Good evening everyone, welcome to the Tempe City Council regular council meeting agenda.

Item number one is call to order.

Council meetings can be watched in real time via Cox Cable Channel 11 and at Tempe.gov slash Tempe Eleven.

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

Before we begin, I want to know to change to the order of tonight's agenda.

We've received a large number of speaker requests for item 8v3, the drink spiking education and prevention ordinance, which is listed later on in the agenda.

But to accommodate those speakers and help move the meeting along, I'll be introducing item eight B three earlier in the meeting.

Public appearances will still occur first, followed immediately by consideration of item eight B three.

So if you submitted a speaker card to speak on a matter, not on tonight's agenda, you'll be recognized during the public appearances section in the order in which your card was received, which is item number six.

Please note that if you choose to speak on an agenda item during public appearances, that will be your only opportunity to speak on that topic.

You may not speak again when that item is heard later on in the meeting.

Speakers will be called to the order in which the cards were received and will be asked to state their name and city of residence for the record.

Uh once again, I if you wish to speak on an agenda item but have not submitted the speaker card, please make sure to do so uh and give your card to the city clerk prior uh to the item actually being called, and of course I will announce your time, your t your name when it's your turn to speak.

Now uh I'd like to ask everybody who's able and willing to stand to join me in a moment of silence followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.

Thank you.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America into the Republic for which it stands.

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

So that's agenda has a number of items that the city council was consider in order to conduct city business.

Guidelines for conduct at City Council meetings are on the table near the entrance for those in attendance at tonight's meeting.

We will now 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.

Thank you.

We're now going to play a video conveying the city of Tempe's native land acknowledgement statement.

We acknowledge that Tempe lies on the ancestral land of the Native peoples who have lived here since time immemorial.

Stretches far beyond the boundaries of our city.

Embodying cultural values that are integral to their identity and way of life.

The author and deposit continue to maintain a deep spiritual connection to this land.

We embrace the responsibility of caring for these places and vow to uphold this commitment in all our actions.

Thank you very much.

Next up, item number four, meeting minutes tonight will be assisted by Vice Mayor Garland.

Vice Mayor.

Thank you, Mayor.

I'd like to make a motion to approve the Council City City Council meeting minutes for A1.

Okay, it's been moved by Vice Mayor Garland and seconded by Councilmember Keating.

Please vote.

And Councilmember Adams?

Gotcha.

Okay, perfect.

And that item is approved seven to zero.

Next up, item four B, acceptance of board, commission, and committee meeting minutes.

Council uh Vice Mayor Garland.

Thank you, Mayor.

I'd like to make a motion to accept the board, commission, and committee meeting minutes for B1 through 4B7.

Okay, it's been moved by Vice Mayor Garland and seconded by Councilmember Hodge.

Please vote.

And that item is also approved seven to zero.

Next up, item five A, Mayor's reports and announcements.

Let's see, I'm gonna go ahead down here to the front.

But I would like to ask my council to join me.

To join me up front, I turn the microphone on in anticipation of going downstairs.

That never happened.

No one saw anything.

Okay.

Item 5A1, recognition of Escalante Multi-Generational Center employees.

So we've always known that Tempe residents, staff members, and first responders stand up for each other.

That's been proven time and time again over these past few months.

A lot of us remember the October 13th microburst storm that really ravaged this community and folks really came together.

Once again, though, on January 7th, staff and patrons at the Escalante Multi-Generational Center demonstrated exceptional bravery, professionalism, and unwavering commitment to the safety of others.

When a man with a violent past entered the senior center and launched an attack on the seniors gathered for lunch, placing the safety of others above their own.

They acted decisively and compassionately, attempting to contain the threat and immediately set to work caring for the victims.

Tempe police showed up within moments and arrested the attacker who had already been detained by security.

With the immediate danger gone, our care seven victim services and case management teams stepped in with emotional support, connection to resources, and advocacy for everyone who was impacted by this incident.

The actions of staff go far and far above their duties.

While people were injured, without their quick actions, this could have been so much worse.

We cannot thank them enough for their quick thinking, their heroic actions, and their selflessness.

Not everyone who hoped could be here this evening, but if I call your name and you are here tonight in the council chambers, we would ask you to please join us up front here with the city council.

We have a certificate of appreciation for each person, and we will take one big group photo at the end.

So that brings me two.

First of all, the Escalante Community Center staff who were involved in this incident.

Wendy Perez Flores.

Ave Wright.

Ashley Chapis.

And Miranda Sandifer.

Next up, our care seven staff.

Kyra Godek.

Excuse me.

And Julie Gadick.

Julia.

All right, next up our police staff.

Detective Chase Osmanson.

Officer Jordan Larson.

Officer Stephen Roberts.

Officer Brett Sauer.

Sergeant David Hightower.

Officer Gavin Young.

Sergeant Dan Galgen.

Officer Adam Guida.

Officer Joseph Rowan.

Officer Jack Schofield.

Officer Austin Lee.

Officer Timothy Moriarty.

Sergeant Cody Conklin.

Detective Robert Lopez.

Detective Sergeant Blake Dunn.

And Sergeant Witt Roche.

If there's anyone else whose name, for whatever reason I didn't get a chance to mention who is here this evening, please come forward now.

If not, can we please once again give all of these folks standing behind me a huge round of applause?

I want to bring up my second item here, which is 5A1 recognition of Escalante Multi-Generational Center Employees, which is going to be a recognition from Tempe Community Action Agency CEO, Mr.

Philip Sharf.

Well, I've learned earlier in my career that you never go after a dynamic mayor in a presentation, so I don't know how I got slotted afterwards.

But thank you, Mayor Woods, for having me.

I really just want to give my heartfelt appreciation for everyone that's surrounding me up here today.

What was not covered in the news regarding the Escalante attack was that the Tempe Community Action Agency hosts a congregate meal program there four days a week, where we bring uh close to 30 individuals that are all experiencing loneliness, all experiencing some level of lack of transportation.

Um, and we bring them together with some incredible city staff and provide an incredible community um that supports each other and loves each other, and I know I'm on record, but they are the most badass seniors you will ever meet.

Uh if you did not have the opportunity to watch the video, tread lightly, but they are amazing.

Um so from TCAA, we have a couple of staff that we work with closely on a regular.

Um certainly our appreciation to everyone, but we're a smaller team than the city staff.

Um so we have um certificates of appreciation that we would like to give to Ave to Wendy and to Andrew for their amazing support in de-escalating an otherwise um horrific scenario.

Um and the thing that I want to report to everyone that is the most exciting for us is we did not lose a single member of our community.

Every one of our seniors has returned to the senior center for lunch, um, bandaged, bruised, um, but with high spirits.

Um additionally, we partner with an organization for adults that have uh developmental disabilities, and that staff has returned as well.

So we are a whole family and a whole community because of all of you.

So my appreciation, especially to the three of you, um, and also to the city staff uh and the police department.

So thank you so much, Mayor Woods, for the time.

And this is the first time we've ever gotten this from TCAA.

Thanks for amazing, sweethouse.

Let's do it all.

Let's do uh one more all in, everyone.

We can all kind of squeeze together a little bit.

Or a lot of it.

Well, I think you can give me in the front.

Yeah, but yeah.

All right, here we go.

Everybody ready, take smiles, one, two, three.

Don't worry, one, two, three.

And actually, council, if you could remain down here for me.

Um but actually, Vice Mayor, would you mind doing grabbing me?

There is a uh proclamation under my binder.

While she grabs that, I want to make sure to uh read out item 5A2 as well.

Uh Family Justice Commission and Joint Review Committee appointments.

Want to congratulate the following individuals on their new appointments.

Jace Redman Jr.

and Rachel Phillips at large members of the Family Justice Commission.

Cameron McCutcheon, Joint Tempe ASU alternate member on the joint review committee.

And once again, these appointments are detailed in agenda item 7A1.

So to each of you, once again, thank you for your commitment and service to the city of Tempe.

Your contributions are shaping the future of the city.

So congratulations, and thank you for your service.

All right.

That was not on my agenda, but this is definitely one of the uh most important things for me this evening.

If Mariana, if you can come join me.

I'm in a lot of trouble right now already, is that like little forearm shiver to showed you.

So uh I'm gonna just I'm gonna try to get through this.

So um so uh so um I met this young woman when I was uh actually off the city council.

I a lot of you know I was on council for eight years.

Uh I left in July of 2016, uh thought I was sort of out of the political universe, and of course, then ended up back here four years later as mayor.

Um but during that time I had a chance to meet a very dynamic young woman uh at ASU, who's standing right here to my left.

And uh when I ran for office, uh she actually then joined my campaign team down the home stretch, and so she was uh very instrumental in all that I've had an opportunity to achieve and frankly having the opportunity to be up here for the last now uh frankly six years, which is it's gone by extremely quickly.

Um but uh she has actually been my longest serving uh aide uh at over two and a half years.

Uh I don't know how she's continued to put up with me because I'm always frankly going a mile a minute all the time, but uh she's always done so.

Uh but one of the things she always told me was, you know, hey Corey, at some point uh I'm I'm gonna want to frankly move back to New Mexico, which is where she's from.

Uh but she was out here uh getting a degree at ASU, and uh she's actually going to be getting married in a few months, and she's going to be relocating to New Mexico, and her last day is next Friday.

Uh so uh it's very hard for me to say goodbye to her because not only is she my aide, but she's my friend, and it's harder for me to more.

All right, so this reads whereas the city of Tempe has benefited greatly from the dedication, intelligence, and professionalism of Mariana Pena, who has faithfully served as assistant to Mayor Corey D.

Woods.

And whereas Mariana Penya has been an integral part of Mayor Wood's journey since the very beginning, having supported and assisted him during his first successful campaign for mayor of Tempe, and throughout his first and current second mayoral term.

And whereas through her sharp intellect, quick wit, and everyone knows she's exceptionally quick witted, uh, and exceptional leadership skills.

Mariana Pena has played a vital behind the scenes role in ensuring the mayor's office operated with efficiency, integrity, and excellence.

And whereas Mariana Penya's positive spirit, sense of humor, and ability to connect with all those around her, have brought energy, warmth, and levity to City Hall, making her a valued colleague and trusted partner to elected officials, staff, and community members alike.

And whereas Mariana Penya has consistently demonstrated a steadfast commitment to professionalism and public service, leaving a lasting impression on the city of Tempe and contributing meaningfully to its success.

And whereas, although she will be greatly missed, Mariana now embarks on a new chapter as she moves out of state, and the city of Tempe wishes her continued success, happiness, and fulfillment in all of her future endeavors.

Now, therefore, I, Corey Woods, mayor of the City of Tempe, Arizona, do hereby recognize Mariana Pena for her invaluable service, uh leadership and commitment to the city of Tempe.

Thank you.

I know she will be writing a tell all book about me, which you can pick up for 1999.

All righty, smile.

I love it.

I want the record to reflect that I did uh eventually get through that.

Um next up, item five B, City Managers Reports and Announcements.

Madam City Manager.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, I wanted to take a moment to acknowledge Mark Weber.

If Mark is in the audience, which I know you are, you always are.

Can you stand for a second just so people see our city engineer?

This is Mark Weber.

If you haven't met him, he has worked for the city for 22 years and he is retiring.

And if he has he wants to.

Um, I just want to acknowledge Mark.

I've worked with him for many years.

22 years is quite a dedication to the city.

And if you don't know what a city engineer does, just look around the cranes in the city, and we are always growing.

He is responsible for the infrastructure planning and construction of everything you see in the city's drainage, public right-of-way, streets, and some of the notable projects that he's been involved with is I'm sure you some of you remember a few years ago the 60 water main break that called out our employees in the middle of the night, and not to say that they were working on that fast and furious, trying to make sure that restored that right away.

But in addition, the Mill Avenue Streetscape, that obviously was another pain point after 40 years.

We are finally doing that, and that was Mark, and then lastly, the beloved pavement quality of the city.

Um, yes.

He goes to every neighborhood meeting with us and can tell everyone exactly, every resident, when their um pavement will be remediated because he is looking at that graph the entire time.

And if it's not important to you, trust me, it is important to 180,000 other residents who always talk about it.

So, Mark, thank you for your dedication.

Thank you for stepping into this role a few years ago when things were changing in the city, and you have done an amazing job, and we're gonna miss you, sir.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you.

Appreciate it.

All right, that brings us to item number six, public appearances.

According to the Arizona Open Meeting Law, the City Council may only discuss, respond to, or take action on matters listed elsewhere on this agenda for discussion and legal action.

The purpose of the open call to the public is to allow individuals to address the city council on any issue within the jurisdiction of the city council.

No person shall speak more than once, and there was a limit of three minutes per speaker.

In the interest of allowing all members of the public to have an opportunity to speak, in the case that there were such a large number of persons intended to speak during the meeting that it may deprive other members of the public from the reasonable opportunity to speak.

The mayor may limit each speaker to less than three minutes.

Speakers present at the podium must state their name and city of residence and provide a speaker card.

Members of the public shall refrain from making personal impertinent or slanderous remarks and for becoming boisterous while addressing the city council or while addressing attending the meeting.

Speakers will be taken first come, first serve in the order in which the cars are received.

Speakers' visual aids and appearances by phone or recordings are not allowed.

The city council is prohibited by state law from discussing, responding to, or taking action on matters raised during the call to the public, even if asked to do so by a member of the public, so long as the subject discussed by the speaker is not listed as a specific agenda item for council's consideration for discussion and legal action.

Individual members of the council may respond to criticism made by speakers, as staff to review a matter or request a matter to be placed on a future agenda.

Once again, this portion of the meeting is reserved for those wishing to speak on matters within the jurisdiction of the city council that are not listed elsewhere on tonight's agenda for discussion of legal action.

If you speak now about a topic that appears on the agenda, this will be your only opportunity to speak on that item.

So with that said, I'm gonna go ahead and call the speakers forward in the order in which I received the cards.

Okay.

The next speaker I have is Katherine Dorn Mr.

Mayor, she had signed up as virtual, but we do not see her in the audience.

Okay, sounds good.

Then next up, uh I have Bobby Nichols.

Is he virtual?

He also indicated that on his card.

However, we do not see him listed.

Okay.

Then uh the next speaker is Mary Ann Dillon.

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

You have three minutes.

And I'd like to start out by thanking um Mayor Woods and the whole council for giving me this opportunity to speak and to request your support for saving Shalomar golf course.

I appreciate the city council members who have already expressed their support.

That's greatly appreciated.

The landowners have been good neighbors in the past.

For example, when I served as uh chair of the Shalomar Neighborhood Association, they generously allowed the neighbors to meet on the patio of the clubhouse.

When my daughters were on the McClintock High School Girls Golf Team, Shalomar was their home course.

And various community groups, some I'm sure y'all are have been members of held meetings at Shalomar.

It's been a big part of the community.

But now that the owners are no longer live in our neighborhood, they seem to be unconcerned about our lovely unique neighborhood that has been anchored by and named for Shalomar Golf Course.

Please do not let the course be rezoned for mostly rental properties.

Shalomar has been such a gym, not just for those of us who live in the neighborhood, but for all the residents of Timpee and beyond.

The golf course has a history of bringing in golfers from throughout the valley and winter visitors as well.

Because the course is closed.

I have recently been golfing at Awatuki Lakes, which is another golf course that was abandoned and languished for years.

And a further it represents a further reduction of Timpe's urban canopy.

The city of Timpee is a better community if Shalomar golf course is saved.

Please respect the wishes of residents and reject rezoning of Shalomar.

Thank you very much.

Thank you very much.

I've just asked Ms.

Dillon if you are golfing at Awatookee Legs, please say hi to my father who lives right next to the course when you're there.

I know.

Thank you so much.

Appreciate it.

All right, the next speaker I have this evening is Catherine Payne.

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

You have three minutes.

Hello, Mayor and Council members.

Thank you for letting me speak.

My name is Catherine Payne, and I live in Tempe, Arizona.

And I'm here for Save Shalomar, of course.

I am a retired uh speech pathologist for Tepe T D3.

My kids went to all the schools there in the Shalomar area.

I worked myself at Curry and Connolly, and so I'm very invested in this neighborhood.

Love it.

There's many issues about this redevelopment that are concerning, but tonight I'd like to speak about the traffic issues.

We've had a lot of problems with traffic on country club forever.

People, everybody drives too fast on that road, including the orbital buses, I might add.

So just a heads up there.

But I'm concerned with a multitude of new vehicles in the area.

What is going to happen there by the schools?

We've noticed a couple neighbors and I were speaking the other day about I I live on Cairo, which is right across the street from the the uh golf course.

Um we've had a lot more traffic on Cairo, which is not a street that you people usually go on.

We were talking about what the heck is causing this extra traffic.

We realized that because the um the buildings are going up on they're doing the construction on Curry and Connolly, that people that come down river and normally cut used to go on country club, are now coming farther down on river and cutting across on either um Balboa or Cairo.

Alameda has speed bumps, so people are hadn't going down one more block and cutting across.

And we thought, oh my gosh, if this is happening with this, this is temporary.

