Good evening, everyone.

Welcome to the Tempe City Council regular council meeting.

Just a note, too, as people know.

Uh uh Vice Mayor Garwood is also attending virtually this evening.

The uh council meetings can also be watched in real time via Cox Campbell Channel 11 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 listed 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.

I may change the order of items from time to time to accommodate scheduling to allow us to address items with a large number of speaker cards, so those wishing to speak on these items don't have to wait until later in the meeting or to otherwise expedite the business of the meeting.

If you wish to speak on an agenda item and you haven't filled out a speaker card yet, please make sure to fill out and submit your completed card to the city clerk prior to the item coming forward for council discussion.

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

Now I'd like to invite everyone who's able and willing to stand to join me in a moment of silence, followed by the pledge of allegiance.

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

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

Stretches far beyond the boundaries of our city.

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

Sounds good.

Next up, item number four, meeting minutes tonight, I'll be assisted by Council Member Adams.

Council Member Adams.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

I move to approve the City Council meeting minutes listed as items 4A1 through 4A3.

Okay, it's been moved by Councilmember Adams.

Do I have a second?

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 Adams.

Yes, I move to accept the board, commission, and committee meeting minutes listed as items 4B1 through 4B5.

It's been moved by Councilmember Adams.

I have a second, seconded by Councilmember Hodge, please vote.

And that item also passes seven to zero.

Thank you so much.

Welcome.

All right, next up, item 5, reports and announcements.

Uh, 5A is mayor's reports and announcements.

I only have one this evening.

So just want to make sure that I can thank the residents of Tempe for their patience as we work through the issue of contracts for three of our appointed charter positions, our city attorney, city clerk, and our city manager.

Appointed charter officers are employed through contracts.

Those contracts do not expire.

They only need to be added to Tempe City Council agendas if they are being amended, such as for pay increases or benefit changes.

If there are no amendments, there is no reason to include them on a council agenda.

The Tempe City Council and the three charter officers came together to discuss their contracts and annual performance reviews this month with conversations focused on the best outcomes for our community in these times.

While they have all provided exceptional service to the city, the three appointed charter officer positions are not having their contracts amended.

They have agreed to forego raises at this time.

City Clerk Kara Durasty has navigated us through two elections, as well as one coming this November, while managing the records for 30 boards and commissions and ensuring every council meeting is well organized.

City Attorney Eric Anderson serves as the chief legal advisor to not only the city council, but to all of our city departments, as well as managing our civil and criminal divisions.

And City Manager Rosay has led the city to become one of the top cities in the world, as evidenced by renowned groups like Bloomberg Philanthropy, Intelligent Communities Forum, and more.

She strives for excellence in every aspect of community building.

With her leadership, our city crafted and strengthened our anti-discrimination policies, wrote the city's, the country's first ethical AI policy, and standardized the use of data to help us not only measure performance, but fund our programs and services.

And I would just say to all three of our charter appointed officers, our city is better because of the three of you.

And on behalf of the entire council, we want to thank you publicly for all the work that you do and for your continued service to the residents of the city of Tempe.

With that, I'm going to move to item 5A1, board, committee, and commission appointments and reappointments.

So I want to congratulate Council members elect Brooke St.

George and Bobby Nichols on their appointments to the audit committee.

Their appointments to the member of City Council seats on the audit committee will become effective upon their assumption of office as members of the Tempe City Council on July 1st, 2026.

Congratulations as well to the following individuals on their reappointments to the audit committee, Keeley Hitt and Benjamin Reich.

Also, congratulations to the following appointees to the Development Review Commission, Brian Wagoner, Nolan Balacco, Kendon Young, and Robert Miller.

Also, congratulations to Human Relations Commission appointee Mario Madrano.

We also want to congratulate the following joint review committee appointees, Tim Smith and Cameron McCutcheon.

Also, congratulations to Scott McLaughlin on his reappointment as a Tempe regular member of the Joint Review Committee.

We also acknowledge Tom Lyons and Jerry DeRosa, who were reappointed by Arizona State University to final terms as an ASU regular member and ASU alternate member, respectively.

Congratulations to Brandon Garland on his reappointment to the Merit Systems Board as a Tempe resident member.

Congratulations as well to Wendy Tobin on her appointment as a regular member on the Merit System Board.

Lastly, congratulations to Rob Bocher on his appointment to the Parks Recreation Golf and Double Butte Cemetery Advisory Board as a Tempe resident member.

And congratulations to Christopher Gonzalez on his appointment to the Veterans Commission as the representative for veteran housing advocacy and assistance.

All of these appointments and reappointments are detailed in item 7A1 on this evening's consent agenda.

Thank you as always for your commitment to public service and for your willingness to serve the city of Tempe.

Your contributions help strengthen our community and shape Tempe's future.

Next up, I'd like to see if we can get our Tempe History Museum staff to join us up front and see if the council can join us up front as well.

Thank you very much.

So this proclamation and the only proclamation I have this evening is for America 250 Day.

And this proclamation reads: whereas the United States of America is currently celebrating its 250th year as an independent nation, which began with the signing of the Declaration of Independence by the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia on July 5th, 1776.

July 4th, 1776, July 5th, my goodness.

And whereas Tempe highly values the rich and diverse history of our city, our state, and our nation, with the understanding that knowing our shared history bonds us together and makes us strong.

And whereas the human history of the land where Tempe lies goes back much further than the founding of the country.

Native peoples have lived here since time immemorial with the ancestral land of the Otham and Peaposh stretching far beyond the boundaries of our city.

And whereas the Arizona Territory was created by the United States Congress and signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863, and Arizona became the 48th state to enter the Union on February 14th, 1912, signed into law by President William Howard Taft.

And whereas Tempe as a city is over 150 years old, having been founded in 1871, as a small but diverse farming community anchored by the business enterprise of Charles Trumbull Hayden, who established a flower bill, mercantile, and a ferry to help travelers cross the Salt River.

And whereas the people of Tempe have served the United States through many wars, conflicts, and other crises to ensure our nation's freedom.

And whereas Tempe is proud to join the rest of our nation in celebrating the remarkable 250 year anniversary of the United States of America.

Now, therefore, I, Cory Woods, mayor of the city of Tempe, Arizona, do hereby declare July 4th, 2026 as America 250 Day in Tempe, Arizona.

Smiles everyone, going on to the screen.

Thank you, sir.

Thank you very much.

All right, next up item five B, City Manager's reports and announcements.

Madam City Manager.

Nothing this evening.

Thanks, Mayor.

Thank you so much.

All right, once again, tonight's agenda has a number of items that the city council must consider in order to conduct city business.

Guidelines for conduct around the table near the entrance for those in attendance at tonight's meeting.

Actually, I should ask Jason, do we need to play the uh video again since we already played it?

I don't think we do, do we?

All right, good.

Let's just go ahead and dispense with that and keep the moving meeting going here.

Which brings me to item number six, public appearances.

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

Do I have any cards this evening?

Oh, they're over here.

Oh, there we go.

Got it.

Thank you very much.

All right, the first card I have is from Philip Amarosi.

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

You have three minutes.

Good evening, Mayor and City Council, Phil Amarosi, 50 year resident attempty.

At your June 4th meeting, the Marshawn Spence, a gigantic rent by the room student housing project on a small neighborhood street, was ready for its final vote.

Then six members of the council voted to give it another six-month continuance to a developer after he did nothing to address this council's concerns about height, density, and lack of real retail space for a whole year.

The mayor was the only member who had had enough and voted no on the continuance.

In that year, neighbors pointed out that the council already approved 4,458 other student housing units, not beds, and none of them are on small neighborhood streets.

Then we counted the affordable workforce and market rate projects that are planned or approved or under construction, and we counted 721.

That's an unhealthy imbalance.

Well, guess what, Randy?

This project could not ease that problem at all because it is strictly set up for students, not families, professionals, or everyday workers.

Why are you continuing to push it in an area already saturated with student housing but lacking in all other forms of housing?

ASU's laughing all the way to the bank, they're building housing for staff and professors with good incomes and discretionary spending because they see Tempe as catering to the students.

They're building nice restaurants like North Italia and Blanco.

Well, we get empty storefronts from student housing developers that don't give a damn.

How come the developers to the west of this property and the south of this property can build nice three-story for sale townhomes and make money on their small lots without having to go seven stories and 90 feet high?

The city needs to prioritize and seek out more of these types of infill developers and tell the student housing tower developers, no, we're not interested anymore.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Can Council Breaking respond or Mr.

City Attorney?

There we go.

Sorry.

Yes, Mayor, under the uh state rules, if a member of council is personally attacked, uh he can respond to the extent that there was an attacks.

Okay, sounds good, Council Burke.

Uh thank you, Mayor.

I just want to just respond since I was called out by name, and you know, I I've known Phil for a very long time.

In fact, one of our earliest interactions is when he uh was railing and fighting against Gracie's, which was of course Tempe's first permanent affordable housing um uh development in the city.

Mayor Woods, I believe you led that effort to bring that to the city of Tempe.

So the fact of the matter is if you didn't have the privilege of buying your house 50 years ago, it is very, very, very expensive to live in the city of Tempe.

ASU continues to grow, the city's population continues to increase.

It is a supply and demand problem.

We see that the fraternities and other students are spilling into our neighborhoods as whole council hears it every single day.

We are not going to if we care about increasing affordability in the city of Tempe for those that again didn't buy their house in the 70s, then we have to take action to increase housing stock.

