City Council - Regular Meeting

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Welcome to the city of Maricopa's city council meeting. We're glad you're here because your voice matters. If you'd like to speak tonight, please start by filling out a speaker card at the council chambers entrance and turning it in to the city clerk before the meeting begins. On that card, you can let us know if you want to speak on a planned agenda item or during the general call to the public. Please keep in mind that all comments are limited to 3 minutes or less depending on the number of people requesting to speak. Personal attacks and political speeches or threats are inappropriate in this forum and will be grounds for ending a speaker's time at the podium at the discretion of the mayor. We also ask that audience members refrain from applauding or showing disapproval of comments shared by fellow community members as every person who addresses council has the right to speak and not be intimidated. It's important to note that due to Arizona's open meeting law, council members cannot respond or take action on topics not listed on the agenda, but your comments will be heard and entered into the public record. can't stick around for the full meeting? You can always catch the replay on Facebook or YouTube where this meeting is currently being livereamed. Want more details about tonight's agenda items? Scan the QR code on your screen or visit www.mmaricopa-az.gov/aggenda. Thank you for joining us and getting involved. As a final reminder, please silence your cell phones and electronic devices. The city council meeting will begin shortly. All right. Thank you all for being here

this evening on our regular city council meeting for February 17, 2026. At this time, I'd like to invite up Pastor David Anderson from B Community Church for our invocation and then Council Member Ghetto for our pledge of allegiance. Please rise if you're able.

Thank you for this opportunity to share. Um giving honor to the mayor, vice mayor, and the city council. Before I pray, I just wanted to say that one of the things that I have noticed lately and my prayer is for you all because there are some really mean comments on social media sometime directed towards you and I happen to know each of you and it's just not true. And so my prayer tonight is for your strength. Okay. So, uh join me as we pray. Dear heavenly father, we honor you and bless your name. We are grateful for the day that was given to us and is full of brand new mercies. We thank you, Father, for the ability to come together. We may be from different places, but thank you, Father God, that we are all one family. Uh we thank you, Father, for blessing our leaders and providing them with strength to continue to stand. Father, I pray that you would continue to give them wisdom and guidance as they lead our city. And father God for the leaders that are not the city council but leaders in various areas of the city. Father we pray for their strength as well. We thank you for the peace and we pray father for protecting the most vulnerable or the least of these. We thank you and praise you for all that you're doing and all that you are in Jesus name. Amen.

Amen. Please join me in [clears throat] the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you very much, Pastor Anderson. I don't think you know how much those words mean to all of us. Thank you. And then thank you, Council Member Ghetto, for leading us in the pledge of allegiance. That will take us to roll call. Vanessa, if you will. Council member Ghetto, present. Council member No, present. Council member Leman, here. Council member Marsh here. Council member Wade present. Vice Mayor Man Freddy here.

Mayor Smith here. Madame Mayor Wor.

Thank you very much. That'll take us to section 3.1 where we have a proclamation this evening on sepsis awareness month. So I'm going to ask my council if you'd like to you may join me down at the podium. Thank you. I'd also like to ask Miss Fitzgerald to join us as well. All right. Whereas the sepsis Alliance is dedicated to bringing awareness to sepsis, the body's life-threatening response to infection, which can lead to tissue damage, organ failure, and death. And whereas, according to the CDC, an estimated 1.4 million people, including children, survive sepsis every year. And approximately 400,000 adults and 7,000 children die as a result of sepsis every year in the United States, more than from some forms of cancer and opioid overdoses combined. Whereas in the United States, sepsis is one of the leading expenses during hospitalization, exceeding 62 billion dollars each year. Whereas the growing problem of antimicrobial resistance is steadily increasing the fre frequency of sepsis cases and making effective sepsis treatment more difficult. Whereas despite despite the severe danger and widespread occurrence of this illness, a survey conducted by sepsis alliance found that less than 15%

of US adults can identify the symptoms of sepsis. And whereas one can remember the signs and symptoms of sepsis using the word sepsis, it's about time which stands for excuse me using the word time. It stands for temperature, infection, mental decline and extremely ill. And whereas awareness of the signs and symptoms of sepsis along with the rapid diagnosis and treatment can save lives and improve outcomes for sepsis survivors. So now therefore, I Nancy Smith, mayor of the city of Maricopa, do hereby proclaim February 17th as sepsis Awareness Day. [applause]

All right, that'll take us to the report from the mayor. Council members, do you have items that you'd like to share? Yes, Council Member Marsh.

Happy Sepsis Day. Um, it's been a busy two weeks since the last meeting. On the 4th of September of February, uh, I attended the Central Arizon Central Arizona Project annual dinner and I got to sit at the head table between two dignitaries. On my left was Supervisor Rich Vitiello. Remember him? And former Phoenix Mayor Terry Goddard. 30. [snorts] It's his third term serving as pres president the of the central Arizona water conservation district. That's the board that sets cap prices for water. We had a lively conversation regarding water um the Colorado River uh and uh climate change and groundwater recharge and as as you all probably know the cap is in trouble. Uh the upper basin states are holding their own on keeping their aotment even when the drought and California has preferred status. Um, I think he needs some help from James Singleton to do a cap fax like our 347 facts. You remember how that worked? I'm I'm going to present to uh Terry uh tomorrow and see if he can get with James. Uh on the 9th uh I attended the senior advisory committee meeting. Uh we reviewed the senior info expo and we learned that over 600 attendees showed up. That's that's a high number.

On the 10th, the Greater Maricopa Business Alliance uh government affairs held a Zoom meeting. We discussed Arizona legislation funding appending well that probably will affect Maricopa small businesses and on the 11th with all the city council uh I attended the state of the city at Desert Sunrise High School. I applaud the mayor and staff's presentation. If you if you missed it, you can look for it on YouTube. On the 12th, I attended the Copa Seniors memorial meeting honoring Joe Ray Kosor and Elizabeth. Those folks were heavy contributors to the seniors in our city. They are missed. Now, coming up on February, Friday, February 27th, 11:00 am, uh, Attorney General Chris Maize is coming to city hall to speak to our seniors and their caregiver caregivers and to our residents, people hoping to become seniors someday. The topic is elder scams, fraud, and elder abuse. And I I hope hope all folks in the audience will all come. And that's about it. Thanks.

Thank you very much, Council Member Marsh. Council Member Ghetto.

Thank you, Madame Mayor, for the time this evening. [clears throat] Um, yeah, also to echo a little bit of Council Member Marsh's report, I also attended the CAP event, uh, Central Arizona Project event, uh, held on February 4th. And those of us who are a little bit un maybe less familiar about this situation. As we know, the Colorado River is a major river that supplies water to several states, upper basin, lower basin, including part of Mexico. And there's a a disagreement on on the allocation of that river. Uh with population continuing to grow, more heav he heavier demands on that river being placed. And so the upper basin and lower basin are trying to figure out how do we reallocate a lot of that water and where it needs to go. Already Arizona has made huge concessions in the amount of water that they claim and take from the river basin. And this is important to us because Panel County is one of the greatestly uh the most impacted by those Arizona uh reductions. And so further reductions will continue to impact us, continue to impact our ability to develop our agriculture, our economic development. So [clears throat] this is a serious issue. It is uh right now you know, in in the courts and and the two groups are trying to go come together to to find out the the finalized agreement. So, now is a great time to act. If you'd like to find out a little bit more about this issue, you can visit the website azwater.gov and contact your state uh representatives and even our federal legislators uh to help get them involved in coming to a conclusion that would be fair to all involved. On February 6th, I had the pleasure of attending the Arizona and fish commission meeting which took place here in our our local library. I was able to welcome the commission and thank them for the uh numerous projects that they partner with the city in one of which being the the stocking the the fish

stocking of our lakes. Um [clears throat] they were over the moon elated with how well they were treated there at the library. So I wish to welcome or to congratulate the staff there at our library for being amazing hosts for that commission meeting on the 6th. On February 7th, I had the the privilege of attending the American Legion pancake breakfast. And no offense to some of our amazing restaurants in town, but I don't know that you can find a better stack of pancakes than you can at the American Legion. And so they have their their fundraiser pretty much every quarter. So we'll try to keep that on your calendar when the next one comes up. But it's a great way to support our local vets and thank the Legion for for putting on that fundraiser. [clears throat] Lastly, if you can'tite quite tell by my voice, a nasty upper respiratory infection kept me from attending in person the state of city uh event um at uh at our our desert sunrise high school, but I was able to participate online virtually. U so mayor, congratulations on a fabulous evening. The staff did a tremendous job and helping us to put that together and uh the online production team was was amazing. It it looked great online. So, if you missed that, again, you can catch up on on all of the new things that are happening here in the city by checking out the city web page or the city um YouTube channel on YouTube.com. Mayor, that's all I have for tonight. Thank you.

