Council Study Session

MINUTES OF THE GILBERT TOWN COUNCIL, IN SPECIAL MEETING FOR A STUDY SESSION, OF TUESDAY, APRIL 18, 2023 AT 5:00 PM, MUNICIPAL CENTER I, COUNCIL CHAMBERS, 50 E. CIVIC CENTER DRIVE, GILBERT, ARIZONA COUNCIL Mayor Brigette PRESENT: Peterson 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 Clerk Chaveli Herrera, Management and Budget Director Kelly Pfost, Development Services Director Kyle Mieras, and Police Chief Michael Soelberg CALL TO ORDER OF SPECIAL MEETING Mayor Peterson called the meeting to order at 5:08 p.m. AGENDA ITEM 1. Discussion of FY 2024 Preliminary Budget. Management and Budget Director Pfost stated this time of the year was her favorite because she got to talk about the budget and about Gilbert being the best-in-class municipality. She spoke of Gilbert being the number one place to live in Arizona, number one city for early retirement, number three city for whose unemployment rates bounced back most, number two city to start a side hustle, number three for healthiest midsize employers in Arizona, and number two for the best place to live and raise a family in the Phoenix area. She spoke about the zero base results being $1.6 million added this year, and $7.6 million in total savings since 2018. She stated most of the increase was due to raw water costs in drought conditions. She talked about the budget process and it being a whole year-long affair; she said it kicked off in September with the final adoption being in June. She stated the budget 1 request for Fiscal Year 2024 was about $70 million of need across the Town, but they were requesting $50 million of that need, which was about 72% of the requested amount. She talked about the breakdown of those funds and why they were needed, noting inflation and increase in cost of supplies and demand. She spoke about the breakout of funds for General Fund, Streets & Enterprise, Strategic Initiatives, Recommended Positions, and Capital Improvement Projects. She also talked about the comparison of the budget for the current Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 versus FY2024. She said the current budget was about $1.67 billion and the proposed just being over $2 billion. She also spoke about Property Tax and the slightly lower cost, then said this was the sixth year in a row that Town had maintained that rate. She stated that it was the Council’s first opportunity to discuss and provide feedback in regard to the budget so they could bring the preliminary budget forward on May 2, 2023. She concluded by thanking the Council and asked if there were any questions. Councilmember Anderson thanked Director Pfost for her presentation and asked if there were details on the Strategic Initiatives that would break down the numbers for individual packages. Director Pfost stated there were not, that they asked the departments to tell them which Strategic Initiative they believed their budget fell within but had not collected the data. She said they could have that data in the future years but did not have it right now. Councilmember Anderson stated that it would be good for a future year and that he would like to see the Strategic Initiative tied to the budget. Councilmember Koprowski stated that the municipal facilities crime lab item, MF2524, was showing $5 million. Director Pfost said that it currently only had the design for the project and last year the Council asked to remove the construction portion. Councilmember Koprowski stated if the construction portion was added back to the budget, she would assume it could continue to be evaluated and be prioritized amongst the other projects. She asked about the risks that might be involved with bringing it back to the budget. 2 Director Pfost stated there was not really any risk, that before the design it would be more of a placeholder, then as it went through the design it would refine down. She said they could add a placeholder for construction, which would be out in the future years, so it would not be part of the adopted budget for FY2024, but it would help them see the basic order of magnitude for the placeholder and the potential funding sources and opportunities they could have. Councilmember Koprowski stated that this was an item she would like to see brought back and added the budget in terms of construction costs, as well as a placeholder and funding to be identified in the future. Councilmember Torgeson asked about property tax, asking if rather than the same levy as last year since it had gone up, could they get a minor win for the residents and go down .0883 to .98, or a flat number, instead of the .9883. Director Pfost said that they could look into it; Councilmember Torgeson said it would be a difference of $278,602. Director Pfost said by policy they had to keep at least 5% and under 10% of fund balance for delinquencies, so they could look at that. She said it would mean having a little less balance than the proposed rate would have for delinquencies, adding right now they were running about $1 million short of the usual. She said the second property tax usually came in November and March, and they were still getting that information. She discussed that there could be some risk, but it was something that could be examined if the Council gave that direction. Councilmember Torgeson asked how many people were being added to Police and Fire Departments from the current state. Director Pfost stated Police were 7 full-time employees (FTEs), and Fire would be 4 FTEs and about 1 ½ limited term agreements (LTAs). Councilmember Torgeson asked what was the ask of them. Director Pfost stated she did not know at the moment but would get Councilmember Torgeson the answer. 