Council Regular/Special Meeting

MINUTES OF THE GILBERT TOWN COUNCIL IN SPECIAL MEETING OF THE SPRING FINANCIAL RETREAT OF THURSDAY, MARCH 2, 2023 AT 8:00 AM, SOUTHEAST REGIONAL LIBRARY, SHAKESPEARE ROOM, 775 N. GREENFIELD ROAD, GILBERT, ARIZONA COUNCIL PRESENT: Mayor Brigette Peterson, Vice Mayor Kathy Tilque, Councilmembers Scott Anderson, Chuck Bongiovanni, Bobbi Buchli, Yung Koprowski, and Jim Torgeson COUNCIL ABSENT: None STAFF PRESENT: Town Manager Patrick Banger, Town Clerk Chaveli Herrera, Town Attorney Christopher Payne, Assistant Town Manager Mary Goodman, Assistant Town Manager Leah Hubbard, Assistant Town Manager Prince, Office of Management and Budget Director Kelly Pfost, Financial Services Director Håkon Johanson, Chief People Officer Nathan Williams, Parks and Recreation Business Manager Rocky Brown, Assistant Police Chief Michael Angstead, Public Works Assistant Director Eric Braun, Public Works Director Jessica Marlow, Water Manager Rebecca Hamel, Water Resources Manager Lauren Hixson and Environmental Services Manager Paul Montes CALL TO ORDER Mayor Peterson called the meeting to order at 8:26 a.m. Town Manager Banger welcomed everyone and informed Councilmembers that the presentations were provided to them electronically for their review. He talked about team members who were missing and thanked those who were able to step in and assist. He thanked the project team for scheduling and coordinating the retreat. He asked Public Works Assistant Director Eric Braun to provide an update on the recent sewer line break. 1 Assistant Director Braun shared the experiences with staff in working quickly to remedy the issue. He stated the issue was a pressured pipe that was ruptured and the need to shut off the lift station. He talked about the limitations in turning off the lift station and the urgency of the matter. He discussed the need for emergency parts and the team building over 1 mile of pipeline in 18 hours and the collaboration efforts among other organizations. He talked about the importance of keeping service in the community with little to no disruption other than closed lanes. He stated the team would be taking the day off but will then begin investigating the break. He stated the team showed an incredible amount of competency and being prepared for an emergency situation and said the team was able to avoid a potentially large outage due to proper planning. Town Manager Banger discussed the importance of evaluating for rehabilitation needs and conducting assessments. He stated that while assessments wont account for everything, they are critical to helping to identify projects. He thanked Council for the difficult decisions they must make to ensure needs across the town are met. Vice Mayor Tilque acknowledged the team and the hard work in planning for the future. She stated about the importance of infrastructure and stated these were things often taken for granted but she appreciated the team’s ability to identify need and fix quickly. AGENDA ITEM There will be presentations, discussions and possible direction on the following items: 1. Arizona State Retirement System (ASRS) and Public Safety Personnel Retirement System (PSPRS) Updates. Office of Management and Budget Director Pfost provided an overview of Pension plans for the organization and provided information on unfunded liability as it related to assets 2 and liabilities. She talked about the various pension systems the Town participated in and explained pooled and individual structures as well as explained the tiers. She focused on Public Safety Personnel Retirement System (PSPRS) and outlined funding strategies in policy for paying down liability and confirmed that Gilberts target was to be at least 90% funded. She shared regional comparisons and FY2024 for unfunded liability and contributions. She shared that the Fire fund was at 89.4% and asked for Council direction on making an additional contribution for PSPRS Fire pension and stated that they were about $850,000 short of 90%. Vice Mayor asked for clarification that in previous years, the Town would use overages at the end of the year and asked if that was the same thing being proposed this year. Director Pfost clarified it would be a mid-year contingency and discussed the use of sales tax, she stated that several assumptions may change. Councilmember Koprowski asked about the risk in it being funded in the high 80’s versus 90’s and Director Pfost stated that it was better to have the fund to guarantee that money would be there once employees retire but talked about the important balance in also funding for projects and additional needs. She stated that having 90% and above seemed to have the bond rating agencies feel it to be well funded. Vice Mayor Tilque asked about retirements with sworn personnel and asked if those retirements begin to deplete the accounts. Director Pfost clarified that it should not because those retirements are calculated out to plan appropriately. She talked about the reduction in both asset and liability in those cases. Councilmember Buchli asked what was meant related to other projects may needing additional money and Director Pfost further clarified looking at all needs across the organization and balancing those needs. Councilmember Buchli asked if that was common practice and believed the money should stay within police and fire. Director Pfost clarified that money cannot be moved once its in the pension and talked about the pot of available money that is set to be used on an extra payment or to fun other needs. 