Council Subcommittee

MINUTES OF THE GILBERT TOWN COUNCIL SUBCOMMITTEE ON TEEN VIOLENCE, IN SPECIAL MEETING OF TUESDAY, APRIL 9, 2024, AT 1:00 P.M., GILBERT MUNICIPAL BUILDING I, COMMUNITY ROOM 202, 50 E CIVIC CENTER DRIVE, GILBERT, ARIZONA COUNCIL PRESENT: Vice Mayor/Subcommittee Chair Scott Anderson, Councilmembers Chuck Bongiovanni, and Jim Torgeson COUNCIL ABSENT: None STAFF PRESENT: Deputy Town Clerk Judy Martinez, Town Clerk Specialist Amy Beyleryan, Assistant Town Manager Dawn Prince, Assistant to the Town Manager Allyna Bay, Council Aide Monica D’Ortenzio, and Mayor’s Aide Kirsten Morgan AGENDA ITEMS CALL TO ORDER Subcommittee Chair Anderson called the meeting to order at 1:06 p.m. ROLL CALL Town Clerk Specialist Beyleryan called roll and declared a quorum present. AGENDA ITEMS 1. Consider approval of the minutes of the Subcommittee on Teen Violence Meeting of March 26, 2024. A MOTION was made by Councilmember Bongiovanni, seconded by Councilmember Torgeson, to approve the minutes of the Subcommittee on Teen Violence Meeting of March 26, 2024. Motion carried 3-0. 2. Discussion and drafting of a recommendation for Town Council consideration and action related to Teen Violence. Subcommittee Chair Anderson said he wanted to hear ideas of how best to format and prioritize recommendations to the Council. Councilmember Torgeson had some questions on what the Town could do regarding some recommendations. Councilmember Bongiovanni said he would like to see the Community Engagement Task Force (CETF) develop a plan and scope for some of the recommendations. Subcommittee Chair Anderson agreed they could codify the information they had and take it to the Council for discussion on sending it to the CETF. Councilmember 1 Bongiovanni said he would like the CETF to determine scope and not add items they could not fulfill. Subcommittee Chair Anderson said they needed to sort through comments that were criticism and not recommendations. Council Aide D’Ortenzio said Project Lily did a good job organizing the recommendations by category of schools, Police Department, and the Town and those were in their own section, along with those provided by Katey McPherson. Subcommittee Chair Anderson asked for information on the CETF. Assistant Town Manager Prince stated that the CETF members were told the topic of teen violence may be assigned to the group, pending the recommendation of the Town Council. Prince said they wanted to allow time for the members to determine if they wished to stay on; otherwise, they would have to resign so the Clerk’s Office would know how many positions to fill. Prince said she would send the original scope of the CETF to the Subcommittee members. Subcommittee Chair Anderson asked how long it may take for members to be appointed. Assistant Town Manager Prince said the application was typically open for two weeks, then time was needed for the Council to review the applications and for interviews to be scheduled. Prince added it would depend on the availability of the Council. Subcommittee Chair Anderson said he felt that some of the recommendations could be done right away by the Council; others could be handled by the CETF. Councilmember Torgeson discussed Student Resource Officers (SROs) and the ratio with students, then said there needed to be “zero tolerance”. Subcommittee Chair Anderson said SROs needed to be discussed with the budget process along with consideration of what resources were needed; he noted the option of having an SRO as a rover. Councilmember Bongiovanni agreed that resources would need to be allocated. Subcommittee Chair Anderson said the Council could give that recommendation. Councilmember Bongiovanni asked if there had been discussions of adding more SROs before the COVID-19 pandemic. Assistant Town Manager Prince said she would have to check on that. Subcommittee Chair Anderson noted there was ongoing discussion about who paid for SROs, then said most of the recommendations needed more school than town intervention. Subcommittee Chair Anderson asked about priorities of the Subcommittee. Councilmember Bongiovanni restated the topic of SROs, but said it fell within the school district. Councilmember Torgeson asked what could be done from the Town’s perspective for the kids. He discussed the planned Advocacy Center and the amount of money spent for that; he said that should be a place for kids to go for help and SROs could send students there. Councilmember Bongiovanni said he would like to see school boards more involved and possibly be members of the CETF. He restated that most of the recommendations involved schools and 2 there should be more intervention during breaks, in bathrooms, etc. Subcommittee Chair Anderson said he did not