City Council - Regular Meeting

Okay, good evening everyone. We're going to go ahead and call to order the um study session and we'll go ahead and start. It looks like let's see. Is this you, Larry? Yes, madam mayor.

The first one. Okay. Uh madame mayor, members of the council, this evening we will be covering two topics during our study session. The first uh is the uh draft alloca uh effluent allocation strategy and the second is the uh action plan that really is the final component. Both of these are actually culmination of several months work by the mayor, council and and uh staff. But if I can uh make a point of clarification, the if you are looking at the document that's in your council packet that's online, that is a document that was generated several years ago and not the right effluent allocation uh strategy. I have handed out a hard copy for everybody. Um this evening I realized a couple of minutes ago that I had attached really what was the foundational document to this entire process that was done by Westwwater. Many of you are familiar with it. I'm sure I'm certain. But with that being said um to if if you'll look if you'll take a look at the document that I've handed out that I references the draft effluent allocation strategy. Uh as all of you know this is 3 months uh culmination into what we consider to be the uh the final draft of an allocation strategy uh that we've worked on through the various study sessions over the course of the past several months. Uh obviously there's been a lot of change that has transpired in the world of water during that period of time with the announcement of Arizona water company receiving their designation through the alternative designation of assured water supply program. uh which in my mind just adds an additional reason for us to begin to uh build a strategy that we can make known as an organization uh to our to the to developers in the community as well as our community uh provide transparency through that. So um what

you will see in this document and uh is really a combination of components to it. It may be a bit long. If the mayor and council would like me to to uh to make reductions or make amendments to this, I'm I'm looking for that feedback tonight. But ultimately, what I attempted to do uh what the team attempted to do is uh establish uh based on the feedback we we received from the mayor and council a allocation model, if you will. I've also put in some uh concepts into the strategy so that it can be a guiding a guiding force when we're looking at uh various requests for allocation as well as a model a 10-year model on what we might be expecting based on the affluent uh volumes that we've that we've seen over the last several years. and um and and at least in my mind and I think the mind of the team that's been working with the city on this um it it really serves as a an overall foundation that can be used for future decision-m. You'll also see in it, and I'll talk a little bit about it in more detail, is the need to bring back some type of an annual report to the mayor and council that really just highlights how our al how the uh effluent was allocated in any particular year, determine whether or not it's meeting our percentage percentages that uh have been guided by the council. But again from staff's perspective we think that's an important element of this just to stay just particularly for the next couple of years uh because we've designed this uh the strategy to have some flexibility for mayor and council as requests come in but ultimately we need to have a mechanism by which we're we are reporting annually what those volumes are looking like and how they're being allocated to ensure that we're staying within some level of balance. Uh but with that uh mayor and council if I can I you know you'll see in the first page um we basically cover really a summary of what you've heard and really what our

focus was on how effluent can be utilized. We we in Cassagran use it for practic in some form or fashion practically in every use from agriculture uh or excuse me from uh landscaping irrigation at the Dave White golf course to industrial processes at the um at the SRP power generation plant as well as adding to our long-term term storage credits and and again with the changes in the landscape of water there's no doubt that we're going to begin to receive requests for uh for effluent to be allocated to the assured water supply uh program as well. I talk a little bit about the strategic objectives on page two. Uh again, these are really summaries from what you've heard over the course of the last three months uh that really uh the importance of effluent, the long-term uh water security, focusing on recharge, uh the regulatory compliance and the like. So, uh just a section related to that. And then I really begin to get the report gets into the allocation uh priorities uh and attempts to uh develop a tier system uh for consideration uh really breaking that down into municipal and regulatory needs uh high value economic development in tier 2 and then commercial agriculture and landscaping in in tier three. Um in in my mind this really just gives us a mechanism by which if we get multiple requests we have a prior a priority of how we would actually look to allocate that influence in that order. Um and and and really I I think it uh is it aligns with what the feedback that we've heard from the mayor and council over the course of these study sessions. I talk a little bit about contractual standards, what we might be looking for, pricing philosophy and uh infrastructure planning and capacity. Primarily, you may not see something like this in a

normal strategy. These are the sections that if you think can should be modified, at least in my mind, if you want more flexibility, we would likely take those out. But I've added that for the development community to understand to have a little better understanding of what as a city we are looking for. uh in terms of a e affluent agreement and I know that the mayor and council is well aware that we've had some recent requests for effluent agreement and we've we've neg we've navigated through some of that but this really becomes part of the foundation of the feedback that we've received and really you've heard some of these same comments from Katherine Sornson when she was in it really just kind of sets the basis for a contractual framework to the development community um and then finally and I'm I'm actually um on section 10 that transparency in government and ultimately this is where I begin to get into the the annual reporting uh to the mayor and council uh talking about the total effluent production allocation volumes remaining capacity revenue generated long-term commitments. I think that that we we know the importance of effluent today in Cassagrand and and personally believe that having some type of a transparency component to this just will will ultimately in my mind drive better decision-m drive uh at least some level of understanding by the development community and mo most importantly allows our residents to understand that we we take we take this very seriously and look to uh account for that and reported on an annual basis. But it brings us to section 11 which is the strategic reserve policy. That is something that the mayor and council talked about in our last study session that was focused on the fact that uh there was a desire on the part of the elected body to add a reserve component to this. Uh ultimately staff sees this as an opportunity to continue to

generate our long-term storage credits essentially through recharge. and we have modeled the entire uh program around a 20% reservation each year. Uh I've left this somewhat flexible for the mayor and council to be able to utilize that from time to time if you'd like to allocate it, but ultimately the the the parameters are established in this program to establish a reserve and then 40% allocation to the to the industrial and commercial and 40% into residential. And ironically enough, and I think I said this at the last meeting, u ultimately uh we we have as at the as at the city, we have really been on a first come first- serve basis with the use of our effluent. And ironically enough, if you look at the percentages, it almost aligns with that 50/50 today. Anyhow, in our allocation to residential development, i.e. Copper Mountain Ranch, the allocation uh to that development as well as um to SRP and and to the Dave White Golf Course and other commitments that are coming behind it. We we really have somewhat organically met that that 40 40 20% just organically. So um but but um again it was built on the 20% uh and then ultimately some conclusions um when I get into uh section what would that be 14 I guess uh the economic sector base we really begin to dive into the model the 20 4040 model that um that we've modeled this under again that is something that that percentage is something that can change by the mayor and council you can certainly overallocate one particular uh sector if you'd like in any given year and but ultimately always attempting to find that balance if you will and um but ultimately that's what we've modeled this under and are are going to be driving to uh to fulfill. So, I I talk a

little bit about some of what I would consider or what the team would consider the um the industrial allocation uh and and I'm going to spend a little time on this. We that we would look to prioritize to industries that are strategic industrial users with signific significant capital investment water uh intensive users with that reduce potable water demand essentially the drain of of the aquifer. the job creation and wage levels, capital investment and community benefit agreements. Uh those are just what I consider to be guiding principles that when we have an industry that comes in and wants to meet with the city and and and uh perhaps negotiate an effluent purchase agreement that we would be using those. You'll see that I did not write specific requirements. For example, we have an economic development ordinance that requires so much so many new creation of jobs uh a pay over a specific um uh a specific threshold and a capital investment. I did not add any of those criteria to this, but I guess I would pause at this point and just ask if the council, particularly at the front of this, is more interested in leaving it somewhat vague and evaluating on a case-by case basis for the next year or two, or if you want us to begin to really tie in some level of threshold that you that that must be met in order to qualify for an effluent purchase agreement.

