Flagstaff Council Unanimously Backs $627M Budget and Dual Public Safety Ballot Measures After Seven-Month Citizen Review

Hello. Oh, I pulled up the wrong I pulled up the open spaces commission uh agenda and I don't think that that is what we're looking for here. All right. Today is Tuesday, June 16, 2026, and this is the city council's regular meeting. I am calling this to order and giving notice to the public and to members of the council.

that at this 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 we have roll call? Mayor Daget here. Vice Mayor here. Council member Alen here. Council member Garcia, I am present. Council member House, I'm here. Council member Matthews here. Council member Spence here.

Council member Spence, would you lead us in the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and the stands nation? Council member Garcia, would you do our mission statement? The Flagstaff City Council. Oh, I apologize. The mission of the flag city of Flagstaff is to protect and enhance the quality of life for all. 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 mountain sacred to indigenous peoples. We honor them, their legacies, their traditions, and their continued contributions. We celebrate their past, present, and future generations who will forever know this place as home. Thank you. Next up is open call to the public. And I see we have one um member of the public who would like to speak. Colleen Maring. Good afternoon, mayor, vice mayor, council. My name is Colleen Mering.

I'm the chief people officer at Northern Arizona Healthcare and really excited to be here um with news that's really important to the health and wellness and economic vitality of Flagstaff and our region. um two recent external validations confirming that the quality of care at our hospitals at Northern Arizona Healthcare, including here in Flagstaff at FMC, is um among the safest and highest quality in the state and the country.

The first is from an independent watchdog organization called Leaprog Group. They evaluate hospitals across the United States on their quality of care. I think there's something like 59 measures um uh preventing infections, helping ensure people don't fall and aren't injured um inside the hospital um uh outcomes um of patients who come in um predicted versus when they leave. They've just awarded FMC and our hospital in Cottonwood, Verie Valley Medical Center, um A grades for hospital safety.

So Verie has four A's in a row and FMC is now an official straighta A hospital having received seven A's in a row um based on our the quality of care we provide. We are so pleased to consistently be providing this level of care and work every day to not only keep our standards high but continue to improve them to serve our community and our visitors um and make sure that we provide the highest quality of care um in our region.

Um to that end uh um comparatively the Leap Frog Group graded 53 hospitals in the state of Arizona. Only 12 received A's including FMC and VVMC is two of those. The second validation I measured would be CMS hospital stars. That's the center for Medicare and Medicaid services. That's one of the most widely recognized national measures of hospital quality and patient outcomes.

It's a scale of one to five stars across mortality, safety of care, readmissions, patient experience, and timely and effective care. I'm very proud to say that FMC's maintained its four-star rating, and VVMC has improved from three stars to four stars. The national average is four stars. So, four um places uh us well above the norm nationally as well as in the state. The improvements important to us at BVMC.

Um, and it also gives us something to continue to aim for, maintaining that straight A status and ultimately one day achieving five-star status um, at FMC and BBMC. We're really proud of the staff that provides the care every day. Um, and again proud to be a part of our region's health and economic vitality, ensuring we have high quality healthcare. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Next up is proclamations and recognitions.

And we will do these in order on the agenda and when we read a proclamation that you are here for we'll ask you to come and join us on the deas. So the first is for Junth National Independence Day and the second is Flagstaff Robotics. Are we ready?

The city of Flagstaff office of mayor proclamation Junth whereas Junth also known as Junth National Independence Day, Jubilee Day, Freedom Day, and Emancipation Day recognizes the anniversary of the events of June 19th, 1865 when Union Major General Gordon Grur led some 2,000 Union troops into Galveastston Bay, Texas to read the order announced that the more than 250,000 enslaved persons in the state and in other states in rebellion against the United States were free to ex to were free by executive decree.

And whereas Junth is the oldest known public celebration of the end of slavery in the United States and celebrates and commemorates both the legacies of black liberation, endurance, and joy and the broader legacy of American freedom. And whereas Junth marks both the end of most black American enslavement and the start of an era of great hope, resilience, uncertainty, and continued struggles for those newly freed black persons in America.

With it comes the call to reflect, remember, and never repeat the historic dehuman dehumanizing impacts of slavery, segregation, racial violence, voter disenfranchisement, or the other historic and persistent examples of injustice witnessed through AfricanAmerican history.

And whereas collectively Junth reminds us of all the invaluable inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, as well as the precious promise of freedom, equity, and the opportunity core to so much of what our nation holds dear. And whereas we take up and extend the call to action to celebrate and ensure true freedom for all. Doing our part to collectively strike strive to close gaps of immeasurable distance between us.

Affirm the promise of the Declaration of Independence that all people have the right to li to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. reject acts of violence and expand opportunity to understand and learn from our frank yet compassionate challenging yet courageous conversations. Therefore, I, Council Member Garcia, on behalf of Mayor Becky Dagot, Mayor of the City of Flagstaff, Arizona, do hereby proclaim June 19th, 2026 as Junth National Independence Day. Okay. Miss Kim is insane.

And yes, there are more than two black people in this city. As a local um born and raised Flagstaff girl, um this is an honor. And so I am so grateful and thank you thankful to our um community and our council members and our mayor um for the support. I remember being a very young woman um not too long ago um and there being like small parades and people would like black folks that had come here to do like lumber work or work on the railroad.

They began these Junth celebrations kind of in their backyard. So people would gather and people would bring different foods and um cultural foods, fried fish and collard greens and yams or whatever they and so they got together and just to see um how it is growing and how so many other non-black folk are just embracing it or maybe not embracing it, but they're okay with it. I'm I'm good with that as well. Um it just makes me proud. It makes me feel um safe.

It makes me feel seen and um I appreciate you. That's all I got. Thank you, Crystal. Um and I I definitely want Crystal to speak as a daughter of Flagstaff, as a native, someone born in and raised here. I'm a transplant and uh being from the south, I'm used to Juneenth celebrations. So I am very proud of this city of marching boldly into history, unadulterated, nonwatered down history. So I thank the city of Flagstaff for doing that.

Whether you embrace it or embrace it, it's here and it's something that should be celebrated. The lack of oppression is good for everyone. You uplift the minority. You uplift everyone. And remember the Constitution is for everyone. Your culture is important. So with that, I want to invite everyone to our Junth celebration on Sunday, June 21st, noon to 5:00 at Heritage Square. And then there is also an OG Junth celebration on Friday. It's on Facebook.

I don't remember where uh where it is, but it's on Friday night. That's where the original people that put together Junth will be celebrating. And all of our celebrations are free and open to everyone. You uplift us. You uplift yourselves. Thank you so much. All right. If I can have all the robotics people join me, us down here. All right.

The members of the Flagstaff Co Coconino Coconuts, Flagstaff Christian School Warrior bots, Flagstaff Christian School Quantum Warriors have demonstrated exceptional dedication, ingenuity, and teamwork in the field of robotics. Through their partic participation in competitive robotics and STEM programming, these students have advanced the principles of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics within our community.

Their commitment to learning, problem solving, and collaboration reflects the very best of Flagstaff's spirit of innovation and curiosity. The teams have served as an inspiration to fellow students as ambassadors for STEM outreach, encouraging the next generation of young people to pursue education and careers in technology and engineering.

The achievements of the Cookanino Coconuts, Flagstaff Christian School Warrior Bots, and Flagstaff Christian School Quantum Warriors bring great pride and distinction to their families, their mentors, their coaches, and the entire Flagstaff community.

Now therefore, be it resolved that mayor and city council of the city of Flagstaff do hereby recognize and commend the Cookanino Coconuts, Flagstaff Christian School Warrior Bots, and the Flagstaff Christian School Quantum Warriors for their outstanding accomplishments in robotics and their valuable contributions to STEM outreach within the Flagstaff community and extend best wishes for their continued success. wants to hold them. CJ, are you speaking? Oh, that's great.

Hello, Vice Mayor, mayor, and city council. My name is Carter Perry of the Quantum Warriors at Flagstaff Christian School. And this year we won first place in the qualifier at Cookanino High School and made it to state where we won uh an international uh invitational to Atlanta, Georgia, where we faced 46 different teams in 20 other countries. Um, and we won the breakthrough award which shows how our impact on our uh community archaeologists and non-archchaeologists alike.

Um, and we wanted to thank uh Paul Rose from the city GIS department and uh for his support and feedback to our team. We also wanted to thank Tim Kenny for the office space uh that all of our uml teams and our FTC team used. Thank you. Good afternoon, mayor, council members, and members of the public. My name is Miles Pierce and I'm speaking on behalf of the First Tech Challenge team 26100, the Warrior Bots from Flagstaff Christian School.

And in recognition of the other First Tech Challenge robotics teams in our city, we've had an exciting and busy season since we visited council last summer. And I would like to give you an update of our activities this past year. As you may recall, last year we outlined the need shared by the First Tech Challenge teams in Flagstaff for a dedicated STEM workspace in which we could hold practices and share resources for First Tech Challenge teams in our city.

Thanks to that presentation before council, we were able to hold a joint event with three other FirstTech Challenge teams from our area at the Moonshot campus in September, which was also made possible through generous sponsorship from Choose Flagstaff. Awareness of our need from uh on the part of City of Flagstaff employees made possible an opportunity for practice space at an unused commercial property thanks to the generous support of Genta and Kenny Construction.

Our team also joined an initiative started by the basis Flagstaff Tech Challenge team to form a robotics alliance in which members worked to share resources and efforts in order to benefit everyone. That alliance resulted in additional scrimmage opportunities for our area teams.

At the end of the regular season in January, all three of our Flagstaff teams, which included those from Flagstaff Christian School, Basis Charter School, and Sonawa Middle School, advanced to the Arizona State Championship held at Northern Arizona University. At this competition, the Warrior Bots took first place by winning both aspects of the competition. Our team was one of the three teams in the state that advanced to the world comp or championship held in Houston, Texas at the end of April.

We were honored to represent Flagstaff amongst the top 338 teams hailing from 27 countries at the event. We are very excited to carry forward the momentum from this past year into the upcoming 2026 2027 First Tech Challenge season. We hope to see the number of teams in our city grow and more students gain access to the exciting STEM opportunities provided by competing in robotics events. The need for dedic for a dedicated space for teams such as our our team remains a challenge.

We are excited about the recent groundbreaking of the upcoming Joel Montalvo STEM Center. The Warriorbots stand ready and willing to support the city of Flagstaff's efforts to provide STEM opportunities for students through the center and would like to offer the sharing of ideas and volunteer time. To that end, thank you for your time and recognition.

Hello, we are uh the coconuts from Cookanino High School robotics team and recently we have gone to the world championship in Houston and there we competed against uh 76 teams in our division and yeah Hello, my name is Kaylee Turtise and um we are the coconuts. Um we are a hall of fame team which is where we win something called the impact award. It is the highly most highest um honor a robotics team can get um in the first world.

Um which is where our impact that we had made is that we created a program called Resotics. um here we were able to start about 18 to 19 um FTC teams on the reservation and it was a huge honor because we were able to bring STEM and educa STEM and technology to the reservation especially to um our indigenous children to understand that they have a brighter future in STEM. Hello, my name is Haley Lumen and I am from coconuts team 2486.

So the mission of the coconuts was to bring STEM education to the lack and rural Arizona of the Navajo Nation. We were able to make it its own division its second year and this it going on its third year. We have 18 teams in total. We do outreach events that go all over the reservation.

some in Winder Rock and then we do one locally near the reservation so it's easier to get access on the reservation because many kids in the reservation don't have what I would say like they don't have the creativity to build things because they are discriminated against and so what we do is we want to like bring STEM to them so that they are able to have a bigger and brighter future and they can see themselves in better Thank you all. Thank you. Great job.

Next up we have council liaison reports. Uh, Council Member Spence. Thank you, Mayor. I have nothing to report today in part because uh the pedestrian advisory committee is meeting every other month alternating with the bicycle advisory committee. These are two committees that advise the transportation commission on bicycle and pedestrian interests. So, um, I'll have a full report in a month. Thank you, Council Member House. Nothing this evening. Thank you, Mayor.

Vice Mayor, there's a water commission meeting um this Thursday at 4:00 here in council chambers. Council member Alen, no leaison reports this week. Uh, just wanted to mention you may see my seat empty at some point this evening. That just means I've gotten up to walk around and get some blood flowing in my legs. Um, but I'll still be paying attention to whatever presentation's going on. Council member Garcia. Thank you.

