City Council - Regular Meeting

Good afternoon. I would like to call the October 6th, 2026 City Council special meeting and possible executive session. That's a probable executive session to order. City Clerk Ben Lane, may I please have a roll call?

Thank you. I will entertain a motion of recess into executive session to discuss and consult with the city's attorneys for legal advice and to consider the city's position and provide possible instruction to the city's attorneys regarding matters arising from the proposed north side apartments multi-family conversion slash adaptive reuse project which is located at 13 875 North North site Boulevard and this includes issues related to the application of ARS 9-4 6 2 1 0 point 1 0 which is the adoptive reuse and multifamily conversion statute, and the potential filing of a complaint under ARS 41-

All right. All in favor? There we go. Thank you. We are reset. Good afternoon. We are back and executive session has adjourned. And now I would like to reconvene the special meeting. And for the record, all council members are almost present. This afternoon, the council will hear from several of the city's boards, commissions, and committees for their 2025 annual reports, which will include presentations, discussion, and possible direction. regarding key accomplishments, major actions taken, upcoming opportunities, challenges, and or outcomes. So with that, I see we have Rick Wilabeski. Was th

Let's see. I don't have any questions at the moment. Any feedback? That was... Excellent. That was very quick. Sounds like success. So thank you very much, April and Rick. Next, we have the Board of Adjustment. And to present, we have Brian Clough, Planning and Development Area Manager and Chair. Martha West.

Thank you, Martha, and thank you, Brian. And I do see Vice Mayor McKellen would like to say something.

Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Mr. Klapf, and thank you, Martha. I just wanted to say thank you for so many years of service, being a former city employee for so many years, and your dedication to Scottsdale. To come back and have to deal with the not pleasant side of it, and make sure that people are following the ordinances. I'm just appreciative of your dedication to Scottsdale. Thank you.

Was there any, a lot of tie votes being six members for so long? Was there a lot of tie votes for being six members?

How did you break the tie? Rock, paper, scissors or anything?

Well, I'm glad we filled that final one out, and I thank you for your service.

Thank you. That's all I see, so thank you so much. Thank you. All right, next we have the Development Review Board, and presenters are Brad Carr, Planning and Development Area Manager, and Vice Chair Jeff Brand. Welcome, gentlemen.

Okay, thank you so much. That's very helpful. Appreciate that input. Councilwoman Whitehead.

Yeah, so maybe that's something for the city manager. I think we I'm guessing we all agree up here about re-looking at the guidelines for appointments to the DRB. And we've talked about having the DRB help write some of our standards to strengthen what the DRB would have done. So just note to Mr. Caton that I'm definitely in support of looking at that and adding some professional requirements. Thank you.

I agree with that. I think that's a great idea. All right. Thank you, gentlemen. Thank you. Next, we have the Human Relations Commission and presenters Joy Racine, Community Involvement Manager, and Chair Veronica. Where's Veronica? Aguilar. I don't see Veronica.

Thank you. I don't see any questions. So with that, thank you for your update. Thank you.

All right, next we have the library board presenters, Mike Beck, library director and chair Janice Shimokubo. Kubo? Yes. Welcome.

Thank you. There's a lot going on at the library. Keeping it fresh. I like it. Very well done. Councilwoman Whitehead.

The creativity, I mean, from 2020 when we shut down and we got so creative, it's just amazing. I am thrilled with all these programs and the 3D printer and the children's lunches. There's just pretty much everything you said. I just want to say how thrilled I am. And libraries are one of the reasons we just, one of the things that stood out to us when we moved here for just six months. But these are pretty nice libraries and they're only getting better. So thank you so much.

Vice Mayor McKellen. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you for the presentation, Chair and Mr. Beck. I have a question about the library cards themselves and the pictures. Do you want to describe the program that's national about changing the front part of the picture of the library card and how it's kind of a trend right now? And people are actually flocking to libraries to get library cards because of an influencer or a famous person who's on a library card. I don't know if we've entered into that. I know the city of Phoenix had. I'll just leave it at that.

Excellent. I know it seems kind of silly to do that with library cards and the fact that library cards would be trendy and that my daughter would wait in line for a couple hours, she's an avid reader, to get a specific library card. Being on the cutting edge just not with the programs themselves, but things to bring people into libraries such as that, I just really applaud you for your efforts. I know that seems like a silly one, that's why I brought it up. but I do feel that anything we can do to make people realize how adaptable the libraries are and that everyone's welcome.

Appreciate it. Next, we have the McDowell-Sonoran Preserve Commission, and we have presenters Jenna Cole, Preserve Director, and Chair Steve Colicchio, and Vice Chair, I don't see Savannah. Oh, there's Savannah. Savannah Engelking, welcome all of you.

Thank you very much. Appreciate your update. Sounds like there's a lot of plans in the future. I don't see any questions or comments, so we will rest on all that great information. Thank you. Thank you. Next, we have the Neighborhood Advisory Commission. Presenters are Taylor Reynolds, Planning Principal and Chair Bridget Schwartz-Maddock. Welcome.

