Thank you for being here this evening.

Mesa City Council meeting for February 23rd, 2026.

All of our council members are present.

We'll begin this meeting with an invocation by Dr.

Pamela Anish Nader from the Islamic Social Services Association via Zoom, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.

So if you'd please stand.

Dr.

Nader, time is yours.

Okay.

Thank you so much.

Thank you for having me, Mayor Freeman and Council members.

I apologize for not being with you in person today, a little under the weather.

Let us pray.

This Mila Rana Rahim.

In the name of God, the most gracious, the most merciful.

Dear God, during this holy month of Ramadan, which is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar and the month in which Muslims fast from dawn until sunset.

This year being from February 17th to March 20th, we come together to ask for your guidance, wisdom, and support of our mayor and city council members.

Please help our city leaders engage in meaningful discussion to make good decisions on behalf of the residents of our city, the city of Mesa.

Please grant them an empathetic heart and wise judgment.

Help them as they consider ways to improve the economy, housing, health care, mental health, and the well-being of the residents of our diverse city.

Bless our leaders to foster a community that is concerned about our children, our families, our elders, our homeless community members, those who are refugees, those who are impacted by the justice system, and those who are concerned about family members who are being oppressed at home and abroad.

Bless our small business owners, those who are doing well, and those who are struggling each day to make ends meet.

Please bless our leaders to sow seeds of peace.

Bless them to grow closer as leaders, no matter their various perspectives for the good of our city and its residents.

Bless our leaders to stand firmly for justice and to nurture the bonds of community.

Amen.

Thank you for your invocation.

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 it stands.

One nation under God, individual with liberty and justice for all.

Okay, item one is on the consent agenda.

Mr.

Christopher, would you please forward to read from what I have is 4A, 5A, 5B, 5D, and 5E.

Is that changed?

Sorry, Miss Mosley.

Has sorry, Mayor.

No, that is off consent.

That is not changed.

Those five items.

Yes.

Okay, thank you.

Go ahead.

Good evening, 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 the council member or citizen request, 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 3A, acting on liquor license application for Mango Mini Martin, 760 South Almond School Road.

Item 3B, Act on Liquor License Application for Aldi, 1045 South Gilbert Road.

Item 4A has been removed from the consent agenda.

Items 4B and 4C pertain to acting on off-track betting license applications for Turf Paradise to telecast at the following locations.

4B is at O'Kelly Sports Bar and Grill, 2120 West Guadalupe Road, and 4C is an RTO Solomon's 6646 East Superstition Springs Boulevard.

Items 5A and 5B have been removed from the consent agenda.

Item 5C, approving use of a cooperative contract for the purchase of 165 Panasonic Tough Book Computers for the Department of Innovation and Technology.

Items 5D and 5E have been removed from consent agenda.

Item 5F, approving use of a cooperative contract for the purchase of one paint striping truck for the Fleet Services and Transportation Departments.

Item 6A, approving resolution to amend board membership requirements for the payload district, the theme park district established pursuant to Arizona Law.

Item 7A, approving resolution declaring the documents filed to the city clerk titled Administrative Review Amendments replaced sections and chapters, administrative review, expirations and expansions, and administrative review, development standard modifications to be a public record and be made available for public use and inspection with the city clerk.

And item 7B, introduction of ordinance proposing numerous amendments to the Mesa City Code pertaining to administrative review in compliance with Arizona law.

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

Thank you, Mr.

Christopher.

Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda?

Thank you, Mr.

Redia.

Thank you, Mr.

Adams.

Please cast your vote.

All right, that motion passes unanimously.

We'll go back to item 4A.

We have one person who'd like to speak about turf paradise off back beddied, and that is uh Reggie Braun.

Reggie, are you here?

How much time do I have for this?

Three minutes again?

Okay.

Thanks for meeting me today.

I actually was hoping to be honest with you to talk about the homelessness agenda, but since this is kind of related to that, I'll go into it too.

I'm sorry, what did you say?

Um, never mind.

Sorry.

I mumble a bit.

Here we go.

This isn't anything against turf paradise in general.

This is just about gambling and the effects we have on on our um on our people and mainly the homeless now.

Uh it's about nine nine thousand three hundred and ninety-three dollars per person for demand of bankruptcy, mental health, and social services.

About 30% of the homeless attribute a portion of their hardship due to gambling because they're trying to get out of a situation desperately.

And gambling is of course going to be their quick way out.

They're not trading stocks.

Actually, if you're trading stocks, you can just follow the Paul Pelosi tracker every time he makes a trade, you make money.

