[This transcript was generated automatically from audio using AI and hasn't been reviewed by a person -- it can contain mistakes, including plausible-sounding sentences that were never actually said. Treat it as a starting point, not a verbatim record.]

[6:06] Anybody hear me?
[6:10] Good evening.
[6:17] So we're not getting audio from the office if there is audio from the office.
[6:23] It should start right at 430.
[6:25] Okay, understood.
[6:28] All right, let me go bang them out.
[6:30] The, would you call this a mile?
[6:32] All right, we're going to call this mean order.
[6:35] Could we please have no calls?
[6:37] Yes, you may.
[6:37] Council Member Shacker, Council Member Perkins?
[6:41] Air.
[6:46] She knew that.
[6:48] Air.
[6:49] She got there.
[6:50] I see her there, but she's air.
[6:52] Council Member Perkins.
[6:54] I'm here.
[6:57] I see her on, but we cannot hear you.
[7:03] I'm here.
[7:06] We'll come back.
[7:07] Council Member Phillips.
[7:09] Here.
[7:09] Council Member McCaffordy.
[7:11] Council Member Grenue is not present.
[7:14] By hearing Armstrong? Yeah. Mayor Miller? Yeah.
[7:17] The town attorney is present. Let's try council member Perkins again.
[7:22] I'm here. I see the hand wave as and she's present. Thank you.
[7:32] I did get message from council member Greeneo. Oh, it says any Perkins.
[7:39] Thank you.
[7:42] Oh, there's Eric there. No, he doesn't say any.
[7:45] Why am I asking? Why am I any Perkins?
[7:47] Can't hear you.
[7:50] Why am I Andy Perkins so I don't know. Raise your hand if you hear it. There you go, Eric.
[7:58] You can see us in here.
[8:06] No, we can't hear anybody online.
[8:11] Wonderful. Wonderful.
[8:12] Just confused.
[8:20] Okay, everybody move out in the hallway.
[8:32] Okay, we good.
[8:35] Are we good?
[8:36] Yes, I know that IT is working on it behind the scenes.
[8:40] If you guys have any issues, you can use the Q&A and I'll try and keep my eye on that for now.
[8:46] Okay. All right, excuse me, discussion and update from representative of the Circle K and A, B, E, Q regarding the recent
[8:54] underground release of fuel from Circle K store, the Chinovized Circle K store, excuse me.
[9:01] There's no public here, but I'm one everybody is online.
[9:04] if you have questions, you can submit your questions through the questionnaire and they will be answered
[9:10] at a later date. We will be not be taking public public comment. Okay, who's doing this?
[9:19] I have zero slides Mr. Mayor. Mr. Mayor, the council pledged to be here this afternoon.
[9:24] Appreciate your time. We have a lot of guests here. We have folks from the Arizona
[9:28] Department of Environmental Quality. We have here in person. We have folks,
[9:32] several folks from the Circle K representatives and also we have
[9:36] Circle K representatives and their technical folks online as well.
[9:40] Before I have them go down the road and introduce their folks,
[9:43] I just want to see a couple of words about this discussion today.
[9:47] The goal of this study session, it really is to provide information at a
[9:50] 10,000 foot level so keeping things more concise, very generic at this time.
[9:55] There's a lot of work going on right now and some of the findings aren't quite in yet.
[9:59] I'll let some of the folks talk about some of that.
[10:01] So they're working very quickly but just keep in mind we're still at a very high level is what we're trying to achieve here and really looking at what the from the regulator to what's happy is okay kind of looking at what's going to be the steps going forward again into very high level and with that.
[10:16] I don't want to take up any more time. I'm going to let start off with folks from Arizona Department of Armo quality announced and introduce their folks and then we'll move down the roll and I'll let you also introduce your circle k folks here and then online as well.
[10:30] afternoon on Chris Marx. I'm serving as the project manager for the ADQ portion of the
[10:37] release investigation over.
[10:43] Hi, everyone. I'm Joey Kiker, the USD section manager with ADQ,
[10:49] USD being underground storage tanks.
[10:54] Hello, I'm Chris Barnes, director of communications for
[10:56] Circle K. Good afternoon. I'm Kyle Cassidy, fuel operational director for Circle K.
[11:04] Good afternoon. My name is Martin Jensen. I'm the Vice President of Operations for Circle K in Arizona and Nevada.
[11:14] Hi, I'm Carla Ramirez. I'm the Human Resources Director for Arizona and Nevada.
[11:20] Cool. Thank you all for coming.
[11:27] Let's see online. We've got Mike McCoy, who is our environmental director.
[11:31] We've got Alan cover Lee and we've got Anthony Bell who are both our remediation experts and then we have John Pierce who is our council. I don't see in there. Guys, can you wave if if lens on.
[11:47] Okay, that's it for our team.
[11:52] We're going to go ahead and start with there's an apartment of our locality have a short presentation very concise and then we'll follow that with a presentation from the circle camera presented it.
[12:24] Okay,
[12:28] so I appreciate the opportunity to
[12:31] present to the Council today. So from ADQ, we have just a short presentation outlining at a high level,
[12:39] the overview of the UST program regulations that concern the underground storage tank program,
[12:45] but also release investigation that all UST owner operators and responsible parties are held to in general
[12:51] to set a framework for information you'll hear in the second portion of this studies.
[13:02] So to begin with, before we dive into the regulations, just a quick introduction to underground storage tanks as a whole.
[13:09] For most of us, these fueling is a daily part of our existence.
[13:14] But the only portion of the system we actually interact with is this small bit up here at the dispenser, right?
[13:20] That's where we pull up to a station.
[13:22] We pump the fuel in our car, pay for it, and we're on our way.
[13:25] But out of sight, underground, hence underground storage tanks, there's a tremendous amount of
[13:33] electrical equipment that goes on, comprising an underground storage tank system.
[13:38] Basically, as you can see here in this blown out diagram, what you have is a spill bucket
[13:42] where fuel is delivered, it enters and is stored in the tank here.
[13:47] At the time that a delivery is made through the dispensers to a vehicle, you have a submersible
[13:53] turbine pump that retrieves fuel and brings it to the dispensers, you'll notice a lot of other
[13:58] equipment and penetrations into the tank here. These systems are rather complex in that there's
[14:03] a lot of sensors and control systems that allow owners and operators to understand what is going on with
[14:10] their tank system, how it's operating, making sure everything's functioning appropriately, how much
[14:17] inventory is in the tank, etc. You have this component that shown up here labeled the ATG stands
[14:23] for automatic tank gauge.
[14:25] You can think of that as like the brain
[14:26] of an underground storage tank system.
[14:28] This is where all the information for those sensors
[14:30] come into play.
[14:32] This allows owners and operators to understand
[14:35] and again, see what's happening with their systems.
[14:38] And it also operates to alert owners and operators
[14:41] if there's some kind of abnormal operating condition
[14:44] or an alarm condition to their system.
[14:46] So you can think of it also like a smoke detector
[14:49] in your house.
[14:50] If the alarm goes off, something needs to be done.
[14:52] check out what's going on. That's the purpose of the ATG as well.
[14:59] So with that...
[15:00] At in mind, looking at the regulations, underground storage tank regulations are initially set at the federal level, those federal regulations, and as well as the state regulations, as you can see here, we've included links for anyone that's interested to learn more of those.
[15:14] But basically, the federal regulations outline what UST program implementing agencies at the state or
[15:21] territorial setting. So like Arizona, for instance, what are the minimum requirements that state
[15:28] programs must have in their regulations? And so Arizona's regulations are set out by the legislature
[15:35] in statute and rule, hours in Arizona, mirror the federal regulations. So we meet those. We don't
[15:42] those so we take the federal regulations and want to clarify at this point before we move into a few
[15:48] specifics on regulations. ADQ's role in implementing the underground storage tank program is to ensure
[15:56] that the regulated community within the underground storage tank program just at hears in their
[16:02] operation of their systems and compliance with the statutes and rules set forth in the Arizona
[16:09] the U.S.T. regulations as part of the agency's mission overall of protecting human health
[16:14] in the environment.
[16:18] So as I mentioned, a lot of the U.S.T. systems that we are talking about
[16:24] in this specific case in across the Arizona and the country, they're buried underground.
[16:28] We don't see them, but as I mentioned, there's the A.T.G. system and other components in there,
[16:33] so they're not an out of sight out of mind issue. These are critical components.
[16:39] So, oftentimes underground storage tank systems can be in the ground 10, 20, 30, plus years.
[16:45] That's a lot of time, a lot of moving parts, things can and do go wrong in those systems.
[16:51] So, what happens if there's an issue with an underground storage tank system from the ADQ, the regulatory perspective?
[16:58] Really, these are treated in two different ways.
[17:01] There's what's called a suspected release and a confirmed release.
[17:04] The suspected release is generally associated when something happens with the system and alarm
[17:11] condition is noticed, some erratic behavior, something's going on that says a component
[17:17] of the system or the system as a whole is just not operating as would be anticipated.
[17:22] At that point in time, that doesn't necessarily say that we know and it release has
[17:27] occurred.
[17:28] So this is why it's considered a suspected release.
[17:31] there's a condition, an abnormal operating condition with the equipment that says
[17:36] investigation is needed to figure out why is the equipment behaving abnormally
[17:39] and has this abnormal behavior resulted in a release of the fuel or the contained product
[17:45] to the environment. So that's suspected releases. Then the other category are confirmed releases.
[17:51] And this is when we have data that specifically confirms that there's been an environmental impact
[17:57] from substances released from a regulated system.
[18:01] We're going to dive more into the two types of releases in the next couple of slides.
[18:07] First, starting with the suspected release.
[18:10] So there is a specific process for investigating suspected releases spelled out in statute and rule.
[18:15] So at the time that a U.S.T. owner operator identifies an abnormal operating condition or, as we say, here, a suspected release indicator,
[18:24] They are to immediately notify ADQ and begin this investigation process.
[18:31] It starts with identifying one of these, you know, these are the common indicators right here, so whether it's an equipment alarm, maybe some failed equipment testing as these systems must undergo regular testing to make sure they are operating within proper integrity requirements, erratic operation, et cetera.
[18:50] When such a condition is discovered, the U.S.D. owner operator
[18:54] notifies ADQ in a 24 hour suspected release notification.
[18:59] This is where they tell ADQ A.
[19:02] This is my facility.
[19:03] This is my system.
[19:04] This is the condition that I've noted
[19:06] that's out of normal process.
[19:10] At that point in time,
[19:12] the suspected release investigation requirements
[19:14] are that the owner operator begin investigating the equipment issue
[19:18] to figure out what is the nature of this abnormal operating condition?
[19:23] Is it a failure of an equipment component?
[19:25] Is it a recalibration of a sensor that's needed, et cetera?
[19:29] The equipment investigation happens first,
[19:32] and then during that equipment investigation,
[19:35] if it becomes identified that a component has failed,
[19:39] there are conditions at which environmental sampling,
[19:42] we call it a site check, would be required to say,
[19:45] Okay, I've identified, or the owner operator has identified, the faulty or failed equipment component,
[19:54] as it resulted in a release of product to the environment. So environmental sampling is conducted
[19:59] in this site check, and that's the phase we're looking at here. If there is no environmental impact
[20:06] determined, at that point in time, the investigation proceeds onto this 90 days suspected release report,
[20:12] Where the owner operator details to ADQ, the condition that caused the suspected release,
[20:19] the identification of the component that was causing the abnormal condition,
[20:22] what was done to address the equipment to return it and the rest of the system to normal operation
[20:27] and documentation of the site check if it was required of there was no environmental impact
[20:34] and that the site check was done in a way that the samples were taking in meaningful locations regarding
[20:40] and what component of the system was failed.
