Council Regular/Special Meeting

MINUTES OF THE GILBERT TOWN COUNCIL, IN SPECIAL MEETING, FALL COUNCIL RETREAT – DAY 2 OF THURSDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2022 AT 8:30 AM, SOUTHEAST REGIONAL LIBRARY, 775 N. GREENFIELD ROAD, GILBERT, ARIZONA COUNCIL PRESENT: Mayor Brigette Peterson, Councilmembers Scott Anderson, Yung Koprowski, Scott September, and Kathy Tilque COUNCIL ABSENT: Vice Mayor Aimee Yentes and Councilmember Laurin Hendrix STAFF PRESENT: Town Manager Patrick Banger, Deputy Town Clerk Judy Martinez, Town Attorney Christopher Payne, Assistant Town Manager Mary Goodman, Assistant Town Manager Dawn Prince, Assistant Town Manager Leah Hubbard-Rhineheimer, Chief People Officer Nathan Williams, Finance Management Services Director Håkon Johanson, Assistant Tax Compliance Manager Jordan Fasano, Tax Compliance Manager Sara Radbury, Intergovernmental Relations Director Rob Bohr, Economic Development Director Dan Henderson, Volunteer and Community Resources Manager Melanie Dykstra, Police Chief Michael Soelberg, Fire Chief Rob Duggan, and Assistant to the Town Manager Allyna Bay OTHERS PRESENT: Councilmembers-elect Bobbi Buchli, Chuck Bongiovanni, and Jim Torgeson AGENDA ITEM CALL TO ORDER 1 Mayor Peterson called the meeting to order at 8:40 a.m. AGENDA ITEMS 1. Welcome and Opening Remarks Town Manager Banger welcomed everyone and thanked them for attending. 2. Recruitment and Retention Chief People Officer Williams noted that the Councilmembers-elect had not yet heard this presentation on Gilbert’s recruitment and retention efforts. He introduced Assistant Town Managers Dawn Prince and Mary Goodman. Assistant Town Manager Prince discussed Fall 2021 and “The Great Resignation” and “Great Retirement”. She said some of the causes were people reevaluating their lives during the pandemic, changes with work requirements, and people deciding they did not want to work anymore. She also spoke of the recession and said Gilbert began watching and discussing the concerning trend of increases in turnover across the Country, Valley, and Gilbert. She said in the Winter 2022 they put together a working group to look at those concerns and identify a list of initiatives meant to aid in recruitment and retention. She discussed significant losses in workforce in some of the departments. She said during Summer 2022 that they came to the Council to try to combat the inflation they were seeing. Council was gracious and approved a 5% inflationary adjustment at that time and a health care payout put into the trust to help decrease costs for employees for healthcare. She said the Council also approved an increase vacation carryover. She said they were looking at the initiatives in three tiers – now, near and long term. She highlighted methods of prioritization – 10% market urgency, 25% people impact, 25% estimated direct cost, 30% recruitment and retention, and 10% policy change. She said they also considered how many employees would be impacted with each initiative to determine a ranking for each. 2 Assistant Town Manager Goodman said the group was already moving on some of those priorities. She said they looked into referral incentives, leadership forums, stay interviews, town halls, wider use of predictive index, and marking career opportunities. She said they had seen people wanting to connect more since the pandemic and also would be hosting employee town halls again to connect staff to messages from the Town Manager on a variety of different topics. She said predictive index was a great tool for recruitment, plus they were working on other opportunities to help employees move up within the Town. She discussed Phase 1 initiatives and said Gilbert’s program incentivizes performance. She said the priorities were educating the workforce on the Town’s Pay for Performance approach, trying to reduce burnout, educating workforce on the Town’s Pay Benchmarking Process, creating a mentorship program, how to better create/leverage cross-functional teams, and a tuition reimbursement program expansion for employee/leader development including reimbursement for certifications. She said the initiatives to explore in the future were to continue to revise job postings and have employee recognition programs, more leadership training, all-employee events, hiring efficiencies, onboarding/entrance efficiencies, career road-mapping, more Town-supported certifications/training program, and employee wellness time. Chief People Officer Williams discussed a study with various organizations that found that one-third of employees surveyed would elect for more mental health care and wellness versus pay. He said it was very telling and the Town was trying to pay close attention to that. He discussed the impacts of anxiety, trauma, and stress and how it affects staff, especially in public safety, and also the burden of staff taking on additional tasks with a heavy workload causing burnout. He said Gilbert wanted to remain an employer of choice compared to other neighboring communities. He said Mesa was going to launch a paid post-retirement benefit program which would be very costly, but Gilbert would be working with an actuary to see if it could be considered. He discussed the deferred compensation contribution and how that was also being considered, as well as paid family leave that would go beyond parents to cover any Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) approved leave, and longevity pay for public safety as a retention incentive. He provided some turnover trends and vacancy data. He explained the data and said the trend was now declining in retirement and resignations, stating all turnover data was declining. He 3 discussed how they had filled most of the vacant positions and they were only halfway through the fiscal year. He discussed vacancy trends and said the level and volume of resignations that were occurring was record-breaking. Assistant Town Manager Goodman stated Gilbert had not faced that, but the vacancy numbers were still higher than they would have liked to see. Assistant Town Manager Prince stated employees were still looking for more incentives and benefits, as well as flexibility. Chief People Officer Williams stated Gilbert ran lean did not have extra people on call. He discussed living in Phoenix and not having bulk trash pickup for five weeks, adding they sent Gilbert employees over to help out in Phoenix. He said that the vacancy rate went from 11% to 6.5% from February to November 2022. He said in the Police Department there were only 3 vacancies out of 263 positions, which was roughly only 1.1% in that department, and then 5 out of 206 positions in the Fire Department. Assistant Town Manager Goodman stated they were working to maintain efforts to recruit and retain the best and the brightest. Councilmember Tilque congratulated the Team on their work. She said the environment Gilbert was in before was not good or one it was used to, but they did not panic then and do things others did in other industries. She said the fact that Gilbert did not put them in a position that would cost more money and then have to lay people off was appreciated. She said Gilbert did provide a great culture and discussed examples of that, then asked about continuing efforts to make sure they were not burning out their employees. She said there needed to be a balance and it was hard to get new employees, but advocated for strategy to not lose employees who had nothing else to give. Assistant Town Manager Goodman said when they started meeting with the groups, pay didn’t come up until the third meeting. The first issue brought up was burnout. 