That's why I continued the Martial On ordinance.

I do hope that there is some sort of solution in which that project will get approved, but I'm prepared to vote for it by myself if I have to, because we have to be serious about a problem and not pretend that doing nothing will make that problem go away.

Thank you, Mr.

Amorosi, for your comments.

Thank you.

All right, the next speaker I have this evening is Mario Martinez.

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

You have three minutes.

My name is Mario Martinez.

I live in Tempe.

I don't have a prepared statement, but I want to cover some points, and if I'm not interrupted, I could uh uh I can make my statement in time.

Apparently, the raises of the city manager and the city attorney are not on the agenda, but I will address their conduct as well as the council's conduct as a whole on this uh matter.

Okay.

As background, right after the cave people tape uh was publicized by the press uh with the illegal meetings.

I talked to the uh uh to the uh attorney general investigator, and I requested the dashboard, which was some sort of uh database asking that uh where I could get it, and she told me specifically, you cannot get it from us, but you can get it from uh from the city of Tempe.

And at that time, that database, some sort of database, it would the attorney general uh had had in fact laid eyes on it, as they say.

I was an auditor, uh a senior auditor uh for the Department of Defense.

As uh when she saw it, it was there.

And when I asked for this, all of a sudden it's not available.

Okay, so I today I made another request uh for all the city emails and attachments to the uh to the operative that uh that uh that performed this database service.

And you paid two 32k for this service, okay.

Okay, I was a computer database programmer for a long time.

Every time that, and it was a long time ago, we always left the data there.

Even if it was old, it was archived.

Whether it was ASU, whether it was Arizona Lottery, insurance company, you keep the data for them to give you pay 32K and not ask what we called as as a deliverable is an obvious sign of potential uh misconduct.

It's very self-serving.

In addition, there was a personally identifiable information in there.

Obviously, how are we gonna know if you protected our information if we don't see it?

And that is a problem.

You don't care about our personally identifiable information.

You pay someone to basically covertly monitor us.

You get you're able to show it to the developers like Hugh Hallman, and then we don't see it.

And on a final note, I'm not aware of any cave people that are ignorant enough to tape record themselves on a legal meeting, do you?

I don't think so.

Okay, so don't give me if you want to disparage us, show us what you did with that.

And I'm gonna keep on making these requests, and your failure to uh uh to provide it will be noted, especially in the upcoming sales tax election.

Thank you.

Okay, the next speaker I have this evening is Edward Buffard.

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

You have three minutes.

Does my three minutes start when I'm saying hi to everybody?

As soon as you see that green light go on, that's what it starts.

Well, I'm gonna say hi, hi, everybody, because I'm too scared to run over.

Um, okay.

Good evening.

I'm from Tempe.

My name's Ed Bufford, and uh I'd like to talk to you about looking at a shift in policy.

Uh Tempe pays Mericopa County hundreds of thousands of dollars yearly.

Several of you already know that, if not all of you, to handle animal control for Tempe to an IGA.

Every year, county trucks come over into Tempe to pick up our thousands of our dogs.

Kind of reminds me of another government agency that picks people people up and takes them off to some other city somewhere.

Only approximately 41% have radius vaccination tax, 41%, and it's required by law.

And that's the only ID that a lot of dogs have.

So, even though it's required by law, every year over a thousand of our dogs are carted away to a shelter.

And for many years, 27th Avenue and Buckai was the only place to go.

The state laws say that if you find a dog and hold on to it for six or more days, you are literally the owner.

It's a weird law to have, but I called the secretary of uh I mean the attorney general one time, and and I said so.

If you keep a dog illegally for six days, you become legally the owner.

And he agreed that that was kind of contradictory, and he changed it on his site.

Okay, um, you know, you look for the owner for six days, and if you if you don't find the owner and you take the dog in, then they charge a fee for taking the dog in because you're the owner and they have a fee for owners, but not for straight dogs.

Most people in Tempe uh they knew how long they should uh go to the shelter, they think they do, but they really don't because somebody else may be holding on to their dog.

So they don't really know how long to be there.

The ratio for return on to the owner is 10%.

10% of the dogs in the shelter get returned to their owners.

Tempe is financing the pickup of dogs, but getting nothing in return.

Calculate how much we spend on animal control calls, public safety complaints, straight bytes, potential lawsuits, compare all of this to the cost of a municipal shelter.

We are known for successful private and public endeavors, and we could develop a foster network and partnerships with the AWS as well as is being done with community caps successfully.

Uh our request a formal agenda slot, it would transcend to multi-use civil uh asset where we could increase public safety, generate revenue through city ID tags and qualify for federal grants.

I'm asking the council to commission a study for municipal shelter on the next fiscal budget, and I would like to summarize the public safety risk, the fiscal solutions, and community support.

I'm willing to initiate a petition as well as solicit endorsement from vets, businesses, and homeowner associations.

Just as now, thank goodness we have a can't call any caregiving caregiver uh department.

It's time to look at having our own municipal shelter.

Wow.

Thank you.

With time to spare.

Thank you, Mr.

Buffard.

Appreciate it.

All right.

The next speaker I have is uh Priyasha Vanhara.

Please come forward.

State should have been city of residence.

You have three minutes.

Thank you, sir.

Um, respected council members and all stakeholders.

My name is Priya Shil Bandana, and I'm a proud resident of City of Tempe.

Today, I'm gonna speak about public records.

So, public records can only be as good as our knowledge and data management system as such.

I request to support City of Tempe's digitalization journey, especially to enable each ease of doing business due diligence.

I actually added the word due to due diligence because my various consultations with the city and myself as a small business owner, uh, the more reasonable due diligence I do, the more compliance negligence cases gets added to my list of observations I think.

Um request for records is good, but how much readily available updated data is made available and what time frame itself hinders our due diligence process.

Could we please look into a platform that gives us access to research if an applicable use permit exists at a particular business location?

We small businesses have to enter into a lease agreement, continue to pay rent until our lease permit gets approved, which takes approximately two to three months.

And that is itself not transferable to us if we relocate.

That is like an investment the property owners get to make, and it seems like it's our strategy to help big businesses keep developing and the loss of our small businesses.

Thus, high rate of non-compliance, which I'm not just buying for my fellow small business owners or anyone, but one of the root causes is itself the requirements are not made readily available because our hardworking teams are doing such a great job.

Thank you, team, City of Tempe.

But we still need more systematic, integrated and easily accessible data to start with.

Each respective teams have been so patient and professionally professional, but giving City of Tempe a budget for an integrated platform will also reduce queries we small businesses have to make each time to wrap it up.

I think this is long, but my main point could also be if we are able to instead of just doing an open tendering process, which is good, we could go into a two-stage tendering bidding process, entailing more of expression of interest.

We are by regional public are able to kind of go and tap into the um specifications for such digital digitalization process and can only in the project initiation phase, we can also put our input at what we are also expecting.

Um I know there are consultations, but my participation in the council meetings shows that there are only a handful of public.

Um so maybe I would request council members to take up a task force that we are able to kind of get more of public participation in the process.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Okay, that's all the cards I have this evening under public appearances.

Uh Ms.

Ajack?

I don't think one online, so okay.

Just sort of general public appearances, or yeah, please come forward.

Absolutely.

Just please state.

I don't know what happened.

I don't know, but hey, you're here now, so we'll take you.

So just please uh state your name and city of residence.

You have three minutes.

Deborah's AJF, North North Tempe resident.

Um, okay.

Okay.

I want to address the growing decline of trust in government institutions happening throughout the United States, of which Tempe is not immune.

This is confirmed by the recent report from the Community Engagement Committee presented at the last work study session.

This saddens me because government institutions are necessary, and it is my belief that this can be reversed in some simple ways.

I brought this up before when a council member questioned a presenter if the new tax raise would raise twice the amount of lost rental tax revenue.

It was a simple question, and the answer was right in the presentation slides.

Rather than answering yes, the revenue lost in rental tax was $25 million, and the amount raised by the new tax would be $50 million.

The presenter went on with a whole story about public safety.

It was obviously she could have answered the question, but she would not answer the question.

Is there a reason our attention was diverted from the actual answer?

In this situation where I know what the answer is, and the authority figure is not answering, doubt and lack of trust is encouraged on my part.

This then makes me question all the areas where elected officials, upper management, or employees are speaking about something which I have little knowledge.

How can I trust what they are saying is based on such experience?

One thing that was refreshing was while speaking to a council member in the hallway, I brought up the situation, and she answered, no, she did not answer the question.

Hallelujah.

Simple, straight, honest response with no gaslighting, like I was bringing something up from La La Land, which no one sees.

Solution, honestly answer questions with no storytelling.

I was going to address the um contracts, which were no longer on the agenda.

So I was glad to see you addressed that at the beginning of the meeting, Mayor, so I won't go on with this.

And I was confused when I first saw it on the 11th agenda, because I knew that the only one I'm familiar with is yours, Rose.

Anyway, but I knew it was for two years, 25 and 26.

And the idea was up to a 5% raise for July 1st, 2026.

So I was glad to see that we're holding that, especially at a time where we're talking about dipping into our reserves.

We're complaining about the lack of funds and we need to raise taxes.

So I was glad to hear that we are holding the salaries at where they were.

So happy about that.

But what I did notice in looking at, and it was on in the agenda packet where it showed all the expenses for May.

We have a consultant who not my favorite person, but anyway, um, where we were paying 6,000 a month and now we're paying 7,000.

