Good evening.

I'd like to welcome you to tonight's Eloy City Council meeting.

It is Monday, February 26, 2024.

Approximate time is 6 p.m.

I'd like to call this meeting to order.

Very, can I get a roll call, please?

Councilmember Sutton.

Here.

Councilmember Wana Watha Rodriguez.

Here.

Vice Mayor Curtis.

Here.

Mayor Powell?

Here.

Councilmember Snyder.

Here.

Councilmember Garcia.

Present.

Councilmember Kamango.

Here.

Thank you.

Next of you all stand for the invocation by Pastor Leo Holt and remain standing for the Pledge of Allegiance.

Gracious Heavenly Father, we thank you and praise you for this day.

We thank you for your grace and your mercy.

We thank you, Lord, for the freedoms that we have in this nation, oh God, to come and to pray and to be able to be involved in this community.

God, we pray for all the appointed leaders here, God, we pray that you would give them wisdom, give them insight, direct them as they make decisions for this community.

We pray over the youth, Lord, in this community.

We pray over the educators in this community.

We pray over uh the businesses in this community.

God, we pray, Lord, for your hand of mercy and strength.

Father, we just thank you once again for this day.

We thank you for all that you are doing and all that you continue to do in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

Yeah.

I pledge allegiance.

And to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, God and this is all with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you all.

I have uh public appearances.

Those wishing to address city council may do so in signing on this forum.

Um identifying the topics on the agenda.

Actions taken as a result of the public comment regarding non-agenda item will be limited in directing staff to study the matter.

Are we scheduling the model for further discussion and you are allowed to have to speak for three minutes?

I have one person, Mike Huffman regarding pay.

Do you want to come up?

You have three minutes, sir.

Give Mary one second so you can bring it up.

All right.

If you can identify your name and your address, please.

Okay.

My name is uh Mike Huffman.

I currently live uh 8047 West Rushmore Way, and I'm an employee here with the City of Eloy Police Department.

Honorable mayor and esteemed members of the City Council.

I come before you today, not just as Sergeant Michael Huffman with 13 years of service, but as a representative of the dedicated men and women of the Eloy Police Officers Association, which covers 81% of department personnel.

It is with a sense of duty and responsibility that I seek to address and dispel certain rumors and misunderstandings that have been circulating within our community.

First and foremost, let me be explicitly clear.

While it is true, we recently bid farewell to a valid colleague with over a decade of service.

The reason uh behind such disparture is deep rooted in the current state of our city's compensation structure.

One also recently left our ranks entire by a salary increase exceeding $20,000.

Another is on the verge of joining the Phoenix Police Department for similar financial opportunities.

Moreover, we have at least eight additional officers actively pursuing opportunities elsewhere with a prospect salary hiking or hikes uh ranging from 15,000 to 30,000.

On top of this, we have six more officers eligible for retirement.

The root of the matter uh lies in the disparity of pay that plagues every uh facet of our police department, including positions in records, dispatch, and CSOs.

Regrettably, the city of Eloy has become one of the lowest paid police departments within Penal County, and this uh reality is driving talented officers away.

I must also express my our disappointment regarding the decision to seek a chief of police externally.

Interim Chief Guantney, with his exceptional credentials and unwavering dedication, has proven himself to be a beacon of leadership within our department.

His efforts has bolstered uh moral uh morale, enhanced training, and indicated key updates and improvements.

He is not only highly respected, but also has been a catalyst for many of us choose choosing to remain at the Eloy Police Department to include myself.

It is disheartening to witness the unnecessary expenditure of city funds in pursuant of a chief when such uh exemplary leader already exists within our ranks.

In terms of Chief Waltney embodies the essence of a servant leader, foresting an environment of encouragement, coaching, and mentorship.

The sentiment shared is by the majority of our force.

In conclusion, I urge you, esteemed members of the city council to recognize and address the pressing issue of inadequate compensation across all positions within our police department.

It is imperative that you take decisive actions to retain and attract the talent needed to uphold public safety in the city of Eloy.

Overlooking the potential loss of officers this uh this significant could leave to a severe public safety crisis.

Thank you, sir.

All right, thank you.

Thank you.

All right.

Oh pass that down.

Next, we're gonna go to reports.

Anybody on council?

I'll start on my right side.

Andy.

Of course.

I'm not gonna bring up the uh Panel Breakfast with that esteemed group we had up there or the hospital.

I'll I'll let that be taken by others.

But what I will bring up was on the Friday, we had the uh back up here.

On Saturday the 17th, there was a farm to table food giveaway, or you purchase food, it was uh sixteen dollars to 70 pounds of food, and that was sponsored by the council, the uh chamber.

That was a fantastic event.

My wife and I both went down to help outloading cars with uh boxes of food, and it was at that event that we learned of an untimely passing of uh a veteran, a tragic passing of a veteran here in Eloy.

And it happened to be the grandfather of the woman who runs the uh the salon there, the barber school.

So she came over, we talked about it, she made a flyer to uh to post out she was gonna do a haircut of on what the benefits from all the haircuts go into the family to help uh bury and take care of arrangements for the her grandfather.

So I posted that online, and members of the SOT at Robeson Ranch saw it, and within an hour they had gotten in touch with me, and I told them what was going on.

And with another hour, they were at the woman's house with a donation from SOT.

I just wanted to uh publicly thank them for their endeavors with that.

And also this past Saturday, we had the food giveaway downtown here.

We serviced almost 500 families giving away food, and it was all free to the families.

This was the first one of its kind, and there were some logistical problems with it.

There was problems with uh the cars, there were problems with the lines.

So I'm gonna try to work with them the next time they do this food giveaway.

We want to just take care of the logistics a whole lot better so it runs a lot smoother because 500 families wound up with full cupboards at the end of that day.

I couldn't believe we had two tractor trailers full of food.

Gave it all away, all for free.

And that's just you know, Eloy helping Eloy.

That's it.

All right, thank you, sir.

Anyone else?

Uh my left slide.

So Sylvia.

I was just going to say that thanks to Sally's from Sally's gift shop and Stephanie Blanco.

They're the ones who coordinated the event and put it together.

So I just want to give them a huge thank you.

And big props to all the council members that made it there to help uh carry that stuff too.

