Town Council - Regular Meeting

All set? Alright. Well, good afternoon everybody. The meeting is called to order. Would the clerk please call the roll.

Mayor Stanton? Here. Vice mayor Labelle?

Here.

Council member Andean Keller?

Here.

Council member Liepman?

Here.

Council member Moore? Here. Council member Pace? Here. Council member Thomason? Here. We have a quorum.

Awesome. Thank you. As a reminder, this meeting is being streamed live on the Internet and will be archived on the town's website for future viewing. The first item on the agenda is the study session. These items are scheduled for discussion among the council staff, council staff and their designees.

Votes will not be taken on these items at this time but may be scheduled for a final action later in the meeting or at a future meeting. Members of the public are asked to hold their comments until call of the public scheduled to begin shortly after 6PM. Public comments will also be invited when the agenda topic is placed on a future agenda item for action. And the first item on study session is 20 six-one 102 committee, commission and board volunteer interviews and I want to thank everybody going through the packet of information that we have on the candidates that have been applying for these positions and as we discussed in the last meeting our Vice Mayor will be asking questions today of the candidates and as you may recall decided that would be a good process because it would keep the questions focused and I think it's always tempting because we have such amazing candidates that you see something on a resume or a background and next thing you know you want to do a deep dive and I think that's wonderful and important but I think for the sake of expediency today and respect for the time and what we're trying to accomplish.

I would ask to to keep those for another discussion point. Mayor, vice mayor will go through and I'll start the meeting by thanking them and then turn it over to the vice mayor. Vice mayor has the questions that were circulated so she's going to go ahead and ask those questions. I would again ask that we try to stay focused on the questions that she's asking to keep continuity and consistency and well and how we're dealing with the applicants and giving them all a fair chance to to present themselves. Again, it's an honor and a privilege to have these these folks come in and apply and with that I'll turn it over to the vice mayor.

Mister mayor, can I just I'm sorry? Just I wanted to let you know that at your council seat, I've printed a list of all the the interviews, and then I've also provided the the committee rosters and the charts on on appointments. Committee has the the absences for all committee members. I wanna let you know that, Jane Horn, Stanley Marks, and David Seldon will be interviewing on Zoom. So, we'll have them up when they get to that point.

And then so the the the process is we'll we'll interview them in an open meeting. And then after immediately after the last tenure oh, I guess, I should also let you know that initially Susan Hawthorne was not able to interview. She was gonna be traveling, but she got injured and stayed in town. So she will be here in person, and she was slotted in at the last interview at 04:45. So we will get to hear from her.

And then immediately after all the interviews, there'll be a motion to go into executive session, where the council can talk about any of the applicants for appointment and any of the people scheduled for reappointment. So they were all notified that they may be discussed in executive session. So the council's authorized to do that. And then that might take us until 06:00. We'll just have to wait and see how the time goes. So the thought is that at 06:00 we would reassemble into council chambers, go through the very quick business meeting and then come back in this room for the study session item on the budget.

Wonderful. And thank you Mr. Miller for that. And do we know if there are going to be any committee or board chairs that are going to sit in on the discussions? Mr. Mayor,

yes, Chairman Pamela Georgios from the Planning Commission will be here, but later in the meeting just for the Planning Commission applicants. There was a third person who applied for the Planning Commission, but he withdrew his application. And so we have two people who specifically expressed interest in the planning commission. And then one person, our first applicant is interested in any committee. So his application was provided to Chair George Ellis also. Colleen Steinberg sent me something in writing that I will share with the council during the executive session. And then I have some emails that I can read that I received received from members of

the Mountain Sherve Trust. Very good. Very good. With that, Councilor Repacio, a question?

One quick question, Duncan. And thank you for all the hard work as always. This is a lot of work for you at this time of

the year. When we look at

the absences and we see people that have five and four and three, so they didn't participate by Zoom or anything, they were just

not They were not present.

Okay. Thank you.

And that was for that date range that I told you all of 2425 and '26.

Thank you, Mr. Miller. Any other questions about the process before we dive in and start to meet the candidates? No, everybody's on the same page? Okay. Vice Mayor.

I did just before we start before we go into executive session, it's fine right now with the interviews, but my is not connected. So before we get into the rest of the meeting, I don't know if there's somebody that could take a look at this. Can't get on the yeah.

I'll take care of it. Mr. Karmar, our first applicant, is here. And I can bring him in and then I will take.

Thank you, Duncan. If on the way over to IT you wanna invite mister Karmar in. Hello, Mr. Carmer. Hi.

Thank you for coming in today. We greatly appreciate your interest in being here today and volunteering for the town. My name is Mark Stamson. I serve as the mayor and very proud to go through this process with the wonderful candidates that are applying for different positions And so welcome. Thank you. I think we've we've got the full council here. The way we're looking at the process this this year is the vice mayor is going to to ask questions that we've all agreed that are the point you to the positions that you're maybe interested in. And then obviously if you have any questions for us, we're happy to respond to those as well. We're just grateful that you're here today and appreciate that. We are being live streamed.

So people can watch this today or it'll be archived. Thank you for your willingness to participate and send the information in. And again, we're trying to keep the conversation to about ten minutes if we can. And with that, I'll turn it over to the vice mayor.

Thank you, Mr. Karmar. I'm Vice Mayor LaBelle and we're going to start out with just a few quick questions and then a couple of follow-up questions and a closing question. So I noticed that you had responded with any of the open positions. I am wondering if you could let us know if there's one or two that you're more interested in. And along with that, just kind of briefly describe your background and why you're interested in any one of those committees.

Right. Thank you. I'd be happy to do that. Well, yes, when I filled out the form, I said I'd be willing to serve on any committees because basically I retired in 2020 and I've been a resident in Paradise Valley since 2004. On my previous job, I traveled a lot, but now that we're that I'm retired and I have time and I just been a long time resident and I'm interested in helping out wherever I can.

As far as the my business background, I was with a large company, kind of First American Title Insurance. I ran the Western Part of The United States Of America for about the last fifteen years of my career. But the three committees, the Advisory Committee on Public Safety and Paradise Valley Mountain Preserve Trust and the Arts Advisory Council. I mean Arts Advisory Council, I have my wife and I have always kind of prided ourselves on focusing on local artists. And so we're a little bit in the art scene here and visited often.

And we've acquired like Michael Carson's and Max Hammonds and people like that because they're local. And so I'd be interested in doing that. Obviously, the Public Safety Committee, I'm not really I've never been in law enforcement or anything, but I would love to help out as far as, with the relationship between the police and the city and the citizens and those kind of things. And the Mountain Valley, or the Paradise Valley Preserve Trust, I do have a background in, like I said, in real estate and title and adjudication of title and those kind of things for almost forty years. So I have some you know, experience in those areas.

But so anyway, I'm willing to, know, start anywhere and do anything just to be of service.

Thank you. Because you did mention that I heard you say arts once or twice and we certainly don't want to pigeonhole you into one of these committees if you have interest in some of the others. But I would want to follow-up with your level of interest there with what is your vision for the role of the Paradise Valley Arts Board in town? Do you know much about what they're doing now? And even if you don't, do you have ideas or thoughts about where you like to see that go or expand or grow or outreach?

Well, as I read it, the committee was to one of the things they did was pick the artists that display their art in here. I had a friend. I've been here for a couple of those, Bolino, aunt miss Bolino. She's a friend of mine and her art was displayed in here. Think it was like a few a couple two or three years ago.

But so, yeah, I'm a proponent of local original art, not to clays and copies and stuff like that. So I think it's just great that we would foster those relationships artists and expand that any other way outside the current responsibilities they do now.

Thank you. Also, what you said, sounds like you're retired. You have plenty time. So you understand the lift of whatever committee you'd want to be on the role. You have the time to attend the meetings and help with committee work and committed to that process.

I've got too much time. That's what my wife told me. I'm jealous. Yeah. So I'm I'm available, you know, just other than being a grandparent and doing a little bit of traveling. I'm I'm available to easily to serve on to meet the I about the I know I read in the on the website the number of meetings they usually have and the timing and so that wouldn't be a problem for me.

Yeah. Well, thank you for checking into the actual committee and how often it meets and all of those items. So if you had to say put in order of how you if it were in a perfect world, what would be your order of preference on the committees?

Well, I'm just making an assumption. I don't know. I'm sure that there's a lot more interest in competition for the Mountain Preserve Trust even though I have that background and title and real estate and adjudication easements. I guess realistically being a first time volunteer doing this kind of thing, either the Arts Advisory Council or the Public Safety Committee is probably more a better place to start and go to build your experience in the community and get to know people better in the government and the leadership.

Okay. Thank you. Is there anything else that you'd want to add to let us know before we wrap up our interview.

No, I just really appreciate you taking the time. And like I said, this is kind of a first time for me to do something like this and reach out. I hope I can help out in some way.

Yeah. Well, thank you so much for your time. And it was wonderful to meet you.

And I assume we'll just hear back from Mr. McMullen.

Yeah. We'll interviewing candidates this afternoon and then discussing an executive session about where best to slot people that have shown interest and then we'll circle back with all the candidates and let them know how the next steps may proceed. But most importantly, this town thrives and survives on volunteerism. That's we're all volunteers. Our judiciary, our municipal judges are all volunteers and it's a well worthwhile investment of time because it's such a wonderful wonderful town and thank you for stepping up. We appreciate that.

Thank you. Nice to meet you.

Our next applicant is not quite here yet, but I also wanted to mention that at the council deus, the motion memo tonight, it's a little different than what you're used to saying. I've split it out by committee. So when the council makes their appointments, it'll be you're doing one committee at a time. And so each committee is a little different because some, the mayor makes the appointment, but there has to be a motion to confirm the mayor's appointments. And then some are council appointments, like planning commission is council. So the motion is a little different. So I have those on the dais, and I didn't know helpful if you had those with you for the executive session so you can

fill in your thoughts there.

Yeah. We got a lot of papers. No, I think. Thank you, Charlie. Appreciate it.

Mr. Mayor? Charlie Hirf.

Hello, mister Hirf. Mr. Herb, thank you for joining us. We appreciate seeing a familiar face. Good to see you.

Thank you for putting your name forward. We appreciate that very much. My pleasure. Grateful because as you know, this town is all about volunteerism and the support of the community and thank you for putting your name forward. Just to give you a little snapshot, entire council is here obviously and we are live streaming this and recording it for the website for our archives and our minutes.

But today we're going to I'm going to turn it over to the vice mayor and she's got some set questions that we've all agreed that we would channel to the applicants. So there's continuity. We're just grateful that you're here and we're grateful for the time. So after we the vice mayor goes through that, we'll wrap up and then the next steps will be later today. The council will discuss the best fits that we see with the applicants, but it's always a tough decision because all of the applicants are just wonderful. So we're grateful to have you here.

Well, is the first time since I retired that I've had a vacuum in volunteer unpaid jobs, and I felt I had to scratch the itch.

Good for you. And this is the vice mayor, Christine LaBelle.

