City Council Regular Meeting on 2025-02-04 6:00 PM

City Hall City of Maricopa 39700 W. Civic Center Plaza Maricopa, AZ 85138 Ph: (520) 568-9098 Meeting Minutes - Final Fx: (520) 568-9120 www.maricopa-az.gov City Council Regular Meeting Mayor Nancy Smith Vice-Mayor Henry Wade Councilmember Eric Goettl Councilmember AnnaMarie Knorr Councilmember Amber Liermann Councilmember Vincent Manfredi Councilmember Bob Marsh Tuesday, February 4, 2025 6:00 PM Council Chambers 1. Call to Order The meeting was called to order at 6:01 p.m. Be Community Church Pastor, David Anderson gave an invocation and Councilmember Goettl led the Pledge of Allegiance. 2. Roll Call Present: 7 - Councilmember AnnaMarie Knorr, Councilmember Vincent Manfredi, Mayor Nancy Smith, Councilmember Bob Marsh, Councilmember Amber Liermann, Councilmember Eric Goettl and Vice Mayor Henry Wade 3. Proclamations, Acknowledgements, Awards and Presentations 3.1 PROC 25-03 Black History Month Proclamation The mayor read the proclamation and proclaimed the month of February, 2025 as Black History Month. Vice-Mayor Wade dedicated the proclamation to Joann Cooper Vanderbilt's family in honor of the work she did for the community. Read 4. Report from the Mayor Councilmember Marsh gave an update on the Pinal County general code update. He stated the proposed amendments were rejected by the board due to the negative feedback and were back at the drawing board. He reported participating in the Pinal County Board of Adjustments meeting on January 23rd in Florence were they approved a blanket variance for 274 undersized lots in the general rural zone. He reported attending the Chamber of Commerce awards dinner along with the mayor and council members on the 25th and commended the business community. He reported attending the Pinal Partnership Water Resources Committee meeting on the 27th, the Pinal Partnership Government Relations Committee, and the General Plan Update Committee both on the 28th. He reported on the Mayor’s State of the City Address on the 29th at the new high school and the unveiling of the new sculpture at City Hall on the 30th. Next, he reported participating on an East-West Corridor zoom meeting and elaborated on his input. He reported attending the county’s 150th anniversary celebration at the old courthouse on February 2nd along with Councilmember Goettl and Pinal Supervisor Vitiello. Lastly, he reported attending a briefing from lobbyists from Nexus Consulting. City of Maricopa Page 1 City Council Regular Meeting Meeting Minutes - Final February 4, 2025 Councilmember Knorr congratulated Mayor Smith on the State of the City Address. She commended the event and encouraged the attendance the next year’s address. She commended the tree sculpture at City Hall and reported attending the unveiling. Councilmember Liermann reported on the Maricopa Chamber of Commerce's annual award banquet. She stated it was NFL tailgate themed and Councilmember Marsh dressed-up as an NFL team owner and commended the event. She thanked staff for finishing the intersection at John Wayne Parkway and Smith-Enke Road and thanked the community for their patience. She noted it was inconvenient but added it was an amazing project that finished a month early. Councilmember Manfredi commended the work on the intersection as well and warned that there would be more construction coming the next couple of years to improve State Route (SR) 347. He shared that Gila River Indian Community (GRIC) announced that there was a final draft plan for the design for the overpass at Riggs Road and SR 347 and noted he would address the lack of funding. He reiterated that, over the next five to ten years, improvements would be immense and asked everyone for patience in advance. Next, he discussed the Senate Bill (SB) 1617 introduced by Senator T.J. Shope to bring back funding for the improvements on SR 347 and elaborated that the funding was pushed to 2028 and the bill would bring it back to 2026. He emphasized that work was constantly being done to address the issues on SR 347. He reported attending the Regional Transportation Advisory Committee on legislative day at the capitol and talked to legislators about SR 347. He emphasized the importance of advocating, sending letters, and attending all the meetings. He reported also attending the Central Arizona Governments (CAG) legislative day and encouraged residents to go to 347facts.com and submit stories that would go out to all representatives. He reported attending a Pinal Regional Transportation Authority (PRTA), noted it was now the Regional Transportation Authority (RTA), and elaborated on their discussion on how to the money from Propositions 416 and 417 were collected in Pinal County and would be refunded to businesses in the county. He stated the goal was to find out what to do with the leftover money because not every business would get a refund and elaborated that it could potentially go anywhere in the state and encouraged people to go to the PRT to advocate for the funds to go Pinal County and the City of Maricopa. He thanked Brett Roberts, Representative Teresa Martinez and every one of the representatives