This is not gonna last forever.

The schools will be built.

But what will happen if we have this huge development and all these people coming home from work, if they live in Phoenix, they're gonna be coming down, let's say they get off the freeway off 101 at Broadway, head down price.

Do you know what happens in at price between 3:30 and 6 o'clock?

It's packed.

They are not gonna wait to get to that corner of Southern, they're gonna cut through our neighborhood, and they're probably gonna be on Balboa or Cairo because Alameda has speed bums.

And I'm just very, very concerned about what's gonna happen to that sweet little neighborhood.

It's just it's just not acceptable.

And personally, I have a personal concern with regard to traffic.

Seven years ago, sorry, in uh February of 2019.

A dear friend of mine was killed on the corner of uh Southern and Country Club in a fatal traffic accident.

She and her husband were killed.

It was during going to work time.

You know, there's no left turn signal on that light.

And someone coming far too fast, um, plowed into her and her husband, and they were both killed.

I just am concerned about the 1,000 anticipated new cars that will be coming in that area.

So thank you for your time.

Please save Shalomar.

Thank you.

The next speaker I have this evening is Anne Lecure.

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

You have three minutes.

Hi every three.

Good evening.

I'm Anne Lequeer, and I'm happy to call Shalomar my own neighborhood now.

It's been a question.

While we were going through the hot, heated summer in Shalomar last year.

My father was in his last days.

Bob Lequeur, he was 90, led a happy and productive life, and got his wish to pass peacefully at home.

In the same breath, I want to mention Dick New Heisel.

Send my condolences to Jane and wish their family peace in all the days ahead.

Dick was a husband and a father, a mentor, a leader in Tempe, especially bringing friendships from faraway places through sister cities.

I developed a recipe while caring for dad.

Two parts joy to one part burden.

I planned our days that way, knowing what he had to face in an average nurse's visit.

We wrote essays together, sang old country songs, and caught all the sunsets we could.

Regarding burden, I want to clarify that there are the naturally occurring ones, as well as the ones we create for ourselves.

In fairness, and Brook St.

George can attest, our fathers were also sometimes involved in the latter.

In these hard times, the ratio of joy to burden is more like 10 to 1.

This brings me to Shalomar and Danell Plaza, both sources of immense joy for so many.

Full of fun memories and in the business of making new ones.

And the next one is about trees.

Pay attention when artists act like guides.

There's clues for all of us in there.

Tricky but unmistakable when it happens.

Let's keep applying the recipe.

We do our ancestors proud by protecting and promoting the small sacred joys at the center of life in Tempe.

Thank you.

Thank you.

The next speaker I have this evening is Patrick Michelson.

Please come forward, state your name and city of residence who have three minutes.

Hello, uh, my name is Patrick Michelson, born and raised lifelong resident of Tempe.

Uh prepared some words today.

Uh first, I want to thank the council for responding to our comments regarding Shalomar golf course.

Uh, briefly, as other people have spoken about, uh, but for those who are not aware, there are outside developers who want to bulldoze Shalomar golf course, which is a nature reserve, an iconic Tempe Park, and one of its few green spaces.

Tempe City Council can stop that from happening.

They can preserve a treasured part of Tempe.

Again, I've been going to Shalomar Park since I can remember.

The community rejects these outside developers in favor of what the residents want.

The residents of the existing community want for their community because Shalomar is more than just a landmark, it's the hidden jewel of Tempe.

We appreciate your response to this issue, and thank you for taking the first steps to work with the community.

And we hope that it continues to be a priority for the council as it is a priority for the community.

Thank you.

Thank you.

The next speaker I have this evening is Tom Cunningham.

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

You have three minutes.

My name is Tom Cunningham.

I live in Phoenix, Arizona.

Thank you, Mayor Woods, City Council for me here.

I am a retired executive director of the Junior Golf Association of Arizona, 19 and a half years.

I served in that position.

I'm here in the support of the no vote for rezoning the Salamar Golf Course.

I'm here on behalf of all the youth in Arizona, especially the city of Tempe for the passion I've had for almost 30 years, and that is amateur golf and junior golf.

Shalomar golf courses, of course, that we use when I was in the JGAA for many, many tournaments, especially for younger kids, youth, eight to twelve, that kind.

And it was always open to us for those activities, no matter what it was going on or how it is done.

We had number, number of fundraising events there to help join junior golf.

This reached out to the community of Tempe as well for the kids to have a place to play.

Golf over the years has been something I've believed in for character building, something that has something to do with etiquette and uh honesty and behavior.

And I think it's developed some very wonderful citizens over the years, and then that has a mission accomplished.

So therefore, I thank you very much for uh offering and considering uh the the to keep the zoning as it is, and I appreciate the opportunity to speak tonight.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

All right, so I apologize if I get the next name wrong.

I'm just trying to read it on my sheet here.

Uh Scott McNeon.

Please come forward.

State your name and city of residence.

You have three minutes.

Uh Scott McNevin, uh Phoenix, Arizona residents.

Uh thank you, uh Mayor Woods and the council.

Um I'm the current executive director of the Junior Golf Association of Arizona, and I just uh here in support of uh Save Shalomar.

Um over the many years uh when I worked for Tom and then my current role, we had many junior golf tournaments over at Shalomar.

It's a vital uh it's been a vital part of the community.

Um, and it's taught the junior golf has been uh a very valuable part, but it also supports uh teaches a lot of great characters like honesty, integrity, responsibility, responsibility, perseverance, and uh the biggest part about golf is it's a game that you can play for your lifetime with your parents, uh your kids, and it teaches a lot of great aspects of character building.

So I just want to hopefully uh you guys will consider the rejected rezoning and hopefully uh get the golf course back open.

And um, I thank you for your time.

Thank you so much.

Appreciate it.

Hey, just coming back around to someone who joined virtually later.

Uh, I have uh Bobby Nichols, who's virtual now.

Mr.

Nichols, can you hear me?

Yes, I can.

Hello.

Sounds good.

Uh please state your name and city of residence for the record.

You have three minutes.

My name is Bobby Nichols.

I'm a Tempe resident of 25 years.

I'm here to talk about the flock cameras and request the city of Tempe cancel this contract immediately.

In August of 2025, Colorado journalists discovered that federal immigration enforcement have been granted access to the data generated by jurisdictions using flock cameras in their state who would decline to share their data with federal agencies.

In Washington, the University of Washington Center for Human Rights Review of Flock Network Audits uncovered that from at least May 9th, 2025 through August 24th, 2025.

Local organizations' networks were subject to thousands of searches by U.S.

Border Patrol.

Those searches were made by dozens of different users who identified the reasons for their search with terms such as USB P, USB PHSI, and immigration.

Additionally, in all but two of the cases reviewed by University of Washington researchers, flock organization audit reports, recorded agencies making searches across a greater number of networks than those listed in their respective network sharing reports.

Arizona currently has no law regulating the appropriate use of automated license plate reader technology, though some other states have passed related laws.

California, for example, bars ALPR data sharing across state lines, Virginia restricts ALPR use to investigations in a limited set of criminal matters.

And Illinois requires that out-of-state law enforcement agencies seeking to access data collected in Illinois, first attest in writing that the data would not be used to enforce other states' laws on abortion or immigration.

Unfortunately, the research suggests that all three of these laws are regularly violated.

At a time when many of our neighbors are at risk of raids by federal immigration authorities, which may result in forcible rendition without due process or death.

Tempe deserves leadership and will exercise proactive caution with equipment that collects extensive extensive personally identifying information from everyone who passes by.

It is not enough to assume that these risks will not have packed our residents.

That is why I am again calling on the city of Tempe to immediately terminate its contract with Fox Safety.

The only way to ensure the protection of our sensitive data is to proactively end this agreement.

Thank you so much.

Appreciate it.

That's all the speaker cards I have this evening.

Is there anyone else in the audience wishing to address the council?

If so, can you please get my attention at this time?

All right, seeing none, I will close that portion of the meeting.

And quick thing, actually, um, Madam Clerk, I was gonna ask you.

I would you mind if I just took the consent agenda very quickly, just since I want to make sure if this folks here they can yeah, that's fine as citing officer.

Wonderful.

Thank you.

I just wanted to make sure I check with you first, though.

So the item number seven is the consent agenda.

All items listed on the consent agenda will be considered as a group and will be enacted with one motion by the city council, unless an item was removed for separate consideration.

Members of the public may remove public hearing items for separate consideration.

Public hearing items are designated as public hearing item at the beginning of the item title.

Council members may remove any item for separate consideration or declare a conflict of interest.

If a council member would like to declare a conflict at this time, the city clerk will provide the council member with a disclosure form.

If you wish to speak on a public hearing item, please fill out a speaker card and submit your completed card to the city clerk prior to the agenda item coming forward for council discussion.

I will call your name when it is your turn for public comment.

This evening, the consent agenda is listed as miscellaneous items 7A through 7A1 through 7A3, awards of bids and contracts, item 7B1 through 7B8, and resolutions item 7C1 through 7C4.

Any agenda item designated as public hearing item can be removed by member of the public for separate consideration.

If anyone would like to have a public hearing item removed, please get my attention now.

Okay, seeing none, council, any agenda items that you'd like to have removed for separate consideration.

Okay, it's been moved to approve the consent agenda by council member Hodge to have a second.

Seconded by Councilmember Adams, please vote.

Yes.

And that item passes seven to zero.

Now we're going to go back here to item 8B3.

We're going to take this once again a little bit out of order to make sure that we are uh dealing with items with a large number of speakers.

But I will say all items listed on the non-consent agenda will be considered separately.

Agenda items scheduled for introduction and first public hearing will be heard, but will not be voted upon at this meeting.

Agenda item scheduled for second public hearing and final adoption will be voted upon tonight.

Council members who may have a conflict of interest may abstain from voting on a matter, and the city clerk will provide the council members with the disclosure form at this time.

We will now consider item 8B3 under the ordinances and items for introduction and first hearing section on the non-consent agenda at this time.

Thank you.

So 8B3 reads, introduce and hold the first public hearing to adopt an ordinance addressing public health, safety, and welfare by amending the Tempe City Code, Chapter 16, sections 26.70 and 26.71 by adding new requirements related to drink spiking prevention.

I'll turn to Councilmember Keating here to see if there's any presentation as the chair of the drink spiking education and prevention council subcommittee.

Councilmember Keating.

There is mayor, thank you.

Mayor if it's all the same to you, can I do the presentation from here?

As long as Mr.

City is long.

Okay.

All right.

The floor is yours.

Thank you very much.

I think you're the only man in the city going greater faster than me.

So I'd like to have you here.

You would you could count me, but I shaved my head, so you can't tell.

Mayor, uh, council.

Um I have a presentation as some thank you.

I'm gonna do the thank yous first because I'll be all hyped up after the presentation.

I don't want to forget anybody.

So if you don't mind, first I want to thank uh my colleagues on the committee, Vicemor Garland and Councilmember Hodge.

It's been uh it's been uh it's been an ordeal getting to this point, and um I want to thank you for joining the committee with me and helping us craft this this ordinance.

I want to thank our police, Lieutenant Bacon, Officer Als, Rachel Hines, City Attorney's Office has done a tremendous amount of work on this, as has the city clerk's office for coordination.

There was somewhat of a fire drill uh at the end of last week and over the weekend, and you guys were fantastic in helping us get get through that.

Uh, thank uh the ASU's uh USG, the grad student USG, ASU Planned Parenthood, the Tempe Coalition to reduce underage drinking and drug use.

With that, mayor, that's the end of my thank yous.

And of course, I need to thank Keaton Hill as well, my aide who's done a yeoman's work on this, and you know, I I couldn't do half of the stuff that annoys all you without him there by my side helping me out.

So Keaton's done a great job, and I do thank him for that.

So, Mayor, today I'm bringing forth uh the first read of the drink spiking prevention ordinance, and I'll give you a little bit of background on it.

Uh, we started the committee, I believe, in May or June.

We had uh five or six public meetings, uh, with which all the stakeholders were invited, many of which have attended all those meetings.

So at the end of the day, I'm very pleased with the process and what we've come back with.

Uh, I want to thank you, my colleagues, for allowing me to continue it.

A couple weeks ago, uh, it was I was able to spend the last two weeks really kind of in a fire drill meeting with different stakeholders trying to address concerns, meeting with various attorneys, liquor attorneys, business owners, restaurateurs to try to come up with an ordinance that does not sacrifice public safety, but um you know is more palatable as far as implementation goes.

So I think we're about 90% there.

I am meeting with more stakeholders tomorrow afternoon to try to get all the way there.

So it is my hope that at the end of the day when I ask you to vote on this, it's something that we can all agree on.

It is a beneficial and and um uh possible here in the city of Tempe.

So uh our strategic priorities are safe and secure communities.

Uh one reading to you, they're up there on the screen.

I will read some of the PowerPoint to you.

I'm not gonna read this kind of stuff.

I just want to know this is what they're thinking about when we brought this ordinance forward.

Here's a list of stakeholders that we've engaged throughout this process.

We purposely engage stakeholders that we assumed would be uh opposed, and stakeholders that we assumed would be in favor.

Again, this isn't a jam anything down anyone's throat type of process we wanted to have.

We wanted to make sure that we're all kind of going together and have something that we can live with that does not sacrifice the public safety element.

The ordinance goals are to increase patron and public awareness of drink spiking.

I don't think Tempe has a drink spiking problem.

I think drink spiking is a problem that exists in Tempe as it does anywhere that has a vibrant nightlife.

We want to strengthen Tempe's nightlife safety of reputation and perception and reality.

Uh Tempe would be the first such city to enact an ordinance, and we think that this is would be a benefit to the city overall.

It's reputation both perceived and the reality public situation uh public safety situation on the ground.

We want to encourage people that have not been to Tempe since since COVID, frankly, um, because Tempe was hit hard.

Mill Avenue has been hit hard since COVID to come back and give our nightlife another opportunity.

Mayor Woods and Councilmember Chin, I know you've done a tremendous amount of work to bring new restaurants and new experiences to our downtown.

There was just an article written uh not too long ago that kind of highlighted the renaissance that Mill Avenue is going through.

We want to make sure people have an excuse to come and see the work that's been done and see the uh the new look, Mill Avenue.

And finally, we want to deter would be predators by signaling the strong enforcement and accountability in the city of Tempe.

If you're coming to Tempe to try to victimize our residents or patrons of our nightlife, you need to know this is something we take seriously, and that you will be held accountable.

Here's the here's the crux of the outline uh of the policy.

Drink spiking testing kits must be available with a minimum of 10 kits.

I'll get into the minimum in a little bit.

The only operating requirement is to have these testing kits available.

That is the operating requirement.

The rest of this, the rest that we're gonna go through is incentives and nice to have the requirement of this ordinance, the thing that you have to have is a drink spiking testing kits.

Businesses can be fully compliant in the first year or years at no cost through partner funded kits and covers.

I'll get into the covers.

But we do also businesses will be provided kits that don't expire for a term of seven years.

So if you know there is no drink spiking ever at your bar or restaurant, um, it'll be seven years before you'll need to replace those kits.

And I do hope that there is no drink spiking incidents anywhere.

Bars may sell these devices.

They range from $1.50 to $5 per unit.

They may sell them for a 50% markup.

So if I have a kit that costs me 150, I could sell it for 225.

So when I sell this kit at a profit, it will replace itself in 50% of the next kit.

The idea is you're going to get a set of kits for free, and it'll be a positive feedback loop that will make sure that your inventory is remains stocked.

That's all you need to do to be in compliance with this ordinance.

Patrons may uh use personal drink covers and venues may offer drink covers.

I'll get more into this.

Free or for sale.

This is all part of a uh a tax incentive that we'll talk about.

Something new that we've added is the the establishments may allow people to bring in their own covered, clear covered cups.

So I could bring in my cup mayor that is clear that see through, walk in the door, it's clearly empty and say, I'll take my course light in this, please, and put my top on.

So I could bring in my cup mare that is clear that see through, walk in the door, it's clearly empty and say, I'll take my course light in this, please, and put my top on, and that would satisfy the cover requirements as far as the incentive program goes.

Okay.

Um that provide the test kits and offer some sort of free lid, or allow patrons to bring their own cups, will then qualify for the tax incentive, which is a 25% uh fee reduction on their annual liquor license.

So they have the kits which they're allowed to sell, they have the covers.

If they're giving the covers away, or they are having allowing the cover cups, they then qualify for this tax incentive.

We estimate it to be around $300 a year.

We talked to financial services, and this is kind of an estimate of what that may cost the city participation.

The committee settled on a 25% rebate.

And here you see a breakdown of the various um figures as far as partition participation rates go.

Um, you know, at 25%, it would be about $5,000 a year to the city and fees that we are reducing, not necessarily cutting the check, but reducing fees, and you can see how it goes up from there.

Look, I mean, we know how city programs work.

I'd be astounded if we got to 50% participation.

Um, but if we did, we can see there that's just under uh 11,000.

And hey, I hope we get to 100% mayor, but is this that has been the case historically with city programs?

So this is the layout what the possibilities it may cost.