[20:43] However, if during the site check,
[20:47] environmental impact is discovered,
[20:49] that triggers a move out of the suspected release
[20:53] investigation process into the confirmed release process.
[20:56] So that is when we have that data that says
[20:59] an environmental impact has been documented through data.
[21:03] So that's what we're showing here in this orange line.
[21:05] That's our kind of off-ramp into when an owner operator
[21:08] will notify ADQ through a 24-hour confirmed release notification, so upon the time when an owner
[21:17] operator receives data that confirms an environmental impact, owner operators are required to immediately
[21:23] notify ADQ and then begin this investigation and cleanup. Again, this process is stipulated and
[21:30] statute and rule as to how it plays out. Broadly speaking, we're outlining it here. It begins with
[21:36] 24-hour confirmed release notification.
[21:39] And you can think of this, we refer to these
[21:41] as leaking underground storage tanks cases.
[21:45] So, less cases is the common vernacular.
[21:48] You can think of a less life cycle in three major phases.
[21:53] The first phase here, a initial site characterization.
[21:56] This is the point in time when responsible parties
[21:58] undertake their initial response and abatement actions.
[22:01] This is when an owner operator discovers there's contamination impacting the environment, so there's response actions required to make sure that there's no safety hazards that risk of fire, explosion, et cetera, to that immediately threaten human health or the environment right then, and then initial abatement actions to say.
[22:24] The system has released substance actions are taken to ensure that that system does not continue to release substances to the environment making sure that the problem doesn't get any worse than it all where it is.
[22:38] The next phase is the site characterization phase.
[22:42] At this point in time of the owner operator the responsible party is required to conduct environmental investigation.
[22:50] to determine the full extent and magnitude of impacts to the environment in all environmental
[22:55] medias that would be the soil, groundwater, surface water, et cetera. At the time that the
[23:00] site characterization phase is complete, a site characterization report is submitted that documents
[23:05] the full extent of that contamination and understanding of that contaminant masses behavior in the
[23:16] exposure path. So as an example, are there threats to drinking water wells where somebody may have
[23:23] the potential to ingest it? Is there the threat of exposure through inhalation from vapors
[23:30] off-gassing from soil contamination or groundwater contamination? That kind of.
[23:35] Also at the site characterization phase, the responsible party will have enough information to
[23:42] plot out their course towards Kate's closure to understand the site conditions and their
[23:46] contaminant behavior to them begin developing their remedial action plan to address the
[23:53] contamination and affect their cleanup, which brings the third phase of the lust life cycle,
[24:00] which is the remediation activities, that happens where the responsible party conducts their
[24:07] remediation. This can take many different forms. It can involve many different technologies,
[24:11] of what we consider in C2, so treatment in place, or XC2, where contamination is removed
[24:18] and treated or disposed of off-site, et cetera, or a combination thereof, with regular
[24:23] reporting to ADQ of the progress of those remedial activities, here what we call periodic
[24:30] site status reports. ADQ may also require owner operators to submit what we call a corrective
[24:39] plan, which is basically a document that outlines the remedial approaches that were considered
[24:45] to address the contamination. It establishes the cleanup goals for this specific site of determines
[24:54] what the remedial approach will be and an implementation schedule of how that work will be
[24:59] conducted to achieve the goals that were stated in the timely manner, ultimately leading to case
[25:03] But I want to emphasize here at this point is that while we're breaking this up linearly into these three phases because that is a common course for a less life cycle to undergo, and that's also the order in which that the regulations are published, it is not prohibitive of parties to undertake remedial activities early on, so especially here in the initial site characterization phase.
[25:32] This phase again is back when making sure that the problem doesn't get worse than it already is and that the equipment if it's still in places addressed, etc.
[25:43] There may be remediation that's undertaken in this phase or here during the site characterization activities.
[25:48] It depends on a site by site basis of what information can be garnered, what's the status of the contamination, etc.
[25:56] So it doesn't have to proceed in these discrete linear fashion.
[26:00] just for clarification. The phase of the regulatory life cycle that this case we're discussing today is shown with this little marker here.
[26:10] So we are nearing the tail end of the initial site characterization phase, which is due to the reported to ADQ one week from today,
[26:17] may the 21st for the 90-day confirmed release for.
[26:25] So I have fielded various calls and emails from
[26:29] members of the community here. One of the most common questions I get asked is, well, what happens
[26:35] at the end of this investigation and cleanup action, there's a lot of folks around who have drinking
[26:41] water wells, is there going to be any threat to our drinking water wells after this is said and done,
[26:48] many years in the future. So what we wanted to address with this final slide is to
[26:52] discuss that there are specific regulations regarding what site conditions must be to achieve
[26:59] case closure, which means that an owner operator or responsible party has no further action required
[27:05] on their part for cleanup activities, the case is closed. So at this point in time I want to assure
[27:12] the Council members and those in the audience, that specifically, there will not be a case closure for any underground storage tank,
[27:23] less case that's going to pose a threat in the future to human health or the environment that is not prohibited in our regulation.
[27:31] So as an example, soil must be cleaned up to an extent that groundwater will not be threatened now or in the future after the closure.
[27:40] So it's not that a party can leave contamination in place in the soil column and then
[27:45] 5, 10, 15 years down the line, rain, water infiltrations going to leach it down to ground
[27:51] water and cause a problem in the future that is specifically prohibited and for case closure,
[27:57] responsible parties must demonstrate that they've evaluated that transport through modeling to show
[28:03] this is not going to happen. In addition, other considerations for human health exposure must be
[28:09] and into account as an example for soil, I mentioned the potential for exposure due to inhalation,
[28:16] so the contamination in soil must be remediated to the point where no party is going to be exposed
[28:22] from off-gassing of contamination in soil or direct contact through, if it let's say shallow soil
[28:30] where you could have people in direct contact on their skin or people consuming the soil particles, etc.
[28:36] And then for groundwater, groundwater must be restored for our statutes to what we consider
[28:43] maximum beneficial use, which for waters of the state here in Arizona is as drinking water
[28:49] resource. So in this case, I just want to reassure the council that Arizona underground
[28:54] storage tank regulations require that less cleanups be conducted to the point where there is no
[28:59] threat now or in the future for its human health issues.
[29:07] And so with that, I just have my contact information here, so everyone in the audience and it's here today, please feel free to contact me with questions about this case at any time. I'm happy to help and always available.
[29:26] Mr. Mayor, do you want to go on to the next presentation from the circle. Okay folks.
[29:30] are at dressing up questions now. No, I just didn't do everybody in this there's questions. Okay,
[29:35] we'll go ahead and answer it as we go. Sounds great. Thank you.
[29:39] All right. Thank you. Before we kick it off, I want to give just a quick introduction here.
[29:42] First, I'd like to start by thanking Mayor Miller, town manager, Cindy Blackmore,
[29:50] and
[29:50] the council members for allowing us to come out and share an update on our efforts to clean up
[29:54] accidental fuel release at our site here in Chino Valley.
[29:59] Secondly, I-
[30:00] I want to once again apologize on behalf of Circle K for this accident, both for the lapses and mistakes in our operations that allowed this to happen. And second for the loss of east of mind of the residents around the community here, particularly the ones that are drawing of water through private wells. I do hope that you guys come away from today's session.
[30:24] confident that we're taking this issue seriously. We have been part of this community for 27 years.
[30:30] We have employees that live here, employees, families that live here. This is a big deal to us.
[30:36] So trust that we're doing everything in our power to address it. As you'll hear from our
[30:41] environmental team this afternoon, we've taken extensive steps to mitigate, contain, and
[30:47] remediate the release since we discovered the cause and the extent. We've also taken correct
[30:53] action through retraining our store and logistics teams. We've put new controls in place, new
[30:59] reporting methods to ensure that something like this never happens again in the future.
[31:06] As our remediation efforts have gotten underway, we've also implemented a testing
[31:10] regimen to monitor for any impacts to the deep aquifer. After over two months of weekly testing,
[31:17] we're thankful to say we have not detected any contamination in any of the seven private wells
[31:24] that we've tested or the newly drilled deep monitoring wells closest to the source of the release.
[31:30] But our work is going to continue until we can be confident that any risk has passed.
[31:36] To give you a deeper understanding of the work that's underway here, I'm going to turn the
[31:39] presentation over to Alan Coverley. Alan Coverley is our environmental senior risk manager,
[31:45] who's joined here remotely. He has extensive experience and a broad
[31:50] facet of environmental issues. He has been leading our remediation and
[31:54] water testing efforts since day one. And hopefully he'll be able to
[31:58] address most of your questions throughout his 20 minute presentation,
[32:02] anything that he's not able to answer or to cover. We'd be happy to
[32:07] to answer those questions after the presentation. I'll go ahead and turn it over to
[32:23] Can everybody see my screen?
[32:30] Was that a yes? I'm sorry I didn't hear no, no, we cannot.
[32:43] All right, because it possible for the town to share
[32:49] the document
[32:50] We'll put the presentation up here and just go ahead and give the prompt for next slide and we'll advance the slide on your
[32:57] request
[32:58] Okay, thank you. Sorry for the technical challenge.
[33:05] You should be good to go. Okay. Thank you. All right
[33:09] So, just as an introduction, as Kyle said, thank you very much for having us and I apologize for not being able to be there in person.
[33:18] My name is Alan Coberley.
[33:20] I'm a senior manager of risk control.
[33:23] My group manages remediation for Circle K across the USA.
[33:29] Also with us, within the remediation group is Anthony Bell.
[33:34] Anthony is the remediation project lead for Arizona.
[33:37] Mike McCoy, Director in Environmental and Maintenance from North America, Lynn Nguimdomsky,
[33:44] Lynn is the President of Encore Consulting, Encore is our Environmental Consultant on this project,
[33:51] and also with this is John Pierce, Legal Council for Circle K.
[33:57] Also on a big knowledge that DEQ team that's here, they've been great in making their selves available.
[34:04] I'm sure it notices as we've navigated this release in a difficult issue.
[34:11] I'm just to note that this presentation is based on our current data at this point in time.
[34:17] We have where generating data all the time learning new things is we investigate,
[34:22] the site, additional information as we generate it will be shared with the DQ and within their reporting guidelines.
[34:36] Again, we continue to collect information and this information that we collect is going to further refine our understanding approach and strategy as we continue our investigation and remediation of this release.
[34:50] next slide please.
[34:56] So again this is a high-level presentation. I'm going to do my very
[34:59] best to keep it in about 20 minutes and length. And in a final note, in trying to make
[35:05] this very technical and science-based manner, matter relatable and understandable to everyone
[35:11] has been challenged. And hopefully I'm able to get this generated into information that everybody
[35:19] understands but of course any questions please feel free to reach out to me after the presentation.
[35:27] Next slide please.
[35:34] Let's talk about the release origin. What you see before you use a
[35:38] generalized cross section of the underground storage tank system. I'm very similar to what the ADQ team
[35:45] presented to us. Just to confirm the issue that occurred at our site was not a tank leak in other words
[35:53] the tank itself did not leak fuel.