I'm happy to report that this month at the parks and recreation commission um meeting uh we all went on a field trip to Hal Jensen Recreation Center to see firsthand what the commission's work has done for this community center located in the Sunnyside neighborhood. We toured the temp we t toured the temporary community garden space which is thriving with new budding herbs, fruits, vegetables, and flowers. Y'all should check it out.

We checked out the new and improved computer and gaming room where the city of Flagstaff has invested in top quality computer equipment and it was cool to see all the folks of all ages in the computer room building, expanding and perfecting their grasp on modern technology. Then we had the chance to literally cool down in the new HVAC system with the new HVAC system in the uh gymnasium where the basketball courts are housed.

As a lifelong Eastsider myself, I remember many hot sweltering and dry summer days playing dodgeball and basketball and handball drenched with sweat in that gymnasium. So I am very grateful for this improvement. Now folks can play ball year round safely. Uh for those community members that are less familiar with the Hal Jensen Recreation Center located right next to Cookanino High School, please stop in. You will not be disappointed.

They have a complete weight room and fitness center for the low low cost of $6.50 per month with all the latest equipment and more free weights than I see at my um other gym that I pay for. Raetball, tennis, playground, indoor and outdoor basketball, state-of-the-art computer room, air hockey, a full locker room, and many other games and opportunities are housed there. Please feel free to drop in. They are opened Monday through Friday, 10:00 a.m. through 6:00 p.m.

And speaking of Sunnyside and Parks and Recreation, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the Ponderosa Park spruce Wash flood mitigation pro improvements are complete. And now it's time for the neighborhood to team up with the city and design a new park amenities. As park and recck staff have um uh pressed, this process will be led by or have um have professed that this process will be led by the Sunnyside neighborhood itself and the community.

Um, so listening dates in July are u getting worked on now and there will be some finalization to those dates and I'll be reporting those dates in the very near future. We are very excited that uh this amenity is coming back to the sunny side, but we're going to need the community's help. That's it for today. Council member Matthews. Thank you, Mayor.

I'll keep it short because we have a long agenda, but I did want to highlight that uh last week was uh Mariah Zavala, our co-chair of the Indigenous Commission's last uh meeting with us. She'll be moving back down to Tucson at the end of the month. So, I just wanted to say publicly how much I've appreciated her hard work and her enthusiasm on the on the commission as well as other activities in the city. Thank you.

The Flagstaff Housing Authority meets this Thursday at 9 and then the Commission on Inclusion and Adaptive Living meets next Wednesday at 11:00 and the first one is always online and the Commission on Inclusion and Adaptive Living meets in the room right next to us. So, moving down to the consent agenda.

All matters under the consent agenda are considered by the city council to be routine unless a member of the city council expresses a desire to remove an item from the consent agenda for discussion. The consent agenda will be enacted by one motion approving the recommendations listed on the agenda. Unless otherwise indicated, expenditures approved by council are budgeted items. Now, we have two. I believe council member Spence wants to pull one item and we are also going to pull.

Let's Which one was it, Kevin? Um item I which is why it goes to H. Okay. So item I is the is the consideration and approval of a an agreement with C bar n C bar 19 for the city's proportional share of the construction cost on Kittyhawk Lane but the two sides need to work out some additional details and it will be coming back on a future agenda July 7th. Correct? That's correct. All right. Thank you. So, Council Member Spence, which item did you want to pull and discuss? Thank you, Mayor.

I would like to pull 7G as in Gopher about the purchase of five patrol vehicles. Okay. So, let's go ahead and vote on the consent agenda items A, B, C, D, E, F, and H. I'm looking for a motion to approve. So moved. I'll second. Any discussion? All those in favor? I I. Any opposed? All right. Council member Spence. Thank you. Um, my reason for asking this to be pulled from the consent agenda is because of the importance in my view of our council priority for carbon neutrality by 2030.

and the um purchase of five uh patrol vehicles that are hybrid. A gasoline electric hybrid is certainly commendable, but it falls short of the uh fully electric patrol vehicles that have proven themselves in other communities to be effective uh cost-effective as well as uh effective law enforcement vehicles um in other communities. I appreciate that there is a need to establish rapid charging so that a vehicle can be turned over in an hour's time from one shift to the next.

I um would like to ask by way of clarification what is the schedule of purchasing vehicles for us to buy five this year? Uh, do we buy five more next year? Where do we stand on the routine replacement of vehicles when they're aging out of their useful life? Good evening, Mayor and Council Member Spence. Uh, my name is Jennifer Brown. I'm the uh, director for public works on fleet and facilities. Um, so let me give you a little background.

Um, we are obviously actively looking at electric vehicles. Um to be quite honest with you, the police department is always going to kind of take the back seat. So any other vehicles that we replace is going to be we're always going to be looking at the electric vehicles um as those as a first option. And we make sure that the um departments are going to be able to continue their operations with electric vehicle. If it's not then we go to the hybrid and we move down to the ice vehicles. Correct?

Right. Um but in saying so I also want to assure you that we are constantly looking at solutions for the police department. Um so one of the things that we have done is I've worked with a couple of the OEM so the manufacturers to bring in some vehicles so that we can test them. Um so we are working with the police department. We've done um a day I I went on a ride along with the law enforcement officer in an electric vehicle. Um that was a really fun day.

But uh you know so it performed really well and we need to make sure that that vehicle is going to meet the needs of the police department that they're going to be able to have the equipment that they need that they're going to be able to um go out into rural areas if they need to and then also that there's going to be availability. So that's where the charging part comes in. So I so fleet is working closely with the police department but we're also working closely with sustainability.

And where sustainability comes in is we are making sure that we have the proper infrastructure. So the infrastructure at the police department, they currently have four chargers there. Um it is obviously not enough but we need to make sure that we have the the adequate infrastructure there. So they are working well we are kind of working together um to make sure that we can get um the infrastructure there. One good step that we have made is we've worked with Cookanino County.

um they actually own the land at the police department. So, the LEAF facility, they own that. We've already gotten the approval to go ahead and add the infrastructure. We're just working on funding and making sure that we have the right solution. Um we need to make sure that we don't move fast on the police department um because I want to make sure that I'm setting up the fleet, police department, and sustain sustainability up for success.

If if I may ask the the four CH chargers uh that you do have now, are they level two or level three? Level one. Level one. So it takes if a if a vehic police vehicle is down to below 50% on its uh propulsion battery, it's going to take 6 to 8 hours to recharge. That is correct. And my goal is to make sure that the police department and the police officers, if there's an incident or there's extra people that are getting called, I need to make sure that they have a vehicle to operate.

And have you um as as I understand it, a level three charging station such as uh when you pull into a Tesla or an EV America, um you have a rapid charging opportunity. a level three fast charger could put in um a 50% charge in under an hour. Uh do you have have you been able to get an estimate of the installation charge for a level three char or one or more level three chargers at the uh current police uh station? We have not.

We've looked at the level two and um that it's it's an approximate estimate, so don't quote me on it, but it's going to be roughly around $55 to $60,000 for just one charger for for one level three. Yes. Not level two. Okay. And can you give us here on the council an idea um of the number of vehicles that need to be replaced each year? If we're replacing five uh vehicles, buying five hybrids this year, how many are we going to buy next year? We're going to buy five.

And um and so so how that works, it it works on a matrix schedule and it depends on how many miles they have, how many the age of the vehicle. Um sometimes it's because a vehicle has um been involved in a collision and has since been totaled. So we'll kind of push that in and um keep the other one in for longer. Uh but it does have to go through the fleet management committee to get approved. It does go through sustainability.

Sustainability looks at it and then the fleet management committee approves that and then we go to the budget team for approval as well. So there's a there's there's quite of an intense process for it. Thank you. I appreciate that background. No problem. Thank you. Mayor, I would like to move to approve 7G to purchase uh five Ford police interceptor or utility hybrid patrol vehicles from Peoria Ford 2 uh 49,936.80 including all applicable taxes. I'll second. Any discussion? All those in favor?

I I. Any opposed? All right. Thank you, Jen. Now, we're moving down to routine items. First up is consideration and adoption of ordinance number 2026-12. Hello. Good evening, Mayor and Council. Um, Bethan Hang, senior planner. Um, the applicant, Alex, and I are here for any questions for the second read for this project. Council, do you have any questions? All right. Then I'm looking for a motion to read the ordinance for the final time.

I move that we read ordinance number 2026-12 by title only for the final time. Second. Any discussion? All those in favor? I. City clerk.

An ordinance of the city council of the city of Flagstaff amending the Flagstaff zoning map to reszone approximately 18.2 2 acres of real property generally located at 6500 East Route 66 APN13-07-00003S to modify the conditions of the previous reszone of this real property to incorporate a new site plan and allow a concrete batch plant providing for severability authority for clerical corrections and establishing an effective date. I move that we adopt ordinance number 2026-12. I'll second.

Any discussion? All those in favor? I. Any opposed? All right. Moving down to nine. Public hearing. I am opening the public hearing for the fiscal year 2026 27 budget, the property tax levy and truth in taxation. and we will have a presentation slashz. Thank you, mayor. Good. Good afternoon, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Council. Heidi Dairberry, the city's budget director.

My presentation this afternoon will cover agenda items 9A, 10A, and 11A, which are all related to the adoption of the city's fisc year 27 budget, as well as property taxes. Two weeks ago on June 2nd, we were here and we had the pleasure of adopting the tenative budget adoption. This evening, the process we will begin with is a public hearing related to the budget, tax levy, and truth and taxation. This will be followed by a special meeting for the final budget adoption via resolution.

And then finally, we will continue with the first read of the property tax ordinance to set the property tax rates. Then on July 7th, we will be back for the second read and adoption of the property property tax ordinance. As you may recall from two weeks ago, I shared the legal schedule A or total budget for fiscal year 2027 included on this slide. For 27, the budget is approximately $627 million. This is an increase of $104 million or 20% over the prior year's budget.

Much of this increase, as stated previously, is related to capital projects prim primarily in the transportation funds, capital project funds, and water service funds. The city's budget is broken down into five major fund types, which includes the general fund, special revenue funds, debt service funds, capital project funds, and enterprise funds. General fund makes up 122 million or approximately 19% of the total budget.

Special revenue funds such as HERF, Transportation, and BBB make up an additional 215 million or 34% of total budget. Debt service funds such as general obligation bond funds and pension debt service make up 22 million or only 4% of the total budget. Capital project funds such as Prop 441, 442, and the downtown mile projects as well as others make up 69 million or approximately 11% of fiscal year 27 budget.

And finally, our enterprise funds such as water services, solid waste, airport, and SEMS make up an additional 200 million or 32% of the total budget presented this evening. As I mentioned in the previous slide, much of this increase over prior year is related to our capital outlay. The 348 million in capital outlay includes operating capital such as fleet purchases as well as our capital improvement program. The year-over-year increase of 90 million or 35%.

Major projects planned in the coming year include projects such as John Wesley Powell, Lone Tree Overpass, Downtown Mile, Lake Mary said Basins, Rio solid treatments as well as many more. The remaining increase is mainly due to operations which increased 12.9 million or 5.7% over the prior year. Operating increases again include things such as pay for performance and merits, benefit increases, and other operating needs.

Many of the operational increases included in this year's budget are the result of recent rate increases approved by council or the community, such as the parking the parking rate increases for downtown enhancements as well as operating needs for water services. Additionally, a number of operating grants are included in the operating increase.

So, next I just like would take would like to take a minute to talk about um the proposed primary property tax shift as part of the city manager's recommended budget for 2027. C staff presented to council in April a recommendation of shifting 0.0400 from our secondary property tax rate to our primary property tax rate. After receiving council's direction, the budget presented this evening includes this shift, which results in a primary property tax levy increase of approximately $537,000.

This entire increase, including new construction, has been designated to support fire and police operations as part of this budget. The rate shift results in a decrease in the secondary property tax rate from 0.800 800 0 to 760 0 and an increase in the primary property tax rate from 0.5807 to 620 6207. Included in the city's budget are the proposed primary and secondary property taxes. Based on council's direction, the proposed primary tax levy is increasing over the prior year.

