Council Regular/Special Meeting

MINUTES OF THE GILBERT TOWN COUNCIL, IN SPECIAL MEETING OF TUESDAY JANUARY 23, 2024 AT 8:00 AM, 50 E. CIVIC CENTER DRIVE, HERITAGE ROOM 300, 50 E. CIVIC CENTER DRIVE, GILBERT, ARIZONA COUNCIL PRESENT: Mayor Brigette Peterson, Vice Mayor Scott Anderson, Councilmembers Chuck Bongiovanni, Bobbi Buchli, Yung Koprowski, Kathy Tilque and Jim Torgeson COUNCIL ABSENT: None STAFF PRESENT: Town Manager Patrick Banger, Town Clerk Chaveli Herrera, Deputy Clerk Judy Martinez, Assistant Town Manager Dawn Prince, and Assistant Town Manager Leah Rhineheimer AGENDA ITEM CALL TO ORDER Mayor Peterson was called to order at 8:15 a.m. ROLL CALL WELCOME AND INTRODUCTIONS Mayor Peterson introduced Councilmembers in attendance and welcomed everyone, stating she was excited about the work being done in Gilbert. ADMINISTRATIVE ITEMS 1. Sponsor and Committee Recognition Emily Staples, Chair of the Board of Directors of the Gilbert Chamber Foundation, acknowledged the following sponsors: Salt River Project (SRP), Arizona Public Service 1 (APS), Dignity Health, Tilson, Withey Morris Baugh, Foundation Insurance Services, Arizona State University (ASU), and Gravity Coffee Company. She acknowledged Linda Brady and Chris Dobson of SRP. Lindy Brady spoke and thanked her colleagues, said the Town had been partners with SRP since its inception, and spoke of the 12 miles of canals in Gilbert and the function they provided. She discussed the San Tan Generating Station and gave an example of the plant and its work. She asked the Board of Directors and Public Policy Members in attendance to stand and be recognized. 2. Presentation and discussion from Gilbert Chamber a) Chamber Overview Sarah Watts, President/Chief Executive Office (CEO) with the Gilbert Chamber of Commerce, discussed its purpose and passion. She said representation, belonging, and credibility made the Gilbert Chamber unique. She said the Chamber was a 501 (c)(6), founded in 1978, with 650 member businesses representing more than 66,000 employees, with their primary functions being advocacy and business connections. She discussed representation by the industries of finance and insurance services; construction and contractors; health care; business and professional services; and restaurants, food, and beverage. She discussed advocacy, being the voice of business, trying to identify trends, and then providing support. She discussed advocacy at the local, county, state, and federal levels and collaboration with the East Valley Chamber of Commerce Alliance (EVCCA) and U.S. Chamber of Commerce. She highlighted Chamber programming and events including the Guiding Growth Podcast, ribbon cuttings, Connections in Focus, Gilbert Community Excellence Awards, Heritage District Meetups, and the Tri-City Economic Update. She highlighted the Gilbert Chamber Foundation programs including Adopt-A-Senior, Business Retention Roundtables, East Valley Resource Coalition, and other events and programs. She discussed The Catalyst, stating it had not been launched yet but would be a business resource center, from ideation to exit, adding they worked with the Office of Economic Development on the endeavor. She highlighted the Board of Directors, then discussed the business priorities and policy pillars of business growth, prepared workforce, long-term 2 planning, and infrastructure. She noted members of the Board of Directors would be presenting the information. b) 2024 Local Business Priorities Kevin Bishop of RCP Community Management summarized 2024 business growth and its importance. He said they were asking for help in achieving priorities including managing the workplace and workforce without excessive local government intrusion. He discussed job growth, retaining and attracting businesses to create jobs, increasing employment opportunities, and ensuring fees and regulations were predictable, fair, and reasonable, He said he appreciated support with tenant improvement projects and encouraged support of Gilbert businesses, also noting the use of promotional signage and possible preferential pricing. Ashton Princell of APS spoke of discouraging long term retail vacancies to ensure stable commercial rents and accessible space for small and emerging businesses. She noted efforts to provide education for new businesses that wanted to come to Gilbert and add that skillset. She discussed the utility perspective, noting there was plenty of access so that growth could continue. Candice Copple of ASU discussed prepared workforce and expressed gratitude to the Chamber. She emphasized the importance of job training and workforce development to support the needs of Gilbert’s employers and small businesses. She spoke of continued partnership to identify and develop demand-driven career pathways, employment trends, and forecasts. She