So that's an increase I don't appreciate.

Thank you.

Thank you.

That's all the cards I have this evening.

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

Uh if so, can you please get my attention?

Okay seeing none, I will close that item and move to item number seven, which is our 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 will 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 short turned for public comment.

The consent agenda this evening is listed as miscellaneous items 781 through 785, awards of bids and contracts, item 7B1 through 7B20, and resolutions item 7C1 through 7C16.

Just want to note that items 7C6 and 7C11 are being pulled for separate consideration.

Uh but council members, anything else that you'd like to have removed for separate consideration?

Yes, Council McKitty?

Uh 7C2, please.

7C2.

Thank you, ma'am.

Thank you.

It would be also in council.

Any other items you'd like to have removed?

Okay.

Once again, any item designated as public hearing item can 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.

For a second, Jason, I thought you were raising your hand.

I was like, I'll say this.

This is the first in my 14 years.

Um all right, anyone?

All right, nope.

Then I will go ahead and close that portion.

Uh let's go take a motion then to approve the consent agenda items as listed with the exceptions of items 7C2, 7C6, and 7C11, which have been removed for separate consideration.

So move.

It's been moved by Councilmember Hodge.

Do I have a second?

Second.

Seconded by Councilmember Adams.

Please vote.

And that item passes seven to zero.

Alright, let me then go to the items that were polled here, starting with item 7C2, which is to adopt a resolution to accept an in-kind donation of approximately 8,600 no test kits from known map LLC and authorize the city manager or designee to take all necessary steps to support the city in advancing community engagement and prevention focused programming related to drink spiking.

Councilmember Kitty.

Thank you, Mayor.

I just wanted to take a second to acknowledge that it turns out taking free stuff as a government organization is actually quite a process.

So this is something that we are going to publicly vote on a resolution to be able to accept this very generous donation that is nearly $50,000 worth of uh drink testing kits that are gonna go to support Tempe's safe bar program taking effect uh August 1st.

I know staff is working on it, as is my aide Keaton and myself to make sure all affected uh venues are well aware of the new um uh restrictions and ordinance.

So um very happy.

Thank you to again no more for their generous donation.

The early support for this effort really was critical to not only getting it off the ground but uh across the finish line.

Thank you again, Councilmember Hodge and Vicemair Garland for your support, and everyone uh the rest of you all uh voted for it, and I do appreciate that support as well.

Um something I'm very proud of, and I think the city will be very proud of it uh once it's fully implemented.

So with that, Mayor, I move we approve uh item 7C2.

Okay, it's been moved by Council Keating and seconded by Councilmember Hodge.

Please vote.

And that item passes seven to zero.

Let's then go to item seven C6, which is adopt a resolution approving and authorizing the mayor to execute an intergovernmental agreement with Tempe Union High School District number 213 for college connect Tempe, the city's college and career readiness programming.

Councilmember Hodge.

Yes, I uh pull that because I am a board member for Tempe Union High School District and do not want a conflict of interest.

Sounds good.

Okay, so.

All right, so that's been removed for uh to declare a conflict for Councilmember Hodge.

Anyone else have any other comments or questions on item 7C6 or on entertain a motion?

Motion to approve.

It's been moved by Councilmember Adams.

You have a second.

Seconded by Councilmember Amberg.

See the screen.

There we go.

Please vote.

And that item passes six to zero with Councilmember Hodge abstaining.

Which moves me to item 7C11, which is to adopt a resolution authorizing the mayor to execute an intergovernmental agreement between the Tempe Union High School District number 213 and City of Tempe to provide services related to the school resource officer program, Councilmember Hodge.

Yes, um, I am as I said, I am a Tempe Union High School Governing Board Member and sustained due to a conflict of interest.

All right.

So it's been pulled by Council for Hodge just to declare a conflict of interest.

Uh any other comments or questions from council, or I can entertain a motion.

Motion to approve.

It's been moved by council member Adams to have a second.

Seconded, I think barely by Councilmember Keating, please vote.

And that item passes six to zero with Councilmember Hodge abstaining.

Just a really quick note here, too.

Uh, this was already actually approved, but I want to make a quick shout out on item 7A3, uh, which was about the approval of the series 12 restaurant liquor license for Phantom Fox beer company.

The two gentlemen, uh Eric and Trent are out there.

Uh, for those of you who don't know them, they've got a very popular establishment out in downtown Mesa, but they're now bringing their talents here to the city of Tempe onto Mill Avenue in the old illegal peat space.

So if you see the large banner for Phantom Fox Brewing Company and Goat and Ram, that's those two gentlemen.

So just want to congratulate them on having your liquor license approved, and we're very excited to have you here in Tempe.

So thank you.

All right.

That then ends the consent agenda, which means I'll go to item number eight, 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 the disclosure form at this time.

So, first up, item eight a miscellaneous items, bids, contracts, and resolutions.

First item under the section is 8A1.

Hold the second and final public hearing to receive public comment on and to adopt a resolution to authorize the annual community development block grant action plan for fiscal year 2026-2027 with approval of the funding activities and request authorization to proceed with all actions necessary or appropriate to implement and administer these plans.

Council members, any comments or questions for staff on item 881.

Okay, seeing that this is also a public hearing item.

If anyone wishes to speak on item 8A1, can you please get my attention?

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

Council, any final comments or discussion, or I can entertain a motion.

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

And that item passes 7 to 0.

Next item under the section is 8A2, which is to adopt a resolution approving and authorizing the issuance of the Industrial Development Authority of the City of Tempe multifamily housing revenue bonds in an original aggregate principal amount not to exceed 48.5 million dollars for the benefit of residences at Dorsey LLC and Arizona Limited Liability Company.

Council members, any comments or questions for staff on 8A2.

Okay, it's been moved by Councilmember Hodge to have a second.

Seconded by Councilmember Chin, please vote.

And that item passes seven to zero.

The next item under the section is 8A3, which is to approve the utilization of a one-year state of Arizona cooperative contract with knowledge services for temporary staffing services.

All right, Councilmember's any comments or discussion.

If none, I will entertain a motion on item 8A3.

Moved by Councilmember Adams to have a second.

Seconded by Councilmember Keating, please vote.

That item passes seven to zero.

The next item under the section is eight a four, which is to approve a two-year contract renewal with allegiance benefit plan management incorporated to provide a preferred provider, organization medical network, and administration services, flexible spending account administration, and consolidated omnibus budget reconciliation act administration services for eligible city employees and dependents.

I should get a flexible spending account just for reading all that.

Um council, any comments or discussion?

Okay, it's been moved by councilmember Adams to have a second.

Seconded, I think by Councilmember Amberg, please vote.

And that item passes seven to zero.

The next item under the section is eight a five, which is to approve a one-year contract renewal with promoval radiology for MRI body screening services for qualified employees and their dependents.

Council, any comments or discussion?

It's been moved by Councilmember Hodge to have a second.

Seconded by Councilmember Chin, please vote.

And that item also passes 7 to 0.

The next item under the section is 8A6, which is to approve a one-year contract renewal with Express Grips Incorporated, who will provide pharmacy benefits management services for eligible city employees and their dependents.

Council, any comments or discussion?

It's been moved by Council Member Adams to have a 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 approve a one-year contract renewal with Sun Life Assurance to provide stop loss insurance for the city's self-funded medical plan.

Council, any comments or discussion?

It's been moved by Councilmember Hodge to have a second.

Seconded by Councilmember Keating, please vote.

And that item passes 7 to 0.

The next item under the section is 8A8, which is to approve a one-year contract renewal with Signa Dental Health Plan of Arizona Incorporated to provide a dental preferred provider organization plan and a dental health maintenance organization plan for eligible city employees and their dependents.

Council, any comments or discussion?

It's been moved by Councilmember Hodge to have a second.

Seconded by Councilmember Keating, please vote.

And that item passes 7 to 0.

The next item under the section is 8A9, which is to approve a contract increase with Amazon Web Services Incorporated for the purchase of additional professional services to support the continued implementation of the city's amorphic enterprise data platform.

Council, any comments or discussion?

It's been moved by Councilmember Adams to have a second.

Seconded by Councilmember Amberg, please vote.

And that item passes 7 to 0.

The next item under the section is 8A10, which is to approve the utilization of one-year National Association of State Procurement Officials Value Point Cooperative Contracts with Verizon Wireless, ATT Corporation, and T-Mobile USA for the purchase of a variety of wireless devices and airtime.

Council members, any comments or discussion?

Do I have a motion on item 8A10?

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

That item passes 7 to 0.

The next item under the section is 8A11, which is to approve the utilization of a one-year Omnia partners cooperative contract with CDW government LLC and SHI International Corporation for the purchase of software licensing, technology products support and services.

Council members, any comments or discussion?

It's been moved by Councilmember Keating and seconded by Councilmember Chin, please vote.

That item passes 7 to 0.

The next item under the section is 8A12, which is to award one-year contracts with five one-year renewal options to Act Towing Incorporated doing business as all city towing.

Apache Sands Service Center Incorporated, doing business as Apache Sands Towing and Professional Towing and Recovery LLC for vehicle towing services utilized by the police and public works departments.

Council members, any comments or discussion?

It's been moved by Councilmember Hodge to have a second.

Seconded by Councilmember Amberg, please vote.

And that item passes 7 to 0.

The next item under the section is 8A13, which is to approve a one-year contract renewal with Sapphire Gas Solutions LLC for the supply of liquefied natural gas to support the city's transit and fleet operations.

