Good evening, everyone.

Welcome to the Tempe City Council regular council meeting.

Item number one is called to order.

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

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

If you have signed up to speak on items later on in the agenda, please know that as the presiding officer, I have the discretion to introduce items out of their regular order as listed on the agenda.

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

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 are 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.

Okay, 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.

The ancestral land of the autumn and deposit stretches far beyond the boundaries of our city.

The landscape is sacred to them.

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

The autumn empty posh 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.

Wonderful.

Next up, item number four, our meeting minutes.

Thank you, Mayor.

I move to approve the City Council meeting minutes and items 4A1 and 482.

It's been moved by Councilmember Chin, and I believe seconded by Councilmember Keating.

Please vote.

And that item passes seven to zero.

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

Councilmember Chin.

Thank you, Mayor.

I move to accept the board commission and committee meeting minutes and items 4B1 through 4B 12.

It's been moved by Councilmember Chin and seconded again by Councilmember Keating.

Please vote.

And that item also passes seven to zero.

Next up, item five, reports and announcements.

I've got one announcement down to the front.

And actually, while I'm still standing up here, I would just say if the Tempe Public Safety Telecommunication staff can join me down to the front, that would be perfect for the reading of the proclamation.

Well, I've got a couple of these here, so let's see.

Go ahead and read that one here.

Perfect.

I promise I'll give it back.

So I always do.

If you leave with the proclamation in your hand, you've not done your job.

So this proclamation reads, Whereas the public safety dispatch professionals of the City of Tempe Police Department Communication Center provide life-saving services vital to the people in our community, working in partnership with all city departments, including Tempe Fire, Medical Rescue, Care 7, homeless outreach, transportation, and our neighboring jurisdictions.

And whereas 911 call takers provide over-the-phone support and emergency instructions that save lives every day on every shift, handling over 136,471 calls for service and more than 338,000 telephone calls in 2025, all while performing heroically despite ongoing staffing impacts.

And whereas police dispatchers serve as a critical link between those experiencing the emergency and the responding emergency crews, ensuring that the commensurate personnel and resources are dispatched to the call.

And whereas police communications personnel are our community's first responders, going above and beyond the call of duty on a daily basis in situations of great distress and suffering to facilitate resolution of emergency situations, including deaths, drownings, vehicle collisions, fires, and other emergency calls for assistance.

And whereas the health and safety of the Tempe community and its residents depend greatly on these services and the dedicated professionals who provide them.

And the city of Tempe is proud to recognize their efforts.

Now, therefore, I, Corey Woods, mayor of the city of Tempe, Arizona, do hereby declare April 12th through the 18th, 2026, as Public Safety Telecommunicators Week in Tempe, Arizona.

One, two, three.

Next up, item 5A2, Board and Commission appointments and reappointments.

Congratulations to the following individuals on their new appointments.

Marcia Hertz and Marcus Mason to the Commission on Disability Concerns, Trisha Schultz to the Family Justice Commission, Jonathan Brown to the Risk Management Trust Board, and also congratulations to the following individuals on their reappointments to the Historic Preservation Commission, Dr.

Shireen Lerner and Ray Lynn Williams.

These new appointments and reappointments are detailed with agenda item 7A1.

To each of you, thank you for your continued commitment and service.

Your contributions help to shape the future of the city of Tempe, and congratulations from each and every one of us up here.

Next up, item 5B, City Manager's Reports and Announcements.

Madam City Manager.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

I have some great news to share with our public.

Uh, last yesterday we received word that we have been named uh one of it's a global award uh for smart 21 communities using innovation technology, obviously, but most importantly, all it recognizes communities who are recognizing to be adaptable to the changing world.

Um, so it's basically recognizing our data-driven decisions, and I have to thank our entire city staff.

This has been an effort since 2015 when we used to have Excel spreadsheets in our in our drawers uh looking at how to how to uh decide pavement and and other things, and it's been a transformation in the city for 10 years, almost 11 years.

So, aside from obviously the recognition of 21 communities, it also acknowledges the inclusion of our community partners, which is very important to us, like the business chamber, DTA.

It acknowledges that we understand that we can't do it by ourselves.

That includes ASU and all our great partners.

Um, additionally, the opportunities for the public to participate in being a data-driven organization.

It's not good enough just for us to understand the data, but how do we involve the public?

It's a great honor.

Congratulations to everyone here and the public who have been active participants with us in the last 11 years.

So thank you, Mayor, for that.

And then one uh other acknowledgement.

So we call these the Oscars of Sustainability that took place last weekend.

There's our director, uh, Eric Iversend, who has been the award was the Chris Gordia Award, highest honor of the Arizona Forward.

Um, so it's Tempe's microgrid master plan, the long-term plan to determine the potential of several city and community buildings to use solar panels, batteries for overall energy savings, reliability, cooling, and critical services during power outages, as you all know that we experienced in October and other emergencies.

So I just wanted to make sure we acknowledge our small but mighty team, and the second award was from uh again from Arizona Forward Award of Distinction.

I'm sure they loved us getting up on stage twice.

Um we received the Environmental Excellence Award for Distinction in the Tempe Municipal Operations Center, TMOC, who we fondly call TMOC, and International Green Codes, which we just had a presentation to all of you at the work study about the importance of adopting our green codes for two beautiful sustainable buildings where we have native plants, low water use fixtures, connections to our wonderful bikes and trails and pedestrian pathways, and cooler paving, which everyone wants, especially these days.

So thank you, Mayor.

I just wanted to acknowledge Eric and the team and Lissette Camacho doing a great job representing our city, but also once again, congratulations to all of you in our community.

This has been a group effort.

Sounds good.

Thank you so much.

Appreciate it.

All right.

Next up, before we move into public appearances, I want to take a moment to address campaign related activity as we are now in the 2026 election season.

City council meetings are open to the public and are a vital forum for civic engagement.

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

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

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

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

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

Which brings me then officially into 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 in 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 was such a large number of persons intending 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 from becoming voiceless while addressing the city council or while attending the meeting.

Speakers will be taken first come first serve in the order in which the cards 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 and discussion or discussion in legal action.

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

With that said, uh I've got my sheet here from the clerk, and once again I'm gonna call these in the order in which I receive them, which means our first speaker of this evening is virtual, and that would be David Sokolowski.

Hello, can you hear me?

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

You have three minutes.

My name is David Sokolowski, I live in Tempe.

Right now, Tempe is working to implement green building codes, and the city wants them to become mandatory.

I'm convinced this will harm Tempe's affordability in the long term.

The city claims it's doing everything it can to make housing affordable.

But you're actually proposing new rules that could increase the cost of rent.

I don't know where people get their information, but when I looked online, it says that IgG, the IGCC could increase rent by 10%.

And some sources claim the green premium is as much as 30%.

Using a very low estimate, that's at least 150 per month for a one bedroom.

And the income requirement for that apartment could be 450 per month.

That means a low-income worker would need to work one to three months more per year to afford the IGCC.

If you had to work to afford the IGCC, would you still support it?

Maybe you don't have to think about income requirements to live in Tempe.

But for many of us, it's a major problem.

There's an alternative option.

Instead of increasing the cost of rent by 10 to 30 percent, we can decrease the cost of home ownership by 30%.

Tempe could reduce lot sizes and create new opportunities for people to become owners.

The code says Tempe still wants lots as large as 6,000 square feet.

But at the same time, the city has already allowed lots as small as 1,000 square feet.

The city doesn't have money to subsidize 15,000 low-income units.

And it takes the city five years to complete an affordable housing project.

After the state legalized ADUs, the city received applications in the first year.

We're getting affordable homes, and basically all you had to do is type on a computer.

A starter home is an ADU on a separate lot.

If renters can live in small homes, why can't owners?

Tempe should cut red tape on starter homes and support a state effort to legalize them everywhere.

Otherwise, the city can't claim it's doing everything possible to fix housing prices.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay, the next speaker I have is in person.

It would be Aaron Dowdy.

Is Aaron Dowdy here?

Oh, yes.

Please come forward.

State your name and city of residence.

You have three minutes.

Hello.

Can you guys hear me?

Yep.

Both are fine.

So and you could actually raise it too if you need to.

Wow.

Even the table can go up a little bit.

Oh, definitely not necessary for short people like myself, but for taller people, it can be helpful.

How's this?

That sounds great.

Perfect.

Thank you.

Mayor Woods and members of the council, good evening.

I appreciate the opportunity to address you all here tonight.

My name is Aaron.

I'm a Tempe resident.

I'm here to speak with you about an opportunity we have to increase our community engagement while also getting some great cost savings in the process.

Excuse me.