3 Councilmember Bongiovanni asked if no action was taken if there was still a projection to be at 90 or higher soon. Director Pfost confirmed that she felt they could. Councilmember Anderson stated he felt comfortable waiting for the report to come out. Vice Mayor Tilque spoke in agreement with waiting and talked about the other big needs that must be identified. Mayor Peterson talked about inflation and felt it was important to see where funds would be coming from. Director Pfost provided and overview of the Arizona State Retirement System (ASRS) and talked about it being pooled. She outlined the contribution from employees and employers. She talked about the legislation in 2022 that allowed for pension prefunding options. She said this option would be managed by ASRS but would not be part of the pooled funding once its into the pending prefunding account it cannot come back to Gilbert. She talked about higher returns and the unrestricted timeline and greater variety of allowable investments through ASRS whereas Gilbert has a restricted investment of 5 years. She outlined additional pros and cons of the option and asked Council for direction on whether they would want staff to set up a pension prefunding account and build contributions into upcoming budgets. Vice Mayor Tilque asked if there was an opportunity for a one-time contribution versus continuous contributions. Director Pfost confirmed that while it’s easier to give one time money they can approach both options. There was discussion on using a continuous rate in order to keep one-time funds for emergencies. Vice Mayor Tilque stated that she felt it was important to get the process done slowly and talked about the importance of the 90%. Councilmember Koprowski agreed to seeing a benefit in taking advantage of higher interest rates. Town Manager Banger discussed Gilbert being pooled and clarified the funding process. Councilmember Bongiovanni asked Director Pfost what she would recommend. Director Pfost stated that she felt if we started setting money aside now, in twenty years we would be very happy that we did. She talked about the importance of balancing current and future needs. Councilmember Buchli looked forward to learning more about the processes. Councilmember Anderson stated he liked the idea and talked about uncertainty in the 4 future and asked if there would be an amount, we could put away that would not cause harm. Councilmember Torgeson asked if it could be an annual contribution. Director Pfost confirmed on the flexibility of payments. Mayor Peterson stated she would like to explore what those options would look like. She talked about payments on top of what is currently being contributed but being mindful of resources. She spoke in agreement of projects that have needs. The consensus and direction of Council was for Kelly to come back with a recommendation on a contribution amount. 2. Credit Card Fee Surcharge. Financial Services Director Johanson gave a presentation on credit card fees, explained transaction fees and clarified that it was not related to the cost of online payments. He showed a graph outlined the total transaction fees paid and explained how things changed during COVID with more online payments and business being conducted online. He provided examples of credit card fees with billable activity through different lines of service and provide the history on resolutions passed by the Town related to online payment pass- through fees. He discussed the previously impacted areas and the increased fee to 4%, he talked about not making a profit but the importance of cost recovery. He stated that current impacted areas and asked Council for guidance in looking towards a resolution allowing for the collection of a credit card transaction fee across all lines of service with a cap of 4%. He talked about continuing to focus on customer experience and providing options while understanding the financial impact. Councilmember Torgeson asked about the percentage of 2.75% and talked about his rates and asked if rates were different for municipalities. Director Johanson stated he would take a deeper dive into the rates and outlined the bidding process for best rates and the competitive rates being seen across the organizations. He talked about the importance of options for residents. Councilmember Koprowski asked if there would be choses for residents among the various departments. Director Johanson confirmed and stated that research has already begun on the various options available. Councilmember Koprowski asked about providing grace periods to allow people to transition their accounts. Director 5 Johanson confirmed and talked about the possibility of incentives through the vendor. Town Manager Banger talked about crypto currency and Director Johanson and explained that the processor received the currency, turned it into dollars and said the risk was with the processor to accept that type of currency. Vice Mayor Tilque spoke in agreement with Councilmember Koprowski talked about being intentional and encourage other opportunities while making it as easy as possible, with a ramp-up period to help residents understand. She stated the customer service piece was very important. 