All right.

Thank you.

I don't know if this is the proper um there was some we've got uh some information about animal control, and I it's about timely because it's about March when we talked about it last year, and we had discussed how we would discuss it again in a year.

Um, so I didn't know how we would go about bringing that up to be able to have another discussion about um animal control.

Okay, future yep, future agenda item.

Thank you.

All right, perfect.

All right, thank you.

Uh, next is my announcements on on last Friday.

I was on the panel at the Panal Partnership event uh at um Central Arizona College.

My guest was um one of the main guys over at National Gypson, and we sat talked for a good hour.

I was on the panel with the mayor of Castle Grand, Mayor of Florence, who brought their guests with them, and it was uh good um back and forth talking.

Um, Elo is well represented there.

Half my council was there.

Um, but it was good times and um learned a lot from the additional cities and from National Gypson and what they are they're gonna provide for the city as well.

And then, yes, on last yeah, that was two Fridays ago, then this Friday, uh, we had the hospital exceptional hospital health care uh groundbreaking, which was an amazing event.

And um it's it's just like I said, the the dreams coming true for us moving things forward.

And so we had uh dignitaries from of course my council was there, and then uh U.S.

Congressman uh Juan Ciscomani was there, all the way from our state representatives.

Um it was just a very good turnout.

And um the CEO Sahid with his fancy glasses and nice shoes.

Um he's really excited to continue uh the efforts of of expanding once all that gets taken care of as well, too, because they have 10 acres with the option to purchase more because they plan on expanding other than just the 22,000 square foot apartment or um hospital.

That's gonna be perfect setting for our residents for our residents and the travelers along, I 10, and everybody else who comes into our community needs immediate health care.

So it's it's gonna have a trauma centers, ERs, you know, x-rays, but it's more likely going to be a place just to stabilize them and then get them to a uh trauma center.

Um but that's awesome for for our residents and then for our law enforced first responders as well, too.

So of course, today um had the honor and the privilege to have hold uh my last day of the city address at Robeson Ranch.

I think 75 people were there, and um I had a great time.

Uh just talking about the things we did that 2023, uh, what's on the forecast for 2024, and um it was bittersweet because like I said, that this is my last one, so I really enjoyed it.

And then we've got a little video fun video at the end, and um all the whole thing will be on our website, I think the city website, either tomorrow or the next day.

Um I'm not sure, but um take a look at it, see what the city has done, what we're doing, and what needs to be done.

So I appreciate it.

Have some laughs, and have some laughs, yeah.

Um somebody walked up behind me while I was talking and scared the dog crap out of me.

Um yeah.

Um stage.

So good times.

All right, that's it for me.

Do we have uh manager, city manager updates?

Thank you, Mayor, member of the council.

Actually, you guys covered everything that I had on my list.

So I do not have any.

Appreciate it.

So you're gonna be boring today?

I'm sorry, yep.

All right, that's good.

All right, let's go to the agenda items.

Consent agendas, all items with listed with an asterisk are considered to be a routine matter and will 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 still request, in which event the item will be removed from the consent agenda and considered in its normal sequence on the agenda.

So we have three items, uh A, B, and C, I believe uh B is a rollover from last week um regarding the Filibertos.

Um does anybody want to discuss that one as well?

Hearing none.

All right, do I hear a motion to approve or direction with council regarding items A, B, and C written?

Mayor, I make a motion we approve items A, B, and C.

Thank you.

Councilmember Sutton.

Yes.

Vice Mayor Curtis?

Yes.

Councilmember Wanowatha Rodriguez?

Yes.

Mayor Powell?

Yes.

Councilmember Schneider.

Yes.

Councilmember Garcia?

Yes.

Councilmember Tarango.

Yes.

The motion passed to unanimously mayor.

All right, thank you.

Next we go to business item A, City Council to consider the adoption of ordinance number 24-956.

Order a ballot proposition to include on the primary election to be held on July 30th, 2024.

Um this is in request from the mayor and vice mayor regarding the office of the mayor.

Uh changing the term from two years to four years.

David or Mary, do you want to take this?

I think he's gonna take it, ma'am.

Steve, okay.

Good evening, Mayor, Council members.

Um, before you this evening, as the mayor had pointed out, is ordinance number 24-956, which calls for increasing the term of mayor from a period of two years to period of four years.

It would have no effect, first of all, on the election that is going forward this year.

This if if it's approved by the voters, and that's a requirement that it would go to a four-year term, it would not be effective, it would not go into effect until November of 2026.

We have provided for you in the COAC basically a little survey that we found from the ICMA about the average length of terms of the office of mayor, and also pointed out in the coact that under Arizona law, if there's a direct election of mayor by the voters at the time of that election, they have the right to specify a term whether it's two years or four years.

So there'll be an option on there.

Leave it as present as as it is or mayor, council members.

If the majority vote is yes, the term will be increased to four years beginning in November of 2026.

A no vote would keep it at two years.

Gotcha.

Only question I have on this is is looking at the the information term limits.

It doesn't address term limits and versus um just the term of four years versus you know, like right now, currently, if I want to run a million times, I could run a million times versus term limit, which is two times or four times.

Is there more yeah, exactly?

Mayor, council, yeah.

Mayor, council members.

Um, we didn't address the issue of term limits on that for any of the council members or the office of mayor.

We did do that on boards and commissions.

Okay.

If you wanted to consider the term limit, we would probably have to come back with you with a separate ordinance for you know for the consideration because I don't think you would want to differentiate between the office of mayor or council member, or you might.

But our window to get to the county recorder's office and get it approved and make sure that everything is done proper so it's on the ballot, we've got a real tight window.

So if you wish us to bring that to your consideration, we will do it, but we will bring it to you at the first meeting in March.

I know some of us are obviously discussed having term limits, um, two terms for mayor, four terms, so the four terms for council or three terms for council, two terms for council.

Well, not for mayor, if we're talking for council as well, too.

Twelve years, is is that what three or four-year terms?

Yeah.

So I know we kind of discussed it, but if if we're gonna do something, maybe we do it now versus that that was gonna be one of the questions I had, Steve.

Is if we say you want to be revived some of the requirements for mayor to qualifications, the appropriate time is probably waiting to see what happens with this ballot issue.