I want to start by going over some important facts about recently concluded primary election that we have here this month for city council.

One, less than 30% of registered voters participated.

Two, if we're looking at it a little differently, that is less than 16% of residents who were eligible actually participated in the election.

The town, three, the town had to spend like almost 200,000 on toll to conduct the election.

We can check on that, but it's some amount of money.

Candidates spent significant time and resources campaigning, obviously.

And finally, residents had to deal with what some of us are calling campaign sign blight all over every street corner, which isn't a great look.

The election result was as follows.

We were able to elect one city council member.

Uh, but unfortunately, we have to do this process all over again in May, uh, because the current system requires a runoff election.

Um more campaign signs, you know, more of our city's limited funds will be required, etc.

etc.

Uh, most importantly, we are bound for even less voter participation in runoffs because you you end up with fewer people voting as you progress into runoff um territory.

Uh if you're like me, you might subscribe to the idea that the community ought to elect who best represents everyone, and that means we need higher participation.

So I hope you get would agree that a system which yields real low voters uh participation numbers doesn't work well for us here in Tempe.

Uh I would like to encourage the council to consider a better way by incorporating a ranked choice system.

Um, with ranked choice voting, Tempe could have a single high turnout election.

Voters would rank their favorites, and the winners would be decided then and there with broad majority support.

Uh no expensive second elections because RCV enables you to hold an instant runoff on the same ballot.

Some people call uh RCV instant runoff for that reason.

Uh I would like to encourage you guys, the the the mayor and the city council to direct uh their staff to engage with local Arizona nonprofit voter choice Arizona.

Uh I'm a I'm a volunteer.

Uh the idea here is to gather information regarding ranked choice voting and try to schedule a work study.

We're advocating for a work study to learn more about the benefits uh and discuss.

Uh Tempe is a community where engagement could be high, but the system is lagging behind.

Let's work together to make a one and done the new standard for Arizona.

Thank you.

I'll stop there.

Thank you, no.

Appreciate it.

Thank you so much.

All right, the next speaker I have is Janilyn Grineo.

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

You have three minutes.

You need to lower it the buttons on the other side there if you need to drop it down a little bit.

So I'm not that vertically challenged.

Thank you.

No, I'm just saying.

I can't I can't see you totally now.

So well.

As long as I don't lose my minutes.

There you go.

Nope.

Perfect.

That's perfect.

All right, there we go.

You do not lose your minutes.

I can promise you that.

Okay.

My name is Janilyn Granio.

I live in Tempe.

I want to talk to the topic of legislative concerns.

At the legislature and locally for that matter, there are those who are promoting preemptive laws or laws that take away our right to self-govern under the guise of affordable housing.

These preemptive laws do not make housing more affordable.

What they do is take away our voice and planning and code changes.

They remove local governance, our voice, and a process to make our community the way we want it.

They remove local governance, our voice, and a process to make our community the way we want it, not to please builders or developers who only want to make money at the expense of the working class.

Preemptive laws that remove local governance and process for decision making on building and development is anti-democratic, and that's democratic with a small D.

Preemptive bills are bad.

My plea here this evening is for the city to continue to oppose legislation that attacks local governance, our decision making, and for those residents listening, listening at home, a reminder to all of you to pay attention to what's happening at the legislature.

And also pay attention to those people who are behind these efforts and those politicians that support that.

Currently, efforts to pass a bill to correct the middle housing law, real housing impacts with a few limitations, the area one mile around the central business area, 10 acres of new development.

As it stands now, the middle housing law, it negatively impacts our decisions as a city and residents to protect historical districts and some properties and neighborhood by removing decisions by the city.

The city was forced to come up with an ordinance or pay the consequences of geographically sweeping legislation.

Given the situation, the city did the right thing.

Thank you for that, council.

As an effort to correct a very bad legislation this year, a bill was put forward to advance, has now been thwarted.

The bill to correct, which would give back discretion and governance to the city regarding historical preservation and local decision making, is important.

It's important to me as an Arizona and many other who have invested a lifetime and money in our community.

We know best, those of us who live here now, know the deep best of what details of design and zoning and infrastructure do.

All the cities who supported the bill to protect our history, including Tempe, thank you very much, was in the right was in the right to do so, especially with the work being done for the downtown historic district.

Let us not forget that those of us who invested in our community property and raised our children of our own or through organizational serving children, have a huge stake in decisions at the state legislative legislative level.

My ask is to blast to our residents the dangers of preemptive legislation.

Thank you, council and mayor, and those people doing the work at the legislature for the work that you do.

Thank you.

Appreciate it.

Okay, the next speaker I have this evening is Robert Tienney.

Please come forward.

State should have been city of residence.

You have three minutes.

Good evening, everyone.

My name is Robert Tianney.

I'm a citizen of Tempe.

It is now clear that this council, along with the remaining candidates in the upcoming election, do not support the current rezoning proposal for the Charlmarr golf course.

Meanwhile, the property sits vacant, maintained only at a minimum level.

Understandably, this is a private property.

Forty-four acres of unused open space in the center of a stable, thriving community, still remains a disservice to all Tempe citizens.

Solving this impasse will ultimately require cooperation from the owner, the community, and the city.

I therefore urge the city to step into a neutral mediating role to help facilitate a balanced solution.

The city regularly plays such a role in soliciting and including community input in its commentary response to developer proposals.

Why not here?

As an architect, I believe we can have both a revitalized golf course and community hub, along with a limited number of new single-family homes consistent with the majority of the neighborhood's existing density.

Several encouraging factors are already in place.

A developer who lives in the neighborhood has expressed a strong interest in reviving the golf course and its amenities.

Cache Homes is already engaged in designing the for sale homes in the current proposal.

Residents have indicated a willingness to support the cost of maintaining the golf course.

And importantly, the city has financial tools and logistical expertise to help bring the right plan together.

The measure includes funding for recreational facilities, historic preservation, land acquisition, and related development costs, according to the city's chief financial officer.

While funds have already been allocated, the public may lobby the council for adjustments consistent with the bond's purpose.

The bond, including its standard budgetary contingencies, has a term which runs through at least 2029, allowing flexibility for appropriate subsidies to help make this redevelopment feasible, whether through grants, tax incentives, or infrastructure support.

Of course, existing agreements would need to be dissolved, and public developers would need to, private developers would need to carry the majority of acquisition development costs, but the city can play a critical and partial role.

Something will eventually happen to this very special piece of the city's fabric.

The question is whether we allow continued decline or whether we come together now.

Who among you is willing to champion and step up alongside with the community and champion this extremely critical issue.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Appreciate it.

Okay, the next speaker I have this evening is Bobby Nichols.

Please come forward.

State your name and city of residence.

You have three minutes.

That's a pretty good height.

Good evening, Mary and Council.

My name is Bobby Nichols.

I've lived in Tempe for 25 years.

On October 16th, 2025, I first came before this council to ask that Tempe protect our neighbors by terminating its contract with the AI surveillance company called Flock Safety for automated license plate readers or ALPRs.

By then it was well established that Flock allows the Department of Homeland Security and ICE to access their locally owned networks without local approval, often without local consent.

And it was also, it was and also still is uncontested that Flock's networks are ripe for and rife with abuse, as evidenced by the ever growing number of ALPR related stalking incidents in this country.

I have returned to this table to beat this drum for more than 200 days while ice abuses grew more frequent, more violent, and more visible.

But in all that time, despite the clear danger that Flock's relationship with ICE poses to our 40,000 Hispanic residents, I have received virtually no indication that my consistency made any real difference.

That is until today.

Tonight, as part of your consent agenda, the council is poised to approve the very first baby step on the path to terminating Tempe's Flock contract by approving a trial program to test and evaluate the capabilities of the Axon Outpost ALPR solution.

This may be a small and lateral step for Tempe, but I consider it a giant leap forward for everyone who believes in public participation.

Through consistent advocacy and constant community engagement, the people's voice has moved the immovable today.

But our fight goes on.

Axon may not have a national search database or a national search function or a secret data sharing agreement with ICE, but they have made millions selling body cameras and tasers to DHS and federal authorities could still acquire Axon data without much effort.

So as long as so long as Axon intends to keep their lucrative DHS contracts, they could face financial pressures to comply with otherwise unenforceable requests.

I've said it before, and I will say it again the only real way to protect our neighbors from ALPR abuse is to prevent the use of LPRs in the first place.

We're a long way from that outcome, but the strategy works, and we should be proud of that.

Thank you.

Thank you.

The next speaker I have is Elmyra Mills.

Please come forward.

State your name and city of residence.

You have three minutes.

Hello, my name is Elmyra Mills.

I live in Phoenix, Arizona.

