City Council - Regular Meeting

5:13 – 5:45•BDBecky Daggett

Good afternoon. Today is Tuesday, August 25th, 2026. And this is the city council's regular meeting. I'm calling the meeting to order and giving notice to members of the council and to the general public that at this regular meeting, the council may vote to go into executive session, which will not be open to the public for discussion and consultation with the city's attorneys for legal advice on any item listed on the following agenda. Can we have roll call?

5:58•BDBecky Daggett

Here. Council Member Matthews, would you lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance?

6:03•LMLori Matthews

My pleasure. Please stand if you're able. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands,

6:23•BDBecky Daggett

Councilmember Garcia, do you have the mission statement?

Yes, thank you, Madam Mayor. The mission of the City of Flagstaff is to protect and enhance the quality of life for all.

6:33•BDBecky Daggett

And Councilmember Aslan, the land acknowledgement?

Yes, ma'am, just a second. Thank you, Councilmember. The city of Flagstaff, the Flagstaff City Council humbly acknowledges the ancestral homelands of this area's indigenous nations and original stewards. These lands, still inhabited by native descendants, border mountains sacred to indigenous peoples. We honor them, their legacies, their traditions, and their continued contributions. We celebrate their past, present, and future generations who will forever know this place as home.

7:10 – 7:31•BDBecky Daggett

Thank you. All right, at this time we're at open call to the public and this enables the public to address the council about an item that is not on the prepared agenda. And you have three minutes. There is a clock right here and we have one public commenter today, Colleen Mehring.

9:20 – 9:42•BDBecky Daggett

Welcome to Flagstaff. All right, we are down to proclamations and recognitions. We have two today. The first is Arbor Day. So if you're here for Arbor Day, will you join us at the end of the dais? And we'll take a photo afterwards. And then if you would like to say something, we welcome you to do it.

All right, happy to read this proclamation on behalf of the mayor. Whereas Flagstaff is situated in the world's largest ponderosa pine forest, and whereas it is universally recognized that healthy forests can provide multiple ecosystem services, including reducing erosion and stormwater runoff, moderating temperature, improving air quality, storing carbon dioxide, producing oxygen, and providing habitat for wildlife, and whereas trees enhance Flagstaff's economic vitality and aesthetics, and whereas the city of Flagstaff is recognized as a Tree City USA, and whereas on August 25th, 2026, Flags

13:30 – 16:10•BDBecky Daggett

Can my smart people join us down here? Welcome. Guns are the number one killer of children and teens in the United States. The city of Flagstaff is committed to creating a safe environment, contributing to the safety and well-being of our children. In the U.S., almost every single day, a child gets their hands on a gun and unintentionally kills or wounds themself or someone else. Research shows that the most effective way to prevent children from accessing firearms is by making sure all guns are stored unloaded locked, and separate from ammunition. There are steps we can all take, gun owners a

18:59•BDBecky Daggett

All right, now we are down to July and August work anniversaries. Thank you, Shannon.

50:37 – 50:51•BDBecky Daggett

Thank you, Shannon. And thank you to all of the employees celebrating anniversaries. All right, next up is council liaison reports. I will start with council member Spence.

52:07 – 52:53•KHKhara House

Thank you, Mayor. It's been a busy but fruitful break. I'll just share, because I believe Vice Mayor is going to share some of the other things that I was able to attend during the break and recess. But for the Housing Commission, they met just a few weeks ago and also had a presentation on the public safety ballot measures as well as updates on the 10-year housing plan. The Commission on Diversity Awareness also provided updates on upcoming proclamations for the city and are continuing to build out their scope of work for the upcoming year. Thank you, Mayor.

52:55 – 53:36•MSMiranda Sweet

Thank you. Vice Mayor. Thank you. I was going to keep mine short, Council Member House. It was a very busy break. I did attend almost all of my different commissions, BPAC, Mountain Lion, Water Commission, Metro Plan. I had to miss my NAMWA, unfortunately. But what I am excited to share is that I am the new chair of NACOG, and we have a meeting this Thursday, 10 to 12, at the NASA Center over on the Mesa. It does mean I will be a little bit late to our retreat that we have, but I'm excited to start my new role as chair of NACOG. Council Member Aslan.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. Good to see everybody. It's great to be back. I have three commission meetings later this week, so nothing to report right now.

