Town Council - Regular Meeting

Alright.

So we are moved out of exec. Thank you all very much and welcome back to the study session. The meeting is now Could you get reconvened. Next in this agenda in the study session, these items are for the scheduled discussion amongst the council staff and their designees. Votes will not be taken on any of these items at this time, but may be scheduled for final action later in the meeting or at a future meeting.

Members of the public are asked to hold their comments until call to the public this evening scheduled to shortly begin after six and public comments will also be invited upon the agenda topic being placed on the future agenda for action. There is one study session item today regarding discussion of proposed amendment to zoning ordinance related to assisted living homes. It will be presented by our planning manager, mister Paul Michel.

Thank you. Good afternoon, mayor, members of council, and everyone. So, yes, as I mentioned, or as you as you mentioned, this is a text amendment to the zoning ordinance regarding the assisted living homes. This is just for discussion. Action is not for, today. So counsel directed moving forward this amendment. It was back in September 2025. And just as point of clarification, it doesn't include sober living or any other similar facilities for a reasonable accommodation process. That process is not changing. It also does not change any status to be adopted of the existing lawful existing homes.

There are 12 with a thirteenth, under construction for up to 10 residents. So just a bit of background. So any sort of text amendment or legislative action, we look to our general plan for guidance, of course. And as most people know, it focuses on a low density single family character and limited commercial development. The general plan which was adopted in 2022 was adopted by 81% of our voters, and I did include in your packet, this survey that helped form that which had a lot of information regarding some of these topics as well.

So municipalities are often required to allow for various uses and accommodations either by federal or state legislation. And then how these apply or will fit into the unique character is what we look at when we do amendments on this. And assisted living homes is one such one of these. There are varying types of living options for people requiring assistance. Most of these don't apply in our town because we don't have those the various commercial districts and things of that nature or multiple family districts.

The six person occupancy does align closer with the town's definition of family. That includes a group of not more than five people. And then, when modifications may be warranted, the request are still can use the reasonable accommodation process, which again is not changing. There's various state statutes that are required or or applicable to this as well as the town code and those are all outlined, in your staff report. Really, the change that's happening is to our zoning ordinance.

It's, article, 17, which is listed here. That article is broken into various sections. The separation requirement of a quarter mile is not changing. The occupancy limits is what's being requested to go from 10 to six. There's no changes in the licenses required or the town review process or the applicable codes or being compatible with the surrounding area, or not being community threat, but then the other change would be regarding the, parking that it's all required on-site and then a minor typographical change regarding the the title of the community development director.

So the text amendment process itself requires resident input by our our citizen review session or or neighborhood meeting that was held through our planning commission on November 18. Then it goes to our planning commission for recommendation, which they held on December 2. There was a recommendation, for approval. It was a four to three vote. The council review in action, so your discussion is this evening and then your action action item is set for January, twenty second.

The draft ordinance generally went through it. There's not much to the ordinance itself. There's the track change, shown on the right. Again, reducing the occupancy from 10 to six, modifying the parking so it requires all on-site and correcting the title, of the for the community development director. As I mentioned, planning commission, recommended approval, and there's several comments that were received on this during those sessions and in between the sessions.

Just to summarize generally, support comment and not support comment, those in support mentioned the business nature that does not align with the vision and values of town's general plan, the impact and lack of choice for existing residents when a home opens in a neighborhood, that the number of six aligns more with the town's definition of family of five, the increased traffic, and then amendment retains still the ability through our reasonable accommodation process. And then those who were not supporting the amendment voiced that they're not a threat to the single family lifestyle, that they replace older unkempt properties, benefits on proximity to nearby family members, and the older population creates, that are that is here creates demand. That these smaller 10 person, facility provides benefits to the resident related to activities and other factors. There were cost concerns related as well as the amendment could effectively cap the number of these assisted living homes in the town. And all that detailed public comment is in your packet.

There was one received yesterday which was directly sent by email to all the, council members. That, of course, will be folded into your next packet as well, and they'll update that table that we normally update in the in the packet. And with that, that's, staff's presentation. Mayor.

Thank you, mister Michaud. And I would remind, those folks in the audience today and those folks that may be tuning in, we're we're not this is study sessions. We won't be taking public comment on this issue, for the study session. So that'll be coming in two weeks, when we have it on the agenda item. So with that, I would, invite some questions or comments from my colleagues. I'll, I'll ask council member Moore if he has any questions or comments.

Generally, thank you, mayor. I'm generally in support of this just because I do think it better aligns with our town's general plan as far as residential. The occupancy is more with six would be more in line with what we have in our general plan as well for single family residential. And I think with the spacing requirements that are already in place, there's certainly a good amount of these that are within our town and currently existing. It's also good to note that those will remain unchanged from this if this revised change goes through.

So happy to hear from my colleagues. Thank you.

Thank you, council member. Other comments or questions from my council colleagues? Council member Leitman.

Thank you, mayor. I do want to start with the town plan, which is very clear that we are a residential low density community. And certainly, we are required by statute to have assisted living homes, and we have some very nice assisted living homes. And in no way, do I believe that anybody is advocating we get rid of them or limit them below what is allowed by law. I also am concerned that many of the comments I am hearing, not all, but many are coming from non residents.

