Okay, well, welcome to the Mesa City Council study session for December 8th, 2025.

All our council members are present.

As we know, item one is to review the agenda for tonight's council meeting.

A council is go through that, and if there are any questions or we'll be able to get you an answer, Mayor, um, just wanted to um say for the benefit of the council, item 8A at the request of the applicant, and they would like to that to be continued to the January 26th council meeting.

So to um have 8A for continuance to the January 26th council meeting.

Okay.

Um Ms.

Goforth, that's in your district.

So okay.

Vice Mayor.

Mayor, item uh nine.

Let's see, let me make sure I have the right one.

Nine B on the battery storage.

I'd like to make a motion to continue and with agreement of council, leave it up for consent.

I've had uh some pretty productive discussions with the interested parties related to this item.

And based on these discussions, I'm optimistic that ongoing negotiations between the parties could provide an equitable solution that both protects public health and safety and ensures that we have the power to grow our economy.

I support a recommendation of continuance to allow the involved parties additional time to collaborate, refine the proposal and present mutually acceptable resolution at our next meeting.

Yes, date forward.

My expectation is continued good faith effort of a resolution.

I want to be clear that while I seek a balanced approach, I will not compromise on public health and safety in the final determination.

Um what would be our next uh so we can leave it on consent on consent date.

Certain or for January 2026, and Mr.

Christopher can read it that way.

Okay, council's okay with that.

Mr.

Christopher have that.

Okay, thank you.

So those that were wishing to speak uh tonight at City Council may not want to or choose to come in January.

So hopefully we did waste your time, but uh things happen fast around here.

We're flexible.

Yeah.

We want to work it out.

All right, council.

Any other things?

I know uh in my I listened to study session last week and and there was discussion about uh thoughts on speed in the parks, uh e-bikes and between regular bikes, that's AD, an ordinance.

Um I know some concern was uh Miss Goldforth, you brought up concern about speed on a regular bike versus an e-bike and five miles an hour.

Was that uh was that resolved uh everybody's satisfaction, or do you want to move forward on the ordinance itself and then maybe make an amendment in the future?

Uh we have Haley and Andrea here.

Ask the many questions.

So why don't you maybe go over that scenario for us between e-bikes and in the parks and versus a regular bicycle with pedals?

Sure.

Mayor, council, in terms of the speed limits that we're proposing.

So we have proposed to keep the speed limit of 15 miles an hour on a shared use path.

That's in existence now, and add a speed limit of five miles per hour for e-bikes on park properties, which is the new addition as far as speed limits in the code revisions that we've presented.

And and council, you're okay with that.

I just want to make sure there was uh kind of some robust discussion on that.

Yeah, I uh I've also heard, Mayor, that uh a bill has been dropped in the legislature that is very similar to what the proposal is with five miles an hour.

I also know that senior staff set out a very junior staff member to ride an e-bike at five miles an hour to see if he'd fall off.

I met that fellow, he didn't fall off, which is very good news.

Um, but I find it funny that senior staff would send that all the way down.

But he was happy to do it.

It seems like five miles an hour was uh a manageable speed.

Um it wasn't wobbly, he said, but he would he said it did feel very slow, but I'm sure that the walkers and joggers would appreciate that, and I think that's that's reasonable at this time.

I also feel that we can always address this in the coming months if we have to make amendments to it.

Yeah.

Counsel, Mr.

Adams.

Oh, go ahead.

Well, I was gonna say since I was one of the ones that talked about it.

I I still find five miles a little slow because it you can actually go more than five miles on a regular bike.

It seems a little overly restrictive.

But I understand they're heavy, they're a little bit more dangerous, I guess, if they hit you than any bike, I mean, than a regular bike, but um I imagine like anything, you know, we this is maybe not the end of the story.

If this is, you know, not a right.

If it if in the future we find that it it just isn't um reasonable to ask uh any bike to go slower than a regular bike, maybe we can change it.

But so I don't have any further issues with it at this time.

Okay.

Thank you.

Um I I guess you know, this is this is an interesting issue to me because I wonder how we're gonna enforce it.

You know, this is in my opinion.

