Good afternoon, everyone.

Welcome to the Tempe City Council work study session agenda.

I don't remember what is called order.

Council meetings can be watched in real time via Cox Cable Channel Eleven and at Tempe.gov slash Tempi Eleven.

Members of the public may also attend the meeting virtually through Microsoft Teams.

I'm gonna go here to item number two announcements from the mayor and or city manager.

I should ask, Madam City Manager, do you have any announcements?

Because I know I have quite a few.

So no, thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Okay, wonderful.

Thank you so much.

All right.

Um we're gonna go and do some of these down here, and I think my colleagues are going to join me for all of them, so we're gonna go up front.

I love it.

Thank you.

All right.

Got quite a few of these this uh afternoon, so I want to make sure that we can get through them.

All right, uh, first of all, we're gonna go item two A.

Tempe Works graduates recognition.

So uh my council colleagues are all gonna be down here for this one as well as all the other ones that are coming up this afternoon.

So I'm gonna now uh invite up uh Binta Coker from our so our social services senior social services coordinator of the Tempe Works program, who's actually going to be leading us through this recognition.

So I'm gonna hand the microphone off to her.

Thank you.

So thank you, Mayor and Council, for the opportunity to recognize this very special group of individuals who represent the heart of the Tempe Works program.

Tempe Works is an employment initiative launched through the vision of Councilmember Randy Keating in 2017.

Since its inception, the program has grown significantly, now encompassing five designated city positions and proudly boasting 49 49 graduates to date.

Today we take a moment to recognize some of the incredible individuals who have successfully completed the TempeWorks program.

Each participant has faced and overcome unique challenges, demonstrating resilience and strength.

We are proud to honor their accomplishments and celebrate their journey while being reminded of the impact opportunity, support, and community can have on an individual's life.

Barbara Level.

Scott Barker.

Oh can I know you know you come up with the Barbara Scott Barker?

Scott self-referred to Tempe Works while in TCAA's iHealth program.

He began working in Solid Waste in April 2025 and completed 90 days of employment.

Scott Connected with CBI's SSVF Rapid Rehousing Program, receiving veteran-specific housing support and a move-in kit from Tempe Works.

Scott obtained stable employment on his own and graduated in July 2025.

Thank you, Scott.

Yeah, Scott.

Oh, we're going to get a picture taken.

Congratulations.

Oh, am I supposed to?

No, no, no.

Daniel Donnen.

All right, Daniel.

Daniel approached Tempe Works while in TCAA's IHELP shelter and began work at Solid Waste in September 2024, where he completed 90 days of employment.

With support from TempeWorks and Care 7, he transitioned into housing.

Daniel secured stable employment after going through the program, and he became a graduate in January of 2025.

Thank you, Daniel.

One three years.

Paige was referred to Tempe Works by another program participant.

At the time she was staying in TCAA's IHELP program.

Paige began working in Solid Waste in October 2024, where she completed 90 days of employment with assistance from Tempe Works and Care 7, she secured stable housing and graduated in January 2025.

Thank you, Paige.

Yeah, yeah.

Great.

Congratulations.

Bobby Barnett.

Bobby joined the program independently while in TCAA's IHELP Shelter.

He began work at Solid Waste in May 2025, where he completed 90 days of employment.

Bobby was supported with housing, long-term employment resources, and a move in kit from Tempe Works.

Additionally, housing assistance came from Care 7 and the City of Mesa.

Bobby graduated in September 2025.

Thank you, Bobby.

And we have a posthumous recognition for Adam Softic.

Adam entered Tempe Works independently while in TCAA's IHEP Shelter and began employment in December 2024 with Solid Waste.

He received housing support through CBI's Rapid Rehousing Program and a customized move and shopping trip from Dignity Foundation.

He was employed with Mesa's Staffing Solutions and graduated in April 2025.

Adam sadly passed away during the summer of 2025.

He was a devoted father of four, known for his bubbly personality and joyful spirit.

Today we honor his life and legacy as a cherished member of the Tempe Works community.

Each of these stories represent a journey marked by strength, hope, and transformation.

These individuals are more than graduates.

They are role models, neighbors, and contributors to the fabric of our community.

Congratulations to each and every one of you.

Thank you.

And can everybody come back up for a group photo?

Okay.

One, two, three, five, four.

Okay, thank you.

All right, thank you so much.

We're gonna move on to item two B, lights on after school day proclamation.

Let's see, I've got a lot of people who are supposed to receive this one.

I see Mary Maisie, Tim Burt, Cynthia Garcia, Jordan Guerrero, City of Tempe staff members, of course, from Kids Zone and the After School Enrichment Program.

So if you heard your name, your division, like Bob Barker would have said, come on down.

All right, so this proclamation reads Whereas the residents of Tempe stand firmly committed to quality after school programs and opportunities because they provide safe and engaging learning experiences that help children realize their full potential and support their academic growth and well-being.

Support working families by ensuring their children are safe and productive when they are out of their classrooms.

Support working families by ensuring their children are safe and productive when they are out of their classrooms, help address key issues in our state, such as school absenteeism, learning loss recovery, and workforce development, build stronger communities by involving parents, students, businesses, and volunteers in the lives of young people, and provide a solid return on investment.

Every one dollar invested in after school programs saves at least three dollars by increasing kids' earning potential, improving kids' performance at school, and reducing crime and juvenile delinquency.

And whereas after school programs provide critical support for children and youth, offering them new experiences and opportunities, along with hands on learning that help them learn and grow.

Youth who attend after school programs attend school more often, do better in school, and gain important work and life skills.

This support is all the more important today.

And whereas the city of Tempe is committed to the education and wellbeing of our youth and recognizes that quality after school programs prepare our children to become successful adults and help our community thrive.

And whereas Lights on After School, the national celebration of after school programs held this year on October 23rd, 2025, promotes the importance of quality after school programs in the lives of children, families, and communities.

And whereas the demand for after school programs continues to grow for every child in a program, four are waiting to get in.

And many after school programs face operating challenges so severe that they are forced to consider closing their doors and turning off their lights.

And whereas the city of Tempe is committed to providing expanded learning opportunities that help our children grow, learn, and develop the skills essential for success in life and work.

Now, therefore I, Corey Woods, mayor of the City of Tempe, Arizona, to hereby declare October 23rd, 2025 as lights on after school day in Tempe, Arizona.

All right.

Here we go.

One, two, three.

One, two, three.

Five, four, one, two, three.

All right, next up, item two C the Thrive in Tempe proclamation.

Yeah.

So I've got uh Tim Birch before you get comfortable, uh, want you to come on back down here.

Uh, where's Maryette?

She's right here to my left.

And of course, of course, uh, anyone from ASU as well as our school district reps from whether Kyren, Tempe Elementary, or Tempe Union, please feel free to join us down here if you so like.

No, uh, as a note too, we've also got some uh governing board members in the House from Kyren, we've got Mr.

Cedric Collins.

I also see Buddy Davis from Kyren as well, and the president of the Tempe Elementary Board, Allison Ewers, I see too.

And of course, who could forget our incredible colleague from the Tempe Union High School District Governing Board, Councilmember Perdetta Hodge.

Oh my god.

Okay, tell me what you're doing.

Just as a very quick note here, uh, I think I do have nine of these proclamations in my hands, so pretty much a lot of folks who are here are gonna go home with one.

Uh, also want to make sure that I recognize a couple of our superintendents uh from the Tempe Union High School District, Dr.

Stacia Wilson, and from the Kyren School District, Laura Tenyas, and also a very big recognition to from ASU, Dr.

Quinton Boyce, and my colleague uh Bredetta Hodge, Councilmember Bradetta Hodge, and governing board member Perdetta Hodge for their work in getting this program off the ground.

So I want to give them a little special recognition here this afternoon.

So with that said, I'm gonna put eight of these down, so I can read one of them.

All right.

So this proclamation reads whereas the city of Tempe has a long and proud history of prioritizing education as the foundation of community life and opportunity, and whereas Thrive and Tempe is a new community partnership among the City of Tempe, Kyren Elementary School District, Tempe Elementary School District, Tempe Union High School District, you can go ahead and yell.

Woo!

And Arizona State University created to connect families with exceptional public schools, innovative programs, and vital community resources.

And whereas this initiative highlights Tempe's recognition that education is more than a personal milestone, it is a shared community value, fueling family success, economic opportunity, and long-term workforce development.

And whereas Thrive and Tempe provides families across the region with year-round enrollment access, a full continuum of opportunities from preschool to PhD, and programs that showcase Tempe is a hub of innovation and lifelong learning.

