Flagstaff City Council approves two major infrastructure projects totaling $19.85 million while historic preservation tensions simmer ahead of tomorrow's high-stakes

Welcome. Today is July 7th, 2026 and this is our regular council meeting and I would like to call this meeting to order. Notice is hereby given to the members of the city council and to the general public that at this regular meeting, the city council may vote to go into executive session, which will not be open to the public, for discussion and consultation with the city's attorneys for legal advice on any item listed on the following agenda. Can I get roll call, please? Mayor Dagot. Hang on.

I have to give her Mayor Dagot, why isn't here? Okay, thank you. We can hear you now. Okay, thank you. Vice Mayor here. Council member Alen here. Council member Garcia here. Council member House present. Council member Matthews here. Council member Spence. Okay. Council member Matthews, can you lead us in the pledge of allegiance? My privilege. Stand up if you're able. To the flag of the United States of America and to the stands. One nation, indivisible. Liberty and justice for all.

Garcia, our mission statement. Thank you, Madam Vice Mayor. The mission of the city of Flagstaff is to protect and enhance the quality of life for all. And Council Member Alen, our land acknowledgement. The Flagstaff City Council humbly acknowledges the ancestral homelands of this area's indigenous nations and original stewards. These lands still inhabited by native descendants border mountains sacred to indigenous peoples.

We honor them, their legacies through their traditions and their continued contributions. We celebrate their past, present, and future generations who will forever know this place as home. Thank you. We are moving down to item four, approval of minutes from previous meetings. Can I get a motion? Vice Mayor, I move to approve the minutes as posted. I'll second. We have a first and a second. Any discussion? All those in favor? I I Any opposed? Okay. Thank you.

Moving down to open call to the public. Open call to the public enables the public to address the council about an item that is not on the prepared agenda. Comments relating to items that are on the agenda will be taken at the time that the item is discussed. Open call to the public appears on the agenda twice, at the beginning and at the end. The total time allotted for the first open call to the public is 30 minutes.

Any additional comments will be held until the second open call to the public. First, we have an Pollock. Good afternoon. I am Anne Pollock. I'm here to ask the city council to deny the appeal of the certificate of economic hardship requested by Capri Flagstaff LLC in your hearing tomorrow. My family and I have had investment in the growth of Arizona for three generations.

My grandfather, Tom Pollock, Senior, was one of the first bankers in northern Arizona, arriving in 1996, soon after becoming president of the Arizona Central Bank. He became involved in sheep and cattle ranching. My grandmother, Mary Morton Pollock, was a teacher at NAU. There is a dorm named for her. It's Morton Hall on North Campus. My maternal grandfather managed mines for Phelps Dodge, including the Vulture Mine in Phoenix area.

My father, Tom Pollock, Jr., and mother, Dorothy Peach Pollock, continued the ranching industry. My mother was one of the founding fathers mothers of the Flagstaff Symphony Orchestra. She also spent decades on the board of the Museum of Northern Arizona. I earned a license to sell real estate in Arizona in 1972 and continued in that profession until I retired approximately 10 years ago. I worked for Coldwell Banker Commercial Brokerage Company in Phoenix.

I worked for Community Development Corporation who developed University Plaza, University Meadows, and Park Santa Fe shopping center. I spent a year working for Westcore, leasing up the Flagstaff Mall in its first year of of of existence. And I then opened my own general real estate firm thereafter, primarily specializing in managing investment properties, mostly single family, for investors. I am now on the board of the Northern Arizona Pioneers Historical Society.

I have served on the Chamber of Commerce board in Flagstaff. I've served on the Salvation Army board in Flagstaff, served on the Northern Arizona Board of Realtors board, and one of the most fun things I did was on the board of the original Flagstaff Pine Country Pro Rodeo. I am 100% suffused in the past and future of Flagstaff and Arizona as a whole. Capri Flagstaff LLC certainly had the right to purchase property in Flagstaff. I support that right.

I wonder if they did their research to identify the fact that the property was within the downtown historic overlay zone. If they did, then I can only assume that the preservation of local history is unimportant to them. If they did not, then that is a symptom of their lack of performing due diligence when considering purchasing and developing a property that would have such a negative impact on the character of the downtown history of Flagstaff Arizona.

Please deny this appeal and hopefully a positive outcome that Capri Flagstaff LLC will be able to relocate their development to a more realistic and profitable profitable location. Thank you. My hope going forward is that better communication will be established between the city council and the Heritage Preservation Commission. Thank you. Thank you for your time, Michelle Bags. Good afternoon, mayor and council members.

My name is Michelle Bags and I spent nearly two decades serving this community as an EMT, paramedic, and captain with Guardian Medical Transport. Today, I am the founder of Frontline Phoenix, a Flagstaff nonprofit supporting frontline professionals in their healing. Over those two decades in emergency medicine, I learned something. The greatest injuries aren't always the ones we can see.

years ago, while serving as an acting battalion chief with Guardian, I responded alongside Flagstaff Fire Department to a cardiac arrest. One of the firefighters was also a paramedic student. And as we paused CPR, he eagerly pressed the big orange shock button before anyone had called the scene clear. That story now a fond memory of a young man who grew into the kind of firefighter every department hopes to have.

Today, his loss is still felt almost a year later by the PE people who served beside him in this very community. Sadly, his story is not unique. And even more sadly, it's not the only story of loss that this community shares. We understand injury in terms of broken bones, burns, and heart attacks. It's time we also recognize cumulative stress injury, the invisible wounds sustained after years of witnessing humanity's worst moments in service to everyone else.

Too often those injuries manifest as depression, anxiety, and addiction, and far too often may lead to suicide. When I recently met with someone from the fire department, one word stayed with me that he said. He said they were angry. angry because they willingly sacrifice for us every day. Yet so little is said about the injuries they carry home. I carried these wounds personally.

I've watched co-workers, mentors, friends dedicate their lives to serving only to lose battles that no one could see. After years in emergency medicine, I found myself also searching for healing. That search eventually led me to Enthogens. Not because I wanted to escape my experiences, but because I wanted to remain here for the people I love. This isn't about Flag Staff asking Flagstaff to endorse the substance.

It's about recognizing that healing can take many forms and having the courage to explore solutions when the ones we have are not enough. As a paramedic, I was taught that when a treatment isn't working, we reassess. Tonight, I ask you to apply that same principle by supporting decriminalized nature and allowing this community to thoughtfully explore another path toward healing.

Those who have spent their lives answering our calls deserve to know that when they need help, their community will answer. As a paramedic myself, I can think of no better way for Flagstaff to answer that call than by supporting and initializing a system to decriminalize nature. Thank you. Thank you, Jamie Blasquez. Very good. Oo, thank you. I was hoping to get married to a Smith, but didn't happen. Good afternoon, Mayor and Council.

My name is Jamie Blasquez and I was born and raised here in Flagstaff. I'm the president of the Flagstaff Psychedelic Society and the organizer of Decriminalized Nature Flagstaff. I'm here tonight to speak in support of Decriminalized Nature. On April 18th, 2026, the federal government issued an executive order titled Accelerating Medical Treatments for Serious Mental Illness. The order opens with this reality. Over 14 million Americans live with serious mental illness.

Millions do not fully respond to these existing treatments and suicide rates have risen drastically over the past two decades. For the first time in our nation's history, the federal government has formally acknowledged that psychedelics are promising treatments for serious mental illness after decades of stigma and fear. The prohibition of psychedelics is over. The question is no longer whether this conversation is coming. It's already arrived.

The real question is what Flag Staff will do to help shape what comes next. Because behind each of these statistics is a human life. A veteran waking up at 3:00 a.m. unable to escape those memories of war. And a mother sitting in her car trying to gather the strength to walk back inside of her home. Many of us know these people. Many of us love these people. And some of us are these people. Decriminalized nature recognizes something very simple.

People should not be treated like criminals for seeking healing through nature. Decriminalized nature does not legalize commercial sales, create dispensaries, or conflict with state and federal law. It simply makes adult personal use, cultivation, and sharing of enthogenic plants and fungi among the lowest priority for law enforcement. This approach has already been adopted in 31 cities and two counties across the United States.

And I want to recognize that these medicines did not start in laboratories. For thousands of years, cultures around the world have worked with these plants and fungi in ceremony, community, and ritual to help people navigate suffering and grief, purpose, and connection. As we build modern medical pathways, we should also protect the ancient traditions and community-based practices that carried this knowledge forward. And I want to be clear that I support medical and legal models.

We need research and safe clinical pathways. But if healing is only available through expensive clinics and highly regulated pathways, then many of us will be left behind. Veterans, working families, and people struggling just to access care. This is exactly why decriminalization matters. It protects access as medical systems develop. It protects human dignity as we wait for policy to evolve. The future of mental health is being written right now.

Years from now, I hope people will look back and say Flagstaff was one of the communities that had the courage to lead, that we chose compassion over punishment, and that we as a city understand that sometimes the path forward is not found in criminalization. Because at the end of the day, people are not asking for permission to heal. They're asking for the freedom to remember who they are.

And I believe Flagstaff has the opportunity to become the kind of community that helps people find their way home. Thank you. Thank you. Colleen Maring. Good afternoon, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Council. My name is Colleen Mering. I am the chief people officer at Northern Arizona Healthcare. Um, and we are on a July 1 fiscal year, which means we just closed fiscal year 2026.

Um, and I wanted to talk a little bit about the growth in um, patient service that we've seen here at Flagstaff Medical Center and how that's impacting our community and your constituents as they come to seek care. Um, in the last four years from July 1, 2022 through June 30, 2026, we've seen a 22% increase in the number of discharges from our adult and pediatric units at FMC, which is a huge, huge percentage. If you think about Flagstaff having grown 20% in four years, it didn't.

Um, that would be overwhelming and it's overwhelming inside our hospital as well. Um, as we've we've faced this challenge to handle the increased p patient load without increased space at FMC, we've taken a couple strategies. Um, one is that more of our Flagstaff residents may end up spending time in Cottonwood at Verie Valley Medical Center when we don't have a bed available in Flagstaff. Hopefully we can keep them closer to our community, sometimes having to go to Phoenix.

Um, but we also are getting more and more intense in monitoring our length of stay. The faster we can discharge someone, we want you to be home, but we also want to be able to provide that bed to the next person who needs it. One downside of this from a patient experience perspective is that we're monitoring overnight and really early in the morning, even more intensely. Because if we can get those labs and imaging results back by 7:00 a.m.

and know that you can go home and get you out the door by 9 or 10 or 11:00 in the morning, that patient who's been waiting all night in the emergency department can get into that bed sooner. And when we're out of space in the emergency department and there's no beds upstairs, we're now um routinely moving patients into areas like our preop area outside of our O to wait for a bed.