4 Town Manager Banger stated they did not want to get the reputation that they used and burned out employees. Councilmember-elect Bongiovanni asked about staff working from home. Assistant Town Manager Goodman discussed Municipal Center I and said the capacity there was for about 160 in that space and said most were at capacity. She said 75% of Gilbert’s municipal work force did not qualify for remote work, 20% were eligible for 50/50 remote work, and only 5% of workforce classification was for mostly remote because they found it increased production and had a higher call volume, plus less sick time. She said more people wanted to be in office and were seeking more in-person activity, adding the remote work policy was a wonderful benefit but would not necessarily decrease the in- person demand. Chief People Officer Williams stated there were arguments on both sides of the topic and trends. He said Gilbert tried to be more thoughtful and that hybrid was a real benefit to employees. He said with the hybrid model there was space and ability to come together and that managing that with quality of life was great for Gilbert. Assistant Town Manager Goodman said Gilbert had about 1,800 employees and less than 10% were in that space at Municipal Center I, with 10 teams but 10 of the organization’s smaller teams. Town Manager Banger discussed remote work and said that technology was no longer a barrier, it was just management. He said at the end of the day, it did not matter where you work but if you get your job done. He discussed that other non-office staff were also working remotely, on the streets, or wherever their job required. He said what you were really managing were results and that Gilbert’s goal was also to maximize space and value in the Muni I Building. Councilmember September said he was glad that Gilbert was doing things differently. He said being thoughtful and thorough in thinking of non-monetary benefits that made impact 5 to employees was valuable. He also liked the idea of the stay interviews as it was proactive and thanked the team. He said they had done a great job of reducing the vacancy rate. Mayor Peterson discussed a roundtable done by the Chamber of Commerce and said staffing was their number one concern, all trying to hire the same employees. She said in 2020 there was a push to lay employees off and Gilbert did not do that; they found a way to make it work without layoffs and she thanked the Team for that. She also spoke of talking to an officer who came from Scottsdale and said he told her it was the “best move he ever made” to come to Gilbert. Councilmember-elect Torgeson said in the entrepreneurial sense, Gilbert was using non- monetary incentives. He discussed his own business and creating an environment as a team where people wanted to work there. He said they had created something that went beyond pay and that Gilbert had done that, created a place where people wanted to work. Mayor Peterson thanked the Executive Team for coming to the Council meetings and sticking it out with the Council during tough times. Town Manager Banger stated there had been difficult times with trying to retain employees while managing money tightly. He also discussed retirement and hitting 90% funding rate with the pension fund, adding some cities were $2,000,000 dollars underfunded. He said when public safety staff got to their retirement, they should be able to rely on that pension. He said everyone’s sacrifice was what helped the Town to be fiscally responsible. He also discussed having the lowest cost for service and lowest tax rate in the region. 3. Draft Ordinances Review and Procedure Discussion Town Attorney Payne stated he would be reviewing ordinances that were tied to the Town Code, not zoning ordinances, which were different. He said Gilbert was a General Law entity and were subject to Title 9, unlike some who were Charter cities and approved by the citizens in that city. He reiterated that Gilbert was General Law and the Town Code 6 were the Town’s laws. He said the Code was based on the original 1984 Town Code, but they had been revised and some parts revised hundreds of times. He noted there were blank spaces in the Code because of how it was adopted and changed from the original one, and the subjects varied greatly. He said he wanted to discuss the process and get feedback from the Council and Councilmembers-elect on how they would like to move forward with Code changes in the future. He reiterated that zoning ordinances were different and did not modify the Town Code. He said any additions and modifications to the Code required the revisions to be heard at a public hearing, per State statute and Town Code, not as Consent items. He said the Town Manager and Mayor or three Councilmembers were authorized to bring forth Code change items. He said he was interested in having a discussion on direction for ordinance modifications going forward. He showed a slide of upcoming draft ordinances changes and asked if a separate study session would be preferred, or the practice Gilbert currently used where those items just came to the agenda as public hearing items. He said one example was the fireworks ordinance due to changes in the State law. He said short-term rentals and changes in State law were another example. He asked the Council to give feedback. Councilmember-elect Torgeson preferred having them come forward to a study session, stating things could be eliminated first through discussion before going up for approval. Councilmember Tilque stated that was her initial thought but she would like to modify it. She discussed work with the legislature and clean up bills. She said she would like to see those that were changed by law brought to the Council to be addressed, possibly all at once, but she was not sure if there needed to be a study session for everything, stating some may just have questions about the changes in law. She said for other things, study sessions were good so it did not create the perception that things were being decided in a back room. Councilmember Koprowski stated she agreed with what had been said. She was fine with study sessions and grouping things together to review at one time. She said if it were things that were changed by State law, those could be combined. 