Well, good morning, everyone.

Let's go ahead and start our study session.

Hope everybody's having a great morning visiting and we call it networking this morning.

Welcome to our Mesa City Council study session for January 15th, 2026.

All council members are present.

With that, we're going to start with item one.

A is a presentation on proposed programs and funding options to support redevelopment priorities and initiatives.

That's going to be by Jeff and Jeff.

Okay.

Angelica and Jay and Nana as needed.

We got a challenge.

Probably Jeff, you're starting it out.

McVay or Robin.

Yes, sir.

Mayor.

Mayor, Council, good morning.

Jeff McVay, manager of urban transformation.

For the past two years, uh Council has identified redevelopment as a key strategic priority of the city.

During that time, uh the core team that's represented here today, led by Mr.

Robbins and supported with by by Nana and Jay and their teams.

Um I want to specifically recognize Amanda Elliott, Rachel Phillips, and Mazincox for the for the hard work that they do to support us in this effort.

Um but we have been working diligently for the past couple of years and are pleased to be able to come to you and present a preliminary recommendations for a redevelopment toolkit.

That not only have we been working with this core team and and uh and the staff supporting us, but this has been an effort that's been across the entire city.

We've worked with almost every department in the city because the redevelopment crosses every boundary that we work with.

Well, we before we get into the to the actual redevelopment program, um we we kind of want to remind the council and set the stage.

We say it often, but uh we live we live and work in an regulatory environment that provides a limited I heard my name.

That provides limited um economic development and redevelopment tools that are available.

So what we've done over the course of the past year is we've we've gone and we've looked at best practices across the state, across the nation, and we threw all these ideas into a hopper.

Go ahead and to the next one.

Um as we presented back in in June 2025, we we gave you a sense of the framework in which we were gonna look.

So with all those tools into the hopper, we we then um started looking at the potential tools.

We um took created a short list based off of what are feasible, what meets our city's unique needs, and and which will have we believe the greatest impact for uh affecting the redevelopment.

Once we had that short list, then we put it into uh the next layer of of review and we started building them out.

Umine design terms, we built them out to a 30% um level.

Um that gave us the ability to review them against legal and and budgetary considerations.

So that what we're gonna present today, we feel very confident that with council's direction to move forward that we can take these to the to the full development and be able to come back to council with with fully baked toolkits that are budgetarily and legally realistic to implement in the city.

Um, but before we go on to present our neck our actual recommendations on the redevelopment programs, we do want to talk a little bit about why.

What is the reason why we think redevelopment and creating this program is important?

Mr.

Robinson.

Yeah, uh Mayor Council, it's great to be with you today.

Um we have looked across the United States and and looked at many of the case studies, and we have a lot of history to look back on of the rise and fall of some of the great cities.

And when we examine those case studies, there are clear patterns that stand out about why um, whether it's an entire city or part of the city um goes into decline and why it is revitalized.

And um, one thing that we often see in these case studies is that there's an economic shock that happens, an industry moves out, or sometimes it's just steady, slow decline without any type of intervention and without any type of intervention, um, it will slowly slip into a state of what we call disinvestment.

And we use the term sometimes slum and blight to talk about disinvestment.

Um you can think of those as being synonymous terms, but um slum and blight is when we have um a condition where deteriorated or underperforming properties properties negatively affect um safety, health, quality of life, and the economic vitality of an area.

And the problem is is that when communities start slipping into this stage, it creates a negative reinforcing cycle that just gets worse and worse until there's an intervention, and that's what we're here to talk with you about today.

Whether it's from the private sector, the public sector, or often a combination of the two, cities can make tactical interventions to mitigate the decline of communities, and then to make interventions to pull communities out of deep disinvestment.

Another thing that we see in the national case studies when cities don't engage is that they are accepting a cost, but they're accepting it in a different place.

So we see that distressed properties they create an impact on the public finances.

We see that through code compliance, legal processes, these are hearings, liens, inspections, all of that takes staff time.

This can also be seen, especially with vacant properties where we have a higher calls for fire for police service, and then directly there is an impact to the tax base in lower assessed values, lost sales tax revenues, taxes that are delinquent, and generally that area then becomes harder to market.

We'll say this maybe a few times in the presentation, but when we look at decline and disinvestment, it doesn't stay in a neat little box.

It tends to spread.

To date, our costs exceed over $30,000, and we anticipate this is going to continue to be an ongoing expense for the city.

And so we continue to have that public financial burden even on this property where we have a property owner who indicates a willingness to fix it and reopen it, but um they've been in the permit process for over two years, and it's not for a lack of staff not trying to work with them.

They file an application and then they just don't proceed with a resubmital and complete to complete their permit approvals.

Um so this is a challenging property for us.

Mayor question.

Mr.

Adams, then vice mayor.

Oh, vice mayor can go.

Oh, go ahead.

Oh, okay.

I'm curious on the on the criminal citations.

Are these misdemeanors or are these felonies?

These are misdemeanors.

Okay, I understand why we don't extradit.

I would say if it was that they were felonies, I'd go ahead and extra dynamic because that would get somebody's attention really fast.

Do we not have a process of condemnation?

Um, council member Summers, the uh one of the options that we started going down one of the roads.

Using all of the tools available to us is um as part of the abatement program.

We have been um sending invoices to the property owner for the expenses that we have incurred.

The property owner has paid some of those expenses, but in about the last six to nine months, we have not received any additional funds from the property owner.

So we started leaning the property.

Um we had a discussion with our city attorney's office about two weeks ago, and the next step is for us to look at um the possibility of foreclosure on those liens.

So we are exploring that option.

Okay, so we're heading down that path.

Yes.

Thank you.

Go ahead.

Uh so mayor council, we're about to jump into the portion of the presentation where we we go through the different tools.

But before we do, you're gonna see some icons that are on each of the tool slides.

And I want to walk through what these mean.

So as the core team, as we met and discussed what the right strategy was for our city and our unique needs, we began to coalesce around uh three stakeholder groups that we wanted and and felt that were very important to support in order to truly have effective comprehensive redevelopment, and that is small businesses, which is our blue icon, property owners, our red icon, and then uh developers, which is our orange.

And so these tools, they are um intended for different groups, but we have something for everybody because when we lift one of these stakeholder groups, there's a positive reinforcement that lifts all of them, and we we think that that is the the ticket for what's gonna work and truly elevate Mesa.

So we'll move into our our tools.

Um in redevelopment, uh we we do think in terms of incentives, but often one of the most powerful things that we can do is just to have great information, and and one way to do that is to understand where we have vacant properties and to understand why they are vacant.

Um I'm gonna hand this back to Angelica to talk about how vacant property registration can assist us in the important component of code and for uh compliance.

Thank you, Jeff.

So, yes, um, one of the tools that we are proposing is it uh to establish a vacant property registration process.

What this would do, it would allow property owners to proactively register their properties.

What that does for us is allow us to have the information as to who they want us to contact for any maintenance concerns or issues that we um that are brought to our attention.

Um it'll allow us to get a hold of somebody a lot faster to be able to notify them when there is an issue at their property.

Um, in addition to that, we'd be able to share that information with um the staff in the police department who also often responds to calls for service um at vacant properties.

Um but we really see this tool as helping us reduce the administrative burden of trying to track people down.

Um and it would also support uh Mesa's trespass enforcement program, and it would just really help us work with the redevelopment office because one of the um tools that they'd be able to do along with this is be able to reach out to property owners to find out why their property is vacant, if they have a tenant that is um that they're working with to occupy the building, um, but if they don't, then um either the redevelopment office or economic development office can help this property owner find a tenant for their property.

Mr.

Ford.

I uh uh the majority of the reasons help us as the city.

So you you named a couple, but why would a business owner want to do this, want to register?

I mean, what are the advantages to them, right?

Because that's gonna be the I mean that's gonna be the challenge, right?

Is getting people to want to register, and I think you're gonna get some pushback unless you have a really compelling reason as to why they should come to the city and do that.

So, mayor.

I can jump in there quick too, Angelica.

So uh council member go forth.

One of the uh things that we did with all these tools is that we did extensive interviews and research with comparative cities, and there's three cities that we look deeply to in um in Arizona that have this program, one of them is Phoenix.

We sat down with their team, we talked with them about um we we had the same questions is how does this work?

Is it is it effective?

Does anybody sign up?

And they're having um pretty good success with this, and to your point, one of the reasons why this is good for business owners is that um they ask the property owners why is your property vacant?

What's your intent with it?

And so if they say, Oh well, I'd like to get this thing filled, I'm I'm just struggling because of XYZ, or um, we'll get to a little later in the presentation.

Maybe there is um some component of the property that's just they can't, they don't have the funding to fix up, and it's just this one piece that would unlock the property.

Well, now their economic development team or or whoever that may be gets a referral and says, okay, we now have a property.

We know uh that they want to work with us, we've got the relationship, and as their teams are doing business retention and expansion around the city, and they're meeting different businesses that are looking for spaces to expand or to locate in in their city, they now have this great property, they understand it, and they're able to make connections.

And so that's great.

The property owner, if their intent is to fill it as soon as possible, they're getting these great referrals from the city.

Um now we don't step into those negotiations, that's not our role, but by making those inner introductions and connecting people, that can lead to them being able to then lease up their property.

Um, if it's a code enforcement issue that's preventing them from doing it, we they can work to resolve that.

But it's about getting rid of the barriers to unlock the property for for private use again.

And and I think this is great, and I'm not and and I think but I just I want to understand as we go along what's in it for us because now we've just become their broker, right?

We're providing public brokerage services a little bit.

I'm not I'm not necessarily saying I disagree, you know, and I'd like to hear the rest of the presentation, but I certainly hope in this exchange, the city, other than just we clean up light, we really get something in exchange for the the help we're providing, you know, the the these property owners that should be doing that anyway.

Just not to not to go dark at the beginning, but that just is a thought.

I'm too late.

We have another question.

Yeah, I'm done.

Ms.

Taylor.

Thank you.

Uh so I did think of one thing.

Well, have you worked with any you said you've called surrounding cities?

Have you worked with any cities in these conversations that have had a lot of properties that are registered under multiple LLCs?

So, you know, this LLC owns this one, and this is the one that bought the property, and you it how do they track down a person other than the I mean the county assessor site is not gonna be very helpful in that instance, or they're bought under trusts or the trusts own the LLC and the LC bought the property.

What does that look like?

So, Councilmember Taylor.

Um we uh we often encounter that in co-compliance.

When we're looking for um a property owner, we do we start out with the county assessor's records.

We also have access to utility records that oftentimes is very helpful.

But um when we do have an LLC, we do end up uh doing a lot of research with the um Arizona Corporation Commission to find a statutory agent.

Um unfortunately there are those circumstances where an LLC has another L C as their stat agent, and um when those um LLCs are registered in the state of Wyoming or other states where they're not required to provide as much public information, it is a challenge for us.

Um of the uh tools that we're starting to work with in our office recently, just as of this month, is um contacting a um title company to request a title search.

It is costly and it is expensive for us, but it is something it's another tool that we're starting to use to explore to see if that will allow us to find who the responsible party is of of a specific property.

Thank you.

Um yes, uh and thank you for your work, Jeff.

I've worked with him on a few projects in which there's a problem in developing or using a property, and he's looking at it from all angles and sometimes making introductions and things unlock.

So the idea uh of using these tools is to prosper in area, economic lifting up our area.

It's not a matter of enforcement, of course, we have enforcement, but as we know enforcement on its own, it's limited, and it is not really unlocking the barriers.

I don't want to talk about this particular one on Power Road, but on a lot of other properties is just there's something they can't work through and they get distracted.

And and talking to Jeff has been able to unlock it to move forward.

And then one improvement leads to another and another.

So they these are tools to really help us lift our uh city.

I follow um a social thing called revitalize or die.

And the the whole premise of this uh the writings of it are like all these little things of just cleaning and picking up and the code and uh doing these things to show pride and love of the city is what turns things around.

It doesn't have to be huge, is these little lifts are turning block by block.

But when you leave them and they they just you know uh on top of one problem brings to another, another, another, and before you know it, you lose sections of your city.

But anyway, going back to my question, um, is there a timeline for vacant after is vacant?

90 days, you know, 180, uh what kind of registration?

Because turnover, there is a natural turnover from uh tenant leaving the next one coming in.

Um, and we don't want to get into that because that's kind of a natural course.

Uh mayor, council member Duff, um, I believe Phoenix's is 30 days, but I'm gonna uh lead with a caveat.

Maybe we should have had to write it the first slide.

Um we do have the kind of the 30% design that that uh Mr.

McVay said, and so um part of our purpose today is to get an indication from you if we're heading the right direction, if you want us to advance these tools, and then we'll we'll go in.

And so uh when we come back to you, that that input, your thoughts on this, uh that's very helpful for us.

But we will come back to council with a um we'll call it a 90%, you know, using engineering terms again, about 90% design, and then we'll be able to flesh out those details and talk about you know how how are they notified, how much time do they have?

Um other cities, they do have um different fines.

If if there is not uh compliance, we can talk about that's appropriate for Mesa or not.

Our situation is gonna be different.

Um, but uh in terms of what ours looks like yet, I I don't have all those details, but I think to your question, um I believe it's 30 days, so to reduce that natural transition time, and we're not getting people having to register their properties when they know they've got a tenant going in.

We're really looking at properties that have an issue that's preventing the the private sector from working normally and where an intervention may be required.

That's that's our goal.

Let's hear the rest of the presentation.

Okay.

Well, you covers some of our questions too.

One of the uh additional tools that we are proposing here today is a code compliance assistance program.

What this program would allow us to do is to work with small business owners and property owners to provide assistance for publicly visible code compliance issues.

What I envision is um and based on what we're experiencing is we'll have we'll notify a property owner and a business owner of a violation on the property with um things that are big ticket items like their pavement.

Their pavement starts having potholes, it needs uh maintenance, it needs to be uh milled and and and resurfaced.

That that's a big ticket item.

And so notifying a property owner that they have this violation on their property, typical process gives them 14 days to respond.

We understand that that is not something that is going to be resolved in 14 days.

So what we do is we make contact with uh the responsible party, have a conversation with them about we understand this is a big ticket item, we understand it's gonna take time, um, and we work with them.

Oftentimes we'll um give them a one month to three month extension just to start to show progress.

What we anticipate within that one to three months is that they've reached out to different contractors to get estimates on what it's going to cost so that they realistically know what type of financial burden they're going to have.

Um and then from there we continue to work with them to provide extensions to allow them to um slowly start having the funds available to come into compliance.

But to be honest with you, that is a big burden on a small business owner.

So one of the that's just one example, but that is um what we anticipate that this um assistance program could help with with things like pavement restoration, landscaping on a property, irrigation, um, walls and fences that are deteriorated.

