We've got everybody here.

I'm going to go ahead and call to order the regular council meeting of January sixth, twenty twenty-six.

Wish everybody a happy new year.

Our invocation this evening will be by Darren Smith, the loc of the local spiritual assembly of the Baha'i.

You need to press the the little button so the mic will come on there.

You see the button there?

There you go.

Thank you for having me here today.

It's nice to be with you.

This is a uh prayer for humanity from the Baha'i faith.

Oh thou kind Lord, oh thou who are generous and merciful, we are a servants of thy threshold and are gathered beneath the sheltering shadow of thy divine unity.

The sun of thy mercy is shining upon all, and the clouds of thy bounty shower upon all.

Before we get into reclam re recognitions and proclamations, I wanted to first uh let you all know we just been uh advised that Tim Rhinesmith, who is a longtime friend of this council and previous councils, as well as a great community member, passed away last night.

And we express our condolences to the Rhine Smith family, and I hope you will keep them in your prayers and thoughts.

Um and uh we'll know more in the f in upcoming days about funeral services.

But Tim was a great man and we'll miss him much.

We'll now proceed to uh presentations and proclamations.

First, we'll do a recognition of our vice mayor from last year.

If you'll accompany me down to the floor.

So mayor.

This is this is this working?

Okay.

We've come to the end of a year, and uh we've had a uh splendid service rendered to us by council member uh Bobby Buckley, who served as our vice mayor during this past year, did a wonderful job.

She was very nervous about it at the beginning of the year, and I think she got used to things as time went on.

So we're very thankful for uh her service.

And we have a certificate of appreciation that does recognize you as uh carrying out the duties of the office of vice mayor and honoring the public trust and representing the citizens of Gilbert with integrity and leadership.

So thank you very much.

I personally want to thank you for the service that you've rendered, and uh we have a little gift for you, but I'm gonna give you an opportunity to say a few words if you'd like.

All right.

Hi, I will thank you.

Well, I'm just gonna say a few words, and but uh thank you, Mayor.

I appreciate that.

And I truly appreciate the recognition serving on the council and especially serving as vice mayor.

Uh it's been an incredible honor.

So I've sincerely enjoyed serving our town, our residents, and our local businesses, which are kind of my favorite, all of them.

And I've taken I've taken the trust and support you placed in me very seriously.

It's also been a pleasure working alongside alongside Mayor Anderson and our fine council, all of you, each and every one of you.

And um so whose collaboration and dedication continue to make a positive difference for our community.

Together, we have remained focused on preserving the quality of life our residents have come to expect and value.

I'm deeply committed to our town and to the quality of life Gilbert offers.

Even during this this is kind of tough, but even during the most challenging moments we face this year and the prior three years, my time on council has been one of the most rewarding and meaningful contributions I've ever made.

Um I've also you know I feel like I've served the town as as in numerous other areas as a developer and uh you know serving in uh my banking roles and my c corporate banking roles that I've done.

So um anyway, I've loved every part of serving you, the residents of Gilbert, as your council member and as vice mayor.

So I look forward to continuing my service, and I first I had this for the next coming year, but for the years ahead.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

There's your ticket of appreciation and a small gift.

And I think we're gonna get a photo.

Thank you.

We need to do uh the vice mayor before we do the proclamation.

Well we need to vote for vice mayor before the proclamation.

We're out of order.

Yeah.

Okay, this time we'd like to uh do a little bit of council business, uh, which will be to select a vice mayor for the year twenty twenty-six.

So I'd like to consider and open the floor to nominations or selection of vice mayor for the one-year term twenty twenty-six.

I'd like to nominate Chuck Bongiovanni.

Second.

It's been moved and seconded that we uh appoint Councilmember Chuck Bongiovanni as the vice mayor for year twenty twenty-six.

Let's do this as a voice vote.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

Any motion carries unanimously.

We'll take a just a brief, if you'll bear with us five minute recess so the two of them can switch their seats and uh name plates and so forth.

Aye.

Okay.

Today, the town of Gilbert proudly issues both proclamations and stands united in raising awareness and taking action against human trafficking.

I'll be starting out with reading a portion of the proclamation for the Maricopa County's attorney's attorney's office.

Whereas human and sex trafficking are serious crimes that violate fundamental human rights and impact individuals, families, and communities across the town of Gilbert.

And whereas trafficking often occurs in plain sight and affects people of all ages, genders, and backgrounds, making community awareness and education essential to prov to prevention and early intervention.

And whereas Maricopa County's attorney's office is launching the break the chain campaign to promote prevention, awareness, and community responsibility in addressing human and sex trafficking.

And the town of Gilbert encourages all residents, businesses, schools, and community organizations to participate in awareness efforts, learn the science of trafficking, and work together to protect the safety and dignity for all members of our community.

And from the portion of the Not in Our City proclamation, whereas the battle against human trafficking includes supporting efforts in schools, churches, nonprofits, law enforcement, and businesses to prevent human trafficking, intervene, disrupt, and dismantle human trafficking syndicates, and provide resources to and support for victims of human trafficking.

Whereas the town of Gilbert joins schools, churches, nonprofit organizations, law enforcement, federal and state coalitions, and the not in our city.org movement in our commitment to increase public awareness of the human trafficking epidemic that impacts our community, state, nation, and world.

Now therefore, we, on behalf of Mayor Scott Anderson of the town of Gilbert, do here by hereby proclaim not in our city and urge our residents, churches, schools to work together to eliminate trafficking from our community.

And I'll turn it over to these groups to share more about the work that they're doing.

We'll start with the Maricopa County Attorney's Office.

Thank you.

Hello, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Council Members, Town of Gilbert.