said ASU was helping with employment trends and happy to host the business support. She noted continued support and engagement in the Gilbert Chamber Foundation’s workforce readiness initiative, then discussed and the number of degrees, and jobs that would need those degrees, then said it concerned her that there may be a gap of people to fill those vacancies and there was a need to increase the numbers of graduates. Matt Streeper of SRP discussed maintaining Gilbert’s tradition of low taxes, innovative services, and efficient Town-operated expenses. He said there was need to ensure taxes 3 were predictable, fair, reasonable, efficiently used, and well-managed. He discussed how the Chamber and Town interacted well, including managing during inflation. He said Gilbert was good about public policy, giving information, and taking suggestions. He discussed zoning throughout the town and the need to see them on a case-by-case basis, then discussed sections of the Town that were aging and the need to make sure that zoning cases matched what was in that area. He discussed the importance of a General Plan and priority areas, noting issues when there was no plan. Lastly, he discussed conditions with the Colorado River negotiations, saving water, and modifications to Bartlett Dam. Adam Baugh of Withey Morris Baugh said that in looking at the list of priorities, many would look familiar, but some had adjustments. He discussed changes in legislation with proposed amendments that could take away the ability to change zoning in the town; he advocated for championing policies that would encourage attainable workforce housing while protecting local control and private property rights. He discussed the Town and Chamber working together to come up with solutions, adding if they did not, the legislators would. He discussed promoting Character Areas within Gilbert and provided examples. He said though legislation may take away some tools, there were still tools in the toolbox, the greatest being the town itself and resources within the departments. He discussed giving people confidence to invest in Gilbert, then said the northwest growth corridor needed a lift and would see reinvestment. He spoke of the importance in investing in the Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport, supporting non-profits to serve the vulnerable population, protecting natural resources, and investment in the water treatment center. Eric Pettitt of Pettitt Wealth discussed infrastructure, stating it was the foundation of every good town or city. He gave an example of a small business that expanded, then noted infrastructure was needed to make that happen. He discussed how Gilbert was aging and said there was a need to start redeveloping some of the areas so that all corridors remained vibrant and promoted quality employment opportunities. He mentioned not wanting to lose “that town feel” and spoke of the need to ensure the right areas were being redeveloped to support businesses. He spoke of investing in state-of-the-art technology and supporting innovative transportation solutions, then discussed construction inflation and the need to prioritize long-term maintenance and replacement costs. 4 3. Presentation and discussion from Town of Gilbert Town Manager Banger thanked everyone for attending and noted the strong partnership the Town had with the Chamber. He discussed the Town’s mission to anticipate, create, and help people, then noted high-level issues and priorities the town was working through. He said the focus was to keep Gilbert a thriving community well into the future, and the key focus areas were Police, Fire, and Parks and Recreation. He also noted the Town was focused on protecting Gilbert’s water supply for future generations. He said the North Water Treatment Plant (NWTP) was the largest municipal capital improvement project in the state and, once completed, it would produce more than 70% of Gilbert’s available water supply at buildout. a) General community stats Town Manager Banger provided Gilbert statistics including that the 2023 population was 288,128, and it would likely soon pass Chandler in population, making Gilbert the 4th largest city in Arizona. He said Gilbert was 72 square miles, larger than many big name cities. He stated 47.4% of Gilbert’s population had a bachelor’s degree or higher, nearly half, noting it was also a community without a full university presence, making that percentage of educated residents even more impressive. He discussed the median household income of $105,733, only second in Arizona to Paradise Valley. He noted that Gilbert was a young community in terms of age of residents, with a median resident age of 35.3. b) Fiscal Outlook – FY 2025 Town Manager Banger summarized the 2025 Fiscal Outlook, noting Gilbert was blessed to have universities now serving residents in Gilbert. He stated Gilbert had no primary property tax and had primarily sales tax based revenue, then discussed a fair and equitable playing field. He noted some potential legislative impacts and spoke of the State budget projections. He said Gilbert and other cities were moving into a tight budget year and discussed tackling the state budget. 