City Council - Regular Meeting

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You want me to I'm sorry. Hello. You guys are so loud.

Is it okay for you? Yeah. Put it here. Yeah. Just give me right there. I'm not sure how it can. No. Just put this down. So, we're going to try to get all the same council members down.

Yeah. Yeah. Just bring it up.

Yeah. And so just keep it like however they do it. I think they're going to call you up. You can speak there and then

Good evening. Good evening everyone and welcome to the May 7, 2026 regular Chandler City Council meeting. City clerk, please take role. Vice Mayor Inas here. Council member Poston here. Council member Ellis here. Council member Orlando here. Council member Harris here. And council member Hawkins here. Mayor Hartkey is absent excused. We have a quorum. Perfect. Thank you, clerk. Tonight's invocation will be delivered by Pastor Ruth Escobar from Vida Abundante Church here in downtown Chandler and the pledge of allegiance led by Council Member Harris. Uh please stand and Is pastor here?

I think we may have an absence. Um, do you mind cas invocation led by a council member Ellis? Pastor Ellis. Pastor Ellis

at this point. Yes. Thank you so much for giving me an opportunity. How fitted it is because this evening, today is National Prayer Day. So, thank you for giving me the opportunity to pray. Please bow your heads with me. Heavenly Father, we thank you as we ask that the Holy Spirit be in this room with us right now. May you, Lord, give us the guidance that we need to do your work in this space. As gatekeepers of this city, we ask that you will give us wisdom. You will continually watch over the things that we do. May Chandler always be in the palm of your hands. And as we govern, may we do it according to your will for your people. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Amen.

Thank you, council member. Please join me as we recite the pledge of allegiance. I aliance 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, Pastor Council Member Ellis and Council Member Harris for that. Um this evening we have one scheduled public appearance and I ask council member Poston to please join me up front of the dis. All right everyone. So this evening we would like to recognize the Irise Foundation for advancing to the world stage competition representing our communities. So I want to welcome down the Irise Foundation and their team on as I get settled in. The Iris Foundation AI bots is a team of elementary school students from Chandler Unified School District who will be representing our community in the 2026 First LEGO League Robotics Worldwide Competition in Boston, Massachusetts from June 9th through the 15th. For this year's competition, the students had to find a problem that archaeologists face in their work and come up with a solution. They'll present their findings at the competition this June. I'll turn it over to the coaches here to introduce the team and talk a little bit about the competition.

Good evening everyone. Uh I'm Raa Gwarti and I would like to proudly present our team smart i smart AI bots which are includes a team of six passionate and dedicated students from four different schools within the Chandler Unified School District. Let me introduce the team. Vhan Nemani, Suhas, Moa, Anit, Shanbag, Vineika Nemani, Nitya and Nyanui. And with the help of Iris Foundation and its program the first Lego League all our team members have come together and worked as a team and learn many great stuff not only including the technical aspects but also including how they communicate others, how they can do the research and they competed at two levels initially the regional and the state competition and They are one of the top five teams who have been advanced to the world competition and representing the state of Arizona and they will compete against 100 plus teams across the world and uh we will represent about the topic of archaeology this year and every year inLL the theme will be released and it's not just robotics that the kids the they will learn about they have to research about the topic archaeology and interact with the experts and uh engineering experts too and know about their day-to-day challenges that they face and come up with an innovative solution for the

problem or they can provide an enhancement to the existing solution. Now as part of this research for lll in archaeology, our team has interacted with archaeologist engineering experts and got to know about their day-to-day challenges they face. And one notable aspect during their interaction is they got to know it is tough to go through narrow and deep spaces and identify the artifacts. Now these young brains have come up with this solution of robo assistant which can go to narrow and deep spaces and identify the artifacts. And this didn't happen overnight. It took a lot of dedication, lot of iterations and taking lot of feedback from the experts in the industry, archaeological industry. So that requires lot of commitment and we proudly say that our team has a motto to grow to learn and to never give up. That is what our team is and they never give up and any kind of challenges that they face they meet with the experts they take their suggestions and they move forward with confidence and that is what made this team go to an incredible journey forward to the world international competition and all this didn't happen so easy all this had happened only with the incredible support of Mr. Albato Esparza and the Iris Foundation. Despite his health conditions, he never he never uh was not I cannot say a moment that he

