phones on silent. The invocation will be led by Councilman Heck, excuse me, and the pledge by Tess Nessert.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for the privilege and freedom we have of being able to gather together this evening to discuss city business. We ask that you give the staff and council wisdom and clarity in their decision making. Keep us mindful that we serve the residents of this city. We ask you to watch over the men and women who serve in our military around the world. Keep them safe in these very difficult times. We ask also for your blessing on our first responders, including our police and fire departments, our EMS personnel, along with our park rangers. Please keep these brave men and women safe in their duties to protect and care for the residents of this city. And Father, we want to take a moment to remember the event in which one of our own, Officer Gabriel Fazio, was fatally wounded in the line of duty. This is the anniversary of that date. We know that this event remains in the hearts and minds of those affected. We ask you to give strength to the Fascio family and to our police department as they continue on the road to recovery and acceptance. Father, we thank you for the honor and privilege we have to serve the residents of this great city. These things we ask in your name. Amen. I pledge allegiance.

Okay roll call.

Vice Mayor Wilson?

Here.

Vice Mayor Schroeder?

Here.

Council Member Cross?

Here.

Council Member Heck?

Here.

Council Member Johnson.

Here.

Council Member Nessar. Present. And Council Member Soller.

Here.

You have a quorum, Your Honor.

Thank you. Consent agenda. As a reminder, all the items under consent agenda will be approved with one motion. If a council member wishes to remove an item for further discussion, the request will be made prior to approving the consent agenda and it will be moved to new business. Do I have a motion for a consent agenda?

Your Honor?

Yes.

I move that the consent agenda be accepted as presented.

Second. Moved and seconded. Roll call.

Council Member Heck?

Yes.

Council Member Nassar? Yes. Council Member Cross? Yes. Council Member Johnson? Yes. Vice Mayor Schroeder? Yes. Council Member Soller? Yes. Mayor Wilson?

Yes.

Motion passes.

Excuse me. Intergovernment updates. Anyone have anything that they want to express?

I think they're Probably gonna all talk about the going out to Resolute Copper, so I'm sure Mr. Mayor, you might be able to enlighten for everybody on that one.

Anyone else? Anything? Okay, yes. We went to Resolution Copper and did a tour of the above mine activities and get explanation of what's going on and how they are proceeding forward. And it was very interesting, very enlightening. And we spent some time with their experts in the aspect on it and how they are basically, in a sense, taking care of the water and how the impact is to the local areas, what's going on. And it was basically in a sense very informational and it helped and this is some pictures that you see of when we were there and it's I'm gonna say something that's going forward and it's been a lot of work and going through a lot of things to get this done and we're looking forward to a future date of going down into the mine to see what's in that wonderful big underground cavern, I'll call it, and how we're going to be doing it. Excuse me. We also had a couple of ribbon cuttings this past week. This one was for our Parks and Rec and for the pickleball court. And it was really unique in the aspect on it is there was a lot of people there, that are very heavily involved in the pickleball activities. And I got the opportunity to go out and try it. It's the first time I've done it. And it was unique in the aspect in it. And I hit the ball a few times, so I can say I'm now a pickleball expert, I guess. And the other ribbon cutting that we did was down in Blossom Rock area down south where they're doing a bringing in a school Lost the name Great Hearts. Yes. There's a private school that's coming in down there and they're breaking ground and They expect to have the school. I'll say bringing in actually having kids in attendance starting next fall So not this coming fall, but next year. And it is a great opportunity for them, and they're looking forward to continue it on, get it going, and having a lot of the young children there to attend their school. Okay. City Manager's Report.

Thank you, Your Honor. Brian Powell, City Manager. Grateful for the blessing of having Pickleball Courts. It's been on the list a long time. Great staff to be able to get that up and going. And it's a great day in Apache Junction that we were able to get that going. And something that's been on the list for a long time. Grateful to Liz and her team to getting that up. The other one, just for clarification, the Gray Hearts is a charter school that is on... that is in Blossom Rock, charter schools or public schools, and they are available at no cost to anybody. It's different than a private school. And it's also something I want to clarify for the community is that that area and the area in Radiance, for four, five, six years even when the annexation happened, that both of those developers worked closely with AJUSD to have first right of refusal. So sometimes in the wonderful world of social media, things get confused. Just want to make sure everybody knew that the developers in this case had been working with both those groups to have a chance to be able to have a school there that is AJUSD. It didn't work out, and now we're starting to see charter schools, which the city government cannot stop through state law. Other than that, that concludes my report.