All right. Thank you, Council Member Ghetto. Council member Wade,

thank you, Madam Mayor. Appreciate the opportunity to speak. I just want to make a comment in reference to the young people that supported your state of the city address, the student council and they did this uh with a with a touch of love I would say. They were very diligent, very observant, supportive of the events attendees uh as well as the mayor did a great job in letting us know where we are at the city. But I just wanted to acknowledge them and we have one that's in particular. We've been acknowledging her for some time and that's Anelise. Annelise was awarded as one of the champion uh campaign or excuse me uh community uh champions and rightfully so. She's an outstanding young lady. She sets a good example for the rest of the council and look forward to what she's going to do with her life because she's got sky's the limit. And I want to also compliment you, Madame Mayor, on the uh on the state of the city itself.

Thank you. It gives us an opportunity to see what's going on. Gives people opportunity that that kind of don't know what's going on, but think they do. They find out about it when they come to these events. So, it was very well done. Appreciate it. And the food was excellent as well. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Council Member No.

Thank you, Mayor. I also was able to attend the state of the city which I echo all of the comments. It was a fantastic event and well done and the theme was really well done and weaved throughout the entire event and so it was very impressive. I was also able to attend the Tales and Treasures uh fundraiser for the Maroba Historical Society and that was my first time attending that event and it was uh really impressive and a lot of fun to be there to raise money to for the historical society in support of all the endeavors that they do to help keep our history alive here in Maricopa. Um it was a great group of people in the province ballroom and I'll definitely be back next year. Um, I was also the uh winner of some um raffle baskets, you know, the ones you bid on the silent auction, but they have a lot of great um items there. So, I highly recommend you check it out next year. And our own Brenda Campbell does a phenomenal job putting that all together. So, I was really happy to be able to attend that. I was also able to attend the American Legion Auxiliary paint night fundraiser that they did at Lux Lounge. And I have never done one of those before, but I had a lot of fun trying to paint what the artist was asking us to paint. It's not worthy of sale, but it, you know, I hung it in my house and I told my and my kids appreciate it, so that's good. Um, I also attended the I'm the liazison for the cultural affairs and arts committee uh with the city and they had their meeting on last Monday and I was able to attend the first half of that and you guys that committee is doing a lot of work. They are doing a lot of things to advance uh cultural affairs and arts in this city. I it is a volunteer committee and they are committing a lot of time and a lot of energy to make sure that the cultural

affairs and arts are alive in this city. and they will be having a booth at Copa Cultural this weekend. So, I highly encourage you to stop by, check it out, see how you can get involved with all of the different things they're doing in terms of arts in the city. It's really a fantastic group. Um, also wanted to just make sure everyone has their calendars marked for the Dancing for Our Stars. That is the big fundraiser for the Boys and Girls Club on March 28th. and one of our very own uh city of Maricopa, Richard Jackson, is going to be dancing in that. So, you don't want to miss that. And um it's just a great fundraiser for an amazing program that helps support our youth. And then finally, this was just announced, but the Maricopa Fire Foundation is doing their first annual uh golf event to raise funds for the fire foundation, and that will be on Cinco de Mayo, Tuesday, Cinco de Mayo this year. And it'll be at the Duke. And so you can um check that out. I know they have it on Facebook. That's where I saw it, but you can uh register as a team or register to sponsor, but that'll be really fun to get in on the ground floor for the very first uh golf tournament to support our firefighters at the fire foundation. And that's all I have.

Thank you, Council Member No. Uh Council Member Wade has one more item.

I'm sorry I failed to mention this in my original remarks. I just wanted to acknowledge um Lean Edge Academyy's Black History Month program. It was phenomenal. The young people were right on point with their comments and and they had a uh opportunity for them to take on a character and present that character to you as you're walking through the event. And it was amazing watching these sixth, seventh, and eighth graders memorize their their uh their event or their their memorize the ideas that they had presented from the people that they were representing. And it was uh it was really good. The food was great. Uh I think there was the leading edge academy gymnasium area holds at least 500 people and it was full was absolutely full. And they had one other thing that they presented at the time was the Underground Railroad. They talked about the Underground Railroad and used characters to depict what they would have experienced as they were going for the Underground Railroad. And finally, um, one of, um, our own Ashley Anderson was the guest speaker for that event. And she she actually, I believe she was a student. I know her children were students, but uh, I believe she was a student of the educated academy. So, that's kind of nice to come back and and recognize you and recognize your school. So, sorry about that, but I just want to make sure that I included that. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Council Member Wade. Council Member Lurman. Thank you, Mayor. I know it's been said, but I also have to echo the staff and the mayor did an amazing job for state of the city. So, I was very impressed with that evening and great attendance as well. Um, [clears throat] congratulations to the students that were recognized and to our amazing community champions. I thought that was just a beautiful presentation. Um, I do want to share some new programs from the Panal County Animal Shelter. They have a couple new programs that they're featuring. Um, one is called One Love and this is where this is a prison program where prisoners get to train a dog um for six weeks and there's three dogs that have been selected. Paxton is a terrier, Ellis is a German Shepherd. Um, and I didn't write down the third one, but it is a six-eek program and at the end of the training they get to be adopted. And so I thought that was really neat. Um, another program they have is called Doggy Date Night. And this is where you can take a pup out for a few hours or for an overnight visit and then you can keep them or bring them back. So, that sounds like a lot of fun. And they also have Save a Life Saturday. Every Saturday the fees are waved um for all dogs over six months old and then Friday is $5 Fridays. So, they have a lot of good options for families looking for a dog. I also got to attend the Arizona Game and Fish um meeting and it was very interesting. Um they did a very thorough presentation on the lowland leopard frog which is an invasive species here in our state. And so I got to learn a lot about that frog and how it's impacting our state. Um, and then they also went over violations and revocations of licenses, which included a sting operation of an iguana.

And so it was a very interesting meeting learning about how they're preserving our wildlife here in our state. Um, and I also got to meet our um, Maricopa's wildlife manager. His name is Travis Clarkson. Very impressive individual. Um, and he complimented Maricopa on following our laws and ordinance ordinances. Um, and I look forward to meeting him again soon. So, thank you, mayor. Thank you, Council Member Lairman, Vice Mayorman Freddy.

It was a pretty cool event, the game and fish thing. You just met so many people and I said something to um, Council Member Lman when I was there. It was like, you don't realize how some of these things that they talk about have so such impact on everything that's happening in the state. and how different people just have different different problems where it's like they're so worried about this frog and you're like I never even heard of this frog but it's a big thing and you get to hear and understand. So attending these meetings are pretty cool. So um it's been a great couple weeks. I attended a rural transportation advocacy council meeting. I sit on that board and we discuss rural transportation issues um and work uh on bills and how we're going to fund some of the stuff. There's um a chance to speak tomorrow at the legislature. We'll be talking about a bill that we have going forward for rural transportation dollars. Unfortunately, I'll be at a Maricopa Association of Government's Transportation Infrastructure Committee meeting um where I sit on that board, so I won't be able to attend. But thankfully, the advocacy council has a lot of folks attending and we'll be talking about rural transportation issues. On the 11th, of course, we we all attended the state of the city, whether it was by telecom or or in person. And it's really good because you get to see how the city is getting a lot of stuff done. Um on the 12th, we did a um um the mayor called me and said that she wasn't able to make it to a meeting. And one of the coolest things about being the vice mayor is that when she can't make it to a meeting, which is very seldom, she calls you up and she's like, "Can you go?" And this was a cool meeting because it was able to attend the graduation and pinning ceremony for four new officers that are coming on board here for the city of Maricopa. They um they had Monday and Tuesday off. So I think um well no they started today. They had Monday off for President's Day, but

they're on the streets today and they're here in the city of Maricopa. These are four new officers coming here to help us in the city. And it was great to see it and the families involved and and the pinning ceremony and the family goes up and puts the the pin on it and the other officers joking about pin them, stick them. Uh this is fun stuff and just to see the smiles and the happiness and they're getting that lifelong dream. So it was really cool to go. It's the first one in 12 years that I've attended um on council. So, it was really cool to go to one and thank you for being busy that day because I didn't know what I was missing. And remember what I said earlier about her meeting um at the meeting we went to. You don't know what you're missing sometimes until you show up and you're like, "Wow, that's pretty cool."