On behalf of the Maricopa County Attorney's Office, thank you so much for issuing this proclamation recognizing January as human trafficking prevention month, and for your commitment to protecting our community.

Human trafficking is often misunderstood as something that happens far away, but in reality, it occurs right here in Maricopa County, across cities, towns, and neighborhoods of all sizes.

It affects adults and children and often hides in plain sight in homes, businesses, hotels, online spaces, and even places we visit every day, like stores and restaurants.

This is why we've decided to call our campaign Break the Chain.

Trafficking depends on silence, isolation, and lack of awareness.

We break that chain by educating ourselves and recognizing the warning signs and knowing how and where to report these concerns.

Awareness is one of the most powerful tools that we have to prevent exploitation before it escalates.

Human trafficking prevention month is not only about awareness, it is about action.

It is about ensuring victims know that they are not alone and that help is available.

It is also about empowering community members, businesses, and local leaders to be a part of that solution.

By issuing this proclamation, you are sending a clear message that exploitation will not be ignored, that victims matter, and that this community is committed to safety, dignity, and justice.

Thank you again for your leadership and partnership in helping us break the chain and work toward a future free from human trafficking.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Yeah, sure.

Uh first of all, I want to thank um Mr.

Mayor, Councilwoman, Young.

No, Mr.

Mayor, no, not you, Consulwoman Young Korbowski, Vice Mayor, Chuck Bojovanny, and also all the council members, thank you all for this proclamation.

I also want to honor three pastors that actually started and founded Norton Al City.

Uh, this is going to the H year, and I want to honor Pastor Eric Jones here in Gilbert, who is committed to our town and passionate for our town, and also Pastor Mike Garmin, who is my pastor, and also Pastor David Wright.

So those are leaders that they're really they provide visibility to a lot of issues that until it touches us, we really don't pay attention to it.

And I think it's their leadership that we are here.

I also want to honor former councilman, Scott September for your leadership, because we've been coming every year because of you as well.

So truly I appreciate an honor of that, and thank you so much.

And I would like to pass it to Pastor Eric to say a little bit more.

Thank you, Bus.

So, yes, it was eight years ago that a group of us local Christian pastors here in the East Valley got together, and we just recognized um that we needed to be a voice and to begin to be a movement here in the state of Arizona to push back on this evil of human trafficking.

In the book of Ephesians, chapter 5, verse 11, it says, have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.

And so not in our city is an effort of local churches.

Now it's statewide.

We have churches throughout the state of Arizona working with local governments and the town of Gilbert was one of the first to get on board with us.

Uh big reason was uh Scott September here.

And now it's I'll let you maybe say how many communities are on board.

A lot.

And and also local law enforcement and Chief Solberg here in Gilbert and others have been just critical.

And it's it's the it's the community working together to push back on something that is dangerous, it's wrong, and it's evil, and we're here to say not in our city.

By the way, we have our eighth annual night of hope, which is a large gathering throughout the state of Arizona, where we come together basically to say exactly that, not in our city, and to expose this evil and push back on it.

It is February 22nd of this year.

Anything else you guys have to add?

Thank you.

We'll uh move on to now to communications from citizens.

And this is where the vice mayor is gonna cut me some slack tonight, right?

For the first time?

Yes.

Okay, there we go.

Okay, so we value the participation of community members and robust exchange of ideas.

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

Misinformation and personal attacks under 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 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, and violate copyrights.

While we understand and appreciate the passion of 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 um atmosphere we strive to maintain.

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

Therefore, the town council may only listen to residents who wish to address them at the conclusion of the open call to public.

Response is limited to individual members of the council responding to criticism made by those who have addressed the public body, asking staff to review a matter or asking that a matter be put on future agenda.

However, please be assured that your concerns and input are heard and valued.

In accordance to town code, each speaker is limited to three minutes.

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

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

The town clerk will notify the council once the 30 minutes has been reached.

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

When you come up to the podium, please state your name and city of residence.

And I believe we have 11 people today, so I hope that we can just do it all in the very first section.

Okay, so let's start with uh Jason McRae.

Hi, I'm Jason Craig.

I live in the city of Gilbert.

Uh specifically.

Sorry about that.

No worries.

Guessing we have can't.

All right, so my name is Jason McCray.

I live in the city of Gilbert.

Uh, and I live in Rio uh Kabbalah community, um, which is up by Freestone Park.

And um my wife and I moved into Gilbert about 2006.

Um we've been a resident for a while, love Gilbert.

One of the things that we love most about Gilbert is hard on crime.

Um, really appreciated the fact that the police officers don't mess around, they enforce the law, they're fair, and they're very professional.

So definitely thank our our chief for that.

And I think our concern is with something that you guys are already aware of and that you're working on, which I appreciate.

We just want extra our our reason for coming today is the community I live in as well as some adjacent communities have been dealing with um basically child harassment.

Um they do it on their speed, you know, bikes, they cover up their faces, they put masks on, they harass neighbors that are walking in the yard.

Like Saturday I got harassed because I was working on my yard trimming trimming my grass.

Apparently that offended them, and they decided to give me a really hard time.

We had to call the police uh who dealt with the issue very professionally.

Um we've done our neighbor, our neighborhood, myself, the the people that are a cause of this, the epicenter of it, if you will, is on my street.

But it's affecting several communities where they've actually smashed people's doors, smashed garage doors, things of that.

We can go into all the details, but there's already police reports out for it.

Like I said, GPD is doing their job, they're taking care of it.

I'm working with an attorney, we're working through different channels to try and handle the issue as a community.

But we wanted to submit to you, if you're able to take it, a letter from our communities about our concerns, and I have a copy of it here that I'd like to submit to you, as well as signatures from those that are concerned about the issues that are happening in these neighborhoods and these child crimes.

