Scottsdale approves $3.82M parking garage expansion contract despite community opposition and outdated data

Good afternoon. Welcome. I'd like to call the April 14th, 2026 city council regular meeting to order. City clerk Ben Lane. May I please have a roll call. Thank you, Mayor. Mayor Lisa Bowski, present. Vice Mayor Adam Cosman, council members Jan Debosquez, Barry Graham here, Kathy Littlefield here, Marian McCallen. We have uh Scottsdale police officers Ryan Loing, Kyle Sholac, and Ray Wilburn, as well as Scottsdale firefighter Dave Billingsley, and Brandon Rollins.

Thank you all for being here to serve uh us this evening. And if anyone requires their assistance at any point in time tonight, please let a member of our staff know or one of the uniformed officers. And for tonight's pledge of allegiance, I would like to call on Councilwoman Maryanne McCallen God. Liberty and justice for all. Thank you very much. And for the invocation, I will turn it over to our esteemed councilwoman, Kathy Littlefield. Thank you, Mayor.

I would like to ask for a moment of silence to think about those who are in need, who are hungry tonight, who need shelter and do not have it. Please say a prayer for their well-being and for their safety. Thank you. Thank you, Councilwoman Littlefield, for tonight's mayor's report. Oh, sorry. Pardon me. Let's start over. Thank you, ma'am. Thank you. Apologies again, Kathy.

Councilwoman Littlefield, for tonight's mayor's report, I will proudly be recognizing uh Scottsdale volunteer appreciation week. And uh in furtherance of that, I've issued a proclamation which celebrates the extraordinary individuals who give their time, talent, and service to our community. And we could not do it without them truly. In fiscal year 2025, more than 4,695 volunteers supported the city of Scottsdale and its programs, contributing over 129,000 hours of service.

And that uh incredible commitment translates to an estimated $4 million in savings for our community. But more importantly, it reflects the spirit of generosity and civic pride that makes Scottsdale an amazing place to live and work. I would like to personally thank the community for stepping up and supporting the mayor's office. And uh we truly could not have done um everything that we've accomplished over the past year without your support.

And on that note, not only do I want to thank all of the uh 4,700 volunteers, but I'd like to um personally thank um our volunteers at the mayor's office. Jimmy Percini, Jeff Barnes is up there. You can always count on Jeff for being here. Si Simeon Walther, and he might be here too somewhere. Linda Rizzo, uh Susan Wood, Renee Higgs, and Stephen Coven. So, thank you all for that. And with that, I'm going to be um presenting the uh proclamation to our volunteer coordinator.

And also, I'd ask Jeff Barnes to come down and accept that for us too. So, I'm going to go ahead and read the proclamation so everyone can hear it. Whereas volunteers play a critical role in assisting the city to perform the mission of simply better service for a worldclass community. And whereas the Scottsdale volunteer program enlists residents and matches their talents and enthusiasm with numerous services, programs, and departments.

And in fiscal year 2025, as I mentioned, more than 4,700 citizen volunteers contributed over 129,000 impressive hours of service. Volunteers contributed a value over $4 million as I mentioned. And whereas by sharing their talents and time, uh, volunteers personally benefit by spreading their love for Scottsdale, as do all the citizens and businesses of Scottsdale.

I, Lisa Browski, mayor of city of Scottsdale, do hereby proclaim April 19th through the 25th as Scottsdale Volunteer Appreciation Week. Thank you very much. And Brandon, our volunteer coordinator, is here to accept that. So, I'm going to come down and do that. I should have asked if any of the other volunteers were here from from the mayor's office that I mentioned. I don't see anybody. So, thank you so much. That's incredible work everybody.

So, for our presentations tonight, uh we have the employee recognition program. Another worthy uh recognition and and program. The city council recognizes employees for with more than 20 or more years of service as of April 2026. And we have Holly Peralta, Communications interim senior director to go over that with us and tell us who has accomplished this great milestone and beyond. Thank you so much, Mayor Bowski and members of city council.

As you mentioned, I come up before you every month to talk about our years of service employees. These are employees who have served 20 or more years with the city of Scottsdale, and we like to take a moment to thank them for their dedicated work. I know that we have a few here with us tonight and I'd like to invite them to come forward for recognition. At 20 years of service, we have Mela Kona, Adalia, and Peter Jensen with us tonight, I believe. And at 30 years of service, we have Holly Beard.

Thank you. If you'd like to come up, we'll take a picture of you with the mayor and council members. And thank you again for your dedication, years of service to Scottsdale. We are All right, thank you all for that and congratulations. Uh, next we um the public ex possible executive session. As is always the case during tonight's meeting, the council council may make a motion to recess into executive session to obtain legal advice on any applicable item on the agenda.

If authorized by the council, the executive session would be held immediately and will not be open to the public. The public meeting would however resume immediately following that executive session. Uh meeting minute approvals. Next, we have the approval of the minutes uh from special meeting minutes of February 24, 2026. Executive session meeting minutes of February 24, 2026. Regular meeting and work study session mates of February 24th, 2026. And does I'll entertain a motion to approve these.

Second. All those in favor indicate your vote. There we go. Consent agenda. We have items 1 through 11 on the consent agenda. And I will ask uh if any of the council members have any questions or wish to have a discussion on the consent agenda items. And I see that Councilwoman Dvascus has indicated such. Thank you, Madame Mayor. Uh Rick, I just wanted to say best of luck on item number nine. Very excited.

Thank you for the tour last week and um excited for the opportunity to have more parking at the airport. Appreciate it. And with that, I don't see any other requests. And we do have a public speaker on number nine. So, I will invite Maria Tuttleman. Tudelman. There we go. Uh up to address us at the podium. To your right, I mean to your left, to my right. My name is Maria Tuttleman and I have lived in Mcdow Ranch for 30 years now.

For the last 30 years, Scottsdale airport operations have grown significantly, but a noise impact study has not been done since 2005, which is 21 years ago. There are many more planes flying to and from the airport. The planes are larger and heavier, requiring more airport maintenance, and they create more and substantially louder sound. Noise abatement procedures that are also 21 years old are not being closely followed nor monitored.

Where I live, it is higher elevation than the airport, so planes fly a lot closer to the ground and the noise is deafening. You can't. Okay. Maybe pull that. Is that better? Maybe push the microphone. I'll put I'll put the mask off, too. Yeah. And pull that down. That'd be great. Okay. My name is Maria Tuttleman and I have lived in Mcdalmont Ranch for 30 years now.

For the last 30 years, Scottsdale airport operations have grown significantly, but a noise impact study has not been done since 2005, which is 21 years ago. There are many more planes flying to and from the airport. The planes are larger and heavier, requiring more airport maintenance, and they create more and substantially louder sound. Noise abatement procedures that are also 21 years old are not being closely followed nor monitored. Where I live, it is higher elevation than the airport.

So, planes fly a lot closer to the ground and the noise is deafening. Since 30 years ago, there are more larger There are more larger and louder planes that now fly day fly day and night over my house at all hours of the day and night as late as 11:00 p.m. and as early as 3:00 a.m.

I urge the council and mayor to not approve any funding for any additional expenditures for the Scottsdale airport until a noise impact study can be completed so that Scottsdale residents are not charged with paying for city operations that are significantly and adversely affecting their quality of life including their health and well-being. Thank you. Thank you, Maria. I don't see any other speakers or any uh speakers on other uh consent agenda items.

So with that, I will entertain a motion to approve consent agenda items 1 through 11. So moved. Second. Please register your vote. Thank you. Moving on to uh the regular agenda. First, we have item number 12, which is the state legislative session update presented by Sarah Sparman, government relations manager, and Dr. Mark Osborne from Coutac Rock. Good afternoon. Good afternoon, Mayor and Council. Thank you. My name is Sarah Sparman, government relations manager for the city of Scottsdale.

Um today we are doing this is our third series of the legislative session which if you recall began back January 12th and we've been trucking along. Um we've been trying to provide updates every other month or so so that council is aware of some of the bills that the city is tracking. Um and we have today Dr. Mark Osborne from Kuck Rock who will be giving an in-depth um kind of status update as to where we're at currently in this session.

um with deadlines as well as where some of our um more priority pieces uh are currently resting. So Mark, thank you mayor and council for having me again. Um I think it's been a kind of a mixed session. Um some good, some bad. It was kind of what we expected.

Uh to give you a sense of the scope of activities that we're working on, we're working on about probably 40 to 45 active bills that Sarah, Dan, and I spend quite a bit of time on in terms of I'm just going to touch on a very small handful, but I please uh ask questions if I've missed an issue that you have some interest in as well. To give you a sense of where they're at, uh we're on the 903rd day of session. In theory, they tried to target a 100 days, they're not going to make it.

Um, we've only had 63 bills signed. To give you a sense, in a active legislative year, you have about 350 signed. So, still a lot of stuff working its way through the process. Uh, 42 have been vetoed and we have three as of today that are still awaiting action. Um, the budget negotiations have stalled and so this is a fairly common tactic. the governors use the governor says if you send up another v bill until I see a budget I'm going to veto it.

So that is kind of ground the legislature not to a halt. They're still doing a lot of legislative work but that final step is not occurring unless you're the one who wants to test the governor's uh press release and see if your bill would get through and not get vetoed.

Um here's kind of the status to give you a big picture of where they are with the budget discussions is le legislature as I reported the last meeting sent up what we call tax conformity package all the changes that happened in the federal level. Uh they want to mirror those at the state level that has about a $450 million price tag on it. Um the governor vetoed that not once but twice. kind of different variations of that.

One of the things that's really stopping the kind of budget debate is what to do with Prop 123. And if you remember Prop 123, well, it relates to education, it's basically a a way to increase the amount that they take out of uh this the land trust in terms of uh rates of return. It used to generate about three $350 million a year from that in increased draw down. We're not talking about selling more land.

It's just how much of the corpus or interest that you uh you spend that is due to be reauthorized. The governor has proposed increasing that draw down. I think the current the the former law is around 5%. She's looking at more like 8 n%. uh and she's using that fund to fund her budget priority. The legislature does not like that idea. So, they're at kind of an impass. And so, that's one of the reasons why they're having a hard time moving forward.

So, the governor broke off uh budget negotiations and until the legislature presented her with an actual budget. They're working on that now through a a very collaborative process in terms of the Republicans, not with the Democrats. And then once they do that, then the real negotiations will happen. So, I'm hoping in the next week or two or three or four that that's going to come together. So, um you know, we're still on track to meet our June uh session time frame.

Um as many of you know, we have a new legislator for our district. as Mr. Chaplick is uh running for Congress. Cody Ree, I think many of you probably know him. He's been very active in obviously the water discussions. Um and he's already met with Sarah and some of her team and so we're starting to build that relationship and he is running for reelection as well.

Um from all appearances, I think he tends to vote with more of the conservatives at the legislature, which is probably not a shock to a lot of folks. um kind of key deadlines just to give you a sense. Um all the bills are through committee. They're they're just crossing bills over and then they're doing concurrences, that type of activity.

Uh theoretically, the last day for conference committees is that's when one house amends the bill and the other house doesn't like how they amended it is the 17th. Um the 100 day target is 425 and that will come and go next week and then we'll keep chuggling along. Um and so that's kind of where we are in the process. So the the speed and the tenure is very similar to what we've seen in other sessions and this is kind of what divided government looks like. All right.

So key legislative issues and we've scaled this way down just so we so if there's stuff that are not on this list, it's not that we're tracking it. Uh, but Sarah knows that I'm long-winded, so she edited me pretty aggressively. Um, one of the I think uh, victories that were um, did that third read? No, I didn't third read it. Um, 1167. This is allowing electronic posting for public meetings and notices.

um Scottdale as well as a number of municipalities worked with um Senator Angus and the newspapers and after years of I think we've been trying to do public notice reform since Mr. Quasman was in the legislature with no success. I think we're close enough to actually get this done. So this will really help streamline some of our notice procedures. If there's changes in meetings, there's a more streamlined mechanism to accomplish that.

So I think uh we anticipate that this will go through um once the the budget provisions are are made u made going forward. Um, one of the challenging bills that we have been working, it was a concern because it really impacted kind of local control is, uh, Senator Bullock ran a bill that would mandate that we utilize or allow private contractors to basically self-certify a lot of the permitting processes and I think that a number of municipalities were concerned about that.

Um the bill got out of committee Senator Bullock's comm or the government committee I can't remember which right now but didn't have the votes on third read. But I think this is an issue we're going to continue to see as a continual focus. You know it's not that cities are opposed to using private contractors but that those decisions should be made at the municipal level not through a state preeemption.

Um, this is, uh, 1431 is one of the ones that I think if you said that there's some bills that keep Sarah and I up at night, this is one of them. This is a bill that basically would basically preempt a lot of our ability to do design standards. And one of the things that I think has made the Scottsdale community great is, you know, having the high quality amenities, the look, the feel. and this would really kind of erode that process. Um the be bill barely passed out of the Senate.

Uh they put it through the committee of the whole without any amendments and we're counting votes on a daily basis on this one along with a lot of the other municipalities. Again, it's a local control issue that allows cities to help define the community as they want and work with your voters instead of having the legislature do a top- down uh approach. Um, another bill of concern is kind of a preeemption on mobile food vendors.

The area that we're uh probably most concerned about in terms of a policy is the lack of background checks for some of the mobile food vendors. Um especially when they're sending into neighborhoods, you know, you think of ice cream trucks or where there's kids or other sensitive populations. Um being able to retain that kind of background check, uh I think is very important. uh and and we this the bill is still waiting to be uh heard in the Senate.

Um so one of the interesting concepts uh and I'm slightly being kind when I say interesting concepts but is the legislature a certain group of uh probably the more conservative legislators basically said hey we have a way to keep costs down so we're going to prohibit not ourselves local governments from increasing any fees or costs uh at all for the next four years and so Do you imagine it? And this would have this is the the bill version. Um, in a minute I'll I'll show you the the SCR version.