The entire place was just packed with people and photos and it was kind of like a college graduation but a lot more serious and it was really cool. Um on the today uh I attended a legislative call for Arizona League and what they do at this call is they talk about bills that are impacting the cities and this is really important stuff because there's it's 22100 bills or something like that at the legislature and you see them and they just run by you HB27 South and they just keep running and you're like I don't know I don't know but you get to hear these calls and you hear from the legisl uh for the league how some of these are impacting us as a city. Some of them are just inoculous bills. They're putting a statue up. Okay, I don't care. Right down in South Phoenix, put your statue up. Do that. Spend money on this. But when you look at some of these bills, I'll give you an example. One of the bills is HB2290. Now, HB2290 is changes how sales tax is assigned to cities. Instead of um some online or remote purchases being tied to customers location, this bill shifts them to where they're mailed from. Now, you think, well, that's not a big deal, but yeah, it's a huge deal because let's say Amazon, right? And you buy something from Amazon, you pay taxes, right? And it shows when you pay taxes, right? the city gets 2% or two and a half percent of that sales tax and they use it for of course things we do in the city as well as half cent goes towards transportation which we put into place last year. So that bill makes it so instead of you paying that tax to the city of Maricopa, you're paying that tax to Phoenix. So when you buy the the pen, a box of pens and you pay 8 cents in tax, right? Some of that now goes to the city of Maricopa

to support the city of Maricopa, to support our fine police officers, fire, all the services that we offer. If this bill passes, what will mean is that portion of that tax will go to where it's shipped from. That could be Phoenix, it could be Idaho, it could be California, whatever. They get the sales tax and the city of Maricopa does not. Kind of crazy. So anyway, um our residents are making purchases from home. Their local sales tax revenue would be redirected to other cities where Amazon or Walmart warehouses are located. It means less sales tax revenue staying in Maricopa. It means fewer dollars for our roads, police, fire, and infrastructure. Our community would be generating revenue that benefits other cities, not our own. And this bill does not reduce state revenue overall. It simply redistributes it. And growing residential communities like Maricopa, which don't have these huge distribution centers, get nothing. But it also impacts big things like construction sales, right? And things like that. So when you look at it, I'm trying to get the dollar amount that will impact the city, but you're talking millions of dollars over time. Um so let your legislators know. Give them a call. Talk to them. We all know Teresa. We all know um um TJ. Give them a call. talk to them, right? And and say to them, "Hey, HB," write it down. HB2290, I don't like that bill. Sign in online and say, "I don't like this bill." And let them know that stop messing with revenue that the cities are generating. Very important. So, one other cool thing I got to do is I attended a dinner theater and I asked um somebody that was at the dinner theater, the next time they have to do a presentation, they have to do it in that voice with that laugh that they were using. And I'm not

going to say Quinn's name. Oh, I did. But Quinn is over here and he was one of the actors. Now, I don't know if anybody knows this. I'm not a huge arts guy. I don't It's not just not my thing. I don't do a lot of that stuff. I don't go to concerts and stuff, but I posted online at a red light after it was over and I posted and I said, "This is probably the most entertaining thing I've done in the city of Maricopa when it came to the arts. It was really fun. It was really exciting." And it was Broadway Maricopa or Maricopa Broadway. It's Broadway Maricopa. Um, and they came into my office like four months ago for my work office. Um, and they asked for sponsorship dollars and stuff like that and I did that for them because I do that for a lot of people that walk in. But they gave me two tickets to it and I was like, "All right, I'm going." But then my wife said, "Well, we want to bring some friends." So, I bought two tickets. We had four tickets there. And usually those things I go to and I suffer them. This was really good. It was just so entertaining. So, next time it happens, show up at the events because I was pleasantly surprised and I had a great time. And I think that's all I got to share. Thank you.

Very good. Thank you, Vice Mayor. So, um, just my month, my last two weeks was very much filled with art, which I love. And if you don't know and aren't aware, I shared this at State of the City. Art is a very calming uh, aspect to have in your city. It calms people down. It meets mental health needs. Um, art has a lot of value. It's uh, beneficial to the artists who are selling their product. Um, so I love the fact that this last two weeks was very filled with art. I attended the Maricopa Art Council Art Talk, which they're holding every other week on Saturdays at the library. This time it was Terry Ol. And he is a stained glass artist. And then he also played his bag pipes for us because you've probably seen him around town playing his bag pipes at various events. Uh, wonderfully talented man. It was really a phenomenal session listening to how he does his art. Then in terms of the Broadway Maricopa, I also attended and I have to tell you it was just phenomenal. Um we all try to figure out how do you make art happen in the city of Maricopa and this group has it figured out. They did five sellout performances over a three-day period. Five sellout. And if I had to guess how many were in each, I would say somewhere between 75 and 100. I probably should have asked, but that's a lot of people who came and attended this event. Amazing opportunity. It was held at CAC using our local facilities. It can happen. And so I just encourage anyone who's interested in art and making it happen. There are ways to do it. And I'm sure that Broadway Maricopa would be happy to talk to anyone. you know I can connect people but it was a phenomenal event. I want to also talk just oh one thing that I have to share this uh as

vice mayor indicated in Maricopa was one of their sponsors and they handed out a sheet and it the sheet basically was like an oldtime paper. It was really pretty cool and it was basically something like the rocks have escaped. And so it was a whole story on the caged rocks and how they escaped and it was really just a lot of fun. Just more art that was put in front of us. Um I also attended the veterans pancake breakfast. Many of you know I try very hard not to eat carbs, but I wasn't passing up those yummy pancakes. It was delicious. I encourage you all to support it if you see the sign out on the street anytime they do a pancake breakfast. Just to talk a little bit about state of the city. I want to thank our staff. Um they work on it probably from September. You know, we meet once every other week to start with, then we get in the groove and have to meet once a week. They did a phenomenal job. I also want to thank our uh youth volunteers. They came from the youth council and from the various high schools and they did a phenomenal job. Two gentlemen helped me up and down the steps. I felt just so um sweetly treated by them. I would like to thank the sponsors because without the sponsors we're not able to do this uh free of taxpayer funds. So a very important part and I love their sponsorships. And then lastly, my city council members. Oh my gosh, they rocked it in terms of their video. One actually said a bad word and they had to bleep over it. Uh kind of fun. Yeah. But um they just did a phenomenal job sharing all the good things that have happened in the city of Maricopa. So, thank you staff and our volunteers, our sponsors, and our city council members. And then lastly, the Mike Ingram Heritage Park ribbon cutting

is February 24th at 10 o'clock. So, I'd like to invite you out there if you haven't been by the Heritage Park. It has transformed beautifully, beautifully, and the museum's going to be open and the train car is going to be open. Um, it's going to be a lovely day representing this new park. They have a beautiful new playground with a water tower and a train. It's going to be phenomenal. So, I encourage you to attend that. And that is it from our mayor and city council members. Thank you very much. That takes us to the message from the city manager.

Thank you, Madam Mayor, members of the council. I don't have a formal presentation tonight, but I do have a recognition that I want to make. Um, we received word earlier this month that one of our employees has been awarded the master municipal clerk uh designation from the institute uh international institute of municipal clerks and that is Andy Huarez sitting down at the end of the row here. [applause] Um just to provide a little context uh it takes a lot of education, a lot of commitment to the craft uh not to just be a certified municipal clerk but a master municipal clerk and that is what Andy has achieved. So, just wanted to to take some time to recognize him for that accomplishment and uh really think that it's a great thing that our our city has committed to having furthering education and and we've got a great staff on board that is is certainly proving that true. So, uh just wanted to congratulate him on that effort.

Thank you very much, city manager. All right, that'll take us to the next part of our agenda, which is the call to the public. This evening, I have five speaker cards. I will call them. And our first is Brandon Castro.

Hi, Brandon Castro. I brought show and tell. Makes things a little bit more entertaining. Um, this is a a wolf. Actually, it was most likely Well, it was ethically obtained um probably from uh near uh the geysers. Um you know that park, I don't know, is it national? There's a national park. Sorry. Um that's uh being being opened uh for more hunting. Um, so I I purchased this while I was while I was sitting at home because I was injured and uh I wanted to be closer to nature. So, um, if you're ever uh looking for fur uh glacier glacier wear, it's a really nice, you know, gives you a good discount. It's ethically sourced. Um, and you know, I I promote businesses, I guess, all the time because, you know, one product works or the other one doesn't. And um, this is different, though. It's an animal, so I wasn't sure if I should promote it or not. Um there's a type of a connection, you know. Um I'm um I'm from New York. I think I've told you guys that before a while ago. Um I also said that I was from the church. Um and just lately, you know, I've been having a hard time with an injury and all that. And you know, you really don't want to tear your groin. I was on the wrong medication as well. I don't know if you ever heard of Eloquis, but I suggest you stay away from it. The were

ferin is a lot better. Um, I ended up getting a DVT. Um, deep vein thrombosis. There's a song about that. I don't know if you guys know about that, but my my wife, soon to [clears throat] be ex-wife, uh, she wanted me to get on a plane, and you can't you can't fly with those. So, I decided, well, you know, that's probably a bad sign. Um, so I'm getting divorced, but um besides that, uh, yeah, I'm I'm healing all right, though. Um, I did smoke a lot of weed at the time, which I heard you weren't supposed to do, but I did, but it kind of helped a little bit in some ways. Uh, this uh CB-1 receptors are actually inside of our bodies. It's some something more u something more to look at as far as uh science. Um but uh yeah, no, I apologize. I I had a lot more planned to say, but you know, time's up. So,

thank you, Mr. Castro. Yeah, sure.