Your Honor. Particularly loved the way when you addressed at the pickleball Ribbon-cutting that those courts were not paid for by taxpayer dollars development throughout the city paid for those courts and a lot of people don't Understand that that's how we get a lot of things done is through development impact fees development fees things like that So when people see these elaborate courts of being built They automatically go to our tax dollars should be spent somewhere else these courts did not take one penny from our tax dollars.

Yeah, that is correct. And that's because of a policy that's been longstanding by the city council of a practice and a policy and implementation through your code of growth, paying for growth, setting aside that as new residents come in, they pay their fair share of new acres of parkland or facilities. Same that's going to come as you work with police station, substation, and the library's LIBRARY FACILITY AND ONE THAT'S THE REASON WHY YOU HAVE THE ABILITY AND PAID FOR THE ACREAGE 20 ACRES AT THE RODEO GROUNDS AND ALSO IN THE DOWNTOWN.

OKAY. PUBLIC HEARINGS. PRESENTATION AND DISCUSSION AND PUBLIC HEARING CONSIDERATION REQUESTS FOR CONTINUANCE FOR THE CASE OF P26-4-PZ. NICK.

Thank you, Your Honor. Good evening, City Council. I'm Nick Leftwich, Principal Planner with the City of Apache Junction, and I'll just be presenting a brief presentation regarding this continuance request. P26-4PZ is a proposed plan development of approximately 6.7 acres located at the southeast corner of Renick and Virginia. THE PROPERTY IS ALREADY DESIGNATED RM2 HIGH DENSITY MULTIPLE FAMILY RESIDENTIAL AND HAD AN APPROVED DEVELOPMENT PLAN BY THE COUNCIL A FEW YEARS BACK AND THE DEVELOPER, BANION RESIDENTIAL, WOULD LIKE TO MODIFY THAT DEVELOPMENT PLAN. HOWEVER, THE CASE WAS ORIGINALLY GOING TO GO TO THE PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION ON APRIL 28th AND TODAY WAS THE ORIGINALLY SCHEDULED PUBLIC HEARING WITH THE CITY COUNCIL. HOWEVER, IN ORDER TO ADDRESS CONCERNS REGARDING PARKING RATIOS AND SOME OF THE SITE PLAN DESIGN the applicant has requested further time in order to modify the plans and present us new plans to evaluate. And in this, they request that the city council public hearing is continued to Tuesday, July 21st. And they formally submit that request to the council for consideration.

Okay. This is a public hearings. We still have to do the public hearing portion, right? So I will now open the public hearing. There's a five-minute time limit with a one-minute warning indication by a yellow light. Please state your name and address for the record.

Donna Carr, Apache Junction resident. What I don't understand is why this side of Apache Junction is constantly getting all the garbage put in. like always wanting to put in the low-income apartments. I got two mental health places, one on each side of me, and then you got one just down the road here. How many you put on the other side of the 60 in that area? Oh wait, yeah, none. How many low-income apartments are put on the other side of the 60? None. Why don't you let them have the chance to have some of this stuff put on their side instead of always being put on this side and turning this more into a trashy area. We're part of old town Apache Junction. We're the original part of Apache Junction. Let it be the original part and stop putting garbage in. Thanks.

Anyone else who'd like to speak on this?

Aloha. My name is Noah James Markham, and I'm from the great city of Tempe. I told you guys that I would like to see more building here, and that is a lot of complaining from this Trump over there. So I don't really care about that. We need more buildings here, and we need to build here. So that's just a lot of nonsense of complaining over there. So thank you so much, Bill. Thank you.

Okay, anyone else? All right. I will now close the public hearing and ask for a motion.