They were going to put that to the uh the the voters, but it really would have provided um a limiting ability for you guys, particularly in the water area, to increase fees if you needed to if as we have to acquire new water sources. And imagine trying to think through in your budget four years ahead in a highly inflationary environment. The good news is the bill died um in the uh house and um by a fairly significant margin. Um so what did they the supporters of the bill do?

They did a what's called a strike everything amendment. put the bill over in the Senate and made it into an HCR, meaning the voters would have the choice uh to to preempt um and right now I we're feeling reasonably good that we have the votes to keep it off the floor, but it's tight. Um and so, um that's something that I think we're spending a lot of time and effort on. Um this one was an early concern that luckily did not go too far.

This would have prohibited us if once the Colorado River shortage was labeled that we couldn't put more water resources into our long-term storage credits. Really limited some of the tools that we're going to need depending on what they do with uh the Colorado River. Legislature is paying very close attention to Colorado River discussions. They are meeting with the governor's office regularly. There's a lot of updates.

Ammoa which is the water trade association for the municipalities has been very active educating on the impact of what could happen in the legislature depending on whatever shortage uh determination they have to affirm whatever strategies that we uh develop um through legislation. Um, similarly, this kind of is more of a symbolic bill, but just saying, hey, we're all working together, kind of a message to Congress and the Trump administration that uh, please don't harm Arizona.

We've made a lot of the hard decisions and we should not be treated unfairly. Uh, the bill never got heard in committee in the Senate. Um but you can kind of get a sense that the legislature is very focused on water um and kind of in a wait and see mode but very nervous about what's going to happen um with the Colorado River discussions. And with that, I'd be happy to answer any questions on any of the bills I talked about or other issues. Uh and I'll leave it up to you guys.

Mark, I appreciate the the updates. These are outstanding. You know, Yemen's work and and just being able to track these and figure out what's going on with all the amount of bills is amazing. I just want to make it clear to the public that um a city position is not necessarily a unanimous position by this council unless it is signed in a letter um a letter of support.

So there are certain bills that while the city and I respect the city's position under the city manager and trust the city manager wholly in their in their um in their wisdom, there's certain uh certain bills that I would uh differ from the city's official policy, including HP 21 uh 2118. Um that includes food trucks uh food truck licensing on a personal belief.

I just want I I would like the people to know that I I truly believe that uh that we can make it in this world um that individual food trucks can make it in this world without asking the city permission of how to do business and um and that free markets are the best path uh toward uh toward a uh uh uh toward a prosperous society. So, thank you. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Councilwoman Whitehead, can you provide some updates certainly for the public on short-term rental uh bills and ADUs? Thanks.

Um thank you uh Mayor Councilman Whitehead. We made progress. the bill is not going to make it to the end of the so we worked with city of Sedona Scottdale had a number of stakeholder meetings uh with the Airbnb industry and uh Representative Bliss sponsored legislation that would have enhanced our ability to kind of regulate I would say it's more focused on the kind of the party houses and the bad behavior and not paying fees and those type of issues. issues.

Uh the bill passed um through the House. It got delayed because you had you have to get a majority of the majority. So we had to of the Republicans for it to be heard in the Senate. So we had to make some lastm minute modifications. Um we did that and by the time the bill got over there, we had missed the committee last deadline. So, we try to get it put into the appropriations committee, but the president of the U Senate tries to keep those committees as pure as possible. So, we made progress.

It's not going to pass this year, but I think we have the bones to get something through next year. Second thing I would mention is there are a whole host of other short-term rental bills that you're starting to, as I said in the the last talk I gave to you guys, um there's a growing momentum that more and more needs to be done. So that pendulum's starting to to shift in terms of people are realizing the impact.

And one of the things that I think we need to do to kind of highlight some of these issues is get more of the legislators in our community to see where the we have these concentrations and some of the impacts that it's having on our community so they can touch and feel. It's one thing to say like Sedona 30% of the town now is Airbnbs and VRBOs. It's another thing to kind of say have you seen this community? It's now this street is all Airbnbs.

Um, and so that's kind of the update, but happy to provide any more context if so in at the House level it was overwhelming, was it not? It was. And Dan, give me the pull up the vote to the it was it was with a lot of the Democrats. Yes, it was almost unanimous with the Democrats as I recall. The challenge is there's a informal rule that by the Republicans have that you have to get a majority of the majority caucus. So while the bill vote was 374 37 to 14.

So So 3714 that's not considered a a pretty landslide number. It's a healthy margin. the the the issue was um there were a couple Republicans who didn't like it dealt with a sex offender database issue how it was drafted and so we had to go back clean that up. We got those folks back but that literally took Yeah. Yeah.

And that literally took a week and a half of ledge time and by that time um the process uh and there's still a very strong element at the legislature that doesn't want any regulation on that number is starting to shrink but it's still prominent as you can see. Okay. So it the so it just there was um why wasn't it heard at the Senate? Explain that one more time. I didn't quite understand. So, so there are I'm sorry, mayor uh Councilman Whitehead.

So, there are very strict timelines of when committees have to be heard and there's timelines for when the um agendas have to be posted. So, originally we got the bill through the the House, but it didn't have a majority of the majority. So, we had to send it back, make the amendments, and by the time we sent it back, the deadline for the committee that it was supposed to go to, that agenda setting had already passed. And so, we missed the last committee agenda.

Um, so, so there's this year we have nothing to tell our residents. Our residents are suffering and there's no path forward to give cities local control to additional local control to help help our residents. Is that your conclusion on on short-term rentals? And I know it's it's I'm not blaming you. I'm just wondering if you see any path forward where we might get some additional local control or not.

Uh, mayor, Councilman Whitehead, right now I I don't there's always a chance, but I would say that the window is closing or is closed. Um, and and it's frustrating, but you know, I always like to look on the positive. We have the vehicle now and I'm anticipating and I hate to say next year but the and the legislature could completely change and we could be able to do really significant changes as well. So okay, one other question just on the ADU any progress there?

Um we we the bills we got bills introduced. We still have a particularly in the Senate with the Senate President um is a very intense private property rights not a big fan of municipalities and um the bill was placed into the most unfavorable committee in the legislature. Um, so we may I know it's not a victory, but we're making progress and we're on the offense and it just getting stuff passed takes sometimes more effort than it's not. We almost didn't lose. Yeah. I thank you.

No, I appreciate your work. Thank you. And I I I look at this as we keep grinding and grinding and you wait till you get that window and then it doesn't mean we don't come back next year. And and the good news is we had some good education. We had our our local delegation generally was very helpful. Mr. Kavanagh, Mr. Grass in particular were very helpful. So those are good things. Similarly, I know Mr.

Grass was working on the um the historic home issue and you would thought that one would be a no-brainer. You know, making sure that they can't build duplexes and triplexes. That was a big big fight. Has a similar fate but making progress and it's it's a challenge. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you Mark and Sarah. And uh well it's a shame about the STR bill because that sounded like you were too polite to say it. Politics at work at the last minute. I don't know.

It sounded that the shell game of who's on first and where's the bill. So that's unfortunate, but hopefully we don't lose steam on that uh going into next year. And a special shout out to um our our Scottsdale representatives. Uh really appreciate all of them who are doing a lot of hard work for us. So everyone um that our current uh representatives and Senate members really doing a good job for Scottsdale.

So and and one last word I will say one of the things I've noticed representing you, we've been doing a lot of work. we didn't talk a lot about here on law enforcement related issues, but you know, between your police chief and and your city attorney, they carry a lot of policy clout down there and they're well respect and that's a it's been a really nice thing to come down where, you know, what does Scott still think and that that's kind of a statewide thing.

It's something that should be a uh it was a nice I wouldn't say a surprise, but it's something to be uh uh proud of. Thank you for that. and congratulations to uh the individuals that you're referring to. Appreciate it and thanks for the hard work. Okay, onward. Next, we have Did you want to say something else, Sarah? Okay, thank you very much.

Um item 13 which is the design build manager construction contract for bond 2019 project 63 Oldtown parking structure otherwise known as the parking garage on Brown Avenue. So uh tonight I'm going to invite Allison Timku uh the city engineer and transportation and infrastructure senior director and come on down. Thank you. Good evening, mayor, members of council. Um the item tonight, item 13 is the design build manager construction contract for bond project 63.

So the item you have before you is to adopt resolution number 13635 authorizing contract number 202648 COS with Chase Building Team in the amount of 3,820,557 to provide design build manager construction phase services guaranteed maximum price one for the 2019 bond project 63 um specifically the Brown A parking structure expansion. So, a little background.

In the 2019 bond election, voters approved um just 20.9 million 21 million for project 63 to provide additional parking facilities in Oldtown. And in July of 2024, city council approved the use of fund of these funds to add two levels to the existing city-owned parking structure that's located at First Street and Brown Avenue. So, our recent staff action um in accordance with Arizona Revised Statutes Tit title 34, we issued an RFQ for design build manager services for this project.

Um, eight firms submitted statements of qualifications. Five finalists were interviewed by our panel and Chase building team was selected by the panel as the most qualified. Following that, at the February 11th, 2025 meeting, city council adopted resolution 13318 authorizing contract 004 COS for design build manager preconstruction phase services with Chase building design team um for Chase building team for the expansion of the Brown Avenue parking structure.

So um just as a brief reminder of the design build manager process, basically a single entity is hired to provide design and construction services and per Arizona revised statute title 34 the selection is made based on qualifications for the type of construction to be awarded. The design build manager must follow a subcontractor selection plan that selects subcontractors based on qualifications alone or on a combination of qualifications and price.

And then the qualified subcontractors are competitively bid and design fees and the construction fee to the design build manager are um negotiated. And why was the design build manager process chosen for this project? So the construction schedule is compressed to complete work between peak event seasons. Construction logistics needed to inform the design process requiring an integrated team.

Additionally, this project is predominantly provided by a pre-cast concrete subcontractor and it is critical to have them on board early to inform the design and contribute to construction logistics. Quality will be a single point of responsibility as design and construction are integrated and early communication to the Oldtown stakeholders regarding design and construction issues were vital.

As far as the design, the parking structure design adds two above ground levels to the existing structure and will increase capacity by approximately 186 spaces for a total capacity of 412 spaces. We had three public outreach events which were conducted at different phases of the design and comments were incorporated into the design.

A second level step back from Brown Avenue was requested and the exterior is designed to complement the surrounding structures and to comply with the Oldtown design guidelines. We have a couple of renderings to show you. This is the view from Brown A and First Street. This is where you can see um that step back that we were referring to on the second level. It um pushes some of the massing away from Brown.

Um this is the next view from First Street looking southeast and it shows uh sort of the simulation of the western storefronts. And then this is the view from second street. So our tenative construction schedule is as follows. Uh we plan phase one which is demo and preparation for the pre-cast um in the summer of 2026. Uh this actually this slide was presented to the public at the last meeting in March. Um late summer early fall fall we're um preparing for pre-cast concrete.

Fall of 2026 was is when cast inplace concrete is planned. Winter of 2026 we'll be working on the interiors of the garage. And then spring of 2027, we will be working on exteriors of the garage and we will be providing the garage open for spring training. And that will lead us to summer of 2027 just to do some of the final work as far as landscaping, site work, public art, and any final completion since we had to sort of stall a little bit to allow the parking for spring training.

So, as far as funding for this project, it is available in that um bond 63 project, build parking structures in Oldtown. So, again, the total funding for that bond project is $20.96 million. So far, about a half a million have been spent, so 20.42 is available. Again, it's 2019 bond funding.

So, as a reminder, as we presented in July of 2024, of the 20.96 of the funding available, 2.2 has been earmarked for 55 public parking spaces in a future development, which would leave approximately 187 million for this project. And currently, we are targeting approximately 18 million for the construction of this project. So it looks like we should have potential savings proposed next steps. Uh this again is the early procurement contract.

So it's the first construction contract with Chase building and it's for GMP1. It's early procurement to allow for long lead items to be procured and it will also include demolition and construction work in preparation for the pre-cast structure. This early work is included in GMP1 in the amount of $3.8 million. And then the remaining construction work, the remaining construction contract GMP2 will be brought to council under GMP2 in June of 2026.

And this will complete the construction contract for the parking structure. So again, the requested action is to adopt resolution number 13635 authorizing the contract for GMP1 for long lead construction materials with Chase Construction. This action is necessary to begin fabrication of the pre-cast concrete elements to minimize the construction duration and complete the structure for use during spring training of 2027. And with that, I'm uh here to answer any questions you might have.

Speakers that have signed up to speak on item number 63 starting with and I'm going to ask everybody there are uh 19 speakers here and I I'd like to have you limit it to two minutes. If there is additional information that we haven't heard or you think there's a compelling reason to uh take your your third minute, please advise and um certainly we'll give you the difference. But in the interest of everybody's time uh and respect and um we want to hear everything you have to say.

Um but if you can say it in two minutes that would be all the better. So I'm going to start. Thank you in advance for your consideration on that. Uh starting with Steve Sutton, followed by Ethan Nolan and Ivon Cahill. Go ahead and approach uh Steve to the you know where the podium is. We're not going to start your two minutes yet. Hold on. We can't hear you. should be allowed to speak the time that is normally allowed, especially all the time and preparation they've done to come here.

I know I've spent hours preparing for this. Welcome, Steve. I can't do it in two minutes. Okay, then let's give you three. Actually, I was expecting six and somebody donated me time. You know, on that note, thank you for pointing that out because I have on here and I need clarification. I've got Steve Sutton with donated time from Susan Wood. And then later on the on the list I have Susan Wood with donated time from Steve Sutton. So that was the confusing part. Where's Sue? I don't see her.

Thank you for the editorial, Vice Mayor. So uh Steve, can we do it in four and we can take up the other issue? You know, I time these things very carefully. Mayor Barowski, what do you need, Steve? I probably need under six. Might be able to do it in five. Okay, let's see what we can do and then hopefully no one else has that much. Thank you. Go right ahead. Steve Sutton, address on record. Good evening, council.

Last night at the city council candidate forum, I heard statements I had previously heard from city council members, city staff, city volunteers, and residents. The gist of these statements is where were these residents two years ago? Why didn't they protest then?

