To your chair, please.

I think we'll go ahead and call the meeting, the regular meeting of the Gilbert Town Council on December sixteenth, twenty twenty-five to order.

Our invocation this evening will be by Rabbi David Roller of Shabbat Jewish Center for Gilbert.

Every quiet hope be heard, and every drawer that's meant for you open wide and without delay.

What felt blocked will begin to flow.

What so far will be draw will draw near.

You are not forgotten.

You are being guided.

And the universe is already shifting things into your favor.

Your error no porno de la couneho.

May the Lord bless you and keep you.

May the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you.

May the Lord lift up his countenance to you and grant you the gift now of peace.

Good evening.

Thank you.

My point.

Our Pledge of Allegiance will be led by Councilmember Bon Giovanni.

I pledge allegiance to the flag.

The United States of America.

And to the Republic for which you stand.

One nation under God.

Indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you.

We have one presentation tonight.

Mayor Anderson, pardon me.

Yes.

May I do the roll call?

Yes.

Sorry.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor.

Mayor Scott Anderson.

Here.

Vice Mayor Bobby Buckley.

Here.

Councilmember Chuck Bon Giovanni.

Councilmember Kenny Buckland.

Here.

Councilmember Young Kaprowski here.

Councilmember Monty Lyons.

Here.

And Councilmember Jim Torgeson.

Here.

We have a court and present.

Thank you for that reminder.

We have one presentation tonight for Town Manager Patrick Banger.

If you'll join me down near the podium down there.

Don't be frightened by his jacket.

He's well intended.

We really appreciate this man.

He's given 14 years of his life to Gilbert.

And we really appreciate everything he's been able to do.

And tonight we have a a uh a little presentation we have to to make to him as well as a resolution recognizing his years of service.

I'm gonna read a portion of the resolution, and there will be some of that actually is going to be appearing on the screen if you'd like to uh follow along any of that.

A resolution of the mayor and council of the town of Gilbert, Arizona, recognizing and commending Patrick Banger for his 14 years of dedicated service as town manager.

Whereas Patrick Banger has served Gilbert with distinction for more than 14 years, providing exceptional leadership and vision that positioned Gilbert as one of the nation's premier communities.

And whereas under his stewardship, Gilbert achieved triple A bond ratings, unprecedented economic growth with billions in investment and thousands of jobs, and the attraction of major employers alongside support for small businesses, and whereas he championed the creation of Gilbert Regional Park and Desert Sky Park, transformed the heritage district into a vibrant destination and advance public safety through expanded services and new facilities, and whereas Patrick Banger promoted transparency through a nationally recognized open data platform and fostered innovation, collaboration, and excellence among town staff, earning Gilbert recognition as one of the safest and most desirable communities in the nation.

Now, therefore, be it resolved by the mayor and town council of the town of Gilbert, Arizona, that Patrick Banger is hereby recognized and commended for his 14 years of outstanding service as town manager.

We extend our deepest gratitude for his visionary leadership, his one unwavering dedication to excellence and the enduring legacy he leaves, a legacy that will continue to shape and inspire Gilbert for generations to come.

Passed and adopted by the Council of the Town of Gilbert, Arizona the 16th day of December 2025.

As I said, we're going to miss him greatly, and we want to uh wish him the best.

Glendale's gaining something that we're losing, and we're sorry for that.

But uh we truly do recognize all of the service, all of the uh everything that he's been for this town.

And we'd like to uh present him with this resolution.

And we're gonna get a picture with you and I with this, and I'm gonna invite the council to come down once we get a picture.

And we're gonna get a picture with you and I with this, and I'm gonna invite the council to come down once we get a picture of the case.

I'd like to uh give Patrick the microphone if he'd like to say a few words.

Thank you, Mayor.

I will find out which members of the team were responsible for this.

I didn't notice it on the agenda, but it's been it was a blessing to me and my family when I got this job in August of two thousand eleven, and we relocated from St.

Louis, Missouri to Gilbert, Arizona, and it very quickly felt like home, like I know it does to so many of our residents that move here.

And it went by in the blink of an eye.

It's hard to believe um how much different the community is, how much it's grown and and of course changed, how much we've accomplished together, and and I give all credit to our elected officials as well as the amazing executive team, our assistant town managers, and all eighteen hundred and fifty employees.

Everything that we accomplished, their fingerprints are all over that, and it's been an honor to be a part of it.

I'm very grateful to have served this community, and we'll be cheering for Gilbert in all of your endeavors, and I know your best years are yet to come.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, everyone.

To make this official, I'd like to uh entertain a motion that we adopt resolution forty six twenty recognizing town manager Patrick Banner Banger for 14 years of distinguished service to the town of Gilbert.

So moved.

You the first.

Okay.

Move by Councilmember Torgeson, second by Vice Mayor Buckley.

Please vote.

We got the uh we'll do it by voice vote.

All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed.

Motion carries.

Thank you.

We'll move on to we're going to move the town manager's report up to this portion of the agenda, and I'll turn the time over to uh Patrick.

Are we are we can we have to do what the last one?

Uh Mayor, Council members.

I believe we're bringing uh the presentations from item number 26 up.

That's correct.

Okay.

Okay.

Mayor, council members, thank you for the time tonight.

We're going to be discussing the utility bill, proposed uh rate increases, and the notice of intent is part of the formal process for tonight.

Before we get into the presentations on this issue, which is an incredibly important one, as well as a very complicated one with all of the various aspects and factors that uh play into that.

I wanted to take just a few minutes and go over some key things regarding our enterprise fund as well as some of the drivers of the rate hikes and some of the things we're doing as a town and an organization in this matter because it can get lost in the presentation of the material itself.

So beginning with our enterprise funds, maybe.

This is off.

Okay.

Beginning with our enterprise funds, the lines of service that are contained within this are water, wastewater, solid waste, and environmental compliance, and they are self-supported through rates and fees.

And I think the easiest way to understand these funds, which are separate from the general fund, it's set up very similar to how a private enterprise would be, where the cost of the service is covered by the fees uh charged to deliver that service.

The only expense that is coming out of the enterprise fund are the overhead costs for the support services, HR, finance, IT, those services, those funds need to operate just like any of our other service lines in the organization, and there is no markup on those uh expenses whatsoever.

The town of Gilbert also does not transfer any of those funds out of the enterprise funds for for uh non-enterprise related activities like some cities do.

We have to follow a very prescriptive regimen uh defined by statutor um Arizona statute in when it comes to requirements for rate increases, beginning with a notice of intent, which is is tonight, and then a formal adoption by council, which is currently slated for February 27th.

Then there's a mandatory notification and waiting period before the new rates can take effect, and the town has begun a process of reviewing rates every two years for potential changes to be more responsive to the needs and ensure that our funds are solvent and can operate.

Another major factor of importance uh when it comes to these funds is our credit rating and the impact of that credit rating.

And I'll use an example in our personal lives, uh, our credit rating and how that will affect the interest rates we can get on a car loan or or a home mortgage, and we know with home mortgages in particular, um, sensitivity to that rate and the subsequent interest is paid, can can total up to a lot of money in your monthly payment as well as the interest cost over the life of that debt.

It is no different when we issue debt.

The better our credit rating is, the better interest rates will get when we do have to go to the markets to issue bonds, and that can total uh tens of millions in dollars over the life of that bond.

Recently, Fitch just reaffirmed Gilbert AZ's water resources MPC utility system revenue bonds at triple A with an uh a stable outlook.

And I'm gonna uh cover just a few of the things they highlighted in their review.

Starting with the operating cost burden, the system's operating cost burden was considered very low at 3,458 dollars per million gallons.

This affirms that the raging agency views the operating cost of both water and wastewater.

Enterprise funds is very efficient, a strength to the system and a positive factor in the rating.

Looking at the life cycle ratio was deemed low at 35 percent in fiscal year 24.

Planned capital spending for the next five years should generally outpace historical depreciation, supporting a continued low life cycle ratio.

This affirms the strength of Gilbert's long-term infrastructure maintenance, capital spending that keeps pace with or outpaces depreciation is a key indicator of a well-run utility for long-term sustainability.

They noted some rating sensitivities, and these factors could lead to a negative rating action.

First is failure to manage the rate adjustments in support of the CIP.

Sustained trend in capital needs increasing but what by beyond what is supported by the system revenues.

And pitch also noted they will be watching the large volume of capital expenditure over the next few years closely to see how the town is executing on its plans.

The major factors driving the current rate changes and Rebecca Hamill on our our water resource, or I'm sorry, our water department manager will go into more detail on these, but the four major categories are the historic ongoing and worsening drought in the southwest United States and what we need to do to prepare Gilbert for impacts from Colorado River shortages.

The Colorado River makes up 40% of our current water portfolio, and there is a very uh strong potential for stage three conditions, which would take effect in January 1st of 2027, and that would result in significant cuts in Colorado River allocations to all the cities that receive water from that source.

Second factor is the cost of water itself, and again, I'm not going to dive into the details on this one.

Rebecca will cover it in her presentation, but the cost of water is going up.

There's inflationary pressure on our operations and supplies, and then our critical infrastructure needs, which were one of the biggest drivers of our rate pressure that we're currently experiencing.

The North Water Treatment Plant that is under reconstruction right now and expansion, the seven wells that again will prepare us for potential cuts to the Colorado River and making sure we can meet our peak demand and maintenance and replacement of water related infrastructure.

Some of the things we are exploring and doing is evaluating cash versus bonds to understand what that impact is on rates, the available funding and overall cost.

We're looking at uh providing additional funding for our financial assistant pro financial assistance programs.

We're looking at different different rate or tier options for agricultural users.

We're researching the ability to serve septic users that currently that water that they use is not uh treated by the town and reused, either recharged or put into our recycled water program.

We are looking at to uh our incentive programs and to reduce water usage and new ways to incentivize uh reduced water usage and new programs that could be employed.

And then we're doing a water meter audit, and I'll dive a little bit deeper onto this one because it is on for council action tonight.

So the town has selected Kimley Horn and Associates Inc.

to complete a third-party audit with preliminary findings available in March 2026, including a public presentation to the town council.

The town anticipates the water audit to strengthen public confidence in its utility billing practices.

Looking first at the third-party team, Kimley Horn Associates will look at data and business operations analysis.

AMKA services will look at uh perform the infrastructure audit, and then ME Simpson Company will perform a 95% statistical confidence confidence level for sample sample testing, and they are nationwide leader in water operations and maintenance.

From transparency perspective to ensure complete independence, Kimley Horn will have access to all relative systems and data and the consultant report findings to the council without town staff filtering or editing any of those results.

The audit components itself, the data audit is the information flowing correctly, operations and business practices audit, are the processes sound, and the infrastructure audit are the meters measuring accurately.

And one thing I'd like to point out under the audit is they will be looking at all 90,000 plus utility billing accounts and analyzing that data to find any anomalies, any any statistical differences that we can then drill down and try to figure out what may be going on.

And then as part of the public engagement, there will be a 24-7 project hotline.

There will be project email and website, uh, project email and a website with biweekly updates, and there will be weekly updates to assist with the timely resolution of customer inquiries.

During this period of time, we are requesting anybody if you believe there is an issue with your billing with your meter, with anything to do with your water usage in the town to continue to reach out to the town, and we will continue to address those matters that as they are brought forward to us.

With that, Mayor, that's everything I'd like to uh cover at the beginning.

Um, if there's no questions, we'll ask Isaiah to come up and begin the rate presentations.

Any questions of Patrick at this time?

Isaiah Good evening, Mayor Council.

Good evening, Mayor Council.

My name is Isaiah Scarcia Romero.

I am the solid waste and recycling manager.

And uh as we get the presentation loaded, um, Rebecca Hamill, uh, the water manager will be presenting on the water enterprise fund.

I will be presenting on the solid waste and recycling fund regarding our utility rates.

And as we begin begin our presentation, uh, it's critical that with all this discussions, uh, we believe it's essential to highlight our mission guides every decision for Gilbert's future.

We anticipate challenges, we create solutions, and we help people thrive.

Some solutions require difficult choices, but they prevent far greater problems.

We cannot be successful in serving our community without our council.

Council's direction is essential to delivering on Gilbert's high quality of life that we've all come to love and expect.

Before we begin looking at the Solid Waste and Recycling Enterprise Fund on the rate pressures and the 2026 rate overview, I'd like to recognize the great men and women of the solid waste and recycling team.

Um I'm fortunate and grateful to be a part of such a dynamic and talented team serving our community.

We'll begin by discussing the rate pressures of our solid waste and recycling utility fund.

When we show here there is no such thing as a way, when we throw anything away, it must go somewhere, as quoted by Annie Leonard, former CEO Greenpeace, uh former CEO of Greenpeace.

In the graphics that you see here, you'll see an active landfill where refuse and our trash goes to get buried for decomposition.

The other image is a materials recovery facility where recyclable items are bailed to be able to be sold on the secondary market and have a second useful life.

When discussing our rate pressures, we'll begin with our vehicle replacement costs.

We've seen significant increases in capital costs for new collection vehicles.

We want to point out that the industry replacement cycle is every seven years, and we currently have a backlog of one in three vehicles that are due for replacement.

Before 2020, we could purchase a refuse truck for about 285,000 with a 10 month lead time.

After 2020, production delays and supply chain issues drove costs above 300,000 and lead time stretched to nearly two years.

By 2021, the price had already risen to 325,000 as indicated by the first bar.

Lead times uh have since returned to normal 10 month production schedules as production and supply chain stabilize.

Costs, however, have continued to rise, bringing the current price of a siloed vehicle to over 525,000 due to component and manufacturing expenses.

As a result, vehicle replacement costs have increased by 87% since 2020 and by 27% since our last race cycle adjustment in 2023.

These pressures have permanently raised the baseline price of our refuse vehicles and reduced the purchasing power of our replacement fund.

Now that we reviewed the capital costs regarding replacement of our refused vehicles, we'll dive into the second pressure regarded in this category, which is our vehicle repair and maintenance.

We have an aging fleet, which typically requires higher replacement and maintenance costs.

We will touch base on what the industry spare vehicle ratio of 15 to 20 percent, which is needed to cover downtime to do those maintenance and vendor repairs.