Mayor? Yes. I move that the request for continuance of case P-26-4-PZ to July 21, 2026 be approved. Second.

Moved and seconded. Roll call.

Council Member Cross?

Yes. Yes.

Councilmember solar. Yes councilmember heck. Yes councilmember Johnson. Yes vice mayor Schroeder. Yes councilmember Nessar Yes, mayor Wilson.

Yes motion passes unanimously for the continuance Thank you presentation discussed public hearing consideration the request of continuance for case p-26-6-p Z Hudson

Thank you, Mayor, City Council. My name is Hudson Meyer, Associate Planner here, City of Apache Junction. Much like Nick before, this is just going to be a request for continuance of case P-26-6-PZ. You all saw this case last night at work session, so I'll be very brief. P-26-6-PZ is a proposed reasonably of approximately one and a quarter gross acres located at 275 South Cactus Road from RS-10M to RS-GR. The case was originally scheduled to go to Planning and Zoning Commission public hearing on April 12th and City Council public hearing tonight on June 2nd. In order to comply with all required public notification requirements, the applicant requested that the case be continued two weeks. So the Planning and Zoning Commission public hearing, work session, and public hearing for City Council were all pushed two weeks further. So I ask that the, or the applicant asks that City Council approve the request for continuance to City Council public hearing on Tuesday, June 16th, 2026. Okay.

Since this is public hearing, I'll still continue the public hearing. First off, does Council want to make any comments? No. Okay. I will now open the public hearing. There's a five-minute time limit with one-minute warning indication by the yellow light. Please state your name and address for the record. Anyone like to speak on this matter? And I don't see any movement. So I will now close the hearing and ask for a motion. Oh, I'm sorry. Come on. Go back to public hearing again.

I just want to say my name's Kimberly Bergman and I'm part of this case and I'd like to thank Mayor Wilson and Vice Mayor Schroeder and all the council members for the time to consider this in addition to the city employees. I did have, I would like to speak at the next meeting at greater length. I do have some clarifications from some questions that you all had last night and comments, but I would like to reiterate the simplicity of this was strictly about being able to use our property, because right now we can't do anything. And it was never any other grand plans to do anything. We are not running a business, and I'd like to be able to clarify those details at the next meeting.

Okay.

Thank you.

All right. I will now close the public hearing and ask for a motion.

Your Honor. Yes. I move that the request for continuance of case... P-26-6-PZ to June 16th, 2026 be approved.

Second.

Moved and seconded. Roll call.

Vice? Excuse me. Vice Mayor Schroeder? Yes. Councilmember nesser yes councilmember heck yes councilmember seller yes councilmember Johnson yes councilmember cross yes mayor Wilson yes motion passes unanimously for the continuance to go to June 16th public hearing Okay on a new business presentation discussion of possible consideration of resolution number 26-29 Mike

Mayor Wilson, council members, Mike Loggins, public works director. I'm going to present on a new amendment number one to a development agreement with, in an agreement, it is the Pinal County College, but as you guys well know, it is Central Arizona College here at Idaho and Old West Highway. The original agreement was back in 2010. The college was supposed to And the city agreed to abandon the Broadway right-of-way in return for several different things that happened. Half street improvements along Winchester and Old West Highway, underground powering along Winchester Road and Old West Highway and Broadway, installing a traffic signal, design and construction of five-acre retention basin, and also an internal road through CAC, and design a 12-acre retention basin also. This long list of items, the first six, were all completed back roughly between 2010 and 2012 when CAC developed. As part of the agreement, they had several years, 15 years to complete a 12-acre retention basin. That's part of their whole development. They didn't move forward with it. So we reached out to them saying, hey, as part of the agreement, we'd like to get this moving. They have agreed in this amendment to fund this project, roughly about $1.8 million as part of our amendment. So we're reaching back out to the council. They'll pay it over the next three years so that they will pay for it. We'll go ahead and design it, construct it, and get it done so that it's no longer an outstanding item as part of the agreement. So current costs or design costs are approximately $300,000. The construction costs will be roughly about $1.5 million. So CAC will reimburse the city over the next three years, according to this amendment. And the big part of this project that we've been working on here is it's all part of palm wash. So palm wash is a break off of weeks wash. So it's going to reduce that flow by 100 to 200 CFS. And then this will also reduce those downstream flows. And we'll talk about that in future developments that are closer to Meridian and Southern as we get into those numbers. But it reduces the flows a little bit in here. retaining some of those water so that it doesn't flood out some of our residences south when we have those 100-year storms. So kind of a picture and overall what's happening out here. If you guys have been here, this is Broadway Road. As you come into CAC at Idaho here, they have this private road that took the place of Broadway. And we're roughly talking about these two retention basins, detention basins that they have on site that need to construct. And then part of this channel here. So we're going to be pulling water off the palm wash into these detention basins and laying them settle on dry wells and then go underground so that no longer continues downstream to flood out during certain occasions on Palm wash when weeks wash breaks out and heavy storms Any questions on this amendment and what we're trying to do with CAC I do have a question Mike Looking at the agreement back in 2010

