Mesa Council Advances $7.4B–$58.8B Legacy Park Mixed-Use Development with Water and Traffic Coordination as Critical Success Factors

Everyone, welcome to our Mesa City Council study session for September 10th. We appreciate everybody being here. Man, we have a packed room. We ought to sold tickets for this morning's uh session. So, all council members are present. We appreciate you being here. Item one, as usual, is to review the agenda we have for Monday, September 14th, council meeting.

We can go through the agenda, but I'm going to ask that a presentation on number seven be done first and then we'll answer questions on the agenda if that's okay. Can we do the presentation first? However you'd like to do. Yeah, let's do that. Uh, Mr. Adams has a stop. Are you here till 8:30? Okay. So, Heather and your team, Kelly, come up and if it's okay, council do number seven. Yes.

So, just so everybody's clear, we're talking about uh item 7A, number 7A, is take action on the following ordinances, resolutions related to property or portions of property gener generally located west and south of State Route 24 east of South Ellsworth Road, north and south of East Williamsville Road, and west of the future South Chrisman Road alignment, which includes the project commonly known as Legacy Park and Gateway Crossings. That's what we'll be discussing. Great.

Well, Mayor, uh, council, good morning. Um, we've got everyone here who has put in a lot of time and effort over a number of years on this on this project and it is years and we appreciate all the hard work that legal and planning and transportation and and really the whole um city uh team has put into uh the importance of this project.

Along with that, just a um huge kudos to um Andrew Cohen and Bill Lavine, the property owners uh of the property in question, along with David Larer, um who you'll hear from in in a few minutes, and his team at Vestar, um who have been great to work with.

Um, as many of you know, um, these conversations started a long time ago with the vision of bringing something really special to this, um, prime piece of real estate right at State Route 24 in the 202 off of Ellsworth, directly across from, uh, Gateway Airport in the future passenger terminal area of of Gateway. and we knew that this piece of land um was special and this piece of land needed to be used for its highest and best use for uh economic development purposes in the city of Mesa.

Um we talk a lot about the fact though sometimes we know that but does the property owner know that and does the uh does the right development team all come together to make that a reality? And as we've talked about projects not just across the valley, but as uh we've looked at projects across the nation, uh it usually takes that that that perfect storm of everyone being on the same page and and rowing in the same direction to make a project of this scale and scope and quality uh happen.

And we've talked a lot at this dis about placemaking. We've talked a lot about um filling some of the voids that we have from the hospitality sector. We've talked about making sure that we capture um sales tax and and retail back into our community. And I don't think that's ever been more uh acute than after the changes that we made. And and Heather, if you don't mind maybe switching to the next slide. Um let's go on to the next one here. Um thank you.

um the replacement of the sales tax revenue that that we lost because of the loss of residential rental and the changes uh conformity with HR1 and some of the other changes that we've all grappled with uh as as a council and as a city over the last several years. Certainly we've done our part um by tightening our belt, but all along the strategy has been we have to grow our way out of this.

We have to find opportunities to that we can increase our sales tax base in the city since that's so crucial for sustaining our long-term operations and do it in a way that that doesn't negatively impact the taxpayer. Right? We we can find opportunities like this through partnerships that um that help us restore that money and then um grow and and provide our fiscal sustainability as an organization um into the future.

And that's one of the things that I am most excited about and I know you all are most excited about about this project because of the prospects for what it brings um to the city. Uh in addition to um the amenities that we've been lacking in this part of of um the city and frankly in the southeast valley in general.

But it also um is smart business sense um for the city of Mesa to have these kind of partnerships uh that can add so much to um to our bottom line to be able to sustain uh the city without having to go back to the taxpayers for for additional support when we've lost revenue. So that's really crucial. We've talked agnosium too about the the fact that we are leaking and bleeding sales tax to other communities.

They um we always say the joke that you know when when we bring in a major tournament uh or help partner with Visit Mesa and and um and thousands of people uh tens of thousands of people are coming for tournaments like MLS next and and uh other activities that are happening at the Arizona Athletic Grounds. Guess what? They're not staying in Mesa. They're not eating in Mesa. They're driving to Mesa.

They're going to the tournament at AEG and then they're getting into their car and they're going to their resort in Scottsdale or they're going to their hotel in Tempe or Phoenix.

And so we are and and we'll show some information on that um in a few slides, but again the the these are sales tax dollars and in economic activity that should be benefiting Mesa residents, should be benefiting Mesa businesses um so that they can enjoy that instead of us sending that activity back to neighboring uh communities. And so to be able to bring hospitality and retail that will capture that.

And we've when we've heard that from our residents too, they're they're tired of having to drive to other communities to have the type of uh restaurant experiences and and other activities that uh is represented here at Legacy Park and Gateway Crossing that we'll uh get into. And so as you as you start thinking about the different priorities that we have, um this checks a lot of boxes. And this and this really moves the needle dramatically uh in that regard.

Um Heather, do you mind switching too? So it's numbers don't lie, you know, and that's and that's the good part about all of this is the the proof is really in um everything that we have done to comply with state law to make sure that as we engage in a public private partnership that this way that we're understanding the true impact of this of the trade-offs that we have when we enter into those different partnerships.

you'll you'll um we'll dive into this a lot more, but again, these these numbers represent economic activity that's going to um come to our community because of this partnership. The the minimum requirements that we'll talk about in this development agreement um represent an economic impact of 7.4 billion and 545 million in sales tax revenue u or uh tax revenue, excuse me, in all different flavors of tax revenue.

that would be coming back to the city as a result of of uh this development along with se nearly 1,700 permanent jobs that would come along with that. The folks working in um the luxury hotel, the people working in the offices and the retail establishments that are that are part of the phase one of um of of this development. That's a substantial economic impact for for for any development or any series of developments.

But to have that all and to have that all into phase one of this project um is is amazing. But then Heather, as we transition to full buildout, 58.8 billion over 30 years of economic impact um to Mesa. Uh $1.4 billion of tax revenue over that period of time. 13,500 jobs created um because of this project. And that is all done through our independent economic analysis that's required under state law as we look at um entering into public private partnerships that's required.

That's not our numbers. That's our independent analysis numbers of what this project will will generate. Mr. I'm sorry. Before you get too far on the previous um slide in this one, can you give us timelines of where these figures are? Is this 30 years or what kind of timeline are we looking at? Yeah, that's yeah, that's 30 years. That's over the life of this agreement. This is a 30-year development agreement. So, uh these numbers represent the life of that agreement. So, yeah, thank you.

And then um so, so again, you you see the full buildout numbers and that Mr. Larer will talk about this in just a second too, but one of the key components that's driving um the number of permanent jobs related to the full buildout is the desperately needed class A office space.

um that we are lacking in the southeast valley and that we're lacking in this part of Mesa um particularly around such an economic hub like Gateway Airport and all the jobs and businesses that have located uh in that area.

And so that will allow um corporate campuses that will allow um BIS headquarters that that will allow all of the um efforts that Jay and her team and and others are are doing to bring um these companies whether it's semiconductor, whether it's advanced manufacturing um all all of the different industries that we've targeted are going to be looking for a home. and this is a potential home for that with the type of class A office space that that we need uh in our community.

So, so again overall um you see the numbers. We're going to dive into the specificity of of this. Um you've you've u probably looked through everything. You know, we're going to go into a lot of detail and we're glad to answer any questions that that you may have. But but again, this is why this has been an extreme focus of staff um to to make this happen. Again, we've we uh have to do right by our economic development. That's been a priority of this council. We've heard you time and time again.

And again, this project checks uh so many of the boxes of priorities that we've heard uh from all of you and the partnerships and the relationships uh with the property owner and the developer uh provide that long long-term um sustainability of this project as well. So with that, I'd love for you to hear before we dive into the details directly from the CEO of of Vestar, David Larer.

This has been his vision um as well the quality of this project project and he has been a steadfast believer in it from day one. So David would love for you to share a few comments with the council. Thank you, Scott. Appreciate it. Mayor Freeman, members of the council, uh appreciate your time this morning and uh couldn't be more excited to be here. Um, it's funny as I think back, I've been developing shopping centers for over 40 years in this valley.

And, uh, matter of fact, the first one was in the city of Mesa at Baseline in Gilbert, believe it or not, uh, in 1984, a little center there. But, um, really over that time, what I've observed is rarely does an opportunity present itself where you can do a generational project. And that is certainly what we are talking about here today with Legacy Park. It's the right location at the right time and the right project.

But probably most importantly, uh we have the right long-term partner with uh Pacific Proving with that Scott mentioned uh who's sitting over here has a long-term vision for the property. They're not here to do something quick and move on. It's not what they've had. They've owned this property for well over 20 years and want to do what's right and have a lasting impact on the community.

But the other thing that makes a project like this happen is really what the having a city that has a vision um that really wants to improve the quality of life for its residents uh and the citizens as well as develop an economic engine for generations to come. And that's again that's what this project really is all about and represents. Um you're going to hear further in the presentation about the the quality of the project.

Um but I assure you um nothing like this exists in East Valley and arguably in in the entire valley of what what we're going to develop here. the attention to detail and the precise execution of this will be something that um we you know we have never done as a company and certainly uh does not exist as I say in the valley and you've got my word that the quality level will be second to none.

Um we're fortunate on this to as well to partner on the hospitality uh component with an affiliate of Vesar called the Athens Group. They um are have uh developed high-end uh hospitality destinations worldwide. many of them award-winning uh with Ritz Carlton, Montage uh as well as Four Seasons and their their execution here on this project uh with a yet to be named flag for it uh will be of that same quality. There's no question about it.

Um, and uh, I just also I want to applaud the staff who has worked tirelessly over the last four years. Uh, and have been amazing stewards uh, uh, of the city's goals and objectives to get us to this point. Um, it's been great. But really, most of all, I just want to thank all of you for the confidence that you have shown in Vestar and the entire development team.

It does not go unnoticed and I assure you will not be disappointed at the end of the day because to execute it takes both of us as Scott says in a public private partnership to execute a vision like this and because our goal is to make sure this is the crown jewel of the east valley. So I'm happy to answer any questions uh along the way but after we go through the presentation there's a ton of detail so I don't want to take too much of your time. Council any questions for Mr. larger.

Okay, we'll go with the pre. Thank you, David. Appreciate that. All right, who's going to lead off? Heather and Kelly. Well, good morning, Mayor, Council. Um, Legacy Park and Gateway Crossing. The project sits, as you've heard, at the center of Southeast Mesa's growth and momentum um in District 6. It is surrounded by ASU Poly, Mesa Gateway Airport, East Mark and Cadence neighborhoods and Arizona athletic grounds.

So regional context, you have um Legacy Park here uh and Gateway Crossing uh surrounded by Ellsworth, Williamsfield, SR24 um and again adjacent to the Arizona Athletic Grounds which brings in the sports tourism that we're looking to capture. Here on the right you'll see a conceptual site plan of Legacy Park and on the right a conceptual site plan of the complimentary development that we'll be talking about um which is Gateway Crossing.

So Legacy Park is creating a place that Ma Mesa has been seeking. Um, it includes retail and dining, um, hotel and event space, jobs and offices with the class A office space, a signature public space with a community lake that's open to all Mesa residences for free, and it will also include housing, and it's really creating a place where people can come and experience and spend their entire day or a night or a weekend.

The public spaces included in the project are really the heart of the destination and there's three main public spaces in the project. The boulevard which is a shaded spinded connecting the destinations across the community.

um the Legacy Link, which is a pedestrian tunnel underpass that will connect both Legacy Park to Gateway Crossing and um the Arizona Athletic Grounds and the public park with trails and seating spaces and including a defining water feature that again is open to all Mesa residences um for free. So in the design, the um developer was really conscious of creating a space that um is placemaking that we've been looking for um across the city.

So it includes shaded pedestrian routes, connections among the park. Um, again, the pedestrian underpass that will connect Gateway Crossing and Arizona Athletic Grounds so that the families that are here visiting for the uh, sports uh, facility can also make their way over to Legacy Park and spend the day while they're here and their visits. Gateway Crossing is the complimentary development and it really broadens the hospitality and retail offerings of the project.

um creates a complimentary uh destination for residences and and visitors and supports and builds momentum for Legacy Park and really offering those additional um retail and restaurant offerings that would be um available to the uh families that are visiting for uh lake or Arizona athletic grounds and gateway crossing will include two mid tier hotels um really expanding the hospitality offerings for the project.

So the minimum and private improvements the developer or that the developers required to deliver um and these are owned and controlled by the developer and they're required by the development agreement that we will be talking about. So, the minimum um luxury hotel will include 500 rooms, 2255,000 square feet of commercial center, 300 multifamily homes, and 120 ft of that class A office space.

And over at Gateway Crossing, it'll include two midscale um hotels with 190 rooms total, 140 square feet of largecale retail um and 200 or 22,000 ft of general retail and 6,000 ft of restaurant space. And these are just the minimum improvements required by the development agreement. So, of those minimum improvements, we have the luxury hotel, which is a full-ervice uh luxury lifestyle resort hotel that David had spoke about earlier.

