Tempe reserves May 2023 election date for potential Coyotes arena referendum vote
TEMPE, ARIZONA — November 14, 2022

Tempe reserves May 2023 election date for potential Coyotes arena referendum vote

Tempe City Council unanimously approved reserving May 16, 2023 as election date for potential Coyotes arena referendum after developer committed to unprecedented voluntary ballot referral, though concerns about transparency and developer accountability were raised.

Tempe Council Unanimously Reserves May 2023 Election Date for Coyotes Arena Referendum After Developer's Historic Ballot Pledge

Tempe City Council voted 7–0 on November 14, 2022, to reserve May 16, 2023, as the election date for a potential referendum on the Phoenix Coyotes arena project—a procedural action that became necessary when Arizona legislators extended the statutory deadline for reserving referendum dates. The meeting's significance lay not in the administrative vote itself, but in the Coyotes' unprecedented public commitment to voluntarily refer the project to voters if council approves it on November 29, coupled with public demands for transparency and troubling testimony about the organization's responsiveness to essential workers.

Key Speeches

"For everything there's a first time. Well, this is something that's very special. I've been doing this for 40 years and in that time I've never had a client who's decided to take a zoning case, a DDA, or a project to the ballot, and that's what's going to happen on this project." — Corey D Woods, attorney representing the Coyotes

"At some point should you approve our project, we in an unprecedented action would refer this to the voters. We would do that for three primary reasons: one, starting with our commitment to this community to the valley and to this state. The second is we've had a commitment for transparency throughout this entire process. Finally, it's our desire to be inclusive of every single voice of every single individual of every single voter here in the City of Tempe." — Javier Gutierrez, President and CEO of the Phoenix Coyotes

"Before this project is agendized for your vote in 18 days, for your potential your last vote, shouldn't the people of Tempe know what is in the deal? I think we want to see what the real deal, what the final terms are, and the real plans, hopefully much more than one week before a public vote in May. We're still waiting for the sun to shine." — Tom Brown, 45-year Tempe resident

Timeline

Opposition

Number of speakers against: One substantive criticism (Juan Carlos Avila's testimony about Coyotes responsiveness), though framed as testimony rather than direct opposition to the election-date reservation.

Main concerns:

  1. Organizational accountability: Avila testified that the Coyotes ignored his requests for assistance after he was injured on the job servicing their aircraft during the pandemic.

  2. Lack of transparency: Tom Brown criticized the six-month negotiation period, stating that the "sun doesn't quite shine" and questioning what the developer and city have agreed to behind closed doors.

  3. Insufficient public access to final terms: Brown requested that the final deal be published before both the November 29 council vote and the public comment period, so voters and residents can see the actual terms.

  4. Concerns about developer follow-through: Avila alleged that neither the Coyotes nor the NHL had been responsive to an essential worker in need, implying future accountability might be questionable.

Most compelling arguments: Tom Brown's argument that democratic process requires public disclosure of negotiated terms before a vote—not after—resonated with the council's commitment to transparency and was acknowledged by Doreen Garlid, who confirmed that documents would be available six days before the November 29 vote. Avila's personal testimony about institutional indifference, while not directly aimed at stopping the project, created a public record of the organization's potential lack of responsiveness to community members in crisis.

Organized groups: None identified in the transcript.

Support

Number of speakers in favor: Two (Corey D Woods and Javier Gutierrez, representing the Coyotes; Tom Brown, a resident, supported the referendum idea even while requesting transparency; and implicit support from the council members who spoke).

Main arguments:

  1. Unprecedented commitment to voter voice: The Coyotes' voluntary pledge to refer the project to ballot is framed as historic and consistent with the council's values.

  2. Precedent in valley sports deals: Corey D Woods noted that "all professional sports deals in the valley over time have all at one point gone up for a vote in some way shape or form," making this approach consistent with past practice.

