Good evening.

Welcome to tonight's city council meeting.

It is Monday, December 11th, 2023.

It is 6 p.m.

I call this meeting to order.

Miss Mary, can we get a roll call, please?

Councilmember Satin.

Here.

Councilmember Wanwatha Rodriguez called in.

Vice Mayor Curtis.

Here.

Mayor Powell.

Here.

Councilmember Snyder.

Here.

Councilmember Garcia.

Present.

Councilmember Tarango.

Here.

Thank you.

Next, if we can all stand for the invocation being presented by Pastor Debbie Miller.

And please remain standing for the Pledge of Allegiance.

Well, dear Heavenly Father, we just want to thank you and praise you.

We thank you for especially this time of the season for your son's birth on the earth.

So many years ago, we just want to thank you and praise you that you sent your son for each and every one of us.

We ask, Lord, that you would just bless this council, help them to make decisions that will be wise for the city of Eloy.

We ask, Lord, that you would guide them with wisdom.

We ask that you would protect each and every one of them.

Protect our first responders.

And for the community life that we have.

And we just want to give you praise and glory in the name of Jesus.

Amen.

One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you.

Anybody sign in, Steve.

No sign.

Oh, thank you.

We're gonna go to uh reports or announcements.

We have council members before we go to presentation.

Um anybody have any announcements they like to say or speak of?

No.

Okay.

Next we'll go to council members' presentation for the National League of Cities uh 2023 City Summit Conference.

And I've at least Sylvia was gonna do it, but as you see, she's not here, so I think Andy is taking the Andy's been volunteered.

Voluntoled.

There you go.

So I'll stumble through this the best I can, Mayor.

Thank you.

Ums Rodriguez, uh Councilmember Jose Garcia.

We went to the National League of Cities Summit in Atlanta, Georgia, for four or five days.

The National League of Cities is a continuation of the League of Cities that we went to here in Arizona with the one in Arizona, the cities in Arizona represented themselves.

But this was on the national scale.

We got to interact and meet with other cities and other entities to you know compare problems, look for solutions.

We did a ton of workshops during the time we were there.

And we go to the next slide, maybe one of the workshops we did now.

There's night and day, but they have uh community gardens and food forests within the city.

Like this particular one, it was just a seven-acre piece of land that was nobody was using.

So it was donated, they got money through grants and nonprofits, and they built these really nice food gardens where they would exchange food between people and food for the community for free for anybody who wanted to come and get the food.

It really brings the community together.

Another one we went to was the municipal market.

This was a pretty nice place.

The municipal market is a repurpose of an old building from the city, and they just made a giant farmer's market and it just kept growing.

And what we found there were just private vendors all around.

It was tremendous.

There was selection and variety, and a lot of it was all homegrown right there.

Almost inside the city, because once you get outside the city of Atlanta, it's just wide open.

Next slide.

Next slide again.

And it seemed to work pretty well.

Next slide, please, Mary.

We took a tour of the uh Oakland Cemetery that was founded in 1850.

The tour, they gave us the good, the bad and the ugly about uh Atlanta.

And the good was, you know, it was a place for people to get buried, but the bad was things that happened there, like moving the intern bodies of slaves from one place to another within the cemetery because the land they were buried in became you know wanted by others.

So they told us these stories, and some of them were just heartbreaking.

But in the end, the the cemetery is used more for weddings than funerals at this point.

Because of the backdrops are so nice and the land is kept up so well, and they have a lot of events hosted within the cemetery because it's very manicured and very nice.

And some of the ones they do to continuation of Atlanta, because you know a town's history when you go to the cemetery.

So they have actors there who portray people who are interned.

They research a person, and then on one day they have the cemetery day, and they come down and actors portray the people, like I was the blacksmith, my name was blah blah blah.

And it just seemed like a fun thing to do, and it keeps the continuity of the culture.

Next slide, please.

One of the vendors there had a they had an app, just serve app.

And I we thought this was really cool because if you as a resident wanted to volunteer, you didn't wanted to get into a full-time volunteer thing, you just want to volunteer a few hours this week or the other week.

You can go on this app and find out, hey, I'm not doing nothing this week.

Let me go volunteer.

You can go on the app and find out something you can go do, whether it's at a hospital, whether it's anywhere they need help on an event.

And you, as the city, if you need people, the other side of this, you can have people come.

You post on the app that you have these openings for volunteers next weekend to help out with a fair or an event, and you can get people in that way.

We thought that was a pretty pretty nifty way to do business.

I don't know about the World Cup, I didn't attend that one.

Now, this is a the next one, the revitalizing Main Street.

This was a real interesting workshop we did with a mayor and others from a different city, whose main street was shuttered almost completely.

Within three years, that may have had that main street open, and every building what they called activated.

Every building had business going on, doors open, and cash registers ringing.

What they did was they went to the building owners and asked them or told them, look, we're going to give you an incentive to get these doors open and get business in here and get the lights on and get things moving.

If you don't, we're going to apply pressure to you.

And pressure that I think that's the next slide, Mary.

They were going to apply pressure to the building owners who did not have their buildings activated.

And that pressure would be in the form of a vacancy tax or a fee that would go up every year.

They were not open.

So within a short period of time, lights were on, businesses were open.

The program worked so well that they actually went to the property area outside their main street and expanded it to what they call blight housing.

Any place where or any property that had a house that was just completely run down or just vacant and torn up.

They would give an incentive for the property owner to fix the house up and make it move in, make it ready for habitable, or they would tax them for hurting the neighbors around them.