[35:57] The release actually occurred at the STP
[36:01] with the submersible turbine pump head,
[36:03] which is on top of the above ground storage tank.
[36:07] It was an issue with that pump head fuel
[36:10] escaped the STP's pump when into the tank backfill
[36:15] than migrated down through the backfill
[36:18] and into the native soil.
[36:20] As noted prior, we lost an estimated 86,000 gallons of gasoline of the course of approximately 17 days.
[36:31] The issue occurred between mid December of 2023 into early January of 2024.
[36:39] Next slide, please.
[36:42] So we're going to talk about the investigations that have been done or have been taken place.
[36:48] So we're going to break it into three different slides.
[36:51] One, the first slide is regarding the sub-surface soil investigation.
[36:56] Once this problem was recognized, we moved as quickly as we could to understand where the fuel was in the sub-surface beneath the site.
[37:06] If you share with me how do you do that?
[37:15] The slide you're looking at,
[37:18] identifies 12 soil borings in and around the circle case site.
[37:26] Many of these soil borings were completed for different purposes.
[37:31] We've got, we've got borings that were completed
[37:33] as perch monitoring wells, deep monitoring wells, soil vapor extraction points, and as noted,
[37:42] we sampled soil sample to a maximum depth of 175 feet.
[37:48] As some of you may have noticed in being around the site in the past several months, we had
[37:53] as many as three drilling rigs conducting subsurface sampling simultaneously on our site
[38:00] in our neighboring properties. Initially, we drilled by the U.S.T. system, then moved outward,
[38:08] eventually drilling off-site. In this slide, if you look carefully, we've got the store.
[38:14] North of the store is the underground storage tank pit over to the right or to the east,
[38:21] is the canopy, and we've identified some of the immediate roads adjacent to the site.
[38:28] Before we started drilling at the site, research was completed of the geology of this area and a very important geologic feature was identified.
[38:40] The presence of a confining clay layer approximately 40 to 50 feet thick, starting around 150 feet below the ground surface.
[38:51] This clay layer is really an increase in clay content in the soil and it's gradational.
[38:58] But it is a very important feature.
[39:01] It's very helpful because this increased clay content tends to inhibit downward migration
[39:08] of the release which obviously is very beneficial.
[39:17] However, just to note during drilling through that clay layer and the vicinity of the release
[39:24] would have provided a pathway for the contamination
[39:26] to impact the regional aquifer.
[39:29] Therefore, as we investigated this site,
[39:32] drilling in and around this release
[39:34] has been slow and tedious.
[39:39] One last point to note on this slide,
[39:41] if you'll see this red dashed ring,
[39:44] this red dashed ring identifies the estimated letter
[39:47] instead of the release based on soil data generated
[39:52] during the investigation.
[39:53] If we can go to the next slide please,
[39:59] the next slide is a cross section of what we feel we have underneath the tank pit at this site.
[40:10] The geology of the specific soil types of this site dictate the size, shape and location of the ground of the soil contamination plume in the subsurface.
[40:21] If you'll note in the brown light brown area, we've got a sand, sandy silts and clay silts
[40:29] which are, excuse me, clay sands, which are soil types between 5 and 150 feet BGS
[40:36] of low ground surface.
[40:40] You also note the darker brown predominant clay towards the bottom of this cross section.
[40:46] And then again, this dashed area is where is the approximate lateral extent of contamination
[40:54] based on the data that we have today.
[40:59] I'm going to bring your attention to this eastern, most boring that was actually converted
[41:03] to it as a shallow monitoring well because it has an interesting feature that we'll talk about
[41:10] in a bit.
[41:12] We found in our drilling two instances of small pockets of water,
[41:17] at or near the top of this clay layer. These small pockets of water, a common term that's used
[41:25] as perched water, again, was identified in two locations, and this perched water is not found to
[41:32] be continuous across the top of this clay layer. But when I point that out in this drawing,
[41:38] because again, we'll talk about it in the coming slide. Next slide, please.
[41:49] As noted on this slide,
[41:50] And we have two shallow groundwater mining wells installed at her above the clay layer that I just mentioned.
[41:58] These are the darker or the green dots.
[42:03] And these wells are in that discontinuous perched water pockets that again we just mentioned.
[42:09] The darker blue dots are four deep wells.
[42:13] These wells are installed into the regional drinking water aquifer in the vicinity of the site.
[42:21] Based on the data from these four-dead wells, from a single gauging event, normally we'd
[42:27] like to have more data to confirm what we think we know, but the regional aquifer flow
[42:33] is estimated at this point in time to the west, north, west, is depicted by this blue arrow
[42:39] on this slide.
[42:44] Again, more data will be collected to confirm this microgradient or
[42:51] this groundwater flow direction within the vicinity of our site. These four wells, these four
[42:58] deep wells, again the dark blue dots, were recently sampled. No contamination was found in any
[43:05] of these four regional aquifer wells. So, briefly let's talk about groundwater and how groundwater
[43:13] moves through the subsurface in the Chino Valley. Groundwater in this area, the country, in this
[43:20] area moves through the space between the soil particles, but note that this is not similar
[43:27] in the way that water flows on the surface of the earth, such as a river. So groundwater
[43:33] flow generally speaking is a slow process and not a quick process. We are continuing to collect
[43:40] data and analyze information to increase our understanding of the groundwater flow in the vicinity
[43:47] of the site and in the future we'll have more information is the actual speed of groundwater
[43:54] flow in and around this release. Also pointing out to these four dark blue wells are really
[44:02] indicator or the term we've coined is a canary well in that these wells are not drinking water wells,
[44:11] but they are installed in the regional aquifer. By continuing to monitor these four wells
[44:17] It's important because we should be able to identify contamination if it were present in the
[44:24] regional aquifer before that contamination would get to any of the drinking water supply
[44:30] wells that are located in the immediate vicinity of the site. On this slide, the drinking
[44:36] water wells that we've sampled over the past 10, 11, 12 weeks is the light blue color.
[44:49] There's
[44:50] note and this is the last bullet point on the slide and it's it's written in a technical
[44:56] manner which I apologize but I really struggle to try to.
[45:00] And put it into simpler terms. But as they mentioned prior, we have two shallow or
[45:05] perched balls that have been installed. These are the green wells on the map.
[45:13] One of
[45:13] these wells has we've identified an impact of two odd, eight typical compounds. The laboratory
[45:23] provided estimated values for these compounds. But these values are below the laboratory
[45:30] reporting limits. So this information, again, is preliminary. We received it. We're going to have
[45:39] to go. We're going to take some time, resample the well. And again, this is perched well.
[45:44] This is an aquifer well. Sample that well talk with the DEQ and try to figure out what this
[45:52] data might represent. But again, it's important to note that the detection and this well as from
[45:58] sample that was not obtained from the regional aquifer or the regional drinking water,
[46:07] aquifer beneath the site.
[46:10] Next slide, please.
[46:15] The last phase or the continuing phase actually
[46:18] of investigation that we've been conducting is drinking water well sampling where we have sampled
[46:25] seven drinking water wells, and these wells, again,
[46:29] are the light blue dots on the map weekly for the past 10 weeks.
[46:37] Obviously, and Chris alluded to this, that the drinking water
[46:42] aquifer and the drinking water, what we would call the exposure
[46:45] pathway, meaning if somebody were to drink contaminated water,
[46:50] that's a critical exposure pathway, and we recognize that.
[46:53] So that at this stage of this investigation, we've keyed on tremendously and we again continue to sample all seven of these wells on a weekly basis.
[47:09] To date, we have not identified any contamination in any drinking water well that we've sampled.
[47:17] A couple of other comments about this aquifer. You'll note on this map there are a bunch of yellow dots.
[47:23] These are drinking water wells within the vicinity of the site.
[47:28] There's a lot of different types of drinking water wells drilled into this regional aquifer.
[47:33] There's wells from private homes.
[47:35] There's commercial wells.
[47:37] In fact, the blue dot to the northwest,
[47:42] just beyond the 500 foot radius circle,
[47:44] that well is a commercial well that actually feeds or provides drinking water
[47:49] to all the businesses in the strip center and also includes the circle case store.
[47:55] There's also some larger municipal municipal wells operated by local governments, including
[48:02] the town of Chinovali in the city of Prescott.
[48:05] These wells are way off the map and way farther south.
[48:11] As noted in this map, and by these yellow dots, there are approximately 35 drinking water wells
[48:17] within the 1,000 foot radius of the site.
[48:23] So we're going to again continue to sample these seven wells that are closest to our store.
[48:29] We're going to also key key inner hone in on the sampling of these canary wells,
[48:34] of these four dark blue wells, to evaluate potential impact to the regional aquifer.
[48:42] But again, all sampling from all wells beneath the clay layer in the regional aquifer
[48:49] have come back non-detect for gasoline constituents.
[48:56] Next slide, please.
[49:00] So we've talked about the investigation.
[49:01] We'll talk a little bit about the remediation or the cleanup of the release.
[49:06] Obviously, based on the data that we've generated in the general geology of the area,
[49:13] It was clear that there was going to be a significant soil issue beneath the tank pit.
[49:20] And we have worked aggressively to get that, and our continued to work aggressively to get that fuel removed via active remediation as soon as possible.
[49:32] The data that has been collected today does let us to conclude that the contamination from the release is in the open spaces of the soil
[49:42] and basically sticks to the soil above the water table.
[49:47] The industry term that's used is an ad-zorbed ADSOR-BED contamination, so we've got this
[49:55] the soil that in essence is acted like a sponge and what we've determined is the best remediation
[50:03] approach is called soil vapor extraction, or also called SVE.
[50:09] We currently have two soil vapor extraction units operating.
[50:15] Both of these units have thermal oxidizers that destroys the contamination that is removed from the ground.
[50:23] The soil extraction system removes the contamination by basically sucking very large volumes of air that contain vapor-phase hydrocarbons,
[50:33] otherwise known as contamination, and this process of SVE or soil vapor extraction works well because gasoline is a very volatile compound.
[50:45] These systems work 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Systems are equipped with some failsafe mechanisms for safety reasons, of course, and these systems are also monitored via remote telemetry.
[50:58] In this picture you'll see in the background the trailer mounted unit and then in the foreground you'll see large PVC pipes with various valves.
[51:10] These valves are adjusted to maximize contaminant removal from the subsurface.
[51:19] the next slide, please.
[51:24] So this is the next picture of the second unit. And again,
[51:30] generally we're pulling air from various levels or various intervals beneath the site.
[51:38] Generally speaking, these systems have what's called a radius of influence greater than 100 feet from the remediation wells.
[51:48] So we're actually impacting and affecting a very large area and again, these systems will be tweaked if we need to install additional wells.
[52:00] So if vapor extraction wells to facilitate remediation and those are the steps that we're going to take.
[52:07] This active remediation is going to continue to be conducted for the foreseeable future.
[52:15] Next slide, please.
[52:18] So, really the summary in the next steps, and to go through this, our preliminary investigation, and again investigations ongoing, so Ellen groundwater, the preliminary investigations have been completed, subsequent investigative activities are ongoing.
[52:35] As mentioned, the cleanup or remediation of the release is being completed, currently being completed via two treatment systems.
[52:46] Today, no indicator aquifer monitoring wells or drinking water wells have been found to have been impacted by the release.
[53:00] And again, those monitoring of those canary wells that I mentioned, those indicator wells we view those is important elements that are going to allow us to early detect potential contamination in the drinking water aquifer before it reaches a drinking water well.