Then go back and change ordinances for or you know, and if it doesn't pass, you can go back and change it or passes and you can do it all in one uh package.

Does that make sense?

Mayor, council member Snyder, um from that standpoint, certainly you could you could you could certainly do that because the issue of the mayor would be at you know the term would be uncertain if you're looking at number of terms versus years in office.

But uh what I would tell you that if you're looking to have a term out council members and the mayor, and you are waiting for the co the voters if you approve this ordinance to begin at 2026, it's basically going to be probably our next window is going to be the next um election two years from now.

So if that's the direction of the council, it's probably going to have to wait to do that unless we have a special election.

So that will go to the borders uh the voters as well for months.

Yes.

Uh okay.

So that answered my question.

Um, but I do think that we should discuss the um term limits issue and decide if we're going to put that on the ballot as well now, or at least before our next meeting.

Yeah.

Well, mayor, council members.

I I regretfully tell you tonight the only issue that you have before you on this agenda item is increasing the term of mayor.

If you're directing staff to bring something to you at the next council meeting or special council meeting if it occurs sooner, we'll be happy to do that.

But we would also need to get some consensus from the council with regards to the length of that.

I we could take a guess as to what you what you we think you're looking at, but we could you could certainly approve another ordinance and modify that ordinance to meet what the consensus is the council if you choose to limit terms.

Okay, so talking about uh kind of just getting an idea.

I know we talked about for the mayor's seat, it'd be a four-year term for or four years, two terms.

And then for council, it'd be four years, three terms.

But we really talked about it, but nothing was really discussed about it.

If if that's something we want to do, should we just table this idea and then bring it about council next time?

Mayor, council members.

Mayor, council members, um I don't know what our time frame is to get something to the count the county elections department to get it in there, but my hunch is that that window is getting very, very close.

So if you want to get this on the ballot tonight, my recommendation for you would be to consider this one, and we'll come actually the other one.

So that way, if somehow they decide to clean they decide to accelerate their schedule, getting the documents, we at least have this one teed up for the voters if you choose to approve it.

Yeah, I've I guess struggled personally with this term limits thing when it comes to Congress.

Yeah, I guess I've kind of flipped on.

I used to think we need to have term limits, but then I've kind of convinced myself uh enlisting some arguments that the voters really make the choice on when uh what the term limits should be.

You know, uh that's why we have an election every so often.

And uh in I guess what comes to boards and commissions, they are appointed by the council, so I can see there's a difference there.

But when it comes to council and mayor, those are uh voted on by the residents, and so the residents have an opportunity to remove those people after a time period, and also if the council member or mayor gets way out of line, there's a recall uh possibility by voting.

So I don't know if I I like the idea of extending the uh term to four years.

Well, I don't know if I'm really want to get involved with the tournament thing at this point in time.

My opinion.

All right, thank you.

Anyone else have any discussions?

On the extensions, extending the mayor's seat to four terms.

How many cities are using a four-year term for mayors?

I mean, this may have some good benefits, but it's also gonna have some negative benefits if we get the wrong person in there.

So I'm not sure that I'm in favor of extending.

Do we know how many communities are using a four-year term and how it's working out for them?

Almost, yeah.

Uh Mayor Copa, Cascranza, uh Coolidge, Florence.

Yeah, they no, it got it in pass.

No, it didn't pass.

I'm not sure if we're ready to do a four-year term for mayors.

I think maybe we're still at a point where two-year term is gonna be sufficient.

I know whoever's sitting in that seat wouldn't have to run this often.

I think that's who would have the best benefit by going to a four-year, but I don't know that it may be in the best interest of the city itself.

Well, I can tell you running every two years is a pain.

And it's just once you get going and get going, then you gotta run again.

So you're mayor for one year, election the second, or mayor for one year, election the second.

With a four-year term, you at least have some stability for three years, you know, before you get the you have to run again.

Um first year is usually just getting to know the seat, the position.

It's tough.

Um I've been blessed that I I ran both times and have four years under my belt, but it's also that stress between the two.

Did I really give four years of solid effort as mayor?

I want to think I did, but at the same time, you had two elections or an election in the middle of it.

It's tough.

So that was my heartache about it.

You know, it's and if somebody comes in and wins, then they got to do that.

Whole new change, a whole new um environment, I guess.

I think too, if I may, mayor.

I think the not only your your personal uh upheaval of running every two or so, I think you also have to look at the city staff.

Yeah, because they're they're working and we're getting more into longer term planning and five-year capital broomplains things, and so they're working with council and the mayor to make that happen.

And so if there's after a year, there's this question of well, is this gonna be the same mayor again or not?

I think you have that's another factor you need to consider into the term limits.

Yeah, it's still my again, just my opinion.

Outside developers and interest and residents, they look at stability.

And so if you're there for four years or eight years or whatever, consistently, then at least you can get a lot done with the the powers that may be for four year four years versus every two years or a year and a half or whatever it's called.

I just I know that from experience, so um, I personally brought this measure asked um this measure to be brought forward because I do believe that four years is the way to go for part of the reasons Dan stated.

Once you get elected, like Micah said, you're learning for the first year, then you're starting to implement things, you're making long-term plans, um, you're kind of getting a group together.

And if there's constant turnover every two years, um sometimes some of the things you do may be colored by having to face an election um every two years.

It's basically one year where you're starting out and then another year where you're campaigning, and that campaigning is distracting.

I think a four-year term makes sense for the mayor.

And I know we're not talking about term limits right now, but I would like to see us talk about it, and I would like to put on record that I am in favor of term limits.

Thank you.

Anybody else, Sylvia?

Yes.

Um, I agree a lot with what Sarah said, with the exception of the term limits.

I think I want to do a little bit more research on that.

Um, but as far as for the mayor, I feel strongly about um extending it to a four-year term.

Um, just being the vice mayor gave me a glimpse of what that's like for a year.

You're just forming connections, you're getting to meet people, and then all of a sudden, if you're pass the baton over to the next person, um, you're still gett receiving phone calls from stakeholders, and you're having to refer them over to the new vice mayor.

So it does provide a sense of stability and um so that's how I feel.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Andy.

Yeah, I'd like to echo what the councilman Snyder said.