Um so any visible sign of distress we know on a property will attract crime and disorder, and that's what we're trying to avoid by partnering with them to help provide them some assistance.

Um we believe that this will help accelerate compliance in some situations, just because if we are able to assist them with some of that costs, um, it will minimize displacement and disruption on the business as well.

Any questions?

So what is the is that pretty significant?

How is that different from the process now?

You mentioned a couple of things, but council member go forth.

At this time, we will give them a notice and they're financially responsible for uh bringing their property into compliance with code with whatever the violation is.

Under this program, we would provide assistance.

Financial assistance.

Okay.

We obviously, as Jeff indicated earlier, we're only about 30.

We have the ideas here.

We don't have the specifics.

We have thrown out ideas that it could be a uh something as high as a 50-50 match.

It could be a 70-30.

The details are still to be worked out depending on the um comments that we hear today.

And this is something you've seen in other cities.

Okay.

And how and are they pretty successful and then successful recouping?

Do you recoup that money?

So um the the main I'll give a few examples of council member.

So um when we looked at this program and how it's working in other communities, the main intent is to look for um particular like distress conditions that keep cropping up.

So um imagine we have a lot of we have a lot of signs, old signs, and you can go out, you can paint the sign, it's still legal non-conforming, it's ugly, they never put a panel in it.

Sometimes coming in saying, look, we want to incentivize you to take this thing down and there and say, well, I don't have any signage then.

Well, then maybe there it'd be a negotiation and figuring out what helps us to prevent code compliance from having to come back out every two years and cite the exact same issue, take care of the issue, beautify it, and create a permanent solution that that lifts the entire community.

Sometimes, um, especially in depressed areas, they don't have the financial means to do that.

And so that would be one of the things that we're looking at in the program is um are we we we want to make sure we're not just throwing money at a problem that they could take care of themselves, but it's it's truly looking at areas that are stressed, financial need, and coming up with a solution that's going to start an intervention in an area.

Question.

If I may, Mayor.

Um two-part question, Mr.

Robbins.

Where's the money gonna come from?

Uh Mayor.

Council Member Adams, we will talk about that at the end of of the uh of the presentation.

Okay, then I'll then I'll hold my second question.

Okay.

Thank you.

Jeff, before you start, uh questions for Angelica enforcement tools as we go through the process.

Do you do you need to upgrade any of your enforcement tools for your program?

Maybe that's a legal question for Mr.

Smith.

But are the tools in your toolbox sufficient to do what you need to do, or do we need to do something else?

Mayor Freeman, that's something that we have been working on over the last year.

We've been taking a look at um the programs that we have, such as the abatement program.

It had been stopped for a while.

We've been working with legal to update um and to ensure that the way that the program um is being run is um legally sound.

Um we've also been working with the attorney's office and the police department and the city court to be able to request administrative search warrants from um our judges at our local courts to be able to give us access onto a property.

Right now, that is one of our biggest challenges is that the violations that we enforce, we have to be able to obtain all of our evidence, photographs typically, from the public right of way.

Um, and so that's a challenge that we're not able to do any of that from private property.

Um but there are some violations and some circumstances where it would be beneficial for us if we had an administrative search warrant.

For example, when we have allegations of a boarding home being run, um we would need cooperation from the property owner to obtain that evidence that that's actually what is being um conducted at the home.

Um with an administrative search warrant, we believe we'd be able to get that documentation to be able to prove that and help work with the property owner to bring the property back into compliance.

I see Mr.

Smith wants to weigh in.

Yeah, mayor and counsel.

And and we are using the term administrative uh search warrant, but I'll just so people know that it'll actually be issued by a judge.

So many ways it's a judicial warrant.

Many times people um ascribe a certain meaning when they hear the word administrative warrant, so it will be actually issued by a judge.

So um so it's somewhat of a misnomer.

It will be a judicial warrant.

Or it's administrative because of uh called out for other reasons.

And go right ahead.

At this time, we don't have the ability to request those, but we're currently working through the legal process, setting up all of the procedures to be able to use this new tool.

Yeah, mayor counsel, that's why I just wanted to add because heard loud and clear the frustrations with some of our habitual vendors and some of our terrible cases.

I know we have one in the school's district, but certainly probably one in everyone's district that could be pointed to where it's just been a lingering issue.

And so the direction's been get as aggressive as possible.

We want to work with folks, but when they're not working with us, excuse me, and they're not in compliance, then we need to be aggressive under the full force of the law um to bring some accountability to that situation.

Well, very good.

What's our timeline to put the administrative or what do you call it?

Judicial warrant in process.

At this time, Mayor, we've been working on it for about seven months.

Um we're at the I will say tail end of the of the process.

We're finalizing the procedures to ensure that when we are going out to sites to serve these warrants, we have Mesa PD at our side to serve those for us.

Um and so I would say probably another two to three months to finalize all of the details and ensure that when we are um conducting these, we are doing so in a lawful manner.

Okay, I I just don't like long timelines, you know, personally.

I guess I'm in my career we move pretty fast, so uh I guess we need to be uh legal and make sure we're conforming with laws.

But I would just say done.

I absolutely, Mayor.

I I think staff definitely hears your urgency uh in that and they're working towards it, but you're exactly right.

The the only the only thing is making sure that we're dotting the I's and crossing the T's from a legal standpoint, because if we want these to be able to withstand scrutiny uh from a legal standpoint, we just need to make sure that everything is is in place and and then um also ensuring that coordination with PD because obviously those can could potentially be dangerous situations, and we just need to make sure that that public safety coordination is in place.

And that's what they've been working through, but we're almost ready to go on this.

Well, I'm thinking also to Miss Goldforce's uh question about uh cost recovery.

If we're filing liens on properties, are we gonna go as far as demolition of the property?

Are we gonna take possession of the property?

I'm sure you're gonna be in talking about that, Jeff, and you know, as we move forward.

But cost recovery for our city, and then what happens to the parcel, all those things.

Are you gonna explain that as well?

We don't have to do it now.

I'm just saying if it's in the presentation, let's just move forward with that.

I have a fast question for Mr.

Smith.

Does legal precedent exist in Arizona for moving forward with these warrants?

Or is this new ground for us?

So I I uh I have the the city prosecutor's office has been handling and I've talked to them, but I haven't looked at the case law, so I couldn't answer that question off the top of my head.

Mayor Freeman, just to quickly answer what you were asking about lien.

So currently, when we do site property owners, if we could provide them several months to pay their fines and fees.

If they don't pay those fines or fees, we are currently uh leaning properties um to ensure that the city does get reimbursed for those fines and fees um if the property ever changes hands.

So that is a tool that we currently have available.

Okay, good.

Okay, who's next?

Jeff, are you?

Yep.

Hopefully, we're still kind of on track.

No, no.

Okay.

Who's next?

Okay, well, I I am.

I'll I'll continue on.

Um so mayor counsel, uh revolving loan funds are one of the most common tools in the United States.

The um economic development administration of the United States, the EDA, they've funded uh through their seed program over 500 of these across the United States.

There are very few of them here in Arizona, unfortunately.

Um but these programs are are effective uh for a few reasons.

Uh a revolving loan fund first, what it is it's a pool of money um that cities or other entity or other entities can use to make loans to businesses, and then um as those loans are repaid, the money goes right back into the fund to continue uh making community impact.

Um these do not supplant or replace banks in any way.

They exist to f um handle a gap that exists in the lending market.

So we have micro lenders that exist and they tend to fend fund up to $50,000.

And then from $50,000 to these are approximate, about 250,000, there is a gap because the underwriting for a major bank doesn't start making sense until about 250,000.

And so you can imagine a lot of small repairs to buildings need to happen within that gap, and there really isn't in the market a source.

So revolving loan funds often step in to uh provide that.

Um and as an example of that, often they will require as evidence before they make a loan, a denial letter from a bank.

So they they truly aren't trying to come in and take the place of where traditional lending makes sense.

Um the other great thing about revolving loan funds is that they are targeted towards a community-specific needs.

So one there's a revolving loan fund down in Phoenix.

Their specific um focus is small businesses and um housing.

But uh, you can imagine across the nation there's many different flavors because every community is different, and so these funds they they have a mission, and our mission would be redevelopment and supporting um again, providing capital to help on their own private um entities to make the repairs and upgrades that can that can really create an intervention in a property or in a community.

Um our goal here uh would be to pres uh to pursue the EDA grant funding.

Uh this would not be something we'd be funding directly out of city general fund or any uh means.

So um there are some pretty strong caveats here that it's a grant.

We don't control if we're awarded.

Uh there's it gets complex very quick.

Um so uh we we're gonna pursue this uh it with council's blessing and um it it may take a little bit longer to get this, but our goal is in the end to have a fund which would achieve the maximum allowable through the EDA, which would be a two million dollar seed fund.

We think that could do a lot of great impact um in Mesa and and fill a gap that we currently have.

Ms.

Gofort.

I guess I would just start with I I think that's great that you're looking into this.

I've I've started reading a lot about this, and I think um it can be a great tool and a tool for our target, which is that very small business and small business owner, and and maybe eventually even that small local developer where they can't get financing for these small local projects, they're good for our city, um, but don't have the capital market to to borrow from.

So I I think I think it's great that you're looking into it.

I'm excited to hear more about this and have you go um get continue to have it evolve.

So that wasn't my thoughts.

Ms.

Taylor.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

I know you probably have more to present, and I have a few questions.

I'm holding them till the end.

But on this particular one, is there a gap between small business association loans that can't be filled?

Because I know the SBA also divies out loans for you know people who just they have that micro business and they just need that foothold to get started.

Um you tell me, tell us a little bit about that.

No, I um uh council member Taylor, I think you might be referring to a 7A loan or an SBA 504.

Yes, those those do exist.

Um again, they they have generally the 7A loan is very flexible.

It's a it is a good option.

Um, and I don't think there's anything wrong with that.

Sometimes that does the trick.

Um there is um because it's a federal um process, that it does tend to be a little bit longer.

Um, but it's I wouldn't say it's a horrible option by any means.

7A is very popular, it's very commonly used.

Um I think this would be another option, depending on what the needs of that of that private um business owner is, but it can couple well with 7A.

Okay.

I have a few more, but I'll come back to you.

You go ahead.

Okay.

Uh one one last point on this that's very important is that the city would not be managing this.

This is not our strong suit.

We don't underwrite.

Um, but there are many entities that we've already begun um and we've been working with for months now, um, talking about um how they may be that third party that could handle the underwriting.

We would design the program.

We would tell them what our priorities are, and and we would be referring people that we contact, economic development contacts or development services that we run into to them.

Um, but when it comes to the actual underwriting, helping to prepare a business plan, all the work that goes into a successful application.

Um there's there's different uh CDFIs and uh is there community development finance institutions that are throughout the state that have been doing this for decades and are very successful.

They have a long track record, so um, we rather than try to get into a business that that we don't know very well, uh, maybe partnering with an expert who's been doing this for a long time.

Um so commercial space activation program.

One of the um experiences we've had many times um in downtown, and surely this this has been replicated many times around the entire city, is that you have a great uh tenant or buyer that finds the right building in the right location, and um they go in, they want to locate, and the building itself becomes the problem.

Um we have many properties in downtown that used to be a mercantile or an M group occupancy.

They they would you know sell shirts or or whatever it may be, and then we have a restaurant that comes in and says, Oh, this is the perfect location for my restaurant.

We want that type of activity, but in doing so, they need to convert from an M group to an A group, or it can be a B.

But the point is they're changing occupancy, and that triggers that building now to come up to code.

And so at one point, the city actually uh through a grant use um a fire sprinkler program to help to uh fire sprinklers are often the problem, they're very expensive.

Um, and so um getting that building set up, just that one component, whether it's that or whether it's ADA access to make the site accessible and safe, uh, those are the types of things that can become barriers and that can lock down a space from really realizing its true uh potential.

So this would be another program where we would see um definitely a contribution.

This would be a partnership between the um the owner, the buyer, and the city, but it's trying to identify these spaces where there is true um code things that we want.

We need that safety.

Um they need it too to operate, and it's just become a barrier.

How do we address the barrier?

Um the next is very the next program is a public infrastructure program.

This is similar where we have a uh a buyer or a tenant that's wanting to go into a space, and instead of the building being the issue, it's public infrastructure that's the issue.

Um one of the things we've run into uh frequently is simply going from a 100 amp electric service to a 200 amp.

The uh public infrastructure outside the building can't handle that upgrade.

And so now that triggers having to upgrade the transformer, which is a major upgrade.

Um it can sometimes, if it's sewer, it's extending a major line.

Um there was a situation in D2 we worked on actually where there was a very distressed small property.

Uh we had a buyer who was working with us who is trying to figure out how to how to acquire the site, had a pretty great vision for it.

Um the challenge became is that there was no sewer access.

And so his options were to bore under Main Street or to pull the public line up a block to the building.

And because it was such a small site, it just didn't make sense financially anymore.

And so the site remains undeveloped.

And this is very uh common, very acceptable practice that we already do.

Um but we kind of do it as one-offs throughout the city when we when we have these types of issues, and this would create a fund for us to be able to go to rather than approaching the utility and them saying, Well, we don't have money for this, and the developer saying, Well, I can't extend a line of a half mile.

It's trying to figure out how do we how do we pay into our own infrastructure to support private activity?

Ms.

Steph.

I have one quick question, just so that I can follow along.

You're talking about the revolving loan fund and then the commercial space activation program and public infrastructure, and we'll continue on.

But are you talking about separate funds or this is all under the revolving loan fund, or what or the I'm just trying to see the continuity?

Uh Councilmember Duff, that's a great question.

Um the way we would envision this is that the city has a redevelopment program.

So think of that as the umbrella of all the activities that we do that try to support redevelopments, the coordination between economic development, DSD, code enforcement.

We all work together, we're all part of the program.

And then within the program, there are tools in our toolbox.

These are all separate tools.

Um they are individual because they they don't overlap.

They don't always solve the same issue.

Um, they don't always um help with the same block.

And so these are we would envision these being different tools that we could use to deploy for unique circumstances.

Um once we get into more of the program design, it may be that some of these fold together to simplify it.

We're gonna have to really think about the um the public view of when we're talking to uh a developer to a small business, how do they understand this easily?

Because we want to speak their language, and so we may simplify this, but for for your question, uh council member, these are simply all different tools that'll have different requirements, and they all fit within the city's redevelopment program.

And maybe we're getting into and the same funding sources or are these different buckets?

Often different funding sources, but some of them will have the same.

Um when we think about redevelopment, um, this is probably the most straightforward one we think of, and that is knocking a building down.

And in many cases, uh the the most efficient use is to try to adaptively reuse the existing building.

There are some circumstances where that is not possible, um, or where um the site can have a much higher and better use if a building isn't there.

You can imagine um a site that has lots of developable land, maybe it's all being used for a giant parking lot that isn't used in a very small building.