[53:20] monitoring of groundwater continues and then, of course, the analytical results are shared with the EQ and a routine basis.
[53:33] I know I've repeatedly stated that we have no evidence of impact from the drinking water aquifer,
[53:41] but please know that we have discussed internally and have formulated plans on one of the remediation.
[53:48] steps that might be taken if we do find impact to the offer. We've also talked with vendors
[53:55] and formulated plans on how treatment if required can be implemented on drinking water
[54:04] well sources so the water remains safe to drink.
[54:11] So in closing, based on the data collected
[54:13] today, I think I believe we have a pretty good halo on where the contamination is located,
[54:17] But certainly our work's not completed.
[54:21] We know it's adsorbed or stuck to the soil particles,
[54:25] above the water table beneath the tank pit.
[54:29] Our SVE system systems, two of them,
[54:33] continue to operate and work to remediate
[54:36] or remove that contamination from the subsurface.
[54:41] Again, we have not had any data to date
[54:44] indicates the regional aquifer around water has been impacted. But again, we're going to continue
[54:50] monitoring to confirm that there's not been an impact to the regional aquifer because we fully
[54:56] recognize how important that aquifer is to the folks in Chino Valley. And we will continue to
[55:04] remediate our release to investigate the release, working with ADEQ to comply with all state requirements
[55:12] to the end point in eventual obtaining an NFA or no further action for the release which is very much
[55:22] some very much in the distance at this point in time. And that's really all I've got and again I just want
[55:31] to thank everybody for their time and if anybody has any questions please reach out to me.
[55:47] No, thank you, Alan. That really concludes our session here, but if there's any questions from the city council, we are open to take a question.
[55:59] Awesome.
[56:00] Here.
[56:01] Not right now.
[56:05] Let's go.
[56:06] Let's go.
[56:06] Just to confirm we are in the confirm release stage, are we not?
[56:11] Yes.
[56:11] Okay.
[56:12] Just want to make sure.
[56:13] And then the suspected release.
[56:16] What was the clock on?
[56:17] What was the date you used for your documents on the suspected release date?
[56:23] What was the first date, ADQ was given that?
[56:27] Yeah.
[56:28] Recalling off the top of my head, I believe the suspected release was reported on January the 4th with a listed discovery date of January the 3rd.
[56:39] So what is the December 11th have a date of any meaning to you from your perspective?
[56:45] So later on in the investigation, Circle K stores in supply information to ADQ in the form of a document, I believe that was titled chronology.
[56:58] that informed to us other conditions that were noted in December. I think it was things like
[57:03] erratic behavior of dispensers and a sample arm for liquid within the sample on the L3 alarm.
[57:11] I think it's noted in that document. Those were in mid December around December 15th and then at various points
[57:18] after that. So actions were noted in the timeline document by Circle K store staff and then
[57:27] representatives therein. That's all information we're looking at as Circle K stores and provides
[57:33] more information in this initial characterization phase to understand what all potentially
[57:40] happen with the system that would cause this incident but that's still information we're looking
[57:44] as we get more as the investigation going on.
[57:47] And then the ATG, is that is it common for it to be a remote monitoring by
[57:53] corporate or by the being counters so that they know how much it's coming in and how
[57:57] much is going out?
[58:00] I'm not really confident to say that the point of the ATG is for that staff on site, if
[58:07] an issue is noted, that they're present to identify the alarm and then take action.
[58:12] So it might just be a local, it might only communicate locally,
[58:16] not statewide or to the offices.
[58:18] Yeah, and that honestly depends on the individual
[58:21] owner operators set up the facility set up.
[58:24] So yeah.
[58:26] And then for Mr. Hubby, really, did I say right?
[58:33] Come on, he mentioned that with Claire.
[58:35] I understand the Claire when I heard that,
[58:37] that's good, because it slows penetration.
[58:39] But then you made reference to your monitoring wells have poked a hole through the
[58:46] Playlayer allowing penetration. Did I understand that correctly? Is that what you said?
[58:51] I did, but if I can clarify that comment
[58:55] The wells that have been stalled into the aquifer are some distance away from the site
[59:01] With there are no wells in the immediate vicinity of that release that penetrate the clay layer for that very reason
[59:08] And the wells that were installed, some distance from the site were also specially constructed
[59:14] in double-cased so that there would not be contamination that would either be drugged
[59:20] down or migrated through that clay layer should contamination be present in that area.
[59:28] And you did repeat several times which it's not surprising but there has been no detectable
[59:33] contamination of the groundwater.
[59:35] Is that really surprising? I mean, it's only been two months and from what I hear, it could take a year for penetration to get down to groundwater.
[59:46] Wouldn't say that's very surprising. I mean, it's valid information, but your statement is correct and as I alluded to groundwater moves very slow.
[59:54] So you would not expect contamination to move great distances within the last four.
[1:00:00] Months, and be detected in some of those distant drinking water wells.
[1:00:05] And then I'm just about done here. So you didn't mention you talked about the, there would be the clay case would not be closed until a remediation was complete.
[1:00:16] I know you can't pinpoint it, but broadly speaking, what are we talking about six months, year two years, three years?
[1:00:23] I think that's two premature to say what that would look like at the point that
[1:00:30] It's at the site characterization phase.
[1:00:33] ADQ may have more information provided by an owner or a responsible party to give a time frame.
[1:00:39] That's when that corrective action plan. It becomes really handy because in an implementation
[1:00:45] schedule that includes these are the actions that are taken, but also the performance goals of the
[1:00:52] remediation for that schedule to achieve in case of closure. But at this point, it's too early to say the
[1:00:57] And then the gentleman in the middle, what was your name?
[1:01:01] Kyle Cassidy.
[1:01:01] Mr. Cassidy, I appreciate your candor and your
[1:01:04] frankness about apologizing because my right,
[1:01:09] your staff did not follow protocols.
[1:01:12] Well, he led to this.
[1:01:13] There were multiple missed opportunities to catch this.
[1:01:17] So we'll be perfectly transparent about that.
[1:01:20] There were, there were misses that led to this event.
[1:01:23] And as those have those misses in evident and other locations and the hundreds of circle
[1:01:30] case you have throughout our state.
[1:01:32] No, this is this is the first instance of anything anything like this happening before.
[1:01:39] It's an absolute one off.
[1:01:41] We haven't we haven't seen anything like this before, but I do appreciate your candor on that.
[1:01:46] Thank you.
[1:01:47] I appreciate your time.
[1:01:48] Thank you for all for showing up.
[1:01:49] Thank you.
[1:01:52] Again, thank you all for showing up to answer a question that I'm getting most from the public.
[1:01:57] 86,000 gallons a few leaked out of that thing in 17 days.
[1:02:02] That correct?
[1:02:03] That's correct.
[1:02:04] When did ADQ find out about it?
[1:02:05] Day one or day 17?
[1:02:08] Day 17.
[1:02:09] Okay.
[1:02:09] So it had been leak in for 17 days before we noticed it.
[1:02:13] Your staff noticed it?
[1:02:14] Correct.
[1:02:14] Before we were aware there was an issue 17 days had passed.
[1:02:17] And that's why HR's here.
[1:02:24] You know, if you've let some 86,000 gallons of fuel go out of your tank outside your store for 17 days, I got a feeling you're talking to HR.
[1:02:33] Yeah, it's been addressed plenty of people have talked to HR, correct. Yeah, that's just for my own clarification. Yes, sir.
[1:02:42] So I'm going to piggyback on what Tom said 86,000 gallons of fuel is how many tankers how many deliveries would be 86 that would be roughly 10 tanker trucks 10 tanker trucks and you lost it all correct and
[1:03:04] Finally, no bells and whistles went up.
[1:03:08] Like I said, there were, there were indicators, there were, there were alerts out there.
[1:03:13] And we, if you, if you look through the chronology document that we put out there, we outlined the opportunities there were to catch this along the way.
[1:03:21] And there's a rule.
[1:03:22] The store never closed.
[1:03:25] Never closed operations.
[1:03:27] Exactly.
[1:03:27] There was a little bit of downtime.
[1:03:29] there was a little bit oh I can't recall I think it was probably a couple days that they were
[1:03:35] that they were closed until we got things resolved and also worked with ADQ to get to get the
[1:03:42] go ahead to open with the understanding that it's safe to do so. Well I think of 86,000 gallons
[1:03:49] were missing you didn't have a result. What's the investigative activities that are ongoing?
[1:03:55] if we talk enough or no that's something that we looked at at this point where we're
[1:04:02] certain it wasn't it wasn't that that was one of the many many areas we looked at
[1:04:07] accounting issues we looked at tank chart reprogramming that type of thing once we
[1:04:12] exhausted all avenues there we determined and I'm confident saying there was a
[1:04:19] a fuel release there. And it all came out of that top. So miserable. Correct. Wow. It's
[1:04:28] it. No, how it was, it was a malfunctioning part and it leaked under the cover of that
[1:04:34] sum. So we never did see any any fuel exposed above the surface. So it leaked into the
[1:04:41] sum. What we think is that that some likely filled up and then it leaked around a ring that's
[1:04:47] around there, a gravel ring that goes down into the tank bed, but that is below surface.
[1:04:53] And have you dug that up? We've done investigation around that area. The part has been
[1:05:01] has been replaced, but I know there's been drilling activity all around that area at the point of
[1:05:07] release. I didn't notice the other day that it was dug up all around the tank. Did you pull the dirt out?
[1:05:14] You really have it bring back in. No, that was an unrelated project. That was us replacing the spill bucket. So the area that the carrier would come in to make the drop those were all being replaced, but it had nothing to do with with soil removal.
[1:05:32] All right. Thank you.
[1:05:33] Thank you.
[1:05:37] We can't have one more John.
[1:05:39] I did. Who's the report that was going to be after action report? The study. Is that issued by a DQ or is it issued by Circle K to you and then to the public?
[1:05:51] After action report at 90 day report.
[1:05:54] Yeah.
[1:05:56] For the 90 day report, sorry, the 90 day confirmed release report. The responsible party submits that to 80 q, 80 q reviews it for compliance with the requirements of what that report must contain.
[1:06:08] And then we issue correspondence back to the responsible party as to whether or not the report is approved.
[1:06:14] And then it's public record at that.
[1:06:16] My interest is, how is the town manager going to get that report, the mayor and then the community?
[1:06:22] And because it's very, very technical, as we spoke, very technical, can we get or can we get a executive summary version of it?
[1:06:31] Because it's going to be too analytical for most people to understand unless you're in that industry.
[1:06:38] So, Alan, are you able to speak to that question?
[1:06:42] The report will be supplied to the EQ in Chris, correct me if I'm wrong, but that will be on your portal that the public would have access to correct.
[1:06:52] Yes, all regulatory reports that are submitted to ADQ are public record and can be requested through our records management center.
[1:07:00] And I understand that what I'm asking is, would Circle K be willing to provide that information
[1:07:06] and in an executive summary format that the public, including myself, would understand
[1:07:13] the findings and remediation efforts?
[1:07:15] Yes, we will.
[1:07:16] Yes, we will.
[1:07:18] In the same fashion as we are here today to explain in layman terms, what have happened?
[1:07:24] Yes, we will.
[1:07:25] I appreciate that.
[1:07:26] I think everybody else would.
[1:07:27] Thank you.
[1:07:29] Thank you.
[1:07:30] Just I got two.
[1:07:32] Sorry, I have two quick things.