that have worked hard for the funding of the Riggs Road improvements. He expressed excitement that the news was shared by many in social media including Mayor Smith, ADOT, and most importantly GRIC because it shows they support the improvements. He elaborated on all the future roadwork and the future of SR 347. Vice Mayor Wade commended the Youth Council and their participation in the State of the City Address and all their volunteer work. He stated on Friday they would go over to the legislature to learn how it operates, and they would get a chance to network and have fun. He stated he looked forward to spending time with the group and commended the members. Mayor Smith reported having the opportunity to present graduate certificates to the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) members and added that they were a vital part of the community entirely as volunteers. She reported attending the Maricopa Chamber of Commerce awards banquet and noted the Maricopa Police Foundation won for non-profit of the year and asked for a round of applause. Next, she reported on the State of the City Address and thanked the council for their participation. She thanked staff and directed those interested in watching it to the city’s YouTube channel and website. She elaborated on the topics of the address. Next, she reported on the unveiling of the pecan tree sculpture and the online City of Maricopa Page 2 City Council Regular Meeting Meeting Minutes - Final February 4, 2025 East-West Corridor feedback opportunity. She stated Planning and Zoning (PZ) Commissioner Bill Robertson, other councilmembers and she attended and emphasized it was important for the extension of the Sonoran Desert Parkway and provided some background. She stated the corridor would provide access to the industrial business park when the additional 36,000 jobs when they start operating, additional emergency access and for economic development. She stated there were still opportunities for feedback and directed those interested to the Pinal County website. She reported attending the Creative Mind series and the Maricopa Historical Society’s Trails and Tales Dinner and elaborated on the events. She commended Councilmember Manfredi’s information on SR 347 and stated she was thrilled when she saw ADOT announced the solution for the overpass on Riggs Road. She discussed SB 1617 and expressed excitement things were beginning to happen. 5. Report from the City Manager City Manager Bitter announced ADOT would host their first online virtual meeting on Thursday (February 6) to talk about transportation statewide. He encouraged participation. Next, he stated the Citizens Leadership Academy would start back again in April and the application process would open soon. He elaborated on the tops and benefits of the academy. Mayor Smith added that since it is a virtual meeting the community could simply listen by clicking the connect button, but they could also submit speaker cards to talk about SR 347 and how important it is to add it to the five-year plan. She recommended 347facts.com for those who were too shy or did not want to speak during the virtual meeting. She elaborated that the letters go out to over 100 elected officials including ADOT and recommended emphasizing to put SR 347 on the 5-year plan. 6. Call to the Public Peg Chapados, Secretary for the Friends of the Arts, congratulated Mayor Smith for the State of the City Address and commended staff. She complimented the sculpture at the front. She stated they were hosting their third annual fundraising event Taste of the Arts on Saturday, March 1st. She stated they would debut Parodybille Playhouwz and elaborated on the games and prizes. She listed all the organization they had reached out to that would be the facilitators of the games and added that at the end of the evening the proceeds would be divided evenly amongst the participating groups. She listed the current twelve groups that have confirmed participation and added they were waiting for confirmation from other organizations. She stated tickets were $75 and were available for purchase at MaricopaFriendsOfTheArts.com. She stated MFOTA members would get a 15% discount and elaborated. She encouraged those interested to go to the website. Next, she congratulated the Mayor and Council on the direction they were taking on the facility rentals and encouraged them to seek out the statistics that were not presented on the library and community center. She stated those 3 facilities had different demographics and different needs. She stated she would also like to see continued discussion on the possibility of the rentals with zero fees, but also establish a range based on the needs of staff. Andrew Coonts with the Maricopa Community Theatre (MCT) expressed concerns with the hourly rates for community rooms. He asked that they reject the current fees and work with nonprofits to make them more accessible. Cherish Forbes, Vice President of MCT, commended the council for reassessing the rates for community room rentals. She discussed what goes into the production of theatre and the costs of productions. She expressed concerns that the facility rental fees were still too high for organizations like MCT. City of Maricopa Page 3 City Council Regular Meeting Meeting Minutes - Final February 4, 2025 Susan Bonsonte stated she saw Global Water would be presented and asked about the letter that went out to residents regarding the high level of fluoride in the water. She stated many municipalities were doing away with adding fluoride due to it being a dangerous neurotoxin. Her concerns were addressed during their presentation. 