like giving the response that they did not have involvement in schools and there was nothing they could do; he said they did have responsibility as school liaisons; he discussed expanding meetings with the school districts and inviting others to attend. Councilmember Torgeson stated the only way to get leverage there was to strengthen the relationships with the schools and make that a responsibility of the Councilmembers by assigning them schools. Councilmember Bongiovanni said he did not see most of the recommendations as problematic, other than financing for SROs, but there needed to be school involvement. Councilmember Torgeson suggested biweekly meetings with SROs and having them bring someone from each school with them, such a principal or students. Councilmember Bongiovanni stated they should bring in law enforcement to help consider if the recommendations would be impactful. Subcommittee Chair Anderson discussed having meetings with superintendents. It was noted that Councilmember Bongiovanni was the liaison for the Chandler School District, Councilmember Buchli for Higley, and Councilmember Koprowski for Gilbert. Councilmember Torgeson discussed meetings with charter schools and American Leadership Academy (ALA). Councilmember Bongiovanni stated he could not get charter schools to participate in the youth survey. Councilmember Bongiovanni stated he believed Chandler was considering a juvenile ban for possession and sale for brass knuckles. It was noted that the topic was discussed with Town Attorney Payne and they were working to gather similar ordinances and information from other cities. Councilmember Torgeson discussed adopting an ordinance regarding parental responsibilities. Subcommittee Chair Anderson stated in meeting with SROs, he learned that security personnel was a concern due to them not being well-paid or well-trained. Councilmember Torgeson discussed funding for the extra dollars to pay for actual officers and the desire to have those discussions with the school districts. Subcommittee Chair Anderson asked where the Community Engagement Task Force (CETF) would fit in. Assistant Town Manager Prince discussed the items on the list that the CETF could vet to see what the Town could potentially do. Prince noted that not all the CETF recommendations on other topics were ones that the Town had control over, some involved partnering with schools or organizations and identifying potential actions. Councilmember Bongiovanni said he would like to see businesses included. Prince agreed, and said some of the CETF’s prior recommendations also included working with legislators; she said she would send some of the prior recommendations to the Subcommittee. Subcommittee Chair Anderson discussed a prior realization that there were a lot of resources the Town was providing but he felt people did not know about them; he said that may be something the CETF could work on. Councilmember Bongiovanni suggested providing information to all new Councilmembers on all the programs the Town offered. There was discussion regarding how the public received information and what resources they were aware of. Councilmember Torgeson asked about utilizing the Digital Department to provide information in schools and add 3 engagement. There was discussion regarding open lines of communication with parents, schools, staff, and others to learn about situations occurring at schools. Assistant Town Manager Prince Dawn said the results from the Arizona Youth Survey could be utilized by the CETF. Subcommittee Chair Anderson asked how many schools were participating in the survey. Councilmember Bongiovanni said Gilbert and Chandler, but he was not sure if Higley School District had consented to the use of that data. Assistant to the Town Manager Bay stated if not provided that consent, information could be parsed down from the survey by zip code. Councilmember Torgeson stated it was important to get the breakdown from the schools. Assistant Town Manager Prince said they would follow up on the status with the data. The Subcommittee restated that most of the recommendations involved schools. Council Aide D’Ortenzio noted a recommendation regarding Police and Fire Cadet programs and age requirements. Assistant to the Town Manager Bay said there may be a liability issue regarding younger participants for the Fire Cadets. Bay added the Police Explorer program had long been in existence; she also discussed the Aspire program with Fire and Police collaboration. Councilmember Torgeson asked about expanding those programs. Assistant Town Manager Prince said she would work with the Fire Chief. Assistant to the Town Manager Bay discussed the process and timing for recruitment and openings for those