And it picked up their neighborhood tenfold.

We saw a lot of pictures and a lot of stories from that.

It was really, I thought it was kind of a good idea.

Then on to the expo hall.

Now, the picture does us no justice.

This is a really nice piece.

It's made out of all steel.

It contains an advertisement there on the left side of the bench.

It's solar powered, it has a place where you put your cell phone down, it would charge a cell phone.

They give the bench free of charge to a city.

The only thing that they require are four holes in the concrete to put the bench.

They sell the ad that goes on this bench.

Usually it's a realtor ed, he said.

They sell the ad, they take care of it.

You got to sign a three-year contract with them.

We just thought this was a nice idea.

We were actually looking for places.

We were thinking outside the police station would be one place and possibly at the airport would be another.

And being it's a solid steel construction, it's not it's kind of vandal-proof or vandal resistant, we can say.

So if somebody tampers with it or opens it up, it takes their photo.

So they know who did it.

Texts go out right away if it gets removed and is used.

But we just thought this was we don't.

I don't think there's a defibrillator right within walking distance of the school of the of the playing fields itself.

We thought this would be a nice thing to put out there.

Another thing we looked at was this kiosk.

This was for bill paying directly to the city, and we could put that here at the city hall for when City Hall is closed.

Anyone can come 24-7, pay a bill, and walk away.

No extra fees, no extra charges.

It's right here.

This company has a lot of stuff for law enforcement to make their job safer.

And we thought this was just a great introduction, and we'll bring it to them later.

So I hope it didn't stumble too much through this.

Thank you very much.

I know Dan, you said you may have some questions.

Did you have any questions?

No, my only question was thank you.

I think this is really nice.

Uh it's nice to see some I guess feedback when we uh attend these conferences.

So I hope we do things like this in the futures.

Well done.

Thank you.

Anyone else have any questions or comments?

Jose, did you want to add anything to it since you were there?

Pretty much thumbed it up.

There were a couple of other things I think we saw on other conferences that went in, and they were very well attended.

There was another one at the expo that was a pallet shelter.

Something we can easily set up in an hour and take down in an hour.

That's something I wish we had had a couple years back when we had our power outage because it would have helped that.

Pass that information along to Carl so that maybe they can use that with their homeless program.

It's costly, but in the long run, it can probably save us quite a bit.

All right.

Well, thank you.

Appreciate you guys.

Anybody else have any questions or comments here and then?

All right.

Um, for me, you know, I just want to say that we had our our electric light parade and our holiday Christmas festivities this on Saturday in wow.

What in attendance?

It was it was it was pretty large, and it was nice seeing everybody there from the front of the start of the parade all the way to the end of it.

It was just people everywhere, and it was such a great turnout.

The kids, man, there's kids everywhere.

And um, they were so excited to get the candy that we're passing out and or throwing out, and um just seeing everybody just appreciating what we have to offer.

And um it was really nice and the the rides, of course.

So I want to thank the staff, Paul, everybody, you know, um, Matt, your your people as well, too, that that put it all together.

Um well job.

Well, good well done.

You know, you guys did good.

So um, yes, uh, and um, yeah, it was it was a nice event, very nice event.

So thank you to everybody who participated who was there, uh, to the residents who came out that there's people from all over the the county that were there.

I saw so and that's good.

And so uh Andy said that he had some people that were just amazed by uh by it.

And so that's that's the positive feedback that that we want to hear regarding our community.

So thank you to everybody who uh had their hands on that.

Uh Wednesday, I'm gonna be speaking at the um Arizona Department of Corrections here in Eloy.

Um they're having a graduation for GED program, and they're gonna be two graduations, and uh I'll be speaking at both of them.

So I took the whole day off and I can be there, and it's this is like the fifth one.

It's such amazing to see these guys who have just you know made a mistake one way or another, and they're they're continuing on.

That's that's your own doing.

It's it's here to help you and and they have such great programs over there at the prison.

Um the rehabilitation programs over there, it's it's amazing.

Um they uh they definitely don't sit on their uh in their their little rooms and do nothing.

They have to be participate in something, and so um I'm honored that um they've asked me again.

This will be my third time, I think third or fourth time that I've I've spoke over there, and it's it's it's uh it's amazing.

So that's pretty much it for this week.

And then um we've had a couple meetings, and then we have more meetings next week, and um yeah.

So we're have fun.

Got eleven months, you guys.

We got 11 months to hit the hit the ground running.

So uh I'm excited.

So you'll see uh you'll see the city uh make some moves in the next couple weeks.

I guess we got some announcements or something like that coming up.

So uh talking to Jeff.

So we'll see.

I don't even know what they are yet.

So but that once again, thank you all.

So um yes, David, you're up.

See you.

Thank you, Mayor.

Members of council.

Yeah, I've got a couple of things on the manager's announcements for tonight.

Uh starting this week, Saturday the 16th, is the Reese Across America, sponsored in partnership with the Panel Hispanic Council.

That's at 10 a.m.

at our city cemetery.

So please, anybody has a minute to come out and enjoy that.

That's a great event here in our local community.

Um, and then we have a um on December 20th, we're gonna be doing things a little bit different this year for shop with a cop event.

The police this year will be going on and getting presents and bringing them back and presenting them to the children and their families here in the police station, Main Street Park, gonna be doing a little bit of a cookout as well.

So that is happening this Saturday starting at 6 p.m.

Uh then we also have on the 20th, the planning and zoning meeting.