I believe having the uh the flexibility to do that um where we don't have nothing set like right now but we have the flexibility where we can adjust it if we need to in another area right and I think that's I think this is the can that we be flexible with that um instead of saying okay we're going to put this amount to this this amount to that and be flexible because the need may change correct and so we just need to be able to adjust so that's my thoughts on and you outlined the the criteria. I mean it so you're saying you know okay we want to make sure there's some type of community benefit right

agreement capital investment job creation and wages so I guess it's there without having specific you know dollars or number of jobs no mandates yeah just just maintain flexibility I I agree the the things I like too was and I wanted to be more outfront but that it's reducing groundwater usage because that's important because a lot of people don't realize they're not taking water out of the ground because they're using this we can use it for other things cuz that was a big thing uh when Katherine Sasonson came from the Kyle Center about public health actually they they put it under public health which is you know one way to put it

and then um another important part is the u participation in infrastructure capital cost from users on the industrial side so um but that's all in there so and I think yeah we we're on the the forefront of this which I think is good having even a policy in place, right? So, I think it's going to, you know, start with this and see how it goes and changes as we go forward with it. But, right, I I do think there is some benefit to that. Uh, you'll remember that Miss Sorenson had indicated that she was unaware of any other city having this and we we certainly found that as we were attempting to model

one at the front end of this. Uh but uh in in her comments back as we worked through this document, she had she had suggested that more cities ought to be looking at that at something like this with a change of the of the landscape uh in water because I I think it's fair to say that we're going to get we're very likely going to get more requests for the use of effluent than we ever have because of the importance of effluent to the program. Mhm.

And and you know, Larry and I like the idea that it really even though we say policy, but it really is like guidelines at this point, you know, so because this is the very first time we're doing this and we wanted it because we started getting requests and so we were okay, well, what is our strategy? What do we want to do? So, I think it's good to have a have a little bit of flexibility even though we have to be careful because if someone comes and asks, you know, and and we say, "Okay, no, you don't qualify, but then the other one is and there's no concrete numbers. I don't know how we can navigate um you know through that but I think we have to be careful and make sure we're somewhat consistent too.

No absolutely mayor and I I think from a practical application perspective what I'm envisioning is that on the industrial side specifically that we're going to we typically receive some level of information or detail related to the capital investment of a prospective business and the number of jobs are going to create and the wages. something that we normally would see in the course of our economic development efforts. And um and so I I envision that we will continue to get that information and apply it uh if they're asking for some level of effluent. But but most importantly, it it we the I guess I would start by talking about the disadvantage to not setting those parameters and trying to stay consistent. The disadvantage is that we want to maximize this effluent. And so what likely will transpire, at least in my mind, is that it will very likely uh depending on the capital investment, drive the terms of agreements and those types of provisions that are included in an agreement uh to ensure that we're not tying up effluent that could be more valuable to us in the future. Right? So, that's going to be that's going to be the the um art component of this these next couple of years, at least in my mind.

Sure. What it sounds like the uh council wants to leave it as somewhat flexible and and be able to change it. What does that mean for the future of this document? Will we m be voting on an ordinance at some point or

we we are we are going to be asking the mayor and council to ultimately adopt the strategy, but in essence it will be um there there is language throughout the document that allows each case to be on a case-byase basis. So, at least in my mind today, Council Member Huddleston, is that it it gives us the flexibility to consider any any potential um buyer of effluent or or requesttor of effluent. I personally believe that what will transpire is that as as we move into the next couple of years, you're going to begin to see some parameters that we can begin to establish with a little more definition and maybe come back at some point as this is amended uh in the future and ultimately add more criteria, if you will, if that makes sense. I mean, in my mind, it's it's something that gives us the flexibility today, but we're going to begin to build the foundation for the parameters for tomorrow.

Okay. Okay, no more questions.

If there's no questions on industrial, I'll move to residential. Again, 40%. Um, you know, I think that this is probably going to be the area that we we grapple with a little bit simply because um uh the we as time advances and we begin to see what type of development is going to be taking advantage of the of the alternative designation, we're going to have different requests by developers. Is there a difference in the eyes of the council from a 100 unit subdivision to a thousand unit subdivision? Right. And and um and and so uh I really do believe it's going to drive continued uh discussion. In fact, I have a couple of areas that I want to speak with at the council as we come to a conclusion. Uh, I believe that we're in a good enough position today to be able to consider any development that transpires, but I honestly believe that we will likely end up wanting to establish some criteria for the residential side of this when it when it's all said and done and and perhaps perhaps establishing the min minimum acreage or the minimum number of units that a developer is going to build. I I don't know that we're going to be wanting to do an effluent purchase agreement for with every house that gets built in town, right? And and so um I'll just I'll just unveil one of the topics I was going to talk about. I think the idea as time goes on and we see exactly how this new process on the water side is going to drive effluent. uh are do we want to be in a position where we're entering into an agreement with every developer that needs the effluent in order to uh activate their development and or do we want to essentially do one development agreement with Arizona water that transfers that effluent? There's in my mind these next couple of years there's a number of components that are important to us. Some of the practical elements that we've talked about with

Arizona Water as an example is beginning to require development to put in uh metering devices to measure the amount of effluent that is coming back to the city. Today, that's not a requirement in our development standards, but tomorrow as as these as these developers begin to utilize effluent, we're going to want to ensure that we're not overcommitting our effluent to residential if they're not generating the water demand. If it and so, but again, today it's very very difficult. We've ADWR for the has accepted 33%. So, we've kind of had that dialogue for 33, but we don't know if it's going to be 50% or 12% and until we really get into these developments. We're going to continue to encourage um some level of of desert landscape and those types of things on these residential units, but in these subdivisions. But at the end of the day, it's uncertain for us to know exactly what that percentage of water demand that is that is taken by that development for homes and for landscape and whatever else they have is coming back into our wastewater treatment system. So, we're we're going to want to measure that in the next couple of years and ensure that that we are that we're allocating or returning some level of effluent on a on a more reliable percentage besides 33. Sure.

I got a couple of comments, questions. Um, one thing that was important to me and and people I talked to in the community about the industrial side was the time limit, right, on the, you know, on the agreement with with single family residential that's going to we can't say 20 years, right? Because what are we going to do? It has to be 100. So, that's one thing. But, can we use it if we do the individual uh agreements with developments? Then maybe you have to require that they have that that meter, right? you know, if if they want to enter that type of agreement, maybe Arizona Water would do that. And then maybe we can require different, you know, maybe certain densities, um, you know, to kind of use it as a tool to drive development.

Council member Herman, you're you're lining up the next series of study sessions and part of part of the the my closing comments on this particular topic. So, I'll just I want to respond to to some of the points that you made because I think you're 100% correct that essentially um I I don't I don't know that we're going to see a lot of these immediately, a lot of requests. We we have already seen a couple on residential today and and we're trying to establish the framework of a development agreement with those developers. So, I think what you're going to what you're going to see is that we will begin to establish some level of consistency in what we're willing to give back. Now, um and I know they're going to ask for a 100red-year assured assurance of that. That doesn't necessarily mean that we have to grant that there. Again, that's going to be part of the negotiations. And I think there's some components that we, you know, the size of the development, the timing of the development, those types of things that are ultimately, those types of elements that are ultimately going to come into play uh in these next couple of years. But I I do envision that we will be having some discussion with Arizona Water and our staff about potentially requiring these effluent meters as part of our development standards

uh to ensure that we're properly calculating for the effluent that is being returned to ensure that we're we're we're not overallocating

to a development when when we could be using that somewhere else. Um the second component that I think is important is that undoubtedly we're going to have developers that they're again they're already raising this particular topic of densities that uh and and different housing um approaches from uh housing standards to lot sizes to the like. Um that will undoubtedly be something that this council is going to at least hear about. I'm not advocating that you need to make any changes to it, but we are already beginning to hear that as as these new as this new water uh program is being instituted that it's adding some level of cost to buy supply and that there should be some um there should be some consideration given to the to the lot sizes and the densities that go with that. So I anticipate and I can't give you the exact data when it's going to start, but I would guess in the next 3 months, you're likely going to be begin to receive some level of presentation and study session format to begin that dialogue so that we can come to some conclusions and begin to marry our develop our development standards with this effluent strategy.