7. Consent Agenda Approval of the Consent Agenda After a brief presentation on Consent Agenda Item 7.2. summarized below, a motion was made by Councilmember Amber Liermann, seconded by Councilmember Vincent Manfredi, to Adopt the Consent Agenda.The motion carried by unanimous vote. 7.2 SUB24-09 The Mayor and City Council shall discuss and take action to approve Subdivision Case # SUB24-09, Red Valley Ranch, Phase 1, a request for final plat approval to subdivide +/- 72.35 gross acres of land into 287 single-family residential lots and thirty-four tracts of land, for a residential subdivision. Discussion and Action. Councilmember Manfredi stated he had some question on 7.2 before it gets approved in consent. Planning and Zoning Manager, Rick Williams gave a brief presentation. He stated the request for the Red Valley Ranch, phase, was made by Crescent Bay Land Funds LLC to subdivide approximately 72.35 acres into 287 residential lots. He stated the density for phase one of the development was proposed at 3.97 dwelling units per acre. He explained that this was approved by the county years ago, but in 2021 there was a minor Planned Area Development (PAD) amendment, along with a preliminary plan which had since been extended in 2021. He stated 3 different lot sizes were proposed on the 42-foot-wide product and detailed the lot sizes. He provided a visual exhibit with larger lots on the northern portion of phase one, and smaller lots on to the southern part. He stated it also indicated roadways but also the open tracks for the retention basin, open space, and drainage easements on the east side and the north side adjacent to Farrell Road. He discussed the access and circulation explaining the main access for this phase of development would be via Farrell Rd and elaborated. He pointed out the direct access to the Maricopa-Casa Grande Highway provided via Murphy Road, which was half a mile to the west. He detailed the on-site and off-site improvements associated with the development. He provided a color-coded exhibit with Red Valley Ranch, Phase one to the right and the Elena Trails development. He stated the project would be responsible for Farrell Road improvements from the northwest corner of the development to West Saddleback and they would construct the northwest collector from Farrell Road to Jarrett Road. He stated they would also construct a secondary access road east of the Red Valley Ranch property and a drainage corridor. He stated there was a coalition of stakeholders in the area for the off-site improvements in the area including the city’s CIP project, VW Volkswagen, Elena Trails, the Leonard development with Anderson Farm. He stated the off-site improvements included Farrell Road just north of the Elena Trails and explained the CIP project was involved with that area, and there was a timing component that City Manager Bitter can elaborated on. He explained if the CIP project came in first, then the city would develop that portion of Farrell Rd. and the drainage easement to the north to its ultimate capacities, and then take the contributions that Elena Trails and Red Valley Ranch agreed to and add them to the coffer. He added that Flood Plain Administrator, Dan Frank was working on potential federal funding that may be associated with that as well, if the CIP project came first. He elaborated that if the Red Valley Ranch project came first, then they would construct half a mile of a City of Maricopa Page 4 City Council Regular Meeting Meeting Minutes - Final February 4, 2025 two-lane paved road from north Murphy to that edge of the Farrell development until the CIP project comes in and at that point the city would then construct Farrell Road and complete the drainage easement to the north. He emphasized that the coalition was working together on this as it was a large major project. He stated the request was in conformance with the General Plan an met the outline of the Red Valley Ranch PAD. He recommended approval of the Red Valley Ranch, Phase 1 final plat SUB24-09. He opened the floor for questions and noted the applicant was present as well. Councilmember Manfredi explained he asked that this item be discussed before consent because residents asked him what was going to happen with the infrastructure there, and he wanted the community to know that this was in the works since 2015, with a change in 2021 and elaborated on the infrastructure needs that would be put in place. He asked what the status was on the culvert on Murphy Road west of Farrell Road. City Manager Bitter explained that it was part of this project and that a federal earmark (congressionally designated spending) was received two years ago, and the city was moving forward with that project as part of the CIP project listed on here. He reiterated that stakeholders were working together on getting the proper easements together, and it was in next years CIP plan. Councilmember Manfredi elaborated on the community’s concerns that people should be able to get out of there and on to the main roads. Mayor Smith thanked Councilmember Manfredi for bringing the concerns forward because it was important for residents to understand this was not a new project and had been in existence on the books and counted in terms of housing. She reiterated it was important that residents and specially the media to get the information right. This Subdivision was Approved. 