7 Mayor Peterson said some would take more discussion than others. She said although fireworks and short-term rentals had changes by State law, they would still require more discussion. She said it was hard to say that they should package them as a group if they were due to State law, some for Town Code, etc., because they were different and may need to be individual study session discussions. She said some of those had lots of resident input already. Councilmember Tilque stated there was a difference between clean up language from the State and other things that allowed the Code to be changed within those State laws. She said some where just clean up language though. Town Attorney Payne stated he liked the uniformity to bring some things at certain times of the year, but it was hard for staff to know which ones the Council wanted to have more discussion on. He said he liked the idea of consistency. Mayor Peterson said it was hard to know what the nexus was for some of the items. Councilmember-elect Bongiovanni said they were all saying the same thing, to do them in study session first. Town Attorney Payne asked if there were going to be more study sessions, would they want to start them earlier or having them on a different night. He also asked if they wanted to learn about the proposed revisions as they were ready or do them quarterly. Mayor Peterson said she was open to doing them on a different night, maybe one night having a study session for at least two hours and to do the topics Town Attorney Payne had provided first to get them caught up, then decide going forward. Councilmember-elect Buchli said she agreed with what they had said. She said she hoped there was enough time for the new Councilmembers to become familiar with statutes and Town Code, which would save them time in the end when other things came up. 8 Councilmember-elect Bongiovanni agreed to get caught up first and then deal with the new ones. Councilmember Koprowski suggested having the Code change meetings quarterly. Town Attorney Payne stated they would wait for the new Council to take their seats, then get them on a schedule in January or so. Mayor Peterson asked Council Aide Monica D’Ortenzio to check their schedules. Councilmember-elect Bongiovanni asked if they would have the opportunity to review the items. Town Attorney Payne stated yes, the packet would include the draft language that showed the suggested language. Mayor Peterson noted that there was usually no packet created for study sessions. Deputy Town Clerk Martinez affirmed, but said a packet could be generated for those study sessions if requested. Mayor Peterson stated it would helpful to know what other cities were doing and that she thought a packet would be helpful in the code ordinances study sessions. 4. Short-Term Rental Update Finance Management Services Director Johanson introduced himself and said he had been with the Town for 16 years. He discussed his experience with Gilbert and said he was excited to talk about short-term rentals (STRs). He said the State continued to make changes of what was allowable for those renting out their homes and those who lived next to those houses. Assistant Tax Compliance Manager Fasano introduced himself and said he had been working on that project for four years, since he began in Gilbert. He explained that a STR was a property rented out by the owner for 29 days or less per period, and they were mostly listed on online lodging marketplaces like Airbnb and Turnkey, but they were not required to be listed on those online lodging marketplaces. He said there were 9 approximately 350 units in 2016, 600-650 in 2021, and 675-725 in November 2022, stating it doubled in six years despite the downturn during the COVID-19 pandemic. He said they were hard to track because most did not give you the address unless you booked the rental, so they had to be looked at on a map and then efforts were made to figure out where they were. He said the Town of Gilbert Code and Land Development Code (LDC) Section 5.1.2. required property owner information, operator information (if different than owner), Transaction Privilege Tax (TPT) license, and County registration. He said they would do their work to build up a registration database and that 40 were currently registered on there, of those, half had reached out to the Town and others were reported by neighbors. He said working with a service provider would give people access to 24/7 opportunities to report incidents and track all information regarding the STR, and it would track all correspondence as well. He said in May 2016, SB1350 was passed which defined online lodging and online lodging marketplace and said the Town could not regulate STRs, but the owner must register with the County Assessor. He said in May 2019, HB2672 allowed the Town to collect contact information on the owner and gave the option to hold owner accountable for verified locations and set up a civil penalty structure. He said in 2022, SB1168 provided the Town with the following options: could now charge a fee for a permit or license, the cost of setting up the license or $250, whichever is less; set up a requirement for a neighbor notification, there also needed to be a compliance check for neighbors to sign off that they were informed; advertisement requirements that required the license or permit number to be put on the advertisement; posting at the property; liability insurance; and background checks. He said they treat those numbers like confidentially and that they would need a permit license for each unit. He said background checks were required on the person actually renting the house, specifically a sex offender background check. He said there were fees and penalties for not meeting those requirements. He asked the Council for guidance on if they would want to charge a fee and to have a neighbor notification requirement. Councilmember-elect Buchli asked if the fees in the initial list of six options were required. Manager Fasano said it was passed through State legislation but the Town could choose to abide by that or not. 10 Mayor Peterson said to a certain point they could, that before the Town could not do anything, now they could do those things if the Town chose too. Councilmember-elect Buchli asked about HOAs. Manager Fasano said some HOAs had not overly strict items and some had nothing. Town Attorney Payne stated that Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions (CC&Rs) were private agreements and the Town had nothing to do with them, but most had nothing with prohibitions for short-term rentals (STRs) because they were developed prior to the issue. He said some newer ones did have those provisions sometimes, but the Town had nothing to do with that with neighborhoods and HOAs. Mayor Peterson stated they got that question a lot but could not advise. Town Attorney Payne agreed, and said they had no authority to do so. Manager Fasano said some HOAs were hoping the Town would ban them, but the Town could not ban them, only manage. Councilmember-elect Bongiovanni asked if there was data on how many properties were used as STRs in a year. Manager Fasano stated they would have to work with the owners and that the Police Department had data on incidents but that was all. Councilmember-elect Bongiovanni said that data would be good in deciding if the Town should charge a fee and how much it would cost. Tax Compliance Manager Radbury said the licensing would be done by the entity, not by the amount provided in tourism dollars. She said if someone had 50 entities/properties, they would pay for 50 licenses, not how many stays, costs of that stay, etc. 11 Councilmember-elect Bongiovanni asked if the Town had the option to charge per stay. Mayor Peterson and Manager Fasano said they were not sure they could. Councilmember-elect Bongiovanni asked about potential revenue. Manager Fasano said it the maximum was the cost of setting up license or $250, whatever was