I'm not a professional law enforcement officer, but it just seems to me this is an enforcement nightmare.

Um we don't pursue young people on these vehicles because we we don't want them to run and we don't want them to injure themselves when they run.

Um do we chase them with a drone?

Do we have motor officers set up with radar?

I doubt it.

So while I recognize that we need to put some something in place, it has to be an enforcement nightmare.

If someone disagrees with me, I'd like to know how we're going to enforce this, or are we simply doing this so that we have some standard in place?

Because I think our law enforcement resources can be better applied and used in more important areas than this, that I just don't see how you enforce it.

I don't want to get into a large discussion about this here because we could probably talk about it for a long time.

But my opinion is this is unenforceable.

And I I don't oppose the numbers.

I think uh people that are talking about 20 miles an hour for e-bikes in a park.

I think that's that's a little bit much.

Um but that's my concern with it.

I don't know how you enforce this.

Mayor and council.

To start out with it would be educational.

If we got complaints at a specific park, we would deploy resources and go out and our our LIDAR guns can detect at five miles an hour.

So if there was a problem, 10-15 miles an hour, we would go out and we would stop those that we couldn't have an educational contact with them to explain the law and the dangers of going above and beyond the posted speed limit in the park.

But it would be challenging to go out and deploy resources unless we had the specific complaints for specific parks.

That's all I think.

Yeah.

Mayor and I I could say that conversation was also had inside public safety meeting, and there are a few things.

One, it's not just enforcing speed, like how you're gonna support for speed.

We can't enforce speed on every street, too.

That's you have to dedicate resources to that.

But there are opportunities to focus some of that enforcement effort on those who are causing damage to our park and holding them accountable, and I think that's a big part of what's here.

Also, this goes to a discussion of reconstituting and upgrading our park ranger program that's being worked on currently, and once that's done.

I think we have opportunities to utilize that those resources to do the enforcement, not so much uh you know, police officers.

So there are some opportunities, but again, we're never gonna catch everybody at that, nor do I really want.

But we're not gonna catch everybody, but we do want to have something, uh, some clarity in place on what the definitions are, keep people as safe as possible, enforce where we have to um where it's where it's necessary to protect our property and and the public health and safety.

So I think it's a it's a step forward, but it's something we're gonna have to continue to work on.

This uh and the education piece, I think, is is the biggest component of what we're adopting.

I just have one thing I want to reiterate because I had a few residents reach out over the weekend and they asked me, they want to make sure that we don't we're not just gonna have police officers stationed at parks waiting to see who goes over five miles an hour, who doesn't have a bike helmet on, or who might be under the age of 16, because obviously they're thinking about the cost of that officer just kind of hanging out and waiting.

Mayor and council member that would not be our plan to station officers at specific parks if we received a complaint for speed and criminal damage then we could go out and address that but not just to have officers hiding behind trees doing uh light art for five miles an hour.

That's great thanks it's very helpful.

Ms.

Duff yes um I had a constituent I think went to everybody an email on concern about on the shared use paths that we would maybe consider a higher um speed you're going from 15 miles per hour to 20 miles per hour the reason stated is just because um e-bikes are being often used for commute as a commuter as a means of transportation um and to consider uh having that as a faster rate uh higher speed in order to for travel time I don't know what other cities are doing what is considered safe I just wanted to bring that up if there was any thoughts or discussion around that mayor council member duff I we have let me find the right slide here a little bit of information about what other cities are doing uh the 15 miles per hour limit thanks is not new and so we weren't proposing to change that one way or the other um and I think the condition of this on shared use paths is different than being on a bike lane or uh the roadway itself and so that is anything else you want to add but the the shared use paths I think are made for that slower speed than it than a roadway is and that's um a standard like if you went on shared use path and Tempe would be 15 is that what you're saying I believe it is for the cities that have I guess it doesn't show it on here the the speed limit um mayor council member duff we did not go into that level of comparison uh as far as looking at speed limits on the shared use paths so that is something that we can go back and evaluate and conduct that same city comparison looking at speed limits on the shared use paths um but then as Vice Mayor Summers mentioned earlier that Senate bill that's been introduced also discusses a 15 mile per hour speed limit on shared use paths with a five mile per hour speed limit if you're passing a person um so even though that's just been introduced it's just helping us see that we we seem to be in line with with where the state seems to be going with this potentially yeah I would hope overall however it comes around I don't know if it's the bill has made it out of committee or it was just um introduced but um just the consistency because as people are taking the pathways maybe from Mesa to Tempe Phoenix and such like that that it's a uniform um regulation of what's expected on we don't want to have to sign our shared use paths it should be uh I just a consistency so council member duff um and and mayor I we can do that research uh I know 15 miles an hour is it's pretty much the the national standard I don't I don't know what our uh neighboring cities are are are doing is as far as it what's in their ordinance but uh 15 miles an hour is is the standard is the standards so Haley when I'm hearing that the state legislature might be taking away local control for speed limits on different things I didn't say that no I said I said that that's a that's a warning shot over the bell mayor no comment that's probably wise of you let me take care of that okay that's I think all that's all I have thank you on that um I I as I listened on 6B was the transit oriented development plan and I know that Miss Taylor had asked for a continuation so that she could potentially learn a little bit more on that.