Council, any comments or discussion, or do I have a motion?

Move by Councilmember Adams, who have a second.

Seconded by Councilmember Keating, please vote.

And that item passes 7 to 0.

The next item under the section is 8A14, which is to approve a one-year contract renewal with border states electric supply for the purchase of Rockwell Allen Bradley components, electronics, hardware, and software services for the water utilities division.

Council, any comments or discussion?

It's been moved by Councilmember Hodge to have a second.

Seconded by Councilmember Keating, please vote.

And that item passes 7 to 0.

The next item under the section is 8A15, so which is to approve a one-year contract renewal with Rebel Oil Company Incorporated, doing business as ROC, Tartan Oil, LLC, and Supreme Oil Company for the purpose for the purchase of vehicle and equipment fuels.

Council, any comments or discussion?

It's been moved by Councilmember Adams, to have a second.

Seconded by Councilmember Keating, please vote.

And that item passes 7 to 0.

The next item under the section is 8A16, which is to approve one-year contract renewals with Weber Water Resources, Pump Man Waterworks, and KP Ventures Well Drilling and Pump Company LLC to conduct maintenance and repairs on water wells and pumps.

Council members, any comments or discussion?

It's been moved by Councilmember Hodge.

Do you have a second?

Seconded by Councilmember Amberg, please vote.

And that item passes seven to zero.

The last item under the section is 8A17 to award professional services contracts to RSP Architects Limited, Multi-Studio Incorporated, GH2 Architects LLC, and SPS Plus Architects LLP for providing on-call facility improvements and related architecture services.

Council members, any comments or discussion.

It's been moved by Councilmember Hodge to have a second.

Seconded by Councilmember Adams, please vote.

And that item is approved seven to zero.

The next section of 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.

Second hearing and final votes are scheduled for August 31st, 2026.

The only item under the section is 8B1, which is to introduce and hold the first public hearing to adopt an ordinance authorizing the abandonment of a waterline easement located on the north side of Rio Salado Parkway and the east side of loop 101 for 2630 West Rio Salado Parkway, the den.

This is also a public hearing item.

So if there's any public testimony on item 8B1 from the audience, can you please get my attention?

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

This is only a first hearing, but council, any final comments or questions.

All right, seeing none, the second and final public hearing on this item is scheduled for August 31st, 2026.

The last section on the non-consent agenda, this ordinances and items scheduled for second hearing and final adoption.

So votes on these items will be taken tonight.

The first item under the section is 8C1, which is to hold the second and final public hearing to adopt an ordinance to establish development standards for a planned area development overlay in the MU-4 district for Tempe Oasis, consisting of an adaptive reuse for motel to multifamily located at 1635 North Scottsdale Road.

The applicant is Camberin True LLC.

Yeah, I know we had a presentation on this item during the first hearing.

Uh is council want to hear another presentation item.

Okay, but we had one during the first hearing for public transparency, so uh council.

Any comments or questions for staff on this item?

Councilmember Chin.

I it's been a while since we saw this one, so I'm wondering if they would come up for any questions.

Are they here?

Are you looking for staff or for the developer?

Developer.

Oh, okay.

Is anyone from the uh name I have listed here is Deborah Silver?

So Bug, excuse me.

Okay, I see.

All right.

So Deborah Silver with Camber and True Collective, which is the applicant here.

Uh, Councilmember Chin.

Just a brief overview.

Sure.

Um, so Councilmember Chid is asking if you can provide a pre a brief overview of this project.

Sure.

Again, my name's Deborah Silva with Camber and True Collective.

This particular project on North Scottsdale Road at 1635.

It was the Ramada Inn once upon a time.

And the intention is to replace the current hotel or motel rooms and create a multifamily development.

Rental apartments.

For context, this is a couple of images of what is there today.

And we'll our plan is to renovate the exterior of all of the buildings, keeping the footprints in place, keeping the rooms in place as well, adding a few rooms by taking some common areas out that are currently common area amenity spaces for the hotel and creating more uh housing.

The entire development will also include reparking around the perimeter of the space with security gates for residents.

Since we're in an MU4 district, we also have a coffee shop or a sandwich shop planned for the south west corner.

That will be out accessible to the public as well.

Sorry.

I was like the NBA finals is over, Jason.

This is the intended design for the exterior of the buildings.

At least the thought process now is to completely give that a facelift.

This is that location of the coffee or sandwich shop for the retail component.

We want to add some liveliness to the space.

And ultimately, we want to take this opportunity to leave the property better than it was found.

Any additional questions?

I do.

Yes, please.

Thank you, Mayor.

And it was in response, as I recall from the the first presentation, and then in some conversations I've had.

Uh there were some questions about the staff training and also a security plan.

So I have a couple of questions.

Um, would you be willing to commit to enrolling in the crime-free multi-family housing program before the certificate of occupancy and complete that program within six months of receiving the CEO COO?

That's actually a question, probably for the property owner, and he is here.

I know that he has been working with Tempe Police as well.

Well, this one's specifically for the training for the managers and owners.

So would you be willing to commit to that?

The training for the staff.

Hello, my name is David Fan.

I'm the member of HK 24th Street that owned Tembi or Asian Hotel.

And yes, the answer is yes.

We've been working with the Tempe Police Department for the last seven years to improve this.

So we are willing to do this.

But we will require them to uh and take space in this program.

But uh I'm not sure about the question that you asked that required to do six months prior to the CFO, because uh it's a two separate thing.

No, what I said was one would you be willing to commit to the training program before before you get the certificate of occupancy, and if based on the timing, my understanding it's offered a couple of times a year, but within six months of receiving the certificate, you will have completed that training.

The answer to that question is yes, okay.

And then my other question, and you may have touched on it, but let's be specific so we have it in the record.

Um, would you be willing to commit to working with Tempe PD on a security plan before you receive the COO and maintain the security plan for the life of the business?

So I am the only owner of the prompty in this whole section about uh city of Tempe that always been working with uh uh Tempe PD in the last seven years, and uh not sure you know that, but I improved the prompt from the worst hotel in the area for the city of Tempe to be the number one the best hotel in the city of Tempe for that area, and the reason is because I work with the city of uh Tempe PD, and because of the city of Tempe uh PD, how good the work they do.

It's a great partnership, so no doubt I not only willing to work with the Tempe PD, but I need the Tempe PD to work with us.

And uh so also the answer is yes, yes, to the security plan and the maintenance of the security plan.

Yes, and and and um thank you, and I appreciate your partnership.

Of course, of course.

Then Mayor, I have uh an amended, I can read it into the record.

What can I oops?

So we actually have a public hearing as part of this, and we can probably take your amended motion afterwards, so fantastic.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Appreciate it.

Thank you.

Uh anyone else on council have any comments or questions for staff before we go into the public hearing?

Okay, then I will open up.

Uh yes, Vice Mayor Dowd.

The voice from heaven is what I must sound like.

Um, I would like I would like to um to have somebody from our police department if they could come up and comment on the work that has been going on with this property and what they look like now and what their thoughts are on the future.

Sounds good.

I guess I will look for a representative from the tempee police department, I guess.

I see.

I saw Chief McCoy with the motion over there.

There we go.

All right.

No, I saw what he did.

Hey, it was here.

I did.

All right, good evening.

I introduce yourself to everyone.

Hi everybody, I'm Scott Warren.

I'm with the community policing unit with Tempe.

I'm also on our site plan review, and I do all the security plans.

So, what all the direct questions, or you just want to recap of everything?

Uh, Vice Mayor, uh, we have any specific questions you'd like to ask?

I just like to know what they have been working on with this property in the last couple years.

That's really been my concern with as uh Councilmember Hodge and I had mentioned at the last meeting about the sober living home that was going on on that property, and our um inability to get access into that property to see what was happening.

So I'm just really concerned with what has been happening in the last two years, what you think the status of this property is, and what you think the status of the property would be in the future, specifically with the amendment um now that Councilmember Chin was suggesting.

Okay, so to address obviously everybody knows it was prior to a long-term facility, then it changed to the Romata prior to the Romata and Tempe Oasis, it did convert over to a sober living thing.

That was where the complex was rented out entirely by that sober living company, it had its own on site security, its own maintenance due to violations that were observed through there, both Tempe PD fire and city code, as well as building safety, stepped in, created our case, and then was able to close that business.

It is since then converted back over to Tempe Oasis, and where we worked hand in hand with the owner and management to set new rules going forward, calls for service since the Tempe Oasis has gone, have gone down, violent crime has gone down.

They have gone away from cash purchases for the rooms to cash lists, they require security deposits, they've called our IDs.

We have other institutions that we have written into security plans that they've already agreed to, even though they're still going on a voluntary basis.

Up and down the Scottsville corridor.

If you look at the Motel 6, MK Hotels, all three of the Motel 6s in the city.

They have all agreed to the security plans, which would be the same thing that we'd be drafting for this complex going forward.

If it is changed from a hotel to a multifamily, it does change the scope.

It is not mandated by my security plan to have one.

If he voluntarily agrees to it, or if this council or the city, much like we did with TCA, mandate he has one, we will draft one and he will be held accountable for all of that.

He has voluntarily met while I've been on site plan all of my agreements from me and SEPTED to increase building walls, add vehicle gates, security gates, lighting, security cameras, and then voluntarily enter into the crime free program.

The benefit to the city is with the crime free program is a larger vetting of all the residents that will be there.