So, this makes more space available in the emergency department for our doctors to see um patients experiencing e medical conditions or who just need to be seen and get home um and gets you into a quieter area, though not an ideal area um until that bed is available for you upstairs. Our priority continues to be just to constantly be able to monitor whether and how to best provide safe highquality patient- centered care. Um it's uh sorry.

So as we're continuing to be creative with how we can provide this safe, high-quality patient centered care. We're very proud of the fact that as you know we continue to um exceed and lead the uh state in our quality and safety outcomes. Um, but we want to recognize the impact it's having on our patients and our community and assure you that we're continuing to seek to do better as we continue to exceed to expand our access and beds here in Flagstaff. Thank you. Thank you, Alicia Hayes.

Is this active? Okay, it is. Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Councilman. My name is Alicia Hayes and I live at 3001 Northshave Boulevard. Thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today. I'm asking council to review and apply the downtown flex staff vision and action plan adopted by council in 2024. The plan was a collaborative effort involving the city downtown business alliance, Cookino County stakeholders, and the public.

More than 12,200 people participated in the public survey and maintain historic character was selected as the number one priority out of 21 choices followed by making downtown more walkable and bikable and redeveloping and repurposing unused and vacant buildings and lots. This is a clear public direction, protect historic character, improve the pedestrian experience, and reuse underutilized places.

The plan calls for embracing Flagstaff's rich heritage by preserving existing historic structures in infelling vacant areas. New construction in the historic overlay must be combatible in design, materials, masking, scale, storefront rhythm in relationship to the street. The plan supports thoughtful growth.

One of its key policy recommendations is to preserve and protect the historic core of downtown Flagstaff while also embracing mixeduse parking structures and residential development around the periphery of the horse the periphery of the historic core. The plan states that 87% of downtown storefront businesses are locally owned and that downtown storefront economy punches above its weight.

Tourism is is Flagstaff's top industry, bringing more than 5 million visitors annually, supporting more than 8,000 jobs, and providing approximately 50% of the city's state sales tax revenue. The plan makes clear a new development should avoid monolithic structures, respect historic scale and context, and activate the ground floor with high quality pedestrian scale design, and activate such use active uses such as retail and dining. Even parking spaces should be wrapped with active uses.

Preservation supports Flagstaff climate and sustainability goals. There's nothing greener than using an existing building. Reuse reduced the need to mine, manufacture, transport, and assemble new materials and keeping and keeps building material out of the landfill.

I ask council council to treat historic preservation as a core part of Flagstaff's economic development climate climate strategy and community identity and to apply the city's adopted vision and action plan consistently protect the historic core direct larger new development to appropriate locations outside of the core as the plan suggests north of Birch. require new construction to strengthen downtown's walkability, local business economy, and be compatible with historic character. Thank you.

Thank you. All right, moving down to approval of minutes from previous meetings. Did you Did you already do that? Okay. Sorry, that must have been when I was walking in. All right. Proclamations. Flagstaff Parks and Recreation. Um, if you can all join us down here at the edge of the DAS. All right. They're doing the house. Before I start, I would just like to thank the entire pros team for the spectacular drone show on Sunday that I have heard so many good things about from people online.

All right. Parks and recreation is an integral part of the city of Flagstaff. Parks and recreational opportunities are function fundamental to creating, building and maintaining a healthy, diverse and enriching community through a variety of programs and activities. The park section maintains 700 acres of parks ground park grounds, 59 miles of the urban trail system, the citizen cemetery services and operations and snow operations to provide a safe and healthy community.

The recreation section programs outdoor and indoor athletics, programming, and classes at a variety of recreational centers, which provides a livable community. The open space section maintains 3,500 acres of protected open spaces, creating passive recreation wildlife educational opportunities, which provide environmental stewardship.

The event section manages 1,500 private events on city-owned properties, produces signature events, and markets the division's programming offerings for an inclusive and engaged community. Parks and recreation begins with the children and youth of Flagstaff who are provided with a variety of enriching environments, educational opportunities, and physical programs fostering their love for fun.

Parks and Recreation continues into adulthood where community connections are established through indoor and outdoor athletics, events in our parks, and classes in our recreation facilities. Parks and Recreation supports our aging adult population with opportunities to maintain and improve physical health and enjoy passive recreation. Now therefore, I, Mayor Becky Daget, Mayor of the City of Flagstaff, Arizona, do hereby proclaim July 2026 as Flagstaff Parks and Recreation Month.

So, we get a photo. If we can get a quick photo, we're gonna argue over two. and a speech. That would be from the one and only Amy Hagen. Hot mic. I get a hot mic. Uh this is an annual thing that we do, but every year feels different. Uh especially when we peel off such an amazing special event that we did just uh produce this past Saturday. But that aside, this doesn't work without this is only a portion of the wonderful people that I get to work with.

It doesn't work with about without 200 employees, full-time, part-time, volunteers, you name it. And all of our partners, our city partners, PD, fire, economic vitality, sustainability, public works, water services, management services, the list goes on. We get to work with everyone. and then our external partners too. So, it's uh quite a bit more than just what we were able to say in our proclamation. So, it's an amazing team.

Please thank them anytime that you see them indoors or outdoors because what they do is just simply amazing. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. All right. 6B. We have a recognition for the Flagstaff Regional Land Use Plan 2045. Hello. Surprise. Um well, good afternoon uh mayor and council. I'm Joanne Keane. I'm your city manager and I'm honored today to um present a an acknowledgement for our regional plan 2045 team.

Um I will tell you that when I asked for a list of all of the individuals that worked on this plan, I was sent 11 pages. So just bear with me. I'm going to go through every single name. I'm not going to do that. Um what I am going to do though is I'm going to pull up a slide that has the members of our um our core team and also our regional plan committee. Um and then I'd like to um give uh Michelle McNelte an opportunity and Sarah Dector an opportunity to make some comments.

Um the one thing I will say about this team that worked on this plan is that um there was so much work put into this effort. Um I will let uh Sarah talk about the the number of um public comments that were received, the public meetings that we did, the the regional plan committee that we pulled together. And I would like to just take an opportunity to just read the names of this group.

They spent a significant amount of time um working on this plan and getting us to a point where we could take this to the voters. Um we had our chair David Hayward. Um we had our vice chair Anthony um Garcia, you may have heard of him.

Um, Abel Estraa, um, Al White, Alli Appan, Alicia Chi, Christy Zeller, Diane Vosk, uh, Dirk Foreman, John Rugles, John Van Landingham, Julie Le, Kimberly Robinson, Michelle James, Paul Byer, Rick Miller, Robert Hamilton, Sarah Alman, Susie Garrettson, Tene Corland, Tina Burgerer, Tom Pearson, and Walter Phelps. So, if I could just get a round of applause for those individuals. And then we had our core planning team. So, this was our internal city team.

And again, um there were so many folks that worked on this plan, but this was the group that worked on um the regional plan, met regularly. Um Sarah Dector led that effort and as you know Sarah is now um working for Mountain Line as their new planning director. We're very excited for her. Um but so thankful for what she she did during her time here.

Lauren Clementino, Elsa Erling, Michelle McNelte, Christina Rubiclava, Genevieve Pere, Jennifer Michaelelsson, Jordan Hollinger, Kevin Finsel, Kelsey Hunt, Hunt Hunt, Tiffany Antl. Um those that's our core planning team for the city. And then for the county was Melissa Shaw, Angela Lane, and Jess McNeely. And then we also had two amazing city planning interns, Alicia Green and Joseph O'Connell. So I'd like to get a round of applause for them as well. So just some stats before I turn it over.

I think is Michelle Michelle Michelle's here. I'm gonna ask Michelle to come up. So um we had obviously the election for the regional plan was May 19th, 2026. And it was our role as city staff to educate the community on this plan. Um we had a very robust effort that not not only included this regional plan team but also our um marketing arm for the city of Flagstaff. I also want to recognize our discover Flagstaff team um specifically Heidi Hansen and Lorie Papus who was involved in that.

Um, and also it takes quite a bit to run an election. And I want to recognize our our clerk's office, um, Stacy Saltzburg, Georganna Staski for also, um, leading their efforts. Sarah Langley as well also worked on this. So for stats, our uh, 2026 voter turnout was 27.5%. Um, so with that, we had 5,945 members of our community that supported this plan. Um, comparing that to our 2014 uh, voter turnout, which was 25.22, and we had 5,338 members of our community support the plan.

So, we had more members of our community uh, support the regional plan. And I would also just like to thank council for all of your effort during this process as well. Um, so with that, I'd like to see if Michelle has some comments for the team and bring up Sarah. Good evening, mayor, vice mayor, council. Uh, Michelle McNelte, planning and development services director. I just want to echo my appreciation to all those who participated in the regional plan 2045 process.

The list is very long um of community members and city and county staff um who gave so much of their time and put so much of their heart into the process and they really made sure that the vi the the process and the plan reflects the vision and the values of the flag staff community. Um I special thanks don't really want to say much more than what um Joanne did but to Sarah Dector for leading this her steadfast uh project management of this is why it was a success.

I also want to just echo appreciation to uh Lauren Clementino and Elsa Erling. They are part of the long range or comprehensive planning team that really helped support this and getting it across the finish line. None of it would have, and I mean that, none of this really would have happened without that core team. Um, it was a humbling process because of how many people came out and just how much it demonstrated our community cares about our community.

And so, um, it's one of the most important documents that guides Flagstaff. It's been touched by many. Um, and it's, you know, just been a great process to be a part of. And it's really exciting to start the next phase of implementing the plan. And so you're going to be seeing a lot of myself and my team and probably others throughout the city who are um making efforts and putting things forward to get this plan implemented. Thanks. Sarah, would you like to say a few words?

Thank you all for recognizing the regional plan team. I think it is hard to imagine um that some projects feel like a tornado and the regional plan feels like a hurricane. It literally involves thousands of commenters over several years. Um staff has to go through numerous reviews. Our team uh core team here had to manage and respond to just even internally hundreds of comments.

And also staff out in the in their normal day-to-day jobs would occasionally have to lock into this long-term process that maybe they hadn't heard about in three or four months and then go, "Oh yeah, I'm supposed to do something now.

So, I appreciate everyone's tolerance for my page long emails about how to conduct a review at different stages of the process um and for the attention that it takes from dozens and dozens of um staff at the city and county to make sure that this plan gets revitalized every 10 years. Um so, not a small feat.