And looking at our residential side load fleet condition, we see that the industry replacement cycle dictates that at seven years a vehicle should be replaced, meaning that at year six we'll place an order.

At year seven, we receive that vehicle within that 10-month lead time of placing that order, and we'll uh replace the vehicle at its seven-year mark.

As you can see here, one in three vehicles is currently past the seven-year cycle.

We have 13 vehicles in that category.

Eight vehicles are in years five and six, which means that they're gonna be scheduled for replacement in the next two years.

And we have 15 vehicles in the age category of one to four, which is a typical standard um uh cycle for our our year.

What we see here is that over half of our fleet should be replaced within the next two years per industry standard.

In comparing that with the repair and maintenance costs, we see the 13 vehicles contributed to 1.8 million in expenses last year.

The eight vehicles that are due for replacement in the next few years uh contributed one million to the repair and maintenance expense, and then the 15 vehicles that are earlier in their life cycle, 900,000 in last year's uh expense of repair and maintenance.

And then the 15 vehicles that are earlier in their life cycle, 900,000 in last year's expense of repair and maintenance.

Now what that means for us, these are the drivers of for the increased cost.

As I mentioned, the age of the vehicles, the hundreds of moving parts as technology becomes upgraded and more advanced in the increased cost for parts.

As you can see here before COVID, repair and maintenance costs were slightly below 1.5 million.

Post COVID, we had an initial jump of 2.8 million in 2021, as shown in the graph.

Again, supply chain disruptions, part scarcity, they continue to impact hydraulic systems, electronics, sensors, wiring, control modules year over year.

When factoring in the age of the vehicles, as the equipment becomes more advanced, technology improves, the increased cost for parts.

We've now experienced a 301% increase since 2020 and a 44% increase since our last race cycle in 2023, bringing our repair and maintenance slightly under 5.5 million last year.

We've reviewed the vehicle uh costs as they relate to our pressures on our solid waste residential and commercial funds.

We'll now discuss the landfill disposal fee.

As you can see here, the landfill disposal fees continue to rise.

Their rising costs in the last two years were not incorporated in the last approved rates, and it's one of the primary rate drivers for the solid waste systems nationwide.

Landfill tipping fees rose to $3.4 million post-COVID, which is what we pay our private vendors, Republic Services and WM to dispose of the refuse that we collect.

These costs were relatively stable until uh right before 2023.

Since then, our partners have cited supply chain issues, equipment and material shortages, labor challenges, rising fuel costs, among others for drivers of the higher fees.

As a result, our annual post collection costs increased from $3.8 million in 2023 to $5.5 million last year.

As you can see here, overall the landfill tipping fees have increased 78% since 2020, and most importantly, 44 45% since our last rate adjustment.

As mentioned previously, landfill disposal cost is one of the primary rate drivers of solid waste systems nationwide.

As part of the 2024 Gilbert, Arizona benchmark report.

Data shows that last year the average household in our town generated 2,079 pounds of trash.

That's 240 pounds more than the average or 13% higher than the average household among comparable cities.

Now that we reviewed the cost regarding our trash disposal, we'll dive into the second pressure regarding our materials, and that's the recycling market.

Recycling revenues continue to fluctuate based on commodity prices.

We have to budget conservatively to account for market shifts and the contamination will reduce revenues and increase up processing expenses.

Recycling markets continue to fluctuate in response to global and domestic economic continues conditions.

We observed strong commodity pricing starting in August 2023 with steady month-over-month increases continuing through May of 2025.

Since then, the secondary market has softened, and we are currently experiencing a broader market downturn.

Paper and carboard decline is tied to national market pressure and lower meal demand.

Two major third-party U.S.

plastic processors shut down earlier this year, significantly impacting the plastic recycling market.

These closures have reduced processing capacity, they've slowed the movement of material, and they've contributed to the instability in the market.

Industry analysts expect these depressed conditions to continue for the next few months.

Although they do anticipate that paper and carbo prices will not fall or decline much further, metals continue to remain stable under moderate demand.

What that means for our operations, because of ongoing market volatility and the uncertainty about when the secondary market stabilizes, we budget conservatively and rely on historical trends.

Over the past five years, recycling costs have significant significantly fluctuated with our highest annual costs reaching 800,000 in 2021 post-COVID, where we paid $36.02 per ton.

The market improved in 2022, declined again in 2023, then recovered later in that year, continuing to strengthen through 2024-2025.

As shown last year, we did receive a rebate of $5.83 per ton for every material that we took to our material recovery facility.

During this five-year period, our average cost has been $18.08 per ton.

The overall charted data illustrates that significant fluctuations are driven by market conditions.

If we can see here, we are currently collecting uh materials at the household.

We're generating our trash, our recyclables, we're sorting them and placing them either in our trash uh cans or in our recycle cans for collection.

Our system will collect those and take them to their end uh and places, they'll either go to the material recovery facility or to the landfill.

When we went to the uh recovery facility, we see that the lowest cost per ton was $5.83 cents in rebates that we received just last year.

The lowest cost per ton to trash uh our materials to take them to the landfill was $25.11.

That was five years ago in 2021 when the rate was the lowest.

Again, that rate continued to increase over the last five years.

On average, uh our recycling cost has been $18.08 over the five year period.

In comparison, uh, the average cost per ton to landfill our waste has been $30.97 over that same five year period.

Our highest cost per ton to recycle occurred five years ago at the uh at the turn of the post-COVID era, where we paid $36.02 as the highest cost to recycle that year.

Our highest cost per ton to landfill took place just last year, where our highest tipping fees came in.

We were averaging $41.58 per ton to dispose of our material.

In referencing our 2024 Gilbert Arizona benchmark report, data shows that our average household generated and recycled 443 pounds of recyclable material.

This is on target with the average that we see across local municipalities.

To summarize, our landfill expense is the highest disposal cost pressure of our solid waste system.

Recycling alleviates some of the burden by saving money and supporting sustainability.

Each ton of recycled material avoids landfill disposal fees, reduces overall operational costs, and provides long-term sustainability benefits, such as preserving the landfill capacity and extending the life of long-term infrastructure.

In regard to our solid waste utility enterprise funds, bottom line, recycling isn't just environmentally responsible, it's the financially smart choice for our town.

In referencing our 2024 Gilbert Arizona benchmark report once more, we're comparing the waste that we generate and the materials that we recycle.

Our diversion rate is less than average.

Again, the more that we can divert from the landfill, the better it would be for our solid waste system and the utility enterprise.

As such, we have additional programs to help divert material away from the landfill.

Since each ton of material diverted from the landfill is positive for our system in response to recycling conditions, we discontinued glass collection in the blue cans and introduced a glass drop-off recycling in February of 2024.

Our contracted vendor does not have a secondary market for glass.

So what happens when the glass reaches that destination, we pay a processing fee, the material gets ultimately landfilled, and then we pay a disposal fee for that material as well.

The drop-off program is available in five locations to collect glass exclusively so that we can deliver it to our partners at strategic material where we earn recycling rebates.

To date, we have earned $8,000 compared to $39,000 that we would have incurred in processing and disposal costs through the material recovery facility.

If the glass were landfilled or collected in black cans, the disposal cost would be $13,000 for that same material.

This program is one way we are mitigating recycling market volatility, offsetting operational costs while promoting a circular sustainable reuse of glass and material that can be used in the secondary market in the secondary life.

In addition to glass recycling, we partner with Goodwill of Arizona on a pilot donation drop-off program.

We have two containers that are located in town parks, one at Discovery Park, one at Cactus Yards.

The state-of-the-art solar-powered containers provide 24-7 donation access.

They're ADA compliant, they're equipped with 24.7 camera surveillance and are maintained by goodwill of Arizona at no cost to the town.

This program promotes reuse, helping to keep items out of our landfills and the recycling system.

Again, at no cost to the town or to our ratepayers.

We anticipate that these sites will be operational by March 2026, following some logistics planning that we're having with our team internally, staff training, and collaborating with our HHW experts and our teams over at the HHW facility.

Now that we've gone over these uh rate pressures, we're going to go into how these impact the 2026 rate overview.

Our solid waste and recycling residential services include weekly curbside collection of trash and recyclables.

We have 10 uncontained bulk up pickups per year included in that, and we have year-round household hazardous waste facility as part of our residential services.

Weekly curbside collection and trash recyclables makes up 11 and a half million of the residential services budgeted expenses.

We have uncontained bulk or that makes up 1.6 million of our expenses, and our household hazardous waste facility contributing $334,000 to the expenses.

The pie chart shows here that 85% of our expenses by category is contributed by curbside collection.

Uncontained contributes 12.5% and our HHW 2.5%.

In looking at our residential five-year operating fund cash flows, expenses shown here are higher than revenues through fiscal year 28.

Our ending balance dips below the minimum fund balance.

It corrects again in fiscal year 2029 with an ending balance above the minimum fund balance in fiscal year 2030.

This model assumes a 2% revenue increase beginning in April of 2026.

This model doesn't assume additional rate increases through fiscal year 2030, assuming current market conditions remain unchanged.

We evaluate our five-year plans every two years and we adjust to meet the demands of the present day.

This model does include the replacement cycles to upgrade our vehicles and replace some within the marks that they're needed at their end of life within that seven-year industry standard.

And it also includes projections on what we anticipate could change in the market.

However, again, we review it every two years to see if our projections are in line and we'll make changes if needed.

This is what it means for our residential customers.

The 2% revenue increase that we need to met the pressures of our residential fund means a slight monthly increase to these lines of service.

Our standard household rate is a 90-gallon trash and recycling service.

This service will see a 55 cent monthly increase.

Residents can also opt into the other remaining categories in this chart or the alternative services if they like.

Those monthly increases range between 14 cents and 51 cents.

Again, we need a 2% revenue increase to support our residential operating fund.

These proposed rates will meet the impact we see from our rate pressures.

We also have our solid waste and recycling commercial lines of service, which include front load collection and roll-off service.

These support a ribant economy and serve a diverse range of customers, including businesses and offices, retail stores, restaurants, to multifamily complexes and schools.

We compete in the open market, meaning that these customers can shop around and select the hauler that they like to receive these services from.78 cents.

The proposed new monthly rate will be 108.23 cents for a monthly increase of 12.45 cents.

Again, this projects to uh 13% monthly increase.

If they are we're gonna be offering smaller discounts for heavier users to meet the demands that we're seeing.

Currently, when we add another container to this service, instead of charging the full rate of 191 for that secondary container, we offer a 21% discount for the rate of 156 151 dollars sixty-eight cents.

In the proposed new rates when another container is added, instead of paying the full rate at that new rate, the customer will receive a 17% discount, bringing the total to 180.

This means that their actual bill we will see a monthly increase of 28.45 cents or a monthly percentage increase of 19%.

To summarize, we are needing to generate 20% of additional revenue to meet the demands of our commercial operating fund by rise sizing the cost of the services by reducing the discounts and staying competitive in the open market.

Roll off in commercial rates in this table are also part of the commercial services that we offer, and they reflect minor one-time or monthly adjustments based on the services selected by our customers.

Again, these can also be shopped around for a better uh for a different hauler.

However, we still remain highly competitive in these areas.

These services are available to commercial and residents needing specialized waste removal, large-scale projects.

The major categories here are roll-off delivery, roll-off haul, and compactor haul.

Those are the most requested service in these lines of services.

These are charged per request, meaning when a customer requests it that that's the service is rendered, and we charge the fee.

They're increasing by four and a half to just a little over six percent across these lines, with the compactor haul costing sixteen dollars and sixty cents extra per service compared to the current rate.

That's one of the highest ones that we see here, however, again, still competitive with the open market.

The disposal per fee ton is a pass-through cost set at the current highest landfill rate fee.

The highest last race cycle fee was $34.50 two years ago.

And as I mentioned previously, those costs continue to rise year over year.

The next highest cycle will begin in January 1st, 2027, when we will be charged through our vendors 44.66 cents.

Again, this is a pass-through cost that we'll be passing on to our customers for the landfill disposal fee.

To summarize, we are needing to generate 20% additional revenue to meet the demands of our commercial operating system.

The updated rates remain competitive with the private market.

We're aligning our service costs more closely with the private sector, and we're supporting the commercial fund requirements.

Any questions?

Council?

Any questions?

It's time.

Thank you, Isaiah.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, Council.

Rebecca.

Good evening, Mayor and Council.

My name is Rebecca Hamill.

I'm the water manager for Gilbert, and I'm here tonight to talk to you about the water portion of this utility rate increase.

Last week at the council retreat, we shared with you a version.

Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't advance it.

Uh last week at the council retreat, we shared with you a version of this presentation.

We appreciated your feedback and applied some of the updates that were discussed to ensure transparency for council and for the community.

We want to first start off by acknowledging that these water rate increases are difficult, especially as household costs continue to rise across the board.

We recognize the real impact this has on families and businesses in our community.

However, there's an expectation that we all share that water will always be there when we need it.

The town has an unwavering commitment to provide clean, safe, dependable water so our community can continue to enjoy the quality of life that we're used to.

What we don't always see is the work behind that promise.

Reliable water only feels automatic because hundreds of people are constantly monitoring, treating, and delivering it so it reaches every home every day.

We know this is tough and wish there were easier solutions.

We're actively working to identify ways to help rates normalize in the coming years.

However, we cannot ignore that our once reliable water resources are diminishing and providing res to residents and providing water to residents now and into the future requires constant care and investment, which sometimes involves tough decision making.

Before we get into the technical details, it's important to remind ourselves that when we talk about water, it's easy to think of it as something routine that just shows up when we turn on the faucet.

But water is actually the center of everything that makes daily life in Gilbert possible.

It keeps us healthy and safe.

It supports our schools and our hospitals.

It allows our firefighters to protect our community.

It powers businesses and keeps our local economy strong.

And it's part of what makes our neighborhoods thrive.

So when we talk about water, we're not talking about convenience or preparing for future growth.

We're talking about protecting life as it is right now for the people who already live here, for families, for seniors, for kids, for every household that depends on water every single day.

Water isn't just a service, it's the foundation of our quality of life, and keeping it reliable is the most important, one of the most important responsibilities we have as a town.

As we walk through the pressures on our water rates, there are really three main areas creating financial strain on the water fund.

First is the water resource cost.