It may make sense in that circumstance to knock down the building and then develop the larger site.

Um lot more tax revenue, a lot more activity, a lot more benefit to the public from that site.

Um this tool, uh speaking of tools also has a different component, and that is remediation assistance.

Uh, one of the issues we've run to um uh numerous times over the past few years that since the program began is that we we work with developers who are interested in the site, and then upon doing their due diligence, there is a specter of contamination.

And uh what that most frequently presents itself as as old gas tanks from a gas station that used to be on a site years and years ago, and there's questions about are the tank still there, is there leakage?

Sometimes it's not, sometimes it's contained and it's fine.

But until the there's documentation, and especially um it's called an NFA or a no further action from ADEQ, this is the state's environmental um division, that property is uh taboo for most developers.

And so what that presents, and this is very common across the United States is that it's a block that prevents the private uh market from working the way it normally would because there's this specter.

And so what um many many cities do is that they will support a phase one or a phase two environmental that helps us to go in, um, identify where there may be um maybe suspected contamination, do some testing.

That's the phase two part.

And um our goal would be to clear that specter and say, nope, this site is developable, it's good, there's no action needed.

Go ahead and use this space.

There's actually a really powerful story of that in in downtown that we Jeff, maybe you want to talk about uh Cider Corps.

Sure.

Uh Mayor Council, uh everyone's aware of Cider Corps downtown.

You know, um as of this last year, the number one site area in the nation, as as voted by USA today.

Um but they started out in a garage, and as their business grew, they wanted to find a home.

The the location they're at right today um had a previous life.

A person lived inside that what used to be a transmission shop, lived inside that transmission shop and and held the uh the Arizona's largest garage sale every weekend.

Um and the reason that building was uh it was for sale for that whole time, but the reason that building was never be able to be sold is that there was a specter of uh soil contamination from the previous use as a transmission shop.

No bank in no bank will finance a property sale if there is a environ uh uh uh a specter of environmental contamination.

The property owner, since they were running a garage sale, didn't have the funds necessary to do the environmental testing necessary.

We worked with um our environmental um programs group to to secure an ADEQ grant of around 30,000.

And we went in as a city and worked with the property owner and did the soil testing necessary to show that there wasn't environmental contamination.

As soon as we had that that that finding, that building got sold to the current the to the property owner that then went and leased it to Cider Corps, who now um has grown into who they are today.

And and and taking it to the next step, that building has now since been sold to Cybercore and their their group of partners so that they are here for good.

Where so that's a very, you know, a very small investment that has had significant returns to the city, and it is often you know addressing issues that that that are just beyond the property owners to be able to address themselves.

Uh one thing to add on before we move um from this particular tool.

Our f since we're talking about money and funding sources, our intent here would be to first go to federal sources.

And there are many.

We're working very closely with Warren Wit Lauren Whitaker and and her group in environmental and sustainability to think through this.

Um we've had meetings with different consultants nationally that help cities um acquire funds to set up um their own phase one environmental remediation programs.

And so uh that again, that's gonna be a little bit of a longer process.

Uh it's money we'd have to go after, and um there's strings.

So um, I don't want to say it's it's gonna be super easy or fast, but our we we think that this could be a very valuable tool for an aging city that has a lot of old automotive uses that that may be blocking development on certain parcels.

Ms.

Goforgive.

I was gonna ask, are there quite a few?

I mean, is this a significant amount of property in the city of Mesa that this would impact?

Um Mayor, uh Councilmember Go Forth.

There is actually, yes, there is more than you would anticipate.

And it's because it's a a real or perceived contamination.

It's that perceived word.

So oftentimes it is as simple as doing a phase one, which is just a record search, and then you can show that the say the gas station was removed, right?

Or that's the tank was removed and there's records of it.

Um but if there isn't records, then you always have to go on to that next step step of phase two.

Um could be laundromats, it could be gas stations.

Um there has been designations downtown in general has had a designation from uh the of a of a super fun um plume that just kind of floats underneath.

And that's where the the Cider Corps building actually was caught up, is that this there's this general designation that doesn't have any real detail behind it, and then you have to address the a general designation.

Um so in the valley, yeah, yes, there we do have a record of of more industrial activity in the past.

You know, you know, everybody knows Hayden Wash through Scottsdale, it's a very famous, beautiful recreation, but one of the main reasons that's there is to deal with the the environmental contamination, the plume that came from the aerospace industry back in the you know the 50s and 60s.

Quick question if I may.

Mr.

Adams.

So uh I'm not familiar with how long.

Let's say I'll give you an example.

Southwest corner Staple and University.

There's now a drive-thru Starbucks there, but that's set vacant for I think over 30 years because there was a gas station there that had leaky tanks.

So what is the when we have a property like that that uh has come under the scrutiny of the EPA or ADEQ or various other agencies?

How long do those typically have to sit unused?

And are there any other uses for those type of properties that are permitted?

And you can come back to us with that, but I'm just curious.

In the case of the old Amco shop, owner Robson.

That worked out well.

Um but in the case of where we find one, okay, there was a tank and it leaked for 18 years.

What do we do with those?

Mayor, Councilmember Adams.

Uh, we've talked about phase ones and phase twos.

There's the next step, which is the phase three, which is actually the remediation where you can, if if so choosing, you can go in and start to remediate the soil.

You actually dig out what is contaminated and replace it with new.

Um, luckily, you know, as it relates to gas stations, petrochemicals, they actually off-gas themselves somewhat naturally over time, so they're they can happen a little quicker.

But that is, and that is one of the reasons why there's a deterrent, because the cost of remediation is often greater than what is the value of redevelopment.

So there is that next step.

It isn't doesn't have necessarily have to be just wait out the clock or find something that doesn't matter, doesn't care whether there's environmental contamination.

You can go in and just deal with and remediate.

Um council member too, it's it's also the the spectrum of the unknown, and this is what a lot of the private owners are trying to sell their property, they don't want to know because um they're afraid it's gonna be a complete dig out.

But in the phase two, um, there will also be recommendations okay, how do you deal with it?

And there's sometimes where it's it's not as bad as they think.

It's simply capping it is a way to uh you know, putting down some type of barrier, that's enough to take care of it, and they'd be doing it anyway with a new development, so it's okay.

Um but but until they know, okay, here's the issue, here's how you take it, or here's what you do with it, there's no way to come up with uh a solution.

So we have to go through the phase one and the phase two if we really want to deal with these sites, get them cleaned up and get them um producing back in the economy again.

So is it is it your opinion that part of this program could help with properties like that so they don't sit vacant for 30 some years?

Councilmember Adams, that's exactly the goal is we want to get them productive and back in as soon as possible.

Um I'll be very brief because I know we're going long, but I'm working with another site, also in D2.

A lot of my work's in D2.

Um, and this is a very large site for in fill, and uh we have a great relationship with the with the ownership there.

Next door, there is an old gas station.

And the site is just big enough where it it's attractive to certain developers, but if they could assemble both properties and bring it into one, it opens up in a completely different type of buyer, different type of product that would be very desirable and and beneficial for that area.

Um but I don't have any tools.

And the property owner said, well, I'd I'd I'd rather just it's easier for me to just have somebody come in and reuse it without having to deal with the remediation.

It's just it's cheaper and easier, and so that's what I'm gonna do.

And and our our goal would be at least to come to the table in certain in certain circumstances and and say, well, we have a way of at least helping you figure out what you're dealing with, and then you can make a decision.

And it may not be the biggest problem that you think it is.

Um that would also help buyers who want to assemble those properties to understand what they're dealing with.

And so just again, uh go back to sometimes the best and most powerful thing we have as redevelopers is information.

And that's the point of the environmental remediation is to get the information so that everybody knows what they're dealing with, and it frees up the market to wait to work the way it should.

Jeff, I'll just add I know that ADEQ has a remediation program for fuel fuel systems, so I'm sure you've checked into that and make sure that we utilize that in your toolbox too.

Carry on.

Thank you.

Um Jeff, do you want to take this one?

Um thoughtful, thoughtful and strategic placemaking initiatives um can have a direct impact on economic activity.

You know, here in the city of Mesa, we have seen, we have examples of our efforts uh having those impacts.

Whether it be something like the street Southern Avenue Streetscape and Fiesta District branding that continues to support significant reinvestment in the Fiesta district, or whether it's helping uh you know Jay and helping a burgeoning uh economic activity area like the Asian district establish a brand in place through branded signage.

I love that sign.

Um these kind of strategic interventions can have a real impact on establishing a place, stabilizing it and encouraging redevelopment.

Um the program that we're looking at, uh the including this in the program would give us the opportunity to to establish some criteria by which um strategic placemaking initiatives from the public can be layered with other redevelopment strategies to ensure and help support the redevelopment uh implementation of our redevelopment program.

So this is uh you know I think is our last council's last strategic um strategic um planning session uh development services.

Rachel talked about um a program to look at gateway signage throughout the city and and create a an overall arching theme.

Um but you can imagine within that overall arching theme that there are economic activity areas that like the Asian district where having a a brand associated with it would be would be very beneficial.

This would allow us to look at uh opportunities to fund those types of interventions.

All right, um so that comes the conclusion of the tools.

Um but we want to talk a little bit about our evaluation of each of these tools again.

Uh one of the key things that we evaluated for each one of these tools is um a state construct called redevelopment areas, RDAs.

We have four RDAs in the city currently.

But one of the reasons we're very interested in how these tools would play with RDAs is that the RDAs give cities.

So it it gives us some authority to work and to deploy these tools in a different way.

We looked again, federal funding, I won't belabor that one.

We've talked about it.

We've met with the Office of Management Budget.

We've met with the city attorney's office.

And then one of the things that we've considered for each of these is is it easy for our stakeholders to use?

If we make it burdensome and confusing, they're not going to use it and they won't be effective.

So we've just got to make it simple.

We do need reasonable reporting.

We need to know if it's effective.

And so we we need to think about that very carefully, and we have to make sure that it's not so cumbersome on staff that it takes an army to run.

It's it's got to be efficient.

So we're now going to move into the last phase of this presentation on recommended resources.

Um again, early interventions in uh decline and disinvestment.

They they go a long way, and that's what these tools are intended to do.

Other cities understand that, and they are deploying um large amounts of money into their into their downtowns into their older areas.

These are snippets from real news articles that we've grabbed from the last uh year or two talking about cities around the country that are investing in in their cores.

And there are great examples all the way back.

We talked about at the beginning of the presentation about some of these stuff case studies.

Uh we look at South LA before 1990.

We look at uh River North and Denver, incredible story.

Old industrial area, it got so run down that finally poor artists went there because there was no nowhere else to go.

It was cheap.

And now at the city 2003, they put together a massive plan for how to revitalize that area.

And I've toured it.

It's an it's an incredible um revitalization story.

Uh Chattanooga, Gary, Indiana, many, many places where they've taken interventions and we've learned from those and and they they've turned areas around.

Our our recommended funding sources in this order is that we would like to seek uh federal funding sources first whenever possible.

They don't always work, they're not always available, but where they are, um, our goal is to use those.

Um next, we would like to try to use redevelopment activity revenues.

So this can be revenues from jiplet leases.

We bring those to you occasionally to approve, and there is revenue uh attached to those, sometimes direct negotiated um amounts, sometimes it's just an annual amount that they pay us, but that could be reinvested back into redevelopment so that redevelopment pays for redevelopment.

That's um ultimately the goal we'd love to see.

And then um finally we'd be looking at one-time set asides from the general fund to fill any gaps that the first two cannot um handle.

So our recommendation, council to you today uh on the left here in the red, those are all the programs we've talked about.

But in the middle is our recommended funding request um for this next fiscal year, it would be three million dollars annually.

This would work um basically as funding uh as a as a as a bucket of money.

Um we at this point, because these are all new and we don't have great examples from this from around the state in some circumstances, is that um we we want to let the private sector tell us where they have the need.

And so if uh we see the code compliance assistance program is just is really hot and there's a lot of demand there, we'd like the money to go there.

And if we come back in a year or two and retail tenant assistance just isn't uh working, uh we want to figure out why, and maybe there's no demand.

That's okay.

We can we can shut that down and and divert resources to where they're needed, but we we really want our our private partners to tell us where the need is.

And um then finally we'd be looking at the EDA grant.

Um one thing that's not on here is we're we're also now exploring uh a brown field grant um but and working closely on that one.

We've made less progress on that particular grant, but our goal would be to achieve the the full um allocation maximum from the EDA, which is two million dollars.

It gets into the weeds very quickly, but um that would not be a single tranche, that's multiple tranches over years.

Um, but our goal would be to pursue that, be successful, and to receive the maximum award eventually.

Um evaluation of this program because it is new is incredibly important, and we will be putting in um it will be balanced, we need to be usable, but also very specific measures to help us to understand whether we're achieving the needs uh and the and the goals of what we we intend.

So the we are proposing to pilot the program for five years.

We would establish the KPIs, the impact metrics, we'd report back to council annually, and then in 2031, after we have five years of data that really tell the story, um council would do an evaluation of what a permanent program could look like in the city.

I'm sure there's mayor council.

Let me uh let me just expand on that a little bit.

Um so the notion would be that we would not establish this as an ongoing um program within um within our budget line item through this.

We would treat this as uh annual one-time appropriations.

We would identify construction sales tax dollars or other one-time dollars um that development going back into reinvestment into redevelopment that we could utilize over that five-year period.

As Jeff alluded to, we would look at that annually too, see which programs are um are having higher demand than others.

There may be a reallocation year to year between those different buckets between those those various programs depending on the need, and then we can evaluate that on a year-to-year basis.

But um I know the desire is to have that as a pilot program to see the ROI, right?

We don't we don't want to stand up this program and these tools and not see results come out of it.

And so uh that's why we would treat it that way, at least through this pilot program.

And then if if it's successful and and it was council's direction at that time, we could just we could think about the long-term sustainability of that program, but this would allow us to take those best practices that they've identified based on council's direction to see um greater emphasis on redevelopment, really test it out, kick the tires on this, see what the what the um needs are, see what the demand is uh from the market in that regard, and then um we could talk about the long-term sustainability if it's been a successful program.

Okay, council, Mr.

Adams.

I want to, Mr.

Butler, I want to make sure I understand what you started out with.

You would you would run this program outside of the general budget?

Yeah, I I I think what I just want to relay to council, it would certainly it would it would be included in the budget.

Uh it would be adopted as part of our our budget coming up.

But this would not by greenlighting this today.

I just want to give the assurance to council you this isn't a now forever program that the city uh is undertaking.

This would be a pilot program that we would evaluate annually uh that and and then see if the results are are derived from that uh that council would like to see.

So that so instead of standing this up and saying, okay, this is something we are absolutely we're getting into this business and we're going to do this uh perpetually as an organization.