The answer to those questions is those residents were engaged in sustaining a fulfilling life for themselves while being subconsciously confident in the people they elected as leaders to make good decisions and to ensure the vast majority of their constituents are sufficiently and comprehensively made aware of any potential controversial and divisive plans of their city.

Building a garage in historic Oldtown in front of the old Adobe mission should obviously be anticipated as being controversial and divisive. It is not a failure of residents not paying attention to city government to react soon enough to protest your actions. It is this council and previous council's failure in leadership to adequately keep residents informed in a timely and comprehensive manner.

Stop blaming your constituents who depend upon you and take responsibility for your failure in leadership. Now, we're going to have a real fancy presentation by Mr. Tom Frankle over here, the middle-aged gentleman with the green polo shirt in a few minutes. It's going to have color pictures. I need the emo turned on, please. And it's going to be of this map right here that I only have in black and white. You'll notice a lot of buildings have dark tops.

Uh this is part of a plan to try and convince people that that uh doing this garage is heavily supported by the owners of businesses down there. Mr. Frankle also submitted a list, not a letter, but a list of 40 parcels and the owners that own them in support of building this garage. However, those 40 parcels which are supposed to be within three blocks of Oldtown, they're not. First off, one of them is down at Scottsdale and Thomas Road.

Some of them are on the other side of Scottsdale Road where there already is a conveniently located garage. And there are really actually 19 owners of those parcels. There's not 40 of them. One of the people that supposedly is supporting this garage on Mr. Frankle's list has actually signed my petition that was submitted to business owners saying they don't want to have the garage built and they own six parcels in Oldtown. Tom, you got a lot to explain, dude.

you give me enough material for the next three meetings.

To all council members, I doubt that many people believe that any board of directors of a private corporation with a budget the size of the city of Scottsdale would use a small sampling of customer input that is seven years out of date as a primary justification to spend $18 million on anything when they have current data indicating that thousands of their shareholders are furiously angry and will vote to remove corporate officers for malfeasants. Pardon me, misfeasants.

Scottsdale's 2015 parking study Oldtown, the most recent comprehensive study does not justify a decision to build the parking corral. The study did not find a need for a garage in historic Oldtown. The 2019 bond election does not require a justify building a garage at the parking corral. Some council members have been deceitful and hypocritical. Deceitful in claiming voters voted to build a garage at the parking corral.

hypocritical because they voted to prevent the early 2025 Axon referendum by claiming it would be a low turnout election, but they used the vote by a male only 2019 bond election, which was one of the lowest turnout elections in Scottsdale history to support building a garage at the parking corral. Incredibly hypocritical, Mr. Graham.

Thousands of Scottsdale residents have told the council they want the farmers market to continue with 17-year tradition at being at the parking corral rather than being moved to the city hall parking lot so a garage can be built. Thousands of Scottsdale residents have told the council the cultural and historical significance of the area where the council members want to build this garage is not appropriate for this type of parking structure.

Regardless of any enormously expensive, phony 19th century western town facade being installed. This council is very close to having tens of thousands of voters believe in the council is committing misfeasants. The council is very close to seeing a massive turnout of residents voting to remove council members from power in the elections of June and November of 266 and also in 2028 and possibly even sooner through recall elections.

Any council member who votes to build the parking corral garage extension without first conducting a parking study that justifies the need to build is placing their seat on the council in peril. Before causing irreversible harm to Scottsdale and the very possible destruction of your careers as council members, vote no on this agenda item.

Prepare a future council meeting agenda item for a vote to delay this project until a new parking study can be conducted to determine if a garage is needed or if alternative parking management is sufficient. Thank you, Steve. Thank you very much. All right. Uh, next we have Ethan Nolen, followed by Avon Cahill, and then Patty Batten. Okay, I'm from New York. I can talk fast and I think I can get this in in two and a half minutes.

Uh, Mayor Broski, members of council, thank you for your time this evening. Uh, let me tell you about what I won't complain about. I won't complain about the use of a design bill contract. Perfectly acceptable means of approaching this project. We used it successfully at DC Ranch on our $10 million community center project. I won't complain about the design. Design is subjective. Whatever the design is, some are going to like it, some aren't.

Uh you could have done, you know, uh residential, excuse me, you could have done uh retail on the first floor, but it would have reduced the number of spaces and probably raised the cost for the garage. Not a great option. Uh I won't complain about building the parking lot in front of the mission. The corral lot has been in front of the mission for over 20 years and the multi-story first street lot has been behind the mission for even longer. I won't complain about the construction plan.

It looks like a reasonable attempt to minimize the impact on adjacent businesses. I will question the cost of this structure however as it seems high for the number of spaces you are adding but I'm sure staff has a cost breakdown of the project and a couple of slides or you know would you know if you could share that information with the public it might be helpful and that might be a good idea.

Uh here's what the council doesn't have and therefore cannot share any data supporting the need to expand parking at the corral site. If you have read the 2015 parking study, as I have, you know, it doesn't call for adding parking at this site. It does identify zone 2, which is what we now call the entertainment district, as the quote logical location for a new parking facility. The study came to this conclusion based upon the demand for all day parking generated by the Galleria office complex.

And council has addressed that need with the planned multi-story garage on Stson east of the Galleria using $20 million from the general fund. But is the corral site expansion needed? We have lots of opinions and anecdotal evidence. We have great photos of parking lots full and empty, just no hard data. So, let me borrow a phrase from our city manager. Let's go slow to go fast. I know people have been talking about parking in Oldtown for years, probably decades.

What's one more year to get it right? Take a few months, take a hundred to $200,000 to do a study. Find out what the real need is for additional parking in Oldtown where the Oldtown parking structures need to be. At a minimum, you'll have some cover if the support uh if the study supports continuing the corral expansion. But you might learn there's a better solution and that could be a win for the city, the merchants, and the taxpayers. Thank you for your time. Thank you.

Let's let's go ahead and keep the applause um down. It'll make things go faster. I appreciate your your enthusiasm, though. Uh Avon Cahill and then Patty Badnock and uh Maddie Scott. Hello, Mayor and Council. My name is Ivon Cahill. Addresses on record.

I'm here tonight um representing the president of the Arizona Preservation uh Foundation, Jim McFersonson, who submitted a letter to council regarding the proposed parking structure planned to Brown Avenue across from the street from the old Adobe B mission within historic Oldtown Scottsdale. Jim could not be here tonight due to a prior engagement. I do not have time to read his entire letter. So, here are some of his concerns regarding the planned old-time parking garage.

He writes, "The Oldtown Adobe Mission, constructed in 1933, is among the community's most significant historic landmarks. Equally important to its setting within the historic Oldtown, an area identified in the city town, Scottsdale urban design and architectural guidelines as embodying Scottsdale's historic legacy and frontier town and western character.

The guidelines recognize historic Oldtown as one of the community's most character definfining environments, noting its unusually high concentration of historic resources and its importance to Scottsdale's identity and visitor experience. Given the proximity of the project to the mission and the character defining buildings along Brown Avenue, the foundation respectfully encourages a review of several key considerations.

Whether the proposed structure, scale, massing, and visual prominence align with the guidelines of the other buildings in the historic area. Emphasis on maintaining historical town's pedestrian scale and historic character. Preservation practice recognizes that historic resources drive significance not only from individual buildings, but from their broader context, including streetscape relationship sight lines, and sorry, can I just finish? I know I'm running a bit over. I've just almost done.

A new development should reinforce the authenticity that gives historic Oldtown its enduring culture and economic value. The Arizona Preservation Foundation supports thoughtful planning solutions that balance mobility needs with stewardship of Scottsdale historic place.

We respectfully encourage continued evaluation of this project through the lens of the city adopted urban design and architectural guidelines to ensure that future improvements strengthen rather than diminish the historic environment that defines Oldtown Scottsdale. We appreciate the opportunity to offer these comments and would welcome continued collaboration as a preservation resource moving forward. Sincerely, Jay McFersonson, president and board of directors, Arizona Preservation Foundation.

Thank you. Thank you for being their voice uh tonight, Avon. Appreciate it. Uh next we have Patty Bad Badnock and Mattie Scott Michael Fernandez will follow. Good evening, Mayor and Council. Patty Badnock, 50year resident, so my children have told me. Several months ago, I visited the historic Oldtown shops to ask them if they wanted the garage to be rebuilt where the farmers market is held on Saturdays. Many shopkeepers didn't even know about it.

And when they were told they didn't want it, this list I made, it's three pages long, about 48 shops who said no. Since then, Steve Sutton went around and found even more saying no. Who on this council even bothered to visit and talk to these merchants? The council majority will show complete lack of integrity when they vote yes on this issue. So, what's going on? Redevelopment besides the garage. Well, look, show this on the overhead. It's already started.

I wish to see the historic Oldtown keep honor and sustain its historic history and continue the tourist draw it represents. We are denied a new parking study to even determine if an elevated garage at this site is a must. And this is the only place it can go. Why not build it on the east side of the council parking lot? Place the solar panels on top of that. It's much closer to the Civic Center Mall and let the farmers market stay where it is.

The architectural design of this site in question should reflect and honor the historic nature of what the historic Old Town represents. This chase rendering doesn't even come close. The fake windows and shutters shown adjacent from the historic Oldtown Mission and Cavaliers blacksmith shop is another example of complete disregard for the surrounding history of the nature of this place adding insult to injury. Thank you. Thank you, Patty. And next we have Maddie Scott and Michael Fernandez.

Maline Scott, address on record. Good evening, council members. I oppose the project to build a garage extension at the parking corral. This is a historic area and consequently building a garage at this location should be a matter of last resort after all other options are eliminated, and that has not been done. The last parking study was conducted 11 years ago and does not support building a garage.

The results of a low turnout vote by mailonly bond election conducted in 2019 cannot possibly be an accurate representation of the opinion of the majority of eligible voters in 2026. Many thousands of Scottsdale residents and business owners during the last year have expressed their opposition to building this garage to the council through multiple petitions.

The council authorizing the payment of $18 million for a garage providing only 185 additional parking spaces is financially in irresponsible use of taxpayer money. Ending the 17-year tradition of the farmers market at the parking corral is something thousands of Scottsdale residents oppose. I and other Scottsdale voters will vote against any council member that votes in favor of building this garage. Thank you for letting my young voice be heard. Have a great day. Thank you. All right.

We need some live music in here. Go with the applause. All right. Thank you very much, Maddie, Michael Fernandez, then Crystal Carroll, and Maria Tudelman. That Patty's a saint. She is indeed. I think you should. Well, you want to go over there so everyone can see it. Well, you if you want to step by that podium. All right. Okay. You perfect. Oh, we're good. Okay. Go ahead. Go right ahead, Mike. Thank you. Okay. I'm going to need three. Okay. For sure. Sure. Michael Fernandez address on record.

After having been personally involved in Scottsdale politics and downtown Scottsdale issues for decades, I took a step back to get my priorities back in order. Now that my priorities are in order, I'm going to try to help fix the greatest show on earth, the Scottsdale City Council Circus. Most of the council members think they know what's best for the downtown area. In my opinion, you don't have an understanding for what's best for the downtown.

That's because you're not financially invested in a business or property in the downtown like my family was for over 60 years. So, yes, I have a very good understanding for what's best for the downtown and it's not any garage addition on that location. While our business has moved to another area in Scottsdale, unfortunately, we sold our property because of the stupidity of previous council decisions that were negatively affecting our family.

I know that building this multi-level garage addition across from the old Adobe Mission will have a forever negative impact on the historic Oldtown area in the west's most western town's character. I would like all of you to please, excuse me, I'd like all of you to please look at the picture Patty put up. You all know the saying, a picture's worth a thousand words. That's right. Ugly, ugly, ugly.

It's a superimposed picture of light rail wires running up Scottsdale's designated high-capacity transit corridor, Scottsdale Road. It would have changed Scottsdale forever into the west most ugliest western town if a previous city council would have voted in favor to have implemented it implemented in the historic Oldtown area. Now, do you understand why this parking garage should be left alone?

Changing it will forever destroy the charm of historic Oldtown and forever desecrate the old Adobe mission's surrounding character. As most of you already know, the Adobe Mission Church was built by the hands of the Hispanic families who moved here in the early 1900s seeking a better life. That building and its symbolism to this day has a very sacred place in the hearts and souls of religious Hispanic community.

Please do not desecrate our sacred memory and a beautiful piece of religious southwestern architecture that has been thoughtfully preserved just so you can prop up your political egos and the egos of your donors. It's not worth selling your souls. I will close with this tonight. Take another good long close look at the picture that could have changed downtown forever.

Now, who's going to be the council members that saved the one-of-a-kind look and uniquely beautiful character of the west's most western town? historic Oldtown and the sacred old Adobe mission and vote to leave the site just the way it is. Or are you going to be the council members that will be remembered forever for destroying the West's most western town? Heroes or zeros, God's watching. Thank you, Mike. All right, Crystal Carroll, followed by Maria Tudelman and Michelle Coker.

I hope I'm pronouncing that right. Crystal Carol, address on file. Thank you for having me. Uh, well, here we go again. It's been three three months since I last spoke at the council about this issue. It's actually what brought me here in the first place. And I just want to remind you guys, real leaders, real leaders aren't about being right. like you can be wrong. Real leaders learn, they adjust, and they do what's right for the city. And I just implore you, Barry, Jan, we know who runs things.

Come on, guys. You have 15,000 signatures of people that don't want this. Do not let this be your legacy. When you double down on stubbornness, ego, or a few donors, this is not right for the city. Whether you don't like some of the people up here, you don't like some of the citizens, think about why you're elected, why you're up here, put your egos aside, put away all the politics. People just are asking for a parking study. Why not be open to doing that for the people?

Think about when you first started running, why you got in this. I believe that everybody got in this with a good intent. I think you guys need to go back and find the reason why you originally ran. It is okay to be wrong. The most I always tell my kids, the most dangerous person is somebody who is always right because then you don't learn from your mistakes. Guys, I implore you to stop being so stubborn and be open-minded and at least do the parking study to see if it's needed.