Thank you very much, Madam Mayor. Both of my commissions were not active while we were on break, but during our break, PROS held their second super successful round of public input at Ponderosa Park. Ponderosa Park improvements have been a top issue at the Sunnyside Neighborhood Association meetings and the Parks Department, and the Parks Department have been helpful every step along the way. Now that the public has had an opportunity to give input about the play area and the structures, the pros team can get started on the design. I wanted to give a special thanks to Team Flagstaff, the pros

54:45 – 55:44•LMLori Matthews

Thank you, Mayor. It has been a busy break. On August 10th, we had the annual Code Talkers celebration. It's one of my most favorite events to go to, and we had dancers from the Tonto Apache tribe come and dance for us, and it was just always very... I learn something every year about the history of the Code Talkers, so it's a It's a well-anticipated celebration. On August 12th, we had the CJCC executive session where we recap the strategic planning event that happened when I was actually out of town. And we talked about a new learning series, the indigenous perspectives in Coconino County, wh

55:45 – 56:02•BDBecky Daggett

Thank you. Nothing from me? All right, we're moving on to appointments, and we have three appointments to make to three different commissions today. The first is an appointment to the Tourism Commission by Vice Mayor.

56:03 – 56:28•MSMiranda Sweet

Thank you, Mayor. We did have a few applications, and I appreciate everyone that took the time and was willing to throw their hat in the ring. We did have someone that applied with 13 years of hospitality in the industry, and I felt that that was a good rounding of the current commission. So I would like to move that we appoint Belen Mendez to the Tourism Commission.

56:33 – 56:44•BDBecky Daggett

Any discussion? All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? All right, next up we have the Audit Committee. Councilmember Aslan.

I believe we only have one applicant for this, which generally would be a source of concern for me, but this applicant happens to be very well qualified to do this role, and I'm glad to have him in the role. I would like to nominate John VanLandingham. I'll second.

57:01•BDBecky Daggett

Any discussion? All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? All right. Parks and Recreation Commission. Council Member House.

57:12 – 57:38•KHKhara House

Thank you, Mayor. We had two applicants for this role, and I was excited to see both the years that both have served in our community or been part of our community and enjoying our parks and open recreation areas. I am appointing someone who has been on record as being interested in this commission for over a year, I believe. So I am happy to appoint Michelle McAllister.

57:42 – 58:36•BDBecky Daggett

Any discussion? All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? All right. Thank you to all the applicants. Moving down to the consent agenda. All matters under consent agenda are considered by the City Council to be routine unless a member of the City Council expresses a desire at the meeting to remove an item from the consent agenda for discussion or a member of the public would like to comment on something on the consent agenda. The consent agenda will be enacted by one motion approving the recommendations listed on the agenda. Unless otherwise indicated, the expenditures approved by council are budg

58:38 – 59:03•BDBecky Daggett

Are there any others? So then we will take items eight, B, C, D, in one motion to approve, if I can get that motion. Is there a second? I'll second. Any discussion? All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? All right, Councilmember Garcia.

Thank you very much, Madam Mayor. I would like to have a better understanding of how the program works. I understand that the system has been in place for over 13 years, and I do understand through reading the packet all the benefits that it provides for the community. I would like to get a brief overview of how the system works, and if the folks presenting today could help me better understand the intergovernmental partnership between the county, city, and NAU, how that is broken down.

That explains exactly what I was looking for. I saw the numbers break down and then I just added a couple of different questions to make it a little bit more exciting in case anybody at home was bored. So thank you for answering that question so completely. And I guess the last question, is this system working well for you guys and are you happy with it?

this system is our legacy system we need to maintain the service of this until we can get a new system up and running up and running and then probably working through it okay so there's a reason why we're doing this for one more year yeah excellent thank you um with that madam mayor excuse me just a second council member house has a question thank you mayor thank you council member garcia thank you for the information on this i had noted in the um

1:01:48 – 1:02:25•KHKhara House

overview that the contract was over budget by about 106,000. I just wanted to hear maybe your recommendations. I see that the staff recommendation is to move forward with the approval. I just, hearing that it's a system that hasn't really been working or needs some upgrades, I wanted to gauge kind of the comfort level in moving forward at this point with the system? Or what would be maybe the risks of if we don't?

1:03:15•KHKhara House

Thank you for that clarification, City Manager. Thank you, Mayor.

1:03:19•BDBecky Daggett

Council Member Garcia, would you like to make the motion?

I would. Thank you very much, Madam Mayor. I would like to move that consent agenda item number 8A. I'd like to move to approve.

1:03:32 – 1:03:58•BDBecky Daggett

Any discussion? All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? All right, thank you very much. All right, we're moving down to routine items. 9A is consideration and adoption of ordinance number 2026-19. And here comes Ryan from Human Resources.

1:04:32•LMLori Matthews

Thank you, Mayor. I'd like to move that we read ordinance number 2026-19 by title only for the final time.

1:04:44•BDBecky Daggett

Second. Was there any discussion on this item? Council Member House?

1:04:52•KHKhara House

Not really, but happy anniversary, Ryan.

1:04:59•BDBecky Daggett

All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? All right. Georgiana?

