Town Council - Regular Meeting

Don't have my gabble. Uh, good evening. Welcome to your town hall. Having reached the hour of 610, I'll call the meeting to order and also inform everybody that as always tonight's meeting, guess I'll move this. I don't have to advertise that. Uh, I didn't do that just by the way, just for the record. Um the tonight's meeting will be recorded. Tonight's invitation will be given by council member Priolo. Uh followed by the pledge of allegiance by Torina uh Chromier and Lindseay uh Mcwarter, both middle school students at Anza Trail Middle School. So, council member Pello.

Father God, we enter into your gates with thanksgiving and your courts with praise. You are almighty God. We give you all the glory, honor, and praise through your holy name. We invite your presence and the presence of the Holy Spirit to fill these council chambers. In a few minutes, Mayor Tom Murphy will proclaim for the third consecutive year, the month of November, as Thanksgiving month. We have much to be thankful for, including the privilege of giving this invocation based on our inalienable rights granted by you, Father God, which are enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic of these United States of America. I am grateful to be an American. Following this invocation, two of our cherished students will lead us in the pledge of allegiance. This tradition was begun many years ago. Month after month, year after year, civic-minded parents bring their children into these council chambers at 6:00 p.m. to model love of country by reciting the pledge of allegiance. I am grateful Lord to have such families and an inspiring tradition in our beloved Sawarita. Last but not least, in this month of Thanksgiving, tomorrow, Veterans Day, we honor the sacrifice and service of all of our veterans and their families who endured their veterans trials and tribulations, remaining steadfastly at their sides.

Lord Jesus taught, "Greater love have no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."

Amen. Every veteran who swore to defend our Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic inherently knew he or she might be called to make the ultimate sacrifice. This American is deeply grateful for their willingness to do so. Aba, in the name of your son Jesus, I ask you to bless us with your super abundant grace and grant us your shalom. Please guide our steps and inform our choices. Show us the best path. Direct us to the resources that we need. Connect us with the right people. Grant us ears that hear, eyes that see, and a servant's heart filled with love. We appreciate you, Father God, with hearts brimming with gratitude for your steadfast unfailing love. All glored to you, the great I am.

Thank you, Lindsay. Karina, step up to the podium. I pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Thank you for being here. Mr. Clerk, roll call, please. Council member Gillespie here. Council member Lisk here. Council member Lidle here. Council member Morales here. Council member Prio

here. Vice Mayor Edward here. Mayor Murphy here. We have a quorum. Thanks. Uh next is call to the public. Uh call to public is now open. Individuals may speak for three minutes. Spokespersons 10. The council cannot discuss matters not on the agenda. However, at the end of the call to the public, council members may respond to criticism, request staff to review the matter, or add the matter topic to a future agenda item. And we have Rick Curado.

And I know you know the drill. I know the drill. Happy birthday, Mayor. By the way,

uh I usually launch into a threeminute dissertation that I've well practiced and I read strictly off my notes, but uh this evening I wanted to kind of uh take a moment to say thank you to the council that uh I think that you have been uh listening to our concerns about the water usage the with the copper wheel copper world mining project uh in particular councilwoman Polo who indicated at the last meeting that our concerns were being heard and I certainly hope so. Um, we stated that she's attending seminars and meetings to get information so that we can make informed decisions. Uh, I certainly hope so. Uh, I but I would like to know um, how long are we going to listen before we react or we I should be we respond. That would be a better word. And what have we learned? Uh, I went on the website and couldn't really find much of anything. And I admit I'm not the brightest uh, tool in the draw in the drawer when it comes to using the internet. So, if there is something on the uh city, excuse me, t excuse me, town website, uh I apologize because I couldn't find anything. Um, you know, I I thought that the federal administration's accelerating the mining operations and permits were to allow the United States to become more self-reliant and to bring back industrialization to this country. And yet Hud Bay uh via the copper wheel mining project plans to ship all our resources overseas and support the industrialization and middle class of these other countries. And my question is what about our country? What about our state? And what about our middle class? Um you know, Evil never sleeps. Um Eel just waits. And I think that Hudbay is playing the waiting game. And uh I would reluctantly swallow a lump in my throat as to the unmititigated uh air pollution. It' break my heart to watch the um destruction of the scenic

landscape. And uh the one thing though that I could not tolerate is the gross misuse of our water quantity and quality. uh Tucson and Pima County uh rejected the planned Project Blue data center because of this uh huge amount of water that it was going to use. And um the data center pales in comparison to the amount of water that Hud Bay is going to use for the copper world mining project. So uh I've said it before um copper is not the most precious resource in southern Arizona. it's water and the time for learning and listening is rapidly drawing to a close before evil, greed, and power destroys our community. Um, I think it's time for us to kind of respond. Uh if copper world is to be forced upon us, then it's time to initiate plan B to come up with resolutions and ordinances to protect this community and uh to protect the community from the manipulation, the filth, and the poison that Copper World uh project represents. It's time to res respond and be proactive before it's too late. So, I appreciate again your uh consideration and thinking about the things that I kind of bring before you. Uh, I appreciate that you listen. Uh, I've, uh, spoken before other bodies before and I have to tell you, I think of all of the other town councils I've spoken before, at least I feel as though you listen and consider what I have to say. So, thank you. And again, happy birthday, Mayor.

Appreciate it. Uh, that was all the speaker cards I have. So, I'll move on to council town manager brief summary of events. probably mine won't be as brief as I'm articulating here, but um uh council member Lidle.

Thank you, Mayor. Um this past weekend at Rancho Certo there be there came the veterans memorial wall. Uh this wall these plaques or walls uh represent veterans who gave everything from World War I through Afghanistan. I'm proud to have been a part of it. Also, last week I had the greatest of honors. Uh I took the Honor Flight through Washington DC. Um I would recommend all veterans, male and female, go on this. Um we can talk about our nation's capital. We can talk about the people in it and so forth, but we have to remember all those who made this possible. So, I'm real proud of that and it will always sit with me. Thank you.

Thanks, Council Member Morales. Council member Liss. Of course. Nothing. No, I know. I have something. Oh, I'm sorry. I thought you said of course.

Oh, of course. I got lots of things to say. I know. Like, oh, okay. Um, first I want to start off by saying thank you to all the men and women that have served in the armed services since tomorrow is Veterans Day. And today for those that served in the Marines, this is the 250th birthday of um that. And I do really want to thank Council Member Lidle and Rancho for bringing in the America's Freedom Tribute. That was amazing. And if people haven't had a chance to go see it, tomorrow's your last day to get to um do that. This past week, I got to attend the Arizona Women's Leading Government Conference up in Phoenix. That was really inspirational and really good. Um, and I'm really glad I got an opportunity to get up there and see that. Um, I also want to I went to the readers pics like many of us did and I want to congratulate Council Member Gypsy for winning the best podiatrist in Sarita. Congratulations.

And then not last but not least, but um Council Member Morales and I will be doing coffee with council again on Friday the 21st from 8 to 9:30 and we'll be at Rancho Sarita at the club. And you do have to be a member of Rancho to attend, but I hope we get to see some people there. So, thank you. Thanks, Council Member Fola. So, I'd like to advise everybody that council member Lidle has been nominated for the veterans service award and many of us will be attending the ceremony and we are rooting for him to win

to acknowledge his service to this country. Let's we are proud of him. Thank you. Um, the other thing is continuing on the water quest. Um, is it okay for me to say yes? Um, no. No. Is it something you went to that you can share? No, not yet. Next council meeting. Promise. Absolutely. Thank you. Actually, mayor, um, if if you're if you're talking about something that you're going to be doing, I think that's that's going to So,

but a direct response to the comments shared during call to the public is not appropriate. Right. Thanks. So, it's it's in your wheelhouse, however you feel comfortable with. Okay. Oh, I feel comfortable with it. Okay. But Justin has to feel comfortable. That's Well, shut me up if it's if you feel uncomfortable. Okay. red light.

I'm looking at you. Get the cane out and just pull me away. So, uh, Council Member Lidle, myself, and the mayor will be meeting with, uh, Representative Gail Griffith, who is the chairman, chairwoman, excuse me, of the environmental, basically the guru of water in the legislature in Arizona. and she uh when we when she learned of our um attendance at the Sawa conference where we learned so much about water issues here in southern Arizona, she kindly agreed to meet with us and we will be doing so continuing our deep dive with open ears and eyes that want to see. Um, and we continue to hear the concerns of our constituents.

Thanks. That was that was perfect. Upcoming meeting and our award continuing award-winning Yes. council member and podiatrist. I don't have anything. Oh, yeah. Vice Mayor. Um, I think every event that I went to and what I was going to say, veterans and and ste Dr. Gillespie and everything. So, I'll just do one quick point of personal contact. um to wish my father a hund a happy birthday 80th birthday. So that happened this weekend. So I just thought I'd make that out to the world that I gave him a happy birthday.

Absolutely. Well, thank you. Um you know, again um obviously Veterans Day and myself, we have staff members um that have served. Um thanks again to Rancho Serita for bringing that in. Uh happy birthday to the Marine Corps as Kim said. Um, I also was able to, um, attend the Oro Valley along with others of us, um, state of the town, um, which was, um, very nice. They still have more attendance than I, so hopefully Ry's listening as he comes in. We're going to keep chasing them, but that was really good. Uh, my myself and Beth, is Beth here? Oh, yeah, back in the corner. Um, we met uh, with some of the new board members and uh, continuing board members of the Phoenix Zoo to try to um, continue that conversation. So that was an exciting um opportunity to continually show our excitement um for put the potential for uh coming in. Um I wasn't able to attend but I am on the advisory board. The Salvation Army had their red kettle kickoff. Um so obviously I I think we're probably one of the only districts in the country that uses all 100% volunteers for the bell ringing. Uh everybody's very proud of that. So that'll be uh coming up really soon and obviously needing folks to do that.

