Town Council - Regular Meeting

will be given by our parks and rec deputy director Jody uh Garin followed by the pledge of allegiance and we have an addition um it'll be Israel Palano, Evelyn Wilds and Tate Essen Brener. Did I do okay Tate? Okay, thank you. Please join me Jody. Thank you.

Let us take a moment to pause and focus our attention as we prepare to work together this evening in service of our community. We acknowledge that we are all interconnected, bound by the spiritual energy of the universe, and we draw strength from our shared humanity. We gather together with a shared purpose to serve every resident of our town. We recognize the importance of the decisions the mayor and town council members are asked to make and our role in providing sound information to use in the process. We seek the clarity and the wisdom to listen with open hearts, to understand the diverse needs before us, and to deliberate with respect. May our discussions be productive, our decisions be guided by justice, and our collective actions always reflect an unwavering commitment to the well-being and unity of this entire community. Let us begin.

Amen. Amen. Thank you. Appreciate it. I forgot to mention these are three great Anza Trail Coyote students. So, if you make your way to the I pledge allegiance to the flag of 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. And embarrassingly so for me when I've attended some of the school events, they go right into the preamble and they have it down and I don't, which is a little embarrassing, but uh it's pretty awesome when you you see them go right from the pledge to the preamble, the Constitution. Uh next we have roll call. Madam Clerk, Council Member Gillespie here. Council member Lisk here. Council member Lidle here. Council member Morales. Council member Priolo here. Vice Mayor Eggger here. Mayor Murphy here. Quum present.

Uh thanks. Uh next is call to the public. The call 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 issue, or add the topic to a future agenda. I have a few, but I have most of them are the regular call to the public and then I have one um at an agenda item. So, we'll go um to that when it's the agenda item time. Uh Rick Curado.

Yes, Mayor. I'd explain I know the drill. I was explaining the lights and everything, but I know you guys are all happy to see me. No, we love seeing you.

Okay. Well, uh, Mayor Murphy and distinguished members of the council and town staff, uh, this evening, I want to draw your attention to, uh, a recent expose on Kun News Channel 9. That was last Tuesday, December 2nd. Apparently, a strange white, uh, sludge appeared in the washes adjacent to the Estrada del Pueblo neighborhood near the uh, Northwest Medical Center in Sarita last year after monsoon rains. Uh, similar material has surged down the same path this October. hardening wash sand to the texture of concrete. Uh repeated quest by the residents urged that the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, ADQ, to take a regulation enforcement action against nearby mines. ADEQ inspectors identified the substances as car calcium carbonate, the same mineral produced by uh Simbar Resources Mine. Weak excuses were given and no contaminants were seemingly identified. No violations were issued and constant urging by residents over seven months, seven months resulted in further testing by ADQ. And surprise, surprise, surprise, elevated levels of arsenic were found above state level safety standards. No further testing, no further monitoring, no cleanup was performed. Adeq responded by saying that the mine was operating under old, excuse me, [clears throat] under old company licenses and state regulations passed in 1872. Limited testing explanation have eroded public trust. Uh it is apparent neither ADQ nor the state of Arizona is going to protect us. Uh this poses the next question. What if this were the Hud Bay Minerals Copper World Mining Project? Residents in surrounding regions are continuing to raise broad concerns as to the regulatory compliance in the same mountain range. All evidence being submitted is a precursor to how the state, the county, and municipalities are going to manage this mine. Now, I

know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "Sorry is 10 miles away. This will have little effect on us." Um, this is uh this line of thinking is illogical. Uh environmental contamination will take longer to reach us. That's all. Uh, make no mistake, a compromised ecosystem will impact all of us. It's just a matter of time. I I submit to you now is the time to be proactive, pass regulations that at the very least attempt to mitigate, control, and protect us against this damage. It has become clear we could no longer trust the state. So, we place our trust in you. Um, we only hope that the town's mission statement will guide you to honor, respect, and preserve the quality of life here in Sarita. Thank you for for your time and merry Christmas to all.

Merry Christmas. Thank you. Uh Rosanna Gabaldan.

Welcome back. You used to be on this side. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I appreciate that. Good evening. For the record, I'm Rosanna Gavaldon. I'm a resident in the town of Sawarita and I'm also I serve as your Arizona state senator. Mayor Murphy, Vice Mayor Eggbert, members of the council, uh town staff, and the people of Sawarita. Thank you for this opportunity to speak tonight. As someone who previously served on this council, I appreciate the difficult decisions you face and the thoughtful work that has gone into the general plan update. I want to share three priorities that I believe are essential for Sawita's long-term success. One, housing. Our residents need a wider range of affordable housing options. The plan pres progresses in this area, but I encourage you to establish clear production targets and streamline project approvals to meet the needs of working families. Two, economic development and wages. I support focusing on high value industries and workforce partnerships. As you implement this plan, I recommend linking incentives to two outcomes. Growth in family wage jobs and contributions to housing near new employment centers. Three, water sustainability. Our water resources must be the foundation of every growth decision. Large water users should be required to bring renewable options and supplies whether through the central Arizona project or uncommitted effluent as we protect our aquifer for the long term. Wastewater planning around also ensures reclaimed water can be reused where it it is most needed. I offer these comments in support of the town's vision and as a partner. I'm committed to working with you to ensure Arizona, excuse me, I'm used to that.

Sawita grows in ways that strengthen our economy, keep housing attainable, and safeguard our water future. Mayor Murphy, I appreciate this opportunity to speak. Thanks. Thanks and happy holidays one and all. Um, Arturo Galbadon and as I call him, Arturo Gabbadon.

That's a joke that he always uses. Mayor, council members, uh thank you for the chance uh to review the 90day general plan and uh we appreciate the on behalf of the board of community water company of Green Valley notfor-profit corporation with members uh we appreciate the town's efforts in understanding uh how the plan for Long-term growth in a region where water is the single limiting factor presents a it presents a challenge. Having reviewed the document, I would like to provide the following comments which are strictly related to water resources. These comments are from the perspective of a local provider working to protect and sustain our aquifer. long-term water availability needs uh stronger treatment. The draft plan relies on unused allocations under the assured water supply program. While these allocations meet the regulatory requirements, they do not ensure that our local aquifer will remain stable uning. Groundwater levels in the region have already exhibited a long-term decline. Good planning requires acknowledging that legal allocations and actual sustainable water supplies are not the same. Water resources can be strengthened by explicit recognition of the decline of the aquafer and stating that growth should be supplied by both legal and

physical water until the development of strategies for future including the development of strategies for future augmentation. Second, require major new water users to secure renewable water. The general plan acknowledges that providers in the region hold cap water but does not take the next step of providing a coordinated strategy to bring renewable supplies to Saworita. The plan encourages attracting high value industries. Some of these sectors can be significant water users. While a water provider may have a designation of assured water supply, that designation is based on the sustainability of the existing groundwater supplies. This places the full burden of the new water intensive development on an already stressed aquifer. I will uh conclude also and my notes were um sent to the town council but I just want to say that the town's vision for a future uh is ambitious and forward-looking strong and more explicit commitment to water sustainability is important. Thank you very much mayor.

Thanks for being here. Appreciate it. Hi. Um as I mentioned the other call to the public is to an agenda item. So, we'll close the call to the public and move on to council town manager brief summary of current events. Council member Lidle, did you have anything to report? Well, actually, I had a great day today. You did? That's cuz you saw us before that. Oh, okay. [laughter] I uh went to an elementary school with a bunch of third graders and uh they asked a lot of very interesting questions like uh they asked me how what kind of relationship I have with George Washington.

There you go. And uh [laughter] I was going to ask about Moses but well no I that was a couple days before my time. Okay. And uh but you know they they they had sent me uh thank you cards when I got back from the uh honor flight. Y and I went over to the school to thank them and it was exhilarating. Yep. I really do appreciate your children and I really do want to do all that I can to help. Yeah. We have great students. Yeah. As witnessed by three here tonight. Thank you, Council Member Morales. Council member Liss, Council Member Briola.

So, I think it was on November 26th and November 27th, Mayor Murphy, myself and Council Member Lidle met with our uh Gail Griffith, rep Arizona representative Gail Griffith. She is the chairwoman of uh she's known as the guru of water

in Arizona. And we met with her for what an hour and a half and she uh presented us with an enormous amount of material resources and education and it was very very informative and we continue to hear and share concerns about our aquaor and water. Thank you Dr. Lesby. Vice Mayor

I just have a few. Um I was able to attend a community event um the Crush Festival. Um it was 300 nativities at the church next door. Um they are um interested in doing an inner more of an inner faith. So if those that are particip wanting to participate and belong to different um faiths that would like to do it. I have connections to get to help with that in the future. Um but they would love to double those nativities. They were beautiful. Um, coming up, uh, we have the Elevate Green Valley, um, graduation here. I'm excited for that. And, uh, Winterfest. I'm assuming you're catching Winterfest.

And, uh, the other thing that I'm going to be doing is speaking to the scouts. And I know you were going to mention the scouts in a few minutes, but speaking to the scouts about what town govern local government does. So, that's my current future and past.

Thank you very much. Appreciate it. And I don't remember if I mentioned this because of when the c council members um council meeting fell, but um council member Lidle was um honored by Congressman Ciscomani for a veteran servant leadership award. So I just wanted to congratulate him on that. It was a really nice evening to be uh sharing that with you. Um and since the last council meeting, we've had Veterans Day and we had Pearl Harbor Day. So I just wanted to thank our public works department, especially John Garcia and the Boy Scouts. um you see all the American flags um that have gone up and that started at about 40ish and we're over 200 now. So, it's a it's a heavy lift and but I get a lot of positive comments on it um all the time. So, I just wanted to I don't think we can thank staff enough and John is been a leader of that as well as our roadside cleanup. I always get good feedback. everything. It's because he was Air Force, but um everything is light lined lined up, you know, clean, the pickup sticks, the gloves, the bags, everything. Um so I'm really um you know, thankful for all of those efforts. Um I also attended the uh Crush Festival. It was just really amazing. And um I mentioned I have two that weren't probably the same as any other there. So I'll be next year I'll have two more editions. So we'll get to 302 at least. And you know, Ed talked about all our great students. I was able to attend the Catalina um Continental Ballet. Uh they did the Nutcracker over the last couple of um evenings. And again, the youth and how and I brought my mom and she just always tells me she can't believe the talent, you know, of the youth in our community. And it was um you know, we have a great auditorium to hold it in. Um so that was just you know really wonderful to participate in and um as uh vice mayor mentioned Winterfest is this Saturday uh 3 to 8

right Devon? I think I have 3 to 8. Good. Um I think we have the largest parade entries so far um of any year. So it's another great community event and wanted to thank uh park and wreck and PD. I know there's a lot of departments that h that go into that and we get to go over there and enjoy it, but how much work that goes into these community events. So, just wanted to thank um everybody ahead of time. And as a reminder, our next meeting is the new year, January 26, 2025. So, I hope if I don't have another opportunity, you know, to wish everybody a merry Christmas, happy Hanukkah, and happy holidays as we move forward. So, it's an exciting time, I believe, to be a resident in Salerita. Thank you. Um, go ahead.

I just wanted to add if you missed the Nutcracker last weekend, the other dance company that um, Serita Dance um, center will be doing it this weekend. So, if you missed it, there's so much talent we have to do it over two weekends for the Nutcracker um, on there. Uh, Mr. Dilly, do you have any um, additions?

Thank you, Mayor. Just just quickly, um, wanted to let you know, give you a quick update on the man in the maze. um uh park we have the disc golf component to that. Um the installation of that disc golf um feature is moving along very well. Uh parks met with ADQ um recently to review needed access improvements to support getting the equipment up there for the mine, you know, the mine themed donations.

And so we expect to get the green light from ADQ here shortly. And we also expect to start seeing material showing up on that disc golf here within the next week or so. So very excited about that. Um wanted to thank the council for being involved in the ULI exercise last week. Um great planning effort. Looking forward to seeing the the the fruit of that of that labor. Um so stay tuned for that. And then um happy to announce that we've received uh the 20th consecutive for the 20 sec consecutive time u the uh the GFOA award. However, this is the first year that in in large part to Adele, our budget manager that we've received special recognition on how we connected our budget elements to the strategic goals and strategies for the town. So that's an added component to that recognition. and I thank our finance department under AC's leadership for helping us get through that that process. Um, I I'll ditto the sentiments on wishing everybody uh uh happy holidays coming up and then as we approach the the new year with that comes new opportunities to reinvision u what tomorrow looks like for our community. And I I think it's it's met with all sorts of promise. And so I'm I'm very excited to be a part of this organization and uh and entering into that tomorrow with everybody.

Thanks. And I I forgot to mention uh the jingle jog I think um coming up. No, it was last week. Oh, it was last weekend. So thanks for the efforts on there. Um and also um I I'll need a nod of the head from Victor is I heard the soft opening Boot Barn was today. So if anybody's looking for last minute Christmas gifts, Boot Barn's open. It's no longer soft open. So, now it's no longer soft open, but I figured um so appreciative to our investors in our community. Um so, I plan on trying to get down there tomorrow and just welcome to the community. Uh and Mr. Dilla, you were finished with that, right? Yes. Thank you.

Thank you. Appreciate it. Uh next is item number seven, which is our consent agenda. I'll entertain a motion at this time. So moved. Second. Second. Any discussion? All those in favor signify by I. I. I. Any opposed? Um, passes unanimously. Thank you. Uh, item number eight, Madame Clerk. This is a presentation from the Sarita Food Bank and Valley Assistant Services on their annual events. Uh, thank you. Uh, Jody, who you've seen earlier today, is going to kind of kick it off and then introduce representatives from VAS Valley Assistance Services and the Salita Food Bank.

Thank you. Um, as you all know, we have an agreement with both of these organizations to put money to use in the community in ways that we probably can't do independently. Um, and so tonight, as part of their uh ongoing efforts to keep us up to date, um, they're going to be reporting on on what they've done with the the funding that was allocated last year. I will note it's a total of about $180,000 a year between the two organizations. Um, and so they're they're making good good on their their use of the funds. So, I'd like to invite up first. We're going to have um the food bank. We have Carlos and Penny. Well, maybe Penny. Anyway, we're going to have Carlos and Carlos. She was here.

Oh, there she is. She moved. She was over there. Now she's over here. Do you want to run the thing? Okay. Okay. You'll just cue me. And I've known Carlos for years and he made me he's trying to make me jealous by growing hair down the middle, which I can't do. I know. All three of us. Come on. [laughter] We do. Welcome. Mayor, now you messed up my presentation. [laughter] So, yeah. What are you going to [clears throat] say?