It said Central Arizona College did not complete certain private infrastructure improvements as obligated under the IGA.

Yes, sir.

Do we know why they didn't do that?

I cannot answer that question. I just don't think that was on their radar until we brought it back up to them recently. And that's when we brought this proposal back to them saying, hey, we need to get this complete. We want to move forward with this project. How do we work together to get this finished? And then Brian reached out to some of their board members, and this is where we're at today.

And recently means like the last three years. So recently, Mike said recently, so I've been trying to get them engaged for more than three years.

Okay. And until now, that's, yeah.

Yes.

What's the assurance that we're going to get paid back?

This amendment that they had signed by their board, and that's why we reached out to do amendments to the original agreement.

Because they kind of blew it off for how many years?

I would agree with that. We had our counsel do this so that way legally we can go after them, I believe, if they don't make those payments.

Is there any collateral if they don't? I mean, what assurance do we get that we're going to get what we're paying for?

Mayor and City Council, this is a new governmental agreement that you can't enforce, and if they do not do what they're supposed to do, we can't actually take them to court, and we can get a judge to order them for what's called specific performance, and that's where a judge says, okay, you will do what you were asked to do and what you agreed to do. But there is no bond or anything like that, no. There's no performance pond? Should there be? Is there with the company that's?

There'll be one with the contractor, but not with Central Arizona College.

You have a different board than you had 15, 16 years ago. You have different management here. So I think that all goes into it. This is going to be watched by the public works director, and I think it's going to happen.

have no indication in any way. They're ready to go.

In fact, they're ready for their first payment before July 1.

I just, one other thing, I find it interesting that we can give them a three-year time frame to pay this, yet we can't give our small businesses three years to pay a development fee. So, I know it's not the same thing, but it It is an issue for me.

That's state-regulated development. These are. This is a little bit different, quite a bit different, actually. And it's a governmental entity.

Hopefully they pull through.

I have one more question, just clarification. So one of the slides you have, design and construct five-acre retention basin. Is that a five-acre foot retention basin? That's not five or 12 acres, right? It's five acre feet, right?

I'm going to say it's five acres. In the agreement, it said five acre feet. But five acre feet is roughly about three foot of water over five acres. So it

Oh, I thought it would be one acre and five feet high. That's what I guess I figured it would be.

It could be that, too. It just depends upon how deep.

I just know we would have that much ground for a 12-acre retention. Would we have that much out there?

Correct. It's the whole, if you go along that loop, the private road that they have in there that they changed to Broadway, it's the whole south side of that going all the way up to the fences to the south. And then we have to have some slopes as part of that for the project.

That's my question. What about the homes to the south?

So it all retains in those detention basins, and then we have dry wells within those. So it won't affect the homes and won't flow onto their property. If it does overflow, it goes back into palm wash. There is a design on the south side of it here.

Were we not supposed to put a wall up along those houses a long, long time ago?

There's currently a wall along the south side. Currently already.

It's a chain link fence.

I do not believe so. I believe this is a wall currently.

That's a chain link fence along there.

Along the south side?

I walk it every day.