less. Finance Management Services Director Johanson discussed what a fee might look like, the fee for license or registration of permit. He said they could look at the administrative burden. Councilmember-elect Torgeson spoke of how hotels were handled by one permit, stating that handling them as one piece of property could be advantageous. Assistant Tax Compliance Manager Fasano said they did treat STRs the same as hotels regarding taxes. Tax Compliance Manager Radbury said it could be done by address location. Councilmember-elect Torgeson said it would be easier to do and less of nuisance if they did them the same as hotels and it was best to do them as simply as possible. Mayor Peterson asked for clarification if the Council would like to try a fee for a permit or license for STRs to get registered in Town of Gilbert and want to require a neighbor notification or any of the options now available to the Town. Councilmember Tilque said to her a registration and license were different in terms of enforcement. She said a registration was so that the Town knew they were there, but a license was so if someone did meet the requirements or expectations then the Town could remove that ability to do business. Manager Fasano said that was correct, with certain provisions. 12 Councilmember Tilque said it was important for the Town to know they were there and she was also not opposed to something in place to help them regulate them. She said it needed to be decided if it was a registration or a license, but if it was a license, could they regulate it. Councilmember Koprowski said from her perspective, if someone was going to do a STR they would go to get a license in that department with the Town. Manager Fasano said staff had hoped it would on its own page on the website, or linked to a separate page for STRs because it was very different and specific. Councilmember Koprowski said that people would want a one stop shop to report things, but she thought it should be no more burdensome than a hotel or motel, and asked about data on if they were owner-occupied versus a whole home available. She said she was in favor of as little regulation while still being good neighbors and achieving the goals. She asked how they would notify neighbors. Finance Management Services Director Johanson said they would work through the details once they knew the direction preferred by the Council. Councilmember-elect Bongiovanni asked if the Town could charge a nuisance fee if officers had to go to a home. Manager Fasano said he thought some other cities tried it but did not keep it. Intergovernmental Relations Director Bohr said there were penalties that were allowed in legislation and it was important to have them register so if there was a violation, then they could charge that penalty for violations. He said it was based on the set up. Town Attorney Payne spoke of the difficulty in violation enforcement and how it would allow penalties for the property owner instead of just the person who stayed and violated laws. 13 Councilmember-elect Buchli stated that the majority of short-term rentals were Limited Liability Companies (LLCs) and asked what legal right did the Town have to regulate them. She said the talk was as if it were just property owners or homeowners, but it was typically an investor. She asked who would be liable for the LLC. Town Attorney Payne stated the LLC would be liable for paying fines. Councilmember-elect Buchli restated for clarification that it would be no different for an owner vs. an LLC; Town Attorney Payne stated that was correct and the license could be suspended. Intergovernmental Relations Director Bohr and Town Attorney Payne discussed how it would be the one license and the one property. Councilmember-elect Buchli reiterated that the Town could go after the LLC legally just like homeowner. Town Attorney Payne stated it could be the property manager as well, that they may not know who the owners were. Councilmember-elect Bongiovanni asked if there was data available on how much STRs helped with tourism. Economic Development Director Henderson discussed their occupancy versus hotels. Councilmember Tilque advocated for looking at the difference with registration too, so that neighbors felt secure that there was some enforcement. She said she needed data on what it would cost to maintain that database. She said they should have the owner’s information and should look at how the neighbor notification could be done. She said she would like to start there and would not like to go too far down before making more decisions. 14 Finance Management Services Director Johanson said they should decide about requiring a registration and then possibly proposing a fee, adding the neighbor notifications was a good next step. Councilmember Tilque said she liked Councilmember Koprowski’s suggestion of marketing with 311 for a neighbor complaint; Director Johanson said absolutely, it could be a central point of contact 24/7 and one funnel. Mayor Peterson said she had concerns about registration without enforcement and wanted to make sure that if the Town added registration it could do the enforcement; she said she liked the 311 idea too. Councilmember-elect Torgeson said he was in favor of whatever was easiest to administrate, but questioned how do you get the liability check in there. He said the posting requirement was fair. Town Attorney Payne said the League of Arizona Cities and Towns had a working group that came up with a draft model ordinance that incorporated the new legislation. He said most cities and towns had adopted that, that it would also be his recommendation to incorporate that with minor tweaks and not “re-create the wheel”. He said it was also easier for people to understand the rules if they were consistent with other cities. Mayor Peterson stated she liked that option because it was hard to know where Gilbert ended and another city began; she liked consistency. She noted that some cities in Arizona, such as Scottsdale and Sedona, had a high percentage of STRs and it was a big problem. She said it was best to get ahead of it. Councilmember-elect Bongiovanni said “…if you don’t innovate, you die”. He asked for information on those who were actually renting and then said maybe the Digital Team could work on advertising of what to do while visitors were in Gilbert. 