As far as we are elected, so we can be changed at the people's will, and the commissions are appointed.

So they should have term limits because that's just up to us.

The people don't have a say who's on, like planning and zoning and the other commissions.

So I'm all for the full years of mayor, and I really don't want to see term limits.

All right.

Anybody else?

No.

Anybody else the opportunity?

Hearing none.

So we can put this on the ballot for four years, but the voters would decide.

It's it's on them.

So what do you need for us on this?

So this one we are considering we're allowing this to be a ballot proposition, so the voters to decide whether it's no but tonight would be we need to vote on it.

Okay, as an ordinance.

Yep, read by title only.

So if I can have a motion to read by title, so thank you.

Do I have a second?

All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

Hear none, Mary?

An ordinance of the mayor and council of the city of Eloy, Panao County, Arizona, ordering a ballot proposition be included on the primary election to be held on July 30, 2024, at which election there shall be submitted to the voters of the city of Eloy.

The question of whether or not the office of mayor of Eloy shall serve for a term of office of four years instead of the current term of office two years to be decided by the voters.

Thank you.

Do I hear a motion to accept?

Make a motion to accept ordinance.

24956 is read.

Thank you.

Do I hear a second?

Second.

Which one?

Andy.

Can I get a roll call, please?

Councilmember Wanavato Rodriguez.

Yes.

Councilmember Trangle.

Yes.

Councilmember Sutton.

Yes.

Councilmember Garcia.

No.

Mayor Powell?

Yes.

Councilmember Snyder.

Yes.

Vice Mayor Curtis.

Yes.

The motion passed six to six to one mayor.

All right.

Thank you.

Next, we're going to go to item B, authorization of the City Council to enter into professional service agreement with public sector search and consulting.

David.

Thank you, Mayor.

Members of council, up for consideration tonight is a recommendation from myself, city manager, to move forward with authorizing the city to enter into a contract with public sector search and consulting for the services to recruit for the next chief of police.

Our previous chief of the end of August.

So about six months now is about right.

For that, he's been doing an amazing job, wonderful job as a test to the public comment by Officer Hoffman tonight.

And this is just uh as mentioned in my memos and in the write-up for COAC.

And this is just uh, as mentioned in my memos and in the write-up for Coac, this isn't uncommon that when I've hired for other department directors that I have sought outside, you know, not outside council, but have put this out for public, whether we had an internal candidate or not.

It was something that we posted publicly.

Now, as mentioned again, and thank you, Officer Hoffman.

It was eloquently done.

The the PD is a it's an animal in its own, and there's a lot of intricacies that go into there.

If uh for those that have been on for a while, you recall that back in 2016, the city commissioned a organizational study of the police department at that time, and that predated the hiring of uh Chief Ascas.

We actually worked with that firm to help us when the Chief Vesca's position came open and hiring him.

So doing this, bringing in outside consultants to help one evaluate the current acting chief Kowaltney and put it out for others to apply, gives us a more thorough understanding of what type of person we could get in here.

Not to discredit Officer Gowaltney on any means at all.

He's a highly qualified and decorated individual in the police ranks as well as his military career too.

This is just a way to be more thorough in the process and to make sure that we are doing everything we can.

We're getting the best person there.

And in my opinion, what I've expressed to members of the police department as well as Officer Gualtney and you as well, is I think that this takes us to the next level.

Officer Gualtney has done an amazing job with the sergeant's promotions process last fall, where he brought in um you know a different array, different folks from the police community.

He really put the gentleman and ladies through the test to see who would co go through the ranks as the sergeant.

And this is just a test to where we're going with our department and how we're holding all of our officers accountable and putting them through the test and making sure that we do have the best officers going up through the ranks.

Um without you know, this is I'm here for questions.

This isn't something uh there was a comment that was made by you know a stakeholder about spending the $50,000, and that was mentioned tonight as well.

And I don't want this to feel like council has to spend this.

You know, if council decides, yeah, this is just too much money, we're not doing it right now.

Um, we can always bring that back in-house.

But I will tell you that if we do bring it in-house, we don't have the expertise that we're getting with this outside consultant.

We probably will have to get his consultant to help us with some of these processes, such as the community engagement, putting together a brochure, helping bet some stuff.

So there will be a component of outside consulting help as in that measure as well.

Um, I kind of I hope I made it a little bit more clear in the write-up that the $50,000 price tag is not to exceed, so it gives us a little bit of wiggle room should there be more expenses.

If you refer to page 10 on the consultant's proposal, you'll see that it's originally $30,000 plus search-related expenses, not to exceed $6,000.

So, all in all, it could be anywhere between $36 and $38,000.

But should we need additional travel or additional services from the consultant?

It's listed that those trips are $2,000 per day.

So one or two days is $4,000.

Now we're up into the 40s if we go at that max rate.

So I didn't want us to be in a position where all of a sudden we spend 40,000 and we bog down a process that we want to have happen as soon as possible by having to come before council and get permission to spend again additional expenditure amounts at that point.

But I'm here to answer any questions related to this.

I know that there are several.

Um I did reach out to stakeholders throughout the community, both internal and external, to get opinions on the matter, what they thought.

Most all agreed that this was a good decision to move forward with for what was stated earlier, just a good, more thorough process that checks boxes everything.

We get the expertise that we need in here to evaluate um acting chief gualtney's experience and expertise against any other applicants that may be applying for the position as well.

Okay.

Thank you.

Maybe on council, Andy.

Yeah, quick uh a quick one.

I understand when you have a senior position, it should go out for a nationwide search.

Any city or municipality with a very senior position, that's how it should be to get the best person for that job.

The point I'm curious is about why after six months, why wasn't this done literally a month after uh the previous chief exited?

Well, the previous chief kind of put it on us really quickly.

Uh we were having uh counsel that day and showed up and said, I'm retiring at the end of August.

During that time, I was also going on vacation, and we had a community development director that was also retiring.

So during the four months from basically September to the end of December with Christmas and everything else, I was more focused on making sure our community development department was staying in play.

We had a lot of projects on our docket that we couldn't let go.

I mean, for instance, one, the exception of health care.

We wanted to make sure projects like those stayed at the top of the list.

I had all confidence that acting chief Kowaltney was taking care of the police department, and the police department does a great job.