And again, most of them, these kids are I think that they have a lot of confidence because they're on these speed bikes that they can do what they want, get away with it, and get away from the police.

And I know, like I said, I know the police are working hard at it.

We just wanted to share with you all the people in our community who are concerned with it.

So we hope that you appreciate the letter.

Uh we didn't notice I didn't say any names or anything like that, but it is in the letter if you want to look through that.

Um the numbers on here, the email address, it was set up for protection of the people involved with it.

The phone number's no longer valid, but on the card today, I gave you my email address and my phone number.

If anybody would like to discuss with uh me further about it, have any questions, want to have a dive into deeper, by all means I'll be available to that.

And if you have any questions for me or want more details, I'm happy to share.

So if you could give that to the clerk's table, yep.

Thank you.

Thank you for your time.

Okay, next is Daniel, I believe it's Perkinson.

Good evening.

Uh appreciate your guys' time.

Uh, my name is Daniel Perkinson.

I am a uh fifth generation Arizonan.

Um, my family and a number of others uh fortunate enough to be early settlers of this amazing uh desert, which is now become an oasis.

And um I just wanted to come here and speak to the necessity as a Arizonan and as a member of uh this town of Gilbert, which I absolutely love.

Um I have six kids, and um I you know, interestingly, the the comments that were just uh made understand very uh closely what what that's like, and as I've done a lot of introspective work and reflection around um why there are children uh that are seemingly disconnected, um I just want to be a voice for connection in our town.

Um and ironically, I had no idea that this evening uh there was gonna be uh this that this month is gonna be a month on uh child trafficking.

Um, in my opinion, that is the source for this, is because there's so much disconnection in our households, and so I um and I've had personal experience with um uh the the town of Gilbert, and if anybody has gone to the Go Gilbert uh community page, there's a lot of disconnection.

There's a lot of hate, there's a lot of anger, there's a lot of uh uh deceit and lies that's spoken of there, and I just want to be a voice for uh this profound statement found in a book of scripture that's uh that says the glory of God is intelligence, or in other words, light and truth, and I want to be a voice for light and truth, and I want to encourage all of us to look inward and to be reflective on what we individually can be doing in our own households to radiate light and truth and to look at things for the way that they are and not stand for deceit and lies, and oftentimes that deceit and lies comes from within ourselves that we're creating stories around who's doing what and why they're doing that, and um coming from personal experience.

I'm the first to raise my hand, I'm not perfect.

Uh but what I am uh uh a champion of in a war year for is light and truth, and what's going on in the world with human trafficking, ironically, the reason I'm here is because of Lisa Marie, which you guys are gonna hear from her, and uh she has been doing an incredible work, and I am standing as the first Arizona um uh uh head of America's missing children.

She's created a movement around America's missing children, and uh being a father of six kids, um I I believe that is is essential and important for all of us to be aware of why our children are going missing, and it is because of the disconnection, and I encourage all of us to be a voice for light and truth and connection in our in our households.

Thank you for your time.

I get it.

Uh Lisa Marie.

Thank you.

May I hand these to you?

May I hand these thank you for your patience.

My name is Lisa Marie, and I actually reside in Idaho, and I actually do business here in Gilbert, Arizona.

I'm here to say to you that our world, our nation, is in a dire situation.

We have over a thousand children missing a day.

It's unfathomable for most people to wrap their minds around a thousand children missing a day.

These are the numbers from the FBI within the NCIC.

I have spent my life fighting for children, and the reason being is that it's going to be quite shocking.

But what drives me is that both my children were molested.

I moved to Scottsdale, Arizona.

I've been working with law enforcement.

I've been working with your colonel.

And what is most shocking to most people is they really do not realize what is going on in their own backyard.

And I think it's just destiny, the fact that this month, and I happen to be here, is that it's child trafficking.

And what I'd like to say to all of you, and this is what I do in Washington, DC.

I am now a new movie producer.

You'll get my resume.

I came to the state of Arizona.

I've worked with the NFL, Major League Baseball.

What I saw in professional sports, I'm deep in Hollywood.

It's appalling what I see in these arenas.

And I'll ask for a meeting with you sometime.

I do not live here, but I would love to give my heart because I'm so proud of Gilbert, Arizona.

What you have received, child predators, there's no hiding place.

This is our mayor in my city, and this is Mayor Petrie.

This is a real comic book.

And if all of you remember Dragnet way back, so I have actually created comic books, and this particular comic book called The Hummingbird.

This is a true story.

Law enforcement is grossly underfunded, and it is pathetic.

And it is gonna take literally millions and millions and billions of dollars to make sure that we can account for all of our children.

These six questions, we also have another 10 questions that's called the law enforcement press release that you will receive.

Daniel will be giving them to you.

Most parents cannot answer these six questions.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Andrew Bench.

Thank you all.

My name is Andrew Bench.

I'm a sophomore at Highland High School.

And I'm here because of Lisa Marie.

I met her about a couple of weeks ago.

And she's informed me that as she said, a thousand kids go missing every single day.

But um I've witnessed some of my close friends go through the juvenile court.

And I'm not saying what they did was right or wrong, but the way that it was handled was just absolutely absurd.

And no one gained anything from how it was handled.

And that's a really big problem for me because some of my friends will just never be the same.

Um that's just a it's just a really it it's a really big problem for me.

But um so I just want to know there's m better ways we can handle these type of situations and um and yeah, so thank you for your time.

Thank you, Andrew.

Uh Mahala, Noah, James.

This is on my happy new year's.

Um aloha mayor and uh to the rest of the city council.

My name is Noah James Markham.

And I live in the great blue city of Tempe.

Um I'm a proud blue Democrat.

I would be ashamed to be even part or even associate.

Associated as a Republican.