Again, the minimum um is 500 rooms and a brand equal to or exceeding STR market price segment for a luxury hotel. Um STR is the industry standard that defines the um designations for hotels. So of the uh luxury hotels per STR we have uh some of the examples are JW Marriott, Fairmont and the Grand Hyatt.

Um the deal points that we also came to in the development agreement include up to four city sponsored events annually and participation in a hotel room blocks for up to four major events annually where the city um is a host sponsor city for large major events that can be happening across the valley.

So Mesa's um you heard this from Scott earlier, we are leaking our our hotels um stays and so we have visitors that are coming to Mesa, but they are leaving and spending their time in in other cities around the valley. And so that's really some that's lost revenues that we could be achieving if we had the right hotel mix here in Mesa. Um, as you can see, we only have 3.3% of uh luxury hotel or upper scale hotels that are available.

Um, and that's in comparison to almost 30% across the Phoenix metro valley. Now, there's there's a lot of numbers on this that you all have probably seen from Visit Mesa that really talks about, you know, some of the challenges that we have in this in this market and we're starting to make strides, right? There's other also on the agenda is the new hotel at Canon Beach which is which is really important. We see at um at at power in the the 202 as part of the Gallery Park development.

There's another um um hotel stock coming online which is really important because we need all of the above frankly on this. This is this represents um this would represent one of the largest hotels in the state. Uh and uh to have a resort hotel of this caliber is something that we're still not seeing in other parts of the pipeline that we're talking about.

So, this definitely helps meet a need that has been identified for a long time as far as um the ability to sustain these visitors in Mesa and not have them staying and spending their money in in other communities but keeping them in Mesa. So, the these numbers are very speak for themselves as we talk about, you know, the number of people who are staying outside of Mesa and and then um our hotel inventory and in in some of the categories that consumers are looking for.

Well, along with that, we have the business uh people that come to Mesa, too, that are not staying in Mesa. And this is important that we have these assets here in our community because as Mesa Gateway Airport grows, there'll be a lot of business activity there.

It also gives us an opportunity for event space that people can travel to for conventions, especially with the the rooms that the large luxury hotel will offer and the um surrounding expanded hospitality um of the two additional hotels and what we're seeing the growth in the region. Thank you, council. Any questions for now? Okay. Talk about how much space How much event space? I thought you said 120,000. 80,000. 80,000 square feet of meeting room space u included as part of the resort.

Go ahead, Heather. Thank you. So moving to the next um minimum improvement, we have the commercial core center um that will have at the minimum requirement is 225,000 gross leasable space. And the developer and the city really had a a vision that was aligned when it came to the quality that we were looking for when it um for this the retail and restaurant space.

And so what we worked on is developing a framework that could help define that quality moving forward to ensure that um the city of Mesa and the residents receive uh what what they've been promised. So um to define that quality um the establishment needs to operate at one of the defined benchmark cities that we'll get to.

Um, and in the case of an emerging or new concept that might not be at one of those locations, we have a uh an option for the city manager and the developer representative to meet and discuss those concepts to see if they fit the the retail requirements and quality that we're looking for. And then those requirements need to be held for 15 years in order for the um reimbursement to be given to the developer.

So those benchmark centers that are outlined in the development agreement include uh two properties in Scottsdale, Kierland Commons and the Scottsdale Quarter. Um Legacy West in Texas, um Avalon in Georgia. uh the domain the north side in Austin, Texas, Santana in San Jose, and downtown Summerland in Las Vegas. And these are some of the brands that are represented at those benchmark locations.

So, what we've talked about so far are the minimum improvements for the the development agreement, but the developer's vision really uh expands when they get to full buildout with 400,000 square ft of restaurant, retail, and fitness space. Um, the luxury resort uh up to 600 rooms. Um, multifamily homes, 22 uh approximately 2200 multif family room homes.

um an additional uh 150 room boutique hotel or hotel expansion, um structured parking spaces, and the uh 20 acre urban park at Gateway Crossing, the um complimentary retail and hospitality uh destination that is uh adjacent to the property. Um, at full buildout, they're looking at 160,000 square ft for that large retail box store. Um, 190 uh midscale hotel rooms, the 22,000 square feet for general retail and 6,000 for for restaurant.

And Gateway Crossing really completes the broader destination and supports and builds momentum for Legacy Park, including the connection to the Arizona athletic grounds to capture that the visitors that are are um at that location. So, I'll turn it over to Kelly to talk about the um project deal points and the agreement in more detail. Hi, mayor and council members. Good morning. So, I'm going to speak a little bit about the different project deal points that we have today.

They're outlined in the slide that's in front of you, but just to give a brief overview, we're going to talk about those minimum required private and public improvements that are under the development agreement, the required construction deadlines that the developer must meet. We're going to identify what are reimbursible and non-reimburseable improvements.

We're going to go through the maintenance agreement, which is something that's special about this particular deal that we have not seen before. We'll also cover what that reimbursement is going to where that reimbursement is going to come from. So, from construction sales tax, retail sales tax, and transient lodging. And then also, as an item that isn't covered specifically today, but is item 7E on your agenda for Monday night.

Um, we also have a special taxing districts that's that is related to this particular project known as a theme park district. There's more information on that particular element of the deal in your council report for Monday night, but I'm happy to answer any questions on that. Uh, the focus of our presentation today though is going to be on the development agreement.

So, one of the things I would really like to emphasize under this is that the this is called a retail sales tax incentive agreement. That's the title that the state statute gives it. But what we are doing under this agreement is reimbursing for public infrastructure. And we're reimbursing for public infrastructure based on taxes that are collected on site.

So these this infrastructure is being reimbured from funds not from outside of the project, but from actually that are generated from Gateway Crossing and Legacy Park. Um I would point out that the property is currently located outside of the jurisdiction of Mesa. for Monday night, you have an ordinance that's available for council's approval in order to bring it within Mesa for an annexation, but right now it's not generating any city sales tax revenue. So, I would point that out.

Um, in terms of the eligible public in improvements, they're listed on the screen in front of you, but to briefly go over them, first is public infrastructure. This is utility and public ride-of-way improvements. We also have that pedestrian tunnel, uh, the legacy link that Heather had referred to earlier. that would be a link between Gateway Crossing, the actual legacy park site and the Arizona athletic grounds.

We also have the park and that's the construction of the park and the lake that is a public recreation area. And finally, there's some additional park parking, that's a a mouthful, parking that will be available as a part of the public infrastructure reimbursement. Now, what the city tax dollars will not pay for, we're not paying for private development.

So the reimbursement will not go towards any of those private minimum improvements or any additional private minimum improvements where or any additional private improvements that would be for the full buildout. It does not go to private infrastructure, private streets, sidewalks, landscaping. Um it also doesn't go to internal costs and project management costs that would be attributable to the project that the developer would incur.

One of the things I would also point out that it specifically does not reimburse for, it's not reimbursing for the wells, the pumps, the water lines, the water, or any water that the developer is required to obtain in order to have that water feature in the middle of the park. So, the city will not be paying for any of that. And I'm going to touch on the lake a little bit more here in just a minute. The unique part of this particular deal is the developer's maintenance responsibility.

So, this is not something that we see very often and you'll see as an exhibit to the development agreement is a rather extensive maintenance agreement that the developer has agreed to enter into with the city. Now, included in those public improvements that are required for the developer to build are a pedestrian tunnel. So, that's the the legacy link, the public park and community lake, the arterial road landscaping, and the nonarterial roads.

Those would all be items that when they're normally public infrastructure, the city is required to pay for. Under the maintenance agreement, I'm sorry, that the city would be required to maintain. Under the maintenance agreement, the developer and the owner are required to do the maintenance at no cost to the city. So, this is not included in the public infrastructure reimbursement. It's also under the development agreement in perpetuity. In perpetuity in Arizona means 499 years.

So we will be getting free maintenance of all of those which would include capital improvements and repair um under this particular development agreement. So in terms of the public park requirements, so this is going to relate to the lake as well. So one of the first things I would point out is that the public park is going to be the the green space area is going to be approximately 10 acres. The development agreement requires that the community lake cannot be larger than 10 acres.

For reference point, Tempe Town Lake is 220 uh acres. The closest park to the closest lake that is uh to Mesa that we could find was the Kuanas Park lake and that one is 13 approximately 13 acres. So those are both of course much larger than what this would be. For reference point, the Chapperel Lake at Chapperel Park in Scottsdale is approximately 10 acres to give a reference point for size. And that lake is uh 22 times smaller than what Tempe Town Lake is.

just to give a reference point for how large they're we're uh limiting this lake to being. It's also going to be required to be an active community lake. So, there's going to be kayaking and paddle boarding available. The developers are required to maintain the lake to a certain level of uh water quality. It's called partial body contact and that would allow for the lake to be able to be utilized for the community for a variety of recreational uses.

Um again this is being constructed by the developers as a part of a public improvement that the city would ultimately make obtain ownership for. I would point out we are reimbursing for certain elements of the infrastructure of this particular part of this particular lake but the city is not reimbursing for the actual cost of the land that goes with this. So the 20 some odd acres that would go with the park and the lake the city is getting for free.

So I think that's important to point out that that's not a part of the reimbursement. Now, one of the elements that I Oh, actually interrupt. I'm afraid this presentation covers so much. Yeah. Um, who has covers the liability for the parks for any incidents that may occur? Is that under the city umbrella or or the developer? Uh, mayor, council member Dove.

So, that would normally be that the case, but under the development agreement and the maintenance agreement, the city requires broad form indemnity and insurance of both the developer and the owners in order to cover those issues. Okay. Thank you. as to the water supply. So, it is 100% the developer's responsibility and cost to bring the water that is necessary for the lake. It is not going to be connected to the city service system in order to fill that lake.

I think we should emphasize that what the developer is going to have to do is obtain type two groundwater rights as well as pay for those I'm sorry in paying for those groundwater rights they're also going to have to pay for the construction of the well in order to uh draw that water into the lake. That water will also feed the landscaping for the park. So again the water that is going to be feeding the lake and the park landscaping is not connected to the city service system.

Um question oh yes if I may. uh this might be a good time to expand a bit on what type two groundwater rights are. Not a not a big explanation, but just a a little encapsulation. Okay. So, I I will I will let an expert on that speak to that. Good morning, Mayor. Uh Council Member Adams, Joe Judice, water resources director. Um, so in in a general sense, type 2 water rights were established when the 1980 Groundwater Management Act was established.

They are uh tied to the Phoenix Active Management Area, at least in our area. There's type two rights in different parts of the state of Arizona depending on what active management area you were in. These are groundwater protection rights. So, these were essentially grandfathered uses of groundwater that are a set amount. Um, can they're kind of tied to the owner. So, there's other types of water rights that are tied to the land. This particular type of right is tied to the owner.

So, they can be sold or leased. Um, but there's they're in limited supply. So, and they will only be applicable in the Phoenix Active Management Area. So, so basically what that means is if you own the rights um as you said, you can sell them, you can determine how to use that water. Um any restrictions there? Um there's some complexity in the definition because they're they're non-errigation rights, but the way irrigation is defined in the statute.

This this use would qualify for a type two right. Let me just put it that way. That's the Okay. My my my interpretation of the statute is that this use would qualify for a type two water right use. Correct. Well, let's leave it there. Let's not call the lawyers in. So, thank you, Joe. Who owns the water then? Well, presumably in this case, the developer or the responsible party would be acquiring that right either through purchase or lease. I I don't know how it's structured.

Yeah, you said it's not with the the land. You know, the water isn't associated with the land and so the developer is buying the water rights and who holds those rights or that wa the right to that water. So mayor and council, the developer will purchase the rights and and then be able to to draw the water out of the well that they'll they'll drill. And so and these are the type of rights that u you know that are going to get purchased and used throughout Phoenix.

So the water is going to get people are going to buy the rights up. People are going to draw the water up. It's just a matter of where and when. Um and so the developer as and as the Kelly said, this property is currently in the county. So the property owner can drill a well and take type two water rights and develop right now in the county some other use.

Um they're going to annex into the city and they're going to use those type two water rights and the well to develop this um amazing development for the city of Mesa. You me you want good down here? Jen is still a little bit confused. I think what you're saying, right, the land owner is the one who owns the rights at the moment. Is that what you're saying? So, they're going to go mayor and council, they're going to go purchase the type two water rights. You go out on the market and you buy them.

They will go buy the water rights and then they will the developer and owners entity will will own them. Susan's done a lot of work with type two water. I thought we were trying to get the lawyers off. They all are. I apologize. I was summoned up here, but Susan Dmit with Gamage and Burnham. But in this instance, the type two water rights will be acquired and owned by the developer, a developer affiliated entity.

There are provisions in the development agreement um that if long-term something happens with the development any those rights could get transferred to the city, but they're separate from the city's water supply. So those rights will be privately owned.