The men and women that served for us are amazing individuals.

So as a city manager, I made an executive decision at that point to kind of put that one on the backbone, knowing that we had highly qualified, responsible individuals running our police department, and this could wait a minute while we focused on more pressing matters as community development, getting everything moving with that, making sure all our projects were staying on track.

So what you're saying is this was going to happen if the stars aligned differently earlier instead of later.

This was inevitable.

It could have, yes.

So Dan.

I would kind of echo what Councilman uh Sutter is saying.

Uh curious when the uh it was made acting chief.

Was the understanding at that point in time it was going to go out to bid?

Was there an understanding on his part that it was gonna go to bid say, okay, we're making you acting chief, but be aware that down the road we'll probably go out and advertise this.

Was that was that the understanding?

Do you know?

Uh I'd have to say no, Councilmember Snyder.

I was not consulted by the current chief that chief uh well, Captain Gowaltney was going to be appointed as the interim.

I was never asked.

I was just told he was interim chief.

And as you guys all know, there was ceremonies held where he was interim.

It was not consulted to me that any of this was gonna happen.

I thought it was your your decision.

It was not then.

Okay, it was not.

Okay, and I was okay.

And you know, I can't take it is my decision.

I could have stopped it.

I I continued on, I went it it seemed like a natural progression.

You know, Chief Acting Chief Galtney was was good with it, so and staff seemed to be good with it too.

There wasn't any staff didn't come to the PD staff, didn't come to me or any other members of council and say that they thought that that was horrible and oh what why'd you do this?

Please remove him from this post.

None of that happened.

Okay.

Change in direction then.

Yeah.

Uh the $50,000.

I guess in my experience, uh, when we've uh I've used a consultant or consultants to fill a position.

Normally the fee is uh a percentage of the salary of the person that's recruited.

And so I've used consultants to find uh individuals.

But no payment was made unless that uh firm found the individual.

Uh it's just different this case.

In this case, in that instance, yes.

And in most cases, we uh human resource director Sylvia Payne, she reached out to some other firms, and it was flat fees.

They weren't percentages of whatever it was it was just flat fees.

A lot of them were a la carte, which made it very difficult to compare because if you do this, you get this.

If they do you do this, we charge this.

And what uh then there's the situation of possible relocation thing.

Is that in addition to this?

Is that included in this, or just what is his $50,000?

The relocation package and anything like that would be in addition to as part of contract negotiations at that point.

Yeah, these are just for the services of the consultant.

And that would that would be come out of the uh police budget or at that point in time, probably.

Correct.

Yeah.

Salary.

Okay.

Thank you.

What about travel for any of the candidates that come here that have the travel air?

Do we pay for the air?

Yeah.

Here, okay.

We do.

Is that part of the 50 grand on that?

No, this is just for the consultant.

Is it just for the service?

Okay.

Yeah, we would pay for that out of this, out of the travel training budget for PD or contingency if needed.

And this is the same one we used for Chris.

Chris Boskiss's totally different.

Different one?

No, we yeah, we used when we did the Chris's, we kind of piggybacked with what we did for the organizational study.

So we used that same firm to help develop the brochure and what was needed at that time.

So, yeah, totally different firm.

Okay.

Um, interestingly with this firm to note is this firm is specialized in just recruitment for police and fire chiefs.

So that's all they do.

Some of these other firms like GovHR, um, Baker Tilly, SGR, you know, they'll be a broad spectrum consulting agency for executive level firms, but this one in particular, they just focus on chiefs of police and fire public safety, and their whole team is comprised of retired police chiefs or fire chiefs.

And so they know what questions to ask.

They know you know where to go, what what is good, what's bad, and organizational temperature.

Okay.

Anybody else have any questions?

Open up to the oh, Sarah, go ahead.

Um, just a couple of things.

Uh I do think it's important for when we're um appointing or selecting a high-level position for everything to be completely above board.

Um, so that the city and the community and everyone, the people who are for or against or whatever feels really good about it.

Um, but I also want to say that I've heard nothing but positives about the last six months, and that um acting chief Gualtney, I hear great things that he's doing a fabulous job, that he's got an excellent reputation, that we're lucky to have him, and I really appreciate hearing that echoed from his workmates.

So thank you for that.

Um the 50,000 seems pretty steep.

Um, I'm slightly concerned about the 50,000.

And I guess my only question about that is um, yes, we want to keep things above board.

Does it need to be so much?

Is what does the other alternative that you mentioned look like?

And is it that you don't feel good about that alternative?

Is that why you didn't put it up there?

It's well, the other alternative would help more in the administrative functions of it.

Sylvia and I it just goes back to you know, Sylvia and I we just don't have the experience to do what needs to be done for this type of position of police chief.

So that would be more administrative.

Like we we could work with, and I'm sure she's got her network.

We we could create the brochure, but then we would want this person to come in, proof it, put it all together, make it look pretty, and get it out.

We don't have those internal resources when it comes to the community engagement portion, like when we're setting up time dates of when we're gonna have this can't these candidates meet the public, council, staff, we would need help with doing all of that.

Uh so we would do the best we could to manage it through, or even helping with interview questions, as we're you know, you could ask that person, could you do some research and find out some good interview questions for a police chief?

And then that person will go in and and research all those.

Uh the caveat to all that is is again we're not experienced in police chief recruitment.

So while we could and they could research those questions, what do they really mean to us?

How are they really?

You know, what are they getting for?

But it's it's an option.

I I understand.

Um, we also, and if you want to talk to the gentleman that presented the proposal, we did get a hold of him as well, and we can call him and you guys can ask questions over the phone if you if you'd like.

Go ahead, Mayor.

Yep.

I I think what I'm hearing from you uh is that this is not just a recruitment fee.

This is in a way outsourcing some of the work that we might do as a staff if we had the staff.

And so this $50,000 is kind of a uh catch-walk of a bunch of things.

You mentioned promotional material of marketing information.

That's things obviously we could probably do, but if we don't have the expertise or the uh time if even that uh outsourcing it is really what's happening here, in addition to maybe doing some uh screening of some initial applicants.

So okay.

I better understand what the money's all about at that point.

And I think you know, let's um can do would you mind if we reached out to Mr.

