Common Council - Regular Meeting

We hear this a lot.

That's why I said very hypothetically, I'm doing a lot of different

You, right? I have been on my best behavior since this weekend. As of Monday? I might have done something over the weekend. Were you at the cube? I unfortunately was.

Really?

Wow.

I haven't done that for 20 years. No, no. 15. All right We'll call this regular meeting executive session of the town of Parker Common Council to order Please silence your electronic devices.

We have a roll call of council Mayor Heartless here vice-mayor Jen present councilmember Shawn Councilmember Daniels present councilmember de Leon Councilmember Madonis key here councilmember Granville here.

I

All right. Please join me for the Pledge of Allegiance and remain standing for the invocation from Bree McRae.

Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for this day and we thank you for the town of Parker and all the people who work so hard working here to make Parker a better place to live. And Lord, I pray for the mayor, the vice mayor, and the council members as they go about making decisions today that affect the town of Parker and ask that you would just give them wisdom. And Lord, I pray a special prayer of protection and guidance over the police officers who are getting sworn in tonight. It's in your name we pray. Amen.

Amen.

Okay. Our next item is oath of office. I'm swearing in of Brian Hernandez and Rochelle Silva.

Why don't you guys stand right there? The oath of honour. Before police officers take upon themselves a law enforcement oath of honour, it is vital that they understand what it truly means. An oath is a solemn pledge someone voluntarily makes when they sincerely intend to do what they say. The key words in the law enforcement oath of honour are defined thusly, honour. It means giving one's word as a bond or guarantee. Betray is defined as breaking faith and proving false. The badge is a visible symbol of the power of your office. Integrity is a firm adherence to principles both in and our private and public life. Character means equalities and standards of behavior that distinguish an individual. The public trust is a duty imposed in faith to those who are sworn to serve. Courage is having the heart, mental, and the moral strength to venture, persevere, withstand and overcome danger, difficulty, and fear. Accountability means that we are answerable to and responsible for our actions. Community is the municipalities, neighborhoods, and citizens we serve. All right. So, I'll let you guys say your own individual names here. When I say the officer, you say your name. You have to be an officer. Please raise your right hand and repeat after me. On my honor, I will never betray my badge, my integrity, my character, or the public trust. I will always have the courage to hold myself and others accountable for our actions. For our actions. I will always uphold the Constitution, the community, and the agency I serve. So help me God.

Okay, our next item is call to the public, which we don't know. Okay, our next item is chamber director's report, Erica Daniels.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. Erica Daniels with the Parker Regional Chamber of Commerce. This last weekend was our 48th annual Tube Float, and we did absolutely amazing. We had 4,500 registered participants. So that's people that actually came in, paid, were the official part of the Tube Float under our insurance. It was the biggest one to date. Some of our safety officers that said they were out there said they would guess about 6,000 participated in the event. So choose whichever number you shall choose. Thank you again for all your support throughout our events. This Thursday at 5.30 will be our June Mixer. We usually do not host a June Mixer, but we are going to implement it this Thursday with our volunteer dinner for everybody who helped with the tube float. So please feel free, join us 530-27 at Pirate's Den. Other than that, I am catching my breath after a tube float. We will welcome some teachers with stuff going on in July, and you guys will get some invitations to that very soon. Thank you.

Thank you. All right, our next item is the consent agenda. There's two items. I think I want to pull item B just for questions. So item A is Town and Parker meeting minutes of June 2nd, 2026. Do we have a motion?

Motion to approve item A of the consent agenda. Second.

It's been moved and seconded. All those in favor? Aye. Motion carried. Item B, I just wanted to be able to make sure we know exactly what this is. Nora?

So this is a right of way that ADOT had taken away when they built the bridge, the new bridge up there, part of the towns, and now they're returning what they do not need. There's nothing actually wrong with it at this point, but it's between 1st and Joshua Street down there.

Joshua Street.

Or Joshua Avenue, sorry. Down right down by the bridge where you drive across.

That's Joshua Avenue?

It's Copa. Sorry.

Oh, okay. I see what you mean. I interpreted it to mean like from one end of town to the other when I saw Joshua.

No, it's just a very small section that they didn't need any longer. Got you.

That's why I wanted clarification.

All right, go ahead. Yeah, and I think my question overall with that was why would we want to turn it over and kind of give up four years of ADOT maintenance with that, but it sounds like that there's not really, it's in good condition, probably not anticipate that there's going to be needed any maintenance on that, so it's not going to be additional cost for us compared to if it was some sort of maintenance, probably my suggestion would be not so and try to have ADOT pay for it. Keep the four years.