And I would request going forward that we ask every person commenting whether they are resident or not because I think that from what I understand, and counsel can correct me if I'm wrong, these are commercial uses of in Paradise Valley. And the residents who want to continue the commercial uses, I have heard very few. I know there are some. But I really want to understand what the town's residents feel about these homes. So I also want to say that I appreciate the involvement by so many residents, And, I just wanna do what's consistent with the town plan, and I do support this change from 10 to six as long as it is consistent with the law and does not change the existing homes that are operating now subject to, of course, continued compliance with the rules.

Thank you.

Thank you. Other comments or questions from council colleagues? Council member LaBelle?

You go first. You go. Okay.

Alright. Thank you.

Thank you.

Council member Pace?

Alright. Thank you, mayor. We'll switch around. No. I think that, it's been good to get all the public feedback. I I think I'm sorry there was some confusion at that first planning commission meeting where I think the operators thought there were gonna be people reduced at our existing homes, and that's not the case. And I think, it was a nice job to explain that to people to calm that down. That was never the intent and not part of the discussion at all. No. I think the land use I look at you go back to sorry, Paul.

Would you mind going to, Mr. Machado, go to, page four? And I think that's an important page because from as policymakers and supporting the town and the residents, we have to look at our general plan and that had an 81% vote. And we don't have a section on there for, these type of uses. We didn't for short term rental either.

And so those are creatures of the state that are that are that are added to our general plan not into our general plan, I should say, to our community by statute. And so that's where these group homes assisted living group homes assisted living stand out. I call them a group home because I said my grandmother was in it for five years, so I spent three homes here. Many many meals, many breakfasts, many times at the homes, and we did it as a group, and we'd sit at the table with the elderly house residents and it was it was a bit of a home. So, that's why in my head I

view it as a home.

Anyway, but for this, when we look at page four, it's really important and that's the thing that I think we have to rely on, we have to look at for our residents' protection for our unique status in Paradise Valley. We're one of the only problem probably in the state that has this type of requirement of low density of one house per acre for residents. So we're a little bit different. I know there's a lot in the surrounding area, Scottsdale, Phoenix, Mesa, that have a lot of space for additional assisted living. So we have 12 to 13, it sounds like, in the community, created by state statute, not by our general plan.

I would ask, and that's not gonna be changing, I would ask those operators that are here today, though, to talk amongst yourself and try to be good neighbors to our residents. We as council members I don't know how many of are here. I get a lot of complaints, a lot in the years I've served, ninth year service going into ten. I get regular complaints about the group homes in the communities. And so, you know, I do my best to deal with it. I sometimes have to forward it to code. I have to do whatever. But, the town has done a pretty good job with the short term rental industry to have them do their own self regulation and self compliance. So it'd be great if we could start having the group homes do a little bit better at that, whether it's garbage cans, whatever the issue is. So just a thought.

You know, you can't have any you know, you can't expand the use. There's issues with signage. There's issues with containers in the yard. There's issues with just expanding it out, parking. And there are just a lot of complaints we get. If you fit more in the neighborhood, you're gonna have less complaints. That's of my message on that. Whatever the law is, doesn't matter. It matters whether you're a good neighbor. So I support the zoning amendment to change it from 10 to six and to deal with the parking issue we've had a lot of complaints on. I do think these homes have expanded differently than ten and fifteen years ago. They look different. They're more industrial looking. They're more commercial looking. They're putting more concrete in the front yards.

They're losing the open space. There's no plants and trees. Those weren't the ones that my grandmother stated. The more recent ones have changed, and they look like commercial. And so that's just a change. It's what it is. But I support the amendment. I think we've had a lot of good feedback. Again, sorry about the first planning meeting that got a little bit off that people thought we were gonna be removing people from homes. That was never the intent, never the discussion, and not part of the zoning process. And I appreciate Andrew Maguire and chief and chairman, Georgios for making sure you were there at the second meeting, and that went very well in trying to get through all those points. But I support it. I know it's hard sometimes. You always you know, it's not I know it's been hard from some of the group homes or assisted living. I'll try to use both terms.

That they talk about us taking away the right for them to make money. But we need to remember that this is not part of this general plan is to help people make money in Paradise Valley and using the land for something different than what it was supposed to be used for. When I first got on council nine years ago, the six months even prior to going, I don't know how many lobbyists came to my house and came to me to try to push me as a new council member to allow, formal group homes in town, bigger group homes in town, show me the properties. It was a regular occurrence. And every time we have a new council member who's elected, they get the same push.

And permanent council members, we can't But stay focused on

anyway, so it it happens. But we have 13 and that's a lot. And there's a lot of surrounding areas. So I don't think this takes away from availability of people who need to stay in assisted living. So I support it. Thank you. Sorry. Sort it. Thank you. And I appreciate it.

Thank you. Other comments? Councilmember Labelle.

Thank you. And thank you to my colleagues for their comments so far. I'm in agreement that with this text amendment, I did have a couple of questions. Just wanna make sure that that residents are clear on this. We're not gonna be changing the distance requirements between homes by doing this. Correct?

Mayor, council member LaBelle, correct. We are not changing the distance requirement.

Okay. And the reasonable accommodation is still an option?

That is correct.

Yes. And then there needs to be. So, generally, I'd say, you know, the general plan has to be our North Star. It's what it is. It was passed by the residents. And, you know, within legally allowable parameters, zoning standards we apply in in my opinion should reinforce Paradise Valley's general plan, which clearly prioritizes the low density single family residential neighborhoods. And I would agree that council's responsibility here, as I understand it, this is a land use policy. It's it's not to ensure the profitability of any commercial enterprise. Just like we can't guarantee financial incomes of of home remodels or renovations or developmental projects, that's that's not in our in our general plan. So I yield and those are my comments and thank you for your answers.