And I know I've been attacked a lot with Republicans in Gilbert.

But you know, it's name as spine, I guess.

Um I would like to talk about speed cameras here in Gilbert.

Let's build these speed cameras here in Gilbert.

The speed cameras that flash and take pictures.

Yeah, those are good.

I have another concern.

So if I go into a gas station or a grocery store, even into a fast food restaurant in this city.

I should be able and allowed to have my shirt off.

But I know it's hard where people grasp that around their head.

You know that it gets hot in Arizona, and maybe people might feel like it's cooler if they took their shirts off.

But you shouldn't be refused service or asked to put your shirt back on.

Also, I would love to talk about Gilbert's Heritage District.

I'm so happy we are moving along and making it better and bigger.

Here it's just wonderful.

Another thing is a topic about Pearl Harbor.

And I'm so happy we have a setup outside these chambers because Pearl Harbor is a crazy day for the Japanese Americans that were concentrated after Pearl Harbor bombing was in December.

And they should always be recognized because that's what Americans should be ashamed of.

One last thing I would like to talk about is hope.

Hope I hope we have a better year this year.

And break Pride Celebrations down Heritage District.

Um yeah, Mahalo, and thank you for listening to me tonight.

Thank you, Noah.

Gina, would you like to go next?

Is that microphone turned on for her?

No, you're fine.

That's a good question.

All right.

Thank you so much.

Okay.

Hello, everybody.

All right.

Here we are again.

So I don't want to be here, and I can't express how if I'm honest, frustrated I am about where we are because of the encumbrances that Gilbert has placed on my land, I am not able to sell it.

So 1.2 million dollars is what you're requiring in infrastructure upgrades on my micro-sized property of 1.6 acres.

I have had six buyers back out because of that.

As soon as they find out how expensive it is, it doesn't make sense with the project.

So I'm very disappointed.

I reached out to you guys and wanted to negotiate.

I'm literally unable to sell my land because of the requirement for an $800,000 road to a dead end.

It's an abuse of power.

I understand that development pays for development, but this is absolutely bullying.

So that leads me to my next point.

You know, it really got me to thinking I have never paid for any infrastructure or anything that I've built that isn't fully wheelchair accessible.

Unfortunately, in the town of Gilbert, there is a lot of inaccessibility.

And if I am going to bear the cost of so much infrastructure, I expect to be able to utilize all of it.

I've been compiling a list of all of your non-compliance.

Took me 30 minutes to just find three in downtown.

I provided you with the notice of those.

You need to fix the parking spots.

Your veterans park doesn't even have accessible parking.

Seating, actually, no accessible seating.

So I have a feeling that a lot of the parks are going to be out of compliance as well of the lot of the parking.

So I'm at a point where I realize if I'm going to be paying for it, I think it needs to all be accessible.

So I'm looking forward to working with you guys in the future, providing that list, and let's make Gilbert accessible.

Thank you.

Gina, thank you.

Anna Fna.

Just put a mint in.

I thought I was at the end.

Hello, I'm Anna.

I'm a resident of Gilbert.

I'm here to comment instead of being labeled just a keyboard warrior.

I could use one of my college degrees to ensure this comment is given at a third grade comprehension level.

Since at the last meeting, Chuck, you expressed gratitude to the town manager for excuse me, the water manager for her 45-minute presentation, having been given at a third grade level for your easy comprehension.

What a passive aggressive way of saying that you feel the residents of Gilbert are beneath your intelligence.

That was disappointing.

However, given that 90 per 97% of the town's adults are high school graduates, 48% of us have at least a bachelor's degree or higher.

I think it's safe for me to use bigger words here.

Counsel.

Many of whom have lived here for decades, if not generations.

A number of us have spoken at these meetings to address various concerns with the expectation of engaging in substantive good faith dialogue with you.

Mayor, vice members, or vice mayor, mayor, and the members of the council.

A marked unwillingness to engage meaningfully with concerned citizens.

This was most conspicuously evidenced by your unanimous vote to commend the former town manager, Patrick Banger, for his purported exceptional leadership and service.

I'm compelled to ask what precisely was laudable about his mismanagement of the town's water infrastructure, his repeated deferral of necessary action, and the resulting financial burden now imposed on residents.

Such conduct gives the unmistakable impression of insular governance, institutional favoritism, rather than principled leadership or accountability.

Please repair and modernize our critical infrastructure.

Further increases in water rates must be halted.

This is not a matter of convenience or preference.

It's a matter of basic survival.

Access to affordable water is not a excuse me is a fundamental necessity and not just a luxury.

To put it plainly, please stop spending our money on your pet projects.

Thank you, Anna.

Barbara?

Uh Colvin.

I'm sending each of you an individual email and would appreciate a straightforward answer to each question.

I'm also asking that you respond within the time frame, which would be approximately 10 working days, which will be stated in the email.

Your slideshow presentations on water, sewer, trash, and recycle at the last town hall was very misleading.

Questions that will be in my email.

Why did you find it necessary to increase all three levels of service at the same time?

Have the increases you have already imposed on the town of Gilbert been equally distributed among apartment residents, single family, home residents, and commercial businesses.

This includes the overall increase, the sewer increase, the trash and recycle increase, and the water increase.

Did each apartment have their sewer rate double as it was in the individual homeowners?

Our future increase is going to be equally distributed across all residents and businesses.

I could not find any regulatory entity that oversees the percent you can increase each service in our bill.

This resides solely with the town council.

You have unregulated power to increase the rates, and you are misusing this power.

As I was researching who had the authority to regulate increases, I found under State of Arizona searches, quote, state law compliance.

Gilbert must still adhere to state laws that mandate transparency, such as holding public hearings and preparing financial analysis to ensure rates are just reasonable and necessary.