So in short, we can say that currently the land owner for this large property that is in the county and will be annexed into the city owns the water rights, but the developer is going to buy those water rights and they're going to use those rights to pump the water to build the lake and water the grass. So in this in this I mean in essence in this instance the um so the the type two water rights have not been acquired yet.

a the developer and owner together, I mean, because they're jointly developing the property and the project will go acquire those type two water rights on the open market. They will hold them in an entity together. Um, got it. But they are separate from Yeah. the ownership of the land. Okay. Okay. That's very helpful. It is complicated. And and that and that's the point Jim was making a moment ago is that this is sold on the open market.

And so if not by this developer in this city, it will be by another developer in another city. So that that water is going to be utilized for type two eligible activities. and um you know whether that's an industrial project on the west side or or whatever it may be in the uh Phoenix Active Management Area uh it it will be it will be purchased by someone at some point. So could we think of it just for simple context because I know the general public is also watching this.

This is almost like and correct me if I'm wrong. Water's going out on eBay and we can bid on it. It's not that simple. Yes. I'm saying super simplified though. It's available. It's on Facebook Marketplace. It's wherever it is. But can I get it at Nellis? But but yes, they are they are available on the open market. Okay, great. And anyone can purchase land owner are going to try and purchase and Right.

And they are working, you know, there's a there's a brokerage system out there for these type water rights. And so we're working with a broker. We will acquire those rights and independently hold them. But they're completely distinct and separate from the city's water portfolio because of the type of rights that they are.

Any other manufacturer, any other business that works in that that Phoenix active management area could take that water, pump it, and truck it all the way out to Tison if they wanted to. They can move it around. Is that right? It is. These type two water rights can be used anywhere within the Phoenix Active Management Area. So they could be used in Buckeye, they could be used in Peoria, they could be used in Mesa.

Um, and you know, in this instance, the economic impact that is getting generated from the use of that water, I we think is a far outweighs, you know, if this were going to go to just a general industrial use or something like that. Are there stipulations on the type of use of the water in um not at the like at the at the state level? Um, no. other than a city cannot fold type two rights into their water portfolio.

Um, in this instance, the water is specifically designated to use for the the park and the lake as a part of this project. And and if I may, um, just not that I didn't mind the fun we had with the eBay conversation, I think it's important to note these are regulated by the state. These are limited. these there's not like a new supply of type two water rights. The these are very limited. Um you know the developer needs to find a willing seller in the in a market. It's a it's a limited market.

Um so I just think it's important to distinguish that. I I don't want there to be an impression as if you know water is just readily available and these are very controlled by the state.

uh these are a very valuable uh right that exists as part of the when the groundwater management act was established and the groundwater management act was established to protect our groundwater supplies and these are were grandfathered at that time as a very specific entitled supply but they are um you know so it could be someone owns this right in some other part of Maricopa or the Phoenix active management area and they're willing to sell that right.

It doesn't belong to the specific land necessarily where this project is being developed. That owner that developer needs to go acquire these rights. The key here is that the city of Mesa is not providing any water from its own portfolio of water for the park or for the lake. I'm asking the drill down questions just to help hopefully preempt some of the questions that we're going to get as council members around where's the water coming from? Why did you say yes or no to it?

What is it being used for? How does this work? Because there, you know, we obviously are all being bombarded by the water crisis messaging and we have this beautiful development which we see the incredible economic impact of and the way that we'll create community spaces. I mean, I've seen overwhelming support for this project coming from the general public.

But the one caveat question that they ask is, "Help me understand the water situation." Because if you don't explain this, it just looks like we're just pumping up water and we're like, "Yeah, we're just going to build a lake. Don't worry about it." So, I mean, I don't want them to think that that's the situation at hand. They need to understand where the water comes from, who owns it, how it's acquired, how it's going to be used based on that acquisition, what are the rules around that.

And it's complicated information, I think, for the general public to go dig in and find. So, if we can make it a little bit simple for them to just understand the basics, it will it will smooth over some of the questions that we have to answer after we have this meeting.

Council member Taylor, if this is also helpful, since the passage of the groundwater management act, which was designed to protect groundwater in the Phoenix Active Management Area, we've seen recovery of our groundwater supplies. Our aquifers have um restored. I I you know whether they're fully restored but have restored from the times where they had been pumped down in in the 80s.

So it's been a very very effective regulation that has really positioned Arizona well and um has strengthened our aquifer portfolios. And so a reminder these rights already exist. It's not creating new water you know draw from the ground. It already exists as a right. Thank you. Yeah, Chris Hasser, our wonderful friend who retired, told me that too. He was very encouraging on the restoration and the recharging. Okay, thank you so much.

I appreciate you answering the backto-back rapid fire questions and the eBay situation. I mean, it was just the easiest way I can think of. Any other questions on water right now? If not, we'll move with the presentation. Miss Goforth, did you get your question answered? Okay. Right. Thank you, Kelly. Where are we at? Mayor, council members. So, one of the things that we spoken about the DA requires that there are certain deadlines that must be met by but first you must turn the microphone on.

Um one of the things that the development agreement requires is that there are certain deadlines that the developer and the owner who are working in conjunction have to meet in order for them to be eligible for the reimbursement that's available under the development agreement. So in front of you are those three major deadlines.

The first deadline is that they must begin construction of the public improvements and those minimum private improvements that Heather went over by December, the end of December of 2029. They have to complete construction of those same improvements by the end of December of 2034. And then the luxury hotel has to be open for business by the end of December of 2035. But one of the things I would emphasize is the developer is anticipating much earlier delivery.

This is just the construction schedule that must be met in order to qualify for the reimbursement. So, this is a schedule that's set farther out, but we're going to have the developer come up and talk about what their anticipated deadlines actually are. Good morning. Hello, mayor, city council members, city staff. Thank you so much for hosting us today. As David mentioned, we are extremely excited to finally be here and share this exciting project with you in the community.

My name is Ryan Ash, senior vice president of development at Vestar. And um and as Kelly just mentioned and outlined, those were the outside dates of the development um as dictated by the development agreement um for us to bring this project to fruition. So that there's no confusion, I wanted to take a minute and share with you our estimated development timeline and express our desire and dedication to bring this project to the M community for their enjoyment as soon as possible.

Um, one of the best aspects of the proposal that we are sharing with you today is that we are um dedicated and have agreed to bring what we deem the tenderloin of the project as part of phase one. This phase one includes all the public infrastructure, traffic improvements, pedestrian walkways, public amenities, lifestyle retail center with elevated brands, chef-driven restaurants, and of course the resort hotel, all in phase one.

Now, shown here, um, our goal is to break ground in January 2028, focusing first on all the public infrastructure, traffic improvements, and public amenities. We would then break ground on the vertical construction aka the buildings in June of 2028 which would then position us for a grand opening of phase 1 in October of 2029. Now phase one as outlined here in the exhibit shown is really going to be the prerequisite for us to then attract some of the future phases of the development.

Those fav phases are really focused on what the city manager had had brought up as the corporate campus development that's so desperately needed in the east valley with the confluence of the expansion of the ASU polytechnic campus developing the future talent of our country in addition to the long-standing uh relationship Mesa has with defense contractors.

We feel like this project is perfectly positioned uh to attract some of those corporate campus relocations um that we see over the next 20 years. Whether that's the tech companies coming out of California, Google, Meta, etc. or Northrup, German Gman and Loheed, we think this project will attract those corporate campuses. Um, and we have developed the project as such.

Now, in order to achieve these ambitious goals, we and uh what seems to be a small army of consultants in conjunction with the city staff will be working tirelessly over the next few months um to bring this world-class destination to the city of Mesa. Uh, with that said, I will pass it back over to Kelly who will go and um present some more of the project details with you. Ryan, we have a question for you.

Just a quick question because I know this is going to be important to the community around it. Do those public improvements include improvements to Williamsfield Road and the access points to both a site? Yes, Councilman Summers, that is a priority of ours. We understand there's existing traffic concerns and so we will be building out all of Ellsworth, all of East Williamsfield and building the CAD pedestrian connectivity to AAG all day one.

They're going to hate the traffic, but they're going to love it when it's done. They'll probably throw a party. It's it's a mess right now. And and mayor and council, you can take note of uh October 29 for for the grand opening. We're excited that we'll catch the holiday retail season u that year as well. So, we love to see that opening date. Okay, we have another question on the maybe on the city side. Is are we also I know the 24 needs work as well and I think Chrisman as well.

Are we are we also phasing in working with ADOT and and other parts to um mirror this development because it's going to be a mess uh if if we don't look at these these uh areas. uh just experience-wise going the last four years, I think it just gets bottle like the bottleneck is is incredible. Um and so a plan with a a seems like they're just ramping up on events as well.

So, I think a plan on on on both the traffic and and doing a better job on that and then just access points um in both what you all doing, what you mentioned, but also with the 24 and our our city um streets is going to be imperative because I do feel additional to the water piece, like traffic is the other main piece and how we move people there is going to be the success or the failure of just the impact of that area because it's it's uh it's a lot of people and it's a lot of people right now you know and like AG is going to have like these major like MLS next tournament it has like a 100,000 people that come in in like a like two weekends and so you're talking about a 100,000 people visitors in that area that is just both it's a boon for us that we need to capture but also the traffic is just going to be in uh incredible to kind of figure out along the way as you're building this you know if this passes and and ensuring that we move people um we move people around and I think a a has to do a better job as well and to try to move that so because of the proximity of this development men.

So, working in conjunction with them um is going to be important. Eric, do we have a traffic problem in District 6? Only in District 6. Good. Good morning, mayor, council members. Eric Gadarian, the transportation director. Uh there were there were a lot of questions, so I'm going to try to get to them.

Um, I think I I don't think some of these dates by Vestar, I haven't had a conversation with them, are happening by accident because um, State Route 24, as you know, ADOT is is currently in the process of of um, acquiring a contractor to build out SR24. The current uh, opening date for that project is the beginning of 2029. That's that's the latest that that we've heard. So that would coincide very well with with with the opening of of these projects here.

Um yes, we know traffic is an issue today. Traffic will probably be an issue to tomorrow. Just but that's part of the reason why um this development here makes sense, right? Is there there there's a lot of people passing by already and and hopefully more in the future. Um we are currently working on on the the traffic plans. Um, we we know that that phase one can work.

Uh, we also know that we have to work with with ADOT and and so the developer and us will be working with ADOT to talk about the interchanges at at Ellsworth and Williamsfield to make sure that they work all the way into the future. Um, so all of that is being planned. Um, I'm I'm grateful to see the the pedestrian connection between Legacy Park and Arizona Athletic Grounds.

Um, you know, there there's some other conversations that that are happening to to hopefully help with access to Arizona athletic grounds that that'll come to fruition here. Um, also, so I I think we recognize it's an issue. Um, and but we're we're trying to make it as successful as we can. Eric, I just think if we work with ADOT, particularly on this segment of the 24 that gets to Williamsfield Road and then the other project is the Chrisman underpass.

So, if those things move along quickly, then I think we'll be able to float traffic through here as as it opens up. Sorry, Vice Mayor. I I forgot to mention that as part of the SR24 project, Krisman Road will um have a the Chrisman Road will I can't remember if it goes over or under SR24. Um and we'll have a connection down to POS. We have development agreements in in place for for the rest of Chrisman Road to be built. At that time, we should have Ellsworth will be open.

Ray Road's going to be open by the end of hopefully November, but it's uh booked through December. So, we'll see some improvements already in place before this construction starts. But it's it's going to there's still a lot of road work to do out there. Eric and I, poor Eric gave me a cell phone number and we text all the time. He's regretting that decision, but it is what it is. Thanks, Eric. Thank you. Okay. Thank you, Ryan.

Um, I did have a question for the developer, but I know Council Member Adams needs to leave shortly, so I wanted to give some time to Don't you have to leave at 8:30? I do. I do. Um, no, please go ahead. I'm I'm good. Okay. Thank you. So, um, there's multiple um partitions of the development, whether it be office space or multif family or retail or whatever. Are you holding all those properties or are you're developing all the properties, right?

And then will they be sold or what is the eventual ownership of the development you know these little pieces all over? Sure. So it it's a very large development. It's over 200 acres. Um what we've committed here today is to develop phase one. So it will be phase one the various components whether it's the resort hotel or the lifestyle retail or the multif family.

um we will bring in expert partners to help us with those specialties whether it's Athens Group that David had mentioned before or uh someone to help us with the apartments. They'll all be separate entities but there will be some um congruity with um where uh the underlying investor is who is us and the land owner.

When we are talking about the corporate campuses down the uh down the road, whether that's after phase one, um if someone like Google were to come in and want to build a corporate headquarters, they typically like to build it themselves. Um they have very specific needs and so they will oftent times look to purchase that parcel and then develop it on their own.

Um having said that there are a myriad of um constraints and protections in place that uh your city staff and attorneys have put uh put in place where us as Vasar as the master developer will have a lot of discretion in terms of approving quality and making sure that the office campuses or the future multif family comport to our standards um to make it a uh congruent development um so it's not look doesn't look like it's peacem or sold off to pads or something like that. Okay.