You know, the parking garage, the people didn't vote to put it there. So, I'm asking you as a citizen, as somebody who owns a business in Oldtown to go back and rethink about what the people want. Uh, I think it's really important. Um, I have a bunch of other stuff here, but you've all heard it before. The parking garage price is crazy, astronomical. It's It's not responsible to do that to taxpayers. We have to pay that back, guys. Your taxes go up.

It ends up being roughly around 30 $35 million. You're paying back. I know this is not what you guys want for our residents. So, thank you for listening. Thank you, Crystal. All right. Maria Tudelman, followed by Michelle Coker and Alex Papus. Hi again. I'm Maria Tuttleman. Um, I've lived in Scottdale for more than 40 years. I actually went to high school with Maryanne for many years now. The Oldtown Farmers Market has been a landmark of the type of experience visitors come to have in Oldtown.

Why now move this important landmark? Why not build a multilevel parking structure on the currently existing large ground level parking lot located just next to this important landmark and also close to the Osborne Hospital so that hospital staff and patient visitors can use. The hospital currently has limited parking which is also overtaken by Scottsdale stadium visitors.

I urge the council and mayor to consider an alternative option so that this longtime and important landmark can remain where it should be. Thank you. Thank you so much. Uh Alex P. No, I'm sorry. Michelle is Michelle here. Michelle going once, twice. All right. Uh, next we have Alex Papus, Kathy Hartnett, and Pat Lman. Uh, Pat, you'll be after those other two. Alex Papus. No. Okay. Kathy Hartnett. Okay. Then we are with Pat Lman followed by Tom Frankle. Carolina Grand Staff will be after that.

Thank you, Mayor and council members. I'm going to give you a little different perspective than we've already heard, so I hope you pay attention. Over the past year, thousands of residents have signed petitions opposing the garage. Among them, business owners voiced the same oppositions at the January 7th Oldtown Summit. Yet, the council majority is committed to spending $21 million plus interest in bond funds, which will ultimately increase our property taxes.

Fact, Steve Sutton walked the historic neighborhood and gathered six signatures from 34 business owners who said no to the garage. These business owners authenticated by petition, his petition by putting their signatures on Steve's petition. Now, let's look at Mr. Frankle's letter to the council. I might add, not signed. not signed petitions. A letter from property owners in the area against Steve Sutton signed petition, but not one signature from his lo list to support the garage.

So, are we just supposed to take his word? Continuing with a closer look at the 40 propers properties, which sounds impressive until you find out those properties belong to just 19 owners. Mr. Frankl himself owns two. 10 of the properties sit on the west side of Scottsdale Road in which there is on-site parking available at many of the properties. So I ask you, what is the real motivation for building this garage? Well, the plan is in motion.

The storied site of the KA Theater at 7217 East Main Street was recently purchased and is already in the planning stages for rede redevelopment. The purpose of the garage extends beyond parking. It's fundamentally about creating leverage. The long range plan is to demolish the irreplaceable shops of Oldtown and which everyone loves and redevelop the entire area. Current property owners will cash in and sell to the highest bidder. Building the garage is simply the first domino to fall.

Once it falls, historic Oldtown, the beginning of the heart of this community, won't be revitalized. It will be destroyed. Please recognize the importance of the history, legacies and our culture and of course what is working and let us maintain help and continue with the prosperity we have all benefited from and not start tearing it apart piece by piece until it may be nothing more than a distant memory. Thank you Pat. All right, Tom. Tom Tom Frankle followed by Carolina and then Bob Pedman.

I think Tom Frankle's next, right? It's okay. I I think you can hear me. All right. Are you Carolina? I am Karolina. Oh, okay. Grand staff. I am a resident of Oldtown, downtown Scottsdale. When we moved here in 1973, I believe Herb Drinkwater was running for mayor. And at that time, I I worked his his uh way helped him win mayor. He was a great mayor. He made this moratorum of downtown. It was not to exceed over two stories and he kept his word. I like that.

I like when somebody keeps their word. The second that man died, guess what? Look at our look at our downtown. It doesn't look like it did. I'm a Scottsdale ambassador. I have a vested interest down here. I work the Scottsdale marketplace. I love it. It is fun. Everyone I spoke to, everyone said, "Can't do this. It's not going to be the same. It's not really needed. I've parked in the garage downtown town. I I use it. I walk it. I see all the visitors. What does that really mean to our tourists?

Oh, goody. Let's go see the garage. Oh, I'm just like, no, I don't think so. Shall we go to Las Vegas then? It looks the same. I'm not interested. I hope it never happens. I will work tirelessly to see that it doesn't. Thank you, Karolina. All right. Now, we have Tom Frankle, followed by Bob Pchman and Raul Zubia. Um, Mayor Barowski, I'd ask for also a couple extra minutes as I do own a number of lots in the area and spent quite a bit of time talking to the property owners in the area.

I'll try to keep it as brief as I can. How's three, Tom? Excuse me. Three. Three minutes. Probably four. I'll probably get your best. I'll do my best. Yeah. Tom Frankle. I'm a resident 40 years in downtown Scottsdale. I'm a property owner 40 years in downtown Scottsdale and also a merchant in downtown Scottsdale. It is quite interesting the speaker who spoke just prior to the last speaker Pat was it and Steve Sen.

It is very interesting and and truthfully disturbing to see people that feel as passionately against it as I feel passionately for it. And I think everyone here does love Scottsdale and I don't probably share the views of them and I just would like to share the views I do have. But I do respect the fact that you care about Scottsdale and so much time has gone into it by people that don't share the views that I feel today that I'm going to express. I don't normally get politically active.

This is probably one of the only times where I have not my uh passion. and don't want to do it. I kind of go with the flow. But I am very passionate about it and have been watching u this issue since 2019 when parking was called for in the bond election which I was active in and supported. Um, as far as the particular site, it was propos proposed in 2019 as an option.

Maybe not specifically, but as something that we needed parking in the old town and it's being built on a site where there is parking already and accommodated for additions to that lot. what's con been continually portrayed as in the heart of Oldtown and going to destroy the old Adobe mission, the blacksmith shop. I would submit that we are night and day on that. In terms of my thought process, I believe it's on the south side of Oldtown.

I do not think it will destroy the mission, which I value as much as you. I do not think it will destroy the blacksmith shop. In fact, you could make a decent case that potentially with added parking exposures, those two important things would get more visits. I don't think it takes away from them. And we just differ on that. I think it's a good sounding board to say we don't want to destroy him, but does it really does the existing parking really destroy it? Hold on.

Let Let's You wanted extra time. C can you just have the conversation with what you're trying to communicate to us? That would be great. So we don't involve the audience. Okay.

I feel parking is that's quite limiting but I I do feel parking is needed at that area right now and is I'm unfamiliar with how this is it because what I heard was being portrayed quite differently in terms in ter was that the two minutes or the four minutes let's just give you another minute Tom thank you very much is that good uh I'll try. Okay, great. Um I what was portrayed is the stakeholders in the area of which one I one of them I am were against it. A lot of them were against it.

The merchants were against it. So I spent three days last week personally out of a very busy life visiting that entire area. The yellow that you see up there is the actual Corell parking lot proposed addition and the two to three blocks surrounding it. The green represents people that I met with property owners, not merchants, property owners who I personally either spoke with personally or on the phone during that process. Very difficult to get a hold of that many owners.

So, I had to talk to the merchants on a lot of them to get their owners to get the owner's numbers. The green represents people in favor of it and there in in fairness. I did not go to the blacksmith shop. I assume they're against it. I did not go to the the uh mission. I don't know how they felt. Um but I did not want have one property owner that said we didn't want to see that happen. And I will respond to Mr. Sutton's comment. I did visit the Bishoffs, okay?

The five to six property owners that or the five six lots they don't own. And I spoke directly to Mrs. Bishoff. And I said, "Mrs. Bishoff, I've known you forever. Are you in favor of this or not?" Gave the reasons why I was in favor and the people I talked to. And she specifically said to me, I support it. So um that was of last week but overall there was almost unanimous support. In closing I would say that a lot of talk about the farmers market.

My hope is when eventually the farmers market moves and it's located in Civic Center Park and we're a year out and it's in a park that was renovated for $40 million in a green setting with a library and with a children's park and a lot of amenities. I don't know how many people who and there is no one that I know that doesn't want that farmers market.

But if you picked a setting for that farmers market and said we're going to have it in Civic Center Park or in the concrete place it is now, I would question who would say what a what a better decision to leave it where it is. I we're night and day on that. Thanks for your support. My hope is that the people that make a habit out of chopping down everything that's ever getting done put that same energy into productive things to support and make a difference. Thank you. Thank you, Tom.

All right, moving on to uh Bob Pedman, Raul Zubia, and Sam West. Maring Council. Good evening, Bob Pedeshman. A lot of experts here. A lot of experts, right? But I'll point to a simple fact. If the area was not under parked, the city would not be leasing a 100 spaces from the Honor Health, which by the way, we just lost. If the area was not underparked, you wouldn't be trying to sell 41 fake phantom spaces to Oldtown Tavern so they can expand. The park area is underparked. It is.

Now, let's get to the issue at hand. Over the past year, tens of thousands of dollars, and by the way, I have an extra minute donated. Ten tens of thousands of dollars have been spent to cast this parking garage in a negative light. And recently full page ads are put in to recruit speakers with a QR code. This isn't organic. If you have to go spend money to recruit opposition, this is not organic.

Solange recently stated only a handful of people really support this but Tom Franco is right here on the projector. 45 parcels close by very prominent businesses. That's not a handful of people. But let's go back to the 2019 bond. Solange, you were part of a council that unanimously approved the 2019 bond which included bold letters CIP63 build parking structures in Oldtown. That's not disputable. You had a chance before then to ask for a parking study. You didn't.

Fast forward to last year, last February, when you when you approved the $1.6 $6 million contract for the design. You also had a chance to ask for a parking study leading up to it. You didn't. One year later brings us to today. Three open houses. Great design. Political pressure is making you now bow to special interest that want us that want to stop this. I mean by special interest, I'm talking about political interest.

I was at the open house um not the open house well the candidate forum last last night. I didn't see so many people bowed, you know, hey, you know, Raul, um, Ethan, we're all against it because political pressure is being applied to go against this garage or else you'll lose the election. Think about this. What are you going to tell the the voters now?

You're going to say, "Oh, you know, back in 2019, we told you that there was a parking shortage here during events, and we want $21 million of your money or your hard-earned money. fork it over so we can build this. Seven years later, you're going to go back to them and say, "Well, we weren't really sure if that was needed back then and were that we were honest with you.

Let us spend some more of your money now so we can find out if we were honest with you back then." That's what this parking study will do. And furthermore, this is not a short-term thing. You got to wait till the next season followed by the report, followed by the deliberation. Two-year delay effectively kills this. And if it doesn't kill it, it increase the cost by another 20%.

And for all the people that complain about the cost, that's the reason the cost so high right now because you guys sat on this for years. It would have been probably done for 12 million three years ago. Now it's $18 million. Two years from now after the parking study, it' be 22 million. Thank you. Thank you, Bob. All right. Uh R Zubia, Sam West, and then Janie White. And then we have there is a lot of passion in this room. Welcome. Uh Raul Zubia uh address on file.

Um the proposed Oldtown parking garage is a major capital investment with long-term impacts. While it's meant to address parking needs, there are real concerns about whether it is the most cost-effective solution, whether the demand is accurately understood or how well it fits with where mobility trends are heading. So, and I know this is we've gone over this many times, but I think it's worth repeating again. Um, the cost for this is enormous.

It's will cost nearly 90,000 a stall if it's built out. So, that's as we said earlier, that's $21 million.

That is a lot of money and with inflation the way it is and the tariff threats that number uh is actually going to go up and I do agree with Bob Pes on one thing and that is it will be more expensive but that is why we need the parking study that parking study is from 2015 and since then we haven't been able to figure out if the parking is needed if we need more parking because nobody will do a parking study.

So, I think the parking study is what we need so that we can be sure that that those spaces are needed and that parking at that garage is worth building. And we talked about mobility. Um, with everybody coming to Oldtown, most of them take ride share. They will take Lyft, Whimo, um, and Uber. So, that already eliminates a lot of parking spaces from, uh, having to be used. Um, the other part of it is that it will completely change the look of Oldtown.

We're going to have an Oldtown that looks like a shopping center right there on Brown and and Second Second Street. And it is just not the way Oldtown should look. Oldtown should be the old character Oldtown that looks like it did. I don't care if it was in 1951 or 2026. It should have that charm that people come and visit. Thank you. Thank you, Ro. Really appreciate it. Sam West, followed by Janie White and then I have Rachel Lorraine, I think. Mayor, council members, my name is Sam West.

Thank you for the meeting. Uh, I've lived in Scottsdale since 88. I've been in construction architecture for 70 plus years. I've done my own study of the parking requirements for downtown. It's current study. This study is based on the number of square feet of different uses that are involved in Oldtown. When I say Oldtown, I want to clarify something. I mean the area that's bounded by Scottsdale on the west, Brown on the east, Indian School on the north, and Second Street on the south.

Today there is an excess of required parking. And so the question then becomes let me go back to this the other study. I've never seen it. I've just heard about it. I did find out one thing about the original study and that was that it included the city hall complex in parking requirements. That's how you justify a parking garage. So, and I'm going to go back to planning and zoning now. You don't ever mix uses. Are you with me?

If I'm going to build a shopping center out here somewhere, I have to provide the parking for it. So, if city hall complex needs parking, then we need to build a garage for that somewhere and pay for it out of that. Uh, that's probably as far as that aspect is concerned. The more important thing, and a lot of people have talked about it, is the character of Oldtown. That you don't destroy something like this in one whack. You chip at it day after day, year after year.

And that's what's going on here. What's going to be built is detrimental to the income of the businesses in Oldtown Scottsdale. I was involved in Oldtown for nearly 10 years, starting with the Bishoff building at Maine and Brown. I've been blessed in that I got acquainted with multiple merchants and owners that have been involved in downtown since the 50s and it's getting this is one more change that's going to kill it. Everything that's there now is good.

the thing on Saturday, the farmers market, the complaint about parking. Do you know that you can't there's not enough money to buy the advertising that the farmers market brings and people coming to Oldtown Scottsdale to move it is detrimental to business in Oldtown. So, I guess what I'm going to lead up to and I'll conclude because there's been so much other said is that you have to stop this. It's wrong. And I'm going to bring something up and ask a question.