And whereas by bringing together city leadership, schools, Arizona State University, and local businesses, Thrive and Tempe reflects a shared commitment to ensuring that every student has the tools, support, and opportunities to thrive, and every family has reasons to be proud of their connection to our city.

And whereas the city of Tempe is proud to recognize Thrive in Tempe and encourages all residents, businesses, and community partners to join in celebrating education as the cornerstone of Tempe's future.

Now, therefore, I, Corey Woods, mayor of the city of Tempe, Arizona, do hereby declare October 23rd, 2025 as Thrive and Tempe Day in Tempe, Arizona.

Hold on here.

Let's see.

Thank you.

Let's see.

Dr.

Boys.

I gotta go here.

I'll take it on the Dr.

Smith, of course.

And of course, to our team at the city of Tempe.

So see if we can all kind of squeeze it a little.

Wait, wait, wait.

One, two, three.

One, two, three.

All right.

One, two, three.

Hold on.

Hey, one, two.

Y'all is looking.

Is that it?

Is that all?

Great.

Thank you.

I thought I'm gonna rush one thing electronic.

I'll be at a table.

I'll make it a hotel.

Oh, I did not see you.

I'm sorry.

I was in a meeting.

Good to see you, my man.

I heard you're running.

Thank you all.

Thank you.

I heard you're like, no.

I like his second commandment.

Okay.

Yeah.

When I saw that you liked his post, I was like, well, just changes my.

All right.

Let's do it.

Oh, it's worth it, right?

We gotta talk about the colour.

Oh.

Keep an eye on that.

Thanks for coming, Kenya.

Okay, so yeah, with uh next proclamation we have is item 2D, the Hindu Heritage Month proclamation.

Oh, all right.

This will be received by Bhagwan Rupesh Kumar from the Hindu Swayosum of Vic sung.

Uh let's see, and I want to make sure you all can come on up with me actually.

Come join us.

Thank you for the stats.

Yeah, thank you.

All right, here we go.

So this proclamation reads whereas Hinduism is the third largest religion in the world with more than one billion followers worldwide, including several million in the United States.

And the city of Tempe is home to a vibrant Hindu community whose heritage, culture, traditions, and values have enriched our diverse city.

And whereas during the month of October 2025, the Hindu community across the state of Arizona and across the nation will celebrate Hindu Heritage Month, an opportunity to learn how Hindu Americans have contributed to humanity in all aspects of life art, science, medicine, technology, and spirituality, and to uphold the concept of I'm gonna try to make sure I say this correctly.

I'm gonna try.

Oh, I'm very good.

Oh, I'm trying, I'm trying.

Which means the entire universe is one family.

And whereas Hinduism represents one of the world's oldest faiths and civilizations, with its ancient wisdom placing emphasis on fostering peace and engaging in selfless service to others.

And whereas Tempe, Arizona is proud to recognize our Hindu community, whose continued contributions and rich heritage reflect the values of unity that define our city and invites the citizens of Tempe to join in the celebration of Hinduism and the Hindu community's many contributions to our city and the United States.

Now, therefore, I, Cory Woods, mayor of the city of Tempe, Arizona, do hereby declare October 2025 as Hindu Heritage Month in Tempe, Arizona.

Thank you.

Come on in here.

We'll take a little photo here.

One, two, three, one, two, three, four, four, four, and two, three.

All right, thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Congratulations.

Yes, all right.

Next up here, item two E, the Advocates for Children Week proclamation.

And I saw Michelle Brown earlier and members of the Tempe Women's Club.

Come on up and join us here.

Yeah.

Hi.

It's all about kids.

That's it.

So I got I've uh I'm gonna do this first, but then I've got a little announcement that I'm gonna make at the end of this before as we have the members of the Tempe Women's Clubs here.

So but this proclamation reads Whereas the General Federation of Women's Clubs and Tempe Women's Club will celebrate its dedication to the awareness and promotion of the physical and emotional well-being of children.

And whereas GFWC Tempe Women's Club, founded in 1912, is an organization of women and men who have the common goal of making their community a better place by enhancing the lives of others through volunteer service, and whereas GFWC Tempe Women's Club has played a role in efforts to advocate for the physical and emotional well-being of children by ensuring that children are protected from harmful situations, by encouraging healthy physical and emotional lifestyles for families, and impacting policy to improve children's lives.

And whereas over the past 130 years, millions of GFWC club women have given their time, talent, and resources to improve the lives of children, including members in the GFWC Tempe Women's Club.

And whereas the city of Tempe is honored to recognize the GFWC Tempe Women's Club's dedication to the well-being of children in our community and to celebrate their efforts.

Now, therefore, I, Corey Woods, mayor of the city of Tempe, Arizona, do hereby declare October 19th through the 25th, 2025, as advocates for children week in Tempe, Arizona.

All right.

One, two, three, five, four, one, two, three.

All right, thank you.

Um just my only uh quick story.

Uh we have the members of the Tempe uh Women's Club up here.

I just want to note so uh Michelle Brown and I had a wonderful conversation in my office probably about two weeks or so ago, maybe three, but I think about two.

Uh and one of the things I want to do is to thank them for all of the tireless work and dedication uh that they kind of provide to the city of Tempe in so many ways.

Uh Michelle and I were having this conversation, and she said, you know, Corey, one of the challenges we have is that we don't have a working air conditioning unit at the Tempe Women's Club.

Uh obviously, that kind of unit will allow us to serve people, but also to rent the facility out to generate more revenue to carry out the group's activities.

So she and I had a little conversation in the office.

And this will lead to something I should say a little bit bigger down the line that I got an idea for as we were sitting up here.

Uh, but I had an opportunity to make a call while we were sitting in the office uh to the wonderful people at Bumblebee Air Conditioning, uh, owned by the incredible Lisa Bain, who's a longtime Tempe resident.

And when I told her of the situation that the Tempe Women's Club did not have the ability to have an air conditioning unit, and that unit was going to cost well over $13,000 to replace, she said, Corey, I will replace the unit for free.

And so the Tempe Women's Club now has a grand new air conditioning unit, and I am confident we're gonna there's gonna be a little bit of a celebration about this at a later date, but I'll let you know about it at that point in time.

But I just wanted to once again uh obviously thank Michelle for reaching out to me and letting me know about the situation that was going on.

Uh, and so glad that we could all frankly assist.

But just thank you for all the work that you continue to do within our community.

You are a force of nature, and we love each and every one of you.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Oh, they're wonderful.

They're fantastic.

Hey, we got it.

Always up.

Oh, it's up.

Oh, I saw it.

So you didn't measure your member.

Oh, I yes, and also uh I am a dues paying member of the Tempe Women's Club for the record.

And all of you can be as well for 40 doll annually.

So let me remind all of you.

There's a few oh, yes, not just me, there's a whole bunch of us up here who are members.

So okay.

All right, see.

Everyone.

Thank you.

Good job, congratulations.

Yeah, good job, okay.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Right here, just getting kind of organized.

All right, next up.

Just to note that guidelines for conduct at city council meetings are on the table near the entrance for those in attendance at tonight's meeting.

We're now going to play a video with the proper protocol for ensuring the appropriate conduct at city council meetings.

The City of Tempe welcomes public comment at this time.

Disruptive behavior will not be allowed.

Continued disruptive behavior will lead to removal from the council chambers.

We need to be able to hear everyone in the room.

Behavior that disrupts, disturbs, or otherwise impedes the orderly conduct of any city council meeting is not helpful and is not permitted.

This includes behavior both inside and outside of the council chambers.

Should individuals inside the council chambers become disruptive so that city business is not able to be conducted.

The mayor will first ask that the individuals allow city business to be completed.

There will be time for public comment during the call to the audience portion of the meeting.

If no cooperation, the mayor will issue a verbal warning and let them know that the continued disruptive behavior will lead to removal from the council chambers.

If there is still no cooperation, the mayor will issue a second verbal warning and let them know that the continued disruptive behavior will lead to removal from the council chambers.

If there is no cooperation after asking and two verbal warnings, then the mayor will ask security officers to remove only those individuals who were causing the disruption.

Security personnel should not engage in any way, but only escort them from the council chambers.

If individuals refuse to leave, security personnel shall warn them that they are trespassing, and that the next step will be arrest by a Tempe police officer.

Tempe officers may have to arrest if individuals refuse to leave.

Charges for trespass and disorderly conduct may apply, as well as other charges.

Should anyone be asked to be removed, the mayor will recess the meeting.

All right, before we move into the call to the audience portion of the meeting, I want to take a moment to address campaign-related activity, especially as we are now in the 2026 election season.