The total proposed primary property tax levy is approximately 7.8 million. This levy includes new construction of approximately 34,000 and 503,000 resulting from the property tax rate shift mentioned on the previous slide. part of primary property taxes. The assessed values did increase an average of 4.1% over the prior year. The proposed rates before you this evening will be 6207 per$100 in assessed value, which is a rate increase of 0162 over the prior year rate of6045.

The levy is $581,939 below the actual maximum allowable rate levy, excuse me, by state stat allowed by state statute. The primary property taxes are unrestricted are and are included in the general fund. As mentioned, however, all of the property tax increase related to new construction as well as the property tax rate shift are designated for police and fire operations in the new year.

As for the proposed secondary property tax, this levy is based on the reduced rate from 0.800 to 760 per $100 in assessed value and will be approximately $9.6 million. This is actually a 6% decrease over the prior year's levy. Per state statute, this levy cannot exceed the general estimated general obligation debt service payments which are required for fiscal year 2027.

I would just like to briefly talk about our property tax rate increase and the impacts um that you'll see with um the property tax rate shift. So this provide this slide provides a five-year history of our primary as well as secondary property tax rates. As you can see in this chart, even with the proposed tax rate shift, the overall property tax rate has continued to decrease year-over-year.

For fiscal year 2027, the maximum allowable rate for primary property tax is 6670 per $100 in assessed value. And the proposed rate this evening is 6207, which includes the 04000 tax rate shift as mentioned. Year-over-year, the city's primary property or excuse me, property assessed values continue to increase. The city's limited net assessed value increased 4.6% over the prior year, which includes new construction of $5.9 million, and the full cash value increased 2.2%.

The county assessor's office determines these values which are based on valuations complete in late 2024 for tax year 2026. Per state statute, limited assessed value is used to calculate primary and secondary property tax and is limited to a 5% increase year-over-year. I would like to just take a minute to show an example of the impacts of the proposed primary property tax um as well as secondary property tax.

So, how does the primary property tax rates and our and secondary rates impact our community property taxpayers? For residential customers or taxpayers, a property with an assessed value of a h 100,000 and assuming no increase to the assessed valuation from the prior year would see an overall decrease of approximately $2.38. However, as I just mentioned, we do have um usually an increase to our assess value.

So, I'd like to just share an example um that's a little bit I think easier to understand. Based on the proposed pro tax rates, the average impact to a residential customer with a property assessed at approximately $350,000 is approximately $15 per year. This example does include the allowable 5% growth in assessed values for commercial taxpayers.

A property with an assessed value of a million dollars and again assuming no increase to the assessed valuation from the prior year would expect to see an overall decrease of $17.11. Based on the proposed tax tax rates, the average income impact to a commercial customer with approximately 1.05 05 million in assessed valuation is approximately flat compared to the prior year which does include the 5% growth in assessed value calculation.

This is due to a change in the assessment ratio from 16% down to five 15.5. That is all I have this evening for a presentation and I'm available for any questions. Council questions. I have a question um really to to illustrate something because I think that um the public has the sense that that um we collect a ton in property taxes and property taxes go into the general fund. Primary property taxes. primary property taxes. The general fund makes up 19% of our budget.

Do you know offhand the percentage of the general fund which is um primary property tax of the total general fund revenues? I'm looking to Rick to see if he has. It's It's really unfair of me to ask a question like that without giving you a heads up. Heidi, is it 5.4%. I don't know off the top of my head. I asked the same question to get Rick on the spot. I asked that question last week and I was told 5.4%. All right. and and the dollar figure of that. Okay. 7.8 million is the proposed Okay.

7.8 million of the city's entire budget, revenue budget. Yes. Uh general fund budget comes from property tax out of a out of an overall um 600 million um budget. Okay. I just wanted to I just wanted to point that out because I I think that there is a misunderstanding that um property taxes are making up the bulk of um of revenue that the city brings in.

And mayor, just to kind of on that, um and I just want to say thank you to the to Heidi, the budget director, Rick, um the budget section, and all the team that worked on on the budget. Um but that the primary the property tax shift that was talked about. So um that that brought in about 550,000 dollars for the city of Flagstaff. So that's not a lot of revenue. Thank you, Council Member Matthews. Thank you, Mayor. Um so this gets approved tonight. Then when does this go into effect? In August.

In August. Yes. And so I don't know the timing, but I and and maybe I need to do a fair item later, but because you know this whole conversation has came up to help us fund the future needs and the the gaps that we have in in public safety.

Um, I would like to have a discussion about making it a policy that this additional money is going into uh the general fund is um I know we can't make it a a permanent change um but some type of policy that is recognized that it goes towards our public safety. I know it is now but future council. Yeah. Thank you, Heidi. And um you handled you and Rick both handled my question very gracefully. Thank you.

And just can I just jump in um Council Member Matthews to address your question that will be done as part of the budget process. So um and I appreciate you bringing that up. Okay. Do we have um so there are no additional questions from council. Do we have a um any public comment? All right. So, I'm going to close the public hearing and convene a special meeting. And I'm looking for a motion. No. Yes. I'm looking for a motion on 10A.

Mayor, I'd like to move that we read resolution number 2026-32 by title only. I'll second. Any discussion? All those in favor? I. Any opp Oh, was this the one that we wanted the roll call vote? Okay. Um, all those in favor? Wait a minute. No one in Okay, we got it. All right. All right. I'm I'm messing myself up here. Okay. So now I am leaving the special. No, I don't think you got a I don't think you got a vote there. Mayor, you you got to say all those in favor one more time. Thank you.

You're welcome. All those in favor? I I. Any opposed? Okay. Thank you. And now I am down to item. Mayor, we have to read. I always forget that, don't I? You forget me over clerk. You have a part in this. A resolution of the council of the city of Flagstaff, Arizona, adopting the budget for the city of Flagstaff for fiscal year 2026-27. Mayor, I move to adopt resolution 2026-32. Second. Any discussion? All those in favor? I. Any opposed? All right.

Now, I'm reconvening the regular meeting and we are moving down to item 11A, consideration and approval of the primary property tax levy. But I I need to close the public hearing. You already closed the public hearing earlier. Oh, okay. All right. So, council, I'm looking for a motion to read the resolution by title only. Oops. Nope. I am down to at this meeting.

We're going to go roll call vote to approve the proposed increase in the prop primary property taxes by roll call vote as required by truth and taxation legislation. Madame Mayor, I move to read ordinance number 2026-13. We have to do the roll call vote first. So the the clerk will do the roll call vote. So, the way that it's listed on here, we're looking for a motion to approve the primary property tax levy of 7,81,497 in fiscal year 2026-27 by roll call vote.

Madame Mayor, I um move to approve the primary property tax levy of 7,81,497 in FY2026-27 by roll call vote and a second. I'll second. Any discussion? All right. All those in favor by roll call and I will start. I can start anywhere. I'll I'll run the roll call. Let's go. Great. Council member Garcia. Yes. Council member House. Yes. Council member Alen. Hi. Council member Spence. Yes. Mayor Dagot. I. Council member Matthews. Yes. Vice Mayor Sweet. I All right.

Thank you for your patience, everyone. Now, I need a motion to read ordinance 2026-13 for the first time. Mayor, I'd like to move that we read ordinance number 2026-13 by title only for the first 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, 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. Thank you. And at the July at the July 7th meeting, we are going to read the ordinance by title only for the final time. Thank you. Okay. And we're down to 11B, consideration and adoption of resolution number 2026-30. Good afternoon, Mayor and Council. My name is Jessica Vigorito.

I'm the fire administration manager for the Flagstaff Fire Department. I stand before you today proposing an IGA between Cookanino County and the city of Flagstaff for fire and EMS services to the area of Fort Tutill. We offer um many of these contracts and agreements to areas either within city limits but are within county islands or they may fall right outside of city limits but they're within the fire department's response area. We originally had an agreement with Fort Tutill in 2012.

That agreement did pause in 2019 and since then we have re-engaged in the conversation for to continue picking up those services. The area of Fort Tutill comprises of three parcels and um that rate will be $22,47126. That rate does increase by 2% each year. We currently have a five-year agreement proposed with an option for a five-year extension option should both parties agree. And I am available for any questions. That's all I have for you. Council member Matthews. Thank you, Mayor.

Um, just for clarification, is this like does do we send out a team when there's an event out at Fort Tutill? No. Uh, thank you, Council Member Matthews, for the question. This is for EMS and fire response only. So when 911 is called through through the dispatch center, they still have all of their um uh events staffed with the appropriate security separately. Okay. Um and is this it seemed really low. Is this a market rate that normally covers three parcels for a year?

Yes, we determine the rate by the city ordinance which is based on the primary assessed value for the property. Um the three three parcels in that area. Um and that's the rate we use to to determine we do add an 18% multiplier um to ensure that we're recouping the cost to provide that service to that area. Okay. Thank you. Yeah. Other questions or comments? All right. So, I am looking for a motion. Mayor, I move to read resolution number 2026-30 by title only. I'll second.

We got all confused with the roll call stuff up here. Um, is there a second? I'll second. Any discussion? All those in favor? I I I. Any opposed? City clerk. A resolution of the Flagstaff City Council approving an intergovernmental agreement between Cookanino County and the city of Flagstaff on behalf of the Flagstaff Fire Department for Fire Service. And a motion to adopt. Mayor, I I move that we adopt resolution 2026-30. I'll second. Any discussion? Others in favor? I I Any opposed? All right.

Thank you, Jessica. Thank you. Next up, we have consideration and adoption of resolution number 2026-33 regarding West Route 66 in Woody Mountain Road. Good afternoon, mayor, vice mayor, council members. Dave Nixon with Capital Improvements and I'm here tonight to uh present on the West Route 6 route 66 Woody Mountain traffic signal and specifically the AOTIG that is associated with it. brief history on uh council activity uh that we've had already on this project.

On uh last October of 25, we accepted the funding from AOT in the amount of 1.9 million. And February of this year, we uh approved a contract, council approved a contract with our signal contractor, CS Construction. And this specific resolution request is for the ADA uh or the IGA for ADOT rather uh for design, procurement, construction, inspection and operation and maintenance of the new signal. And I'm also taking the opportunity to sneak in a quick progress uh report on the on the project.

So um as of today, we've got all the polls stood and we're running the signal heads and uh CS is uh by the end of the week we're going to have uh we won't be operational. We'll still have the signals bagged, but we'll have all the um all the aerial work done. And it's uh coming along very nice. So, um, couple shots here of that. And again, on the project schedule, uh, our target is the end of June. And at this point, we're definitely going to be there with our construction crew.

And we have we're at the mercy of APS, who we've been partnering with uh, all along. And right now, we're on the schedule for the 29th, which is a Monday, for them to get us lit up. So, fingers crossed. Yeah. Uh, are there any questions uh that I can uh entertain this uh this afternoon? There certainly are. Council member Spence. Thank you, Mayor. Um, thank you for that photographic evidence of the polls having arrived, and I appreciate that those had to be special ordered.

My hope is that those expensive bowls can be utilized when the eventual Route 66 improvements are done and the and there's a finalized design of the intersection. Can those poles be utilized uh in the ultimate construction? That is a uh thank you for the question uh council member Spence. the, you know, as a as the builder and the constructor, it's already on my mind of like, I just can't imagine pulling these out. They got 22 foot deep foundations.

They're pretty and they're, you know, it's temporary, but they're they're very it's a solid construction. So, I'm certainly, you know, at this time I can't give you a great answer or even one that is concrete, but you know, I'm sure hoping that it either somehow they could get repurposed or be reused, but it's just too far in the future for me to speak with any kind of intelligence. Thank you. I I I just appreciate your taking the comment and the hope uh into consideration. Absolutely.

My pleasure. Any other questions? Council member Matthews. Um, you kind of touched on a little bit um in the future and you know we still have people you know questioning um improvements in that corridor but what is your guesstimation nothing to hold you to before we have a temp or a permanent fix and solution for that corridor decade five years. Yeah, you know, that's uh uh thank you for the question, council member.

I know that we have we're starting to program the numbers and we're starting to see them, I think, on the budget that was just approved. The project's now on paper, which to me is like a reasonable first step that we're putting some monies toward it. So um a 30% feasibility or design uh would would help us to get you know I'm thinking if we can get to that level in a year or two then we could start getting the comment and start getting the pieces together.