As drought continues and supplies shrink, the cost of securing water keeps climbing.

An ever increasing share of our budget is dedicated just to getting the water that we need.

Second, critical infrastructure projects.

Major projects like the Northwater Treatment Plant and our well drilling program are being hit by the same inflation and market pressures affecting construction everywhere.

And third, rising operational costs.

Chemicals, electricity, raw materials, and labor have all gone up.

These increases are touching almost every part of our day-to-day operations.

Let's first dive into the rising water resource costs.

We've been hearing news about the state of the Colorado River for many years now.

The river remains over-allocated, the reservoir levels are unstable, and the seven basin states have still not made an agreement for how to sustainably allocate the water that remains.

The latest deadline for the seven basin states to reach an agreement was on November 11th, 2025.

This deadline has come and gone, and the states failed to reach a consensus on new operating guidelines.

The current operating guidelines expire at the end of 2026, and without an agreement to operate the river in 2027 and beyond, the federal government will need to step in and impose its own plan.

What all of this news about the Colorado River really means is that our access to water is getting much more expensive.

It now makes up nearly 20% of the entire water fund's operating budget.

We've been tracking these increases closely, and since 2020, the cost of CAP water has gone up 73%.

Putting it another way, the same amount of water we bought in 2020 now costs us $3.5 million more in 2025.

And it's not just CIP.

Communities across the region are turning to new water sources to make up for shrinking Colorado River supplies, and those alternatives are significantly more expensive than they used to be.

For example, Gilbert purchased water from the San Carlos Apache tribe in 2019 for just over $5,200 per acre foot.

Today, many communities in the valley are now paying more than $20,000 per acre foot for similar long-term supplies.

So the reality is simple.

Water is costing more everywhere, and paying attention to these increases now helps us avoid even higher costs down the road.

One thing to take away from this is that Gilbert planned ahead.

We have a plan, and we have many projects under construction to make up for these lost supplies, but being prepared for drought costs money.

SRP, CAP, reclaimed water, and groundwater, but 41% of our supply comes the co comes from the Colorado River, and that alone supports about 120,000 people in our community.

In 2026, we're losing 17% of that Colorado River water.

Some of it is required because the river is shrinking, and some of it is voluntary so we can help stabilize Lake Mead and earn grant funding to support local conservation projects.

To deal with these cuts, Gilbert is strengthening operations, managing our water sources carefully, and pushing more conservation.

So even though we planned ahead, keeping water reliable takes real work and real investment to make sure Gilbert has enough water now and into the future.

Excuse me.

As we look for ways to conserve water in the community, it's important to understand where Gilbert is using the most water.

This graph shows that single family homes use most of the water in Gilbert, about 69%.

After that, commercial customers, then apartments, schools, and municipal buildings.

Because households use the biggest share, that's where we focus most of our water conservation efforts.

And here's why it matters.

Water in Arizona, a desert, is scarce.

Every gallon that we save is a gallon that we don't have to find, buy, treat, and deliver, and that saves money for everyone who pays a water bill.

When we look at what drives higher water bills, our research indicates outdoor water use is one of the biggest factors.

Gilbert is actually very efficient with the water used inside of our homes.

We can clean and reuse 100% of the indoor water returned to us as reclaimed water.

That means showers, sinks, and washing machines all help us stretch our supply and keep long-term costs down.

But outdoor water use works differently.

About 50 to 70% of water is used outdoors.

For lawns, landscaping, and irrigation.

It's gone for good.

It doesn't return to our system.

And we can't reuse it.

That puts more pressure on our water supply and makes it more expensive to replenish.

So when we talk about conservation, it's really outdoor water use that makes the biggest impact, both for individual households and for the community as a whole.

Water conservation is not just the right thing to do, it actually saves us money.

Using less water outdoors means lower bills for customers and less pressure on our overall water supply.

We offer lots of programs to help people cut down on outdoor water use, and many residents are already taking advantage of them.

In 2025, the water conservation team performed 842 checkups.

Each checkup produced an estimated annual water savings of 65,000 gallons per home per year.

This translates to 54.7 million gallons of water saved from our conservation programs.

We know our conservation programs are working, but we also know that it costs money to run these programs.

And so, in order to offset these costs, our water resources and conservation team helps bring in over 28 million dollars of state and federal funding for the water savings project in the past two years.

This included $6.3 million in grants from WIFA, $2 million from the Bureau of Recommendation for Water Smart Water Efficiency savings, and $16.9 million from the lower Colorado River conservation efforts.

All of this helps stretch our water resources and reduce the long-term costs for the community.

Not only is water conservation cost effective for the community, but responsible use of our water resources is required.

In 1980, Arizona recognized that our groundwater supply wasn't unlimited, and the state created the Arizona Groundwater Code to protect it.

Areas that relied heavily on groundwater were placed under special management rules called active management areas, or AMAs.

Gilbert is a part of the Phoenix AMA, one of the largest and the most regulated in the state.

As a member of the Phoenix AMA, we're expected to balance how much groundwater we pump with how much we put back into the aquifer.

In other words, we can't withdraw more groundwater than we've replenish.

To stay in compliance, Gilbert has to follow a number of best practices, and we take those seriously.

Some of the ways we do that include running water conservation programs, offering resources and tools for customers, hosting community education events, tracking and reporting our water conservation process, our progress, using a tiered rate structure to encourage smart water use, monitoring and reducing water loss in our system, and protecting groundwater and replenishing what we use.

All of these efforts help make sure we're managing our water supply responsibly now and into the future.

Now that we've talked about the water resource pressures on the fund, the next respirate rate pressure I'll be talking about is our aging infrastructure.

One of the other biggest pressures on the fund are biggest pressures on our water rates come from aging infrastructure and the rising costs of fixing or replacing it.

Even though inflation has started to level out in some areas, construction costs are still really high, especially for big projects like treatment plants, wells, and major pipelines.

These are the kinds of projects that keep water flowing safely to every home and business every day, and avoiding these means risking failure of this critical infrastructure, which is not an option.

So while things are stabilizing a bit, the truth is that building or repairing essential water infrastructure is still a lot more expensive than it used to be, and that puts real pressure on our water budget.

The work we have to do hasn't changed, but the price of doing it has gone way up.

One of the biggest projects we're committed to, and one of the most important is the Northwater Treatment Plant Reconstruction.

This project is the largest investment in Gilbert's water system and a major part of our long-term water resiliency.

Here are some quick buy the numbers on the project.

The good news is that we're making huge progress.

We've passed our 50% milestone for construction completion, and we're now less than 200 days away from the treatment complex coming online.

We're now around 400 days from fully transitioning water production to this brand new facility.

Once it's finished, the Northwater Treatment Plant will provide 70% of Gilbert's entire water supply.

That's enough to serve about 250,000 residents with a maximum treatment capacity of 60 million gallons per day.

The Northwater Treatment Plant isn't just a construction project.

It's a 50-year investment in Gilbert's future that will serve our children and our grandchildren.

This treatment plant ensures that our water services remain reliable, safe, and available as our community grows.

Another major initiative we're investing in to keep Gilbert's water future secure is our well program.

This program gives us access to groundwater at various sites across town, and it's a huge part of our long-term water resiliency strategy.

These wells are especially important during drought conditions, including the shortages we're already seeing on the Colorado River.

Here's where things stand right now.

We have a total of 20 wells that are currently available within our water portfolio.

Those 20 wells are capable of serving up to 52,000 residents.

We also have eight new wells under construction that will be added to our groundwater portfolio.

Drilling is complete for these wells, which is a major milestone.

However, finding water in the desert is a challenge, and finding high quality water is even more rare.

Some of the wells that we drilled have mixed water quality challenges.

We're now working on the treatment and blending designs for the sites that need it to make sure that the water meets all safety and quality standards before entering the system.

So just like the Northwater Treatment Plant, this well program is another big strategic investment to maintain Gilbert's water resiliency, both today and for the future.

It gives us options, stability, and flexibility when other supplies face pressure.

Not only are we seeing cost increases on our major infrastructure projects, we're seeing rising costs across nearly every sector, which means that treating and delivering the water like we all we have always done now costs more.

The next rate pressure I'll be speaking about is how those operational costs have increased.

While inflation has begun to stabilize in recent years, uncertainty remains in many areas of the market, and Gilbert's operating costs continue to rise.

Major impacts to chemical and electrical costs resulted in the department adding over $600,000 to the budget in chemical and electrical costs alone.

These can be attributed to local and national inflation in all sectors of the market, leading to limited manufacturers and small labor pools available in highly specialized sectors.

Increased cost of skilled labor leads to manufacturing and cost supply increases, especially in areas like mechanical and electrical components, which we use to keep the water system running.

Nationally and internationally, we continue to see impacts from uncertainty with tariff and trade, and locally, we're now competing with other large value-wide projects, which makes sourcing highly skilled labor even more challenging.

All of these various factors place an additional pressure on the water fund and lead to higher operating costs.

Now that we've covered the three main areas of cost pressures on the water fund, I want to talk about the ways in which we have saved money in the budget.

In Gilbert, before we ask for any rate increase, we always exhaust every available measure of cost reduction, alternative funding, or project prioritization.

Raising rates is the last resort.

Before asking council to consider the rate increases, we took a hard look at where we could save money, request funding, or adjust plans, and we were able to make some big impacts.

Some projects, like updating older water lines were safe to delay for a short time.

The risk is still manageable right now, but will grow the longer these projects are delayed, so they'll still need to happen.

We are also successful in pursuing alternative funding, including grant awards and state appropriated dollars, which directly offset the cost of project expenses.

Savings from value-based engineering and fiscally responsible budgeting practices help us to stretch the fund even further.

All together, we were able to reduce, avoid, or reprioritize 239 million dollars from the five-year plan.

All of this helped lower the overall costs and keep the community's water system moving forward in a responsible way.

Without these cost saving efforts, we would be looking at raises significantly more.

An increase of more than 55% would have been required in 2026 if we had not been able to reschedule, reduce, or generate revenue to help support the fund.

Okay, let's talk about something that can get confusing: the difference between impact fees and water rates.

They sound similar, but they pay for totally different things.

Impact fees or system development fees are charged when new development is built.

These fees help pay for the parts of the water system that need to grow because more people are moving in.

Things like new treatment plant capacity, new wells, expansion to the water distribution system.

Basically, growth does pay for growth, and impact fees cannot be used for everyday system needs like repair or operations.

They only fund expansion.

On the other hand, water rates are the monthly user fees we all pay based on how much water we use.

Rates fund the things that keep water system running day to day, like operations and maintenance, chemicals and power, repairing or replacing aging infrastructure, paying existing debt payments, but rates cannot be used to expand the system for new residents, and they also don't fund general government services like police, fire, or parks.

So in short, impact fees build new capacity for future users, and the rates maintain the system we all rely on today.

When we say water pays for water, that's what we mean.

Water rates have to cover everything it takes to run the water system, operations, maintenance, repairs, and debt.

Tax dollars do not pay for water.

Those are used for things everyone shares, like parks, police, and fire.

And the cost of service means we charge only what it actually costs to provide the water, not anymore.

If we drift away from these financial policies, it could hurt Gilbert's credit rating, which would make projects much more expensive in the long run.

Well, this may be slightly redundant to summarize.

The water fund utility rates are used to cover costs associated with water resources, water treatment, water system maintenance, water system repair or replacement.

They are not used to pay for costs associated with new developments, street projects, quality of life projects, or any other town services.

Similarly, each of the other three lines of service in the utility bill are also solely used to fund the operations of those services.

A typical utility bill is made up of four different lines of service.

There's solid waste recycling, sewer, environmental compliance, and water.

The bill has fixed charges and it has variable charges.

Solid waste recycling, sewer, environmental compliance, and the base fee associated with your water bill are all fixed.

They do not change month over month.

The only portion of the bill that does change month over month is the tiered rates located on the right of this graph.

Diving a little bit deeper into utility bills and how those tiers relate to our usage.

We can see of over 1 million utility bills collected each year, about 57% of all residential water bills are for homes using zero to 8,000 gallons per month.

That's normal indoor use, drinking, bathing, laundry, cooking, the essentials, and some moderate outdoor use.

Our water rates are set up in tiers on purpose.

Water in the lower tiers costs less to help keep essential use affordable for everyone.

Water in the highest tiers costs more to encourage conservation, especially for outdoor watering, which uses the most water.

Now, if we look at the other end of the chart, only one percent of all bills consumed more than 50,000 gallons per month.

But that small group uses 7% of the town's total water supply.

This tiered rate structure helps keep basic use affordable while encouraging high volume users to conserve.

This chart shows how the utility bill changes as water use goes up.

The fixed parts of the bill, sewer, solid waste and recycling, environmental compliance, and the meter base fee stay the same no matter how much water is used.

We can see those bands across the bottom.

Excuse me.

What really changes is the volumetric charge or the water consumption cost.

At low usage, the bill is mostly made up of those fixed charges.

As usage increases, the volumetric charge grows and becomes the larger part of the bill.

If you use more water, the variable charges rise.

I want to make it as clear as possible when we're talking about water rate increases.

We're not talking about a total percentage increase on all lines of service in the bill.

We are only talking about a percentage increase to the meter base fee and that water consumption cost.

Now we took a look at the three-quarter inch meter.

This is a very similar slide that looks at a one-inch meter.

The overall shape of the chart is familiar, fixed charges stay steady, and volumetric charges grow with usage.

But there's one key difference that the meter base fee is higher for the one-inch meter.

You can see it in that red-orange band.

It's thicker than in the previous slide.

Large meters are designed to deliver more water faster.

That means they place a greater demand on the system and require more robust infrastructure to support them.

The higher base fee reflects that increased capacity.

It's not about penalizing larger properties, it's about ensuring the system is funded fairly based on the service level provided.

The slide helps reinforce that utility rates are not one size fits all.

They're carefully structured to reflect both usage and system impact.

For customers with larger meters, it's important to understand that the higher base fee isn't just a flat charge, it's tied to the scale of service they receive.

What we can also tell from these two graphs is that customers' water bill or utility bill is highly individual, and it depends on each customer's unique situation.

Now, we realize that many customers are struggling with increases to their utility bills, and it's important that Gilbert's water services remain affordable.