Yeah. OK. I'll make a motion that we approve Resolution 06-2026, waiving the four-year advance notice of abandonment and quality payment report pursuant to ARS 28-7209 as defined in this motion. It's moved and seconded. Any discussion, questions? All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carried. Item A, discussion and action to purchase replacement AC unit from All-American Air. for the craft room at the Parker Public Library for $10,072. Nora, are you taking this one?

I am. Steve is out sick tonight. So on Wednesday, June 2, the air conditioning unit that feeds the program room stopped cooling. We've had some issues with it in the past, and they've been able to kind of patch it together. The program room is one of the most used rooms in the library. So we called Rio Air, was called after an inspection and troubleshooting determined that a cooling coil had a major leak that needed to be repaired. The staff immediately began getting estimates for a new emergency replacement for that air conditioner. Staff reached out to the following that were able to provide estimates on June 3rd. Air Control submitted their bid. All American Air submitted theirs. And Mercy Air Conditioning, all three of those are out of Havasu, did their bids. Upon reviewing the initial bids, provided to me by Cody. Steve was out, so I noted that Dunlap Air Conditioning and Heating had not been contacted for a quote and requested that he reach out to them as well. Once all the full sets of estimates were gathered, Cody and I evaluated the specific units proposed. Although there were their respective installation and delivery schedule. While there was a $668 price variance between Dunlap and All American Air, the latter was selected because they could provide the same model currently standardized across all the other municipal buildings. And All American Air had the unit in stock and was able to replace that and perform the replacement the following day. The funds for this come from FY25-26 capital contingency budget.

OK.

I don't know why that didn't get included in your bid, but I do have it in there tonight. Mr. Dunlap also

a letter this afternoon, I believe it was this afternoon, which is also included in your packet.

It raises some good questions. I know that we had comments made where I like to see local businesses looked at i know christina's getting ready to put a squash on me but i really do feel strongly about local businesses and uh i i just you know when i first got there the quote and then seeing this and i didn't even look at the packet because i was going off of what i got emailed to me and then i started to read this and saw that we didn't have that included So then it starts to raise a lot of questions in my mind.

Absolutely.

And I go, was it in fact submitted to you? And then the process then to go about, okay, it was an emergency situation like you mentioned. But then the stuff that's available to the public, because I imagine that initial email blast that was given to us, was that made to the public as well? Or available to where they could see it? Like the agenda?

The agenda is made public, yes.

When was that made public?

It went out Thursday.

Thursday. Did it have the Dunlap bid in it?

So they did. Mayor and Council i'm sorry I don't mean to interrupt you Nora I just want to be really clear about so. The agenda item is about the AC unit purchase and that contract from all American air. So i'd already advised Nora that it was okay for her to at least describe the solicitation process to how they reach that bid, but we can't go too in depth on the letter and the. additional sort of vendors, right, that were available because it's not agendized. We got that letter today. We have a 24 hour requirement for obviously agenda items are to amend. There is no time to do that for tonight's meeting. So if you want to have a further discussion about the questions raised in the letter or the policy or sort of how all that went, you know, how that occurred, we would need to agendize that and have that a separate discussion at another council meeting. because we need to give the public the right to attend and listen, and they need to know that we would be talking about that item. Okay.

Yeah, and I would agree that we need to do that. Yes. At our next meeting.

All right, and then as far as like what Christina advised you, I mean, for the record, I'd like you to describe that process. You're giving me a real tight window. There's a lot of questions that come to mind to me, so... Correct.

Yes. So, so, and what I had advised Nora is what she already stated. So that was essentially, you know, the process of how they go out to get the bids, how they evaluate the bids and then how they essentially award the bid. So I think anything further than that, that's where we'd have to have a different conversation on the next meeting.

So I think Ray might be alluding to for this particular one for the All-American Rose Selected, what's the requirement for this when it was assessed for the various contracts? How is that assessment made and how is that determination of which companies to go out to made?

I believe our, no, it wasn't the director, Cody, the supervisor for public works just calls as many air conditioning places, typically the ones that we use. And that's where we get our bids.

Mayor. And so with this particular one, does it not fall under our typical procurement requirements?

And that was one of the reasons that I had him call Dunlap, because when we did the initial ordinance back in January, I believe it was, where we came up with we would start with the town and then kind of work out. When I read the first three bids, I noticed that they were all from Havasu, so that was my cue to say, hey, did you get a hold of Dunlap Air Conditioning? Because I knew they had in town.