That's we got a lot of agenda items up for that public hearings on different projects that we're having in our community, such as the Penelope Hispanic Councils project.

We also have a tiny home cottage community project being proposed too.

So there's some public hearings open and uh chances to offer opinions on that before they come before council for a final vote.

So if you have time, attend that as well on the 18th, which is Monday.

We're doing our first public meeting in the community room here at City Hall at 5:30 for the airport master plan.

So we have kicked that off.

It's been about three months since we kicked that process off, and now we're in the stages of having the first public meeting to go over the initial draft and forecast of this project.

So please come on down to that again.

That's 5 30 on December 18th.

That's Monday.

And then we're doing something a little fun on the 19th.

City Hall is gonna do a door decorating contest for the holidays.

So each department is participating and has a theme.

So if you get a chance, council members and have a moment, come on down to city hall and check it out.

We got some folks running around doing voting.

So got a lot of uh spirited competition in the city.

We started with the costume contest this year, and employees have really gravitated towards these small events, and it's it's interesting to see everybody and like I said, spirited competition among the employees and the departments at this point.

So that should be a lot of fun.

Um and lastly, on my updates, I have that offices will be closed Monday and Tuesday, December 25th and 26th for Christmas.

If you recall last year, we voted to not have that half a day on Christmas Eve and just uh roll the half day from New Year's Eve into Christmas Eve.

So we have a full day Christmas Eve, city offices closed, and of course Christmas Day, and then New Year's Day, January 1st, city offices will be closed.

And that is all that I have tonight.

Thank you very much.

Do we uh we also have a meeting on Wednesday the 13th with MAG, Mary Coba Association of Government?

That's correct.

Yes, they'll be here in the city hall in the community room as well for that public meeting.

Thank you.

That's from 4 p.m.

to 7 30 here.

That's what I have.

You are correct, sir.

Yep.

All right.

Thank you.

All right, next we're gonna go to consent agenda.

All items listed with an asterisk are considered to be a routine matter and be enacted by one motion and one roll call vote of the council.

There'll be no separate discussion on these items unless the council members so request, in which event the items will be removed from the consent agenda and considering its normal sequence on the agenda.

So we have items A through G.

Anybody on council like to discuss any of these none?

Do I hear a motion approve consent agenda items A through G.

So moved.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Can I get a roll call, please?

Councilmember Sutton?

Yes.

Vice Mayor Curtis.

Yes.

Mayor Powell?

Yes.

Councilmember Snyder.

Yes.

Councilmember Garcia?

Yes.

Councilmember Trangle.

Yes.

The motion pass unanimously, Mayor.

All right.

Thanks.

We're going to go to Matt presentation by Wilson and Company about the Sun Quarter Metropolitan Planning Organization.

Regional Transportation Plan.

Matt.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Members of the Council, the Sun Quarter Metropolitan Planning Organization was it provides transportation planning services to the communities of Eloy, of Casgrano of Coolidge, and rural portions of Pennell County.

It covers approximately 1155 square miles with an estimated population of about 120,000.

The current Sun Corridor MPO regional transportation plan was adopted by their board in March of 2020.

Since then, the the Sun Corridor MPO planning area is within Pennell County's non-attainment area for PM10 and PM 2.5 articulate matter, which is basically just an air quality control measure.

It says that it must be the regional transportation plan or the RTP must be completed every four years.

Therefore, the Sun Corridor MPO is updating the current plan to develop an investment strategy for the transportation improvements to keep pace with the region's population and the employment growth over the next 25 years.

The updated RTP documents performance that of the current transportation system relative to regional and local goals identifies needs to address existing and future travel demands and recommends how funding for transportation improvements should be invested in the region over the next 25 years.

Recommendations are derived on identified priorities and feedback from the stakeholders and the public.

We had an event back in October where we had a public engagement forum and we had uh public com public comment and public input to determine the the funding strategies for that for the RTP.

Uh the RTP 2050 plan is scheduled to be completed in March 2024.

And Wilson and Company has been awarded that contract with the Sun Corridor MPO to provide the guidance for that and to provide the updates for that.

And I'd like to introduce Ms.

Amy Moran, she's the senior project management or senior project manager with Wilson and Company.

She'll be providing the update.

Thank you, Matt.

Thank you, Matt.

Hi.

Mr.

Mayor, Vice Mayor, and members of the council.

It's great to be here this evening.

Um Matt, I think provided an exceptional overview of of the Sun Quarter MPO and some of its objectives and and why we are doing this regional transportation plan update.

Um so today I'm just gonna kind of hit some more of those objectives.

You know, why what is an RTP really intended to do?

Talk a little bit about some of those performance metrics that uh Matt mentioned, give you a little bit of what we heard during our public and stakeholder outreach, and then I've got sorry, there's like this weird bear with me.

I don't know how to get out of this.

Yeah, but nothing on the middle there.

All right, I'll just look up there.

Yeah.

Okay.

Um so as I was saying, um, then we'll just talk about what uh Matt recommended in terms of what the recommended investment strategy.

So what did we hear and what are we thinking makes sense in terms of an investing in transportation improvements over the next 25 years, as well as some projects of opportunity before we uh talk about how we're gonna wrap up the project.

So from an objective standpoint, really we want to make sure as we update the RTP.

We're addressing any new federal requirements.

So as legislation changes throughout the years, you know, it's been a good five years actually since they started, probably the last one I went through this process.

There's been some some new things that have come to light, some additional priorities that we want to make sure that we're recognizing in the context of the RTP.