Was there any other discussion on that Ms.

Taylor and I mean what I want to know on timelines uh who talked about the TOD Rachel and Mary is if we did a continuation for 30 days would that hinder the process at all I think you mentioned in February or March some you had to have certain things done.

Yes Mayor so we have to have all of our final paperwork submitted to Phoenix by the end of February to close out the grant so we would need some some leeway to get that all processed beforehand but that is kind of the the ultimate timing of it.

But that is kind of the ultimate timing of it.

So Mayor, we could we could continue this until January then and allow uh councilmember Taylor more time to be able to digest the information.

That's that's not a problem, then we can agendize it.

Would Rachel would it need to be the first or second um meeting in January uh to meet those timelines?

Um I think it could probably be either uh sorry Mr.

Butler, if we could the first meeting would be best because that paperwork does take some time and it's not just us, we have to work with Phoenix on that.

Okay, so there's it's a lot of back and forth.

So the first one would be better if we're gonna continue it to January.

Right, and I know that's a little more than 30 days, and and staff would be available to answering that.

That's plenty of time for me to ask a lot of questions.

Just get a good grasp on it so that when I'm also talking about this with the constituents from district two, I I'm just having more informed answers to give them.

I don't feel like I'm up to par on that one yet.

So thank you for understanding.

Council, we okay with that?

Principally, I'm not just because new council members are you know, it's part of the role, right?

We get new council members.

This is what we do, and we we don't do this.

This plan has been in place and ongoing for two years, and is it's not like it was just introduced.

Um it's it's a long ongoing plan, and I think I don't know.

I think we're setting ourselves up for a lot of other delays because it's new.

Just I I don't know.

We we get new council members, it's just part of the role.

What is your concern with it being delayed just slightly so that I can read up on it more?

I mean, they did communicate.

Number one is the bureaucracy of delay and how long it takes for us to get things.

Number two is the amount of time that's gonna be stressed on them.

Number three, every time we get a new council member, we're gonna ask if it's okay that we take time.

We're gonna take our agendas apart according to whatever you would like more time to study because you're new, and the principle is when you're coming into a possible council role, there is an expected amount of study going on before you come in.

I don't know if it's going to I just hate to put the pressure on on council on the staff, and we have never done this before with any council change that we took an ongoing project that's been on you know multiple years or whatever, and put a stall on it because someone was new.

I'm not stalling the project, I'm just asking for time to review it more.

I'm not saying that I'm not gonna vote on it, it's just an opportunity for me to get up to speed so I can have more informed answers for my district.

Yes, and they said that they could do it by that first meeting in January.

I don't think we're necessarily setting a precedent for the future for all council members to do this all the time.

Um it's just a request, and I am lobbying my fellow council members to understand, be willing to be flexible on that.

We've all been new.

We've all been you have to get up to speed, you have to, whatever.

This is and this is a very extensive plan that has been in worked on for two years.

Mayor.

You were a constituent during the two years.

Yeah, I was, and I didn't have the education that I would like to have had while I was researching city plans.