  3. May election aligns with existing voter behavior: Corey D Woods emphasized that Tempe residents are already accustomed to voting in March and May (for city council and mayor elections), making a May referendum more likely to achieve higher turnout than an August or November election, when competing events or vacations reduce participation.

  4. Oxygen relief for the organization: Randy Keating noted that putting the question to voters would allow the city, the Coyotes organization, and residents to move forward with clarity, rather than letting uncertainty dominate discourse.

  5. Procedural necessity under new state law: Corey D Woods explained the technical change in Arizona law and noted that failure to reserve the date today would force the referendum (if filed) to occur in August or November, both suboptimal for turnout.

  6. Inclusivity and transparency: Gutierrez framed the referendum as an extension of the Coyotes' stated commitment to transparency and community inclusion.

Most compelling arguments: Corey D Woods pragmatic argument that May voting is consistent with existing civic participation patterns—and therefore more likely to produce a representative result—was repeated by multiple council members and was not contested. The statutory change (ARS 16–226a) created genuine time pressure, making the procedural vote necessary if the May option was to remain available.

Project Details

Vote Breakdown

Note: The transcript identifies seven council members as voting yes but does not explicitly list the seventh member's name in the vote announcement. Tempe has seven council members total (one mayor, two vice mayors, and four additional council members), all of whom are listed above.

Outcome & Next Steps

The council reserved May 16, 2023, as the election date for a potential referendum on the Coyotes arena project (or any other project referred to ballot). This action does not approve the project itself; it merely preserves the May election option if a referendum petition is filed and certified.

Upcoming milestones:

Council members made clear that tonight's vote does not constitute endorsement of the project. Doreen Garlid stated explicitly: "My approval of this item is to ensure that the people of Tempe will continue to have their voice heard about a project that would have a lasting impact on our city." Similarly, Arlene Chin noted: "This vote is absolutely not a decision on any upcoming projects that may still be in the negotiation phase."

Controversies & Context

Transparency and public access: Tom Brown's public comment highlighted a ongoing tension: the city has been in closed negotiations with the developer for six months, and residents have not seen the final deal terms. Brown invoked the earlier June 2022 council meeting (described as "probably the longest city council meeting that we'll ever witness") during which a public commenter argued that the developer should be allowed to speak to council members about the project, saying "let the sun shine in." Brown's retort was that the sun still hasn't shined—only a few people have seen the details. Corey D Woods and Doreen Garlid responded by confirming that documents will be published six days before the November 29 vote, but this did not fully satisfy the demand for earlier disclosure. The tension reflects a broader concern about whether major development deals should be negotiated in public or behind closed doors.

Coyotes organizational responsiveness: Juan Carlos Avila's testimony introduced an accountability concern into the public record. Avila, an essential airport worker, was injured while servicing a Coyotes aircraft on January 17, 2021, during the pandemic and lockdown. He alleged that the Coyotes and NHL ignored his voicemail requests for assistance. Avila did not ask the council to deny the project, but he did warn: "You're picking a bad horse. When it comes down to it, the Coyotes aren't going to be here for you when you need them." He also noted that he is not the first essential worker to have been injured and then "hung out to dry" by an employer. The testimony creates a public record of concern about the organization's character and suggests that council members and residents should consider whether a major civic investment in the Coyotes reflects the values of the community.

State preemption and statutory deadlines: Corey D Woods explanation of ARS 16–226a highlights how state legislative changes can constrain local decision-making. The shift from a 150-day to 180-day deadline was not explained by the legislative history, according to Corey D Woods, but it created a hard deadline for Tempe's action. If the council had not reserved May 16 today, the next available referendum date would have been August, which the Mayor argued would suppress voter turnout (due to summer vacations). This dynamic underscores how state law can shape the pace and character of local development approvals.