In February, the ASU Kyle Center for Water Policy released a report on tap water affordability.

In this report, the study evaluates the household burden of water services in communities in Arizona and nationwide.

The report calculates the household burden as the cost of water service for 4,000 gallons per month, which is enough to cover indoor water use and a very moderate outdoor water use, basically enough to live on.

And they took that the cost associated with the 4,000 gallons per month as a percentage of the monthly income of the lower 20th percentile of the community.

So a person making the lower 20th percentile in a community, what percentage their water bill at 4,000 gallons per month would be.

And the report considers a value less than 2% affordable.

This report also showed that the Arizona average was 1.42%, the national average is 1.44%, and Gilbert's current rates were 1.01% of the 20th cent percentile income.

Even though it meets the definition of affordability, we realized that many Gilbert customers are still struggling to keep up with these rising costs.

And that's why we offer utility bill assistance for residents making up to 120% of the area median income, which is 79,140 for a single person.

Or any residents that receive assistance from other programs would also automatically qualify.

The discount covers 30% $30 per month towards the utility bill, and to date, we have 591 clients enrolled and have issued over 76,000 in discounts.

As we evaluate utility rate increases, we will continue to monitor and adjust this program to provide assistance to the residents that need it most.

Now I'd like to show this timeline to remind everybody of the history of utility rates in Gilbert over the last 20 years.

We went eight years without a water rate increase in 2010 to 2017, and 13 years without a rate increase in solid waste recycling between 2009 and 2021, with two rate decreases during that time frame.

In recent years, we followed council's direction to review the utility rates every two years, alternating which funds are considered for rate adjustments in an effort to spread out the impact to customers.

This two-year evaluation timeline aligns Gilbert with the best practice of the industry for fiscal stability in the four enterprise funds.

Here is a summary of the options given before you in 2023.

As a reminder, we had three different options.

There was an all cash option, which required an immediate increase of 130%, a bond option, which required an immediate increase of 95% with a $205 million additional debt, and then a cash bond option, which required an immediate increase of 50%, a 25% increase one year later, and another estimated 25% increase two years after the initial increase.

We are now in that third year.

The plan also included $80 million in new debt, and this plan was preferred because it was a phase increase that allowed customers for to prepare for this increase over time.

Here we're looking at our water utility revenue, and what we can see is that we're meeting our revenue goals with the two former rate increases in place, and we're on target to meet estimates this year, assuming the rate increase goes into effect in April, whichever option the council may choose.

It is essential that the water fund received increased revenue beginning in April to keep all of these essential projects and operations funded and on schedule.

Now that we have an understanding of Gilbert's financial policies and what goes into a utility bill, we have two options to go over for the 2026 rate increase.

Before bringing these options before council, we first brought them to the Public Works Advisory Board.

This board reviews and makes recommendations to the council regarding the strategy, approach, and fund planning of initiatives and large-scale infrastructure infrastructure projects across all divisions of the public works department.

We brought before them the wallet the water and solid waste recycling rates.

We reviewed the water and solid waste recycling rate fund pressures.

They evaluated initially three different rate options for water and one for solid waste recycling.

The board asked for two additional options for water and ultimately recommended one option with support of a second option for council to consider.

In making these decisions, the Public Works Advisory Board used these five decision-making criteria in order to form their recommendation.

Those five criteria were short-term customer impact, operating fund capacity, repair and replacement fund capacity, total cost of ownership, and long-term customer impact.

The board ranked each option for each category and a weighting was applied based on their category ranking.

And ultimately, the board ended up ranking option E first.

Option E is a modification of the original planned 25% increase, but it's more gradual.

So instead of a single increase in April of 2026, this option includes a 14% increase in April of 2026 and a 14% increase in April of 2027.

Ranked closely second was option A.

That was the original plan, April 2026 increase of 25%.

Following that was option D.

This was the all cash option, and it had the highest increase, but included no new debt to the fund.

And then the two bond options of varying amounts, which issued more debt but ended in ended up resulting in a lower operating fund balance, with option C likely requiring future increases to remain stable.

So getting into the details of these options, I'm showing before you option E.

This model assumes a 14% increase in 2026, a 14% increase in 2027, and then an estimated 5% in 2028, 0% in 29, and 5% in 2030.

As we evaluate rates every two years, we will this is this is what we know with the information that we have now, and we will revise those numbers at the next rate study.

And so for the operating fund, we can see that there's an estimated 33 million dollar new bond needed in this operating fund.

The fund balance will dip below in minimum in 2029 and sit right around minimum in 2030.

This option includes increased contributions to the repair and replacement fund so that we can continue to protect our critical infrastructure and an estimated 80 million dollar bond on repair and replacement.

Option A, which is the original planned increase, includes 25% in 2026.

This again includes an estimated $33 million bond in the operating fund.

The fund balance dips below minimum in 29, slightly in part due to how we budget our capital projects all in the first year.

And it has a very similar repair and replacement fund contribution.

The difference between these two options were the ultimate resulting rates.

Here we have 25 all at once, whereas the other option we have 14 and 14, leading to more than 25 after two years.

So here we're looking at a utility bill comparison.

This is the total utility bill, not water only.

Total utility bill, assuming all four lines of services.

We show the current three-quarter inch total bill as compared to option A in red, option E in yellow, and then orange for the first and second year.

What we can see is option year for 20 option E for 2026 is lower than the other options.

But option A, which is for 2026 and 2027, still remains lower than option E in 2027 due to the additive nature of those two separate rate increases.

It's for this reason that the Public Works Advisory Board ultimately recommended option A.

Here we see a very similar slide with a one-inch meter utility bill comparison and the same trend where option A remains the lower of the two options after fiscal year 2027.

So I'm going to go through a few examples here on different water usage and what those total utility bills look like.

Here we have a minimum usage uses usage case scenario.

This is a customer that may live in a 1500 square foot home, have a desert adapted landscape, have water efficient appliances, low indoor water use, and is very conscious of all utility costs.

We can see what their util their total utility bill would look like with a three-quarter inch meter and a one-inch meter for that 4,000 gallons.

Next, we have an average water user.

This is a moderate single family home, small container garden on the patio, no pool, moderate landscaping, daily showers, and moderate indoor water use.

They're using 8,000 gallons, and we can see what their utility bills look like on a three-quarter inch meter and a one-inch meter.

And I will have a summary slide at the end of these.

Next, we have an above-average user.

This is a moderate single family home with a medium-sized yard with grass and a play area, a pool sprinkler, slip and slide in the summer.

Four people means multiple daily showers and baths, and higher indoor water use.

They're using 15,000 gallons per month, and we can see what their utility bills look like with the three-quarter inch meter and the one-inch meter with the two options.

Next we have the high usage.

This might look like a 2500 square foot home on a quarter-acre lot with mature landscape with grass and trees, a medium-sized swimming pool, front and backyard landscapes that aren't drought tolerant.

They use 25,000 gallons a month.

We can see what their utility bills look like with three-quarter inch meter and one-inch meter.

The last we have the very high usage case.

This could be a one or a five-bedroom custom home on a one acre lot with a large pool and a spa and water features.

They may feature an outdoor kitchen with multiple entertaining areas, have high maintenance landscaping that receives very frequent watering.

This customer might use 45,000 gallons of water per month, and we can see what their utility bills would look like with a three-quarter inch meter and a one-inch meter.

Now I want to summarize what these two options look like with each with each option.

Option E, we can see what the current utility bill for a three quarter inch and a one-inch meter looks like, as well as the difference between the existing bill, the first year of rate increase with option E, and the second year rate increase with option E.

And I want to note that the lines that list 2027, that is the second year of the planned increase under this option, and that is the total amount increase.

That's not in addition to the line above it.

And so we can see here what that, what that delta, what that change looks like for 4,000, 8,000, 15,000, 25,000 and 45,000 gallons per month.

I have a similar slide here for option A, a little bit simpler since this is just one and done.

So this is what the delta, the change to the utility bill for a three-quarter inch meter and a one-inch meter with low usage, average usage, above average usage, high usage, and very high usage looks like.

Option E is 1.15 in the first year, but ultimately 1.31 in the second year.

Again, less than 2% is considered affordable under the report.

Now, not only do we care about what our affordability looks like and how we relate to our neighbors at the lowest level of water use.

We also take a look at average water use.

So taking a look at water usage in comparison to other valley cities, this chart is showing an average water use around 8,000 gallons per month.

And we can see that Gilbert falls within the region depending on the option selected.

The gold portion is showing the meter base fee, which is set when we set rates at 50% of our required revenue so that the fund has stability that is not based on customer behavior or weather patterns.

When we compare Gilbert to other cities both today and with the proposed options, we're still in the same range as many of the valley communities.

We aren't at the top and we aren't at the bottom.

We're relatively in the middle.

This helps show that even with the changes we're proposing, Gilbert's rate remained reasonable and competitive with similar cities in Arizona.

This slide is looking at household use, household using a very large amount of water, about 40,000 gallons a month.

Even at this high usage level, you can also see that Gilbert remains competitive with other cities.

The gold bars show the base monthly fee, and the blue bars show the cost of the actual water used.

Gilbert's current water rate and future options sit right around the middle of the chart.

This is intentional.

Our tiered rates are designed to encourage responsible water use and conservation, but they also keep Gilbert's pricing fair compared to what other cities charge at high usage levels.

Our tiered water rates are designed to encourage responsible water use and conservation.

Now this chart requires a little bit of explanation, but what we're showing here is how Gilbert's rate tiers, how much we charge per thousand gallons of water at each consumption compare to our neighbors.

And because there are so many of them on here, I've I've grayed out all of the other colors except for Gilbert's current, Gilbert's option A, and Gilbert's two option E.

And so what we can see here is because comparing the cost per thousand gallons across different cities in the valley, Gilbert is right in the middle of the pack.

Even with the proposed adjustments, we're still comparable to many of our neighboring cities.

Some cities have higher spikes in their tiers because they charge more for high water use.

Others are lowered depending on their own water supplies and their infrastructure needs.

But overall, Gilbert's rate structure stays well aligned with what we see across the region.

Now, while we focus the majority of our time today on the residential water rate increases, we now have to acknowledge that Gilbert also has commercial and non residential water increases.

This percentage increase is uniform across the board.

So the 25% increase we see on the residential base rate and the residual residential volumetric charges is the same 25% increase we're seeing on non-residential water use, landscape water use, hydrant water use, and all of the various different meter sizes.

We can see the same thing for option E.

For simplicity, I've only included 2026 for option E, but we will have this full rate study located on our website following this meeting.

Now, I know this is a lot of text, but I do want to read the recommendation letter from the Public Works Advisory Board.

As Gilbert residents ourselves, every member of the Public Works Advisory Board carefully weighed the economic impact that any rate increase would have on the community.

We spent considerable time evaluating the options, striving to identify an approach that minimizes the immediate burden on residents while also avoiding the risk of shifting higher costs or additional debt onto future generations.

The option we recommend reflects what we believe to be the most balanced, responsible, and least impactful path forward.

Based on our evaluation, the Public Works Advisory Board recommends that the town council approve a notice of intent to increase rates and fees at its meeting on December 16th and set a public hearing for February 17th, 2026.

We further recommend that the council adopt option A for the water fund as it best balances short-term affordability for its residents with long-term financial needs of the water system and the continued resiliency of this essential community resource.

Written by Sam Elliott, Public Works Advisory Board chairperson.

Now I want to be clear, what we're asking for tonight is not a final decision.

We're seeking approval to publish the notice of intent, which sets the maximum amount that rates can be made, it can be increased and starts a 60-day clock.

During those 60 days, we will be publishing the rate study and working on community outreach efforts prior to bringing the increases back to council for consideration or adoption on February 17th.

Now, if we'll hold questions for just a little bit longer, Candace will present our communications plan for the rest of the rate setting process, after which I'd be more than happy to answer any questions you have.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Hi, Mayor and Council, Candace Kwan, Chief Communications Officer.

It's important to remember we just sat through about an hour or so going through highly technical information.

It just shows the thought and passion that our teams are going through to thought uh carefully weigh out all of the costs.

But we have to now create bite-sized digestible information to talk to the community about how important it is to consider increased increased rates.

So we're gonna get into that.

The first thing is just establishing the goals.

Uh, ensuring the community or majority of the customers are ensuring the majority of our customers are being informed about the potential rate increases and the importance behind it of why water rates are changing, how our system works, and what Gilbert is doing to protect the community now and into the long-term water accessibility.

When customers have facts, hopefully the conversation should become clearer and more grounded and shared understanding.

Our goal, our goal isn't to just notify people, it's to empower them with accurate knowledge and help them plan, conserve, and trust the complex work being done on their behalf.

The objective is people engage in different ways, online, in person, through email, on social media, or simply by reading their bill.

Our strategy is to show up in all the places residents naturally spend their time with clear, accessible information that fits their daily routines.

Whether it's quick, scroll-friendly messages for busy families, deeper dives for those seeking details, or in-person conversations for residents who prefer dialogue, we'll continue to deliver information in ways that feel natural, convenient, and respectful of how people live.

The town has now completed all three of them.

The format was comprised of tables where a council member, staff subject matter expert, and note taker engage in a two-way conversation with residents for up to 20 minutes or even more.

Notes were taken to ensure feedback at any and any action items were appropriately accounted for.

Over the span of the three listening sessions, a total of 93 residents attended.

We want to send our sincere thank you to those residents who attended, as it's people like them who helped shape Gilbert.

We also want to thank members from council, town manager's office, public works, Office of Communications and Engagement, and finance who stepped up outside of their normal daily responsibilities and dedicated time to prepare, attend, and follow up with community members, showing their unwavering commitment to serving residents of Gilbert.

Overall, about 50 to 100 employees for the past six months have been working on anything related to rates to the listening sessions, and that amounts to about a little thousands of additional additional hours.

So we just want to say thank you.

Your work does matter.

Of those 93 attendees, we reviewed the questions, and most of them fall into a few consistent themes, all which are completely understandable.

A lot of people wanted to know why have water and utility rates increased.

And closely linked to that is why did we go so long without any rates?

That long roll created a situation where unavoidable increases are now happening closer together.

Residents are also comparing Gilbert to neighboring cities and wondering how our rates stack up and why bills differ from household to household.