Mr. Mayor, can I interrupt with that? Don't they go to where there is a kettle they can go to the store and sign up or how do Oh, yeah. No, through the um the uh the office in Green Valley. They would sign up and then they would be appointed, you know, to go. Just wanted to make sure that's out there because they're always looking for And you can do it for families can go and do it as a wonderful singing. They people dress up. Um students, you know, do it in a lot of way. It's a great service to the community. Yep. No, thank you for that. Um the um there was a reckon for heroes event up in Oro Valley that I represented the town at and really really appreciate the PD uh for going up there. Uh we had our drones and we had a robotic dog which is always the hit

um of our technology um that we're using. So I'm really grateful um that they were able to make uh that appearance. And um as council member Priolo mentioned um you know I am proclaiming the month of November as Thanksgiving month in the town of Sarita encouraging all residents to take this time to reflect on the many blessings of our lives and practice gratitude uh in our daily intentions which um I'm always still humbled when you hear on the different Facebook pages that someone finds a wallet and a shopping cart and they turn it in. I mean small things or paying it forward at McDonald's and buying I mean those things still continue. Um so you know grateful for that. Um and as we move through this season let us be mindful of those around us. Um extending kindness to our neighbors and appreciate the people and moments that strengthen our community. And may this month inspire us to give thanks, give back and continue building a more connected, compassionate Salorita. Um, and again, uh, thanks to our public works department, our boy scouts. Beth, right, 144 flags or has that grown anything?

Oh, wow. 280. Um, so I get so many comments about that from people outside and inside our community.

And last but not least, I was over at Anza Trail and they did the um the table with the white cloth reflecting our P's MIA. Uh there was an event at um Rights and Ridge on Friday when I was in Phoenix. I couldn't attend that, but just grateful to the students that do the pledge and as well as um recognizing um the various holidays that reflect those that have served or given the ultimate sacrifice to get allow us to come here on evenings like this and have a conversation. Um our ne next regularly scheduled meeting is December 8th. And with that, Mr. Dilly, would you like to add anything? Hopefully, we didn't miss something, but we may have.

No, no. Thank you, mayor, and members of the council. I do have a few things that I wanted to cover with you. Uh before I do so, I'm going to ask uh Beth if she'll come up. She's got a little bit of business to handle with you and then um and then I'll take the mic and move through my update.

Mr. Mayor, members of the council, um I know we like acknowledging employees who do great things and this year our very own Anna Cassidy was the 2025 ACMA Next Generation Mentorship Award winner. Um and I had the distinct honor of going with her to the next generation conference where she received her award. [Applause] So that's what I wanted to share with you about Anna and her accomplishments. So, thanks.

Thank you, Beth. We're proud of our staff. Um, Anna, thank you for representing so well. Congratulations on that award. Um, I uh spent a couple of weeks not too long ago in Japan and had a fantastic experience. Of course, I couldn't help myself but to visit a few police stations and

and uh fire stations. And my wife was always reminding me, "Hey, what are you doing?" And I, you know, I'm looking at infrastructure and and buildings and walkways and what have you, but uh it was a it was a fantastic experience. Um and made lots of wonderful memories with family. Uh but I'm grateful for uh Beth and and Chief Nolan for uh covering and allowing me the opportunity to have that experience. Uh completely disconnected and so I'm paying the price now and trying to do catchup. U but it was it was absolutely wonderful experience. um and learning more about that culture which is a a great very very great culture. Um so I have a a few announcements uh or updates for the council. You know the on November 22nd, Saturday, November 22nd, the El Tour to Tucson event is happening. Part of that 100 and two mile stretch comes through our wonderful community. Um, and in order to support that kind of event, it requires hands-on by a number of our departments, parks and wreck, of course, PD, public works. Um, and so I just wanted to let you know that that's happening. All the coordination and planning is going um without a hitch and uh so we expect it to be a great event this year. Um, also in the parks and wreck um category, the man in the maze disc golf course. Um we've we've been planning and coordinating with our mining partners um uh Asarco and and Freeport um in um in supporting the development of that of that uh that project. Um after a lot of coordination uh they're finalizing delivery of of mining equipment to accentuate the theme of that co get that disc golf course and staff is expressing confidence that the 18hole course will be open by the end of this calendar year

with a lot of those features. So that's going to be pretty exciting.

Um in uh community development uh the general plan 60-day review is still open. It's open until November 30th. Just wanted to put that out there for our public. Um, and it's a great opportunity to weigh in on the the the next 20 years of, you know, of our of our uh our community's growth and vitality. So, encourage the public to get uh take advantage of that opportunity. You can find more online uh on the town's website. Uh we're also excited to announce in in HR that we've hired our new risk manager. Um the name her name is Rita Lebsac and uh she's starting on December 1st. Um we stole her from Morirana.

Is that correct? Is that correct? Thank you for this. Wow. Okay. Miranda. So anyway, we're excited. Um and then uh last but certainly not least, actually this isn't last. This is second to the last but certainly not least. Uh we received uh yet again the GFOA award for our annual comprehensive financial report. Um, mayor and council, that marks 23 years in a row that we've got that award. Thank you, AC. Congratulations, AC and the team. AC, how long have you worked for the town? Oh, keeping it going. Well done. Um, and if you could slide. Yeah, please. Another award winner up there.

Another award winner. So, this is uh my last uh update to the council. Again, definitely not least, I wanted to u proudly recognize our assistant town manager, Beth Abramovich. Uh she was recently honored with a national award, um which was the LP Cookingham Award for Career Development. uh she received this award uh representing the town of Sorita at this year's annual international city managers conference in Florida. Um and uh Anna was there to witness and support and cheerlead and and so it was it was great. This let me tell you a little bit real quick about um LP Cookingham. Um he was uh he was a a national icon in the in the business of city management. He was a city manager for Kansas City, Missouri from um from 1940 to 1959. And um at the time in 1959 he he at 19 years of service to that community he had been the longest tenur city manager in the history

of the nation. No other city manager had record that long. Um and to add to that that um distinction he came into Kansas City on incredibly difficult terms. Kansas City was riddled with political corruption and um local government corrupt. It wasn't just politics, but it was throughout the entire organization and um elections were rigged and you know backhand payments were left and right, financial whatever. I mean it was it was incredible. When I'm reading this, my jaw is just dropping. And this city manager comes in and he was under a lot of pressure to fire everybody. Uh yes, some people were let go um that were absolutely necessary, but he also was he also stood firm on on on maintaining the value of most of the staff there. Um and so he was uh attributed with this idea that um you know you've invested in your employees um see the value of that investment and and and grow from it. And so you know to have an award named after named after this uh this um city manager and why is really important. This this award is the um career development award uh at a national level and this year that award went to Beth for you know her work in our organization to build up our staff and support them in their advancements in their career and and what they do for the town. So um thank you Beth. Thank you for your work and uh and it just another another good way to have Saworita dead center on the map and and getting some national attention. Don't thank

Mr. Mayor. That concludes my update. Thank you. Appreciate it. Uh congratulations to all. Um item seven is the consent agenda. I'll entertain a motion at this time. So moved. Second. Uh, all in favor signify by I. I. Any opposed? Nay. Motion carries. Uh, we move to item number 8A. Mr. Clerk. Discussion and possible action on contract number 260028 with the Green Valley Cerita Chamber of Commerce and Visitor Center.

Thanks. And Victor Gonzalez, our economic development director, will introduce the item. And we'll also be welcoming Randy Graph, the president and CEO of the Green Valley Sarita Chamber for a presentation. But because of the ongoing shutdown, he got stuck in Wisconsin. Um I think he was up there celebrating, if you can believe this, his aunt and uncle uh for 75 years of marriage. Wow. I I have never met I don't know if I've ever met anybody personally that's celebrated 75 years, but he got stuck up there. So we're going to zoom where teams I'm in. But Victor.

Yes. Good evening, Mr. Mayor. Members of the council, I am here just to present the item. Introduce Randy. I would have if he was here in pres uh in person, but as you know, he's joining us virtually. I'll just be clicking the slides for him. Uh Randy, if you uh want to take it away and let me know when to click next, and I'll advance the slides. You got it. Uh can you hear me? Okay. Yes, we can.