Um, I feel like when I talk to other planners about how we do it in Flag Staff from throughout Arizona, they feel a little jealous because we are a great team and we do a good job working with our partners. We go above and beyond and um the whole team deserves a huge recognition. So, thank you. With that, mayor, I'll turn it back to you. Wonderful. Thank you, Sarah. I'm sure that Mountain Line won't make you work as hard as uh the city of Flagstaff did. How many regional plans did you work on?

U Mayor Det, I started at the city when the previous regional plan had been adopted by council and I ran the election education outreach. So I got to live a whole cycle where I got to do all the afteraction reviews and take those notes with me over 12 years and then bring it back to the community. So wow, it feels like more than one plan, but it was still just one. Thank you. All right, we are down to recognition for leader of the year. Um mayor and council Joanne Keane again, your city manager.

I um I have the honor today to um announce our 2025 leader of the year. Um this is a huge honor for me and actually the first um that I've been able to present um along with my team um as the city manager for Flag Staff and the the leadership extended leadership team gathered on uh June 17th to present the leader of the year and um this is an important award because it recognizes an individual who demonstrates um characteristics that embody Um, team Flag Staff.

Uh, the leader of the year award was actually named after Mary Joe Jenkins who was a former uh, management services director for the city of Flagstaff. And, um, I had the opportunity to work with Mary Mary Joe um, when I was on the county side and she is just beloved in this organization for the values that she brought to the organization.

So, with that, I I want to announce our leader of the year and then I would like to read um the comments that Shannon, assistant city manager Shannon Anderson um read at our event. Um Shannon has about to lose her voice. So, um I I said I would step in and then give an opportunity for our amazing leader of the year to to make a couple comments. Um but the 2025 leader of the year is our fire chief, Mark Gaylord. So, I'd like to read this to all of you.

Um, so Chief Gayler dedicates his time to building future fire service leaders. He has accomplished this through continual training opportunities for the Flagstaff Fire Department leadership internally and engaging them in state and national fire service conferences. He also spends time teaching courses at the fire chief's conference and at CSU.

He visits the firehouse kitchen tables to listen to Flagstaff Fire Department personnel and shares factual information when there may be confusion or questions. He did this when Flagstaff Fire and Summit Fire and Medical District completed a joint powers authority study and there are questions about intent and next steps.

He made sure there was clear direction for fire personnel, engaged them in conversations about next steps, and led the recruitment efforts for the summit fire and medical district fire chief. Chief Gaylord uses many modes of communication to ensure the department is informed. He spends time sharing information after attending conferences, creates videos, engages in social media, and visits firehouses on a regular basis.

I also learned um at this event that he also hosts the um the families of all of our um fire department u members and they do a movie night where he and his lovely wife um sponsor that event. So does many things for his team. He's consistently looking at new technology making sure messaging both inside and outside of the fire department stays fresh and informative.

He and the team developed a one-page dashboard used to have community conversations about the five E and helped the community understand what fire service looks like today. The team engaged in multiple meetings early on when the homeowners insurance crisis began impacting Flagstaff residents.

They use contacts throughout the state and western region to become a part of the western fire chief's work to understand what may be needed to demonstrate to insurance companies a home has been hardened to wildfire. This included the launch of our home hardening um assessment. I know many of you have participated in that. Planning the first pine needle cleanup and engaging with government officials and insurance company leadership to begin discussing potential solutions. leadership.

Leadership can be challenging at times, too. And Chief Kaylor has continually addressed any leadership challenges head-on by understanding the issue and working with labor management, human resources, legal when needed, and communicating with staff along the way. He was the guiding light for the department when they experienced a tragic loss of a co-orker.

Chief Gaylord partners internally with his peers um and has supported the organization with his participation on the budget team champions and champions of team flag staff. He works externally with the regional fire districts and Navajo Nation fire.

The fire department recognizes recognized some challenges with the way uh the CAD was dispatching fire units and Chief Gaylord worked with the police chief to create a temporary dispatch fire captain position to learn the system and implement improvements. The improvements helped ensure the right unit was dispatched leading to improved response times and some continual improvements that continue to benefit all parties supported by the regional communications center.

Chief Gaylord not only addresses the challenges or question for today, but spends time planning for the future. Many of you may not know this, but the public safety ballot measure process all started about three years ago when Chief Gaylord and Deputy Chief Wilson shared the current and future status of fire service in Flagstaff. The methods they use for the analysis and walking through the information is what has led us here today.

Chief Gaylord continued to facilitate the internal working team with monthly meetings, creating a timeline to help the team meet important deadlines, and created a 10-year calculator. This 10-year calculator was used by all parties to share current operational gaps and identify all other needs and associated costs. And this tool was the backbone and in reporting the overall needs and working with the citizen committee to reduce where possible to meet the recommendation parameters.

Chief Gaylord is dedicated to the fire service profession, the Flagstaff Fire Department personnel, the city organization, and the community. This is witnessed in the actions he takes on a daily on a daily basis, and his constant willingness to help figure it out. He comes to the table ready to listen and help inform others. And we are so grateful for his contributions and congratulate him on his 2025 leader of the year awards. Congratulations, Chief. Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor and Council and uh community members and uh team Flagstaff members. Just uh really uh it's just as stunning hearing it the second time as it was the first time. I'm really kind of I'm sitting in the back of the room going I know what they're going to say, but it's still um quite quite uh um quite a feeling. So, I'm I'm super uh humbled and I'm super grateful for this. I'm humbled because of what we heard about Mary Joe.

Uh I've worked with people, leaders I respect who did work with her and I know they uh they hold her in the highest regard. So to get this honor named after someone like that is very uh very impactful. Um and also I work on a leadership team that's full of people like me. They're they're working hard every day. They're passionate. Their passion for public service is evident. We all have a different piece of the mission and we work collaboratively and supportive of each other.

So to be singled out is just really uh well so it it overwhelms me. So the last thing is just gratitude. I'm I'm so grateful to city management team and uh um for selecting me. Uh my wife is here to uh tune me up after this if I say something I shouldn't. So she she'll uh she's been doing that a long time. Um and just the gratitude, the opportunity to serve this community, to work with these firefighters. Um dream come true. So, thank you. Mayor, can we do a photo with the chief? Yes, I will.

Welld deserved and thank you for your service chief. All right, we're down to council liaison reports. I'll start with council member Spence. Nothing this evening. Thank you, Council Member House. Thank you, Mayor. At the most recent housing commission meeting, the uh commissioners heard from Eric Wolverton on the Habitat for Humanity of Northern Arizona um program and uh what they're doing in terms of HOA fees for Timber Sky and partnering with churches as a future opportunity.

Uh they also heard a housing market overview and uh information on the Northern Arizona Builders and Remodelers Association. Um so it was a really productive and and good meeting hearing about a lot of good programs that are opportunities for the future of housing in our community. That's it for me. Thank you, Mayor. Vice Mayor, nothing tonight. Council member Alen. Yeah, three council leaison reports from the past couple of weeks.

Tourism was a pretty boilerplate meeting uh given that we're entering into the summer. Um attractions reports and director and staff reports. And uh then we also I chaired the uh Cookanino Plateau Water Advisory Partnership Board meeting. Highlighted that meeting was Christine Cameron's presentation to us uh update about the rioted flag project and just generally being there to answer questions for the group. really appreciate you taking the time to do that.

Um, and lastly, there was a sustainability meeting, commission meeting. Um, it was a pretty interesting meeting. It it went quite a while. Uh, we had a a a brief overview of the latest consumer confidence report, um, which is available in the in the paperwork. Uh we had a hydraologist with ADEQ presenting on PAS and included information on various statewide actions concerning PAS around the state. Um and Commissioner Carlson himself gave two different presentations that day.

He led a presentation and discussion on the broader quality uh water quality concerns in Flagstaff as well as a rail pollution um conversation around focusing on health concerns, contamination and noise pollution with related to BNSF rail lines coming through town. Uh that's my update. Thank you, Council Member Garcia. Thank you, Madame Mayor. Um our library commission did not meet this month. We'll be meeting again next month.

Um, and since I'm a liazison for pros, I just wanted to give them a shout out for the Fourth of July drone show that took place u this last weekend at Fox Glenn Park. From uh where I was sitting, everything went down pretty nicely. Uh, every um, it looked like the traffic got cleared out quickly and um, all team members involved handled it quite nicely. The audience cheered when they were supposed to, so I think we did a good job. That's it for today. Council member Matthews. Thank you, Mayor.

Um, the only thing I have to report on the leazison report is on Thursday the 9th at 1:00 there's an airport commission meeting and it'll be virtual only. Thank you. All right, moving down to appointments. We have one appointment to the indigenous commission and that is um being made by council member Alen. Yeah, Madame Mayor, and it is my pleasure to recommended to recommend um Sheldon Yazy um for the uh available role. I'll second. Any discussion? All those in favor? I I Any opposed?

All right. Thank you, Council. Moving on to nine liquor license public hearings. I am opening the public hearing and we'll have a staff presentation. Good afternoon, Mayor and Council. Georgina Staski, Deputy City Clerk. Before you today are five liquor license applications. The full packet material was included in the online agenda packets for review. For conciseness and motioning, I'll provide the information for the licenses together.

Trace Amigos is a series 12 restaurant located at 1800 South Milton. The agent and managing and manager handling the day-to-day operations is Elizabeth Valenuela Montiel. Tiki Grill Series 12 restaurant located at 1509 South Milton Road. The agent and the manager handling the day-to-day operations um is Jamima Lee Kim, Miss Zips, Series 12 Restaurant located at 2924 East Route 66. The the agent on the application is Lauren K.

Merit and the manager handling the day-to-day operations is Tina Leticia Martinez. Hina Investments is a sampling privilege on a series 10 license located at 2202 East Route 66. The applicant's name is Dabla Kumar Patel and Grabandgo Onetop Series 9 liquor store located at 2325 South Woodlands Village Boulevard. The agent on the application is Benit Sepra and the manager handling the day-to-day operations is Ami Kushal.

The police department and planning and development services have conducted their respective investigations. Those reports are included in the agenda packet and representatives from the divisions are here to answer answer any questions and representatives from the business were invited to attend the hearing today. Thank you. Council, do you have any questions about any of these? All right. We have no public comment. Correct.

I am closing the public hearing and I will entertain a motion to uh forward the applications to the state for all for 9 A, B, C, D, and E. So moved. I'll second. Any discussion? All those in favor? I I. Any opposed? All right. Thank you. Moving down to consent agenda. All matters under consent agenda are considered by the city council to be routine unless a member of city council expresses a desire at the meeting to remove an item from the consent agenda for discussion.