City Council meetings are open to the public and are a vital form for civic engagement.

We welcome all individuals, including candidates, to speak on matters of public concern during the public comment portion of the meeting.

However, because this is an official city council meeting that is both televised and live streamed using city resources.

We ask all candidates, including any current council members to refrain from electiering or campaign-related activity while participating in the meeting.

That means no discussing your candidacy, asking for votes for signatures, or displaying campaign materials such as signs, t-shirts, or literature while speaking.

Thank you for helping us maintain the integrity and neutrality of our public meetings.

That brings me to item number three, call to the audience.

The city council welcomes public comment at this time for the issue review session and committee of the whole items on this work study session agenda.

There is a three-minute time limit per speaker.

Let's see.

Madam Cork, do I have any speaker cards this evening?

I have not received any for this meeting.

Okay, sounds good.

That means we're gonna move on to item number four, which is the issue review session.

Four A is our 2026 slash 2027 federal principles.

Just want to now invite our government relations director, Jonathan Sheffield, to come give a presentation on item 4A.

Mr.

Sheffield.

Thank you, Mayor and uh members of the council.

Let me raise this a little bit.

Very nice suit, by the way, sir.

Thank you.

Want to point that out?

I uh council member Amberg said it was purple.

So I think if it's if you went to ASU, it's maroon.

If you're I would say it's maroon.

If you're an LSU grad, it's purple, I guess.

She thought the rest of Well played.

Well played.

And if you went to Texas AM, I'm gonna tell you it's burn orange.

So mayor, members of the council, uh, thanks for the opportunity to speak with you today about our uh federal principles for next year.

Uh before I delve into the uh principal's document, um, I'm gonna give a quick update on what's happening in the federal government.

Um obviously we had an election since uh I was last before you uh that led to change in administration, uh new party control in both uh chambers of Congress that has completely shifted the uh ideological framework of what the federal government's up to uh from uh a focus on climate change, uh infrastructure spending and the like to um pulling back uh much of that federal spending, uh reducing federal workforces and slashing taxes.

Um as you know, uh this all kind of came about with the uh the whole Doge Department of Government uh efficiency under Elon Musk at the beginning of the year.

Um and it led to some large scale reductions in the federal workforce.

But uh a couple of things I'd like to point out is that the federal government's actually spending more money this year than it did last year despite uh all of these layoffs, and uh they've had to go back and rehire many of these workers.

Um a good example of that was the National Weather Service, where they laid off uh virtually the entire staff.

And then as hurricane season was approaching, they realized they had no forecasters and meteorologists, so they had to go back and effectively rehire everybody else.

So um it's been at best uh a mixed bag, I would say, with the results of that.

Um but uh moving on from that, uh Congress passed uh a massive tax package uh and budget uh recon what's known as budget reconciliation, uh which is a process that uh avoids the filibuster in the Senate.

So you only need a uh straight majority rather than 60 votes to pass it.

Um and this uh the bill number was HR1.

Uh the president signed it.

And um the short and sweet of it is it was that it was a very large tax cut, and it set up a budget framework for large reductions in federal spending moving forward, particularly in uh social welfare programs like Medicaid and uh food stamps or the SNAP program.

Um, however, just because they pass a budget doesn't mean that they've appropriated any money.

And so um appropriations bills in the Senate need 60 votes, not that simple majority.

So um, with Republicans only having 53 senators, uh the Democrats are not giving them seven extra votes to pass any appropriations bills.

Uh so we've led uh that's led us to a government shutdown that started on October 1st.

Um Democrats have really dug in their heels on uh health care.

Uh the main issue that they're fighting on is the uh insurance subsidies uh for those who purchase their health insurance on the Affordable Care Act exchanges.

Um the the tax law that I mentioned earlier will uh effectively get rid of those, and in some instances are seeing uh five-fold increases in health insurance premiums.

People are seeing in these letters.

Um Democrats have said that we will not allow any federal appropriations to move until uh that is solved.

And we're currently in the open enrollment phase.

So anyways, the uh the congressional budget office has estimated that uh four million people will drop off uh the insurance rolls if uh if these subsidies went away.

Um so uh the the latest news on that is uh some uh Senate Republicans have been having conversations um about uh us how they can move forward, and it looks like there may be some breaking in the logjam, at least uh behind the scenes on this issue.

Um additionally, in uh during this uh the government shutdown, we've seen um some agency personnel laid off the Department of Ed effectively shut down its uh special education office uh for uh on a permanent basis.

Um but I think that you can probably expect to see a lot of lawsuits filed uh from federal workers in response to this.

Um already were filed in response to the doge cuts.

Um and those um those as well as many other cases related to executive power are going to be before the Supreme Court uh this term.

And uh one one in particular that I would also point to is um the the case over the president's ability to raise tariffs.

Uh that's one of the one of the cases that the Supreme Court is expected to hear.

Uh that's gonna have um all kinds of implications for uh for executive power moving forward.

Um one other uh item that I wanted to point to is it relates to the government shutdown.

Um, actually, two more, I should say.

Um one is that uh half the states are um expected to reduce their food stamp and uh WIC programs uh starting on November 1st, because the the money uh within the federal government runs out at that point, and Arizona is one of those states.

Um we have over a million Arizona served by both uh SNAP and the WIC program, and we're already seeing the effects of some of these uh these cuts in some of our communities.

For example, uh the Navajo Nation has already stopped loading uh new benefits on the WIC uh recipients uh debit cards at this point.

So we've already seen some of that slowdown.

And I think that that's uh also going to reverberate uh down here at the local level.

Um we're now in a fourth week of a of a government shutdown.

Uh this is the I think the third government shutdown that I've worked through.

And um virtually every time because it takes so much time to get the personnel back on board and to look through their emails and applications and everything like that.

Um I would expect to see some delays in funding decisions, or even if we have uh grants that we've already been awarded, but the check hasn't been cut yet.

I would not be shocked to see delays in in that funding moving forward.

So um with that, that's just kind of a quick update on uh where we are with the federal government.

Um I'd be happy to take any questions and then dive into my uh update on our principles document.

That's good.

Thank you, Jonathan.

Uh anyone from the council, any comments or questions?

Thank you.

All right.

Yes, Councilman Brads.

Um thank you, Jonathan, for your presentation.

Um I'm looking forward to the rest of it.

Anyway, um, I know that the streetcar we're planning on real salado to Sloan Park.

I'm wondering if that's uh under the cutting phase.

Um I don't know the answer to that.

Can is Eric Iverson up here?

Do you know because I know they said that they were going to give us funding, but now I'm concerned about it.

Um hello.

Uh Council Adams, uh, Eric Iverson Transportation Sustainability Director.

I will uh do my best to field this question.

We um we have been successful in with the current administration in receiving the uh raise grant.

Okay, um, which advances our design of the streetcar.

Um we will continue.

So that's a good sign.

We will continue to work with them for uh capital funding for construction of the project.

Okay, all right.

Thank you for the clarification.

Hopefully, everything will be okay.

Yeah, because we need that to happen.

It's yeah, it's a good sign that we have received that raise grant.

It was awarded under excuse me, under the Biden administration.

So it's good that it has been finalized with the Trump administration.

Okay, thank you.

Yeah.

Okay, great.

All right.

See you know the questions, we'll move on to item four B.

I need to actually talk about the principles document.

Oh, quick, sorry.

Yeah, um, just very quickly, these were circulated to the mayor and council um as well as all of the uh department directors, and I want to thank all of you for uh your input on this.

Um you'll find that they're largely similar to last year's federal principles.

Um a couple of uh changes that I wanted to mention um on our uh waters of the United States principle.

Um I just made a quick update to highlight that there's a new implementation implementation guidance from the Trump administration that that um updated a Biden era um implementation guidance.

So I just made that change.

Um also uh removed references to the inflation reduction act because that was effectively repealed uh by the tax law that I talked about.

Um we also included new language calling for expanded equity and access funding for uh parks and recreation systems.

Um but otherwise it's uh pretty much uh it's it's very similar to last year, and um, yeah, a few cleanups here and there beyond that.

Sounds good.

Council Bramberg?

Is this where we start just asking questions about it in general?

So under human services on the third page that public health and wellness.

I is there still a center for disease controls, chronic disease prevention program and the U.S.

Department of Agriculture Summer Meal Initiatives, are those still around under this administration.

Mayor, members of the council.

Um they've been funded by Congress.

Um whether the whether the personnel will still be around over the long haul is is an open question.

Um, I know that the uh in CDC in particular, they did lay off a lot of the CDC staff um at the beginning of the year, and then I think also in response to the shutdown.