15 5. Review Council-Approved Policies Town Attorney Payne reiterated what the Code was and then said policies that were adopted by the Council were not exactly laws but were still followed exactly. He said it was his goal to understand what the Council policies were and after review he would like Council direction on some of them. The said the Town Clerk was the custodian of all records and the Town did not have a repository of all policies. He said he found all Council policies and there were 140 policies adopted by the Council since 1957; 130 were in affect, 14 were formally repealed, and the rest had no record of them being repealed or rescinded. He said man y of them had been superseded by ordinance or Town Code. He said there was no central repository of access and not all employees were aware of the policies. He gave some examples of old policies such as a “15 minute coffee breaks”, a 0.10 per mile travel reimbursement, and an employee birthday holiday. He said most were contrary to current Code or had been superseded by other items. He said that the recommendation was that only 20 or so policies remain, but the vast majority be repeal and that the Town did a formal repeal. He said his recommendation was for the Council to consider formally repealing the policies that had been superseded by Town Code, the LDC, and the State statute as well as policies that were out of date. He also recommended creating a webpage that contained all current policies so that they were easily accessible by the Council, employees, and the public. Councilmember Tilque said it seemed like some of them should not be a policy but should instead be part of the Code, adding it was confusing to the Council. Town Attorney Payne described the difference between Code, which required a public hearing and changed the law, and what was a policy or intention. Mayor Peterson stated she liked the idea of having it on the website to access policies, and to also look at doing amendments to the Code. Councilmember Tilque stated she wanted links to the current codes for them to look at. She discussed eliminating Town policies and not just have Council policies on the whim 16 where the next Council would not understand the intent. She said she would like the opportunity to take a look at them and them could have a formal conversation. Councilmember-elect Torgeson agreed. Town Attorney Payne stated he would send a spreadsheet with links and subject that they could review, then come back in a study session to see what they really wanted to discuss on the possible repeal list or if they needed to be added to an ordinance. 6. Code of Ethics Review Town Attorney Payne discussed the Code of Ethics, which he said was a policy, not part of the actual Town Code. He said it was revised in 2021 and it may be time to revisit; he was asked to bring it the retreat. He said he did not have a draft or recommendations at that time, only information and a comparison to other cities, and then discussion. He said the Code of Ethics was adopted on August 2, 2012, and then amended on November 2, 2021. He summarized the stated purpose, then showed a survey of other cities comparing if they had a code of ethics policy for elected officials and then discussed the filing process if they had one, adding the process varied. He discussed various methods of dealing with frivolous claims and possible violations, stating in some cases anyone could file a complaint, while some say only residents could do this; some had time limits or a statute of limitations added. He said three of the surveyed cities had an ethics commission, methods of enforcement, and penalties. He said some had it where the Council could remove an appointed member of a public body at any time. He said the ones that had the removal of an elected officer were charter cities that had that provision in the charter; Gilbert was not a charter city and would use the recall process. He said the ask was if the Council wanted to revisit updating the Code of Ethics and if so, how. Councilmember Tilque stated she would like to see the other communities’ ethics policies. She thought the intent of the former one had transpired into something different than intended and was not what the residents felt it was. She discussed the original intent and said it had become where it would accommodate a method of complaint. She noted that 17 perhaps Gilbert did not have a system for people to provide feedback if they did not like a Councilmember and instead went to the Code of Ethics, then it had to go to external counsel to investigate. She said perhaps additional training was needed. She said that the outcome was maybe that people felt it was shoved under the table and there was no action, though there was. She said the three Councilmember option was the only way for Councilmembers to add something to an agenda and they needed to be consistent with that process, but she wanted to see what other towns were doing and also what were they trying to solve. She said to be very specific in not using broad language that people could misuse and that the Council would not do something to make a mess. Councilmember-elect Bongiovanni asked when it was looked at last. Town Attorney Payne repeated that it was done in 2012 and then a revision was done in 2021, though he believed it had not been looked at in its entirety since 2012. Councilmember-elect Torgeson said he did not think Gilbert had a defined Code of Ethics in many ways. He explained that there were specific codes of ethics for different professions, such a criminal defense attorneys. He said if he went to someone’s office and recommended a certain project did not go through, there was no way to handle those types of things; there needed to be something to handle those types of situations. He advocated for a more defined set of rules and accountability, similar to a set of rules or ethics for doctors, engineers, etc. He said there was nothing clear and it needed to be clearly defined with more transparency. He said there should be a process that could result in a positive outcome, as well as something that the Councilmembers could go by to determine if something should be discussed or not. Councilmember Tilque asked for confirmation that Councilmember-elect Torgeson was requesting a Code of Ethics, but something less broad. Councilmember-elect Torgeson said yes, something like… “including, but not limited to…”. He said it did not make the complaint more valid, but defined more of what they should be looking into. 18 Town Attorney Payne reviewed the complaint process, stating if a complaint was filed it was filed through the Town Clerk, then to the Town Attorney. He said the Attorney would make the determination on if a complaint should go to outside counsel, but the Town Attorney would always has a conflict with complaints against Councilmembers because he would be investigating his own bosses so they go to an outside investigator. He said then that outside investigator would send it back and it would go to the Council to see what they wished to do. Councilmember Tilque suggested taking a look at what other cities had in their code. She said the next steps should be for the Council to review the Code of Ethics and give some direction to Town Attorney Payne. She discussed what format should be used to provide that direction, then said each Councilmember should him a written statement individually that he could share with them as a group in a study session. She said then they could take a look on the process if they wanted to move forward. She also noted that even if the Council did not want to have a Code of Ethics or process, it would need to be voted on at a public meeting. Town Attorney Payne stated that was correct, that any changes at all would need to be an administrative item at public meeting. Councilmember Tilque also suggested to “call it what it is”, adding that it would be less confusing to call it a Code of Ethics if it was adopted to the Town Code, or to call it an Ethics Policy if it was only a policy. Councilmember September discussed the process of needing three Councilmembers requesting the ethics violation be discussed on an agenda, stating that requiring three helped to determine if there was validity in a complaint that warranted public discussion. He said he liked the idea for the three to decide if it warranted that and supported the idea of keeping that. He discussed whether someone had an interest in the Town and what they were doing to file an ethics complaint; Mayor Peterson said that would be hard to define, that anyone could have an interest. 