Thank you.

Welcome to the Mesa City Council meeting for April 6, 2026.

Councilmember Goforth is unable to attend.

It is excused, Councilmember Heredi is participating by Zoom.

Otherwise, all other council members are present.

We'll begin this meeting with a moment of silence, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.

So I would ask, please stand.

Thank you.

Please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Thank you.

At uh Arizona Ford recently, the City of Mesa received two environmental excellent awards.

And we have city staff here, Catherine Bloomquist and Stacey Bass as well as representative from the Nature Conservative here.

Good evening, Mayor and Council.

My name is Lauren Whitaker.

I'm the deputy director for environmental and sustainability.

I'm here with Scott Boucher, Director for Energy and Sustainability.

Mesa received the highest honor, a Chris Gordia Award for our Mesa Youth Climate Action Fund.

Um we won the category of curriculum-based and youth environmental education.

The Mesa Youth Climate Action Fund is grant funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies, and Mesa has received 150,000 from Bloomberg.

In turn, Mesa awards microgrants to youth in the amount of one to five thousand dollars.

And youth go out into uh work with community partners like Child Crisis Center or Mesa Public Schools to implement sustainable and resilient projects for Mesa.

It's an amazing program that engages the community, builds confidence and workforce ready skills for youth, and creates a more sustainable environment for all of Mesa.

Some of the stories from this program are particularly heartwarming for me.

Um, and uh the impact to the community and youth has been tremendous.

The second award was won for the Reed Park Greening Project in the category of heat mitigation.

Um we received an award of distinction.

Um the Reed Park Greening Project took place last October, and over a hundred community members showed up to plant 94 desert adapted trees, 35 native shrubs, and build three stormwater uh capture basins for green stormwater infrastructure.

But what made Reed Park Greening Project so special, it was beyond just a regular tree planting event.

Uh it was truly an innovative partnership, and City of Mesa partnered with over five uh organizations and community partners.

That includes the Nature Conservancy, who submitted the award and is here today.

Um, unlimited potential, Trees Matter, Watershed Management Group, and Arizona Sustainability Alliance.

We the project was also supported by the Garden Club of America.

We hope this project will serve as a template for future collaboration between municipalities, nonprofits, and community-based organizations to increase urban shade and make our city more resilient in the face of uh increasing heat.

So thank you to Mayor Freeman and Councilmember Duff for attending and all of council for supporting these initiatives.

Uh, we hope to continue award-winning initiatives like this into the future.

Thank you, Lauren.

Yes, of course.

Um, shall we go down, Council, and take a picture?

Uh Mr.

Boucher, did you want to say anything?

Nope.

Lauren covered it all.

Great.

All right.

Thank you again for all the hard work and all the different uh people that work so hard on this.

And I'm sure we're so glad that you're we have the opportunity as a city to participate in these programs.

With that, we'll move over to the consent agenda.

Mr.

Christopher, I know that there's some off the consent agenda.

Yep.

4C 4D, 5A, 6A, and 7B is what I have.

4C, 4D, 5A, 6A, and 7B.

Yep.

All right.

Go ahead, sir.

Good evening, Mayor and Council members.

These are the items of 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 orders citizen request, in which event the item will be removed from the consent agenda and considered as a separate item.

Item two, approval minutes of previous meetings is written.

Items 3A and 3B, Act on Liquor License Applications for the Guadalupe on Maine, 1526 East Main Street.

Item 4A, approving three-year term contract with two-year renewal options for welding certification and inspection services for the energy resources department.

Item 4B, approving three-year contract with two-year renewal options for street light parts and electrical supplies for the transportation department.

Items 4C and 4D have been removed from the consent agenda.

Item 5A has been removed from consent agenda.

Item 5B, approving resolution authorizing the sale of certain city owned real property located at 8130 East Redberry and Mesa, and authorizing the city manager to enter into necessary deal agreement.

Item 5D, approving resolution authorizing the sale, execution and delivery of utility systems revenue refunding obligations, series 2026.

Item 5E, approving resolution authorizing the sale execution and delivery of utility systems revenue obligations, series 2026.

Item 5F, approving resolution authorizing the city manager or designee to purchase and contract with a qualified electric power supplier via auction.

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

Council will entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda.

Thank you, Mr.

Adams.

Thank you, Vice Mayor.

Please cast your vote.

Noah if you'll come forward.

Aloha mayor and to the rest of the city council.

Um C item 4C.

Um I really like this item.

It's a really good item to have.

Um and to keep our streets clean um in Mesa, because you know it it gets really dirty in Arizona.

So yeah, I like this one, so thank you so much.

Thank you, Noah.

Council entertained a motion to approve item four C.

Thank you, Vice Mayor.

Thank you, Miss Duff.

Please cast your vote.