Well, thank you for joining us, mister Herf. I I appreciate you being here. And, I will let you know this particular interview is a little bit more, structured, a little less open ended than we've done in the past. So I'm gonna start with, just a a question asking you to briefly describe your background, which we saw on the resume and is very impressive, why you're interested in serving on the committee, then we're going to have a few follow-up questions and a closing. So feel free to tell us everything you need and want to in your opening statement, and then we'll follow with some more structured questions.

Okay. I've been a resident since 1978, married. We had three children. We lost one daughter to cancer about five years ago. My background is as a lawyer.

So right now, I am a retired recovering lawyer. And I have been a member of the well, my retirement consisted of being a volunteer judge pro tem, which I'd done for thirty seven years, twenty years as a constitutional law professor at ASU, and ten years as a Paradise Valley cop. And I think if there is one thing I have done that I really enjoyed the most for PV is I was one of the people that interviewed your candidates last time you had a go around for judges. They were all very impressive. I think all of them that we agreed should be judges are still judges.

And you have a wonderful group. I was asked would I like to be a PV judge? And my response was, I'm sticking with a superior court because that way I can't irritate any of my neighbors when their kids come around and lie to me. So that was it. I have been retired now. I think it's fourteen or fifteen years. And like I said, I did volunteer stints for the Superior Court, for the town, and for Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law. And tell me what else you'd like to know about me. Right now, I play pickleball and take afternoon naps.

Nice. Oh my gosh. You're all making me very jealous. So because of your background, of course, in law enforcement and the legal world, it makes perfect sense that you're interested in ACOPS.

Correct. Let me just add if I can. When Chief Pete had a conflict, I've already been to the ACOPS meeting, and I think Julie may have been the representative of the council at that time. So I think what they do is very worthwhile. You get diverse ideas. We pass them on to the police, and they can do what they want with

specifically on, say, improving communication between the police department and the residents? Although I think they do a good job. Think

especially Freeman Kearney is very, very receptive to ideas and concepts that he may accept or he may refine. He's a great enhancement to our police department.

I agree with you there. In the event you had to pick a different department if ACOPS was not open right now, is there another area you would ever consider volunteering in?

Well, ten years as a volunteer as a cop was enough. And most of the people I traveled with was enough. And when you get to a certain age, your reactions are not what they should be. Your speed is not what it should be. And I thought that was time time to step down from that job.

Understood. And you obviously understand the role of the committee. You have time to attend all the meetings, the events, and help with all committee work. I mean, seems to go without saying.

Nowhere near as much time as being a volunteer cop.

Well, that's really all I've got for you. If you wanna add anything at all, feel free. But I I feel like your resume speaks for itself. And as the mayor had mentioned earlier, we have a robust group of volunteers this year. And we appreciate you coming. We're going to be talking about it later today and we'll get back at a later date to you.

Sounds good. If anyone has any questions shoot away.

We're grateful you're here. And you know I think we're trying to be condensed so that we don't bounce too far out of that timeline but anything you want to add before we wrap up? I think that's it.

As you get older your life gets more simplified. I'm hoping. I never took a nap till after Thank I was

you for that advice. Yeah, it's a pleasure to have you here. Thank you for coming.

Thank you. Thank you Mr. Her, appreciate it.

And I'm

wondering what the bylaws are.

Correct. So the the the roster that you have in your hand right now is is is the key. The only committee or maybe there are two committees that the council has some more flexibility in in changing the the number of members is arts because their bylaws specifically say a range of no less than. And so we've had 15, we've had seven. The historical advisory committee doesn't really have a clear council adopted governing documents.

The council could theoretically appoint additional members to the historical advisory. But the other committees are actually in code and are very specific in the number of members.

Well, last year we added a new position to Hillside Building. Is it?

That's correct because you amended the code.

Can we is that possible to do it this time or we'd have to hold off?

You'd have to go through the the process to amend the code and have a study session and adopt it at a future meeting. Got it.

Thank you. Could we adopt some and not others? I mean can we appoint some and hold off on some?

Mr. Mayor, Council Member Liebman, yes. The town code does because, again, all committee terms start April 1 except that our code does say that appointments haven't been made, that the incumbents continue in office until the council has has made an appointment. So council has the authority to put off certain appointments.

Thank you.

Councilor Mervais?

No. And that's a good topic that councilor Mervais was asking about because I was looking at ACOPS and it seems something to think about because we're gonna have campaigns for two cycles. It might be something we talk about if we have good candidates that maybe we expand it because we're gonna need more help there because we got two general elections four years out, you know, two and two and then other activities at the legislature. So just something to think about if we can do that might be worth some discussion more. Just a thought.

Jane, can you talk about?

The next candidate is I don't see Jane in the the waiting room, but Stanley Marks is the person who's waiting. She's Zoom. Yes.

So we're gonna bring in mister Marks.

Well, he's not scheduled until

He's at 02:45.

02:45. And we're waiting on As

it is interviewing her, do I stare at that?

Yes. Okay.

Yeah, you'll look into that camera.

Allergy season. It's here. It's here. So Duncan, do we have an idea if she's trying or she knows? I think we should.

Yep. Or maybe not.

Hello,

mister Marks. Thanks for joining us.

Hi there. Can you hear me?

Yes. Absolutely. I'm Mark Stanton. I serve as the mayor and the entire town council is here and we're excited to have you.

He can't hear us.

Oh. He can't hear us?

I don't know. Let's find out.

I don't see where my volume is on this thing. Let me just

No. Hold on. This is done. This is

Well, that's interesting. Alright. Can we do it by telephone? How am I how am I supposed to do this by volume? That's one of my that's one of my weaknesses. Let me do this. See if I can do this. At least in the interim, I can tell you who I am. Can you hear me okay?

Yes.

Good.

Good. All right. First of all, am Stan Marks. I have been a resident of Arizona since 1965. I came here, after law school, clerk for the Arizona Supreme Court, and have been a resident of Paradise Valley for about fifty years.

I joined a firm that does trial work. I represented a lot of police officers. I have sued police officers. So I know litigation reasonably well. I am reasonably well informed as a judge as well, which I have been a volunteer judge for the county as well as a judge in Garnett's Valley for about thirty five years. I thought I could be of some assistance to the committee with my background. One of the negatives is I am not

really that computer savvy, which

is obvious in this conversation. I spend

half

a year in Del Mar where I'm currently situated. I do that in the summers as you know that gets a little toasty in the summer. And if you can get away sometimes it's preferable, and I do. So I'm not seeking to be a chair of this committee. I'm seeking really to have some assistance to it. And unfortunately, maybe you can write out something. If I can figure out how to do I usually my office set this up and I didn't do that and that was obviously an error.

You can chat about

that, that would be

a great idea. You have the questions.

Can't see where it has that I am on mute here. So that is unfortunate. Can hear me but I cannot hear you. So is there anything you can do? To do that? Am I turning? The keyboard? Doesn't say anything about the

yeah. It's gonna communicate I love it.

I it. Volume or anything.

There's top. You got it.

The I'll tell you what you can do. One of you can just call me. I mean, I have my cell phone, and if you have some questions to ask of me, and then I can answer them out loud. What is that? Wait. Wait. Don't move it around. I can see Yeah. Hold on. Turn on chat. Where is where do I see that

on the computer chat?

That's so funny.

I I see what you're saying. Oh, wait a minute. I do see chat pop up here. Chat. Can you hear me now? Obviously, can hear me before. Can someone say something? I clicked on chat. I'm feeling really good. I apologize. This is not one of my strengths.

What is the question? Yeah. Why don't

we call it cell phone? I think that's Hold

on a second. Audio Well, I don't I don't wanna go through the whole thing. Selective speaker. Here here is one one question. Why don't why don't maybe as chair, who is it? Who's ever chairing this meeting? I assume

I know.

It's the mayor. The

The volume

is too. Can you just call me? Do you have a cell phone? Yeah. If you have any questions. My cell number is (602) 463-2373.

Okay.

602602. 46323. 2373.

Do you want me to call since I'm supposed to do that?

Give me

a call, and, I can we can circumvent in my lack of knowledge on how I find K. To get sound from you.

It's 602.

602463

Okay.

Hold on.

2 Okay. 273.

Wait. Hold on. This morning.

I've got 2273.

2373.

2373.

(602) 463-2373. Is that correct? Yes.

Thank you. What are my thoughts on oh, I see. Oh, that's interesting what you're doing. You're doing it in writing here. That's good. What are your thoughts on improving communications between police department and residents? By the way, don't know what I mentioned. I was chairman of MAD.

Just listen to me.

The governor appointed me to chair a committee on alcohol and highway safety since, I don't know, twenty years ago, which I did. And then they asked me to share a meeting to we decided that a consumer group needed to be appointed to deal with the drunk driving situation. And I chaired that committee. And they asked me to start MAD, which I did. And I was chairman of MAD for several years.

And we really did change the way people thought about drunk driving because if you killed someone as a drunk we were the toughest state in the country. You do you do eight, ten years in prison where most most states, you do a slap on the wrist and maybe get six months in jail. So it was dramatically different. And people know that in Arizona, you you damn well better use an Uber if you're intoxicated. And I think we've done a pretty damn good job as far as our police department, as far as maintaining the awareness of you don't speed in Paradise Valley and you don't get drunk in Paradise Valley.

He able to read the chart?

Well, I always have some exceptions, but he did. Did. Just I go

continue with that.

I think that committee that we had before on public safety, that temporary committee about four years ago, was it? We had a committee on, on because of the police, it had to do with police response time primarily. We had a home break in and, candidly, I did not think they were treating it, with the urgency that, we were home and we had some people come into my house. Luckily, my dogs barking and they didn't take much, but they had their phone numbers and everything and they didn't do anything. And I was really unhappy with that.

So I mean I think the police department is doing generally a very good job. I can work with them. I have a lot of my clients are police officers because I have police officers on my board when I was MAD Chairman and they asked me to represent them over the years and my office still does that. So I know that I can deal with police officers on one side and when they do something that is really a violation of their duty, they may end up in trouble. I think I can be of help to the committee.

Other questions? What is your understanding of the role of the committee? Well, that's interesting because I don't know what the role of the committee is. Assuming it's to advise you as to what conduct would be appropriate for the council to take. The committee doesn't act on its own, but merely as an advisory committee is my understanding, but I got no clear delineation delineation of what our responsibility would be on the committee.

But I think it's merely to advise you as to what a group of Paradise Valley folks who are interested in this recommending that you follow. And do you have the time to attend the meetings? Yes, I have time. Am basically quasi retired now. Am certainly not a youngster here.

And the I am still a judge and I have still maintained that. And I am going to go I have to go to the I have to come in in the summer to the judicial conference to maintain my ability to remain as a municipal judge in Paradise Valley. And I think that I can attend meetings by Zoom. Hopefully, will learn a little bit more how to get voice out of it. Actually next time I'll ask my office to set it up, which I've done in the past.