19 Mayor Peterson said that currently anyone could file a complaint and the process had been turned into a tool for people to file anything on the Council, even though all of the ones filed had been cleared. She said it was not acceptable to go to outside attorney and then still have public discussion, even if the Councilmember had been cleared. She said it had become a tool for punishment. She noted that the only thing that could be done to a Councilmember was to censure them, that the Councilmembers rules were set when they take their oath. She said people tried to weaponize the policy in a political manner to punish a Councilmember, not for the use that it was intended. She asked if this was the community, they wanted Gilbert to be, and said the Council really needed to have a discussion on what the policy meant and how it should be used. She said the stricter and more detailed, everyone on the Council was subject to that policy. She recommended that the Council think long and hard before they moved forward, then discussed how it was used against her. Mayor Peterson and Councilmember-elect Torgeson discussed former complaints. Councilmember-elect Bongiovanni asked how public those complaints were. Town Attorney Payne stated that copies were sent to the Council and they were also subject to public records requests. Councilmember-elect Bongiovanni said that if they were brought up in public it may decrease the amount filed. He said even if the person was found not viable, that should get as much attention too. He said it should be discussed openly either way; if it was found it was significant, it should be talked about it. He said it should be stated what was found and what was done about it, adding the attention should be given to those found innocent too. Mayor Peterson stated it was talked about in a public meeting. 20 Councilmember Tilque stated perhaps if there was some type of new ethics policy, the first time there was a complaint, the first step was to work it out before it went to the next step. She said then maybe the next step was a formal process. She noted that even if the papers had reported and they said something in public, it was still out there and maybe it could be dealt with before it became a formal complaint, before it became embarrassing to the Town. Town Attorney Payne reviewed the information that would be provided to the Council and said it was broken down by city and with copy of their policies. He said three of the cities had some informal conversation like Councilmember Tilque suggested. He summarized other points, noting that Open Meeting Law applied and that violations went to the Attorney General’s Office. Councilmember-elect Buchli said she liked the idea proposed by Councilmember Tilque of having some mediation with the group but wondered about those who may not be present, what to do after that. She asked if the talking took place, how would that be addressed and communicated with the public. Town Attorney Payne stated he would send the policies and information to see if they would like to continue with the three councilmembers process to get the discussion on an agenda, or just schedule a study session. Mayor Peterson also noted the option of forming a subcommittee for this topic. Councilmember Tilque agreed with the idea of forming a subcommittee, adding she would be happy to help. Councilmember-elect Torgeson also advocated for a subcommittee. Town Attorney Payne stated he would add the item to the December 13, 2022, meeting to propose the formal creation of a subcommittee to discuss the Code of Ethics Policy and process for handling ethics complaints. 21 Scott September left the meeting at approximately 12:30 p.m. during the lunch break. Scott Anderson joined at approximately 12:30 p.m. 7. Community Engagement Task Force Update Volunteer and Community Resources Manager Dykstra introduced herself and provided a brief outline of the inception and history of the Community Engagement Task Force. She stated the appointments were made on January 25, 2022 and the first meeting was held on March 7, 2022. She stated it was a task force, designed right now as a short-term objective for two years. She listed the following prioritized focus areas: domestic violence, mental health and suicide prevention, homelessness and low-income challenges, human and sex trafficking, and ensuring Gilbert was a kind, welcoming, and inclusive community. She stated the meetings had included board member training, education on issues, and selecting a first focus area. She stating the members had received training on open meeting law; strengths; civic discourse and difficult topics; diversity, equity and inclusion; and being trauma informed. She highlighted the different educational efforts which included reviewing the prior Gilbert Needs Assessments and training with the Police and Fire Departments. She summarized the different presentations the groups heard to help them decide on their first focus area. She said though initially most had selected homelessness as their first priority, they decided on mental health and suicide prevention as their top choice. She noted that mental health also often tied to homelessness as well. She said once the group decided to focus on mental health, they saw more presentations on 211, as well as from Gilbert and Higley Public Schools and the Area Agency on Aging to discuss mental health and suicide prevention. She reported that a crisis care team was started in Gilbert and that the Police Department received the certified autism center designation. She noted there had been promotion on 988 and 211 through social media campaigns and on resource cards. She said the next steps were the Task Force’s next meeting on December 5, 2022, to identify gaps and capture possible action items or recommendations, then they would be looking for the next area of focus. She asked if the 22 Council would prefer to be informed of recommendations per topic area or at the end of full process. Assistant Town Manager Prince stated that Councilmember Tilque had been very helpful throughout the whole process and thanked her. Councilmember-elect Torgeson asked the Task Force to share information with the Council as they went along, then spoke of his own experience with helping people experiencing homelessness or drug usage problems. He said many of the issues or topics did feed on each other. Councilmember Tilque agreed that the issues did feed on each other or blended. She said the Task Force would define short-term and long-term goals and they could keep him up to speed and provide feedback. Councilmember Anderson agreed to be updated on each topic, adding he would be interested in hearing what some of the recommendations were. Councilmember-elect Bongiovanni stated he was a professionally trained social worker and he would like to have that information too. Manager Dykstra noted that the Task Force’s minutes were available online and she could also provide them with more information. Assistant Town Manager Prince stated some of those studies were also online, like the Needs Assessment. Mayor Peterson asked how that information should be shared with the Council logistically, as a study session or just a presentation during a Council meeting. Manager Dykstra said their initial though was in a study session where there could be less formal discussion. 