We're estimating on 70 um such such um uh avail of available uh places, but honestly, it'll probably be closer to 65 or less once we're all said and done.

Will establishments be liable?

This is something that we worked on uh after feedback, initial stakeholder feedback because it was a there was a great amount of concern about um you know, does this create more liability for me?

Can I now get sued if someone's drink is spiked at my bar?

We've included robust uh liability protections in this ordinance.

It's up here on the screen.

Some of this was industry feedback as requested, and um some of it was uh from the city attorney, and our uh again, our goal was to make sure that we're not trying to make sure we don't want anyone to be punished for participating in this program, and you see that in the language here.

What type of establishments are affected?

Well, this applies to businesses serving alcohol after midnight on any day of the week.

Mayor, the original ordinance was about 140 different establishments would be subject to this ordinance.

We did get some concerns from restaurant tours you know about the the broadness of that.

So we ended up moving it up to midnight to alleviate those concerns.

I do not think this sacrifices the public safety element of this at all because really this type of stuff to uh the um the stakeholders' point isn't really happening in the early evening, it's more so kind of as the night has progressed when people are more vulnerable.

This would apply to um businesses in the city of Tempe that have a series six or twelve bar or restaurant license again that serve alcohol past midnight.

Exemptions include bowling alleys, sports arenas, and similar venues, and any restaurant or bar or establishment that has these licenses that meets the other criteria that that feels that this isn't really appropriate for them, can also apply for an exemption as approved by the chief of police.

Here are the changes to the ordinance since we last met.

So, as I mentioned, I spent the last two weeks kind of in a fire drill barn burning doing doing the politic and thing, trying to meet with as many people as I can to really try to get to the crux of their concerns and what can I do to fix it.

And like I said, I think we're 90% there.

You can see the changes in the ordinance went from several more different uh liquor licenses being being um uh affected by the ordinance to really just two establishments after 10 p.m.

got moved to after midnight.

And we moved from 137 affected businesses to 60 to 70 thereabouts, and like I said, it's probably later about closer to the 60 figure than it is the 70 figure, but we are still in a process of narrowing that down further, and that has to be part of my meetings tomorrow.

Um free kits for the rebate.

We we changed that.

It was that you had to give away the kits and give away the covers for the rebate.

We're saying, you know what, if you want to sell the kits at you know the prescribed price, um but you're giving away the covers, that's okay with us too, uh, because they will make a profit on the kits regardless.

So I mean, in theory, that would cover the cost of the covers as well.

Uh, the covers are relatively cheap, um, anywhere from 20 to 30 cents apiece.

So that's a change of the ordinance based on stakeholder feedback.

Another one is no outline number of kits.

This was actually brought to us by stakeholders that said, wait, wait, wait, we don't like this, which was kind of confusing to me because I was saying, I'm not telling you how many kits to have, I'm just saying make sure you have them if if needed.

However, this created general confusion among people affected by the ordinance.

Um, the people were under the impression they need hundreds of these in stock, um, that they would expire in due order, and they'd be a constant cycle of replacing these things.

So we went with uh a fixed requirement, so it's very clear to everybody that this is this is what the expectation is.

Here's what you're gonna get, here's what you can sell it for.

Signage posted in a conspicuous location.

We just moved out to signage in the restrooms.

This was based on stakeholder feedback.

There's a lot of signage behind bars and restaurants as is as far as business license and liquor license, things like that.

And frankly, we think you know, assignment in the restroom, either on the door or on the mirror, uh, would be more than sufficient as far as making sure people are aware that these protections are available to them.

We changed the penalty structure.

We had um penalties tied to security plans.

We heard from stakeholders that look not all of us requ are required to have a security plan, and those of us that that do have one, you know, it is it is burdensome for us to make changes.

So we we changed the penalty structure to eliminate the mandate to uh additional security plan changes for uh places that already have that requirement, and um not add any more security plan provisions to places that don't have don't meet that the the threshold for that requirement.

So instead um penalties um for repeated violations will result in the uh the city of Tempe uh submitting a letter essentially to their department of liquor saying, hey, we have an ordinance in here in the city of Tempe, and this place is is out of compliance.

And since the Department of Liquor is a state uh organization, it'll be in their hands then to decide if the the violations are egregious enough to take action on.

I already talked about the security plan requirement.

That's the that's the second thing on that.

That's the second point on there.

More moderate or moderate liability release language.

You know, we talked to stakeholders and me and me and my aide Keaton had a two hour dinner with uh three attorneys, and that that went about as you would expect it to go.

And you know, we end up craft a language that everyone was kind of happy with at the end of the day that provided more protections for the establishments that are affected by this ordinance.

So I'd like to talk a little bit about um uh the public surveys that we put out, not only the ASU student survey, but the city of Tempe survey, just to gauge the amount of public support that this ordinance uh currently enjoys.

So our data collected from the with the help of uh the ASU student government and women-led organizations distributed 175 test kits and surveyed approximately 200 students.

We found that around 11% of students had been the victim of drink spiking.

57% of students either know someone or had been the victim of drink spiking themselves, and 28% of those students said that these incidences occurred at bars.

Some of the opposition we've heard is like this doesn't really happen at bars, it's more of a party thing.

And we can say I think certainly for the demographic of the students, I think that kind of plays out in the numbers.

But even then, for students, we're seeing 30% of these instance instances are happy at um establishments that they that they go to and they trust for you know their nightlife.

Uh in the Tempe public survey, we saw that 74, we'll round up there for you know my political purposes.

74% of residents, 25 to 44 support this ordinance as written.

Uh approximately 25% of residents report a personal drink spiking experience, and 70, we'll call it 78 again, mayor.

Respondents uh with drink spiking experience uh support the the ordinance.

Here's some comments from the Tempe public survey.

I will read these because I think these are um important to be read into the record, and I think they're impactful.

As a woman who has had her drink spiked in Tempe during college, it is only right that we help prevent some of these issues when issues when Mill Avenue is a hot spot for going out around ASU campus.

We owe it to the students, their parents, and the community to protect all people from the dangers of drink spiking.

This creates a safer environment for our patron and encourages more single-use guests or single guests to be out spending money.

This actually came from a business that's directly affected in our downtown by the drink spiking ordinance.

They are um they they are obviously in favor.

Uh Tempe's nightlife is very intimidating.

Young people consume alcohol for the first time, crowded parties, bars, and people all around.

On top of this, the horror stories of young people, especially women being targeted for sexual assault or drink spiking causes a layer of fear and a need for protection.

Seeing local bars takes take these steps to make young, vulnerable, intoxicated people safe would be huge.

I agree with all those statements.

Benefits to businesses.

So here's our perceived uh public positive public perception.

Mayor I interviewed with a lot of local news organizations over the course of this.

I will spare you all uh uh watching all of my interviews.

I'll display this this brief segment, but if you beat up on me too much for secondary, we'll watch all 25 of them.

Uh can you play it?

17 safety temp of mind in Tempe today where drink spiking has become a major focus.

I'm glad we're talking about that.

Absolutely.

Hopefully, some changes will happen because leaders of the city of Tempe are advocating for a safer night out there.

That's it.

You again, you don't have to hear me talk there.

So the positive public perception.

Here are uh the uh the Instagram clips of the some of the different organizations that I interviewed with, and you can see the comments are universally in support.

It's hard to find a comment.

In fact, I didn't find one in in this effort that said this is a bad idea, we shouldn't do this.

It's all overwhelmingly supportive, and it's all people that are writing the demographic of of who we're trying to protect with this ordinance.

Here's a local influencer.

Um Scottsdale based posted a video on it yesterday, which I was very happy with.

And you can read some of those comments as well.

Uh universally in support, should be available everywhere.

Um, you know, I've avoided Tempe, you know, I'd come back to Tempe.

Uh things like that.

Um, again, uh I didn't see a negative comment through all that saying this is something that is unneeded.

Well, actually, it's just the opposite is I'm glad someone's doing something about this.

California has expanded drink spiking laws after it initially adopted its test requirements, all with unanimous bipartisan support.

So the first California bill that was really the kind of the inspiration for this, uh, was just drink uh spiking testing kits.

They passed it unanimously, Republicans and Democrats signing the law statewide, and then they've gone back year after year to add more provisions and to strengthen it to the add more enforcement mechanisms to add drink covers.

It again all unanimously supported.

So this tells me that this is a good policy that uh folks uh at the state level over there are taking a look at and saying, you know what, this is something we want to build on.

I can tell you that uh Phoenix, well, we know Phoenix and Chandler are working on similar ordinances.

Uh Councilmember Hernandez posted just yesterday that she's working on bringing something like this to the city of Phoenix.

And we know the eighth council member of Tempe, Odie Harris is working on this in Chandler as well.

And I just had um a candidate for Mesa City District 4 reach out to me.

Um, says he's gonna win.

I don't know, Mesa politics, and wants a copy of the final ordinance once we have that ready.

So it to me, this is exciting.

This is something I've said in every single interview is Tempe leads the way in these kind of things, but ultimately we're trying to create a culture of safety throughout the region.

So I'm glad that currently Phoenix and Chandler are taking up that baton, and I'm hopeful that Mesa will as well.

Um, as a first of his common program in Arizona, Tempe will strengthen its nightlife and reputation and competitiveness.

Safer spaces attract more patrons.

Here's the logic behind that.

Tempe passes the ordinance.

These protections encourage young women to visit Tempe bars.

People who didn't want to come to Mill or other Tempe bars, people who have been there and have gone to other places because of other concerns.

And we know that where young women go, young men are likely to follow.

And so any possible costs uh to bars, which if you're asking me, I'm saying that there is no cost, um, would be offset by increased foot traffic.

This bears um through our city survey, which says you know, approximately 75% of respondents said that they're more likely to visit a bar that has these protections in place.

So the first couple years we'll say are free or low cost thereafter.

Uh no math is committed to supplying nope testing kits to participating establishments covering the first year uh for an approximate uh $50,000 grant.

Uh Nightcap has committed to supplying 60 establishments with drink cover dispensers and a stack of 500 covers each.

And think twice as an organization that helps hospitality indust uh businesses reduce their liability insurance when they have these protections in place, and that makes sense from an insurance standpoint.

If I'm paying for insurance, and um, you know, one of the factors that may cause me to use my insurance is now eliminated, therefore my insurance is cheaper.

A good example of this also working is I was able to lower my homeowners' insurance once I got in a security system installed, and once I trimmed my tree off of my roof.

And that is it.

I will take any questions or comments at this time.

Sounds good, thank you, Councilmember Keating.

Uh, any council members have any comments or questions for council keating while he's up here?

And do you want us to do that now for the public comment?

Um, totally you're sure.

I guess we can probably do the public comment and then we can circle back.

So, yeah, okay.

Sounds good.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Oh, some questions.

Oh, okay.

There okay sounds good.

Oh no, you're good.

You're good.

Yeah, okay.

Um before we move to the uh public testimony portion.

Uh what is the is police officer uh Jessica L's here?

Yes.

Please come forward.

Good evening, everybody.

Uh so we just wanted to say a few words from the Tempe Police Department.

Um, essentially, we are in support of any measure that's going to reduce crime.

Uh we are all about making Tempe safer, and we want to make our people feel comfortable.

People who visit Tempe, uh, people who live in Tempe work in Tempe.

Uh, and any measure that's going to lead to awareness, and then ultimately how to prevent it is something that we're you know, really interested in.

Uh, this ordinance uh is basically a tool that's gonna help identify and investigate these crimes.

Usually our biggest setback as a uh I used to be a uh special victims unit detective.

Our biggest setback was the identification of the drug uh when it came to testing, and that's because of the half-life of the drugs involved.

So this ordinance will essentially allow those kits to be available right away, and that's gonna have our evidence preservation right there.

Uh and again, working in SVU, we know that a lot of these drink spiking cases happen in conjunction with sex assaults.

These are underreported crimes, and a lot of times that's because victims are simply too afraid to come forward, or they feel that we can't do anything for them.

Um they feel that we're not gonna be able to help them.

Uh, being a very victim centered department, uh, we are in support of anything that is gonna make our victims feel confident in coming to report crimes to us.

Okay.

Thank you.

Appreciate it.

All right, so I'm gonna open up now the public testimony portion here, and I'm once again going to read these in the order in which I received uh the comments.

So the first speaker of this evening is Don Isaacson.

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

You have three minutes.

Good evening, Mayor, members of the council.

My name is Don Isaacson.

I'm a resident of Phoenix, but I lived in Tempe when I went to ASU and enjoyed and appreciated certainly my time there.

Um we are I represent the Arizona Licensed Beverage Association, which is a statewide association of liquor retailers, includes a variety of liquor retailers.

We were brought into this uh discussion late.

I wish we had been included in the stakeholder process early.

We represent all kinds of liquor retailers, and I think we would have offered some benefit to the discussion early on.

We are in opposition to the draft as it stands now for a couple reasons, although we acknowledge it has improved over time.

First of all, we understand that there are places that have very effective drink spiking provisions like Nashville that are totally voluntary.

And so there is a sense of voluntariness, there's a sense of participation instead of it being mandated and clamped down on establishments.

Given the fact that there are only three reported violations to the police department last year and all of last year, and none of those were with respect to a licensed establishment.

We thought the best alternative would be to start with uh start with a voluntary program and see if that works.

And we have every reason to believe establishments would join and feel part of it.

So that that's one.

Um number two, I think that the current draft that has been improved for sure, but it has a couple glaring errors.

One is it allows permit, it permits patrons to bring and use their own clean, empty beverage container of any size equipped with a lid or removable cover that attaches to the rim of the container.

The notion of somebody bringing in a container into an establishment and someone bringing that container out takes away the whole control of an establishment and the service of liquor to those patrons.

Somebody could come in with a backpack, take the drink container out, have uh already a drink in there and sit there and add to the drinks.

You don't know what is coming in, and certainly you don't know what is coming out.

If someone in a drink container takes a drink out and is challenged by an employee and they say, I this is lemonade, I I brought this in.

And the uh establishment says looks like a margarita to me, if that margarita goes out the door, the establishment can lose their license, and particularly if there's an accident, they're gonna be responsible under dram shop for liability.

This provision should go away.

Anything that allows a container in and a container out takes away the control of the establishment.

That's for one.

Two, maintaining an inventory and offering to customers upon request, drug retent drug detection measures and testing kits.

Yeah, just want to make sure you get the second point out.

So keep going.

Um that should include lids.

And so if there's going to be uh a container that's offered by or a vessel that's offered by the establishment, put a lid on there or temporary lid, something that sits over the top of it, have that included, it certainly eliminates the need of a uh beverage container going in and out.

Third, although we appreciate the notion of that is intending to alleviate the establishment of civil or criminal liability, Tempe simply doesn't have that.

No, no city has the ability to say you're not going to be criminally liable regardless of the circumstances, you're not going to be civilly liable.

The whole notion of criminal liability established by the state, civil liability is constitutional and it can't be impacted by an ordinance.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ms.

Isaacson.

Uh quickly, uh, Council Burkini.

Uh thank you very much.

Uh, and I'll see you tomorrow.

Yes?

Yes, you will.

Great.

Um, with regards to liability language, this was something that was that we were asked to put in.

So are you saying that you want this removed?

Um, mayor, members of the council, we had nothing to do with fair enough with this language.

So I didn't ask, nor did my association ask for this language.

The way it's written, it says that there is no civil or criminal liability.

All I'm pointing that out is the city has no city in Arizona can change the criminal liability laws, nor the civil liability that exists between individuals.

If this means that uh there's no extra liability required, or you know, I I don't know what it I wasn't participant in the meetings that led to this language.

As written, it's it's wrong.

It the city, no city can impact civil or criminal liability.

Okay, good to know.

We'll discuss more tomorrow.

Pardon me?

So good to know, we'll discuss more tomorrow.

We will talk about it tomorrow.

Thank you.

Excellent.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ms.

Iston.

Appreciate it.

Okay, the next speaker I have is virtual, Justin Thompson.

Justin Thompson present.

Can you hear me okay?

Yes, please state your name and city of residence.

You have three minutes.

Uh, yes, Justin Thompson, City of Residence for me is Mill Creek.

Uh thank you for permitting me to share my company, my organization, and ways that we're working across the country to prevent harm and injury associated with drink drugging and drink spiking.

Uh, Think Twice is an organization that got started on harm reduction, injury prevention about 10 years ago, and working in concert with the top liquor liability insurance organizations and agencies and carriers.

They were looking for proactive ways to protect their policy holders and protect the patrons of those policyholders, as well as looking out for the community and helping people always make the choice to get home safe.

Uh, we got our seed money actually from one of the largest uh liquor liability insurance underwriting agencies, and they looked at what we were doing and said that hey, this is a proactive measure to help protect those policies, those patrons and those communities universally.

And that's where we got started.

Uh the drink spiking has really taken unfortunately off in almost every city across the country, as was alluded to.

Uh, we're seeing a huge increase in not only restaurants, sports stadiums, bars, breweries, nightclubs, and not just after midnight.