And I'm here to speak on justice for Sean Bakings.

Sean Bakings passed away at Tempe Town Lake May 28, 2022.

I'm reading from a uh definition of justice as a moral principle and practical application of fairness, equity, and righteousness ensuring individuals receive their due, which often involves impartial legal processes.

It acts as both a personal virtue and a social mechanism for upholding rights, distributing resources and equitable punishment.

And in my opinion, and of um how in fact I'm a very close friend of Sean's mother.

Um, I feel that justice is really due, that this young man died while under the watch of Tempe Pillis.

I don't know what the answer is to that, but I can say that his mother suffers daily.

Um, she's a very close friend of mine, and that I would like for you to consider what has happened to her to lose her only child, while those who could and should have protected him, stood by and watched him drown.

Um, my ask is that you pay attention or you teach or you learn from this horrible thing that happened that every life does matter, and that I would beg you to please consider her pain and her suffering over the last three years.

Thank you.

Thank you.

The next speaker I have this evening is Therese Torrell.

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

You have three minutes.

Thank you for letting me speak.

My name is Therese Torrell.

I live in Mesa, Arizona, and I am the mother of Sean Vickings.

And I wanted to come here today because I continue to ask that to city of Tempe to help me get justice for my son.

Um I did not come to the city of Tempe to ask for anything.

The city of Tempe, after he passed away, came to me.

And the things that they said that they were going to do, they did a few of them, and I am really grateful for those things.

But the things that matter, they have not followed through on those.

Um, can you hear me?

Um, I had very no intention in the beginning of filing a lawsuit based on what you told me you were going to do in his memory and in honor of him.

But it came very apparent that those things were not going to happen, and that is why I filed my lawsuit.

Um bring my son back.

It's not gonna make me feel any better.

Um it's not gonna um make my daily suffering, which is daily.

Um, any better.

But I do ask that you consider that my son was important to me and to a lot of other people, and that he was just because he was homeless does not make him not human.

He was a human being who just wanted to be helped.

Um, he came to you a few days before prior to that and asked for help, and he was turned away.

He came to offer help to you, the city of Tempe.

And now I ask you to help me honor his memory.

Thank you for listening to me.

And I um apologize for my raspy voice.

And I hope that you have in your heart that if it was your son, what would you do in my in your case?

Thank you.

Thank you.

The next speaker I have this evening is Andrew Gooden.

Please come forward, state your David City of President.

You have three minutes.

God, I need to talk after that.

Uh okay.

You hear me?

Okay.

My name is Andrew Gooden.

I live in Tempe north of the lake.

This is the first time I have the honor of addressing the council.

I'm here today to suggest a change in policy to remediate what a previous speaker tonight called campaign sign blight.

I believe it would be in the interest of free speech and the public good to restrict the placement of signs to one sign at an intersection pro political speech organization.

Signs educate the public about the shape of an election.

They also help to define to voters the affected area.

You see signs, the signs are for here, and if you are also here, the signs affect you.

It makes tangible how our democracy is organized into intersecting rings of administrative boundaries.

That said, once there are multiple duplicate signs, all kiddie cornered to each other for and against every candidate from each interested organization.

The result, following all rules, is the city being blanketed in ads.

I want signs, but we crossed a saturation point this election where it stopped being a welcome presence and became tacky.

Let's do something before the circus comes to town in November.

I have two arguments in favor of a one sign pro organization policy.

First, free speech.

State statutes on this issue are primarily concerned with infringements to political speech through active disruption, removing, defacing, obstructing.

What the law fails to address is obfuscating.

A single, motivated and well-funded entity can out advertise their competition, forcing the competition to either engage in an arms race or else be rendered invisible.

I believe the wound purpose tactic and the rules for our elections is fully against the spirit of equal time.

One sign per org creates a cap on election spending without actually creating a cap on election spending.

The math is the number of intersections there are times the cost of printing one sign, print a couple extras for replacements, put what you over raised into buying lunch for the canvassers.

The second argument, I think it just looks tacky driving around town seeing signs everywhere.

Again, a few is charming.

A few is good.

I think university in McClintock had like 20 signs right before March 10th.

It's silly.

I want my HOA to do something about it, but I'm a renter, so I'm coming to you.

Do you really want tourists to come to Tempe during what they don't know is an election season and see the city looking like this?

One sign per intersection per org.

It's fair, it's reasonable, it protects free speech, while also making the city look better.

I've got 30 more seconds.

Uh please cancel the flat contract.

Uh thank you for your time.

Thank you so much.

Appreciate it.

That is all the 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?

Sergeant Ferrar, yes, please.

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

You have three minutes.

Rob Ferraro, Chandler.

Mayor Woods, uh Vice Mayor and members of council.

My name is Sergeant Rob Ferraro, and I serve as the president of the Tempe Officers Association, representing the nearly 330 rank and file officers, sergeants, and detention sergeants who are on the street every day and every night.

I'd like to begin with a simple question.

Will automated license plate reader technology, ALPR help keep Tempe, its residents, and its businesses safer.

From our experience on the street, the answer is yes.

What began as criticism of a specific vendor has now clearly broadened into opposition to the technology itself.

And that matters because it suggests this discussion is no longer about a contract or a company.

It's about whether TEMPE will continue to use a proven public safety tool at all.

ALPR is not theoretical.

It's a practical everyday policing.

It allows officers to identify suspect vehicles, connect crimes across jurisdictions, and develop leads that would otherwise never surface.

It helps us locate stolen vehicles, identify cars tied to violent offenses, and build cases after the fact when victims are counting on us to deliver answers.

It also improves officer safety.

Instead of relying solely on chance encounters in the field, ALPR allows us for more informed strategic policing.

It gives officers better information before they act.

Now we understand now we understand that the concerns that have been raised about privacy.

These concerns deserve to be taken seriously.

But the appropriate response is not to eliminate the technology.

It is to ensure strong policy, clear oversight, transparency, and accountability in how it's used.

If the city wants to evaluate Oxon or another provider, that is a reasonable conversation.

We welcome that.

It's my understanding that Axon exercises strict privacy protocols to keep citizens' information private.

But this discussion, which has become entirely political amid an election environment, should not become a backdoor way to dismantle ALPR altogether.

Tempe residents deserve every lawful, responsible, and well-governed tool available to help keep their community safe.

Properly managed ALPR is not a threat to public safety.

It is part of the solution.

It helps protect victims, support officers, and doing their jobs effectively, and strengthens our ability to solve crimes.

We urge you to keep that focus where it belongs on safety, accountability, and results for the people of Tempe.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

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

If so, can you please get my attention?

All right, seeing none, uh, I'm going to move on here to item number seven, which 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 is 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 to 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.

So this evening, the consent agenda is listed as follows: miscellaneous items 7A1 through 7A5, awards of bids and contracts, items 7B1 through 7B20, and resolutions item 7C1 through 7C7, with the exception of item 7A2, which is being pulled for separate consideration.

And I'm also going to take some privilege and pull item 7B6 for separate consideration as well.

Once again, any agenda items uh designated as public hearing item may be removed by a 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, I will look then to the council to see if there are any other items that you'd like to have removed for separate consideration.

So move.

Well, actually, so so the motion then by Councilmember Hodge would be to move to approve the consent agenda with the exception of items 7A2 and 7B6, which have been removed for separate consideration.

Seconded by Councilmember Chin by a hair.

Please vote.

Wow.

Wow.

And with that, that motion passes unanimously to 70.

All right, next up.

The two items that were pulled.

First of all, we have item 782, which is to approve the two-year appointment of James Sampanis as presiding judge of the Tempe Municipal Court and authorized the mayor to sign the agreement.

This is actually just being removed to provide remarks, uh, recognizing him as our new uh presiding judge.

I think he's in the audience this evening.

Yes.

There we go.

As we all know, uh Judge Kane is retiring soon, and we um and we are definitely going to greatly miss him here at the City of Tempe.

Uh, but he has definitely thrown his support behind this incredible man here, so we're very excited for him to join the City of Tempe team and just wanted to make sure to welcome you formally in front of all the people sitting here in the audience and of course all those folks watching at home as well.

So with that said, uh council, any other comments or discussion?

Okay.

It's been moved by Vice Mayor Garland and seconded by council member Hodge.

Uh, any further comments or discussion?

Hearing none, please vote.

And that motion passes seven to zero.

Congratulations.

That brings me to item seven b six.

Which is to approve a trial program to test and evaluate the capabilities of the Axon Outpost Automated License Plate Recognition Solution.

Uh, Lucy, uh, are there any comments by staff or any council members or any questions on this item?

Okay.