Okay. We should not affect anything to the south of us. This is a detention base, and it should only clean it up. Right now it's kind of a native desert that's overgrown. Hopefully it will make it look a little nicer back there, and hopefully as part of this project it cleans it up so that you may have a better walking path as you pass it.

Yeah, I just want to make sure that we got it so it doesn't go south because there's a lot of homes over there.

Correct, and that's where we reached out to. Burgess and Eiffel that's doing the design, it's not meant to flow south. As you can see, this goes back here on this end here. And if this gets too high, it overflows back in two weeks or palm wash. And then there'll be dry wells that slowly drain that off within 36 to 48 hours.

Okay. Any other questions? So do I have a motion for resolution? Oh, no, there's no resolution.

Your Honor.

Do I have a motion, period? Yes.

I move that resolution number 26-29, a resolution of the Mayor and City Council of the City of Apache Junction, Arizona, authorizing the city to enter into an intergovernmental agreement amendment number one with Pinell County Community College District, CAC, To allow the city to design and construct a stormwater retention facility and be reimbursed by CAC in the amount not to exceed $1,800,000 be approved.

Second.

Moved and seconded. Roll call.

Council Member Johnson.

Yes.

Vice Mayor Schroeder. Yes. Council Member Nessar. Yes. Council Member Cross. Yes. Council Member Heck. Yes. Council Member Soller. Yes. Mayor Wilson. Yes. YES. MOTION PASSES TO APPROVE RESOLUTION NUMBER 26-29. OKAY.

PRESENTATION DISCUSSED AND POSSIBLE CONSIDERATION OF A CONTRACT WITH RUMMEL CONSTRUCTION COMPANY. MIKE.

MAYOR AND MEMBERS OF THE COUNCIL, THIS DIRECT RELATIONSHIP WAS JUST APPROVED. SO THIS IS A CONTRACT TO ACTUALLY CONSTRUCT THAT RETENTION BASIN. RUMMEL CONSTRUCTION IS LOOKING TO BUILD THAT 12-ACRE RETENTION BASIN AND CHANNEL. STAFF IS RECOMMENDING APPROVAL OF $1.5 MILLION TO BUILD THAT CHANNEL. This will be under utilizing the county of Mojave's JOC earthwork and channel maintenance contracts. So a cooperative agreement that Mojave County has with Rummel Construction. So they would actually dig in that channel, digging out those detention basins so that we can construct this facility. We also have Burgess-Niple that will design the 12-acre detention basin for a scope and fee of approximately over $300,000.00. So we can have that done. This was budgeted as part of this year's fiscal budget for the city to fund these in the general fund to fund this project for roughly $1.8 million. So it is in our budget currently, but we'll be reimbursed for those according to the amendment that you guys just approved.

Mayor? Yes. On our motion, it says $1,447,698.07. But on your slide, it said 1.5. Which one do you want?

The contract that we currently have that is up for signing would be the exact dollar amount of 1.447,698.07. OK. So that's what we should approve.

Correct. OK.

Your Honor.

Yes.

I have a question for you um we have a slight issue over off of Southern Meridian that involves palm wash that is correct will this take care of that problem it does not take care of the problem it helps the city's responsibility of those that go through that property yes so this being constructed takes care of the obligation the city may have had for that area no roughly on that location

We have about 1,400 CFS that goes through that property. This is only 100 to 200 CFS that'll reduce that flow. So that'll go down to 1,300 or 1,200 CFS that flows through that property. So it doesn't resolve those issues.

But it does mitigate them a little bit, so it's not such a task to take care of that issue.

Absolutely, yes.

Thank you. That's a good question.

Yes? Yeah. The terminology of detention and retention, you kind of use them both ways. Is there any specific difference?

So kind of what you're asking earlier, what happens if it overflows? So retention means it stays there, and detention is it detains it for a certain period, and if it overflows, it can go back into the stream or flow off-site or go down in something. So it's detaining it for a while, so it's a detention rather than a retention keeping it there. So like when we do new developments, most of those don't allow them to flow off. So we're not detaining it, we're retaining it. So we have those retention basins for most new developments because they have to retain all that on their property. Very good. Thank you.