Background checks are done, security deposits are done, and they're held to our standards that if they have any crime committed on or adjacent to the property by that resident or their guests, they are subject to eviction or repercussions by their legal team.

As opposed to a hotel, anyone can rent a room.

There is no background checks.

You can pay for it, you go, and there's no holding the accountability for them.

If it moves forward to a multifamily from a city, we have more accountability to hold Mr.

FAM to his word.

We have more accountability for the neighborhood to hold him to his word because we can enforce what type of clientele are able to move in and move out of there through the background checks.

And if we impose the security plan, you'll have a stricter, even stricter or more enforceable thing.

What we've seen up and down Scottsdale, the calls of service or the crimes that are happening there are currently consistent with any other hotels that we're seeing in the city.

If it is converted to a multifamily, our viewpoint in the other city that we set on site plan is crime will probably go down in the areas that we are seeing the drug use, the trespassing, the security violations will get displaced somewhere else, and we'll move them around and solve those problems as we go.

It will not happen at this complex if he follows through with what is laid for through them in site plan.

Thank you.

Uh Vice Mayor, anything else?

No, I I appreciate that, and I I'm still not as comfortable with trusting the owner itself, but I really hear what you have just said, and I trust our PD.

And um I really appreciate uh Councilmember Chin's suggestion on an amendment.

That would make me feel a lot more comfortable.

So I appreciate you taking the time to come up and and uh answer my questions.

Thank you.

Thank you very much, Vice Mayor.

All right, thank you.

Appreciate it.

Any other comments here?

Questions?

Okay, all good.

Great.

Thank you so much.

Appreciate it.

Alright, let's go ahead and go into the uh public testimony portion here.

I've got one speaker signed up, and that's Michelle Brown.

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

You have three minutes.

Thank you.

I'm Michelle Brown, 57-year resident of North Tempe.

I would like to speak in support of the Tempe OASIS proposal to convert the motel into apartments.

I have lived behind the property since it was first built as an embassy suites many decades ago.

I have seen its deterioration, especially when it was Ramada Inn.

And back when Danny purchased the property, I remember being told that he bought it as he had two daughters at ASU, and I thought that was a very good omen.

The property began to show improvement and was cleaned up.

No longer did we have trash on the sidewalks or streets around the motel, and it was quieter.

People no longer hung out in the parking lots.

Yes, during that terrible period when some behavioral health agencies were fraudulently billing for substance abuse treatment services of Native people, the motel did not only house clients.

It was not a treatment agency.

Two buses were parked in the back parking lot and took the clients to South Tempe Daily, where they reportedly receive treatment, returning at the end of the day.

The property was spotless and quiet.

Some of the clients had their families living with them.

The children went to Cecil Shamley School, took advantage and enjoyed our Indian Bend Park and shopped at Food City on Scottsdale Road.

I went to the neighborhood meeting on March 23rd at the motel.

I have talked to the city on at least three occasions with questions.

I appreciate the facelift it's getting, and we intend to have long-term rentals of a minimum of one year.

This remodel will not offer luxury apartments with luxury price tags.

I don't know what they will be rented at, but I'm sure it will be reasonable.

I support the incentive that will be offered for bicyclists who don't need to have a parking space for a car.

Having a coffee shop and sandwich shop is a plus.

The complex continues to this day to be clean and from my perspective, safe and well managed.

My only concern and that of other residents who attended the meeting is overflow parking onto Lilac and Marigol lanes if there is insufficient parking for the tenants on the property.

A parking analysis has been done, and the city will be responding to this.

I have also been told by the city that if overflow parking does become a problem on our streets, the city can post no parking signs on Lilac and Marigold lanes to hopefully resolve the issue.

However, I am an optimist, and I believe that parking for Tempe Oasis residents will not be a problem for us.

Other than that, I support this project, and the owners intend to offer reasonable housing to residents of our city, which is greatly needed.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay, that's the only card I have on item 8C1.

Is there anyone else?

Yes, Ms.

Justice.

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

You will have three minutes.

My name is Darlene Justice.

I've lived in Tempe for a long time, 60 some years.

Um I do support this.

Uh I think it's going to be great to have multi-family housing.

I especially support that the owner has said that they will become crime-free family housing, which I think is really important.

I have a grandson who lives on Apache, right next to the substation, the police substation.

In fact, the only thing that's between him and the substation is a wall, and his apartment is right across that wall.

That organization is run very well, and the police are right on top of crime in that.

So I really thank you very much.

That thank you, Arlene, for bringing that up.

Thank you also, Doreen, and for all the council members.

Um, so I do support it, and uh, and I'm glad that Mr.

that the owner is also saying that he will go through the training and that, or at least have the managers go through the training.

I think that's really important.

Um, so I want to thank you all very much, and we'll keep our fingers crossed, and we're looking forward to that substation that is gonna be in that shopping center, right next to this building, which will make all of us safer in that.

And so we really really are looking forward to that, Rosa and everybody.

And so my grandson's not gonna be the only one in Tempe that lives right next to the police in a crime-free multifamily housing.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Is there anyone else in the audience wishing to address the council on item 8C1?

If so, can you please get my attention?

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

Um, let's see.

Uh Council Perchin, I'll turn back to you.

Thank you, Mayor.

I move to approve this project with uh some additional conditions, two conditions.

One that the property owner andor management shall enroll in the crime-free multifamily housing program prior to the issuance of the COO, and then have completed the program or the requirements within six months of receiving the COO.

I'm trying to talk slower than normal so our clerk can catch these.

Okay.

And the second is that prior to the issuance of the COO, the property owner and/or management and or management shall submit a security plan for review and approval by the Tempe Police Department, and that that plan be maintained for the life of the business.

So that motion with those two conditions.

Okay, thank you, Council Perchin.

So she has made a motion along with those two uh conditions and amendments.

Uh, is there a second?

It's been seconded by Council Perhaj.

Yes, Council Hodge.

Okay, thank you.

Um, I was uh one of the people who was very concerned about this property.

Um, the last time we had this meeting.

I am more um lenient speaking after speaking to police and adhering that he abide by the crime-free um apartments.

I believe that this part of Northern Tempe has been asking for this for a very long time for safety to make sure and they put their they've always been gracious enough to make sure that they want people to be affordable in it.

So I'm glad that we're gonna have both aspects of that.

So thank you, yes.

Thank you, Council Perhat.

Council Bramber.

Yes, thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Um, I'm gonna vote yes, and the only reason I am uh is because of these two additional conditions.

Otherwise, I would not uh felt comfortable with it.

Thank you so much.

Yes, Mr.

City Attorney.

Point of clarification, so we have a good record.

Um I'm wondering if the motion maker in his second will uh accept the clarification by the project is referring to ordinance number 020 26.32.

Is that good?

Yes, okay.

Sounds good.

All right, so it's been moved by councilmember Chin and seconded by Councilmember Hodge.

Any last comments or questions?

Okay, seeing none, please vote.

And that item passes seven to zero.

All right.

Next item under the section is eight C2, which is to hold the second and final public hearing to adopt an ordinance for a zoning and development co-text amendment for TOD parking update for changes to part five chapter six transportation overlay district consisting of reductions of the overlay parking requirements.

The applicant is the city of Tempe.

Council members, any questions for staff on this item?

All right, this is also a public hearing item, so I'm gonna look to see if there's any public testimony on item eight c two.

If so, please get my attention.

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

I'll look for a motion on item 8C2.

So moved.

It's been moved by Councilmember Adams.

I have a second, seconded by Councilmember Hodge.

Please vote.

And that item passes seven to zero.

Next item under the section is 8C3, which is to hold the second and final public hearing to adopt an ordinance amending the Tempe City Code Chapter 19 relating to motorized and electric mobility devices in sections 19-1B, 19-183, 19-184 AB, 19-212 DE, 19-213A, and 19-214 CFI.

Council members any comments or questions for staff regarding item 8c3.

Okay, this is also a public hearing items of the city public testimony on item 8c3.

Could you please get my attention?

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

Uh I'll entertain a motion on item 8c3.

I'll motion to approve.

And move by Councilmember Adams and seconded by Councilmember Hodge.

Please vote.

And that item passes seven to zero.

The next item under the section is 8C4, which is to hold the second and final public hearing to adopt an ordinance relating to public health and safety by amending the Tempe City Code, Chapter 6, Article 1 relating to animals in general, including Section 6-21 and 6-3-4, and Article 2, Division 2 relating to animal impoundment, including section 6-49 through 6-5-0.

Council, any comments or questions for staff on item 8c4.

Okay, this is also a public hearing item as well.

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

Okay, seeing that I'll go ahead and close the public testimony portion.

Council, any comments?

Council Baraj?

Um, I just want to so move this.

Um I'm closing.

Um I'm excited.

Actually, I um I'm an animal lover and I'm in Jackson, Mariah, and Bentley says thank you.

All right, thank you.

What's been moved by Councilmember Hodge?

Do I have a second?

Seconded by Councilmember Adams.

All my animals too.

All right.

Please vote.

And that item passes seven to zero.

The next item under the section is 8C5, which is to hold the second and final public hearing to adopt an ordinance amending Tempe City Code Chapter 14A-11 violations.

The applicant is the city of Tempe.

Council members, any questions uh for staff on item 8C5.

All right, this is also a public hearing item.

So if there's any public testimony from any of the audience, can you please get my attention at this time?

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

I'll entertain a motion on item 8c5.

Uh, then moved by council member Hodge to have a second.

Seconded by Councilmember Adams, please vote.