3. Recruitment and Retention. Chief People Officer Williams provided an update on turnover and vacancy data and said turnover continues to decline. He shared data on monthly trends showing declines in turnover and retirement and shared that there was a decline in vacancies from January 2022 to February 2023. Assistant Town Manager Prince provided an update on the recruitment and retention working group and their efforts to date which outlined the areas of identified priorities for Phase 1 Initiatives. She highlighted why the initiatives helped to positively impact retention and recruitment and talked about better pay transparency, employee wellbeing and employee upskilling and reskilling and overall organizational efficiency. Chief People Officer Williams outlined the areas of analysis on four areas of focus from previous Council direction regarding Paid Post-Retirement Benefits, Deferred Compensation Contribution, Paid Family Leave and Pay Practices for Sworn and Non- Sworn Personnel. He provided an update on the research and viability of the Paid Post- Retirement Benefits viability and clarified the OPEB liability and the valuation of lifetime town-subsidized retiree health benefits. Assistant Town Manager Goodman clarified that the numbers being presented were to sow the liability for this specific ask rather than liabilities across the board. There was discussion on other agencies offering the benefit and the liability and costs being shown at that level. She confirmed that in Gilbert retirees were able to stay on the Town plan by paying 125% and their ability to still access benefits 6 but at a total cost of their premiums. Chief People Officer confirmed that the change would be looking at offering the same premium to retirees and stated that staff did not believe this was financially viable for the organization but wanted to continue to look into other opportunities to assist employees with planning and managing their lives post-retirement. Vice Mayor Tilque confirmed that it would not be a viable option but spoke in support of looking into other areas. Councilmember Koprowski spoke in agreement about the option not being financially viable and was appreciative at looking into other opportunities. She stated that she would like to consider a different percentage paid by retirees with example of 100% rather than 125% based on time of service or similar. Assistant Town Manager Goodman thanked staff for their work on the topic and confirmed the importance of looking into options. Chief People Officer Williams provided information on the research of on contributions to Deferred Compensation programs. He said of the eleven cities researched, eight offered the program and of those eight, seven offered to all employees. He stated six of the eight required employee contribution for employer contribution and talked about the market being at about a 2-3% match. He said the ask was to continue to investigate this as an option. Assistant Town Manager Prince stated that recruitment and retention was a moving target it was important to always look at options and ask ourselves if we were being competitive. Assistant Town Manager Goodman talked about the opportunity for employees to manage those funds themselves outside of the ASRS contribution which was not elective. Vice Mayor Tilque stated she would like to see more research and said she was not as familiar with the option. She said it came down to a retention issue and talked about looking into a vested option. Mayor spoke in agreement and Councilmember Koprowski stated that she did see a benefit to the employee because it gave them control and like the idea of employer contribution after employee contributions were made. She spoke in support of continuing to look into the program and flexibility and spoke of the high rates. Councilmember Torgeson suggested looking into incentives for retention and emphasized looking into something specific for sworn employees. Chief People Officer Williams stated 7 that they could look into those options but spoke to the difficulty in differentiating benefits since all programs impact the total fund. Assistant Town Manager Goodman clarified that the premiums were based on nature of claims and offered looking into years of service or potentially offering discounts. She spoke about the importance in trying to offer programs that were consistent across the board as to not create factions across the organization but spoke in support of looking into options where it made sense and spoke about the importance of consistency. Assistant Town Prince clarified that the Town went out to bid for plans but confirmed they could look at the fees as part of that process. Councilmember Bongiovanni stated he would like to see benchmarking with years of service. Chief People Officer discussed the pay practices component among Sworn and Non-Sworn Personnel and the merit matric versus the 5% annual increase through steps. He also explained being “top out” versus being at max and stated that every position within the Town was benchmarked every two years. Vice Mayor Tilque asked for clarification on whether reaching the max meant the employee would not receive a raise. Chief People Officer Williams confirmed that employees at max would receive a lump sum payout and there was discussion on the process. Assistant Town Manager Goodman explained the step program versus years of service and the impact of benchmarking. She talked about the importance in looking at the equilibrium and consistency and she discussed market tolerance. She said the goal was to continue to look at opportunities to find synergy between the two groups and ensure employees know what was available to while being competitive with the market. Chief People Officer Williams confirmed that staff would like to continue with further exploration of the opportunity. Chief People Officer Williams said the Paid Family Leave program was being put on hold for the time being but shared what had been learned throughout the process. He said that Gilbert was the only City in the Valley with a Paid Parental Leave program and said Tempe was the only City that currently offered Paid Family Leave. He said staff would continue to research and watch the market. Councilmember Bongiovanni asked that staff continue to look into other options and talked about the importance of other types of care. Chief People Officer Williams spoke in agreement on being mindful of the different stages of