Mr.

Auretia.

Oh, I.

Okay, motion passes.

Thank you.

Uh next we'll move over to item four D.

Uh, that's the Air Pine Park and Whitman Park Playground Renovation.

I have uh Noah James Markham that wishes to speak.

Um aloha mayor again to the rest of the city council.

Um for a D, I really do like this too, because I seen a lot of you know, I I'm from Gilbert, and I know they do a great job with our parks there.

Um, but I just hope we do better with our parks here in Mesa too, so it doesn't look so ghetto.

But yeah, I like this um renovation, and yeah, thank you so much.

Okay, with that, we'll move forward to item 4D.

Pardon.

There's a motion for item 4D.

Thank you, Miss Taylor.

Thank you.

Miss Duff.

All in favor say aye.

Or vote.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Reddy.

Motion passes.

All right.

The next item is item 5A.

I have a Noah James Markham wishes to speak, setting a public hearing date to review the proposed annual assessment through Mesa Town Center.

Noah, what do you have to say?

Oh, you know.

Aloha, um, mayor and to the rest of the city council.

So um, I yes, I hope that we do better with the uh Mesa Town Center and please improve it, because I just don't want Mesa to look ghetto.

So um, yeah, and that's it.

So thank you so much.

Okay, then uh 5A council.

I'll motion to approve item 5A by Vice Mayor, second by Miss Duff, please cast your vote.

Aye.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Reddia.

Motion passes.

Next one's item 6A.

6A is uh rezone real Salado 25, 3.1 acres located in the northwest corner of West Real Salado Parkway and North Cubs Way.

I have one person that wishes to speak, and that would be Noah James Markham.

Um aloha mayor again.

Um to the rest of the city council.

Um is a great one, even though I don't like the Cubs.

I like the Yankees in the Arizona Debecks.

Um, but yes, I like this for the Cubs.

So yes, approve it.

Thank you.

Thank you, Noah, for approving.

Um we will entertain an item to approve item six A.

Thank you, Miss Duff.

Thank you, Vice Mayor.

Please cast your vote.

Aye.

Thank you, Ms.

Redding.

Motion passes.

Next we'll move on to item 7B, RMCD dance studio, uh located southeast corner of East Warner Road and South Mountain Road.

I have one person who wishes to speak.

Noah James Markham.

Noah, you're five for five.

Yes, aloha uh Mark Freeman, uh mayor.

Um, and to the rest of the city council.

Um, I like this.

I love dancing, even though uh, you know, some people will call me a faggot, but it's all right.

Um, I like this, and I you know, we need to spread the joy in Mesa.

So yes, I like this one.

Thank you.

Well, again, Noah, thank you for approving that.

So with that, uh council entertained a motion to approve item 7B.

Thank you, Vice Mayor, thank you, Miss Duff.

Please cast your vote.

Mr.

Redia.

Aye.

Aye.

Okay.

Motion passes.

Thank you, everyone, for your voting.

Next, we'll move on to items from citizen present.

I have three speakers.

The first one is uh Reggie Braun.

Reggie, you're up first, followed by Peter, I think Dutra or Duter.

Dutra.

Reggie, uh Peter, you're on deck.

A few housekeeping things, uh, real quick.

Can you hear me okay?

Um I just want to say that we've been talking about AI and other things.

Just talk about our generation or what is now.

When we were growing up, we were told not to get in the car with a stranger these days.

That's what we do at Uber.

Back then we were told that what we do would be on our permanent record.

That's what the internet is today.

I'm again, of course, talking about the 287G fiduciary and economic impact.

The Gem model is currently operating a state of fiduciary fraud.

Where I'd narrative is contradiction to the city's own data.

Uh, one thing I'd like to talk about, people talk about illegality and crime.

So at a 14% drop in crime, we had a 287 G transfer double to 253 transfers.

So for 14% citywide shift in population for 512,000.

Right.

So it is 81% of transfers have no prior criminal history with MPD.

So shifting this program from a criminal removal to a labor liquidation.

You see, a Mesa has a brand.

This brand is used for anything from anybody moving here or anybody investing here.

Everyone's talking about international investment, whether it be for Defestrial otherwise, which is the most pertinent for you guys right now.

When they look at whether they're going to build here, they're gonna look at the basics, right?

How long will it take me from approval to actual building?

When will that building be complete?

Now they're gonna run into a few things that is well known for Arizona.

We have clay rich soil, which is difficult to uh to work.

There's a uh geological capex, which is called.

Now, when you get to these high labor situations, we see that the Latino workforce is 31%.

Uh they are also a majority of our sheet rock wallers.

And if anybody believes that if they're eliminated from the job force that they will be replaced by other people who will work for cheaper, that's just inaccurate.

We see that in 2024.