The consent agenda will be enacted by one motion approving the recommendations. Otherwise, unless otherwise indicated, expenditures approved by council are budgeted items. All right. Council, are there any items that you would like to pull for discussion? Okay. And mayor, yes, please like to move that we approve consent agenda items A through O. I'll second. Any discussion? All those in favor? I I. Any opposed? All right. Thank you. Routine items. 11A.

Consideration and adoption of ordinance number 2026-13. Good afternoon, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Council. Heidi Dairberry, the city's budget director. I do not have a presentation this evening related to this topic as it is the second read, but I am available for any questions. Thank you. Council, do you have any additional questions? I'll entertain a motion to read the ordinance. Mayor, I'd like to read ordinance number 2026-13 by title only for the final time. I'll second. Any discussion?

All those in favor? I I I. Any opposed? City clerk. An ordinance of the city council of the city of Flagstaff levying upon the assessed valuation of the property within the city of Flagstaff, Arizona, subject to taxation a certain sum upon each $100 of valuation sufficient to raise the amount estimated to be required in the annual budget less the amount estimated to be received from other sources of revenue.

providing funds for various bond redemptions for the purpose of paying interest upon bonded indebtedness and providing funds for general municipal expenses. All for the fiscal year ending the 30th day of June 2027. A motion to adopt. So moved. I'll second. Any discussion? All those in favor? I I Any opposed? All right, we're moving down to B. Consideration and adoption of resolution. Thank you, Heidi. number 2026-38 and 2026-17. This is also a second read. Council, do you have any questions?

Mayor, I'd like to make a motion. Please do. Unless you just want to talk to us. I Nope. But thank you for having me up here. Just wanted to check. Didn't want to take away your spotlight. No, it's great. Mayor, I move that we adopt resolution number 2026-38. I'll second. Any discussion? All those in favor? I I. Any opposed? All right. And to read the ordinance 2026-17 by title only for the final time. So move. I'll second. Any discussion? All those in favor? I. Uh, city clerk. Thank you.

An ordinance of the city council of the city of Flagstaff amending the Flagstaff City Code Chapter 1-14 Personnel System Section 1-14-00001-00006 Employee Advisory Committee and the Employee Handbook of Regulations Section 1-10-070 Employee Advisory Committee by adopting by reference that certain document entitled 2026 City Code and Employee Handbook Amendments- Employee Advisory Committee provides for repeal of conflicting ordinances, severability, authority for clerical corrections, and establishing an effective date.

Great job. Thank you. That's an easy one. And can I get a motion to adopt the ordinance? So move. Second. Any discussion? All those in favor? I. All right. Moving down to C. consideration and adoption of ordinance number 2026-15. Do you have anything additional to say? No new additional information for me. Thank you. Council, do you have any questions? All right. I'll entertain a motion to read the ordinance. Mayor, I move that we read ordinance number 2026-15 by title only for the final time.

I'll second. Any discussion? All those in favor? I I Any opposed? City clerk. An ordinance of the city council of the city of Flagstaff authorizing the exchange of real property of substantially equal value with Laru Retail LLC providing for delegation of authority, repeal of conflicting ordinances, severability, authority for clerical corrections, and establishing an effective date. Mayor, I move that we adopt ordinance number 2026-15. I'll second. Any discussion? All those in favor?

I I Any opposed? All right. And finally, to approve the exchange agreement. May I move that we approve the exchange agreement? I'll second. Any discussion? All those in favor? I I. All right. Thank you. Down to D. Consideration and adoption of ordinance number 2026-14. An ordinance I'm not going to read that whole thing. 26-14. Any questions, council? I'll entertain a motion to read the ordinance by title only for the final time.

Mayor, I um move to read ordinance number 2026-14 by title only for the final time. I'll second. Any discussion? All those in favor? I I. City clerk. An ordinance of the city council of the city of Flagstaff abandoning approximately 2400 square feet of rightofway in block of towns site providing for delegation of authority, repeal of conflicting ordinances severability and establishing an effective date. And a motion to adopt. So moved. I'll second. Any discussion? All those in favor? I.

Any opposed? All right. Down to E. Consideration and adoption of ordinance number 2026-16. I am looking for a motion to read the ordinance by title only. Mayor, I will move to read ordinance number 2026-16 by title only for the final time. I'll second. Any discussion? All those in favor? I I I. Any opposed? City clerk.

An ordinance of the city council of the city of Flagstaff approving amended and restated easements on Observatory Mesa with the Hidden Bluff Homeowners Association providing for delegation of authority, severability, and establishing an effective date. And a motion to adopt. Mayor, I move to adopt ordinance number 2026-16. I'll second. Any discussion? All those in favor? I I Any opposed? All right. Thank you. Down to F. Consideration and approval of contract. All right.

Good afternoon, mayor, vice mayor, members of council. Geneva Lensetta. I'm a project manager with this capital improvements team here at the city. I'm here tonight to talk to you about a project that I know you've seen many times before, but we do have an update that will be the next positive step forward for the next steps. So, without further ado, we are talking about the melane utility improvements project.

So again, I'm sure you've seen maps similar to this before, but just to provide some context as to what we're talking about tonight. If we start at city hall here, we're going up Humphrey's. We turn left on Fort Valley or Highway 180. Just past Forest here is the Cookanino Estates neighborhood section that we're looking at. And Me Lane is just off of Fort Valley. We're doing a small section of that roadway.

And zooming in a little more and just to um give everyone some bearings, north is up on this slide. So to the east of our construction limits, we have Highway 180. So we're starting at that intersection there and traveling west towards the Rio de Flag Bridge. All right. So why are we here tonight?

We are asking for your consideration and approval of the job order construction contract with Eagle Mountain in the amount of approximately 2.2 million, a little over that so that we can begin construction in the fall. And our recommendations tonight, we have four. And the first one, we are requesting a one-time increase to the job order contract or JOC expenditure limit, which is currently $2 million per project.

And we're requesting that increase to the final amount of this contract with Eagle Mountain. And just to put something on your radar, that is something that staff is looking at right now, that expenditure limit. If we determine that we may need to increase it, we will come back to you after council break with that recommendation. But for this project, we're just looking at that amount for Eagle Mountain, which will be the sums of items two and three here that we're recommending.

So item two is going to be for the construction contract in that amount of $2.26 million. And item three, we are requesting a contract allowance of approximately $93,000. And then finally asking or authorizing the city manager to execute necessary documents. All right. And I don't want to be too redundant. I'm sure you've heard this before, but just to remind everyone why we're doing this project. The biggest purpose was to upsize and update the storm infrastructure out there.

And the intent is to improve drainage issues that have become apparent um on me lane and the lateral streets. So we are also taking this opportunity while the road is open to update the aging water and sewer infrastructure that's along this seg segment. And then when we build back the road we are going to be redoing all of the curb and gutter, the driveway aprons as well as the asphalt. And then we are looking at some foots improvements.

So Karen Cooper trail crosses just east of the Rio to flag bridge there and we are looking at adding some bumpouts to improve sight distance for folks crossing there and then also to serve as a traffic calming measure for vehicles. All right. So on the right side of this slide, there's a picture from a meet in the street event that was held on me lane back in May.

And at this event, we updated the community members out there as to what our anticipated schedule was, which is what we're sharing with you tonight. So in May, we started the JOC solicitation that opened and it closed in June. We're here before you tonight for hopeful selection of that contractor. And we are anticipating that construction will begin in September of this year, so this fall.

And the goal with that is to begin after monsoon season, and anticipating that construction will wrap up around June of 2027. All right. And there are a lot of people to thank for how far this project has come to this point. Um, so the first people I would be remiss if I didn't mention the melane property owners and the community members that have advocated for this project. I know they've been before you all before. They've spoken to city staff members.

Um, they really are pushing to get this project done and we appreciate them. And then J Fuller completed the design for this project. They will be continuing on as our construction administration services. And then we're before you tonight to request that Eagle Mountain be our construction contractor based on the solicitation. We do have Beta PR on board for public outreach with those community members, those local residents, and then nearby businesses.

And then there are many, many staff members that have been involved in this project. Um, so I'm only going to call one out by name and he's probably not going to appreciate this, but I want to thank Ed Shank for bringing it to the point that that it was at when I took it over. He got it to 100% design um, and dealt with everything up to that point. So really grateful for him.

And then just water services as a whole, our public works team, transportation team, the grants and contracts team, our procurement team. There truly have been many hands involved in this project and they will continue to help with the success moving forward. And then of course we want to thank city council and our city manager's office for their support through everything. All right, this is our last slide, but just going over the budget for construction.

And this also highlights the ask that we're um asking for recommending above that $2 million threshold. So, I won't go over all of the numbers, but we do have five funding sources that are contributing to this project, and those are storm water, drinking water, wastewater, streets through the road repair and street safety fund, and then foots for a total of just over $2.3 million. So, that is putting us $356,1 over that threshold as part of our request tonight.

And then I am happy to announce that we were awarded the Arizona Department of Emergency and Military Affairs Hazard Mitigation Grant Program. That is that reimbursement grant that we have been seeking for a while um in the amount of $633ish,000 and that will be applied towards that 2.3 million. So with that, if there are any questions, I do have my contractor here tonight. Beta PR is also here, Ed is here, and the procurement team is here if anyone has questions.

Thank you, Council Member House. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you so much for the presentation. Um, just one question, and it's just for my own education, is what's the difference between the contract amount and the contract allowance amount? Thank you, Council Member. house. So the contract amount is for what the contractor identifies as the exact dollar amounts for each item that they are doing during construction. So that would be like asphalt removal.

They have specific numbers for that based on the quantities. Um the contract allowance is a 5% that we request for any unknown unknowns. So, anything that could come up during construction. Thank you so much. Thank you. Any other questions? Council, city man, I mean, city attorney. Yeah, thanks, Mayor and Council. I just wanted to make sure and point out that this is a motion if made that can include one, two, three, and four. Just read through each one.

I know it's a little bit long, but you don't have to do separate motions for each one. Yes, that would be best. Thank you. Who would like to do that? Mayor, I move to approve a one-time job order contract per project expenditure limit increase from 2 million to the final amount of the contract for the melane project. Approve the job order construction contract with Eagle Mountain Construction, Inc. in the amount of 2,263,330 with a contract duration of 300 calendar days.

approve a contract allowance of $97,771, which is 5% of the lowest responsive bid. And excuse me, it was 92 92,000. What did I say? 97. Oh, that's okay. If you could $92,771, which is 5% of the lowest responsive bid, and authorize the city manager to execute the necessary documents. I'll second. Any discussion? All those in favor? I I Any opposed? Thank you so much and congratulations on finally getting word about the grant. Thank you.

