City Council - Regular Meeting

That is home. It will always be home. And this is my new home as well. I am making my way into the community.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Good evening and welcome to the City Council regular meeting of Thursday, June 25th, 2026. Thank you all for coming here tonight. Clerk, will you please take the role?

Mayor Harkey.

Here.

Vice Mayor Encinas. Here. Council Member Poston. Here. Council Member Ellis.

Yeah.

Council Member Orlando.

Here.

Council Member Harris. Here. And Council Member Hawkins. Here. We have a quorum.

Thank you so much. Our invocation tonight will be brought forth by Pastor Corbin Helber from Desert Springs Church and followed by Council Member Orlando with our Pledge of Allegiance. Pastor.

Lord, we thank you for today. Lord, I just thank you for Mayor Harkey and this team. And Lord, I just thank you for the positioning that they all have to lead. And Lord, I just I just thank you for their sacrifice of their time, their energy, Lord, their efforts. And I think even just for the selflessness of this team, too. and the decisions they make, Lord, for the city and for the people that they represent, Lord, as well. And I just pray for favor in the decision making tonight and everything that happens. And Lord, even in your word, it talks about in Proverbs, for lack of guidance, the nation falls, but victory is won through many advisors. So God, I just really do thank you for this team and for this many advisors that represent and for the unity of this team. So God, I pray again for every decision that is made, the conversations that are had. May everyone be just in unison, Lord, just even as your word talks about it as well. So, Lord, we love you. Thank you. And bless this time. Amen.

Amen. Amen. Please join me in pledge of allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag. for 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. Thank you, Councilmember Orlando. Next, scheduled public appearances as we have a recognition of cities empowered against sexual exploitation. Arizona Anti-Trafficking Network. If we could call up Stacey Sutherland for the presentation.

This is Stacey. I'm not Stacey.

Thanks for the clarification.

Good evening. It's my pleasure to be here today to recognize the city of Chandler's accomplishment in combating sexual exploitation. My name is Fidencio Rivera, and I am privileged to serve as the chair of the board of directors for the Arizona Anti-Trafficking Network, AATN. Our sincere appreciation to Mayor Parkey, City Manager Pombier, and the Chandler City Council for providing us this opportunity. I also want to recognize some of the AATN team in attendance today. Our co-founders, Nancy Baldwin, who's up there, Nancy. We have our SEAS program director here, Rachel De La Torre, as well as trust program director, Stacy Sutherland, who you know and mentioned. They are the heart and soul of ATN. Today, we are proud to announce that the city of Chandler has met the requirements to earn SEAS designation for the third consecutive year. CEASE stands for Cities Empowered Against Sexual Exploitation. It's a program of the Arizona Anti-Trafficking Network dedicated to working with local governments to ensure they have the tools or know where to find the resources to combat sex trafficking. Those trained can identify, report, and ultimately prevent these crimes through a see something, say something approach. Our goal is to build a network of communities across Arizona where no one is bought, sold, or exploited. Tragically, sexual exploitation occurs in every community. To include Chandler, the City of Chandler's commitment to fighting sexual exploitation is especially important to me as I call Chandler home, as most of you here do today. I had an opportunity this past year to monitor a multi-law enforcement agency operation targeting subjects seeking underage children in Chandler. Unfortunately, during this operation, I witnessed numerous incidents where law enforcement made arrests of individuals pretending to sexually exploit minors. I guess fortunately they were arrested, right? Unfortunately, it does happen. I was informed today that the Chandler Police Department has made 60 felony arrests for exploitation and or trafficking, which have resulted in over 200 felony charges. These crimes are occurring, and their impact on victims, families, and communities cannot be overstated. Fortunately, the city of Chandler is well served. To earn C's designation, a city must train at least 75% of its staff, commit to annual retraining, and incorporate this training into new employee onboarding. Chandler has remained steadfast. Thank you to city leadership for making this a priority. Mayor Harkey, city council, city manager, and police chief Chapman, it is truly my privilege on behalf of the Arizona Anti-Trafficking Network to present this plaque to the city of Chandler IN RECOGNITION OF YOUR SEAS DESIGNATION, WE APPLY YOUR COMMITMENT TO A FUTURE FOR ARIZONA WHERE NO ONE IS BOUGHT, SOLD, OR EXPLOITED. THANK YOU. NEW SPEAKER THANK YOU. NEW SPEAKER WE HAVE A PLAQUE HERE.