Is your obligation to the citizens of the city of Scottsdale to their interests and their desires is or is your obligation to a special interest group of some kind somewhere? And I would say that you are elected to represent us. You're not elected to represent somebody else. Thank you for your time. Thank Thank you, Sam. You know, I'm gonna turn the mic over to uh Councilman Graham, who's really mad that you're clapping. So, go ahead, Barry, and stop talking directly to me.

Why don't you talk to the audience? Mayor, no. I'm going to have a point of order. We I'm going to ask for decorum from this council, including the mayor. So, we have plenty of decorum just because the clapping is offensive to some if you'll limit it. As I said in the outset because some up here are getting very annoyed by it. But I'm going to move right along with hopefully no more interruption. So, next we have Janie White followed by Rachel Lorraine.

And Michael White has donated his time and the last person to speak will be French to Thompson. Um, good evening, mayor and council members. First off, uh, we've been here over 70 years. My dad was the first mayor of Scottsdale. Speaking of character, Sam West. He created the image and coined the phrase the westmost western town. Um, we're currently still property owners. We have tenants. Um, and I'm here to read Marilyn Atkinson's statement. So, she's really the OG of Oldtown.

She's knows everything. She's been around forever. I wish she could be here herself, but I'm going to read what she said. Um, she said, "Good evening, mayor and council members. My name is Marilyn Atkinson, and I come before you tonight as a former president of the Oldtown Merchants Association and chair of the Oldtown Architectural Committee. Marilyn knew everything. Trust me. So, uh, for 50 years, my family has owned property and operated a retail business on Brown Avenue.

Over all those years, one challenge has remained constant. Parking. It has always been an issue and it continues to be one today. I second that. In July of 2024, less than two years ago, I asked for your support to add two stories to the existing Corral parking garage. That request didn't come lightly. It came from decades of firsthand experience and from listening to the concerns and countless of countless merchants who depend on access and convenience for their customers.

The city once responded, excuse me, to those concerns 23 years ago by building the original corral lot. But since then, we've gone in the opposite direction. The city removed 600 parking spaces near the stadium while expanding the civic center to host more events. And very recently, we lost the use of the Honor Health parking lot, which the city was leasing to address the parking needs of spring training and Scottsdale Arts events.

Now, with new restaurants expanding in that area, the demand for parking is only growing. Meanwhile, the voters made a clear decision in 2019. They approved a bond with the Can I keep going? Go. Are you close? Yeah, I'm close. Go right ahead. Thanks. Um, let's see. Meanwhile, the voters made a clear decision in 2019. They approved a bond with the understanding the pro the promise that the city would provide additional parking to meet demand during peak seasons and major events.

That wasn't vague. That was a commitment. I'll be honest. I had initial concerns about the garages design. Like many in this community, I care deeply about preserving the character of Oldtown. But I've taken the time to review the plans, and I believe the design team has done a thoughtful and commendable job ensuring the structure will blend with its surroundings. And I have to say, I think it's awesome. It looks fantastic.

I urge you to approve the construction of the two-level addition to the Corral Garage. Thank you, Marilyn Atinson. Thank you, Janie. Appreciate that. Uh, last we have not last, Rachel Lraine is next, and then French Thompson will be last. All right. Um, I'm a longtime stakeholder in historic Oldtown where my family has owned retail and restaurant spaces on Main Street for many decades.

I've seen firsthand how critical access and parking are to how critical how critical access and parking are to the the success of this district and how long this has been a challenge. Um, this isn't a new issue. For decades, Oldtown has struggled to keep up with parking demand, especially during peak seasons and major events.

The city acknowledged that uh acknowledged that reality in 2003 with the construction of the corral lot, which was intentionally designed to accommodate future vertical expansion as the as demand increased. Since then, Oldtown has become more of a destination. Um the 2019 Civic Center expansion significantly increased event capacity, bringing more visitors into the area. At the same time, we've lost existing parking supply, including over 100 spaces from the Honor Health Plot.

The result is predictable. During peak times, there simply isn't enough parking. From where I sit, this isn't theoretical. I regularly hear from tenants and neighboring businesses who are frustrated because customers can't find parking and choose to go elsewhere. That has a real measurable impact on small businesses that depend on the foot traffic.

Voters recognized this need as well as recognized this need as well when they approved funding in 2019 for a new parking structure in Oldtown with the corral site identified as a practical location. What's been disappointing in is what's been disappointing is that instead of working towards solutions, the anti-gage group has focused on casting the project in the most negative light possible to generate opposition. That approach doesn't solve the problem. It just delays it.

Meanwhile, businesses continue to deal with the consequences of inaction. At this point, calling for yet another study only prolongs that decision. Um the a decision that has already been vetted and funded. We know where what's we know there's a need. We know where it can go and we know that and we know the longer we wait the more strain we place on Oldtown's economic vitality. I urge you to move forward with the move forward and deliver on what was promised. Thank you. Thank you, Rachel.

Uh finally, we have French Thompson. And is Michael White here? I just want to make sure I'm not missing anyone. Thank you. Well, first off, before I start, city council, I promise you I'm not going to get any applause, and I'm also not going to threaten any of you. So, my name is French Thompson. My re my address is on um record. So, this was a question put to Jet Chat GPT. Can ade lack of adequate parking lead to redevelopment in Oldtown area?

Yes, in the downtown areas, insufficient parking can absolutely help drive re redevelopment. Not by itself, but by making existing businesses weaker and properties easier to replace. The bottom line, if customers can't park, they go somewhere else. Foot traffic drops, sales drop. Local parking dependent businesses start to fail or move out of town. Now you got vacancies and underper under underperforming properties in high-v value areas. This is when the developers swoop in.

This isn't anything about the mission. This isn't about the farmers market. This is about the city selling that lot to some developer so that they could put apartments on top of it. You people that don't want it built there, do you want apartments? Because that's the direction that it's going to if they don't build this parking garage. I don't know how you could possibly think more parking is going to run any business out of business.

How more parking for the people that need foot traffic is going to have an a deterious effect on those people. I don't know how a church could be hurt by having more parking across the street where more people could come into that church. So, the downtown land is just way too valuable to sit idle.

So struggling properties become prime candidates for denser, more profitable redevelopment, often with complexely different models, mixeduse apartments, hotels, and projects that rely less on traditional parking. This is AI answering this question. So I've listened to people coming to the city council meeting over and over and threatening city council people over this. Threatening city council people over this. If you vote for this, we're going to make sure you don't get elected.

Isn't that nice? They're simply This is simply bullying. You guys are just bullying the city council, saying you're threatening them. So, Solange, for you, I've got faith in you that you'll not succumb to bullying. You supported the parking garage being added to the 2019 bond in the first place. Then last year in February, you voted with a 6 to1 majority to approve this contract to design the garage. You put it, you've got it in your power tonight to help keep this thing moving forward.

So, let's together with the rest of city council put this part of it to rest and take care of this tonight. Vote yes to approve the construction contract of the Brown Street parking garage. Thank you. Thank you, French. Appreciate it. All right, that concludes the public comment. So, we are going to open it up for council discussion and any questions we have for Allison, which is where we left off. So, uh, go right ahead, Councilwoman Whitehead. Um, thank you, Mayor.

Thank you to everybody who has, uh, spoken and has been here and has written. And I want to assure you that I am in close contact with Tom Frankl. So I have no doubt that he's been working hard to talk to um uh the stakeholders, the the property owners in Oldtown. Our job isn't to um you know, I have no doubt that a property owner would like us to invest in this garage. Our job is to make sure that a garage is needed and before we spend your tax dollars.

And we would not be here with this controversy tonight if in 2021 and again in 2022 um again and again the request for a parking study had been done. And I will tell you that supporters of this parking garage were very aggressively against a parking study and in government perception matters.

so not allowing us to do a parking study years ago and then again when uh with when the parking garage was approved uh and mayor uh Lisa Bowski uh began here as mayor she asked for a parking study and we supported it twice I think we've asked for a parking study so parking studies take away any question when we're resorting to chat GPT to decide whether we need parking Yeah, we know we need a parking study. Yeah.

So, you know, again, my position isn't pro or against a parking garage, but it's about fiscal responsibility, something that I've been very good at for eight years on this council. Major taxpayer investments must be supported by data. And I do want to talk about the costs. We talk about the $18 to$20 million parking garage, but that doesn't take into account the interest and the bond fees.

We're talking about, you know, roughly $20 million, that's everybody's property taxes are going up and then $10 million locked in interest and uh bond fees that comes out of the general fund. So, I've talked to a lot of people who support the garage, but they tell me, "Why don't we have the trolley?" because we do have a lot of parking, but they say it's really difficult to get from the northeast quadrant to the souththeast quadrant and to other quadrants. So, we need a trolley.

Well, $10 million is going to buy a lot of trolley. We hear about the need to invest in Oldtown. I will tell you that the past councils that I have been on with two different mayors and currently this mayor, so three mayors, we have asked for investments in Oldtown and they've been denied and defunded by this council this year.

And that 10 million would would buy a lot of those investments that we want to make to make uh to improve Oldtown and attract more people to your stores because I'm hearing from some of the supporters of the garage that their stores have their sales have been cut in half. That's a lack of foot traffic, not a lack of parking. So, I also want to talk about, you know, the bond. Um, bonds aren't a they're not a free um a blank check. That's the word I'm looking for.

Bonds aren't a blank check for a council to spend a bunch of your money and raise your taxes. I want to be very, very clear about that. The bond 2019 was one of my first of many successes on this council. We worked with the community and we got overwhelming support for those bonds. But again, a bond was a list. In this case, it was a list of um uh let's see, we had 58 projects. So, nobody voted on the garage or where the garage was. They voted on a package of three questions with 58 projects.

And in 2004, I supported bonds then, too. And there was a helicopter to rescue people out of the preserve or look for wildfires. You know, the fire department wanted a helicopter. That was very, very expensive. Voters approved it, but the fire department found a better way, a cheaper way to rescue people and to protect the preserve. That helicopter was never bought.

So, just because voters approve a a project in a bond package doesn't give this city council the right to build it and to spend their money and to raise their taxes. We're still required to do due diligence. And again, since two 2021, I have requested just that. And I I suggested even back then, if you deny the parking uh study now, you'll have nothing but trouble later. And here we are. And I want to end with something too.

When hundreds of residents come to me, and I'm not just talking about the people here or the people that sign petitions at the um farmers market, I happen to be in the community a lot and I happen to knock on a lot of doors. And while again I don't doubt that the land owners in Oldtown would like a parking garage, I can tell you that the residents are furious because we are defunding a lot of things that residents want, including water infrastructure, and we're giving them a parking garage.

We're raising their property taxes. We're taking $10 million out of the general fund. And we're refusing to give them data to back it up. So yes, I did vote no. I'm not here to be right. I'm here to do the right thing. And when the facts change and when the cost is spiked and when the residents speak, I change. And I'm going to vote no. Thank you very much. All right. Uh, any other speakers? Councilwoman Dascus. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Um, I appreciate your perspective, Councilwoman Whitehead.

Thank you. Um this has been an issue that has I think taken us all by surprise. Um I was sitting in the audience in 2024 through the work studies and I watched the prior council work through this issue. Um they had a lot of questions. They solve a lot of um concerns. A big part of it was where should it be? Should there be one? Should there be two? Should it be beautiful? Should it be ugly? And so ultimately what was decided was that they we needed two.

one in the south quadrant, one in the northeast quadrant. Um and that it should be beautiful if it's going to be in the southeast quadrant. And um part of the calculus at the time and I think what we have to consider here is that uh there has been a loss of 600 parking spaces from Scottsdale Stadium. So that has naturally is going to have an impact. We found out last week that we lost the contract with Honor Health for 100 spaces.

that's new and that hasn't actually impacted the area yet, but 100 spaces is a lot, especially during the spring training season. And then, as we, as you all know, we're working with Oldtown. We're working to improve our um marketing contracts and we're working to bring more people to Oldtown. One of the things that as the only resident that lives in North Scottsdale, I realize is a lot of my neighbors don't come to Oldtown. They don't dine in our restaurants. They don't come to spring training.

part part of it. My parents are uh in their 80s and they say to me, you know, I don't I don't I can't find parking. I'm not going to go there. I'm in my 80s. I'm not comfortable walking around. So, the um the issue is a is a real issue that impacts people from all over the valley. And I don't think we can say that um rid share will solve it because we are working through our marketing to bring in people from other parts of the valley to bring life into Oldtown.

So, um, one of the things that was written in the COG's letter to council is that with the civic center renovation, um, the amphitheater draws 2,700 people on a weekend per event. Um, and that's a lot of people. That's a lot of people. We didn't add any parking. So, um, taking all of that information into consideration, I also thought about what are the things that have been said here that there's been a lot of conversation about do we need the parking garage?

And um, Councilwoman Littlefield and I, we have our office hours. And so, Steve Sutton came to us twice and talked to us about the parking garage. And I thought, you know what? I'm going to go out myself because I don't know that any of us on council have done that. Have actually gone out and talked to the merchants, talked to the employees, talked to the property owners right there because I've spoken with property owners separately, but I haven't seen it myself.

So, um, I went out two days last week with Tiffany, the new Oldtown specialist, who is absolutely charming. She goes and she meets with the Oldtown merchants and brings them up to date on the work that we're doing in the city of Scottsdale. She was offering them a passport opportunity to increase their business over the summer so they could be recognized. It was lovely. Um, in the course of two days, we met with over 50 shops. Um, and I'll just give you some of the comments that I received.

I wrote them down as I was talking to folks. Um, we talked to one group of ambassadors and they said to to us, you know, we don't have anywhere to park when we want to restock the cart. There's nowhere for us to park. So, we have to park illegally. We have to park at the Bishops, which is private parking. We know we're not supposed to park there, but we're not sure what else to do. We can't even stock the cart. There's no parking here um for for the ambassador cart.