So I don't know if that answers it uh answers your question. Uh I would hope that we would be less than 10 years but it's it's really hard to say. Thank you for that. And that's kind of what I guesstimated, but it's important when people say, "Why are you wasting money on temporary lights?" But when you're talking a decade from now, um it's a great solution for us to do in a temporary basis. So, thank you. Yeah, the word temporary is kind of tricky, right? It's not on wheels.

It's not going anywhere, but it's temporary in a sense that grander plans are, you know, being programmed. So, yeah. Council, any additional questions or comments? Okay. Uh, seeing none, Council Member Matthews. Thank you, Mayor. It's with great pleasure not only to read this um but to also know that we're finally going to be done by the end of June. Knock on wood. Mayor, I'd like to move that we read resolution number 2026-33 by title only. Second the motion. Any discussion? All those in favor?

I I opposed. All right. City clerk. A resolution of the Flagstaff City Council approving an intergovernmental agreement between the state of Arizona and the city of Flagstaff for the operation and maintenance of a traffic signal at the intersection of Woody Mountain Road and US Route 66. Mayor, I move that we adopt resolution number 2026-33. I'll second that motion. Any discussion? All those in favor? I. Any opposed? All right. Thank you, Mayor.

Can I just before we leave this item, um I did just want to um just make a quick statement that we do still have some funds that are available um of those AOT funds that were transferred to the city and the plan is to bring that back to council. Um and I think one of the thought is to potentially use it for this um design process that that David uh discussed. So, excellent. And that's a a process that um that A DOT and the city and Metro plan will jointly be um Great. Correct. Thank you. Great.

Thank you. All right. Item D, consideration and adoption of resolution number 2026-35. Let's instead move down to E. Consideration and approval of Oh, wait. Was I correct? Oh, we do have two items. Sorry about that. We do have two items on um Oh, this is Fort Valley. Be here now. D. Consideration and adoption of resolution number 2026-35. Good afternoon, mayor and council. My name is Ben Margar. I'm a project manager with capital improvements in the city engineering division.

Uh today I would like to uh uh request your approval to enter into an IGA with ADOT for preliminary design scoping on Fort Valley Road stretching from Navajo Road to Serest Elementary School. Uh the location is uh just north of where we're at now in town hall, sort of center of uh Flagstaff, going a bit northwest uh of Humphre and Fort Valley Road. Uh it's approximately a 1.1 mile stretch of Fort Valley. So the intent is to enter into an IG for uh with ADOT for preliminary scoping design.

Uh that would include uh uh essentially sidewalk improvements as well as roadway widening. Do you have any questions for me, council? Do you have any questions? I'd just like to note that um Metro Plan and the city um city of Flagstaff have been advocating to keep this particular project on AOT's priority list and um it's going to take some extra work to keep it there, but it's good that we're um entering into an IG so we can start some scoping Yes agreed.

It this is a this is a top priority for um I think all of us and probably one of the corridors that we get the most complaints about um safety wise. So, I'm looking forward to this. Is there a motion to read the resolution? Madame Mayor, I motion to read resolution 2026-35 by title only. I'll second. Any discussion? All those in favor? I.

City clerk, a resolution of the Flagstaff City Council approving an intergovernmental agreement between the state of Arizona and the city of Flagstaff for preliminarily for preliminary design scoping for Fort Valley Road. And a motion to adopt. I move that we adopt resolution number 2026-35. A second. Any discussion? All those in favor? I I. Any opposed? All right. Thank you. Thank you. Next up, consideration and approval of contract for renewable energy credits.

Good afternoon, Mayor and Council. Nicole Antonopoulos, sustainability director. I'm thrilled to be here this afternoon bringing a proposal forward for council's consideration to purchase renewable energy credits from the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority. Um, this would be a shift away from our previous contract with APS and would have the potential to yield over $20,000 worth of savings.

This purchase would allow the city to continue on its commitments for offsetting our electric use here in municipal operations. That was first identified by the council back in 2017. and we're proud of the past relationship with APS and those purchase of renewable energy credits. As we discussed last April, it is my responsibility to look for the most coste effective opportunities for the city as well as developing new working relationships with our tribal neighbors.

So, I am here to answer any questions and of course we have Anthony who you met last April um to answer any questions. Thank you, Nicole. Council, are there any questions or comments? All right, then I'm looking for a motion to approve the agreement. I move to approve the agreement for purchase of renewable energy tax credits with the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority for up to 5 years and authorize the city manager to execute the contract. I'll second. And um one qu No, no, that's good.

One question. He said tax credits. Do we need to purchase of renewable energy credits? Does that Yeah, we can you can correct that. It's not tax credits. It's just renewable energy credits. Okay. So, we have a motion for purchase of renewable energy credits and we have a second. Is there any discussion? All those in favor? I I. Any opposed? All right. Next up. Thank you. Thank you. We have consideration and adoption of resolution number 2026-38 and ordinance number 2026-17. Okay.

Good afternoon, uh, mayor, vice mayor, members of council. I'm Ryan Saxby, your HR and risk management director, and I'm here today to, uh, talk about some proposed policy changes to both, uh, code and the employee handbook. Um, this these changes are related to the employee advisory council. So, the EAC is what we call it. That is a representative group of employees across the city.

uh representing the divisions here in the city uh who make recommendations to leadership, city manager's office, myself on work conditions, uh policies, etc. And they have their own policy um that mayor and council um approves and it it it actually exists in two locations. And so this is kind of a a storied history and I'm I was curious when I got here why it was uh why it existed verbatim in both code and in the employee handbook.

Uh my understanding is at one point the employee handbook used to be a literal PDF or a file and so to make it accessible to employees in a single location. Uh the code was copied and mirrored over into the handbook and has now been part of uh whenever we make amendments this body's uh requirement to make amendments to both locations. Um so I'm looking to partially along with EAC to clean this up.

uh we now use code publishing uh which is an online repository of our charter, our code and our employee handbook and it's all found on the same page. And so if you review the documents on the agenda item uh under staff summary, you'll see that um we're making change to the code and then the handbook will have a link to the code, a hyperlink that will take you right to that language.

So, if you had questions on the uh on why there's there's two sections uh city code chapter 1-14106 uh and the employee handbook article 1-10-070. It's because that language is um in both locations. Um so the EAC meets about every two weeks to discuss those items as I mentioned. um they came forward in one of their meetings and they had asked for a review uh requesting that the term limits uh for members be increased from uh two years to three years.

um no great concern from the EAC itself nor myself. And so we started down a track of reviewing the policy um taking this opportunity to make additional changes that might be necessary to modernize how the words uh read in code and in the handbook here. Um if you again if you read through the documents the the changes appear significant but I can summarize them here on this single slide. They really aren't terribly significant.

Uh the first is um the EAC for each each division depending on the number of employees within that division has has representatives. So the larger divisions have three members. We'll say the medium divisions have two and the smaller divisions have one. Um within that there's a regular member elected and an alternate member elected.

that alter alternate member essentially play uh serves as proxy for the regular member in order to meet quorum in the event the regular members unable to attend attend a meeting. Um what we what we're proposing here is within the definitions is in the event of a a long-term or permanent vacancy in the regular member um position that the alternate member would just assume that role. They go through the same election process um as the regular member. they're just effectively the runner up.

Um so they would assume that role and the and the remainder of that term. Um right now the policy reads uh defines each division. We it's called groups within this policy. Um and the policy is not very nimble. So recently uh community development split and became two separate divisions, housing and planning and development services. And then now we're stuck with a policy doesn't that does not reflect that. Um and so we're cleaning taking this opportunity to clean that up.

Um assume that it's by division and then every year my team we run the elections. We'll review the division and organizational structure. Um and then you know we we do a count of numbers to determine how many representatives each division gets and then we can continue to move forward uh with with through elections for the EAC members uh without having to like for example stick planning and um housing together forever because that's what the policy says.

Um as mentioned previously uh the change from two to three years for member terms uh we got that written in here at EAC's request. Additionally, and all these requests, I'll I'll talk about the process. We went for review in a moment. Um, but they they elect two co-chairs. Well, that's redundant. They elect co-chairs um to serve and lead the EAC.

Um, as it currently reads, there's the potential and the re the reality that their regular term as a regular member cannot doesn't align with their co-chair term. So, we're using language to align that that the co-chair term will align with their regular term. Um, and then elections and vacancies. Again, remembering that the alternative member will assume the regular members uh role in the event of a long-term or permanent vacancy.

Um, special elections now will be called when myself and the co-chairs agree that it's necessary to address um too many vacancies across the EAC as a body um as a whole. Uh there was also language in here related to the the budget process. So the term the team formerly known as the budget team was written into this policy. That has since changed of course.

Um so it's much more um longlasting I suppose the language that EAC will have the opportunity to present to the city manager's office in the budget section on their recommendations annually as part of the city's process for adopting a budget as well as yourselves. uh and then they'll they have the ability to attend extended leadership meetings. So our review process in this was lengthy. Um it started with EAC. We had multiple meetings between my team and the co-chairs.

Uh we went through changes, sought feedback.

uh the co-chairs of EAC really led this this initial effort uh with the the EAC as a as an entire body um to solicit feedback go through the recommended changes went back um we'll say created draft six I don't know it was it was many drafts um took this to the leadership team so that's the city division heads and city manager office went through the proposals uh solicited some feedback made some changes based on that that meeting sent it then out back by email, had legal review it.

Um, so it's gone through a number of revisions. Um, many of them are just cleanup, clarity, removing redundancies. Um, but EAC ultimately has voted to to support this unanimously. Um, and that's the request here today. Thank you. Any questions, council? Any questions? Then I will um ask for a motion to read the resolution. Mayor, I I would um I move to read resolution 2026-38 by title only. I'll second. Any discussion? All those in favor? I. Any opposed? City clerk.

A resolution of the Flagstaff City Council declaring as a public record that certain document filed with the city clerk and entitled 2026 city code and employee handbook amendments, employee advisory committee. A motion to read the ordinance by title only for the first time. Mayor, I move to read ordinance 2026 by title by title only. 2026 for the first time 2026-17. Yes. 17 by title only for the first time. I'll sec. Any discussion? All those in favor? I 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 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 providing for repeal of conflicting ordinances, severability, authority for clerical corrections, and establishing an effective date.

Thank you. All right, so this will be back on the July 7th agenda. Thank you, Ryan. Thank you. All right, we are down to G, consideration and adoption of resolution number 2026-34. Good evening. Um, my name is Ameilia Mason with the public library. Also with me today is Jennifer Stasinopoulos, our library director.

Um for this particular resolution, um we are uh bringing before you an intergovernmental agreement between the city, the Cookanino County and the County Free Library District for the administration, operation, and maintenance of the Tuba City Public Library. the way this um a agreement is set up and our current uh the way we currently have it set up with regards to this library. This library is a branch of the city of Flagstaff.

Cookino County performs the maintenance and handles the janitorial contract for the library building and then the li builds the library district run by the city of Flagstaff um every uh quarterly. So, this IGA allows us to do that and my apologies for not having slides for you today. And I'm open for any questions. Council, do you have any um questions or comments? Then I am looking for a motion to read the resolution by title only. Mayor, I move to read resolution number 2026-34 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 Cookanino County, the Cookanino County Free Library District, and the city of Flagstaff for the administration operation maintenance and capital improvements at the Tupa Tuba City Library. And a motion to adopt. I move to adopt resolution number 2026-34. I'll second. Any discussion? All those in favor? I I. Any opposed?

All right. Down to H. Consideration and adoption of resolution number two 2026-39. And this one is also a library one. Um so this is for the IGA between the city um Cookino Community College for the rent uh rental space of the East Flagstaff Community Library. Council, any questions, comments? Council member Spence. Thank you, Mayor.

Um I read this um contract carefully and it does uh briefly recognize that a temporary uh facility will need to be uh located um during the construction, excuse me, the construction of the new um four street uh building for the CCC and the library. I would just like to ask if we could get an update on the planning for um that relocation of the East Side Library. Yes.

Um so I'm happy to share that we do have a potential site um identified and we hope to be bringing a lease before you at the July 7th meeting. Thank you. That's very encouraging. Thank you. All right. I'm looking for a motion. Mayor, I move to read resolution 2026-39 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 Cookanino County Community College District and the city of Flagstaff for the lease of 3000 North Fourth Street for operation of the East Flagstaff Community Library. Thank you. And a motion to adopt. I move that we adopt resolution number 2026-39. I second. Any discussion? All those in favor? I Any opposed? Thank you so much. Thank you.

