Welcome to the Mesa City Council meeting for October 20th, 2025.

Councilmember Goforth is unable to attend, and she is excused from this meeting, but all other council members are present.

For a start, I'd like to remind everyone this is a business meeting and to maintain proper decorum.

Please refrain from clapping, cheering, or other disruptions.

These interruptions make it difficult to move through the agenda and to complete city business and for each speaker to be heard.

If you engage in conduct that disrupts this meeting, such as shouting, clapping, or any other loud noise, you may be removed, so this is your warning.

We're going to begin with an invocation by Pastor Christian Orques from the Strong Church.

Pastor, if you'll come and we'll all stand, please.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor.

Let us pray.

Father, we thank you this evening for uh the city, God, for Mesa, for all that you've been doing here and all that you're going to do, God.

We know that you are in control.

And right now, God, we pray for this meeting.

We pray for every member of our city council, God.

We pray for wisdom over their lives.

We pray for their families, God, for whatever needs that they may have.

We know that you can do all things.

And God, we pray that in the midst of this meeting today, you be in the midst of every issue that is addressed.

We pray for every person living in Mesa.

We pray for every family represented, every child, every teen, every school, that you be in the midst of us all, God.

We pray for peace.

We pray for unity in our city.

We pray, God, that that your light, that your hope and your love will shine throughout this city like never before.

You're gracias por todo lo que está suciendo, por todo lo que harás en nuestra ciudad y en cada comunidad de mesa.

We thank you in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Thank you, Pastor.

Will you please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance?

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which is one nation.

Under God.

So this evening we'll start with item one, which is the consent agenda.

Uh Miss Blake, do you want to come forward and read our consent agenda?

And I believe uh five A is off our consent, correct?

Yes.

All right.

Go ahead.

Mayor and Council members, these are the items on the consent agenda.

All items listed with an asterisk will be considered as a group by the city council and will be enacted with one motion.

There will be no separate discussion unless a council member or citizen requests, in which event the item will be removed from the consent agenda and considered as a separate item.

Item two, approval of minutes of previous meetings as written.

Item three A Act on Liquor License Application for Brooklyn V's Pizza 1902 North Higley Road.

Item 4A, approving design bid build contract for the installation of a new pump, piping and electrical equipment at the new desert well number seven, located approximately 600 feet east of the existing well location within Mariposa Mariposa Park.

Item 4B, approving fuel station improvements contract.

Construction manager at risk for the superstition substation fuel station, Falcon Fuel Station, and the Sixth Street Fuel Station.

Item 4C, approving three-year term contract with two-year renewal options for hostile vehicle mitigation barriers for the Mesa Police Department.

Item 5A has been removed from the consent agenda.

Item 5B, approving resolution to enter into an agreement with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to accept assistance to firefighter grant funding.

Item 5C, approving resolution to execute an amendment to the intergovernmental agreement with the flood control district of Maricopa County for the Pecus Pecos Road Basins and Storm Drain Improvements Project.

Item 5D, approving a resolution to enter into a development agreement with Hadrian Automation Inc.

relating to the development of an artificial intelligence-powered large-scale manufacturing and software facility, generally located on the southeast corner of South Crisman Road and East Pecos Road.

Item 5E, approving resolution to enter into the Third Amendment to the intergovernmental agreement with the cities of Avondale, Gilbert, Glendale, Mesa, Scottsdale, and Tempe related to joint legal representation in the Gila River Stream Adjudication.

The amendment is to add the town of Gilbert.

Item 6A pertains to the Hawes Village Development.

Item 6A, introduction of ordinance for zoning case ZON 24-00892 for approximately 60 acres located at the northeast corner of East War Road and South Hawes Road.

Rezoning two different portions of the property and establishing a second planned area development overlay for the entire property, as well as a council use permit and specific plan approval for a 342 lot single residence development and future commercial development.

Mayor and council members, these are the items on the consent agenda.

Thank you, Miss Blake.