NEW SPEAKER WE'LL GO DOWN BELOW.

Right in.

Thank you so much.

Appreciate it.

So before you guys go, I just wanted to make a comment related. I heard about this program, I think four years ago, we were at a night to end sex trafficking that was sponsored by faith communities. And this particular one was in Tempe at the at the whatever the performing arts center. And I'd heard that Tempe had just received this. They were talking about this designation and I knew nothing about it. So we looked into it and city manager at that time brought us to this. So we're grateful for the knowledge and, I hope that every city also pursues this. This is a stain and a blight across not just Arizona, not just Chandler, but everywhere. And I thank you for having the gumption to help train us, help prepare us, and cities across this nation. This is truly noble and worthwhile, and we are grateful. So thank you. To our audience, everything else on the agenda tonight is on the consent agenda. So there's going to be a single motion. Somebody had asked me, are we going to discuss each and every one? And my answer is, no, we're not going to do that. We had opportunity to talk over these a week plus ago. On Monday, we had opportunity to bring these up at our council to have discussions. specific conversation to have our questions answered. So at this point, I would entertain a motion to accept the consent agenda.

Mayor.

Council Member Orlando.

I move to approve the consent agenda June 25th, 2026, regular meeting items 1 through 33. There's a motion. Do we have a second? Second.

Where did I hear that? Council Member Poston, second.

Mayor.

Council Member Harris.

I think this is the, I'm going to be um, doing a, I gotta get the right number, but I am going to be conflicting out. I'm trying to find the number, the number that is on here. I'll recuse myself. uh, It's the number seven. I'm going to be recusing myself from that vote for number seven, but I will be voting yes on all the other items.

Okay. So City Clerk, note that Council Member Harris is recusing himself on item number seven. We have a motion and a second. Seeing no further conversation, recuse us. Council, please vote.

Council Member Ellis?

Yes.

Motion carries unanimously.

With the point.

With number seven, Councilmember Harris refused.

Very good. Thank you so much. Next, we have unscheduled public appearance. We do have a comment card that will be entered into the written record. And we have related to water rates. And we have one speaker card. related to data centers. And this is the source. I'm sorry. You know who you are. Please come up and state your name and city that you are from. As this is unscheduled, we cannot engage you, but you do have up to three minutes. When the light turns yellow, please wrap up. When it's red, your time is over.

Thank you, Mayor and Council. I'm Igor Zenkov. I'm a Chandler resident. I don't know what happened with the speaker card. This is not about data centers. I was hoping to actually come to talk about something fun like the e-bike rules that have been recently implemented. But instead, this speech is about flocks, surveillance, ALPRs, and that kind of mass surveillance in a national context. At some point in the back and forth with Council, I was asked to review not just Flock, but also their competitors. I looked through the marketing materials of also Motorola, Genetech, Axon, and Leonardo, and I found a shared vision where every privacy violation is for sale. Just as an example, you can get Motorola ALPR data even if you don't have any of their cameras yourself. Or Genetech, they sell pattern of life data as a premium tier, like essentially their bottom line is predicated on you allowing your privacy standard to slide. Now, the reason I mention this is there were some very moving anecdotes given up by police in talking about how ALPRs are helpful in preventing crime. And I recognize that everyone wants to make their job easier. But the point that I want to make is that police work should not necessarily be easy. And I will give two examples to prove this. First, let's look to realpage.com. Also an AI tool which is used to price fix across the nation. So if you are a renter, your rent is going up because a bunch of data is being pulled together and perfect price information is being used for price gouging purposes. Also look to the really, really horrible morale among tech workers right now as they find themselves going up from a position of worker power and increase quality to AI tools being used to increase throughput. Imagine if Genetech's or Flock's click-click case closed mantra actually gets implemented in our police departments, where AI tools use all of our data to scrub through crimes and try to solve them for the cops. I understand there will be humans in the loop for a time, but I just want you to consider the future, the dystopian future that literally comes from the marketing material. I want to also say more broadly, I believe it is a failure of imagination to say that the only way to bring policing into the future is to have flock microphones, listen to first signs of distress and then all of our conversations. I believe it is a failure of imagination. to say that we can only be safe with age verification online, which I understand this council is not responsible for. And in the spirit of being constructive, I'm just going to throw out a free idea. Y'all can use it however you would like. Imagine if instead of our ALPR data being funneled into a central server and then being shared with all manner of government agencies and private actors, imagine if the ALPR image recognition was done on device. all of the license plates would be stored as a hash, almost like your computer password. Then when a warrant comes in from a judge for a certain license plate, all of the cameras could be queried against the hash. That way, the video actually stays on the cameras, and we can have a privacy-preserving nature of ALPR. The fact that none of the vendors offer this tells you where the money really comes from, and it's not privacy. Thank you very much.