If not, I I've got some comments here, just so I scribbled some things that normally I don't write much down, but tonight because I was probably because I got a lot of lack of sleep last night.

I wanted to make sure that I could actually compose my thoughts in a coherent fashion.

So I just clearly, you know, we're all we're we're talking this evening about a pilot program, and so we're obviously going to see exactly how all of this plays out.

But I just, you know, wanted to take a moment to talk about what I do think are the importance of automated license plate readers.

So for any community, uh, no matter how big or how small, across the state of Arizona or across the country, safety is the biggest starting point.

If you don't have public safety, the community, you don't have much of a community, frankly, at all.

Uh for my perspective, our residents, our business owners and officers have the absolute right to both feel safe and be safe.

And I do think that automated license plate readers can be a tool to frankly help that happen.

License plate readers are designed to alert officers when a vehicle associated with an amber alert is nearby.

I know all of us have been out uh at various places at times or maybe at home where those amber alerts come across our cell phones.

Uh, and I should say, too, just as a note, for those watching at home or those here in the audience, these license plate readers don't use any kind of facial recognition whatsoever.

They simply read license plates.

So the license plate reader doesn't care who's driving the car, their race, their financial status, or their nationality.

The license plate reader simply just checks to see if the if the car was reported stolen or perhaps connected to a crime or even a missing person, like in the case of an amber alert.

This tool varies specifically, though, in the city of Tempe, because I know we can talk about in sort of generalities, but I wanted to give a couple of examples of things that have happened here locally, and there are countless examples, but I'll just simply give a couple this evening.

This really has helped our officers return stolen cars to residents and also see if things, if these cars have been involved in serious crimes.

There is a case that we all remember from a little while ago that made international news during a presidential election cycle, where license plate readers actually helped the Tempe Police Department identify the suspect who was eventually charged with discharging a firearm at the Democratic National Committee office right here in the city of Tempe.

And remember, it wasn't one shooting through the window, there were actually multiple.

And it was through license plate readers that Tempe PD was able to figure out exactly who that was that committed that crime.

They could have definitely, fortunately, no one was hurt, but someone absolutely could have been gravely wounded.

And just thank God that there weren't.

Also, as we know, back in December, there was a man who was killed after being shot and robbed over at Tempe Marketplace, but within minutes, license plate readers were actually utilized and the fleeing vehicle was detained.

And so in less than a day, the suspect was apprehended.

These stories show that if the technology is used properly with the right kinds of safeguards, that it can actually lead to justice for victims, uh, and frankly, bring people to justice who've committed very heinous crimes.

But however, we do listen to people uh in the city of Tempe across Arizona and across the nation, and we understand that there is definitely concern about data sharing with groups like ICE as well as HSI.

And I can I can obviously definitively say the city of Tempe has not done that and will not do that.

We really do, each and every one of us here, along with our senior staff, we remain committed to being a welcoming community where all of our residents, regardless of who you are, can feel safe.

That's why we are piloting this trial with Axon at no cost to the City of Tempe taxpayer.

Axon is a local company just up the road in Scottsdale.

So uh better sometimes to use a company that actually is right up the street than perhaps one that's across the country where you can't get to their headquarters.

And as many people know, our police actually use a lot of these axon products already, such as body worn cameras and tasers.

There are other communities across the country, such as Syracuse, New York and Longmont, Colorado, that have also recently signed contracts with Axon to also pilot this technology.

So while the vote this evening is not specifically regarding a long-term agreement, uh, I really do look forward to the outcome of the pilot of this program to see if this technology would actually work well for us and would work well for the men and women of the Tempe Police Department.

With that, anything else?

Any other comments or questions uh from anyone else on council?

Something well said that it's been moved by Councilmember Hodge, seconded by Councilmember Adams.

Please vote.

And that item passes seven to zero.

That brings me to item number eight, which is the non-consent agenda.

All items listed on the non-consent agenda will be considered separately.

Agenda item 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 a disclosure form at this time.

So, first up, 8A miscellaneous items, bids, contracts, and resolutions.

First item is 8A1, which is to hold a public hearing for an appeal of the development review commission's decision to approve a use permit to allow a massage establishment for massage ACEs located at 1761 East Warner Road.

The appellant is Matt Smith.

The original applicant is Yin Yu Shi LLC, and this is also, I should note for the audience here, this is a quasi-judicial album uh album item.

We're not dropping an album.

Um not that anyone does that anymore for anyone under 30.

Um the city council sits as a quasi-judicial body when hearing appeals.

So in this situation, the city council will conduct the public hearing in a similar fashion to that of an appellate court.

Pre-meeting contact with the city council on quasi-judicial matters is prohibited.

Any materials or conversations concerning the item shall only be presented to the city council at the scheduled public hearing.

Per the zoning and development code, an appeal shall be limited to the issues raised in the petition.

Issues not raised in the petition for an appeal are not considered.

Tonight's public hearing is an appeal of the development reviews commission's decision to approve a use permit to allow a massage establishment for massage ACEs located at 1761 East Warner Road.

Once again, the appeal was filed by Matt Smith.

The original applicant is Yin Yu Shi LLC.

So, first of all, in the order that we typically go in for these quasi judicial hearings, I'm going to see if the appellant, Matt Smith, would like to make a statement this evening.

Sure.

Yes, please come forward.

Um hi, uh good evening.

Uh thank you, Mayor and Council.

Uh my name is Matt.

I've had the privilege of living in Arizona since 2001.

I moved here from New York City, and I knew I had found a beautiful place to live.

Uh, I've been privileged to live in South Tempe since 2006.

Uh and I'm proud of my South Tempe community, uh, like much of my neighbors, uh, and we're very we love our community, and we we love what our community has been and what it's becoming.

Unfortunately, when we saw the sign for the use permit from a massage parlor in South Tempe, a lot of people were troubled.

A lot of people came to me because with South Tempe.org, we're always advocating for what's best for the community.

So I sent out a petition to my neighbors, and if we take a look at the screen caps here on the screen, 56 neighbors said no, that they did not want a massage establishment.

So the neighborhoods that were joining who signed this, we have Circle G, Carver Terrace, Corona Del Sol, Warner Estates, Parkside Manor, Altamir, Warner Ranch, Estate La Calina, and Kemrock Village, finally Los Tesoros.

It's important to note that the appeal that I filed on behalf of my neighbors, there are criteria by which you have to meet to validate an accurate appeal.

It's not based on thoughts or feelings, but what are valid reasons to file an appeal?

There are three criteria that I felt failed.

Number one is criterion C, which is to just uh to uh disrupt the character of the community.

Massage establishments have an uncanny ability to present themselves in one way and to represent themselves in reality in a very different way.

Um it is clear along runner, Home Depot at Kyrie and Warner has a lot of issues going on there with a massage parlor in the corner, windows masked, open, seems like all the time.

Uh a lot happens there.

Um, if you look at the Google reviews, it's problematic and it's not exclusive to that one or any other massage establishment, it seems to be all.

There's a raging reviews, but the one-star reviews become problematic.

The one-star reviews uh will tell you that these places can misrepresent what they do.

Uh, when they file a use permit, what they represent on the use permit is not the uh services they actually offer.

And I think this is inherent and it's it's noticeable at Raya McClintock, just one mile south of us.

There was a uh a wealth management firm that was there to help people save for retirement and to help people build their child's education, their funds, college tuition, uh, and the massage establishment opened up right next to it.

And within five years, the wealth management firm was gone, the massage establishment is in place, neon sign, uh curtains on the windows, and we have no wealth management place, but we have a massage parlor and no business will go next door.

And I think this speaks to criteria number D, D letter D, which would be next, which is is it uh compatible with adjacent businesses?

Um if massage parlors did what they promised the community they would do to be a place of refuge, uh relaxation, health, wellness, I think most adjacent businesses would welcome this place.

But if you read the headlines in the news, if you talk to Tempe Police Department, if you read the one-star reviews about inappropriate touching and lewd activity, you would understand there's something problematic, problematic that seems inherent to massage establishments.

You don't see this with physical therapy, you don't see this with sports medicine, you don't see it at the massage place, it's in any of our beautiful resorts that define Phoenix.

It's only in places anchored in communities and in a way that misrepresents what they do.

So criterion C is it compatible with the neighborhood, my neighbors, 56 neighbors, you can see the neighborhood, they say no, it's not compatible.

Criterion D, does it affect adjacent businesses?

It's not hard to see that this is fact everywhere you go.

Finally, did it adequately control disrespectful behavior, disruptive behavior?

This is the third criterion.

Um the development review commission does its job.

When uh a venue goes in, we're a live music venue, and they represent themselves as playing acoustic guitar music, and they come roaring with electric guitars, you know that they broke the oath of what they committed to do.