Um this I just want to assure you that we're gonna take a close look at what the results that are derived from um from these programs.

Understood.

Um on its face, what I see here it looks in in one light like a like a $15 million ask three times five.

So it's I'm assuming it's not that.

Uh it it's fair to say it's that, uh council member.

It would be $15 million over those uh five years, um, three million dollars a year.

The allocation of how those buckets are divided, how that three million per year is divided is something that um staff will come back to and provide recommendations to council as they put you know the meat on the bones to get to that 90 percent uh percent design uh using Jeff's uh analogy on that.

And so that they will come back with some recommendations for council to consider that this program should be allocated X dollars, this program X dollars, um, adding up to that three million uh for the next fiscal year.

And then every year we would evaluate that.

If one program had uh tremendous demand in it, and council would thought that it was a very successful program, we could reallocate those funds within that three million dollar allocation.

So one program we may double um the uh in year two because it's been so successful.

So we we would look at that and be um flexible as each year, depending on where the needs are.

So last question, Mayor.

If so, if this moves forward, is it is it fair to say this is a three million dollar ask of the Mesa taxpayer or no?

And if not, where does the money come from?

Yeah, it mayor, council member, um and as staff alluded to, they're gonna try to identify other sources, um, federal grants, other things that could be utilized as part of this.

But what we would do is take one time dollars um derived from construction activity in the city and allocate that in the budget on an annual basis up to the three million dollar mark.

That construction activity would happen anyway.

Correct, correct.

And and we we always um uh mayor, council members, you know, we always have to be very careful about how we treat those one time dollars because it is generated depending on economic conditions, building act activity.

So that's why we we felt with the uh importance that we've heard from council over the years about establishing a redevelopment program, the use of that development dollars to go back into reinvestment within uh the community for redevelopment purposes made a lot of sense.

And so we could identify uh those dollars and allocate those dollars uh in order to fund this activity.

Okay, I I would feel better about weighing in on this today if I already knew where we were going with the budget and what our deficit looked like.

Sure.

And thank you.

And that's um, and mayor council member, you you certainly were not your your um blessing today uh from council would not um would not in any way preclude those discussions because we've still got to put the meat on the bones.

We've still got to come back to you with those funding recommendations and how that would be allocated, and then that money would be set aside as part of the overall budget discussion.

But that's to give you because I'm sure it would we didn't want to not talk about that today, because of course this all sounds great, but money's the issue, right?

So um that so we wanted to at least tell you what our thinking is about how these funds would be allocated.

Money is always the same.

Yeah, money's always the issue, absolutely.

Mayor.

Jen.

Uh if I may, Mayor and Council.

Um I think the the point too that we wanted to make is we've we've been doing redevelopment on a case-by-case basis.

So, what is the benefit to having a program that is adopted and supported by council from an economic development perspective?

What this does for staff is provide consistency and understanding of your priorities and what you are willing to support at least over a five-year program, and what that does for the market is signal to developers, property owners, and businesses that we are wanting to partner with the private sector and wanting to really prioritize redevelopment.

So we care, we have goals for redevelopment, and now if the direction is to move forward with this, we have some formal toolkit that we can utilize.

It doesn't mean that we wouldn't come back to you with these different scenarios and projects, but at least we know now that we have a fund that we can work with rather than um slowing everything down and trying to cobble together deals.

Um speed to market is so critical when it comes to economic development, and this allows us a very quick step to know yes, we have funding for this, and this is how we can put the deal together.

Thanks for weighing in, because I was going to ask you to.

Uh Nana, did you want to have any input with uh yeah, mayo council?

One of the things that we also have to be mindful and continue to do is remove all the regulatory barriers that at the end of the day, you can have a lot of money, but if they are regulatory by rationable to move forward, so we have focusing on from developments, heavies and tax.

What can we add up?

We will be coming to you sometimes in the middle of the year to talk about infill and audio so that we always came on with a consultant to really address a unique circumstances that do as it's for info and redevelopment probabilities.

Very good.

Jen.

Yes, thank you for the presentation and this opportunity to really make uh uh remarkable change and some parts of our city that um need it so desperately.

And this as a reminder for council, the redevelopment areas and this project and Jeff's position and his initiatives stemmed from a council priority that we needed to do something about these blighted areas of our city.

We have our redevelopment um areas, um, and I assume these efforts are going to be within the construct of these redevelopment areas, because then we have the the tools defined by federal authorities that this is you know a deemed area that can be supported.

Um Mayor Councilmember Duff.

In many circumstances, the RDAs are are a good place to deploy these.

It helps us to focus them, and we have um the extra protections provided by the state statute.

Um however, there are others like the uh the infrastructure tool that can be citywide.

Um another thing we've contemplated as as part of this is um if we need another RDA, one that goes down um right now our RDA is is linked up with our not to get too technical, but our central business district, our CBD, and we did that so that it would unlock the GIPLIT lease benefit.

But there's nothing to say we couldn't um create a separate RDA that that's not part of the CBD, and that would allow us to target other areas, um focus areas that we've already come back to you about in the past that are outside the current RDAs.

So to answer your question, for the most part, yes, RDAs make sense, but some can be deployed outside, and then there'd be the consideration of perhaps creating new territory.

And from what I understand, some of the funding sources that we can go after, whether federal grants, CDFI grants and funds, if it's defined in within a redevelopment area, that will qualify and be a qualifying factor to go after those funds, and so that it's not, you know, we we can go go after those with those.

And I I like our redevelopment areas, of course, because I'm you know, most of my district is a redevelopment area, but I am concerned about district two that isn't part of the redevelopment area.

There's so many blighted properties along Main Street.

Yeah, yeah, and and you know, expanding and doing another RDA, I think is it would be significant for that area to bridge, you know, it's been blighted for very very long time.

Um another thing is just to give an example.

This came up last night.

One of our small businesses called me in downtown, and they had just opened.

And when they went through redevelopment of the site, they put in significant dollars that were unexpected into these old buildings, they always have problems beyond any comprehension, and you have to throw money at it well above budgets.

Well, now there's a sewer line problem that is backing up, and they've exhausted all monies.

They are stuck.

They are stuck.

How do they replace a sewer line right now?

You can't, you know, uh sell the property because it has a sewer line.

They're you're stuck.

And this sewer line thing is very current.

I uh you know, it's very common.

So you see, I hear these hardships, especially around the downtown when they're working with very old infrastructure, very old buildings.

The costs are enormous, often sometimes wanting to be abandoned, or this particular case, if you don't have the funding, you just have to shut down the business.

I what do you do?

What do you do?

So just understanding that and seeing the hardships and going back to our COVID time.

I think it's very important that these efforts, these funds are only to small businesses.

During COVID, I think we don't under 50 employees.

There was some kind of designation we gave it, but only small businesses going back to what we defined at that time because there was some thought about what is the definition of a small business.

Small businesses that are able to keep on going are contributing tax dollars that stay in our community.

If we're talking about large companies that maybe this is a chain or a funding, those tax dollars, those the reven, not the tax dollars, but the revenues, the profits from that business are leaving our community.

They're going to some other state, some corporate structure, whatever.

And also, when you're part of a corporate structure, there are other funding mechanisms.

You have loans, you have deeper pockets, you have means in order to remedy uh a property.

So I think it's very important that we keep it local and that we keep it for small businesses.

That's where we can make remarkable progress.

I like the example of Cider Corps where a garage operation and now is a national um sales distribution of their cider.

So and that is homegrown businesses that are contributing to our community in so many ways, and those dollars are staying here, and it's a source of pride that we have, and we have that opportunity to do that throughout the city in a strategic way.

Um by using these funds, and we're gonna hit more businesses too.

If we start supporting larger businesses, those dollars are going to the larger footprints, larger projects, those dollars will be exhausted very, very easily in helping less businesses.

Um I think oh, and make sure we don't have any residential.

I think that's understood.

This is only for businesses.

Um I think that's about it.

Mr.

Radio.

Thank you.

Curious on the interplay of uh, you know, we have the process of the C C D committee.

I know in the past we've used some of that funding for like signs at downtown and uh some commercial.

I know it's it's limited, but um, you know, there's some CDBG funding that can go towards some of this redevelopment uh of activity.

Um so my that's my first question, and then uh thoughts odd.

I know I've had some brief conversations um, you know, getting other types of resources, other private or public uh partnerships.

Like I know Mesa had has had uh uh IDA in the past.

Uh no, Phoenix has a very successful IDA program where they work with uh nonprofits, businesses, and uh and uh and others to uh get uh private uh activity bonds for uh redevelopment uh in some of these blighted areas.

So I think there is there's things out there that can uh actually add a little bit more to this, and just us being flexible on adding those tools uh to the toolbox uh that not necessarily we we have to invest all this money uh up front, but we work in uh these partnerships in identifying uh federal funding, uh private funding, uh public uh private fundings uh on that end uh to remedy some of these areas.

So good.

Um Mayor, uh Councilmember Heredia, uh thank you.

We we have had conversations and we have used um C D BG funding in the past you know in 2017 when we did our first facade improvement program, a good chunk of that was funded with C D BG dollars.

Now that that comes with the understanding that C D using C D BG for economic development efforts is actually very difficult, and there is a lot of it's more challenging.

And on top of that, uh the C D BG funding levels across, you know, just generally across the nation have decreased, and the the amount available to the city is significantly less than it used to.

And it's for that reason that we have not included CDBG funding as one of our sources in this program at this time.

Um councilmember Adams, there's one thing I did want to uh kind of a nuance that I wanted to put forward.

While that $3 million annual funding is up there, there's going to be what the buckets that make up that three million dollars may just be general fund allocation, but we also um some of the council members we had opportunity to brief you on on a redevelopment project that's underway right now that we hope to bring forward um the OVO project and where they're requesting a jiplet lease from the city.

Um we have negotiated with that developer a one-time $500,000 payment to the city that would be able to be used for redevelopment activity.

If that is successful and is approved, that $500,000 would would be taken, would be built into that bucket of three million dollars.

So we are looking to generate revenues in the redevelopment program that then would feed that three million dollar allocation.

So it I every year I think the the buckets are gonna be different um depending on what we have how we you know success success hopefully means that three million dollars coming from the general fund is gonna be made up from revenues as much as possible.

Um sorry, council member heredia, yes.

Um I think maybe Jay, you might be able to talk to it better.

Mesa did have an IDA.

I think there's a good reasons why we don't have one now.

Um we do and would like to be able to work with with other, you know, you know, whether it's Phoenix's IDA, Maricopa County's IDA, um we we are looking at other part we're working with other partners like Terry Benelli at Lisc.

Um they have uh significant allocation of new market tax credits that could be very beneficial to us.

So while we're looking at these funding sources, we are we are out there scouring the world for for additional um ways to be able to fund these programs as well.

Ms.

Taylor.

Thank you so much for this presentation.

I echo Ms.

Duff.

My district has a lot of redevelopment opportunities.

I'm actually really excited about this presentation, and I do know that money is an issue, and I know we'll get more into that, but for the sake of the council and for the public.

Sorry, I always feel like I need to just eat the microphone.

Gonna fire away some questions that I thought of as you were going through your presentation.

If you're if this is something that you're thinking, hey, that's gonna be part of the second presentation where you have more of this built out, just let me know.

We can skip to the next question.

Is that okay?

Okay, great.

So let's start with numbers.

Do you have an idea of how many vacant properties there are in Mesa overall?

You know, we do not off the top of our head, but I do believe that that we can work with our GIS department because we do keep the land use layers and we could probably identify that and get back to council with that answer.

One other way to add that too is that uh we we do have a water utility, and so when um this is one of the things we were thinking about is is as a uh water services turned off that may be an indicator the property is is vacant.

So that's another way that we could try to um gauge the number.

Okay.

So then along that note, can we also get an idea of the percentage of those properties that are just in neglect, the ones that we are eyeballing that need help?

Because I know some will be vacant, but the property owner may be in the process of working on that development uh in the near future, and they don't, you know, we don't need to be looking at assisting them.

These are the ones that I'd like to know, you know, what percentage are we looking at as a city that need our assistance?

Mayor, councilmember Taylor, making notes.

Um that may be a little bit of a heavier lift because it almost requires eyes on to tell whether it's in neglect or whether it's not.

Okay.

We will we will we'll let us explore options and see whether we can come up back with uh a solution to that issue.

That's good for helping us have like an empirical need that we can determine a solution for.

Council member table.

One thing to chime in on that.

Um we gave a presentation, I forget the exact date, it was our last one, and we brought to the council focus areas.

Um our intent with that was to capture areas where we uh we didn't have the exact number of the buildings, but we had identified uh different corridors, different shopping centers that uh were in need of revitalization.

In our tent there was so it was a different way of quantifying.

Yeah, actually, there was one of our focus areas is all up and down Main Street from the west side to the eastern border.

So um that that was a our our attempt at trying to quantify, so um one thing we can do is look into those, and but Jeff's right, it you have to almost have a criteria of well, is this in distress?

Do they need help?

It gets a bit subjective.

That might be good though for quantif quantifying what is needed and qualifying it, having some of that criteria, which I know that might be part of your KPIs, so um then I'm guessing we probably don't know how many are completely vacant, meaning there's no structure at all versus how many.

Okay.

Didn't know how deep you guys jove into the numbers, that's why I'm asking.

Councilmember Taylor, the one thing I can, and then as my first answer it should have been more nuanced.

Vacant land is so much easier for us to identify because it is a land use category that we we already track and we'd just be able to identify those by just doing a simple search.

Making properties with on vacation is is the where we have a little bit more challenge.

So we'll okay.

Um have we identified property owners in your research to build out this program, and I think it's exceptional the work that you've done to do uh to do this and going forward, or at least propose it.

Have you talked to property owners in Mesa already?

Have you had conversations with people so that you know you can say yes, we we feel very confident in this toolbox because we know people are waiting for you to say yes so that we can help them.

Okay, so uh council member.

I I transitioned to our next slide.

That was a great segue.

I have more questions.

We will come back to the questions.

That uh this question ties directly into where we were headed is um, you know, our our our thought process is we didn't want to go out to the development community, the small business community, property owner community, and with tools that we hadn't brought to you first.

We wanted to make sure that we had a nod that that you are comfortable with these as an approach.

And then our um our approach would be then to take these programs once we add a little bit of meat to them out to these stakeholder groups and get their immediate feedback.

Um it may come back that something we thought was gonna be great, they don't care about, or or they may be able to add value and and thoughts that we hadn't considered.

We we realize that ultimately we're building a tool for the private sector, the private sector is gonna be the best ones to know about it.

So uh that is definitely uh actually number one next step for us to do is to have those conversations.

Mayor Councilmember Taylor, we do hear a lot from the development community and small businesses about how sometimes difficult it is to redevelop some of the infill puzzles in Mesa.