Those are all fair questions.

And we were able to have we were able to explain how rates were calculated, are calculated, and what drives those differences.

Another major area was billing and media accuracy.

Some customers had issues with user experience and the new billing system, delays, confusing statements, or difficulty tracking usage.

Others asked whether their water meters are accurate and fair.

We heard those concerns and have been validating meters, auditing the system, and improving communication around billing cycles so people know exactly what they're paying for.

We also heard a lot of questions about growth and development, things like is growth causing higher utility costs.

Are new developments paying their fair share?

If we worried about the Colorado River, why are we building new homes?

These are important questions.

We assured them that developers do pay their share of fees, and the decisions about land use and development are tied to long-term planning, affordability, and state requirements.

And finally, we heard about communication and customer service.

Some customers felt previous interactions left them frustrated or without clear answers.

We recognize that, and we will continue to iterate on our strategies without straying away from best practices to provide plain language updates.

In short, people want clarity, they want fairness, they want reassurance that the system is accurate, responsible, and sustainable.

And we are committed to doing just that, and you'll see what we're planning in the coming next coming weeks.

What we know when people are worried about their bills or trying to understand why changes are happening, they turn to places where conversations feel easiest, often online, and those conversations can feel big, fast, and overwhelming.

What we've learned is that online discussions usually represent a small group of highly engaged residents, not the whole community.

And that doesn't make those voices any less important.

It just means it isn't the entire story.

We truly listen to every concern.

We expect questions and frustrations, especially when household budgets are involved.

Every comment, every email, every call matters to us.

And at the same time, most residents engage in quieter ways, paying their bills, conserving water, or simply expecting the service they rely on every day.

Another way to put it into perspective, Gilbert has about 300,000 residents.

That's similar to sizes of large cities like Cincinnati, Ohio, or St.

Louis, Missouri.

And of those residents, about a little over 90,000 utility customers, and of those customers, more than 76,000 customers have created an account in that new portal.

That's a 95% more than what we had within the old portal, showing that our communication efforts did connect and inform majority of our customers.

And of those customers, only a few hundred people drive those online conversations, small but mighty conversations that we know are important.

But an unsmaller number have joined in our in-person listening sessions.

That's why we need to remind ourselves that we see online conversations often reflect emotion and not the size.

So we listen widely online, by phone, face to face, and we focus on the long-term community needs, data, and decide responsibly for the betterment of the community.

In the end, strong opinions matter, but so does the quiet majority who expect steady service and thoughtful planning.

Those are the purpose behind these tough decisions, protecting people, protecting daily life, and protecting our future access to water.

So, as we go into that, we're looking at the strategy that's going to go through and inform how we're going to be speaking to the community and how how where they want us to listen and engage.

It's important to look at the demographic of majority of our community, about 30.4% are between 25 and 44 years old.

That's a little over our 290 of the makeup of the 290,000 residents.

The median age is 34 years old, and a third of that population is under the age of 18.

This is a snapshot of our media consumption.

So as we're going into we're starting to look at the types of materials and communication assets that we're going to be developing, we're going to be looking at the most media consumption that our community is engaging with.

You'll see in the dark that it's mostly digital, social, and traditional.

A bit of print as well.

And then this is our toolbox.

Based off of that media consumption, we consider every single one of these assets.

Uh increases.

Additionally, we wanted to double-click into traditional marketing strategies because this is the most direct way to inform and connect and uh and create informed citizens.

But the backside of that is it is very costly.

You can see that the mailers, so if we were to send a mailer to every single uh utility customer, it would cost about 40,000.

And we did that, the last rate increased.

Um so every single resident or customer did receive a direct mailer, but again, it is quite costly.

So based off of the strategy that we would have we would be developing, there are key messages that probably you saw throughout the presentation, Rebecca's presentation and Isaiah's presentation.

One is water's life, and it's getting a lot harder and more expensive to provide.

Two, before raising rates, we cut or deferred every cost we could.

Most uh customers are average water users.

Gilbert Gilbert's rates are higher, but do remain affordable, and yes, growth pays for growth.

And based off of that strategy and approach, uh is the timeline.

We're gonna start communicating today, tonight, all the way until April 2026, and most likely thereafter, to ensure everyone is informed of the essential need of the potential rate increase and what it means to ensuring that we have uh water now and into the future.

I think that's it.

Can bring Rebecca Arzeez up for any questions as well.

Thank you.

Questions, discussion, Councilmember Bon Giovanni.

Thank you, Mayor.

Rebecca.

Thank you for doing an incredible presentation.

It was nice and slow, like me as a third grader.

I totally understood it and I appreciate that.

Thank you, Councilmember Bhagiovan.

I appreciated your feedback at the retreat.

Your um slides about where we are compared to other cities.

I assume that those slides aren't showing potential rate changes in other cities because we don't know them, correct?

That's correct.

They include anything that has been adopted to date, but not anything that is pending their council action.

So with the chatter that I'm hearing, I'm assuming that we're gonna be going to the left of that chart after some of the cities that I know that I'm talking to raises our raises our rates also.

From what I know about our neighboring cities, there are a lot of other communities raising rates right now, yes.

So someone may say uh Gilbert option E 2027, oh my god, it's almost the second highest.

It's not gonna be there.

I I don't see it be staying there as other as other cities raise their rates also.

Do you agree?

I agree, yes.

Okay, I appreciate that.

Okay, I'm good for right now.

Thanks, Rebecca again.

Thank you.

Just as a reminder, we're not here tonight to debate the options.

We're here only to set a date for public hearing.

Um just keep that in mind.

Just uh want to see between you and Candace.

One thing that I think is important is that people don't see the end of this.

And with all things the same, if you can project something to show a sudden when the end game is, when does do we stop collecting this?

Does it stop?

You know, we've we're paying for something specific.

And what most people are losing is that while we're being compared, let's say to Tucson here or to Buckeye, they're not building what we're building.

And the building is what's driving that bottom piece, that reddish orange piece that you showed.

Uh that's worth over 50% of the money is coming in.

When these projects are done, how do we demonstrate?

You'll never have an exact day, I know that.

But demonstrate that we're looking at it comes down at a certain point.

Not that it's always rising, but once once the car is paid off, it's paid off.

Right.

You don't keep paying the bank for it.

So can we get this incorporated?

And people need to know what they're paying for.

Because it's not just the water, it's everything around.

And quite frankly, if we don't do it at some point soon, the property values go down because you don't have clean water.

So can we give them a little bit of what they're really paying for and how long and have that incorporated in and presented to people?

Uh Mayor, Councilmember Torgerson.

One of the things with the the water rate specifically is that because we did take bonds out for that, we we will be paying for those bonds for at least the next 20 years at this point.

That's what the term is, um, plus any future bonds that we issue that are still part of these these needed um infrastructure projects.

Um we can say is that we do evaluate the rates every two years.

Well, we're evaluate them every year, but we review them every two years for potential increases, and as you could see on the solid waste side, when we had more revenue coming in than we than we needed, we decreased the rates twice.

So it's something that we're constantly evaluating.

At this point, we can't be certain when those rates could potentially go down.

We know that we're paying for the bonds for the next 20 years, and we know there are a lot more infrastructure needs coming as the community continues to age.

So as those are paid off, likely that money will go towards reinvesting in future infrastructure needs to be.

But the ones we're cash out on, we can show.

I mean, you can't promise it because things change, I understand.

But what a reasonable period of time would be.

You know, you're paying that extra 40 bucks.

We expect it to be four years, six years, whatever the number is.

But to show that the light at the end of the tunnel is not a train, there is some sort of end to it.

It's not continual, no matter what, the same thing.

I mean, with all things staying the same.

Okay.

Yeah.

We can sit down and and discuss that with you more and see exactly what it is you're you're wanting to see.

I want people to be able to see that they're not getting clob clobbered forever.

That's important to people.

Okay.

Councilmember Bongiovanni.

Thank you, Mayor.

Rebecca, I would just want you to say it one more time.

Yes.

Um, I know we're not discussing the the rate actually tonight, but um we're not talking about a rate change, like a percentage of the whole bill, correct?

Absolutely correct.

Just the water.

Just the water base fee and the volumetric charge.

X amount of percentage, my responsible, I call it my responsible positive keyboard warriors, should correct them and say, no, it's just your water bill.

Correct, just the water portion.

Councilmember Bongiovanni, that's correct.

I would also direct those keyboard warriors to post a link to our utility bill calculator, which we'll be posting later.

They're positive keyboard warriors.

There's there's there's a lot of positive ones out there.

It's not the ones that are just lying out there, it's just the positive ones.

Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Just as a reminder, the uh between now, as we set uh the date for the public hearing between now and that date, uh, we saw the list of items that Patrick had that we will be evaluating, and there may be others that will come up too during that time, and we should be aware of that.

And and um between now and February 17th, we can look at all those options and how we can affect the the rate, maybe.

That's why it's a maximum.

Yeah.

Any other construction any other comments, discussion?

No.

So uh Chris, is it appropriate uh since this was under administrative items to just go through and and uh and take the vote on this item?

Mayor Anderson, you can do so, you can wait if you want, or you can just move move that second part up and take the vote right now.

Pull the council and see what your preference is.

Mayor.

If that's member Kaprowski.

If there are people here that may be in communication from citizens, I would suggest we wait.

Wait.

I concur.

Okay.

Okay.

We'll uh vote on that in in the order it's in the agenda.

Thank you for that excellent presentation for that information.

We'll move on to uh communications from citizens.

Vice Mayor.

Thank you, Mayor.

So to begin the communications from citizens, I'll be reading the rules of decorum.

So we value the participation of our community members and robust exchange of ideas.

However, it's essential that this discourse remain respectful and constructive, reflecting the professionalism expected in such forms.

Misinformation and personal attacks undermine our collective efforts and do not contribute to the productive dialogue necessary for our town's progress.

This is an opportunity for the public to address the town council directly in an um about issues impacting the town.

Accordingly, the town council will not allow for moments of silence or playing of music or other recorded material which could distract from the meeting decorum or violate copyrights.

While we could understand and appreciate the passion our community members bring to this session, we remind everyone that clapping during the meeting is not acceptable.

This practice can disrupt the flow of discussion, potentially intimidate others, and distract from the respectful atmosphere we strive to maintain.

In accordance with state law, we are unable to respond to issues that have not been properly noticed.

Therefore, the town council may only listen to citizens who wish to address them.

And at the conclusion of the open call to the public.

Each speaker is limited to three minutes, prior um three minutes.

Priority will be given to Gilbert residents, business owners, and property owners.

Public comment will be limited to 30 minutes total at the beginning of the meeting.

The town clerk will notify the council once the 30-minute limit has been reached.

If additional comments remain, they will be heard after the conclusion of the public hearing items with the same three-minute limit per speaker.

When you come up to the podium, please state your name and the city of residence for the clerk's record.

So with that.

A warning about where we're headed if we don't change course.

Think of this notice as the ledger of Evans or Gilbert.

The ghosts of utilities past.

The first ghost shows up the shows us the past.

Gilbert was known for careful planning and affordable living.

Families bought homes, acreage, and small farms, believing they could afford to stay here long term.

Water was a big basic service, not a luxury.

This changed four years ago with yearly increases up to 82%, or a total over 300%, shackling our residents.

The ghosts of utilities present.

The second ghost brings us to today.

The draft proposes up to an additional 25% water rate increase.

As for many residents, these are not small adjustments.

They mean real hardship, especially for retirees, families on fixed incomes, and those on larger properties who already pay more per gallon, much like a luxury tax.

At the kitchen table, a resident like Mrs.

Cratchett is doing the math with Tiny Tim.

Not between wants, but between essential needs.

She's asking, can we afford clean water and food?

Must I pay for essential services with my family security?

The ghost of utilities future.

The final ghost shows up.

Shows us what happens if these increases are adopted blindly without changes.

You risk losing the trust of your citizens.

You'll see who will see you not as good stewards, but as Scrooge, demanding every last penny.

Which what might happen?

People are priced out.

Small farms disappear.

Families who help build this town are forced to leave.

Gilbert risked becoming a town that balances his books by insisting on more and more from a small group of residents, not because it's fair, but because it's easy.

Is this who you want to be?

A better ending.

This notice of intent is not fate, it's a warning.

We're asking the council to slow down and take a closer look.

Find efficiencies, phase increases more gradually, find ways to reduce existing costs, create a fair rate structure that recognizes land size essential use and real impact.

We all understand the need to invest in infrastructure, but it must be done with care, fairness, and compassion.

Let's not become the ebonese or gilbert of this story.

Let's choose a future where our town remains livable for everyone.

So that when we look back, we can say, God bless us everyone, and God bless the town of Gilbert.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Grosen.

Our next speaker will be Tiffany Silva.

I'm Tiffany Silva, Gilbert resident.

Um all of these presentations, and I went to the last water presentation.

At no point have you guys ever said what the current money is is used for.

We've never seen a breakdown of where all of that money goes.

What we do see is what the new money will go towards.

And it seems like there's a disconnect between what we currently are paying for and what's going to be paid for.

And what I've realized is the increase is to pay for the water treatment plant.

That plant was formed and approved in 2022 for 450 million dollars.

And over the years, it has increased, and right now I think it sits at around 657 million dollars, and it's only set to increase even more.

I don't know how the costs got out of control and where all the money is going.

And I understand uh inflation and all of that.

But what I'm asking the council for is if you guys can have an independent audit of the entire um water uh situation, all of uh residential uh intake water and that treatment plant to find out where the money is going and not a government audit, but an independent outside auditor that can come in and give an itemized detailed list for all of us so we know where everything is going, and then post it on the website and let us know and that we can read it and look over it, and that way we can have uh confidence in your guys' decision when you guys put forth these huge increases in our utilities.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker will be Cam Brehan.

Hi, and my name is Kim Britton.

I'm sorry you didn't know of us.

You are calling me up.

Um I am a 20-year resident of Gilbert and fourth generation Arizona, and the fact these vaccines don't make my comments hold any more weight than the family who arrived six months ago.

Um, every resident deserves to know where the town of Gilbert intends to take us in the future.

Um, so in interest of time, I'll try and be brief.

Um a lot of questions were answered.