So, um and it'll the development agreement is an overarching quality control as far as when we talk about um amenities and lighting and shade and all these things will be retained throughout.

I just can't say just we have the common areas but we need that con you know continuous quality and and consistent development for the entire area to create place and we are insured that it's not going to be just well that is different from that and has that feeling because of the way they develop and the amenities around the outside and inside. Yeah, Council Member Buff, we we completely agree and we're extremely sensitive to that.

So, even beyond what we have agreed to with the city and I can defer to Mary who can actually speak about the community plan which will be uh from the city's perspective the controlling document on making sure quality standards are met. But beyond that, Besar will be imposing declarations and CCNRs across the entire 200 acres to make sure that we have the discretion of controlling that quality for the next 100 and plus years. Okay.

And then we have that governing document of our development agreement to ensure that that h lasts over time. Council member Duff, if I could add to that, the community plan that Ryan was speaking of that Mary again can speak to. That's item, I believe, number 7C that would be up for approval as a part of the zoning that's related to Legacy Park. Okay. So, we're going to talk just about the development, the tax incentive right now. Yeah.

Mayor and council member Duff, I just want to it's the it's really the community plan that gives sort of the continuity between the different phases in the de development. The development agreement as far as as far as quality really focuses on that particular on the that first phase and the quality of that and so as far as continuity, you would look to the community plan. Okay.

It's this is this has been a refreshing discussion though I have to say and I kudos to David and and Ryan and the whole team at Vestar. We're we're used to, you know, once bitten, twice shy, right? Uh promises from developers of the past about quality and then not delivering. Um so we've embedded a lot of protections in that, but we've had a healthy debate where Vesar doesn't think our standards are high enough and we don't and and and then we so so they have a great vision for this.

we have back stops to ensure that that vision will be adhered to. But um that that's why even some of the obligations that were that Kelly mentioned and Heather mentioned earlier about um their willingness um to take on the maintenance of landscaping and other things that they want heightened landscaping. They want it to their standards that they believe is higher than our standards. Probably is higher than our st minimum standards on that.

So, um, that that's it's it's been really refreshing to have a partner in this that that buys into the vision that city council has set out about the walkability, the placemaking, uh, the feel, the vibe of of the area, and they are they're they're driving that. They're we're not pulling them along. They're they're leading the the charge on that quality. Yeah.

I've I've read over the documents on development standards and I think I I I know I shared with you and planning another I I think our development standards are minimal and not really urban or optimal urban environment uh standards.

So, I just I know I guess we were talking about the um incentives right now, but at some point I wanted to bring up those things that I had emailed to everybody last week to make sure there's a consideration for that because our minimum development standards are not hitting the mark in my opinion. So, thank you.

I mean, um, you know, mayor, if it, Mary, this might be a good time, though, while Ryan's, um, already here, you could you could touch on, um, some of, um, council member Duff's questions that related to, um, design and what's included in the community plan and what kind of those safeguards are to help ensure this um, mixeduse nature of this project that Vestar has presented. Uh, thank you, Scott.

Um, mayor, council, uh, council member Duff, we did receive your questions and and fair points that that you had pointed out as it related to shading. I think there there were, uh, questions about glazing, um, especially along the boulevard and the amount of windows, window space. Um, there were, uh, comments about amenities in the park, uh, bike parking, things like that. So, what we did as we were working with Ryan and his team is we really wanted to kind of set out a minimum.

So these are minimums. In working with Vestar, they've always said these are the minimums in places that will go higher in places, you know, these will be the minimums. I think um as um Scott said, Vestar really was kind of driving this. I think we were trying to give them more flexibility in a lot of places and I think Vestar really wanted to kind of hold the line. So we were they were kind of like, no, we you know, we we kind of want to hold these minimums.

So I think that in in working with them in putting these minimums together, I think that we we feel comfortable from the planning perspective um that we will get the the quality that we're expecting in terms of the connectivity, the placem, the kind of the function of of how these different places and these different amenities are working. And um I I think that at this point working with Vestar, we we do have that level of comfort.

I can go through each individually if you'd like or Ryan can answer any specific questions you may have on some of those those items if you'd like. I don't know how detailed you want to get because we are talking about the development agreement. Okay. Um yeah, it would it take some time to go in. That's why I emailed it last week. This is a a high-end development. Excuse me. And has the potential to be phenomenal. Our our minimums don't ensure phenomenal. They ensure minimally acceptable.

If we can keep the quality of this development and these development standards as far as the amenity side of it and the the spaces and lighting and parking, you know, all these, it'll hit that mark, but we're leaving that open. and we've seen a lot of developments that don't hit the mark. No, this is not about best. This is about just in general. Um, so I would like at minimum for these considerations. They're urban.

You know, it's hard to get a lot of urban, you know, and shade and and the amenity here in this desert heat, but because we're in this desert heat, we need to make it extremely walkable to to be extremely successful. And so I would like these to be shared with a developer. I don't think we're at a point that we're going to be revising this thing. It's too late in the game, but I think they should be considerations. Thank you, Mayor. Council member Duff, if I can.

We did share them with with Ryan. So Ryan does have your comments. Um we foroted that to him after we received your email and we as staff went back through them also. So um they Ryan does have them.

he is aware of what your concerns were and and mayor council member Duff and Ryan feel free to speak to this if if you'd like but I I thought your questions were point on and I I do think it really represents the vision that best articulated about the walkability uh the lifestyle center notion of activated public spaces within um within that the the boulevard the main retail component being a very u pedestrianfriendly activated uh area that um you know you would really see people outside enjoying um the environment.

Um I mean those are all the features. I know we've talked about that in other developments around the city too that we'd like to see, you know, developers do more of that because that's what consumers um are asking for. And I think that's right in line with the vision that Bestar has of how they would activate this space and make it um a really high quality um development and experience for those uh visiting the retail and other components of this. Yeah, I agree.

I mean any other city if you were going to do development standards in an urban environment you wanted to be highly lockable you would have a 75% minimum shade factor that's just but in the desert for whatever reason because shade is very hard to get we accept 50% but it is the one place in the world that we need shade in order to be comfortable outside on a warm day as we all know if you find shade it seems all bearable, but if you don't, you don't move.

You know, don't navigate outside of the sh the shade. That's just one example of of the many things, but um because of our environment and wanting to be highly walkable and highly urban, our standards are below that of other cities who have the luxury of, you know, especially on shade and then all the other things are brought up and become more walkable.

And we seem to again and again lack and walkability in the desert environment and you know the placement of the cars against people things like that all these things make a difference and we can hit that it would be a phenomenal development because most don't in our Phoenix area thank you Mr. Radio Mr. already ask just a you know qu just a comment and question to Ryan and the team at Veser.

I'm assuming that you know based on the quality of development then the resort that you're looking to add the pedestrian tunnel I'm assuming like it is a it is a urban type environment that you're trying to build and so the assumption is that you will create the amenities that match those pieces right and so um I think a saying that someone told me is like the minimum should not be the maximum and I'm assuming that the minimum is not going to be the maximum here based on the type of amenities that you're trying to build and then uh you know set out for so that people can travel especially to again a a and kind of the areas there.

So uh that's you know can you talk a little bit more of some of that piece? Right. So definitely Councilman Heredia and um Council Member Duff, uh thank you very much for for all your comments on the project. And I will say we did have a a moment uh to review some of your considerations that you provided. Um as it stands right now, our construction documents would probably meet every single one of your considerations.

Um to speak to the minimums that are in the community plan, we like to underpromise and overd deliver. Um I understand that uh the desire to have more protections. Um, but maybe I can get into some of the specifics of why the minimums are set the way they are. And really it uh the way they're written is because of the lifestyle retail center. Um, the lifestyle retail center, if you can think of Kirland Commons or Scottsdale Quarter, every tenant likes to have their unique branding, right?

We can all think of a certain technology company that wants 100% glazing and then they also don't require any or allow any trees to be in front of their store. Um, that would we would then run into an issue with the shade, right? So that's why we have a lower standard than what we would like to implement across the entire project. It gives us that protection.

So when we go after those worldclass retailers that are the 800 lb gorilla, right, they they want what they want, they require it, and if we can't meet it because we're running into certain prohibitions in our zoning code, that's what we didn't want to do. Um so we do think um the high quality of the project will meet probably every uh want and need or consideration that that anyone would want of a world-class destination.

Um but uh the minimums definitely are not what we're we're trying to provide. Mr. Ler, I just might add to that how we think about a project like this is we really start at the consumer level and the shopper. What experience do they want? what environment do they want to be in? What retailers do they want to see? And work down from there. And that's why it it's almost a self-p policing thing in the sense that um we want that upscale shopper. We want that leisurely shopper.

We want that family to come and spend the afternoon. Clearly, we understand that they there needs to be a certain level of amenities, shade, all the things that make sense that I share 100% exactly what you're saying in terms of of the shade. Uh, as an as a specific example, but that's where we start and that's how we design a project from the very beginning and really work down from there.

And as Ryan says, there's certain handcuffs put on us by certain retailers like Apple an Apple store as an example. You do not see trees in front of an Apple store. We'd all love to have an Apple store. That's what we're going to go after. So, that's why the minimums are in there. I assure you, as Ryan said, um well, I know we will exceed every one of the minimums um and meet the standards you requested. Uh because personally, actually, we just had a meeting yesterday.

We are at 75% shade uh throughout uh the project. There's a couple areas we can't be, but we are because it's a big component of ours. Matter of fact, across the street on Gateway Crossing, which is more the traditional shopping center that Ashley and Mario remember this, we added trees in the parking lot specifically against your code so we could get further shading in the parking lot and to add diamonds in there as an example.

Um, some city codes are antiquated in the way those things are designed, but we're huge believers in. We're shoppers. I love to park in the shade. Uh, as an example, you know, you drive around looking or you drive around looking for it. Um, but some city codes aren't up to speed. So, I I applaud your your u questions, you know, of the staff to to look at the code, but you've got our assurance. This is exactly what we're going after.

So, okay, I promise the walkability from those hotels in the gateway crossing to be able to have the the people to be able to cross over there and have a walkable path without having to cross through parking lots to get a pathway to get over to Legacy Park. Is it considered? Anyway, last word promise. No, no. Yeah, for sure. It's a great question.

And we have uh we have separate shaded walkways throughout Gateway Crossing going to the tunnel, which is the reason we're spending several million dollars to do the the tunnel under Williamsfield Road as opposed to doing a traditional across the street like you see uh from uh our Scottsdale corridor project that we have going to Keeland on Scotsdale Road. You got to cross across the street in that dangerous deal.

We didn't want that and that's why we're again we're spending several million dollars to build a really nice tunnel. Uh so it's just it's ease and uh I always like to say my team hears me say it all the time. I want the least amount of friction for the shopper as possible from the moment they step on our property. They know they're in a special place and we engage their sense every one of their senses from the moment we get there and that's what makes a successful project to do that.

So because at the end of the day it's all about the consumer. Sorry, Miss Goforth. Did you Miss Taylor, in the community plan, which I've been scanning over rapidly, is that who who determines the aesthetics? Because the number one complaint I hear from residents, and I think I've drilled this home multiple times, no one wants to shop in boxes on boxes with more boxes on top of those boxes and some windows in a box. It looks cheap. It does not say luxury.

So when we're ar when we're looking at the architectural designs, they need to reflect the beauty of nature, the beauty of a common area where we look outside and we're like, "Wow, look at that tree. Look at that flower. Look at that cloud. It has curvature. It has square angles. Whatever it is, everybody complains about the same thing when I go out and I talk to legislative districts. I go to um meetings for town halls. I go to home HOA meetings. Why are they building this thing?

It's just boxes. It's so ugly." And I don't mean to be very forthcoming in this manner, but before you break ground, please take that exceedingly seriously because people eat with their eyes. I can't say it enough. The first thing they decide is, do I want to go there based on what it looks like? It doesn't even have to matter what's inside of it. Does it look good? If it looks good, they'll go they'll shop at a cheap store because it's pretty.

They'll avoid a high-end retailer because it's ugly. So, just I I just want to know is that in the community plan where who is controlling the architectural style? Um, Mayor Freeman, uh, Council Member Taylor, the there are architectural standards in the community plan. So, there's um architectural landscape architectural, all of these different development standards, all of the design standards in the plan.

the applicant and and Vesar will have to follow those uh design standards and guidelines. They do have flexibility in them. So there's not a this is the architectural style. So again, you're going to get retailers who are going to want different architectural style so that we don't kind of get a monolithic kind of look along the entire say the boulevard area. They want to have some variety in there.

And so those design standards have been built with that flexibility to allow those different retailers to come in, the different restaurants to come in to bring in their own style and their own actually I won't even call it style. I'll call it their own aesthetic because a lot of what you're talking about is more aesthetics than it is design. So I think that that's important that that flexibility has been built into the community plan to allow that to happen.

So the the boulevard has a character to it and a feel to it. Great. I I looked at your previous developments in extensivity and I was like I see aesthetic style. I do think that design and aesthetics work together. Architectural design is what promotes a certain aesthetic and you know we're doing all of this wonderful discussion around the tax incentives and the development itself.