But I certainly can attend by Zoom. But I'm not here a good five, six months out of the year. I'm not in PB, I in I'm in I'm in I have a home in Delmar. So yeah. Which is just North of San Diego.

So this the summers are a little better out here, I must admit, in the in the California. But the I I love I I well, when I got to Phoenix in the sixties, I became western man. I mean, was fun to be a horseback riding every weekend. And and for those of you who've been around Arizona that long, you know that how much of a Western state we were with dirt roads and a lot of horses all around. And it was really an exciting time to be there. Any further questions? Thank you for taking the time to meet with us. Mr. Miller will contact me in the next few days about the next steps. I appreciate that. Appreciate your concern. I appreciate your volunteer. Thank you very much.

Appreciate

it. Thank you, Mr. Marks. I know you can't hear us, but the public can. So thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Marks.

Do you shut that down or do I? Let's see.

Think

Did Jane show up?

Yes. And the meeting now is the view.

That's tough. That's tough, but he did a great job.

So

mister Miller, do we have any contact from Jane? Okay. Miss Kesser. Yeah. Please take a few minutes here.

I I'd have to give that some thought. ACOPS is one of those resolutions that was amended multiple times.

And currently there's one position.

Because seven seems to be the general number for most of our committees. It's just what's unique about one of the members of ACOPS is that the chair is a council member.

I

mean, I don't recall anything

would have

to be a council.

I mean my only concern as customer Moore was asking is that there was a reason why it was limited is because we don't want people who are anti police to have a big group and start having problems with this department supposed to be very complicit type fit, you know design that way but.

Well I think this is a good idea for kind of a look back. So once we get through this process I would support a look back on how we again this is a constantly improving and evolving program and anything for best practices I think would be a good thing to bring up in a study session for the group.

Future study because this wasn't agenda sized for tonight. This is just interesting. Plus the Mr. Miller Correct. But the seventh is a council member.

There we go. Six plus the chair.

Six plus the council member. Yeah. The chair.

Mr. Miller did you say Ms. Keswick is coming in person? She'll be in person. Well, thank you for joining us, miss Gessek.

My name is

Mark Stanton.

Hello. Pleasure to

meet you. Serve as the mayor and the entire council crew is here and we're grateful. Thank you for sending your application in. We enjoyed reading your background and your interest. So today is a chance for us to just meet face to face, very informal. I'm going to turn over the Vice Mayor and she's going to go through a few questions for you. Perfect. But it's also your turn if you got questions for us. We're happy to fill those as well. This town as you know, our town drives on volunteers. We're all volunteers and we are grateful for the wonderful residents at Step Forward and you're one of those and thank you very much.

Whatever we can do.

This should take about ten minutes. It won't be a big time ask. But with that I'll introduce Vice Mayor Christine LaBelle.

Hi, nice meet you. It's miss Kesick, is that correct? Yes. Okay. Yes, Vice Mayor LaBelle. We're just gonna have a little bit of just a structured rather open ended conversation today. So just if you could want to briefly describe your background, why you're interested in ACOPS and serving on that committee. And then we'll have a few follow-up questions and closing question. Okay. But one of the questions I would have for you, go ahead and give me your story as well you're here and then we'll follow-up with

the Okay.

Well, my husband and I fell

in love with Paradise Valley about six years ago. We moved here right before COVID from North Scottsdale. Our ranch was up that way. And the kids were closer to school at Chaparral, so we decided to move, and we loved it. So we have our house that was built in 1972, two and onetwo acres off Mockingbird, just built a new house. So we just love our neighbors. We love the area. We love that very tight knit community. And we love how safe we feel. And that's really about it.

I used to work for Scottsdale Unified for about ten years. I volunteer for the Arizona Supreme Court. So I'm on one of their committees there. I am also very active in our church, Saint Sava, a Serbian church. So I'm Serbian, so not to be confused with Syrian or Siberian.

And also, safety is a huge concern. Even though my kids are grown, we have neighbors who now have little ones. And I can hear them playing in their backyards. And it's a nice change to hear the voices instead of nothing other than just birds. Some people don't like it.

I do because it's like a new life in the neighborhood. So that's why I decided to apply to want to become a volunteer because I think if we have enough people in the community to reach out to other members of the community, I think it would be beneficial to all of us safety wise for the kids, for the parents, for the elderly who their caretakers are walking them around everywhere in the neighborhood. So I just figured an extra voice would be awesome for Paradise Valley now.

And we thank you so much for stepping up. As the mayor said earlier, our town thrives on volunteers. We're all volunteers at this table. We appreciate even initiating the Oh absolutely. Yeah, to be here. So did you look at ACOPS and say, do you go to Coffee with a Cop? Or are you familiar with our department?

So we're familiar with the department. We're familiar with Coffee with a Cop. We have gone periodically. And then when I actually saw it was the town email. And then I saw it also on was it I think it was the Paradise Valley Police's x page that yes, they were looking for

that they were looking

for volunteerism. I said, you know what? Let's

do it. No, that's great. I'm glad that we had some outreach that you were able to see and find. So I think that's wonderful. Do you have any specific ideas as far as improving communication between the police departments and the residents? Do you think they're already doing a good job? Do you have any out of the box ideas?

I think the police department itself, they're doing a good job. I think the last post from the town of Paradise Valley on X was like 2025. And that's where a lot of people, the younger I'm not younger, but younger ish. Yes. I'm hearing That's how they get to know everything and know when coffee with a cop is. And if people don't sign up for the town email, they don't know anything. Right. No, I appreciate your input.

Can see you're paying attention.

So I appreciate that. Yeah. And then what I do is like with neighbors, I'm like, well, should go onto the website, put your email address in there. They'll send you emails every week. You can look. But just a little bit more I don't wanna say outreach, but a little bit more social media because I think that that's

Let's not set this up. Yes.

That's the way to go these days, sadly. You know, I mean, it's not a a mailer in the mail. It's Right. Hey, we're having a meeting or Right.

No, appreciate that input and I appreciate your honesty. Oh, yeah, for being able to reach out and let us know that. In the event you hadn't seen an opening for would there have been a number two? Would there have been another committee that you might be interested in?

Any way I can help out the community. I mean, I'm game for whatever. Safety was kind of concern because of my neighbors and the kids and bike lanes and just with the construction going on and the safety with all of the community members. So that would have been my first pick. But as I emailed Duncan before, I said if there's another committee you want to throw me on, absolutely. I would do it to help the community.

I appreciate that. And maybe just one last closing question because you seem very engaged. Do you have an understanding of the town's general plan? Have you ever looked at that?

So I have. Honestly, some of it I can't understand. Like some of it's like right over there, right over the head. But general goal, I can kind of figure it out, but it's almost like I need to speak with someone who I know like, hey, what is this? What is this? Please explain it all to me. But

yeah. No, that's great. You've been a great interviewer. That You we have a large roster today. So the process will be that you'll hear back from the mayor in the next few days.

Not a problem. I'm around.

No, appreciate it. If there's anything else you want to add otherwise that's you know we're

perfect. Thank you guys for the time. I appreciate it.

Thank so much for showing up. Nice to meet you.

Thank you.

Mr. Miller, do we have Mr. Barry in person or online? Yeah. Sub Samaritans.

Yep. Absolutely. We're running a few minutes ahead of time, so please. Yeah. We're moving here.

Pretty good clip. Yeah. It's very efficient. You might be. No, I'm fine.

Thank you. Yeah, it is. Yeah. Ready for it. Yes, sir.

Mister Barry, hello. Thanks for coming in. If you wanna have a seat there at the table, thanks for putting your name forward. My name is Mark Stanton. I serve as the mayor of Paradise Valley, and this is the town council. We're all present and accounted for. And like yourself, we're volunteers, and we're appreciative of all the residents that have come forward, and thank you for submitting your background and the application. So just kind of a process for today. This should take about ten minutes. I'm going to turn it over to the Vice Mayor Christine LaBelle and she's got a few questions for you. It's 2 Way Street, so if you've got some questions for us, we'll be happy to entertain those as we go along or as we wrap up. And again, thank you for your participation. I'll turn over to Vice Mayor.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Berry. Thanks for being here. As the Mayor said, we're all volunteers here, so we really appreciate you taking the time to step up and offering your services. So yeah, we're going to

kind of keep a

little structured ten minute session going here. So we're going to start out with just kind of ask you to describe your background and why you're interested in serving on one of those committees. And then we'll follow-up with some questions and close-up and we want you to feel free to ask questions also. So just let us know why those two committees and do you have a favorite? And I'd like to hear more.

I came prepared for the public safety one. Can you focus on that?

Okay, sure.

I've lived here about five years now.

No, no, please do. Keep going. I thank you for all those ideas. You put some real thought into what you would do if you were involved with ACOPS. Know that how would you do you go to Coffee with a Cop at all now?

I don't. I think we'll be working this time.

Yeah, yeah. Okay, fair enough. Yeah, I get it. Are you able to see any of the public outreach from the police department at all on either social media or through our town weekly? Do you get any of that information?

On Facebook.

Okay. Yeah, no, I'm glad we're reaching you. That's great. And I know that you had also mentioned that I'm gleaning, and correct me if I'm wrong that ACOPS would be your first choice but if that wasn't available do you know much about the Paradise Valley Mountain Preserve Trust and also I see in your background do you do any mean would there be any other departments that might appeal to you? We have a lot of applicants but we don't want to do. Okay, do you have any questions for us?

Well,

thank you so much. And I would say that keep in mind, I think we have what 15 or so applicants or maybe a little bit and not very much space, but I would never want anyone to think that we wouldn't, that they're not being chosen. There's just not enough spots. So I would say that depending on where it goes, the mayor will be in touch with you. But please keep coming back. We need the volunteers and you sound very engaged. Yeah. Yeah. And that's not a preemptive anything. It's just saying I'm very happy that you're here. So I appreciate it.

Thank you for showing.

Nice to meet you. Yeah.

Thanks very much. Have a great afternoon. Hello. Mister Kenny, thank you for coming in today and putting your application in to be a volunteer for the town. My name is Mark Stanton, serve as the mayor.

This is the council, my colleagues, and we're so grateful because we're volunteers in our roles here on the council and this town, our town has really thrived on the success from our volunteer efforts. So thank you for putting your name forward and submitting your application today. So this will be about a ten minute process and it's gonna be a couple of questions from the vice mayor Christine LaBelle and we'll hope if you got questions we're happy to field those as well and so we'll we'll cut right to it. I'll turn over to vice mayor but sincere thank you for being here today.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Kinney and I echo the mayor's comments. So it's gonna be a little bit of a more structured approach but I want feel free to ask questions and share about yourself and how you found out about the opening and just basically briefly describe your background, why you're interested in serving on that committee and we'll follow-up some other questions after.

Okay.