Moving down to I consideration and adoption of ordinance number 2026-15. Good afternoon, Mayor and Council. Bryce Dodie, your real estate manager. Today, um, for consideration, I have a very simple exchange where we are proposing to abandon a portion of an alley and exchange it with some real property and turn that piece into an alley. So, let me get into it and I'll show you where we're at in the world. So, right now we are talking about downtown. This is block 19 of Townsite.

So on the west is Beaver Street, on the east is Laroo. North is Birch and south is Aspen. That little green piece, that is what we're proposing to exchange. Um here's some fun little history. There's a piece of the plat. Um for some reason it was always that little L-shaped um odd kind of reverse L alley. I don't know why. Um but here's what we're proposing to do. So to try to create more um facilitate better flow through and align the existing alley grid with the rest of the the grid downtown.

Um we're proposing that we exchanged the red and we received the green. Um this opportunity kind of started as staff discussions for the adjacent development. So, the adjacent developer came in and council or city kind of staff recognized an opportunity, kind of suggested this um to help better facilitate their development, but also because it's something that we would want. Um this doesn't happen without their kind of being on board.

So, this if this is something council wants to approve and consider, the mechanics of this will be first to approve the exchange agreement and then a later item is actually going to abandon it. And so we'll approve that we have a deal in place and then after we got a deal in place then we'll go ahead and formally abandon the ride ofway. Um the franchise utilities are on board. Planning and zoning commission they met um a few weeks ago and there was no concerns with it.

Uh they recommended abandoning it provided we could do the exchange and uh city staff is on board as well. So that concludes my presentation. I'm happy to address any questions you may have about it. Council, any questions, comments? All right, seeing none, I am looking for a motion. Mayor, I move that we read ordinance number 2026-15 by title only for the first time. Can I get a second? 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 Laroo Retail LLC providing for delegation of authority, repeal of conflicting ordinances, severability, authority for clerical corrections, and establishing an effective date. Thank you. And we will consider this again July 7th. Correct. Thank you. And you're the next one, too. Consideration and adoption of ordinance number 2026-16.

Good afternoon, Mayor and Council. Bryce Dodie. So, I don't have a formal presentation for this one, but it has a long council history. So, I'll give you the background on that, and if there's any additional information you need after that, we're happy to provide it in a second read. So, back in September of 2024, council approved a direction to apply some conditions to consider amending an existing ride ofway on Observatory Mesa. And so, this item today, so that was back in September 24.

This item today is an amended ride ofway which incorporates all those conditions to say to consider amending it. So, that's what's in front of you today. Um, a little background about that real quick. So, section six right here, this used to be Arizona State Land. This is now Observatory Mesa. It had an existing ride ofway on it prior to us purchasing it. So, we purchased it subject to the existing easement for access to a private land holder.

Um, we also purchased it using grant money from um, Arizona Parks and Wildlife, which then attached a conservation easement on it. And so what we have here is that that conservation easement is very strict of what you can and can't do with these lands. Um we're also very strict with what you can and can't do with open space.

Um what we have is a a right of way that these uh this entity holds that is impractical to build on using the to meet our current standards of how we want a road built for fire access and things like that.

And so through the many public meetings that pros and open space and city council have had about this, um they developed all of these different conditions to say yes, we will consider doing amending this so that you've got a rideway that can actually be built to the standards that we want provided that the rideway plans are approved by the parks parks and wildlife. They're approved by state historic society. um that and they include extensive uh restoration guidelines.

So really this right ofway emitted rightway that is before you incorporates everything in there that was asked of them and the the entity that will be um accepting the amended rightofway. They've done everything that we've asked of them to date and so we're at the stage of amending the right of way and then they will go and seek uh construction plan approval through parks and wildlife. So we have other staff available for any additional questions beyond this.

Um but that is the background on this one and we are happy to address any questions. Thank you Bryce. Any questions or comments council? All right. I'm looking for a motion to read the ordinance. Mayor, I'm sorry. We had public comment. Oh, I'm sorry. We've been breezing through everything and I Yes. Thank you. Uh, taking public comment. We have Cody Rousson, and my apologies. She wouldn't have let me get away with with not calling you up here. Thank you.

Um, thank you, mayor, vice mayor, and members of council. I'm one of the property owners that this easements will um serve. Um, I just mostly wanted to present that we're real people and um and to thank everyone who have put a considerable amount of effort into um guiding us along this path.

um me members of of of city staff, Kevin Finel, um Robert Wallace, Rebecca Sers, um most recently Matthew Mansfield have all put a a lot of time and effort into um shephering us and so I appreciate um all of them. So I just wanted to acknowledge everyone and I'm here to answer any questions that you may have. Thank you. Council, do you have any questions? All right. Thank you. Our next is Alexis Stack. Hello.

Uh, my name is Alexis Stack and just like last time, I'm nervous this wasn't on my bingo card. Um, I'm one of the owners of the smaller parcels up there. Um, and I would like to thank the city employees, the open space commission, city council, the other land owners, especially Cody, um, for all the work and time that's been spent on this. Although I do appreciate the amount of work this has been, I would be remiss if I didn't express my frustration with how this has been handled along the way.

We bought this property that is zoned rural residential 2 and has three recorded easements that date back to 1986. It seemed simple. It has not been simple.

For from what I can count looking back on my notes, it has been nine official city meetings, one state parks meeting, countless emails and calls, and dates back to July 17th, 2023 when we met in a little conference room with city staff, and we're told things like, "Hire a lawyer." And we were outside of our legal rights before an actual conversation even started.

Then we spent from December of 2023 to April of 2024 in open space commission where it seemed where legalities were being ignored in place of feelings and we were being asked to adhere to conditions that were completely ridiculous or that already exist within city code uh and also being told buyer beware. We have been the can kick down the road over and over, even as recently as last month, with self-imposed deadlines passing and palpable irritation when the missed deadlines were followed up on.

Uh I can tell you in the last three years, we have uh been attempting to remind everyone we are not asking for a new easement. One already exists. It predates the conservation easement.

And we have spent these three years working with engineers, city staff, studying traffic, and working closely with each other to amend the existing easement to both be soundly engineered to meet City of Flagstaff requirements while doing our due diligence of reducing the amount of disturbance to the open space area. I think we have a good plan at this point.

I pulled the original deed for the growing Sparter property, and I have quoted this in a meeting before, but I think it's an important reminder. It's on the very first page. Quote, "The property is subject to existing reservations, easements, or rights of way hereto for legally obtained and now in full force in effect." And then again on the fourth page, it speaks on the conservation piece.

Notwithstanding any other provision of this article, the reclassification of trust lands as suitable for conservation purposes shall not restrict or unreasonably limit access to use or use or enjoyment of private lands. any lease or sale of land pursuant to this article shall include a condition requiring that permanent access to and use and enjoyment of private land be allowed. End quote. I'm really hoping that this is the end. Thank you. All right.

Seeing no other uh public comment, I'm looking for a motion to read the ordinance. Madame Mayor, I will move to read ordinance number 2026- 16 by title only for the first 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 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. Thank you. And July 7th is the next meeting for this one. Item K, consideration and adoption of ordinance number 2026-14. Good afternoon. So, we've already approved the exchange agreement.

This ordinance is going to formally abandon the red piece of alley so that we can convey it to the party um to receive the green Any questions, comments? I'm looking for a mo. Yeah, sure. Thank you, Bryce, for the presentation. And I just wanted to since there's no graphic of color that shows the alley extension. Um, and and I'm not necessarily I'm kind of I didn't go visit the alley. That's what I'm trying to say.

Is the other part of the uh uh alley that's not in green that extends east to west is uh does that need any improvements or any development? So right now it that is existing alleyway rights away so it can't be built on or anything like that. So um I can't speak to the existing condition of it. I think it's you know a lot of those alleys downtown a little rough. Um that might be that.

But uh you know with this exchange um if that development does happen um you know this is an exchange we'd want to do regardless. But part of the um off-site improvements would be to bring the green piece into a standard that you know basically build it. Yeah. That would run concurrent with the current alleyway. Correct. Sounds great. Thank you madam. All right. I am looking for a motion to read the ordinance.

Mayor, I move that we read ordinance number 2026-14 by title only for the f for the first time. Can I get a second? Second. Any discussion? All those in favor? I any any opposed? City clerk. An ordinance of the city council of the city of Flagstaff abandoning approximately 2,400 square feet of ride ofway in block of towns site providing for delegation of authority, repeal of conflicting ordinances severability and establishing an effective date. Thank you. Thank you, Bryce.

All right, we're moving down to L. Consideration and adoption of resolution number 2026-27. Good evening, Mayor and Council. Um, Michelle McNelte, planning and planning development services director. Um, Rob FA is going to be giving this presentation tonight, but I just wanted to take a moment to introduce him. He's our new Dark Skies compliance officer. He's been in the position for six months and it is with a great honor to welcome him to the PDS team and to team Flag Staff in this role.

He is just so aware of the precious resource um and the high value that we place on our um dark skies. And so the six months that he's been here, the fresh perspective and the energy he's put into the program have been astounding to watch. and he's going to give a brief overview on the IG and then talk a little bit about where they're taking the program and just really honored to present Rob tonight. Welcome Rob. Thank you very much.

Uh thank you, Madame Mayor, Madame Vice Mayor, council members. I'm going to start with talking a little bit about the IG. Um got some notes here um provided by Mark Stento. As you know, this is a collective endeavor between the city of Flagstaff and Cookuna County. Um I think this is in your um information as well.

Um the new IGA expressly ties the position to the 2019 uh joint land use study um regional land use compatibility enforcement objectives and adds standalone objectives uh section addressing sensitive installations, consistency across the jurisdictions, education and outreach and intergovernmental coordination. uh the employee and work plan language streamlined um in this uh new agreement. Both versions, excuse me, keep the specialist as a city employee with shared city and county management.

Uh new draft removes the old requirements that each party provide workspace and simplifies training professional development language. Um so, uh report is simplified. Um the old IG required daily activity reports um and jurisdictional time allocated um records and semianual reports due on uh specific April October work days. The new draft only requires tracking per city procedures and semianual summary reports on a mutually agreed schedule. Right now we're doing it monthly. um funding.

Uh the old IG contemplated a $10,000 LOL observatory contribution and then a 50/50 county uh city split uh with remaining uh salary costs after thirdparty contributions. Uh the new draft removes LOL third-party contributions uh language and states that the county pays 50% of the specialistbased salary only excluding overtime, acting pay, specialty pay, leave payouts, and um other one-time compensation unless otherwise agreed in writing.

Uh it does clarify that the city pays benefits, retirement work, retirement, workers compensation, and payroll taxes. Um I think that's a pretty good overview. Um, most of the boilerplate remains the same. Um, and I'm sure it's available for you. So, I take you through a quick presentation. Again, um, as Michelle mentioned, I've been on the job for six months for officially. Um, kind of walked into this role a little bit early.

Um, which was really helpful in me kind of getting up to speed as far as what the, uh, role required. And let's see here. And I'd just like to note that the signed IGA renewal from 2021 is linked to the agenda as is the current renewal. That's correct. Thank you, mayor. Okay. So, this Okay, so um this is the basics of the dark sky designation that we received.

Um the city of Flagstaff was recognized as the first uh international dark sky city um in October 24th, 2001 for its pioneering development and implementation of lighting codes that balance the need for preservation of the Flagstaff dark sky resource with the need of safe outdoor lighting practices. This division is to help assure that dark skies remain a resource to be enjoyed by the Flagstaff community and its visitors. Minimize light pollution and light trespass across property lines.

to maintain an environment that the city's astronomical industry depends on, reduce energy consumption, minimize the potential disruption to nocturnal ecosystems, and to allow safe and efficient outdoor lighting. I want to talk a little bit about residential and commercial challenges that um I've discovered within the last six four months. Um six to four months. Um there are countless violations citywide without a doubt.

Um I spend three nights a week out and about and um I was astounded with how much I came across that um I would need to tackle potentially. Um we've got limited resources to address complaints while still generating sta staff driven cases. Um we do use a number of platforms that uh residents can use to um communicate with us as far as stuff that they're finding. Um a lot of this is um common with neighborto neighbor um complaints.