like and said staff would continue to 8 conduct further exploration on an Employer Contribution Deferred Compensation Program and Sworn and Non-Sworn Pay Programs but would not be recommending an Employer Paid Post-Retirement Health Plan and would like to table the Paid Parental Leave expansion for future discussion. He said any proposals would be brought forward to Council for future consideration and would include any estimated financial impacts and any associated budget requests. Assistant Town Manager Goodman stated that other opportunities were being explored but would be administrative and were in concert with the overall recruitment and retention efforts. Vice Mayor Tilque thanked staff for the presentation and said she was supportive of a holistic approach and providing uniformity in benefits and opportunities and progress in employees professional developments. Mayor stated that it was equally important to pay attention to employees to ensure they were happy since they were the first line of defense. She thanked staff for their efforts. Councilmember Torgeson stated he would still like staff to look at Police and Fire and opportunities for them. Councilmember Anderson spoke in support of a holistic approach and thanked staff for their work. 4. Space Needs Assessments and Upcoming Related Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) Projects. Parks and Recreation Business Manager Rocky Brown outlined the purpose of the assessment and talked about the essential components consisting of: previous assessments, conditional assessment, space and programing needs assessment, facilities master plan, comprehensive documentation, and extensive outreach and communication. He detailed the guiding principles related to Resiliency and Sustainability, Cost Reasonableness, Energy Efficiency and Reduction, Industry best Practices and Safety. He discussed aging infrastructure, funding considerations, capital improvements plans and flexibility. He talked abut the importance of planning and strategy of doing things correctly and clarified that it was more than just looking at facilities and outlined some of the other areas that would be addressed by the assessment. He provided information on the long- range infrastructure plan (LRIP) and outlined the Facility Condition Index (FCI), both unfunded and funded and asset sustainability target. 9 He provided details on the main project objectives and detailed the Facilities Conditional Assessment in which they will inspect and assess the physical and structural condition mechanical systems, identify and document condition deficiencies, life cycles and major repair and replacement projects and prepare and plan by conducting cost estimates and timelines for identified projects. He discussed the Space and Programming Assessment in which they will gather feedback and identify workspace function and employee usage, assesses and document space needs and functionality of working efficiently and effectively and plan for critical adjacencies, support and security and safety needs. Lastly, he discussed the Facilities Master Plan in which they strategize in order to gain consensus among departments, anticipate and take into consideration future needs and develop a plan with short, mid and long-term stages with preliminary budgets and schedules. He talked about the proposed timeline and results. Vice Mayor Tilque asked for clarification that in talking about facilities it meant every building. Manager Brown confirmed and stated that there were roughly 54 facilities being maintained and talked about each one being unique. Councilmember Bongiovanni asked for a list of buildings to which Manager Brown stated he would. Councilmember Torgeson asked how value was determined when utilizing the FCI and Manager Brown provided a real-world example using a home with aging systems and talked about determining investments overtime rather than deferring them. He talked about the multiplier of big costs with each unique building. There was further discussion on the FCI index and Town Manager Banger talked about taking a lot of factors into account when evaluating facilities. Assistant Town Manager clarified the importance of looking into where need to be in regard to facilities. Assistant Police Chief Angstead discussed past and current Police Department CIP projects. He spoke to the details of the 2019 Space Needs Assessment, Advocacy Center, Emergency Operations Center (EOC) Expansion and the Dispatch Expansion. He talked about the pause in the space needs assessment in 2019 and outlined the need for expansion in other areas due to growth and needs. He detailed the advocacy center and the intent of having a centralized location for victim services. He outlined the growth in 10 dispatch and the need for expansion in that area while still being operational and utilized and the uniqueness of that endeavor. He provided details on the Public Safety Building Expansion and talked about the use of the San Tan Police Station (South Area Service Center). Vice Mayor talked about continuing to look at space needs within the advocacy center for the many partners in the community such as non-profit organizations. Assistant Chief Angstead spoke in agreement to the importance of partnerships. Mayor Peterson asked about the dirt lot next to the public safety building and asked if that land would be looked at for future expansion. Assistant Chief Angstead stated it was attractive for future expansion and talked about it being a potential solution for future growth. Mayor Peterson stated it was important to understand that services like dispatch cannot be shut down for renovation and she was thankful for the team in finding creative solutions for that. She asked if the South Area Services location would be suitable for any additional expansion needs. Assistant Chief Angstead talked about the complexity in sharing space at that location and being land locked to a degree. Assistant Town Manager Goodman reiterated that the assessments will help everyone identify what, if and how space can be utilized and talked about the in-depth work that will be completed. She stated the assessment will help navigate those conversations. 