We'll entertain a motion and a vote on the consent agenda.

Thank you, Miss Billsbury.

Second, Miss Duff.

Please cast your vote.

All right, it passes unanimously with Ms.

Goforth absent.

We'll go back to 5A.

Item 5A is the purchase of real property and improvements and air rights, the parcel owned by the Maricopa County Community College District located at 145 and 165 North Centonio and authorizing the city manager to enter to the documents necessary for the purchase.

We have one person to speak.

David, if you come forward, please.

Mr.

Mayor, Council, and staff, thank you for letting me speak.

My name is David Wynn Stanley.

Most of you know me by now.

Um I live in Southeast Mesa in District 6.

Um I came specifically to speak on this subject because during our budget discussions, Council goes Councilwoman Goforth, who unfortunately isn't here, repeatedly asked me.

So what would you not spend in the city?

Well, here's one.

You're asking to spend 4.7 million dollars on something you might need in the future.

Why don't you wait until you sure you need it?

Um it there's all kinds of options to do this.

I mean, the one that I would exercise if it was a commercial thing was buy an option that goes toward the price that says please give us a year to make up our mind.

In your council report, you didn't make clear when the study would be done that says whether you need it or not.

I mean, I noticed driving down First Street.

There are two buildings that the city owns that are completely empty.

One is the old city council building and the one next to it to the east.

You know, I go in there for a class and the place is empty.

There seems to be plenty of stuff.

Also, I would suggest there's a good use for telework.

Um, and yes, that takes a little bit of training for managers.

Believe me, I understand my last five years at Honeywell.

I had 44 direct reports at nine sites on three continents.

I understand how to manage people with telework.

It takes a little bit of skill, but it's doable.

Uh they don't all have to work there.

There's another option.

So I'm recommending or requesting that you consider postponing this uh option rather than spending the money at this time.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you, David.

Uh, Mr.

Butler, you want to respond to Mr.

Ms.

Merritt.

Yeah, thank you.

And thank you.

Appreciate Mr.

Wynstanley coming out and and um speaking to that and asking the questions.

But I do want to I do want to clarify that the uh the two buildings that we're purchasing from the um community college district, one of those will be a building that um based on our inspections will we will um be raising that building.

It's not the the repairs to that building um really exceed the ability to to salvage that facility, and so that's been taken into consideration for the price uh that we're paying.

As for the other building, we do need that immediately, and staff is already working, Lance and engineering um have already begun the process of uh preparing that building to uh its up city employees into that and as soon as we get it get uh a plan together and and are able to utilize that.

It's in desperate need right now, as I mentioned in the study session the other day.

We're foregoing some repairs to the 55 North Center building that instead could be better purposed for this building that has a much longer lifespan potential and could be um automatically would upgrade the the work conditions of our of our current employees instead of putting money into a building that um would only serve to to kind of put some lipstick on the pig instead of uh in order to sustain the building long long term.

So um, so again, appreciate Mr.

Wynn Stanley, but if there's any confusion, this space will be put to immediate use on behalf of the city.

Thank you.

And I'll just add one other thing, Mr.

Wis.

This is a unique development because the city owns the parking garage there at the facility, and so we have employees parking there already today, as well as public parking.

So I don't know how that ever happened back in the day that the parking garage should be a separately owned entity by the city, and yet the surrounding buildings were uh owned by another entity, Mesa Community College, being that, and they they're wanting to sell the buildings because they can no longer do the upkeep.

So we felt it was the best investment for the city to move forward with that with the parking garage combined.

So council, is there any discussion on that?

I'd like to add also on the building, the 165 North Centennial, the building that's gonna be demolished because it's in such poor condition, that then we are going to position that to go to the market to sell it to find um a use that is going to add economic development to our city.

So we are not just demolishing it and letting the land sit, it's using the land to go out to the market and sell it and repurpose that the other building, I guess, for um staff.