So this is one that's quite extensive, and I would like some more time to have more educated answers for my my district because I have people that are asking me about that.

And it doesn't affect your district, but they still have the right to know because it can impact them.

Well, they've had two years also.

They aren't just introduced to this because you're on council.

No, but they become more aware of things that we just got as okay, Vice Mayor.

You know, I I understand the concern with that, and and but I have utmost confidence that staff can get this done.

I think they can also do some of the work along the line.

It doesn't have to dead stop today to get done.

I think this is just time for a newest council member to get up to speed.

The way this council member came on is a little different than the rest of us.

When I was elected, no, hold on.

I I get it, but when I took office, I was elected what it was uh August.

1980 1970.

Thanks, Alicia.

I meant this time.

Touche.

It was uh but that was a nice shot.

That was good.

I mean, it was it was in August, so there's a long runway for that.

Even if it was in November, there's at least two months to go over.

The first time I was elected back in 1792, I took office, I took office in in uh June, and the worst thing was trying to vote on a budget.

And um to to make a mistake on that is unreasonable.

I as long as it's date certain and we can meet our timelines for getting this forward, because I've I've made my comments of the on the items that I think are really good in this plan.

Uh to just allow her a little bit more time uh isn't gonna hurt anything.

Staff can continue to work on it and and tee it up for success.

So I don't see an issue really.

I prefer that it stay on the consent agenda, and then if a council member wishes to pull it off, they can will vote individually.

But for right now, I listening to Rachel and Mary, there's no problem in uh the continuance till the 12th, I believe.

Did you say January?

Yeah, okay.

Yes, sir.

So I'd encourage Ms.

Taylor to get with staff and have your one-on-ones and come up to speed.

So we'll see how the if it stays on the consent or not.

All right.

With that, uh council, any other questions?

I I don't have a question.

I just wanted to make a comment, and I'm gonna have Scott kind of bolster me here.

We have a lot of code updates.

Uh it's agenda item 11.

And they're fairly extensive.

And I was just hoping maybe you could elaborate um for those who are watching and listening, why we're looking to have all of these updated and how this is something that's been essentially requested by our developers.

Yeah, uh, Mayor and Councilmember Taylor, thank you.

Yes, we uh items 11A through J, and then really uh on onto 12A with the fire code regulations right represent uh staff updating uh those codes to reflect the latest in from the international um I'm I'm going to Yeah, International Building Code Commission and and others, and so this is something that we've worked collaboratively with the development community on, and John can uh come up and and talk a little bit about that.

But this has been a collaborative effort, they've been involved.

This is to bring us into conformity with other communities uh in the region, which is very important for the consistency that the development community needs in order to have move their projects forward.

And so um with that, um Nana, would you um like to make some comments about the collaborative effort on this?

Yeah, may I consult my battery?

This is something that we do the last time this was approved was 2018.

So over time, the international building code, we do update uh technology changes, and also as we evaluate buildings and facilities to see where there's discrepancy or where we can actually improve the efficiency of that.

So this has been an extensive one whole year where we've John has uh now let him speak, has engaged the development community.

We've had a lot of neighborhood meetings, and as you can see, we do have support of all the major stakeholder, so without our pass on to John.

Sure.

Mayor Council.

As mentioned, the codes are updated every three years, like the International Code Council.

Three years is kind of a quick moving target for the development community, and most of the valley at this point is on a six-year cycle, and this keeps us in step with the vast majority of the valley at this point.

So it also addresses a lot of new technologies.

One of the examples, I know we've been talking about the best systems quite a bit.

Let's not it's an example.

Um it it addresses the the safety from a fire code perspective, and so that that's new to the 2024 code that we're looking to adopt.

So it really helps Mesa stay up to date with the latest safety features.

Okay, so we're not stifling the concern was are we stifling development by putting all these codes in place?

Are we making it harder for our manufacturers to accomplish up upgrades to some of their buildings?

And I wanted to say no, I think it's good, but this is quite a bit of information, so that's why I'm turning to you to help.

And it is it is a lot of information because it's an entire family of codes.

It's the building code, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, pool, fire.

So it's it's it's that's what makes it so voluminous, and why it's um, I think A through S on the It's a lot.