Um we also want to make sure that we're addressing ADOT targets.

So those are um targets that are identified by the Arizona Department of Transportation for various performance measures that Sun Quarter MPO has adopted.

Um and so we want to make sure that that we're addressing those as well.

Matt mentioned engaging stakeholders and the public.

We can't do this in a vacuum as professionals.

We need to make sure that we're engaging the people that are regularly responsible for and using the transportation infrastructure in the region.

Um looking at those multimodal transportation priorities.

So it's not just a road plan.

It looks at all modes of transportation and we want to make sure that we're addressing that.

Again, going towards pointing towards those recommended investment strategies.

And then also looking at the project prioritization and selection process that's used by Sun Quarter MPO to eventually identify the best projects to be the recipients of their future funding.

So the reality is that in a nutshell, if you look at what this population and employment growth is going to be over the next 25 years, if you think about some of the problems that already exist in the region, now imagine what that might look like if there was about three times as many people and three times as many jobs.

So that that's kind of the perspective of what we're working in is it's not only trying to make sure that people who live here and work here today can get around, but being proactive about what might be needed to support future economic development, future growth and population throughout the region.

So those ADOT targets that we talked about, they really focus on a few things associated with the performance of the transportation system.

It's infrastructure conditions.

So what is your pavement look like, right?

Is it is it worn?

Is it broken down?

Um, system reliability, that's just kind of a fancy way of saying if you got to drive to work every day and you think it's going to take you 15 minutes.

Is it pretty consistently 15 minutes or one day it could be 15 and the next day it's going to be an hour and the next day it's going to be 20 minutes?

Thinking about what that congestion looks like.

Freight movement and economic vitality, obviously, very important.

We want to make sure that we can get those large vehicles moving around appropriately so we can support the economy of the region.

Congestion reduction and environmental stability, sustainability, that points largely to that air quality topic, making sure that we're trying to do our best to reduce vehicle emissions and keep our air quality as best as possible for our residents.

Safety, of course, is always a priority, really focusing on trying to, if possible, reduce the number of serious injury or fatal crashes that occur in the region.

And then transit is another measure.

We want to make sure that the investments that are being made are doing well for the people, that the types of services that are being provided, the frequency of services are you know are appropriate, as well as looking at the condition of, for example, the assets, so the buses and the service vehicles that support public transportation.

So the thing here with the ADOT targets that I just talked about, a lot of those really focus on what's called the national highway system, which would be state routes or interstates, for example.

Um as we kind of worked through with the technical advisory committee for the RTP, we recognize that there's a whole lot of miles of road that have nothing to do with the state system here in Pennell County and with especially for the member agencies.

And so we wanted to make sure that we were also looking at how are the local arterial and collector facilities operating sort of under that same lens.

So again, looking at those arterial and roadway bridge conditions, mobility to being able to get around on some of the more local roads, um, economic vitality.

Are we making the right investments to support existing businesses but also attract new businesses?

Again, looking at transit service and ridership, um, getting down to again bicycle and pedestrian needs and connectivity.

What does that look like?

How are we doing on sidewalks, bike lanes, monthlays, paths, and then of course the environmental component.

So we did hunt two rounds of of public and stakeholder outreach as we went through this process, which started at you know at the beginning of this year.

Um, and then back in sort of the uh February to April time frame, we reached out to a variety of stakeholders and and we also did an initial round of of public engagement.

Then we kind of went back after we heard some of the common themes that they were telling us in terms of needs, and we looked at a lot of data, and then most recently we went back out to the community and um the kind of September-October time frame and asked them about their thoughts in terms of how things might be invested.

And so what I'm gonna share with you is just some of the feedback.

So when we talk to the stakeholders, and these are just a few examples, um, the planning and economic development folks at each of the Sun Quarter MPO member agencies, so Casa Grand Coolidge, Eloy, and Penel County, as well as the Army Army National Guards, State Land Department, and Game and Fish.

You know, we we heard some common themes.

Of course, people are talking about the need for new roads, but they equally emphasize how important it was to take care of what we already have.

So maintain what we have, try to keep it in state of good repair.

When it came to new roads, a lot of the discussion was about redundancy.

You know, we need some parallel routes.

If we've got a road closure or construction going on on a road, it's nice to have a great alternative for folks to be able to travel.

And then really, you know, as they thought about that, they also mentioned again we need to have options for trucks, we need to have options for freight.

Um and then one thing I heard very clearly was just the concern and the desire to make sure that people have a reasonable way to get to work.

We need to take care of our workers.

That could have to do with with roads, with them being able to cycle to work, and also with um you know affordable transit options.

So when we went to the public, um, we used a variety of options, some of which Matt mentioned, we call those pop-up events where we go out to a community event that's already scheduled, such as your gay night event that was here in Eloy.

Um, and we take that opportunity to engage with the individuals who are already attending that event rather than asking them to come specifically to meet on our topic of project discussion.

Uh we also put up some um information on the transit vehicles, uh, little placards where they could scan a QR code that would take them to a survey, and similarly using utility bill inserts.

So we provided at those events where we were in person, we provided hard copies of the surveys, but we also had an online survey as well as a mapping tool, which was an option for them to kind of drop a pin and say, I've got a concern or a comment in this particular area or region.

We did get about 130 responses to those surveys as well as about 15 comments on the maps.

Um, some of the questions we asked, just trying to understand how people are using the transportation infrastructure.

I'm sure it's no surprise that majority of people in the region are driving as their primary mode of transportation.