Thank you, and I apologize for misrepresenting what you wanted to talk on. That was my fault. Council, that's the only particular card. And to our public also, we will be currently looking at a conversation related to ALPRs coming up in August. So we've already voted on that? Okay. Okay, Mr. Steers. You are welcome. We've already voted yes on this, but you have up to three minutes to share your thoughts. You don't have to talk to three. Please state your name and city of residence.

My name is Paul Steers. I live at 3715 North Nevada Street in Chandler, Arizona. I came to comment on the hearing about the rezoning in our neighborhood, and I apologize for my tardiness. I didn't realize this would go so quickly, so I assume it went on consent for the approval. I do support the project. I think it gives the neighborhood some closure. I think it ends some of the discussion of commercial in our neighborhood. It keeps people from thinking that we could be 400 apartment units or 142 townhomes. It ends up being the sixth residential houses that it should have been back in the 1960s. So I support the zoning change. And I would also ask that council direct the city manager and development services director to maybe work with the neighborhood, because we would like to see if we could work on extending this pad development to the rest of the neighborhood Currently, we are all legal nonconforming. And when we do a lot of any kind of redevelopment, we seem to bump into a lot of little things. And I think if we did a rezone that was similar to that pad, a lot of that would go away. And a lot of us could be doing what we foresee we'd like to do with our properties. And I know that there are other neighbors in our neighborhood that would like to see that happen. I don't know, certainly not 100%, but there's 72 homes in there. And I would estimate, because we've had a number of neighborhood meetings, that it's at least in the upper 20s of that.

Okay, thank you.

That's all I have to say, other than I really like your tie.

You're welcome. Thank you. Best comment I've gotten all day. And sir, as I mentioned, we did vote yes on this. And zoning, would someone maybe further hear out his suggestions for the rest and get back to him if there is a process to be had? Kevin, I see you shaking your head. Thank you so much. OK, thank you, sir. Next on our agenda is current events. Council has an opportunity to share things that are happening. I will start. Coming up on July 4th, we have our All-American Bash. I invite you to join us in celebrating our Independence Day at Chandler's downtown at our All-American Bash on July 4th at Dr. A.J. Chandler Park from 7 until 9.30. I've ordered some cooler weather just for that night. We'll see if... My dog doesn't even listen to me. We'll see if anyone else does. This family-friendly event features live music, yard games, food vendors, and a patriotic atmosphere in the heart of downtown Chandler. Maybe I'll wear my tie again. We will have live music by featured performers, the pickup lines, and a spectacular pyrotechnic show at 8.15 p.m. You can find events and parking information at chandleraz.gov slash events. And secondly, coming up on Tuesday, July 11th, as families prepare for the new school year, Operation Back to School is here to help. This community-driven effort, sponsored by 4R City Chandler, provides backpacks, school supplies, and resources to Chandler area students in need. The event takes place, as I mentioned, on July 11th at Compass Christian Church from 8 a.m. till 11 a.m., This event is made possible through many, many partnerships, including For Our City Chandler, Compass Church, and local volunteers, and lots of other organizations that are pitching in together. Learn how to register, donate, or volunteer at forourcitychandler.org. Thank you. With that, let's go to Council Member Poston.

Thanks, Mayor. So earlier this year, cities were notified that there was an anticipated 35% shortfall in funding for 911 statewide. And so that was definitely an emergency on our part. The gap was driven by lower revenues than projected, higher statewide implementation costs, and basically increased overall services with competing operating next generation 911. So I am very pleased to announce that the state budget does include coverage for that gap. And I want to thank all of the members of Team Chandler that actually worked together and this council as well to lobby the legislature and make sure that that gap was covered. I appreciate that we now are going to be able to keep up with the critical emergency services to Arizona's 911 operations. I also want to extend my appreciation to all of Chandler's first responders who use 911 every day. Thanks, Mayor.