All right. Our next speaker is Brad Fullet. Thank you, mayor, city council members. I'm Brad Flet, president of Earth Month Network here in Maricopa, also a resident. On February 3rd, Global Water Palverie Utility Company had a mechanical malfunction resulting in an unauthorized discharge of wastewater into the Santa Rosa Wash at the low water crossing of Rancho Elorado Parkway. Uh this is in violation of title 18 of the Arizona administrative code section 11 for water quality standards. Uh also in violation of their 404 permit number 255071. This is regulated by section 401 and 402 of the clean water act uh 33 US code section 1341. Now a possible release of 25 thou 250,000 gallons per hour is termed as an environmental nuisance. This is found in Arizona title 49 section 141 and a public nuisance 36 uh 601. It's also endangering the public as a substantial risk by contaminating contaminating the water table. listed under Arizona Criminal Code Title 13 section 1201. Global Water had not made a proper public notice to us. As of today, there is still not information posted on the Global Water website after the August E. Colola outbreak. Global Water and the City had stated that there would be transparency and being proactive and this would be the case for both. This has not been the failure to properly notice the public is a violation of the community right to know under Clean Water Act section 402. Now I spoke with Brad Hinton, same name,

uh vice president planning and development at Elorado Holdings for the property owners. He is also president of the Maricopa Flood Control District here. To his surprise, on the 13th, he was not informed by Global Water of the incident and uh has not been since. It is unknown if Global Water even notified the panel uh panel county health department or the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality. We do not know what was released in the environment and what they have done to correct it or any C2 treatment or remediation that took place or planned. The issue is how the monster in the room continues to mismanage incidents affecting the community. Maricopa lacks uh environmental regulations, but with the new uh flood control IGA, the city is now able to enforce their uh licensing agreement with Global Water to prevent such incidents from occurring again. This will protect residents, the water table, our environment and property. We'd like for Global Water to engage with the city, also the Maricopa Flood Control District and the property owners to be able to share in all the expenses. Thank you.

Our next speaker is John Corwin.

Right. Good evening, Mayor Smith, Vice Mayor Wade, or sorry, not Vice Vice Mayor Man Freddy, my apologies, looking at the wrong person. Uh, council members. Um, thank you for the opportunity to talk tonight. I did have two things I wanted to talk about. First, I I did want to just briefly uh talk about uh the events leading up to the discharge to the wash. Primarily, I wanted to say thank you to the to the city, city staff, community members. We know that the closure of the Rancho Elorado loop was, you know, um a I'll say a nuisance to the community as we had that road closed, but we do appreciate the patience that people showed and uh we we did want to say thank you for that. Um we did have a mechanical failure that required us to send more water to the wash than we normally would have and so therefore some of the water was backing up onto the road. uh we we took the action to clear out some of the vegetation to ensure that that water continued to flow through through the community. So I we wanted to say thank you for that uh I guess the patience and um you know allowing to do that. The second reason I'm here is I wanted to talk about water uh conservation of water. You know, it's come up twice uh today uh in the the context of the uh the cap and the importance of conservation of water. And so uh coming up here in March, there is a the EPA actually does what's called fix a leak week. So we wanted to highlight that uh in advance because we can we can all be active participants in conservation within within the community. And so a couple of facts I guess first I wanted to highlight you know again our our uh system that allows customers to sign up for leak alerts and again be active uh participants in in water conservation. Uh the EP EPA's fix a leak week in March. They actually um tried to highlight leaks prior to um people turning on the irrigation systems because that's one of the largest uh losses of water irrigation systems and the leaks that that occur going into the summertime. So, we wanted to highlight

that we're going to have a display at the Global Water Center in March um that uh people can come in, they can get toilet tabs, they can get information on how to troubleshoot leaks at their property. Um and then also they can come to our our front desk and and ask questions about that as well. So, we wanted to highlight that uh in advance. We'll also be sending uh information out to the community in the form of an email for leaks on how to troubleshoot leaks and at your property and also when to come to the global water center to get more information. So, thank you for your time. I appreciate it. Thanks. Our next speaker is Peg Chapidos.

Good evening, Mayor Council. I'm here tonight with Ron Smith to share some good news with you. Um, again, thank you for those that were able to make the tribute to Joan Kosar at the last Copa Seniors meeting. We appreciate you all being there. Um, it's still been a huge loss felt by our community, but Ron and I are collaborating and we are going to be announcing the continuation of Joan's newsletter, Keeping You Informed. We're calling it Keeping You Informed Still. So, it'll still come out every month. It's going to be all electronic. Um, we're in the process of recreating her mailing list. Unfortunately, the transition from her computer to us has proved challenging, but we're committed to getting a mailing list and doing this. Um, we would like to include some things from council. If you have anything you'd like to contribute, please let us know, but Ron's going to share a little bit about what we have in mind.

Thank you, Peg. Madame Mayor, council, um, four years ago when I started up my website, the very first thing I knew I wanted was Jones Corner. I had talked to her about that and I wanted to do is I wanted to share that newsletter. Uh and so four years of great content came through Joan's Corner on my website. That was six years of material before that. 10 years of newsletter material. Um we want to make sure we keep the spirit of what Joan's newsletter was. Uh it had history, it had humor, had whimsy. It was Joan. Uh you could feel it. He had a sensitivity to it. The humor was for Ry. Uh we knew that he liked humor. Uh we're going to keep some of that. Uh and I've got four years of material. I've started going through it and there's some great stuff there. U so that'll be part of what we're doing. We're also going to broaden down as Peg said to increase some more contemporary issues, but the whole notion will still be the same thing, keeping seniors informed. So look forward to what's coming and any support you can provide is greatly appreciated. Thank you very much. Um, I think one thing that the city can use, just as Pastor Anderson said, is more humor and more whimsy. I think I look forward to seeing those newsletters. I may have an old newsletter with email addresses. That'd be great. I'll take a note to do that. All right, our last speaker in a speaker card form is Lisa Anderson. So, good evening, um, Mayor Smith, Vice Mayor, and the entire city council staff. So, I'm here for two quick reasons. One is just to reannounce that girl, yes, um, our event is happening

this weekend. I'm excited about it. is going to bring together so many business men and women in this city who thought they had to give up because they didn't know how to get out of where they were. So, I'm excited about that. But with that said, we as a team um nominated you and you actually won Mayor Nancy Smith. We we we did mention this before, but you won our Golden Girl Award. No offense. We hope that's not offensive. in here. It shouldn't be. Okay. I'm seasoned as well. So, I just wanted to read this to you because I feel like it's very important on behalf of our team.

On behalf of the Girl Yes 2026 experience team, it is our distinct honor to formally notify you that you have been selected as a recipient of the 2026 Girl Yes Golden Girl Award. This award recognize Oh, I get to say it to you. OH MY GOD, I'M fangirling right now. Okay. Okay. This award recognizes seasoned women and I am one too. It's not always easy and we see that. But you display outstanding community service, groundbreaking accomplishments we've watched and exceptional leadership presence. Although we recognize that you are supported and have a team undergirling you, your strength, integrity, and steady example have made a meaningful and lasting impact in our city. The grace with which you lead stands as a testament to the character and resilience of the community you serve. We are sincerely proud to call you our mayor and to recognize your continued dedication to public service. Although we are disappointed that more women won't witness this presentation during the event. We know that you will continue to shine for all to see. Congratulations. Happy anniversary. And thank you from the middle where all the mushy stuff is, from the middle of our hearts for all you do, but more importantly for who you are. [applause]

And your present is over there. Your your your award is actually over there. Your award is over there. So there's actually an award.

Oh my gosh. I'll just say I wanted to be at that event. bad, but it is my 25th wedding anniversary and so my husband and I are headed out of town. But thank you very much. I appreciate that. [applause] All right, that's the end of our speaker cards. Would anyone else like to approach the podium? All right, seeing none, that'll take us to our next part of our agenda, which is the consent agenda. I do have a request from Council Member GTH to pull 7.4. Would you still like to do that, Council Member Gettle?

Absolutely. I'd like to make that motion. So, we have a motion to approve the consent agenda removing 7.4. Correct. Do I have a second? Second. Seconded by Council Member Noir. Any conversation, questions, additional comments? All right. Seeing that, please vote. Where is it?

No, not that one. This was it. Sorry. This is still new. I don't know. I can't get it, Vanessa. We So far we have four yeses. All right. It's not just me. No. All right.

You can record your vote. Yes. Yes. I approve. It looks like the rest filled in. All right. So, that motion carries. Oh, excellent. All right. That'll take us to our regular agenda. And first we will discuss 7.4. Uh, Council Member Ghetto, I will turn that over to you and then also to Council Member Lman. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I think the the public would benefit from a little bit of a dialogue on this item of our agenda. [clears throat]

Um, we've had a policy long-standing in our city of naming facilities and and I think this would fall much in line with that current policy. I understand the resolution affirms that, but it also extends uh some additional abilities for the city c for the excuse me for the city manager to be able to name some of these rooms. And I wanted to have a little bit of conversation on the appropriateness of that. I don't have anything of course against our city manager, but if we're going to change some city codes, let's let's have a conversation about that policy and why it needs to be changed. So, I'd like to throw that on the table there for discussion. In addition, I'd love to hear from council member Lyman, too, just on the some of the reasoning behind uh this this proposal, this resolution, and clarifying what these rooms are used for and uh the art space that is already dedicated there at the building.

Very good, Council Member Lman.