Um, we're seeing these scenarios, and everything from food is being spiked, non-alcoholic beverages are being spiked, as well as alcoholic beverages because of the uh yeah, intoxicating aspects of the drink-drugging substance coupled with alcohol.

The uh test strips that we provide are very convenient, they're discreet, uh, they're offered as an extension of customer service and in a way to help patrons know that if they do feel different, they can now seek help and test their drink and get the safety that they need to reduce the harm and injury that's being caused by these perpetrators perpetrating these crimes.

Uh Think Twice works with uh organizations all across the country, including the United States government, the United States military.

I was actually just in Phoenix not that long ago with the uh National Guard uh Army base out there, and we were doing harm reduction, injury prevention for soldier safety and for soldier readiness.

The United States military is using these drink test strips to keep soldiers safe, not only here in America at bases, but also abroad where they're being targeted.

Uh they're providing drink covers and disposable breathalyzers, so more informed choices can be made about safety.

Uh, one of the things that was brought up is liability, and one of the things that I think that should be emphasized is there's not one legal case in United States history of a drink test strip or a drink testing device causing any form of liability to any bar or hospitality or liquor license, liquor liability holding establishment in history.

That case law has not been set.

And so I want to emphasize that if this was a problem, we would be able to look at case law to determine how, hey, how is this affected the liability of a bar or an establishment?

How is carrying a product like a band-aid and a first aid kit that can help, let's say, address a cut on a finger, help potentially somebody get the first aid or the emergent response that they need to prevent harm from being perpetrated against them or from them getting behind the wheel while being intoxicated with a drink druggance, losing control, causing harm to themselves or somebody else.

And I'm sorry, that's that's time.

I'm sorry.

It's one of the big sure you I gave you a chance to finish that statement, though.

So yeah, just want to know if there's any questions.

Uh, anyone have any questions here from council?

Okay.

No, sounds good.

Thank you, Mr.

Thompson.

Appreciate it.

Okay, the next speaker, I believe, is Shera Bernardo, who is virtual.

Hello, members of the council.

Thank you so much for your time today.

Um, my name is Sherry Bennard, and um I six years ago, one of my friends' drinks was spiked at the bar.

Um, I went to bed in the one night and thought of this idea of a scrunchie that devils is a drink cover to protect your drink when going out.

Um, I thought it could save someone's life.

I also wanted something for myself when I went to college.

So I woke up and created it.

Um today we've sold over a million of these products to similar people that the previous um company was explaining.

Military bases, universities, nonprofits all around the world.

It's a huge issue.

Um, we have thousands and thousands of people that write in, comment on our social media, talking about their experiences in drink spiking.

So we know that this is something that is going on in, you know, not just Tempe, but all around the world.

Um we have been actively working on a new dispenser to make this ordinance.

Sorry, one.

Oh no, you keep going.

Sorry.

Okay, I hope you can hear the background.

We're calling from an airport.

Um we're working on a dispenser that will help with um creating a dispenser that will be replacing napkins and straw dispensers and and creating one that is napkins, straws, and drink covers to seamlessly implement this at bars.

Um that way bartenders won't have we're not interrupting the bartender service, and people can just go and grab one when they need one.

Um, we also are working on the sponsorship side and have already acquired a partner to provide 30,000 drink covers to the city of Tempe with 60 bars, 60 dispensers for bars, um, the first 60, um, however, we end up wanting to do that.

But we already have someone that wants to support this cause and make this free for bars that way.

Bars don't have the pressure to um supply this right away.

And we will continue working on getting sponsors in order for people to feel protected in your city.

Thank you so much.

Appreciate it.

All right, the next speaker I have is Danya Sherman.

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

You have three minutes.

Good afternoon.

Thank you, Mayor Woods and the council for the opportunity to speak.

My name is Dania Sherman, and I'm the founder and president of a company called Known App, as well as the executive director of a nonprofit called No More.

I originally started this work in harm reduction against drink spiking close to a decade ago, after I was drugged while I was a student.

My passion around empowering nightlife to be safer for all has drawn me on over 10 years of experience of being able to work with legislators, international, multinational corporations, uh, all the way to entities that were previously discussed as well.

As part of our work and support of this type of legislation, my organization is committed to facilitate night life to have as few barriers to support empowering patrons to be safe.

And so what we've committed to the city is to donate 8600 nope tests, so 8,600 tests that are able to detect 12 different drugs of abuse in as little as one minute.

And so for businesses would be able to have a grant that's close to 50,000 uh in kind through through no app.

We are committed to being able to support not just the city of Tempe, uh, but also nationally and internationally.

And as was previously discussed by council member Keating, this would be the first type of legislation of its type in the state of Arizona, keeping in line with Tempe's precedential nature of being able to lead the way in innovation.

Combating drink spiking and drug facilitated crime is an issue that is being championed not just nationally but internationally.

And Tempe has the opportunity to be revolutionary in making sure that students, college and dating aged individuals, and anyone that comes into this city is empowered, safe, and knows in nightlife that they are safe to have fun.

And our whole work is around making sure people can say nope to drink spiking.

And we are excited to be able to offer that grant to the city.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Appreciate it.

Anyone have any comments or questions?

Or thank you so much.

Okay, uh, I know Madam Clerk, the next speaker was supposed to be in the virtual audience, but do you see Mr.

Edelbeck?

No, we do not.

Okay.

Oh, you're here in person.

Well, then come forward.

Say uh speak say your name and city of residence.

You have three minutes.

Sweet.

Thank you, Mayor Woods, and thank you, council members.

Uh, my name is Nathan Edelbeck.

I'm I originally from Pure, Arizona and from Priori, Arizona, but I'm happy to call ASU as well as uh Tempe, my home.

Uh this is my fourth year here at ASU.

I am currently again a senior, uh, as well as the undergraduate student government director of university affairs.

This previous summer, uh, the drink spiking prevention campaign was brought to me.

Uh, and I'm super fortunate I've been working on it up until uh now 2026, so fun past few months.

Unfortunately, during these past few months, I've heard so many heartbreaking stories from friends, family members, or countless other individuals from the community about their experiences drink spiking, their uh friends' experiences that have led to sexual abuse rate or countless other terrible, terrible occurrences.

The simple ordinance would I truly believe would help uh prevent this, as well as other, I'm speaking on behalf of many students.

I also agree, would uh that do agree with me when I've discussed it with them.

Again, it was uh brought up earlier, but 75 to 90 percent of incidents do go unreported.

So even when we're looking at the previous data of what happens when it is reported, 75 to 90 percent goes unreported.

Uh with that, too.

When we go into when you're deciding where to go go out to bars, if certain bars are willing to accept this, that's where the younger crowd's gonna go.

Specifically, when I today we're over lunch, we're talking uh at the undergraduate government table.

And the sorority members were saying that they're gonna choose to go to the bars that do accept this.

The sororities go there, the fraternities are gonna go there, and that's where all the students are gonna go.

So, for any of the bars here listening, I do hope that you choose to accept it, or if it's does not pass, you volunteer to do it.

Uh, but apart from the increased uh increased confidence, it also helps support women and all those students, ASUs.

Uh Tempe is fortunate enough to be home to the largest public university in the United States.

Tempe is super proud to be the number one in innovation, or ASU is super proud to be the number one innovation.

And this is a super innovative ordinance.

What an opportunity Tempe has to be the first in the state.

I really hope you vote yes.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you so much.

Appreciate it.

Questions?

Anyone questions?

Sweet.

Thank you.

Sounds good.

We'll probably get to the sort of the question and answer portion as soon as we get through all the speakers on the list here.

I've got several more.

So the next speaker I have this evening is Tiara for uh Fiurakawa.

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

You have three minutes.

Thank you, Mayor and Council members.

My name microphone.

Oh, yes.

Yeah, sorry, guys, I'm a little short.

Um, but good evening, Mayor and Council members.

My name is Tiara Furukawa.

I mainly reside in Santan Valley, Arizona, but for the past three years as an ASU student, um, I have been living on um in Tempe.

And I am also here as a representative, a member of the women's coalition at ASU.

We're an umbrella organization where we mainly focus on advocacy for gender equity and also for protection of women on campus.

And I found that um through my work in the women's coalition, I found it only appropriate to speak out about my support for this ordinance coming from not only my perspective as a WOLCO member, but also an involved individual within my community at ASU.

And I am in support of this ordinance because there are more talks about trying to improve safety in the area and on campus, and I want to emphasize like two main things.

The main uh the first being that drink spiking cases go heavily underreported.

I think the stigma that is forced onto victims of drink spiking leads to the sphere of reporting up.

And also this underreporting means that there are risks for everyone else because they don't know how common drink spiking is and how it can basically happen to anybody.

As a student leader on campus, I'm always stressing to my fellow students to be safe and have a safe night out because they can be victims of any sort of violence.

And I think we're not strangers to any recent policy about healthcare access and especially the inaccessibility of free protective reproductive care for women.

This coupled with the lack of public knowledge on drink spiking would mean that it is either it can prove to be critical or fatal for people who become victims of sexual violence or assault following their drinks getting spiked.

And I think that passing this ordinance would mean that we spread awareness on the prevalence and dangers of drink spiking.

I think there would be more loss or less losses in the long run, both monetarily and health-wise for everyone compared to just not having this ordinance at all.

And the accessibility to resources means that people would be more proactive to prevent drink spiking and also be more proactive in preventing those the losses that could come with it and the risks.

We mean that they would pursue more dangerous routes.

And this could also mean that they would not be seeking help at all.

And just as a student leader, I've seen that the um just even getting to the hospital, because of the costs of it, people will actually uh refuse to get any help at all.

And I and um we should be seeing this ordinance as a preventative measure, mitigating risks and giving control back to people to advocate for their safety and normalizing the conversation to prevent the liveliness of Tempe's community.

Thank you.

Thank you.

The next speaker I have is Dan Booker.

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

You have three minutes.

Thank you very much, Mayor Council.

Do I have to say my city of residence, or can I say I was born and raised here?

And skip over the other.

That works.

Uh, for the record, Dan Bogert, I represent the Arizona Restaurant Association.

I was born and raised here in Tempe, uh, but I do reside in the city of Chandler.

Uh thank you very much for bringing this issue forward, Councilman Keating.

Um, I first want to start off by thanking some of you council members and your staff that's taking time to talk to me or some of our members in the industry outreach that have occurred over the past couple of weeks.

We greatly appreciate that, uh, an opportunity to be able to give our input on what the on-the-ground impacts of a potential ordinance might be.

So I want to thank everybody for their willingness to engage on that.

Tonight I want to do just some quick feedback because I, as Councilman Keenan pointed out, the the work on this is going to continue, uh, but some quick feedback on some of the things as the ordinance is currently written in the hopes of that we can find some solutions together.

Uh the first one is the security plan statute or ordinance, excuse me, still includes an expansion.

At least that's the way the language is written right now.

It's still expanding who's gonna automatically qualify for the security plans.

I'm not sure if that was intentional or not.

Uh, in our view, we think that's something that should probably be addressed.

Uh secondly, in the second section of the ordinance, uh, specifically 26-7-1, when we're talking about the requirement to carry these tests, the population that's required to carry these tests is actually differently defined than the security plan statute.

So it's any establishment that serves alcohol, not just series sixes and twelves.

Uh and again, some of this might have been in drafting, but just wanted to point it out for the record.

Um, one other thing to point out is the ordinance uses the term serves instead of sells.

We think that that is an important distinction to be made because uh you know, private residents can serve alcohol.

Uh, and that again, without uh pegging it to a license, they might get swept up underneath that.

Another thing we wanted to point out is the statutory references for the drugs, the tests should be testing for references Title 13, specifically the drug offense definition statutes, but the ordinance specifically calls out the dangerous drug and narcotic drug categories within that statute.

Just want to make you aware that excludes a good portion of what Arizona defines as date break drugs.

We think it's gonna be important for you to bring in the regulated chemical side of that as well to make sure that we're capturing the universe that I think the intention of the ordinance is designed to do.

Uh next to echo uh Don's comment about the containers.

I think that um the presentation that you give Councilman Keating said may allow a container in.

I think if the language is changed to may, uh that that solves the problem.

Right now it's a shall, and that does create a conflict for us within Title IV and our our ability to control what substances are coming in and out of our establishment.

The other thing on that container is we would like to see some sort, even if it's transitioned to a May, we would like to see some sort of clarification on content control.

So we're not forced to require someone to bring in obscene material into our restaurants.

That Mr.

Mayor, I'm happy to answer any questions if there are any.

Thank you so much.

Uh Council Burke.

Uh thank you, Mayor.

Thank you for your comments.

Uh I do greatly appreciate it.

So over over the weekend, there was so much back and forth, two, three different ordinances trying to so it sounds like there were some clerical errors in there, so I do appreciate your attention to that and bringing that forward.

I know we're meeting tomorrow as well.

Yes, sir.

We can go over those and any other issues that you may have point by point, and I'm happy to make any adjustments needed.

Again, uh, my goal here is not to show a policy down anyone's throat, but come to bring something forward that we all can are happy with.

So I I greatly appreciate you coming tonight and speaking to us on this, and we will get anything that we can fix up for next read.

Appreciate it.

Thank you so much.

Thank you so much.

Okay, the next speaker I have this evening is virtual.

It's Landry Howard.

And is that Landry Howard of the virtual room, Madam Clerk?

Yes, he is, and he should be able to unmute himself.

Okay.

Uh Landry, can you hear me?

Okay, Landry, can you hear me?

Let's do this.

Let's see if we can work on that one.

I'm gonna go to the next speaker just to keep things moving here.

The next speaker I have is Melissa Harlan.

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

You have three minutes.

Thanks, Mayor and Council.

Uh, my name is Melissa Harlan.

I am a resident of Tempe.

Um, I'm coming to speak on behalf of the new ordinance.

Um, I'm speaking not only as a small business owner of Drink Me Tea Room, where we do serve liquor as well, um, but not after midnight.

Um, but also as an employer and a mom.

Um, most of my staff is young women.

I would say 80% of my staff are young women.

Um, and they live with the real fear of drink spiking every time they go out.

Um, although I want to call this out that it doesn't necessarily just impact women.

Everyone can be at risk of drink spiking, regardless of gender.

Um almost all of my team um know someone who's been impacted, and some have experienced it themselves.

As a mom, I see uh the same cautious awareness in my daughter.

She always watches out for her friends in those situations because that's um tragically what they have to do to stay safe now.

Um, and I know we've talked about this.

A few people have mentioned this.

Um, most of these events don't go reported, um, but they will tell you they know people who have been impacted.

Um it's an it's a shame that they have to be on guard the way they do in order to go out and have fun, um, especially being in Tempe, where we want people to go out and have a good time and spend their money.

Um the team members that I talked to yesterday also mentioned that they go out less often because they're concerned about the possibility of drink spiking happening to them.

So that actually dissuades them from going out and spending money and going out and having a good time in public places.

They would rather stay home and be safe.

Um that's why I'm supporting this.

Um, it takes simple, affordable practical steps to make a night out in Tempe safer.

Uh, the requirements, uh making the drink spiking kits available, potentially offering drink covers and requiring training and education as well as posting clear signage can easily uh build trust with the participating um bars and restaurants.

Um, there are other things that are posted in restrooms all the time that help people feel safer.

Um, I think this is another one of those those um tactics.

Um, and talking with my team, they all agreed that they would be more inclined to go out and go to places that do accept this ordinance in Tempe.

Um, it's because they feel like they would it would be a trusted venue and they would feel safer doing that.

Um other places are acting too.

California, as mentioned earlier, recently passed statewide legislation.

Um, and um what Tempe's proposing goes further by including training and also um offering the 25% um rebate on the liquor license fees.

Um, in my opinion, that more than covers any kind of cost that would be associated with you know accepting this ordinance as a bar or restaurant that qualifies.

Thanks.

Thank you.

Okay, well, I'm gonna try to go back to the previous speaker here, uh Landry Howard.

Can you hear me?

Yes, sir.

Can you hear me?

Yes, please state your name and city of residence.

You have three minutes.

Perfect.

Good evening, Mayor Woods.

Good evening, council members.

My name is Landry Howard, and I'm a current Tempe resident and a senior at ASU.

So at ASU, I am a part of the USG, the undergraduate student government.

And I also just finished my term as a member of the Penalinic Executive Council, which um governs all 15 sorority chapters at ASU.

Um, I'm super excited to speak in support of this ordinance because a majority of people I know personally know someone who has been affected by drink spiking.

Um, and in many cases, subsequent sexual violence.

At the same time, very few know someone who has actually reported their experience.

That gap speaks volumes about the reality of this issue.

Fear, confusion, and concern about not being believed keep many people from coming forward, which is why focusing only on reporting resources is simply not enough.

Women and young people are disproportionately affected by drink spiking, especially in college and nightlife.

Environments like Tempe.

I'm really excited about this possibility of this ordinance, and I think the city of Tempe can be a leader in passing this common sense legislation and hopefully influence nearby cities to pass similar ordinances as well.

Ultimately, we should be doing more to prevent harm before it happens by making simple prevention tools available and prioritizing safety in our nightlife spaces.