Um, primarily decorative and landscape lighting are the biggest ones I'm seeing out there. Um, a lot of string lights, bright LED lighting, um, up lighting. Um, and then misconceptions of brighter is better. Um, and this I'll talk about a little bit later in safety. Um, prioritizing resident residential complaints versus commercial complaints is definitely something I've learned to uh to do. Um, and then um, what I'm also finding is uh, new builds um, are changing their fixtures after CFOs.

So while something might be compliant um immediately when they get CFO in some of these um bigger developments, uh folks will come in afterwards and decide to change the lights out and uh create a violation. Uh commercial um compliance timelines are definitely lengthy and include electrical engineers, consultants, and other specialists. I'm commonly talking to people all across the country when commercial entities are um hit with a violation.

um lack of financial resources for smaller entities uh for work to be performed and then a lot of uh education I'll say lack of prior knowledge regarding what our outdoor lighting standards are. So big educational component there for commercial entities. Um contractors are commonly bypassing uh the permitting process. I've dealt with that quite a bit too. And then unshielded string lights and um uh flood lights as well. And then miscon misconceptions about safety.

And I think the next slide is going to talk a little bit about that. Um you'll notice on security um the Wells Fargo that's on Fourth Street. Um they're they're in full compliance. These are beautiful amber um lit parking lots here. They've got um data shows that crime does not decrease necessarily as light increases. Um, effective lighting design utilizing fully shielded fixtures can enhance security while using less energy and lowering the impact on the community. Um, safety.

One of my favorite things to say when I'm doing table events or talking to the public is that uh, brighter lights definitely create darker shadows. And uh, you can see by this illustration illustration here that um, the the shadows are very dark. Uh, really good place for um, folks to hide if they're um interested. And then feedback from the field. This is kind of just general stuff I've discovered. Uh driving down any given street in Flagstaff can yield numerous residential cases.

Um lighting of long-term rentals and short-term rentals or generating calls from neighbors um citing violation of the dark sky ordinance. Uh contacting one residential case will commonly generate complaints from the contacted residents. Um, when I go up and talk to residents, they're going to point to their neighbors right away, and it kind of gets out of hand exponentially.

Um, as string lights are becoming more popular, um, I'm finding a lot of tree wraps uh bushes decks fences um roof lines, and that's kind of in conjunction with holiday lighting that's remaining up and illuminated all year round. Um, the largest emitters of light pollution, um, are commercial for sure. Uh, we just had a couple that I was able to reduce. So 100,000 200,000 lumens just from one commercial property. Um that's really where we uh find most of our emissions.

And uh then frequently not knowing the code, commercial entities will change the lights without checking on what the code is and that obviously would stimulate a visit from me. Um, the other thing to note is that local hardware stores uh touting safety will often uh tout brighter lights. Uh, just like I said before, brighter lights definitely make darker shadows. Uh, in case you weren't aware, a residential limitation on lumens is 5,000 lumens per acre or I'm sorry, 5,000 lumens period.

Um, so no matter if your parcel is a quarter acre or 3 acres, 5,000 lumens is the max. Uh commonly with hardware stores, um the most bright lights they have are 8,000 lumens. So they exceed the limitation of these residential properties. And then as we get more development, we're definitely going to see more lumens um just by default.

Um I will say that a lot of our builders in town are very uh knowledgeable about what the restrictions are and know the code very well and um they're very cooperative. Um logistics and practice. Um, investigative field work will yield as many residential and commercial cases as are feasible to handle. Um, in addition to patrol generated cases, outdoor lighting violations are submitted through a variety of mediums by residents and at any given time I've got 20 active cases on my plate.

Um, I I can easily get 20 a night if I really wanted to. Um, this requires a lot of communication between myself, the dark sky specialist, and the party in violation. Uh this comm communication as I stated before will also include electrical engineers, contractors, business owners, and residents. And it's not uncommon to need to educate these parties as far as what the code is. I spend a lot of time doing permit review um with out ofstate uh contractors or entities.

There's a lot of back and forth as far as educating them on what our codes actually require. Um, we've got a pretty good code in my opinion, but it's very strict and it's, um, kind of a shock to a lot of the electrical engineers that I deal with. Um, I also, like I said, do a lot of outdoor lighting permit and final lighting inspections, uh, requiring a good amount of flexibility with the existing case load. Um, definitely time management is something I'm learning to a lot better.

Um, prioritizing and triaging what needs to really take place. Uh we do have a new code one that took my role when I stepped up to the light specialist and um he's starting to learn about all this as well. So we're really able to uh kind of get out there a little bit um more and uh tackle more cases with uh with him. Um some potential solutions I'm brainstorming right now um is definitely community outreach with local schools um educational fireside chats um at supportive venues.

Um I've had some meeting with some homeowners associations. Um they've asked me to come and educate them on what um our code is. Um apartment complexes as well. And then I would welcome anybody who's interested to do patrol ride alongs. It's a lot of fun. Um I'm out for two and a half hours a night, three nights a week, sometimes more if I find a lot of stuff that I need to tackle.

But um you've got an open invitation to come out with me anytime and cruise around the neighborhoods and I can show you what we're dealing with with light pollution. And then I would like to see more social uh media to heighten awareness. Um I'm in the midst of direct uh developing some curriculum with Willow Bend and Camp Colton right now to see if we can't uh start hitting it from the uh younger individuals perspective and educate them and then um contemplating utilizing NACCC interns.

So just some ideas that I'm pondering right now as I get more more into this role. It's really fun. I've had a blast with it and um would welcome any questions if you've got them. Thank you very much. Um thank you. Great presentation and um welcome again to the team and I will say to all of staff that I know the council would welcome um additional updates from Dark Skies.

It's it's a priority and I think it's really important that we be talking about it even more than we're currently talking about it. So, thank you. Um, council, any questions or comments? Council member Alen. Yeah, thank you so much. I'm so glad you're on board and you've already hit the ground running and I wish you the best of luck with, you know, uh, those uncomfortable conversations that sometimes arise out of, uh, code compliance. um very grateful for you.

Uh you know, I'm a huge proponent of of our dark skies and I'm very proud of my role over the past seven years in protecting and advancing that cause. Um I just want to take a beat to give a shout out to Metro Plans Kate Moley who has been very responsive to my uh particular requests uh to work with ADOT um to change the culture of their bureaucracy to allow for what we do up here.

Um and and you know just trying to drive home the message that we're not we're not simply just quirky and weird up here. Um but there's very specific reasons why we want to protect our status as a and our designation as an international dark sky city. I'd love to see the whole of Northern Arizona expand into a dark sky preserve um and working on that in the margins as well.

Um, you know, I don't need to overemphasize what we all share up here when we're talking about why we value our dark skies, but I do want to put a finer point on two things. I just like to do this whenever I have the opportunity to. Our community just made a $52 million investment in an open sky planetarium on top of the hill.

And uh it would be a real shame if the the the uh the experience that visitors um and uh members uh they have over there diminishes over time because uh you know we take the foot off the gas of this program. And uh you know the US Naval Observatory provides a critical national security mission for for the United States for timekeeping and and for defense and for other things. Um, you know, and coincidentally, purely coincidence, I was up there last night.

Um, my daughter has an internship uh for the summer. She's working with some of the folks at the Naval Observatory and we got access last night to go up there and and just see things and uh do some stargazing and I was able to do some astrophotography. Um, and it was very clear uh as wonderful as the night sky was last night. um no moon and uh the compliance that we do have provides an exceptional experience.

But even when a cloud is drifting by, you can definitely it's it's it's it's very conspicuous um at the Naval Observatory because of the lights from town bouncing up off the clouds and uh you know there's a red hue that to everything especially near the ground which actually shows that we're doing good with our our shifting of our light changes. um our frequency, our wavelengths.

Um but it's it's still it's a constant fight and it's one that if we if we if we if we let off the gas um uh things will go away. And you know, I love how our community is able to be a um an example for the rest of uh the state and and the region. Um, I know that even uh communities in Phoenix are following our lead like Fountain Hills, right, and uh Paradise Valley and things like that, which is really exciting. Uh, and so your work precedes you.

Um, it's creating opportunities all over the place. And one of the greatest things that we have um with our night sky is the ability here in Flagstaff to to be in touch with the cosmos from which we came from and to have those questions and a wonder and to and to and to just um have those experiences especially for children who grew up valuing that they'll be the next generation of those who protect uh what we have left in dark skies.

And just want to thank you um personally welcome you to the team. I'll take you up on that drive-thru at some point or that ride along. Um uh and uh looking forward to what you have in store and and um you know, you certainly have my blessing in terms of getting out there and applying a heavy hand in securing compliance. So, thank you council. Anything else? All right. Then I am looking for a motion to read the resolution. So moved. 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 Cookanino County and the city of Flagstaff for a jointly funded dark sky code compliance specialist position. and a motion to adopt. Madame Mayor, I move that we adopt resolution number 2026-27. I'll second. Any discussion? All those in favor? I I I. Any opposed? All right. Thank you, Rob. Thank you, Council.

Moving down to M, consideration and adoption of ordinance number 2026-18. Hi, mayor, vice mayor, council, Kevin Finell, deputy city attorney. Um, I'm going to take this item. I was actually in front of you two weeks ago on June 2nd talking about the Canyon Del Rio um the second amendment to the Canyon Del Rio DA.

And through that DA or as part of that DA, council agreed to compensate Canyon Del Rio um for 14.7 acres of rideaway that is needed for the John Wesley Pal extension across their property. um that approval or that um second amendment was approved via a resolution, but our city charter requires us to acquire property via ordinance. So, I'm here tonight asking council to approve this ordinance to essentially comply with our charter for that acquisition of the 14 plus acres.

I'm also asking council to do both reads tonight, which is somewhat odd, but allowed under our charter. Um it requires unanimous vote on the second read. So if you see your agenda in front of you, it is proposing both the first read and the second read tonight. But again, that second read has to be by unanimous vote for it to count. Um and that's about it. Thank you, council. Any questions, comments? All right. I am looking for a motion to read the ordinance.

Mayor, I motion to read ordinance number 2026-8 by title only for the first time. I'll second. Any discussion? All those in favor? I I Any opposed? All right. City clerk.

An ordinance of the Flagstaff City Council authorizing the acquisition of approximately 14.7 acres of real property interests generally located southwest of East Butler Avenue and South Fourth Street for the John Wesley Powell Extension Project providing for delegation of authority, severability, and establishing an effective date. And a motion to read the ordinance by title only for the final time. Mayor, I move to read ordinance number 2026-18 by title only for the final time. Oh, second.

Any discussion? All those in favor? I uh any opposed? All right, city clerk. An ordinance of the Flagstaff City Council authorizing the acquisition of approximately 14.7 acres of real property interests generally located southwest of East Butler Avenue and South Fourth Street for the John Wesley Powell Extension project providing for delegation of authority severability and establishing an effective date. And a motion to adopt. I move that we adopt ordinance number 2026-18 and a second.

I'll second. Any discussion? All those in favor? I I Any opposed? All right. Thank you all. Now we are moving down to item N. I'll get this presentation going. Thank you, Mayor and Council. Uh Shannon Anderson, your assistant city manager. Um this will be a brief presentation uh just prior to the call of special election um as a reminder of what we're asking for. Um and then Stacy will touch base on the two resolutions.

Um so for our background, we've updated this slide a bit uh to reference the um few presentations that we've provided to council. Um so March 24th uh we did a presentation where we identified those public safety needs. Um May 5th we focused on those community survey results. Um and then most recently May 26th uh we uh presented on the citizen committee recommendation.

Um, also want to continue to point out that all of the work that we did with the citizen committee, all the presentations, um, the questions and answers, all of those documents are on the connect Flagstaff site, and we've included a link, uh, in the presentation that council or any members of the community uh, can view at any point in time. So, as a reminder, the citizen committee recommendation includes a half cent sales tax, um a $40 million general obligation bond.

Um and then although this third item isn't necessarily for the upcoming ballot, we didn't want to lose sight of it because it is part of their recommendation and that's to evaluate the water resource and infrastructure protection fund fee. We call it RIP for short. um they're requesting it be bumped up um and be evaluated in 2027 uh to address uh needs in the wildland fire management program.