Usually not a loss for words, but no. Uh uh Mr. Mayor, um Vice Mayor Ecbert, members of the council, thank you for this wonderful opportunity uh to present on behalf of our organization. I can and Mr. Your mayor knows that I can speak for hours and hours, but I'm going to make this short and sweet. Again, you know, thank you for this opportunity. Uh, the Sawita Food Bank, uh, you know, this is just a glimpse of what we do. Uh, I'll I'll talk more about, uh, the different programs, but, you know, let's take 15 seconds just to digest every single picture that you see. Um, and and, you know, I'll open it up to some questions at the end. Uh, next next slide, please. So just a little bit of a history uh officially we the organization uh started in 2009 but the first two families here in Sawarita were fed in 2010 uh in a little 70 square foot closet uh back in 2010 at the at the Good Sheperd United Church of Christ where the food bank uh the organization uh was founded. Uh fast forward to 2015 uh you know we believed in you know more than uh emergency food where that's where we added the and community resource center so we can be start to bring additional resources and programs. In 2018 uh we became a 501c3 organization. uh we broke away from the church um just because we wanted to be able to pursue grants other opportunities as an independent organization and also to meet the needs of of the growing community. Uh 2022 we opened our 14,300 ft campus which is and you know when I mention campus it's more than food it's a lot of different programs. 2023 was probably our most uh I would say I've been with the organization for 7 years now. In 2023 is

really where we uh became a teenager as an organization. We opened our SORL skill center which we should all be proud. That is the only licensed vocational school by the state of Arizona here in Sawarita. And so we became a licensed vocational school because we wanted to offer opportunities to to residents to get out of poverty. And big thing that I say is we don't want to put people in jobs. We want to put people in careers. And you know, we're we believe in workforce development. And I'll talk more about that on on our on the next slide. Project Azul, which is Arizona Uniting Lives, uh it's an extension of organization. We go on to rural communities, summit, Aravaka, etc., and just bring everything but food to some of the communities that that we serve. And also in 2023, we started our family resource center, which is amazing uh for families that have kids 0 to 5. And then also in 2023, we took over the Morirana food bank operation. So, not only do I have to report to my wonderful community here, but my adopted community of Morirana in um for the members there. So, uh 2025, uh this year, uh we've served in in since the beginning, we've served 1600 unique households. And that's just not food. That's family resource center programs. That's through our veteran service officer. That's through our school. Uh different programs. Uh so 1,600 households here and not all of them fall under the pav poverty guidelines. You know, a lot of them coming in for like resume help, uh other types of services. So that's how we collected those numbers. And then 2026, uh you know, I like to when [clears throat] I showed uh uh Mayor Murphy Project Dul, he said, "What happened to project Rojo?" And so in 2026 uh we're uh unveiling project Verde which is our large scale hydroponic farm on wheels. It's going to be self- sustained. So we have hydro

panels that are going to collect water vapor. So we're not going to be dependent on water sources. And also we're going to use solar technology to power the units. And so we're going to grow about 12,000 lbs annually in our containers. And we've been researching this for the last couple of years. We have the trailers right now. We're doing the mockup. So we're going to be deploying these units early next year. They're going to be self-sufficient, meaning we're going to sell to local restaurants, farmers markets, and then the profits, quote unquote, will come back into the to the community for those that can't afford fresh quality produce. And then also our project rojo, which is rolling out job opportunities. It's bringing jobs, skill labor out into communities uh around the region here so we can upskill um you know, our communities. And our our one of our first programs is our welding program uh which is amazing. So next slide please. Uh Sawita residents. This is uh calendar year of 2025. Uh these are the unique uh individuals that reside here in the community. So as you can tell uh September, October uh and even November um these were high months. Um we still continue to meet the needs. Next slide please. So soral skills center again it's the only licensed vocational school that's uh certified by the state of Arizona here. Uh two programs that we offer is our fundamentals of welding students earn a national certification through NC3. So going to other schools for for example FEMA community college they could also earn the same certification what they offer there they can offer here. A lot of our students struggle in a large academic setting. Our cohorts are small so that way the students um can work uh closely. Uh we've graduated 10 students. We're getting ready to graduate seven more students in January. Our first student, Amanda, um had seven job offers when she applied uh after graduation this past summer. The average starting wage has been $25 and our highest earner is $32. So again, it's not jobs, it's careers.

We want to have that progression that that that ladder. Uh and then our Google IT support certificate. Um we've graduated nine students and seven of them have been from the community of Sawita. Uh we had a lady that uh has a special needs child. Um she couldn't work because she is the caregiver, primary caregiver for her daughter and uh went from basically in the household they had an infusion of $50,000 because she was able to get certification and work from home. Next slide please. And then also our family resource center uh which is amazing program. uh we have five partners uh since inception in 2023 57 families served and over 660 uh programs offered. So, uh, there's not a manual on how to raise kids, but you know, there are a lot of wonderful resources out in the community. And we have our, uh, you know, I I I failed to mention we have our, uh, my staff here. We have it, who manages, if you want to raise your hand, it our family resource center coordinator. We have Sophia Kasu, our program manager for our community resource center. And then Kelly, and I keep butchering her title. She's been, she's our longest tenur employee. She's been with the organization for 10 years. she is our community outreach manager. So, and then Penny Paso, who is on our board, is our, uh, in charge of strategic innovations. So, um, thank you all for coming and helping. Uh, next slide, please. And that's it. Any questions, comments?

No. I, um, well, does anybody want to go first? Um um I I was just going to mention what will always be one of my proudest accomplishments at the state of the town when the Morirana Food Bank was the support was yanked out of them from the Southern Arizona Community Food Bank. Uh unbeknownst to them and I was able to introduce you to Mayor Honey and his staff and within 90 days I think it was you had taken over. So um it was uh I know it was a whirlwind for you. It was and we would do it again and again.

Yeah. and I knew we had a lot of values the same as them and I've always mentioned you know your efforts to break the poverty cycle and you have tough discussions with some of the clients um to do that but really your job I know is to try to put yourself out of business which is a lofty goal um but that's really what the end result was and I knew Morirana would embrace that um with the with the resource center um on top of why we provide the safety net the food safety net but um that was thank Thank you. You know, it was just really wonderful and every time I go up there, I think of Mayor Hony and how impassion passionate he was about, you know, their food bank and replicating what we've done down here. So, I just wanted to thank you and the team for um everything you did, not only for us, but also working with Morirana.

I appreciate the words and it's been an amazing community, Mr. Mayor. Yes.

Um I just wanted to recognize Penny. We've worked together. I was um on the committee. I can't remember exactly what the committee was called, but I was there as this wonderful board group of people came together and had discussions on what does it look like to move people from the line to pay and it was amazing. It's one of the those years that I was there are some of my favorite things to be able to work alongside those wonderful people. So, Penny is a rock star in the town of Sarita. Um, I would also want to say that this should be replicated. What you are doing is absolutely spectacular and stellar in the community.

And I don't know if you've gotten state recognition or national recognition, but it is time to do that. And so if there are paths that we can help to to touch, you guys be shown so others can see what can happen in communities when there are people like Penny and your staff that are willing and the donors that helped get the community resource available. I mean, it is state-of-the-art. Um, so let me know if there's something we can do to help move that along. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Any other comments from my I I have one.

Oh, yes. Thanks. If council's done, Yep. I think we're good. Thank you for all that you do. Echo and ditto all that. Um Carlos, a couple of years ago, um to help meet financial contribution needs, the town put on the table uh an opportunity to match. Can you can you share some thoughts about the successes of of that helping to bring other donations in to help your your operations? I know that's I I I didn't get to you beforehand and I'm catching you kind of on the on the call. I so one of the big and you know that's a that's a very uh that's that's an excellent question and uh you know there's been a lot of cuts a lot of impacts our organization diversifies so much that we're in a really healthy state and it's because of the different things that we're doing you know we're trying to get people out of poverty so uh we have a lot of new donors uh a lot of new private foundations that are believing in the work that we're doing and it's amazing because we're not just providing outputs but outcomes and so a lot of them are coming across and saying if you can find that donor that can meet us halfway there um we will we will go there and so yes it's it's it's so much easier for us to be able to do the work with collaborative grants and opportunities.

Thank thanks Carlo. Thank you.

And I'll I'll tell you my quick penny story since you had one. Um I was at Fiesta Sawerita um and I was tired and I I thought she was a park and w worker because we were right there at park and recck. So I asked her if I could join park and wreck and she said no. She's with the food bank and she hasn't lost my number since then. So I I'm never sitting down again at a Fiesta Salita event um on there. But seriously I echo your comments vice mayor on um all the hard work and the recognition um because you know one you can have the safety net but again trying to break that cycle of poverty is what they focus on each and every day while pro while providing that safety net. So, um, it's it's really great to see and all the successes out of it. And I I've had a chance to talk to some of the welder graduates and their individual stories as single parents or undermployed so to speak and um whether it's a Google IT or a welding um knowing how much those jobs are needed for our our sectors um it's you know just really great to see. So, thanks for the continuing work.

Thank you. Thanks. Appreciate it. Very good. And cue the next organization. Uh we have Chris Ericson and Tony Bruno who are there they are here to present for our Valley Assistant Services. So thanks. We love these guys too. Absolutely. Tony was one of the first people I met years and years ago when he was on the school board, which he still is now. And he showed me the wider range of our region. Um he took me to places I could never find ever again. down in Amato and Elephant Head and [laughter] Sides of Mountain and the Honey Guy and all of that. So, it's been a been an interesting, fun, and long journey. It's been a long venture. Yes.

Welcome.

Welcome. Thank you. Uh thank you, mayor, and town council staff and Serita residents. Um we are Valley Assistant Services. Um we do a lot of things. Uh we have 18 different programs. If you take them all and smush them together, we have social services and community health. My name is Chris Ericson. I'm an RN for 35 years and also the executive director since 2018, but a 15-year employee of Valley Assistant Services. And with me is Tony Bruno, and he's the associate director. So, uh, we're kind of the tag team duo, um, that, um, are keeping, uh, Valley Assistance going and creative ideas along with our wonderful board and our wonderful staff. Um, you see the picture right now that we are in, uh, the building is in Green Valley. Um, that is kind of a misconception because our, uh, service area is 2700 square miles. Uh, and we service 7,800 people a year. that has grown since when I become on uh it was down in the 3000s and we keep kind of growing and growing and growing and so um a little bit of of us. Let me see if I can do this right. Okay, there we go. Um so Valley Assistant Services began in 1964 for history. We began as a children's program and then broke out of um of the Greater Green Valley Community Foundation. uh we were partnered with them and kind of ventured on our own in the early 70s and it became incorporated in 1981. Um when we started in 1981 we were basically social services. In 2010 we became community health as well writing the first fall prevention program with now called Santaorita Fire District

which is going strong uh till this day. Keep on going. Um, so here's some of our programs, um, kind of in a nutshell. And we do a lot. Um, and it's not just staff, it's not just board. We have over 200 volunteers that help us in our, uh, agency. And we could not do that without them. So, uh, one of the main programs is our MAP or monetary assistance program. That's on the social services side. Uh we help with emergency rent, utilities, emergency mortgage. Um and into that I'll talk about that we're kind of veering off in coming into a different couple of programs. You might have seen us a little bit on the news lately. Um we have had severe federal cuts coming to that particular program. Um some of these uh grants we were ranked as number one getting in Puma County. uh those have gone away. So we are um continually applying for different um grants um going with funders, talking with funders and now um kind of um adding some pivotal programs to encourage uh more growth in that particular program and more funding in that program. Chris, with the government reopened again, um are you expecting some to, you know, continue to be gone in a way or some coming back once you, you know, we work through the reopening?

One is completely gone. We were the the top second one in Pima County for that. That one is gone. Is that because the federal government was funding Puma County, which then led to us? So, we have we don't have the ability to go. Correct. But it is one of the programs that the federal have cut.

So that is gone. Um and then some of them now are on hold. We just don't know when or if uh they might come back at full strength or part strength or you know at a minimum. We're not quite sure at this point. So um but um monetary assistance program sees um many families uh many families from Serita that are um struggling and trying to um pay their rent and their utilities at with that too. We do partner with a lot of different um utility programs um and we have um some with us tonight here that we're partnering with and also different uh statewide um companies as well to do that.

I know talking to our tour over the years, you know, the roundup program is a really really great program to uh yes, you know, round up your bill and probably have a little bit just a little bit of impact on you, but a great impact to

to the others that are struggling. Yes. And you know I think the community has really rallied uh on that. So I have seen I don't know if you want to add Tony but I have seen community taking care of community right now and that's what we need to do. I mean our hearts are in it. Our hearts are with the people here. Um and we all need to be helpful and courteous to those who are are really struggling. And um I just see it. It it's it's come alive right now with what's going on. So I I appreciate everybody doing that. It's it's very helpful. Um a part of MAP is a benefit advocacy. So we do SNAP, we do wick, we do all those programs we can help them apply for. And then because of that and because of the little pivotal we had with the monetary assistance program, we have three different workforce programs. These are very specific programs. So, we have one for women, one for older adults, and one for those who are uh on the lower end, maybe in the wick or the SNAP program. They're very directed right to us. So, we're working statewide right now with that program. So, that program has started in November.

Thanks. I would just [cough] I [clears throat] would just add that um one of our workforce development programs is it took us eight months to qualify, but it is a program that will assist individuals and families with their SNAP EBT cards and it will meet the federal requirements. That's taken us a while to get to this point. We have started that program actually on November 28th and are moving forward with with supporting those who need SNAP benefits. Thanks.

