[4:57] I don't want to start until you're ready, so you give me a thumbs up, okay, when you're

[5:00] ready to go. Thank you. I

[5:40] think we are about ready to get started. Thank you for your patience.

[5:44] We had another meeting upstairs prior to this one, so we were running a few minutes late.

[5:49] I will go ahead and call the meeting to order for April 6, 2021. The first thing on our

[5:57] agenda is the Pledge of Allegiance. Who is it? Oh, that would be Councilmember Anderson

[6:01] leading us.

[6:08] Thank you. Would you all join me in

[6:11] pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the

[6:17] Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and

[6:24] justice for all. Thank you.

[6:29] Thank you, Council Member Anderson. And if I could

[6:32] invite, oh, Pastor Thor, I could invite Pastor Thor Strandholt of the

[6:37] Valor Christian Center down to provide our invocation for this evening.

[6:46] Well,

[6:46] So good evening everybody,

[6:50] all these happy smiles here this evening.

[6:53] You know, before I retired here to Arizona in 2013, I was a physician in California for

[7:00] 40 years taking care of people's physical problems.

[7:03] And while I was in practice, I also became an ordained minister and I thought, well, it's

[7:08] time for me to retire, time to hang up my hands and just take it easy for a while.

[7:14] Well, when I got to Arizona, got everything put away, hung the clothes in the closets,

[7:20] put the pictures on the wall, and I sat there and I said, now what do I do?

[7:24] Retiring is hard. It's not an easy thing to do. Remember that when you get there.

[7:30] And I felt the Lord speak to my heart in a very special way.

[7:34] He said, you're not going to retire. You're going to refire.

[7:38] And so for the last six years, I've been the Associate Pastor at Valer Christian Center.

[7:42] It's been a wonderful job, a great opportunity to meet all of you in the community and to

[7:47] be a part of what's going on.

[7:50] So Mayor Peterson and Vice Mayor Prokowski, I got it right this time.

[7:54] And thank you for having me and Town Council.

[7:59] There's a man in the Bible by the name of Solomon.

[8:01] And in his day, King Solomon was considered the richest, most wisest man of his time.

[8:08] Now he wrote the book of Ecclesiastes.

[8:09] he wrote the song of Solomon, but he also wrote the book of Proverbs. And the book of

[8:14] Proverbs is considered the wise, the book of wisdom in the Bible. I just want to do a couple

[8:20] of scriptures here for you tonight. Proverbs chapter one, and I'm going to start with verse

[8:25] two this time, to know wisdom and instruction, to perceive the words of understanding, to

[8:31] receive instruction of wisdom, justice, judgment, and equity, to give subtly to

[8:36] the simple and to the young man knowledge and discretion now here's the

[8:42] verse that really counts a wise man will hear an increase in knowledge and a man

[8:49] of understanding shall attain unto wise councils as my personal opinion that the

[8:55] purpose of our town council is to bring wisdom from each one of our members to

[8:59] make decisions concerning the benefits for our community and I believe this is

[9:05] a community that has made great strives and because of those decisions that our town council

[9:11] has made, we're continuing to move onward and upward.

[9:15] Let's pray.

[9:16] Father in the name of Jesus, I come to you tonight and I ask your blessing upon our town

[9:21] council.

[9:21] I ask your blessing upon this meeting and I thank you, Lord.

[9:25] You give all of those that have to make the decisions wisdom, Father, beyond their

[9:28] years and making the right decisions for our community.

[9:31] And, Lord, we'll be careful to give you all the praise, all the honor, and all the glory

[9:36] for it.

[9:37] Amen.

[9:38] Thank you.

[9:40] Thank you, Pastor Thor.

[9:42] Learned something new about you this evening that you're a physician in your previous life.

[9:47] Thank you for always being here when we need you to provide an invocation for us.

[9:52] If I could please ask the town clerk to conduct a roll call.

[9:56] Mayor Bridget Peterson.

[9:58] Here.

[9:59] Vice Mayor Young-Kaparowski.

[10:00] Here.

[10:00] Councilmember Scott Anderson, Councilmember Lauren Hendricks, Councilmember Scott September,

[10:08] Councilmember Kathy Tilke, and Councilmember Amy Yenthis.

[10:12] A quorum is present.

[10:14] Thank you, Chevelle.

[10:15] Next, we have presentation of any recognitions, presentations and proclamations,

[10:20] and I believe I will start with Councilmember Anderson.

[10:24] Thank you, Mayor.