Um, over the years, we'll see a lot of shifting of staff in different positions as we take um buildings that are not and need serious um investment and finding other purposes for them and tightening up our staff things and opening up other lands that could contribute to the economic development of the area.

Any other discussion?

Uh Mr.

Adams.

I know you have an office right next to it.

I do, I do, just to the south.

I was just gonna comment that uh when this first came up at study session.

I think I asked the question about the uh area of um honor and remembrance, if you will, that uh the veteran center has created just to the south of this building and before you enter the parking garage.

And I've been uh assured by staff, I couldn't tell you who now, that uh that area will, if it can't be preserved, some of those things like the the benches and the other memorial items will be preserved and moved.

There was a person or two who reached out and commented about that.

So uh that's my understanding.

Is that that's correct?

Mayor, council mayor, that is correct.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you, Mayor.

All right, hearing nothing else, I'll entertain a motion to approve 5A.

Thank you, Miss Spillsbury.

Thank you, Mr.

Redia.

Please cast your vote.

Mr.

Adams.

Okay, there we go.

Motion passes unanimously with Miss Goforth absent.

With that, uh, thank you, council.

We'll move over to items from citizen present.

As you know, we allow three speakers three minutes to speak, and because the topics that are raised by the speakers that are not on our agenda, we generally uh prevent counsel from responding to the speaker.

With that, our first speaker will be uh Captain John Burks, is that correct?

Uh, with the Salvation Army.

Come on up, Captain.

Followed by the Captain Uh Jillian Ryan is on deck.

Mayor, Vice Mayor, and uh council members.

I just wanted to come and introduce myself.

My name is Captain John Burks with the Salvation Army.

We are our building is uh on in District 4, I'm sure you uh know.

And uh my my quarters, as they call it, my housing is in district one.

Um I'm just blessed uh to come before you and uh uh present myself as the new core officer uh here in Mesa.

Um I come from Bullhead City before that, Idaho Falls before that, you know, just to blur.

Um, but I might be one of your newest uh members here or citizens.

Uh my wife and I just uh arrived last uh last week uh at around one o'clock in the morning, Sunday night.

So uh it's a blessing to be here, but also uh I've come to just share a little bit of what the Salvation Army is doing here in Mesa.

We continue to help those most in need uh through uh uh food service.

Um, and we're seeing a large increase of need in our area.

We uh have increased uh about 50 percent every day.

So we're serving about anywhere from a hundred to a hundred and fifty individuals per day, Monday through Friday, um, for uh food assistance.

Uh we do our best to provide that food for every individual, but in the last three weeks we've had to turn people away four days because we've ran out of food.

Um, the reality is the need is great.

We're here to serve.

We have great volunteers to help, and uh we want to help those most in need.

Uh, second, um, we do have a uh senior lunch uh located at that same um uh location.

I'm still trying to remember it.

So it's two four one east east uh sixth street uh here in Mesa.

And so we serve uh lunches there to seniors, 55 plus $2.50 per meal, and we do our best to uh feed everyone that uh comes down to that location there.

Um we also have our our church building there, and we have another building that um is gonna start to be repurposed for what it was designed to do is help those youth in the area.

We're gonna do a slow and soft opening for that.

Um, our hope is for character development programs as well as some music programs to start up slowly, and then our hope is to uh reopen that building completely for an after-school program.

That is our hope, dream.

Not sure how long that will take.

Um, but that is what our hope is to really help that community of where we live.

I just wanna uh again thank you for allowing me to speak tonight and uh come and present myself.

Uh my wife and I were able to just uh drive around uh the neighborhood.

Uh we went over to where the dam was and uh saw the beautiful sun just shining on that beautiful mountain there.

Um, and so we look forward to uh hopefully um helping uh more people in the community in uh many different ways.

Uh we I just ask that may God bless each one of you and thank you for your service.

Thank you, Captain.

Thank you.

Uh Miss Ryan.

And after Miss Ryan, uh Joanne Fraser.