5. Water and Environmental Services Rates. Public Works Director Marlow provided an update on utility rates and the pressures of those needs. She explained why the investment in infrastructure was important by sharing national stories related to failed infrastructure. She talked about the importance in having a plan and shared success stories of recent repairs and comments from residents. She provided information on policy statement #11, related to Enterprise Funds and Policy Statement #17 related to Minimum Unrestricted Fund Balance. She provided information on the rate and fee history from 2005 to current and talked about the goal in reviewing and bringing recommendation to Council every two years in order to spread out the impact to customers. 11 She provided information on the Water Fund including prior rate increase pressure and achievements, as well as outlined various projects and current issues. She discussed the Water Fund Impact with the proposed fund balance increase as well as with no action taken. She provided information on the budget evolution being originally 110% to balance but recognized that it was not feasible. She talked about deferring projects outside of 5 year planning window, amounting to nearly $190 million dollars and confirmed that the remaining projects were essential to providing uninterrupted and reliable water service. She detailed the budget prioritization of projects remaining within the 5-year budget and those being deferred outside. She provided information on the Colorado River Shortage impacted and talked about raw water rate increases. She outlined the Towns potable water supply and demands in order to meet the supply to include SRP, CAP, Groundwater and reclaimed recharge. She also provided information on the Well Supply and the shortage stages based on current demand but also showed shortage based on build-out demand. She discussed the acceleration of existing well projects continued evaluation of the Colorado River Shortage strategy. She talked about the challenging market conditions and provided the North Water Treatment Plan as an example. She stated that while things were more stable and predictable, they have still not recovered. She talked about having fund savings while not jeopardizing the quality of service and compromising the integrity of the project. She talked about the importance and complexity of the Integrated Water Resources Master Plan in identifying and prioritizing water related projects and future growth areas. Councilmember Anderson talked about some of the water conservation strategies in charging more and a base break and asked if any of those or similar strategies were being considered. Director Marlow talked about the current tiered rate structure and stated that it does encourage conservation with the residents. She talked about the water pricing in Arizona being less than in some areas where water was more available. Councilmember Torgeson thanked Director Marlow and the team for making him feel comfortable about rates and taking the time to message the information clearly. He asked about grey water systems and asked if it would be in the Towns best interest for developments to have these in place. Director Marlow talked about the importance of recapturing water as part of 12 the Towns portfolio. Water Resources Manager Hixson talked about valuable resources and not continuing to increase outdoor water use was an important factor. Director Marlow talked about Environmental Services and the average annual trash and recyclable weight per household and provided data for both residential and commercial usage. She provided information on comparable cities and their rates related to environmental services and stated that Gilbert had the highest level of service at the lowest cost. She provided information on the Environmental Services Residential Fund Impact and Environmental Services Commercial Fund Impact with data showing funds based on what was being proposed as well as if no action was taken. She talked about impacts and market volatility and showed graphs on residential tonnage and fees, she outlined the recycling market and changes to disposal fees. She discussed the volatility in the recycle market and program costs. She stated that stopping the recycling program would require through the County, that the Town pick up trash twice a week and outlined the additional cost of equipment and staff in order to sustain the requirement as well as the filling of landfills quickly which could lead to additional costs. She talked about the repair and maintenance of the vehicles and the backlog in ordering garbage trucks. Councilmember Torgeson asked about the potential use of a 3D printer for parts and Director Marlow stated that they were currently looking at refurbishing rather than replacing and stated it was about one-third the cost and would buy time to extend the useful life of the vehicle. Discussion ensued on addressing escalating costs and the potential of a municipal recycling center. Mayor Peterson asked if Gilbert would have to recycle the same items as other municipalities if they came to fruition. Director Marlow stated that she did not believe so. She talked about the rate increase and the process and talked about potentially looking into phasing the increase. Mayor Peterson spoke in support of that. Vice Mayor Tilque asked for clarification on the utilities rate increase on the agenda and Director Marlow clarified it was related to the scheduling of rate reviews. Vice Mayor stated she would like to look at options to show effective dates if the Town waited on implementation of rate increases and any potential impacts of those. Director Marlow confirmed they would look at both options. Vice Mayor Tilque recommended changing the name from Environmental Services to make it more clear to the residents. 