7.1 LIQ 25-02 The Mayor and City Council shall discuss and take action on recommending approval to the Arizona Department of Liquor License and Control regarding an application for a liquor license submitted by applicant Kenneth James Barro on behalf of Barro's Pizza located at 21101 N. John Wayne Parkway, Suite E106, Maricopa, Arizona 85139. Discussion and Action. This Liquor License was Approved. 7.3 MIN 25-07 Approval of Minutes for the January 21, 2025 City Council Regular Meeting. Discussion and Action. These Minutes were Approved. 8. Regular Agenda and/or Public Hearings 8.1 PRES 25-02 The Mayor and City Council shall hear a presentation and community update from Global Water Resources. Global Water Chief Operating Officer (CO) Christopher (Chris) Krygier introduced colleagues Senior Vice President Jake Lenderking, Vice President and General Manager Jon Corwin, Beth Huerta and Andrew Miller. He thanked the Mayor and Council for the opportunity to present and stated the presentation format would be in two parts with Jake presenting on water and legislation and Jon would provide an update on the proposed rate case filing and a response to the question on fluoride. He turned the presentation over to Jake. Mr. Lenderking provided a presentation overview explaining he would provide background on water resources with the Colorado River and groundwater, give a City of Maricopa Page 5 City Council Regular Meeting Meeting Minutes - Final February 4, 2025 legislative update and discuss water augmentation. He explained that in the last 20 years there has been drought on the Colorado River and to address it, agreements had been put in place to reduced runoff. He stated the interim guidelines passed in 2007 and the DCP passed in 2019 both to address lower runoff times. He provided a technical graph of snow water equivalent or the amount of water in the snowpack in the upper Colorado River watershed. He stated the left access depicted the inches of water and the bottom depicted the time. He explained the black line was currently where we were, just a little bit below the green which was normal average. He stated the agreements would expire in 2026 and new guidelines needed to be put in place which involved the 7 Basin States, Federal Government and Mexico. He stated the seven basin states have always come to an agreement amongst themselves instead of litigation, because litigation offered unforeseen consequences and expressed confidence that they were working towards an agreement and foresaw something in the news soon for an agreement along the lines of 2027 through 2037 or 2047. He noted it was important to mention that Global Water does not directly use Colorado River water, and these issues did not directly impact us here. Next, stated groundwater issues were important across the state and the two major ones were over pumping in rural areas (which the governor just announced an initiative to try to tackle), and a projected unmet demand inside active management areas. He explained unmet demand was determined by sophisticated computer models that demand over the next 100-years in Assured Water Supply (AWS). He stated that resulted in many regulation changes. He stated Global Water had a designation of AWS that transcends that issue. He listed all the regulatory changes. He discussed State Bill 1274 and its success that protected Global Waters DAWS, allowed for reconfiguring plats and protected water stored underground. He reviewed 2024 legislative session statistics including that they tracked 80 of the bills and only 3 water bills were signed into law. He reviewed statistics for 2025 and noted they’re currently tracking 90 bills. He elaborated one of the bills was on Assured Water Supply called “Agriculture to Urban” which provided an incentive to convert agriculture lands to municipal uses. He noted Senator Shope introduced the bill. Next, he moved away from legislation to talk about Water Augmentation and the aquifer recharge station. He explained the recharging process through several methods but stated they chose percolation basins. He stated that thanks to Congressman Stanton and Maricopa, they received a grant for $8 million and elaborated. He discussed the Water Augmentation through Barlett Dam and the Verde Reservoirs Sediment Mitigation Study. He elaborated on the construction of a new dam to mitigate sediment buildup