Yeah, and I specifically want to thank Marge, Zilla, and Brittany, and certainly the AZ League of Cities and Towns that really took a yeoman's share to bring this out and to make it happen.

I should have had you write my notes.

What's that?

I should have had you write my notes. Good job.

I looked at them, actually.

Thank you. For great notes. It was all Team Chandler and those guys.

Yeah. Nice, Mayor.

Thank you, Mayor. I just want to share a couple of events that we had. Just recently, last week, Council hosted this year's Pride Flag Raising Event Ceremony on June 18th at our downtown Chandler Library. I'd like to take a moment to thank everyone who was able to attend the event and especially thank our library staff that we're such great hosts with our AHA Chandler Park renovations going on. We had to move the event to our staging area right in front of the library, which turned out to be a great spot for this. This was a special event to remind the Chandler community that Chandler Pride and that it's Pride Month. And is it about visibility, dignity, and the freedom to live openly. And we also recognize the contributions of Ms. Mafam Mawini Alarcon, as a local business owner and community leader. She's a great example of how we can build a kind community with inclusion in what we do in every single day, whether it be in our families, neighborhoods, or our businesses. So it's a great event. Thank you to the council members that were able to attend and join us that evening. Next, I would like to highlight the event with the Chandler Compadres Boys and Girls Club branch. Just yesterday, the Chandler Compadres branch of Boys and Girls Club of the Valley hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony celebrating the completion of their recent renovation project. It was an honor to be there, part of this milestone, which was a joint investment from the City of Chandler and the Chandler Compadres to help upgrade the space and make it a safe safer and ADA compliant. Up to 250 kids spend their summer days at the Boys and Girls Club. Keeping them safe and involved is one of the ways that we continue to enhance Chandler's quality of life and maintain a strong sense of community. So I want to give another thank you to our Chandler Boys and Girls Club and to the compadres for their continued support and partnership in our youth here in Chandler. So thank you. That's it there. Vesper, you spent some time there, weren't you? I did way back in the day when I was in San Marcos. So it's great to see the transformation from the mid and 90s to what it is today, it's definitely a big improvement. So great to see you. Great to be part of the leadership with it.

Great.

Councilman Orlando. Thank you, Mayor. I understand Kelly is your last meeting, council meeting official. Congratulations on your retirement. We certainly appreciate that. All you've done providing guidance to the city and the services throughout your 20, 30 year career. 30. All right, let's just keep it 30 plus years. But you know what really is impressive? I mean, a lot of things are impressive, but the one thing that struck with me, Kelly, is that no matter what event we have, you're there. And I really appreciate that because it does send a strong message to your commitment to the city, commitment to your community as a resident. And although we'll miss you, I know we'll be seeing you at the next events, right? And now you have more time to be at those events. You don't have to just pop by. But we certainly appreciate you being outside the normal 8 to 5 role. So that was commendable to you and your family. And I say this all the time. Every day will be a Saturday. Thank you, Kelly.

Thank you, Council Member Orlando. That one escaped me, sorry. Council Member Harris.