Thanks. Well I moved here recently with my family to Paradise Valley and one of the things that struck me about this area was the natural and open spaces of Camelback, Mummy, and Phoenix Mountains and how they stood in such stark contrast to the urban development that's grown up around the Phoenix Metro Region. Growing up in New England, which is where we moved from, I spent a lot of time around preserved land, whether hiking or volunteering later as an Eagle Scout on various preservation works. And now as a resident, I can truly see the value that these open spaces provide in shaping the character of the community. Professionally, I work in an environment where stewardship and long term thinking, deliberate decision making are emphasized and I hope to bring those skill sets to support the mission of the trust which will outlast any individual member specifically the preserve itself.

Well thank you for sharing that and I really like that you're talking about you know your background in New England with that and the hiking and that you noticed we like that you noticed the open spaces here and we must be doing something right in that aspect so I appreciate that. Do you know much about the trust itself? Have you done research on it or looked into how it works?

Yeah, I have done a little bit of research. I did read the most recent meeting minutes which I understand are from last year but I don't know how relevant they still are. I know they haven't met very often. I did get a look at all the backgrounds of the trust members that were posted on the website, so I'm somewhat familiar with those individuals as well. And I know it's a nonprofit organization that's not necessarily part of the town government but is closely associated and that makes a lot of sense to me the way that's organized.

Thank you. It sounds like you've done some homework. Do you in the event that the Paradise Valley Mountain Preserve Trust was not available, if it hadn't been advertised, would there be another volunteer opportunity within the town that you might be interested in?

Yes. Since we moved here now that the moving activities have settled down I'm definitely very interested in some doing some volunteer work and spending some of my time in that area. I did notice there were other positions available. I didn't actually apply to any of those but I would certainly be open to other volunteer work. I just felt that this position met or matched my qualifications the most as opposed to the others.

Right. And to that point, just one more question. If you could expound a little bit more on your specific skills, legal, financial, fundraising, outreach, what do you think you'd be able to bring to the trust?

Primarily I think there's two main aspects where I could be a positive force as a member. The first has to do with stewardship and long term sustainability. I believe that is probably

one of

the challenges the trust will continue to face and probably has faced in the past as the cost of preservation efforts are always expected to increase and any decisions we make or the trust makes have to make sense thirty to forty years from now. Can't just make sense right now. The second area where I believe I can contribute is in collaboration and community engagement. I think in this area where there's obvious pressure on increasing development, urbanization, there there will be that tension between the preservation efforts and the access efforts. And I think those tensions really can only be resolved by effective listening, collaboration, and engagement to understand the real intent of all the stakeholders in those kinds of situations.

I I really appreciate your your your input on that and I just you have any questions for us regarding either general volunteer questions, anything about the town or this position itself?

So generally what do you feel would make for an effective member of this trust?

I'm gonna pass it off to the mayor

on What

this committee does or? No. So a new member being part of this trust, what do you think would make them effective in that role? What attributes or skills or personality? Good question and there's

a few different things. One is the more familiar you are with the town the more comfortable you be in some of the issues we face in particular. In this case, reading through and understanding the intent and the structure of our general plan would be very helpful and how the town has evolved and uses that as it's really backbone of all we do in terms of development and how how we look forward for residents that may be thinking of building a house or redoing a house and those that we have in the SUP, the special use permit properties, the resorts and the and the houses of worship and the schools. So I think becoming familiar with that would be a very good step. I think also getting to attending the meetings when they do occur or getting to know some of the members and asking some questions about what they do and what they've encountered.

I think that would be helpful as well. I think that getting to know the entire town structure attending to different volunteer programs like coffee with a cop or getting involved with the arts in some capacity. We have a lot of community activities that are good for all residents to participate in, But in particular, those folks that may wanna volunteer, it just gives them better understanding of the culture of the of the community in the town and what we're trying to achieve and and how we're very protective of the culture of our town and that this is a priority to us. This whole program, the the Mountain Reserve Trust really came from those points you brought up earlier that we know there's always the chances for people to wanna develop or redevelop or expand or and that we're very protective of the mountains and we wanna make sure that we as stewards of the community are using our best tools and this committee is one of those tools. If you visit the town hall very often, if you come in through the front entrance there by the post office, there's a beautiful display that describes the the history and some of the successes of the Mountain Preserve Trust.

So this is a really near and dear to our hearts because really protecting our development process and the quiet residential community is a top priority for us. So I think immersing yourself in that space would be helpful.

Okay. Yeah. I I did appreciate the coffee with the cops that I have attended.

Those were nice. Alright.

Thank you for attending that. Continue to show up and as we've mentioned before I think there's about 15 applicants for a very limited number of spaces But we love our volunteers and we hope you'll be hearing in the next few days where we placed everybody but continue to show up. I will. And thank you so much for joining us today and applying. Yeah, was nice to meet you.

Thank you all.

Thank you, Mr. Ginny. Oh, you did?

Where you at? All right.

I grew up in Wayland. Can I get to shaking all your hands?

Thank

for your questions. Of course.

Yeah, thank you for your answers.

Oh, is that right? That's awesome. Mister Miller, is mister Nichols scheduled for the interview? Next. Hello, mister Nichols. Please have a seat. Thank you for coming in. Appreciate Nice

to be in front of all you guys.

We're grateful you're here. We're all volunteers on the council. This is the full council. I'm Mark Stanton. I serve as the mayor. But we're all here for the love of the town and we appreciate and really value those folks that step up and offer to volunteer and become part of a committee or a subcommittee and and put their time and we value that immeasurably. So thank you for submitting your application. Today we're going take about ten minutes and not big ask. I'm going to turn over a moment to the Vice Mayor Christine LaBelle and she'll go through some questions but it's a two way street. If you have questions for us we're happy to entertain those and try to field those but most importantly we're just grateful you've come in and that you applied.

We're very lucky that we have residents like yourself that will go the extra mile and and offer them services to the town. Thank you again and I'll turn it over to the Vice Mayor.

Thank you. Thank you Mr. Nichols. I thank you for being here Vice Mayor Lavelle. So we're just gonna I'm just gonna briefly ask you, to describe your background and why you're interested in serving on Mount Preserve Trust, then we'll follow-up with, some additional questions, closing question, and feel free to pipe in anytime you have questions also. So just let us know a little bit about your background, how you heard about the position, why you're interested. And we'll go from there.

Well, basically I saw one of the papers for the volunteers. And I put in an application once before, like probably four years ago, three years ago, to be more engaged in the community. My wife and I were empty nesters. And so I always had opportunity to be volunteer stuff. And I basically always turned it down because I said the family is the most important. Let's do our stuff. And so now I have time to give. Now when it comes to the PVPMT, I'm like, well, I didn't really understand a lot of it, but I figured it would be a good challenge for me to try it. I've been in the construction industry. When I say that, I'm talking I've worked for a lumberyard for a very long time.

That's kind of still my main employment and always been my employment for thirty two years, same company. And I've gone out and done my GC license. I like to do stuff and challenge myself. And I figured this one would be kind of a neat challenge to kind of learn and understand part of it. I lived in a lot of different places and I think it's a great town in all the different volunteers and associations and everything like that.

So basically to get more engaged, that's really the big part of it. I'm not going to say I'm an expert in the conservation easements or whatever you want to call it, but I do understand it. I'll say this. I was raised in Southern California. And I grew up in a town called Glendora. And we had a town south of us called Diamond Bar. I don't if you guys are familiar with Diamond Bar. But Diamond Bar let everybody build everything they could on all the hillsides. Just went haywire. And everybody would make fun of it, in a sense.

And Bondora was always proud of the foothills, however it goes. And I know there's a fine line between all that. And I don't tend to fall on either side of it. I'm more of carrying on the tradition kind of person because obviously you guys ended up here through basically all the timeline or what have you. And I think that I'm not here to change anything. I'm just here to continue it is really the way I look at stuff. So that helps. And I ended up here. I had two kids go go to ASU. I love the area. I've been coming out here since the late '70s, early '80s. I'm sure you hear a lot of that. And so it's always been a great place to live or visit.

No, I appreciate that. It sounds like you have an appreciation for what what the trust is trying to do and the heritage of the town and and that I appreciate. The specific question I think we would have about the Mount Preserve Trust is what specific skills and you you you touched on some of them legally, financially, fundraising and outreach would you bring to help the trust meet its goals to preserve more hillside open lands? You have to be super specific but just generally what do you feel you can give to the trust

in that aspect?

I'll be honest with you on that front. I don't have a lot of connections here by any stretch. I kind of wondered, one of my questions was being that I saw the videos and some of the stuff and read the background of it. But when this really started, I guess 'seventy eight someone donated the first land and 'ninety seven became when you guys turned it into a trust. But is there a lot more to donate? I mean, are you talking outside Paradise Valley? Are talking inside Paradise Valley? Inside Paradise Valley. Is there that much more to donate in terms of there is.

Yeah. And there's a lot to learn. And I like that you're questioning and you're being transparent and honest. And I would say a couple of questions, additional extra questions on that would be, it sounds like you're really interested in our town and you're coming from the right place. Are you familiar with our general plan? And do you show up for any of the other volunteer events like Coffee with a Cop or meetings? No. And if you don't, maybe start I

see. Looking

into

I'm in your system. I get all the texts and the email and the meeting minutes and stuff like that. It's just a matter of looking through something.

No, of course. Yeah. And then if you hadn't seen the Mountain Preserve Trust opening on the website or the newspaper, what other areas what are you interested in? Art, history,

That might not be my ability, but definitely the other departments were like when you had anything to do with the construction side of things.

Okay, planning.

Yeah, any of that stuff I definitely volunteer for. I'm totally open. Really feel like I want to give back to the community I live in if I can. That's really kind of my thought. So when I do have extra free time and so I

No, I really appreciate it. And as the mayor already mentioned, we're all volunteers. Just continue to educate yourself on the town and stay involved. And it will be a couple of days before we have like 15 applicants and limited space, but we want our volunteers to continue to show up and continue to learn more about the town. Do you have any additional questions for us besides that?

I don't know what position what is actually the what do you do? Mean in terms of like how many hours do you give and how many people are on the committee and what does that entail in terms of your commitment to the committee?

Sure. Well, every committee has different requirements and so they have a mission and they have sort of a charter if you will why they're in business. The Mountain Reserve Trust is just as it sounds. We're trying to protect open space and encourage those landowners to consider donating that land. They may not be developing or may not be really developable but donating it into the trust and taking whatever benefits they could from that gesture.

But we're encouraging residents to be aware and that there is an opportunity to help preserve our mountains and our open space. And it is a surprise to a lot of people that we do have so much open space available, but there is that consideration that there are people that may want to develop it. And so we're giving that option to them and encouraging that. So this committee has a group. They work really independently from this body, but they're very focused on meeting residents and encouraging that consideration of donation, building awareness of the idea of sustainability.

And what that means, it's one of the tenants of our general plan and what we believe is important to keep the quality of life in Paradise Valley. So the folks that are currently sitting on that have background either on hillside development or in real estate and have been involved in different aspects of it, but they all come from that same space of sustainability and protecting our mountains and protecting our open space. So the time is it really is contingent upon what activities are going on. So for example, if this group is trying to recruit residents to consider giving or donating that land, there may be meetings that would be one offs, there would be discussions among themselves. They usually meet a few times a year as a collective body and talk about what their strategy may be and the timing and such.