Um also with that program we do financial literacy. Now workforce and financial literacy we have done for about 20 years but we have ramped that up with um very strong needs. Um we we have been collecting data and we are now at about 115 phone calls per day for needs right now. That's the average. Um so we are incorporating financial literacy at a stronger component um especially adults and we will be getting a youth financial literacy in 2026. So those two are going on. Um, and then, um, again, I'm going to skip down a little bit, but we do have, uh, food and essential pantry. We do hot meals. Um, we partner with a food truck, and we have been serving 90, um, a month, and we are going to be doubling that in 2026. A lot of that is delivered to those who are homebound right at this time. Um, but we also encourage people to come in uh, and have that as well. So we are thankful to the Valley Galley who partner with us for that program. Um the essential pantry is um uh being built right now. Um you will see a lot of blue buckets. In fact, we didn't bring the blue bucket with us, but it will be here shortly. Um the essential pantry is those uh products that people might not be able to buy if if they do receive their SNAP. It's something that's not covered. Uh, and so it's toiletries, it's paper products, it's stuff that might be adding up uh that can help them immensely uh going forward. Um, and so that pantry is uh begun in the in the back of our building. It's a whole room dedicated to that as well. And and and behind that or down below that on the list is a diaper bank. We serve um those

in the in the Serita Green Valley all the way down to Rio Rico with the diaper bank. It's $8,000 to $9,000 worth worth of products a month that we serve. So, it's a it's a lot. Uh we have a couple people handling that and and coordinating that. Uh but that's infant all the way through adult as well. So, um part of our other programs um before I turn it over to Tony is RN advocacy. Um we do I said we started uh fall prevention in 2010. Uh we do have a lot of different support groups. We have a nurse practitioner on our staff as well as another RN and we do um grief support. We do socialization for seniors. Um and you know those are very important nowadays uh with what's going on. We do a lot of health education and RN advocacy and medication management. So those are the kind of the community health programs that we do. I'm going to turn it over to Tony for transportation. Mayor, town council. Um I just want to say that our transportation has grown by leaps and bounds within the program we have. Um we transport clients to non-emergency medical appointments. Uh specialty appointments in Tucson. Uh they call and give us three days notice before we take them to those uh various appointments. We do errands and we deliver food. Um, recently we were awarded a teleaalth vehicle, a van for Santa Cruz County that um has an internet booster and we are developing hubs to take that tele medicine van into those rural communities and allow them to interface with doctors from Ngalas,

Tucson and beyond. We were just awarded a second van. It will be here we hope in February or March for Puma County and we will be looking for places as hubs for that vehicle as well. Um we hope uh through our funders that we get great use out of these vehicles. We are quite frankly a little afraid of the use that'll come and whether we can keep up with that. Um, so currently we do about 659 um, trips uh, per month. We anticipate it will triple once both of these vehicles are on the road. Um, so we're very pleased to have this opportunity, but um, the effects will be um, interesting to see. I will also add that one thing that Chris didn't mention is we have uh uh dedicated a staff person and two volunteers to the school district's resource centers. Um one here in Serita and um one down in Soapri um and and that will um I think they just got their walking papers all their certificates and fingerprint clearances to start on that project. Um you're up. Okay. Thanks.

Um Chris, before you go there, I just want to let Tony know um you know with the RTA next coming and such, we had a presentation at our last meeting about microransit and I'm one I'm really excited about that. But I do want you to know I am advocating because they're putting these you know bubbles, you know, Morirana, Oro Valley, US us in Green Valley, Aaho and some other areas. But the ones because of population that obviously don't get mentioned is Amato and Arabaka and Elephant Head and

those areas. So I just want you to know it's not within the town boundaries, but I am fighting for the region as a whole as much as possible. And I know that's where a lot of these vans, you know, come in handy. Um, but it's a, you know, unfortunately it's about numbers in some cases. Um, and I briefed Supervisor Allen recently about this because those are the areas that she serves as well. So, I will say our program was featured in the A transit um upcoming conference and we provided um pictures and background for that and we do participate in all of the um transit um meetings via web.

Nice. Thanks. Uh, one thing on the transportation, um, we do serve 750 households that are homebound. So that is, um, quite a lot when we do about two, they average about two rides a week on that. Do you have a percentage about how many of those are Serita, you know, within the town boundaries?

I can get that for you. I don't have it with me tonight, but yeah. Yeah. Yep. Um, also we do have on the social service side is friendly visits and friendly phone calls and those are keeping a lot of the um older adults uh connected. Um, we have over 1,400 calls per month that a volunteer team does um to help uh those uh older adults stay connected and socialize and just kind of it's a friendly phone call. is quite different than a teleare visit or call. So, it's just more of a friendly phone phone call. And then we do have friendly visits that uh uh volunteers do go out and visit people in their homes. Uh the couple other ones are listed are the senior holiday program invited taxes. Those two uh the vited taxes we've had um uh both in the evening and daytime uh for uh various agents. And then um senior holiday program is is going to take place next week and that does serve serita. So half of that is serita and rule serita for those seniors who are not able to receive or have family near during the holidays.

Okay, that's yours. That's me. Okay, that's me. Program Matt program. So um this is the the program that um you are all supporting. So thank you very much. Um helping we help 12 households per week if we can and three homeless households a week. So we are seeing one to three. The growing number is seniors that are now becoming homeless. Um, we do have, like I said, the rental, the mortgage, the utility assistance, and then we help them with all the other stuff that comes in between. So,

and I would add when we talk about homeless, a lot of people ask where are they at. We don't see them. Take some time in the Walmart parking lot. You will see people who are living in their cars in the Walmart parking lot. Um, walking around there. These are the people that come to us. We have them come [clears throat] from the rest area on I19. They want to stay where there's restrooms and water

more than anything else. Um and so we do see them from the town itself coming in. Um also when Tucson um cleaned up the 100 acre woods or whatever they called that, we had a surge come through here that we supported as well. So one thing we do is we do a lot in the town of Serita or Serita area. Um we go out and do this one is a education uh at a park. So we are out on the go all the time which leads us to looking at the new van that will be in Puma County and a possible health on the go with that van here as well. So, we are um going to people uh sometimes that's nice to go to instead of them coming to you. You don't want to sit and wait. You want to really get out there and make sure that you're available and supporting them in their own neighborhood or community. The other thing is we do health screenings, blood pressures, checks, and health education. And so we are kind of a health advocate or RN advocate to get them back to uh providers and health educators or um specialty providers. Um a lot of those that are older adults are foregoing their visits. Uh they either don't have the transportation to go or um they just don't want to go. Sometimes it is being afraid of what's happening and the diagnosis that might be taking place and we try to ease that and support that up so they have it.

So our our [clears throat] workforce development programs, you have to excuse me, I had a little bit of a cold I'm still getting over. Um what you're looking at actually is we do one that's intergenerational where we partner a student who is graduating from high school with a senior uh who is re-entering the workforce. And the idea behind that is the senior can provide some work work ethic so that a youth or a graduate from the school district knows that when you go to a job you don't switch every two weeks. You kind of stick it out and and make it work. Um the youth can impart some technological um education on the senior. Um and so what you see is that happening. Um the Snapchat program, which is the program for um folks who are getting meeting qualifications to receive an EBT card. Um we have a a set curriculum that we've received um from the USDA, from the federal government that our um educators have to follow. As a matter of fact, we have been in the process of building a space to actually uh perform classes. Uh to receive an EBT card, those individuals have to have 20 hours of education as part of maintaining their EBT card. And and that's sort of in perpetuity. It's if they don't get a job, they have to continue taking the courses. Um, we are endeavoring on a a woman's workforce. I have to be honest, I haven't been involved in that. So, I'll turn it back to you.

So we have uh the other one is a women's workforce specifically for women and um and those who might be working moms and then also an older adult one getting them back to um maybe going back in their 70s back to work um when something might have happened or they had a medical expense that kind of took a lot of their uh reserve out. So, we're working on that right now and those are up and running. We won't stay along on that one. Everybody knows me, but the Santaita Fire Department, we thank them. We partner with them. Uh, and we are so glad that they are here in our community. We do a lot of fundraising. So, the next question is when all these funds cut, what happens? We increase the fundraising. So, these are their next couple of things coming up. Um we have a hoown and the empty bowls which we have a youth always a youth partnership with the empty bowls that is great. Um but um again um the community has rallied, the community is coming together and I thank so much for the community and I thank you for your support uh especially for our MAP program and for helping those um ju just a quick question because you know it comes up at least in my mind each year um a little softball question. I'm sure you coordinate, you know, with the food bank so there's not, you know, double dipping and all these other things. And just like the community resource center, I know for years, um, you've been at, you know, you've been, if you're getting money, you have to take some financial literacy classes, which, you know, has always excited me because, you know, if you're just handing out money, but you're not doing anything different, right? Um, at the end of the day, what's the positive outcome um, about it? And another softball question. I'm sure both of you

could probably um use additional funding um from the town. Um Shane, can you just touch on like how as the manager you determine each year because as the need grows um the money is not endless, right? We determine. Yeah, we Yeah, we determine. but you know through our budget retreat and all those kinds of things. Can you just touch on a little bit on how you make those determinations knowing you know the needs there but the money is not endless for all of our needs um including with the town but you know especially with these two just touch on that if you could.

Sure. Thank you mayor. Um it's going to be a bit of a high level in my response, but um you know, we're we're now going into the budget process um where each department is submitting their needs and um and and finance is providing the big picture in terms of what our forecasted year end looks like and what we might anticipate by way of new revenues coming in for the next fiscal year. And so it really is um a bit of a balancing act where we juggle the needs of everybody and try to parse out what we can in terms of love for all of our all of our needs collectively. So um there's there's not a whole lot of um strict science to it except we got to see the big picture before we get into the the nitty-gritty. Um but uh we anticipate that there's going to be needs expressed by the food bank by VAS and um and we'll do our best to juggle that in in the form of a a budget presentation and recommendation to the mayor and council. Um it is important and I I'll just make a general statement. It's very important that we understand and you'll you'll sense staff trying to push our partner agencies to this point. we understand what is truly the need generated from our from our community when you consider um you know the the zip code for Sawarita uh it's much bigger than just our incorporated limits and so um it's very important as you know as as I hope everybody can appreciate that when we're talking about uh tax generated dollars here in our community that we want those dollars to serve um people that live in our community. So, um I know that sounds a bit parochial, but uh it makes sense from the standpoint that that's where

that revenue is generated. So um we have now at our fingertips um some AI help in the terms of a software called Placer AI that will will offer information um as as a piece of the puzzle to help us understand where um you know where the need is hitting you from what source. Um but we'll rely a lot on the information that you're able to provide us uh in terms of helping to quantify uh what that need really is for our community. Yep. Thank you. I appreciate that. I I would add, Mayor Murphy, that we do check parcel numbers. Yep. We are required to by Puma County.

So, we know where everybody who receives funding lives and we try to be very strict on how we uh delegate those funds based on parcel numbers. Right. Thanks. Yeah, I didn't think about the parcel numbers because that's separate from zip codes and such. Many many of the funders are auditors as well. So we have those once a year. So we are very strict on the guidelines and zip codes and addresses. Great. Thank you council member Pel.

Hi Penny. So when I was at a Sawarita winds meeting, Penny was there from the food bank and she was presenting to the group at the Saarita Winds meeting that the number of people within uh the town um were increasing in their uh food requirements. And so that was something that Shane Dilly and I uh discussed and came up with the issue of you can't define by the zip code whether you're a resident of Sawarita. So we had though I had or we had the idea that since we implemented waste connections and our own solid waste provider if you've got a brown Sawarita garbage can you are a resident of Sawarita. So is there a way of asking do you have a brown sawita garbage can or do you have waste connections because without that makes it real clean and simple then you are a resident of Sawita because just what he said I share the concern we would want our resource dollars going to our residents.

Is that something that could be done easily? tracking based on I I I would have to say and this is spitballing. Um if you are strapped for cash and if you are somebody who can't pay your mortgage and can't buy food, I doubt you're paying for your trash service, right? But the cans will be there because everyone was delivered at the end of the day. Mr. May, yes.

Um Chris, it's nice to see you. Nice to see you, Tony. Uh, in the past I've we've had groups that have gone because I'm connected with several youth service groups and um I know that there's been a time that we went down and stuffed holiday bags for um the homebound and um I I helped collect books or toys or something that I brought down before. And then you mentioned the empty bowls. Um the groups that I work with, there's about five groups of youth that um connections. They usually do their schedules for well like at least a month in advance usually. So if we can get in advance so that we can make sure if you we haven't asked us to do the holiday stuff bags but if you need us to do that we can try to figure that out. But I know that the kids always love doing empty bowls. So I got the date.

Good. And you usually need about 10 to 12. So I will start working on that for you. Sounds good. Okay. Thank you know, and similarly, uh, Adventures with Friends, I know, helps the food bank and, uh, the backpack, you know, um, uh, weekend program that they do. So, you know, it's back to what you said, community supporting community and it's people with, um, different, you know, abilities. Um, but there's a place I think everybody can contribute. um especially in strap times, you know, to Shane's point, we only have so many resources, but you know, it's besides treasure, there's time um and other things that we can help give at the same time. Thank you. Um any other questions or comments? No.

Well, one quick comment. Yeah. Um, we do give tours and I know some of you have taken advantage of that, but we invite you to come down and see our operation, meet some of our employees and see what it is we do firsthand. We would love to to have you come down. Yeah. And to my colleagues, I'd recommend it because I've been a couple times and um, you know, whether it's the food bank or VAS to see the good things that are going on. It just gives you a different perspective on um where the need is and how much is being provided to our community. Thanks. Thanks for being here. Appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thanks for being here. Appreciate it.

Um Madame Clerk, uh item 9A. Ordinance number 20251 191 regarding a public hearing presentation discussion and possible adoption declaring the document entitled Town of Sarita amending title 18 zoning chapter 18.05 zones maps and boundaries in section 18.05.010 zones as a public record adopting the town of Sarita amending title 18 zoning chapter 18.05 zones maps and boundaries section 18.05.0100 01 zones by reference by amending title 18 zoning chapter 18.05 zones maps and boundaries section 18.05.010 zones providing for a repeal of conflicting ordinances providing for severability providing for penalties and establishing an effective date.

Uh thank you uh Anna Cassidy our community development director will introduce the item present it and for my colleagues we'll have a public hearing and she promised me the presentation was going to be shorter than the introduction. So, uh, [laughter] Anna, please proceed.

Good evening, Mayor Murphy, members of the council. I I do think my presentation will be shorter than the agendaization of this item. This is a very simple housekeeping item for our zoning code. Back in 2023, we overhauled our residential zones and streamlined them. Unnecessary zones were removed. We changed the name of another zone. There's a list of zones that's located in the front of the zoning code. We forgot to update it at the time. So, all that this amendment does is it updates that list because it is not consistent with the 2023 modifications. Like I said, simple code cleanup. We are not changing any zoning boundaries. No properties are being reszoned. We're not changing any regulations, any permitted uses. The planning and zoning commission held a public hearing on November 3rd. No members of the public spoke and the commission recommended approval in a 4 to zero vote. A display ad was published in the Green Valley News on November 23rd and we have not received any comments to date. There's a recommended motion up on the screen for you. If you have any questions, I'm happy to answer them.