And that passes 7 to 0.

The last item under the section is 8A6, which is to hold the second and final public hearing to adopt an ordinance authorizing the abandonment of various public easements located on the north side of University Drive in the east side of 52nd Street for 1920 West University Drive, which is Sky Harbor Innovation Park.

This is also a public hearing.

So if there's any public testimony in this item, can you please get my attention?

Okay, seeing none, I will uh close the public testimony portion of the public hearing.

Council, any comments or discussion, or I can entertain a motion on item 8c6.

Okay, it's been moved by Councilmember Keating and seconded by Councilmember Adams.

Please vote.

And that item passes seven to nothing.

All right, that brings me to item number nine, current events, council announcements, and future agenda items.

Council members may request that an agenda item be added to a future council meeting during their allotted time, but in accordance with the open meeting law, there should be no discussion on the item other than to clarify the request.

So I'm not going to call upon council members for their comments and or request to add an agenda item to a future council meeting.

And this evening I'm going to start with councilmember Adams.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

As I close more than four decades of public service, I do so with deep gratitude for the people of this community and the opportunity to serve.

I want to thank my family, Cindy, friends, campaign team, volunteers, donors, union supporters, and Tempe Chamber of Commerce for their faith, encouragement, and sacrifice.

I especially I am especially grateful to Katie, Kate, Kim, Martha, Thomas, Shelley, Carol, Allison, and especially Cindy, along with so many others who work tires tirelessly and stood by me.

Allison has been an enormous supporter and friend for 10 years who helped me navigate the political waters and encouraged me to run for council in the first time.

I want to thank the honorable Pam Gronkin for being a remarkable mentor and friend for over 20 years.

I truly would not be here today if it wasn't for the honorable Pam Gronkin.

I also want to thank the incredible list, Arizona's list of Gillian, Abby, Callie, and Ella.

Thank you for your turn the page.

Friendship, encouragement, and unwavering support.

Your dedication to empowering women leaders and strengthening our communities inspires me, and I'm grateful to each and every one of you.

And I must point out that my best counsel aide ever by far has been Quincy.

She has been honest, reliable, authentic, and trustworthy.

Since she started, I wish her only the best in our new endeavors and will forever be in contact.

I want to extend my special thank you to Tanya Schabbas, our director of mayor and council relations.

Tanya, your professionalism, calm leadership, and unwavering commitment to this council and this community have been invaluable.

Excuse me.

Thank you to Hugh Holman, who has been a faithful and direct supporter of mine over the many years.

Even though I didn't always agree with his approach, he was usually correct.

Thank you, Heel.

I also want to thank Mondela, Nick, Wendy, and Charles for always listening to my ideas and working with me to improve projects for the betterment of our community and neighborhoods.

From enhancing our parks, including expanding and improving dog parks and to countless other community improvements.

Your partnership has made a lasting difference.

Police, fire, and public works have always been priorities to me.

They keep our community safe by stepping into situations others run from.

And I am grateful for their service.

Thank you, Rob and Mike, for your support.

I also want to thank Donnie for his three decades of support and kindness.

I look forward to advancing public safety and supporting Prop 424 in November.

I also want to thank our outstanding city employees.

It has been a privilege to serve alongside you.

Many of you will remain in my heart forever.

One little break here.

One of my favorite roles was serving on the Valley Metro board of directors from 2022 to 2026, including chairing the board this last year.

As a board, we have navigated through incredible changing changes that have not only strengthened Valley Metro, but also entire transportation communities.

Transit has been a passion of mine for more than 25 years, and I'll always be proud of helping support light rail, streetcar, buses, orbit, and other transportation improvements.

Throughout my service, I will never forget who I worked for, the residents of this community.

Every vote and difficult decision was guided by what I believed was best for me.

I'd apologize, but I'm not that sorry.

So I'm proud of what we accomplished together.

Better better streets and transportation.

This Tempe Streetcar, $60 million in improving our parks, the partial annexation of the County Island in North Tempe.

I'm hoping Randy will pick up the slack on that one.

The reopening of Clark Park pool so children could learn how to swim again.

The Koanas Dog Park, where people get to know their neighbors, and it's really fun if you haven't been there yet.

The Park Ranger program, increasing safety in our parks, the Desert Conservation Commission, and the Audit Committee, to name a few.

One of my favorites was establishing the Trees for Tempe program.

Our program has planted over a thousand trees over the last few years as a result.

We also strengthen community support through Care 7 and Hope Program, helping residents in need and reducing the unshelter by 46% this last year.

Even though some people don't believe that that's what the statistics say.

And I go by statistics.

I don't go by word of mouth.

I go by what the facts are.

We invested in public art, revitalized the Apache corridor, and supported innovative projects like Cul de Sac.

I'm really proud of Cold Sachs.

It's the first car-free development in our country.

As usual, Tempe is on the cutting edge.

These accomplishment accomplishments are improving quality of life for residents.

I should have made the speech so long, darn it.

Strengthening our tax base and leaving our community better than we found it.

As I begin my next chapter in the private sector, yes, I'm going to the dark side and I'm happy about it.

I leave knowing Tempe's future depends on leaders who put residents first.

Support public safety, invest in essential services, and remember that public office is a public trust.

The work is not finished.

Progress takes years to build, and it must be protected by staying focused on what matters most.

Before I close, I want to thank City, our city manager Rosa in Chelsea.

She is without question the best city manager I've ever had the privilege of working with.

That's 38 years of me speaking that.

The second one was Will Manley.

Her vision and leadership transformed our organization and community from reducing crime, passing three bond measures, adopting general plan 2050, and advancing major initiatives like the real times operations center, vision zero, microfiber, our municipal fiber, and the mill avenue refresh to strengthen our workforce and culture.

Take a quick drink here.

I'm almost done.

I promise.

Her leadership has been recognized beyond Tempe, including earning the Gabe Zimmerman public service award and being named that Athena Award finance list.

It has been an honor to serve alongside her, and I deeply grateful for everything she has done for this city.

I'm on the second to last.

Yeah, I'm on my last page.

Finally, I want to thank Councilmember Bernetta Hodge.

That's going to be the hardest one for me.

For being a true supporter and friend when others shun me for not being part of the clique, not being their version of what they considered normal.

Bernetta always reached out to me to cover and support me.

Special thanks to the mayor, Councilmember Keating, Councilmember Chin, and Councilmember Amber, thank you for allowing me the privilege of serving this community for 40 years.

It's been the greatest honors of my life.

Thank you.

I'm done, Mr.

Mayor.

Just throw it.

I'm going to catch it.

Oh, all right.

I thought about you earlier, right?

It was a bad photo that was on here.

Thank you, Councilmember Adams.

Um I just wanted to say really quickly.

Um I had the pleasure of of knowing you and working with you as both uh when I was first a council member back in 2008 when you were a city employee, uh, but then obviously when I then I left council and came back, and you were a member of the council, and we've had an opportunity to work together in a couple of different capacities, and uh it's been an honor to be your friend.

Uh, one of the things that I really specifically remember about you when you were first running for office was something you put on Facebook where you basically went out to a neighborhood.

I don't remember exactly which neighborhood it was, and you were pointing to a picture of a crack in the pavement or a pothole that was there.

And then you basically went back to that same pothole about a week or two later, and it was filled.

And I understood exactly the point that you were trying to make is saying, hey, look, I'm not a person of many words many times, I'm a person of action.

I'm a person who wants to make sure that I'm getting things done and I'm supporting the residents of the city and doing everything I can in a tireless fashion to make sure that the nearly 200,000 residents here in the city of Tempe are served.

You brought that same passion from your time as a city employee to the eight years you served here as a member of the city council.

And more importantly, I'm just really happy that you and I have had the opportunity working closely together to become personal friends as well.

It's been an honor to work with you, and honestly, I I so appreciative of literally the 37 years you have given to this city as both the city employee and a member of this council.

And I'm honored to call you my friend, and I wish you the best of luck in the private sector.

But I know that you're still gonna be around and still, so please do not lose my number.

Please call me if you ever want to get together or you have questions or anything about what's going on at the city.

But thank you, my friend, for your service.

Uh, you are definitely very much appreciated, and thank you for everything you've done for the city of Tempe.

Thank you.

Absolutely.

Anyone else?

Um, Councilmember Chin.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, councilmember Adams.

I want to thank you and acknowledge your service, both as an employee and as an elected representative to our community.

We have had both agreement and disagreements on various topics, but in each of those situations, we have always been able to discuss our differences in a respectful manner and resolve things.

I want you to know that I've appreciated your service and your willingness to always, always advocate for employees, residents, and all the dogs.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Chin.

Council McKinney.

All right, thank you, Mayor.

Uh, it'll be hard to look at you and talk into the microphone.

You don't have to do that.

I will try.

Uh, Councilmember Adams, as I as I love to remind you, I did not support you when you ran for your first time around.

Um, you know, and so we we did not have a relationship prior to you taking office and us serving together.

And um one of the things that I'm most happy with with my time on council, and I and hopefully you are too, is the friendship that we've developed over that time.

There's been there's been some tough votes, there's been some late meetings, there's been some big lifts uh policy-wise in order to get stuff done and um uh to an issue in my book, you were on the right side of all those.

And there was things that you know how it is, the sausage you're making around here.

There are times when I knew that I needed I needed your support.

You're one of the first people I would call when I would get one of my crazy ideas, uh, and make sure that we were gonna move things forward and we're gonna we're gonna positively impact public policy, and you stood strong.