Historic precedent for referrals: Corey D Woods noted that "all professional sports deals in the valley over time have all at one point gone up for a vote in some way shape or form," suggesting that the Coyotes' voluntary referendum pledge, while framed as "unprecedented," is actually consistent with past practice in Arizona. This observation provides important context: the Coyotes may have calculated that a referendum is likely to occur anyway (via a citizen petition), and therefore choosing to voluntarily refer the project is a strategic move to control timing and messaging. Corey D Woods confirmed this logic by noting that if a referendum petition is filed within 30 days of council approval, the council must then choose to either repeal the approvals or set a date for ballot. In that scenario, choosing May is still discretionary, but reserving it in advance ensures the option is available.

Role of attorney Corey D Woods and Alex Morello: Corey D Woods articulation of the legal and procedural landscape was sophisticated and clear; his invocation of his father's problem-solving principles humanized the developer's position. Javier Gutierrez's mention of Alex Morello (who is not present in the transcript but is repeatedly credited with showing commitment through previous capital investment) suggests that Morello, likely a principal owner or investor in the Coyotes, is a key figure shaping the organization's approach to Tempe. The public commitment to referendum may reflect Morello's influence or the broader ownership group's confidence in the project's appeal to voters.

Duration

Other Notable Items

Petitions and timing: City Clerk Carla Wanple noted for the record that referendum petitions must be certified by January 13, 2024 (a Maricopa County requirement), and that Bluebird Development Group has agreed to early submission. Wanple pledged to expedite the review process and "kick butt" to meet the deadline, drawing appreciative laughter from Mayor Woods. This procedural commitment underscores the tight timeline between the November 29 council vote (if it occurs) and the January 13 certification deadline, leaving only roughly 45 days for petition circulation and validation.

View source transcript ▼

Source: Tempe City Council - Special Meeting - November 10, 2022 — November 14, 2022. Auto-generated YouTube transcript; may contain transcription errors.

all right good evening everyone good evening and welcome to the Tempe city council special meeting the time is now 604 p.m in the Harry e Mitchell Government Center members of the public who attend the meeting physically are asked to maintain distance between other parties and masks are optional for all attendees per City of Tempe policy alternatively members of the public May attend the meeting virtually through Cisco WebEx events by visiting tempe.gov council meeting info for more information Council meetings can also be watched in real time via Cox Cable channel 11 at tempe.gov Tempe 11.

item number two is called the audience the city council welcomes public comment at this time for any items listed on the special meeting agenda uh mayor I I won't I skipped forward there um let me look to my cards here and see what I have all right so the first Speaker I have for this evening is Tom Brown please come forward State your David place of residence thank you um Tom Brown 45-year resident of Tempe I live in Homestead Lane down on 85284.