[1:07:35] Number one was one of you mentioned a report about what happened.
[1:07:40] That was, did that go to ADQ?
[1:07:43] Yeah, that was, that was a timeline or is that how we haven't seen that?
[1:07:47] I believe that had been released.
[1:07:49] If you haven't seen it, that's something that we can, that we can get over to.
[1:07:52] Okay.
[1:07:53] be the impression they would answer a lot of questions for our public absolutely. And is there
[1:07:59] anything that you could be doing that you're not doing? I know, no, no. I can't think of anything
[1:08:06] that we could do that that would be in addition to what we've already done. I mean, this has been
[1:08:13] this has been something that each, each one of us that's here today on the call in the room.
[1:08:18] I mean, multiple times a week, we are, we are reviewing this.
[1:08:22] We have stood up teams that are out there looking for ways
[1:08:27] that we can better detect this type of thing.
[1:08:29] Again, it was a, it was a one-off, but we can't have a one-off happened.
[1:08:34] So we've, we're looking for fail-safes.
[1:08:37] We're looking for additional controls.
[1:08:38] We've already brought in additional controls, new types of alarms, alerts
[1:08:43] that'll come through to us.
[1:08:46] So this is something that we've put a lot of attention into resolving and into making sure it never happens again.
[1:08:56] And then your role as ADQ is to make sure that they conform to that title whatever that number one.
[1:09:03] Correct.
[1:09:03] And that's what they give you through reporting.
[1:09:07] Anything else from anybody?
[1:09:09] We double check with councilmember Perkins and councilmember Greniel. Thank you. Thank you. Good evening, can you hear me?
[1:09:18] We can. Okay. Hi everyone.
[1:09:21] Just a real quick. So my understanding if you could clarify for me is the process of removing the 86,000 gallons is of vapor
[1:09:35] Is that, is that removing the vapor from the ground for the 86,000?
[1:09:41] Correct. The, the current, this, this initial corrective action is, is soil vapor extraction, which is removing contamination from the subsurface in its vapor form and then destroying that contamination of the surface.
[1:09:57] It may be down the road that we determine that a different remedial strategy is warranted.
[1:10:07] Again, we're still finishing up the investigative process.
[1:10:10] We need to see how these SVE systems are operating their efficiencies.
[1:10:17] That analysis will be ongoing, and we'll adjust accordingly as needed.
[1:10:23] And one follow up. Thank you. What is the depth that you have found the further
[1:10:30] stuff that the gasoline has penetrated to? That depth is right on top of that
[1:10:38] clay layer and going from memory, right underneath the tank. I think we found
[1:10:44] contamination somewhere on the 175 foot mark. It might be a little bit deeper.
[1:10:58] I
[1:10:58] have any questions. Thank you. How about you, Eric? Do you have anything? Yes,
[1:11:06] can you?
[1:11:11] You might want to speak up just a little bit louder. Okay. I'll just a question.
[1:11:17] You told the council commissioner, Shacker that it was 10 tankers in 17 days. That was
[1:11:23] how many tankers usually get delivered in a matter of 17 days? It is sight like that with the
[1:11:32] you and we do we're probably getting a delivery every other day. So it was right on the money
[1:11:38] then it was pretty close. So you guys didn't notice it anything abnormal going on because it's
[1:11:47] one it's one every other day it sounds it sounds like. Yeah that would be a typical delivery but
[1:11:54] but no no we didn't something we should have caught we didn't we didn't catch that.
[1:12:00] And how old is that submersible pump that went out?
[1:12:04] I'd have to get back to you unless Alan, you have detail on that.
[1:12:08] I'm not sure on the on the age of that.
[1:12:12] I'm sorry.
[1:12:14] We can get you that information.
[1:12:17] I don't think it's expected every so often by the state or who inspects those.
[1:12:24] So, ADQ has a requirement to codified in our regulations that all systems must be inspected on a routine basis, at least once every three years, and that includes looking at documentation of testing that's required to occur within those periods, any repairs that may be made, modifications to the system, et cetera, but the systems are inspected on a three-year cadence.
[1:12:52] When was the last three year inspection done?
[1:12:56] I believe there was a routine inspection done,
[1:13:01] November of 2021.
[1:13:04] And that was the most recent routine before the incident.
[1:13:07] Okay, thank you.
[1:13:09] One more question on your new on your new locations.
[1:13:12] Is it because have concrete count under the tanks?
[1:13:21] No, it would be similar to the tank.
[1:13:24] that you see here, where it would be e-grabble, under and surrounding the tank.
[1:13:36] Thank you.
[1:13:38] Are you done there?
[1:13:39] If I can make one correction on a common, I made when asked about the depth, the contamination
[1:13:44] has been identified.
[1:13:46] That depth has been notified.
[1:13:49] It's, it's approximately 150 feet below grade.
[1:13:51] I misspoke.
[1:13:53] Okay.
[1:13:54] Thank you.
[1:13:56] Anything else for the good?
[1:14:01] All right, then we had to thank you all for coming.
[1:14:04] Safe.
[1:14:05] Oh, did you want to fire us for something?
[1:14:09] Please.
[1:14:11] Hey, Charles.
[1:14:13] You look good.
[1:14:16] I don't know.
[1:14:17] I don't know.
[1:14:20] We wish you all safe travel.
[1:14:21] Thank you for coming.
[1:14:22] Thank you for the information.
[1:14:23] We look forward to the report you're going to get for us.
[1:14:25] And it that we're going to stay in the journey. Thank you. Thank you.
[1:14:33] Thank you.
[1:14:37] I was really hoping I was theft.
[1:14:43] Hey, why are we yes.
[1:14:58] Thank you very much.
[1:17:34] All right, we're going to call the meeting or you please rise for the president of
[1:17:45] the United States of America.
[1:17:56] Thank
[1:18:00] you, could we please have a roll call?
[1:18:02] Yes, of course.
[1:18:03] Council member Shacker.
[1:18:04] There.
[1:18:05] Council member Perkins.
[1:18:08] Council member Phillips.
[1:18:10] Council member McCaffery.
[1:18:11] Council member Granyl.
[1:18:14] Vice Mayor Armstrong.
[1:18:16] Mayor Miller.
[1:18:17] And our town attorney is present.
[1:18:18] Thank you.
[1:18:20] as a patient and update from Scott Freightag fire chief LeCathema,
[1:18:28] Steven Scott. Good evening,
[1:18:30] Mayor of council members. Thank you for allowing me to come out here this evening and
[1:18:34] give you kind of a brief update on Kathman. I think probably the biggest topic that people are
[1:18:39] talking about right now is the legato luxury apartment fire. And why is that important to
[1:18:45] Chino Valley? Because the resources that went into to fight that particular fire came from
[1:18:51] they came from Prescott. It was everybody y'all come. Between the city of Prescott and
[1:18:57] Kathma, we have a total of 15, 24-hour engines for the entire area. That night, we had 13 of
[1:19:04] those engines surrounding the Lagado fire. We did use one of the mutual aid units. A cottonwood
[1:19:11] ladder truck. It was the first time they ever had a structure fire with that truck. So we put that
[1:19:15] one for another elevated master stream. But we call, we pull the lot of resources for the area.
[1:19:22] So what's the plan then to backfill? And we activated county-wide and statewide and statewide.
[1:19:29] And I sit on the statewide mutually committee, so I know how that process works.
[1:19:35] So as soon as I got on scene and assessed how many units were there, I made the call to request
[1:19:40] for the county-wide aid. And then when they didn't respond fast enough to the request
[1:19:45] activated the statewide aid system. Those units that responded that night, those additional units
[1:19:51] went to backfill the stations to cover 911 calls. During the Logato Fire, we had an additional
[1:19:57] 34 calls for assistance to 911, not related. So the mutual aid units were extremely busy that night.
[1:20:05] It was great to have them in a shout out to Prescott Regional Communications Center.
[1:20:09] The dispatch on duty when the legato fire came out handled 133 911 calls related to that fire and an additional 34 for the other calls that came in.
[1:20:21] Now, some of question I know there's some confusion in the community about the fire department doesn't have enough resources to handle something like that.
[1:20:29] That's why all these resources came in.
[1:20:31] The fact that the matter is no community has ever resource that they need.
[1:20:34] And if you look just a week later, there was a conflagration down in Phoenix of a housing complex that was under construction multiple houses under construction that were on fire.
[1:20:44] If you read the reports of that and I talked to Chief Durand there were seven additional seven total municipality that came together to fight that fire.
[1:20:52] So Phoenix fire departments, one of the biggest fire departments in the nation and yet on that fire there were seven other municipalities that came into assist.
[1:21:00] So, the mutual aid that came up here is not unusual for any place in the state.
[1:21:07] Now it does take a little bit longer to get them in and that's why we activated that early.
[1:21:13] The other part of this is a lot of folks and rightly so I'm very proud of our people for that night because they made good tactical decisions.
[1:21:21] Immediately that kept the fire to and what we call a box which is keep it to the structure of origin.
[1:21:26] When we, when our first increase arrive that night multiple four of every wing around fire,
[1:21:32] there was nothing we were going to do to change the fate of that apartment complex.
[1:21:35] It was gone.
[1:21:37] But we could protect this surrounding properties.
[1:21:39] And because of those good tactical decisions,
[1:21:42] the amount of damage to other properties was limited significantly.
[1:21:46] And PVPD was able to safely evacuate the home set apartments, which,
[1:21:51] if you look at Main Street between Homestead and Lagado, there's not that much space.
[1:21:56] We're also very thankful for the weather that night, the wind was blowing right direction a little bit of rain.
[1:22:01] Because the ember wash went up to two miles away.
[1:22:04] And had it been 30 days later in this place was a lot drier.
[1:22:08] We could have had far more fires in Prescott Valley than just that one.
[1:22:13] So a lot of things went our way that night.
[1:22:17] But I say that to say this, there's a lot of other people that folks in the community don't see.
[1:22:23] They see the fire, they see the fire engines,
[1:22:25] they see the firefighters, but behind the scenes,
[1:22:29] Prescott Valley PD, YCSO, doing evacuation,
[1:22:32] securing the scene.
[1:22:34] I got two o'clock in the morning or 140, I don't know.
[1:22:37] So sometime between 130 and 2 o'clock,
[1:22:40] I call the town manager for Prescott Valley
[1:22:41] and he took my call and he said,
[1:22:44] what can we do?
[1:22:44] I said, need you to call the water department.
[1:22:47] We need to boost the pressure in that area to make sure
[1:22:49] we don't lose water pressure.
[1:22:50] And it's one of the few times I've ever seen
[1:22:53] to fire like that. I've never seen one that big, where you didn't lose pressure somewhere,
[1:22:58] and PVP, our PVs, public works department, water department, pull that off for us. And that
[1:23:04] goes to the relationships. When we look at the city of Prescott, fire department, us, we
[1:23:08] work very closely together, seamless, really, other than the different logos and our shirts,
[1:23:15] we work very well together. And we train together regularly. And you could see that that night,
[1:23:21] Most people would think on that fire that everybody on it was a seasoned veteran in their positions.
[1:23:27] The BC that took command is our training chief Eric Merrill. He had been of a tiny
[1:23:31] chief for about two minutes, maybe three. The first in latter company captain from
[1:23:38] Prescott had been a company officer for six weeks. Our first in captain had been a captain for
[1:23:44] 18 months. The second in captain had been a captain for just under two years.