Fantastic. Thank you, Victor. And uh Mr. Mayor uh town council members, I appreciate the opportunity to uh give you this brief presentation on the chamber and our activities over the the past year in particular and pardon me for my informality in my attire here, but I didn't bring any formal attire with me up here to Wisconsin and did get stranded up here and can't get back now till Wednesday. So, the flight was canceled this morning, but uh and uh this is the second time I think I've given a presentation at one of your Monday night town council meetings when the Packers are playing on Monday night here in Green Bay, as a matter of fact. So, uh pardon me for my informality and the Packer gear in the background. Uh yeah, no, I appreciate this opportunity. Uh Victor, if you want to move, uh the next slide. We uh just a little history on the chamber. Uh the Green Valley Chamber of Commerce was established in 1979. Uh in 1997 we did a DBA. They changed our name to the Green Valley Sawerita Chamber of Commerce. Uh we currently on the post there it says we have 413 members, but we're actually at 417 as of today with 101 members uh that have are within the the town of Serita. And I do at this time want to acknowledge my uh my staff. I'm Mia Brown, my vice president of operations, uh, Anju Johnson, my executive assistant, Kathy Krrismer, my director of communications and events, and our newest addition, PJ Gomez, uh, with our business partnership coordinator with the Elevate Ed program, which I'll I'll talk about in a little bit. Uh but uh of those memberships, we've got homebased businesses, uh we've got brick-andmortar stores, nonprofits, Fortune 500 companies, uh taking care of goods, services, restaurants. So, we've got a great mix in our chamber membership and we are growing. Uh you know, as the community grows, uh the chamber grows and we're here about uh

supporting uh supporting our our members. Uh go ahead, uh Victor, next slide. Here we are talking about Serita community and business support. Uh we're as far as a chamber and uh we're a membership business membership organization. We provide marketing opportunities for our members, networking opportunities. We're an advocate for the business community with the community and at all levels of government. And then we want to provide resources. Uh we've got some tremendous resources that we can provide to our members. One of them is your very own grow and sera program. So we recommend uh when when businesses come to town, come to our area uh talking about uh chamber membership, we certainly recommend them to your grow and ser program uh to outreach to Alex and to Victor. Uh we try to attend and participate in the grow and ser events. As a matter of fact, uh uh we were there for the entire day with your latest moonshot pitch competition and we provided two complimentary memberships to the the top two winning companies, Analytical Mindset and uh and the SIA Speech Spot. So uh and as a matter of fact, we've done a ribbon cutting for uh for the SIA Speech Spot uh uh organization or company. So uh it's it's fun to participate in those type of events. Uh we got other resources that we provide our membership uh through our marketing opportunities, through our website, our email newsletter, the activity guide, so print, social media. Uh we've got a lot of opportunities to uh to market and to help our membership get the word out that they're in town and doing business. Uh go ahead, Victor. Next slide. uh some of the things for our local support. Uh we also provide our our monthly third Thursday breakfast and business workshops and u we have as many of those workshops as possible at the Serita Town Hall which we certainly appreciate the use of that facility. Uh

we do these the third Thursday of every month. Uh we've been having between 35 and 40 businesses and members show up uh and attend these. Uh we provide breakfast for the membership and we bring a speaker in. So there's some good networking opportunities and we bring a speak speakers in that hopefully can uh give good information to particularly the small business community. A lot of times it's information that they can take back to their office and and begin implementing uh right away. We also like to promote our members. Uh uh we've got our business expo and taste of the valley coming up in January, our annual event. But uh this past summer we did a taste of the valley summer edition where we put it out to the public to visit our chamber member restaurants uh during July and August. And uh anybody that did and brought the receipt into the chamber, we put them into a drawing for $100 gift certificate at the restaurants of their choice. And so we did that in July and August and had a real good response there. uh things like that that we can do to help particularly in the summertime promote uh in this in this case we're promoting our restaurants and went over well. So we plan on uh we plan on doing that again uh next year. Uh other things that we do for the members we've had executive roundts uh we had one that uh just is pretty much wrapped up now. Uh it was a two-year roundt and I want to thank uh your town manager Shane Dilly for participating in that particular roundship because it helped uh helped us create our leadership program that I'll I'll bring up in just a little bit. Uh we also uh have uh we're currently running two women's business cohorts and we're going to continue running these. So, uh, my vice president of operations, Mia Brown, uh, decided to start up working with our our our board chair, Rebecca Willer from Continental Spa Wellness Center, decided to start a women's cohort. They we're going to limit it to 12 people. Uh, it filled up in one day and they had a waiting list, so they started up a second one. So, this is an opportunity

for women business owners to get together and talk about issues within their their businesses that uh uh and they can help each other and and and do some networking there. Uh, like I said, I mentioned the the restaurant support with the Taste of the Valley summer edition. Uh, our business expo, one of our big events and the next one coming up January, Saturday, January 17th is a business expo and taste of the valley. Uh, it'll be held up at Desert Time Casino and I want to thank I've gotten the response back from the Serita Parks and Recck Department again this year. They're going to provide their kids zone and so we'll be really working on encouraging folks in the town of Sita to come out and visit with last year we had about 80 chamber members with their tables and booths. Uh and then we had another 10 restaurants set up in the Taste of the Valley side. So great opportunity for uh local businesses to get the word out to the public. Uh last year I'm guessing we had close to 3,000 people come through the halls. So, it's a great opportunity for the community and and I certainly appreciate the town's support and the parks and recck department uh coming out and providing that support uh to the to the youth. Uh next slide. Other thing we provide are ribbon cutings. Uh it's a great way to publicize new uh new businesses in town. Uh some of the the photos you see here, the triple triple play axe house, uh fur and spurs mobile pet grooming. Uh we did a ribbon cutting for Goas as a new member of the chamber. Uh then we had the Cerita Rotary Club at the at the dinner they had. Uh you got uh on there also the helping hands behavioral therapy and uh Salon Linata. So just a few of the ribbon cutings that we did. These are all uh businesses registered in and within the town of Serita. So, it's it's uh it's a great way. Once again, we publicize these photos through our newsletters uh in our email newsletter. Uh we put them out in our activity guide, which is a publication that comes out is inserted into every

issue of the Green Valley News and the Street of Sun magazines once every two months. So, anyway, any uh any chances that we can get and we also put them out in our social media post. So, it's a great way to promote new businesses coming to the community that have joined the chamber. Uh so we share them uh in every every opportunity we can. Uh next slide, Victor. Uh some of the chamber activities uh we have chamber day at the legislature every year and uh I know last year I think Mina came up with us and uh uh we'll invite Luke to join us up there this year where we get an opportunity to meet with our legislators and some of the higher elected officials at the state capital. That'll most likely be in February. Uh we were certainly privileged to uh to to put on the Serita State of the Town lunchon and Mr. Mayor, yeah, we were up there at the Euro Valley and their numbers were a little higher than ours, but next year we will get to 500. You can count on that. Uh and then once again, the business expo and Taste of the Valley, that'll be uh once again, Saturday, September the 17th, 10:00 a.m. to 100 p.m. at the Desert Diamond Casino. Uh also uh uh yeah the executive round table or uh our board of directors. I I certainly want to mention that uh appreciate the town's participation on our board of directors. Victor Gonzalez was on the board for I believe six years and served as our board chair up until recently and I think in the past Mayor Murphy served on the uh on our board of chamber board of directors uh in a previous life. So, uh we appreciate that kind of uh support and participation uh with the chamber and and coordination efforts. Uh next slide.

Hey,

here we go. Supporting the town. Uh we're going to do everything we can. We try to repost the town's uh Facebook and social media posts. Uh so, anything that comes that comes across our wires on behalf of the town, we can share that. uh once again sharing it through our social media posts in our newsletters and any other way that uh that that we can get that word out there. So, and then uh the picture on the right there is a list of our uh chamber uh investors. We've got three upper levels of membership and the we're proud to have the town as one of our chamber champion members and uh this information is posted just about everywhere. It's in our visitor center. We've got it on all of our uh uh print publications. We share it at all of our major events. So, we really appreciate appreciate the town's support of the chamber and that once again that that cooperative uh cooperative effort. Uh next slide. Uh we try to participate in as many town events as possible. On the left there, you'll see us in the in the winter festival a few years ago all lit up. Uh, I brought Ivan, my my Belgian Malininoa, to the Barkerama. Had a good time there. Uh, there you've got, I think, Mina with us when we went up to Chamber Day at the legislature. Uh, we obviously participate every year in Fiesta Serita. And, uh, you'll see me, you might recognize me there as Batman at your trunk or treat. So, uh, we try to get out there to as many town events as we can and make sure that, uh, the chamber's represented and that we're supporting the town town efforts. Uh next slide. [Music] We've uh this past year we've uh introduced two new programs. Uh the first one here is the Elevate SGV, the Elevate Serita Green Valley uh leadership program. Uh this was

developed out of that executive round table that your town manager uh participated in. Uh we're just about completed this inaugural uh season, inaugural year of our leadership program. It's involved uh eight different sessions. We've got 16 participants in this in this inaugural event. Uh it's uh over eight sessions and it's a basically our way of trying to help develop the next round of civic leaders. They get a chance to be involved in and learn about all the different aspects going on in the community. Everything from uh you leadership traits to uh meeting with our health and safety folks. We met with uh your chief of police John Nolan and uh Chuck Wonder with the Santaita Fire District uh Carrie Oliver Vera at uh Northwest Hospital. So, uh they get that they get information on the indust on on uh industry in the community uh healthcare u you name it uh we're meeting on uh on just about everything different aspects the senior community local government once again u Shane and uh Debbie Kenyon from the Green Valley Council gave a presentation on local government. So uh we're having our graduation on December the 9th at the Serita Town Hall. Uh we've invited the town council members to join us. You should have gotten an email before I left town last week. Uh so we hope that you can join us at that graduation. And uh this is something that we plan on continuing uh year in and year out. So uh next slide. And uh the next big uh effort and project that uh we've uh been working on for about a year and it's just getting really kicked off now is the elevate at a this is a workforce development program that was created by the uh greater Phoenix Chamber Foundation uh back in 2020. Uh last year they started

talking to uh chambers around the state and wanting to take it outside of Maricopa County. I'm proud to say we are the first community outside of Maricopa County. So, we're sort of a a beta test for the program, but uh they are funding it for the first two years. They've hired a district director, a college and career coach for each of the high schools, and uh they've funded a halftime position at the chamber for a business partnership coordinator. And I want to thank Freeport McMaran for a grant that uh we've been approved on to make that business partnership coordinator a full-time position for the next two years. And this is really it's it's uh identified 10 high wage high demand career fields. And we're hoping to get students in the career and technical education program at the Sria Unified School District to uh look at these career fields, look at advanced placement uh opportunities with Puma Community College at certification projects within the career and technical education system at Serita. Uh it's a joint effort between the Phoenix Chamber Foundation, our Green Valley Serita Chamber Foundation, the Green Valley Serita Chamber, and the Serita Unified School District. So the support from Dr. Valenuela and the principles at the two high schools has been tremendous and Josh Fields, their career and technical education director. Uh so uh they've got the two college and career coaches now fully embedded in the school and are going to be working with the students. Uh we're looking at job shadowing opportunities, uh job internships for students, externships where we can get the teach teachers in some of these career fields out of the classroom during the summertime into the businesses to uh see what really real world uh issues uh that may help them with their education process of the students. So we're really excited about this program. Like I said, they're funding it for two years. Uh then it's

going to be on us to to maintain this and sustain it. But it's a it's a really strong program and uh something that I think is really going to be a strong uh help to the business community here over the long haul. So, uh, PJ Gomez, our current I mean our, uh, business, uh, person in the chamber, is reaching out to chamber members as we speak to get them on board with internship opportunities and job shadowing opportunities and getting them into the schools to talk to students about career fields that can hopefully keep these students right here in our community uh, when they graduate high school or through higher education. So, it's a it's going to be a real strong program for the the community and uh I want to thank the Thomas Reed and Shane for his participation in this and allowing us to use the town council chambers for some of the uh some some meetings and our elevate SGV and with the support of this program and I think that's uh pretty much all I got. The next slide is just to thank you and certainly would like to open it up answer any questions you have.