Now, when you gamble, generally you are associating with people that are, let's say they're not necessarily the most uh friendly of people you want us to think of.

You know, they're gambling, they're having their dopamine going, they're loving of money in a quick way that doesn't encourage generally a lot of hard work.

And then you have now the most important part I'm gonna talk about today: fan duel and online betting.

This in particular, uh, for turf paradise and for their uh sharing of deals is going to be spending a lot of time with co-opting uh TV space with FanDuel.

Now, FanDuel is an online betting platform.

I'm not sure if you're aware of it.

Uh it uh gambles on anything.

You could gamble on somebody falling off stairs.

It it doesn't matter what it is.

But what's really insidious about this is that on the apps, it takes a dopamine hit for everyone who makes a bet.

That dopamine hit is the same thing as you would have for any kind of addiction, or that it be hard drugs or alcohol, or being angry about something.

Anger is a dopamine hit.

Now, they are currently in talks for being sued for particularly deceptive services.

This means that this is near miss concept.

And this is something I've had experience with when I was consulting for a slot machine company in Reno.

When you make that gambling bet, they know if you've won a loss already.

It's happening right away.

But they do a bit of theater.

They show you that, oh, you were so close.

Oh, man, you were just one thing off.

You should make the next bet.

This obviously is insidious.

It has a psychological effect that increases levels of trauma, loneliness, and depression.

Now, I've seen a lot of people here complain directly or indirectly about homeless people.

Homeless people on our borders and our streets and our trains.

Homelessness is out of a symptom of social problems.

It has to do with addiction, it has to do with gambling.

It may have them to do with sexual assault.

For victims of sexual assault, are more likely to get drugs to find an ability to mean jobs and relationships.

People who are homeless are not just people to see on the streets.

They're people who are working at Walmart.

They're living in their cars, they're going from couch to couch among friends.

Reggie.

And gambling.

Reggie, your times times there, if you can't see it.

And gambling is a direct influencer of that.

Thank you.

Well, you know, your Arizona voters voted for this gambling bill.

So I must have to, you know, you'll have to talk to your Arizona voters.

We have the by right have to do this.

I'm sharing that with you because I know this is on YouTube, and I'm talking to Arizona Voters.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right, thank you, Reggie.

Is there a motion to approve item 4A, the turf paradise new off-track betting license?

Thank you, Vice Mayor.

Second by Miss Taylor.

Please cast your vote.

Okay, that motion passes unanimously.

Next is item 5A.

I have a Jason Smithson.

Jason, you want to talk about a one-year term contract for four-year, one-year renewal options for industrial plumbing, building plumbing, electrical HVAC?

Mr.

Mayor, Council members, I signed up to speak on 5A and 5B, so I'll address them together so you can disregard my name when it's called again.

Okay, thank you.

So I'd like to raise several oversight questions that go beyond these two contracts and speak to how we approach vendor contracts as a whole.

Item 5A is structured as a one-year contract, while 5B extends three years.

In today's market, three years is a long window.

What safeguards are in place to ensure pricing remains competitive over the full term of 5B?

Would a shorter term, perhaps one to two years, provide greater flexibility for the council to reassess pricing, performance, and market conditions?

I'd also like clarity on vendor performance standards.

What specific metrics are used to evaluate service quality, responsiveness, and value?

How are those metrics tracked and how often are vendors formally reviewed?

And with respect to Imperial Window Cleaning Inc., there appears to be little to no online presence and publicly available information suggests that the business may be temporarily closed.

What due diligence is conducted before awarding contracts to confirm a vendor's operational status, experience, and capacity to perform?

What internal accountability measures ensure we are contracted with companies that can reliably deliver services at fair and competitive prices?

I'm also concerned about the response rate.

We receive seven proposals, but out of how many potential vendors?

When the agenda states all registered and known vendors, does that refer to vendors within Mesa, Maricopa County, or statewide?

Is this a highly specialized scope of work or are there elements within the RFP process that may unintentionally limit participation?

If participation is consistently low, has the city evaluated whether adjustments could increase competition.

In the interest of transparency, I would encourage the council to make vendor contracts and RFP documents easily accessible to the public without requiring a formal records request.

If the council retains discretion over annual renewals based on vendor performance, then publishing evaluation criteria in contract terms would strengthen public trust and demonstrate accountability.

Finally, how are contract amounts determined and how much of the previously authorized funding was actually expended during the prior term?

Understanding the difference between approved amounts and actual expenditures helps provide context for fiscal stewardship.