and stated they were working with Pinal County Water Augmentation Authority (PCWAA) on the project. He stated it was a long and expensive project and elaborated on SB 1616 that would help with funding. Lastly, he discussed other augmentation such as water leases. He gave a summary and concluded his presentation. Mayor Smith stated she appreciated that Global Water was constantly looking ahead and not just meeting the status quo. She reported she had the opportunity to do a fly over of Bartlett Dam and was excited to learn Global Water was in the picture. She stated that she, Councilmember Knorr and Councilmember Manfredi were headed to Washington D.C. and asked if there were other projects that would qualify for grants at the federal level that they could help move forward, in partnership, so that additional costs were not included in either the current rate case or future rate cases. She stated it was important to offset any costs for residents and directed him to think it through and get back to her by the third week of February. Mr. Lenderking responded he was working with Flood Administrator Dan Frank, as well as the Army Corps of Engineers on one of the three projects put forth when the recharge funding came about. He stated he would be happy to circle that back through Mr. Frank as well on other projects. Mayor Smith asked him to meet with Mr. Frank, Intergovernmental Affairs Director Katy Proctor and City Manager Bitter. City of Maricopa Page 6 City Council Regular Meeting Meeting Minutes - Final February 4, 2025 Councilmember Liermann stated that oftentimes the Council was asked about how Maricopa can handle the growth, specifically related to water supply, and asked Mr. Lenderking to elaborate on the uniqueness that Maricopa has compared to other areas in the region and why we specifically could handle the anticipated growth. Mr. Lenderking responded that it was complex, but simply we had a very plentiful aquifer beneath us. He elaborated on the water levels in the areas of town and the hydrogeologic characteristics that helped attain the designation of assured water supply. He stated that there were 22,914-acre feet per year that we were allowed to use, and we were using about 9,000-acre feet a year, so there was a long runway in that water supply. He reiterated that Maricopa was geographically situated in a good place. Mayor Smith added that there were also always looking for more water sources. Mr. Lenderking concurred that due to regulations always changing they were always looking for more. Councilmember Liermann stated she was proud that Maricopa recycled 30% of their water. Mr. Lenderking elaborated on water conservation programs. Councilmember Marsh thanked Mr. for their participation in PCWAA and the Pinal Partnership Water Resources Committee and commended their contributions. Vice Mayor Wade asked Mr. Lenderking to elaborate for the residents what recharge and wet and dry cycling means. Mr. Lenderking explained wet and dry cycling has to do with the ability for the basins to work, but when you get a lot of water in the basin for many days in a row it tends to clog it up, and get silting, or vegetation growth and both were hindrances to getting water in the ground. He stated they would dry up a basin, till it, or rip it so the suspended solids break up. He further stated that they enhanced rechargeability to rotate the basins to have higher recharge rates. Jon Corwin thanked the Mayor and Council for the opportunity to present. He addressed the question from the call to the public about whether Global Water added fluoride to the water and responded they did not. He explained that fluoride was a naturally occurring element in groundwater and they added another well to their lineup to address the issue. He stated they blended all their water sources into one and that allowed things like fluoride to dilute to lower the levels. He reported the notice that they sent out last summer was for the secondary maximum contaminant level (MCL), he explained an MCL above 4 milligrams per liter would be considered out of compliance, and the secondary MCL was not necessarily out of compliance but does require notifications be sent out to customers. He reported that since the notifications went out, they made adjustments like adding a well to the lineup and have stayed consistently below the secondary MCL around 1.7 kilograms per liter. He stated that as they continue to add water sources to capacity, they would continue to push that down and look at centralized treatment options down the road. He moved to the presentation on the pending rate case. He stated the process started over a year ago and clarified that changes would not be implemented until mid-2026. He discussed why the rate case was needed including inflation, to continue to invest in the community to keep up with growth, and for the Southwest Plant. He elaborated on the inflation stating the construction costs were significant and impacted their construction costs to develop new infrastructure. He stated they were building infrastructure to support growth and provided a chart depicting the growth that they