I was um I I personally was pleasantly surprised to see that there was a pretty large percentage of people who say that they also prioritize walking, so that almost 20% is is thinking of it as almost a primary mode.

Um, so keeping that in the back of our minds as well as we're developing the plan.

Primary purpose, of course, um work is huge, uh, shopping as well, um, which I suppose is a good sign for the economy, and then um, of course, you know, medical school and then a variety of of other when we ask them about their transportation priorities, so kind of thinking and ranking about what are the the most important things to you as you think about the future of our transportation system, um, we really had a lot of respondents emphasize the fact that they think it's important to improve our existing roads, so focus on what we have today.

Um, we actually heard then, of course, the need to increase capacity of existing roads and bridges.

So, a lot of focus on existing roads, making them better.

Um, again, we heard a lot about safety, that need to think about how can we invest in our infrastructure to try to reduce um fatalities and serious injury crashes, and then um really about 54 of those responses were also related to the need to expand transit.

So, those are some of the common emphasis areas that we heard on our initial round.

When we went out to the second round of public engagement, and again, this was come combined both in-person public outreach as well as a new online survey.

We we asked people, let's say we gave them 10 dots, and we said you've got these these different things, or actually, I think for this one it was six.

Tell us what are your six more most important things.

So they got to prioritize more than one, but um, we found that a lot of of that information was leading us towards safety as importance, um, environment and technology, which was a little bit um unusual.

But then when we thought about um kind of the source, a lot of those people, um, it was families that were participating in those gain events, for example.

Um, and so the the younger generations it's a concern to them.

Their environment is a concern to them.

Um, of course, they're interested in technology, so so we need to make sure that we're thinking about those, but also looking at this feedback in it with the lens of you know who who is participating in these events.

Um, and then again, we heard about the the wider roads, the need for maintenance.

So that was some really good feedback.

All in all, when we asked them how would you spend a hundred bucks?

Um, do you want to preserve our current system?

Do you want to expand our system with new lanes and new roads, or do you want to modernize our system with, for example, new technology, new turn lanes, more bike lanes.

Or do you want to modernize our system with, for example, new technology, new turn lanes, more bike lanes?

We got about a third, a third, a third.

So I think the message is that the public recognizes that all of this is important.

So then we look at what the actual recommended investment choice or strategy would be in the context of the regional transportation plan.

In the past, the recommendation was that about 50% of that money should go to modernization.

So again, that's that safety focus, looking at ADA transition plans, making it easier for disabled to move around the community, technology and complete streets.

So all things that kind of bring our current infrastructure up to a more modern state.

Again, that's really just taking care of our pavement and bridge conditions.

And then expansion, that 15%.

That's the new roads, bridges, trails, additional roadway lanes.

I do want to emphasize that there's different ways that you can approach a regional transportation plan.

I'm not sure if you all might be familiar with what the state of Arizona did, but they do not they do not do a project-based plan.

They do a kind of priority or policy-based plan, and that's the same model here that's being used in Sun Quarter MPO region.

So the plan itself does not make specific recommendations of we are going to do project A, B, C, and D.

It makes a recommendation on here's how we think that we should be investing our money that is given to us, so federally obligated funds as we look into the next you know, 25 years and as we consider projects that come to light.

So I did want to point that out.

So 52, 3315.

Pretty dead on, I would say, and that's over, you know, since inception of the Sun Quarter MPO, how they have allocated their available funding.

What I want to point out is that through the efforts of uh Sun Quarter MPO and their member agencies, um there's been a lot of cooperation in the region, and that has enabled the region to actually bring in additional funds through various grant programs.

So if you look to the uh chart on the right, that actually shows the allocation of resources.

So there actually is quite a bit more going into expansion and modernization within the region when you look at all of the investment that has been made.

So not just money that was directly obligated to Sun Quarter MPO, but additional grant funding opportunities that have come in.

A lot of that 66% that has to do with the highway safety improvement program money that Sun Quarter MPO and its member agencies have been successful in applying for those grants.

So all in all, great opportunity.

Um that maybe leans a little bit more towards you know that that focus for technology and safety that we were hearing from the public.

So it's happening.

Um so I think it's good mesh that this kind of 5035 15 really does, I think, um, represent a good target for the region in terms of future investments.

So there you have it there, um, just that comparison of the public investment choice, that 3632 32.

Um, I think again that the actual amount of resources that are coming into the region do a little bit better job of getting us closer to that point, um, especially in the expansion category.

Sun Quarter MPO, I think, and and Irene, the executive director of the MPO, who I know many of you are familiar with, um, she will correct me if I'm wrong, but I think they get obligated about $700,000 annually.

So we're not talking about a lot of money.

$700,000 does not go a very long way when you're talking about having to build new roads or new lane miles of road.

Um, and so I I think you know, kind of leaning towards more of those more practical investments as it relates to modernization and preservation, um, it seems to make sense with this recommended investment strategy.

Now I'm gonna flip over for just a minute because I I told you that this plan is all about a recommended investment strategy, but we don't want to lose sight of some priority projects or what we're calling projects of opportunity.

Excuse me.

So we asked ourselves, you know, what should we perhaps highlight in this plan as it relates to projects that were identified in previous plans?

What needs to be added to address adaptive performance targets where we might be falling short?

There really wasn't much of that.

Um what about regional priorities?

And then this is a little bit of a new twist, but gosh, we wanted to make sure that if we were going to develop this a list, and it's a pretty long list of projects of opportunity that are in the appendix of the RTP.