Thank you, council member. Other comments, vice mayor I'm sorry. Council member Thompson.

Thank you, mayor. I will let go the sentiments of my colleagues. I support the amendment. We are a single family residential community and anything we can do to bring ourselves closer to that standard and keep us to that standard is something that I'm passionate about and I appreciate staff bringing this modification forward. I'm grateful, of course, that we are grandfathering the existing properties in. I think that's the only fair and reasonable thing to do. I also support the requirement for on-site parking. The occasional on street parking for our friends and neighbors is very normal, but let us not forget this is a commercial enterprise. And so asking a commercial enterprise to park on the property is very reasonable. So I'm an enthusiastic support. Thank you, mayor.

Thank you. Vice mayor.

Thank you, mayor. Yes.

I'm gonna echo all the comments of my colleagues, and I'm in support of this text amendment. And thank you to staff for bringing this to us, and, I believe we'll see it in two weeks. Is that correct?

Correct. Yes. Your hearing is January 22.

Very good. Thank you.

Thank you, vice mayor. And I would, I would, kind of wrap up the the comments from my chair and talk about the fact that, one consistent theme from my colleagues and what I see going forward with this issue is staying true to the general plan and staying focused on the fundamental principles of our zoning and our our ordinances. So I think I think this is a step to continue that process, which I think is what is respected and requested by the residents. And so I think that's a a good discussion point that I've heard theme through. I think also there are some very good points about grandfathering the existing facilities in, that no one will be removed, that there's a and that that we are respectful of the state requirement, and so we're we're fine with that.

I hear that from the group. So I think you should be following that accordingly. And then I I do concur that, you know, we're not responsible for profit and loss for these individual businesses, but we wanna make sure that that their residents are are being taken care of and and accounted for properly. So with that, I I know we're not gonna vote this evening. I'm favorable on the text amendment moving forward to the discussion. We're not gonna have a a public discussion tonight in the business meeting, but that will come in two weeks. So we're looking forward to that. And I'd ask if there's anything else from staff that they'd like counsel to know before we wrap this session up.

Nothing for me. Thank you.

Alright. Well, good, succinct presentation. Thank you and thanks to the Planning Commission for participating in such a complicated and important subject. So thanks to that. Alright. I think that will conclude the study session for this evening. I don't know if there's any other additions there, I think that will conclude study and we will take a break and reconvene at six p. M. For the business meeting. Thank you.

We'll begin the meeting in just a moment. If you could take your seats and, counsel, if you could return to the dais. The yellows, I mean, is for me loading and unloading. I know. Julie okay?

Alright. Well, good evening, everybody. Good evening, and welcome. The town council meeting for 01/08/2026 is now called to order. Thank you all for being here. Appreciate it. Would the clerk please call the roll? Mayor Stanton?

Here. Vice mayor Andean Keller? Here. Council member Lebel? Here. Council member Liepman?

Here.

Council member Moore? Here. Council member Pace? Here. Council member Thomason?

Here.

We have a court.

Thank you. We'll begin tonight's agenda with the pledge of allegiance and I would like to invite our vice mayor, Ellen Andean Keller to lead us in the pledge. Alright. Tonight, we'll begin our meeting with presentations. Last year, the town council codified a process to rotate the office of vice mayor under the ordinance.

The the longest serving council member who has not previously served as vice mayor and has been on the council for at least one year is eligible to be the vice mayor. Town council member Christine Labelle is the next in rotation for the service of vice mayor, and it's my honor to now administer the oath and I'd ask if councilmember LaVelle would join me up at the podium.

Oh, better yet.

Wasn't at all spots. Thank

you. And I'd also invite council member Lebel's family if they'd like to come up and stand as we administer the oath. So sweet. Welcome. Welcome. Well, if you raise your right hand and I. State your name.

I. Christine Labelle.

I. Do solemnly swear.

Do solemnly swear. That

I will support the constitution of The United States Wait. Hang on a second. Wait. Wait. Wait. Wait. I think I did that out of order. I think I did. Is that out of order there? No. That I will support support the constitution of The United States.

That I will support the constitution of The United States.

And the constitution and the laws of the state of Arizona.

And constitution and the laws of the state of Arizona.

And that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same.

And I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same.

And defend them against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

And defend

against all enemies, foreign and domestic

that I will faithfully and impartially

and that I will faithfully and impartially

discharge the duties of vice mayor

the duties of vice mayor

According to the best of my ability.

According to the best of my ability.

Help me God.

So help me God.

Welcome.

Again. And I know we're gonna have some great words of encouragement, support, and thanks for vice mayor Andy and Keller a little later in the meeting. But I would ask if the vice mayor would like to add a few comments as we lead off.

Thank you, mayor. I just want to thank the mayor, my fellow council members, and also a big huge thanks to vice mayor Ellen Andine Keller for her leadership and the steady support you've provided both for council and the mayor over the last year. So thank you for that. And while the current process may look a little bit different, the importance of the vice mayor role remains the same. So it's a responsibility that I accept with humility, respect, and care. I look forward to supporting the mayor and the staff and the rest of council working together toward a thoughtful and collaborative year on council. I'm optimistic about the year ahead, and I appreciate the opportunity to continue serving our community together. So thank you, everybody.

Bravo.