Um, one one gentleman who's a property owner said he owns 22,000 square feet in Oldtown. He's been there for 25 years and the garage is needed very much. Um, an employee told me that customers complain about parking that sometimes they drive for 30 minutes looking for parking and then end up parking a mile away. Uh, another uh, business owner told me that they've been working on this parking garage for more than 20 years.

um a another business owner, he took us in the back of his shop and he showed us the alleyway where he parks and he said um people in in spring training season will park in his private spot in the alley so then he doesn't have anywhere to park. Um some employees said free parking, no more parking tickets. Well, one of the things that um hasn't been talked about, but several employees did say is that they don't have anywhere to park.

So, what they do is they park in front of the stores and um and but there's a three-hour time limit. So, then the employees have to get up and rush when the meter mate is coming. Otherwise, they'll get a $55 parking ticket. So, in one row um on one street, they were telling me that they have a text chain so that they email each they text each other when the meter mate is coming so that they can move their cars.

Um they've been told not to park in front of the store, but they say, you know, gosh, I just don't have anywhere else to park. One person said to me, 'Wow, that parking garage, it looks like Scottsdale. I was told it was going to be all rectangles. This is beautiful. Another person said, 'Th that's fancy.' Um, another person said, "It's always so hard for us and our customers to park. We have to fight for parking." I heard that phrase over and over. We have to fight for parking.

There's nowhere else for employees to park, so we park in the space for visitors. Uh, one employee, uh, actually this was a a restaurant owner. He said, "Sweet. I'm sick of getting parking tickets. Now, the person said, "This is great. I love it. I heard a story of a jewelry shop and the person had a repair and uh so they were driving and driving and driving. They had an appointment to pick up their jewelry repair.

Couldn't find anywhere to park." And so, finally, they called the shop owner and said, "I can't find anywhere to park. Can you just bring it out to me in the street?" So, that's potentially a lost sale. This is a repeat customer who was not able to go into the shop because they couldn't find parking.

um another um restaurant that's been here for 20 years that you would all know the name if I named it said u you know on Saturdays it's our busiest day and we're right next to the farmers market and the the folks for the farmers market they don't want to come to a restaurant they want to take their kale home and cook it themselves so they park in our parking and then our own customers don't have parking on Saturdays so um while I heard lots of feed positive feedback about the farmers market nobody wants the farmers market to leave there there is a a a a concern that on Saturdays it does reduce the parking.

So, um I thought it was important to go ahead and have those conversations, meet the merchants, meet the employees, meet the shop owners where they're at and um collect that information for myself. So, I thought I would share that with you tonight. Thank you. Thank you, Councilwoman Littlefield. Thank you, Mayor. Well, I did not go out walking on the streets as Jan did, but I heard back from a lot of people, some of whom came to my office to talk to me about this issue.

And they're very, very concerned that we will not approve this parking garage tonight because they say it is desperately needed for the businesses, for the Oldtown businesses to continue to survive. and she was talking and she was saying this isn't a case of nice to have. It's a case of we need more parking period if we want to keep Oldtown alive. And that is the me message I got in my office two days ago by someone who knows this area very very well. So I'm sitting here.

I'm a native of Arizona. I've lived in Scottsdale almost all of my life. I certainly don't want to do something that hurts or harms Oldtown in any way, shape, or form, but I do want to do something that will help it and to help it to continue to grow and to maintain itself and to make sure that the customers that come here, have a place to park their car so they can shop. First and foremost, as I look at this as a councilman, what do I do?

First and foremost, the citizens voted in the last bond election in favor of building a parking garage in Oldtown. That's what it said. Voters were clear more downtown parking was needed back then even if we wish to support our downtown parking district or business district, excuse me, especially during the peak season and during the large events that come to the downtown and the Oldtown area.

After years of study, public hearings and input from every stakeholder, expanding the existing corral parking structure at 1 Street and Brown Avenue is right now the only feasible location that we have. We currently own the land and it connects to our newly expanded civic center plaza. How nice. Also, the underground level of the garage has already been built and is currently heavily used. And this is a far more coste effective solution for our taxpayers.

That underground parking level was built to support parking to go above it. So it doesn't need a restructuring. Finally, the location is excellent for many city businesses in the Oldtown downtown area. Adequate parking is easy access and should help the businesses throughout the entire area.

On the east side, the lot opens up to the civic center plaza, making it easy for folks to attend the many activities that are held there and to attend the sporting events in the ballpark or shop in the new locations of the farmers market. The address one to address one of the fears that I have heard mentioned, the garage will not negatively impact the old adobe mission.

If anything, additional parking would help attract more people to have lunch and dinner in the area where they can ensure a safe and adequate parking and lighting at night. We should perhaps we should consider building a pedestrian opening on the side of the garage facing the mission for easier access. At the March open house, the contractor's team told us that the minimal steel closure will occur, but in no case will Brown Street be closed.

So during the construction, Brown Street may be a little awkward, but it will stay open. Finally, the outer architectural look and feel should enhance the overall look and feel of the old town's western character. So that's what we're striving for. We don't want just plain steel. We want something that will fit. And that's hard to do with a garage, but that's what we're looking for. That's what we're all striving for.

The original Corral lot was built 23 years ago in response to an extreme shortage of parking in historic Oldtown and in the civic center. The original design included structure structured engineering to accommodate two to three future additional levels in on top of the garage. Subsequently, in 2021, the city spent $35 million to repurpose the civic center to increase the events three-fold and build an amphitheater that would hold 3,000 people.

We need to have them be able to park their car so they can come. However, in the process, the city did not build any new parking spaces. Not only that, just last week, the loss of the Honor Health Lot at the corner of Drinkwater and Second Street, which was used to park over a hundred cars for spring training and other large events. That's gone away. we have it no longer. That's why add adding additional two levels of parking on the parking corral structure is even more urgent now.

I believe that despite the vocal opposition, the city council must stand firmly with the residents and the small businesses who have come to us for this project. They made prom we made a promise to the voters and they expect us to keep that promise by delivering the parking infrastructure in Oldtown that it needs to continue to grow and prosper. I do not want to see those businesses close because their customers can't fit. I believe it is our legal and moral obligation to do so. Thank you.

Thank you. Uh Vice Mayor Quasman. Thank you, Madam Mayor. So, I I want to first of all, I want to thank the mayor. I I I want you to know I want I want everybody to know that that um this was a contentious issue, of course, for for over a year now. But but the mayor has the mayor and her office has done an excellent job in inviting um alternatives and and and uh uh to the parking structure that would have been that that varied in project.

I don't want to get into the details of the project out of respect of those of those interested who clearly didn't want to speak today, which I didn't understand why they didn't want to speak if they um if they had alternatives to the parking structure. But let's just say that that that the mayor did a did a yomen's work in trying to um make sure that um there were viable alternatives.

There were still height height issues and and parking space issues that that I don't think we're going to resolve the problem. But um I want to start with thanking her.

Secondly, um I I want to tell a little anecdote and that's I I live in McCormack Ranch and I usually get down myself to to Oldtown outside of council matters um as a big baseball fan and a big and I I love uh I love spring training and as recently as this year it took me 45 minutes to try to drive around to find a parking spot with my dear friend and attorney Ilia Shapiro to go visit Baseballism, which is one of my one of the coolest stores in Oldtown, and seeing this firsthand.

Uh I understand that it's anecdotal evidence, but I was texting I know I was texting Jan at the time being like, I can't I was literally saying, "Where's the parking garage? We have can't I can't find parking with my friend." Um and uh and I I want you to know that everybody here is trying to find the right kind of solution.

And just as the as the uh farmers market uh we found a great solution for the farmers market and that and it's because of Solange and because of the mayor and because of Kathy and because of Maryanne and and my colleagues that we found that out that that solution that worked for everybody uh for the long run. Um, the long run is what's truly, in my opinion, important.

And I to those who are who are opposed to this garage, I I want you to think about what Scottsdale is going to look like 10 years from now. We have a quarter of a million people in this city now. It ain't going to be a quarter of a million 10 years from now. It's going to be far more people in this city. And I'm going to tell you that that's just a fact.

Whether you like it or not, there's going to be more people here and there's going to be more pressure on parking and more pressure on parking and more pressure on parking. And if you don't build your infrastructure correctly, you're going to face an an impossible cliff. And I want you to look at a a road um that's a good allegory for this, and that's the 303. There is right now the demand for the 303 is far less when it was built. I'm sorry.

When it was built especially uh started getting years ago, the demand was far less than what it was than what it's going to be 10 years from now, what it is now today. Even right now, we need parking in Oldtown. A decade from now, we're not going to have an opportunity to be able to ch to to make the changes that we will need, and we're going to be wishing that we had this one back. So for the for for those reasons, I'm going to be supporting this measure.

And then also I I'm a big I I want to reiterate also uh Mr. Pedman's uh uh uh statement about a parking study. A parking study is not a two-month issue here. You can't have a parking study if it's not done in February. February is when the high season is. January, February, March, you got to do it. which means and I would reject any notion of a parking study until then because you have to see what it is when Scottsdale's busy the busiest, right?

And so it's a year and then it's months after that and then if you don't get the parking study back by the time you do the budget next year, it's another year because you got to put it in the budget. So now you're looking at two years and now you're looking at cost increases for two years from now and you're looking at you're looking at contracts that we've already signed that we've already agreed on that Solange has voted for already before she's going to vote against it.

She's voted for it, right? So we're all in we're this path this train is moving forward. Um I'm not a big fan of bonding on a good day. Uh my colleagues and I have argued about this. I'm a big fan of zerobased budgeting and just appropriating. I think that we shouldn't have a budget for Scottsdale. I think we should have appropriations for Scottsdale. Tax taxes in, taxes out, taxes in, taxes out. But I understand municipal bonding is a fact.

I will academically argue it until I'm blue in the face. But the voters paid for this. We better deliver for those voters, even if it's even if it's years later. We can't we we cannot reneg on those responsibilities.

With that, I'm going to move um to adopt resolution 13635 authorizing contract number 2026-048- COS with Chase Building Team Incorporated in an amount not to exceed three uh 3,820,557 to provide design build m uh design build manager phase 1 construction services for the expansion by building additional levels of the Brown Avenue parking structure in the Oldtown in Oldtown Scottsdale.

And number two, authorizing the city manager or designate to execute any other documents and take such other actions as necessary to carry out the intent of this resolution. The locations at 7234 East 2nd Street. Second. Oh, Kathy, thank you. There's a motion, but I haven't spoke yet.

I don't know if anyone else that hasn't spoke wants to speak on this, but um I had a question for Allison, but before I get there, I just want to start with um this parking garage conversation for me started before I got sworn in uh in January of 2025. And I couldn't have been more surprised, although I'm familiar with the bond 2019 bond project, couldn't have been more surprised that this was on our first agenda.

um after having campaigned for not only once but uh twice for mayor um total of couple years there and one of my key priorities was to um revitalize and beautify Oldtown and I think this garage does exactly the opposite of that. So, uh, you know, starting with location of this garage, it couldn't be in a worse area. As I understand it, it was, uh, the best of the worst, um, of alternatives. It was compromised between stakeholders that couldn't agree.

Uh, even the people that supported putting it here thought it was not not a great location for it uh, some years ago.

And um the location it's the historic district as I think all of you know here but maybe not all those watching uh channel 11 this evening which it should be dedicated to at at a minimum preserving and protecting the charm and character of Oldtown Scottsdale which a uh parking garage that's 100 p paces from a 600 space civic center uh a88 parking garage um does not do it does not protect and preserve the charm and character of that area.

I can think of so many better alternatives for that and we had alternatives. One of the first things I focused on was provide was looking uh asking the council to look at alternatives. There was a there was a hard no on that uh still to this day a year and three months later. I don't understand it. I don't understand why anyone would want to put the parking garage at this location without exploring uh exhausting every other alternative that we could find.

Namely, uh someone brought this up tonight and I think it was I forget who it was, Patty maybe. Uh why aren't we putting building on top of our parking spaces out here and spending $2 million on 61 solar covers for the the parking uh lot that's outside of city hall? That parking lot's not going anywhere. Why wouldn't we build another 186 spaces on top of that? I I'm completely baffled by that.

And while, you know, I'm going to concede that the farmers market does not in fact own the parking corral, but it certainly has become a welcome and cherished use and uh highly beneficial for the Oldtown area. So, there's so many things including wouldn't that be a great park, right? Um some people uh Councilman Clausman alluded to this earlier.

um some very creative uh individuals approached the city um back in December and up until last week about an option where they would purchase this parking corral, pay us money to make a really nice project. no appetite for that whatsoever in terms of our uh our city administration and I'm assuming that's based on the political will of the council. So, it's it's very sad to me. Um someone mentioned shareholders in a corporation.

Uh can you imagine if you were a shareholder in a corporation that was operating off um anecdotal evidence only? Um, Councilwoman Dasquez went on for several minutes about her experience. I too walked Oldtown uh in the Brown and well Oldtown all over, but in this particular instance, the Brown uh and Second Second Street and Brown Avenue um and talked to every business owner.

you know, we we ran into a lot of employees that worked there, but my point was to to speak to the decision makers and I I one I don't even I can't even recall if there was one person that supported the garage. I don't think there was I think I've met three that probably are in this room that support the garage in a year and three months.

So, back to my point, if you owned, if you were a shareholder in a corporation and they're making decisions off anecdotal information and experience rather than data and evidence. 2015 parking study, we have no evidence to support this. Let's assume, however, that we do need parking. It shouldn't be at that location. This is going to result in a degradation of our oldtown charm and character in our historic district. It's the equip. Do we want to be the inner city?

That's where parking garages live in the inner city. Take a walk through the civic center parking garage. No offense to our maintenance people. You know, parking garages are not designed to be aesthetically beautiful on the interior or provide a great experience for people. All of which they provide parking. So, back to uh I I appreciated the point and the and the comment and the compliment from Vice Mayor uh Quasman. And I also thank him for his willingness to be open-minded last week.