So that that could be one of those programs on the chopping block.

Thank you.

Okay.

Anyone else?

All right.

Next up, go forward here.

I see next item we're going to, or yeah.

All right, 2026 state legislative principles, Mr.

Sheffield.

Thank you, Baron members of the council.

Um, again, uh this is a pretty quick update on our state legislative principles.

Um, again, circulated uh in advance, and want to thank everybody for the input that you offered.

Um a couple of uh quick updates on there.

Um, in the spirit of preventing uh greater preemption, we include some language to support uh city adopted building and fire codes and local control of photo radar enforcement.

Um photo radar enforcement in particular.

Um the state legislature has been making a lot of moves to try to repeal our uh ability to implement that.

Um we were able to stop that at this that last legislative session, uh, but they'll certainly be coming uh forward again this session.

Um, and there's also uh discussion about uh license plate scanners also being uh on the docket for uh this upcoming session.

So that's something to keep in mind, and that's why we included that language.

Um we also have new language supporting equitable access to community infrastructure, responsible outdoor recreation, and predictable funding for environmental stewardship and conservation programs.

And finally, uh the reference to reforming sober living home statutes has been deleted because the legislature passed a bill uh this past session that's currently being implemented by the state.

Um so with that, I'll pause and answer any questions.

Anyone have any comments or questions?

Vice Mayor Garland.

I'm just thinking about the wording.

Um being part of the National League of Cities, where they're always talking about um certain words we can't use equitable, equity, inclusion, diversity, those words that are not supposed to be bud buzzwords because that gives the federal government angst.

Do we is that that's not a concern because I'm looking at equitable.

I was reading through these, I'm like, oh no no word, no no word.

Um I mean, for us it doesn't seem like it, but I know when the federal with the federal policy I think about that a little bit more.

And and that that is a good point.

Um, but I I would say that these are your principles, and I would say to go with the wording that you think best sums up how you see the issues.

So that would be my recommendation.

I appreciate that.

Thank you.

Sounds good.

Anyone else?

Uh yes, Councilman Bramberg.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Um, I was hoping maybe under the local water decisions, we could add some language in there to uh protect the water infrastructure, the WIF fund, water infrastructure finance authority funds that uh specifically the ones that are going to explore the new sources of water for Arizona.

I mean, cat shortage is getting worse, so we need to figure out a way to uh get new water in Arizona now.

She was on MWA with me.

Yeah, we all were five and a half years, yeah.

I'd be happy to work with you on some language on that.

Okay.

All right.

Um, and under transportation transit and street maintenance, you've got uh under the potential prop 479 implementation.

Uh, should voters support it in November of 2024?

And they did, so okay, yes.

That was a bad job of saving the document.

Yep.

Uh that was it.

Cool.

Sounds good.

Thank you so much.

Anyone else?

Comments or questions.

All right.

Sounds good.

Thank you so much.

Appreciate it.

All right, next up, item four C Community Health and Human Services and TIMPI Community Council joint impact report for fiscal year 2024-2025.

And I see Tim Birch and Octavia Harris coming forward to give the presentation on item 5C.

Good afternoon.

Good afternoon.

Good afternoon.

Afternoon, Mayor and Council, uh Tim Burch, uh Director of Community Health and Human Services.

And I'm joined by Octavia Harris, who is not only the deputy over our community partnerships division, but also the CEO of Timpani Community Council.

And we're really grateful to be here today and be able to present to you uh an impact report on the uh amount of money that you've invested into the social welfare of your city and its neighbors.

Everything we do, we try to drive back toward the priorities.

So you'll see what we do covers a lot, which is really all five of the council priority areas and over 23 performance measures.

This reflects everything from the quality inspections we do for affordable housing all the way through our TIMP community the action agency food pantry and projects that are funded in the community.

Really the purpose is here to demonstrate the idea that these programs further the mission and purpose of the city and the mass investment you've made, not over 35 million dollars in the Department of Community Health and Human Services and over a million dollars into the TCAA agency review process that we are showing you return on that investment to taxpayers of Tempe.

The data we are presenting is transparent, and we'll walk through how that's viewable.

But really, as you saw with this graduation earlier with our Tempia Works graduation, umcial work is teamwork.

We really cannot do this along alone.

So collaboration is key, and we all have to be rolling in the same direction.

So collective impact really is the theme of this.

Right.

And just as a reminder, um TCC's mission is to connect those in need with those who care, and TCC really does this by convening community, conducting research, and really determining priorities so that we can help to implement effective programs and really exemplify prudent stewardship of our resources.

So mayor, council, and the community really invest in our purpose and our progress toward our mission through both the funding decisions and donating directly to TCC as well as through volunteerism.

Um, directing funding to the community health and human services department as well as nonprofit community partners and really donating to TCC supports our ability to equitably provide programs and services that achieve community level changes through alignment and integrating our actions.

So that collective impact that Tim was mentioning.

The report we'll cover today really highlights every aspect of Tempe Community Council as well as community partnerships and resources, our housing authority, our social services, our health and well-being, all of our partnerships.

But also these dollars go to match philanthropic, local, tribal gaming grants, different initiatives.

So your dollars are exponentially a force multiplier in that investment.

So this represents over 200 different programs to the tune of about 37.3 million dollars.

What we hope you see is that these programs are not the same programs you get every year.

Um we tried the the uh agency review process as well as the department tries to continue to iterate and pilot new interventions to address the diverse and evolving needs of our community.

We hope that you see individual progress addressing some of the systemic challenges that we have here as well.

You'll notice some key themes from last year's newer format that we'll revisit with you to re-familiarize everybody.

Everything's aligned and driven through our social determinants of health.

We will walk through the city and agency investments, uh the program outcomes, data tables, and as we like to say, uh, no data without stories and no stories without data.

So we have qualitative life change vignettes in each one of these um social determinants of health as well.

This is the report that anybody in the city of Tempe can access.

It'll be on our website.

We'll have the URL at the end of the report.

But just to familiarize everyone with the layout, because this is still rather new in its second year here.

If you look to the left-hand column in the red bounding box, you'll notice the uh menu.

You can click on any one of those social determinants of health and go right to that scorecard area, or you can drop to the bottom and read about the data and see all of the data dictionary there.

At the upper uh center of your screen, you'll notice a banner.

This one says access to care.

That is a social determinant of health.

Underneath each determinant, there is a definition.

Below that in the green box is the investment made in that bucket of uh for social determinants of health.

And below that, in the gold bounding box, you'll notice that we have two scorecards.

We try to highlight one city program and one agency review funded program where we had them, uh, where there's an area of uh health investment where uh either organization did not have one, we highlighted the top two in that area.

Um, but for the data transparency and traceability, if you click on that second tab, all outcomes table.

Uh, we're not hiding anything.

You can drill down and see every funded program, what they proposed in their funding uh requalification packet, um, what they actually achieved and what the outcomes were for that program.

Um, this is an example when we walk through uh the program areas uh that you'll see these qualitative uh vignettes.

Um and this is just Michaela's story.

You know, actually hear a little bit more about her in another program presentation today.

She is one of our Tempe Work grads as well.

Um we partnered with uh several uh organizations, including Tempe Works, um, our UMom shelter.

She was found by Park Rangers in a park.

We're able to move her through shelter, move her through program, move her through life change, and she is now actually carrying two part-time jobs uh and stably supporting her young daughter.

So, next we'll see the programs um presented to you in the framework of social determinants of health, with the first one being access to care, which is really about that timely access to personal health care services, that navigation, so mental health care as well as as well as physical, um, and the investment of $6.5 million by Tempe to address the social determinant of health, included a program uh from raising special kids that's their mentoring and support program.

So parents are able to uh who may be unsure of how to cope with their child's disability and special health care needs, are provided support with navigating through these complex educational and physical and mental health support programs.

Um they prov they receive this help through individualized care plans, and they're these care plans are made available to these families with children that are ages zero through 26.

And of course, we always always have to highlight the work that's being done over at our SUSE Spasio Bridge Shelter through which council you've made a significant investment.

Um we set a stretch goal this year of 85% positive exits from shelter.

Uh, the team at uh Mercy House and the Hope team uh beat that goal with 89% positive exit rate, meaning that um fewer than 11% discharge it back to the street.

Um they 89% went on to stable connections with family, longer term programs, transitional housing, or direct into permanent and supportive housing.

Quick thing, uh, Council Brad, just a quick quick question.

Where is that in relevance to uh other programs as far as that?

Because that seems like a really really good high percentage.

Um it is a very high percentage.

Uh discharges uh back to the street are usually in the 20, 30 percentile.