Alright. Thank you again. And next up on our presentations is the historic property recognition. And, we have two items on our recognition of historic properties this evening. And I'd like to ask and recognize council member Leitman, who is the liaison to the historical advisory committee to introduce these properties.

Thank you, mayor. And congratulations, vice mayor LaBelle. That's amazing. So the town council created a historic recognition program in 2018 to allow residents to apply to the historical advisory committee to have their homes recognized for their unique historic or architectural character. A historic property must meet one of the following says four.

I think there's only two criteria. One, be at least 50 years old or represent an important part of history or architecture of the town. This recognition does not impose any new regulations or future development restrictions on the recognized property. Tonight, the historical committee will present their recommendations to recognize two properties. Mayor, I would like to introduce historic advisory committee chair, Catherine Kaufman, to present the committee's recommendations.

Thank you, council member Liepman and mayor, and congratulations, vice mayor Labelle and the rest of you. Thank you. And I welcome I probably shouldn't say that, but I'll move on. Don't know what cat's out of the bag. Okay, so first of all, I'd just like to start.

On 09/17/2025, Marlene and Harry Slayle presented their home located at 5404 East Palo Verde Drive to our committee for consideration to the historical property recognition program. In the mid nineteen fifties, this property was owned by colonel Harry c Wilder, the grandfather of Harry Slayle. Colonel Wilder is recognized as one of the 31 original financial contributors to the town of Paradise Valley and also was a member a founding member of the Paradise Valley Country Club. In 1958, Colonel Wilder sold the property to his niece and nephew, Albert and Ben Marshall. That same year, the Marshalls broke ground and completed their home in 1959.

This home was designed by Alice Marshall and her daughter, Leslie, with an unknown builder. This was the fifth home built in Stone Canyon. The home was constructed using pumice block and features a brick and wood facade. The exterior walls were done with a weeping mortar, a technique characterized by thick mortar application that produces a distinctive oozing effect. Many of the original interior features remain intact, including the planters dividing the living room and dining room, a built in bar in the dining room, and bookshelves in the family room.

The kitchen retains its original cabinets, many with sculpted wood valances, and the countertops. The Eisenhower yellow Westinghouse oven, still functional, remains mounted on the kitchen's far wall, a placement chosen due to aunt Alice's concern about the Arizona heat. In 2007, Harry and Marlene Slayle purchased the home from Harry's aunt Alice. They added about a thousand square feet and did some interior remodeling, includes including raising the ceilings in the hallway and in the living room, all while keeping the architectural integrity of the home. The master bedroom was enlarged to include a new closet, bathroom, and a laundry room, which was previously located in the kitchen.

When the ceilings were raised, additional stones were needed for the fireplace. Harry recalled that his aunt Alice said that the original fireplace stones were dumped in the front yard. Rather than purchasing new stones, the masons found enough stones in the front yard to complete the fireplace extension. This home has remained in the family for sixty eight years. As chair of the town's historical committee, I recommend that the resident at 5404 East Palo Verde Road be recognized by the town council as part of our historical property program.

Awesome. Thank you. And I would ask that we would we would ask all in favor of of approving the historical advisory committee's recommendation to recognize 5404 East Palo Verde Drive as an historic property in the town of Paradise Valley by unanimous consent with the response of aye. Aye. Congratulations. We have a proclamation that we'll read.

I am reading the proclamation on behalf of our wonderful mayor. Whereas, by the issuance of this proclamation, the town of Paradise Valley hereby recognizes the Slayo home at 5404 East Palo Verde Drive as an official historic property. And whereas on 11/01/2018, the town of Paradise Valley and the historical advisory committee established the historic property recognition program that allows property owners to voluntarily submit their property for consideration if it meets the requirements of the program. And whereas the property at 5404 East Palo Verde Drive owned by Marlene and Harry Slayle was built in 1959 in the Stone Canyon neighborhood and use using pumice block with a brick and wood facade and features the original built in bar, bookshelves, wood cabinets with scalloped valences, kitchen countertops, and a classic Westinghouse oven. And whereas, this property exemplifies the beauty of the town and maintains the values that the town has exemplified since its founding in 1961.

Now therefore, Mark Stanton, mayor of the town of Paradise Valley, does hereby hereby proclaim the property located at 5404 East Palo Verde Drive as part of the historic property recognition program.

Congratulations. Thank you. And we're gonna do a photo with Duncan. And then I'll ask you to sit around because we're gonna do a deep photo of both properties.

Thank you.

Okay.

Thank you, council member Leibman. I appreciate that. I've had a little eye issue here, and so I wanted to make sure that all of it was read properly and very well done. Thank you. Have another property this evening. And this now I would turn to council member Liebman to introduce.

Mayor, I would like to introduce historical advisory committee chair, Katherine Kaufman, once again Kaufman, to present the committee's recommendations.

Okay. Thank you. On 09/17/2025, Mark Schneider and pastor Keith Delaed presented the Calvary Church of the Valley located at 61 North 6107 North Invergordon Road to our committee for consideration to the historical property recognition program. Calvary Church of the Valley was founded as an independent, non denominational Christian church after approximately 70 parishioners, including Jack Stewart of the Camelback Inn, separated from the Saint Barnabas Church on Mockingbird Lane. The group initially met at a banquet hall banquet room at the Camelback Inn under the leadership of pastor Richard Zoellner.