Um thank you for your time, and I hope that you support this ordinance.

Thank you so much.

Appreciate it.

The next speaker I have is Noah Hain.

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

We have three minutes.

Hello, Mayor, Council members.

My name is Noah.

I uh live in Tempe.

I uh recently turned 21 in September and uh really enjoyed going out to Mill Avenue.

It's a fun place, but it's also easy for a normal night to turn into a bad situation.

People go out in groups and sometimes end up separated or someone leaves alone, and it's easy to lose track of your drink even for a moment.

I've set my drink down before and completely lost where I left it.

I think most college students and young adults have this worry when they go out that their drinks could be tampered with, even if they're being careful.

My girlfriend and I are always paying attention, but it takes one second of looking away to feel nervous.

That's why I support this ordinance.

Having a drink covers and test kits available is a simple way to help people feel safe and prevent something terrible from happening.

Tempe should be a safe place for young people to go out and have fun.

This is a smart step in the right direction.

Thank you.

Thank you.

The next speaker I have this evening is Mary Donald.

And I think Mary Donald is virtual this evening.

Yes, Mr.

Mayor.

And she is um called, they called in.

So there is a record.

Oh hi, uh, Mary.

Hi, Mary Donell.

Excellent.

Yes, please state your uh name and city of residence.

You have three minutes.

And my name is Mary Donell.

I am a resident of Tempe um for 15 years.

Um I personally am was really proud to see Tempe proposing this ordinance.

Um I've had personally I've been um spikes on mail twice, one which resulted in um sexual assault, um, which as we've heard multiple times tonight.

Um, I did not report it.

Um it was as you know, by time you kind of are trying to figure out really what happened by the time you really want to um maybe do something, and then you don't really know what to do.

So having us to, you know, at the restaurant already to me just sounds more of a great opportunity for prevention instead of it being one other thing that I have to make sure is in my purse when I want to go out.

Um I think that for the restaurants and bars that are that I still will frequent.

I will only go to the places that I know people working because that is something that as a woman you have to protect yourself.

So the fact that Tempe wants to propose this ordinance, I think that there is a great way where everyone can be happy and we can um you know all keep everyone safe.

So um I really hope that you guys on the council can support this um going forward.

So thank you for your time.

Thank you.

The next speaker I have this evening is Audra Ward.

Um, Madam Clerk, it's checked in person, but as Audra in the uh virtual room by chance.

We do not see that name in the audience.

Okay.

Then I'll go to the next person here, which is Renetta Anderson.

Is Renetta in the virtual audience?

Yes, Mr.

Mayor.

Okay, fantastic.

Thank you.

Chat and just say, I need to be unmuted.

It's not raining.

Ah, we can hear you.

Oh, oh, good.

Actually did let you unmute.

I'm glad I wasn't saying anything worse.

Nothing I haven't probably said myself, but please state your name and city of residence.

You have three minutes.

Good evening, Mayor Woods and Council members.

My name is Renetta Anderson.

I am a resident of Tempe, and I own three Series Six licenses in Maricopa County, two of them in Tempe.

And I appreciate the opportunity to speak tonight.

Part of my statement has changed a little bit because the language that had first started with the bars having to provide that at our chart at our at our expense.

Part of mine has changed.

And as Don was saying from Alba, the I'm I'm more wanting to eliminate the provision about the outside containers.

Tampering lightly.

But the proposed ordinance, the way it's worded right now, uh creates serious unintended unintended consequences.

The encouraging patrons to pour drinks into their own containers directly undermines our ability to responsibly monitor their alcohol consumption.

Once a drink leaves the original glass and is transferred into their personal container, um my staff can no longer track how much alcohol has been served or consumed.

And it makes it, you know, this this makes responsible service harder.

Um it opens the door to the customers sneaking in outside alcohol.

That already happens.

I don't even allow hydro flasks to come into my establishments because people that's what they do.

They they sneak in their outside alcohol.

Um, and if a personal container is normalized, then the enforcement becomes nearly impossible.

Uh it places my businesses at legal risk for violations uh that we didn't commit, and it's increasing the likelihood of unsafe drinking behavior.

At some point, um, we need you know, the the adults need to they need to have some personal responsibility and and choosing they're choosing to consume alcohol.

And I'm not saying that I don't agree with that I'm encouraging drink tampering by any means.

Um, you know, obviously we don't want them leaving drinks unattended, they need to know their limits and and have some of the personal responsibility, but we should not be held accountable for every individual decision a patron makes um when those regulations actively interfere with our ability to do the jobs, and that's allowing the outside containers.

Um we support the education, awareness, and of course the partnership with Tempe and our law enforcement, but the the proposal shifts the responsibility away from the individuals and places it on us, and and it's a little bit unworkable and counterproductive.

So I urge you to eliminate that provision for being able to bring in outside containers because it's creating new risks.

Okay, thank you.

That's time.

Um Council Breaking, you got a question?

Uh no, I just have a comment, but thank you very much for for calling in.

And I'm sure that is something that we'll be discussing tomorrow with stakeholders.

And for what it's worth, I think the wings at final round are probably some of the best in the city.

You're right.

Thank you.

We agree on that.

Yes, we can agree on that.

Excellent.

Thank thank you, Ms.

Anderson.

Appreciate it.

Thank you.

All right.

The next speaker I have this evening is virtual, uh, Bobby Nichols.

Hello again, Mayor and Council.

Thank you very much for your time and thank you to everybody who has come out to speak in favor of this ordinance.

I'm also speaking today in favor of Councilmember Keating's proposed ordinance, amending the city code by adding new requirements related to drink spiking prevention.

As new residents in a large call in a large college town with an active nightlife culture and a history of underage drinking, Tempe's college students are exposed to drink spiking and similar incidents on a surprisingly regular basis.

A no nap study that I believe Councilmember Keating mentioned earlier.

I found that over 75% of Arizona State University students perceived drink spiking as common, and 54% of students reported having their drink spiked at one point or knowing somebody whose drink had once been spiked.

According to a 2024 study, only one in 10 or at most one in 10 drink spiking incidents are reported to authorities.

And approximately 2.2% of respondents reported having been the victim of drink spiking themselves within the past 12 months.

That two per 2.2% number if applied to ASU's in-person student population and Tempe's adult population would mean that over 900 ASU students and over 3,000 Tempe residents may have been the victims of drink spiking alone in the last year.

Now lower reporting numbers might make the problem look less significant, but the risks are unreasonable and very easily avoided.

This ordinance allows a reasonable opportunity for each impacted business to reach full compliance.

It includes generous rebates.

It allows for resale at markup, and it requires the Tempe police to make reasonable efforts to provide compliant and well-maintained drink spiking tests to impacted businesses, reducing the cost of compliance to virtually nothing but one jar behind the bar.

Mayor and council, I encourage you all to support this ordinance.

And I ask that you also partner with Arizona State University on educational programming to inform students of the dangers of drink spiking and how to respond when they believe that they or someone they know has been a victim.

Thank you very much.

One point before I go.

Yeah, uh raise in drink spiking, uh, which they are now having to look into new legislation that would be more um proactive about providing it.

Thank you.

Appreciate it.

All right, the next speaker I have is virtual, uh Whitney Wingfield.

Hey, good evening, Mr.

Woods and Tempe City Council.

My name is Whitney.

I am a Tempe resident and a uh ASU uh alum myself.

Um, much like Ronetta to mirror kind of her things she said as well.

Um, I'm all for it not to negate that drink spiking is an issue or a problem.

Um, the only problem I have with the whole ordinance is the open container.

It opens up me possibility for you know criminal liability with the liquor board of you know, bringing in uh containers in or out.

If you give me a 32-ounce Yeti, um, I'm gonna feel inclined to walk out the door with it with the beverage in it.

So then that opens up a whole new element of drinking and driving, um, unauthorized source of uh of alcohol, people sneaking in drinks, um, etc.

Um, and also problems with liquor boards.

So that's the only thing I really have a problem with.

Um I also do not think that we should be mandatory force to put a banner up in the bathroom.

Um that you know, if if I was to see that at a bar, I'd be like, wow, like how many drink spiking problems do they have at this place?

Like, do I really have to watch my drink while I'm in my restaurant?

Um, you know, if we we feel we want to go ahead and put up the poster, I think we should be able to do it.

But just to be that visible and have to have an element of fear um for going into a dining establishment.

I don't think we should be forced to put that poster up somewhere.

That's my only opposition.

But I do think it is a great program all for the drink covers if they choose to use it.

Um I will absolutely provide to go containers with lids or cups with lids if if needed, and we already have those readily available in the restaurant already, and we can implement that.

But bringing in outside containers, um, I'll have I don't have to have security as part of my security plan.

So an additional cost of a bouncer to sit there and say, hey, you you can't bring Yetis in.

Um that's an additional cost that I should not have to, you know, pay for due to this ordinance.

Thank you very much.

Appreciate it.

I just want to know uh Ms.

Wingfield before you go, uh, because Council Burke mentioned this earlier.

The the Whitney wings are my favorite wings in all of Tempe.

So we appreciate you, Mayor.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Mayor.

You're gonna create a rivalry that are right across the street from each other.

Listen, I know I used to live right there.

You remember, so I've been to both places.

All right.

Uh, and the last speaker I have this evening, at least on my comment card here is uh is Eric Ember.

Please come forward, state your David City of residents, you have three minutes.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor, members of the council, good evening.

Eric Emmert with Dorn Policy Group representing Tempe Chamber of Commerce on this issue.

Robin Ardondo sends her regrets.

She had a uh uh uh schedule conflict, and you get third string, unfortunately.

Um I want to thank council member Keating.

You brought up a really good issue.

Uh we just disagree on some of the elements of the way you're tackling it and look forward to your your stakeholder meeting tomorrow.

Um, you all received a letter from Robin earlier this week.

And while I won't bore you with reading the letter into the record, I do want to make two points this evening.

One, the tempee chamber doesn't like the mandates portion of this ordinance.

The mandates on businesses to provide drink covers and test kits is not only costly over time, but it also creates a business liability exposure that section 26-71 F of this ordinance cannot prevent pursuant to state statute.

Two, the Tempe Chamber supports education, an education campaign about drink spiking.

An education forward partnership approach to this issue would help prevent drink spiking at house parties, at private parties at uh homes, and in addition to commercial establishments, which this ordinance targets.

In closing, the Tempe Chamber asks you to reject this draft of the business mandate ordinance as written and look at examples like Nashville, it's safe bar program, Austin, Texas, SIP Safely program, and use them as examples of business partnerships that could be replicated in our community.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Appreciate it.

That's all the speakers I had on my list this evening.

But is there anyone else in the audience wishing to address the council on item 8B3?

If so, please get my attention.

All right, seeing none, I will close the public testimony portion of the public hearing.

Uh and now I'll look to council to see if there's any comments from council members.

If so, can you get my attention?

Councilmember Amber.

Yes.

Uh thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

I've got some questions.

Um I'm gonna start off by saying, you know, should we do something about drink spiking?

Absolutely.

I cannot imagine that there's anyone in Tempe in Maricopa County in the state of Arizona, United States that are gonna tell you no.

Um, but as you guys have sat here and listened to me get up on my high horse about the state legislature and then passing laws over and over again that have unintended consequences that they then have to go back and fix.

But at that point, the damage has been done.

Um, I don't want to do that here.

And since I wasn't on the subcommittee, um, I didn't get you know really a chance to go through and ask the questions.

So that's what I'm gonna be doing here today.

So I don't know if you know, uh Councilmember Keating at this some of these questions are for you, or if they're for you know, I think a few of them are gonna be for our city attorney, uh, our staff.

Um so uh starting that in section 28-71.

You're talking about an establishment that serves alcohol.

Um, they have to have these test kits.

So my question is these test kits, are they testing for everything?

Or is it just one test kit that's going to test for two or three things?

Because I'm telling you, I've got two daughters, a son, and two nieces, and uh all at universities around Arizona and one in Colorado.

And that is going to give at least my youngest one a very unhealthy sense of security, thinking that all right, I'm just going to leave my drink here.

I'm gonna go in the dance floor, I'm gonna come back.

I'm gonna get myself a test strip, I'm gonna test it, and my drink's good, and I'm gonna drink my drink.

She will do that.

And I mean, that's just that's that's just what teenagers and early people in their 20s, they think that they're invincible.

Um, so are there test kits out there?

That's what are we gonna be using?

The test kits that test for everything, or is it just gonna be the most prevalent drugs that are used?

Uh Mayor, Councilmember Amberg, the the test kits that they will be getting for free.

Um test one test for a dozen different chemicals and one test for over a hundred different chemicals.

So uh we're not mandating which test kits being used to meet my mind.

I think a dozen is sufficient.

However, if you wanted that extra umbrella of safety, there is availability for uh uh a more robust test uh on the market.

Now, Councilmember Amber, part of the discussions was do we have test kits that that PD essentially approves that says these are the 10 different varieties of kits that that meet our threshold for public safety.

I did not include that in the ordinance because I was trying to make it frankly as easy as possible, but that is something that would definitely include in the ordinance to make sure that we're not getting like these, you know, you know, BS testing kits uh and understanding to be in compliance.

And are you going to limit the number of tests seats patron can use in one night at a bar?

So could she go test her drink, go back to the bathroom, come back, get another tourist, test the same drink, go to the you know, back on the dance floor, come back, get another test trip.

Yeah, I I think I think that makes sense, right?

Within reason, right?

If we have someone coming to the bar and asking the bartender for every drink, let me get a kid.

Obviously, they're you know, abusing or playing.

Um so I think that we could definitely include language, and I would defer to our city attorney and the possibility of that that says like within reason you you can reject a request.

Um I'm absolutely fine with that.

Um, so you said I think in there that um if you decide to become a part of the certified drink spiking prevention programs, you can still sell the kits.

Uh mayor councilmanberg, uh, the tempee safe bar program.

Uh yes, you'd still be able to sell the kids at a profit.

The only um thing you'd have to give away would be drink covers to be part of that program, but that program is not mandatory.

The only mandatory thing is to have an inventory of testing kids.

Okay.

Because I'm uh in the mandatory part, it says that you can sell it, but in the program that you can opt into, it just says upon request, it doesn't say that you can actually charge for it.

So I would maybe that that's oversight.

Yeah, we'll we'll we'll clean that up.

Thank you, Councilmember.

Okay.

Um, so in subsection D, the police department, um, the chief of police shall make reasonable efforts to provide readily available testing materials as set forth for each in each substation and police headquarter building.

So does that mean anyone can just go to a substation and say, hey, I want 10 testing kits.

Do you have to be an Arizona resident?

Could the bar that is required to sell these kits go there and get them for free from the police and then go to the bar and sell them?

You know, and if we are requiring police to give this away from free, like where is that money coming from?

Is it gonna come from the existing police department budget?

It's not the intention that that kits be available for free to the public through police stations.

Um, so we'll have to look at that language.

That's not something that's ever been that's ever come up, frankly, in reading of the ordinance.

Uh the intention of it is is that Tempe Police will have these kits available uh in their cruiser or on their person if they're on foot patrolling on Mill Avenue or something, or yeah, at the station.

So it is that the temp that police officers will have the kits, not necessarily a distribution hub for kids.

And certainly if that was the case, and I don't think it is, they would not be for free.

Okay.

Uh I was gonna ask you about the civil lawsuit stuff, but I think uh Don probably spoke to it a lot better, if I'm not mistaken, I think it's a better attorney, and and I'm not, but you know, I see civil lawsuits, and those are primarily driven by juries and uh jury's deciding what the what the outcome of the um criminal liability and damages awarded uh to folks that are actually suing.

So um I'm gonna leave that to you guys with your stakeholder tomorrow.

If I could just address that though, council member, if you don't mind.

Yeah, so um part of of working through this with the city attorney, we were like, does this create any additional liability that they don't already assume?

And the answer was no.

So the first draft of the ordinance uh didn't really have any sort of liability language in it.

Now, Don was not part of the earlier stakeholder discussions in which stakeholders did say, hey, look, we want to see some liability protections put in this ordinance.

So we went ahead and did that.

Um his point is well taken uh that state law supersedes city law, and I I tend to agree with that.

That's kind of why it wasn't included in the first place.

So, you know, I'm happy to revisit that absolutely.

Uh, I was surprised to hear that that was part of the objections, but ultimately that that is not something that needs to be included in the ordinance.

And the last thing, um, this really doesn't have anything to do with the ordinance, and it's more of the subcommittee.

Um I'm gonna start to cry.

My daughter's 18.

She goes, she has a freshman at CU Boulder.

I have been to visit her and gone to she's an assorti and I've gone to the fraternity houses, and it scared the snot out of me.

Um so much so that I sat down and went through, went online, went through some of these education programs with her and was like, you've got to look at this.

This is this is a recipe for disaster.

Um, I was hoping the subcommittee would come out with a lot more of a robust education program, especially considering we've got a governing board member sitting on Tempe City Council.

So, I mean, I'm not even saying start at college, start in high school.