[10:26] As I mentioned last week when I gave a report on the activities going on at AMWA and the importance of water planning in the state,

[10:36] it's turned out to be a very convenient moment at that time because we're honoring those who not only are involved in doing the great planning work for water management in our state,

[10:47] but also those who are participating in conserving water in Gilbert.

[10:51] So tonight we have a couple of proclamations.

[10:54] One is the first is the Gilbert Water Professionals Appreciation Week.

[10:59] And just a few highlights from the proclamation,

[11:04] whereas Gilbert's professional stewards of the water profession have dedicated their work of public service

[11:09] during an ever-changing pandemic and are essential workers performing valuable public safety service.

[11:15] Whereas Gilbert has a diversity of water resources, groundwater preserved in vast underground aquifers, runoff from mountain rainfall and snowmelt collected in reservoirs, Colorado river water moved through hundreds of miles of canals to Gilbert and recycled wastewater treated to drinking water standards.

[11:35] and where Gilbert has been a leader in sustainable management of groundwater resources and has pioneered

[11:41] innovations such as water recharge and expanding the reuse of treated wastewater to replenish

[11:46] aquifers and improve local water supply reliability and Gilbert and this is very important and

[11:52] Gilbert has become a 100% water reuse community.

[11:58] Now, therefore be it resolved that the Gilbert Town Council hereby declares April 5th through

[12:05] the 11th, 2021 Gilbert Water Professionals Appreciation Week and extends its sincere

[12:10] gratitude and appreciation to the water professionals who are on the frontline of the delivery

[12:15] of Gilbert's safe and reliable water.

[12:19] And I know that Jessica Marlowe is with us virtually, I think. Is that right, Jessica?

[12:26] Is Eric online too? Is Eric online?

[12:31] Is Eric Brown online? Eric, are you there too?

[12:37] Well, let me just say to both of you that congratulations, as I mentioned last week,

[12:44] I'm amazed at how well the Southwest manages water and how we plan for use of

[12:50] water and it's because of professionals like you and Eric I see you now it's

[12:57] professionals like you that are able to to achieve the goals that we have of

[13:03] 100% reuse of our water and and managing our water supply for our growth

[13:08] in the town so thank you and congratulations for and we recognize

[13:13] you for this week, April 5th, you will love it for all your hard work and your your success. Thank you.

[13:21] Thank you. We really appreciate the kind words and support. Yes, thank you. I wanted to just take one

[13:28] minute and thank the mayor and council for issuing this proclamation and recognizing the hard work of

[13:34] all of the staff that you know when many of us went to work remotely over a year ago, they

[13:40] they kept reporting to our facility every day.

[13:42] You can't run a water plant or clean a sewer line

[13:45] or fix a main break from your house.

[13:48] And it's their dedication to the town

[13:51] and to the professions that kept the clean water flowing in

[13:53] and the dirty water flowing out to every home,

[13:56] every business, every hospital in the community

[13:59] over this past year.

[14:00] And the reframe, as you mentioned, our reuse,

[14:02] they kept the lakes full

[14:03] and we were able to enjoy our parks

[14:05] probably a lot more than we had in the past

[14:08] over the last year as well.

[14:09] So just really, really appreciate their dedication to the town and we, and we value their commitment so much. So thank you.

[14:17] Thank you.

[14:20] And as coincidence, I guess that you'd mentioned that the residents are the ones that help us achieve those great accomplishments that we're able to do in the town. And that has that leads into the second.

[14:32] Proclamation, which is to the water to water wise Gilbert 2020 honorees.

[14:37] We do this each year. We recognize those associations, neighborhoods, and businesses that contribute to our water-wise policy, our ability to recycle 100% of our water resources, and in our conservation efforts.

[14:55] So this proclamation recognizes those groups.

[15:00] I think there are 123 different businesses, organizations and facilities that are now able

[15:10] to contribute to the water-wise program, whereas water is the most precious natural resource

[15:17] within the desert and whereas Gilbert's Office of Water Resources and Conservation has implemented

[15:22] many water efficiency programs that aid the residents, businesses, and other organizations

[15:26] and Gilbert with the conservation of water.

[15:30] Now, therefore, the Gilbert Town Council

[15:32] does declare the following businesses,

[15:34] organizations and facilities

[15:35] to have attained water-wise Gilbert status for 2020.

[15:39] Noting the additional honors

[15:41] to those who have met this designation continuously

[15:44] and expresses its gratitude and appreciation

[15:48] for their contribution to a sustainable

[15:50] and exceptional quality of life.

[15:52] Again, as I mentioned,

[15:53] and there are 123 different organizations, businesses,

[15:57] facilities that contribute to this program.