In 1969, the congregation purchased the property located at 6107 North Infogordon Road from Mary Bell Shieldman shortly after the passing of her husband, James A. Shieldman. Between 1973 and 1989, the church bought additional property, giving them a total of 13 acres. The original structures on the property are believed to date to the early to mid nineteen thirties and built by the Shieldmans using the adobe brick hand honed beams and included several handmade doors. In the early nineteen forties, the Shieldmans established the property as the Desert Lodge.

For the next twenty years, the Desert Lodge operated both as a guest lodge and as a riding and boarding stable. The main house, originally the Shieldmans family residence, was expanded to include a dining room, a lounge with a bar, and two owner apartments. They also added a second kitchen, one of which was served as a kosher kitchen. At the time when at the time when some inns and resorts, excuse me, did not accept Jewish guests, the Desert Lodge welcomed them. Excuse me.

I'm sorry. Other buildings on the property include casitas for guests, a garden house, barn facilities, a tack room. The lodge also offered the guests an outdoor barbecue area, a swimming pool, and a shuffleboard court for recreation. In the nineteen eighties, the church converted the original sanctuary into a fellowship hall and constructed a new sanctuary. All of the old buildings are still standing with the exception of a storage structure which was falling apart.

Various rooms and buildings are being used as classrooms and for other purposes. The garden house provides housing for the facilities manager and the personage is adjacent to the church. In addition to regular worship service, the church hosts a homeschooling group, a weekly bible study group, and various nonprofit and community organizations. With its historic significance, the Calvary Church once be known as a jewel in the desert serving the community. As the as the chair of the town's historical advisory committee, I would like to recommend Calvary Church of the Valley located at 6107 North Invergordon Road to the town council for recognition with the historical property program.

Thank you, chair Kaufman. Wonderful presentation. I would ask my colleagues, all that are in favor of approving the historical advisory committee's recommendation to recognize 6107 North Invergordon Road as a historic property, the town of Paradise Valley by unanimous consent, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Congratulations.

Once again once again, I am speaking on behalf of the mayor. Whereas by the issuance of this proclamation, the town of Paradise Valley hereby recognizes the Calvary Church of the Valley at 6107 North Invergordon Road as an official historic property. And whereas on 11/01/2018, the town of Paradise Valley and the historical advisory committee established the historic property recognition program that allows property owners to voluntarily submit their property for consideration if it meets the requirements of the program. And whereas this property at 6107 North Invergordon Road owned by the Calvary Church of the Valley includes historic structures built in the nineteen thirties with adobe, honed beams, and handmade doors. And whereas this property once operated as the Desert Lodge.

And whereas the Calvary Church of the Valley actively builds community by welcoming homeschooling groups and other nonprofit and community organizations to use its facilities. And whereas this property, sorry, exemplifies the beauty of the town and maintains the values that the town has exemplified since its founding in 1961. Now therefore, Mark Stanton, mayor of the town of Paradise Valley, does hereby proclaim the property located at 6107 North Invergordon Road as part of the historic property recognition program. Congratulations. Thank

you so much. What a great honor for properties. Let's do a photo real quick with to photo together. Yep. I'm sorry.

Apologize. And the council come on up too. We'll do a group photo. Alright. Thank you again, council member Leitman and chair Kaufman and the designees.

Appreciate you being here, and we're so proud of that program. We've got such great history within our boundaries, and this is just a program that really recognizes that, and we are so appreciative. So thank you, chair Kaufman, and your entire committee for doing the great work that you continue to do. Next on the agenda will be the call to the public. The call to the public is an opportunity for residents to address the council on matters not on the agenda.

In confirmation with the with the open meeting laws, the council may not discuss or take action on these matters raised. However, the council may respond to criticisms after all public comments have been made or ask staff to review the matter or ask that it be placed on a future agenda. Speakers are asked to state if they are a town resident, and also we're asked asking them to keep their comments to three minutes. If you would like to make address to the council, please fill out a speaker request form, which is located at the lectern at the entrance to the council chambers. Once completed, hand it to our very trustee town clerk, Duncan Miller, and we will recognize you with that. And with that, I would ask mister Miller, do we have any request to speak? Mister mayor,

I did receive one request to speak from Scott O'Connor, but I do not see him in the

audience. Mister O'Connor? Not seeing mister O'Connor, then we'll go ahead and move on. Thank you. No other requests? Alright. Okay. Next up, we're gonna talk about the consent agenda on the tonight, and items on the consent agenda are considered by the council to be routine and are normally executed by a single motion. If a member of the council or the public would like to discuss any item, it will be removed from the consent agenda and considered separately. I would like the town manager to please summarize tonight's consent agenda.

Thank you, mister mayor, members of council. We have two items on tonight's consent agenda. First, item 26 dash zero zero two, which is approval of the minutes of the town council meeting of 12/11/2025. And item 26 dash zero one four, discussion and possible action to approve the second amendment to the Lincoln agreement with Flock Group Inc.

Alright. Thank you, town manager. I would ask if there is any council member that would like to have an item removed from the consent agenda.

Mayor, I would like to remove 26 dash zero one four from the consent agenda.

Thank you, council member. I would ask if there is a anybody in the public that would like to remove an item from the consent agenda. That said, I'd ask if there is a motion to approve item two six zero zero two.

Mayor, I move that we approve two six dash zero zero two minutes of town council meeting 12/11/2025. Second.

Thank you. It's been moved and seconded. All those in favor? Aye. Anybody opposed? Alright. With that, council member Thompson, appreciate your insight on removing that from the consent agenda.