5 c) General Inflation, Construction Inflation and Supply Chain Impacts Town Manager Banger discussed economic impacts and managing fiscal activity with the considerations of general inflation, construction inflation, and supply chain issues. He said construction inflation has wreaked havoc on Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) projects and they were looking at ways to bring costs down and reprioritize projects as necessary. He said he hoped it would normalize. He said quality infrastructure was key to quality of life, then highlighted conditions that would require fire apparatus and other equipment to last longer than what was expected or normal. He discussed supply chain issues including difficulty procuring police cruisers and other vehicles. d) Ongoing Drought & Water Resiliency Initiatives Town Manager Banger discussed the ongoing drought and conditions with the Colorado River. He highlighted water resiliency initiatives with the NWTP upgrades and six accelerated wells that were already in the CIP but were moved forward to be completed in the next few years. He spoke of complications with water in the area and climate. He said Gilbert was a leader in banking and recharging water in the ground, then noted other efforts to lessen reliance on water. e) Quality of Life Investments Town Manager Banger summarized quality of life investments, noting the Town was in its last decade of buildout. He said the population may top out at 330,000 residents, and the buildout may be seen as early as six or seven years. He said there were so many important decisions to make as the Town approached buildout. He noted the key focus areas of Police, Fire, and Parks and Recreation, then discussed the Space Needs Analysis. He highlighted the forth-coming advocacy center, the police department which doubled in size and had insufficient space, and a needed crime lab. He said some fire stations were older and needed to be redesigned and upgraded, some required additional beds. He stated Parks and Recreation was undersized vastly for the needs of the community and the programs and 6 parks were oversubscribed, which led to them ranking as 97 out of 100 worst cities for parks and recreation. He discussed the need to expand parks and programs, then said it would be another big year in Gilbert and he looked forward to working with everyone. f) Business Technical Assistance Program Update This item was not presented. 4. Audience Q & A Mayor Peterson and Emily Staples asked if there were any questions or comments. Robert with Tilson commented that Gilbert staff was outstanding and fast in their work with permitting. Adam Baugh stated it was the first time he heard the information that Parks and Recreation ranked 97 out of 100 in worst cities. He said he did not see that from his experience and asked how they gathered that the programs and parks were overused. Assistant Town Manager Prince discussed how data was collected and studied. Baugh asked if the data was collected through cell phone technology; Prince stating yes, and through surveys, all indicating that parks and programs were consistently full. Assistant Town Manager Rhineheimer discussed engagement efforts and said the results were overwhelming, then shared her own experience with parks being busy and oversubscribed. Participants asked if the comparison was made for cities of similar size and average age of population/participants; Prince confirmed the comparison was of similar size and scenarios. Another participant agreed with not having enough space for programs or room at parks and amenities. Mayor Peterson noted Gilbert Regional Park was not fully developed and there was room planned, they would just need to figure out how to pay for it. WRAP UP 7 Mayor Peterson noted that the participants heard a lot of information and there were many things to follow up on. She discussed attending ribbon cuttings as an opportunity to connect with business owners and Gilbert residents, then discussed changes in workforce and the need of businesses to find employees. Mayor Peterson and Emily Staples thanked everyone for attending. ADJOURN The meeting was adjourned at 9:31 a.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 23rd day of January, 2024. I further certify that the meeting was duly called and held and that a quorum was present. Dated this ____ day of ____________________2024. ___________________________________ 8 Chaveli Herrera, Town Clerk 9