Thank you. I just would like to thank Team Flagstaff for updating this policy and giving the employees the financial security and extra time they need to bond with their new children. Creating this supportive framework is a proud milestone for our workplace culture and overall quality of life for our employees. Thank you, Ryan. Thank you.

1:06:00•BDBecky Daggett

All in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed? All right. Thank you, Ryan.

1:07:00•BDBecky Daggett

Thank you. And that includes the city manager?

1:07:07 – 1:07:21•BDBecky Daggett

Okay. Thank you. All right. So, so council, can I get a motion to direct and authorize a city attorney to proceed as discussed?

1:07:22•KHKhara House

Mayor, I will move to direct and authorize the city attorney and or designated city representative to proceed as discussed in the executive session on August 25th, 2026 items five a I second.

1:07:37•BDBecky Daggett

Any discussion? All those in favor? Aye. All right, down to B.

1:08:56•BDBecky Daggett

Thank you. Council, can I get a motion on 10B?

Mayor, I'd like to move to approve the settlement of the matter of Peggy Leslie versus City of Flagstaff. pursuant to the term of the tentative state settlement discussed in executive session, July 31st, 2026, and authorize the city manager and direct the city manager and the city attorney to execute all documents and take such other actions as necessary to finalize this settlement. I'll second.

1:09:36 – 1:09:55•BDBecky Daggett

Thank you, I just have a quick question for Sterling. Do we need to insert today's date as well? Okay. Thank you. Any discussion? All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed? All right, moving down to C. Can I get a motion?

1:09:58 – 1:10:38•LMLori Matthews

I'll try it. Mayor, I move to approve the settlement of the notice of claim by the estate of Essene Ibram. Ibrahim and I should have taken this one. Ashia Mohammed and all statutory beneficiaries pursuant of the terms of the tentative settlement discussed in executive session on July 31st, 2026 and today's date. And authorize and direct the city manager and the city attorney to execute all documents and take such action other action as Necessary to finalize the settlement.

1:10:39 – 1:10:56•BDBecky Daggett

I'll second All right, is there any discussion All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? All right, we're moving down to D. Can I get a motion?

1:10:58 – 1:11:20•KHKhara House

Mayor, I'll move to approve the settlement of the matter of Justin Royal versus the city of Flagstaff at all pursuant to the terms of the tentative settlement discussed in executive session on July 31st, 2026 and August 25th, 2026 and authorize and direct the city manager and the city attorney to execute all documents and take such other actions as are necessary to finalize the settlement.

1:11:22 – 1:11:36•BDBecky Daggett

Second. Any discussion? All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? All right. Moving down to E, consideration and adoption of resolution number 2026-44. Welcome, Jana.

1:12:59•BDBecky Daggett

Council, any questions? All right, Vice Mayor would like to make the motion.

1:13:08•MSMiranda Sweet

Thank you, Mayor. I move that we read resolution number 2026-44 by title only.

1:13:19•BDBecky Daggett

All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? All right, thank you, Jana.

1:13:30•BDBecky Daggett

Oh, I'm sorry. I missed that we need to read it by title only. So, Georgiana.

1:14:01•MSMiranda Sweet

I move that we adopt Resolution Number 2026-44. I'll second.

1:14:08 – 1:14:21•BDBecky Daggett

Any discussion? All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed? All right, thank you. Okay, we're moving down to F, consideration and approval of a contract.

1:19:34 – 1:19:46•BDBecky Daggett

Yes. I just want to thank you for finding a space that has bus service. I noticed that in the staff summary. Council Member Garcia.

Yes, thank you very much, Madam Mayor. Thank you very much, Jennifer, for the presentation. It has been a point of conversation over the last couple of weeks in the Sunnyside neighborhood that I run around in and live in. about the changes that were coming through for the library. So the neighborhood is very sad that it has to move. But we understand that this is the only location on the east side that we really could get into that had enough space to do all the things that we need to do for a good couple of years being into that space. So I'll be happy to spread the word. My question to you i

Thank you so much. I really appreciate your commitment to doing that. And the folks I'm most concerned with are those who frequent the library that are from that neighborhood and helping them understand what their options are. I think your team does so well personalizing things for those who have a commitment to the library. So I'd love to hear what you had to say as well.

I think that's crucially important, and you're heading right into the direction that I wanted to speak to, being that the current location has two easy accesses for Mountain Lion and a third just down there on 66. This does limit that access, but having that educational piece will be crucial to getting those folks who don't normally ride the bus on that bus and down to the place that's really not that far away. I'm also very excited to be serving that niche of the community near Continental that hasn't had this opportunity before.

1:22:17 – 1:22:36•LMLori Matthews

Thank you, Mayor. Just to add on to that, is there a direct bus route from, let's say, where the existing library is? If people go there, can they jump on a bus and go directly to the new location, or is it not as easy?