Actually, Councilmember Goford and I had a meeting with Apple Petal and I, and the whole discussion was about the difficulty in developing infill pucks.

So we've been hearing a lot from the development community, some of the tools that we may need to look at to really help us set that environmental development development.

If I may add one thing too.

So um when when the program began, we didn't have any tools except for GIPLED and um, you know, some of those other federal tax credits.

So tenacity was simple.

And so uh, you know, our plan was in those focus areas is to go out to every single business in that focus area and have a conversation.

Um we um we've pivoted a bit, um, we've had some other priorities, but we did we did start that.

We we've gone through some of our focus areas, and it was through that work that we've heard from them.

Here's the problem I'm running into, or I've I've had this and this complication, and so all of that feedback um that we have through that work and gathering, it's fed directly into the tools that we chose.

Um that's how we were able to um take those national examples and right-size them to our local needs because we had um began having case example after case example in Mesa, and we thought, okay, we're starting to see a pattern here, we need a tool to solve this.

Okay, that's very helpful.

Thank you.

This is also for the public because they're watching this.

I want to have these questions prepared.

Um so then let's see, that was numbers.

Let me go down to money.

So the EDA grant funding is about two million dollars.

Is that right for these loans?

Um I'm sorry, let me let me rephrase that.

EDA grant funding.

I think you said it was around two million.

Are we the pass through for that?

Like, are we getting the grant?

And then we're giving that to the business owners that we've selected to help.

Is that correct?

So uh council member Taylor, I we're we're gonna come back with more details on this.

We had our preliminary meeting with EDA only um this this last week.

Um it took a while after the holidays to get in the room with them.

Um they are very busy.

Um so we we understand that the program could work here.

There are a number of barriers that we're going to have to work through.

We started working through and figuring out exactly you know, pass through.

I I we would we would be the recipient and ultimately um the party, and then we'd have a managing partner who would work with us.

There's other details such as a match, the city would not provide that, we'd have to raise that through a CDFI partner.

So there's a lot that's going to get into this.

And um it when we come back, we will have a a really great breakdown for you of exactly how it works, exactly where we're at in the process, um, any identified barriers will we'll lay that out clearly for you.

Okay.

Then just let me know as I'm going through some of these questions.

We'll come back, we'll come back, or we have that one.

Um so then if we received the loan, and if we need to come back to this, this is fine, and it's not repaid by the business owner.

I was wondering is it Mesa who's suffering ultimately, or is it the original grantor who would be getting the brunt of that um defaulted loan?

Um council member Taylor, that would be the fund.

Um so it's not the city wouldn't have to necessarily come in and say, oh now surprise, we have to come up with $10,000 to repay the fund.

The fund the fund accepts that we are um not we, I should say the the loan itself, a loan pool, is working with small businesses.

Um there is a rigorous process to um to vet who receives a loan and qualify that person where it's not just anybody who walks in the door.

And so because it there's a responsibility of that fund to maintain the fund.

And the idea is to grow the fund.

And so with any type of revolving loan fund, there is um a realization that there's a risk of non-payment and and default, and sometimes that does happen.

Um, you know, one of the things that was encouraging to us in doing the research was looking at some of these non- mentioned earlier that there are some uh organizations in the state who've been doing this for for decades.

Their data, they have the default rates, and they are they are um much much less than you would think.

I don't think don't have the exact number in front of me, but uh we did look at that and it was an acceptable amount and and it keeps the fund stable with with the amounts that are paid back with interest.

So um the goal is always to grow the fund to protect the fund, but ultimately um I think what you're asking is is the city responsible to keep the fund and uh up and and come up, you know, pull out a general fund.

We we couldn't do that and even if we wanted to, and that that would not be how it would work.

Okay, okay.

Then let me just make a note of that.

Uh when you are ready, I would or this is just a question that you would like to have or an um a discussion you'd like to have with us individually.

I would love to know what the qualification process looks like for these businesses.

Um we talked about SBA loans, thank you for explaining those.

Okay, so Indy Car wash.

If if the property itself is in a condition such as that one, is it possible that owners like that one would not qualify for anything?

And in that case, do we have a backup plan for those types of properties?

Because I'm I'm looking at how many steps we've already been through with this particular business owner, how difficult it's been to work with this business owner, and the trajectory in my mind is that there is a strong probability this particular business owner, maybe some others like them that have neglected and dilapidated properties.

I especially know my district may not qualify for some of this funding.

And so I don't know if you've thought of a backup framework for how we would work with those particular business owners.

If you haven't, bring it back to us, something to think about.

Um I have a few thoughts and then feel free to jump in.

But um, we talked about a new RDA.

Um please put my district in it.

Um our goal would be to target the the areas which we talk about decline and distress, it's about wrapping in those areas.

So uh first step, let's try to get as many of the areas where we see problems qualified in within an RDA.

Um I I think we want to always start with that ultimately we are working with private property owners.

And we are here to help, we're here to knock down barriers, especially if there's concerns about oh, I you know, the city's so complicated, I don't know how it works, I don't even want to engage.

Um we're here to some to simplify and remove any barriers that we can, but ultimately, um, if this property owner just said, hey, I I don't want any help you've got, I I'm gonna do what I want.

There's limitations on what we can do.

Um but to your question, let's say, let's say it's outside of a new RDA, and there is a need, and there's nothing we can do.

That is the point at which we would try to look at what other options um we don't we have an expanded toolbox.

Um maybe it is a 7A.

That really probably is the most appropriate because that can go to businesses anywhere.

So um think about this way.

We're gonna have areas where all or most of our tools apply, and we're gonna have areas in the city that may have need where not all of our tools apply, and we're going to have to pick and choose, and it gets harder and harder in certain areas, and we have fewer tools.

Thank you.

And if I may, Councilmember Taylor kind of added another thought to that.

Um not to focus too specifically on the indie car wash, but you know, as Angelica had mentioned, there is a next step with that one.

That's where my mind was going.

Sometimes you just kind of gotta crack the whip and say you this is absolutely dilapidated, it's actually a safety issue at this point.

Right.

It the the you know, I I don't know that the city wants to you know rush down that path thing.

But there is a there is a path to the next step that does force change.

But you know, to your to your original question is you know, we could also have properties that clearly qualify for a program, but we have owners that don't.

You know, what we haven't talked about, and what we will be bringing back to you what is the criteria for for being a qualified to qualify, but also what conditions come with that qualification, you know.

Uh we aren't in the we aren't necessarily in the business of just handing out dollars without some kind of of return that we want to have.

And it may come with a requirement for development agreements that say if we are to give you this, you shall do that.

The indie cart wash would be one of those ones if we were, I I think if we were to qualify, just knowing it's history that we would want to have some type of um conditions attached to those dollars so that we can ensure that.

I want to see it redeveloped, I want to see it look really good, but yeah, those concerns are very valid too.

And another thing that we've talked about with with Jim and his team is that you know, while redevelopment areas are a powerful designation right now to allow us to work with this, you know, the conditions of slum and blight exist also throughout the city.

And and addressing conditions of slum and blight, regardless of whether it's in an RDA or what outside of an RDA is a public benefit to us that will help us um qualify properties that don't necessarily fall in an RDA today.

Okay, got it.

Thank you.

Vice Mayor.

One of her concerns is would we be placing liens on the property as a condition of taking a loan?

So if they do default, we would be able to get that.

Looks like I just put an idea in your head.

All right, let's let's work on that idea.

At least that you know, it's just when you have a mortgage, it's kind of a lean against your own home.

So I think that would be a condition we should look at.

Um generally comfortable seeking other alternative revenue sources for this.

I get the CDBG challenges.

Um I guess my concern is our construction sales tax.

We already utilize that for other things in the budget.

So what's the give by redirecting a portion of those construction sales taxes to this program?

What program is that coming out of?

Sure.

And um, mayor, council member uh vice mayor, let us come back to you with those details.

We want to just again make sure that we're on the right direction this morning overall, and and uh OMD's got some ideas um about that, so we'll we'll coordinate with them and come back with you uh with a more thoughtful discussion about that aspect.

So and then the last thing, Mayor, is I I think I I I generally support this, so I think this is a good idea.

We we have a lot of areas that could really use it.

I'd like to see this assigned to uh council subcommittee so they can get keep a closer eye on it, uh, whichever one that is.

Yeah, that's a fair ask.

Let's go forward.

Um yeah, thank you for all your work.

I mean, we this is absolutely a council priority.

We've talked about it for a while, and I appreciate um you all going out and measuring and researching um the market in this area, or what other cities do in this area, what works, what doesn't work.

Um it is really twofold.

I'm glad to see that as well.

It's not just this toolkit of programs and potential funding, but it's also regulatory that we have to we have to get rid of some of the barriers to being able to do these great infilled projects.

And as Nana stated it, we we've said I've I've brought several different developers in to tell us here are the pinch points that I see in the city, and Nana's been really great about trying to address those.

Um in a uh over a program time period.

I mean, he can't do anything at the moment, but anyway, it's been very receptive to those suggestions.

So thank you.

And I'm I'm I'm glad to see it both.

Um and and as Jen stated, just really to reiterate if we don't do programs like this, we get what we get, which is large national tenants that can pay to redo some of this stuff, and that's what our residents tell us, at least they tell me that's not what we have enough of that.

That's not necessarily what we want to see.

So that's one of the big whys on why you do that.

In addition to we have some areas that um well, I'll just leave it at that.

Um as far as the money, this is uh I see it as exactly as you stated, um, Scott, it this is sort of a zero sum.

Something else will have to give.

So we have said as a council, this is a priority.

So something else will have to fall down on the priority list and maybe not get that funding.

So it's this is not an ad, but this is a reallocation, which is what we of a count as a council said we want to do.

We want to decide based on what our residents tell us is important to them.

And our residents are telling us, including our non-residents on Monday night that like to tell us describe it as the ghetto, right?

There are and he's talking about these areas.

Our and our residents have said we've gotta we gotta do something about this, and you've come up with a plan.

Um, and so that priority gets gets elevated in the budget, and something else falls off.

That that's the way I see it so far, unless you tell me otherwise, and then we'll have to have that discussion on that's the way it works.

That's the way it works.

So um, I think that's that's uh I I I appreciate your your um points too, Jay, as this also signals to the development community.

That's that's very important that um we're serious about this, come partner with us, um, let's get this done.

And and we have the other important part is it's pilot, it'll be evaluated every year, and there are going to be from what you said, specific metrics, KPIs, to determine is this successful, is it not?

How how we doing on this?

And that's always very important to me, and I appreciate that.

We it's going to be a program with accountability that we can hold you accountable, and our residents can hold us accountable too.

So thank you.

Mayor, I just want to make just capitalize a little bit on what there is an ROI on this.

There is not using code compliance in heavy-handed ways of trying to make a property productive.

That's very costly approach.

But if it is a productive business that is contributing to our economy and contributing to our sales tax, that there is a return on the investment.

So it's not completely just investment and that's it.

There is a return to our city, and that's what we want.

We're a city that depends heavily heavily on sales tax.

We need our land to produce for us, our businesses to be able to prosper and have areas that are getting reinvested in just because we made some small investments, some small changes in one area, and then success breeds more success.

Other people will come in with private dollars to invest.

So there is an ROI, it's not just a zero-sum game in or even an you know a lost investment.

Thank you.

Mayor, I and I think that's a really important point that Councilmember Duff just made, and that's all part of this.

I mean, part uh part of it is the aesthetics and community pride of of uh doing away with lighted property or other things.

The other is selfish.

It's it's ROI.

I mean, if you can take a non-producing or underproducing piece of property that's then going to have a higher use, then that's going to generate more revenue to allow us to do these types of activities that council prioritizes.

And so you're exactly right, Councilmember Duff.

That's a that's a huge component to why we would do this.

I only had like two more questions.

So I just wanted to wrap it.

Can I you just about used them up?

Oh, I know.

I waited until the end because I knew I had a whole bunch.

So I'm gonna skip over some of them because I think they're gonna come back to me.

I was just curious to know have you spoken with the Mesa Chamber of Commerce in any of this.

I know they work with a lot of businesses.

Are you partnering with them in this?

Do we have channel?

Yeah, Jay.

Mayor, Councilmember uh Taylor.

We we always partner with the chamber, and when we're talking about doing focus group with stakeholders, we'll partner with the chamber of commerce to engage their business community.

Um but we have regular communications with small businesses all the time, and they're excited about the opportunity to learn more about this program and what council's going to be putting in place.

Yeah, and mayor council member, I'll expand on that a little bit.

In just the conversation we had as a staff level um a few days ago about this.

That was an area of emphasis because that's that's one of the sweet spots that Sally and her organization bring to play is being able to get that outreach and communication to small and medium-sized businesses.

And so um we we definitely are gonna look for every way that we can to engage um the chamber and their communications apparatus as as well to help get the word out to individuals that might benefit from from these programs.

Okay.

And then my last question, I know my last question.

I was just curious to know also in the toolbox if you've considered putting in either local or even maybe statewide angel investments or private equity firms that would be interested in coming together and pooling in this type of investment in our small businesses to help them.

I don't know that we've specifically included that, but we would love to have as much you know, capital, you know, venture capital, angel investors, any of them that you know, please send them our way.

We will as you wish.

Yes.

We would love to have that in our network.

And if it's not it, not if it's not just to directly in your um invest in this idea, but to have people that we can bounce ideas off of as well.

Is that what would it take for you to want to be an investor here?

So, yes, please send them to us.

Thank you so much.

I am very excited about this.

I've had a lot of residents tell me they would really would like to see some new life breathed into district two.

So I'm pretty thrilled.

Thank you.

Nana, Jay, closing thoughts.

Okay, so much forward and get all the tools that we can utilize to make this hop in.

So I'm excited.

I think it'll be great.

Thank you so much, Mayor and Council, for the opportunity.

Well, I'll just summarize.

This has been a long time in coming.

I know you've known that council is asked for some type of direction we can give.

We have so many underperforming properties, you know.

I've talked about it on our arterial streets, our shopping centers.

Infill is going to be an issue on some of these, but just getting these businesses, Ms.

Duff is correct on our sales tax revenue.

We need to find creative ways to help economically our city uh thrive, and and that goes along to our neighborhoods.

Just some of the wrap-up.

I didn't hear about on our uh code compliance.

So I'm sure you're gonna work with our building inspection department, our fire marshal's department because they're out there every day doing inspections in our community with that.

Uh again on general fund dollars, uh a little apprehensive on that.

I'd like to make sure that we minimize because we're actually asking, you know, for some cuts, you know, some you know, something's gonna have to drop in priority, so we'll have to be careful on that.

The question I had, Mr.

Butler, who's gonna manage this overall programming for it?

Because this seems like okay, these guys only have so many brains to use, and you know, like how can they manage all this?