With massage establishments, it's difficult to find out because it all happens behind closed doors.

So I think for me, when it comes to uh adequate control of disruptive behavior, if you look at the application for this, I would love this disruptive behavior.

Did you see the application?

It said on Mother's Day, the place will be packed with moms having a reward for massage movie, right?

Maybe on Valentine's Day.

That was the exclusive disruptive behavior listed in this application.

But if you read the headlines, if you drive through the neighborhood, if you see the closed windows, you see the blinking red lights open at 8 45 p.m., you understand that maybe what's being represented to us as neighbors as a mayor as a council or to the development review commission that maybe we should ask hard questions before we approve establishments like this.

So what I would ask mayor, what I would ask neighbors here on our council that when you vote on this one, consider the kind of community you want to live in and consider what steps can we take to making the tempee that is safe, that is family friendly, and points us in the direction that we want to go.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Before you uh take up Mr.

Smith, I just want to check to see if anyone on council has any questions for you before you sit.

Anyone have any questions, Mr.

Smith?

Not yet.

Okay, not at the moment.

Okay, sounds good.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor.

All right.

Now let me look to see.

Um does the original applicant have a presentation this evening.

Yes, please come forward.

You can use the advanced slides.

Okay.

Hello, my name is Ben, and uh I represent him the in you to speak in the disease uh interpreter.

I am uh Liang, the interpreter hired to uh interpret what Mr.

Ben Zheng says.

Sounds good to thank you.

Okay.

Okay.

Which one?

This one.

So at the first is normal uh uh the normal thing.

So I'm gonna show the something special, like um the short jungle.

Okay.

Okay.

What I wish to say is this.

Oh yeah.

Thank you.

Uh soyo the Sen Qua Tangu Fa you greeting the what I wish what I want to say is that all the proceedings during our application was uh according to the law.

So guan you and then they uh put two more requirements on us.

The first one being uh uh to mingle.

The first uh consideration is about the transparency of the glass uh windows.

Uh so you can Mr.

Smith so the uh so wait uh more than the window cover the wind is the put.

So what Mr.

Smith.

What Mr.

Smith just mentioned that uh the transparency of the windows does not apply here.

Uh how did you shang Yao Cho sue so you sure for the next uh consideration is that the city has the uh uh power or the right to inspect us at any time they wish to inspect.

Woman free tang, you and yield so liang Xiang.

We uh very happy and consent to these two requirements.

Uh DM Pooh, Tong Yi Tong Lay the Butong Dian Poo.

In this in that district, there exists many different uh business establishments.

So mayo fa you fagui like there were no laws or regulations that apply to them.

So yingai yi you got to leave.

So every application should be considered on its own merits.

It should not be applied or led to be considered among other Asian massage establishments.

All our practices are within the requirements of the uh relevant authorities, and we do not we do not infringe on any other uh requirements.

We promise to do the following.

Uh the uh opening uh open hours are from nine thirty to nine p.m.

From 93 a.m.

to 9 30 to 9 p.m.

Yeah.

So you soil the yung yes yen, tangwali, yang goods.

All uh during the opening hours, everything is under close inspection.

Uh Tanki that you will also work with the Temple police establishment.

Uh may Yi Wei Yuangong.

We will submit our workers to uh fingerprinting and also background checks.

The uh criminal record is uh non-existent.

We have strict uh rules about uh the practices of the inside the establishment that there would be no nothing other than that medical practices.

Due to the preceding uh arguments or uh regulations, we wished uh city council to maintain its original permission.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Quick question uh too, once again for council.

Are there any questions for the uh applicant regarding their presentation?

Can see uh no okay.

Sounds good.

Okay.

Thank you so much, appreciate it.

All right, uh any questions uh counsel for staff regarding the staff report that you received in your packets.

Okay, uh by spare gold.

But this is for staff.

Um were you able to hear from any of the businesses that were near there if they had concerns about this uh establishment coming in?

Vice Mayor Garrid, uh Mayor.

Uh to date we have not received any notifications from the business owners within the center.

We do notify property owners within the 600 foot radius as well as neighbor associations.

We also identify all commercial tenants within the center of the site of all application requests that come through the city.

So they were all notified of the application.

Okay.

I I appreciate that.

And I know two of the businesses that are right next to it and one too down.

Um they're very particular about their business, how important their businesses to them, and I'm sure if they had concerns, they would have said something, but I just wanted to check.

Thank you.

Sure.

Thank you.

Council Burchin.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, Ryan.

So and I don't know if this is for staff, but I think staff can answer this, Mayor.

Uh they the applicant has uh a location in that area.

Is that correct?

Do you know how long they've been in business?

My understanding is that they currently own Golden Reflexology, which is the uh site on the northwest corner of the center.

And my understanding is they plan to move or relocate that business to this location for expansion purposes.

For a grand total of net one, right?

Just one.

Okay.

Would do you have any reports from PD?

Were there any calls?

No, we we did check with um the police department, and although Golden Reflexology has been there for quite some time.

My understanding is the new ownership had acquired the property approximately 2022.

At this time, there has been no active or ongoing investigations regarding that property for active behavior.

Not at this time.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Anyone else on council?

Any other comments or questions for Ryan?

Yeah.

Oh, yes, Council Bramberg.

I did look to the right.

Mr.

Mayor.

Quickly, I guess.

You may not know this.

Uh, but do you how many massage establishments are located in the city of Tempy?

Do you have any idea?

We did conduct some uh initial analysis and research on this, and uh um I don't have it in my PowerPoint, but we did count that south of the six US 60, there is approximately 2628.

Yeah, and there are some active enforcement of of sites that need uh license requirements or use permits with the city.

So we continue to um identify and put those uh location sites in compliance with with our requirements.

Council Burchin and you just mentioned it, so there are licensing requirements.

Uh and I I believe the applicant indicated that they're open to and you've stipulated or DRC stipulated that the windows have to be transparent and that it's they're subject to inspection at any point that's correct.

Okay, thank you.

Mayor Councilman to correct um to provide some clarification.

So the initial conditions that were provided in the development plan review uh case uh to the DRC were the eight conditions identified in the original report.

What um the applicant and the original applicant were referring to is we're recommending two additional conditions after our research.

Understand there's concerns with context with characteristics of the neighbor neighborhood, might want to make sure that the business is consistent and compatible with those areas.

So we've had identified an additional condition that allowed a six-month review for evaluation to make sure that the applicant is compliant with those conditions and review and evaluate the business operations, and then to address the storefront issues, just make sure that the windows are transparent and consistent with the rest of the storefront windows in that commercial center.

Thank you.

All right, council.

Any other questions for Ryan?

All right, sounds good.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

All right, so this is also a public hearing item.

So I'm gonna open up to see if there is any public testimony uh on this item.

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

Okay, so I will go ahead then and close the public testimony portion of the public hearing.

Uh, just before we kind of finish this up, I want to see um Mr.

Smith, any response to the public comments or any kind of a summary statement you'd like to offer or um yeah, thank you.

Um I I want to thank the city staff for the extra measures put in place.

Um, and I um I I think that was a good move to postpone and to put some more time in for the original hearing until now.

Um, and uh I I think you know, your question earlier about neighboring businesses.

Uh that's a very valid question because we had three criteria to choose to consider.

That was one criterion.

Uh my evidence was anecdotal.

It was about what happens a half mile south.

What's not anecdotal is the 56 neighbors.

Um, and from the entire community who have been in this in 85284, the media the whole average homeowner has lived in this area for 15, 20, 30 years.

Um, and I think to highlight the silence of some businesses in no way detracts from the the 50 plus neighbors who have deep concern about this.

Um, and what was our number about the number of massage establishments in Tempe or below the 60 design?

It was 26, I believe.

26.

Uh in your math of of moving one south.

Um, you know, uh yeah, it's it's a net same, still 26.

Uh, and what in a premier zip code that redefines how people think about Arizona.

Um, and uh, you know, regarding uh some of the police department activity, um, the establishment north may not have police uh start uh department activity, but you can read reviews, and reviews tell a story that may be not be something that people bring to the police but feel obligated to bring to the public, and I can't disregard what those people said too.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

All right, I want to see if uh Ms.

uh Ben Jeng, if he has uh any follow-up comments or any summary statement, are you okay?

Do you want anything else or strange back?

Oh yeah.

And you're not obligated to just figure it out I wanted to offer an opportunity if you wanted to respond.

And if not, that's fine too.

I have no phone call.

Okay, thank you so much.

All right, now uh council, it's our turn here uh for any comments or discussion.

Um I I have something here.

So I guess uh my basic thing, and I guess Mr.