So this these are outlier type outcomes.

But again, I think because of the level of investment the city has made, if you look at the number of outreach team workers to the number of unsheltered we have in this community, it's about 20 to one.

Um, you make a significant investment in this bridge shelter that gives us the flexibility uh to take in self-defined households, um, you know, male, female and partnerships, animals, things that other programs in town don't necessarily take in.

And I think that's a key to some of the success here.

Thank you so much and great job.

Um moving on to affordable quality housing.

Um, I know we have great um initiatives through TCAH and the housing authority with around building and developing affordable quality housing, but this is also making sure we recognize we're getting getting focused on that quality housing as well, because we know that this helps people afford their basic needs, protects them from exposures to dangers.

And this is an area where we're 18.6 million dollars has been invested in this part of the uh program already.

Um there is we highlighted this one because we have over 100% of all of the families we place in our housing choice voucher programs pass and exceeded housing quality standards inspections as set by HUD.

Um we use this to also dispel the myth that we're putting people in substandard housing.

Um, one every family that has a voucher goes into high quality housing.

And on the other side of that, one of our community-based partners, Child Crisis Arizona with their foster care and adoption services in Tempi achieved 100% of their target with providing helping foster families to provide safe and stable homes for foster children.

So a very special population who may be experiencing homelessness, do their circumstances.

These foster families receive in-person and online training, about 15 hours of each, and they they get consistent and continual support to ensure that they can maintain um safe and stable housing for foster and adopted children as well.

So our next social determinant of health is focused on community safety.

Um, these are aspects that are not just about community safety, but also individual household safety as well.

Um within the community safety, we have the Sojourner Center's domestic violence prevention program.

Um, it's community outreach services for TIMPE survivors.

They exceeded their target with 93% of their participants reporting that they improve their self-sufficiency, and this is done through pre- and post surveys with their participants.

Um, participants were able to create safety plans and set goals while being provided resources to help them with achievement of those goals.

And we like to highlight the success of our care seven victim services team.

Over 96% of the victims uh that came through the victim assistance support program, were able to understand and act on their safety plan.

That with the backdrop of interpersonal violence being one of the most chaotic and devastating things you can experience.

These advocates walk with these uh clients through this process to where they understand they feel safe in a self-directed, self-actualized plan.

So next we have the TIMPE investment of $2.56 million in economic opportunity.

So this is job training, it's mentorship, it's making sure that people can access living wages.

And something that is really important in this in our particular society is internet access because you can't apply for jobs.

It's sometimes difficult to maintain your job if you have a remote job, et cetera.

So internet access is also important.

And we have two different community-based programs here.

The first is the Tempe, I'm sorry, the Tempe workforce development.

Yeah, absolutely.

And I just want to take a moment to brag on this because I'm so excited.

This is our 50-50 investment with Maricopa at works where we pay for two job developers, uh, halftime they pay for it.

We bring them together, we work individually with the client.

We have one of our uh senior staff, Carter Ellis, who goes out and works with employers to figure out what we need.

We have the entire pipeline.

And at the Envision Center this year, you really saw this 198% goal manifest when each of the three job fairs we did broke the Maricopa at works record each time.

We 200, 300, and last time 515 participants at the Envision Center, 80 plus jobs offered and delivered there on site that day because of the partnerships in that building and in this space.

And just want to publicly thank our partners at Maricopa at Works as well.

And with the TIMPE Community Council VIDA program, this is a volunteer income tax assistance preparation program.

It's offered, um, we achieved uh 99% of helping our clients improve their financial management, and um they felt less financial stress.

And this is more than free tax preparation.

This is also helping with navigation of additional services.

So the access to applications and applying for public benefits that may help their budget throughout the year, as well as building assets, building savings, um, ensuring that families are able to either pay their rent, catch up on rent, pay their utilities, um, and even again save for future emergencies.

Vice Peter Code.

I just want to say, Tim, I went to that Envision Center, the last workforce group you had the job fair.

And I talked to some of the employers there, and they said the last time they were there, they could not believe how many people that they got, good quality people that they they hired.

And then I talked to the gentleman who kind of organizes it there, and he said that he had to turn away businesses that wanted to come and be a part of this fair because they've heard about how good it was.

Um, but he said, so yeah, so next time we got it, we're gonna have to have these new people in and make room for more people.

So kudos to you guys because the words out, it really does provide good work jobs, good jobs.

Thank you.

Thank you.

We're gonna talk to sustainability and transportation and take over the parking lot for the next one.

Yes.

Uh the next social determinant of health is healthy and affordable food.

Um, food insecurity is something that's real and on the rise in our community.

So we want to ensure that we have the means to continue to address that particular issue.

Um, so that statement of we are what we eat, our ability to go to our jobs, attend school, um, engage civically, is really important.

Um, so TIMPE's investment of 100,000 um through programs like the Paz de Cristo relief services for individuals experiencing homelessness, where uh program participants uh 85% achieved feeling less stressed about hunger and food insecurity and Pas de Cristo's program is really special and important in terms of they have individuals coming to their center and they not only receive a meal and receive um food box, but they also will have services to help them with job navigation as well as other supports.

And then the second program that we have is through Tempe Community Action Agency, TCAA, and their TIMPE food pantry, which provided improved access to healthy and affordable food for 100% of the folks who they surveyed.

Um, not only are they providing food boxes, but they also provide brownbag meals.

Um, they provide support to older adults as well as individuals with disabilities by provide by delivering meals to their homes.

So people are able to either go to TCAA or they can have a meal delivered to them.

Right.

Quality education.

Um we know that education has long been known to be the number one social determinant of health for your overall lifetime outcome.

So education is critical.

Um, you see that by the level of investment of time we spent uh celebrating in Thrive today and the work that goes behind that.

Um, our kids-zone team was down here earlier getting a proclamation for lifestyle after school, and uh the level the quality of that team is bar none.

97% of the parents came back with high trust in the quality of that program and again help us continue to exceed the 95% mark, which is also a very high quality customer service quality rating for this program.

And on the other side of that, we get asked about financial literacy for children, for youth and junior achievement at Arizona, which is based right here in Tempe, continues to be a great support and a great partner to our community with their readings program for primarily low-income students.

So they still have their career program that's based within the junior achievement building, but then they also go into classrooms and offer workshops to not only middle schoolers but also high schoolers.

So 86% of those students who identify their future career direction was comprised of elementary, middle, and high school students.

So for social and cultural cohesion, um over 225,000 are invested in these program areas.

We have had some conversations and some of the uh subcommittee work here about the power of isolation and the impact of individuals' health and how important community was and is.

Um we saw that today at the disaster assistance center, um, where we're able to see organizations coming together to help their neighbors, and that is Tempe.

So we're really glad to represent these programs and recognize that our Connect Tempe, ARDP Digital Skills Ready at 50 plus, long name, great program.

Anybody over the age of 50 can go down to our envision center, meet with digital navigators, begin to enter into that digital world with training on laptops and get the safety so they don't get scammed, they don't get taken advantage of.

They know how to build connections and social networks with their own family and stay connected and rooted in that way, but also know how to do things like access your daughter or daughter, your doctor, uh via um telehealth, because that is uh so important to accessing your health care provision at this point, and over 100 of our percent of our uh 100% of all of our folks who participated in that particular program gave it a high engagement rate for the building their digital conference confidence.

Sorry, the sidebar call me.

Um, and then to for dementia friendly, uh we know nothing can for generations that are taking care of their parents experiencing dementia as well as um the individual have experiencing that dreadful disease themselves can be terribly isolating.

So our dementia-friendly Tempe cafes bring together uh caregivers as well as those suffering memory loss for uh safe and secure programming, where the caregivers get to have a moment of respite and build community, learn skills while their loved ones being able to give programming at the Tempe library and have access to quality memory care.

And we're able to increase the number of service offerings by over 27% uh this last year.

Um, social justice promotes a fair um equitable, accessible, maybe some of the words, um, but things that are important to Tempe.

Um and we invested over 880,000 in these programs this last year.

Um, our community supervision program is a great alternative justice program where individuals um can complete um a case plan, and therefore, when they do, they no longer have that case on their record, um, thereby keeping them more employable, more likely to be housed.

Over 89% of our participants completed those case plans, which also include housing plans to work with our hope team as well as mental health and treatment services as well.

And with our community-based partners, Mountain Park Health Center based in Tempe, um, the medical legal partnership provides support to patients who maybe they haven't made uh Mountain Park their medical home, but if they've had at least one appointment there, they can access legal support.