Yeah, thank you Randy. Um, you know, I we have so many groups that we participate participate with and um and work together on. You know, I think of Dr. V and Randy, our two strongest personalities um in a positive way moving it forward. You were missed this morning at the SAR to Winds meeting. Uh but this came up um and Josh actually talked about we're going to they're going to be starting a JTAD program for chip manufacturing. Wow. Um, and we'll be the I think the only one in southern Arizona that's going to be offering it. He's we're offering it next year. And they talked about the uh counselor through the program they hired uh for Sarata High School um real recently. So I think it completes everybody that you were looking for um to do that.

Um so um you know it's been a great partnership and I really love Elevate SGV which is Salita Green Valley. So, we got to keep working on the Green Valley Sawerita Chamber of Commerce. I don't know if that's the quite or the right order on that, Randy, but I I I think your town manager might have had something to do with the SGV instead of we were all more than more than happy to accommodate that. One step in right direction.

But on a serious note, um obviously love known you a long time, worked with on the chamber for a long time when I was on the board and uh really don't have a a better partner. So, um, and I know you said, was it 600 we're going to have at the next state of the town? I think you said. So, are you waving or telling me we were at 480 this year? We'll be 500 next year. Absolutely. Well, thank you. Um, I'll open up Shane

unless there's questions. Um, I just wanted to thank Randy um for the Elevate SVG. Um, I uh have already had a couple people reach out to me wanting to participate in the next one because of what they've heard and the success and I wanted to share just an anecdotally. When I was 23 years old, my employer sent me to a program similar to that. And it's where I got to drive a fire truck backwards and failed miserably because I did not realize that the wheels were behind me and not in front of me. But it gave me an opportunity to see what being civic leadership was about. And I believe that that program helped um helped me to prepare for this one that I've had for the last 16 years. So I'm grateful that this is happening in our community. So I wanted to share that. That was only 10 years ago, too.

Yes, just 10 years ago. You've done a lot in that 10 years. Uh questions to my right, thoughts to my left besides. No. Uh thanks, Randy. Uh well, at this time, mayor, I I have just one comment. Sorry.

Thank you, mayor. Uh Randy, um you know, our partnership, our our continued partnership between the town and the chamber, I think is vital for the success of our community. Um you know, having a well-balanced community is so much so important to um you know, maintaining, you know, quality of life and you know, the the you know, the the local business part of that balance is really really important. Um, I hope that that partnership continues to grow. Um, in that light, I and I don't I don't I don't expect to have any kind of answer or maybe even a response other than just acknowledgement of of the ask, but I would be I would be curious to know if we could move towards um that ongoing partnership um manifesting itself as, you know, maybe an an exofficial member of your board so that there's always a connection between your board and the the the town. Um, you know, so is that something that you might be willing to consider? Um, again, not a not a hard answer, but could we talk about that and what that might look like and what the possibilities are in in that in that line of thinking?

I'd be happy to have that conversation with you and and with my uh my board of directors. Uh, yeah, Victor mentioned this the other day and I said, "Yeah, I think that that that may be a very worthy discussion." uh along with uh and we've got still got a lot of our past board chairs that are still in the community and being able to utilize their uh expertise and their history in the community. So yeah, I think there's some good opportunities to expand uh expand those and uh certainly look forward to talking to you when I get home. Hey, thank you very much. Look forward to it.

Thanks, Shane. I know as Randy mentioned over time, Victor and myself, Bill Broco when he was on the council, he was a part of it. So, we've almost always had that connection, but this might be more of a little of official way of kept keeping that connection and that, you know, our voice as part of um the directors. Yeah. That way there's not a lapse. Um there's there's going to be somebody that's always assigned to sit and participate and be a part of that dialogue and conversation and that that can be brought back to this setting on a regular basis. I just think that's a good way to keep that relationship strong. Yep. Thank you. Appreciate that. Um,

I mean I I mean I I can tell you that I mean when businesses come and talk to us to the chamber, they like what's going on in this community. They like what's going on at the chamber. They love town of Serita and I advocate for the town all the time. I think you're the most businessfriendly town in the state. I don't see how it could get any better. So appreciate that support and happy to happy to have that discussion. The only way it can get better is for it to be the Sawarita Green Valley Chamber. Absolutely. I think I think Did we choke you up, Randy? I'm sorry. The mayor about at some some stage how that could happen. Thanks. Uh, at this time, I'll entertain a motion if someone would like to. Mr. Mayor, yes.

I move to approve contract number 260028. We have a motion. Do I have a second? Second. We have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? All those in favor signify by I. I. Any opposed? Thanks, Randy. and I hope you get back out tomorrow or at least sometime this scheduled. Oh, Wednesday. Wednesday. You're right. Thank you. With any luck. Thanks. Thank you. Uh Mr. Clerk, item 8B, please. Uh presentation, discussion, and possible adoption of the Serita Economic Development Incentive Program. Thank you. And we have a returned visitor. Uh Victor will be coming up and presenting this item.

Yes. Uh good evening, Mr. Mayor, members of the council. Uh once again uh we want to be extremely thorough when we are talking about economic development incentives and so that's why you see me here for the third time. Uh but uh we'll go through um really the uh three programs that we're proposing. Uh nothing different from uh what was discussed in previous uh sessions with you. Uh but certainly we'll be a little bit more thorough. And if we can go back uh to uh the initial slide. Uh okay, there we go. So here we go. So just a quick recap uh what incentives are. I'm not going to spend a whole lot of time. We we did spent uh uh a lot of time and uh in one night we actually ran over 10:00 10:30. So uh maybe you remember some of it, maybe you don't. Uh but just really want to point out that what we're talking about is an incentive, right? And the incentive is a a means to attract new businesses to the community. Uh there might be opportunities for an existing business that is adding substantial value, but the incentive itself is how do we attract uh those businesses and industries that we want to have in our community that are currently uh not here. Um and there's uh many uh varieties and uh projects uh that we can consider how to incentivize. Um it's uh not an entitlement. We're not giving it out uh but rather an investment is uh uh there is an ROI ROI a return on our investment and most important importantly right that expenditure must serve a public purpose. So it must have a benefit. Um and um we'll get into the specifics of how that works based on the

program. So what do we consider? This is just uh by way of recap when we're talking about incentives or incentivizing the project. U there's three things, right? The incentive must align to uh the goals that we want to accomplish, right? um if we're going to incentivize, we must have goals uh that we want to meet. And so the economic development P3 master plan uh provides uh that alignment for us. Uh it must have uh the project itself must demonstrate to have a public benefit, right? And that's tangible and measurable. Uh so uh when we're talking about attracting a company to the community, right, that company's going to create jobs, it's going to create wealth, it's going to increase the quality of life, that project is maybe going to increase uh the tax base in our community, right? All of those things are public uh a public benefit and tangible uh and uh um the merit for that is the incentive. And then incentives should be evaluated like any other public investment. Uh so right uh we need to have a demonstrated return on our investment. Right? So we if we incentivize X what is Y? Uh that Y could be by way of uh an increase in uh tax revenue uh the jobs that are created uh and that disposable income that comes with with those jobs. So all those things we need to to consider. Uh just as a footnote uh when we began this journey of incentives and what kind of incentives and programs uh we wanted to make sure that we were thorough. So we reviewed uh best practices and uh research that was published through the international economic development

council. Uh we did some comparative review to other municipal uh incentive programs. uh so our neighbors to the north uh Tucson, Morirana as well as some jurisdictions in central Arizona and in the Phoenix area. And then we also wanted to engage stakeholders. So uh we had the opportunity to connect multiple times with our local uh land owner and developers uh in the community. And so uh we feel pretty good about uh the the path uh the input and the vetting uh that went into what we're proposing tonight. So we are proposing uh an economic development incentive program that has three uh parts to it. Uh there's the business attraction, building fee credit, and facade grants. The only thing I regret is not coming up with a more creative title to each of these three programs. Um right, uh but I think they kind of speak for themselves. So no need to get too too creative uh to these. So first we'll talk about business attraction uh and its purpose. Um so really what we want this program to do is to further business growth right so we want more growth uh we want to diversify uh our economic base uh we want uh these type of projects to enhance uh the skill set and the workforce right so that's the talent development aspect to it uh and economic resilience is really just another way to say we want to diversify our economy right we want to be more than just a bedroom community. Um we want to enhance our tax base by reducing leakage. Uh so we want to attract more of the goods uh in which people are traveling to other places. Uh and we also want that job creation and all of those things combined uh create right and enhance the quality of lives uh