23 Councilmember Anderson asked if there was to be a sunset on the Community Engagement Task Force, like the Citizens Transportation Task Force; Manager Dykstra stated yes, that was the original intent. Councilmember Tilque said it was a goal to create some measurables and ways to evaluate some success and then sunset, but noted it could continue. Councilmember Anderson stated he thought it could be incorporated into the City of the Future initiative that the Town had; Town Manager Banger stated he agreed that some of those focus areas may be included with data. Mayor Peterson and Councilmember Tilque briefly discussed homelessness in Gilbert and the Point in Time (PIT) count that was done. 8. Communications Subcommittee Update Town Manager Banger stated he attended the first Communications Subcommittee meeting a few weeks ago with Councilmembers Tilque and Koprowski and Councilmember-elect Bongiovanni. He said they would define a scope of work and focus areas, outline community outreach and engagement efforts, and choose a deadline for final recommendations to the Council. He discussed the subcommittee’s tasks and said they would report out at Spring 2023 and have at least two months of community outreach. He said the possible motion on the scope of work was: “To explore policies, best practices, and other resources to help promote civility and the navigation of challenging issues by designing public meetings and outreach efforts that balance community objectives while enhancing public participation through two-way communication and governance policies”. He said the subcommittee had identified the following recommended focus areas for Town meetings: consistent format and training, a clear understanding of the Attorney’s role, communications from citizens (procedures, rules, staff follow-up), calls and emails to Council on agenda items (consistent practices and streamlined processes). The group also identified these items for items that required public participation: radius, timeframe, and 24 format of notifications; signs; access to notifications (appearance, ease of finding, consistency on webpages, opt-in, postcards, etc.). He also discussed two-way communication: inventory of current practices (statutory, codified, and informal), pop-ups, town halls, homeowners’ associations, Councilmember office hours, and Council chats) and “telling our story”: communications outside of social media, opt-in type of system notifications, and connecting the dots of services and what they mean to citizens. He discussed next steps and asked for questions or input from the Council. Councilmember-elect Torgeson said he knew some of the things came from residents and it was nice to see. He said to keep in mind that communication had been so bad because people were afraid to come out after the pandemic and were getting their news from social media, adding that social skills were different since COVID-19 and to have sensitivity to that. Town Manager Banger agreed it was different times now. Mayor Peterson stated it was tough when the one time the public could communicate at a meeting was during the communications from citizens portion, but that was when the Council could not respond. Councilmember-elect Torgeson said that the Council could talk to people; they could also have that physical engagement which sometimes would disarms. Councilmember Koprowski stated that was understandable, but it was important to know there were lots of residents who were more comfortable reaching out in different ways. She noted the importance of being consistent, also advocating for social media tags to follow because there were so many things going on and not everyone was interested in every topic. Mayor Peterson said she had to change the way that she communicated with people recently, that she was having more engagement in person but those were things that had been used against her. 25 Mayor Peterson and Councilmember-elect Torgeson discussed an incident that had happened recently between the two of them. Councilmember-elect Bongiovanni said he had been watching other cities’ meetings and there needed to be a change in culture when people walked in the front door. He said people now just saw a list of rules and signs that said “no”; he suggested fun videos or better ways to keep the subject light. Councilmember Tilque stated the Councilmembers had also been on the conservative side of speaking out recently, but they were trying to adjust to the times and focus on the positives. Councilmember Tilque also noted that the subcommittee wanted to reach out to those in the community who had been vocal recently to get their input and participation. 9. Police Department Transparency Roadmap Assistant Town Manager Rhineheimer spoke of the support for public safety in the community. She thanked Police Chief Soelberg and his team. She discussed why the transparency roadmap created, beginning in the Summer of 2020 with the Country’s social unrest. She said that communities focused on law enforcement, community engagement, transparency, and policy changes. She noted that Gilbert began having Listening Sessions in the Fall of 2020 to get feedback from residents and the Community Engagement Task Force was formed. Police Chief Soelberg said when they were asked to create a transparency roadmap his first thought was that they had already been doing it for 20+ years, but he realized that was true in a sense, but this was different. He said they had 12 different groups focused on Police Department policies, community engagement and events (coffee with a cop, froyo an cocoa with a cop, etc.), the Quarterly Chief’s Forum (updates and meeting with non- profits and other organizations to talk about issues), and public data (performance data, 26 crime data, etc.). He said they had information in PDF form but wanted to change the format. He also discussed hiring and recruiting (expanding the net, wider outreach) and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I) objectives (in-services, how they were recruiting and getting in touch with community). He said he also belonged to different boards such as the AZCEND board and United Food Bank with lots of other outreach. He discussed creating a page that would show all of their policies and a public portal for that. He said all of them were posted there except a few that were restrictive, like active shooter or SWAT Team policies that described tactics. He said they also created Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs). Police Chief Soelberg discussed interdepartmental collaboration and noted the Council was welcome to join them in events such as “Coffee with a Cop”. He stated the purpose statement was: “Building community trust through transparency, education, and engagement”. He also discussed a transparency webpage and getting to know Gilbert Police