But the one thing that I'm concerned about is that would be all good and gravy and beautiful and amazing if it works out for us financially and we all agree to it. But if it doesn't look good, it was all in vain. It was all in vain. Okay, mayor and council, if I could just talking about the development agreement, now we're in architectural style. So, I just wanted to know who the community plans, but I thought I'd drive home my point while I'm in there.

Mayor and council, I if we could go back to slide 20 for a second because I think it's um you have to look at quality in context of both the development agreement and the community plan. Um, investor should get credit to this is a provision that's in the development agreement that I I've not seen in any other development agreement.

Most development agreements say you have to build a certain number of rooms, a certain amount of square footage, and then you qualify and you get your reimbursement for public uh infrastructure. This development agreement says that you have to bring tenants of a certain quality and it identifies exact locations and they have to be tenants from that site for 15 years. How do we know we're actually going to get what the pretty pictures show? They have put it in writing.

I do not know of another development agreement that has this provision in it. It is Vesar has really agreed to this. I know Mesa has been disappointed in some other developments. Vesar has agreed to this level of quality um and put it in writing. When we put the list of the hotels on that slide, um JW Marott, Four Seasons, the other list, the last page of the development agreement has an exhibit that has a list of basically the permitted hotels.

They it will be one of those luxury high-end hotels. they have agreed to it. So as far as the exact design or how many on the shading, how do we know we're going to get that is because they have a tremendous financial. They have agreed to bring this level. This is what those those developments there on the left, those type of tenants there, that's what they have agreed in writing to bring. So it doesn't it's not you don't look at it separately.

You have to look at the development agreement and the community plan and their own financial interest. Um, I know the city has been disappointed in a few other developments. Vestar has agreed to bring this quality to this location. Thank you, Jim. All right, where did we leave off at, Kelly? Thank you, David Ryan. So, mayor, council members, in terms of the actual reimbursement for the public infrastructure, this slide outlines that and where those sources of tax come from.

So again, I would emphasize that these are taxes that are generated by the project. So legacy park and gateway crossing, but the combined reimbursement is an estimated $76.4 million on the public infrastructure plus allowable finance costs, which does include 4% interest. I will say allowable finance costs is something that the city, if we were going to build this infrastructure, is something that we would equally have to pay and is something that we took into consideration.

Um the sources for those particular taxes are transaction privilege tax and the transient lodging tax. So I'll break those out and Mike Kennington is here if we have any additional questions and he'll be coming up to talk about our next slide. But for the transaction privilege tax, there's two portions to the city's transaction privilege tax.

There is the restricted portion or dedicated portion of that tax which represents8% of the tax of the 2% and then there's the unrestricted non-dedicated portion which is 1.2%. that dedicated portion we cannot use towards this reimbursement. So that is off the table. So we're talking about the 1.2% unrestricted portion of that for the construction sales tax. The city has agreed under the development agreement to reimburse 100% of that unrestricted portion.

That represents 60% of the taxes that would be collected based upon construction that would go to the developer. 40% would go to the city. In turn, there's the retail sales tax which is a much larger bucket. And we have agreed that the reimbursement 75% would go to the developer and 25% of the unrestricted would go to the city which equals 45% of the tax generated by the site goes to the developer. 55% would go to the city. So those are the those are the breakdowns in terms of percentages.

As it pertains to the transient lodging tax, this is an additional tax that is uh taxed upon hotels. there is a 5% transient lodging tax that the city enforces. There are certain requirements under state law of how we're allowed to use that transient lodging tax. So, of that 5% tax, the first 2% would be used towards the reimbursement of the public infrastructure that we've talked about towards that 76.4 million.

Um the remaining 3% the city has agreed that we would allow the developer to create a nonprofit entity and that nonprofit entity would be provided with the taxes that are generated by the hotels on site. So the luxury hotel, the two hotels that are located at Gateway Crossing and at full buildout, the boutique hotel, they would have that opportunity to use those funds for the promotion of tourism based on an agreement with the city.

that is allowed under state law in terms of the use of those particular funds and is similar um slightly different but is similar to how we work with Visit Mesa in terms of they get a portion of our they're a nonprofit that gets a portion of our tax for the promotion of tourism. Um there is a maximum 30-year reimbursement period.

So once they've met all of those qualifications, they constructed all of those minimum improvements and they did it within the required time frame that starts the clock for this 30-year reimbursement period. The reimbursement will end the sooner of either reaching the b reimbursement cap, which is the developer's actual eligible costs, which are outlined in the development agreement, or the end of the 30-year period.

So, that is when this this time frame will end in terms of providing them with this reimbursement of taxes that are generated by the site. And I'll let I'll ask Mike to come up now. Is there a mechanism to extend that if necessary or No. Uh 30 years. No. Good morning, mayor, council members. Um, Kelly did a great job kind of making the points that I wanted to make today, but I'll uh we'll just reiterate here uh with this image.

We've talked a lot about restricted taxes, unrestricted taxes, and we wanted to show what that would look at look like, what the allocation would be like for $100 of sales tax revenue generated on the site. On the left side of the $100 bill, we see the three restricted categories. The local street sales tax, the quality of life, and the public safety. Those add up to about 40 $40 of of the $100 of sales tax revenue generated.

Then there's the portion that of the unrestricted that the city gets to keep the 25% as Kelly mentioned in the DA 75% of the non-constructed construction retail sales tax would be used to pay back the reimburse the infrastructure infrastructure and 25% of that would be retained. That's $15 in this case with the $100 in total. If you combine the restricted piece and 25% of the unrestricted, that would equal the $55 retained by the city.

And on the right hand side is the $45 used to reimburse for the public infrastructure. So to reiterate, um, out of the $100 generated on this site, $45 would be used for that public infrastructure on this site. $55 or 55% would be used to benefit the entire city. Right? And so the other point that I wanted to emphasize here as Kelly mentioned as well, this split would be good for the reimbursement period only.

After that reimbursement period, uh the entire amount would be used to generate and to benefit the city. So that's all I had. If there's any questions, be happy to answer them. This stuff I think I touched upon yesterday a little bit. How long do you anticipate that it would take based on the figures that we have on the economic analysis? Yeah, so we have get that figure. Yeah, there's a state uh state statute requires a minimum buildout.

We we estimate that payback and then we also have a full buildout, right? So for full build out it'd be sooner because there's going to be uh more retail sales tax generated on the site. For minimum it take a little longer and I guess let me ask um I mayor council member Duff so I believe when when we've run the numbers in the next slide we'll go through that a little bit and I'll talk a little bit more. The uh they they anticipate the 30 years. So that is that is the minimum.

So, and if it took as long as it possibly could. So, that includes they started at the last possible date and we started collecting tax. We started reimbursing at the last possible date. We go out that 30-year period. The nice part about the the way this project and the development agreement is structured is yes, we have those minimums, but then the developer who has spoken about this extensively is looking at this full buildout of the project.

So, we anticipate that to be a much less period which would include paying less interest over time, would be giving them less transient lodging tax overtime for the promotion of tourism. So um it it will vary depending on the level of the scale of the project of how much they build out beyond those minimum improvements but 30 years would be the maximum. Thank you. All right. Thank you Kelly. Continue on. Okay.

So for this next slide I would like to talk a little bit about the economic impact in general. And um one of the reasons that we need to focus on this today is because under state law again I've mentioned this is called a retail sales tax incentive agreement. just the type of agreement that this is. But state law requires two findings in order for the city to enter into such a development agreement.

The first finding is that the proposed tax incentive is anticipated to raise more revenue than the amount of the incentive. The second finding is in the absence of a tax incentive, the project would not locate in the city in the same time, place, and manner. Um, one of the requirements for under the state law for those the first element the proposed tax incentive is anticipated to raise more revenue is that an independent third party do an analysis to verify that finding.

So as you can see these are the numbers that were provided by that independent third-party analysis. It was done by applied economics which um they have done in the last 5 years over 200 of these types of analysis just in the state of Arizona. They also work nationwide. So, this is someone very familiar with the the economies of Arizona.

Now, the number I would I'm going to go through each column, but the number I'd ask the council to focus on the most is the number in the upper left hand for corner, which is the city's gross tax revenue. So, at minimum buildout, the estimated gross tax revenue over the period listed is $545 million. That is a number that's significantly less than the reimbursement we talked about in terms of the 76.4 4 million plus the finance costs and then the transient lodging tax.

At full buildout, just for reference point for the council, um we're looking at 1.4 billion. That is city gross tax revenue. I think it's also important to point out to the council the job impact this project could have. So again, minimum buildout, we're looking at 1,687 jobs. Um 1663 of those are direct and then 24 of those are deemed indirect and induced.

and indirect and induced in if you look at the actual analysis talks about that these are jobs that are for other businesses that benefit from the increased demand that this particular project uh creates. So as you can see that number jumps significantly at full buildout. We're talking 13,000 plus jobs. Um a lot of that is attributable to there's an additional 3 million plus square footage in class A office space. So that's where a lot of that would come from.

Finally, the last number I would point out to the council and again this is all in that economic analysis which is posted in legisar for the public to have the opportunity to read and each of the council members um the total economic output impact and that is defined as the effects of the economic stimuli or new demand for goods and services in the local economy that is created by the project is estimated over 30 years at $7.4 billion and that's just again meeting the minimums for full buildout we're looking at 58.8 8 billion is what our independent analysis was able to come up with.

So let again let's just drive home the economic impact um as Kelly's just articulated um coupled with you know what what we are what we're reimbursing for. Again $76 million is the estimate of the public infrastructure public infrastructure that will be constructed and then reimbursed and turn turned back over to the city. Um, every dime that goes to that reimbursement is created on site.

If if that's constructed, as as uh David and Ryan explained, turned over to the city as part of phase one, uh, until th until those dollars start being generated on site, then we're not we're not reimbursing until that starts. And once that starts, we'll reimburse them only for that infrastructure that's been identified until the point of time, whether it's 16 years, 24 years, up to 30 years until that's paid off. And then after that, the city will get 100% of of that revenue.

But the beneficiary again is the entire city.

um only a portion of the of the tax generated on site then will go back into the reimburseable amount but the rest of th those monies will flow to uh the other coff and benefit the general coffers of the city whether that's in our retail sales tax in the general fund whether it's secondary property tax other um whichever bucket that may be going to right now as Kelly and Jim had said earlier we're getting zero this is not even in the city it's in the county and it's not generating any kind of revenue for the city.

So to be able to have this opportunity to bring this in, have this type of economic uh impact um for the region, for the city um and then uh to be able to generate this additional um tax revenue to help sustain uh city operations into the future, I think is just as as has been stated. And I don't think it's hyperbole to say that this is a generational opportunity to have a development um like this come into Mesa.

I think Heather's going to walk through kind of the next steps on this, but I just really the numbers are are what I hope everyone's really been, you know, u pondering as you've gotten all this information, you've seen the independent economic analysis on this. Okay, Heather. Thanks, Mayor Council.

Um, so the actions that we are requesting of council on on Monday are the approval of the legacy park and gateway crossing annexations, the approval of the community plan to establish establish the zoning requirements for Legacy Park, approval of a resolution for development agreement and the required findings for the retail tax incentive. and approval of the resolution for Legacy Park theme park district for the special taxing district.

And then we also just wanted to share with you some direct quotes that you'll find in the economic analysis going over um some of the benefits uh that Legacy Park and Gateway Crossing will bring to the community. Um, so, uh, direct quotes outlining the things that Kelly and Scott have talked about this morning. Council, any more comments, thoughts? I could just share with you recent last year, I went to Kieran Commons to do some shopping because it wasn't in Mesa and it was quite the experience.

I'm sorry. I did. I spent my sales tax dollars because there was a boot store I liked at Carolyn Commons versus Mesa that doesn't have it. And I asked Mr. Cohen if he could put one in at this and he said he would. But with that said, u the shopping experience was very dynamic. A lot of the pedestrian, the walkway. The thing that I felt a little challenging was parking. Parking for everybody who comes and wants to have the experience. And then just getting out of the parking garages and things.

I I drive a big truck, David. So, it wasn't very conducive. So, uh I need surface parking. Uh with that said, you know, I I just appreciate you coming to Mesa and having this project. And and I think the word legacy park is exactly that. It's a legacy. In perpetuity, this will be known in the southeast part of the valley as just a phenomenal development.

one that needs to be there because I look at regional opportunities and some of the things I made highlight was we we know we have leakage from our other neighboring communities. We we want to put a hole in that and plug that dyke.

But uh with that being said, I just know that there's a lot of things in this development agreement a lot of people may not agree with what we're doing as a city, but I think it's very important to know that we've done everything between the development community and our city to have the appropriate development here in our city with a minimal cost uh to our residents as far as bonds and things like that. So uh this is going to be a huge thing.

legacy again having the the uh the lake it as a I mean that'll be a very dynamic park the part of the the development there the lake so I mean obviously I'm a supporter of this uh I I'd like the people to know that there are the park will be free access to the public out there as well as the community there to enjoy that and the connectivity between gateway crossings uh a a uh everything is taken in account for as well as shade structure. So I I'll leave it at that.