I just I want to let you know I let Mr Brown know as well that we're going to be allowing a little bit of extra time this evening just to let Council know so Mr Brown I'll be brief um thank you for this chance to speak on this subject and thank you Council for taking this project called public vote which I believe is the focus of this social meeting the next three weeks include three chances for public to speak on this uh subject in this in this Hall the DRC meeting in two City Council meetings uh so many many opportunities to focus on specific aspects that people may want to address I believe tonight the only focus is on call for a public vote later the next year so um can you write to that um it's a positive action to uh to bring it to a vote and I've really applaud that we've had a great week so far at the polls and we uh we know that voting can be spectacular we want to uh we want to do this let's do it back in June many of us spoke it was what was probably the longest city council meeting that we'll ever witness um I was about the 15th or 16th public comment speaker that night the fellow just before me ran on about how unfair it was that uh the bluebird Development Group the bluebird LLC were forbidden to speak to the council members while their proposal was in a review and uh he said voting a voting to enter into negotiations was a good thing and he said let this let the sun shine in kind of loudly okay so the city entered in negotiations um and the sun doesn't quite Shine the shot in the shine has not quite occurred it's just a few people uh got to carry the ball or escape with the puck for the last six months so we can't help but wonder what the status is what do they see in the closed room out of public scrutiny so before this project is agendized for your vote in 18 days for your potential your last vote shouldn't the people of Tempe know what is in the deal I think we want to see what I'm speaking we want to speak and see what the real deal what the final terms are and the real plans hopefully much more than and one week before a public vote in May so we're still waiting for the sun to shine thank you for uh for the opportunity to bring it to a vote thank you Mr Brown really appreciate it the next speaker I have is Nick Wood please come forward state your name in place of residence very fancy very fancy Jason mayor members of the council Nick Wood Snowden woman won Arizona Center and I represent the coyotes you've often heard me refer to my um dad's guiding principles right he usually he was a real big problem solver and he believed that every problem had a solution all he had to do is be pragmatic I work real hard throw in a little bit of critical thinking a little bit of complex reasoning and then some common sense and you arrive at a solution to the problem of course he often said I didn't have the common sense but basically that was his structure and from his problem-solving approach came these guiding principles and I think there are two of those that apply to what you're going to consider today one is um that the one constant in an ever-changing world is change and the second one is that for everything there's a first time so with respect to the one constant being change right the idea behind that is in my dad's advice to that always was you know you need to adapt to change you need to improvise about change you need to embrace change right the more importantly you need to evolve and then of course you would you know remind me of the dinosaurs and which is of course a word that my grandchildren usually use when their friends ask them to describe their grandfather but in this case there's been a significant change which is why we're here tonight um there's a legislature in ARS 16 226a changed the date upon which the city must reserve a date for a possible election so whenever there's a referendum for example um that you were asked to set a date for right the noon legislation says that you must Reserve that date no later than 180 days before the date of the election it used to be 150 days for whatever reason we looked at the legislative history and for whatever reason we couldn't find the rationale behind changing the date so if there's going to be a referendum on our project for example if on the 29th of this month you decide that you like our project you like the zoning you like the DDA you like the general plan Amendment then if a referendum is done in the next 30 days the signatures are collected Etc then you'll have a decision to make and that is do you repeal write the approvals and everything goes away so there's nothing to refer or you set a date for an election for the ballot your options under the statutes are March May August or November however because of the requirement that you have to reserve a date no later than 180 days before the election right March has already passed you can no longer elect or select that date for an election however if you act tonight to just simply Reserve that