Department media efforts. He summarized different initiatives launched and that were ongoing, such as receiving autism certification from the International Board of Credentialing and Continuing Education Standards (IBCCES) and working with Lauren’s Institute for Education (LIFE) and having a Sensory Awareness Family Event (SAFE) partnered with Trader Joe’s. He said those efforts helped with having citizens become more comfortable with police officers, and showing things like what would happen when someone called 911 or had a traffic stop. He said they would also give participants a sticker for their vehicle to show that someone in the car may have autism and that the person in the vehicle may have been through the training. He also discussed the event with Trader Joe’s to help provide a calmer shopping environment for those with sensory needs. He discussed the 30x30 nationwide initiative with the goal of having 30% women in the law enforcement by 2030. He said right now there was only about 12% in Gilbert and they wanted to increase women in law enforcement. He said other cities partnered together to create the 30x30 video and showed the video made using officers from Gilbert, Tempe, Mesa and Queen Creek. Police Chief Soelberg discussed the newly created Crisis Response Team (CRT) and said it would focus on mental health detainers. He said there were two officers but would be four 27 and a sergeant. He shared a story of someone who called for help after seeing a story about the CRT on the news and shared statistics about the CRT and how it saved other officers from being needed in only a short time. He also discussed human trafficking and said it followed events such as the Super Bowl that was coming to Phoenix in 2023 and The Phoenix Open, with the focus on child and teen trafficking. He said one detective would be assigned to this and work with the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) and they would look at expanding. He also discussed resources and partnerships including working with Valley Against Sex Trafficking (VAST), Trust AZ, Not in Our City- Night of Hope, and CeCe’s Hope Center. He said looking ahead the department would focus on employee mental health, community mental health resources with Solari and the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, community suicide prevention education, having a CRT clinician, and Police Department performance management. He discussed instances when it was best to send an officer and other times when someone just needed a person to talk to. Mayor Peterson thanked the Team for their work and said her concern was that not everyone saw or heard about those wonderful events. She asked if those events could be added to the Council’s calendar. She noted there would be a “Not in Our City” proclamation at the December 13, 2022, Council meeting and discussed a misconception about the 30x30 program. Councilmember Tilque stated there was some overlap with their work and the work of the Community Engagement Task Force; she would like him to share that information with the Task Force. Councilmember Koprowski thanked them for their work. She said during the Listening Sessions there were so many positive comments about Gilbert’s Public Safety personnel, but said there was so much done since and more to do. Councilmember Anderson stated he attended those Listening Sessions and the complaints that came up seemed like isolated instances and not trends, adding he saw that as very positive. He cautioned about DE&I objectives and said to keep the Council updated because they did get a lot of messages about that topic. 28 Councilmember-elect Bongiovanni thanked the Police Department and said this was an example of “give, give, give”. Councilmember-elect Buchli thanked Chief Soelberg and the Police Department. 10. Opioid Settlement Funding Fire Chief Duggan stated in 2020 Gilbert entered into the One Arizona Opioid Settlement Memorandum of Understanding with the State. He said it allowed for settlement negotiations with opioid manufacturers and distributors, and Gilbert would receive approximately $200,000 annually for the next nine years and then a reduced amount of $135,000 annually for an additional nine years. He said they assembled a team of stakeholders to see how they could help the community and showed a list of allowable uses for the settlement funds. He said the ask was to see if they were heading down the right path and for some general direction. Police Chief Soelberg said the proposed projects that may be supported with the settlement funding including Gilbert Municipal Court-ordered urinalysis tests, youth and adult resources urinalysis tests, Police Department behavioral health co-responder at $100,000, and a Police Department vehicle for behavioral health co-responder at $50,000. He said another ask was a narcotics drug incinerator at $59.000 (partial funding). He said that most units drove to Globe for narcotic drug incineration and it was costly. He reiterated that the ask was just for direction and there would be no voting of how to use the funds. Mayor Peterson spoke of the incinerator and said it was a good idea, then asked if it was purchased could they charge other agencies. Chief Soelberg said they could look into it, but they may need a few if they provided the service to other cities. 29 Councilmember Anderson asked if it was a one-time purchase. Chief Soelberg discussed the possible future need for a Full Time Equivalent (FTE) and said everything was flexible year by year and it would then be determined what to continue and reevaluate. Councilmember Tilque said she liked the idea to use the money as a pilot program to measure success. She said typically they tried to use those grant purchases on one-time things. Chief Soelberg said they would be tracking it with a clinician and they would move forward with a contract if needed. 11. Closing Remarks Town Manager Banger thanked everyone for their participation and said they would send a recap to ensure the direction was understood by the team. He thanked the Councilmembers-elect for attending and thanked Assistant to the Town Manager Bay and her team for their work hosting the Retreat. Assistant to the Town Manager Bay stated she had a large team and thanked them all including Carmelita Nichols, Jordan Fasano, Jordin Sanchez, Genesis Hart, Isaac Sepulveda, Joe Godawski, Kelsey MacAurthur, Sean Maloney, Felicia Price, Ashley Namor, Char Miller, and the Parks and Recreation Team who worked at the Southeast Regional Library. Mayor Peterson thanked everyone for attending and the team for providing opportunities for staff too. She thanked everyone for listening through the tension. ADJOURN Mayor Peterson adjourned meeting at 3:10 p.m. 30  ATTEST: ___________________________ ___________________________________ Brigette Peterson, Mayor Judy Martinez, CMC, Deputy Town Clerk CERTIFICATION I hereby certify that the foregoing minutes are a true and correct copy of the minutes of the special meeting of the Town Council of the Town of Gilbert held on the 2nd day of December, 2022. I further certify that the meeting was duly called and held and that a quorum was present. Dated this ____ day of ____________________. ___________________________________ Judy Martinez, CMC, Deputy Town Clerk 31