3 Mayor Peterson wanted to clarify that Councilmember Torgeson was referring to the secondary property tax, because the Town of Gilbert does not have a primary property tax rate. Councilmember Buchli asked if we do get a minor win for the residents with the secondary property tax reduction, how would that affect the current budget. Director Pfost stated that it would not, that it just paid for bonds we had or debt service. Mayor Peterson stated that it was only for voter-approved bonds, but Gilbert had to stay between a range of 5%-10%. Director Pfost said State law required that we cannot be above 10%; our Town policy stated to have at least 5% to account for any non-payments from the residents. She stated that sometimes there were delinquencies and were times when the County would write them off as uncollectible. She said there were other fluctuations that happened in collections that we needed to be prepared for. Mayor Peterson said the Assessor’s Office gave the new evaluation number which impacted the levy staying the same; she said rates would go down, but our levy stayed the same, or the amount needed to collect to pay back that debt. Councilmember Bongiovanni asked if there was one full-time police officer for every 1,000 people. Director Pfost stated she was not sure and asked Police Chief Soelberg. Chief Soelberg stated Gilbert was just under 2 officers per 1,000; it was about 1.8 if he remembered correctly, but he could run the numbers. Councilmember Bongiovanni stated Gilbert was estimating a 14,000 increase in population next year. Chief Soelberg discussed population projections and stated that Gilbert currently had 323 sworn officers, and with the additional positions in the budget, it would bring them to 325 sworn officers. Vice Mayor Tilque said she believed last year Gilbert added a significant number to Police and Fire employees, maybe 60 altogether between the two departments. She wanted everyone to be aware that it may not seem like much of a bump, but they had a big one last 4 year and she knew they went through a rigorous process to make those decisions. She wanted to share the information. She said nothing would be worse than lowering the property taxes only to turn around and raise them the next year because we did not have enough money. She said she wanted to be really cautious when we looked into it. She stated we always want to lower taxes but did not want to have to raise them in the future. She thanked Director Pfost for the additional documents that were sent and for taking the time to talk to the Council. Mayor Peterson stated Gilbert did add a lot to public safety last year. She stated we ran into this with the utility bills when they lowered rates in 2018, and had they known what was coming, they would not have lowered them because then they had to increase and then do another increase. She stated that no one remembered when you lowered them, but they all remembered when their bill went up. Councilmember Koprowski asked when the Council was going to be receiving the Capital Improvement Project (CIP) book with additional detail. Director Pfost stated that it usually came out in August, adding if there were specific projects Councilmember Koprowski was interested in, they could get her not the full format but descriptions and lists that were being worked on. Councilmember Koprowski stated she would like that to follow up on some of the newer projects that were not in the old book. Mayor Peterson noted that the CIP team was doing a stakeholders meeting on April 27, 2023 at 3:00 PM at Town Hall. She asked if there were any further questions for Director Pfost and thanked her for her time. 2. Discussion on Group Homes and Recovery Residences. Police Chief Soelberg stated that he was going to give an update on the group homes and recovery residences. He said they heard from residents at prior Council meetings that over the past six months there had been concerns regarding group homes and recovery residences. He said that prompted this discussion to present their findings of what we could and could not be done, which statutes were concerning regarding these homes, and recommendations of ways to improve internally and educate the Council and community. 