So when we talk about our ongoing resources, um the halfsent sales tax will provide ongoing resources to hire additional all-risk firefighters that respond to wildland fire calls, residential or commercial fires, and provide emergency medical services. It provides those staff members with the academy and the ongoing training resource and the specialized supplies and equipment to do the work.

It provides them protection through cancer testing and ensures they have the important safety equipment like turnouts. The ongoing funding will provide training for police personnel, maintain all public safety facilities and response vehicles and emergency planning. It also provides for additional staffing in emergency management aircraft rescue firefighting, and police along with the equipment and supplies they need such as public safety radios, computers, and personal protective equipment.

Moving on to the $40 million general obligation bond. Um, this can be supplemented uh with development impact fees and will provide the one-time resources needed for construction and equipment for new and existing buildings, purchase vehicles, cardiac monitors radios computers and software. The halfsent sales tax creates approximately 18.2 million in revenue each year. and would provide the revenue needed over the next 15 years.

It would increase the city's tax base, excuse me, the city's base tax rate. But benefit of a sales tax instead of a property tax is that 37% of the sales tax is paid by visitors who use these services. And a smaller increase produces a large amount of ongoing revenue. For example, a 14% property tax generates just over $1 million and a half cent sales tax produces $18.2 million. Half of the Arizona cities have a rate of 3% or higher.

And you can see how Flagstaff compares in the chart to the right. There have been four cities that have used a sales tax to fund public safety needs. and additional communities are considering the opportunity to address unmet public safety needs. Currently, for the city of Flagstaff, it is a funding source for ongoing staffing, contractual, and commodity expenses. So, again, there's been some confusion over time about what sales tax applies to within the city of Flagstaff.

And so we shared this with you last time, but one of the things that we talked about during that discussion is a few examples. And so we've added that information to this slide. Um so to remind everyone um that this tax does not apply to food at the grocery store or residential rent as examples, but it does apply if you're going out to eat at a restaurant or if you purchased a refrigerator. The half cent would equate to 50 cents for every $100 spent. So a few examples.

If we purchased a $50,000 vehicle, it would cost you $250 more with this half cent sales tax. If you decided you were going to grab some fast food for lunch while you're on your way to your next meeting, it's going to cost you 11 cents more. If you buy a gallon of milk and that cost is $459, doesn't cost you anymore because this is considered food at a grocery store. Um, and the same thing with apartment rent.

If you're paying $1,575 for your studio apartment, it's not going to cost you any more because this sales tax does not apply to that residential rent. Um, so hoping that those examples bring forward what we were trying to explain um, in that what a sales tax would mean to those that live in our community. This slide articulates what the ballot language would look like for the sales tax. Um, basically talks about it's to levy a transaction privilege tax.

It's dedicated to enhance public safety services. It's at a rate of that 0.5 or the half cent. It would begin on July 1st of 2027 for a period of 15 years ending June 30th, 2042. Um, and this is what you would see this proposition number 404 on the ballot should council uh support putting this on the ballot for November of 2026. Moving on to the general obligation bond. This slide's been updated since we met because you've been working on adopting your budget.

Um, and if you will recall, there is a portion of that budget that Heidi talked about earlier today where we're shifting some of our secondary property tax to primary property tax. That has an impact on our general obligation bonds. Um, you'll see at the first bullet point that there's 95 million in capacity. This is slightly less than the 98 million that we presented to you on May 26th. And that's because with that shift, you have a little bit less capacity in your general obligation bonds.

Um, again, it reduces that flat rate policy. You used to see a 0.800 there where you now see that 760. And then in the next few bullets, we talked originally about assuming an assessed value of 4%. We chose to look at 5% because 5% is the maximum that the assessed value can go up each year. So if there was a maximum increase of assessed value, it would cost the average residential customer $14.93 more per year. But that's only if there's an increase in assessed value.

Simply giving a bond doesn't necessarily increase it. It's only if the assessed value goes up. um for that $1 million property um for commercial property, it would be 11 cents less per year. And Rick actually talked through some of this with council um back at your April retreat, so it might sound familiar for that exact reason. Uh we wanted to again remind that this general obligation bond would be supplemented with development impact fees.

Um and it also is a great one-time source for buildings and equipment. the more that we're able to put into a bond, it reduces that amount that we need through a sales tax. So, moving on to a similar slide where we talk about ballot language. Um, this uh ballot language would talk about the issuance of a general obligation bond in a principal amount of $40 million. And this would be to invest in public safety infrastructure and equipment. Uh, this would be proposition number 405.

And this is what it would look like um should a ballot measure be placed on the November 2026 election. So I will turn it over to Stacy and she'll talk about our resolutions. Thanks Shannon. Stacy Saltzburg. I'm your communication and civic engagement director and also serve as your city clerk. Um so tonight before you are two separate resolutions. The first will be um to call a special election on um a bond measure. So that's resolution 202636.

And then the second resolution um will call the election for a sales tax uh question if you choose. Um adoption of these two resolutions allow my office to take the next steps in preparing for the November election. This will be um that this will include opening um a call for procon statements from our public that would start um to gather those and also for the development of our publicity materials um to be uh created and sent out to our households with registered voters.

Um as Shannon was going through the presentation, I did notice um a typo on the sales tax ballot language. So, as you can see there where it says um a no vote shall have the effect of not of approving. Um that will be updated to uh remove that second of uh so just note that that that will happen should this uh resolution be adopted. That will be updated when we send the materials to the county for the ballot. And I am here for any questions that you might have.

Thank you, Council Member Matthews. Thank you, Stacy. I think this question probably can be directed towards you. Um, math is not a primary um talent or skill set in a lot of uh people's u toolbox. And I've seen a lot of calculations out there on social media where um you know there was a post that said well a 0.5% would be $50 on every hundred or $5.

Um, is there any way we could in parentheses put half cent because that 0.5% just I mean I was even starting to doubt myself because it was so prevalent on social media. I was like I guess I don't understand how to do the math. So, if we could just do in parenthesis, I don't know if it's allowed, but just say half cent, not, you know, I think people read it like 50% but not 50% of a cent. They're just thinking 50%. That makes sense. It does. And and I will empathize with you.

I'm a clerk for a reason. Um I am grateful that we have brick um to handle all of the math. Um but I don't see any reason why that couldn't be um included. I know that we've got some word limits and so we can go back and kind of look um at that just to make sure that it fits within those particular requirements, but I don't see there's that there's any concern about adding that um in parentheses to the um both the question and the um two yes no statements.

I think that would just be really helpful to keep the conversation on factual information and not get confusing. Um, and I also just wanted to comment and and it had to be done, but the truth and taxation statement and people tied that in, which it is tied into this public safety question, but people were interpreting it that their taxes were going to go up that 6.89% period, not reshifting it. Um, and it just muddied the waters even more. So, I think it's just really important.

And I'm glad that Shannon, thank you for representing this information that we can use to send out, you know, to people that may be confusing all the facts. Um, but this is such an important um ballot and tax question and I think that we need to make sure that do everything we can to make sure that uh the voters understand and not get misinformation. So, thank you. Thank you. you.

And I'll just add, we've got a a good group of folks that have been put together who will be working on that publicity pamphlet material that will go into some really good detail um to help with that education and to really make sure that we're distinguishing carefully um what this is and and what it is not. All right. Um I'm going to take public comment and first up we have Casey Gonzalez. And you have a group of people. If everyone who is here with Casey could stand up, please. Yeah. Great.

So, Casey, you have 15 minutes. Yes. I can talk slower. Um, I don't think I'm going to need the 15. uh mayor, vice mayor, council, city leadership, chiefs, everybody that's hung out till the end, those online. Um not much to add overall. Um the to speak to council member Matthews last comments about the education part. One of the best parts about this whole process has been seeing the collaboration from top to bottom on how this came about.

um prior city leadership before a transition that saw a need uh to fix some processes, funding, uh gaps that have existed for a long time. Doesn't matter where they came from. We've moved on from that and we're looking to fix things now and move into the future. Carried into a new leadership within the city council talking about it.

uh bringing it forward, putting it together in front of a a large diverse citizens committee that really started to dig into the numbers and not just anecdotal stuff. Uh one of the individuals that I've met through that had coffee with him a few times, he was on the committee and he really talked about last time I met with him um it really comes down to math and emotion and I think we've fully addressed the math portion of what's going on with public safety in the city of Flagstaff.

Um wildfire threat increased, buildings getting taller, population going up, calls increasing, uh doubled since, uh 10 years ago, staffing numbers staying the same, uh equipment needing, uh fixed stations, um not having the resources to handle that stuff, more paramedics for response. The math part of it doesn't lie. It's all been put out there and where it really comes down to at this point is the emotion piece and with that the education of nobody wants to pay more for anything. I get it.

Um what's coming with that for the citizens and and that's where it comes from is the citizens. It's we can do all the education and we're going to be out there doing it uh through November 3rd.

But seeing a group of 25 plus um influential people in the in the community sit through seven months of meetings and ask hard questions um to city leadership, to the chiefs of the department, and watching everybody work together and grow to a point where in my 11 years with the city, I've never seen this type of collaboration with this big of an outcome to completely change the direction of public safety for the citizens of this of flight staff and the surrounding region and the visitors.

Um so that's where I stand with it right now. Uh not a bunch of extra to add. Just I appreciate the work done um by council being involved uh as as they have up to this point taking that information to sit where we sit with it in front of you all to make your decision. city leadership that has continued to push forward uh in getting the information, clarifying information, answering questions.

It's really going to come down to people getting the correct information and not just making stuff up out of emotion. Get your questions answered and that's what we're here for. Um watching our chiefs week after week uh in front of the committee answer questions. Uh it's been an awesome thing to see and so looking forward to the next several months of getting into that education part and see you in November 3rd where we end up. But we feel good about where we're at right now. So thank you.

Thank you Casey. BJ Dempsey. Thank you. I personally sat on the public safety committee. Coming into the meetings, I was adamantly against raising taxes and putting additional financial burden on Flagstaff citizens.

During the almost seven months of weekly meeting meetings, we were given immense amounts of information and presentations ranging from the city budget to extensive presentations from our fire department, police department, water needs, and all of our core safety and emergency services, including our airport personnel. What was unknown at the start of the committee was the depth at which the at which these departments were underfunded.

These are at the these are core services that are expected by each and every taxpayer within Flagstaff. The need was $500 million. Disgusted as I was that our first responders and the very people we have come to depend on for life and death situation do not have the tools they require to perform their jobs as effectively and efficiently as possible. We buckled down and wanted to hear where the gaps have come from. I learned of department cuts a decade ago that were straight across the board.

Upon economic recovery and increases that came back to personnel and other departments, those same increases were not increased at the same rate in our public safety sectors and other departments within Flagstaff City government. This is of great concern. The presentations by each of our public safety departments brought so much attention and light to the growing problem we face in our community. The need is the greatest within our fire and our police departments.

These brave men and women put themselves in harm's way daily to save our town and keep it safe. They do this with minimal staff and for individuals that they have never met. They sacrifice their family time and risk their lives daily. We do need another fire station in Flagstaff to account for continued growth that is inevitable. Flagstaff will only continue to grow. We need to retain our current workforce.

The current firefighters and police officers know that they can get jobs in other locations with higher pay and less of a workload. They stay because they love this town. Unfortunately, we have forced many of them to leave. This causes unneeded turnover which in cost which in turn cost the city more money. The city is at a point that requires us to act as a city council and voters to ensure that our children will have a safe and vibrant community in the future.

These are the reasons that we as a public safety committee have recommended the general obligation bond of $40 million and a half cent sales tax increase. These recommendations were not taken lightly and it hurts me to recommend additional financial stress on the already troublesome issue of affordability within Flagstaff.

The citizens of Flagstaff need these measures on the ballot and the men and women that serve us so bravely need these measures to ensure that the safe and sustained future for Flagstaff. The need is there and I hope city council sees public safety as their sacred duty and the responsibility to act is now so that we do not fall further behind and have a catastrophic disaster. I ask that you advance these ballot measures. Our amazing law enforcement officers and firefighters deserve this.

Thank you. Thank you, BJ. And thank you so much for your service on the committee. I know it was a lot of work and a lot of meetings. Next up, we have Patty Pastor. Good evening, Mayor Daget, Vice Mayor, and City Council members. My name is Patty Pastor, and I am a longstanding member of our community and the education sector in Flagstaff. I'm here to s express my support for the public safety ballot measure.