I know we've had a long discussion this morning. Uh Vice Mayor, do you want to summarize? Uh I'll just make a quick comment. This is a beautiful project that sits in front of us and it's something that we have been working toward for the better part of 20 years. And as the city manager has said, we've we've been let down before. Um, so as much as this is a beautiful project, I think what's more important uh is the partnership.

We got a a really good partner who has done projects like this and other parts of the valley, other states. And that's what gives me the most comfort uh and the most excitement about it is when you have the the right team working together, I know that this vision can come to fruition. And this is something that Mr. are trying.

I know that you you want this to be the the crown jewel and your your very long and esteemed development uh portfolio and and and you're really your level of excitement is what really helps me in moving forward with this because I want this to succeed. Uh my residents want this to succeed. I also want to thank staff. Um this has been three years of hard hard work and I think the the agreement you put together uh surprised many of us. It's uh I I know that Mr.

Larcher and his his team also has some very skilled and uh vocal negotiators and and uh that's understandable. But for for this team what you got for for the city and the citizens and and to drive it the quality I want to extend my appreciation for all the hard work. So, I look forward to uh robust discussion on Monday. On Monday night. Okay. With that said, Miss Duff, I might have more questions on Monday. A lot of this information wasn't uploaded until late last night.

The economic analysis, the development agreement, which is 162 pages. There's a lot of things to still get through. Um and you know, less than 12 hours was not enough. So, um we'll leave more for Monday. Thank you. Okay, with that said, thank you everyone. We'll take a break and we'll allow those that wish to leave can because we have to finish the agenda. That's why I started first with this presentation. So, Mr. Larer and your team, Susan, everyone, thank you. Till Andrew, good morning.

get restarted. Thank you. We're going to start again. Hey Lance. Lance. Hello everyone. We're going to get started back. Thank you. We should have more of these moments here, shouldn't we? So, we need to finish the agenda, council. So going through the agenda, we started with seven uh number 7 A through 7 A through E, I believe. And are there any questions to the agenda? I did have a couple earmarked. Mayor, I have a couple questions, but Miss Taylor, fire away. Thank you.

Um on 3A, I just had maybe I was a little confused. I was I was a little confused about why it rose from 99,000 to almost half a million. Um yeah, maybe you can give us some real life examples about what this is paying for and yeah, Mayor and Council Member Taylor, good morning. Uh Ian Linson, chief of emerging technologies and uh I'm pleased to recognize and and welcome uh Pat Phelps, our interim uh do it director. Uh so congrats to Pat.

Uh it's it's a rough first week when you have to get in front of the city council. So we timed it exactly uh for this for this moment. Yeah. Um so so mayor and council member Taylor. Yeah. This is a contract for uh temporary staffing services that's actually been um a contract that the department has had for some time.

Um earlier this year the uh um my understanding is the state contract that we worked off of uh lapsed and so there was a need though to continue to provide some staffing services at that time. So there was a there was a holdover uh set of funding. That's where you see that the 90ome,000.

Um and then uh the the state contract is now back um and we've entered back into it um with the full amount which does include uh funding for uh an existing staffing need as well as potential future staffing needs over the course of this year and uh the life of the contract. What are the staffing what what staffing is it covering? Yeah, absolutely.

So, so Mayor, Council Member Taylor, so right now, um it is it is u providing funding for a uh a contractor that is helping on the communication side. So, helps with that whole group, but then with our uh TRWC um system as well. So, that that's uh about 50% of the contract right there. The the remainder is just authorization.

So it it doesn't mean that necessarily it will be used but it provides flexibility as the department is looking at needs over time for things like um procurement, project management, that sort of thing.

And what it does is if there if if there's either difficulty in finding the correct staff um uh through recruitment or if there's not needs for long-term staffing, it allows flexibility to get a resource in for a short period of time and then you know as that need subsides um we don't have somebody locked in permanently there. Okay. Okay. Do we find that this happens a lot with this particular department where you need interim staff coming in?

I mean I'm not thinking of it as a consulting firm or anything but just like temporary. So mayor and counor Taylor um you know it again it can eb and flow. So we we had this critical need right now that is being funded by this contract um because of some uh uh turnover some some retirements and that sort of thing. So there was an immediate need to bring in somebody to help with those resources. And and so to answer your question shortly yes it can happen from time to time.

Um, but it just allows the other thing that's about to happen is we're going to do a great uh organizational effectiveness review o of the department that's kicking off next next week. And part of that review is actually asking the department not to make large staffing or organizational changes at least at the at the beginning of that review so that we can understand the current state of how things have been working within the department and across the city.

And so, however, um, you know, there are still needs, uh, during that time. And so, a contract like this allows the department to potentially get some additional resources for a short short period of time without committing to something that might not have made sense um, uh, at the end of that review. Got it. No, that makes sense. And TRWC, those are those towers, right, that we have the cooperative with other city with. Okay. I remember learning about that actually. Yeah.

And I'm glad Oh, I'm sorry, Vice Mayor. I just wanted to amplify what Ian said, right? I think that's the key because right now in this and I know it denotes this in the council report and the caption here that this doesn't increase the budget. Basically, instead of using personnel cost, right, as Ian said, if we'd hired the position, um we're just going to use some temporary staffing because and that's the key.

We've I don't want to call it a hiring freeze, but we've we've essentially asked that hiring not occur while this efficiency review uh is conducted. And that's going to take some time.

But um you know this all goes back and you you've seen how we have done that and you've heard extensively from the office of innovation and efficiency about how they've gone in and meticulously mapped uh areas working with the department handinhand with the employees frontline employees to really understand the needs and where the challenges are. That's that's the review that's about to happen.

And so being able to tap into these resources temporarily gives us the flexibility because we don't want to hire into a position if that position is not needed. we don't want to hire into a position that you have a specialty in IT that maybe is better aligned that we needed we needed to move that FTE over to another part of the department um because that's where more critical need was.

So that's the assessment that's happening and this just helps uh fill the gap right now um with using um it's on budget that but just using it for the temporary services instead of hiring. Why don't you can you briefly discuss what Topaz is and the specialized needs for that particular system? I'm actually going to call backup. Yeah. You want Yeah, if you talk about it mind just getting into I can, but I don't want to.

It's a regional It's a regional public safety communication network that provides services for uh city mea police and fire as well as uh public safety organizations regional as well. with with partner agencies, cities, uh, fire districts, that sort of thing. It's a critical critical network that allows all of us to talk with each other. That's that's it in a nutshell, but I didn't want to nailed it. Miss Okay. Yeah, you have it.

Any other questions about it or No, it Well, it's a multi- agency use. It is multi. There's seven partners from Phoenix all the way to Florida. It allows police to talk to fire and red trucks to talk to white ones. Correct. So it's our public safety channel network for inter agency operations through multiple agencies, Chandler, Gilbert. Um so we cover seven partners on this side of the valley. Um and then we work with the Phoenix based RWC to integrate and have seamless radio communications.

and and mayor and vice mayor one one of the things I might point out as is noted here the TRWC is is funded uh in percentages by the participation of each agency so while you know Mesa is a large component we are not the only component and that's why you'll note that even for this contract a portion of the budget would come from the TRWC's fund that's very helpful thank you for breaking that down my question okay good thank you thanks I have two more questions you want me to ask them now.

The mic is yours. Okay. Um I was asked a little bit about the TAM, the technical account manager that the department currently filled the role through Axon. They've they've discontinued their temporary staffing. I just think it would be good to answer the question. Which item number? Oh, I'm sorry. 3B. I apologize. 3B. Hi. just to explain how we use this service and um why is it necessary? Good morning, mayor, uh council, uh council member Taylor.

Dom Sterling, assistant chief, Mesa Police Department. Um I've got Liz Wilt Trout here, our manager of the criminal justice information division. She's got historical perspective and answer to your questions. Good morning, mayor and council. To give you a little bit of background on this, uh, this is actually something we've been using for several years. Um, similar temporary staffing situation, but it was originally embedded into our Axon contract.

And Axon is no longer providing these services, these temporary staff staffing services directly related to redaction, uh, temporary staffing for audio and video redactions. So, because they're no longer offering those services, but we already have funding for that contract, there is another company that does provide those services.

They're called Insight Global, and it's something that we can get through a cooperative contract that the city is already um involved in with a cooperative contract that they're already involved in. So we are actually getting these temporary staffing services through this other contract, but we wanted to have a statement of work to outline the services that we are getting.

So we're transitioning from Axon to Insight Global through this cooperative contract, but there's no new funding being established or used for this. The funding was already outlined as part of the contract. It's in our life cycle funds. So, we will be using that same funding that was predetermined to do these same services for redaction.

Um, we are trying to ensure that we have enough staffing to do redactions for body warn camera, other types of video evidence as well as audio and get our those records out to the public as as quickly as possible. And so, we are bolstering that with temporary staffing right now while we look at other efficiencies and ensure is staffing the need. Are there other efficiencies? Are there AI technologies? Are there other things we can do to be more efficient or is this an actual staffing need?

And then we'll come back and have those those answers down the road. But for now, we need the uh resources to perform those services. So, it' be safe to say instead of pulling in FTEEs to do this and then realizing this might not be the most efficient method, we're doing temporary staffing. We're looking at other efficiencies to see if there's even better ways to do the redaction. And that's we've just moved contracts to Okay, got it. Essentially, yes, exactly. Thank you.

That'll that should answer the question. Thank you. Is it on this one? We have a follow-up question. Mr. I have a question on this one. Um I think uh I've been critical on the records requests and LA and the timeline it takes especially I think in my recollection on this type of redaction takes like 20 plus weeks or something or maybe I'm I'm wrong but I remember something kind of very high. So does this does this uh actually reduce the the time?

Um and I've been like critical on Axon as well trying trying to see you know we pay a lot for these services and the cloud and now that you know all these services that they provide. Um and so you does this reduce the the the timeline of our like records requests and and those internally that we get um and better that timeline I guess. So I'm going to try to answer it based on Axon and if you have a follow-up question, let me know.

So when we talk about the the digital media unit who performs these types of redactions that they are doing not just axon video, but any type of video that's going to require redactions. So those could be videos that are in evidence, those could be um other types of video that we may have access to as part of the police department or audio. So you're talking about 911, uh radio traffic, all of those things are done and housed within that unit. And so the the staffing is to assist with that.

And you're right, we have had um significant backlogs in that unit specifically as we've added Axon cameras over the years. A as we've realized the workload that it takes to redact audio and video, it is significant. When you talk about redacting a video, um and this is approximate, but 1 hour video takes two plus hours to redact.

And so when you talk about all these cameras out on scenes and you have multiple officers means you have multiple videos of even maybe simple incidents that are not terribly complex on its face. So that has increased backlogs. Part of dealing with that is this temporary staffing. Um we while we've had this contract with Axon and these temporary staffing uh personnel over the past few years, they weren't staffed the entire time.

uh we we lost a few people in that process and during this uh this past March we actually onboarded two temporary full-time personnel and with that as well as some department resources temporary resources that we've um implemented and some efficiencies we've implemented at the same time we have significantly reduced our backlog so I think the short answer to your question is yes absolutely the staffing has been a significant impact on our turnaround times and backlogs okay do you have like what Does that look like like what's the the time?

Cuz when I looked at it, it's like whoa. Like that's a a huge backlog, right? Like the timing and I get it like the there's a lot of video there's like the soft and we want to make sure we do it right. Uh and once it gets out, you know, uh it it it that it's you know, whatever needs to be redacted gets redacted. But I also, you know, from the paper side or or you know, I've been critical on just the the time the timeline that it takes to get some of the like the basics even, right?

Like like insurance things and but I I was pretty surprised in in previous conversations is how long like it takes and I think it's been an issue on the provider side, right? like what's uh what the the capabilities of of when we how we do the redaction, right? So, Mayor, Council Member Heredia, just holistically and and just historically u about 3 months ago, we were we were given some direction. We were already reviewing the the timelines you're talking about, the concerns we had.

So, it was it was an all team effort in terms of resources. Uh, moving over to the the sieged area uh under Miss Wilt Trout to really get a handle on that, get a a baseline of what we could be doing in conjunction with efficiency processes in looking at staffing in working with the city. I mean, there are multiple layers, but to your point, yes, there's been a delay.

However, on the specific uh numbers in terms of reduction where we're at, um, we're at about the end of this this initiative that we've been working on for about 3 months. So we can provide those details, but just to let you know, this has been an ongoing project after some concerns that came forward from citizens, from the city, uh, from council of course. And so we've been able to do have a significant reduction in that area because of the folks that we've had over the past 3 to four months.

Yeah. And I mentioned this because transparency is an important aspect, right? And I I think sometimes the public maybe not not sure um on the details based on you know our capabilities, the software, the the tools that we have to be able to do this. Um I think it's important to clarify some of these things.

