Council Study Session

MINUTES OF THE GILBERT TOWN COUNCIL, IN SPECIAL MEETING FOR A STUDY SESSION, TUESDAY, APRIL 2, 2024, AT 4:30 PM, MUNICIPAL BUILDING I, COUNCIL CHAMBERS, 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, and Intergovernmental Relations Director Rob Bohr CALL TO ORDER OF SPECIAL MEETING Mayor Peterson called the meeting to order at 4:34 p.m. AGENDA ITEM 1. Discussion on Air Quality issues with Maricopa Association of Government (MAG). Intergovernmental Relations Director Bohr said Maricopa Association of Government (MAG) would be discussing air quality. He then introduced MAG Executive Director Ed Zuercher, Chief of Staff Audra Koester Thomas, and Environmental Director Matt Poppen. Executive Director Zuercher explained MAG’s region and its role in air quality governed by the Clean Air Act and regulated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). He shared a chart provided by Maricopa County and discussed the growth factors with emissions. He noted the Gross Domestic Product, Vehicle Miles Traveled, and Energy Consumption had increased, but then said total emissions were down because of cleaner technology. Environmental Director Poppin explained how the ozone was formed and discussed the challenges of controlling the ozone layer. He said that wildfires had substantially increased Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) emissions and, since 2020, there was a dramatic increase. He added they expected the trend to continue. He provided timeline constraints with ozone and the key dates of a finding of failure to submit in November 2023; because of that, it triggered sanction clocks, the first offset sanction would be May 17, 2025. He said the highway funding sanction would come into effect on November 17, 2025. He said the big picture was for attainment of the 2015 ozone standard which would ultimately support public health, the environment, and economic development. He said submitting an approvable plan to EPA would avoid sanctions, including potential loss of federal highway funding and further prevent reclassification with stricter industry controls. Councilmember Bongiovanni asked if any states were attaining the standards. Environmental Director Poppin said some areas were attaining the standard, but areas throughout the Intermountain West had similar problems with emissions going down but not reduction in ozone. Councilmember Bongiovanni asked if population was a factor in that. Environmental Director Poppin said population could be a factor, but also meteorology and geography were factors. He said almost all of the Midwest was attaining the standard. Councilmember Koprowski asked about the effects of the ozone on the community. Environmental Director Poppin said it could exasperate asthma and there were public health concerns associated with the standards. Councilmember Koprowski asked about the successful strategies in reducing the ozone. Environmental Director Poppin said EPA’s standards on vehicles historically had the most impact; he spoke of meeting with the Assistant Administrator of the EPA and asking for help in addressing the unique challenges in the Intermountain West. Poppin then discussed wanting to put together a plan that could make an impact. There was further discussion on the current measures in place and examining additional impactful measures that would be helpful. Councilmember Tilque spoke about wildfires and forest management and asked what the Town’s responsibility was for funding or advocating for that. Environmental Director Poppin said the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality would be the best resource for that. Councilmember Buchli asked what could be done about the emissions from forest fires and how much came from other areas such as California. Environmental Director Poppin said there were sources that provided information, and EPA provided regulatory relief towards those fires and could be excluded; he said models were in place to estimate the emissions from those fires and annual inventory. Councilmember Bongiovanni asked if the Midwest competed for the same highway funding. Executive Director Zuercher said in some ways yes, then said there was a formula that was used. Councilmember Bongiovanni asked if the unrealistic expectations were a way for the federal government to push more dollars to the Midwest. Executive Director Zuercher said he did not believe it was that and said EPA set a national standard for clean air for health. Councilmember Torgeson asked about Proposition 400 and air quality and how it worked with the MAG 20/50 plan. Executive Director Zuercher said Proposition 479 was about making streets more efficient for lowering emissions. There was discussion about the ozone in 2020 when not a lot of vehicles were on the road, and Environmental Director Poppin explained the effects on the ozone during that time. Environmental Director Poppin discussed Particulate Matter (PM)-2.5 and explained the impacts of the particles. He said EPA reduced the standard from 12 to 9, and three regions in Maricopa County violated the new PM-2.5 standard. He discussed the causes of PM-2.5 and said emissions from woodburning and fireworks were very high during wintertime. He said recommendations needed to be submitted to EPA by February 7, 2025, then EPA would make attainment/nonattainment area designations by February 7, 2026, then discussed the requirements for nonattainment areas. Vice Mayor Anderson asked if the new standard was unique to the current administration. Environmental Director Poppin said the standard was based on science; he said the standard was litigated and the courts would respond with their opinion, then added lawsuits on air quality standards had not been successful largely because the Clean Air Act only considered public health. Executive Director Zuercher spoke of past efforts in cleaning dust from the air and said he was hopeful of similar efforts to meet the standard. Councilmember Koprowski asked if the nonattainment was due to the adjustment and about resources and funding to help address the nonattainment. Executive Director Zuercher said the standard was lowered by EPA. Environmental Director Poppin said MAG had never been in nonattainment for MP- 2.5 and discussed the differences between the daily and annual standards. Councilmember Koprowski asked about additional funding to address nonattainment, and Environmental Director Poppin said MAG did not receive additional funding. 