was not available for us. He always ensured that the kids had provided with all the resources they needed because it's an archaeology theme. He took that extra step to fund to arrange the trips to archaeological museums and provided us a panel of archaeologist so these kids can interact and uh get all the feedback from them the challenges everything and that didn't happen once it happened multiple multiple times so thanks so much Alberto for all your incredible support throughout this journey and these kids. These students wouldn't have done this without all your support. And I once again thank Alberto and the whole team of Iris Foundation from the bottom of my heart and from all of our team and I also want our community to be part in our journey. So if we can if all the community can help support and sponsor us so we can expand our impact reach to more kids and provide these opportunities STEM opportunities for even more kids. The Iris Foundation is not doing just for the first Lego League. Mr. Alberto is mentoring and he is leading and he's providing all kind of resources apart from lll it is the wex robotics underwater robotics he is also doing the scrubs program he is providing the soccer programming programs for young kids so I sincerely request all the community to help contribute and sponsor to IDI foundation so all his services

and his commitment for this can be expanded to even more kids and this program can be reached all around. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. We're very excited for you all and we know that you guys will make our community proud. And on behalf of Mar and Council, we also wanted to recognize you guys as the coaches of Irise for your hard work and dedication to these students and getting them to the worldwide stage. So, thank you so much on behalf of Marin Council. Let's go ahead and take a picture here. Absolutely. Yes. If you guys want to join us, Can you squeeze us in? Yeah, I think so.

You guys stand right here.

You guys stand a little more this way. This way. Thank you so much. Broch. bring us the trophy.

Yes. And as we get settled back in, um I do want to take a point of privilege to acknowledge that um Alberto Sparsa has received another distinguished uh recognition. Uh the Fry Elementary School soccer fields have been recently named after him as the Alberto Sparsa fields by CUSD. Good stuff. All right, council. So, on Monday, we had the opportunity to ask questions and review our consent agenda. Um, how would you like to proceed this evening? Vice Mayor? Yes. I would like to make a motion to approve the consent agenda of May 7th, 2026 for regular meeting items 1 through nine. We have a motion

and we have a second. And so we have a motion by council member Harris and a second by council member Poston. Council, any recusals? Not seeing any. Please vote.

Council member Ellis. All right. Motion carries unanimously. Awesome. Thank you. Next we have um unscheduled public appearances. I have received we have received two comment cards which will be entered into um the record here. So you can find those on the record and then we have two public appearances this evening. Give me one second here. Vice Mayor. Yes. What were the two ones we're putting in the record?

Um these ones are here comment cards by Miss Cindy Barnes and Mr. in regards to um one is uh the repeal of Chandler's 1.5 cent taxes on groceries and the second is also um a series of different um items here. Okay, well that's fine. just didn't get a generalized what were what were the issues. Yes, it's regarding neighborhoods, homelessness, um and streets, parks, potholes.

Okay. And then we'll just give that to the staff. Yes. These will be entered into the record. Yes. Thank you. Thanks, Vice Mayor.

Yep. And then for our speaker cards here, um when I do call your name, uh please stand at the podium. Please, uh say your name and your city of residence. You'll have up to three minutes uh to share your thoughts with us. When you do see the yellow light, please start wrapping up your comments. And then um since this is unscheduled, please know that we cannot engage with you as a council. We can only direct and advise staff on getting together with you. Our first uh speaker here is going to be Noah James. Aloha uh vice mayor and to the rest of the city council. My name is Noah James Farham and I'm from the great blue city of Tempi. Um, I don't know if I should pray about this or I don't know, but I'm going to keep on talking about it until it gets done because I'm starting to see it. But it's just stinky out in Chandler and I just cannot do it with my windows down. You know, the sewers are awful here. Let's just say it is awful. It is stinky. And you know, there are a lot of stinky people because of these, you know, sewers out here. So, we need to clean them. Also, um we need to talk about something else. um about police because this is a tiring subject that I have to talk about with a person has a disability that I have to talk about this about police officers that we as police officers need to know how to communicate to us. That is a big thing with people with disabilities. you don't just come up to us and, you know, talk like a regular human being to us if we tell you guys that we have a disability,