have experienced both on the water side and the wastewater side. He elaborated on peak demand for water deliveries in the suburb for the past four years and stated the peak reached about 10 million gallons per day this past summer, a 37% increase as compared to 2021. He noted that they were also seen an increase of 21% on the wastewater side as compared to 2021. He reiterated they met the demand we would continue to meet the demand in a sustainable way the designation of assured water City of Maricopa Page 7 City Council Regular Meeting Meeting Minutes - Final February 4, 2025 supply, recharge, and other things. He stated they would continue to plan both from an infrastructure and water perspective. He provided a list of community investment projects completed over the past four or five years to stay in front of the growth including well rehabilitations, new water distribution centers, adding capacity to the wastewater treatment plant, and a whole gamut of projects. He detailed the Southwest plant that represents the wastewater plant, a water distribution center, well collection lines, and water distribution lines that was constructed in 2006 to 2007 when the market was booming, and home developers were moving to the southwest area of Maricopa around Papago Road and SR 347. He stated then the recession hit, and those homes did come to fruition and the facilities never went into service and they have sat on those assets for almost 20 years. He reported it represented represent about $60 million of investment plus recommissioning and provided context of the last rate case. He stated it would include resolution for pre-mature revenue collection issue that would offset the overall rate increase. He stated the goal was to resolve the issue for all stakeholders in a way that would bring it to a conclusion. He summarized the timeline of the rate case as of today, February 4th then file a notice of intent followed by the case rate filing in March. He stated it would to the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) and their staff would do an in-depth audit and review of all the information including the financials and investments that were made, and then the ACC would issue a report of findings. He stated, ultimately it would go to a hearing before the administrative law judge who would then issue a recommended opinion. He stated the five elected ACC members would vote and decide to approve it or modify it. He stated whatever the decision, nothing would change until the middle of 2026. He stated until then they would continue to provide updates, educate the community and provide information. He detailed bill impact estimates and highlighted the median water customer who used about 5000 gallons per month, would see the proposed increase on the water at about $4.00 per month in phase one, and then another $3 in phase two. He stated that would total to $7 by 2027 and on the wastewater, it would increase $2 per phase for a total of $4. He stated overall it equated to an 11% increase. He stated that when looking at inflation from 2019 to 2024 the proposed rate just a little over a 2% increase per year in that that five-year window, so the 11% overall, compared to overall inflation of 26% was significantly less. He stated wastewater fees proposed increases less than the water to address the premature revenue collection issue and elaborated. He stated the ACC recognized that the current rate case filing process needed improvement and passed a policy framework for utilities to propose future rate cases for prospective rate cases or formula rates. He stated it would essentially allow utilities to implement their investments into new rates on a yearly basis for it to be smaller incremental rate increases as opposed to one larger rate increase. He stated approximately every five years it would still requires the utility to go to the ACC through a rate case and get that plan approved. He opened the floor for questions. Councilmember Marsh stated he was pleased to see the rates were below the inflation. Councilmember Manfredi discussed development in the city and stated it happened thanks to the hard work of Global Water and elaborated. He addressed the community’s concern with the water supply. He elaborated on the importance of investing in infrastructure for additional stores and development. He gave background of when the city had multiple water companies and stated Global Water rescued the city. He thanked them for their presentation. The Presentation was heard. 9. Executive Session City of Maricopa Page 8 City Council Regular Meeting Meeting Minutes - Final February 4, 2025 There was no executive session held. 10. Adjournment This meeting was Adjourned at 7:28 p.m. Certification of Minutes I hereby certify that the foregoing minutes are a true and correct copy of the minutes of the regular meeting of the City Council of Maricopa, Arizona, held on the 4th day of February, 2024. I further certify that the meeting was duly called and held and that a quorum was present. Dated this 18th day of February, 2024. __________________________ Vanessa Bueras City Clerk City of Maricopa Page 9