These are reasonable oversight questions.

My intent is to not delay progress, but to ensure strong fiscal responsibility, vendor quality, and transparency as we manage taxpayer dollars.

I also want to close by thanking the Mesa Police Department for their swift response at my son's school last week.

When a suspect entered campus and was quickly apprehended, that professionalism and rapid action made a real difference to the school.

Thank you guys.

Thank you, Jason.

Mr.

Butler, do we have some of his questions are valid?

Yeah.

I know a really strong vetting process with a scoring table for municipalities.

And I'm sure Mr.

Quedans can answer all of those.

And maybe in the future, Mr.

Smithson, send us an email, and that way we can answer your questions during this when you pull something off the agenda if you have time for that.

Ed.

So there was a lot to unpack there.

So, Mayor, Council members, uh, our practices are very consistent with what the rest of the municipalities as well as the state goes.

Um, our procurement policies are based on the ABA model procurement code, just as the states is, just as most states, most municipalities are.

Um, we do publish solicitations publicly, so our request for proposals documents are open to the public.

They're available on our uh vendor self-service website.

Um, we also post our uh award documents without a public records request.

Um, they are available on the purchasing website.

Um, with regards to the terms, um, as we look at a uh a project, we do look at uh the term.

Our standard term is three years initial term and a two-year, two years of renewals.

Sometimes it's uh two one-year options, sometimes it is um one two-year option.

But um we do go for multiple years because we don't have infinite staff to be putting these solicitations out over and over again.

So we do uh see the economies of term contracts, multiple year term contracts.

Um, in the uh case of protections, um, all of our contracts are tied to either CPI or PPI as a max.

Um, we do evaluate each price increase that a vendor proposes to see uh the impact on the uh award of that, as well as to make sure it lives within those uh uh metrics that we had established when the RFP or these uh the bid was published.

Um, in the case of what we have in front of you, um uh the first one is a one-year term contract um with options to renew.

That is so that staff can assess both the performance of the vendor as well as price increases, because these are uh you know, as counsel is well aware, um the market right now is very volatile on just about everything.

So um we do have protections in the contracts for the prices, um, but the one year um does give us the options to assess that as we get into the contract in about the seven, eight, nine, I'm sorry, seventh or eighth month time frame in the life of the contract.

With regards to Imperial, um, Imperial has been uh our contractor uh servicing the windows um probably almost as long as I've been here with the city.

Um so as far as I know, there is nothing um uh that I'm aware of that says they aren't in business.

Um, and again, since we've been doing business with them, and this was an RFP process, um, the department in the evaluation process um did not um uh in any way uh raise any flags that they weren't qualified to be considered in the evaluation.

Um, and I'll leave that for any further questions from the council.

Yeah, I'm just curious.

Are they doing this building as well?

Yes, they are.

So they're doing they're the ones dangling off the roof for our I believe we have two projects right now going.

We have the copper refurbishment as well as the window cleaning.

I think Tony's over my shoulder, but I think the window cleaning is probably being held until the copper is completed.

Okay.

Mayor counsel, yeah.

We have two vendors right now.

Emperor window cleaning does the window cleaning, which we're holding off until the copper polishing is done.

Okay, because uh I've seen them do their work in the past, and if it's pretty advanced to do high-rise uh window work, so I would think that this is a pretty stable company.

So thank you.

All right, thank you, gentlemen.

And Mr.

Smithson, if you want some further information, uh we've got our experts right here.

Uh based on what you said.

Yes.

Oh, Mr.

Adams.

Thank you.

If I might be able to add a little bit of information to uh to this discussion with respect to uh with respect to 5A, uh I'll not name any of them individually, but among the uh electrical uh supply houses that are mentioned here and and other supply houses.

I probably have over 30 years of personal experience and knowledge of these businesses, and they are uh to my knowledge, they are all uh well established um reliable, and uh there are no issues that I've been aware of in that period of time that would cause me to have concern as a council member or or otherwise.

So if that if that adds any information that's helpful, take a motion.

Uh Mr.

Smith said if it's okay with you, then we'll combine A and B together 5-8.

You you mentioned that.

So I'll entertain a motion to approve items 5A.

That's a one-year term contract for four one-year renewals, and then a three-year term contract with two-year renewal options, and that's five B.

Thank you, Mr.

Summers and Ms.

Scoforth, please cast your vote.

Motion approved.

Thank you.

Next, we'll move down to 5D.

5D is a one-time dollar limit increase to the term contract for stadium lighting, lighting control systems for the parks, rec and community facility services.