quality of life. So what does a business attraction uh program do? uh at the very core, right, it's a reimbursement of up to 100% of the construction TPT for eligible improvements. Now, I'll get into the specifics, but essentially the business attraction program again uh provides a reimbursement of up to 100% of the construction sales tax for that project. So, how does that work? Well, the project uh needs to be eligible, right? So they need to meet the eligibility. Uh you can see that the project should advance one or more of these goals. So if a project comes to us and says I'm going to create jobs, I'm going to increase the tax base, right? Then we now need need to consider how this project meets the eligibility of what they're saying. So we go down the list and we say okay how is this project uh create creating growth economically right how is this project maybe enhancing the workforce uh so adding uh job opportunities or maybe it's a particular industry that is bringing new skill sets uh how is this project uh creating maybe an employment center or adding to the industry clusters that we have how is it expand expanding the tax base. Um when we talk about commercial development, we can see a onetoone correlation in which a commercial development could expand that tax base and then also right is this going to attract uh other like businesses and or uh create again that economic diversification. So, a project comes to us and they say, "I want to take advantage of this business

attraction uh and uh possibly have that construction sales tax be reimbursed." Well, first off, we ask the question, does it meet these eligibilities? Then there's a criteria. So, once we get uh down the eligibility checklist, we look at the criteria and the project must meet all of the following, right? So number one, most importantly, it has to be inside the town of Sawita. Uh the uh project itself and where it's being proposed that uh that property has to be zoned for that proposed use. And then this is where we get into uh some some some hard numbers, right? So it has to generate uh over a million dollars in construction costs, right? they have to create jobs and they have to pay uh pay a Puma County median wage for for the projects industry. So not everybody is going to qualify as you can see and specifically when we look at eligibility and criteria. It's really those companies that come into our community and say we want to bring in this project. we believe it's going to do X and we now consider how that X translates to Y based on the eligibility and the criteria. So, so how does it work? How does the mechanics of this program work? Uh well, uh let me just jump into the example. So a project comes in and uh we establish that they meet uh the goals and the criteria and uh the project itself generates for simple math a million dollar in in hard costs. Well, what that incentive amount would be essentially be about $26,000. Um, so and AC can correct me if I have my math wrong, but right, uh, the

construction TPT is 4% of 65% of the project costs. Okay. Tracking number on that. Okay. How you get there? Okay.

Okay. So, that's how we get to $26,000 uh dollars of what we're calling the total incentive amount. That's the incentive amount. doesn't necessarily mean that they're going to receive all of the 26,000. Uh because if we look at uh how we define the award, right? The award is a portion of the construction contracting attributed to the eligible improvements. So what are those eligible improvements? Um so the project right still keep in mind the $26,000. So the project needs to demonstrate right that they are making improvements uh in the public uh infrastructure uh arena right and so this is a sample of what those eligible improvements uh public improvements are uh right streetscapes sidewalks um certainly infrastructure serving public use um uh you know ingress egress uh so turning lanes um improvements to intersections um maybe right sidewalks, trails and so on and so forth. So the project comes in right so I'll use a commercial project for just uh simplicity and uh they establish that their project is a million dollars and that project right uh has uh offsite public improvements uh that are needed. Well, they can take that $26,000 and say, "Okay, here's my allowance and here are all the public improvements that I, as a developer, are going to make." And so, I want I would like to be reimbursed for those improvements. So, they identify what those public improvements are. And if they total

26,000, they get 26,000. If they total 10,000, they get 10,000. Right? So the burden is on the project to demonstrate here's a list of all the public improvements that we've made, right? That has a public benefit that serves the project. And so through this program, they would be reimbursed at $26,000. So I'm going to pause there for any any questions there may be. And well, one of the possibilities is they would generate 26, but maybe only 10,000 of it would be eligible potentially depending on what those submitts would be from. Yeah. Any questions as he proceeds? No. Thanks. Okay. Clear as mud.

Clear as mud. All right. Okay. So, how does this work? Uh so, uh it's it's a debur dispersement, a reimbursement. Uh so, there's specific requirements that they're going to have to meet. So, construction must commence right within 12 months. uh as well as reach uh certificate of occupancy within 36 months. So we are not just cutting a check of 26,000 they have to first make the improvements and then that project has to uh open right and it's only after that uh that we begin uh the dispersements or reimbursement I should say. Victor.

Yes. So, I just want to add here we we have to remember what fuels our CIP program, right? So, um you know, a 100% of these taxes going back in terms of reimbursement comes at a cost to the town in terms of our ability or lack thereof in advancing our capital program for the community. So, just want you to know as staff we're we're thinking about that and we're trying to have a good balance between what what we make available through this program that you would be authorizing and just trying to have a good balance um throughout it all.

Thank you, Shane. and and as a big big big asterisk, uh each individual uh project uh that is considered for these programs will be brought back to the town council for what we are calling an economic development incentive agreement and that's in which uh we would have the wherees right the you know this is what the project does this is how it meets the eligibility here are the criterias and to Shane's point uh we will consider what what that percentage is uh based on the ROI um and hold and and also to hold the CIP uh harmless as well for some of those projects. Uh so um so there are penalties clawback is what we're calling them if if they do not perform right so we go down the path everything looks good on paper uh the economic development seem uh incentive agreement is executed uh what happens if they do not perform right so we do have costs right uh to recapture up to 100% of what that incentive award amount is uh And we have cause if several things uh if one of several things do not happen. So you can see on the slide there, right? So if construction does not start, CFO is not obtained within 36 months. Um we haven't issued a reimbursement at that point. Um so one or two things could be considered. One, uh we can uh evaluate the circumstances and the situation. uh and there could be maybe some latitude and some extensions granted and or we can just say you know this is this is just not uh we don't see the the light at the end of the tunnel. Um if they operate right um and they're everything's going well but they cease operations during the 5 years following

the CFO we could also uh consider um right that they are not performing to the uh incentive agreement and we could certainly have costs to uh go uh after right up to 100% of the award. Again, these are going to be on a case-bycase uh scenario uh depending on on just this again the situation that uh before us. Um obviously we want to be notified if there's any change of control and then uh if um if applicable if applicable uh uh the public access is is you know failure to record or provide or maintain uh that public access. And again some of this is going to be baked into the details of that economic development incentive agreement. And so rather than trying to um plan for every situation and every deal, uh we wanted to uh overall bring forth a framework, right? And within that framework um uh for your consideration adopt and then per project per deal be able to come back with an a development uh incentive agreement. Okay. Um so that was business attraction. Uh the building fee credit again uh the purpose uh similar to business attraction uh we want this program to further business growth diversify industry uh bring talent, enhance skill sets, diver diversify our economy and increase the quality of life. Uh what is this? This is uh a fee credit. So uh may credit up to 100% of what is resoning plan review building permits and inspection fees for qualifying commercial industrial and mixed use projects. Uh this does not include uh wastewater connection fees.

So that's that's off the table as well as any third-party uh fees um that are sent out for for review. So how does a project become eligible? Again, uh the project must demonstrate one or more of the following goals. Very similar to business attraction, right? So that project has to check the box box boxes off for us when it comes to growth, enhancing the workforce, right? Creating employment centers, uh or maybe that project will uh enhance the public infrastructure uh by the nature of what they're proposing to develop. Um and what is the criteria? Again, very similar to business attraction. Um they have to be in the town of Sawarita property zone for the proposed use. They have to generate uh the million dollars in construction hard costs, create the jobs, and then pay what is the average wage for that uh for that industry. Okay. So, how does this work? How does it look like when it comes down to numbers? Uh you can see the example. Uh so fee credit is based on building improvement valuation and uh that's how you get building fees. How we get to building improvement valuation is based on occupancy type, type of construction and square footage. So that those numbers gives us the building improvement valuation and then that improvement uh building improvement valuation gives us the building fees. So here's an example. So if we have a building improvement valuation of 1.9 million uh that is an estimated uh 22,800 uh in building fees. Um so that's uh how we get to uh that number. And it also gives you some context, right? uh when you think about what the amount of a

building fee credit would look like for a project that's either you know one to $1.9 million. Uh so what needs to happen upon the applicant's formal submitt so they have to submit right uh a complete uh project design document. So all things that are necessary to submit a successful um uh building application uh and supporting documents right um so they have to do that first and upon uh them doing that and and and us or staff I should say community development determining that they've submitted uh write uh a complete uh packet and that's begun to be reviewed then that's at that time we provide them with the upfront credit. So, what does a clawback look like? If they don't perform, uh we can terminate um the agreement or recapture up to 100% of the award. Uh if the following uh things do not take place, again, very similar to business attraction. So if they fail to uh to start construction within 12 months of approval uh of the agreement and or fail to gain a certificate of occupancy within 36 months then uh we can um terminate or recapture. Uh you can see um that we are giving some flexibility in terms of providing uh right an extension if need to similar to the build uh business attraction. If they cease to operate within 5 years then we can we have cause uh as well as any change of control without notification uh to the town. Okay. And then the last part is a facade grant. Very similar, right? So we want uh this program to help uh bring in new