But, you know, our the hope is that we do get better and and in in making sure that those time logs, you know, get reduced based on, you know, either tools or software personnel support that we're adding uh during this time. So, thank you. Yeah, Mayor and um Council Member Hereda, maybe I'll just add to I mean, we've um you you you defined as being critical, but we've definitely taken it as a challenge because you're right, we haven't been satisfied either.

And that started when Ken was in his previous role, but Chief Butler um and his team as as Dom has said and has taken this seriously. Liz has done a tremendous job over um the last couple of years because th this has been as as um as Dom described this, this has been an all hands-on deck effort by the department because um they realize that um we we want to improve those numbers.

We're not unique for departments of our size and complexity because everyone's dealing with um some of these same challenges, but uh that doesn't mean that we don't want to get better on that. And um the chief continues to provide updates directly to me and and to Ken on on the number of um on what the the latest numbers are of all different capacities, right?

Some are more complex than others from the video review down to down down down to our other uh requests that maybe aren't as complex in in nature and redaction. But just just know that this is it's been an utmost importance now for for a number of years and it's going to continue to be until um we can continue to look at technology solutions um AI solutions other things like that that might be able to streamline this. And I know Liz and her team continue to to um look at that day in and day out.

And there there's no there's no magic answer to this. It's not just also about throwing people at at it. Um people help, but that's not that's not the ultimate solution and because but we've we've staffed appropriately and now I think it's it's looking to find every way that we can to utilize technology and other tools to make this make it happen. So So what is our timelines for I have to ask that question now. Have we improved? Yes. Yes, we've improved.

And are you asking specifically on audio video related requests? Give me an overview. So I I think it helps to give some a very brief historical. So you know several years ago uh 2022ish are turnaround times for police reports. Um whether it be complex or non-complex. we will call non-complex ones that don't need a detective review and complex ones that are maybe active open cases where a detective needs to review for potential additional redactions and such.

Um but at its worst our complex cases were about 46 weeks behind. Um it it was and this was back in 2022. We were recovering from staffing issues with CO. I mean there was a multitude a perfect storm if you will. Um and we did an all hands- on deck and we really just hammered at that as a department. Um you know we put temporary staffing in there. It was it was quite the feat.

Um and now we have stabilized in that area with uh you know staffing from the city and the support from council and city management to make those things happen. We now have a turnaround time for simple uh non-complex cases are about six to eight weeks. um and and that some of them are less than that. If you have simple accidents, things like that, they can be turned out a little bit quicker, but our average is about 6 to 8 weeks.

Um and that includes everything from the time the person puts in the request, uh they have 10 days to pay the invoice and then the time that it takes to work it and getting it back out to them, most often electronically, but they can choose if they would like it printed.

And then for our more complex cases that require additional reviews, both supervisor, case agent, and potentially a sergeant review as well, those cases take a little bit longer, about 12 weeks, uh, unless you have a very complex case, which may be like an active open homicide, right? That's going to take longer. But barring something like that, you're going to be in that 10 to 12 week time period.

For simple accidents, though, uh, we always tell requesters that they have other opportunities to get the report for even less cost. We partner with by crash through Lexus Nexus where they can get their uh simple accident that has no criminal element to it uh through that program as well and download that. We we have a connection with them so that they can get those redacted reports. For our audio and video requests, we have a similar type of separation.

So audio requests that are less than one hour, those are typically going out in right now about two to three months. Um our high was 36 months and that was within the past year we were at that high and we've gone down to two to three for our long audio or I'm sorry video requests. Those are more than an hour. Right now we are at seven months. So that is that is significant for us in within the past year to push that down to that level.

And honestly those turnaround times include that that buffer time. I'm talking about that administrative time where they have to pay their invoice and the invoicing on the audio side is a little more complex. So it takes a little more time includes the the requesttor doing any clarification and includes the time to do the redaction. So that is a significant improvement. our 911 and audio request.

So that could be radio or 911 traffic that was at a high, don't quote me on this, we were we were close to 18 months at one point because that got very backlogged and now we are down to about two months. This is within the past year. So it it is it is a significant improvement. Um this was a multitude of things.

Again, another all hands-on deck thing that just happened from adding those two temporary staffing um Axon employees, contract workers, uh to adding some temporary staffing within the police department, which is, you know, our light duty personnel and other other things like that. And adding some new efficiencies and processes all of that combined is what pushed this down. And then we are looking at how can we sustain this? How can we make this continue?

And that's where we start looking at are there AI technologies not just for redaction but for the process itself um and getting that intake process more streamlined and we want to be able to sustain this push it down a little bit more even and make it continue. Good. Thank you. Thank you and well done. Miss Taylor, did you have a second question? Not to follow up on Okay, we're good. Thank you, assistant chief. Um, any other questions, council? I have one more on another agenda item.

Well, I that's why I gave you the mic for both of them. Sorry, I thought you did. I have another question regarding that. Um, the last question is for 4A and that is regarding the dark fiber, the MMR fiber. Obviously, we have a lot of fiber that goes through.

I was reading about the dark fiber and how it's not lit and that the city is obviously profiting off the $189 a linear foot and the application fee and everything, but I was curious to know just in general um who do we know who the users will be? We have a lot of fiber going in all over the city all the time. I think it exhausts the citizens. It becomes an incredibly daunting process to have your streets torn up constantly.

when we do capital improvement projects, I have found out that we've, you know, we found bundles of old fiber in the road. And so when you're just reading over it, you're thinking, wait, more fiber is going in. Oh my gosh, who's using it? Why are we doing this? Maybe you could elucidate a little bit on like all of that. Thanks. Yeah. Mayor, Council Member Taylor, thanks. Um, I I call it fiber fatigue now. That's a great word. Yeah.

Uh, and we have a lot of it, which is actually a I'll call it a good problem to have. It means we we do have a lot of activity, a lot of growth um both for everybody within Mesa. So, you know, three plus years ago, we started in an initiative the council embarked on a a um a fiber to the premise initiative. So, that's where a lot of the construction was happening within neighborhoods where uh now uh the majority of Mesa neighborhoods have connectivity to fiber.

that's uh that provides internet speeds that are the fastest on the planet. Um but we all had to endure a lot of construction for that myself included right um both in my neighborhood and I have to drive through it all the time as well. Um what is happening now so while that work continues um we also are seeing increasing needs for connectivity across businesses and commercial uses.

Um, so that happens to be what the the dark fighter dark fiber item is for today, which would be for a business use. We don't request as a city um we don't require uh network providers to tell us who their customers will be. Um but they did indicate that this would be for a business use on this particular run. Um I think it's worth mentioning that when you talk about um you know all of this activity happening, why is it happening?

Um there there are a number of state laws actually that guide how we need to uh work with with network uh providers and and everybody within our right of way frankly. Um and so we we uh do our best to adhere to those state laws. We also want to be we want to remain business friendly but we will also want to ensure good stewardship of our public rights of way.

um as well as just completely understand the fact that it it is very frustrating when when construction seems to be perpetually occurring uh within our rights of way. But that that's just a really general overview. I'm sorry if I missed some specific questions. I didn't see it in the report. Maybe I missed it. Is it going in all around the city? Is it going in a specific region?

May Mayor and Council member, so this particular run is going on Southeast Mesa um and eventually terminating on the the Elliot Tech Corridor. Um, so for this particular agreement, the nice thing about about this one in particular, they are doing joint construction with another provider. Um, which which is great. So it does limit some of the the activity. That's not a requirement. Um, however, that they happen to be doing it, which is great.

Um, there are you have you have seen a number of these actually come across your your docket over the last months and and they all have tended to be dark fiber providers. uh tended to focus within Southeast Mesa, but we're seeing some on the north side. Um but this particular one is limited to that area I just described. Okay, that's helpful. And then just from a liability perspective, I noticed I kind of analyzed the contract or the I guess the report.

Um I was curious to know there's a soft construction deadline and I was wondering um does that generally does the deadline generally get met for installation and everything when we're contracting with cable companies or it says it's a 24 month. Yeah. So so so mayor and council Taylor.

um you know without there are a number there tend to be a number of deadlines that are provided uh along the lifespan of of a build and one of those is within the license itself that says if activity you know doesn't occur within a certain time period the license is either needs to be renewed or or now um is I I'm going to say rescended that's the wrong word but something to that effect so that they have a period of time where they need to show that activity happens that's with the general license itself, but then the actual specific work is undertaken through permits and the permits for specific spans of work have certain time frames baked into those as well for performance and that sort of thing.

Then it goes even beyond that for remediation and a number of other things. So there's deadlines throughout the process um and there's you know there's remedies if if they're not met um and that sort of thing. So, we find that generally it fits within its construction time frame. Um, mayor and council member Taylor, I mean that that's a hard question to answer like uh exactly. It it definitely varies, but a lot of the reason it can vary is outside of anybody's control. Weather for example.

So, even though it doesn't rain all that often, when it does rain, that can impact construction activity in a significant way. It could potentially impact stuff that has just gone in the ground and hasn't had enough time to settle. um or it just it delays work because you have to have things dry out. That that's just an example. Um so there's a number of reasons why projects might extend. Um but typically speaking, um it it's done within time frames that are set out. Okay.

But yeah, believe me, I've I've over the years with all these projects, we've definitely had people notice that time frames tend can can extend. Um so that I I want to be upfront that does happen. We just have a lot of construction going on in Mesa, a lot of fiber fatigue. is a good way of saying it. So that's helpful. Thank you. I appreciate it.

Ian, along that same line with the fiber fatigue in my area, especially with me, um, and their new construction fiber going in, it's frustrating to see them not working when they could be working on their jobs. Now, I've talked to Mr. Hersburg about tightening the permitting process to make sure they work within within these permitting processes, but if it's extended, is there a fine or penalty that they have to pay if they are not getting their timelines?

And from what I understand, there is a potential and Lance is getting up. What? But but I think that we need to tighten those timelines and and if the contractor can't get in and do the work, then they should be penalized a little bit. Now, the reason I say that based on Miss Taylor's concerns in Southern and uh Southern Val Vista there there's a budget we could take and I I'm going to just say it like it is.

We could take some of these monies and set it aside in a line item to help businesses who are suffering from the fatigue construction in certain areas. Whether that's legal or not, I don't know. But we can work all that out. But if we have some monies and if a business is suffering X percentage, maybe we can supplement them, you know, just a little bit. So, Lance, any thoughts? I mean, have have you thought? real quick before Lance jumps in.

I'll So, so generally, mayor, we we've definitely uh that the whole city has thought about this over the last couple of years because uh we're trying to find uh really good solutions that kind of balance the idea of being both, you know, uh businessfriendly, so to speak. um allowing the the the good use of ride ofway, but then ensuring that um you know people don't feel like their their streets are torn up all of the time. And it's it's very complicated to find a great solution to that.

And I'll just throw out an example. If we were to say that during any period of the day, that's when you have to do your work. You you must be doing that work. I'm still going to get a call from somebody saying there's work going on right now at this period of the day, which is the period of the day that I, you know, do my thing. So, let's push it out maybe into the evenings.

Well, the evenings are difficult for people who are trying to spend quality time with their families at home and and you know, it impacts there. And so, there's a balance, I guess, is what I I I'm saying. Um, that being said, there have been some things done recently um when it comes to barricade fees, which was which council approved uh a new barricade fee schedule not that long ago, which was a mechanism to attempt to address some of this fatigue. And and with that, I'll turn over to Lance.

Uh Lance, fix our problems. Mayor, appreciate the a lot of questions there. Uh, this is something that continues to um that we continue to evaluate. Again, to Ian's point, we've tried to find a happy medium here where we're we're trying to manage our rideway in a productive way that moves uh these both non city utility and and and in in some cases private development uh forward in a little more timely manner. Uh we have utilized traffic control fees as as a means to try to do that.

So, we we are in the process right now of going back working with our non- city utility rightaway group um working with our uh development services group to understand how we can better tighten up that permit side to where it's not so open-ended. And and mayor, I'll I'll just uh piggyback on that to say and I I know we've had these conversations as well. We're actively working on a small business assistance program that we'd like to deploy um quickly.

You know, some if we can do with some of the projects that have been mentioned that um we're seeing some businesses um suffer because of the length of that, but then moving forward trying to establish something. We know that the project like an art like an intersection reconstruct. Those are never easy. They're never fun and they're they're they're not quick projects.

So, if we go into that with a with a business assistance program established on the front end, that's um cooked into the overall cost of the project because we should view it as a cost of doing business that we need to also provide some assistance, especially for those small businesses um who may be impacted at those intersections. Those are all things we're working through right now and we've heard you loud and clear on that and we we agree. We we would like to find a way to stand that up.

So, just know we're working through that um and and working to design a program that um you know everyone can feel good about. Well, I guess that stimulated some conversation from Miss Go for it. Well, I was just going to say what I have been working on with Lance is really um communication. How are we communicating to our residents beforehand so they have expectation?

they they know what to expect and it's a little bit more predictable and they're not coming upon some sort of construction that they weren't prepared for to go around whatnot and and Lance is doing some good work on trying that's very difficult too right because we don't run and own all the permits it's a lot of private construction out there so with our CIP projects it's very easy to communicate to let the public know what's happening and to stick to deadlines but with the private it isn't but we are working on that so people can get online and see what is happening near them.