13 6. Schedule for Utility Rate Increases. Public Works Director Marlow provided background on council direction 2021 to for an alternating schedule in reviewing rate schedules. She provided rate and fee history and talked about the large gaps in rate review years and evaluating needs. She talked about the increased need for funding once the long-range infrastructure plan was created and additional needs were identified. She showed the full utility bill vs CPI and talked about plan and study timing and talked about the leveling if they maintained an alternating year schedule for reviewing rates but said she was open to different consideration. Councilmember Bongiovanni asked if other cities were seeing the same thing and Director Marlow confirmed that it was best practice generally to see it every year or every other year for less impact. Councilmember Koprowski asked about a notification process and talked about a streamlined process so there is a better approach in telling the story. Director Marlow stated in other communities they will sometimes adopt something that will help phase the new rates in but she was not familiar with any specific outreach. She stated that they try to communicate as much as possible and believe they have continued to increase the way they communicate. Assistant Director Braun talked about a project in a neighboring city and talked about being extra communicative in the Towns approach. He said some cities would adopt a multi-year plan and would only come back to council if the plan was no longer sufficient. He said staff have not tried to push that forward but have tried to amp up their focus on communication. Councilmember Koprowski said overall she did support visiting the rates every two years and staggering for less impact but would be open to seeing other processes. Director Marlow said they would be open to evaluating other options but at this time they were still playing catch up. Councilmember Buchli asked about rates not being increased for some times and asked how to best relay that to the residents. Director Marlow clarified that the length of time in not having an increase was corrected in 2018 and talked about the market variables being the current issue. Councilmember Buchli asked about projections and Director Pfost confirmed that they do try and plan but talked about the expected changes 14 in the market and said the changes we are seeing are not for lack of planning or looking ahead. She also spoke of the risk in over-projecting. Town Manager Banger clarified the processes in place in order to help understand the needs and conditions. There was a question on how growth was paid and Director Marlow explained development fees and said the rates she was discussing were not projecting for that. Vice Mayor Tilque thanked staff and the model and stated that at least for the time being there will most likely be an increase every year in order to catch up. There was discussion on looking at other models for the future and Director Marlow talked about continuing to assess needs and planning for it as the town continues to age. Consensus was to continue the model as is until there was stabilization. 7. Long Term Financial Plan Update. Office of Management and Budget Director Pfost explained the model used for long term financial planning. She explained that they take actuals from the previous year in order to see patterns. Town Manager Banger explained that there were a number of variables being evaluated in order to have informed conversations. He talked about planning and using dollars in the smartest way possible to understand the potential risk and budget accordingly. Vice Mayor Tilque talked about residential rental and the various options within the model. Councilmember Anderson asked if there was a way to project food tax. Director Pfost talked about the projections and impacts and stated that Gilber was the only municipality, other than Mesa without a Primary Property Tax and said that Gilbert did not pull funds of out utility funding. Mayor Peterson asked Director Pfost to explain what the General Fund covers and Director Pfost stated it was everything except, water, wastewater and environmental services. There was a brief discussion on items still at the legislature. 15 Town Manager Banger provided a recap of discussion and direction on the various items from the day. He talked about an upcoming Joint Council and Executive Team retreat, he talked about the importance for a high-level understanding and developing a consensus on potential policies, policy changes and strategic initiatives going forward. He said current items underway will come back as an update to Council. Mayor talked about possible Joint meetings with school districts. ADJOURN Mayor Peterson adjourned the meeting at 1:53 p.m. ATTEST: ___________________________ ___________________________________ Brigette Peterson, Mayor Chaveli Herrera, 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 March, 2023. I further certify that the meeting was duly called and held and that a quorum was present. Dated this ____ day of ___________________2023. 16 ___________________________________ Chaveli Herrera, Town Clerk 17