you know, and so it's just it's just frustrating. And I hope this will be cleared up hopefully in the future. You know, we've had Joe Biden, but with the stutter his whole life and people still don't understand, you know, somebody with a disability. Also, the last thing is we need to extend this light rail here. in Chandler. It is a good thing that we have it in Chandler is a good investment and this will compete with China because Donald Trump is not doing anything right now. So yeah, that's it. Mahalo. Thank you so much. Thank you, Noah.

Next, we have uh Jen Wen Chen. You'll have three minutes. Please state your name and city of residence. Okay. Uh, good evening uh, members of council. My name is Jen Chen and I'm a resident of China. I'm here to advocate for a common sense change. This has been long overdue since it was installed on May 1st, 1994. The repeal of the China's 1.5 tax on raw groceries. This is not merely a policy adjustment. It is um made a fundamental physical principle in com community comparison. China has been developing from a rural sub city to a urbanized city. Currently this tax is deeply regressive. It places the heavier burden on those full on those with the least ability to pay our lowincome families, workingclass households and seniors on the fixed incomes. While 1.5 may seem small to some for family living paycheck to paycheck is the difference between a full grocery cart and hungry week. In an era where the price of housing, utilities, ro staples is at an all-time high, this bread tax is an unnecessary penalty on survival. Furthermore, we often celebrate China as a hub or for innovation and technology advancement. However, the purpose of progress should be lower the cost of living and improve efficiency, not to serve as an adjustment justification for maintaining or even increasing taxes. As our city becomes more technologically advanced, that efficiency should translate into direct relief for the taxpayers rather than being swallowed by

the municipal budget. From a physically conservative perspective, the government should not tax the basic necessities of its citizens. China is in in is in a position immens immense strength. We maintain a structurally balanced budget of over $1.6 billion in the highest as possible AAA bond ratings. With our recent history of revenue surpluses, we have the cushion necessary to return the money to the people who are really in need. True fiscal responsibility means pri prioritizing exchange of service without leaning on regress tax on raw food. I ask this council to stand for affordability and limit the government by repealing the tax on food or home uh consumption. And thank you for your time.

Thank you, Mr. Chen. Vice Mayor, best council member. Yes. Um, I was going to just I think the um city manager or maybe even deputy manager um like the the idea on the the food tax is that that's a state is that a state issue? Is that is that a who wants to answer that? Uh through the vice mayor, council member Harris, it is not a state issue. Um it is a various cities that have a 1.5% transaction privilege tax on food as well as retail. It falls in the retail category. Okay, understand.

And then if that if if that's taken away then that reduces the operating budget of challen it it would reduce um the revenue that comes into the city to the tune of about 17 million um ongoing. So, it is uh it is something that you know we'd have to work through in figuring out how to replace those revenues. Okay. Thanks. Um thanks.

Thank you, Council Member Harris. That that concludes our unscheduled public appearances. Um next will be our current events. I will start off um with announcing the downtown Chandler Community Partnership annual celebration. This annual event will celebrate the growth and progress of downtown and recognizes the amazing businesses and partners who make our community thrive. Uh, Mayor Harky will deliver his annual state of the downtown address. The event will take place at Soho 63 right here in downtown Chandler on May 14th from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. And continuing our celebration of Arizona 250. Um, we are celebrating history, culture, and community at the Sunset Library on June 6 from 2 to 3 PM. Journey through Arizona's past 250 years to learn about the indigenous people that shaped this land and the settlers that came and transformed the land. Discover the state's visionary leaders as well as Arizona's influence on art, architecture, film, and popular culture. And lastly, this weekend is, of course, Mother's Day on Sunday. I look forward to spending time with my mom, which she is sitting right here in the crowd. Hi, mom. Happy Mother's Day. And I want to wish happy Mother's Day to my fellow council members here and to all the mothers here in Chandler that are with us and those that are watching from above. So, thank you and enjoy the weekends with your family. Next, we have uh Council Member Poston.