Thank you, Mayor. I was thinking about the Boys and Girls Club. I had this little jingle that said, I don't want to grow up, I'm a boys and girls club kid. Because if I did, I wouldn't be, if I ever grew up, I would never be, I wouldn't be able to be a boys and girls club kid. And so that was my little jingle that we used to say. So we were younger. I was a part of the boys and girls club. And so that was some of the things that we did as kids, being a boys and girls club. We had all these jingles like, we're never going to grow up. We're going to be a kid forever. So it was pretty cool, but to see what we're doing at Chandler and what we're doing is pretty amazing. But I have a few announcements here that I would like to talk about. The Jack and Jill Foundation had the opportunity to serve as a judge for the Ruth B. Howard Teen Oracle Competition during Jack and Jill of America's Far West Region Teen Leadership Conference. Jack and Jill is a national organization dedicated to helping children grow through leadership development, cultural enrichment, community service, and advocacy. This year's theme was Young, Gifted, and Black. And those young people took to the stage, truly embodied those words. Their original speeches reflected tremendous confidence, thoughtfulness, and purpose. It was inspiring to hear them use their voices with such clarity and conviction. And so I want to say a special thank you to Jack and Jill of America in this far west region for creating opportunities that help young people strengthen their leadership skills, share their perspectives, and recognize the power of their own voices. And just on a personal note, these kids blew it out the water. It was nine amazing kids giving great speeches, and I had to judge. So since my name was on it, I kind of gave them the best scores I can give them. But it was really a tough competition. They're very talented and they come from different parts. My next announcement is Culture Music in the Park. Along with the Miss Juneteenth competition, Chandler marked Juneteenth with several meaningful opportunities to come together to reflect on the significance of the holiday and celebrate the culture, history, and contributions of the Black community. I was proud to attend the Mrs. Juneteenth competition along with mayor and council members where young women showcase their confidence, talent, and leadership while celebrating their heritage. It was inspiring to see them step forward, represent the promise of the next generation. We continue. the fifth year celebrating culture, music, and a part as Freedom Week. So five years ago, I had that privilege of helping launch this event. And it has been very historical and it has had a lot of incredible meetings throughout the Valley. And what you see on the screen right now is that these are just a few places that I was able to go. I literally went to probably about 14 Juneteenth events to celebrate Juneteenth across the valley. I think this is the first time that we've had so many that I wasn't even able to make it to all of them, but I made it to a lot. What I'm wearing today is a dashiki. I bought it from one of the vendors at one of the Juneteenth celebrations. This is a businessman attire made in Kenya, and I thought it would be fitting for me to wear this dashiki while I'm on the dais to celebrate Juneteenth. And lastly, I just wanted to remind everybody what Juneteenth is all about. It is about the time that Galveston, Texas, back in the day, there was a bunch of people that were not free. African-Americans were still not free in Galveston, Texas. And so through this time, after the Emancipation Proclamation happened, Abraham Lincoln and our army went to Galveston, Texas, along with several of our troops to free those that were enslaved during that time. And I think it's an important acknowledgement of our history because Whether you agree with human slavery or not, it was a very devastating time in our community. But one of the most devastating things that stood out to me most was it was also child slavery was going on during that time as well. So it wasn't just human slavery, it was child slavery. And to this day, there's still child trafficking that's happening to this day across the world. We have to be committed and vigilant. And we can say, that didn't happen to me. That didn't happen to my community. But we must be reminded that when these type of atrocities do happen, regardless if it's your generation or someone else's, we have to respect that, but we also have to keep a vigilant eye on these atrocious crimes that do happen in the world. And not just America, but in the world. So I'm committed to ending child trafficking, human trafficking, any type of trafficking. I'm down for that. And I'm down for that cause. And sexual exploitation as well is another thing that comes up when you talk about these different things. But we celebrate where we come from. We don't dwell there. We understand that we've been there and we look to the future to make sure that we don't make those same mistakes. So with that being said, thank you, Mayor. Appreciate it.

Council Member Hawkins.

Thank you. I just wanted to take a point of privilege and tell you, Kelly, thank you for all your years of service and the huge impact you've made here. I think I know I've enjoyed my time working with you. And I know I've shared with you in the past when I received those compliments and those kudos on your work out in our community. And to be honest, I love to take the compliments for you. I take a little of that and just... you know i again i'm proud of you i'm proud of the work you've done um we're gonna miss you thank you again for everything wishing you all the best congratulations on your retirement and i hope you enjoy it thank you city manager mayor council i have two announcements the first i would like our newest assistant to the city manager amelia can you please stand up for a second

I want council to recognize that while I was named by the SEAS people, one of her first assignments was to make sure we got that recognition and earned that status with SEAS this year. She is the individual that made that happen. So I wanted her to be recognized for all the hard work she did. And well, so thank you. Secondly, I wanted to note that this ends the fiscal year for 25-26. The next time we meet, it will be 26-27. And I would ask as a point of privilege that council stay back for a photo with staff. You may or may not have noticed, I know a couple of the council members did, that staff is all wearing white tonight. That is to show our unity for the support that this council gives us, for the work that the department directors and our staff do to bring together a budget and a plan to make sure the vision of this council is met. I will acknowledge some of my staff said they thought I was a double setup because you're all in black and we're all in white. But I'm just going to say, if you could stay back for a picture, we wanted to say thank you for all that you do and let you know that we stand united in making sure the vision of this council is met. So thank you very much.

Thank you.

And to the staff for all the work. All right. Counsel, please linger so we can do a photo. With that, that concludes our meeting.