And I thought it was, my understanding is that we would, basically we're required to go, and we can't have a local preference on selection or any of those other factors. It has to be for the lowest priced type of item for a similar type of unit. For similar units similar items somewhere portion like that that we have to go for the lowest bid Is that correct?

Well, yes, you would go for the lowest bid, but you also have to look at timing In some of these emergencies like I can't have my library down without an air conditioner for a week or Was that a I'm sorry for cutting you off, I'm sorry, I'm a week or so to wait for a unit to get in when I can have a unit here and the next day.

Was it because of?

Oh, I'm sorry. Just to answer your question, Vice Mayor Jank, also, so when it's a public health, safety, welfare issue, an emergency procurement, your code does have some allowances. So yes, right, we typically try to go for the lowest bid. But in this instance, again, shutting down a public building for a few days to wait, you know what I mean? Like you can examine those additional factors.

So are you stating that this is the case, that the timing was the issue, not necessarily the pricing? Is that what I'm hearing is being stated right now?

Absolutely. Well, we took the lowest bid that we could get here, get the air conditioner here as quickly as we could.

So the other bids were significantly longer?

Yes.

i just want to take note i know that we can't really discuss things at all i do want to note that i had a visit from mr dunlap who unfortunately is out of town i know that i believe his business partner his son is here and did write us a letter today unfortunately it was submitted today but i would like to see this discussed further in the past or in the future where we can actually discuss things i know we can't really today and that's unfortunate but i know ray you would like some discussion too so if we could

Somehow get that on the next agenda or okay All right, so the item in question is Discussion action to purchase the replacement AC unit from all-american air I'm sorry mayor another additional question.

What is the allowance for that emergency purchase? What is the dollar amount or is it freedom for any dollar amount? I

DIRECTOR RIVERA- Mayor and council I don't know if you want to answer nor there isn't a specific amount. So if it's an emergency basically the council is making that decision.

DIRECTOR DEWOLF- I'm sorry state that again. You're saying if there is an emergency the council is making that decision.

DIRECTOR RIVERA- Right. So if there's not like a set amount of what is deemed an emergency or it's not it's essentially if there's an emergency and it's brought forward to council. then you're taking the action essentially to approve this contract.

It's already been done.

Correct. The decision was already made, but council wasn't even advised. Correct, yes.

So this is more of a ratification because, again, it was an emergency procurement. And that's typically usually what happens. If there is an emergency procurement, then it comes back immediately following next council agenda for you to essentially ratify.

I believe that's exactly what happened the last time. That's why we had to talk about there because it needed to get fixed immediately.

Okay. So do we have a motion? I will make a motion to approve the purchase of the replacement AC unit from All-American Air for the craft room at the Parker Public Library for $10,072. Okay, Christina. If nobody's going to second, the deal's already done.

Yeah, I'll second. We've already, I mean, it's already on the roof.

No, it's not on the roof.

okay well it's been installed okay sorry i mean it's already there yes so so essentially the council has already i mean the town is purchased the vendor has produced i mean that is essentially what's happened at this stage so i think yeah you made a motion mayor and then there was a second

Okay, any other discussion?

I fully believe that we do need to come back to this next meeting and discuss this procurement process again.

Yeah, I don't disagree. I think we absolutely need to.

Sorry to mirror. What were the timelines that were given for each of the vendors that was asked for? Because you said it was- As quickly as possible. So each one basically said quickly as possible. Then what was the determination factor with the length?

All American Air could get it here the next day. The other ones had to at least get a crane, not a crane, but get the air conditioner here. So there was just a timeline there that they could get it here quicker than the rest of the other three that we went after. Also, We've tried to standardize, and I don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing, but we've tried to standardize all of our air conditioners. That was kind of another issue. I don't know enough. I'm going to be pretty frank here. I don't know enough about air conditioners to know if one's better than the other one. But that's what we've been going with for the last year. at least four years for the trains.

So it was a decision made that it was a like unit and it can get here sooner?

It was a trans unit. So it was like the rest, the standardized ones, yes. And then it could get here sooner.

You were saying, Vice Mayor, that it was the timing. Did you give a certain amount of time per vendor? I got confused whether it was timing as far as when they can install or timing for them to get their bids in and all that.

No, it was timing to when it could get installed. Thank you.

So you said a factor was also the type of units that are trying to standardize and sounds like that we're using train is the standardization. Do you know what the other portions where they all train that was quoted?

The other three were.

So all three, or all the quotes were all train units, is that correct?

No, there was four quotes. The three of them were train. Dunlap, I believe, was not a train.