Keyword here to me is reasonable, and you aren't even in the ballpark.

The state of Arizona has been in a drought status since the mid-1990s.

So all this reference about the Colorado River and their shortage and everything that Jessica and Rebecca and the other gentleman that talked about.

You know, we've been living in a drought for a long, long time.

Arizona being in a drought is no surprise to any of you.

Yet you, the council and the town manager, saw fit to keep approving more construction, especially in the last four to five years.

The worst of all is the mega construction of apartments.

The present members of the council may not have been present during this whole debacle.

It doesn't excuse you.

But the illustrious town manager, Patrick Banger, who you gave accolades to at the last town hall, held his position for 14 years and was making an approximate $357,000.

He had ample time to plan for maintenance, repairs, replacement, and new construction for the infrastructure.

He did nothing.

He was a big part and the only constant of the eight years with no increase, so we the residents could get sucker punched as he departs.

And yet you are still approving more apartment construction.

Why?

Your moral compass is way beyond damage and comes to doing what is right for all of the citizens of Gilbert.

It is beyond pathetic when the town of Gilbert's utility bill is higher than the electric bills of SRP and APS.

Most of us do not have the six-figure incomes.

There are a great many retired veterans, young families, seniors who do not.

Plus, you are not the only service that is raising their rates.

Would you please come up with an alternate plan on these three areas of essential services?

Thank you.

Thank you, Barbara.

Darrell.

My name is Daryl Darrell Grosson, a Gilbert resident.

Good evening, Mayor and Town Council, and happy new year.

New Year's is a time for renewal.

Tonight I encourage you to take a good hard look at where Gilbert is.

Not just as a community, but from a financial perspective.

Frankly, Gilbert has an image problem.

With a current budget of 2.46 billion dollars or about 25,532 per household, our spending feels out of control.

We are told water funding is critical.

If water funding if water is life, why isn't it all hands on deck?

Why isn't every available dollar directed towards this survival issue?

Why aren't the rates for businesses, apartments, and reclaimed water usage higher or tiered to reflect this urgency?

When residents ask you why we can't transfer funds to prioritize water, we're told it might hurt our bond rating.

And yet that data is rarely shared.

Even if it is, even if a transfer isn't possible, we can secure loans at 4% interest rates.

Making this actual cost minimal.

Why wasn't the North Water Treatment Plant or our sewer infrastructure bonded more effectively?

Paying for this over time would save everyone in this town.

Instead, you are financially drowning us.

While residents are hit with increases, you should be looking at the massive usage of apartments and water ski lakes.

Furthermore, please stop blaming previous councils.

Most of this body was responsible for the water increases in 2023 and beyond.

In the corporate world, if you blamed your predecessors for a key client issue instead of delivering results, you'd be removed from the project.

Our residents are your clients.

They want results, not excuses.

Looking at future projects for parks, police, and fire, nearly everyone is underfunded.

Octill Bridge Project.

Sorry, rather than look looking for new revenue through parking meters or primary property taxes.

How about we scurb our spending instead?

Stop coming after the residents.

If roads are the next emergency, let's direct money there by cutting pet projects.

The Occupil Bridge Project, for example, has more than doubled in cost.

Additionally, if park capacity is an issue, prioritize Gilbert residents first.

Give them early access to signups and charge higher fees for non-residents before asking your own taxpayers for more money.

Gilbert deserves a council that treats our budget with the same discipline we use in our own homes.

Prioritize needs over wants.

Let's make 2026 the year we choose the year we choose fiscal responsibility over business and as usual.

Let's have this be a dawn of a new day.

Please hear and value our comments.

Thank you very much for your time.

Thank you, Darrell.

Maureen.

Hoppy My name is Maureen Hoppe and I'm a resident of Gilbert.

Members of this council began harassing me nearly three years ago when I challenged the three newly elected council members for voting themselves a significant pay raise just months after taking office.

Sadly, this is not the only time I've been harassed and cyberbullied by council members.

For years, a couple of you have made outrageous and defamatory statements about me and other residents, and have even gone so far as to enlist your coffee cladge crew to incite the same cyberbullying tactics.

It's ironic that you preach civility while engaging in some of the most aggressive and threatening behavior in our community.

Today I received a police report about council member Torgeson making threats against a resident.

Is anyone keeping tally on these threats?

Now a few more of you feel it's appropriate to lash out with unsubstantiated claims regarding public records.

To date, not a single piece of evidence has been provided, just a lot of hot air and no actual facts.

Excuse me, unfortunately, that has become par for the course for this council.

You've been provided records and show undeniable proof of misconduct and a cover-up.

And as the walls appear to be closing in, it seems that a couple of you may now be attempting to influence an investigation.

For the past several weeks, a fake social media account using the name Pence Williams has trolled countless residents, including myself.

The aggressive engagement has only escalated.

Many people believe that the Pence Williams account is either operated either by Councilmember Bon Giovanni or Councilmember Torgeson.

Some posts appear directly to connect one of you to the account.

Tonight we're going to address this with you directly.

Councilmember Torgeson, will you clearly confirm or deny on the record tonight whether or not you are affiliated in any way with the Facebook account known as Pence Williams?

Councilmember Bon Giovanni, will you clearly confirm or deny on the record tonight whether or not you are affiliated in any way with a Facebook account known as Pence Williams?

Do any of you realize how many laws would be violated if a member of council were involved in using fake social media accounts to harass residents and influence upcoming elections?

An investigation will easily determine the truth, and your silence tonight would speak loudly to the residents of Gilbert.

Council members Torgeson and Bon Giovanni, you are allowed to respond at the end of public comments.

We, the people of Gilbert, look forward to your statements.

Thank you, Maureen.