businesses uh further growth. Uh and this is going to be a reimbursement of eligible exterior improvements uh for a commercial, industrial or mixed use project, right? Uh and so the uh program name uh says it all, right? It's for facade um and uh those improvements that um right address ble or functional obsolescence of that facility or building um and in combination of those things add to the marketability of that building. Right? So what we want to avoid is having buildings sit vacant. um uh they sit vacant, leads to blight, leads to vandalism, uh leads to buildings being less marketable. Um we don't have that issue here in Sarita. U but having this program in place could certainly be of benefit u for uh for some in the future. Um and I think the example that all that comes to mind for everybody is Desert Sky Cinema. Okay. So again uh to be eligible uh the project uh needs to advance one or more of the following goals. Um again uh mirror image of the previous two programs. Uh the criteria uh so they must meet all of the following. Um uh the building age must be 20 years or older. So this is again uh a means to address some of the older buildings uh in Saworita. Not that we have that many, but as we age, our buildings are going to age. Uh, so this program could be a benefit to some of those uh uh buildings. Um, also the building itself has to demonstrate that um, right, it's there's blight. It's just been vacant

for uh, more than 12 months, right? So, it's a a means to incentivize uh, the property owner, right, to make those improvements. or maybe they have a business that wants to come in um and those improvements are going to help um lease that building uh much sooner. Uh it does have some requirements. So, uh minimum eligible project costs 20,000. So, um the uh project needs to demonstrate that there's at least $20,000 uh of needed improvements. Um, and so it could be a program that either the property owner or the tenant can can apply for. Uh, if it's the tenant, then then there needs to be uh written consent from from the property owner. Okay. So, how does it work? Uh, the town matches up to 50% of the total eligible costs. So, the example below uh gives us uh some context. Uh so building owner or the business approaches us and says you know my building's been sitting vacant for 12 months have this great user that wants to come in uh but my costs are going to be about 20,000 um and they meet all other criteria uh then uh you can see how uh the town uh matches uh 10,000 so 50% of that total project cost right so it's total project cost if uh uh the property owner says, "Well, my total costs of making this improvements to the facade are 200,000 um and they meet all the criteria and we vetted that out. Uh then, uh the town's match could be up to 100,000. Uh we won't necessarily award 100,000, but uh we certainly have that latitude. So that's that's kind of how that works. Uh so grant awards are based only on the

portion of the project and its eligible uh improvements. I'll pause there. Any questions on the math that works? No. Okay. So uh eligible improvement. So the property owner the project needs to demonstrate uh that um these are the type of improvements in which they're uh applying or requesting this facade grant. Uh right. So improvements to the exterior, facade, storefront systems, windows and doors, right? So everything that you can think of that is uh the facade of the building. Um uh landscape can certainly be considered or things that have a public benefit to it. Um um ADA access improvement also uh is something that um you find at times with some of the older buildings that may not be uh up to code and or uh maybe uh some revisions have been made uh to ADA compliance and they've yet to uh come to age. Uh so they can certainly u identify those type of improvements uh as well as signage. So if the signage uh on the building is part of that uh facade project then uh that can be an eligible improvement. So how does the dispersement work? Uh it's only after completion. So they need to demonstrate uh that the work has been done and paid for. Uh and then there are some clawbacks. Uh so we can uh we do have cause to recapture up to 100% of the award. uh if the following uh things don't take place obviously if they fail to achieve certificate of occupancy within 36 months uh we can have costs uh but we want uh these improvements uh to not only be made but also to be maintained. So uh we'll be asking that uh if they

fail to maintain those improvements or alter significantly during the 5 years following CFO we can we we have cause if they cease to operate uh for more than 12 months as well as uh a sign or change of control and or any violation of town code related to the improvements. And that's it. Um fast and furious. Um happy to take any questions uh specific to this.

Yeah. No, thanks um Victor and thanks for all the hard work. I I was reflecting on when we went to the state of the town for Oral Valley. Um they did a similar when we did our study, remember years ago about 75% tax leakage and most of us were there. They just recently did something similar and found out how much was leaking into Tucson and the amount of revenue that was lost from doing that. um which was kind of stunning, you know, that um because they're 20 years plus older than we are, so they're more mature in retail and things and they see, you know, the necessity to try to do other things as well. I know most of I know we've done these sort of on a one-off basis. um you know definitely support it because obviously giving you the tools and the toolbox to go out to the folks because from my perspective we're not just competing against Oro Valley and Morirana you know the region's competing against Cassagrand and Maricopa you know county which honestly is doing better um from landing these projects so I think you know we have to have every tool you know possible um I like the fact that it has to come back to us you know after that so there's a sort our bite at the apple um to be convinced so to speak um of it. But I also think of you know you mentioned Desert Sky which was empty um not as long but I think of you know the Solaris restaurant that became Goyitas and it was empty I think 10 years or 12 years and if that user had been in there how much generation we would have had um off of tax revenues for that. So those are the things that go through you know my mind that um you know to again have it in your quiver as opposed to well we think we can do something but you got to come back to us you know to even have the first discussion on it. Why I'd be in favor of

it but I'll open it up to any questions or thoughts from anybody. No I said everything that's good. Um if not I will entertain a motion at this time. Mr. Mayor. Yes. I move to approve the Sarita Economic Development Incentive Program. We have a motion in a second. Any further discussion? All those in favor signify by I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Thank you, Victor. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Before you um finish this meeting, I have one more. There's one more item that came out on the agenda. Just kidding. I won't interrupt. Okay.

I don't see it on the current agenda. Uh Mr. clerk. Item 9A, presentation and discussion of state and federal legislative priorities for the upcoming legislative sessions. And I apologize, this was added, you know, a little bit late, but um it did come out. Uh Luke Smith, our I don't know when do we get not to call you new anymore? After a month, two months. Uh our new management annos will present this item. I don't know. Jessica was kind enough to remind me. I'm still under probation. Okay. So, it's new. So, it's still you tell me when I can drop off the word new. Okay.

All right. Well, thank you, mayor and council. It's u I'm grateful to have my first opportunity here as the management analyst to present to you uh this evening and we're going to talk about the proposed 2026 legislative priorities. These were put together based on kind of the guiding principles of the town that you've elected for legislative objectives in the past as well as a lot of staff input. Uh we are seeking your feedback back tonight on these proposals and uh again we'll talk about some of the objectives uh that kind of guided these. Our goal tonight or my goal is to present a broad overview of potential uh priorities ongoing issues upcoming issues from both the town perspective and as presented by the Arizona uh League of Cities and uh towns for your consideration to either include exclude or rep prioritize. And so I've been challenged. So here goes. So, in other words, you are the elected officials of the the the town. So, if you see anything I put up there as inconceivable tonight, you're will you're more than welcome to strike it down. And so, I believe that was a Princess Bride reference and a Star Wars reference.

You got it. You're done now. He's no longer new.

I I surpassed that. All right. Uh why do we talk about and establish these priorities? one to refine our focus and maximize resources and service of the town residents to help staff and representatives respond effectively to issues that may arise. Uh to provide context and talking points, kind of like your 30 secondond elevator pitch uh if uh when you have the opportunities to uh present the town's needs and to enhance the enhance the town's reputation as active, engaged, and a knowledgeable leader on municipal government. what we're going to talk about tonight. We're going to go over the kind of review of some of the key objectives that guide act as guiding principles. Uh then I'll give you a little preview of the packet that's in front of you, kind of explain how that is organized. Uh we'll discuss and present the proposed priorities and then finally take a look at next steps and gather your feedback and insights into uh what we should do for this upcoming legislative session. The town's legislative priorities should reflect and advance the town's key legislative objectives. And I've heard these and done some research and kind of compile these together. And so protect and lo uh local control and prevent erosion of municipal authority, protect and bolster essential town revenue streams, advocate on behalf of the town for its needs as a growing community, and prioritize public safety and community protection. And so through this filter, uh we've kind of put together these object or these priorities to uh propose to you. The packet in front of you starts with a two-page executive summary. It's the basis for this presentation. It highlights those objectives that I just outlined and then also goes uh presents all of the legislative priorities and the associated strategies that we were going to recommend with each one of those. Then from there after the executive summary, it's act it's organized into four different parts based on how we're going to categorize or how we're proposing to categorize the uh priorities. The first category is

active. These would be the high priorities for the town with which with dedicated resources in terms of time and energy that we will actively lobby for. The next category specific or project uh uh project specific or objective specific uh priorities and these are more localized or things that the town can really take a leadership position on. General are broad policies that we'll engage as needed or requested. And then passive priorities are ones that we will track to see if something comes up where it might be necessary to rep prioritize uh what's going on. With each category, there's an outline strategy. So, for example, for active priorities, we're recommending actively seeking out inclusion in stakeholder meetings, submitting policy positions and statements, providing input on legislation affecting the town, advocate for state funding and partnership with relevant agencies and stakeholders, and then working to maximize regional intergovernmental collaboration uh for efficiency. From that point we present the proposed uh priority and it's uh and the strategic plan the town strategic plan is outlined there. So how it correlates. So, for example, this one, advocate for collaboration with the Arizona State Land Department would be uh would fit with our economic expansion and uh placemaking strategy, infrastructure and facilities, community well-being, and also if it correlates with any league um or Arizona league uh yeah strategy, then it's outlined there as well. Finally, there's a rationale and a position statement where to give you context and to give kind of that 30 secondond elevator pitch. So you have a you know some help as in terms of what to say regarding the priority. Uh and then that kind of outlines that packet there. Uh I'll pause for any questions if there are any questions at this point. Are we good? Okay. So right into the priorities. Uh a lot of these are ongoing or recurring. So I'm not going to spend a lot of time on explanation unless you have a specific question.