Um, so that's through licensed attorneys that can help with issues like maybe their income and insurance, as well as employment, um education, and definitely um with their housing support as well.

And so 100% of those who access this program reported that they had better health and well-being after having legal support.

And finally, um, and most definitely importantly, we just want to acknowledge, um, thank and acknowledge all of the volunteers that you see here who did help with our process, but definitely thank you, Mayor and Council, for your continued investment in community health and human services here in Tempe.

Um, a huge shout out to the Enterprise GIS and data analytics team for their patience and great support.

Um, huge efforts they made in consultation conversations with us, um, as well as the creation of the data dashboard that Tim talked about.

All community health and human services department and TCC staff and board who helped to provide the services as well as the data for today's report.

We thank them for their expertise and their ceaseless efforts as we continue to see bear fruit.

Um to all of our donors as well as grant funders near and far, those in Arizona and outside, and we thank them for their monetary investment as well.

And with that, turn it over for questions.

Fantastic.

Thank you very much for the presentation.

Council Perchin.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you.

This is great information.

So as I've been listening and watching the presentation on the left side, you have the box that talks about Tempe investment.

And I've been doing math as we go along.

And so roughly I'm looking at in total 37 million dollars, roughly.

37.37, I believe was the number stuck in my mind.

All right, thank you.

I was just checking my own math.

And that's Tempe's investment in programs, services across all of these categories and programs.

Absolutely.

This includes your investment of staff time, um, operations, and then direct programming supports as well as the funding through our partner agencies.

Great.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Hodge.

Thank you.

The presentation is, I mean, it just tells exactly what Tempe is embedded into.

So thanks so much.

Also, is there any way possible?

And it's not a today question or even tomorrow.

Can we get an ideal estimate about our regional what other cities around us are doing versus what we're doing in the city of Tempe?

Um, yes.

We have actually uh we attempted to do that kind of uh query and found very quickly that cities don't all publish the equal amount of data openly that Tempe does.

Uh so hurrah for Tempe's open data policy.

Um so we did some uh forward that request over to uh Maricopa Association of Governments to see if they could perhaps help shepherd that project because they had done it once in the past.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Council Bradams.

Yes, I I really am impressed with this uh presentation.

It was excellent.

And to spend 37 million dollars um on helping the people in need is really important, and it really demonstrates that we are walking the walk and talking the talk.

So thank you for having hard numbers uh to prove that.

Appreciate it.

Good job.

Sounds good.

Thank you.

Vice Mayor Garwin.

I like how you presented together this time.

I I like to be able to see what you're doing in in both areas and how they how much they really work together.

So thank you so much for doing it this way.

I also want to say my um committee, the community engagement and connection committee, it really stood out to me on your slide um number 15.

It says studies show that connected communities can improve family health, safety and reduce stress and poverty, even racism.

That's one of the things that we're looking at in that committee is is the mental health of our community through connection with each other.

So I loved seeing that.

But this is a great presentation.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Council Bramber.

Yes, thank you, Mr.

Bear.

It was fantastic uh presentation, and I wasn't surprised at all by the number.

I just did piggyback on what Councilmember Hodge said.

Once you get the number, and could I possibly get it per capita?

Not total per city.

Would that be possible?

We will put that in the ask, yes, ma'am.

Thank you.

Sounds good.

Anyone else?

All right, sounds good.

Thank you so much.

I also though before we go to the next item, I do have a card here uh for this item, item 4C.

Uh, it's from Noah James Markham.

Please come forward, state your name and city of residence.

You have three minutes.

Oh, it's gotta go up.

Um, aloha uh mayor and to the rest of the city council.

My name is Noah James Markham.

Um, and I'm I live in the great city of Tempe.

Um, I have an issue with 4C with living in Tempe.

Um it's great to see that we are helping the homeless, and hopefully we're helping the homeless that are disabled with disabilities.

Um, and that doesn't mean they need to work, because the problem with some disabled people that are homeless, you can't just ask them to work to get section eight or you know, any kind of service that we need to make sure that these people are mentally aware of how to work.

I mean, it's just it just doesn't seem right for me.

And um and having a job myself, yeah, I'm disabled, but it's been hard, you know.

Um, and uh people with disabilities, um we shouldn't be having to have to hop on the wagon with a job just to have section eight.

So um I just I and last year I asked for help with rent, and um Tempe couldn't help me because there was other people in the household that was making more than me, but they were gambling their money.

So they were making a lot of money, but I was not working at all.

And I couldn't pay for my bill as a disabled person.

So they had the I couldn't get the money for myself for the rent.

So it just uh that's not good because my mental health was declining at the time last year.

Um this shouldn't this shouldn't mean anything.

Like I I shouldn't have to worry about this kind of stuff as a disabled person.

Um yeah, so I I got evictions for a few months last year.

Um, and it was ridiculous.

I mean, I tried to ask for this help with Tempe, and I couldn't get any response.

It took almost two months for this.

I mean, it's just it's just ridiculous.

I mean, it's great that you guys are helping people, but it's I mean, yeah, it really sucked last year to not have a place.

Um, yeah, hopefully you take that into more consideration with these subjects.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right.

Next up here, we're going to move on to item 4D, Park Rangers and Park Safety Update.

Okay, let's see.

I see uh Alex Chavadovich and Ruben Wilkinson Jr.

that we're gonna give a presentation on item 4D.

How low do you want it?

Good there.

All right, gentlemen, welcome.

Good evening, uh, mayor, vice mayor, council members.

I'm Alex Shivanovich, community services deputy director for park services.

Joining me today for the park ranger and park safety update is Ruben Wilkinson, Parks Manager.

Today's presentation will include a high-level brief overview of the park ranger program, uh, highlights of what the rangers have been seeing and doing out in the parks over the last year, and get and also a gauge of where we are in the feeling of safety in parks based on community sentiment serving.

We'll also discuss a couple of enhancements to the park ranger program uh over the last year, as well as highlight a couple of upcoming improvements.

And then lastly, we will share a few stories from Ranger uh engagements and interactions with the community.

It'd be difficult to give uh uh an update on the park ranger program and park safety without spotlighting uh council's strategic priority safe and secure communities, more specifically performance measure 1.23, the filling of safety in parks, as the filling and safety in parks was the driving factor, is my understanding in bringing back and re-implementing the park ranger program.

Uh while there are several strategies to improving the filling and safety in parks, including improving, maintaining, and activating our parks and preserves.

Uh today's presentation will focus on the park ranger program.

Rangers uh over the last year have continued to focus on three very high-level general responsibilities.

First one being uh being a visible presence in parks.

Secondly, uh engaging with the community through ambassadorship and uh providing connections with the community or to the community, and then third, responding to situations and issues in parks with the appropriate service and level of response, which sometimes can include various levels of enforcement when when necessary.

Uh rangers, the 16 total rangers continue to provide uh 20 hours of park coverage per day, seven days a week, and they're continuing to do that with two to five rangers on at a time, uh covering all 52 parks in Tempe or 52 plus park spaces.

So the last time we came to give an update in September of 2024, we provided information for essentially the first six months of Rangers or approximately the first six months of Rangers being out in the field.

Today's presentation includes information for fiscal year 25.

So essentially July of 2020 uh 2024, sorry, through June of 2025.

Over that period of time, Rangers have recorded almost 21,000 reports, which is slightly more than the number that we reported on last time uh on average.

Uh while that's not a it's not a one-to-one, but those over 20,000 reports essentially equate to uh ranger visits to parks or rangers uh being at a park for those.

Uh similar to the last update in 2024, the majority of ranger reports are actually ranger initiated, meaning they're proactive ranger patrols.

Uh the 6.5% on the screen showed or represented uh dispatch calls for service, either being dispatched by police communications, Tempe 311 or community services leadership.

Um that's actually the exact same percentage from the previous six months.

Um that's right in line.

And I will highlight that the number one way that their rangers have been dispatched, if that is the reporting mechanism is actually through community services leadership, followed by Tempe PD and then followed up by Tempe 311.

Of the almost 21,000 reports, the majority of them were generated when a ranger visited a community or neighborhood park, such as Michelle Brooks Tatris, Daily or Scar Park, amongst the many other community or neighborhood parks.

The higher report numbers in community and neighborhood parks means more visits to those parks, and generally speaking, more time spent in those parks.

Park rangers continue to provide services or visit to parks.

Some parks multiple times a day, some parks once a day, some parks a little bit less than that, so a few times a week, and then depending on the need of a park, sometimes a little bit less than that, and that fluctuates daily and weekly.

So diving into a little bit more specific information here.

So you'll see that represented on the screen is patrol activity.