All right, moving down to G consideration and approval of con of a contract. We have a another team coming down here. Mayor, I have Emily Markle with me, too. And excuse me one moment Stacy. Maybe you addressed this in the beginning, but is that uh monitor not working? Yes, that's correct. Thank you. Mayor, vice mayor, members of council. David Peterson, capital improvement project manager. Here today to talk a little bit about John Wesley Pal and GMP2.

The project is located in the southeastern quadrant of the city. Many of you joined us in our walkthrough last year. It's going to connect in its entirety and the next side I'll show you the middle part that we're building. But when it's fully built, it will connect the current terminus of Jambas Pal in the east to South Fourth Street over on the east end, excuse me, west end of Jamus Pal. The middle part is what we'll be building, the red line here in the middle.

So approximately the southern border of the Elk Ridge parcel up to Herald Ranch Road intersection between Kenyon Del Rio and Little America. Wanted to give a little update to what we've done since we've been here in April. If you recall back in April, we were here with GMP1. We wanted to clear that corridor before the heart of fire season. I am happy to report that the corridor is cleared and I brought with me some pictures.

I know that council always appreciates pictures of what we're doing out there when you're not able to get out there. So, happy to share those in a couple slides here. We've also installed the erosion control measures uh to make sure that things are staying stable while we're out there and present and when we're not present. Uh, I also wanted to emphasize on mayor last time we spoke about the public meeting that we'll be having.

Uh, we don't have a date for that yet, but we will be having that prior to construction starting. So, we are anticipating construction starting in September of this year going through late fall of 2028. And our commitment is that we will have a public meeting before construction starts. Currently, the project is kind of sleeping. It's at rest. We wanted to get out there, clear the corridor, put up those erosion control measures, and now it's kind of resting.

There's no activity happening out there until we start up again in September, uh, pending tonight's ask of GMP2. Onto the pictures. So, we were out there. I took these pictures with our drone at the end of May. I put the inset map here on the right to kind of give it help with location. The stars are kind of the approximate location of where we took the pictures from. This one is about the intersection of Herald Ranch Road looking down or south on that red line.

Uh you can see the APS power transmissions that go east west in this part of the this part of the corridor. This picture is looking to the north. This is the Rio flag flood plane. That bridge that we shared the concept of the exhibit that we shared last time with GMP1 is going to be crossing probably 80 80 feet here in the middle section of this picture. And this is on the little America section of of the property or the road, excuse me.

And then at the furthest into furthest southern extent of our portion looking northward, uh this is on the Elk Ridge parcel. This is a really good shot of just the the corridor footprint that has been cleared going north. It's about 42 4,300 linear feet. That is the city's portion. And then just going over a little timeline. So tonight's ask is really the wet utilities and the rough grading.

So what we did before is we established the clearing of the corridor, but we really didn't do anything to prepare for the roadway that's coming in. So to meet our engineering standards, we need to bring in fill. We need to cut in places to make sure that our grades and our curves meet the standards that we've established. Uh so part of this ask is making sure that that ground is ready for a roadway to be installed as well as including the wet utilities.

As I mentioned, put it in here twice for emphasis. Public community meeting before we start construction. And then we'll be back again in late fall for GMP3. So that one will be the ask for the construction of the roadway as well as the bridge. So those two are not those are excluded from GMP2. And then again the construction going lasting through late fall of 2028. All right, on to the good stuff. The ask for GMP2. What are we getting for our ask?

So, like I had mentioned before, we're preparing that ground. We have around 100,000 cubic yards of fill that we need to bring into this project. Uh, so a lot of earth has to be moved. Moving earth is not cheap. Uh, we also need to, as I mentioned before, get that wet utilities in. So, we have water and sewer and storm drains. So, those are three different pipe systems going in at different elevations. Some of them are going in over 20 feet under the ground.

So, it's very expensive to dig into bedrock where a lot of these pipes are going. And then two of the asks are for a Seymar contingency and owner's contingency. And I just want to take a moment to explain the difference between these. I know contingencies get thrown around a lot. So a semar contingency is there. Two years is a long time. A lot can change in two years. Fuel prices can change in two years. Semar contingency is there.

So if material costs increase, oil costs increase, things like that, we have a mechanism there to cover those increased expendit expenditures. The owner's contingency is a little bit different. That's one if the scope changes, if the field conditions that we find out in the field are different than geotechnical reports tell us, different than our engineer anticipates, we have a capacity there to be able to cover those expenses.

Sometimes when the design changes, more materials are required, that expense comes from that line as well. And I'm happy to report on both of those that if neither of those are used, that money is never expensed. So the total ask of GMP2 is a little under $17.6 $6 million and we're adding 425 calendar days to the contract. On this slide, I wanted to point out uh Beta PR has put together a wonderful website web site john wesleypal extension jwpextension.com. The QR code's right here.

That one will take you to a website that has project update, project descriptions. It's going to have videos and pictures and it also has a newsletter that you can sign up. Uh typically those usually come out around weekly. So it's a great weekly update once construction gets going. Way to stay tied into the project and know the latest information. So it's a great resource to go check out for information and to see again the pictures that we can't show here all the time.

So with that, I am happy to also extend a thank you to Peak Engineering, Banaki Construction, and Beta PR for all their fine work with this project as well as our community and of course council for your support over the many years that this project has been coming about, and it's fun to be at this place up here where we're actually constructing it. So, thank you for your time. I'm happy to entertain any questions or comments. Thank you, David. Uh, Council Member Matthews. Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, Dave. You know, this is one of my favorite subjects, JW PAL extension. I'm excited to see that we were at this point. Um, I was just curious just on the technical side, the contingencies, is that what percent of the project is it based on that or I mean, usually like a construction contract is 10% contingencies, but I didn't see that in there. So, how'd you arrive at that number? Council member Matthews, that typically is in that 5 to 10% range.

These are about three and a half percent. Uh so we it's hard to speculate on how you predict the known unknowns. Certainly the unknown unknowns. Uh that came about just with areas where we might have unsuitable materials where the ground might be a little different than we pot. Sometimes our geotechnical reports we're always mesmerized that they get just tend to take borings where the ideal conditions happen to be.

Uh so we like to speculate where we might have more problematic areas and we can do that on a quantity basis. Uh so those were calculated out based on where we anticipate we might come across problematic areas in the project. And my other question was and you probably addressed it at one point but I couldn't remember. So, we're built, this is our part kind of right in the middle. Are the other property owners building simultaneously or? Council member Matthews, I hope so.

Uh, we aren't in constant contact with uh where they are in the process. There are the DAs that are in place. We are optimistic that the timing will be pretty similar. uh they are working on I believe uh hiring contractors. I believe bids are out on their end. They have plans submitted to the city. So they're not far behind us. Um and I'm optimistic that we will be having a congruent uniform roadway relatively soon within our timelines as well. Thank you very much. This is very exciting.

Thank you. Thank you. Any other questions, council? All right. Well, we're looking for a motion and this one also requires you to read all four points. Mayor, I move to approve the first amendment of the construction phase service agreement GMP02 J. Banscini Construction Inc. for a guaranteed maximum price GMP of 17,591,6408 which includes the SEAR um which concludes the C which includes the SEAR and owners contingencies and the contract period of 425 calendar days.

approve a Seymar contingency of $610,340 $2, which is 7 or 3.73% of the guaranteed maximum price. Approve the owner's contingency of $610,340, which is three points. Excuse me. Sorry, it's such a small thing. Um, but you missed the two at the end of the 342. Thank you, Madame Mayor. Back to number three. Approve the owner's contingency of $610,342, which is 3.73% of the guaranteed maximum price and authorize the city manager to execute the necessary documents. I'll second. Any discussion?

All those in favor? I I Any opposed? All right. Thank you, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and thank you, Council Member Garcia, for reading that. Yes. Thank you. All right. We're down to 12. Consideration and adoption of resolution number 2026-40. Mayor, Vice Mayor, Council members, Daniel Kelly, Flag, Staff, and Mercy Manager. And with me tonight is Tim Carter, director of uh Cookanino County Emergency Management.

We don't have a presentation for you tonight, but we are available for questions and we can reload the one from June 9th if needed. Council, do you have any questions about the plan or would like to to see the presentation that from June? All right. Well, I will entertain a motion then to read the resolution. Mayor, I move that we read resolution number 2026-40 by title only. I'll second. Any discussion? All those in favor? I. Any opposed? City clerk.

Resolution of the Flagstaff City Council adopting the 2026 Cookanino County multi-jurisdictional hazard mitigation plan and repealing resolution 2021-55 adopting the prior plan. Motion to adopt. Mayor, I move that we adopt resolution number 2026-40. I'll second. Any discussion? All those in favor? I. Any opposed? All right. Moving down to B, consideration and adoption of resolution number 2026-41. Hi, good afternoon, mayor, vice mayor, and city council.

Amy Hagen, our assistant parks, recreation, open space, and events director. I'm here joined by some of the family of Mr. Ken Les, who was our parks and recreation director in the 1960s through the 1970s and beyond. Um, I just want to kick this off. We don't have a presentation tonight. We thought it'd be more uh true and organic if we all just spoke from the heart.

I can tell you from meeting some of Ken's family members and some of you on the dis maybe remember Kenan for our July Parks and Recreation Proclamation of 2023. we were able to have Ken here and it was simply amazing. Um, and I've spent some time with uh Ken's spouse, Mrs. Engles, and with one of his daughters and just hearing some of the stories, they're just incredibly they're heartwarming.

A lot of what you see out there in our parks and recreation system derive from Ken and it's just truly amazing. Um, in a lot from behind the scenes that you'll hear from some of the folks. So, who would like to go first? Uh, Mr. Daryl is going first. Daryl is a former city of Flagstaff employee. Take it away, Darl. I'm Daryl Cox, and I'm here primarily to speak a little historical uh perspective on Ken's uh work for the city. I started working for Ken in uh the summer of 1968.

And uh a lot of what we all enjoy here in Flagstaff as recreation opportunities. I got to see firsthand how they developed and how Ken kind of just breath breathed life into a lot of those uh very instrumental in the ice rink in the ice rink that uh has just grown and grown and grown and uh a lot of neighborhood parks. Uh Ken was very supportive of um open space. He was supportive of the Cogdale uh recreation center at the time.

I think it's a boys girls club now, but uh he made sure that there was opportunities in that neighborhood. Uh the Murdoch Center, he supported uh the little park in Cheshire, I think, is uh what we're here for. I think it's only appropriate that it's named after Ken for a couple of reasons. number one, he uh was very instrumental in a lot of open space parks here in the city of Flagstaff, all over um not only Cheshire, but I think it's interesting.