Yep. Thank you. Um well, um I'll ask for questions first and then I'll open up the public hearing and then entertain a motion. But does anybody have any questions for Anna on this particular item? Um seeing no questions, I'll open the public hearing. I have no speaker cards for this item. Would anybody like to address the council on this particular item? Seeing no movement, I will call close the public hearing and entertain a motion at this time. Mr. Mayor. Yes, ma'am. I move to adopt ordinance number 2020 2025-193. I second. Well, that would be 1 191. Oh, I'm looking at the wrong one on my screen. 191. Thank you. Second. We have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? All those in favor signify by I.

I. Any opposed? Motion carries unanimously and we are to item number 9B. Um, madame clerk,

public hearing presentation, discussion, and possible adoption of ordinance number 2025192 declaring the document entitled Town of Sarita amending title 18 zoning chapter 18.09 general residential and rural zoning provisions and section 18.09.020 general requirements and exceptions as a public record. Adopting the town of Sadorita, amending title 18 zoning, chapter 18.09, general residential and rural zoning provisions, sections 18.09.020, general requirements and exceptions by reference amending title 18 zoning chapter 18.09 general residential and rural zoning provisions section 18.09.020 general requirements and exceptions providing for repeal of conflicting ordinances, providing for severability, providing for penalties, and establishing an effective date. Uh, thank you. In my official mayoral language, I'm going to say ditto. And Anna, uh, you're up and please proceed.

Thanks again, Mayor Murphy, members of the council. This code amendment is in response to SB1308, which was signed into law in 2025. And this new bill requires a process for reasonable accommodations for sober living homes. It applies to any jurisdiction that has a zoning requirement that has a separation distance between these types of homes, which we do have. Um, here in the town of Sawarita, a sober living home falls within the definition of a group care home. A group care home is defined as a single family home serving 7 to 10 residents who require special care for disabilities. The purpose of these group care homes being located in a residential setting is to provide the the residents with a more more of a home environment versus an institutional feel. It can be important for rehabilitation and just for general quality of life. Our town code does require a 1,200 foot separation between group care homes. In order to prepare this amendment, we consulted with the department of law. And we have a proposed process that complies with the new state law as well as with the federal fair housing act. It's important to note that regardless of whether we adopt this amendment or not, we are still legally required to provide reasonable accommodations. What this amendment does is it offers parameters and guidance for approval of reasonable accommodations. It would be a zoning administrator decision or planning director. The the town code defines those two positions as being the same person. And it is nice when you have to make these types of decisions to have some guidelines by which to make them. We held a public hearing with the planning and zoning commission on November 3rd. We did have one member of the public speak. They didn't have a concern. They did ask a question which was answered and and that was the end of it. Um their question was on public

notification and public notice. The commission also had several questions on that and we did respond with some of the legal requirements that we actually cannot release the address of a sober living home application. So it it's pretty strict in that regard. The commission did vote to recommend approval in a 4 to zero vote. We published a display out in the Green Valley News on November 23rd as required and we've had no public comments to date. That concludes my presentation. If you have any questions, happy to answer them.

Thanks. Just a quick question. Um, what's the procedure if someone wants to start a sober living home? Do they have to, you know, go through you and and you know where the other ones are to help comply with these standards? just a quick overview on just sort of how that process works because how I know from the real estate perspective when there's someone selling a home you can't comment on you know various homes you know next to you right you're not even allowed to disclose that as a realtor but from your perspective how does that whole process to get a sober living home in to the town how does that work

they typically start with the state the state lensure requires that they comply with zoning guidelines so they will approach approach the state first and then they approach the planning and zoning division and ask for a letter stating that they're in compliance and we have records and this kind of piggybacks off of this right you know for the 1200 um separation and having a reasonable accommodation and all of those things. Yes. So if somebody needed a reasonable accommodation to either the number of residents or that separation distance, they would have to apply separately to the planning and zoning division asking for that reasonable accommodation and explaining the reasons for it. They would have to follow the guidelines that are spelled out in this amendment and then they would receive the decision and be able to proceed to the state with that.

Great. Thank you. I appreciate that. Uh any other comments to Anna before I open up the public hearing? Hearing none, I will declare the public hearing open. Um, I have no cards for this particular item. Would anybody like to address the council on this item? Seeing no movement, I'll close the public hearing and entertain a motion at this time. Mr. Mayor, can I redeem myself? Yes, you can. All right. I move to adopt ordinance number 2025-192. Okay. We have a motion. Do I have a second? Second. Motion and a second. Any further discussion? All those in favor signify by I. I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Um, madame clerk, item 9 C,

public hearing, presentation, discussion, and possible adoption of ordinance number 2025193 declaring the document entitled Town of Saharita amending title 18 zoning amending chapter 18.69 subdivision standards sections 18.69.040 design standards 18.69.060 review procedures and 18.69.070 070 assurance requirements as a public record adopting the town of Sarita amending title 18 zoning amending chapter 18.69 subdivision standards sections 18.69.040 design standards 18.69.060 review procedures and 18.69.070 assurance requirements by reference amending title 18 zoning by amending chapter 18.69 subdivision standards sections 18.69.040 design standards 18.69 69.060 review procedures and 18.69.070 assurance requirements providing for repeal of conflicting ordinances providing for severability providing for penalties and establishing an effective date.

Uh thank you and Anna's going again and I'm excited about this one because um kind of the mantra faster easier cheaper. Uh this is going to take something off our plate. Um so Anna if you want to touch on this.

Yes. Thanks once again, Mayor Murphy, members of the council, and thank you to Lisa for reading all of that. So, this was another code amendment that is required by a new state law. HB 2447 signed into law in 2025 requires administrative processes for approval of several application types, including tenative plats, final plats, and site plans. And just a little bit of background for those in the room who maybe don't know what those are. A tenative plat is when you take a large tract of land and you conduct a feasibility analysis for dividing it into separate properties for sale or lease. So a tenative plat is something that we've already had an administrative process for. We I can't remember how many years ago, but it was a long time ago that we took out the commission process for that. It's an administrative function. If it meets code, we have to approve it. So taking it through a hearing process is really just slowing down the process and and there's really no ability for the public to influence the outcome of those decisions. The final plat takes that tenative plat or preliminary plat as they're called in some places and it creates the legal document to divide those lots so that they can be recorded, assessed and sold or leased. The final plat we do we have been taking to council on the consent agenda. It's another administrative function. There's really no ability to influence the outcome if it meets code. The council's required to approve it. Thus, it's been on the consent agenda as just daily business. Um, and that is what we are taking out of the code as a result of the state law. The site plan is another area where we've been conducting an administrative process for many, many years. A site plan also is called a development plan and that is a basically a zoning layout of how you're going to design your site to meet zoning requirements and engineering studies. So we are here tonight just to amend the

final plot process. That's the only area where we were already not compliant with state law and there is an implementation date of January 1, 2026. So, the town code, like I said, does require council approval of the final plat. It also requires council pre-approval of private streets. Now, the state law did not require us to remove that pre-approval of private streets, but it seemed unnecessary. So, we are also taking that out. The amendment that has been prepared is compliant with the new straight law and taking out the private streets requirement also or the pre-approval for private streets streamlines the process further. There are certain dedications that may or may not require council approval. I'm still working with town attorney through some of these checklist items and procedural questions, but for now the big question is this amendment complying with state law and taking the council process out. If there are items that need to receive council approval, I will work that out with the town attorney. We held a public hearing at the planning and zoning commission December 1st, so this is being fasttracked. We got kind of a late start on it, so they just held their meeting a week ago. They did vote four to zero in favor. I've updated this slide. So, if you looked at the slideshow in your packet, this one has some updates. We did not have any members of the public speak at that public hearing. We published a display ad in the Green Valley News November 23rd. And this morning, we received a letter of support from the Southern Arizona Homebuilders Association, which you all should have received. If you have any questions, I'm happy to answer them. And if not, there's a recommended motion up on the screen. Thank you. Any [clears throat] questions for staff before I open the public hearing? Uh, seeing no questions, I'll open the public hearing. I have no speaker cards on this item. And if I like to address the council, seeing no movement, I will close the public

hearing. And I think the Green Valley must News must be very happy with us because we always have these display ads that we have to publish um in here. Um, and at this time, we'll entertain a motion. Mr. Mayor. Yes. I move to adopt ordinance number 2025-193. Second. We have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? All those in favor signify by I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries unanimously. Thank you, Anna. Uh, madam clerk, item number 10A. Discussion and possible action regarding an reimbursement agreement between the general fund and the GAR Sam fund.

Thank you. And Mr. Mariotti, our finance and technology director who never seems to age. I don't know if it's just working with those numbers or whatever it is, but uh he's here this evening to present this item. And welcome. I married young. Maybe that's when uh Mr. Mayor, members of the council, uh this item formalizes a uh payment schedule to reimburse the general fund for its investment in the SAM Techch facility. So between August 2022 and June 2025, the general fund paid $2,54,2560 for tenant improvements at the SAM Tech facility. uh those costs were anticipated uh they were approved in the budget and they really stem from those tenant lease agreements with the three tenants that we now have in the facility. So lease revenues are generated in the GAR SAM techch fund and these uh revenues cover well over the amount of the operation and maintenance costs of the facility. In the fiscal year 2026 budget, uh the excess is expected to be around $294,000. And because these leases are triple net, um that $294,000 excess will probably live on over the term of those leases, which are their 10-year lease.

For those that don't know, could you just touch on triple net real quick? Yeah, triple net basically says that all of the costs associated with maintaining the facility and operations are going to be covered by the tenants through the lease. I forgot exactly what other things. Yeah, there's uh common area maintenance costs that are included in that taxes, insurance, things of that nature fall under that. Thanks.

So those invariably will go up over time, but because these are triple net leases, the lease revenues will also go up to cover those additional costs. So excess funds were always anticipated to repay the general fund for its investment. Now the rate of return on that investment is not a percentage like most interfund loans are. And that's why we're calling this a reimbursement agreement instead of an interfund loan agreement. And we can't charge interest because that facility was built using a $3 million EDA grant, economic development authority. It's part of the uh US Department of Commerce. So those revenues that are generated are restricted. So we can't charge ourselves interest and and recapture that in the general fund. So what's the investment? What's the rate of return on that investment? It was the jobs. So we were going for jobs when we entered into this arrangement with the EDA. So the last bank statement that was provided to us by the property management company indicated that there was about $590,000 of cash available in that account. So, as such, we're proposing the following repayment schedule on June 30, 2026 to repay $500,000 to the general fund and then thereafter on June 30 each year through year 2033 to repay approximately $222,34 to the general fund. So this arrangement repays the general fund within 10 years of the year of the initial um dispersement for the first tenant improvement and that would have been for power photonics and that was something that was always contemplated when we entered into this arrangement. Yeah. A lot of times when the general fund makes an investment of of some sort or another from an economic development standpoint, we're looking at about a within a 10-year payback. So this would be true to that concept that we've talked about previously. Um, this

also allows the GAR SAM techch fund to retain some of its money in in its account and that can be used for any cost contingencies that might not be covered with triple net other things that arise, but it could also be used for certain economic development opportunities that may pose um, you know, present themselves over the next 10 years. So, don't know what those could be and we're still trying to flesh out exactly how those funds could be used. um uh getting answers from the federal government can be tricky at times and this is a season where it is tricky but um we know that public work economic development activities would certainly qualify. Um there are other activities that appear to be uh allowable as well but we we need clarity on that before we would commit to anything and any arrangement that we develop would obviously uh entail the council's feedback and and approval. So with that, Mr. Mayor, uh, you have the repayment schedule before you.

Yep. Thank you. Any questions for AC before I entertain a motion? This does not require a public hearing like last three did. Um, if not, I will entertain a motion at this time. What's that? I'll go ahead. Okay. Um, I move to approve the proposed inner fund reimbursement agreement. We have a motion. Do we have a second? Second. We have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? All those in favor signify by I. I. Any oppose? By nay. Motion passes unanimously. Thank you, madame clerk. Item 10B.

Discussion and possible action regarding the 2026 legislative session priorities and goals. Uh thank you. Um Luke Smith, our management analyst, will be presenting this item sitting to my left. Yes. Uh, good evening and thank you for being here.

Good evening. Thank you, mayor and council. Tonight, I am going to propose for your adoption the town's 2026 legislative priorities. These priorities have been refined based on your feedback and uh guided by our legislative objectives, which for the town are protect local control, protect town revenue streams, advocate on behalf of the town's needs as a growing community, and prioritize public safety and community. As we look forward to the 2026 legislative session, we can kind of see how those objectives for the town comprehensively cover much of the anticipated legislation uh for this next session. Specifically, if you look at local control, uh we're anticipating legislation on starter homes, zoning, and historic exemptions or exemptions for historic properties. Uh we're expecting preeemption uh especially in regards to economic development data centers. In other words, preeemption of local control for uh by the state for these initiatives. Uh legislation requiring voter approval for sales tax increases, executive session transparency, and under town revenues are our objective for protecting town revenues. Uh there's going to be legislation on tax conformity, exempt property taxes for paid in full primary residences. uh raising the exception assessment ratio on investor owned properties uh cap contributions on the PSP retirement system and under town growth or that objective we're we're expecting state land reform legislation capacity fees infrastructure development financing specifically for waste water and revitalization district prompt pay um initiatives to speed up payment on for those districts and then finally something regarding underground utility uh blue ake or now Arizona 811 I believe is what it's called. And then under our final objective, uh we're expecting legislation on reauthorizing the Craig

Tiger Act, uh which provides uh mental health and trauma counseling for first responders, law enforcement pre uh presumption for melanoma, SB500 erroneous convictions amendment, and possibly lowering the retirement age on the PSP retirement system from 55 to 50. And many of these things overlap especially like when we look at the retirement system cap contributions versus lower retirement age. Um you know if they lower the retirement age then contribution rates may have to increase to to fund that. Uh but we can see so based on what we see coming up or what we think will be coming up in the next session uh our active priorities for the town and these are the ones that we will be most proactive about and uh actively lobby and seek dedicate resources to. Uh the numbers are again just for reference. It doesn't indicate this is the number one priority. Uh number one would be advocating for streamlining of Arizona's municipal annexation process and support orderly growth of municipalities. Two is to collaborate on workforce housing policy initiatives to promote affordable housing options while maintaining local control. Three, advocate for sustainable transportation funding through grants and partnerships to maintain and improve municipal infrastructure. Four, engage proactively in discussions on state share revenues and rental tax replacement to protect municipal funding. and five, promote the development of commercial and industrial projects that strengthen Serita's economic base while prioritizing community safety and the sustainable use of resources. Um, I'll pause there to see if council has any questions.