5 Development Services Director Mieras gave a presentation focusing on an overview, registration and enforcement, and updates and next steps. He said there were about 27 classes and sub-classes utilized to define group homes and recovery residences through the State and local jurisdictions and had been broken down into two categories. He said the Land Development Code (LDC) currently defined group homes as 5-10 occupants which excluded staff and were occupied by a group of unrelated individuals (children, adults, or elderly) that were physically handicapped, mentally impaired, or otherwise disabled. He said they had to be licensed by the State to provide medical care and/or supervision, and they also must register with the Town of Gilbert. Director Mieras stated recovery residences were defined as five occupants which excluded staff and were occupied by a group of unrelated individuals that were recovering from substance abuse. He said they had to be licensed by the State and could not provide medical care. He said they also must register, obtain a business license, and submit an operation and management plan to the Town of Gilbert. Director Mieras talked about current statistics stating Gilbert had over 150 group homes and over 25 recovery homes, and that they had seen an increase in facility requests over the last year or so. He said they had also seen an increase in concerns from residents regarding the homes. He talked about the Fair Housing Act and how it prohibited municipalities from making zoning or land use decisions that excluded or otherwise discriminated against individuals with disabilities. He talked about requests for accommodation in which applicants could file a request to then look at and make a decision as to whether or not it met the requirement of the Fair Housing Act. He then gave two examples as to why a request for accommodation could be done and stated that any denials go to the Board of Adjustments, then to the Superior Court. He talked about regulations in the Town of Gilbert, stating operators were allowed to establish in Single-Family (SF) zoning districts and to request a reasonable accommodation, remain without signage, and house sex offenders without being visible or noticed from other houses on the street. He said notifications were required by the offender if the statutory requirements were met and operators were not allowed to locate within 1,200 feet from an existing group/recovery residence (without Town accommodations). He said they could not be prohibited by HOA’s, exceed five residents unless a State license allowed 10, or house any residents that constituted a direct threat to others or the property of others. He said municipalities were allowed to enforce residential 6 zoning requirements, approve/deny accommodation requests, require group and recovery homes to register with the Town, and to comply with building and fire regulations, State licensing requirements, and Gilbert parking requirements. He said they were not allowed to grant or revoke State licenses, exceed authority granted by State law, or discriminate in housing on the basis of disability. He talked about a comparison between Gilbert, Phoenix, Chandler, Mesa, Queen Creek, Peoria, Tempe, Glendale and Scottsdale, stating for the most part, Gilbert was very consistent and in line with how other municipalities were handling group homes and recovery residents. He also talked about how operators must register with the Town and submit an operations and management plan. He said Code Compliance would enforce residential zoning requirements and that inspection findings could be submitted to Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) for their action and or inspection. He stated that Chief Soelberg would talk further on sex offenders and whether or not they were allowed in group/recovery homes. Police Chief Soelberg stated that sex offender laws applied to every State location, noting it was the sex offender’s requirement to register and notice any change of address within 72 hours to the Sheriff’s Office. He said there were several statutes in Title 13, Chapter 38, that dealt with sex offender registry. He said A.R.S. § 13- 3821 identified who had to register, A.R.S. § 13-3822 explained the process of how they register as a sex offender, and A.R.S. § 13-3825 explained the process for community notification. He then gave an example of a situation in which a sex offender was released from the Court or Department of Corrections (DOC) and how that agency had the duty to notify the Department of Public Safety (DPS) of where the offender was going to be located within 72 hours, then DPS had 10 days to verify that the offender did register in the sex offender registry and that the information matched the information that was provided by DOC. He said if the information provided did not match, they would initiate a violation; if it did match, they would pass the information on to the Sheriff or local Police Department, depending on the location. He said it was then their responsibility to review and categorize the individual. Chief Soelberg touched on the levels, stating that Level 0 was a sex offender that was convicted of a sex offense prior to 1996. Level 1 was when they had to notify all residents within that residence, but not the community. Level 2 and Level 3 were more serious and 7 or concerning behavior from those sex offenders, and those required community notification. He said State law required local authorities to notify the community of Level 2 or Level 3 sex offenders within 45 days and this applied to all offenders, not only those in the group/recovery residents. He said notifications were currently issued within 30 days, adding Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) had been cooperative with Gilbert and helped the Town refine its processes. He said they received referrals from law enforcement agencies and the public, and they