Because uh that that's one of my questions and staffing for code compliance.

I mean, if if staffing is not up to par, uh, do we need to staff more for full-time you know, positions?

Do we move people around because to oversee this program to make it work?

We're talking about continuity, follow-through, and make sure things are being done effectively to utilize all the tools we're talking talking about.

With that, if you want to answer that after which we'll have a five-minute break.

Sure.

Um, Mayor, I'll just say we'll use all of their brains on this.

And and you're right.

You just even though we're presenting this today as an umbrella initiative of of redevelopment of a redevelopment toolkit, each each individual program will have its unique um needs and and administration that's attached to it.

And so it could be that Jay's office is responsible for one while Jeff's office might be another and Nana as well.

So we'll work through those details, and and I think uh the vice mayor had a uh a great suggestion that um we'll of course report back to CCA.

Yeah, to the committee on that, and they can they can understand how all these activities are are moving forward as one once they're activated, and um and so we'll be we'll be working through those those details.

But we didn't, of course, want to get ahead of council on this.

You've you've been asking for this.

We wanted to show you the direction that we were heading.

Um we've we've heard some very positive thoughts and also some great things that we need to keep in mind as we start to build out these programs, and so we'll do that and then come back with more information and and we'll have more talk, Mayor, of course, about the funding as uh as everyone's alluded to.

We'll we'll work through those details and and um and get back to council on that.

Good do we have a timeline for that?

Yeah, it well, it'll be as part of the budget discussions, Mayor.

Okay.

And uh, I mean, I think Council Member Gilforth, you know, named it, uh nailed it and in her description.

I mean, we hear this is a big priority.

So we're not talking about besides uh Jeff's point about uh if we can generate revenue based on these programs to invest back into the program, we're certainly doing that.

But we are just prioritizing the funds.

We're not raising taxes to pay for this.

We're not we're not uh adding anything else to pay for this.

We are we're going to we've heard from council this is a priority, and we're going to prioritize that uh in our budget using our existing resources.

Yeah, uh like the I think someone said having uh development pay for redevelopment.

Yeah, I think that's a key point that we need to do.

Yeah, because sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you, Mayor, but you you just think about the amount of resources we as an organization put to aid development, new development coming into the city, right?

And and so to to think about that.

I mean, we we talk about the price tag with this program, and and three three million is is a lot of money, don't get me wrong.

But if you think about the millions more that we spend uh day in and day out, that Nana's office, Jay's office, everyone to help recruit and bring new businesses and to uh help developers get through um a greenfield project maybe on the east side of town.

This this is very important too.

So with this, this isn't unlike what we are uh are doing as we're spending millions of dollars for for new development, where we're putting money and investment back into redevelopment as well.

Well, I'm sure the vice mayor will be talking about that towards the end about the ribbon cuttings and groundbreakings we've recently have and more forthcoming.

So, Jay, thanks for your work.

How about a five-minute recess?

If not, it will trickle in.

Um do we need the city clerk here?

Or do we have we're good?

Okay.

Very good.

Uh council, any hard stops, uh, Mr.

Adams, do you you have to leave?

Uh, okay, gotcha.

Other than that, welcome to item one B is a presentation update on the Office of Innovation and Efficiency and efforts related to strategic use of data and performance management.

Evan?

And the team, yeah.

Yeah.

So, Mayor, I will uh I'll just open this up and then hand it off to to the experts over here.

But um, you know, one of the things that uh I've talked about that coming into this role is making sure that we are being the most efficient uh and effective organization that we can be.

Like we said, the the use of our resources, because as we just had in the last discussion, if we can make sure that we're doing uh the most efficient with the resources that we have, that can create opportunities, finding cost savings using technology, efficiency through process as well, which is you'll hear a lot about that discussion this morning.

So Evan and his team have been working for years um different ways that we use data-driven decisions, the way that we partner with our departments to um to make sure that they are using the best process and procedures possible, but we can step up our game in that, and that's what we're going to be talking to you about today.

And this is this is also going to be an evolution as well as an organization as we're really looking, you know, what and that's why we wanted why I wanted to brand this, uh, the Office uh of innovation and efficiency, because that is what we're going to be asking of our departments, that they are looking at innovative solutions, they're looking at efficiencies throughout the organization.

Just because we've done something from a practice or procedure the same way for decades, doesn't mean that we can't change or that we can't use different tools, um AI, other resources, you name it all to to make sure that we're more effective and and driving that.

And sometimes, you know, as we as we know in the in the private sector, there is a um monetary incentive uh to do that.

And so we're just making sure it's ingrained in our culture, too, that even if you're don't you don't have shareholders in the sense of uh your public company on Wall Street, our shareholders are our taxpayers, and we have to make sure that we're driving that efficiency so that we can continue continue to deliver those services for them.

So, with that, let me turn it over to Ian and he'll uh he'll get us kicked off.

Great, thanks uh very much.

Uh good morning, Mayor and Council.

Excited to be with you.

I don't know if there was really much more we could do after that.

That was an awesome explanation of what this group is endeavoring to do.

Um but let me let me move to adjourn.

I'm good.

Michelle and Evan are like, great.

Well, yeah.

I gotta make sure that you you get to hear about the the great work that's already happening, it's about to continue uh in the months and years to come.

But so, real quick, uh Ian Linson, assistant to the city manager.

I have the pleasure of getting to work with this group.

Um I'm here with Evan Allred, our chief uh data uh officer, and then Michelle Trejo, who's been with us for about six months now, who who has really uh reinvigorated this group.

She's our performance administrator.

So with that, let's get moving.

What is the Office of Innovation and Efficiency?

Well, it is made up of a small but mighty team of performance uh uh advisors, data analysts who are back here with us, can give you a wave right here.

Uh they do really, really good work and have been doing good work um for years.

Um, and so this is an opportunity really to rein introduce you to this group that has been named, uh renamed, uh recharged uh to OIE.

And this is our public purpose, why we exist up here on the screen.

But really, what it distills down to is a citywide effort uh uh given you know extra power by this group to look for efficient and effective delivery of service throughout the organization.

So you got to hear about the external initiative the last two hours.

We'll give you a uh 20-minute view of this great internal initiative to improve uh our our city and our organization.

Um so what is efficient and effective mean?

I mean, this is this is a big deal to us.

We want to to we use data, you'll hear about this to inform our organizations.

We also want to kind of really think through and be meaningful when we talk about these things.

So for us, I'll read these two verbatim.

Uh being efficient is producing the intended community outcomes with minimal waste delay or rework.

Being effective means delivering the right service at the right time, the right quality, using the right level of resources.

So though those are our uh reasons for being, our driving factors, um the words you will continue to hear us use over and over.

The departments will get sick of us, but then also they'll come to love it because they'll see all of the the great benefits that come from these these uh initiatives.

But what we are really driving towards now is sustainable efficiency.

So not one time, but a a culture of continued improvement, a sustainable efficiency, which we're gonna, Michelle's gonna go into much greater detail on, but real quick, what is sustainable efficiency?

As I said, not a one-time approach.

Um, we can do it over and over.

It's it's embedded within our culture.

Um we think about it inherently.

Um we don't just, yeah, maybe we have a tried and true way of doing things, but we don't just do things because we did them over and over.

But before we jump into what that really means, I'd like to just share with you what this group has been doing and continues to do today.

So these again, these great services have been offered really on an ad hoc more or less basis uh over the last few years.

So let's just walk through them real fast.

Um we we uh assist with managing with data.

You've seen that more and more uh over the years.

We come to you with data to inform the decisions that our departments make, hopefully help you all as the elected officials inform your decisions that you you make, but we try to make this our our lifeblood.

Use use data to to inform our decisions.

We have uh what we call business solutions, so it's you can think about process improvement uh in in this category, ways to look at how we've been doing things, see how we can improve them.

Uh performance reporting.

So, you know, uh it's one thing to to say that we're gonna be doing all of this.

It's another to see if it's actually had any result.

And so already today, you've probably all seen it.

Uh, we have some dashboards out there, both internally and externally, that show um how our group's organizations are doing.

Uh, this group assists with creating and maintaining those data governance.

So, not only are we data informed, but we have to understand uh what are there guardrails that need to be put around data?

Uh Evan leads that effort uh to uh and it's an iterative process over time as as things change, as um you know, new security issues pop up, this group helps understand what does the gap uh data governance look like for the city, but also it's it's an effort to reassure the public that we think uh very uh very much about the importance of security and that sort of thing of data.

Uh capacity development, so just same type of a thing, building within um uh better enabling our departments themselves to um to strive towards this uh culture of continuous sustainable efficiency, and then uh a really, really big piece storytelling.

So, but this is strategic communication about what we are doing, how we're doing it, the successes that we're having, but even maybe some of the failures, some of the some of the places where things aren't going right.

I mean, we heard in the last presentation that um you know we want to know that because then we can change, we can iterate.

We don't have to just keep doing the same thing over time.

So this group helps with that.

So that's very, very quick overview.

Now, the the uh want to turn it over to Michelle who has brought this new vitality initiative to the group called Performance Plus.

She'll walk you through that and all the all the steps uh after.

So, Michelle.

Good morning, uh Mayor, Vice Mayor, Council members, so happy to be with you here this morning to talk about all the work that we're doing.

I think it will resonate with you quite a bit.

Um, as Ian stated, we are taking um the efforts that we've already been doing in the city of Mesa for quite some time and just like kicking it up a notch, taking it to that next level.

And so what we're introducing.

I was gonna use the word elevate, Michelle.

It's on the screen.

That's a better word.

I know.

Elevate, it's there, see.

Um we're eleving uh uh our efforts, and we're doing so through uh a program called Performance Plus.

And so I want to talk a little bit about that.

Um it's a systematic approach that ensures alignment across the organization with the council priorities, um, and really thinking about the stewardship of the city's resources and constantly looking at continuous improvement, um, innovation and efficiency and effectiveness.

And that's why we took great liberties to work with uh Mr.

Butler in making sure we defined what efficient and effective is because those are just like really great buzzwords, unless you have an actual definition to it, right?

And an effort towards it.

And we believe that that's what we have here now at the City of Mesa.

Thanks.

So Evan, can you go back one thing?

But this is this is really important.

I don't I don't want to gloss over this as well.

Ensuring alignment with council priorities, and then and Michelle highlighted there, but that's so important because how do we, you know, we we get to spend a lot of quality time together uh here in this setting and and in other discussions, but we're a large complex organization, right?

4,500 employees, a lot of different business units throughout.

And so day to day, as people are going about their jobs, going about ensuring they're delivering those crucial services to the city, how are we making sure that those activities are aligned with those council priorities?

And so, how does that how does that permeate through the organization, not just something we sit around this table and talk about?

And that's what Michelle's gonna get into because that's so important, right?

Because you you talk about the culture of an organization, but the priorities of an organization.

Councilmember Adams has talked about uh, you know, the fact of you know, how how do you um how do you ensure that you're stewarding those resources, you know, properly um throughout the organization, and that's the alignment with council priorities and making sure that we're in line with that.

And that and that is what this exercise in this in this involvement of Michelle and her team are making sure that we're doing thinking about make and prioritizing on a day-to-day basis, not just once a year during a budget presentation, but through our day-to-day activities as an organization.

So sorry about that, Michelle.

But that's great.

Um, so the three pillars of our efforts really are envision, elevate, and impact.

So let me just spend a little bit of time on envision, meaning you as a city have already been working on for quite some time the collection of data, the the use of data in making decisions and and also reporting that data to the public.

And so we are truly taking it to that next level, not abandoning any efforts, not leaving any of that behind, but taking that and building upon it, moving us into this new era of elevate and eventually into impact.

And so I want to talk a little bit about what that means.

And so where are we really going in this new elevate portion of our work?

We're really gonna go from an outputs-based organization to an outcomes-based reporting organization.

And you know, I I gotta say it's it's very common for government entities to lean in to output space.

It's not it's it's not bad because we're not private sector, right?

We don't we don't produce a widget, we don't have a store or what have you.

Um we don't have profit margins, we don't have things like that.

So a lot of times in government entities, we lean into what do we do, the bean counting of everything, and that becomes the norm, and what um we're looking for now is as we hear what what your concerns are is more of like how effective we are rather than how busy we are, and that's that's really what this elevator is going to become is our outputs that we've been collecting for quite some time and now showing how they drive outcomes in the city, and we're really excited about that.

So we're gonna do that through these collaborative partnerships with the departments, and we've already uh begun that process.

Uh we have 30 departments that we're working with, and we're defining through this process uh the outcomes that align with the citywide priorities, as Mr.

Butler stated, focusing our efforts on outcomes that matter most, and then establishing these meaningful KPIs that that and and these leading driving metrics.

And when we talk about focus on these outcomes that matter the most, we kind of have been uh going about it as if uh if like say our department, if we were a store and we were selling our products as OIE, right.

What are they buying from us?

Like what what does that look like?

Instead of like, okay, I'm producing this report, and this is how many people are coming here, and no, what are they getting?

What are they what are they buying from us with their tax dollars?

Like, what are they getting?

And so we're working with departments in these partnerships to show that to help them report that back.

And so we have an example of here's a dashboard template of how we're gonna go about doing this as far as reporting is concerned and driving those conversations.

So for every KPI, uh outcomes-based KPI, KPI that we have in the departments, they will have these dashboards.

Again, this is a template.

Uh, but the concept is if you notice up on the top left, you'll have your um the purpose statement of the department along with the associated outcomes-based KPI within the purpose.

It clearly states where the outcome is, and that outcome KPI is right under it.

All of these driving indicators that we work with the departments, all of this output, these outputs that they've been collecting over time, we're gonna help them take these outputs, learn um and and develop these these dashboards so that we can uh report really meaningful data and also most importantly, drive efficiency, drive effectiveness, and and and have us level up, have us elevate.

Um what's new here that we haven't quite had before, which we're really excited about, is to have tiles in there that include service uh delivery impact as well as budget impact because we've heard, you know, we're listening to what's important to all of you, and and we want to be able to speak to that.

We want our departments to be able to speak to that with confidence.

And what this also does is drive these very pivotal conversations with uh city management and other departments as we collaborate together.

I'll touch a little bit on about how that works and and and we interweave through other departments to work this all together.

But this would be the dashboard uh in moving forward on how we would be able to convey those stories and also give you all the information that you need.

Um it's also there, we're also here to interconnect priorities across the organization, um to identify pilot and scale processes.

And then elevating data informed decision making, using all of that together, so that we can all make the decisions that we need to make using data rather than anecdote.

So here are some of the examples of work that we are doing currently.

Really exciting, pivotal things that are going on within the city of Mesa.

First of all, we've got collaborative efficiencies going on.

I think some of you may have heard our department is working to working in the building permit review process to streamline that to improve the efficiencies, remove the redundancies, produce uh uh uh make uh recommendations for a new process that will increase speed to market.