1:22:45 – 1:23:05•LMLori Matthews

Good. And then I may have missed it when you were showing the timeline, but when do you, obviously you'll be moved out before they start construction on the existing library for whatever they're gonna do, but when do you project opening up this new location?

1:23:25•LMLori Matthews

And then my last question is, I think I saw in your timeline that the rent agreement with the property owners is for three years?

1:24:20 – 1:24:42•LMLori Matthews

You just answered my next question, right, that there's a stipulation because they're the ones causing us to move that we break that lease, or at least temporarily until the move. And then my last question is, does CCC, is that their projection that they'll be built out on their new location and ready for us to move back in within those 51 months?

1:25:35 – 1:26:05•LMLori Matthews

And just one last question because I think off Continental Drive is a great location and you know I think it's going to serve a new population over there but I'm concerned about as council member Garcia said the population that lives walkability to where it is now. Is there any back thought maybe the city manager can speak to this of retaining that location after we make the move and having you know, a third location?

1:26:31 – 1:27:20•BDBecky Daggett

I would just like to jump in and say how excited I am to see the new CCC building. So thank you Flagstaff voters or Coconino County voters for supporting it. And I know this is a huge disruption to all of you. Hopefully we can all stay focused on how nice it's going to be to have brand new space and to be part of of that revitalization of that whole corner in the neighborhood, so thank you. All right, council, I am looking for a motion to approve the lease agreement for the temporary East Flagstaff Library site.

Mayor, I move to approve the lease agreement for the temporary East Flag Library site at 5200 East Courtland Boulevard, Suite A1 through 6, and authorize the city manager to execute the lease and any related procurement documents for necessary facility tenant improvements not to exceed $200,000 to provide the interim library space for East Flag Library.

1:27:54 – 1:28:30•BDBecky Daggett

Is there a second? I'll second. Any discussion? All those in favor? Aye. All right. Let us know if you need any help unloading boxes. Thank you. All right, next up, 11, open call to the public, and I do not see any. So then number 12 is announcements and updates to, from council and city manager. So I'm going to start with Council Member Aslan.

Thank you, Mayor. There was way too much going on during council break to report everything today, so I will gently feather in all of my reports throughout the next month's worth of council meetings. But today, let's talk about all the work that's been being done on the Sunnyside area. by the Sunnyside Neighborhood Association in the collaboration with the City of Flagstaff. First off, myself and Vice Mayor helped distribute over 50 flyers to local 4th Street businesses for the 4th Street Corridor Revitalization Project. meeting that has taken place. This consortium of Fourth Street business o

1:30:26 – 1:31:05•LMLori Matthews

Thank you. I kind of did my to from with my liaison report, but I did want to give a shout out. I was really excited to hear from housing. It passed by me or somehow I didn't hear about it, but I'm excited about the adaptive reuse project that we have on 4th Street. It's an old office building that's been sitting vacant for a very long time and they're converting it to housing. And so I think it's the first adaptive reuse project that we funded through our bond. So I'm really excited to see that. And I'm excited to see it on 4th Street and in the Southside area. So big shout out.

1:32:02 – 1:33:59•KHKhara House

Thank you, Mayor. Just a couple of things. I've been participating for the past several months in a program called Cities for Kitties, which is a collaborative initiative led by the Children's Action Alliance, Prevent Child Abuse Arizona, and the Arizona Early Education Alliance that connects local city, town, and county governments to collaborate on early childhood and family support programs. It's a really interesting program and really a great learning opportunity to see how different municipalities around the state are incorporating early childhood programs and family supports across the f

1:34:00•MSMiranda Sweet

Vice Mayor. Thank you. So I do want to start off by saying the council break was a little squirrely. Too soon?

1:34:12 – 1:35:42•MSMiranda Sweet

You know, it was a very busy, I got an okay to do that. It was a very busy, busy break. I attended several conferences and definitely they helped keep my mind engaged and learning new things and it just was helpful to have that opportunity during the break. I also attended some fire department retirements, which was very heartfelt and Congratulations to the two that I went to, Gutierre and Gregor. I can never say the first one right, I'm sorry. I did attend the Indigenous Code Talkers celebration, the community discussion on drones as first responders, and the Ponderosa Park Improvement Commun

1:35:45 – 1:36:19•BDBecky Daggett

I would just like to express condolences to the family of former council member Carla Brewster. I know many of us worked with Carla in several different capacities, whether it was while she served on city council, and or working at Northern Arizona University. So I would just like to say that. And most of these meetings that have been mentioned, I went to too. And I won't bore you all by listing them again. City Manager.

1:38:02•BDBecky Daggett

Yes. All right. Thank you, everyone. Great updates. And we are adjourned.