[16:00] Some for as long as six years in a row,

[16:03] we recognize them three years in a row

[16:06] and some that are new

[16:06] and the list keeps getting longer and longer

[16:08] and we really appreciate our residents

[16:11] who are involved in this program

[16:14] and help us in our water-wise conservation efforts.

[16:17] So thank you very much for your efforts.

[16:25] I wanna put in a special plug for Eric Brown.

[16:27] we had to have a quick meeting a couple of weeks ago that our town manager pulled

[16:31] together and Eric was on vacation and joined us virtually from vacation in the

[16:36] middle of the day. So they really are, they go above and beyond in everything

[16:40] that they do every day as town of Gilbert members. I will take the next

[16:44] proclamation.

[17:03] If I could ask Katie Thomas to come down and join me please.

[17:08] I met Katie through Gilbert leadership a few years ago and this

[17:13] This proclamation this evening is for the week of the young child.

[17:16] I'll read a few of the items that are listed on the proclamation, whereas all young children

[17:21] deserve quality early learning environments that support them as capable and confident

[17:25] lifelong learners, whereas investments in babies and young children have profound

[17:30] impacts on creating a strong and vibrant community, and whereas First Things First

[17:36] Arizona Association for the Education of Young Children and other community organizations

[17:40] in conjunction with the National Association for the Education of Young Children are celebrating

[17:46] the 50th anniversary of the week of the young child and whereas these organizations are working

[17:52] to improve equitable early learning opportunities including early literacy programs that can

[17:58] provide a foundation of learning for children in the town of Gilbert, whereas early childhood

[18:04] educators and others who make a difference in the lives of young children deserve thanks

[18:08] and recognition and whereas public policies that support early learning for all young children

[18:14] are crucial to the future of Arizona's young children families and communities.

[18:19] Now therefore I Mayor Bridget Peterson do proclaim April 10th through the 16th 2021

[18:25] as the week of the young child in the town of Gilbert, Arizona and encourage all citizens to

[18:30] support and invest in early childhood education in our community. Katie you'd like to say a

[18:38] and esteemed council. We appreciate your vision and passion and dedication to

[18:42] Gilbert's youngest children. I'm Katie Thomas and a wife, a mom of two kids in

[18:47] a Gilbert residence, and I'm proud and honored to serve as regional partnership

[18:52] council member for the First Things First Southeast Maricopa region. Isn't

[18:57] that a mouthful? The cool thing about First Things First is that it was

[19:01] actually created by Arizonans as the instead of by legislature and it was

[19:05] designed to help more kids arrive at kindergarten ready to succeed. As Arizona's early childhood

[19:10] agency First Think First is the only state funding source dedicated exclusively to the

[19:15] beginning of the education continuum and partners with communities to support parents

[19:20] in their role as their child's first teacher. It should also be noted that economic development

[19:26] starts with early childhood development. Evidence shows that quality early learning

[19:30] programs result in short and long-term economic benefits not only to individuals

[19:34] and families but communities as well. Once again we're excited as first things first to

[19:40] partner with the Arizona Association for the Education of Young Children to join the Nice

[19:44] and Wide Celebration of the Week of the Young Child. As you mentioned, this year marks the 50th

[19:50] anniversary and we are so excited for it. Young children are our future and there are many

[19:56] ways that Gilbert community members can come together for children and celebrate this week

[20:00] of the young child. Please take some time to support early literacy initiatives.

[20:06] Thank teachers who educate and nurture our children and work towards public

[20:10] policies that benefit all young children. Thanks Katie. I think it's

[20:15] important to recognize all different aspects of our community and I

[20:19] appreciate that you have taken this on as something that you're passionate

[20:21] about and brought it to our attention.

[20:49] Thank you everyone. We will now move

[20:52] into the consent agenda, oh excuse me,

[20:55] communications from citizens and vice mayor,

[20:57] if you would like to take that please.

[20:59] Certainly mayor.

[21:01] We have three requests to speak tonight.

[21:04] The communications from citizens portion of the agenda

[21:06] provides our citizens an opportunity to identify

[21:08] for the town matters of interest or concern

[21:11] that are not on the printed agenda.

[21:13] Under the provisions of open meeting law,

[21:15] we are prohibited from responding to the issues

[21:18] that have not been noticed.

[21:19] Therefore, we may only listen.

[21:22] The council's response is limited to responding to criticism,

[21:25] asking staff to review a matter commented on,

[21:28] or asking that a matter be put on a future agenda.

[21:31] When I call your name, please come to the podium

[21:33] and state your name and place of residence.