Thank you. I would like to thank um city leadership for hearing the arts community who have been asking for designated space for quite some time. Designated space is an area for a particular purpose, activity or use. The space is purposedriven to fulfill a specific function and in Maricopa's general plan it encourages placemaking. Placemaking strengthens the connection between people and their environment to promote well-being, safety, accessibility, and inclusivity. And our Willow room over in the library meets this the requirements or the needs of an art studio beautifully. It has appropriate lighting. There are easels available, storage for supplies during their reservation. There's a water source for washing brushes and hands. There are power outlets, a mobile storage rack for drying canvases. There's Wi-Fi. There's a printer and a postal service in the building and easy to clean flooring. And so because of those things, I think it will serve beautifully for an art studio for our arts community. Um, it will not allow it will not limit other people from using the room either, but I think this space um can be well served by our arts community. Very good. Before we go into further discussion, I do have a speaker card. Peg Chabados would like to speak on this item.

Thank you, Mayor. Appreciate the opportunity. I'm here tonight to offer a bold suggestion. I've heard a lot even tonight, as I do at every council meeting, about the importance of arts in our city. And I'd like to propose that we do not name this the Willow Room Art Studio. Rather, I see this as an amazing opportunity to do something simple but something lasting. There's a couple people in our city that have made a tremendous contribution to art since day one. So, my proposal is that we name this the Judith and Gary Zamont Art Space. Two, those two people have brought so much art awareness and appreciation and recognition to the city. And I know mayor, you and council member Marsh and council member Ghetto were involved in a committee to kind of look at how we can honor our founding fathers. I think it's just as important to honor our contributors. There's been a lot of people here, many of them who are fortunately still with us. And I think this gives us an excellent opportunity to pay homage and to pay tribute to something that contributes to the richness and diversity of our city. Coincidentally or on purpose, tonight's agenda also is going to solidify the council priorities. Three out of the five have a direct impact with art. It is an economic driver. We have so many new events here that are driving from an art perspective. We see art every day in architecture. We've just um recently added an arts requirement to specific footprints of our buildings, public art. We've got the horse project. We've got the signal box project. We've got special events that happen all the time. The 347, the M at the beginning of the city, the Gabons and the median. Everywhere you look, there's some kind of element of art. So, what I'd like to propose to council is that we take a look at that and see how we can better incorporate and maximize and leverage those opportunities. The other thing is it contributes greatly to quality of life. If you drive

around here, you can't go too far without seeing some kind of element of art, whether it's on a building, on a person, in the architecture. Um, the other thing I'd like to suggest is that we look at the cultural affairs and arts committee and maybe have them do some kind of a needs assessment. We've got a tremendous need to keep art in the public view, but I'd like to suggest that we could do an arts needs assessment, and I see the committee being intricately involved in that. One of the things I think would help is getting away from the 5 to9 or the four to eight footprint. Seniors don't drive at night. So, we're missing a huge opportunity to bring some seniors out to some of our fantastic events. One of which is coming up Saturday, the Cult Copa Cultural. Um, the other thing I'd like to suggest is that we take a a message and a lead from MUSD. They've just recently named the Alma Innovative Academy. We can do the same thing with some of our stuff. And I happen to agree with Council Member Gettle. No disrespect to the current or past or future city managers, but council and the citizens have a richer history and a continuity that I think adds some credibility to what we name our our facilities. We've done it before with this plaza, with Copper Sky, with some of our buildings, and I'd like to see us continue that. So, thank you for the opportunity.

Thank you. All right, council. What comments, questions do you have? Yeah, Council Member No. Yes. Yes. Thanks, Mayor.

I when I initially read this agenda item, I share the concern about uh giving the city manager authority to name rooms. And again, it's not like I'm worried about what Ben would name a room, but when you change a policy, it's a policy that's, you know, will last beyond our current city manager and even our current council. And I think that we spent so much time, rightly so, determining how we're going to honor our founders and allowing a city manager to name a room without any council input without any council approval. I just I'm concerned about where that could go and I really would like to stick with our current policy of I'm sure council approval for naming. I think that that's important. Um, I think that makes it more inclusive, more transparent, and so, um, I'm I'm uncomfortable with that portion of the change.

All right. What additional? Yes, Council Member Gett.

Yeah, thank you. And just to clarify, our current policy as stated, there's there's two bodies that can submit names and one is of course council. We we have the ultimate oversight of that, but um, under 2.570 [clears throat] section B, it does say that designation of an advisory board or appointment of an advisory committee with guidelines and parameters to be used by the committee to provide recommendations to the mayor and council who shall then decide by resolution the name of the facility. I I would much rather see this section be activated rather than just simply to hand that over to a city manager. Um, so if we're looking for additional input from the community, let's reach out to our advisory committees for that input first and then we can move forward with the renaming of a facility or a room within a facility.

Yes, council member Wade.

When the cultural arts comm arts affairs committee was formulated, it was to city manager previous to our last city manager. and I had approached him about creating an organization that would give us an opportunity to celebrate arts and cultural history of the city of Maricopa. Now, many of you know that. So, I would like to try to see that we maintain that that position so that the the citizens, the community as well as the council members have a say in what's going on with the naming of our our buildings and other issues that may come about through the cultural arts committee. Additional comments, questions? Yes, council.

I have a one additional question, too. As we as we contemplate opening this room or designating this room as an art studio, um I'd like to understand what would be permissible use of that room as an art studio? Are we talking about um easels and paints? Are we talking about a clay wheel? Um are we concerned at all for um messes? Obviously, the room seems to be set up to be easily cleanable, but are there some parameters of what is allowable art? I'm allowed to blow glass in in that room with a furnace. Probably not. So, what are the designated parameters of what would be allowed in that facility? And maybe that's already been established through library policy that I'm unaware of, but do we have any input on that maybe from staff that could enlighten us?

I don't think any changes would be made to what's currently allowed or not allowed. I think the guidelines would stay the same. I mean, do we know what those guidelines are? Are there any guidelines in existence of what's permissible? City manager.

Yeah, thank you, Council Member GTLE, and and all for the discussion. I think the concept is that the the things that you can do whether it's in the the Willow Room or the Willow art studio would remain the same. There are different permissible uses whether that is uh the willow room or copper sky A or copper sky B. Each of those things have their own parameters based off of what is available in that room. The concept that is is here and why we've presented this is really on those rooms not necessarily the facilities or the buildings if you want to think of it that way. was just this uh this definition popped up or this um I guess unintended consequence of passing the rental fee policy last fall was that facilities in that policy was defined as buildings or rooms. And so what we're we're trying to get clarification on is um whether the code section that talks about naming of facilities which has traditionally meant naming of buildings is applicable to buildings and rooms or if that is intended simply to be buildings. And the simplest example we can provide is as city hall was built for example we have the Montazuma room or a a conference room that may be the cotton conference room. Um there may be 35 offices or otherwise that that uh have some sort of a name. Sarro conference room or John Wayne conference room. Um all of these have different names. And so the question would be are we going through this process that can slow things down um but certainly gives the council that authority or do we uh take the facilities as a as a definition to mean buildings and do we look at the difference between a building and a room? And so certainly those those both are at your disposal as as options. Um as presented we have it listed that a facility is to be defined effectively as

a building. So that the council andor as as you mentioned the second option for the committees to move forward with that. Um that those would be done through uh buildings and names uh would go through those two options. the rooms themselves within the buildings would remain as it was prior to to August with the unintended consequence of of that um rental fee policy. But as it relates specifically to your question regarding the acceptable uses, each of those vary depending on the facility.

Thank you for the clarific clarification, city manager. And I think there's maybe two clarifying points I can make here. The first being is um I I I don't believe that this is a trivial matter at all. The the city as we as we create these spaces, how we utilize these spaces and what these spaces are named can create community. It can cremate belonging and um so it's nothing that we we take too lightly, but I also want to make sure that we're, you know, in line with our our current code and and what we're hoping to accomplish here in the future. The second point of clarification I would like to make is I I think this is a wonderful opportunity to recognize the arts and to give them a designated space and help pull the that community together that they have now a space that's a designated art studio within the city. I think that is valuable. Um, [clears throat] so I don't have anything per se against the current resolution with the exception of defining um the roles of the city manager in naming the individual rooms within the facility. And so that's a larger conversation, mayor, that we could have here briefly is is what is that in our city code when it mentions city council and our committees have the authority to name our facilities. Does that limit facility buildings or is that inclusive to the rooms within those buildings? And I've read it as rooms within those buildings, but perhaps that's an error. So,

very good. Additional comments, questions. Yes, vice mayor. Who named it the Willow Room? Who named it the Redwood room? It's Willow. Yeah, I know. But the Redwood and all the other rooms, right? I mean, these are This is an administrative thing really to me. The rooms are all named both in the library at Copper Sky, the the ones over here at the all the conference room have names and it's just an administrative thing. I think it's very nice that council member Lyman because remember this is not a city manager um addition to change. It's like this is this is council member Lman, right?