Thanks. Did you actually say we're looking forward to the legislative session? I'm not sure if the senator and Karen would agree with that. I may have misspoken there. Just throwing that out there. Any um questions, any feedback? Uh Shane, uh Mayor and Council, I just I just wanted to reemphasize um the importance of your of your your feedback tonight because this really sets the stage for your legislative priorities going into the next legislative session. So, this is our second pass at this and um and we've hopefully gleamed your your input on the on the first pass. This is uh nearly final form, so this is an opportunity um before we hit the print.

Right. No, we appreciate that and thanks for the um the willingness to work with us on there. I think it meets you know the parameters that we had discussed and also remembering um you know serving on the executive committee I'm I'm always cognizant of all of you and and taking you with me on there plus um in three of us took advantage of it last year there's the subcommittees um of the league too. So, not only do we have to somewhat worry about what we're talking about, but also others that submit that may, you know, reflect our value set or may not. Um, so I appreciate everybody's willingness to serve on those subcommittees and kind of be an overwatch, you know, for us, um, from a town's perspective.

Yeah. And and I failed to mention, I mean, not only does this become our playbook as staff when we're engaging our legislature, um, but this is also the the playbook for your your legislative ambassador who's um, uh, Diane Pollo, Councilman Prio. So, and our intergov and our lobby um, you know, so it comes everybody's playbook. Thank you. Thank you. Everybody um, seemed good with this. Any other feedback? No. Uh, thank you. Are you finished with the presentation? Almost.

Almost. Okay. We got a couple more slides here. Uh specific priorities are ones more uh about the town or the needs that town has identified. So six is advancing the redevelopment annexation of the FUD sites. Seven is supporting modernizing the public notice and meeting requirements to improve transparency, accessibility, and efficiency to reduce or eliminate associated costs. and eight, supporting updating Arizona state law to clarify sentencing guidelines for schools on drug offenses, ensuring enforceable penalties, and improving student safety. And then our final two prior, sorry, thought sorry, I thought I hand saw a hand go up. Our final two are just more general where we'll we'll monitor uh sorry general where we'll monitor the activities going on. So nine is support the league and state legislative activities as they align with those with the legislative objectives of the town and 10 to monitor and uh the same activities to see if we need to reassess the town's priorities or adjust our strategies. And I believe your packets in front of you have an outline of all of these objectives along with how they correlate with our strategic plan and some talking points for you in the rationale and position statements um that for like like a cheat sheet of sorts.

All right. And so I moved any questions and uh the recommended motion. Yeah. No, thank you. And you thing I've learned over time, I don't know, um, Karen, how many how many bills dropped last time and actually how many made it to, you know, sort of the the worry stage, I guess you would say. Um, nearly 2,000. Karen, would you come up to the mic, please? Thank you. Sorry for the recording purposes. I guess I could have asked Luke, too, but

I'm sorry. Good evening, Mr. Mayor and Council. Karen Cruz, for the record, Karen Cruz with the Cruise Group. I'm your contract lobbyist uh down at the state capital and work very closely with Luke. Um the number was just shy of about 1,800 bills that were introduced last year of which around 250 ended up making all the way through and either signed or vetoed. Um it's around in that area. So there's a lot of

flying in the beginning and everybody worries about a lot of bills that get introduced initially. Um they're all important until they fall off which there are deadlines built in where there kind of is natural fall off. So then we start to really worry after those after those points,

right? And thank you for that. And that's what I wanted to express early on. you know, I'd kind of like get excited about all of them and then you go, "No, you know, first that's not good for your blood pressure." And two, you know, really you have to focus your energy where it might actually help or, you know, either promoting good bills or killing bad bills. Um, but that's why I think it's important, you know, with our innergov and having a lot of us, you know, represented at the state level, the league ambassador, and then working with you to really monitor when it's time to get nervous or be proactive on those types of issues. So, thank you. I just wanted to put that on the table. So, we'll definitely be putting you to work this year. Right. There you go. Thank you.

Thank you. Any other questions for Luke or Shane? Uh seeing none, um I'm entertain a motion at this time. I move to adopt the 2026 legislative priorities and goals as presented. I second. We have a motion to second. Any further discussion? All those in favor signify by I. I. Any oppose? By nay. Uh this passes unanimously. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks, Luke. Uh, next, madame clerk, item number 11A, study session regarding a 2025 update to the rules of procedure.

Uh, thank you. I I do have a speaker card on this. So, I think what I'd like to do because, you know, it's this is a study session. Um, and we received an email from this particular speaker. I thought it'd be good if we let Dan go first, you know, put some of the thoughts on the table as we start this discussion. Uh Dan, if you'd like to come up. I think you know how this the light system works, right? I do. And you know I buy ink by the barrel. Yes, you do. I we do know that. Go ahead and cut me off.

Um I uh my name is Dan Sheer. I'm a resident of Saworita. I have been a journalist for 40 years and this is the first time I have ever stepped up at call to the public which I hope speaks to how important I think this uh this item is to me and to my organization. It is about uh 11A is about relegating journalists to the back of the room to cover meetings. And I'm just simply going to read the email that I sent to you all this afternoon. The Sawita Sun and Green Valley News and Wick Communications oppose this proposed change. Currently, a public body can already clear the room if a meeting becomes genuinely disruptive. In these cases, and I have been involved in a couple, media that are not part of the disruption are allowed back in to continue covering proceedings. The proposed policy is an overreaction to recent events that we are all aware of. While there were uncomfortable moments in the chambers, they were no more so than when waves of Quail Creek residents concerned over Vulcan filled the chamber or residents whose homes were in the way of the I1 demanded to know why the previous town manager backed it early on. These events come with the territory and councils have endured them without restricting press or public access. In our case, this decision would relegate our journalist to the camera corral since the reporter is also the photographer. It would do the same, we presume, for parents who want to photograph their children getting an award. Then there are the town's own communications people. Will they be allowed any closer than the back row? If so, that would offer access to a town employee to cover an event that is not also afforded members of the working press. The town attorney's reasoning is odd. at best. He writes, quote, bottom line is that people walking to and fro with cameras is distract dist distracting and disruptive to the

meeting. How about the people coming in late? Distracting and disruptive. Those who leave after the awards are handed out. People in ugly Christmas sweaters, shoes with lights, sequined flag hats. It's nonsensical reasoning. This policy is unreasonable, disruptive, and borders uncensorial. I'd encourage the council not to make any changes and simply deal with the challenges that arise. And the next time you address something that impacts the press, please invite us to the discussion. Thank you.

Thank you. Thanks for being here. Um, so at um this time uh Lisa um our town clerk, oh did you want to say yeah just just make sure you submit the uh fill out the card. I think you know you want me to do that now or No, no, afterwards [clears throat] for the record.

My apologies. I'm Dave Verwise. Some of you know me and some of you don't. But uh and I came unprepared so I'm sorry for not filling out the card. But if it's possible to table this uh for future, I would love the opportunity to talk to some of you. Um I'm a long-term and formerly highly credential member of the press. So I don't come here on any side of this, but I do come with with decades of experience and I don't want to see anything happen here prematurely. We we have had an issue in the past that put the town actually in odds with federal law with a decision the council made and I would hate to see that happen again. So, I'm glad to fill you in on an individual basis and show you the documents and establish my credentials, but if it's possible um to to table it for a for a further meeting, that might be advised. And right,

thanks again for Thanks, Dave. Yeah, this is a study session, so I don't necessarily expect any action um from that. It would just be a conversation. That's why I wanted to allow um the both of you, you know, Dan had submitted um to put some of those things on the table before we started the study session. Mr. Mayor, I'll just further clarify that there can't be any action tonight. This is a study session only uh meant to just air the topic publicly and allow the council to receive feedback and have you guys discuss amongst yourself the manner in which you want your meetings to proceed. Uh the proposed amendment is is an amendment to the rules of procedure uh document that you approved um what almost two years ago? 2023.

Oh, 2020. So yeah, two. Okay. Two years ago. So, um, with that and and I I I don't believe there's anything in front of you tonight that would be in violation of federal law. Um, but, uh, this is this is an opportunity for you to receive feedback and to ask questions amongst yourself and the members of the public if you choose. Um, this is your document. Uh, it's it's a matter of how you want your meetings to proceed and and staff is here to support whatever decision you guys make. Right.

Thank you, Lisa. Thank you for that introduction, Mr. Dilly. Um, I'll skip right to what the media and decorum of order um revision um that is being proposed. Uh the current language unless disruptive live streaming, audio, video recording and photography are allowed during the meeting. The proposed languages, live streaming, audio, video recording, and photography may be conducted from the back of the council chambers behind the final row of attendee seating unless determined by the presiding officer to be disruptive to the meeting. This was the only change that we received or re was requested. Uh this particular change is not meant um to um prevent anyone from actually photographering or videoing. It is uh really to um not have disruptions during the meeting and to preserve the view of the audience. At this time, we are welcoming um suggestions, discussions and if there are other changes that you would like to propose um to your rules, we are willing to discuss those and um listen.

Yep. Thank you, Lisa. Mr. Mayor, I'm sorry. Just by way of context, just just This is coming forward um because of an of a a number of comments that have been made outside of those public meetings by members of the council in terms of what they experienced and what can be done to help moving forward in terms of that experience. So that's all this is. Um again, I'll re I'll reemphasize that it's your document. your rules of procedure, um the outcome and how you want this to play out. Um when and if this thing comes back in front of you for formal action, we're we're here to take that feedback.

Yeah. No. Well, one, I appreciate um you know, both Dave and Dan commenting. Um, but even just tonight I was reflecting on if if Lisa or you Shane or John could touch on it because you know we we took pictures right of the pledge leaders with me um during the meeting. Actually technically it was before the meeting. Um but we've had you know people proclamations and uh presentations and awards um where we have both our internal and external you know photographers you know parents and other things. Um would any of that per would that be prevented um based on this kind of comment? And if not, how do we how do I as the presiding officer, how do I pick and choose, you know, tonight, you know, because it's a good proclamation or good presentation, we're okay to take the pictures um at the podium or near it as opposed to not. I guess that would be my first my first question, my first thought. Um, mayor and [clears throat] counsel, I could from my perspective, um, this in the same manner that the staff can sit up here or the council can sit up there. Uh, the question came up, you know, what about staff photography? Well, that's different because that's you know staff and and employees have a different role and a different function in terms of coming up and either being in being presenting from this side dis or or there or or you know so I don't think it would necessarily you know from a legal standpoint does it have to preclude staff or employees from you know conducting their function of recording or taking a a picture for instance, um you know, if if you wanted to um

you know, you could always allow for um exceptions if if you were to adopt a rule like this. You can always create an exception, you know, for a request or something. But typically if you're just talking about a staff or employee type function then then that's a different set of rules because you know we don't let the general public up here for instance to speak right so I I I think the same would apply from a legal standpoint

but let me just add one point before I go to Shane but I know like when we had the ESGR here and we had the general down and you know Darren came and you know he he photog you know photographed um the whole event so it wasn't technically staff um I guess And I I guess for my colleagues, you know, um I'd love to hear your input. You know, do you believe it it is an overreach or an overreaction to that because those things don't happen to us very often? Um you know, I took control of it probably a little late. Um especially when there was dialogue going on and in a particular incident. Um so, you know, those are just some initial thoughts. Shane,

thank you. Um, you know, two two thoughts come to mind as I hear the dialogue going. Um, that there is there is a portion of your routine agenda where most of that photography stuff happens. Whether it's a parent coming to take a picture of their kid doing the pledge of allegiance or it's staff and maybe others taking a picture mayor of you and maybe some of the council down on a proclamation that's really important or what have you. that's pretty much contained within a certain part of your agenda. Um, I could see framing language that that identifies that, you know, part of the agenda and then and then other parts of the agenda. I could see that, but I also I I just I I put the question back to the council. Um, if this language isn't hitting the spot for you, what are you wanting to accomplish in your meeting? And then we'll frame language that supports that. I guess I I'll just I'll just put it back that way.

Yep. Thank you, Diane.

Mike,

I am in favor of that language and I appreciate it very much. And um I've was here during the Vulcan CUP3 and also before that the reasonzoning at La Kenyatta where these council chambers were filled with people very impassion about their position and emotions running high. It was a completely different experience than this that we are um that engendered this change. So, I see them completely differently and I respectfully disagree with you, Mr. Sharer, and I am in favor of that being adopted. Um, and um I guess I' I'd put on the table, but when we had those um Vulcan and um La Kinyatta, as well as years before when we had the cell tower, um there was a lot of passion about that um over off of um Laskintas. Um, but there were people in the audience respectfully, you know, filming, you know, with their cameras and things. So, I guess a little bit of my worry is would I be, you know, if they're sitting there quietly, um, because everybody's a photographer, everybody's a journalist now. Um, you know, sitting in the audience, then as the presiding officer, do I have to tell them respectfully to move back, you know, into the the corral, so to speak? Miss

again, mayor, it sounds like it sounds like you you have some concerns about this language up here. Why don't you help us understand what you want to accomplish in terms of the experience that you had? I mean, forget that language up there, right? The experience that you had as a council. Um, what are you what would you like to try to accomplish if anything? Yeah. And then we'll we'll help with the language.

No. from I guess from my perspective is because again it doesn't happen very often is it's up to me um to interject um you know sooner rather than later on what's disruptive and what's not disruptive and unfortunately or fortunately you know that does fall on me I guess um to come up with that um that that rationale you know we've had discussions on if it becomes disruptive I can recess a meeting you know once twice three times um if you know, if that continues, we could go Zoom, you know, I mean, so I guess I'm struggling from, you know, from that perspective on again because it doesn't happen very often. Um, it probably just a lot of it becomes up to me to [clears throat] be a little stronger on when it feels disruptive. So, I'm going to go with Dr. Gillespie, the vice mayor, and then actually Dr. Gillespie, Debbie, and then the vice mayor.

Thank you, [clears throat] Mr. Mayor. Um, I I actually like the current language um because it has that and less destruct disruptive phrase in it and I agree that maybe jumping in a little bit earlier in previous meetings is all really that was needed because once that was addressed I think things simmered down.