It's the first selection rangers can make when they're filling a report out as to why essentially the first uh item as to why they might be going to a park.

So general patrol activity generally means that it's just a proactive park patrol before it might lead to something else, or they might find some other issue.

So generally we we consider that just the visible presence part of those kind of three larger categories.

One point to note these numbers on the screen, if you're doing some quick math, don't total the 20,769 reports.

There are some categories that are not on this slide.

Um there are some uh such as like collecting trash, or there might be some other elements that aren't on this.

So this isn't necessarily supposed to represent all the 20,769 reports, just giving you an idea of some of the larger categories.

Uh in addition to providing a visible presence, as mentioned in a previous slide, rangers are also focused on engaging the community or community engagement.

Um, this slide is just basically shifting gears, talking about community engagement.

Uh, we have a couple of categories of that.

The first one I want to highlight is connecting folks to services.

Um, this slide specifically highlights the connection to the Hope team.

Uh so over the last year, the fiscal year 25 rangers provided connection to the Hope team 292 different occasions.

Not that doesn't represent 292 people.

There's far more than that.

It's just 290 times 292 occasions.

Of that number, 137 of those were what we consider direct connections, where rangers would essentially wait on site until the hope team arrives to directly connect with a person.

The remainder of those connections of that 292 is uh providing resource information, cards, uh contact information for the hope team for those folks that aren't quite ready to have that personal interaction with someone from the hope team.

Another form of uh community engagement or engaging the community is through programs, activities, and events.

Uh rangers have really enjoyed the opportunity to engage with the community through attending events such as Arts in the Park, um participating in volunteer park cleanups, and also attending neighborhood association meetings.

Rangers have expanded their program over the last year to include now 17 park ranger created programs.

Um, some of those programs include uh hiking with a ranger, uh hike hike with a ranger, which actually this Sunday, I believe there's a hike with a ranger in Papago.

Uh in addition to that, uh program Sonor and Desert Education to uh Tempe Pre, as well as Kyren Elementary Schools, uh, some of the schools, as well as the Kid Zone program.

Park rangers are also getting ready to launch the Bark Ranger program.

Yes, I said Bark, not Park, but the Bark Ranger Program, which is going to promote responsible dog ownership in our parks and preserves.

Uh participants will be invited to uh become ambassadors for safe pet practices, environmental protection, and community pride.

The program hasn't quite started yet, so we're happy to come back at a later date and give you some more information on that once it's up and running.

So uh beyond visibility in community engagement, park rangers are also obviously responsible for providing uh appropriate responses to situations in parks, which once again can be up to and including um enforcement.

Many times it's through education, but it also includes more traditional enforcement.

Similar to the last update in September of 2024, issues with dogs off-leash and parking violations remain amongst the top reasons for uh park rangers to provide an actual response or an action.

Over the last year, we've also seen a considerable increase in code of conduct issues compared to the previous six months of reporting.

And then one point I want to note on both drugs and drug paraphernalia, just for clarity purposes.

Uh, that information on this slide is uh representing interaction with people or some level of enforcement on those.

Uh, you'll see on a later slide, just not to confuse anyone, that there is removal of drug paraphernalia, which you'll see a different number in that.

So that's not what this number represents.

Uh the detail, this detail um provides uh other responses provides information regarding some of the actual actions taken kind of from the previous slide.

Many of the responses on the previous slide were education based or uh when resulted in education.

Some, as I mentioned, result in more traditional enforcement, such as providing a warning, uh issuing a citation, or sometimes excluding someone from a park space, generally through a trespass notice.

One of the most frequent actions park rangers uh take is to remove abandoned property, um, which you'll see on this slide abandoned or uh a property removal happened 937 times.

And then the next slide breaks down uh those top two categories into a little bit more detail.

So you'll see that um the number one property removal was abandoned property, followed up unfortunately by drug paraphernalia as the second most uh common item that is removed from a park by park rangers.

Um park rangers, unfortunately also starting.

I know it's not necessarily represented in the slide, it shows drugs as 27 times, but park rangers, unfortunately, over the last year and probably more so over the last six months has seen a slight increase in actually active drug use in parks.

Um so just want to note that is what they're seeing out in the field.

And then the second uh detail on the right hand side represents the warning information to provide you an idea of what most of the warnings are for.

Uh majority once again are for parking, followed up by city code uh violations, so park rule violations, and then shortly thereafter, uh dogs off leash.

Uh, with that, I'm going to turn it over to Ruben, and he's going to provide some information on uh where we are with community sentiment.

Thank you, Alex.

The monthly community sentiment surveys bridge a gap with the annual community survey, and it provides additional information related to park ranger interactions with community members and the feeling of safety during day and nighttime in parks.

The results are from just over 5,000 respondents and will help park rangers focus on service delivery, such as increasing visibility, increasing focus on specific park rules, or increasing programming and community engagement opportunities.

Compared to last year's results, the feeling of safety in parks has increased uh one and a half percent during the daytime and five percent at night.

Based on the community, or I'm sorry, based on the monthly sentiment surveys, the 5% increase in the feeling of safety at nighttime is up from 37% satisfaction to 42% satisfaction.

Percentages aren't exact matches compared to the annual community survey, but trends of improvement are very similar.

Survey results also indicate that 81% of people are very satisfied or satisfied satisfied with their interaction with a park ranger.

And 77% of respondents felt that interactions with a park ranger either greatly or somewhat improved their feeling of safety.

There is one open-ended question asked during the survey regarding how a park ranger can enhance the visitor experience in parks or preserves.

Out of 5,226 respondents, 1,838 provided an answer to this question.

And the top three concerns they noted by topic were homelessness, night safety, and drug use.

These are the same top concerns reported last year.

Responses also include information related to enhancement opportunities, and comments suggest increasing park ranger visibility.

Over the last year, rangers added capacity for enhanced service delivery and safety in collaboration with multiple departments, including IT, PD, HR, and risk management.

Park rangers implemented permanently mounted cameras and six solar-powered cameras, um, which are mobile cameras, and all cameras are connected to the real-time operations center.

Park rangers are also testing body warrant cameras, which should be implemented within the next year.

Other enhancements include lighting improvements for park amenities, sport fields and courts, and improvements to data management, such as uh survey 123 and Power BI.

Quick thing actually before you keep going.

Um, Councilor Prahat, you had a question.

Yes.

Um, you know what your survey can we actually get that on the on the the results of it online on our website so people can see that results on it.

The community sentiment survey is we can work on that.

Thank you.

Okay.

Lastly, many park ranger engagements and enforcement actions can be seen as mundane.

Some are unique and challenge the rangers to deliver a high level of service while being extra vigilant for their safety and the safety of community members.

Of all the report information shared earlier in the presentation, we'd like to highlight three as an example of how park rangers initiate safety and successful connections with PD, Hope, and Care Seven.

The first report is of a stolen firearm that was recovered during a park ranger initiated site visit at Birchett Park.

While patrolling the park, the subject was identified as having a firearm tucked underneath the duffel bag.

PD was dispatched for assistance, and after further investigation, they discovered that the firearm was stolen.

The weapon was confiscated and the by PD and the subject was arrested.

The second photo, uh, which information uh on Michaela was shared uh a little bit earlier.

Um picture of a park uh from a park ranger who initiated contact with a woman sleeping at Kawanas Park with her young child.

The woman named Michaela had recently taken a pay cut at work, which resulted in uh forfeiture of her vehicle and eventually losing her job and her home.

The park ranger was able to connect her with Hope and Care 7, and her and her 20-month-old daughter, or 22-month-old daughter, sorry, were provided with shelter.

Michaela was also offered a job opportunity with Tempe Works program.

And a short time, and after a short time, she was hired as a substitute teacher with Tempe Elementary.

The last photo was taken at Papago Park, where a park ranger initiated contact with a woman named Crystal who was in the parking lot with a flat tire.

The ranger having a background in behavioral health was able to detect earlier in the conversation that she was experiencing some life challenges.

After speaking with the ranger, Crystal attempted to leave the park with a group of people who are recognized as being involved with um suspicious activities.

The ranger uh reacted by contacting neighborhood response unit for assistance, which ultimately resulted in a positive impact on Crystal's life.

Crystal found herself at rock bottom and used this experience to help turn her life around.

After some time had passed, she contacted the park ranger to thank to thank him for his help, which contributed to turning her life around, and to say that she is in recovery, has a job, and a place to call home.

This concludes our presentation.

Uh, we'd like to open it up for questions questions or comments.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Appreciate it.

Council Bradams.

Yes, thank you for the excellent presentation.

I love all the hard numbers that you've given tonight.