She brought this to change the name to the arts studio because We wanted to give a place where artists felt they were home and they could do their art, right? So, it's not meant as a homage to any one person or thing or but to the arts in general. And it's important to remember the room stays as open for anything. So, yeah, you could rent it to do your painting in art, but you can also rent it for a boy scout meeting or whatever else you want to do in the room, right? Um, so it's not just for arts, but it just gives a little connotation that there's a place, there's a home, whereas if you want to do something that's artisty, there's a place for you. Um, so for me, I'm okay with it just saying make this change and don't add the authorize a city manager to continue to name rooms within facilit facilities as necessary. But the reality is it's currently happening every single time that we build a building um every single time we do anything staff and the city manager name in those rooms. We they don't come before us, right? I don't remember voting on Willow Room

or Redwood Room or any of those names. So, the reality is they do this constantly every time that we need to rename something or name something in the first place. I second. Yeah, we can create as many um committees and rules for naming stuff as we want, but the reality is we'll be here all day talking about room names and suggestions of room names and we'll have a here's a perfect example. I second that. Um Oh, wait a second. Oh, sorry.

Perfect example is our logo up here and how it took over a year to create that thing because It came back before committees and council and I think the green wasn't green enough but the red was too red and then the blue was kind of crazy and then the people were not enough people but just too many people at one point and we kept changing it and changing it and changing it every time. Vice Mayor, if I could jump in. I think to my point that also then made that flag the communities through that process. And that would be my argument here tonight is I I don't have anything wrong with an administrative change that's been already happening.

But I do see this as a missed opportunity to use these designated spaces to build community. And if it's single-handedly the city manager making that decision, I think that's probably okay. But I would really like to have some input from our committees and from this body here in recognizing that community and establishing those opportunities moving forward in the future. Right. And so that would be my argument with with what's being said. And I and I agree. I I I didn't vote for a Redwood room. I mean, and I understand that staff has to make these decisions when these plans are drawn, but if we have a generic room name such as the Willow and it's designated and designed for an art studio, right,

and it wasn't named appropriately in that administrative phase, if we're going to change that name, let's bring it before this body and let's make that change and bring that to the community. Sure. And there's a number of rooms, too. We could talk about that. It's not just this room, one room here in the in the library and cultural center, but there's an additional rooms within Copper Sky that would be probably high on my list of renaming to include some of that 100% community. I agree and I think we're saying the same thing here. I think we are.

It's let them do what they do as an admin when they're naming these rooms and they're generic names, but when something comes before us, we can talk about it, right? And we are. And then we can remove that little section there that says authorize the city manager to continue to name rooms within city facilities as necessary. But the reality is we're already doing that because it's already happening. So I think we'd be changing code if we pulled it out. But I don't I think this mayor members council I think we're only looking for some direction here because we are already doing it.

And I think that the the code isn't specific. The code talks about just naming of facilities. I think the resolution has just given us direction about this particular room, but making sure the city manager knows the next building that gets built. Staff's going to name most of the rooms in there. This does not preclude council from ever coming in and renaming a room. Council always has that authority. So, uh, I know council member No was a little concerned about that, but I think if we approve this resolution tonight regarding the willow room, it also gives direction to the city manager that the next building can be named just as we've been going in the past. I think he's just looking for some direction because we have done it and it's not specific in the code, but council can always come back and rename a room whenever they want to.

Very good. Uh, yes, council member ghetto.

Thank you. uh Mr. Figs Gibbons for that additional enlightenment there. I think the way that this is written, if this resolution allows the city manager to continue as he has in the past by naming the rooms upon the completion of that building before city council names that building, I'm totally comfortable with that. And so just for the record, if if it could be written that um no change needs to be in the resolution, but that I would object if the definition of the city manager is hereby authorized to continue to name other rooms within city facilities as necessary. If that word name was to be renamed, I would have a concern with that. If we're going to rename rooms, let's bring that to our committee. If it's going to be named before the building is completed, I'm totally okay having that be a staff decision. Just for the record,

I think that makes perfect sense to me as well. Council member Lurman, what I have heard that still might be undetermined and if you're willing to make a motion. What I have heard is the suggestion that was provided by you in terms of the art center. Is that correct? Studio. Studio. And then I also heard a suggestion uh to rename it to um the Judith Zamont Art Center and then also the possibility of CAAC providing some suggestions. But if you have a motion, I would love to hear that.

Okay. Um I love the idea of honoring the Zamonts and I think there's ways to do that. We um are opening the art gallery here at city hall soon. And so there's an opportunity that we could name an art gallery after them as well. So I think it's very important that we honor people who've served our community for, you know, so long. And I I look forward to that. I I think uh with the Willow room since it's uh I'd like it to stay consistent with other rooms in the library and so I think Willow Art Studio is an appropriate name for there but I think there's other opportunity to honor the Zamont for example the art gallery just came to my mind but I'm sure there's other opportunities to do that as well and I can um lead I can lead that um idea that you have Peg or co-lead that with you. Um, so I did you have something you want to say before I make a motion?

I just want to to get clarification on what we are going to vote on. So from what I heard Mr. Gtle say that if we this motion this that we before us will not give the city manager the authority to rename rooms. It will only give the city manager the the authority to name the rooms initially upon completion and then if a room is going to be renamed that will still have to come before the council. Yes, that's what I understand as well. Renaming is a form of a special yes acknowledgement of some type. Yes.

Very good. Okay. So, I'd like to make a motion um that we move forward with this resolution um keeping current code the way that it is. And I think that will and renaming the room the Willow Art Studio. Studio with an S. Arts Studio. Arts Studio. Very good. Do I have a second? Seconded by Council Member Wade. Any additional conversation? All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Oh, we're voting, mayor. Well, I didn't know if we could do that since we pulled it off of consent. Okay. All right. Please vote.

Mine did, too.

All right, that was unanimous. That motion carries. Very good. All right, that'll take us to the next agenda item, which is 8.1. And we have a presentation by Chris Ever. Let me know if I said that right. Okay.

Good evening, Madame Mayor, Vice Mayor, members of the council. My name is Chris Everu. I'm the finance manager for the city. I'm here today to introduce Christopher Heinfeld, who's our audit partner, who will be discussing the results of our 2025 um financial audit. Uh before I bring Christopher up here, I just want to acknowledge the accomplishments of my team. Um as you know, we have a small team in finance and uh every year our goal is to get the audit issued on time, which is December 31st, and have no audit findings. So, I'm proud to report we accomplish that again this year. Um, so I want to acknowledge my team members, Trent Walls, Gia Jenkins, um, Cat Fatina, Shaina Baglin, and Sakur Warz. Um, everything they did to accomplish those goals and get the audit out on time. Um, also special thanks to Lel Blancarte and the budget team. Um, and also Rob Bremer, our procurement and contracts, uh, guys. So, with that said, I'll bring Christopher up here. He's going to do a short presentation to go over all the audit results for fiscal year 25.

Very good. Thank you and welcome Chris. Madame Mayor, Mr. Vice President or Mr. Vice Mayor and council members, thank you for having me here this evening to present to you on the annual financial statements and the annual results of the audit for fiscal year 25. As mentioned, I'm the engagement partner on the city of Maricopa annual audit. I've been with our firm for about 20 years and have supervised over 265 uh financial and compliance audits. And somebody that that works with me closely on the audit is Kristen Conway. I I'd be remissed if I didn't point her out. She's the engagement manager and the liaison between our firm and the city of Maricopa finance team and she's worked on over 310 different financial and compliance audits and experience from the Arizona auditor general's office. The audit we perform each year is in accordance with the statement on auditing standards issued by the AICPA which is just auditing standards for all firms to abide by for the most part. But on top of that we we do the audit in performance with the government auditing standards which is an additional layer of auditing standards and the financial statements are prepared in accordance with government accounting standards board statements. Just a brief communication on the audit timeline. We began the audit in May of 2025. We were on site in o August and November of 2025 and we provided a draft of that report December 4th. And as mentioned previously, we've received some comments back, but were able to get the report issued in time on December 22nd. Uh [snorts] some of the significant

estimates included in the audit and the financial statements include the assumptions in the actuarial valuations of the pension plans. And we're also required to let you know of any new standards accounting pronouncements that have come out that affect the financial statements. Two of those being Gazsb statement number 101 and 102. compensated absences is the big one and did involve bringing on some additional liabilities into the dis into the city's financial statements but did not make a significant effect on the overall financial statements or note disclosures. Some additional services that we do provide um are assisting with the preparation of those financial statements and notes to the financial statements as well as the preparation of the ELR or annual expenditure limitation report. As previously mentioned, if we had any findings, if we had any misstatements or errors that we noted in the course of the audit that were significant, we would make sure to disclose those to you at this time. Uh we didn't have any disagreements with management either. All these communication items are disclosed in the governance communication letter that you should have received. It's three-page letter that details these items and in addition has attached to it the engagement letter that was signed at the beginning of the audit as well as the representation letter that was signed at the end of the audit. This is the first page of your independent auditors report. But I'm going to briefly go over the reports that were issued. We issued the annual comprehensive financial report which included the independent auditor's report as well as the government auditing standards letter and HERF letter. Those were all issued December 22nd of 25. And then we also issued on January 28th of 26 the audit communication to governance letter as well as the annual expenditure limitation report. I'm going to briefly talk about the ACER as well as the gas letter. So page one starts your introductory section and is the