It did because a lot of it was about the conversation and I was semi okay. I should have gone in earlier because it was when AC was presenting it was hard for me to understand and it was literally a little bit less about the photography. it was more about the talking you know incessantly and then when it moved over it even became more difficult and that's when I felt like I you know at that point should have you know had to had to I guess from my perspective interject where I probably should have earlier um so again it's probably up to me to determine a less disruptive right um because I'm back to the folks during Vulcan that were just filming you know very quietly so it really wasn't and disruptive to your point, Dr. Gillespie. Um, at that point, it's when it became disruptive where I had more difficulties with it. Um, on there, that's just my quick thought reaction. Debbie,

um, I've never witnessed the media or parents being disrespectful or disruptive um, while taking pictures, and I don't think that they should be punished for an incident that took one incident that took place a few months ago. Right. Thank you, Vice Mayor.

Mr. Mayor, um I echo um Gillespiey's and um Morales's comments of some of the thoughts that I have written down that we shouldn't punish the entire group um due to one or two people's disruptive behavior. I think we need to focus on what to do when there's disruptive behavior than trying to prevent everyone from um recording where they're sitting. So to me it's one of those things like and I did and I hadn't even thought I should have but the idea that if the people are disruptive and do not calm down that we can recess and not let them come back in right

that that solves the problem that they cannot um be civil and allow the business to occur then they need to be removed and so if we can and I'm not sure if that's in our in our code or in this decorum but to me it might be helpful to focus on what to do when a resident or person in the audience is disruptive. And I know that's one of the things we were trying to avoid because the one that does make the press is when they're being dragged out, you know, called to the public um for expressing their views, I guess, and and their daughter is saying, "Mommy, where you why are you being arrested?"

Let me be very clear. I don't like you asked them to stop and they did, right? But if it continued, then you could recess. Go talk to the people like, "You cannot do this." Have them try again. I mean, I'm a parent. You let them try again and then it's like two strikes you're out. Like we would love for you to be here. You can now watch it on Zoom or watch it on YouTube um with whatever you want. So that's when I'm like, but I would not let them like recess it, exit, have them go talk to them, whoever them is, we can determine. And then they just don't come back in. So they're not being dragged out of the room. We've recessed the room, right? Well, they have been dragged out and not here, but other places. Well, that's what I'm saying. That's why I'd like to talk about what the process would be when it's disruptive.

Yeah. John, do you want to just touch on that? Like for me as the, you know, presiding officer because and it's always been taught to me over the years, everybody has the right to watch, to listen, to somewhat, I guess, participate, but not be disruptive. And I know it's a very hard line uh to determine because one person's disruption from my perspective they're they're participating.

Right. Right. Well, so your current your current [clears throat] policy does have rules of behavior both for council as well as residents or or attendees of the meeting and which you can in you can enforce by ultimately so gradually or ultimately removing a person or having a person removed. Um, it it really needs to be based on on behavior, disruptive behavior, and not necessarily what they're saying, unless what they're saying truly is disruptive, and sometimes speech can can do that.

Um, you know, so like Shane said, it really it's up to the council as to what you want to do. Um I if if some of you know there there's the proposed language could be modified to allow for people to film from from a seated position. But if you're going to stand, you have to stand behind because we do have rules. We did adopt rules for instance for the Vulcan hearing. We didn't allow signs in, right? Because signs being held up block people from behind their their their vis their visibility. So um you know you could you could again if if it's if the dis the disruption in my experience comes in sort of two forms. One is one is verbal um and the other is is blocking views and so if people are are free to sort of wander about you know with cameras or with things you know it it can be disruptive to people who are sitting trying to watch. A lot of people, myself included, have to sort of see the lips move to really hear. Um because if you have if you are a little bit hard of hearing, you know, and you and you aren't seeing the person's lips move, sometimes it's hard to understand what they're saying. So, you know, there are those concerns. Um, but I also think that the council can adopt sort of ad hoc rules as needed for particularly busy or or well attended meetings that if like we did with Vulcan [clears throat] so that you know um if if we if we anticipate a meeting or if we know that there's going to be meeting um where people you know might be crowding in there, we we might be able to say for that particular meeting, hey, we're not going to allow signs in. Uh in the same way from a security perspective, we might not at some point not allow bags in um you know or or we might have to search bags at some point. So you know it's really it's

really up to you. I I think you know if if you leave this in place as is um you know you as the mayor what I mean you're one vote, right? So you don't have you're not an executive. your sort of primary function other than sort of externally is to run the meeting efficiently and effectively and to and to shut people down and I know you and I had a conversation at after that meeting. I think we're both driving north for the League of Cities but you know and it really is a judgment call. Um I will tell you that these meetings even the Vulcan meetings or are pretty tame right

compared to some other places I've seen. um you know so is this I guess the question is is this a is this a a solution looking for a problem right

um or or is it is it overreacting overreach you know it it really is your call you you have the authority to run the meeting you as the council to decide how the meeting's going to run what the decorum is going to be like um and I and I would say I think it's important again more this is more experience than it is legal advice that the more formality and decorum you have in a meeting, I think the more effective and efficient it runs and the more people respect it. If it's sort of a free-for-all, it makes it difficult for for people to kind of follow along.

So, um, you know, maybe this this proposed language isn't ready for prime time. I, you know, maybe it's something that you play by ear. Um, and again, like I said, I I I I I'm comfortable that if if we anticipate a meeting that's going to be particularly well attended on some potentially volatile or controversial issue, then we can adopt rules ahead of time. And you put it out on the website and put it out that say, "Hey, we're not, you know, we're going to have a busy meeting. we're not going to allow for signs in or or we're not going to allow or in that particular instance, [clears throat] you know, if you're going to stand in film, you need to stand in the back for that particular meeting. Um, unless you're invited up or something like that. So, we could do it ad hoc. But again, you know, out of the 12 or 14 meetings we have a year, most of them are people are pretty well behaved and so maybe you don't need a wholesale rule. Maybe you just we just do it as needed when we anticipate that it is going to be. Well, that one incident I did reflect on it because to your point, John, you know, when there there was a speaker and there were two people filming, you know, the speaker like right there, right? Um, one, I couldn't see the audience, right? So, you know, in that case, I was, you know, thinking at the time, well, you're free to, you know, film all you want, but, you know, you can't stand right there where the person sitting in the front row and the second row, right? They're literally being blocked, you know, from the from the dialogue. You know, that could have been me taking control of it and just saying, "Hey, if you want to film, stand there."

You do have that, you know, you know, you were right, Mayor. The the public has has the right to attend and watch um and does not have the right to speak, doesn't have the right to participate except when it's a formal public hearing. Now, you're very liberal, and I don't mean that in a derogatory way, very liberal in allowing people to speak on nonpublic hearing items, but not every item is, you know, is entitled to have public comment on it. You tend to allow it, and that's your prerogative. At [clears throat] the same time, you know, you're you're running the meeting. Um, and so you get to sort of shut people down if if they're being disruptive. And it really is a judgment call. It's very difficult, right? you know, there's no there's no metric. There's no measurement. There's no number. There's no there's no scale that you can say, "Oh, you've tipped it. Now you're now you're being disruptive." So, you kind of have to use that again. You you know, use your experience and

and I was using me as the barometer because when AC was presenting, I still remember it. I I literally couldn't hear, you know, and that was more about talking than it was about, you know, actually filming at that time. Um Shane and then I know Council Member Lidle and then Kim and then the vice mayor. Um so shame

well you're managing that great I I the only cautionary that I'd have um to the idea of um of going the ad hoc route very often is is consistency. I I would I I think I think the closer you can get in your rules of procedure to how you want your meetings to function and run, uh, mayor, it gives you it gives you support in your in your responsibilities to um, you know, facilitate these conversations to to chair these discussions. And so it it it helps you with that weight of responsibility. And so you're not, you know, you you've got some you got something to fall back on when you have to act. Um, and so, uh, while I I I appreciate the flexibility and I agree to totally with what John said about the, you know, if we have a particularly, you know, big issue and we know we're going to have a lot of lot of people and maybe it's contentious and what have you, we can come up with some ad hoc rules to help facilitate that discussion. um the closer you can get in your rules of procedure to how you actually want your meetings to run on a regular basis, the easier it's going to be for you to do your responsibilities as a as a chair. So, I just put that on I agree and I think just part of it is is I just have to be focused in um unless disruptive, right? And I guess that's my call. um if it becomes disruptive whether it's signs or blocking or

well actually ju just to clarify there there is a a either point of order right or point of privilege you know that that another council member can can call point of order or point of privilege I can't hear mayor um would you please ask the gentleman to stop talking right I mean so the rest of the council does have that ability to call that out and I know in that case there was a couple that were like 10 seconds away probably from doing that. But just just so the rest of the council knows, if if you don't think the mayor is banging the gavvel

quickly enough and and you you're not able to hear you're able to pay attention, you can call point of order, point of privilege and say, "Mayor, I I or mayor, I I I think we should take a break." Um because I I this is I'm what for whatever reason or no reason. Right. Okay. Um but I but I do agree with Shane that consistency. So, I mean, we could have a sort of and we do have a a sort of set of drop in rules that if something happens, here's kind of the the the Well, we have it on call to the public, right? You you know, you get the three minutes, one person unless,

right? But but what I'm saying though is if if what I meant when I said ad hoc, these would sort of be drop in rules as needed, but they would be the same every time. We just wouldn't necessarily apply them all the time. Um, you know, but only where meetings are going to where the room's particularly crowded and and you don't want people kind of wandering about taking pictures or getting in front or Well, we literally had people on Vulcan sitting on the floor during that walkway. That's that's the fire marshall's job to figure that out. You know, I probably should have cleared that a little too um on there. Councilman Lidle, apples and oranges.

Uh Mr. Shar is talking about uh uh parents taking pictures of their children or uh or we taking pictures of someone getting an award. That is nothing compared to people walking around taking movies of the crowd of the people of the other residents in here. You're wrong. What we need to do is just what that says. There's nothing wrong with the newspapers or whoever standing in the back and recording. They can see just as well from there as they can up close. My thing is keep them in the back. Keep them out of the way. It's it's nothing no harm done. No harm done. These people who have children here, they won't take pictures while they're getting an award. That's fine. That's wonderful. The media doesn't have to be sitting up here in anyone's face. Let them stay back there where they belong. Thank you.

Thank you. Um, Council Member Lisk, um, couple things. I was going to say for you, I mean, it's not just your decision with being disrupted. there's seven of us that sit up here and any one of us could, you know, have stopped or stepped in. Um [clears throat] because it is a reflective I for me what bothered me the most was them bothering the police officers to be honest with you. You know, when they're trying to provoke them into something um to council members Lidles, I do agree that everyone knows that we're videotaping, you know, this meeting. um they're if people don't want to be on camera, and I know normally the audience isn't,

um they're not giving permission for someone to photograph them, you know, outside of the people that are getting the awards and that kind of stuff.

But I mean, but they're still, you know, they're coming to a meeting and I don't want to see that distraction that people don't want to come to a council meeting because they don't want to be seen, you know, on on the screen when they're not asking. And I don't want to see that being a reason for not attending a meeting. Um I'm actually fine with either one of the descriptions to be honest with you. I do think it's up to us that if we feel something's getting out of hand or out of if you don't feel safe that we need to, you know, do point of order or point of procedure, you know, if it means helping you because when you are conducting the meeting, it is hard to make those determinations. So we're here to support you.

Right. Thank you. I appreciate that. I mean, and one of the options is to, you know, stick with the current language, work on all these other things, you know, supporting me, me being a maybe um a a little bit more directive, I guess, um interject um on there because anything can be moved forward at any time. I think the vice mayor brought it up. Um are we, you know, fixing a problem we're looking for? I think you said something along those lines. Um I think you're Debbie, do you have any comment? Oh, yeah. And then Diane,

um if I'm looking at page 25 from this medium decorum order and I think that's where we may need to look at changing some of the language or adding to the language. I'll go ahead and read it for everybody. Um the presiding officer will not permit disruptive remarks or demonstrations for the audience. Applause, stamping of feet, whistles, boo boos, yells, signs, and other protests are not allowed. After issuing a verbal warning to the persons causing the disturb disturbance, the presiding officer may direct a police officer to remove the persons from the meeting. Continued violations may result in the person being banned from future meetings. I think that's where we should look at. Are you guys finding where I'm at? You guys look confused over there. It is under

It's on page 23. Page 23. Sorry. on the bottom it says 25 under citizens.

It's under citizens. So that's where I would like us to see how we can make that a little bit more robust. I don't think we should go like I think there should be a couple steps like really re um sorry recess the meeting, go and talk with the gentlemen or or the ladies that may be causing the disruption. um invite them to they're welcome to come back if they can um keep it the right decorum and um then we can go to the harsher recess and ask them to leave from the outside. Um, the other thing that I think um that I I agree with uh council member Lisk, I was bothered by that I felt like the police were hindered from being able to do their job

to perform their job and that bothered me a lot that because of the disruption that I if something else was happening that may make them difficult to respond. Vice vice mayor and members of the council um you know staff is here to support these proceedings. So I I think it does qualify if if there's a disruption to staff being able to do their job and supporting you in the business that's in front of you, that's a disruption to your meeting as well, right? And that's where what Cara was reading out of or my reflection on it is where I probably should have stepped in earlier.

It was the first time we've ever experienced it. And the last thing with that in mind, um, we have done an active shooter trainer for the council. I was in favor of doing that maybe on a yearly basis because of the the world that we live in and there may be an opportunity for that in the training that we have a mock disruptive person come in and be able to practice so that we can know what to do when those things happen so it becomes seamless for everybody on what to do. So just a suggestion there.

Thank you Diane. So I agree with council member Lisk and Hello Lisk and also Ed Lidle. What was disturbing to me about those uh the two men their behavior was they were being provocative. [snorts] They were being intentionally provocative to uh undermine not only the policemans who were them on each side of him filming him. They were they were just itching for a reaction. The same when Doris was up there giving her report, walking around here, filming us right in our face. I mean, they have a right to film, but not to be provocative. And their intent was to provoke a reaction. It was very clear to me. And I thought that's where the line needed to be draw. It had nothing to do with I couldn't hear. They were intentionally looking to provoke a reaction. And that was disruptive. Um, thank you for that. And I guess that's where I go back to the current language because we're we're talking about the disruptive. So, we have something on there that um allows me allows us um to inter interact interject, you know, on that and I just didn't um on there. So, I think to back to the vice mayor's point, um there's probably more we could do based on what we already have, but you know, it's a study session and this is the this is the the time to give staff, you know, direction on um you know, where where we're comfortable. You know, I heard, you know, at least one say, well, I could go either way. Um I guess as the presider, I'd prefer to keep it as is, you know, for now. and and then um whether it's ad hoc or situational um

you know because again if someone's sitting in the first second row just sitting there like they did in some of the instances of Vulcan and and just filming on their that wasn't disruptive to me um on there and it just falls on me. if they become in my face on there, I would categorize that as disruptive. Um, and I think I already have the ability to take control of that um with the support of all of you. Um, so that's kind of where I'm at on there. Dr. Gillespie, you can speak for a while.