Peterson?

We can certainly call him, have him on you guys.

Can ask him more?

He's in a better position to have right.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Can we call him?

Do you guys want to, or do you guys okay without it?

I'm okay without it.

That's me.

I mean it's up to you guys.

That's two thousand dollars just for the call right there.

Do you dunk it off?

Um I gave uh the public an opportunity to speak before and the other ones, and I'll give an up the public an opportunity to speak on this one.

If anybody in the public like to speak on this, yeah, please come up and set your name and your address for the record, please.

My name is Bill Wisnowski 5545 Corral Drive.

Um from the presentation by uh Sergeant Hoffman, the comments by your city manager.

It's like, why are we gonna spend the money to replace a position that we're happy with the job that's being done?

It seems like a waste of money that the city could use somewhere else.

That's all I gotta say on it.

All right, thank you.

Anyone else?

All right, I'll go ahead and close that portion of the meeting.

Uh now let's go to the council, uh direction of the council.

Yeah, the 50,000 seems you know, if we were a major New York City, Chicago, Dallas, Lodge City.

Yeah, okay.

We would go to that 50,000.

That's not even a question.

We're reloying.

We're revoying.

You know, the if this chief needed to be replaced, would we would all know it, and we would all know people in the area that could probably do this job, even from rank and trial within the department that could step up.

So I just think this is pretty exorbitant for what we're looking at here, because we're not a major municipality.

Okay.

Oh, Sylvia?

No, I agree.

Um, I think 50,000 is a bit much, and I think that Sylvia and David, you guys aren't giving yourself enough credit, you know, because I know Sylvia is a seasoned employee, she's been here a while.

This is not the first um chief of police, you know, that she's had to hire and go through this process.

So don't cut yourself short.

Um you can do it for less 50,000 is too much, and I don't.

Yeah.

Well, it it is it is 30,000.

Oh, 30, though.

So you look at page 10, like it's you know, the professional service fee of 30,000 plus search related expenses not to exceed 6,000.

I put the 50,000 so that it could cover any additional charges that may occur without having to come before counsel to ask for additional monies.

So the base is 30 plus an uh circulated expenses not to exceed six with a potential background investigation of 1500 to three.

So potentially if you go to the high six, add the basket background investigation, you're just under 40.

So could we do the background on our end?

We could so you're under 40, third, you know, max 36.

If you had an extra day of travel or two that they got to come down two to four, so looking at 30.

You're you're in the high 30s, high 30s, creeping at 40.

I again I just put the 50 there because I wanted to cover anything that might come off as a not to a seat so we didn't have to come back and ask counsel for additional funds.

Yep, go ahead, Joseph question.

When we appointed Chief Bosque, do you by chance happen to know what it that cost us?

I thought it was like over 40.

Go ahead, Sylvia.

You want to come up?

Yeah.

I was not here for that.

Sorry.

Sylvia wasn't thinking staff was here.

Brian and Paul.

Thank you.

Um, so just to address a couple of things, um, Mayor and members of the council.

Um, as Dave uh mentioned, in the previous recruitment, we did use a company that came in and did a study for us um for the police department, and that company um did cost the city about sixty thousand dollars, and part of that they after the fact they did um help us with the recruitment process for the next phase of the hiring of the chief of police, and so they helped us with the brochures, they also helped us with the recruitment process by some disseminating the um information nationwide.

So, in and additionally, we then internally we did the advertisement um of the um general advertisement what we do today.

So we extended that with the general um companies that we use.

So totally I I went back and I researched it, and it was about sixty-five thousand dollars when we went with that um consulting firm.

Um, of course, that included the study and the results, but those but that company did assist us with um right researching our uh interview questions and things like that.

So they were very helpful in the recruitment process for the police department.

Obviously, the $30,000 that uh Mr.

Peterson is offering in this quote is half that price, which probably goes along the lines of what generally uh recruitment um companies do ask for.

Um, and actually a little bit less because these um this company is actually specializing in public safety recruitment, as as Dave mentioned.

Um what we are uh interested in with this with this particular company is that they're going to help us with professional brochures, they're going to help us with um sending out information to agencies that are specialized in public safety, which I don't have that networking um the resources.

Um there are a lot of um uh companies and and the resources I just don't have in the networking resources that I just don't have in public safety that this company does.

So that's the benefit that we will get from this particular company.

And the expertise of them being all former police chiefs.

Everyone in his department in his organization specialize in public safety.

So they also are going to help with reviewing the first group of applicants as they come in.

So in the previous recruitment, it was Harvey and I who went through and we stifled through all of the applicants that came through, and then we then came up with the finalists.

We used to have like the league conference who used to go through and those recruitment companies, they go through and they disseminate and they remove the top layer of emplo or applicants that come in, and then from that process, they send us who is the next best group of applicants, and then we start going through the next layers.

So now I'm predicting that we're gonna get a whole slew of applicants.

So timing is everything.

Our process the last time started in October, and um Chris Voskis um was hired and started in May.

So it was a very long process.

This one intends to take from beginning to end three months, and so that's a quick turnaround.

That's also worth, I believe, the costs, because we want to get everything, even if it's an internal candidate, we want to get it turned around rather quickly.

I hope that answers your question.

Sorry, got long ended.

Does anybody have any questions for Sylvia?

I have another one.

I don't know if that's for Sylvia or Dave.

I'm looking at the milestone payments.

If we do not hire a candidate that they present, are we gonna have anything get anything back?

Do we have to do that third payment?

I'm sorry, I didn't hear.

If we don't hire one of their candidates, are we still paying the 30,000?

Um if we don't hire one of their candidates.

I have to read it, I'm sorry.

I I you know that's a Gary question.

Yeah, the other question would be question.

Along that, if you do use this firm, and yeah, the day we decide to keep uh Chief Gwatney.

Do they still get paid?

Because he's our own.

Yeah.

And how many brochures are you gonna have left over?

That's what you're asking.

You know, um, honestly, I think that's a Gary question.

I believe that's a question for the he's happily available on the phone.

Oh yes.

Um actually he's he's watching um to be transparent.

He's watching the slide.

So yes, the the fee is the full 30,000.

Yeah, yes.

So as um our Mr.