Thank you for your service. I do have a question about the gain events, and maybe this is for Taylor. Is there like a central place that those are posted that people can go to?

But any idea where they publish that for each one? Is it kind of group specific?

Yeah, gotcha. Okay, well, thanks. City Clerk, you want to say something?

Thank you. All right, Vice Mayor McKellen.

Thank you, Mayor. Thank you for the presentation, Taylor and Chair Schwarzmanek. I'm excited to be attending the GAIN events. We all received invites this last week. I plan on attending. I think there's four. I think I can make two of them. But I also appreciate how you work to recreate this commission and keep making yourselves uh... viable to the citizens in making sure that people know who you are i think that uh... this is the basis i love this commission i love that you guys are you know going into neighborhoods it just makes people feel connected uh... i also want to say thank you to cha

I know I say it about every commission, but your commission is underrated. So thank you for your service.

All right, with that, thank you so much for the presentation. Oops, sorry, Councilwoman Whitehead just hung on the board.

Just a quick one for you guys. The difference that the Neighborhood Commission makes with their grants to the neighborhoods, because our value as a city is the collective value of all of our neighborhoods, has been stunning over my years. So thank you for that, too.

Thank you so much. No worries. No worries. Next, we have the Planning Commission presenters, Tim Curtis, Planning and Development Services Deputy Director, and Chair Joe Young. Welcome, gentlemen.

Thank you so much. Thanks for your service. Excellent. What's your next one going to be?

It does. It really does. All right. Great job, Tim. Excellent work. Anything else? And there's some questions, I think. Councilwoman Whitehead.

I was just going to say thank you, Joe. And Tim, of course. Councilman Graham.

Thank you for the report. Yeah, Joe and I were appointed to the Planning Commission, I think, at the exact same time, six some odd years ago, weren't we? So we were actually co-commissioners on that Planning Commission. Oh, absolutely, a lot of dinners. So I'm sorry I had to put you through that. And then you guys started this session by Tim just glowing, gushing about Tim or about Joe and his community service. And every time I go to Club SAR, Joe is there. So it leads me to believe that he's more diligent and committed to his fitness than I am. So he's just better in every way, isn't he? So thank you for your service, yeah. Stick around, look for something else, we need you. So thanks a lot. Thank you, Councilman.

Councilwoman Graham. Graham. Littlefield, pardon me.

I just wanted to thank you both. Thank you, Joe, for your time, and thank you for your time also, because I know it takes a lot of work to put those Planning Commission meetings together and to get the background information complete and up-to-date and make sure that you're doing it right. And I know you put a lot into it, so thank you.

All right, that's all we have. Thank you so much. Next, we have the Scottsdale Environmental Advisory Commission, and presenters are Adam Yaron, Planning and Development Area Manager, and Chair Dr. Allison McMahon. Hello, Adam.

Thank you, Adam. We appreciate it. I don't see any questions or comments, but we really appreciate the update. Thank you. All right, next we have the Tourism Development Commission, and presenters are Steve Gigama, Tourism Development Manager, Chair Chris Montgomery, and Vice Chair Joe Sherchenovich. Welcome, gentlemen.

Great. Excellent. Lots of exciting things going on. Who hired Jim Rounds? Did your office, did it go through the city manager?

We have Vice Mayor McKellen. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, gentlemen, for your presentation. I am kind of a tourism geek. I show up to your commission meetings. And Chair Montgomery is right. I would not like to be the person that you guys are asking these grueling questions to because they're all professionals on that commission. What I do want to do is the cooperation, the part that you talked about, Joe, how it's interdependent on all these other organizations. I had the opportunity on Saturday, and this is a blatant, shameless shout out for the city of Scottsdale. Our stadium director, Kyle

I really appreciate how you apply your professional and critical thinking to the tourism industry to think further. How could we do better? What can we do differently? Thinking about how do we make sure we don't duplicate efforts on the 5%. How do we manage our water together so that we maintain the strength of Scottsdale Gulf? leaning into your expertise and in no way do I mean this, but no rubber stamping here, right? This is serious. This is our leading industry in the city of Scottsdale. It is part of our brand and it's just part of our brand management and part of what makes Scottsdale re

Thank you, gentlemen. We appreciate your service and time tonight. And that concludes our board and commission's presentation. So go out with a bang. Oh, transportation. We do have, okay, okay, okay, okay. Yes, Nathan, I'm so sorry. Got one step ahead.

A lane? All right, last but not least, pardon me, Transportation Commission Paths and Trails Subcommittee. And presenters are Nathan Dome, Senior Manager, Transportation Planning, Chair, and Chair Kerry Wilcoxon. And I don't see Emmy Cardella, but she is the Vice Chair.

I don't see any questions or comments, although I saw a name come up. Nothing? Anybody? All right. Well, thank you. Appreciate your service and your time tonight. All right, that concludes the board and commission's status reports. And with that, we have concluded our special meeting, and I move that we adjourn.