At times when it went, not only was it not easy, but it was extraordinarily hard.

I really appreciate um your leadership on this council and what you've done.

I promise I will continue to get those parcels annexed by the city as long as I can, and I promise you I will also be an advocate for for dogs in your absence.

Uh I've always been, but you know, you're doing such a great job at it.

I didn't want to look like I was trying to gravy train off of your success.

So I will take that mental back that mantle back if that's okay.

Um thank you for your service to the city.

I mean, you you obviously your emotion, it shows that this job is is an act of service.

It's an act of love.

And too often I think that that's forgotten.

And it you know, you owe you like the rest of us are are a human being, and um some of the things that happened on the campaign uh that were said and done, I I felt were um of very poor taste.

And I'm sorry that that you had to go through that.

And obviously, that applies to Councilmember Hodge as well.

Um, both of you, and I'll I'll address Councilmember Hodge when the time comes.

Um, you know, both of you have my sincere and utter appreciation for for what you have done and for putting yourselves out there.

Thank you, Councilmember Adams, for your service.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Keating.

Councilman Amber.

Uh thank you, Ms.

Mary.

This is I actually for both of you.

Um we've both been friends.

I've been friends with both of you.

Uh you guys were my mentors as well, long before we were colleagues.

I love you both.

I'm gonna miss you both.

It's I would like to say it's been a blast for the last two years.

Sometimes it wasn't.

Most of the times it was, uh, but I love you both, and I know I'm gonna continue to see you often.

Thank you.

All right, anything else?

I'm gonna say so.

You know we all wait, okay.

Sounds good.

Well, thank you, Councilmember Adams.

Appreciate it.

Thank you very much.

Of course.

Next up, Councilmember Hodge.

Oh my gosh.

Yes, I was coming right back around to you.

So I have a now I have a patient.

Yeah, there you are.

You're up there.

Yes.

Okay, so um, here's my speech.

Let me just open it.

I was wondering what that was.

Yeah, that's my whole speech.

I'm just ready to say it all.

No, um, you know, I just want to thank everyone.

It was a privilege to do what I did.

It's not, it's not something that I take lightly.

It's a privilege to be in a seat that I had for as long as I did.

I don't I'm not gonna sit here and thank every employee because I I don't feel you guys are employees.

Y'all became my family.

I look forward to seeing you guys.

And I love teaching every one of you guys, and I enjoyed every moment that I had with each and every one of you, and I will.

You guys aren't getting rid of me because I'm coming back.

Somebody's gonna keep my seat warm for a little while, but I'm coming back.

I'm never gonna, I'm not done.

Um, but on that note, I just want you guys to know that everything that you think that we've done for you, you've done for me, you've made me a better person by just getting to know the Craig and everybody else in the audience each and every day.

Um Jason with his big smiles.

I mean, I'm I'm not I'm gonna miss you guys, but I'm not gonna miss you because I know that you're gonna continue to work, you're gonna continue to run this city.

This is what Tempi is about.

Um we have taken, as this council have taken more criticism and more put downs than any other council have ever done in history.

I've been here long enough to know it, and we've all survived.

We've come through it.

Rosa, thank you for all the work.

I know sometimes you get it's so hard to be in your predicament, and the criticisms you get about pay or everything else, they don't know the nights and days that you're up in the middle of the night when someone calls you at 11 o'clock at night and you're up waiting, or you already have the answer before we even start.

I just want to thank you for all that you have done, and there's no amount of money to get ever take that on.

So I just want you to know that that your worth is beyond dollars to this city, and no matter how much people may never appreciate it, because sometimes only people come to see the bad.

They don't see all the greatness that is being done in this city.

You wouldn't fight this hard to stay in a city if you didn't believe in the city because you could easily walk away.

So I just want to thank you for that.

I want to thank you, Kara and Eric, for all the work, all the times that I was late on my um on all my stuff, Kira.

I love you.

I love Eric.

You probably won't have to go to the dentist as much now because I won't have to feed you as much candy.

But I I I think Mike might be sad because I give it just as much to him.

I just want to to all my colleagues.

Uh I'm gonna start with um Nikki Amber, who has been a colleague of mine who has talked to me before long, she's right.

We talked long before we in politics.

We started talking about it.

She's the one who taught me most about the state legislator, and I love her for it.

I love her for my sister Arlene, who is always said that I have had the heart for her, but she's always had that heart deep down inside.

She just tries to cover it, but she's got she's probably got one of the biggest hearts I know.

Um I won't tell everybody, we'll keep that a secret.

Um my sister found another mister who is not here with me, Doreen.

I love you so much.

I know we'll still continue to see each other forever and ever.

And like I said, I'll be back.

You can't get rid of me.

Uh-uh.

Um Braid couldn't get rid of me, so you know ain't nobody else gonna be able to.

Um, for Jennifer, you know, when me and Jennifer, just like with Randy, we started off on different sides of the path.

When we vote when you ran for the first time, you ran against my dearest best friend in the whole world, Genevieve Vega, and it was just hard.

And when I remember when we decided we I was gonna run in 2222, we had a conversation, and we said, I told you we're gonna bury this hatchet and we're gonna become friends, and we have become very good friends, and I'm gonna love and miss you.

Um, I'm gonna miss all the calls at one o'clock in the morning when you were worried about something and you call me in the middle of the night because you know I'm up with you.

Exactly.

Um, only person to be up at that time of the night with me.

Uh let me get to the two people who have um been in my life the longest.

Randy and Corey.

The very first election I ever decided to run.

I sat down with Corey.

And um, it was for school board.

And we, Corey's good to buy you meals.

He knows he's a foodie, I'm not.

We enjoy it.

Um, we sat down and we we talked about what it meant to be an elected official, and we talked about how I would be elected official.

And at that time, 2012, I would have never expected.

Did I be sitting here as a colleague of yours?

My mind was all on education.

But you gave you showed me a world that I can advance in larger than that, and I just love you for it.

My little brother Randy.

We've been in the trenches long before politics.

We were the ones fighting for other people to get elected.

We have been through so many races, so many things in our lives.

Between Randy and Corey, I pick, I like to pick your girlfriends.

And it's not too many of them that I liked.

Yes.

Maybe that's why.

Hence, maybe that's why they're still single.

But you guys are my brothers.

You guys are not just people or colleagues, you're my brothers.

I thank you, and I love you guys.

I love you with everything in my heart.

And for all the constituents, regardless if you support me or not, I love doing the job I done.

I will continue to work because I'm still elected.

You got you can't get rid of me that fast.

I'm still elected, but I just want to thank each and every one of you guys for even the ones who do not agree with me.

I thank you for bringing another side to everything that you do.

And to my sons who is right here, who has fought with me, who has been with me through thick and thin.

I love you guys.

I didn't forget two people.

I didn't forget Vanessa.

I couldn't forget Vanessa.

I stole Vanessa from my other side of my life.

I was saying, she came with me from TP Union, and she's here with me.

And I love you, Vanessa.

I love you so much.

Through all the calls, through all the sometimes fussing at me to make sure I'm healthy.

I love you, and I wish you all the best of luck.

We're gonna still continue our water drive, right?

We're gonna still, me and you with the water, Jeff, right?

And I left one person.

I I left one person I wanted to say something to the end.

Two blessed people.

I said I love all my employees.

You're like family, but I have two people who are my singing buddies, who are closer than family to me in this world, and that's Keith and Tanya.

I love you guys.

When I'm having a bad day, Keith will call B.

Everything gonna be alright.

Well, guess what, Keith?

It's gonna be alright.

And Tanya, you know you're never gonna get rid of me.

You'll be on a chief of staff in my life.

When they say on friends, you are my person, you are my person.

I love you, and I love you guys all.

I thank you guys for giving me that opportunity to do what I do, and that's what I'll say.

Thank you.

All right, anyone want to start?

Councilmember Chen.

Councilmember Verdetta Hodge.

I want to thank you.

And I want to thank you for your service to our community and your many roles.

You're always thinking about the youth.

Whenever we've talked about decisions, when you are asked questions, you always remind people that the decisions made now will affect our youth in the future.

So you need to think about them.

And that's why you always did, and that's where your heart is.

I know it.

You approach life with a very fierce passion.

And you've been a fantastic balance to my more measured approach.

I always said that you had more than enough heart for both of us.

You have all the feelings to help me out.

Thank you, my friend.

You're not going anywhere.

I'm not going anywhere.

You have three minutes every week, everyone.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Let's see.

Well, maybe I'll go.

So I literally remember one of the first real conversations that you and I had.

And it was probably around 2009 when I was just starting here.

I was probably 29 or 30 years old.

And I remember you walked up to me in between one of our work study sessions with that young man sitting right there in the front, who at that point was in a suit that was a little bit ill-fitting.

But later on, I didn't realize that his suits were going to be all nicer than mine as he grew up into the man that he is today.

And I remember you walked right up to me and said, you know, Councilmember Woods, I want you to meet my son, Jevin Hodge.

And that was the first time we really had a very sort of intense, sort of deep conversation.

But after that, obviously we very much became friends.

What's interesting is that you know when you said that back when you first started talking with me about running for the school board, that you never imagined that you and I would be sitting up here together.

But what's interesting is I knew it.

You may not have known it, but I knew, and there is nothing that has surprised me about the fact that you ended up right here with each and every one of us.