Anderson, I'm gonna pose this question to you since you're a legal counsel.

You know, I I you know understand you know, Mr.

Smith's concerns, but you know, one of the main things that I'm thinking about too is when you're considering an application like this, are you allowed to consider the application or make a judgment based on the business itself and just the application on its own of this particular business, or a more kind of general perspective on whether it's massage establishments or any other kind of establishment, does it have to be based on just simply that business alone, or can you actually broaden it to make it any more sort of general determination when in a quasi judicial hearing?

So, mayor, you should first of all always you know consider the evidence that's been presented to you as part of the record and what might have been to the DRC as well.

Um you should focus on the lawful uses of that, and then what the city's goals were as far as requiring a use permit.

Uh generally, you should look at um the location and the lawful uses if there's anecdotal evidence of some other unrelated massage parlor, whatever transgressions they may have had, that shouldn't be considered as far as this applicant, unless there's some indication that that applicant is somehow associated with that.

So does that answer the question?

That does answer my question, absolutely.

Thank you.

So I guess you know, I wanted to ask that one question before I said something else.

I mean, my my basic perspective on all of this is while I understand the concerns, you know, that Mr.

Smith has raised and the 56 neighbors that signed the petition.

I have to make a decision based on the applicant in this particular case and what they're asking for.

Did they actually are they complying with the law?

Are they complying with city ordinances?

And are there any reasons, whether it's in writing police reports, anecdotal evidence that says that this operator is somehow not operating above board?

And every piece of evidence that I've heard this evening says that they absolutely are.

Um, and so for my perspective, that is, I mean, I could go on about this in a much more lengthy fashion, but not to keep us here all night.

My basic perspective is if a person or a business applies to the city of Tempe and they follow all of the rules that we lay out, and they are following Arizona law, and there aren't any other kinds of infractions or things of that nature that we can point to.

I don't see any reason to deny that person the ability to have a use permit and operate a lawful business in our community.

Council Bramberg.

Yes, thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

And you know, on that point, we sat quasi-judicial a lot for some reason after I got put on counsel.

Um so I'm looking at this strictly from a legal standpoint.

So if I were to agree with any of the points that the appellant has brought up, then that theoretically legally should mean that there should be no massage establishments in the city of Tempe.

Um, because you're not talking about one specific person, you're talking about all of the massage establishments.

And I live in South Tempe, I live in 85284.

I live in Circle G.

Uh, and I actually am a monthly member of a not this one, but a different massage establishment, which I go to once a month.

Um, and I don't from a legal standpoint think that I can sit here and say, you know, I'm I'm going to deny you know this person's ability to open up this establishment here because again, we would have to deny every single massage parlor or massage establishment in the city of Tempe if we were to truly believe that.

Thank you.

Councilmember Chin Thank you, Mayor.

Um a few things.

Uh I'm in agreement with both you and Councilmember Amberg.

I don't see the points made as our attorney pointed out, looking at the evidence presented in terms of disprodisruption, history of business.

They've been in business across the street with no incidents for several years.

And the wouldn't you point out the hours of it of establishment?

A massage had beyond Elliott on Rio Salado, they're open till nine as well for the convenience of customers.

So I see no issue with it.

Councilmember Keaton.

Mayor, uh one of my problems is uh I'm famously uptight.

And and I I don't like massages.

So don't touch me, you know.

And so, you know, I've only had two in my life, and both times was not a pleasurable experience for me.

Um, so you know that said, is this isn't the type of place that normally I would you know frequent or or hang out at, you know, definitely not, but um I agree with everything that's been said so far.

Reminds me of a case that we had not too long ago, frankly.

And I I kind of looked it up and I didn't realize that um Goldenfeet Reflexology was owned by the same individuals, but there's three uh such places within a half mile of this intersection, and there's seven additional within a mile of that intersection and um to the points that have been made about there's been no issues with this this business owner or their establishments, you know.

I wouldn't feel good about myself if I'm up here voting to uh deny folks the opportunity to do business in the city at TEP B.

So I with my colleagues see no reason to um not allow this this use permit.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Anyone else on council?

So let me go ahead and end to that point because uh vice mayor was asking about making a motion.

Let me just uh for the audience talk about the options that we actually have before us this evening.

Uh we have four specific options.

Option number one is to approve the appeal of the DRC development review commission, uh, and then find in favor of the appellant, Mr.

Smith, and effectively deny the use permit, which would prevent massage aces from operating at this location.

Option number two is to deny the appeal of the DRC's decision, which is to find in favor of the DRC and the original applicant and effectively approve the use permit, which would allow massage agents to move forward to uh to the following uh to the net work to move forward to the required next steps, including the additional conditions that were read into the record by Mr.

LeBake.

Uh item number three would be to continue the case to a future date certain, requesting additional information before making a final decision on the appeal, or the other last option would be to remand the case back to the DRC for further consideration on the use permit issues that have been raised.

So, with that, Vice Mayor Garland, you said you had a motion.

You absolutely can.

Okay, so I guess that's right.

I first want to say I I um appreciate um Mr.

Smith you bringing this to us and really appreciate the time that you took to get the residents to to sign on um to your petition and to talk to you about that.

I don't want to discount that at all.

So I appreciate that.

So uh I would like to um make a motion to deny the appeal of the DRC's decision, find in favor of the DRC and the original applicant, and effective effectively approve the use permit, which would allow massage aces to move forward to the required next steps.

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

And once again, the motion made by council member by Vice Mayor Garden, seconded by Councilmember Chin was to deny the appeal of the DRC's decision, which is to find in favor of the DRC and the original applicant and effectively approved the use permit, which would allow massages to move forward to the required next steps.

Any further comments or questions?

I need I need to add also incorporate the two proposed conditions as presented by staff.

Okay, so that's an amended motion.

Uh council member china, you okay with the amended motion?

Okay, sounds good.

All right, with that said, um, please vote.

And that motion passes seven to zero, uh, which is to deny the appeal of the DRC's decision, which would allow massage aces to move forward to the required next steps.

All right, the next item under the section then is item 882, which is to approve the utilization of a one-year Mojave cooperative contract with biking building services LLC for custodial cleaning services.

Council members, any comments or discussion.

Motion to approve.

It's been moved by council member Adams and seconded by Councilmember Keating.

Please vote.

And that item passes unanimously seven to zero.

Next up, item eight three, approve the utilization of one-year Mojave Educational Services Cooperative Contracts with Arizona Recreation and joint venture with JP and Sons Incorporated, Dave Bang Associates Incorporated, Exorplay Incorporated, and Play It Safe Playgrounds and Park Equipment Incorporated, but the supply of playground splash pad, outdoor fitness, and related equipment for use by the community services department.

Council members, any comments or discussion?

It's been moved by Councilmember Amberg and seconded by Councilmember Keating.

Well done, Councilmember Amberg.

Please vote.

And that item passes seven to zero.

Next uh item of the section is 8A4, which is to approve the utilization of a one-year source world cooperative contract with Dactronics Incorporated for the purchase and installation of a new digital display scoreboard for Tempe Diablo Stadium.

Motion to approve.

It's been moved by Councilmember Adams and seconded by Councilmember Hodge.

Can we have a discussion?

Yes, we can.

Councilmember Adams.

Yes, that scoreboard is horrible.

You can't hardly see it.

Um I always have to ask whoever's around me.

What does it say?

Because the numbers are so small.

So I uh strongly uh move for this to pass.

Thank you.

Sounds good.

Thank you so much.

Yes, uh, Councilmember Keating.

Well, I am disappointed it's not dual-sided, as I suggested, so we could sell advertising revenue to Councilmember uh Adams' point.

Uh it is a much needed improvement, so I'll happily be supporting this today.

Sounds good.

Excellent.

Any further comments or discussion?

All right, seeing none, uh please vote.

And that item passes unanimously seven to zero.

Congratulations, Councilmember Adams on your new uh uh scoreboard.

Thank you.

The next item under the section is 8A5, which is to adopt a resolution authorizing the mayor to sign an intergovernmental agreement with the regional public transportation authority for the purchase and supply of transit services for fiscal year 2025-26.

Motion to approve.

It's been moved by Councilmember Adams and seconded by Councilmember Hodge, please vote.

And that item also passes 7 to 0.

Next up, item 886, adopt a resolution authorizing the mayor to sign an intergovernmental agreement with the regional public transportation authority for the purchase and supply of mobility transit services for fiscal year 2025-26.

Motion to approve.

Then moved by Councilmember Adams.

Do I have a second?

Second.

Seconded by Councilmember Keating, please vote.

And that item passes 7 to 0.