He was in fact open-minded and I really appreciated it. didn't get any traction which is unfortunate but nonetheless I appreciate it. So great cities are about planning and getting infrastructure correct not about happen stance not about well it looks good here we'll just put it here. Um, you know, if we were really trying to plan our Oldtown thoughtfully and downtown core, the infrastructure or the parking would go on the periphery of our Oldtown Core.

And we would be investigating not only wayfinding like that has been rejected so many times this last year and uh with help technology to help find parking. We'd be putting the parking on the periphery of all the um Oldtown area and we would have realistic attractive ways to get people from block to block. For example, a trolley or something more advanced than a trolley. I don't know what that is. Like a large people mover, you know, that goes from block to block block.

That's what would get people out of their cars and to the shops and spending money. So, putting an unsightly garage of which in in the middle of what should be the centerpiece of um historic Scottsdale, such a bad idea. Um the cost. Oh, yeah. We're working on outdated information. What corporation does that? What corporation does that? $2 billion budget. That's what we manage. Why would we be relying on 2015 data? It's absurd. I mean you you really could not run a private organization this way.

Uh before I get to cost because that's a question for Alice and I had um again anecdotal evidence. You know Tom Frankle I really appreciate your investment in Oldtown. I mean I really I've known you a long time. You are a very wise businessman and you've provided a lot of opportunities for a lot of tenants including what we have pinon right now. the new restaurant that just opened. So, I thank you for that.

Um, the list of property I just want to, you know, anecdotal again, when I looked at your list of property or business owners and property owners, you know, I only had two numbers on the whole thing and out of I think 14 or whatever it was and I contacted them and the the decision makers didn't agree to be on that list. So, I'm you know, I'm confused. But again, going back to my point, I don't think anecdotal evidence should be driving this decision. It's really too bad.

Uh the facade, um this goes to cost. Someone blamed the cost on improving the facade. I do agree with um I think it was Patty that said that or maybe it was Karolina that it kind of does add insult to injury, a fake southwestern facade. I just think that's not the direction we should be going for our future and that should not be the legacy of this council. So, I'm going to ask uh Allison just this question because I'm curious what you think about the cost. There's been a lot of discussion.

When I did the math, I think you said it's 186 spaces that are being added um and it's $21 million. that comes that comes out to $113,000 a space. I mean, that's pretty pretty simple math, but is that really what we're looking at? Um, mayor, members of council, so the overall project budget, the bond project budget is $21 million, right? Um, we have always been reserving 2.2 2 million of that for 55 spaces in the um 55 public spaces in the private artisan development per development agreement.

Right? So that leaves us with $18.7 million remaining. That's basically the remaining budget to build this garage. Um our current estimate though is that we are looking at closer to $18 million for the construction of this garage for the total budget of this garage. So, um I mean if you're just doing the straight math of 180 spaces into 18 million, 186 spaces into 18 million, yes, it is 96,000 um per space. But what you have to remember is this garage, we're building two levels, right?

We're building two levels above an existing level. So, if we were actually building this garage just on the ground, um and there wasn't an existing parking uh lot there now, we would be building those spaces, too, for a very small amount of money. So really, you're not comparing apples to apples. Like re realistically, the number that you would compare would be the ground level plus the other two levels into the 18 million and then you're looking at more a $60,000 per per space. Okay.

So, and I've heard comments about that's three times the national average. I don't know that that matters. I I think different markets are different but you're recommending this at that cost. Is that right? Um, mayor, members of council, yes. And we we do have examples, other examples of parking structures in Arizona. There's one in Sedona that's current being built and it's uh roughly between 90 and 100,000 per space.

And again, it is an aesthetic building like our building is an aesthetic building. It's going it's been designed to fit into the Oldtown character area. That took a lot of extra cost. Um, additionally, we listened to the public. The public was very concerned about the massing on Brown Avenue. So we have the step back on the second level that adds cost um to the project. So I mean there are reasons why um the cost is where it is.

Have you looked at uh going higher in the in the city hall parking spaces? U mayor no we did not. No. Well I personally think the price is absurd. Uh I you know I don't know. you're the you're the engineer, but that seems extremely high. Um, and it seems like based on how high it is, because of all the reasons you just said, we should have looked we should be looking at an alternative location. Can you talk to us about what it will ultimately cost with the bond funding?

Um, someone mentioned $10 million uh burden on top of the 21 million. Is that um mayor, members of council, I have to uh refer to our city treasurer for that. Yeah, I would love to hear from our city treasurer. I should have asked her. I'm sorry Alison. Yeah, Mayor Browski, members of the council, issuing um debt for about 20 million would add another 10 to 11 million of interest cost. Wow. So, now it's a$130,000 of space, maybe. All right. Um thank you, Allison.

Uh, thank you very much for chiming in to our city treasurer. I appreciate that clarification. Uh, you know, I'm just going to close by saying I'm a hard no. I've been a hard no since the get-go. I think this is a really bad idea. I think um, you know, come July and November and come, you know, the next year of pain that's going to be suffered down there, I I think we're all going to hear about it.

Uh in any in any event, we are elected to be stewards of making good decisions on behalf of our residents and our taxpayers. And those decisions should be in the best interest of our city. While they may not appeal or resonate with every single resident or every single business, we are the stewards that are responsible for that. And sometimes they're uncomfortable decisions.

In this case, I believe the right decision is to uh find a an alternative location first and foremost to to obtain current data on whether we can make things that we've got already better or do we need another parking lot. We don't have that. So, we're also stewards of our taxpayers money. And based on the explanation about the cost of this, I think it's an egregious overstep and breach of our duty in that regard to approve this at that cost given all the pain and opposition and so on.

So I am going to close on that. I don't know if I see anybody else wants to speak. Uh Councilman Graham does. And that is all I have to say for now. Thank you. Thank you, mayor. Um, I'm ready to vote. Um, I just um had a had a had a had a quick question if could I didn't hear anything about the alternate idea that was sort of brought up by Councilman Quasman or the mayor. If could that a little more about that be shared with the audience before we vote?

No, unfortunately we can't because uh I well I'll just tell you I had asked the city manager and the city attorney's office to provide um a response uh I think it was Friday of last week which seemed to be a pretty straightforward interpretation but we did not get that. So um I'm you know I don't think there's any point to it right now. I Councilman Graham I like where you're going with this.

I would certainly um I would love to make an alternative motion to do a 30-day continuance on that because I think as I said last week um to our city manager uh I think it w it warranted a presentation and a discussion to the council because as I indicated uh at that time if I were for the garage uh I even if I were for the garage I and I was in that position I would have wanted to I would have wanted to hear about it. So, well, if I if I may ask then, mayor, um Mr.

City Manager, can you share just a little bit so we can have a full picture and then we can and then we can uh move forward. Thank you, city manager. Madame Mayor, Councilman Graham, uh I was invited to a meeting last Friday coordinated by the mayor that included a number of staff members, including Vice Mayor Quasman. At that meeting, there was a proposal uh by private individuals to uh essentially have residential units on top of the corral.

Uh they also had a business plan that was just to the east of uh our property. And what the mayor is referring to, I may look to my uh colleague, the city attorney, to assist, but is a law that allows or an ordinance rather, excuse me, uh to have adjacency uh by a property owner that therefore could acquire uh pro public land without uh public process, if you will, or transparency. And so that was essentially the proposal. That was the first time I had heard of it.

It was referenced that there was some discussion latter part of 2025. Uh that came out that was through the mayor's office, city manager's office was never aware of that type of proposal and through vice mayor uh Quasman. We had suggested that those individuals bring that forward this evening uh in the spirit of transparency for a public discussion uh to see if that was an interest to council to pursue and potentially delay the action this evening.

It's my understanding uh that was not uh received in a favorable light and so therefore we didn't uh bring that forward for your consideration. Thank you, madam mayor. Okay. Okay. Well, thank you for sharing that. I'm not interested in selling the corral parking lot to develop highdensity housing. So, I think we're ready to vote then. Right. We have a motion by Vice Mayor Quasman, I think. And there was a second. Is that right? Yes. Yeah. You made a second. There we go. All right.

Well, without further ado, uh let's go ahead and take a vote. That does pass. And with that, thank you all for coming. We appreciate your input for all of this time. And we will move on to I think we're done. Yeah, got it. All right. Next, we have public comment, which is reserved for Scottsdale citizens, business owners, and or property owners on non-aggendaized items that are within the council's jurisdiction.

No official council action can be taken on these items, and speakers are limited to three minutes to address the council. Uh we do have some speakers listed. Steve Sutton, Melissa Kemp, and French Thompson. And if you would still like to speak and you haven't signed up, please see the city clerk. As soon as individuals clear out, we'll get Steve Sutton to come up and start the Thank you. Go ahead, Steve. So, uh, could I get the email on, please? Uh, thank you, Mr.

Frankle, for leaving your color copy of this map up here. I'd like to point out to everybody that this enormous space right here, that's almost all Tom Frankle's property. And if you look, only maybe half at most of these parcels are in green, which means all these other people did not get on Tom Frankle's list, which is of a mysterious origin. And it's certainly questionable considering that he's got the Bishoff Family Limited owners in here. And yet, right here on this, can we see that?

It's not the right way. There's the signature of Bishoff. Mrs. Bishoff right there saying she doesn't want this garage. In fact, people complain about parking there for every year I've lived here and I've lived here since the 60s. A lot of whining complaining about it. And yet, businesses are still open. In fact, we've a business that's been open there since 1927.

Now, if we're having such a problem with parking and it's going to cause these businesses to go bankrupt, how come we have so many business been around further like Sugarbull, who by the way also signed this petition. There's just way too much lying and deception going on here. Way too much. And it is going to catch up with you. This is the modern age. You cannot hide this stuff from the public. And believe me, this is all going to be exposed. Every bit of it.

Don't think that this is not going to be Mr. Quasman. You are responsible for why we don't have a parking garage. You voted against h or having a parking study. You voted against it last September. You had a petition with 500 signatures on it. We could have conducted it. Steve, can I interrupt you? So, this is non-aggendaized comment period. Yeah, this isn't this isn't on the agenda. Okay. This is not about a vote on the garage. This is just me talking about the garage. Okay.

And let's stick to the non-aggendaized because the garage was in fact agendaized tonight. Um, Mary, I'd like to have you ask the attorney about I believe the what was agendaized was a vote on buying construction materials, not on the proceeding with the garage. Correct. Completely. So, go ahead. Let's just focus on what you want to talk about in the next 1 minute and 30 seconds.

And, uh, Councilwoman Debbacus, that was an interesting story, but when you're creating a story, you can't have a story that just has a protagonist. It's a terrible story. You have to have an antagonist. and you didn't have a single person you contacted that told you they didn't want the parking garage. So, I have a real problem with that story. A real problem with it. I've talked to thousands of people, but I can tell you I've definitely talked to some who want the garage, but most don't.

You know who's going to be hurt at the Old Adobe Mission, Mr. Frankle? It's going to be all those future brides and grooms who walk out there in the afternoon to have their wedding pictures taken while standing in front of it with the sun in their face. Except it's not going to be in their face anymore. It's going to be the shadow of a garage. They're going to be looking at a garage instead of a beautiful Saturday afternoon sunset. That's who's going to be hurt.

This idea that there's more parking down needed down there is ridiculous. If this was so desperate, how on earth have these businesses survived for decades down there? It's just absurd to say that you need more parking. These claims you've lost all these parking spaces. Well, there are other alternatives you haven't looked at. And the mayor mentioned one. You've never looked at this. This is the most logical place right here at the city hall parking lot.

You put one level above ground directly behind city hall. you bridge over Ben Bennett Gonzalez and put two more levels and you can easily and probably greatly surpass the number of parking spaces you want to put at the parking corral, but you have not considered that. It is the easiest access to the Civic Center Mall because it's right here.

It is also the safest place for people to park if they're going to the baseball stadium because they're walking down the very peaceful and quiet 75th Street rather than this multiple left and right turns through multiple intersections to the baseball park. All right. Thank you. We appreciate it. Uh that was 3 minutes and 31 seconds actually. So thank you. I almost missed I did miss the bell. So sorry about that. So, next we have Melissa Kemp, followed by French Thompson.

Hopefully, you can see this while I'm talking. I um Sorry, I always get the frog in my throat when I get up here. Thank you. All right. Uh Mayor and Council Melissa Camp McCormack Ranch. uh part seven of my series on what it costs when public input is treated like noise instead of data. Let's remember why open public comment matters. This is the forum where money and influence cannot buy you a better seat at the table. The same rules, the same microphone, and the same clock for everyone.

Conflicts of interest can happen when money and influence do get close to the deis outside of city hall and council meetings. Conflicts of interest happen because they're just a basic concept. The presence of adverse interests. Somebody wins and somebody loses when there's a conflict of interest. Conflict of interest rules don't work like the red or green traffic signals. You know, red stop, green go. It's more of a yellow caution light. They're meant to be guard rails or a warning light.

So, a common sense conflict of interest rule that trustworthy people follow or live by. They avoid even the appearance of impropriy, especially when they're in public service and serving the citizens. If someone appears to have a conflict of interest, don't argue or deny it. Manage it. Conflicts of interest happen all the time. They're normal in life. Families, communities, everybody has them. They're a normal consequence of being a human and having interest.

So having a conflict of interest, it's not shameful. It's not bad. What's shameful and harmful is pretending you don't have one or failing to recognize it because you think your behavior sets you aside or apart from it. Look, what isn't recognized cannot be disclosed and what isn't disclosed cannot be managed. So, managing a conflict of interest has three basic things. One, recognize an adverse interest. Can somebody win and can somebody lose?

If so, there's your signal you probably have a conflict. Two, when you recognize them, avoid it if you can. In this case, if you have a household stake, financial, political, or relational, enough to make a reasonable voter pause and say that's a conflict, you probably have a conflict. So, if you can't avoid it, like for the little fields, I doubt long-term married couple like the little fields are going to get divorced.

You can't avoid this conflict of interest that's present with the axon matter. It exists. So third, if you can't avoid it, then manage it in the public's interest. Recognize it, disclose it, recuse yourself, and step back. That's the appropriate thing to do. Council member Dascus recently recused herself from a permit agenda item and stepped away from the deis. That was refreshing. Jan Dvascus and Adam Cosman are trained and educated as attorneys. Miss Debbascus has a history of compliance work.