[21:36] All speakers are expected to observe common standards

[21:39] of decorum and courtesy.

[21:42] Personal attacks or threats are inappropriate.

[21:47] And at the discretion of the mayor, the speaker's time maybe ended at the podium.

[21:52] Each speaker will get two minutes.

[21:54] Our first speaker will be Nolan Baldwin.

[22:12] Push. There we go. Now it's working.

[22:16] I was going to let you have a night off, and as I sat down someone asked,

[22:20] was it going to say anything?

[22:20] I thought it wasn't, but I want to say thank you.

[22:25] Greg Davis and I and Randy Adams met with Jason and Mr. Snow and another guy, I believe

[22:33] it was Martin within Telus Group and so they are looking at changes and, you know, they've

[22:39] been instructed to find options. So that means that they've been talked to. We appreciate

[22:43] that. We're going to keep working with them and do our best to get things how we

[22:50] would like them and hopefully it'll be where both of us are happy there so thank

[22:54] you for that Jason did say we asked him to you know get a letter saying

[22:59] something to the appraisals and other people that you know everything said to

[23:04] acquire your property we said please get that off of there and we got a letter

[23:08] from Jason yesterday I believe it was or an email from Jason he has done

[23:12] that so appreciate your work I know all of you have been out to see the

[23:15] project and I've seen you all out there except for the mayor but thank

[23:19] you for making this happen. So we appreciate it. And we're going to keep working forward

[23:24] with him and the rest of the group to see if we can be happy with what happens. Thank

[23:30] you.

[23:34] Our next speaker will be Debbie Kuhn.

[23:51] Hi, I'm also here trying to stop what we

[23:57] call the land grab. I appreciated Pastor Thor's prayer that you have a prayer

[24:04] are here to make a good, peaceful setting here.

[24:07] And I would just like to add that we

[24:10] pray for honesty, virtue, integrity, and transparency,

[24:17] along with the wisdom beyond our years because we all need that.

[24:24] I'm the one who mentioned about the signs I noticed

[24:27] and kind of confusing because I went back today

[24:33] to get a picture because I had a bad picture. You couldn't read it and they're gone. And

[24:39] it was a trail sign stating of the new of some upcoming transportation system. And it

[24:50] didn't show horses on it. It showed runners and I think bikes, if I can remember right,

[24:55] but I'm positive I saw the headlights of the vehicle. And I was like, what? What's

[25:01] the vehicle going to do. And so I kind of like somebody to contact me and explain to

[25:06] me what kind of transportation is being planned to go through the eastern western canal on

[25:14] to Freestone Park, on to Greenfield, because those are where I saw the signs. And I drove

[25:19] to those areas today and there's no sign of them now. And I'm just, okay, why did

[25:26] why did they put them up they took them down and also the pointed signs that are

[25:34] telling us about a canal there then we trying to get to a the traffic light to

[25:39] push it for our horses those are still there they're still dangerous so I know

[25:48] what Nolan just answered my question on having appraisers come and and ask us

[25:56] for, you know, to be able to praise our property. I appreciate it. You give us some time and

[26:02] please reconsider taking our land. My horses need every blade of grass and every foot to

[26:10] play on as it keeps them calm. If they get to play before we go out to ride, there's

[26:18] not enough room for a round pen and there's no place for us to exercise them. And so

[26:23] So if we don't have a place for them to play, they are very rambunctious to try to get on.

[26:29] And my daughter, who you met last week, who has, she's just the little one and who spoke,

[26:35] she needs that for her therapy and I would, me, we don't want to come off our horses

[26:40] and we really rely on that and a gate to bring in the feed.

[26:47] Also, we are so willing to let them back in there to take care of whatever it is they

[26:54] need to take care of.

[26:56] It's going to be much more affordable to us, to all of us.

[27:02] They're not counting foot feet, they're saying 23 feet, but if I have 150, 165

[27:08] feet across, let's talk about per square footage of grazing property, of running

[27:14] property, a property for someone to play catch or run, you know, and just to have games and

[27:19] exercise.

[27:20] Thank you, Debbie.

[27:21] Thank you.

[27:21] Appreciate your comments.

[27:23] Our next speaker will be Julia McCleave.

[27:36] Good evening, Madam Mayor and Councilmembers.

[27:38] My name is Julia McCleave.

[27:40] I live at 436 North Hunney, South Tulane, right down the road from Debbie Coon and

[27:45] the other 24 people.

[27:46] My remarks are really pretty quick.

[27:48] I know that you want it.

[27:50] There's no question.

[27:51] I've found out how much you want it.

[27:53] But I don't think you need it, and that's my crutch right there.