The next item under the section is 8A7, which is to award a construction contract to Aiken Gardner LLC for project number 321025, wastewater collection system rehabilitation.

Council, any comments or discussion?

It's been moved by Councilmember Hodge.

Do I have a second?

Second.

Seconded by Councilmember Keating, please vote.

And that item was approved seven to zero.

The last item under the section is 8A8, which is to approve addenda with Builders Guild Incorporated, Caliente Construction Incorporated, Chase Building Team Incorporated, Core Construction Incorporated, and SDB Contracting Services Incorporated for their respective contracts entitled General Construction Services, each of which are master job order contracts.

Council, any comments or discussion?

Motion to approve.

It's been moved by Councilmember Adams.

I have a second.

Second.

Seconded by Councilmember Keating, please vote.

And that item passes seven to zero.

So the next section on the non-consent agenda is ordinances and items for introduction and first hearing.

The items under the section will be read and introduced tonight, but no substantive votes will be taken.

These second hearings and votes are scheduled for April 16th, 2026.

So the first item under the section is 8B1, which is to introduce and hold the first public hearing to adopt an ordinance for a zoning map amendment from MUED by removing the planned area development overlay and adding the ASU Athletic Facilities District Planning Area Overlay on 5.5 acres and a co-text amendment to the zoning and development code consisting of revisions to part 5, chapter 7 for Novus Parcel F um 5F, located at 720 and 800 East Rio Salado Parkway.

The applicant is Gamge and Burnham PLC.

Good evening, Ms.

Voz.

Good evening, Mr.

Mayor.

Mayor, members of the council, for your record, my name is Mondjula Boz, Law Firm of Gamer and Burnham.

I am here today on behalf of ASU and Catellus.

This is a very kind of technical zoning application.

So just want to kind of hang with me here.

This, as you know and have seen probably many times, is the Novus land plan.

And this parcel, as you can see, is something, as you remember, Novus is divided up into neighborhoods.

So what Ms.

Moses, which is developed right now, and most have you seen is the kind of what we call neighborhood down here in phase three, where you have the hotel, the restaurants, and other things is that you frequent a lot kind of at university and rural and along 6th Street, closer to the lake, parcel 5F and 5 FW, which east and west, were originally a long time ago, part of the Marina Heights PAD.

And so it has kind of it's ASU property, so the underlying property zoned MUED, which is ASU property, but it has had all this time the overlay from Marina Heights.

So in order to kind of develop it as part of Novus, as you see here, we need to remove the Marina Heights overlay and put on the kind of athletic facilities district planning area overlay onto 5F and 5W.

So it's like we're taking off one overlay, put on the other one, so then we can move forward and develop these parcels in what we anticipate to be it.

And what we anticipate to be it is you can kind of see here, kind of office and residential, similar to what they were meant for.

So it's a it's kind of like a word soup.

I won't get through this, but this is what it looks like.

It's a parking lot.

The Marina Heights campus obviously has been redeveloped.

And so we have these two parcels out here, and we'd like to move forward and develop it kind of consistent with the NOVAS plan.

So as you see here, I need to rezone from MUED, then the real Slato Overlay District, and PAD to MUED, real Slato Overlay District, and the Athletic Facilities Planning District, AFDPA.

So it's kind of like a bunch of letters to a new bunch of letters, so I can kind of keep the same thing.

And you know, the so these are just pictures of right now it's zoned, MED, PAD, real slot overlay, and I'm gonna add some more letters, and so it will now be MUED, AFDPA, real slot overlay.

Um these are the changes, but this is what I want to talk to you about.

So this property is within, as you can see here, kind of the real slot and rural mixed use districts.

So we just added the area.

The number of density and units in that kind of in that neighborhood has not changed.

So as we come forward, you'll see if we need to increase it, we'll have to do another text amendment.

But in the area, we're allowed to have 667 residential units, you know, over 1,500 million five hundred square feet of office, 666,000 restaurant, 501 hotel keys.

So we're out looking at an office and a residential tower, something that's similar on the lake that will complement what the council is doing on the north shore of the lake.

Um and kind of that's my presentation.

I would like to kind of move zoning boundaries, and that's where we are.

Happy to answer any questions.

Sounds good.

Thank you, Ms.

Boss.

Um questions, uh, council, uh, Vice Mayor.

This is probably not a question for right now, but when I was driving by just to kind of look at this area um yesterday, I was reminded it's says big sign in the front on the corner of the street, says Neil Giuliano Park.

Uh-huh.

So there's an entrance.

What happens with that if this goes through?

Will that sign stay there?

Will there still be an entrance to the park?

I'm just curious.

Oh, yeah, this won't change any of that.

I think Neil might have a fit.

Okay, thank you.

I didn't want to have to give him a call later and tell them.

Don't worry.

I call both of us.

Okay, thank you.

That was my question.

Yeah, no, nothing actually, of course.

We would, you know, no, don't worry.

He won't we can put his name in lights if he likes.

Sounds good.

All right.

Uh any other questions from council on this item.

Cool.

Sounds good.

No, I'm I'm very familiar.

I think all of us are with that parking lot, and so uh definitely something I think that I mean, I know I personally would like to see redeveloped into something that would be much more beneficial to the university, but obviously to the city of Tempe as a whole, because probably not doing a whole lot of good, it's just a vacant parking lot as it currently said.

So yeah, and we're excited to kind of start moving on that parcel.

We've had a lot of interest, both from residential and office.

So excellent.

Okay.

Yes, Council Member Hodge.

I do have one question.

I know that they do use that like oversee over parking, like for extra parking.

Is that going to be something are you doing when you do a parking?

Is it going to be able to have some spaces for like the public if they needed to park there too, or is that just going to just be for directly for the project?

It probably will depend.

Um, we're working on as we as you can kind of see the oh Jason book there.

Okay.

Um, you know, as we cut as what we're doing, uh, Mayor, Councilmember Hodges, as we kind of work through the Novus land plan, and as you've seen, like parcels get run, you know, parcels get renovated, we build parking garages, and you know, we try to think about how we're moving parking here as a vacant parking lot to a different location, because obviously we want to make sure we have enough parking for all the events happening at ASU.

So the parking will be available, it may not be exactly there, but there will certainly be parking available for all the parking lot.

Okay, that's that's I guess that's one part of my question is just um where's that overlay of that parking gonna be?

Because that is where they usually do it over the over parking.

So yeah, no, and you know, people um our plan is to try to, you know, as you know, phase three goes north, kind of to mullet and going north.

We're trying to activate that area.

You may have more parking closer to kind of the mullet arena versus being out that way.

Yeah, um, as we kind of work through some parking garages, but that's something we're just trying to plan holistically in the area.

Okay, thank you.

Council Browns.

Yes, this will greatly improve that corner.

Uh it looks terrible every time I drive by.

So I'm looking forward to um seeing something new going on besides dirt.

Yeah, well, absolutely, yeah.

Great.

Anyone else?

Any other uh comments or questions?

Council Bramberg.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Um, just kind of going with what we're doing on the north side of the lake.

If you could put a doc there, that'd be great.

A doc.

I think a dog.

I think you want a dog, yes.

We'll welcome a dot.

Well, we will we will come and talk to you all in your subcommittee as we move forward.

I that might be a good idea.

Council Bramberg, I want you to know that you were officially Nancy Baker's favorite council member after that comment.

I could tell I could totally see what was going on there at the back of the room.

Councilburn Hodge.

Yes, also make sure they understand that we do have a taxi going on at the bottom right there.

So we can continue to use that and add that on in.

That's that has been a selling point.

So we'll certainly push pitch that more.

Okay, thank you.

Sounds good.

All right.

Thank you so much.

Appreciate it.

I think we're good.

Uh okay.

This is also a public hearing item.

So if there's any public testimony on item 8b1, could you please get my attention at this time?

Yes.

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

You have three minutes.

Uh I'm Andrew Gooden.

I live in Tempe.

Uh just looking at the area.

Uh sometime last year, maybe the year before, I talked to uh both uh uh the the board for parks and recreation and also the one cemetery and also the board for uh transit because they were the people parks and recreation told me to talk to about the idea of putting in a pair of uh staircases.

So the the bridge comes here and then two staircases go down, and then there's the bike paths that come around like that.

Um this would uh there's a lot of erosion there because people just sort of walk down the hill.

Um it's really convenient to pass under instead of go all the way to the crowd.

There's there's a lot of reasons to do it.

I just wanted to mention that to the council now because we're discussing uh the affected area.

Uh presumably whatever development would uh have would be happening there might appreciate more pedestrian access to the waterfronts, and if that can be mirrored on the other side, I think that'll look nice.