Clarissa.

Vice Mayor Bon Giovanni, I just want to let you know we are at the 30 minutes.

We just have two more to go.

So can we everybody to continue?

Okay.

Thank you.

My name is Carissa Arnold.

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

However, I continue to do business in Gilbert.

I recently filed a complaint with the Gilbert Police Department alleging criminal misconduct of several town officials.

I have provided hundreds of records along with an overview of the allegations and supporting evidence in an email sent to Sergeant Nick Alvadrez on 1229, 2025.

The report number is GI 25-223083.

Due to the obvious conflicts of interest, I expect that this case will be referred to another law enforcement agency for further investigation.

Today I received police report number 2025-194431, which documents threats of violence made against council made against a resident by councilmember Torgeson this past October.

Additionally, it appears that another councilman may be named in a recent FBI report.

Complaints.

On tonight's agenda, items eight and ten involve requests to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on email and record management systems.

These expenditures are not intended to provide greater transparency.

Rather, they appear to be tools to facilitate the faster deletion of records as part of the current records purge and lawfully directed by the town manager and the town clerk.

I provided records to the Gilbert Police Department that proved my allegations have merit.

My question for you tonight is this.

Why would anyone believe it is appropriate to spend so much money to delete public records more quickly?

Is there a problem with the current system?

Storage space is not an issue.

So why pursue this now?

Why won't you conduct even the most basic of inquiries so the public can see what is going on with public records?

Interestingly, several actions appear to have occurred only after I filed a complaint alleging misconduct by several town officials, including members of this council.

I am aware that multiple complaints have been filed with several agencies against numerous town officials.

There is simply no valid reason to approve these items unless the intention is to perpetuate a criminal conspiracy to cover up misconduct and obstruct justice for wrongdoing that has already been reported to authorities.

You have serious problems to address.

Eligibility for business water rates can be re-verified with changes in property ownership.

The number of home farms operating as businesses is very low, and the financial impact of this ordinance on the town would be negligible.

However, as we've seen in the news, these home farms provide invaluable services to our community across generations and help preserve the farming heritage upon which our town was built.

I am not asking for special rates.

I'm simply asking that home farm businesses be allowed to pay the same business water rates as any other business operating in Gilbert.

I have reviewed all applicable state laws.

This simple ordinance can be agendized, discussed, and voted on at the January 20 council meeting and can be made effective in February.

The resulting financial relief for those home farms would literally save the homes and lives of the very people who made Gilbert Gilbert.

This is one of the easiest things that you can do to help our community and would allow you to take a well-deserved victory lap at a time when we truly need a win for the people.

So tonight I plead with you to consider this ordinance and the timeline that I have proposed.

Show us that you are willing to consider solutions proposed by residents.

Grab an agenda request form, make a request to discuss and vote on home farm water rate ordinance.

Three of you can sign it right now and put it on the agenda for January 20.

I will provide you with my research, and together we can do something really, really good for the town.

Let's protect what's left of Gilbert's Heritage.

Let's save the Gilbert home farms.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Spence.

I need 15 seconds with our attorney, please.

No, I am not affiliated with uh Pence Williams or any fake Facebook account that uh you mentioned.

I will reserve my rights for my comments in another meeting.

And I say the same.

Anyone else want to make any statements?

No, okay.

Go ahead, go ahead.

Go ahead, Councilmember Buckley.

No, I I just wanted to make a comment.

We are at the end of the citizen comments, right?

Okay, I want I want to make sure I'm in order here.

But I did want to make a comment because it's come up more than once that you know the three new council members that came in three years ago voted to give themselves a raise.

I just want it to be known that I did not vote for that.

There were two people that you know it was, I believe a five two vote.

I did not vote for it, and neither did Mayor Peterson.

And I I just would like to get that out there because it just keeps coming up, and it's not true.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilman.

I will address that.

We get paid minimum wage now.

It is not a shameful amount to make minimum wage.

It is hardly a huge uh paycheck.

In fact, for the abuse that most people provide, most people won't take that pay for that kind of abuse.

I will say one thing positive though.

Uh Mr.

Spence, thank you for once not attacking this body and coming up with an idea.

Now, I will say this, it is already in motion.

I'm glad you separately thought of the thing, which is fantastic.

It means you're in a positive place for once, so I appreciate that.

But you will see something come forward about ag rates.

You will okay, and about our raise, our raise was three-tenths of one penny per resident per month to get us at minimum wage.

Um, so just wanted to put that out there.

All right, to begin our consent uh calendar portion of the meeting.

I'll pass the time over to our town manager, um, Don Prince to provide an overview of items on the consent calendar this evening.

Thank you, Vice Mayor.

Okay.

Um we're gonna start out just with uh going over or highlighting our three pillars um that we continue to focus on to prepare us for our future and ensuring resilience in Gilbert, strong economy, prosperous community, and exceptional built environment.

Okay.

Okay.

Sorry.

All right, item number four.

Um, Queen Creek Reclaimed Water IGA.

It's an IGA with the town of Queen Creek for reclaimed water delivery, enabling Queen Creek to utilize Gilbert's infrastructure to recharge its reclaimed water, which contributes to the sustainable management of the regional aquifer.

This agreement is for five-year term with two additional renewal options for four years each.

The funds received by the town of Gilbert for this agreement will be placed into the wastewater fund and are as follows.

Number one, operations maintenance and replacement costs at an annual fee of $25,000.

Number two, actual energy costs to deliver water on behalf of Queen Creek.

And number three, $95 per million gallons of water delivered to the delivery point rising by $2.50 per million gallons each year.

And this is under our prosperous community pillar.

Item number five is a lumen contract under our exceptional built environment pillar.