And so so it's not a huge lift, but it's for this committee. But it's more of a intensity based on the subject matter that it's meeting residents, encouraging those residents to consider donating that property to the trust. But in terms of all of the committee assignments, they're all a little bit different based on activity. Some are more hands on. Some some like the arts board are very very busy and they have a lot of activities.

We have our advisory committee on public safety that that meets on a regular basis and discusses issues with the police department talking about ways that that that residents can be collaborative and helping the police department and vice versa what the police department wants to make sure that residents are aware of. So every committee has a little bit different. This committee is is a little more laser focused and it doesn't have I wouldn't say it's abundant with its meetings, but it's important work and it ebbs and flows throughout the year.

Okay. Got it. Which I'm very appreciative of the PD quite honestly. Feel special that I'm in the community. Wouldn't want to be like in Phoenix half the time worrying about how that's going to go down. Anyways

We're glad you're here.

Yeah. Thank you so much for coming.

You'll do a great job.

Well, you. I continue to show up. Yeah. Thank you.

Is that it? Yeah. That's all. Thank you very much. Nice to meet you. I appreciate all you guys and thanks. Appreciate it.

Yeah, terrific applicants. Mr. Miller, next And then, okay, that's Mr. Selden. Okay.

Did she say that she's gonna excuse herself? Okay. Okay.

We can

take a few minutes of a break. Oh, yeah. That's right. Good pop culture. Yep.

If she was Yeah.

Assuming we

could just ask

her to step out of Yeah. She was as prepared to excuse herself. That's encouraged, but it's not required. Yeah. Yeah.

But it's not a Alright. Mister Seldon, are you there?

Hello,

David. Can you hear us all right?

Can hear you now.

You. Awesome. Thank Well, thank you for joining us. We greatly appreciate your ongoing commitment to the town and putting your name forward for the volunteer position and we gratefully appreciate your time. I think you know my colleagues pretty well, so I welcome you from the whole team.

So we're going take about ten minutes, David, and we're going to I'm going to turn it over to the Vice Mayor and she's going to ask a few questions. And then if you've got questions for us, feel free to exchange those and we'll do the best we can to answer them. We greatly appreciate the time and as you know, we thrive on volunteerism. That's what makes this town so special and we appreciate you and you coming forward to offer your time and commitment to a very worthwhile committee and cause. But thank you very much and let me turn over to the Vice Mayor.

Okay, thank you Mr. Selden. Vice Mayor Labelle here as you well know. We just are going to have a little structured way we're going to do it today. So I'm going to briefly ask you to describe your background. Why specifically you're interested in serving on the Mountain Preserve Trust. Then we'll have a couple of follow-up questions, closing question and of course any questions that you might have. So once again if you just briefly describe your background, why you're interested in serving on this particular committee.

Sure. And first, I apologize that I'm not there in person. I had signed up with Duncan to be there in person, but I chose yesterday morning to have a tear in the quadriceps in my one knee. So I have the crutches here to prove my immobility. So I apologize that I'm having to do this remotely.

The Paradise Valley is defined really by its mountain preserves and its mountain terrain and its scenic views, whether people live in flat land and have views of the mountain or whether people live on one of the mountains, that's one of the things that we cherish about our low density in ambiance. And that's certainly embodied in the in the town's general plan. You know, I I had dinner last Saturday at the sanctuary with my college roommate, who is a retired lawyer from Connecticut, and his wife. And one of the first things they said in explaining that they still live in the same house that they moved into fifty years ago after they first got married was that the person that owns the property behind them is a 62 acre estate that has a conservation easement. So it remains woods, because of tax, benefits for that.

And that really makes their, house, you know, modest as it was when they first moved into it and they've expanded it, but it makes it such a defining essence of why they love where they are. And that same factor is present in Paradise Valley. So I'm committed to wanting to preserve the mountains here. We've lived either with a view of Camelback or on Camelback with a view of Mowing Mountain and the North Mountain Preserve for more than twenty five years now. So if I can contribute, and I think I can given my background, I'd certainly be delighted for the opportunity to work with the other members of the Mountain Reserve Trust and members of the community to advance its mission.

Thank you. Just a follow-up question to some of what you've already touched on, but if you could expound a little bit on what skills, legal, financial, fundraising, outreach, would you bring to help the trust meet its goals to preserve more hillside land for open space?

Sure. Well, I'm a lawyer, of course, and have a rather diverse background. I did prepare a resume that I submitted to you, so I won't belabor the point. But I represented public entities, including a number of municipalities as well as the state government agencies and also several county governments. So I've worked within the public sector structure.

I've done litigation on matters involving real estate conveyancing, including the Phoenician Resort, which was a very complex transaction because it involved ground leases and all kinds of other differing property interests. And then prior to being a lawyer in Arizona, I worked for members of congress for twelve years. I did the staff work for my boss who was the author of the bill to preserve the Appalachian Trail. And that is a it is kind of a linear version of the Peavey Mountain Preserve Trust in terms of the preservation of the scenic aspects of it, although that also involves a public use, which I know is not our goal or use of the Peavey Mountain Preserve Trust. But that's putting together efforts 2,000 miles long in 14 states, primarily private property owners, and making available conservation easements and trail use easements to preserve that asset.

And so I've had a long standing commitment to that. And then I've certainly worked in the philanthropic environment as well, which is, of course, part of the mission of the Mountain Preserve Trust. Chairman John Graham was previously Chairman of the Phoenix Symphony Board of Directors, which I'm a member of. I've worked with him in that context and would be delighted to do so again.

Well, thank you for expounding on that. Yes, it's in the resume, but also just for the public. So thank you for bringing that up. And as we've asked every other applicant today, I want to follow-up with if this particular position was not available and you wanted to volunteer for the town, what other options would you be open to?

Well, my focus is really on the Mountain Preserve Trust. That would be my objective and where I think my skills. Obviously, I have an interest in the arts. Our house has more than 1,000 works of art in it. But my focus in terms of, I think, helping PV would be on the Mountain Reserve Trust.

Okay. Thank you for that. Any questions for us?

Questions for you. I think I have a handle on how the PV Mountain Reserve Trust works. I'm not a stranger to tell what goes on in PV for reasons that are, I think, readily apparent. But so I'm comfortable with the role and would be enthusiastic to do whatever I could to help.

Right. And I I thank you for for stepping up and for your patience with the interview questions. We have a very standardized way we're doing it this year. So despite your familiarity, I appreciate you allowing it. So thank you so much for being here and if there's no other questions you're good to go. Yes, appreciate. Thank you.

Thank you, David. Thank you. Yeah. I want council, will you? I will.

I will. Hello, Andy. Thanks for coming in. I think you know most of my colleagues here. This is the town council and my role as mayor. We are so glad to see you and thank you for submitting your name and your background. This is going be pretty straightforward maybe ten minutes. We're not gonna put you through any torture. We are just grateful that you're willing to donate your time and your expertise and your background. I'm gonna turn it over to the vice mayor and she's got a few questions for you. And again, we also love to answer your questions you might have as we move ahead.

Okay. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Knaussik. I'm Vice Mayor Lebel. Nice to meet you. I don't think we've ever met before. So it's nice to nice I've seen your name, but nice to meet you. We are going to start off today. We have a little bit more of a structured format, a little less open ended. Of course, we want you to feel free to ask questions and tell us about yourself. So really just briefly, we're going to ask you to describe your background, why you're interested in serving on the Mountain Preserve Trust. Then we'll have a couple of follow-up questions and closing questions and time for any questions you might have for us. So just let us know why you're here and what your goals are.

Perfect. Well, I'm I I love living in Paradise Valley. I've I've now probably twenty five years and I just made my first enter Paradise Valley move from where we were for twenty five years to a new place that's up on the hillside and beautiful views, got more work to do than I planned. But it is it's it's yeah. We've loved my wife and I have raised our kids, all three kids here, and just just love the place.

The the leadership, the openness of the the the council, kind of the I've always admired the kind of the spirit of volunteerism that that we're blessed we're blessed to have that helps the the professionalism of of the staff every time as a resident, I've I've had a question or or something, it was immediately addressed. And as somebody does spend time in other jurisdictions and finding the secret there is no secret code. A lot of places are just not responsive to either their residents or you know, businesses or anybody else that's that's making inquiries. So, again, that's a a great credit and probably why people that that live here choose to live here very consciously. And I've as and by way of background, I've I've lived in Maricopa County all my life in in the valley.

Grew up in Mesa. Lived in in Phoenix and Paradise Valley for all of my adult life. And, you know, I've always been in the real estate business related, ventures, always in kind of real estate centric from agricultural type endeavors in Arizona and primarily Arkansas and Iowa. We do some farming in those places. I always come home or really never really called anywhere else home but Arizona.

And I I did spend about almost twenty years on the board of supervisors for Maricopa County, where I think I first came in contact with I don't know if it's the precursor to the non preserved trust. Early on, one of my first forays or treks down to town hall here was, to deliver a deed for a quite a bit of, property up on the Mummy Mountain. So I don't remember if I signed the deed, but I've they gave me the honor of being able to to deliver it. Now I I I checked, and I think it's it's owned by the trust now. I think the town conveyed it to the trust.

And and I think the more we can, you know, respect the the rights of property owners, but also kind of the desire of the the town, the stated desire to to maintain these beautiful vistas. And to the extent we could make all that happen, I think the trust is the place and the vehicle to do that. It's not a coercive approach. It's very, I think, from what I've seen on other acquisitions, it's beneficial to everybody involved in those transactions. And I do think that's the way to that it should be, and and hats off to you to you and your predecessors for for going that route.

But, you know, you could always always do more. I I think that would be my goal if if you pick me to be on the on the trust and and leaning in and and ways that that might be actively, using the tools that you have either through just solicitations or asks of people that might have sensitive lands and situations where they can afford or it makes sense to make donations, that would be great. Are there other resources available through grants or other revenues, both private and public funds, if available, would be great to find and deploy to further the goal. I, yeah. I just, I I I think I would love to lean in and and work on what you all have done so far and and do my part to give back to the community here.

So if you have any questions, I can talk all day. And I don't want to.

Well, was going to say, I think you answered all the follow-up questions that my script gives me. So I think you've already got ahead of it. One of them was, you know, what skills, legal, financial, fundraising outreach would you bring to help the trust meet its goal to preserve more hillside? I think you covered that. But if you have anything additional to say about that, that's fine also.

I don't know what, what the range of possibilities. Don't know if there's what's out there, but I assume from looking at knowing your staff and recognizing some of the other people that are on the trust, there's probably a lot of just wherewithal and ability to turn every stone to find ways to make it better.

Perfect. Thanks.

That's what I would commit to endeavor to persevere.