We want to try to capture projects that we think could potentially be the subject of a future grant application.

And that's important because many of these federal grant applications will point blank ask you has this project been identified in a state or regional plan.

And if you can ask answer yes, you're already that one step ahead of somebody who has to answer no.

So we really emphasize that as we were developing this plan.

And the highlight, as I mentioned, I and I think if you did not receive it in your packet, I know that Matt has um sort of the draft list, the full comprehensive list.

I'm just gonna highlight a couple of the projects that were in the body of the report.

Um first being the east-west corridor.

So for the region, this is an important connection from SR 347 and Maricopo over to I-10 and Casa Grande, it's a regional route for the county.

Uh North South Corridor, again, there they've had EIS under the way, they're um updating those to the next level, um, important for the region as well.

Interstate 11, that's been discussed for well, gosh, I think I remember when it was maybe first thrown on on a map in the framework, so you back in 2007.

So I guess every decade we get a step closer.

Um so it's still in there.

Um, of course, the Interstate 10 widening.

Um, again, that's in the process right now.

Um DCR and EA are largely wrapped up and they're already beginning design.

I know the state's been looking for some additional funds to make that happen.

Uh Phoenix Tucson passenger rail, again, the last time 2016, they did that tier one EIS.

Um, I know it's still, you know, on folks' radar and they're still trying to find a way to make it happen.

So we want to make sure that that's identified as a uh, you know, has it having a regional influence?

Um little bit more uh locally, Panell County's been looking at that central Arizona Parkway.

So this would be kind of in parallel to the the north-south quarter and the northern portion.

Um this would be on the west side of the canal as opposed to the selected north-south alignment, which is on the east side.

And then here locally, we've got um, you know, obviously looking at the need to make some improvements to Sunland Gin Road.

That's kind of discussions have been ongoing, and then as well as housing road.

So those were the highlights as it relates to this presentation.

Uh again, I encourage you to look through the the full comprehensive list that was provided.

Um as we wrap up this plan, we're gonna finalize the recommended investment choice in that list of projects of opportunity.

So I encourage you if you if you are passionate about a needed improvement, transportation improvement that you don't see on the list, please provide that feedback to Matt, and we'll make sure that that we get that incorporated.

Um we are we have um developed a draft plan which is undergoing technical review right now.

Um we intend to put that out for public comment at the beginning of January.

It will be open for 30 days, so through the beginning of February.

And then we will move for the Sun Quarter MPO Technical Advisory Committee and an executive board approval of the document.

So that is all I have today.

I will open it up for questions.

What have I missed?

You got any comments for me?

Thank you.

Anybody have any questions or comments?

I'm looking right at you, huh?

I do I even need to bother.

I get confused.

Maybe you can clear up uh these some the relationship between what you do, what the state does, what the county does, uh, because you know, we had the RTA for the county for the North South, and we've got the ITAM widening, we've got and so I get confused on who's doing what and how is it work with the cities?

You know, we have state highways going through Eloy, we have uh rural roads, and we work with Sun Quarter, but then how is that funding council work between all these entities in the role of Sun Quarter and how is that all meshed together?

So uh council member Snyder, I I understand there has been a lot going on as it as it relates to transportation, a lot of changes um within Pennell County, a lot of agencies that have identified various plans and a lot of different funding sources.

Um from the planning perspective, um, I can tell you that the Sun Quarter MPO has been an active partner in each of these planning efforts that you've mentioned.

So most of those planning efforts behind the scene would have something that would be an active stakeholder group.

In this case, we call it a technical advisory committee where we bring in concerned stakeholders.

So as an example for the Sun Quarter MPO RTP, we also have on our TAC members of ADOT, members of the county, uh members, as I mentioned of each of the um member agencies as well as Maricopa Association of Governments because they are a neighbor.

So I guess what you may not see as these different plans are being developed, is there is an extensive amount of coordination that is going on behind the scenes to make sure that the necessary parties that are involved and or affected by all of these moving parts are having a voice and a say in in each of these and making sure that these efforts are coordinated.

Um when it comes to funding, that that's a another question, right?

The bottom line is there's just there's just not enough funding to do everything that that we would love to be able to do here in the region.

Um and so you know, collectively working together, making the right choices for the money that is directly allocated, going for these grant opportunities, right, to try to secure some additional funding again, letters of support for these various grants from the state legislature from the Arizona Department of Transportation, as many letters of support as we can get to help strengthen and bolster the need for these projects at the federal level.

Um I cannot tell you, you know, it depends on the year when it comes to to the state.

Um we've got some good years where they have the ability to obligate additional funds beyond what's originally obligated, and then you know, very fortunate a lot of times the rural transportation and advisory council will help um go to the state transportation board and ask for monies to help fund local projects.

I know that the region has been successful in the past, and I know that they're currently working with um the regional transportation advisory council um to try to secure some additional uh money should it become available through um the current I guess budget cycle.

Am I saying that right?

Yeah.

So I I probably could spend an entire hour preparing a presentation about all of those moving parts.

I I'm not sure if I've addressed what what you were getting to.

I get I guess who are you the coordinating body for all those functions?

Or I mean uh I have a consultant that's working for the Sun Corridor MPO.

Irene and Jason are here from the Sun Corridor MPO.

I don't know that I would call them a coordinating body, other than that they can coordinate um efforts from their member agencies, but they certainly represent the region and at many other levels.

You want to talk some more about that?

So we are federally mandated for our region, so we are responsible for all the transportation planning within the Sun Quarter MPO boundaries.