Um the other thing is we're a big city, right? We have old parts that we're um renovating and we have new parts. No, I'm the old part. You are that we're building, right? So, it's a constant. It's the the renovating and the building. So, I mean I you know, we're all inconvenienced by it, but I would rather have that than nothing happening in the in the in our city. So, I see it as a bit of progress that we all have to endure just a little bit.

But and mayor and council member kind of to that point, I've started to see on listings in Mesa, I tend to look at residential listings, they're starting to list highspeed internet as part of that listing, which it didn't exist in some cases three or four years ago, not to the extent. So yeah, I the community is definitely seeing it as a benefit after it's done, after it's in the ground.

And we do know to that point as well, and Jay could attest to that too, as we talk about this particular item being dark fiber. I mean, it's essential for these advanced manufacturers and other businesses that we're looking to locate in the city, too. That that's just, you know, a cost to do in business, just like water and power. Uh, for these guys, they they need they need that kind of dark fiber access to to run their complex um manufacturing and other high-tech industries, too.

So, you're right, it is just kind of that necessary evil. Unfortunately, that means that we there's a lot of economic activity going on in the city. So along those lines, just I can't remember. You and I have talked about this, but when will the residential fiber be done? Do you have an estimate? I'm not going to hold you to it, but about it's been years, so it's not like we want we want a date, but are are we looking at another couple years?

Well, mayor and council member uh go forth, it is going to be at least another couple of years. um you know the the providers and and and how they do their builds sometimes es and flows. Um we have some that are kind of uh pulling back and finishing up. Um we're I I'll tell you we're having conversations with new providers that are still interested in coming into this market.

Um so this is why I want to say a couple of years because if if if the council ends up entertaining another um that that might be a whole another thing but we we are have significant buildout, right? Um and and and you you you're familiar with this, but in some parts of our city now, um it is an HOA that actually needs to work the agreements with any of the companies providing service and and several of those have not yet. Um some are.

And so we it it may then be up to them to say, "I'm not ready now. I might be ready in two years." And that would mean then, you know, two years from now a build starts a new within that HOA. Regardless, we are still very much ahead of the game on this in the country. Without a doubt. Without a doubt. Added benefit to our the people that live here in in the city may system. I want to back Alicia up on this publicly in case people don't know.

There are many cities across the United States that do not have high-speed internet that you get into a house and you literally don't have an internet connection or you have a landline which is mind-blowing or you have to connect to Starlink because you I my in-laws live somewhere where they have to connect to Starlink. There is no high-speed internet that is not an option.

So I mean I do want to say we're very fortunate in that I just want the public to know that they I think they assume it's just everywhere. Well, and and and Mary mayor Cra, and I'm sorry to keep chiming in, but to that point though, let alone two, three plus providers, which we do. Sometimes if you do have a provider, it's one. And that comes with pluses and minuses.

You know, three comes with pluses and minuses, but there are there is there are at least options here, too, in addition to literally the fastest speeds on the planet. And and and that's why especially I mean, these providers don't operate in a franchise agreement model right now. this is the free market um that's dictating the amount of these builds, the length of these builds and the number of providers.

I mean certainly you think at some point the market is saturated and if you're a company looking to devest capital, you know, you're probably not going to go to an area where there's multiple providers. Well, we're still seeing some of that. How long that will continue, I don't know.

I mean only the market and and the finances of that company will dictate I I think some of that investment but it does just go to I think speak to the high quality of the environment here that you know companies are looking they could be investing anywhere across the country and they're choosing uh to compete against other providers here in Mesa because it's it's such a good market.

Vice Mayor, I first of all, I appreciate the broader discussion about the traffic implications of some of the utility providers and the need to assist business, but on this particular item, there really not any businesses along this route. The concern I have is Elliot to Signal to Germaine and out is constantly being dug up over and over and over again. We've repaired, we've we've done major intersection improvements to this area.

There's a fiber provider in the road right now heading southbound on Signal But Road. The other day, my wife called me because she can't even make a right-hand turn on to point 22. And it's happening again and again and again in the very same area. I get complaints about Elliot Road. Elliot and Ellsworth is particularly sensitive because it just seems to be the epicenter for every bit of infrastructure from fiber to water to sewer to to gas, right?

And those poor folks uh over Mountain Ranch in some of these areas, there are no there's no way out of their neighborhoods other than this. And it's always under construction. I mean, what at what point do we say we've had we have enough? Can we even say we have enough when it comes to this fiber? Uh Jim, so mayor and council and vice mayor, the and Ian touched on this, there's both the state statute and federal regulations on the licensing side really that uh limits the city's authority.

We have to provide the license in a non-discriminatory manner to to providers. In other words, we don't we don't get to sort of pick and choose once we sort of went to the ability to micro trench and provided these licenses. we have to provide that in a non-discriminatory manner to to the uh to the market. So this is somewhat administrative in action rather than judicial.

I I'll say this though I I if if council decides not to vote for this I think I think that they that they'll they'll look to to to enforce uh provisions under state law and federal law. And and I'll say this that there's sort of the there's that side of it, what I'll call the license side, and then there's the backend side, which we've been talking about more here. That's the okay, when we issue the permit, how do we regulate it? How fast are they building?

You know, when do they put their barricades up and down? There's still opportunities for us to look at that side of it. And we need to I think we need to improve that aspect. And it's not just for fiber. It's for all construction within our right of way. Right. and we'll we'll we'll treat that in a non-discriminatory manner and provide um uh improvements in our our permit in our permitting and our barricade uh for for improvements.

Um and and and we're also looking at and so we need we need to make those changes in the city code. Um and uh and and the future also is this I'll just say this in the in the future right now um the feds are looking at also regulating it even more in the future. So, in the future, there might even be a shot clock on these type of licenses where we're bringing you this license and it's almost like a liquor license where it's a time frame, right?

They haven't adopted those, but those are pending where they want shot clocks because other communities um are sort of behind us. They haven't they haven't done some of the things that we've done. And so, um some communities are frustrated and they're going to the federal level to get shock clock provisions um in into place. And so that within the next year, I suspect we might see shock clocks in which we're coming to council with these licenses with a shock clock on us.

Um those haven't been adopted yet, but they they they're looking to regulate it even more, not less. That that's good to hear. And I to be fair, I know Ian, we've we've had discussions and um the industry has done a few things about getting themselves out of the way uh during the morning and afternoon rush hours and trying to work and that putting that into code perhaps is the next step so that it gets a little bit easier and it's fair across across the board.

But you know the this signal but in Elliot is just a royal pain every time. They're doing one now and now we're going to do another one and we don't really have a choice but how we manage those roadways I think is going to be increasingly important. So I'd like to see us move on changing some of that code to to try to do some relief here. Mayor, vice mayor. That that's where our focus is is where we can manage that but not prohibit. And I would like to resonate what mayor said. Thank you.

I don't know if this is an option based on the construction in my area. When and I Lance and I have had many a good conversation. Thank you for everything you've done. When a contractor delays and they're pushing past their deadline date and a grievance in that deadline date, I think we need to look at implementing fees. They there has to be a consequence when you're disrupting people's lives for months, a year, a year and a half.

This is it's just unrealistic to not have one, especially if there's other work they've chosen to do in the meantime. Well, I think that was one of the reasons we increased the fees, right? Because they were leaving the city of Mesa to go finish a project where they were going to get a higher fee. Um, and we sort of right, we sort of closed that gap. So, I don't and I mean, if there's more, right, Mayor and Council, this again is is kind of I hate to say it this way, but it's a work in progress.

We we've made changes. We've understood how the industry's reacted to that. We know what we're trying to achieve and and we'll make the adjustments were necessary to do that, but I don't know that there's a perfect system to address all of these type of issues.

So, it is and I and I will say to Lens's point, I I think even if even if once we tighten some of this up and can can figure um some of those dynamics out, there are always going to be unexpected things that are outside of that contractor's control, right? and you know whether it's another utility that is refusing or delaying moving their utility while the trench is open or other other things like that.

So even if we and the contractor came up with a perfect solution, there are going to be those unforeseen things. That's why I think the small business assistance program could be helpful as an additive to that. We want to hold people to deadlines. We want them in and out of the rightway as quickly as possible to gain access to those businesses.

But when something is going to be prolonged or uh unforeseen cuz you know you also open up the street and find out a lot of things you didn't know um potentially were there um that we can still work with those small businesses as as best we can. So it's it's it's both. It's not one or the other. It's it's all of the above. Right. On I also don't think it should all be punitive. I think an early completion incentive program might be something to look at. Right. Right. Yeah.

um when it's a large project and there is something that's unforeseen found somewhere on that project but there are other areas of the project where the work can continue. I think incentivizing is good and saying you guys are doing a great job on the other twothirds of the project instead of leaving it and saying well you guys finish your part then we'll come back. Yeah and we we can certainly look at that.

I know AOT implemented a version of that into some of their freeway programs um on their large, you know, especially large freeway projects where they've incentivized the contractor uh if they're able to finish early. So, yeah, we'll look at all the tools in the toolbox because yes, if we could get them in and out quicker, I would gladly pay for that. So, okay. Thank you. Thank you, Ian and Lance. uh working. I look forward to that small business assistance. You know, that's a loss of revenue.

You know, sales tax dollars as well as business loss for those small businesses and they're critical to our city. Um council, anything more on the agenda? Okay, hearing none. Let's move over to item two is the acknowledge the receipt of board minutes. Is there a motion to that effect? I so move. Thank you, Miss Duff. Thank you, Mr. Ready. All in favor, say, "I." I. Motion passes. Next is currents events and conferences attended. Council members, do you have anything you wish to share?

Vice Mayor, I'll just uh share one thing as a reminder. This Saturday is National Day of Service. Uh that came from Love Your City, huh? Love your city. Love your city now. Yeah. Well, it's also National Day of Service, I believe. But love your city. Um, a lot of that has come from uh it's a look, it's a 25th uh anniversary and it doesn't seem the right word to use of 911. a number of our folks here.

I have a hat uh up here from Arizona Task Force One for the members at uh the team that I was on that I didn't deploy, but the support of the those who did deploy and remembering the 343 FDNY members, 71 officers, eight EMS, and the 2564 civilians who lost their lives that day. So, I'm looking forward to attending a few of those events this weekend. Well, along with that, I got word that all the Mesa fire stations at 07:15 Friday morning, uh, apparatus will be pulled on the front ramp.

They're going to do an all call. So, if you want to go to your favorite fire station with those crews there, you can at fire station 201 again. I'm going to be there at 07:15. The honor guard will be there and then dispatch will do an all call to make sure everybody is in where they should be. With that, Arizona State Fire School opens today here at the convention center and that's been an annual tradition for gosh probably pushing 30 years, something like that.

Missed Mayor, I just want to make one announcement. We have a new addition in downtown Mesa. We did the grand opening um ribbon untying last night. It's um the nested house on 220 West Maine, which used to be the old brick house. It's very cute. I recommend shopping there, looking checking it out. Um it's is a home decor and they have all kinds of stuff for Halloween as well as your entire home.

plenty of ways to spend your money very easily and we're so glad to welcome them and have their creativity and products and part of downtown especially um we've lost a couple of businesses and you know having a new one open up is very welcomed. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Butler, will you share future meetings? Yeah. Uh mayor, council, thank you for your time this morning. I think really important discussion. So, thank you for that.

Uh we'll be back here on Monday um at we it'll either be 5:00 or 5:15. We'll figure that out today and and let let your staff know so you we can set your calendar accordingly because we do have one presentation that we're going to cover um dealing with benefits during the study session portion of the meeting on on Monday and then we'll have our regular council meeting following that at 5:45.

Just a reminder that next Thursday we'll actually be across the street for um for a mini uh strategic planning session following deep diving some of those issues that council had had previously highlighted as as strategic initiatives. So we'll um be across um at the Piper Theater, I believe. Yeah, the Piper Theaters at 7:30 a.m. next um Thursday. And uh thank you, Vice Mayor. You covered uh the Love Your City and the 911 day of service on uh Saturday.

And so I know um a lot of us will be engaged in activities on Saturday morning and Friday. Uh different groups are are doing things on 911 as well. So you'll you'll see a lot of activity from volunteers and city staff out um in in the community. And then uh the last note was right out here on on the lawn outside the mix center. Uh ASU football games for those of you who partake will be uh shown uh at starting at 9:00 a.m. this Saturday. uh they're playing the SEC u playing Texas A&M.

So, good luck to them. And uh it does compete with Georgia's game, so I won't be out there on the grass with you, but for all of you Sundevils, uh come and watch the game on the big screen um outside the ASU Nick Center. Great. Thank you, Mr. Butler, outlining our meeting schedule. With that, I'll entertain a motion to adjurnn. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Thank you, Miss Taylor. All in favor say I. I. We're adjourned.