Mr.

Brown, you're on again.

Reggie.

Uh it's a well-known fact that currently stadiums are a drain on the public community.

It's normally publicly funded and privately to get the money.

Now, this is specifically about the one-time dollar amount to deftronics.

Looking at it, it's an interesting thing.

They have a no-compete clause, so we can't take in vendors.

And this is the hardest part that I see about it.

It's that we are required to retain the level of any other stadium to exceed that or better.

So that means that if New York or Chicago or LA raise their standards to, I don't know, 10, 13 million dollars, we're contractually obligated to follow that.

Now, I know that when I first started game here, you guys were tired about hearing people talk about the Cubs and that that was 15 years ago, and that the voters uh voted for it, and you know, I don't really like that.

But I'm here to try to help you out with some data solutions.

It looks like the A's contract's coming up in what, 2036 or 2019 will be starting our contract negotiations with them.

I recommend starting now to reevaluate them and speaking with your lawyers so that we can come at them with a good decision.

And if that isn't applicable, uh that you should follow baseball's current Otani effect.

If you don't know baseball guys, Otani is an incredible utility player.

Previously baseball focusing a guy who could hit a guy who pitch or guy to catch.

But County does it all.

He's brought millions of dollars to Los Angeles.

He's revitalized the game.

He's forced rules.

Let's do that for Mesa.

Let's focus on multiple utility fields.

Currently, we're going to invest about $3.2 million in the scoreboard, right?

That field is dedicated only to baseball.

About 30 days a year.

330 days a year, that place is empty.

It's not being used.

Now, we have an equivalent.

I think it's what AG field?

What's that called?

Uh AAG, Arizona Athletic Grounds in Ellsworth.

Now, that facility has multi-use, they can be used for soccer, lacrosse, and multi-purpose events.

Consider now when you guys are negotiating for the next part of some L MLB site, that maybe some money should be spent on alternative fields that are used all year round.

Fields like soccer, where we have a global economy of 50 billion dollars, or Mesa's currently be considered as a training field for FIFA, which will bring billions of dollars to the US.

When we're gonna consider these contracts or anything where you say that the mayor that the voters chose for that, let's talk about moving ahead.

Let's talk about our next plans and say that hey, we are going to make a better investment that we're gonna get not locked into to an organization that says, hey, you're not allowed to compete.

Saying that we did that in 2013, eh.

Anything where you say that in the past this was made and that this was the way it goes, that doesn't really hold up.

If that was the case, then say frankly, women wouldn't be here in this council.

They wouldn't be allowed in the house.

If you're gonna go back, Italians and Irish wouldn't be allowed here.

So let's focus on the now and the future and make it a better world.

Thanks.

Reggie?

Yes, while you're there and warmed up, let's just move forward to 5e, and then I'll put the two together.

Is that okay with you?

Yeah, what's 5e?

Uh you you took that off the consent agenda.

I took it off the consent agenda.

Yeah, sorry, which one is 5e?

One time dollar limit increase for the term contract for video display screen.

Oh, that was it.

I'm sorry.

That was what I was speaking of.

Okay.

Yeah.

Was that not correct?

You did.

Yes, sir.

All right.

Thank you.

Okay.

Appreciate it.

Okay.

D and E.

You talked about stadium lighting as well as scoreboard.

You kind of combined the two together.

Yeah.

So we're good.

We're gonna move forward on vote on both of those.

Yes, thank you.

All right, I'll entertain a motion to approve items 5D and Eve.

Thank you, Vice Mayor.

Thank you, Mr.

Redia.

Please cast your vote.

That motion passes unanimously.

Thank you, everyone.

All right.

Moving on.

Our first speaker tonight for our items from Cis and Present.

Reggie, you drew number one.

Yes, sir.

Wow.

My hope is.

You're hitting this.

You're hitting the cycle.

You always call the cycle playing.

I was raised with the idea of duty, honor, and service, and that's what I'm turning to you for you.

I'm not trying to hold you guys.

Following you is April Joy is on deck, okay?

Okay.

Thank you, Reggie.

I'm actually going to be kind of quick here.

Um, I've been hoping to give you some as of the day analysis, I've been hoping to give you some actual numbers on what's going on with our MOA agreements.

Unfortunately, it's been about 62 days in my initial request, and I've had some assistance from uh your ITs and stuff like that, and they helped me with some things, but right now, technically we're out of compliance with ARS.

Um, all people are allowed both to speak here and to access all documents in a timely manner.