Um, previously, I listened to I listened to both presentations, and I appreciated both of them.

Um I want to make clear a couple of things first.

I feel some somewhat like the public is sometimes viewed as a resource and maybe a slush fund for that would be cool projects, um, especially at the expense of things that are critical and making the town run well.

Project um I'm sure we would love to see projects moving forward should be judged by three things.

Do a hundred percent of the residents use this, and water clearly falls into that category.

Um B, is it available to all residents, and does it occupy a public space?

If the answer is no to any of these, then the project must not move forward when we have issues like basic water that we need to deliver to everyone.

Um I the government's basic job is clean and safe public spaces, protecting citizens and their legally obtained property, and maintaining roads and utilities.

That happens.

And in the um options that were given, I saw, I'm sorry, you guys, I've never spoken before in front of uh council before.

Um I didn't see moving funds from projects that were approved but not yet started to help out or putting a freeze on new projects, building projects going forward until we can get this situated, and especially since we're waiting for the judgment on the Colorado River Basin, which I believe will end up in the hands of the federal government if it already isn't.

Um, and then the Supreme Court will most likely the states will sue, and it's going to be a whole big thing.

But I would recommend before we do any rate increase that we wait to see what was what will be happening with that.

Um I know Tampa, Florida has a total operating similar city, has a total operating budget of 1.6 billion.

Arlington, Texas, similar 750 million.

New Orleans has an operating budget of 1.6 billion.

Oh, sorry.

Um, I just hope that we can explore all the options, not just the options within the water.

So thank you.

All right.

Thank you very much.

Our next speaker is Dave Rosenfeld.

I am Dave Rosenfeld.

I am a resident of Gilbert.

It is said that silence in the face of authoritarianism is complacency.

Speaking out is a patriotic act and a duty.

Democracy does not defend itself, it requires participation, vigilance, and courage from ordinary people.

None of my friends have threatened to break anybody's arms because of what was said at a town council meeting.

Mayor Anderson, Councilmember Kaprowski in October of 20 uh 2021.

You were both sitting on council.

You may recall the hateful rant of Mr.

Torgeson at that time and his disparaging comments to the entire council.

Following my speaking at that meeting, Mr.

Torgeson posted on his personal social media account asking two of his friends, can you help the lost sheep find the herd?

His friends asked if he was suggesting broken arms.

When this was brought to my attention, it was a threat.

A police report has recently been filed again regarding threats made by Councilman Torgeson to a Gilbert resident.

Well, I have not personally seen this report yet.

I have been informed informed.

The report number is 2025 1944.

So I assume that there is some credibility to it.

Maybe Councilman Torgeson will address this after comments from citizens.

Fast forward, and now Councilman Torgeson comes to my table in a restaurant without introduction or even a hello and starts making demands of me in front of my wife and our guests.

Demands regarding the Lions Boys.

Following week, I was asked for clarification from the sitting mayor and the other liaisons to the VAB.

I have no recollection of ever having met the Lions Boys, who I later found out are in their 30s.

But as the VAB chair, I did send a letter, an email to everyone who applied for the VAB that the town council did not choose.

These and other continuous actions bring us here today.

This has been an ongoing vendetta led by Councilman Torgeson, who retaliates against anybody who dares to challenge his authority.

Councilman Lyons offered to mediate a conversation between myself and Councilman Torgeson, clearly demonstrating that my removal from the Veterans Advisory Board is all about Councilman Torgeson and retribution.

I need to be clear.

In my mind, this was nothing but an ambush attempt.

Councilman Lyons had no authority to mandate a mediation on behalf of the town.

And he stated that my four FOIA requests cost the town millions of dollars, which is ridiculous.

But he violated the code of conduct repeatedly, and this council and town staff allowed that to happen.

Councilman Lyons supported Torgeson in removing me from the VAB.

They both disparaged me from the dais, and I suspect they will do so again tonight.

But I want sure our neighbors have a clear picture of the coordinated attacks against me as they continue to fire on those who question or speak out on anything.

This council does not have a right to choose what FOIA requests get fulfilled.

That is our freedom, freedom of information, and it is our town staff an obligation to fulfill those.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Rachel Jones.

Good evening, Mayor.

Good evening, Council.

Thank you for this opportunity.

I did want to point, my name is Rachel Jones, Gilbert resident.

I did want to point out that the slide presentation usage comparisons didn't reference anything other than HOA style single family homes.

Which brings me to my main concern.

What about the attention to the single family farm properties?

Because our water rates went up in many cases over 400%.

I've honestly tried to stay as quiet as possible because I'm old Gilbert.

I'm from a time when the hay and cotton farmers were the most well-known town residents.

I'm still friends with them.

The Lamaros, the Blevins, the Lambs, the Rays, the people that the streets are named for in our town.

We're dinosaurs now.

We're from a time when Gilbert was still deeply rooted in agriculture and farming and livestock.

My small home was built in 1984.

I've been a single mom for most of the 30 years I've lived in Gilbert.

I have two boys who go to school in the Gilbert public school system.

I bought my farm in the 90s when it was still a county property, and the 60 ended as a dirt road at Val Vista.

I'm scared that old Gilbert is disappearing.

And you guys don't necessarily care.

This water crisis is just another sign that the life I've known in Gilbert for over 30 years is disappearing and no longer valued in the push for progress and apartment buildings and high rises.

I'm here to beg you that there is still so much value in our roots and our heritage and the traditions that Gilbert was founded on.

I have met with several of the council members, and I want to thank Mr.

Torgeson, Mr.

Bongiovanni, and Mr.

Lyons for speaking with me on multiple occasions and being willing to go to bat for us old timers.

We don't want people to forget what made Gilbert unique and beloved to begin with.

I think it's important that the council recognizes what my farm and others like it have been to the community since the 70s.

Carolyn McGuinness owned my property at that time.

She offered lessons and boarding to people who loved horses and the rural lifestyle and its values.

I bought her farm when she retired, and I've done my best to keep its vision true to what Carolyn started.

I've taught generations of children, their parents, their grandparents, what it means to care for and be guardians of horses.

At this moment, I teach the grandchildren of students I had back when I started.

My students aren't for the most part wealthy.

They participate in 4-H, Pony Club, the Mustang Rescue Makeover, retired racehorse rehabilitation, intercollegiate competitions for kids who aren't able to afford their own horses.

But is that somehow now less valuable or healthy for the body and mind than playing pickleball?

As Gilbert finances pools, parks, and pickleball courts.

Is now something you seemingly want to get rid of.

Is there more value in water skiing pickleball or HOA landscaping than keeping access to live animals available?

I just don't feel it's fair for me to pay five times more for my water than you do for yours.

That's all.

It's just that we just want you to be fair.

We're good stewards of the land, we're respectful of its water.

We flood irrigate our grass areas, we recycle the water from our wash racks and hoses to water our 50-year-old trees.

My farm isn't fancy.

But you'll see six-year-old children all the way up to 70-year-old women, Gilbert residents, who are outdoors enjoying nature and animals, experiencing what Gilbert used to be, and I hope it still can be, because we thought a solution for our heritage properties to these tiered water rates.

I fear that we're at risk of being priced out of existence.

And I beg you to consider that that would be a travesty.

Thank you for your time.

Whoops.

Thank you very much.

Our next speaker will be Barbara Colvin.

My name is Barbara, and I live in Gilbert.

And I've been to every town council since all of this arrived.

The town council has the authority to seek bond money.

The fact that the town council, whether it be you or previous members, waited eight years without doing anything, knowing that eventually infrastructure needed to be taken care of.

And where was the town manager during all of this?

He wasn't overseeing why there weren't smaller fee rate increases so that we wouldn't get slammed like we are now.

You are also choosing to lay the cost of three multiple expensive projects at the excuse me, at the feet of the single family homeowner and landowners.

When my water and sewer utility bill is higher than my electric bill, something is really, really wrong.

And it's only going to get worse.

If you were an ordinary business and raised your costs for your product like this, I would take my business elsewhere or do without.

And the individual home, I have a single person in my household.

My water for this month was $2.59.

The rest of the $130 was for the rates that you when you doubled the sewer.

And I understand that you're going to be raising that another $30 in the near future.

So that will take what was a $30 sewer bill to a $90 a month sewer portion of the bill.

You provide breaks for apartments, condos, and commercial businesses.

Yes, the developer may pay a hefty impact fee to build.

Once the project is complete, he says, see ya.

And you also need to revisit your mission vision statement because your actions don't even come close to it.

You wanted that small town home feel like Gilbert was what everybody loved about Gilbert until all of this young 34 and under came into play, and all of these apartments went up.

And your mission should now become the apartment capital of Arizona.

It's like you want to eliminate homeowners and have nothing but apartment complexes.

Expensive ones at that.

I attended the listening sessions on November 10th and November 15th.

And I actually saw no value as they listened and tried to defend your actions, but it was nothing but lies.

The November 15th session, my friends and I asked specifically, are you at least curtailing and halting approving more apartments going up?

They, Tim and Jessica, answered yes, absolutely.

Those were bold-faced lies.

Five more complexes and constructions became out there.

You can't pay for water if you don't have the money, regardless of how much you raise it and how clean you.

Yes, costs have risen.

That still doesn't help because salaries do not increase.

You're not the only entity that is raising prices that is impacting everybody in Gilbert's budget.

Your own council member stated in last month's town hall that you could lie to us, and if you kept telling us lies, we would either believe it or think it is true.

All of you have lost the trust of our community that you claim to value.

The everyday common resident homeowner cannot keep absorbing the exorbitant increases unless that is your intent.

The homeowner cannot do it all.

The apartment people have to pay their fair share.

They're using a lot of water too, regardless of what your little chart says.

Thank you.

Okay, thank you very much.

Our next speaker will be Bill Spence.

My name is Bill Spence.

I'm a Gilbert resident.

Um you'll be happy.

I completely rewrote my speech in the last five minutes because of the water rates over here, so we're gonna we're gonna just go with it.

Umgations about fudged numbers with Gilbert Police Department, and the town has acknowledged these allegations, but has not addressed staffing levels from 2017 to 2023 when this policy was being used at the direction of Chief Solberg.

This is concerning to me.

May 2020, Nick Cordova was murdered.

June 2022, Rachel Hanson was murdered.

2021 through 2023, teen violence was on the rise, and in October 2023, Preston Lord was murdered.

I want to acknowledge that Alicia Cordova, Nick's wife, is with us this evening.

She's going to be spending another Christmas alone without justice for her husband.

I fear that reduced officer staffing, significant detective work, significant detective workloads, numerous command staff changes, and other issues related to this policy may have affected the ability of these and the other cases to be investigated in the same manner as they would have been by a fully staffed department.

I believe this is a big deal, and there are lots of questions that must be answered.

It is not my intention to attack anybody, but rather expose the truth about where we stand so we can take necessary action to hire the personnel necessary to fully staff our police department and find justice for Nick, Rachel, and Preston, and to ensure we never face these kinds of issues again.

I got a question from Chief Solberg.

How many more officers do we need to be able to pursue these investigations?

And what's the hold up?

How can we make this happen?

On the water, a couple lookups, and I did all three listening sessions.

I wanted to thank I wanted to thank I we did like an hour twenty minutes.

I'm still looking for any single time that an increase was denied by counsel.

I looked back 20 years and have not seen it.

Mayor Hanson, you and I talked about that at the listening session.

System development fees.

I have not found one single instance where the increased system development fees have been used for apartments.

That's another one I asked on all three listing sessions, so I'm still waiting for that.

One of the biggest litmus tests that we are not equally yoked between business and residential.

We have yet to have a single business show up here complaining about their water rates.

And I think that there's an option to be able to go through and take a look at our mixed-use residential and commercial business to be able to start equalizing some of these water rates.

I really bet you guys wish that you had that 700 million dollars for parks uh to be able to allocate somewhere else.

And I understand that we can't move money around, but whereas we're not moving money around, it's all moving out of my wallet.

I'm informing the town that Darrell Gross and I have submitted a complaint to the attorney general against the town of Gilbert for violations of state law related to unlawful noticing of utility rate changes, rates that are not just and reasonable, and the fraudulent billing of utility customers.

More information is coming.

There are options.

Jim, Chuck, we talked about this a year and a half ago.

I've been talking about this for a while.

There are other options.

If you take away the swim lanes that you're trying to give these people.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Um our next and last speaker is Carissa Arnold.

My name is Carissa Arnold.

I was a resident of Gilbert, but I recently moved to Mesa.

On November 17th, I formally notified the town council that public records were being deliberately deleted in violation of Arizona law.

This included records that contain evidence of misconduct related to criminal investigations and the alleged misconduct of town officials.

This email was entered into the official meeting minutes of the November 18th town council meeting.

In an email dated October 7, 2025, the town clerk acknowledged that the record solution policy was implemented at her direction.

Records filed with the state of Arizona clearly state that the town clerk does not have the authority to establish policy or procedure.

These ongoing actions appear to be intentional and violate multiple statutes with the apparent goal of deleting all records by the end of the year as directed by the town manager.

Yesterday I filed a police a report with a Gilbert Police Department alleging criminal violations of Arizona law by the town clerk with possible involvement of the town attorney and the town manager.

I realize the Gilbert Police Department cannot ethically conduct this investigation.

Therefore, I expect on immediate referral to an outside law enforcement agency and the attorney general's office.

Additionally, I demand that all records deletions throughout the town cease immediately pending the completion of a full investigation.

I was furious when I learned about the manipulation of the police data and how it may have affected the investigation into my daughter's rate and other cases.

I am deeply disappointed that this council has not taken any action to initiate an investigation.

One of your own colleagues confirmed you that you were lied to, and as usual, you guys did nothing.

My dear friend Alicia is here tonight with her friends and family.

We want to know how many officers and detectives were available in 2020 when her husband Nick Cordova was murdered.

How many officers and detectives were available in 2022 when 19-year-old Rachel Hansen was murdered?

And how many cases involving teen violence were not thoroughly investigated because there simply were not enough officers available.

What bothers me the most is this.

Councilmember Buckland, you stated that police staffing levels were so low they were scary, and that Chief Dordan's policy compromised the safety of both the officers and the public.

Yet you just praised Chief Solberg for doing the same thing.