Um, no, I I agree. We already have the tools in in our rules of of procedure here and I think this is a good learning exercise. So we all know I wrote down point of order and point of personal privilege and I'm going to use them and I think and we all can right type that up. So I think I I think now that we we really know what we've got and and honestly luckily we don't need to use this very often, right? Um we've got some great residents here and I think we'll be just fine. Right. Cara, you have the same mindset. Yep. Kim,

I mean the one thing that's nice is this this is a working document, right? So, you know, what works today may not work tomorrow. And so, that's the great thing about these kinds of talks is to go, hey, what what works, what doesn't work for us. And the only way we know that is by the things that do happen, right? Um, so yeah, I think that, you know, our big thing is the safety of the community that's here, as well as the staff and the council that's here and how we feel. So, and we've got tools to be able to do that. And you know, yes. And you know, if we have to adjourn because things are getting out of hand, we adjourn or we, you know, take a recess for a little while so people can count down. So, yeah, [laughter]

I'm good with the lingo, the current language, right, that it already that it already has. Um I do think we need more training on when to queue you or you know when it needs to stop and and maybe that's the study session input really it's more of more of that um not only for me but for you know all of us you know in a supportive role right you know like Dr. Gillespie said, you know, point of order, point of personal privilege, right? Right. Because everybody has different hearing abilities, right? So, what's not disruptive to me could be disruptive to somebody else, whether it's vision or hearing or anything else. So, I'm comfortable the way it is and kind of work on that part of it. Correct. Thank you,

Shane. I'm feeling kind of a consensus there. Are you are you tracking with me um on that? I'm not I'm not seeing I'm sorry. I'm not seeing necessarily a consensus, but I do see a majority, right, that is that is

I think all consensus majority that that's leaning with the current language as being good. Uh this is a good working experience as we reflect back on on what happened and and apply the current document to that that uh that instance. U maybe where each of you could have exercised your uh your voices and uh pulled the trigger on saying, "Hey, this is disrupting my experience as one of the members of this of this council to conduct business." And then we we we go from there. I I I will put on the table because I've heard a couple of times uh you know we we remove somebody from here. Um I I I just want you to know I I think in large part we would try to take some cues um from if it's a if it's a safety issue obviously from uh our our police department. Uh but if it's just a disruptive issue, um I think I would lean more on recessing the meeting, right?

Um even as going as far as recessing it a couple of times and if we have to, I'm telling you, we can just stop the meeting and peer pressure is something and a lot of the times people are here that are of that nature, uh you know, they're less likely to come back time and time and time again. So we'll just we'll just carry on business the next goound. So, and and we always have the ability, I mean, to literally, if it became that, which I hope it never would, um, you can do a Zoom meeting, you know, I mean, like literally if we have to conduct business. Sure. Um, at the end of the day, Mr. Mayor, I definitely see a I I definitely see a majority leaning on just let's go with the current language and and try to apply it better going forward. Yeah. And some training. Yes.

Um, I would um ask that we look at that citizen one because it goes from a warning to direct they could direct police officers. And I if we're going to say let's let's put the right language of where we would head to that we the and I know it says in other parts of the document that the mayor can always recess but I would like to see that we'd recess the meeting just so we have it clearly to citizens that we could be like this is what occurred and this is why it occurred. Just something to suggest.

Yeah. Um I'll make a comment and then I'll let you go because I I think of it way in you know from a military standard you have a letter of counseling letter of reprimand article 15. So to build those things in there to your point, you know, we're not going right from um a letter of reprimand to a court marshal, right, which is dragging somebody out to this, right, Diane? Yeah, I would find it helpful to have it define the difference between point of order and point of privilege and when we use them. If in my perception something going on on that floor is disruptive to me. Actually, it's point of order. Just use point of order. Just if you want to recognize or do a personal or if you if you need to break

or you need break point of personal private. Yes. So, just use point of order. It's easy to say. It doesn't have it doesn't have any uh alliteration. Point of order. You know, and to the vice mayor's point, you know, that those are some of the things we could put in there, right? Um in that on page 23, right? Right. We don't want to. So, I would Yeah. Now you've crossed the line, councilman. I think I think we need to be very careful about trying to incorporate Robert's order. They're super cumbersome. They're they're they're antiquated and we have something in there. Our our version of Yeah, our version is I think works fine. John would quit tomorrow if we had [laughter] Well, no, I wouldn't quit. It would just be it's a struggle because I I know that when we've tried to use

people tried to, you know, use Robert's orders and often times you can't with open meeting on things, you just can't do it. So things like you know call I think we've had this discussion call the question actually takes twothirds vote to stop debate and then it then the you know then you vote on so it only takes a majority. So things like that are a little bit out of but point of order is a good one for for this council to remember again regardless who of who's the mayor. Some mayors are going to be more sharper with the gavvel than others, you know, so in the future, point of order, you know, I can't hear um or something to that effect.

Okay. Thank you. I feel the horse being dead and we're beating it uh on from that perspective. But I think that was a good I I think the end result was a good exercise because thanks Jane, it put it on the table for having a lively, you know, good discussion. Um I think good things came out of it. Um, madame clerk, item 11B, study session regarding the master technology plan for the town of Sarita. And, uh, Ron Bishop, our chief technologist, will introduce uh, this item and representatives, knowing that he stands behind us in a German, but other than that, [clears throat] no, no, no pressure or anything, Ron. Thank you.

Hey, Ron. Ron, I'm sorry. Just let me interrupt just for a second. Uh, it it just a uh, just to check in. It's after 8:00. I don't know if you need a quick little break or if you just check in. This is a last item, so I don't know if just go keep going. Okay, I've got to and of course through uh Cara was very nice to get me water so we can always get up if we need to, but it is last item, but thanks Shane for the checkin because I did commit to eight. Ron,

thank you. Uh good evening, mayor, vice mayor, members of town council as always. Uh thank you for your time. Uh I am Bron Bishop. I am indeed the chief technologist for the town. Uh joining us tonight is uh Barry Conjri. He's the director of technology consulting for the public technology institute. And uh we are here to present the master technology plan for the town to you this evening. So I'm going to be brief with a a quick definition, a little bit of background, then I'm going to hand it off to Barry. Uh what is a master plan? Well, a master plan is that's just another word for a strategic plan. However, uh a master plan um if we have too many strategic plans, it it gets confusing. So, uh we actually like prefer uh the term master plan uh for uh departments and divisions and it assists uh any business using department or division uh with aligning itself with the organ organization's uh business goals. Um yeah and we tend to it it's better to kind of have that breaking point. Uh strategic plan town uh master plan would be a department or division. Uh so some background uh this is actually our third uh master technology plan. Uh previous uh one was in 2011 and uh Vice Mayor Eggert you were here. Uh council member Morales you were here. Uh much simpler times. uh uh it was five words and uh it was we called them the five's. It was uh uh it was stabilize, standardize, centralize, modernize and systematize and that's what we needed at the time because we were we were smaller then but we needed something to really get behind and that's what everybody did and yeah we just came up with it and it was a good plan. uh in 2019.

I'm assuming AI was not one of the eyes back in time.

No, no. I eyes and I Z. Yeah. It was just something for everybody to get behind and say, you know, now we have a plan. Um and and it was good and that's what we were smaller and and that's what we needed at the time. Uh in 2019, we hired uh the public consulting group and external vendor to help us out. Um and uh we uh went through iterations of a a more robust plan. We talked to leadership and we talked to managers. Uh our technology steering committee was really active in that one. Took us about a year. Uh we actually as a town the technology steering committee did a ton of writing on that one. A ton of work went into it. Great plan. Uh both those plans were internal meaning that they didn't rise to the level of town council. And the reason being is uh they were kind of uh more IT focused IT function focused than town and that's an oversimplification but for this background discussion it works. Uh so this one is rising to your level. Uh this one is uh slated for 2026 to 2031. Uh this one addresses more townwide functions, not necessarily things that are under uh the technology divisions, you know, uh command and control for lack of a better term. Uh these were all five-year plans and this one is no different. Assesses the current state of it and it provides recommendations uh to assist the town as a whole inre achieving its operation and capital goals. Uh and this one also has taken about a year to create. This time we actually uh expanded our uh our pool of folks. We asked town staff uh for for their input as well. So it wasn't just leadership and man, it was town staff also. Uh so yeah, we reached out to

everybody in this uh public technology institute founded in 1971 with a grant from the National Science Foundation. They've been around a long time to explore how emerging technology could assist local local governments. They've been associated with uh CompTIA, the Computer Technology Industry Association, and Rutgers University Center for Government Services. They're currently operated by Fusion Learning Partners. And the town's been a member of of PTI since 2021. So tonight, we're not asking you to take any action. This is simply an overview. We're just bringing it to your attention and we're happy to take your uh questions, comments. And with that, I will throw it to Barry Condre. Thank you.

Thank you, Ron, for that introduc. Thank you, Ron, for that introduction. I can hear you just fine. I want to make sure you can hear me. Yes. And I guess we're taking [clears throat] advantage of technology by having you uh from afar. So, I don't know if that was purposeful or not, but you know, makes sense. We can hear you, Barry. Thank you.

Very good. Thank you. So, Mayor Murphy, Vice Mayor Eggert, and honorable council members, thank you for giving us an opportunity to brief you on the master technology plan for the town. I'd like to recognize Melissa Reer, the senior consultant for PTI, that's public technology institute. She performed much of the work on the plan. She was unable to be with us this evening. Uh so throughout the year we've been working with Ron Bishop and AC and the team to construct uh your master technology plan and we've conducted surveys, we've held interviews, we've reviewed much due diligence information and and the existing strategic plans as well as master plans. And as Ron said, we cast a very wide net with this. We talked to uh every leader we could find in the town and we did a a ser survey of all town staff. So this presentation is in three parts. Uh first we're going to share the IT mission and the key findings with you from the from all of our research and then we will review the core technology goals and then finally we will review at a high level the roadmap for the plan. So the plan itself is 57 pages long and it's very detailed. uh we'll be providing summary level information tonight about the plan and happy to take your questions and I'll just say next slide when we're ready to go to the next slide. So next slide it mission for the plan or the IT mission um for the um for the IT division uh is you know part of the town commitment to excellence. The IT division plays a critical role in supporting both internal operations and community engagement. The mission simple and yet powerful. The best mission statements are the ones that are short and easily remembered and easily understood. So let's move on to key findings. So uh we can go straight to it

strengths. Before we talk about where we're going, it's important to recognize the strengths already in place because these are the foundations that you can build on to achieve your goals. So, in terms of IT strengths, your IT leadership is dedicated and experienced. You have relatively little turnover in the IT division and it's clear that the IT staff genuinely enjoy the work they do and are committed to serving the town. you have reliable systems and a strong focus on cyber security and compliance. Also, it has been very diligent about developing external partnerships. That's something that's really important in the local government uh IT world. The term technology debt is used here and this is something we always look at because this really does impact a locality's ability to move forward with modernizing technology and to leverage technology. and it describes the implied cost of additional work or risk in the future resulting from the technology that you use. Some examples of the cost of upgrades for unsupported technology, the risks that older technologies incur, and the inefficiencies that lagging technologies can cause. We were pleased to find that the technology debt in the town is really very well managed. We'll go to the next slide now. So the uh second key finding that we'd like to talk about is technology dependence and technology literacy. So technology is pervasive in our society and the town is a reflection of that. The 90% figure you see here with 90% of the town services being reliant on technology uh is fairly normal. I've calculated this for other localities and it's usually some somewhere north of 85% up to 95%.

And it's also an indication that the town has already invested heavily in technology which is a good thing. Now with that said, technology can be tough to keep up with because it moves very quickly. Yes,

technology literacy is not a destination here, but it's a process of continuous improvement and continuous development. We heard from departments during the interviews that the town staff needed to be better trained to use the tools that they have to get the best return for the investment that you make in the tools and applications. The town staff need to be literate with the technology. This is a true force multiplier for your workforce. We'll go to the next slide. The next key finding was about your business applications and you know the stakeholders really do recognize the business in using these effect these effective business applications. Um we're recommending a range of partnerships here with departments to use these platforms uh more effectively. Uh town departments understand the technology can help deliver services more efficiently and effectively. In fact, many departments share the similar needs, whether it's work orders, scheduling, or other operational functions. Fortunately, the town is already invested in several applications and platforms that can support these needs. But the key to unlocking their full value is partnership. When departments and IT work closely together, they can identify how to get more from the tools already in place before turning to new solutions. This finding is ultimately about strengthening that partnership which will be a theme through this through this presentation so that departments are empowered. It is more strategic and the town gets the most from its technology investments. Next slide please. Then we come to staffing. Staffing is always a key finding at every strategic plan that we that we work on for local government. And you know currently the IT division is staffed to the level that keeps the techn keeps the technology

lights on. Uh the town has implemented a tools first then people strategy to increase throughput in the IT division. So you've added tools before you've made the decision to add staff. That's commendable and that is that is the right approach. The technology investments made so far have been well chosen and are being put to good use. They've allowed the IT team to manage a wide range of responsibilities effectively. However, tools can only take you so far. At some point, additional staffing becomes essential to support the growth and the goals of the town. This is the juncture the town finds itself at today. Staffing becomes a primary investment to to guarantee success moving forward. Next slide, please. And then of course we come to cyber security. Another um of the findings that we always call out when we when we talk about strategic planning and master technology planning um properly governed cyber security can allow an organization to run at full speed while complying with the numerous regulatory bodies. The town has implemented tools and practices as needs and threats have emerged. But now is the time to transition to a strategic mindset for the town to prepare for the new wave of AI powered cyber attacks and other emerging threats. The cyber security space is among the most uh quickly evolving and quickly changing aspects of technology in local government. and that transition to a strategic mindset is absolutely critical for you to stay on top of that and to protect uh what the criminals bring you. The next key finding will be infrastructure design and the infrastructure in this context uh includes networks, computer storage and all the software that keeps it all