Cooper pointed out on page 60.

Days oh, page do you mind giving him a call and he's happy to answer anything rather than selling his office?

Yes, office office.

But on uh the page page 12 of the contract.

Yeah, it does state that public sector offers a one-year guarantee on full search process if the chief voluntary resigns or is dismissed for cause within one year.

The company will conduct another search without additional fees for professional services.

They're guaranteed excludes internal candidates.

We would expect the city to reimburse the firm for all incurred expenses in a subsequent search.

Our firm has never failed in the search or had a client invoke our performance guarantee.

If the first search tub does not produce the desired candidate as asked, um the company will conduct an additional search and work with the city until a candidate is appointed.

Um they stated that they have never had to complete a secondary search either.

Um there is an expectation for additional reimbursement for expenses in a subsequent search.

Hi.

Hello, Mr.

Peterson.

Are you there?

How are you doing?

Good I'm here.

Thank you.

Is there do you want to comment on anything or would you like to start questions, Mayor?

Yeah, Ms.

Peterson, thank you for for taking our phone call first and foremost.

Of course.

If you can give us a little background regarding your your consulting uh firm, please.

Certainly, certainly.

So my firm, public sector search and consulting.

Uh we're a national executive recruiting firm, specializes exclusively in police executive searches, uh, consulting and interim placements for cities, counties, special districts, universities, community colleges, and of course, cities.

Um all of our recruiters are retired police chiefs.

Um working at different size departments.

I was in a 30,000 person city as a police chief in California, where I have another recruiter that was the chief of Anchorage, Alaska, and and so on.

Um and all we do are police executives, our reach is nationwide.

Um we're very proud of our process.

It's inclusive, transparent.

Um we make sure this is fair to everyone, um, including the internal candidate.

I've there's a lot of talk about the interim chief.

Um the interim chief gets a fair shake, like everyone else in the process gets a fair shake.

Uh because we want to make sure that you guys get the very best person for the job, and if it ends up being the interim, so be it.

And we don't have a uh a dog in that fight, you know what I mean?

Um and we're committed to a process that produces a 21st century leader that can lead and manage change.

Um and we work with uh the city manager to design a process that fully engages the community and the police employees.

Um and after the uh the selection process, uh your city manager is gonna know uh who can lead manage change uh for the organization.

Um we've done 80 police executive searches in the past five years uh from large cities like Chicago and Atlanta and Kansas City to smaller communities like um Ithaca New York and Edgewater, Colorado, Laramie, Wyoming, uh Payson, Arizona.

Um, you know, myself, um I've done 40 searches myself.

I've I've interviewed um thousands of folks, which what you're really paying for for us is we're sourcing candidates, meaning we're going out and finding people that normally wouldn't apply and they're gonna apply for a job, and then we screen the candidates and we screen them to make sure that they're the right fit, and that's why it's important for us when we start the search that we um engage your community, engage your employees, engage um you're just so that so that we understand what um Eloy is all about and what you're looking for in your next leader, and then we go out and find that.

We go out and find people that that fit that bill.

Um we've only had one search that didn't produce somebody that that the community accepted.

I mean we had people, but um there's only been one search where where we haven't been able to fill it.

We filled that with an interim for a year and now they have a new chief that was internal.

So a lot of talk about the price.

Um that's the going rate um for most search firms.

Um for our search firm, I actually lowered my price because after talking to Sylvia, it um I had kind of have uh uh a heart for Arizona.

My daughter's at Arizona State.

Um my mother-in-law and and family live in and her family uh live in Tucson.

So you guys are right right in between, so we may uh uh get some trips there for free.

Um and the real price, like the like city manager said it's 30,000 plus the the the search expenses, which um maybe sixty five hundred, it may be less.

Um I don't anticipate uh additional days.

That's just there as a safeguard in case I have a a crazy client that wants us to be there 24-7, you know, five days in a row, and and it it kind of takes the edge off if they have to pay that much money, they're not gonna really do that.

So we're excited about assisting you in your search, and uh pleased to take any questions you may have.

Thank you.

Um Mr.

Peterson, I got a quick question.

Will all the applicants' applications go directly to you, or do they come to the city first and then we send them to you?

Yeah, so um cities do that differently.

Yeah so um cities do that differently logistically I like to do it where uh the application has come to us and so we advertise we put all of our we obviously as Sylvia said we we configure the brochure it's approved by the city manager.

Everyone's going to get to take a look at it before it goes out so that it really represents your city and what you guys are trying to do.

And then they we we recruit advertise and all the places you're going to expect to find a police chief brochure and position International Association of Chiefs of police, Arizona Police Chiefs Association, the Hispanic Command Officers Association, the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, the National Association of Women Law Enforcement Leaders.

So we advertise in all those different places and then we we know everyone from those groups so we recruit there as well.

And then when the applications come in to us and the resumes come into us we just kind of give you guys an uh an idea of what our process is we screen the screen the resumes for minimum qualifications and then we uh make some assessments based on the the presentation uh of the of the resumes and put them in three categories people that we think we might recommend people that look qualified um on the face of the resume but we're not a hundred percent sure and then people that don't meet them own qualifications and then we screen those candidates we set up appointments for those candidates we spend um at least an hour with them and then we we we have a series of questions we ask to get at um what they know about community policing and what their experience is what they know about contemporary modern police tactics and stuff that procedural justice implicit bias um things that modern police leaders will know we ask them how they manage change and how they manage resistance to change a lot of things a lot of um bumps in the road that get chiefs in trouble right so um how they manage employee groups and I understand you guys don't have a union but you guys have um kind of a pseudo uh employee group because you have the your officers and your your command staff so how do they manage in that dynamic and those relationships and and then we check their social media we have a company that we utilize that we know what's on their social media and if there's stuff on there that is offensive these are folks that you guys are gonna you know the city manager is going to know that in advance.

So we don't some nobody gets through um we look at their news articles we ask them about their relationship with their with with their employee group and then if they have a reference that we could talk to and so we go through all of that information and then we kind of size up the candidate pool um and we put them in those categories and eventually we'll present those candidates to the city manager with our recommendation and the manager and the city gets all you guys own all the resumes and all the cover letters.