Just kind of present it and we'll go through it. But again, these are high priorities where we seek collaboration, we actively lobby and we dedicate resources for uh the first one. It's important to note that the number uh is for reference only that correlates with your packet. It doesn't say that this should be the number one priority of the town. It's just uh so you can follow along. So number one, advocate for the streamlining of municipal annexation process and support orderly growth of municipalities. The second proposed uh priority is collaborate on workforce housing policy initiatives to promote affordable housing options while maintaining local control over implementation. Number three, advocate for sustainable transportation funding through grants and partnerships to maintain and improve municipal infrastructure. Number four, engage proactively in discussions on state shared revenues and rental tax replacement to pro protect uh municipal funding. Number five, support responsible development of mining projects to promote local economic growth while ensuring environmental and community safeguards. Number six, we have a good, you know, mining base here. But as we've seen a lot with the elevate um ed a and with the economic development proposal to grow that economic base um and so support the recruitment of development of industrial and high-tech commercial projects to strengthen CTO's economic base and create local jobs and then number seven support the redevelopment annexation of formerly used defense sites or FUDs with state and federal partners to promote safe productive community growth. That kind of wraps up the active uh priorities there. Uh I will give a little more explanation on these ones because they're a little more specific and they're newer to uh what we are proposing, but these are tied to specific needs of the town or uh kind of local issues. Uh so number one, number

eight, sorry. Hey Luke, sorry. I guess Luke, let me just interrupt for a second. Um perhaps it it's a good idea maybe to pause there on our active list and get the council's response to that. Are you okay with that, Luke? I'm fine with that. Yeah, he he's the boss. So, if if we could get if we could get your guys' reaction to that list of active priorities, again, that's really really at the top of our Yeah. on on our radar. Um and have you guys react to that list, add to take away whatever you want to do to that list. Um let's spend a few minutes there and then we'll move on to the you know some the next category of specific priorities.

Yeah. You know I I was fine when I I was reading them and here on there too. So I think I think it aligns with the things but um I'll take input from others on where they fall and in re also remembering well a couple things. One Mr. Belshi the um executive director retired and I was up last Thursday and Friday. So we did select at least to negotiate a contract with Nick Ponder which is one of their chief lobbyists to be the new executive director. So hopefully he will be coming out and uh meeting with us. So we will be engaging you know with him on that. And then also if if you remember we also have the opportunity to serve on various subcommittees um that a few of us have served on where we can weigh in on some of these things. But at least from these particular priorities, um, open for thoughts and comments. Anything other?

I think we're good, Shane. Yeah, it was Shane's uh, you know, pausing here. It's, uh, with your input tonight, we'll kind of finalize and then present this in the next town council meeting. Right. The the final. And we'd also have I I'm assuming Shane if when studying this a little longer at home we can always get a hold of either you andor Luke to dive in a little deeper or you know qualify quantify whatever.

Yeah. Between now and in December when we put it in front of you for final adoption uh that kind of feedback would be would be great. Again, think about as as council members and our governing body, think about those things that are most important to to you as a as an elected official and together as a group of elected officials somewhere somehow that probably ought to be discussed in terms of what needs to find its way on this list. And again, uh, part of my sensitivity, the lens that I'm looking at this list, um, through is is, you know, also capacity in terms of what we can do. It's, you know, you can have a you can have a a huge comprehensive um agenda, but if it's too much, you're not going to be very effective in getting hardly anything done, right? So, we also want to tailor that in terms of really zeroing in on what's most important to us, realizing that every year we're going to have another stab at this, right?

And also, um, as a reminder, we're going to have a meeting in November before the December 8th meeting to kind of go through our update, not update necessary, but the strategic plan, budget, priorities, and those types of things. So, we could also be brought at that point as well. Correct. Well, I I know it's going to be a full day. I I don't want to confuse the two necessarily. I I I can see some some overlap, but our corporate strategic plan is really

Anyway, yeah, there could be some overlap, but um I definitely wanted to go through two different exercises with you. one to adopt a legislative priority uh list or a legislative agenda and then at your retreat you're we're really talking about our corporate strategic plan, right? Yeah. Thanks. Okay. Thanks. All right. I continue.

Thank you. So on to specific priorities and you know speaking of capacity this is one that we could probably wait on because the our previous advocacy to uh repeal the sunset on Seymar was quasi successful because it did get extended but not appealed. So this the new sunset provision will uh is extended till 2030. Uh but number eight is to advocate for the repeal this unset provision construction manager at risk contracting to ensure efficient infrastructure project delivery and timely completion. Number nine support modernizing public notice and meeting requirements to improve transparency, accessibility, efficiency and to reduce or eliminate associate associated cost. So some of this includes uh you know having the ability to post online only and not necessarily in printed you know newspapers which have decreased in readership and circulation significantly and it's accelerating and then also allowing smaller municipalities to hold multiple meetings in a single venue rather than multiple venues due to a lack of viable options sometimes. Uh this helps reduce reliance on costly printed publications which are also have diminishing options and then reach more residents through digital channels.

Mr. Mayor, I just wanted to say 100% yes. This is so antiquated that this should be a simple change that hasn't happened yet, but it is definitely behind the times to keep doing it the way they've done it. So I hope that one gets moved forward.

Thank you. And then so and then number 10 support updating sentencing guidelines to ensure enforceable penalties to for school zone drug offenses protecting students and public safety. So this one came from our own legal department here where uh a lot of the language tied to sentence sentencing guidelines was based on pro um on marijuana being a felony. And with Proposition 207, when it said this is no longer a felony, there are sentencing guidelines that didn't get updated. And so it's unclear how to sentence or to like enforce some of these new school related drug offenses. So it's just, you know, putting the motion in place to um update the language to reflect the changes in the law. Um, could I have Justin weigh in on this one? Because I guess my question, not even concern necessarily, but maybe a concern is, you know, we can send up to the county, but it's up to the county attorney, right? And a lot of ways, I don't know how flexible they can be if it's a legislative change, but I know we've had issues, I would say, with what we think should be prosecuted at what level. But the county attorney is an elected position. So, I'm just curious on how much influence we can have um either legislatively or how that cascades down to what a county attorney is going to do and not do as an elected person.

Yeah. And Mr. Mayor, members of council, for in terms of the influence, it's going to be very little. This this is primarily to at least um provide the the discretion available to to those folks to be able to uh properly prosecute them. Whether they do it or not will still be a matter of discretion, but this will just it it's almost, for lack of a better term, more of a technical fix, right?

So that because I don't think it was ever intended to to create the um the the inability to prosecute those. So, it's it's really more of a of a technical fix and then it's it truly is up to the community and of course leaders to to insist on those prosecutions happening. Thanks for the clarification. Appreciate that. All righty. I mean, that'd be great, but I just wondered, you know, once we fix it, then it's a separate issue on how they impart justice or not. Sure. Is my concern. Thanks.

All right. And then moving on from there, we were going to move into general priorities. Uh and these are broad policy goals the town monitors engaging as needed requested. Uh most of these have not all come from the the league of Arizona cities such as supporting that tiff tax the tax incremental financing supporting league efforts to for short-term rentals advocate for protection of public safety personnel retirement system supporting league efforts to strengthen oversight on neglected and blighted properties uh which was part of the economic development. uh 15 support league efforts to allow mid-year budget adjustments and 16 support league efforts to extend transaction privilege tax. And so a lot of these, you know, unless the maybe the league specifically states, we don't necessarily need to weigh in on. Um but it's something we can have a position statement ready for in case they do ask. And then the last two here uh passive priorities is things we monitor see uh what's happening and if we should weigh in or or elevate a priority is monitor streamline campaign committee termination procedures to provide clarity for municipal clerks and 18 monitor effects effect effort sorry to reform the governance of special districts to stay informed on potential changes affecting municipal oversight. Um, and I did add that last one in there because I know it was brought up in a previous town council about electric vehicle fees to offset gasoline taxes and help fund roads and infrastructure.

Yep. And you know, I think for me this is a good list, but also as the legislative session starts, there's probably other things that are going to are percolating to the top, right? And this is not a one all-inclusive list. We're gonna have, you know, between your work and my work with the league, we're gonna have and Karen uh Cruz, we're gonna have other updates and other things might percolate or other thoughts as we work through this. I just I wanted to throw that out there. I don't think this is necessarily a oneanddone all-inclusive list. Yeah, that's a great segue to the next slide.

And I I think to Shane's point I think to Shane's point, this is a very comprehensive list. So our part will probably be weighing capacity and then weeding out, you know, what we don't want to focus on and what we do want to focus on. So that kind of hits the next steps. You know, based on your feedback, we'll compile and finalize the town's objectives and present those on the next town council meeting. Um, and yeah, this will guide our legislative agenda and strategy. And then like the mayor said, we'll maintain flexibility to respond to other issues that may emerge or cause us to rep prioritize some of the items. And I don't know if we have Karen on tonight, but maybe one suggestion is uh if not tonight at the next meeting if she can cut give maybe include not in person necessarily, but anything that she's hearing as we're another month closer to the legislative session, maybe she can weigh in a little bit on what's sort of percolating to the top because it might have some of this might have changed even between now and December 8th. And for forgive me, I meant to mention that she was on and I I meant to recognize her at

the Mr. Mayor and council. I sure am and I've been listening and yes, I absolutely am happy to and and Luke and I have a system worked out to communicate with each other um on a very regular basis and above and beyond that when needed. So, I absolutely uh as always am keeping my ear to the ground and uh he and I work very closely together and uh we will for sure keep you apprised of of any you know little boogers that pop up because you know they will. Yep. Thank you. Appreciate that input.