running. uh staff have done a good job implementing new infrastructure as the town has grown and a good job of justifying investments to keep it current. As I said, technology that is very well managed in the town and there are funded projects um to address some some very specific areas and um next key finding is over relationship management. Um, you know, effective business relationships don't just happen. They require structure and effort. And this is one of those areas, as Ron was saying, that this this plan is a little bit different than your previous plans because it really grows outside of the IT division and encompasses the entire the entire town. It's very common to see opportunities for improvement in the relationship between the business units and the IT organization. I've never done a plan or an assessment where this wasn't the case. There is a great deal of respect for it by the leadership in your departments. This is a great place to build from and there is room for improvement in the relationships. Successful communication is a two-way process and therefore it's a shared responsibility. Next, we have IT governance. And we end with this because IT governance is one of those foundational aspects. We always talk about building a house and and where do you start with? You start with the foundation. And you know IT governance is one of those foundational things. It's nothing more than the set of rules that govern the implementation, the use and the retirement of technology. Everyone we spoke with values the benefits that good governance brings. When we described what a good governance environment looks like, it was attractive to to the town leadership. This is another area that is

frequently noted in strategic plans and it's another area that will help raise the productivity and the communicate and level of communication in the town. So those are the uh key findings. Now from the key findings, the conversations and the documentation and all the other due diligence material, we distilled five core technology goals and we have recommendations to implement each goal. Uh we mention a few of the initiative as we go through each of these five goals, but just for the sake of time, there are many more. There are 60 in total recommendations for you to implement over the next over the next five years. So in no particular order, we're going to start with um leveraging technology governance. There are 14 recommendations in this skull. Again, these are the rules of the road um if you will with regards to technology. They involve areas such as policy, change control, standards, and oversight foundational work. The next goal area is staffing for the business needs. There are 13 recommendations in this goal. Now, that does not mean that we're saying you need to hire 13 people. Okay? Uh we consider staffing to include all the ways we can make staff more productive, not just adding staff. Of the of the five years of the plan, we're only recommending four strategic staffing additions. That means there are nine goals which are designed to raise the productivity of your existing staff. We would rather raise productivity of staff, have them be more effective than just keep adding headcount. Okay, we do that through technology literacy and we do that through a number of other recommendations. So there are 13 recommendations in this goal. Next goal is optimizing your

infrastructure and your applications. There are 17 recommendations in this goal. This area had the most recommendations not because anything is wrong necessarily uh but because there's so much that can be gained by attention to this area. When you rationalize your applications you reduce the number of overall applications you use but you broaden the number of people that use them. That raises the level of productivity and the level of knowledge about those applications in your environment. Very productive. uh digital modernization and an approach for AI is called out in the plan. There are some very specific recommendations for foundational work for AI as well as specific recommendations for types of AI tools that you can that you can implement. We've talked about a resident an inventory of resident services that are delivered that should be delivered digitally and then an expansion of the GIS function in the area. a lot of very meaty recommendations in this goal. The next is to build business relationships. Um there are four recommendations in this goal. Again, very foundational. It's never been more important in local government to have effective relationships between the business and it many things can get in the way of these relationships. Staffing, unclear expectations, the pace of change, support that isn't aligned, and governance that doesn't fit. it can all get in the way. My former um job was as the CIO for Chesterfield County, Virginia, a very large county in um in central Virginia where where I live today. And I was the CIO there for 17 years. And it took me it took me 10 years to get a uh business relationship management put into place there, but it was highly effective and very um very productive for the county once it was and it's a very mature function to this

day. The next goal area is elevating cyber security and compliance. Again, uh you're doing a great job with cyber security. You're well protected. Uh the so we're not saying again you've got anything wrong in the cyber security space, but cyber security and a local government is not a destination. Okay? Being okay with cyber security and being well protected today does not help you tomorrow. What helps you tomorrow is having a strategic mindset and being able to look at the risk opportunities in your environment, how they change, and being able to change in accordance with them. This is not a topic you're ever going to be truly done with. Um, cyber threats are constantly changing and new threats are emerging. The town is transitioning to a strategic riskbased approach to cyber security. And there are these are a few of the activities that represent alignment uh with best practices. The network architecture assessment, the enterprise security plan, training your residents of Saharita in cyber security. A stronger resident base makes for a stronger local government from a cyber security perspective. And then again some very specific things about redundant firewalls. And there are 12 recommendations in in this goal. So those are the five goals and there are uh 60 recommendations for them. And um if we move on to the road map as I said there are 60 recommendations in that for those for those five goals. This is the high level view of the road map. Again it's way too much detail to cover in a in a in a work session. Uh the plan is for 5 years and uh the details are in contained in the full technology plan. Melissa and I reviewed each

recommendation each of the 60 and we estimated the capital cost, the operating cost and the duration for the completion of the recommendation before placing it into a fiscal year and spacing them out so it would be a manageable approach. We had to pay attention to predecessors and successors. Some of these projects and recommendations have to be accomplished before others can be approached. Uh each recommendation may be a project in and of itself or may require additional resources for staff or it may be accomplished with existing staff and resources. Um the detailed road map gives the town an annual blueprint and budget for project discussions. and allows the visibility of the town needs to pull the right lever and make the right progress in specific goal areas. Now, having said all that, technology moves very quickly, as we've said, and the needs of the town will grow and change over 5 years. We recommend an annual review of the plan to ensure it stays relevant and serves its purpose as a planning tool that will allow the town to meet its goals for your community. In conclusion, I would like to thank Ron and his staff, uh, AC and Mr. Dilly for their support of this effort. Everyone has been great to work with. You truly have a special town and we have enjoyed getting to know you. Uh, that concludes our presentation and I'll be happy to receive any comments or questions that you have.

Well, thank thank you and thank you for the work um that you've done on this. Yeah.

Um, you know, I guess from Shane's perspective, um, you know, we talked about it with Bass and the food bank, you know, the needs and there's and they're varied. Do you anticipate this being, um, you know, drawn into the our budget retreats and, you know, I think we can do this portion of it. I mean, I I'm imagining in a perfect world, we would do every one of those recommendations on a, you know, on the timeline, but I don't know how practical that is because I know the cost of all there's cost to everything, right? Um, and and whether it's staff and or equipment, but, you know, with you reviewing it, Shane, what's kind of your feeling on how you anticipate um us moving forward with this five-year plan? Yeah. So, um I'm I'm a closet geek.

Geek. Um I don't think you're closet, but I'm not in the closet. Okay. I'm out in the open. I'm a I'm a So, um so obviously as you know, as we've had all these master plans, we have the economic development master plan, we have parks and recck master plan, right? So, we have these master plans.

It's incumbent on on AC. It's incumbent on Devon. It's incumbent on, you know, the general plan, right? I mean, we our department heads are going to look at these plans and they're going to put forward proposals to try to accomplish these plans. And then the budget team has to take it all and in working with department heads, sort through, okay, what what can we do? what you know what what has to sit on the back burner you know and make make our best our best uh decisions that we can as we as we look at the resources available.

Um so that's really the process and we won't know until we see those proposals coming forward and we're pairing it up in terms of what all that demand is hitting us in balance with all the other departments all of the above. Um I I I did have a question mayor for um our consultant

um on the staffing needs. So staffing arguably is is uh you know I mean it's it's it's very important um but it also is very expensive. Right. Have we is there a way to link if if we move forward with certain staffing or we decided not to do certain staffing, which of the goals is most impacted by not not doing a staff or actually moving forward with the staff? Is is the plan can the plan be sorted that way? um to where

as we move with staff, we know that we're going to be able to advance other areas of of the plan. Uh or if we don't do staff, we know that those areas of the plan are going to have to be augmented one way or another or not done at all. Um you know, I I'm just curious if if if we can um massage the the the the plan that way. Thanks.

Absolutely. the actually what was provided is a fairly comprehensive spreadsheet and it's got um filters and so forth. It can be sorted in any any way that you would like. Um it's really easy to look at the staffing area of the detailed road map because the operating expenses are so so much higher for the for the staffing recommendations. And you can look at the fiscal year that we're recommending them for and things that come after those recommendations are the ones that you would that you you would take a critical eye towards because you may have difficulty implementing them. For example, a GIS resource might be needed for growth in the GIS area. Um, so and yes, you can absolutely the detail is there for you to slice and dice and take a look at it from that perspective. Mr. Dilly.

Well, thanks. Just to be a little more pointed on my question, um, are are are these goals dependent on the staffing? Some of them are. Yes, sir. And and so that's ident that's identified pretty clearly in the plan itself. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. All right. Thank Thank you. And Shane, and then I'll go to you, council member. Um, do you feel like priority based budgeting will help maybe um on there because as it hits the the hot spots and things? Because I was thinking on the same lines,

you could bring on this great technology, but if we don't have the right staff or staffing to do it, you know, what comes first, you know, sort of the chicken and the egg, right? Um to be able to do that. So, I was thinking in the way of priority based budgeting. Council member Pel. Yeah, I'd like to know uh the under the staffing 113 recommendations, are those full-time positions, part-time positions? What are we talking about over the period of time?

There are four uh full-time positions that are that that are called out in the plan. Uh the rest of the recommendations are for a collection of things like training um you know um and and basically it's training to make your staff more effective with the tools that they have and to increase technology literacy to sort of raise that level of productivity. There's four positions that are recommended and they're full-time positions and and part of that could also be Barry right that it's not only the IT staffing or training but other departments right could you know need some additional training it doesn't have to necessarily be connected to IT itself

yeah and I'm sorry maybe I should be maybe I should be uh a little bit more clear this is training for the entire staff right

in in in the town not not just there is some specific IT training But we want to raise the level of technology literacy for every employee in the town. So for example, one of the recommendations is to have a technology training plan for every town employee, right? With specific goals and specific and specific measures. And so that is the true force multiplier for you. It's not just adding a lot of headcount. It's making the people that you have more productive. when you make them more productive, you increase their job satisfaction level. You know, you you decrease burnout. You know, you make it a better place to work overall when you when you equip them better. So, that's why we're so passionate about that.

Yeah. Thanks. And under cyber security, I just have another additional question. Um it seems like, you know, I don't know if that's just the way of the world we live in now, but a lot more of my emails are getting caught in junk. So I obvious I I have to look more often um from not only people that I know uh that I communicate with but also you know oneoffs that people I don't know or they're new. Um is that just something we have to live with because of hacking and AI hacking and all of that that I just have to chunk check my junk email more often because I before it was truly junk. Uh but now it seems like if I don't check it at least every two or three days, I'm missing stuff from people, you know, that I actually know.

Yeah. So it's a balancing act, right? So it is becoming part of our vernacular, the the use of junk or spam email. Uh and we even see people saying, "Hey, add us to your safe senders list so we don't end up in your spam." Uh Ron's do Ron's team does a great job of of managing this, but it is a balancing act between trying to detect these truly advanced uses of AI to craft these these nefarious emails, right? And and what should come through to you. And so it's never been more important for everybody to be diligent about this. And I I think unfortunately uh spam filters and junk email files are going to be with us for some time. Right.

Quite frankly, I mean email is a failed it's sort of a failed business communication meth mechanism, but we can't get away from it. Right. [laughter] So, you know, and so I'm afraid it's I'm afraid it's a fact of life, but you want that to be a little bit farther towards conservative. Right. and have a little bit more going to junk than have any of the of the truly nefarious stuff landing in your in your in your mailbox.

Great. Thank you. I appreciate that. Uh any other additional comments? Um Shane, what do you And this was really just a briefing and kind of the start of the conversation. You didn't really need any action item or feedback. It was really kind of Ron and Barry, you know, him informing us and kind of the plan will come back to you for formal adoption, but we wanted to do a two-step dance with you and make sure that you had this to cut your teeth on and ask questions and then

um, you know, not hearing any, you know, major concerns, more support, which we appreciate. It is incredibly important to all of the departments um in in terms of helping us be as efficient as we can be and introducing um you know new technology that's that's helping to you know be lean y and more efficient so and more efficient. So uh we appreciate the support and this will come back in front of you for formal adoption. Yep. And you know appreciate all the help Ron with you know training and just don't leave us out um on that. Um we're not as geeky probably as Shane is or some of us are not. Um, so anything you can help in that way and it also falls on us because I'm like, "Oh man, I'm behind on my cyber security training."

Ron keeps trying Ron keeps trying to recruit me for his his team and his his department. [laughter] So told him anytime he wants to transfer, just hit me up and

Okay, Mr. Mayor, uh, vice mayor, council members, we really appreciate your support uh, in all our endeavors. Uh like Barry said, uh funding is is critical and we've never had to come beg funds. Uh cyber security training, uh everybody, you know, pretty much completes their cyber security training at least every so often, right? Um our for October uh we had AI uh uh specific cyber security training which people really liked. AI is a you know, everybody's always asking about AI. Um, so yeah, it's just part of being the community is is being trained and yeah, and we appreciate your support.

Yeah. No, and I liked one of the other additional items about actually if there's ways to increase our training for our residents, right? Because um I mean, you hear about especially in Green Valley, um the coverage of the SP, you know, the scams and just, you know, hundreds of thousands of dollars of loss on some of these people. It's just it's heartbreaking on there. So, anything we can do to, you know, can't make everybody participate, but at least if there's the offering out there, it probably make us feel a little better that we have had that those opportunities to train them.

So, what we've and that's a that's a great uh item to bring up. Uh, mayor, uh, what we've done as the technology division is we've partnered with Victor and uh, anybody who will have us at their meetings. you know, we need to be an agenda item, but for like Toast Masters or wherever um wherever we're headed to talk about town stuff, yeah, we'll we'll tag along for the ride. Yeah, we've got materials from um you know, the F FCC. You know, there's all sorts of free materials out there that we can hand out and people are really interested in this stuff.

They are. It's self-s survival in a lot of cases and maybe that's a conversation with the Green Valley Council, you know, which I attend, you know, monthly. Um there might be an opportunity next year to you know because we try to partner with them on as many things as possible. Maybe there's a training opportunity because they're the ones that are really being um you know from crypto to these crazy emails. You know someone's being held hostage or the college kid is in trouble or whatever and just it's just sad at the end of the day. You've allowed me to tag along with you before. Let's do it again. Okay. Yeah. We'll take the road show on the road. Thank you. Appreciate that. Yeah. Any other uh feedback? And for Barry or the staff? Uh thanks Shane, thanks Ron. Thanks Barry. Appreciate it.

Thank you. Thanks Barry. Having no more business, we're adjourned and um hope to see everybody on Saturday night afternoon. Uh Winterfest. Merry Christmas.

I'll see you in the morning. Thank you. Yep.