Any other questions at this point? Okay, Larry,

if there's no questions on that point, then ultimately um you get into again I I talk about the flexibility and adaptive management to this current strategy uh the strategic uh triggers that really begin to that we can begin to utilize as uh for for allocating. Again, these are primarily driven for um um for our developers to have an understanding of what we may be interested in seeing various various um thresholds there. And uh which then takes us to the 10-year allocation model. And really what I've done is just tried to give the council a perspective, but most importantly show a couple of elements. first and foremost that you we've run what I consider to be a very conservative annual growth at 1.6. Uh we're setting aside the U uh regulatory reserve. We're splitting between the sectors and what it does is it really is I I this is nothing more than an attempt to model for the council an understanding of what types of volumes we're going to be treating, what types of volumes we can anticipate that we're going to be recharging and more importantly the types of volumes that may the growth we may see the next couple of years as we begin to uh really focus on on finding the balance of that allocation between both both sectors. So, uh, it's just a lot of I know it looks like a lot of numbers, and I apologize for that, but I think the most important element of it all is that over a 10-year time period, um, at the 1% 1.6% 6% growth. You're we're seeing a we're seeing a um an increase of about 400 acre foot in each in each sector which again just the the that's the unique thing about effluent is that the more the more you the more you generate the more option you have to allocate.

I I uh madame mayor, members of the council, I would just close. I' I've talked a little bit about my thoughts related to um to development itself and the idea that we likely are going to be asked um for for some level of allocation in the very near term. Uh, I also wanted to raise the issue that it's very likely, well, I would I would be recommending it's something that our staff is already beginning to have discussion on is that we we likely need to come behind this after council adopts this allocation strategy with a uh work closely with Arizona Water Company to develop a recharge strategy because the second component of of to any of this uh to effluent is the ability to recharge and recover as you all learned in the through this process. process in various locations of the community. And today we have just the one recharge facility which is adjacent to the wastewater treatment plant and the Dave White Park. It's it's essentially the wash. But there are some challenges because of the hydraological composition of that. I don't know that we're ever going to be able to grow that particular area much greater and maximize the long-term storage credits that we can generate. So I think it's more practical for us to begin to look at a longer range vision to develop recharge facilities at various parts of this of our community um in order to uh to ensure that growth is happening throughout the community. Uh and obviously what comes with that is a recovery component u you recharge and you recover. uh that there we we've been having discussion with Arizona Water about a about a recovery agreement and so there's there's some follow-up portions to this and I guess the message that I'm attempting to frame this evening is that while this is a fantastic start and it really kind of sets us ahead of the game in my mind um at the end of the day there's still some additional work that we're going to be that we're we're going to have to come behind this with that really kind of

paints that picture builds the full loop for development to transpire and and uh in cash grant. So with that, Madame Mayor, I I think I've used my 28 minutes or my 30 on this and uh but I I practiced three times. So that's got a question, Larry. On on the recharge facilities, um I mean those those are going to cost money at different places, strategic planning, all that kind of stuff. Um how are we going to figure out how to pay for that? I mean, are we going to pass it on to the developers or who who's going to actually pay for that? It can't come out of the coffer, I imagine. But it's got to come out of the future development. Correct.

Right. And and Council Member Dugan, it's a fantastic question and I'm I'm going to give you a broad answer tonight just to get the council kind of thinking about this. Obviously, uh we there's there's a couple of different models that I think that we could pursue. Uh first and foremost, the question is going to be who is going to operate the recharge facility? And I think we have some options. It can be the city of Gas Grande. It may be Arizona water in certain circumstances. Um we can make the development community responsible for for building the infrastructure to get the effluent to recharge so that they can recover the water uh the the physical supply in their areas. I think that's an option as well. U once you begin to establish that you can impose various fees uh uh various fees to to uh capitalize these types of projects. We we understand that it's that it is it is a a bit of a change to our model from a development perspective, but it also is going to require that infrastructure is being run to these locations that recharge facilities are being built.

And so the the I I guess I would say tonight that there's uh a handful of models that I think the mayor or or approaches that the mayor and council can can pursue today. I think well today what your city manager has been telling developers is that they're responsible for it and so um I it that gets met with some some level of surprise and and I'm certainly not saying that to scare them. I I I just know that from our perspective we have not put any type of recharge uh long-term recharge strategy or infrastructure into our rates. And in my mind, at least if you're wanting to there there needs to be some level of parameter that separates the current residence from having to cover the cost of that for for a specific type of a utility that's going to benefit a certain area of town. That's that's my view. Obviously, the council will drive that policy decision when it's said and done, but it ultimately it's one of the reasons why I think we need to begin to talk about recharge and and the cost recovery for that.

Okay. Thanks, L. Yeah. Any other questions? Okay, I think we're good. Thank you so much.

All right, so I will I'm going to move forward. Um, if you have any any additional feedback or comments, please let me know. But we will move forward to getting this before council for your consideration. And that will move us into uh another strategic planning talk uh topic that the mayor and council has been uh working on diligently since October. If I can um this may even save me some time at the regular council meeting if I can give a bit of a history tonight. Maybe I'll repeat it, but I want our residents to know that uh strategic planning has been a very key component to uh this council and past councils. Uh in fact, eight years, nine years ago now, we we um went through a process, a retreat, a lot of work by the existing mayor and council at that point to put a strategic plan together. And at least in my mind, it's served as a very um useful tool as as we've gone through the growth that we have. Obviously, uh they need to be refreshed and our past councils have always looked at the idea of looking at reviewing the action items on a year-by-year basis. So, we've been we've been reviewing it regularly. Uh in in the course of the uh past strategic plan, mayor and council made revisions at at two two separate times. Um and what we found is that as we came to what uh the need to do a complete refresh of our strategic plan, we we were seating a new council and a new mayor at that point in time as well. So we ultimately elected to to revise our action items which we look as a a one to two-year term and uh and the mayor and council met with staff in October on a two-day retreat. uh Jody was able to attend portion of that. So she got to see a a little bit of the initial kickoff of of of the efforts that were put in. But in the strategic plan much we followed a similar format. We had a new consultant

that that led us on this this past uh this past attempt. But uh we we we ultimately ended up modifying our focus areas and modifying our strategic objectives uh which I've presented to the mayor and council in a past study session and uh and and really unless there's any specific comments that you have in the document that we we've sent out that you're going to be considering later on tonight. I won't spend a lot of time on the focus areas, the definition thereof, or the strategic objectives that have been established. What my intentions were tonight is just to spend a bit of a bit of time on the action items which as I said really drive our fisc year budget and in this case um going to many of these are being incorporated into our fiscical year 27 budget that is underway with a budget retreat scheduled in April for the mayor and council. Um, so I I'll pause there and ask if there's any any amendments that you'd like to make to the focus areas or the strategic objectives and then we'll jump into the action items.

Questions, comments? No, I'm not keep action.

Right. when we when we get when we get into the action items, you'll begin to see that we there's more specificity and there's a lot of intention to that. It's it really is becomes our our our plan of work for the upcoming year to two years and uh depending on on what we're really focused on, but ultimately what you're going to find and and I'll just spend some time uh on each of these uh in infrastructure and expansion which we knew was going to be a big key focus area. We we set some very lofty objectives of uh really focusing on roadway intersections, roadway m uh adding roadway capacity and improving pavement condition. Um so you'll see that we've we've begin to we we've started to identify the specific projects that we anticipate uh really focusing on fiscal year 27. in those. Uh we focus a bit on the um odors, the sewer odors around town and the work that needs to be done there. Uh we focus on the wastewater collection systems uh both the mains as well as the treatment expansion. We focus on park development. Uh you'll see that we were able to add the specific areas that we anticipate uh working on and that you'll see more detail on in the fisc year 27 budget retreat. uh we focus on government building space and the need to improve and add capacity of government building space and you'll see that uh we really have a focus and this was a a primary talk topic of this mayor and council and I I don't mind saying it that they want to see us using procurement methods and the like that can ensure that projects are getting done. Uh, as I was telling Mayor Fitzgibbons today that likely, and you'll see this at the budget retreat, that's going we're going to need to rely on you to help us do some project

prioritization in order to do that to build some timelines and and and so anticipate that. But ultimately, we want to the the government process in the minds of many can be very slow from the time you allocate uh a dollar to the time the project is done. And so we're looking at ways within our procurement codes and within our our approaches to process of trying to build number one more efficiency in those so that we can get through that process. And the council has been uh very supportive of of uh a variety of of changes that allow us to pick up some time in that process. And now we need to start to deliver by by actually getting these projects done in a timely manner. In my mind, that's that's getting a team, getting the right people uh and and the sufficient staff to be able to get these projects done in a timely manner. and uh and all along and the you know one of the the in my at least in my mind the one of the p the primary uh conversation that took place in in our retreat some of the feedback that I've I've heard since our strategic planning efforts started is that we want we want to ensure that we've got community engagement as a key component of this and uh number one engaging the community on projects specifically but having locations on our website as an example for people to go and be able to take a look at the progress that's taken place and the like. So that gets all encompassed in the action items for this particular uh focus area of infrastructure. And um I'll I'll pause there and see if anybody has any questions, comments or concerns about about this. No,