Hi everybody, you all know me.

I'm Gillian from Indivisible Mesa.

You all have gotten multiple emails from me, so I know you all know me.

Um, I just found out that you guys get Fridays off of work.

What a nice benefit.

I'm on my eighth day of work in a row, so I'm a little bit tired.

I'm gonna give a little bit of background on what's been happening since I've been going to the city council meetings starting in June.

Since from June to September 8th, the procedure was always the same until September 8th, when Mayor Freeman let four people speak on public comment.

So from June until September 8th, it was always three speakers on non-agenda items, and the cards were read aloud by Holly Mosley into the record, and the names were read aloud.

On September 8th, somebody told MAGA crowd to come out and support the 287G agreement.

So there was about 80 plus people here supporting the 287G agreement between ICE and the Mesa PD.

Holly Mosley read each of those names out loud into the record, and they also needed blue cards.

It's always been done via blue cards until last meeting, 10-6, when my group came.

Actually, I let me go back.

September 22nd when my group came.

After you all had your MAGA folks out here and you let four people talk, we were here on September 22nd, and you tried to only let one of us talk.

You had me escorted out by the officers when I pushed back on that and asked why for the policy change.

So you ended up having to let the three first people speak after all, but you tried to make it so only one of us could.

Now, fast forward to October 6th, none of our blue comment cards were recorded.

It was switched on us on the last minute.

We were not told that our names would not be read into the record or recorded into the official comments.

We were not told that by staff or anyone.

So all of the people who showed up here on 10-6 do not have their voices heard or recorded on the record.

You are not representing all constituents with integrity and fairness.

And today, and I have it on recording this time so that you all can't gaslight me anymore.

The staff is not telling folks down there that if they do a blue cart comment card, it will not be recorded.

They are not telling people that.

And I have it, and I will send you the recording, and I hope you listen because you don't listen.

So I'm having to tell people to make sure they use the QR code now.

You are changing it every single meeting, making it almost impossible for us to keep up.

You are I haven't received a single reply from Scott Summers, Alicia Goforth, Jen Duff.

I mean, oh wow, just wow.

And where do you stand on this?

Do you have a backbone?

Anyways.

Also, I see Ken Cost is here.

Retired chief police who signed the 287G agreement, and now is the city council man assistant to the city manager, whatever, Scott Butler, making 270,000 K a year.

This is the guy who signed this agreement that we would like canceled in 2009.

Also, I know about this agreement.

I research it.

So when you tell me the same thing over and over again, it's patronizing.

Stop it.

It's really cool that you guys can talk about nonviolence while you're actively trying to gaslight and silence your constituents.

Mr.

Mayor, why did you let four people talk on September 8th?

Why did you let four people talk?

You are done.

Thank you.

Step away from the mic.

Why does it have four people talk on September 8th?

Easy question.

Answer it, please.

Step down.

You're done.

Thank you.

Be respectful, everyone.

Miss Fraser, would you like to come up, Joanne?

Mr.

Mayor, City Council.

Hi.

Hello.

Hello.

Good evening.

Good evening.

I am a resident of Mesa.

I'm also retired Master Sergeant from the Army National Guard.

And I have two ancestors who fought in the American Revolution.

They were served, they served under General George Washington.

They trained under a German.

They fought alongside of Irish, Scotch immigrants, Canadians, French, Hispanics, and Black slaves.

At what point did this country turn against immigrants?

Without those immigrants, and the French and the Canadians and the Hispanics, we would not have the democracy we have.

We haven't had this kind of leadership since 1776 when we fought that battle and won.

There should be no reason for you to think any other way than to cancel this agreement.

Thank you, Miss Frazier.

Is there any other cards or anything I missed?

No other request tonight.

All right, very good.

That's all the items we have for this meeting.

Uh, Council, is there a motion to adjourn?

So moved.

Thank you, Vice Mayor.

Mr.

Adams, thank you.

All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Meetings adjourned.

Thank you.