So you get all of that material and then we have a process I'm sorry the city manager takes the our recommendation or or he adjusts it and we include people we don't include people and then we have a process.

Sometimes it'll include community members sometimes it'll include employees from different departments department heads that interact with the chief I think it's very important that you have that you're a good colleague and you get along with folks.

And so we see what the dynamic is and then we arrange it we you know we help we help the manager arrange and and design that design that process that's gonna fit it's a fit for Eloy.

And then we run through that process we help we help the city manager debrief those different panels to get an understanding of of really who should be the finalist and that that portion may be virtual and then we decide you know the city manager decides who's going to come basically quote on campus or to the city and bring three or four people to the city and have a process in the city where the candidates meet a bunch of different people and have have some time with different groups maybe a community group maybe a you know maybe a community meeting maybe a uh a meeting with the the employees and and kind of get people's impressions and perceptions of those candidates see how they fit because it's really the people that that come to town they can do the job.

It's just a matter if they fit for your community and you know we get it right most of the time you know we really do.

And so that's the service we offer um happy take any other questions.

All right thank you sir anybody else on council have any questions Dan yes uh this Councilman Snyder I noticed looking at the in the project costs a lot of the activity seems to be virtual do you have any planned trips uh prior to starting the process that just uh boots on the ground and Eli just get a tour around town to see what the uh I guess the architecture or the uh culture just uh feels before you start screening applicants to see uh who might be a good fit so just was curious about that because I see uh at the end of the process I see one to three days on site but I see a lot of virtual before that so it's my question.

You know it it is a lot of virtual and and we can do that we can come on site to tour the area and meet meet folks and in interview maybe the department heads and have a community meeting we we can do that on site as well.

Most folks want to try and keep costs down and they've gone everyone's gone virtual uh in this space and so um we will want to meet with community members and different groups that are concerned or interested in the police chief search and that's something we work with the city manager to identify those particular groups and then Sylvia will help arrange meetings whether it's virtual or in person um and usually for scheduling not for us but for everybody else because I mean we're we can make it an accommodation and and be wherever we need to be but to get you know five, six, seven people in the room at the same time unless it's city council meeting um it's hard to get everyone in one one place.

So having the getting the input from folks is really important and we we you can discern a lot of information even if it is virtual but yeah we're not opposed to being on site if that's if that's a city manager's desire.

Thank you.

Anyone else have any questions Andy?

Yes sir of those 80 searches you did how many wound up with the interim police chief still remaining wow that's a good question.

You know I don't know because uh a lot of times the chief was still there a lot of time they had an interim that was a temporary interim and there's been times where there's been an interim that was the internal candidate and got the job and was definitely the best candidate and at the off the top of my head it was Atlanta we did Atlanta PD in 2022 and they want to do a a full blown search um an open and transparent search it's it's good for the professional professionalism of the department in the city um because you're you're opening up and saying hey you know we we think we have someone really good here but uh we want to see what's out there and see if we can better our department make everyone make everyone else grow and they thought they had the right person we're like well we have some really good people and we compared our person to their person and their person was the best person and you know they got say I told you so but they still felt like they got their money their money's worth because we brought quality people we put on a process that was open and transparent um and they they felt good about it that hey they they really did test their internal candidate against the best people that were out there that would come to Atlanta and their interim beat them out.

So that does happen.

So basically to echo again what the council person Curtis had said this is a fee just to keep us above board as far as hiring somebody yeah not just to keep you above board I mean it does serve that purpose uh it does serve that purpose as well but it it does test your internal against the externals um and it's the process um most folks even in NHR departments have maybe they've run a a typical um police chief process and I think we take that a little bit further we'll do stuff like uh with a with a meet and greet with the police department or or with the community um we won't just have the questions from the podium we'll have them interact with with folks and we'll have QR codes on all the doors so that people can scan the QR codes and and provide feedback to the city manager directly.

So the more pieces and more data points of that the city manager has the better and more uh informed decision he can make okay any other questions no all right all right thank you Mr.

Okay, thank you, everyone, and um you have a great evening.

Thanks.

You too.

Appreciate you.

Bye bye.

All right.

Here any other comment.

Do I hear direction of the council?

Go ahead and you want to comment first.

Go ahead.

Yes.

During my term as a city council member, I've heard a lot of people tell us what's best for our community.

We've hired many cons consultants to come in here and tell us what's best for our community.

We spent a lot of money doing that.

What were we elected for?

We know our community better than most people.

That's why we were put in these positions.

And it to me it sounds like it's a human resource process.

Pretty much that's what it is.

She just needs help.

But I think we can do it all internal.

And what would the cost be internal?

Because you said you still have to go.

I don't know.

If it exceeds $20,000, I have to come before council for approval to spend over 20.

It all depends on who we get, what their hourly rates are.

We haven't looked into those.

It could be anywhere, it depends on the workload, what we assign them, how many hours they put into it, be anywhere from $2,000 to $12,000 or I don't know.

Taking the chance on the spending additional funds that will invit us.

And so there's the other aspect of it.

I think it's we've gone six months waiting.

I think we need to get this resolved one way or the other pretty quickly.

My question is job description.

Where does that how does who take cut the job district description for that position?

In this case, if that you the consultant would in this case, if it was uh we chose not to do the consultant and run it in-house, then Sylvia and I would get together and we would work on our network and reach out and try to find a job description that we could put together.

And I ask that respectfully because I know how long it took for the community development job description to get done.

Or the assistant manager, city manager, how long that took to just to get done, just to get the wording right.

So direction of the council.

Mayor.

I'll make a motion to authorize the city council to enter professional service agreement with public sector surgeons consulting.

Not to exceed, not to exceed the 50,000.

All right, thank you.

Do I hear a second?

I'll second.

All right.

Mayor, can we get a roll call, please?

Mayor Powell?

Yes.

Councilmember Sutton.

Yes.

Councilmember Schneider.

Yes.

Vice Mayor Curtis.

No.

Councilmember Toango?

Yes.

Councilmember Wanavapa Rodriguez?

No.

Councilmember Garcia?

Yes.

The motion pass five to two mayor.

Okay, thank you.

All right.

Well, there's no need for executive sessions, so that's going to conclude tonight's meeting.

Well, thank you, everybody, for coming out.

Have a good night.