And as is standard with our interviews today, have about 15 interviewees for a very limited amount of spots. So as we're asking everybody today, would you also be interested in any other volunteer assignment with the town at all? If Mountain Preserve wasn't on the table, just for fun, where would you see yourself landing if not I'm

not qualified to be a judge. I don't know. I don't know what's out there. The land use and planning is something I've had a lot of experience with on the board of supervisors. If there's other open space related, I love your monuments and some of your, whether it's Barry Goldwater or some of the other cities we call them pocket parks or something.

I I love I just love having those little respites around the around the community and transportation safety is a you know, especially with where my new house is located. I I would I would love to even if it's a short term working group work with finding things to improve safety and access to Tatum for people, residents that are coming in and out of there and that really between Doubletree and Lincoln is where I focus.

Thank you for that input. I appreciate it. And then any questions for us?

I don't think so.

Good answer. No, just kidding.

It is great to see everybody. Feel like I've known a lot of almost everybody. I think we have our kids.

Our kids, yes. Think Yeah, like Katie who's Yes, Emily and Katie were friends at Cherokee or Chaparral. That's funny. Yeah. But we've never met.

I'm here. Oh, good. Yeah. We missed him. We missed him

by a little bit. But it's great to And see I see Anna at church once in a while when I go. You're there all the time.

So I I we so appreciate you showing up. You know it's a volunteer town. Thank you for being here. And the mayor will be in touch over the next few days Okay. To give everybody where we all landed. Great. So thank you for coming. Appreciate it. Nice to meet you.

You all.

I believe she is. Yeah. We have a few minutes. Yeah. We've got Drake.

Great. It's great. So Duncan, we've got Ms. Nagel coming in in person, correct? I think I'm gonna go

as well. Take a quick break.

Thank you so much for coming in. It's great to see you. Well, we appreciate you stopping in today and putting forward your application. We're great grateful for that type of engagement from all of our residents. I think you know my colleagues and my services as the mayor and we're all volunteers. This is what we do to give back and we appreciate all of our residents that have stepped away. Have a pretty great turnout of candidates that have asked to can be considered. So we're grateful for that.

So today it's gonna be

a pretty straightforward discussion. It's gonna be about ten minutes give or take and we've got a standardized process that the vice mayor Christine LaBelle will lead lead you through. But a sincere thank you for what you've done for the town and what you're offering to do for the town. We thrive and survive on our residents that volunteer and we're grateful. So thanks, welcome and I'll turn it over to Vice Mayor.

All right.

Thank you, miss Nagel, for being here. Vice mayor Labelle,

I should Yeah.

We have a a little of a bit of a a structured process today. Okay. So we're first, we're gonna ask you to briefly briefly describe your background.

Okay.

Why you're interested in this position specifically. Okay. And then we're going to follow-up with some questions and maybe a closing question and there'll be plenty of time for your questions for us to So ask basically just a little bit about why planning interests you, how your background is a good fit for that and we'll go from there.

Great. Well I'll begin with my background. So I'm a career educator. I have a Master's in Fine Arts from the University of Notre Dame where I began my teaching career and a PhD in English Literature and Textual Theory from the University of Washington. I also have postgraduate training in public history institutions including archives, museums, things of that sort.

Twenty years experience teaching and designing graduate and undergraduate courses at a range of colleges and universities, most recently for Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff. And for the past five years, I've been a high school teacher. So, English, history, government and civics. Being sort of neck deep in the humanities for my career, my skill set is very humanities based. So critical thinking, communication and collaboration, creativity, curiosity.

And I believe this is really the I think more and more we're realizing this is the twenty first century toolkit. And I believe that so much I've devoted my professional life to helping students gain and master those skills and I'm really proud of that. I think that they are useful and significant regardless of what one is doing. And I think in terms of intellectual capacity, really is AI proof as we can possibly get. Additionally, before coming to Paradise Valley in 2020, my husband and I owned and ran two fine art galleries in Sedona.

And as part of the Sedona Gallery Association, we were involved in a lot of conversations about managing things like growth and sort of tourism traffic and things like that. And how do we balance that with the specific special quality of Sedona? And I think a lot of those questions apply to the considerations here in Paradise Valley. And then finally, I've served on the historical advisory committee for the past five years and it's really been an honor and a privilege to do that. It would be an honor and a privilege to continue to do that, but I also feel like I could do more and if now or in the future there's an opportunity for me to do more, I welcome that.

I'm raising my daughter here in Paradise Valley that is the most important thing to me. And so if I can be part of the conversations about the future of this town, I can't think of any better way to use my skill set.

Thank you for that and well said. A couple of Planning Commission specific questions. How would you express your understanding of the town's general plan as a guide to land use decisions and as the town's North Star? And how do you see it applying to your ability to navigate the planning commission? How will you use what you know about

it? So my understanding and I'm you know is humble enough to admit that there's room for my understanding to grow. But my understanding currently is that it's you know it's about balancing those demands for preserving the things that make Paradise Valley, Paradise Valley. Low density, that kind of semi rural feel. A limited kind of positive relationship with our businesses, our schools and our resorts but kind of limiting that sort of action in the town, open spaces, the scenic mountain vistas, the kind of the Sonoran Desert landscape, all of those things as being central to the particular character and the reason that people love Paradise Valley.

But, of course, if you're only thinking in terms of preservation, you know, any living thing ossifies, right? So, you have to balance that sense of preservation with a notion that things grow and change. And so, I think foundationally, I've been thinking about that a lot in my own academic work, owning galleries in Sedona and then now as even as a resident and as a member of the historical advisory committee. So I think that it's really about that tension and finding a way to navigate that tension.

Thank you for that. Couple more questions. Planning commissioners are required to balance, you kind of touched on this a little bit, the rights of the individual against the values the community. Sure. It also involves a lot of understanding of code and technical aspects. Yes. So as you said, humanity is based on some level. How do you see yourself getting using your tools to learn more

about that? I'm not gonna pretend that I I don't have a lot to learn, but what I'm good at is learning and and maybe what I'm best at is learning. Understanding what resources are available, knowing how to use those resources. And I guess it would offer that in some situations a kind of a learner's mindset approaching a situation with openness, with curiosity can avoid or sometimes offer a kind of a new perspective. You avoid entrenched positions, you avoid kind of knee jerk reactions to things, you avoid assumptions.

The person in the room who's learning and is comfortable asking the naive questions, sometimes that's the question that needs to be asked. So, I would answer that with those two principles. One, that I admit that there would be a lot to learn, but I'm good at that. But also that sometimes bringing a fresh perspective and the curiosity of a fresh perspective, sometimes that might just be what's needed.

Okay. Thank you. I would ask you, would you also be interested in any other volunteer assignment for the town? But I think that's already taken care of.

So that's a really

good end. Do you have any questions for us?

I'm curious as you know, as I've been watching some of the planning commission meetings on Zoom, it's really wonderful resource to have that available at home. I'm curious about how council views the ideal relationship between the planning commission and council. Is there a is there a sort of an ideal role that that planning commission serves?

You know, I'm gonna defer to either the mayor or the town manager on that one.

Well, I think we could all give you some some thoughts that may vary a little bit, but but we look at the planning commission as a very critical arm of how this municipal government works, especially in light of the fact that that development and issues pop up. We need a group that's solely focused on on that process. Sure. So the the relationship that I've seen over the years and many of us including vice mayor, we serve as liaison to that group and we have a former chair council member Leitman and council member Moore has served on that as well. So we look at it as a as a partnership separate but focused in the same direction which is being true to the general plan, is being true to the low density approach to our town and what we value and protect.

So so we obviously, that's a very important role and so we see the collaboration. We have our dedicated vice mayor to serve as a liaison. They're very important meetings and discussions, and they're not easy. We know that the planning commission's got a very it's not an easy job. It's a it's a very responsible job.

And I think someone had mentioned the idea of the balancing the needs of the resident and the property owner versus what the the the town has and what we believe. So so we look at it as a critical aspect and I'm more than happy to open that up to other members of the council but I will tell you we appreciate what they do and how they do it and they've done it for years and we also look at their guidance of what they see doing a deeper dive on subject matter and on the details and the incredible dedication that those planning commissioners have. And they're it's and they're not all development experts. They bring different backgrounds and we appreciate that as well. But but we rely on them and we rely on them and we trust them.

And so to us it's a partnership. They have their we'll we'll interact with them as needed. We'll provide a statement of direction should it be required for a special use permit project. But we trust that they're gonna be doing the job and of course there's a lot of attention on what they do at the meetings and how that schedules. Some of the years they've had meetings that have taken busy all through the summer. So where the council does take a break unless there's an urgent need for a special meeting, Planning Commission bears right through. They put their shoulder to it and they keep going and we appreciate that. Thank

you for your volunteer work with the historic and thank you for being here and mayor will be in touch in the next few days with we have 15 applicants and very limited spots. So thank you so much. Thank you all for

your time. Thank you, thank

you. Thank you, council members. Thank you, Jenny. Thanks, bye.

Thank you.

We've got David. Is it Lemelin? Susan. And Susan Hawthorne. David Lemelin. Lemelin? Duncan, did we hear anything from Jane Horn? Did she ever?

No. I have not heard from her.

I have a significant amount in this weekend. Oh, I thought it was due on the end of the week. I don't have it in tomorrow. Thank you for being here. Good to see you.

Thanks for putting your name forward in an application for volunteerism. You attend so many town events, so it's only fitting that you want to continue that passion that you and Jim have had over the years. And we greatly appreciate all our residents that have come forward. We had about 15 or so candidates but it's heartwarming to see you and to welcome you here. Thank you. Good to have you here.

We're glad

I didn't go on that trip and I could come in.

Well I'm sorry, I understand that. I hope your shoulder is okay.

I have just one wing.

Oh, okay.

We're gonna

do surgery on the twentieth at Torque. We're not gonna make you do any push ups or anything. That's not gonna be part of this.

I'm bad from the mountain for a little bit.

Well, Susan, we're so grateful. So you know my colleagues is the full council and we're all volunteers as you as you know and and as as We love it just like all of our residents that step forward and just like all of our judicial branch. They're all volunteers as well for the municipal court. So, we're And so today, it's a pretty straightforward process. Only be about ten minutes. So it's not a heavy lift other than just asking you a few questions. And then if you've got questions for us, we're happy to field those as best we can. And and to lead us through the process is gonna be our vice mayor, Christine Labelle, and she'll go ahead and but feel free if you've got questions for us to fire them off and we'll do the best we can. Vice mayor?

Thank you, miss Hawthorne. Vice mayor Lobel here and thank you for being here as as the mayor said. So we have a pretty structured standardized group of questions today and first we're just gonna ask you to just briefly describe your background and why you're interested in serving on either one of these committees. And then I'm going to do some follow-up questions and we'll do a little closing question. And then as many questions as you have you're able to ask us, okay?

So just a little bit about your background, why these positions, why planning, why the Arts Board and is what, oh ACOPS or Arts Board, And if you have a personal, you know, if you have a number one or two, we'd be interested in hearing that too. Okay. Thank you.

I actually wrote a little piece out. Do I have time to read it or no?

No, terrific. Absolutely.