And if I may bear the just so for somebody who also did the fire service a little bit, having that consistency across communities makes it easier for developers.

So rather they don't have to dig into our codes to figure out you know what we have to do here.

We are uh we keep that fairly standard.

Okay, yeah.

I mean, there might be a few things different, but it's on the fringes.

We're standardizing, we're just meeting, we're kind of going across the board, it's not Mesa specific.

Correct.

Great.

We we have local amendments, but it keeps it smaller than if we were to do everything.

Everything's nuanced and okay.

Yeah, so so in fact, it instead of it being a detriment.

This is it's pro-business in order to bring that uniformity and to help streamline this within the industry, especially after the extensive stakeholder process that we've had the buy-in from all the major stakeholder uh groups that are involved in this as well.

So this will this take effect in 2026 or like pretty much immediately.

We'll take effect in I think it becomes 30 days.

30 days.

Yeah.

So the beginning of January.

And we have some flexibility timeline for projects that are already in flight.

Okay.

Wouldn't apply to them if they've already applied for a permit.

Okay, that's what's gonna be my next.

Thank you for answering that question.

Thank you, gentlemen.

That was very helpful.

Mr.

Edward.

I I could maybe add little information here that might be helpful.

Back in the 90s, sometime I served on an entity called the uh plumbing code commission.

It was a state commission.

And we dealt with updates in uh it was the IBC, and there was another code in place at the time, but what I learned at that time is these are standard updates that occur in the various codes, plumbing, um uh electrical um structural and so forth that are they're very common to have these updated, and they do every three years now, but most cities uh to my experience do it on a six-year cycle.

So my experience with these updates go back to the 90s, and and to my knowledge, nothing has changed in that time other than uh the the other code went away, and now we use the IBC.

So that that's my experience if that's helpful.

Thank you.

Yeah, he just dated himself, but that's okay.

The ISO rating for the city.

The insurance service office.

Um they they score the building code of and fire code addition very heavily, and fire is planning to go through the uh evaluation process in January.

Good point.

That's a good point.

Thank you.

That's uh insurance rates.

Yeah, they're insurance.

I have no more questions.

Okay.

Council, any other questions.

With that, I'll entertain a uh motion to uh acknowledge receipt of board minutes as item two.

Is there a motion to do that?

Thank you, Mr.

Adams.

Mr.

Reddy, all in favor say aye.

Okay, motion passes unanimously.

Next is Curdy Vanson conference has attended.

Council members, do you have anything you wish to share?

Vice Mayor?

Yeah, uh you're not allowed to leave town anymore.

You can go along.

But we've had some pretty exciting things happen uh throughout Mesa.

One uh I had the opportunity to speak on your behalf at the Mesa Business Builder Luncheon.

Heard from 22 small businesses that are utilizing the resources there.

Uh pretty exciting.

Um information I found out is launch point, which we opened uh I think in 2011, if memory serves.

Uh has since graduated 70 companies, raised 325 million in in uh private venture capital.

So that was great to hear.

Uh strive pharmacy broke ground at the hub 202.

Strive is a started out as a small business in Gilbert.

Uh we stole them, they came here, and now they're gonna open their corporate headquarters uh in district six, so they'll eventually ramp up to 500 jobs.

Hub 202 was a former uh industrial spec space, so I'm really happy that we are filling the spec space with some quality jobs.

Uh we graduated 37 new firefighters for the East Valley and the Regional Training Academy.

Uh that included Mesa, Casa Grande, Florence, and Salt River.

19 of those firefighters are uh Mesa firefighters, so that is good news as well.

You did say Mesa firefighters.

Mesa firefighters and they write on white trucks.

And they do write on white trucks.

I seem sad about that, but uh that's I that's an internal problem for them to keep pushing.

And uh yeah, here we go with the firefighter humor.

Not great humor, but it's firefighter humor.

Uh finally, uh Gateway Library has finally opened uh to some grand success.

We assigned this the uh city fire marshal to another part of the city so we could get everybody in the building.

Uh regular hours for the library started today, so you can look those up online.

The numbers I heard, uh the count was 6,340 visitors, and they are still counting how many new library cards they've issued.