Your your commitment and your dedication to the city of Tempe, to all of our residents, and many times even more importantly, to our youth, because as we all talk about the the youth of this community, truly are the future of the city of Tempe and the future of the state, the future of this country, and the passion that you have poured into young people as a member of the Tempe Union High School District Governing Board, two-time president, but also as a member of this council, I can't say enough positive things about the work that you've done, the passion that you bring to each and everything that you do.

And I just I can't, I could go on and on about the things that the times and the experiences that we've had together.

Her talking about having to pick or vet my girlfriends, which I find to be funny since there have been several times where she and I have been in public and people have thought that we were married, the two of us.

She and I can tell you those stories a little bit later.

But I mean, hey, I was proud of that too.

So but honestly, um, you know, we may be we have been colleagues for the last four years, but as you and I both know, we are friends and brother and sister first, and we always have been.

And I and I I always get excited to see you.

I get excited to see two of the most incredible young men that I've ever seen, and Jevin and Jason Hodge, who I know of the love of your life, and that you have put everything into raising these young men into being the dynamic, brilliant people that they both are, also both taller than me.

Um, but I will tell you, um, and and of course also speaking of family.

Your mother, who I have gotten to know.

I mean, Jule Hodge.

I mean, before I I see Councilmember Hodge out in public and I give her a hug, I have to obviously acknowledge the matriarch of the family before I even get over to her because I don't want to get myself in trouble.

Um, but I just wanted to say, Councilmember Hodge, you're an amazing human being.

You're an incredible public servant, and more importantly, you're an even better friend.

And so I love you to death, and I know that we are going to continue to be friends, and as you said, this is not goodbye in any way, shape, or form.

I am always going to be here for you in whatever capacity you need me in.

So thank you for your service.

Thank you.

Councilmember Keating.

Fuck man.

Councilmember Hodge yes um you know we've known each other for a very very long time and you rightfully point out you know that we went through quite a crucible in those early days and with DLD and I had no idea that when uh a black woman with skinny legs walked into my LD meeting and and said she wanted to talk to me about running for school board that I developed one of the best friends in my life.

But I remember meeting Jevin as a very young man and I'm disappointed the mayor got the suit dig in before I did because I I I had one I had one teed up for sure but you know I had the honor of meeting Jevin we must have been 15 16 years old and I had honored meeting Jason when he must have been five six seven years old and I've seen them both grow up to be incredibly impressive young men and that's a testament to you and the way you raised them and the quality of character that you have shown them and the example that you have led one of the things I love about you is when you ran for school board the first time you lost and you didn't walk away how disheartening that must have been in that moment uh in that LD with some of the opposition to to come up short and then stick around keep investing in the community keeping you know getting yourself out there and then run it back and then successfully win reelection or excuse me win election to the school board was is a tremendous task it's not something personally that I I feel that I could ever do frankly had I lost my first election I wouldn't be here today that's for certain I'm not sure I had the courage to do something like that.

So I'm very incredibly proud of you for having done that I did not expect that we would ever be colleagues on this body together.

But like with Councilmember Adams all the things that that have been accomplished here you've shown a tremendous amount of of leadership that I know is not easy particularly in an election year and I'm forever grateful for that I think from what I ended saying to Councilmember Adams that this very much is an act of service and an act of love and you to Councilmember Chin's point exude the heart that you have for this city and the service that you have provided us all.

On top of being an outstanding public servant um you know you are a very dynamic woman of gravity.

I know not never to get into uh Bordetta Hodge's way and I know that if Redetta Hodge is going some way then I better follow along because uh I don't want to be on the opposite side of that and you've proven that with your record uh here on this council but also in school board and as your record as a mother and daughter um and to me personally you've been a tremendous friend and I'm going to miss you here but I know we'll still be friends.

And even when I didn't want it or deserve it you showed up for me and forever be grateful for that.

Thank you.

Thank you Councilmember Keating.

Vice Mayor Carlin I am really happy I'm sorry that I'm not there to be able to give every to give building a birdette a hug but I'm actually kind of glad I'm not there because you would see an ugly crying face and um I it's um Bernetta, my colleague and my sweet friend.

Uh I just want to say what a joy it has been to work with you.

Uh I can I've said this before, and I'll say it again.

You work hard, you are prepared, and you face tough issues, tough people, tough things with integrity and kindness, and that's rare, and that is something that I really value in you as a person and what you've been able to do with that.

Um, on council.

You've sacrificed a lot for your family over the years.

You sacrifice for your friends, you sacrifice for their students and for our residents, and I know that's something that will not stop.

And I've said this to you many times that you have a heart that is incredibly grand, and I will miss seeing that smile across the dais um when we are um having our council meetings, and um, and sometimes when it's tough, and I look over to you, I can feel the strength in you when things have been difficult during meetings.

So I really appreciate that um a lot.

And um, so this isn't a goodbye, um, because I know I'll see you later, maybe um at the next Scorpion hunt that we do in my neighborhood.

Um, but you know, there's something that you always say, and you didn't say it today, but I will remind you, our footprints don't fade on the lives that we touched, and you have touched a lot of us, you've touched our hearts, you've um moved things forward in this community, and it is forever changed because of you, and those fingerprints that we that you've mentioned so many times.

I will never forget that quote because every time I think about it, I will think about you, and I will be thinking about all the other lives that you were going to touch between now and the next time that you are making that really big statement on what you were going to be doing with the rest of your life, and I know that we were all be involved in that.

So again, this is not goodbye.

It's a it's a see you later.

I wish I was there to be able to give you a hug.

Um, but I love you dearly, and um I can't wait to see you when I get back home.

Love you.

Thank you, Vice Mayor Carlin.

Anyone else?

Okay.

Thank you, Council Braha.

So I know normally I kind of go down the list and see if folks have any other announcements.

Uh, is there anything else that anyone has?

Or are we gonna end it there?

Okay.

Thank you both for your service.

Thank you.

Next up, item 10, public appearances.

So, rules for speaking during the second public appearances item shall be the same as stated earlier for the first public appearances item.

Is anyone in the audience wishes to address the council?

If so, can you please get my attention?

Yes, Mr.

Hodge.

Mr.

Mayor, members of the council.

I stand here as a resident of Tempe 32 years, city of Tempe, homeowner, former representative, president of the NAACP of the East Valley, the youngest president in the country, a business owner, a nonprofit leader, and son of a history maker.

Councilmember Burdetta Hodge, thank you for your service, and thank you for your commitment.

It is my honor and pleasure to share you with our community.

You are the first black woman to sit behind this dais.

You have kicked this door open for every young person to believe that they can.

You're the only member of this council who has lived in affordable housing, who has fought for every person, who has been on food stamps, who's taken public transit, who understands the plight of the American people, and was fought every single day to make every single life in Tempe better.

There will be negative things said, and you have told me this.

When you're fighting for what you believe in, folks will create a narrative when there isn't one.

You represent what is good in this country.

You represent the best of what we have to offer.

No, this is so hard.

My mom makes everything she touches better.

And she's come to this city.

And led this city, and poor heart and soul in this city.

And made our community better.

Councilmember Hodge, on behalf of every life that you've impacted.

Thank you for your service.

Thank you for your leadership.

And I'm excited for what you do next.

Thank you.

Is everyone else in the audience wishing to rest the council under item number 10 public appearances?

If so, can you please get my attention?

Yes, Miss Justice.

Please come forward.

State your name and City of Residence.

You have three minutes.

I have to thank a couple people.

Jennifer.

You're the one that started the county island being annexed in our neighborhood.

You were told they've been trying to do that for 50 years.

It's never gonna happen.

Then who does she go to?

She goes to Randy, she goes to Joel, and all of a sudden we have three people working on that.

And we have the first annexation in our community.

Burdetta.

I went to a class with the Tempe Police.

I had signed up, it was about discrimination, and there were sergeants and lieutenants at that.

I didn't realize you were also attending that, like I was attending it.

And I learned a lot.

My mother was raised in South Carolina.

My mother saw a lot of bad things when she was young.

And I was thirsty, and I went up to a drinking fountain, and it said whites only.

We were actually living in Chicago.

My father was a damn Yankee that married a southern girl, and we moved to Chicago, who was during the uh the war.

There are things that I knew because of having family that had had my great-grandmother ran a general store and a gas station, people bartered there, everybody came into her store.

I never felt that any problems.

My family, my mom was really great in that, but I learned a lot from you.

And I learned about your love of kids and how you help with the school, the fact that you're on the school board and it is and also on city council.

You do so much for young people, and I want to thank you very much.

Your mom has been great.

She always says hi, your sons are wonderful.

Thank you very much.

And Jennifer, the two of you came to us before you were elected, and you wanted to know about North Tempe.

That hasn't happened this time around.

But you two, as you were running, I remember giving you and even the chief of police.

We gave you, we, Kim Lowe's and I, the good and the bad and the ugly tour of our community.

You guys embraced us and you've helped us both of us, both of you.

I'm so happy that we're gonna be getting multifamily housing now and crime-free you know, housing.

But you're gonna be missed a lot, very much.

And I want to thank you for always working with everybody.

You know, Nikki, Arlene, Mayor, Doreen, Randy, you have been a great team, and I hope that we have another great team continuing on.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay, do I have any uh anyone else in the audience wishing to rest the council?

If so, could you get my attention?

Okay, seeing none, I will close that portion of the meeting and move to item number 11 adjournment.

The next scheduled regular city council meeting is going to be on July first, 2026.

We are adjourned at 801 p.m.

Thank you, everyone.

Have a wonderful night.