Uh and also uh uh you know keep rock slides from eating up the the bank uh as is currently happening.

The uh main obstacle is there's a transformer box.

I I had a I had a whole thing uh showed to those.

So uh uh there you go.

Thanks, Mr.

Gooden.

Appreciate it.

Anyone else have anything on item 8b1?

If so, please get my attention.

Okay, seeing that I'll close the public testimony portion of the public hearing.

Uh council members, any final comments or discussion to the first hearing?

Okay, just want to reiterate the second and final public hearing on this item is scheduled for April 16th, 2026.

The next item under the section is 8b2, which is to introduce and hold the first public hearing to adopt an ordinance amending the Tempe City Code, Chapter 2, Article 5, Division 20, Section 2-365, and Section 2-367 to amend the process by which members are selected.

This is also a public hearing item.

So if there's any public testimony on item 8b2, please get my attention now.

Okay, I'm shocked that there is none, but I'll go ahead and close the uh public testimony portion of the public hearing.

Um council, any comments or discussion on this item?

Okay, seeing none, the second and final public hearing on this item is scheduled for April 16th, 2026.

The next item under the section is 8b3, which is to introduce and hold the first public hearing to adopt an ordinance authorizing the partial abandonment of the alley right away, located north of 7th Street and east of the Myrtle Avenue alignment for 108 East 7th Street.

This is also a public hearing item.

If there's any public testimony, can you please get my attention?

Okay, seeing none, I'll close the public testimony portion of the public hearing.

Council members any comments or discussion.

Seeing none, the second and final public hearing on this item is scheduled for April 16th, 2026.

The last item under the section is 8v4, which is to introduce and hold the first public hearing to adopt an ordinance authorizing the abandonment of the ingress, egress, and public utility easements located south of Apache Boulevard and West Price Road for 2152 East Wildermouth Avenue, and which are the Tempe Townhomes.

Uh Council, let's see.

Oh, this is also a public hearing item.

So if there's any public testimony uh on this item, can you please get my attention at this time?

Okay, seeing none, I'll close the public testimony portion of the public hearing.

Council members any comments or discussion.

Seeing none, the second and final public hearing on this item is scheduled for April 16th, 2026.

All right, next up, the last section on the non-consent agenda is ordinances and items scheduled for second hearing and final adoption.

So votes on these items will be taken tonight.

First item under the section is 8C1, which is to hold the second and final public hearing to adopt an ordinance authorizing the abandonment of a sewer line easement located on the north side of Weber Drive and west side of McClintock Drive for 1480 North Bucklintock Drive.

This is also a public hearing item.

So if there's any public testimony from anyone in the audience, can you please get my attention?

Seeing that I'll close the public testimony portion of the public hearing.

Council members, any comments or discussion.

So move.

Okay, that item has been moved by Councilmember Hodge.

Do I have a second?

Seconded by Vice Mayor Garland.

Please vote.

And that item passes seven to zero.

The last item under the section is 8C2, which is to hold the second and final public hearing to adopt an ordinance amending the Tempe City Code Chapter 2, Article 5, Division 10, Section 2-265 to add youth members to the commission on disability concerns.

Also a public hearing items of the city public testimony.

Can you please get my attention?

Seeing that I'll close the public testimony portion of the public hearing.

Council members, any comments or discussion.

I think okay, it's been moved by councilmember Hodge and seconded by Councilmember Adams.

Okay.

And there's comments.

Yes, Councilmember Hodge.

Yes.

I just want to say I am extremely excited for this to be a part of our council.

I think that the voices of our youth will be well established on that on that commission.

So thank you.

And I don't then after that I do so move it.

Okay.

Okay, well, it's been moved and seconded.

Uh moved by Council Burhaj once again and seconded by Councilmember Adams.

With that, please vote.

And that item also passes 7 to 0.

Next up, item number nine, current events, council announcements and future agenda items.

As we note always, council members can request that 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.

I'm going to now go ahead and call upon the council members in the randomized order we have for this evening.

And first up, councilmember Chin.

Okay, thank you.

Next up, Councilmember Hodge.

Okay.

Um first one is please join me on April 4th at 9 a.m.

and to noon at Pyle Adult Recreation for my annual water drive supporting the Hope Outreach team and also not just a Hope Outreach team, but also be the Park Rangers and the Fire Department too.

Next up, I want to thank our MyAC students.

They did their first, and you will be proud of this, Mr.

Mayor.

They did their first annual focus on teen um emotional support, mental health, everything, and they did it all on their own.

The whole Maya team put that together, and they had um it was a phenomenal event.

They had youth of all ages from grade school all the way up to college there, talking about mental health and melt aware awareness.

And also again, I just want to celebrate again.

I know this is uh women's history month.

Um, congratulations to all my colleagues and my city manager, my city clerk, and everybody else and every woman in the that celebrates women history month.

And also congratulations to the women club for reopening their their ribbon cutting on their building.

And that's all I have.

Thank you.

Thank you so much, Councilmember Hodge.

Next up, Councilmember Amberg.

Yes, thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Um, I wanted to make sure that uh people knew not to miss the final second Sunday on Mill before summer.

Uh getting a little warm out there for it.

It's going to take place on Sunday, April the 12th from 10 a.m.

to 3 p.m.

in downtown Tempe.

What's super cool this time is this month's theme is Urban Adventure.

So it's going to be an exciting afternoon filled with BMX stunt shows, a giant obstacle course, rock climbing, and virtual reality experiences.

I also wanted to tell everybody happy Easter.

I hope you have a nice relaxing day with your loved ones and eat plenty of food.

Um, I'm super excited because my both of my daughters are going to be back for the first time in months to see me.

So I'm hoping everybody else has just as good of a day as I I'm going to.

Thank you very much.

Next up, Vice Mayor Garland.

Thank you.

Uh, next up, Council Burkeating.

Uh thank you, Mayor.

Uh, break out your Aquanet and Aviators.

The Tempe Diablos are having the ignite the night back to the 80s party on uh Saturday, the 28th.

Um, the Tempe Diablos, as you know, have given over 20 million dollars back to uh uh charities and organizations in the city that support education and even funding student scholarships directly.

Um so that's a great organization, it's a worthy cause.

It'll be a fun party.

The spasmatics are a uh what I'm told is a very good uh 80s and 90s cover band being of that age.

Uh I imagine I'll have a pretty good time.

I know some of you will be joining me there, but this is invite is for members of the public as well.

You can purchase your tickets at ignitethenight.org.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you.

Next up, Councilmember Adams.

Yes, this Saturday is the care fair from 9 a.m.

till noon at Tempe Community Complex.

There'll be over 80 nonprofit organizations that you can talk to and share information.

Uh the second one is uh open streets, the Tempe 35th Annual Bike Day is April 12th from 10 a.m.

to 3 p.m.

And that's gonna be uh Mill Avenue will be closed, and people will be able to ride their bikes, walk, whatever they want to do without having to worry about cars.

And last my last announcement is very uh special to me.

That is my father, and today is his 94th birthday with my gorgeous great niece Alice.

So that's the happiest he ever looks when he's holding that little girl.

Happy birthday, Dad.

Love you.

Thank you, Councilmember Adams.

Um, my only announcement this evening is uh just as a note on item uh 7C7, which was on our consent agenda this evening, was to uh adopt a resolution establishing a one-time holiday known as Day of Recognition for Women Farm Workers to honor their contributions to work service and leadership.

Uh, I just wanted to thank our staff, our six-sided partnership, a lot of our employees and our unions in terms of looking at renaming the formerly known as our Cesar Chavez holiday.

Obviously, this is a council in a city that continues to stand with women uh and victims and survivors of sexual abuse.

And so I really appreciate the fact that our staff came together so quickly and had a lot of robust conversation on naming this day after women farm workers.

Just as a note to people who are watching at home, uh this is going to be a one-time change, and then the that same group of people is going to come back together and talk about what the holiday should be moving forward in 2027 and beyond.

But just wanted to thank our staff and once again, especially during um during women's history month, uh, to very much uh talk about the importance of renaming that holiday and making sure that we're recognizing women farm workers and frankly, from my perspective, all of the women here in the city of Tempe and across the state of Arizona.

With that said, I'm gonna go to item number 10, which is public appearances, just rules for speaking during the second public appearances item shall be the same as stated earlier for the first public appearances item, which was item six.

Is there anyone in the audience who'd like to address the city council to that?

If so, can you please get my attention?

Okay, seeing that I'll close that portion of the meeting and move forward to item 11, which is adjournment.

The next scheduled regular city council meeting will be on April 16th, 2026.

We are adjourned at 7 54 p.m.

Thank you, everyone.

Have a great evening.