Thank you, Vice Mayor. Uh, I wanted to announce that this Tuesday on May 12th, it is the city's connection and impact division hosting the Asian-American Community Connection. It's an evening roundt discussion and community building in honor of AAPI Heritage Month. The event is free. It runs from 4:45 until 8:00 at the ASU Innovation Center right over on 249 East Chicago Street. Um, we just found out today that space is full, but they do have a wait list. So, if you are interested, still please go sign up. You never know if you can find a spot for you. We'd love to have you there. A priority is given to Chandler residents. Thank you, Council Member Ellis.

Thank you, Vice Mayor. Um I would like to report that um tomorrow morning is our women empowerment launching and this launching has really been an initiative that we started here in Chandler to give women a forum and a safe space where they can come and enjoy themselves. is going to be from 10:00 a.m. to about 100 p.m. Unfortunately, it's all full right now, so nobody really can join us. That's how important that is. It is very popular for us. This year, our keynote speaker is going to be Dr. Judy Wubbles. She is from ASU, and she is one of the uh women that raised an amazing son. I believe they actually have a movie about him right now. It's called I Rais unstopp unstoppable uh son. The event is now totally weight listed. So please do not show up. We can't accommodate you because there will not be room for people to go. If you miss it this year, please try to sign up very early next year. Hopefully we might find another place that is even bigger. If we two years, it seems like we are moving forward to the different places. One thing about this event I would like to highlight highlight is because the fact that when I first started this event, we looked at different women who were doing amazing thing in the community including council member Poston and she received an ambassador of peace award and our first lady um Mrs. uh uh Lynn Harky also was one of the first that was received that award. So, thank you again to the city of Chandler and the to the impact and connect team for taking it on and growing this amazing event. So, join us if you already signed up, but please sign up for next year if you have not um had an opportunity to sign this year. Thank you, Vice Mayor.

Thank you, Council Member Ellis. Council member Orlando, nothing tonight, Vice Mayor. Thank you, Council Member Harris. Just wishing my wife a very happy Mother's Day along with my mother very happy Mother's Day. and to the women in Chandler, Kelly, a lot of you all. Happy Mother's Day to all the amazing women here. U and Mama has seen us out there. Uh happy Mother's Day to everyone. Um and then also I wanted to make sure that I say this, but uh I'm going to be at the woman's mint tomorrow, so I'm going to be enjoying myself. And happy teacher appreciation week. So, thank you. Thank you, Council Member Harris. Council member Hawkins.

I'll I'll try my best. All right. Good evening. Uh if you are looking for a special way to celebrate mom this weekend, downtown Chandler has you covered with a fantastic lineup all across our downtown for Mother's Day. So whether you're in the mood for a mimosa brunch or a girls afternoon out, there is something for every mom. Uh I would say there is something for the mom. Excuse me. There is mom is the moment experience at Black Sheep Wine Bar and Merchant to Mother's Day brunches at Santan Brewing Company, The Perch, the Crown Plaza, Phoenix Chandler Golf Resort, and a celebration over at the Brickyard. So, this is definitely one of the things that I love most about Chandler. Our local restaurants and businesses get to show up and make moments like these really special for our community. So, I want to suggest that you grab your mom, your family, your friends, and head to downtown chandler.org to find out all the details and make your reservations. Uh, I know I'll be down there on Sunday with my family. So, happy Mother's Day.

Thank you, Council Member Hawkins. City Manager, any announcements, Mayor Council, uh, this morning we had the opportunity to celebrate our employees at an employee appreciation event. I wanted to thank council for their attendance and I wanted to personally thank the Vasquez family and some burrows for their support and their words at the event. I think it made a great employee appreciation event and on this Mother's Day weekend, I just wanted to thank all the employees for what they do to make Chandler such a great city to be in. Thank you, city manager. Uh, thank you all for joining us tonight. That concludes our regular meeting here tonight on May 7th. Have a great evening. All right.