Yeah, so there is a lot of coordination is as Amy mentioned with the Mayor Copa Association of Governments, all of my funding for the MPO comes from the Arizona Department of Transportation.

So all of you know, working very closely with them and the state transportation board, Central Arizona governments is also a neighbor, and the Pima Association of Governments in Pima County County.

So we work very closely with all of those agencies, but really we for our area, we are responsible.

And if it's a state highway or an interstate, that is ADOT's responsibility, but they will always coordinate with us on anything that is happening within our region.

So does that answer your question?

Yeah, councilman.

We're so much more concise than that.

Yeah, because you also have to remember too, there's a the Penel Regional Transportation Authority as well, too, that has their hands in the cookie jar too.

So it can be complicated at times, it really is.

And who to go to?

Yeah, just call Irene.

Yeah, call Irene.

Yeah, just call it.

No, um I I understand this because I've been part of the um uh CAG and then Scampo program since you know, since pretty much started.

Um it's it does, and then also RTA, the Panel RTA on that as well, too.

And something that we want to do is even though we're looking at an overall, you know, metropolitan or MPO area for translation, sometimes we got to look more like be selfish and think about ourselves, you know, and uh in the whole.

I know the next RTA plan it may change a little, um, but we need to make sure we still have that voice.

Um when it comes to what we need for our community, um, especially coming forth because it's gonna have to be voter approved again.

Um but we still working out those details.

So um before anything gets finalized, we want to make sure that we our our city council is if these plans because the last plans, you know, obviously it was voted for, it was challenged and it was denied, and then here we are again.

Um I think the most important thing for us is the north-south freeway from the 60 all the way down to the 10.

We want to make sure that that you know connection stays all the way through.

Um there's been some talks for rearranging that.

We want to make sure that you know we still have that voice and say no, that's not what we want.

We want to continue continue that that plan as it was first presented.

Um, and there's other things too that that we need to talk about too.

So um and gin.

I think we first talked about Silent Gen, uh, how important selling gin is uh for not just for the I-10 travelers for Arizona City residents for us and everybody uh it's it's not the best condition, and as we're getting busier, um we need to widen that um overpass.

And so that TI, and then also um after that we'll probably need to look at what we need to look at is sunshine with all the traffic coming from the National Gyps and Gold Bond um and all the truck around over there.

That you can we can always debate which which is which should come first because you have National Gypson already here, then you have this one over here.

But um as long as we continue the conversation with Matt and everybody that you know Sun and Sunshine is is now the need, uh we need to really focus on that moving forward.

Houser Road, you saw that we we uh Matt presented a couple months ago that houser, uh we're applying for six million dollars worth of funds for houser road from 11 mile corner all the way down to eighty seven, eighty-seven uh the connector all the way through to Nicola.

Um counties areas, one area, and then we take the rest, and they're gonna help.

Hope I don't put them on the spot, but I hope they help us with a lot of the the you know the expansion stuff on their side too.

So um yeah, we have a lot of work to do, and so um it's been interesting.

Everybody wants needs money.

Everybody needs money for roads.

Um, but as soon as we one one project drops, there's four more that could have made up.

And so um we just need to make sure that we as a council um continue focusing on what's important for our roads, um, connectors and everything else.

So go ahead.

I noticed the presentation you may showed a uh graphic of the increase in population and also the increase in jobs.

Yes.

I found it very interesting with the uh strategy of allocation between uh maintenance or uh preservation and uh growth and uh you know that one of the things I think we have to be careful of with that big increase in population, just maintaining or better maintaining Kurt Roads doesn't solve that problem of all that additional traffic you're gonna have on it.

So somehow we have to be sure that uh we do have some growth in there too, because uh uh scars have to go someplace, just absolutely.

Um I think I think what is I guess pleasant to see is the anticipated growth and employment within the region.

Um so hopefully fewer people will be commuting outside of the region.

You know, they'll be they'll be looking for jobs here, and so the focus can maybe be on on some of those more you know local local streets and and roadways within the region.

Okay, anything else on this side?

Huh.

Thank you.

I appreciate that.

Thank you very much.

Absolutely.

Just give us the money, blank check, Irene.

You got connections, right?

Yeah.

So it's interesting, you know, talking about roads, you know, it and you know, we all have needs, whether it doesn't matter what what size of our community is, we're all growing, and we just want to make sure that that we stay on on on track with that.

So and Irene and everybody they do it, is they do a good job communicating with us and uh reminding me that we need to get a letter of support signed by I don't know how many times, yeah.

My mayor, I need your help on this.

I'm like, sorry.

Uh, but they they're always on top of things, and so um, yeah, I encourage you guys to go to the meetings and see what's all about.

All right.

Well, thank you guys, appreciate it.

So uh that's all for business.

Uh no need for executive session.

Um this is our last meeting for the year, ladies and gentlemen.

And um, I want to open up for a year remembrance, give everybody some time on council.

If you guys want to say anything, you know.

You guys are too quiet.

Anybody want to say anything?

I mean I have a I have a question more than anything.

So it's just the last meeting of the year.

We don't, I guess the first scheduled council meeting is what the 8th of January or something.

Yeah.

It last uh meeting we talked about uh work session, and uh staff was gonna get back to us potentially on some dates.

And I just wondered uh just as our calendars fill up pretty quickly.

Is there anything more on Mondays or dates that we should hold open in January, February for future meetings?

Sure, Councilmember Snyder.

Uh we were just talking about that today in our our leadership team meeting, and we've got some that are coming up.