[1:23:50] And then, everybody on the crews, most of them, were brand new.
[1:23:55] And I think when you see what unfolded that night,
[1:23:58] and if you listen to the radio traffic, not one bit of anxiety,
[1:24:01] and any of the traffic, even from the first in units.
[1:24:05] And that, what that should show is the training that we do works.
[1:24:10] It's important.
[1:24:12] And it was on full display that night.
[1:24:15] There was something else that happened that evening that I,
[1:24:17] and 31 years in emergency services I've never seen it before. The police chief arrived and jumped right into
[1:24:24] the fire command vehicle and stayed there with us coordinating the efforts between the police
[1:24:29] department and the fire crew, a true unified command with chief Bob Ticer, which was absolutely
[1:24:35] amazing. He deserves a lot of credit for that. It was, it was everybody press kit fleet came out
[1:24:42] because when you're pumping that much water for that long,
[1:24:46] engine start to run the one fuel and now death fluid for the decals.
[1:24:52] So Kathma Fleet came out with a fuel truck,
[1:24:54] Prescott Fleet came out with a fuel truck and they worked all through the night,
[1:24:57] and most of the next day make sure that all of those engines stayed running,
[1:25:01] which is fantastic. And then our warehouse folks,
[1:25:04] who came out the morning to make sure there's food, coffee, water,
[1:25:08] people are getting rehydrated. And then all of the folks surrounding that area, the different restaurants,
[1:25:15] Maverick, and God provided coffee for command staff at like four or 35 o'clock in the morning,
[1:25:21] and we needed it. So we thank the community for coming out. And I'd be remiss if I didn't
[1:25:29] recognize the significant loss to fame signature group. And then the loss of jobs, good paying
[1:25:35] jobs in the community because of the loss of that building. I can't talk much about the
[1:25:42] investigation other than to say that we had the National Response Team from the ATF 30 of
[1:25:47] their folks on the ground for a week. We pulled our last unit off of that fire seven days late
[1:25:55] and we do know that it was arson and so when they find the suspect that individual will be charged
[1:26:02] with arts and for that fire. So, but as far as more specifics into that, that's why you don't
[1:26:09] see a lot of pictures from us out on social media, you know, like we would normally do, because
[1:26:15] the criminal investigation. However, we just started this week a podcast a series of podcasts regarding
[1:26:21] will god of fire. And the focus of that is, you know, first in engine companies, but then
[1:26:26] why the training, why are relationships so important? Why is that networking so important? Why are
[1:26:32] partnerships, why do they exist? All of that will be talked about in a series probably six or seven
[1:26:40] different podcasts. They come out every Friday on the Catholic Connect. We have a YouTube channel,
[1:26:45] easy to find from our website. So in other news, we have some movement on the ambulance front. I'll have
[1:26:53] more to talk about that in June. Right now I have to kind of hold my tongue.
[1:27:01] But good things happen overall.
[1:27:05] And we're looking, we are increasing staffing.
[1:27:08] And so it's station 61.
[1:27:10] Hopefully this next year you're going to see a constant staffing
[1:27:13] of minimum four people on that engine company every day.
[1:27:18] And let's say if we were to have the ambulance license,
[1:27:24] then station 62 would have two additional personnel there,
[1:27:28] 24 hours a day on the ambulance. So if we are able to get that then the service to this
[1:27:35] community is going to be significantly better. So I appreciate your time. I'm going to stick around
[1:27:41] for APS because they're talking about wildfire mitigation and we're partners in that. So I want to
[1:27:46] make sure I'm just out there for a show support. All right, but before you go, any question? No question. Thank
[1:27:53] you too. Yeah, all right. Thank you all very much. Thank you very much. Mayor Miller, please don't forget
[1:27:58] Councilmember Neon,
[1:28:02] Any questions for the chief?
[1:28:05] Yes, sir.
[1:28:06] No, Mayor, we're good.
[1:28:07] Thank you.
[1:28:08] Okay, thank you.
[1:28:10] Next up, presentation for Frank Sanderson with EPS on their fire wise fire mitigation program.
[1:28:16] Who is almost.
[1:28:18] Almost.
[1:28:21] Honorable Mayor and council.
[1:28:23] I really appreciate the opportunity to come and talk to you a little bit about what EPS is doing.
[1:28:28] as far as fire mitigation goes as we get into fire season. May is the wildfire community
[1:28:37] preparedness month and knowing that it's very important to us to make sure that you know
[1:28:44] what your APS is doing to make sure that we have a safe and successful summer.
[1:28:52] As you can imagine, the electric utility reliability is very important to us, but the one thing that is more important to us is the safety of our customers in our community.
[1:29:03] And it's with that in mind that we, you know, put all this together and it's been a great effort.
[1:29:11] Just a few stats for you in 2023, we experienced over 1557 fires that burned over 204,000 acres in the state of Arizona.
[1:29:24] And one in three of those fires were around or near our infrastructure that serves our customers.
[1:29:34] And again, our reliability is very important and safety of our customers in community are important.
[1:29:42] Along with fires comes heat last year.
[1:29:46] We experienced a very hot summer and an anticipation of the same hot dry conditions.
[1:29:54] The governor did publish the extreme heat preparedness plan for the state.
[1:30:00] And the Department of Health also named its first statewide heat officer. And as we get further into this, knowing that it's going to be hot, knowing that our customers in our communities rely on the electricity to keep cool in the summer.
[1:30:15] We want to make sure we're as reliable as possible for you with that.
[1:30:22] We've put together a comprehensive fire mitigation plan,
[1:30:26] and that plan breaks up our fire mitigation efforts into three categories
[1:30:31] to prevent, to mitigate, and to respond.
[1:30:36] And when we think about prevention, we do a ton of vegetation work.
[1:30:41] If you are out in the forest or along the lines, you would see our people, you would see the contractors that work for APS, clearing those lines, making sure that the clearances are well maintained.
[1:30:53] We've also built really good relationships with the forest service and other entities so that even outside of our right away, if we discovered dead trees ones that still could come into our right away or coming contact with our infrastructure.
[1:31:11] They do let us, in many cases, go in and remove those trees as well.
[1:31:15] Just so we're making sure we're out of the way.
[1:31:20] We do tons, you're around.
[1:31:23] We do tons of patrols of our lines to make sure that they are ardent.
[1:31:29] We utilize some of the newer technologies such as drones, helicopters, side by side.
[1:31:36] we even walk these lines, you know, in areas that, you know, are very difficult to get to.
[1:31:45] Um, just some more data for you. In the Northwest Division, which if you asked our
[1:31:51] lead to Ville, Northwest is the best. And we have our teams of patrol to over 1900,
[1:32:00] overhead feeder miles. And then when we think about sub-transmission and transmission,
[1:32:04] we inspect over 38,000 miles of power lines every year and make sure that they're
[1:32:11] sound and that the vegetation is clear and we have as many things in place to
[1:32:19] where we can respond quickly. An example of that is defenseable space around
[1:32:24] trees or I'm sorry. There's defenseable space around poles and what we do
[1:32:30] there is we put a protective fire wrap around poles that have devices and then we clear the area around it and say like in the pipeline fire in the past we've done this around our substations and different things like that where the fire did come through but if you looked at pictures of our infrastructure as the fire went through and passed that it protected our infrastructure which allowed us to continue service of power to our customers.
[1:33:01] The other thing we do as far as a prevention method is we highly support the right tree in the right place.
[1:33:08] Again, this is something that's, you know, we as community members can do to make sure that even our homes are residents are protected to make sure we have a successful safe summer and fire season.
[1:33:21] From a fire mitigation perspective, during fire seasons, as we've discussed in years past,
[1:33:28] as that risk of fire goes up based on the conditions and different things like that,
[1:33:34] we have levels and changes of protocol in different areas and what that pertains to,
[1:33:41] is if there is a fault on the system, we will not re-energize the system until we do a full
[1:33:48] control and make sure that there's no issues.
[1:33:51] While having that electricity out is problematic and even inconvenient for our customer's
[1:33:59] and communities, the right thing to do to make sure that if we turn the power back on that
[1:34:04] it's not going to cause any adverse effects.
[1:34:09] We've also really worked on making our response times better, and the way we do that is
[1:34:17] make sure we can identify where the fault is when the lights go out.
[1:34:23] Many of you may have seen the little lights on the lines.
[1:34:28] They almost look like Christmas lights and people think they're cameras.
[1:34:31] But they are what's known as a fault indicator.
[1:34:33] And so what that does, we've installed over 2,500 of them in the system.
[1:34:40] And what it does is when we call a trouble,
[1:34:43] not to go respond to an event, it will pretty much light the way and tell them really quickly
[1:34:50] where the problem is so that we can get to it quicker, we can fix it quicker, and get the
[1:34:56] lights back on. Again, knowing that the power being out is an inconvenience, something we need to
[1:35:03] plan for both from a utility perspective and an individual perspective. We really encourage our
[1:35:09] customers to, you know, keep extra food, water, batteries, candles, in some cases, make sure
[1:35:17] you keep your refrigerator door closed. One good thing that somebody brought up to me the other
[1:35:22] day was, do I know how to open my garage door manually and am I capable of doing it? Because
[1:35:31] so many of us utilize that entrance and exit from the house. So then moving to our response, we have
[1:35:40] built out a pretty substantial fire mitigation team with fire mitigation specialists and
[1:35:49] meteorologists that we are doing a lot of work to really try to anticipate when
[1:35:54] when the weather and different conditions will cause us issues. As you know we have 24 by seven
[1:36:01] response teams known as crews in troublemen that can be called out whenever there is an issue
[1:36:10] We want to also remind our customers if you see a down line, please stay away from it.
[1:36:16] Call 911 call us if you're out of power.
[1:36:20] Let us know and that'll help us to get their quicker.
[1:36:25] And also again, I want to stress stay away from that because just because it's down on the ground does not mean it has tripped off and it is safe to approach.
[1:36:35] One new tool in the toolbox that we have that you may have heard of is what's known as public safety power shut off.
[1:36:45] And what that does, you've probably heard in other areas that those tools have been employed.
[1:36:52] We wanted to be very cautious and careful that we approach this in the right way.
[1:36:56] We have invested substantial dollars to be able to predict certain times within the fire season that in certain areas within our system, and it's very precise that it is safer even though our infrastructure is up.
[1:37:16] It's sound. It's good. If there's going to be super high winds, the the dryness factor, the obviously humidity is the piece of that. And the system that we are utilizing now can even model based on the terrain where a fire will run if it starts in that area and we want to be really cognizant to is that near residents is that near people and what is the risk.
[1:37:46] And in those scenarios, we looked at data from the last five years.
[1:37:53] We have 13 circuits throughout our service territories, so throughout Northern Arizona,
[1:38:00] that fit this criteria, that if things got bad enough, if the predictions were bad enough,
[1:38:05] that we would shut that off during that environmental event and then we would get them back on as soon as possible.
[1:38:13] The way that would work is we'd know from five to seven days out that it was happening.
[1:38:18] All of those customers have been notified that they are on one of those circuits.
[1:38:23] And they would get a communication every day along with our partners at the county, the fire service and others to make sure that everybody knows it's coming.
[1:38:35] And they'll get a communication every day up until the day that it actually happens.
[1:38:40] It would happen, whatever time period they determine it needs to be done anywhere between, you know, zero and 20 hours that it would be out.
[1:38:51] And then what we will do is we'll go do a full patrol at that point.