Teach these kids in high school how to remain safe because you're gonna go to a bar and you think that you're safe, then you're gonna get up and you're gonna go to a fraternity party where there's 150 kids in a backyard.

You're still going to have that false sense of security.

You need the tools in your toolbox to remain safe no matter what environment that you're in.

So I would really hope, and uh it's fantastic that you had the ASU, you know, a lot of the student leaders here, you know, with the Greek leader leadership village that they would partner with the city with ASU with the school district, you know, to come up with an education program so that kids are safe.

So once they graduate from Tempe High, Corona, uh Marco Steneza, and they go wherever it is that they're going that they know what to do whenever you know they're putting themselves into situations that uh may be for bad outcomes.

All right, well, can I respond to that first?

If you don't mind, council.

Uh Councilmember Amber, you your point's well taken.

Um part of the ordinance is an education platform.

Uh, one of the things that that we talked about and that we still are going to do is with around education are not things that need to be required by law.

For example, um, we talked about having a yearly annual training on drink spiking, about the the prevalence awareness of the signs and symptoms, uh, situations in which, to your point, your drink is may be spiked, right?

So we had talked about this with with uh with staff is doing that annually somewhere on city property, tempist for the arts, whatever, wherever, uh, inviting uh restaurant and bar owners affected by this ordinance, anyone else, frankly, and their staff to attend.

Part of the original ordinance had it in um uh a training module, Tempi police.

If you if you are required to submit a security plan to uh the city, there are certain things that uh thresholds you must meet, and part of it was to have uh a training module on this issue uh for bars and restaurants.

Ultimately, as we heard from someone tonight, the the the safety plan aspect was deemed too arduous uh to be a requirement.

Uh but um to your point, yes, we we will be engaging with ASU and the city will have a role in each folks, um, you know, owners in bars and restaurants on this.

Uh Dania from No More has has graciously offered to host uh the these education um seminars to the members of the public and owners and uh staff of such establishments.

So and I appreciate that, but listening to you're talking about the owners of these establishments.

I'm talking about the kids, right?

The kids have to be educated because they're not always gonna go to a bar or a restaurant that has the test kits that have the lids, they're gonna go to downtown Scottsdale, they're gonna go to downtown Phoenix, downtown Chandler.

Again, they're gonna go to a fret party in the back of somebody's house.

Uh and those people haven't been educated, and that's the group that I would really love for us to target.

Well, if I could just yeah, uh agreed, council member, and uh we'll definitely work to target those people.

Uh I do think the awareness around this ordinance uh will get people talking.

And again, we will certainly be doing our best to educate uh some of the people that we're trying to target with this ordinance.

And if a member of city staff wants to speak on those discussions, I'd be happy to hear that.

But um, yeah, your point is well taken.

Thank you.

Councilman Ross.

Okay, only thing I was gonna say is also TEPI Coalition is already working on that with the high schools.

That's one of the major things that they're doing right now.

That's why they're they were a part of the subcommittee, and they already have that established within our schools already about alcohol, drinking, spiking, all of that is always been a part of it.

And I think you have met with them several times, and you they're a part of the of the solution.

So they they're they're our arm of it when we talk about alcohol abuse, all of that that comes in within all of our schools.

So that's a conversation that our schools are having all the time anyway.

But Tempu Coalition is a major part of that to make sure that education is what we're learning in the city is connected to our school district.

Well, thank you.

Um, I guess my the point that I was trying to make is this ordinance that we're passing puts all of the onus on our restaurants and our bars to keep the kids safe.

And there's really, I don't see a lot in there from a personal responsibility standpoint in educating these kids.

Um, and uh, you know, I told my daughter, man, it's just like a designated driver.

Um I still think that we need to, if we're gonna really get to the meat of this issue, we've got to get to the kids as well, not just to the bars and restaurants.

Thank you very much, Councilor Burchin.

Thank you, Mayor.

Uh, first, let me thank my council colleagues uh for their work on this effort.

Um it was a big undertaking, and it sounds like there will be some more work involved to revise it.

Uh what I heard from all of the speakers tonight, whether they were for or against or adding to the um uh adding information, what I heard was everyone was on the same page about safety being a priority.

So let's keep that in mind.

I need to level set something first.

Uh I heard um I've heard from several people something that I need for all of us to be focused on and to be clear.

I believe that men and women should count equally before the law.

So let's level set about this, and let's be intentional and careful.

This is not a I think uh Melissa Harlan mentioned it, this is not a women's issue, it's not solely a women's issue.

Men and women are affected.

There are certainly health issues that we women could use your help in supporting, but this is not solely a women's issue.

Um so with that, I have a few questions, and it's it's certainly not an issue with the concept of dealing with this issue of drink spiking.

It's really um, I have some feedback and concerns about how this ordinance is written, and one of the uh virtual speakers used the phrase unintended consequences, and I agree, so we could go through those.

Um, the you had a slide where you had language with the ordinance.

Um, and I wanted to make sure that I'm looking at the right one.

So the uh ordinance in our packet is the most recent one.

Is that correct?

Yeah, that includes the changes?

Yes.

Or updates?

Okay.

I believe that is the case.

Yes.

Okay.

So I guess I want to clarify a few things.

Under security plans, section 2670 security plans, C one, the change is the uh the requirement is for establishments that serve alcohol between 12 and 2.

What's the reasoning behind that change?

Is the presumption that drink spiking only occurs during this time?

Uh no, council member.

This was this was something brought up by a stakeholder who felt that uh it is more likely to be later and the scope was too broad, and frankly, um felt that the the what was said is is nothing good happens after midnight, and even worse things that happen after one.

So I felt at the time that look, if this is something that makes people more comfortable, and I tend to agree with that.

I you know, you can get your drink spiked at eight in the morning if you're out if you're so inclined.

So I tend to agree with with your point there.

However, uh I do think if we're getting to really the crux of this type of predatory behavior, it probably is likely to be later at night.

That said, uh, hey, if you want to move it to uh 10, and you would support that.

I'm I have no, I'm not advocating any time.

I'm just trying to clarify and understand because it could happen at a dinner at a happy hour, at a boozy brunch, yeah, right?

Uh at lunch.

So I think when you add language like that, you make a lot of presumptions, and it could be very limiting.

So my suggestion is review that.

What how accurate is that?

What are what are you saying?

What's the unintended unintended consequence when you include that in an ordinance also?

Um section D, subsection D in that same area, uh exemptions, and the language in there uh I think the onus uh is on the police department.

Then the chief of police in all counts may grant exemptions from any or all of the requirement requirements of this article.

So my question, and you may not have an answer tonight, but what it raises is what are the exemptions?

How does an establishment, how does one know what the exemptions are?

And who determines that in the police department, who approves that, and what staff in the police department will be responsible for this process and these reviews of exemptions?

So my concern there is staffing and who's going to do it and be able to do it well, right?

If we're going to pass something, we want to do it well, and we want to be able to steward this, right?

Okay.

Do you want me to keep going?

Yep.

Okay.

Please.

All right.

For security plans, the question is there's a section under uh F-G about security plans.

My questions are will site inspections be required to verify the plans.

Just as I mean, if you're requiring people to submit a plan, how do you verify that that plan is accurate?

Um, and I'm not saying everyone needs a site inspection, but are there periodic site inspections or uh spot checks?

And then which staff, if so, will administer these processes.

So then, as a steward of a city budget, how many additional staff will be needed to manage these processes to review exemption plans, coordinate communication with the businesses.

There is a timeline listed in the ordinance where the city or the police department within 45 days after the notice of uh administrative completion, the police department will complete a subs a substantive review of the security plan application.

So I always think okay, if we do this, how do we do it and who does it?

So and I'm assuming since businesses will, it's not a here's the start date, here's the end date of your submissions, this will be a rolling process of the one-year security plans.

So it's ongoing, so year-round staff, not seasonal staff will be needed, and somebody needs to be dedicated to that task.

Um let's see.

Oh, others mentioned it.

The drinkware.

Are patrons currently allowed to bring their own drinkware in?

I don't think so.

And I my questions were, and I think others more articulately asked who were knowledgeable.

Um, I my question was aren't isn't that against current health or liquor laws?

So just something to look at, how would that fit in?

Um the I thought the item about posting signage and prominent locations was a great idea.

The next session or section where there was a difference in your presentation about incentives and the 25% rebate.

In the ordinance, as written it, the language is uh an establishment who fully complies shall be entitled to a rebate of 25% of any tax.

That's what it reads in the ordinance.

I don't think that that's why I questioned whether it was an updated version.

Yeah, yeah, I'm starting to question that myself.

Um continue your questions and we'll great around that.

So my questions there were what are we talking about?

Sales tax, property tax, TPT tax, what taxes?

I think, especially when it comes to numbers and taxes, we need to be accurate and we need to be specific.

Uh, then when it comes to numbers, who manages that rebate process or tracks the numbers on this?

That will be important.

Where is the burden of responsibility on this one?

I and this may be a question for the committee.

Um let me say this first before I ask this question.

Councilmember Amberg brought this up about the education plan.

And thank you for sharing that that was the intent.

That may be easier for us to understand.

If you include it in the second reading of the comprehensive, this would be rolled out in conjunction with these other plans or in partnership with the coalition so that people have a fuller understanding of what we're trying to do and the objectives.

Because all I'm seeing is the ordinance and mandatory.

And so you've mentioned it, and you said people have criticized the work by saying it's being jammed through because we aren't hearing the other parts of it.

So maybe that would help.

That would help with fully understanding what we want to do.

Well, I can answer that question.

Okay.

Is that the end of your questions though?

Do you want to for now?

For now.

Go ahead.

Okay.

Yeah, so we and then I'll let the city attorney speak to the majority of the rest of your questions.

Uh, and then happy to circle back if we need to do that.

By the way, do we have the same glasses frames?

Are you copying me?

Um, so yeah, we we did look at uh the volunteer programs as well, right?

It didn't start out like this.

Uh it did start out as education volunteers, bring awareness, and that's where we kind of got into the education aspect of what we want to do on public space and who would be invited and things like that.

And we did we did look at Nashville.

And and the thing about Nashville is Nashville is a city four and a half times the size of Tempe.

It's a party destination.

And so we can agree.

I've tried to get an exact number of how many bars and restaurants there are in Nashville, but it's in it's in the thousands.

And Nashville's program is voluntary and has as many volunteers.

Um the number of volunteers that actually participate in that program is less than what would be covered in ours.

That is to say participation rates are astoundingly low.

And you know, that's an issue for me.

I've never been the type to do something that's not really going to move the needle and kind of pat myself on the back.

Um, you know, uh uh a speaker mentioned Nashville had a problem, and I didn't know that, and I Googled it, and it's true.

They're actually bringing forth a a new a new ordinance.

So uh we did look at the voluntary thing, and as is in the past with other voluntary programs, we just saw the participation rates were so very low.

And so part of the scope of it originally is I wanted to make sure everyone was covered so you couldn't say this place is a problem and this place isn't a problem.

I was trying to be judicious about it, right?

And it turns out that scope got too big.

So now we kind of try to pare it back down to your earlier point about where this type of behavior and when is most likely to occur.

We can't cover everything.

Um, happy to try if you'll vote for it, but we simply just can't.

So that's where we ended up on that.

But we did explore Nashville.

We looked at there's uh St.

Island's looking at something, so we did look at a voluntary thing, but again, the participation rates were so astoundingly low that it just doesn't make sense.

It's just not something I'm gonna do.

The clarification, the participation rates in Nashville are low.

Well, but uh what I heard from a lot of representatives of businesses and absolutely the other entities, the ASU student groups, the different um uh other individuals, it sounds like we may be different.

Tempe is always better, I think.

And you until we I don't think we need to copy paste a Nashville plan, but what elements of it would we want to try and then adapt?

I mean, we have the coalition, we have so many other great involved groups in Tempe that it may be worth coming up with uh one of our speakers mentioned how innovative we are in Tempe.

And I agree that perhaps we can do uh create a better version of that and be the lead in the country.

Uh Mr.

City Attorney, could you respond to some of the council member Chin's concerns?

I I worry about the version of the ordinance.

I I am uh mayor, uh Council Member Keating, Councilmember Chin, and everyone.

Uh I do have some concern now here in your comments.

There was a new late update yesterday uh that did change a few things that may not be in your packet.

I don't, I'm not sure, but I'll just point out a couple of things.

Number one, um, just as a point of clarity, the way we have to set up these ordinances to meet the requirements for the MUNICODE publication services.

The existing language in the statute is in the small case letters.

So anything that you see in the draft ordinance that's in small case is already in the existing code and already the part of the code.

So that would include all of the security plan requirements.

Those already exist, those are already administrated by the chief of police or designee.

They have an entire program that they do that.

So there's and I'll let the PD confirm this, but there's somewhere around 75 or 100 establishments in TEMPE that are already have security plans under that statute.

Um we did edit out the provision that changed anything as far as who would be uh subject to a required security plan.

So the current version draft ordinance does not change anybody who and the drink spiking things were taken out of the security plan requirements and made a separate requirement.

Uh those would be as the under the ordinance be uh administrated by the chief of police.

Um they've been a part uh representatives of the police department were part of the uh subcommittee meetings as well as closely working with us drafting the ordinance.

As far as the tax, I think um that got truncated a little bit.

If you look at the tax provision for the incentive, that's limited only to the tax in chapter four of the code.

When you look at that, that's the annual liquor license tax that's imposed by the city.

Um the reason that it's specified that way is because that tax varies depending on the licensee, so they may have a different amount of tax, but um thank you, Mr.

Anderson.

I'm looking at uh the incentives paragraph, and it says any tax.

Uh uh correct, you are correct, Mount Chair.

It's just any tax paid by such established establishment for such compliance period pursuant to chapter four, section four-four of the code, um, that is the liquor license tax.

That liquor license tax is administered by the tax and license department.

They've been involved and they would be tasked with issuing rebates if someone did have a certified security.

So, do we have the most updated version to review?

I I don't know what you're looking at.

I'm looking at the one that's um on the clerk's um what was posted yesterday from the clerk's office.

I don't know exactly what you're looking at, but um well that that's been in the version since day one.

So I'm looking at the revised agenda with the additional materials that were distributed to us.

And so what I would ask then for everyone is if you are asking us to weigh in and make decisions, let's make sure we have the most updated copy so we can compare apples to apples and not apple cider.

I don't know.

Hard sign, or can't we?

I don't know.

I don't know.

I don't know.

Great, fair enough.

But uh it in terms I think one of your other questions was related.

Um, the bars would under current liquor, if you brought in an empty cup, that's in my opinion, not a liquor license violation.

Uh the violation would be correct.

They can't allow somebody to bring their own liquor into a licensed establishment and drink it.

That was the concern as I understood that they would have challenge monitoring that.

I sorry, go ahead.

I do think there is one in the language that was proposed by some of the uh commenters.

There is a minor um typo.

I think it says clean.

I think the intent was clear there.

Um it would be clear that would be so they can.

It also says empty, so that as long as the cup is empty, it it doesn't uh liquor license prohibited.

So I think they also brought up that that would that is a potential area of vulnerability and liability due to liquor control and risk.

So I I would I think Mr.

Isaacson and you can talk about it tomorrow, but that's also what I heard.

I I think I under heard them as uh understood them to that was their concern with that provision in the ordinance that would be difficult to for them to enforce the requirements that they have as far as liquor control, yes.

Did I get all your um did I miss any?

Because I tried to grab all your questions, but I'm not sure if I council Bramber.

Yes, uh, thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Eric, is there any way you can weigh in here without the side of us going to executive session?

Um, your opinion on the liability stuff, not necessarily criminal but civil.

That was gonna be my question actually.

I'll give you the the kind of the 10,000 foot.

I I think there's um it's a bit of an open question.

There's a legitimate question whether or not we could preempt state law, probably not.

Um what we did was drafted that to um give them more than nothing because they as uh most people in that industry know they're liable and they have liability concerns whether we have a drink spiking ordinance or not.

Um that's just comes with the nature of operating that business.

The intent there was to give them assistance when if they they do go to court that they understand that this council, if it adapts the ordinance, their intent was not to create a duty for them to do something.

So I don't see where it doesn't hurt them to have that in there.

There's nothing in there.

Having that section can only help them, it doesn't hurt them in my opinion, as far as what liability they may have.

So but I'll acknowledge it's not perfect, and we're just limited by the nature.

I just see false sense of security all over that session and the ordinance.

Well, and honestly, to the point that I made earlier, I mean, I I can see this happening because I've raised four.

Um asking for a test trip after test trip after test trip, and then bartender saying, you know what, you I've given you five, you're good to go.

And then her drink gets spiked, and then something happens to her, and then she's going to sue that establishment and she's going to win.

Well, uh, Councilmember Amberg, yeah, as far as the liability language goes, I mean, we're gonna discuss it tomorrow, and I'm happy to adjust or remove based on what the stakeholders want.

As far as potential for abuse and and things like that, I mean there's not a whole lot we can do, right?

I mean, if someone goes and and asks for 50 testing kits and a bar gives it to them, and then on the 51st drink, they're spiked.

You know, I'm not sure how I could address that reasonably and still get to the crux.