Um, a contract with Lumen for Internet, Teams Voice, Call Center, Cloud Connectivity, and Professional Services in an amount not to exceed $2.5 million over five years.

This agreement supports the town's evolving technical requirements, including increased bandwidth with to accommodate growing data demands, improve redundancy, and dedicated cloud connectivity to optimize the performance of the town's technology services.

This item is supported by the general fund.

Item number six, job order task JOC task order CS construction under our exceptional built environment pillar.

The JOC task order with CS construction for the design and construction of a traffic signal and ADA improvements at Williams Fuel and Wade Drive.

This item is in the amount not to exceed 233,430 and is funded through signal system development fees.

JLC task order with TALUS construction, increasing the mass maximum single task order from 5 million to 6 million and authorizing this order for 5.6 million plus to facilitate a CIP project at Melody Drive from McQueen to Hobson and Pioneer Street from Melody South to the Cul de Sac, providing improvements to the curbs, gutters, streetlights, sidewalks, water lines, and sewer lines.

This project is funded by the 2022 transportation bonds, the water replacement fund, and the wastewater fund.

Item number eight is a change order with uh for SDG Group and is under our exceptional built environment.

A change order with the SDG group contract in the amount of 350,485, supporting increased data governance initiatives that enhance operational and efficient efficiencies, increase the town's analytical capabilities, ensure continued compliance with ongoing email retention requirements, and implement sustainable technology tools to ensure long-term success with the data governance program.

This item before council supports the expanded contract amounts with SDG.

Funds to support the initiatives above exist already within the approved general fund budget of IT.

Item number nine, a change order for BPG Designs LLC under Exceptional Built Environment.

A change order with BPG Designs LLC that provides a multi-year agreement to plan and execute network cabling projects that will facilitate robust and reliable network connectivity, supporting essential town operations, public services, and future smart city initiatives.

This item authorizes 250,000 of services between now and FY28 and is funded through the general fund.

Item number 10, change order, data bank IMX LLC under exceptional built environment.

A change order with databank IMX LLC to provide augmented staff services and support for the town's on-based enterprise content management system, which is the documentary repository repository for most town records.

This system has seen a significant increase in use and service demands.

It currently has a backlog of open support tickets, creating a strain on service delivery to the departments that utilize this technology system.

This item is not to exceed 200,163 and is supported through the general fund.

Item number 11 is phase two PMCM services contract with Intelis under our exceptional built environment.

And is supported from the 2022 transportation geobonds.

And with that, we would take any questions council may have.

Thank you, Don.

I'm gonna ask two questions to you guys.

One is do you want any of them presented as a presentation?

And if we do that, is there any of them after the presentation you'd like to vote on separately?

So first question are there any that you want a presentation on Councilmember Buckland?

Number eight, please.

I think we had a public comment and accusation that that money is being spent for malicious means.

Um I would like a presentation on the actual value to spending that money, what it's gonna bring in transparency and really to the residents and those that file public records requests on this.

Thank you, sir.

Do we have any staff that could give a few moments on that?

Yeah, uh our staff member from uh IT, our data govern governance uh Kevin Shaw should be coming up.

Oh, Eugene, sorry.

It's gonna be coming up.

Great, thank you, uh good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Council, uh Eugene Hia, uh Chief Information Officer Gillard IT.

So regarding the question, Councilmember Bucklin with the uh funds for the SEG group, uh part of those funds were approved as a major request.

Part of that is the project that we are looking at to further enhance our email retention efforts to get better insights analytics and user interface that is not necessarily available today in some of the platforms that we have through Microsoft, and so we provide better functionality in terms of visibility into that information, um, not really initially touching the information, but just presenting it in more of a dashboard format so that we can interact with it without altering the information on the back end.

Any questions, council member?

No, would you like that a separate vote?

No, very good.

Okay, so if there's no thanks, Eugene.

If there's no further questions, I'll move to approve the consent agenda items four through twelve.

Can I have a second?

Second.

Seconded by um council member buckle but uh buckley.

Uh please vote.

Vote passes seven to zero.

Uh now pass me to um to our mayor for a public hearing.

Thank you, Vice Mayor.

Uh, we have items 13 through 21 that are on public hearing, and we can vote in a block uh if unless there are any to be pulled off.

I do have two requests to speak cards on item 21, so I'll pull pull that one for separate consideration.

Does anybody have any others that they want to pull off?

If not, I'll entertain a motion for items 13.

Well, I'll open the public hearing and close the public hearing on items 13 through 20 and entertain a motion.

I'd like to make a motion to accept items 13 through 20 as written in the agenda.

I'll second that.

It's been moved and seconded.

Please vote.

Motion carries seven zero.

Item 21.

I think we uh I have the request to speak.

Uh, do we have any kind of a presentation first from staff that will give any background on this?

Thank you, Jen.

Thank you.

Good evening, Mayor, members of council.

Jennifer Graves, deputy director for the Office of Economic Development.

This item, uh, public hearing item number 21 is regarding the sale of town-owned real property.

This is statutorily required public hearing just to take public comment.

So there is no action that's required.

Um, but I'll just run through some very high-level uh points about this land sale, and uh then certainly turn it over to any public comment or questions that you may have.

All right, so the parcel uh that we are talking about is uh 18.9 acre plus minus parcel located north of the northeast corner of Ray Road and Santan Village Parkway.

This property is zoned public facilities institutional, and its current appraised value is 6.39 million dollars as of December of 2025.

Excellent.

And so just want to run through that process with you.

So initially leading up to the offer for bid, uh there was a due diligence phase.

All available documentation related to this parcel has been provided on the town's website, and the town staff held several discovery meetings with interested parties prior to the town council authorizing the sale of this property on December 16th, 2025.

And a public hearing to take public comment is happening right now, January 20 January 6, 2026.