I think the questions and comments we talked about earlier is really, you know, how we're going to get it all done, you know, prioritizing. Yeah. Well, that's Yeah, that that's, you know, it it's good to have it on paper, but if it's going to take us 10 years to get things done, you know, I just wanted to make sure that we have a um plan, timelines, or whatever it is. Absolutely. Well, well, I guess I mean I'll I'll just say it now. I mean, first of all, it's staff has obviously put a lot of time into this and and it's a great product. My only concern goes back to what we had said at the original day is let's not overwhelm ourselves because there's a lot of action items on here, right?

And I do get concerned that if there's not some type of prioritization to them that we're going to try and do them all and then then nothing gets done. or just end up in a fight. So, I mean that's you got personnel constraints, you've got economic constraints. I just want to make sure that we got a good idea what the actual priorities are through all these action items, right? And we tried to list a couple of them on uh particularly in the roadway improvements. We we've we've really used that as the what I would consider to be the um we we we've studied the roadway more than any other any other element.

And so it gives us a good basis to right to begin to to begin to prioritize. I do I do anticipate that when we get into the because you're going to see this. I mean, our our capital improvement program is going to be as healthy as the last three years. And what we're finding is that we're getting about 50% of those done on average. We're trying to get some exact numbers that we we would share, but um the idea of ensuring that we're focused on these projects is the message that I want to come out of the budget retreat. And I believe that and in fact if you look at some of the um action items you see that we're spending the time to prioritize uh which will be an exercise that the mayor and council will be going through as part of budget is to prioritizing these areas. I think that becomes a key component of us being able to execute in a in a more timely manner because we're focused on those and then we get those done we move to the next set of of priorities. All right. Anything else?

No, it's okay. Oh, sure, man. Yeah. And then we're going to go over these priorities at some point. Yes. Yeah. Um Oh, my thing just changed. Um here it is. Um so, another thing that I would really like, we've been talking about is some sort of communication process with the citizens. I know we're having our open houses, which are great. Yeah. But, you know, like right now, why can't I click on Florence Boulevard and say, "When is this going to be done and who's in charge of this project?" Right? Because we're getting a lot of stuff saying, "Hey, the city's doing this." Say,

you know, we're glad that's being done, but it is not our project as a city. It's affecting us as a city, but we issue permits for some of the projects. some of that we don't have to issue permits for, but I'd really like some sort of tracking and that way people could contact the entity that they need to if they have questions about that instead of us having we're glad to help people and point them in the right direction. I know, but you know, we could head off a lot and also some sort of a tracker timeline scoreboard so people can see all of our main ones laid out just like this so that they can click on some point. I mean, it's on our website and I know we're revamping all that for the new requirements which is great. Um, but I mean it needs to be done and I'm glad we're ahead of that, don't get me wrong. Um, but so we can have something on there so people can say, "Hey, when is this intersection going to be done?" And like, "Hey, it's slated for fall of 2027 or what, you know?" Right.

We're working on that already. Absolutely. And I was I was handing that up to you. Thank you. Thank you, Council Member and Mayor Fitz. Give us

Give everyone an update. Yeah, the mayor and council will recall that we that staff had promised two tools that I thought were going to be very useful for our residents to track the development that is transpiring in the community. both the projects that the city of Kasak Grande has as well as projects of just by private development andor um that may be requiring permits and and we we have made good progress on that and I'm feeling very comfortable that we're going to be uh able to stand up those tools in in short order. I don't want to give a specific time because to Council Member Herman's perspective, um we're dealing with the requirements to um the ADA requirements on our website. And what we're finding is that anything related to maps, uh anything related to uh uh presentations, videos, they're going to require some level of additional effort that that ultimately goes into those. And so what I did not want to do is stand those up and then have to take them down immediately because they weren't going to be compliant. So, we're evaluating that, but I anticipate if nothing more, if nothing more, and and and I'm somewhat anxious to see how the government world is going to deal with the ADA requirements around the nation, quite frankly. Um, uh, I do believe that we're making very good progress on becoming ADA compliant, and our team is working very diligently. But I will say that those states that have already implemented um this requirement, California and Colorado are the two that come to my mind. It really takes away from the type of information that cities are are putting out on their website. And when you compare even what we do in Cassagrand to some of those communities in those two states, it's it it is it's it I want to say generic, maybe that's not the right word, but it's it there there's not as much going on the website and because it is our primary communication tool and we also have to be compliant with social media and the

like on these requirements. Certainly want to meet the requirements. We're having to make some subtle changes to that. But I agree wholeheartedly that we need to come up with something that our community can easily access and ultimately track where these projects are in a in in a in a timeline. And I and and we're working on one right now that the mayor council will be having some discussion on our recreation um our new recreation facilities. And so um uh you'll begin to see some of the some of the work that we anticipate deploying um as part of that project as well. So there is progress being made on that. I knew that but he wanted you wanted me to say it.

It's just frustrating. But Larry, so say an example is the the housing study that was done by a consultant.

Can we ask these consultants to make sure that they're giving their presentation in ADA, you know, compliance so then we can just put that link on or is it more we if we attach something there's something that goes into that? I I mayor, I'm I'm going to I'm going to make a statement. I'm going to try to respond, but I'm going to let our city attorney ensure that I'm being accurate about that. We can absolutely ask and will begin to ask our uh the individuals that are giving powerpoints to the mayor and council to ensure that they're ADA compliant. Um we will very likely need to ensure that they're meeting compliance before we put them on our on our website as well. But Brett, anything you want to add to that?

Yeah. I think uh to Larry's point, one of the things that we're doing currently is as uh staff is beginning to put out RFQS, they're putting out other uh things, we're requiring that those submitts be compliant if they're provided in an electronic format, as well as requiring that the deliverables be uh in a in a compliant format. So, we're already working towards that through our contracts with those guys. um study sessions, you know, it could be a little bit more difficult, but it's certainly something since we're not contracting with them sometimes, but it's certainly something that they're going to be aware of and staff's going to make people aware of so that uh people will be able to access it in an accessible format. Okay. Yeah. Thank you.

But needless to say, I think you're going to see some level of community engagement in every one of these focus areas. And and if I can just add one more component and that's one of our focus areas that Yeah. So ultimately, you know, I'm in we are preparing a community engagement plan that the mayor and council will see as well. It'll give you more flavor of what we anticipate the approach that we anticipate utilizing. And because to Brent's point, like I see this, I'm like, "Yeah, let's do this." But it's not going to happen overnight no matter what, you know? So, we just need to set those expectations because I mean just the infrastructure uh you know, fiscally is the heavy lift, right? Massive. Yeah. Yes.

So, but I really like I mean overall great document, good work. And I know that the neat thing I still like about this is we continue to relate every council action back to this. Everything we do that it follows our plan to help to help our city become better so that we can really track it and we have those deliverables and say here look we are following this plan and we revisit it.