[1:38:56] Byring we don't find anything, you know, defected.
[1:39:00] We will re-energize in a very efficient fashion.
[1:39:06] We've done a lot of plans.
[1:39:08] We've run through table tops and different things like that to make sure we are prepared and
[1:39:11] we're not sparing any expense or efficiency to make sure we get people back on as soon
[1:39:16] as possible.
[1:39:17] I am happy to let this council know that nowhere in the town, this program currently this year
[1:39:26] does not affect you because none of the circuits within the town of Chino Valley fit that
[1:39:33] scenario.
[1:39:34] So, but we did want you to know about it and we wanted you to know that we're prepared.
[1:39:40] We've been trying to communicate as best as we possibly can to make sure our customers and especially our partners with the different municipalities, the county and emergency services are aware and we're partnering with them.
[1:39:55] The last thing I wanted to say just real quickly is that I appreciate your leadership and your partnership in what we do.
[1:40:04] and in this effort of keeping our customers and communities safe and so with that I'll open it up to questions.
[1:40:12] Well, I'm good. Thank you.
[1:40:16] Mr. Sanders.
[1:40:18] Yes.
[1:40:19] There's a part of Juno Valley that historically, in the summer months, it's going out basically one north, four south, 89 all the way to the state land.
[1:40:29] Okay. And it kept going out like last year it went out three times within a two week period.
[1:40:36] So I started doing research research. And I found out there are transfer station
[1:40:41] or our substation, whatever you call it here. There wasn't enough feeder lines. As a result,
[1:40:47] the lines were getting overpowered. It was cutting off and they can't re-energize unless they do a
[1:40:51] line test. They walked a line. My question was, do you note that they were extending that line?
[1:40:58] like I did from Paul into the Northwest part of this community. So it wouldn't go out as much.
[1:41:04] So I know we did some work over there. I don't know. I don't have real good knowledge of the
[1:41:09] line specifically. And I can check in with it on that and get you some information on that as far as
[1:41:16] whether there's a line. It's too much load on one line. Okay. Keeping in is a mitigation
[1:41:23] the protocols requiring a lying drive and then they could re-energize it and it's one of the
[1:41:30] more popular parts of the community so they're getting knocked off for a clock and there was no
[1:41:39] storm and it was just the pure draw on the lines. It took me a long time to figure out finally
[1:41:44] meets a one who actually explained it so they said they needed another feeder line so they could split
[1:41:49] the load and that situation would not present itself as often.
[1:41:55] Yeah, I believe I know the scenario you're talking about, I believe also part of the problem
[1:42:00] was they were all on one phase of a three-phase system and that one phase was the only one
[1:42:06] that went out to that area and what we did is we put together a project and really short order
[1:42:11] and took all three phases out and then we were able to split the customers between those three
[1:42:18] phases and but just to make sure I'm not talking out of both sides of my mouth that I have the information I will get that for you just to make sure it's taken care of and and if not that we
[1:42:33] uh... mediate that as soon as possible it was just out one point and a very
[1:42:37] north-west
[1:42:39] on the weekend
[1:42:40] okay
[1:42:40] they drew a line in from pardon
[1:42:44] to split that load is how some supervisor explained it to me okay
[1:42:48] i think they call it a feeder line but i might be wrong with that
[1:42:51] they would it would have been a feeder yep
[1:42:54] thank you
[1:42:57] You can come and download it in the whole thing.
[1:42:59] I've seen that.
[1:43:00] You're a claim, you got anything?
[1:43:04] No, sir.
[1:43:06] Yeah.
[1:43:08] All right, bring it.
[1:43:09] All right.
[1:43:09] Thank you very much.
[1:43:10] Thank you.
[1:43:13] All right.
[1:43:13] That's about call the public.
[1:43:18] Out of the public is an opportunity for the public to address the council on any issue within the jurisdiction
[1:43:22] of the council that is not on the agenda.
[1:43:25] Public comment is at the discretion of the council and not required by law.
[1:43:29] Individuals are limited to speak for three minutes, building of time will not be permitted.
[1:43:33] The total time for call to the public may be up to 30 minutes for meeting.
[1:43:37] Council action taken as a result of public comment will be limited to directing staff to study the matter.
[1:43:42] Schedule in the matter for further consideration and decision at a later date or responding to criticism.
[1:43:47] Disrespectful behavior will not be tolerated. This includes loud outbursts, profanity, and disruptive discussions amongst our audience.
[1:43:53] May I do have one submitted card for Donna Norris and Linda McCoy?
[1:44:06] Good evening.
[1:44:06] Good evening.
[1:44:08] Mr. Mayor and members of the council.
[1:44:10] We appreciate the opportunity to kind of share with you the ARP tax aid statistics
[1:44:16] for the 2023 tax year.
[1:44:19] We were able to provide these services.
[1:44:22] It's a volunteer service.
[1:44:24] It is free to the public.
[1:44:27] It's open to anyone, you do not have to be an AARP member in order to get your taxes done.
[1:44:33] So we were able to actually service 360 taxpayers this past year, including the spouses.
[1:44:43] We had 271 federal returns that were generated.
[1:44:47] It brought in a total of 150,523 in refunds,
[1:44:53] the companies that came back into the community.
[1:44:56] There were 274 state returns generated.
[1:45:00] This brought in $71,000 back into the community. Our total federal and state refunds for a total of
[1:45:09] 2,221,554 dollars that came back in. So I would just like to put it out there that this is a great service to our community.
[1:45:23] And what we need is more people that would be volunteers to help us do this.
[1:45:29] This past year it was done in myself and a lady from Paladin that were in the Chino Valley Library.
[1:45:37] We would certainly like to thank the Chino Valley Library for giving us the space in order to do this.
[1:45:44] It was kind of an odd arrangement that we had.
[1:45:48] We would take in all the information on Thursday and then Donna and I would go into
[1:45:53] Prescott to the AARP office at the mall and we would do the input, it would get checked.
[1:45:59] We would bring those returns back, call the people on Thursday morning, tell them to come in
[1:46:03] and pick up their tax returns.
[1:46:05] So that's how we had to operate this past year.
[1:46:08] But if we had more volunteers, we would be able to do all this on site in the library so
[1:46:13] that people wouldn't have to make two trips.
[1:46:15] So, anybody that might be interested, it's a fun thing to do, you get to meet lots of great people, there's lots of wonderful stories to tell about people that have come in that they never knew that they could get a property tax refund.
[1:46:31] You know, we had several of our elderly clients that were not aware that they could get some of that money returned and they thought it was just like Christmas for them.
[1:46:40] So it was really a good experience, and that respect done.
[1:46:45] Do you have anything with that?
[1:46:47] And I'll take the big questions.
[1:46:48] I think I have two seconds left.
[1:46:52] Yeah.
[1:46:52] OK.
[1:46:53] Thank you very much.
[1:46:54] Thank you.
[1:46:56] Would you say you only had one?
[1:46:58] That's correct.
[1:46:59] Is anybody else a one to speak?
[1:47:03] Come on up.
[1:47:05] Please state your name.
[1:47:09] Good evening, Mayor and Council members.
[1:47:10] My name is Chase Molts.
[1:47:13] I'm a father of two great boys, eight and ten years old.
[1:47:18] I'm a resident of the Highlands Ranch community, I'm probably going north there.
[1:47:23] I'm here tonight to hopefully get an answer and maybe some help as to why I've been put on a
[1:47:28] trespassing.
[1:47:32] I've been put on this list for utilizing a space that I've seen countless other
[1:47:38] people, eutolines, it's the space between
[1:47:41] center street and grasshopper, that big dirt area.
[1:47:49] You know, I've spoke with four cops now,
[1:47:52] and none of them could tell me why I'm on this trespassing list.
[1:47:58] They've told me things like, I know this sucks.
[1:48:01] I hate that I'm doing this to you and your kids.
[1:48:04] You're raising your kids the right way,
[1:48:07] but no answer as to why.
[1:48:13] I'm more than happy to respect the property owners wishes.
[1:48:18] If the property owner does not want anyone on their land,
[1:48:23] I will respect that and not step foot on that land.
[1:48:27] The last cop I spoke with last night, he told me that
[1:48:31] it's the person that's calling it in,
[1:48:33] specifically doesn't like the dirt bikes or bicycles or anything too wield nature.
[1:48:42] They don't have a problem with the Amazon FedEx trucks, delivery drivers, horses,
[1:48:50] anyone else utilizing the space?
[1:48:56] I'm here to see if the property owner is actually requesting
[1:49:00] that I be trespassed from that property and face a citation or, you know, I'm just getting
[1:49:07] in trouble, which I don't want to do with my family present, or if it's just a disgruntled
[1:49:13] neighbor calling in on people utilizing the space, on something that they just quite frankly don't
[1:49:20] like. And I've yet to even come close to receiving an answer. The only thing I was told by each
[1:49:27] was that I need to come here tonight and ask you guys.
[1:49:33] So I respectfully asking this question.
[1:49:37] No, thank you.
[1:49:38] We can't respond to anything as done.
[1:49:40] The best I can do is have you contact the telemanager,
[1:49:44] which you should have a card,
[1:49:46] and you guys can get it up and it can be brought back to us with me.
[1:49:50] Can you repeat that one more time?
[1:49:52] I don't, I don't understand.
[1:49:54] You can't respond.
[1:49:56] No, sir. Because it's part of the, you want to.
[1:50:02] He's way more smarter than me.
[1:50:05] I'm Mr. Mayor, I'm happy to.
[1:50:07] Because of the rule of everything that's discussed by the council has to be on the agenda.
[1:50:12] The call of the public is something that's not agenda is so that the council's not allowed to respond.
[1:50:18] They're limited by law.
[1:50:20] I understand that. I just was instructed.
[1:50:22] So for cops to come here this evening and I got to work early to come here and I'm nervous and I've never done that and it's all good just get with Mrs. Blackmore should give her your business card and then you guys can
[1:50:35] Converse and then we'll go from there. Awesome. Thank you. Thank you so much for your time. You bet
[1:50:42] by is that it.
[1:50:44] Okay, moving on, current events, some reason reports on mind your by about dodgeball, it's tomorrow, right?
[1:50:53] At Heritage Middlescoals on the 15th, is that tomorrow?
[1:50:56] That's tomorrow.
[1:50:58] One to three in the gym at the Heritage Middlescoals.
[1:51:02] A lot of fun to watch the officers take on the eighth graders, is that what they are?
[1:51:08] So he way go. And I was fortunate enough this morning to attend the Republican women
[1:51:21] of Prescott's monthly lunch meeting in which they were honoring law enforcement.
[1:51:28] And it was a very proud moment and a very happy moment to see our deputy chief, our lieutenant.
[1:51:34] And the first female sergeant in this area,
[1:51:38] get recognized at that meeting.
[1:51:43] John?
[1:51:45] Sorry.
[1:51:46] Eric?
[1:51:50] Disgusting.
[1:51:53] He fell asleep.
[1:51:54] Any?
[1:51:55] I'm going to die.
[1:51:57] No, thank you.
[1:51:59] Okay.
[1:52:00] Come, man.
[1:52:00] You're pleased.
[1:52:02] Thank you.
[1:52:03] Council Member Pricons did want me to remind everyone
[1:52:06] that our schools are on summer break.
[1:52:08] That's starting next week.
[1:52:09] So keep an eye out from all the kids that will be out there.
[1:52:12] Make sure they stay safe.