We're looking at doing a water update in January.

So we need to send out some fielders to the council members to get an idea of what works that should be appropriate given that January 15th is Martin Luther King Day, so we can't use that day.

We may have to look at another one during the week.

And then coordinate your schedules with uh our attorney, our water attorney as well.

So that's one coming up.

Um sorry, go ahead.

Well, I think we won't be back together again until the 8th.

And so will you notify us prior to that or so we can get I mean, you know what I'm saying?

Yeah, I want to come to the eighth and find out I got to meet the next week and then know about it.

No, no, definitely we won't we won't jump that on you right at the last minute.

We'll uh be providing advanced notice in December on that.

Um the assistant city manager McKenzie Letcher is also working on setting up a time and an update on what's going on with the C strategic Planning update.

So he's been working on that and getting that set up as well.

So some stuff coming down the pipeline, and we'll be reaching out to the council members with those potential dates through uh the city clerk, Mary Myers.

Thank you.

Anyone else have any year on your remembrance so far?

Anyone I'll guess I'll take it that it's been an interesting year.

Uh that I know that uh our new city manager has been uh under the gun because of his head replacements and they spent a lot of time uh not only trying to do his job and uh react to what council wants, but also try to put his staff together.

So I know it's been very interesting uh for him.

But I think we've had a lot of things happen around us, whether it be in Coolidge or Casa Grande, and a lot of uh things that we're just being exposed to for the first time in Elay as far as growth, whether it be uh things happening in industrial parks or uh new uh master plan developments, but things that we really since I've been on council really haven't uh been exposed to before, and it all started to happen within this last year.

And so I think uh just uh springboarding it springboarding into next year.

I think it's gonna be very exciting uh being part of it and just uh watching Eli Globe grow.

We've been talking about it for uh several years now about uh trying to make things happen.

I think we're starting to see the effects of it.

So uh I'm looking forward to 2024.

Things don't happen overnight.

Uh a lot a lot of planning.

Michelle I just want to say thank you to everybody for my first year on council.

You know, I worked for the city for nearly 24 years, and um being on this side of it is obviously much different.

So I appreciate everybody's um mentoring and and putting up with my sometimes maybe silly questions.

So thank you.

Never silly questions, Jose.

Well, it has been an exciting year.

We've seen quite a bit coming out.

I just want to thank the staff for all their hard work and for sticking there with us.

Andy.

The newest one.

Yeah, I'd like to say thank you to everybody for the mentoring and guidance you've given me uh with my new time here on council.

I like to thank city staff as well for all the work they do.

I've been a city worker for over 40 years, and I know what goes into running a city, and all the jobs are important in the city.

I know you guys let your people know that that every job from top to bottom is important.

And I just want to say everybody stay safe and uh we'll see you here next year.

Vice Mayor.

Um I just wanted to kind of um congratulate the staff and maybe a little bit the council too, because I I see a lot of people that come and go um to Eloy.

They may maybe they're here for a little bit and they come back the next year, or they maybe visit a couple times a year.

And people have been commenting to me that they've seen a lot of positive change in Eloy.

And and you know, we've been a part of the change, but the staff is really the ones behind the scenes doing all that change.

So I think everybody should be proud of what's happening, and people are noticing there, they're seeing it and they're they're excited about the growth, you know.

Oh, what's that big building down there?

You know, what's happening with those trees being planted and all sorts of um little projects, big projects happening, people notice, and I think we should just say thanks to you know, to you guys and to us for making it happen.

Yeah, and man.

Well, this is another grateful year that has come and not almost gone yet, but almost here.

Um it's been um one hell of a ride.

And uh this year has been so exciting that you know the like you guys say, just change and change and change and change, and and this is not a a council of one or a city of one.

This is all of us putting our heads together and making it work.

Um thank the residents for accepting us.

Um without without them, you know, giving us the the words of encouragement or um, you know, living through it all.

Um we we we just still be going in circles, and so they're the ones who are actually seeing the the residual effects of what we're doing, and and it makes us want to um go even harder.

And so um, yeah, this year's been fun.

It's been interesting.

And and um you guys have been amazing, all of you guys.

And George when George is here too, you know.

Um can't forget that that crazy guy.

Um Sylvia, she's not here, but um, you know, she she was my vice mayor for the whole year, and we know how busy that can be.

Um but the staff, Mary, David, you know, Steve, Paul, where's where's Brian, Matt, Chief, Judge, um, Kenzie, the new guy.

Thank you guys.

Sylvia, Sylvia, sorry, Sylvia, sorry.

I usually forget uh Vasquez, but he's not here no more.

So it's it's all your guys' hard work too.

So um, we just put on paper and you guys make it happen.

So thank you all.

And Irene Jason, thank you guys for everything too, you know.

And um, you know, Captain Drone, thank you guys.

You guys have always been so supportive, and you guys protect our streets, and so we truly thank you guys.

And um, Violet with your for your 5k, you pull the events on around here.

So, you know, that's it's a whole community effort.

So I'm very proud of where the city's going.

And uh we have 11 months to make things happen.

So thank you all, Mary.

You you're an angel, you know.

Thank you for everything.

And um, yeah, we'll we'll go we'll go out in a bang and and start all over next year.

So God bless you all.

Truly appreciate it.

Love much love, Mike.

Make us sound good in the paper, man.

That's all I asked for.

Um you guys have a great Christmas, New Year's, be safe, and then we'll see you guys next year, you guys.

Meeting adjourned.

There it is.