2. Discussion on the Office of Digital Government related to the department scope, mission, public messaging, post content, funding and name of office. Town Manager Banger provided a brief history of the Office of Digital Government (ODG) from its inception in 2012 and said during that time there was substantial change for cities and towns with how they communicated and engaged with residents. He said ODG supported 17 departments within the organization and discussed Gilbert’s population, demographics, median household income, median age statistics and said 96 percent of households had a broadband internet subscription. He stated the goal was to meet residents where they were, online. He discussed Gilbert’s communications in comparison to other cities and noted the similarities, then said the things ODG offered that other cities did not were substantial to communication and engagement with residents. He discussed the level of engagement across social media platforms and showed benchmark comparisons to other cities, with Gilbert having the highest level of engagement. He also discussed the digital engagement of video views, website visits, 311 requests, and newsletter subscriptions. He shared comparisons of the department size, number of full-time employees, total communications budget, and population it served, in comparison to other cities. He mentioned the notable awards and recognitions ODG had received and said other regions had visited Gilbert to learn best practices and modeled their department after Gilbert. Councilmember Torgeson said he could not find the mission statement and asked what the original name was in 2011. Town Manager Banger said it was Digital Government from the beginning, and before that was known as Communications Department. Councilmember Torgeson asked how it became engaged in things that became divisive, such as social media accounts being followed. Town Manager Banger said there were allegations of people’s social media accounts being followed; an outside firm did a full review and found no basis for any of those allegations and exonerated the Town from allegations of monitoring social media accounts. Councilmember Torgeson asked about conversations that were turned over to Human Resources (HR). Town Manager Banger said he could not discuss personnel issues, but if there had been reports of violations, the responsibility was to turn over to HR and department directors to follow up per personnel rules. Councilmember Torgeson said it was not activism then, but a reaction. Town Manager Banger confirmed and said either they were tagged in posts or people brought it to the Town’s attention. Councilmember Torgeson said regardless of who was speaking, it was a reaction and not action on their part. Town Manager Banger said he could not respond to any specific incident and did not recall which incident Councilmember Torgeson was speaking of. He said their job with engagement was if they had been tagged, they had a responsibility to be responsive to them. Councilmember Torgeson asked about ODG’s involvement with Economic Development and how that was replaced with a marketing person. Town Manager Banger said there was overlap with the work in Digital Government, and the decision was made to separate that back out and leave in Economic Development. Councilmember Torgeson asked when each department got an embedded employee. Town Manager Banger said it grew and added as necessary through the years. Councilmember Torgeson said Fire was the most trusted brand and their voice was replaced with someone else’s. Town Manager Banger said he did not see it as replacing a voice, then said the Town as a whole had a brand and residents saw it as one government serving them in many ways. He said while Fire had a service line and brand different and unique from Police, they wanted to ensure it was part of the Gilbert brand and there was consistent messaging and branding to avoid any disconnect. Councilmember Torgeson said there was disconnect in the representation, and the divisiveness he had seen was because there was only one voice and reflected that they were being watched and could not speak; he said it was one perspective reflected through one lens. Town Manager Banger said the employee worked closely with the Fire Chief and Fire personnel in messaging and coordinated efforts were part of larger issues in community. Councilmember Torgeson asked how that related to the Mayor making a public statement and not having access to the Town’s social media. Mayor Peterson said she had direct access to the Gilbert AZ Mayor Instagram and X accounts, but did not have access to other accounts ran by the Digital team. Councilmember Torgeson asked if she felt she got enough assistance with getting her message out. Mayor Peterson said she did not, but said that was not pertinent to the conversation. Councilmember Torgeson said it showed the parts that worked well and parts that did not. Mayor Peterson said she did not feel that was ODG. Councilmember Torgeson said he felt there was resistance to the Mayor making public statements, to which Mayor Peterson replied not