But again, your point's taken.

Um, we are going to work on it, and hopefully we'll have um, you know, I've gotten good feedback from from you and Councilmember Chin, and we're going to work on it, and I'll have um some revisions made for second read.

Hope they're on your support.

Vice Mayor Carlin.

I just respond.

I whispered it to to um Councilmember Amberg, but I won't say it out loud.

But that's I think that's also where our drink spiking lids where the lids come in.

Because then you don't have to keep asking for them if if you can be handed a lid and be able to put a cover on the top of it.

So just a thought.

I think having the one of the speakers um saying that they're coming up with an idea where you can get a napkin, a straw, and a drink cover like dispenser, like as soon as you get your drink from the bartender.

I think that's fantastic.

Okay, yeah.

I've I've seen them.

I looked for them online.

I did see them.

They look like napkin dispensers that you could just go walk up and slide your hand and just and grab one of them.

So yeah, I think that that might help that also.

Uh to that point, Vice Mayor.

Councilmember Amberg, uh, part of the of the charitable donations that we're getting as part of this program would include such suspensors for every uh affected place.

So we will see these in the city.

Um I think they're great, and you know, I think prevention is just as important as deterrence and um and uh catching predators as well.

So thank you.

Sound um I'm not gonna try to be duplicative here because I had questions, but basically, through a lot of the people who came up and spoke and the council members who've already spoken, they've actually covered a lot of what I was going to say.

Uh, you know, I I had a question regarding uh just to just to put this on the record, I had a question regarding were the other programs in places like Austin and Nashville actually looked at by the committee.

Obviously, you know, I was not part of the committee, so I was only sort of learning more about this over the last three weeks when you know I began to get some calls from some people who are very concerned, especially about the first draft.

Um, and yeah, I know you you've talked about that.

Um I I do think the point uh regarding the educational program is really critically important.

I think I think Councilmember Amberg made that point very eloquently, uh, that it's not just a matter of talking about sort of bars and restaurant owners and frankly putting all of the onus on them, which I think is part of the concern that they're hearing.

It's basically saying that you know we need to make sure that everyone's educated when it comes to going out and being in the world and going to parties, because a lot of these incidents that we saw in some of the data we got back weren't happening even at bars or restaurants or places that were carrying a series six or twelve license, they were happy to get places off-site.

And so if if we're not talking about kind of a really robust education program, you know, a lot of people, frankly, are not going to get the information of the data that they need to make good decisions when they're out in public to protect themselves from potential harm.

Um, I definitely want to make sure I know you're gonna continue talking about this, but some of the issues regarding liability that were raised by some of the business owners that were raised by a couple of the council members.

My concern is look, I recognize when people are have when people have a small business, they are putting their own capital on the line.

Many times their houses on the line, their their 401k, their child's college fund, and they're concerned that just you know one bad lawsuit could cause everything to pretty much be wiped away, and they've got to start all the way back at one again.

So, you know, just making sure that we continue to look at that language regarding liability, because you know, I'm not a small business owner myself, but I understand when you take that kind of a risk to open up your own business, you want to make sure that one situation doesn't completely wipe you out and you lose everything from the standpoint of taking care of yourself, but also taking care of your loved ones.

Um, I also the um the regarding the the question about bringing in your own cup.

I also do understand that concern.

If you've trained your staff to sort of look after things that are that are proprietary to your restaurant or bar, if people start bringing in things that are foreign to what's already there, it might make it so frankly, a server or bartender or manager doesn't have the ability to as closely monitor a lot of what's taking place, and you could get easily fooled by someone who says, Oh, yeah, this was just a glass of apple juice or a glass of lemonade or an unsweetened iced tea, what in actuality it's something else, and that also I think might potentially increase the liability risk for the person who owns that establishment.

So I I'm glad that came up, and it came up from several of the people who called in and spoke this evening.

And obviously, just making sure that we're mindful if we're talking about things like uh signs or something of that signage in a bathroom, uh, that it's something that you know is something that the stakeholder groups have an opportunity to weigh in on to talk about what that might look like and and that it doesn't, because this is something else I heard from a lot of folks uh who, you know, bar owners, restaurant owners, their concern was yeah, is this going to be something?

Do people really understand if this goes through, uh, that it's something that's frankly there to just sort of talk about participation in a program, or is it something that that alarms the patron who's actually in that bathroom who goes, oh my gosh, I didn't recognize that this restaurant or bar had some kind of significant or substantial issue, and maybe I don't feel comfortable here if they don't understand really what the signage actually means and what it fully entails.

So, you know, once again, I'm not a person who owns a bar or restaurant, so but I recognize some of the concerns that were raised by folks this evening who do own those kinds of establishments.

So just being, you know, kind of mindful as the uh as you keep you know, council for keating meeting with folks and having these conversations.

But that those were the five things that I wrote down.

But once again, I'm not gonna go long this evening because I recognize there were lots of these other points that were frankly brought up by the council members or brought up by members of the public, or so I want to make sure just to put those things on record.

So yes, uh Vice Mayor?

So one thing I I will address about the signage, I uh the bathrooms that I've seen and gone into here when they have the human trafficking sign in there.

I've never thought about human trafficking being an issue in that location, but I understand um uh what somebody might think about it.

It's and it is a blanket, it will be a blanket signage that would be in all of these establishments, so it's not picking one over another.

It's it's information that's out there.

What I'd like to be able to see is a signage in there with a QR code that gives them more information, more specific information, and then it continues to give us education.

And I think the important thing is as we talk a lot about the ordinance because frankly, that's where what people are doing.

They're they're contacting um Councilmember Keating and it um having these discussions with him about the ordinance specifically.

We've always talked about education, and we know that we have a great um organization in the city of Tempe called Tempe Coalition.

They are already working in the schools, um, elementary school, middle school, and high schools to talk about drug um information and and drinking and vaping and all of these things.

This is just one other way that we could be working with an organization here in Tempe that's gonna also get this information out.

As council member Amberg was talking about, the sooner we start talking about it, the better.

And I 100% agree.

I mean, I'm thinking about education programs going to our Girl Scouts.

I um Council Member Amberg and I um are part of the our girls were in the National Charity League.

That's an all-girls organization.

I see this going there in their senior year or their junior year and going to talking to them.

So I see this education part.

That's part I'm super jazzed about.

Um, but I do want to say I just wrote just some information down here so I wouldn't forget it.

Public safety laws are not based on how often harm is reported, but on how serious the harm is when it occurs and how easily it can be prevented.

In Tempe, we already work in partnership with our bars and restaurants on preventative safety measures like fire extinguishers, food safety standards, and capacity limits.

Not because emergencies happen every night, but because preparedness protects our patrons and businesses when something goes wrong.

We do not require measures because danger is common.

We require them because danger is unacceptable.

Good public policy does not wait for harm to become common before acting.

We know that drink spiking is widely underreported due to memory loss, fear of blame, delayed awareness, and lack of immediate testing.

But the harm can be serious, and the tools to address it are simple and low cost.

The city will work alongside our business community to provide education and guidance with with and implement this process thoughtfully.

At the end of the day, this reflects who we are in Tempe.

A city that looks out for one another.

I believe that this ordinance, if it prevents one drink spiking issue, then we have done our job.

A safe Tempe is a thriving Tempe, and that is good for our residents, students, visitors, businesses, and communities.

And I am happy to support and beyond the committee with Councilmember Keating and Councilmember Hodge.

And I really appreciate all the work that you have done, Councilmember Keating, and meeting with the stakeholders to take it from where it was when we started to where it is now.

And I appreciate that you're still gonna be meeting with them tomorrow.

So I appreciate what you're doing.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Uh Mayor, if I if I may, just one comment.

No, please.

Uh Councilmember Chin, do you have more questions before I speak or regarding that?

No, but I I did forget to mention we could also be addressing the Boy Scouts.

Oh, yeah, of course.

When we discuss this, so thank you.

Yeah.

So you know, with regards to signage, I think signage is critically important.

Um, especially to what we've heard today is you know, about the education aspect of this of this campaign.

So what I brought forth is an ordinance around drink spiking testing kits and covers and liquor license rebates.

Um, however, as I mentioned, this was always intended to be coupled with an education campaign in the city, and I do think that's critically important.

To me, the signs are a big part of that campaign.

Because to council Vice Mayor Garlet, you know, a QR code on the sign that goes to drink spiking, you know, tempe.gov forward slash drink spiking or whatever, that that has information to be available wider than just you know the availability of the kits.

So happy to work with stakeholders on the signage.

PD has drafted a sign uh already.

Um that's nothing that that we can't do, uh we can't um you know modify and tweak.

But I do think uh we we cannot pass an ordinance saying, hey, these things are available, but then say you don't gotta tell anybody about it, because to me it is it is a public safety um uh question.

So uh we will work on the signage, we'll work on a formal well, I don't know about formal, we'll have staff prepared to speak to the education aspect that that will go um that will be coupled with any sort of passage of this ordinance.

Uh, we will work with I I love working with ASU.

I see Timmy G out there who was in um all the stakeholder meetings, and we've had had some discussions around how ASU could be an active partner in this, because ultimately, you know, ASU and Temp B is a symbiotic relationship, and we want to make sure that uh ASU and Temp B are uh are coordinated in our efforts here.

And you know, if I'm a parent and I'm sending my child to ASU, um, you know, I uh a big selling point to me would be ASU's in a city that is taking uh the my child's protection uh very seriously.

So I appreciate all the feedback we've gotten.

I I will uh I will meet with stakeholders tomorrow and we'll have a revised ordinance uh uh an accurate revised ordinance, Councilmember Chin.

Though I do think yours is accurate.

Um we will we will have something for you.

Um ultimately at the end of the day, we are gonna bring this forward and I would love to earn uh a 7-0 vote.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Appreciate it.

Yes, Council Brayerberg.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Could I request from staff then uh whenever we come out with this new ordinance if you could send out a memo saying what changed between this one and that one, that would be great because otherwise I had literally have to put them next to each other to figure out what it is that changed.

Uh mayor, council member that's certainly what we'll do with uh normally is just send out a red line version as well as a clean version.

That way you can look at the red line.

You should be able to see exactly the changes between the two.

So you're talking about a red line, I'm talking about a memo.

Those are two different things.

Right.

We can do both.

So yeah, completely like a one-sheet.

Well, like I had in my PowerPoint.

Yeah.

Sounds good.

I would definitely love the red line version as well, because I like to compare both documents and sort of compare and contrast.

So we do both for the memo and the red line document and the clean version.

So I guess all three.

Council Brown.

I also want to say, I know you said ASU, but continue to say the uni the high schools too, because they they are even though our kids are younger, they still go out.

And some of them go to places they're not supposed to.

So I want to make sure when we talk about it, it's not just one gener one youth, it's all because 18-year-olds are partying, just like 22-year-olds.

So just make sure we say temp eyes to Tim the high schools as well as the colleges as well as adults.

Um, you know, think about what we're comfortable with, right?

With regards to cost with regards to scope.

Um, you know, going bigger and better and higher.

So let's think about that.

Um, but we will bring something forward, uh, a more formal um proposal in that regard.

Thank you.

Um other comments or questions on item eight B three.

So we're gonna be a jury, but we're coming back promptly at eight fifty PM.

So five minutes round.

Okay.

All right.

We are gonna go ahead and reconvene.

Sorry, trying to get locked out.

Hey, it's all good.

You're back now.

That's all that matters.

We're gonna go ahead and reconvene this council meeting here.

And we're not gonna uh consider the remaining items under the ordinances and items for introduction and first hearing section on non-consent agenda.

So we've got 8B1, which is to introduce and hold the first public hearing to adopt a resolution for a general plan land use and residential map amendment for a mixed use high to commercial and adopt an ordinance for a zoning map amendment from R4 TOD to CSS TOD on point seven acres for Marlot's garage located at twelve forty-nine East Eighth Street.

The applicant is Motley Design Group LLC.

Uh is there a presentation from the applicant?

Yes.

Mr.

Dechler?

Please come forward.

Uh Derek Desh with Motley Design Group.

Good evening.

Okay, pretty quick.

Hi.

Derek Dechler here for Motley Design Group and Eighth Street Filling Station.

Uh Rudy Vafidari and his wife Rita.

Um the project is Marlette's garage.

It's an adaptive reuse project in uh right across the street, County Corner from Fort Peaks brewing station.

Um we're going for a general plan amendment and zoning amendment.

Um this has gone through DRC.

So um I don't know if the site plan is terribly largely for everyone here, but um we are planning to retain the building.

Um the architecture of the structure as much as possible.

And um the only thing we're doing to the structure itself is uh going to change the siding to new siding.

Um and probably most of the trusses at the interior, wood trusses that will be replaced.

Um new windows, some new doors.

Um, but the structure, the shape of it in general will remain the same.

Um and then uh of course this the entire site that you're seeing here is currently um undeveloped.

It's dirt, dirt lots.

So um we're planning to add parking for a potential tenant space in the interior, and um the other idea was to possibly use the um middle space as a food truck plaza.

Potential client uh tenants for the space that the client is currently talking with.

Um are thinking of either a pizza restaurant or uh convenience store.

You can see from the elevations that um we are planning to keep the general character of the buildings built in 1922.

This gas station um has a little porticocher at the front.

And um we're planning to keep that if possible.

Um pitch roof, same sighting, everything we're planning to imitate what it is there, just cleaned up and um hoping to keep the general character of the architecture consistent.

There is a new new window storefront and opening out into the seating area.

The idea for this site redevelopment is not only just for the building to clean it up and be more attractive and usable.

It's also to make the site potentially a gathering hub for the community in the future.

An open space with landscape enhancements that the neighborhood can be proud of.

It is historic eligible.

However, the state is not recognizing it for credits.

So the owner is not intending to try and go for historic with this project.

Questions?

No questions for me specifically, other than to say that I'm uh very excited about this.

I mean, I've been driving by that garage for 20 plus years now, and I've always thought it might be a really great adaptive reuse uh opportunity.

So just great to see that there's a plan that's being moved forward now to kind of you know restore that building and activate it and make it something that Tempe residents and visitors alike can frankly enjoy.

So don't just very excited to see this in front of us.

Yes, Council Brickita.

Uh yeah, I just want to echo what the mayor just said.

You know, there's uh there's uh a Facebook group, and there's a woman who doesn't live in in Tempe anymore, but but used to and talks about this garage and and how great it is, and she hopes it's still there and asks, hey, is that garage still there?

And I've never I'd never really understood it.

I didn't understand what well why, you know.

Um so every time I drive by it, I kind of think like wonder what it is about that garage.

So obviously, you know, it's a it's a historical site and something that is important to people, whether they live in the city or whether they grew up here and then moved away and still want to check in to make sure that garage is still there.

So I like the concept, I like what you're proposing, and uh yeah, I think it's great.

So uh well done so far.

Okay, there's always a second read if we're we find it.

So good job.

Excellent.

Um, anyone else from council?

Any further comments?

Mr.

Deshler.

Uh yes, Vice Mayor Girl.

It is a comment.

I I like it also.

I love adaptive reuse.

I love that we're not gonna tear it down or you're not looking at tearing it down.

I also like the idea that you have on the little food trucks in the parking lot.

I think we need to do more food truck gathering places in the city of Tempe.

So I love that.

Thank you.

Okay, anyone else?

No.

All right.

Thank you so much.

Appreciate it.

Thank you.

All right, this is also a public hearing item.

So I'm gonna open up to see if there's any public testimony on item 8B1.

If so, uh, please get my attention right now.

All right, seeing none, uh, council members just want to note that the second and final public hearing on this item is scheduled for February 5th, 2026.

All right, someone just sent me a note that they need an item moved up because they had someone who actually flew in from out of town for this.

So we want to make sure that we're not keeping them here all night.

And let me make sure I can get to the item.

That item is uh 8A1, which is to approve an amended and restated lease and management agreement with Tempe Golf LLC for the management of Ken McDonald golf course all right.

Council members, any comments or discussion?

All right, then if there are none, I will look for a motion at a second on item in A1.

It's been moved by Councilmember Keating gets seconded by Councilmember Hodge.

With that said, please vote.

It's I for me.

I for me.

And that item passes seven to zero.

All right.

We're now gonna go back to item 8B2, which is to introduce and hold the first public hearing to adopt a resolution for a general plan land use and residential density map amendment for mixed use moderate to mixed use industrial moderate, and adopt an ordinance for a zoning map amendment from MU4 PAD to G I D on approximately 25 acres for priest and alameda, located at 2750 South Priest Drive.

The applicant is Gamge and Burnham PLC.

Good evening, Ms.

Voz.

Good evening, Mr.

Mayor.

How are you?

Um for your record and members of the council.

For your record, my name is Fontaine Bazawa from Gamer Jim Burnham.

Yep, he's behind you.

I can uh here with me.

Um those of you who may remember John.

Do you want to stand here?

I want to stand wherever you want me to stand.

Okay, you can sit right here.

John used to be, and I was gonna tell you a story.

Um Jason is my little thing.

John, some of you may know was a developer of the Liberty Center at rural at Real Salado and Priest, where the drive time is.