The next steps uh in this process is we will be holding a pre-bid conference on January 8th to take any questions from interested bidders for this town-owned property, and then the bid opening will be held on February 2nd, 2026.

If we receive a bid for appraised value or higher, and are able to identify the highest bidder in that process, then we would be bringing forward a purchase agreement with that highest bidder to the town council for their consideration on February 17th.

And the council reserves the right to reject any and all bids at that time as well.

And that is all I have just to give you a brief overview of the land sale process for this parcel.

Thank you, Jennifer.

As Jennifer said, this is not uh of a public hearing to actually vote on.

This is just for public input, and I do have two members of the public who would like to speak on this item.

First, uh Greg Bamford.

This is Tony.

Okay, Tony will take you first then.

Can you hear me?

Yes, I'll be shorter, so be a blessing you did that.

Uh thank you, Mayor Anderson, Vice Mayor Bon Giovanni, and Council members.

I appreciate the time.

And I I just uh want to introduce myself.

My name is Tony Bergarello, and I'm with Christ Church of the Valley, CCV, which is a non-denominational Christian church that's been here in Arizona for 40 years.

And I'm really just coming today to offer thanks.

We've been a part of the process, and we hope the process continues as it's been outlined for this property to be sold as is where is.

And uh, we're gonna do our best to be a bidder that would have an opportunity.

But I I wanted to share my thanks with you and also tell you that for us to come into the community here.

We currently have 18 locations in Arizona that we've developed over the last 40 years.

And why we're so excited here specifically in the town of Gilbert is we have about a thousand people who are residents of Gilbert who attend either our Chandler campus or they attend our Queen Creek campus.

Some of them attend also our Mesa campus.

And um, as I've tried to listen and learn more of what I hear from the town of things their needs, one of the things that we do on our campuses is we provide a wonderful sports program to all youth.

You don't have to be a part of our church, you don't need to attend the church, but we've developed a program over the last 15 years, and currently we have about 25,000 youth annually participating in soccer, flag football, and things of that nature.

And so we're just excited, and we want you to know in advance as things could come through questions or things come up in the process that we're here and we want to be here to impact the community and work with the schools.

It was exciting tonight to hear what some of the churches are doing to get involved in some of your initiatives, and we'd want to come alongside those churches as well.

And that's pretty much what we've done across the valley.

We'd love to be a part of this community.

So really just want to give you thanks and and let you know that uh we'll be thankful and in prayer that things will continue forward with this process.

So thank you for your time tonight.

Thank you, Tony.

Greg.

Thank you, Mayor.

Scott Anderson and members of the council.

Uh my name is Greg Bamford at 325 South Higley Road, suite 110 in Gilbert.

Um I was I'm gonna try to stick to my notes because I might get wandering too much.

I'll try to keep this under the three minutes.

Uh I was the owner and developer of the five White Wing custom home communities in the Southeast Valley, three of which uh are in Gilbert.

I was part of the development team in 1988 and 89 that gifted the town of Gilbert, the very 20 acres that we're standing on here tonight.

So I've been an integral part of the growth and character of Gilbert over the past 40 years.

So I'm appreciative of Tony's comments.

I'm going to get into some of the mechanics and specifics of how this is potentially going to go as we go forward to get to a submission of bid process.

But even though it's been advertised as is where is, there are certain aspects of the presentation on the Gilbert website and in the explanation given by staff in meetings and conversations which run precisely counter to the concept of as is where is.

The current general plan for Gilbert designates the subject property, as Jennifer just said, public facilities slash institutional, which allows development of the church site without any change in either the current general plan or existing zoning.

Most alternate land uses, such as residential, would not be allowed under this current general plan provision.

Therefore, allowing a one-year closing date, which is specified in the information that's being given to all of the interested parties.

So that uh has the effect of encouraging prospective purchasers to pursue a land use change from the current general plan.

And that is not a sale that I would consider to be as is where is so I am respectfully asking that the council and others in leadership positions in the town hold to this current general plan designation instead of bending or breaking the rules to allow other uses for this land.

One of the important values of adopting the general plan and uh updating it periodically is to promote a balanced approach to land uses for the benefit of the larger Gilbert community.

This often stated objective in this sale to us has been uh that uh they they want to get the maximum value out of this land.

So uh I think this is the threshold question.

Is the prospect of a larger increase in the sale value if the purchaser is allowed to go to a change in the use of the property to a higher density use than our church would provide?

Um more important to the community than maintaining the integrity of the plan as it currently exists.

I think not, and I believe doing so would send a signal to the larger community that town decision makers will dishonor the stated policy in the effort to capture a few more dollars at the expense of maintaining a balanced approach to the land.

That's what I have to say tonight.

Thank you very much.

Thank you very much.

Thank you for that input.

As I said, this is for public comment only.

We won't be voting on this uh this evening.

Moving on, there are no administrative items, future meetings.

You can see on the agenda what those entail.

Report from the town manager.

Good evening, Mayor and members of the council.

I have nothing tonight.

Reports from the council.

Your microphone's on, Council Member Munkley.

No, it's not.

What are you talking about?

No others.

I think I have one slide tonight to share.

Uh which are Gilbert Volunteer MVP Awards.

Uh the nominations for those volunteers or leading example of Gilbert's values driven, kind, bold, and humble.

We're accepting those uh nominations now.

Also for Youth Volunteer of the Year and Gilbert Kindness Award.

The nominations are open from uh the 5th yesterday through the 29th.

So feel free to name a volunteer or someone who you think uh demonstrates those values in the town.

Thank you.

Entertain a motion to adjourn.

So moved.

We are adjourned.

She said uh Pam said Friday.

She thinks they're gonna do a Friday.