One more question. These detention basins, are they going to be able to let the water drain back into the ground?

Correct. So we'll have, it'll percolate into the ground kind of like a septic system. And then we'll also have dry wells as part of that. So they'll drill holes in the ground. and put rock in them, and then I'll allow it to go down in the ground faster than just going through the native desert that's out there.

Okay.

Do I have a motion? Mayor? Yes. I move the approval of award of contract to Rummel Construction, Inc. for Central Arizona College Palm Wash Detention Basin located at 805 South Idaho Road, Apache Junction, Arizona, in the amount not to exceed $1,447,698.07 be approved. Second. To make sure we got the seven cents. Moved and seconded. Roll call.

Councilmember seller yes vice mayor Schroeder yes councilmember Nessar yes councilmember cross yes councilmember heck yes councilmember Johnson yes mayor Wilson's yes motion passes unanimous unanimously to approve the contract with rumble construction when they plan on starting that As soon as we get the approval from Council and get a signature on that hopefully with the next 30 days when we start construction on them

You're going to interfere with my dog walking, man.

I will let them know to keep the dust down and keep water out there for you. Thank you. Okay, thank you.

Okay, we'll now move to the end of our meeting, which is a call to the public. I'd like to remind everyone the call to the public is a courtesy, not required by law. It's a time for the public to express requests, communications, comments, and suggestions. Request to speak forms must have been completed and handed to the city clerk before the end of the city manager's report. All issues shall be presented in a professional manner without personal attacks. Under the open meeting law, council cannot engage in discussion on issues presented, but may respond to criticism and may direct staff to follow up with the speaker directly or place the matter on a future agenda for a council discussion. There's a three minute time limit with a 30 second warning indication by the yellow light. And I have two call to the public forums. Donna Carr.

Donna Carr, Apache Junction resident. First I'd like to thank you guys for going out to Resolution Copper. and for Bambi for taking some of the questions that the people have to ask them while you were there. One of the things I found out is that the water is going to be going to the southwest of Resolution Copper for cotton fields. Just to say that this water contains arsenic, uranium, and uranium, which is A friend has a Geiger counter. He went along both sides of the roads up in Superior and he can follow with the Geiger counter going off back to the mines. So they need to have those loads covered properly when transporting all those tailings because that stuff can get in the air every time there's a dust storm and it can cause cancer. It's radioactive. So there's still more questions that even I have of resolution copper. And thanks.

Nate James Markham.

Oh, geez. Aloha, man, to the rest of the city council. It's great to be back here. So let's talk about the Navajo talkers because I don't think people know about this. And I have a problem with this as a Japanese-American. And, you know, we talk about them and how we should celebrate them and how they have done so much to World War II, but they don't talk about the Japanese-Americans that found out But the Navajo talkers were not saying the right ko's at the right time. And so thank you to the Japanese Americans, they ended World War II, so thank you to that. Also, let's talk about water because I know that people are obsessed about it. And yes, I am obsessed about it too, but not in the ways that some people talk about it here. And I'm so thankful that we are taking care of our water here. And there's nothing else I could say about that. There's some people that make excuses about the water and about cancer and You know, geez, we just need the water, come on. And please keep on building here. That's another thing we need to do. Also, we need to talk about women cops that matter here, and hopefully we do have them, and women firefighters, they matter here too. Also, there's another conflict about Israel and Palestinians, and I hope that we are encouraging both of them. I'm not just the Palestinians. Also, this is a concern for me as a, you know, from Hawaii that why are guns so obsessive here? I don't understand. Why can't you just keep them at home, not in your cars? And I think we need to make a better adjustment about this too. Also, transgender people, They should be in private restrooms. I don't know if you have to do that around here or not. And trans women should not be playing in women's sports either. Also, as a Democrat, yes, I do stand for that. And I would love to see the light rail expansion here. Because I know a lot of people would love to see the mountains here in Apache Junction. I love it, too. So I would like to see a light rail expansion here. So thank you so much. Mahalo. Thank you for the time tonight.