Thank you, mayor. I have a few questions for Commander DeVenti, who I know is here tonight about that item, if I may. Question one. So phase one that we approved last year had 11 advanced LPRs, and our request tonight is for phase two, which is another 12 LPRs. Are those additional 12 going to new locations? So we're increasing our number of locations from 11 to 23.

Mayor and council member Thomason, thank you for your question. I'm not familiar with the locations of those. I do believe we have specific locations in town that would be utilized for those LPRs.

So the question is more, we're not replacing old LPRs, we are increasing the number of locations?

I believe that's correct.

Okay, thank you. And then my next question is a little more meaningful and substantive. At our last meeting, we unanimously approved the use of new leading edge axon technology to keep us safe and improve our law enforcement, which is wonderful. Could you just educate us a little bit and help us understand how we use these LPRs, how they help keep us safe, and what we do with the data? I know there's increasing concern about how we use data in law enforcement. So if you could help us out there.

Yes. Absolutely. So we do not actively monitor the license plate readers. We only utilize So if there's an active criminal investigation that we are looking into or if there's a specific public safety risk, that data is being looked at by our detectives, our officers, dispatch for those purposes. But our our investigation for those things is is simply that if if we're, responding to a burglary call, for example, and, somebody provides some vehicle descriptions, not a license plate, but a descriptor, we were able to then utilize those cameras to then search the database for those descriptors to try to find investigative leads based on that.

You know, we've we've proven with previous cases that the technology has been exceptional. We've had success with resolving residential crime rings that we've had in town. We've most recently had success with recovering a victim of a kidnapping, and the the cameras themselves have proven themselves to be an effective tool for us.

Thank you. I'm a enthusiastic supporter of them, and we don't do anything with the data. We don't sell it to a third party or hang on to it, or we don't do anything with that kind of data. Is that right?

No. The data is there. It's our data, and it's not accessed unless we have a legitimate reason to do so. So we're not actively monitoring it, unless we have a law enforcement purpose. And those and those, access to that are people that have been trained. There is a log in. There's an auto trail that, is generated for all that, so we have the proper protocols and safety measures in place to protect that data.

Great. Thank you. I'm an enthusiastic supporter of the use of that technology and other technologies, and I just wanted to take the opportunity to educate the public on the importance and the value of this technology. So thank you, Commander DeVenti.

Absolutely. Thank you.

Thank you, council member, and thank you, commander. And I would ask if there is a motion to approve item 26 dash zero one four on the agenda.

Mayor, I move for the approvement I move to approve the second amendment to the linking agreement with the Flock Group for implement implementation of phase two, which includes 12 advanced LPRs and authorize the town manager to execute the agreement.

Awesome. Is there a second? Second.

Thank you. I'd ask if there's any discussion. Alright. With that, I'd ask all those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Anybody opposed? Say nay. Alright. Thank you. Well, that completes the consent agenda. I appreciate that. Next on agenda, we would go to public hearings, but this evening there are no public hearings. So we'll go to action items, and there are no action items tonight. So that takes us to future agenda items, and I asked the town's town manager to go through the future agendas, which are subject to change, and public meetings are posted on our website under meetings and agendas, and you can see what's upcoming for the upcoming meetings. I would ask if there are any items upcoming that town manager would like to comment on.

Thank you, mister mayor, members of council. A couple. Yes. Thank you. Next council meeting is going to be on January 22.

There'll be quite a few items in our study session from our finance department, our chief financial officer, Leslie Duresh, and some of the consultants that she works with will be here to provide an investment update. We're gonna be going over the 2627 fiscal year budget process, capital improvement plan, planning and forecasting, bonding, question about whether or not the town may may bond for some capital expenditures, and an expenditure limit election potential to be called in the discussion about that. So that's all coming at the next meeting. One thing I do want to note and for those who who look at the upcoming agenda items on the meeting, we'll see that we moved the update regarding Mockingbird Lane 56th Street to Invergordon. It was supposed to, I believe, be at the January 22 meeting.

It's been pushed to February 26. The reason for that is that staff is still in the process of negotiating the contractual price terms with the contractor. And so as a result, we were not ready to go for that date, but we want to allow ourselves more time to continue to work on the price terms, and I wanted to make sure that mayor and council and the public understood that. Thank you.

Thank you, mister Chang. I'd ask, does any council member wish to make a motion to add any items to the future agenda? Not seeing any. Thank you. We will move on to the next item this evening.

That's mayor council reports. And before we open up for the reports, a couple of thoughts. One is, I appreciate my colleagues, keeping good decorum, to making sure that the updates are positive and informative, and in no ways confrontational with other council members. And remember that we are a unified body and looking to create information that's important to the residents. And so moving forward in this year, I'm expecting the same type of behavior and making sure we are providing information and updates that are both with decorum and with respect to each other.

Before we go into all the reports, I'd like to lead off this section with a sincere and heartfelt thank you to our vice mayor, to mayor vice mayor Andy Keller has been a stalwart council member for years. She has been a leader and a and has innovated a lot of good programming. And this year, as vice mayor, she stepped up and provided great support for her colleagues, great support for staff engagement, and a great partnership to me as the mayor. I have really, truly enjoyed this experience, and I'm so grateful that you were willing to do that. And I I know there'll be other comments, but I also wanted to present you with a little you can't wear this, by the way.