Exactly. Yes. and and and I want to get through these because I want to be able to spend just a second on on the process. But our next is obviously public safety, which was the number one the number one element uh focus area of the community when we did our surveys back in February a year ago. But really what you see is that we're we're working on response times and there's a lot that goes into this um from staffing to opticom systems that gets gets people through you know through uh the signals and whatnot. So, um, so we're we're looking to decrease decrease those, uh, response times on priority calls. We're looking to ensure that we're meeting the the timelines necessary for the um for the CO for ambulance calls. Um, we're we're uh looking to ensure that we uh maintain appropriate staffing levels to meet community needs uh in in both in in both of our departments uh public safety departments. We're also have a heavy influence and I think that you'll begin to see this tying into community engagement as well is our public safety community involvement as well and just really beginning to identify that and and letting the council uh understand where we're where we're allocating resources for those. And then obviously, you know, we want to focus on some level of enforcement. So, we've got fatal vehicle collisions that we'll use. Many of these many of these action items are and uh objectives are tied to something that can be measured so we can show the progress that we're making and some of them are tied specifically to a benchmarking tool that the valley cities use so we can you we can benchmark some of those as well. Any questions on public safety? If not just one comment just

again like um the 5% reduction in it's a great goal. We just got to keep in mind that there are external factors on some of these, right? And that was one that jumped out at me that we can do everything we can, but that doesn't mean we might not be able to meet that goal because of external factors. Sure.

Economic vitality. Um obviously we want to ensure that we're uh maintaining a strong resilient economy. And so really the focus uh in this which is a little bit of a shift for us as a staff is a focus on ensuring that we're getting business participation again part of that community engagement component uh having events and encouraging um uh business small businesses and large businesses to come together. We will be working attempting to work closely with the uh with our school districts with CAC on uh local businesses hiring uh local high school graduates. Again, there's there's some work that needs to be done to be able to establish the baseline to track that, but um again, it's one of the action items. And then again, a focus to attract high uh uh uh highquality paying jobs uh to the community as well. So again, these are mostly initiatives. These are programs that will be standing up as part of that. Um, we also touched just uh very very quickly on uh always attempting to make it easier to do business in Kasa Grande. I know that's been a goal of the council for years now. And so again, it's it really is I I I feel we hear a lot from the development community that we're pretty efficient in Cassagrand and comparatively to other governments, which is something to that we ought to be proud of. uh in in my mind really what it is is ensuring that we're we continue to evaluate our process and we we we look at how others are doing things as well and incorporating those types of change and processoriented change. And then uh the last is uh obviously every community needs to have some level of focus on uh on housing stock and uh diverse dwelling options. And so we talked a little bit about some of the

work that the mayor and council has just completed in the housing study and the um the apartment uh the the deeper dive on the apartment, but it really is taking some of the recommendations that they've listed there that we believe we can implement as part of that. Any questions on economic vitality? If not, we'll move into good governance, which is a brand new focus area for us. Not that we haven't had good governance in our built into our strategic plan in the past. Um ultimately it's it really has been uh incorporated into financial stability and so good governance really got uh good governance became the focus area because of the expansion uh into legislative items as an example this year. Uh I think everybody's beginning to see the additional focus and efforts that we're taking and tracking what's happening at a state level for certain but uh obviously at a federal level to some extent but uh and and with with the updates that we're giving and we we come up with a couple of action items that I think we're doing for the most part today but they seemed they seem to fall into that category. Uh we want to increase the meaningful community participation in the government process which ultimately is uh transparency and utilizing our engagement plan to communicate continuing our annual leadership academy and uh promoting the serving on various boards and commission. But really the high point of this is that to is is developing elements that can build trust and relationship with within our within our community. And so you see the community engagement plan. Again, that's something that we'll be bringing back to council. Uh but la and uh last, well, I guess it's not last, but certainly we want to make sure that we maintain a sustainable financial management, budgeting processes uh and enhancing service delivery through data-driven decisions uh while um retaining a high quality

workforce. So, a number of elements that get included and I know that I I guess I would say that there's a number of items in this a number of action items in the within embedded within this focus area. Many of these we do today, but we just want to continue to do that. So, uh that's why you see the numbers there. All right. Any other questions? Any questions on good governance? if not um community enhancement which really is uh the focus area that we're focused on and on building a inviting community uh one that values education and strong families and uh so you see that we are looking to increase residents participation in city sponsored events uh educating the community uh increasing the uh the uh information that is flowing to our community conducting surveys doing the open houses, um the roundt events and the like. Uh increase awareness of organizational programs. Again, I don't think that there's many days that go by that we hear that they were somebody was unaware or unfamiliar with something that we provide or a program that we provide. So, we want to do a better job there. Uh expanding community activities. Again, I I anticipate an exercise where the council will have a chance to review all of the all of the uh program all of the events and activities that we have and and and making making um decisions around that. And most importantly in this section, there was a lot of discussion about community beautifification. We want to continue to uh our efforts on that. We've got, you know, we've we've done uh some of these cleanups and this in the last strategy. I think we just want to put those uh expand those. We want to uh look at our city codes to ensure that we've got enforcement tools and the like. And so with that, Madame Mayor, that covers those and I'll entertain any questions, but I want to speak just very very briefly about the next steps in the

process. Okay. Any questions? I'm sure we will over time, but Well, and I will I will be much more brief tonight when I present this at at the regular council meeting.

Okay. uh since we had a chance to go over that. But uh next steps on this is if the council approves it tonight, ultimately there will we will obviously do an educational component. It'll be on our website. We'll make sure it's ADA compliant and put it on our website and um and ultimately start uh some level of campaign of of of advising the mayor and council or advising our residents. You will see this again in our strategic plan. and you'll begin to see some of the tie to Councilman Herman's uh point about the requests that are coming in. You'll see some of the ties that go with that. And then obviously I think the the next exercise on this from a council's perspective is the prioritization efforts that we'll begin to work with following the retreat and finalizing which projects we think we can we can get into the budget and then and then putting a prioritization on that. But with that, Madame Mayor, members of council, I pause for any other questions.

Any further questions? Chab, could you give us an example or maybe two of what ADA compliant on a website is is? It almost seems to me like that would be on the users end because they have a lot of different tools on that end, but there are several tools out there. Uh but ultimately we have to make our website accessible to anybody anyone that may have a disability and that can be um converting converting a document or having a tool that will convert a document to an audio uh document. Uh having closed caption for any type of a video. Brett, what other help me out here

and like like a good example is we we present a lot of of information visually, right? whether it's a map or a picture and some of making it accessible is today we may just have a photo but it's as simple as putting text behind that so someone using a screen reader who can't see the photo will be able to hear a description of what the photo is right mayor and council uh sitting at the dis nodding their heads in agreement of what Larry said right so

and green seems to be the we would normally need to do to make sure that they're compliant whereas as documents generally when you just make them for for people who can see right that's how a lot of us are able to perceive but for those who can't you just try to add those little layers it can also be for a map as simple as doing something like having a alternative list view so that if you can't see the map you can still hear the addresses okay all right thanks and our PIO team is working hard to get yeah I bet it's up to speed right now on this yes is there a deadline line. Uh, April the 24th. Oh, wow.

April the 24th. Okay. Well, good job PIO team um and staff, everyone working together. Yeah, every department every department has something that they're contributing. Okay. No other questions. All right. So, we'll go ahead and close the study session and break for three minutes. Okay. Okay.

Let's wait. This guy waiting on me. He's waiting on me. Do you know what this is about? She's going to be Yes. A speaker card. Okay. Okay. Um, sure. Are we okay to start? Can we start? What's that? Okay. No.

Good evening everyone. Thank you for being here. We're going to go ahead and start the regular city council meeting and we'll go ahead and start with the invocation and we have um Robert Castro from Calvary Baptist Church. So, if everyone is um if you're willing and able to stand and followed by the um the invocation, we'll have the pledge of allegiance by um Mayor Prom Dylan.