[1:52:15] So first off, last week, we recognized municipal clerk's week.
[1:52:20] And we would like to take this moment to thank our town clerk, our deputy town clerk, and
[1:52:26] her team for the important role that they play in the governance.
[1:52:29] So thank you all.
[1:52:33] So some important dates, first off, come out and join us on Saturday, June 1st, join us for a party, our Chino Valley Aquatic Center is going to have their grand reopening.
[1:52:45] So there's been a lot of upgrades done to the pool, so it should be really great. We want to celebrate that.
[1:52:52] The party starts at noon. We'll have a ribbon cutting at one. They'll be free swimming, music, food trucks, so good fun for all.
[1:53:02] Next.
[1:53:02] middle storage containers. We have actually scheduled an open house for public input. We've scheduled a couple of times on June 5th Wednesday, June 5th.
[1:53:15] We have an open house from 11 to 1 where we will concentrate on input for residential properties and then we also have another meeting set from 4 to 6 where people can come and provide myself and the staff input on commercial properties.
[1:53:32] where we'll be focusing on. Now we'll take input at either meeting, but just they'll both be,
[1:53:39] like I said, residential from 11 to 1, we'll be the focus and commercial four to six.
[1:53:44] So anyone who would like to give input that, we'll welcome that. We'll take all of that input
[1:53:48] and we'll be providing that back to Council at our next at their next scheduled study session.
[1:53:56] And lastly, a reminder that the town administration buildings will be closed Monday, May 27
[1:54:01] and observance of Memorial Day. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. Okay. Consent Agenda. Would anyone
[1:54:08] like to move anything from the consent agenda?
[1:54:12] No. Any or Eric? No. No. Okay. All you're
[1:54:19] taking a motion. Mr. Mayor, make a motion to approve Consent Agenda items ABC and D.
[1:54:25] I'll second. Motion made and seconded. All in favor.
[1:54:29] Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye.
[1:54:34] So we need a post. Motion carries. Action items.
[1:54:39] Consideration, possible action to word.
[1:54:41] The construction contract to AP and S in the amount of 1,598,698.
[1:54:50] dollars and maybe eight cents.
[1:54:56] Thank you Mayor, Vice Mayor members of Council. This is
[1:55:01] in is our scheduled program maintenance for street repairs. We put out bids and the
[1:55:12] low bid was asphalt paving and supply. The project is to reconstruct North Road one
[1:55:17] east starting on the south end at Juniper, just south of two north and extending north
[1:55:23] to Perkinsville Road, basically in front of territorial school in the, in the, in the
[1:55:28] ballfield complex, uh, the road is horrible and needs full replacement. Uh, we got
[1:55:36] bids in the, uh, engineers estimates not written on here, but luckily they didn't get the bid.
[1:55:42] They were at 1.9 million. Um, so we're, we are seeing, I think maybe prices starting to drop
[1:55:48] a little bit, hopefully, uh,
[1:55:51] pressure fingers that it's good news for future bids,
[1:55:55] but uh, asphalt paving and supply got the low bit at 1.598,
[1:56:00] $690 and 98 cents, and uh, staff recommends going with that low bit.
[1:56:08] Okay.
[1:56:09] Eric or Amy questions?
[1:56:14] No.
[1:56:16] No.
[1:56:19] I know I ask it before I'm going to ask it again.
[1:56:22] the shaded part on our agenda is, is that what's going to be done?
[1:56:29] Uh, I'm not sure.
[1:56:32] This is my hand.
[1:56:34] Oh, on Mayhand, we will go back a little bit on Mayhand, but we had to try and find a spot to stop.
[1:56:42] So it's about 50 feet or so I think we're going back.
[1:56:45] That's that's perfect because that gives the buses time to.
[1:56:49] Right.
[1:56:50] If I had my choice, we'd go back about a mile.
[1:56:53] No, I'll give you a check.
[1:56:55] Isn't that okay?
[1:56:57] Okay, I'm happy.
[1:56:58] Thank you.
[1:57:04] All right.
[1:57:06] Another thing, motion.
[1:57:07] Mayor, I make a motion to award a construction contract
[1:57:10] to ask about paving and supply and corporate it for the North Road.
[1:57:14] One East Improvements project in the amount of 1,598,000,
[1:57:19] and $698 and $98 cents.
[1:57:23] Second.
[1:57:25] Was that a second, Annie?
[1:57:27] Second.
[1:57:28] Okay. All in favor?
[1:57:30] I don't know.
[1:57:33] When you're building that.
[1:57:34] A post.
[1:57:37] Motion carries.
[1:57:38] How do you get 98 cents when you're building?
[1:57:42] Cutting out of the chip seal.
[1:57:44] I didn't mean consideration,
[1:57:46] consideration,
[1:57:47] and possible action to adopt resolution number, 2024,
[1:57:51] one, two, five, three, adjusting fees
[1:57:53] for the Geneal Valley Aquatics Center.
[1:57:56] Good evening, Mayor.
[1:57:57] Good evening.
[1:57:58] So tonight, I'm bringing before you a Aquatics fees.
[1:58:03] The town is in the process right now
[1:58:04] of going through a comprehensive fees study
[1:58:08] for all the town fees.
[1:58:09] However, it was identified by staff
[1:58:11] that this would be a good item to bring before council now
[1:58:14] so we could have it in place for the new season start to prevent confusion for the public to have
[1:58:20] these change mid-season. So with that piece study what we looked at are applicable laws and
[1:58:25] statutes, we analyzed service costs, and we also looked at pricing factors, comparing to other
[1:58:33] communities, and our customer experience. We want to make things as simple as possible for any of
[1:58:43] we have our current proposed fees. The table up on the screen is also in the packet.
[1:58:49] We are going the primary adjustments are merging our ages 3 to 17 in our 18 to 54 groups
[1:58:57] into one type. So anyone between the ages of 354 will pay the same fee and it's being lowered
[1:59:05] slightly so it'll go to $3 and then the same for season passes for that age group.
[1:59:13] There's no changes to zero to two for children is still free and then we also have reduced the season passes and the admission for those who are age 55 and older so we slightly reduce those and then we consolidated a significant amount of our fees for our.
[1:59:36] I hope that's on my next page.
[1:59:39] So our adult swim lessons was not something that was utilized.
[1:59:42] So we removed that as well as our private lessons.
[1:59:49] So we still have our group swim lessons as well as our fitness classes.
[1:59:54] And on both of those, we slightly reduce the fees.
[1:59:58] And then for our Aquatics.
[2:00:00] Facility rental, previously we charged for the rental of the facility along with life guards and slide rental. So it was just multiple things that we kept adding on. So we consolidated those so it's a one price, depending on the size of the party that includes all those items.
[2:00:16] And then we have our rate discount, which is something that we hadn't specified previously, but we offered to the public, which was a discount on that facility rental for just the party room.
[2:00:28] And so with that, this is the proposed fee schedule summarized, so we have four fees are expected to be unchanged two fees are eliminated, nine were consolidated, five fees were reduced, and one fee was discounted.
[2:00:45] And with that, are there any questions or comments?
[2:00:50] Thank you for allowing a lot of surprises. That's nice. I have a little issue with the party amount of stuff. That's $300 in the $400 for just two hours.
[2:01:05] And a full slide rental that come with the full.
[2:01:11] The slide rental comes with that. So if somebody reserves the whole pool that includes the life guards,
[2:01:17] the facility use and the slide rental. The reason why the slide rental costs more previously,
[2:01:23] why we had it separated out, we would allow them to use it, but we had to add in additional
[2:01:27] staff to man that because there's safety concerns if there's not enough lifeguards on staff.
[2:01:32] And that's why there's a difference between the two-hour party. This is very rarely used. We have
[2:01:37] typically, there's only a few times during each season when the pool is reserved
[2:01:42] as a full facility rental and it is at these costs.
[2:01:48] So the 300 and 400 buys the whole full for two hours.
[2:01:53] No very else is allowed in it.
[2:01:55] Correct.
[2:01:58] Okay.
[2:01:59] It doesn't say that.
[2:02:01] It just says if you have a party.
[2:02:04] It is for a party where they are the sole users of the facility during that time.
[2:02:10] Okay.
[2:02:11] There's not spelled out in any of this.
[2:02:16] It just says a party. It doesn't say exclusive use of it.
[2:02:20] Well, it's the aquatic facility we can definitely add clarifying language on there.
[2:02:25] But I think you should.
[2:02:26] Okay, that's there.
[2:02:27] Because I didn't see it anywhere.
[2:02:30] Okay, thank you.
[2:02:31] No problem.
[2:02:33] All right.
[2:02:35] Nothing.
[2:02:37] All right, Amy or Eric, do you have anything?
[2:02:43] Yeah, thank you.
[2:02:45] All right, will you entertain the motion?
[2:02:48] Mayor, I think a motion to adopt resolution number 2024 dash 1, 2, 5, 3 adjusting admission fees for the Gina Valley aquatic center and repealing conflicting resolution motion motion made and
[2:03:15] program citizens advisory committee.
[2:03:19] That evening Mayor Vice Mayor and council members, the council appointment subcommittee
[2:03:23] met on April 30, 2024 to review applications and forward a recommendation of appointment
[2:03:29] to the newly created capital improvement program citizens advisory committee.
[2:03:34] Based on the review of all the applications filed, the subcommittee recommends the following
[2:03:38] individuals to the committee.
[2:03:40] Michael did a Sherry Klein,
[2:03:42] Paul Taylor, Gary Warren, and Rob Zazweta.
[2:03:46] And I believe that Councilmember Grenillo,
[2:03:49] who is the chair of this appointment subcommittee,
[2:03:52] can give a little more explanation
[2:03:53] on that meeting if you would like.
[2:03:57] Here, sorry.
[2:03:59] Yeah, yes, we want to thank all of the applicants
[2:04:03] and appreciate their desire to be involved
[2:04:05] in this important committee.
[2:04:07] On April 30th, myself, Mayor Miller
[2:04:09] Council Member Perkins that and based on the reviews of the applicants the
[2:04:14] subcommittee recommended these individuals that we chose.
[2:04:20] Thank you.
[2:04:21] All right. Thank you.
[2:04:22] Welcome.
[2:04:24] Hello.
[2:04:25] I'm not questioning.
[2:04:27] How many names did you get ring off? Did you say four or five?
[2:04:30] Five.
[2:04:30] Okay.
[2:04:31] Okay.
[2:04:33] We'll entertain a motion.
[2:04:35] Mayor, make a motion to appoint applicants to the capital improvement program
[2:04:39] citizens advisory committee for the recommendation of the appointment subcommittee.
[2:04:46] Motion. Major. Second. Motion made and seconded all in favor. I.
[2:04:53] In the opposed motion carries.
[2:05:00] Make a motion to adjourn. Second. Motion made the seconded to adjourn all favor.
[2:05:05] Oh, I was adjourned. Council don't forget. We have a e-session.
[2:05:09] I'll enter executive session.
[2:05:12] Oh, can I have a motion that you did make that motion?
[2:05:14] Is there any executive session?
[2:05:16] Is there a second?
[2:05:17] Second.
[2:05:18] All in favor?
[2:05:19] All in favor?
[2:05:22] Any opposed?
[2:05:25] All right.
[2:05:26] Executive session, then.
[2:05:28] Thank you for coming.
[2:05:29] Autumn, look and they think we are going to take the break.
[2:05:33] Okay.