Uh thank you.

Um first of all, the Palmer Park.

Um I was there this week at the neighborhood meeting, and they installed a camera there two weeks ago, and they said since the cameras been in the park, they haven't had any problems.

They were so happy because they'd had a lot of problems at Palmer Park, but it has completely changed since they put the camera in.

So I think that's really important for you guys to know.

Uh, second is uh, you know, saving lives.

I'm I'm familiar with the the case of the woman in the park and that 22-year-old, you know, being outside, and that was in the heat of the summer.

So the park rangers are literally saving lives because that was a really dangerous situation.

And and the third thing is um park rangers, it's nice to see that they're helping our residents and our four-legged friends.

Um, I love that.

And there are some great pictures of the park ranger working with dog and um the park ranger holding the pigeon, and uh it's it's great.

So I'm a huge animal um supporter, also.

So thank you very much for the presentation.

Excellent.

Thank you, Councilmember Adams.

Really appreciate the comments and the feedback.

Um, we're we're very thankful to have the cameras.

They're they're a great tool that we'll continue to utilize.

And just one point on all three of the the stories that Ruben had shared.

Um, it's a team effort.

We are up here representing the park rangers.

Obviously, we're just one part of a much larger team as Ruben referenced.

Um, whether it's the police department, community health and human services through the hope team or care seven, um, it takes a much larger effort than just a park ranger.

So we're very thankful to have great partners in the city that are uh impacting people's lives.

Excellent.

Thank you.

Vice Breaker Garland.

I I love this this section of our presentation today.

The the hard information, the stories, because they are connecting and they make us realize why are we doing this?

And that's what we're doing it for is the people that you mentioned.

So thank you for bringing that up.

Um, I love the fact that our um park rangers are our uh excellent ambassadors into the community.

When I was at the the geek night, they that was one of the most popular tables that was there was the kids coming over to look at talk to the park rangers and look at the animals that were there, talk about the rocks.

It was it was incredible.

So thank you so much for doing that.

That is a great community outreach and and engagement.

I really like that.

And I don't know if you were going to get to improvements because there are a couple of improvements that I'm pretty impressed with that we're gonna be doing.

The um body worn.

Yes, we're actually we're actually in a test phase right now.

It actually just started today.

Yeah, today.

So we're in a 30-day test, and then uh we anticipate moving forward with body worn cameras, probably uh late this calendar year, beginning of of next year.

I think that's going to collect great information, but it's also a safety thing for our park rangers.

And I I think that's really important for them to be out there with that, since there's just so few of them out there at some times, but I really appreciate that.

Um, and then the safety equipment.

What's the other safety equipment that um our improvements that'll be coming up?

Uh so in addition to the body worn cameras, uh rangers after unfortunately we had an incident a little while ago where one of our park rangers was uh involved in uh in an incident with a couple of dogs where they wound up getting injured and attacked by the dogs and unfortunately broke broke their wrist, I think is a proper term.

I don't know if they say exact bone, but um so after assessments with risk management and also talking with legal and talking with the police department for support as well as future training.

Uh rangers will carry an additional tool uh moving forward, and they're eventually gonna have what I guess the official term is um collapsible impact device.

It's essentially call it a collapsible baton or collapsible stick um that they will be able to use to help separate themselves from something like a dog charging at them, but they'll also be able to use it for other purposes as to like lift items so as not to have to make uh hand-to-hand contact with folks or with uh other people's personal belongings when they're going through items left in a park.

Thank you.

Welcome.

Thank you.

Either Wilson Council for the comments or questions?

Thank you.

Awesome.

Thank you so much.

Appreciate it.

All right, next up, item number five, call to the audience, the city council wokeman's public comment at this time for the committee of the whole items on this work study session agenda.

There is a three-minute time limit per person.

Uh, Madam Clerk, do we have any cards this evening?

Nothing additional, thank you.

Great, thank you so much.

Which means we'll move on to item number six, committee of the whole, six A proposed council subcommittees.

Uh, the let's see here.

Um, just there is one item here, I think, for a proposed council subcommittee this evening.

So just as a note to personity council rule seven, subsection two B.

Any two members of the council may propose the formation of a subcommittee at a work study session of the council by identifying the purpose of the proposed subcommittee and the proposed members of the subcommittee, and by obtaining approval of the majority of the council.

So let's see, are there any proposals for a new council subcommittee this evening?

There are not.

All right.

Well, now we're going to go down to the list of council subcommittees and the order listed on the agenda and ask the subcommittee chairs if they have any updates.

So I'll start with item 6b1, age-friendly Tempe Council subcommittee.

Vice Mayor Garland, any updates?

I have to say that our next meeting will be Tuesday, December 2nd at 4 p.m.

And I um I have the honor of working with uh councilmember Keating and Councilmember Nikki Amberg on that committee.

That's all.

Fantastic, thank you.

Next up, item 6b2, animal welfare and cruelty and temp e council subcommittee.

Councilmember Hodge.

Yes, all I want to say is our next meeting is November 5th at 2 p.m.

And I work with Vice Mayor Garlet and Councilmember Adams on that, and that's the animal cruelty, uh, war welfare, cruelty and tempee.

Thank you so much.

Next up, item 6b3, community engagement and connection council subcommittee.

Vice Mayor Garl with any updates.

Uh our next meeting will be Monday, November 10th at 4 p.m.

And I get to work with uh Councilmember Arlington and Councilmember Nikki Amberg.

And I'll just say that if you go to www.tempee.gov forward slash council subcommittees, you can get information on all of the subcommittees and when their next meetings are.

Thank you very much.

Next up, item 6 before drink spiking education and prevention council subcommittee, councilmember Keating.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, council members um Hodge and Vice Mayor Garland will be meeting with me on Halloween, which is next Friday, the 31st, right here in chambers to discuss a very spooky issue, drink spiking and education in the city of Tempe.

And I will remind the vice mayor and the council member, they are on public record of committing to wear their Halloween costumes to the subcommittee.

So I'm looking forward to that as well.

I will not be in a costume because I'm the chair of the committee.

And it's not appropriate.

Just kidding.

I'll be in costume.

I promise.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Next up, item 6b5, mixed use space council subcommittee.

Councilmember Chin, any updates?

Thank you, Mayor.

Uh, I, along with Councilmember Amberg and you, Mayor, um, have been working with this one.

And we are finalizing a date for the next meeting, likely in November.

Fantastic.

Thank you so much.

Next up, item six B motorized and electric mobility device council subcommittee.

Councilmember Adams, any updates?

Uh no, I updates at this time.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

We're working on getting dates together.

So I am excited about this committee.

Great, thank you so much.

Next up, item 6B7, revitalization of Tempe Town Lake Council Subcommittee.

Councilmember Amberg.

Yes, thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Um, I am working on that one with council members Adams and Hodge, and our next meeting is going to be December the 1st at 3 p.m.

Great.

Thank you so much.

That brings me to item number seven, future agenda items.

Council members may request that an agenda item be added to a future issue review session in accordance with the open meeting law.

There should be no discussion on the item other than to clarify the request.

Would any council members like to add an agenda item to a future issue review session?

Uh councilmember Chin, then council member Amberg.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um going to ask if if there was recently an open house this week on the ADU design competition contest.

Wondering if we can have an update on that.

Yes, of course.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Councilmember Chen.

Thank you so much.

Councilmember Amberg.

Yes, thank thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Um, I was hoping maybe we could get an update on the downtown uh tempee refresh project.

It's been a little while since we've had an update and it looks like things are going really well, but just want to kind of get the specifics on it.

Sure.

Mr.

Mayor, Councilmember Amberg, we'd be glad to.

Great.

Thank you so much.

Anyone else on council?

Any other future agenda items for an issue review session.

All right.

Seeing none, I'll close that discussion.

Uh only one other quick item I wanted to mention before I leave, something very important and very dear to me, and I know uh the members of this council.

Uh, just wanted to wish Councilmember Amberg a very happy birthday tomorrow.

So just celebrated a year almost at one and a half years up here, actually.

I was gonna say one year, but that would have been this past July.

So see.

But happy birthday.

Hope you have a wonderful Friday and a wonderful weekend as well.

It's her 29th birthday.

Yes, happy twenty happy 29th birthday.

Absolutely.

Isn't that amazing?

I'm 29 and I've got a 23-year-old daughter.

You started early.

Oh man.

All right, I'm gonna go here then to item number eight, which is adjournment.

The next scheduled work study session is going to be on November 13th, 2025.

We are adjourned at 5 43 p.m.

Thank you, everyone.

Have a good night and have a great weekend.