62 days is not a timely matter, and Tempe actually provided me similar information in less than two days, as well as an API.

So now I can only guess at what we're spending on things.

And you know, these are just things that I've seen in the MOA.

And I was told originally that there's only one detention officer going part-time to service requests.

Now, either that's true or the fact that we're in violation of our MRA.

We're required to do six DIOs 24-7 to meet that task.

I was also told that we don't take any scap um funding.

That means that is Mesa funding all of the gem requirements.

I mean, we're going to go ahead and spend the detention times because when someone gets arrested, they're gonna be in the jail at what, 200 a day, and then we're all paying for that.

Seems kind of strange because really when we say that we're doing this, it's for the worst of the worst.

Yet only five violent offenders, about five per year are doing it.

And my numbers are going around close to 650,000 to a million dollars to maintain this program.

A program that unfortunately is not great for our brand.

We've talked about investing from Asia, but it's not gonna happen if every time they look up ICE and Mesa comes up.

So again, I'm clear to you like this is something that you inherited.

You know, just move forward.

All these people behind me, um, they could be working, they could be going to the economy, but instead they're here.

So, like let's not again say that it was 2009 and 2020 that we agree with it.

Just say, hey, we've got to move from this, we've got to do the Mesa brand.

And I'm gonna yield my time to a young lady, 13 years old, she'll want to speak.

Okay, thank you, Reggie.

Uh, next we'll have April Joy come forward, and after which uh Mary Pritchard is our third speaker.

Thank you, April.

You have three minutes.

I don't know how to Yeah, that one's fine.

All right, Mayor, Council members, my name is April Joy.

I'm here to talk about 287G.

I'm here today because I care about my community, and I don't want my heart to grow numb from the daily reports of ICE's senseless violence.

What we're seeing today is the use of military police and surveillance in our streets.

I don't want this to become the new normal for our community.

I don't want to lose my humanity.

Our actions lead our heart.

The council says the 287G agreement keeps the community safe, but does it?

No factual evidence has been presented that confirms this.

The facts research show that engaging in 287G program did nothing to create safer communities.

The research was done by criminology and public policy by Eric P.

Baumer and M.

Shi.

Over the past years, we've seen ICE interactions deteriorate the uh relative safety we have in our communities.

We've all seen the recklessness ICE perpetrated in our streets.

What we have learned and bear witness to in Minnesota is that when ICE is present, no one is safe.

Council members, by engaging in this failing 287G agreement, your complicit co-conspirators in this increased violence.

When the Mesa website proudly displays to the community by having Day of the Dead and El Grito celebrations, but do nothing to protect or ease the burden of the Latino community and other people of color who bravely face darkness that ICE pours out into those streets, those actions become lip service and passive tolerance, not inclusion, not active tolerance.

ICE will continue with this cruelty, fear, and hate.

But we won't, but it will melt and dissipate.

As the Latino community courageously faces each day, I and others will continue to stand beside them with our humanity.

God is watching, the people are watching.

If you do nothing to remove this 287G agreement, then it's time for the community of voters to rise up and remove you from your positions that you hold.

Thank you, Miss Joy.

Mary Pritchard.

Welcome, Mary.

You have three minutes.

Thank you, Council.

My name is Mary Pritchard, and I am a Mesa resident.

I choose to live in Mesa because of how diverse the city is.

That is extremely violent and has shown little respect for the laws.

How can we have our law enforcement working with law breakers?

People don't even know the difference between ICE and police anymore.

And the comment that I keep seeing over and over again is it's Mesa.

They have the 287G agreement.

Is there even a difference?

If people can't trust the police to call when they're when there's a crime, what do you think is happening to the perpetrators of those crimes?

Even if you argue that it is only the jail enforcement model that we have.

Their basic needs are not being met.

They are not being provided with basic medical care.

They are literally dying.

And that is what you are saying.

You are okay with happening if you don't cancel this agreement.

You recently made statements on TV that you had been in contact with those most affected by ICE.

I don't believe that because those most affected can't even leave their homes.

They're afraid to go grocery shopping, they're afraid to take their kids to school.

These are your neighbors as well.

You are elected to represent all of Mesa, not just the people who voted for you, and not just people who look like you.

Thank you, Mary.

Your time's up.

Have a good evening.

I have no other questions.

No, I have not.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Uh I'll entertain a motion to adjourn.

So moved.

Thank you, Vice Mayor.

Mr.

Adams, thank you.

All in favor say aye.

Aye.

We're adjourned.

Have a good evening.