Ken was one of the first families uh to live in Cheshire. I think they moved in there 62 or something like that, but one of the first houses. So, I uh give you a little bit of perspective that way. Um, I got to enjoy working for Ken. Uh, starting everything from women's volleyball, men's volleyball.

Uh, we don't play slow pitch anymore, but for those of you that remember the big slow pitch games at City Park, uh, they were huge and brought in quite a bit of economic uh, support to the community at that time. Anyway, I think it's only appropriate and long overdue that uh a park is named after Ken Engles and Cheshire Park would be the perfect place. Thank you. Hello, my name is Danielle. I'm one of Ken's granddaughters. I think third grandchild. I don't know. There's a lot of us now.

Um I was fortunate enough when we put my grandpa on hospice care. I was a travel nurse, so I got to come home and take care of him that summer where we were here 2023 I think we decided that was. And one of my favorite memories of that summer is all he wanted to do was get in the car and drive around and look at all the parks around the city of Flag. So, as you can imagine with all of his work that he's done, there were special stories behind each and every one.

Old Springs Park and the boardwalk bo bow and arrow park obviously Cheshshire Park. Uh grandma was saying they were one of the first homes out there and they would talk about the potato fields out in Cheshire Park or the the old country club on Schultz Pass and just so many incredible historical stories just and getting to spend that time with my grandpa was truly a blessing in so many ways.

Um, but what he really left with me was kind of my uncle mentioned it earlier, but having a place for people to recreate at all times and having open spaces within every community development throughout Flax Staff. His his greatest gift was leaving that legacy where people can go and he would always say he wanted people to have a place for leisure, right?

And I think Cheshire Park just, you know, it's the only house I've ever known for him and and my grandma and my aunts and everybody um is so truly fitting because that's the legacy that he left in all of us. And I know that that was also the legacy he wanted to leave throughout the city. So just thank you. And I know he would be very honored to even have this moment, but he's also probably very mad at us for bringing it to light because nothing was ever about him.

It truly was about the people and the community. So, thank you. So, sorry because this is like really um bittersweet. So, I'm Kelly Engles and um Amy and I have been in this process for probably a good five to six years. Um when I sent her um a message, I I'm like, "Oh, there's all these parks being developed in Flagstaff.

So, how cool could it possibly be if we um created a park and named it after my father, Ken Engles, while he was still alive." and thinking that wow he could be there and all these people from the community could um come and witness and celebrate with him.

and Amy brought this to city council um few years um gosh many years ago not that many but you know I think some of you were not on city council at that time and um the in the process was like well we can't name anything till someone's been deceased for two years so it's really um an honor to be here but also very difficult because my father now has been passed away for three years Um and um Amy said, "Come and speak from the heart." And so speaking from the heart is very um touching and um brings tears to my eyes.

So I'm going to just read a couple of letters first, then I'll speak a little more. Um so this is u from my friend um Kirsten who um is a Levven and the Levven have been part of the city for a long um for many years as well. And she said um um wrote, "I am speaking to respectfully petition the city council to consider naming Cheshire Park in honor of Ken Ingles who served for many years as the city's director of parks and recreation.

His leadership, dedication, and vision have left a lasting legacy on the community, and I believe Cheshire Park would be a fitting and meaningful place to commemorate his contributions. I grew up in Flagstaff, and like so many who were raised here, my childhood was shaped by the parks and open spaces that define the character of our city.

I have countless fond memories of afternoons spent at spent at Thor Park, the iconic tree park which is now the Jim Collen Memorial Park as well as many hours playing at the Cheshure Park. These places are more than simple recreation sites. They are the heart of our neighborhoods, gathering spaces for families and symbols of the city's commitment to a high quality of life.

And thank you for everyone who continues with um these making Flax staff such a wonderful place to um live in and raise families and just be in community. Uh Mr. Engles played an instrumental role in um preserving and enhancing these spaces. His stewardship ensured that they remained safe, beautiful, and accessible to all residents.

Most notably, his efforts to protect Buffalo Park, one of Flagstaff's most important important and cherished open spaces reflect a deep understanding of what makes this community special. His work has shaped generations of experiences, memories, and connections to our natural environment.

naming Cheshire Park as Kenny Engles and would like to see it as Kenny Engles um Cheshire Park would honor not only his decades of service but also the spirit of recreation, community and stewardship that he embodied. It would serve as a lasting testament to the impact he had on the people of Flagstaff and the value he placed on creating welcoming, vibrant spaces for all. Thank you very much for your time and consideration of this request and to see his legacy recognized in his meaningful way.

Um Kristen um Butso or Kristen Leven. Um this is from another friend. Ken Les is more than just the director of Flagstaff's park and recreation department. He was a dedicated public servant whose visions and commitment profoundly shaped the quality of life for thousands of Flagstaff residents. For decades under his direction, the department the departmental um the department provided vital programs and infrastructure that foster community health activity and togetherness.

Many families including my own benefited directly from the wide range of opportunities he championed. From playing organized youth sports like softball and soccer to enjoying the municipal ice rink and swimming pool and simple access and well-maintained playgrounds. Ken's dedication was not limited to administration. However, he actively en enriched the community by sharing his expertise, even teaching recreation management courses at the local university.

Naming Cheshire Park, the Ken Les Cheshire Park would be a fitting and permanent tribute to a professional who dedicated his life to ensuring that Flags have had exceptional recreation resources. Beyond his professional life, Ken Engles demonstrated a personal generosity and commitment to enriching lives that defines the enduring impact on our community. My own experience viv vividly illustrate his character.

Growing up, he and his family consistently included me in their weekend skiing trips to Snowball, offering rides and mentorship every Saturday and Sunday for years. The spirit of giving was an extension of the dedication he brought to his department. Rooted in a highly respected and involved member of Flagstaff, a man who literally drove people to the opportunity for recreation.

Honoring his legacy by dedicating Ches Cheshire Park in his name will serve as a constant reminder of his immense generosity. His steadfast commitment to the well-being of Flagsoft's youth and families and the lasting positive mark he left on our city. Um Jennifer Row. Um so that got me a little bit more um relaxed to speak here.

And um there's a lot that I've learned from my father in this process because I always saw my father as this man and my mother who um every summer when the time came around, we were involved in every single parks and wreck activity there was. I think because my mom wanted us out of the house a little bit so she could have her her time.

And um so the ice rink was not only this place where my dad at one point held his office um up in that area, but during the summertime it became a very active um community place for the youth where we had spent hours and hours for a program called Safety Town where um the um we would bring our bicycles up to um Safety Town and learn how to ride our bikes um safely and then um in that way feel confident to ride our bikes around the community as well.

And and my dad helped um develop some of the bike paths here in the community as well. And he is a person who um was a lot more behind the scenes with the ideas and um getting them out there. So very humble and um more and more stories come up um through this and I'm pretty convinced that Cheshire Park was developed because my mom wanted us to have a safe place to go and play because you know the dam over there.

She always told us like, "No, you're not allowed to go there or the canyon, the museum canyon, you know, like don't go play there." Which, you know, we did, but um but then the park was developed and then it was a very, you know, um great place where we could safely go and play with friends and then have um community celebrations. So at one point on Cheshire we would have end of the summer um community um pot locks there as well.

The park has changed um as parks have changed over the years and I think they're a lot safer from sliding down silver slides that got hot and you would burn your legs, you know, um that way. But it's still one of my favorite places to just go and hang out. um and um trying to find pictures. My dad donated um years and years ago, boxes of articles and pictures of things that um were happened here in the community.

So, you know, my sisters and I tennis lessons, swim lessons, golf lessons, skiing, you know, like everything you can think of um we um participated in. And I remember one time um being at um tennis lessons and um Jake Bacon probably could find the picture somewhere if you really dug into it where we were doing everything to um get featured on the front cover of the newspaper and I wound up getting stuck in a tennis bucket and that wound up being on the front page of the newspaper um there.

But um so there's many um great um stories to share and many people here in this um community that are not um present because um it's difficult to get people to come in when we weren't really sure about time and all that.

But I know there's many um people and I appreciate um Darl coming in and speaking from his experience of um seeing my dad as an employer rather than a um like for me the father who helped create all these opportunities here and um I just think it would be really um fabulous to I know um to um see um Cheshire Park be um a place of honoring his legacy and um the visions that he um had for this beloved town of his um to um be called the Ken Les um Cheshire um park.

And I being a former school teacher, there was a part of me when I was driving down, I'm living in Utah right now, like like how cool would it be if one of the school teachers did a project and signed kids research papers on individuals of who these parks were named after, you know, like like wouldn't that be just fantastic?

But so that was something that just played in my mind like wow you know like like these parks um there's a great um community people um here and um from the past who have done and are continuing to do amazing things for um Flag Staff. So thank you so much for your time. Thank you Kelly.

Uh so the the proposal that we have is to name there's the current park grounds if you will um where there's the tennis court, basketball court, uh grassy play area, playground that the Ken Engles Cheshire Park and then the future parcel that I know we've had an opportunity to talk about in some of our capital retreats which is the additional a little over nine acres of Cheshire Park where we have proposed a running track and multi-purpose field that would then be the Ken Engles running track and multi-purpose field.

That is our proposal tonight. The Parks and Recreation Commission heard this information in December of 2025 and were unanimously in favor of this too. Thank you. Thank you so much all of you for for all of the work that has gone into getting us to this point and for your words. I uh I don't know if you saw, but I handed some um tissue down the down the way there. Um we have a couple of questions and comments. Council member House. Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you all um so much for for what you shared. Um I was the tissue recipient because if you cry, I cry. So, you got me. But um I just I wanted to express gratitude for you all making the trip to come and and share those stories with us and those experiences. I didn't have the honor of working with uh with your husband, father, grandfather directly.

Um, but I was on counsel when uh he was able to join us for that last um uh uh parks and rec recre um recognition and just seeing the number of people that showed up because he was going to be here and who spoke afterwards of the impact that he had on their lives and um getting them onto career paths that that changed things.

Um I I truly feel that um while we were not able to honor him in this way while he was alive, this is a way of of keeping him alive and keeping that memory um going for generations to come. So I'm I'm just so grateful that you kept up this effort um and that you're bringing it to us now. And it's such an honor to be part of this group that will get to um hopefully vote momentarily to to make this happen.

Council member Garcia, thank you so much, Madame Mayor, and thank you to all of the family who brought this forward to the parks department. I too didn't have the opportunity or the honor to to um get to know Mr. Engles um as well um while he was here.