date you're not going to set an election because there's nothing to set but what you're doing tonight is considering reserving a March a May 16th date for an election if again there's a referendum on our project or you've got another project that may be referred and that's a South peer project it's currently in appeals right now but that could also come before you to set a date so what you'll be doing tonight is just simply saying we're going to reserve right the May 16th date as a possible date if there's ever a referendum that we have to deal with in 2023 but you don't have to choose that date if the signatures are collected and you then have to make a decision you still don't have to choose the May date you can still choose August you can choose November if that is your discretion the second you know um guiding principle that I mentioned is for everything there's there's a first time well this is something that's very special I've been doing this for 40 years and that time I've never had a client who's decided to take a zoning case a DDA or a project to the ballot and that's what's going to happen on this project so if your permission mayor I'm going to ask Mr Javier Gutierrez president CEO of the coyotes come up and tell you what that's all about thank you sounds good thank you Mr wood really appreciate it next next speaker is Javier Gutierrez mayor Woods good evening Council good evening thank you so much for the opportunity to speak to you today before I start I would like to offer some special recognition to your incredible City staff throughout this entire process they have worked tirelessly since our last public hearing and I want to publicly acknowledge them and all of their hard work and all of our conversations tonight we'd love to talk to you about our project about how we believe it's the right project this is the right proposal we're proposing to you all as far as a deal and about us as the right group but as Nick would mentioned earlier that's not what we're here to talk to you tonight about tonight I would like to make a public commitment to you all that at some point should you approve our project we in an unprecedented action would refer this to the voters why would we do that we would do that for three primary reasons one starting with our commitment to this community to the valley and to this state what you've seen from Alex Morello is an incredibly strong commitment that this is the place that we would like to be that this is the community we would like to invest in and in fact these aren't mere words we've already put them into actions he's already put significant Capital into this community as evidenced by us playing at mullet Arena at ASU so it starts with our commitment and again tipping my hat to Alex Morello for actually showing that already the second is we've had a commitment for transparency throughout this entire process what we have said to you all is we want to be clear we want to be open we want to be transparent about what we believe would be a transformative opportunity for this community this action would continue that commitment but finally it's our desire to be inclusive of every single voice of every single individual of every single voter here in the City of Tempe we are committed we are transparent and we are here to be inclusive we do believe that every voice for this project should be heard we also completely understand that all we're doing tonight or while we're asking you all to do tonight is merely to reserve a date and we understand that there are still many steps to go this is in your hands we understand there are many more public hearings there's still an approval but should you do it and we respectfully request that you please tonight vote to set that date and if you choose to approve this project you have now heard our commitment to take this to the voters in a referendum thank you so very much for your consideration as always and we are always here at your service thank you very much thank you Mr Gutierrez appreciate it next speaker I have is Juan Carlos Avila Jr please come forward state your name and place of residence Mr Mayor yes ladies and gentlemen of the council thank you so much for your time and thank you for your service my name is my name is Juan Carlos Avila and I am a resident of Mesa Arizona though I grew up near the intersection of price and Victory I grew up in the victory Acres my family has been in this town since before Arizona was ever Arizona and I'm just so thankful for this opportunity to speak and to possibly help some essential employees in the future I'm familiar with the coyotes and that I've serviced them I've serviced their aircraft in a precaution to an emergency even one night we had an aircraft scheduled uh for the Coyote's arrival after uh a game they had in I think it was Texas and they had an arrival and they didn't show up forgive me I I'm gonna stick to my bullet points I started working at Sky Harbor uh in September of 2012.