You knew the truth and you said nothing.

Mr.

Banger, you have a duty to act in the best interests of the town.

The council relied on you to provide accurate information so they can make informed decisions.

Yet you allowed the practice of manipulating data to continue, fully aware of its impact on public safety.

Who else knew?

You knew the truth and you said nothing.

Chief Solberg, you are responsible for the safety of your officers and the residents of this town.

You knew the truth about the condition of your department, and you said nothing.

The patch on your uniform says honor, courage, and integrity and professionalism.

It's time that you start living these words instead of just wearing them.

I think that goes for all of you.

Thank you very much.

Um any council members want to respond to anything before I move on.

Anyone all right.

Well, with that, Mayor, I think I'll be going on to consent calendar.

Okay.

So I'll continue on with the consent calendar.

And uh I believe Patrick will be uh going over some items.

So to begin the consent calendar portion of the meeting.

I will pass the time over to our town manager, Patrick Banger, for my probably last time to provide an overview of the items on the consent calendar this evening.

Over to you, Patrick.

Thank you, Mayor.

Vice Mayor, members of the council.

We've got quite a few items on our consent calendar for the last calendar meeting of 2025.

I will run through these at a high level, and please feel free to ask any questions as we go along.

Again, we categorize the focus into three areas our strong economy, prosperous community, and the exceptional built environment.

Beginning with agenda item number two.

It's roadway, it's a roadway rehabilitation IGA.

It's a motion to approve a resolution authorizing an IGA between the town and the State of Arizona Department of Transportation for construction related to a roadway rehabilitation project on Arizona Avenue.

There is no direct financial cost associated with entering into this intergovernmental agreement and funding for the project is the responsibility of ADOT.

Agenda item number three, an employee engagement survey contract.

It's a motion to approve a contract with decision-wise for $34,000 annually with two optional renewals for a total not to exceed 102,000 dollars.

To attract and retain top talent and Gilbert, we must gather employee feedback to determine our net promoter score, compare it with similar organizations, and develop plans for improvement.

In 2024, we implemented a third-party vendor survey to gather benchmark data.

After two requests for proposal processes, decision wide was selected because it was able to provide the critical needs of an annual engagement survey, benchmarking data, ad hoc surveys, and SSO capability within the current budget.

This item is funded through the general fund.

It's a motion to approve the following master job order contracts for mechanical and plumbing services with the following companies, HACI mechanical contractors, professional piping systems, and REAC mechanical services.

Each contract sets an amount not to exceed one million dollars and an annual maximum of three million.

These services are mechanical and plumbing related projects on an ads needed basis as determined by the town.

Once job orders are established and assigned, they'll be funded by the source that funds that project.

Encompasses the design and construction of enhancements of the intersection aimed at alleviating congestion and addressing safety concerns.

Projects extend scope involves extending the northbound right turn lane on Market Street and the westbound left turn lane on Williamsfield Road.

The GOC task order authorized the contract to procure items with extended lead times ensuring readiness for the project commencement of construction in early spring 2026.

Items funded with the voter approved 2022 general obligation bonds.

Agenda item number six, it's approval of the construction phase three GMP number three to contract with Kewit Infrastructure West in an amount not to exceed $4,950,000 in change for Site 39 well development.

The well development program has progressed, and now the town is ready to move forward with project phase three for well water treatment construction services as part of the phase construction manager at risk project delivery in order to maintain program scheduled goals.

Project phase number three includes CMAR construction services proposed for well 39 located adjacent to the northeast corner of Higley and State Route 202.

This item is rate supported through the water fund and an intergovernmental state grant.

17917,000 in change for the Ray Road and Wave Drive Signal.

Mayor and Council, we have a lot.

If you guys don't mind, maybe I'll I'll skip some of the detail because that is available online for anybody who'd like to go and read more, and I'll just hit what it is and then how it's funded.

Sounds good.

Okay.

This item is rate supported via the traffic signal system development fees.

Agenda item number eight, reclaimed water facility contract, its approval of architectural engineering services contract for the design bid build project.

Contract with waterworks engineer and an amount not to exceed 170,000 in change for reservoir number three, remote terminal unit control system repair and replacement.

Items rate supported through the wastewater replacement fund.

Agenda item number nine, Freestone Park Pickleball Complex, consider approval of the following contracts for construction manager at risk for the Freestone Park Picklebell Complex.

The project includes the design and construction of a 16-court pickleball complex, bleachers for the main court, shade structures, a restroom facility, Romadas parking facilities, and associated landscaping and irrigation improvements.

The project is part of the council's quality of life initiative and funded through the general fund.

Agenda item number 10, Freestone Park splash splash pad, consider approval of the following contracts for the CMAR at risk for the Freestone Park Pad.

This project will consist of design and construction of the splash pad facility and associated infrastructure.

Again, this project is also part of the Quality of Life Initiative funded through the general fund.

Agenda item number 11, Desert Sky Park Phase 2 construction.

Consider approval of the GMP number one to construction services contract for CM at risk with Hunter contracting in an amount not to exceed 40 million dollars for phase two of Desert Sky Park.

This project is part of the Quality of Life Initiative and funded through the general fund.

Agenda item number 12, a motion to approve the following contracts for the reclaimed reservoir safety improvements, site one and three.

This project is to design and complete the construction of fall protection on the three above ground reclaimed water storage tanks at site one and three per OSA standards.

The item is rate supported via the wastewater fund.

Agenda item number 13, water transmission line in phase three.

It's a motion to approve the following for a water transmission assessment phase three.

The project will complete operational improvements such as isolation valves, air release valves, drains, while simultaneously completing an assessment of the pipeline to determine remaining useful life and identify corrosion areas for repair.

The items funded via the voter approved water resource municipal property corporation bonds.

Agenda item number 14, fleet cooperative purchase agreements.

It's a motion to approve entering into the following cooperative purchase agreements for the purchase of equipment, parts, and sublet services with Empire Southwest, Superstition Collision Centers, Prime Collision, Norwood Equipment, Sun Country Truck Equipment, Freightliner of Arizona, and Cummins.

Total cost of acquiring newer replacement vehicles and equipment, including any necessary upfit is covered by each department's approved capital budgets.

Additionally, the fleet division pays for maintenance and repairs as well as sublet services from the fleet's operating budget.

These budgets are part of the annual adopted adopted budgets approved by council.

This is a motion to authorize a professional services contract for Kimley Horn Associates for amount not to exceed 476,000 in change.

Kimley Horn Associates is proposed to review the town's water data, operations, and infrastructure to audit billing accuracy and water meter performance.

By analyzing consumption records, reviewing business practices and testing meters and AMI systems.

This project aims to enhance transparency and public trust and utility building.

Projects partially funded by an existing $97,000 contingency request approved on October 15th, 2025.

An additional three seven 379,000 in change from the water operations contingency fund is required to fund this project for a total of 476 and change.

Consider apple of construction phase three, GMP three with Nesbitt contracting.

An amount not to exceed 5,291,000 in change from Skeet Street, Lindsay Road to Balvista Drive and KLO Park Improvements.

The project aims to upgrade mesquite street to meet the town of Gilbert's minor collector road standards.

Corporating curb and gutter sidewalk street lights, drainage improvements, and a new eight-inch water line.

The 29th place KLO Park Improvement Project aims to enhance road the roadway between Elliott Road and Mesquite Street, featuring a single lane in each direction.

Items funded via the voter approved 2022 GO bonds and the rate supported water replacement funds.

Consider approval of project phase three with Corona and Environmental Consulting and an amount not to exceed 1,882,000 in change.

For the Northwater Treatment Plant, facility upgrades and reconstruction.

State item is rate supported via the water fund system development fees and the voter approved water resource municipal property corporation bonds.

An amount not to exceed 3,322,000 in change.

This project is part of the Quality of Life Initiative and funded through the general fund.

Gender item number 18, a motion to approve Gilbert Regional Park to phase two design services contract with Dick Studio in an amount not to expedite exceed 5,399,000 in change.

This project is part of the council's quality of life initiative and funded through the general fund.

Excuse me, number 19.

Consider approval of project phase four, guaranteed maximum price with B-Lux Construction Company.

In an amount not to exceed 3,209,000 in change for well development.

This item is rate supported via the water fund and an IGA uh state grant.

Agenda item number 20, a notice of award of the contract for fiscal 26-27 improvements in the specified parkway improvement districts.

The cost of these contracts are paid through the property owner's monthly assessment.

Overall, there is a cost savings of $8,990 to the PKIDs.

Authorized staff to advertise an invitation for bids and conduct bid opening on February 2nd, 2026 for the parcel described to identify the highest bidder for cash pursuant to state statute.

Temp or how do you pronounce that Chris?

Tempore, thank you, Chris, of the Gilbert Municipal Court.

And that concludes the consent agenda for this evening.

All right, thank you so much, Patrick.

And does anyone have any questions or comments?

No one.

Eight, nine, and ten.

Or nine, ten, eleven.

Okay.

So council member Torgusin.

I'm having a difficult time with this.

For three years, I've been hoping that we can land a baseball field as a priority, a sock, a soccer field, because kids are turned away every weekend.

And you know, through discussing priorities, maybe I don't share the right priorities with some people because other people are putting pickleballs first.

And it seems to me the parks really need to be around kids first before the rest of us.

And I'm having a hard time supporting that.

I was great to hear that our roads are not on the cusp of failing this year, because that was a huge concern for me after we've been blindsided by this water stuff.

But I am having a hard time wanting to go forward with anything in parks if I can't see a ball field for some kids in the next few months.

For three years, I've been asking for baseball fields, and it keeps getting blown off.

Is there any way to prioritize that ahead of a pickleball court and a splash pad?

It seems like it's simple.

Can somebody come to the rescue here and make that a priority for our kids before our middle-aged people?

Can we do that?

Anybody.

Good evening, Mayor and Council.

Councilman Torgeson.

I'm assuming that this was not a rhetorical question that you're asking a question regarding the development of the parks, right?

So in the quality of life projects, as you prioritize them earlier this year in February, several of these projects were prioritized specifically for the ability to deliver tangible results to the community within a reasonable amount of time, specifically with the ball fields.

So if you look at the phased approach of some of our projects, we do have if the contracts move through the expected delivery of ball fields within the next year.

Well, breaking ground in spring of 26 at this point in time because of some of the timelines that we're at with one year of construction, which is about I would say about as good as as you're gonna get with the construction of infrastructure, and a ball field is a piece of infrastructure.

Um there is a lot of complexity that goes into the construction of these.

The same thing to be said with the Freestone project is that it is on a timeline that allows us to deliver some tangible results to the residents within a reasonable amount of time.

I recognize what you're saying about the pickleball and the need for ball fields for our residents.

Um I would offer that the splash pad as part of the Freestone Project, which is a very important amenity for our youth and something that is lacking in the northern part of town with regards to the pickleball.

Um it is uh mostly an adult amenity.

Um we do see heavy use with our teens as a matter of fact, as part of our youth engagement programs recently.

Um we had a pickleball um tournament at Gilbert Regional Park and attracted about 80 teens.

So it is popular in our youth engagement and getting our teens into healthy athletic endeavors within our community.

So it will be 27.

It will be 2027.

If we start now, um if we delay any further, that timeline does get pushed back, correct?

Thank you, sir.

Microphones, guys.

Thank you.

Microphones, please turn that off.

Umly uh council member Torgeson has made a motion to accept items two through twenty three.

And um I guess I seconded it, but someone else wants to second it that's fine with me.

Vice Mayor, Councilmember Torgeson excluded items nine, ten, and eleven.

Okay, so are you pulling those for a separate vote?

Yes, yeah.

Okay, that's helpful to know that.

All right, then you go ahead and make the motion and again and remove those items.

I'd like to make a motion to accept the entirety of the consent agenda except items nine, ten, and eleven.

Okay, does anyone want to second that motion?

Second.

Okay, so we have a motion and a second.

And um council members, please vote.

That isn't me, is it?

It is that I have to really push that button to make it work.

Okay, so we have a the motion has carried with a seven zero vote.

And um yes.

Okay.

So the motion is carried the seven zero vote, and uh then we will bring item nine and eleven back for council member.

Oh nine, ten, and eleven.

Okay.

I'll make the motion to accept items nine, ten, and eleven.

Second all right, so we have a motion to accept items nine, ten, and eleven.

Does anyone have did you have any questions?

You did your questions, correct?

Okay.

I got a comment.

Pardon me.

I have a comment if we can do that before we vote.

Can well there's been a motion, so do you want to comment on the motion?

Or we can discuss.

We're just oh okay, go ahead and just comment.

Yeah, I mean uh you know, over the last year or so um, you know, we did the parks survey.

More than 60,000 community members uh had uh touch points and and told us what they wanted.

It wasn't a wish list, it was um define priorities, and then we made priorities, and we made a clear promise when we asked residents to support a dedicated sales tax to fund these projects, and I think tonight's vote is about keeping that promise and not just saying hey, we're gonna raise your taxes for these life initiatives, but you know, we're not happy with with what we're doing, so we want to pull it and not and not support it.

You know, I think we we have we went over a number of times to prior our priority lists what we wanted to see first.

I would have loved to see you know baseball fields and and soccer fields first, but there is a time to uh takes to to build them.

I'm not gonna take away a ballpark or a soccer field because I don't like the timeline.

Um, I think that it's fiscally responsible for us to uh to keep our word to the residents that this is why we raised this raise our sales tax is because we wanted to supply these quality of life initiatives that they're paying for.

So, yeah, as much as I would love to have a ballpark tomorrow, I can't build a ballpark tomorrow, but I'm not gonna take away a ballpark just because it's not in the order that we want to see it in.

Um the fastest thing when we had our meeting, the fastest thing we talked about was the splash pads and the um pickleball courts.

I don't play pickleball, I'm not one of specifically wanted to play pickleball, but it doesn't mean I'm gonna take them away from people who responded to a survey and and said that pickleball was important to them.

Whether it's important to me or not doesn't matter.

Um, but I I don't want this to go down just because the baseball field's a year later.

It's gonna be a baseball field.

If we vote this down, we're not gonna have a baseball field.

So to me, there's no question in mind here.

You know, it's it's something that we made a promise to, and we need to live up to that promise.