But it is quite an honor now to um to to share this monumental and momentous occasion to memorialize his name in such a way that could help um through telling the story of his commitment to our community for future leaders to inspire those who are um interested in things um that that some might seem m mundane like parks and wreck that are extremely significant to the quality of life for our for our f folks. folks here in Flagstaff and um now have met you and have heard the story.

Um I also am a liazison to parks and wreck. So I will be um kind of harnessing the spirit when we're in those rooms having those discussions and and um I guess it's all to say that you all coming forward um for for myself here on the council is is more than just a name on a park, but it's keeping the name going. and uh I I could almost um you know feel feel his presence in this place where he called home for so many years working in this environment. Thank you so much, Vice Mayor. Thank you.

I just wanted to um say that I've known Kelly for gosh, I don't know how many years, and I was able to meet your dad back in 2023. And I feel like that moment made me feel so much closer to you. And so here we are tonight. And I am just so happy that you kept going with this idea and that we hopefully will get to vote on this tonight and make it a reality. And I wanted to also thank staff Amy and Rebecca for um also persevering and and making this a reality.

And um to the family, I just wanted to say that, you know, Kelly's a pretty terrific person and uh I can see why we're honoring your dad tonight. I would like to see those school projects start as soon as possible. Um, I think it's a wonderful way to um to honor people who have had impacts on Flag Staff. And um, before we vote on the resolution, I'm wondering if any of you need any tissue. All right. Uh, so I'm looking for a motion to read the resolution.

Mayor, I'd like to move to read resolution number 2026-41 by title only. I'll second. Any discussion? All those in favor? I I. Any opposed? City clerk. A resolution of the Flagstaff City Council renaming Cheshire Park the in the Ken Engles Cheshire Park. And we have one more official step. Mayor, I move that we adopt resolution number 2026-41. I'll second. Any discussion? All those in favor? I I. Any opposed? Thank you. See, consideration and adoption of resolution number 2026-42.

I don't think this one will be as emotional. Um good even good evening or good afternoon mayor and council Paul Mood city engineer. Yeah it's a tough one to follow but I'll I'll try my best. Um this this is a presentation on a proposed resolution for um IGA with ADOT um to add a foots trail on the north side of west route 66.

Um, so last year, earlier this year, ADOT came to us and informed us that they were going to be doing a pavement preservation project on West Route 66 and Route 66 um, east of Humphrey's. Um, we worked with them to make sure that they did not start the work until the the Route 66 centennial celebration was over. Um, we also took the opportunity to ask them to add a foots trail.

So on the left you can see where they're going to be doing their their pavement presentation from from about Alvin Clark Boulevard to um Woodlands Village Boulevard. And then in the blue we we're going to be doing an 8 foot um foots on the north side of West Route 66 from Railroad Springs Boulevard to Woodlands Village Boulevard. Um and then over on the east side, it's a much larger project for the pavement pres preservation from Humphre to Fanning.

We're only going to be doing a small piece um at I sorry I don't my glasses at I think it's uh Schwitzer Canyon. Um this is just a picture on the left um looking along West Route 66 from Thompson. They'll be widening the road a little bit, adding a curb and gutter, but we'll be adding the um the they'll be adding the foots for us. Um they're going to be responsible to do all the design and construction. It's all within ADOT's rightway, but there will be some temporary construction easements.

Thank you. I try not to use these because I can't see that, you know, can't see when I look up. Um and then on the right, there's a small section at Schweitzer Canyon Drive that goes from 10 feet down to about 8 feet. It's a little bottleneck there. So, we're going to improve that as well and and do some ADA um improvements with the project. Um ADOT's estimated costs in the IGA are $766,000.

Um we will be responsible for the full cost whether it be lower or a little bit more expensive, but that is their current current um estimate. and staff's recommendation is for mayor and council to approve the resolution and be happy to answer any questions you may have. Um, I'll say you've seen a lot of good partnering with ADOT, you know, over this spring and summer. So, this is just another good project that we're doing with them. Thank you. This one is very exciting.

Um, I don't see any questions, so I will entertain a motion to read the resolution. Mayor, I move that we read resolution number 2026-42 by title only. I'll second. Any discussion? All those in favor? I I. Any opposed? City clerk. A resolution of the Flagstaff City Council approving an intergovernmental agreement between the state of Arizona and the city of Flagstaff for design and construction of Flagstaff urban trail system improvements on West Route 66. And a motion to adopt.

I move that we adopt resolution number 2026-42. And a second. Second. Any discussion? All those in favor? I. Any opposed? Thank you very much. Thank you. Down to D. Consideration and adoption of ordinance number 2026-9. Hello again. Hello. Uh good evening uh mayor, vice mayor, members of council. I'm Ryan Saxby, your HR and risk management director, and I'm here today to uh request a change to our employee handbook, article 150-34, uh which currently reads, uh parental leave.

Uh it's our parental leave policy. Um one of the changes that I'll be asking for is um adding the word paid in front of that. So that's why the uh parentheses uh there on that title slide. Uh I only have a couple slides here for you today. Um but I wanted to provide a little bit of background related to this policy. So the city adopted a paid parental leave um in the amount of four weeks for employees who have an event back in 2018.

Um I couldn't find that we had amended this policy since that date. Um but the policy as it currently reads is it provides four weeks of paid time off for employees who have an event. Uh events include births, adoption, legal guardianship, foster care, uh steel still birth and neonatal death. Um the employee must be employed for 6 months to qualify for paid parental leave and they have 12 months from the date of the event to use that that leave time.

uh employees can take that leave continuously, intermittently or on a reduced scheduled basis. Um the intermittent and reduced scheduled do require approvals from uh the director and the HR department. Um but effectively the policy aligns pretty closely with the family medical leave act and those provisions.

Um the this year um there there was a request from our employee advisory uh committee to increase the number of uh weeks of paid leave and the city manager's recommended budget that you all adopted. Um allowed for the increase from four to six weeks of paid leave. Um and that necessitated necessitated excuse me a change in our policy.

Um, in this year's budget, uh, budget found or identified about $157,000, uh, in the budget to cover overtime expenses or backfilling for employees who for being out um, on a on leave for an additional uh, two weeks. So, the key changes that I'm proposing is one adding the word uh, paid in front of parental leave. Um because right now an employee who may not qualify for FML can take parental leave. Um but this is a a bank of leave available to employees on a paid basis.

Um of course it would extend or expand rather the amount of leave from 4 weeks to 6 weeks. Uh and the way that the policy is written is that would be for any event occurring on or after July 1st of this year. So aligning with the beginning of this fiscal year.

Um well, we've had some, you know, as my team has um interacted with this policy over the years, there have been some questions that have uh come up and we'd like to just uh clarify some of that language uh within the policy to make it a little bit more transparent and easier for employees to understand. Um that 6 months of employment has to be continuous. So, in other words, you can't have worked for the city prior and immediately qualify upon rehire with the city.

Um the event, so the birth, adoption, etc. must occur while you're employed. This isn't a change in our current practice or really how policy reads. It's just adding clarifying language, these bullets here. Um and that an employee after 6 months of uh employment can use leave once they hit that 6 months even if they have an event um occurring prior. So an an example would be I'm an employee. I have a baby at four months of employment.

I don't yet qualify for paid parental leave, but once I hit 6 months, uh the policy we allow for use of parental leave at that six-month mark. Um however, the employee will have only 12 months to use it from the date of the event like all other employees. Um and that the leave must run concurrent with FML when an employee qualifies for FML. That's just required. We have to do that, but we're clarifying that in the policy.

Um, one change is that the uh we are going to ask that paid parental leave be exhausted and used first prior to any other personal leaves an employee may have. Um, they can certainly then supplement their leave time. Um, FML affords an employee up to 12 weeks um of leave for for bonding in in effect.

Um, so they can use their own personal leave to get paid during that entire duration of the FML, but we would like them to utilize uh the paid parental leave when they're out for paid parental leave reasons. So, these uh proposed policy changes have been reviewed uh by reviewed with the city manager's office um EAC, our leadership team, legal uh and finance and payroll since it does have an impact on employee leave balances. We've reviewed it there as well. And that's really it.

And if you have questions, I'm happy to entertain any. Council member Alen. Yeah. Thank you. Ryan, uh, could you just explore briefly how this how our current paid leave, um, compares with other municipalities around the state and how the proposed changes would compare with other municipalities? Sure. So, we did survey, my team did survey. We're part of a citywide list serve um where we share information among HR departments.

And so this was a question we posed months ago uh when the first part of this conversation came up. And it varies. Um some employers don't offer paid leave. Um others will provide up to 12 weeks uh aligning concurrent with FML and providing leave for that entire time. Some uh require that employees use leave continuously and don't allow for an intermittent or a reduced scheduled uh basis. So once you're out, you're out and you use that leave. Um so it's a bit all over the board.

Um some limit it to just birth or bonding or adoption. They don't have those other provisions like the city of Flagstaff policy for other events. Um, I mean, I guess if you'd like, I can share that we uh were we received responses from Aendale, Queen Creek, Buckeye, uh, Mesa Gateway, Puma County, City of Chandler, and City of Tucson. Is that I'm sorry, Council Member. Yeah, I just figure that would help give a little broader context to the conversation.

Um, I will say that as an employee myself, I have always benefited in my various careers from having very strong amenities for employees and I would never begrudge that to the employees of another organization. I'm highly supportive of this and always will be, especially if it's, you know, been tinkered with a little bit and found to be feasible financially. I'm always going to be supportive of that.

One last question I have is uh I'm sure there's been a discussion around this and I'm not one uh to generally get too inclusive with verbiage, but um this is something that could be taken advantage of by those who aren't parents, by other legal guardians. You you had a list up there earlier. Mhm. Did you guys explore um replacing the name parental with with some more holistic term that better encompasses um the dynamic?

So under the FML, uh really the protection is for those that are in local parent is the language that's used. Um which effectively means serving as the parent of uh is what you'll find within that that that law. Um admittedly, no. I don't know that we had a a very thorough or thoughtful discussion around whether or not parental was the appropriate term. Um I in our request for information from other jurisdictions uh we were pretty well aligned. Our everyone else used parental leave.

Um part of the reason that I was asking for paid parental leave is we were the odd person, you know, odd entity out not calling it paid parental leave and referring to it as simply parental leave. Um but certainly can take that under, you know, advisement and if we need to update this policy again, come back with something that might be more more fitting. Yeah, I don't know how necessary it is. I'm sure that's something we could sort of feel out from the whole body here.