Madame Mayor and members of the city council and members of the public, it's my pleasure to be able to come here and open up this session with a a word of prayer. If you will bow your hearts with me, please. Father in heaven, creator of the whole universe. Lord, thank you that you love our city. And Lord, as as the members of this council are meeting, Lord, we pray that you would pour into them wisdom and courage, fairness to do what is right. Lord, as your word declares that all the depths and the riches of your wisdom and your knowledge and there your judgments are unsearchable, but Lord, we pray that you would pour that into this council as we uh depend upon them to lead this city into new areas and to expand this city into into more greatness. So, as we are gathered here today, Lord, we pray that your wisdom would reign and rule here today. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Amen. Amen. Please join me in the pledge of 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. Thank you, Robert. Thank you, Brent. Okay, next item is the roll call. And Adrianne, if you can please accept for the record that all the council is here. So noted.

Thank you. And next are the minutes. Mayor Mayor Fitz Gibbons, I move to uh consider for the record the minutes of the city council study session of March 2nd, 2026. Except for the record the minutes of the council regular meeting of March 2nd, 26. Uh consider the minutes for the arts and culture commission meeting of January 6, 26. The minutes of the arts and culture commission for February 3rd, 26, the industrial development authority meeting of June 19th, 2024. The minutes for the planning and zoning commission of February 5th, 26. And the minutes for the police personnel retirement board meeting of January 21st, 2026. Second.

Okay, there's been a motion and a second. Is there any further discussion? Okay. All those in favor, please signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? Okay. Motion carries. And next are the claims. May forgiven. I move that we approve the list of claims for February 25th through March the 10th, 2026. Second. Second. Okay. There's been a motion and a second. Is there any further discussion on the claims? All those in favor, please signify by saying I. I. I. Any opposed? Okay. Motion carries on the claims. The meeting agenda. Is there any change to the meeting agenda, Larry?

Madame Mayor, uh staff would request that the mayor and council remove item N, which is the executive session, from the agenda. Okay. Nothing else. Nothing else. Okay. If we can get a approval as amended. So moved. Second. Okay. There's been a motion and a second. All those in favor, please signify by saying I. I.

I. Any opposed? Okay. Special presentations. We don't have any today. We had a lot of them last week, right, at the state of the city. So, um, the consent agenda is next. Okay. So, all items listed with an asterct are considered routine matters and will be enacted by one motion and one roll call vote of the council. There will be no separate discussion of these items unless a council member or member of the public so requests in which event the item will be removed from the consent agenda and considered in its normal sequence of the agenda. Is there anything that anyone um the council would like to pull from the consent agenda? Anything from staff, Larry? Okay. And anyone from the public?

Okay. So, we'll go ahead and move forward on a motion to approve. Mayor Fitzgiven, I move to approve the consent agenda as prepared. Second. Okay. There's been a motion and a second. If we can please get a roll call vote, please. Adriana. Council member Ramo. Yes. Council member Dugan. Yes. Council member Edwards. Yes. Council member Hston. Yes. Council member Herman. Yes. Mayor Proton Bedellan. Yes. Mayor Pisguiven. Yes. Motion carries.

Thank you. Okay. This is the section for public comments. I know I have a few um speaker cards, but I want to um just make sure we kind of let everyone know what this section, you know, what we're what we will do. The Cash Gran City Council values citizens input. When called, please state your name and address, speak clearly into the microphone, and limit your comments to 3 minutes or less. In fairness to all speakers, please try not to exceed your time. In accordance with the law, the city council cannot respond to or discuss discuss items not listed on the agenda, but may direct them to staff upon conclusion of all public comments. So, I'll go ahead and start with the speaker cards that I have. The first one is Barbara Sundust. Um, my name is Barbara Sundust, 1273 East Cardova Avenue, Cassag Grand. Um, I have to say I'm still a little blown away by the spending of $1,680,000 of public funds for pickle ball courts and clubhouse renovations. and no money of any kind for housing, shelters, campgrounds for the less fortunate um in our community. And I'm not saying there shouldn't be pickle ball courts. I'm not saying that. But I am saying that there should be some kind of a balance between that and serving the segment of our community that is um is homeless or unhoused or or whatever. Um, we are already looking so this sort of a separate topic I guess we are already looking at high heat warnings in and like most water stations in town

close as soon as the building closes. So the library or CG helps or or wherever. And so what about a place for people to go in high heat at night? What about people forced to hide or go out in the desert or live in their cars when it is way over 100°? I mean, cards are like ovens. So, if it's 100 outside, it's way more in the car. Um, these are fellow human beings who deserve to be treated with respect. And we need to plan something now and not wait until um the summer. Um, at Laundry Love this past Wednesday, I talked with at least five elderly women who are living in difficult situations, living in cars, forced to move from place to place, not able to pay rent. Um, one of the ladies, her name's Tina, she wrote this card. She said, "I am a 67year-old lady who lives on social security. Um, she gets $929 a month." And I guess she just got the $29 raise recently. Her rent is $1,000 and that does not include utilities. And I do get food stamps for my grandchildren, she says. And and honestly, her response at the end is God is good though, which is how all our laundry people react even in difficult situations. Um Oh man. Oh, I can do it. I only have few seconds left. Um, at the last city council meeting, the affordable housing speaker used the term that for some people who um don't make a lot of money and have huge amount of mortgage or rent. Um, one event away from homelessness, that's it. Your husband dies, you get sick, rent goes up, one event from homelessness,

but still we have million dollars for pickle ball. So anyway, just to make people aware and to make a community aware, not just you guys. I know you know. Thank you, Barbara. Okay, the next speaker card I has have is Tamara Santilly.

Hi Tamara.

Hello. Hello. Thank you everyone so much. Um, I'm going to read from my cards just because I haven't had this podium for a minute. Um, but thank you for this opportunity. My name is Tamara Santilli. I live at 8544 Southam Road, Kasa Grande. And um, it is my pleasure to come here today in a different role. For those of you that know me, I've been a teacher in this town for over 25 years. And I've had a different kind of spring break. This spring break, I have had the pleasure to um go up above the city and look down upon this amazing city that you have talked about the improvements and things and I've done that in one of the hot air balloons. I don't know if any of you have seen them recently. Um audience, I don't know, but um I want to share with you about one of the balloon companies that is in town. Um, I was so impressed by him because I did get to go up with him and I was so impressed by him that I wanted to bring him and his company to our community to you so that you are aware that this particular company it is called Gentle Breeze Ballooning. Um, I have little business cards here for you with additional discounts that he will honor um, if you bring it to him from city council. The pilot is Bruce Patterson. He came here from Nevada. He has over 35 years experience and the most exciting thing for me is that he is hiring local. He has hired both of his crews here in Cassagrand, my former students included, as well as myself. That's what I've kind of been doing. Um, very exciting though opportunity to see literally the growth of our community from up above. I just want to come here tonight and encourage everybody to look him up. Uh there's a phenomenal coupon on Groupon. Again, he's going to give additional discounts to you as city council members and any of the community that's here tonight. Um with his 35 years of commercial

piloting, um funny amazing opportunity though that he wants to really build in this community with other businesses. He wants to help advertise. He wants to help talk about those pillars of community engagement. he wants to he's bringing 75 to 80 people per week down here. Um if you want to fly with him you don't have to go to the valley though you he's launching right here. He's launching in Cassagrand and he's landing in Cagrand. It's 30 minute 45minut ride. We go uh we he I do not pilot. I just simply root you on and I catch you when you come down. Well kind of sort of I'm not I'm not like super fast but I am really making an effort to um be be there for you. Um but everybody I mean the pilots the passengers today were from Massachusetts, Cincinnati. Um two different completely families came over from Boston and they were here in Cassagrand and they did not know each other but by the end of the flight they knew actually their addresses and they were going to reconnect when they went back home. So it's just a really fun opportunity um having these people in our community and he has no he's no longer going up to the valley for his propane. He's not going for his juice, his uh champagne. Everything is here in Cassagrand. Um, and I'm just I'm loving the fact that he's using our community and sharing our community with the world. And I just wanted you guys to know that.

Thank you. Thank you very much. Thanks. Okay. Um, next is Janice Pratt. Hi, Janice.