I think uh Jeff and Jay both kind of touched on that a little bit.

Uh that is a collaborative effort.

There are 13 departments uh working together in that process with us.

It's been incredible.

Um we're also working with PD and their hiring processes, as well as capital improvement and um kind of like bits and pieces in there that need some process improvement as well.

Uh we're entering in this new era of reporting called quality indexing.

Uh we're finding that as we embarked and working in these partnerships with departments, that as we pull away from output-based reporting and more about outcomes-based reporting, that there's a need for more of like in an index type of reporting, because there's so many components that can go in to these outcomes that our our citizens and and customers are looking to have improved upon.

And so uh we've got economic development that's working on an incredible index of competitive um positioning.

We've got urban transformation on doing one on economic vitality or urban vitality.

Uh, we've got police that's working on one uh uh right now for uh safety um or the public view of safety in in Mesa as a whole.

Uh and all of these indexes don't rely on on just one type of of uh date piece of data.

They are hybrid models that may include not just um um data itself, but also a component of uh surveys as well.

We've got collaborative measures, really exciting stuff going on with fleet and solid waste in order to look to optimize our fleet, uh workforce readiness, working with economic development as well as uh urban transformation uh to improve efforts there, um, managing with data, and I'm gonna turn that uh over to to Evan to talk a little bit about that.

So, you as a council, you've already seen a lot of data-informed topics come to you, and you've made decisions using that data, and so I don't want to recount those experiences, but just give you a little glimpse into the data analysis projects that are currently in flight or that are just about to kick off.

So, with that first one, specialty licensing and permits, um, that's uh intended to capture where we have a bunch of activities where we're looking at things in departments around turnaround processing times.

So, examples uh building permits and planning cases, what is the what are the turnaround times for those?

What are the bottlenecks and maybe why are those bottlenecks occurring uh third, fourth, fifth submittals?

Why are the what what patterns or trends can we see in the data about those kinds of cases and those kinds of permitting requests?

Why are they going to third, fourth, fifth submittals?

Um similarly with business licenses and specialty licenses.

So think of the general business license that the city of Mesa has, uh short-term rental uh license, and and so again, processing time, but then also specific to short-term rentals.

How many of those uh properties that are out on the market?

If you look at Airbnb or Verbo, how many of those properties are actually licensed with the city?

So that's some of the data analysis uh work that's going there.

And we're about to kick off uh public records request redaction uh analysis, looking at the data about how long it's taking to process those public requests for information and where again, where are the bottlenecks?

Maybe why are those bottlenecks occurring, and then going back to Michelle's group now?

What do we do with with uh remedying those those bottlenecks?

The second uh grouping there, water and energy resources.

I'm I'm very excited.

We we recent the city recently hired two data analysts to help with our uh this mass flood of data that's now coming from all those uh water, gas, and electric meters that are sending data every 15 60 minutes uh and and making that data into information.

And so we're very excited about the work that they have already done and are doing.

There are literally dozens of projects uh either completed or in flight in that area.

Uh and then finally, I just wanted to highlight a wonderful partnership we we have with our our university community and Arizona State University uh partnering with us to help develop prediction models.

And so three that I we've highlighted here on the screen, code compliance, um and that's a that's a prediction model uh looking at case load across code compliance case officers and geography and and processing time and being able to predict and then better allocate KDO case officers um water mains is another one that that ASU has helped us with, looking at water main breaks and and then predicting where those breaks will occur in the future, and then what are the attributes that go into those, and then what can water services do to proactively prevent a cat, you know, go and take care of that before it becomes a catastrophic water main break.

Uh and finally um pedestrian-related fatalities and injuries is a topic where we've had ASU partner with us to look at where are those incidents and events occurring, what might be the commonalities either at you know, spatially intersection or things around that intersection that might be driving it or other factors, and then again being able to have a have a clear picture of what's driving those kinds of activities.

So again, just a short yes mayor.

I think fleet services and deferred maintenance could be another area of predicting when vehicles might start to break down and cost more.

Absolutely.

So we'll throw that one in.

Thank you.

Yeah, Mayor, that's uh yes, Mayor Vice Mayor, that's absolutely something that's been being looked at.

Um so you're you're right on point with that.

But just to use the real world example that the mayor had just mentioned when he talked about uh code compliance just a few minutes ago.

And so um, you know, if you're if you're not using data-informed decision making, then historically what do people do?

They throw FTEs at a problem, right?

They're like, okay, well, is is that it?

Then let's let's get more staffing.

Surely that will solve the issue.

And that's not we we realize how foolish that is uh to to believe that just because you throw you know more people at an issue, that's gonna lead to a better outcome.

And uh as Michelle's been talking about.

So what Evan's describing is exactly the real world analysis that we're doing.

How can we better allocate the resources that we have?

How can we get those efficiencies from those FTEs that we have in situations like that?

It may, after we do that analysis, it may say, yeah, you do need another FTE, and then we can talk about that.

But it's not about always just throwing money at a problem uh or new money at a problem and saying that's gonna fix it.

And PD's done a great exercise.

It started under Ken Cost, and now Dan Butler's um embraced it, where um we looked at the allocation of our officers.

Where which um which areas of the city are they assigned to, which beats, where's the most effect effective use instead of just saying, okay, we're gonna divide these up, you know, uh by the area of the city without really looking at that crime data, without looking at all the other intricacies that go into how long they stay on scene and then in one area maybe versus another area, and there's differences of that, right?

And so that our past chief and our current chief have embraced that we've got to use that um in order to allocate those critical sworn um officers that we have.

So those are just a couple of examples of how you know we we can drill into this data and then allocate our resources appropriately without just throwing money uh at a problem and thinking that's gonna fix it.

So just in closing and make the com there we go.

Uh just in closing, and kind of the culmination of the work that we're doing is something that we call threading.

So we've been working with departments over the last three months, and when you're working with them in this depth, what happens is a myriad of needs surfaces, right?

Oftentimes process improvements, oftentimes systems issues and all of that.

Well, what a threading process does is allows us to see what departments are all sharing in that same um issue, concern, challenge, need, what have you.

And it allows for us to now prioritize or bring a list together to then address the efficiencies, like in one fell swoop in each of these areas.

And it's quite amazing to be honest, and we're really excited that that's the next level of our work that we'll be going into.

But that really is something that's amazing because it allows us to look system-wide at system-wide workflows, value chains, all of those things.

And we only see uh really great, amazing things coming from this work.

So any questions?

Thank you very much.

Counsel.

I'm sure there has to be a few, Mr.

Adams.

Thank you, Mayor, for allowing me to go first because I have a little bit of a time constraint here.

Um comments would be this, um, and I'm not gonna really drill down into the weeds here, but I I like the overall concept.

Um I think when you have an opportunity to make decisions based on hard data, that's that's the way to go.

Um the the real uh litmus test, however, is once we have the data, look at where it points us, tell it tell us what it's saying.

We make the changes.

Have we really made effective use of that or the efficiencies truly improved?

What's the bottom line?

So I think that's where our intention is to go.

Um just a couple of thoughts here.

Um as you're as you're moving forward with this.

I have found over the years that oftentimes the people on the line in the field doing the work, they're the first to tell you with great accuracy what's inefficient about the way they do their job.

Whether they're bolting cars together on an assembly line or digging ditches or framing houses, those people know what the company's requiring that is just ridiculous.

So I would encourage input from the folks who are actually doing the job, whatever the job is.

Um again, I I'm not gonna get into great detail, but uh, we'll give you one example.

I wonder sometimes whether in our permitting for events and things like this, we spend more in terms of resources than we possibly could see in return.

Um I'll give you some real specifics one on one if you'd like.

But if we spend $2,000 in FTE time, and our net TPT result is $300, I wouldn't, I wouldn't go I wouldn't do that again.

But so I think we should look at that.

Um would really encourage input from many, many sources.

Are you planning on on uh taking public comment on this?

Uh well the public sees issues that they feel we're doing things inefficiently, or is this entirely internal at this point?

Well, I'd say, Mayor and Councilmember Adams, I mean we're always open to that for sure.

I mean, and and you know, uh a lot of the team has good connections throughout the community.

Many of the team have been here for a while, and so we definitely take that.

Um and and it's totally something that we would love to do.

And in Mayor Councilman Rams, I think I'd also add on the each project has to be looked at individually, and I think depending on um the audience and and um who that's targeted at, there is, and I'll use Nana, for example, already uh he's alluded to the fact that their process improvement efforts that DSD has been going through, they have had stakeholder groups from industry, from the chamber from from others that they've reached out to.

And so I think you'll see that on a case-by-case basis because each process improvement is so unique to um who the intended audience is and if it's an internal stakeholder, making sure that other departments are um utilized in that.

And to your point too, about making sure that those actually uh you know doing the work and are part of the decision making.

And I want to point back to maybe the PD exercise on that uh through that process of kind of realigning those allocations.

I think you know, Ken, correct me if I'm wrong, but each and every sergeant in the department was interviewed and was brought in and was and was um went through meticulously.

What are you seeing?

You're you're in charge of a group out here.

What are your what are you experiencing on a day-to-day basis?

And then the lieutenants uh on top of that.

So it wasn't just the chief's office saying, here's on paper, this sounds great.

They actually walked through with the men and women out in the field to make sure that what they were proposing actually um gelled with what our um what our officers out on the street were actually experiencing.

And so I think those are examples of where we got to ingrain that kind of decision making um and uh input from those being impacted by the change.

So it's being done with them, not to them, and I think that increased its buy-in so substantially, you know, no matter what department you're you're talking about.

I think that's great, and I encourage that.

Yeah, the you know, those sergeants, they're probably not a very opinionated view.

Oh no, not at all.

Okay.

Oh, Mayor, I need to be excused.

I've got a business obligation.

Thank you.

All right, copy that.

Oh, sorry, they come out wrong.

I got it.

Um questions?

So I have questions.

Okay.

Uh so I I'm I came from the world of data, and I this is actually a very complicated situation, but I'm hoping I can keep my subject simple.

Is it my understanding, just to make sure I'm clear, that you are essentially coalescing all of our departments, and you are measuring or giving them KPIs because obviously busyness is not productivity.

And you're defining an outcome versus an output, and then you're measuring the efficiency and the effectiveness of that output based against what standard, first of all.

And how are you coming up with their KPIs?

Are you just working with their leadership?

Are you going above to the city manager to determine what the council has said?

We want to see this in the future.

There's so much to it.

I won't take up all of our time, I promise.

But there's this is actually a really big rollout.

I just want to, before Michelle, Michelle's gonna take this, Mayor and Councilmember Taylor, but she's done almost everything that you have just said, so I can't wait for her to talk through like what that's what that looks like.

Thank you, you know.

All right, councilmember Taylor, uh, we did take all of that into consideration.

So what we have done is uh we've worked with departments, and like we stated in a partnership where we began in an in an exercise of identifying their activities, their outputs, their inputs, like what was really going on there, um, working with them so they could develop their purpose statements that that really highlight their outcomes, helping them.

Part of our job is to facilitate them through this process, right?

As the the subject matter experts in that, not their not their business, but in how to get to where they got to get to in measuring it.

And so we did, and and so what came as a result of them identifying their actual outcomes to the public was the identification of their KPIs.

And and then through that, we work with them now as far as like how they're developed uh to a national standard.

Some are to a national standard, but we also took into consideration what were the needs here in Mesa and what was expressed uh by council members as as a priority and taking all of that into consideration.

Um some of them are straightforward KPIs, some are indexes as I discussed uh earlier, where we had to have a compilation of this data.

I I actually am really excited for the day that you get to see the competitive positioning index from economic development, because it's incredible.

And so it's it's it's it's not just one size fits all.

It really was to the need of the city of Mesa, the department national standards, kind of all put together.

And then oh, yes, Ellen.

Uh Mayor, Councilmember Taylor, I would just add to that that the council priority alignment piece is what is the step we're in right now.

So the department director is now meeting with their requisite the ACN, the assistant city manager, deputy city manager that they work with regularly, and running those KPIs by them, then the outcomes that they've uh decided on to check for that council alignment and then have a further conversation.

Hey, I think this is a hot topic right now, or I think the council's direction is this, and then have the director make adjustments in their outcomes and KPIs based on that discussion.

I'm gonna ask you a hard question.

Who is determining your KPIs and measuring your performance and outcomes versus outputs for our office?

We've uh we have we have developed that, but that would be our boss.

Yeah, Mr.

Butler.

This guy, and you're measuring my KPIs and output.

So that's uh so absolutely, and and that's why that alignment is is so important.

And we we talk about it a lot.

I mean, we we see we're we're you know, we're seasoned organization, right?

We're over a hundred years old, and there's certain things when we talk about prioritizations, you know, about um programs and projects.

Every single thing that we do day in and day out was a priority at some point, you know, to a council, right?

And some of those things have continued on, some of those things have transformed, some of those things have been terminated, but now as each council changes and those priorities change, we've got to be flexible with that.

And so that alignment with your priorities makes sure that as we're prioritizing with limited resources, uh, and we look at uh the programs we talk about the have-to-do's versus the nice to-do's.

And there are some programs that at the time might have been essential.

Maybe they were a need to do at the time, but they're not anymore.

Or maybe there's you know, other entities outside that are now doing that activity.

All you know, all of the above or some combination of that.

That that's where that really helps our departments, especially as we enter into budget season.

And and this is where it's collaborative.

This isn't something that's being done to them and shoved down their throat.

This is empowering them so that they can understand how the services they give day in and day out align with what your expectations are as the board of directors of the city.

And so that that is really um, I think the big distinction about what this office does is that it really helps empower our departments and challenges them to make sure that they're thinking day in and day out about how those programs and projects are aligned with what the seven of you uh are articulating are your priorities as a city.

I have one more question.

I think it's great that we have a lot of things that are in-house and they can be controllable, but every so often because predictive analytics can almost be a 50-50.

You can see wonderful models be very successful and extremely helpful in facilitating future progress and growth.

I've seen it myself, it's amazing.

You can also see predictive models start us on a track, and then we find out it failed.

And so we take action in the negative direction.

Are we considering as a body every so often, annually, maybe once every two years, having an outside auditor build out or test our modeling so that we can determine that our own internal predictions are the most accurate and the best before we start applying physical um resources to these ideas that we've built out before we start conveying them to other people?

Great question, Councilmember Taylor.

Um I I agree prediction models need constant looking at.

Are they still representative of what's happening?

Are are the variables and the data we're putting into those models still representing what's happening in the real world?

And how and it should be the case that we're always looking to how do we improve those models.

And then we've been talking a lot lately internally and with others across the city about willingness to fail fast and to identify this is to Michelle and her team's point about identifying why do we do these activities?

What is the community impact that we're looking for?

Are we seeing that community impact because of this model that's guiding us in this direction?