So, mayor and and council, uh appreciate the feedback. Um we will we're we're going to gear up and pro provide you a final document at your December meeting between now and then. Um if you have additional thoughts um feelings, you know, you're passionate about something you think that the council ought to uh ought to look at u those kind of thoughts of course getting it out on the table tonight would be great. Um, uh, what I'd like to try to avoid from happening is is as a council considering new things December 10th, you know, when when they're in front of you for the first time, you don't have a chance to really dive in and discuss. Now is really a good opportunity to get something out on the table. Even if we don't really dive in deep, if you have something you want us, you want, you think the council ought to champion, get behind, now's the time to do that. um if you don't have it tonight, as soon as you can and we'll broadcast it out to the entire council of staff, give you as much time as possible to, you know, to kind of help weigh in and shape what this looks like for your December meeting. That'd be great.

Yeah. No, I appreciate that. But you know from my perspective all the things working with the league these are the hot topics at least from a league's perspective because remember anything the league promotes though we can do it separately you know it has to have statewide consequences uh because every town has different uh priorities and things but they try to promote it from a local control statewide specific perspective. Uh, and I'll put a a shameless plug in for your retreat on on the 24th. You were all given an email with a a link for a survey and we need you guys to respond to that survey so that we can have that kind of discussion that you need to have on the 24th.

They wouldn't let me have my birthday till I did it. So, I did do it. So, just just to be clear. Good. Thank you. On there. Um, any other questions or concerns? again open forum to get back to Luke and Shane in between as well. Good. All righty. Oh, it's not something you want to discuss. So when we were at Sawa and the U person that was the water guru for Governor Hobbs

and

uh I forget the name of the law that was passed but there was that whole discussion of of water and active management areas and rural areas. You know the different needs between the northern part of the state, the middle part and the southern part. And I think they were trying to come up with a uniform order policy. And I don't know whether that's possible given that it varies so much between the different regions, what needs to happen and that age-old uh struggle between um Phoenix wanting to do a one-sizefitsall and us wanting to maintain local control over local areas. But I was curious about that house bill that didn't pass and it had to do with this water issue um for the state at large. So I don't know if that's something to keep tucked in the back of the mind. I was very curious about that how

and Luke are you familiar with any around that there's there's you know there's a few I won't get it right how many active management water areas are and really you know the alalfa for the Saudis and those are being grown in areas where you can put a straw in the ground and suck as much water out so the ability the ones that have been successful I would say have been more in the active management areas is as opposed to but we're in one of those areas but you know maybe promoting it being better controlled statewide I think is where council I might focus that question to Karen Karen did you hear the

sir absolutely hi um Mr. Mayor and council. Yes. So what uh council member Polo is describing I think is the uh rural groundwater management act. Rural groundwater management that

has been discussed. It's very, you know, there's a lot of tension around it that some of the agricultural community and the ranchers and the farmers and the rural communities do not want to be regulated, but a fair number of them now recognize the value in having some regulatory framework. not necessarily a one, you know, a one-sizefits-all because that clearly would not work all the way around the state, but to have a toolbox for when a water basin hits a very dangerously low level, what are the options to help butress it and to keep it from falling into crisis and keep that community thriving? That's that's the task. What is what is partly con not not confusing it but what is partly muddling it up is this the larger picture if you zoom out we are one of seven states that uh that receive Colorado river water there are three lower basin states and four upper basin states that have been fighting about allocation for

more than a year now um discussions are not going Well, tomorrow is the um not a hard and fast deadline, but a deadline that the federal government had given to all of the basin states to come up with some sort of an agreement. But that is what is driving a lot of discussions around rural groundwater management. there is a uh a sense of urgency to try to get a groundwater management um tool passed by the legislature so that the upper basin states will quit beating us over the head with this you know with this talking point that we you know we pump water with abandoned therefore we don't have control of our water so why would they allocate why would they give up more of their water to us when we can't control our own water resources. So, it is a very tender very very tender discussion that's going on uh that's going on right now. There's a lot more that I could say about it, but that's sort of in a nutshell and very quickly the highle readout of what's happening on water policy generally.

So, Karen, do you think that would be again we're in an active management area but water and Colorado River affects us all. Would that be a good one that you think by having that added we could add a voice um of sanity so to speak to to the issue? I I do and I I think that would be important primarily because uh Tucson is one of the recipients of Colorado River water uh and they are um very concerned uh about this because it's going to impact their water supply uh and potentially down the road could potential our water you know potentially impact our water supply down the road. So yes, Mr. Mayor, I think it's a great idea to add Colorado River uh to our priority list of issues that we're tracking and potentially going to be uh engaged in for sure.

Good. Okay. Um my colleagues, let's agreement to Yep. I see a lot of head nodding. Let's add that one. Thanks, Diane. Appreciate. You're welcome. Yeah. And I see it ties in the issue about water because two of the priority goals. One was about mining, right? And that's directly got to do with constituents of such concerns about water and and mining. And then the other one was um a data center and that's that was one of the other economic priorities. So I see that them all inter interlaced. Yep. We need water.

Yeah. Yeah. To do all these things, right?

Yes. And just just for your information, I'm I'm involved in the stakeholder process on addressing data centers. It's more it's become more energy focused than water focused. A lot of the newer technologies that have been adopted are uh with closed loop systems at data centers, which is which is great for water conservation. The downside is it takes twice as much power to operate. And so, you know, power transmission and generation has been an issue around the entire state um for a while now. And the the entree of data centers, we have more than 150 data centers now around the state of Arizona already. Um and the Alphabet Soup, the Google's, the Metas, the FA, you know, Facebooks, all of those companies, the demand is just incredibly high for them. And Arizona is one of the states where they focused on investing in these data centers. They're here. They continue to come. So, we just need to be ahead of engaged in and ahead of the conversations about how that's impacting everybody else and how the utility companies, you know, how we can address some of the issues, take the uh maybe take some of the burden off of some of the utilities. And those are discussions that are being had right now. um rolling into the legislative session. So perhaps for you to discuss for you to decide whether uh data centers is something that you would want to add. It is I think Luke had included it generally speaking in one of the um in one of the uh talking points for us or one of the issue points for us. But if it's worth it to draw it out separately for us and we can certainly do that. Fine. If not, I don't know if it's something that you feel strongly about. Yes,

I would like it added because the data centers are a hot topic and also our constituents are concerned about data centers with both the electrical use and the water use and uh having enough electricity to power everything whether it's data centers or anything else that we need to do in our state. It's a it's an issue and it's another resource that has to be uh we we need to be informed and we need to and not do anything that's going to blow up in our face down the road. Okay. To maybe carve that out a little bit more. Okay.

Yep. Okay. Expand on that maybe a little bit because they will be a part of the when I was at the league last week that is going to be a topic of conversation. um uh on it both on a from two sides, you know, one from moving into technology. If you want to have all of the capabilities that AI brings, you have to have them. So, you're going to have a pushpull on this um that I heard last week. Um you know, some of the folks that have been beneficial beneficiaries of this now are pushing back a little and then um other communities that um are interested in getting them in the community. So there is going to be a push pull, you know, against it. So at least having it on our table for discussion, I think would be important, Shane.

Yeah. So um I just want to make sure that we're being we're being helped in the direction that we're being provided by the council. So I I look at I look at um your active priority number five and it says, you know, responsible mining development. So support environmentally safe mining projects that contribute to local economy economic growth. So that's a very positive thing where what we want to put our efforts behind is responsible mining projects. Okay. responsible means that you know they are good stewards of the resources that they are that they are using right

um and so uh it's it's a different take than on the you know on the opposite side right so is is it a similar take on um you know responsible use of our our water and power resources is is that kind of the the angle of this legislative priority is that we want to champion those types of uses. Um just help me understand.

No. Well, from my perspective would be, you know, obviously me supporting all um all of these industries, but in a responsible, you know, way on how they might might come, you know, to our community. But certainly I would say from a positive perspective I wouldn't want it hamstrunged a onesize cookie cutter size at the from the state um because of some bad actors because that's we are not in the water business as a town right um I wish we were

but we're not in the water business as a town um we're certainly not in the power business of a town so our efforts to impact those things would be done legislatively. It would be done through the state legislature, through the ACC. You know, we would be we would use our resources to champion whatever kind of direction we got from the council as it relates to this item,

right? And I think some of it would be it would depend on what the bill is, I guess, that would be coming to us, whether we're behind it, neutral, or, you know, opposing it. So I guess for me it would be hard to know but you know um responsible use I would say yes but obviously most people know my position on whether it's mining or data centers or anything else. We're open for business but in a in a high quality way.

We might look to maybe amend the language on some of these to include that component as opposed to as opposed to creating a whole new line item. Um, so if that makes sense where we're talking about the industrial, high-tech, commercial development, um, perhaps we add language in there relative to the responsible use of scarce resources, you know, that kind of thing. Um, and that gives us a little bit of flexibility in what we choose to engage in and what we don't engage in. Uh, if that makes sense to the to the council. I like that. Sounds good. Okay. Sounds good.

Thanks. um almost at wrap up. You wanted a point of maybe personal privilege or something on the top. I just wanted if everybody would join and say happy birthday, Tom. We're not going to sing because it's recorded and on YouTube and nobody wants to sing. You're going to sing. You can do a solo singing. No singing session. So, it's going to be take longer. Is everybody willing to sing? Yeah. All right. Let's sing happy birthday. We're going to do a happy birthday, Mayor Tom. Oh jeez. Okay. Okay. Here we I'm turning it off. Happy birthday to you.

Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, dear Tom. Happy birthday to you. That was [Applause] for my present. We're going to E session. So, um I don't expect any more public business after the e session. So, no one has to I would say stick around, but um we'll take a fivem minute break and then go upstairs. Thank you. You got to move. You got to take a motion to go into e session.

Make a motion that we go. I would do it. I would do a motion and a second. All in favor signify. I I Any opposed? We're going to eat session. Yeah. Good night everyone. Have a happy Thanksgiving. No, dude. And what what what's their budget?