As we look at programs that are in high demand in education, fire science and public safety are high ranking. Our community needs to support our essential workers. They are the heroes of our town. Flagstaff has grown while funding has not grown to keep pace with the needs of our community. Fire and police provide our community with vital services every day.

And we need to support them by providing the funds to provide training for additional firefighters, training facilities, and the equipment needed to serve our community as it grows. This is why I support this ballot measure. Thank you. Thank you, Patty. Michael Oliver. Good evening, um, mayor, vice mayor, council, community members. Thank you for allowing us to have a voice here and an opportunity to speak to you.

Uh last I spoke with you if I was uh cordial or emotional or direct uh I have no intention of not doing that tonight. Okay? Because this is a serious matter. Um Flagstaff is changing. Okay? It has been changing for years and our staffing has not changed with it. Uh and the expectation that is placed upon us um has never been higher. Uh the reality is simple. Public safety cannot continue to do more with less. We've heard it too long and too much. And frankly, we won't. Okay?

We won't do more with less because we can't. We're tired. We're exhausted. We're unders under staffed, overworked, and frankly underpaid. But that's another issue. Um, strong public safety systems do not happen by accident. They happen because communities choose to invest in their public safety before crisis forces them to. You are at that moment, community and council. you are at that moment where you have a staffing crisis within your all of your public safety sectors. That's facts.

Um we understand what we're asking 100% that we are asking the community uh taxpayers to support us. It's not something that we take lightly. We are empathetic to that. We are part of this community as well. We're going to pay the same tax. We get it. Okay. But if there was another way, and we've looked at other ways, there isn't anything less than what's being presented to you. It's just a band-aid. another band-aid that will not fix the problem. We need long-term solution here.

Um, and finally, this is not about politics, okay? Poly has nothing to do with this. President of the United States has nothing to do with this. This is about people, your people, and it's about the people that keep your people safe and making sure they can do it in the right way with the right resources, with the right training, with the right equipment.

And if for anything else, if you do it for anything else, you push this forward for anything else, look at the wellness of your officers, your firefighters, and your emergency personnel. We're struggling because we lack support in those areas. We can't fund those. We can't staff those. Each officer or firefighter probably wears five or different hats, and that's not that's not efficient for any department.

So, I thank you for your time today and please ask that you push both these ballot measures forward. Thank you. Thank you, Council Member Garcia. Oh, thank you, Madame Mayor. And uh I just want to look at my colleagues for a moment and and acknowledge everything that we've been through on this with this whole thing from the first budget retreat that I sat in on where we all kind of came to a consensus that this was a priority.

I was elated because you know I didn't know you guys well that back then.

So I thought, well, maybe maybe this is going to be a tough tough to get through to the council, but to not only hear the support of the your the council that was there currently, but also to reverberate what they had done, what y'all had done before my time getting here to shure up the um everything that we needed to do with public safety on police and fire to get us to a point to where we could take this next big bold step. I was stoked.

And I wanted to also acknowledge the manager's department for when we did mention um our desire to make these changes for acknowledging those changes and then coming up with a creative uh a creative tool which is the process that we will be voting on tonight um pretty quickly. uh you know this this process has been going on for quite some time but it's been going on steadily and that's uh with the speed of government something that I really really appreciate.

Um I think it's it's also you know I mentioned past councils but they have been working diligently on doing what they could to get us to where we're at today. So it it's it all when you look you know five years back and 10 years back it all kind of comes to this to the head at this moment this critical mass and I will be supporting this tonight. Um staff that went through the whole process with the uh public safety commission. Thank you so much for everything you did.

Um especially vice manager city manager um gosh help me Shannon Anderson. Sorry, I almost called you Stacy Anderson. I got the two confused. So, uh, thank you. I I watched incessantly those committee meetings um up to three times sometimes just because there's so much details that I had to take away from them and and the staff was always there to bring back all of the questions that the commission had to offer. and um Chief uh Gellard and and Chief Connley, uh thank you for your patience.

First of all, I know that this has been quite some time that you've been talking about making these changes, but as an organization, we had a long way to go to get to where we were today. So you guys were patient enough and through that patience, you guys took the time to account for everything that was necessary for us to have a a community that has a prosperity and a safer for and is safer for our future. I really appreciate your guys' work on this. Thank you.

Um I guess kind of most importantly, I was very impressed by the public safety commission um themselves. Uh BJ, you're here today.

I wanted to say thank you for for you know coming through with all the questions and um I watched all those meetings and it was just it was it was both fun for myself somebody who really enjoys the process of city government to watch the evolution of that committee in itself kind of evolve learn and um be a true swath of our comm community our general community in my opinion each member brought their own side of the of our community to the table as almost a perfect replica um and representation of of the 70,000 people and I've been a part of many comedians.

I've seen plenty of committing comm committee meetings um just watching him as a citizen and this is one where I was really impressed by the coverage um and and how that committee was formed the coverage of our general committee and um the the questions that they were bringing in from their constituencies. So, um, yeah, thank you BJ for being here today and thank thank you to the committee in general for asking, you know, all so many questions and helping me learn as a as a as a council person.

Um, what we need to do to help our uh, public safety for the future. Um, I think that we're at a point now, and we'll see how the vote goes tonight, but we're at a point now to where if this passes, the key is um public outreach and education.

Uh not it would be hard for me to to believe that anybody who was as educated as I am on this now after everything um watching all the the different committee meetings and and researching this that wouldn't want to go through with this uh vote understanding that this is the mechanism that we have to use and it's really the best mechanism um according to the committee and I support that mechanism. So, that was pretty much just it.

Just kind of reflecting on the process, putting it into a little bit of a story and making sure that everybody got thanked along the way because this this is one of the uh big um big issues that I've been through so far on council and I'm really impressed by the entirety of it and where we have come to. So, with that, I'll say thank you, Mayor, Vice Mayor. Thank you. Um, thank you for those comments, Council Member Garcia, and thank you for everyone who spoke tonight, to the citizen committee.

Um, I I definitely watched those and there were so many questions that a lot of work went into that to staff and to the community members who have participated. You know, Flagstaff has consistently identified public safety as one of our main priorities and I can see and I've talked to a lot of our public safety heroes out there and and I know you are tired and I think it's time that we give you the resources to do your job, do it well, and and continue.

I I don't want to see anyone not be able to to be where they're at today. So, I am glad that we have this path forward and I'm I'm very thankful that we took the time to really do this in a thoughtful process and I I know this was a lot of work, but I think that the time has come that we have this as an opportunity for our community to u move forward. So, thank you.

I just want to um again thank the committee, thank the staff for the amount of work that went into um putting together the presentations and asking the questions. And I want to walk again through the process so that the public hopefully can understand how rigorous this process was. There were there were outside consultants evaluating the needs. Uh national standards that require certain things of our public safety that we need to um fund.

Lots of internal planning to ex to as assess the strategic changes we need to make to arrive at critical improvements. Rep. We had a representative group of residents meeting several times a month and this included many skeptics and we heard from one earlier many skeptics. So I I want to emphasize to the public that this wasn't a any kind of handpicked group that is going to go along with whatever is presented to them.

These were residents of Flagstaff who took their duty very seriously and asked the really tough questions. And that's what gives me confidence that this is the right thing to do. We wanted those skeptics. We needed those skeptics. And yet, it was a unanimous vote to move both of these forward. It was a clear and transparent process and deliberation. You can go back and watch every single meeting and access all the materials that this the citizens committee used to make their decision.

and and please, you know, for those of you who who want to take the time to listen to the needs, um we're we're looking at plugging in where we need to currently, but we're also planning for the future.

And we're planning for a um strong future where we know that we are well placed to take care of all the hazards, potential and current wildfire, fire in general, uh law enforcement, and as um Michael said, the um emotional toll on all of our staff from having to fill multiple roles while doing their primary role. Um, I'm just I'm very proud of the committee. I'm proud of staff.

I'm proud of council and um and I'm hoping that on November 4th I will be just proud that we um rose to the challenge, recognized the need and and said this is important to our community and we're going to support it. Council member Matthews. Thank you, Mayor. I just wanted to echo um what my colleagues have been saying about how much we appreciate the hard work. Um those committee meetings were pretty intense and I learned a lot by watching them and reading the transcripts.

Um and and you know, there's so much more to it. I spent eight hours uh yesterday learning about uh trafficking in our town. Sex trafficking, child sex trafficking, labor trafficking. Um you know, I've said this before, don't think I think we've done too good of a job of making our public think that we don't have any problems up here. We just have a really good law enforcement that uh keeps it under control.

But it was pretty heavy yesterday to hear the cases, hear the stories, hear the victims um and to emphasize that um it's happening here. Um we needed I mean this is not just you know PD or just fire. We also have airport. We have you know airplanes that come in and stuff. It is time I think we all and I've said this before too. we all just assumed um in our daily lives that all these needs have been uh taken care of and and we just the revenues haven't kept up with the needs.

And I'm so grateful that our city um whenever it was decided, you know, said, "Hey, we need to do an assessment on what we need today as well as what we need over the next several years." um because if we don't have a healthy public safety um we don't have a community. So I just want to thank everybody that invested that time.

I was very impressed with the um citizens committee group that met for so many uh days and so many hours and asked tough questions and that makes me feel good about them hopefully being the the the champions out there to answer the questions. And I want to also point out that we started at 500 million plus dollar needs.

And it's not that we identified that, oh, we really don't need that, but there was some tough decisions made on, you know, we we just want to make sure we get what we need most urgently and that's why it was cut down. It wasn't because somebody decided we really didn't need that first initial ask. We do still need the $500 million. Um, but this will get us to that next level and we need to make sure that we are successful in communicating that.

So, just thank you to everybody, you know, thank you to our fire and our PD. Hold on. Hold on. You know, we're we're getting close. And um, you know, it's not like just a nineto-five job. You know, I I hear the stories about our first responders going after call after call after call without a break. um you don't get to, you know, design your agenda for the day. You have no idea what's coming across your desk. And I just want you to know we hear that and we see that and we appreciate that.

And um we're going to do everything we can to help resolve that to take some of the the burden off of that because it is a very emotional um draining job at times and I just want to recognize that. So, thank you, Council Member Alen. Thank you. Uh, I'll just briefly weigh in here. The need is real. The request is reasonable, and the effort so far has been transparent, authentic, responsible, and heartfelt. Um, this matter deserves to have its day in court, so to speak.

I support the public having the final say, and so I support adopting both resolutions. I truly hope they pass. I still had carrot in my mouth. I thought I had time to chew that piece. Any additional comments or questions? All right. Um Stacy, you wanted to offer a comment. Thank you, mayor. I just wanted to circle back around on council member um Matthews request on the addition of that parenthetical language of half a cent.

Um, while we would be in the word count limit, um, I think that there's some concerns about referencing half cent as it relates to a rate of 0.5%. Um, and I think we'll be faced with having to kind of completely rework that question. Um, and so I I would my recommendation would be to keep it the way that it is and we can emphasize that throughout the publicity pamphlet as well as the educational materials that we um, put out to the public. Thank you. Yes. Um, so we have two separate actions.

If you would make the motion for the first one. Mayor, I move that we read resolution number 2026-36 by title only. I'll second. Any discussion? All those in favor? I I I Any opposed? City clerk.

A resolution of the Flagstaff City Council ordering and calling a special bond election of the city for November 3rd, 2026 in conjunction with the city's general election to submit a bond question to the qualified electors of Flagstaff with respect to selling and issuing general obligation bonds in the aggregate principal amount of $40 million to be repaid with secondary property taxes for public safety, infrastructure, and equipment. Mayor, I move that we adopt resolution number 2026-36.

I'll second. Any discussion? All those in favor? I I. Any opposed? A motion to read resolution 2026-37. I move that we read resolution number 2026-37 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 ordering and calling a special election of the city for November 3rd, 2026 in conjunction with the city's general election to submit a question to the qualified electors of Flagstaff with respect to an increase in the city's transaction privilege sales tax of an additional 0.5% for the purposes of enhanced public safety services. And a motion to adopt. I move that we adopt resolution 2026-37. I'll second. Any discussion? All those in favor? I I I.

Any opposed? Motion carries.