had enforcement opportunities for any criminal activity related to residential, residents, health or safety, and repeat or uncorrected deficiencies. He said if there were ongoing violations, they could create a new referral. ADHS took into consideration the severity of a violation, the pattern of the violation, and the steps to take forward when a referral was sent in, and they could also do inspections, civil penalties and fines, revoke the license, do a cease and desist letter or an injunction, and handle appeals on behalf of the owners and licensees. He also gave a brief update as to what they had been working on, stating the most important details were that seven referrals had been submitted to ADHS for either crimes or concerns; this was based on criteria such as criminal nature or concerning, and the community could help by submitting online referrals to ADHS. He said the community could make referrals to the Police Department if they had concerns or violations, adding they were also working on capturing 911 hang-up calls, which could be 150+ calls over 52 weeks. Chief Soelberg then turned it back to Director Mieras. Director Mieras stated the last time Gilbert’s Land Development Code (LDC) was updated was in 2017 to align with new and expanded State verbiage and definitions. He stated this was a good time to take another look and see what could be updated, adding once those updates were made, they would bring it back to the Council for approval. Chief Soelberg listed ways the community could participate to help with their concerns including calling the police or contacting ADHS, their homeowner’s associations (HOAs), or Code Compliance. He concluded with thanking the Council for their time and asked for questions. Councilmember Anderson asked if when they updated the Land Development Code (LDC) if they were going to involve stakeholders, since some had come to the Council meetings 8 and spoke on the issues. Director Mieras stated that yes, it would be important for everyone to understand what could and could not be done. Councilmember Bongiovanni asked out of the 27 categories, since nine were actual Residential seeking non-Commercial spaces, if they could align them with the State categories to make it easier to understand the regulations. Director Mieras stated that yes, is was very important to do that as they moved forward with LDC revisions. Councilmember Koprowski stated as the liaison to Gilbert Public Schools, she attended a meeting with Gilbert Public Schools and learned that they had a very exceptional special education department and that people and families actually moved to Gilbert to attend their programs. She stated that was something that we would need to recognize and have them as stakeholder, for those families to participate, adding as those students aged, they were probably the ones that were now adults with disabilities that were in some of those group homes. She said to make sure that we separated the group homes from the homes for rehabilitation and ensure that we were able to accommodate those individuals living in our community. Mayor Peterson asked how the community was notified regarding sex offenders. Chief Soelberg stated that anyone in the half-mile radius would get a notification, whether it be electronically and or by paper. He stated that anyone could go to the website and look up their neighborhood and see levels, pictures, and what someone was convicted of. He said you could also set up notifications to be sent directly to you from the Town of Gilbert’s website. Mayor Peterson stated that she did not want anyone to think that every person that entered the sober living homes or group homes was a sex offender. She said they were just pointing out that some were, and the Town had those complaints, so there were ways that someone could track those or be notified. Mayor Peterson thanked Chief Soelberg for addressing the Council on the matter. Vice Mayor Tilque asked that Gilbert 311 be identified as best practice for neighbors since it was one of the easiest ways to actually report something. She said it would allow it to be 9 on record and could be used as part of a case if needed. She said in lieu of calling 911 and waiting for an officer to get there, since whatever was happening was maybe over at that point. She stated that expanding that use in these cases would be great. Chief Soelberg stated it was a good opportunity, both easy and convenient for residents to relay concerns and or violations. He added if it were something of health or a safety risk, someone should call 911 or the non-emergency number. Mayor Peterson thanked Chief Soelberg and Director Mieras for their presentation. ADJOURN Mayor Peterson adjourned the meeting at 6:07 p.m. ATTEST: ___________________________ ___________________________________ Brigette Peterson, Mayor Chaveli Herrera, MMC, Town Clerk 10 CERTIFICATION I hereby certify that the foregoing minutes are a true and correct copy of the minutes of the Study Session of the Town Council of the Town of Gilbert held on the 18th day of April, 2023. I further certify that the meeting was duly called and held and that a quorum was present. Dated this ____ day of ____________________2023. ___________________________________ Chaveli Herrera, Town Clerk 11