Hello. Good evening, everyone. Honorable may, madame mayor, city council members, staff, neighbors, and guests. My name is Janice Pratt, and I live at 425 East Providence Drive. I've lived there since 1987. I'm here to talk about St. Anony's. St. Anony's Catholic Church is a very special parish. She has operated this community for more than 100 years. The founders had vision, then a mission, then as a city grew, they built a grand brick building not far from here. That grand church stood for more than 60 years until there was an evil occurrence on October 18th, 2024. That was a five alarm fire with many saying that it was intentionally set. The church could not be saved. The building was no longer safe and had to be torn down. Fellow parishioners grieved for a bit and then rolled up their sleeves to get to work. The disaster fully taxed the spirit of all in the parish. But we pulled together and after weeks then months, a settlement was reached with the insurance company for $10.4 million. That sounds great. However, the plans for the current current and future growth, I don't need to remind you all how Cassagrand is growing, revealed a capital need of about $19 million. That means the parish is $8 million short today. Well, last weekend we kicked off the official mayor major capital campaign. Hundreds of pledge cards were flickered out and they are steadily rolling back in. The raising of these funds will be at a lot of hard work and can span for more than three years. Building a new church quickly is essential. St. Anony's holds countless events in the community need and deserve including daily mass, education, lurggical celebrations, baptisms,

communions, confirmations, reconciliation, marriages, funerals, and there are many um merciful local charities that rely on her. There's also the weekend where we have seven large masses celebrating beginning on Saturday at 4, Sunday 6:30, 8, 9, 2, 3, 8, 10, noon, and two. And so we are bursting at the seams. I don't need to remind you that Cass Grant is growing. We would appreciate help from anyone who can donate to this cause. You don't need to be Catholic. You just need to recognize that this is a worthy cause. Furthermore, I want there to be triumph of good over evil. The person that destroyed this building set the um knock down the building, but the parish continues. We would like to see justice serve. Sure, we would. But that still leaves us $8 million short. So, tonight I brought the newly minted first edition handout brochure for more information on the St. Anony's Cap Drive. And for anybody who's in the community that would like to see that, you can go to the website which is stanthonycg.org. And um how can the city help? Okay. Quickly, the city can help by

Sure. Go ahead, Janice. Please, please remain a long and loyal partner while we navigate through this daunting process of the rebuild. We rely on you to help us. We need the city's support on paving the way and removing barriers to our success. Thank you, Janice. If you want to leave the brochures with Larry and if anyone wants one after, you can grab it. Okay. Thank you very much.

Okay, that that's all the speaker cards I have. Is there anyone else that would like to speak at this time? No one else. I don't know. Bobby. Bobby, I know you gave us a a paper. Were you speaking or No, just that. Okay. Thank you. Um, anyone else would like to speak? Okay, we'll go ahead and close the um public comments and go on to item I1. And it looks like that's you, Kevin.

Thank you. Staff recommends that the mayor and city council award a contract to Ellison Mills Contracting LLC for the guaranteed maximum price proposal for a total amount not to exceed 5,586,519. And that does include a city controlled contingency of $175,683. And this is for the uh construction of the TCO road relief sewer project. This is a continuation of our efforts with our sewer infrastructure, making sure that we are prepared for the future and uh plan for future development and be able to accommodate that development. This was one of the uh main sewer lines that we've identified that is starting to uh bump up against its capacity and we want to get that uh corrected. We currently have 10 projects that are outlined as part of our sewer improvement program and this is the uh third one that we'll tackle as far as our collection system. Um this will uh add sewer capacity with a new sewer line in Truckle Road from Cottonwood north to Courtzson. Um the uh project will include all the traffic control, pavement restoration after construction and uh the contractor will work diligently uh to make sure that we don't impact traffic uh as much as possible. Um of course that's always a big ask, but uh they have made that commitment to us. Um they plan on getting started right away if approved and should finish up uh before the end of this year. So with that, I'd be happy to answer any questions.

Thank you, Kevin. Are there any questions, comments? No. Okay. I think the important thing is just communicating to our residents, you know, timelines. Of course, our um our our team communication team, setting out CG alerts and keeping updates and letting people know what's going on. Yep. So, that's good. Okay. Any other questions, comments? Okay. So, if we can get a resolution number, please.

Resolution number 5896, a resolution of the council of the city of Cassen Grant, Arizona, accepting the proposal from Ellison Mills Contracting LLC to provide construction manager at risk services for the construction of the TCO road relief sewer project, authorizing expenditure of public funds, and authorizing the execution of a contract. Mayor Fitzgiven, I move approval of resolution number 5896 as presented. Second. Okay. Okay, there's been a motion and a second. Is there any further discussion? Okay, if we can get a roll call vote, please. Council member Rammo, yes. Council member Dugan, yes. Council member Edwards, yes. Council member Hules, yes. Council member Herman, yes.

Mayor Prompella, yes. Mayor Fitzgiven, yes. Motion carries. Thank you. Okay. Next. Next item is the appointment of Jeff Bur Berman to the Historic Preservation Commission. And Jeff, I see you out there. So, thank you for coming. If you can stand up. Um, this is Jeff Burman. Um, thank you so much for applying. We're excited. And I'll tell you, it's so exciting to sit in these interviews because people get so excited, you know, to to volunteer their time. So, thank you very much. We really appreciate you. Thank you. So, if we can get a motion to approve Mr. Burman. So, moved. Second. Okay, there's been a motion and a second. All those in favor, please signify by saying I.

I. Any opposed? Okay, motion carries. You're on. Got a You have a new job and we pay really well. Really well. Um Okay. Um let's see. Item K1. Madame Mayor, members of the council, item K1 is asking the council to adopt a resolution uh adopting the city of Kas Grande 5-year strategic plan. Um I know that I gave a bit of a summary for uh at the study session, but the 5-year strategic plan was implemented in 2018 with the intent of moving the entity from an annual allocation approach to one that intentionally shapes the future in various increments. The strategic plan approach allows the entity to connect community vision, policy direction, operational execution, and financial planning into a coherent framework for public organizations committed to responsible growth uh fiscal discipline and long-term sustainability. A strategic plan is foundational to as a foundational tool to building success. The plan can provide direction, discipline, and accountability. Um uh the mayor and council did start their process of building this new strategic plan in October that was led by the consultant Nicole Lance of Lance Strategies. Uh ultimately we went through a multipleday session where we focused on building our new focus areas uh building strategic objectives and ultimately uh staff has built the action plan that will be used very closely in our fisc year 27 budget process. The focus areas are infrastructure and expansion, public safety, economic vitality, uh good governance and community enhancement. Uh the plan uh was developed with a time-ear uh timetable in mind. Uh albeit the overall uh uh target is to meet annually to discuss the framework of the goals prior

to the executive leadership team developing an annual action plan that can be implemented and executed concurrently with our annual budget process. Uh mayor and council has seen this document on a couple of occasions in draft format and we are asking the mayor and council to adopt by resolution the uh new strategic plan for the city of Kas Grande. With that, mayor, I'd entertain any questions. Any questions, comments?

No questions. But for those that are just joining us, we did have a study session prior to this meeting to discuss this um action plan. And so I just wanted to follow up and just um just thank you know all all the council members and staff that participated in this strategic planning um session. You know especially we have new um you know three new council members that weren't here when we had the last strategic plan. And so it's good for all of you to give your input. You know we all represent the community. We all have different constituents that we talk to and deal with. So, it's good to get everyone's feedback and input on what's important to our community and then of course having the staff that are the experts in these areas to also provide feedback and um all of us just be on board of you know what's important and how we want to move forward. So, I think it's a great working document and there's a lot it's a it's a pretty aggressive um plan, but um at least I'm a list person, so I love being able to just make a check on something. So um you know but but we know every one of those actions um are there's a lot of time, energy, money um and so it's going to be um you know long long road but at least we have focus. So I just appreciate everyone's time moving forward with that. So um so I guess if any other questions, comments so we'll go ahead and if we can get a resolution number please Adriana. Resolution number 5897, a resolution of the council of the city of Cassagrand, Arizona, adopting the city of Cassagrand 2025 strategic plan.