[27:57] Until you can prove to me that you really need it, that you're not planning for something in the 22nd century, that's a salute across.

[28:05] So I really would hope that you would sit back and think about what you need first than what you want. Thank you very much.

[28:14] That concludes our communications from citizens. We'll move to the consent calendar.

[28:19] We had no items requested to be pulled from the agenda.

[28:25] So may I have a motion to approve consent calendar items 4, 5, 5A, 5B, 5C, 6, 6A, 6B, 7, 7A, 8, and 9.

[28:42] So moved.

[28:43] Second.

[28:44] Please vote.

[28:50] The motion passes unanimously.

[28:52] That concludes the consent calendar. Mayor Peterson.

[28:57] Thank you, Vice Mayor. We don't have any items on our public hearing agenda this evening

[29:02] Administrative items moving to boards commissions and committees any reports from council liaison liaison anything you'd like to share. Oh

[29:11] Councilmember toky

[29:13] Thank You mayor

[29:14] We had a redevelopment commission meeting this past month and was very excited to see the new run red building

[29:24] plans being submitted and so if you're not familiar with that that's between

[29:29] where Norwood furniture is and farmhouse restaurant and it will be quite

[29:36] multi-use facility and it will kind of stair step back but we'll have a roof

[29:44] top lounge and so you'll be able to see the water tower right from there and

[29:48] it's really a nice project so that's moving through the process it wasn't

[29:52] just a study session, and so they got a lot of comments from that. And the other thing

[29:57] I wanted to report was on.

[30:00] Gilbert sister cities. Unfortunately, in Antrim Nabi, they are just looking at reopening their

[30:08] schools right now. And so they believe that they may be having school all the way into

[30:14] the summer. So we're really disappointed that our students that were going to go last summer,

[30:20] we pushed off trying to have them go this summer and they're not going to be able

[30:24] So that's sad news, but the good news is that we're going to be providing each of them a scholarship

[30:31] and they'll be able to use it towards their college education.

[30:35] And we will be working with staff here and over there and trying to potentially do a virtual ceremony

[30:42] just honoring the students here and there and presenting that scholarship.

[30:47] So just wanted to bring you up to date.

[30:49] We're really sad that that didn't work out.

[30:51] And unfortunately, the age of the kids, when they're first selected, they are between their

[30:57] junior and senior year, which now puts them in their senior year, and obviously, they're

[31:02] ready to move on to college or their other adventures.

[31:05] So we'll look forward to maybe having a really nice celebration for them anyway.

[31:11] And that's all I have.

[31:13] Mayor.

[31:13] Thank you, Council Member Tilke.

[31:15] Any other comments?

[31:17] No?

[31:18] on to communications, then report from the town manager on current events.

[31:24] Thank you, Mayor, members of the council. Just one announcement tonight.

[31:28] A retirement of a longtime Gilbert employee, Dan Areola, who is also a proud Army veteran,

[31:34] served the town of Gilbert for over 20 years, started his journey with the town on September 18, 2000,

[31:40] working in environmental services, hand tossing bulk trash piles into the river truck.

[31:46] Dan Sue moved to commercial collections where he learned to operate a front loader and a roll-off truck.

[31:50] He was transferred to our public works streets division where he worked with our fog and crack seal team.

[31:56] Dan realized his heart was in solid waste. He returned to environmental services to work in residential collections

[32:01] where he continued his career driving a side loading truck emptying black and blue pins for our residents.

[32:07] In his seven years as a residential solid waste operator he collected over 1.6 million cans,

[32:13] 21,000 tons of waste and recyclables and drove over 130,000 miles, so we thank him

[32:20] for his service to this community and wish him all the best in well-earned

[32:23] retirement. Wow, the stats that you can pull out on solid waste when it's

[32:29] amazing. Thank you. Any report from council on current events? Yes, vice

[32:34] mayor. Today is my husband's 40th birthday, so I just wanted to give a

[32:40] a big shout out to Keith Koprowski for his 40th birthday

[32:44] and a thank you to all of our families

[32:45] for supporting us in this leadership role

[32:48] even on these late nights.

[32:51] Thank you, Vice Mayor.

[32:53] Happy birthday.

[32:54] Any other comments from Council members?

[32:56] Next from me, and I don't have any.

[32:59] I think I shared a lot last week

[33:00] and we met one week ago,

[33:01] so I have no other items to report

[33:04] and I will go ahead and recess this meeting

[33:07] so that we can move into an executive session upstairs.

[33:09] Thank you.

Town Council Regular Meeting

Agenda

Transcript