transmitter letter. It also includes the GFOA certificate of achievement. I just want to point out this specific award that's included in the report. Each year the district submits this annual comprehensive financial report to GFOA to review for for this award. GFOA has a 40 to 50page checklist that they go through to make sure that this document contains all the requirements. So does the financial statements are they presented in accordance with finan with all the standards in the statements? Um I'm proud to present that last year there was only one comment received out of 40 to 50page checklist and that one comment was very minimal and just required some additional information in the transmitt letter. So page 13 is your independent auditor's report. We're issuing what we call an unmodified or clean audit opinion. And then page 17 is your management discussion and analysis section. A great section for just year-to-year comparisons at a very high level. Page 29 are your basic financial statements. There's two sets of financial statements. The first set is just entity or citywide. The second set is on an individual fund basis and gets into the details. Uh page 43 are your notes to the financial statements. These describe a lot of items in the financial report. So you may only one or two items about capital assets on the face of your financial statements. But if you go to the notes to the financial statements, you'll see a ton of detail about the beginning balances for those financial assets, any acquisitions, any disposals, as well as the ending balances. Page 77 starts the required supplementary information. This is required by Gazsby. Uh it's really just some budget to actual reporting as well as some pension schedules. Page 89 is supplementary information. So, a lot of additional details on on less

significant funds and their balances. And then page 13 is the statistical section. Just a great place for 10-year TR trend information. What's happened with the sales tax revenue that the city's received the last 10 years? Has it increased, decreased, stayed consistent? What's happened with related expenditures? um as well as other demographic and economic information, information about the city's debt limits and debt capacity and revenue and revenue capacity. As previously mentioned, there is also a government auditing standards letter included. This letter details that we reviewed internal controls and compliance and did note any significant findings that needed to be reported or other material weaknesses.

[snorts] I've got a few different slides here just for resources for everybody. But before I open it up to any comments or questions, I just want to thank uh the whole finance service division. An audit is really a two-way street. The amount of requests we ask for and the questions we ask and then the followup that we ask again is just a constant barrage and um there's no way we'd be able to get this done in time without all their help. Very good. Thank you very much, council. What questions, comments do you have? All right. Thank you. Appreciate it. Thank you very much.

That'll take us to our last agenda item 8.2. Jennifer Brown will be discussing strategic priorities.

Good evening, Mayor, council members. um excited to be here before you tonight talking about our strategic priorities. So brought them before you last month at our futures planning meeting and talked about some of the changes we have. So we initially set up our strategic priorities in February of 2023 at our futures planning. Each year we've been bringing those back as we need to make little tweaks. Circumstances change. Some goals get completed. Some things change. So tonight I'm I'm bringing back the changes that we have from last year as well as the input that you gave us at the futures planning uh meeting for us to to look at those. Um our strategic priorities really guide our budget decisions. They guide the work that we do each and every day. Uh they're not inclusive of all the actions that that we take as city employees, but they have those large items that really move the needle for us to become a premier city. So with that, I'll get started. And um our first focus area in the strategic priorities is transportation. And so you can see in action 1.1, so the the blue words are the ones that I've changed and then obviously the red are the ones that we're taking out. So I'll read through the ones that we've changed as we go through this. But action 1.1 is to connect Maricopa to the surrounding region with safe and swift tritation that spurs economic growth. We will leverage local funds and seek financial support from our county, state, and federal partners to improve State Route 347 and other regional connections. Take time to celebrate achievements. So really, this change is talking about um our additional sales tax and leveraging those local funds from that and taking time to celebrate those achievements. We had a big celebration when the 347 widening project got approved. Looking at doing something again when the groundbreaking begins. So I want to take those those moments as a community. Uh action 1.2. So previously this had

discussed um putting or completing the the sales tax approval. We've done that. So changing that one a little bit is prioritizing needs for util utilization of the commuting corridors halfcentent sales tax to improve regional connections and traffic flow. So looking at how do we prioritize those projects and consistently look at what makes the most sense for how do we spend those dollars. And then action 1.3, this was very similar to action 1.1. So we rewrote this on a new project we started working on this year and it's utilize the traffic strikeforce team to identify high priority problem areas, develop effective solutions and implement timely improvements that enhance traffic flow throughout the city. So, our traffic straightforce team meets monthly looking real time at traffic issues that we have around the community. It's many departments coming together so we can quickly address those before they become bigger problems. Any questions on transportation? Council, any questions? All right. Focus two. We haven't changed anything in in focus area two. So our our first uh action 2.1 is still the development of the business park to bring in highpaying jobs and spur economic growth. Action 2.2 is developing an educated workforce. So working on those partnerships with our local schools, with higher education, with small businesses um to support startups and drive technological advancements. So that's all all still going.

Focus three. Uh this is one. If we can go back one slide, I'd like to ask a question. Absolutely. Council member Ghetto and I believe Council Member Wade, did you have one also? No. Okay. Thank you, He's Riching for an M&M. Yeah. Um, thank you, Jennifer. Sorry for interrupting. No, you're good.

Um, [clears throat] on on this job development is a a major concern here with our city. Of course, our economic development is crucial and this is a really important priority and and rightfully so. It's number two following transportation. Um, I'd like to, and maybe this is too late of a conversation to have here today, but I would like to see if we could include some way of marketing our city clearly of what it is that we have here in these action items. I don't necessarily see that type of an approach here. I know that it's part of our strategy. I know we're actively doing it, but I would like to see if we can place a little larger emphasis on how we're marketing what Maricopa is to the rest of the world in a in an effort to attract these high-paying jobs and these economic drivers into our local economy. Does that make sense a little bit about what I'm asking for?

Yeah, absolutely. We can wordsmith that here tonight if you want or we can wordsmith it uh and bring it back to you at the next council meeting, whatever you prefer. This is for action tonight. If we can clear it up tonight, I think it would be great and move it forward faster. Fabulous. And perhaps that's just a a third action, a 2.3 item.

I I was actually wondering as you were saying that, I think that's a really good point. I was looking forward to our economic development strategic plan to dig into that, but I'm not opposed if we wanted to add something here as well. But I really see that as a heavy conversation during our Yeah. And perhaps I'm sorry, Mary. That's okay. No problem. Go right ahead. And perhaps that's what we do is tonight we just suggest a placeholder that we want to focus on. There you go. identifying ways to market our community. And then as we receive that strategic plan reviewed, um we can maybe make some additional updates to our our priority list.

Yeah, I like that idea. So, if I'm understanding right, we're not going to change it at this point tonight. Okay. But we could come back and change at a later date. Got it.

Thank you. Any others on focus area two? So, focus three is one we spent a lot of time talking about at futures planning. So, we brought this one and we had originally changed it to smart growth. As we talked at futures planning, um we threw out a lot of different words that perhaps made more sense. This used to be housing and it seems so specific for the way we grow. There is so much um that's encompassed in the way we grow. And so the wording that was thrown out at futures planning is intentional growth um to rename focus three. Uh so that's what we've done here. And then we've uh the the main caption under that is as one of the fastest growing cities in the nation, Maricopa is committed to thoughtful, responsible planning that ensures today's decisions build a strong and successful tomorrow. Um action 3.1 stayed the same, really looking at diverse housing and creating a sense of place. Action 3.2, we just updated it, so it's not as specific for housing. So it says continue to support local control and zoning decisions to ensure residents have a voice in how our community grows. And then action 3.3 previously was very much focused on what we did this year in drafting the general plan. So we updated it on how we can keep the integrity of the general plan. And so we wrote collaborate with county and regional partners to ensure development within the city's planning area aligns with the general plan. We had some additional wording on this. It was recommended at futures planning to cut that off. So we did shortened it up. And then action 3.4. This also came as a recommendation from futures planning. It was recommended to have an item related to emergency management. Uh this could have gone this could go here. This can also go in the public safety section. We we really thought because so much of it is related to the regional flood plane that it made a lot of sense to go in the

intentional growth. Um but up for discussion. And so action 3.4 Four reads, "Ensure Maricopa's ongoing safety by advancing regional flood plane solutions supported by an internally developed hazardous or hazard mitigation plan to identify other risks and guide resilience measures." Council questions. Yes, Council Lurman. Um, is there a way to put it in both sections? So, I think it is very appropriate in this section, but also maybe worded differently also in safety um section as well. We could uh the if you want to take a quick preview at the next one, we start to get into some

just spacing uh to to have it there. Uh there's a lot already on the public safety page. So, but if there's a different way you recommend wording it, we could we could certainly add something additional to the the public safety page. Okay. I'll think on it. Okay. Thank you. Yep. Additional comments, questions on this particular one. Jennifer, action 3.3 is hugely important in regarding to collaboration with county and regional partners to ensure that our planning areas align with the general plan. So, as we get ready to put the general plan proposal in front of our voters, we this one will become very very important. So, I appreciate the addition of this one. Agreed.

Yep. Yes, Council No.