programs. Councilmember Bongiovanni discussed adding more events for teens, such as a dedicated teen bowling night or extending recreation center hours. Assistant Town Manger Prince said it was something they could explore, and possibly assign to the CETF. Councilmember Torgeson discussed facilitating regular events in different parts of town. Councilmember Bongiovanni asked those in attendance for comments. Alan Fitzgerald, Gilbert resident, said he was just listening to hear that ideas did not fall flat without resources and commitment. Doralise Machado-Liddell, Gilbert resident, said they were discussing schools, but not what was happening on Town property. She discussed issues at a parking garage owned by the Town and if it was the responsibility of park rangers or police officers. She asked for more park rangers, as well as more enforcement or violations issued. Councilmember Torgeson stated that an officer responded at the garages, not park rangers. Assistant Town Manager Prince and Assistant to the Town Manager Bay discussed the distinct responsibilities under park rangers, recreation management, and police officers. Subcommittee Chair Anderson asked about how to handle the criticisms submitted by the public. Councilmember Torgeson said if there was a suggestion included, then yes, to send it to the Police Department. Councilmember Bongiovanni said some were questions not complaints, and someone from the Police Department should look into them. It was stated that Mayor’s Aide Morgan or Council Aide D’Ortenzio would send them to the appropriate staff. 4 Subcommittee Chair Anderson said recommendations submitted by Project Lily and Katey McPherson were similar, though some were more specific and could be brought to the CETF. It was noted that some were actionable and included funding, but others involved relationships with schools. Subcommittee Chair Anderson discussed expanding relationships with schools through liaisons. Councilmember Torgeson said he believed Chandler was starting their own task force. Subcommittee Chair Anderson summarized the following recommendations:  Resources - increasing the number of SROs, utilizing the Victim Advocacy Center, and school district/town expansion of liaisons.  Possible Legislation – Town-involved research regarding an ordinance for brass knuckles laws and another regarding parental responsibilities.  Existing programs – utilizing the Task Force and survey results to make recommendations to the Council, etc. Councilmember Bongiovanni asked for data on complaints at parks and what was the Town’s response to it. Councilmember Torgeson stated the Town’s website was difficult to navigate and asked if the Town could facilitate another website or have programs localized and be immediately searchable. Mayor’s Aide Morgan discussed a type of “one stop shop” of various resources feeding into one page. Mayor’s Aide Morgan stated the Mayor’s “AdEd” event was still being hosted by the Mayor, and the last one was done after the Faith Summit in October 2023. Morgan discussed who typically attended. Councilmember Bongiovanni requested adding liaisons, law enforcement, and SROs. Morgan explained how the events had evolved over the years based on participant feedback, including that they were scheduled only once per year after hearing that scheduling was different from attendees. Assistant Town Manager Prince asked if there was interest in understanding the current roles of SROs. Councilmember Bongiovanni stated yes, then discussed people asking about volunteer positions to work with SROs, then noted considerations of legality and insurance. Councilmember Bongiovanni said Councilmember Tilque was the liaison for the CETF and was familiar with resources and organizations. Assistant Town Manager Prince said Gilbert had a great relationship with the Chamber of Commerce as well. Subcommittee Chair Anderson requested that the recommendations be added to the agenda packet for the April 16, 2024 Council meeting after being complied by Council Aide D’Ortenzio. 5 A MOTION was made by Councilmember Bongiovanni, seconded by Councilmember Torgeson, to approve the recommendations for consideration of the Council at the Regular meeting of April 16, 2024. Motion carried 3-0. A MOTION was made by Councilmember Torgeson, seconded by Councilmember Bongiovanni, to adjourn the meeting. Motion carried 3-0. ADJOURN Subcommittee Chair Anderson adjourned the meeting at 2:18 p.m. 6  ATTEST: ___________________________ ___________________________________ Scott Anderson, Vice 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 Subcommittee on Teen Violence of the Town of Gilbert held on the 9th 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, Town Clerk 7