from ODG. Councilmemebr Torgeson asked from which departments, and Mayor Peterson said it was not pertinent to the conversation. Councilmember Torgeson said where there was smoke there was fire and questioned why ODG was above the Town Manager on the organization chart. Town Manager Banger said ODG was not above the Department of the Town Manager, but said the organization chart showed the direct reporting relationship to the Town Manager. Councilmember Torgeson asked about ODG’s involvement and voice going out in messaging. Town Manager Banger explained that the job of ODG was to provide departments with their needs in the best manner possible. He provided an example of a commercial produced for the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) Tournament for the Tourism Division in the Office of Economic Development. Councilmember Torgeson said he saw things that stuck out but there were things that were not said, then asked if ODG had involvement with the Municipal Quality Index. Town Manager Banger said he would categorize it as a coordinated voice and not an individual voice, and added ODG did not have involvement with the Municipal Quality Index. Councilmember Koprowski said online media was earned and the Town did not have to pay for it, then spoke of the importance of the low cost and high value. She said there were requests of printed materials which were expensive and there was a good balance between incorporating those materials with key important stakeholder outreach. She stated she liked the direction of ODG and expressed concerns of maintaining its status and staying innovative. Town Manager Banger said it was a constant process and analytic tools were used to analyze platforms and trends. He said social media was a monumental change of how governments engaged with communities. He added the next big impact would be how to best manage Artificial Intelligence (AI) for accurate, reliable, and authentic information. Councilmember Tilque spoke of the importance of the foundation ODG had set for engagement and said, through the Communications Subcommittee, the Town’s website and 311 feature were being explored and evaluated for updates. She spoke of a Northwest Corridor meeting where postcards were mailed and said it was used when it made sense, then discussed campaigning for opt-in options. She said she felt the Town was doing a great job in getting information out. Town Manager Banger said it would continue to be based on data analytics, and the Town would continue trying to fill the role for data storytelling. Vice Mayor Anderson asked about having an embedded employee in each department, versus having a Public Information Officer (PIO), and if it was satisfactory. Town Manager Banger responded yes, and said Police and Fire still had a sworn position actively involved that worked with the embedded employee. Councilmember Bongiovanni spoke of a compliment from a consulting firm stating Gilbert’s engagement was impressive compared to the next biggest city, then said he appreciated how the engagement was fun and involved parents and children. Town Manager Banger discussed the Parks and Recreation staff who worked together to develop the approach needed for the feedback. Mayor Peterson spoke of past engagement from the Town on previous surveys and outreach. Councilmember Torgeson said he and Councilmember Bongiovanni had asked about storytelling regarding the Water Treatment Plant and increase in cost, but said it had fallen on deaf ears. Town Manager Banger encouraged Councilmember Torgeson to reach out to him and staff if he ever felt they were not responsive; he discussed the robust campaign efforts from the Town. Councilmember Buchli spoke in support of the department and said it was of huge value for the residents; she said she had heard talk about monitoring ODG and asked if that was necessary. Town Manager Banger said the concerns raised three years ago were evaluated by an outside firm, which did not find any basis for the assertions made. Banger continued that ODG, and every other department, received proper oversight and guidance through regular evaluation of work product and feedback received, then said he did not believe there was anything further warranted or necessary. Councilmember Buchli said she agreed and wanted to get it clarified in public. Vice Mayor Anderson asked about signage that showed where tax dollars were going for bond projects. Town Manager Banger said the Town was doing that and putting up signage with “your tax dollars at work.” Councilmember Tilque discussed closing the gap and adding an extra step to follow up with information to Councilmembers. Mayor Peterson also spoke about closing gaps in communication. She said she believed there could be improvements to ODG, but said they worked hard and she did not have an issue with the department. Councilmember Torgeson stated he did not feel comfortable and asked about healing the perception of what was going on in the department. Mayor Peterson stated that there were members of the Council who were creating that perception. She discussed how some employees were purposefully tagging the Town online to make a statement and to create an issue that did not exist. She said it was time to move forward, that it had been investigated by an outside group, and it was time to move on. ADJOURN Mayor Peterson adjourned the meeting at 6:24 p.m. ATTEST: ___________________________ ___________________________________ Brigette Peterson, Mayor Chaveli Herrera, MMC, Town Clerk 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 2nd day of April, 2024. I further certify that the meeting was duly called and held and that a quorum was present. Dated this __________ day of ______________, 2024. ___________________________________ Chaveli Herrera, MMC, Town Clerk