this September would have been my 10-year anniversary working at Sky Harbor I've worked on the ramp uh well I guess it was about six years and then served as operations at Phoenix Mesa Gateway I've had the opportunity to uh serve on several alerts plane crashes emergencies and precautions to an emergency on January 17 2021 I was required to service November 806 Tango Juliet a swift air aircraft chartered by the Phoenix Coyotes they were scheduled to show up after it came about 2200 about 10 p.m I work the overnight shift during the pandemic and during lockdown the responsibility of a ramper was to really just stick to Medical flights emergency flights and then quality control working on the ramp cleaning things up getting things ready for the next day I had uh at approximately one o'clock in the morning I had 317 November Alpha a native air emergency aircraft uh come with a live patient on board uh they had an ambulance I had to meet that aircraft Park them get the ambulance there and get the patient out the gate because Sky Harbor you can't just open the gate and leave it open you have to be there to attend the gate well during the pandemic I was the only person on the ramp it's a lot working one aircraft uh I had two medical aircraft I had another aircraft that was bringing a nuclear testing equipment for Lupus patients and cancer patients there's a flight that we had every Saturday night really proud you know one stupid plane all the cancer survivors in my family while I was servicing these two aircraft I got a call on the radio from the dispatcher inside she hadn't been at the job very long we had had a hard time keeping employees because of the low-paying job that it is so I can give you about another 90 seconds or so I just want to let you know absolutely when I received a call that 806 Tango Juliet was inbound with the Phoenix Coyotes I believe this aircraft was inbound with 150 Souls on board I was required to act I was required to park this aircraft and I was required to see to the safety of what I believed was 150 people they weren't on it turns out they did cancel the flight but the plane showed up anyways the plane came in because the pilots didn't want to stay in a hotel they wanted to come home and sleep in their own beds convoluted and mess with my employer with the fa I even called the White House I want you to know there isn't a hotline for essential employees I want you to know that when a central employee gets hurt they get hung out to dry the reason I'm here is because I reached out to the coyotes for help I called them several times left several voicemails I called the NHL for help I left them several voicemails asked him for help they chose to ignore me previous speaker mentioned a number of Firsts there's the first time for everything I hope I well I don't know if I'm the First Essential employee to get hurt on the job and then hung out to dry thank you for my my fiance for taking care of me I can't even get the industrial commission to do any work here I'm here to tell you you're picking a bad horse that when it comes down to it the coyotes aren't going to be here for you when you need them that yes there's a bunch of Firsts but you guys aren't the first quarter you guys aren't the first Suitor they're I've just got to get you to wrap up I'm sorry no that's it coyotes aren't here for for Arizona they're here for themselves and uh I hope I can do it better a better speak next time together thank you thank you so much appreciate it is there anyone else uh in the audience this evening wishing to address the Council on this item please get my attention all right seeing none we'll move on then to item 3A which is to adopt a resolution calling and ordering a special election on May 16 2023 for Council legislative items that are likely to be referred to the ballot counsel any comments or discussion Council for Keating thank you very much mayor thank you Mr wood and Mr Gutierrez for your presentations and your commitment to putting this on the ballot should the council see uh approve it at the end of this month I'll be supporting this reserving the date for the special election and and here's why I think that we have a reasonable um expectation that will be referred to the ballot by the coyotes or another group regardless of of us doing this today so the taking the action to reserve the date in my mind is important because it gets the election to happen sooner than later of course the other as you mentioned the other opportunity wouldn't be until August the City of Tempe has been doing a lot of good work over the last year and we're doing a lot of good work today and we're going to continue to do good work but it's my concern that the oxygen has kind of been sucked out of the room by this deal it's all right you need to take that I'm just kidding um so I I would definitely like to for for the sake of this body for the sake of the organization for the sake of our residents and I really appreciate it Mr Brown's comments get this thing wrapped up one way or another and I think the best way to do that is to put the question to the voters because not only is that the kind of city that I think Tempe is it's the organization that I think the coyotes are as well so this completely aligns to my values it is a big decision and I know it's our job to make big decisions but a deal of this magnitude and the environment that we've been in for over a year now and you know certainly since the last six months um I see no harm at all in reserving the date should we approve this project to make sure that the the citizens of time this is something citizens of Tempe truly do want so I applaud you and I applaud the citizens who come to speak either for or against uh under your commitment to doing that for our City so I'll be supporting this tonight and I'm looking forward to um maybe an election in May it'll be on my brother's birthday too and he's a hockey fan so I'll put that good Juju out there for you but that's it thank you very much thank you Council for Keating anyone else on Council comments uh Council for chin thank you mayor I'd like to provide some clarification on my vote on the issue at hand tonight we're voting on an election related matter that is required by Maricopa County procedure in the event that any referenda are filed and in an effort to encourage community-wide participation in an upcoming referendum it becomes necessary to move this notification forward as a placeholder and to enable the county process to proceed this vote is absolutely not a decision on any upcoming projects that may still be in the negotiation phase thank you councilmember chin uh councilmember Garland I uh first a question um I don't know who to direct this to but Mr Brown had questioned about wanting to make