This is something I I put on the on the on the table. Thank you, Aaron. Thank you very much. A as a real genuine thank you for what you've done for the town, you've done this for the right reasons, and represented the town with dignity, and with respect, and with great help. We couldn't do it without you, and we are grateful for the year that you gave us, and we're looking forward to the year ahead. With you on council, but I just wanted to lead off by saying thank you. And with that, I would open up the reports from from my colleagues. I also have a a lovely a lovely note for you Thank you. Alright. We're with reports. Councilmember Thomason.

Thank you, mayor. Item of business, the HOA forum will be on the January 15 coming up in the community room at 03:00 in the afternoon. We have sent out invitation and reminders to our HOA contacts to please join us for that meeting. We will have updates from key staff. We look forward to having you all.

And I wanted to publicly thank our intern, Erin Sweeney, as well as our management assistant, Amy Revenar, for their help in pulling together the documentation for that. We all know it takes a village and I appreciate ladies both of your help. So, you very much for that. Speaking of ladies who make a contribution, Vice Mayor Andean Keller, thank you for your work this year. You made the job your own. You added value to the town. You were helpful, collaborative, and always present and executed well, and I thank you.

Alright. Next report. I'd ask council member Moore, do you have a report?

Council member Moore has left the meeting, mister mayor.

Alright. Council Member Pace.

Thank you, Mayor. First, a couple shout outs. One to Anna Thomason, Council Member Thomason for doing the HOA meeting. She's brought life back to that. It had died. It was important meeting and people are enjoying going. So thank you for doing that and I'm glad there's another meeting. That helps energize some important stakeholders in our community. Second, to give a little report on our lovely experience in Scottsdale and all the successes that are going on with our resorts. You may have heard the Kimpton, Marilina opened up. It's open as of, I think, this week. They spent $42,000,000. They've got a great new restaurant that's opening and the spa and all kinds of things. So very exciting. Go check it out.

They're They're they're available. And then Sanctuary is finishing up part of their construction and I think it's the ballroom area in all the area out there. So they're gonna be opening that up to preview for the community. So we're excited about that. And then I have a really other fun big announcement.

As you know, for many years, we've been advocating to try to work towards getting a shooting range and training center for our Paradise Valley Police Department. And we're trying to get that on the radar screen again for donations and things here in the community. But we've had you know, we're still gonna do that, I hope, with everyone's effort and support. But we've had some really nice support right now, and we have to give a huge shout out to senator Karen Warner, who represents L D Four. She has been trying.

Last year, she got a donation to be put aside for our Paradise Valley Police Shooting Range and Training Center, but she put in a bill already this week for $2,500,000 to fund it in Paradise Valley, and she's working with her colleagues to try to make that happen. So we should give a big shout out for that. We still may need the donations if we don't get it all, but she's really made been a good advocate for our police department in Paradise Valley and for the fact that our community does things without taxes, doesn't have a lot of revenue that we can access, and that we have just a stellar police department that really helps. And it's a $23,000,000 across back and forth through our town 23,000,000 cars. It's it's quite a busy police department to monitor all that.

So a big shout out to her. Please spread the word on that. Let's help all the legislators support it, and it'd be a great thing to honor and get done in Paradise Valley for our police department. So it's very exciting. So thank you.

Thank you, council member, and thank you, senator Werner, for championing that. I'm gonna break protocol. I'm actually gonna go to the vice mayor. Well, sure. Absolutely. I'm gonna go to the current vice mayor, then I'm gonna wrap it up and then give it to Okay.

Should I finish my comments about

Go ahead.

Go ahead. I'm sorry. I forgot. I didn't mean to thank not thank you. I saw the flowers. I I got lost on. Was so excited about the police department. So first of all, I also obviously, all our peers. Wanna thank you, vice mayor, Andean Keller, for all the work you did this year. You really did step up. I can't say enough. I think the words that have been said say it exactly right. And you stepped up. You've got such great background. You made it. I would agree with with council member Thomas, and you made it your own, and you really herded us like cats, and you make sure we don't miss things. And you're always pointing out when we forget something or what we do, and, like, don't forget this, and are you gonna be at the meeting then? And and here's what we next need to do. So you made us look good. You read the agendas.

You tried to help staff throughout the year to help the mayor and everybody so we didn't have mistakes or issues that we could, like, help us all together as a team and and work through that. And your finance background is phenomenal. Your new budget inside and out. You could go right to the page, right to the line, and help everyone get there. So you've been great. You're great in the community. We love it. I'm so glad you had your year here, and it would have been a really horrible miss for our town. And I'm sure your dad is smiling and very proud. You're the only, you know, council member who served with a father who served before you, and I know your mother is very proud

Yeah.

And your animals, many of them, and your husband. So, anyway, thank you for your service. We really appreciate it.

Absolutely. Vice mayor Labelle?

Thank you, mayor. I second all those comments about our our vice mayor. I touched on that a little bit before, our former vice mayor. Sorry. Sorry about that. Big shoes to fill. So I too will make it my own, but thank you so much for offering your services and that you'll be a phone call away and I so appreciate that. I so appreciate how you guided us this year so much. So thank you for that. Second comment, Jennifer Gustafson has left the room, but she has been working on that Calvary Church historic for about two and a half years.

That was really a labor of love for her. She I I don't know the details of what hiccups might have come early, but she was really determined to, bring that in front of us and and made it happen. So, you know, having served on historic earlier, I saw the process of this one, and it it took a long time. And I I I really appreciate it. And and council member Littman, thank you for whatever role you played in that also because that was, I know, a long a long time coming, and it's nice to see some variety in the historics and not just residential.