Was it American?

American was a train.

Not all American air, but American Standard, was that the type of unit?

It says AC Pro.

Okay.

The invoice that I have doesn't state.

It's an AC Pro. It's what the invoice is.

Five ton. Install a new AC Pro five ton heat pump system.

And I don't know if you can answer this, Christina. Does standardization of a particular unit, does that justify typically a higher cost if that's what say our public works does it or are we required to go for the cheaper bid? What is upon allowable for a town to do?

So typically like under your regular procurement code right when we go out you get your three written quotes and you rely on your lowest bid and. The Council also adopted well it's not a local preference policy, because we can't necessarily do that we do start local right and then go outward right to try to get those bids. For emergency procurement again you're looking at public health, safety and welfare. So yes, of course we want to try to get the lowest bid to save money for the town, but we're also looking at other factors and that could change depending on what the emergency is. Here without AC, we're likely gonna have to cut, you're gonna have to shut down a building or shut down a room because we're in the summer and obviously there's heat and we wouldn't want to cause any type of issues with the public. attending or you know, being in the library so timing in this instance was a factor, because if you could get it there quicker obviously you could get that installed in that room up and running. sooner rather than later, but it's not I guess I wouldn't say there's like a standard when it comes to emergency because it's dependent on the emergency.

So I understand with the emergency portion, the timing portion, I guess my more particular question is, are we allowed to decide on a product based off of a particular brand name unit or brand name type of product versus a non-brand name? And can we make that the deciding factor for deciding a higher price?

So I don't know the differences between the AC honestly either. It's brand versus generic.

Yeah, brand versus generic.

Again, still not an expert on AC, right? I'm only telling you under your procurement code when you have an emergency, the council has a little more discretion about, you know, emergency procurement purchases and what factors you can weigh when you're trying to procure services to protect public health, safety, and welfare. So, I mean, I hate to, like, throw it back to you, but that's honestly a council decision, right? Like, if you feel like the timing... Was that important? And you needed to have that immediately rather than either shut down the building or have a warm room or whatever it might be. That's the timing. If you think it's about the brand or if you, you know, that's certainly a factor that you can consider. But again, it's not something that we have necessarily in our code that talks about looking at brand names versus generic in order to make those procurement decisions.

So in non-emergency situations, what would that be?

We try to go for lowest bid.

Okay. And a reason why I bring that up is right now we're talking about requiring the fastest and looking for fastest. Train is specific that you have to be specifically, from my understanding, that you have to be specifically certified through train and requires very specific, I think, additional like to even be a train dealer. So if you're only looking at that for particular brand there's it's going to limit how fast we can get it in compared to non train portions there is other types of say air conditioning units that are more the generic ones like I think it's American Standard which is basically just the manufactured by train but doesn't require that train specific certification portion with that so with us specifically going with that that potentially can also be delays for other there as well.

Where does it in the bidding here show that they did have it in stock or timelines? Did they submit that in writing? How did you make that determination?

I don't believe it's in writing but that was what I was told by the supervisor that was trying to get these installed when he spoke with the different... By Cody?

Yes. So he was told when and who had what in stock.

That's why I think that we need to definitely talk about this because when I did get a visit from Mr. Dunlap late last week, and unfortunately I had no idea what he was talking about and I felt horrible, he did talk to me about the time. And so he had to have told somebody the time of when he could get in because he did tell me that he told somebody a time of when he could get the equipment.

I just wanted to see if it was written down somewhere or if it's a requirement in our Meaning if it's in stock or not in stock?

No, not necessarily.

And again, it's an emergency. I'm guessing they went, hey, we need this. Do you have it?

Maybe we could polish that up in our guidelines or whatever when we have this discussion later on. Something to tighten up or even give where we require timelines given or if an item is in stock, if that's the decisions or the deciding factors.

Or when we asked for quotes of like a timeline as well of when they could be installed and everything Sounds reasonable Any further discussion Okay, it's been moved to purchase the replacement air unit that's already installed and for $10,072. All those in favor?

Aye.

Opposed?

Aye.

Motion carries. Item two, discussion and action to approve, deny the common interest and confidentiality agreement between the Town of Parker, Colorado River Indian Tribes and Joint Venture regarding the condition of the Joint Venture sewer system and related capital improvements. Council may vote to discuss this matter in executive session, which I would make a motion to do so.

I'll second that motion.

Move and second it to go into executive discussion to discuss this item. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed?

Motion carried.

Darcy, I'll drop off and then I'll log back on. Great, thank you.