Thank you, council member Bongi Ulvani, and um thank you for those comments.

I I agree with you.

So we have a motion from Councilmember Koprowski.

Did we have a second?

Who seconded that?

And a second from Kenny Buckland.

So please vote.

Okay, so we have a six six yes, one no, and the motion carries.

All right, I believe that will end the consent agenda.

So I will give it all back to you, Mayor.

Thank you.

I've had a request for a bio break, so let's uh take a five-minute break.

Okay, this is the one minute warning.

One minute.

I told you to sit next to a five discussion.

You are a bully, you know?

Okay.

Let's uh think that is, I'm gonna wear our let's resume our meeting.

Um I think we're ready to go on to public hearings.

And before I start in in the public hearings, I too have two cards request to speak.

Catherine Jones, are you still here?

Catherine's not here.

She was gonna speak on an item that's gonna be postponed.

And Michael Lachlin is Mike here.

Neither one is here.

You scared him away, council member.

So with that, um uh Chris.

Can we include the uh items being postponed as part of an overall motion for the public hearing items?

Uh Mayor Anderson, yes, you can.

It's been noticed that it's item being continued, so yes.

Okay, unless uh any of the council members have any of the items on public hearings they'd like to pull off and discuss.

If not, I'll open the public hearing and close the public hearing, bring it back to council for a motion on them on the block of items twenty-four, twenty-five, twenty-five A and twenty-five Black B.

Being continued till January twentieth.

No, that's what I just asked Chris.

Were you paying attention?

No, no, okay.

I'll move to approve item twenty-four, item twenty-five to continue item twenty-five A and to continue item twenty-five B.

We have a motion.

Is there a second?

I'll second that since I missed it the first time.

We've moved and seconded, please vote.

Motion carries seven zero.

Move on to administrative items.

Item twenty-six fees.

Uh consider a motion.

We've already had a presentation or consider a motion to direct staff to publish a notice of intent to increase water and residential and commu commercial solid waste and recycling rates and fees and set the public hearing date for February seventeenth, twenty twenty-six.

Council is there a discussion or and or motion.

Um, I'll move to approve item twenty-six.

And it's my understanding that this will um include both options that were presented tonight.

Yes.

It's been moved by Councilmember Kabrowski.

Second by Councilmember Lyons.

Please vote.

Motion carries.

70.

Item 27, policy number 2026 01.

Consider approval of council policy number 2026-01 regarding purchases from members of governing body.

Do we need any more explanation on this, Chris?

Mayor Anderson, this is just an annual this is an annual resolution or policy that needs to be adopted by the council pursuant to town code every year.

Do I have a motion?

I'll move to approve item 27.

Move by Councilmember Kaprowski.

Second by Councilmember Bucklin, please vote.

Future meetings.

We have study sessions that uh will be uh highlighted uh for future agenda.

Communications Patrick, you're gonna tell us something fine in your final communications.

Mayor, members of the council.

I think I've talked quite enough tonight, but I do have a short presentation for you.

I'm gonna recognize highlight some of our departments and recognize some of our employees.

So we'll get going under department and division highlights.

We're gonna start with the intergovernmental relations department.

Some of the key areas that they work on are policy analysis and advocacy and why it matters is to ensure Gilbert's voice is heard and policymaking, help protect protect local authority and funding.

Legislative engagement and appropriations, it matters because it results in millions and of savings in state and federal appropriations, and then regional representation and collaboration, and it matters for regional planning and decisions that involve our community to highlight some of the areas where they've had great impact.

They were of uh critical assistance and importance for the uh state and federal appropriations we received, many of which were highlighted tonight in previous presentations, and and the one that wasn't the 8 million for the Octail Bridge, which is about 50 percent complete right now.

Moving on to the mayor and council office.

Some of those areas include council support and initiative implementation, and it matters to ensure that elected leaders can focus on governments, governance, and community engagement, constituent and staff communication that facilitates transparency, responsiveness, trust, and trust between the town and residents, and leadership development and community engagement.

It fosters civic engagement and intergovernmental collaboration.

And these are some of the things over the last year that uh many of you have been involved with, as well as the members of the team that helped support these efforts.

The MIAC and the Young River, the Young River People's Council from SRP MIC, the Advancing Education and Gilbert round table, and the community listening sessions.

Moving on to retirements recognitions and awards.

We're going to start with Gilbert's leadership and water resiliency and recognize Lauren Hickson, who represented Arizona.

She was chosen by the Bureau of Reclamation to represent the entire state of Arizona.

She spoke at the voices of Colorado River Basin ahead of the Colorado River Water Users Conference.

She addressed the impacts of stalled based negotiations on Gilbert.

She showcased community investments in water resiliency and emphasized adapting to a future with less water.

And this selection reflects Lauren's leadership and Gilbert's foreshot foresight.

We're very proud of Lauren in representing not only us but the entire state of Arizona in very, very important discussions and negotiations.

With that, I think I've got one more slide, or I should have one more slide real quick.

This one is a surprise for the individual I'm going to recognize.

Kirsten McGay.

She is an assistant to the town manager in the town manager's office.

And Kirsten has been involved in countless initiatives, projects, programs through the years.

She's provided key support, leadership, and collaboration on cross-departmental initiatives, provided thoughtful leadership and public speaking.

She's been a champion for indigenous advocacy and community building.

She's uh had a commitment to mentorship and youth engagement and dedicated support to Gilbert's Native American internship program.

And she was awarded the Certificate of Achievement in Tribal Administration in 2025.

And Kirsten will be leaving us soon to complete her educational studies and focus on some uh things of uh high priority to her in her life and uh her professional endeavors.

And Kirsten will be leaving us soon to complete her educational studies and focus on some uh things of uh high priority to her in her life and uh her professional endeavors, and we thank Kirsten for everything she did with us.

She was an absolute pleasure and a joy to work with, and we wish her the best in everything.

Lastly, Mayor, I know that um I did not see that resolution coming tonight, so I'm not gonna repeat a lot of the things that you highlighted, but I did want to recognize um some key individuals and and some final comments after 14 and a half years of serving this community.

It's hard to believe this is my last council meeting, and it's been uh very busy with a lot of things that we know of great importance, and I've had but I've had moments where it's hitting me that it's coming towards an end.

And um I would be remiss to not lay all the credit for all these achievements to the 1850 employees we have in this organization.

I think they are the best municipal team in the country, not only the state, their professionalism, their innovation, their dedication to residence is unmatched.

I mentioned it uh earlier.

Every achievement we've celebrated through the years is has your fingerprint prints all over it.

To the mayor and council, your vision, courage, and commitment to excellence made everything possible.

And the collaborative relationship between council and staff has truly been Gilbert's competitive advantage, and I know that you guys will continue that because we may serve in different roles, but we are on the same team serving this community and trying to do the best job we can in meeting their needs and protecting their interests.

To our community leaders and partners, Gilbert's success is a team sport.

I'm gonna thank our business community, our nonprofits, and our civic leaders.

Your investment in this town goes far beyond economics.

Together, we built a community.

I'd also like to recommend uh recognize the team in the town manager's office.

Um, these individuals um are absolutely integral to our success.

Want to recognize our assistant to the town managers, Alina Bay, Jenna Cohorta, and Kirsten McGay.

They get thrown into special projects, initiatives, and assignments, and they never hesitate to just jump right in, understand what needs to be accomplished or what we hope to accomplish, and help see things through to successful outcomes.

Deputy Town Manager Eric Brown, your growth in this organization has been just a pleasure to watch.

Um he was our water resources manager at one time and an exceptional one at that.

And I think that we are very blessed, and not only have Lauren, but have Eric Brown as well as Hawk and Johansson.

Many of you may not realize Talk and Johansson was a water resources manager for us at one time, and I'll tell you at a point when water has never been more important to our health and welfare in our future, to have three individuals of that caliber on our team really is um something that is uh extremely beneficial to our community.

But Eric, congratulations.

I look forward to watching uh your continued growth as a professional.

Our assistant town managers, Dawn Prince, Leah Reinheimer, Mary Mario Paniagua, and Mary Goodman.

You're as talented and capable as anyone in our profession, and it has been a pleasure working with you.

I know that we get pulled in many different directions every single day of the week, and our schedules are such that very seldom do we eat lunch, uh, much less take breaks for anything, but their ability to just again dive right in, lead our departments, work with our directors, and ensure that our services are delivered with excellence, that we anticipate the needs of this community, we create the solutions, and we never forget we're here to help people, just what our mission statement says.

And it has been an absolute pleasure and an honor working with all four of you, and I wish you the best of luck in your continued growth as professionals.

Our executive management assistant, Debbie Dana, and she's gonna be mortified that I'm calling her out, but I'll tell you, we couldn't do what we do in the manager's office without her support and the exceptional job she does every day.

Most of the time she's doing things that we don't even realize to make our lives easier, to ensure that the little things that are of great importance, managing calendars, um, just field and phone calls, dealing with employees, assisting.

I think everybody in this organization calls on Debbie for assistance with something.

She's like our our shell answer woman, but Debbie has been a pleasure to work with, and she is an exceptional um individual within this organization.

We're we're blessed to have her.

To my fellow appointed colleagues, town attorney Chris Payne, Town Clerk Schwelly Herr and Presiding Judge David Cutchin, it's been a pleasure serving alongside you truly.

They are not only exceptional in their fields, but they are exceptional people to work with, and it has been an absolute pleasure.

And I just want to say in closing, Gilbert's day best days are ahead, and the foundation is strong, and it has truly been an honor to serve you and this community, serve with our very dedicated employees and the residents of this community.

I'll miss all of you dearly.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you.

And believe me, uh it's our pleasure having you here.

And don't any of you, if he's talked to you about going to Glendale, don't even think about it.

I'm sorry, Mayor, that's gonna happen.

Thank you so much, Patrick.

Um council members, Councilmember Bon Giovanni.

Thank you, Mayor.

We're gonna talk about Parks and Wreck right now.

Uh Teen Holiday Paint Night.

Join join us for a fun and festive paint night.

We'll guide you through step by step, so no experience is necessary.

Just need to show up, ready to ready to have a good time.

All supplies are included, and you'll leave with a one-of-a-kind masterpiece made made by you, December 17th, 2025.

Gilbert Community Center from 4:30 to 5.30 p.m.

And let's not forget repairing after dark.

Repairing preserve comes alive with holiday glow during Gilbert's annual repairing after dark event.

Stroll around a 1.5 miles of trails and walkways to that weave through the park and enjoy thousands of holiday lights and displays December 12th through the 22nd at the Repairing Preserve from 5:30 to 9 o'clock, and get your tickets tonight.

Thank you.

Councilmember Lyons.

I just want to take the opportunity to um wish everybody a happy holidays.

We're celebrating Honglika and Christmas right now, and for my family, those are two very special holidays, and um it tends to bring out the best in people, and I just want to uh wish all of you a happy holidays and be safe.

Um this will mark the my end of Kenny and I's first year on the council.

And uh, you know, Patrick, one of the things that's come up with you leaving.

I thought it ironic that we were at that point, and a lot of people worked really hard to put me in the seat, and I was really concerned about the ability to perform.

And one of the things that I have to say is the staff that you build, and this goes to all of you guys.

I really appreciate all that you've done this year to help me get up to speed to be able to understand how the town functions, and uh to try to be successful in this role.

So, every one of you, I really appreciate it.

And it's a testimony to Patrick, your leadership, but also your all's commitment to the town.

And when I drive this community from the south to the north, I see the reflections of each one of you as I look at different things, whether it be Jessica, a project that you're working on, or Susanna, a project you're working on, Michael stuff that Parks and Rex are going to be working on.

All of you have done things that when I drive through the community, I see reflections of you in, and I really appreciate that.

And I just want to say thank you for a good first year.

So you can beat me up next year, okay.

Thanks.

Any others?

Councilmember Buckland.

Thank you, Mayor.

I'd like to echo those sentiments.

It has been a good first year.

Um Patrick, I I think you did this on purpose so that I uh couldn't embarrass you uh because I'll be out of state with my grandbabies uh for your open house, so we'll just do it publicly here.

I uh I'm not leaving this dais without telling you what an amazing leader you are.

Uh you know, you you spoke highly of your staff, and everything you said was true.

There, everything that you said, I I knew many of them as staff here myself.

Met many since I got here, and the one consistent thing that you have brought to this town is a vision and a team that executes brilliantly.

And all of you get credit for where we are today.

Yeah, times times can be tough, you know, financially is a little tough, and there's some some angry sentiments out there.

But the majority of our citizens appreciate you every day.

I hear it.

I talk to people all the time, and I hear it.

They appreciate the hard work that all of you do.

Um so I hope that you guys go into this Christmas knowing that, enjoying that, uh celebrating that because uh you have absolutely put this place on the map.

And Patrick, um, thank you for um as a new council member, your guidance along the way.

You've talked me off a ledge a few times.

Um needed it, and uh you know, as a as someone who worked for you and now someone who works uh with you till next week.

Um, it has been an absolute privilege and an honor, and uh I wish you the very best in Glendale.

I know that you will you will accomplish great things there too.

We will miss you.

Thank you.

Uh I just wanted to echo those same sentiments.

Uh I had the opportunity also to attend the lighting of Minora Sunday night, and what a special event that was.

Um, you know, in light of the tragedy down in Australia, the the spirit is still high, and they are just wonderful people to uh to be gathered with and be a part of Gilbert.

And they are just a small part of the the spirit that is in this town, and thank you so much for all that you do.

Uh and Patrick, you are part of that spirit, so thank you.

And I know it'll never leave you.

Um so stay in touch with us so we know what you're doing and how we can uh make fun of you more.

I'll send you my number.

Okay.

Thank you.

Mayor, if I could make one more comment.

Um, we had a lot of stuff moving uh to get the final agenda for the year um together, and there wasn't uh something that went on that did not make it onto the consent agenda overview.

Uh it was an oversight, but it was the approval of the contract for Don Prince, our new uh interim town manager.

And my apologies, Dawn.

Um you made a great choice, and John, you're getting an exceptional job, and so best of luck to you as you continue to lead this organization.

Don, you have one week to keep harassing him, so keep it up.

Thank you.

We are adjourned.

Thank you very much.

No, she didn't.