sure that we that that they're able the public is able to see the final proposal that we approve and then after that the the public will be able to see that proposal and then our public comments time goes after that correct let me uh ask our city manager actually to see if you can address Council regardless question in terms of The Proposal you mean the the items that would be voted on by Council uh on November 29th yeah would those items be available to the public prior to the vote prior prior to the public comments because they need to have all the documents yes answer yes to do their public comment they need to have all that that's right so we we try to publish I mean it's not state law but we try as best as we can to publish uh the Friday before uh Thursday meeting so that's about six days so we'll Endeavor in this case to have a similar time frame so that people can access it uh online and pull up the attachments for the agenda items for the special meeting on the 29th and that's the final that's the vote of course they'll also have it on the 22nd which is the first read so on both of those meetings for Council they will both have uh agenda items with attachments prior to council's consideration okay great thank you I just want to be clear about that um I don't want to say that my vote on this item came after mutt's consideration about the precedent that we're setting and this new process that we're going to be going through my vote is in no way an endorsement of any part of the proposals that the development team has brought to us my approval so I will be supporting this my approval of this item is to ensure that the people of Tempe will continue to have their voice heard about a project that would have a lasting impact on our city and in the coming weeks I will work to ensure that those voices continue to be heard as soon as possible thank you councilman Garland councilmember uh oh Casper Hodge okay I guess since everybody else is saying it I am um I am so also supporting that we do the May election I do believe and I think the coyotes for being so open to have it on the ballot because I think that's exactly what the City of Tempe needs and wants so thank you thank you Carla thank you coyotes and thank you my cat my staff so we I mean my counsel so it's a yes for me thank you councilman councilman motion to approve second okay it's been moved by councilmember Navarro and seconded by council member Keating uh just a quick comment on my end as well um so you know as some people talked about this evening uh you know this is merely a process to hold a date for an upcoming election and it's uh you know Mr wood talked about I know I've also had conversations with our city clerk uh the reality is if we don't take this action soon we will lose the opportunity to reserve the date for May and as Mr wood talked about the we're already too late for a March referendum so the next one available would be in May one of the things I was sort of considering when we talked about all of this was our city elections are always in March and may uh so it's very consistent actually with uh what when residents are used to voting for council members and for the mayor so having an election in May is something that our residents are used to and therefore I think provides more transparency I also think when it comes to if we did not have the opportunity to have the May 16th date The Challenge is the next election would be in August uh I'm not exactly sure what that date would be but we all know that pretty much people then go on vacation after Memorial Day weekend when kids get out of school which means if you get your ballot approximately 30 days before an August election you're probably going to be getting it in the middle of July at some point when a lot of people are typically still on vacation with their families and might not have the ability to have immediate access to their ballot and so I think for the reasons that you know that I've stated before I think that having the May election is consistent with what our residents are frankly used to and accustomed to and will actually bring out more City voters so I think that's a good thing and I do think that you know having the election in August might create an issue uh where we we might not have the same level of transparency if people are getting their balance in the middle of summer and don't have direct access to them the other thing that I know councilman Keating talked about that I wanted to also mention you know we don't normally you know do things like you know reserving dates for a referendum but you know we're talking about a 46-acre parcel in the city it's probably the last very big contiguous parcel in the entire city of Tempe and also it's a big project with with which has a lot of public attention and all professional sort of sports deals in the valley over time have all at one point gone up for a vote in some way shape or form there's been some element of the project that has been on the ballot for residents to approve so in that City so in that case uh this situation is entirely consistent with what's happened previously and so that also makes me comfortable so with that said I mean I will be supporting this this evening I think that this is I'm glad to hear Mr gutierrez's Commitment to taking this to the ballot and I appreciate him saying that publicly and I appreciate Mr Brown and the residents who've made their voices heard uh in support of this referendum and for the people to have an opportunity to have their vote and have their say anyone else on Council any comments before we could vote uh vice mayor Adams just a quick comment I'm really happy about the inclusiveness that we're going to uh provide our community with them being able to cast their vote and and find out what they want this is a big project and I think it's the right thing to do to put it up to a vote and I will be supporting the May 16th election thank you sounds good thank you vice mayor Adams anyone else there I just have one item to note for the record uh the petitions will need to be certified by January 13th that's per Maricopa County so Bluebird has agreed to an early submission and I've agreed to try to kick butt and get it done in half the statutory time and we'll do everything we can to make sure it happens all right well you you always kick butt Carla so I appreciate you for that it's not mine though so I'm I'm very happy uh any other further comments around Council hearing none please vote okay so uh okay uh vice mayor Adam Swift's eye councilman Garland oh there we go and that item passes seven to zero item number four is adjournment uh which means we are adjourned at 6 32 pm thank you so much everyone have a good night

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