Will give you a little Yes. Oh, get my own mic. Alright. I'm known as Southern Susie Q and I was born and raised on a farm in Evergreen, Louisiana, the oldest of six kids. I got my masters in elementary ed and I taught first grade for six years in Shreveport.

One day, this sweet Texas Aggie swooped in and just stole my heart. We married and started moving all around The US with the pharmaceutical industry. I was birthing a kid in every state that I moved to. After four states, I finally figured that out, and we still moved to three more states after that. We moved to Scottsdale in 1994, lived there twenty one years, then built in PV about eleven years ago.

You've just got to picture this. Jim and me slowly moving all our worldly belongings into the new house, arriving in the minivan with our mattresses strapped to the top like we were granny and Jed Clampett, hoping that the new neighbors weren't peeping through their blinds and thinking, here come the Beverly Hillbillies to Paradise Valley. Out of all the states we lived in, Arizona is hands down my favorite, and living in Paradise Valley is really the icing on the cake. It's small enough to know your neighbors, know most of the city council, and get great hugs from the mayor. It's just a hop, skip, and jump from the airport in downtown.

I live close enough to the crown jewel, Camelback Mountain, to walk to it about five every morning, climb halfway up, and then walk back home. Just a real treasure. Where else could you go to have coffee with a cop once a month for a great program with coffee and bagels and visit with the fine men and women who keep us safe? And where else could you find a chief who periodically calls me to make sure I'm doing okay, and could he or his officers help me in any way? Only in Paradise Valley.

I do love this town so much. I also love the Lord. I love my four kids, my eight little grandchildren who live in the area, love all my friends. God has blessed me in so, so many ways. On a sad note, my beloved Jim went to be with the Lord ten months ago after a battle with pancreatic cancer.

He had just earned his PhD in archaeology with about seven digs in Jordan under his belt. We also got to celebrate our fiftieth anniversary before he died. He served for several years on ACOPS. I would really feel honored to serve PV by taking Jim's place on ACOPS. If not, I'll always be one of the biggest cheerleaders for the town and I'm willing to help out wherever y'all need me.

Can we clap? No, I'm sorry.

Didn't hear ramble. No. Your

love for the town is palpable. And I thank you for being here today. So my follow-up question is going to be yeah. Don't know. Pretty boring compared to what you just told us. But I see that, again, you said ACOPS or arts. It sounds like your love is for ACOPS. Don't want put words I love in your the officers

and the chief. They're just awesome.

Yeah. And I think you got ahead of some of the questions I would have answered as a follow-up. Like how would you describe the current relationship between the police department and the residents? I think you

did that. So

I would probably just follow-up with if you were an art sport, because we know your love for ACOPS, what would be your vision for that role? What do you know about it? What would be your vision for that role if you were to do it?

I don't know. I remember Jim was their secretary or something. He took their notes, but I'm not real sure what all they did. I think they just gave feedback and I'm not sure I'm not sure what they actually did, though. I never did ask Jim about that.

Okay. And did you have any questions for us? It sounds to me like you probably know more about what's going on over there at ACOPS and the cop and everything.

I just love going over there. If y'all have if some of you haven't been there on those Wednesdays, they're just amazing.

Yeah. With the turnout. Yeah. Any any questions for us or anything else you wanna add?

No. I'm appreciative of you guys because you do this from the love of your heart too. And you don't get paid enough for what you do. Yeah. I I agree. You just get really tough. Well, you

you obviously are here for for the love of the town yourself. I So you you recognize it. Yeah. And I I thank you for being here. And I know that there are 15 applicants at a a very small But you the mayor will be in touch and if there's nothing else. Alright. Thank you. Thank you so much.

Was so

glad you could make it.

And her shoulder gets better soon.

Damn. I'll bring them by one day for y'all. I make those Louisiana pralines and and usually share them. I meant to do that today. Yeah.

I didn't wanna do that. I didn't wanna go there. Yeah. And then they used to call in this Jim Southern name was it was James Raymond. So, we call him Jimmy Ray. Oh, yeah. Aw. The two the two names. Thank you, guys.

Thank you. Yeah.

It completely tore us, so they're gonna they're gonna have to do some major surgery on it. You can't keep cute.

Thank you, Susie.

Keep cute out. No. No.

We want to. It's all good.

Take care.

Thank you, Susie. Thanks for being here. Thanks for your love of the town. Mr. Lemelin, thank you for joining us.

Hi there.

Hi there. Thank you so much for spending some time. My name is Mark Stanton. I serve as the mayor and these are my council colleagues, and the full council is here today

Good.

To meet all the wonderful applicants that are wanting to volunteer. And as you are probably well aware, we're all volunteers, and our municipal judges are all volunteers. You're applying to be in the ranks of loving the town and working to support it and help it develop and grow in the right way. So today, we've had the honor to meet about 15 applicants for different positions and we know that you've submitted your application and we've had chance to review that background. So this will be about a ten minute process. I'm gonna turn it over to the vice mayor Christine LaBelle and she'll lead that discussion. But we're grateful. We're grateful for your interest, thankful for your background and appreciate you being here today. Great.

Hi. Thank you for being here, Vice Mayor Lobel. Thank you for showing up and for your interest in Planning Commission or Arts Board. That's what's on the

Or both.

Or both. Yeah. Right? So the the process today is a little bit structured. So I'm gonna start off with asking you to just briefly describe your background, why you're interested serving on either one of those committees. Feel free to expound on both. And then we'll follow-up with some specific questions and a closing question. And if you have any questions at that time for us, we we're here and happy to answer. So just tell us a little bit about yourself and and why planning and why arts board and and what would be your first pick?

It's interesting on on what would be my first pick. The reason I'm here is because I do appreciate the role that each of you play and other members, you know, caring members of our community, volunteer their time. I would like to be, you know, in direction. Point. And great great a maintain that, and I I I think think two that's areas that I could potentially contribute are in these two areas.

By way of background, I was a very sort of left brain person for a good part of my career and a good part of my life. Raised on the Air Force Academy, the old three boys. Went into marketing, went into research, went into analysis early in my career with a phone company. I did a lot of stakeholder management, public policy management. I worked with the legislative groups that interfaced with the state legislatures in the the seven state region and later a a 14 state region after the breakup of the Bell system.

I was a company futurist for several years. So that whole left side of the brain analysis and understanding how data, facts, a direction leads to good outcomes when you truly do look at facts, data. I had a chance to take a look at the general plan in detail, and I think it hits all the marks. We wanna keep Paradise Valley what it is and what attracted us all to it. That involves knowing how the water flows.

That involves knowing how what people want in the community, what they expect from the community. People have made significant investments in living here. They've invested in a lifestyle. They've been let invested in a way of living that they are proud of and they wanna protect. I did listen to the planning commission meeting from earlier this week, and I thought it was very interesting.

It had two agenda items. One was Phoenix Country Day School wanting to put in a new ballpark and then put in a a a wellness center. It's interesting because when I worked for the phone company, worked in that Fife Simonton building that looks out over Phoenix Country Day. So when I moved here in '89, I saw some of the things that were happening with Phoenix Country Day. So I was able to and it was very interesting.

That meeting hit the right marks. I think the planning commission asked the right kind of questions. They're gonna have signs that, you know, are electric and could be used in a variety of ways, but they were assured that it's just gonna be directional, letting people know that they're direct them to the events that could be occurring. They also asked about the signage. They asked about traffic flow.

When they are doing construction of the wellness center, where are people gonna be parking? They asked all the right kind of questions. So I think understanding, you know, what we want to achieve. I I know that commission looks at, you know, various waivers, but the the thing that's most attractive and the name of that commission is planning. You know, I've made a career in planning.

I made a career in strategy. I made a career in analysis consultation. I've I've I've consulted with some of the the largest c suites in the country and really relied on facts and data from me and opinion. I'm I'll always talk about facts and data before I'll talk about opinion. But I think having the general plan and the direction of the general plan guides the right kind of decisions and and and the right kind of activities.

And so I would love to contribute there. I said I'd start off with the left side of the brain. I then had two daughters. One was a competitive dancer. The other was in musical theater. I had an appreciation for the arts very quickly for a lot of years. And then I moved into my house in Paradise Valley. I think Scott might have been in this house. There's an art gallery in my house. It was built by art collectors.

Being an analytical person, I was able to combine both interest in the arts and sort of the whole idea of wanting to maybe get into collections and really appreciating art. And I try and have a balance of local artists that I have on display in the house as well as some of the, you know, the the things you would expect. A lot of, a lot of, apels. I do have some Peter Max and just, you know, some like an artist print from Salvador Dali and quite a bit of that, but also a few local artists. Leland Beaman being one of them.

I have one of his unique pieces. I also have some of Philip Campbell Curtis. And I happened to be at the installation of the art display at Shadow Mountain Resort last week. I met with a curator. I sort of talked to her about my interest in art.

She asked me who I had locally, and I told her about me having some of the Philip Curtis pieces. She goes, oh, I know someone who has a cattle track art that works at cattle track art that has a private collection and all that. So we're actually gonna be meeting in May for that. So I definitely have a very strong interest in art and appreciation for it. I'm sorry.

I know that you've had different artists displayed over time. These Dickmans are interesting. You know, I've I've got a couple of agama graphs in the house as well, and so he sort of played on the whole agama graph concept. So very much art is a is a passion of mine as is just trying to I've I've been very fortunate in my career. I've been very fortunate in life.

And as I'm getting closer to retirement, I'm looking for ways of contribute contributing. I've already had a discussion with Andrew and James about using some AI tools to reach out to the public with surveys. It could be very he put a QR code as an example, a QR code on the monthly mailer emailer that he sends out and just ping people on opinion about something. Tools of getting public input. I know that the general plan has not been updated for a lot of years, and it doesn't get updated all that often.

But it also needs to be a living plan, and I think that's where the planning commission comes in. Where do you stay true to the tenants in that general plan, but also where do you recognize that our community is changing? Our population is not. We still have 75% of our land is private residential. It's gonna remain private residential.

We've already gone through the development of some of the resort development and and and other development that has taken place. I think that what will be facing the the town in the next several years as people abandon California and New York and other parts of the country and they come here, they'll be attracted to some of that private privately held open space. And making sure that that privately held open space still stays true to the tenants of the general plan, I think, is important, but also has to be a living document and a a process. So I appreciate that. I think also from a reach out standpoint in the arts, You know, one of the other the other businesses we have in this town are mostly resorts and churches and schools.

So tying art and and and the reach out of art to those organizations that we have, I think, would be something to maybe consider. And I might have some thoughts in those areas. So let me just stop there.

Thank you so much. I don't even think I can ask a question because I think you may have answered them all. I I would I would like you to

for a living.

Yeah. No. It's great. Maybe expounding on a couple of things. And, you know, when we when we do our tech board, maybe we'll we'll, you know, we'll circle back to you too. Oh, that's part

of it part of it too is

Sorry. I didn't I I talked to apologize. Mark.