Thank you, mayor. on action 3.1. I and I love the change from the housing topic to intentional growth because I definitely think that we need to make a shift in that priority. And I love how it talks about um increased access to jobs, shopping, and other amenities because I definitely think that's a focus of our community right now and how we can enhance that. I the encourage walkability. I love I mean I definitely want trails and I think I love walking. I'm a runner, but I like walking, too. And I think that's important. However, I think with the recent, we've had some recent issues with uh pedestrians and um vehicles. And so, I just want to make sure that while we're encouraging walkability, we're making sure walkability is safe, right? So, that we're making sure the lighting and the intersections and everything promotes walkability. Not just say, "Hey, get out there and walk." Um but make sure that what we're the spaces we're providing for walkability are safe for our community because it just has been a rough couple weeks. So

and and I agree um with that trails and walkability idea. So when we get to our next focus area, trails are specifically addressed in that area. Okay, great. Very good. Any additional comments, questions? Yes, Council Member Wade. I agree with the focus three change. I believe that if we're just talking about housing or if the community was just talking about housing, it would limit your ability to make a change or to to enhance what you have here. So, I I really do I'm really glad what he talked about because housing turns into so many different conversations out there in the community. So, it gives it intentional growth, gives you a chance opportunity to expand the conversation.

Agreed. Very good. All right. All right. Focus four. Uh, so this is our our quality of life focus. So these mostly stayed the same. I'll start with the one that changed. And so really this was very specific to enhancing at Copper Sky just a culinary experience and outdoor activities. We broadened it because there's so much opportunity there. And so we put seek to add additional recreational opportunities at Copper Sky through partnerships and innovative solutions. So just a broadening of that one. And then these still uh in in the quality of life, we talk about iconic park, we talk about our trail system, uh we talk about the arts, and we talk about partnerships. So, all of those are still covered and haven't haven't changed any questions, comments. I do agree with council member No. I know it looks like action 4.3 talks about interconnected bike routes and trail system and I know at sometime in the future we have some change to our code or I'm looking at Chief Goodman change to our code in regards to ebikes and so we have that to look forward to. Is that all will be covered in this element then

in terms of this is all the the trails element but yeah we will be bringing back um ordinance um about does that help as well council? Yes, absolutely. I'm just I think if we're promoting walkability and and getting out there, that's great. I'm a big fan. But we also need to be making sure that we're it's safe. Yeah. And that we are providing safe ways for folks to get out. Yeah. Yes. Vice Mayor.

On 4.1, I like the fact that we're talking about we're not just content with Copper Sky um or the parks we have, but that we're wanting to enrich the community more by creating such things as an iconic park at the city center. Um and also including in that the public private partnerships. I it's my favorite part of it. Um is that we'll be able to work with other groups to bring in things that we need in the city of Maricopa. Very good. Thank you to that. That's a great point. To that point, will there be more conversations about what that looks like and how that's

will that be part of the budget or will that be part of like a work session or a council item? Yeah, thank you, Madam Mayor, members of the council. Um, as we go forward, specifically as it relates to Iconic Park, as the site plan progresses and as we we go through that, we'll have further discussions. um iconic park as an as an item within the CIP within that capital improvement plan. Uh certainly could be discussed at the the budget committee or otherwise, but uh as we get further down the road with the development of that park and concept, uh that's likely the the time where we'd have more discussion on that item. Very good. Yes, Council Wade. [clears throat]

Thank you. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I'm looking at action 4.4 and it says to enhance Maricopa's cultural vitality, we champion initiatives that celebrate the arts by investing in public art projects and expenses. But when we talk about cultural vitality, it's more than just arts. It's the nature of the community and the kind of the heart of the community as well. So, I'm wondering if there's some opportunity to maybe just kind of tweak that a little bit and give us another another shot at it, if you will. Are you I think the use of the word cultural vitality and then the rest of the sentence seems to focus on arts.

Exactly. But I understand that the experiences could definitely fall into cultural uh vitality. So, he's asking if there might be just a slight word tweak. Absolutely. And any of these can be tweaked. Absolutely. Uh, is there a recommendation or do you want We can it here too. Yeah, I I'll I'll get with you and Yeah, I think if if she added public art projects and cultural experiences, would that No, I don't I don't think that's it. I think there's a there's a there's a need to focus on we are a very diverse and cultural community.

Um we're talking about one aspect of it with the arts as opposed to cultural experiences black black history month right now and there's nothing that we're doing for black history month but so there should be an opportunity to incorporate that conversation into this conversation. Would it be maybe changing the wording here to to enhance Maricopa's cultural vitality, you will champion initiatives that celebrate the arts by investing in public art projects and diverse cultural experiences? Yeah, it works. That works, right? It does. Yeah, I think so. Yeah, it does. Good addition. Everyone ready? Oh, good with that. Okay.

All right. Well, we'll vote on it, but I want to make sure before we move on. Perfect. Great. Thank you. Any other on focus four? Great. Focus five, becoming a destination city. Uh nothing has changed in this one. Still focused on sports and event tourism using the the bed tax dollars to invest in those comments, questions.

All right, we're good. And then final is our public safety focus six. And and these aren't in any necessary order, but um These are the items through through the public safety one. And so um the first is really using data driven methods to make sure we have the appropriate response um set up for our public safety teams. Uh 6.2 prioritizing community policing. 6.3 is designing and constructing a a fifth fire station. 6.4 is the creation of a hazmat team. And 6.5 is preparing for the launch of an in-house ambulance service. Very good. Council questions, comments. Yes, council member Ghetto.

Yeah, thank you, Jennifer. Thank you. I think [clears throat] um I love the picture of ladder 571, but I think I like action 3.4 in that slot a little bit better. Okay. Uh just moving the emergency management up. It's more than flood med mitigation. Um and so giving that that priority under public safety and and they take, you know, threequarters of our budget anyway. So, if they have a few extra priorities to focus on, I think they'll be okay. Um, and Chief, you and I can have a conversation afterwards if we need to replace ladder 571 with a different picture. But, uh, so that recommendation is to move item 3.4 to become item 6.6.

And just to clarify, 3.4 is about the flood mitigation. Yeah. And, and perhaps we can also word smmith that one a little bit to include more than just the flood mitigation. I I agree that the flood zone is a huge concern and a challenge for our city as we move forward economically and it fits with that priority, but there's a larger picture about emergency management that I think that that priority is missing just a little bit.

And and so the second part of that priority is uh the the internal creation and development of the hazardous mitigation plan. And so that's something that the emergency management team is is focused on working on over the next year, two, three, you know, however long. And so that's that's the additional piece beyond the flood um the regional flood solution, but I don't know if you had No, I think I'm okay as it is written. Maybe just its location moved to the Okay. New section.

Any additional comments on that one? I I am struggling with why we would move that to public safety when it's about advancing the regional flood plane solutions. Um, which to me is all about intentional growth more so than public safety. So, okay, then maybe what I'm asking for is let's split this out a little bit. Let's go ahead and leave the flood plane mitigation where it is,

but include a larger scope of hazard um preparedness, hazard mitigation, emergency management aspect of it. We're covering police, we're covering fire, but there's no priority there for emergency management, which I think is a big part of our city. I agree. That's what I was hoping for to split it up. Okay. So, if I'm hearing correctly, then we'll have action 3.4 will be ensure Maricopa's ongoing safety by advancing regional flood plane solutions. Period. Yeah. And then item 6.6 would be develop a hazard mitigation plan to identify risks and guide resilience measures. Yes, that's what I'm hearing as well. I think so. Yeah. Okay. Sounds great.

All right. I think unless there are any other questions then. All right. So, council, any additional comments, questions? So, I think in order to make a motion, do we need to run through the changes or have we captured them? What? Vanessa, Madame Mayor, yes, please run through the changes one more time, please. Run through the changes. Okay. So, Jennifer, do you mind? Yeah, I think I can do it. Okay. Catch me if I miss anything. Okay.

So, if we will start at 3.4 uh and so all the other changes will stand 3.4 four will be different and it'll just read ensure Maricopa's ongoing safety by advancing regional flood plane solutions. Period. And then we move to 4.4. And 4.4 will read, "To enhance Maricopa's cultural vitality, we will champion initiatives that celebrate the arts by investing in public art projects and diverse cultural experiences. Got it. And then I think we just have 6.6 which will read. [snorts]

Develop a hazard mitigation plan to identify other or sorry take out the word other. So let me start over. Develop a hazard mitigation plan to identify risks and guide resilience measures. It's my understanding that that plan currently exists. Am I misunderstanding that we do have hazard mitigation plans um not a specific master plan and I think we want to look at specific elements and keep looking at those and so I think really the concept is not to just develop once but continuously review and enhance as as we go throughout. Review and enhance would be some good words to include in there. Jennifer,

let's go back. So devel A hazard mitigation plan to identify risks and guide resil or to review to review and enhance our current hazard mitigation plan to identify other risks and guide resilience see users. Did you get that Vanessa? Cool. All right. Very good. Given that if there are no additional questions, comments, do I have a motion? I'd like to move to approve our strategic focus.

I have a motion to approve. Do I have a second by Council Member Lman? Very good. Last opportunity for comments, questions. Seeing none, please vote. Oh boy. connection.

Oh, my connection timed out. Vanessa, we can record your vote, Madam. Okay, I approve. Very good. All right, that passes unanimously. That brings us to the end of this evening's regular city council meeting. We adjourn. Thank you.