Um I I was just curious what the latest, you know, uh conversations are around that sort of thing. That's all. Yeah, good question. Thank you. All right. Seeing no questions, I'm looking for a motion. Mayor, I move that we read ordinance number 2026-19 by title title only for the first time. A second. Any discussion? All those in favor? I I city clerk.

An ordinance of the city council of the city of Flagstaff amending the Flagstaff city code chapter 1-14 personnel system by amending the employee handbook of regulations section 1-50-051 parental leave providing for penalties repeal of conflicting ordinances severability authority for clerical corrections and establishing an effective date. All right, we'll see you in August. Very well. Thank you. Open call to the public.

I see no public announcements and updates to from council and city manager. I will start with council member Matthews. Thank you, mayor. Um I just wanted to share that last Wednesday, um I attended the recovery court. Um always such a emotional time. I can't help but cry every time. Um but additional um reasons to be emotional was Judge Reed's last time to preside over recovery court and he just the outpouring of appreciation and love for what he's done in that space was amazing.

Uh Monday was our monthly healing center steering committee. Um we continue to be hopeful. We lost some uh potential buildings, but we're looking at uh different uh opportunities. And probably the most impactful to me uh last week I attended the se sequential intercept mapping workshop. It was a day and a half long. Um I gave the opening statements um which was such an honor and basically just a quick overview.

Um it we had a a um mediator that we talked about lowrisk crimes that um and then identified gaps in the services that we already provide and opportunities within those gaps to for early diversion instead of gel. And one thing that is a misunderstanding in in this exercise is some people um will interpret it that maybe it's um to become soft on crime, but actually it's more about being smart on justice.

and with the o overarching focus to just give better support to people with mental health and substance use challenges to provide them with healing and other supportive services instead of sending them down the justice uh road. So, it was an incredible day and a half.

I was appreciative to see council member Garcia attend because I think it was probably a very eye- openening experience to see how our justice partners through the county and the city um work together and mental health um agencies work together to find alternatives to better serve our community members. So, it was a great um workshop. Council member Garcia. Thank you, Madame Mayor, and thank you for the shout out, Council Member Matthews.

It, as everyone um at least here, my colleagues on council know, uh when talking about the police department, I always talk about the evolution of the department and how they're getting um closer and closer to a bigger community policing model and um more closer to restorative justice than than past um practices. and that evolution has taken a couple of decades. In that room, at this at the SIM um meeting last week, I realized that it doesn't stop with them.

It's all phases of the courts, the county attorney's office, people in the jail pathways program, and all the other programs that are out there are too in lock step with that um idea of getting uh people that aren't that bad but might have had a bad day back into our society and giving them a fair and equal second chance. It was quite refreshing to hear that from all of the folks around and u I shouldn't have been surprised, but I'm pretty stoked about that.

Uh, I wanted to discuss and and let the community know about um the meetings that will be coming up for the sunny side, but I don't think I have them on my calendar. So, there's that. But, I wanted to mention that the at the Ponderosa Park, I believe it's uh July 18th and July, let's see here, July 30th. Do you know the dates? Okay. And July 30th, both dates. Sunnyside will be invited to come out. Um, so the July July 18th Dang, I wish I knew the time, too. I think it's around noon. Might be 10.

Dang. We'll have to get an update on that one for you guys. But the Sunnyside neighborhood, please come out and start giving input of what you want to see inside of your park. What time is it? What time? July 18th is a Saturday. It's 9 to noon. Okay. July 30th is a Thursday. It's 5 to 8 at the park. Thank you for that update.

And the the what we need the Sunnyside community to do, what I what I would like to see the Sunnyside community to do is come out and let our parks department, let our city staff know exactly what you're looking for in that park. We um I desperately think that it's important that our community is the one that forms this park and um without your voices then other people get to make the decisions. So if you guys could show up from 9 to 12 on the 18th, Saturday, I'll be there I think.

Yes, I will be there. And on July 30th, um also at Ponderosa Park. Lastly, on our council break, I will be attending, you guys all know that I love riding motorcycles, so I wanted to invite some of my colleagues, those who are interested in an annual event. This is the second annual event from RevUp Unity, um, which is a nonprofit organization that welcomes all Northern Arizona motorcycle enthusiasts, all clubs, all independents, whoever wants to show up, show up.

um to a uh to Bunhuggers where we will be make it's called bikers and blognas and it's just a kind of a cute way to say that um you know we're going all motorcycle enthusiasts and those that are interested can show up at 8 a.m. at Bunh Huggers to make sandwiches and sack lunches for Flagstaff Shelter Service, the Crown restaurant. And there's um uh one other uh hotel that they they are running that we are going to show up to, but I'm not sure which one that one is. So um which one? The Lantern.

I think it is the Lantern. So um so we'll be when we see motorcycles on Saturday, July 25th, um between 8:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m. Um it's a great opportunity to get to know that community and to help out the community services and those who are unsheltered across the city. So on that date, when you see u motorcycle enthusiasts rumbling through your neighborhood, riding bar to bar with all their leathers on and everything, realize they're doing it for a good cause.

And uh you know, maybe uh come come around, hang out, take some pictures, and see what it's really about, how community building takes place amongst all organizations. And uh throughout my break, I want the community to know that I will still be available for meetings and you'll see me out in the community at all the different events. and I can't wait for our next council meeting because I'm going to miss you guys so much. Council member Alen, well, I'll see you tomorrow morning.

I was just going to say I don't have anything right now. I do want to wish everyone a wonderful break. Um, with the exception of tomorrow's uh intense meeting that's going to be in front of us. Um, you know, the conventional wisdom is that council needs a good break uh to to reset and refresh. Uh, I've always said that, um, the city of Flagstaff needs a break from council, and I think that's what's going to be the the best outcome of all this.

Um, looking forward to the summer, and I hope you all have a wonderful summer as well. Vice Mayor, uh, same for me. Have a great break. Thank you for all your hard work and I will miss you, but I'll be around. Don't worry, Council Member House. Thank you, Mayor. Just briefly, um I was able to attend last week on Friday the um back to Flagstaff banquet.

It's a every two years a a group of u members of the black community of Flagstaff that were born, raised, grew up here over many many generations um come back to Flagstaff and and gather to celebrate that history and heritage. Um so it was an honor to be able to join them on uh on that evening for that event.

Um I was also at the um uh steering committee meeting for the um uh healing center and am sharing um some information with uh Ammon Barker and and others from that team from um a recent uh SAMA notice of funding opportunity for various um recovery and behavioral health initiatives that um are being made available. It's multi-millions of dollars that are are being poured into communities um to advance different programming there.

So um we'll see if we're able to take advantage of of any of those opportunities. Um I think it would come primarily under the county because they have a department of health and human services, but um a lot of good opportunities there. So that's it for me. Thank you very much, Council Member Spence. Thank you. Um there are two two things that are related.

Um in the past there were four of us who attended the boys and excuse me the boys and girls club uh town hall and uh there were about 20 young people there who asked as asked us questions about uh government and uh public policy. In a similar vein, Cookanino Community College is planning for a student leadership academy uh this July um 27th through 30th and I've agreed to serve on a panel on Wednesday, July 29th.

and there the the dean of student development is looking for one other uh city council member to uh join me to be on a panel. There will be approximately 20 Cooko Community College students in this leadership academy. I think it's going to be a good opportunity to um uh cultivate uh students uh interest in in government and public policy. So, if anybody is willing to join me, it's uh Wednesday the 29th from 9:30 till 10:45 with a brunch to follow. Talk to me if you're interested. Sign me up.

All right. Um, I had a ride along with solid waste uh last week and also residential recycling. And these opportunities are um so beneficial to council members to learn the ins and outs of how things work and help us to communicate that to residents. if if we don't understand how things work, um it's difficult when we're having conversations with people out in the community. And um I just want to say that I'm grateful that there were two drivers who would who would allow me in their trucks.

And um it was actually my very first time at the landfill ever in my entire life. And it was a highlight. And um on flag uh on um July 14th, there is a basics of disability benefits event at the public library. It's from 6:00 to 7:30. They'll be going over um special needs trusts, social security benefits, and um so forth.

So, I'm going to be posting this to social media, but it sounds like a um really beneficial thing coming up and this has been shared um through both barrierfree flag staff and through the commission on inclusion and adaptive living. So, um I want to make sure that people know that that's coming up. And on our break, hopefully many of us can make it to the Downtown Matters Conference on July 16th and 17th where we'll um they've got some great keynote speakers.

I I believe that several staff members and several um council members are going to be there. Um and I'm looking forward to it. Our downtown is so extremely important to flag staff and um I'm looking forward to everything that I learn. city manager. U mayor and council, I just have a couple of updates. Um I think you've all mentioned that um we have um our last council meeting tomorrow. It's a special meeting starting at 9:00 a.m. and with an executive session and then at 10:00 a.m.

Um and that will be the last meeting before break. Our break is until August 24th. Um, however, there is a chance we will need to bring council back for um, canvasing the election and maybe um, other items. So, we'll keep in touch on that. Um, I wanted to just give um, a recognition to all of our team that's been working on the pocket fire. It's been um, while it's not within um, the city of Flagstaff, we've been um, part of that effort and partners in that effort.

Um, one of the biggest impacts that we've had to the city is that the um, temporary flight restriction that was put in place related to um, the air tanker operations that were happening uh, for the fire that it shut down um, many of our flights going in and out of the airport. And we got some good news uh, Sunday, but then had to make some more phone calls. Um but today our airport hopefully um resumed all the commercial operations.

So I just want to give a a thank you to Daniel Kelly, our emergency manager who has just been phenomenal in this effort. Um Brian Gaul, our airport director, um and all of our our our team, fire PD, um the manager's office, everybody, Sarah Langley, everybody who's been working these efforts. Um the mayor, I know you uh were out with the incident management team, also sat in some of the meetings related to the airport closure, and thank you for your leadership as well.

Um tomorrow, the Cookanino County Board of Supervisors will be considering a resolution related to the economic hardship that's been caused by the pocket fire. And in that resolution, they refer to the businesses in Oak Creek Canyon and then also um the closure of the airport. Um so we um will be bringing a letter for uh the mayor to sign to support that resolution and hopefully what that will do is it will help with um any kind of funding that may be available for businesses.

Um our team has been surveying businesses to see what the the actual impacts um may be. So, we'll we'll be working on that um hopefully in the next few days. Um with that, um staff is is very um happy for the break. As you know, we do continue to work and we get a lot of our our work during this time. But I hope you have all have a wonderful break. Thank you so very much. Thank you everyone. I will see you all tomorrow