So so thank you everybody for that. One more comment about on January 13 at 5PM, the town hall boardroom, there's going for anyone interested in running for town council, there's gonna be a candidate orientation. So for anyone listening out there in the public, and I'm sure I know it was in the town weekly and it will be again, you don't have to commit to anything but show up and listen and, see see what it's all about and and learn a little bit about, other people's experiences and how you might be able to volunteer for the town and help out. And on additionally, there are other volunteer positions also. The application is on our town website.

I think there's an opening on ACOPS, which is public safety, and then Paradise Valley Mountain Preserve Trust and PV Arts Board. So, you know, just find out about it. It might might or may not be for for everybody, but explore it. And we need volunteers, and and we thrive on volunteers, and we we thank all the residents who step up for that. And thank you, Mike Yeltsin.

Thank you, vice mayor. And I will turn it over to in one moment, I've got a couple of items to run through and great accolades for you and well deserved. Just a couple of thoughts from the group here. One is I wanna thank council member Leitman for being my eyes tonight. I appreciate that on the proclamations, and you when you're reading them, you can thank you. I appreciate that very much for stepping in on that. My pleasure. What a great program. And then, also, I wanted to thank the staff that worked so hard over the holidays that worked on on both Christmas and and through Hanukkah and New Year's. And I just wanna say thanks to the dedication and the staff for doing a great job and keeping the town moving.

We were all probably celebrating in one way or the other, but we were we knew we were in good hands. So I wanna say thank you to our town manager and our town staff, in particular, public works, and our police as well. Also, I wanted to recognize the fact that on Monday, the sixteenth, recognized nationally as Martin Luther King Day, and we are going to have a reception that we do annually here at Town Hall in conjunction with the Baha'i faith, and we'll hold it in Town Hall recognizing all the contributions of Martin Luther King and his life and his vision and the importance of following his thoughts. And, it'll be a wonder every year, it's a new program, and we're thrilled to have it. It starts at about 10:30 or eleven if you're here on Monday.

Please come in and listen and participate. It's energizing. It's incredibly well executed, and the town is grateful to be partners to the Baha'i faith and recognizing MLK Day here in Paradise Valley. So please put that on your agenda. Also, we wanted to I wanted to say thanks again to to all of my council members for coming back together and and ready to kick off a great season.

Again, we've had we've got a lot of success, but we got a lot of work to do, and I couldn't be prouder to work with each and every one of you as we move forward to that. I have to say, of course, don't forget, even though the holidays are over, keep your eye on your neighborhood, keep your eye on your house, and make sure you're doing your 09:00 walk to protect your house and your neighbor's house. And then, also, I was going to mention that we've got we've got liaisons. We I think we've talked to and it's pretty clear that each one of us has a different liaison responsibility. And sometimes that that well, that rotates annually or every other year depending upon how things are set up.

And this year, we we have a a shift in our liaison responsibilities with vice mayor Labelle taking her position. She will now be liaison to the planning commission and continue to shepherd the youth program as it becomes more solidified and comes online. So we thank you for that. And I would like to thank council member Leitman for being the liaison to the historical committee for the past year and doing a wonderful job, really outstanding. And thank you for your dedication with that committee and all the work that you've done including tonight.

And I appreciate the fact that you'll be moving on to be the liaison to the arts board. So very grateful for your your willingness to do that. And, of course, we've got our vice mayor, Ellen Andean Keller, who has just shifted her position, and she has been planning commission liaison. And she will be moving to the historical committee. So we're very excited for her to take on that responsibility as liaison. I know it will continue to to bring some great things for the town, and I just wanna appreciate all the work the liaisons do. It's above and beyond what you see at the dais, but it's so important and I'm so grateful. The HOA forum, vice council member, I think that's gonna be outstanding. And again, that's great.

I'm staying.

That you that you're I'm just thrilled that you're doing a great And I've attended a couple of them, and I think it's it's getting stronger and building up, and I knew you'd be awesome at that. So thank you for that. With that, I would I would state that before we go back to Andy and Keller Alan and Andy and Keller, I'd ask if the the town manager has any comments before we move.

Thank you. Just briefly, this week, we welcomed our new chief building official, Brad Meacham, taking over for as a result of the retirement of Chuck Ransom. Although Chuck is retired, he has come back on a contractual basis to assist with the transition and to work on some other special projects. So we appreciate having Chuck here, but we also really appreciate that Brad has joined the team. He joins us from city of Phoenix come to the friendly confines of Paradise Valley. He's very excited. First week, we're four days in, and everything looks really good. So we're excited to have him here. Just wanna let you know. Thanks.

Thank you. And now for some closing comments and and to ask for the motion to adjourn. Please welcome, Helena Andean Keller, our council member and newly retired vice mayor.

Thank you, mayor.

Yeah. I texted my mom that I was gonna be the council liaison to the historical committee, and she has served on that twice. And the first time she served on it was the original historical committee when it was first adopted to the town, and she served with former mayor Joan Lincoln. And so just giving you a little history on that. So she was all excited to hear that I was gonna be on the historical committee.

But the only thing that I have is the planning commission meeting on the twentieth is canceled. And happy new year. I'm happy to see everybody. And I'm looking forward to a great year. And I will ask for a motion to adjourn.

So moved. Moved by council member Pace, seconded by Second. Second. Oh, seconded by council member Thomason. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. I think the ayes have

it. It is. Thank you.

Okay.