The Gilbert Town Council regular meeting on April 21, 2026, opened with an invocation by Ryan Milserek of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The meeting featured multiple proclamations recognizing the Light the World Giving Machine Initiative, Volunteer Month, Waterwise Gilbert participants, and Gilbert Water Professionals Appreciation Week. The Veterans Advisory Board presented its annual report. Public comments addressed utility rate increases, human trafficking, police matters, and a criminal complaint against town officials. A zoning case for a retail center at Higley and Ocatio was postponed to May 19, 2026. The consent calendar was approved unanimously, and a resolution on water resources system development fees was adopted 7-0.
Campo Verde High School, Mia Shay. Canyon Valley Junior High, Alyssa Robles. Canyon Valley School, Dylan Johnson. Cooley Middle School, Juliet Lancar. One more. At this time I'm going to call to order the council meeting regular council meeting of April twenty first, twenty twenty six of the Gilbert Town Council. And uh our invok invocation will be offered by Ryan Milserek. I hope I have that right, Brian, of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints and Gilbert Stapley Steak. Thank you, Ryan. Our Heavenly Father, we're grateful for the opportunity to gather this night, Lord, and give thee thanks for the freedoms of this country, which we celebrate on this two hundred and fiftieth almost two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Amen. We'll start off with the recognition of the light of the light of the world giving machines. I'll ask to come up and I'll come down there. Thank you, Mayor Anderson, members of the town council. The Light the World Giving Machine Initiative. Is this ready to there we go? Almost. Yeah, there we go. Great. Light the World Giving Machine Initiative brought 30,000 visitors to downtown Gilbert here this last November and December. For those who are not familiar with them, a giving machine contains 30 carefully curated cards in there that each represent a charitable giving uh opportunity of goods or services. Visitors can come and donate one or more items that are then fulfilled by local and global nonprofits. This last Christmas giving machine could be found in a little over 125 cities worldwide in uh 21 countries and six continents. And uh interesting fact, Gilbert was one of the very, very first places where we hosted a giving machine back starting back in 2018. 100% of each donation goes to the outstanding local nonprofits that participate each year, uh with a hundred percent of the overhead for the the venue and the staffing and marketing and the the machines themselves being uh covered by our sponsor, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints. Uh these were located as you can see here on the northeast corner of Watertower Plaza there in downtown Gilbert, right along Page Avenue there across the street from from Hale Center Theater. Uh these were open from mid-November through the end of December, uh day and night, available 24 hours a day. We had some interesting donations at three in the morning. Uh we also had a a digital kiosk version that's a new style of the machine that that was inside that that pump house jail building, uh renovated building there in uh Water Tower Plaza. And we had uh a lovely kickoff event in November. Uh as you can see here we had Danielle Miller from Fox 10 on the left, who did a uh a live uh segment uh on her morning show uh showcasing downtown Gilbert and and the Giving Machine Initiative. Uh we also had um I'll remember her name, Emma Jade, that came and recorded a longer segment uh for her momcast show on NBC 12 news. So huge thanks uh here in Gilbert. Uh we had friends and family, uh families, groups of friends and and others who would come uh again day and night. We had a number of small music groups that came and performed uh there for the people who were waiting in line to donate. And uh a lot of social media uh out there of people that that came and again showcased downtown Gilbert and talked about their experience with the giving machine here this uh this last year. So huge thanks here. Um in Gilbert alone, roughly 43,000 items were donated uh in 2025 alone. Um tonight we'll focus on the donations made to our five local nonprofits that are here in the East Valley. Uh so uh if we could, could all the representatives from the nonprofits maybe come right up here and we'll we'll be have you on deck and ready to to come up. And uh with that, let's maybe start with the uh the group from Positive Paths first. And uh we have a yeah, these these were the the top, these were the seven that were in the machine. Days for girls and mentors international were a couple of international ones, um, and the five up here are all East Valley organizations that are outstanding. We'll start here with the Positive Paths group. Um Positive Paths exists to support East Valley women uh in need by provide providing a life bridge to economic stability, personal growth, and professional achievement. They do this through mentorship programs, scholarships, and supportive services. Tonight we'd like to present them with a check that represents the the total of all of the donations that were made here. The uh the cards that you can see here on the slide are the cards that were in the machine and their row, and uh and you can see the quantities of things that people in the East Valley here came and donated to to help them. So, with that, Teresa, do you want to bring the check? That one there.