Pinot County tried to put in a task force.

As a result, in July uh January 9th, the Associated Build Association noticed a 22% drop in skilled trade.

Pinot County were we're intric intricately absorbed with them in our economics.

Our workers go back and forth.

Now, again, the highest incarceration incarceration and deportation is uh our people who have not had any criminal previous criminal record.

This means that we are removing from our economy people who work jobs in the tribute.

I've also covered expenses for the MOA, but in my few seconds here, I would like to talk about a failure to meet my PRR requests.

We're at 104 days for me for asking ethnicities, reasons for arrest, time for detention, and other anonymous information.

Thank you, Reggie.

Reggie, your time's up.

Thank you.

I just want to quote every day.

Your time's up.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Peter.

Thank you.

And followed after Peter is uh Noah James Markham.

Mr.

Mayor, Council members, thank you for this opportunity to speak about a very important matter.

Certain elements here in Mesa are attempting to have our 287G agreement with ICE rescinded.

This is a longstanding partnership signed in 2009 under the first Obama administration that is vital to the safety and security of our great city.

We have been subjected to example after example of the dangers, chaos, and lawlessness that non-cooperation presents to any city over the last year.

The simple fact that any reasonable person can understand is that we are a city, state, and nation of laws.

When any individual entity unilaterally decides to take these laws into its own hands, or worse still, to break these laws, the outcome is predictable and tragic.

We must cooperate with federal law enforcement, whether it be ICE, CBP, or FBI.

To do otherwise places our fellow citizens as well as the subjects in force of enforcement at grave risk.

Releasing criminals onto our streets and requiring ICE to track them down and attempt to detain them increases the risk for law enforcement, innocent bystanders, and the criminals themselves.

The orderly transfer of custody while still detained is a safer and more humane and avenue of enforcement.

On the other hand, there are example after example of cities who honor their 287G agreements, and their streets have remained peaceful, their citizens secure and safe, and their voters receiving exactly what they voted for.

To end our 287G agreement, we'll put Mesa at risk of experiencing a surge of federal law enforcement descending on our city as we have seen in the lawless and failed so-called sanctuary cities throughout this nation.

The simple fact is that a majority of voters in this city, state, and nation voted clearly and decisively for these laws to be enforced and for the federal government to take back our country, our country from the unconstitutional legal open border policies of the previous administration.

We must resist the very vocal minority that obeys only one rule to use vitriol, anger, hate, division, intimidation, and even violence to silence anyone who disagrees with them.

The majority of the citizens of Mesa of Arizona and of the United States are law-abiding, peaceful, hardworking people who just want to live in a city and country that respects the rule of law, is obedient to our great constitution, and places the welfare of their families and their fellow citizens above all else.

Therefore, I strongly urge you to resist any attempt to rescind our 287G agreement that, if successful, will only diminish this great city and place every single citizen in danger.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

The voters of Mesa, your constituents eagerly await your decision.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Uh Noah?

Noah James Markham, our last speaker.

Aloha uh mayor and to the rest of the city council.

Um, I am a strong Democrat.

And I know that I've said some things about my Congressman Greg Stanton, but I do agree that we do need the 287G agreement.

And I I'm very grateful that Greg Stanton, as a Democrat, has done his job as Congressman.

I'm very proud of that.

I'm not proud of the way that the Republicans have handled the 287G agreement.

We've had Barack Obama, President Biden.

They've done a great job with the ICE agreement.

But it's just the Republicans, and I could not, I, you know, Republicans can be Republicans.

If you want to stand on that side, you can.

But I am not a Republican, and I'm so thankful that the Democrats have done something with the ICE agreement right.

And then since I asked for this agreement, this continue, that I ask that we extend the light rail and Mesa far, please.

Also, there's another thing because there's pedophilia.

You know, when I go into a store and I take my shirt off, people have that weird audacity to think it's you know, a weird thing to do.

But I, you know, I think it should be appropriate.

It's hot outside.

I, you know, it's heat season.

Also, I know that people are talking about um the Palo District, too.

Um, and I am so excited.

I am so excited for this.

I'm so excited for the soccer stadium too.

Oh my goodness, I I love sports.

Um, and I, you know, I hear a lot about the woman stuff going on, so I am excited for women out there.

Also um, there's one more thing I would like to add.

Um, we should add more citizen presence.

And if you're Republican, you know, we do like freedom, right?

But I don't know if you will, because I don't know if you do like freedom.

So maybe should uh add more citizen presence.

So thank you so much.

Thank you, Noah.

Uh Council, that's all the items we have for tonight.

Is there a motion to adjourn?

Thank you, Vice Mayor, thank you, Miss Taylor.

All in favor say aye.

Mr.

Redia.

All right, we're adjourned.

Thank you, Dr.

City.