Yeah. Early on when I went to one of the breakfast. My background is telephony. Yeah. Our cell service is horrible. We have we don't have enough macro cells and the micro cells or when there's other technologies we should be using. There are some high points of steeples and churches, a tower over at Cosanti. You know, those kinds of things can be incorporated to try without making these ugly towers have some way of doing it. So technology is know, I

could talk technology all I like I said, I went off script. I I actually did have a couple of questions for you, if that's okay. So you were talking a lot about and I'm going to ask questions both about the Planning Commission and Arts Board because you seem to have equal passion for what I'm hearing almost for both. So you said you had some ideas about the PV Arts Board. Do you have a vision of what other things they could be doing or events or the outreach as you as you mentioned? You don't have to deep dive on it, just some general ideas of of, you know, the way your right left brain is working on that. And then I had one more question about planning commission after that, but I'll let you.

Yeah. One of the things that I talked to Cece about, the curator over at Mountain Shadows, was whether or not this commission, you know, the arts board deals with works with her or anything on the installation of the art programs and and some sort of interface between what the art that we have here in city hall and the resorts getting maybe some of the the resorts to come take a look at the art. You know, these local artists can benefit. Dickman would probably love to have a little bus pull up because people wanna see the art because there's a flyer, you know, in the the resort if they're interested in the local artists. Yeah.

We are having a tour, actually. Okay. I don't know if you're aware of that, but No. Maybe the the arts liaison could fill you in after this, so if you were interested. It's Sunday. I'm sorry.

Okay.

It's this Sunday. Yeah. And then one more question if you would, if you don't mind about planning. Again, hearing you, you're paying attention. You seem very engaged. Planning commissioners are very often required to balance the property rights of an individual against the values of the community. Do you have thoughts on that? And aside from the way you recognize that the general plan is sort of that North Star, aside from that, where where do you land on that?

I think those individual owners like I said, one of the issues is going to increasingly become this this privately held open space. I think as long as we stay, you know, to some of the things like was raised in the the meeting earlier this week, there's a right there has to be a fire hydrant. There has to be, you know, the the right kind of infrastructure in place as long as it it and it's staying to minimum of one acre. And there might be some other things involved in that too, access. We have some weird access on some of these lots, you know, where there's multiple driveways that sort of spear out.

I don't know what those if there's people that have issues with that or not, but I'd be interested in in finding out if people do. I think where I default to is sort of listening to the facts and then holding up against the general plan, but also people's rights to their property as long as they are not infringing significantly on on others.

Thank you so much. Do you have any questions for us?

I guess one of the questions I have is I see that they're on the planning commission. I think there's three that are up. I don't know if they expire. I don't know if people renew or how you go about how do you go about making your decisions?

I think every year it's a little different. So there we have a a toolkit, and I'm gonna defer to the mayor on that one.

So we look at we look at those folks that may wanna be reappointed or not. We look at what's available. There are different circumstances in every committee or commission. Some folks may be for example, there's a couple of folks that that may be running for public office, so they'll they'll at some point, they'll roll off sooner than their term. So it's always a little bit a little varies a little bit differently.

And then there's the life gets in the middle of it. There's we've had folks that have moved, folks that have sadly have have passed away and so there's some cycles to it. We have the set term limits that we have term and then we have a renewal if people want to not everybody wants to. So we look at that every session to see who's applied, where we are in the cycle. We talk to the chair of the committees to find out what preference is. We look at attendance. We look at things that sort of reflect how they've done in that role. And so when we go through this process, we're just checking the sort of the tone and the the pulse of those applicants and and seeing those that may want to step into those roles if they're available now or if they

may be. Okay. Good. Thank you.

I'll just say that, you know, I like I said, I feel blessed to live here and love to get back in some ways.

Well, I'd just like to say thank you for showing up. You for being Thank you for loving the town and and learning more about it. And it's we have 15 applicants in very limited spaces. And and in the next few days, you'll be getting an email for the mayor, and we'll we'll we'll see where we all land.

Okay. I'd still

like I'd still like to shoot for that twofer.

Yeah. And thank thank you so much for being here.

Alright. Thank you, mister Ramalli. Appreciate it. Yeah.

Thank you.

Mister mayor, that was our last interview for today. Would you like to hear from chair Georgios at this point? Pardon me? Do would you like to hear from chair Georgios at this point?

I I think so. I know, panelist Georgios is the is the planning commission chair. I guess a couple questions for you. One is we're going to move into an executive session and suspend the live feed and so that is part of the evaluation process. I did touch base with the town attorney and I understand that we could if we council decides to have council or chair George Ellis in the exec committee, we'd invite her to do that. We need a motion to two two points. One, I'd like to have the motion to go into executive session and then also a motion to approve Ken Cherry George Ellis being part of the discussion.

I'll move. Yes, sir.

I'll move.

Are you looking for miss George Ellis to be

in through the whole executive

No. Only on the planning commission. Yeah. Thank you for the clarification.

Good point. I move that we go into executive session and that as part of executive session, we have chair planning chair, Pam George Ellis, participate in the planning. I'll second that.

All right, moved and seconded. All those in favor? Aye. All right, we'll suspend the live feed and for those on the home edition, we'll be coming back at six p. M. For the business meeting. So thanks everybody. Well, good evening, everybody. Apologize for a little delayed start. Executive session ran a little bit longer than planned, but the town council meeting for 04/09/2026 is now called to order. Would the clerk please call the roll?

Mayor Stanton? Here. Vice mayor Lavelle? Here. Council member Andean Keller? Here. Council member Liebman? Sorry. That's it. Council member Moore. Here. Council member Pace. Here. Council member Thomason. Here. Council member Liepman.

Thank you. Alright. With that, next up order is the pledge of allegiance, and I would ask if everyone could please stand, and I will lead the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of The United States Of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Alright.

Next up is presentations. We we have a special presentation tonight. There are thousands of children in Arizona who have experienced abuse or neglect. Voices for CASA Children seeks to give a voice to these children through the court appointment special advocate volunteer. At this time, I would like to invite Bonnie Brown, executive director for Voices of CASA Children to come forward and receive a proclamation from the town.

Alright. Thank you, Bonnie. So I'll read the proclamation, then I'd like to invite my colleagues to come up and do a photo. And if you've got some of your colleagues here, we'd be more than happy to welcome them too. So, whereas the health, safety, and well-being of Arizona's children are fundamental to the to the prosperity of our communicate communities and future of our state and whereas each of your thousand of Arizona children enter the child welfare system due to reports of abuse or neglect, experiencing uncertainties, inabilities, and a general lack of consideration and support during the challenging time in this their young lives.

And whereas, a court appointed special advocate, CASA, is a trusted volunteer appointed by a judge to advocate for the best interest of a child in force and foster care and ensuring that their voices are heard and the needs are met in court proceedings, placement decisions, and other critical areas. And CASA volunteers provide an invaluable resource by building trusted relationships with their appointed youth advocating for timely, permanently and sustainability, promoting their more positive outcomes and helping the children pursue their lives and dreams and lead a self determined life. And whereas in Arizona, CASA volunteers work diligently in partnership with the judges, attorneys, social workers, and community partners to ensure that these children have support, resources, and opportunities now and in the future. And whereas the work of the CASA volunteers has a profound and lasting impact on the lives of vulnerable children providing them with a consistent, compassionate and presence to help them restore a more balanced and hopeful future. And whereas CASA volunteer week provides an opportunity to recognize and honor the dedication of the CASA volunteers, raise awareness of about and the urgent need for more volunteers to be volunteer, Paradise Valley, to volunteer and to help step forward and make a difference in the lives of these children for their future success.

I therefore, Mark Stanton, mayor of the town of Paradise Valley, do hereby proclaim 06/1226 as Casa through the sixth through the twelfth, 2026 as CASA volunteer week. And I encourage all residents of the town to learn more about CASA volunteer programs, applaud the incredible work that they provide, and become a CASA volunteer themselves. Thank you. There you go. And if you guys are the council wants to come and join me and do a photo op.

Mayor and Council members, thank you very much for this opportunity.

We're with

Voices for CASA Children and it's with great gratitude. We thank you for recognizing CASAWeek and the important work that the CASA volunteers do on behalf of the children living in foster care and for advocating for all children and well-being. Thank you very much.

See you. Yeah. We'll catch up.

Thank you again and congratulations. Alright. Next item is going to be 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 conformance with open meeting laws, the council may not discuss or take action on any matters raised. However, the council may respond to criticism after all public comments have been made. Ask the staff to review the matter or ask that it be placed on a future agenda. Speakers are asked to state if they're a town resident and also limit their comments to three minutes. And if you'd like to address the council, please fill out a speaker request form at the podium on the way in to the council chambers. They're located at the lectern, and once completed, turn them over to our town clerk.

And with that, I'd ask mister town clerk, do we have any request for call to the public?

I have not received any requests.

Alright. Not seeing any, we'll move on to the consent agenda. Items on the consent agenda are considered by the council to be routine and are normally enacted by a single motion. If a member of the council or the public would like to discuss any of these items, it will be removed from the consent agenda and considered separately. Would the town manager please summarize tonight's consent agenda?

Thank you, mister mayor. We have two items on tonight's consent agenda. Item 26 dash zero nine seven, approval of the minutes of the town council meeting of 03/26/2026 and '26 dash one zero four. Discussion and possible action to adopt resolution number twenty twenty six dash zero three, which is the extension of the town of Paradise Valley's membership in the Arizona Metropolitan Trust, also known as AZMT. Thank you.

Thank you. Would any council member like to remove an item from the consent agenda?

Mayor, I would like to remove item 26 dash one zero four.

All right, with that, I would ask if there is a motion to approve the balance of the consent agenda, which would be 20 six-ninety seven.

Mayor, I move, Approve the twenty six dash zero nine seven minutes of the town council meeting 03/26/2026.

There a second?

Moved and second. All those in favor? Aye. Anybody opposed? Alright, Council Member Thomason, I know you asked to remove item 26 dash one zero four.

Thank you, mayor. I wanted to remove this item so that I could publicly thank our human resource director, Ms. Monger. Over the last few months, she has worked very hard on decisions relative to the trust and also to our compensation. Having spent a career in compensation and benefits, I know that these are very difficult decisions. The decision to be in the trust or not be in the trust is not an easy decision, and it's not like just picking an insurer. So, I know that decision was made thoughtfully and with great regard for all of our town employees. I have observed her work, she always shows great diligence and good intent in her work, and I just wanted to publicly applaud her for her work on this trust decision.

Thank With that, I would ask if there is a motion to approve 26Dash104.

Mayor, I would like to enthusiastically vote to approve discussion and action item to adopt resolution 202603, extension of the town of Paradise Valley's membership in the Arizona Metropolitan Trust. Second.

It's been moved and seconded. Any discussion? All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes, thank you. Alright. There are no public hearings tonight, so we'll move on to action items. The next item is to make appointments. Oh, actually, we're gonna take the we're going to go into exec at this point. Is that correct? So we're gonna postpone this until after the exec meeting. So with that, I