And John is going now, is changing his new company at Panatoni.

Jason.

I'm sorry.

Um, but I was just gonna start my presentation.

Um, no worries.

Um so and John's new company in Panatoni.

So you can see the type of buildings he's built in Tempe and the commitment he has shown to Tempe.

So we're gonna do this quickly because I know we've had a late night, but I just wanted to talk to you about some things.

Um, these are some buildings that they have built in different locations in Surprise and Northern Parkway.

I was gonna have John talk, but today he doesn't get to, unless you have questions for him.

He's being shy.

I know he is.

Um, the site where we're doing this is a portion of Fountainhead, and John and I were just talking.

You may remember this used to be the location of the old state farm offices.

And since State Farm moved out, um, and we were telling council member Chin this a little bit, they moved out 15 years ago, if you can imagine that.

And those offices have been empty since then.

And so, you know, they've tried to retenant them and just office has been different.

So in 2023, this council approved a project to try to do some multifamily there.

Um, and so this is the site plan that was approved.

So some office and the multifamily, but that didn't work forward.

So, what we are coming here to do is revert the zoning back to GID, go back to industrial, matches the rest of the community, take away and go back to general industrial, remove the MU4.

So, just to show you from a general plan perspective, we'll go from mixed use moderate to mixed use industrial moderate.

Again, similar to what surrounds it.

It will be GID just like the rest of kind of what's around that area as you go up and down Priest.

But what we're really excited about, and I think what other people have been excited about is we can bring new industrial buildings that will be more manufacturing track attracted to kind of the semiconductor industry, some of the stuff that you see down the research park, jobs, high, you know, employment, and what you'll also see the office will be scraped.

We will have a lot more vegetation.

We will have you know very high quality buildings.

John can tell you a little bit about it.

And we're really excited to kind of bring this uh project here, and I can keep going on, but um, and also show with Shelly's help.

We're also decreasing the number of driveways, so that also helps kind of the movement on Priest.

But I think this is really going to be an important kind of as we established the Priest is a really important manufacturing corridor starting from drive time, going up at Rio Salado and going all the way down towards Intel.

You see a lot of activity coming in, certainly with the research park and Warner and Hardy.

And um, just also just to give you a quick here's the green code as we are moving forward.

I have this on both of our presentations, but in terms of what we're looking forward in terms of complying with the building with the green code.

So that was quick.

Um, I know, and I'm happy to answer any questions.

And John's happy to talk about it.

Sounds good.

Thank you, Ms.

Boss.

Uh, anyone on the council have any comments or questions?

Oh, actually, uh, Councilmember Amber.

Uh thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Um, Banjula, uh so there is a residential neighborhood just south of this.

Is there are you going to restrict delivery times for the trucks that are going in and out?

Because you know, I just can't imagine if you're living just south of it at two o'clock in the morning and you hear an 18-miller backing up.

Yeah, it's pretty loud.

That that's not contemplated at this time, no.

There's three or four houses that border.

I would add one thing to our uh to some of the things that Manjula mentioned.

One of the things that we're really excited about, obviously, these office buildings were bustling with thousands of people working in them at one time, and they're they've become functionally obsolete, right?

When they moved into Tempiaton Lake, they have not been able to release these uh as is, and so you know there's really no use for them today.

But one of the things that we're doing, what I think we're what we'll be attracting, Manjula mentioned manufacturing jobs, but I think we're really going to be getting a lot of here is what I would call advanced manufacturing jobs because of its location here in the city of Tempe.

And one of the things that we're doing that's very unique, excuse me, uh, on the site plan is we're keeping the garage, the parking garage is three stories on the southern portion of the site.

So, what those neighbors that the few houses that do abut this site uh won't be seeing anything different than they see today because that parking garage exists, it's been there since this project was built 20 some years ago, probably 30 years ago.

And I think that's actually very unique.

We'll be the only high-level industrial park in the entire metroplex that has structured parking, and it'll allow us to go up to as much as potentially three per thousand parking ratio, which I think speaks to the fact that we don't just anticipate these buildings have like four forklift drivers in them and you know, five jobs.

There will be a lot of people in here doing what we really call advanced manufacturing.

And you know, there's very little of that modern product available, you know, most of the sort of industrial stock that exists in in Tempe across the street from us to the east is 30, 40-year-old product with 22-foot clear heights, not the power that we're gonna have, certainly not the parking that we have to attract these kind of higher-level jobs.

We don't just anticipate um, you know, small amounts of employees doing very little value add.

There will be value add manufacturing going on these buildings.

We're virtually certain of it, and keeping that parking garage will really help us attract those kind of people to be able to park out of the heat in the summer, but also you know, um, on a heavy shift, be able to uh achieve way more than the typical parking of a typical warehouse development in the city.

So restricting delivery times is a little tough for us to commit to, but we don't envision this being like a heavy, heavy trucking type of park.

I think that's a good thing.

When you say it's time for you to commit to, you're saying that you're not going to.

Yes, basically, yeah.

Council Brabants.

Okay.

Um, just a couple things.

Have you guys reached out to the neighbors around there?

So we have to do that.

We have talked to the neighbors, we've had a neighborhood meeting.

No, we have not had anybody who attended the neighborhood meeting.

We're one person from Sunt who attended, but we reached out to the neighborhood and no one attended.

The other thing I would say to Councilman Adberg and to you, if you look at the site plan as it's here, you our truck bays are interior, and so we have mainly the garage, and so you're we've tried to establish it so that the truck bays are mainly going you know on Alameda, staying away from the neighborhood.

That has been something that we talked about during the neighborhood meeting.

And so they to the extent you and I live this, I live very close to the site.

I drive by it 800 times a day.

So, you know, where you have trucks coming are not closer to Fairmont where those neighbors are to what councilman Amber said, the site has been very designed very purposely, so they will come in at Preston, Alameda and stay away from the neighborhood.

But we have not heard from any neighbors.

If you drive by the site right now, there is fencing around that neighborhood that there are trucks coming up and down Priest, as you know, but they have not had we have not had anybody come talk to us.

Um, and we I think people are I don't know, but I understand what you're saying.

I don't mind the deliveries, I don't mind people going in and out uh in the middle of the night.

I mind the these trucks backing up, and you hear that really loud beep beep beep.

That's a three o'clock in the morning.

That's gonna be the problem.

But to your point though, uh another sort of it wasn't even a benefit that we thought of as it relates to that.

But by keeping the parking garage, trucks won't be able to go in on the south side of the park, they will all be coming in from the north, just FYI.

Um that was one of the features of that's what we tried to keep the parking garage.

I wasn't done.

Oh, okay.

I'm sorry.

No, that's okay.

I'll miss your question.

So um, and so I think it's good that the trucks are gonna be going in the in the middle.

That's that's great.

That will really make a difference because it'll block out the sound.

Um, and then also uh what are we doing for green code initiatives on this building?

I heard you say green code, but here you go.

Yeah, oh so from so the in terms of the green code and the IGCC, we are looking in terms of we have chapter five, we have bicycle connectivity, we have EV charging stations, mitigation of heat island effects.

We will have a lot in the landscaping that currently is there.

We're working in terms of you know, irrigation, reducing water usage, high-end appliances, we're doing energy efficiency as described in chapter seven.

We have lighting controls and it's just and occupation occupancy sensors in chapter eight.

So as we work through or work, but these are the chapters of the green code that we were following.

Okay, great.

Yes.

And additionally, I would add that we we will this will be a lead certified building.

Oh, that's impressive.

That's the colour.

Our buildings are our buildings by Luke Air Force Base, and in surprise our lead certified already, and we're as a company work and with our capital partners, we're committed to that.

Are you going for gold or silver or platinum?

Uh, I it's a little hard to know if we can get gold, but we we've got silver on other projects here in town, and we would love to get that.

Quite impressive.

Thank you.

Thank you for doing that.

Uh, and then um, are you guys looking at solar panels at all?

The roof will be solar panel capable.

Okay, so it really is a dependent on who ends up leasing the space in there.

It's hard to do that on a speculative basis, but it will be physically capable of accommodating solar panels.

Excellent.

It's a great project.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right, yeah, any other comments or questions from council on this item.

All right, wonderful.

Thank you so much.

We look forward to seeing you.

Also, so I'm just gonna stay here.

I was gonna laugh because I say you you said you drive by the site 800 times a day.

I'm like, that's a little excessive.

But uh it may be a little excessive, but it does seem like it.

Okay, this is also the public hearing item.

So if there's any public testimony on this item on 8b2, uh, can you please get my attention now?

All right, seeing that I'll close the public testimony of the portion of the public hearing.

Want to reiterate the second and final public hearing on this item is scheduled for February 5th, 2026.

Which brings me to the next section, which is non-consent agenda on the non-consent agenda.

Uh, our ordinances and items scheduled for second hearing at final adoption, so votes on these items will be taken tonight.

The first item under the section is 8C1, which is to hold the second and final public hearing to adopt an ordinance for a planned area development overlay to modify the development standard for building height and change the development type from office to residential for a new 16-story 110 dwelling unit project on 1.81 acres for 250 Rio, located at 250 West Rio Salado Parkway.

The applicant is gaming Burnham PLC.

Yeah, you had a chance to sit down for all of 10 seconds.

But Ms.

Ross, welcome back to the public.

Um mayor, members of the council for your record.

I just wanted to, the vice mayor had some questions about the dream building code last time.

So Mike Duffy is here.

We have a slide.

We just wanted to briefly go through some of the issues.

We won't go through the project again.

Um, but um, I don't know, Mike, you want to talk very high level about kind of the opportunities and what we'll be doing in complying with the Green Building Code as we build this project.

Yep.

We as architects and designers and Hines are committed to um sustainability, and so these are a handful of areas that we're exploring as opportunities from the Green Building Code, site sustainability mitigation of heat island effect.

We've got paving materials with a high solar reflectance value.

Um we're parking under the building, um, structures providing shade, et cetera.

Um, we'll also be looking at those same types of materials at the roof.

Um we've got a lot of um transportation impacts that'll that'll mitigate those.

Uh water use efficiency is a big one, um, energy efficiency in terms of performance uh modeling, um, things with environmental indoor air quality, um uh materials and resources, and then um uh commissioning construction and plans for operations in chapter 10.

I appreciate it.

Thank you.

Thank you for bringing that back.

I appreciate it.

Of course, are you going for lead certification too?

At this point, I don't know what metrics they'll be going for uh officially in terms of certification.

Because it looks like you're you're getting a lot with the um you know, yes, as the green code evolves, it definitely starts to the things that would be done here, also start to overlap with all sorts of other certifications.

That's definitely something we'll explore as it's okay.

Great, thank you.

I appreciate that.

Yeah, sounds good.

Uh yeah, spice very garway.

Um the other thing with this property is about the veterans' way.

Yes, we just yes, of course.

We had that conversation.

I actually just talked to April about it yesterday.

We will be coming back and talking to you in terms of a meeting with the Veterans Commission as we work through this project because as we kind of talked about and talked about last in terms of we this project will move forward, you know.

As now, interestingly, because you know, the zoning is split up from design.

We're just doing this kind of amending the PAD right now until the next six months will be working with staff doing the design, working with you uh and working with April and Jeff and trying to work through just the Veterans Commission, what we're going to do, both the tree and the walkway as it leads up to the uh veterans commission.

So I appreciate it.

We're looking forward to doing that.

I'm I know that we weren't like this is not part of this today, but I just want to make sure that it's on the record that we keep talking about it.

And I did go through my file and I did find our very first meeting that we had about the veterans' way.

I've got a whole file on it.

So um I'll be happy to continue to meet with you about that.

Yeah, I remember it well.

Because that was a great it's such a great we're very excited because we still have been still talking about our tree.

Yeah, I love that tree idea.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right, uh, anyone else?

Any other comments or questions?

That's good.

All right, once again, this is a public hearing item.

So if there's any public testimony on item 8C1, can you please get my attention now?

Okay, seeing that I'll close the public testimony portion of the public hearing.

Uh council, any further comments or discussion, or do I have a motion?

Um it's been moved by Vice Mayor Garland and seconded by Councilmember Adams.

Yes.

Please vote.

Is the screen up?

My screen's not coming up.

Mine's not coming up either.

I'll just go ahead and take a voice vote.

Uh, Councilmember Ha.

Oh, it's up.

There it is.

And that item passes seven to zero.

All right.

Next up, item eight C two.

Hold the second and final public hearing to adopt an ordinance amending Tempe City Code, Chapter 27 sewers and sewage disposal, including Article 1, Sewers Pre-Trement, and Article 2 Sewers General as set forth on the agenda.

This is a public hearing item.

So there's any public testimony on item 8 C2.

Please get my attention at this time.

Okay, seeing that I'll close the public testimony portion of the public hearing.

Council, any uh comments or discussion?

So move.

It's been moved by Councilmember Hodge.

Second, seconded by Councilmember Adams, please vote.

And that item is approved, seven to zero.

The last item under the section is 8C3, which is to hold the second and final public hearing to adopt an ordinance authorizing the partial abandonments of three waterline easements and one sewer and water easement located south of Broadway Road and west of Price Road.

This is also a public hearing item.

So if there's any public testimony on item 8C3, please get my attention now.

Okay seeing that I'll close the public testimony portion of the public hearing.

Council members any comments or discussion.

It's been moved by Councilmember Hodge and seconded by Councilmember Chin.

Please vote.

And that item also passes 7 to 0.

Which brings me back to other items here under miscellaneous items, bids, contracts, and uh and resolutions.

The last item on that section was 882, which is to adopt a resolution approving the purchase of real property located at 950 East Baseline Road, Tempe, Arizona, and authorizing the mayor to execute any necessary documents to finalize the purchase.

Council members any comments or discussion.

Motion to approve.

It's been moved by Councilmember Adams and seconded by Vice Mayor Garland.

Please vote.

And that item also passes seven to zero.

Which now brings me to item number nine currents events, council announcements and future agenda items.

Once again, during this item, council members may request that an agenda item be added to a future council meeting during their allotted time, but in accordance with the open meeting law, there should be no discussion on the item other than to clarify the request.

So I will now turn to the council members for their comments and or requests to add future agenda items.

I'm going to start this evening with Vice Mayor Garland.

No messages or updates.

Thank you very much.

Next up, Councilmember Keating.

No announcements, Mayor.

Thank you.

Next up, Councilmember Adams.

I have several announcements.

One is this Saturday.

We're having our regional unity walk at Tempe Beach Park.

It's going to be a lot of fun.

So I'd encourage everyone to come.

It starts at 4 30 in the afternoon.

And then we're going to get our steps in.

And at 6 o'clock, we're going to walk a mile around the lake.

Rain or shine.

We're going to do this.

There's only exception if it's lightning.

So the second announcement I have tonight is I want I would like to extend my sincere condolences to the family of Steve and my friend Steve Todd on his recent passing.

Steve and his family have had a meaningful and lasting impact on the Tempe community.

And he will be remembered with respect and gratitude.

And he was one heck of a cowboy.

Rest in peace, Steve.

Thank you, Councilmember Adams.

Next up, Councilmember Chin.

No more words, sir.

Thank you.

Next up, Councilmember Hodge.

I just have one that I have my subcommittee, my annual welfare cruelty with Councilmember Adams and Vice Mayor Garlet tomorrow at from one to two at City Hall.

Thank you, Councilmember Hodge.

Next up, Councilmember Amberg.

Yes, thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

I just wanted everybody to know that the Tempe Boat Cruising is officially accepting reservations on the Tempe Town Lake.

Um on January the 14th, we had the pleasure of taking an inaugural cruise, and it was an absolute blast.

My I can still feel it because I actually did pedal.

I was honored to be joined by Mayor Woods, Councilmember Hodge, Craig Hayton and his community services team and our uh PIO office, uh Robert from Tempe Boat Cruising and has super adorable little kids who I'm pretty sure he named the boats after, right?

Is that what he said?

So yeah, so it is a fantastic addition to the lake and the first one, hopefully, of many.

And the next one is Tempe Blooms is in downtown Tempe's signature event, and it's coming back this weekend.

Rain or shine, I hear, unless there's lightning, right, Tanya.

Uh, for two days, Tempe downtown Tempe is transforming into a walkable floral experience with more than 20 large-scale installations created by local designers.

This year's theme is growth and bloom.

It's not reflected only in the it's not only reflected in the flowers, it's also a live mural art happening throughout the district.

So you're gonna hear lots of live music.

You can explore the uh flower market with dozens of local vendors and enjoy some hands-on activities, and it's all free.

So thank you so much.

Uh, I don't have any announcements this evening, which brings me to item number 10, public appearances.

Once again, the rules for speaking during the second public appearances item are the same as stated earlier for the first one, which was item six.

So is there anyone in the audience who would like to address the council?

If so, please come forward, state your name and city of residence for the record.

All right, seeing none, that brings me to item number 11, which is adjournment.

The next scheduled regular city council meeting will be on February 5th, 2026.

We are adjourned at 9 24 p.m.

Thank you, everyone.

Have a good night and a great weekend.