Managing conflicts of interest doesn't belong just to one person. It's a shared interest among the city council for the benefit of the trust of the city council. If you have that training and you know what it is, why are you not helping create a a community that's actively helping council member Littlefield identify and deal with her conflict of interest? colleagues.

Holding colleagues accountable to the same standard, especially when money and litigation matter, will only increase your trust, not decrease it. It seems to me tonight you're going to need a lot more trust. Thank you. All right. Uh there's one more here. Madam, we have another public. Do you want to wait till the close of public comment to do that? Yeah, I think I think that's what the protocol is. So, hold on. Let's uh Sure. Thank you. Oh, French Thompson, are you still going to speak?

He's gone, so I I saw him leave, so go right ahead. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Mayor. All right. Regarding uh conflict of interest, I mean, community of conflict of interest. Um I was on the other side of the axon issue as as council member Littlefield whom I adore.

Um, and she did exact I want to let everybody know in this members of uh in the members of the public, she did exactly the right thing when she when there was a question of a conflict of interest, she went to the attorney, the city attorney who decides whether something is a conflict of interest. That's the process that we are trained to follow from the first day of our orientation of being members.

She went direct and she did exactly what I would do, what cong what what council member Dascus would do when she recused herself. she went to the city attorney and asked, "Is this appropriate?" So, she did that. The city attorney made a ruling and then she acted accordingly. So, at the end of the day, we are a community. We are bound by doing the right thing.

And even though council member Littlefield and I disagreed on that vote, I will tell you right now, she in no way acted inappropriately or was conflicted out because she was she was given counsel by the attorney that it was not a conflict of interest. Thank you. Thank you. All right, that close concludes uh non-aggendaized public comment and oh, Councilw Councilwoman Littlefield. Thank you. Thank you. Since I was mentioned directly, I also would like to say thank you very much. That is true.

I did go to the city attorney. He went to several other city attorneys throughout the state of Arizona, got their opinions, came back and said there is no conflict. I am an individual person. I make my own decisions and believe it or not my husband does not tell me how to vote when I'm up here on this dis anymore than I told him how to vote when he was up here. We're individuals and we are separate people. What he does is his business. What I do is mine. Thank you. All right, moving right along.

Next we have receipt receipt, excuse me, of citizens petitions. We do have a petition uh presented by Steve Sutton. And you'll have three minutes, Steve, to present the petition. Come on up. So, just to be clear, this petition I submitted is only signed by people who have businesses, business owners or property owners of business business properties in the area known as historic Oldtown between Scottsdale Road, Brown Avenue, Indian School, and Second Street.

It does not include the areas that are behind Brown Avenue where Mr. Frankle owns properties along the mall. Doesn't have anybody signatures from anybody in the mall area. Just the people right there in the true historic area. And secondly, since you did not understand intuitively what was being asked of you when we submitted the Scott the resident petition, which was very similar to this, what was being asked? We're asking you to create an agenda item to stop this garage.

That's all there is to it. Just stop this garage. At the very least, this would give you an opportunity to do the responsible thing of conducting a parking study to make sure we need it. This petition has 34 signatures on it. It only has 34 signatures because it's very difficult for someone like me who's just a resident to contact all these owners. Many of them aren't even on the property. Took many, many hours, far more hours than the few phone calls that Mr. Frankle made.

And again, this is a petition with the signatures of owners on it. This is not a list of names of parcel owners, which I might add is mainly property owners, not businesses. These business owners do not want this done. It affects their business. They benefit from having the farmers market there. They share customers with a farmers market. I just cannot believe how ridiculous this situation has got.

I would have never been involved in this except for the fact that when I did the reasonable thing and asking the park study petition be circulated back in the end of May. As soon as I did that, I was attacked immediately online with terrible things being said about me, horrible computerenerated images of me. And all the people doing this are associated with Councilman Barry Graham. And you know exactly who I'm talking about, Mr. Graham.

That was a big mistake because no one has filled me with more resolve in my life to fight for a cause after that. Especially after spending so much time down at the farmers market and realizing how incredibly important this is to thousands of people that that market remain there. After realizing the incredible historical significance of the old adobe mission to many people and to Scottdale, it needs to be protected from people who would do otherwise. Thank you, Steve. All right.

The council has three options with respect to this petition. Uh, and they are on the board. What was the petition? What's What are you asking for, Steve? Let me go back to the notes here to stop. Okay. All right. Anyone have any questions or comments? Councilman Graham. Um Mayor, thank you. I will make motion. Um I'll take uh motion number three to take no action. And uh I would just like to take an opportunity.

Um, the petitioner made very accusatory um and derisive comments about me that were false and I did not appreciate and um it's just time to put personal grudges aside. This is about the what's best for the city. So please, I implore you to take personal vendetta. set aside your personal vendetta and let's move forward together for the city. Thank you, Councilwoman Whitehead.

You know, I just want to say that we did just have the vote, but I think this council had a discussion where we all agreed that the take no action on any citizen petition just is not acceptable.

So, I'm going to make an alternate motion to direct the city manager, other responsible charter officer to agendaize the petition or not, sorry, number two, direct the city manager, other responsible charter officer just to investigate the matter and prepare response to the council with a copy to the petitioner. Uh, point of order there. I made a motion on the table. Can somebody make an alternate motion before you have a chance to hear a sec for a second? Well, it dies.

The motion dies for lack of a second. Was there a second? I don't believe there was a second, was there? But I don't know if uh that was just as a matter of um someone make uh chiming in the talk. Yeah, I suppose an alternate motion for something that's not seconded is actually out of order. Okay. So, are we going to agree it died? I guess it died. I'd like Mayor Yeah, go ahead.

I would like to make I would like to move to direct the city manager or other responsible charter officer to investigate the matter and prepare a written response to the council with a copy to the petitioner. I second that motion. Vice Mayor Quasman. I'd like to make an alternate motion to take no action. Um and the reason and the reason she second it because No, she second her motion and now I'm the al the alternate motion was Mr.

Graham's motion and I didn't second it because I didn't think that that was going to be necessary. I agree with um with I agree with council member Whitehead. We just it just switched places. It switches places. So the first motion is now council member Whitehead's motion. We're the alternate motion. But the reason why in this scenario, I agree with you like 95% of the time, but in this scenario, this is literally just undoing a vote that we just took.

So, taking no action wouldn't be prudent at this point because or not taking no action wouldn't be prudent because I don't we don't need the city manager to write a report about a vote that we just took. That's what the report's going to say. So, with that, I I move to take no action as an alternate motion. Can I have a second? Second. So, that was a lot of words. Why didn't anybody second my motion? That's what I said. Why didn't you second this motion?

We could have We could have saved ourselves three valuable minutes. All right. But I I I'll second. Okay. Councilwoman Littlefield now seconded the motion. Okay. I'm going to agree that no action is appropriate because you cannot reconsider a vote unless it's a member of the prevailing party. So, Steve, the city manager can't provide you anything other than the Robert's rules, which and the council procedure, which is there's no action to be taken on uh on that petition.

So, I'm going to support that. Uh let's take a vote. I'll I'll add unfortunately. Okay, so moving right along.

Next we have uh item number 15 which is mayor and council items and vice mayorsman has uh added to the agenda for discussion uh and potentially agendaizing the appointment of interim city attorney Luis Santea on the to the regular full-time city attorney position along with the consideration and possible approval of an employment contract setting forth the city attorney's compensation and benefits. Vice Mayor Quasman, please talk to us about this request. Thank you, Madame Mayor.

The city attorney has done uh the interim city attorney has done work in navigating complex litigation issues um including both controversial and non-controversial. Um he has uh he is currently in the process of a major overhaul of our ethics codes. He has he has uh answered any and all questions at least to my to my understanding. Um uh notwithstanding actually notwithstanding a single a question asked as uh by the mayor on s on on Friday uh of the staff. He was not in town at that time.

He does uh he does get a pass of being in Washington DC at that at that time representing uh representing uh major organizations but uh I think that he has more than proven himself as an outstanding city attorney and with that um attorney to attorney I love supporting great people doing great work and uh it's time for him to be our city attorney normally I I literally forgot that he was not the that he was still the interim, but we're getting into budget time, so let's just make this official.

Um, with that, I move to agendaize an item regarding a city attorney appointment and employment contract request at the request. Okay. and direct the city manager and city clerk to agendaize a future city council meeting for possible action regarding the appointment of interim city attorney Luis Santea to the regular full-time city attorney along with the potential approval of an employment contract setting forth the city attorney's compensation and benefit second.

All right, we have a motion and two seconds. So, all those in favor? That motion carries unanimously. Look at that. All right. Uh, that brings us to the mayor and c I'm sorry, council. Yeah, council reports. And Councilwoman, I don't see any on my list, but please indicate if you'd like to talk. Councilwoman Whitehead. Yeah, I'll just bring up a couple things. First of all, I want to thank police and our transportation staff for the tour to Scottsdale.

I, as I said to uh the city manager, it looked like somebody swept the bike lanes. So, it was an incredible event, a real showcase of Scottsdale. I also want to thank Scottsdale leadership and um we were at the Pyute Center this Saturday. They turned a rocky hot no no no no place to sit or play um area into a playground for kids near the family services. So that was a really nice event. Thank you. Thank you, Vice Mayor Clausman. Thank you, Madame Mayor. Um I just want to just thank this council.

Um this uh this past day we um uh the past two days both internationally as well as in the state of Israel. U this the uh commemoration of Holocaust Memorial Day both the international day was Monday the and the um and and the day in Israel which uh tends to the Jewish calendar um was today.

Um, this council has really shown a uh a commitment to uh making sure that uh that SC one of Scottsdale's largest, if not Scotssdale's largest minority community, the Jewish community has been has been held steadfast. Um, we've had public safety issues at schools and at synagogues. Um, Chief Luduk, I can't thank you enough.

you and your team just unbelievable rapid response toward um potential violent um potential violence toward the Jewish community and making sure that my children are safe and that's a that's something that's really really powerful and amazing and the city manager as well keeping us notified of potential threats and working with alongside I want to say um Phoenix and working alongside the state legislature so that that it really is a community effort of intelligence um to keep the community safe during this very difficult time.

Um the rise of anti-semitism, we've never seen this in America in in it in our history before and it's very scary coming both um it is it is not unique to a certain political party or a political spectrum. Unfortunately, it is a disease that is ubiquitous and needs to be stamped out in its entirety.

I want to thank this council and um just remind them that a year ago we passed um an agendaizing motion uh to adopt the uh IRA uh definition of anti-semitism that um that I think is very important that we do here as well. It's supported um in a bipartisan fashion both nationally as well as among different states and cities, municipalities across across this great nation. So hopefully we can get that on the um on the agenda soon and get that and get that uh in the in the code.

And again, thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Vice Mayor, Councilwoman Dascus. Thank you, Madame Mayor. Um just wanted to remind everyone that Kathy uh Councilwoman Littlefield and I will have office hours on uh April 27th from 4 to 6:00 p.m. right here in the KA. We'll be happy to see anyone and speak with learn about your issues, see how we can help you. Um, I also wanted to give a shout out to Scottsdale PD. I had the opportunity to tour the forensic lab last week. It was absolutely wonderful.

Um, as a resident, I participated in the Scottsdale Citizens Police Academy and I remember at that time they were working through some hiring issues and there were some is talks about uh, you know, uh, DNA backlogs and all that stuff. They have worked so hard and they have really hired some excellent teams. They are all caught up. They're working on all cylinders. It was lovely to see. So, thank you for taking the time for that opportunity. Appreciate it.

And then I also wanted to call out the Scottsdale Firefighters Association. They are um working with the community to help those in need. And so, the firefighters association donated over 4,000 bottles of water for our summer heat program. We have over 100 seniors who are homebound and um the heat in the summer really puts them in jeopardy. And so we have a program called Beat the Heat and you can donate to that um through midMay.

But of course they accept donations all the time, Gatorade and sunscreen and snacks and things like that. But the Scottsdale Firefighters Association, that water will probably last at least through the end of the summer, if not into the fall. 4,000 bottles of water is a major donation. So thank you to Scottsdale Firefighters Association. Appreciate it. Thank you, Councilman Graham. Thank you, Mayor. I want to uh congratulate our parks and recck team for a successful bonanza.

I think Councilwoman Dowcus was in attendance. And um I want to remind people on Saturday night, April 18th, you have two choices. 400 p.m. You can come to the Scottsdale Stadium's 70th anniversary. And I want to tell you, the first thousand people that show up 400 p.m. on Saturday at the Scottsdale Stadium will receive an anniversary commemorative pin upon entry. Only for the first thousand. Um, but if you can't make it down south, up north, there will be movie night at Scottsdale Air Park.

Um, I'm not sure what movie they're gonna going to be playing. Does anybody know off top? Oh, no. I do know the movie Star Wars: A New Hope, which was probably my second or third favorite of the original trilogy. Empire's Tribe Back was probably the number one. Thank you. All right, last but not least, Councilwoman Mckllen. Thank you, Mayor. Um, I wanted to congratulate the Scottsdale Arts. Um, this past week they celebrated Artrages, the 50th anniversary of the Center for the Arts.

Um my brother was on the original staff of the Center for the Arts, so it's kind of um like coming home. But more importantly, being a nonprofit, they raised over $1.5 million for arts in our city, and that is quite incredible under the leadership of Gererman. Um he him and his trustees have done a fabulous job. So congratulations to Scottsdale Arts. Um and the show was fabulous.

Uh and then on Friday night I had the pleasure of attending the um investature of our newest judge in Scottsdale, Judge uh Patricia George. And uh it was lovely. There were judges from all over the valley attended. Um also members of our um our uh our local um her church members attended, her family attended, her husband taught my children at KA. But then just today they found out that their son was um uh accepted into law school.

So I just love that kind of flow that um their son was elected and she's now our newest judge. So congratulations and we're very lucky to have her. Excellent. All right. Thank you all and that concludes our business for tonight and we appreciate you being here and uh move to adjourn. All right.