Mayor Fgiven, I move that we approve resolution number 5897 as presented. Second Okay, there's been a motion and a second. Any further discussion? So, if we can get a roll call vote, please. Council member Rammo, yes. Council member Dugan, yes. Council member Edwards, yes. Council member Hedles, yes. Council member Herman, yes. Mayor President Bid Dylan, yes. Mayor Fitzgiven, yes. Motion carries. Thank you. Okay, so no executive session, so we'll go ahead and go on to reports and um how about if I start with you, Brad? Okay, right here.

State of the city was a great event.

I thought it was a really good turnout. had fun with it, learned lots of new things. Some of us, even up here, learned new things that day. Um, the other one I got to do is the uh fire department of communications uh awards banquet on Saturday night. Went to that. It was good turnout. Um, it's always kind of interesting when a lot of the guys can't be there because they're all on shift somewhere else. Um, but what I was really impressed with was you listen to some of the stories because we always see the stats of how many calls they had, things like that. But when you go and listen to some of the stories when they're presenting these life-saving awards and how it starts with the 911 operator and then, you know, they're directing the people on the ground and the citizens and then you get the fire department showing up and just everything that goes into those and how they're really saving lives. It's not just how many calls they're making, but they're actually out there saving lives and it's pretty impressive. So, honor to be there. Um, it was a good good event.

Good. Thank you. Okay, Bob. Uh, no report. Okay. Thank you.

Um, this week we have uh at the Panal County Fair. Um, so please show up. Uh, support our youth in Panal County. Even, you know, we got a lot of kids out of Casan that participate in that event. Um there there'll be look at your schedule. But um the the actual auction is on Saturday. So if you if you have the means to go out there and support those kids, there's always chance for add-ons for the kids. There's always a chance to to buy a pig, buy a cow, buy something out there, stock your freezer up. Um it's a great event and it's and it's and it's for youth for their future for uh what they're doing in in their college, their future uh education and and whatnot. And also St. Patty's Day is tomorrow. So, party safely.

So, so with the Dugan last name, it must be a big big holiday. Yeah, it is. It is a big event for the Dugan family for Okay. Um, Becca, no reports. Okay. Anthony, just wanted to say uh the state of the city. I thought it was very very good job by all those that had a hand in putting all that together. Um and also to our mayor. Uh you did a wonderful job speaking representing the city and we all look very good in our youth jerseys. Our jersey and so just thought I'd say that. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. Did a wonderful job and so really enjoyed.

I had to sit down when when the casher Mhm. Uh yes, y'all know what I'm talking about. That's my coach. And so he was my coach. And so I'm so thankful for the opportunity to be able to sit underneath him and and for the family to be there and and things like that. And and then also our boxer, Mr. Romos. Um glad for him, happy for him as well. But mayor, wonderful job. Thank you. Thank you. My turn. Yes, your turn

to echo that. Mayor, great job. And we did learn a lot. We learned a lot too that night. It was really good. Um but yeah, a few things over the last weekend before this past weekend with uh got to see Lisa a lot. Firefighters golf tournament kicked off for their charities. That was great. Full field. Um little league opening ceremonies and our very own mayor threw out the first pitch over the plate I might say and she caught it. So it was great. And the flyin was at the airport like 100 planes and then storytelling and stakes at the

That's right. at the historical society, which was a lot of fun. Um, and then I was out of town this past weekend, so I didn't do anything, but I made up for it the weekend before. And then coming up this weekend, however, Taco Fest, free event this year, 300 p.m.

Gates open at 3 p.m. at uh Dave White Park. uh be tacos, music, dancing, kids zone, uh displays, all kinds of fun stuff in coordination with the plane air painting event sponsored by the city and the uh arts and cultures commission. You meet here at 7:30 to get kicked off and then the final display will be at the taco fest. So, and the judging. So, that'll be pretty neat. And so, again, free event. Go on out there, enjoy some tacos responsibly. Um and anything else. Um, and then I want to give a special thanks to Danny Gyos and Aidenary Moreno. Took some youth commissioners to Washington DC for a few days. They met with senators, legislators, learned about government, and they got a custom tour of Georgetown from the former youth commission president who now goes to Georgetown. So, they had a good time and they made it back safely. Thanks, Danny. And then, um, also soul covered for the meeting on Saturday. So, thanks to your department, Danny, and everybody for taking care of that.

Yeah. And the kids had a great time. Made it back safely. Yep. Good. Before the storms hit. Yes.

Yes. Okay. Um Okay. Yes. No. Um as far as the state of the city, this is definitely a huge team effort. And so, um thanks to all the staff and Larry and everyone for providing all that information, you know. Um one lady actually thought I memorized that whole thing, you know, that whole hour speech. And I didn't want to tell her I didn't, but I I had you, you know, but um but but seriously, you know, I mean, yeah. So, but but all of you know the staff provided that information to our PIO team and our PIO team, you know, we had night we we wanted to do something a little different and try something at night because it seems as though every year people say that they're unable to attend because they work and so we wanted to do something in the evening. Of course, we had a unique year um with all of us graduating, you know, went to Cas Grand Union. Um so, we of course had to have it at CA Grand Union. Um they were fantastic to work with. Um you know the PIO team definitely their creativity and um energy and you know excitement you know showed. Um so it was really a combination of all of us you know providing that information and and and um you know informing the community. But we did get a lot of input. People like it at night. I think you know we we realized that and had a nice um you know group that came new new residents. you know, you know, we weren't quite sure who who would come in the evening, but um but it was really good. So So really thank you to everyone. It was your guys' videos were great. They were really really good. So thank you. I'm glad you did it because then I'd have to talk as much as much. Um and then another thing, you know, the whole thing with the ADAS that same day. Um you know, this is something that, you know, of course our staff, you know, Larry and and um you know, all of our you know, executive leadership team has been working on this. you know, excited to get this across the, you know, the the um, you know, finish line and Arizona's

Department of Water working with Arizona's Department of Water Resources and the governor came down and signed um that um that same day. So, we're looking forward to where where we're going to move with the alternative designation of assured water. So, thank you again for everything. It seems like it came and went though, didn't it? It was like, okay, we celebrated for what, an hour maybe, and then on to the next thing. So, um yeah, Taco Fest 3 to 9. Everyone, you know, please come. Thank you for attending the the the um fire department. There's great activities this weekend. It's that that time of year. Little League, it amazes me every time I come. I go to that opening day. They have 700 kids that participate and 53 teams that they um that are a part of that group. And it was just a great great morning and so much energy and excitement. So, as far as upcoming events, Faith Alliance, um our deputy chief Laos will be speaking. So, if anyone wants to attend that, that's this Thursday at 11:30 at the First Presbyterian Church. And another event, Project Connect, which is where a bunch of the nonprofit organizations come together and bring resources um not only to the homeless, but to to the community. It's going to be at Pier Park this year and that's March 25th from 1 to 5:00 p.m. Um, Boys and Girls Club Dancing for Our Stars is March 28th at Harris. So, none of us are dancing this year. Hey guys, you got to step it up next year. Um, but that's an event. And just to kind of um give an update on what's happening with the homeless strategies, you know, we have the unsheltered person action committee. You guys are probably familiar with us putting that group together before we put the ordinance out. That group meets monthly and um so we are you know seeds of hope horizon cash alliance car transitional living center um Barbara comes for laundry and so um trying to

identify strategies moving forward um but we're looking on a you know some uh transitional plan in the future. So um hopefully you guys will be seeing something al with that in the near future. Um, but yeah, so we're we're meeting monthly and that committee is moving along on some ideas on how to address those issues. So, and I think that's it. I got one more. Uh, the animal care and adoption center mural ribbon cutting is this week. Yes. On Thursday, Thursday at 10:00 a.m. at uh 202 East 1st Avenue. So, if you want to show up and and see what what they accomplished over there and maybe adopt an animal. So,

there you go. There you go. and probably will, you know, when you leave. But the the artwork is beautiful. It's really pretty. So, yes, please come. Please come everyone. So, I think that's it. So, with that, we'll go ahead and adjourn the meeting. Thank you everyone for coming. Is that the woman?