They are over a thousand right now.

So it was it's a tremendous success.

Thank you.

Anyone else uh I attended a um City of Mesa projects presentations at Mesa Academy for Advanced Studies, which is a Mesa Public School in District 5, and I've done it three years in a row now, and and the the students there are so impressive.

They take a real world city problem, they research it, and they come up with a practical solution and then present on it, and they present to the school and to some community members that come in.

I used to be a judge, they got rid of that, so I don't know if that's related at all.

But anyway, um they presented and and very impressive.

The issues they choose are relevant, and um some of the solutions are very creative.

So I got a few ideas to bring back.

Yeah.

And then um I think the three of us were at the um 2025-2 Firefighter Recruit Academy, which is always an impressive site.

Um there, I think we're 37 recruits, and um they graduated.

Congratulations to them and their families.

It was a packed house, and uh they went through a lot, and and I can't wait to to see the new recruits and what they're gonna do and in service to our community.

So 19 have to write on a white fire truck, but miss Dubbs.

Did you have some?

Um I wanted to mention that um Councilmember Goldforth and I went to the Arizona Lodging and Tourism Association awards uh luncheon on I think that was Friday.

And Megan from Legacy Park, is that where we call the name of the project?

She was recognized as an innovative leader.

So I want to congratulate her and all the work that she's doing for Legacy Park.

Yeah.

Um Saturday, I um read a book to children at the book festival right here.

Uh hosted the festival around the Christmas tree on here on McDonald's is a very successful book festival, lots of fun.

And I think that's about it.

Thank you.

Mr.

Adams, I know you went to a parade.

Well, I went to a parade in in Lehigh, and it was a blast.

The uh the Lehigh holiday Christmas light parade.

And uh, and uh thank you for that opportunity uh to uh to uh participate uh in your stead.

Uh we want you back next year.

Did you drive a tractor?

They wouldn't let me.

No, they wouldn't let me.

I I figured you're not certified for that.

I asked for a horse, and one was not provided either, but uh it was a lot of fun.

And uh the the thing I did want to also report on is this morning uh my uh district coordinator Tanya Morgan and I uh took a tour of the real-time crime center, and um happy to report that uh from my previous tour in January or February, we're now uh 247 365 staffed, and uh I want to just uh commend uh former Chief Cost for standing that up and uh current Chief Butler for seeing to it that uh real-time crime center has the the resources it needs.

It is an amazing crime fighting tool and an amazing resource multiplier um that that is just uh uh uh technology at its finest.

So very impressive, very happy to see that uh we're providing the support to make that that support for the officers on the street available.

So thank you, sir.

Mr.

Redia.

One uh one highlight uh every year we uh have our toy drive that benefits Banner Desert Um Hospital on uh Dobson and Southern.

So we've collected uh quite a bit of resources and toys so far, so the last day tomorrow, uh, and we'll be delivering on Wednesday uh uh big truckload of toys to fill out the the closet uh at Banner Desert for uh children that go through surgeries there, they're able to then uh pick up a toy from their uh toy closet.

So uh it's uh it's always great to be able to uh do this every year, and this is our uh eighth year now uh that I've been on on the council, and then my predecessors as well.

So uh great to uh work with Banner Desert and multiple corporations and residents that give uh toys uh during this time.

Well, thank you, council, for all you do.

I just want to add that uh I want to thank Jay O'Donnell and her team today.

We had she had an economic development luncheon uh for business leaders here in at the Delta.

It was a really good time, Mr.

Butler and I attended, and uh we talked about economic development opportunities in our city and how we can progress with that.

So with that, uh Mr.

Butler, can you share schedule of future meetings?

Mayor Council, uh, some good news because after tonight's council meeting, you'll officially go into your winter break.

And so our next uh convening back uh at this body will be on Thursday, January the 8th for SETI session at 7:30 a.m.

So I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a happy Hanukkah and enjoy some some time away over the next few weeks.

And a new year included, too.

And a happy new year.

All right.

Thank you.

Thank you, Vice Mayor.

Ms.

Goforth, all in favor say aye.

Aye.

Okay, we're gonna move to upstairs.