And if not, why not and fail fast and and make adjustments to the model, make adjustments to the policies, and to be willing to say this isn't working like we hoped it would.

We need to address it.

That might be the case with the fleet uh maintenance model is is it achieving the the community outcome that that we need to have for an available fleet?

And if not, let's go back and make some tweaks to that model.

And that and so we are very cognizant of that, and and we'll be always looking at that.

So we are open to being tested from an outside source just to ensure that we are achieving a certain level of accuracy and excellence.

I think we should always be open to doing that.

That's good.

Okay, thank you.

Yes, go forward.

I guess that's why I I was I was happy to see, and maybe this is an industry distinction or term.

I'm not in this industry, I don't have this background, but that it's data informed and not data-driven, right?

So it's data is good, and you know, for all the reasons you stated, sometimes it can um drive uh us somewhere we don't want to go, right?

So it it's just a data informed, including all the other pieces.

Um, and and I'm happy to see that you there are these qualitative indexes because those are important too.

So I think you're on the right track.

I'm excited to see this.

Um you've been doing this for the last six months.

Michelle's been in this role, or you've got to be able to do that.

I've been in this role for last month.

I mean, the amount of what you have accomplished in this amount of time, I'm blown away.

I mean, this is this is fantastic, thank you.

And your team.

I mean, you're you've already done a lot, and I mean, so you know, Scott Butler's not messing around when he's like sense of urgency.

So I appreciate that.

Thank you, Scott, and thank you to all of you.

Um, outcome outcomes versus by the way.

I love data, I love process.

I think we all know that.

I'm one of those people.

So I think this is great.

I and I'm glad because I've asked over and over, and I I think not just me, but what is this information telling me?

You know, we have all this information on our website, and I've had residents say, this is all great information, but what is this actually telling me?

So this outcomes versus outputs, I think is I mean, obviously on the right track, and I appreciate that because really it is about what are we trying to do here, what are the outcomes that we're trying to achieve.

So and I think it's great that you're embedding it within department.

So it becomes this culture and and this ongoing process for every department and not just you know, you all in your own little silo and dipping in, you know, as as you do your work, but it actually runs within, and I guess that's this threading.

I don't know if that's the right, I'm not sure if I've got that right.

But anyway.

And you've got it right.

Okay, okay.

Great.

So anyway, thank you.

And mayor, council member go forth.

Let me just, you know, keep going back to this example, but I think it's just a real world example to prove your point, and and something council member Adams had said earlier about employee input.

We make data-informed decision making, and and the PD example about the allocation uh of the officers is a great example because the data told us one thing kind of from a black and white standpoint and and put us in the right direction.

But you had the chief who came in from a management standpoint and said, hold on, this this isn't taking everything into account.

There's some intangibles as we were talking about allocations in West Mesa and Crime Rate that were just you know, that the model just wasn't necessarily taking into account.

And then you take the the beat officers, the officers out on the street who are experiencing that same um that the same experience that the chief was pointing to.

So then we were able to decide on a model that was data informed, but had those tweaks based on the feedback and the real world experiences from our officers and and our management within the police department.

And so that's how it's supposed to work, right?

That you you start with the data to help drive you in a certain direction, but then you take that information and you take the real world information to tweak it and perfect it and to make it actually workable, and also to get that buying in from the people who are going to implement it as well.

So that's that's a perfect example about how it's supposed to work in an organization.

And mayor, vice mayor, and council members, I it would be remiss.

I mean, if I didn't mention one thing that is making this quite successful.

We are supported greatly by our leadership that allows for us and affords departments to have real conversations about maybe the areas that are not performing well, but they are actual outcomes-related pieces instead of you know, uh having maybe like a performative nature in how we report, but rather have these conversations to discuss the real matters at hand and how we can improve and where we need to reallocate.

You guys talked about reallocating some things today to meet priorities and what this effort does as a result of our leadership that backs us up and supports us in these efforts is what really makes all of this work as well.

Very good.

I'll be really quick.

I I just want to say that we do have an audit department that does audit processes as well.

So if we're putting into a new program, of course, we pilot first.

Um, but it's that we do have an audit department that is not just financial, it is process and looking at that and taking every team single step that everybody is doing and finding out where the failures are, or maybe it's working fine.

So it is not the end all, you know, it is just the beginning.

Um, and I would like to say government has a reputation of being very bureaucratic.

If you want to get something done, it's going to be a process.

And we have a lot of processes.

And sometimes when boxes can't be checked, that's where I'm sure you've all received emails when the system isn't working, right?

And we know um, I'm because I've worked in a lot of redevelopment with the downtown and such, and I've ranted about this before and strategic planning before.

Uh uh how when there it doesn't go as our system designs, it's it gets kicked out, and then people decide what they're gonna do.

It usually you have to go to like four levels till it finally gets to Scott, and they said, yeah, the person who had a solution and day one will go ahead out of you know, standard, and we'll support that.

So you but it this when it we have processes that aren't a process and they get kicked out and go awry, costing our citizens money and time and our resources as far as staff.

Well, why why why is that?

Well, let's look at what processes are going on, what is failing, and redo that so that people are working on driving us forward, making us more innovative and efficient, and set of working on things that aren't processes that are not serving us boxes that can't be checked.

What is that box?

And how can we make those common sense solutions?

So it's just moving to catch up with the 21st century of what's possible and creative innovative thought leaders within our city by being able to take on these problems in new innovative ways instead of saying I can't check the box, I just have to kick it out.

Thanks.

No, I love this and I think we should do uh figure out how we do more in the future as far as as we develop uh uh a system of uh within the departments and looking at how we can maximize some of this new technology that's coming uh to help our residents and you know our business uh business community uh so we can maximize you know results, right?

So thank you.

I have one more question.

Go figure.

I know it's a study session though.

Well, uh non-sending will council have access to a dashboard where we get to see okay, yes.

That's what I wanted to know.

We do we get to see the data, because that's what I want to see.

You can keep your mulligan because I had that question.

Okay, you took care of that.

Young man like a second opinion for my little sister here.

You don't want to go there.

What I what I haven't heard is most of us attended NLC recently in Salt Lake City, and there are a lot of breakout sessions regarding this topic as well as using the word AI to help facilitate finding inefficiencies in organizations.

In fact, some cities use them saving multi-millions of dollars and finding a lot of redundancy in programs, employees doing this and that.

So uh to that effect, I would hope that that identifies areas where we can be more conservative uh financially with all that we're doing.

And you know, for example, today we have an ombudsman in our planning department.

I'll say it that way, to facilitate connecting problems between here and there between the different departments.

Now, is that really necessary?

Well, it is today.

I'm hoping we find these inefficiencies.

We we strategize in how to make it better for not only the applicant, but the end result saving time and money.

The other question I had are you are we willing to make changes and delete programming if it's not working out to our city?

I mean, why spend monies that are in a not being effective to what we're trying to do?

And and I don't know what they are.

I mean, we've had some prior discussions last year in the budget uh session about the parks department.

What programming do we keep?

How important is it?

I would like to know is it efficient?

You know, and and I'm hopefully you have this information prior to our budget decisions so that we can make informed financial decisions for our city.

The last thing I'd like to say is it was suggested that we assign your committee your group to maybe the audit and finance committee and can't come in and give us a report to audit and finance so that we have continuity, we know what you're doing, and that will be at the discretion of the chair.

Yeah.

Um I'm done.

Thank you.

So, Mayor, I I would just add uh too, and maybe Ian could just br speak briefly on the role of AI in this, because it it is extensive um as an organizational um tool that um that we can use.

But from the point about programs and and staying with programs, it kind of goes back to what I said earlier.

Well, first of all, we efficiency of programs is one thing, and that's what we're gonna work on.

Prioritization of programs is another, right?

And that is where um we'll certainly look towards council and look at council direction on that, because with um, you know, when you've got a limited set of resources, when you've got a pie, how you split that pie is going to be dependent upon the direction that's that's given.

And so um we we want to get and we believe that the programs that we have and are offering uh have all been important to either you know a constituency group, a previous council, um, all of those derived from you know uh a solutions base to the to the issues at the time, whether they've outlived their lifespan, that that is something that is set by the priority of the council and whether um we should prioritize that funding toward a new initiative or a different initiative, or or to just stop that initiative altogether, and that and that's some of the direction, of course, that we are gonna rely on the 7W to provide.

Okay.

All right, yeah, Mayor, that thanks, uh Scott.

Mayor, I'll touch real briefly on AI.

I I know like I'm probably as frustrated as some of you from hearing me say like AI is gonna be doing stuff, and we haven't actually seen the results yet, but I promise you it's it is gonna have a lot of utility um in the years to come.

We are we are actively working on some things to try and find tease out those areas that make sense.

But I can tell you from having from spending a lot of my free time reading up on this, is I something that's very important to me and to all of us is to make sure that we can feel confident that these tools are doing what they say that they do, they're providing the outputs that are accurate and that sort of thing.

And I'll tell you, it's still tough, even though there's some great things that these tools can do, it's still tough to feel confident about that on an enterprise level.

And it's it can be, I mean, very dramatic uh differences in in maybe some of these outputs.

So anyway, so those are things that we're working through.

But I I hope, I hope that I can come to you soon individually or at a meeting like this to talk to you about some of the things that we're going to be able to implement in the not too distant future, but it'll be a through line in all of this work for sure.

And let's be clear too, and I know Ian could take another hour, which we won't do, uh, to to drill down on this.

He's talking at an enterprise level, as he said.

I want to stress that point.

I know we're already looking at different AI tools and programs on on the day-to-day basis, uh, whether it's plan review, whether it's you know, uh co-compliance, you you name it.

There are there are tools out there, some more ready for prime time than others, as you all as you all know.

Um, and that's the case with any uh kind of technology uh program.

But we are we're we've got an AI working group um throughout the city.

We you know, we're looking at that on case-by-case basis, and I think what Ian certainly was referring to is just seeing at an enterprise level.

You know, there will be transformative things that we see um over the next decade, certainly on on the AI sphere, but we will you know, every day continue to look at tools and programs that are AI driven and AI enabled that help us do the business that we do.

Before you roll this out officially, um I echo Mark.

Hopefully, it'll be before budget, so you know, we have time to look at it.

Do you have a sandbox that we can play in to see how it looks or anything?

For the dashboard, yeah, just uh uh in the coming months, yes, we will have as we as we stand up dashboards.

Absolutely, we can make them available.

That would be great, just so we can kind of get used to how the current layout is and if there's recommendations and we have time to make them before you're like, oh, here's your final plate of dinner and running that earlier.

It will be there'll never be a final, you know.

No, exactly.

And and Mayor maybe just real quick.

Mayor and council member, just I just want I do want to set expectations that you know that this um there would there will not be some sort of eureka moment between now and the time you were all discussing budgets because that's happening in weeks.

Um there may be some insight that can help drive that conversation.

We hope that there is, but what we really hope is that this starts to snowball, and by the time we come around next budget cycle, and then that you will really have some tools that maybe just didn't exist prior or or weren't as readily available.

So I just want to set that expectation.

I appreciate the word because the status quo needs work.

Thanks.

Okay, with that, thank you, Ian Michelle.

Thank you, Evan.

We'll look forward for you soon.

Uh item two is to acknowledge the receipt of board mission minutes.

Is there a motion?

Thank you, Vice Mayor.

Thank you, Miss Stuff.

All in favor say aye.

Thank you.

Motion passes.

Uh, next is current events and conferences attended.

Council, would you like to share?

I just been following around you guys.

We should let Vice Mayor Summers uh share.

Actually, I was looking at it, and since uh Monday there's only one new one.

The uh Cambria Hotel is uh we did a groundbreaking yesterday.

Um it's a nice brand to have into the community given the growth that's happening uh in the area, but even more importantly, the the Cambria brings in an element of you know that uh local hospitality.

You don't have to stay there to use the amenities there.

They will have a or uh limited restaurant, uh, but even more importantly, I think is the rooftop bar that everybody's been excited about with a view of the superstition mountains.

So they're taking one.

Yeah.

Why would I bring it up?

I don't know.

But they they hope in uh to open in uh 12 to 14 months, and it'll be uh a nice addition to the the neighborhood.

Very good.

Ms.

Taylor, you want to I only have the um economic development lunch that we attended on Tuesday.

I went with Mayor Freeman and we saw Miss Councilmember Alicia Gofort there, and it was very educational.

We got to meet with our legislator Justin Olson and talk with him for a little bit.

So yeah, it was great for me.

I learned quite a bit.

Our Uber was uh Miss Kathy McDonald.

So I thank uh Kathy for that.

Ms.

Gofort.

Just that.

Okay.

Well, most of us attended the East Valley partnership breakfast with the governor.

I think all of us were there at the table.

Um I also attended last night a UN delegation for Family Watch International Reception Multi-Uh Globe at the uh Double Tree Hotel at the uh hotel at Allen School in Hampton.

Forget it's been a long day.

Yeah already.

So with that, uh Mr.

Butler, can you share schedule of future meetings?

I know I told Councilmember Heredi I'm like, two items, you know.

I thought it'd be a little quicker this morning, but there was a lot of meat on uh on on these two items.

Yeah.

So mayor and council, uh we will um reschedule the Auden Finance uh committee meeting.

So staff will be working with those respective members to find the time, hopefully next week, I believe is the the intent.

So our next study session will be um next Thursday, January 22nd at 7 30.

Just a reminder about the MLK parade and uh festival this coming Monday.

Um it's it's city offices will be closed as it's uh federal, state, and local holiday.

And just a um reminder that study session on the 29th has been canceled, and so you'll uh uh it'll save the vice mayor the long drive in from D6 that that morning.

So uh no no study session on Thursday, the 29th.

So just to remember, uh the the mayor's gonna be out of town that day, and then it's also uh overlaps with the city managers association meeting.

Um so we'll so several of us will be out of town as well.

So do we have any other elected officials attending the MOK parade with us?

Do we Andrea do you no by chance sorry?

I'm putting you on the spot.

Maybe Senator Gallego might be joining us.

Yeah, I think Sandra Gallego is on the list, but I do know it's an East Valley parade, and so we do have some participants from other CD members that we have to do.

Just want to make sure they're recognized as well.

There is, and and Mayor, because it is a it is an independent committee that that runs at the East Valley MLK uh committee.

Uh they're they're responsible for some of that, so I'm sorry we don't have those exact names, but there usually are several dignitaries.

I believe that Senator Gallego um will will be there and and they'll probably typically we have some members of Congress and and others that that come by as well.

So um there, I'm sure there will be.

We can work to find that out and share with council, though.

Very good.

I'll entertain a motion to adjourn.

So thank you, Mr.

Edia.

Thank you, Miss Duff.

All in favor, say aye.

We're done.

Have a good rest of the day, and the city of the UK, and the city of the U.S.